{"text":"Dennis Ross is a prior Obama and Clinton crony goes on to speak without any questioning from Shawn and then at the end Shawn speaks of Ross and his decades of experience PROPAGANDA!!!","label":1}
{"text":"You are here: Home \/ political cartoon \/ What Marketing Obamacare Really Looks Like [Cartoon] What Marketing Obamacare Really Looks Like [Cartoon] October 28, 2016 Pinterest  C.E. Dyer reports that the disaster that is Obamacare is about to get worse for many people enrolled in the health insurance marketplace. On Monday, the Obama administration confirmed that premiums will skyrocket for many people next year, according to the Associated Press .  The AP reported:  Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.  Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will only have plans from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna scaled back their roles.  In some states, the premium increases are striking. In Arizona, unsubsidized premiums for a hypothetical 27-year-old buying a benchmark \"second-lowest cost silver plan\" will jump by 116 percent, from $196 to $422, according to the administration report.  But HHS said if that hypothetical consumer has a fairly modest income, making $25,000 a year, the subsidies would cover $280 of the new premium, and the consumer would pay $142. Caveat: if the consumer is making $30,000 or $40,000 his or her subsidy would be significantly lower.  Larry Levitt, who follows the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, said of the increases: \"Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period.\"  Donald Trump's campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, said in a statement on Monday: \"This shows why the entire program must be repealed and replaced.\" Miller added, \"While (Hillary) Clinton wants to expand the failed program known as Obamacare, Mr. Trump knows the only way to fix our nation's failing health care system is complete and total reform.\"  Reports have warned that this was coming down the pike for some time; however, HHS's confirmation ahead of open enrollment beginning Nov. 1 \u2014 one week before the election \u2014 is likely to cause major headaches for many people.  This debacle is not unexpected either \u2014 it's exactly what President Obama and Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton wanted to happen.  Obamacare was never the end goal. Rather, it was a stepping stone toward single-payer, government-run healthcare. That is a big reason why Obama wants Clinton to become president \u2014 his legacy is at stake.  Obama's legacy is largely wrapped up in Obamacare and what it leads to. Clinton tried to push this first step during her time as first lady and failed, but the conditions will be ripe for her to go even further should she be elected.  If Clinton becomes president, there's no doubt that her next step will be to move to single-payer healthcare. Obamacare is bad, there's no doubt about it, but single-payer government healthcare would be even worse.","label":1}
{"text":"For that Statement alone I hope someone brings UNESCO'S building DOWN with all its members in it. Please, there is someone out there.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate on Tuesday, in a procedural vote, cleared the way for confirming President Donald Trump's nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions to be the next attorney general. By a vote of 52-47, the Republican-controlled Senate agreed to limit debate on Sessions. A final vote on confirming him to head the Justice Department, the nation's top law enforcement job, is likely sometime this week. Sessions, as is the custom for senators voting on their own nominations, cast a vote of \"present.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Sarah Jessica Parker was waiting for a menu at a restaurant in a Westchester County suburb of New York, when a man in a polo shirt and shorts showed up at her table. \"I'm out of your face right after this little note I made for you \u2014 check it out,\" he said. He handed her a small folded piece of paper and waited as Ms. Parker read it. \"Aw,\" she said, and smiled. \"Thank you! Thank you, Michael!\" On \"Sex and the City,\" Ms. Parker famously played Carrie Bradshaw, an serially dating and hotly pursuing ideal love. Perhaps because of that, Michael took the opportunity to launch into tales of his own love life, : the girlfriend who recently dumped him, the new girl who might really be something. \"You're cute as a button,\" his note read. In spite of Ms. Parker's age (51) her 19 years of marriage to Matthew Broderick, and her three children, her public image remains closely bound up with that of Carrie, a symbol of youthful possibility, forever available, forever adorable. On Oct. 9, 12 years after the series went off the air, Ms. Parker is returning to HBO with a show whose very title \u2014 \"Divorce\" \u2014 suggests the bitter culmination of all that sex in the city. She plays Frances, a kind of someone long married, living (brace yourself) in the suburbs, and working as a corporate recruiter, her arty dreams subsumed by financial necessity. Her husband \u2014 though not for much longer \u2014 is Robert (Thomas Haden Church) a real estate entrepreneur down on his luck. Frances is far from a romantic: She has cheated on her husband she is a narcissistic oversharer, a accuser, a manipulator. She is also, as played by Ms. Parker, deeply real and somehow appealing. \"I'm still getting to know her,\" Ms. Parker said. She was quick to clarify that she is no more Frances than she ever was Carrie (she and Mr. Broderick married about a week before she shot the pilot). But \"Divorce,\" at turns moody and comic, does cover material that is meaningful to Ms. Parker, who is an executive producer of the series. For some years, she has wanted to do a show about relationships, a natural outgrowth, she said, of countless conversations she has had with friends who, like her, are in early middle age, a time when it's common for people to grapple with the choices they have made, in relationships as much as anything else. The show reflects, she said, a \"certain introspection and reckoning\" that is inevitable after some 15 or 20 years of marriage. \"It's a really specific point in a person's life, right now, for my generation,\" said Ms. Parker. \"It's when you start to think about relationships, the time spent, what came of it \u2014 and what do you do with where you find yourself now?\" AFTER \"SEX AND THE CITY,\" Ms. Parker did not look very hard for her next big role when people asked about another television series, \"I used to say never,\" she told Alec Baldwin on his podcast, \"Here's the Thing. \" The schedule is demanding for someone raising three children (her twins, Marion and Tabitha, are now 7, and her son, James Wilkie, is 13) and she never found a show that intrigued her enough to make the family sacrifice worthwhile. \"When you're at a point in your life where you can make choices, you can make a choice to say no,\" she said. \"It's kind of nice. \" She made two \"Sex and the City\" movies, to decidedly mixed reviews, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in \"The Family Stone. \" Following that, one of her movies had critical success but small audiences (\"Smart People,\" 2008) while others had less favorable reviews and even smaller audiences (see \"Spinning Into Butter,\" 2007). Her reputation as a beloved star never flagged, but neither did she ever land on a role so strong that it put Carrie to bed for good. \"It is hard to find material you really love, particularly when you've been so successful,\" Mr. Broderick said. \"It feels like a lot of pressure. \" Ms. Parker spent much of her energy in recent years leveraging her brand in the service of high culture (she is vice chair of the New York City Ballet) and her own businesses \u2014 a fragrance line and the SJP shoe collection, which she introduced in 2014 and is carried by department stores. All along, she developed television and film ideas as a producer, including, for some time, a show called \"Into the Fire,\" which HBO passed on. It featured a host who quits her job, blows up her career and has an affair with the father of one of her children's classmates. In some of its details, \"Into the Fire\" sounds like \"Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce,\" which has been renewed for a third season on Bravo, one of a number of television shows in recent years that have featured women in their late 40s or early 50s reinventing their love lives: On \"Nashville,\" Rayna, played by Connie Britton, ends her marriage and enjoys a succession of suitors on \"The Affair,\" Helen (Maura Tierney) is betrayed by her cheating husband but goes on to have flings of her own. \"I want to save my life while I still care about it,\" Frances tells Robert, trying to explain why she wants a divorce it's as if some sense of imminently fading possibility propels Frances into new romance. HBO suggested that Ms. Parker meet with Sharon Horgan, the producer and of Amazon's \"Catastrophe,\" who ultimately wrote the pilot of \"Divorce. \" The resulting project appealed to Ms. Parker both for its darkness and for its milieu. \"So often when you see divorce in cinema or on television, it's like \u2014 'War of the Roses'! Rich people fighting!\" she said. \"I wanted to tell a different story, one that I haven't really seen on television. \" The bar was \"quite high\" for Ms. Parker's return, said Richard Plepler, HBO's chief executive, who felt this show reached that standard. \"It's not a Hollywoodization of divorce,\" he said, \"but a very authentic one, something she could sink her teeth into creatively and artistically. \" Both Mr. Plepler and Ms. Parker mentioned the influence of \"An Unmarried Woman,\" the 1978 Jill Clayburgh film that offered an unflinching look at how a flawed but charming wife handles being unexpectedly single after her husband walks out. Ms. Parker was comfortable with embracing her own character's flaws, said Paul Simms, the showrunner of \"Divorce. \" \"I was a little surprised and pleased that she was willing to not worry about being necessarily likable,\" he said. \"Even though she ultimately is quite likable. \" Though Ms. Parker spoke of the characters in \"Divorce\" as middle class, it might be more accurate to say they are upper middle class in appearance, middle class in disposable income they look like a couple with fancy educations, now tenuously maintaining a gimcrack normalcy with the help of revolving credit lines and some turns of luck. If Mr. Big, Carrie's beloved, represented one '90s male icon, the finance type, Robert, with his debt and pickup truck, represents a very current countertype, a disempowered white guy baffled to find things are no longer going his way. It only slowly dawned on Ms. Parker, she said, that HBO was expecting her to play the lead in whatever show she developed about marriage midlife. She might not have felt ready to take it on, she said, were it not for the experience she had in 2013 with \"The Commons of Pensacola,\" a play by Amanda Peet that Ms. Parker starred in, alongside Blythe Danner. \"Theater demands a very specific kind of wonderful exhaustion,\" said Ms. Parker, \"which really reminded me of all I still wanted to do \u2014 and how much I missed the feeling of not getting it, of being lost, and working in such a concentrated way. I really fell in love with acting again. \" IN CONVERSATION, Ms. Parker has a big, rewarding laugh, and a habit of turning the question on the interviewer. \"I'm a very curious person,\" she said. \"When I was younger, my stepfather was always telling me to stop staring at people. \" She is also a stylish writer, a talent that shows up in her emails, which are carefully crafted and sprinkled with fanciful touches. \"Let me know our meeting place,\" she wrote, after it was settled that we would head to where \"Divorce\" is set, on a train leaving from Grand Central Terminal. \"It's romantic to meet at the clock. \" One morning, she arrived at the clock, perfectly prompt, dressed in chunky sandals and an sundress (\"Vintage,\" she said, \"I probably paid $29 for it. \") As she walked through the terminal, she moved quickly, accustomed to people stopping in their tracks, stupefied, as they recognized her. When someone tried to approach her to talk, she had a warm but effective response at the ready: \"I'm so sorry, I wish I could, thank you so much, I have to catch my train!\" She offered a big smile, a girlish wave, direct eye contact, somehow meeting the energy of the fan with enthusiasm of her own. From a distance, to a tourist, she might have seemed a holographic conjuring, an icon of New York there to enhance the iconic New York setting. For Ms. Parker, Grand Central Terminal evokes her ' childhood, days when her own family of eight children \u2014 then not financially stable enough to call itself middle class \u2014 briefly lived in Dobbs Ferry, which neighbors . \"My older brother and I would come in, alone, for auditions,\" she said. That was when she was 12 at 13, she played Annie on Broadway. Soon after that, she became the beloved soul sister of high school girls everywhere, playing the brainy, Patty on CBS's \"Square Pegs. \" \"For me, doing it was a priceless experience,\" Ms. Parker, all of 18, said in an interview shortly after the series ended. \"But television isn't what I want. Theater and film are. \" She could not have known then how much cultural currency television would come to have \u2014 or how big a role she herself would play in establishing its ascendancy. With that influence came celebrity and the kind of public scrutiny that stings, especially for a parent paparazzi and tabloid reporters are often camped outside her family's Lower Manhattan home. There have also long been tabloid rumors about the demise of her marriage, which might make the choice of a show called \"Divorce\" seem revealing, as if it were some subconscious confirmation of her preoccupations. That the public might think that, Ms. Parker said, suggests a misunderstanding of what really motivates her as an actor. \"When people ask about the ways in which I relate to Frances, I usually say, 'I look like her, but that's it,'\" she said. \"It's a funny thing to ask, because all you want to do as an actor is be someone else. \" Why, she added, \"would you ever want to play someone like you?\" Ms. Parker sounded genuinely bewildered by the persistence of tabloid interest in her marriage. \"I guess it's because we just \u2026 keep staying married,\" she said. \"Maybe that annoys them?\" Mr. Broderick, she said, is \"still the person I want to experience things with, I want to do new things with. \" It may be a sign of the health of their current relationship that neither party feels the need to portray it as any more perfect than most that have weathered three children, two big careers and nearly two decades. Ms. Parker described marriage as a series of choices \u2014 choosing to stay, choosing to find patience in it. \"It's saying, I'm going to try not to roll my eyes,\" she said. \"It's thinking about the delight in something that's delightful to him, but that may or may not be to you. \" Asked what Ms. Parker might enjoy about playing Frances, Mr. Broderick thought for a moment. \"She gets to be pissed off at her husband, which I think would be fun for her,\" he deadpanned. But his protectiveness of Ms. Parker, as she prepared for her show's debut, was evident. \"I'm always nervous,\" he said. \"It's like watching your child walk onto the playground. You want them to be treated well. And when they're not, it's horrible to watch. \" Ms. Parker seems to relish the gap between the show's plot and her own reality, the way she can experience the aftershocks of a dissolution from a safe creative distance. \"Frances was never single with children, never single with a mortgage \u2014 so I think all that's going to be really interesting,\" she said, already musing about a second season. \"How much does she want to date? How much does she really want to take her clothes off with someone?\" Ms. Parker slapped her hand against her chest. \"Can you imagine? I'd be like \u2014 no, we are just going to be companions. I'd be horrified!\" IT WOULD HAVE BEEN an easier path, in some ways, for Ms. Parker to skip all the exposure and time constraints that come with a new show, to ride out the duration of her career nurturing her brand (and businesses) in the safe, bright afterglow of Carrie. \"What do you do after you've created one of the cultural landmarks of your time \u2014 how do you follow it up?\" said the actor John Benjamin Hickey, a close friend. \"If she had stopped, I would have been like, yeah, I get it. But I think she has a hunger as an artist to challenge herself, and to explore a kind of complicated darkness. Her interest in the subject matter isn't tabloidy \u2014 it's existential. \" Over lunch, Ms. Parker confessed that she was somewhat terrified about the show's premiere, partly for fear that her fans might be expecting something the show was not \u2014 that they would judge it not by its own merits, but by how closely it inspired the same giddy pleasures that her previous work has. \"This is not Carrie in the suburbs, Carrie the commuter,\" she said. \"And I kind of want to get ahead of that, so that there is not this giant heave of disappointment when people find the show is not \u2026 that same buoyant kind of thing. \" Ms. Parker knows that she played Carrie for so long that many fans came to assume that the character simply was her \u2014 that there was no effort involved in inhabiting her so fully. \"But it was definitely acting,\" she said. \"I never lived any of those experiences in my own life. I'm not Carrie. Sometimes I feel that if I'd done my job well with 'Divorce,' it will be a reminder that, yes, she's an actor. But maybe people will start to think I'm like Frances. And then I'll have to explain how different Sarah and Frances are. \" She brightened at the thought.","label":0}
{"text":"Saudi's threaten OPEC oil freeze over Iran row November 04, 2016 A gas flame is seen in the desert near the Khurais oilfield, Saudi Arabia June 23, 2008. REUTERS\/Ali Jarekji\/File Photo  Saudi Arabia has threatened to cancel the scheduled OPEC oil freeze by raising output over row with Iran. OPEC sources: Saudi Arabia threatened to raise oil output steeply to bring prices down if Iran refuses to limit its supply. According to four OPEC sources: Clash occurred at last weeks experts meeting designed to work out details before official Nov. 30 gathering. OPEC source: \"The Saudis have threatened to raise their production to 11 million barrels per day and even 12 million bpd, bringing oil prices down, and to withdraw from the meeting.\" OPEC Source: The Saudi threat followed objections by Iran, which said it was unwilling to freeze its output. OPEC Source: Saudi threat to raise output came as a surprise even to Riyadh's Gulf OPEC allies. Non-Iranian OPEC Source: \"We felt as if they (the Saudis) wanted the meeting to fail.\" Saudi Arabia has increased output since 2014 to record highs of around 10.5 million-10.7 million barrels per day. In September: OPEC agreed at a meeting in Algeria on modest preliminary oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008. Iran has reported its output at 3.85 million bpd in Sep., and said they will only cap output at 12.7 percent of OPEC's total ceiling - or 4.2 million bpd. Ali Kardor, managing director of NIOC: \"Working in oil industry is like operating at war fronts and we have to preserve our trenches by raising our production capacity as much as we can.\" Kardor: \"The next OPEC meeting is near and we will never cease to recapture our quota in the organization.\" OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo: I am \"optimistic\" a final agreement will be reached. OPEC delegate: \"People can look at it from different angles. The fact that discussions are still going on is a positive one. They are going to work on it, close to the ministers' meeting.\"  (DUBAI\/LONDON) Old disputes between Saudi Arabia and rival Iran resurfaced at a meeting of OPEC experts last week, with Riyadh threatening to raise oil output steeply to bring prices down if Tehran refuses to limit its supply, OPEC sources say.  Clashes between the two OPEC heavyweights, which are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, have become frequent in recent years.  Tensions subsided, however, in recent months after Saudi Arabia agreed to support a global oil supply limiting pact, thus raising the prospect that OPEC would take steps to boost oil prices.  But a meeting of OPEC experts last week, designed to work out details of cuts for the next OPEC ministerial gathering on Nov. 30, saw Saudis and Iranian clashing again, according to four OPEC sources who were present at the meeting and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.  \"The Saudis have threatened to raise their production to 11 million barrels per day and even 12 million bpd, bringing oil prices down, and to withdraw from the meeting,\" one OPEC source who attended the meeting told Reuters.  OPEC headquarters declined to comment on discussions during the closed-door meetings last week. Saudi and Iranian OPEC delegates also declined official comments.","label":1}
{"text":"A senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday it was clear that U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had been forced to resign in an effort to damage relations between Russia and the United States. Flynn resigned late on Monday after revelations he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. \"It's obvious that Flynn was forced to write the letter of resignation under a certain amount of pressure,\" Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house of parliament's foreign affairs committee, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency. \"The target was Russia-U.S. relations, undermining confidence in the new U.S. administration. We'll see how the situation develops further,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Debbie Dooley and a crowd of great Patriots marched in front of the CNN headquarters in Atlanta today in a show of support for President Trump and in protest against CNN s fake news. Who isn t proud of these people literally walking the walk to voice their opposition to the constant drip, drip, drip of propaganda from CNN.Debbie Dooley of Main Street Patriots told Breitbart News why they were protesting CNN today:CNN threw objective journalism out the window once Donald Trump was elected President and have begun to report DNC talking points as news. CNN can no longer claim to be a news organization that reports facts without bias, because they report innuendo with no facts as news with the intent on bringing down a democratically-elected President. They have simply become an entertainment network not to be taken seriously.Time for Trump supporters to get active and show the Democrats that we are very passionate about our support of President Trump and we will fight hard to pass his agenda, the notice of the event states on Main Street Patriots website. Bring your signs and let s show CNN that we support President Trump and call them out for becoming an arm of the DNC intent on bringing down President Trump with biased coverage and false innuendos, the invitation on Main Street Patriots Facebook page states.A TRUMP SUPPORTER ON WHY SHE S JOINING THE PROTEST: She is 100% spot on Trump supporter on why she's joining protest against Fake News CNN. She is 100% spot on. pic.twitter.com\/IblSehMU52 Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) June 17, 2017 We re so happy about this! It s the outward and visible signs of protest that make a HUGE difference.","label":1}
{"text":"The war on women A woman goes in to give Huma Abedin a hug and it makes for a cold as ice awkward moment caught on video. Ouch! Huma Abedin is the Muslim Brotherhood connected henchman of Hillary Clinton. She s also the wife of scandalous cad Anthony Weiner. Wonder if Anthony gets the same treatment at home","label":1}
{"text":"Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) said Wednesday on MSNBC s Morning Joe that Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare are based on the GOP s hatred of Barack Obama. MSNBC contributor Eddie Glaude asked Murphy what he believes the animating commitment behind the GOP health care bill is and what it would take for him to work in a bipartisan way with Republicans to fix the country s health care system. At this point, I think it s clear the animating commitment is a hatred of Barack Obama, Murphy said. The policy has been pushed to the wayside here. They don t seem tremendously interested in actually crafting something that insures more people or reduces rates. They just want to fulfill this commitment that they made to repeal Obamacare. Murphy went on to say that he has made it very clear he wants to compromise with Republicans on health care. They want, as far as I can tell, flexibility of benefit design. They want something that has some cheaper premiums, less regulations in these exchanges. I m willing to talk to them about that, Murphy said. I m willing to give them some flexibility of benefit design if they re willing to give us some security on these exchanges that Donald Trump won t unwind them.","label":1}
{"text":"Iran and the United States and its negotiating partners finally reached agreement Tuesday on a deal that would curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief -- setting up a looming showdown between President Obama and Congress, where lawmakers could take issue with several provisions, including one giving Iran leverage over inspections. Speaking from the White House, Obama claimed the deal meets \"every single one of the bottom lines\" from a tentative agreement struck earlier this year. \"Every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off,\" Obama said, claiming it provides for extensive inspections. \"This deal is not built on trust. It is built on verification.\" Yet that very issue could be the primary sticking point going forward. While some members of Congress had urged comprehensive inspections of Iran's nuclear sites, the deal in hand gives Iran much leverage over that process. The agreement requires international inspectors to ask Iran's permission first, after which Iran has 14 days to decide whether to grant it. If not, the same group of nations that struck the deal would have another 10 days to make their decision about what to do next. While the international group may have final say, the set-up essentially gives Iran 24 days to drag out the process, though officials say this is not enough time to hide all evidence of illicit conduct. Already, some on Capitol Hill were warning about the implications of the deal; lawmakers will have 60 days to review and vote on the agreement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the deal \"appears to further the flawed elements of April's interim agreement.\" But Obama said it would be \"irresponsible\" to walk away and vowed to veto any attempt to crush the agreement. \"No deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East,\" Obama said. Diplomats struck the deal after the latest 18-day round of intense and often fractious negotiations in Vienna, Austria blew through several self-imposed deadlines. A final meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran, the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia was held Tuesday morning. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described the accord as \"a historic moment\" as he attended the final session. \"We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody, but it is what we could accomplish,\" Zarif continued, \"and it is an important achievement for all of us. Today could have been the end of hope on this issue. But now we are starting a new chapter of hope.\" Federica Mogherini, the European Union foreign policy chief, called it \"a sign of hope for the entire world.\" The accord is meant to keep Iran from producing enough material for a nuclear weapon for at least 10 years and will impose new provisions for inspections of Iranian facilities, including military sites. Diplomats said Iran agreed to the continuation of a United Nations arms embargo on the country for up to five more years, though it could end earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) definitively clears Iran of any current work on nuclear weapons. A similar condition was put on U.N. restrictions on the transfer of ballistic missile technology to Tehran, which could last for up to eight more years. According to officials, Iran also had agreed to a so-called \"snapback\" provision, under which sanctions could be reinstated if it violates the agreement. Washington had sought to maintain the ban on Iran importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Islamic theocracy flush with cash from the nuclear deal would expand its military assistance for Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, Yemen's Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America's Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iranian leaders insisted the embargo had to end as their forces combat regional scourges such as ISIS. And they got some support from China and particularly Russia, which wants to expand military cooperation and arms sales to Tehran, including the long-delayed transfer of S-300 advanced air defense systems -- a move long opposed by the United States. The last major sticking point -- which could still cause problems on Capitol Hill -- appeared to be whether international weapons inspectors would be given access to Iranian nuclear sites. The deal includes a compromise between Washington and Tehran that would allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties. However, access at will to any site would not necessarily be granted and even if so, could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on as possibly giving Tehran time to cover any sign of non-compliance with its commitments. Under the deal, Tehran would have the right to challenge the U.N. request and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers that negotiated with it would have to decide on the issue. Such an arrangement would still be a notable departure from assertions by top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that their country would never allow the IAEA into such sites. Iran has argued that such visits by the IAEA would be a cover for spying on its military secrets. The IAEA also wants the access to complete its long-stymied investigation of past weapons work by Iran, and the U.S. says Iranian cooperation is needed for all economic sanctions to be lifted. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday his agency and Iran had signed a \"roadmap\" to resolve outstanding concerns. \"This is a significant step forward towards clarifying outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program,\" Amano said in a statement released Tuesday. The economic benefits for Iran are potentially massive. It stands to receive more than $100 billion in assets frozen overseas, and an end to a European oil embargo and various financial restrictions on Iranian banks. The overall nuclear deal comes after nearly a decade of international, intercontinental diplomacy that until recently was defined by failure. Breaks in the talks sometimes lasted for months, and Iran's nascent nuclear program expanded into one that Western intelligence agencies saw as only a couple of months away from weapons capacity. The U.S. and Israel both threatened possible military responses. The United States joined the negotiations in 2008, and U.S. and Iranian officials met together secretly four years later in Oman to see if diplomatic progress was possible. But the process remained essentially stalemated until summer 2013, when Hassan Rouhani was elected president and declared his country ready for serious compromise. More secret U.S.-Iranian discussions followed, culminating in a face-to-face meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the United Nations in September 2013 and a telephone conversation between Rouhani and Obama. That conversation marked the two countries' highest diplomatic exchange since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the ensuing hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran. Kerry and Zarif took the lead in the negotiations. Two months later, in Geneva, Iran and the six powers announced an interim agreement that temporarily curbed Tehran's nuclear program and unfroze some Iranian assets while setting the stage for Tuesday's comprehensive accord. Protracted negotiations still lie ahead to put the agreement into practice and deep suspicion reigns on all sides about violations that could unravel the accord. And spoilers abound. In the United States, Congress has a 60-day review period during which Obama cannot make good on any concessions to the Iranians. U.S. lawmakers could hold a vote of disapproval and take further action. If Obama vetoes, Congress would need to muster a two-thirds majority to override. Iranian hardliners oppose dismantling a nuclear program the country has spent hundreds of billions of dollars developing. Khamenei, while supportive of his negotiators thus far, has issued a series of defiant red lines that may be impossible to reconcile in a deal with the West. And further afield, Israel will strongly oppose the outcome. It sees the acceptance of extensive Iranian nuclear infrastructure and continued nuclear activity as a mortal threat, and has warned that it could take military action on its own, if necessary. The deal is a \"bad mistake of historic proportions,\" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, adding that it would enable Iran to \"continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region.\" Sunni Arab rivals of Shiite Iran are none too happy, either, with Saudi Arabia in particularly issuing veiled threats to develop its own nuclear program. The Associated Press contributed to this report.","label":0}
{"text":"Sunday on NBC's \"Meet The Press,\" Sen. John McCain ( ) said President Donald Trump does not have \"an overall strategy\" on foreign policy. McCain said, \"I support what he did and I support the bunker buster bomb, but we've got to develop a strategy. There is still not an overall strategy that he can come to congress and his advisors and say, 'ok here is how we are going to handle Syria. Here is how we are going to handle the Iraq. We have got to have a strategy and I'll give them some more time but so far that strategy is not apparent. \" Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"In this our quadrennial season of financial hope, we might wish that the major presidential candidates would reckon with one of the large and looming numbers in our lives. Maybe this particular pair of multimillionaires hears the parents and grandparents who are confounded by college price tags that seem to start at six figures. But the candidates' plans don't hold out much cause for hope. Hillary Clinton wants to make tuition for state universities free for families with less than $125, 000 in income, but her plan would require the financial help of states that may not want to chip in. Donald Trump has mentioned refinancing student loans and forcing universities to spend more from their endowments to help students. His website, however, has no formal proposals. Perhaps the debate moderators will demand more details. So what we need right now is one college savings, paying and borrowing plan to rule them all. The best one I know of \u2014 the one that visibly reduces anxiety in the faces of people I preach it to \u2014 comes from Kevin McKinley, a financial adviser in Eau Claire, Wis. And you can sum it up in about 30 words: Save a quarter of the cost over a child's first 18 years. Pay another quarter out of current income over the next four years. Borrow the rest, split among the family. Let's break them down in order, for a family who has its sights on a state university and doesn't qualify for any grants or scholarships that they would not have to repay. SAVE A QUARTER Let's say you think an undergraduate degree from a state university will cost $160, 000 in 18 years, including room and board. A quarter of that, per the McKinley plan, is $40, 000. To save that much, you'd need to put aside about $115 each month for 18 years if it earns a 5 percent annual return. Where might it earn that kind of return? In one of those 529 college savings plans that your state probably offers, perhaps in a mutual fund with a mix of stocks and bonds that gets less aggressive as your child gets closer to 18. The website savingforcollege. com is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more about 529 plans. And where is that $115 supposed to come from? In his 2002 book, \"Make Your Kid a Millionaire,\" Mr. McKinley suggested looking at the things on your credit or debit card statement and asking yourself this: Would I rather help my kid go to college or would I prefer to keep buying or doing those things on my bill that add up to the number I need to save each month? Harsh? He doesn't think so. \"I don't judge what people choose to spend money on,\" he said. \"But most people with kids going to college wish they could go back and change what they spent, because a lot of it was on things that didn't have any value in the long run. \" SPEND A QUARTER This step is harder. For parents sending a child to a college right now that costs $100, 000 total, they'll need to find a bit over $500 a month to hit the number, $25, 000, that equals a quarter of the total cost. So rice and beans instead of eating out. No more vacations, or much cheaper ones. If that's not enough or you already made those changes years ago, a side job may be in order. Doing that, too? Don't forget that your child is capable of earning $6, 000 annually by working full time in the summer and part time during the school year. If your child earns that much, you're not responsible for this portion. Are there generous grandparents in the mix? This would be a good time for them to step in if they haven't already or weren't sure if they would be able to help until they had their own financial affairs sorted out. THE BORROWING Back when he wrote his book, Mr. McKinley said that he considered debt a last resort. These days, he's changed his tune. \"You'd like to pay cash for your house, too, but it's just not realistic,\" he said. First, student loans. Though the terminology and process is (wildly, needlessly) complex, the advice is simple for anyone wanting to borrow $25, 000: Take out federal student loans from the government, not private ones that come from a bank or similar institution. The advantage of federal loans is that if your child doesn't earn much after graduation, you can enroll in a program where you'll be eligible for lower payments. Then, parent borrowing. Mr. McKinley notes that we're at a rare economic moment where three things are happening at once: Home values are rising nicely in many parts of the country, interest rates are low and lenders are a bit looser than they were in the recent past. For people with children in college now, that means that borrowing money against your home may be a good way to come up with your $25, 000 chunk. Mr. McKinley is bearish on the future of student loans and expects them to become generally less available over time. So he suggested a more aggressive way for the parents of younger children to pay for a quarter of college: Draw on home equity now while you can, put the money in certificates of deposit and treat your (often ) interest payments on the loan like an insurance policy, where you're paying a \"premium\" just to be sure you'll have access to the capital. After all, as we saw in 2009, banks that are loose now with home equity loans can change their minds in a heartbeat. If you do not own a home, or drawing on home equity seems too risky or needlessly expensive (or you're worried about how that money might affect any financial aid that you end up qualifying for) the federal government offers loans to parents, too. THE MANY CAVEATS Plenty of people don't make enough money to save anything for college, let alone save $500 a month while their child is in school. Others could have saved but didn't and are panicking now that the first tuition bill is close at hand. If you're in that situation, please read the two guides I wrote in 2014 for people in that spot. The McKinley plan is linear. Your financial life probably won't be, pockmarked as most of our lives are with unpaid parental leave or illness or unemployment or inopportune stock market declines or a bunch of these things all at once. But the plan is also flexible. You could borrow a bit more or save a bit more or consider a gap year between high school and college to put away additional funds. If there is more than one child, these numbers could double, and if private colleges are under consideration, they may double again or more. But at private colleges especially, paying tuition for two children at once will increase your chances of qualifying for financial aid (the kind you get after filling out the federal aid form and sometimes other application forms). Moreover, many colleges (private ones, in particular) offer a different kind of help, merit aid, to good students, even if their families don't qualify for aid. That can easily lop five figures off costs each year per student, even if it doesn't bring the private college price down to the level of a flagship state university. Which brings us to a couple of other challenges. How do you know when it's worth paying a whole lot more for one school than another? Mr. McKinley is facing this question right now with his daughter, Ellie, a high school senior with an interest in web design. She was eyeing the Rhode Island School of Design or the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, but she can study the same things at the University of for less than a third of the retail cost. The family is leaning hard toward the cheaper option. \"If you're the kind of kid who can get into the more expensive school, then you'll usually have the talent and moxie to succeed even without their education,\" Mr. McKinley said. There is also the bizarre unpredictability of the process. The rack rates are high, and while many people get discounts based on need or merit, you have no way of knowing which, if any, you might qualify for many years from now. You'll probably get the answers some spring day in the future and then have a few weeks, at most, to make what may be among the biggest and most consequential financial decisions of your life. So good luck with that. But don't let the absurdity of what the system has become paralyze you into doing nothing. \"You don't have to come up with a quarter of a million dollars for your kid,\" Mr. McKinley said. \"Do what you can now, and just keep building off of it. \"","label":0}
{"text":"LIKE FROM A MOVIE, MIKE PENCE DID SOMETHING AMAZING AT A TRUMP RALLY TODAY! by IWB \u00b7 October 27, 2016  Danny Gold for Liberty Writers reports, Mike Pence is honest, patriotic, and faithful. But he just took his love for the people to a whole new level. I don't recall ever seeing a politician do this.","label":1}
{"text":"I have had guns pointed at me, slept in a shipping container and walked past the corpses of shelling victims since the separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine began two years ago. But I had never been blacklisted as a terrorist before. So when my name recently appeared on a \"terrorist\" list of journalists published by a website with close ties to the Ukrainian government, I viewed it with a mix of trepidation and sarcasm. Trepidation because it suggested powerful people in Ukraine, a democracy that aspires to the free flow of information, were going after me and others on the list for simply doing our jobs: reporting both sides of the war, including the rebel side. And sarcasm because, this being Ukraine, the list was not likely to have much credibility elsewhere. I have not, for example, had any trouble flying after appearing on what may be the world's first list of terrorist journalists. It is also not a secret that I and other reporters have reported from rebel territory our publications and broadcast outlets regularly use our names and note where we are. The list, published by a Ukrainian nationalist website called Myrotvorets, or the Peacemaker, appeared to have been born out of a simmering frustration. in Ukraine have been furious at the foreign press for some time now, arguing that any coverage of the rebels from their home base in the east played into Russia's powerful propaganda machine. Russia has portrayed residents in the breakaway regions as victims of an unjustified Ukrainian military assault by a \"fascist\" government in Kiev. The list is a compilation of reporters and others who applied for press passes to work in territory controlled by the Donetsk People's Republic, Ukraine's main enemy in the war in the east. Applying for accreditation from rebels, according to the website, was enough to be branded a \"terrorist accomplice. \" The website said it had obtained the list of names, and personal information including emails, from hackers who had stolen the rebels' data. Groups supporting journalists quickly condemned the publication of the names \u2014 and in some cases home addresses \u2014 for seeming to invite violence against reporters. A commentator living in Kiev, Oles Buzina, whose home address was publicized in a Myrotvorets post last year, was shot and killed on a street not far from his home days later. But this time, the site was publishing names and contact details for 5, 412 journalists, drivers, fixers, soundmen and translators. Not all of us can be rubbed out. Why were so many reporters accredited to cover the war in Donetsk? Because it served the media strategy of the rebels. About of the journalists and support staff on the list were Russian nationals or locals from eastern Ukraine, who might be expected to be sympathetic to the rebels. In addition, 1, 816 foreign reporters showed up over the two years and were accredited, according to the list. The ease of accrediting ensured, for example, broad coverage of stray Ukrainian artillery strikes hitting the city and sometimes killing civilians, helping discredit Ukraine's actions to win back territory. The media strategy seems right out of Russia's media playbook Western military analysts have noted Russia's savvy at what they have called \"hybrid wars\" that blend lethal force with aggressive (and positive) press coverage. For reporters, press passes to travel in territory were invaluable for avoiding arrest, hands or detention in a basement. To get the coveted slips of paper, journalists visited Angela, a witty woman known as the \"accreditation queen. \" Angela worked in a office of the separatist headquarters in central Donetsk. Reaching her space meant trekking up a dark stairwell festooned with coarse propaganda for the cause: One drawing showed President Obama's head on the body of a monkey another showed a Ukrainian politician, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, dressed in a Nazi uniform. With few exceptions, Angela cheerily printed out press passes for anyone who asked \u2014 other than reporters from Ukraine. Many Ukrainians remain outraged that, as they see it, the groups have been able to deftly amplify their message with the megaphone of the Western media \u2014 despite the rebels' virulently agenda. The war has now killed more than 10, 000 people. Still, Ukraine's ombudsman, Valeria Lutkovska, condemned the release of the journalists' names and urged the authorities to shut down the website for revealing personal information. President Petro O. Poroshenko on Friday called the release a \"big mistake. \" Western ambassadors voiced concern. In the face of criticism, the Myrotvorets website has doubled down, posting a sarcastic rejoinder. \"Many journalists demanded an apology from us, and now we understand the reason for this,\" the site wrote on May 20, two weeks after publishing the list of \"terrorist accomplices\" in the media. \"The staff offer their sincere apologies in regards to the list not being fresh. \" It then added new names. And the interior minister, Arsen B. Avakov, appeared to endorse the leak, or at least did not condemn it. \"War is like war,\" he wrote on Facebook. \"A friend sincerely fighting is more important for me than opinions of liberals and latent separatists who think too much of themselves. \"","label":0}
{"text":"January 2017 can t come fast enough for America, and for the rest of the world who is 100% FED UP with this freeloading, fascist loving family .For two days President Barack Obama has defied calls from Republicans to cancel his trip to South America and return home in the wake of the terror attacks in Brussels.And now it seems even his guests are sick of having him after dozens of human rights protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires to demand he leave Argentina.But instead of departing Obama chose to carry on regardless this evening as he attended a glitzy banquet alongside wife Michelle, Argentine President Mauricio Macri and first lady Juliana Awada.The foursome were pictured arriving at the Centro Cultural Kirchner, named after Argentina s former Prime Minister and Marci s predecessor, in the country s capital this evening.The group paused for a photo opportunity on a red carpet with Obama and Marci dressed in suits and Michelle and Awada in glamorous evening dresses.From there they made their way into a leafy candlelit courtyard for champagne, where Obama was pictured clinking glasses with Marci. Meanwhile a few streets away human rights protesters were busy burning American flags and demanding Obama leave the country. The protesters accuse America of backing dictatorial regimes during the Cold War in South America, including in Argentina, and hold the U.S. responsible for the thousands who died or were disappeared under their rule.Today marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Argentina that ushered in one of the most oppressive dictatorships in Latin American history, which demonstrators argue makes Obama s visit particularly offensive.Earlier in the day, Obama sought to deflect criticism of his foreign travel in the wake of Belgium s terror attacks, saying the U.S. must show ISIS that it does not have power over its citizens. We are strong, our values are right. You offer nothing, except death, Obama said of ISIS.Gesturing in the direction of Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, who was standing to his left at a joint news conference this afternoon in Buenos Aires, Obama said, It is important for the United States president and the United States government to be able to work with people who are building and who are creating things. We have to make sure that we lift up and stay focused, as well, on the things that are most important to us, he said. Because we re on the right side of history.","label":1}
{"text":"Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein has filed a lawsuit in federal court over the recount efforts in Pennsylvania. According to the complaint filed by Stein, Pennsylvania elections are a national disgrace. Voters are forced to use vulnerable, hackable, antiquated technology banned in other states, then rely on the kindness of machines, the complaint reads. There is no paper trail. Voting machines are electoral black sites: no one permits voters or candidates to examine them. Stein filed her lawsuit on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The suit questions if votes in the Keystone State were counted accurately and alleged that electronic voting machines in the state had serious cyber security problems. In the 2016 presidential election, rife with foreign interference documented by American intelligence agencies and hacks of voter rolls in multiple states, voters deserve the truth, reads the lawsuit.Stein was forced to drop her original bid for a recount in Pennsylvania on Saturday when a judge attached a $1 million price tag after Donald Trump requested a $10 million bond. Petitioners are regular citizens of ordinary means. They cannot afford to post the $1,000,000 bond required by the court, Stein s attorney wrote in a court filing.On Sunday, Stein tweeted that she was not done yet, though.On Monday, I will escalate #Recount2016 in PA and file to demand a statewide recount on constitutional grounds. The people deserve answers. Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) December 4, 2016Recounts in Wisconsin are already underway and early Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ordered recounts in Michigan to begin at noon.Trump won all three of these battleground states by narrow margins. Despite the fact that the recounts are unlikely to change the outcome of the election, Trump has fought against them vehemently, making many people wonder what the hell he is so afraid of. Trump unleashed multiple Twitter rants railing against Stein s push for recounts, and in one of these, he managed to unwittingly make the case for the recount efforts by claiming voter fraud. Sad.","label":1}
{"text":"2 Police Officers Turn In Badges In Support Of Standing Rock Water Protectors Nov 3, 2016 162 0  Earlier today it was reported by Redhawk at Standing Rock in North Dakota that two police officers have turned in their badges in support of the water protectors.  \"There have been at least 2 reports of police officers turning in their badges acknowledging that this battle is not what they signed up for. You can see it in some of them, that they do not support the police actions. We must keep reminding them they are welcome to put down their weapons and badge and take a stand against this pipeline as well. Some are waking up.\" -Redhawk Hearts are opening.  With actions from militarized police continuing to be seen as extremely violent and dangerous, this news is a big win for the water protectors and for humanity as a whole. While the actions of some police officers are not appropriate, we all must continue to visualize and intend\/pray that the hearts of all involved in this situation continue to open. Police must be held accountable for their actions, though we must continue to welcome them over to the side of the water protectors.  Having the police lay down their weapons and join the people is the goal. It is also a win-win solution, which is the best case scenario. So what is it that opened the hearts of these two officers?  At the time of this writing, the answer is not known but we can speculate on a few different items. Word is spreading quickly that there are 17 multi-national banks funding this pipeline and that the propaganda being spread about this deal \"creating American jobs\" or \"helping America's economy\" is being seen as just that, propaganda. The American people, as well as people of the world, know that the big banks and U.S. Government does not care for the people, but only themselves. These banks and the government showed their hand in 2008 when they were bailed out after the stock market crash, leaving the public to bear the economic and social burdens. Even the police are becoming aware of this fact that the government and banks do not care for them and see the police only as pawns in a bigger game the government wishes to control. Water is life is not just a meaningless slogan in many people's minds. It is becoming understood by more and more that water IS indeed life. If water becomes toxic, all life that depends on that water becomes toxic\u2026including the families of these same police officers who are currently protecting the construction sites. They too would be affected by toxic water. It is innately traumatizing for humans to hurt other humans. While we have been seeing this for some time now with this situation, police officers are realizing the harm they do when they assault an unarmed, peaceful water protector. In essence, peace is wanting and needing to be established.  Take a look at what happened in Frankfurt, Germany in May of 2012. The police removed their helmets and began marching with the people who were protesting the big banks, while also safely escorting them down the streets. The world continues to awaken.  Let us all use this latest news as a big step forward towards peace and resolution of this pipeline issue. The pipeline construction needs to and must stop. With the announcement from Barack Obama yesterday that the White House is considering \"re-routing\" the pipeline, we must continue to demand that it's construction cease entirely. We can also view that statement as a buckling of the Establishment. Continue on, water protectors. Truth and love is spreading .  Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and practices health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, a family member or a friend as well as view other inspiring articles.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump said this week if he went out on Fifth Avenue in New York and shot someone, he probably wouldn't lose any votes. He chose a pretty big someone \u2014 Fox News (whose offices are one block over from Fifth). Tune in to Thursday night's Republican debate on Fox (9 p.m. EST) in Iowa, the last one before Monday's caucuses, and you'll notice one very big elephant not in the room \u2014 Trump. The man who helped Fox to a record 24 million viewers in the first primary debate of this campaign season won't be there. He pulled out of the debate after getting into (what Trump-endorser Sarah Palin might call) a \"squirmish\" with Fox over its insistence on keeping anchor Megyn Kelly as a moderator. Trump thought Kelly treated him \"unfairly\" in the first debate. Fox didn't budge, and then mocked Trump, saying in a statement the network had \"learned from a back channel\" that Iran's and Russia's leaders were intent on treating Trump \"unfairly\" if he became president, and that Trump was planning on using \"his Twitter followers to see if he should\" go to Cabinet meetings. That was enough for Trump. He bailed, but upped the showmanship. He's holding his own alternative event \u2014 at the same time and just 3 miles away \u2014 a benefit for veterans. So, while Fox News hosts its debate, every other cable news network \u2014 which won't have broadcasting rights to the debate \u2014 will probably be airing the Trump event. No, this is not an \"Ambien Dream,\" as Karl Zahn, a New Hampshire stand-up comic (and Trump supporter) wondered aloud to New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers this week of Trump's campaign. This is very much real life. Here are some questions ahead of tonight's Split-Screen \"Squirmish\": 1. How much does Trump talk about the debate, Fox News and the GOP? This isn't what the Republican Party wanted when it began sanctioning and limiting debates following the 2012 presidential election. And it certainly didn't expect a blow-up like this with Fox News, of all the networks. The Republican National Committee wanted to control the message and protect its candidates (and brand), but that hasn't worked out so well. Trump, as it turns out, has been a bigger force and commands a louder megaphone than anyone else in the party. Just how much will he use it Thursday night at his veterans event? 2. Who exactly will Trump's event benefit \u2014 and how much will be raised? Charity events like this aren't exactly things that can be slapped together in 24 to 48 hours very efficiently. What will the energy be like? And who exactly will the money be going to? Trump has said maybe it should go to \"Wounded Warriors\" (the Wounded Warrior Project \u2014 the subject of controversy over its spending habits), but the press release just said a \"Special Event to Benefit Veterans Organizations.\" 3. What about the debate \u2014 how much will Trump come up? Trump won't even be at the debate, but he's already the dominant topic. There are two sides to this \u2014 the moderators and the candidates. You'd have to guess the moderators would have to say something about Trump's absence. (And no, there won't be an empty lectern, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer said on CNN Wednesday). And certainly a few candidates would like a free shot at Trump, especially his closest rival, Ted Cruz. The Texas senator even challenged Trump to a debate at a college in western Iowa on Saturday evening. And you know what they say about candidates who are asking for debates. (Hint: It comes as Cruz's poll numbers are slipping in the Hawkeye State.) 4. Who grabs the spotlight instead? There are still lots of storylines to play out at this debate. Cruz will now be in the center of the stage, and that means he might be the one everyone winds up going after. In earlier debates, Cruz held back. In the last debate, he showed why he was a champion college debater. But who's his foil without Trump on the stage? Others need to break through, too. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has quietly remained in third in Iowa and in the top three in New Hampshire, but his path is still hard to see. Rubio has had plenty of differences on these stages with other candidates (Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, for example). Can he show why Democrats seem to fear a Rubio nomination more than any other candidate? This has been an election dominated by the outsiders, thanks to more hard-line conservatives fed up with the system. In years past, the party has gotten that out of its system in Iowa and establishment picks have eventually emerged. This year is pointing in a different direction, but there are still others trying to be viable in that \"establishment\" lane: \u2014 Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the latest to have some momentum in New Hampshire. This debate may be in Iowa, but it's being broadcast to a national audience. And you can bet Kasich's target will be some 1,300 miles east. On caucus night, he'll already be in the Granite State, not Iowa. \u2014 Bush has been on his last legs for a while, but he was more relaxed in the last debate. He has certainly taken on Trump, and he'll likely do so again, even if Trump's not on the stage. \u2014 Christie had a solid performance in his last debate. He'll probably mix it up again. 6. Is Trump really the \"Teflon Don\" of this race? There's some risk for Trump in not going to the debate. He can look presumptuous, entitled and untouchable. Maybe he really is the \"Teflon Don\" of this race. It's certainly not what a typical front-runner would do. That candidate would play it safe, have a good debate and position himself to win the first two contests. But that's not Trump's style. He doesn't just play it big. He plays it HUGE. And that's what he's doing again. So, will Iowans feel snubbed? Or more precisely, will Iowans who have been supporting him to big numbers suddenly start to peel off? That's pretty unlikely. He can argue he's not snubbing Iowa; he's snubbing Fox, which in and of itself is pretty remarkable considering the role Fox plays in Republican politics and conservative circles. Some candidate might figure out a way to use Trump's absence as an opportunity. But the likelihood, again, is Trump will spin this into a win, as the other candidates are forced to participate in a game without the star player whom everyone came to see.","label":0}
{"text":"Richard W. Painter wrote in a New York Times an op-ed: The F.B.I.'s job is to investigate, not to influence the outcome of an election.  Such acts could also be prohibited under the Hatch Act, which bars the use of an official position to influence an election. That is why the F.B.I. presumably would keep those aspects of an investigation confidential until after the election. The usual penalty for a violation is termination of federal employment.  And that is why, on Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics. I have spent much of my career working on government ethics and lawyers' ethics, including two and a half years as the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, and I never thought that the F.B.I. could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week.  This is the second complaint to be filed against FBI Director Comey. The Democratic Coalition Against Trump has also filed a complaint against Comey for interfering in a presidential election as a federal employee.  Suspicion around Comey's actions has grown as the FBI Director is not expected to make any additional statements on this matter before the presidential election. Director Comey appears to have set himself for problems after the election as Senate Democrats are making it known that they are open to holding hearings to investigate the FBI investigation if they win back the Senate majority.  Unless Trump wins and Republicans take control of Congress, Director Comey is going to have to answer for his decisions.  As the complaints pile up, it looks like Congressional testimony may be the least of James Comey's future problems.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump made a plea to naval officers at a ceremony recently, practically begging them to support him politically and it s landed him in hot water. According to retired Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, the move was completely amateur and grossly inexperienced. Trump had made this disgusting display while he dedicated the USS Gerald R. Ford. He completely went off message by demanding that the military audience support his extremely unpopular, unethical health care bill, which would strip health care from 22 million people and cut Medicaid drastically. In his speech, Trump subjected his audience to his truly embarrassing behavior when he said: Call those senators to make sure you get health care. This morning on MSNBC s AMJoy, Wilkerson blasted Trump for this blatantly inappropriate message at the military event. When host Joy-Ann Reid asked Wilkerson what he thought of Trump asking the troops to support his political agenda, Wilkerson issued this brutal takedown during the show: This is just another indication that this man is grossly inexperienced. He s an amateur, he doesn t know what he s doing, he doesn t know the law, he doesn t know custom, he doesn t know protocol. You don t tell your troops, as commander-in-chief, to do something political. You can watch this moment below:COL. WILKERSON on this #Trump clip: It s just another indication that this man is grossly inexperienced. #AMJoy https:\/\/t.co\/1ncYcVGzVb AM Joy w\/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) July 23, 2017For a retired Army Colonel to note his own disgust with Trump s ridiculous authoritarian style of leadership is major. Trump sees nothing wrong with asking everyone to bend to his will and follow him without question or resistance, despite the fact that Trump s agenda and presidency is as unpopular as it s ever been. Colonel Wilkerson knows exactly how dangerous leaders like Trump can be, and America should listen to his words.","label":1}
{"text":"Under the gaze of a life-sized cardboard figure of Donald Trump, some 200 of his supporters gathered at an exclusive club near the Ritz hotel in London to celebrate Friday's inauguration of America's 45th president. Bunches of red, white and blue balloons, some of them star-shaped, adorned the walls of the Royal Over-Seas League where Trump's appearance on the balcony outside the domed U.S. Capitol was greeted with whooping and cheering. As he completed the oath, the room broke into a standing ovation complete with high-five celebrations. Later, Trump's inaugural speech was punctuated with cheers, especially his pledge to eradicate \"radical Islamic terrorism\", while at the end the room chorused along with Trump's trademark promise to make America great again. \"The speech was great - Mr Trump just touched the most important subjects for America,\" said Polish-born university professor Victoria Gorska-Rabuck. \"His speech was very appropriate, very uplifting and promises a lot. We hope he can deliver what he promised,\" she told Reuters. Businessman David Pattinson said he thought Trump would be a successful president. \"I think he'll succeed in cutting government spending although I don't know whether he will be successful in getting rid of the establishment,\" he said. \"I wasn't surprised when he won, I was satisfied,\" he added. \"I was expecting him to win. It was the same with Brexit in how the polls got it wrong.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Center-left presidential candidate Alejandro Guillier conceded the Chilean presidency to billionaire conservative Sebastian Pinera on Sunday, as Chile followed other South American nations making a political turn to the right. With 96.31 percent of votes counted in the world s top copper producer, former president and market favorite Pinera had won 54.57 percent of ballots, according to electoral agency Servel. Guillier had 45.43 percent. Guillier recognized a harsh defeat but urged Pinera to continue with outgoing center-left President Michelle Bachelet s reforms.","label":0}
{"text":"Breitbart News is the #45th most trafficked website in the United Sates, according to rankings from Amazon's analytics company, Alexa. com. [With over two billion pageviews generated in 2016 and 45 million unique monthly visitors, Breitbart News has now surpassed Fox News (#47) Huffington Post (#50) Washington Post (#53) and Buzzfeed (#64) in traffic. \"The numbers speak for themselves,\" said Breitbart News President and CEO Larry Solov. \"Our 2017 global expansion strategy is hands down the most aggressive growth initiative in the history of the company. We're making major capital investments to execute a series of new offerings \u2014 one of which Breitbart will announce this week. \" One driver of the company's explosive traffic trajectory has been its dominance across social media. Breitbart has the number one political Facebook and Twitter pages in the world, according to analytics giant NewsWhip. Yet unlike many competitors, says Breitbart News Alex Marlow, the company's primary traffic is not disproportionately beholden to social media it comes from destination traffic. \"Establishment media \u2014 the same folks who laughed off Donald Trump \u2014 are mystified by what makes Breitbart the powerhouse we've become,\" said Marlow. \"We've built an authentic, community where people come to hang out to join in the conversation that's taking place 24 hours a day. \" Marlow added: \"It's a beautiful, loud, intensely savvy 45 community where we read reporting devoid of establishment spin and then discuss, debate, and share what it all means with the world. \" When Breitbart relaunched its website in 2012, the publisher generated roughly 12 million pageviews a month. Today, Breitbart receives more pageviews in a single month than it previously did in an entire year. That trend is likely to continue globally. With bureaus in London, Jerusalem, Washington, California, and Texas, Breitbart is in the process of establishing news bureaus in France and Germany.","label":0}
{"text":"As we are watching names being floated as part of Donald Trump s cabinet, it seems our greatest nightmares are beginning to unfold. The names being bandied about include Rudy Giuliani, who s never met a young black man he didn t think was a criminal, Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase and of crashing the economy fame, a Goldman Sachs exec, Sarah Palin and now, a puppy hater. Yes, a puppy hater.According to Politico, the top name for the Secretary of the Interior (the person in charge of the national parks and other public lands) is an oilman named Forrest Lucas. The San Francisco Gate also notes that other contenders include Sarah Palin, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Donald Trump Jr., who loves to trophy hunt.All of those picks would be disastrous for the environment, but Lucas is in a league of his own. He s the 74-year-old founder of Lucas Oil Products. He s also hated by animal rights activists. The victims of his financial attacks include the Humane Society, The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He s also a fan of puppy mills.He has defended puppy mills, circuses, animal agriculture and trophy hunting. A nonprofit that he founded and bankrolled produced the feature film The Dog Lover, which portrays dog breeders and puppy mills as victims of animal-rights agencies who aren t REALLY interested in animal welfare. A review of the movie on Roger Ebert s website called it shamelessly manipulative and a pretty bald piece of anti-SPCA and\/or PETA propaganda. This is what the Humane Society says about Lucas:In 2010, Forrest Lucas spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to bankroll the opposition to Proposition B in Missouri, which voters approved to set common-sense standards for the care of dogs in large-scale commercial breeding operations (their statement against Prop B can be found here). Lucas then supported an effort in the Missouri legislature to weaken and repeal parts of the voter-approved measure, before it even had a chance to take effect.In 2012, Forrest Lucas spent more than a quarter-million dollars opposing Measure 5 in North Dakota, which sought to establish felony-level penalties for malicious cruelty to dogs, cats and horses.In 2013, Protect the Harvest lobbied against a local ordinance in Harrison County, Indiana, to promote the spaying and neutering of pets and help reduce pet overpopulation, and in Crawford County, Indiana, to provide adequate shelter for dogs and protect them from the elements.Trump has made his views on regulation very clear. Trump, to our knowledge, has never had a pet. That may or may not be a big deal to you, but he once posted a press release that complained about regulations that protect the safety of dog food.It s becoming increasingly clear that Donald Trump only cares about protecting his fortune and the fortunes of his ilk. He won t care if people lose health insurance or if seniors lose Social Security. He won t care if the nation loses its precious public lands or if the environment goes to hell. Trump ran for president for Trump. Humans, dogs, plants and other animals can get screwed.","label":1}
{"text":"White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday he believed the House of Representatives was still on track to hold a vote on Thursday night on healthcare legislation backed by President Donald Trump. Spicer, at his daily news briefing, said Trump's meeting with House Republican conservatives who make up the \"Freedom Caucus\" was a \"very positive step\" and that Trump continues to build support for the legislation. \"I expect it to climb hour by hour,\" Spicer said of support for the Republican healthcare effort. He said drawing conservative support while not alienating moderate lawmakers remained part of a \"balancing act.\"","label":0}
{"text":"One of Donald Trump's sons appeared along with a white supremacist while giving an interview on a conservative radio show, adding to concerns that the front-runner in the battle to be the Republican candidate in November's presidential election is willing to accept support from extremist supporters. Donald Trump Jr., who is actively campaigning for his father, gave an interview on Tuesday on \"Liberty Roundtable,\" a conservative Utah-based radio show hosted by Sam Bushman. During the show he was questioned by James Edwards, another radio host whose show \"The Political Cesspool\" is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a leading U.S. civil rights group, as \"racist and anti-Semitic.\" During the interview, conducted over the telephone, Trump Jr. talked about what a good father Donald Trump was and how his campaign is changing the Republican Party. \"It's not a campaign anymore, it's a movement,\" he told his interviewers. (here) Edwards said on his blog on Tuesday he would rebroadcast the 20-minute interview on Saturday on \"The Political Cesspool.\" here The show, founded in 2005 and syndicated by Bushman's Liberty News Radio organization, has featured such extremists as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Holocaust denier Willis Carto. Edwards also said on his blog he had attended a Memphis rally for the billionaire candidate as a credentialed media member last Saturday. The Trump campaign, asked about an interview in the presence of the Tennessee-based Edwards, denied any knowledge of it. The campaign also said it did not know about Edwards' personal views. \"The campaign provided media credentials to everyone that requested access to the event on Saturday in Memphis. There were close to 200 reporters in attendance and we do not personally vet each individual. The campaign had no knowledge of his personal views and strongly condemns them. \"Donald Trump Jr. was not in attendance and although he served as a surrogate for his father on several radio programs over the past week, to his knowledge and that of the campaign, he did not participate in an interview with this individual,\" campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email. Edwards, in an email, directed questions about the interview to Bushman, but said in a statement: \"My show, The Political Cesspool, promotes a proud, paleoconservative Christian worldview, and we reject media descriptions of our work as \"white supremacist,\" \"pro-slavery\" and other such scare words. \"As I clearly wrote in yesterday's article, in no way should anyone interpret our press credentialing and subsequent interview with Donald Trump, Jr. as any kind of endorsement by the Trump campaign.\" Donald Trump won a majority of the states holding nominating contests on Super Tuesday, accelerating his march to the Republican nomination. He has promised to build a wall on the Mexican border, temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and block Syrian refugees because they might be militants, all policies popular with some U.S. right-wing groups. Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday condemned white supremacist groups after Trump earlier failed to disavow support for former Klan leader Duke, but the leaders declined further comment on Trump's White House bid. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said any Republican nominee must reject any group \"built on bigotry\" while Senate leader Mitch McConnell said Senate Republicans condemned groups such as the Klan and \"everything they stand for.\" (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"Get short URL 0 8 0 0 A parliamentary inquiry reports that there are four Ku Klux Klan-affiliated groups currently operating in Germany. \u00a9 AP Photo\/ Markus Schreiber Strangers in Their Homeland: Germans Leaving Germany En Masse Due to Migrants While the groups have very low membership, they are suspected of committing at least 68 crimes in Germany since 2001. Their members also include at least two police officers, though it remains unclear whether they are still on the force. \"The low membership numbers cannot discount the danger that emanates from such organizations,\" Left Party politician Monika Renner told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.  Germany is currently seeing a surge in hate crimes following the acceptance of an estimated one million refugees last year. The Bundesamt f\u00fcr Verfassungsschutz (BfV), Germany's intelligence agency, recorded 990 hate crimes in 2014, and 1,408 in 2015.  The BfV also recorded 75 arson attacks on refugee centers in 2015. There were just five such attacks in 2014. \u00a9 AFP 2016\/ Sven Hoppe \"One thing is clear \u2013 a state under the rule of law can never accept racist violence. We need to do everything we can to quickly catch the perpetrators and rigorously punish them,\" German Justice Minister Heiko Maas stated. Amnesty International has stated that their researchers observed an 87 percent increase in hate crimes between 2013-2015. \"With hate crimes on the rise in Germany, long-standing and well-documented shortcomings in the response of law enforcement agencies to racist violence must be addressed,\" Marco Perolini, Amnesty International's European Union researcher, stated . \"There are many factors that point to the existence of institutional racism with German law enforcement agencies. This question needs to asked, and it needs to be answered\u2026 This is not a time for complacency, but for law enforcement agencies to take a long, hard look in the mirror.\"  The nation has also seen a rise in sexual assault, theft, and rape, especially by people with refugee status. There has been a noticeable uptick since the mass attacks on New Year's Eve in Cologne. ...","label":1}
{"text":"I am a rock n roll nigger https:\/\/youtu.be\/G8SoVfTVLrk Daniel W. McCullar  As a mix blood American, any time I hear someone in the black community use the N word in any way or form, I hear and see ignorance. When I hear someone outside the black community use it, I see nothing less than a disease spreading. It is a term that should be nothing less than unacceptable. No other racial group uses derogatory terminology to describe themselves. Using the excuse that you are taking control of it is a Bullshit Juvenile excuse. Jay  Thanks for the comment my nigga Guy  Although I am not hispanic, I understand the slang pretty well and have employed many over the years !  You would be surprised at the what comes out of there mouths about, blacks and whites, including thouse who come from other Countries in South America, as well there feelings and attitudes of anyone they consider different in appearance !  We as the white race, don't have anywhere near the market cornered, as to racial predigest and racism in general. Just ask the Jews or Palestinians about that !  We just understand it more from our own little perspective of the world around us, but it is prevalent all over no matter where you happen to be at or from ! Mr.864  She said the in N word on Facebook bet she don't have the guts to say it in person further more for every white racist that call blacks N word that don't offend us you wanna know y u don't have to be black to be call a N word we as black people use it to insult our ancestors then we think it's cool for whites to say it truth be told white people are Niggas also u wanna know why well look the word up and u will see we are not niggas we are negros nigga or niggas is jus another word for stupid dumb and ignorance so look at u now who the nigga now um damn shame for a fucked up world Guy  So what do you consider a white Honkey or Cracker to be ? Considering I was one who watched the original Archie Bunker and Gladys shows and thought they were great. I never liked Gov Wallace and thought what the cops did in Selma Alabama and Little Rock was just wrong ! I have always believed Mr King was right, while thinking that Sharpton and Jackson are in it just for the Money and political opportunities and believe the the BLM has done some good, but has been hijacked by out side influence, that sees political gain to be won, on the behalf of Hillary, who I think will absolutely destroy the intercity's, by keeping herself and her kind in power, over the backs of African Americans and others, she deems deporables ! Mr.864  I'm not racist I'm jus stating facts why whites get mad when they came out with BLACK LIVES MATTERS . Then they say they are thugs an terrorist how so when whites rally up and sit at the store and everywhere else with a bunch of bikers but they tell the blacks oh they in a bike club shitting me half of them KKK if not all police is the biggest gang of America they get mad cause we sale drugs truth be told the police the one putting drugs on the streets we don't own boats plans for that matter to go get drugs at the end of the day the world is jus fucked up period Mr.864  Further more fuck Jessie Jackson I'm from Greenville to he ain't did shit for that community beside rebuild his old apt complex and added his name on where was he when the police killed my friend in fountain inn SC an took him back to the jail after the fact he was dam near dead then tried to say he hung himself where the justice for that Guy  Mr.864. Just about every Black Man, Woman and Child in N.& S. Carolina knows that, Justice lives in the bottom of every toilet in every jail, in just about every Southern State, in the South, that the white cracker shits in and calls it truth !  Now we as the whites, have learned to refine the obvous racism that still exist, to the point of having a Black President to make it look legit for the world to see !  What do you suppose President Putin see's when he shakes hands with Obama, just a man or a black man ?  Personally I belive that racism is part of the our genetic make up, considering man has been making slaves for many thousands of years, out of all races, including white and black !  I just don't act upon my inherited prejudice, nor choose to pass it on to my children.  I think that is what makes the difference. Realizing it's there, but choosing not to act on the difference, is what separates me from the others. Who, just make lip service to there ingrained predigest, while knowing full well, they don't believe a word that comes out of there mouths !  When I see you, I see a black man, who is just as frail or strong as i am, wanting the same as I do in life and just asking for the chance to work for it !  If on the other hand, if you are a white or black thug or punk gang banger, it dosen't matter, you will be treated as such ! Mr.864  You right I never said u was wrong one time we both are human we both have and opinion at the end u see things your way I see things my way I know u not racist u know I'm not racist but at the end of the day can u say u can live in a black community with u jus being the only white people in the neighborhood check this my home paid for own my land also tell me y a police sit by my yard asking me ? Bout the white guy in my yard and then start to as random? Do u think it's right with out the proper cause Guy  No, I don't think I want to live were you do, considering I am too damn old and set in my way's to want to, besides I don't think my wife is going to want to move quite yet ! My oldest son moved to Alaska a few years ago with his wife and dogs and they enjoy it a lot, both got good jobs and doing well, even bought a house on a acre of land, for about half of what you would pay for one around one here, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Brentwood was once know as a red necked farming town of about 1100 people, when I was a kid growing up here. My family have been farming for generations. The hispanics were our hired labors living in labor camps, and the blacks were shown the City limit lines by the police !  My Mom was considered progressive and we had a black nanny named Pearly, live with us for many years durring the summers, while Mom ran the ranch. I loved her much, she was a good woman, as wide as she was tall, would read to me and my sister, and made incredible apple pies. I first meet her when I was 2 living in Richmond CA, to when we moved here in the mid 50's, into the house my Mom built, that I still live in today. Pearly's children came to my sisters wedding.  Now, Brentwood is a City of 50.000, I don't recognise it any longer, but it's core is still farming. There are black families living on my street, in houses built where there were once orchards, and going to the schools I did. I have a family I would consider white trailer trash, living in the house next door, that once had garden tour buses come to see the yard and have tea parties !  My attitude is, people are people. I really don't give a damn who you are, be respectful of me and keep up your home and property to show your pride in ownership and you should expect the same from me ! We can be friends and neighbors, sharing a beer at a barbecue I throw on July 4th and at Christmas, and go fishing once in a while in my bass boat !  As to the other thing you mentioned, I think about Cops being randomly nosey, asking about me because I was the white guy sitting in your yard in a all black neighborhood ? What fucking business is it of his ? If he asked me, I would politely tell him to go F off and then shut the hell up !f he pushed it, there would be complaints filed against him the next day and perhaps speeking to his Chief and maybe the City Counsel as well, depending on the situation ! It's not a good idea to piss me off, cause I not only get mad, I get even too ! Mr.864  Get mad about what that's childish to get mad cause we voice our opinion my dad married to a white women my uncle married to a white women Im white a women an u know what we bout to get married my neighbor are not bad I don't stay in a violent neighborhood everyone stay on my road is family members at the end of the day I ask do u think the police was right for asking me ? In my yard I'm 33 I know right from wrong also Guy  I am a little confused, which is not hard to do.  I think you are asking me, if it was okay that, the cop's who had stopped outside of your yard, ask you over, and question you about some white guy, who was in your yard, visiting with you ? Correct ?  If that is right ? then my answer is NO ! HELL NO !! Unless the guy is a known gangster with a rap sheet a mile long ! And even then, there are way's and means for the Cop's to go about there business to conduct there investigations, with out asking people about there's. That's why the Detectives make the big bucks, to covertly investigate, with out shooting off the alarm bells !  For some local flat foot to come up to you on your own property, and start pumping you for information, with out any justifiable cause is against your Constatutional rights, illegal, immoral and he can go take a flying leap off a short bridge !  I know it's done all the time, and cops seem to have every excuse in the book to want to try it.  But my point is simply to smile at him, tell him to have a nice day and walk away, you don't ow him a thing. If he still wants to push it, then tell him you don't have to talk to him, unless your lawyer is present ! That will usually set them running !  I see too many stories about people getting into all sorts of trouble, because they start flapping there gums, thinking they are cool, and just digging an even deeper hole for themselves to fall in.  Cop's know from training, how to push our buttons, and rely on our own stupidity to sink our boat as the results ! Mr.864  Yes he did I was asking u do u think he was in the right Guy  Damn Dude ! I was afraid you were going to tell me that this actually happened to you !?  It totally freaks me, that it could and would, but dosen't really surprise me anymore that it does, considering that many City's had \"Stop & Frisk\" on the books untill only recently ! But supposedly it has been done away with, according to the Court's recent rulings. Fat chance of that really happening. Cops will just come up with a new way of doing there thing of harassing people, for there :Fishing For A Crime\" scene.  I am sorry that it has, and wish I could do something to stop it ! Knowing that, because of the color of my skin, is probably the only reason why it doesn't or hasn't to me ! Except when I was a kid living in Berkeley CA, then I got hassled by the cops quite a bit, because of the hair down to my butt, they all thought I was a drugged out hippy, which a lot of the time, was true. I got slammed around by them quite a bit, shot at and gassed a few times, then arrested and served time in jail and probation, for things that now are not considered a crime anymore ! For some of the crap I use to do and the people I ran with, I am lucky to be still breathing.  Unfortunately that is the times we all live in, and certainly it is unfair to you to be victimised because of it. I hope you filed a complant against this ass hole to seek retrabutin !! Mr.864  I understand that I've did things in my life I'm not happy bout can't sleep at nite the nightmare i have I jus take it one day at a time and think God I'm still breathing truth be told I almost lost my life 5 times before I was 20 and the only thing slowed me down from the streets is my first son he's 13 now my middle son 11 and my baby boy is 6 and I have a lil girl that jus turned 1 so I thank God a lot cause I have something to live for haven't been to a club in 15yrs it feels good to be out the streets and doing some good for a change only thing I have did to make my life complete is going back to church but I'll go when I'm ready but I do read the Bible so there for I don't forget where I come from I respect u and don't know u it's actually good we had this chat everything u told me I took that inconsideration truly I thank u I don't know everything but I don't mind listen Mr.864  I stop dealing drugs a few yrs ago actually until I find a job that pays 14 a hr when my ma first found out she had cancer I use to make sure I would not go home unless I had 5000 a week in my pocket to help my ma with her medical bills and medicine she fought that cancer for 10yrs right before she died 6 yrs ago I promise her I wouldn't sale anymore and that was a promise I keep 20,000 at the end of the month I had to put in a lot of blood and tears for what I did and my ma was not proud of the blood money I was bringing into the home but when she seen what I was actually doing with my money I think she respect me to a certain degree and i accepted that sometimes she would accept nothing from me I've been locked up 8 times and started dealing weed,coke,guns,pills at the age of 12 honestly my ma use to beat me when she found out but I never stopped I caught my first charge at 21 by the time I was 25 I had did everything I could possibly do I think I had a good run in life I never had my father after the fact he was a big time drug dealer and him and ma got a divorce and he got on his on product and lost everything he been sober for 18 yrs he doing good but I never hated him for what he did in life actually it made me stronger I had a step dad but only he was good for is taking me fishing far talking to bout men things he did cause he didn't know how to cause he had 6 girls but at the end of the day he raised me from the time I was 6 until he passed he was good man in his own ways and till this day I thank God for each parent I had in my life with No regrets I jus wish the world become a better place Guy  Hey ! At least you are still alive, and hopefully clean and sober, with a family that loves you ! That, is a lot more than some of the people you knew when, you were running the streets, i'll bet. Consider yourself Mr.864 to be blessed !  Never a father figure in my life, just a strong willed, old fashioned, no nonsense Mom, who drove her father into Oakland from Brentwood everyday at the age of 13 in 1924. She introduced me to the YMCA in Oakland when I was 13. Took a lot of backpacking trips with them, to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, to visit the Havasupai Indians that lived there, hiked all over California Montana, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Europe. Backpacking and hiking, should be a mandatory class in H.S., especially to inter-city kids, who never get out and see the real world, except concrete pavement and maybe a city park !  I understand why you did, what you did, you will receive no condemnation from me for it ! Some of the people I ran with were totally vicious animals to the point of, wondering if they were at all human or not ! Hell's Angels, and there bud's, were some I knew and partied with, in the late 60's while living on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley, even ran into some original Black Panthers along the way, now thouse guys were freaky and strange, always talking about revolution and wanting to blow white people up !  What saved me was, getting the hell out of there, moving to a small town in the mountains, finishing my college education there, later meeting a good woman, who put up with my Bs and marrying her, we have been together 43 years, produced two fine son's, that are a joy to us. I became a small business man as owner, operator of a landscape contracting company for 35 years, first working for retail and wholesale nurseries and other landscape companies to gain experience. Never went into farming with the family, my brother was the one who did that with my Mom, my sister has her life with her husband 40 years. But to say, I was born with dirt under my fingernails and will probably die that way, is close to the truth, sometimes I rather talk to plants than people, because it's easer that way, and they don't give me grief like people do.  Hey ! If you want to shoot me an email sometime, I am not against it. I can be reached at [email protected] After all, this is a open and public forum, and maybe you are not all that comfortable as the result. Suit yourself. Mr.864  I'm still alive cause god showed me away.where I didn't have to hold people for ransom or in a drug trade shoot out all the time he made me realize I was only making memories in the streets.but I'll never think I'll live to tell a lot of people who didn't know me my life style jus feel like before some of the White's judge us blacks they should actually look at the community we lived in if we lived in a drug neighborhood it wasn't by choice that's for damn sure we adapted to the fine cars clothes and everything that came with it only thing about it a small price came with also Guy  Good to hear. Now what are you doing ? Mr.864  Doing father dutys Guy  So what 's that for you ? What line of work are you in, how many rug rats you got running around, your wife work or is she a stay at home mom ? What's the town or City like you live in ! Got any hobbies, or are you sports nut's  Just curious, is all, sure it's none of my busies and mean no offence or none taken, if you don't want to talk. Guy  I hope your education dose not reflect the way you write. But if it dose, god help us all, because you are the next generation and inheritors of what has been left, to you, so you can build onto it for the, betterment of the future generations ( your children and there children's children ) to come ! Mr.864  As long as I graduated from high school I'm happy long as my job allow me to bring him 15 to 1600 every two weeks I'm happy my education ain't got nothing to with how I shorten my word like everyone else in life I be willing to bet I go to a interview and talk jus like the white people and come out with a job didn't know education had to do with the problems thats going on in the world all my kids straight A students what about your kids are they me speaking my thoughts and opinions don't have nothing do with how I write I'm not in school anymore I feel I shouldn't have to prove shit to no one but my self and my kids Guy  Of course you are a proud father and well you should be. Don't we all as parents, want and expect our children to be better than we were ? I think that is only natural.  My son's both graduated from Collage and are set in there lives, both in there early 30's, one married and living in Alaska working as a City Planner and the other is still here at home, finishing up his education. Cheaper that way.  There mother and I din't get past a two year community collage degree, with me going into business as a landscape contractor 35 years.  You are right, your education has nothing to do with any of the crap that occurring. You don't have anything to prove to me and your thoughts and opinions are just that, Your's alone, and who the hell am I to criticise !?  Mr.864. You talk the way you want and feel comfortable in, and i will just listen and offer commentary once in awhile, if it's okay with you. Mr.864  I like listening to older people it makes me more wiser an not dumb like some American u only have wisdom from being wise Hugh Culliton  Call me pre-millennial, but I find it baffling that anyone, regardless of where they think it'll go, would lack the judgement to realize that creating a permanent record of such potentially personally damaging actions IS A TERRIBLY STUPID THING TO DO?  In addition to unprofessional conduct, she should also have been fired for such criminal idiocy. Guy  I don't agree at all ! Or, perhaps it comes from your firm belief that, you have never done something dumb, rash or saying something that would be considered even remotely offencive, by someone else ? Hmmm ! Hugh Culliton  On the contrary \u2013 it's precisely BECAUSE I know that I've done and said dumb things, and that the recording of such things makes them vulnerable to being hacked, that I find it baffling that one would want such personal \u2013 and completely normal \u2013 incidents of lack of judgement permanently recorded on-line.  We live in the world of total on-line, or even on-networked-computer collection of data. As a high school teacher, I deal with this every time I teach teens internet safety. That's why I see it as being a generational trend by people who've grown up with their entire lives on line. Such an environment means that, while on the up-side, we can out trolls, racist LEOs and nasty pedophiles, it also means that everyone need to be very, very careful with all data and information they store on-line.  However, in this case we have someone \u2013 not acting as a private citizen \u2013 but as a uniformed representative of the state \u2013 in a time of very tense relations between law enforcement and the public, taking personal images of a highly offensive nature. Mistake or not \u2013 it's out there, and this action still betrays a serious lack of the judgement expected from a law enforcement officer. Guy  She, and everyone else who speaks in public !  Trump has been made keenly aware of that fact, as the results of what he said 20 yrs ago, is now coming back to bite him, as well Clinton !  Thank's for taking the time to further explain your point, and now that you have. I tend to agree with you, although I still believe that the treatment to this young and naive lady, was harsh !  But considering she works in a public tax supported office, it's to be expected. To bad she din't have the common sense to see it ! Hill Billy","label":1}
{"text":"One of the commissioners on the Federal Trade Commission, Julie Brill, will resign and leave the U.S. agency at the end of March, the FTC said in a statement on Tuesday. Brill, a Democrat with expertise in privacy and consumer protection, has been on the commission since 2010. She will step down effective March 31 and will go to the law firm Hogan Lovells, where she will be co-lead of their global privacy and cybersecurity practice. \"I've loved every minute that I've spent doing public service. I'm now looking forward to a new challenge after 26 years,\" Brill said in a telephone interview. Brill's departure leaves the commission, which should have five commissioners, with just three. It is headed by Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, a Democrat. The other members are Terrell McSweeny, also a Democrat, and Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican.","label":0}
{"text":"A Texas Imam agrees with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump s controversial suggestion that America set-up a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until further investigation can be done. The Imam also said there should be a ban of Syrian refugees of any religion.The Imam, Nidal Alsayyed, who leads a Beaumont, Texas, mosque agrees with both Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.Governor Abbott called for a halt to relocation of Syrian refugees into Texas after the Paris terrorist attacks. He also called upon President Obama to stop the importation of these refugees into the U.S., as reported by Breitbart Texas Bob Price.12 News On Monday Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country s representatives can figure out what is going on, as reported by Breitbart News.Trump said, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. Trump issued a statement saying that Americans need to understand radicals within Islam before the government authorizes them to come into the country, as reported by Breitbart News.Alsayyed, the Imam from east Texas told his local television station, I certainly see it to be wise [to] stop temporarily accepting any new Muslim immigrants [refugees and non-refugees] into the United States. Alsayyed leads the Islamic Center of Triplex. He said the halt applies to new refugees of any religion and he does not believe that taking this action is unconstitutional. The Muslim religious leader said these actions are acceptable when it comes to peace and safety. He also added, This should not prevent the United States to fulfill its duties towards international partners. The Texas Imam said, It does not matter whether Trump said it or anyone else American Muslims need to say we are with this country. He also said they should raise the American flag in support of the nation. He continued, We American Muslims need to be sincere in our religion and to the country we are living in. Peace comes before religion. We need to be truthful and transparent when we express a viewpoint or feedback. It does not matter whether Trump said it or anyone else, he said.When challenged on his comments the Imam responded in a comment via Facebook saying:I only said what I believe is right. Trump is not against American Muslims; He is against any new Muslim immigrants (refugees and non-refugees)! There is a big difference here! We cannot be emotional.I believe there is a great confusion and lack of understating nationally and among Muslim themselves for what Mr. Trump is calling for. Refugees in general have no clear identity or belief. They are seeking shelter and opportunity; but America cannot take this risk NOW!My advice to trump to stop differentiating among Christian vs. Muslim refugees; only because he may get surprised to see all refugees claiming to be Christians!The east Texas imam made local headlines last December when he denounces ISIS and their ruthless conduct. 12NewsNow anchor Kevin Steele asked Alsayyed if he would denounce ISIS. He strongly replied, Come on, no human being would accept this type of animal behavior. This is like, this is completely, it doesn t belong to any religion this ISIS. In Trump s statement on Monday, he noted a Center for Security Policy poll showing there are segments of the Muslim population that hate U.S. citizens. The poll showed that 25 percent of the Muslims polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as part of the global jihad. Fifty-one percent of those polled agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed by Shariah. Breitbart News has also reported that The Economist\/You Gov poll published in late November shows that Americans strongly oppose Muslim immigration into America. The poll showed that of those likely to vote in a primary election, approximately 30 percent believe that all, most, or more than half of Muslims worldwide support the Islamic State (ISIS).An Ipsos poll in mid-September revealed that even before the Paris terrorist attacks, public support for allowing more Middle East refugees into the country crashed once Americans understood the enormous numbers of refugees, as reported by Breitbart News.Before the San Bernardino, California, attacks, a full 61 percent opposed Obama s refugee program, as reported by Breitbart News John Nolte.","label":1}
{"text":"In this News Shot, Joe Joseph explains how the UK and Spain have experienced economic recoveries since they have kicked the globalists out of leadership. Spain hasn't had a government in over 300 days! This runs contrary to what all the \"experts\" and fearmongers warned prior to the people of these nations taking the power back! Watch on YouTube  Sources  UK Economy Grows 0.5% in Three Months After Brexit Vote  Why Is Spain's Economy Expanding So Robustly Without a Government? Delivered by The Daily Sheeple  We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).  Contributed by Lily Dane of The Daily Sheeple .  Lily Dane is a staff writer for The Daily Sheeple. Her goal is to help people to \"Wake the Flock Up!\"","label":1}
{"text":"Republicans are rarely as exercised as when they are fighting with themselves. And as the House debates how to best dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a familiar array of interest groups with deep pockets, incensed talk radio hosts and online agitators is again assuming its posture of aggression toward the House Republican leadership. \"Swampcare,\" the writer and radio personality Erick Erickson scoffed at the new American Health Care Act, the culmination of seven years of promises to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement. \"Obamacare 2. 0,\" declared Breitbart. com. \"RINOCARE,\" Mark Levin wrote on Twitter, using the acronym for Republican in Name Only. Political groups backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch and other powerful players on the right, such as Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America, have come out quickly and strongly against the bill. Some have threatened to punish lawmakers by docking their conservative ratings on the influential \"scorecards\" they distribute to voters. Activists are already swarming Capitol Hill and demanding that Congress take a harder line and pass a repeal measure that would leave no trace of the Affordable Care Act. \"I feel lied to,\" said Anna Beavon Gravely, the deputy state director of the North Carolina chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a group that is funding a push against Republicans in Congress who want to stop short of an outright repeal. \"We trusted you because you said you were going to do something about this. And this is not it. Not even close,\" she added as she prepared to set out for the offices of North Carolina lawmakers with other activists from her state. The displeasure is forcing an uncomfortable reckoning in the Republican Party much earlier and in a much more disruptive way than many think is constructive. And it has many conservatives asking why \u2014 now that they control both houses of Congress and the White House and have remained largely united so far \u2014 they are picking a fight with each other. The criticism from the right has grown so harsh that President Trump asked leaders of several conservative groups in an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday to tone it down. He was especially troubled, one participant said, by the comparisons of the plan to \"Obamacare lite,\" which he said was inaccurate and harmful to their shared cause of gutting the current law. One senior White House official described the meeting as \"tough. \" Referring to the president, the official said: \"He listened. They vented. \" After the meeting, the White House appeared more confident about the prospects in the House for the health care overhaul. In a meeting with conservative leaders in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he anticipated the most trouble in the Senate, where Republican moderates and conservatives are opposing the plan for different reasons. He said he was prepared to pressure holdout senators by having the kind of rallies he had during his presidential campaign. Unified government was supposed to eliminate some of the infighting that plagued the Republicans during the Obama years, when the party's right flank brought down a House speaker, defeated a House majority leader and blocked another majority leader's ascent. Instead, it is underlining the difficulties of running Washington now that their party bears full responsibility. \"For a while, it did seem like Trump's victory had transcended the old political battles,\" said Matt Lewis, a conservative author, who added that the fighting was doubly odd because the repeal was not an issue central to Mr. Trump's and campaign. \"This is not why people elected Donald Trump. And yet here we are. \" As they find themselves sudden targets of a and opposition from within, some Republicans are beginning to question whether the squabbling is ultimately . And their doubts raise a new question for this Republican faction that has been mocked as the \"Party of No\": Can they ever get to yes? \"I fully respect people on the outside \u2014 who don't have to take a vote or produce an outcome \u2014 who strive for perfect,\" said Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, one of the Republicans who found activists in their offices this week. Perfect, he said, is never as attainable as people think. \"But we're going to get good here. \" Stopping health care has been a cause unifying conservatives since Mr. Obama began talking about it as a presidential candidate nine years ago. Perhaps no other issue created as much energy among conservative voters, helping Republicans make historic gains in Congress as they railed against the law as an egregious government overreaching into a vast part of the economy. But differences over how exactly to unravel the Affordable Care Act have long divided Republicans, even when the stakes were low and they knew that whatever they passed in Congress would be vetoed by Mr. Obama. In 2013, differences within the Republican Party over defunding it led to a government shutdown. Back then, the fault lines in the debate were largely the same: conservatives butting up against the party leadership, which they accused of not acting aggressively enough. But as much as the squabbling seems the same, there is one crucial difference: They are firing with real bullets now. \"We're on the hook this time,\" said Representative Dave Brat, Republican of Virginia, who is part of the group of conservatives pushing for an outright repeal. \"This one counts. \" That they are firing some of those bullets at one another seems to be less of a concern the more conservative you are. Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho, an opponent of the House bill who along with Mr. Brat is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, the driving force on Capitol Hill behind the resistance, said that any Republicans who will not vote to fully repeal the law will not be keeping a promise they made to voters. \"And they can go back to their districts and explain to the American people why they lied,\" he said. Conservatives see many of the same problems in the Republican leadership plan today that bothered them about the Democrats' 2010 health care bill: It extends a subsidy to help individuals buy insurance though it revokes the Affordable Care Act's mandate that nearly all Americans have insurance, it replaces the mandate with a new penalty if a consumer buys insurance after letting coverage lapse it was negotiated largely without consulting the rank and file and, they insist, its benefits could go toward people who should not receive them, like undocumented immigrants. Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, echoed a concern that many conservative activists have voiced about not being briefed or consulted on the plan. \"It goes a long way when you hear people out,\" he said. \"And there are a lot of natural allies that this caught by surprise as much as it did Democrats. \" The unhappiness on the right could be especially worrisome for Speaker Paul D. Ryan, whose status as a favorite target of the conservative base seemed to fade in the wake of Mr. Trump's election. Now, many conservatives appear willing to reopen the wounds of old leadership fights. Some of them have already taken to mocking the repeal plan with what they consider to be the most damning of pejoratives \u2014 not \"Trumpcare,\" as Democrats call it, but \"Ryancare. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said on Tuesday that U.S. policies toward China under President-elect Donald Trump may be uncertain, but he is optimistic because of the U.S. business community's enthusiasm for U.S.-China trade. At a luncheon with U.S. and Chinese business people and government officials, Wang said he believed that businesses and the U.S. government would ultimately make the \"right choices\" to take advantage of market opportunities in China's economy. \"What the U.S. government will do we will wait and see, and I think it's difficult to predict, just like the U.S. presidential election,\" Wang said through an interpreter. \"The large crowd here tells us one thing. Although there will be a change in the U.S. government, the passion of the U.S. business community for economic cooperation with China has remained unchanged.\" Two weeks after Trump's stunning election on the back of anti-trade sentiment among workers in U.S. industrial states, the president-elect's plans for managing tense relations with China remain unclear. On the campaign trail, Trump had said China is \"killing us\" on trade. He threatened to declare Beijing a currency manipulator, levy a 45 percent punitive tariff on all Chinese goods to reduce a massive U.S. trade deficit with China and pull out of the World Trade Organization, the global trade body that allowed China to join in 2001. As he builds his administration, Trump has added some harsh critics of China's trade practices to his transition team, including Dan DiMicco, a former chief executive officer of steel giant Nucor Corp (NUE.N) and Washington trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer, a former trade negotiator during the Ronald Reagan administration. Wang made his remarks at the start of a round of talks of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), which include officials from the two countries who focus on technical issues such as safety and regulatory approvals that can become barriers to trade. Wang said the JCCT and other forums such as the cabinet-level Strategic and Economic Dialogue talks promoted by the Obama administration have helped to reduce trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. Wang also said China would continue to offer major opportunities to American companies, including buying more than $8 trillion in total imports over the next five years. China also anticipates $500 billion in foreign direct investment from all countries and investing $720 billion overseas, while 600 million Chinese are expected to travel overseas in the same period, he said. \"This will generate enormous business opportunities for the companies of all countries including the United States,\" Wang said. \"I think in the face of a emerging big market like China, the American companies and government will make the right choices.\" Major problems in the U.S.-China relationship would be bad for both economies as well as the global economy, he added.","label":0}
{"text":"Hundreds of athletes at the Rio Games showed the many ways to celebrate winning an Olympic medal. This was Claressa Shields's on Sunday: She dropped to one knee after her middleweight boxing bout and quickly sprang to her feet. Then she kept moving \u2014 cartwheeling, laughing, running laps around the ring, the American flag billowing like a parasail over her head. She swayed to some internal music as she waited to step onto the podium. On the final day of the Summer Games, Shields won one of the last gold medals for the United States and became the first American boxer since 1904 to win two Olympic golds. \"You know not everybody can be an Olympic gold medalist,\" she said. \"I'm a Olympic gold medalist. Oh my god, I can't believe I just said that. \" Shields, who won gold in London four years ago, nearly shut out her opponent Sunday in the bout, Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands. All three judges scored the first three rounds in Shields's favor. One judge gave her the fourth as well, while the other two went for Fontijn. In the first round, Fontijn looked like a boxer with a plan. She was relaxed and confident, using her height advantage and long arms to counter and to keep Shields at a distance. Shields exploded forward several times, heaving big right hands. Shields glided in behind her triple jab. It wasn't until seconds before the bell, however, that any of them landed flush. \"I told her that was very close,\" said the American coach Billy Walsh. \"I'm not sure whether we got this round or not. We gotta close her down a bit more, start working a bit more, use your jab a bit more. Put that right hand over the top. \" Shields got the message and started driving home her punches in in round two. She also began slipping Fontijn's shots. Fontijn circled and jabbed, but Shields, determined, kept stalking her to the end of round three. Up by three rounds, Shields came out to play in the fourth. She crouched low and shimmied backward, luring Fontijn with her hands down. She danced and goaded, ducking nearly every shot Fontijn threw. She landed two hard right hands, and waved Fontijn in. \"I hit you with a hard shot, hit me back,\" she said later, recalling the moment. \"I want to see if you can hit me. \" Shields landed one more left hook as the final bell rung. Shields accepted her Rio Games medal and then pulled out the gold medal she won in London, and hung it around her neck alongside the new one. The favorite Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the Olympic marathon on Sunday, drawing away over the final four miles to win in 2 hours 8 minutes 44 seconds. Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia took second in 2:09:54, while Galen Rupp of the United States won the bronze medal in 2:10:05, his personal best. Kenya swept both marathons at the Rio Games. Jemima Sumgong won the women's 26. race, becoming the first Kenyan woman to win a gold medal in the event. Caster Semenya of South Africa, whose body has been subjected to indelicate and unrelenting public scrutiny for years, won her first Olympic gold medal on Saturday at the Rio Games. Semenya won the 800 meters by a comfortable margin, in 1 minute 55. 28 seconds. While her performances tend to carry the weight of an issue that transcends sports, those looking for undeniable athletics excellence Saturday night were rewarded: her runaway victory solidified her standing as one of the best runners of her generation. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi was second in 1:56. 49, and Margaret Wambui of Kenya was third in 1:56. 89. When Semenya, then 18, dominated the 800 at the 2009 world track and field championships, winning by more than two seconds, a fellow competitor called her a man, setting off a debate over how sports officials should navigate the complicated question of how to determine an athlete's sex. The questioning of Semenya's success led to a policy enacted in 2011 by the I. A. A. F. the sport's governing body, that restricted the permitted levels of testosterone, which occur naturally high in some women. That condition is called hyperandrogenism. With that policy in effect, Semenya won silver at the 2012 London Games. Last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the high court for international sport, suspended track and field's testosterone policy for two years. The court said it had been \"unable to conclude that hyperandrogenic female athletes may benefit from such a significant performance advantage that it is necessary to exclude them from competing in the female category. \" \u2022 Mo Farah of Britain added the gold to the one he earned in the 10, 000. In the 1, 500, American Matthew Centrowitz upset Asbel Kiprop of Kenya to win the gold. \u2022 The United States concluded the final night of track and field with two commanding relay performances, raising the country's tally to 43. The women's team \u2014 Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis and Allyson Felix \u2014 outran Jamaica (silver) and Britain (bronze) with a time of 3:19. 06. Felix, who ran the anchor leg, now has six gold medals the night before she became the first woman in the sport to win five. The only American female Olympian with more golds is the swimmer Jenny Thompson, who won eight. LaShawn Merritt ran the anchor for the United States in the men's 4x400, creating a big gap between the Americans and Jamaica. Arman Hall, Tony McQuay, Gil Roberts and Merritt finished in 2:57. 30. With only the men's marathon remaining, on Sunday morning, the United States track team has collected 31 total medals, including 13 golds. \u2022 In the men's soccer final, Brazil got a measure of revenge on Germany, winning the gold medal on penalties after a draw. Germany had embarrassed Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semifinal, . Here's our game story. \u2022 The American Gwen Jorgensen of the United States has won the last two world championships in the triathlon, but she had some unfinished Olympic business after a flat tire on her bike doomed her to 38th place at the London Games. The wheels stayed intact this time, and Jorgensen won the gold medal. The United States women's basketball team extended their gold medal streak to six by beating Spain, . Here's our story. \u2022 The boxer Shakur Stevenson of Newark lost his bantamweight title match against Cuba's Robeisy Ram\u00edrez. Stevenson, who was named after the rapper Tupac Shakur, was trying to win the first gold medal for the United States in men's boxing since Andre Ward in 2004. \u2022 The major winner Inbee Park of South Korea won the first gold medal in women's golf since 1900. Five strokes back was Lydia Ko of New Zealand, and Feng Shanshan of China won the bronze. \u2022 The defending champion, American David Boudia, grabbed another medal in men's platform diving, this time a bronze. The winner was Chen Aisen from the strong Chinese diving team.","label":0}
{"text":"Sanders and Trump supporters are poles apart on many major issues, but a rally shows their shared revolutionary fervor and, in some cases, even an affinity. Or so say many of the homemade signs here on a cool evening at Saint Mary's Park in the South Bronx on Thursday, as an estimated 15,000 people thronged to hear the presidential candidate with the oft-punned name. Noah Biron, a 19-year-old waiter at a country club in Connecticut came of age politically via the unexpected inspiration from the senator from Vermont. Climate change is his No. 1 issue, he says, as he holds a \"Mother Earth\" poster. He's also been drawn to Bernie Sanders's proposals for education reform and free tuition for all. \"Bernie is an honest man,\" Mr. Biron says. \"He speaks his mind \u2013 a lot like Trump \u2013 but with a lot more love.\" References to the controversial real estate mogul, however, were very few at the rally, in fact. And surprisingly, when there were, there was little vitriol toward the leading GOP candidate, who has also on the Republican side. Sanders supporters here say they see common ground with Trump supporters in their desire to shake up the Washington establishment and their candidates' populist messages. The actress and Coney Island native Rosario Dawson, who opened the evening rally on Thursday, even described Donald Trump as, in many ways, a fellow revolutionary at this moment in American political history. \"We need to be reaching out and talking to those folks who are supporting Trump,\" Ms. Dawson told the Bronx crowd. \"Why? Because they are supporting him for a reason. They are standing up behind him because he's opposed to the establishment as well. And they're literally standing behind a guy who they know will go into the Oval Office and say, 'You're fired!' '' \"I can understand that,\" Ms. Dawson continued. \"But I'm supporting the guy who's looking at all of us and saying, 'You're hired.' \" Trump's inflammatory comments about Muslims, Latino immigrants, and women seemed less top of mind in Saint Mary's Park than his supporters' demand for economic change. While supporters of the two insurgent candidates share a belief they've been left behind by the globalized, digital economy, a new Pew Research Center survey shows that supporters of the two insurgent candidates are far apart on the issues. For example, 69 percent of Trump supporters think that immigrants are a burden on the US, while 14 percent of Sanders voters share that belief. Some 64 percent of Trump voters believe that Muslims should be subject to greater scrutiny, while just 12 percent of Sanders supporters do. Some 77 percent of Sanders voters believe that the government should be responsible for providing health care for all; just 14 percent of Trump voters do. References to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, drew boos, hisses, and even shouts of anger. And while the Democratic race has not been nearly as much of a bitter intra-party battle as the Republican side, there are continuing signs of deep divisions among the Bernie and Hillary factions. Dawson excoriated \"the other Democratic candidate\" for referring to undocumented workers as \"illegals\" and for using the terms \"superpredators\" and \"deadbeats\" when talking about crime and welfare reform in the past. \"Shame on you, Hillary,\" she said, also referencing the FBI investigation into her use of a non-government email server. Much of this, of course, can be attributed to the heat of the presidential race, and former Secretary of State Clinton's commanding, if not nearly insurmountable, lead in the race for the Democratic nomination. But person after person at the rally expressed a deep distaste for \"the other candidate.\" \"I don't trust her, and I don't think I would support her even if the Democratic party chooses her,\" says Stephanie Edwards, a public relations specialist from Washington Heights in Manhattan, and an eight-year veteran who served as a combat medic with the US Army. \"I feel like it's time to break the mold, it's time to do something different.\" She notes, too, that \"this is the first time I've ever gotten involved in a campaign to this magnitude,\" volunteering for Sanders's phone banks and canvassing operations after hearing something she's never heard before from a politician. Now 40, this was her first political rally. Clinton's support for the crime bill signed into law by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, directly affected her family, say Ms. Edwards. Her uncle was deported to the Dominican Republic after being convicted of two misdemeanor crimes in New York, she says. Kevin Rose, a bartender in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, who immigrated from Canada 20 years ago, recently became a citizen just to vote for Sanders, he says. But he would \"absolutely not\" vote for Clinton. \"I don't trust her; never have, never will,\" he says. \"I will likely still vote for Bernie as a write-in campaign, if she wins.\" Another speaker at the rally, the Puerto Rican rapper and multiple Grammy winner Residente, told the diverse crowd that \"It will represent an insult to consider yourself Latin American and vote for her,\" since she praised former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, \"the author of the most despicable Latin American genocide and the architect of Latin American dictatorship, responsible for all of those who disappeared in the '60s, '70s and '80s,\" he said. Still, a path to a Sanders victory seems remote, and the delegate math is more than daunting. Sanders must win about 57 percent of the remaining delegates \u2013 or win most of the remaining races by landslides \u2013 just to barely surpass Clinton with a majority of pledged delegates. Then, he must convince enough superdelegates, those unbound party leaders and elected officials who overwhelmingly support Clinton at the moment, to shift their allegiance to his campaign. But most of the pledged delegates will be allocated in five big states \u2013 New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and California \u2013 where Clinton currently leads Sanders in polls. In New York, the former senator here leads her former colleague from Vermont 54 percent to 42 percent, released Thursday. Sanders supporters, however, remain undaunted. And Clinton events don't show nearly the same fervid, boisterous support \u2013 some even call it love \u2013 that is present at the Vermont candidate's rallies. \"A great nation is judged not by how many millionaires and billionaires it has,\" he told his Bronx supporters on Thursday. \"It is judged by how it treats the most vulnerable people in that country.\" He told the Bronx crowd of 15,000 how his father came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 \"without a nickel in his pocket.\" He described how his family lived in a 3-1\/2 room, rent-controlled apartment in nearby Brooklyn, where he went to high school, years ago. \"So I learned a little bit about what it means to grow up in a family that has no money, and I also learned a little bit about the immigrant experience. Those lessons I will never forget.\" At this, the crowd erupted. Among those jumping and shouting was Raquel Rodriguez, a 21-year-old student and first-time voter, holding a sign with the '70s-era saying, \"The revolution will not be televised.\" Her hand-made poster also slyly included the digital age slogans, #FeelTheBern, #BernieOrBust, and #StillSanders, as well as a diss: \"Hey CNN, are you seein' this?\" Young people, she notes, prefer the free-wheeling hashtag communications of social media, especially since Sanders supporters say news networks have been ignoring their candidate while televising entire rallies of the Republican front-runner, the Queens-born billionaire Donald Trump \u2013 himself a master of the provocative tweet. It's statements like these that inspire Ms. Rodriguez, who takes college courses online, and says she never thought she would get so involved in politics \u2013 or \"this revolution.\" \"I cannot currently afford to get into a regular college or university, and that's why I'm so pro-Bernie, so pro-education reform,\" she says. \"I've seen countless kids in situations like mine fall behind, and just sort of fall by the wayside of the educational locomotive. It's disgraceful, it really is. \"But Bernie's been there from day one fighting for the people,\" Rodriguez continues. \"Bernie is only involved in politics because he gives a (darn), and that is a beautiful thing.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The Poynter Institute, the group helping Facebook determine whether certain news stories are \"disputed,\" has determined it is worth considering the possibility that \"fake news\" stories did not significantly impact the 2016 presidential election after all. [Poynter's Chief Media Writer James Warren was reporting on a study concluding that while \"fake news\" stories favoring Donald Trump far surpassed those in favor of Hillary Clinton, such stories didn't significantly affect the outcome of the election. \"Did fake news help elect Trump? Not likely, according to new research,\" was the title of the Poynter article. In response to the study, Warren concluded: The paper is worth consideration especially given overriding press assumptions about the potency of ideologically driven news coverage. The study, titled, \"Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,\" was by economists Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford University and Hunt Allcott of New York University. The paper utilized web browsing data, a database of fake news stories, and a online survey about news trends. Warren reported on the survey results: In sum, they conclude that the role of social media was overstated, with television remaining by far the primary vehicle for consuming political news. Just 14 percent of Americans deemed social media the primary source of their campaign news, according to their research. In addition, while fake news that favored Trump far exceeded that favoring Clinton, few Americans actually recalled the specifics of the stories and fewer believed them. \"For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake article would need to have had the same persuasive effect as 36 television campaign ads,\" they conclude. Poynter further quoted from the survey itself: \"In summary, our data suggest that social media were not the most important source of election news, and even the most widely circulated fake news stories were seen by only a small fraction of Americans. For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake news story would need to have convinced about 0. 7 percent of Clinton voters and who saw it to shift their votes to Trump, a persuasion rate equivalent to seeing 36 television campaign ads. \" Poynter's reportage on the matter is particularly significant since the journalism nonprofit has partnered with Facebook with the specific goal of combatting \"fake news. \" This after numerous politicians and pundits have claimed that alleged fake news helped sway the election. The International Network (IFCN) which is a project of the Poynter Institute, drafted a code of five principles for news websites to accept, and Facebook last month explained it will work with \" organizations\" that are signatories to the code of principles. Facebook says that if the \"fact checking organizations\" determine that a certain story is fake, it will get flagged as disputed and, according to the Facebook announcement, \"there will be a link to the corresponding article explaining why. Stories that have been disputed may also appear lower in News Feed. \" Aaron Klein is Breitbart's Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, \"Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. \" Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. With additional research by Joshua Klein.","label":0}
{"text":"Prof. Tony Hall Speaks Out on Mohawk Territory 2 Shares 1 0 0 1 Prof. Hall speaks at the Haldimand Deed Recognition Dinner at Kanata in the Mohawk Village near Brantford Ontario. Prof. Hall has been the target of a witch hunt mounted by Facebook and by B'nai Brith Canada. The mission of the Canadian branch of the Anti-Defamation League is to provide Zionist advocacy for \"the security of Israel.\" In late August of 2016 a maliciously engineered smear item was placed on Prof. Hall's FB page without his knowledge or consent. The B'nai Brith immediately publicized the offensive content of the post to introduce a concerted smear and disinformation campaign implying falsely that Dr. Hall seeks to \"Kill All Jews.\" The B'nai Brith exploited its grotesque misrepresentation of Dr. Hall's academic work to call on its membership to flood the administrative offices of the University of Lethbridge with letters and petition signatures. The object is to remove Dr. Hall from his teaching post. Dr. Hall remains a tenured full professor whose career as a university teacher began in 1982. The University of Lethbridge's administration soon surrendered to this Zionist campaign aimed at disabling an outspoken critic of Israel's genocidal treatment of the Aboriginal Palestinians. On Oct. 4 the U of L president, Dr. Mike Mahon, suspended Dr. Hall without pay. He undertook this assault on the principles of academic freedom in the complete absence of any due process of third-party arbitration whatsoever. The attack on Dr. Hall is an attack on the institution of academic tenure, a mainstay of protection for academic freedom in institutions of higher learning. The University of Lethbridge Faculty Association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers have identified the illegal nature of Dr. Mahon's unprecedented assault on the core principles of tenure and academic freedom. In his talk sponsored by the Mohawks of the Grand River, Dr. Hall put the Zionist\/Facebook campaign directed at disabling critics of Israel in a broader historical context. The assault on the Palestinian people extends the genocidal holocaust directed at the Indigenous peoples of the Americas since 1492. Israeli techniques directed at terminating the Palestinian presence draw on the genocidal techniques directed at Native Americans in the expansionary course of US history. WRITER Prof. Tony Hall Dr. Hall is editor in chief of American Herald Tribune. He is currently Professor of Globalization Studies at University of Lethbridge in Alberta Canada. He has been a teacher in the Canadian university system since 1982. Dr. Hall, has recently finished a big two-volume publishing project at McGill-Queen's University Press entitled \"The Bowl with One Spoon\".","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will pick U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a climate-change skeptic and an advocate for expanded oil and gas development, to run the Interior Department, a Trump aide said on Friday. The appointment could mean easier access for industry to more than a quarter of America's territory, ranging from national parks to tribal lands stretching from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, where energy companies have been eager to drill and mine. The pick, criticized by environmental groups, dovetails neatly with the Republican president-elect's promises to bolster the U.S. energy industry by shrinking the powers of the federal government. It follows Trump's nomination this week of an another climate change skeptic and critic of federal regulations, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to run the Environmental Protection Agency. The official on Trump's transition team, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Trump would nominate McMorris Rodgers to head the Interior Department, which is charged with the management and conservation of federally owned land and administers programs relating to Native American tribes. McMorris Rodgers, a congresswoman from Washington state and the fourth most senior member of the House leadership, voted for the Native American Energy Act. Democratic President Barack Obama vetoed the bill, which would have made it easier to drill on tribal territories, in 2015. On her website, she also touts her support of the recent repeal of the decades old ban on oil exports, and for a bill to reject the EPA's Waters of the United States Act as some of her key achievements on energy and environment. She has consistently opposed Obama's measures to fight climate change, and once argued that former Vice President Al Gore, a longtime advocate for steps to combat global warming, deserved an \"F\" in science and an \"A\" in creative writing. The League of Conservation Voters, which publishes a score card ranking the environmental record of each member of Congress, gave McMorris Rodgers a zero in its most recent ratings. It was among several environmental groups that criticized her likely nomination. \"Donald Trump just posted a massive 'for sale' sign on our public lands,\" the LCV said in a statement. Eric Washburn, an energy lobbyist and former advisor to Senate Democrats Harry Reid and Tom Daschle, said McMorris Rodgers had the experience to do a good job balancing the interests of energy development and conservation. \"She certainly knows all these interests and hopefully will be able to chart a course for the agency that allows for conservation and development to proceed hand in hand,\" he said. Efforts to reach McMorris Rodgers were not immediately successful. McMorris Rodgers has been a member of the House\/Senate energy conference committee, working to pass bipartisan energy legislation that included provisions to boost hydropower and update forest policy. In her role as interior secretary, she would oversee more than 70,000 employees. Trump, a real estate magnate who takes office on Jan. 20, is in the midst of building his administration and is holding scores of interviews at his office in New York. On Thursday he announced Pruitt as his pick for the EPA, cheering the oil industry but enraging environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers who vowed to fight the appointment. As the top prosecutor for Oklahoma, a major oil and gas producing state, Pruitt has sued the EPA repeatedly, and is part of a coordinated effort by several states to block Obama's Clean Power Plan to limit carbon dioxide emissions. Trump vowed during his campaign to undo Obama's climate change measures and pull the country out of a global accord to curb warming agreed in Paris last year, saying they put American businesses at a competitive disadvantage. Since the election, however, Trump has confused observers by saying he will keep an \"open mind\" about the Paris deal, and also meeting with Gore to discuss the issue.","label":0}
{"text":"BREAKING: Plot To KILL Trump REVEALED\u2026 He Needs YOUR SUPPORT! Oct 28, 2016 Previous post  With Donald Trump ahead in the polls, and Hillary Clinton struggling with a potentially devastating medical emergency, the establishment is becoming increasingly desperate to take Trump down. Now, it looks like they might be taking drastic measures to ensure Trump does not win the election\u2026  According to Infowars , a Russian television host who is a close personal friend of Vladimir Putin's just went on live television to warn that the Globalists may assassinate Trump, and their plot may already be underway.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump s son, Eric Trump, wants to be just like daddy. And, truth be told, normally there would be nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that his dad is none other than Donald Trump. So maybe it s not his fault per say for this latest slip up of his (it is, after all, engrained into him) but little Trump ended up making quite the statement Monday night when he appeared on Fox s On the Record. It s so ridiculous even that maybe he does have a political future ahead of him, just like daddy.Here was what little Trump said when asked to explain what his dad meant by his we ll do something worse than waterboarding comments yesterday: You see these terrorists that are flying planes into buildings, right? You see our cities getting shot up in California. You see Paris getting shot up. And then somebody complains when a terrorist gets waterboarded, which quite frankly is no different than what happens on college campuses and frat houses every day. And, you know, the man would keep this country safe. There is no question about it. As he says, he just wants to protect his father. But, that s quite a statement he made. We re still trying to process it. We might even let such a ridiculous statement slide if it wasn t such a serious issue. Waterboarding is torture, end of discussion. We ve already dealt with George W. Bush s presidency; we don t need another. But, this is the main difference between Republicans and Democrats it seems; Trump isn t the only one who thinks waterboarding is okay. Ted Cruz has also come out on the record of saying it doesn t even fit the definition of torture, contrary to not only common sense but even the United Nation s definition. Here it is: Torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public office or other person acting in an official capacity.Time and time again, highly credible experts and well-respected people have come forward on this issue, and all have said waterboarding is torture. This is a political issue of trying to look tough on terrorism, and it s also an election year. Deep down these guys don t care if it s torture or not; they think they re making the country safe. And, they re wrong.Featured image from screen capture.","label":1}
{"text":"While Bernie Sanders is nowhere near ready to concede defeat in the Democratic primary race, on Thursday the Vermont Senator vowed to bring the most progressive agenda that any party has ever seen to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.According to Fortune, Sanders and his backers have not yet decided on all of the issues they will press for during the convention, which is scheduled to take place at the end of July.But on Monday Senator Sanders listed single-payer healthcare and a comprehensive climate change plan as issues the Democratic party would need to adopt if they hoped to gain support from his backers.Later in the week, during an interview with CNN, Jane Sanders pointed to election reform as another of the campaign s top issues.Mrs. Sanders said during the interview: One of the things that we will be fighting for on the platform, whether he s the candidate or not, is electoral reform. The process needs to change. We need an open electoral system, same-day registration and open primaries. According to Fortune, Sanders team may also press the party to change primary rules, and to eliminate the use of superdelegates to determine the party s nominee, a system which many Democratic voters are uncomfortable with.Another item likely to be on Sanders agenda is a $15 federal minimum wage.With 14 primaries yet to be held, Sanders told a crowd of supporters at Purdue University on Wednesday that he s in this campaign to win and become the Democratic nominee. Watch a video clip from the candidate s speech, via YouTube, below:While many pundits and pollsters say that Senator Sanders has little chance of winning the party s nomination, as Fortune reports here, win or lose, if Sanders captures at least 40 percent of pledged delegates during the primary, party rules provide a lot of room for his supporters to define the party s platform.It would not be the first time in history that such a maneuver has taken place.As Fortune reports:In the divisive 1980 Democratic convention, losing candidate and then-Senator Ted Kennedy battled with President Jimmy Carter over major platform points, bringing amendments to the convention floor in a show of defiance. Kennedy was able to help push the Equal Rights Amendment into the party s platform.Few today would say that was a bad thing.Image: 4\/29 Indianapolis, IN by Joe Raedle\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Jake Tapper gave an Oscar-worthy performance with his fake concern for most Americans who he claims are thinking President Trump is unfit for office . He jumped on comments made by Sen. Bob Corker last week, when Corker suggested that he doubted Trump s stability and competence. The left is thrilled with this idiotic comment from Corker Tapper and the Dems will ride this narrative for as long as they can!Tapper announced: According to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this afternoon, voters overwhelmingly saying President Trump is not level-headed, 68 percent to 29 percent. Voters saying President Trump does not provide the U.S. with moral leadership, 62 to 35 percent. That he s not honest, 61 to 36 percent. Voters believe by a two to one margin that President Trump is doing more to divide the country than to unite it, 62 to 31 percent. Nearly six in 10 voters say President Trump s decisions and behavior have encouraged white supremacist groups. Now President Trump is a man who looks to numbers and to ratings. These numbers, sir, these numbers are disastrous. Tapper concluded with his effort to speak for the majority of Americans according to some poll: You are no doubt pleasing your base, but your behavior is causing great concern among the majority of the American people.","label":1}
{"text":"Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed over national security again on Friday, with Trump calling his Democratic rival \"trigger-happy\" and Clinton arguing his proposals would make the world a more dangerous place. The two White House hopefuls have waged a running battle this week over who is best placed to command the world's most powerful military, with both touting their support from retired military leaders and attacking their opponent's temperament and judgment. Trump also injected drama into the national security debate this week by wholeheartedly endorsing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader who has fared better than U.S. President Barack Obama. Clinton, many Democrats and even some in his own Republican party balked. Trump, speaking on Friday at the conservative Value Voters summit in Washington, painted Clinton as a \"massive failure\" while she was America's top diplomat from 2009 to early 2013, blaming her for the current turmoil in the Middle East. \"The problem is, Hillary Clinton is trigger-happy. Her tenure has brought us only war, destruction and death. She's just too quick to intervene, invade, or to push for regime change,\" he said at the summit. Meanwhile in New York, Clinton met with national security and foreign policy experts who are supporting her campaign to discuss terrorism. She touted the bipartisan nature of the meeting and vowed to work across the aisle as president to tackle national security challenges. \"The nominee on the other side promises to do things that will make us less safe,\" Clinton told reporters at a news conference on Friday afternoon. \"National security experts on both sides of the aisle are chilled by what they're hearing from the Republican nominee.\" Both candidates are hoping to capitalize on concerns about national security and paint their opponents as unqualified leading into the Nov. 8 presidential election. Trump's speech on Friday comes after the candidate took the unusual step of criticizing U.S. policy in a program aired on Thursday night on Russian government-funded television network, RT, a 24-hour news channel that broadcasts in both English and Russian. He said he disagreed with the U.S. decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and that Obama botched the withdrawal. \"It's a war we shouldn't have been in, number one,\" Trump said in the interview. \"And it's a war that, when we got out, we got out the wrong way. That's Obama.\" Critics of the network, which mostly targets audiences outside of Russia, have described it as a propaganda arm of Putin's government. American presidential candidates are not prone to condemn their country before a foreign audience, even if they are fierce critics of the current administration while campaigning in the United States. Trump has said far worse about Obama in appearances on U.S. television networks. Clinton blasted Trump for appearing on the network and praising Putin, as he had done on Wednesday night during a televised national security forum. \"Every day that goes by this just becomes more and more of a reality television show,\" Clinton said. \"It's not a serious presidential campaign, and it is beyond one's imagination to have a candidate for president praising a Russian autocrat like Vladimir Putin.\" The White House said it had no comment on Trump's remarks. The New York businessman also said on RT on Thursday he did not think Russia's government was behind the hack of Democratic National Committee email servers, and doubted it was trying to interfere in the U.S. election. Experts inside and outside the government have pointed to Russian-backed actors as the source of the hack, which has been used to leak information in an attempt to embarrass Democrats. Trump, in his speech on Friday, stuck to his belief that the United States and Russia can work together to defeat Islamic State militants. He said any nation that wants to join the United States against ISIS is welcome. \"That includes Russia,\" he said. \"If they want to join us in knocking out ISIS, that's just fine as far as I'm concerned.\" Trump also sought on Friday to blame Clinton after reports that North Korea had tested a nuclear weapon, arguing it was the fourth such test since the Democrat became secretary of state in 2009 and that she should have ended the nation's nuclear program before her tenure ended. \"It's just one more massive failure from a failed secretary of state,\" Trump said. Clinton called the North Korea test \"outrageous and unacceptable,\" saying she supports imposing additional U.S. and United Nations sanctions. \"It will be on the top of my list in dealing with China on how we're going to prevent what could very well be a serious conflict with North Korea,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Ambassador Bolton gets it! He and so many others see what s going on and how the left is trying to destroy the Trump administration Ambassador Bolton: They are trying to prove the administration is illegitimate.Lou Dobbs: That s what you can see.Ambassador Bolton: They are the ones who are illegitimate The Wall Street Journal says this is the first coup d tat in American History. It s a mini coup d tat but it goes right along with the idea that they should have won the election.. And one recalls the famous scene in the debate where during the debates where, I believe it was Chris Wallace, who asked both candidates if you lose will you accept the result LOU DOBBS WHO S BEHIND IT? THIS IS HUGE! Lou Dobbs joined Sean Hannity to discuss the constant effort to destroy President Trump. Dobbs has mentioned a coup before (SEE BELOW) but is doubling down on his concern that the deep state and lefty media are in a full court press to get Trump out of office ASAP.Lou Dobbs had this to say about the effort to destroy Trump: The double standard is more than that by a long measure. This is an effort to subvert the administration of President Donald Trump. It is nothing less. It is an effort by the Deep State to roll over a duly elected president and a legitimate government and to break the will of the American people. This is no longer about Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, this is about a full-on assault by the left, the Democratic party to absolutely carry out a coup d etat against President Trump.LOU DOBBS AND CLINTON CASH AUTHOR DISCUSS THE DEEP STATE AND THE EFFORT TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP: Never in American history has there been a more highly organized group of people, the deep state , attempting to subvert the will of the American people, in this case, the Trump presidency. Peter Schweizer discusses the efforts of the deep state , their conspiracy campaign against Donald Trump and its potential impact on President Trump s administration.TAKE NOTES AND CALL OUT YOUR CONGRESSMEN IF THEY RE NOT SUPPORTING PRESIDENT TRUMP!","label":1}
{"text":"Hate Rising with Jorge Ramos Fusion, October 28, 2016  From the Ku Klux Klan to the so called alt-right movement, white supremacist groups are growing in numbers and influence. In \"Hate Rising,\" Jorge Ramos shows us how their ideas, usually confined to private and secretive gatherings, are becoming mainstream thanks in part to the rhetoric on the campaign trail this election cycle. [Editor's Note: An extended version of the interview with Jared Taylor is available here .]","label":1}
{"text":"It s almost poetic. Just after the news broke that Mike Huckabee will have to pay $25,000 for the unauthorized use of Survivor s Eye of the Tiger at a hate rally celebrating Kim Davis release from jail, more news came out that has the religious Right weeping and gnashing their teeth. A federal judge has ruled that clerks in Mississippi can not do what Kim Davis did in Kentucky namely, use their religion as a shield behind which they can hide their bigotry as they gleefully force same-sex couples to jump through hoops and fight senseless legal battles to have their right to marry recognized.The New Civil Rights Movement reports:A federal judge has ruled clerks in Mississippi cannot cite their religious beliefs as valid reasons to recuse themselves from granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The case was argued by Roberta Kaplan, who won the historic Supreme Court DOMA case.U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeve ruled Monday afternoon, preventing the State of Mississippi from allowing HB 1523, a so-called religious freedom law signed by Republican Governor Phil Bryant from taking effect Friday, the AP reports. A year after the Supreme Court guaranteed marriage equality in the Obergefell decision, we are delighted that Judge Reeves reaffirmed the power of federal courts to definitively say what the United States Constitution means, Kaplan, who contends that the religious liberty law violates the First Amendment separation of church and state, said of the decision.On Twitter, Kaplan promised that today s decision was just the appetizer, and that the main course will be served later this week.Thx, but today s decision was just the appetizer; main course to be served by J. Reeves later this week! @CSElive https:\/\/t.co\/7o6FqFbN72 Robbie Kaplan (@kaplanrobbie) June 27, 2016I, for one, can t wait to see what happens with this. If nothing else Kim Davis is likely furiously praying for God to save her from the evil liberal agenda of equality and acceptance at this very moment you know, just in case this precedent spreads to other states.","label":1}
{"text":"This is not a joke. I am to do my part to rid the world of the white devils. Jabari Dean (c.) leaves the U.S. Dirksen Federal Courthouse Tuesday with his lawyer (l.). (DNA Info)The black student was released today after threatening to murder 16 white kids. DNA Info reported: A college student who threatened to kill 16 white students or staff members at the University of Chicago leading the school to cancel classes Monday was ordered released from federal custody Tuesday.Jabari Dean, a 21-year-old electrical engineering student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, left the federal courthouse Tuesday afternoon with his mom and lawyer. He was charged Monday with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.Dean posted threats from his mother s phone on the website Worldstarhiphop.com on Saturday and then later deleted it, but not before a tipster sent the comments to federal agents in New York, according to the FBI. I will be armed with a M-4 Carbine and 2 Desert Eagles all fully loaded, the online post states, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. I will execute approximately 16 white male students and or staff, which is the same number of time Mcdonald was killed. I then will die killing any number of white policemen that I can in the process. This is not a joke. I am to do my part to rid the world of the white devils. Jabari posted this threat on the World Star Hiphop website: Of course, CNN reports the news of the campus shutdown at Univ. of Chicago without once mentioning the actual threat to kill 16 white devils in retaliation for the shooting death of Laquan McDonald:Here are a few tweets from #BlackLivesMatter mocking the decision of University Of Chicago for shutting down the campus in an effort to protect the lives of the 16 White Devils. #SAFETYISFORWHITEFOLKS because #UChicago literally is surrounded by an area where black people face a threat of gun violence every day. Francis (@DerekCaquelin) November 30, 2015A year ago @Olivia_A_Ortiz was publicly threatened with rape as was the entire class of '17. @UChicago shut ZIP down https:\/\/t.co\/rHOQqdkS1f Ursula Wagner (@UrsulaCWagner) December 1, 2015And then there s this poor soul who s doing his part to stay on top of his intersectionality and white privilege game https:\/\/twitter.com\/ira\/status\/671451417798819840That s not all that was on the mind of #BlackLivesMatter terrorists today. They spent quite a bit of time threatening any black pastor who even thinks about supporting white candidate, Donald Trump.If these Pastors start pushing Trump to our community there will be WAR. A lot of us ain't gonna let that shit ride. https:\/\/t.co\/GlTg2L81bK Elon James White (@elonjames) November 30, 2015So who's gonna compile a list of every Black pastor that met with Donald Trump \"on the behalf of the African American community?\" Clarkisha Kent (@IWriteAllDay_) December 1, 2015Trump's peeping over dude's shoulder like an overseer https:\/\/t.co\/RsyBxMaxMC Ctrl Alt Right (@lezzietechie) December 1, 2015Black preachers about to go cash they trump checks. https:\/\/t.co\/mTKb57OXhX Frank Fontaine. (@ChillnCliffSide) December 1, 2015Because of course, the #BlackLivesMatter crowd is apparently down with the old white socialist dude, for no reason in particular other than the D after his name.I am running for president because 11 million undocumented people cannot continue living in the shadows. Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 30, 2015And just for fun, we re throwing in a micro and macro aggression tweet, because Russia, ISIS, and an invasion of unchecked Muslim refugees aren t nearly as important as microagressions https:\/\/twitter.com\/krennylavitz\/status\/671481401984724992","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy said on Monday he still expects to be able to convince reluctant fellow Republican senators to support the revised bill that is the party's latest effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Asked in an interview with CNN whether the revisions announced on Monday could sway holdout U.S. senators into supporting the legislation, Cassidy said: \"Absolutely. The bracing principle is that we give the patient the power and give states the resources to provide care for those who don't have it. \"We think it's good policy which therefore will get folks to vote for it.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Report Copyright Violation I sense a giant earthquake will happen today I don't know where. Hopefully it's just in my pants, but seriously though, something makes me feel 7.0+ is coming within a day or so. Page 1","label":1}
{"text":"A citizen's complaint accusing Gov. Chris Christie of official misconduct in the closing of traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 can proceed, a municipal court judge in New Jersey ruled on Thursday, raising the possibility that Mr. Christie could face a criminal indictment. The judge, Roy F. McGeady of Bergen County, found that there was probable cause to believe the governor had engaged in official misconduct in connection with the lane closings, as claimed in a complaint filed in September by William J. Brennan of Wayne. As a result of Judge McGeady's ruling, the Bergen County prosecutor's office must now decide whether to seek an indictment against Mr. Christie. The unexpected development, which unfolded in a courtroom that typically deals with relatively minor crimes, is the latest problem for Mr. Christie, a Republican, related to the lane closings. In his complaint, Mr. Brennan, a retired firefighter with a history of filing lawsuits against government agencies, accuses Mr. Christie of failing to order subordinates to reopen access lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee on Sept. 11, 2013, the third consecutive day the lanes had been closed. The lane closings, which paralyzed traffic in the town, erupted into a scandal that helped derail Mr. Christie's presidential ambitions and led to federal charges against three of his allies. Federal prosecutors say the closings were meant to punish Fort Lee's mayor, a Democrat, for declining to endorse Mr. Christie for . Two of those allies are now on trial in federal court in Newark, accused of authorizing the closings and trying to cover up the true reason for them the third has pleaded guilty to his role in the closings and is the prosecution's main witness. In his complaint, Mr. Brennan writes that the mayor, Mark J. Sokolich, and Fort Lee residents were deprived of \"the benefit and enjoyment of their community as a consequence of this intentional act. \" Mr. Brennan, 50, said in an interview on Thursday that he had been moved to file the complaint after a particular day of testimony in the federal trial. He said the basis for his complaint emerged when David Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme, testified that Mr. Christie was told about the closings during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Mr. Brennan said he was in the federal courthouse listening to Mr. Wildstein testify and later obtained a transcript of his testimony to submit along with his complaint. \"Here you have a prime example of the government turning its power against the citizens, and that is the definition of totalitarianism,\" Mr. Brennan said. In New Jersey, a citizen is entitled to file a criminal complaint, which is then assessed by a judge who determines whether there is enough evidence, or probable cause, to issue a summons. If a judge fails to find probable cause, the complaint is dismissed. Citizen complaints are relatively common in New Jersey's municipal courts, said J. C. Lore III, director of trial advocacy at Rutgers Law School. \"It's usually reserved for more petty disputes, between family or neighbors,\" Mr. Lore said. Many such cases are resolved through mediation at the behest of the court, he said. Still, 13, 550 citizen complaints involving indictable offenses were filed in New Jersey's municipal courts in 2015, and 87 percent yielded findings of probable cause, according to data provided by a court spokeswoman. Brian T. Murray, a spokesman for Mr. Christie, called Mr. Brennan's complaint \"dishonorable\" and accused him of being a \"serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system. \" \"The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening,\" said Mr. Murray, who added that the governor's lawyers planned to appeal the ruling. \"This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations. \" In a letter sent to Judge McGeady before he ruled on the complaint, Mr. Christie's lawyers argued strenuously that Mr. Brennan had not met the probable cause threshold, calling his complaint \"rife with distortions. \" Mr. Brennan's litigation history dates to 1996, when he sued the township of Teaneck, claiming he had been harassed for speaking out about safety issues, according The Record, a northern New Jersey newspaper. A jury awarded him nearly $900, 000, though a judge later reduced the amount significantly. Mr. Brennan said he earned a law degree after retiring from the Teaneck Fire Department. According to New Jersey law, obtaining a conviction of official misconduct against Mr. Christie would require proof that he deliberately refrained \"from performing a duty which is imposed upon him by law or is clearly inherent in the nature of his office,\" in order to benefit himself or harm someone else. Such a conviction would carry a potential prison sentence of five to 10 years. Maureen Parenta, a spokeswoman for the Bergen County prosecutor's office, declined to comment about whether it would pursue an indictment. Gurbir S. Grewal, the acting prosecutor, was appointed by Mr. Christie.","label":0}
{"text":"The press was not happy and took to Twitter to have a temper tantrum:The only way the press eventually ascertained his whereabouts was after a Bloomberg reporter, who happened to be dining at the 21 Club, tweeted a photo of Trump and some of his transition team in the Midtown steakhouse.Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks later told NBC News. He is having dinner with his family. Wife Melania, daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump were all at the restaurant.","label":1}
{"text":"Kansas on Tuesday asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate rules requiring proof of U.S. citizenship from people registering to vote, the latest political battle over stringent identification laws enacted in Republican-led states ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The mandate that Kansans present passports, birth certificates or other proof of citizenship when registering to vote while obtaining driver's licenses was challenged by a U.S. District Court judge in May. Her ruling restored the right to vote in the Nov. 8 election for thousands of people who were asked if they wanted to register while at motor vehicle offices, but not required to submit the additional documentation. Judge Julie Robinson ordered those people to be re-registered. She said that Kansas could identify only three non-citizens who voted between 2003 and the onset of the law in 2013. Kansas' law is one of the strictest voter identification statutes in the country, making the state a symbol for mostly Republican Party supporters who say the rules are meant to prevent voter fraud. Opponents, mostly Democrats, say they discriminate against minorities. \"Every time a noncitizen votes, it effectively cancels out the vote of a citizen,\" Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in court filings ahead of Tuesday's oral arguments. In arguments before the Denver-based U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Kobach said, \"We don't need to be authorized by the federal government\" to set up rules to manage state and local elections. Arguing for the lower court's decision to be upheld, the American Civil Liberties Union specifically targeted a portion of Kansas law that deals with people who register to vote at motor vehicle department offices. The ACLU argued that the requirement conflicts with a federal law from 1993 aimed at making it easier for people to register to vote by doing so when they apply for a driver's license. Because that law does not require people to bring more documentation than they would need to get a driver's license, Robinson ruled that about 18,000 people whose registration had been invalidated by the state should be re-registered. Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump, who earlier this month said that voters who opposed his candidacy are \"going to vote 10 times,\" is asking supporters to volunteer to be election observers at the polls. He routinely calls Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton \"crooked\" and has said that if he loses, it will be because the system is rigged against him. Led by lawyers from the ACLU, opponents of the voter identification laws have filed lawsuits in several states, successfully overturning or delaying implementation of some statutes. Last month, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that voters who do not have photo identification will be able to vote in the presidential election, and the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a North Carolina law requiring voters to bring a photo ID to the polls. Seventeen states have put new voting restrictions in place since the last presidential contest, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.","label":0}
{"text":"The count is underway for the 2017 Dutch general elections, with 388 voting areas to declare. [The election is seen as one of the most important in recent Dutch history as migration candidate Geert Wilders hopes to build on the momentum of the Brexit and Trump campaigns. The story so far: At 6:30 am CET, the people of the Netherlands officially began to cast ballots in the national election which is expected to have a much larger turnout than in previous years. But election day has not been without controversy. The Netherlands votes today in what could be a historic election as migration candidate Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) look to make record gains in the Dutch parliament. Polls opened at 6:30 am local time and already Wilders, Prime Minister Rutte, and several other politicians have cast their vote. While the voting has been mostly without incident, there has been one controversial moment during election day. Reports came out that a polling station within a Turkish Islamic cultural centre in Amsterdam had hung up Turkish flags and was broadcasting Turkish radio as members of the public went to cast their vote. According to Dutch newspaper Telegraaf, the municipal authorities were made aware of the incident and went to the centre to make sure the flags and other items including leaflets for Diyanet, the Turkish government agency in charge of religion, were removed from the polling area. \"Campaign expressions are not allowed in the polling station. We have sent someone there to correct it,\" a spokesman from the municipality told the paper. The controversy comes only days after Turkey and the Netherlands engaged in a large diplomatic row after the Netherlands banned two Turkish ministers from campaigning for a referendum to allow President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan to abolish the office of prime minister. #ikstem Stemmen in een Turkse moskee onder Turkse vlaggen, met de Turkse radio op de achtergrond en Diyanet folders op de tafels verspreid. pic. twitter. \u2014 Elise Steilberg (@EliseSteilberg) March 15, 2017, Wilders said ahead of the voting this morning: \"I feel very optimistic. We want to take out country back. \" After casting his vote at around 9:30 am local time, Wilders remarked: \"Whatever the outcome of the election today the genie will not go back into the bottle and this patriotic revolution, whether today or tomorrow, will take place. \" Turnout for the election is expected to be over 80 per cent, and potentially as high as 85 per cent. This would easily surpass 2012's national election in which 74. 6 per cent of eligible voters participated. The increased demand has led to reports that some districts have even run out of ballot papers. Netherlands: Turnout today to surpass 80% maybe even 85% (2012: 74. 6%). Media reports some station have run out of ballots. #DutchElection pic. twitter. \u2014 Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) March 15, 2017, Some areas have even reported turnouts of up to 100 per cent. Netherlands: Turnout in some polling stations hits 100% e. g. Campus Wageningen University. #DutchElection #tweedekamerverkiezingen, \u2014 Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) March 15, 2017, This election sees one of the largest numbers of parties participating ever in Dutch national elections with 28 different parties on the ballot with 15 potentially getting seats in the parliament. The main rivalry has, however, come down to the party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the PVV of Geert Wilders. The two party leaders engaged in a debate on Monday evening with Wilders slamming Rutte, calling him a \"prime minister for foreigners\". He called on the Dutch to vote for his party which looks to combat Islamisation by closing all mosques in the country and banning the Quran.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, now at the starting line of a general election race, traded shots across the capital Friday in dueling addresses before two very different D.C. audiences -- each warning the other would take the country backward. Trump headlined the Faith and Freedom Coalition's \"Road to Majority\" summit while Clinton addressed a Planned Parenthood national conference. Trump, looking to solidify his standing with evangelical Christians, offered assurances Friday that he would \"restore respect for people of faith\" -- and stressed the \"sanctity and dignity of life.\" If there was any doubt he wanted to throw Clinton's Planned Parenthood speech into sharp relief, he took on his presumptive rival later in his remarks. Trump warned Clinton would \"appoint radical judges,\" eliminate the Second Amendment, \"restrict religious freedom with government mandates,\" and \"push for federal funding of abortion on demand up until the moment of birth.\" He also cast her support for bringing in Syrian refugees as a potential clash of faiths. \"Hillary will bring hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom have hostile beliefs about people of different faiths and values,\" he said. Clinton, meanwhile, in her first speech as the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, said a Trump presidency would take the country back to a time \"when abortion was illegal \u2026 and life for too many women and girls was limited.\" Clinton thanked the nonprofit women's health group and abortion provider for their support in the Democratic primary race. In January, Planned Parenthood backed Clinton, offering its first-ever primary endorsement in the group's 100-year history. Clinton made it clear that women's issues would be a staple of her campaign, promising abortion rights supporters that she would \"always have your back\" if elected president. Clinton repeated claims that Trump wants to \"take America back to a time when women had less opportunity\" and freedom. \"Well, Donald, those days are over. We are not going to let Donald Trump -- or anybody else -- turn back the clock,\" she told the cheering crowd. Before arriving at the event, Clinton held a private meeting at her D.C. home with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has been rumored to be a consideration for running mate. Echoing some of the attacks Warren has made in recent days, Clinton attempted to elevate the importance of this election. \"We are in the middle of a concerted, persistent assault on women's health across the country,\" warned Clinton, who said the 2016 election was \"profoundly different\" than previous elections. In what is a campaign trail staple of hers, Clinton highlighted Trump's insults toward women and asserted that it would be \"hard to imagine depending on him to defend the fundamental rights of women.\" Trump, meanwhile, continued calling Clinton, \"crooked Hillary\" and referred to her ongoing email scandal. He took her to task on her domestic and foreign policy stances. Trump was interrupted by protesters at the annual gathering of evangelical Christians. The protesters shouted \"Stop hate! Stop Trump!\" and \"refugees are welcome here.\" Trump called the chants \"a little freedom of speech\" but added it was also \"a little rude, but what can you do?\"","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says Since the late 1960 s, it s become accepted as a fact of political life that the faculty and administrations of America s universities have a heavily ingrained liberal bias, but to see them now actively working to cleanse their campuses of any pro-Trump and conservative voices demonstrates that their progressive values have progressed far beyond what used to be considered as liberal and into the realm of political fascism and Marxist-style identity politics. The liberal reaction to the US Election result not only marks a low ebb of American culture, but it also proves beyond any doubt that the US university system is failing to teach life s basics Last week s US Presidential Election result has accentuated this phenomenon, bringing many hardcore radical campus political ideologies out of their academic shells, and into the open, in all of their ugliness. Some university heads around the country have called for safe spaces on their campuses where traumatized Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders student supporters can go to retreat from any mention of Donald Trump, and to protect them from hearing any speech in support of President Elect Trump. Quite rightly, because of frequent incidents like this, many are now viewing American academia as one giant institutionalized brainwashing mill where political correctness is not only encouraged, it s also being legislated.RELATED: DePaul University Threatens to ARREST Conservative editor Ben Shapiro if He Stepped on CampusThis is the danger of a liberal America which appears to desire not only a single party state, but also a sanitized monoculture where speech and expression are heavily regulated and also self-policed by progressive mobs. This leftist culture of extreme intolerance to any opposing views where students will demand protection from the state and administrative bodies from even hearing any opposing opinions in public is heading dangerously close to Mao s Amerika Glenn Reynolds USA TodayOne of the more amusing bits of fallout from last week s election has been the safe-space response of many colleges and universities to the election of the wrong candidate. But on closer examination, this response isn t really amusing. In fact, it s downright mean.Donald Trump s substantial victory, when most progressives expected a Hillary Clinton landslide, came as a shock to many. That shock seems to have been multiplied in academia, where few people seem to know any Trump supporters or, at least, any Trump supporters who ll admit to it.The response to the shock has been to turn campuses into kindergarten. The University of Michigan Law School announced a post-election self-care event with food and play, including coloring sheets, play dough (sic), positive card-making, Legos and bubbles with your fellow law students. (Embarrassed by the attention, UM Law scrubbed the announcement from its website, perhaps concerned that people would wonder whether its graduates would require Legos and bubbles in the event of stressful litigation.) IN NEED OF SAFE SPACES : Hillary Clinton supporters struggling to cope with the reality of democracy (Image Source: Fellowship of the Minds)Stanford emailed its students and faculty that psychological counseling was available for those experiencing uncertainty, anger, anxiety and\/or fear following the election. So did the University of Michigan s Flint campus.Meanwhile, even the Ivy League wasn t immune, with the University of Pennsylvania (Trump s alma mater) creating a post-election safe space with puppies and coloring books:Student Daniel Tancredi reported that the people who attended were fearful about the results of the election. For the most part, students just hung out and ate snacks and made small talk, Tancredi told The College Fix. Of course, that was in addition to coloring and playing with the animals. Yale had a group scream. At Tufts, the university offered arts and crafts, while the University of Kansas reminded students that there were plenty of therapy dogs available. At other schools, exams were canceled and professors expressed their sympathy to traumatized students.It s easy to mock this as juvenile silliness because, well, it is juvenile silliness of the sort documented in Frank Furedi s What s Happened To The University? But that s not all it is. It s also exactly what these schools purport to abhor: an effort to marginalize and silence part of the university community.In an email to students, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel wrote: Our responsibility is to remain committed to education, discovery and intellectual honesty and to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are at our best when we come together to engage respectfully across our ideological differences; to support all who feel marginalized, threatened or unwelcome; and to pursue knowledge and understanding. But when you treat an election in which the wrong candidate wins as a traumatic event on a par with the 9\/11 attacks, calling for counseling and safe spaces, you re implicitly saying that everyone who supported that wrong candidate is, well, unsafe. Despite the talk about diversity and inclusion, this is really sending the signal that people who supported Trump and Trump is leading the state of Michigan, so there are probably quite a few on campus aren t really included in acceptable campus culture. It s not promoting diversity; it s enforcing uniformity. It s not promoting inclusion; it s practicing exclusion Continue this story at USA TodayREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump has invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida over the weekend after the two leaders meet on Friday in Washington, the White House said on Tuesday. \"This is a testament to the importance the United States places on the bilateral relationship and the strength of our alliance and the deep economic ties between the United States and Japan,\" White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a White House press briefing.","label":0}
{"text":"By David Haggith, the Great Recession Blog .  As we near Halloween, the US stock market looks like it's whistling past the graveyard near the end of a year that I predicted would be the dawn of \"the Epocalypse.\" (By that, I meant an economic apocalypse, the likes of which we've never seen.)  So far, however, that prediction has not manifested. In fact, the market's fibrillating heartbeat in this graph exhibits a preternatural and eery calm. But it is too calm \u2014 too calm to be natural. The stock market plunged on my predicted schedule at the start of the year in what turned into the worst January in the US stock market's history. Then, suddenly, it was resurrected, great death defied; but, after a rapid recovery it lost consciousness and now behaves more like the walking dead.  I have never seen a more rigged looking stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has been flatlining in the narrowest range possible for almost four months. Coincidence, or has the Fed clandestinely set a threshold below which it will not let the market fall, just like it does openly for inflation \u2014 in order to make sure that nothing happens economically that would push voters toward Donald Trump? Is the Federal Reserve rigging the stock market in order to drag itself through this monstrous election cycle alive?  While the Fed is barred by law from buying stocks, it has been creating money for its banking proxies to buy stocks ever since the Great Recession hit. It's common knowledge and also confessed this year by Fed officials , that the Fed has been pumping up the stock market; but I'm asking are they taking new extraordinary measures behind the scenes? The market now looks like it has been pushed as high as it will go and is being held against that ceiling by some mysterious levitating force.  Donald Trump recently made it clear that he'd love to put a stake in the heart of the Federal Reserve by firing Janet Yellen \u2026 if he could. The prospect of such an acrimonious relationship with a president, telegraphed so clearly by a candidate with a strong chance of winning, surely puts the Fed in a fearful state of self-preservation. All creatures in a state of self-preservation \u2014 especially the hideous ones \u2014 will do nearly anything to survive.  I can't say that I know the Fed is doing anything new or different than what it has done for the past seven years; but I can say with certainty that this stock market doesn't look like anything we've seen in the past seven years \u2026 or even that I've seen anytime in my career.  John Rubino of DollarCollapse.com calls it \"The Boredom Before the Storm\" and observes \u2026  With all the surprising and disturbing things going on \u2013 Brexit, China's soaring debt, US\/Russia\/China saber rattling, the unique US presidential race, the cyber attack that shut down big parts of the US Internet \u2013 you'd think that an unsettled world would be reflected in skittish financial markets. Instead we're getting the opposite, with stock price movements becoming more and more placid as the year goes on.  Indeed. Like Rubino, I find it strange that, with so much disturbing news around the world, the stock market looks like a sea that is a smooth as glass (compared to how the market's ups and downs have looked at any other time). You'd think there was never a season more calming to the nerves of investors than the last four months, even as Wall Street daily screams out its fears about a possible Trump victory.  In case you don't think the above graph looks highly suspect, consider that the Dow has now closed below its fifty-day moving average every day without falling below its two-hundred-day moving average for thirty-two sessions. That may not sound like any technical big deal, but what that means is that the Dow has traded within the range of those two averages for the longest time in twenty-seven years ! In fact, the current stretch is three days longer ( and running ) than what the Dow managed back in 1989. (That's just as far back as I had time to research to try to find a period that came close.) Is the White House also in on the fix \u2026 if a fix it is?  At a time when Barrack Obama has been boasting that his administration brought the national deficit down (and when I suspect the Obama Admin. would like to tamp it down as much as possible to make Democrats look good for the election), Federal government spending just leaped 67% in August over the month before and 23% over the year before. Another way of saying that is that this spending surge created a deficit for August that was 40% higher than last August's deficit.  Why would the Obama administration risk losing its bragging rights over lowering the deficit so close to the election unless something more important than those bragging rights was at stake? (The president can, after all, do things by executive order to slow spending.) It could, of course, simply be that the King Pin and his henchmen recognized no one was buying their story, so they gave up maintaining the charade. Or \u2026 it could be that the economy began sinking so badly that massive efforts were needed to shore things up behind the scenes. Or \u2026 ?  While I don't know the reasoning for the spending explosion at a time when the Obama wants to firmly establish his legacy as our savior from the Great Recession, I will note that there is nothing like a massive burst of last-minute government spending on top of whatever the Feral Reserve might be doing to superficially float the economy a little longer. If your boat starts leaking badly and you're only a hundred yards from shore, the best solution is to power quickly toward shore, not spend time trying to make lasting repairs. No October surprise this October \u2026 so far \u2026 boo!  October has a reputation for being a nasty month for the stock market. It's the month in which you had usually better buckle your seatbelt because October has seen more stock market crashes than any other month. Sixty-percent of the largest one-day drops in the US stock market have happened in October.  This Halloweenish month has broken more volatility records than any other month. That makes it especially odd that the VIX, which tracks market volatility, hasn't been this steady in any month since the months that preceded the Great Recession. (Everyone thought everything was fine then, too.)  As short volatility market positions continue to build \u2013 largely as a consequence of central banks suppressing volatility to prevent recessions \u2013 maverick money manager Jesse Felder is warning the end result of the volatility trade could be a very painful lesson for investors with significant stock market repercussions. Having started out at Bear Stearns before co-founding his own multi-billion-dollar hedge fund, Jesse Felder is now more at home educating the masses on the truth in financial markets through his blog The Felder Report \u2026. Felder expresses his concern that the lack of volatility will inevitably create more volatility, the likes of which have never been seen before. \"I'm not calling for a stock market crash \u2026 but if you want to look at what's the probability of that type of an event, it's probably got to be as high as it's ever been.\" ( Business Insider )  Felder also says in a television interview that another sign of \"way too much complacency\" in the stock market is that\u2026  \u2026we're seeing financial stress; everybody's dismissing it\u2026. It's big-time denial.  Investor complacency or even irrational exuberance are the hallmarks of the final days before a stock-market bust because markets crash when people are most blind. (If they weren't blind, they'd see the problem coming and avert catastrophe.) Everyone was complacent in 2007 about all warnings, just as no one now seems to care that the market has plowed its mushy head into a ceiling that is slowly squishing down upon it.  This October looks more sloppy than choppy, and that's \u2026 in spite of just entering another reporting period of fairly weak earnings, in spite of the European Central Bank talking about backing away from quantitative easing, in spite of the US national debt hitting twenty-trillion dollars, in spite of the Federal Reserve edging toward a possible interest-rate hike now that inflation and employment have met the Fed's stated targets, in spite of the Bank of Japan holding back on its QE, in spite of China looking like another round of collapse is imminent, in spite of the largest and oldest banks in Europe teetering on collapse, in spite of the great European unwind called \"Brexit,\" in spite of a proxy war between the US and Russia flaring up in the Middle East, and in spite of that scary, red-haired Chucky doll named Trump.  Hmm. Is history's calmest stock market in the midst of all that a sign of peak complacency or irrationality? Or is it a sign that the market is being firmly fixed in place by the Fed and the government? Either way, looks like a crash is imminent. You decide. I'll just note that the market looks as calm as the eye in the middle of the hurricane that is, itself, surrounded by hurricanes.  While the ride has been mysteriously quiet for the last four months, note that the trend over those months is ever so gradually downward. So, if the fix is in, it is a fix that is barely holding, despite all the Fed and the government can throw at it.  Are investors just treading water, as some commentators explain, waiting until the election decides who is president. If so, that's something they have not done with this level of calm in any previous election cycles. Or are the Fed and the Gov lifting with all their combined might in hidden ways to try to hold up a lowering ceiling so that no one will suspect the Obama-praised Obama recovery is already dead?  I don't actually know. I just want to make the stinking peculiarity of this zombie economy abundantly clear.","label":1}
{"text":"The fundamental transformation of America continues . But one photo emerges that defies Barack and Michelle Obama s hateful and divisive narrative.In the latest chapter of the outcry over the Confederate flag issue in South Carolina, an unexpected scene emerged from rallies involving the Ku Klux Klan and black supporters this weekend a photo of a black police officer helping a white supremacist at the Capitol in Charleston.Members of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK were protesting the state s recent decision to remove the flag from the statehouse grounds. Black advocates held their own rally, and a clash among the two parties ensued.IN THE MIDST OF SO MUCH HATE, ONE HOPEFUL PHOTO EMERGED: It didn t take long for the photograph taken by Rob Godfrey, the deputy chief of staff for South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to spread on the Internet. Not an uncommon example of humanity in SC: Leroy Smith helps white supremacist to shelter & water as heat bears down, Godfrey wrote in posting the photo on Twitter.Officer Leroy Smith was helping the man find shade and water on a hot day in Charleston, when temperatures reached the upper 90s. About 2,000 people attended the rallies. He was assisting with crowd control on the stairs where the KKK was rallying, spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli said of Smith.As might be expected, the general public largely fell into one of two camps applauding the photo, or questioning it. This kindness chokes me up. How do SC people find that well of caring in the midst of so much hatred? one person replied in the photo s comment thread. Amazing! I couldn t find it in my heart and I am white, another remarked. Just curious. Put this in reverse. Would that White Supremacist have done that for Officer Smith at a Black Panther rally? countered one tweet. Being nice didn t save those 9 people [at the Charleston church shooting] though, posted another.Thursday, Haley encouraged people to stay away from the KKK rally. The strength and grace the people of South Carolina have shown over the last three weeks have inspired our family, our neighbors and the entire world, she wrote on her Facebook page. Our family hopes the people of South Carolina will join us in staying away from the disruptive, hateful spectacle members of the Ku Klux Klan hope to create.","label":1}
{"text":"As 21WIRE said last year, the Russian hacking, or Russiagate story was a political hoax from the start. What this story can now demonstrate, is that for the last 18 months, the entire mainstream media has been promulgating a highly politicised, and relentless campaign of fake news designed to implicate Russia in an imaginary scandal. Leading the pack are former papers of record The New York Times and The Washington Post, flanked by America s premier broadcast TV propaganda outlet CNN.Last week, we revealed how powerful politicians in Washington had pressured Facebook executives to come up with any evidence to support the Democratic Party s theory of Russian meddling, demonstrating clear collusion between the Obama Administration and Silicon Valley corporation Facebook, with the goal of fabricating a scandal in order to scapegoat Vladimir Putin and the Russians for the electoral collapse of Hillary Clinton last November.As a result, US-Russian relations have been sacrificed at the altar of petty partisan politics and a failing deep state agenda.It certainly begs the question: with so much at stake, why would Washington and MSM lie and risk pushing global tensions closer to a world war level confrontation? If they are prepared to lie about this, what else are they prepared to lie about?Consortium News Exclusive: The U.S. mainstream media is determined to prove Russia-gate despite the scandal s cracking foundation and its inexplicable anomalies, such as why Russia would set up a Facebook puppies page.By Robert ParryWhat is perhaps most unprofessional, unethical and even immoral about the U.S. mainstream media s coverage of Russia-gate is how all the stories start with the conclusion Russia bad and then make whatever shards of information exist fit the preordained narrative.For instance, we re told that Facebook executives, who were sent back three times by Democratic lawmakers to find something to pin on Russia, finally detected $100,000 worth of ads spread out over three years from accounts suspected of links to Russia or similar hazy wording.These Facebook ads and 201 related Twitter accounts, we re told, represent the long-missing proof about Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election after earlier claims faltered or fell apart under even minimal scrutiny.In the old days, journalists might have expressed some concern that Facebook found the ads only under extraordinary pressure from powerful politicians, such as Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leading legislator on the tech industry. But today s mainstream reporters took Warner s side and made it look like Facebook had been dragging its heels and that there must be much more out there.However, it doesn t really seem to matter how little evidence there is. Anything will do.Even the paltry $100,000 is not put in any perspective (Facebook has annual revenue of $27 billion), nor the 201 Twitter accounts (compared to Twitter s 328 million monthly users). Nor are the hazy allegations of suspected links to Russia subjected to serious inspection. Although Russia is a nation of 144 million people and many divergent interests, it s assumed that everything must be personally ordered by President Vladimir Putin.Yet, if you look at some of the details about these $100,000 in ads, you learn the case is even flimsier than you might have thought. The sum was spread out over 2015, 2016 and 2017 and thus represented a very tiny pebble in a very large lake of Facebook activity.But more recently we learned that only 44 percent of the ads appeared before Americans went to the polls last November, according to Facebook; that would mean that 56 percent appeared afterwards.Facebook added that roughly 25% of the ads were never shown to anyone. For 50% of the ads, less than $3 was spent; for 99% of the ads, less than $1,000 was spent. So, as miniscule as the $100,000 in ad buys over three years may have seemed, the tiny pebble turns out really to be only a fraction of a tiny pebble if the Russians indeed did toss it into the 2016 campaign.What About the Puppies?We further have learned that most ads weren t for or against a specific candidate, but rather addressed supposedly controversial issues that the mainstream media insists were meant to divide the United States and thus somehow undermine American democracy.Except, it turns out that one of the issues was puppies.As Mike Isaac and Scott Shane of The New York Times reported in Tuesday s editions, The Russians who posed as Americans on Facebook last year tried on quite an array of disguises. There was even a Facebook group for animal lovers with memes of adorable puppies that spread across the site with the help of paid ads. Now, there are a lot of controversial issues in America, but I don t think any of us would put puppies near the top of the list. Isaac and Shane reported that there were also supposedly Russia-linked groups advocating gay rights, gun rights and black civil rights, although precisely how these divergent groups were linked to Russia or the Kremlin was never fully explained. (Facebook declined to offer details.)At this point, a professional journalist might begin to pose some very hard questions to the sources, who presumably include many partisan Democrats and their political allies hyping the evil-Russia narrative. It would be time for some lectures to the sources about the consequences for taking reporters on a wild ride in conspiracy land.Yet, instead of starting to question the overall premise of this scandal, journalists at The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, etc. keep making excuses for the nuttiness. The explanation for the puppy ads was that the nefarious Russians might be probing to discover Americans who might later be susceptible to propaganda. The goal of the dog lovers page was more obscure, Isaac and Shane acknowledged. But some analysts suggested a possible motive: to build a large following before gradually introducing political content. Without viewing the entire feed from the page, now closed by Facebook, it is impossible to say whether the Russian operators tried such tactics. [Seriously, this is what the New York Times is passing off as journalism now]The Joe McCarthy of Russia-gateThe Times then turned to Clinton Watts, a former FBI agent and a top promoter of the New McCarthyism that has swept Official Washington. Watts has testified before Congress that almost anything that appears on social media these days criticizing a politician may well be traceable to the Russians Continue this story at Consortium NewsREAD MORE RUSSIAGATE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russiagate FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"Ellis Morning Editor  An Anonymous source sends us some Java code with really special variable naming conventions. I can only assume this came from a plucky startup hoping to attract venture capital. import java.util.*; import java.awt.*; import javax.swing.*; import java.awt.event.*; public class Array implements ActionListener, MouseMotionListener, MouseListener { int $$_, _$$, $$$,$_$; JFrame $$$__$$$ = new JFrame(); boolean draw = true; JButton $$1 = new JButton(\"Line\"), $$2 = new JButton(\"Rectangle\"), $$3 = new JButton(\"Clear\"); ArrayList = new ArrayList<>(); JPanel aa$$aa = new JPanel(), _$$_$_ = new JPanel(), $0$0$ = new JPanel() { @Override public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { super.paintComponent(g); for (Shape i : ) { if (i.$s$ == true) { g.setColor(Color.green); g.drawLine(i.$$_,i._$$,i.$$$,i.$_$); } else { g.setColor(Color.red); g.fillPolygon(new int[] {i.$$_,i.$$_,i.$$$,i.$$$}, new int[] {i._$$,i.$_$,i.$_$,i._$$}, 4); } } if (draw) { g.setColor(Color.green); g.drawLine($$_,_$$,$$$,$_$); } else { g.setColor(Color.red); g.fillPolygon(new int[] {$$_,$$_,$$$,$$$}, new int[] {_$$,$_$,$_$,_$$}, 4); } } }; public Array () { aa$$aa.setLayout(new BoxLayout(aa$$aa, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS)); _$$_$_.add($$1); $$1.addActionListener(this); _$$_$_.add($$2); $$2.addActionListener(this); _$$_$_.add($$3); $$3.addActionListener(this); $0$0$.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200)); aa$$aa.add($0$0$); $0$0$.addMouseListener(this); $0$0$.addMouseMotionListener(this); aa$$aa.add(_$$_$_); $$$__$$$.add(aa$$aa); $$$__$$$.setSize(new Dimension(400, 400)); $$$__$$$.setVisible(true); $$$__$$$.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); } public static void main(String[] args) { new Array(); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { if (e.getSource() == $$1) { draw = true; } else if (e.getSource() == $$2) { draw = false; } else if (e.getSource() == $$3) { .clear(); } $$_ = 0; _$$ = 0; $$$ = 0; $_$ = 0; $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) { $$_ = e.getX(); _$$ = e.getY(); $0$0$.repaint(); } public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) { $$$ = e.getX(); $_$ = e.getY(); .add(new Shape($$_,_$$,$$$,$_$, draw)); $$_=0; _$$=0; $_$=0; $_$=0; $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) { $$$__$$$.repaint(); } public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent e) { $$$ = e.getX(); $_$ = e.getY(); $$$__$$$.repaint(); } class Shape { int $$_,_$$,$$$,$_$; boolean $s$; Shape(int xx, int yy, int x$, int y$, boolean tp) { $$_ = xx; _$$ = yy; $$$ = x$; $_$ = y$; $s$ = tp; } public String toString() { return \"\"+$$_+\" \"+_$$+\" \"+$$$+\" \"+$_$; } } } [Advertisement] Infrastructure as Code built from the start with first-class Windows functionality and an intuitive, visual user interface. Download Otter today!","label":1}
{"text":"The Swedish identity will be wiped out in 20-30 years. This is sadly, a look into the future for all of Europe As a current resident of Sweden, I sometimes find myself questioning my own sanity. All these problems I blog about are right there in the open for anyone to see and getting worse by the year, yet media and politicians act as if everything is hunky-dory. Most people on the street also appears to be completely oblivious to details like the enormous increase of burning cars in the ghettos, the 1472% increase in rapes and the ever bolder gangs choking their enclaves with drugs and violence.So I find myself wondering, am I missing something? Why aren t people reacting? Is it really reasonable that so many are in a state of denial? Or am I somehow misinterpreting all this?That s why it s oddly reassuring that the neighboring Nordic countries are in the same boat. Denmark has voiced concerns about the utterly weak background check of immigrants from the middle east, fearing radical Islamists entering Sweden as asylum seekers with the intent of building Scandinavian terror cells. My very first post on this blog was about a Danish politician openly pleading for Sweden to come to its senses.Norway isn t too pleased either, and they dare speak openly about the problems brewing in the cities of their neighbor.In a new report called Oslo 2022, the Norwegian police explicitly use Sweden in general and the town of S dert lje as a warning example. This prompted Aftonposten, one of the major Norwegian newspapers, to do two articles on Sweden s out-of-control immigration.In the first part, Norwegian reporters traveled to S dert lje outside Stockholm. Entitled We all live in the same town, but not in the same world, the article chronicles a town in complete segregation where the immigrants gain ground every year and everyone who can escapes. Violence, drugs, lawlessness and decay eats away at the town like a cancer. Why is this allowed to happen? the reporter asks. Because the Swedes are weak, says 36-year old Simon Melkemichel. The Swedish identity will be wiped out in 20-30 years. The second part is called Sweden has lost control over their immigration and has representatives for the Norwegian government comment on the fact that, well, Sweden has lost control over their immigration. What makes it noteworthy is the difference in tone compared to the Swedish political debate.As in Denmark, the Norwegian leftist worker s party have a very different view on immigration than the Swedish sister party Socialdemokraterna (currently in power). In Norway and Denmark, they make a point of restricting the inflow and checking the backgrounds carefully.In Sweden, there are literally no limits, and any background check beyond scratching the surface is considered racist and shut down by management as has been repeatedly revealed by bloggers like Merit Wager.Not surprisingly, the police report and the articles have ruffled quite a few feathers in Sweden s political and medial elite. But equally predictably, the Swedish response is not to acknowledge the problems, but to whine about the mean Norwegian pseudo-fascists having the gall to criticize Sweden s enlightened stance.While it doesn t do squat to fix anything, it s at least reassuring that I m not the one losing my mind.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump renewed his spat with the sports world on Sunday, again calling for National Football League owners to fire players who protest during the U.S. national anthem. In an early morning tweet, Trump suggested fans could boycott NFL games in order to pressure teams to discipline players who protest the anthem. \"If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast,\" Trump wrote on Sunday. \"Fire or suspend!\" In a second tweet, Trump said that the \"league should back\" fans who are upset about the protests. Trump is spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and held no public events on Saturday. On Saturday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Trump's first statements on the matter, which came during a political rally in Alabama on Friday, revealed an \"unfortunate lack of respect\" for the NFL and its players. At the rally, Trump suggested any protesting football player was a \"son of a bitch\" and should lose his job. \"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now ... He is fired',\" Trump said on Friday at a rally for Alabama Senate Republican candidate Luther Strange. Trump said in Twitter messages later on Saturday that, if NFL players wanted \"the privilege\" of high salaries, they \"should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!\" Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick stirred a polarizing national debate in 2016 after refusing to stand during pre-game renditions of the \"Star Spangled Banner\". Instead, Kaepernick put one knee to the ground to protest against police violence against African-Americans. Several players have since made similar gestures of protest before games. As commissioner, Goodell reports to NFL owners, some of whom have supported Trump in the past. New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, a major Trump presidential campaign donor, was confirmed by the Senate last month as Trump's pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Britain. The union representing professional football players also rejected Trump's comments, saying it would defend their right to freedom of expression. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. National Basketball Association players also struck back against comments by the president on Saturday after Trump clashed with one of the biggest stars in the NBA. In an early morning Twitter message on Saturday, the president rescinded a White House invitation to Stephen Curry, who had said he would \"vote\" against the planned visit by the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. \"Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!\" Trump tweeted. Curry told a news conference in Oakland, California: \"It's beneath the leader of a country to go that route.\" \"It's not what leaders do,\" he said. The Oakland-based Golden State Warriors said in a statement the team had intended to meet to discuss the potential visit at the first opportunity on Saturday morning. \"We accept that President Trump has made it clear that we are not invited,\" the team said. LeBron James came to Curry's defense, disputing Trump's assertion that visiting the White House was an honor. \"Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!\" James, a prominent supporter of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential elections, said on Twitter. Singer Stevie Wonder appeared to evoke protests by Kaepernick and other athletes when he put one knee to the stage during a concert at the Global Citizen Festival in New York City on Saturday. \"Tonight, I'm taking a knee for America,\" Wonder told the audience as his son, Kwame Morris, helped him down. Wonder then put his other leg down so that he was kneeling and facing the cheering crowd, with his son doing the same. \"I'm taking both knees,\" Wonder said. \"Both knees in prayer for our planet, our future, our leaders of the world and our globe.\"","label":0}
{"text":"With the news dropping that supposedly Trump isn t under an investigation for obstruction of justice, we re all scratching our heads. Especially since Trump admitted he s under investigation himself.ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos has an idea of what s going on. The President wants to take down Bob Mueller. His lawyer wants to take down Bob Muller and the question is why? And I think the answer is they wanna lay the foundation to discredit whatever Bob Mueller comes up with, Stephanopoulos said in a video posted on Twitter.Given that Trump himself has admitted on Twitter that he is under investigation and that it s a witch hunt , it sounds like a very plausible answer.Stephanopoulos goes on to say that They re essentially engaging in a scorched-earth litigation strategy that is beginning with trying to discredit the prosecutor. He closes the video by saying that Mueller is just doing his job and is only just getting started, so we shouldn t just automatically dismiss Mueller or that Trump is being investigated.Stephanopoulos has a point. It does seem likely that Trump and his team would try to cover an investigation up. They don t want the public to know it would damage his reputation (not that he has a glowing one in the first place).Why shouldn t we believe what Trump tweets? He knows what he s tweeting. Why shouldn t we believe the other sources?An excerpt of This Week shows Pierre Thomas, ABC News Senior Justice Correspondent saying Now, my sources are telling me he s begun some preliminary planning. Plans to talk to some people in the administration. But he s not yet made that momentous decision to go for a full-scale investigation. If that s the case, it s possible that Mueller is backing off on the idea of investigating Trump. Why?Obviously, something is going on behind the scenes. Stephanopoulos may have just given us the real answer.Photo by Lorenzo Bevilaqua\/ABC via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"This is the Man Militarized Police at Standing Rock are Working For Nov 15, 2016 0 0  The months long Dakota Access Keystone XL pipleine protest at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation by Native Americans and those sympathetic to protection of our water supply has been met with heavy-handed and brutal clamp down by police and national guard. Militarized goons in battle dress have stormed protector camps with LRAD sonic weapons, attack dogs , tear gas, tazers , and even live ammunition ( killing horses ), while politicians and mainstream media do their best to ignore this growing atrocity, hoping to wait it out until the protestors give up.  But, as the saying goes, Water Is Life , and the issue of life and death is at the root of this protection movement, therefore, for people concerned with life, giving up on this is simply unthinkable. The root issue justifying state oppression of the protest is capitalism, and the perception that money is more important than life itself. When the police and national guard attack U.S. citizens on private property to protect corporate interests, who are they really working for?  The corporate dream of the Keystone XL pipeline is to create a profit stream for a small number of people at the expense of the natural world and anyone in the way. At the top of this pyramid of profit is Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the company responsible for the project.  So who is Kelcy Warren?  A native of East Texas and graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington with a degree in civil engineering, Warren worked in the natural gas industry and became co-chair of Energy Transfer Equity in 2007. With business partner Ray Davis, co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, Warren built Energy Transfer Equity into one of the nation's largest pipeline companies, which now owns about 71,000 miles of pipelines carrying natural gas, natural gas liquids, refined products and crude oil. The company's holdings include Sunoco, Southern Union and Regency Energy Partners.  Forbes estimates the 60-year-old Warren's personal wealth at $4 billion. Bloomberg described him as \"among America's new shale tycoons\" \u2014 but rather than building a fortune by drilling he \"takes the stuff others pull from underground and moves it from one place to another, chilling, boiling, pressurizing, and processing it until it's worth more than when it burst from the wellhead.\" [ Source ]  Shockingly, in 2015 the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, appointed Warren to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission which is an insult to environmentalists working to protect Big Bend National Park and surrounding sacred tribal lands from another $770 million pipeline project .  \"According to the governor's office, the state parks and wildlife commission \"manages and conserves the natural and cultural resources of Texas,\" along with ensuring the future of hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportunities for Texans.\" [ Source ]  This glaring conflict of interest has inspired Environmental Science major at UTSA and former Texas State Park Ambassador Andrew Lucas to begin a drive to have Warren removed from this environmental post. His petition is described here :  Most people may know Kelcy Warren as the man behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dallas-based billionaire and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners has been making headlines for fast-tracking a 1100 mile crude oil pipeline across the Midwest and under the Missouri River, just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. No environmental impact assessment, no respect for cultural sites, and no regard for the local and widespread communities living along the river. A similar story is unfolding out in West Texas, where Warren's company has split through the pristine Big Bend region with the 200 mile Comanche Trail Pipeline and nearly-complete 143 mile Trans Pecos Pipeline. These Pipelines mark the way for massive natural gas and oil developments in the Trans Pecos region.  With untold damages unfolding for cultural and environmental resources at the hands of Energy Transfer Partners, it would surprise most to know that nearly a year ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed Kelcy Warren for a 6 year term as 1 of the 10 commissioners who preside over Texas Parks And Wildlife\u2026 Why? Probably the $550,000 in campaign contributions Abbott received from Warren.  Footage of militarized police using the Long Range Acoustic Device ( LRAD ) crowd control weapon against protectors at standing rock on October 27th, 2016: Final Thoughts  Warren is listed as number 150 on Forbes list of wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion in September of 2016. He is the head of the Dakota Access Pipeline snake.  If you are scratching your head wondering why militarized police and private security contractors are beating, gassing and attacking peaceful resistors, including women, children and the elderly, the answer is, they are doing it to protect the interests of Kelcy Warren and others invested in this pipeline project.  About the Author  Isaac Davis is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog. He is an outspoken advocate of liberty and of a voluntary society. He is an avid reader of history and passionate about becoming self-sufficient to break free of the control matrix. Follow him on Facebook, here . This article ( This is the Man Militarized Police at Standing Rock are Working For ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Isaac Davis and WakingTimes.com . Vote Up","label":1}
{"text":"Several dozen women in Kenya said police officers attacked them during this year s election season and some said they were raped by men in uniform, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. More than 70 people were killed in an election in August, later nullified by the Supreme Court, and a repeat presidential poll in October won by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The opposition boycotted the repeat poll and said it would not be fair. The sexual attacks, mostly on women, occurred over this period in some of Nairobi s slums and in two opposition strongholds, Kisumu and Bungoma, in western Kenya, HRW said in a report. Kenyan police dispute rights groups allegations that officers used excessive force to quell election-related unrest. They did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the report. One 28-year-old woman in the Nairobi slum of Mathare told Reuters: Four men in police uniforms burst into my home and my children were sleeping, they pulled my husband out. One grabbed my neck, the other pulled off my clothes, another beat me with a stick, and the other forced sex on me. The woman who declined to be identified said she was four months pregnant and miscarried shortly after the rape. I was bleeding and confused afterwards, she said. Another woman, aged 26, said: Two men dragged me away from my friend, stripped off my clothes and one raped me as another one held me down. Kenyan women who have been raped - they are lonely and abandoned and ashamed, said HRW researcher Agnes Odhiambo. It s the Kenyan government who should feel shame for failing to protect them and help them get medical treatment. Kenyan rights groups accuse police of brutality and extrajudicial killings. A government civilian watchdog tasked to oversee the police exists, but few officers are charged and convictions are extremely rare. The sexual violence mirrored widespread violations against women after a disputed 2007 vote, when 1,200 people were killed, HRW said. At the time, the group documented at least 900 cases of sexual violence but said this was likely an underestimate. The new cases related to the August and October 2017 elections demonstrate a disturbing continuum, Tina Alai, a lawyer with New York-based Physicians for Human Rights. Police have continued to perpetrate sexual violence against civilians they are obligated to protect, she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Ted Cruz proudly announced the latest endorsement of his presidential bid. It comes from Pastor Mike Bickle, founder and director of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City. Bickle is a figure well known for his attack on on same sex-marriage, calling it a sign of the end of times. He has also blamed the Jews for the Holocaust. [youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2hE_AOR2JBE]In a 2011 speech, Bickle suggested that millions of Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust because they didn t accept God s gift, Jesus Christ. He quoted Jeremiah 16:16 from the Bible to explain why Hitler murdered millions of Jews. He said: The Lord says, I m going to give all 20 million of them the chance to respond to the fishermen. And I give them grace. And he says, And if they don t respond to grace, I m going to raise up the hunters. And the most famous hunter in recent history is a man named Adolf Hitler. It doesn t get more anti-Semitic than this guy. His statement not only blames Jews for the Holocaust, but also justifies it: because Jews didn t accept Jesus, they deserved to die.Bickle also says that in the coming end of days, Jews will be put in prison and death camps. When all is said and done, 2\/3rds of the Jewish population will be destroyed and off to hell because they didn t accept Jesus. Thus, not only were they murdered for not accepting Jesus, the Jews will be murdered again for continuing their rejection of Jesus.Ted Cruz is excited about the endorsement of the genocidal Bickle. He said: Through prayer, the Lord has changed my life and altered my family s story. I am grateful for Mike s dedication to call a generation of young people to prayer and spiritual commitment. Heidi and I are grateful to have his prayers and support. With the support of Mike and many other people of faith, we will fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith. Cruz and Bickle are of the same ilk and ideology when it comes to religion and so it should come as no surprise to all of us that Cruz would be proud of this endorsement. Bickle s statements are not only anti-Semitic, but they are also genocidal. To actually believe that Jews have been and will be exterminated because they don t believe in Jesus (whatever that means) justifies the Holocaust and also justifies a future one for millions of so-called Christians.Featured Image Via Wikimedia Commons.","label":1}
{"text":"South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the transition process. Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India, had backed Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz during the Republican battle for a White House nominee.","label":0}
{"text":"President-elect Donald J. Trump s economic advisor Steve Moore told Neil Cavuto the incoming administration may introduce two separate tax bills to increase chances of prompt Congressional approval. Moore says Trump s tax reform plan should primarily focus on slashing the corporate tax rate to somewhere between 15% and 20%.","label":1}
{"text":"Spain s state prosecutor has asked for a custodial sentence for the head of the Catalan police service Josep Lluis Trapero, who is facing charges of sedition, a spokesman for the High Court said on Monday. Trapero has been put under formal investigation for sedition after failing to order to rescue Civil Guard police who were trapped inside a Catalan government building in Barcelona by tens of thousands of pro-independence protesters in September. A Spanish judge will decide later on Monday whether Trapero will be held in custody without bail, the spokesman said.","label":0}
{"text":"Email  Democratic U.S. vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine announced Saturday that he believes the Catholic Church will change its position on same-sex marriage. The Virginia senator said that just like he had changed his opinion on the issue, the Catholic Church is also likely to follow suit. Speaking at the 20th Annual Human Rights Campaign's National Dinner in Washington, the Roman Catholic senator reportedly said, \"I think it's going to change because my church also teaches me about a creator who, in the first chapter of Genesis, surveyed the entire world, including mankind, and said, 'It is very good.'\"  \"And besides,\" he continued, \"we are talking here about a country that was based and founded on democracy as a core value. By definition, that means that every single person and every single citizen is able \u2013 no, scratch that \u2013 encouraged to practice his civil, religious, and above all, sexual liberties to the best of their abilities. And I'm sorry that some people don't like it, but to deny same-sex marriage in a country that should be the first one to accept it is just pointless. And the Catholic Church should also be accepting it instead of condemning it, which is what it's doing right now.\"  Kaine also added that, if all else fails, \"there are ways of making the Catholic Church listen to the voice of reason,\" which is how he dubbed all those who advocate LGBT equality. \"At the end of the day, you know, we're a civilized people, of course the first thing we'll do is act nicely and ask nicely,\" he said. \"Then, if that doesn't work, we'll use our law and our legal system to enable ourselves to be who we are, or rather the LBGT community will do that \u2013 and it has. The Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage was a crucial milestone in our legal system that proves it works, it actually functions.\"  \"So, what I'm saying here,\" he argued, \"is that, while I respect the Catholic Church as I'm sure millions of Americans do, you know, at some point it is going to start acting contrary to the Christian faith, and we're talking about an institution that's supposed to be the first one on the front line defending it. So, when that happens, and that's what's happening with condemning LGBT rights, we'll state an ultimatum. The United States of America, more precisely, the future President of the United States of America, Hillary Clinton, will state an ultimatum. And that ultimatum will be to either change its stance on same-sex marriage or pack its bags and get out of America. And yes \u2013 the President of the country can do that.\"  \"And in case anybody's wondering \u2013 no, Donald Trump won't do the same because he doesn't care about anyone other than Donald Trump. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is a shining example of honesty, integrity and democracy, and you can rest assured she will do everything in her power as the president to make sure gays and lesbians throughout America are loved, respected and viewed as equals during her presidential term. What happens after that is not our problem,\" Kaine concluded.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump loves beautiful women. We know that because he s told us that, repeatedly. In fact, he once called hot women his alcoholism, especially if they are 17 or 18. Salma Hayek is undeniably beautiful. It s no wonder Trump tried to ask her out. It s also no wonder that she said no. What Trump did after that, though was pure Donald Trump.When I met that man, I had a boyfriend, and he tried to become his friend to get my home telephone number, she said, describing meeting Trump early in her career before she was well-known. He got my number and he would call me to invite me out. When I told him I wouldn t go out with him even if I didn t have a boyfriend, [which he took as disrespectful], he called well, he wouldn t say he called, but someone told the National Enquirer, Hayek continued, adding that she never went out with him. Someone told the National Enquirer I m not going to say who, because you know that whatever he wants to come out comes out in the National Enquirer. It said that he wouldn t go out with me because I was too short, she said. Later, he called and left me a message. Can you believe this? Who would say this? I don t want people to think this about you, she said. He thought that I would try to go out with him so people wouldn t think that s why he wouldn t go out with me. Like most things that come out of Trump s mouth, his denial didn t ring true, especially after it was revealed that he paid $120,000 from Trump Foundation money for a prize that included dinner with Hayek.Hayek has never particularly been a fan of Trump. In August, she compared him to a first grader.She is a strong supporter, though, of Hillary Clinton. Just days ago, she made a Spanish language video in support of the Secretary of State.I guess we ll have to wait and see what Trump has to say about Hayek in his next 3:00 Twitter rant.Featured image of Selma Hayek via Mike Coppola\/Getty Images | Featured image of Donald Trump via Gerardo Mora\/Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"New Yorkers flooded the streets of Manhattan on Saturday aiming to send a message to President Trump that his hometown would be a center of resistance during his administration. The mayor's office estimated that 400, 000 people took part in the march, which was in concert with other Women's March rallies across the country. With huge crowds along Fifth Avenue near Trump Tower, a large slice of Manhattan came to a standstill for much of the day. Participants booed Mr. Trump and hoisted signs mocking both his hair and his relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. It was a moment of both catharsis and camaraderie in a city that was, for the most part, shocked and disappointed by Mr. Trump's ascendance to the presidency. Holding a \"Nasty Woman\" sign, Grace Huezo, 20, was buoyed by the huge turnout and the joyful mood. \"I'm hopeful to see so many people that are not giving up and they're keeping their spirit,\" she said. \"We're all just going to stick together over the next four years. \" Ms. Huezo, a student at Hunter College, said she was marching with her sister to defend women's rights. She said she was appalled by the 2005 recording of Mr. Trump's lewd comments about women that emerged during the campaign. \"We're here saying, 'No, people do not have permission to grab women without our permission,'\" she said. The march began with a rally near Trump World Tower on the East Side, where Chirlane McCray, the wife of Mayor Bill de Blasio, led the crowd in urging Mr. Trump not to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. \"New York City has always been the center of progressive America, and that will never change,\" she said. The actress Whoopi Goldberg suggested it would be the first of many marches while Mr. Trump was in office. Hinting at the debate over diversity leading up to the marches, one speaker said she wanted equal pay, and \"not just for white women. \" Throughout the day, marchers clogged city streets and overwhelmed subway stations. Men and women wore pink \"pussy hats\" and held signs that read, \"You lost here, Donald,\" and \"I'm Still With Her. \" Around 4 p. m. near Trump Tower, a wall of police officers tried to keep people moving as protesters chanted, \"Black Lives Matter. \" Alice Bucaille said she wanted to bring her two daughters to the march, but decided against it because of violence on Friday after the inauguration ceremony in Washington. Ms. Bucaille said she would have welcomed women with views that differed from hers on abortion, and added that Democrats could no longer live in a bubble. \"We need to open the discussion and understand where people are coming from,\" she said. \"Being inclusive is part of the conversation. \" Plenty of children attended the march with parents and grandparents. Along the route, Annabel Lui, 6, stood on a bench proudly holding a sign that said: \"Little Donald, you've been a bad boy. Now go to your room for the next four years. \" stopped to watch as she chanted, \"Trump has to go!\"","label":0}
{"text":"November 3, 2016 - Fort Russ News -  - Alexander Boyko, in Konsomolskaya Pravda , translated by Tom Winter -  \"No need for Ukrainian youth in migrant-saturated Europe, but it's easy to find earnings in Russia\"  From the \"Square:\" a mass exodus of Ukrainians to Russia  The symbol of the new year in Ukraine may be a Cossack Vakula* that flies over precincts in St. Petersburg. Or a deserted farm near Little Russian Dikanka, a hut where the wind sings through the windows. Ukrainians are rushing to Russia not for overseas slippers, but for daily bread. They run from the country with their families, together with their farm neighbors, leaving forever.  1\/4 WON'T RETURN  Members of the International human rights organization Human Rights Action (HRA) said that over the past year in Ukraine, where over the last 10 years the population has decreased from 48 to 42 million, more than three million people have left for Russia! And according to European researchers the depopulation going on in the Ukraine is about to cause a social explosion.  This is what the Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groisman acknowledged at one of the recent sessions of the government. In the session there was talk that Ukraine in the next year may be deprived of its last support - the agricultural sector. The land will soon have no one to work it, as it's the elderly who remain in the villages.  Ukrainian youth are not needed in the Europe that is now supersaturated with migrants, but it is easy to find earnings in Russia.  Kiev media also are actively discussing the warning of Oleksandr Okhrimenko, President of the Ukrainian Analytical Center. He made the forecast that in the next year the migratory flow from the Ukraine could grow by half, and a quarter of those who left would change citizenship, and will work in Russia.  20 MILLION LEAVE  The Russian Interior Ministry notes a sharp increase in the flow of migrants from Ukraine. It is expected that in the second half of October 25-30 thousand migrant workers more than usual will arrive in Russia from Ukraine. Already 80-85 thousand Ukrainian citizens arrive per week. Basically they come to us in search of work. At the same time, it is no longer about the residents of the Donbass, who fled from the war. It is very real ethnic Ukrainians, from the western regions.  In Ukraine, some experts are trying to support the version of this as a seasonal phenomenon: it is said, the potato harvest is done on the farms and now they have gone to earn some cash on Russian construction sites. But experts at \"KP\" argue that it's not just that.  - The economic crisis has gotten worse in the Ukraine, as people are looking for any stable earnings and Poroshenko has once again shown that Ukrainians are not needed in Europe. They are not needed either as migrant workers or as visa-free visitors, Yuri Moskovski told the correspondent of \"Komsomolskaya Pravda.\" Moskovski is chairman of the National Affairs Council in the Government of Moscow, and the Foundation projects director, international relations for the Neighbourhood Foundation.  \"They always find their niche on the Russian labor market. Our task is to receive them, place, and help them to adapt. The migration from the Ukraine will continue to grow.\"** When the Zaporozhye army swore oaths to Russia, about 700 thousand people lived there. When Ukraine left the Soviet Union, there were more than 50 million citizens, and now in fact - 38. But Bandera said in his time time that for the Ukraine to establish a national state a population of 20 million would do. His successors have chosen his path. They are stubbornly headed to depopulation.  There are several reasons why the citizens of Ukraine began to recuse their nationality, and leave for Russia with their families. Though last year the Ukrainians were free to come to Russia and work, while remaining in the background with other migrants virtually invisible to law enforcement, the migration rules have become stricter this year.  Under the current legislation a migrant from Ukraine is obliged to register, acquire an INN (Taxpayer ID Number), health insurance, pass an exam on the Russian language, to acquire a work permit, is given a month to get a contract of employment, and has to pay 4000 rubles a month on the permit. Violators are fined, and forcibly expelled with a re-entry restriction for 5-10 years.  In addition, the Federal Migration Service of Russia, which was engaged in the control of illegal migration, has recently been abolished. The functions of this department were turned over to the Interior Ministry of Russia, a Ministry, which will not only supervise but also achieve results with forceful measures.  It is because the Ukrainians are in a rush to move to Russia, to obtain residence permits, and Russian citizenship, which gives the right to work without restrictions and additional fees.  Poroshenko recently added to this determination among his constituents. He put pressure on his people by means of prohibitions on Russian payment systems, and fears of an introduction of a visa regime with Russia. All within the format of the chosen policy: Team Poroshenko clearly is following the precepts of Bandera.  *Vakula the Smith: character from a Gogol story, common in porcelan; also an opera .  **The quotation marks are placed by the translator: The quoted passage is plainly from Moskovski, but the original writer has no quotation marks at all, so it is unclear where Moskovski leaves off and the writer tacks on -- Tr.   Follow us on Facebook!     Follow us on Twitter!     Donate!","label":1}
{"text":"Arizona Senator Jeff Flake can t vote for Donald Trump. He said so on CNN. He won t vote for Hillary, either (boo), but he also can t make himself vote for someone as full of pond scum as Trump. So, true to form, Trump took to Twitter to blast Flake for having the gall to say something so horrible about him:The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as @JeffFlake, if it is going to stop illegal immigration. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016 The Great State of Arizona, where I just had a massive rally (amazing people), has a very weak and ineffective Senator, Jeff Flake. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016The GOP s former House Policy Chief, Evan McMullin, isn t having any of this at all. He unleashed a firestorm of tweets in response to Trump over his skin that s as thick as a single layer of gauze. Nobody who is, or was, a Republican, hits The Donald over the head for his repeated attacks on fellow Republicans better than McMullin just did:.@realDonaldTrump demonstrates his fragility once again by attacking @JeffFlake, one of America s most courageous leaders. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 4, 2016 Important leadership truth: Strong, conservative leaders like @JeffFlake unify us while weak, petty men like @realdonaldtrump divide us. Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016I refuse to accept a bully president.https:\/\/t.co\/15zpelBRKf Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016 .@realDonaldTrump is a weak, fragile, and petulant man who cannot stomach dissent or criticism. https:\/\/t.co\/l0woBG3qwY Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016McMullin, who linked to a blog post he wrote about Trump in the above tweets, then finished his tweetstorm with this series:This election isn t about me, and at this point it isn t just about who will sit in the Oval Office in January. https:\/\/t.co\/nMymQM2C4a Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016 It s about the character of our nation: who we are and who we aspire to be. https:\/\/t.co\/1LGqrmjpVS Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016It s so important that we not only defeat @realDonaldTrump in November Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016 but that we stand up, every day, to his unacceptable attacks on our nation s most courageous leaders. https:\/\/t.co\/j7DtAyNrSU Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 5, 2016McMullin s Twitter profile says he s now an independent candidate for President, but he seems to know that he doesn t have a chance in hell of winning. He s a Never Trumper, and he praises other Never Trumpers for being Never Trumpers before it was cool. In his blog post about Trump s ridiculous attack on Flake, he fleshes out some of his tweets a little better: But Donald Trump is a weak, fragile, and petulant man who cannot stomach dissent or criticism. Even as he promises to be a uniter who will bring the country together, he lashes out against leaders within his own party courageous, principled conservatives like Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. [emphasis in original post]He s got it right. Other Republicans and conservatives who can t stomach a Trump presidency have it right, too. Some will vote for Hillary. Some will probably vote for Gary Johnson. But McMullin just put the man with the onion-paper thin skin in his place.Photo of McMullin by George Frey\/Getty Images. Photo of Trump by Ralph Freso\/Getty Images. Photos merged by Rika Christensen","label":1}
{"text":"By Jon RappoportCNN is already claiming the whole Susan Rice scandal is a tempest in a teapot, and the Trump team is exaggerating it to distract the public from something. Fill in the blank yourself.For example: Trump isn t actually the president, he cheated his way into the Oval Office, while acting as a secret agent for his handler, Vladimir Putin, who in turn was operating on behalf of aliens from Jupiter.The Susan Rice scandal is out in the open. She, Obama s national security advisor, led an effort to spy on legal phone calls the Trump team was making during the presidential campaign, in order to gain intelligence on the enemy. The Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) spoke with Col. (Ret.) James Waurishuk, an NSC [National Security Council] veteran and former deputy director for intelligence at the U.S. Central Command. Waurishuk said: many hands had to be involved throughout the Obama administration to launch such a political spying program It s unbelievable of [sic] the level and degree of the [Obama] administration to look for information on Donald Trump and his associates, his campaign team and his transition team. This is really, really serious stuff . Michael Doran, former NSC [National Security Council] senior director, told The DCNF Monday that somebody blew a hole in the wall between national security secrets and partisan politics . This was a stream of information that was supposed to be hermetically sealed from politics and the Obama administration found a way to blow a hole in that wall , he said. Yes, serious stuff. A felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.Obama, of course, will have plausible deniability if the Susan Rice scandal blows up into a Watergate. He didn t know. He didn t order the spying. He was playing golf that day. Or any day.And if a Congressional investigation of Rice and her antics reaches a fever pitch, somebody can play the race card. That s always an option. If Rice were white, this never would have happened to her. The Trump people are all over her like white on Rice. Meanwhile, CNN, in alternating segments, can say a) Rice and her people never spied on anybody, and b) everybody spies on everybody all the time, it s not a big deal and then some on-air goofball will add, In fact, we here at CNN are spying And the TV screen will go blank, then display colored stripes, then come back and the goofball will be gone, and an anchor will say, We had a technical problem for a moment. Continue this article at John Rappoport s websiteREAD MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russian Hack Files","label":1}
{"text":"BOMBSHELL: Hillary Clinton's Leaked Audio Proves She Rigs Elections Posted on October 30, 2016 by Dawn Parabellum in Politics Share This  Astonishing, newly released leaked audio of Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has just surfaced, and what it reveals is damning. In her own voice, we hear the corrupt Democrat telling reporters that elections can and should be rigged to ensure who wins. This throws the validity of every government on earth in the shredder because she isn't only talking about rigging American presidential elections.  Since the FBI reopened their investigation into the criminal Democrat and Hillary seeks a powerful position to dictate the lives of others, it's important to hear this audio. She is blatant when she say elections shouldn't take place unless we make \"sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.\"  Hear it from her own mouth:  Hillary clearly said, \"I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake. And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win. \"  This conversation took place in 2006 during a discussion with Eli Chomsky, an editor and staff writer for the Jewish Press. At the time, Hillary Clinton was running for a \"shoo-in re-election\" as a U.S. senator.  Her trip, making the rounds of editorial boards, brought her to Brooklyn to meet the editorial board of the Jewish Press. Her conversation was secretly recorded, and the audio hasn't been released until now.  According to Chomsky, this little audio clip has only been heard by the small handful of Jewish Press staffers in the room. He claims his copy is the only copy and no one has heard it since 2006 \u2014 until now. Election rigging Democrat, Hillary Clinton  It proves she is willing to do whatever it takes to win. With massive amounts of voter fraud already being reported in favor of the most criminal and corrupt politician of our time, in combination with this audio, it's hard to deny that Hillary wouldn't rig the election to win.  Luckily, Americans are wising up to her disturbing antics. We all saw her cheat during the debates , and the proof came out in leaked emails, thanks to WikiLeaks.  It's important to hear this, coming directly from Hillary herself, and we can all tell that it is her voice. We all know she's rigging this election to beat Donald Trump, but she obviously has had her hands in rigged elections before.  It is hard to say how many elections across the globe she has influenced or just stolen. Hillary Clinton will stop at nothing to grab even a small amount of power, and she continues to prove she is as corrupt as they come.","label":1}
{"text":"The irony in this situation is pretty huge. Prince didn t like meddling in his music or business but now the government will be taking over half of his life s earnings in taxes. The problem is that Prince wasn t married if he d been married the estate would have gone to his wife. Pretty sad scenario of death and then taxes .If Prince were married, he could have passed on the entirety of his estate to his spouse tax free. However, without a spouse, only $1.6 million of Prince s estate will be free from Minnesota s death tax and only $5.45 million will escape the federal death tax. Prince, the iconic pop star who once was The Artist Formerly Known As Prince in protest of the record labels, unexpectedly died last week and he didn t have a will. He also wasn t married, so the government will get most of the proceeds of his massive estate.Since his death I ve read that he was a closet conservative, and I ve read that he was a big liberal. So I don t know what his political leanings were, but what does seem clear is that he wasn t a fan of others profiting off of his musical genius. So it s kind of sad that the government will take more than fifty percent of his life s work.Both the federal government and Minnesota s state government will assess so-called death taxes or estate taxes on Prince s assets, taking away more than half his estate. Between his physical assets cash, investments, home, etc. and his future royalties, Prince s estate has been estimated to be between $300 and $500 million. If Prince were married, he could have passed on the entirety of his estate to his spouse tax free. However, without a spouse, only $1.6 million of Prince s estate will be free from Minnesota s death tax and only $5.45 million will escape the federal death tax.The combination of Minnesota s top death tax rate of 16 percent, plus the federal government s 40 percent rate, means that over 50 percent of Prince s estate will go to the government.","label":1}
{"text":"On the night that Donald Trump won his second straight primary (with a massive lead), a despondent Glenn Beck decided it was time to take action to support his favored candidate, Ted Cruz. He announced on his Facebook page that he would begin fasting on Monday to push Ted Cruz to victory in the upcoming Nevada Republican Caucus somehow.In the post, which raised eyebrows and made eyes roll, the ever melodramatic Beck told his fans: I would like to ask you to join me and my family Monday in a fast for Ted Cruz, our country and the Nevada caucus. https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GlennBeck\/posts\/10153969800938188He also said he would be spending every waking hour until the caucus on February 23 devoted to promoting Cruz. He s not kidding. On Sunday, Cruz will leave behind the guy from Duck Dynasty and replace him with Beck, who will host an event for the candidate in Las Vegas. On Monday, Beck will again join Cruz, this time in Reno.Beck s support for Cruz seems to come singularly from his disdain for Donald Trump. For reasons that remain unclear, Beck has a seething hatred for Trump that borders on obsessive. It s odd because in so many ways bigotry, race-baiting, xenophobia the two are very much alike.In a hilarious show of how little self-awareness he possesses, Beck infamously declared that any Tea Party supporter who favored Trump was actually just a racist.While he questioned whether Trump s supporters are genuine Tea Partiers, Beck said of them, If you were a Tea Party person, then you were lying. You were lying. It was about Barack Obama being black. It was about him being a Democrat. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Beck is no doubt right that much of the Tea Party movement was based in racism, but supporting Trump isn t contrary to that movement. It s the logical conclusion.It s unclear what Beck hopes to accomplish by starving himself and his family in order to help Ted Cruz get elected. Yet again it appears that Beck is trying to explicitly tie religious ceremony into the race. And fasting appears to be Beck s go to way of getting God s attention. Just last summer, he went on a six day fast to get ready for an appearance in Birmingham. He told his fans: Join us in fasting and prayer that we may all be humble enough to not only hear the path of The Almighty but we may be willing to walk it with honor, Courage, Love and unity. Last week he boldly declared that God killed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in order to ensure Ted Cruz became president. Apparently unwilling to let go and let God, Beck now hopes to nudge Him along a little bit more with his mass hunger strike.","label":1}
{"text":"There s just something about Shrillary that almost makes you wonder if everything she does has to be staged Watch how differently Marco Rubio is able to handle an impromptu interview with this TMZ reporter vs Hillary Clinton (below): h\/t IJ Review","label":1}
{"text":"FERGUSON, Mo. \u2014 Unrelenting protests over the death of an unarmed black teen here last summer thrust this St. Louis suburb and its 21,000 residents into an international spotlight and ushered in a year of national changes. Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, fatally shot Michael Brown Jr., a black 18-year-old, on Aug. 9, 2014. The encounter lasted just two minutes, but the shooting led to months of massive and, at times, violent protests. The world watched as crowds hurled bottles and looted liquor stores, while police in military gear threw tear gas and clashed with those on the streets. Under the slogan #BlackLivesMatter, Ferguson protesters kicked off a movement around alleged incidents of police misconduct leading to rallies in several cities with such cases. Although a grand jury did not indict Wilson and the Justice Department declined to bring criminal charges against the officer, Brown's violent death prompted a national look at alleged racial profiling, police brutality and the relationship between police officers and communities of color. \"A year later, all I can say is that Mike Brown, his death, his murder, have given me a new sense of purpose in life and that is to always be a truth teller and to stay true to why I came out on Aug. 9,\" says Johnetta Elzie, 26, who emerged as leader in the Black Lives Matter movement as the protests developed. \"I didn't come because there was an organization that asked me to come. I came because I was tired of seeing black people dead in the street by the hands of police officers.\" #BlackLivesMatter coalesced into a partnership of leaders and organizations. Last month, in Cleveland, hundreds of protests came together for the inaugural Movement for Black Lives Convening. Elzie and others regularly fly to cities where a fatal police encounter has occurred to support local protesters. Brown's death and the protests that followed also turned the spotlight on other controversial deaths, including Tamir Rice, 12, shot while playing with a toy gun on Nov. 22 by a Cleveland police officer; Walter Scott, 50, shot on April 4 by a North Charleston, S.C., police officer while allegedly running away; and most recently, Samuel DuBose, 43, shot on July 19 during a traffic stop by a University of Cincinnati police officer. \"Hearing statistics of police brutality incidents can be jarring, but seeing new cases every few days forces you to acknowledge the pervasiveness of police brutality,\" said Keisha Bentley-Edwards, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who studies race, adolescence and academic and social development. \"Seeing the impact on an actual person, their families and their communities personalizes these incidents beyond numbers,\" she said. In Ferguson, the police chief, a local judge and a city manager, who are all white, resigned after a Justice Department review found that the Ferguson Police Department engaged in a broad pattern of racially biased enforcement that permeated the city's justice system, including the use of unreasonable force against black suspects. Two of the city's new leaders, interim Police Chief Andre Anderson, who began work July 22, and Interim City Manager Ed Beasley, who was hired June 9, are black. Ferguson's population is 67% black. Police departments elsewhere sought to buy body cameras, while other departments added training on diversity, community engagement, bias and how to de-escalate tense encounters. At the national level, President Obama created a Task Force on 21st Century Policing and banned the sale of some kinds of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. \"Policing has taken a hard look at itself,\" said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. \"There has been a renewed emphasis on looking at how we hire, how we train, how we investigate, how we release information to the public. All of these aspects have had a seismic impact on policing.\" Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs, said police departments are studying the findings of President Obama's task force and looking at ways to implement its recommendations. \"It's safe to say police officers are a little bit more cautious about what they are doing and how they approach their work today,\" Stephens said. Yet police are also frustrated, he said. Police budgets have remained flat, making it impossible for some departments to modernize equipment, boost training and increase salaries to retain and recruit the best people, he said. Some police officers have grown weary of constant comparison to those police officers who abuse their power. Fear of provoking the next Ferguson has made some officers unwilling to be aggressive at their jobs, said James Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police. Pasco credits aggressive policing tactics for making communities much safer and lowering crime rates over the past 20 years. \"(Darren Wilson) will be forever scarred and forever affected by this and so will every other officer every time they think of the event,\" Pasco said. \"It's going to have a chilling effect on their willingness to undertake that kind of appropriately aggressive policing.\" For Elzie, one of the Black Lives Matter organizers, the changes have yet to go far enough. This year, she will work toward legislation passed to hold police accountable for any misconduct. \"I hate that it keeps happening and we have to keep paying attention to these deaths,\" Elzie said. \"That is depressing.\"","label":0}
{"text":"A transgender student at UC Berkeley has penned an open letter to Breitbart's MILO declaring that when he arrives to give a talk at the university, protesters will be \"waiting here to strip you of your gay identity. \"[Neil Lawrence, a female to male transgender student, opens her column for The Daily Californian by saying that she \"ought to sue\" MILO for \"misleading the public,\" saying that the \"world is full of very dangerous faggots, but you are not one of them. \" Lawrence adds that although she suffers from \"terrible period cramps,\" she's a \"bigger fag than you'll ever be,\" adding that she is \"probably a better top than you. \" \"I've hated you for a long time \u2014 being compared to you by some commenter on my column sent me into a rage for several hours \u2014 but the stunt you pulled against that young woman in Milwaukee was the last fucking straw,\" she continues. The stunt in question was when MILO called out a transgender student who had been forcing his way into men's bathrooms under the guise of being a woman at UC Milwaukee. The student later left the university. \"When you get here on Feb. 1, we will be waiting here to strip you of your gay identity. You can have sex with all the men you want, but you're not gay anymore. You've used your sexual orientation as an excuse to spit bile and galvanize cowards for long enough. Put your badge and gun on my desk. The community rejects you. You have never been one of us,\" Lawrence said. \"You never should have booked this UC tour, Milo. But you want to come to my town? I say, welcome to Berkeley, motherfucker. I'm the meanest gay on this coast. I was assigned to raise hell at birth. You come through me,\" she continued. Technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel, who endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy, also had his event cut short whilst delivering a keynote at UC Berkeley, as protestors stormed the venue. LGBT activists have also claimed that Thiel, who is openly gay, cannot be a real homosexual due to his support for Trump. MILO's visit to UC Berkeley will take place Wednesday, February 1. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com","label":0}
{"text":"A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday suspended a July 19 ruling by a federal judge that struck down parts of Wisconsin's voter ID law, the Department of Justice said. Under the ruling by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, Wisconsin voters who did not have photo identification would have been able to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election. A Justice Department statement said that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit issued a stay concluding \"both that the district court's decision is likely to be reversed on appeal and that disruption of the state's electoral system in the interim will cause irreparable injury.\" Wisconsin is one of several Republican-led states that have passed voter ID laws in recent years amid fear of fraudulent voting by illegal immigrants and others. The nine states with the strictest laws, insisting on state-issued photo identification for voters, include Texas, Virginia, Indiana and Georgia. Republicans say voter ID laws are needed to prevent voter fraud. But Democrats say the laws are really intended to make it more difficult for poor African-Americans and Latinos, who skew Democratic in their politics, to vote. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, called Wednesday's appeals court decision \"a step in the right direction.\" \"Voters in Wisconsin support voter ID, and our administration will continue to work to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,\" Walker said in a statement. In a separate but related case, another federal judge on July 29 struck down a string of Wisconsin voting restrictions passed by the Republican-led legislature and ordered the state to revamp its voter identification rules, finding that they disenfranchised minority voters. U.S. District Judge James Peterson, ruling in a legal challenge to the laws by two liberal groups, said he could not overturn the entire voter ID law because a federal appeals court had already found such restrictions to be constitutional.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Wilbur Ross, a billionaire known for his investments in distressed industries, to head the Commerce Department, a Republican source familiar with the decision told Reuters on Tuesday. An announcement on Ross to lead the department, which pursues anti-dumping cases against cheap foreign imports, could come as early as Wednesday, NBC News said. Ross declined to comment to Reuters on Tuesday. Ross, 78, a staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, has helped shape the Trump campaign's views on trade policy, blaming the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. \"I think there's a big difference between the impact of trade agreements on corporate America and the impact on Mr. and Mrs. America,\" Ross told CNBC in an interview earlier this year. \"Corporate America has adjusted to them by investing lots of capital offshore.\" Ross, whose net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion, heads the private equity firm, W.L. Ross & Co in New York. Ross' connections to Trump date back to 1990, when as a turnaround expert for Rothschild and Co he worked on behalf of bondholders to help engineer a restructuring of hundreds of millions of dollars in debt owed on Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 2002, by then in charge of his own private equity firm, Ross formed International Steel Group to consolidate several bankrupt steelmakers, including Bethlehem Steel, Acme Steel and LTV Steel. He sold the company in a $4.5 billion deal two years later to Mittal Steel. Ross retains a stake in what is now part of the world's largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, and sits on its board of directors. His various business interests, which also include automotive components and textiles, could make avoiding conflicts of interest a complicated prospect as the head of an agency with broad influence over trade cases and U.S. industrial policies. Arcelor Mittal has benefited from several recent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties imposed by the Commerce Department against a wide range of steel products from China, South Korea, Japan, Britain, Turkey and other countries. Those have helped lift domestic steel prices, boosting the company's bottom line. Ross may also face questions from lawmakers over the January 2006 Sago coal mine disaster in West Virginia that killed 12 miners in an explosion and collapse. Owned by a subsidiary of one of his companies, International Coal Group, the mine had been cited for more than 200 safety violations International Coal was sold for $3.4 billion in 2011 to No. 2 U.S. coal miner Arch Coal, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January amid plummeting coal prices. He could be questioned as well over a $2.3 million fine his firm agreed to pay in August to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle accusations it did not properly disclose some fees that it charged investors.","label":0}
{"text":"Sweden and Britain on Monday requested a closed-door United Nations Security Council meeting on the deteriorating situation in Myanmar s Rakhine state, home to the majority-Buddhist nation s Rohingya Muslims, diplomats said. The meeting would likely be held on Wednesday, diplomats said. I think it will be a private meeting but with a public outcome of some form, British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters on Monday. It s a sign of the significant worry that Security Council members have that the situation is continuing to deteriorate for many Rohingya who are seeking to flee Rakhine state in Burma and move into Bangladesh, Rycroft said. The United Nations top human rights official slammed Myanmar earlier on Monday for conducting a cruel military operation against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, branding it a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. The Security Council discussed the situation behind closed doors on Aug. 30. In a rare letter to the council earlier this month, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern the violence could spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe. Rights groups informally briefed Security Council diplomats on the Myanmar violence on Friday. Russia and China did not send any diplomats, according to people at the meeting. Myanmar has said it is was counting on China and Russia to protect it from any Security Council censure.","label":0}
{"text":"ESPN just made an amazing stand against bigotry on the airwaves, by firing one of it s top name hosts for being anti-transgender. Curt Schilling just got handed his pink slip.Schilling has worked for the network since 2010 and is one of baseball s best-known commentators and analysts. But recently, Schilling decided to share a Facebook post in support of an antitransgender bill passed in North Carolina.The post insisted of an image, featuring a man in a wig, his T-shirt cut to expose breasts, and a bizarre black outfit of women s clothing. The image was accompanied by text which read: LET HIM IN! to the restroom with your daughter or else you re a narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving racist bigot who needs to die. Former player Schilling then added: A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don t care what they are, who they sleep with, men s room was designed for the penis, women s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic. ESPN later issued a statement claiming Schilling s unacceptable conduct violated their policy of inclusiveness: ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated. Of course, for those in conservative circles, this was another attack of political correctness which prejudices conservatives from exercising their rights of free speech. According to David Hookstead at The Daily Caller, Schilling s firing was part of some exodus of conservative media pundits:The former Red Sox pitcher has been very open about his conservative views in the past. He was previously suspended by ESPN for comparing ISIS to the Nazis.ESPN might have no problem getting rid of conservative pundits, but the network has tolerated extreme liberal positions in the past without firing anybody. ESPN employee Tony Kornheiser compared the Tea Party to ISIS and insinuated the Tea Party was attempting to establish a caliphate. Kornheiser is still cashing pay checks from ESPN.What Hookstead leaves out is that the Tea Party is a billionaire-backed political movement with the express goal of creating a theocracy in the United States that is federal and state law based on biblical law. On top of this, the vast majority of domestic terrorism in the US comes from white supremacists and Christian zealots. These groups have murdered LGBT people for being gay who have lynched non-whites and non-Christians. It is entirely comparable.However, using a caricature of a cross-dresser to invoke fear about transgender people using the gender identity appropriate bathroom is plain bigotry. One could just as readily argue the opposite, as transmen did en masse with the hashtag Using the hashtag #WeJustNeedToPee. Bearded transmen posted pictures of themselves in the women s bathroom, next to women entering cubicles and doing their makeup.Michael Hughes, from Minnesota, posted the picture below, asking: Do I look like I belong in a women s bathroom?Under the North Carolina law, Michael would be legally-compelled to use the women s bathrooms despite the fact that he would clearly cause some degree of confusion and worry by doing so.Surely the long term answer is to remove the gender apartheid from toilets altogether? Plenty of countries around the world do just fine using mixed bathrooms. Why not us?","label":1}
{"text":"Weakness invites aggression and it s hard to imagine we could have a weaker, more apathetic President. So this news should come as a surprise to no one. North Korea on Sunday defied international warnings and launched a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others call a cover for a banned test of technology for a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland.Whatever motives Pyongyang may have about using its rocket launches to develop nuclear-tipped long-range missiles, it now has two satellites circling the Earth, according to NORAD, the North American Aerospace Command, which monitors all satellites in orbit.Both of the Kwangmyongsong, or Shining Star, satellites complete their orbits in about 94 minutes and based on data released by international organizations tracking them, the new one passed almost right over Levi s Stadium about an hour after the Super Bowl ended. It passed almost directly overhead Silicon Valley, which is where I am and where the stadium is, tech watcher Martyn Williams said in an email to The Associated Press. The pass happened at 8:26 p.m., after the game. I would put it down to nothing more than a coincidence, but an interesting one. The game in Santa Clara, California, ended at 7:25 p.m. local time.North Korea claims Sunday s successful satellite launch was its fourth.The first two have never been confirmed by anyone else, but experts worldwide agree it got one into orbit in 2012 and NORAD, which is hardly a propaganda mouthpiece for Pyongyang, now has both that and the satellite launched on Sunday on its official satellite list.Kwangmyongsong 4, the satellite launched Sunday, has the NORAD catalog number 41332 and Kwangmyongsong 3-2, launched in 2012, is 39026. They are described as Earth observation satellites, and weigh about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) apiece.Their main applications, according to Pyongyang, are monitoring the weather, mapping natural resources and forest distributions and providing data that might help farmers improve their crops.North Korea s state-run media quoted scientists and researchers at the North s State Hydro-Meteorological Administration as saying Sunday they are are delighted at the news of the launch. Its deputy director, Ryu Pong Chol, reportedly said it will give a big boost to North Korean weather forecasters.That remains to be seen.No signals from the previous satellite, which North Korea claimed transmitted the Song of General Kim Il Sung and Song of General Kim Jong Il after achieving orbit, have ever been confirmed by outside observers. That might be because it was never stable enough to transmit anything back home.Signals from the new satellite had also yet to be detected. Amateurs and experts alike are doing their best to listen in around the world, but it is unclear exactly what frequency the satellite is supposed to be using, or what it will be transmitting.","label":1}
{"text":"Britain s foreign minister Boris Johnson was accused by cabinet colleagues on Sunday of backseat driving on Brexit after setting out his own vision of the country s future outside the European Union. Only days before Prime Minister Theresa May is due to speak in Italy about Britain s planned EU departure, Johnson on Saturday published a 4,300-word newspaper article that roamed well beyond his ministerial brief and, in some cases, the approach set out by the government. Interior minister Amber Rudd said it was absolutely fine for the foreign secretary to intervene publicly but that she did not want him managing the Brexit process. What we ve got is Theresa May managing that process, she s driving the car, Rudd told the BBC s Andrew Marr on Sunday. Asked if Johnson was backseat driving, she replied: Yes, you could call it backseat driving, absolutely. Johnson s article re-ignited speculation that he would challenge May for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Rudd, however, said she did not think Johnson was laying the groundwork to challenge May. I think that he, like I, supports the prime minister at this difficult time as we try to conclude the negotiations with the EU, she said. May s deputy, Damian Green, also weighed in, saying that Johnson had written a very exuberant article but it was absolutely clear to everyone that the driver of the car in this instance is the prime minister . It is the job of the rest of us in the cabinet to agree on a set of proposals and get behind those proposals and get behind the prime minister, Green told BBC TV. Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Britain would not pay to access the EU market in the future. Once out of the EU, the country should borrow to invest in infrastructure, reform the tax code and set immigration levels as it sees fit, he said. Johnson also repeated the Brexit campaign claim that the government would be 350 million pounds ($476 million) a week better off outside the EU. Government officials criticized Johnson for repeating the claim, saying the figure does not take into account the funding Britain receives back from Brussels. David Norgrove, of the UK Statistics Authority, said he was surprised and disappointed that Johnson was still quoting a figure that confused gross and net contributions. It is a clear misuse of official statistics, Norgrove said in a letter to Johnson on Sunday. Johnson said in reply that Norgrove s letter was based on what appeared to be a wilful distortion of the text of my article and asked the official to withdraw it. The timing of Johnson s article published a day after a bomb injured 30 people on a train in London also drew criticism from some colleagues. Reacting to the furor his article had generated, Johnson tweeted on Saturday: Looking forward to PM s Florence Speech. All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a conservative health policy expert with deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry, to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the White House said on Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, Gottlieb would be in charge of implementing Trump's plan to dramatically cut regulations governing food, drugs, cosmetics, dietary supplements and tobacco. Gottlieb is well known on Capitol Hill, where he has testified multiple times on hot-button health issues, including complex drug pricing matters, and is viewed favorably by drug companies and pharmaceutical investors. He sits on the boards of several small drug and biotech companies and is an adviser to GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L). \"Thank God it's Gottlieb,\" Brian Skorney, an investment analyst at Robert W. Baird, wrote in a research note. \"We view this as a favorable development for the sector.\" Gottlieb was chosen over Jim O'Neill, a libertarian investor close to Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder who now advises Trump on technology and science matters. O'Neill's stated view that drugs should be approved before being proven effective generated widespread alarm. Gottlieb, 44, is a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank and a partner at a large venture capital fund. He is a former FDA deputy commissioner who has advocated a loosening of requirements needed for approval of new medical products. \"Scott knows how the agency works and he will move it forwards, though maybe not always in ways the agency is comfortable with,\" said John Taylor, a lawyer and president of compliance and regulatory affairs with the consulting firm Greenleaf Health and a former acting FDA deputy commissioner. In addition to his public health and health policy roles, Gottlieb has for the past decade been a partner at New Enterprise Associates, a large venture fund with investments in the life sciences, medical technology and healthcare services. Critics of the nomination say Gottlieb's financial background present an array of potential conflicts of interest. Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said Gottlieb \"has spent most of his career dedicated to promoting the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry.\" If confirmed, he added, \"he will have to be recused from key decisions time and time again.\" Stephen Ubl, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it \"looks forward to working with Dr. Gottlieb in his new role and engaging with him and the Agency as they seek to modernize the drug discovery and review process.\" Gottlieb, who declined to comment on the nomination, is unlikely to up-end the FDA in the way O'Neill might have, but he is nonetheless expected to bring significant change, including moving the agency to increase flexibility in the clinical trial development process. In this he will be supported by the recently passed 21st Century Cures Act which instructs the FDA among other things to consider the use of \"real world evidence\" to support new drug applications. This could include anecdotal data, observational studies and patient reports \"People don't want to take chances with safety, but there's increasingly some clamor to be more flexible on the efficacy side,\" said Kathleen Sanzo, who leads the FDA practice at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. \"You need to have some signal of efficacy. The question is, how much?\" The FDA has attempted to push back against moves to sideline randomized clinical trials, long considered the gold standard. In January it issued a report documenting 22 cases in which drugs that appeared to show promise in early trials turned out to be either ineffective or unsafe or both in larger trials. One of Gottlieb's priorities will likely be to streamline the process for approving generic versions of complex, difficult-to-copy therapeutics. He has stated publicly that he does not believe the FDA has good tools or policies to move such products and has advocated the creation of different approval standards. \"He's a thoughtful and nuanced kind of guy, and not solely an industry shill,\" said Jim Shehan, head of Lowenstein Sandler's FDA regulatory practice. A survey conducted by Mizuho Securities USA Inc of 53 pharmaceutical executives found that 72 percent favored Gottlieb over other potential candidates. Many described him as knowledgeable, experienced and balanced. \"Gottlieb is someone who the industry and investors view as an incremental positive,\" said RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee. \"The industry and investors need rational scientific logic and an understanding of risks and benefits.\" Patient advocates welcomed the news. Gottlieb \"has firsthand experience at the FDA and as a physician that has treated patients understands the breadth of work that needs to be achieved on their behalf,\" said Ellen Sigal, founder of Friends of Cancer Research.","label":0}
{"text":"Public approval of President Donald Trump has dropped to its lowest level since his inauguration, according to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll released on Friday, after Trump was accused of mishandling classified information and meddling with an FBI investigation. The May 14-18 opinion poll found that 38 percent of adults approved of Trump while 56 percent disapproved. The remaining 6 percent had \"mixed feelings.\" Americans appear to have soured on Trump after a tumultuous week in the White House during which the president fought back a steady drumbeat of critical news reports that ramped up concerns about his administration's ties to Russia. The week started with revelations that Trump shared highly classified information with Russian diplomats in a private meeting. That was followed by reports that former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, whom Trump recently fired, had written memos expressing concerns that the president had pressured him to stop investigating Trump campaign ties to Russia. Later in the week, the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to oversee an independent probe into contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign. Trump has denied colluding with the Russians and called ongoing efforts to investigate him a \"witch hunt.\" No politician in history, he said, \"has been treated worse or more unfairly.\" While Trump remains popular with members of his own party, many rank-and-file Republicans appear to have backed off their support for the president during the past week. Among Republicans, 23 percent expressed disapproval of Trump in the latest poll, up from 16 percent in the same poll last week. The decline in support from Republicans appears to be a primary reason why Trump's overall approval rating is now at the lowest level since he took office. The Reuters\/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English across the United States. It gathered responses from 1,971 adults, including 721 Republicans and 795 Democrats. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire group and 4 percentage points for the Democrats and Republicans. (This version of the story has been refiled to delete link to poll results)","label":0}
{"text":"Nancy Pelosi is obviously geographically challenged She thinks we can dig a hole to China to hear the communist regime laughing at President Trump. Wrong! We believe they re laughing at Pelosi for her ridiculous statements During a press conference on Capitol Hill, the House Minority Leader told reporters all we have to do is dig a hole because she thinks China is on the other side of the world from America .It s not.Criticizing the president while he s overseas a taboo practice when President Obama was in office told the media, Candidate Trump said that what s happening in China trade was the greatest theft in the history of the world. And yesterday, he said our trade deficit with China, which was huge is not China s fault, Pelosi said.Trump blamed Obama s poor negotiating and incompetence for the imbalance, according to a Thursday tweet. You can almost hear the leadership of the Chinese government laughing from China to America, she continued. Maybe you can feel it coming through the ground because if you dig a hole here, you will reach China, Pelosi said.What Pelosi did not mention is the president also noted, during his same remarks this week, that while he doesn t fault China for doing what is in its best interest, he does fault previous administrations for entering into bad trade deals. He said trade between the United States and China is unbalanced and steps must be taken to change that.Trump is right on this but Pelosi continues to pull out all the stops to bash the president Shame on her! This drama queen needs to go!","label":1}
{"text":"Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist detained by Ankara since February, has accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan of subjecting his entire society to a regime of fear and said Turkey is drifting toward fascism. Yucel, 44, a correspondent for the newspaper Die Welt, made the remarks in a lengthy interview with the German newspaper die tageszeitung to be published on Saturday. Turkish authorities arrested Yucel, on Feb. 14 on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organization, during a wave of arrests prompted by a failed coup attempt in July 2016. Germany is backing a complaint filed by Yucel with the European Court of Human Rights, and has repeatedly called for him and other Germans being held in Turkey to be released. The detentions have contributed to a sharp deterioration in relations between the two NATO allies. In total, Ankara has jailed more than 50,000 people pending trial and suspended or dismissed some 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers since the coup, which Turkey blames on the movement of U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen has denied any role, and condemned the coup. Yucel told the newspaper he remained in solitary confinement at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul. Solitary confinement is torture, he said. Yucel also said that even his prison guards were afraid of making a wrong move: A regime of fear is not directed solely at its critics, but also affects members of the oppressive apparatus. He said Erdogan himself had the most to fear: He knows what to expect if he loses power, and that is why he is subjecting the whole society to his regime of fear. Yucel said he hoped the European Court would act quickly on his case after a Nov. 28 deadline for Turkey to submit its position, but that he was not sure what to expect. He said that, like many of Erdogan s critics, he was disappointed that the court had rejected cases brought by teachers and government workers affected by the crackdown, which Erdogan says is necessary to guarantee Turkey s stability. But I also know the European Court of Human Rights was founded to deal with individual human rights violations, not to stop a whole country drifting into fascism, he said. The newspaper said the interview had been conducted in writing via Yucel s lawyers.","label":0}
{"text":"South Korean test-takers expressed confusion and dejection on Thursday as the country s highly competitive annual university entrance exam, called a life assignment exam by some, was postponed a week for the first time ever due to safety concerns. South Korea postponed the exam after a rare earthquake rattled the country on Wednesday, causing damage to buildings including some schools. The exam is life-defining for many high school seniors, as a prestigious university on one s resume is seen a minimum for securing a place in limited corporate jobs in Asia s fourth-largest economy, which is dominated by conglomerates. Because the wrong answer to a single question in the roughly 200-question exam can mean dropping in the national ranking and failure to enter one s choice of university, tensions ran high. It s a bit hellish thinking I have to do this for one more week, said 20-year-old Cho Hyun-lee, studying at one of Seoul s largest cram schools to take the test again after last year. People are dispirited, lying with their faces down. Some scrambled to recover books they d thrown away yesterday or buy new ones, two test-takers told Reuters, while others gave up , uploading pictures of classmates sleeping or reading online comics on social media. Still others agonized over missing concerts of their favorite singers or South Korea s largest online game exhibition this week. Meanwhile, South Korean society, geared for the exam s smooth progress, prepared to do it all again next Thursday. Airplanes, barred from taking off or landing for 35 minutes on Thursday morning to prevent their noise from interfering with the exam s listening section, were allowed to land or take off, the transport ministry said. But the stock market and banks still opened an hour late on Thursday a device to help keep roads clear for students getting to test sites. The defense ministry allowed extra leave for soldiers in mandatory military service who had taken personal leave to sit the exam. Four police officers were stationed on double shifts at each of the 85 locations exam questions are kept and police patrolled the premises every two hours to prevent their leaking. As fainter aftershocks continued on Wednesday and Thursday, many Koreans said they support the postponement but some were inconsolable. It feels like I was turning the handle on the exit door from hell then returned to square one, said Lee Yoon-mi, a high school senior in Incheon. If you re not a test-taker, you could never understand.","label":0}
{"text":"The Turkish government has launched an investigation into a poster unfurled by fans of Istanbul s Galatasaray soccer team that pro-Turkish media said was clearly linked to organizers of the 2016 attempted coup. Just before Sunday s match kicked between Galatasaray and local rivals Fenerbahce, the home fans opened a giant red and yellow poster behind the goal showing Sylvester Stallone s famous fictional boxer Rocky , with the caption Stand Up and They look big because you are kneeling. Pro-government Turkish media linked the poster and its caption to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the July 2016 failed coup attempt. Pro-government daily Takvim said the poster was a reference to a speech by Gulen, where he was quoted reading from a poem that ends with the words Stand Up Sakarya . Sakarya is a province in northwest Turkey. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday ordered authorities to carry out an investigation into the poster, sources from his office said. The game between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, Turkey s biggest fixture, ended in a 0-0 draw after a match that was marred by violence in which a referee was injured. In a statement, Galatasaray said the accusations were a pathetic attempt to discredit the club, adding that the same poster was used at a match in May. We will use all our legal rights against any institution, person and social media account who tried to put the Galatasaray name next to that of the red-handed leader of the heinous terrorist organisation by using the choreography as an excuse, the club said on its website. Some 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over suspected links to last year s failed coup and more than 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sectors. Rights groups and Turkey s Western allies have said President Tayyip Erdogan is using the failed coup as a pretext to crush dissent, but the government says the measures are necessary to fight the threats it is facing. Following the statement from Yildirim s office, Galatasaray s shares were down 4.89 percent as of 1535 GMT. Current league leaders Galatasaray are Turkey s most decorated soccer club, with 20 league championships, and became the first Turkish club to win a major European trophy when they won the 2000 UEFA Cup, the predecessor to the Europa league.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Congress was ironing out a new plan on Wednesday to rescue Puerto Rico from crippling debts that threaten the island territory's funding for hospitals and emergency services, as the treatment of bondholders simmers as a point of contention. The Obama administration and congressional Democrats raised concerns about legislation being floated by Republicans. It would steer creditors and holders of Puerto Rico bonds toward a new, independent board that would seek a fair way to write down an estimated $70 billion in debt. Puerto Rico's economy has struggled for years and the U.S. territory's government has borrowed heavily to pay its bills. Its bankruptcy reorganization options are limited under present law and Congress has become involved. The Republican bill \"imposes an unworkable, mandatory process\" on debt restructurings \"that will only delay the ability to reach a comprehensive resolution,\" Treasury Department Counselor Antonio Weiss told a congressional panel. All of Puerto Rico's many debtors \"would have to complete a complicated process before any single entity could begin to restructure,\" Weiss said in prepared testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, which hopes to advance legislation soon. Republicans control the U.S. Congress, but they likely will need support from Democrats to pass a rescue plan. Weiss painted a dire picture of Puerto Rico, where he said essential government services are being curtailed because of a lack of cash, hospitals have closed some floors amid layoffs, and fuel for emergency vehicles is running dry. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters, complained of television ads airing in some parts of the United States that she said were misleading. The actions being weighed, Pelosi said, \"do not cost the taxpayers one dollar.\" Pelosi said Democrats are concerned \"about the negative impact of the legislation on working people in Puerto Rico, as well as the effects of transferring federal lands on Vieques without providing for strong conservation protections.\" If the House committee can amend the bill in a way that a majority of members approve, it would advance to the full House. Many investors would face a loss under the Republican plan and are lobbying Congress to protect their bottom lines. The rescue plan adopts some principles of bankruptcy law, and some lawmakers have balked at the idea of letting Puerto Rico modify its bonds, saying it would create chaos for municipal markets.","label":0}
{"text":"A suggestion by President Donald Trump that a U.S. regulator pull broadcast licenses from TV networks over what Trump calls \"fake news\" has been met by silence from the watchdog's head Ajit Pai, who has a history of defending free speech rights. Pai, who was reconfirmed last week for a new five-year term at the Federal Communications Commission and named chairman by Trump in January, has been urged by members of Congress to denounce Trump for a proposal that has little, if any, chance of success. That is because the commission does not actually license broadcast networks or cable stations and the hurdles to denying licenses to individual stations are extremely high. Trump's remarks on Wednesday that threatened to muzzle the media and fellow-Republican Pai's strong support for press freedoms could conflict as Pai mounts ambitious plans to overhaul federal communications regulations. Trump said in a Twitter post: \"Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!\" His ire was raised by an NBC News report that said he had called for a massive increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, a report Trump denied. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly used the term \"fake news\" to cast doubt on media reports critical of his administration, often without providing any evidence to support their case that the reports were untrue. Pai's office has declined to comment, despite Reuters' repeated requests Wednesday and Thursday. The FCC, an independent agency, does not issue licenses to individual networks but to local stations, including those directly owned by broadcasters such as Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) that owns NBC. Comcast and NBC declined to comment on Trump's remarks. Pai has defended the First Amendment and press freedoms. In October 2016, he said anyone at the FCC \"has the duty to speak out whenever Americans' First Amendment rights are at stake.\" In a 2014 Wall Street Journal piece, Pai said \"the government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.\" Pai has an ambitious agenda, which he is expected to unveil details of in the coming months. It includes proposing to eliminate some significant media ownership restrictions and a plan to roll back former Democratic President Barack Obama's so-called net neutrality rules. Senator Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, said on Twitter Trump's comments were \"unacceptable attacks on the #FirstAmendment by @POTUS. @AjitPaiFCC committed to Congress to speak up at times like this. We are waiting.\" U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan defended press freedoms Thursday but did not directly criticize Trump. \"I'm for the First Amendment. I don't always agree and like what you guys write, but you have a right to do it,\" Ryan said. Republican Senator Ben Sasse asked if Trump was \"recanting\" the oath of office to defend the First Amendment. In March, Pai told the U.S. Congress he did not agree with Trump when he said that \"the media is the enemy of the American people.\" Pai said he would act independently of the White House on media-related matters. Last month, Pai lamented that people on Twitter demand \"the FCC yank licenses from cable news channels like Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN because they disagree with the opinions expressed on those networks. Setting aside the fact that the FCC doesn't license cable channels, these demands are fundamentally at odds with our legal and cultural traditions.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Country: China North Korea's announcements of the completion of its Nuclear Weapons Development Programme have caused an outburst of discussion on \"who is to blame\". More accurately, it concerns who is primarily responsible for the escalation of the situation to its current level. Against the backdrop of growing USA-China opposition, now Beijing has even been accused this, with accusations varying from \"did nothing, although it could\" to \"actively assisted\". Let's start with statements made by US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. On October 13, 2016 the Associated Press, referring to WikiLeaks, reported that in June, 2013, during a lecture to Goldman Sachs officials, Hillary Clinton pointed out that the Chinese People's Liberation Army is the main sponsor of North Korea. It was at that time when she stated her position \u2013 if Beijing is not able to keep North Korea from creating an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons, the USA may encircle China with a ring of missile defence systems and naval bases. Sankei Shimbun (Japan) quotes the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter: \"China is a primarily responsible for North Korea's current actions. It covers up the dangerous behaviour of this country\". It presents readers with the idea that Beijing is engaged in an obvious plot. Having been on the receiving end of criticism from Washington for its great-power policy, it has decided respond in this way. As proof, the Japanese refer to Chosun Ilbo, which reported that, according to a former employee of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, Bruce Vector, whose opinion was published on September 1, the North Korean rocket is an exact copy of the Chinese Tszyuylan-1 two-stage solid-propellant ballistic missile, which is designed to be placed on submarines. Giving a lecture at the Seoul National University, the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, also announced that the North Korean economy can not be discussed without mentioning China. Pyongyang is totally dependent on cooperation with Beijing, so China is particularly responsible for the implementation of sanctions against North Korea. The goal of such accusations is to force China to be \"more constructive.\" Meanwhile, Chinese politicians constantly state that the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula is not caused by Beijing's actions, and China cannot wave a magic wand and resolve the situation. The roots of the issue stem from conflicts between the USA and North Korea, and it is America who should demonstrate a constructive approach. On September 12, 2016, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, noted that the core of the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula is in the conflict between the USA and North Korea, and it is America who should take responsibility. \"We once again call upon all the parties to look at the overall situation, to act with caution, to avoid mutual provocations, as well as to jointly promote denuclearization, and to make real efforts to achieve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula\", said the Chinese diplomat, noting that the current situation is testament to the real importance and urgency of returning to the six-party negotiations as soon as possible . On September 14, 2016, American suggestions that China should actively participate in isolating North Korea were rejected in Renmin Ribao Newspaper ( China ). The newspaper states that the prime responsibility for the current situation cannot be placed on North Korea, but on the United States. On September 21, in his speech at the UN, the Prime Minister of China, Li Keqiang, also did not mention sanctions. On November 2, 2016, Hua Chunying once again announced that it is not possible to achieve the fundamental solution of the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula by sanctions and pressure alone. Commenting on the recent meeting of the heads of delegations from the USA and the Republic of Korea at the six-party negotiations, during which there were repeated calls to tighten sanctions and increase pressure against North Korea in the hope that the new resolution of the UN Security Council would introduce the forced restriction of North Korean coal exports, Hua Chunying said that the UN Security Council was considering and discussing the North Korean nuclear issue. However, a substantial part of UN Security Council Resolution 2270 refers to the need to resume the six-party negotiations and to seek to reduce tension in North-East Asia via political and diplomatic means. This is how a meaningful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue can be found . Two days later, on November 4, she stated that the deployment of the US Missile Defense System on the Korean Peninsula would undermine the strategic balance of forces in the region, and Beijing reserves the right to take the necessary measures to protect its own safety. The actions of the USA run contrary to the efforts to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, said Hua Chunying, calling on relevant parties to take China's legitimate concerns into account. The heart of China's policy is both the THAAD issue (seen by China as aimed at containing its missile capabilities) and the broader perception that US military preparations against North Korea are actually directed against China. As a result, despite a number of serious differences between the countries, relations between Beijing and Pyongyang are based on the principle of \"the enemy of my enemy is my friend\". It is easier to support North Korea, rather than risking more serious consequences that may occur if it were pressed too hard. China's willingness to investigate illegal trade links between a number of Chinese companies and North Korea shows that \"the window is not completely closed\", and it can be seen as an attempt to weaken US efforts to impose sanctions against Chinese companies that do legal business with North Korea. China and North Korea are simultaneously expanding economic cooperation despite the effects of international sanctions. According to the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission of North Korea and China was held in Pyongyang on October 25 where border issues were discussed. The Chinese party headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs \u2013 Liu Zhenmin, and the North Korean \u2013 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs \u2013 Pak Myong-guk. Organising a new border crossing was discussed as a bridge between Sinuiju city (North Korea) and Hunchun city (China) was built this September. In addition, in the near future a bridge between Sinuiju city and Dandong city (China) will be opened. Besides, the trade turnover between North Korea and China in the third quarter of this year increased by 3.4% compared to the same period of last year. The Chinese are building new warehouses and offices in the Rason Special Economic Zone which means an inflow of investments. The import of cars from North Korea into China increased sharply. The import of Chinese rice also increased. According to the Customs Administration of China, in September 2016 18,477 tons of grain crops were delivered from China to North Korea. This is 2.7 times higher than in August, and 6 times higher than last September. In September, 16 thousand tons of rice were imported (2 thousand tons more than from January to August). Although South Korean experts explain this fact by the decision made by the North Korean leadership to stabilize prices for rice, as rice stocks in the past year have worn thin, any fact related to North Korea has been solely considered a sign of imminent starvation and collapse for some time now. In general, while one party is accusing the other and bearing its weapons, the other is looking for ways to resolve the issue, which clearly shows who could encourage dialogue but does not want to do so. Konstantin Asmolov, Ph.D. in History, Chief Research Fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine \" New Eastern Outlook. \"","label":1}
{"text":"Words matter. And from the moment he became president, Donald J. Trump has unleashed so many of consequence that the public has barely had time to parse their full implication. Words about the dishonest media, the end of Obamacare, the construction of that border wall with Mexico \u2014 this is an abbreviated list, and he hasn't even completed his first week in office. Amid the verbal deluge, President Trump this week repeated an assertion he made shortly after his election: that millions of ballots cast illegally by undocumented immigrants cost him the popular vote. If true, this would suggest the wholesale corruption of American democracy. Not to worry: As far as anyone knows, the president's assertion is akin to saying that millions of unicorns also voted illegally. But such a baseless statement by a president challenged the news media to find the precise words to describe it. This will be a recurring challenge, given President Trump's habit of speaking in hyperbole and his tendency to deride any report as \"fake news. \" The words needed to be exactly right. \"And the language has a rich vocabulary for describing statements that fall short of the truth,\" said Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information. \"They're 'baseless,' they're 'bogus,' they're 'lies,' they're 'untruths. '\" Rarely are these words, each with its own nuance, applied directly to something said by a president, though others have also dissembled (like Bill Clinton on whether he had sex with an intern). \"This is the very unique situation that we find ourselves in as journalists and as a country,\" said Joshua Benton, the director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. \"We have an administration that seems to be asserting a right to its own facts and doesn't seem to be able to produce evidence to back those claims. \" Still, carefully chosen words can capture that. \"A whole vocabulary has come bubbling up that would not have been used five years ago,\" Mr. Nunberg said in an interview. \"People are going to have to sit down and decide: Are we going to want to go over the moral consequences of telling an untruth? The mere fact of it being untrue? Or the fact that it's bogus, baseless or groundless?\" Some news organizations used words like \"falsely\" or \"wrongly\" \u2014 adverbs that tend to weaken the impact \u2014 in framing what the president said. Some used \"with no evidence,\" or \"won't provide any proof,\" or \"unverified claims,\" or \"repeats debunked claim. \" The New York Times, though, ultimately chose more muscular terminology, opting to use the word \"lie\" in the headline. After initially using the word \"falsely,\" it switched to \"lie\" online and then settled on \"Meeting With Top Lawmakers, Trump Repeats an Election Lie\" for Tuesday's print edition. People noticed, and debated its use. That is because, from the childhood schoolyard to the grave, this is a word neither used nor taken lightly. It stands apart from most other terms in the linguistic ballpark of untruths, including \"falsehood,\" which Chuck Todd, the host of \"Meet the Press,\" recently used to counter the Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway's Orwellian phrase, \"alternative facts. \" To say that someone has \"lied,\" an active verb, or has told a \"lie,\" a more passive, distancing noun, is to say that the person intended to deceive. In addition, Mr. Nunberg said, \"a certain moral opprobrium attaches to it, a reprehensibility of motive. \" The question of intent has informed National Public Radio's approach to covering Mr. Trump's many disputable claims: that he saw thousands of people in Jersey City cheering as the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, for example, or that the news media had made up a feud between him and the country's intelligence agencies, despite his own tweets likening those agencies to Nazi Germany. On NPR's \"Morning Edition\" on Wednesday, Mary Louise Kelly explained that she had looked up the definition of \"lie\" in the Oxford English Dictionary. \"A false statement made with intent to deceive,\" Ms. Kelly said. \"Intent being the key word there. Without the ability to peer into Donald Trump's head, I can't tell you what his intent was. I can tell you what he said and how that squares, or doesn't, with facts. \" Michael Oreskes, NPR's senior president for news, supported the decision. In an article on the NPR website, Mr. Oreskes said that \"the minute you start branding things with a word like 'lie,' you push people away from you. \" The inherent risk, he suggested, was that news organizations would be seen as taking sides. Editors at The Times also consulted dictionaries. And they had some prior experience with the matter, having approved the use of the L word once before in reference to Mr. Trump. In September, when he grandly announced the findings of a yearslong investigation into what nearly everyone else never doubted \u2014 \"President Obama was born in the United States, period\" \u2014 The Times published a Page 1 article with the headline \"Trump Gives Up a Lie but Refuses to Repent. \" Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, said that he learned of Mr. Trump's latest comments in a text message from an editor on Monday night. After consulting with other top editors, he decided that the use of \"lie\" was warranted. For Mr. Baquet, the question of intent was resolved, given that Mr. Trump had made the same assertion two months earlier through his preferred mode of communication, the tweet: \"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. \" (Nota bene: The tweet actually contains what might be considered two untruths \u2014 or falsehoods, or erroneous assertions, or bogus claims \u2014 since Mr. Trump's victory was no landslide, but among the closer elections in American history.) Mr. Baquet said he fully understood the gravity of using the word \"lie,\" whether in reference to an average citizen or to the president of the United States. He emphasized that it should be used sparingly, partly because the term carries such negative connotations, and partly so that it does not lose potency. \"On the other hand, we should be letting people know in no uncertain terms that it's untrue,\" Mr. Baquet said, referring to the president's assertion of a epidemic. \"He repeated it without a single grain of evidence, and it's a very powerful statement about the electoral system. \" Mr. Baquet said that emails from readers seemed split on the appropriateness of the word's use. Meanwhile, Mr. Benton, of the Nieman Journalism Lab, applauded its use as a noun in the Times headline (\"Trump Repeats an Election Lie\") in this construction, he said, \"the lie can exist as a reality distinct from the speaker's intention. \" Over all, the tension between the Trump administration and much of the mainstream media is \u2014 what's the word? Troubling, according to Sara Brady, a specialist based in Florida. She says that a complete breakdown of the already fractious relationship affects everyone. \"The media run the risk of being disrespectful to the president of the United States,\" she said. \"But the problem is: If he doesn't get called out in some way, we as Americans are never going to know what's true and what's not. \" In other words: Words matter.","label":0}
{"text":"By now, everyone knows that Donald Trump is up to his eyeballs in Russian scandals. Anyone who is smart enough not to believe Team Trump s bullsh*t about the Special Counsel investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 presidential election being a hoax, a witch hunt, and fake news is definitely paying attention.Well, now, some activists in New York City have made sure to remind everyone just what is up with Trump s mysterious inability to criticize Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. They have projected amazing images onto Trump Tower in SoHo. One is a photo of Vladimir Putin. Another is a message to Special Counsel Robert Mueller when it comes to investigating Trump s finances that says, FOLLOW THE MONEY. Here are those images:It seems that the activist is willing to self-identify, and posted this video to Twitter:Hi @realDonaldTrump, I'm projecting #followthemoney on the SoHo Trump hotel. On #nationaldollarday of all days. https:\/\/t.co\/5neeXq57kx robin bell (@bellvisuals) August 8, 2017Of course, Mueller is definitely smart enough not to adhere to Trump s so-called red line when it comes to taking the probe in the direction of Trump s own personal finances, as well as those regarding his business dealings through the Trump Organization. In fact, like most cops, Trump s infantile demands will likely make Mueller MORE curious about any financial ties Trump may have to the Russians or other foreign powers.These activists are beyond brave. Trump and his people will be furious, and they are quite powerful right now. However, this is what freedom and speaking truth to power looks like. Keep it up, folks, and, yes follow the money.","label":1}
{"text":"Two human heads were discovered in a cooler outside an office of broadcaster Televisa in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, authorities said on Tuesday. It was not clear who the heads belonged to, but the cooler contained a threatening message signed off with CJNG , the Spanish initials of a drug gang, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a security official in the western city said. A second official at the office of the Jalisco state prosecutor said the cooler was left outside an office of the Televisa station. However, media in the state suggested the gruesome find was directed at an official, not at the broadcaster. Elsewhere in the city, authorities found a second cooler containing a message threatening a judge, and a bag with suspected human remains with another threat, the second official added. Both officials declined to be identified. In recent years, the CJNG has become one of the most powerful Mexican drug gangs, and authorities blame it for violence that has convulsed much of central and western Mexico.","label":0}
{"text":"The investigation into the Las Vegas massacre Stephen Paddock just keeps getting more and more strange. Since the shooting massacre that took the lives of 59, and injured hundreds of others in Las Vegas at the Rt. 91 country music festival, we ve seen several timeline changes, a lockdown of the Las Vegas coroner s office, a very strange protection around the security guard at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort, including an armed guard and a scripted appearance on the Ellen Show. And now like some of the most well-known mass shooters before him, Stephen Paddock s hard drive is missing ?ABC News A laptop computer recovered from the Las Vegas hotel room where Stephen Paddock launched the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was missing its hard drive, depriving investigators of a potential key source of information on why he killed and maimed so many people, ABC News has learned.Paddock is believed to have removed the hard drive before fatally shooting himself, and the missing device has not yet been recovered, sources told ABC News.Investigators digging into Paddock s background also learned he purchased software designed to erase files from a hard drive, but without the hard drive to examine it is impossible to know if he ever used the software, one source said.The absence of substantial digital clues has left investigators struggling to piece together what triggered Paddock to kill 58 innocent concertgoers and injure more than 500 others on Oct. 1.Did Paddock remove the hard drive or is there something more to this story? Is there some connection to evidence being removed from laptops or cell phones from suspects of 3 of the most well-known mass shooting cases in America?According to ABC News (who dismisses this curious evidence as a casual coincidence):In 2007, Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Huiremoved the hard drive of his computer and disposed of his cell phone shortly before the massacre. Authorities even searched a pond for the missing digital media, but the devices were never recovered.The 2008 Northern Illinois shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, removed the SIM card from his phone and the hard drive from his laptop, and neither was recovered.In 2012, Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza had removed the hard drive from his computer and smashed it with a hammer or screwdriver.","label":1}
{"text":"Reporter: Mr. President, when did you first learn that Hillary Clinton used an email system outside the U.S. government for official business when she was Secretary of State? POTUS: The same time as everybody else, through news reports. On Sunday, President Obama insisted he knew nothing about Hillary Clinton and her use of a separate server to send email while serving as his secretary of state for four years, and learned about it through news reports along with the rest of us. How many times have we seen this movie? How many times has this administration been confronted with a scandal only to have the president or his spokesmen make this statement with straight faces? It makes you wonder: What goes on behind the scenes that results in these whoppers? Since this administration lives in a fantasy land, let's imagine scenes of our own: RG: Mr. President, we're so very sorry to interrupt your game -- POTUS, staring at VPOTUS, irritated: Why are you here? RG: Sir, it looks like that Air Force One photo-op over Manhattan almost caused a massive panic. We need a response from you. POTUS: Joe, can't you handle this? VPOTUS: It's your plane, sir. Mine was flying over Pittsburgh and no one noticed. RG: We have your talking points, sir. Just tell the press, \"It was a mistake. It was something we found out about along with all of you.\" POTUS: Fine. Now get lost, both of you. That scenario may be fictional -- but those were, in fact, the very words Obama used. March 22, 2011, 11:15 AM. Oval Office. WH Press Secretary Jay Carney and Biden enter. Obama is yawning. JC: Sir, we have a situation. The Republicans have learned about Fast and Furious killing that agent. CNN wants to know how much you knew. POTUS: Big deal. I'll tell 'em -- how's this -- \"I heard on the news about this Fast and Furious story where allegedly\" -- (laughs) get that? -- \"guns were being run into Mexico.\" What the hell. I'll also say \"the Attorney General has been very clear he knew nothing about this.\" Holder will owe me one. Where's Biden with my coffee? Those were the very phrases Obama uttered that day. JC: The cat's out of the bag, Mr. President. They know about the IRS going after those Tea Party nuts. You have to say something during your presser with Cameron today. Later that day, at White House press conference with British PM David Cameron. POTUS: Well let me take the IRS situation first. I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday. JC: Another problem, sir. DOJ subpoenaed the AP to get those phone records. The press ain't happy about this. POTUS: Can't you see I'm busy? You take care of it. (Looking irritated at Biden) Shouldn't you be at a funeral? JZ: Come on, man, shoot! Ain't got all day. Later that day at the White House Press Briefing: Reporter: When did the president find out about the Department of Justice subpoenas for the Associated Press? JC: Yesterday. We found out about the news reports yesterday on the road. VPOTUS: Jay, we've got a situation. They know about those fraudulent VA reports. This one's big! What should we do? JC: (sigh) I'll take care of it. Get me a Starbucks. Reporter: The delays have been known for some time, but the fraudulent -- JC: If you mean the specific allegations that I think we're reported first by your network, I believe we learned about them through the reports. It is simply inconceivable -- no, unbelievable -- that the press knows more about the scandals surrounding this administration than does the administration. It begs the question: So why do the media put up with this nonsense? They know that they're being played for fools and yet they go along with it, time and again. Their loyalty to Barack Obama is that strong. Why does this administration constantly lie? Because they can. L. Brent Bozell III is founder and president of the Media Research Center.","label":0}
{"text":"0 Add Comment  2016 has been an eventful year for Prince George. From meeting the US president to his first day of nursery school, but none of these moments made him smile more than yesterday's Halloween festivities, when he finally got to wear his favourite costume accessory \u2013 a necklace of human ears.  \"He has been asking us all year if he could wear them,\" Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton told press reporters yesterday afternoon, \"George really, really likes Halloween. It's actually scary how much he likes the whole thing. Myself and William were woken up at 4am this morning to a dead bird at the end of our bed. He means well, and I'm sure he thought it was a nice present to give, but I'll be glad when Halloween is over\".  Little is known about the owners of the ears, but sources believe they were a present from his great granddad, Philip, and were originally gifted to the 95-year-old from a tribe of New Guinea cannibals in 1946.  \"George loves searching through great granddad's old memorabilia,\" Royal nanny Maria Cantwell explains, \"When he found the necklace, his little eyes lit up.  \"They're very close and he loves listening to Philip's stories about the Nazis and the Bengal famine in India. They're like the same person inside\".  Later asked by reporters what he wants from Santa for Christmas, the little dote replied 'Putin', clapping manically and repeating the Russian president's name, over and over again, before then chomping down on one of his ears.  \"He's teething,\" insisted the red faced Duchess as she quickly ushered him away.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. voters on Tuesday favored a surge in borrowing for public projects, approving some of the biggest bond measures on ballots, while support for new taxes was mixed, according to election results on Wednesday. Final voting tallies were not immediately available for all of the 682 state, school and local government bond measures, according to data company Ipreo. At $70.3 billion, the amount of bond issuance requested to fund the building and repairing schools, mass transit, roads, and other projects was the largest in a decade. To view the historical amount of bond ballot measures, click on tmsnrt.rs\/2e9Z5bb. Some of the largest bond requests won approval, including the biggest bond proposal in Tuesday's election: $9 billion of California general obligation debt in the state's so-called Proposition 51. This will finance new construction and modernization for K-12 and charter schools and community colleges, according to semi-official election results on the California Secretary of State's website. \"Passage of Proposition 51 is credit positive for school districts with approved, but unfunded capital projects under the state School Facility Program, which is depleted,\" Lori Trevino, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service, wrote in a research note on Wednesday. With 195 bond measures totaling $41.7 billion, California issuers accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total par amount of debt on ballots nationwide. California's voters rejected Proposition 53, a proposal to rein in debt by requiring statewide voter approval for revenue bonds exceeding $2 billion for projects financed, owned or managed by the state. The rejection removes a hurdle standing in the way of projects such as the $14.9 billion California Water Fix project for upgrading its water infrastructure. \"It assures that the state's water policymakers will have the tools necessary to implement the California Water Fix, although they still face an uphill battle to secure the full approval and financial backing necessary to implement the plan,\" Shannon Groff, Fitch Ratings director of U.S. Public Finance, said in a statement. As for tax measures, California voters passed a 12-year extension of a temporary state personal income tax increase on earnings of $250,000 or more and a cigarette tax hike. Voters in 35 states weighed 154 state-wide measures, including bonds and taxes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which posted results on its website. Montana voters said no to creating a biomedical research authority funded by $200 million of bonds over 10 years. In Colorado, voters turned down a proposed constitutional amendment calling for a public option universal healthcare payment system, funded by a new 10 percent state payroll tax. They also rejected a cigarette tax hike. Arkansas voters agreed to lift a cap on state bond issuance for economic development projects. Illinois will have to earmark money generated from transportation-related fees and taxes exclusively for transportation uses, under a new constitutional amendment approved by voters. New Jersey voters approved the use of gasoline taxes solely to fund road, bridge and mass transit projects, and to allow $12 billion of transportation borrowing over eight years. Governor Chris Christie signed a 23-cent gas tax hike into law in October. In Missouri, voters amended the state constitution to prohibit any new tax on services or transactions. Oklahoma voters turned down a sales tax hike for public education. A corporate tax hike to fund education in Oregon also failed. Washington state voters rejected the nation's first tax on carbon emissions. At the local level, San Diego voters rejected a measure to raise hotel taxes and direct hundreds of millions of public dollars toward building a new National Football League stadium in downtown San Diego for the Chargers team.","label":0}
{"text":"How lovable can a robot be? A study of Roomba owners by the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009 found that at least a few people considered their appliances to be as close as family members. Effects like light, motion and especially sound can lead us to sympathize with an appliance as mundane as a vacuum. That means that product designers are not just focused on how your appliances work they make deliberate design choices to amplify the consumer's emotional connection to a hunk of plastic. On this week's episode of \"Tell Me Something I Don't Know,\" you'll learn about a beer recipe to bring on a desert island, some particularly uncomfortable sounds and a career that lacks female participation (besides the presidency). The panelists are: Angela Duckworth, author of \"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance\" and a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Interned alongside the most famous intern in our country's political history. Austan Goolsbee, economist at the University of Chicago and former White House economist, who collects movie ticket stubs. Keisha Zollar, actor, comedian, and host of the \"Applying It Liberally\" and \"The Soul Glo Project\" podcasts also the proud owner of a semicolon. Our \" Human \" is Negin Farsad, host of the podcast \"Fake the Nation\" and the author of \"How to Make White People Laugh. \" From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above. Or if you're on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series. On your iPhone or iPad: 1. Open your podcast app. It's a app called \"Podcasts\" with a purple icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Tap on the \"search\" magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in \"Tell Me Something I Don't Know\" and select it from the list of results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, tap on the \"subscribe\" button to have new episodes sent to your phone free. You may want to adjust your notifications to be alerted when a new episode arrives. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, tap on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you'll be able to stream the episode. On your Android phone or tablet: 1. Open your podcast app. It's a app called \"Play Music\" with an icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, search for \"Still Processing\" and select it from the list of results. You may have to scroll down to find the \"Podcasts\" search results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, click on the word \"subscribe\" to have new episodes sent to your phone free. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, click on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you'll be able to stream the episode.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region on Monday to resolve their conflict over Kurdish self-determination and disputed territories through dialogue. Tillerson laid out his position at the start of a meeting in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who in turn defended the role of an Iraqi paramilitary force backed by Iran against criticism the secretary of state made on Sunday. We are concerned and a bit sad, Tillerson said in his opening remarks. We have friends in Baghdad and friends in Erbil and we encourage all parties to enter into discussion ... and all differences can be addressed, he said, referring to the Iraqi and Kurdistan region capitals. The U.S. administration sided with Abadi in rejecting the validity of the referendum held last month in the Kurdish region, which produced an overwhelming yes for Kurdish independence. The administration also called on the two sides to avoid further escalation, after Abadi retaliated against the vote by isolating the Kurdistan region and ordering his troops to seize the oil city of Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters. We don t want to enter into any battle against any Iraqi component, Abadi said. When we entered Kirkuk we sent a clear message that the citizens of Kirkuk are important to us. It was Tillerson s second meeting with Abadi in as many days. After Sunday s meeting, alongside Saudi Arabia s King Salman, Tillerson said it was time for Iranian-backed militias that had helped Baghdad defeat Islamic State to go home . Abadi told Tillerson the paramilitary force called Popular Mobilisation is part of the Iraqi institutions, rejecting accusations that it is acting as Iran s proxies. Popular Mobilisation fighters should be encouraged because they will be the hope of country and the region, he said. A few hours earlier, Abadi s office published a statement rejecting Tillerson s comments. No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters, it said [nL8N1MY1UJ]. Washington, which also backed Baghdad against Islamic State, is concerned Iran will use its increased presence in Iraq, and in Syria where it supports President Bashar al-Assad, to expand its influence in the region. Shi ite Muslim Iran s influence in Iraq, where the population is also predominantly Shi ite, has grown since the U.S. invasion of 2003 that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. Iraq s Sunni Muslim neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, share Washington s concern about rising Iranian influence. Tehran has trained and armed the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation forces that have fought, often alongside Iraqi government units, against Islamic State, which was effectively defeated in July when a U.S.-backed offensive captured its stronghold, Mosul. The United States has over 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq and provided critical air and ground support in the offensive on Islamic State. It is also the main backer of the Kurdish-led Syrian coalition that captured the IS stronghold of Raqqa earlier this month. Of the closest groups to Iran within Popular Mobilisation, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, reacted to Tillerson s comment by saying it would be the Americans who will be forced to leave Iraq. Your forces should get ready to get out of our country once the excuse of Daesh s presence is over, said Asaib s leader, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali, according to the group s TV channel, al-Aahd.","label":0}
{"text":"The Internal Revenue Service said on Friday an investigation into a hacking attack revealed in May found that cyber criminals had made attempts to gain access to about 390,000 additional taxpayer accounts. The tax agency said 295,000 taxpayer transcripts were also targeted but access was not successful. (1.usa.gov\/1Lj1iRA) The agency said in May the tax return information of about 114,000 U.S. taxpayers had been illegally accessed by cyber criminals over the preceding four months, with another 111,000 unsuccessful attempts made. The IRS then revealed in August a new review had identified 220,000 additional incidents where data was breached and another 170,000 suspected failed attempts to gain access to taxpayer data. From February to May, attackers had sought to gain access to personal tax information through the agency's \"Get Transcript\" online application, which calls up information from previous returns, the tax collection agency said in May. The nine-month long review, which looked into incidents dating back to the launch of the \"Get Transcript\" application in January 2014 through May 2015, was conducted by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the IRS said on Friday. The \"Get Transcript\" web application has been offline since the incident was discovered, the agency said on Friday, adding that mailings to the affected taxpayers will start on Feb. 29. CNN reported in May that the IRS believed that the data theft originated in Russia.","label":0}
{"text":"In blunt testimony revealed on Tuesday, former managers of Trump University, the school started by Donald J. Trump, portray it as an unscrupulous business that relied on sales tactics, employed unqualified instructors, made deceptive claims and exploited vulnerable students willing to pay tens of thousands for Mr. Trump's insights. One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35, 000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University salesman persuaded the couple to purchase the class anyway. \"I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme,\" Mr. Schnackenberg wrote in his testimony, \"and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money. \" For Mr. Trump, whose presidential campaign hinges on his reputation as a businessman, the newly unsealed documents offer an unflattering snapshot of his career since branching out, over the past decade, from building skyscrapers into endeavors that cashed in on his name to sell everything from water and steaks to ties and education. The release of the documents on Tuesday, under court order, was the latest turn in a federal lawsuit, filed in California by dissatisfied former Trump University students, that has bedeviled the businessman since 2010 and could trail him into the White House if he is elected president. Mr. Trump, who started the university in 2005, owned 93 percent of the company. From the start, he acted as its chief promoter, rather than manager, selling it as a tool of financial empowerment that would improve life for thousands of ordinary Americans. It would, he said, \"teach you better than the best business school,\" according to the transcript of a Web video. Within the documents made public Tuesday were internal employee guides encouraging customers with little money to pay for the tuition with their credit cards. \"We teach the technique of using OPM . .. Other People's Money,\" explained the internal instructions for salespeople. The documents pushed employees to exploit the emotions of potential customers. \"Let them know you've found an answer to their problems,\" read confidential instructions to salespeople. The most striking documents were written testimony from former employees of Trump University who said they had become disenchanted with the university's tactics and culture. Corrine Sommer, an event manager, recounted how colleagues encouraged students to open up as many credit cards as possible to pay for classes that many of them could not afford. \"It's O. K. just max out your credit card,\" Ms. Sommer recalled their saying. Jason Nicholas, a sales executive at Trump University, recalled a deceptive pitch used to lure students \u2014 that Mr. Trump would be \"actively involved\" in their education. \"This was not true,\" Mr. Nicholas testified, saying Mr. Trump was hardly involved at all. Trump University, Mr. Nicholas concluded, was \"a facade, a total lie. \" Lawyers for Mr. Trump on Tuesday challenged those characterizations, saying that the testimony of the former Trump University employees \"was completely discredited\" in depositions taken for the California lawsuit. Lawyers for Mr. Trump declined to release those depositions on Tuesday. As he has in the past, Mr. Trump argued through representatives that the complaints emanated from a small number of former students and that the vast majority had offered positive reviews of their experience. \"Trump University looks forward to using this evidence, along with much more, to win when the case is brought before a jury,\" said Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump. The court records show the role that Mr. Trump \u2014 and his outsize reputation \u2014 played in trying to sell the real estate classes to thousands of students. Marketing materials bearing his signature encouraged prospective students to take advantage of a downturn in the housing market to earn quick profits. He offered the kind of assurances that financial advisers have long cautioned consumers to be wary of. \"How would you like to your financial future,\" Mr. Trump asked in one brochure. Mr. Trump started the Trump University just as the overheated American housing market neared its peak, promising that its classes would impart his wisdom about real estate and moneymaking to the general public. But dozens of complaints about the school rolled into the offices of attorneys general in Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois, officials said, prompting multiple investigations and, eventually, the lawsuit from former students in California. Mr. Trump had fought Tuesday's release of previously sealed documents in the case. In an apparent attempt to discredit the judge in the case, Gonzalo P. Curiel, Mr. Trump called him biased and a \"hater of Donald Trump,\" and he sought to draw attention to the judge's ethnic background \u2014 \"we believe Mexican,\" Mr. Trump said. (Mr. Curiel was born in Indiana he is of Mexican descent.) On Friday, in response to a legal motion filed by The Washington Post, Judge Curiel ruled that the records be released. Some of the documents unsealed Tuesday were previously made public in connection with other lawsuits. The internal guidebooks for employees of Trump University provide a detailed set of instructions for how to sell the classes, even to skeptical and reluctant consumers, by tapping into their psychological needs. A chart outlines the stages of the \"roller coaster of emotions\" that a buyer will experience. (The \"Blast\" phase, it explains, is \"giving your clients hope again. \" The \"Probe\" phase, it says, must \"slowly bring the client back down to reality. \") When it comes to selling the classes, the guidebooks leave little to chance. Inside the rooms where students are asked to enroll in classes, workers are asked to \"confirm that room temperature is no more than 68 degrees. \" Of course, Mr. Trump and the promise of his engagement with the school was the biggest draw of all. In the documents released Tuesday, instructors described themselves as \" \" by Mr. Trump. But in a deposition related to the lawsuit, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he did not pick the instructors. Not all the documents made public on Tuesday were critical. Many former students said the classes delivered exactly what they had expected. \"Trump University definitely made me more prepared to tackle the 'real world' of real estate investing,\" wrote David Wright Jr. who signed up for a program. \"We really learned a lot of from Trump University and have found a modicum of success,\" wrote another student, Kissy Gordon. Former employees like Ms. Sommer took a dimmer view of the school. In her testimony, she said she was startled by the qualifications of some Trump University instructors. Ms. Sommer recalled that a member of the Trump University sales team, who had previously sold jewelry, was promoted to become an instructor. He had \"no real estate experience,\" she said. She added that many of the instructors had the quality that the school seemed to value most: \"They were skilled at sales,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump has re-tweeted anti-Islam videos originally posted by Jayda Fransen, a leader of a far-right British party convicted earlier in November of abusing a Muslim woman. Fransen is deputy leader of the anti-immigrant Britain First group. Here are some details about her organization: Britain First was founded in 2011 by leader Paul Golding with a membership of three individuals. It describes itself as a patriotic political party and street movement , although critics denounce it as a far-right, racist organization. Britain First is committed to preserving our ancestral ethnic and cultural heritage, traditions, customs and values, it says on its website. It wants to deport all illegal immigrants, halt all further immigration, and introduce a comprehensive ban on the religion of Islam with headscarves being outlawed in public. Anyone found to be promoting the ideology of Islam will be subject to deportation or imprisonment, its policy platform states. It holds protests across the country, usually attended by a couple of hundred supporters at most, many of whom hold white crosses because the group argues Christianity in Britain is being threatened by immigration and the growth of militant Islam. Golding was a former senior figure in the far-right British National Party and was elected a local councillor in 2009. In his biography on the group s website it says he was sent to prison in 2016 for confronting a Muslim hate preacher who was secretly recorded saying it s okay for Muslims to keep sex slaves . Golding stood for election as London mayor in May 2016, winning 31,372 votes, 1.2 percent of all cast. Fransen, who was elected deputy leader in 2014, was convicted of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2017, and both she and Golding are facing further similar charges. The group gained prominence in June 2016 when Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot dead on the street by a Nazi-obsessed loner who witnesses said had been shouting Britain first during the attack. Fransen told Reuters the killer had nothing to do with her group.","label":0}
{"text":"Videos Protesters Disrupt \"Affirmative Action Bake Sale\" At UT-Austin The bake sale hosted by the Young Conservatives of Texas \u2014 in which prices varied depending on the buyer's race and gender \u2014 was meant to protest the consideration of race in admissions. | October 27, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! The Young Conservatives of Texas at UT Austin held a bake sale at the West Mall to discuss affirmative action policies on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. The Young Conservatives were met with criticism, which resulted in a protest and several intense conversations among students. (Photo: Shelby Knowles\/Texas Tribune\/cc)  A controversial bake sale meant to protest race-based admissions at the University of Texas at Austin drew its own opponents on Wednesday.  The campus branch of the Young Conservatives of Texas hosted the bake sale \u2014 in which prices varied depending on the buyer's race and gender \u2014 to draw attention to affirmative action, which the event's organizers said \"demeans minorities on our campus by placing labels of race and gender on their accomplishments.\" A cookie cost $1.50 for Asian males, 75 cents for white females and 25 cents for Hispanic females.  More than 100 of their classmates showed up to host a counter-protest, calling the bake sale an offensive and inappropriate stunt.  \"The labeling of races and the different prices of each is unacceptable\u2026\" said Jarvis Dillard, a UT freshman and one of the students protesting the bake sale. \"White males have privilege above all the other races.\"  In a statement Wednesday, Greg Vincent, the university's vice president for diversity and community engagement, called the event \"inflammatory and demeaning.\"  \"Focusing our attention on the provocative nature of the YCT's actions ignores a much more important issue: They create an environment of exclusion and disrespect among our students, faculty and staff,\" the statement says.  The young conservatives group held a similar bake sale in 2013 and was similarly chastised by Vincent, who called that event \"deplorable.\"  UT-Austin's affirmative action policies have put the university in the spotlight over the past few years. In June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the university's affirmative action system in a 4-3 vote after it was challenged by a white woman, Abigail Fisher, who was denied admission. Fisher argued she was passed over by UT while less qualified minority students were not.  The university considered the Supreme Court decision \u2014 which gives a small boost in admission to black and Hispanic students \u2014 a win. As of 2015, however, black students only made up 3.9 percent of the student population. During the protest, UT student body president Kevin Helgren said the campus has a long way to go in terms of inclusivity and diversity.  \"Institutionalized racism exists and affirmative action helps to combat that,\" Helgren said during the protest. \"The act of putting financial values on groups of people based on their gender or on their race, in my opinion, is a really prominent way to engage in racism in 2016.\"  On the young conservatives' Facebook event page, the group wrote: \"YCT is a truly colorblind organization and believes that all government institutions are constitutionally prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race in all circumstances, including affirmative action.\"  Christopher Shafik, a 19-year-old member of the young conservatives group, said \"people assume that because we are in a position against affirmative action that we're racist.\" He said the opposite is true, and that the organization must work to change its image on campus. This work by T he Texas Tribune is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.","label":1}
{"text":"South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday asked the High Court to set aside a report by the anti-corruption watchdog on alleged influence-peddling in his government, saying he would instead set up a commission of inquiry into the allegations. The court has been hearing a case brought by Zuma who had challenged the right of the report s author, South Africa s anti-graft agency known as Public Protector, to call for a judicial inquiry to investigate the allegations. Zuma, 75, who previously described the State of Capture report as unfair in parliament, said setting up such an inquiry was his prerogative. The report published a year ago recommended a judicial investigation into allegations of systemic corruption by Zuma, some of his ministers and heads of state-owned companies. The report focused on allegations that Zuma s friends, the businessmen and brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, had influenced the appointment of ministers. Zuma and the Guptas have denied the accusations. In a fresh application on Tuesday, Zuma s lawyers argued that the entire report by former Public Protector head Thuli Madonsela should be set aside. Should the court grant his application, Zuma would set up a separate commission of inquiry himself within 30 days of the date of the order, court papers presented by his lawyers said. The main opposition Democratic Alliance party opposes Zuma s application, saying it is unconstitutional. It says it wants the court to support Madonsela s recommendation for a judicial inquiry.","label":0}
{"text":"When Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy on Sunday, the Republicans will no doubt redouble their efforts to make the case that a vote for Hillary is a vote for Barack Obama's third term\u2014and the GOP believes no one wants that, for Pete's sake. Clinton's campaign, by contrast, will almost certainly make a very different case: If they vote for her, Americans will be getting something far closer to Bill Clinton's third term. Tying her husband's administration to her candidacy, Hillary Clinton has started to focus her language and her speeches on the continued struggles of the vast American middle class to adjust to a changed and still-changing economic landscape. That has ranged from addressing inequality of opportunity to less mobility to what she has called the \"outrage that so many women are still paid less than men for the same work.\" In comments she has made over the past year or so, she has portrayed the 1990s as a template for sound economic policies\u2014even when compared with the record of the Republican Party's modern-day hero, Ronald Reagan. \"If you want a better future that is going to be reliant on making smart economic policies, compare my husband's eight years with Ronald Reagan's eight years\u201423 million new jobs, more than seven million people lifted out of poverty,\" Clinton told PBS last June. At another point last year she declared in a speech: \"The 1990s taught us that even in the face of difficult long-term economic trends, it's possible through smart policies and sound investments to enjoy broad-based growth and shared prosperity.\" The eight years that followed her husband's presidency, she said, showed how bad policy could turn budget surpluses into deficits and \"what happens when your only policy prescription is to cut taxes for the wealthy.\" Given how widespread today's economic concerns are, a new iteration of \"It's still the economy, stupid\" could be a sound foundation for a successful campaign\u2014one that creates just enough distance on the economy between Obama and Clinton (who, after all, spent her entire tenure in the Obama administration working on foreign policy). Even so, Clinton faces multiple challenges separate from those of her own making: the implied comparison between the economy of the 1990s and the utterly fuzzy nature of our economic world today defies easy characterization. How she threads those issues will likely determine her the outcome of her second quest for the White House. Twenty-four years ago, Bill Clinton campaigned to fix an ailing economy that had seen massive layoffs in manufacturing in the recession of 1991. He assailed then President George H.W. Bush for ignoring the suffering of the middle class. His campaign moniker, \"It's the economy, stupid,\" helped propel him to victory over a sitting president. The situation today is arguably better than it was in 1991-1992, with the unemployment rate averaging 6.8 percent in 1991 and 7.5 percent in 1992 versus 5.5 percent over the past months. The end of the Cold War, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the resounding American sense of triumph in those years, as well as victory in the war to evict Iraq from Kuwait, also placed the United States in a far stronger position internationally, though that is more clear in retrospect than it was just then, when uncertainty about international chaos lent an air of unease. But even though today looks statistically better than the early 1990s, the national mood is arguably worse, though mood gauges are the softest of soft statistics. Jobs numbers as well don't adequately account for the much lower participation rate of American workers, with a smaller percentage of Americans working (nearly 67 percent then versus about 62 percent now). More important, and hence the reason for Hillary's focus on the middle class, wages have barely budged since the early 1990s for the vast majority of workers. In contrast to the early Republican message that government has impeded the progress of the average American, the Clinton campaign looks to stress how government in conjunction with individual initiatives and businesses can help boost opportunities. The subliminal (or maybe not so) implication is that is just what happened throughout the eight years the other Clinton was president. It is undeniably true that between 1993 and 2000, the United States experienced a boom in both employment and economic growth. Sentiment as measured by Gallup polls about satisfaction with the economy also improved greatly, with just 24 percent expressing satisfaction in 1992 compared with 69 percent in 2000. The prevailing buzz was that of an economy firing on all proverbial cylinders, boosted by information technologies that were enhancing worker productivity and by a Wall Street and equity boom that saw tens of millions of Americans trading hot-dot stocks that promised not just wealth but connectivity, peace and happiness.","label":0}
{"text":"A prominent Chinese general under investigation for corruption has committed suicide, state media said on Tuesday, the latest development in a sweeping anti-graft campaign that has shaken the armed forces. Zhang Yang, a former member of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), was being investigated over links to disgraced generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, the official Xinhua news agency said. The investigation into Zhang, 66, had verified that he gravely violated discipline , was suspected of giving and taking bribes and the origin of a huge amount of assets was unclear, Xinhua said, citing the commission. On the afternoon of Nov. 23, Zhang Yang hanged himself at home, the agency said. A suicide by an officer who held such a senior post is rare, though experts have said the frequency of officials from various levels of government taking their own lives may have increased as a result of the intensity of the corruption crackdown since President Xi Jinping took power five years ago. A commentary carried on both the Defense Ministry and military s official websites said the CMC decided on Aug. 28 to investigate Zhang, who had lost his moral bottom line and used suicide as a means to escape punishment from the party and country , an extremely abominable act . This former general of high position and great power used this shameful way to end his own life, the commentary said. He would exhort loyalty but be corrupt behind others backs, a typical two-faced person , it said. Sources had told Reuters that Zhang, who had served as director of the military s Political Work Department, had been subject to an investigation, but the government had not announced it. Zhang s downfall was foreshadowed in September when he failed to make a list of 303 military delegates to the ruling Communist Party s key five-yearly congress, along with fellow CMC member Fang Fenghui. Both men were replaced at the congress, held last month, as part of a sweeping military leadership reshuffle in which Xi install trusted allies in key positions. China s military, the world s largest and undergoing an ambitious modernization campaign, has been an important focus of Xi s deep-seated fight against corruption. Serving and retired officers have said graft in the armed forces is so pervasive it could undermine China s ability to wage war. Dozens of officers have been investigated and jailed, including Xu and Guo, both former vice chairmen of the commission, which Xi heads. Xu once ran the Political Work Department, which is in charge of imbuing political thought and makes military personnel decisions, and along with Guo was accused of taking bribes in exchange for promotions. Guo was jailed for life last year. Xu died of cancer in 2015 before he could face trial.","label":0}
{"text":"The November U.S. presidential election is being sold by the major parties as a defining moment for the next generation of Americans. But stock and options traders, often moved to action by political headlines, are responding with a big 'meh.' Options bets on volatility around the Nov. 8 election are running lower than could be expected given how stocks have performed in past election cycles, BNP Paribas said. Typically, stock market volatility picks up around presidential elections. Traders use options to guard against outsized market reaction to such events. The CBOE Volatility Index, the most widely followed gauge of near-term investor anxiety, had some big spikes this year, hitting a four-month high after the Brexit vote. But there is little to suggest that November is a big worry for stocks. Investors are focused on the quarterly earnings season starting next week. They might also be taking the view that both the Republican and Democratic prospective nominees would be more favorable for business than the current administration, analysts said. \"It's like the opposite of 'Alien vs. Predator,'\" said Mark Sebastian, chief investment officer at volatility arbitrage hedge fund Karman Line Capital in Chicago, referring to the 2004 American science fiction film which had the tagline 'whoever wins, we lose.' \"Here, no matter who wins, Wall Street does better,\" he said. Despite being called anti-business by some on Wall Street, the Obama administration has been in power over one of the best presidential cycles for stocks on record. Per BNP Paribas data, S&P 500 Index options forward implied volatility, which measures volatility expectations embedded in options, shows no dislocation over the remaining election campaign period. Had there been a big bump-up in this measure for November it would have been a sign that traders were loading up on protective contracts. \"The market is not ascribing a large probability to a high volatility scenario over the election period,\" said Stewart Warther, an equity derivatives strategist at BNP Paribas. Market-makers, or dealers which quote prices for options, are also not expressing a great deal of anxiety over stock gyrations. If stock volatility does not pick up in November, that would be a departure from the norm, according a BNP Paribas analysis of data going back to 1948. \"The shape of the (volatility) curve definitely is upward sloping but it's not like there is a huge hump out in November,\" said Steve Sosnick, an equity risk manager at Timber Hill, the market-making unit of Interactive Brokers Group Inc. \"We have seen some demand for options but I would say it's hardly a frenzy.\"","label":0}
{"text":"68 Shares 67 0 0 1 Mohsen Abdelmoumen : Do you think the United States can claim to be democratic simply by electing a woman president? Can we talk about democracy in the USA with a candidate of the financial lobbies and AIPAC? Ann Garrison: No, of course not. No more than we could claim to be a democracy because we elected a Black president. These two elections signify nothing more than the inclusion of previously excluded classes of people in the super elite. The United States is an oligarchy of the .01%, 1% of the 1%. Any president who is not already among the .01%, like Bill Clinton, becomes part of the .01% by serving its interests and then peddling influence after leaving office. No one has developed an influence peddling machine as well-oiled as the Clintons, with Bill working the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative while Hillary was Secretary of State. Just imagine the new depths of corruption that the next eight years and beyond could bring. Obama has said he's now considering a move from the White House to venture capitalism that has Silicon Valley slathering at the opportunity. Every four years Americans are given the illusion of choice between oligarchs and\/or aspiring oligarchs who will serve the interests of oligarchy. Candidates who aspire to actually represent the interests of the people are marginalized by the corporate media and the pay-to-play campaign contributions of the oligarchs. In municipal and county elections and ballot measures, Americans often do have real choices, but the higher and more powerful the office, the greater the corruption and oligarchic control. Nevertheless, only a small minority of Americans actually vote n local elections; The Atlantic's CityLab reporting project recently concluded that fewer than 20% vote in mayoral elections in 15 of the 30 most populous cites. Disengagement is one of the most fundamental facts of American political life. Regarding federal elections, this concept of democracy within the largest, most lethal military power the world has ever seen is bogus to begin with. When U.S. citizens cast ballots to elect a new commander-in-chief who will continue the project of perpetual war, military industrial profits, and global hegemony, how democratic is that? The vast majority of those who will suffer and die don't get to vote; the only exceptions are members of the U.S. Armed Services who die in U.S. wars. If those on the other side of the Pentagon's crosshairs were able to vote, I'm sure they would elect our Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who said, \"We say to Trump, we don't need no friggin' wall! We just need to stop invading other countries.\" Her running mate, vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka has called the humanitarian interventionist argument a new version of the white man's burden and said, \"You have to ask yourself, when was the last time the U.S. has been on the side of the people? And the answer is: NEVER.\" MORE... Top Aide to Hillary Clinton Urges the FBI to Disclose what it Knows about Trump's Russia Ties What will Hillary Clinton do for India? Not Much and Here's Why Clinton's Policies Look Like a Death Sentence for Americans 10 Things to Expect with a Hillary Clinton Presidency How do you explain the dynastic governance Clinton? Is the American dream in all its glory? I'm not sure I can explain the Clinton dynasty except to agree that it is one. Chelsea has been very involved in the Clinton Foundation and is quite likely to enter political life and even run for president one day. We have had other political dynasties, most notably the Roosevelts, the Kennedys and the Bushes, and there are many lower level dynasties, like the Browns in California. Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, is the son of former California governor Pat Brown. New York State has the Cuomos; Governor Andrew Cuomo is the son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, and his brother Chris Cuomo is a prominent corporate television host. Regarding the American dream, I assume you're referring to the dream that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can achieve some proportionate degree of status, security and prosperity. If so, the Clintons certainly aren't living the American dream because, although they did well in school, they've hardly played by the rules. They've enriched themselves with that well-oiled influence peddling operation I mentioned earlier, the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. We're all wondering whether Hillary Clinton, and maybe even Bill Clinton, might finally be indicted now that the FBI has reopened its investigation of Clinton e-mail because more of it was discovered on the laptop that Anthony Weiner - a former Congressman under FBI investigation for sex offense - shared with his wife, Clinton aide Huma Abedin. If Hillary Clinton is elected, she'll have to be impeached, convicted and removed from office, but that's extremely unlikely - no matter what's in the newly discovered e-mail - if her party, the Democrats, win a majority in the House and more than a one- third minority in the Senate. It takes a majority in the House to impeach a president and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to then convict and remove a president. So Hillary Clinton is at a Berlusconi moment in her sordid career; her best chance of avoiding indictment is getting elected. Getting back to the American dream that you can get ahead by working hard and playing by the rules, Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives, for perjury and obstruction of justice regarding his affair with a 19-year-old White House intern and his testimony in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by another former employee. However, his own party held a majority in the Senate and they acquitted him. This was all legal, according to the U.S. Constitution, but does it really sound like he was \"playing by the rules\"? During the final days of his presidency, Clinton acquitted Glencore International founder Mark Rich, an international fugitive who had fled to Switzerland. His ex-wife had donated to the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton Presidential Library and Hillary Clinton's New York Senate campaign. According to the law, President Clinton had the authority to acquit Rich, but how would any rational person consider that anything but bribery and corruption? In 2006, Clinton polished the reputation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's autocratic leader and human rights offender, who then gave a uranium mining lease to Canadian businessman Frank Giustra's Shell Company, making it worth tens of millions of dollars overnight. Giustra then made a big contribution to the Clinton Foundation. No one has claimed that this was illegal, but is it \"playing by the rules\"? When Guistra sold a majority stake in his company, Uranium One, to Rosatom, the Russian atomic energy agency, it was approved by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Giustra then contributed $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton was offered a $500,000 speaking engagement with a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin. Does that sound like playing by the rules? And now Hillary's trying to make us believe that Russia's meddling in our elections and threatening confrontation with Russia over Syria. I don't think she's kidding about the confrontation, but the Clinton Foundation rarely passes up the chance to make another million dollars or more in any circumstances. Meanwhile, most of the rest of us are not living the American dream. Sixty-three percent of Americans are living on the edge of financial catastrophe, unable to handle a $500 car repair or a $1000 emergency room bill . The Clintons, as I said, serve the oligarchy they have also managed to join. When Bill Clinton was on his way out, in the last months of his presidency, he worked with Republicans in the lame duck Congress to deregulate the banking industry. By 2008, its dishonest, excessive and abusive financialization scams had crashed the economy, costing millions of Americans their jobs and\/or homes. Then, as a New York Senator, Hillary Clinton voted to bail out the big banks who committed the crime while many of the rest of us struggled in the crash's wake. How do you explain that candidate Clinton, who failed as Secretary of State with the death of the US Ambassador in Libya, her health problems, the scandal of emails, is the candidate of the Democrats? Again, Clinton serves the interests of the oligarchy that she herself has joined. Many people believe that the nomination was stolen from Bernie Sanders, the Democratic candidate who spoke out against oligarchy, growing income inequality, and even the Israeli lobby's dominance in American politics. But there's one other important element to this. Americans who identify as liberals, supporters of women's rights, and\/or anti-racists have such a longstanding allegiance to the Democratic Party that supporting its nominee every four years is their knee-jerk reaction. Ever escalating foreign wars don't seem to penetrate their consciousness or conscience, especially when those wars are waged primarily with drones and proxy armies instead of U.S. troops. And once the Republicans nominated the openly racist and misogynistic Donald Trump, defeating Trump became a liberal crusade. There are, of course, glimmers of rationality and hope. Yesterday I was out canvassing for an Oakland, California ballot measure with a young Black man, a college sophomore. Despite Trump's overt racism, he told me that he considers Clinton even more dangerous because he understands that she has essentially promised confrontation with Russia over Syria. He understands that such escalation increases the chance of a nuclear war, accidental or not, and that Trump, for all his faults, says that the Cold War is over, that NATO is largely obsolete, and that Clinton is recklessly risking confrontation with Russia by promising to remove Bashar Al-Assad. Our Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is reported to be polling at 16% among voters under 35, and much of Bernie Sanders's support was quite visibly from the same age group. Local, grassroots organizing is also empowering people to create institutions free of oligarchic and corporate control. They include community gardens, renewable energy buyers' co-operatives, and GMO-free zones. If a ballot initiative to make California's Sonoma County GMO-free passes, the whole northwest coast of California will be a GMO-free zone, from Santa Cruz to Humboldt Counties and including one inland county, Trinity. Don't you think that the two-headed American system with the candidates of two traditional parties, Democratic and Republican is out of breath? I wouldn't say it's out of breath because it's still very much in control. However, Trump has left the Republican Party in disarray, with many Republican luminaries and funders defecting to Clinton, who is welcoming them with open arms. As Black Agenda Report Editor Glen Ford has written , the Clintons \"have succeeded in assembling under one party roof nearly the whole of the U.S. ruling class and their hordes of attendants and goons. The scam that undergirded the duopoly system that has served the Lords of Capital so well for so long, has come undone. Thanks to a white nationalist billionaire who was too spoiled to play by the corporate rules, the two parties of the ruling class have become one.\" It's hard to say whether or not the Republican Party will survive this election or what it will be in another four years if it does. One possibility could significantly change this. If Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein wins 5% in this election, the Green Party will become an official national party eligible for 5% of the federal funds made available to official national parties to host their presidential nominating conventions and support their nominee. This year all federal funds went to the two official national parties, Republicans and Democrats, who also have access to huge amounts of plutocratic and corporate money. The Greens take no corporate money. Five percent of the vote and five percent of the federal funding for elections may not sound like much, but it would be a huge watershed for the U.S. Greens. It would be a big psychological and visibility boost, and it would mean starting the next presidential campaign year with more than twice the funds that Jill Stein's campaign has been able to raise. Winning 5% would also ensure ballot access for the Greens in most states, not only in federal elections but also in down ballot races. As it is, Greens are required to spend much of their time and money just gathering enough signatures to satisfy all the byzantine ballot access requirements that vary in each of the 50 states. Everyone knows that Clinton is the future president of the USA. In your opinion, why they are facilitated her task and who has interest in seeing Clinton in the Oval Office? She is backed by the oligarchy, corporate and dynastic, particularly the investment bankers, the oil industry, and the weapons manufacturers who not only profit but also lobby for foreign wars. They are advancing their own interests by promoting a candidate who will serve them. Liberals have been conditioned to function as unpaid Clinton operatives in this election, and the corporate media, like the cops, serve as protectors of the oligarchy. And again, the majority of Americans are politically disengaged. You are close to Jill Stein, head of the Green party, which emerged late in the campaign. Why was this alternative sabotaged? Well, I wouldn't say I'm close to Jill personally, but she knows who I am and I, of course, know who she is. I've reported on her campaign and on the U.S. Greens for the past year, on radio and in print and online outlets, and I'm always honored when she shares those reports on her social media pages. I write for the Black Agenda Report and feel politically and intellectually close to its editors, who have given their full support to the Green Party this year, even as Bernie Sanders surged in the polls and many imagined he might actually win the Democratic nomination. In these times that are so easy to see as the end times, shared rationality and humanity are the closest bonds that many of us have, regardless of the geographic distance between us. Jill's campaign could hardly compete with the Republicans' and Democrats' because neither she nor any other Greens solicit or accept corporate money. We stand behind the slogan, \"People and Planet before Profits.\" And we call for a halt to the death march led by the weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel giants, and agro-chemical companies who profit from it. Jill calls for immediately cutting the military budget by half, closing all the U.S. military bases in foreign countries and launching a \"peace offensive.\" She proposes free public education from kindergarten through college, the abolition of student debt, national health insurance and a \"Green New Deal\" that would reinvest the resources now squandered on weapons manufacture and all the illegal, immoral, lethal and environmentally catastrophic U.S. wars. The Green New Deal would create a renewable energy infrastructure and sustainable agriculture before it's too late to stop the climate meltdown - if it isn't too late already. And it would fully employ Americans in meaningful, dignified and cooperative work for the common good. Of course that all makes far too much sense and threatens the highly concentrated wealth and power of the death-march industries. I would not be surprised if there were voter fraud to prevent Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka from winning the 5% that would make us an official national party. I have also seen enormous oligarchic determination to stop Greens at the local level. In 2003, Matt Gonzalez, the Green Party's mayoral candidate in San Francisco, seemed to have a good chance of winning. That so alarmed the Democratic Party that it sent all its best known, most powerful names and faces to San Francisco to campaign for the Democratic candidate. They sent Hillary and Bill. They sent Jesse Jackson. They sent many Democratic Party superstars more than once. They seemed to be more concerned about defeating Matt Gonzalez and the Greens in San Francisco than they were about defeating George Bush and the Republicans in the following year's presidential election. One of the founders of the San Francisco Green Party was elected to the City and County Board of Supervisors twice, but when he ran for Sheriff, an executive office, Democrats pulled him aside and said they could not allow his election unless he left the Greens and joined the Democratic Party, which he did. They still got rid of him after his first term, with a really ugly campaign, but that's another complicated story in itself. The City and County of San Francisco once had more elected Greens than any city or county in the country, but many of those that Greens worked so hard to elect have since defected to the Democratic Party for the sake of their political careers. Is not Hillary Clinton a danger for humanity? Hell yes. I agree with Congolese author and political activist Patrick Mbeko, who said she's more dangerous than ISIS, for all the reasons I've already mentioned. Her dark alliance with the death-march industries, and her seeming eagerness to confront Russia over Syria and\/or on Russia's borders in the interest of global hegemony. Russian uranium deal aside, I think that Diana Johnstone was most likely right when she wrote that \"her strategic ambition in a nutshell is regime change in Russia.\" And I have to mention my friends from the African Great Lakes Region - particularly Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - which became the killing grounds of the 1990s, as the U.S., using African proxies, established itself as the dominant power there. Most of my friends from that part of the world are horrified by the Clintons' all but certain return to the White House. The Clintons are deeply committed to the false history of the Rwandan war and massacres that was used to justify the First and Second Congo Wars and later the \"humanitarian\" interventions in Libya, Syria, and Iraq. If the truth about Rwanda and DR Congo were known, Bill Clinton would be implicated in mass murder, but that's true of every U.S. president in office in my lifetime and probably long before that. No one's going to try to refer the most lethal military power in history to an international criminal court with more than symbolic authority. You have many worked on Africa. How do you explain the French leadership in Africa? Well, I'm no expert in this, but I can say a few things. First, I wouldn't call it leadership. I'd say that France sustains a neocolonial and military presence in Africa. France was a partner in the destruction of Libya. In Mali, Niger, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, France is protecting the uranium mines essential to the nuclear power that generates 75% of its electricity. There's no doubt that France was complicit in the assassination of resource nationalist and debt resister President Thomas Sankara and the installation of President Blaise Compaor\u00e9 in Burkina Faso. I don't see any sign that French policy towards Burkina or any of its other former colonies is any more benign now, despite its resignation to Compaor\u00e9's ouster by a popular movement. France and the U.S. now appear to be military partners in Africa more often than not, but during the Rwandan war and massacres and the Congo Wars of the 1990s, the U.S. displaced France as the dominant power there. However, a source of ongoing tension between France and the U.S. has been their divergent accounts of the massacres known as the Rwandan Genocide. The U.S. defends Rwandan President Paul Kagame's account, in which he is the savior who swept in to stop the carnage. Kagame blames France, particularly for Operation Turquoise, in which French troops created a humanitarian corridor for Rwandan refugees, mostly Hutus, who were fleeing the advance of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Army. This conflict has recently been renewed, first with France reopening its investigation of allegations that Kagame ordered the assassination of Rwanda and Burundi's Hutu presidents, Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, in 1994. Rwanda responded by accusing 22 French officers of helping to plan and organize genocide in Rwanda. In 2010, Nicholas Sarkozy attempted to ease the tension between France and the U.S. and Rwanda by accepting the U.S.\/Rwandan account of the massacres. He publicly apologized for France's alleged guilt in Rwanda's tragedy , and shortly thereafter, France was rewarded with greater access to DR Congo's resource riches. However, Alain Jupp\u00e9, who was the French prime minister at the time of the Rwandan massacres and Operation Turquoise, was having none of that. He even left the country during Kagame's 2011 \"reconciliaton\" visit to Paris . Now Jupp\u00e9 seems to be leading Sarkozy in the bid for his party's nomination, and if he is elected president, the history of Rwanda and DR Congo in the 1990s will be more fiercely contested. Most of my Rwandan friends very much hope that Jupp\u00e9 will be elected because he defends the dissident history of what really happened. They believe, for one, that Operation Turquoise saved many Rwandan lives. While Africa is a young continent, How do you explain that the countries are often directed by old presidents with several mandates and who don't want lose the power? The old presidents cling to power, and the Western powers with geo-strategic interests enable them because autocrats are easier to corrupt and control than rowdy democrats and resource nationalists who try to represent their own people. Rwanda's Kagame and Uganda's Museveni are two prime examples of autocrats who have proven very useful to the U.S. and other Western interests. France, the U.S., and all the rest of the NATO nations appear to be united in their determination to topple Burundi's Nkurunziza, who has dared to raise an independent head and to favor the East, particularly Russia, in resource extraction contracts. I can't explain Mugabe's hold on power at age 92 or Omar al-Bashir's at 72, since neither are U.S. aliies. You'll have to ask Africans in those countries to explain that. In your opinion, is not tribalism a major factor in the destabilization of Africa? Why doesn't Africa progress and does it stay in the tribal model? I really hesitate to say anything about that because I'm not African myself and I think Western media often use the word \"'tribe\" as a racial slur that disguises Western resource interests at play in African conflicts. I recently wrote a piece about the new film A Brilliant Genocide , and Milton Allimadi, the Ugandan-born editor of the Black Star News, told me he loved the piece but asked me to remove the one instance in which I'd used the word \"tribe.\" I told him I'd been hesitant about using that word and was glad to remove it. I'm now reading his book, \" Hearts of Darkness: How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa .\" Why are Congolese being massacred in Beni Territory, North Kivu Province ? The first question I've asked to try to answer that question is, \"What resources are there?\" In Beni, the answer is oil, timber, gold, diamonds, wolfram, coltan and cassiterite. Beni is a vivid example of the saying, \"Everybody wants a piece of Congo.\" No one could convince me that the industrial nations' hunger for all these riches is not at the heart of these conflicts. Why are all the deadly \"ethnic\" conflicts in DR Congo's resource-rich eastern provinces? The competition and\/or animosity between ethnicities or groups is often real, as they are in the West, but in Africa, the geostrategic and resource interests of the industrial nations are always in play behind the scenes. Western powers often exacerbate local rivalries in pursuit of their own interests. I sometimes co-host a show called AfrobeatRadio with my friend Wuyi Jacobs on WBAI-New York City, and we both hope to someday produce a show about Rwanda and Burundi in which we won't have to use the words \"Hutu\" or \"Tutsi.\" Dr. L\u00e9opold Munyakazi convinced me that these two groups are better understood not as tribes or ethnicities but as social classes in Rwandan history that were exaggerated by Europeans who have found it convenient to pit one group against the other. Libya lives total chaos. How do you analyze the situation in Libya? It's horrible. Like so much else, it makes me deeply ashamed to be an American. If you read Hillary Clinton's e-mail, it's easy to see that the U.S.]\/NATO war on Libya was, for one, another Western war against another defiant resource nationalist, Muammar Gaddafi. Regardless of whatever human rights offenses Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein were guilty of, both were resource nationalists, as was Mohammed Mossadegh, the secular, democratically elected prime minister of Iran who nationalized Iranian oil before our CIA and the UK's M16 ousted him in the 1953 coup. I wrote about how this played out in Libya in \" Clinton E-MaIl: We came, we saw, we got oil .\" Obama says that failing to prepare for the aftermath of the Libyan War was the greatest mistake of his presidency, but I'd say his greatest mistake was waging the Libyan War in the first place. Like the Iraq War, it has created chaos and perpetual war that continues to spread through the Middle East and North Africa. Interview realized by Mohsen Abdelmoumen Who is Ann Garrison? Ann Garrison is an independent journalist who contributes to the San Francisco Bay View, Global Research, the Black Agenda Report and the Black Star News, and produces radio for KPFA-Berkeley and WBAI-New York City. In 2014, she was awarded the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize by the Womens International Network for Democracy and Peace . She can be reached at https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnnGarrison?lang=en .","label":1}
{"text":"AG Jeff Sessions is a complete change from the lawless Obama administration. We are so lucky to have someone like Sessions running the Department of Justice! The interview below by Judge Jeanine is so worth the watch! They discuss immigration and lawfulness in America. Great interview!https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4BjW_JgrXuoOur Previous Report on Sessions at the Border another GREAT speech! THE TRUMP ERA : JEFF SESSIONS Puts An End To Obama s Open Border Policies With Law & Order [Video]Attorney General Jeff Sessions toured the Nogales, Arizona border today with the border patrol. He made a bold statement (transcript below) on law and order: This is a new era.This is a Trump era. Catch & release policies of the past are over .KEY POINTS FROM THE SPEECH:Starting today, federal prosecutors are now required to consider for prosecution all of the following offenses: The transportation or harboring of aliens. As you know too well, this is a booming business down here. No more. We are going to shut down and jail those who have been profiting off this lawlessness people smuggling gang members across the border, helping convicted criminals re-enter this country and preying on those who don t know how dangerous the journey can be. Further, where an alien has unlawfully entered the country, which is a misdemeanor, that alien will now be charged with a felony if they unlawfully enter or attempt enter a second time and certain aggravating circumstances are present. Also, aliens that illegally re-enter the country after prior removal will be referred for felony prosecution and a priority will be given to such offenses, especially where indicators of gang affiliation, a risk to public safety or criminal history are present. Fourth: where possible, prosecutors are directed to charge criminal aliens with document fraud and aggravated identity theft the latter carrying a two-year mandatory minimum sentence. Finally, and perhaps most importantly: I have directed that all 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices make the prosecution of assault on a federal law enforcement officer that s all of you a top priority. If someone dares to assault one of our folks in the line of duty, they will do federal time for it. The bottom line is that he s bringing back rule of law after the lawless Obama open borders policy.Border traffic is the lowest its been in 17 years but we need to keep at it! We re thinned that this administration means business when it comes to sovereignty!Attorney General Jeff Sessions: The catch and release policies of the past are over #TuesdayMotivation #BuildWall pic.twitter.com\/OkhmZaD5In STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) April 11, 2017THE ENTIRE SPEECH FROM AG JEFF SESSIONS:TRANSCRIPT: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Delivers Remarks Announcing the Department of Justice s Renewed Commitment to Criminal Immigration Enforcement Nogales, AZUnited States ~ Tuesday, April 11, 2017Good morning, everyone. Let me start by thanking the brave men and women of Customs and Border Protection, who not only served as our gracious hosts today, but who put themselves in harm s way each day to secure our borders and protect us.Here, along our nation s southwest border, is ground zero in this fight. Here, under the Arizona sun, ranchers work the land to make an honest living, and law-abiding citizens seek to provide for their families.But it is also here, along this border, that transnational gangs like MS-13 and international cartels flood our country with drugs and leave death and violence in their wake. And it is here that criminal aliens and the coyotes and the document-forgers seek to overthrow our system of lawful immigration.Let s stop here for a minute. When we talk about MS-13 and the cartels, what do we mean? We mean criminal organizations that turn cities and suburbs into warzones, that rape and kill innocent citizens and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders. Depravity and violence are their calling cards, including brutal machete attacks and beheadings.It is here, on this sliver of land, where we first take our stand against this filth.In this fight, I am here to tell you, the brave men and women of Customs and Border Protection: we hear you and we have your back. Under the President s leadership and through his Executive Orders, we will secure this border and bring the full weight of both the immigration courts and federal criminal enforcement to combat this attack on our national security and sovereignty.The President has made this a priority and already we are seeing the results. From January to February of this year, illegal crossings dropped by 40 percent, which was unprecedented. Then, last month, we saw a 72 percent drop compared to the month before the President was inaugurated. That s the lowest monthly figure for at least 17 years.This is no accident. This is what happens when you have a President who understands the threat, who is not afraid to publically identify the threat and stand up to it, and who makes clear to law enforcement that the leadership of their country finally has their back. Together, we will drastically reduce the danger posed by criminal aliens, gang members and cartel henchmen.To that end, the President and I want to do our best to arm you, and the prosecutors who partner with you, with more tools in your fight against criminal aliens. So today, I am pleased to stand here with you and announce new guidance regarding our commitment to criminal immigration enforcement. As we speak, I am issuing a document to all federal prosecutors that mandates the prioritization of such enforcement.Starting today, federal prosecutors are now required to consider for prosecution all of the following offenses:The transportation or harboring of aliens. As you know too well, this is a booming business down here. No more. We are going to shut down and jail those who have been profiting off this lawlessness people smuggling gang members across the border, helping convicted criminals re-enter this country and preying on those who don t know how dangerous the journey can be.Further, where an alien has unlawfully entered the country, which is a misdemeanor, that alien will now be charged with a felony if they unlawfully enter or attempt enter a second time and certain aggravating circumstances are present.Also, aliens that illegally re-enter the country after prior removal will be referred for felony prosecution and a priority will be given to such offenses, especially where indicators of gang affiliation, a risk to public safety or criminal history are present.Fourth: where possible, prosecutors are directed to charge criminal aliens with document fraud and aggravated identity theft the latter carrying a two-year mandatory minimum sentence.Finally, and perhaps most importantly: I have directed that all 94 U.S. Attorneys Offices make the prosecution of assault on a federal law enforcement officer that s all of you a top priority. If someone dares to assault one of our folks in the line of duty, they will do federal time for it.To ensure that these priorities are implemented, starting today, each U.S. Attorney s Office, whether on the border or interior, will designate an Assistant United States Attorney as the Border Security Coordinator for their District. It will be this experienced prosecutor s job to coordinate the criminal immigration enforcement response for their respective offices.For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era. The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over.In that vein, I am also pleased to announce a series of reforms regarding immigration judges to reduce the significant backlogs in our immigration courts.Pursuant to the President s executive order, we will now be detaining all adults who are apprehended at the border. To support this mission, we have already surged 25 immigration judges to detention centers along the border. I want to thank personally the judges who answered the call to help us with this new initiative.In addition, we will put 50 more immigration judges on the bench this year and 75 next year. We can no longer afford to wait 18 to 24 months to get these new judges on the bench. So today, I have implemented a new, streamlined hiring plan. It requires just as much vetting as before, but reduces the timeline, reflecting the dire need to reduce the backlogs in our immigration courts.With the President s Executive Orders on Border Security, Transnational Criminal Organizations and Public Safety as our guideposts, we will execute a strategy that once again secures the border; apprehends and prosecutes those criminal aliens that threaten our public safety; takes the fight to gangs like MS-13 and Los Zetas; and makes dismantlement and destruction of the cartels a top priority. We will deploy a multifaceted approach in these efforts: we are going to interdict your drugs on the way in, your money on the way out, and investigate and prosecute your trafficking networks to the fullest extent of the law.Why are we doing this? Because it is what the duly enacted laws of the United States require. I took an oath to protect this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. How else can we look the parents and loved ones of Kate Steinle, Grant Ronnebeck and so many others in eye and say we are doing everything possible to prevent such tragedies from ever occurring again?Let me finish where I started, by thanking you the brave men and women in uniform who are at the front lines of this fight. I know we ask a tremendous amount from all of you, but know this: we have your back, and will do all we can to empower you and support you in your work.God bless you and thank you.","label":1}
{"text":"Brazil s new Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said on Tuesday she is committed to continuing the sprawling Car Wash corruption investigation that has implicated dozens of Brazilian politicians, including President Michel Temer. In her first news conference since taking office on Sept. 18, Dodge declined to comment on charges filed against Temer by her predecessor Rodrigo Janot, but she said she could not withdraw them. Janot charged Temer with obstruction of justice and being a member of a criminal organization days before leaving office based on plea bargain testimony by the owners of meatpacker JBS SA. Janot had to revoke that plea deal after evidence emerged of crimes committed by the witnesses. Dodge, however, told reporters that the revoking of a plea deal did not erase the evidence provided. The lower house of Congress, which has the authority to decide whether a president should stand trial, began to discuss the new charges on Tuesday and is expected to block them as it did last month with an earlier graft charge brought against Temer for allegedly accepting bribes paid by JBS. Dodge said the Supreme Court must decide whether the Federal Police can also negotiate plea bargains with criminals, an authority currently limited to prosecutors who have opposed sharing the function with the police. Plea bargains have been instrumental for prosecutors in the uncovering of a massive network of bribes and political kickbacks in Brazil s largest corruption scandal. I am sure that the Supreme Court will hand down a ruling that will turn this into an valuable tool, she said.","label":0}
{"text":"One word China That s the only reason you should be furious with our government that s usually overreaching but not so much in this case. Because we were being penalized by the WHO, we decided to stop requiring a country of origin on meat. Just to clue you in, here s one of our articles that will make you furious that the meat labels are gone:Yuck! It s bad enough that China had a dog meat festival last week but now this! The USDA just removed the country of origin off of meat but it needs to come back ASAP! If there s meat smuggling going on you really don t know where it originated, but if it s China I would like to make the informed choice not to buy their meat for this reason:Chinese authorities have seized more than 100,000 tonnes of smuggled meat some of it more than 40 years old, according to state media.The frozen meat, estimated to be worth about 300 million (3bn yuan; $483m), was seized in a nationwide crackdown. It was smelly and I nearly threw up when I opened the door, an official from Hunan province, where 800 tonnes were seized, told the AFP news agency. Poor standards have made food safety a major concern in China. According to state newspaper the China Daily, officials from Guangxi, a southern region bordering Vietnam, found meat dating back to the 1970s. Thawed several times: Some of the meat seized in Hunan province was found to have been refrozen after thawing out while in transit, according to the reports. Yang Bo, an anti-smuggling official in Hunan province, was quoted as saying food was often transported in ordinary rather than refrigerated vehicles to save money. So the meat has often thawed out several times before reaching customers, he said. The Hunan province haul reportedly included beef, chicken feet and duck necks. Authorities believe meat is smuggled into China via neighboring Hong Kong and Vietnam, from countries such as Brazil and India, to sidestep import restrictions. WASHINGTON (AP) It s now harder to find out where your beef or pork was born, raised and slaughtered.After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animal s country of origin on packages of red meat. It s a major victory for the meat industry, which had fought the law in Congress and the courts since the early 2000s.Lawmakers said they had no choice but to get rid of the labels after the World Trade Organization repeatedly ruled against them. The WTO recently authorized Canada and Mexico, which had challenged the law, to begin more than $1 billion in economic retaliation against the United States. U.S. exporters can now breathe a sigh of relief, said Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. The longtime opponent of the labels helped add the repeal to a massive year-end spending bill. After the law was passed, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the government immediately would stop requiring the labels.Consumer groups say the repeal is a disappointment just as consumers are asking for more information on their food packages. Advocates say the labels help people make more informed buying decisions and encourage purchases of American meat.Before repeal, the labels told shoppers that a particular cut of meat was born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States or born, raised and slaughtered in the United States. Congress first required the labels in 2002 amid fears of mad cow disease from imported cattle. The labels weren t on most packages until 2009, though, due to delays pushed by the meat industry.Repeal became inevitable once the United States lost all its WTO appeals and the retaliation became a possibility. But the consumer groups criticized Congress for repealing the law for ground meat and pork in addition to the fresh cuts of meat that were the subject of WTO concerns.The bill was a holiday gift to the meatpacking industry from Congress, complained the advocacy group Food and Water Watch. Meatpackers who buy Mexican cattle were some of the law s most aggressive opponents.The repeal also was a big defeat for lawmakers from northern border states where U.S. ranchers directly compete with Canadian ranchers. Those lawmakers insisted on including the labeling in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills and this year fought to replace it with a voluntary program once the WTO rulings came down. But after years of success, this time they were not able to find enough support.Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union, which has heavy membership in those states, said the group was furious about the repeal. Packers will be able to once again deliberately deceive consumers, Johnson said.Still, there was some good news for food labeling advocates in the spending bill. Despite an aggressive push by the food industry, lawmakers decided not to add language that would have blocked mandatory labeling of genetically modified ingredients. Also, a provision by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, would require labeling of genetically modified salmon recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration.The issue is expected to come up again in 2016, with Vermont set to require labeling on genetically modified food this summer.The day the spending bill passed, Vilsack said he would try to help Congress come up with a middle ground on labeling of engineered foods in a way that doesn t create significant market disruption, while at the same time recognizing consumers need to know and right to know basic information.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump has given very hard thought into who will be in his Cabinet. He has several names in mind, names that will literally change America and CNN doesn't like this at all. Well, too bad! VIA Conservative 101 According to Politico , some of those names include Gingrich for Secretary of State, Mnuchin, a 17 year veteran of Goldman Sachs for Treasure Secretary and Mayor Giuliani for Attorney General. And of course Sheriff David Clarke as the Homeland Security Secretary. He has been an incredible patriotic American and leader in Blue Lives Matter. CNN was terrified by this. \"I think the one major flag I have is that someone like Sheriff Clarke would be considered as his Homeland Security secretary? Someone who I very much see as if he's not a terrorist inciting terrorism?\" said CNN commentator Angela Rye. \"If people are afraid of Sheriff Clarke, afraid of the policies which he represents, I think that's terrorism,\" she said. This of course, makes no sense. You can't just call people who disagree with you terrorists. Check out the video below and see for yourself.  Now, this makes me wonder\u2026 what gives Angela the right to call an honest person like Sheriff Clarke a terrorist? Is it jealousy?  You can't call someone a terrorist just because you don't agree with them. It's absurd!  What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that Anglea Rye is a disgrace to journalism?  Share us your thoughts in the comments section below.  Thank you for reading.  If you haven't checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so. Leave a comment...","label":1}
{"text":"For like the eleventy-billionth time, Sarah Palin posted a broken link to a Facebook post on Twitter Sunday. Now, at first glance her months of posting dead links and not figuring out how to fix the problem might seem moderately stupid until you see the content of the actual post on the half-term, half-wit former Governor of Alaska s Facebook timeline.Referencing Clinton s recent, mundane campaign stop at a bar, Palin who regularly appears to be heavily intoxicated whenever she has a camera in front of her and was involved in a drunken hillbilly brawl in 2014 quipped, she s gonna drive us all to drink. Thinking she is clever, she then adds that Clinton should have been thinking Sam Adams rather than drinking Sam Adams. Naturally, as Palin brought up drinking, the internet decided it couldn t let this one go:@SarahPalinUSA I see you've already started Clodagh Smith (@Clodagh831) October 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA Any excuse to drink, eh Sarah? #Lush John Yuma (@JohnYuma) October 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA Have you been day drinking again? Mr. Wolfcastle (@tew156) October 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA oh Sarah, remember when you mattered?Me neither. Open another Box O' Wine. jmsullivan (@Jfordhamusn) October 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA have you been sober during your speaking engagements? I always thought you were drunk as a skunk. Jeff Bender (@JeffBikeBender) October 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSAYour kid keeps shacking up with different dudes and Hillary's driving you to drink? Hot Takes (@HotTakes1) October 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA From what I've seen, You've been drinking non stop for YEARS! Steve Derebey (@SDerebey) October 30, 2016Yes, as was heavily pointed out, we have been enjoying Palin s drunken rants for years. Unfortunately for her, she is so irrelevant that mockery is all she has warranted since she helped John McCain lose in 2008.You can enjoy one of her best drunken ravings below:Classic: Visibly Drunk Sarah Palin Fumbles Response to Elizabeth Warren","label":1}
{"text":"Ratings agency Moody's said on Monday it did not believe global property reinsurance prices trends would be materially affected by Hurricane Harvey, though rates in affected regions could rise. Intense competition led to declining property and casualty reinsurance premiums in the second quarter, Moody's said in a report, but it added that \"reinsurers have ample capital to absorb Harvey losses\".","label":0}
{"text":"Mexican and Canadian stocks and currencies fell on Wednesday after reports that the White House was considering withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a long-standing trade deal between both countries and the United states. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P\/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 0.11 percent and Mexico's IPC fell 1.17 percent after earlier touching a record high. The Canadian dollar CAD=D4 weakened 0.29 percent versus the U.S. currency while the Mexican peso MXN= touched its weakest in 6 weeks versus the greenback. The peso was last at 19.2397 per dollar, down 2.07 percent on the day. The iShares MSCI Mexico ETF (EWW.P) fell 2.8 percent to $50.59 and the iShares MSCI Canada ETF (EWW.P) was last down 0.4 percent at $26.66. A senior Trump administration official said and executive order on withdrawing the United States from NAFTA is under consideration. The story was first reported by Politico.","label":0}
{"text":"The Department of Homeland Security plans to enforce President Donald Trump's executive order to dramatically reduce immigration from high threat countries in the Middle East. [\"The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce all of President Trump's Executive Orders in a manner that ensures the safety and security of the American people,\" the agency made in a statement sent to reporters on Sunday. They reminded Americans that only a small percentage of travelers were affected by the new restrictions. The agency noted that although some individuals were held for further screening, some of them were allowed entry into the United States, despite protesters at area airports describing the order as a \"Muslim ban. \" \"These individuals went through enhanced security screenings and are being processed for entry to the United States, consistent with our immigration laws and judicial orders,\" the department said. The agency did not signal that they were prepared to back down from the rigorous enforcement of Trump's executive action. \"The Department of Homeland Security will comply with judicial orders faithfully enforce our immigration laws, and implement President Trump's Executive Orders to ensure that those entering the United States do not pose a threat to our country or the American people,\" the statement concluded.","label":0}
{"text":"WAR is a racket. It always has been.  It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.  A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small \"inside\" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.  \u2013 From Major General Smedley Butler's War is a Rackett  Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich has just penned an extremely powerful warning about the warmongers in Washington D.C. Who funds them, what their motives are, and why it is imperative for the American people to stop them.  The piece was published at The Nation and is titled: Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors .  Read it and share it with everyone you know.  W ashington, DC, may be the only place in the world where people openly flaunt their pseudo-intellectuality by banding together, declaring themselves \"think tanks,\" and raising money from external interests, including foreign governments, to compile reports that advance policies inimical to the real-life concerns of the American people.  As a former member of the House of Representatives, I remember 16 years of congressional hearings where pedigreed experts came to advocate wars in testimony based on circular, rococo thinking devoid of depth, reality, and truth. I remember other hearings where the Pentagon was unable to reconcile over $1 trillion in accounts, lost track of $12 billion in cash sent to Iraq, and rigged a missile-defense test so that an interceptor could easily home in on a target. War is first and foremost a profitable racket.  How else to explain that in the past 15 years this city's so called bipartisan foreign policy elite has promoted wars in Iraq and Libya, and interventions in Syria and Yemen, which have opened Pandora's box to a trusting world, to the tune of trillions of dollars, a windfall for military contractors. DC's think \"tanks\" should rightly be included in the taxonomy of armored war vehicles and not as gathering places for refugees from academia.  According to the front page of this past Friday's Washington Post, the bipartisan foreign-policy elite recommends the next president show less restraint than President Obama. Acting at the urging of \"liberal\" hawks brandishing humanitarian intervention, read war, the Obama administration attacked Libya along with allied powers working through NATO.  Indeed, I warned about this in last week's piece: U.S. Foreign Policy 'Elite' Eagerly Await an Expansion of Overseas Wars Under Hillary Clinton .  The think tankers fell in line with the Iraq invasion. Not being in the tank, I did my own analysis of the call for war in October of 2002, based on readily accessible information, and easily concluded that there was no justification for war. I distributed it widely in Congress and led 125 Democrats in voting against the Iraq war resolution. There was no money to be made from a conclusion that war was uncalled for, so, against millions protesting in the United States and worldwide, our government launched into an abyss, with a lot of armchair generals waving combat pennants. The marching band and chowder society of DC think tanks learned nothing from the Iraq and Libya experience.  The only winners were arms dealers, oil companies, and jihadists. Immediately after the fall of Libya, the black flag of Al Qaeda was raised over a municipal building in Benghazi, Gadhafi's murder was soon to follow, with Secretary Clinton quipping with a laugh, \"We came, we saw, he died.\" President Obama apparently learned from this misadventure, but not the Washington policy establishment, which is spoiling for more war.  The self-identified liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) is now calling for Syria to be bombed, and estimates America's current military adventures will be tidied up by 2025, a tardy twist on \"mission accomplished.\" CAP, according to a report in The Nation, has received funding from war contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who make the bombers that CAP wants to rain hellfire on Syria.  The Brookings Institute has taken tens of millions from foreign governments , notably Qatar, a key player in the military campaign to oust Assad. Retired four-star Marine general John Allen is now a Brookings senior fellow . Charles Lister is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute , which has received funding from Saudi Arabia , the major financial force providing billions in arms to upend Assad and install a Sunni caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria. Foreign-government money is driving our foreign policy.  As the drumbeat for an expanded war gets louder, Allen and Lister jointly signed an op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post, calling for an attack on Syria. The Brookings Institute, in a report to Congress , admitted it received $250,000 from the US Central Command, Centcom, where General Allen shared leadership duties with General David Petraeus. Pentagon money to think tanks that endorse war? This is academic integrity, DC-style.  And why is Central Command, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of transportation, and the US Department of Health and Human Services giving money to Brookings?  Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who famously told Colin Powell , \"What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it,\" predictably says of this current moment , \"We do think there needs to be more American action.\" A former Bush administration top adviser is also calling for the United States to launch a cruise missile attack on Syria.  The American people are fed up with war, but a concerted effort is being made through fearmongering, propaganda, and lies to prepare our country for a dangerous confrontation, with Russia in Syria.  The demonization of Russia is a calculated plan to resurrect a raison d'\u00eatre for stone-cold warriors trying to escape from the dustbin of history by evoking the specter of Russian world domination.  It's infectious. Earlier this year the BBC broadcast a fictional show that contemplated WWIII, beginning with a Russian invasion of Latvia (where 26 percent of the population is ethnic Russian and 34 percent of Latvians speak Russian at home).  The imaginary WWIII scenario conjures Russia's targeting London for a nuclear strike. No wonder that by the summer of 2016 a poll showed two-thirds of UK citizens approved the new British PM's launching a nuclear strike in retaliation. So much for learning the lessons detailed in the Chilcot report.  As this year's presidential election comes to a conclusion, the Washington ideologues are regurgitating the same bipartisan consensus that has kept America at war since 9\/11 and made the world a decidedly more dangerous place.  The DC think tanks provide cover for the political establishment, a political safety net, with a fictive analytical framework providing a moral rationale for intervention, capitol casuistry. I'm fed up with the DC policy elite who cash in on war while presenting themselves as experts, at the cost of other people's lives, our national fortune, and the sacred honor of our country.  Any report advocating war that comes from any alleged think tank ought to be accompanied by a list of the think tank's sponsors and donors and a statement of the lobbying connections of the report's authors.  It is our patriotic duty to expose why the DC foreign-policy establishment and its sponsors have not learned from their failures and instead are repeating them, with the acquiescence of the political class and sleepwalkers with press passes.  It is also time for a new peace movement in America, one that includes progressives and libertarians alike, both in and out of Congress, to organize on campuses, in cities, and towns across America, to serve as an effective counterbalance to the Demuplican war party, its think tanks, and its media cheerleaders. The work begins now, not after the Inauguration. We must not accept war as inevitable, and those leaders who would lead us in that direction, whether in Congress or the White House, must face visible opposition.  Thank you Mr. Kucinich, I couldn't agree more.  For related articles, see:","label":1}
{"text":"Donald J. Trump's stunning election victory on Tuesday night rippled way beyond the nation's boundaries, upending an international order that prevailed for decades and raising profound questions about America's place in the world. For the first time since before World War II, Americans chose a president who promised to reverse the internationalism practiced by predecessors of both parties and to build walls both physical and metaphorical. Mr. Trump's win foreshadowed an America more focused on its own affairs while leaving the world to take care of itself. The outsider revolution that propelled him to power over the Washington establishment of both political parties also reflected a fundamental shift in international politics evidenced already this year by events like Britain's referendum vote to leave the European Union. Mr. Trump's success could fuel the populist, nativist, nationalist, movements already so evident in Europe and spreading to other parts of the world. Global markets fell after Tuesday's election and many around the world scrambled to figure out what it might mean in parochial terms. For Mexico, it seemed to presage a new era of confrontation with its northern neighbor. For Europe and Asia, it could rewrite the rules of modern alliances, trade deals, and foreign aid. For the Middle East, it foreshadowed a possible alignment with Russia and fresh conflict with Iran. \"All bets are off,\" said Agust\u00edn Barrios G\u00f3mez, a former congressman in Mexico and president of the Mexico Image Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting its reputation abroad. Crispin Blunt, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Britain's House of Commons, said, \"We are plunged into uncertainty and the unknown. \" Many linked Mr. Trump's victory to the British vote to exit the European Union and saw a broader unraveling of the modern international system. \"After Brexit and this election, everything is now possible,\" G\u00e9rard Araud, the French ambassador to the United States, wrote on Twitter. \"A world is collapsing before our eyes. \" The election enthralled people around the world on Tuesday night: night owls watching television in a youth hostel in Tel Aviv computer technicians monitoring results on their laptops in Hong Kong and even onetime oil pipeline terrorists in Nigeria's remote Delta creeks, who expressed concern about how Mr. Trump's election would affect their country. It is hardly surprising that much of the world was rooting for Hillary Clinton over Mr. Trump, who characterized his foreign policy as \"America First. \" He promised to build a wall along the Mexican border and temporarily bar Muslim immigrants from entering the United States. He questioned Washington's longstanding commitment to NATO allies, called for cutting foreign aid, praised President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, vowed to rip up international trade deals, assailed China and suggested Asian allies develop nuclear weapons. Polls indicated that Mrs. Clinton was favored in many countries, with the exception of Russia. Last summer, the Pew Research Center found that people in all 15 countries it surveyed trusted Mrs. Clinton to do the right thing in foreign affairs more than Mr. Trump by ratios as high as 10 to one. Mr. Trump's promise to pull back militarily and economically left many overseas contemplating a road ahead without an American ally. \"The question is whether you will continue to be involved in international affairs as a dependable ally to your friends and allies,\" said Kunihiko Miyake, a former Japanese diplomat now teaching at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. \"If you stop doing that, then all the European, Middle Eastern and Asian allies to the United States will reconsider how they secure themselves. \" In Germany, where American troops have been stationed for more than seven decades, the prospect of a pullback seemed bewildering. \"It would be the end of an era,\" Henrik M\u00fcller, a journalism professor at the Technical University of Dortmund, wrote in Der Spiegel. \"The postwar era in which Americans' atomic weapons and its military presence in Europe shielded first the west and later the central European states would be over. Europe would have to take care of its own security. \" Norbert R\u00f6ttgen, chairman of the German parliamentary committee for foreign policy and a member of the ruling party, said Mr. Trump was \"completely inadequate\" to his office. \"That Trump's election could lead to the worst estrangement between America and Europe since the Vietnam War would be the least of the damage,\" he said. Perhaps nowhere was Mr. Trump's win more alarming than in Mexico, which has objected to his promises to build a wall and bill America's southern neighbor for it. \"I see a clear and present danger,\" said Rossana director of the Mexico Media Lab, a think tank, and a founder of the Latin American edition of Foreign Affairs. \"Every moment will be a challenge. Every move or declaration will be something that will not make us comfortable in the neighborhood \u2014 and that is to everyone's detriment. \" With about $531 billion in trade in goods last year, Mexico is America's partner after Canada and China. Supply chains in both countries are interdependent, with American goods and parts shipped to Mexican factories to build products that are shipped back into the United States for sale. Five million American jobs directly depend on trade with Mexico, according to the Mexico Institute. The Mexican peso immediately fell 13 percent after the election, its biggest drop in decades. Mr. Barrios G\u00f3mez, the former congressman, predicted a peso devaluation of 20 percent and a Mexican recession \"as supply chains across the continent become sclerotic and investments dry up. \" The business community, he said, was \"freaking out. \" The economic fallout will probably reverberate farther. Izumi Kobayashi, vice chairwoman of Keizai Doyukai, a Japanese business group, predicted a drop in foreign investment in the United States as executives skeptical of Mr. Trump wait to see what he does. \"He has been focusing on the negative side of the global markets and globalization,\" Ms. Kobayashi said. \"But at the same time it is really difficult to go back to the old business world. So how will he explain to the people that benefit and also the fact that there is no option to go back to the old model of business?\" The uneasiness with Mr. Trump's victory overseas ranged far beyond the country's traditional partners. Abubakar Kari, a professor at the University of Abuja, said most Nigerians believed a Trump administration would not bother with issues outside the United States. \"If Trump wins, God forbid,\" Macharia Gaitho, one of Kenya's most popular columnists, wrote on Tuesday before the votes came in, \"then we will have to reassess our relations with the United States. \" One of the few places where Mr. Trump's victory was greeted enthusiastically was Russia, where television has been feasting on the circuslike elements of the American election. Not since the Cold War has Russia played such a big role in a presidential election, with Mr. Trump praising Mr. Putin and American investigators concluding that Russians had hacked Democratic email messages. \"Trump's presidency will make the U. S. sink into a crisis, including an economic one,\" said Vladimir Frolov, a Russian columnist and international affairs analyst. \"The U. S. will be occupied with its own issues and will not bother Putin with questions. \" \"As a consequence,\" he added, \"Moscow will have a window of opportunity in geopolitical terms. For instance, it can claim control over the former Soviet Union and a part of the Middle East. What is there not to like?\" Others tried to find the upside. Mr. Blunt, the British lawmaker, said he was heartened by Mr. Trump's selection of Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate and thought that Britain might be the exception to the new president's hostility toward trade deals. Israel was another place where Mr. Trump enjoyed some support, mainly because of the perception that he would give the country a freer hand in its handling of the longstanding conflict with the Palestinians. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders and commentators worried about a broader disengagement from a Middle East awash in war, terrorism and upheaval. \"Decisions cannot be postponed,\" said Yohanan Plesner, a former member of the Israeli Parliament now serving as president of the Israel Democracy Institute. \"The situation in Syria is very chaotic. The unrest in the region is continuing. America has to decide whether it wants to play an active role in shaping the developments of the region. \" And even some countries that might expect to see some benefits from an American retreat worried about the implications. Counterintuitive as it might seem, China was concerned about Mr. Trump's promise to pull American troops back from Asia. \"If he indeed withdraws the troops from Japan, the Japanese may develop their own nuclear weapons,\" said Shen Dingli, professor of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai. \"South Korea may also go nuclear if Trump cancels the missile deployment and leaves the country alone facing the North's threats. How is that good for China?\" For American voters, that was not the point. After decades of worrying about what was good for other countries, they decided it was time to worry about what was good for America. And Mr. Trump promised to do just that, even if the rest of the world might not like it.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald J. Trump is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but he is also keenly aware that many in his own party \u2014 and many Americans, frankly \u2014 are scared and anxious about the idea of him in the Oval Office. Even he is not sure how a deeply divided nation would adjust to the first 100 days of a Trump presidency. What he does know, however, is what he wants to do in those early months. In a series of recent interviews, he sketched out plans that include showdowns with business leaders over jobs and key roles for military generals, executives and possibly even family members in advising him about running the country. Shortly after the Nov. 8 election, Trump and his vice president \u2014 most likely a governor or member of Congress \u2014 would begin interviewing candidates for the open Supreme Court seat and quickly settle on a nominee in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. He would start \"building a government based on relationships,\" perhaps inviting the Republican leaders Paul D. Ryan and Mitch McConnell to escape the chilly Washington fall and schmooze at over golf and lobsters. On Inauguration Day, he would go to a \"beautiful\" gala ball or two, but focus mostly on rescinding Obama executive orders on immigration and calling up corporate executives to threaten punitive measures if they shift jobs out of the United States. And by the end of his first 100 days as the nation's 45th leader, the wall with Mexico would be designed, the immigration ban on Muslims would be in place, the audit of the Federal Reserve would be underway and plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act would be in motion. \"I know people aren't sure right now what a President Trump will be like,\" he said. \"But things will be fine. I'm not running for president to make things unstable for the country. \" The New York Times interviewed Mr. Trump three times over the past two months, most recently on Saturday, as well as several campaign advisers and Trump confidants. The possibility of Mr. Trump in the Oval Office \u2014 an outcome that once seemed fanciful \u2014 became less remote on Tuesday night when his main challenger, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, quit the race. On Wednesday, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio said he would withdraw too. Despite his radical vision of how to remake America, and all his outrageous talk on juvenile subjects like his anatomy \u2014 to say nothing of the polls showing him behind Hillary Clinton \u2014 Jan. 20 may find the most underestimated politician in America assuming the presidency. While professing some surprise at his success, Mr. Trump increasingly sounds like a man who thinks he knows where he will be eight months from now, and the unrivaled power he will hold. He talked of turning the Oval Office into a board room, empowering military leaders over foreign affairs specialists in national security debates, and continuing to speak harshly about adversaries. He may post on Twitter less, but everyone will still know what he thinks. \"As president, I'll be working from the first day with my vice president and staff to make clear that America will be changing in major ways for the better,\" Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview on Saturday. \"We can't afford to waste time. I want a vice president who will help me have a major impact quickly on Capitol Hill, and the message will be clear to the nation and to people abroad that the American government will be using its power differently. \" But he also acknowledged that he might face significant and incessant protests \u2014 even thousands of demonstrators massing on the National Mall as he takes the oath of office nearby at the Capitol. Mr. Trump said he would try to unite Republicans and disaffected Democrats and independents over the next six months before the November election, and then work in office to show Americans that his chief interest was fighting for their needs. He argued that the fact that he would not have to rely on wealthy donors to finance his campaign would ultimately prove appealing to many voters as they realize he is not \"bought and paid for. \" \"I know everyone won't like everything I do, but I'm not running to be everyone's favorite president,\" Mr. Trump said. \"Things are seriously wrong in this country. People are hurting, business is hurting. I'm running to move quickly to make big changes. \" Several friends and allies of Mr. Trump said that \"negotiating\" was the word he used the most to encapsulate his first 100 days in office. He wants to put people \u2014 business executives and generals are mentioned most often \u2014 in charge of cabinet agencies and throughout his senior staff, and direct them to negotiate deals and plans with congressional leaders and state officials, as well as insurance companies and others in the private sector. They say he will accomplish the things he has promised or else keep trying, well aware that his supporters will have his head if he does not. \"He's not going to depart from the agenda he's laid out, not a bit,\" said Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and confidant. Mr. Stone declined to describe details of his private conversations with Mr. Trump, except to say: \"Having gone out a thousand times to say 'I'm going to build a wall,' he has to build a wall. He has said he would scrap trade deals his voters will demand he scrap trade deals. He knows that. \" Modern America has never seen anything like a Trump administration. Business leaders and even entertainment figures new to politics have been elected governors, of course, and insurgents like Newt Gingrich rose to power. But this is different. A Manhattan real estate developer and bombastic reality television star, Mr. Trump would be a president like no other. Yet historians suggest the country would adjust: He would quickly find himself consumed with the urgent and normalizing tasks of building a cabinet, assembling senior staff and reassuring Wall Street and the public that he was capable of governing America. \"Trump is predicting he'll be able to do all these things, but his workload will be pretty enormous and his power would be so limited by precedent, by the bureaucracy, by the Constitution,\" said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian. \"Even in trade and immigration, where Trump says he will make revolutionary changes, Congress has a say on those things. A lot of people have a say. The president is not king. \" But Mr. Trump pledged in the interviews to deliver on his campaign promises, even if they prove disruptive or explosive. On his first day in office, he said, he would meet with Homeland Security officials, generals, and others \u2014 he did not mention diplomats \u2014 to take steps to seal the southern border and assign more security agents along it. He would also call the heads of companies like Pfizer, the Carrier Corporation, Ford and Nabisco and warn them that their products face 35 percent tariffs because they are moving jobs out of the country. Democrats and some Republicans have warned that financial markets would react poorly and that Mr. Trump's protectionist stances might plunge the country into recession, but he insisted that trade is \"killing the country\" and \"the markets would be fine. \" \"Bilateral talks with Mexico would start pretty quickly on the wall, and I would have chief executives into the Oval Office soon, too,\" he said. \"The Oval Office would be an amazing place to negotiate. It would command immediate respect from the other side, immediate understanding about the nation's priorities. \" As for which foreign leader he would call first as president, he said \"they would not necessarily be a priority. \" \"We have to take a tougher stand with foreign countries,\" Mr. Trump said. \"We're like the policemen of the world right now. So I wouldn't be calling them up right away and getting more entangled. \" For good or ill, he would command the nation's attention unlike any modern president, and not simply because of his penchant for redecorating in gold and renaming planes and buildings after himself. (For the record, he said he had no ambitious renovation plans.) \"His first 100 days would be riveting,\" said Ari Fleischer, a former press secretary for President George W. Bush. \"The question would be whether he is capable of downshifting from the hot rhetoric of his campaign to the serious business of building a presidency based on sound judgment and necessary coalition building. \" Mr. Fleischer said it was possible that Mr. Trump would make the adjustment, given his frequent comments about negotiating with Democrats and Republicans to reach compromises. \"That side of him intrigues me,\" Mr. Fleischer said. \"He keeps alluding to how well he gets along with people. It's almost like Trump is playing a shrewd game. Tough campaigner today. Great deal maker later. \" He added, \"Of course, if he wins he'll have some level of strength and momentum akin to a mandate. That would help. \" Mr. Trump did seem aware that his early months could be consumed with trying to win confirmation for his cabinet and perhaps a new Supreme Court justice and with making appointments throughout the bureaucracy. He made it clear that he was not interested in delegating these tasks and that he wanted to make sure his appointees shared his governing philosophy. One of his closest advisers, his daughter Ivanka, would probably stay with his company, but he said he would seek counsel from her and her husband, the businessman Jared Kushner, and noted that family members had served in administrations before. Even jobs that might seem incidental in a Trump universe, like a United States ambassador to the United Nations, have apparently crossed his mind. \"I think about a U. N. ambassador, about a secretary of defense and secretary of treasury, but I think more about winning first,\" Mr. Trump said. \"Otherwise I'm wasting time. I want people in those jobs who care about winning. The U. N. isn't doing anything to end the big conflicts in the world, so you need an ambassador who would win by really shaking up the U. N. \"","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum is disbanding because debate over member participation \"has become a distraction\" from its goals of aiding policy discussions, the business advisory group said in a statement on Wednesday. \"As such, the President and we are disbanding the Forum,\" the group said. \"Intolerance, racism and violence have absolutely no place in this country and are an affront to core American values,\" it said, after corporate CEOs quit two Trump business advisory councils in protest at his remarks blaming violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, not only on white nationalists but also on the protesters who opposed them.","label":0}
{"text":"A statement by the leader of Spain s northeastern region of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont due to have been made at 1430 CET (1230 GMT) on Thursday has been canceled, the regional government said.","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says Is McMaster going to reignite tensions with Russia?In the follow video Stuart J. Hooper asks if we should be worried about General McMaster replacing General Flynn as Trump s National Security Advisor.While Flynn understood that Russia has a sphere of influence in the world that the US should be wary of encroaching upon, McMaster is the author of a report entitled The Russia New Generation Warfare Study , which is, is intended to ignite a wholesale rethinking and possibly even a redesign of the Army in the event it has to confront the Russians in Eastern Europe .Watch the report video here: READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"The orange highway sign with black letters holds a familiar warning: \"Lane closed ahead. \" What do you do? If your instinct is to immediately get out of the lane that will be closing, you may think you are being courteous to fellow drivers by reacting early \u2014 but in reality you could be slowing traffic, experts say. It may sound like a breach of etiquette to wait until the last minute to merge, but traffic engineers and transportation departments in several states are promoting that exact move, sometimes with mixed results as they try to overcome drivers' ingrained habits. The maneuver is known as the late merge \u2014 or zipper merge, for the way that cars taking turns getting into a lane resembles the teeth of a zipper coming together. The move, in which drivers in dense, traffic remain in the lane that will be closed and then pull into the other lane at the merge point, helps ease congestion and drivers' frustrations, experts said. As Tom Vanderbilt, the author of \"Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us),\" noted, \"Merging late, that purported symbol of individual greed, actually makes things better for everyone. \" Colorado started to promote the late merge during a highway project more than 10 years ago. Signs were posted, starting two miles from the point of the lane closing. The first signs read, \"Use both lanes during congestion. \" The next signs said, \"Use both lanes to the merge point. \" When the lane was ending, the last signs read: \"Take turns. Merge here. \" The result? A 15 percent increase in the volume of cars moving through the work zone and a 50 percent decrease in the length of the line, K. C. Matthews, a traffic specifications and standards engineer at the Colorado Department of Transportation, said in an interview last week. The approach is effective in traffic and it allows drivers to take advantage of the lane that is about to close. In traffic, there is less need to rely on the late merge, officials said. A work zone engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation, Kristi Ericksen, said in an email that officials would customarily expect in work zones to see \"large differences in the speed of traffic (nearly at a standstill in one lane and highway speeds in the adjacent lane) and road rage (rude gestures, eliminating gaps, lane blocking). \" Since the late merge was introduced, the queues for those two types of lanes are about half the length officials expected, and drivers take turns at the merge point, she said. \"As for traffic flows, the data suggests that while the speeds are lower and the travel time may not be shorter, traffic continues to move and is predictable,\" she wrote. \"In other words, the travel conditions are more reliable, which has its own set of benefits. \" But when people apply their \" sensibilities\" to their driving, the late merge can be harder to manage, Mr. Vanderbilt, the author, said in an interview last week. For instance, a person would be considered rude if he or she walked to the head of a line of customers waiting for a bank teller. A driver in a free lane who zipped to the merge point and then tried to cut in could be judged similarly. Some drivers then take it upon themselves to become traffic monitors, enforcing societal norms and straddling the lanes to block those who might try to get ahead, he said. \"In a car moving at a certain speed, when the moment comes to make a quick decision, we may become more interested in getting into a battle for progress,\" he said. When the Minnesota Department of Transportation tried to promote the zipper merge, officials found that some drivers in the lane that was going to end kept pace with the car next to them \"whether acting out of perceived courtesy or a sense of vigilante justice,\" Mr. Vanderbilt wrote in his book. The result was confusion and congestion. Quoting the puzzled Minnesota transportation officials, Mr. Vanderbilt wrote, \"For some unknown reason, a small number of drivers were unwilling to change their old driving behaviors. \" Officials report mostly positive feedback from drivers about the late merge, though some occasionally take a dim view of it. Mr. Matthews recalled a Federal Highway Administration official who was in her own vehicle and driving through a construction zone in Colorado. She was excited to see a zipper merge in action and zoomed to the merge point in the lane that was to end. Another driver, who was apparently not as impressed as she was, threw a burrito at her car, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate took a procedural vote on Monday to clear the way for confirming Jay Clayton as the next head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a 60-36 vote, the Republican-led Senate voted to end debate on Clayton, with some Democrats joining Republicans in support. A final confirmation vote is expected later this week, and the Senate may take up to 30 hours to debate his confirmation prior to the vote.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald J. Trump thanked supporters at a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, and announced that he intends to nominate James N. Mattis as defense secretary. Watch the video below. After claiming credit for saving jobs in Indiana, Mr. Trump held a rally in Cincinnati to say thank you to Ohio, which he carried and where no recount is being demanded. Mr. Trump exulted in rallies during the campaign and seems to be itching to return to the adulation of the crowds. Other states are expected to be added to the tour in the days and weeks ahead. Mr. Trump revealed at the rally that he had chosen James N. Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who led a division to Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to serve as his secretary of defense. Read more. The decision by Gov. Jerry Brown of California to name Representative Xavier Becerra to be the state's attorney general has set off another round of among Democrats \u2014 and opened a crucial post in the Trump era. Mr. Becerra, like Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland before him and former Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois (now the mayor of Chicago) before them, had risen as far as he could in the House leadership. Mr. Becerra faced a blockade of older members of Congress, like Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Steny H. Hoyer, and James E. Clyburn, in the top ranks. Unlike Mr. Van Hollen, who was elected to the Senate last month, Mr. Becerra opted against running for his state's open Senate seat, but he has found his own way to statewide office. Mr. Becerra was in line for a huge consolation prize in the House, however. The veteran Representative Sander M. Levin of Michigan had just stepped aside as the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee \u2014 and he recommended the telegenic Californian for the post. That would have put Mr. Becerra on the front lines as Mr. Trump tries to repeal the Affordable Care Act, cut taxes, overhaul the tax code and possibly convert Medicare into a system that offers fixed sums to seniors to buy private health plans. Instead, it looks as if that role will go to Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, who may be less camera ready but is actually better versed on the intricacies of tax policy. So far Representative Keith Ellison's drive to be the next Democratic National Committee chairman has gone swimmingly, with no strong competition in sight. But CNN went where other outlets have feared to tread, printing old writings of Mr. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, in defense of the Nation of Islam and other contentious black activists. As a law student at the University of Minnesota, Mr. Ellison, writing under the name Keith E. Hakim in the student newspaper, said: \"Whether one supports or opposes the establishment of Israel in Palestine and Israel's present policies, Zionism, the ideological undergirding of Israel, is a debatable political philosophy. Anyone, including black people, has the right to hear and voice alternative views on the subject \u2014 notwithstanding our nominal citizenship. \" He continued: Mr. Ellison long ago renounced his associations with the Nation of Islam, and has had Jewish groups defend him. But the report could prove troublesome, to say the least. The League, which has been mildly supportive, reacted strongly. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, is paying a visit to Trump Tower on Friday, and Senator Chuck E. Schumer of New York, the incoming minority leader, is having heart palpitations. To Democrats, that last line can mean two things, neither of them good. If she is in line for an administration job, her Senate seat would turn Republican. If not, she seems to be indicating she is a possible vote for the Trump agenda. And no matter what, her seat is up in 2018 \u2014 in a state that went to Mr. Trump with 62 percent of the vote. The great chronicler of this year's presidential vote, Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, declared it official on Thursday: Jill Stein is the Ralph Nader of 2016. Her vote tallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania now exceed Mr. Trump's margins in the three Rust Belt states that gave him the presidency. Another point: In the end, the difference between a Trump presidency and another Clinton administration came down to 79, 646 votes \u2014 fewer than a sellout for a Wisconsin Badgers football game. For the record, Mrs. Clinton's overall lead in the popular vote stands at 2, 544, 817. Trump took phone calls Wednesday from Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan. The results were instructive. According to Kazakhstan, Mr. Trump said \"that under the leadership of Nursultan Nazarbayev our country over the years of Independence had achieved fantastic success that can be called a 'miracle'. \" Through some rather circuitous paths, Mr. Trump's real estate empire has been tied to Kazakhstan in ways a Financial Times investigation labeled \"dirty. \" Mr. Nazarbayev has run Kazakhstan since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Last year, he won a fifth consecutive term with 97. 7 percent of the vote. The Pakistani government released its own account of the telephone conversation between and Mr. Trump and Mr. Sharif that sounded, well, Trumpian. While not exactly confirming the content, the Trump transition team did acknowledge both calls. The White House has been trying its best not to criticize Mr. Trump, but after those two phone calls, a top administration official suggested that Mr. Trump get some expert help. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, noted that the relationship between Pakistan and the United States was \"quite complicated\" and got more so after the American raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. And then Mr. Earnest mentioned where Mr. Trump could get some assistance. \"I'm just making the observation that there are dedicated experts, public servants at the State Department that have years of experience that they have amassed that they're prepared to use to advise the incoming president,\" Mr. Earnest said. Ten Democratic senators have sent a strongly worded letter to Mr. Trump criticizing the number of \"lobbyists and others with extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry\" in his transition team and among potential nominees for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior. Citing advisers like Myron Ebell of the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute and the former fossil fuel lobbyist Thomas Pyle, the senators argued that \"you have raised serious questions about your desire to 'drain the swamp' with respect to energy and environmental issues. \" The letter, signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon and others, quoted a 2009 advertisement signed by Mr. Trump calling climate change \"scientifically irrefutable,\" with \"catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet. \" Chalk up another tradition broken in the Trump era: the practice of cabinet picks going mum once they are named, shunning the news media until confirmed by the Senate. Steven Mnuchin, the newly named choice for Treasury secretary, made that break most evident on Wednesday, appearing on CNBC and before reporters at Trump Tower, musing at length on tax policy. Others including Wilbur L. Ross, tapped for commerce secretary, have been similarly voluble. This has surprised people in both parties familiar with the tortuous Senate confirmation process \u2014 and with what they see as the good reasons to stay silent. Talking to the press is \"an opportunity to fail \u2014 it can only kind of cause you more headaches and questions,\" said Dean Zerbe, a former adviser to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, on the Senate Finance Committee. Mr. Mnuchin, for example, said the Trump tax plan would give a big tax cut to the middle class but not to the wealthy, though a range of nonpartisan analyses have concluded the opposite. \"As soon as I saw that,\" Mr. Zerbe said, \"my immediate thought was, 'O. K. you've just now given about a dozen questions to senators to ask about. '\" Not that the 1, 000 workers whose jobs were saved will care, but the deal to keep that Carrier plant in the United States, which included a multiyear, $7 million incentive package from Indiana, is starting to take flack from the right and the left. To conservatives, government intervention at such a microlevel is just bad economics. The Representative Justin Amash, Republican of Michigan, weighed in early: Now it's coming from more intellectual circles. \"This is all terrible for a nation's economic vitality if businesses make decisions to please politicians rather than customers and shareholders. Yet America's private sector has just been sent a strong signal that playing ball with Trump might be part of what it now means to run an American company,\" wrote James Pethokoukis, the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Liberals have latched onto the tax breaks and incentives offered to Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, by Gov. Pence of Indiana just before he leaves for Washington. Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, put it this way in The Washington Post: If companies can extract tax concessions by threatening to move to Mexico, they may have found a partner willing to play ball with the new president, the critics say. Economists call that \"moral hazard. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Chinese distributors of overseas publications must verify that the content is legal in China, Beijing said late on Sunday, after a major western publisher blocked access to some content in the country citing local regulations. Springer Nature, which publishes science magazines Nature and Scientific American, said last week that it had pulled access to less than 1 percent of its articles in China, which it said was regrettable but necessary to avoid all content being blocked. All publications imported into the Chinese market must accord with Chinese laws and regulations. The publications import management company is responsible for carrying out content checks on publications, the State Council Information Office, the Chinese government s information and propaganda arm, said in a faxed response to a request for comment sent by Reuters last Wednesday. The Chinese government made a similar statement after Britain s Cambridge University Press (CUP) in August removed and then reposted about 300 papers and book reviews published by the China Quarterly journal from its Chinese website. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has heightened censorship, tightened controls on the internet, and strengthened Communist Party authority over academia and other institutions. CUP s decision was originally taken at the request of the Chinese government, the publisher said at the time. CUP later reversed its decision after an outcry from academics who said the decision impinged upon academic freedom. Springer Nature in a statement last week denied that its decision to limit some content was a form of editorial censorship, saying that the move was local to China and was taken to comply with specific regulations as enforced by distributors. The publisher said that not complying would mean it ran the risk of being banned from distributing all content in China, which it said was not in the interests of its authors and customers or the wider scientific or academic communities. At least 1,000 Springer Nature articles had been blocked in China, containing sensitive key words like Taiwan, Tibet and Cultural Revolution, the Financial Times reported. One of Springer Nature s China distributors, the state-run China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Corp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by Reuters on Monday. It was unclear if the decision by Springer Nature to block content followed a request by just one of its China distributors or a number of different distributors. It was also unclear whether the distributor request was made at the behest of the Chinese government.","label":0}
{"text":"Joe Corr\u00e9, the son of Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols manager who defined the band's direction in its brief heyday in the late 1970s, set fire to what he claimed was \u00a35 million (about $6. 25 million) worth of punk memorabilia aboard a boat on the Thames River here on Saturday. \"Punk has become another marketing tool to sell you something you don't need,\" Mr. Corr\u00e9 said to a crowd of dozens gathered on the shore in London's Chelsea district, as flames licked at a trunk of punk paraphernalia and fireworks shot from the boat into the late afternoon sky. \"If you want to understand the potent values of punk, confront taboos. Do not tolerate hypocrisy. Investigate the truth for yourself. \" Mr. Corr\u00e9, a household name in Britain, is known as the son of McLaren and the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and as a founder of the racy lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. He announced this spring that he would burn his personal punk collection to protest Punk London, a celebration of the genre, timed to the 40th anniversary of a 1976 Ramones concert in the city that is said to mark punk's arrival in Britain. Saturday's bonfire coincided with the anniversary of the release of the Sex Pistols' single \"Anarchy in the U. K.,\" which put England's seminal punk band on the map. The items set on fire included a pair of bondage trousers that had been for Mr. Corr\u00e9 as a child rare posters live punk recordings and pants that had belonged to John Lydon, a. k. a. Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of the Sex Pistols, according to a news release sent by a publicist for Mr. Corr\u00e9. Punk London, which includes exhibitions at venues like the British Library, has drawn protests from fans, who lament the movement's by mainstream culture. Mr. Corr\u00e9 has called the series a betrayal of punk's countercultural values and has claimed that Queen Elizabeth II endorses it. (The queen has issued no public statements on Punk London, and a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace reached by phone said the palace had no comment on the events.) As the blaze died down on Saturday, Ms. Westwood, a addition to the proceedings, poked her head out from a green bus carrying some members of Mr. Corr\u00e9's crew. \"By the end of this century, by 2100, there'll only be one billion people left,\" Ms. Westwood said to the crowd in a speech that argued that a of bankers and politicians was driving climate change. \"We'll all be migrants, all trying to get to the green part. \" As a wailing fire truck arrived, Ms. Westwood urged the crowd to support green energy. \"It's the most important thing you could do in your life,\" she said. \"Let's all have a laugh and stay alive. Bye,\" she added, before disappearing into the bus. Saturday's bonfire was heavily publicized by Mr. Corr\u00e9, who earlier in the week in front of Buckingham Palace burned a featuring an image of the queen. On Thursday, he held a news conference about the bonfire, and announced that his mother would attend. (He also noted there that 80 percent of the proceeds from a planned documentary about the event would go to charity.) A crowd of journalists, punks and watched as the fire grew on Saturday, whooping when the first fireworks went off. In addition to the trunk of punk memorabilia, Mr. Corr\u00e9 incinerated several human effigies modeled on conservative politicians, like Boris Johnson, London's former mayor and an advocate for Britain's exit from the European Union, and the prime minister, Theresa May. A band on board the ship played music as the bonfire burned. A few leather jackets and heads bobbed about in the crowd gathered on the street, as did some more stereotypical Chelsea denizens: Early in the proceedings, a woman in a chic coat, sun hat and heavy red lipstick emerged from a Bentley to watch the fire. After the bonfire, Mr. Corr\u00e9 returned to shore to speak with journalists. When one reporter noted that the entire event could be a hoax, as the press was not able to verify the value of the materials on board, Mr. Corr\u00e9 dismissed the comment with an expletive and said: \"You've seen it, you've seen it. What are you talking about, a hoax?\" An hour after the event began, the green bus pulled away, carrying Mr. Corr\u00e9, Ms. Westwood and their coterie. Some photographers and visitors lingered. Bajowoo Park, 32, a South Korean designer who lives in Tokyo, stood looking out at the boat. He had heavy, ghoulish mascara around his eyes and wore a surgical mask with a hole ripped through the mouth. Mr. Park had flown to London just for the event, he said. He had learned about it on the internet and explained he was disappointed that the crowd was so small. He noted that he had expected deeper interest from a country considered one of punk's homelands. \"Not many people,\" Mr. Park said. The \"world is very big,\" he added. \"And punk started here. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The differences between President Barack Obama and Donald Trump couldn t be greater and more obvious and that s why Americans all over the country are mourning the end of Obama s second term, knowing full well that Trump and the GOP are going to destroy his legacy.Earlier today, Jay Carney a former White House press secretary for Obama went on CNN s New Day and highlighted a massive difference between Obama and Trump, and it s one that will make Trump seriously pissed off. Host Alisyn Camerota brought up the fact that Obama s personal life has been scandal-free (unlike Trump s) and asked: Beyond having a scandal-free presidency in terms of personal-life scandals, what do you think President Obama s legacy is? Carney gave an answer that will have Republicans attacking Obama even more. Having worked with Obama personally, Carney said: I think that it was scandal-free beyond his personal life. The man s integrity, his decency and optimism about America that he embodied and pursued will be his legacy. Referring to the Obama administration as patriotic and pure, Carney said: It was an honest and sincere effort driven towards the idea of making America better and improving the lives of everyday Americans. Many of us would agree. You can watch Carney deliver every Republican s worst nightmare below:Obama demonstrated and lived America s values every day of his life, and every day of his presidency. Trump, on the other hand, has had several sexual assault cases filed against him, hasn t paid his taxes in well over a decade, is involved in several lawsuits over his scammy, fraudulent business dealings, and has more conflicts of interest incidents happening in his administration than is even Constitutional. Trump is shaping up to be America s most corrupt president, and even his supporters are losing faith in his campaign promises.","label":1}
{"text":"Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to frontline Italian politics at the weekend, staking his claim to lead a resurgent center-right into national elections that are expected early next year. At exactly the same moment, Berlusconi s outspoken ally, Matteo Salvini, was addressing his Northern League party and laying down his own marker to become the next prime minister. Salvini Premier read a sign stuck to the lectern. In reality, neither man looks likely to head the next government if they pull off an election victory, and possible alternative candidates are already emerging. There is an apparent power struggle going on between Berlusconi and Salvini, but it will not get out of hand. They know a violent clash would be suicidal with voters, said Piero Ignazi, politics professor at Bologna University. The truth is both men will remain head of their respective parties, but they won t be the next prime minister, he said. This would open the way for a consensus candidate who would have to bridge the huge divergences between the three main rightist parties from the fierce anti-EU agenda put forward by both the Northern League and Brothers of Italy to the pro-European vision embraced by Berlusconi on Sunday. Latest opinion polls show this trio of long-standing allies are pulling ahead in the polls and predicted to win a combined 35 percent of the vote, with the anti-migrant Northern League just ahead of Berlusconi Forza Italia on some 15 percent. By contrast, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD) are seen on around 28 percent apiece. The 5-Star has ruled out any coalition alliances and the center-left pool of votes is shrinking as various leftist parties engage in ferocious infighting. Under the current electoral system no party or bloc looks like winning enough seats to govern alone. However, political analysts say the wind is filling the center-right s sails after years of adverse conditions, giving it pre-election momentum. Berlusconi ignominiously resigned from power in 2011 during a sovereign debt crisis. Mired in sex scandals and legal woes, he was subsequently expelled from the Senate and banned from running for office due to a 2013 tax fraud conviction. Open heart surgery last year left most analysts writing his political obituary. But not for the first time, the media tycoon, now 81, bounced back and has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the ban on seeking election. A hearing is scheduled for November, but a verdict is unlikely to come for several months, meaning he almost certainly will not be able to stand in the next national ballot, which is due by May 2018 and widely expected to be held in March. Despite his age, Berlusconi would love to be prime minister again. It would be his last hurrah. But realistically speaking, it is not about to happen, said a Forza Italia official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Significantly, Berlusconi made his political comeback speech at an event organized by Forza Italia stalwart Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament. Party sources said Tajani was in pole position to be Berlusconi s surrogate. While Berlusconi s name abroad evokes memories of bunga bunga sex parties and wisecracks, Tajani is a much less colorful character, whose pro-European instincts would make him a reassuring figure for international markets. Those very same instincts would pose a problem for Berlusconi s hardline allies, who have regularly denounced the European Union and have called for Italy to quit the euro. The leader of the center-right needs to be chosen through a clear process, perhaps a primary, Giorgia Meloni, the head of Brothers of Italy, told Sky Italia television on Sunday. I imagine that whatever grassroots method you decide, Tajani will not win out, she said. Brothers of Italy is a small, nationalist party, which is anti-migrant and anti-euro. It tries to differentiate itself from the League by saying it focuses on the whole country, not just the wealthy north. Buoyed by the League s strong poll numbers, Salvini says the leader of the party which wins the most votes next year should automatically be the prime ministerial candidate. But Berlusconi, a four-times premier, has ruled out handing over the baton of power to Salvini, who has embraced Europe s far-right and endorsed France s National Front. We created the center-right in Italy and we have always been its leader, laying out and fulfilling its program, Berlusconi said on Sunday. The two men have not spoken for months, saying they are in no hurry to discuss strategy. Political analysts have speculated that the pro-business Forza Italia might find it easier to create a government of national unity with former prime minister Matteo Renzi s PD party rather than the populist Northern League. Forza Italia loyalists reject this notion. We ruled with the Northern League for years in national government and we are ruling with them now in the regions and it is going well, said Forza Italia lawmaker Deborah Bergamini. One such regional coalition is in Liguria, headed by Forza Italia s Giovanni Toti. He attended both the Forza Italia and Northern League rallies at the weekend and is due to take part in a Brothers of Italy meeting this weekend. Toti has been carefully building bridges between the three parties and would be a natural choice to head any national coalition, Bologna University s Ignazi said.","label":0}
{"text":"Politicians have been known to do a lot of things to get elected. They usually cater and pander to a group of people who they think will have the best chance at casting a vote in their favor. In the case of Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz, those he s decided to cater to are the residents of Idiot America.Cruz has decided to go all in trying to get the ultra-religious, absent from reality, guns and God group of folks who love to hunt, hate gay people and live far away from populated areas. People otherwise known as extreme, right-wing Republicans.Perfectly pandering to this demographic, Cruz paired himself up with Duck Dynasty and their bigot-in-chief Phil Robertson. Robertson is about as anti-gay and bigoted as one could ever hope to be, so of course he s now endorsed one of the leading bigot candidates running for president Ted Cruz.In a new campaign commercial for Cruz, Robertson, with his face painting black camo for hunting, tells everyone the qualifications he wants to see in a president: Is he or she godly? Does he or she love us? Can he or she do the job? And finally, would they kill a duck and put em in a pot and make up a good duck gumbo? I ve looked at the candidates. Ted Cruz is my man. (Let s just pause for a second and acknowledge that Robertson said he or she. Got to at least give credit where credit is due)Now, as far as Cruz being the man for the job of President of the United States? Yeah, not so much. He s a smarmy man who will say or do anything to get his way. This includes, but is not limited to, likely not even being as religious as he says he is, or as constitutional as he claims to be.Cruz tends to do things for show, and no greater example of this can be seen than in this very commercial where he puts on blackface, pardon me, hunting camo paint that looks remarkably like blackface and someone should have told him that, and sits down to hold his gun and hunt with Robertson.Cruz is all like, Look at me! I m just like you! I like to hunt and play make-believe Rambo, too! Ignore the fact that I m insanely wealthy and married to Goldman Sachs! Vote for me! He knows exactly what he is doing. He s a smart guy, gotta give him that much, which also makes him irrefutably dangerous. He knows how to play the game, get what he wants, and he doesn t seem to care who might get hurt along the way.However, this ad right here, as funny as it may be, because it s pretty goddamn funny, also show to the depths he ll go to cater to a specific voter population. In this case, idiot America. Video\/Featured image: YouTube","label":1}
{"text":"When Indira Islas was in third grade at Centennial Arts Academy, a public elementary school in Gainesville, Ga. she decided it was time to get serious. It was 2006, and she was in the lowest reading group in her class. She had been in that group since arriving two years earlier, speaking no English, in Gainesville, a city of 38, 000 just northeast of Atlanta's booming outer suburbs. But being at the bottom went against everything she believed about herself. \"I wanted to be with the smart kids,\" she recalls. Starting the year before, in second grade, she read every volume of the \"Magic Tree House\" books in her library, a series about two ordinary siblings who climb into their backyard treehouse and to Pompeii, the Wild West, the ice age, feudal Japan and beyond. \"I absolutely loved them,\" she says. \"It was like going on adventures all over the world. \" It was also the opposite of her own life. Indira left Mexico for the United States at age 6 with her parents and two younger sisters. Her mother cleaned houses when she wasn't caring for the children \u2014 there would eventually be seven of them \u2014 and her father worked in construction, and there was no money for lessons or soccer clubs, let alone traveling. \"I'd hear about trips and experiences of my white friends, and I remember thinking: I'll never go to the beach or Disney World for spring break,\" Indira says. Her parents told her that education was all that mattered, and she had to spend all her free time inside, reading and writing. \"I tell my children this country is a blessing to all the people living here,\" her mother told me. \"If you have the opportunity to be good, it's very important to take it. \" Indira took this advice to heart. By the time she was in fifth grade, her reading skills had improved so much that she tested into the top reading group. By middle school, she consistently got A's, which qualified her for a celebratory school trip every time report cards came out. \"They rewarded us by taking us skating or bowling,\" she says. \"I felt like I was so smart, just getting the chance to go out for the whole school day with friends. That's when I said: 'I can make it. ''u2009\" Indira began to throw herself into everything. At recess, she played soccer and basketball, competing so fiercely that everyone took notice. Boys usually picked other boys for their teams, and white kids tended to favor other white kids. But everyone started picking Indira. In middle school, she was on the track team, running races. Her coach was stunned by her determination. In meets, even when she won her event, she scolded herself unless she broke her previous record. After practices ended, she would keep running. \"I wanted to think,\" she says. \"I'd stay after practice and run and run and run. \" Indira remembers understanding vaguely that it wasn't just poverty that set her and her family apart. Her parents had been doctors in Mexico. She admired pictures in their dresser drawer of the two of them in their 20s standing together, tall and proud in their white coats \u2014 before they all fled the violence of drug gangs who were then taking over their home state, Guerrero. When she asked her parents why they were no longer doctors, they explained it was because they were not American citizens. It didn't make sense to Indira. Why would her father have shed that beautiful crisp white coat for the fraying pants and shirts he now wore? Soon after Indira turned 13, in 2011, she was riding home from track practice with her mother when another car sideswiped the family's Ford Expedition. The other driver, who was at fault, insisted on calling the police, according to Indira and a lawyer who assisted the family. Indira pleaded not to involve the police, explaining that her mother did not have a driver's license because she was not an American citizen. (In Georgia and most other states, undocumented immigrants cannot obtain driver's licenses.) But the driver said she needed a police report to get insurance to cover the damage to her car. A police officer arrived and asked for Indira's mother's license. When she said she did not have one \u2014 a state crime \u2014 she was told to get out of the car. Indira got out, too. She remembers two of her younger siblings sleeping in the back, one in a booster seat, one in a car seat. Two elders from the church they attended arrived to ask for mercy. She has seven children, they told the officer. He responded that he was simply enforcing the law. Indira's mother turned to her and began to cry. \"Indira, I don't know what is going to happen,\" she said. \"They're going to take me. \" Indira remembers remaining strangely calm. \"When she was being handcuffed, I said: 'Mom, everything is going to be O. K.''u2009\" Indira's mother was held in Gainesville's Hall County jail for three days, but that wasn't the most frightening part for the family. Hall is one of four counties in Georgia that have a formal agreement to report arrests of undocumented immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security, which means that infractions as minor as a bulb above a license plate can spiral into deportation proceedings. Indira's mother says that her charge of driving without a license ultimately led to a referral to immigration court and a deportation order instructing her to leave the country within 30 days. She stayed, slipping into the shadows. Every day since, Indira says, she and her siblings have feared that their mother would be deported. It would take only one more traffic stop. \"That woke me up,\" Indira says. \"Until then, I thought the world was happy. \" In fact, she now realized, it was only American citizens who seemed truly happy. \"It must feel pretty good, I guess, to not have to worry about whether your family could be taken away any day. \" Indira has wanted to be a doctor for almost as long as she can remember. When she was 10, her family was shopping for groceries at Sam's Club, and she spotted a large book about human anatomy. She became so excited about it that her parents bought it for her birthday, even though it was well above her reading level \u2014 and their price range. She began working her way through it, mesmerized, and when she got stuck, her mother would explain whatever had stumped her. She was determined to go to college and medical school and fulfill her parents' interrupted dream. In her junior year, Indira began researching college options. She would be a strong applicant. She was consistently at or near the top of her class she was on the track and soccer teams she volunteered over 1, 000 hours a year at the local hospital, a record in the history of the program and she led her school's chapter of the Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HOPE) which encouraged Latino students \u2014 who made up just over half the district's population \u2014 to stay in school and graduate. She was distressed to discover that Georgia barred undocumented immigrants from attending its top public universities and charged them tuition at all others \u2014 triple the rate for citizen residents. She then turned to researching financial aid and learned that Congress barred her from accessing federal Pell grants, loans, scholarships and jobs \u2014 the most common forms of assistance for students. At first, she greeted this as just another set of obstacles to surmount, but as time went on, she began to despair. She would retreat to the classroom of her science teacher, Teresa Leach, who had become her mentor, in need of encouragement. \"There were a couple of times when I just cried to her because I was tired,\" she said. \"I questioned myself if it was all worth the effort. \" All the while, Indira told me, she held onto her religious conviction that God had a plan, and that she must respect it. At a college fair attended by representatives of numerous Georgia colleges, she asked admissions officers what kind of help was available for undocumented students. No one had any to offer her. She switched her focus to private colleges and was admitted to Atlanta's Agnes Scott, which she says awarded her $20, 000 annually in financial aid, less than half of what she needed. She researched private scholarships and found two for undocumented students, but she was selected for neither. She was awarded seven small scholarships, which totaled $10, 000, enough to go to a nearby public commuter college for only one semester at the tuition rate. Last May, Indira attended her graduation ceremony at Gainesville High School, but she had nowhere to go next. In every picture from that day, she wears a wide smile, but she was in pain inside, particularly when she caught a glimpse of her mother in the crowd, looking distraught. Unable to bring herself to celebrate with friends, she went home to be with her family. Days later, a friend told her about a philanthropic organization called TheDream. US, which was offering undocumented students full scholarships to Delaware State University or Eastern Connecticut State University. The application was demanding, and only 76 students would be chosen. She poured herself into the essays, spending hours composing them alongside an English teacher, Cindy Lloyd. She applied to Delaware State, a historically black college in Dover, five hours closer to home than Eastern Connecticut. In late June, she received an email from TheDream. US. \"I saw 'Congratulations,''u2009\" she remembers, \"and I read no more. \" In late August, Indira made the drive with her parents from Gainesville to Delaware State in unusual silence. She was thinking hard about each of her six younger siblings, wondering how they would fare without her. Over breakfast at a Cracker Barrel in South Carolina, when her mother pressed her about how she was feeling, she talked only of her concerns about not being at home to help everyone. When she arrived on campus \u2014 a flat expanse of grassy courtyards and buildings amid strip malls, auto dealers and chain restaurants just beyond Dover's historic capital area \u2014 she found 33 other \"opportunity scholars,\" just as worried and hopeful as she was. All of them were assigned to a dorm about a quarter of a mile from the D. S. U. campus, a former Sheraton hotel acquired a few years earlier by the university as part of an expansion. They bonded instantly, traveling as a posse from classes to the library to the cafeteria, often ending up together late at night in the dorm lobby or in a lounge that had been a large hotel suite on the second floor. In their first month on campus, the opportunity scholars were invited to a welcoming ceremony in the school's Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center with Gov. Jack Markell the Democratic senator Tom Carper Donald Graham, a founder of TheDream. US and D. S. U. 's president, Harry Williams. \"This is not just an opportunity for you it is an opportunity for the state of Delaware,\" Markell told them. \"It is sad to see your own home state reject such talent and potential. \" He pronounced himself \"thrilled that you're here. \" It was the first time many of the students could recall being welcomed anywhere. \"We felt rejection our whole lives from our own states,\" Indira said. \"We were here only three weeks, and we already met the governor and the senator. It felt like saying 'Haha!' to Georgia. \" Of the 34 opportunity scholars enrolled at D. S. U. 28 are from Mexico and one each is from Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, Gabon, Gambia and Trinidad and Tobago. Their families are a composite portrait of the economic forces that have drawn undocumented immigrants to the nation's small towns and metropolitan heartland. Their parents work in poultry plants, on factory lines, in warehouses, on construction sites, in restaurants they clean and paint houses and schools, tend gardens. \"They make everything look perfect for the tourists,\" Yulma Lopez, who left Mexico at age 3, said of her parents' work for a landscaping company in Charleston, S. C. Almost all their parents work illegally, but many pay income taxes, having obtained federal numbers. And some, including Indira's father, have secured temporary federal permission to work and drive lawfully. While most of the students are 18 or 19, typical for college freshmen, some have worked for years in hopes of one day saving enough for college. Olivia Bekale, who is 27 and grew up in Baton Rouge, arrived in Louisiana from Gabon as a child. She graduated from high school in 2008 with a 3. 9 G. P. A. from the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, a prestigious boarding school for top achievers. Unable to afford college, she cycled from one position to the next \u2014 server at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant retail sales consultant for Sprint agent for Marriott pharmacy tech for Walgreens. Olivia, who had wanted to be a doctor since an aunt died of AIDS when she was 5, had been out of high school for eight years when she learned of the opportunity scholarship she applied immediately. All but one of the students were enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. Created in 2012 by an executive action, DACA allowed teenagers and young adults who came to the United States illegally as children with their parents to register with the government and in turn receive a renewable protection against deportation, along with work permits and Social Security numbers. Most of the students, like Indira, signed up at age 15, as soon as they were eligible. With DACA, Indira, who is now 18, was able to get a driver's license and a job at a Publix supermarket when she was in high school, working 20 hours a week as a cashier and bagger. Being able to work and drive legally, free of the fears her mother faced, and fitting in with her classmates, Indira says, was \"living the American dream. \" With her income from Publix, she even was able to get braces for her teeth. The starting point for all of their dreams was education, and the quest for it has been central to the experience of undocumented young people since long before Indira and her classmates were born. In the late 1970s, when undocumented immigrants had yet to move in large numbers beyond border states, Texas passed a law authorizing local school districts to ban them from public schools or charge them tuition. In a landmark decision in Plyler v. Doe in 1982, a narrowly divided Supreme Court struck down the law, finding that undocumented children had a constitutional right to free public education. The opinion blamed a dysfunctional immigration system for creating the crisis by failing to keep out undocumented immigrants or provide them a path to citizenship. \"Already disadvantaged as a result of poverty, lack of ability and undeniable racial prejudices, these children, without an education, will become permanently locked into the lowest socioeconomic class,\" Justice William Brennan wrote for the majority, quoting the opinion. The case also introduced the argument that undocumented children were legally blameless, unlike their parents: \"The classification at issue deprives a group of children of the opportunity for education afforded all other children simply because they have been assigned a legal status due to a violation of law by their parents,\" Justice Lewis Powell wrote in a concurring opinion. Undocumented children poured into the nation's schools over the next generation, and as they reached college age, they coalesced into a movement, advocating access to higher education as well as full citizenship. In 2001, they began calling themselves Dreamers, now an estimated 2. 1 million young immigrants who have grown up as Americans in almost every way except for their passports. The name came from the Dream Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) introduced in Congress in 2001 by Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, and for which activists fought for over a decade. The measure, which would have put undocumented children on a path to citizenship, never passed, but the vast network of Dreamers became a compelling political force. In 2001, hundreds of them turned out to testify in Texas in favor of legislation to allow undocumented residents to pay college tuition if they graduated from Texas high schools and lived in the state for three years. \"Something magical happened when those kids told their stories,\" says the former Texas state representative Rick Noriega, a Democrat who sponsored the bill. \"It was a humanizing of a very real issue dealing with children's dreams and hopes. Every heart on that committee was touched, Republicans and Democrats. \" The legislation passed both houses almost unanimously and was signed by Rick Perry, then governor of Texas and now President Donald Trump's pick for energy secretary. Texas became the first state, followed quickly by California, to allow Dreamers to pay tuition. Today, 21 states charge Dreamers the same tuition as legal residents, including six carried by Trump \u2014 Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas. In many of those states, however, the issue has turned politically treacherous. In Texas, efforts to repeal the tuition law come closer to passing every year, and Noriega says there is no chance the original measure would pass today. The leading national opponents of tuition for Dreamers include the Republican senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's choice for attorney general, and the secretary of state of Kansas, Kris Kobach, a Republican who was a leader of Trump's transition team on immigration. Each argues that students who are in the United States illegally should not get a public benefit in any state that is denied to a citizen from another state. In other words, if Dreamers pay tuition in Texas, citizen students next door in Arkansas and Oklahoma \u2014 or Massachusetts, for that matter \u2014 should have the same right. \"How much sense does that make, to have people here illegally, and they have more benefits than those who are here legally?\" Sessions asked in a Senate floor statement. Kobach used the same argument to bring lawsuits against tuition for Dreamers in Kansas and California. Judges found no legal basis for the claims and dismissed the cases. The larger debate over how to treat an estimated 11 million immigrants who came here illegally has been at a stalemate for decades, with advocates seeking a \"path to citizenship\" for families who have been in the country for years and opponents denouncing \"amnesty\" for people who broke the law to enter the country. Amid hardening resistance in Congress to immigration reform, Dreamers brought pressure on Obama \u2014 including and hunger strikes at his 2012 campaign offices \u2014 to use his executive power to create DACA. The program, announced on June 15, 2012, the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Plyler decision, proved transformative for Dreamers. They have entered college, taken jobs, received driver's licenses, bought cars. They now fly on planes, passing effortlessly through airport security. They still lack legal immigration status, but no longer are they exactly undocumented. \"DACAmented,\" many have called themselves. Even in states where they pay tuition, Dreamers still struggle to afford college because they are disproportionately and have no access to federal financial aid. Fewer than 10 percent of Dreamers who graduate from high school enroll in college. At a time when college graduates earn 70 percent more than those without degrees, these numbers conjure the 1982 warning by the Supreme Court that undocumented children could become a permanent underclass. In response, a handful of philanthropies have adopted the cause of sending students with DACA status to college. The biggest of these, TheDream. US, has raised $90 million to eventually finance 4, 000 students at public colleges, with significant contributions from Donald Graham, former publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, and his family Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Bill and Melinda Gates the executive William Ackman and Michael Bloomberg, among others. (I was a reporter at The Washington Post from 1980 to 2008.) In 2014, TheDream. US began offering Dreamers full scholarships in states that charge them tuition. Last year, in partnership with Delaware and Connecticut, the organization created the program for students from the other 29 states, financed by $41 million in philanthropy from Graham and his family and two anonymous donors. The governors of Delaware and Connecticut agreed to charge roughly tuition rates for the 34 scholars at Delaware State and the 42 at Eastern Connecticut State \u2014 a total of $80, 000 per student for tuition, room and board for four years. In an effort to political opposition, Graham says, the philanthropy works only with schools, like Delaware State and Eastern Connecticut State, that have excess capacity, so that undocumented students are not displacing citizens. And private donors pay all expenses, so that no state dollars are spent. Still, when The Delaware State News ran an article in September about the D. S. U. opportunity scholars, the online comments complained that undocumented immigrants, not citizens, were benefiting. \"Trump isn't perfect, but I will vote for him because he puts Americans FIRST,\" wrote a reader named John Huff of Magnolia, Del. \"There are plenty of kids who are citizens who have the same dream and should come first. \" And as news of the scholarship spread on the Delaware campus this fall, a number of students told Dreamers that they resented that their own families had to go into debt for a portion of their education costs while the DACA students got full scholarships. By then, Trump had mobilized anger in large swaths of the country, having kicked off his campaign criticizing Mexican immigrants \u2014 \"They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists\" \u2014 and vowing to build a wall on the border to keep them out. In stump speeches, he promised to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants and, in his first 100 days in office, to terminate DACA, labeling it \"illegal amnesty. \" Both vows became instant applause lines. Indira declared her major in biological sciences at the beginning of the semester and started a demanding curriculum with six classes, including biology and chemistry, both requiring labs. Her parents had insisted she not take a job, in order to devote herself to education, freeing up four hours a night that she had spent working in high school. With that extra time, she found the academic challenges manageable. Much harder was living apart from her family for the first time in her life. Her mother texted her daily. \"Good morning, hija,\" she wrote one recent morning, using the Spanish word for daughter. \"May God bless you today in school. Please be kind to everyone. \" That night, over FaceTime, Indira talked with two of her younger sisters, who like her were born in Mexico and are undocumented. One, a junior in high school, is already on a quest for college scholarships. She and Indira came up with potential essay ideas and discussed her r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Then Indira helped the other, a freshman who is the smartest of all the family's children, Indira says, with physics homework. On weekends, she FaceTimes with her four youngest siblings \u2014 a sixth grader, a fourth grader, a third grader and a first grader \u2014 all of whom were born in Georgia and are citizens. Separation from family, from home, even from Mexican food made most of the opportunity scholars profoundly lonely. Estephany Martinez, a petite major with long black hair, couldn't stop thinking about her sisters in the first weeks. \"Whenever we came home from school, all four sisters would sit in the living room and do our homework and talk and watch TV,\" she recalled wistfully of her life in Winder, Ga. In Delaware, \"I didn't have anybody that cared for me. I didn't have anyone to come home to. \" In early September, she summoned all the scholars to a gathering in the dorm's lounge. \"All right, you guys, we're going to be here for each other,\" she said. \"That part of our lives \u2014 being undocumented \u2014 is critical to who we are. We have to share our stories. \" Everyone crowded in, sitting on the sofa, spilling onto the floor, sitting shoulder to shoulder on counters that once were part of a kitchenette, sprawling into one another's space. Carlos Gonzales of Manteo, N. C. a lanky and cheerful marketing major whose mother is a restaurant cook, broke down crying when he recalled the violence that drove his family from Mexico City. He, his mother and his younger sister moved to North Carolina when he was 7. It was his mother who encouraged him, beginning in elementary school, to reach for college. \"I don't want you to live the life we're living now,\" she told him. In high school, he was an honor student and varsity wrestler and runner, working nights and weekends at McDonald's in his Outer Banks town. When he received the email telling him he was an opportunity scholar, he said: \"I hugged my mom and cried for two hours. The only reason I stopped was I had to go to work. \" Indira told the harrowing story that led to her own family's departure from Mexico. In 2004, when she was 6, three masked gunmen broke into their home, which housed her parents' clinic, and robbed them of everything \u2014 money, jewelry, a new computer, a television, cameras and medications. They filed a report with the police, they said, who didn't investigate, in deference to cartels then taking over Guerrero, now the most violent state in Mexico. An uncle of her father's already had been killed. In subsequent years, a cousin of her mother's, a veterinarian, was kidnapped and never found. Two nephews disappeared. Her mother's sister has been kidnapped twice \u2014 most recently this past November \u2014 and returned only after her family paid steep ransoms. Weeks after the robbery, Indira's family of five arrived in the United States on a tourist visa that her father procured a month earlier in hopes of taking everyone to Disney World. Instead, they went to Gainesville, where her father's brother worked in construction \u2014 one of thousands of Mexican workers who flocked to the north Georgia community in the last 25 years, swelling the Hispanic population to more than 40 percent in 2013 from 8 percent in 1990. Indira said her parents are certain they would have been killed had they stayed. They decided to forfeit their careers for their family's safety. \"I no longer saw my future, but I saw my children's future,\" her father said to me. Antonio Patino, a major who is a lifeguard and plays bass and guitar in his spare time, told the group about riding with his family in their car in 2015 in Lawrenceville, Ga. when a police officer pulled them over, though none of them understood why. His father, who is undocumented and processes returns for a local manufacturer, was driving but did not have a license. Antonio and his mother, younger sister and brother all watched in terror as his father was handcuffed, placed in a police cruiser and driven off to jail. As it turned out, he was released the next day after paying a fine of more than $800 and was not referred to immigration court for further proceedings, but the incident shook Antonio's sense of belonging in America. \"I felt like I got slapped in the face just for living, trying to be a normal person in this beautiful country,\" he said. \"It feels like a hole inside me. \" He said he now found himself gripped with fears for his parents' safety at random moments during his days at D. S. U. It is as if he has swapped roles with his mother and father. \"Like I'm now the parent and they're the child, and I'm worried for them,\" he told me. \"Not being there, all these swarm into my mind. What if out of nowhere they get pulled over again?\" Calling them and hearing their voices usually comforts him. But after one such call, he said: \"I went outside, and I had to cry a little. I was feeling like I couldn't help them. \" A number of students shared the enormous sacrifices they had seen their parents make for them. Juan Chavez, 23, who grew up in Plymouth, Ind. and worked for five years after high school, told of his mother suffering a breakdown after her divorce from his father. He saw it as a response to the crushing instability of their lives, moving from one home to another in search of shelter. \"She's the strongest person I'll ever know,\" he said. \"She's my role model. My father figure as well as my mother. \" He continued: \"I felt so helpless to make things better. I decided almost right then I'll go to college and medical school if it takes me the rest of my life. \" He is now a psychology and major, intending to become a psychiatrist. On and on the students went until almost 3 a. m. the common threads in their stories drawing them closer. It was the first time most of them had talked openly about being undocumented, but instead of feeling exposed, they felt safer. Until then, Antonio had gone out of his way to avoid conversations with at D. S. U. about his scholarship, not wanting to have to explain that he got it because he was undocumented. The next day, though, he fell into conversation with a student who asked him how he happened to come all the way from Georgia to D. S. U. and he said without hesitation: \"I got a scholarship. \" \"What for?\" \"I'm undocumented,\" Antonio said, surprised at how comfortable this felt. \"O. K. man, that's cool,\" the student said. After their long night talking, the scholars also better understood what had propelled them all for as long as they could remember. Throughout high school, the opportunity scholars watched undocumented friends and siblings give up and drop out, shamed and beaten down by public scorn over illegal immigration and the options awaiting even those who excelled in high school. But they kept on striving, steeled to the insults, positioning themselves for a breakthrough they couldn't yet see. Now this all made sense. \"This pain \u2014 it pushes us,\" Estephany said. \"It's motivation. It has made me who I am. It makes me go through every day. \" \"Now we know what drives us,\" Indira said. One morning in at 9:50 a. m. 10 minutes before Indira's class was scheduled to start, she and two other opportunity scholars were already ensconced in the three center seats, notebooks, pens and textbooks at the ready. Indira was wearing a Harvard sweatshirt that a classmate bought for her when their A. P. class visited Boston. (Indira couldn't afford to go.) \"I'm going to get there one day,\" she said with a confident smile. Most of the other students didn't arrive until class was about to begin \u2014 or later \u2014 and there was little competition for the front rows. A similar scene unfolded that morning in the ultramodern science center, in class, where Antonio and Jose Reyes Rios, another major, sat front and center with an classmate named Hanqaamo Lintisio, who is from Maryland and has a track scholarship. The three had formed a study group and tutored one another so effectively that they all scored above 100 on the midterm. (They nailed the bonus question.) Theirs were the only A's in the class. The Dreamers gather daily at a long Formica table in a D. S. U. cafeteria for food and conversation. At lunch, Carla Moreno propped her English composition textbook, \"Patterns for College Writing,\" against a napkin holder, securing it with an apple. She paged through a chapter while eating her salad and chili dog. \"It's just a quiz,\" she said, \"but I want to keep my A. \" \"I deal with a lot of students, and I feel like the Dreamers are at a different level,\" says Kevin Noriega, the adviser for their scholarships. \"They're saying, 'I've got to make this happen because it's my only option. ''u2009\" Of the 488 scholars funded by TheDream. US who began college in 2014, 94 percent remain enrolled after their sophomore year research shows that only 66 percent of college students nationally return after one year. \"This is a population with retention rates like Harvard's,\" Donald Graham says. Because beneficiaries of TheDream. US have full rides, they avoid a common problem faced by other disadvantaged students: running short of money for costs not covered by Pell grants or other forms of aid. One night in October before a biology exam, Indira went to the D. S. U. athletic center for a workout to relieve stress. She was armed with a stack of homemade flash cards and her iPhone, on which she had downloaded discussions of test topics from various websites. While pounding out three miles on the treadmill, she flipped through her study cards, then plugged in her earbuds for a YouTube lecture on glycolysis. Returning to her dorm, she sat down at her desk for a final review. Hanging on the wall in front of her was a collage of family photographs. One showed the whole family of nine around their dinner table. \"When I'm struggling, I look at a picture of my mom or dad, and I say, 'I'm working for that person,''u2009\" she said. That night, her studying complete, she took a last look at her parents' picture and fell asleep listening to recordings of her biology professor's lectures. She got an A on the exam. Indira's determination to become a doctor requires more than a little imagination, because under current law in Georgia and many other states, licenses to practice medicine are reserved for citizens and legal residents. \"I'm not planning my life based on the way things are today,\" she said. \"I'm thinking of the future. \" In her eyes, America is a land of opportunity. Over Columbus Day weekend, she visited Washington for the first time with her roommate, Karen Baltazar, who is from Lawrenceville, Ga. and also wants to be a doctor. At the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Indira stood underneath Roosevelt's Four Freedoms \u2014 freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear \u2014 her arms raised high above her head, as if exulting in the message. Her smile was radiant. Karen snapped a picture, and Indira posted it on her Facebook page along with the caption, \"I have never forgotten the reasons my parents brought me to this great country. \" Such unsinkable optimism, which I heard from many D. S. U. Dreamers in the early fall, is hard to maintain, and many of the estimated 65, 000 undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school every year \u2014 and thousands who drop out \u2014 simply can't muster it. In a recent book, \"Lives in Limbo,\" Roberto G. Gonzales, an assistant professor at Harvard's graduate school of education, writes that academically successful Dreamers are far outnumbered by those who become casualties of \"the deeper and more consequences of being undocumented: living in poverty, having parents and family members who also bear the burdens of being undocumented, watching friends moving forward but being unable to join them, watching opportunities pass you by, navigating a world of exclusions while constantly looking over your shoulder. \" At least some of the opportunity scholars' optimism last fall came from their assumption, based on reported polls, that Hillary Clinton would be the next president. They were heartened by her speeches about keeping families together and pursuing comprehensive immigration reform. At the very least, they were confident that DACA would remain in effect under her leadership. Though they didn't believe Trump could win, he unnerved them with his speeches branding Mexicans criminals who stole Americans' jobs and lived off their tax dollars. They took this rhetoric as a personal affront and were horrified by the hatred they saw on the faces of those who cheered his words. \"The only thing that depresses me is so many people support him,\" Jose Reyes Rios, the major, who aspires to work at Google one day, said in late September. On election night, a group of Dreamers gathered around the TV in the dorm lobby, many of them studying as they watched returns. Indira had exams the next day in math and biology and arrived equipped with her flash cards. The mood turned dark after Trump won Florida. Everyone's mind flooded with his vows that they had discounted until now \u2014 to revoke DACA, to deputize local police departments to enforce federal immigration laws. \"We will issue detainers for all illegal immigrants who are arrested for any crime whatsoever, and they will be placed into immediate removal proceedings,\" Trump said last summer in Arizona. As all of them knew well, these crimes included one of their parents' daily activities \u2014 driving without a license. If DACA disappeared, and with it their Social Security numbers, their own driver's licenses would be worthless. So would their federal work authorization, meaning most would lose the jobs that paid for their books, phones, clothes, travel home and anything else they needed. By 1 a. m. Indira became too distressed to concentrate. Olivia Bekale was one of four opportunity scholars who watched until Trump was declared the . \"We were just looking at each other and crying,\" she says. \"We hugged each other and went to our rooms. \" On the Sunday after the election, when they gathered in the dorm lobby, the opportunity scholars were struggling with something unfamiliar: despair. They had registered for DACA with the Department of Homeland Security, which now knew exactly where they were. \"Life is going to be like it is for our parents,\" said Victor Hernandez of Coats, N. C. stunned and shaking his head. \"They could come pick us up and take us away any time. \" Social media brought aftershocks for all of them as they discovered that many of their best friends voted for Trump. Almost all of Antonio's swim teammates in Lawrenceville had Trump filters on their Facebook and Snapchat profile pictures. \"All I could think was: You voted against me,\" he said. \"What did I do to you?\" The day after the election, Indira couldn't bear to call her mother until the afternoon. Instead, she confided her fears in text messages to her former science teacher, Teresa Leach. \"I've never been so disappointed in this country,\" she wrote. \"I've never felt so powerless. . .. I'm scared about my family, my mom. . .. Not sure if I'll even get my degree, much less go to medical school here. \" When Indira finally did call home, her mother insisted she was not afraid and told Indira that education was now even more important. Several of Indira's friends back home told her they doubted Trump would follow through on all his campaign promises, and in any case, they couldn't imagine he would target her. \"These are people who helped me get to where I am, who remind me they love me, and I love them,\" she said. \"But they'll never understand what we feel. They say, 'He won't do that.' Do they think he's going to send back all the immigrants except Indira?\" A lifeline of sorts arrived the week after the election, when the students received letters from TheDream. US, Governor Markell and the president of D. S. U. pledging to stand behind their scholarships no matter what became of DACA. Donald Graham lined up attorneys to represent them if anyone challenged their right to be in school. But their bigger fears were for their parents. Antonio and Indira went home for Christmas to find their families filled with trepidation. \"We're trying to be invisible, trying to stay hidden,\" Antonio's father said, \"do only the things we have to do to live, like go to work, go buy groceries. \" During the 2015 holiday season, they took a driving tour of the Christmas lights and celebrated New Year's Eve in downtown Lawrenceville. \"Now we can't go to any festivities because for us it's very dangerous,\" his mother told me in their apartment in a complex in Buford, Ga. \"There are a lot of police there. \" Antonio's father said he worries about driving his daughter, Litzy, 15, home from her practice at rush hour, when the police presence increases. Litzy was born in Georgia, and he thought of asking her to leave the team until she is old enough to drive because, as a citizen, she will be able to get a driver's license. \"But then I said to myself: 'No! That's crazy. That's why we're here \u2014 for our kids. So they can take advantage of every opportunity. ''u2009\" He continues to ferry her \u2014 carefully \u2014 during rush hour. Indira found her mother more frightened than at any time since receiving her deportation order. Her mother says she has no choice but to drive when someone at her church asks for help, when her children call for rides home and when she is needed at a charity medical clinic where she volunteers as a doctor's assistant and translator. \"Life changed after the election,\" she told me in December, in her living room decorated with framed academic awards for each child. She was surrounded by her kids, who listened carefully. \"The children know I don't have a driver's license. They know at any time maybe the police will take me again. 'If I can't come back,' I tell them, 'you have to go to school every day. You have to study hard \u2014 even harder. ''u2009\" By the time Indira and the other opportunity scholars returned to campus in January, all of them had come to the same conclusion: There was now only one thing they could control \u2014 their education. \"The only way we can fight back is to excel in school,\" Indira wrote to me in a text message. She felt weary in the aftermath of the election, but when she had this epiphany, she said: \"I wasn't tired anymore. I had that drive, that hunger to just come out on top. I was angry. I was staying at the library longer, going to the gym a lot more. \" Estephany Martinez focused on her life's mission. \"My goal is being a police chief \u2014 something that makes my voice louder,\" said the major. \"I have to educate myself to get there. I want to show people who don't believe in us: 'I got all the way here. I'm starting from the bottom with education, and I'm going to get there. ''u2009\" As they settled into the semester, they monitored everything Trump and his close allies were saying about immigration, their moods shifting with each utterance. Back in December, they felt hopeful when Trump, in his interview as Time Magazine's Person of the Year, said approving things about Dreamers and indicated that he would deport serious criminals before other undocumented immigrants. They were discouraged in January when Jeff Sessions, in his confirmation hearing to become attorney general, appeared unconcerned about the consequences of revoking DACA. They took heart two days later when Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, said in a CNN meeting that he wanted Congress to pass legislation making Dreamers \"right with the law. \" Indira and other Georgia scholars were exhilarated in early January when a state court ordered the Board of Regents to allow DACA holders to pay tuition. But their hopes collapsed when a state appeals court stayed the decision Trump appeared likely to revoke DACA before Georgia Dreamers could reap the benefits. \"I said: 'I don't know what'll happen next, but we're here in this place, and the only way we can win is to succeed in our education,''u2009\" Indira told me. Soon after classes started, the opportunity scholars learned that their collective grade point average for the first semester was a 3. 76. Six of the 34 students had achieved a perfect 4. 0. Indira was one of them. \"Succeeding for me is how I can get my revenge,\" she told me over the phone, interrupting her biology homework for a few minutes. \"I want to break the stereotype of us being here taking jobs away and not helping the economy. I want Trump to see we're the total opposite of what he thinks. \"","label":0}
{"text":"On the fourth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the staff of the White House chief technology officer has been virtually deleted, down from 24 members before the election to, by Friday, only one. Scores of departures by scientists and Silicon Valley technology experts who advised President Trump's predecessor have all but wiped out the larger White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Mr. Trump has not yet named his top advisers on technology or science, and so far, has made just one hire: Michael Kratsios, the former chief of staff for Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley investor and one of the president's wealthiest supporters, as the deputy chief technology officer. Neither Mr. Kratsios, who has a bachelor's degree in political science from Princeton, nor anyone else still working in the science and technology office regularly participates in Mr. Trump's daily briefings, as they did for President Barack Obama. \"The impression this leaves is that Trump isn't interested in science and that scientific matters are a low priority at the White House,\" said Vinton G. Cerf, a computer scientist, vice president of Google and one of the chief architects of the internet. The dwindling of the White House science and technology staff for scientific research could have consequences, Mr. Cerf said. It is unclear whether the vacancies are the result of the Trump administration's overall slowness in hiring or a signal that the president places less importance on science and technology than Mr. Obama did. A White House official who asked not to be identified cast the issue as one of timing: Mr. Trump, the official said, is still reviewing candidates to be his chief science adviser, considers the science and technology office important and will soon have a new staff for it. But critics see the empty offices as part of a devaluation of science throughout the Trump administration, including the reversal of Mr. Obama's climate change policies and proposals to sharply reduce spending for research on climate change, science and health. They note that Mr. Obama appointed his top science adviser, John P. Holdren, a Harvard physicist and expert, in December 2008, weeks before his inauguration. At the same time, conservatives \u2014 including a member of Mr. Trump's transition team \u2014 have called for getting rid of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. (The chief technology officer is a part of that larger office.) They argue that the office, created by Congress in 1976, is a bloated bureaucracy that duplicates expertise already found at government agencies. \"Eliminating the O. S. T. P. (or at least electing not to staff it until Congress can act) would not block the president from access to science and technology advice,\" James Jay Carafano, who advised Mr. Trump's transition team, wrote in a report issued last summer by the conservative Heritage Foundation. \"Rather, it eliminates a formal office whose purpose is unclear and whose capabilities are largely redundant. \" Mr. Trump has echoed that sentiment, at least when it comes to government jobs over all. Last month he responded to criticism about the high number of vacancies across his administration by telling Fox News that \"a lot of those jobs, I don't want to appoint, because they're unnecessary to have. \" \"You know, we have so many people in government, even me,\" Mr. Trump said. \"I look at some of the jobs and it's people over people over people. I say, 'What do all these people do?' You don't need all those jobs. \" If Mr. Trump applies that logic to the science and technology office, he will end decades of tradition in which the president increasingly relied on his own advisers for expertise on federal research budgets, emerging trends and technical crises. Mr. Trump's first budget proposes slashing $5. 8 billion, or 18 percent, from the National Institutes of Health and $900 million, or about 20 percent, from the Energy Department's Office of Science, which runs basic research at the national laboratories. The Environmental Protection Agency would be cut by 31 percent. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump issued executive orders that roll back Mr. Obama's Clean Power Plan, which would have closed hundreds of power plants in an effort to curb carbon dioxide emissions. Those actions have been taken without advice or guidance from scientists and engineers inside the White House. The few remaining policy advisers have ceased distributing daily memos on policy issues like climate change, regulation, or the ethics of big data collection. \"They are flying blind when it comes to science and tech issues,\" said Kumar Garg, who left the Office of Science and Technology Policy as a senior adviser after the election. There is no question that the science and technology bureaucracy at the White House expanded in recent years. In the George W. Bush administration, there were 50 people in the office, but Mr. Obama more than doubled the staff, to 130, and moved the office into a building on the White House grounds. Mr. Obama turned to the science office during crises like the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa the 2011 nuclear spill in Fukushima, Japan and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The staff of the science office developed the White House's recommendations for regulation of commercial drones and driverless cars at the Transportation Department. Last year, the staff produced an report that raised concerns about the threat that robots posed to employment and that advocated retraining Americans for jobs. The staff also put on the annual White House science fair. In 2011, when lawmakers proposed an online piracy bill known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, internet architecture engineers on the team advised the president to veto the bill because of security and privacy issues it would create. \"The agenda was always huge in scope and ambition, and something was always happening,\" said Nicole Wong, a former deputy chief technology officer under Mr. Obama. The departure of science and technology experts from the White House means dozens of science and technology programs begun under Mr. Obama have gone untended in the weeks since Inauguration Day. \"The O. S. T. P. is the conduit for scientific perspective and scrutiny to the president and is a priority in White House decision making,\" said Danny Weitzner, a former deputy chief technology officer in the Obama administration and now the director of internet policy research at M. I. T. Under Mr. Obama, the science and technology office included 19 policy advisers in the environment and energy division, 14 in the national security and international affairs division, nine in the science division and 20 in the technology and innovation division. \"We are all sitting on the edge of our seats hoping nothing catastrophic happens in the world,\" said Phil Larson, a former senior science and technology adviser to Mr. Obama. \"But if it does, who is going to be advising him?\" Current White House officials declined to say how many people remained in each division. But four former officials who recently left the office said that a wave of departures scheduled for Friday could potentially reduce the number of people left to a handful, not counting about eight administrative staff members.","label":0}
{"text":"Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton received a big convention bounce. A new CNN poll has her leading GOP rival Donald Trump 52 percent to 43 percent in a two-way matchup. The Republican nominee is still under fire for how he reacted over the weekend to the parents of Humayun Khan, a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq. Khizr Khan blasted Trump at the Democratic convention, noting that unlike his fallen son, Trump has \"sacrificed nothing and no one.\" Unwilling to the let the insult pass, Trump hit back, implying that Khan's wife wasn't allowed to speak during her husband's DNC address because of the family's Muslim faith. The GOP nominee's remarks have sparked outrage from veterans and members of his own party. \"While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us,\" war hero Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. Trump's campaign is now appealing to GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill to help quell the controversy. Meanwhile, a mother whose son was killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is also speaking out. Patricia Smith criticized Clinton at the Republican convention, noting that she has received much different treatment than the Khan family. \"I was treated like dirt. I don't think the Khan family was treated that way. I was treated like dirt. I was called a liar\u2026 I don't imagine my son getting killed. I don't imagine that at all,\" Smith said. Meanwhile on the campaign trail, Clinton attacked Trump's tax cut plan, and again called on him to release his tax returns. \"And while we're at it, we would like to see those tax returns wouldn't we? My husband and I put out, I think about 33 or 34 years' worth, if you're interested,\" Clinton pointed out. Trump alleges that former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., made a deal with the devil to endorse Clinton. \"If he would have just not done anything, just go home, go to sleep, relaxed, he would have been a hero, but he made a deal with the devil. She's the devil. He made a deal with the devil,\" Trump said. There's still a long way to go until Election Day and many of today's controversies could easily be forgotten by November. Clinton's poll bounce could fade as bounces often do, turning this into a tight race once again.","label":0}
{"text":"Insists Russia Defines Itself by Opposition to the West  The first time a top British spy has ever given a newspaper interview, MI5 chief Andrew Parker has spoken with the Guardian , playing up the \"growing threat\" posed by Russia against British interests around the world.  Parker claimed a \"whole range of state organs and powers\" in Russia are being brought to bear against Britain and the US, claiming that the advent of cyberwarfare has increased the number of ways in which Russia can move against them.  Parker went on to claim that Russia defines itself by opposition to the West and, despite being a \"covert threat for decades\" has been increasingly hostile, citing their operations in Ukraine and Syria as proof that they are acting to just spite the West.  This has been a common western talking point, but in practice Western (read: US) policy in both Ukraine and Syria appears to have itself been built with an eye toward being on the opposite side from Russia in the first place, and Russia is then condemned for acting in their own interests.  This was particularly glaring in Syria, where Russia's interest was obviously in the survival of a friendly Syrian government to host their naval base, and where \"countering\" Russia has brought the US \"anti-ISIS coalition\" into increasingly overt support for al-Qaeda's Nusra Front, simply because they're the ones most directly fighting against Russia.","label":1}
{"text":"Saturday after Montgomery County, PA Judge Steven O'Neill declared a mistrial in the Bill Cosby criminal rape case, Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt took aim at Gloria Allred, the lawyer for 33 of Cosby's accusers. Speaking to reporters outside of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, PA, Wyatt first quoted Huey P. Newton, the founder of the Black Panther Party. \"In the words of Huey P. Newton, power is the ability to define phenomenon, making it act in a designed manner,\" he said. After that, he offered Allred and attorneys \"who conspired\" advice. \"For all those attorneys, who conspired like Gloria Allred, tell them to go back to law school and take another class,\" Wyatt added. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor","label":0}
{"text":"US abstains from UN vote calling for end to Cuban embargo Published time: 26 Oct, 2016 21:10 Get short URL U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro gesture after a news conference as part of President Obama's three-day visit to Cuba, in Havana March 21, 2016. \u00a9 Carlos Barria \/ Reuters The US government abstained from the UN vote on a resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo against Cuba, for the first time in 24 years.  The 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution with 191 votes in favor on Wednesday. The only other abstention, besides the US, was Israel. The vote is non-binding but it can have political weight. U.S. decision to abstain in UN vote condemning Cuba embargo is small but meaningful. The cold war is over, Congress must lift embargo pic.twitter.com\/lvjq8JlvNE \u2014 Charles Rangel (@cbrangel) October 26, 2016  Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described the abstention as a \"positive step for the future of improving relations between the United States and Cuba,\" according to Reuters. In case you missed it: Full speech delivered by #Cuba FM at today's vote against #US blockade #YoVotoVsBloqueo https:\/\/t.co\/EJnmmyvS8J \u2014 Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n Caba\u00f1as (@JoseRCabanas) October 26, 2016  Rodriguez said in September that the embargo cost Cuba $4.6 billion last year, and the full damage over the length of the 50-year embargo was estimated at $125.9 billion.  When it was first announced that the US government would abstain from the vote, the entire General Assembly applauded.  \"Abstaining on this resolution does not mean that the United States agrees with all of the policies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not,\" Samantha Power the US Ambassador to the United Nations told the General Assembly on Tuesday.  \"We are profoundly concerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cuban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people,\" she said, according to AP. US abstains from UN vote to condemn Cuba embargo for the first time https:\/\/t.co\/BMLy4VPAYm \u2014 The Guardian (@guardian) October 26, 2016  The Obama administration began normalizing relations with the Communist-run country in at the end of 2014, easing trade and travel restrictions. On July 20, 2015, diplomatic relations were restored, and embassies in the two countries were reopened. US approves airlines to fly to Cuba https:\/\/t.co\/46qAzoxt6u pic.twitter.com\/GN9lelYGcE \u2014 RT America (@RT_America) June 10, 2016  Lifting the full embargo will take the support of the Republican-run Congress, which remains critical of the administration's efforts, arguing it offered too many concessions to Cuba and accepted little in return, especially on human rights and the restoration of expropriated property. 'Making history': First US cruise ship in nearly 40 years reaches Cuba (PHOTOS) https:\/\/t.co\/xqu6jbAgBq pic.twitter.com\/K9OE5OMaz4 \u2014 RT America (@RT_America) May 2, 2016  Obama made the first visit to Havana by a US president in 88 years in March.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning about his visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While most were his standard complaining about the media and trying to bolster his controversial meeting with the Russian strongman, one, in particular, stood out. According to Trump, he s ready to partner, yes, partner, in cyber security. No, that s not a joke.I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I ve already given my opinion .. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017Um, sure. We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017The most notable tweet, though, was this one, which essentially said he s giving the fox the key to the hen house:Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017And then more deflection: and safe. Questions were asked about why the CIA & FBI had to ask the DNC 13 times for their SERVER, and were rejected, still don t . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017 have it. Fake News said 17 intel agencies when actually 4 (had to apologize). Why did Obama do NOTHING when he had info before election? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017The irony of partnering with Putin on securing the electoral system he s accused of hacking hasn t even escaped some Republicans. Sen. Marco Rubio is raising alarms:While reality & pragmatism requires that we engage Vladimir Putin, he will never be a trusted ally or a reliable constructive partner. 1\/3 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017Partnering with Putin on a Cyber Security Unit is akin to partnering with Assad on a Chemical Weapons Unit . 2\/3 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017We have no quarrel with Russia or the Russian people. Problem is with Putin & his oppression, war crimes & interference in our elections 1\/3 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher agrees:Coordinating w\/ Russia also risks glossing over serious US concerns re: Russian behavior, such as Ukraine invasion & cyber aggression. 6\/10 Rep. Mike Gallagher (@RepGallagher) July 9, 2017John McCain handled with snark:During an interview on CBS s Face The Nation, McCain was asked about President Trump s earlier tweet in which the president said he talked with Putin during their meeting about creating an impenetrable Cyber Security unit to guard against election hacking. I m sure that Vladimir Putin could be of enormous assistance in that effort since he is doing the hacking, McCain said, laughing.It is somewhat comforting to know that elections are run by states, not the federal government and they are VERY reluctant to hand over that power. That doesn t mean, though, that Trump isn t going to do everything in his power to assist Putin in taking over our government and our internet.","label":1}
{"text":"Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards withstood nearly five hours of Republican attacks at a House hearing Tuesday. It wasn't just about those recent controversial tapes released by David Daledian's Center for Medical Progress showing possible wrongdoing. It was also about whether the abortion giant should keep receiving more federal taxpayer dollars. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said definitely not \u2013 especially with the cuts in care Planned Parenthood has made in the last decade. \"There's a 53 percent reduction in cancer screenings, 42 percent reduction in breast exams and breast care,\" Chaffetz noted. Republicans on the panel proposed moving those federal dollars to more worthy recipients. \"We simply want to shift the money from an organization caught doing what they were caught doing and give it to the community health centers,\" Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said. \"Shift it from the 700 Planned Parenthood clinics; give it to the 13,000 federally-approved community health centers,\" he continued. \"Take the money from the guys doing the bad things and give it to the ones who aren't.\" But Richards begged to differ \u2013 not just about the abortion provider's worthiness to receive federal funds, but about the validity of the secretly recorded videotapes used against her organization. \"The outrageous accusations leveled against Planned Parenthood based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue,\" Richards told the lawmakers. She went on to say, \"This isn't really an attack on Planned Parenthood. This is an attack on 2.7 million patients who each year choose Planned Parenthood as their health care provider.\" \"The facts are on our side,\" she said. \"We're proud of the health care that we deliver every single year despite the animosity by some.\" Richards suggested Planned Parenthood deserves federal funding because of the services it provides more than 2 million visitors a year. Live Action's Lila Rose responds to Cecile Richards' defense of Planned Parenthood at the Congressional hearing. But while Richards was arguing how valuable Planned Parenthood is, there was a news conference nearby completely contradicting that claim. A number of pro-life groups announced they're launching GetYourCare.org \u2013 a site showing Americans where they can easily find nearby low-cost health alternatives -- far more centers than Planned Parenthood offers. \"On the website you'll see that for every one Planned Parenthood, there are 20 federally qualified health care centers,\" Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said. Just like Richards, congressional defenders of Planned Parenthood in the undercover video scandal attacked the undercover video production. \"This hearing today is promoted by a series of deceptively edited and purposely misleading videos,\" Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., charged. But at the same news conference where GetYourCare.org was launched, the Alliance Defending Freedom announced that a highly regarded forensics firm, Coalfire Systems, has studied Daledian's videos in-depth. \"The videos are not edited; they're not manipulated,\" asserted Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Casey Mattox, summing up the findings on the videos. \"The full version of these videos is posted online,\" he said. \"And the only part that the world is being spared are moments like where David Daledian goes to the bathroom.\" The committee holding the Tuesday hearing with Richards is one of four congressional panels scrutinizing Planned Parenthood and the more than $500 million it gets every year from the federal government.","label":0}
{"text":"Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his party to a landslide victory in India's largest state on Saturday, consolidating his power and putting him in a strong position to win in 2019. The scale of the victory in Uttar Pradesh's legislative elections was all the more stunning because it followed Mr. Modi's politically risky decision to eliminate most of India's cash. The vote was seen as a referendum on the prime minister, who campaigned vigorously in recent days in Uttar Pradesh, which, with a population of more than 200 million, would be the world's sixth largest country if it were independent. \"This is a stupendous achievement,\" said Ashok Malik, a fellow with the Observer Research Foundation, based in New Delhi. \"Here you had a prime minister making himself the face of the election in the absence of a local leader and stitching together a coalition across the state. \" The margin of victory in Uttar Pradesh was the largest seen by any party in more than 30 years. It gives Mr. Modi a significant advantage in the national elections in 2019, which in turn would bring him closer to his goal of becoming a leader of historic significance, steering India away from its more socialist, secular past. Mr. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, commonly called the B. J. P. also won at least one of four other state elections in which ballots were being counted on Saturday. The weakening India National Congress party, which once dominated the nation's politics, won in Punjab, a powerful farming state, and remained in contention in two smaller states, showing that it was still a factor nationally, though less so than in years past. The Aam Aadmi Party, born of the anticorruption movement that has arisen in India in recent years, failed to win any state, suggesting that it was not yet ready to take over from the Congress party as the main opposition to Mr. Modi. Mr. Modi said on Twitter that his party's victories were \"humbling and overwhelming. \" In Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission of India said the Bharatiya Janata Party had won or was leading in voting for 308 of the 403 seats in the state legislature, decimating the coalition cobbled together by Congress and the local governing party, the Samajwadi Party. By Saturday afternoon, that coalition had garnered only 57 seats. The coalition had appeared to be gaining steam after it was formed early this year, led by the dynamic, relatively young leader of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, 43, whose father founded the party and presided over it for decades. That party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, commonly known as the B. S. P. have taken turns governing Uttar Pradesh in recent decades, in each case putting together coalitions that consisted mainly of the party leader's caste group along with Muslims. But on Saturday afternoon, the B. S. P. led by Kumari Mayawati, a leader of the Dalit caste, won or was leading in only 20 seats, the election commission said. The scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory suggested that it had bridged such caste allegiances, some experts said, although it had yet to cross religious lines to attract large numbers of Muslims. While Mr. Modi has largely steered clear of divisive language on religion as prime minister, his party has a Hindu nationalist philosophy, and he was accused of complicity in violence as the leader of his home state of Gujarat. \"This is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of India,\" Jitendra Singh, a minister of state in Mr. Modi's office, told the television station Times Now. \"The Indian voter has learned to rise above caste and creed and vote for development and the future of India. \" In fact, although Mr. Modi won the 2014 national elections on a platform of jobs and development, his economic record is mixed. He has lured more foreign investment and is close to achieving a tax overhaul, but new job creation has been slow and domestic private investment remains stagnant. The International Monetary Fund this year cut its projected growth rate for India by one percentage point, to 6. 6 percent, in large part because of Mr. Modi's sudden ban on the country's largest currency notes in November. Saturday's results come less than four months after Mr. Modi's Nov. 8 announcement that India's largest notes, which made up 86 percent of the currency, would be banned starting the next day in a bid to fight corruption. A cash shortfall persisted for weeks as the government rushed to print enough new notes to replace the banned ones, slowing many of the country's businesses and leaving many poor people struggling to make ends meet. As the cash crunch persisted, with millions waiting in line for notes, Mr. Modi faced criticism that his policy had hurt people, and many predicted that voters would punish him at the polls. But his big win in Uttar Pradesh \u2014 coupled with victory in another state, Uttarakhand, and gains in the eastern state of Manipur, where his party had not been a contender in the recent past \u2014 suggests that despite the pain the currency ban caused, voters believed Mr. Modi when he said it was needed to reduce corruption, some experts said. \"The narrative became less about whether it was right or wrong on economics, but more about the political narrative, the way Modi was able to shape it,\" said Harsh Pant, a professor of international relations specializing in India at King's College in London. \"He said, 'I am a crusader against corruption, and you have to rise above your mundane economic realities and support me.' And people did,\" Mr. Pant said. Votes were still being counted in the smaller states of Goa and Manipur on Saturday afternoon, and the margins were so close that it was not clear who would form the state governments. Experts said Mr. Modi's win in Uttar Pradesh meant his party would be able to take control of the upper house of India's Parliament next year. They expected him to have a freer hand in making the economic policy overhauls that he has long sought to spur development, including changes in the law to make it easier for companies to acquire farmland and to fire workers. But many experts cautioned that it was unlikely Mr. Modi would make major changes before the 2019 election. When he previously tried to ease land acquisition rules, he found himself pilloried as the \"suit boot\" prime minister, or guardian of the corporate class, the experts noted. \"He'll have the space, but he'll also be concerned about \" Mr. Malik said. The prime minister may tinker with the laws, perhaps allowing states to change some labor laws to attract industry, but \"he's not suddenly going to shift gears in terms of policies,\" Mr. Malik said.","label":0}
{"text":"Prominent Jesuit James Martin S. J. argues that \"the morality of capitalism\" is to blame for the horrible incident on United Airlines that involved a man being violently dragged off of a plane after the airline overbooked the flight, in a column for America magazine this week.[ grad argues that capitalism is to blame for United incident \u2014 but how would state correct problem better than the market? pic. twitter. \u2014 Tommy (@tciccotta) April 11, 2017, \"A toxic cocktail of capitalism and corporate culture led to a man being dragged along the floor,\" Father James Martin argues. Martin, a Jesuit priest, and the of the Jesuit Magazine, America, has appeared on such television shows as The Colbert Report to discuss the Jesuit brand of Catholicism. This week, Martin suggests in a new column that the anarchic nature of capitalism has led to such a chaotic society that a firm could instruct a large, imposing, man to drag a passenger down the aisle of their airliner, leaving him bloodied and disoriented without financial or professional repercussion. But is this an accurate reflection of reality? First, the men who removed the passenger from the aircraft were officers with the Chicago Department of Aviation, a state entity under the direction of the government of the city of Chicago. This distinction is important because it reveals that the violence on United Flight 3411 was committed at the hands of the state, rather than at the hands of a private firm. Perhaps more importantly, in response to the incident, United shareholders democratically decided with their dollars that the firm should have to answer for the incident. The company's market capitalization (the total dollar market value of a firm) dropped by a whopping $1. 4 billion on the day following a video of the incident went viral. Thousands signed petitions calling for the resignation of United CEO Oscar Munoz. There are already policies ingrained in America's capitalistic society that protect consumers from being mistreated by the firms with whom they choose to do business. As a result, the passenger will likely wage a successful lawsuit, resulting in further financial and public relation repercussions for United and the Chicago Department of Aviation. This raises the question that I posed to Father Martin in a tweet yesterday: how would the state correct this issue better than the market? What economic system would prevent such an incident from occurring? Martin tries to argue that the pursuit of profit led to the incident and that capitalism promotes a corporate culture in which money is more important than respecting human dignity. What is the solution, then, to a system that gave rise to such treatment? To recognize that profits are not the sole measure of a good decision in the corporate world. To realize that human beings are more important than money, no matter how much a economist might object. To act morally. And to respect human dignity. Except that the United incident shows that businesses cannot afford to disrespect human dignity. Firms that respect their passengers are rewarded by investors and customers those that do not get crushed. Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com","label":0}
{"text":"In contrast to Obamacare, the Bush health plan envisions a much smaller role for government and a much bigger role for individual choice and competition in the marketplace. Bush health care differs from Obama health care in five significant ways: Without the employer mandate, all of the anti-job provisions in Obamacare would be gone. Right now employers have perverse incentives to keep the number of employees small, to reduce their hours of work and to use independent contractors and temp labor instead of full time employees. Under the Bush plan, no employer would be punished for creating jobs. Without the individual mandate, families would be free to buy insurance that meets individual and family needs rather than the needs of politicians. What woman would willingly choose to buy health insurance that offers free mammograms while she is healthy but makes her pay full price if there is a symptom of something wrong? That's only one of the many needlessly wasteful and expensive consequences of letting health insurance benefits be determined by the political system. Also, without the individual mandate there is no reason for anybody to remain uninsured. The Bush tax credit is equal to the average tax subsidy received by employees who get their heath insurance at work. Let's say a family, for whatever reason, had no additional disposable income. It would still be able to buy a health plan with its tax credit. Lower income families could qualify for additional help. I suspect they would always be able to buy Medicaid-like insurance with no additional cash outlay. But don't we need mandates in order to keep people from gaming the system? We have found better ways in Medicare Part B, Medicare Part D and with Medigap insurance. In those markets, if you don't buy when you are eligible, you can face penalties. In most places, if you don't sign up for Medigap insurance when you are first eligible, you can be individually underwritten. The uniform tax credit is also a huge improvement. Because Obamacare conditions its subsidies on income, it raises the marginal tax rate for middle income families by six percentage points and in some cases far more. At 400 percent of poverty, a family can lose more than $10,000 in subsidies if it earns one additional dollar. At other \"cliff\" points, families can be subjected to thousands of dollars of additional exposure (higher deductibles and copayments) as a result of earning one more dollar. All these perversions vanish if everyone gets the same subsidy regardless of income. Also, if the subsidy doesn't vary by income, all kinds of technical problems with healthcare.gov would vanish in a heartbeat. Virtually all the technical problems in the exchanges stem from the need to verify income. That means that the computers run by the exchanges have to interface with the computers of the IRS and other government agencies. Yet, in the main government, computer systems don't know how to talk to each other and that's a problem that may never be solved. If every one of the same age gets the same subsidy, the exchange doesn't have to check with the IRS to verify income. Next April 15, there won't be a plethora of additional taxes and refunds because almost everyone wrongly predicted his income for the previous year. According to H&R Block, as many as 3.4 million people got reduced refunds this year because they underestimated their income when they enrolled in ObamaCare insurance plans. The portability provision is another huge improvement over the current system. Right now if employers give employees pre-tax dollars to buy their own insurance in the individual market, the Obama administration is threatening to fine them $100 per employee per day. If you think that's overkill, it tells you just how much the current administration dislikes employees buying and owning their own insurance. With the Bush plan, all the anti-portability provisions in current law will be gone.","label":0}
{"text":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Kellyanne Conway, the Republican pollster and strategist who helped guide Donald J. Trump to victory in November, on Thursday was appointed counselor to the president, becoming the woman at the White House and one of his principal messengers to the public. Ms. Conway will be joined in the West Wing, steps from the Oval Office, by Sean Spicer, a veteran Washington political operative, who will be the face of Mr. Trump's administration as its press secretary, the transition team announced. Along with several other White House communications specialists appointed on Thursday, the pair will wage daily battles with legislators on Mr. Trump's behalf while seeking to preserve the president's political power base among voters outside the capital. Ms. Conway and Mr. Spicer will also be responsible for a relationship with the press corps that has often turned antagonistic. The 's team has hinted that they may change the way reporters are treated, and possibly eliminate the daily press briefing, after a campaign during which Mr. Trump frequently derided reporters as dishonest. Ms. Conway, 49, who took over as Mr. Trump's campaign manager in August, shortly after the Republican convention, guided him through a brutal and divisive campaign, often appearing on television to vouch for him during periods of scandal or controversy. She stood by Mr. Trump after a 2005 tape surfaced in which he boasted about groping women, proving her loyalty and helping secure her position as someone who will have the president's ear on a wide variety of topics. In a statement, the said Ms. Conway would continue her role as a \"close adviser,\" responsible for helping carry out his priorities and delivering his message from inside the White House. \"She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message,\" Mr. Trump said. \"I am pleased that she will be part of my senior team in the West Wing. \" Jason Miller, a Republican operative who was an early spokesman for Mr. Trump during the campaign, will become the communications director at the White House, transition officials announced. Hope Hicks, who served as a campaign spokeswoman, will become the director of strategic communications, and Dan Scavino will be the director of social media. The new members of the staff will have the power to shape Mr. Trump's presence in Washington as he makes the transition from businessman to president. The is also under pressure from his supporters to deal aggressively with the national press corps. And his political advisers will help guide him through a potentially contentious relationship with some members of Congress, including ones from his own party. The West Wing sweepstakes has provoked a weekslong roiling debate within Mr. Trump's circle over who should fill prime posts. It also reflected the 's apparent dissatisfaction with some of his options for who would appear at the White House podium as press secretary. Mr. Trump had hoped to have a woman at least share those briefing duties. But after Ms. Conway declined, Mr. Trump eventually dismissed alternatives that could have signaled a more hostile approach to the press, such as the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Fox News host and commentator. Mr. Spicer, 45, is a fierce advocate for Mr. Trump and can be combative with reporters. But he is also a familiar face in Washington, having served for years as the chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee. His ascension to one of the most visible jobs in Washington represents a victory for Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and the incoming chief of staff, in internal jockeying with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump's as well as with Stephen K. Bannon, who will be Mr. Trump's chief White House strategist, and Vice Mike Pence. Mr. Trump is deeply fond of Ms. Conway, whose job as counselor will give her frequent access to the president. Considered a \"Trump whisperer\" during the campaign, and someone who was particularly adept at explaining his appeal to voters, Ms. Conway will serve as one of the chief protectors of Mr. Trump's political brand. She also has been a favorite strategist for other conservative candidates, such as Newt Gingrich during the 2012 presidential race, and she was an adviser to Mr. Pence during his run for governor of Indiana. She has reportedly clashed at times with Mr. Priebus and Mr. Kushner. Both men were frustrated when she gave a series of interviews in which she criticized Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, who was being considered for secretary of state despite having been a key figure of opposition to Mr. Trump during the campaign. With a approach that has appealed to Mr. Trump, Ms. Conway was credited during the campaign \u2014 even by Democrats who opposed her \u2014 with smoothing out some of Mr. Trump's most jagged edges during her appearances on television. In the coming days, Mr. Trump is also expected to name three deputy chiefs of staff to help Mr. Priebus manage the sprawling operations at the White House. Among those being considered for these posts are Katie Walsh, who was the chief of staff at the Republican National Committee Joe Hagin, who was the deputy chief of staff for operations through most of George W. Bush's administration and Rick A. Dearborn, who was the chief of staff to Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who has been selected by Mr. Trump to serve as attorney general. Tending to Mr. Trump's relationships in Washington is likely to fall, in part, to Bill Stepien, who is in line to be the new political director. Mr. Stepien once played that role as the longtime political adviser to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, but was fired for his part in the scandal involving a plot to punish a Democratic mayor by closing traffic lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge. Mr. Stepien has been credited by Mr. Kushner and Mr. Bannon, who brought him on board in August, with helping them secure Mr. Trump's victory in November. It is unclear how Mr. Trump intends to use David Bossie, who left the conservative nonprofit group Citizens United to be the deputy campaign manager, and was among Mr. Trump's earliest informal advisers about a presidential run. Mr. Bossie frequently clashed with Mr. Priebus, and Mr. Trump was dissatisfied with him by the end of the campaign. He has sought to be a deputy chief of staff. One loyal aide who will not be joining the president's White House staff is Corey Lewandowski, who was recruited to be Mr. Trump's first campaign manager at the recommendation of Mr. Bossie. Mr. Lewandowski, who was fired from the campaign early last summer, waged the most visible fight for a role at the White House. In the end, though, he will remain outside the gates, announcing on Twitter on Wednesday that he has set up a Washington public relations and consulting business a block from the White House. \"I will always be President Trump's biggest supporter,\" Mr. Lewandowski wrote in a news release announcing the new business, Avenue Strategies. The of the firm is Barry Bennett, who managed the presidential campaign of Ben Carson Mr. Lewandowski brought him onto the Trump campaign after Mr. Carson dropped out.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump has re-tweeted anti-Islam videos originally posted by Jayda Fransen, a leader of a far-right British party convicted earlier in November of abusing a Muslim woman. Fransen is deputy leader of the anti-immigrant Britain First group. Here are some details about her organization: Britain First was founded in 2011 by leader Paul Golding with a membership of three individuals. It describes itself as a \"patriotic political party and street movement\", although critics denounce it as a far-right, racist organization. \"Britain First is committed to preserving our ancestral ethnic and cultural heritage, traditions, customs and values,\" it says on its website. It wants to deport all illegal immigrants, halt all further immigration, and introduce \"a comprehensive ban on the religion of Islam\" with headscarves being outlawed in public. \"Anyone found to be promoting the ideology of Islam will be subject to deportation or imprisonment,\" its policy platform states. It holds protests across the country, usually attended by a couple of hundred supporters at most, many of whom hold white crosses because the group argues Christianity in Britain is being threatened by immigration and the growth of militant Islam. Golding was a former senior figure in the far-right British National Party and was elected a local councillor in 2009. In his biography on the group's website it says he was \"sent to prison in 2016 for confronting a Muslim hate preacher who was secretly recorded saying it's okay for Muslims to keep sex slaves\". Golding stood for election as London mayor in May 2016, winning 31,372 votes, 1.2 percent of all cast. Fransen, who was elected deputy leader in 2014, was convicted of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2017, and both she and Golding are facing further similar charges. The group gained prominence in June 2016 when Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot dead on the street by a Nazi-obsessed loner who witnesses said had been shouting \"Britain first\" during the attack. Fransen told Reuters the killer had nothing to do with her group.","label":0}
{"text":"Two influential U.S. Congressmen have asked the World Health Organization's cancer agency to get ready to testify about its work assessing if substances cause cancer, citing concerns about its \"scientific integrity\". Their letter to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), seen by Reuters and sent on Wednesday, is part of ongoing investigations by two Congressional committees into IARC that were fueled by the agency's review of glyphosate, the primary ingredient of Monsanto Co's weedkiller Roundup. A letter to IARC director Chris Wild from the Republican chairmen of the House Committee on Science and the Subcommittee on Environment said they are \"concerned about the scientific integrity\" of IARC's \"monograph\" program, which assesses whether various substances can cause cancer in people. IARC, a semi-autonomous part of the WHO based in Lyon, France, has in recent years assessed whether substances as diverse as coffee, mobile phones and processed meat cause cancer - reports that have all caused controversy. A spokeswoman for IARC said she could not immediately comment on whether the letter had been received. IARC says its methods are scientifically sound and its monographs are \"widely respected for their scientific rigor, standardized and transparent process and ... freedom from conflicts of interest\". In a second letter seen by Reuters, the Congressmen, Lamar Smith and Andy Biggs, expressed concern that IARC's assessment meetings, deliberations and drafts are not made public. \"It is an affront to scientific integrity to keep 'confidential' a scientific process that directly influences policy and individual taxpayers,\" Smith and Biggs wrote. \"With United States' taxpayer dollars funding (part of the monograph program), it is this (Science) Committee's duty to ensure sound science and transparency within the agency.\" Citing data from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the letter to Wild said that since 1985, IARC has received more than $48 million from NIH, more than $22 million of which went to the monographs program. It added that Smith's Committee on Science, Space and Technology may soon hold a hearing to receive testimony from IARC on how it conducts its reviews. It asked Wild to provide \"names and contact information of IARC-affiliated individuals who would serve as potential witnesses for this hearing\". The second letter, sent on Wednesday to acting U.S. Health Secretary Eric Hargan, asked his department to provide \"all documents and communications between or among members of the IARC monograph program and any research institutes or agencies within HHS.\" In this letter, the lawmakers said their aim was to understand the extent to which the taxpayer-funded National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institutes of Health are involved with IARC's monograph process. This is \"to ensure scientific integrity and an honest use of taxpayer dollars\", the letter said. In an assessment in 2015 that put it at odds with many government regulators, including those in the United States, Europe and Japan, IARC classified glyphosate as \"probably carcinogenic\". A Reuters investigation in October found that a draft of a key section of IARC's assessment of glyphosate underwent significant changes before the report was made public. Reuters also reported in June on how the chairman of the IARC glyphosate panel was aware of new data showing no link between the weed-killer and cancer in humans, but the agency did not take it into account because it had not been published. The Congressional committee letters cited these Reuters investigations as well as other media reports, saying they revealed \"troubling evidence\" about the way IARC operates. In the letters, Smith and Biggs asked IARC to respond by Nov. 8, and the department of Health and Human Services to respond by Nov. 15.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Judge James Robart emerged from relative obscurity on Saturday as the first jurist to come under fire from the president since he took office after his temporary order to lift Donald Trump's immigration ban. In a reaction that went viral on Twitter, Trump called the 69-year-old Robart a \"so-called judge\" whose \"ridiculous\" opinion \"essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country.\" To those who know Robart, who has been on the federal bench in Seattle for more than a decade after his appointment by another Republican, President George W. Bush, the ensuing drama surrounding the move was a far cry from the judge's standard. \"He is relatively apolitical,\" said Douglas Adkins, a private equity investor and former investment banker who has known Robart since childhood. \"He's not a conservative or a liberal. He's a man interested in the law and fairness.\" Late on Friday, Robart grabbed national headlines with his decision to temporarily lift Trump's week-old travel ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries and refugees. His ruling was just a first step in considering the merits of the case challenging the ban. The Justice Department on Saturday filed a formal notice that it intends to appeal the ruling. As a candidate, Trump had criticized federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was overseeing a case against his Trump University - arguing Curiel could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage and Trump's vow to crack down on Mexican immigrants. But by lashing out at Robart as president, Trump's anti-judiciary stance takes on new importance: it hits at the very heart of the checks and balances system meant to protect the country from government abuse of power. Coincidentally, in his wide-reaching ruling on Friday, Robart emphasized that the three branches of government - the executive branch, Congress and the judiciary - should function as equals. \"The work of the Judiciary, and this court, is limited to ensuring that the actions taken by the other two branches comport with our country's laws, and more importantly, our constitution,\" Robart wrote. Reached by email, Robart declined to comment on Trump's tweets. A graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and Georgetown University Law Center, Robart spent 30 years in private practice at the law firm now known as Lane Powell, before being appointed to the bench by Bush in 2004. Adkins said Robart and his wife have no children but have been foster parents to several immigrant children over the years, primarily from Southeast Asia. Robart could not be reached for comment. The judge served in the past as the president of the Seattle Children's Home and was a former trustee of the Children's Home Society of Washington, according to his official biography on the federal court website. Those organizations provide mental health services for at-risk youth and help troubled families. \"His involvement with children may have helped contribute to his understanding of the people impacted by this ruling but would not have shaped his interpretation of the rule of law,\" said Paul Lawrence, who was one of the attorneys who filed an amicus brief backing Washington State in the immigration case. During his confirmation hearing, Robart recalled providing pro-bono legal services early in his career to \"people who in many times felt that the legal system was stacked against them.\" He said he learned that the law \"could be, if properly used, an opportunity for them to seek redress if they had been wronged,\" according to a transcript of the testimony. Often sporting bow-ties with his black robes, Robart is known for saying from the bench in 2016 that \"black lives matter.\" He cited the statement popularized by protesters during a hearing about a 2012 consent decree with the federal government that required the Seattle police department to address allegations of bias and excessive force. In 2011, Robart put a temporary hold on a state rule change that would have cut government funding for disabled children and families in Washington. \"When faced with a conflict between the financial and budgetary concerns ... and the preventable human suffering,\" Robart wrote in that opinion, \"the balance of hardships tips in the favor of preventing human suffering.\" Adkins said he thought his friend would be able to take Trump's attacks in stride. \"His view is that criticism is important,\" said Adkins.","label":0}
{"text":"Saad al-Hariri, who resigned from his post as Lebanon s prime minister two weeks ago from Saudi Arabia, said on Friday he has been in Saudi for discussions on the future of the situation in Lebanon and its relations with the surrounding Arab region . Writing on Twitter, Hariri also said information which has been circulating about his stay, his departure and his family are just rumors .","label":0}
{"text":"With the nation focused on anti-LGBT religious liberty battles, a Mississippi landlord has done something that brings focus back to one of our nation s prior fights over religious liberty the right to discriminate against interracial couples. In 2011, a poll taken among Republicans in the Red state of Mississippi revealed that a shocking 46 percent of them want to ban interracial marriages outright.In 1946, then-Mississippi Governor Theodore Bilbo wrote that [p]urity of race is a gift of God And God, in his infinite wisdom, has so ordained it that when man destroys his racial purity, it can never be redeemed and that God was the original segregationist. He may be dead, and African-Americans may have rights now (including the freedom to marry anyone they choose) that they did not have when Bilbo was in charge, but his spirit lives on in RV park landlord Gene Baker, who admitted over the weekend that he evicted an interracial couple simply because they were an interracial couple. Me and my husband, not ever in 10 years have we experienced any problem, said Erica Flores Dunahoo, who is Hispanic and Native American. Nobody s given us dirty looks. This is our first time. Her husband, a former National Guardsman of more than a decade, is black something that bothers the racist landlord s friends, neighbors, and church.In February, Dunahoo and her husband, Standley Hoskins, and their two children were set to move into an RV sace to save money and get our life on track, the lighter half of the interracial couple explained. On February 28, she gave Baker a check for $275 to pay for a month s rent. This should have been the end of it she paid her rent and inexchange she should have been allowed to stay. In fact, there were no problems that first day. He was real nice, she said. He invited me to church and gave me a hug. I bragged on him to my family. Unfortunately, the next morning, Baker called her, fuming:Dunahoo told him that she didn t realize it would be a problem. It is, after all, 2016. Oh, it s a big problem with the members of my church, my community and my mother-in-law, Baker told her. They don t allow that black and white shacking. We re not shacking. We re married, she replied, but Baker would have none of it, explaining that it s the same thing. You don t talk like you wouldn t be with no black man, the church-going Christian continued. If you would had come across like you were with a black man, we wouldn t have this problem right now. Dunahoo explained that her husband is not a thug, and told Baker of his distinguished and lengthy service to our country, but that didn t matter to the landlord. All he saw was black. He returned the $275 and forced them to leave. They took refuge at another RV park, where rent is higher $325 a month.Baker maintains that he is not a racist, telling the Clarion-Ledger that he only refused to provide a space to the couple because of the issues members of his church and community had with a black man and a light-skinned woman shacking. He even says they would be welcome to attend his church. They just could not be members, because the church does not believe in interracial marriage.To avoid future issues, he plans to completely close his RV park down just in case he ever encounters another interracial couple who wishes to rent a space: I m closing it down, and that solves the problem. Recently, the Mississippi state Senate passed a religious liberty bill allowing businesses to deny service to the LGBT community just like they used to do (and some individuals currently still do) with interracial couples.Hate is hate and unfortunately the state of Mississippi is full of it, apparently.Watch a report on this blatant and unabashed act of discrimination below:","label":1}
{"text":"Senior defense officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan held trilateral talks and urged North Korea to walk away from its destructive and reckless path of weapons development, the U.S. military said in a statement. Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford hosted his South Korean and Japanese counterparts at the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii on Sunday to exchange views on North Korea s recent long-range ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Together they called upon North Korea to refrain from irresponsible provocations that aggravate regional tensions, and to walk away from its destructive and reckless path of development, the statement said.","label":0}
{"text":"Russia's countersanctions for Syria will hit the West below the belt 08.11.2016 Print version Font Size The West and Russia are entering the third year of the war of sanctions . Washington threatens to impose new sanctions against Russia, this time for Syria. Russia will take \"painful measures\" in response, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. Pravda.Ru offers the list of counter sanctions that we made up on the basis of experts' opinions. 1. Russia's first answer would be the abolition of neo-liberal economic policies and transition to a new economic development strategy . This will block channels of Western influence on our country and thus become the most asymmetric, but a tough answer to Western sanctions, said Ruslan Dzarasov, Doctor of Economics, head of the department of political economy at the Russian Economic University named after Plekhanov.The expert noted that \"we continue to adhere to the export growth model, taking capital to the West and forming the budget on the basis of financial interests of capital rather than domestic consumers.\" Russia, the expert said, should introduce a combination of state planning and market sector, \"similar to what the USSR was doing during the 1920s .\"\"The state should ensure the financial transparency of corporations, expand the rights of trade unions and workers, strengthen social control over big business, show influence on the formation prices in economy to eliminate price disparity in favor of the mining export sector to the detriment of the manufacturing industry,\" Ruslan Dzarasov told Pravda.Ru.2. Russia could refuse from saving its reserves in US dollars . Russia does not take the first place in terms of dollar savings in the world, but it could still cause a serious blow on the Western financial system, Valentin Katasonov, Doctor of Economics, Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Finance, the head of Russian Economic Society named after S.F. Sharapov, told Pravda.Ru.\"A lot of Russia's liabilities in national gold and currency reserves are nominated in US dollars. Should they are put on the market, the US dollar will suffer greatly ,\" leading expert at the Union of Oil and Gas Industrialists, Rustam Tankan said. Noteworthy, some privately run Russian companies already abandon the US dollar in their activities. Megafon, one of Russia's three leading cellular providers, converted about 40 percent of dollar deposits in euros and Hong Kong dollars. The company transferred the funds to accounts in major Chinese banks. Norilsk Nickel took similar measures. The Hong Kong dollar is a Chinese foreign clone of the dollar, and the USA is unable to impose any sanctions on this currency . Russia has started abandoning from the US dollar as a reserve currency by opening the Raw Materials Exchange of St. Petersburg, where Russian energy carriers are traded in rubles. 3. Russia could freeze assets of US investors in the Russian economy . \"Foreign citizens are the ultimate beneficiaries of our shadow holdings. There are tricky financial mechanisms in the timber industry, for instance,\" Igor Gerasimov, member of the Committee for Business Security at the Chamber of Commerce, security expert, told Pravda.Ru. The shadow mechanism works as follows. A wood-working company does most of the work, while most of the profit goes to a \"general contractor.\" The latter pays the company a relative price for production, plus a minimum profit. Most of the profit goes to specific individuals, to accounts of foreign companies. Therefore, Russia could adopt laws about the nationalization of natural resources and city-forming enterprises, said Igor Gerasimov.4. The State Duma of the Russian Federation has already discussed a draft law to relieve state-run and privately-owned Russian companies from debts totaling $700 billion . These debts are held by Western banks of the countries that threatened to impose sanctions against Russia.5. Sanctions in the field of high technology will be no less sensitive. \"Russian titanium will cease to arrive at European companies, and this will certainly be a very significant act of pressure on our partners,\" Alexei Mukhin, general director of the Center for Political Information told Pravda.Ru. Boeing and United Technologies, as well as Europe's Airbus Group, purchase most of their titanium from Avisma, a Russian company, which happens to be the world's largest titanium producer . Yet, it goes about only 30 percent of needs. The USA remains entirely dependent on Russia in the field of rocket engines . RD-180 is a six-ton liquid rocket engine with a thrust of more than 400 tons. The USA has been using Russian rocket engines since 2000. US Congress passed the budget, which provided for the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase an \"unlimited\" number of RD-180 rocket engines. 6. Russia's sanctions against Western airlines would lead to their elimination . A great deal of airlines fly across the territory of Russia and save a lot of money on this, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Andrei Klimov, told Pravda.Ru.\"If all of a sudden, the Russian authorities try to do something in this field, it will generate huge profits to companies from such countries as the United Arab Emirates, but at the same time it will cause serious financial damage to German, French and other air carriers,\" - said the expert.7. Many large companies in the West have a strong lobby in legislative authorities. Therefore, the input of targeted sanctions under the pretext of violation of rules and regulations would be a very strong response . Starting from 1 November 2016, Russia banned imports of salt from the EU, the US, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Albania and Ukraine. On February 15, 2016 Russia banned imports of soybeans and corn from the United States, including through third countries. Russia still imports various food products from the United States, spending millions of dollars a year (PepsiCo, Starbucks, Cargill, McDonald's), pharmaceuticals (Pfizer), cosmetic products (Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson), plastics, machinery, textiles, footwear, automobiles (Ford, General Motors) as well as products under the \"secret code\" worth $554 million in the first half of 2016. Lyuba Lulko Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru Is Russia scared of Western sanctions?","label":1}
{"text":"It s somewhat terrifying listening to how some of how our young people praise Donald Trump and how he d like to govern the country. It s also more than disconcerting when you hear them just parrot talking points that have no basis in reality. Such as, Conservative values are ensuring that the government doesn t get too involved in people s lives. They ve apparently never witnessed their conservative legislators trying to dictate the lives of women and the LGBT community. Maybe they mean their lives other people, well, that s different.You ll also hear these kids talk about the standard catch phrases like family values, which has been code for hating gays for a very long time, as well as limited government which is code for limited regulations on business. Because as aforementioned, they have no problem making sure government gets involved in the lives of those they don t agree with.These young cons even had the audacity to say: The worst Republican is better than the best Democrat. Really? Where the hell did you hear that? And most of these young conservatives would actually vote for Donald Trump if he were to become the nominee. However, not all of them have fallen for The Donald s schtick.You really need to witness the insanity for yourself. Caution, you ll be left wondering where our society went wrong.\/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]&gt;Here s what young conservatives have to say about Donald Trump.Posted by ATTN: on Tuesday, February 9, 2016Video\/Featured image: Facebook","label":1}
{"text":"Every year, about 30 Americans die in avalanches, with an additional 110 deaths in Canada and Europe. Skiers and snowmobilers account for the vast majority of these deaths. Jordy Hendrikx has lost friends and a student to such disasters. An earth sciences professor and director of the Snow and Avalanche Laboratory at Montana State University, Dr. Hendrikx studied the geophysics of snow for a decade before he decided that, to prevent avalanche accidents, human behavior in the backcountry needed to be better understood. Scientists and avalanche forecasters have a good grasp on how weather and terrain contribute to avalanches. Research suggests that statistical avalanche forecasts have about an 80 percent accuracy rate, and forecasts made with expert judgment tend to be even more accurate. But human activity is a huge \u2014 and unpredictable \u2014 factor in avalanches. \"Avalanches aren't just acts of God,\" Dr. Hendrikx said. \"About 90 percent of avalanche victims trigger the avalanche themselves. \" These accidents are rarely a result of ignorance. People traveling in the backcountry usually understand avalanche forecasts and know how to read the terrain. What they are unaware of, Dr. Hendrikx believes, \"is how they make decisions in a group, under different settings and different pressures. \" To untangle these processes, Dr. Hendrikx teamed up with Jerry Johnson, a professor of political science at Montana State University, to start their Tracks Project in 2013. The project relies on backcountry skiers and snowmobilers who record their slope movements and answer survey questions using their smartphones. The researchers have collected reports from more than 800 people around the world. Among their preliminary findings, some are intuitive. Older people, especially those with children, make more conservative decisions. Young, groups take more risks. Those firmly set on a goal, like conquering a new slope, make riskier choices. Other findings are more surprising. Though going out alone in the backcountry tends to be seen as risky, project respondents who were solo travelers tended to make safer choices than those who traveled in larger groups. Some evidence suggests larger groups make riskier decisions. Part of that may be peer pressure or a desire to show off. Part of it may be the expert halo, which causes people to blindly defer to the perceived authority in the group instead of communicating about perceived dangers. Faced with the same avalanche conditions, experts chose steeper terrain, where avalanches are more likely to be triggered, than others. The Tracks Project follows work from an avalanche researcher named Ian McCammon, who, in the early 2000s, analyzed 715 recreational avalanche fatalities in the United States across three decades. Among other findings, he suggested that skiers took more risks when they were familiar with a route or when competing for \"first tracks\" on fresh powder. Unlike Dr. McCammon, Dr. Johnson explained, \"we're also looking at the good side of the story, which is that 99 percent of people are using the terrain appropriately. \" Though the number of people engaging in backcountry sports has surged in the last decade, the accident rate has remained steady. From survey responses, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Hendrikx have found that groups that preplanned routes and made communication a priority made better decisions. People who dug pits to assess snow characteristics or looked for recent avalanche activity before going down a slope sometimes changed routes to avoid danger. The researchers hope their findings can help improve avalanche education. They also believe their research can help others who traverse tricky terrain in their work, such as wildland firefighters and military personnel. These wider implications drive Dr. Hendrikx. \"At some point, I realized I could spend the next 10 years looking at the minute details of how snow surface crystals form, and maybe save one or two lives,\" he said. \"But really understanding the matrix, and how group dynamics affect it \u2014 I felt this is where I could make the biggest impact, and ultimately, save more lives. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Iowa Girl Faces Death: Life Destroyed by Gardasil Vaccine  by Health Impact News  The VAXXED film crew continues interviewing people who are vaccine damaged around the country. They were recently in Iowa, and interviewed the family of Sydney Weggen.  Sydney states that before Gardasil she used to dance up to 5 hours every day, but now she does not dance at all.  Her school recommended to her parents that she get the Tdap vaccine, because a student in her class with pertussis \"coughed on\" her. Sydney was almost 11 years old at that time.  When they took her to their doctor to get the pertussis vaccine, they were offered the Gardasil vaccine as well. Because they had seen many commercials on TV for the Gardasil shot, and because the doctor was recommending it, they consented and Sydney received the first Gardasil shot. She also received the second and third shots a few months apart.  Sydney began to have appetite problems, not being able to eat much. She began to lose weight. She lost over 20 lbs. before her 12th birthday and became anemic. Doctors thought at this point it was a psychiatric problem, and not physical. The parents were told it was \"all in her head.\"  As her condition continued to deteriorate, blood work done suggested there was something physical going on, and she was referred to the university hospital to check for some autoimmune sickness, such as Crohn's Disease or Lupus.  After being admitted to the University of Iowa Hospital, they ran further tests. Her right lung was found full of fluid. But the doctors could not figure out what the problem was, and so they waited for more specialists to look at her.  As they waited, her weight dropped to only 66 lbs., and her parents realized that she was dying.  Someone suggested they take her to the Mayo clinic so they could get some answers. After spending $20,000.00 on tests, they were still not getting results. They had to put a stent in to get her lung to keep functioning.   VaccineImpact.com.  Watch the entire interview: More information about Gardasil Leaving a lucrative career as a nephrologist (kidney doctor), Dr. Suzanne Humphries is now free to actually help cure people. In this autobiography she explains why good doctors are constrained within the current corrupt medical system from practicing real, ethical medicine. FREE Shipping Available! Order here . Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations \u2013 Should Their Views be Silenced? eBook \u2013 Available for immediate download.  One of the biggest myths being propagated in the compliant mainstream media today is that doctors are either pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine, and that the anti-vaccine doctors are all \"quacks.\"  However, nothing could be further from the truth in the vaccine debate. Doctors are not unified at all on their positions regarding \"the science\" of vaccines, nor are they unified in the position of removing informed consent to a medical procedure like vaccines.  The two most extreme positions are those doctors who are 100% against vaccines and do not administer them at all, and those doctors that believe that ALL vaccines are safe and effective for ALL people, ALL the time, by force if necessary.  Very few doctors fall into either of these two extremist positions, and yet it is the extreme pro-vaccine position that is presented by the U.S. Government and mainstream media as being the dominant position of the medical field.  In between these two extreme views, however, is where the vast majority of doctors practicing today would probably categorize their position. Many doctors who consider themselves \"pro-vaccine,\" for example, do not believe that every single vaccine is appropriate for every single individual.  Many doctors recommend a \"delayed\" vaccine schedule for some patients, and not always the recommended one-size-fits-all CDC childhood schedule. Other doctors choose to recommend vaccines based on the actual science and merit of each vaccine, recommending some, while determining that others are not worth the risk for children, such as the suspect seasonal flu shot.  These doctors who do not hold extreme positions would be opposed to government-mandated vaccinations and the removal of all parental exemptions.  In this eBook, I am going to summarize the many doctors today who do not take the most extremist pro-vaccine position, which is probably not held by very many doctors at all, in spite of what the pharmaceutical industry, the federal government, and the mainstream media would like the public to believe. Read : Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations \u2013 Should Their Views be Silenced? on your mobile device!","label":1}
{"text":"If you ve ever wondered why suddenly, now, Christian conservatives are making a huge stink over where people go to the bathroom, grab a match and take a look at this attack ad in Texas.Mail piece says @BriscoeCain is well known to those who frequent gay bars in Montrose section of Houston #TxLege pic.twitter.com\/fqMH682gWz Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) May 20, 2016On its face, it looks like a pretty standard below the belt political attack ad. It might make a candidate an asshole and a bigot to spread unfounded rumors that your opponent is gay, but on the next page is where the real insight into the Republican party is: Irony: Mailer against a Hotze-backed candidate, @BriscoeCain, says he should be kept out of men s bathrooms #TxLege pic.twitter.com\/wLOzL3nQRY Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) May 20, 2016The transgender bathroom laws that are popping up across the country are not specifically about transgender people. Once the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality was the law of the land, anti-gay bigots had to take their fight elsewhere. Besides, gay marriage might not be so bad if you don t actually have to see people *gasp* holding hands or *I feel faint* kissing. What s a better way to keep people out of the public than to ban them from using public restrooms?If you think this is a bit of a stretch, think about the bathroom laws themselves. Imagine a very masculine looking man, who happened to have been born with a vagina. Do women, who already see predators around every corner, really want to share a bathroom with him? Should a woman, feminine in every way except for what s between her legs, be forced to use the men s room? Of course not. Anti-LGBT conservatives don t want them to use the bathroom at all, just like Briscoe Cain s opponent doesn t want him in bathrooms.Yes, this is just one person, but this guy (unfortunately, not a Republican) feels that gay people should have their own bathrooms. You know, separate, but equal.Here are a few more charmers:Keep the freaks, perverts, and Fags out of the bathrooms!! https:\/\/t.co\/owUwDcjhGz Lisa Smith (@JuliaKi96952130) May 9, 2016 i m not against gender neutral bathrooms, but can we get a faggot only restroom?For all the fags. Grant (@DieBABIP) April 28, 2016When you #fags have your own bathrooms fully designed I will support the #LGBT community in having them built across the nation> #Deal? James Perry (@fuzzydeduction) March 25, 2016 Question: Why are fags allowed to use male bathrooms? Jim Screechie (@WaHeName) October 27, 2014@Holden114 I don t really see why. Gay men can use bathrooms that little boys use. Is there something wrong with that? Brandt (@UrbanAchievr) May 13, 2016 I remember reading about how people were afraid gay men would rape boys in men s bathrooms. The news media must be covering up those reports I m fejimanz (@fejimanz) May 9, 2016why are gay men allowed in men bathrooms, they like men, why they in the same bathroom? Now the guys that cut it off, want another bathroom ASTRONAUT (@astronaut_____1) May 4, 2016 I propose we also put in bathrooms strictly for lesbians and gay men. Idk like if im peeing and a lesbian just walks in idk man Cat (@pleasecatcallme) April 26, 2016You hate fighting off unwanted advances? Try being a woman.This is why fags should not share bathrooms with us straight guys ? https:\/\/t.co\/mdV3kliW6v Mist (@HolyChanteuse) April 19, 2016Apparently, beaches should also be off limits to gay people: @zekestokes said he s gonna lead a boycott against Myrtle Beach Bc of trans bathrooms. Haha. Like we care. Who wants fags at the beach? Gator Chomper (@Swampnut) May 3, 2016Ironically, Cain is a Tea Party candidate and he s about as anti-gay as his opponent, Rep. Wayne Smith, 72. Cain is married to a woman. I suppose in most people s eyes, that makes it safe for him to pee.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told Reuters on Wednesday he expects bipartisan support for approval of a bill authorizing taxpayer and industry funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The bill to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act would let the FDA continue to collect hundreds of millions of dollars from drugmakers and medical device companies to partially cover the cost of reviewing new products, with U.S. taxpayers funding the remainder. \"It's an extremely important bill that I think we'll be able to move on a bipartisan basis,\" McConnell said in an interview. [L1N1IQ1CH] The FDA has been charging companies to review their products since 1992. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump proposed in his 2018 budget that the industry pay the full cost of drug and medical device reviews. The industry at present pays about 60 percent. That proposal is unlikely to be approved in this cycle. Reauthorization of the user fee bill is typically negotiated between the FDA and industry over a period of several years. Earlier this month, the bill was approved by a Senate panel by a 21-2 vote. It must be renegotiated every five years. The FDA reviews drugs for approval or rejection for many companies, including major ones such as Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co Inc and Johnson and Johnson. Pharmaceutical companies based overseas, including Roche Holding AG and Novartis AG, also pay these fees for U.S.-approved drugs.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump  After staying up all night playing Russian Roulette with America, I spy with Russia, and sniff & tweet with some nasty girls, Donald Trump is in trouble again! His team of babysitters woke up to chaos at the crack of Trump which turned into more cat fights amongst themselves. Donald Trump managed to grab one of them before his phone was confiscated.  One babysitter said Trump is totally out of control, he doesn't listen, and he says and does whatever he wants like a spoiled little brat! Another babysitter said if they keep paying him enough, he believes he can control him by buying him more sniffle treats, cover up his lies with bigger blankets and cause lots of tremendous distractions. Another babysitter complained that he's only hanging around because the campaign still owes him money for buying likes, retweets and followers for Donald Trump because everyone who knows him hates him unless they're getting paid and says Trump doesn't deserve to have twitter because he can't even read or write!  Melania came to her husbands defense by saying Donald has a wonderful ability to keep going and she was proud of him for still being awake at 3:00 AM, dressed as a Marionette sitting on Putin's lap, sniffling, laughing, and playing truth or dare on twitter.  Paul Ryan said he wants nothing to do with the chaos. He said he was there to look for his house keys, it's not his party, he only watched, and he didn't play!  Giuliani was found passed out with Donald Trump's shoe in his mouth mumbling drool, and Comey was found tied up on a chair in a corner rambling in and out of consciousness about giving Trump Paul Ryan's house keys and it's not his fault Trump burned his house down.  The babysitter club is so fed up, they have taken away all of Donald Trump's twitter privileges! Make DeniseVasquez's","label":1}
{"text":"Trump Raises Concern Over Members Of Urban Communities Voting More Than Zero Times ATKINSON, NH\u2014Warning supporters that the troubling practice could affect the outcome of the election, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump expressed strong concern Friday that members of urban communities were voting more than zero times, sources reported. Nation Puts 2016 Election Into Perspective By Reminding Itself Some Species Of Sea Turtles Get Eaten By Birds Just Seconds After They Hatch WASHINGTON\u2014Saying they felt anxious and overwhelmed just days before heading to the polls to decide a historically fraught presidential race, Americans throughout the country reportedly took a moment Thursday to put the 2016 election into perspective by reminding themselves that some species of sea turtles are eaten by birds just seconds after they hatch. Report: Election Day Most Americans' Only Time In 2016 Being In Same Room With Person Supporting Other Candidate WASHINGTON\u2014According to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, Election Day 2016 will, for the majority of Americans, mark the only time this year they will occupy the same room as a person who supports a different presidential candidate. Most Hotly Contested Down-Ballot Measures Of 2016 As Americans head to the polls, they will be presented with a number of issues to vote on besides choosing their representatives. The Onion gives voters an advance look at which measures will be included on the ballots in which states. New Heavy-Duty Voting Machine Allows Americans To Take Out Frustration On It Before Casting Ballot WASHINGTON\u2014Saying the circumstances of this year's presidential race made the upgrade necessary, election commissions throughout the country were reportedly working to install new heavy-duty voting machines this week that will allow Americans to physically take out their frustrations on the devices before casting their votes. Clinton Staff Readies EMP Launch To Disable All Nation's Electronic Devices NEW YORK\u2014In an effort to prepare for any new revelations that might emerge about her emails during her tenure as secretary of state, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton reportedly told her staff Tuesday to ready the launch of several electromagnetic pulses to disable all of the nation's electronic devices. End Of Section More News Up Next","label":1}
{"text":"Palestinians switched off Christmas lights at Jesus traditional birthplace in Bethlehem on Wednesday night in protest at U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. A Christmas tree adorned with lights outside Bethlehem s Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born, and another in Ramallah, next to the burial site of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, were plunged into darkness. The Christmas tree was switched off on the order of the mayor today in protest at Trump s decision, said Fady Ghattas, Bethlehem s municipal media officer. He said it was unclear whether the illuminations would be turned on again before the main Christmas festivities. In a speech in Washington, Trump said he had decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital and move the U.S. embassy to the city. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump s move marked the beginning of a new approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said it was an historic landmark . Arabs and Muslims across the Middle East condemned the U.S. decision, calling it an incendiary move in a volatile region and the European Union and United Nations also voiced alarm at the possible repercussions for any chances of reviving Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.","label":0}
{"text":"A trio of U.S., Japanese and Russian astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, a NASA TV broadcast showed. Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and flight engineers Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Scott Tingle of NASA docked their Soyuz spacecraft about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth at 0839 GMT. The docking completes their two-day journey following Sunday s blast-off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Shkaplerov, Kanai and Tingle join Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA, who have been aboard the space station since September.","label":0}
{"text":"The United Nations human rights office on Tuesday condemned attacks and threats made against its investigators by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and by senior Burundian officials. Last week Mr Duterte threatened to slap (U.N. special rapporteur Agnes) Callamard if she investigates him for alleged extrajudicial killings, U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing. He made the same threat against her in June after she criticized his war on drugs campaign which has left thousands dead, he added, referring to remarks made after her visit in May in an unofficial capacity to attend an academic conference. The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing arguments in a petition to declare Duterte s deadly war on drugs, denounced by rights groups across the world, as unconstitutional. More than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in what the police called self-defense after armed drugs suspects resisted arrest in the 16 month-long campaign. Critics say executions are taking place with zero accountability, allegations the police reject. Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, is an independent expert reporting to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Her planned visit to the Philippines last December was called off because she refused to accept Duterte s conditions. Recently she has also been subjected to a tirade of online abuse, including physical threats, during what appears to be a prolonged and well-orchestrated trolling operation across the internet and on social media , Colville said. We condemn this treatment of Ms Callamard and the disrespect it shows to the Human Rights Council that appointed her in the strongest terms, he added. On Burundi, the U.N. rights office has written to the Bujumbura government to demand that officials stop threatening with prosecution members of a U.N. Commission of Inquiry that found Burundian officials at the highest level should be held accountable for crimes against humanity, Colville said. Burundi s ambassador in New York told the U.N. General Assembly that the inquiry s report was biased and politically motivated and threatened to bring to justice its authors for defamation and attempted detribalization, he said. Burundi is an elected member of the 47-member Human Rights Council, the main U.N. rights forum. All states should cooperate with mandates established by the Council. None of them are established without good cause, Colville said.","label":0}
{"text":"Iran has sentenced to death a person found guilty of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists, Tehran s prosecutor said on Tuesday. Dolatabadi did not identify the defendant, but Amnesty International said on Monday that Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges. At least four scientists were killed between 2010 and 2012 in what Tehran said was a program of assassinations aimed at sabotaging its nuclear energy program. Iran hanged one man in 2012 over the killings, saying he had links to Israel. On the latest conviction, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the judiciary s news agency: The person had several meetings with (Israeli intelligence agency) Mossad and provided them with sensitive information about Iran s military and nuclear sites in return for money and residency in Sweden. The headline of the report described the convicted person as a Mossad agent . Amnesty said the court verdict against Djalali stated that he had worked with the Israeli government which then helped him obtain a Swedish residency permit. Neither Iran nor Amnesty said when the verdict was issued. Sweden condemned the sentence and said it had raised the matter with Iranian representatives in Stockholm and Tehran. We condemn the use of the death penalty in all its forms. The death penalty is an inhuman, cruel and irreversible punishment that has no place in modern law, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in an emailed comment. Djalali, a doctor and lecturer at Stockholm medical university the Karolinska Institute, was arrested in April 2016 and held without access to a lawyer for seven months, three of which were in solitary confinement, according to London-based Amnesty. Djalali was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that once again exposes not only the Iranian authorities steadfast commitment to (the) use of the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law, said Philip Luther, Amnesty s Middle East advocacy director. The United States has denied Iran s accusation that it was involved in the scientists deaths, while Israel has a policy of not commenting on such allegations. Dolatabadi said the convicted person gave Mossad information about 30 nuclear and military scientists including Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in Tehran. The judiciary said the defendant was also linked to the assassination of nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari, killed in a bomb attack in November 2010. Djalali s wife Vida Mehrannia, who lives in Sweden with their two children, has told Amnesty that his physical and mental health has sharply deteriorated since he was detained. We are calling for his release because he has not committed any crime, Amnesty quoted her as saying. The vice-chancellor of the Karolinska Institute, where Djalali received his PhD in disaster medicine in 2012, said he was deeply concerned. For many years, he has worked with researchers from all over the world to improve the capacity of hospitals in countries suffering from extreme poverty or affected by disasters and armed conflicts, Ole Petter Ottersen said in a statement published on the university s website. We ask that Dr Djalali be subjected to due process and fair trial.","label":0}
{"text":"Iran said on Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump cannot cause its nuclear deal with six major powers to collapse. The nuclear deal will not collapse... Those who hope that Trump will cause its collapse, are wrong, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on State TV. In October, Trump declined to certify that Iran was complying with the nuclear agreement reached among Tehran, the United States and other powers in 2015. His decision triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to bring back sanctions on Iran. Congress passed the ball back to Trump by letting the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran pass last week. Trump must decide in mid-January if he wants to continue to waive energy sanctions on Iran. Under the deal, nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran were lifted last year, in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. Iran has said it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it, but will shred the deal if Washington pulls out.","label":0}
{"text":"It was recently noted that superhero costumes were far outpacing princess ones as children's Halloween outfits of choice this year . But what would be dead last? Probably the hackneyed political groan-inducer dreamed up by Liz Cheney for her daughter.  For inexplicable reasons, Liz Cheney \u2013 daughter of America's most detestable former vice president, Dick \u2013 decided to staple a bunch of pieces of office scrap paper onto her daughter and send her to school as \"Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.\" Ugh.  On social media, proud mom Liz even boasted about the costume. Trick or treat? Our daughter Gracie went to school in the scariest of Halloween costumes: Hillary Clinton's deleted emails. #HappyHalloween pic.twitter.com\/Gs33p78FJT  \u2014 Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) October 31, 2016  It's hard to imagine a less \"cool\" thing to go as than the living embodiment of a manufactured right-wing scandal that only aging conservatives cared about in the first place. Teens, whom already lean heavily liberal, probably won't spontaneously become registered Republicans because a classmate showed up covered in paper. Making matters worse, the costume's gimmick isn't even obvious. Kids will have to go up to Gracie and ask \"So what are you supposed to be?\" And she will have to respond, time and again, \"I'm Hillary Clinton's deleted emails. Those things your grandfather was yelling about at the family reunion and quite literally nobody else is interested in.\"  And because irony died and was buried in a shallow grave this year, Liz Cheney didn't bother to justify her own father's carelessness with emails. Forget the 33,000 emails, the Bush Administration \"lost\" or \"deleted\" over 22 million. Guess whose emails \"disappeared\" most often?  Most troubling, researchers found a suspicious pattern in the White House email system blackouts, including periods when there were no emails available from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. \"That the vice president's office, widely characterized as the most powerful vice president in history, should have no archived emails in its accounts for scores of days\u2014especially days when there was discussion of whether to invade Iraq\u2014beggared the imagination,\" says Thomas Blanton, director of the Washington-based National Security Archive.  I guess stapling 22 million emails to her daughter would be a bit impractical, though. Maybe they should have stuck with a superhero costume.","label":1}
{"text":"If you live in Michigan, you know about the controversial wife of Congressman John Conyers. She s had her share of scandals and has even served 3 years in Federal prison for bribery. But this IS Detroit so anything goes Watch the video below and you ll see her in action pulling the race card Monica Conyers wasn t in a talkative mood Wednesday morning as the media camped outside her house looking for her embattled husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit. John Conyers has come under fire because of sexual harassment allegations made against him and how they were handled by his office.The Detroit Free Press reports:As she was leaving the family s house Wednesday morning, Monica Conyers said: I ll make a comment when you all disclose to me who has made the allegations. Monica Conyers became irritated with the media attention then pulled the race card: Do you all go and stalk other people s houses? Monica Conyers asked the media camped outside her house. Do you go and stalk white people s houses or just come to the black neighborhoods and stalk our houses? Monica Conyers, wife of John Conyers, accuses the media of stalking black people. Typical, a Dem goes right to race baiting. It s pretty pathetic at this point. pic.twitter.com\/v6xToqEbqW Based Monitored (@BasedMonitored) November 29, 2017Earlier, her son, John Conyers III, said it was disconcerting to see how his father was being treated in the wake of the allegations regarding the longest-serving member of the House.John Conyers III spoke to reporters early Wednesday outside his family s Detroit home, saying it s very unfortunate to see him fight so long for so many people and to automatically have the allegations assumed to be true. Conyers said her husband wasn t home and that she didn t know his whereabouts HERE S A GREAT EXAMPLE OF WHAT A NASTY WOMAN MONICA CONYERS IS: Watching this video will help anyone who is curious about why the city of Detroit continues to be bailed out of trouble like an irresponsible child with a trust fund. This video of Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers (D), wife of US Representative John Conyers helps to explain the type of character Detroit voters have been placing their trust in for decades. This is an older video, but definitely worth sharing.Shortly after this debate with an 8th grader, City Councilwoman Monica Conyers was found guilty of bribery and sent to prison for 3 years.Former Detroit City councilwoman, Monica Conyers was sentenced to more than three years in prison for bribery after a federal judge refused to set aside her guilty plea during a stormy court hearing dominated by a dispute over evidence of other payoffs.As guards cleared the packed courtroom, Monica Conyers yelled that she planned to appeal. The wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., wanted to withdraw her guilty plea, suggesting she was the victim of badgering last year when she admitted taking cash to support a Houston company s sludge contract with the city.But U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, reviewing a transcript of the June hearing, said Conyers had denied any coercion and voluntarily pleaded guilty to conspiracy.Conyers, 45, is the biggest catch so far in the FBI s wide-ranging investigation of corruption in Detroit city government. Nine people have pleaded guilty, including two former directors of the downtown convention center, and prosecutors have promised more charges are coming. Bribery is a betrayal of trust, Cohn told Conyers after announcing a 37-month prison term for her egregious crime. She quit the council after pleading guilty in June.Conyers plea deal was limited to taking bribes to support a contract with Synagro worth $47 million a year. But the recent trial of her former aide, Sam Riddle, exposed a series of alleged schemes involving others making payoffs to do business at city hall.Prosecutors said Riddle and Conyers collected $69,500 by shaking people down and urged Cohn to consider the alleged crimes when sentencing her. Defense lawyer Steve Fishman firmly objected and demanded a separate hearing.Conyers declared, I m not going to jail for something I didn t do. Before the hearing, Conyers moved around the courtroom like a playful host, blowing kisses to supporters while wearing dark sunglasses. Her husband, who has an office in the federal courthouse, was not in the courtroom. Spokesman Jonathan Godfrey said he didn t know his whereabouts. Via: Huff PostDespite her going to prison, losing her political job and often embarrassing the family with her behavior in City Hall, U.S. Rep. John Conyers does not want a divorce from his feisty wife, Monica Conyers, his lawyer told the Free Press on Monday.The former Detroit city councilwoman filed for divorce last month, claiming the marriage has fallen apart beyond repair. But her 86-year-old husband wants to work things out. Detroit Free Press","label":1}
{"text":"Has the United States mismanaged the ascent of China? By April 15, the Treasury Department is required to present to Congress a report on the exchange rate policies of the country's major trading partners, intended to identify manipulators that cheapen their currency to make their exports more attractive and gain market share in the United States, a designation that could eventually lead to retaliation. It would be hard, these days, to find an economist who feels China fits the bill. Under a trade law passed in 2015, a country must meet three criteria: It would have to have a \"material\" trade surplus with the rest of the world, have a \"significant\" surplus with the United States, and intervene persistently in foreign exchange markets to push its currency in one direction. While China's surplus with the United States is pretty big \u2014 almost $350 billion \u2014 its global surplus is modest, at 2. 4 percent of its gross domestic product last year. Most significant, it has been pushing its currency up, not down. Since the middle of 2014 it has sold over $1 trillion from its reserves to prop up the renminbi, under pressure from capital flight by Chinese companies and savers. Even President Trump \u2014 who as a candidate promised to label China a currency manipulator on Day 1 and put a 45 percent tariff on imports of Chinese goods \u2014 seems to be backing away from broad, immediate retaliation. And yet the temptation remains. \"When you talk about currency manipulation, when you talk about devaluations,\" the Chinese \"are world champions,\" Mr. Trump told The Financial Times, ahead of the state visit of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to the United States last week. For all Mr. Trump's random impulsiveness and bluster \u2014 and despite his lack of a coherent strategy to engage with what is likely soon to become the world's biggest economy \u2014 he is not entirely alone with his views. Many learned economists and policy experts ruefully acknowledge that the president's intuition is broadly right: While labeling China a currency manipulator now would look ridiculous, the United States should have done it a long time ago. \"With the benefit of hindsight, China should have been named,\" said Brad Setser, an expert on international economics and finance who worked in the Obama administration and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations. There were reasonable arguments against putting China on the spot and starting a process that could eventually lead to American retaliation. Yet by not pushing back against China's currency manipulation, and allowing China to deploy an arsenal of trade tactics of dubious legality to increase exports to the United States, successive administrations \u2014 Republican and Democratic \u2014 arguably contributed to the economic dislocations that pummeled so many American workers over more than a decade. Those dislocations helped propel Mr. Trump to power. From 2000 to 2014 China definitely suppressed the rise of the renminbi to maintain a competitive advantage for its exports, buying dollars hand over fist and adding $4 trillion to its foreign reserves over the period. Until 2005, the Chinese government kept the renminbi pegged to the dollar, following it down as the greenback slid against other major currencies starting in 2003. American multinationals were flocking into China, taking advantage of its entry into the World Trade Organization in December 2001, which guaranteed access to the American and other world markets for its exports. By 2007, China's broad trade surplus hit 10 percent of its gross domestic product \u2014 an imbalance for an economy this large. And its surplus with the United States amounted to a full third of the American deficit with the world. Though the requirement that the Treasury identify currency manipulators \"gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade\" dates back to the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, China was never called out. There were good reasons. Or at least they seemed so at the time. For one, China hands in the administration of George W. Bush argued that putting China on the spot would make negotiations more difficult, because even Chinese leaders who understood the need to allow their currency to rise could not be seen to bow to American pressure. Labeling China a manipulator could have severely hindered progress in other areas of a complex bilateral economic relationship. And the United States had bigger fish to fry. \"There were other dimensions of China's economic policies that were seen as more important to U. S. economic and business interests,\" Eswar Prasad, who headed the China desk at the International Monetary Fund and is now a professor at Cornell, told me. These included \"greater market access, better intellectual property rights protection, easier access to investment opportunities, etc. \" At the end of the day, economists argued at the time, Chinese exchange rate policies didn't cost the United States much. After all, in 2007 the United States was operating at full employment. The trade deficit was because of Americans' dismal savings rate and supercharged consumption, not a cheap renminbi. After all, if Americans wanted to consume more than they created, they had to get it somewhere. And the United States had a stake in China's rise. A crucial strategic goal of American foreign policy since Mao's death had been how to peacefully incorporate China into the existing order of economies, bound by international law into the fabric of the postwar multilateral institutions. And the strategy even worked \u2014 a little bit. China did allow its currency to rise a little from 2005 to 2008. And when the financial crisis hit, it took the foot off the export pedal and deployed a giant fiscal stimulus, which bolstered internal demand. Yet though these arguments may all be true, they omitted an important consideration: The overhaul of the world economy imposed by China's global rise also created losers. In a set of influential papers that have come to inform the thinking about the United States' relations with China, David Autor, Daron Acemoglu and Brendan Price from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Gordon Hanson from the University of California, San Diego and David Dorn from the University of Zurich concluded that lots of American workers, in many communities, suffered a blow from which they never recovered. Rising Chinese imports from 1999 to 2011 cost up to 2. 4 million American jobs, one paper estimated. Another found that sagging wages in local labor markets exposed to Chinese competition reduced earnings by $213 per adult per year. Economic theory posited that a developed country like the United States would adjust to import competition by moving workers into more advanced industries that competed successfully in global markets. In the real world of American workers exposed to the rush of imports after China erupted onto world markets, the adjustment didn't happen. If mediocre job prospects and low wages didn't stop American families from consuming, it was because the American financial system was flush with Chinese cash and willing to lend, financing their homes and refinancing them to buy the furniture. But that equilibrium didn't end well either, did it? What it left was a lot of betrayed anger floating around among many Americans on the wrong end of these dynamics. \"By not following the law, the administration sent a political signal that the U. S. wouldn't stand up to Chinese cheating,\" said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. \"As we can see now, that hurt in terms of maintaining political support for open trade. \" If there was a winner from this dynamic, it was Mr. Trump. Will Mr. Trump really go after China? In addition to an expected executive order to retaliate against the dumping of Chinese steel, he has promised more. He could tinker with the definitions of \"material\" and \"significant\" trade surpluses to justify a manipulation charge. And yet a charge of manipulation would add irony upon irony. \"It would be incredibly ironic not to have named China a manipulator when it was manipulating, and name it when it is not,\" Mr. Setser told me. And Mr. Trump would be retaliating against the economic dynamic that handed him the presidency.","label":0}
{"text":"American intelligence agencies believe that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, but many questions remain about how the documents made their way to WikiLeaks, which released them. Before the WikiLeaks release, a large sampling was published by several news organizations and a hacker called Guccifer 2. 0, who investigators now believe was an agent of the G. R. U. Russia's military intelligence service. American intelligence agencies say the earlier leaks from Guccifer and the WikiLeaks material have the same bits of code and telltale metadata traced to previous intrusions attributed to the G. R. U. or the F. S. B. another Russian spy agency. However, Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, makes a distinction between the Democratic National Committee material he released and the earlier releases by Guccifer and others, saying there is no proof that the Russians gave him the documents. In recent weeks, Mr. Assange has threatened to take his revelations to a new level. In August, some of the National Security Agency's source code for breaking into foreign computer systems \u2014 the holy grail of the N. S. A. 's Tailored Access Operations unit \u2014 was revealed on a website, with the announcement of an auction for the remainder of it. Mr. Assange then declared he would soon publish the rest on WikiLeaks free. So far he has not. Most experts say the code \u2014 the digital equivalent of codes for the release of weapons \u2014 could have come only from one of two sources: another N. S. A. insider like Edward J. Snowden or, more likely, an external computer server that the N. S. A. 's artists used in the course of an operation. If they had left their digital tool kit on that server, and the Russians or another power was already inside that network, the code would have been stolen. The N. S. A. has not said whether the code released was real or where it came from. This week, suspicions of Russian tampering took a new turn with reports that earlier this summer, the F. B. I. warned election officials in Arizona about Russian hackers targeting systems there. The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, asked the F. B. I. to investigate, writing to the director, James B. Comey, that the threat of Russian interference \"is more extensive than is widely known and may include the intent to falsify official election results. \" The administration has stopped short of publicly accusing the Russian government of engineering the theft of the Democratic National Committee emails, presumably to buy time for President Obama to make a decision. James R. Clapper Jr. the director of national intelligence, said last month that American spy agencies were not yet prepared to publicly identify a culprit.","label":0}
{"text":"GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump wants everyone to believe that he is this hyper-masculine ladies man that every guy on the planet should strive to emulate. However, as Real Time host Bill Maher points out, nothing could be further from the truth. Trump is actually more like a whiny brat than he is like anyone s version of a real man.Maher started out by asking the guests on his show how anyone could think Trump is masculine: Tell me what is masculine about Donald Trump. I don t see anything masculine about this guy the most thin-skinned erratic non-logical whiny person in the world. That s the old woman stereotype. But I don t see what is so masculine about him. Then, the conversation turned to the woman card insults that were directed at Hillary Clinton, and one of Maher s guests, Kelly Conway, insisted that the comment was Trump putting Clinton on notice that she better fight for the votes from the ladies, saying: Hillary Clinton s having a hard time getting these young women in the Democratic primaries. They re voting for Bernie Sanders, so why is that? If it were just as simple as, I m pro-choice or I m for pay inequality she d be running away with it, Bill, she would be the nominee. Then again, though, Conway is a Ted Cruz supporter, so she clearly doesn t know much about being pro-women s rights, despite being a woman herself.After that ridiculous moment, Rob Reiner, who was also on Maher s panel, shut Conway down, saying: So she s not just playing the woman card.' Indeed, she is not. She is doing well because she is qualified. Reiner later pointed out the obvious and gave Trump an epic beatdown, when he said that everything that comes out of his mouth is moronic to the Nth degree. Maher reminded Reiner that moronic or not, Trump s idiocy is authentic. Reiner replied, He is authentically moronic, yes. Yes, Trump is a moron. Hopefully, there are enough people out there who recognize this as fact and not merely opinion to keep that fool from becoming the next president of the United States.https:\/\/youtu.be\/jcGyI_lRJ2o","label":1}
{"text":"A Berlin court ruling that permits the parents and siblings of a 16-year-old Syrian migrant to join him in Germany will now take effect after the foreign ministry abruptly dropped an appeal of the decision, German broadcaster ARD reported on Friday. ARD said Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a member of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), decided to drop an appeal filed just days ago, allow the ruling to take effect, following intense criticism by top SPD leaders. The ruling was the first to deal with the right of under-age migrants to bring their families to Germany and could set a new precedent, ARD reported. The foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the issue, but Gabriel told the broadcaster: We know that it is bad, of course, when minors are here without their parents. It s a good thing that we now have clarity. The ministry s reversal on the issue comes as Gabriel s party prepares to enter talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives about continuing the grand coalition that has ruled Germany for the past four years. Migration - and the issue of allowing migrants to bring family members to Germany - could be a key topic in the coalition talks, which are due to begin on Jan. 7. Merkel had failed to reach agreement with two smaller parties. The case in question centers on a Syrian youth who arrived in Germany in the summer of 2015 with an older cousin, and was granted only subsidiary protection rather than full asylum. In 2016, the government had decided to suspend family re-unifications for two years for migrants with subsidiary protection , which is granted to people who are not considered as being persecuted individually but in whose home country there is war, torture or other inhumane treatment. The court said that rejecting the family reunification in this case violated child welfare protections guaranteed under the European human rights convention and the U.N. Refugee Convention.","label":0}
{"text":"A white football player from Idaho will not face jail time, after being accused of raping a mentally disabled black student with a coat hanger. [John R. K. Howard, 19, will instead serve out the punishment initially handed down by the courts in October of 2015, when he received a probation and 300 hours of community service. The courts decided against prison time, after a judge accepted a plea deal which allowed Howard to plead guilty and still maintain innocence. That plea, also known as the Alford plea, technically allows the client to continue maintaining innocence while acknowledging that the evidence against them is serious enough that the jury could find them guilty. The victim's family have not spoken publicly, but according to the Independent, are \"furious\" at the court's decision. The victim relayed the harrowing details of the rape during the trial of one of the other accused rapists, Tanner Ward. \"After practice I was in the locker room, and one of my friends, he told me to come here, and I went over to him and gave him a hug,\" the victim said during testimony obtained by the Guardian. \"He told me to give him a hug. He had his hands out like he was going to give me a hug. And I gave him a hug, and he signaled for one of my other friends to come over. \" At that point, the rape commenced. The victim described his feelings during the rape, saying, \"Pain that I have never felt took over my body. I screamed, but afterwards, I kept it to myself. \" The assailant, Howard, faced the charge of forcible sexual penetration by a foreign object, a charge which was later reduced. According to the Independent, \" \u2026 following negotiations between the defence counsel and the State Attorney General's office \u2014 in which the state prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Casey Hemmer, claimed the attack was not racially motivated and did not constitute a sex crime \u2014 the felony rape charge was dropped and replaced by a lesser charge of felony injury to a child. \" The victim, aged 17 at the time of the attack, qualified as a minor. The judge also referred to the attack as \"bullying. \" As for the racial component of all this, the Independent reports, \"Legal documents filed by the family in a separate case suing the school and district officials claim before the attack, the victim was \"taunted and called racist names by other members of the team which names included ' ' 'chicken eater' 'watermelon' and [the ]\". The family's lawsuit against the school states that coaches on the football team encouraged players to toughen the victim up, presumably through fighting or hazing, and that coaches confronted the victim before the trial, convincing him to repudiate his own statement. During that episode, another coach recorded the conversation. According to the victim, \"I just started telling a bunch of just lies because I wanted my friends back. \" The victim has attempted to commit suicide multiple times since the incident occurred in late 2015. Meanwhile, should John Howard violate his probation, he will face a possible prison sentence of up to ten years. However, according to the Independent, even this could get thrown out since Judge Stoker entered \"a withheld judgement at the final hearing. \" Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn","label":0}
{"text":"The European Union's executive has not been forewarned about a possible U.S. withdrawal from the global deal on fighting climate change, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. President Donald Trump will follow through on a campaign pledge to pull the United States out of a pact, a source briefed on the decision told Reuters, a move that promises to deepen a rift with U.S. allies. The executive European Commission said separately on Wednesday the 28-nation bloc was ready to take on global leadership should the United States pull out.","label":0}
{"text":"Dilbert creator Scott Adams endorses Trump, says Hillary is a bully  Monday, October 31, 2016 by: Natural News Editors (NaturalNews) I've been trying to figure out what common trait binds Clinton supporters together. As far as I can tell, the most unifying characteristic is a willingness to bully in all its forms.If you have a Trump sign in your lawn, they will steal it.If you have a Trump bumper sticker, they will deface your car.if you speak of Trump at work you could get fired.(Article republished from Dilbert.com )On social media, almost every message I get from a Clinton supporter is a bullying type of message. They insult. They try to shame. They label. And obviously they threaten my livelihood.We know from Project Veritas that Clinton supporters tried to incite violence at Trump rallies. The media downplays it.We also know Clinton's side hired paid trolls to bully online. You don't hear much about that.Yesterday, by no coincidence, Huffington Post, Salon, and Daily Kos all published similar-sounding hit pieces on me, presumably to lower my influence. (That reason, plus jealousy, are the only reasons writers write about other writers.)Joe Biden said he wanted to take Trump behind the bleachers and beat him up. No one on Clinton's side disavowed that call to violence because, I assume, they consider it justified hyperbole.Team Clinton has succeeded in perpetuating one of the greatest evils I have seen in my lifetime. Her side has branded Trump supporters (40%+ of voters) as Nazis, sexists, homophobes, racists, and a few other fighting words. Their argument is built on confirmation bias and persuasion. But facts don't matter because facts never matter in politics. What matters is that Clinton's framing of Trump provides moral cover for any bullying behavior online or in person. No one can be a bad person for opposing Hitler, right?Some Trump supporters online have suggested that people who intend to vote for Trump should wear their Trump hats on election day. That is a dangerous idea, and I strongly discourage it. There would be riots in the streets because we already know the bullies would attack. But on election day, inviting those attacks is an extra-dangerous idea. Violence is bad on any day, but on election day, Republicans are far more likely to unholster in an effort to protect their voting rights. Things will get wet fast.Yes, yes, I realize Trump supporters say bad things about Clinton supporters too. I don't defend the bad apples on either side. I'll just point out that Trump's message is about uniting all Americans under one flag. The Clinton message is that some Americans are good people and the other 40% are some form of deplorables, deserving of shame, vandalism, punishing taxation, and violence. She has literally turned Americans on each other. It is hard for me to imagine a worse thing for a presidential candidate to do.I'll say that again.As far as I can tell, the worst thing a presidential candidate can do is turn Americans against each other. Clinton is doing that, intentionally. Intentionally. As I often say, I don't know who has the best policies. I don't know the best way to fight ISIS and I don't know how to fix healthcare or trade deals. I don't know which tax policies are best to lift the economy. I don't know the best way to handle any of that stuff. (And neither do you.) But I do have a bad reaction to bullies. And I've reached my limit.I hope you have too. Therefore... I endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States because I oppose bullying in all its forms. I don't defend Trump's personal life. Neither Trump nor Clinton are role models for our children. Let's call that a tie, at worst.The bullies are welcome to drown in their own bile while those of us who want a better world do what we've been doing for hundreds of years: Work to make it better while others complain about how we're doing it.Today I put Trump's odds of winning in a landslide back to 98%. Remember, I told you a few weeks ago that Trump couldn't win unless \"something changed.\"Something just changed.","label":1}
{"text":"Alfred Hitchcock explains James Comey, the media and 2016's 'MacGuffin' It takes a master of suspense to decode the final plot twists of this election. By Neal Gabler Posted on November 7, 2016 by Neal Gabler  It is impossible to count the myriad ways in which the media botched FBI Director James Comey's Friday announcement that the agency had found a cache of emails that seemingly (a key word) pertain to Hillary Clinton's use of a private server. I heard the news via CNN at an airport while waiting to board a plane. No one needs to be told that CNN is a journalistic disgrace\u2014a textbook case of the decline of American media, all the more depressing because, unlike Fox News and MSNBC, it purports to be a real news organization. Instead, it is a ratings machine, and it is beyond contemptible.  So what I heard was Wolf Blitzer in his customary tizzy, as if Pearl Harbor had just been attacked, breathlessly ballyhooing Comey's missive to Congress and asking what seemed to be an endless queue of talking heads to weigh in on what is now routinely called a \"bombshell.\" This too is a textbook example of media practice. In the movies, bombast has replaced narrative. The last half-hour of every blockbuster is obligatory and generic: noise, lots and lots and lots of noise, and a gazillion special effects until any vestige of story evaporates and your head throbs. Cable has done something similar with news. It is all pitch, no content. The hysteria can transform anything into a drama, which is precisely cable's intention.  This has been true of the Clinton emails since the beginning. It was always something of a hoax\u2014a new chapter for a hungry media juicing its audience. Not one in a hundred voters can tell you the awful crime Clinton was supposed to have committed or why it matters. Not one in a hundred\u2014and I would include journalists\u2014have any idea of what really went down with these emails, as I discussed in an earlier post that highlighted the one reporter, Garrett M. Graff of Politico , who actually did something it appears no other reporter thought of doing: read the FBI's summary account of the investigation.  In effect, then, the Clinton emails have always been what the great film director Alfred Hitchcock called a \"MacGuffin,\" which Hitchcock described as the \"device, the gimmick, if you will, that sets the plot in motion.\" And he continued: \"It doesn't matter what it is. And the logicians are wrong in trying to figure out the truth of a MacGuffin, since it's beside the point. The only thing that really matters is that in the picture, the plans, documents or secrets must seem to be of vital importance to the characters. To me, the narrator, they're of no importance whatever.\"  It takes Alfred Hitchcock to reveal the secret of the emails as well as the basic operating principle of our political media. To the media, the emails are the primary plot device. In reality, they mean nothing. And I should add this: Should Donald Trump win this election, and he very well might now, historians 50 years from now will be scratching their heads over how something so inconsequential as a private email server could possibly have swayed the election. Emails! Really! How do we explain a MacGuffin overtaking our politics?  The thing is that while the media have been obsessing over the MacGuffin, they have missed entirely the real story\u2014the story that historians will examine and ponder. Oddly enough, it was arguably one of the world's worst newspapers, England's right-wing Daily Mail tabloid, which is about 10 notches below our own New York Post , which is 10 notches below any real newspaper, that broke the deeper story .  The Daily Mail reported that FBI agents were incensed over Comey's decision not to prosecute Clinton (so, says the paper, was Comey's wife) and many submitted resignations in protest. Even when real newspapers finally caught up with this angle, they soft-peddled the significance of the nation's primary investigative agency being an in-house right-wing force that was determined to veer the election toward Trump. The later dump of Bill Clinton documents only underscores the determination of the FBI to turn the election.  That is real and really disturbing news\u2014colossally big news, giant headline news. With his sudden announcement, Comey may or may not have been trying to pacify the GOP, which would have been bad enough. It does appear he was trying to raise morale among the Gestapo at his own agency by aiding Trump. And let's be clear: He knew he was aiding Trump.  That the media have largely ignored this aspect is both astonishing and depressing. The New York Times very delicately compared Comey to the late J. Edgar Hoover, who used the agency for his own devices, largely to settle personal grievances and advance his right-wing agenda. (And I mean very delicately. The media have always treated Comey as Diogenes.)  But then the media are so caught up in their own hysteria over emails, they don't have distance to view the big story. And when they aren't preoccupied with the emails, they are preoccupied with how Comey's revelation, seemingly in violation of Justice Department protocols and the Hatch Act, will affect the election. So you go from the MacGuffin to the horse race without ever having to engage anything substantive.  You could say that Comey brilliantly played the media for his own benefit, knowing that they couldn't resist and certainly wouldn't investigate a new plot twist. Hitch knew the difference between an insubstantial MacGuffin and something that was important. Comey realized that the media don't. Their confusion, along with their unwillingness to out the FBI and its seemingly alt-right agenda, could wind up being the decisive element in this election. It is the campaign equivalent of that deafening superhero movie climax\u2014all noise, no sense. This post was first published on BillMoyers.com .  Neal Gabler is an author of five books and the recipient of two LA Times Book Prizes, Time magazine's non-fiction book of the year, USA Today's biography of the year and other awards. He is also a senior fellow at The Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, and is currently writing a biography of Sen. Edward Kennedy.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is not considering a carbon tax, a White House official said on Tuesday. On Feb. 8, Trump administration officials met with a group of Republican elder statesman who called for a $40 per ton tax on carbon emissions to fend off global climate change. In response to that meeting, the White House official said: \"The Trump Administration is not considering a carbon tax.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Almost three years ago, a history buff and biographer of Robert E. Lee, Jonathan Horn, wrote a book that provided a different perspective of the Confederate general. The book, titled The Man Who Would Not Be Washington, recalled a history of Lee that many casual readers don t know, and one that many fans like to whitewash. With all of Donald Trump s ridiculous comparisons between Lee and the father of our country, it s easy to overlook that the southern leader was the son of a man who d served Washington in the Revolutionary War like nearly no other.In fact, Lee s father, Light Horse Harry, gave the eulogy at George Washington s funeral:First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.In death, only the best things are remembered. There was no urban legend about Washington s wooden teeth while he was alive. He provided for the liberation of his own slaves in his will. His last words, after the valiant efforts of doctors to save him, were Tis well. Washington was a complex man, and his legacy would only unpack years after his passing.The same can be said of the eulogist s son. When the most famous Confederate looked at secession before the Civil War, he was disdainful:The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labour, wisdom and forbearance in its formation if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will.Lee eventually resigned his commission in the Union Army. He joined his home state of Virginia in taking up arms in rebellion, and like many of the conservatives of today, he fudged on his history, insisting that he d always favored leaving the United States. But his complexity, unpacked after his death, is most compelling in looking at his view of remembrance.Robert E. Lee never wanted monuments or memorials to the Civil War.Some of the history of Lee s re-change of heart is well-known: Upon his surrender, he vowed to support the U.S. Constitution henceforth, and commanded his followers to do the same. But many wanted to honor Lee s service to the South with statues and memorials. Lee rebuffed them:As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated, my conviction is, that, however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt, in the present condition of the country, would have the effect of retarding instead of accelerating its accomplishment, and of continuing if not adding to the difficulties under which the Southern people labor.Robert E. Lee understood then what many still do not get today: That the flags of wars past serve nothing but to fight those wars over again in our minds. He was adamant:I think it wiser moreover not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavoured to obliterate the marks of civil strife and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered.Now, I personally am not a historian. But early America has always been a passion of mine My great-great-great-great-great grandfather is buried in Calais, Vermont, his service in the Revolutionary War inscribed on his headstone. It should likewise at least serve as instruction for those who would fawn over its legends. Many symbols exist today commemorating the Confederacy, especially in Virginia, Lee s own state.But if you want to honor Robert E. Lee, honor the fact that he never wanted to see you waving a Confederate flag.","label":1}
{"text":"On March 31, Donald Trump declared April National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. On April 5 less than one week later he said fellow scumbag Bill O Reilly didn t do anything wrong when he seemingly sexually harassed a large number of his female staff over the years. But then, Donald Trump himself has been accused of numerous sexual assaults and harassment, so birds of a feather.The New York Times got an exclusive interview with Trump and walked away with two bombshell findings, both awful in their own unique way: First, Trump duped veteran journalists Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush into publishing a slanderous claim that Susan Rice, the former national security adviser under Obama, had committed a crime. That would be a huge story if not for the fact that when asked to produce a single shred of evidence, Trump refused to do so. I think it s going to be the biggest story, Mr. Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office, declining repeated requests for evidence for his allegations or the names of other Obama administration officials. It s such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time. He declined to say if he had personally reviewed new intelligence to bolster his claim but pledged to explain himself at the right time. And he s currently already nursing several other claims 3 million people illegally voted, Obama illegally wiretapped him which he has also failed to provide any proof for. Despite these repeated offenses, Habermann and Thrush ran the story as if Trump weren t the biggest bullshitter in the world. That s inexcusable.But Trump wasn t done. After pretending to uncover a major political scandal, Trump moved onto his friend Bill O Reilly. O Reilly is currently embroiled in scandal that may cost him his job after having been exposed as settling at least five sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him from female coworkers. Trump, five days into Sexual Assault and Prevent Month, jumped to his friend s defense. I think he s a person I know well he is a good person, said Mr. Trump, who during the interview was surrounded at his desk by a half-dozen of his highest-ranking aides, including the economic adviser Gary Cohn and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, along with Vice President Mike Pence. I think he shouldn t have settled; personally I think he shouldn t have settled, said Mr. Trump. Because you should have taken it all the way. I don t think Bill did anything wrong. Here s what Trump considers innocent behavior locker room talk, if you will by O Reilly:The women who made allegations against Mr. O Reilly either worked for him or appeared on his show. They have complained about a wide range of behavior, including verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and phone calls in which it sounded as if Mr. O Reilly was masturbating, according to documents and interviews.The reporting suggests a pattern: As an influential figure in the newsroom, Mr. O Reilly would create a bond with some women by offering advice and promising to help them professionally. He then would pursue sexual relationships with them, causing some to fear that if they rebuffed him, their careers would stall.Trump, of course, has a large list of his own offenses against women. During the campaign, over a dozen women came forward to recount times he had assaulted or attempted to assault them. Trump himself seemed to back up their claims in a leaked audio recording where he bragged about grabbing and kissing women even without their consent. Other women have also come forward to describe times Trump was sexually demeaning or suggestive to them.To watch Trump and O Reilly, both with histories of abuse, cover for each other is truly nauseating.","label":1}
{"text":"Bill Maher literally called bullshit when a Donald Trump supporter insisted that Russia did not interfere with the 2016 Election.Racist CNN pundit Jeffrey Lord has made every excuse in the book to defend Trump and he brought the excuses to Real Time on Friday night when he attempted to spin the Russia scandal by claiming that Russia did nothing to help Trump to begin with.Maher was not in the mood for bullshit on this night as he called Lord out for supporting a vulgar human being. Lord threw out a false equivalency by comparing everything Trump has said to Hillary Clinton s accurate assessment of Trump supporters as deplorable people.Apparently, Clinton s one comment magically makes every truly horrible thing Trump said disappear.Lord then tried to claim that Russia did not influence the election simply because they allegedly did not hack any voting machines.That s when Maher pounced. Don t bullsh*t me! Maher responded before going over the fact that 17 intelligence agencies agree that Russia interfered in our election process by hacking the DNC and Clinton campaign officials. Russia also spread propaganda and misinformation to help Trump.Maher even mentioned that we could find out a whole lot more about Trump s deep ties to Russia if he were forced to release his taxes.Lord then parroted Trump by calling for an investigation into Nancy Pelosi for also meeting with the Russian ambassador, even though Pelosi s meeting was not a secret and Russia did not influence her election results. Russians didn t hack Nancy Pelosi s election, Maher shot back. They hacked our election, all of our intelligence agencies said for one side to win, your side. Are you telling me if it had worked out the other way and they were only hacking the Republicans to get Hilary elected you d let it slide? Lord tried to get away not answering for this hypocrisy. After all, Republicans would definitely be endlessly investigating Clinton if she had won the election with Russia s aid.But Maher forced Lord to answer and he conceded that Republicans are hypocrites.Here s the video via YouTube:Donald Trump s staunchest defenders should be ashamed of themselves. They should be ashamed as Americans and as human beings. They are literally defending a man who cares more about himself and his own image than he does about this country and our collective future. This Russia scandal is enough to get Trump impeached and he should be ousted before he can do more damage to this nation.","label":1}
{"text":"Looking To 2015, Economists See 5 Reasons To Celebrate Each December, economists make predictions. And each new year, they get hit by unexpected events that make them look more clueless than prescient. This year's bolt out of the blue was the plunge in oil's price, which no one saw coming. Still, top economists' forecasts did get a lot right for 2014. One year ago, most were predicting healthy growth, tame inflation, low interest rates, rising stock prices and declining unemployment \u2014 and that's just what we got. Now they are looking ahead, and once again, their forecasts are brimming with good cheer. These are among the most common predictions for 2015: GDP will keep growing quickly. The gross domestic product \u2014 a measure of all U.S. goods and services \u2014 has been on a tear. The Commerce Department's latest revision shows GDP advancing at an astonishing 5 percent over July, August and September. That growth spurt suggests the U.S. economy has momentum heading into the new year. Lower energy prices will give consumers more money to spend, and that should help boost revenues for stores, restaurants, hotels and more. \"Our assessment for growth in 2015 will now be around 3 percent,\" wrote Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. For an economy in its sixth year of expansion, a 3 percent annual pace would be impressive. Employers will hire and pay more. In 2013, the unemployment rate averaged 7.4 percent. Last December, economists were predicting a slide to about 6.6 percent. As it turned out, the jobless rate tumbled to 5.8 percent, and now economists see the rate dipping to 5.5 percent or lower in the coming year. \"With stronger economic growth, the U.S. will add about 230,000 jobs per month on average next year,\" according to the forecast of Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group. That would add up to about 2.8 million net new jobs in 2015. Currently, the country has 2.8 million people struggling with long-term unemployment. So if Faucher's prediction were to come true, workers finally could enjoy a healthy market where job openings and willing workers would match up. And the increased demand for workers would help push up stagnant wages. Inflation will be exceptionally low. Even though the economy has been heating up, the price of energy has been cooling. The year began with crude oil selling for about $110 a barrel, and is ending with the price at about half that. Oil's plunge has driven down prices for gasoline, home heating oil, jet fuel and more. Seeing that change, the Federal Reserve has sharply cut its forecast, saying that inflation will run between 1 percent and 1.6 percent in 2015. That's down from a September forecast of 1.6 percent to 1.9 percent. Interest rates will inch up. OK, you've heard this before. Time and again, economists have predicted that interest rates would tick up. And time and again, they have been wrong. For example, when this year began, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was carrying an interest rate of 4.43 percent. Most economists thought that rate would rise. But as the year wound down, the 30-year rate was running at about 3.75 percent. Nevertheless, economists think this time is different and that rates really will rise in 2015. In a mid-December statement, Fed policymakers said they \"can be patient\" when it comes to timing a rate increase, but most economists figure patience will run out by midyear, and that will lead to a slow, steady ratcheting up of interest rates to more normal levels. When it comes to the strategy of holding down rates to stimulate growth, \"we believe the Fed's work is now done,\" said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist with The Economic Outlook Group. Stocks will go higher. The stock market has been zooming up for years now. The Dow Jones industrial average stood at 6,627 in early March 2009, during the worst of the Great Recession. But with the recovery going strong, the stock average has been pushing above 18,000. Some skeptics think the stock market is due for a \"correction\" that would knock down prices by 10 percent or more in 2015. But the more typical prediction is that with oil prices running so low, investors will want to keep putting money into companies that stand to benefit from increased consumer spending. Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, summed it up in a recent tweet, saying \"high-octane optimism once again prevails on the Street.\"","label":0}
{"text":"LAGOS, Nigeria \u2014 Two and a half years after nearly 300 girls were kidnapped from a school in northeastern Nigeria, the government said on Thursday that 21 of them had been freed, the biggest breakthrough in an ordeal that has shocked the world and laid bare the deadly instability gripping large parts of the country. Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group that has killed thousands of civilians, overrun villages and terrorized the region, seized the girls from a school in the town of Chibok on April 14, 2014. For many around the globe, the mass abduction provided a stunning introduction to a militant group that had been waging war against Nigerians for years. Soon after the girls were kidnapped, an international campaign began urging the Nigerian government to do more to secure their release, using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls and drawing support from Michelle Obama and others. For more than a year, the Nigerian government has negotiated with Boko Haram to get the girls back. But the talks fell apart multiple times, in one case at the last minute, after the president had agreed to free imprisoned Boko Haram fighters. Another time, the talks failed because central members of Boko Haram's negotiating team were killed. Finally, the government said Thursday, the negotiations bore fruit. Still, most of the girls remain in captivity, their whereabouts, health and circumstances unknown. \"The release of the girls, in a limited number, is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government,\" Garba Shehu, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari, said in a series of messages posted on Twitter. \"The negotiations will continue. \" The girls were released around 5:30 a. m. on Thursday, the government said. In addition to the 21 girls, a boy born to one of them in captivity was released, it said. At a news conference in the capital, Abuja, the girls sat in rows in a room packed with government ministers, officials and journalists. Wearing colorful dresses, the girls listened to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo speak from behind a table, flanked by his ministers. \"We can imagine what they've gone through,\" he said. \"So much needs to be done to get them back to living a normal life after so much trauma in captivity. \" Mr. Osinbajo described the girls as being in \"reasonably good health considering the circumstances they've been held in. \" He added that they would stay in a medical facility \"for some time, until we're reasonably satisfied of their health condition. \" As for the other girls held by Boko Haram, Mr. Osinbajo suggested that \"in the next few days, the next few months, we should be able to bring in more of these girls, along the same lines, using exactly the same negotiations. \" But he warned that the government, which is waging an aggressive campaign to fight Boko Haram and regain territory seized by the group, had the fate of the nation to consider as well. \"We want to ensure that we bring these girls back alive,\" Mr. Osinbajo said. \"At the same time we, of course, balance this against the overall safety and security of the country. \" Relatives of the girls rejoiced, even before they knew whether their kin were among those freed. Lawan Zanna, the father of Aisha Zanna, one of the abducted girls, said by telephone that he hoped his daughter had been freed. All of the parents are \"very happy hearing that they have released our daughters,\" he said. \"All are our daughters. \" Another parent, Esther Yakubu, said by telephone that she was praying that her daughter Dorcas was among those released. \"They say it's only 21,\" she said. \"Most of them are still out there, and we want them to come back. '' Manasseh Allen, a native of Chibok whose cousin was abducted, said in a phone interview that he hoped more girls could be rescued. \"Once we have 21 parents now linked up with daughters, at least we have solved a good part of the problem,\" he said. \"So many will be hopeful that their daughters have been brought back. \" Asked if he thought a ransom was involved, he said: \"Whether it's a ransom, whether it's a prisoner swap, the government knows how best to get these girls back. All we are after is to get the girls back. \" Earlier in the day, Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, denied preliminary reports that Boko Haram fighters might have been released in exchange for the girls. \"Please note that this is not a swap,\" he said. \"It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides. We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok girls in captivity. \" The Bring Back Our Girls campaign thanked the Nigerian security services on Facebook and added: \"We trust that our government will continue to work to keep the safety, security and of the other girls a high priority. \" The abductions, during exam time at a boarding school, increased pressure on the government to fight Boko Haram, which has raged through parts of northern Nigeria for years, burning entire villages and carrying out rape, beheadings, looting and other acts of violence. Some girls managed to escape shortly after the fighters stormed their school and hauled away their classmates, and in May, the authorities announced that one girl, Amina Ali, had been found she was wandering in the forest when members of a vigilante group came across her as they prepared to ambush a Boko Haram camp. But a majority of the girls are still missing, and it is feared that many may never return. In August, Boko Haram released a video purporting to show the bodies of several kidnapped schoolgirls who fighters said were killed by Nigerian airstrikes. The girls still in captivity are thought to be held by a faction controlled by the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, rather than a newer faction that has been endorsed by the Islamic State. The latter faction split from Mr. Shekau's group after an ideological dispute over killings that targeted Muslims. Western intelligence officials have said they believe the girls are scattered in small groups, another hurdle to rescuing them. The Nigerian military, with help from troops from neighboring nations and from the United States, Britain and France, has made big advances against Boko Haram in recent months. But it has had trouble holding towns once liberated from Boko Haram control, and Boko Haram fighters have also taken the fight to neighboring countries like Niger.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday met with a dozen conservative Republicans from the House of Representatives and said all of them were now planning to support the bill to replace Obamacare after previously opposing or questioning it. \"All of these no's or potential no's are all yeses,\" Trump told reporters at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives' conservative Republican Study Committee.","label":0}
{"text":"Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, the muslim man who attacked the two gays in a Manhattan restaurant may want to stay away from tall buildings after the truth about this story gets out The man accused of bashing a gay couple with a chair in a Chelsea barbecue restaurant has surrendered to cops but hasn t been arrested on hate crime charges because he s gay too, police sources said.Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, 41, surrendered to NYPD Hate Crime detectives at the 7th Precinct and charged with assault and attempted assault.El-Amin slammed a chair over the heads of Jonathan Snipes, 32, and Ethan York-Adams, 25, during a dispute inside Dallas BBQ on Eighth Ave. near W. 23rd St. on May 5.He was also accused of using homophobic slurs, but his lawyer said the Bronx resident couldn t be hit with hate crime charges because his client was also gay, sources with knowledge of the investigation said.The charges could be upgraded at his arraignment Tuesday afternoon, a second police source said.El-Amin left the city after the attack, but professed his innocence online.Here s the video taken by a surveillance camera in the restaurant. You be the judge: Video: WABC News TV New YorkWriting on the blog The G-List, El-Amin said that he was attacked first. I was the victim I was sitting at my table, he wrote. With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him.","label":1}
{"text":"The government of one of Cameroon s Anglophone regions ordered its border with Nigeria closed this weekend in response to calls by activists for protests to demand more rights for the country s English-speaking minority. The move on Thursday represents an escalation in a crackdown on months of protest spurred by complaints about political and economic discrimination in the Anglophone regions of the predominantly Francophone country. Security forces killed six protesters and arrested hundreds of others following calls for reforms by lawyers and teachers last year, and the internet was shut down in Anglophone regions from January to April. The Anglophone regions have strong ties to eastern Nigeria, and authorities may fear that allowing the border to remain open during protests offers the demonstrators a rear base and makes it harder to maintain order. Anglophone activists have called for renewed protest on Sunday after thousands took to the streets last week, with some hoisting separatist flags. In a statement, Southwest region s governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, said the border would be closed from 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Friday until 7 a.m. Monday following persistent threats of destabilization through manipulation by individuals acting from outside the national territory. The order also banned inter-city transportation, gatherings of more than four people in public locations and all port activity during that same period. It was not clear whether similar restrictions would be imposed in Northwest, Cameroon s other Anglophone region. The unrest has presented a fresh challenge to the government of President Paul Biya, which has faced international criticism for its response to the demonstrations. In a statement on Thursday, a U.N. spokesman said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned about tensions ahead of Sunday s demonstrations and urged the government to address the grievances of English speakers. The Secretary-General supports upholding the unity and territorial integrity of Cameroon and urges all parties to refrain from acts that could lead to an escalation of tension and violence, the statement said. The country s linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors. After independence in 1960, the English-speaking part opted to join French Cameroon instead of Nigeria.","label":0}
{"text":"Posted on November 4, 2016 by DCG | 1 Comment  Seattle proggies love to push businesses out of their city.  From MyNorthwest.com : Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess proposed a 241 percent business license fee hike for pot shops, citing inspection and enforcement costs associated with regulating the two-year-old retail marijuana industry.  The proposed increase, introduced at Wednesday's budget meeting, would raise the annual licensing cost within Seattle to $3,450 from the existing $1,000 . Cannabis retailers \u2014 and one council member \u2014 immediately questioned the proposal, saying that the math doesn't make much sense.  \"So what justified the increase other than the fact that we can do it?\" asked District 2 Councilmember Bruce Harrell, citing Mayor Ed Murray's more modest proposal for a $500 increase. \"We've done a cost analysis that actually reflects (the increase)? It seems like we've exceeded it quite significantly.\"  The city's Finance and Administrative Services department defended the cost, saying that even with the mayor's proposed increase, the licensing fee falls $430,000 short of the city's cost to regulate pot. The finance department projected that pot retailers will cost the city more than $700,000 next year.  Pot growers and retailers wondered why this industry, from a license fee standpoint, must pay for its regulation in a way that other businesses, such as pawn shops and strip clubs, do not. Moreover, the city finance estimate misses a key point, said KC Franks, owner of Stash pot shops. \"What about the $2 million in new sales taxes to the city?\" Franks asked. \"Why doesn't their math reflect that?\" Seattle Council Tax-Raising-Advocate Tim Burgess  Burgess, who said he has no independent confirmation of the sales tax figures, conceded that the pot retailers have, \"raised some legitimate objections, so I'm sure we are going to look at all of that.\"  But, he added, the pot issue speaks to a larger policy discussion about how cities pay for the cost of regulating local businesses. Typically, he said, a city uses a blend of licensing fees and taxes to get the money for necessary inspections and enforcement. Pot, he said, costs Seattle about $1 million a year to regulate, an amount which he characterized as a big burden. \"This proposal was made to try to offset some of those costs,\" he said  Burgess said the licensing fee likely will go up, but he is not sure if the full council will support his proposed increase. The measure, as it is or modified, could come to a vote next week.  Franks and other marijuana retailers characterized the proposal as a simple cash grab directed at an industry without much political clout \u2013 or as much money as people seem to think. Philip Dawdy, of the Have a Heart pot shop, wondered why an industry that is a net contributor to city coffers doesn't have more council support?  When the city raised business license fees to help pay for more police, he said, they consulted retail business organizations first. The pot fee, he said, was a complete blindside. \"We are actually helping to balance the city's budget thanks to sales taxes,\" he said. \"Why are we not someone's priority?\"  DCG","label":1}
{"text":"President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused American politicians of whipping up hysteria about a mythical Russian threat as a ploy to distract voters from their own failings in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. Putin, addressing an audience of foreign policy experts gathered in southern Russia, repeatedly lashed out at the Obama administration, saying it did not keep its word on Syria, did not honour deals, and had falsely accused Moscow of all manner of sins. The U.S. government has formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organisations, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has accused Republican rival Donald Trump of being a Putin \"puppet\". Putin said he found it hard to believe that anyone seriously thought Moscow was capable of influencing the Nov. 8 election. \"Hysteria has been whipped up,\" said Putin. He said that was a ruse to cover up for the fact that the U.S. political elite had nothing to say about serious issues such as the country's national debt or gun control. \"It's much simpler to distract people with so-called Russian hackers, spies, and agents of influence. Does anyone really think that Russia could influence the American people's choice in any way? Is America a banana republic or what? America is a great power.\" In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Putin's remarks as predictable and said the United States stood by its hacking allegations. \"There's nothing that President Putin had to say today that I find particularly surprising or that in any way undermines the president's confidence in the analysis that's been released by the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community,\" said Earnest. Russian state TV and some of his past comments have suggested the Russian leader favours Trump, but Putin said he did not back any candidate in the U.S. election and was ready to work with any new U.S. president and to discuss any issue. Asked about Trump, whom he once described as \"very talented,\" Putin said the Republican candidate was deliberately adopting a showy style because he wanted to get his message across and that he represented ordinary voters fed up with the U.S. political elite. \"He has chosen a method to get through to voters' hearts,\" said Putin. \"He behaves extravagantly of course, we see this, but I think there's a reason for this.\" Putin dismissed suggestions by some politicians in the West that Russia is poised to attack another country or intervene elsewhere in the Middle East apart from Syria. Such talk was designed to exaggerate the threat that Russia posed, he said, in order for certain countries to secure higher military spending and talk up their own importance. He said Russia was not planning to attack anyone. But he made clear Russia was in Syria for the long haul and intended to clear the city of Aleppo of what he called \"a nest of terrorists\", while trying to minimise civilian casualties.","label":0}
{"text":"Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday said Puerto Rico faces a fiscal crisis but that a solution should come from the White House or Congress. \"This is really something that I'm not an expert on,\" she told a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee. \"What the appropriate programs are for Puerto Rico to deal with its longstanding problems - I think that's squarely a matter for Congress and the administration to consider.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Senior U.S. Republicans distanced themselves on Sunday from Donald Trump's comments about a Mexican-American judge, saying they were worried that the tone of his presidential campaign could enrage Latinos, who are a growing U.S. voting bloc. Trump has accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of harboring a bias against him in lawsuits involving fraud allegations against Trump University, the New York business man's now-defunct real estate school. The presumptive Republican nominee has suggested Curiel's Mexican-American heritage had influenced the judge's opinion because of Trump's campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he \"couldn't disagree more\" with Trump's comments about the judge. \"I am concerned about the Hispanic vote, America is changing,\" McConnell told \"Meet The Press\". \"I think it's a big mistake for our party to write off Latino Americans. I am concerned about that and I hope he will change his direction on that.\" Democrats have accused Trump of racially tinged rhetoric about Latinos, including his description of Mexican immigrants as \"criminals and rapists\" in the speech he gave a year ago launching his campaign. Such rhetoric has exacerbated friction between Trump and Republican party leaders such as McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. For the past few years, the party has been trying to broaden its appeal with Latino voters and senior Republicans are concerned that Trump's comments could cost the party votes, not only in the presidential race but in congressional races as well. Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate to Trump, called Trump's comments about the judge \"inexcusable.\" \"This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made,\" Gingrich told Fox News. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-immigrant parents. \"He is a member of a club or society very strongly pro Mexican, which is all fine. But I say he's got bias. I want to build a wall,\" Trump said in an interview on Sunday on \"Face the Nation\". Asked if he believed a Muslim judge would be biased against him based on Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, Trump replied, \"It's possible. Yes.\" McConnell said America is a nation full of immigrants \u2014 pointing out that his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, came to the United States when she was eight and didn't speak English. \"All of us came here from somewhere else,\" McConnell said. Senator Bob Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on \"ABC's This Week\" that he did not \"condone the comments\" that Trump made about Curiel. Legal scholars on the right and the left have criticized Trump for attacking the judge, saying it could harm judicial independence should he become president. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is of Mexican descent, was one of the few Republicans to defend Trump. Gonzales argued in a column in The Washington Post that Trump should be allowed to question a judge's fairness, saying that questioning a judge is crucial to ensuring public trust in the courts. But when asked about the racial element in an interview on Sunday on Fox News, Gonzales criticized Trump. \"I certainly would have taken a different approach,\" he said. \"Whenever you say something about a judge's nationality, I think it demeans the office and hurts the judiciary as a whole.\"","label":0}
{"text":"In 2012, the movie phenomenon \"The Avengers\" filled theaters across the globe. Commercials, product advertisements, and billboards plastered with this ragtag team of superheroes who somehow forge a relationship to help save humanity from certain destruction at the hands of an evil villain was a fan favorite. The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Scarlet leaped into action after being convinced by the military genius Mr. Furry. They were able to put aside their differences and work for the greater good. In the end, the world is safe. In the first two weeks, the film raked in over $215 million and instantly confirming the superhero concept of \"The Avengers\" was not so new, in fact, it is sometimes a very common occurrence. During this election season, more than just the presidency is at stake. Although crime, division, malice and wrongdoing seems to be ever-present, instead of wallowing in discouragement voters need to exercise the right to become an avenger in a world of evildoers. After the computer generated images, million dollar budgets and Hollywood star power are stripped away, an Avenger is simply an individual who takes up the cause of another who is unable to protect himself or herself. In different circles, that person may be referred to as an advocate. At the core of humanity, people should make a choice to operate by the infamous Golden Rule, which is \"Treat others the way you want to be treated.\" By the looks of American culture, it seems many have strayed far away from this simple principle. Society has always been balanced by persons stepping up to the plate to champion causes bigger than themselves. These everyday avengers have come in the form of presidents willing to abolish slavery, pilots flying beyond enemy lines, ministers willing to lock arms and protest on behalf of others for equal rights and even voters who go to the polls to make their voice heard. Society has been privileged to experience them come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures all with the same selfless spirit. They may not have worn a cape but were viewed as \"super\" just the same. During this heated election season, voters possess that same heroic power. In the midst of all the confusion screaming across the fabric of today's society, many would love to function as an avenger but are not sure how. Here are a few places modern-day Avengers have the ability to cast a vote in a world of evil and take action: In the area of women's rights It is not uncommon to see the face of a woman plastered on the cover of business magazines as top CEOs and other company leaders. However, in the broader scope of the country, there are still great strides needed to bring equality across genders. In the United States, women still earn dramatically less than their male counterparts do in Corporate America. First Lady Michelle Obama championed equal pay for equal work on the campaign trail and now organizations such as the National Organization for Women remain on the front line of this issue fighting to make sure the progress achieved in the last sixty years is not in vain. Without the vote, progress does not happen. Better education in underserved communities Civil Rights leader and advocate Malcolm X once said, \"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.\" This concept has been the foundation for public education in America. The right to receive adequate training to be a productive and prosperous American is the right of every person. Therefore, it is amazing to see certain communities with gross neglect and weak curriculums. These areas lack a voice to speak on their behalf. It is encouraging to see leadership like the Gary Comer College Prep School that shines as a beacon in the Chicago area. Amidst killing and senseless loss of life, this school boasts an excellent attrition rate for high school seniors accepted into college. Better healthcare for all people The country is in the middle of a tug of war. Unfortunately, what is at stake is far greater than bragging rights. The health and welfare of seniors and children hang in the balance of those on Capitol Hill. Whether Obamacare is right or wrong is not as important as the need for dialogue around this issue. On one hand, there are elderly who are struggling with the decision to purchase food or their prescriptions and on the other, there are parents who cannot receive proper care at neighborhood clinics. Parents should not have to wonder if their doctor could afford to keep his doors open when he is the only office in the community. There is an initiative to bring mobile clinics to the heart of areas needing it the most. Armed with immunizations, screening, and dental supplies, they are giving away services free that otherwise would not even happen. The moral of Becoming an Avenger No one promises a cape or a billboard, but everyone has a super ability to step in and relieve the sufferings of others. All it takes to be a real-life Avenger is the choice to fight for the needs of the less fortunate; those without a voice or an advocate. In November do not sit idly by, vote to become an avenger in a world seemingly overtaken by evildoers. Not only does this produce a sense of fulfillment and greatness, it also provides the opportunity to be remembered as a modern-day Avenger. These are only a few of many opportunities for activism, but there are many ways to become an active participant in the goal for change. It may seem small and uneventful, but the vote has a unique power to affect the Oval Office more than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. For those who have not been privileged to cast an early ballot, pause for the cause and vote, vote, vote on November 8. Opinion by Cherese Jackson (Virginia) Source: Los Angeles Times: The Avengers (movie) Photo Credits: Top \/ Featured Images Courtesy of Pat Loika \u2013 Flickr License Inline Image Courtesy of Theresa Thompson \u2013 Flickr License activism , avengers , vote","label":1}
{"text":"Antifa member, Paul Luke Kuhn who was busted by Project Veritas undercover journalists plotting Butyric acid attacks to disrupt Trump s inauguration party and subsequently arrested was spotted today at a DC protest today.Was he violating his probation orders following his arrest?Rebel Media s Jack Posobiec was live on the scene in D.C. reporting at a protest when he was assaulted by Antifa. The Antifa supporter who physically assaulted Posobiec was immediately arrested. After reviewing the footage, Antifa member, Luke Kuhn was immediately recognized. (A face that creepy is impossible to forget).VIDEO footage of assault where you can see Luke Kuhn clearly.Note the woman who is pretending to be a reporter with a notebook in her hand who tells the police officer, nothing happened when he rushes across the street after clearly seeing what just happened. Another friend of the violent leftist who sucker punched Jack Posobiec tells the police officer, It was self-defense. Lying, violent liberals wearing their little sister s bike helmets and masks. God help us if we ever need these men to actually defend our nation Jack Posobiec Assaulted by Antifa Terrorist pic.twitter.com\/L2UvnJ2pKq Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 23, 2017Here s a Twitter user telling the reporter Lacy MacAuley to lawyer up after she lied to the police officer telling him, nothing happened after Posobiec got sucker-punched on camera:This is the video of you yelling, \"Nothing happened.\" You were an accessory. I'd lawyer up pronto if I was you. https:\/\/t.co\/mcY9sisqPC Covfefing Michaela (@MichaelaAleach1) April 23, 2017Here is her arrogant response. Clearly she s living in the past (when Obama still reigned supreme, and when criminals had the upper hand over law enforcement). You re living in Trump s world now Lacy. You may want to lawyer up.Yes I am absolutely proud of this. Thanks for reposting this video. Because, guess what? Nothing illegal happened. No one was punched. https:\/\/t.co\/XSEXFK7VmO Lacy MacAuley (@lacymacauley) April 23, 2017This is the video of you yelling, \"Nothing happened.\" You were an accessory. I'd lawyer up pronto if I was you. https:\/\/t.co\/mcY9sisqPC Covfefing Michaela (@MichaelaAleach1) April 23, 2017Let s hope this loser who threatened an acid attack on Trump supporters joins his little lying friends behind bars: https:\/\/twitter.com\/Stello_Official\/status\/856254436641042432Jack Posobiec Assaulted by Antifa Terrorist pic.twitter.com\/L2UvnJ2pKq Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 23, 2017h\/t Gateway Pundit","label":1}
{"text":"After Taiwan s state-run Mega Financial Holding Co was fined $180 million by U.S. authorities for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch, the bank started a rigorous training program for its staff. Now, like Mega Financial, companies across Taiwan are working to get staff and systems up to speed after the island passed laws to meet international standards on combating money laundering and was taken off a watchlist by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). Unfortunately, Taiwan has earned a name for itself as a paradise for money laundering, Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung told Reuters. Money laundering and cybercrime connections to Taiwan, which is also in the process of pushing through a cyber security bill, have grabbed global headlines. U.S. authorities fined Mega Financial $180 million last year for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch. Some money from the $170 million cyber heist of India s Union Bank of India was transferred through Taiwan s Bank SinoPac. An international crime ring used malware to steal $2.6 million from the ATMs of Taiwan s First Bank. Taiwan was one of the six most targeted countries of the Wannacry ransomware attack earlier this year, according to security company Avast. Since 2011, 800 people from China and Taiwan have been deported from Cambodia on suspicion of telecoms fraud. Following its U.S. fine, Mega Financial said cleaning up its act is a top priority. U.S. authorities had said the Mega branch had been indifferent to the risks associated with transactions involving Panama, a high-risk area for money laundering. What happened at our New York branch was just terrible, said Robert Tsai, a senior executive vice president, referring to the fine and ensuing scandal. Half of our 6,000 clerks have been certified with anti-money laundering training. How each of our branches implements the rules and ensures proper training is the top priority for our business. To gain international confidence in its anti-money laundering measures, Taiwan will have to demonstrate it is putting the laws into practice. The APG will review Taiwan in 2018. The visit will focus on how effectively Taiwan will have actually implemented the anti-money laundering rules, said Liang Hung-lieh, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan. The APG s on-site review will be new to most of the assessed, including banks, non-bank financial institutions and in particular non-financial institutions such as lawyers, public certified accountants and other professional service providers. Under the anti-money laundering laws, these financial professionals will be required to report suspicious transactions, including bank transfers exceeding T$500,000 (US$16,500). They will have to determine where the money came from, provide details about the client and report that to Taiwan s newly established Anti-Money Laundering Office. These are similar to regulations that countries that have signed up to global anti-money laundering rules overseen by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have adopted. The cost to companies of implementing the new rules may be significant as they put processes, workers and data systems in place. There s a lot of extra work for them to do now, such as determining the identities of their clients beneficiaries, said an official with the Financial Supervisory Commission, the island s financial regulator. He declined to be identified in the absence of permission to speak to the media. They don t yet know exactly what they have to do, and to what extent, to be considered compliant with the new regulations. They re going to need some time to digest all of these new rules, he said. The potential costs and increased difficulty of getting transactions done under the new rules worry those in the property market, said Wong Jui-chi, the spokesman for Taiwan s Chinese Association of Real Estate brokers, while emphasizing that his industry intends to fully comply with the regulations. The property market is already in a bad shape and these new rules will make things worse by making the process of real estate transactions more complicated. More or less everyone in our industry is complaining about it, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Japan is preparing to acquire precision air-launched missiles that for the first time would give it the capability to strike North Korean missile sites, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Japan plans to put money aside in its next defense budget starting April to study whether its F-15 fighters could launch longer-range missiles including Lockheed Martin Corp s extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER), which can hit targets 1,000 km (620 miles) away, said one the sources with knowledge of the plan. There is a global trend for using longer range missiles and it is only natural that Japan would want to consider them, he said. The sources asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to talk to media. Japan is also interested in buying the 500 km-range Joint Strike Missile designed by Norway s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to be carried by the F-35 stealth fighter, Fuji Television reported earlier. Neither of those two items are included in a 5.26 trillion yen ($46.76 billion) budget request already submitted by Japan s Ministry of Defence, however additional funds would be made available to evaluate the purchase of these missiles, the sources said. The change suggests that the growing threat posed by North Korean ballistic missiles has given proponents of a strike capability the upper hand in military planning. Restrictions on strike weapons imposed by its war-renouncing constitution means Japan s missile force is composed of anti-aircraft and anti-ship munitions with ranges of less than 300 kms (186 miles). Any decision to buy longer range weapons capable of striking North Korea or even the Chinese mainland would therefore be controversial, but proponents argue that the strike weapons can play a defensive role. We are not currently looking at funding for this, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday at a regular press briefing. We rely on the United States to strike enemy bases and are not looking at making any changes to how we share our roles, he added. Before he took up his post in August, Onodera led a group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers that recommended Japan acquire strike weapons to deter Pyongyang from launching any attack on Japan. North Korea has since fired ballistic missiles over Japan and last week tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that climbed to an altitude of more than 4,000 km before splashing into the Sea of Japan within Japan s exclusive economic zone.","label":0}
{"text":"Media Roll Out Welcome Mat for 'Humanitarian' War in Syria Media Roll Out Welcome Mat for 'Humanitarian' War in Syria By 0 49 Hillary Clinton told Goldman Sachs that a no-fly zone is \"going to kill a lot of Syrians.\" (cc photo: Gage Skidmore)  As she marches toward the US presidency, Hillary Clinton has stepped up her promotion of the idea that a no-fly zone in Syria could \"save lives\" and \"hasten the end of the conflict\" that has devastated that country since 2011.  It has now been revealed, of course, that Clinton hasn't always expressed the same optimism about the no-fly zone in private. The Intercept (10\/10\/16 ) reported on Clinton's recently leaked remarks in a closed-door speech to Goldman Sachs in 2013:  To have a no-fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas. So our missiles, even if they are standoff missiles so we're not putting our pilots at risk\u2014you're going to kill a lot of Syrians.  Other relevant characters, such as US Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Joseph Dunford ( Daily Caller , 9\/26\/16 ), have warned that a no-fly zone in Syria would simply intensify the conflict\u2014which presumably isn't the best way to hasten its end.  Luckily for those who prefer to rally around illogic, however, plenty of media have already rolled out the welcome mat for peddlers of the \"humanitarian\" vision of increased Western military interference in Syria. The New York Times ' Nicholas Kristof ( 10\/6\/16 ) argues against \"Obama's paralysis\" and for \"more robust strategies advocated by Hillary Clinton.\"  The New York Times ' self-appointed savior of women , Nicholas Kristof ( 10\/6\/16 ), invoked the plight of a young Syrian girl in Aleppo to conclude that Obama's alleged \"paralysis\" on Syria \"has been linked to the loss of perhaps half a million lives\" in the country, as well as to \"the rise of extremist groups like the Islamic State,\" among other unpleasant outcomes. We have no \"excuse,\" we're told, for \"failing to respond to mass atrocities.\"  Never mind that the rise of ISIS has much to do with that mass atrocity known as the US invasion of Iraq, thanks to which many young Iraqi girls and other human beings have suffered rape, mutilation and death. It's convenient for certain industries, at least, when US weapons are deemed the solution for problems US weapons helped to create in the first place.  Furthermore, plenty of US weapons continue to flow to countries known for arming and funding ISIS and similar outfits\u2014an arrangement unlikely to be rectified by a no-fly zone targeting the Syrian government and the Russians.  USA Today ( 10\/8\/16 ), meanwhile, ran an opinion piece by an American doctor who worked briefly at a now-destroyed hospital in Aleppo, arguing that the US \"should lead the way in establishing real no-fly zones, either under United Nations auspices or with the British and the French\"\u2014because \"otherwise, our inaction will continue to be an embarrassment and stand as an example of our spineless irresponsibility.\"  But considering that there has already been plenty of US action in Syria\u2014including the mistaken \"pulverization\" of whole families with children\u2014it would seem we've already exhibited a fair amount of lethal irresponsibility.  Beyond the opinion pages, media figures are pushing the \"humanitarian\" approach with varying degrees of subtlety. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd ( 10\/16\/16 ) recently pressed Vice President Joe Biden on the lack of a no-fly zone over Aleppo, suggesting that the Obama administration will \"look back and wonder what if? What if? What if? What if?\"  Of course, no campaign for saving lives with bombs would be complete without everyone's favorite examples of feel-good destruction from the former Yugoslavia. The Washington Post ( 9\/9\/16 ) hosted an opinion by Bosnia and Herzegovina's first ambassador to the UN, Muhamed Sacirbey, straightforwardly headlined: \"Western Military Intervention Saved Lives in Bosnia. It Can Work in Syria, Too.\"  Sacirbey warns that \"Syria's largest city is on the brink of starvation. Bombed from the skies and besieged on the ground, Aleppo's 2 million residents may soon be exterminated.\" Gone, apparently, are the days of factchecking, when someone at the Post might have alerted the author to the reality that the vast majority of Aleppo's residents live in government-controlled areas and are thus not under attack by said government.  Comparing Aleppo to besieged Sarajevo, Sacirbey determines that Sarajevans ultimately \"escaped many of the horrors now awaiting Aleppo's residents\u2026 because NATO opted (albeit belatedly and, too often, inadequately) to uphold its responsibility to protect Bosnian civilians.\"  After lauding Bosnia's no-fly zone, Sacirbey pulls this prediction out of a hat: \"Limited military intervention in Syria would save civilian lives, perhaps as many as 200 a week.\"  In their indispensable essay for Monthly Review ( 10\/07 ), \"The Dismantling of Yugoslavia: A Study in In humanitarian Intervention (and a Western Liberal-Left Intellectual and Moral Collapse),\" Edward S. Herman and David Peterson make it unavoidably clear that the West's business in Bosnia had nothing to do with saving lives\u2014and much to do with the contrary.  The Bill Clinton administration, they note, actively sabotaged agreements to end the war at an earlier date, while \"helping arm the Bosnian Muslims and Croatians and helping bring thousands of Mujahedin to fight in Bosnia.\" America's support in this case for jihadists\u2014a secret alliance also discussed by scholar Tariq Ali ( Guardian , 9\/9\/06 )\u2014further complicates the assumption that the US is somehow capable of fixing the current jihad problem.  In predictable fashion, US media led the charge to the Bosnian intervention ( Extra! , 10-11\/92 ), dutifully painting the Serbs as demonic aggressors, parroting inflated Bosnian casualty estimates and otherwise behaving as the official PR arm of the establishment.  A similar performance was repeated shortly thereafter with Kosovo, where minimal regard was given to actual facts on the ground and the specter of Serbian-waged genocide was instead hysterically invoked. Noam Chomsky ( Monthly Review , 9\/08 ) cited various reports, including from the British government, that the US-backed Kosovo Liberation Army was actually responsible for more killings than the Serbs in the run-up to NATO's bombing campaign\u2014a project that naturally also managed to kill several thousand people.  While Yugoslavia has now been fully dismantled, the myth of Western humanitarian intervention there has emerged unscathed; in his recent dispatch on Syria, Kristof brought up Kosovo as an example of how \"the military toolbox has saved lives.\"  To be sure, \"saving lives\" is a much nobler goal than, say, endowing NATO with a new lease on life or clearing the way for total neoliberal assault \u2014two outcomes of the West's Yugoslav ventures. Hence the utility, as Herman and Peterson write, of the \"edifice of lies that serves and protects the Western interventions in the former Yugoslavia\u2014and which laid the ideological foundations for the US role in Iraq and for future so-called humanitarian interventions.\"  In Syria's brutal war, meanwhile, humanitarian motives will presumably be utilized as a veneer for pursuing more fundamental goals, like neutralizing resistance to US\/Israeli regional designs and promoting that profitable sort of chaos that produces massive arms sales.  And just as those in the West who failed to leap onto the bandwagon in Yugoslavia were denounced as \" apologists for genocide \" and the like, opponents of increased Western military action in Syria will be increasingly assailed as pro-Assad fanatics with Syrian blood on their hands.  One strong candidate for fanatic-hood is Greg Shupak, who in a recent Jacobin magazine dispatch ( 10\/20\/16 ) dared to argue that a no-fly zone \"would actually represent an escalation of war that is guaranteed to harm civilians in the name of protecting them.\" Emphasizing that opposition to said zone is not meant in any way \"to minimize or rationalize the torture, mass killings or severe sieges enacted by the Syrian state and its allies,\" Shupak continues: \"The imminent question, however, is not, 'Is the Syrian government good?'; it's 'Should America drop more bombs on Syria?'\"  Because, at the end of the day, humanitarian war just isn't humanly possible.","label":1}
{"text":"Reuters reports: A Revolutionary Guards commander said on Saturday that Iran would use its missiles against enemies of the Islamic Republic if they threaten the country's security. [\"We are working day and night to protect Iran's security. If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring missiles will fall on their heads,\" head of Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Earlier Iran said it was carrying out a military exercise to test its missile and radar systems, a day after US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Tehran for a recent ballistic missile test. Read the full story here.","label":0}
{"text":"Forrest Gump was right on! By Philip A Farruggio Posted on November 3, 2016 by Philip A Farruggio  If one remembers the 1994 film Forrest Gump, one should recall his famous quote: Stupid is as stupid does. Well, he must have been clairvoyant as to our Amerikan public, as least those of us who vote. Factoring out we who refuse to support this Two Party con job, we are left with the overwhelming numbers who will 'follow the herd' and vote for either of the two scoundrels running for president.  The Trump supporters are made up of millions of angry white males, with a smithering of angry white females to join them. Many of these folks, and this writer sees them throughout my town of 60,000, live in substandard housing (many in mobile home parks ) and drive older vehicles. Yet , they are aroused and volunteering for a spoiled rich guy who never had to worry about his housing or any living expenses. They are standing on street corners holding signs for a megalomaniac billionaire who only played by the rules of the corporate empire and never the needs of working stiffs. They are so angry at the so-called system that they support a man who has represented it his entire adult life. Sadly, these angry white folks buy into Trump's populist rhetoric, caring not for the fact that he supports what Eisenhower warned us of: The Military Industrial Complex, a.k.a. empire! Trump will spend more and more of their working stiff hard earned tax money on the military, surpassing even what the Bush cabal and Obama 'hope and change' phonies have spent: over 50% of federal tax revenues!!  Now we come to the other Stupid is as stupid does electorate: The Ms. Killary supporters. This is a person who has supported her husband's welfare reform bill, which incidentally, hurt millions of poor people of color. She supported his NATO bombing campaigns in what was once Yugoslavia, which helped to nurture the very fanatical Islamic jihadists that were the precursor to Al-Qaeda and ISIL. Ms. Killary supported NAFTA and GATT and WTO (Google them for references to trade deals that destroyed American jobs), which is one of the things that the idiot Trump rightfully is against. During her days as secretary of state for the stooge Obama, Ms. Killary actually pushed him to sign onto the NATO carpet bombing of Libya, taking out Gaddafi (remember her famous 'We came, we saw he died' laughter after they tortured Gaddafi by sticking a bayonet up his rectum and then killing him? ). She then supported the coup that took out the socialist and truly populist president of Honduras, and the coup that did the same for the president of the Ukraine (who committed the sin of being pro Russia), replacing him with obvious neo fascists (why quiet about that Mr. Netanyahu of Israel? ). Ms. Killary publicly states, with compunction, that the war criminal Henry Kissinger 'is a friend and I relied on his counsel while I was secretary of state.'. This is the war criminal that so many working stiffs of all colors will be supporting November 8, who, by the way, will continue her New Cold War with Russia rhetoric into the White House and also, like Trump, sally up to the Military Industrial Complex, a.k.a. empire.  So, there you have it. The circus has truly come to town . . . but who are the clowns? Are they the ones who tell me all the time that my vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party or my conservative friend's vote for the Libertarian Party's Johnson are 'wasted votes'? Is that what they call pragmatism, voting for the lesser of two evils or voting not for someone, rather voting against someone else? To this writer a pragmatist is the guy facing the firing squad who asks for a blindfold. Either way, he's gonna be dead!!  Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NY, longshoremen. A graduate of Brooklyn College (class of '74 with a BA in Speech & Theater), he is a freelance columnist posted on World News Trust, Nation of Change Blog, Op Ed News,TheSleuthJournal.com, Intrepid Report, Information Clearing House, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice, Counterpunch and many other sites worldwide. Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been a street corner protest activist leader and Green Party member since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at .","label":1}
{"text":"It was supposed to be Trump s one, big win. Now it s completely falling apart.The much-publicized deal to save American manufacturing jobs at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis is looking less like a feather in Trump s cap and more like a black eye. The latest details out of the plant paint a grim picture for the employees who were told just months ago that they had been saved by Trump. According to a report by CNBC:More than 600 employees at a Carrier plant in Indianapolis are bracing for layoffs beginning next month, despite being told by President Trump that nearly all the jobs at the plant had been saved. The deal, announced with great fanfare before Trump took office, was billed not only as a heroic move to keep jobs from going to Mexico but also as a seismic shift in the economic development landscape.Nearly seven months later the deal has not worked out quite as originally advertised, and the landscape has barely budged. The jobs are still leaving, said Robert James, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999. Nothing has stopped. Shortly after winning the election and eager for a publicity win, Trump had obsessed over the Carrier plant. In an effort to secure the publicity stunt, he ordered then-Indiana governor Mike Pence to hand over $7 million in tax breaks to the owners of Carrier in an effort to bribe the executives into keeping some jobs in the area. The Carrier executives gladly took the money (which came out of Indiana s taxes) then shipped the jobs to Mexico anyways.In perhaps the sickest twist in this sordid story, Carrier had secured the $7 million by promising to invest an additional $16 million in the factory. Trump never read the fine print. Carrier now says it will use that promised money to develop more automation which will enable the company to cut even more jobs down the road.That s one hell of a bad deal from Donald the dealmaker Trump.Unfortunately for Americans looking to understand how Trump might run the country and for the workers at Carrier, much of the mainstream media hailed the Carrier deal as an unequivocal success for Trump. The New York Times, for instance, praised Trump for the bribe, parroting his campaign rhetoric, writing that this deal proved Trump was a different kind of Republican, willing to take on big business. It s doubtful that the same media outlets will bother to retract their original praise or issue a follow-up documenting the ways in which the deal has fallen apart. Everyone has moved on. Many Americans might even still falsely believe Trump saved the Carrier jobs.Meanwhile an estimated 600 employees at Carrier will now be jobless. Plants will still open up in Mexico, right on schedule. And the only real winners were the owners of Carrier and Trump. But was there ever really any chance that it wouldn t turn out this way?","label":1}
{"text":"Walling them out, or walling us in? Shall we wall off Canada, too? By Jim Hightower Posted on November 3, 2016 by Jim Hightower  Evading security cameras in the remote expanse along the U.S. border, three Guatemalans waited till dusk to slip illicitly into our country.  This is the stuff of Donald Trump nightmares\u2014and if he were to witness such a scene, we can only imagine the furious rants that would follow.  But Trump will never see this scene or even know about it, because he's facing south, fulminating against Mexicans and assuring his faithful followers that he'll stop illegal entry into the U.S. by building a \" beautiful, impenetrable wall \" across our 2,000-mile border with Mexico.  Meanwhile, the scene described took place way up north, where rural Vermont connects to Canada. As the New York Times recently reported , \"This area is a haven for smugglers and cross-border criminal organizations.\"  With so many of our nation's political and security officials obsessed with the southern border, more and more criminal action\u2014including the smuggling of people, drugs, and weapons\u2014has plagued our 5,500-mile Canadian border, the longest in the world between two countries.  Running from the Atlantic to the Pacific through sparsely populated and heavily wooded terrain, there's often no clear demarcation of where Canada ends and the U.S. begins. Some farms, homes, and businesses actually sprawl across the border.  Only about 2,000 agents patrol this vast stretch, and officials concede they don't even have a good guess of how many people and how much contraband is coming across, or where.  So, the question for Mr. Trump is: Shall we wall off Canada, too? And how much of our public treasury, democratic idealism, and international goodwill shall we dump into the folly of militarizing both borders?  By simply thinking we can wall the world out, we'll be walling ourselves in\u2014and that's suicidal.  OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He's the editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown . Distributed by OtherWords.or g . Commentary . Bookmark the permalink .","label":1}
{"text":"With vehicles crushed and overturned and buildings reduced to skeletons of mangled steel and rubble, the Philippine city of Marawi resembles the aftermath of a war that lasted years, rather than months. Except for small clusters of troops dotted amid the ruins and skinny cats and dogs scavenging for food, the heart of Marawi is a ghost town, all but destroyed by the Philippines biggest and fiercest urban battle in recent history. Hundreds of rebels claiming allegiance to Islamic State seized large areas of the city of 200,000 people in May and clung on through unrelenting government air strikes and artillery bombardments, right until the last remaining gunmen were killed three days ago. The military escorted media on Wednesday through the ravaged streets of the once picturesque lakeside town, showing for the first time the front lines of a devastating conflict that has stoked fears of Islamic State s extremist agenda taking root in the region. The scale of the damage was stark as a convoy of vans carrying reporters and cameramen followed an army truck through one district after another, stopping off at key intersections recently cleared of unexploded munitions and booby traps. Wide boulevards in the city were lined by crumbling homes and shop fronts missing higher floors, with fragments of chairs, children s toys and household appliances wedged into piles of crumbled concrete. Tattered pieces of clothing poking above banks of rubble provided the only color in the mass of gutted grey buildings blackened by smoke. Vans, pickup trucks and cars were turned over, coated in rust or torn apart by bomb blasts. The militants planning, stockpiling of weapons and their combat capability stunned government forces, who had to fight street by street to take back the city and were often pinned down by snipers and homemade bombs. At first our forces cannot press them, they moved from one building to the next. Our concept was to restrict them - it took time, but we constricted them, said Lieutenant Colonel Sam Yunque, a special forces commander deployed in Marawi since the beginning of the conflict. We innovated to suppress their techniques. They were not better than us, that s why they lost. The Philippines announced the end of combat operations in Marawi City on Monday after troops killed 42 remaining militants, including some foreign fighters. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops and 45 civilians, died in the conflict. The government has said the rest were militants. Senior officers said they took pains to protect the multitude of mosques in what is the only designated Islamic City in the mainly Catholic Philippines. Although many escaped the pounding of daily air strikes, domes and walls were peppered with holes from heavy machine gun fire as troops sought to flush out rebels hiding within. Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis praised Filipino soldiers for defeating the militants without attracting allegations of human rights violations. The United States provided critical tactical intelligence in the Marawi combat operation, deploying surveillance planes and drones, thermal imaging and eavesdropping equipment. The walls were blasted away at Marawi s police headquarters where the armory was looted, and in the adjacent jail where more than 100 prisoners were freed. Close by, a mosque minaret had fallen into a mash of metal and rock. Behind it was a lone, leafless tree with only a few branches left. The militants smashed through thick layers of concrete to turn drainage channels into trenches, doubling as tunnels for fighters to move between buildings and elude surveillance drones and army snipers. Rebel-held buildings were covered with graffiti, including one of an arrow through a heart, with the message I love ISIS , an acronym for Islamic State. But there was no love for the rebel alliance among the hundreds of jubilant soldiers at send-off ceremonies held this week as troops gradually return home. Colonel Corleto Vinluan, the commander of joint special operations, described the enemy as rats . He said the military had gained valuable experience in urban combat and chose a strategy that took time, but ultimately paid off. We couldn t just enter the area, it was very big, we did not know where the leaders were, we had to surround them and the area became smaller. It was that time when we really took control, Vinluan told Reuters. We didn t expect they ll last that long, their ammunition their firearms and their food. We learned a lot from this event, we adjusted our strategies. They were tough fighters, some of them, but not all.","label":0}
{"text":"The Commodity Futures Trading Commission would have stronger policing powers over the derivatives market, along with a boosted budget, under legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. The bill, introduced by Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Mark Warner in the Senate and Elijah Cummings in the House of Representatives, also would add new tasks to the regulator's rulemaking agenda. \"The only way to make sure that derivatives can never lead to a financial crisis and taxpayer bailouts again is to put in place clearer rules and stronger oversight,\" Warren said in a statement. The bill likely will fizzle in the Republican-led Congress. It could also become part of this year's election fights, as the relationship between Wall Street and Washington frequently moves to center stage in presidential and congressional campaigns. Democrats such as Warren, who is campaigning for her party's presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, regard the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law passed after the 2007-09 financial crisis as crucial for preventing another massive meltdown. That law greatly expanded the CFTC's reach, as swaps and derivatives had played a key role in the breakdown of banks and other firms. They also seek further regulation, saying vulnerabilities persist in the financial system. The presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, real estate developer and television star Donald Trump wants to repeal Dodd-Frank. Many in the party say the law has gone too far, drying up liquidity and freezing capital. The proposed legislation \"gives the CFTC a stable funding stream and the tools necessary to help deter future illegal acts by permitting penalties large enough to impact the bottom lines of even the largest financial firms,\" Cummings said. The CFTC currently is funded through annual appropriations from Congress, unlike the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is backed by user fees and fines. CFTC Chair Timothy Massad has sought a change, saying millions of dollars more in funds would help the agency keep up with technology advancements in the markets it oversees and with \"high-powered defense teams\" in its enforcement cases. Republicans in Congress say the funding process keeps the agency accountable to elected leaders. The Democrats' bill would move the CFTC to the same model as the SEC. It would also put certain foreign exchange swaps under CFTC jurisdiction, change how derivatives are treated in bankruptcy, require posting initial margin in inter-affiliate swaps, and require regulators to review derivatives clearinghouses.","label":0}
{"text":"Oct 26, 2016 4:26 PM 0 SHARES  There was a sudden burst of confusion heading into today's Tesla earnings. As Bloomberg reported , a change in the way Tesla Motors Inc. will report quarterly results after today's market close has created a bit of a last-minute headache for analysts, with earnings estimates varying widely. The electric-car maker is phasing out most of the non-GAAP adjustments it's traditionally made, including ones for resale value guarantees or vehicles leased through banking partners. Starting today, when the company discusses third-quarter adjusted non-GAAP earnings per share, it plans to exclude only stock-based compensation.  The SEC in recent months has raised concern that public companies may be straying too far too often from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Though Tesla has telegraphed its plan for weeks, many analysts are only now revising forecast models and some are sitting out the guessing game entirely this time. That means it may be challenging to draw firm conclusions about whether Tesla missed or beat Wall Street expectations - giving added importance to what Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk says on a follow-up conference call about cash or production plans.  So heading into today's earnings, the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts stands at an adjusted loss of 54 cents a share, based on seven forecasts that have comparable methodologies that the firms say take the new practice into account. While all seven of those projected a loss, there are others who say the company may post a profit.  Well, those who expected a profit got just that, because momnets ago Tesla not only reported revenue of $2.3 billion, far higher than the $1.9 billion expected, but also reported its first quarterly profit of $74 cents, smashing consensus estimate of a 54 cent loss.  Since there will be much confusion over how these numbers make any sense, here is what the company said:  Starting this quarter, our financial releases no longer include the non-GAAP revenue disclosures that we historically provided. To simplify our financial reporting, we add back non-cash stock-based compensation (SBC) to calculate non-GAAP results. Consistent with previous quarters, non-GAAP automotive gross margin will also exclude ZEV credit sales.  Total Q3 GAAP revenue was $2.30 billion, up 145% from Q3 2015, while total Q3 gross margin was 27.7%, compared to 21.6% in Q2.  Total automotive revenue was $2.15 billion on a GAAP basis, up 152% from Q3 2015. Our final Q3 delivery count was 24,821, over 300 more than the estimated delivery count we shared on October 2nd. Deliveries increased 114% from the third quarter of 2015, and was comprised of 16,047 Model S and 8,774 Model X vehicles. In addition, 5,065 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the quarter. These vehicles will be delivered in Q4.  Our Q3 GAAP net income was $22 million, or $0.14 per share on 157 million diluted shares, while our non-GAAP net income was $111 million, or $0.71 per share on a diluted basis, after adding back $90 million of SBC. Both figures include an $0.08 per share loss of other expense, net, primarily related to foreign currency transactions and the conversion of most of our 2018 convertible notes.  Confused? So are we, and sadly charting the results does not help:  And here are the company's GAAP revenues:  Alas, even looking at the company's cash flow does not provide much apples to apples color. Here's why:  We hope that Elon Musk can provide some clarity on just what is going on here, because Wall Street has no idea.  * * *  Going back to its core business, said that its final Q3 delivery count was 24,821, over 300 more than the estimated delivery count we shared on October 2nd. \" Deliveries increased 114% from the third quarter of 2015, and was comprised of 16,047 Model S and 8,774 Model X vehicles. In addition, 5,065 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the quarter. These vehicles will be delivered in Q4.\"  It added the following:  During the quarter, we opened 17 new stores and service centers to increase our customer support network to 250 locations globally. We believe new product variants such as the P100DL, additional Model X seating variants, new product capabilities such as Enhanced Autopilot and hardware for Full Self-Driving Capability, Autopilot 8.0 software, and new store and service center openings should continue to drive strong vehicle order growth.  The company also said that it had \"achieved record production levels in Q3, rising to 25,185 vehicles for an increase of 37% from Q2 and an increase of 92% from Q3 last year\"  TSLA said 4Q deliveries were \"just over\" 25k, had 3Q deliveries of 24.5k, forecast 2H deliveries of 50k. The company also said that the Model 3 remains on plan for volume deliveries in second half of 2017. Here is the full outlook:  We maintain our guidance of 50,000 new vehicle deliveries for the second half of 2016, with a Q4 plan of just over 25,000 deliveries, despite the challenges of winter weather and the holiday season. We expect about 30% to 35% of these deliveries to be accounted for as leases for revenue recognition purposes.  As previously provided in our second quarter update, we guided a 2 to 3 percentage points improvement in automotive gross margin on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis by the end of 2016. Automotive gross margin on a non-GAAP basis excludes ZEV credits and SBC. We are on track to meet this guidance.  We also guided in our second quarter update that full year 2016 operating expenses, both on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, would grow approximately 30% from 2015. We are also on track to meet this guidance.  We now expect our capital expenditures in 2016 will be approximately $1.8 billion as we continue to focus on capital efficiency. Capital expenditures for the past three quarters totaled $759 million.  While an apples-to-apples analysis is clearly missing the report, for now the algos love the headline, and have sent the stock surging after hours.","label":1}
{"text":"Searching for money, for love and for food, we strike bargains. We may be content with one for years until we begin to be shadowed by the suspicion that the terms aren't working out in our favor anymore. That doubt nagged me at Momofuku Nishi, which the chef David Chang opened in Chelsea in January. Early in his career, with Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ssam Bar, Mr. Chang and his customers struck a deal that made decades of dining tradition look obsolete. He and his cooks could make Asian ingredients bend in new directions. The cooking could be gloriously unwholesome or willfully esoteric or stunningly precise, but it was never quite like anything else out there. In return for tasting these new sensations, Mr. Chang's customers gave up amenities that used to be automatic at restaurants hoping to be taken seriously. When it comes to inflicting discomfort, Nishi still holds up its end of the bargain. You can make reservations, but not for a table, most of which are long and low you're likely to share yours with strangers. Instead, you reserve a chair, which, strictly speaking, is a seat built like a hard, flat crate. Ssam Bar has similar seating, but the lighting is more seductive and the noise level is less throttling. At Nishi, highly sensitive microphones seem to be placed directly above all the loudest people, picking up and amplifying their every screech. Mr. Chang told the Eater restaurant critic Ryan Sutton in March, when Nishi was two months old, that the acoustics \"have to get better. \" Reading that, I stayed away for six weeks, hoping for improvements. When I returned, the only obvious change was that more tiles had been affixed to the ceiling. If they helped, I couldn't tell. In a phone interview, Mr. Chang told me he is \"going crazy about the sound, but we are working actively to do the best we can. \" Nishi is still as loud as the opening of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. Temporary soreness of the butt and throat were always potential downsides of a Momofuku meal. Back when we first agreed to the bargain, though, the food was so distractingly original and good that you wouldn't have minded eating it while leaning up against a Dumpster in an alley sharing your chopsticks with GG Allin. At Nishi, you mind. The strongest dishes are exquisitely controlled plates of cold vegetables or protein that could easily fit into the lineup of a marathon menu at Momofuku Ko, the tasting counter where Nishi's executive chef, Joshua Pinsky, cooked for more than five years. Shavings of watermelon radishes and raw beef veined with white fat are sprinkled with dashi and a Spanish olive oil that really stands out. Threads of celery curl around raw mackerel, given a breath of char and bathed in a soy analogue fermented from rye, with a precise flicker of yuzu. Sea scallops dusted with salted, dried kelp rise from a green juice that tastes like cucumbers, peppers and herbs \u2014 or maybe it's just wheatgrass? These dishes and others like them are extraordinarily good because the ingredients are allowed to speak quietly. But when the kitchen reaches for the throttle, the results can be muddled or muted. Snails and anchovies seemed to be straining to keep a $55 prime rib from seeming ordinary and slightly dry. Where was the salted crust? Where was the invitation to give in to fleshy temptations held out by Ssam Bar's rotisserie duck or its pork shoulder? Mackerel was almost perfectly cooked, but nothing about it made me want to come back for more, not the lukewarm daikon hiding under it nor the barbecue sauce spread on top, a blend so complex and balanced it canceled itself out. Allegedly, Nishi is Mr. Chang's foray into Italy, although that's not at all apparent until you dip into the noodles. The clams grand Lisboa is, I guess, a twist on spaghetti alle vongole. The fun of it is the way skinny chow mein noodles have been toasted before cooking, so you get some soft strands and some crackly ones in the same bite. Footnotes on the right side of the menu provide cryptic references to source materials. The one for the chitarra points toward the chef Mark Ladner's pasta with crab meat and jalape\u00f1os. That dish is memorable. The Nishi version is not. Mr. Ladner's bright clarity is replaced with a confusion of dried squid, XO sauce, fermented chiles and chile paste. One time it was spicy but too sweet another time it was less sweet but not spicy enough. The dish everybody talks about is called ceci e pepe, a takeoff on cacio e pepe made with chickpea hozon, a fermented paste made and sold in tiny amounts by Momofuku. Hozon does taste a bit like cheese, but not like the pecorino used in a classic cacio e pepe \u2014 it's missing that wild pasture flavor of sheep's milk. The dish is also missing a few degrees of heat like some of the other noodles, ceci e pepe has a habit of arriving lukewarm. A homage this far off the mark would be fine if the goal were to avoid animal fats, but butter slips around the strands of bucatini. I don't know why this dish exists, except to find a use for a proprietary Momofuku product. Too much of the cooking at Nishi is inward looking and so concerned with technique that you can't help being conscious of it. In his early days, Mr. Chang served the kind of food chefs like to eat: intense, animalistic, O. K. with messiness, indifferent to prettiness. Nishi serves the kind of food chefs cook to impress one another. As Mr. Chang's operation has grown into a global concern with branches in Australia and Canada, his restaurants started to offer amenities that were once unimaginable. The cocktails at Nishi, like the margarita with an absinthe rinse, are clever in the right way. There is satisfying range on the wine list, too the nuanced Farrside pinot noir from Australia is a far cry from the sparkling shiraz that was one of the only bottles Ssam Bar carried in its first year. If dinner in Changland now includes intelligent drinking, why can't it also encompass seating and acoustics that won't leave your lower back in knots and your eardrums in shreds? When we made our original deal with Momofuku, we were all kinds of swept away by the rush of flavors we had never encountered before. Now that Mr. Chang has a dozen years' worth of prot\u00e9g\u00e9s and copycats, now that he even seems to be copying himself, now that the rest of us have cooler heads and other options, it's time to take another look at that bargain.","label":0}
{"text":"Analyses The Saker  by GH Eliason  Whether you are for Hillary Clinton or against her, the problem with Hillary Clinton isn't her lack of experience. Almost the entire political establishment is behind her. Throughout all the bumps and scandal in this whole election cycle, Republicans and former presidents are coming out of the woodwork supporting her. According to the LA Times she may well be one of the most experienced candidates in US history, while even accounting for severe conflicts of interest inside the Clinton Foundation. Neither friend or foe doubt Hillary Clinton's experience after 30 years in politics.  The problem is even Hillary Clinton's friends say she has a history of acting without thinking, of making bad decisions. According to Neera Tanden : \"Almost no one knows better than me that her instincts can be terrible.\"  Does Hillary Clinton show bad instincts and terrible decision-making skills, and if she does, how will this affect the USA?  According to journalist Robert Parry \"the people that will be taking senior positions and especially in foreign policy believe \"This consensus is driven by a broad-based backlash against a president who has repeatedly stressed the dangers of overreach and the need for restraint, especially in the Middle East\u2026 Taken together, the studies and reports call for more aggressive American action to constrain Iran, rein in the chaos in the Middle East and check Russia in Europe.\"One of the lead organizations revving up these military adventures and also counting on a big boost in military spending under President Clinton-45 is the Atlantic Council, a think tank associated with NATO that has been pushing for a major confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.\"  The Atlantic Council is the think tank for the CEEC which is associated with NATO. The CEEC (Central and Eastern European Coalition) has only one goal. At the beginning of the presidential campaign they put out a small list of questions for the candidates to decide who they would support for the president.  The first question was essentially \"Are you willing to go to war with Russia?\" Hillary Clinton has answered that question and received their unqualified support throughout the campaign. Who is the CEEC?  The Central and Eastern European Coalition represent the various Central and Eastern European countries to the US government. What makes them special in an election is that they control a 20 million person strong bloc vote in key states across the country and sway elections by themselves. The price of a Clinton win is war with Russia.  If that seems a little too much to be believable, reconsider the Iraq war. All it took was for the Iraqi diaspora to develop strong ties with like-minded people from \"The Project for the New American Century\" that wanted regime change in Iraq. Many of the people associated with the PNAC crossed over into the Bush administration . They pushed the invasion together.  \" Walt Vanderbush's essay, \"The Iraqi Diaspora and the US Invasion of Iraq\" (chapter 9), traces the collaboration between leaders of the Iraqi diaspora and neoconservative Americans, many of them linked to the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), to convince the US government to wage war and bring about \"regime change\" in Iraq\u2026 The INC claimed credit for placing 108 articles in the news media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Times (of London), during a nine-month period before the war.\"  It wasn't terror, Osama, or even oil that the Iraq war was fought for. It was a guy named Ahmed Chalabi who was the only victor of the Iraq war.  American-emigre groups use their strategically settled populations in key battleground states, deep pockets, and unbridled political ambition to gain control over their home \"old\" countries. Even more insidious is the influence they exert over the United States to destroy old enemies.  Do we want senior cabinet and policy positions filled by people that think starting WWIII is a good goal? Let's take a look at the make-up and politics of some of these.  Starting at the top let's look at the Ukrainian emigres which lead the CEEC and the Atlantic Council. One thing anyone represented by the UCCA (Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America) or the UWC (Ukrainian World Congress) has in common is Axis-political heritage and beliefs. The OUN is the political grouping of Ukrainian nationalists and it would vote for Adolf Hitler if he was running in a heartbeat.  Unless real Nazi political views (not neo-nazi) found a way to survive all these years with this group of people, the statement is just insulting. Anyone reading should be insulted because that level of offensiveness in a politically charged environment is wrong.  Nazism or Axis-Nazism are political beliefs and principles that structure your government the same as Republican or Democratic control would. The only difference is the \"ism.\" The \"ism\" means everything you do in your life revolves around your politic so it's not just political or social guides or guidelines. It's your lifestyle and everything wraps around it. Anything or anyone that goes against it is an enemy of the state, and it is personal.  From their own words in the Ukrainian Weekly, real, active political Nazi's are alive, kickin' and ready for a Clinton win! It is the sheer number of groups self-identifying as practicing real Nazi beliefs in the US gaining policy and cabinet positions under a Clinton win that is incredible.  The Ukrainian World Congress with its affiliates in over 40 countries and others work tirelessly in trying to keep Ukraine and the Ukrainian spirit front and center.  \"We have had a minister of finance, Natalka Jaresko, in the Cabinet. We now have Ulana Suprun as acting minister of health. We have many from the diaspora assisting with strategizing, reforming and supporting the overall cause. We have a highly successful program in Patriot Defence. We are out to change the way business is done.  Unity to act when required has been the diaspora's mantra \u2013 this cannot be disputed.  As time moves on, we see that things take a natural course. We see that two wings of the OUN \u2013 (OUNb)Banderivtsi and (OUNm)Melnykivtsi \u2013 are working actively on the international level, working in partnership and currently are in strong negotiations about becoming a single entity again.\"  With all you've heard about Stepan Bandera's OUN since the Maidan coup in Ukraine, I'll bet you didn't know they call New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia home.  The UCCA and the UWC still celebrate their Nazi SS because they are still Axis-nazis. The OUN were the vile Holocaust murderers during and after WWII and their politics live on in their children today. This is no different from the children of other Waffen-SS leaders or if Hitler had surviving children that stood up and ran other countries based in Hitler's policy. These American kids are sent to Ukraine to learn how to copy and act like Stepan Bandera before they come back to America and get involved in policy making.  \" OUNb leader Ivan Kobasa also took responsibility of making sure the Ukrainian-Americans received the proper secondary education at Ukrainian nationalist schools(MAUP) in Ukraine. From the mid-2000's enrollment in this educational system has skyrocketed. Today almost all members of the current Ukrainian government are graduates of this ideological system that was taught to them by moderates like David Duke who is also a graduate of the MAUP system.\"  While American media criticizes David Duke's support for Donald Trump, they say nothing about Hillary's strongest supporters hiring David Duke as a professor to teach their children college level history. Is Hillary Clinton too far right for David Duke? After all, he has no plans to conquer Russia.  When you look at her campaign coffers and the most active political activists supporting Hillary Clinton, many are groups whose politics are not republican or democrat, but old-world nationalist. They are spread across America and still idolize their Waffen SS heroes, literally. They have statues and holidays and children's groups across America in cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago celebrating some of the vilest mass murderers in history. And they teach their children to idolize them and grow up using them as role models. They also bring up their children in the same political mold of ultra-nationalism.  Now they want an America that will do the same. Over the last 30 years, the old world nationalists have moved into media and policy positions to make this happen. If that wasn't enough they control a 20 million person bloc vote in key states and swing states in important cities across America.  I am not using the word nazi as an insult, this isn't neo-nazi or even a nazi revival. These groups have been the most extreme political activists in the USA over the last 50 years and are a continuation of what their parents were in the 1930's. In their own words, they never assimilated into American culture. They assimilated the culture to them. In the words of the CIA, they are political animals. Today, their wagons are circled around a Hillary Clinton presidency.  The OUN were the guards at the Holocaust prison camps, Waffen SS, and volunteer brigades that were famous for torture and murder. In Ukraine, they killed over 3 million people and conducted the first act of Holocaust at Babi Yar.  The funny part if there was one is that with every fiber of your being, you want to argue against these facts. The OUN on the other hand featured at least one of my articles on their rise in American politics even though I called them devils. The fact they find me credible shouldn't get lost on you.  When these good friends of Hillary Clinton from the CEEC start getting tapped for advisory posts, and cabinet positions through the Atlantic Council or Project for a new American Century, will they automatically become Democrats or Republicans?  Does America want a war with Russia so the losers of WWII can settle old scores?  For the first time, under a Clinton presidency, America will have unbridled Axis-nazis\/old world nationalists\/ nazis in most of the cabinet and policy positions. They are getting the positions because they are delivering donations, bloc votes, political propaganda, and hard activism in battleground states.  The results for the Clinton campaign in emigre dominated states is the same as it was when they first got together. Clinton is up by 11 points in important emigre bloc voting districts.  \u2026In last month's heavily publicized Pennsylvania Senate race. Ukrainian and Baltic groups, protesting the administration's attempts to prevent the break-up of the USSR, supported the Democratic candidate, Harris Wofford. This position contributed to the defeat of Dick Thornburgh, a former attorney general in the Bush administration\u2026.\"The Ukrainian Weekly, December 8, 1991, No. 49, Vol. LIX  In a Ukraine Weekly interview with candidate Bill Clinton-\"For the last 40 years, many Ukrainians have been supporters of the Republican Party. However, Mr. Bush severely damaged his relations with Ukrainians with his \"Chicken Kiev\" speech, and by his unwillingness to see Ukraine's point of view in disputes with Russia. How will your party seek to secure the goodwill of voters concerned by this issue?\" \u2026  Clinton's answer\u2026\"The Bush administration has had a spotty record abroad\u2026including the president's insulting warning against \"suicidal nationalism\" made before proindependence forces in Kiev in the summer of 1991 \u2014 and a failed economic record at home. We hope Ukrainian Americans will join our effort to put people first.\" \u2013 Interview with Candidate Bill Clinton-Ukrainian Weekly Issue 43, 1992  In what has become the ultimate pay to play scheme, the Clinton's gave over Ukraine to OUNb nationalists to run as they saw fit. This was payment for political support and bloc votes that won the 1992 elections for Bill Clinton. American citizens were given a country to run and represent in any manner they chose to do it.  According to Ukrainian nationalist scholar Taras Kuzio , the Axis- nazi political beliefs started to be taught to children in Ukraine after the OUNb took the reins. This was the preparation for what would become a nationalist coup in 2014 Ukraine.  This pattern follows the Clinton-NATO expansion and every CEE (Central and Eastern European) country freed by the Clintons followed suit. In Croatia, Croatian-Americans have more parliamentary seats and representation than any group from Croatia.  Other than American-emigre groups gaining rule and representing the \"home country\" in the US, there is only one other universal factor each of them revived. Axis- nazi politics and political views became normal in their home countries. In Croatia, they even revived the Waffen SS Battalions.  The people at the CEEC are behind the Atlantic Council and PNAC will be making the domestic and foreign policy decisions in a Clinton administration. While I would not call Hillary Clinton a Nazi, the people she surrounds herself with actively are. There is very little doubt that Victoria Nuland, a Ukrainian-American brought up in these beliefs will be Secretary of State under a Clinton Administration.  To get an understanding of what that means, the same people that are deciding Ukrainian domestic and foreign policy will be sending their people to those cabinet positions.  The one thing for sure is even publications that support her candidacy wonder about Hillary Clinton's lack of judgment and surrounding herself with nationalist war-hawks that want war with Russia.  According to the WEEK \"At first, Obama went over the top of public opinion to avenge American honor against ISIS. Slowly, America's mission has crept to include some form of regime change with the ouster of Assad. Now Clinton is selling the American people on greater military interventions so that the U.S. can challenge Putin. Clinton seems unable to distinguish between what is of vital interest to the Russians and peripheral interest to America. She combines this with her bias toward always taking action \u2014 of any sort, for good or ill. The combination is dangerous.\"  The article ends in the hope that Clinton is once again lying. Both current president Obama and Hillary Clinton are trying to sell America on the idea that there are moderates fighting a civil war in Syria. We are arming and training them. Are there moderates in Syria worth supporting? Do we have any business there to begin with? The article goes as far as stating the US is determined to overthrow every country that is friendly to Russia.  Right now Clinton wants to establish a no-fly-zone to protect her moderates. Who are they? US Special Forces on the ground are adamant that Clinton wants to give US military support to ISIS even if it means starting an open war with Russia.  \" Nobody believes in it. You're like, 'Fuck this,'\" a former Green Beret says of America's covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian militias. \"Everyone on the ground knows they are jihadis. No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort, and they know they are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, 'Fuck it, who cares?'\" \"I don't want to be responsible for Nusra guys saying they were trained by Americans,\" the Green Beret added.  Since 2014, Ukraine has fully supported al Nusra and at the beginning of the civil war pulled 200 ISIS fighters to the Ukrainian front lines. These fighters are jihadis from Crimea. They have also set up an ISIS training camp near Mariupol. Like all other volunteers, they don't receive government support and rob to make a living.  Before this, the Kosovo example looms large. Does inviting indicted mass murderers and people preparing for illegal organ trade (crimes against humanity) trials to your national party convention as special guests qualify as good judgment? Does it showcase Hillary Clinton's good instincts to be president?  Welcome to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Hillary Clinton's special guest from Kosovo took time-out from preparing for his crimes against humanity case to give support and wish her well.  \"Invited as a guest to the 2016 Democratic National Convention is none other than Kadri Veseli, the Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly. Veseli is a former Kosovar Albanian leader of the KLA and its spy organization SHIK. He's being indicted along with the current president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci for small things like organ trafficking and crimes against humanity .'  The main witness against Clinton friends, Veseli and Thaci, is a man that was ordered to cut the heart out of another man that was begging for mercy. In a 1998 interview with the BBC , US special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard had this to say about Veseli and Thaci; \"I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists.\"  Clinton's relationship with the Albanian and Kosovo killers stretches back to the first Clinton election in 1992. During the campaign season the Clinton duo found out quickly how powerful the emigre national vote was in America. In one fell swoop, the Albanians and the KLA after them went from what the USA definitely recognized as Islamic terrorists to victims we were going to war for.  The Clinton humanitarian bombing in the Balkans drove victims into the waiting clutches of the KLA, and the spread of Islamic terrorism worldwide.  In what became her first executive decision, first lady, Hillary Clinton brow-beat the unwilling president Clinton into bombing the Balkans and creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Today, as a result of this, ISIS is setting up training camps in what is widely referred to as Clinton country.  \"On the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, the local police detained three militants of so-called \"Islamic State\" (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), is going to organize a series of terrorist attacks in Serbia.\" Terrorists LIH (IGIL\/ISIS) break through the Balkans to Western Europe March 2016  Clinton's jihadi bloc vote in America remains central to her winning this election along with the rest of the CEEC. Does America want people advising the president that openly support genocide like the Kosovars, Albanians, or Ukrainians?  Hillary Clinton is not an Islamist. Hillary Clinton is not a Nazi. But the question remains. Why is she surrounded by and listening to people that are? Is that her best judgment?  The Quasi-Legal Coup-Hillary Clinton Information Operations In Election 2016  \"The purpose of \" Inform and Influence Operations\" is not to provide a perspective, opinion, or lay out a policy. It is defined as the ability to make audiences \"think and act\" in a manner favorable to the mission objectives. This is done through applying perception management techniques which target the audiences emotions, motives, and reasoning.  These techniques are not geared for debate. It is to overwhelm and change the target psyche.  Using these techniques information sources can be manipulated and those that write, speak, or think counter to the objective are relegated as propaganda, ill-informed, or irrelevant.\"  What if the strife, rumor, and clamor were part and parcel of an Inform and Influence Operation against Americans to determine the election outcome? Bear with me for a moment as I lay out the proofs. The quote above is from an early 2015 article with the practitioner showing what it could look like in the civilian world.  \" What would we do? Disrupt, deny, degrade, deceive, corrupt, usurp or destroy the information. The information, please don't forget, is the ultimate objective of cyber. That will directly impact the decision-making process of the adversary's leader who is the ultimate target.\" \u2013 Joel Harding  IO or IIO (Inform and Influence Operations) as defined by the US Army includes the fields of psychological operations and military deception. All of this is used in the civilian world the same way by private contractors.  In this election, private contractors were hired to focus their capacity to influence the American population. This is proven and you deserve a step by step look at it if you are voting.  What Project Veritas shows is damning evidence of what I have been documenting in the emigre series articles since spring 2016.  By using mainstream media, they started an integrated approach which includes influencing their political opponent's decision making. Media is given messages that follow the same themes and fill the entire information space by using an across the board effort. The effort drowns out any other message.  According to the Observer, this has been happening throughout the election cycle to benefit Hillary Clinton. \" Rather than informing voters to enrich democracy , the mainstream media has developed a feedback loop between support for particular candidates and the political agenda they intend to support. The freedom of the press is necessary for a democracy to function.\" The article further points out that it was the media that helped rig the primaries against Bernie Sanders.  Wikileaks has clearly shown the interplay between mainstream media and the Clinton campaign. And they have shown clearly that most of the mainstream media are working to influence the election . This goes beyond partisan electioneering. All of this follows the exact pattern, a well planned Information Operation against the American public .  As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was also the Ex-Officio Board Member of the BBG . The BBG (Broadcasting Board of Governors) run RFE\/RL (Radio Free Europe\/ Radio Liberty). Most of the 8-member board, appointed by the President of the United States, are the who's who of powerful media moguls in film, news, print, and radio. Appointment to the BBG is like being awarded an ambassador position for the media industry. It's also why big media carries the same line or themes.  The 7th member of the board of directors which runs RFE\/RL is Mathew Armstrong . He is a longtime friend and mentor to retired Brigadier general Joel Harding. He provides Harding a lot of access and influence in media. Armstrong's background is public relations. He is an expert in IO and IIO operations. His bio: Author, lecturer, and strategist on public diplomacy and international media . He has worked on traditional and emerging security issues with both civilian and military government agencies, news organizations, think tanks, and academia across several continents.  In what appears to be a conflict of interest, at least two BBG board members are working actively for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.  Karen Kornbluh is helping refine and to get Hillary Clinton's message out. \" All of them are names to watch if Clinton wins \u2014 and key jobs at the FCC and other federal agencies are up for grabs.\"  According to her bio : Karen founded the New America Foundation's Work and Family Program and is a senior fellow for Digital Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Karen has written extensively about technology policy, women, and family policy for The Atlantic , The New York Times and The Washington Post . New York Times columnist David Brooks cited her Democracy article \"Families Valued,\" focused on \"juggler families\" as one of the best magazine articles of 2006.  Michael Kempner is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of MWW Group, a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter, and may get a greater role if she is elected . Kempner is a member of the Public Relations Hall of Fame. Michael Kempner hired Anthony Weiner after the sexting scandal broke in 2011.  Jeff Shell, chairman of the BBG and Universal Filmed Entertainment is supporting a secondary role by being an honor roll donor to the Atlantic Council . While the BBG is supposed to be neutral it has continuously helped increase tensions in Eastern Europe. While giving to the Atlantic Council may not be illegal while in his position, currently, the Atlantic Council's main effort is to ignite a war with Russia. This may set up a major conflict of interest.  According to journalist Robert Parry \"The people that will be taking senior positions and especially in foreign policy believe \"This consensus is driven by a broad-based backlash against a president who has repeatedly stressed the dangers of overreach and the need for restraint, especially in the Middle East.\"  Parry goes on to say that at the forefront of this is the Atlantic Council, a think tank associated with NATO. Their main goal is a major confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.  The Atlantic Council is the think tank for the CEEC (Central and Eastern European Coalition) which is associated with NATO. The CEEC has only one goal. The question to candidates that mattered is \"Are you willing to go to war with Russia?\" Hillary Clinton has received their unqualified support throughout the campaign.  The Central and Eastern European Coalition represent the various Central and Eastern European countries to the US government. What makes them special in an election is that they control a 20 million person strong bloc vote in key states across the country and sway elections by themselves. The price of a Clinton win is war with Russia.  While the rest of the BBG board support Clinton's proposed policy of closing Syrian airspace, the CEEC wants it because it will mean direct conflict with Russia. Hillary Clinton's first foray into Islamic politics led to genocide and made the way for ISIS setting up training camps in Kosovo. Hillary Clinton has been friendly with jihadists for as long as she has had a national political career. According to US Special Forces on the ground in Syria training the moderates, there are NO moderates to train .  Green Berets are forced to train jihadis that they know will eventually attack us. Support our troops? Give them good, honorable missions. They deserve better, don't they?  As you go through the above links, the information is staggering. Shown are large groups of people strategically located in swing states that will do anything to get her elected. The question is why?  Politically, we have a two party system. If you say you are Republican, people have at least a general idea of what you mean. For Democrats, it's no different. There are different kinds of politics that fit easily under each umbrella. But the point is they are recognizable and we know where they stand on issues.  Tell me, what are OUNb beliefs? OUNb is a political party and set of beliefs just like Republican or Democrat. The reason I am asking is that you can't tell me. The odds are you haven't heard about it before. When the Atlantic Council or The Project for the New American Century takes all the senior positions in the Clinton White House, it will be filled with OUNb and similar political partisans for the first time without dissenting voices.  \"Unity to act when required has been the diaspora's mantra \u2013 this cannot be disputed .  As time moves on, we see that things take a natural course. We see that two wings of the OUN \u2013 (OUNb)Banderivtsi and (OUNm)Melnykivtsi \u2013 are working actively on the international level, working in partnership and currently are in strong negotiations about becoming a single entity again.\"  The OUNb political party started under Stepan Bandera and their political beliefs are quite literally Nazi. In the 1930's they swore undying loyalty to Adolf Hitler and the Diaspora was directing Waffen SS battalions from America secretly even as other Ukrainian emigres were fighting them. The UCCA is the head of OUNb thought in America and now they want America to celebrate their totalitarian beliefs with them. If you disagree with totalitarian politics, you are the enemy. After a brief description of what kind of beliefs the people have from the Atlantic Council that are taking up cabinet positions, the proof it is happening now follows.  The OUNb were the SS that manned the concentration camps during the Holocaust. They successfully murdered 3 million war prisoners by starving them to death. The OUNb killed over 250,000 Jews, 500,000 Ukrainians, and committed the first Holocaust at Babi Yar. Today the UCCA is funding and running the volunteer battalions raping and killing in Donbass the same way.  They and the other emigre group leaders are also behind buying the media headlines and reach, damage control, and the Information Operation against Americans today. If you want to know what American politics will look like within a few years, look at Ukraine.  There are people who live abroad, who do not feel fully accepted as a minority, and here there is a phenomenon which I call long-distance nationalism. . .The members of the diaspora create for themselves an image of the home land, which is a stronger emotional investment than the country in which they live\u2026One negative consequence of the diaspora experience is the emergence of what Ander-son calls non-responsible politics: diaspora participation in the politics in the country with which they identify can often be toxic, and their impact can be felt through the funding of particular political figures, nationalist propaganda, and even weapons\u2026-Multiculturalism, memory, and ritualization: Ukrainian nationalist monuments in Edmonton, Alberta- Pers Anders Rudling  With the field day the Emigres and paid media had with Donald Trump over David Duke, they forgot to tell you that Ukrainian emigres supporting Hillary Clinton hired Duke in Ukraine as a professor of history and sent their American kids to learn there. Almost all Ukrainian politicians have been through this fascist education system known as MAUP . The Ukrainian American and other likeminded ethnics are the people that will fill the senior foreign and domestic cabinet positions.  \" OUNb leader Ivan Kobasa also took responsibility of making sure the Ukrainian-Americans received the proper secondary education at Ukrainian nationalist schools(MAUP) in Ukraine. From the mid-2000's enrollment in this educational system has skyrocketed into the hundreds of thousands. Today almost all members of the current Ukrainian government are graduates of this ideological system that was taught to them by moderates like David Duke who is also a graduate of the MAUP system.\"  \"I do care about social and economic issues affecting every American, but given the war in Ukraine, there is only one issue that we as Ukrainian Americans must focus on: Ukraine .  The Ukrainian issue \"trumps\" all other personal issues!  A vote for Trump is a vote against Ukraine!  When it comes to U.S. elections, Ukrainian Americans are a statistically minor, divided, unorganized voting group. The Central and East European Coalition is a coalition of U.S.-based organizations that represent their countries of heritage, a voting group of over 20 million people. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian National Association are member organizations of the CEEC. Americans of East and Central European heritage can make a significant difference and influence the election result if their attention is focused.\" Ukraine Weekly The Presidential Election: Can We Make A Difference  Hillary Clinton's response is she will defend Ukraine's borders! Even though it has no eastern or northern border to defend. She has guaranteed to start a war with Russia if she is elected.  Not only is Clinton buying the media through these second parties, but they are hiring professional, former military psyops professionals to deny pertinent information from voters and disrupt her political opponents message. At the same time, they are paying an across the board mainstream media to simultaneously publish articles and video that lift her campaign up, disrupt, destroy, and drown out alternate messages.  Wikileaks noted this when it exposed the Clinton campaign's program to incite violence and obfuscate the point. The Huffington Post example of this is\" Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar , rampant xenophobe , racist , misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims \u2014 1.6 billion members of an entire religion \u2014 from entering the U.S\".  \" We understand the Clinton camp has hired beaucoup and Zwanzig (a lot) of trolls, we also understand the Kremlin has done the same. We just do not know if Trump has followed suit. From a counterintelligence perspective, this is confusing as heck.  One of the really neat things about this election is seeing all my information operations and information warfare friends on social media, contributing and commenting, looking darned intelligent! Theirs is normally the voice of reason, maturity, and intelligence.\" Joel Harding  By systematically and continually attacking the voter's psyche, Americans are being treated in the same way our government treats countries they overthrow . The right to make an informed vote has been denied to support any particular candidate.  What does an Inform and Influence Operation entail against the American public? Read the following carefully. The term \"anti-western\" refers to anyone that disagrees with whom he is working for. In this case, he works for the Ukrainian Emigres. This also covers Syria. Every media outlet or journalist writing about these subjects that aren't carrying the line he lays out is the enemy. These are the tactics being used today during the election.  \"I am building a database of planners , operators, logisticians, hackers, and anyone wanting to be involved with special activities I will call 'inform and influence activities'. I have received a few different suggestions to help organize operations \u2013 of all sorts \u2013 against anti-Western elements. No government approval, assistance or funding. This skirts legalities. This is not explicitly illegal and it may not even be legal, at this point. That grey area extends a long way. I am only trying to assess the availability of people willing to participate in such efforts. Technology, equipment and facility offers are also appreciated. If you would like to be included in my database, please send a tailored resume to joel_harding@\"  If you don't think this is possible , this has been going on around you for a long time. look at the credentials of retired Brigadier General Joel Harding and decide for yourself. But first look at what he promises he can do for you when you hire him.  \" Information operations and warfare, also known as influence operations, includes the collection of tactical, operational and strategic information about a competitor as well as the dissemination of information and propaganda in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an competitor or adversary in the corporate, government or military realm.  It is our job to maximize your advantages over your competitor while minimizing your competitor. We work on the national level down to the individual level. We seek to give you every advantage possible in order to advance your position, increase your reputation, and maximize your standing in your field.\"  \" Bio- Joel Harding spent 26 years in the Army ; his first nine years were spent as an enlisted soldier, mostly in Special Forces, as an SF qualified communicator and medic, on an A-Team. After completing his degree, Joel then received his commission as an Infantry Officer and after four years transitioned to the Military Intelligence Corps.  In the mid 1990s, Joel was working in the Joint Staff J2 in support of special operations, where he began working in the new field called Information Operations. Eligible Receiver 1997 was his trial by fire, after that he became the Joint Staff J2 liaison for IO to the CIA, DIA, NSA, DISA and other assorted agencies in the Washington DC area, working as the intelligence lead on the Joint Staff IO Response Cell for Solar Sunrise and Moonlight Maze. Joel followed this by a tour at SOCCENT and then INSCOM, working in both IO and intelligence.  Specializing in Russian Information Warfare for the past 30+ months. Consultant, advisor and subject matter expert on Information Operations, Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy with more than 19 years practical, policy in IO, SC and PD. 35 years experience in broader defense and national security matters. I have lectured all over the world about Information Warfare and Cyberwar and have spoken at numerous conferences. I am currently focusing on the Ukraine\/Russia information war with a simultaneous heavy emphasis on the accompanying hybrid war. I currently teach classes about Russian Information Warfare and a second class on Propaganda\/Agitprop. Specialties: Information Operations\/Information Warfare, Public Diplomacy, Strategic Communication, Counter-Disinformation, Electronic Warfare, Deception, Operational Security, Cyberwar, Intelligence, Special Forces and Special Operations. Primary author Ukraine National Strategy for Information Policy, submitted in 2015 and again in 2016.\"  With his resume, no guess work is needed to understand how effective his friends are. Before going further, ask yourself if this is what elections are supposed to be?  As a litmus test take Hillary's name out and put down what is known just through Wikileaks in a list. Put McCain's name, Kucinich, Paul, Bush, and ask yourself would this be an acceptable candidate? Add what's been shown here. Is there an acceptable candidate?  If any of them would be acceptable, sorry like many others you drank the kool-aid already.  \" I've seen how our heroes, activists , journalists, and celebrities have completely sold their souls to support something no person with an iota of morality would do. I've seen them say and do things to derail candidates who would have been a million times better for those less fortunate around us. It's unfortunate most pretend to fight the establishment, to act like they love the people more than they love the struggle and the relevance that it brings them. I am not one of those and I won't continue to be until the good Lord takes me.\" Cesar Vargas  Hillary Clinton is not a Nazi. But every position of relevance will be filled with people that really are political Nazis. They are technically integral nationalists. They look down on democracy in any form. At least now you know what kind of government you are voting for.  Regardless of who wins, there are 2000 tanks, artillery, and rockets pointed my way, waiting for this election to be over. I am an American that lives in Donbass, and wrote many of the early breaking stories and much of the background about the conflict in Ukraine.  If you cannot objectively look and see a more sophisticated version of what happened here through 2014 is going on, I can't help you. Soon the OUNb will order the volunteer battalions to start killing civilians on a large scale again. I will go back to reporting on the war.  If all these things weren't being done, I would keep it simply about policy. Russia is not an enemy of the United States. Instead, I believe I am witnessing a quiet coup that demands legality in America.  If this Information Operation is allowed to win the 2016 presidency, then elections are fruitless. Every other election will be based on the same strategy. They will have to be for any candidate to win.  Your voice, your views, your informed choice will no longer matter. The IIO practitioner kills dissent. That's their job. They're only doing their job.  The Essential Saker: from the trenches of the emerging multipolar world $27.95","label":1}
{"text":"Trump has been on a 48-hour freak out with the hosts of MSNBC s Morning Joe and his clear incoherence has everyone from mental health experts to average Americans once again concerned that the president is seriously mentally ill. The evidence that our president is indeed mentally unfit for office is circumstantial but persuasive and Trump keeps digging the hole deeper.Most people would agree that a man who can t stop himself from fabricating a rumor of a bleeding facelift to publicly attack the host of a cable show he doesn t like is unfit for office. In normal times, that alone would be grounds for invoking the 25th Amendment s clause on the president s mental capacity. For Trump, that s only the tip of the iceberg, the latest in a seemingly unending string of incidents that should raise serious concerns.The White House seems to be painfully aware that the questions swirling around his stability are undermining the credibility of his role as president. Consequently, and for the first time in U.S. history, the White House has to run with the narrative that you cannot question the president s mental health. Trump is sane because they say he is sane and shut up about it.Just hours after Trump got into a public fight with the hosts of Morning Joe on Twitter while he watched the show live, Kellyanne Conway went on ABC s Good Morning America to say it was unpatriotic to ever question whether Trump has lost his mind. Even while he continues to provide evidence that he has had some sort of mental breakdown.After summarizing an (incomplete) list of the things Trump has been called online, Kellyanne said: It doesn t help the American people to have a president covered in this light. I m sorry. It s neither productive nor patriotic. The toxicity is over the top. In short, Kellyanne wants us to believe Trump is the victim in all of this. Meanwhile, he continues to play the part of the bully.Worth remembering: Trump s favorite network, Fox News, once aired Glenn Beck claiming Obama hated white people. Its star anchor, Sean Hannity, repeatedly accused Obama of being a pathological narcissist. And its resident mental health expert, repeatedly diagnosed both Barack and Michelle Obama with various pathologies, including once saying Michelle needed to lose weight. None of that irrational hatred or vitriol caused Obama to live-tweet a rant about Fox News hosts or personally smear them on social media.But then, Obama wasn t mentally ill, so why would he?","label":1}
{"text":"Russia has suspended its diplomatic presence in Yemen and all its staff have left the country due to the situation in the capital Sanaa, the RIA news agency cited Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Tuesday. The Russian ambassador to Yemen and some diplomatic staff will be working temporarily out of the Saudi capital Riyadh, the Interfax news agency cited the ministry as saying. Yemen s conflict, pitting the Houthi movement against a Saudi-led military alliance which backs a government based in the south, has unleashed what the United Nations calls the world s worst humanitarian crisis. A Russian plane evacuated embassy staff and some Russian nationals from Sanaa earlier on Tuesday, Saudi state news agency SPA said, citing the Saudi-led military coalition fighting against the Houthi movement that controls the Yemeni capital. The agency quoted an official source in the coalition as saying it had received a request for permission for a Russian plane to evacuate the personnel, and that the plane had left Sanaa airport.","label":0}
{"text":"Gaza s merchants and consumers are reaping early rewards from reconciliation moves by the enclave s dominant Hamas Islamists and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA). Israeli border restrictions, including a nearly blanket ban on exports from Gaza, and three wars since 2008 have imposed severe hardship in the territory. Israel says its rules are driven by security concerns, accusing Hamas of having used imported material to build weapons including rockets that have been fired at its cities. Since Hamas ceded Gaza s border crossings with Israel - the main gateway for commercial imports - to the Authority on Nov 1 under an Egyptian-brokered unity deal, many prices in the territory have dropped. The main reason for the decrease: the Authority has canceled surcharges, sometimes as high as 25 percent, that Hamas collected in cash from merchants in Gaza. Businesses, in turn, have passed on some of those savings to customers: a 2017 Kia Picanto compact car, for example, now sells for $20,000 instead of $22,500, and a kilo of beef costs 40 shekels ($11), down from 50 ($15). And this week, the PA, which takes its own tax in an arrangement agreed with Israel, allowed the import of cigarettes costing eight shekels a pack compared with the usual 21 shekels for other brands, through Israel s Kerem Shalom commercial crossing for the first time. Cigarettes used to come in only via smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border but the PA is seeking understandings with Hamas and Cairo to choke off that channel. (Hamas s fees) led to a weakening of sales power because the people in Gaza live under bad economic conditions and because of the Israeli blockade and the loss of jobs, said Tareq Al-Saqqa, who owns an electrical goods company in Gaza, where unemployment tops 40 percent. Citing security concerns, Israel and Egypt maintain tight restrictions at their Gaza borders. Hamas, regarded by the West as a terrorist group, seized the enclave in fighting in 2007 against forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel s limits on Gaza s import of so-called dual use material, such as steel and cement, that it fears could be used by Hamas to make weapons or fortifications are unlikely to change soon. But hundreds of truckloads of food and a wide variety of consumer goods move into Gaza daily via Israel. Hamas, which handed administrative control of Gaza to the Authority under the reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo on Oct. 12, has spurned Israel s demand it disarm. Israel said it would deal with the new administration in Gaza but in the way that would not allow Hamas and other factions to develop their military capabilities, which means it will continue to ban essential materials, said Mohammad Abu Jayyab, a Gaza economist. He and other local economic experts cautioned against any hopes of a rapid revival of Gaza s economy unless Israel s restrictions were fully removed. Responsibility for security in still an open issue in Gaza, where Hamas, which is still policing the territory, has what analysts say are at least 25,000 well-equipped fighters. Further unity talks are scheduled for Nov. 21 in Cairo. Keeping pressure on Hamas, Abbas has yet to lift economic sanctions he imposed in Gaza in June that included a cut in salaries the Authority paid to 60,000 civil servants. Abbas recently sent nearly 15,000 of them into early retirement. (This version of the story corrects spelling of surname, paragraph 12)","label":0}
{"text":"Turkish police have detained 17 people as part of an investigation related to gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is cooperating with prosecutors in a U.S. trial, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday. Police detained three of Zarrab s employees on suspicion of delivering documents from the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen to U.S. prosecutors, Anadolu said. Ankara says U.S. prosecutors have based their case on documents fabricated by Gulen s followers, who it also blames for orchestrating last year s failed coup in Turkey. Zarrab, a Turkish and Iranian national, has pleaded guilty to charges that he schemed to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions, and is testifying for U.S. prosecutors against an executive from a Turkish state-owned bank for related charges. The executive has pleaded innocent and the bank has said all of its transactions complied with international regulations. The case has strained ties between the United States and Turkey, both members of the NATO military alliance. It has infuriated President Tayyip Erdogan, who has cast the trial as an attempt to undermine Turkey and its economy. It is right that there is a plot allegation in the trial s indictment, but it is a plot against Turkey, not against the United States, Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament. This trial is an international coup attempt, a process at the center of which is FETO, he said, using the Turkish government s term for Gulen s network. Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, has denied charges he was behind the coup, and condemned the military intervention. Police searched the houses of the three employees and found electronic copies of documents, Anadolu said. It said fourteen more people had been detained as part of the investigation. No one was immediately available for comment at Istanbul police headquarters. Last week the Istanbul prosecutor s office decided to seize the assets of Zarrab and those of his acquaintances as part of the investigation, Anadolu reported.","label":0}
{"text":"Humans Are Free The Pacific Ocean \u2014 in fact almost one-third of the Globe \u2014 is thought to have been contaminated from the leak out from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seeking to promote the peaceful use of Nuclear Power , in 2011 established with the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) Member States, a joint IAEA Technical Cooperation (TC) project in the region of the Pacific Ocean.  It was established after the Fukushima disaster when a tsunami caused by a major earthquake on 11 March 2011, disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident.  As a result, a large quantity of radioactive material was admitted into the Pacific Ocean. A field study found that two filter cartridges were coated, which showed elements of cesium, a radioactive substance.  Of no surprise, this caused great concern to countries based around the Pacific Ocean due to the potential economic and environmental implications. The TC project's aim was therefore, to monitor the presence of radioactive substances in the marine environment.  The first annual review meeting held in August 2012 demonstrated predictive hydrodynamic models and they predicted that the strong current, known as the Kuroshio Current and its extension, had the ability to transport the radioactive substances across the Pacific Ocean in an easterly direction.  However, the concentration of radioactivity was not as high as originally thought.  The massive expansion of ocean had diluted it substantially so radioactivity remained at low levels but there was still concern over contamination of seafood even at these low levels.  The marine monitoring project was therefore, established to ensure that the seafood of the region was safe for consumption and to maintain a comprehensive overview and full facts of the situation, considering its grave implications. Documents Say Navy Knew #Fukushima Dangerously Contaminated the USS Reagan: http:\/\/t.co\/hUomqT92e2  \u2014 trutherbotred (@trutherbotred) July 9, 2015  The TC is due to conclude this year. A few results have caused concern.  A field study they conducted on 2 July 2014, revealed from two sets of seawater samples, found that two filter cartridges were coated, which showed elements of cesium, a radioactive substance.  Then recently, trace amounts of cesium-134 and cesium-137 turned up in samples collected near Vancouver Island in British Columbia .  The samples collected were separate from the monitoring project set up by IAEA but it is thought the only possible source of these radioactive elements is Fukushima, according to the Integrated Fukushima Ocean Radionuclide Monitoring (InFORM) Network.  This is the first time that traces of cesium-134 had been detected near North America.  While these are trace amounts, the danger of radioactive material in any amount cannot be underestimated. However, the experts say that these levels detected cannot really harm us, they are still lower than those we could be exposed to from a dental x-ray for instance.  Having said that, every possible exposure, in any small amount, adds up. The problem with nuclear energy and fallout, the radiation and radioactive materials can travel far and wide with the wind and with the sea.  Therefore, we should aim on a global level to keep these levels at zero. In any event the continuous monitoring of oceans will need to be conducted, according to Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute .  What Buesseler says should be taken on board beyond 2015, particularly since the advice from the IAEA is to dump even more contaminated water into the sea. This is apparently more desirable than holding it in tanks.  Any discharge will have to be controlled and continuous monitoring would be needed, in particular near the plant to improve data reliability.  This is causing concern and not just to state authorities. Consider the fishermen. Every time they catch fish in the ocean, the fish need to be tested for radioactivity.  Before any further dumping is done, the IAEA and Tokyo Electric Power Co., who control the plant, need to consider not only the environmental impact but socio-economic impact as well.  Livelihoods could be affected as well as long-term health of the region and global community eventually.","label":1}
{"text":"Just when you thought there was nothing Barack Hussein Obama could do to shock you this Christian pastor s story is revealed. How much money does an American who spends 3 1\/2 years in an Iranian prison leave with? Enough for a one-way ticket home to the U.S?Iranian president Hassan Rouhani spoke before the United Nations General Assembly Thursday despite protests from Iranian-Americans who feel Iran s human rights situation has worsened after sanctions were modified earlier this year.Pastor Saeed Abedini, one of four American hostages released from Iran in January, shared his disbelief of Rouhani s annual speech during an interview with FOX Business Network s Trish Regan. I was just telling people that imagine leader of ISIS come to the United States after 30 years of all the executions that they did and leaders of the world shaking his hand. It s unbelievable, Abedini said.Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who spent three-and-a-half years in Iranian prisons before being released in January, claims that the United States government wouldn t pay for a return flight home even though his family faced serious financial issues.Abedini said he and other hostages were left to fend for themselves after flying from Iran to Germany when they were released after the Obama Administration s $400 million payment to Iran.The United States sent Iran $400 million in debt plus $1.3 billion in interest, and the money was disbursed as a ransom payment for four American hostages of the Islamic regime, a top Iranian commander said Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, the U.S. paid the Iranian regime $425 million dollars per American hostage, according to the commander.After spending a few days in a hospital in Germany, Adedini was surprised to hear that he needed to buy his own plane ticket home. We were actually all shocked because I came out; I just had prison clothes and [they] just told us you need to buy your own ticket. Abedini said he was physically and psychologically tortured in the Iranian prison to the point where his stomach was bleeding for months from all the beatings. The whole last three to five years that I was there, it was just torturing, it was so hard, Abiding said.","label":1}
{"text":"The White House said it supports legislation, aimed at helping Puerto Rico dig out of its $70 billion debt crisis, that is set for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. However, the Obama administration does oppose provisions in the bill \"on minimum wage and overtime that put in jeopardy important protections for workers, do nothing to address the crisis, and further exacerbate the economic disparities between Puerto Rico and the mainland United States,\" the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"CNN host Anderson Cooper apologized for a crude remark directed at President Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord during his show on Friday, calling his comment unprofessional. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, THE VIDEO IS BELOW THIS VIDEO OF THE APOLOGY.BTW, here's @anderscooper's on air apology for what he said were \"crude\" comments@realJeffreyLord still having a laugh about it pic.twitter.com\/1gWuHqLPjY Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) May 20, 2017 During a segment on AC360, Cooper verbally sparred with Lord, a CNN political commentator, over revelations that Trump reportedly told Russian officials that former FBI Director James Comey is a nut job who was adding pressure to the ongoing investigation of possible interference in the 2016 election. Clearly frustrated with Lord s response to the matter, Cooper interrupted the conservative pundit and interjected with a not-so-subtle jab. If he took a dump on his desk, you would defend it, Cooper told Lord. I don t know what he would do that you would not defend. IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS HORRIBLE TV MOMENT:\"If he took a dump on his desk you would defend it.\" @andersoncooper what? pic.twitter.com\/nD8ZfZKtVN Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) May 20, 2017 First it was the childish eye roll to Kellyanne Conway and now it s potty humor How professional!","label":1}
{"text":"Pope Francis issued a stinging new critique of the Vatican s top administration on Thursday, saying traitors stood in the way of his reforms and made any change as hard as cleaning Egypt s Sphinx with a toothbrush . For the fourth year running, Francis used his annual Christmas greetings to the Roman Catholic Church s central bureaucracy, or Curia, to lecture the assembled cardinals, bishops and other department heads on the need for change. Reforming Rome is like cleaning the Sphinx of Egypt with a toothbrush, he said, quoting a 19th-century Belgian churchman. The phrase did not evoke much laughter when the pope read it in the frescoed Clementina Hall of the Vatican s Apostolic Palace. Since his election as the first Latin American pope in 2013, Francis has been trying to reform the Italian-dominated Curia to bring the Church s hierarchy closer to its members, to enact financial reforms and guide it out of scandals that marked the pontificate of his predecessor, former Pope Benedict. But he has encountered resistance, particularly as some departments have been closed, merged or streamlined. Francis said some in the bureaucracy - the nerve center of the 1.2-billion-member Church and whose members are entrusted with carrying out the pope s decisions - were part of cliques and plots . Francis called this unbalanced and degenerate and a cancer that leads to a self-referential attitude . In his address on Thursday, he spoke of those traitors of trust who had been entrusted with carrying out reforms but let themselves be corrupted by ambition and vainglory. When they are quietly let go, he said, they erroneously declare themselves to be martyrs of the system ... instead of reciting a mea culpa (Latin for my fault ). Francis did not cite any specific examples. Last June the Vatican s first auditor general resigned suddenly. He later said he was forced to step down because he had discovered irregularities but the Vatican said he had been spying on his superiors. Earlier this month, the Vatican bank s deputy director was fired under circumstances that have not been explained. In July, in a major shake-up of the Vatican administration, Francis replaced Catholicism s top theologian, a conservative German cardinal who has been at odds with the pontiff s vision of a more inclusive Church. Francis said the overwhelming majority of Curia members were faithful, competent and some saintly. Later, in a separate meeting with lay Vatican employees and their families, Francis asked forgiveness for the failings of some Church officials. He spoke hours before the funeral of Cardinal Bernard Law, the ex-Archbishop of Boston who resigned in disgrace after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests and whose name became a byword for scandal in the Catholic Church.","label":0}
{"text":"Senate Republicans announced plans to vote next week on their latest bid to scuttle Obamacare even as a popular comedian who has become part of the U.S. healthcare debate denounced the bill and former President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned of \"real human suffering.\" President Donald Trump, who has expressed frustration at the Senate's failure thus far to pass legislation dismantling Obama's signature legislative achievement, said \"47 or 48\" Republicans back the bill, which needs 50 votes for passage in the 100-seat Senate, which his Republican Party controls 52-48. \"We think this has a very good chance,\" Trump, who made replacing Obamacare a top 2016 campaign promise, told reporters during an appearance with Egypt's president in New York. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul opposes the bill. At least five other Republicans are undecided on it: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, John McCain of Arizona and Jerry Moran of Kansas. Republican Senator John Thune on Fox News said: \"We're a handful of votes short of having the 50 that we need.\" As they worked to gather enough votes to win, after prior legislation failed in July, congressional Republicans and the White House were on the defensive after Jimmy Kimmel used his late-night TV show to blast the proposal and call Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, one of its two sponsors, a liar. \"This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face,\" Kimmel said on his show on Tuesday night, referring to the senator who since May had touted a \"Jimmy Kimmel test\" of standards any Obamacare replacement would need to possess. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was noncommittal on Tuesday about scheduling a vote, now intends to bring it to the Senate floor next week, said his spokesman David Popp. Republicans are using the measure Cassidy is sponsoring with fellow Senator Lindsey Graham to make one last push this year to pass legislation to roll back the 2010 Obamacare law, a goal of theirs for seven years, facing a Sept. 30 deadline. Avalere Health, a healthcare consultancy to hospitals and insurers, forecast that the bill would slash federal funding to states by $215 billion through 2026, with 34 states facing cuts. Hit hard would be Democratic-governed California and New York, which expanded the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and disabled under Obamacare, while Republican-governed Texas, which did not expand Medicaid, would be a winner, Avalere said. It remained unclear if the bill, opposed by Democrats and top medical groups and hospitals, can attract the 50 votes needed for passage, with Vice President Mike Pence ready to cast a tie-breaking vote. In a speech in New York, Obama defended the Affordable Care Act, known informally as Obamacare, which expanded medical insurance to 20 million Americans. \"So when I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage or roll back protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions ... it is aggravating,\" the Democratic former president said. \"And it's certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple of months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents.\" Cassidy defended his bill, which would divvy up healthcare money as block grants to states, let them opt out of some Obamacare consumer protections and waive requirements that insurers cover certain benefits. It also would end Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. Kimmel entered the healthcare debate after revealing on his show in May that his newborn son had undergone life-saving emergency surgery for a congenital heart condition, and pleaded that no family be denied medical care because they cannot afford it. Cassidy appeared that month on \"Jimmy Kimmel Live!\" \"He said he would only support a healthcare bill that made sure a child like mine would get the health coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make,\" Kimmel said on Tuesday. \"Stop using my name, OK? Because I don't want my name on it. There's a new 'Jimmy Kimmel test' for you. It's called the lie detector test. You're welcome to stop by the studio and take it any time,\" he said to cheers from his audience. Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who represents Louisiana, gave a measured response to Kimmel's remarks, telling reporters on Capitol Hill, \"It was a personal attack and I can't help that.\" Graham blasted the comedian. \"I bet he looked at some liberal talking point, bought it hook, line and sinker, and went after Bill Cassidy without talking to him. And I think that's unfair,\" Graham said on Fox News Channel's \"Fox & Friends\" show. Cassidy said his proposal would protect people who are already ill, although it does let states waive an Obamacare mandate that insurers cannot charge people who have pre-existing medical conditions more than those who are healthy. \"There is a specific provision that says that if a state applies for a waiver, it must ensure that those with pre-existing conditions have affordable and adequate coverage,\" Cassidy told CNN. Trump, in a tweet late on Wednesday, said he would not sign the bill if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions. \"It does! A great bill,\" Trump said.","label":0}
{"text":"President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday picked Reince Priebus, a Washington insider who heads the Republican National Committee, as White House chief of staff, signaling a willingness to work with Congress to advance his agenda when he takes office in January. But while giving the influential post to the low-key Priebus, Trump handed another senior White House job to rabble-rousing conservative media figure Stephen Bannon, his campaign chairman who helped engineer his surprise victory on Tuesday over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Priebus is a friend of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who distanced himself from Trump during the campaign but embodies the Republican establishment in Washington and will play a critical role in shepherding Trump's agenda in Congress. Both Priebus and Ryan are from Wisconsin. But Bannon, former head of the right-wing Breitbart News website, has been fiercely critical of Ryan. Trump's statement announcing the appointments said Bannon and Priebus would be \"working as equal partners to transform the federal government,\" with Bannon serving as chief strategist and senior counselor to the president. The White House chief of staff serves as a gatekeeper and agenda-setter for the president, but Trump's statement mentioned Bannon's job first. \"I am thrilled to have my very successful team continue with me in leading our country,\" Trump said in a statement. \"Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory. Now I will have them both with me in the White House.\" Before joining Trump's team, Bannon spearheaded Breitbart's shift into a forum for the \"alt-right,\" a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semitics. Bannon's hiring by Trump's campaign this year signaled the businessman's dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington. Under Bannon's leadership, the Breitbart site presented a number of conspiracy theories about Clinton as well as Republicans deemed to be lacking in conservative bona fides. Critics have accused Bannon of harboring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. In a 2007 court filing during divorce proceedings, Bannon's former wife accused him of making anti-Semitic comments on at least three occasions. As head of Breitbart, he repeatedly attacked the Republican Party establishment including Ryan, alienating many veteran Republicans. Bannon showed his willingness to engage in brutal political tactics when he instigated the appearance before a presidential debate of three women who said they had been sexually abused by his Democratic rival's husband, former President Bill Clinton. Trump, who will succeed Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20, has been contemplating the candidates for top jobs in the White House and in various Cabinet positions since Tuesday's victory. Priebus' appointment could anger some hardline Trump supporters who were counting on Trump to keep his campaign promise to \"drain the swamp\" of business-as-usual Washington insiders. Priebus is a longtime Wisconsin political operative who was credited with marshaling party resources for Trump's White House bid. The Republican National Committee stepped in and ran most of the party's get-out-the-vote effort this year in the absence of such an operation by the Trump campaign. While some Republicans fled from Trump during the campaign, Priebus was unwavering in his backing for the New York real estate developer. Priebus frequently traveled with Trump on the campaign trail and was seen as a positive force who helped rein in the unpredictable Trump in the closing weeks. Trump made his high regard for Priebus known on election night when he pulled him to the microphone to take a bow for his campaign efforts. Trump and his advisers already have hedged on some of his major campaign promises, including on immigration, healthcare and appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton. Trump, in an interview that aired on Sunday, backed away from his promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, saying some areas could instead be \"fencing.\" Trump, whose pledge to force Mexico to pay for a border wall was a centerpiece of his White House, said in \"certain areas\" he would accept fencing instead of a brick-and-mortar wall, according to his interview with the CBS program \"60 Minutes.\" \"But certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I'm very good at this, it's called construction, there could be some fencing,\" he said. In the \"60 Minutes\" interview, Trump said Americans alarmed by his election had nothing to fear. \"Don't be afraid. We are going to bring our country back. But certainly, don't be afraid,\" he said. Demonstrators in major U.S. cities took to the streets on Sunday for a fifth straight day to protest against Trump. Trump said in the interview that once he takes office, he would remove immigrants with criminal records who are in the country illegally. During the campaign, Trump said he would deport the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, most of whom are Hispanic. Ryan on Sunday backed away from Trump's promise during the campaign of a \"deportation force\" to round up and deport immigrants in the country illegally. \"We are not planning on erecting a deportation force. Donald Trump's not planning on that,\" Ryan told CNN's \"State of the Union\" program. \"I think we should put people's minds at ease. That is not what our focus is. That is not what we're focused on. We're focused on securing the border.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Local officials in Wisconsin will decide for themselves how to carry out a presidential election recount after a state judge on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit by former Green Party candidate Jill Stein to have the ballots counted by hand. A recount of Wisconsin's three million votes is set to begin on Thursday after Stein's campaign requested the audit and paid the state's $3.5-million filing fee, state election officials say. Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn ruled that Wisconsin's 72 county clerks will not be required to count ballots by hand as Stein requested in a lawsuit filed on Monday, Attorney General Brad Schimel said in a statement. Bailey-Rihn said Stein's lawsuit, backed by the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, fell short of Wisconsin's legal standard to ban use of ballot machines in a recount and failed to show enough evidence of fraud or other issues, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said. \"I follow the law. That's who I am, despite my personal opinions,\" said Bailey-Rihn, the Journal reported. \"It's (the counties') decision. It's their discretion. I may disagree with it \u2026 but I must follow the law.\" The ruling will not deter Stein's efforts, a lawyer for her campaign recount effort said, referring to the hand counting of ballots as the \"gold standard.\" \"We are calling on all counties to respect the will of Americans across the country and across the political spectrum, and follow the recommendation of the judge, and conduct a hand recount to ensure the accuracy, security, and integrity of this election,\" Matthew Brinckerhoff said in a statement. Stein has also sought a recount in Pennsylvania on Monday, just hours before the state's deadline, and her campaign said she would file a similar request in Michigan by its deadline on Wednesday. \"Election integrity experts have independently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where 'statistical anomalies' raised concerns,\" her campaign said on its website, seeking donations to pay for recount filing fees. Donald Trump's stunning victory in the presidential contest has unleashed talk of recounts, with the Republican president-elect contributing a surprise twist. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that \"serious voter fraud\" occurred in California, New Hampshire, and Virginia, states that Clinton won. All three states rejected Trump's claim, and the White House on Monday said there had been no evidence of widespread election fraud in the presidential contest. (This version of the story corrects the number of votes in paragraph 2)","label":0}
{"text":"This summer s box office numbers were the worst they ve been in over 25 years, and now this KNOCK, KNOCK! Who s there? Karma Adjustments might take a little of the sting out of the news that Sunday night s Emmy telecast was a ratings catastrophe, but any adjustment will only make the nightmare a little less nightmarish. Instead of being the lowest-watched Emmys in its 69-year history, Sunday night s telecast might be able to squeak into the second-lowest.As of now, though, it looks as though all that promised Trump-hating resulted in a record low, which is especially shocking (at least to bubbled Hollywood) because last year everyone was certain the bottom had been hit.Regardless, the die is cast. Last night was yet-another ratings flop for Hollywood s Beautiful People. As of now, it looks as though fewer than 11.3 million viewers tuned in to watch host Stephen Colbert s hate-fest. That would mean the 69th Emmy telecast had fewer viewers than last year s 68th, which currently holds the all-time low ratings record.What we do know for sure is that the 8.2 overnight rating is lower than 2016 s 8.4. Even in the coveted 18-49 age group, TVs Greatest Night flopped with a pathetic 2.8, which proves that even young people are tired of watching rich elites publicly work through their inability to come to terms with losing the 2016 presidential election.This news, of course, comes just days after the ratings for the MTV Awards hit their own record low.What has to be especially galling to Colbert and his fellow social justice glitter-warriors, is that in a country of 330 million, fewer than five percent tuned in, cared to watch even a minute of the show, was not in the least interested in their Big Thinks on issues n stuff, including President Trump who, despite the unrelenting hate campaigns from the media and Hollywood, still holds (if you believe the polls) a 40% approval rating. We all know it is higher, especially in the only states that matter.As Hollywood has gotten more political, more divisive, more bigoted towards Normal People, and more hateful, take a look at the nuclear fallout. America is more red, more Republican-led than at any time since Reconstruction. On every level, Democrats have been wiped out of electoral office. Breitbart NewsAnd the best part is President Donald J. Trump continues to live rent-free in these small-minded celebrities heads.","label":1}
{"text":"We Are Change  In the fourth undercover video from the guerilla journalists at James O'Keefe's Project Veritas, Democratic operative Robert Creamer claims to be on daily calls with the Clinton campaign \u2014 and accepts a foreign donation. In the newly released footage, Creamer admits to working directly for the Clinton campaign \u2014 overseeing Donald Trump events.  \"I mean frankly I spend most of my time overseeing the Trump event rallies, I mean that's what I do for the Clinton campaign,\" Creamer states.  In previous video releases from Veritas, Democratic operatives reveal how they had been working to incite violence at Trump rallies, using a tactic called \"bird-dogging.\" An operative also reveals to the undercover journalists their step-by-step voter fraud strategy.  The Clinton campaign originally denied working with Creamer and his firm, Democracy Partners. O'Keefe then released a video of Creamer stating that their \"Donald Ducks\" effort was at the request of the candidate herself.  \"Every morning I am on a call at 10:30 that goes over the message being driven by the campaign headquarters \u2026 I am in this campaign mainly to deal with what earned media with television, radio, with earned media and social media, not with paid media, not with advertising,\" Creamer says in the latest video.  He also admits to working directly with Barack Obama, statements that are backed up by his 340 logged visits to the White House \u2014 where he met with Obama 45 times.  \"I do a lot of work with the White House on their issues, helping to run issue campaigns that they have been involved in. I mean, for immigration reform for the\u2026 the health care bill, for trying to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence issues.\"  To gain access and trust, O'Keefe reveals that he had provided a $20,000 donation to the Americans for United for Change super PAC from Belize.  \"The more money that was promised to Creamer, the more access Project Veritas Action journalists seemed to get,\" Project Veritas said in their release . Following the release of the first Veritas videos last week, the PAC suddenly returned the donation \u2014 stating that they were concerned it may have been illegal.  \"In an unexpected twist, AUFC president Brad Woodhouse, the recipient of the $20,000, heard that Project Veritas Action was releasing undercover videos exposing AUFC's activities. He told a journalist that AUFC was going to return the twenty thousand dollars,\" Project Veritas explained. \" He said it was because they were concerned that it might have been an illegal foreign donation. Project Veritas Action was pleased but wondered why that hadn't been a problem for the month that they had the money.\"  O'Keefe has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission against both Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee based upon the shocking revelations that his team has uncovered.  During a rally in Gettysburg on Saturday, Trump promised that he would also be suing the DNC for inciting violence at his rallies, based on what he saw in the Project Veritas videos.  The post Another Project Veritas Bombshell: Pro-Clinton PAC Accepts Foreign Donations appeared first on We Are Change .","label":1}
{"text":"Newsweek s Kurt Eichenwald, who also serves as a senior editor at Vanity Fair and goes hard at conservatives in his reporting, is an avid Twitter user. He also has epilepsy, and some deplorable fuckwits have taken advantage of that and his Twitter presence to literally harm him they ve sent him tweets with strobe effects specifically intended to induce an epileptic seizure.What kind of a black-hearted animal does someone have to be to do something like this? It s not bad enough that these deplorables were threatening Eichenwald s kids following his on-air brouhaha with Fox News Tucker Carlson? They have to go after him and literally harm him?Epileptic seizures are not a joke. They can be very serious. And make no mistake, intentionally inducing a seizure in someone, especially as harassment, ought to be considered assault under the law if it isn t already. In fact, Eichenwald s wife took to Twitter on his account to call this jackass out on that:@jew_goldstein This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016@jew_goldstein s account was suspended at the time of this writing, but that s a mere slap on the wrist for what they did.Another horribly sick thing here is all the responses to Ms. Eichenwald s tweet. Right-wing nutjobs clearly don t give a damn about what happened. Take a look at a sampling, if you can (this writer s heart is breaking):@kurteichenwald @jew_goldstein Yes, Police, I d like to report an assault by JEW GOLDSTEIN' AltRight_GOP (@WeDaGOPNow) December 16, 2016@WeDaGOPNow @Trump_a_right @jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald His tweets loud like a bomb I was traumatized TheRightStuff (@ThaRightStuff) December 16, 2016@ThaRightStuff @WeDaGOPNow @Trump_a_right @jew_goldstein @kurteichenwald finally someone is actually literally shaking Sally Baker (@SallyBakerCake) December 16, 2016@kurteichenwald @jew_goldstein BWAHAHAHAH THIS IS THE FUNNIEST AAAARRGH cough aaaaackkk ..DAMMIT NOW IM HAVING A SEIZURE! HELP! Alpha Mike Foxtrot (@AlphaMikeFox2) December 16, 2016@TrumpetyTrumpet @kurteichenwald @TuckerCarlson Can you lead with this tomorrow? Also, an explicit mention of the maestro, @jew_goldstein tx Bill Smith #7933 (@Trump_a_right) December 16, 2016The Dallas Morning News reported earlier that Eichenwald is taking a short break from Twitter, which is confirmed in his own tweetstorm over this incident. Eichenwald says that this specific tweet read, You deserve a seizure, in addition to containing the strobe video. His break from Twitter is for self-protection. His tweetstorm over this is below and contains a warning to anyone else who might consider doing this to him. Here s hoping there are actually consequences and he doesn t ever have to worry about this again.For self-protection, I am taking a short twitter break. I will be spending that time with my lawyers & law enforcement going after 1 of u Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016Last night, for the second time, a deplorable aware I have epilepsy tweeted a strobe at me with the message you deserve a seizure on it Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 it worked. This is not going to happen again. My wife is terrified. I am disgusted. All I will be tweeting for the next few days are Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 copies of documents from the litigation, police reports etc. Once we have the lawsuit filed, we will be subpoenaing Twitter for the Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 identity of the individual who engaged in this cross-state assault. At this point, the police are attempting to determine if this is Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 a federal crime because it appears to be cross state. This kind of assault will never happen again without huge consequences. This Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 individual will be going to court, and he will be paying a price. And if any of you others ever try this again, I will make sure it Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 happens to you. Online anonymity does not protect criminals. Thats why subpoenas exist. You are facing a criminal investigation and a Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016 lawsuit. So if any of you others think about trying this cute prank, consider the consequences. They will be severe. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016Again, I will not be seeing your comments or tweeting for awhile except to upload copies of litigation and police documents. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016Otherwise, I ll be back once it is clear from the paperwork i will be tweeting that this is not a joke. See you soon. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016Featured image by Charles Eshelman via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Last night at a rally in San Diego, California, actress Rosario Dawson gave the best introduction speech for Bernie Sanders since rapper Killer Mike introduced him in Atlanta several months ago. Ms. Dawson, who has appeared in movies such as Sin City, Clerks II, Death Proof, Grindhouse, and Men In Black II, ripped into the DNC and emphasized how important the stakes are in this presidential race. I am so happy that you re here, Ms. Dawson told the crowd of over 7,000 Bernie Sanders supporters. Unfortunately the mass media said, don t even bother, but I m glad you showed them what s up. Ms. Dawson is referring to the overwhelming lack of media coverage Bernie Sanders has received from mainstream media outlets compared to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. A report on the first eleven months of 2015 conducted by the Tyndall Report found Hillary Clinton received 113 minutes of coverage on CBS, ABC, and NBC nightly news broadcasts, with an additional 88 minutes dedicated to controversies surrounding her involvement in Benghazi and her private e-mail server as Secretary of State, which helped fuel her Democratic support base.In contrast, Senator Bernie Sanders received only ten minutes of coverage. While the mainstream media is partially to blame for the rise of Donald Trump as it has overwhelmingly focused on him so much that he doesn t even need to spend money on campaign marketing and advertising, they are also partially to blame for Hillary Clinton s victories with age demographics who receive the majority of their news from mainstream media (i.e. baby boomers). The youth has been on the right side of history on every issue. They talked about those hippie college kids when they were protesting against Vietnam. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who Bernie Sanders walked with, couldn t have done what he had done if it wasn t for high school students who said, I m not afraid to do a sit-in. They didn t listen to us when we said no on the bailout. They didn t talk about how beautiful and remarkable it was when people around the World marched for peace before the Iraq War, added Ms. Dawson.She concluded the Bernie Sanders movement isn t about Democrats versus Republicans, its about the 99 percent rising up and saying enough is enough to the one percent. The Democratic Party, we haven t left them, they left us. This is an opportunity to turn the tide and change history. Do we really want someone who condoned mass incarceration? Who thinks the death penalty is OK? Who hesitates on environmental injustices and issues? Who thinks that regime change is an idea for foreign policy? No. What we need is bold leadership from a great leader whose time has come. That leader is Senator Bernie Sanders. Featured image courtesy of Flickr","label":1}
{"text":"The Left has been organizing for decades, and George Soros has been funding them. From the chaos of Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter, wherever there is chaos and anarchy in America, George Soros and the Democrat Party are usually behind it. There have been reports for several years of voter fraud efforts, in which it has been suggested that George Soros is involved. This is just another example of his involvement in a scheme to effect the results of our elections in America by using his vast global network A new campaign, touted as the October surprise that will end Trump , is seeking to mobilise a secret swing state of more than 8 million mostly unregistered global citizens and progressive Americans living abroad to vote in the U.S. election.The 8 million Americans abroad almost never vote. This dead easy tool can fix that but only if we make it famous: https:\/\/t.co\/z4l7lekdub Avaaz (@Avaaz) September 13, 2016The initiative was launched in London in the United Kingdom on Wednesday by Avaaz , a registered U.S. charity and one the world s largest and most powerful activist groups linked to globalist billionaire George Soros. Campaigners toured from the University College London down to Parliament blasting Bruce Springsteen s Born in the USA while chanting Don t Vote Trump from an open top bus.While illegal for registered U.S. charities to work with or for presidential candidates, a spokeswoman for Avaaz denied any connection to the Hillary campaign when quizzed. Campaigners with Avaaz however, were recorded shouting, Vote for Hillary! during the demonstration.A huge 88 per cent of Americans living abroad did not register to vote in the last presidential election, and Avaaz points out that this massive untapped voting block is much more likely to be progressive because 56 per cent of us [in the UK] have masters degrees and overwhelmingly donated to Democratic candidates in the last three presidential primaries.Does anybody really believe this get out the vote effort is to register LEGAL American citizens? This effort has fraud written all over it. And with only a little over a month to go before our general election, where is the manpower to pour through all of these new incoming registrations going to come from? If I didn t know better, I d think George Soros and Hillary planned to to overwhelm our system with last minute foreign votes that can t be properly vetted before the election kinda like their Muslim refugees The view for the top of the @Avaaz Stop Trump battle bus in London. American music, balloons, flags & chanting @LBC pic.twitter.com\/slsTFdQti3 Rachael Venables (@rachaelvenables) September 21, 2016 Avaaz has created the world s first, global, citizen s get-out-the-vote drive , Ms. Alexander added. The more people that share it on Facebook, the more Americans abroad will see it, and the more we will be able to stop the global threat of Trump .The group chose London for the launch as the UK has the largest concentration of US expats outside of North America , and at the event several Americans registered to vote before the media to prove how easy it is with Avaaz s new tool. For months, the world has sat on the sidelines, horrified by Trump s hate. Now, global citizens have a way to fight back , Emma Ruby-Sachs, Deputy Director of Avaaz added.The charity s website encourages people to email potential U.S. voters in other countries, giving them a template that reads: 8 million Americans abroad could defeat Trump if they vote! I wanted to make sure you saw this new overseas registration tool that makes voting dead-easy. It literally takes a few minutes :) .Their efforts don t stop in the UK, they are also putting out a call to Mexicans to register to vote. Who will be checking the validity of millions of votes coming in at the last minute? From their register to vote for Hillary campaign in Mexico:1 million Americans in Mexico can stop #Trump's wall! #GringosAVotar campaign kicks off Sun 9\/25 in Mexico City: https:\/\/t.co\/Q68FjjJk7d pic.twitter.com\/6tv7CES8Cy Avaaz (@Avaaz) September 21, 2016ENGLISH:Over 1 million US citizens live in Mexico, and their participation in this election is key to stopping Trump and his beautiful wall. This Sunday we re meeting at the Angel de la Independencia on Paseo de la Roma, in the heart of Mexico City, to spread the word and register US voters on site.There will be music, great people, and media. Come take a picture of yourself in front of a massive artistic model of Trump s wall to say: #GringosAVotar united against Trump! RSVP and share widely with friends.If you are a US passport holder and want to register to vote there on site, make sure to bring a scanned copy of your passport with you. US voters in Mexico can also register directly here: www.avaaz.org\/GringosAVotarSomething tells me if Johnny Cash were alive today, he would not approve of these clowns using his music to promote the destruction of America in a foreign land:","label":1}
{"text":"(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. 1. Floodwaters have begun to recede in Louisiana, where at least 13 people are dead, tens of thousands more have been displaced and 40, 000 homes are damaged. These photos and maps show the scale of the disaster. Emergency officials and ordinary citizens are going to offer help, 1, 000 Red Cross workers joined aid efforts and shelters were packed. \"The sheltering effort is actually greater than what we saw for Hurricane Katrina,\" a local official near Baton Rouge said. _____ 2. Donald Trump shook up his campaign with moves that suggest he intends to stick with his aggressive style. He brought in a combative media executive as campaign manager: Stephen Bannon, from the conservative website Breitbart News. Paul Manafort, whose efforts to shift Mr. Trump to a more presidential tone were hobbled by concerns over his own business dealings in Ukraine, retains the title of campaign chairman. Mr. Trump also received his first classified briefing, at the F. B. I. 's Manhattan field office and held his own national security roundtable, above, at Trump Tower. _____ 3. Hillary Clinton flew to Cleveland to offer a granular critique of Mr. Trump's tax policies and promised to shift more of the tax burden upward. \"We're going to tax the wealthy who have made all of the income gains in the last 15 years,\" she said. \"The corporations, Wall Street, they're going to have to invest in education, in skills training, in infrastructure. \" Our election model currently gauges Mrs. Clinton's likelihood of winning at 88 percent to Mr. Trump's 12 percent. _____ 4. U. S. intelligence agencies are scrambling to determine if the National Security Agency was hacked, after code used to break into foreign systems showed up on websites this week. Edward Snowden tweeted from exile in Moscow that Russia was a likely suspect, and that the disclosures might be intended to \"influence the calculus of wondering how sharply to respond to the DNC hacks. \" Here's what we know about the cyberattacks on Democratic officials. _____ 5. At the Rio Olympics, the host country, Brazil, goes for a fourth gold tonight (11 p. m. Eastern, NBC) with the beach volleyball team above, pictured after beating the U. S. in the semifinal. The U. S. women's water polo team advanced to the final after beating Hungary. Check out our interactive on just how brutal the sport can be. The Brazilian authorities found evidence contradicting parts of Ryan Lochte's account of a gunpoint robbery and pulled two U. S. swimmers, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, off their flights home. Mr. Lochte had already left the country. And several boxing referees and judges were barred from Olympic service a day after an Irish bantamweight, Michael Conlan, raged over losing a fight that he, and the crowd, thought he had won. _____ 6. France's battle over the burkini swept in a top government official. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the swimsuit worn by Muslim women reflected the \"enslavement of women. \" But Muslim women, reacting to bans by several mayors, have complained to community groups that they are being singled out, and their choice of swimwear is now a dividing line in France's increasingly fraught relationship with its Muslim population, Europe's largest. France, with its determinedly secular government, already bans veils in public and headscarves in schools. _____ 7. A team of researchers at the University of Chicago cast light on one of the big puzzles in evolution. They found a surprising biological link between the fin and the human hand, in the form of genes that tell a clump of embryonic cells to end up at the far end of an appendage. \"Honestly, you could have knocked me over with a feather,\" one scientist said. _____ 8. A wildfire near San Bernardino, Calif. \"hit hard, it hit fast, it hit with an intensity that we haven't seen before,\" the county fire chief said. High winds, high temperatures and low humidity in the state's fifth year of drought drove the flames to flare from five acres to 30, 000 in less than 24 hours. Officials ordered the evacuation of about 82, 000 residents in an estimated 34, 500 homes. Experts say wildfires are getting bigger and more destructive. _____ 9. The latest headlines about \"The Birth of a Nation,\" the slavery revolt film due in 1, 500 theaters on Oct. 7, are not about its chances to prevent another #OscarsSoWhite debacle. Instead, the attention is on details of a rape case involving Nate Parker, the film's writer, director and star. Vitriol has poured out on social media, and in Los Angeles, promotional posters of Mr. Parker as Nat Turner were altered to read, \"Rapist?\" _____ 10. Michelangelo's David is having joint trouble. More specifically, his ankles have become riddled with cracks, leaving the masterpiece at risk of collapse in the eventuality of a serious earthquake \u2014 a real possibility in Florence. In one of our most popular stories today, our magazine writer, mulling over his long obsession with the statue and the concept of perfection, notes that Italy has stalled on the known solution: an antiseismic base. _____ 11. Finally, Americans, especially those avoiding gluten, are increasingly turning to ancient grains like quinoa, amaranth and millet. Now there's a surge of interest in teff, a staple for Ethiopia's legendary distance runners. It is high in protein and iron, has more calcium and vitamin C than almost any other grain and is rich in a beneficial form of starch. Try it in pancakes or as polenta. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Many U.S. Senate Democrats are seeking to block a confirmation vote on Neil Gorsuch, the federal appellate judge nominated by President Donald Trump to become a Supreme Court justice, but it is unclear whether they will get the necessary votes. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on sending the nomination to the Senate floor. Republican Senate leaders hope to confirm Gorsuch on April 7. As of Friday morning, 37 of the 46 Democrats and the two independents who align with them in the 100-seat Senate have publicly announced opposition to Gorsuch. Of those, 35 have said they would back an effort to block a confirmation vote via a procedural hurdle called a filibuster. Democrats need 41 votes to sustain a filibuster. Two Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, have announced support for Gorsuch. Republicans control the Senate 52-48, meaning they need to win over eight votes to block a filibuster. The confirmation vote itself would require a simple majority of 51 votes. Eight Democrats and one independent, Angus King of Maine, have yet to announce whether they would vote against Gorsuch or support a filibuster. Here is a look at these senators: Michael Bennet of Colorado. Gorsuch is a fellow Coloradoan. Bennet introduced Gorsuch last week at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. In the introduction, Bennet criticized Republicans' refusal last year to consider former President Barack Obama's nominee to the same Supreme Court seat Gorsuch would occupy if confirmed. But Bennet said that \"two wrongs never make a right.\" Chris Coons of Delaware. He has indicated he may support a deal to avoid a filibuster. Joe Donnelly of Indiana. Up for re-election in 2018 in a state Trump won in 2016. Position unclear. Dianne Feinstein of California. The senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversaw Gorsuch's confirmation hearing. Angus King of Maine. The senator is an independent who normally votes with Democrats. Position unclear. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Up for re-election in 2018 in a state Trump won in 2016. Position unclear. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Position unclear. Jon Tester of Montana. Up for re-election in 2018 in a state Trump won in 2016. Position unclear. Mark Warner of Virginia. Position unclear.","label":0}
{"text":"While on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in Ohio, Vice President Joe Biden was talking about the dangers of a Donald Trump presidency and what that would do to the average citizen.However, while speaking, a protester started shouting at Biden about the Iraq War. And while he could have simply ignored this protester or let the crowd drown him out with chants of Hillary! Biden instead hushed the crowd to field his question.After Biden answered the question, the protester, still upset, let the vice president know that his friend had died. This is when Biden says: So did my son. It was a poignant moment and one that let the protester know that Biden understands what it s like to lose someone so close to you. And in an additional gesture of empathy, Biden told the protester that if he s serious about asking questions in regard to Iraq and his friend, that he can come backstage and will answer his questions.This is why we love Joe Biden. He s a man of the people.Watch the moment here:Video: Biden stumping for Clinton in OH when man protests over Iraq War: My friend died! Biden: So did my son. https:\/\/t.co\/zl5VPFBBUq Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) September 1, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Real Disclosure! Secret Alien Base Found In Moon's Tycho Crater # Grey 52  Real Disclosure is where you find something on the lunar surface that cannot possibly exist unless someone built it. NO WAY it's a natural formation --- SOMETHING constructed that ---- 90\u00b0 angles are just not possible without alien\/man-made interaction. More 'smoking gun' irrefutable proof of intelligence from abroad. Tags","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump's looming nomination has spurred some leaders of the conservative movement \u2014 for generations, the backbone of the GOP \u2014 to break free from a Republican Party now being rapidly reshaped by the New York billionaire's incendiary tone and unorthodox populism. The extraordinary resistance of many figures on the right this past week to Trump has not been prompted merely by objections to his temperament and fears about his electability in November. At the core has been a calculation by self-identified \"movement conservatives\" that they would rather preserve their entrenched ideological project than promote a nominee who they believe would violate their creed and ethos. [Video: The 10 Republicans who hate Donald Trump the most ] \"It's a crisis,\" said Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the American Conservative Union who is withholding support for Trump. \"If we do away with the fundamental strength of the conservative movement, which is our ideas and values and principles, then you don't have anything left but politics. A movement can survive the loss of an election cycle, but it can't survive the loss of its purpose, and that's what we're battling here.\" The moment potentially marks the closure of a historic half-century in Republican politics in which conservatives have accrued dominant influence \u2014 on Capitol Hill, in gubernatorial mansions, at think tanks, on talk radio and in the grass roots. Since Barry Goldwater's unsuccessful but edifying 1964 presidential run, the conservative movement has been at the crux of Republican campaigns, from Ronald Reagan's 1980 sweep to the 1994 revolution to the tea party's rise in 2010. Yet, by taking a stand they see as a stroke of moral clarity, conservative leaders are at risk of separating their coalition from a Republican Party in which voters coast to coast have effectively shifted the center of gravity by choosing Trump as their standard bearer. In the primaries, Trump defeated a string of classically conservative candidates by peeling away many of the movement's core supporters: evangelical and working-class white voters. There is talk in various quarters about a potential independent challenge to Trump and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, though there is no consensus candidate, and a third-party bid would be exceedingly difficult for anyone to mount at this late stage. Freshman Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is a vocal proponent, but he is not offering himself as a candidate. Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, is involved in discussions to draft an independent conservative and huddled last week with Mitt Romney, though the former Massachusetts governor repeatedly has ruled out another White House bid. Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative commentator, is among those urging a third-party candidate. \"One of the silver linings that can come from this is that the conservative movement as an entity pulls back away from the Republican Party,\" Erickson said. \"During the Bush administration, it became a subsidiary of the Republican Party. This gives us a good opportunity as conservatives to stand on our own two feet.\" The conservative resistance was expressed most prominently last week by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the country's top-ranking elected Republican, who announced that he could not support Trump until the business mogul demonstrated his conservative bona fides and offered a more inclusive vision. Trump snapped back with a retort that neatly underscored his belief that movement conservatives should no longer dictate the GOP mission and platform: \"I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan's agenda.\" \"If there's an ideological leader of our party right now, it's Paul Ryan,\" said former senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). \"He's not part of the shouting crowd; he's part of the doing crowd. But the party's voters have gone with the shouting crowd. It's reflective of the failure of the doer crowd to get things done.\" [Ryan says he is 'not ready' to back Trump, deepening GOP divide] Indeed, Trump and Ryan are miles apart. Ryan is the architect of sweeping proposed changes to Medicare and Social Security; Trump has pledged not to touch either. Ryan supports a muscular foreign policy; Trump is proudly non-interventionist. Ryan champions free trade; Trump is an avowed opponent. Ryan defends religious freedom; Trump wants to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country. Ryan advocates bipartisan immigration reform and opposes mass deportation; Trump wants to build a wall at the Mexican border and deport the roughly 11 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally. Ryan and his conservative allies in elected offices nationwide still have a firm grip on the party's governing playbook and institutions. But Trump has forced a heated debate over Republican identity and whether it is synonymous with conservatism \u2014 a threat to the authority of movement conservatives. \"The Ryan agenda isn't just about Paul Ryan, but it's what conservatives have agreed on as the best way forward \u2014 and Trump is deviating from that in so many ways,\" said Lanhee Chen, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution who served as Romney's policy director during his 2012 presidential bid. \"The big question really is, to what extent is the Trump phenomenon an aberration in policy versus some more fundamental shift?\" Chen asked. \"I tend to think of it as an aberration.\" Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus has sought to broker an accord between Trump and Ryan with a planned meeting Thursday in Washington, but Trump's public comments suggest that changes by him are unlikely. Trump has said he would meet with Ryan, \"before we go our separate ways.\" [Trump agrees to meet with Paul Ryan 'before we go our separate ways'] Some conservative movement figures have warmed to Trump, expressing confidence that he would surround himself with advisers of their ilk \u2014 such as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who has become a trusted confidant of the candidate's \u2014 and that, if Trump is elected, Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would serve as checks on his power. \"The deals he's going to cut will have in the room Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, and the three of them have to agree. I sleep well at night,\" said Grover Norquist, president and founder of Americans for Tax Reform, who for decades has convened conservative leaders and activists. A group of House Republicans, including several top leadership supporters, have wondered whether Ryan and other conservative leaders have fully recognized what they see as a striking shift in the electorate. A pair of committee chairmen \u2014 Reps. Bill Shuster (Pa.) and Jeff Miller (Fla.) \u2014 endorsed Trump shortly before he became the presumptive nominee. \"It's not the time to be out there demanding all of these things, trying to get Trump to suddenly become Reagan,\" said William J. Bennett, a Ryan mentor and prominent conservative commentator. \"Now is the time to surround him with good people and work with him at the convention.\" Norquist, who attended and praised Trump's foreign-policy address last month, said he sees limits to Trump's long-term influence on conservatism. \"You're not picking a direction for the modern Republican Party or the conservative movement with one presidential candidate,\" he said. \"There isn't some Trump wing of the party. What is Trumpism? You don't see senators and governors running under Trumpism. There's just Trump.\" [Trump's apostasies put him at odds with decades of Republican beliefs] Especially anxious about Trump's success are conservatives who prioritize social issues and fear he would weaken the party's moral tilt. Though Trump says he is against abortion and same-sex marriage, the New Yorker rarely talks about those issues \u2014 and until only a few years ago, he held opposite positions. \"I haven't heard him frame things in moral terms,\" Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said. \"I don't hear him speak about the Constitution. It's hard to believe he has any sort of deep conviction on life and marriage. I don't see him being guided by constitutional principles. He doesn't speak about them, ever. That's what's troubling everyone. He's not even speaking in the same language, politically, that we speak.\" King, who had supported Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and has no plans to endorse Trump, said he and other conservative leaders would \"keep watch\" at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland to protect the party's platform from being revamped. \"We run the risk of the underpinnings of our convictions being disregarded,\" King said. Numerous Republicans fret that this divide could lead to certain electoral defeat for the party, up and down the ticket. Those like Gregg \u2014 a fiscal conservative who backed former Florida governor Jeb Bush and then Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the primaries and said he is in the \"listening\" phase of considering Trump \u2014 see hope for a coming together by finding areas of consensus. \"At the center of Republican philosophy is market economy and fiscal responsibility, and Trump is very much in tune,\" Gregg said. \"I expect in the end that's what will draw people into a unified effort.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Speaking at a joint press conference Thursday morning at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Obama makes extended comments regarding the 2016 election, and its unprecedented political polarization.     \"I have been blamed by the Republicans for a lot of things,\" the president said. \"But to be blamed for their primaries and who they are selecting is... novel.\"    \"I'm not going to validate some notion that the Republican crackup that's been taking place is a consequence of actions that I've taken,\" he said.     \"I don't think I was the one to prompt questions about my birth certificate, for example,\" he said. \"I don't recall saying, 'Hey, why don't you ask me about that.'\"    \"It's not as if there's a massive difference between Mr. Trump's position on immigration and Mr. Cruz's. Mr. Trump may be more provocative in terms of how he sighs, but says them, but they're not that different.\"","label":0}
{"text":"As federal agents prepare to scour roughly 650,000 emails to see how many relate to a prior probe of Hillary Clinton s email use, the surprise disclosure that investigators were pursuing the potential new evidence lays bare building tensions inside the bureau and the Justice Department over how to investigate the Democratic presidential nominee:The Justice Department official was very pissed off, according to one person close to Mr. McCabe, and pressed him to explain why the FBI was still chasing a matter the department considered dead.Metadata found on the laptop used by former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide, suggests there may be thousands of emails sent to or from the private server that Mrs. Clinton used while she was secretary of state, according to people familiar with the matter. It will take weeks, at a minimum, to determine whether those messages are work-related from the time Ms. Abedin served with Mrs. Clinton at the State Department; how many are duplicates of emails already reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and whether they include either classified information or important new evidence in the Clinton email probe.The new investigative effort, disclosed by FBI Director James Comey on Friday, shows a bureau at times in sharp internal disagreement over matters related to the Clintons, and how to handle those matters fairly and carefully in the middle of a national election campaign.Even as the previous probe of Mrs. Clinton s email use wound down in July, internal disagreements within the bureau and the Justice Department surrounding the Clintons family philanthropy heated up, according to people familiar with the matter.The latest development began in early October when New York-based FBI officials notified Andrew McCabe, the bureau s second-in-command, that while investigating Mr. Weiner for possibly sending sexually charged messages to a minor, they had recovered a laptop with 650,000 emails. Many, they said, were from the accounts of Ms. Abedin, according to people familiar with the matter.Those emails stretched back years, these people said, and were on a laptop that hadn t previously come up in the Clinton email probe. Ms. Abedin said in late August that the couple were separating.The FBI had searched the computer while looking for child pornography, people familiar with the matter said, but the warrant they used didn t give them authority to search for matters related to Mrs. Clinton s email arrangement at the State Department. Mr. Weiner has denied sending explicit or indecent messages to the teenager.In their initial review of the laptop, the metadata showed many messages, apparently in the thousands, that were either sent to or from the private email server at Mrs. Clinton s home that had been the focus of so much investigative effort for the FBI. Senior FBI officials decided to let the Weiner investigators proceed with a closer examination of the metadata on the computer, and report back to them.FAST FORWARD TO EARLY LAST WEEK: STUNNING!At a meeting early last week of senior Justice Department and FBI officials, a member of the department s senior national-security staff asked for an update on the Weiner laptop, the people familiar with the matter said. At that point, officials realized that no one had acted to obtain a warrant, these people said.Mr. McCabe then instructed the email investigators to talk to the Weiner investigators and see whether the laptop s contents could be relevant to the Clinton email probe, these people said. After the investigators spoke, the agents agreed it was potentially relevant.Mr. Comey was given an update, decided to go forward with the case and notified Congress on Friday, with explosive results. Senior Justice Department officials had warned Mr. Comey that telling Congress would violate policies against overt actions that could affect an election, and some within the FBI have been unhappy at Mr. Comey s repeated public statements on the probe, going back to his press conference on the subject in July.The back-and-forth reflects how the bureau is probing several matters related, directly or indirectly, to Mrs. Clinton and her inner circle.New details show that senior law-enforcement officials repeatedly voiced skepticism of the strength of the evidence in the bureau s investigation of the Clinton Foundation, sought to condense what was at times a sprawling cross-country effort, and, according to some people familiar with the matter, told agents to limit their pursuit of the case.That led to frustrations among some investigators, who viewed FBI leadership as uninterested in probing the charity, these people said. Others involved disagreed sharply, defending FBI bosses and saying Mr. McCabe in particular was caught between an increasingly acrimonious fight for control between the Justice Department and FBI agents pursuing the Clinton Foundation case.It isn t unusual for field agents to favor a more aggressive approach than supervisors and prosecutors think is merited. But the internal debates about the Clinton Foundation show the high stakes when such disagreements occur surrounding someone who is running for president.The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Mr. McCabe s wife, Jill McCabe, received $467,500 in campaign funds in late 2015 from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime ally of the Clintons and, until he was elected governor in November 2013, a Clinton Foundation board member.Mr. McAuliffe had supported Dr. McCabe in the hopes she and a handful of other Democrats might help win a majority in the state Senate. Dr. McCabe lost her race last November, and Democrats failed to win their majority.A spokesman for the governor has said that any insinuation that his support was tied to anything other than his desire to elect candidates who would help pass his agenda is ridiculous. Dr. McCabe told the Journal, Once I decided to run, my husband had no formal role in my campaign other than to be supportive.In February of this year, Mr. McCabe ascended from the No. 3 position at the FBI to the deputy director post. When he assumed that role, officials say, he started overseeing the probe into Mrs. Clinton s use of a private email server for government work when she was secretary of state.FBI officials have said Mr. McCabe had no role in the Clinton email probe until he became deputy director, and by then his wife s campaign was over.But other Clinton-related investigations were under way within the FBI, and they have been the subject of internal debate for months, according to people familiar with the matter.Early this year, four FBI field offices New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Little Rock, Ark. were collecting information about the Clinton Foundation to see if there was evidence of financial crimes or influence-peddling, according to people familiar with the matter.Los Angeles agents had picked up information about the Clinton Foundation from an unrelated public corruption case and had issued some subpoenas for bank records related to the foundation, these people said.The Washington field office was probing financial relationships involving Mr. McAuliffe before he became a Clinton Foundation board member, these people said. Mr. McAuliffe has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has said the probe is focused on whether he failed to register as an agent of a foreign entity.In February, FBI officials made a presentation to the Justice Department, according to these people. By all accounts, the meeting didn t go well.Some said that is because the FBI didn t present compelling evidence to justify more aggressive pursuit of the Clinton Foundation, and that the career public integrity prosecutors in the room simply believed it wasn t a very strong case. Others said that from the start, the Justice Department officials were stern, icy and dismissive of the case. That was one of the weirdest meetings I ve ever been to, one participant told others afterward, according to people familiar with the matter.Justice Department officials told the FBI at the meeting they wouldn t authorize more aggressive investigative techniques, such as subpoenas, formal witness interviews, or grand-jury activity. But the FBI officials believed they were well within their authority to pursue the leads and methods already under way, these people said.About a week after Mr. Comey s July announcement that he was recommending against any prosecution in the Clinton email case, the FBI sought to refocus the Clinton Foundation probe, with Mr. McCabe deciding the FBI s New York office would take the lead, with assistance from Little Rock.Director James Comey testified before the House Judiciary Committee in September on a variety of subjects including the investigation into former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton s email server. The Washington field office, FBI officials decided, would focus on a separate matter involving Mr. McAuliffe. Mr. McCabe had decided earlier in the spring that he would continue to recuse himself from that probe, given the governor s contributions to his wife s former political campaign.Within the FBI, the decision was viewed with skepticism by some, who felt the probe would be stronger if the foundation and McAuliffe matters were combined. Others, particularly senior officials at the Justice Department, felt that both probes were weak, based largely on publicly available information, and had found little that would merit expanded investigative authority.According to a person familiar with the probes, on Aug. 12, a senior Justice Department official called Mr. McCabe to voice his displeasure at finding that New York FBI agents were still openly pursuing the Clinton Foundation probe, despite the department s refusal to allow more aggressive investigative methods in the case. Mr. McCabe said agents still had the authority to pursue the issue as long as they didn t use those methods.The Justice Department official was very pissed off, according to one person close to Mr. McCabe, and pressed him to explain why the FBI was still chasing a matter the department considered dead. Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation? Mr. McCabe asked, according to people familiar with the conversation. After a pause, the official replied, Of course not, these people said.Mr. McCabe s defenders in the agency said that following the call, he repeated the instruction that he had given earlier in the Clinton Foundation investigation: Agents were to keep pursuing the work within the authority they had.Others further down the FBI chain of command, however, said agents were given a much starker instruction on the case: Stand down. When agents questioned why they weren t allowed to take more aggressive steps, they said they were told the order had come from the deputy director Mr. McCabe.Others familiar with the matter deny Mr. McCabe or any other senior FBI official gave such a stand-down instruction.For agents who already felt uneasy about FBI leadership s handling of the Clinton Foundation case, the moment only deepened their concerns, these people said. For those who felt the probe hadn t yet found significant evidence of criminal conduct, the leadership s approach was the right response.In September, agents on the foundation case asked to see the emails contained on nongovernment laptops that had been searched as part of the Clinton email case, but that request was rejected by prosecutors at the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn. Those emails were given to the FBI based on grants of partial immunity and limited-use agreements, meaning agents could only use them for the purpose of investigating possible mishandling of classified information.Some FBI agents were dissatisfied with that answer, and asked for permission to make a similar request to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. McCabe, these people said, told them no and added that they couldn t go prosecutor-shopping. Not long after that discussion, FBI agents informed the bureau s leaders about the Weiner laptop, prompting Mr. Comey s disclosure to Congress and setting of the furor that promises to consume the final days of a tumultuous campaign.","label":1}
{"text":"People trying to lose weight \u2014 or not gain weight \u2014 are frequently advised to \"lay off the booze. \" Although organizations like Weight Watchers offer ways to drink wisely within their plans, alcohol, with seven calories a gram and no compensating nutrients, is commonly thought to derail most efforts at weight control. After the winter holidays, I often hear people blame alcohol for added pounds, not just from its caloric contribution but also because it can undermine and stimulate the appetite and desire for fattening foods. Yet you probably know people who routinely drink wine with dinner, or a cocktail before it, and never put on an unwanted pound. Given that moderate drinkers tend to live longer than teetotalers, I'd love a glass of wine or a beer with dinner if I could do so without gaining, so I looked into what science has to say about alcohol's influence on weight. Despite thousands of studies spanning decades, I discovered that alcohol remains one of the most controversial and confusing topics for people concerned about controlling their weight. I plowed through more than two dozen research reports, many with conflicting findings on the relationship between alcohol and weight, and finally found a thorough review of the science that can help people determine whether drinking might be compatible with effective weight management. The review, published in 2015 in Current Obesity Reports, was prepared by Gregory Traversy and Chaput of the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, Ontario. The reviewers first examined studies, studies that assessed links between alcohol intake and body mass index among large groups of people at a given moment in time. The most common finding was that, in men on average, drinking was \"not associated\" with weight, whereas among women, drinking either did not affect weight or was actually associated with a lower body weight than among nondrinkers. Their summary of the findings: Most such studies showed that \"frequent light to moderate alcohol intake\" \u2014 at most two drinks a day for men, one for women \u2014 \"does not seem to be associated with obesity risk. \" However, binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks on an occasion) and heavy drinking (more than four drinks in a day for men, or more than three for women) were linked to an increased risk of obesity and an expanding waistline. And in a departure from most of the other findings, some of the research indicated that for adolescents and (alas) older adults, alcohol in any amount may \"promote overweight and a higher body fat percentage. \" Prospective studies, which are generally considered to be more rigorous than studies and which follow groups of people over time, in this case from several months to 20 years, had varied results and produced \"no clear picture\" of the relationship between alcohol and weight. Several found either no relationship or a negative relationship, at least in women, while others found that men who drank tended to risk becoming obese, especially if they were beer drinkers. The conclusion from the most recent such studies: While heavy drinkers risked gaining weight, \"light to moderate alcohol intake is not associated with weight gain or changes in waist circumference. \" The studies Dr. Chaput ranked as \"most reliable\" and \"providing the strongest evidence\" were controlled experiments in which people were randomly assigned to consume given amounts of alcohol under monitored conditions. One such study found that drinking two glasses of red wine with dinner daily for six weeks did not result in weight gain or a greater percentage of body fat in 14 men, when compared with the same diet and exercise regimen without alcohol. A similar study among 20 overweight, sedentary women found no meaningful change in weight after 10 weeks of consuming a glass of wine five times a week. However, the experimental studies were small and the \"intervention periods\" were short. Dr. Chaput noted that even a very small weight gain over the course of 10 weeks can add up to a lot of extra pounds in five years unless there is a compensating reduction in food intake or increase in physical activity. Unlike protein, fats and carbohydrates, alcohol is a toxic substance that is not stored in the body. Alcohol calories are used for fuel, thus decreasing the body's use of other sources of calories. That means people who drink must eat less or exercise more to maintain their weight. Dr. Chaput said he is able to keep from gaining weight and body fat despite consuming \"about 15 drinks a week\" by eating a healthy diet, exercising daily and monitoring his weight regularly. Big differences in drinking patterns between men and women influence the findings of alcohol's effects on weight, he said. \"Men are more likely to binge drink and to drink beer and spirits, whereas women mostly drink wine and are more likely than men to compensate for extra calories consumed as alcohol. \" Genetics are also a factor, Dr. Chaput said, suggesting that alcohol can be more of a problem among people genetically prone to excessive weight gain. \"People who are overweight to begin with are more likely to gain weight if they increase their alcohol intake,\" he said. Furthermore, as I and countless others have found, alcohol has a \"disinhibiting\" effect and can stimulate people to eat more when food is readily available. \"The extra calories taken in with alcohol are stored as fat,\" he reminded drinkers. Here's the bottom line: Everyone is different. The studies cited above average the results among groups of people and thus gloss over individual differences. Even when two people start out weighing the same and eat, drink and exercise the same amount, adding alcohol to the mix can have different consequences. The critical ingredient is : weighing yourself regularly, even daily, at the same time of day and under the same circumstances. If you're a moderate drinker and find yourself gradually putting on weight, try cutting down on, or cutting out, alcohol for a few months to see if you lose, gain or stay the same. Or, if you're holding off on drinking but gradually gaining weight and have no medical or personal reason to abstain from alcohol, you might try having a glass of wine on most days to see if your weight stabilizes or even drops slightly over the coming months. You might also consult a reliable source on the sometimes surprising differences in calorie content among similar alcoholic drinks. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recently published such a list, available at www. nutritionaction. com. Search for \"Which alcoholic beverages have the most calories?\" While you'll find no difference in calories between white and red wines, depending on the brand, 12 ounces of beer can range from 55 to 320 calories.","label":0}
{"text":"SKOPJE, Macedonia \u2014 A freakishly violent rainstorm that Macedonia's top weather official called a \"water bomb\" ravaged Skopje during the weekend, collapsing streets, inundating vehicles and drowning trapped motorists and homeowners, most of them caught by surprise. At least 21 people were killed and 77 injured in what officials described on Sunday as the worst flooding disaster in a to hit Skopje, the Macedonian capital and a city of more than a people in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. Officials said the death toll could rise because many people were still missing after the storm, which hit with shocking ferocity on Saturday night. The police, army units and firefighters rescued more than 1, 000 people from the raging water that flooded streets, buildings, houses, clinics and schools. Traffic in much of the city was paralyzed. The Gazi Baba area, in the eastern part of Skopje, was particularly hard hit, with hundreds of homes losing power. Underpasses throughout the city became instant lakes, completely submerging vehicles. The National Hydrometeorological Service said it had issued a warning about an impending storm earlier on Saturday, but the intensity of the storm was a shock. \"The clouds seem to have stopped immediately and dropped the water on this very small part of Skopje, in what can be described only as a water bomb,\" Oliver Romevski, the director of the service, said Sunday. \"We are all shaken from this phenomenon and from what it has caused. \" Koce Trajanovski, Skopje's mayor, who announced financial aid for the families of the dead, said many victims had been caught off guard because the rain started so rapidly on Saturday evening. \"Most of the casualties were people returning home from work or travel,\" he said. Mr. Romevski said the storm had dumped nearly four inches of rain on the Gazi Baba area, while other parts of Skopje received far less. Heavy rain was also reported in the western Macedonia city of Tetovo. Volunteers established a center in central Skopje on Sunday to accept donations for victims, who needed food, drinking water and hygiene supplies. The government was expected to declare a state of emergency later. But many local residents accused the municipal authorities of an utter lack of preparedness. Mayor Trajanovski rejected the criticism, saying that the storm was a natural catastrophe and that no system could handle such volumes of rainfall in such a short period. Nikola Todorov, the minister of health, said the last such flooding that Skopje residents could recall was in 1962, when more than 5, 000 houses were flooded. Showers and thunderstorms were forecast to hit Skopje again on Sunday evening, and many feared they would exacerbate the crisis. \"We don't expect showers with the same intensity as those from yesterday,\" the National Hydrometeorological Service said in a statement. \"But we already have quite saturated soil,\" it said, and in such situations, \"even smaller rainfalls can cause problems. \"","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century wire says The FBI recently released new documents regarding the bizarre and still forensically critiqued Sandy Hook elementary school shooting tragedy. SANDY HOOK Many questions still remain in this perplexing case. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)KEY POINT: It s important to remember that even though the events at Sandy Hook were said to have been carried out by a deranged lone gunman named Adam Lanza, initial reports on several CBS and ABC affiliates following the Sandy Hook mass shooting stated there was a second shooter who was apprehended at the scene.We should also be reminded that mainstream media reportage of the Sandy Hook tragedy took audiences down several rabbit holes of their own making, eventually implicating an unlikely suspect (left photo) with Asperger s syndrome, in an apparently motiveless crime.Not since the forensically questionable Columbine High School shooting massacre, had the corporate media been so fixated on a tragic shooting, focusing their efforts on politicizing the apparent crime, while investigators offered very little in terms of evidence in their official story.On March 28th of 2013, a few short months after the Sandy Hook shooting, an article entitled Newtown Killer s Obsessions, in Chilling Detail was published by the NY Times. In that article, the public learned that the Lanza s were unknown to authorities and that there were never any disturbances at the family residence that would have prepped law enforcement prior to the school shooting: Two law-enforcement officials who were initially involved in the investigation said in recent interviews that the Newtown police had never been called to the Lanza home for any disturbances, and that before the shootings the family was basically unknown to the authorities.They said they believed that Mr. Lanza had spent most of his time in the basement of the home, primarily playing a warfare video game, Call of Duty. This aspect of the story had remained virtually unquestioned until the recent release of FBI information this week.Earlier this week, an NBC affiliate in Connecticut published an article disclosing the newly released FBI documents regarding the Sandy Hook case. Here s a short passage of that article: The documents include reports by FBI agents who interviewed people about Lanza. Large portions of many of the documents were redacted, including the names of the people who spoke to the agents.The documents also offer a window into the early days of the investigation, as agents chased false leads and gathered evidence of Lanza s isolation.A year after the massacre, state police released a final investigative document that concluded Lanza was obsessed with firearms, death and mass shootings, but that the motive may never be known. While the article continued by placing a heavy emphasis on the media crafted stage-like persona of the alleged shooter Adam Lanza, we re told for the first time of his alleged sexual perversions, as the video game\/gun obsessed millennial, apparently also spent time analyzing mass shooting crimes.This murky portrait of the Sandy Hook shooter finally emerges nearly five years after the media sensationalized school shooting. But perhaps the most shocking claim has come from an unnamed Newtown resident alleging that Lanza may have already been well-known to the FBI or possibly the CIA prior to the Sandy Hook school massacre occurring: A Newtown resident told the FBI that Nancy Lanza said Adam had once hacked into a government computer system and federal authorities either FBI or CIA agents showed up at their door.Nancy Lanza told the person that she had to convince the agents that her son was just very intelligent and was challenging himself to see if he could hack into a government system. She said agents told her that if Adam was that smart, he could get a job with their agency someday. QUESTION: Why is the public just now learning that Lanza may have already been known to authorities via his government computer hack and why wouldn t various intelligence agencies continue to monitor his behavior after committing an illegal act that may have been a national security concern?The troubling Sandy Hook saga continues to have more questions than answers READ MORE DAILY SHOOTER NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Daily Shooter FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"Armed militants killed at least 30 policemen in a shootout during a raid on a suspected militant hideout in Egypt s Western desert, security sources said on Friday. A number of suspected militants were also killed and security forces are combing the area, a statement by the Interior Ministry said. Egypt is facing an Islamist insurgency concentrated in the Sinai peninsula from two main groups, including an Islamic State affiliate, that has killed hundreds of security forces since 2013. Islamist militants have launched several major attacks, most recently targeting churches in Cairo and other cities with the loss of dozens of lives. The security sources said authorities were following a lead to a hideout deep in the desert thought to house eight suspected members of Hasm, a group which has claimed several attacks around the capital targeting judges and police since last year. A convoy of four SUVs and one interior ministry vehicle was ambushed from higher ground by militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and detonating explosive devices, a senior source in the Giza Security Office said. The number of dead was expected to rise, two security sources said. Two security sources said eight security personnel were injured in the clashes, while another source said that four of the injured were police and four others suspected militants. Egypt accuses Hasm of being the militant wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group it outlawed in 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood denies this. The Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula has grown since the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen and has started to target other areas, including Egypt s Christian Copts. (This version of the story was refiled to say policemen in first paragraph from police officers as the rank of the dead was not immediately known)","label":0}
{"text":"President Barack Obama's trade agenda has cleared a key Senate hurdle to move toward a final vote. The Senate has topped the 60 votes needed to begin substantive action on Obama's bid for \"fast track\" negotiating authority. The vote was 62-38. Obama says fast track authority will improve prospects for a trade treaty with 11 other Pacific-rim nations. Labor unions and other groups vital to Democrats strongly oppose Obama's trade agenda. They say free-trade deals cost U.S. jobs. Obama says U.S. producers need broader access to foreign markets.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump wasn t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine s foe to the east, Russia. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails.The Ukrainian antipathy for Trump s team and alignment with Clinton s can be traced back to late 2013. That s when the country s president, Viktor Yanukovych, whom Manafort had been advising, abruptly backed out of a European Union pact linked to anti-corruption reforms. Instead, Yanukovych entered into a multibillion-dollar bailout agreement with Russia, sparking protests across Ukraine and prompting Yanukovych to flee the country to Russia under Putin s protection.In the ensuing crisis, Russian troops moved into the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and Manafort dropped off the radar.Manafort s work for Yanukovych caught the attention of a veteran Democratic operative named Alexandra Chalupa, who had worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison during the Clinton administration. Chalupa went on to work as a staffer, then as a consultant, for Democratic National Committee. The DNC paid her $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records, though she also was paid by other clients during that time, including Democratic campaigns and the DNC s arm for engaging expatriate Democrats around the world.A daughter of Ukrainian immigrants who maintains strong ties to the Ukrainian-American diaspora and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Chalupa, a lawyer by training, in 2014 was doing pro bono work for another client interested in the Ukrainian crisis and began researching Manafort s role in Yanukovych s rise, as well as his ties to the pro-Russian oligarchs who funded Yanukovych s political party.In an interview this month, Chalupa told Politico she had developed a network of sources in Kiev and Washington, including investigative journalists, government officials and private intelligence operatives. While her consulting work at the DNC this past election cycle centered on mobilizing ethnic communities including Ukrainian-Americans she said that, when Trump s unlikely presidential campaign began surging in late 2015, she began focusing more on the research, and expanded it to include Trump s ties to Russia, as well.She occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and Clinton s campaign, Chalupa said. In January 2016 months before Manafort had taken any role in Trump s campaign Chalupa told a senior DNC official that, when it came to Trump s campaign, I felt there was a Russia connection, Chalupa recalled. And that, if there was, that we can expect Paul Manafort to be involved in this election, said Chalupa, who at the time also was warning leaders in the Ukrainian-American community that Manafort was Putin s political brain for manipulating U.S. foreign policy and elections. POLITICONow Ukraine President Poroshenko is scrambling to repair the damage:Russia s meddling has sparked outrage from the American body politic. The U.S. intelligence community undertook the rare move of publicizing its findings on the matter, and President Barack Obama took several steps to officially retaliate, while members of Congress continue pushing for more investigations into the hacking and a harder line against Russia, which was already viewed in Washington as America s leading foreign adversary.Ukraine, on the other hand, has traditionally enjoyed strong relations with U.S. administrations. Its officials worry that could change under Trump, whose team has privately expressed sentiments ranging from ambivalence to deep skepticism about Poroshenko s regime, while sounding unusually friendly notes about Putin s regime.Poroshenko is scrambling to alter that dynamic, recently signing a $50,000-a-month contract with a well-connected GOP-linked Washington lobbying firm to set up meetings with U.S. government officials to strengthen U.S.-Ukrainian relations. Revelations about Ukraine s anti-Trump efforts could further set back those efforts. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Ukraine, said David A. Merkel, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who helped oversee U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine while working in George W. Bush s State Department and National Security Council.Merkel, who has served as an election observer in Ukrainian presidential elections dating back to 1993, noted there s some irony in Ukraine and Russia taking opposite sides in the 2016 presidential race, given that past Ukrainian elections were widely viewed in Washington s foreign policy community as proxy wars between the U.S. and Russia. Now, it seems that a U.S. election may have been seen as a surrogate battle by those in Kiev and Moscow, Merkel said. Politico","label":1}
{"text":"\"Do I know the risk involved in reporting on such things?\" Reporting? I think you need to refresh yourself of that word's definition.","label":1}
{"text":"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday demanded a halt to Israeli settlement expansion in occupied territory and said he was committed to a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he could be open to alternatives. Abbas's office issued a statement after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a news conference in Washington before a meeting. At the news conference, Trump said to Netanyahu: \"I'd like to see you pull back on settlements for a little bit.\" But Trump also dropped U.S. insistence on a two-state solution, a longstanding bedrock of Middle East policy, upending a position embraced by successive administrations and the international community and a U.S. commitment to the eventual creation of a Palestinian state. Abbas said he agreed with Trump's call for Israel to refrain from settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. \"The presidency demands that (Israel) agree to (Trump's call), and that of the international community, to halt all settlement activities including in occupied East Jerusalem,\" the statement said. But the Palestinians stressed that they wanted the two-state option. \"The Palestinian presidency stressed its commitment to the two-state solution and to the international law and international legitimacy in the way that secures ending the Israeli occupation and establish the Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.\" Giving a convoluted response to a question on whether he backed a two-state solution, Trump suggested that he could abide by whatever the two parties decided. \"I'm looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like,\" he said as he stood alongside Netanyahu. \"I can live with either one.\" Abbas' statement added that the Palestinians affirmed their \"readiness to deal positively with the Trump administration to make peace\". Talks have been frozen since 2014. The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the Israeli occupied West Bank, territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war and the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamist Hamas, with East Jerusalem as its capital.","label":0}
{"text":"The White House published what they claim is Donald Trump s 2005 tax information 25 minutes before Rachel Maddow aired it on her show Tuesday night.BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.(Seriously). Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 14, 2017Speaking on background, a White House official said, You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago. Before being elected President, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required, the official continued. That being said, Mr. Trump paid $38 million dollars even after taking into account large scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million dollars, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that. Despite this substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans. Daily Caller","label":1}
{"text":"NATO Announces Largest Troop Deployments Against Russia Since Cold War By Alex Lantier November 09, 2016 \" Information Clearing House \" - \" WSWS \" - NATO will place hundreds of thousands of troops on alert for military action against Russia in the coming months, top NATO officials told the Times of London on Monday. The US-led military alliance is planning to speed up the mobilization of forces numbering in the tens of thousands and, ultimately, hundreds of thousands and millions that are to be mobilized against Russia. Beyond its existing 5,000-strong emergency response force, NATO is tripling its \"incumbent response force\" to 40,000 and putting hundreds of thousands of troops on higher alert levels. The Times wrote, \"Sir Adam West, Britain's outgoing permanent representative to NATO, said he thought that the goal was to speed up the response time of up to 300,000 military personnel to about two months. At present a force of this size could take up to 180 days to deploy.\" NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, \"We are addressing what we call the follow-on forces. There are a large number of people in the armed forces of NATO allies. We are looking into how more of them can be ready on a shorter notice.\" According to the Times , Stoltenberg explained that NATO is looking broadly at methods for \"improving the readiness of many of the alliance's three million soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.\" The target of these deployments, the largest since the dissolution of the Soviet Union by the Stalinist bureaucracy and the end of the Cold War a quarter century ago, is Russia. \"We have seen a more assertive Russia implementing a substantial military build-up of many years, tripling defence spending since 2000 in real terms; developing new military capabilities; exercising their forces and using military force against neighbours,\" Stoltenberg said. \"We have also seen Russia using propaganda in Europe among NATO allies and that is exactly the reason why NATO is responding. We are responding with the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.\" These statements show how NATO planning for a horrific war against Russia has continued behind the backs of the people throughout the US presidential election campaign. Military deployments and war preparations by the Pentagon and the general staffs of the various European countries are set to go ahead, moreover, whatever the outcome of the election in the United States and those slated for 2017 in the European NATO countries. Stoltenberg's vague attack on Russian \"propaganda\" in Europe is an allusion to the instinctive opposition to war that exists in the European and international working class and popular distrust of the anti-Russian propaganda promoted by NATO officials like Stoltenberg and West. Last year, a Pew poll found broad international opposition to NATO participation in a conventional war against Russia in Eastern Europe, even in a scenario that assumes Russia started the conflict. Under these hypothetical conditions, 58 percent of Germans, 53 percent of French people, and 51 percent of Italians opposed any military action against Russia. Opposition to war in the poll would doubtless have been higher had pollsters mentioned that NATO's decision to attack Russian forces in Eastern Europe could lead to nuclear war. This opposition is rooted in deep disaffection with the imperialist Middle East wars of the post-Soviet period and the memory of two world wars in Europe in the 20th century. The arguments Stoltenberg presented against it are politically fraudulent. The primary threat of military aggression and war in Europe comes not from Russia, but from the NATO countries. Over the past 25 years, the imperialist powers of NATO have bombed and invaded countries in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Within Europe, they bombed Serbia and Kosovo in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, pushed NATO's borders hundreds of miles to the East, and backed a violent, fascist-led putsch to topple a pro-Russian government in Ukraine in 2014. The aggressive character of NATO policy emerged once again last Friday, when NBC News reported that US cyber warfare units had hacked key Russian electricity, Internet and military networks. These are now \"vulnerable to attack by secret American cyber weapons should the US deem it necessary,\" NBC stated. Russian officials denounced the activities highlighted in the report and the Obama White House's silence on the matter. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, \"If no official reaction from the American administration follows, it would mean state cyber terrorism exists in the US. If the threats of the attack, which were published by the US media, are carried out, Moscow would be justified in charging Washington.\" The geo-strategically disastrous consequences of the Stalinist bureaucracy's dissolution of the Soviet Union and restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe are ever more apparent. With NATO troops or proxy forces stationed in a geographic belt extending from the Baltic republics to Poland, Ukraine and Romania\u2014either a short distance from or on Russia's borders\u2014NATO is now poised for a major war against Russia that could escalate into a nuclear conflagration. An examination of Stoltenberg's remarks shows that NATO's plans are not defensive preparations to counter a sudden conventional invasion of Europe by the Russian army. In such a scenario, Russian tank columns would overrun the few thousand or tens of thousands of troops in NATO's various emergency response forces, depriving the broader ranks of NATO \"follow-up\" forces the 60 to 180 days they need to mobilize. Rather, the plan for mobilizing successive layers of \"follow-on forces\" is intended to allow NATO to threaten Russia in a crisis situation by gradually bringing to bear more and more of its collective military strength, which, although split between 28 member states, outweighs that of Russia. Russia's population of 145 million is far smaller than that of the NATO countries, at 906 million. The aggressive character of NATO's agenda is illustrated by a report issued last month by the CIA-linked Rand Corporation think tank on the military situation in the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The small military forces NATO has posted in the Baltic republics, Rand wrote, are \"inviting a devastating war, rather than deterring it.\" They calculated that Russian forces, if they actually invaded, could overrun these countries in approximately 60 hours. On this basis, the think tank called for launching a vast NATO military build-up in the Baltic republics, virtually at the gates of St. Petersburg. It wrote that it would take \"a force of about seven brigades, including three heavy armored brigades\u2014adequately supported by air power, land-based fires, and other enablers on the ground and ready to fight at the onset of hostilities to prevent the rapid overrun of the Baltic states.\" This would cost the NATO countries $2.7 billion each year. As the NATO countries intensify their threats against Russia, there are increasingly bitter conflicts among the NATO imperialist powers themselves. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi bluntly opposed new sanctions on Russia as called for by Washington at last month's European Union summit in Brussels, and there are deepening tensions between Germany and the United States as officials in Berlin and Paris call for an independent EU military. Prospects of increased US-led military provocations against Russia are sharpening tensions within Europe. In an article titled \"Whether Clinton or Trump wins, for Germany things will get uncomfortable,\" German news magazine Der Spiegel warned of the long-term implications of an aggressive US-led policy against Russia, which it assumed would continue regardless which of the two candidates secured the White House. The magazine wrote, \"The motto will be: If you want (nuclear) US protection from Putin, you must either pay us more money or re-arm yourself.\" Copyright \u0160 1998-2016 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved","label":1}
{"text":"While Republicans and their NRA puppet masters refuse to acknowledge it, we have a gun violence problem in America today. Almost like clockwork, anytime there is a shooting the right twists themselves into pretzels to blame anything but the easy availability of guns to, shall we say, crazy people.Each time, for instance, a pro-gun Republican shoots up a building, conservatives will fallaciously claim that he was a Black Lives Matter protester, or ignore their raving-mad right-wing rants and love of weapons, or claim the shooter was a Progressive because he was formerly employed by an insurance company by that name, or even say that a man who shot up a Planned Parenthood in an effort to stop abortion was a transgendered leftist activist who was trying to rob a bank. They spend so much time focusing on inventing stories that they completely miss the one trait all of these attacks share: the weapon used was a gun.While they ignore the issues, the right bellows that the solution is more guns, not fewer. But a recent study the largest of its kind to date puts that assertion largely to rest. A research team reviewed 130 high-quality studies conducted in ten countries over six decades and found that the tyrannical attempts by those of us on the left who want to restrict crazy people s access to guns because we are sick of seeing dead children on a daily basis, aren t at all misguided, as conservatives often claim.While researchers stopped short of saying they have proved conclusively that firearm restrictions reduce deaths, the study provides plenty of evidence to suggest this is the case. Across countries, instead of seeing an increase in the homicide rate, we saw a reduction, lead researcher Julian Santaella-Tenorio from Columbia University told Vox. The study analyzed law changes in the United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, South Africa, and other countries. No new data was collected. Instead, the researchers observed the big picture by taking a look at what the data says when all the studies are examined together. Santaella-Teonorio explained: The simultaneous implementation of laws targeting multiple firearms restrictions is associated with reductions in firearm deaths. The findings do not note one specific law that has caused gun violence to decrease like an assault weapon ban, or a ban on high-capacity magazines, because the diversity among countries makes this difficult. However, in countries that overhauled their firearm regulations broadly, the changes shared similar characteristics, according to the researcher:South Africa s Firearm Control Act of 2000, for example, contained all three of these measures, and a study of five South African cities found a 13.6 percent reduction in firearm homicides each year for the next five years. Reductions in nonfirearm homicides were also observed, the researchers say, although not as pronounced as the ones observed for firearm homicides. To combat mass shootings, Australia passed similar legislation in 1996. Thanks to the new laws, firearm homicide rates decreased by 4.8 percent, and suicides by 9.9 percent. There have only been two mass shootings in the country in the two decades since.But even the smallest changes, such as background check requirements and storage regulations, can have a huge impact. Laws restricting the purchase of (e.g. background checks) and access to (e.g. safer storage) firearms are also associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides and firearm unintentional deaths in children, respectively, the researchers write.Of course, the weakening of firearm laws can have an impact as well. Following Missouri s decision to eliminate common-sense laws requiring people to have a permit to purchase a firearm, the state saw a homicide rate increase of 25 percent. No other changes in the law explain this increase. Stand Your Ground laws do nothing to reduce gun violence, but instead increase it (especially among white men): Stand your ground laws were associated with a 6.8% increase in homicide rates, mainly driven by increments (14.7%) in homicide rates among white males. While this can t be considered conclusive evidence that gun control helps limit fatalities, the study certainly provides enough evidence to give any Republican who can manage to operate a toaster without an adult supervising the operation pause to consider that maybe, just maybe, laws limiting firearms to people who aren t criminals, who aren t insane, and who aren t going to misuse them or act irresponsibly are in everyone s best interest even the most staunch Second Amendment supporter.","label":1}
{"text":"The presidents of the United States and Mexico spoke by phone on Friday after relations between the neighboring countries frayed further over Donald Trump's border wall plan, with the U.S. leader calling the talk friendly but still demanding reworked trade and other ties. The call between Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto came a day after the Mexican president scrapped a meeting set for next week at the White House over Trump's demand that Mexico pay for a multibillion-dollar wall along the lengthy southern U.S. border with Mexico. Mexico insists it will not pay for it. Both countries issued statements saying Trump and Pena Nieto recognized their clear differences of opinion on the payment demand, and agreed to settle the matter as part of a broader discussion on all aspects of the two nations' relationship. Financial markets took news of the call as a sign that the crisis in U.S-Mexican relations just days after Trump took office had eased. Mexico's peso rose on the news. Mexico's government statement said Trump and Pena Nieto agreed not to talk publicly for now about payment for the wall. The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump had agreed not to publicly discuss how the wall would be paid for. During a joint news conference at the White House with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May after the call, Trump did not mention the wall even as he spoke expansively about U.S. relations with Mexico. \"As you know, Mexico - with the United States - has out-negotiated us and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders. They've made us look foolish,\" Trump told the news conference. \"We have a trade deficit of $60 billion with Mexico. On top of that, the border is soft and weak, drugs are pouring in,\" added Trump, who during the U.S. presidential campaign accused Mexico of sending rapists and other criminals into the United States. The United States had a $58.8 billion trade deficit with its southern neighbor in the 11 months ending last November. Trump called his hour long talk with Pena Nieto \"very, very friendly,\" said he has a \"very good relationship\" with him and expressed \"great respect for Mexico.\" Mexico and the White House both called the meeting productive and constructive. Nevertheless, Trump showed no signs of backing off pledges to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada and slap high tariffs on American companies that have moved jobs south of the border. Mexico sends 80 percent of its exports to the United States, and about half of Mexico's foreign direct investment over the past two decades has come from its northern neighbor. \"We are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new relationship\" with Mexico, Trump told the news conference with May. \"But the United States cannot continue to lose vast amounts of business, vast amounts of companies and millions and millions of people losing their jobs. That won't happen with me.\" Trump said the United States will renegotiate trade deals and other aspects of America's relationship with Mexico, adding, \"And in the end I think it will be good for both countries.\" U.S. congressional leaders said on Thursday they would take up legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for the wall. Trump, who has insisted that Mexico will reimburse the United States for the entire cost, signed a directive on Wednesday for the wall to proceed, part of a package of measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration. The wall plan has angered Mexicans, and Trump's policies toward Mexico have put Pena Nieto on the defensive. The Republican president views the wall, a major promise during his election campaign, as part of a package of measures to curb illegal immigration. Mexico has long insisted it will not heed Trump's demands to pay for the construction project. On Thursday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer sent the Mexican peso falling when he told reporters that Trump wanted a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the wall. Spicer gave few details, but his comments resembled an existing idea, known as a border adjustment tax, that the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is considering as part of a broad tax overhaul. Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday that there were options besides an import tax that could be \"much more positive\" for both countries. The White House said Friday's call also covered \"the importance of the friendship between the two nations, and the need for the two nations to work together to stop drug cartels, drug trafficking and illegal guns and arms sales.\" Mexico's government said the U.S. trade deficit also came up. In Mexico City, billionaire Mexican businessman Carlos Slim said a united Mexico was ready to help the government negotiate with Trump and called on all political parties to support Pena Nieto in his discussions with the U.S. president. In a rare news conference by the generally media-shy mogul, Slim said Mexico needed to negotiate from a position of strength, noting that Trump, who he called a \"great negotiator,\" represented a major change in how politics will be conducted.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday it was important for President-elect Donald Trump to send signals of unity after a bitterly fought campaign. At a news conference, Obama declined to comment on Trump's selection of conservative provocateur Steve Bannon as his White House chief strategist. But the Democratic president said he privately told the Republican Trump in an Oval Office meeting last week that because of the \"bitterness and the ferocity of the campaign that it's really important to try to send some signals of unity and to reach out to minority groups, to women and others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Ukrainian lawmakers voted through a long-delayed overhaul of the health system on Thursday that the state s Western backers say will raise standards and tackle a culture of bribe-taking in surgeries and hospitals. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have been pressing for faster reform is a country where lives are more than five years shorter than the European average, according to the World Health Organization. But opponents of the changes, including many opposition MPs, say the more Western-style system will force patients to pay for their medicines for the first time, leaving the poorest with no healthcare. The legislation lets patients choose their own doctor, rather than have one foisted on them - a move the government said would encourage medics to improve service and give them less opportunity to demand kickbacks for treatment. The bill also sets out which medicines are paid for by the state and which ones patients will have to buy themselves. Backers have said it would be clearer than the present system, where medicines are in theory covered by the state, but patients often have to pay to get hold of pills when supplies run short. The government s task is to provide a quality medical system for citizens rather than do nothing and tolerate the misery that we have in Ukrainian hospitals, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman told parliament after the vote passed. The government has been pushing for closer links to the European Union since a popular uprising ousted pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovich in 2014. Ambassadors from the G7 leading powers released a statement saying the legislation was a sign that Ukraine is ready and committed to moving forward with its vital reforms . The legislation, which was steered by the United States-born acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun, has undergone 893 amendments and faced repeated criticism, including from Olga Bogomolets, the head of the parliamentary healthcare committee. Bogomolets said on Facebook on Thursday the changes would result in hospital closures and fewer doctors and medicines in rural areas, calling them tantamount to genocide . Supporters of the changes say vested interests who benefit from corruption in the current system spread scare stories about the reform. Protesters camped outside parliament this week accusing President Petro Poroshenko of stalling on other legislation, including the creation of special anti-corruption courts and a move to strip lawmakers of automatic immunity.","label":0}
{"text":"Former Zimbabwean finance minister Ignatius Chombo was admitted to hospital on Friday with injuries sustained from beatings he received in military custody after the army s intervention against Robert Mugabe a week ago, his lawyer said. Lovemore Madhuku said Chombo had injuries to his hands, legs and back and was blindfolded throughout his week in custody. He was being accused of corruption and abuse of power relating to his time as local government minister more than a decade ago, Madhuku added. It was a very brutal and draconian way of dealing with opponents, he told Reuters.","label":0}
{"text":"TMZ caught up with Mavericks owner and Hillary supporter Mark Cuban yesterday to ask what he thought of President Donald J. Trump. Arizona citizens must be thrilled to hear billionaire Mark Cuban who has personal security surrounding him talk about how ridiculous Trump s efforts to secure our borders and keep our nation safe from foreigners who sneak in with actual refugees with a goal of doing harm to our nation.WATCH CUBAN S SOUR GRAPES INTERVIEW HERE:Well, that s not exactly what happened now is it Cuban?Here s what REALLY happened to the stock market after Trump s election: Market Watch U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday, with the Dow industrials jumping 257 points, led by a surge in financial, health-care and industrial stocks, as investors bet on the infrastructure spending policy promised by President-elect Donald Trump.The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.40% gained as much as 316 points, briefly surpassing the all-time closing high set in August. The index closed 256.95 points, or 1.4%, higher at 18,589.69, its highest level since Aug. 18. Pfizer Inc. PFE, +7.07% and Caterpillar Inc CAT, +7.70% led the gains, rallying more than 7%.Way to go Cuban you just reminded us of how little you know about economics or choosing the right candidate for President Keep up the great work Mark. You re really helping out your brand.","label":1}
{"text":"By Brandon TurbevilleCNN is in full panic mode with the recent resumption of the Syrian government assault on terrorist-held East Aleppo. The discredited news agency is now reduced to rehashing tired and disproven propaganda against the Syrian government and claims that Assad is killing his own people by bombing head-chopping terrorists in East Aleppo.You have to hand it to CNN for consistency at least. Cutting edge propaganda, however, is not the corporation s strong suit, since every time it has tried to deliver a major blow, it has resulted in an epic fail RECYCLED IMAGE: Yesterday, CNN used this recycled, staged image to sell its story, allegedly from a hospital in Aleppo used across US media last month.[Watch CNN reporter Will Ripley s propaganda video here, complete with staged imagery from the US, NATO Member-funded White Helmets and Aleppo Media Centre regime change NGOs]This time, the propaganda of choice is the same tired line that every bomb (excuse me, every barrel bomb ) being dropped on East Aleppo has been dropped intentionally on top of civilians for the purpose of killing them all because . . . . well, that part has never been explained. But, for the average CNN reader, just know that Assad is a bad guy and that the rebels who demand veiled, silent, women and full adherence to Sharia law under pain of death are good guys and democracy-loving freedom fighters. The regime s siege of rebel-held neighborhoods has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe as food, water and medical supplies run low, says CNN.Obviously, the humanitarian conditions in East Aleppo have nothing to do with savages and pre-historic bearded freaks running rampant and demanding that their ridiculous interpretation (or should I say Saudi interpretation) of their religion be enforced by the blade of a dull knife. It couldn t be because the terrorists have prevented aid from reaching civilians and have actively prevented civilians from leaving East Aleppo to flee to the (*gasp!!) government-held areas. It couldn t be because of the Western sanctions on Syria. It couldn t be because the United States and its treacherous allies funded a proxy army of extremists to destroy the country.No, it s because the Syrian military dared bomb foreign terrorists in East Aleppo. CNN uses interesting logic, indeed.SEE ALSO: RESCUE REDUX: Are Syria s White Helmets Recycling its Child Victims?The article laughably uses the notorious terrorist support group known as the White Helmets as its source relaying all the horrors of the Assad regime. This has been typical of the corporate press in the West ever since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, i.e. using terrorist organizations to cite claims against the Syrian government. Generally speaking, these terrorists are labeled activists when a quote is needed but, in the case of the White Helmets, the label of humanitarian organization is tossed around, a much more effective propaganda technique.But what is even more deceitful is that CNN also labels the White Helmets and the Syria Civil Defense as the same organization, an absolute fallacy as Vanessa Beeley, the individual who is probably most responsible for exposing this propagandistic terrorist organization, can personally attest to, having met with members of the real Syria Civil Defense in Syria and hearing their stories about the terrorism of the White Helmets. Beeley has also interviewed a doctor with the Aleppo Medical Association who was responsible for assessing East Aleppo refugees who stated clearly that, despite being widely popular in the U.S., the people in East Aleppo simply don t know who the White Helmets are. For them, White Helmets are just another terrorist group.None of this matters to CNN, however, since the corporation is nothing but a mouthpiece for the U.S. State Department, Wall Street, and international corporations. It is, in fact, nothing more than a propaganda site.Perhaps CNN was one of the fake news sites that Obama was whining about during his latest trip to Germany . . . .Brandon Turbeville article archive here is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 andvolume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, and The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.This article may be freely shared in part or in full with author attribution and source link.READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"Just in case anybody s wondering just how dangerous Trump s love of Putin is, here s a little reminder: When Putin was running for election in 2011, he hosted a big, lavish banquet where he spoke to a variety of leaders on a variety of topics. When he addressed the Americans there, he said that the only reason the U.S. was interested in a relationship with Moscow was because Russia could destroy the U.S. in a half hour or less. That s according to two authors of The Russia-China Axis, who concluded from Putin s thinly-veiled threat: It would be difficult to find a statement more revealing about Putin s true position regarding the United States. This is a man that Donald Trump repeatedly praises as a strong leader, and over whom he fawns because Putin likes him. Putin and Trump are two of a kind in terms of demagoguery, but it s never been a secret that Putin isn t a fan of the U.S. It seems the only way he ll become a fan of us is if Trump is elected.Why?He likely believes he can pull Trump s puppet strings. Trump might think that Putin is just a good negotiator, but he fails miserably at understanding the naked fact that Putin sees us as his number one enemy.If Putin is actively working to undermine our democratic process (and there is credible evidence suggesting exactly that), then a President Trump is very likely to just hand us over, knowingly or unknowingly, to a hostile leader who believes he can destroy us on a whim.Russia has a squillion nuclear weapons that s never been a secret. We have roughly 4,100 of the damn things that aren t awaiting dismantlement while Russia has roughly 2,700 in that state. In total, we have 7,100 while Russia has 7,300. However, Russia has managed to negotiate cuts in our arsenal while they work to strengthen theirs. Some reports say that their military exercises center around nuclear strikes now.In other words, their nuclear arsenal might be a bigger threat than ours, and they are more prepared for a nuclear war than we are. Compare all of that to North Korea s eight and Iran s nonexistent nuclear arsenal, and one has to wonder why our leaders seem to focus all our energy on those two countries when Russia is currently led by a man who said he could destroy us in a half hour, and we have a presidential candidate who is in love with that man.This is so frightening to many in the GOP that some feel they re in the awkward position of having to rationalize Trump s love affair with Vladimir Putin while quietly quaking in their boots. But others aren t fooled, like Lindsey Graham: Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he s a good guy. And the ghostwriter of Trump s best-selling Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz: To undecided voters: Trump wants to be Putin, a despot & dictator. The world may not recover. Save your children and grandchildren. Yeah. Putin s a great guy. So s Trump. Two peas in a pod. Anybody who thinks we ll be safe with Trump as president has their head buried up their buried up an ass full of sand.Featured image by Dennis Grombkowski\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"ZERO HEDGE  With furious Democrats - and the Clinton Campaign - now openly blasting the FBI's reopened investigation (as Republicans take delight for once in having a government agency reinforce their side of events), the question turns to just what emails were found on Weiner's laptop, and how damaging their contents are for the FBI to take the unprecedented step of \"intervening\" in a major political event just days before the national election.  We first laid what was the most likely explanation yesterday , when we showed several examples of Huma Abedin emails being sent from her work email account to her personal account at , courtesy of a Judicial Watch FOIA release. Of the more than 160 emails in the latest Judicial Watch release, some 110 emails \u2013 two-thirds of the total \u2013 were forwarded by Abedin to two personal addresses she controlled. The Washington Times reported in August 2015 that the State Department had admitted to a federal judge that Abedin and Mills used personal email accounts to conduct government business in addition to Clinton's private clintonemail.com to transact State Department business.  One email from May 15, 2009, was sent by Abedin from her State Department email to her personal email. Abedin was archiving in her personal email account an email Hillary Clinton sent her from Clinton's private email server at . Abedin was asked to print out attachments to an email Mills sent via a private address the previous day to Clinton involving \"timetables and deliverables\" for her review via Alec Ross, a technology policy expert who then held the title of senior adviser for innovation to Secretary Clinton.  However, while forwarding Hillary's emails to her personal email server for \"convenience\" is one thing, what is more troubling is the amount of redaction involved in these emails which migrated to the open email account, which as we now know ended up in Anthony Weiner's computer: in the above example, the two pages of timetables and deliverables attached to the email were 100 percent redacted, with \"PAGE DENIED\" stamped across the first redacted page.  An argument can be made that the extensive redaction confirms confidential material was part of the transmission.  This is a nuanced point being pushed by Hillary Clinton supporters such as Newsweek's Kurt Eichenwald, who in an article yesterday tried to make a case citing \"sources\" (even though the FBI said that nobody has seen the content of the Weiner\/Abedin emails), that \" no emails being examined by FBI were to or from Clinton .\" No emails being examined by FBI were to or from Clinton. All of this has to do with procedures followed by an aide. https:\/\/t.co\/mcsBi7j7XU \u2014 Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016  It remains to be seen just what is in the emails, although whether Hillary sent emails with confidential content herself, or directed, or simply allowed her closest aide, Huma Abedin to forward such emails to her outside unsecured email address (where they subsequently ended up on Anthony Weiner's notebook), is what this latest case will be all about and how it will be defended and prosecuted in the media, by the water coolers and perhaps, in court.  However, we do know one thing: according to the NYT , the number of Huma emails that made their way to Weiner's PC was staggering:  The F.B.I. is investigating illicit text messages that Mr. Weiner, a former Democratic congressman from New York, sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. The bureau told Congress on Friday that it had uncovered new emails related to the Clinton case \u2014 one federal official said they numbered in the tens of thousand  Which brings up two more critical questions: i) when she was questioned by the FBI over the summer, did Huma reveal and admit the existence of these \"thousands\" of emails located on a personal, home computer, and ii) will the FBI be able to comb through everything in the next 10 days ahead of the election? If the answer to the second question is no, will the US presidential election really take place with one candidate currently under FBI investigation, one which could potentially lead to impeachment proceedings within weeks or days of her being elected president?  Still, the biggest irony in this latest debacle is that it was largely predicted by Donald Trump himself back in August of 2015. It came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary's private illegal emails. Huma's PR husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world.","label":1}
{"text":"We love these ladies! YouTube sensations Diamond and Silk tell 100% FED UP Americans how to ditch the Democrats and switch to the Republican Party.They re not afraid to show their love for Trump, and now they re taking it one step further. They re pulling a trick from the Democrat Party playbook and teaching their viewers how easy it is to switch your party affiliation.Watch here:","label":1}
{"text":"It s really interesting to hear this panel go ballistic over Nikki Haley finally standing up for America.MSNBC s Morning Joe panel on Friday lashed out at U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for her speech before the U.N. General Assembly the prior day in which she criticized countries that supported a resolution condemning President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital.Haley castigated the U.N. on Thursday after the international body backed a non-binding resolution to reject the U.S. decision on Jerusalem. The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in this assembly, she said, threatening to cut off funding to the U.N. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world s largest contribution to the U.N. and when other member nations ask Washington to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. The Morning Joe panel took issue with Haley s remarks We think she stood strong and put these freeloading nations on notice. We say BRAVO!","label":1}
{"text":"Ivory Coast will cut its armed forces by about 1,000 troops by the end of the year, the government spokesman said on Wednesday, in a bid to rationalize a costly and sometimes unruly military. Government spokesman Bruno Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting that the 997 soldiers had accepted voluntary retirement this year as part of an initiative to conform to accepted standards , partly by reducing the ratio of non-commissioned officers to lower ranks. Ivory Coast does not give details on the size of its military, but security sources estimate there are more than 25,000 troops in a country with a population of about 24 million. Francophone West Africa s biggest economy suffered two army mutinies this year that damaged its reputation among investors and forced the government to agree to costly pay rises. The distribution of Ivory Coast s army is out of step with the standards accepted in modern armies, Kone said. The former French colony, once known as one of the most stable states in West Africa, is still recovering from a brief civil war fought after President Alassane Ouattara won a disputed election in 2010 but incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down. Ouattara has struggled to assert his authority over the army, which was cobbled together in an uneasy merger of the northern New Forces rebels who supported him and the professional troops who had fought against him. The soldiers being taken out of action included three senior officers, 634 non-commissioned officers and 354 regular foot soldiers, Kone said.","label":0}
{"text":"Share on Twitter The Wildfire is an opinion platform and any opinions or information put forth by contributors are exclusive to them and do not represent the views of IJR.  Following Monday's release of the Project Veritas video in which Democrat operatives are seen discussing Hillary Clinton's personal involvement in a stunt to embarrass Donald Trump for not releasing his tax returns, James O'Keefe began to troll Hillary on Twitter over his next release\u2014a \"birthday surprise.\" Today is Hillary's 69th birthday. \u2014 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 26, 2016  O'Keefe also tagged Americans United for Change director Brad Woodhouse, whom he taunted yesterday about the pending video release. If you notice @woodhouseb is nervous & losing his temper on TV. Stay tuned tomorrow Brad, because you're going to have a busy busy day. pic.twitter.com\/P63xAhMlB7 \u2014 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 25, 2016 Hi, @HillaryClinton & @woodhouseb . When you were coordinating, did you take money from a bank in BELIZE and then return it AFTER first vid? \u2014 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 26, 2016  Independent Journal Review will update this post as soon as Hillary Clinton's \"birthday gift\" drops. And... here it is.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate confirmed Rex Tillerson as President Donald Trump's secretary of state on Wednesday, filling a key spot on the Republican's national security team despite concerns about the former Exxon Mobil Corp chief executive officer's ties to Russia. The vote, mostly along party lines, was by far the closest in at least half a century. Fifty-six senators backed Tillerson, and 43 voted no. Every Republican favored Tillerson, along with four members of the Democratic caucus, Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin and Mark Warner as well as Angus King, an independent. Democratic Senator Chris Coons did not vote. Tillerson's predecessor in the position, John Kerry, was confirmed by 94 to 3. Condoleezza Rice, the last secretary of state nominated by a Republican, was confirmed by 85-13. Senate Democrats had tried, but failed, to delay the vote on Tillerson because of Trump's executive order banning immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries and temporarily halting the entry of refugees. They said they wanted to ask Tillerson more questions about the issue after Trump signed the order on Friday, prompting protests and chaos at airports across the country and uncertainty and disruption for travelers around the world. But Republicans hold a majority of 52 seats in the 100-member Senate, and so far have confirmed all of the six Trump nominees who have come up for votes. Senators had also expressed concerns over Tillerson's ties to Russia after the executive spent years there working for the oil company. Some faulted him for failing to promise to recuse himself from matters related to Exxon Mobil businesses for his entire term as secretary of state rather than only the one year required by law. Tillerson, 64, retired as chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil at the end of 2016 after a four-decade career at the company. Republicans and other Tillerson supporters said they thought he would be a strong leader as the country's top diplomat, citing his experience running a giant corporation operating on six continents. They also said it was important to finalize Trump's national security team quickly, to address international crises and reassure allies wondering about the new president's \"America First\" foreign policy.","label":0}
{"text":"Regardless of what Congress ends up doing about the future of the tax system, you don't need to pay more than you owe for the 2016 tax filing season. You can probably whittle your liability by going through last year's records and checking to see if tips from tax professionals may apply to you. Whether you use a professional tax preparer or software, or handle the return on your own, you will need to assemble information and gather receipts and tax documents. Here are the basics: You need to track your income, but you are likely to get plenty of help on that. Be prepared for a blizzard of tax forms. Employers issue Forms to employees. Banks, brokerage houses and other payers, including businesses that use independent contractors, issue Forms 1099 and sometimes Schedules reporting the money they paid. They must report these payments to the I. R. S. as well, and discrepancies are likely to result in an I. R. S. notice. But it is up to the taxpayer to claim itemized deductions and available tax credits. If you neglect to do so, you may end up overpaying. Taking deductions requires good . Consider the rules for charitable deductions on donated money, household items or clothing, valuable art or properties. Sidney Kess, a New York accountant and lawyer, who is a senior consultant to the accounting firm Citrin Cooperman, said your own check is sufficient for gifts of less than $250, but for higher amounts a receipt from the charity is needed. \"To claim a deduction for items or property worth over $500 but less than $5, 000, in addition to a written acknowledgment, records have to show when and how you got the property, the cost or other basis, and you must report this information on Form 8283,\" Mr. Kess said. \"For a deduction over $5, 000, you need an appraisal from a qualified appraiser. \" But is only part of what confronts taxpayers trying to reduce liabilities. The tax code \u2014 four million words by some estimates \u2014 is of complexities, but therein lie opportunities. Mr. Kess discussed one such opportunity: deciding how family members should file their returns. Like so much involving taxes, it's complicated. Say a couple has a daughter in college who earned money from a summer job. The couple provides more than half her support and could claim her as a dependent, but the I. R. S. imposes certain limits. Personal exemptions, which exclude $4, 050 per person from income, begin to phase out for married couples filing jointly with adjusted gross income of $311, 300 and are eliminated when income reaches $433, 800. If the parents had an income below those levels, they would probably have claimed their daughter as a dependent. Because their income is above the upper limit, they do not do so. Instead, she claims her own exemption on her return reporting her summer income, and she can take an education credit as well. Her parents could not get that credit because of their high income. Individual Retirement Accounts and Health Savings Accounts can be used to shelter tax refunds, noted Barbara Weltman, a lawyer in Vero Beach, Fla. and author of two J. K. Lasser books, \"1001 Deductions Tax Breaks 2017,\" and \"Small Business Taxes 2017,\" both published by Wiley. \"You can use your tax refund to lower your 2016 tax,\" Ms. Weltman said, \"but you have to file as early as you can\" because the deadline for depositing the money into an I. R. A. or H. S. A. is the same as the due date for filing tax returns, April 18 this year. If you are eligible for an I. R. A. or H. S. A. claim deductions for them on the return, based on the amounts calculated by the accounts' custodians, and include Form 8888, directing the I. R. S. to deposit those amounts directly into the accounts. Tell your account custodian (it may be a bank or a mutual fund company or a brokerage) that the deposit should be applied to 2016, she said. Any excess from the refund can go to your regular bank account. Julian Block, a tax lawyer in Larchmont, N. Y. said that big refunds can sometimes cause problems. He cited the case of a new client who, he discovered, had been receiving a plump refund every year. Mr. Block advised him to file a revised Form with his employer, aimed at reducing the amount of money being held out of his regular paycheck and paring down his refund. The reason, Mr. Block said, is that online identity thieves are increasingly active, and if they file a fraudulent return using your Social Security number and claiming a refund, your own refund will be delayed while the I. R. S. sorts it out. Of course, you won't be held liable for the actions of a thief. If, instead, you owe a small balance to the I. R. S. you won't have that headache, though you will need to check whether your identity has been compromised in other areas of your financial life. Mr. Block also noted that there is an alternative to an I. R. A. for some older people, including people who turn a hobby into a small business or do work like child care. If they are over age 70\u00bd, such people can no longer contribute to an I. R. A. but they can set up and contribute to a Simplified Employee Pension Plan. That enables them to deduct contributions now and withdraw money in later years. It will be taxable then, but their income may be lower, too. For tax purposes, alimony counts as earned income, he added, so recipients who otherwise qualify for an I. R. A. may contribute the alimony to it and claim a deduction. Many people do not realize that they are allowed to deduct the cost of health insurance, regardless of whether their unreimbursed medical expenses are high enough to take a deduction on Schedule A, Mr. Block said. They can deduct the health insurance cost on the front of the Form 1040, on Line 29. That's just one of several deductions on the front of the 1040 that are worth keeping in mind. Others include teachers' outlays of up to $250 for students or for their own professional development, the deductible part of tax, student loan interest, alimony paid and an H. S. A. deduction for those who are eligible. All are especially valuable because they reduce adjusted gross income on Line 37. That number ripples all through a tax return, often limiting other tax breaks. In addition to filing a 2016 return by April 18, many taxpayers must file Form to pay quarterly estimated taxes on income on which no taxes are withheld, like income interest, dividends and capital gains on investments, or rental and royalty income. Preparers often base the calculations on the previous year's taxes, Mr. Kess said, but if tax cuts are indeed enacted by Congress, estimates based on 2016 taxes may turn out to be too high. If that happens, you will need to recalculate the estimate later \u2014 in June, September or even the end of the year, depending on when a law is enacted \u2014 and can reduce the payments accordingly. For anyone thinking, \"I wish I'd known that last year,\" Greg Rosica, a tax partner with EY, formerly Ernst Young, in Tampa, Fla. says it's probably not too late. Whatever the reason, you realize belatedly that you failed to take a deduction for which you were qualified. All is not lost. \"It's fairly simple to amend returns,\" Mr. Rosica said. Taxpayers may file a Form 1040X up to three years beyond its original due date. Say you filed a Form 1040 for 2013 income in March 2014. The due date was April 15, 2014, so you have until April 18 this year. But if you filed under an automatic extension in 2014, you have until Oct. 16 of this year to file the amended return. Mr. Rosica is a member of the editorial board for the \"EY Tax Guide 2017,\" which is published by Wiley, and includes this tip: Many taxpayers know they can deduct state income taxes on their federal return, but many do not realize they have the option of deducting sales taxes instead. That is advantageous if you live in a state like Texas, New Hampshire or South Dakota that has no state income tax. It may also be a boon to anyone who bought a item like a car with a big sales tax, and is often the best choice for people over age 65 because many states \u2014 even New York \u2014 exempt Social Security income and some income from state income taxes. Both Mr. Rosica and Mr. Kess advised taxpayers to check the tax consequences of any big life changes that may have taken place, like getting married or divorced or having a baby, all of which could affect filing status and the number of personal exemptions, as well as bring medical expenses that may have tax consequences. Changing jobs or moving may also mean income changes that would affect withholding. If you have a financial account outside the United States, be careful to report it, Ms. Weltman said. \"Foreign financial accounts are high on the I. R. S. scrutiny list, and people who fail to disclose foreign accounts can be penalized severely,\" she said, including people who inherited accounts overseas and those who worked abroad and still have ties where they once lived. FinCEN Form 114, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, is used for accounts of $10, 000 or more and is filed electronically with the Treasury, while Form 8938, which is attached to Form 1040, is used in more complex situations, with the lowest threshold being for accounts of $50, 000.","label":0}
{"text":"Germany would take advantage of any trade opportunities in Asia and South America left by a protectionist United States, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said, after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). \"If Trump starts a trade war with Asia and South America, it will open opportunities for us,\" Gabriel told Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday. \"Trump must simply recognize that the U.S. economy often isn't competitive, while the German (economy) is,\" he said, criticizing Trump's threat to impose a 35 percent tariff on German cars imported from Mexico. Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing from the 12-nation TPP on Monday, following through on a promise made during his election campaign. He called the move a \"great thing for the American worker\". Gabriel - Economy Minister and leader of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who is expected to run against Chancellor Angela Merkel in September's election - said German industry should remain confident in the face of Trump's moves. Barely 10 percent of German exports go to the United States, Gabriel said, while 60 percent go to other countries in Europe. \"You can see the weight of our economic interests,\" said Gabriel. \"Germany should act with self-confidence and not be fearful or servile.\" \"We are a highly successful, technologically advanced export nation with many hard-working people and smart companies.\" Bernd Lange, a Social Democrat and chairman of the trade committee in the European Parliament, told broadcaster rbb that Germany and the European Union should look into expanding trade with China and other countries. \"We must certainly speak with China because it is trying to jump into the gap left by the United States, even if they have other practices,\" he said. Lange said the European Union should also push for closer ties with countries that had similar values, including Canada, Japan and Australia. He said he expected the European Parliament to approve a free trade agreement with Canada by a large majority.","label":0}
{"text":"The 2016 election has been particularly hard on relationships. Social media is beginning to resemble a large echo chamber, with people with diverse views unfriending each other. It s not hard to imagine that those disagreements would go beyond social media, but it s especially shocking when political differences actually end a marriage.Gayle McCormick is a retired prison guard from California. She describes herself as a Democrat leaning toward socialist. Her husband, though, voted for Trump, and for that, their marriage is over. It totally undid me that he could vote for Trump, said McCormick, 73, who had not thought of leaving the conservative Republican before but felt betrayed by his support for Trump. I felt like I had been fooling myself, she said. It opened up areas between us I had not faced before. I realised how far I had gone in my life to accept things I would have never accepted when I was younger. Source: IndependentIt might seem silly to leave a 22 year marriage over a political disagreement, but this election was about much more than typical Democrat vs. Republican rancor. We aren t just talking about federal government vs. state government or the size of people s taxes. This election was largely about who we are as people. While it s clear that not everyone who voted for Trump is racist, misogynistic and xenophobic, everyone who voted for Trump doesn t see racism, misogyny and xenophobia as deal breakers.Through accusations of corruption hurled at Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump has shown himself to be far more corrupt than any Clinton could dream of. Trump has been given carte blanche to run the government like a child dictator, tweeting fantasies of revenge over every perceived slight. Donald Trump is toxic. Hell, the world is about to break up with us over Trump s election. It stands to reason that personal relationships wouldn t fare much better.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. oil and gas industry workers have contributed only slightly more money to the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton than to Republican Donald Trump since the two clinched their parties' nominations for the White House, according to Reuters' review of federal disclosures. The nearly even support suggests ambivalence in the industry between two rivals who have put forward wildly different energy visions. Trump calls for a drastic reduction in regulations to bolster drilling, while Clinton advocates tougher environmental protections and more renewables. Employees in the industry gave Clinton $114,141 and Trump $99,302 since July 1, Reuters found in reviewing individual campaign contributions exceeding $200 and donations funneled through their joint fundraising committees. Both were officially nominated by their parties in mid-July. Several oil and gas industry employees reached by Reuters said they did not donate just because of the candidates' energy policies. Most requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the election. \"I am moved by the disturbing nature of what I see in Trump's vision for America on trade, the economy and national security,\" said American Gas Association head Dave McCurdy, who has contributed to Clinton's campaign. He added, however, that he agreed with Clinton on reducing carbon dioxide emissions blamed for climate change and felt natural gas would play a role in that effort. The association has not endorsed a candidate. Continental Resources Inc Chief Executive Officer Harold Hamm, who has contributed repeatedly to Trump's campaign, has argued in favor of the candidate's energy policies. Hamm has said bolstering U.S. drilling would reduce dependence on Middle East oil, whose proceeds he says finance terrorist attacks. A Continental official did not respond to a request for comment from Hamm. An energy lobbyist based in Washington said he understood the industry's ambivalence. \"Clinton is pro-regulation, which hurts,\" he said, requesting anonymity. \"And Trump has no record in the industry, so there's no evidence he understands the issues.\" Clinton had far exceeded Trump in campaign contributions from industry employees during the primaries, but donations to the Republican side of the ledger were split among a much larger number of candidates than on the Democratic side. During the Republican primaries, the industry had taken an early liking to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, giving him more than all his rivals combined, before he dropped out of the race in February.","label":0}
{"text":"Saudi royal family members, officials and businessmen arrested in an anti-corruption crackdown this month will be granted due process, Saudi Arabia s U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said on Monday. Authorities have detained dozens of top Saudis including billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in a move widely seen as an attempt by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to neuter any opposition to his lightning ascent to power. Those held face accusations of money laundering, extortion, bribery and exploiting public office for personal gain. A Saudi anti-corruption committee has been given the power to seize companies, funds and other assets ahead of criminal inquiries. I can assure you there will be due process for anybody who is detained, Al-Mouallimi told reporters at the United Nations. When asked how many people had been detained, he said: I do not have a figure to share with you. This is something that the security authorities will announce in due course. U.S. President Donald Trump has endorsed the crackdown, saying some of those arrested have been milking Saudi Arabia for years, though the State Department has urged Riyadh to carry out prosecutions in a fair and transparent manner. Human Rights Watch has also called on Saudi authorities to immediately reveal the legal and evidentiary basis for each person s detention and make certain that each person detained can exercise their due process rights . (This version of the story corrects Saudi U.N. ambassador s name in paragraphs 1 and 4)","label":0}
{"text":"The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will soon leave office, a government official said. His departure is occurring amid a disagreement between the two men over Mr. Erdogan's drive for more power. The two leaders met on Wednesday night, according to the Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that had not been announced publicly. \"It's unlikely that Davutoglu will run for leadership again,\" he said. The prime minister is expected to hold a news conference on Thursday after a meeting with officials of the governing Justice and Development Party, or A. K. P. according to Turkish news reports, which also said that Mr. Davutoglu was likely to step aside after a coming special party congress. The leadership change atop the Islamist party comes as the country is facing multiple challenges, including a war with Kurdish militants, terrorist attacks by Islamic State fighters, and the arrival of millions of Syrian refugees. The shuffle clears the way for Mr. Erdogan, who critics say has become increasingly authoritarian, to consolidate even more authority. Under Turkey's Constitution, the prime minister is the most powerful official, and the president, although he has some genuine powers, is a largely ceremonial figure. But Mr. Erdogan has not been like previous Turkish presidents, and there has been little doubt that he is the country's political figure. Mr. Davutoglu, who became prime minister in 2014, after Mr. Erdogan was elected president, had long been seen as subservient to Mr. Erdogan. But simmering tensions between them boiled over this week, leading to speculation in the Turkish news media about a rift. The tensions apparently reached a breaking point last week, after party officials stripped Mr. Davutoglu of his power to choose provincial party leaders. \"Even with a person as compliant as Davutoglu, the relationship didn't work,\" said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and the chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, a research organization here. In public, Mr. Davutoglu has sought mostly to play the role of party loyalist and devotee to Mr. Erdogan, but analysts say the two men have privately differed on several issues. Mr. Davutoglu was said to be resistant to Mr. Erdogan's ambition to rewrite Turkey's Constitution and establish an executive presidency. Recently, Mr. Davutoglu had suggested he was willing to return to peace negotiations to end a long war \u2014 which resumed in earnest last year \u2014 with the Kurdistan Worker's Party, or P. K. K. while Mr. Erdogan has appeared more hawkish. The two leaders also seemed to differ on monetary policy, with Mr. Davutoglu supporting the independence of the central bank, and Mr. Erdogan seeking to intervene for lower interest rates. In choosing to step down as the leader of the A. K. P. Mr. Davutoglu will clear the way for Mr. Erdogan to pick a new party boss who will then become prime minister. \"The new elected prime minister's main mission will be to drive forward the presidential agenda,\" Mr. Ulgen said. But even with a new prime minister, it will not be so easy for Mr. Erdogan to alter the Constitution as he wants. The A. K. P. which has been in power for more than a decade, with Mr. Erdogan the prime minister for much of that time, does not have enough seats in Parliament to approve the changes on its own or call a national referendum on a new constitution. Most opinion polls show the Turkish public opposes Mr. Erdogan's proposed presidential system. Mr. Erdogan rose to power in 2003, and the A. K. P. won several national elections. But last June, the party lost its parliamentary majority and the Kurdish political party won seats in Parliament for the first time. That is when war resumed between the Turkish state and the Kurdish P. K. K. which seemed eager to return to arms. Critics of Mr. Erdogan said he sought to use the conflict as a political strategy to regain nationalist votes. Indeed, after failed coalition talks with opposition parties last summer, Mr. Erdogan called for new elections, and the party regained its majority in November. With Mr. Erdogan's not having enough support to amend the Constitution, analysts have predicted that with a new prime minister, he could move to hold early elections in a bid to amass more seats in Parliament.","label":0}
{"text":"Whenever we have a terror attack in America, the media goes to great lengths to make sure no one assumes of the killer was a Muslim. Meanwhile, the media has gone out of their way to convince Americans that all Hispanics hate Trump. Isn t it interesting how quickly they print a story about the murderer of two Muslim men who witnesses describe as a tall Hispanic man and then blame Trump? An imam and his assistant were shot and killed in broad daylight as they walked home from a mosque in Queens.Police said a gunman walked up to religious leader, Maulama Akonjee, 55, on Saturday afternoon as he and his assistant, Thara Uddin, 64, were leaving the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in Ozone Park.Both men were rushed to Jamaica hospital, where Akonjee, a married father-of-three, was pronounced dead.His assistant died about fours later.Imam Akonjee was described as a revered religious leader. He came to Queens from Bangladesh a little less than two years ago, according to the New York Daily News.After the shooting a crowd of angry Muslim men gathered at the scene insisting it was a hate crime, saying the two men were specifically targeted. That s not what America is about, local resident Khairul Islam told the newspaper. We blame Donald Trump for this Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia. Did it ever occur to these angry Muslims that Islamaphobia is rooted in the idea that almost every time we have a terror attack on our soil at the hands of a radical Muslim, we rarely see a Muslim who will speak out against it? Police said they received multiple 911 calls of two males being shot at the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79 Street around 1.50pm.Both men suffered gunshot wounds to the back of the head and were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.Witnesses said the shooter was tall and Hispanic.They said the man was carrying a large handgun and wearing a dark blue shirt and short pants.","label":1}
{"text":"A 5.4 magnitude quake struck southern Mexico on Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but there were no immediate reports of damage. It was not immediately clear if the tremor was an aftershock from a powerful series of quakes last month that destroyed buildings in Mexico City and killed nearly 500 people. The epicenter of Friday s tremor was just off the coast of Oaxaca state, in Mexico s southwest, and it struck at a depth of 59.5 kilometers (37 miles), according to the USGS. An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck Oaxaca on Sept. 7 near the town of Juchitan, flattening thousands of buildings in the humid market town. Fausto Lugo, Mexico City s emergency services chief, said on local television that Friday s earthquake was felt lightly in the capital, but there were no reports of damages.","label":0}
{"text":"Email  Bev Harris, elections expert and founder of Black Box Voting, believes our elections are vulnerable to wholesale fraud via manipulation of vote totals in the centralized computer databases. She recently appeared on the Alex Jones Show, where she demonstrated a computer script named Fraction Magic that can alter vote totals all the way down to the precinct level and make the final vote totals add up to a desired result.  Fraction Magic was written by Bennie Smith, a computer professional from Memphis, Tennessee. He demonstrated how it works by entering a desired outcome in an overlay and then he and Bev Harris watched as Fraction Magic altered all the precinct totals and recalculated all the subtotals up to the final totals Bennie Smith had specified. He added, \"You can create plausible results that really pass off as the real thing.\"  Harris reported that she tested Fraction Magic on her copy of the database of all votes cast in the general election in Alaska in 2004. She fed in desired outcomes and Fraction Magic performed the necessary vote count alterations all the way down to the precinct level in four seconds.  Both Harris and Smith expressed concern about the number of people who have the necessary access level to the vote totals databases. They would include numerous IT people, vendors, consultants, technicians, and others. Election officials rarely, if ever, make public lists of names of people who have privileged access to the election databases.  An extremely disturbing trend in American elections is the recent use of encryption to keep precinct totals secret until after they are in the hands of centralized elections offices. The American people are being told this is secure transmission and modernization. The spin in the news media has been to marvel at the skillful technology. But not enough people are asking what benefit we are achieving by concealing public information from the public .  Concealing precinct vote totals from the public until reviewed centrally was one of the tactics used by Hitler and Stalin. That's how they had the ability to alter vote totals without being caught. No one but a few insiders had any election totals until the centralized authority had the ability to rework the numbers if necessary to achieve their desired results and then release election results.  The term \"wholesale election fraud\" refers to one act by a fraudster that changes a large number of votes, such as in a computer, or alters the vote totals hoping no one will audit the results and verify the totals. \"Retail election fraud\" refers to cheating one vote at a time, such as when people cast multiple absentee ballots or vote multiple times in person in an election. These people are known in the trade as \"repeaters,\" and their ability to repeat vote is greatly enhanced both by early voting and by either lax enforcement of voter ID laws or no voter ID requirement.  Specifying a vote total or percentage and then working it down is not a new form of corruption in American politics. Tracy Campbell described how political boss George Parr operated in his book Deliver the Vote : Parr's aide and feared enforcer, Luis Salas, later related how the Parr machine ruled: \"Parr was the Godfather. He had life or death control. We could tell any election judge, 'Give us 80 percent of the vote and the other guy 20 percent.' We had it made in every election.\"  Campbell also described how another 200 votes appeared after Lyndon Johnson issued the order to \"find the votes\" when he needed them to win the senate runoff election in Texas in 1948.  In Precinct Number 13, the precinct of Luis Salas, where he had manufactured a vote for Johnson of 765 to 60, the tally was now different. When one of the committee members read the totals for the precinct of Salas, the new total was 965 to 60. In the interim, obviously, one of Parr's men had simply taken a pen and closed the top loop of the \"7\" to create a \"9\".  Because the precinct totals were public information, were reported immediately, and were obtained by Governor Coke Stevenson right away, he was able to identify the precinct where the extra 200 votes were added. Unfortunately, too many people in positions of power were on Johnson's side.  The concept behind Fraction Magic is not new to politics. What is different is the scale to which it can enable specifying an election result and make the subtotals match.  The fact that a program such as Fraction Magic can do what it does should be a wake-up call for the way we conduct our elections. We need to return to our traditional constitutionally correct decentralized counting of votes at the precinct level. We need a paper trail in the voting equipment. We must allow public access to any member of the public who wishes to observe the vote counts. And we must make precinct totals public immediately after the votes are counted, including posting them on the door of the voting site building.  If we do not, we run the risk of having our election results altered by the very people we hire to ensure that our elections are honest and accurate.","label":1}
{"text":"During Saturday's GOP Weekly Address, Senator Deb Fischer ( ) stated, \"Obamacare failed because it took choices away from patients and families. It took choices away from all of us. Well, it's time to get our choices, our control, back so we can promote our health and wellness. \"[Transcript (via ABC News Radio) as Follows: \"Hi, I'm Deb Fischer, United States Senator from the great state of Nebraska. When I hear from patients and their families about Obamacare, they tell me the law is a broken promise. They couldn't keep the plan they liked. Or the doctor they trusted. Their costs shot up, not down. Jim, a grandfather from Grand Island, Nebraska, says this: 'Our kids' new insurance premiums went up 36 percent, which is over 50 percent of their income \u2026 This leaves my grandkids with no insurance.' Tim from Kearney, Nebraska saw his health insurance premium jump 60 percent. Obamacare's financial cost is . But it has another, hidden cost. One you can't count with dollars and cents. It's an emotional toll. The worry that comes from a lack of control. How many of you have seen your health care costs increase? How many of those you know have lost their health care? In November, the American people said, 'Enough.' They asked us to stop the hurt. This week, the Senate answered: we voted to put the tools in place to repeal Obamacare. Now, we will begin the process of putting the American people in charge of their health care. Congress will work with the 's administration to put patients and families first \u2014 not Washington. We will work for a stable transition period to protect families. We will fight for patients with conditions, children, parents, and people who need to be protected. Our goal is a sustainable solution that gives patients flexibility and choices in their coverage. Obamacare failed because it took choices away from patients and families. It took choices away from all of us. Well, it's time to get our choices, our control, back so we can promote our health and wellness. We Americans believe in freedom. Of speech. Of religion. Why not in health care too? Freedom is powerful. It made thirteen tiny colonies the greatest nation on earth. It took a man to the moon. It cured polio. We're on the path now to giving families freedom in health care. To restoring choice and control. To delivering compassionate, personalized care that treats people like people, not numbers. Sadly, Democrats in Washington have stated their plan is to frighten Americans about this process. That kind of attitude, peddling dread and pushing anxiety, will not help the American people. It's time to move forward. Let's put this failed law behind us and focus on making life easier for families. The American people deserve health care reform done the right way and for the right reasons. I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to deliver the results the American people need and deserve. It's the right thing to do. Thanks for listening. Thank you, and God bless. \" Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a bid by North Carolina to reinstate for November's elections several voting restrictions, including a requirement that people show identification at the polls. The eight-justice court, divided in most part 4-4, rejected a request made by Republican Governor Pat McCrory after an appeals court ruled last month that the 2013 law discriminates against minority voters. Five votes are needed for an emergency request to be granted. \"We're thrilled. Elections in North Carolina this fall are going to be conducted under a fair and nondiscriminatory election law scheme,\" said Allison Riggs, a lawyer with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, one of the civil rights groups that challenged the law. The U.S. Justice Department, which has also been involved in fighting the law, did not immediately comment on the decision. McCrory said in a statement that the state \"has been denied basic voting rights already granted to more than 30 other states to protect the integrity of one person, one vote through a common-sense voter ID law.\" The brief order noted that three of the court's conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, would have allowed the voter identification provision and limits on early voting to be in effect for the election. Justice Clarence Thomas agreed on that point, but was the only justice to say he would have also allowed a requirement blocking pre-registration of 16-year-olds to stay in place. McCrory's lawyers said the status quo should be maintained so close to the election, citing court precedent in their favor. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 29 that the law intentionally discriminated against minority voters. The same court refused to put its decision on hold for the Nov. 8 election. Critics say such laws, passed in Republican-governed states, make voting harder for minorities such as African-Americans and Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats. Backers say the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud. The court is currently short one justice following the death of conservative Antonin Scalia in February, which likely deprived the conservative justices of the fifth vote they needed to grant the request. The high court could yet be asked to weigh in on other voting restrictions ahead of the election, with several cases pending in lower courts.","label":0}
{"text":"If you listen to Senator Marco Rubio, ISIS is outside your door and is about to attack your family, and the only way to defend against this threat is to buy a gun.Senator Rubio needs the support of diehard conservatives if he is to make any headway in the Iowa caucus or New Hampshire primary, and they are almost as suspicious of his conservative bona fides as they are of figures like Jeb Bush.So in order to get those voters on board, Senator Rubio has to do what he does so well pander.That s why when he appeared on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Rubio went into detail about the latest revelation from the campaign trail his Christmas Eve purchase of a gun.Rubio told host John Dickerson that he bought a gun in order to defend his family from ISIS.Rubio explains why he purchased a fire arm recently. Explains that it is the last defense between his family & ISIS https:\/\/t.co\/2AkdTHZ5yh Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 17, 2016He explained: I m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, I have a right to protect my family if someone were to come after us, in fact, if ISIS were to visit us or our communities at any moment, the last line of defense between ISIS and my family is the ability that I have to protect my family from them or from a criminal or from anyone else that seeks to do us harm. Rarely does a politician so blatantly pander to a constituency group that he or she needs to be viable, but Rubio has gone there.His rhetoric echoes the fevered donation-seeking fantasies of the NRA, who has recently told their followers that they need to have a gun in the house to defend against an ISIS attack just outside their homes.Of course, the unfortunate reality is Senator Rubio and other gun owners are far more likely to hurt themselves or members of their family than to engage in a fantasy shoot-out with an ISIS terrorist.But keeping this level of fear up continues to benefit the right in many ways. Telling people to go out and buy guns creates a false sense of security, and fills the coffers of the gun manufacturers who then donate to Republicans and help to keep them in office, resulting in lax gun legislation or opposition to new laws. Everybody benefits, except public safety and security.Marco s got a gun.","label":1}
{"text":"Barack Obama might seem an unlikely investor in the firearms industry. But the U.S. president, a fierce advocate for gun regulation, has money in a pension fund that holds stock in gun and ammunition companies. Although Obama's stake is minuscule, worth no more than $30, it reflects a much larger surge of investment. The president is among millions of Americans buying into gun companies - often unwittingly - as mutual funds have increased such holdings to record levels, according to a Reuters analysis of institutional investment in firearms companies. Since Obama was elected in 2009, mutual funds have raised their stakes to about $510 million from $30 million in the nation's two largest gun manufacturers with publicly traded shares, Smith & Wesson Corp SWHC.O and Sturm, Ruger & Co (RGR.N). That means such stocks are now common in retirement and college savings plans. The influx has helped to boost both companies' shares by more than 750 percent during the Obama presidency; each now has a market value of about $1 billion. Beyond mutual funds, such investments also are held in the portfolios of hedge funds and public pension plans, which are harder to track. The White House declined to comment on Obama's holdings in the Illinois General Assembly's pension plan, which he earned while serving in that state's senate. The president has disclosed between $50,000 and $100,000 in the plan. Other indirect investors in firearms companies include advocates for gun regulation in the U.S. Congress and several parents of children who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut - site of the 2012 massacre of 20 students and six staff members. Fund managers are drawn to the stocks by surging sales. Buyers are arming themselves, analysts said, in response to mass shootings and calls for tougher gun laws. By the end of 2015, more than 150 mutual funds owned Smith & Wesson shares, up from 53 at the end of 2008, and nearly 130 held stock in Ruger, up from 52, according to data from Morningstar Inc. It would have taken investors \"minimal due diligence\" to see massive profit potential in Ruger stock when Obama was first elected, said Ruger Chief Executive Mike Fifer. Shares hit a low of $4.50 the Friday after that Tuesday election; the stock was changing hands today at $61.61. \"Orders at every level of the distribution channel exploded\" the week of Obama's election, Fifer recalled. \"And continued to do so for months afterward.\" America's leading ammunition maker, Vista Outdoor Inc (VSTO.N), has drawn investments from 319 funds in its first year of public trading and now has a market value of $2.9 billion. Its bonds are owned by a who's-who of U.S. investment and insurance companies. (For a graphic of top mutual fund investors in the leading gun and ammo stocks, see tmsnrt.rs\/1TlCwBz ) Such investments can be hard to identify within large funds, even with concerted effort. Eric Milgram, a corporate research analyst whose two children were at Sandy Hook Elementary during the rampage, tried to purge his portfolio of firearms holdings. But he gave up after a frustrating search through mutual fund stock lists, holding companies and subsidiaries. \"I'm disgusted with this industry; I don't want to be invested in it,\" said Milgram. But, he added, \"There are only so many hours in the day.\" Vanguard Group, the nation's largest fund company, said it was unrealistic to balance political sensibilities with obligations to meet performance benchmarks. \"It would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill these obligations while managing portfolios that reflect the social concerns of all our clients,\" said Vanguard spokeswoman Arianna Stefanoni Sherlock. Vanguard does, however, offer a Social Index fund \u2013 with about $2 billion in assets out of Vanguard's total of about $3.4 trillion \u2013 that excludes firearms companies along with other stocks involved in an array of ethically sensitive industries. Smith & Wesson declined to comment for this story. Vista Outdoor did not respond to requests for comment. Obama and his tiny stake are typical of most Americans with holdings in firearms investments: They are invested in funds that buy shares of the relatively small part of the firearms industry that is publicly traded. But collectively, their investments are a boon to the gun industry and amount to a sizable stake in major gun and ammo makers. For some gun safety advocates, the amounts are less important than the principle. Po Murray, who put four children through Sandy Hook Elementary, has also struggled to determine whether her investments include firearms companies. \"It's a real surprise: You find out you could be invested indirectly in Smith & Wesson,\" said Murray, who chairs the Newtown Action Alliance, a gun safety group. \"I don't want to be invested in gun companies.\" The $16 billion Illinois pension fund that includes Obama's investment holds at least $4.8 million in shares of gun industry stocks, including Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Vista and ammunition maker Olin Corp (OLN.N). Until 2014, the pension fund owned about $1.5 million of the debt of Remington Outdoors, another gun manufacturer. Remington did not respond to requests for comment. The Illinois pension plan also invests in at least one mutual fund with gun industry exposure. The $1.1 billion Templeton Global Smaller Companies Fund owned $9.5 million of Smith & Wesson stock at the end of December, fund disclosures show. Obama and other plan participants have no say in how the money is invested. That's controlled by the Illinois State Board of Investment, which said it has no policy on investing in firearm and ammo companies. (For a graphic showing firearms investments by Obama's Illinois pension fund, see: tmsnrt.rs\/1TlCRV0 ) In its analysis, Reuters used mutual fund holdings data from Morningstar and Lipper Inc, a Thomson Reuters company, to examine firearms investments during the Obama presidency. The list of funds holding such stocks includes some of the biggest and most prominent, such as Vanguard and the second-largest fund group, Fidelity Investments. It extends to BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), and Dimensional Fund Advisors. The analysis is based on disclosures made by individual funds. Some of the gun stockholders are passively managed index funds. But many are actively managed, such as Fidelity's $40 billion Low-Priced Stock Fund (FLPSX.O), which has become Smith & Wesson's second-largest mutual fund investor under storied stock-picker Joel Tillinghast. The fund held about 1.1 million shares worth $20 million as of Oct. 31, according to fund disclosures. Fidelity and Dimensional declined to comment. BlackRock - the world's largest asset manager with $4.6 trillion under management - manages $200 billion of that total in investment options that screen out certain stocks, including companies involved in firearms, tobacco and alcohol businesses, spokesman Peter McKillop said. Obama isn't the only gun-regulation advocate with gun-industry holdings. Former congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy - elected after her husband was killed in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting - pushed relentlessly for gun safety legislation. While in office, she held shares worth between $3,003 and $45,000 in at least three exchange-traded funds with stakes in gun and ammo companies, according to her last financial disclosure before retiring last year. She also invested between $2,002 and $30,000 for two grandchildren in so-called 529 college-savings plans that include a Vanguard fund holding firearms stocks, disclosures show. The New York Democrat could not be reached for comment. As a federal retirement benefit, members of the U.S. Congress can participate in a Thrift Savings Plan, which offers an investment option - the S Fund - that holds stock in firearms companies. Financial disclosures show that S Fund investors include Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat and a leading advocate for stricter background checks for gun buyers. Durbin disclosed an S Fund investment of about $115,000. Durbin's office declined to comment. Some members of Congress welcome the investment option. \"I'm just grateful the fund managers are investing in something that's making money,\" said Representative Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican who opposes gun restrictions and has a small investment in the S fund. For all the debate, Obama has made no progress in passing tougher gun laws. Measures such as universal background checks have withered in Congress, where the number of anti-gun control Republicans has grown. Calls for tighter controls have been met with bursts of gun sales, according to U.S. background-check data on gun purchasers. Gun store owners attribute the extra sales to consumers who fear the president will make it harder to buy arms. \"Let's just say he's been good for business,\" Jack Lesher, manager of Chuck's Firearms in Atlanta, said of Obama. Gun sales jumped again recently after the president blasted congressional inaction on gun control and vowed to use executive powers to expand background checks for buyers and bolster licensing requirements for dealers. His announcement followed yet another mass shooting, on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, California, where a couple pledging allegiance to Islamic State killed 14 people. For the week that ended Dec. 20, firearms background checks - a proxy for guns sales - totaled 839,109, the second-highest week since 1998. Only the week after the Sandy Hook shootings was higher, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Vista's main factories have churned out bullets 24 hours, seven days a week for at least two years, Vista Chief Financial Officer Stephen Nolan told investors in November. Now the industry is ready for an election-year surge. \"The politics of gun control could stay in the headlines, which we believe could lead to a record year,\" wrote Chris Krueger, senior research analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets, in a note to investors in January. Ruger is boosting inventories to prepare, after learning a costly lesson going into the last presidential election. Demand peaked that year, based on the number of FBI background checks sought for new gun purchases. The surge followed Obama's re-election and the Sandy Hook shooting. \"When we went into late 2011, we got cleaned out of inventory \u2026 even though we increased production dramatically,\" company CEO Fifer told investors during a November conference call. The company, he said, \"probably left money on the table.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Eliott Abrams, who was deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, has been removed from the list of candidates for Deputy Secretary of State. [According to \"three Republican sources\" who spoke to CNN, Abrams was personally scratched off the list by President Donald Trump, due to \"outspoken\" criticism of Trump during the 2016 campaign. Abrams had been seen as the top contender for the job, supported by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and even senior adviser Jared Kushner, who is President Trump's . The CNN sources were bitingly critical of Trump for deciding not to nominate Abrams. \"This is a loss for the State Department and the country and, for that matter, for the President,\" said one, while another maintained Abrams was bumped off the list because of \"Donald Trump's thin skin and nothing else. \" However, even the CNN article concedes there is more than \"thin skin\" behind the decision. For one thing, Abrams was not merely critical of Trump in a few random comments last year. He penned a May 2016 for the Weekly Standard entitled, \"When You Can't Stand Your Candidate,\" which declared Trump unfit for office, incorrectly predicted he couldn't possibly win, and compared him to George McGovern. (For those who lack Abrams' perspective on political history, that is not a flattering comparison.) Abrams called for a floor fight at the Republican convention in 2016, to remind Trump \"how many in the party oppose and even fear his nomination,\" warned any Republican with future political aspirations to avoid becoming Trump's running mate, called for a purge of Trumpians from the GOP after Hillary Clinton's inevitable 2016 victory, and suggested running a spoiler candidate to ensure a crushing defeat for Trump. Moreover, there is a substantial difference in foreign policy vision between Trump and Abrams, whom CNN has no difficulty identifying as a \"neoconservative\" and supporter of the Iraq War. Senator Rand Paul ( ) of the Foreign Relations Committee strongly opposed Abrams' nomination, as reported by Breitbart News earlier this week, because Abrams's worldview was utterly incompatible with Trump's foreign policy agenda. In Senator Paul's case, \"strongly opposed\" means he wrote an for Rare entitled, \"Do Not Let Eliott Abrams Anywhere Near the State Department,\" which is roughly as unambiguous as Abrams writing a piece about Trump called \"When You Can't Stand Your Candidate. \" \"Crack the door to admit Elliott Abrams and the neocons will scurry in by the hundreds,\" warned Paul. \"Neoconservative interventionists have had us at perpetual war for 25 years. While President Trump has repeatedly stated his belief that the Iraq War was a mistake, the neocons (all of them ) continue to maintain that the Iraq and Libyan Wars were brilliant ideas. These are the same people who think we must blow up half the Middle East, then rebuild it and police it for decades. \" Paul was particularly critical of Abrams' devotion to \"\" slamming the practice as both expensive and ineffective. He was concerned that Abrams would be a poor fit not only for Trump but for Secretary of State Tillerson as well, praising Tillerson for \"foreign policy realism\" he found utterly lacking in Abrams. Paul viewed Abrams as an exemplar of the sneering, political class in Washington that Trump was elected to fight, and which shows every intention of fighting dirty in return, as the geysers of leaked information pouring from the new administration attest. (In fact, this very story is the subject of leaks intended to manipulate media coverage, as noted above.) Paul said Abrams was untrustworthy due to his role in the scandal: \"His conviction for deceiving Congress over secret arms deals, better known as the scandal, show that his neocon agenda trumps his fidelity to the rule of law. The Constitution directs Congress to approve or disapprove of war. It would be a mistake to appoint anyone to the State Department who was previously convicted for defying Congressional authority. \" Senator Paul is hardly the only observer to see Abrams' possible appointment this way. The Washington Post found it surprising Abrams was ever under consideration, acknowledging his resum\u00e9 and reputation as a tough negotiator, but finding little in common with Trump's foreign policy vision beyond being \"fiercely . \" Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he was \"baffled\" while interviewing Senator Paul about his . Doug Bandow at Forbes said choosing Abrams \"would be a particularly stunning reversal of candidate Trump's claim to reject his predecessors' failed policies of perpetual war. \" In short, there is ample reason to believe Trump's decision was about more than \"thin skin,\" and his skin didn't have to be very thin to think Abrams wouldn't be a good fit for an administration he previously regarded as an improbable catastrophe. Six weeks of leaking and bureaucratic sabotage might understandably have reduced the president's tolerance for a Number Two official at the State Department who (according to Senator Paul) once declared Donald Trump unfit to occupy the chair where Washington and Lincoln once sat \u2014 but evidently had no such reservations about Hillary Clinton.","label":0}
{"text":"Patrick Henningsen 21st Century WireJudging by both the words, and deeds of the Obama White House and its political diplomatic appointees led by perfidious John Kerry and caustic Samantha Power all evidence to date points to the US wanting to escalate its war on Syria while happily baiting a military confrontation, and World War scenario with Russia and its allies in the process. If this latest leak is indeed true and time will certainly tell whether or not it is, it would constitute one of the most egregious violations of both US and international law by the United States government and its theocratic dictator partner in Saudi Arabia.Washington s own anti-terror legislation expressly forbids colluding to provide logistical or material support for terrorist groups, and this US-Saudi venture would be the latest in a long list of violations According to news released today (see report below), US President Barack Obama has been briefed that the operation to liberate the ISIS stronghold in Mosul in Iraq is scheduled for the second half of October. Here s what makes this a potential shocker: the operation allows for safe passage for 9,000 ISIS fighters on the proviso that they are transferred from Iraq to eastern Syria in order to help US plans for regime change there. At the time of the assault, coalition aircraft would strike only on a pre-agreed detached buildings in the city, which are empty, the source said. According to him [the source], the plan of Washington and Riyadh also provides that the rebels move from Mosul to Syria for the attack on the government-controlled town of troops. Essentially, Washington and Saudi Arabia, will allow 9,000 ISIS (Islamic State) fighter FREE passage into Syria if they agree to join Washington s regime change operations there. This could also include, eastern regions of Syria to follow a major offensive operation, which involves the capture of Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra, the source added.Before you write this story off as some ornate Russian psychological operation, consider the long trend arch. The US along with its generous Gulf sidekicks, have already established a solid track record of aiding and abetting ISIS not just in Syria, but in Iraq too.The record shows that the US is guilty on a number of counts If the Mosul leak is true, then it wouldn t be the first time that the US has provided cover in the military pantomime the world has come to know as the fight against ISIS. When large ISIS convoys crossed the Syrian desert to invade and occupy the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in May 2015, the US Coalition airforce did nothing, and allowed ISIS to take and destroy part of the world s great historic cultural heritage, along with the murder of scores of innocent civilians.Professor Tim Anderson from Sydney University states: U.S. weapons with Israeli ammunition were used by Islamic State group when taking over Palmyra. The extremists also had U.S. military rations. The U.S., which since 2014 claimed to be conducting a war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and which had air power and sophisticated surveillance of the region, did nothing to stop the huge ISIS advance on Palmyra. The US isn t even shy about its laissez-faire policy with ISIS in the field, with the New York Times openly boasting, Any airstrikes against Islamic State militants in and around Palmyra would probably benefit the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. So far, United States-led airstrikes in Syria have largely focused on areas far outside government control, to avoid the perception of aiding a leader whose ouster President Obama has called for. Following the derelict incident, New York Times reporters Hwaida Saad and Kareem Fahim, were still kicking and screaming for regime change like petulant children at the news of ISIS fleeing and Palmyra being liberated by the Syrian Army and Russians. They said that, Mr. Assad s contention that his government is a bulwark against the transnational extremist group has been bolstered, but added that his foes and some allies argue that he must leave power as part of a political settlement to end the war in Syria. In other words: we still want regime change! This says volumes about who is really enforcing New York Times editorial lines (either the US State Dept, or the CIA, take your pick).More importantly however, is what kind of message an US statement like that sends to ISIS, as well as Al Nusra and other terrorist brigades inside Syria, which is basically, we do not need to worry about US air strikes, only Syrian Army and Russian strikes. This situation really sums up the utter fraud and contempt of the US deception in Syria, and it s no surprise that the Russian Foreign Ministry are reticent to extend themselves any more where the US is concerned.Then, in March 2016, when ISIS fled Palmyra, back across the desert towards Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa the great and powerful US Coalition airforce actually helped ISIS in a number of ways, including allowing them free passage once more.In late August, we were told that the Turkish Army, alongside allied Syrian rebels (terrorist group Faylaq al-Sham) backed by the US air cover, invaded Syria in order to capture the ISIS-held town of Jarabulus, Syria, this supposedly to cut off ISIS s last open route into Turkey. But what happened to ISIS?The NYT even admitted that, it appeared that most of the militants had fled without a fight. Here, ISIS appears to have been given advanced warning by either US or Turkish intelligence, as they left the contested town of Jarabulus quietly, but in droves. In reality, Turkey twisted this operation in order to attack and degrade Kurdish militias including the US-backed artificial construct called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and pro-Kurdish People s Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian affiliate of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq and Turkey all of whom are meant to be fighting ISIS. Instead, they are now busy dodging Turkish artillery rounds. Confusing, yes, but true nonetheless.It s also common knowledge now, that top of the line US weaponry is being used by ISIS, both in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Syria as well. In fact, if not for US weapons and supplies (along with US air intervention, or noninterventions), ISIS would have struggled to maintain many of the strategic positions it enjoys today. For the last 3 years, US officials have been dodging this issue, and when they do admit this is true, their patronizing party line is that, this must be a mistake, if they do have US weapons, we didn t mean it. As if the world was born yesterday.Perhaps the most flagrant violation by the US-led forces in aiding and abetting ISIS took place on Sept 17, 2016, when the US-led Coalition bombed Syrian Army positions outside of Deir ez-Zor near al-Tharda Mountain, killing some 80 soldiers and injuring 100 more. As if by design, an ISIS offensive began immediately following the US massacre of Syrian soldiers. Clearly, this bold move by the Pentagon paved the way for a major ISIS advance.To any normal observer, the US attack was a belligerent act of war that effective destroyed an already fragile bilateral ceasefire agreement, and yet the US response was to somehow blame Russia for calling an emergency UNSC meeting to discuss the incident. Judging by this response, it s pretty clear that US wants to see the Syrian Conflict carry on for a while, and it will need groups like ISIS to make that happen. The other problem with Washington s hollow righteousness in the Middle East is that there are key members of the US-led Coalition who are financing ISIS, Al Nusra Front, Nour al Din Zinki, and Arar al Sham (all moderate terrorists we re told) militants in Syria, Iraq and beyond. This fact was recently admitted by former US Secretary of State and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, as revealed in this week s batch of Wikileaks emails. Clinton writes: While this military\/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. Add to that the multiple exposures over the last 3 years of the US CIA illegally trafficking lethal arms to Al Nusra and other terrorists through covert operations like Timber Sycamore.Still, US and NATO member state officials and their media gatekeepers continue to deny it and play dumb, rather than come clean that the United States and its partners in the region are helping, not hindering ISIS terrorism.Some might ask: why would they do a thing like that? By now, the answer should be simple, but threefold:What s so comical yet even more tragic, is how prominent the topic of ISIS factors into all of the vapid national security debates and media panels in this year s US Presidential election, and in the dumbed-down coverage of the delusional US mainstream media, led by Pentagon surrogate CNN, and hopeless FOX News. Judging by their prosaic coverage , neither the networks, nor Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump have the slightest clue of what the reality on the ground is. Instead we here, My ISIS plan is better than yours! The US political conversation has gone beyond ridiculousness.The corps of US military and CIA media spokesman aren t much better. The sad part is some of them do know what is really happening, but would rather lie to the American public.With so much double dealing, who can you trust? Certainly not anyone in Washington.More on the White House s latest dangerous proposition .RTThe US and Saudi Arabia have agreed to grant free passage to thousands of Islamic State militants before the Iraqi city of Mosul is stormed. The jihadists will be redeployed to fight against the government in Syria, a military-diplomatic source told RIA Novosti. More than 9,000 Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) militants will be redeployed from Mosul to the eastern regions of Syria to carry out a major offensive operation, which involves capturing Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra, the source said.According to the anonymous diplomatic source, US President Barack Obama has already sanctioned an operation to liberate Mosul, due to take place in October.During the storm of the city in northern Iraq the US-led coalition s planes would only strike detached, vacated or uninhabited buildings, while keeping terrorists as targets, he said.In September, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter confirmed that Washington would send an additional 600 troops to Iraq to help liberate Mosul at the request of the local authorities.The source suggested that redeployment of IS militants is necessary because Washington must somehow counter Russia s achievements in Syria, try to diminish their importance. Apart from the purely political dividends, the other purpose of this operation, obviously, will be to discredit the success of Russian Airspace forces. And, of course, it s an attempt to undermine Syrian President (Bashar) Assad, he said.The leadership of Saudi Arabia s General Intelligence Directorate will be the mediators and guarantors of the agreement on safe passage for the jihadists from Mosul, he claimed.The source added that a similar scheme had been used by the US and its allies during the liberation of the Iraqi city of Fallujah Continue this story at RTREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who sparred with Donald Trump at times during his presidential campaign, pledged on Wednesday to work closely with the president-elect to forge an aggressive Republican legislative agenda from the outset of 2017. At a news conference in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan said he and Trump are arranging a meeting to discuss the transition to a new Congress and administration, as well as the Republican agenda for the lame-duck session of Congress that begins on Monday. Tuesday's election results will give the Republicans simultaneous control of the White House, Senate and House for the first time since early 2007. \"He just earned a mandate and we now just have a unified Republican government,\" Ryan said of Trump. \"The opportunity is now here. And the opportunity is to go big, to go bold and to get things done.\" Ryan said he expected his six-point \"A Better Way\" blueprint to provide a framework for future action. The plan, which House Republicans used an election platform, calls for initiatives that include repealing and replacing Obamacare, reforming the U.S. tax code and scaling back federal regulations on industry. Ryan had been slow to endorse Trump for president and clashed with the wealthy businessman over his incendiary campaign rhetoric, accusing him of making comment that was \"the textbook definition of racism\" about a judge of Mexican heritage. Last month Trump described Ryan as \"a very weak and ineffective leader.\" But on Wednesday Ryan said he and Trump had held two \"fantastic conversations\" in the past 18 hours. Ryan's aim is to \"make sure that when his hand comes off the Bible, when he is sworn in as president, we are hitting the ground running.\" Ryan said Republicans in Congress also would coordinate with Trump on the upcoming lame duck session on what can be achieved. The speaker also said it was time for \"redemption, not recrimination\" and dismissed concerns about civil liberties created by Trump campaign talk. \"Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard. He connected in ways with people no one else did. He turned politics on its head,\" Ryan said. \"Donald Trump provided the kind of coattails that got a lot of people over the finish line so that we could maintain our strong House and Senate majorities.\" There had been speculation Ryan would not run for the speaker job in January but last week his staff said he would run for re-election to the post.","label":0}
{"text":"The White House led people to believe that a U.S. aircraft carrier was on his way to the waters off the Korean peninsula in a show of military strength. White House press secretary said, I think when you see a carrier group steaming into an area like that, the forward presence of that is clearly, through almost every instance, a huge deterrence, he said, adding that it gives the President options in the region. However, none of that is true because the U.S. aircraft carrier was traveling in the opposite direction.According to vice-president Mike Pence, the claims of the location of the U.S. aircraft carrier supposedly on its way off the Korean peninsula were not made intentionally. Or in reality, he s saying the White House doesn t know how to communicate because it s so inept, or perhaps, Trump used this to bolster his alleged presidency so that his first 100 days in office won t appear to be a complete disaster.Politico reports:Earlier this month, White House and Pentagon officials announced that the USS Carl Vinson and its accompanying battle group had been deployed off the coast of the Korean peninsula, a response to a missile test launched by North Korea. But on Monday, Defense News reported that the Carl Vinson was nowhere near the Korean peninsula and had instead been photographed near Indonesia.After reports from major outlets saying that the Carl Vinson had not immediately turned north towards the Korean peninsula, government officials were left having to explain why the aircraft carrier had not been deployed as initially described.Pence was asked during an interview with CNN if the remarks from White House and Pentagon officials had been intentional and the vice-president said, oh, I think not then went on to say there was already a strong U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, including in Japan and South Korea. Pence did not explain why government officials declared that the that the strike group was steaming up toward the sea of Japan. Here is Sean Spicer saying exactly that on Monday:CNN interviewed Pence aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at the U.S. Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay and addressed the crew saying that the U.S. would work diligently with allies to maintain and increase pressure on North Korea. The United States of America will always seek peace but under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready, Pence said. Those who would challenge our resolve or readiness should know, we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response. The word effective doesn t mean what Pence thinks it means.Just one week after the announcement that the carrier was off the Korean peninsula, an official Navy photo showed that the strike group was actually farther away from the claimed location than it had been at the time of the announcement.Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein\/Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"The uproar over Donald Trump's latest comments is a classic case of media-generated outrage. All over the newspapers, all over the airwaves, there is shock and horror that Trump would appeal to Russia to furnish Hillary Clinton's hacked emails. The lines seemed so obviously sarcastic to me, as I watched Trump's presser from the Democratic convention here in Philadelphia, that I didn't see the tsunami coming. Maybe I'm wrong, but as a longtime Trump-watcher, that's how it came off to me. But think about the media coverage for a minute. To believe that the Republican nominee was dead serious in urging an adversary of the United States to commit or complete an act of espionage against his Democratic opponent is to believe that Trump is clinically insane. And I do think many journalists and commentators view him as a bit unhinged. That's why this makes sense to them. They think Trump is so off the wall that it seems perfectly plausible. Others, I believe, don't believe Trump really meant it, but they think he stepped in it with the remarks and are happy to bash him over it. Look, Trump says a lot of incendiary things. His comments on Mexicans and Muslims and the like get him into trouble and are more than fair game for criticism. But this one is different. \"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,\" Trump said. He added that the press would love that. Trump is a master, of course, of saying things that are just far enough over the line that he drives a story for days. In this case, it means keeping a focus on the 33,000 emails that Clinton deleted from her private server as pundits and politicians debate whether he crossed a line\u2014siphoning covering from the convention speeches by President Obama, Vice President Biden, Bill Clinton and others. Trump now says he was being sarcastic and we don't even know whether the Russians are behind the hacking. What's striking about the coverage is that it barely acknowledges that this could be an open question: The New York Times headline: \"Donald Trump's Appeal to Russia Shocks Foreign Policy Experts\": \"There is simply no precedent for this: A presidential candidate publicly appealing to a foreign adversary to intervene in the election on his behalf.\" The Washington Post lead: \"Republican nominee Donald Trump pleaded directly Wednesday with the Russian government to meddle in the U.S. presidential election by finding and releasing tens of thousands of private emails from his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton \u2014 an extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented maneuver in American politics.\" Politico's lead: \"Donald Trump's call on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails has shocked, flabbergasted and appalled lawmakers and national security experts across the political spectrum, with one saying it was 'tantamount to treason.'\"  \"Is it possible that Trump was being sarcastic? That he was joking?\" CNN's Carol Costello asked her panel. The response was no, and even if he was, it wasn't funny. This is why professional politicians avoid sarcasm, to avoid uttering words that create an uproar. But Trump delights in it, which is why his supporters love him, his detractors view him as reckless and the media can never seem to get enough. Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of \"MediaBuzz\" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.","label":0}
{"text":"Newly released financial disclosures reveal Bill Clinton received $16.46 million in payments from a George Soros-backed for-profit education company, as Hillary Clinton s State Department funneled tens of millions of dollars to a group run by the company s chairman.With $4 billion in annual revenue, Laureate Education is America s largest for-profit college company. From 2010 until just days before the 2015 release of Clinton Cash, Bill Clinton served as Laureate s honorary chancellor. When the Clinton campaign team obtained a copy of the book and its Clinton-Laureate connection revelation, Bill Clinton abruptly resigned.Laureate s chairman and longtime Clinton crony, Douglas Becker, is also the chairman of a nonprofit sister organization called the International Youth Foundation (IYF). Indeed, IYF s offices are less than a mile from Laureate s in Baltimore. Shortly after Laureate made Bill Clinton its honorary chancellor in April 2010, Hillary Clinton made Laureate part of her State Department Global Partnership. IYF received USAID funds before Hillary s tenure at the State Dept. But the grants the group received exploded after Bill Clinton was put on the Laureate payroll.According to a Bloomberg analysis of the Clinton Cash revelation: In 2009, the year before Bill Clinton joined Laureate, the nonprofit received 11 grants worth $9 million from the State Department or the affiliated USAID. In 2010, the group received 14 grants worth $15.1 million. In 2011, 13 grants added up to $14.6 million. The following year, those numbers jumped: IYF received 21 grants worth $25.5 million, including a direct grant from the State Department.","label":1}
{"text":"PAY TO PLAY : Hillary's Two Big Favors For Morocco Netted Her $28 Million PAY TO PLAY : Hillary's Two Big Favors For Morocco Netted Her $28 Million Breaking News By TruthFeedNews October 31, 2016  By Richard Pollock \u2013 DailyCaller  Hillary Clinton did two huge favors for Morocco during her tenure as secretary of state while the Clinton Foundation accepted up to $28 million in donations from the country's ruler, King Mohammed VI, according to new information obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group.  Clinton and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lisa Jackson tried to shut down the Florida-based Mosaic Company in 2011, operator of America's largest phosphate mining facility.  Jackson's close ties and loyalty to the Clintons were revealed when she joined the Clinton Foundation's board of directors in 2013, just months after she left the EPA. Jackson is also close to John Podesta , Clinton's national campaign chairman.  Morocco's state-owned phosphate company, OCP, would ostensibly have benefited from Jackson's move to shut down Mosaic. Mohammed donated up to $15 million to the Clinton Foundation through OCP.  Clinton also relaxed U.S. foreign aid restrictions on Morocco, thus allowing U.S. funds to be used in the territory of Western Sahara where OCP operates phosphate mining operations. The aid restrictions stemmed from Morocco's illegal occupation of the territory since 1974.  Morocco is repeatedly condemned for seizing the territory and for unilaterally extracting the country's valuable minerals, impoverishing what's left of the local Sahrawi Arabs.  No nation recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara and the United Nation's Security Council legal office and the International Court of Justice both demand that Muhammed withdraw his claim over the territory and end illegal extraction of minerals.  An email WikiLeaks made public last week illustrated how Clinton, while acting as secretary of state, negotiated an additional $12 million donation to the Clinton Foundation from Muhammed in return for holding the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. Another $1 million payment came from OCP to cover the expenses of the CGI meeting.  The regulatory assault against the U.S. phosphate industry began in earnest when Jackson launched a barrage of intimidating regulatory initiatives against Mosaic. Environmental concerns about phosphates date from 1979 but the EPA did little to address concerns related to phosphate mining until Jackson's 2011 moves.  The regulatory assault on the U.S. phosphate industry encompassed several agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS aircraft flew at low altitudes over Mosaic's central Florida operations in search of environmental problems. The EPA also threatened large Superfund penalties, which could have bankrupted Mosaic.  Phosphates are essential ingredients in fertilizers used in American farming. Closing or reducing Mosaic's output would have cost tens of thousands of American jobs and injured the country's agricultural productivity.  It also would leave the U.S. dependent upon foreign phosphate producers, but particularly Morocco's OCP. The only other countries that mine phosphates are Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.  Rep. Dennis Ross, a Republican congressman who represents the Florida district where Mosaic operates, told TheDCNF he now sees why the EPA went after Mosaic.  \"The tactics makes perfect sense as to why the EPA, under Lisa Jackson's tutelage, targeted Mosaic's phosphate operations in my district. I was never given any answers when I questioned Lisa Jackson about the EPA's deliberate actions against Mosaic,\" Ross told TheDCNF.  \"Now I know why. An environmental concern never existed. This targeting was all done as a payback to Morocco for donating millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation,\" Ross said.  An uproar from Florida regulators push-back from the state's congressional delegation and the agency's tenuous legal position all forced the EPA to end its threats against Mosaic.  Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who is vice-chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and a vocal critic of the Clinton Foundation, agreed with Ross, saying \"these facts seem to reveal the possibility of more pay-to-play activities at the Clinton Foundation.\"  \"It would be especially troubling if the Clinton Foundation was working with the EPA to suppress the American phosphate industry in favor of Morocco. The EPA and Clinton Foundation should be forthcoming about their dealings with the Moroccan government and the American phosphate industry.\"  Clinton's 2012 support of a rider on the U.S. foreign aid bill permitting foreign aid to be sent to the Western Sahara arguably legitimized Moroccan occupation of territory and depopulated the Sahrawi Arabs. Native Moroccans were sent into the country by the government to extract the minerals.  The rider approved by Clinton said that U.S. foreign aid funds \"may be used in regions and territories administered by Morocco,\" meaning, the Western Sahara. The Western Sahara is classified a \"Non-Self-Governing Territory\" under international law.  \"Previously, United States excluded Western Sahara from bilateral assistance to avoid seeming to endorse Moroccan control,\" said Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law, in a legal review of occupied territories around the world.  Hans Corell, the U.N. Security Council's Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs, said in January 2002 that \"if further exploration and exploitation activities were to proceed in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people of Western Sahara, they would be in violation of the international law principles applicable to mineral resource activities in Non-Self-Governing Territories.\"  A Dec. 10, 2015 report by the International Court of Justice ruled that \"the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco over Western Sahara is not recognized by the European Union or its Member States, or more generally by the UN, and the absence of any international mandate capable of justifying Moroccan presence on that territory.\"  But none of that mattered to former President Bill Clinton, who said nothing about the world's condemnation of Morocco's exploitation of the area for its phosphate industry, while speaking at the Clinton Foundation's 2015 Marrakech CGI conference. Instead, he praised it.  \"The Moroccans who are here will tell you that in the last several years, they have become the Saudi Arabia of phosphates, and what they have done with it, to diversify their economy and to make it part of a comprehensive strategy instead of another example of resource curse, is very impressive indeed,\" Clinton said.  \"Hillary Clinton sold her soul when they accepted that money,\" reported Politico the day after the Marrakech CGI conference.  H\/T \u2013 DailyCaller  Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Senate Republicans at their weekly policy lunch next Tuesday, a member of the Senate's Republican leadership said on Thursday. \"Our entire GOP conference looks forward to welcoming Pres. Trump to lunch to press our common agenda and speed a great American recovery,\" Senator John Barrasso, the head of the Republican Policy Committee, said on Twitter in announcing the Oct. 24 meeting.","label":0}
{"text":"Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in response to his name appearing in a trove of leaked documents about offshore investments, said he left a company registered in tax haven Barbados before taking a ministerial post with a previous government. The so-called Paradise Papers published on Sunday showed the investments of wealthy people and institutions ranging from United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to Britain s Queen Elizabeth. Reuters has not independently verified the documents. Santos was listed in the leaked documents as a board member of insurance company Nova Holding in April and May 2000 and also Global Tuition, an insurance firm focused on education, from April 1999 to May 2001. Santos said in a statement on Sunday that he left Global Tuition before taking up his duties as Finance Minister in the government of then-President Andres Pastrana in August 2000. He said he was not a partner, did not invest any money and was not paid for serving on the board. I imagine they delayed in officially registering the changes, Santos said in answers given to El Espectador newspaper and released by his office. I participated until before I became Finance Minister. Santos said that after 2000 he was a Global Tuition client for some of their insurance for the education of my three children. Global Tuition s office was closed in Colombia for a public holiday on Monday and could not be reached for comment. The company s office in the United States said any comment would come from the Colombia office. The president s statement did not mention the other company, Nova Holding. Nova Holding could not immediately be reached for comment. The documents were obtained by Germany s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and some media outlets, including El Espectador and Connectas website in Colombia. The names of three former Colombian defense ministers and two former ambassadors to the United States also appear in the leaked papers.","label":0}
{"text":"The actress Carrie Fisher, best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the \"Star Wars\" movies, was hospitalized in intensive care on Friday night after a medical episode aboard a flight to Los Angeles from London, The Associated Press reported. [ Read our obituary for Carrie Fisher ] Her brother, Todd Fisher, told The A. P. that Ms. Fisher was receiving excellent care but that he could not classify her condition. He had earlier said that she was in stable condition and was out of the emergency room at a Los Angeles hospital. In a subsequent interview he said many details about her condition or what caused the medical emergency were unknown. The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement that paramedics responded to Los Angeles International Airport around 12:10 p. m. for a patient on an inbound flight who was in cardiac arrest. They \"aggressively treated\" the patient, who was not named. Several news accounts identified the passenger as Ms. Fisher, 60. Luke Punzenberger, a spokesman for United Airlines, said in an email that medical personnel met the flight after crew members reported that a passenger was unresponsive. News of Ms. Fisher's medical episode prompted an outpouring of concern on Twitter from \"Star Wars\" and fans. Ms. Fisher is the daughter of the actress Debbie Reynolds and the singer Eddie Fisher. In addition to her performances in the original \"Star Wars\" trilogy and last year in \"Star Wars: The Force Awakens,\" Ms. Fisher has written books chronicling her life in Hollywood and battles with drug addiction. One of the books, \"Postcards From the Edge,\" was adapted into a 1990 movie that starred Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.","label":0}
{"text":"Islamic State has claimed suicide attacks that killed at least 50 people and injured more than 80 in a southern Iraqi city on Thursday. A statement on the Amaq news agency, which supports the hardline Sunni Muslim group, said the attacks carried out by the its suicide fighters targeted a restaurant and a checkpoint, killing dozens of Shi ites .","label":0}
{"text":"President Obama is right it appears the people running the Trump campaign skipped their history and civics classes.After Donald Trump got a lashing from black activists after claiming it s never been worse for them than it is right now, one would think the campaign would have gotten the message and moved on accordingly.Wrong.As usual, no one in the Trump campaign learns their lesson. And their sheer ignorance has cost them a key staff member in a key swing state.Trump s campaign chair in the prominent Mahoning County in Ohio, Kathy Miller, has resigned from her position after denying there was any racism in the 1960s and that if black people weren t successful in the last 50 years, it s their own fault. She also said there wasn t any racism until Obama got elected and skirted problems under the table:If you re black and you haven t been successful in the last 50 years, it s your own fault. You ve had every opportunity, it was given to you. You ve had the same schools everybody else went to. You had benefits to go to college that white kids didn t have. You had all the advantages and didn t take advantage of it. It s not our fault, certainly.Miller then doubled down, calling the Black Lives Matter movement a stupid waste of time and said low voter turnout in the African American community as due to the way they re raised. What does the way they re raised, supposed to mean? Maybe Miller should take a look at the fact that the Trump kids didn t vote (and couldn t even vote for their dad) before speculating on how an entire race raises their kids.Miller resigned, gave a half-ass apology, and distanced herself from the campaign. Of course Trump s Ohio state director, Bob Paduchik stressed that Miller s comments were not reflective of the campaign, and reduced her position to that of a simple volunteer to steer away any influence she once held.Once again, the Trump campaign deflects, blames, and dodges responsibility. Oh, and it once again shows that it s being run by a bunch of entitled white racists.Featured image a screen-grab","label":1}
{"text":"At a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina, a proud Ginger Glover waved a \"Lyin' Hillary Doll\" with a special edition noose on it.  Watch a clip with Glover at the Wednesday rally here via NBC News :  Glover said the noose was her way of making a point that Hillary Clinton should be \"incarcerated at the very least,\" but when asked said she doesn't think Clinton should be killed.  Yet her employees put the noose on the doll for her and she brought it out in public and waved it around. For \"effect.\"  Where is all of the Trump rallies' violent rhetoric and imagery going?  Donald Trump seems to attract people who are angry and want someone to blame.  The Washington Post did an incredible story on Melanie Austin, a Trump supporter who said Trump sees the world like she does. She realized this days after she had been injected with something intended to \"calm\" her, after she was involuntarily committed for homicidal ideation against President Obama.  The first time she had seen him, at a rally in June, she was just beginning to realize how many people saw the world the way she did, that she was one among millions. At the time, her hips were still sore from a series of injections intended to calm her. She had gotten them in February, during a difficult time in her life, when she had been involuntarily hospitalized for several weeks after what she called a \"rant,\" a series of online postings that included one saying that Obama should be hanged and the White House fumigated and burned to the ground. On her discharge papers, in a box labeled \"medical problem,\" a doctor had typed \"homicidal ideation.\"  Donald Trump and the alt-right, and indeed way too many elected Republicans, have already pointed these folks at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as Evil People Who Must Be Harmed. When you attract unstable people who are easily manipulated out of anger and fear and then direct them to harm someone, as Trump and his advisers have done suggesting Hillary Clinton might be shot and saying she should be executed with a firing squad, you are responsible for inciting violence.  Things are not going well for Trump supporters, and even buoyed as they are with unscientific online polls and delusions fed by the alt-right media and Fox News, they smell defeat.  Perhaps that's not connected to this specific woman who brought a Hillary Clinton doll in a noose to wave at a Trump rally last night, but it is a trend we're seeing in general \u2013 angry Trump fans using more and more violent rhetoric.  There will be more of this, not less, as Trump's likely defeat becomes reality outside of tinfoil circles.  This is political intimidation that mimics Donald Trump's despotic promises to jail Clinton even though she's been cleared of wrong-doing in all of the relentless Republican investigations into her activities as Secretary of State.  Of which there will be plenty more, Republicans promise us, should she win \u2014 because just like the Trump camp doesn't want you to vote, Republicans only want government to work when they're not in power.  The potent mixture of tinfoil and rage is creating a toxic brew of violent fantasies and rhetoric among Trump supporters.  Image: Screencap from NBC News video","label":1}
{"text":"Over two dozen people were injured in clashes on Friday between Honduran security forces and protesters demanding a vote recount for last month s contentious and still unresolved presidential election, according to the Red Cross. Supporters of the center-left Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, led by TV star Salvador Nasralla, set fire to tires across the country, blocking major thoroughfares in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and the second city of San Pedro Sula. Police and soldiers responded with tear gas to rock-throwing protesters who set fire to a vehicle for carrying soldiers in Tegucigalpa. Near San Pedro Sula, protesters blocked a road leading to the key Puerto Cortes port, before being moved on by security forces. The Honduran branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that 27 people had been injured in the clashes. At least five of those injured in the northern city of Villanueva, near San Pedro Sula, had been shot, it said. Honduras has been roiled by political instability in the wake of the Nov. 26 vote, which remains unresolved. Nasralla trails conservative President Juan Orlando Hernandez by 1.6 percentage points according to the official count, which has been questioned by the two main opposition parties and a wide swathe of the diplomatic corps. Honduras electoral tribunal said on Sunday that a partial recount of votes showed broadly the same result as previously, maintaining Hernandez s lead. It has until Dec. 26 to declare a winner. Last week, Honduras two main opposition parties presented formal requests to annul the results of the election.","label":0}
{"text":"This American presidential election is a dizzying wonder: a torrent of outrages, gaffes and dramas, where one story blurs into the next, most of it driven by the Republican contender, Donald J. Trump. With such a ferocious pace it's easy to lose sight of the details, especially when it comes to Mr. Trump. So here's a quick summary of what voters have learned in recent weeks. \u25a0 The attorney general of New York has started an investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation. At issue is a $25, 000 donation, made three years ago, in support of a Florida official who was weighing possible fraud charges against Mr. Trump. No charges were brought, and the official became a supporter of Mr. Trump. \u25a0 Reporters have uncovered evidence that Mr. Trump spent $20, 000 of his charity's money on a tall painting of himself. It was sent to one of his private golf clubs. \u25a0 There have been new accounts of widespread discrimination against black people at Mr. Trump's New York properties during the 1970s. \u25a0 Last Friday, he finally admitted that \"birtherism\" \u2014 the racially tinged smear of President Obama he repeated for five years \u2014 was, in fact, a lie. Instead of apologizing, Mr. Trump said the baseless conspiracy theory was started by his rival, Hillary Clinton \u2014 which was itself untrue. In a conventional race, any of these revelations, slanders or gaffes might be enough to torpedo a candidate. Not Mr. Trump. A New York News poll published last week found he enjoys support among 44 percent of likely voters, a shade behind the 46 percent backing Mrs. Clinton. She remains the outright favorite, thanks to an electoral system that is based on results. Still, her supporters have reason for concern. According to my colleagues at The Upshot, The New York Times's report, Mr. Trump's chances of victory have jumped to 26 percent as of Monday evening from 10 percent in August. Another respected website, FiveThirtyEight, put his chances at 40. 6 percent on Monday morning. Mrs. Clinton's Achilles heel is well known: A majority of Americans neither like nor trust her. If Mr. Trump is Teflon, Mrs. Clinton must be Velcro: Every transgression, real or perceived, from her career in politics stubbornly sticks to her. When it comes to Mr. Trump, though, his enduring popularity is a mystery. Mr. Trump was among the first to note his ability to defy the laws of political gravity. \"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose voters,\" he said in January. What's remarkable now is how, after months of withering scrutiny \u2014 including accusations of graft, malfeasance and racism \u2014 he remains apparently immune to the effects of negative news. This is a conundrum that has perplexed many New York Times readers who live abroad. \"Trump has sleaze written all over his face and behavior,\" Neil Douglas, a retired teacher from Canada, wrote in an email that echoed a common sentiment. \"Why can't Americans see through his braggadocio?\" In other countries, and other campaigns, politicians have been derailed by much less. In 2014, the British culture secretary, Maria Miller, resigned over a $10, 000 discrepancy in her expense report. In 2012, Mitt Romney's challenge to Mr. Obama suffered a major blow after he made a comment that criticized 47 percent of the electorate. American congressional candidates have also been wrecked by comments: In 2012, Todd Akin, a Republican from Missouri, crashed out of the Senate race soon after he made a misguided statement about \"legitimate rape. \" Yet in choosing their president, many American voters seem prepared to accept nearly anything Mr. Trump says or does. He has praised the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, and invited foreign hackers to breach American servers. He has aired crackpot conspiracy theories, such as one linking the father of Senator Ted Cruz, his Republican primary rival, to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (His source: The National Enquirer, better known for celebrity gossip and stories about U. F. O. s) He has defended the size of his penis, and suggested gun owners might take matters \"into their hands\" should Mrs. Clinton come to power. It can go wrong for Mr. Trump, a former reality TV star, as demonstrated by his undignified feud with the family of Capt. Humayun Khan, a fallen Muslim American soldier \u2014 a confrontation that appeared to mark the limit of his brash, undisciplined brand of politics. Critics say it is only a matter of time before he shoots himself in the foot again, setting off a fresh plunge in popularity. For now, Mr. Trump appears to be wearing down his critics' capacity for outrage. Protests still occur at his campaign rallies, like the one in North Carolina last week when a woman was punched in the face. But the impassioned clashes of last spring, when rival groups squared off against each other after his speeches, have become more rare. In part, Mr. Trump's endurance is a product of sheer churn \u2014 the endless stream of his own provocations. \"There's been so many scandals, so much outrage, that it's hard to focus on any one of them,\" said Charlie Sykes, a conservative talk show host and Trump critic. Mr. Sykes turned on Mr. Trump because he said that the candidate was damaging true conservatism. These days, that frequently brings him into conflict with callers to his own show, who refuse to countenance any criticism of Mr. Trump. \"They don't want to hear it,\" he said. \"They want their biases confirmed. \" That points to another underlying theme of this election: the vicious polarization of America's news media. More voters than ever are getting their news from the walled gardens of Facebook and other social media sites, where views often reinforce one another. And on mainstream channels like Fox News, conspiracy theories that were once limited to the fringes of the internet are getting an airing. As a result, public trust in the media has collapsed. A Gallup poll published last week found that 32 percent of Americans trust the news media's ability to \"report the news fully, accurately and fairly\" \u2014 the lowest figure since Gallup started the poll in 1972. The partisan breakdown of trust is even more stark, with 14 percent of Republicans saying they trust the news media, compared with 51 percent of Democrats. On Sunday night, Mr. Obama blamed media \"misinformation\" for what he predicts will be a close race in November. Can any story, or revelation, hurt Mr. Trump's Teflon qualities at this stage? Mr. Sykes, the radio host, said he believed Mr. Trump had fostered a \"cult of personality\" among conservatives that has few parallels in the history of American politics, \"except maybe in fiction. \" \"It doesn't matter what he says, or what his ideas are,\" Mr. Sykes said. \"It's about the persona. He's the strong man. And he's apparently figured out a way to bond with millions of Americans. \" With seven weeks until the vote, Mrs. Clinton needs to find a way to break that bond. Her next opportunity could come at the first presidential debate, on Sept. 26, at Hofstra University on Long Island. Mr. Trump may ultimately do the work for her: His bluster, lies and insults could eventually drag him down. But to ensure victory, Mrs. Clinton will also need to overcome her handicap. The high levels of voter distrust, unique in a modern presidential leave her vulnerable.","label":0}
{"text":"The Daily Caller is disgusting. Any media outlet that isn t disgusting wouldn t have been so cold, callous and cruel to a woman who publicly shared her difficult and tragic story of having to terminate her pregnancy after 20 weeks. The New York Times was kind enough to publish Meredith Isaakson s story in an op-ed, but what reporter Rachel Stoltzfoos and The Daily Caller did to it is beyond reprehensible.What did they do? In their own words: We Edited A New York Times Op-Ed On Abortion So It Reads Correctly. Edited so it reads correctly, does not describe the evil they just published. Isaakson found out her son wasn t likely to survive until birth, let alone after birth, because of a fatal defect in the development of his heart half of it was missing. It was an abnormality that wasn t detectable until about 20 weeks gestation, even though his heart had stopped developing correctly at five weeks. She then says: In the days that followed, after the poking and prodding, after the meetings with pediatric cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons and geneticists, my husband and I decided to terminate our pregnancy. I was 22 weeks pregnant when they wheeled me into the operating room, two weeks shy of viability in the state of California. Here s how The Daily Caller edited that paragraph: In the days that followed, after the poking and prodding, after the meetings with pediatric cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons and geneticists, my husband and I decided to terminate our pregnancy [direct an abortionist to rip him limb from limb out of my womb in order to end his life]. I was 22 weeks pregnant when they wheeled me into the operating room, two weeks shy of viability in the state of California [the point when the state of California determined he is a human with the right to live]. [emphasis in original]How does anybody do this to a woman who wanted her baby, but learned that his chances for survival were extremely slim, and was left with a choice no parent should ever have to face? How vile can you be? How black is the heart of someone who can so completely disregard what Isaakson was going through this way?But it gets worse. Isaakson goes on to say: For us, the decision was about compassion for our unborn baby, who would face overwhelming and horribly painful obstacles. Compassion for our 2-year-old son, who would contend with hours upon hours in a hospital, missing out on invaluable time spent with his parents, and the death of a very real sibling. It was about compassion for our marriage. Perhaps most important, it was about our belief that parenthood sometimes means we sacrifice our own dreams so our children don t have to suffer. Here s how The Daily Caller tore her to shreds for that paragraph: For us, the decision was about compassion for our unborn baby, who would face overwhelming and horribly painful obstacles [if we failed to suction him out of my womb with complete disregard for the pain he may already be capable of feeling]. Compassion for our 2-year-old son, who would contend with hours upon hours in a hospital, missing out on invaluable time spent with his parents, and the death of a very real sibling [killing of his brother commissioned by his mom and dad]. It [Killing our son] was about compassion for our marriage. Perhaps most important, it [killing our son] was about our belief that parenthood sometimes means we sacrifice our own dreams [kill our baby boy] so our [other] children don t have to suffer. [emphasis in original]The entire thing just gets worse, and worse. The Daily Caller has proven themselves to be pro-birth, but not pro-life, and shown that they don t give a flying rat s ass about the pain the original news caused Isaakson and her family, to say nothing of the pain of this decision.If this is how the pro-birth crowd sees this, then they re bereft of compassion, and they re bereft of love and they are bereft of empathy. Their hearts are the darkest of abysses. Sure, they say they re speaking for those who can t speak for themselves, but they do so at the horrific expense of those making the decision. There is no regard for Isaakson, and what she went through, in this perversion of her op-ed.This is probably the coldest, most heartless, most sickening thing a media outlet can do to someone. We sincerely hope that Rachel Stoltzfoos and everyone who was involved in publishing this never face such a terrible, gut-wrenching decision themselves, because nobody should ever have to go through this. Period. She and The Daily Caller owe Isaakson and every other woman who s had to make this awful decision a heartfelt apology, though, at the bare minimum.To read Isaakson s story, click here. To read The Daily Caller s so-called edit, click here, but be careful. There are no words bad enough to describe this.Image of The Daily Caller logo by Marquis de Faux, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. Flame image by Littlevisuals.co, Public Doman via Pexels","label":1}
{"text":"Putin's New Promise: 'I Will Defeat The Illuminati' Please scroll down for video  The Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown that he has never been afraid of fighting several opponents on different fronts. Now, it appears that he has a new target in his sights \u2013 the Illuminati. Vladimir Putin swears to take on the Illuminati  It has been previously alleged that Putin, who was born and raised in the shadow of important political influence and who previously served in the notorious Russian intelligence agency, the KGB is himself a bona fide member of the New World Order. However, it seems unlikely that Putin ever became a fully-fledged member of the Illuminati. From the outset of his rise to power, Putin has made it clear that he is a Russian patriot and that his first duty will always be to his country.  To this end, Putin has been seen to actively act against the interests of those within the Illuminati if their activities conflict with the health and prosperity of the Russian nation. This has allegedly led to Jacob Rothschild calling Putin 'a traitor to the New World Order.' In response, it has been claimed that Putin said that he would destroy the shadowy organization. It is believed that Putin has now established himself as the most dangerous opponent of the Illuminati alive today .  Over the years, Putin has forced out some oligarchs in the pay of the Khazarian Mafia out of the country and into areas such as the City of London. It is claimed that he has done this to loosen the stranglehold that the Illuminati have held over the Russian economy and major industries since the end of the Cold War. He has also expelled all businesses operating under the Rothschild Banking Group in recent months as he believed that they were playing a positive role in the Russian financial system.  It has also been alleged that Putin is moving outside of the realm of domestic concerns and is also thwarting Illuminati operations on the global scale. It has been said that the Russian military's intervention in Syria and commitment to protecting the ruling party headed by President Al-Assad has torpedoed Illuminati plans to lay a pipeline through the country which would have been operated by their agents.  This article (Putin's New Promise: 'I Will Defeat The Illuminati') is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv Related Articles","label":1}
{"text":"If you don t know what civil asset forfeiture is, the short answer is: The police get to take your money and property and keep it for themselves even if you didn t commit, or were even charged with, a crime. If you want the long answer, watch John Oliver s definitive take on it here. Needless to say, introducing a profit motive to policing is a terrible idea, so a lot of people were understandably happy when the federal version of the program was suspended last year.But that s all done with now:The Justice Department today announced that it is resuming a controversial practice that allows local police departments to funnel a large portion of assets seized from citizens into their own coffers under federal law.The equitable-sharing program gives police the option of prosecuting asset forfeiture cases under federal instead of state law. The Justice Department had suspended payments under this program back in December, due to budget cuts included in last year s spending bill.This program allows the police to walk into your house with little to no justification, take your giant flatscreen TV and keep it to watch football games back at the station. Just to be clear, the police have admitted that they like to target people they KNOW will have nice stuff to take. They go after nice cars, expensive computers, etc. because they get to keep it and use it knowing there s almost no chance they ll ever have to give it back.Does that sound constitutional in any way, shape or form?Even worse, as the law enforcement community tumbles to the fact that they can rob the public blind, they ve gone on a spree that puts actual criminals to shame:Asset forfeiture is fast growing in 2014, for instance, federal authorities seized over $5 billion in assets. That s more than the amount of money lost in every single burglary that year.And the police wonder WHY they ve lost the public s trust? Seriously?Now that the program has resumed, they re going to want to make up for lost time so expect to hear an increasing number of horror stories in the news. Also look for stories of the police using asset forfeiture as retaliation against all those pesky Black Lives Matter protesters that keep making them look bad by filming the police unnecessarily beating\/killing unarmed black people. Because why stop at abusing your power for personal gain when you can get some payback at the same time? Murika.","label":1}
{"text":"Saudi Arabian authorities have made further arrests and frozen more bank accounts in an expanding anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom s political and business elite, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday Dozens of royal family members, officials and business executives have already been held in the purge announced on Saturday. They face allegations of money laundering, bribery, extortion and exploiting public office for personal gain. But the sources, speaking on Wednesday, said a number of other individuals suspected of wrongdoing were detained in an expansion of the crackdown, widely seen as an initiative of the powerful heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Others under scrutiny are being telephoned by investigators about their finances but appear to remain at liberty, one of the sources said, adding that the number of people targeted by the crackdown was expected eventually to rise into the hundreds. The number of domestic bank accounts frozen as a result of the purge is over 1,700 and rising, up from 1,200 reported on Tuesday, banking sources said. A number of those held most recently include individuals with links to the immediate family of the late Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz who died in 2011, the sources said. Others appear to be lower-level managers and officials, one of the sources said. Many Saudis have cheered the purge as an attack on the theft of state funds by the rich, and U.S. President Donald Trump said those arrested had been milking their country for years . But some Western officials expressed apprehension at the possible ramifications for the secretive tribal and royal politics of the world s largest oil exporter. Saudi Arabia s stock market continued to fall in early trade on Wednesday because of concern about the economic impact of its anti-corruption purge. The Saudi index .TASI was 1.0 percent lower after half an hour of trade. Shares in companies linked to people detained in the investigation slid further. Late on Tuesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi central bank sought to ease worries about the crackdown. They said that while individuals were being targeted and having their bank accounts frozen, national and multinational companies - including those wholly or partly owned by individuals under investigation - would not be disrupted. Anti-corruption authorities have also frozen the bank accounts of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, one of the most senior members of the ruling Al Saud, and some of his immediate family members, the sources added. Prince Mohammed, or MbN as he is known, was ousted as Crown Prince in June when King Salman replaced him with the then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Since Sunday, the central bank has been expanding the list of accounts it is requiring lenders to freeze on an almost hourly basis, one regional banker said, declining to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media. MbN made his first confirmed public appearance since his ousting at the funeral on Tuesday for Prince Mansour bin Muqrin, deputy governor of Asir province, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. No cause has been given for the crash. Among business executives detained in the probe so far are billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of investment firm Kingdom Holding 4280.SE; Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar, founder of Al Tayyar Travel 1810.SE; and Amr al-Dabbagh, chairman of builder Red Sea International 4230.SE. The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had urged Saudi Arabia to carry out any prosecution of officials detained in a fair and transparent manner. Commenting on the purge, Human Rights Watch called on Saudi authorities to immediately reveal the legal and evidentiary basis for each person s detention and make certain that each person detained can exercise their due process rights . It s great that Saudi authorities are declaring that they want to take on the scourge of corruption, but the right way to do that is through diligent judicial investigations against actual wrongdoing, not sensationalistic mass arrests to a luxury hotel, Right Watch official Sarah Leah Whitson in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"Saudi Arabia has pledged $100 million to a new regional military force battling jihadist groups in West Africa s Sahel region, force member Mali said on Monday. The contribution would be a major boost to the cash-strapped force and bring pledged commitments to more than half the roughly $500 million the G5 Sahel says it needs for its first year of operations. The G5 Sahel - composed of the armies of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad - launched its first military campaign in October amid growing unrest in the Sahel, whose porous borders are regularly crossed by jihadists, including affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State. Those groups have stepped up attacks on civilian and military targets, including tourist attractions in regional capitals, raising fears the zone will become a new breeding ground for militants. Mali s foreign ministry said Saudi Arabian authorities made the pledge during a visit to the kingdom late last month by Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop. Saudi Arabia s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Sunni Muslim kingdom is competing with its main rival, Shi ite power Iran, for influence across West Africa and other parts of the Muslim world. Donors from both countries have given money to mosques and other causes there. France, the G5 s most vocal foreign backer, has pressed Saudi Arabia to take concrete actions to fight Islamist militants. French President Emmanuel Macron asked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to contribute to the G5 when he saw him in Riyadh last month. The European Union, France, the United States and each of the G5 countries have also promised to fund the force.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he has chosen David Shulkin, who currently heads the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system, to head the agency. Here is a list of Republican Trump's selections for top jobs in his administration. NOTE: Senate confirmation is required for all the posts except national security adviser and White House posts. Tillerson, 64, has spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil Corp, where he rose to chairman and chief executive officer in 2006. A civil engineer by training, the Texan joined the world's largest publicly traded energy company in 1975 and led several of its operations in the United States as well as in Yemen, Thailand and Russia. As Exxon's chief executive, he maintained close ties with Moscow and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea. Mnuchin, 54, is a successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc before leaving the investment bank in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California's largest bank. Housing advocacy groups criticized OneWest for its foreclosure practices, accusing it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname, \"Mad Dog.\" He was rebuked in 2005 for saying: \"It's fun to shoot some people.\" Sessions, 70, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump's presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country store owner, the lawmaker from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Coats, 73, served as U.S. senator from Indiana from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2017, and was U.S. ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005. He previously served as U.S. representative from Indiana's 4th Congressional District. Zinke, 55, a first-term Republican U.S. representative from Montana and a member of the House subcommittee on natural resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental safeguards on public lands. He has taken stances favoring the coal industry, which suffered during the Obama administration. The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of 3 percent. Ross, 79, heads the private equity firm WL Ross & Co. Forbes has pegged his net worth at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign's views on trade policy. He blames massive U.S. factory job losses on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization. Lighthizer, 69, served as deputy U.S. trade representative during the Reagan administration in the 1980s and has since spent nearly three decades as a lawyer representing U.S. companies in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases, currently with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. A harsh critic of China's trade practices, Lighthizer in 2010 told Congress that U.S. policymakers should take a more aggressive approach in dealing with the Asian country. Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc [APOLOT.UL], which runs the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast-food chains, has been a vociferous critic of government regulation of the workplace and the National Labor Relations Board. Puzder, 66, has argued that higher minimum wages would hurt workers by forcing restaurants to close and praises the benefits of automation, so his appointment is likely to antagonize organized labor. U.S. Representative Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is against abortion. Shulkin, 57, currently is under secretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, putting him in charge of the country's largest healthcare system. Shulkin, a physician, was chosen by Democratic President Barack Obama for the under secretary post in 2015. He has spearheaded an effort to cut waiting times for care at VA medical centers. Trump promised during the campaign to improve medical care for veterans. Shulkin would be the first VA secretary who had not served in the military. Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson had been reluctant to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. He is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand Plc, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Co. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. Perry, 66, is an addition to the list of oil drilling advocates skeptical about climate change who have been picked for senior positions in Trump's Cabinet. The selections have worried environmentalists but cheered an oil and gas industry eager for expansion. Perry, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination and also briefly ran for president in 2016, would be responsible for U.S. energy policy and oversee the nation's nuclear weapons program. DeVos, 59, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for expansion of charter schools. The final leadership role of Kelly's 45-year military career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 66-year-old retired Marine general differed with Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States' southern border with Mexico. Priebus recently was re-elected to serve as Republican National Committee chairman but will give up that job to join Trump in the White House, where the low-key Washington operative could help forge ties with Congress to advance Trump's agenda. Priebus, 44, was a steadfast supporter of Trump during the presidential campaign even as the party fractured amid the choice. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of Obama's measures to stem climate change, Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists. But he fits in with the president-elect's promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top state prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011 and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. U.S. Representative Mick Mulvaney, 49, a South Carolina Republican, is a fiscal conservative. He was an outspoken critic of former House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who resigned in 2015 amid opposition from fellow Republicans who were members of the House Freedom Caucus. Mulvaney was first elected to Congress in 2010. Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former chief executive of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012 and was an early supporter of Trump's presidential campaign. U.S. Representative Pompeo, 53, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government's sweeping collection of Americans' communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran. Walter \"Jay\" Clayton is a New York-based attorney who advises clients on major Wall Street deals, specializing in public and private mergers and acquisitions and capital-raising efforts. His past clients have included Alibaba Group Holding Company, Oaktree Capital Group and big banks. Retired Lieutenant General Flynn, 58, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama's foreign policy. Tom Bossert, 41, who worked as deputy homeland security adviser to former President George W. Bush, will serve as the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism. He currently runs a risk management consulting firm and has a cyber risk fellowship with the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. Cohn, 56, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs, had widely been considered heir apparent to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the Wall Street firm. Trump hammered Goldman and Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a \"global power structure\" that had robbed America's working class. Navarro, 67, has suggested a stepped-up engagement with Taiwan, including assistance with a submarine development program. A professor at the University of California, Irvine, who advised Trump during the campaign, Navarro argued that Washington should stop referring to the \"one China\" policy, but stopped short of suggesting it should recognize Taipei: \"There is no need to unnecessarily poke the Panda.\" Viola, 60, is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a U.S. Army veteran who served in the famed 101st Airborne Division. He founded high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial Inc and served as chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where he began his financial services career. After the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Viola helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. He is an owner of the Florida Panthers ice hockey team. CHIEF WHITE HOUSE STRATEGIST, SENIOR COUNSELOR: STEVE BANNON The former head of the conservative website Breitbart News came aboard as Trump's campaign chairman in August. A rabble-rousing conservative media figure, he helped shift Breitbart into a forum for the alt-right, a loose confederation of those who reject mainstream politics and includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. His hiring signals Trump's dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington. As White House chief of staff, Bannon, 63, will serve as Trump's gatekeeper and agenda-setter.","label":0}
{"text":"This year, let s try something a little different. Wherever you are Let s Make Christmas GREAT AGAIN SEE MORE CHRISTMAS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Xmas Files","label":1}
{"text":"Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions told the Senate Tuesday morning that voters believe immigration policy should prioritize the needs of American workers. [Sessions' remark came when Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin claimed Sessions would not support a \"humane\" rewrite of the nation's immigration law. \"There's not a spot of evidence in your career to suggest that as Attorney General you would use the authority of that office to resolve the challenges of our broken immigration system in a fair and humane manner,\" Durbin said to Sessions. \"Tell me I'm wrong. \" \"Well, you are wrong, Senator Durbin,\" Sessions replied, adding: I'm going to follow the laws passed by Congress. As a matter of policy, we disagreed on some of those issues. I do believe that if you continually go through a cycle of amnesty that you undermine the respect for the law and encourage more illegal immigration into America. I believe the American people spoke clearly in this election. I believe they agreed with my basic view. Throughout the 2016 election, the American people rejected multiple candidates who ran on a position of immigration amnesty in favor of a now Donald Trump, whom Sessions endorsed and who was vocal about his desire to enforce U. S. immigration law. In addition, the American people have considered and rejected various amnesty proposals on multiple occasions, including in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2014. Ken Palinkas, the former head of the nation's immigration caseworkers \u2014 Citizenship and Immigration Services \u2014 has warned that the DREAM Act proposals to give amnesty to illegal aliens who allegedly came to the U. S. as minors, a policy which has been championed by Durbin, would expand birthright citizenship to include the (today it is applied to the U. S. children of illegal immigrants). Palinkas has explained that DREAMer amnesty \"extend[s] birthright citizenship in the future to include the foreign citizens of other countries\" and represents a promise of \"perpetual amnesty. \" Palinkas has argued that the concept of DREAMers was intended to create a permanent loophole to U. S. borders. In other Western countries all foreign nationals illegally residing in the country are subject to immigration laws. In the United States, however, the DREAMer population was created in order to effectively carve out a sector of the illegal alien population who are exempt from immigration law. During his Tuesday confirmation hearing, Sessions went on to tell the Committee that the American people are entitled to a lawful system of immigration that advances their best interests. \"It's a good view, a decent view, a solid legal view for the United States of America that we create a lawful system of immigration that allows people to apply to this country, and if they're get accepted, they get in. If they're not accepted, they don't get it. And I believe that's right, and just, and the American people are right to ask for it. We have not delivered that for them,\" Sessions said. Sessions' declaration is remarkably similar to prior statements made by civil rights champion and Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who argued in favor of immigration control and explained that, \"credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: Those who should get in, get in those who should be kept out, are kept out and those who should not be here will be required to leave. \" Throughout the hearing, Sessions' emphasized that it is the role of Congress to implement policies supported by the American electorate. \"The best thing for us to do,\" Sessions said, \"[is] let's fix this system and then we can work together after this lawlessness has been ended and then we can ask the American people and enter into a dialogue about how to compassionately treat people who have been here a long time. \" \"I had a responsibility as a member of this body to express my view and vote as I believed was correct on dealing with issues of immigration,\" Sessions said. \"That's not the Attorney General's role. The Attorney General's role is to enforce the law. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Are Detroit's Most Terrible Schools Unconstitutional? Geoffrey R. Stone, New York Times, October 21, 2016  At one Detroit school, just 4 percent of third graders scored proficient on Michigan's English assessment test. At another, 9.5 percent did. Those students are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last month that asserts that children have a federal constitutional right to the opportunity to learn to read and write.  Illiteracy is the norm at those \"slumlike\" schools and others in Michigan's biggest city, according to the plaintiffs. The facilities are decrepit and unsafe. The first thing some teachers do each morning is clean up rodent feces before their students arrive. In some cases, teachers buy the books and school supplies, even the toilet paper.  Lawyers for the students are arguing, in effect, that Michigan is denying their clients the right to a minimally adequate education, an issue that has been raised over the years in courts in other states under their state constitutions.  {snip}  Now the litigation in Detroit is raising this issue under the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court has never addressed whether disparities among schools would be constitutionally permissible if, as the court put it in 1973, a state failed \"to provide each child with an opportunity to acquire the basic minimal skills necessary\" for success in life.  In that bitterly divided 5-4 decision, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, the court upheld a Texas law that produced unequal levels of education to students living in different school districts based on the property tax revenues of each district.  The majority maintained that the law was constitutional because it served a rational policy of permitting each school district to decide for itself how much money to spend on education. Whether the level of education was at least minimally adequate in the state's poorest schools was not at issue in the case.  In what is likely to be the opening chapter in a long legal saga, a federal district judge in Michigan must determine if a state can constitutionally provide a vast majority of its students with an excellent or at least adequate education while a minority of students receive an education that denies them the chance to acquire the minimum skills the court spoke of 43 years ago in Rodriguez.  {snip}  But in the case of children who are attending a public school, how do we know whether a state has denied some of its children even the minimal level of education required by the 14th Amendment? That is the burden that the plaintiffs in the Detroit case must meet. After reviewing their evidence, the case seems to be open-and-shut.  As the plaintiffs demonstrate, \"decades of state disinvestment in and deliberate indifference to the Detroit schools\" have denied these children \"access to the most basic building block of education: literacy.\" At the schools involved in this litigation, which serve almost exclusively low-income minority children, the student proficiency rates \"hover near zero in nearly all core subject areas.\" At one school, for example, 100 percent of the sixth graders scored below proficiency in reading.  {snip}","label":1}
{"text":"Bill O Reilly can always be trusted to be a total ass, especially when it comes to anything that runs counter to his myopic worldview. The Women s Marches, which took place all over the world and included three million women here at home, seem to be his latest target. In a conversation with Charles Krauthammer, O Reilly went completely off the rails and actually compared the marches to totalitarianism.As Krauthammer talked about the real people who showed up to the Women s March on Washington, he obviously touched a nerve with O Reilly, who thinks women don t do anything unless they re told to: Don t you feel they showed up because they were told to show up? If you look at the totalitarian governments in the 20th century- Krauthammer, despite having his own bizarre view of the marches, seemed incredulous. He tried to interrupt with, You re told to show up? Who tells anybody to show up in this country? It s important to note that Krauthammer is not exactly the most liberal of pundits, yet O Reilly really floored him with this. Krauthammer did bring up a good point: When people do what they re told, it s because there will be negative consequences if they don t. O Reilly decided to try and explain what the consequences are, and he fell flat on his face: Well, they have to go they don t have to go through a negative, they have to go to be with her brothers and sisters, and to show their solidarity and that they are good people and fight the fascist racists. I mean, it s a whip up, and if you study history, all the totalitarian regimes were fueled by whip-ups, okay? Really? It s not possible that anybody went because they had something to say? Nobody went because they were told to or because they were afraid of bad things should they not go. Women went because they had something to say.And if anybody s totalitarian here, it s the massive Cheeto living in the White House now. O Reilly is being just as stupid as ever with this and Krauthammer can t really believe it. Watch below:","label":1}
{"text":"Videos Economist Jack Rasmus: Eurozone Benefits The Strongest Economies At The Expense Of The Weakest 'Greece has tied its tail to the eurozone, dominated by Germany, and it can never get out of this situation as long as Germany dominates the institutions, which it does, because the whole arrangement is great for Germany,' the writer and economist tells MintPress News. | October 31, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! Bystanders wait to be handed bags of oranges during a free distribution of fruit and vegetables as a protest by farmers and vendors over proposed pension reforms, in Athens on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. Greece's leftwing government is facing an escalating wave of protests over its proposed pension overhaul that has been demanded by bailout creditors. (AP Photo\/Petros Giannakouris)  ATHENS \u2014 This has been another eventful year in Greece. Almost one year after it turned its back on the July 2015 referendum result which rejected further austerity, the Syriza-led government has pushed forward a program of even harsher austerity, spending cuts, and privatizations .  Following the British vote to proceed with \"Brexit,\" or a departure from the European Union, fears that Greece might follow suit led Greece's lenders to demand even more austerity measures from a country already mired in an economic depression.  In this interview, Dr. Jack Rasmus , a professor of economics and politics at St. Mary's College of California, analyzes these issues and the many challenges facing the Greek and European economies today.  The author of such books as \" Looting Greece \" and \" Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy ,\" Dr. Rasmus shares his insights into the consequences of austerity for Greece and other peripheral European economies, and presents his proposed solutions for an end to the crisis and austerity.  MintPress News (MPN): In September, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gave his annual \"state of the nation\" address, where he boasted that the Greek economy has turned the corner, that unemployment is going down, that salaries will be increased, and that the country is returning to growth. Is this what Greece's economic indicators actually show? Protesters march to the Greek Parliament in Athens on Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012. Greece's unions are holding their third general strike in six weeks to press dissenters in the country's troubled coalition government not to back a major new austerity program that will doom Greeks to further hardship in a sixth year of recession. Two days of demonstrations are planned to start Tuesday, continuing until lawmakers vote late Wednesday on the bill to slash euro13.5 billion ($17.3 billion) from budget spending over two years. (AP Photo\/Dimitri Messinis)  Dr. Jack Rasmus (JR): No, not quite. Greece's debt is still the same as it was in 2011, roughly 180 percent of GDP. Unemployment has come down by only 3 to 4 percent, so instead of 27 percent, it's about 23 to 24 percent. That's depression-level unemployment. All the other indicators in the economy are flat or declining, so I don't see anywhere that Greece is really \"recovering,\" and neither, really, is the entire eurozone economy. It's been bouncing along the bottom.  As I said in my book \"Systemic Fragility,\" it's a case of chronic stagnation. [The eurozone] might grow a little, 0.5 percent or 1 percent above GDP, mostly as a result of Germany's growth, then it flattens out or goes below. Most of the periphery economies in Europe are stagnant or in a recession, as they have been for quite some time.  As far as raising wages, Greece cannot raise, at least in the public sector, any wages without the approval of the troika [Greece's three major lenders: the European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund]. It's a real stretch to say that Greece is recovering. It's kind of moving sideways, in the condition of still chronic economic depression.  MPN: One of the perceptions that has been prevalent in global public opinion with regard to the economic crisis in Greece is that the country has been \"bailed out\" with billions upon billions of euros in free money. Is this really the case, and where has the so-called \"bailout\" money to Greece actually gone?  JR: Countries don't get bailed out. Governments, banks, businesses, and sometimes, though not so frequently, households get bailed out. So the question is, who got bailed out here, in the debt restructuring deals of 2010, 2012, 2015, and this past spring? The banks got bailed out several times. Foreign investors and speculators in Greek bonds and other securities clearly got bailed out in 2012. If you look at where the money has gone, there's $400 billion in debt in Greece still, that they have to pay off, with an economy that is less than half that size, so it's impossible.  Where has all this money gone? Recent studies by the European School of Management and Technology documenting the 2010 and 2012 bailouts indicate that 95 percent of all the loans to \"bail out\" the Greek government, which then bailed out the Greek banks \u2014 95 percent of that went back to Northern Europe, mostly to the German and Northern European banks that had loaned so much money to Greece. [Bailout funds also went] to the troika, particularly the European Commission, that then distributed it to the banking system and investors in turn. The EC is the big player here, and to some extent the European Central Bank, and to a minor extent now the International Monetary Fund. So, 95 percent of all the money loaned to Greece went right back to [Europe] and less than 5 percent of that went back into the Greek economy. Greece has been subsidizing the financial system elsewhere in Europe. A supporter of the communist-affiliated union PAME takes part in an anti-austerity rally in front of the parliament in Athens, Monday, Oct. 17, 2016.  MPN: What do you believe needs to be done about the Greek debt?  JR: You might ask what needs to be done about debt throughout the eurozone, because it's not just Greece. Greece is perhaps the most serious case, but other places in the periphery of Europe are still heavily indebted. You cannot sustain, with austerity measures designed to pay the interest and principal on debt, a $400-plus billion debt based on an economy that's less than $200 billion. Even the IMF has come to that conclusion and is maneuvering with the other troika members on that particular point.  Is [the debt] legitimate? Well, you have to understand the origins of this debt. It was originally private sector debt that was created as a result of the formation of the eurozone in 1999, the ECB as part of that creation, and other elements of the eurozone agreements, particularly the Lisbon Strategy that Germany adopted. Germany and other Northern European businesses and bankers pumped money and capital into the periphery, including Greece, from 2005 onward. Germany had a strong competitive advantage in exports, so a lot of the money and capital was pumped into the periphery, including Greece, in order to purchase German and other exports. So the money went in and circulated around, leaving a pile of private sector debt in Greece, Italy, and other places.  Then we had the crash of 2008-2009 and the debt could not be repaid, and the troika stepped in to [offer] the governments of Greece and other countries money in order to continue to bail out the private sector and enable the repayment of the private debt. So it starts out as private debt, because of this great imbalance in exports within the eurozone, and then that gets converted to government debt, and then the big crash of 2008-2009 adds even more debt, and then you have the recession of 2011-2013 in the eurozone and the 2012 bailout, which piled on more debt in order to pay the old debt, and then in 2015 the same thing. So the troika's piling more debt on Greece in order for Greece to pay the previous debt, and that's totally unsustainable. They're going to have to expunge some of that debt.  Of course, the Germans, Wolfgang Schauble [the German finance minister] and the coalition in the north, does not want to allow that. And they don't really want to change the eurozone, because the eurozone, while very imbalanced for the periphery, has benefited Germany significantly. [The Germans] dominate the finance ministers' council in the EC and they dominate the ECB, and they're just keeping the situation the way it is because it's profitable for them. Demonstrators hold a poster against the austerity policy of Germany prior to a special session of the parliament Bundestag on negotiations with Greece for a new bailout in Berlin, Germany, Friday, July 17, 2015. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)  MPN: Why must Greek banks be nationalized, in your view?  JR: Look at the debt negotiations of 2010, 2012, and 2015. What happened was the ECB, which pretty much controls the Greek central bank \u2014 the ECB is just a council of central banks dominated by the Bundesbank [the German central bank] and its allies, so they have control \u2014 and what you saw in the negotiations is that in 2015, the ECB put the screws to the Greek economy, and Syriza collapsed and agreed each time the screws were tightened, bringing the economy to a halt. They couldn't deal with the squeeze on the economy by the ECB. This brought the economy to a halt, squeezing it and of course not releasing loans that [the troika] had agreed to provide Greece under previous agreements. There was an economic squeeze that Syriza did not have a strategy to deal with, and eventually it capitulated.  You've got to nationalize, make the Greek central bank and the banking systems independent of the ECB. Gain control over your economy once again, and that is one of several key steps to prevent the squeeze every time you attempt to renegotiate the debt or restructure the debt. Without an independent, Greek, people-controlled banking system, the eurozone and the troika will squeeze and bring Greece to its knees every time. We've seen that three times. You've got to nationalize the banking system, including the central bank, or if you want to just leave the central bank as part of the ECB structure, go ahead, but create an independent central bank authority elsewhere in the Greek government.  In the U.S. during the Great Depression, the U.S. central bank had screwed up badly, and [President Franklin Delano] Roosevelt took over and had his Treasury Department take over and run the economy. Greece would have to set up a parallel central bank in its finance sector, and isolate and bypass the influence of the ECB through the Greek central bank. You would have to create a parallel currency as part of this and impose serious controls on bank withdrawals and capital flows outside the country, which Syriza did not really do, because the ECB and the troika opposed it. When you have all the capital, bank withdrawals and capital flight is another way of squeezing the country economically. FILE \u2013 In this Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015 file photo, a man walks past street art depicting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Athens, Greece. Tsipras' decision to sign off on a bailout led to many in his left-wing Syriza party to quit in protest.  MPN: The current government in Greece has been continuing a policy of massive privatizations of Greek public assets, with profitable airports and harbors having been privatized in the past year, in addition to the recent selloff of the Greek national railroad for a total of \u20ac45 million ($49 million). What are the short- and long-term impacts of the privatization of such public assets?  JR: The short-term is that when you privatize them, under the aegis of the troika, if you sell below market prices, which a lot of these assets are being sold at, that's profit on the sale for the investors who are buying up these assets. But once the assets are in private hands, where does the revenue go? Does it go back into Greece or does it go back into the pockets of the investors and the corporations and the banks outside Greece that are buying it up? Well, it goes out. It's a form of capital flight. Money that is needed in Greece flows out of Greece.  This is a new form of financial imperialism, wealth extraction in other words, that is being structured and managed on a state-to-state basis. It's not 19th century British imperialism where they set up a factory in India, paid them low wages, and brought the textiles back to London to re-sell at a higher price. It's not that kind of production imperialism. This is financial imperialism imposed on Greece, and it's a new form that's emerging everywhere, where you indebt the country and then you force the country to engage in austerity in order to pay the principal and interest on the debt, and you extract the income from the country. Privatizations are another form of that.  You privatize public goods, you get them at fire-sale prices, and then the income flows from those assets flow back to the coffers of the private companies or the banks, outside of Greece.  The other consequence is when you privatize, they come in and they cut costs, which means they lay off people in mass numbers, they put a hold on wages, they get rid of benefits, and they do everything else to maximize their revenue.  Finally, longer term, it means that Greece has less control over its own economy if it can't control its infrastructure and everything is owned by foreigners. Then you can't influence it as much, and if you're part of the eurozone, you're legally prohibited from what you can do to make sure that these foreign-owned infrastructure companies are behaving in terms of the benefit for the public sector, for the rest of Greece.  MPN: You have argued in your book, \"Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy,\" that there are nine major trends which account for the economic troubles that are seen on a global scale. What are some of these trends?  JR: Everywhere, and particularly since 2008, we see central banks and monetary policy to be ascendant, and that means creating money, pumping it into the economy to bail out the financial systems, the financial institutions, the banks and the shadow banks, meaning speculators, hedge funds, private equity firms, asset management companies, and so forth. We've seen bailouts of tens of trillions of dollars since 2008. All of that liquidity injection into the economy has driven interest rates down to zero or even, in Europe and Japan and elsewhere, negative rates, and that fuels debt. With rates that cheap, corporations and businesses float new corporate bonds, and they use the money not to invest necessarily, they use it to buy back the stock and drive up the stock prices and pay out dividends, or they sit on it, they hoard it, or they send it to emerging markets. That's a problem everywhere, and that's the result of massive liquidity injections, which have really been escalating since the 1980s, when controls on international capital flows were eliminated everywhere.  After the 1970s, when the Bretton Woods system collapsed and central banks took over, the combination of those has led to the financialization of the global economy in the 21st century, where profits are far greater for investing and speculating in financial securities than they are in investing in real assets and real things that create real jobs and real income and real consumption. We're becoming dependent on debt more and more. The economy is increasingly credit- and debt-driven, and that's the result of this massive liquidity injection, and it also leads to a shift from real asset investment \u2014 investing in real things that create jobs that people need \u2014 toward financial asset investment. That means that real investment collapses over time and productivity collapses over time as well, and we see that happening everywhere.  That's a major point that I argued about in my book, \"Systemic Fragility,\" this financialization of the global economy based on liquidity and debt and squeezing out. It's diverting money and capital from real investment into financial speculation. What's going on in Greece is a concrete expression of this, the reliance on financial means and financial manipulation. The periphery in the eurozone is at a great disadvantage to Germany and others, and they're being manipulated financially. All the payments on interest and the debt flow back to the north. This is all flowing through the EC to the private sector, and it's a nice constant money capital flow from interest payments and privatization and speculation on government bonds and securities and stocks in these countries as the volatility occurs.  It's a reflection, in Greece, of what's happening on a broader scale elsewhere in the global economy, and that's why we haven't seen much of a recovery in the global economy. Global trade is stagnant and real investment everywhere is drifting toward zero, productivity is negative almost everywhere, even in the U.S., and we're seeing growth rates of barely 1 percent, 1.5 percent, at best, when it should be double that. We see these growing, non-performing bank loans, almost $2 trillion in Europe, the worst in Italy with about $400 billion. We see the same thing in Japan and in China. We're becoming more systemically fragile financially because of this shift to financial speculation. In this July 5, 2012 file photo President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi speaks during a news conference in Frankfurt, central Germany. (AP Photo\/dapd, Mario Vedder, File)  MintPress: What is your outlook for the eurozone economy and the difficulties that it is currently facing?  JR: The European banking system has never fully recovered from the 2008-2009 crash. The ECB is pumping money into the banking system in various ways, long-term refinancing options and all the bailout funds and qualitative easing and negative interest rates and so forth. They're desperately pumping money into the banking system, but the banks aren't really lending, at least to those businesses that would reinvest in real assets to create jobs. It's far more profitable to make money now. Investors make more money from financial speculation than they do from investing long-term and expecting to get a return over 10 to 20 years for investment in a real company that creates real things.  We can see the strains now with the non-performing loans, in particular in Italy. Of course, we know the situation with the non-performing bank loans in Greece. Portugal is in bad shape as well in terms of non-performing loans, and now we see even institutions like [Germany's] Deutsche Bank and others beginning to feel this strain, and the further impact on the European banking system of the \"Brexit\" [the departure of Great Britain from the European Union].  The problem is that the private banks are either hoarding the cash, they won't invest in real growth, or they're sending their money offshore to emerging markets, or they're using it, as in the U.S., to buy back stock and pay out dividends and loaning money to companies to do just that. The global economy has changed dramatically in ways that make it much more fragile than ever before. A lot of debt has been building up everywhere: Over $50 trillion in additional debt has occurred since 2009, and when the next recession comes, how are they going to pay that debt?  When times are stable or growing, you can add debt without a great crisis emerging, but when you have a recession or a downturn that's significant, where are you going to get the money capital to pay the principal and interest on the debt? Then you start seeing defaults and you start seeing financial asset price collapses going on, and now you're back in 2008-2009. That's the picture of the global economy. A farmer tries to protect himself as he clashes with a riot policeman during an anti-government protest at central Syntagma square in Athens, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Greek farmers protesting over planned tax and pension reforms demanded by the country's bailout creditors have clashed outside parliament with police, who used tear gas to disperse them. (AP Photo\/Yorgos Karahalis)  MPN: What would be the steps for Greece to follow, in your view, in order to escape the spiral of economic depression and austerity?  JR: Syriza made it clear, when it came into power, that it was not in favor of \"Grexit\" [a Greek departure from the eurozone], and it has always maintained that position. An unprepared, \"we're leaving the eurozone and the euro\" kind of decision would cause a collapse of values, particularly among those who have investments in some savings in Greece. To some extent, Syriza was caught between a rock and a hard place here. They couldn't or didn't want to advocate an exit, and at least those who had investments didn't want it because of the potential effect on their investments. The broader Greek populace thinks, still, that to be European you have to be in the eurozone. That's a big mistake.  I think what Greece and Syriza should have done is to create a parallel currency and to take over its banking system. In other words, make the banking system truly independent, including the Greek central bank, and if that was not possible, bypass the Greek central bank and set up a central banking function in the finance ministry, as the U.S. has done at different times. Create a parallel currency, and policies and programs to get people to convert their euros into the parallel currency. Maybe declare that henceforth all taxes to the Greek government will be paid with the parallel currency, and that means that people would then trade in their euros for the parallel currency to pay their taxes.  Then tell the troika [the EC, the ECB, and the IMF \u2014 collectively, Greece's lenders] that we're going to pay you in your euros, but if we run out of euros here as a result of the conversion, well, tough luck, we don't have a way of paying you, let's negotiate a final deal where you expunge some of it and we pay you off and we go our separate ways. Of course, you would have to create significant capital flow controls, which has always been a problem every time there's been a crisis; the money flows out of Greece. Take the economy out of the control of the troika without a formal exit.  That could have been done, but for some reason Syriza and its finance advisers either didn't want to do that or didn't know how to do that.  MPN: Arguments that have been heard against a parallel currency include the claim that the existence of two currencies would create a situation where there would be \"haves\" and \"have nots\" \u2014 between those who would hold a stronger, hard currency, compared to those holding a weaker, devalued currency. How do you respond to this?  JR: There are policies and approaches you can take that entice and require people to convert their euros into the new currency. That would raise the demand and therefore the value, the price of the new currency. If you just had the currency and you didn't have this forced trade-in, then of course you would have \"haves\" and \"have nots,\" the new currency would collapse, and pretty soon no one would want to use it. But, for example, saying that taxes could only be paid with the new currency, would force people who had corporations and businesses and so forth to purchase the new currency with the euro. It would undermine the value of the euro in Greece and it would raise the value of the new currency in Greece as well. That might set off a parallel elsewhere in the eurozone with other countries thinking the same thing, which would undermine the value of the euro and put the squeeze on the troika for once. Greece never put the squeeze on the troika, it was just the opposite in all of these negotiations that occurred, they never really hurt the troika in negotiations, and that's the only way you prevail in negotiations. You've got to make it unpleasant for the opposition. Syriza never did that, they played along and made concession after concession.  Syriza thought that their example would strike a spark elsewhere in Europe of other social democratic forces and governments. They thought that they would get the rest of the social democracies behind them and together they would reform the eurozone. That was a fiction, a fantasy thought on the part of Alexis Tsipras and others, but that was the core of their whole strategy. European social democracy is a dying force, and that's why you see the growth on the fringes, both to the right and the left.  Tsipras and [former Greek finance minister] Yanis Varoufakis' problem was that they thought they could get all these elements behind them and that together they would have enough weight to force Schauble and other finance ministers to make concessions. Well, Schauble and the other ministers, the \"German faction,\" as I call it, within the finance ministers' council in the EC, remained dominant. At every step along the way, whenever Syriza and its few allies tried to make a compromise where some concessions were made to them, the German faction squelched it. We saw that, for example, at the very end, when [Greece held] the referendum in July 2015. Greece held the vote, and the vote said \"go back and negotiate a better deal for us,\" and what did Tsipras do? He totally caved in to the Schauble faction, and then the Schauble faction said, \"The offer we made last week is now off the table, you're going to have to accept an even worse one.\" So they put the screws to Syriza, and Syriza looked to its allies in the EC, and they totally caved in as well. Things just got worse and worse until you had the final [austerity] agreement on August 20, 2015.  It was a step-by-step retreat from [Syriza's election in] January 2015, because Syriza had the wrong strategy and was not engaged in certain necessary tactics. Of course, the troika itself had a lot of cards to play. It would have been an uphill fight for Syriza. The time where they might have been able to strike some concessions from the troika was 2012, but New Democracy [the center-right party in power at the time in Greece] was totally in the pocket of the troika, so that was impossible.  [This past spring], the IMF and the troika were worried about \"Brexit\" and what impact that might have on renewing \"Grexit.\" So they put the screws to Greece again, raised the debt even more, austerity even more, and I think another round of that is coming, because the IMF wants out of the troika deal. We'll see what happens at the IMF meeting, but they haven't endorsed even the 2015 agreement because they know it's unsustainable. I think the IMF is maneuvering to have the EC to buy its portion of the debt, and once that happens, the EC will demand even more austerity from Greece. President of France Francois Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel attend the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) meeting at the G20 the G-20 leaders summit in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014.  MPN: In the event that a parallel currency is implemented and steps are taken to maintain or strengthen its value, could that be a prelude to a switch to a national, domestic currency?  JR: Yes. At some point, one currency will become dominant. You can't have two equal currencies like that. Another advantage of the new currency is that it will start out at less value than the euro, and that will be used as the trading currency. That will stimulate Greek exports to elsewhere, outside the eurozone.  Part of the problem is that the periphery in Europe is so dependent on exports and imports to Germany and the north, that it can't really engage in its own independent export strategy without cutting wages. Throughout Europe, you have what's called \"internal devaluation,\" when you are stuck with a currency and someone else's central bank, the ECB and the euro. You can't really engage in independent monetary policy to stimulate your economy and you can't engage in lowering your currency in order to gain some advantage in exports. You're stuck, and only the most powerful country that's most efficient and has the lowest costs is able to take advantage of global exports, and that's Germany. The weaker economies of the periphery will always be at a disadvantage to Germany when it comes to trying to push their exports anywhere else outside the eurozone.  That's the lesson. The lesson is that you've got a 1999 agreement in which you have this quasi-central bank, the ECB, and you have [the euro], and that arrangement significantly benefits the most efficient, low-cost producer, which is Germany, at the expense of the periphery. Until you have a true central bank and fiscal union to some extent, that will pump the money into the periphery to help it grow when it doesn't, you will always have the situation you have in Europe right now.  Compare that to the U.S., where there's a fiscal union, so that if certain states have economic problems \u2026 the federal government can pump money into those specific locations. If you don't have a true federal government and fiscal union, you can't do that, and if your central bank is dominated by the largest economy \u2014 Germany \u2014 even the monetary policy has no effect. And if it's a single currency, it's to the advantage of the stronger economy at the disadvantage of the weaker.  The eurozone economy is structured to emphasize the growth of the strongest economies at the expense of the weaker, and that's not going to change. It's built into the eurozone. You cannot create a currency union and a customs union without a true banking union and fiscal union. More and more countries in the eurozone are beginning to come to that conclusion, but it was foreordained. Economists knew this from the beginning, and that's the tragedy. Greece has tied its tail to the eurozone, dominated by Germany, and it can never get out of this situation as long as Germany dominates the institutions, which it does, because the whole arrangement is great for Germany. A protesters carries a protest sign during a rally prior to the opening of the new European Central Bank (ECB) headquarter in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, March 18, 2015. At least four police cars were set alight and two officers injured Wednesday as authorities confronted violent anti-austerity protesters ahead of the inauguration ceremony for the European Central Bank's new headquarters (AP Photo\/dpa, Arne Dedert)  MPN: Tell us about your most recent book, \"Looting Greece.\"  JR: It's really a case study of the consequences of financialization and globalization and integration. I argue that there is this phenomenon of the smaller economies being tied into the larger economies through free trade agreements, which lead to currency unions, which lead to banking unions, and then you've got a situation like Greece and the euro periphery and the problems associated with that.  The book also takes a historical look at the origins of the Greek debt, that starts in 1999 with the [creation of the] eurozone, the adoption of the euro by Greece in 2002 and the consequences of that, how the debt developed, first in the private sector because of German export domination and then conversion of the private debt in 2008-2009 to the public debt, and then the collapse of 2008-2009, which added to the government debt. Then you had the 2012 agreement where the private sector was bailed out, and that added more debt, and then 2015 and so forth. All this is described in detail in the early chapters, and then most of the book is a step-by-step look at the negotiations between Syriza and the troika, from [Syriza's January 2015 election] through the spring of 2016, and what were the strategic and tactical errors of Syriza and the strategic and tactical moves by the troika which enabled it to prevail.  At the end, [the book discusses] how this is a form of a new emerging financial and wealth extraction from smaller economies by the larger economies, because of the globalization and integration arrangement that exists, the emergence of financial extraction and financial exploitation, and how central banks are feeding that all. This will lead to my next book, which is about global central banks and the problems they've created as we move to another crisis, which I think is coming in the next five years. Demonstrators dressed as clowns pass by a burning police car Wednesday, March 18, 2015 in Frankfurt, Germany. Blockupy activists try to blockade the new headquarters of the ECB to protest against government austerity and capitalism. (AP Photo\/Michael Probst) Be Sociable, Share!","label":1}
{"text":"The Senate approved complex health care legislation on Wednesday that would increase funding for disease research, address weaknesses in the nation's mental health systems and vastly alter the regulatory system for drugs and medical devices. The vote sealed a final legislative victory for President Obama, who strongly supported the bill against objections from many liberal Democrats and consumer groups. In many ways the bill, known as the 21st Century Cures Act, is a return to a more classic approach to legislation, with policy victories and some disappointments for both parties, and potential benefits for nearly every American whose life has been touched by illness, drug addiction and mental health issues. Years in the making, the measure passed 94 to 5 after being overwhelmingly approved by the House last week. One major winner \u2014 and a donor to both parties \u2014 was the pharmaceutical industry its role set off fierce but futile opposition by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts. On many of the areas addressed by the bill, pharmaceutical companies were in step with the interests of patients desperate for cures, an unusual and emotionally charged alliance between an industry and its consumers. The bill was a test of Ms. Warren's muscle, exercised from the far left of the Senate Democratic caucus, and it is one that did not go well. \"I will fight it,\" she said of the bill last week on the Senate floor, \"because I know the difference between compromise and extortion. \" In the end, however, not a single member of her home state, which has many medical research centers joined her. Nor did anyone else apart from three other senators \u2014 Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both of Oregon \u2014 and Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah. The measure would benefit people with mental illness and chronic diseases, biomedical researchers, pregnant women, hospitals, children with diabetes, people addicted to opioid drugs, children who are bullied, and those who are gravely ill. \"I doubt that there is a family in America who will not be touched by this important legislation,\" said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. In a statement issued after the Senate vote, Mr. Obama said, \"The Cures Act makes important investments that will save lives. \" \"This is a reminder of what we can do when we look out for one another,\" the president said. \"Like Joe Biden and so many other Americans, I've lost people I love deeply to cancer. I've heard often from those whose loved ones are suffering from Alzheimer's, addiction and other debilitating diseases. Their heartbreak is real, and so we have a responsibility to respond with real solutions. This bill will make a big difference, and I look forward to signing it as soon as it reaches my desk. \" Mr. Obama has noted that the bill includes money to combat the opioid epidemic, to advance his Precision Medicine Initiative, which aims to collect genetic data on one million American volunteers so scientists can develop treatments, and to support Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. 's \"moonshot\" to cure cancer. Mr. Biden \u2014 whose son, Beau, died of a brain tumor last year \u2014 presided on a procedural vote to move the bill forward in the Senate Monday night, a moving moment for most members of the Senate. While Republicans and Democrats often fight over government spending, the bill benefited from its largess to one agency that has broad support, the National Institutes of Health. \"I don't think there is enough money that we can put into the N. I. H. ,\" said Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, \"because it is important and it affects all Americans independent of political party, race, sexual orientation \u2014 you name it. \" The bill gives the health institutes the authority to finance research using special procurement procedures, as opposed to more conventional grants and contracts. It also requires the agency's director to establish \"Eureka prize\" competitions to advance biomedical research and improve treatments for serious illnesses. The bill raises the status of mental health issues by creating a new assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, to be appointed by the president. It directs federal agencies to step up enforcement of laws that require equal insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses. Federal laws and rules requiring mental health parity have been adopted with bipartisan support over the last 20 years, but a White House task force found recently that compliance was lagging. \"We didn't get everything we needed,'\" said Representative Tim Murphy, Republican of Pennsylvania, the architect of provisions to improve the treatment of mental illness, \"but we needed everything we got. \" Major provisions of the bill push the Food and Drug Administration to speed the review and approval of drugs and medical devices. Kim Monk of Capital Alpha Partners, a policy research firm for investors, described the bill as \"a holiday win for much of the health sector. \" Scott Whitaker, president and chief executive of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a trade group for device makers, hailed the bill for creating \"an expedited pathway for breakthrough medical technologies \u2014 those that offer the best hope for patients with diseases\" and few treatment options. In reviewing new devices, the bill says, the F. D. A. shall consider the \"least burdensome\" means of showing their safety. In considering whether to approve new drugs or new uses for medications, the bill says, the F. D. A. shall pay more attention to \"patient experience data\" showing the impact of a disease or treatment on patients' lives, and their treatment preferences. The legislation does not include provisions to rein in prescription drug prices, a significant victory for the pharmaceutical industry. Consultants to the industry said that drug makers had kept a low profile in their lobbying on the legislation, knowing that any conversations on Capitol Hill could turn quickly to drug prices. \"When the cost of our prescription drugs is skyrocketing, this bill does nothing to combat excessive prices,\" said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee on health and human services. She voted against the measure. \"While the bill authorizes $4. 8 billion to the N. I. H. over the next 10 years \u2014 on average, a mere $480 million a year \u2014 this is barely a quarter per year of what the House passed last year,\" Ms. DeLauro said. \"There is also no guarantee that the appropriators will follow through and provide funding each year. \" Representative Kathy Castor, Democrat of Florida, who voted for the bill, said she too wished that more of the money had been guaranteed. \"Medical research in America today should not be subject to the whims of congressional budget battles or political fights,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump on Tuesday declined to endorse two fellow Republicans, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and U.S. Senator John McCain, in their upcoming re-election battles after both Republicans criticized his remarks about the family of a slain Muslim U.S. Army captain. Mirroring the language Ryan used about supporting Trump before his eventual endorsement, Trump told The Washington Post he's \"not quite there yet\" on supporting the congressman in Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin.","label":0}
{"text":"This week, a racially-motivated massacre took place at an apartment complex in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The triple homicide shows where the politics of hate will lead America.Three people were slaughtered in horrifying circumstances this week, because their white neighbor was enraged by their ethnic origin and grasp of the English language. The terrifying scenes unfolded at a four unit apartment complex. One unit was occupied by Dan J Popp, one by the Manso-Perez family, and one by Phia Vue, his wife Mai, and their four children.The Journel-Sentinel reports that 40-year-old Jesus R. Manso-Perez and his son passed the apartment of their 39-year-old neighbor Dan J. Popp on their way to the basement laundry room. Popp invited them into his home with the offer of a neigborly beer, which they declined. Popp then cut short the niceties and got straight to his point, asking the pair where they were from. At their response, he reportedly said: Oh, that s why you don t speak English. You re Puerto Rican. The father and son bid their goodbyes and went on to do their laundry. However, when they made their way back up to their apartment, Popp was waiting for them on the stairs, rifle in hand. You guys got to go, Popp said, according to police, before shooting Jesus in the head, killing him. He then fired at his son, but missed.Hearing the gunshots, Phia and Mai K. Vue hid in the bedroom with their four children and a 25-year-old relative who had been watching the children that day. The couple had just returned home from a day trip. When Popp began hammering at their door, they called the police and stayed in their hiding places. But Popp kicked down their door and searched the home until he found them. He demanded 36-year-old Phia leave the room, took him into the bathroom and shot him dead. Then he returned for Mai, dragging her and two young daughters out of the apartment while the rest of the family ran out in front and around them.The couple s young son was first to reach the police and told them: He shot my father; he s in the bathroom. A further shot then rang out from the apartment complex as Popp shot and killed 32-year-old Mai.Popp then surrendered himself to police. He has no previous criminal record, and is detained on bail of $150,000, while mental health assessments are completed.The explosion of violence is however, the terrifying end game of the ever escalating racist rhetoric and violence we are seeing in the current political climate. The very worst elements of white America are being unleashed. The bitter hatred of difference, the idea that non-European immigrants to the United States are the root of all evil and that everything wrong with the nation can be traced back to those groups.There is very good reason why, at home and abroad, the rise of the racist right in modern America is being compared to the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1930 s Germany. That reason is simple: the comparison is accurate.Depressed wages, a perceived crisis of masculinity, the demand for a tough leader who would drive through his agenda as an authoritarian, an obsession with a perceived dent to national pride which must be remedied with a show of economic and military force at home and abroad and pure, unadulterated racism.When you unleash this level of anger at a scapegoat, people set out to hurt and kill that scapegoat.This is the vision of America that the racist right represents. And it is a vision of hell.The victory of such forces would be a disaster for America as a nation, but also for the international community in which she sits. This is not some television show where we sit back and watch the fall-out from the safety of our couch. This is real life. The racist right is a real and present danger, and it must be confronted with relentless and unwavering opposition by everyone who has a stake in a progressive, free, and hopeful America.","label":1}
{"text":"If ever there was a reminder that Sen. Ted Cruz is NOT the Republican Party s reasonable alternative to Donald Trump, it s in his response to the Brussels terror attacks. Losing badly to Trump, Cruz is clearly feeling the pressure to capitalize on the tragedy to win some crucial votes so he s gone all in on xenophobia, totalitarianism, and religious persecution. A hate cocktail sure to fire up his base.In a statement he released on Facebook, Cruz calls for the establishment of ghettos where America s Muslims can be contained and watched over by a specialized law enforcement group meant to police them. If that sounds a little to Nazi-esque for you, Cruz preemptively accused his critics of just being too politically correct to agree with him.Here s Cruz s terrifying vision for his presidency:We need to immediately halt the flow of refugees from countries with a significant al Qaida or ISIS presence.We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.We need to secure the southern border to prevent terrorist infiltration.And we need to execute a coherent campaign to utterly destroy ISIS.In other words, Cruz is plagiarizing Trump s ban all Muslims position, but adding that the Muslims already in the country should be secured in specific neighborhoods before they become radicalized. He doesn t bother clarifying how he would hope to accomplish this. Nor does he mention how he could legally target Muslims who had done nothing wrong just because his prejudice tells him they might some day.Being Lying Ted Cruz, he also couldn t help but spread a little misinformation about President Obama as well. Using the president s historic trip to Cuba as a strawman, Cruz bashed him for being on a diplomatic trip while Brussels was attacked, adding that Obama never visited Paris after the terror attacks there. It was an egregious lie, so shameless that a simple picture could debunk it.#COP21 Paying respect : President Obama & French President Hollande lay flowers at Bataclan concert hall in Paris. pic.twitter.com\/YEMy7ZUDvk Catherine Field (@CatherineField) November 30, 2015Needless to say, Muslim activist groups, who have watched in horror as hate crimes directed at Muslim Americans has steadily grown thanks to people like Cruz, were not amused by this latest call to trounce the Constitution based on hate and fear. It s really beyond belief that you have one of the leading presidential candidates calling for law enforcement to target religious communities totally based on the fact that they are of a particular faith, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said by phone. In normal times, this would be the sort of thing that would disqualify someone from running for dogcatcher, much less president of the United States. We call on voters to reject this.Undoubtedly, terrorism is a serious problem. But the solutions to it need to be much more mature than the Republicans seem to want to believe. Totalitarianism doesn t work and never has. Discriminating against innocent Muslims because of a twisted death cult based in the Middle East is not only doomed to fail, but could backfire in ways that Cruz and Trump can t fathom from their build a wall childish ideology.Between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, it s hard to say who the bigger xenophobic bigot is. Both are consumed by a hatred towards scapegoated groups they hope to exploit in order to ensure people vote for them. At this point in the race, the two Republican frontrunners aren t just mirroring each other s disgusting policies, but actually driving one another to make them more abhorrent. A nuclear arms race of bigotry in a crucial moment in America s history.","label":1}
{"text":"College admissions experts breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when the Supreme Court upheld a University of Texas admissions plan that allows race and ethnicity to be considered as one of many factors in admission. \"I think there are going to be some parties tonight in high school counseling offices and in college admissions offices,\" said Phil Trout, the president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and a college counselor at Minnetonka High School outside Minneapolis. \"'Sigh of relief' is not strong enough. \" In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that the Texas plan \u2014 which automatically grants admission to roughly the top 10 percent of students across the state, then uses race as one of many factors in considering the rest \u2014 was unique and very much a product of Texas politics, law and demographics. But what was encouraging about the court decision, experts said, was that in affirming the value of diversity, including race and ethnicity, in higher education, the court recognized that there was not one, immutable way of defining and achieving it. \"It's a terrific outcome,\" said Peter McDonough, the vice president and general counsel at the American Council on Education. \"I think today's decision is about deference. It's not about dictating. I think it's about the continuing recognition that our country's campuses are laboratories for experimentation, and that the formula for diversity does remain elusive. It changes over time, and it is impacted by context. \" Mr. McDonough echoed a critical part of the Supreme Court opinion that described public universities as \"laboratories for experimentation\" and called on the University of Texas at Austin \"to scrutinize the fairness of its admissions program to assess whether changing demographics have undermined the need for a policy and to identify the effects, both positive and negative, of the measures it deems necessary. \" The decision was made on fairly narrow legal grounds and does not establish any bold new policy, said David Hawkins, the executive director for education content and policy of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. \"I don't expect to see a resounding clarion call for further investment in the use of race and ethnicity as an admissions tool,\" he said. Mr. Hawkins said he expected colleges to react by heeding the court's call to be introspective \u2014 to \"engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection\" \u2014 about how they achieved diversity. Several states \u2014 including Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington \u2014 have banned affirmative action, and some education analysts wondered whether the court's decision would lead to more such backlash. \"Public opinion polling suggests that most Americans don't like the idea of counting race in deciding who gets into universities,\" said Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, who has argued for using poverty rather than race to achieve diversity and said he saw the decision as a setback for that cause. \"Republicans have resisted pushing this issue because they fear that it will generate turnout among \" he said. \"But all bets are off with Donald Trump. It will be interesting to see what he does. \" Affirmative action bans have led public universities like the University of Michigan to look for other ways to achieve diversity, like reaching out to minority students after they have been offered admission to persuade them to accept. Experts also said other affirmative action plans could still face challenges in state legislatures and in cases before lower courts challenging admissions policies at Harvard and at the University of North Carolina. The lawsuits argue that diversity can be achieved through alternatives. The Harvard complaint also argues that affirmative action policies have the effect of discriminating against applicants. \"The lower courts will obviously have the Fisher precedent to apply while looking at those schools' programs,\" said Rachel Kleinman, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, referring to the name of the case, Fisher v. University of Texas, No. . \"I think that could be very helpful. \" Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, noted that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in his dissent, said the Texas plan discriminated against . \"The points made in Justice Alito's dissent about his view and the view of dissenters that this discriminates against I think, is one of the themes that the opponents of affirmative action are pursuing,\" Mr. Bollinger said. \"I do not expect Fisher to be the end. \" On the campus of the University of Texas, Sergio Cavazos, 20, president of the Senate of College Councils, said he thought students overwhelmingly supported the admissions policy. Mr. Cavazos, a senior government major, is from Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas on the border with Mexico. One of four children from a Hispanic family, he graduated from high school in 2013 ranked 10th in his class of 350 and entered the university under its policy of admitting the top 10 percent of graduating high school seniors. He has a full academic scholarship. \"We value diversity on this campus,\" he said. \"One of the key concerns for me \u2014 myself being a Hispanic student from Brownsville \u2014 was ensuring this campus remain diverse and representative of the population of this state. \" The court seemed skeptical of using poverty as a proxy for achieving racial diversity, as some have called for. The decision said that Texas had \"tried, and failed, to increase diversity through enhanced consideration of socioeconomic and other factors. \" Some have argued that making large allowances for race could lead to admitting students who would flounder because they were \"mismatched\" to academic standards, a theory that Justice Antonin Scalia seemed to be thinking of during oral arguments in the case. The court said Thursday that \"the Equal Protection Clause does not force universities to choose between a diverse student body and a reputation for academic excellence. \" Justice Scalia died in February before he could participate in the Fisher decision.","label":0}
{"text":"Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party (2016) http:\/\/www.tagtele.com\/videos\/voir\/233184\/","label":1}
{"text":"The United States is crafting a plan for a drawdown of staff from the American embassy in Havana in response to still-unexplained incidents that have harmed the health of some U.S. diplomats there, U.S. and congressional officials said on Thursday. The State Department's plan, which was being finalized and could be announced within days, would call for the departure of non-essential staff and diplomats' families, the sources said. But it was unclear whether leaving the island would be voluntary or compulsory, and one U.S. official said some details were still being worked out. U.S. officials say 21 U.S. diplomats and family members have been afflicted by health problems of unknown origin, including hearing loss, dizziness and nausea. Several Canadians have also been affected in Cuba, a Canadian official has said. The Cuban government has denied any role and is conducting an investigation. But it has so far said it has been unable to determine the cause. Proposals for a drawdown have moved forward since U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the case, which has been threatening the already fragile detente between the two former Cold War foes. The State Department is expected to stop short of saying it will close the recently reopened embassy because of the mysterious affair, despite Tillerson having said last week that such a move was under consideration. But a partial evacuation, even one depicted by the Trump administration as a safety measure, would also send a message of U.S. displeasure over Cuba's handling of the matter and deliver another blow to Obama-era engagement policies with Havana. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Thursday that Tillerson \u2013 who is now on his way to Beijing - was reviewing all of his options for \"how to best protect our American personnel\" in Cuba and that she was not ready to announce any decision. But congressional staffers were briefed on the plan on Thursday, two congressional sources said. Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a harsh critic of the Cuban government, hinted at the State Department's coming decision. \"Any reduction of Americans from @USEmbassyHavana should also require equal number of Castro employees leaving regime's embassy in U.S.,\" he said in a message on Twitter. The State Department declined comment. McClatchy news service was the first to report this week that the United States would soon begin a major withdrawal of Havana staff. Depending on how many diplomats leave, the Havana embassy \u2013 the main point of contact for U.S. citizens visiting the island as well as American companies doing business there \u2013 could be left with more of a skeletal staff to handle responsibilities. Though Washington has not cast direct blame on Cuban authorities, the State Department said Tillerson reminded Rodriguez at Tuesday's meeting of Cuba's obligation to protect diplomats and their families. In the highest-level U.S.-Cuba meeting since President Donald Trump took office, Rodriguez warned the United States against taking hasty decisions and urged Washington to cooperate with its ongoing investigation. Washington earlier this year expelled two Cuban diplomats over the alleged incidents. The case has brought simmering tensions between the two countries since Trump took office to the boil. Trump, who in June vowed to partially roll back the detente with Cuba agreed by his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, called the Cuban government \"corrupt and destabilizing\" in his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week. He said he would not lift the U.S. trade embargo on the Caribbean island until it made \"fundamental reforms.\" Cuba described his comments as \"unacceptable and meddling.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Who doesn t love George Takei well, aside from Donald Trump at the moment. The Star Trek actor noticed that The Donald attacked President Obama a man Trump admitted on Friday for the first time to be a legitimate American citizen for campaigning for Hillary Clinton and, well, let s just say Mr. Sulu wasn t willing to let it slide. Why isn t President Obama working instead of campaigning for Hillary Clinton? Trump tweeted Tuesday.On Friday, Takei responded, and not in a way that is likely to get him invited to The Donald s home for dinner. As Commander-in-Chief, he is sworn to protect us from threats both foreign and domestic, Takei wrote. You, sir, are the latter. Trump as a domestic threat is not exactly off-base. In fact, analysts have determined that the 2016 GOP nominee is a global threat. They say that he poses a greater risk than terrorism coincidentally, one of Donald Trump s favorite fear-mongering talking points.It isn t just President Obama s duty to defend us against threats like Trump. It s all of ours., and we have the most powerful weapon available: the ability to vote. The ability to, as a nation, say no to everything Trump represents.Be sure to head to the polls on November 8 the future of our nation depends on it.","label":1}
{"text":"John Shearer \/ Staff  Comedian Patton Oswalt can still recall the details of that horrible day in April where he lost his beloved wife, Michelle McNamara.  The night before, the 46-year-old McNamara, a true crime author, was exhausted from her day and night search for a serial murderer she had dubbed the \"Golden State Killer.\" She was convinced she was closing in on the man she believed killed dozens in the 1970s and '80s.  Oswalt, who was concerned about her health, suggested that she \"sleep until you wake up,\" a common phrase of the parents used, according to a recent interview with The New York Times:  So the weary McNamara took a Xanax and quickly fell into a deep sleep. She would never wake up.  That morning Oswalt took their 7-year-old daughter, Alice, to school and even picked up Michelle's favorite coffee on the way home.  At 9:40 a.m., when Owsalt returned, she was still sound asleep and snoring. Image Credit: Daniel Knighton\/Getty Images  By 12:42 that afternoon the paramedics had arrived and McNamara was pronounced dead at the scene.  While no official cause of death was announced at the time, Oswalt seems to know what tragically killed the mother of their child.  He believes it was the Xanax, he told the Times:  \"I have a feeling it might have been an overdose. That's what the paramedics there were saying while I was screaming and throwing up.\"  The dangers of the prescription drug Xanax, a brand of benzodiazepines, or \"benzos,\" cannot be understated. The medication is meant to treat anxiety, but it can easily be abused .  In combination with alcohol, Xanax (and other benzos) can cause users to experience complete \"blackouts\" for extended periods of time.  It's incredibly addicting and very easy to overdose on. Image Credit: Flickr CC\/ Dean812  Even with these very dangerous side effects, Xanax remains one of the most prescribed and best-selling drugs in the United States.  It is very easily accessible to children, teens, and adults.  While the coroner hasn't officially announced what killed Oswalt's wife, he is still working towards living a normal life with his daughter.  He has returned to the stage to continue his first love, stand-up comedy. It has given him a break from the never-ending grief that comes with the territory of losing such a close loved one. Image Credit: Bryan Bedder\/Getty Images for The New Yorker  The 47-year-old told The New York Times that going onstage has been:  \"...a rebuke to grief, an acceptance of the messiness of life. I'll never be at 100 percent again, but that won't stop me from living this.\"  For now, Oswalt will continue to grow and live with his daughter. With help from a journalist and a researcher, he's determined to solve the \"Golden State Murders\" on behalf of his late wife's hard work.","label":1}
{"text":"posted by Eddie Millions of people around the world are constantly dealing with skin problems which are difficult to treat. People spend thousands on expensive skin care products, which are not always effective and contain harmful chemicals that can worsen the condition. However, there's a simple natural solution for all your skin problems. Here's how to prepare it: Ingredients 2 teaspoons of lemon juice Preparation Mix both ingredients well, then put the cream in a plastic container and put the container in a bowl of warm water, leaving it in for 2-3 minutes. Afterwards, apply the cream on a clean face and leave it to work for 20 minutes before rinsing with warm water. Apply a quality moisturizer in the end. The mask should be used a couple of times a week. Try it yourself and you will be amazed by the results! From Around the Web Founder of WorldTruth.Tv and WomansVibe.com Eddie ( 8968 Posts )  Eddie L. is the founder and owner of www.WorldTruth.TV. and www.Womansvibe.com. Both website are dedicated to educating and informing people with articles on powerful and concealed information from around the world. I have spent the last 36+ years researching Bible, History, Alternative Health, Secret Societies, Symbolism and many other topics that are not reported by mainstream media.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. State Department called on Tuesday for the immediate release of two Reuters journalists who have been detained for about a week in Myanmar and whose whereabouts have not been reported to their families. We ve been ... following the cases of the two reporters, the Reuters reporters, very closely. We re deeply concerned about their detention. We do not know their whereabouts. That is of concern also, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a news briefing. Today I want to make it clear that we re calling for their immediate release.","label":0}
{"text":"A former California state senator accused of taking cash bribes and gifts from a businessman and from undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood filmmakers to steer legislation in their favor has agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud, federal prosecutors said on Monday. Ronald Calderon, 58, a Democrat indicted in February 2014 on two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges, will enter his guilty plea this week, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said. According to the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed not to ask for a sentence of more than 70 months, although the statutory maximum for the charge is 20 years. Calderon's attorney, Mark Geragos, could not be reached for comment. The former lawmaker's brother, former state Assemblyman Thomas Calderon, pleaded guilty last week to a federal money-laundering charge in connection with the case. The Calderon brothers were members of a political dynasty going back several decades in California before they were ensnared in the federal investigation. \"The Calderons have acknowledged their roles in a bribery scheme in which money for them and their families alone was driving legislation that would have benefited only a few individuals,\" U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said. The 2014 indictment accused Ronald Calderon of taking bribes from California hospital owner Michael Drobot to preserve a legislative loophole that allowed Drobot to defraud the state's healthcare system out of hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the plea agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday, Drobot hired Calderon's son while he was in college, paying him some $30,000 for three summers of work. Drobot has agreed to plead guilty to separate federal charges and is cooperating in the case, prosecutors have said. Calderon was also charged with accepting money from undercover FBI agents, who he thought worked for an independent Hollywood movie studio, in exchange for supporting an expansion of film tax credits in California. According to the plea agreement, Calderon had the undercover agent hire his daughter for $3,000 a month, make a $5,000 payment toward his son's tuition, pay for $12,000 in Las Vegas trips and give $25,000 to a nonprofit group the lawmaker and his brother used to pay themselves. In exchange, Calderon agreed to vote for the film tax legislation and hire the undercover agent's purported girlfriend for his staff, according to the plea agreement.","label":0}
{"text":"At the direction of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government is preparing \"tweetable\" financial data for Abe's upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump. [\"Executives at three top Japanese companies said officials had been in touch asking for investment numbers. Public investment institutions say the prime minister is also leaning on them to pledge tens of billions of dollars to US infrastructure projects such as rail,\" reports the Financial Times. Abe is scheduled to arrive in the United States for his meeting with Trump on Friday, with his foreign, finance, and trade ministers in tow. On Saturday, he'll join Trump for a round of golf at the resort in Florida. \"You get to know somebody better on a golf course than you will over lunch,\" Trump explained in a radio interview on Sunday. He did not confirm or deny whether there would be any money riding on the game. There will definitely be a lot of money riding on Abe's visit. The Financial Times has Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Nippon Keidanren business federation \u2014 saluted as the \" voice of corporate Japan\" by the Japan Times and its chairman regarded as \"the prime minister of the business world\" \u2014 scrambling to assemble data that will help Trump see Japan in a positive light. \"The most important thing is to reconfirm the importance of the relationship in politics, economics, and security,\" Sakakibara said. To that end, he wants Abe to remind Trump that \"we're contributing to the expansion of U. S. exports,\" along with $400 billion of direct investment and 1. 7 million jobs supported by Japanese companies in America. The Financial Times also notes that Toyota has already pledged another $10 billion in U. S. investment over the next five years, with up to 400 jobs added at its Indiana manufacturing plant. Japan's SoftBank tech conglomerate has also pledged $50 billion in American investment over the next four years. Abe will add to this by discussing Japanese investment for Trump's proposed infrastructure plan, possibly including a sales pitch for Japanese rail technology. In 2015, Abe proposed $5 billion in Japanese investment for a maglev train that would have offered travel from D. C. to Baltimore in 15 minutes, with a vision of similar lines connecting New York to Washington, Dallas to Houston, and Los Angeles to San Francisco.","label":0}
{"text":"Jake Gyllenhaal is delaying his return to Broadway. A revival of Lanford Wilson's \"Burn This,\" starring Mr. Gyllenhaal, that was scheduled to begin performances in February at a Hudson Theater, is instead being postponed, the producers Stacey Mindich and Jessica R. Jenen said in a brief statement Friday evening. They said the postponement was \"due to scheduling conflicts with the show's star,\" and that \"the show is now aiming for its Broadway bow during the season. \" Mr. Gyllenhaal, primarily known for his work on film, has appeared on Broadway once before, in \"Constellations,\" a play by Nick Payne, which ran for three months in 2014 and 2015. The Ambassador Theater Group, which is reconverting the Hudson from a hotel event space into a theater, said it plans to announce another production soon. Mr. Gyllenhaal's fans, however, have another opportunity to see him onstage in New York: Next week he is scheduled to star in four concert performances of \"Sunday in the Park with George\" at New York City Center.","label":0}
{"text":"It was just an accident A millionaire property developer accused of raping a teenager while she slept claims he accidentally penetrated her when he fell on top of her, a court has heard.Southwark Crown Court has told Ehsan Abdulaziz allegedly forced himself on the 18-year-old on the sofa of his Maida Vale flat.The 46-year-old met his alleged victim in the Cirque le Soir nightclub in London, where she had been with a friend he had known for several months.He offered both women a lift home in his Aston Martin in August last year, before inviting them into his flat and taking the woman he knew into the bedroom for sex, the court heard.The next thing the alleged victim claims to remember is waking up early in the morning with Abdulazziz on top of her, forcing himself inside her. She woke up with the defendant kissing her and his penis in her vagina, Prosecutor Jonathan Davies told the court, The Times reports. She said: What are you doing? and he said It s fine , indicating that her friend was asleep. She got up to find her friend, tried to wake her but couldn t, she then tried to get out of the flat as quickly as she could.","label":1}
{"text":"The United States Embassy in Saudi Arabia warned U.S. citizens to exercise caution in the area around the Peace Palace in Jeddah on Saturday after reports on social media of an attack there. There were several unconfirmed reports that security forces had foiled an attack near the king s palace, leaving the attacker and several guards dead. The Saudi government has not issued an official statement confirming the incident.","label":0}
{"text":"Barack Obama and the Democrat Party were laser focused on opening the immigrant floodgates for 8 years. They re the first ones to cry when President Trump mentions budget cuts to schools and programs for the elderly, but what about the enormous burden millions of new immigrants (mostly illegal) have put on the backs of taxpayers? The Democrats were only looking at immigrants as voters, they didn t consider how the massive influx of people on entitlement programs would affect our schools and social programs. The statistics below are stunning:Children of immigrants, many in the United States illegally, make up the bulk of students in 700 of the biggest school areas, a huge and unexpected wave that is changing education and society in America, according to a groundbreaking new report.Using Census Bureau statistics and Google Maps, the Center for Immigration Studies found that in areas including northern Virginia, New York City and Houston, children of immigrants made up to 93 percent of all students. The number of children from immigrant households in schools is now so high in some areas that it raises profound questions about assimilation, said the report provided to Secrets. What s more, immigration has added enormously to the number of public school students who are in poverty and the number who speak a foreign language. This cannot help but to create significant challenges for schools, often in areas already struggling to educate students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, it added.Overall, 23 percent of all public school students were from an immigrant household in 2015. In 1990 it was 11 percent, and in 1980 it was 7 percent.And, said the CIS report, between one-fourth and one-third of public school students from immigrant households were the children of illegal immigrants. Report author Steven Camarota said, Of course, we must educate the children of immigrants. But, added the Center s director of research, the key question moving forward is whether it makes sense to continue to admit 1 million new legal permanent immigrants each year and tolerating illegal immigration without regard to the absorption capacity of our schools in terms of both educating students and assimilating them. On a state level, he found that California has the biggest percentage of immigrant students in public schools, 48 percent, followed by Nevada, 35 percent, New Jersey and New York at 34 percent, and Texas, 31 percent.The bulk have Mexican or El Salvadoran parents.He also found that many immigrant families are poor, which cuts the tax base schools have to tap for funds.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. power sector's shift toward burning less coal and using more natural gas and renewable energy will not be derailed by the Supreme Court ruling against the Obama administration's limits on carbon emissions, state regulators and utilities said on Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 on Tuesday to block the Environmental Protection Agency's carbon emissions crackdown on coal plants until a legal challenge is resolved. Some states may now slow work on compliance with the EPA's Clean Power Plan. But some experts said they were confident the rule will survive the legal challenge when the D.C. circuit court makes a decision this summer. \"In a way we are really just postponing the inevitable,\" said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center. Even in some of the 27 states that sued to block the rule, officials had been working on compliance plans. Most states said they will continue to decarbonize their energy supply. Utilities across the country have already begun a major shift away from coal-fired electricity toward cleaner burning and cheaper natural gas and renewables like wind and solar. \"We fully expect that many of these states will continue their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under their own legal authorities,\" said Bill Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. States like California, Colorado and New York criticized the high court's decision and vowed to pursue their plans to shift to cleaner energy regardless of the delay in the EPA rule. Meanwhile, states like Montana and North Dakota that joined in the lawsuit against the EPA welcomed the \"breathing room\" the stay provides. But even these opponents of the rule said they will keep diversifying their power supply. Colorado's Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper said the state will keep working on compliance so it \"is not left at a disadvantage if the courts uphold all or part of the Clean Power Plan.\" Colorado challenged the EPA plan even though the governor supports it. The state's Republican attorney general disagrees about the legality of the rule and its economic impact. Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, opposed the EPA rule. He said the state would put on hold the work of a group to devise compliance options, but added that it still needs \"to address climate change and embrace Montana's energy future.\" He said: \"I am committed to ensuring we do so on our own terms.\" For coal-producing North Dakota, which had one of the highest emission reduction targets to meet under the rule, regulators and utilities will keep working on ways to lower power plant emissions, said state health department chief Dave Glatt. He said the EPA plan did not give the state \"a sufficient amount of time to have reasonable solutions.\" He pledged to \"look at reasonable steps forward.\" For most states, coal-fired electricity has been in decline. In 2015, generators shut over 15,000 megawatts of coal-fired power plants, the most in any year, as low gas prices drove down power costs. It became uneconomical to overhaul older coal plants even to meet existing federal clean air rules. Ohio regulators said Wednesday they were not sure how the state will respond to the court decision, but the state's major utilities are already shifting away from coal. American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP.N) will continue generating more power with natural gas and renewable energy since prices for those have dropped significantly, said spokeswoman Melissa McHenry. She added that the five-year extension of federal renewable energy tax credits has given AEP an incentive to bring more renewable energy into the mix. \"It makes sense that we are sticking to our current plans, and will be positioned to respond to the courts' ultimate decision on the future of the Clean Power Plan,\" she said. Another Ohio utility, FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N), said it already retired a number of older coal plants in 2012. The court decision will have little impact. \"The Supreme Court decision does not change the path we are on,\" said spokeswoman Jennifer Young. \"We think it is the right thing to do \u2013 this is a complicated issue and this decision will give the states the appropriate amount of time to develop their compliance plans.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Prev post Page 1 of 5 Next  Do Doctors Treat Women's Pain Less Seriously Than Men? There is recent evidence showing women treated differently for similar symptoms. The Yentl Syndrome  Sometimes movies can have an impact in ways nobody who wrote or worked on the movie could possibly imagine.  In the 1983 film \"Yentl\", Barbara Streisand's character plays the role of a male in order to receive the education she wants. Dr. Bernadine Healy used the phrase \"Yentl Syndrome\" in an academic paper eight years after the film was released. She used it to describe how many women died because they were misdiagnosed because their symptoms were different than men.  Today the term Yentl Syndrome is widely used as a description of how women are more likely to be treated less aggressively than men. This is primarily because medical research has focused on the symptoms of male heart attacks, and many women have different symptoms.  The term Yentl Syndrome has also been used in a wider context of how because women experience pain differently than men, many healthcare providers do not take the pain of a woman as seriously as they do a man. Prove You Are As Sick as a Male Patient  In initial encounters with the health-care system, women are more likely to be treated less aggressively than men until they \"prove that they are as sick as male patients\", according to a study entitled \"The Girl Who Cried Pain,\". A contributing factor is that most emergency rooms in the United States do not have an attending OB-GYN.  Women were less likely to receive aggressive treatment when diagnosed, and were more likely to have their pain characterized as \"emotional\" or \"psychogenic\" and therefore \"not real\" according to the study.  These misplaced characterizations can lead to treatment for mental health issues that might not even exist in the patient. Then the situation is further complicated because antidepressants are absorbed differently in women and may have different levels of effectiveness. Prev post Page 1 of 5 Next Be the first to comment Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Comment","label":1}
{"text":"Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the European Union should leave the past behind and solve their mutual problems first, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Friday. The EU won t do it for them, he said. Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are official candidates for EU membership while Bosnia and Kosovo are seeking the same status. But past rivalries are still hurting relations between some of the countries which were embroiled in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Borissov said that Bulgaria, Austria and Romania, the three countries which will chair the EU presidency over the next two years, were ready to support the accession of these countries into the wealthy bloc but a key for the progress was compromise by their political elites. Nobody can help unless we realize that the past needs to remain in the past and that we need to move forward, Borissov said at a news conference during an official visit to Sarajevo. Unresolved matters must be resolved today along with all political sacrifices that need to be made. This cannot be solved by Europe, which has its problems and fears, Borissov said. The pace of Serbia s integration into the 27-member bloc was made conditional on the progress of a dialogue with its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. In Bosnia, inter-ethnic tensions have risen after Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats had revived aspirations for greater territorial autonomies within the country they share with Muslim Bosniaks, relying on their wartime allies Serbia and Croatia. Borissov said that radical Islam is a problem but that his Bosnian counterpart Denis Zvizic has assured him that Bosnia was not under the threat of radicalized Muslims. Islam in Bosnia is certainly one of most tolerant forms of Islam practised in the world and any kind of radicalization has not and will not be allowed, Zvizdic said at the same news conference. In September, the EU confirmed its pledge for a credible enlargement perspective for the region, which it sees as important for issues from controlling immigration to countering security threats ranging from alleged interference of Russia to radical Islam. [ID: L5N1LU2GX]","label":0}
{"text":"President Trump, smarting from a series of crises, moved his surrogates aside on Thursday and assigned the rescue of his presidency to the only spokesman he's ever really trusted \u2014 himself. For days, a frustrated and simmering president fumed inside the West Wing residence about what aides said he saw as his staff's inadequate defense and the ineffectiveness of his own tweets. Over the objections of some top advisers who wanted to steer him away from confrontation, Mr. Trump demanded to face the media, determined to reject the narrative that his administration is sinking into chaos, scandal and incompetence. In a rowdy, news conference hastily staged in the East Room, Mr. Trump attempted to deflect attention from news coverage about Russian intelligence, the resignation of his national security adviser, the defeat of his labor secretary nominee, and deepening questions about his ability to govern. \"I turn on the T. V. open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos,\" Mr. Trump said as he attempted \u2014 with little discipline \u2014 to read from prepared remarks listing his accomplishments since being inaugurated one month ago. \"Chaos. Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a machine. \" From there he offered a disjointed and emotional performance in which he appeared to release anger and suspicion about the \"dishonest media,\" Democrats, intelligence officials, \"criminal\" leakers, Hillary Clinton, environmentalists and judges. Taking a room of reporters and the television audience on a journey through the Trump psyche, the president was at times angry (at the news media) playful (\"I love this,\") bewildered (by \"bias and hatred\") occasionally respectful (\"It's a great honor to be with you\") and needy (\"I'm really not a bad person, by the way\"). Ever the salesman, Mr. Trump painted his presidency as he wishes it to be: an Electoral College victory so massive it was historic \u2014 a falsehood pointed out by a reporter in the room \u2014 plus accomplishments in the first four weeks that have outpaced, he said, every other president. For his supporters, the performance was certain to be energizing. Mr. Trump turned sober questions from journalists into, at times, mesmerizing television. He attempted to reassert his command of \"dishonest\" journalists at a time when the news media is questioning his capacity to lead. It all made the brooding boss feel better, people close to Mr. Trump said. The news conference, they said, was Mr. Trump's best effort at spitting the bit out of his mouth and escaping the bridle of the West Wing, where he views his only way to communicate his side of any argument is his limited Twitter feed. Still, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump's performance will divert much attention from questions about his campaign's relationship with Russia, or reassure wavering Republicans on Capitol Hill that their agenda is on track. Yet Mr. Trump's close allies said he had met his more immediate goal of soothing himself with a sense of control over his own administration. Mr. Trump, who has long required employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, has been unnerved, aides said, by leaks big and small, ranging from disclosures about his evenings spent alone in the White House residence to the details of his calls with global leaders. Now, Mr. Trump finds himself at the mercy of a vast, leaky bureaucracy. \"The first thing I thought of when I heard about it is: How does the press get this information that's classified? How do they do it?\" Mr. Trump said of the leaks. \"The press should be ashamed of themselves. '' The news conference was not without its high points for the embattled president. His initial statement about a surge of optimism in the business world and more jobs was, however fleetingly, a focused message on the issue that helped elect him. And he lured a few reporters into a trap of debating the quality of their reporting as opposed to the merits of their original questions. And after complaining to aides about the dour delivery of his press secretary, Sean Spicer, at the daily televised briefing, Mr. Trump laced his own banter with humor. But he also revealed how crushing he is finding the onslaught of criticism that a president receives, saying that he has long preferred the business media to the political press corps he must now deal with. With the same lack of discipline that his supporters on the campaign trail found refreshing, Mr. Trump lashed out at the news media, which he called \"out of control. \" He accused The New York Times of publishing what he termed a \"discredited\" story \u2014 evidently a reference to an article this week about current and former American officials who say that phone records and intercepted calls show that members of his campaign had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. He said The Wall Street Journal had published an article that was \"almost as disgraceful. \" He mocked Jim Acosta, a CNN correspondent, saying at one point, \"Yeah, go ahead, Jimmy. \" His exchange with Mr. Acosta \u2014 a frequent foil for Mr. Trump in his news conferences on the campaign trail \u2014 made it clear that the president believes that the American people are with him, and against the news media. \"That's why the public sees it,\" Mr. Trump said. \"They see it. They see it's not fair. The public is smart, they understand it. \" Mr. Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama \u2014 whom he had often described in glowing terms since his inauguration \u2014 for handing him a failing government. \"I inherited a mess,\" Mr. Trump asserted. \"It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas, no matter where you look. \" At one point, Mr. Trump searched for a new face among the veteran White House reporters who were challenging him and settled on a journalist wearing a skullcap whom he clearly did not recognize, hoping for the best. \"Are you a friendly reporter? '' Mr. Trump said. The response of the reporter, Jake Turx of Ami magazine, a Jewish publication, could not be heard in the room. The president's anger then flared when Mr. Turx asked about a rise in incidents around the country. Telling Mr. Turx to sit down and accusing him of lying about asking a \"very straight, simple question,\" Mr. Trump rejected the charge that he is personally \u2014 something the reporter had explicitly said he was not asserting. At one point, Mr. Trump predicted how the news media would cover the event \u2014 and preemptively rejected that, too. \"Tomorrow, they will say, 'Donald Trump rants and raves at the press,'\" Mr. Trump said. \"I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're dishonest people. But \u2014 but I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said allegations that President Donald Trump released classified information to Russia would be a \"slap in the face\" to the U.S. intelligence community, if true. \"Risking sources & methods is inexcusable, particularly with the Russians,\" Warner said in a comment on Twitter and distributed by his office, referring to a Washington Post report that Trump disclosed classified information to Russia's foreign minister during a meeting last week.","label":0}
{"text":"Austria s conservative People s Party wants children who do not speak sufficient German to take compulsory language classes as a condition for being allowed to attend school, party leader Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa have arrived in Austria in the past two years. Their integration has become an important political topic and Kurz, whose party is the junior partner in a coalition government with the Social Democrats, has gained in popularity because of his hard stance on immigration. Though his proposal ostensibly applies to all children, public debate has centered around those from migrant backgrounds, most of whom are currently placed at school according to age. They receive separate language lessons but teachers have said that this is not enough to integrate them. One can only follow the curriculum if one s German is good enough, Kurz said at a news conference in Salzburg, where he presented his party s education program for parliamentary elections on Oct. 15. Who starts at school needs to understand the teaching language, the party chief said, echoing demands from the far-right Freedom Party.","label":0}
{"text":"The spokesman for the front runner in South Korea's upcoming presidential election said on Friday that the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile defense system should be \"immediately suspended\" and await a decision by the next government. \"As stressed again, the issue of THAAD deployment should be handed over to the next (South Korean) government,\" Youn Kwan-suk, a spokesman for Moon Jae-in, said in a statement responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks during an interview with Reuters that South Korea should pay for the system.","label":0}
{"text":"A student at Ohio State University intentionally rammed a car into pedestrians on a busy campus sidewalk on Monday morning and then began slashing with a butcher knife, the authorities said, injuring 11 students and faculty and staff members, and setting off panic at one of the nation's largest public universities. A university police officer fatally shot the suspect within about a minute of the attack, but the sprawling campus in Columbus, Ohio, remained on lockdown for about an hour and a half as people ran for cover and barricaded themselves in academic buildings and dorms. Investigators were looking into whether the attack was an act of terrorism and were seeking information on the student, Abdul Artan, a permanent United States resident from Somalia who was studying logistics management at Ohio State. The F. B. I. was investigating comments on Facebook indicating that he may have felt Muslims were being persecuted, an investigator said. Last summer the student newspaper, The Lantern, published an interview with Mr. Artan in which he complained about being afraid to pray in public as a Muslim, because of people's negative perceptions of the religion. \"I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim, it's not what media portrays me to be,\" he told the newspaper. \"If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don't know what they're going to think, what's going to happen. But I don't blame them. It's the media that put that picture in their heads. \" The attack began at 9:50 a. m. Monday, when \"this car suddenly appeared on the sidewalk,\" said Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student. \"It was in high speed, and it just hit whoever came in front of him. \" The car stopped only when it rammed a concrete block, he said. The driver leapt out, the authorities said, and began attacking people with a knife. A campus police officer, Alan Horujko, 28, shot Mr. Artan after he failed to follow orders to drop his weapon, and officials credited the officer with helping to save lives. All of the wounded were expected to survive, university officials said. Six people were hit by the car, and five had stab wounds or lacerations, doctors said. They were being treated at three hospitals. No evidence has emerged that Mr. Artan had any connection or allegiance to radical ideology. Though no terrorist group had claimed responsibility for the attack, the Islamic State was updating its online audiences on the rampage on Monday. Both the and the knife attacks are now established forms of aggression inspired by the Islamic State. An attacker in Nice, France, used a delivery truck to kill dozens of pedestrians in July, and chats between an attacker in W\u00fcrzburg, Germany, and his Islamic State handler indicate he was initially told to use a car to carry out his assault that same month, before he settled on using an ax because he did not have a driving permit. The authorities in Ohio said that it was too soon to know what had motivated Mr. Artan, but that it was clear the attack had been deliberate. Mr. Artan's Columbus home was surrounded by squad cars, crime scene tape and a bomb squad truck on Monday afternoon, and police officials said they were waiting for a search warrant. \"This was done on purpose,\" said Chief Craig Stone of the Ohio State University police. \"To go over the curb and strike pedestrians and then get out and start striking with the knife \u2014 that was on purpose. \" The attack, initially reported as an \"active shooter\" by the university, stunned students who were returning to class after Thanksgiving break, leading to a warning and an admonition from campus officials to \"Run Hide Fight. \" Haylee Gardiner, a sophomore, said she was on her way to a chemistry lab when the attack occurred. \"I saw a bunch of people running, and when they were running, they were screaming and yelling,\" said Ms. Gardiner, who scrambled to a residence hall for shelter. \"And then all of a sudden, I heard four or five gunshots. \" Sean Cody, 23, from Akron, Ohio, was running late for his philosophy class, and after hearing a loud boom, he sprinted into a building to alert fellow students. \"Then there was a bang, a dust cloud, then shouting and screaming, and people just booking it in every direction,\" Mr. Cody said. \"Then, 30 seconds, a minute later, there were gunshots. \" During the chaos, students huddled in locked rooms, and some took to Twitter, posting photos from inside barricaded classrooms. Ohio State administrators released little information about Mr. Artan, and parts of his background remained unclear. He was admitted to the United States in June 2014 as the child of a refugee, federal officials said, and was believed to be in his late teens or early 20s. He graduated cum laude from Columbus State Community College with an associate of arts degree, officials there said. He was on the Columbus State dean's list in 2015. Officer Horujko, who joined the university police last year, had also been profiled in The Lantern. An Ohio native and a graduate of the university, he said he had decided to be an officer after working in campus safety as a student. As Ohio State officials took stock of the attack and made plans for classes to resume on Tuesday, they said they were thankful the injuries were not more severe and were optimistic that students would come together even if investigators discovered a link to terrorism. \"Our campus community is extremely tolerant,\" Michael V. Drake, the university president, said in an interview. \"The concept of branding a whole community for the act of a few leads to an intolerance that can make the world a more difficult place for all of us. \" The episode was reported near Watts Hall, a building at the heart of the campus that houses materials science and engineering programs. Heavily armed SWAT teams swarmed the campus, and at one point could be seen making their way up a stairwell of a nearby parking garage. Monday's violence followed a machete attack in February at a Mediterranean restaurant in Columbus, which also ended with the police killing the suspect. The restaurant's owner told reporters that he believed he had been targeted because of his Israeli heritage. The attack on Monday was the latest episode over the last decade on an American college campus. Shootings at Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and Oikos University in California, among others, have led colleges nationwide to plan how to respond to an attack. Monday's instruction to \"Run Hide Fight\" came from a training program used by Ohio State and other groups for reacting to active shootings. \"We prepare for situations like this,\" Dr. Drake said, \"but always hope never to have one. \" Muslim leaders in Ohio praised the police for their response and urged the public not to make assumptions about the attacker's motives. \"We as yet know nothing about the motivation of the attacker, but we do know of his Somali heritage, and that will be enough for some people to falsely link this tragic incident to the faith of Islam and to the Somali and Muslim communities,\" said Roula Allouch, national board chairwoman of the Council on Relations. \"We must not jump to conclusions. It is important to let the investigators do their jobs. \" Gov. John Kasich also praised the police response, saying it showed \"how much practice, how much training, how much expertise, how much coordination\" existed among local law enforcement agencies. \"We are a strong, tough, resilient community,\" he said. Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus said that Monday was \"one of those days you're grateful for good training and great people across the board,\" and urged unity in the days ahead.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, shot at a congressional baseball practice last month, underwent surgery on Thursday to treat an infection, a hospital statement said. The hospital said the deep tissue infection was related to bullet wounds. Scalise was in \"fair condition, and will require careful monitoring to see if and when further interventions are necessary,\" according to a statement from MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Scalise, the No. 3 Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, was shot on June 14 during practice for a charity baseball game in suburban Washington.","label":0}
{"text":"The president of the American Pastors Network said that many U. S. citizens are in denial over the true nature of Islam by refusing to acknowledge its inherent ties to violent jihad. [Responding to a recent CBS poll that found that the majority of Democrats believe that Islam is no more violent than Christianity, Sam Rohrer said that many Americans are confused about the Muslim faith and the teachings of the Qur'an. \"The view for a long time has been that jihadists, wherever they are, are not at all reflective of Islam, and these are only a small number, who don't speak for Islam,\" Rohrer said in an interview with the Christian Post. \"The unfortunate thing about that is that those involved in jihad are the only ones who are really practicing what the Qur'an says,\" he said. Last week's CBS poll found that only 33 percent of respondents believe that the Muslim religion encourages violence more so than other religions, a view that Rohrer described as a \"purposeful denial of facts. \" Those who do not recognize that Islam is more prone to terrorism and violence either haven't \"done their homework,\" or are ignoring the truth, he said. Rohrer argued that public opinion on Islam is tied to a religious relativism that assumes that \"all people worship the same God, or there is no God, or all gods are equal. \" It is a \"great mistake\" to believe that Islam is first and foremost a religion, like Christianity or Judaism, he suggested. \"That is totally wrong, because Islam is primarily a political, legal system. It has religious tenets, but it is a political system accompanied by Sharia law,\" he said. \"By its very commandments,\" he said, Sharia prohibits Islam from peacefully coexisting with others. Rohrer's remarks echoed statements from the Islamic State terror group itself, which has publicly rejected claims that its war on the West is not religiously motivated. In an issue of its online propaganda magazine, Dabiq, ISIS criticized Pope Francis last summer for his na\u00efvet\u00e9 in clinging to the conviction that Muslims want peace and that acts of Islamic terror are economically rather than religiously motivated. \"This is a war between the Muslim nation and the nations of disbelief,\" the authors stated in an article titled \"By the Sword. \" The Islamic State attacked Francis for claiming that \"authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence. \" Pope Francis \"has struggled against reality\" in his efforts to portray Islam as a religion of peace, the article insists, before going on to urge all Muslims to take up the sword of jihad, the \"greatest obligation\" of a true Muslim. Last spring, noted Georgetown University scholar Father James V. Schall SJ published an essay arguing that Islam has consistently advocated violence \"from its seventh century beginning,\" and that the purpose of violent jihad is \"ultimately, religious and pious. \" In his article, Schall contended that Islam has been \"violent throughout its entire history,\" and that the motivation for its violence \"is obedience to the Law of Allah. \" \"What we see now is little different from what has been seen throughout the centuries wherever Islam is found,\" he wrote. Many Westerners mistakenly assume that Islam is not violent, because all religions should be peaceful by their nature, Schall stated. Yet just because Islam is a \"religion,\" he argued, does not mean that it is therefore not \"violent. \" Schall said that \"while it may be politically incorrect to state these things, they need to be stated and are in fact the truth. \" \"The designated and determined goal of the conquest of the world for Allah has been reinvigorated again and again in world history from the time of Mohammed in the seventh century,\" he wrote. \"These revivals and expansions, which have only been temporarily halted by superior counterforce, have roots in the Qur'an itself and in its commentaries,\" he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome","label":0}
{"text":"Dr. Linda Liau works with the precision of a master, peering into a patient's head with magnifying loupes as she removes a brain tumor. When Liau was called into an emergency room as a surgeon more than 20 years ago to help treat a car crash victim, another member of the medical team assumed she was a nurse. Even today, the 49-year-old neurosurgeon sometimes gets a surprised reaction from new patients who were expecting a man. Such an assumption is common in career fields dominated by men. Neurosurgery, welding, venture capitalism, construction, film directing and the electrical trade - these are six jobs where U.S. women have made inroads but are still vastly outnumbered. And one position, U.S. president, has never been filled by a woman. With presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton seeking to become the first to break that barrier, several women in career fields made up mostly of men told Reuters that they saw her candidacy as significant. \"I think ultimately the goal would be to be gender-blind completely, so the fact that we're even talking about having a female president as a novelty is, in a way, sad,\" Liau said. On a construction site, Joundi White, 31, has often been reminded of her gender. Early in her career, the reminders were pet names such as \"sweetheart\" and \"honey.\" Now, she can rarely shake the sense that she is outnumbered. \"I eat lunch alone,\" White said. \"I don't have people to relate to at work. \"Don't get me wrong, I identify more with the guys, but to them, ultimately, I'm just a girl.\" Wearing a hard hat, White passes under heavy steel beams, walking along the commuter train tracks she is helping build in her working-class neighborhood in southern Los Angeles. Welder Darlene Thompson, 45, is also no stranger to the construction site, or to the hostility that she says women often encounter in the field. These days, she teaches others as an instructor at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. In a heavy coat and blue gloves, she looks from under her helmet at the white-hot flame of a welding torch. It was a fight to learn these skills. More than a decade ago, when she began receiving job training as a welfare recipient, Thompson had to argue for the chance to study welding. Public assistance administrators wanted to push her toward cosmetology or culinary arts, she said. Thompson did not say how she would cast her ballot in November but said she would not vote for Clinton just because the candidate is a woman. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's slogan has resonated with her. \"When they talk about 'Let's make America great again,'\" Thompson said, \"what I think of is the companies in Detroit, the automotive industry going back to Detroit and giving back jobs.\" A well-paid job as an electrician has opened up opportunities for Hannah Cooper, 28. For one thing, she was able to buy a house in the expensive Los Angeles real estate market. Sometimes, she will encounter someone on a construction site who knows her mother, Kelly Cooper, who also was an electrician. \"Everyone remembers her because there's only a few women,\" Cooper said. Kelly Cooper began as an apprentice in 1975. \"You have to have thick skin to be anyone in the trade,\"she said. \"To be a woman in the trade, you have to have a particularly thick skin.\" She is now director of construction for the Los Angeles Department of General Services. Eva Ho, 44, is a woman working in the technology field, which is unusual enough. But she is also a venture capitalist, which is rarer still. \"In some ways the V.C. career has really been an old boys club, and it's been dominated by white men for the last three or four decades,\" Ho said. A graduate of Harvard and Cornell, Ho said she was drawn to work in technology because of its ability to drive social change. But she came late to it, never having used a computer until college. For the Burtons, who work together as filmmakers through their company Five Sisters Productions, their career had its seeds in their childhood as the daughters of a writer and a former professional musician. Both parents were feminists who thought their five daughters could do anything, said Ursula Burton, a director, producer and actor. Now the possibility of a female president could help create more opportunities for women, she said. \"Having a woman president opens up the presidency for girls,\" Burton said, \"and it will shift the perception for boys of what girls can do.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The new year is almost here and it's often a time when we all start to think about what we want to change for the next year. I've never been much a fan of the whole cliche of changing because of the new year, but why not embrace it as a time where we can make change? Do a quick reflection right now. Do you feel like you have followed your dreams and passions this past year? Do you feel you got caught up in the stresses of life quite often? Did you feel judgement, negative self talk and anger were a big part of your days? Reflecting on how you've felt over your year and being honest with yourself about it gives you the chance to know how to adjust and move forward from this moment forward whether it be the new year or not. I've found in my own life that if I don't pay attention to how I feel, what I create, what's playing out in my life and take responsibility for it, it doesn't change. It stays the same, I experience the same emotions or stagnant feelings, and I don't move forward. But the moment I decide to take it into my own hands, I see how much I'm not a victim to what happens. 11 Things To Let Go of Before the New year 1. Stop all the negative self talk \u2013 It's first because it's probably one of the most important. The more we talk poorly about ourselves to ourselves or others, the more we disempower ourselves and empower all the things we wish to adjust about ourselves. Observe it, take note of it, and kick it. It's not helping you. 2. Choose one bad eating habit and kick it! \u2013 Taking care of and fuelling your vessel is one of the most important things we can do in life to stay mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. Pick one of your worst eating habits and aim to cut it out completely in 3 months. Whatever it might be, be honest with yourself and make it happen. Then take on the next bad eating habit in 3 months. 3. Let go of chasing 'success'\u2013 So often we put up goals or plans for ourselves yet have this tiny limited scope of what success is. Next thing you know we bring stress, worry and fear into the equation throughout the whole journey because we may not be totally in line to hit this pin prick point of what success looks like to us. Instead, do your best to take the steps needed to get to where you want to go, but let go of the lure of success and what it looks like and means. There's no such thing as failure. (more) 4. Kick the idea that you cannot achieve or follow your dreams \u2013 So often we have our ideas of what we are excited or passionate about, but let it go because we think we can't do it or because it's unrealistic. Instead of believing every word of that, take ONE step. One step towards making your passion or your dreams happen. The one step will lead to the next and the next, but you have to take the first one. Plan out that first step and take it! 5. Let go of the idea that you should run from your problems \u2013 We often get into this mentality that we just need to \"get over it.\" In theory this sounds sorta good, you move on from things that happen in the past or something to that effect. But by just forgetting about it, did we really move on? No, it gets triggered again later or lies dormant as a resented event etc. Instead, let's face our problems and truly move past them. Journal about it, talk to someone else about it. Put the cards on the table to someone who cares about you and who can help you move past it. Pick someone who will see the bigger picture and be honest with you. You have all it takes to move past what challenges you. 6. Stop comparing yourself to others \u2013 This is a big one. So often we are looking at others and using what they have, do or are to compare it against us and make up a story. This whole game can make us sad or feel down about ourselves or it can feed our ego in a big way. Let it go, respect everyone's journey, including your own and stop the need to compare yourself to others. 7. Stop judging others \u2013 Judging other people can become a habit and an addiction. It's like something we can't stop doing sometimes! Take a moment the next time you judge someone and observe it. Ask yourself why you did it, how did it make you feel? Etc. Make a conscious effort to stop. (more) 8. Stop the blame game \u2013 Blaming and pointing fingers when it comes to our challenges or what happens to us doesn't allow us to look at and observe how we might have created or aligned with an experience to help make it happen. I'm not saying there's no such things others can do to hurt you, I'm simply saying take responsibility for how you feel and don't even point blame, it doesn't help us. 9. Stop worrying and trying so hard to fit in and be accepted \u2013 This is something far too many of us do just to save face and not be \"the weird one.\" The reality is, it's more 'weird' to be a version of yourself that isn't genuine or real simply because you want to be accepted by others. It's a choice you can't maintain forever and the longer it goes the more uncomfortable you will feel. Be you, accept yourself, be genuine and don't try to make others do the same when. Let it happen. Trust. 10. Let go of the need to control everything \u2013 Sometimes we can't take a step forward in anything because we don't know all the answers or all the variables. This is our obsession with control sometimes. Yes, observe a situation and make the best choices available to you, but don't worry so much about needing to control or know every detail about it. Learn to leave things up to trust and knowing that things will work out as they need to. This doesn't mean be reckless, just that you don't need to control every thing, person and detail. 11. Stop procrastinating \u2013 This one goes with everything on the list. Stop putting it all off. Whatever it may be. The changes listed above, the hobby you want to, the career you want to explore, or the thing you want to tell to someone important to you. Stop putting it off and just do it!","label":1}
{"text":"Donald John Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night with an unusually vehement appeal to Americans who feel that their country is spiraling out of control and yearn for a leader who will take aggressive, even extreme, actions to protect them. Mr. Trump, 70, a New York real estate developer and reality television star who leveraged his fame and forceful persona to become the rare political outsider to lead the ticket of a major party, drew exuberant cheers from Republican convention delegates as he strode onto the stage of the Quicken Loans Arena and delivered a speech as fiery as his candidacy. With dark imagery and an almost angry tone, Mr. Trump portrayed the United States as a diminished and even humiliated nation, and offered himself as an savior who could resurrect the country's standing in the eyes of both enemies and Americans. \"Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation,\" an Mr. Trump said, standing against a backdrop of American flags. \"The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country. \" Mr. Trump nearly shouted the names of states where police officers had been killed recently, as the crowd erupted in applause, and returned repeatedly to the major theme of the speech: \"Law and order,\" he said four times, each time drawing out the syllables. Evoking the tumult of the 1960s and the uncertainty that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Trump made a sharp departure from the optimistic talk about American possibility that has characterized Republican presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan redefined the party over 30 years ago. In promoting his views on crime, immigration and hostile nations, Mr. Trump was wagering that voters would embrace his style of populism and his promises of safety if they feel even less secure by Election Day. But his speech \u2014 the longest, at an hour and 15 minutes, since at least 1972 \u2014 had relatively little new to offer women, Hispanics, blacks and others who have been turned off by Mr. Trump's incendiary brand of politics. He did sound like a different sort of Republican at times, though, making no mention of abortion \u2014 a core issue for many Republicans \u2014 and saying of his support among evangelical voters, \"I'm not sure I totally deserve it. \" Mr. Trump also challenged Republican orthodoxy as he promised to end multilateral trade deals and limit American intervention in global crises. He denounced \"15 years of wars in the Middle East\" \u2014 a rebuke of his party's last president, George W. Bush \u2014 and pledged to help union members, coal miners and other Americans who have historically supported Democrats. \"These are the forgotten men and women of our country,\" said Mr. Trump, a billionaire with a mixed record of job creation and layoffs. \"People who work hard but no longer have a voice \u2014 I am your voice. \" He even vowed \"to do everything in my power to protect our L. G. B. T. Q. citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. '' As the audience applauded, Mr. Trump made a deviation from his prepared text, observing: \"I have to say, that as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. \"' Facing a restive party on the final night of a convention that has been unusually turbulent and divided, Mr. Trump seemed to make headway in galvanizing and unifying at least those Republicans gathered in the hall. The nearly full arena was rapt as Mr. Trump spoke, and when he began discussing illegal immigration, a familiar chant quickly broke out in the arena: \"Build the wall, build the wall!\" And when he vowed to tell the truth \"plainly and honestly,\" a delegate cried from the floor: \"Bring it, Donald!\" Mr. Trump dwelled at length on illegal immigrants and lawless Americans, saying they are as dangerous for the nation's security as the Islamic State and Syrian refugees. In doing so, Trump advisers said, he sought to win over undecided voters who are sickened by the recent violence against police officers and worried about safety yet are unsure if Mr. Trump has the temperament and abilities to be commander in chief. \"I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order to our country. \" While nomination speeches are traditionally optimistic and personal, full of hope and revelations that cast candidates in the best possible light for voters, Mr. Trump sounded like a wartime president, using the word \"threat\" seven times and promising to \"defeat the barbarians of ISIS. \" He also recited homicide rates in American cities and the thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal records, promising to control violence at home and abroad. \"It is time to show the whole world that America is back \u2014 bigger, and better and stronger than ever before,\" Mr. Trump said. He was blistering about Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, and her tenure as secretary of state, arguing that her diplomatic strategy in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and other countries had led to civil unrest and political chaos and rendered her unfit to be president. \"America is far less safe \u2014 and the world is far less stable \u2014 than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America's foreign policy,\" Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump said Americans had \"lived through one international humiliation after another\" under President Obama: the Navy sailors \"being forced to their knees\" by Iranian captors in January the destruction of the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya and Mr. Obama's decision not to defend his \"red line\" on Syria. Mrs. Clinton shared the blame, too, he added. \"This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism, and weakness,\" Mr. Trump said. In a bid to appeal to Democrats unhappy with their party's embrace of Mrs. Clinton, he invoked the political message of her chief rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, and suggested that Mr. Sanders shared Republicans' critique of her record. Mr. Trump's elder daughter, Ivanka, also sought to reach out to Democrats and moderates, extolling him as a champion of women in the workplace, and a leader who would \"take on the bold and worthy fights, who will be unafraid to set lofty goals and relentless in his determination to achieve them. \" This week's convention, which typically would have been choreographed carefully, was itself a departure from the norm. But if Mr. Trump injected drama and even spontaneity back into the formulaic gathering, he also tested the limits of improvisation over the last week. The operatic quality of the first three days of the convention worried some Republicans. Presidential candidates have two major issues to deal with over the summer, their selection and their convention, and they felt he had bungled both. Mr. Trump chose his running mate haphazardly and then overshadowed the announcement of Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana by indulging in a rambling speech that revived questions about his seriousness. The party staged a convention that reflected just how fractured it is. There were, to be sure, effective attacks on the character and record of Mrs. Clinton, whose unpopularity among modern presidential nominees is exceeded only by Mr. Trump's. But some of the language spilled into ugliness and catcalls. The party at times seemed unified only around a shared determination to imprison the former secretary of state. But the speeches dedicated to promoting Mr. Trump and the party's governing vision were hazy and at times collided with the candidate's own beliefs. Many of the elected officials who spoke extolled a traditional conservative platform that bears little relation to the nationalist agenda on which Mr. Trump is basing his campaign. For example, just hours before Mr. Pence, a committed internationalist, assured delegates and millions of voters that America would defend its allies, Mr. Trump gave an interview in which he balked at defending NATO countries, a policy that has been the cornerstone of the alliance for 70 years. Even as Republicans prepared to leave Cleveland, they were still straining to come to terms with the views and personality of their newly minted nominee. \"I'm going to vote for Mike Pence,\" said Gov. Gary Herbert of Utah, pausing for effect: \"And Donald Trump comes along with the package. \" Candidates who are trailing \u2014 as Mr. Trump is, according to national polling averages \u2014 must maximize the bump they typically enjoy in the polls after their conventions. Mr. Trump may see his standing improve after he leaves Cleveland on Friday, even though he did not fully seize the opportunity he was afforded after Mrs. Clinton was upbraided by the F. B. I. director over her private email server. In many ways, the convention's formality was an awkward fit for Mr. Trump, who soared in the primaries by energizing voters at freewheeling rallies with his and frequently entertaining remarks. Instead, for Thursday night, he relied on a teleprompter and a speech heavy with familiar Republican themes like cutting taxes, creating jobs, and pushing for education reforms to give parents more choice in schools for their children. Yet he also made more personal promises as well, like being the ultimate safeguard for the younger generations of Americans. \"To every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I'm with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you,\" Mr. Trump said.","label":0}
{"text":"The head of the European Parliament s biggest group, the center-right European People s Party, said British Prime Minister Theresa May s speech on Brexit on Thursday did not clarify London s position and had left him more concerned than before. In substance PM May is bringing no more clarity to London s positions. I am even more concerned now, Manfred Weber said on Twitter. Prime Minister Theresa May called on Friday for Britain to stay in the European Union s single market during a roughly two-year transition out of the EU as she appealed for a revival of Brexit negotiations.","label":0}
{"text":"Rupert Murdoch s British newspaper group said on Friday one of its titles had hacked the computer of a former intelligence officer, an admission which critics said showed why his takeover of European broadcaster Sky should be blocked. In a hearing at London s High Court, Murdoch s News Group Newspapers admitted vicarious liability for the hacking of computers belonging to Ian Hurst, who worked for British military intelligence. The case comes a month after Britain s media minister said regulators should scrutinize Murdoch s planned $15 billion takeover of Sky over concerns about broadcasting standards and its impact on media plurality. Hurst s lawyer Jeremy Reed said in a court statement the Irish edition of the News of the World newspaper had hired a private investigator to intercept his client s emails in 2006. Hurst had served in Northern Ireland and later wrote a book about his experiences, including details of Britain s top spy in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Alfredo Scappaticci, known by the codename Stakeknife . Reed said it was likely he was targeted because an employee of the newspaper wanted to trace Scappaticci. I confirm that News Group Newspapers ... accepts vicarious liability for the wrongful acts of computer interception, said Anthony Hudson, the lawyer for the newspaper group, adding it had paid substantial damages to Hurst and his family. News Group Newspapers accepts that such activity happened, accepts that it should never have happened, and has undertaken to the court that it will never happen again. Opponents of Murdoch s takeover said the case was evidence the deal should not be allowed to go through and they would send a dossier to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) which is examining the proposed deal. It s vital that the CMA is able to take this new evidence of criminality and corporate failure into account as it assesses the Murdochs bid to take over Sky, said Tom Watson, deputy leader of Britain s opposition Labour Party. Murdoch shut the News of the World in 2011 after its journalists were found to have been involved in widespread phone-hacking. His original attempt to buy full control of Sky was ditched in the wake of the scandal. Since then the company has been split in two, separating the newspapers from entertainment assets to help to smooth the deal s passage. Last month Murdoch s son James said he was confident regulators would assess the deal on its merits and not be swayed by those with grievances against his father s newspapers, saying the company had dealt effectively with past problems.","label":0}
{"text":"Larry Colburn, who became an American hero when he intervened with two comrades to halt the massacre of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by United States soldiers in 1968, elevating an innocuous hamlet named My Lai into a watchword for the horrors of war, died on Tuesday at his home in Canton, Ga. He was 67. The cause was liver cancer, his wife, Lisa, said. Mr. Colburn was the last surviving member of a helicopter crew that was assigned to hover over My Lai on Saturday morning, March 16, 1968, to identify enemy positions by drawing Vietcong fire. Instead, the men encountered an eerie quiet and a macabre landscape of dead, wounded and weaponless women and children as a platoon of American soldiers, ostensibly hunting elusive Vietcong guerrillas, marauded among defenseless noncombatants. The crew dropped smoke flares to mark the wounded, \"thinking the men on the ground would come assist them,\" Mr. Colburn told Vietnam Magazine in 2011. \"When we would come back to those we marked,\" he said, \"we'd find they were now dead. \" Audaciously and on his own initiative, the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. swooped down and landed the copter. \"Mr. Thompson was just beside himself,\" Mr. Colburn recalled in an interview in 2010 for the PBS program \"The American Experience. \" \"He got on the radio and just said, 'This isn't right, these are civilians, there's people killing civilians down here.' And that's when he decided to intervene. He said, 'We've got to do something about this, are you with me?' And we said, 'Yes.' \" Mr. Thompson confronted the officer in command of the rampaging platoon, Lt. William L. Calley, but was rebuffed. He then positioned the helicopter between the troops and the surviving villagers and faced off against another lieutenant. Mr. Thompson ordered Mr. Colburn to fire his machine gun at any soldiers who tried to inflict further harm. \"Y'all cover me!\" Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying. \"If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!\" \"You got it boss,\" Mr. Colburn replied. \"Consider it done. \" Mr. Thompson, Mr. Colburn and Glenn Andreotta, the copter's crew chief, found about 10 villagers cowering in a makeshift bomb shelter and coaxed them out, then had them flown to safety by two Huey gunships. They found an boy clinging to his mother's corpse in an irrigation ditch and plucked him by the back of his shirt and delivered him to a nun in a nearby hospital. Crucially, they reported what they had witnessed to headquarters, which ordered a . By then, as many as 500 villagers had been killed. Would Mr. Colburn have fired at his fellow Americans? \"How could I ever be prepared for something like that?\" he replied years later. \"Would I have? I guess that's the $64, 000 question, isn't it?\" Seymour M. Hersh, the independent journalist who later uncovered the My Lai massacre, said of Mr. Colburn in a phone interview on Friday that \"for a door gunner in Vietnam to point his machine gun at an American officer\" under those circumstances \"was in the greatest tradition of American integrity. \" Lawrence Manley Colburn was born on July 6, 1949, in Coulee Dam, Wash. His father, Harry, a World War II veteran, was a civil engineer who had helped build the Grand Coulee Dam. His mother, the former Catherine Manley, was a homemaker. His father died when Larry was 15. An altar boy, he attended Roman Catholic elementary and junior high schools and a public high school, where, after an altercation with an assistant principal, he was suspended for two weeks. Rather than return to school, he joined the Army. Because he was 17, he needed his mother's permission. He earned his high school equivalency diploma in the Army before being shipped to Vietnam in December 1967. The full extent of the gang rapes, massacre and mutilations by Charlie Company in My Lai and another hamlet, on the South Central Coast, was not exposed until two months after Mr. Colburn was discharged. A Pulitzer report by Mr. Hersh for The Dispatch News Service in November 1969 provoked international outrage and eventually resulted in charges against more than a dozen officers. Only one, however, was convicted: Lieutenant Calley, for the murder of 22 civilians. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but ended up serving only three and a half years under house arrest at Fort Benning, Ga. Mr. Colburn entered Green River College in Auburn, Wash. on the G. I. Bill but struggled academically and financially and quit before graduating to become a commercial fisherman in Alaska. He later moved to Oregon, where he met Lisa Cale, a student at Eastern Oregon State College. They married in 1985 and moved to Atlanta, where he sold orthopedic rehabilitation equipment. She survives him, along with their son, Connor, and his sisters, Sheila Beal, Mary Jones and Colleen Capestany. My Lai became a paradigm for unbridled brutality and an object lesson in battlefield ethics, but the crewmen whose audacious intervention prevented even more bloodshed were largely forgotten. Their heroism was acknowledged with Bronze Stars, which they considered inappropriate recognition: The Bronze Star is awarded for bravery under enemy assault, they reasoned, and they had demonstrated courage in the face of friendly fire. After the investigations and trial, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn received something else, too: hate mail. \"One of the most infuriating things is being called a as if we went and ratted someone out,\" Mr. Colburn told Vietnam Magazine. \"That is completely false there was no going on. We were right in their face at My Lai. We were ready to confront those people then and there. And we did, the best we could. \" In the late 1980s, after seeing Mr. Thompson interviewed on a television documentary, David Egan, a professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, began a crusade to recognize, belatedly, the crew's actions. Trent Angers, the author of \"The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story\" (1999) told The Associated Press that Mr. Colburn had \"stood up, shoulder to shoulder with Hugh and Glenn, to oppose and stand down against those who were committing crimes against humanity. \" \"Without his assistance,\" he added, \"Hugh might not have done what he did. \" In 1998, 30 years after the massacre, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn were awarded the Soldier's Medal, which is granted for lifesaving bravery not involving direct contact with an enemy. \"It is my solemn wish that we all never forget the tragedy and brutality of war,\" Mr. Colburn said at the ceremony, held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. \"I would like to quote Gen. Douglas MacArthur: 'The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and the unarmed.' \" Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn walked the short distance to the memorial, where they made a rubbing of the inscribed name of Mr. Andreotta, who was killed in Vietnam three weeks after the massacre. He was awarded the Soldier's Medal posthumously. The two men returned to My Lai that year, meeting some of the villagers they had rescued and dedicating an elementary school. On the flight home, Mr. Colburn recalled, he turned to Mr. Thompson and said, \"It was so good to see all those little kids smiling again, not having to worry about being blown up, not having to be looking over their shoulders all the time, just being able to be kids. \" Mr. Thompson died of cancer in 2006 at 62. Two years later, on the 40th anniversary of the massacre, Mr. Colburn returned to Vietnam and was reunited with Do Ba, who as a boy had been rescued by Mr. Colburn from an irrigation ditch.","label":0}
{"text":"The European Union and Canada signed a trade agreement on Sunday that commits them to opening their markets to greater competition, after overcoming a political obstacle that reflected the growing skepticism toward globalization in much of the developed world. Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had been forced to call off an earlier trip to sign the deal after Wallonia, the region of Belgium, used its veto to withhold Belgium's approval of the deal. The pact required the support of all 28 European Union countries. On Friday, Wallonia, which has been hit hard by deindustrialization and feared greater agricultural competition, withdrew its veto after concessions were made by the Belgian government, including promises to protect farmers. Hours later, the European Union announced that the deal was back on track. Mr. Trudeau signed the pact on Sunday, joined by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, which represents the leaders of the member states Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, which holds the rotating presidency of the body that runs the bloc's ministerial meetings and Juncker, the president of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. The deal will help to demonstrate that \"trade is good for the middle class and those working hard to join it,\" Mr. Trudeau said at a news conference in Brussels. Mr. Trudeau said he wanted to \"make sure that everyone gets that this is a good thing for our economies but it's also a good example to the world. \" But the Walloon intransigence has underlined the extent to which trade has become politically radioactive as citizens increasingly blame globalization for growing disparities in wealth and living standards. Across Europe and the United States, opposition to trade has become a rallying point for populist movements on the left and the right, threatening to upend the established political order. A compromise among the regions of Belgium, which persuaded Wallonia to drop its veto, called for language to clarify the handling of trade complaints brought by Canadian or European companies. Belgium pledged to refer the arbitration system to the Court of Justice of the European Union, where judges can assess its legality. Nonetheless, several dozen activists held a rowdy protest on Sunday outside the building where Mr. Trudeau signed the pact, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The protesters splashed red paint on the forecourt of the building and condemned a planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between Europe and the United States. That much larger deal, known as T. T. I. P. has already stalled amid opposition from large numbers of Europeans, including many Germans and Austrians. The protesters see the Canadian deal as a for a much larger battle. The spectacle of tiny Wallonia, with just 3. 6 million people, holding up a deal that affects more than 500 million Europeans and 35 million Canadians and prompting European Union leaders to delay a summit meeting has rattled Western leaders. \"In the end, people who favor free trade survived to fight another day,\" said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. \"Now that we see the Canadian deal has made it over the finish line, the Atlantic trade deal still has a fighting chance,\" he said. \"But it won't be easy. T. T. I. P. could similarly threaten traditional farming interests and arouse European suspicions about common health and environmental standards. \" As a legal matter, the member states' legislatures still need to ratify the Canadian agreement. That could mean more hiccups before it goes into effect. Mr. Tusk, of the European Council, said he was cautiously optimistic that the deal would survive the ratification process and could send a positive message about globalization. \"Today's decisions demonstrate that the disintegration of the Western community does not need to become a lasting trend,\" Mr. Tusk said. \"Free trade and globalization have protected hundreds of millions of people from poverty and hunger. The problem is that few people believe this. \" \"The European Union is not yet in the group of hard protectionist and economies like China or Russia,\" said Hosuk the director of the European Center for International Political Economy, a research organization in Brussels. \"Instead, the E. U. is carving out a new middle ground between those two countries and the United States. \" Europe, Mr. said, is pivoting to a position as \"neither an ally of East nor West. \" Once ratified, the Canadian deal would cut many tariffs on industrial goods and on farm and food items, according to the European Commission. The deal also would open up the services sector in areas like cargo shipping, maritime services and finance to European firms, the commission said. The Canadian deal is also regarded by trade advocates as a template for advanced, industrial economies by making it easier for their regulators to recognize one another's rules, and by updating the rules on how companies can make sure governments protect their investments. If the Obama administration has its way, the next major regional trade accord to make it over the finish line will be the Partnership, which includes the United States, Canada, Japan and Vietnam. The Pacific deal \u2014 largely because it involves a number of emerging economies \u2014 is a more traditional trade accord aimed mainly at cutting tariffs and knocking down impediments to trade. But like the Europeans, many Americans do not want to make concessions that would lower wages or threaten jobs at home. The deal has become a hot issue in the United States presidential election both nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump, oppose it. Mr. Funk Kirkegaard, the senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, said he gave the Pacific deal about a 30 percent chance of being concluded while President Obama is still in office. \"Beyond January,\" he said, \"it's all dependent on the results of the election and who's the next president. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump raised $1.7 million from donors and loaned his White House campaign $7.5 million in April as he moved closer to becoming the Republican nominee for president, according to documents filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday. The New York businessman had loaned his campaign a total of $43.5 million as of the end of April, the filings showed. More recently, he has made moves to build up his fundraising operation with an eye toward the Nov. 8 general election. Trump became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee in early May, when both of his rivals dropped out of the race. Trump self-funded much of his primary run, but he has said he will not rely as heavily on his own money for the general election, when he will face the Democratic nominee. Both people seeking the Democratic nomination have raised more than Trump. Hillary Clinton, the party's front-runner, brought in $26.4 million in April, including funds from a joint fundraising effort with the Democratic Party. An outside Super PAC supporting her campaign raised $8.6 million. A Super PAC is a fund-raising group that must operate separate from political campaigns but can raise unlimited sums. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, raised $26.9 million in April. He has disavowed Super PACs. Trump has criticized them too, though a long-time Republican operative in May joined one Super PAC backing the real estate mogul. In May, Trump hired investor Steven Mnuchin as his national finance chairman and entered a joint fundraising deal with the Republican National Committee that will allow donors to write much bigger checks. Friday's FEC filings do not reflect these moves, but they show that Trump's fundraising dipped in April, after he brought in about $3 million and loaned himself $11.5 million in March. He also spent less in April, $9.4 million compared with $13.8 million a month earlier, when more states held nominating contests. Trump spent $2.6 million on advertising in April, less than half the $6.3 million he spent in March. By comparison, Sanders spent $17.3 million and Clinton spent $9.3 million on advertising in April. Trump's consulting and payroll spending also dropped about 30 percent to a total $1.7 million in April, even as he added experienced political staff. At the end of March, he hired veteran Republican strategist Paul Manafort. Trump ended April with $2.4 million on hand, after starting the month with $2.1 million at the ready.","label":0}
{"text":"Print  The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Citizens gathered outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia during the proceedings, attempting to learn what sort of government had been agreed upon behind closed doors. As he exited the Hall, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, \"Well, Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?\"  Franklin responded, \"A republic, if you can keep it.\"  It's important to note that Franklin did not include the word democracy because the difference between a republic and a democracy is fundamental. The word republic comes from the Romans' word in Latin res publica \u2014 which means \"the public thing.\" \"Democracy,\" on the other hand, invented by the Greeks, comes from their words demos and kratein , which means \"the peoples' rule.\" Greek democracy meant majority rule. Yet, even during its first few decades of existence, the great Greek thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle rejected democracy as a bad form of governance, labeling it \"mob rule.\"  So we can confer on Franklin's response to that inquiring woman that he believed, in the wake of Britain's capitulation to Washington's revolutionary army, the Continental Congress had created a constitutional republic fashioned much more closely to the Roman representative Republic than the Athenian Democracy.  But now, 230 years later, we must countenance the specter of a woman who has trafficked in national security secrets and is guilty of numerous felonies becoming the president of the United States. This has made me wondering if it might not be possible for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against a President Clinton shortly after her election. So I resolved to contact various members of Congress to ask them if they wouldn't attempt impeachment as a means to fulfill their oaths of office to preserve and protect the constitution.  I first made contact with Congressman Tom McClintock of the 4 th District of Northern California. What follows is our interview:  Kelley: Do you agree with my contention that a Hillary presidency would mean that we would be a post constitutional republic?  McClintock: I'm afraid we may already have entered the post-constitutional phase of American history. The fundamental architecture of the American Republic \u2013 the separation of powers and the Bill of Rights \u2013 is already breaking down. The question now is whether we will enter the restoration period or the decline period of our free government. I think a Hillary Clinton presidency has the potential of taking us past a tipping point that makes restoration of the Constitution much more difficult and unlikely.  K: What do you think the ramifications of her election would be?  If the current justices all serve until their actuarial age, the next President will make four appointments to the Supreme Court. Clinton and Justice Ginsburg have made it very clear that once a lock-step leftist majority is cemented into that court, their first two objectives are reversing Citizens United and Heller, which would have dire implications to our First and Second Amendment rights. I would expect that due process protections will begin falling quickly thereafter to enable, among other things, the prosecution of dissenters from leftist global warming orthodoxy. And even if the election of 2020 produced a Republican president with overwhelming Republican congressional majorities, any serious reform legislation could be expected to be struck down by a court whose majority will view its role as policy-making rather than upholding the Constitution. I could add the catastrophic impact of her \"open borders\" program that has devastated Europe and her intention to further increase taxes and regulatory burdens that could deal a knock-out blow to our faltering economy.  K: What do you think the likelihood would be of her immediate impeachment?  M: Zero. Impeachment requires 2\/3 of the Senate, which would be a political impossibility.  K: If it cannot remove a known felonious president who, as Secretary of State, compromised national security, has Congress lost its power to be a check on the executive branch?  M: The Constitution was written to be self-enforcing. But that only works as long as its powers are evenly divided; which, in turn, only works if the officials who exercise its powers are obedient to that Constitution; which, in turn, only works if \"we, the people,\" through our votes, insist on it. When we stop insisting on it, we forfeit our Constitution and the freedoms it protects. Lincoln was right: \"If destruction be our lot, we must, ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we are destined to live for all time, or die by suicide.\"  K: But even if there were no chance she could be removed, wouldn't simply the filing of impeachment articles be a historic way for those who wish to remain obedient to the Constitution to voice a powerful rejection of her lawlessness?  M: Larry, you're dreaming. There's no do-over for this election. (End of Interview).  As a nation, we've had a pretty good two-hundred-year run. But as Ben Franklin warned and Congressman McClintock fears, we may now have not kept or constitutional republic.  Article reposted with permission from LarryKelley.com shares","label":1}
{"text":"Turkey's foreign minister called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's immediate removal on Friday, saying a transitional government must be established and voicing support for a U.S. missile strike overnight on one of his air bases. \"It is necessary to oust this regime as soon as possible from the leadership of Syria,\" Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in the southern town of Alanya in comments broadcast live. \"If he doesn't want to go, if there is no transition government, and if he continues committing humanitarian crimes, the necessary steps to oust him should be taken,\" he said. Cavusoglu said safe zones for civilians in Syria were now more important than ever. He said the coalition had been informed of the U.S. missile strike and that he had spoken by phone with the French and German foreign ministers, although he did not say when. He also said contacts had been initiated with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.","label":0}
{"text":"Taiwan has assured the United States it has no intention of causing trouble in the Taiwan Strait, the self-ruled island s envoy to a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders said on Monday. The comments by James Soong came after he told reporters in the Vietnamese city of Danang at the weekend that he had good exchanges with both U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during informal moments between summit events. We don t want to create trouble in the Taiwan Strait, and lead the U.S., China and Japan, and all observers, to think we are a troublemaker. The whole world doesn t hope for Taiwan to be a troublemaker, Soong said in response to a question on his interactions with Trump and Tillerson. We hope to use peaceful means to solve relevant problems. Soong also said he had a natural interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Relations between Beijing and Taipei have nosedived since President Tsai Ing-wen was elected last year. China believes she wants formal independence for Taiwan, a red line for Beijing. For her part, Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s democracy and security. China has suspended a regular dialogue mechanism with Taiwan since Tsai came to power and stepped up military exercises around the island. It has also increased diplomatic pressure by winning over another two of the island s dwindling number of diplomatic allies. Soong, who is chairman of the China-friendly People First Party, emphasized at the summit that Tsai had repeatedly talked about seeking peaceful relations and stability with China. This month, Xi told Trump in Beijing that Taiwan was the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-U.S. ties.","label":0}
{"text":"New Zealand Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern said the ruling National Party had taken the largest number of votes in Saturday s general election, but the race was not over yet. The National Party had 46.1 percent of the votes with over 97 percent of results counted, while Labour had 35.7 percent of the votes, according to the Electoral Commission. New Zealand First had 7.5 percent of the votes, putting it position to hold the balance of power in the German-style proportional representation system. Ardern said the expectation was to speak to New Zealand First as quickly as they could.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump woke up early as usual to post some bullshit on Twitter, and he got epically trashed.Today is Inauguration Day and Trump decided he would brag about it.It all begins today! I will see you at 11:00 A.M. for the swearing-in. THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES THE WORK BEGINS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2017As the world waits in horror for what is likely to be a petty and divisive inaugual address, Twitter users launched an all-out attack on Trump in response to his tweet.Happy #Inauguration, @realDonaldTrump! Some facts for you: Climate change isn t a HOAX. The U.S. is a melting pot. Science matters. David G. McAfee (@DavidGMcAfee) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump you really should see a doctor if this movement doesn t stop. That s not healthy. Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/w3ejKwLaxK paladine (@paladine) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/nToOu132HY Cult Of Personality (@ResemblingACult) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump Please remember: 7M more people voted against you than for you. There is no mandate. Don t believe it? Look to the streets, Bill Shapiro (@Bill_Shapiro) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/x3IRT4KDZt Diva (@sammypolsen12) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/rUlMozVg8I Diva (@sammypolsen12) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/LwWVpZkw1N Diva (@sammypolsen12) January 20, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Fake news thohttps:\/\/t.co\/h4wOHGRek8 Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) January 20, 2017.I hope you fall on your face walking up to the podium. It ll be a perfect metaphor for the next four years @realDonaldTrump #rejecttrump Tomo Milicevic (@tomofromearth) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump its your BIG day little hands #Inauguration pic.twitter.com\/8vyDsjuwOh Lil Kim Ms. G.O.A.T (@killerbee805) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump What time do you start the Hunger Games? Matt Haig (@matthaig1) January 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/p4tK62aCug JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) January 20, 2017It should also be pointed out that Trump s tweet is a complete lie because he does not intend to work until Monday. That s right. He s literally using his first two days as president as vacation days.Donald Trump is unqualified to be president and he should be impeached the second he finishes swearing to uphold and defend the Constitution, because he will immediately be violating that oath due to his conflicts of interest and his persecution of the free press.The last eight years of hope and change are being replaced with four years of darkness and hate. Let s hope America lasts long enough to fix the mess Trump makes.Featured image by Spencer Platt via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Dr. Sebastian Gorka, deputy adviser to President Trump and former Breitbart News national security editor, echoed President Trump's denunciation of the \"witch hunt\" against Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday's Breitbart News Daily. [\"The Democrats have lost touch with reality,\" he said. \"It's not just fake news. It's very fake news. The whole Russia story is a the Democrats cannot cope with, and their facilitators in the mainstream media, simply, psychologically, cannot cope with the reality that the American people didn't choose Hillary Clinton. \" Gorka said they were using this \" of ties to Russia\" as a \"coping mechanism. \" \"The fact that it's the last administration that had the most disturbing ties to Russia \u2014 that's what the newspapers should be reporting,\" he said. SiriusXM host Alex Marlow noted that Gorka produced an extensive body of work for Breitbart News that was very far from \" . \" He worried that fake news stories about Russia controlling the Trump administration could interfere with the war against global jihadism, in which Russia is clearly a significant player, no matter what one thinks of the Putin regime. \"I think that there are probably people, constituencies, forces that would like that to happen, but I can assure you, it will never happen,\" Gorka replied. \"I have to go back to the man who is the . There was, if you recall, I think it was his last press conference from Trump Tower when he turned the ground floor into a giant press conference facility. In the QA, they asked him bluntly, one of the reporters said, 'So what about your links to Vladimir Putin? What about relations in the future with Moscow?' And the president was unequivocal. He said, 'Look, I'd like to be able to have good relations with Putin and the Kremlin. It doesn't really look very likely, and if that's the case, so be it. '\" \"We are pragmatists. We're not ideologues,\" he declared. \"My friend Monica Crowley said something very, very important: Our president must be understood as not an ideological candidate, our future president is an attitudinal one. That's the important thing to understand. That attitude is about making America great again. That's all we care about: national security and returning America to a place of leadership. The fake news will not be allowed to distort our understanding of the U. S. national interest and how we're going to realize that for all Americans, whatever newspapers they read, Alex. \" Marlow asked which top priorities the White House feels are not receiving the coverage they deserve because the media is so busy with fake news attacks. \"I think that the biggest ones remain the two versions of the Caliphate,\" Gorka replied. \"I love to quote the line that Bibi Netanyahu used in front of Congress where he said, 'If you want to understand the Middle East, the chaos in the world today, it's basically a Game of Thrones for who's going to control and have the crown of the Caliphate. '\" \"We focus on ISIS. We will obliterate ISIS, as the president said in his joint address. But there's another version of the Caliphate, and that's the Iranian version that they've been exporting, their theocratic version of the Caliphate that they've been exporting since 1979. That's a very, very serious threat \u2014 especially if you look at how the last administration empowered Iran through billions of dollars, through the JCPOA, the Iran deal, and the threat of a nuclear Iran,\" he said. \"On top of that, there's a subtler one, and that's what has happened to the armed forces of America under the last eight years \u2014 the underfunding, the being thinly stretched, the operational tempo especially of our Tier 1 units,\" he continued. \"We are going to rebuild the military because if you don't have strength, you can't have peace. \" Marlow asked about reports that Iran is preparing for a weapons \"shopping spree\" after existing U. N. resolutions expires. \"This is just another example of the ticking deadlines expiring on certain limits to what Iran can do,\" Gorka said. \"Here we have not quite a sanction, but it is a moratorium that will expire and allow the mullahs to access the technologies that they haven't been able to do before. If you compare this to how they responded to the lifting of U. S. sanctions recently, or sanction measures \u2014 unfortunately, these things are all done in the expectation that there will be better behavior afterwards from Tehran, and in every single case, we've seen exactly the opposite. \" \"We release the billions. We pay the ransoms. The pallets of cash are shipped over to Iran. What happens? Our naval vessels are harassed. There's a ballistic missile test. Our friends are fired upon,\" he said. \"So again, the most important thing to understand here is not the idealistic attitudes of the multilateral institutions it's that there are nations out there \u2014 Iran included \u2014 that are fundamentally powers, who do not share the same interests of America and her allies, who need to start toeing the line, and that's why they were put on notice. We need to see better behavior out of Tehran before any similar measures are implemented, either multilaterally or unilaterally,\" he declared. Marlow cited another recent report that suggested the Obama administration moved data from the investigation of alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian government to a lower level of classification, to facilitate \"easier sharing. \" He called this revelation \"troubling and strange. \" \"Well, it looks quite transparent,\" Gorka said. \"Just a matter of days before the Trump administration took control, there was a decision made inside the White House that certain special types of intelligence, certain types of signals intelligence, certain types of intelligence related to Russia could be promulgated, could be shared across the whole intelligence community in ways that had never been possible before. The reasoning for that is very, very hard to determine, unless there was some kind of political motivation. \" \"Why, days before we come into office, after dozens and dozens of fake news reports about potential connections to Russia, would we wish to downgrade this information and make it more shareable across the intelligence community \u2014 unless you're hoping that somehow it will leak and be used for political purposes?\" he asked. \"If you want to have an investigation on Russia, don't look at AG Sessions look at the Obama administration's decisions to do things like this,\" he suggested, \"because it smacks of a very, very dangerous thing: the politicization of intelligence. \" Marlow applauded the Trump White House's firm stand with the United Nations, most recently with a demand for the Human Rights Council to end its \"obsession with Israel. \" \"We try to keep our promises,\" Gorka said. \"I think you'll agree that the last six weeks have produced what in other administrations would have taken six months. \" He counted \"dealing with the attitude of multilateral organizations like the U. N. \" as one of those rapid accomplishments. \"We want to cooperate if it's in the interests of the United States, but the constant bashing and the ideologically driven actions of individual states and states coming together in various committees of organizations like the United Nations to hammer again and again and again our closest ally in the Middle East is just unacceptable. It's simply unacceptable,\" Gorka stressed. \"We have, as the president has said, an unbreakable bond with Israel, and the idea that they are in the crosshairs of the U. N. repeatedly, when around them you see true human rights abuses happening on a massive scale that the U. N. somehow forgets or doesn't see \u2014 if you wish to see American leadership in the world again, assisting the United Nations to do the good that it was originally meant to do, then these kinds of, again, politically motivated attacks must decrease and hopefully stop,\" he insisted. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN:","label":0}
{"text":"Chicago is considering naming a street after Oscar Lopez Rivera, the domestic terrorist who founded the FALN terror group responsible for killing six people and perpetrating some 130 bombings and terror attacks on U. S. soil between 1974 and 1983.[ Ward Alderman Robert Maldonado submitted a proposal to name a stretch of North Luis Munoz Marin Drive after the convicted terrorist early in February. The proposal was quickly pushed through ahead of new rules that would prevent people who are still living from having a Chicago street named after them. Alderman Maldonado attempted to claim that the new street name is not meant to honor the FALN terror outfit but is only meant to honor Rivera. Others note that it is farcical to claim you are honoring a man whose only claim to fame is in starting a terror group while pretending you are not also honoring the terror group. Joe Connor, the son of a man killed by a FALN terror attack in 1975, was furious at the move to honor his father's murderer, according to the Chicago . \"He is a sworn terrorist,\" Connor said. \"He was convicted of bombings in Chicago that did injure people. He tried to escape from prison with machine guns and plastic explosives where he was gonna kill the guards. \u2026 And Chicago is gonna put up a sign in his honor?\" \"The idea that people will walk by and see this street sign and think that Oscar Lopez was some sort of great person \u2014 it's diabolical,\" Connor added. \"The world is upside down here. What's next for Chicago, bin Laden Boulevard? Charles Manson Court? This is worse than a disgrace. It is sinister. It's a direct insult to my father's life. \" The plan to honor the Puerto Rican separatist approved by Chicago's Transportation Committee advanced this year after Barack Obama commuted Rivera's sentence. Obama ordered Rivera's release despite that he has never renounced his past violence. New York Councilman Joe Borelli said the commutation \"proves that Obama and most liberals are out of touch with reality and willing to sacrifice all norms in the name of progressivism. \" Indeed, Joe Conner noted that Rivera isn't even supported by most Puerto Ricans. In an in the Chicago Connor noted that few Puerto Ricans have ever supported the independence movement Rivera championed. Lopez has never represented the people of Puerto Rico. Never more than 5 percent of Puerto Ricans have ever voted for independence from America and in 2012 fully 60 percent voted for statehood. Further, Lopez and the FALN's vision of \"freedom\" never involved freedom at all for Puerto Ricans but subjugation in a Marxist state with Lopez and the FALN no doubt in the role of the Castros, as they wanted a \"free and socialist\" Puerto Rico. The son of the murdered New Yorker ended his with a plea to the city. This is the felon whom Chicago plans to honor. I ask Ald. Maldonado, in the name of decency, to withdraw the honorary street designation for terror leader Oscar Lopez Rivera and cancel the vote. Should Maldonado refuse, I ask Mayor Emanuel and the other aldermen to reject and vote against the naming of Oscar Lopez Rivera Way. Twelve members of the FALN serving lengthy jail sentences were offered amnesty in 1999 by President Bill Clinton but only on the condition that they sign a statement expressing sorrow for their past crimes. Rivera was the only one of the dozen convicted terrorists who refused to sign the oath. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Keywords: ban on marijuana , legalized marijuana , Marijuana benefits  Long gone are the days where marijuana is seen as taboo. More and more states have been legalizing marijuana for medical use\u2014Alaska, California, DC, Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New Mexico, Connecticut, Michigan, Maryland, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Vermont; while Colorado and Washington have made history by decriminalizing the plant completely. Besides the United States, many countries have also began legalizing the use of marijuana (however, in some of these places, cultivating or transporting is still illegal)\u2014Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Italy, Estonia, Jamaica, Mexico, Nepal\u2014among many others.  After a Gallop poll was done, it showed that 58 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing the natural plant. This is the first time in history that Americans are more in favor of legalizing, than criminalizing, the herb. Below are a few reasons why it's time to legalize marijuana worldwide. Marijuana can be used to treat a variety of medical ailments.  Did you know that marijuana helps in treating epileptic seizures? It contains certain cannabinoids that have anticonvulsant properties, according to Katherine Mortati, MD, a neurologist serving at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center , SUNY Downstate Medical Center . Furthermore, marijuana has been discovered to relieve nausea in cancer patients, increase appetite in HIV\/AIDS patients, relax muscle tension and spasms; and relieve chronic pain. It has a very low abuse risk.  According to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, around 9 to 10 percent of adult users become dependent on marijuana. This is much lower than the dependent 20 percent of cocaine users, 25 percent of addicted heroin users, and the 30 percent of dependent tobacco users. Cannabis can be a useful in treating insomnia.  The number one cause of insomnia is stress, and marijuana aids in relaxation. A study done by the National Cancer Institute found that patients that ingested a cannabis plant extract spray reported a much more restful sleep. It has been researched that THC provides a subject with an easier time falling asleep, longer sleep, deeper sleep, and better breathing while sleeping. The National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institutes of Health funded studies that reported that subjects were able to fall asleep easier and more quickly after consuming THC. Approximately 40% of Americans have admitted to using marijuana.  With more and more Americans having admit to trying marijuana at least once in their lives, it has been shown that marijuana is less addictive than coffee. Because of this, more people are finding reasons to feel safer when trying the drug. No one has ever died from a marijuana overdose.  There has never been any reported case of anyone ever fatally overdosing on marijuana, despite the large amounts of THC in their systems. Prescription drugs, on the other hand, have been responsible for over 25,000 deaths in 2014 according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse ; while the Center for Disease Control and Prevention report that 6 Americans die every day from alcohol poisoning.  Sources:","label":1}
{"text":"The vast majority of almost 2 million Nigerians driven from their homes by the conflict with Boko Haram cannot return because of a lack of security, an aid agency said on Wednesday. About 1.8 million people have been displaced in Nigeria by the conflict with the Islamist insurgency, which has left at least 20,000 dead and shows little sign of ending as it drags into its ninth year. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in a report that 86 percent of internally displaced people were not ready to return home in the immediate future. Insecurity is cited by 84 percent of them as the main reason for wanting to stay put, it said. Only about six in 10 people said they wanted to return to their villages at some point, but could not do so now, the NRC report said. Many of the displaced say they have tried to return home, only to be forced to flee back to safer camps and cities because of continued attacks by Boko Haram and general insecurity. While the end game is for communities to return home, the unfortunate truth is that pushing people back now will have harmful consequences, Jan Egeland, NRC secretary general, said in a statement. Although Boko Haram in recent months has increased its attacks on displaced people, they still feel safer in camps and urban centers than in their communities, said Egeland. The Nigerian government and military have repeatedly said the insurgency has been defeated . Despite that, Boko Haram has killed 381 civilians in Nigeria and Cameroon since the beginning of April, more than double the amount dead in the preceding five months, Amnesty International said last month. The NRC survey did not take into account the roughly 200,000 refugees who have fled to neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The humanitarian crisis in northern Nigeria is now one of the biggest in the world, with $1 billion needed to fund relief efforts in 2017, the United Nations says.","label":0}
{"text":"A key committee in Mexico's Senate on Thursday ratified a deal with the United States that would boost competition in air transportation, a Senate spokesman said, paving the way for expansion of the world's second largest cross-border market. The deal, which both governments have already signed and modifies a 1960 agreement, would open up new routes for airlines to fly between the countries and allow for an unlimited number of flights. Mexico's full Senate must still ratify the agreement for it to take effect, which is likely to happen in the coming days. While some analysts have welcomed the deal, saying it would lower airfares by boosting traffic, Mexican airline workers have complained it would put the country's airlines at a disadvantage. The United States, which has a fleet of 7,500 planes compared to Mexico's 300, accounts for 65 percent of total flights in Mexican airspace, well above the 22 percent offered by Mexican carriers. Ratification would also remove the main hurdle to a closer tie-up between Delta Air Lines Inc and Grupo Aeromexico SAB de CV. The carriers have asked the U.S. government to grant them immunity from antitrust law so they can coordinate better flight connection times as well as prices, a request that cannot be granted until the aviation accord comes into force. Delta said last week its deal to buy up to 49 percent of Aeromexico is expected to close this summer.","label":0}
{"text":"We are witnessing the unraveling of the fabric of constitutional government, and only a fool can believe it will end well. [The nastiest opponents to President Trump inside and out of government apparently feel justified in using \"any means necessary\" to defeat and remove him. Every day sees more evidence of a desire not only to block his policies but to drive him from office. While it does not yet rise to the level of an organized conspiracy, it does raise serious issues of constitutional fidelity. First, in the weeks following the November election, we saw street protest and marches, followed by lawsuits, then leaks from inside government, and then talk of \"impeachment\" over crimes for which no evidence exists. And folks, in the words of Al Jolson, you ain't seen nothing yet. It's probably going to get worse. The seeds of this \"cultural embarrassment\" over Trump's victory were planted in the days immediately following the November 8 election: These efforts have at least three obvious things in common: desperation born of utter shock at Trump's election victory elitist arrogance and the active participation and support from the nation's major media organizations. Yet, there is another novel element interwoven in these events that is even more dangerous \u2014 dangerous not simply as a political obstacle to Trump's agenda, but inherently dangerous to the survival of our country. That novel element is the active, conscious subversion of lawful Presidential orders and initiatives by the permanent civil service apparatus called the \"senior bureaucracy. \" It is also being called the \"Deep State,\" meaning the part of the government that is immune to political appointment and political accountability. And most dangerous of all is the involvement of our nation's intelligence agencies in the leaks aimed at embarrassing the President. The earliest news stories about an alleged \"Russian connection\" openly named America's intelligence operations as the source. Now comes this month's FBI testimony that the agency has been conducting an investigation of the Trump campaign, and yet the FBI still has not cited any evidence of any that justifies the investigation. This involvement of intelligence agencies and the FBI in investigations \u2014 and the subsequent leaking of information gathered in the surveillance \u2014 puts into question the President's ability to trust the information provided to him by those agencies. And THAT, my friends, can seriously impair his ability to manage national security policy and any international or crisis that occurs. The theme of an \"illegitimate presidency\" provides a veneer of moral justification for seemingly disconnected acts of political sabotage. If resistance to Trump's policies is resistance to \"tyranny\" by a \"usurper,\" then nothing is out of bounds or off limits. This \" \" arrogance is what makes the campaign potentially lethal for constitutional government. The effort to paint President Trump as a usurper who deserves to be thrown out of office is unprecedented in its scope and intensity, and it will have unintended consequences for the Republic. This week there were revelations from the House Intelligence Committee supporting Trump's allegation of Obama regime surveillance of the Trump campaign and transition. Intelligence gathered by lawful wiretaps of foreign agent activities recorded \"incidental\" conversations involving persons inside or close to Trump campaign. Those \"intercepted\" conversations reportedly had nothing to do with alleged \"Russian hacking\" of the election, nor did they reveal any \"collusion\" with Russian agents. Yet, contrary to law, the conversations were shared with Obama White House staff and then with the media. How do we explain the bizarre obsession of Democrat leaders and the media with the \"Russian connection\"? Not one tiny shred of evidence has been produced by anyone to show any Trump campaign collusion with Russian activities connected to the 2016 election. And yet, the media and Democrat opponents (sorry, I repeat myself) continue to raise that specter to keep alive the myth of a \"stolen election. \" In the last days of the Obama administration, new rules were signed into law by Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the NSA Director as administrative amendments to Executive Order 12333, rules allowing the distribution of certain raw intelligence data to 16 additional government agencies at home and abroad. It may have been those new rules which facilitated the leaking of information concerning conversations Trump's nominee for Mike Flynn, had with the Russian Ambassador \u2014 conversations which the FBI later said broke no laws. What this week's revelations show is not any Russian collusion with Trump to influence the election but nearly the exact opposite: elements of the Obama government colluded with intelligence agencies to spy on the Trump campaign \u2014 or at a minimum, to use information gathered by surveillance to attack and undermine the Trump campaign team's transition plans for an orderly changing of the guard. Opposition to Trump policies is to be expected, and by hostile bureaucrats was not unknown in the first year of the Reagan administration and other governmental changeovers. But there are legitimate and lawful means of opposition and illegitimate ones \u2014 even illegal ones, like the leaking of classified information. If the saboteurs inside government expect the American public and tens of millions of Trump supporters to tolerate organized, incipient treason against constitutional government, they are mistaken.","label":0}
{"text":"After spending half the season perpetrating an protest against the national anthem, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick announced his free agency. But, with teams snapping up players, Kaepernick has thus far gone ignored by the NFL. Now, sports writer Mike Freeman, searching for a reason for the player's fall, ultimately decided that Kaepernick is being punished for \"the crime of speaking his mind. \"[For BleacherReport. com, Mike Freeman seems gobsmacked that no team has come forward to offer the 49ers quarterback a new birth. With his analysis, Freeman seems to blame the country and the NFL for being racist for not allowing Kaepernick to have unlimited success and untold accolades. Freeman also proclaims that Kaepernick is being punished for \"the crime of speaking his mind. \" The San Francisco quarterback became the talk of the league this season with his protests by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem at the start of each game. But, just as Kaepernick declared his free agency he also announced the abrupt end of his refusal to stand for the anthem. With the league's free agents signing to teams at a quickening pace, Kaepernick has thus far gone unsigned. Kaepernick, once considered an up and coming player with a bright future, helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 only a year after he went pro, and then led the team to an NFC Championship the following year. Since then his playing has declined. After several seasons of lackluster play, rumors circled that the 49ers would trade him ahead of the season. Freeman even notes that some football analysts feel Kaepernick has lost a step, saying, \"some teams genuinely believe that he can't play. They think he's shot. I'd put that number around 20 percent. \" But Freeman goes on to claim that Kaepernick has become toxic mostly because of his protests: Second, some teams fear the backlash from fans after getting him. They think there might be protests or [President Donald] Trump will tweet about the team. I'd say that number is around 10 percent. Then there's another 10 percent that has a mix of those feelings. Third, the rest genuinely hate him and can't stand what he did [kneeling for the national anthem]. They want nothing to do with him. They won't move on. They think showing no interest is a form of punishment. I think some teams also want to use Kaepernick as a cautionary tale to stop other players in the future from doing what he did. One executive even reportedly told Freeman that Kaepernick is \"an embarrassment to football. \" Freeman does admit that teams may just be waiting for the most advantageous time to bid for Colin's services. But, he thinks that what is happening to Kaepernick is \"highly unusual. \" It all adds up to little interest in the player, \"and that's putting it kindly\" Freeman writes. Freeman does add a long list of reasons people have criticized Kaepernick for his play, reasons that have nothing to do with his protests. The writer says that some criticize Kaepernick's throwing accuracy, others think he isn't much of a team player because he is a moody loner, and still others say he seems out of his depth when asked to learn new schemes. Despite all the complaints about Kaepernick's play and prickly personality, Freeman finds his lack of free agency opportunity shocking. Freeman writes: Still, it's hard to emphasize how unusual Kaepernick's current situation is. If a Super Bowl quarterback can walk and chew bubble gum simultaneously, he gets opportunities. Those opportunities usually arrive until that player is totally and completely done. That's not the case with Kaepernick. So, why is Kaepernick being left behind? It's all because everyone is punishing him for \"the crime of speaking his mind,\" Freeman thinks. Kaepernick's new agents appear to have foreseen all of this, which is why it wasn't surprising when sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Kaepernick would start standing for the anthem. Now, he sits. Waiting and waiting. A player whose political statement may have cost him his NFL career. With this, Freeman proves that, like many, he misunderstands freedom of speech. It is absolutely correct that Kaepernick has the right to say America has never been great, to slam our soldiers, the police, and other first responders, to tout Black Lives Matter and the like. But, it is the fans' corresponding right to decide they don't like him when he expresses those ideas. It is also highly logical for teams assessing Kaepernick's free agency to decide they don't want to bring his controversial views into their locker rooms and to assault their fans with his protests. Kaepernick has a right to speak out, but he doesn't have a right to expect no repercussions from that speech. Consider the most perfect example of cause and effect concerning the topic of free speech, when country band the Dixie Chicks went on tirades overseas against the United States in the early 2000s Then, here at home they pretty much lost their fan base because of their outbursts. Sure, the Dixie Chicks had a right to mouth off against the U. S. A. and no one said they didn't have that right. But, fans also had the corresponding right to stop patronizing their musical product, and it wasn't long before their musical career went from chart topping hits to invisible on the music scene. The reaction to Kaepernick, who said even worse things about the U. S. than the Dixie Chicks ever did, is entirely similar. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.","label":0}
{"text":"No trade takes place between Thailand and North Korea, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected visit by a U.S. envoy seeking to step up pressure on North Korea over its weapons programs. The United States has been urging Southeast Asian countries to do more to cut funding streams for North Korea as tension mounts over its development of nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them as far as the United States. Thailand guarantees ... that we have abided by the United Nations resolutions, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters at his official Government House offices. There have been reports about North Korean boats in our waters ... I prohibited them a long time ago. There is no trade ... there is no commerce, he said. Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, is due in Bangkok this week to discuss stepping up pressure on North Korea which has been pressing ahead with its weapons tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions and sanctions. During a visit to Bangkok in August, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed Thailand, the United States oldest ally in Asia, for more action on North Korea. At the time, the United States said it believed North Korean companies were active in Thailand and said it was encouraging the Thailand to close them. Following Tillerson s visit, Thailand s foreign ministry said trade with North Korea had dropped by as much as 94 percent over the previous year. It did not give any more detail. North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile late last month. The U.N. Security Council is due to hold a ministerial meeting on North Korea s nuclear and missiles programs on Friday.","label":0}
{"text":"Inglewood, CA \u2014 On Sunday, police responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle parked on Manchester Boulevard around 3:10 am. When police arrived, they engaged in a 45-minute long standoff before opening fire on the man and woman inside the vehicle, killing them both.  In the news release on Monday, following the shooting, police claimed that the woman in the car had a gun. Scott Collins, a spokesman for the Inglewood Police Department said that the couple refused to obey the officers' commands to exit the vehicle. The officers then feared for their safety and opened fire on the car \u2014 killing the couple.  The woman was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting, and the man succumbed to his injuries after paramedics transported him to a local hospital, according to the LA Times.  The shooting seemed like an open and shut case until the next day. Mayor James Butts, while responding to questions about the shooting, opened up a huge can of worms \u2014 both the man and the woman were unconscious.  For at least 45 minutes, police attempted \"to rouse\" them in an effort \"to de-escalate the situation,\" said Butts.  After admitting that the couple was asleep, Butts quickly defended the officers, noting, \"Obviously at some point they were conscious because somebody felt threatened.\"  However, that notion has yet to be proven and is particularly unlikely due to the fact that not a single officer received so much as a scratch, nor did the couple have any reason to be violent.  Both of the victims were parents; Kisha Michael, 31, a single mother of three sons, and Marquintan Sandlin, 32, a single father of four daughters.  Michael's twin sister Trisha stated the obvious when she said that it's possible that Kisha merely passed out on the way home from their night out.  Families for both described them as devoted parents who made arrangements for care of their children while they took a night off, according to NBC Los Angeles.  \"The police ain't telling us nothing,\" said Trisha Michael after being met with tight lips from the department.  \"He was a loving father,\" said Sandlin's sister Leandra Faulkner. \"All he cared about was his girls, getting them right.\"  Of course, as is standard procedure for all those killed by police, their arrest records were released to shame them. Michael was on probation for a misdemeanor last year, and 7 years ago, Sandlin was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm in Los Angeles.  According to his relatives, Sandlin had a 'rough life' but had turned it around and was working as a successful truck driver.  Sadly, these children will now grow up knowing that their parents were taken from them by cops, scared of a sleeping couple. Share Google + Concerned Citizen  Perhaps the mother had the gun on her lap for protection while they slept. At least they didn't drive drunk. These parents did not deserve to die! Mary Hagerty  Did she really have a gun, or did the cops just say that to excuse the murders of two sleeping people? Lying about weapons is a known police tactic to get out of trouble. Sometimes they go as far as to plant a weapon. Conscious  Let's say they had a gun. How did the police see it if they were asleep. Hmmm that makes it irrelevant John and Linda Robel  WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT \"DRIVING DRUNK\"? IT IS DETERMINED BY AN ARBITRARY NUMBER THAT IS EXTORTED BY THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS..WE ENCOURAGE PEOPLE EVERYDAY TO ANNUL THIS POLICE STATIST HORSESHIT. A FELONY CAN BE EXPUNGED BUT NOT A FUCKING MISDOMEANOR DUI. GET A GRIP. THIS NOTHING BUT A GOVERNMENT RACKET AND PROFFITEERING OF THE DUI INDUSTRY. Kevin Burnett  Sounds like more #blackliesmatter twits. Alan Lammle  Sounds more like #Bluethugliesmatter twits. Duryea L. Williams  Smh\u2026\u2026ignorance is contagious Talisha Harris  No where in the article talks about that movement. From the article it sounds like innocent people, who were not armed, and who were sleep were killed. Did I miss something? Anon ymous  They may or may not have had a gun. But, having a gun is no reason for the police to shoot & kill someone. Nikkia Bailey  Maybe they were too drunk to drive Anon ymous  Black lives matter also! What part of that is so hard to understand? Kburnett isanidiot  Stop being an ignorant fuckwad racist troll, Kevin Turdnett. Philip Williams Ryan Robbins  Marie Laveaux \u2013 I'm not disagreeing with you, I just always like to see some real info before I jump to conclusions. Not just a headline. I have no idea what happened and will not put blame on either side unless I see some hard evidence. Julie Asperger  On Los Angeles local news report they said the vehicle was stopped in the middle of Manchester Blvd not parked on the side of the road. (Both are illegal) seemed strange the way it was presented to us. This makes it even weirder. I passed by and seen there is a large memorial for them. To bad there is no video to see what really happened.  Cops don't like being filmed.  For obvious reasons. Julie Asperger  Yea I was harassed by some a few years back on Hollywood Blvd and intimidated into deleting video of them using excessive force on cooperating men. I even showed them my press ID and tried to be allowed to keep the video they said fuck the press. Kimberly Reichard Emerson  The intelligent of us know we're not. I can't even comprehend what's wrong with the people here that still believe we're in \"the land of the free and home of the brave\". It's frightening to say the least. Shawn Soto  This is so fucked up..Wtf is wrong with people. Why can't any one just act right? All you fuckers carrying so much hate on race..it's ridiculous. I'm sick of it!! An alot if peeps, an I mean alot. Are following an feeding this shit through media an all!! I hve mad love for all race in the world. Am does any one even hve a pure blood line now a days? I think not!! So don't be fooled by just the way your skin looks!!  We all belong to the human race. There's no other race than that. Thom Prentice  nice infotisments Colin Parker  I never understood why their prior arrest recods are released, It's not admissible in any court for a current charge so why are the police allowed to use it? Alan Lammle  To help soften the public in their attempt to make them look like they did nothing wrong in shooting 2 people in cold blood\u2026 Gary Harryman  Shouldn't the records of every cop at that scene also be released? Tray Pressley  To label them as \"criminals\" so they can justify the murder. MarkyMark NdaHouse  To demonize the dead\u2026 jamesawyatt  AS LONG AS BUREAUCRATS ARE ALLOWED TO HIRE WITH LITTLE OR NO SUPERVISION THOSE WHO SEEK TO BE EMPLOYED AS COPS, MANY OF WHOM HAVE A HISTORY OF BEING BULLIES GOING BACK THROUGH THEIR CHILDHOOD AND WHO SEEK THIS MEANS OF FURTHERING THEIR BULLYING LUST NOW ARMED WITH IMPRESSIVE UNIFORM, SHINY NEW BADGE AND DEADLY WEAPONS AND WITH THE PRESUMPTIONS THAT THEY NOW HAVE A LICENSE TO BEAT, CRIPPLE AND SHOOT WHEN EVER AND WHOM EVER THEY PLEASE, ATROCITIES ARE EXPECTED TO BE THE NORM AND WILL BE EXPECTED TO GROW AT AN EXPONENTIAL RATE. IT IS FOREVER HOPED THAT ONE OR MORE LAW FIRMS WILL COME INTO BEING THAT WILL RELENTLESSLY UNDERTAKE THE FILING OF SUITS AND NOT ONLY AGAINS THE INVOLVED JURISDICTION AND THE INDIVIDUAL ROGUE COP OR COPS BUT THOSE WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE HIRING OF THE COP OR COPS; THE IMPRESSION ALWAYS BEING THAT THESE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HIRING AND THUS ARE AS GUILTY AS THE INVOLVED ROGUE COP(S) & THEY HAVE TO BE FACED WITH THE HARSH REALITY BY HAVING LEVIED AGAINST EACH AND EVERY OFFENDER HUGH AWARDS\/FINES; NOT JUST ON THE JURISDICTION, I.E. THE CITY, COUNTY, STATE OR FEDS . . . BUT ALSO AGAINST EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN THEIR BEING HIRSD . . . AS WELL AS THE ROGUE COP OR COPS THEMSELVES AS INDIVIDUALS; THE AWARDS TO BE PAID BY THE INDIVIDUALS' BY THEIR PRORATED AWARD SHARE PAYMENT OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS AND ONLY A PRORATED SHARE BY THE JURISDICTION AS WHAT THE JURISDICTION PAYS WILL INVARIABLY COME OUT OF THE POCKETS OF THAT JURISDICTION'S TAX PAYERS. STIFF PENALTIES IN THE FORM OF HUGE FINANCIAL JUDGEMENT AWARDS SHOULD GO A LONG, LONG WAY IN FOSTERING AN AWARENESS BY THESE WHO HAVE ESCAPED ACCOUNTABILITY FOR SO, SO LONG OF THE POTENTIALLY VERY EXPENSIVE FOLLY OF THIS THEIR IRRESPONSIBLE ACTIONS WHICH RESULTS IN SO MUCH SUFFERING AND MANY TIME CRIPPLING INJURY AND\/OR DEATH. Mary Hagerty  I agree, but please don't use all CAPS to write. It's way harder to read. Roberto Carlos Moscoso  Sadly the government insists that they want to take guns away from civilians, for only police officers have training and are responsible enough to handle guns. Yet, I've seen more mass shootings and innocent people dying in the hands of cops than in the hands of \"irresponsible citizens\". Crazy ah? Tracy Walling Otis  Is that true Marco Emilio Giovanni Maltese? That's truly horrifying if so. If you have a source of those statistics, I would appreciate the link for it. I know it's bad. I'm not denying that. But I am even more disgusted if it is that bad. :'(  I've read that cops killed more than 1000 people in the USA in the last 3 years. But I'm sorry I don't have the link, you can search and you will find it easily. I think USA people should be more scared of cops than of terrorists. Alain Vosselman  I'm stunned.. i can no longer believe this. This is going to be talked about in the future (if we still have one) just as we talk now about Stalin's regime\u2026 or Sadam Hussein's\u2026. or Pol Pot. From now on even if we discover new life 100 triljon lightyears away traveling by mega-super-freak-aliesh tech vehicles.. we'll still be the most amazing embiciles of the universe. Aaron Beedle  The fact that there are enough of these stories coming from america for several to be posted everyday proves how messed up the place is. I would not want to be a black person living in america today. I wouldn't live there at all. Nothing will happen to the officers. They should be sentenced for murder, and receive a full sentence. Police officers over there intruding on people's property and killing pets, killing people just walking down the street or washing their car. I'd i was an american the only reason i'd want to own a gun was to defend my self against police officers. Ryan Robbins  You shouldn't believe everything you are reading online. It's bad right now, but it's not nearly as bad as many are making it out to be. All of these innocent victims are not nearly as innocent as they are initially made out to be. When the truth finally comes out on most of these stories, it's on page 6 and nobody takes the time to post it because it does not fuel there agenda to spread hate and prejudice. Aaron Beedle  it is true everyone has agendas\u2026 im sure there are a lot of people in general dying in america.. but i know from life that the people with the power are usually the assholes. I would say that at least 80% of all male human beings struggle to handle power reasonably. females would be close too. When it is appointed rather than earned, such as when someone is called a police officer and given a weapon that can kill people with ease, people tend to not handle it well. I heard a while ago that some parts of the world do not use equipment they would not fire at themselves. And they are made to. It teaches people restraint. Christopher Rawson  The police across America are being demonized by a sickness in the system that wants to put us against one another. That human is a human ,none of us our without fault or live life without ever feeling in over our head\u2026.possibly there is another way Tim Walker  I suppose if \"everyone\" voted for that one independent\/libertarian candidate, then maybe we would have a fighting chance. Sadly that will never happen. The vast majority of people have been brainwashed by the two main parties. With the division they have created they can easily put in any candidate they choose, how can anyone prove that it wasn't predetermined?  I just watched a news video of this story. The mayor said the couple were passed out when police arrived. \"Police spent 45 minutes trying to rouse them and de-escalate the situation\". How is there a situation to de-escalate if they are passed out? \u5c71\u5d0e \u30b3\u30ed\u30c3\u30b1  Ryan said nowhere in his comment that they deserved what happened. All he said was that another source had different information. If another source has clashing info, of course one of them is going to be wrong. No need to bash him. Vanessa White  Some groups must be trying to start to a race conflict and some are just happy with Anarchy. I would never call them for anything. They don't seem to know who or when to shoot. Or maybe they are all amped up on steroids all the time. pitiful. I will keep the children in prayer. Blue Thugs  All cops are cowards, never seen one that wasn't a coward and bully. One of the cops got tired of waiting and said \"gun\" that was all the excuse they needed to open fire. What if that was a white couple with a gun in the car,nearly everyone has a gun on person or in the car these days. What if they have a permit or concealed carry permit. Do you fucking think the cops would have fired 62 rounds into that car and killed the white couple, well do you?. If one of the thug cops did holler gun, no one can ever say anything to contradict them. Cops know if only one side is left alive, no one can say otherwise. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. That is every cops motto, as they know they are above the laws for mere mortal humans. Linda Brown  Chickenshit Bullies This B.S. Has to stop. I belive all you say as I have been targeted in Canada. First Nations People,drunk & drive teens and pot smokers are all targets where I live. Every skin color fair game on last two. For sure these Peace Officers should be heald accountable face an open hearing ( open to public ) \" a fair trial \" and then deal with courts decision. I'm not sure if this happened to my friends it would not end in graveyard. These murders must face charges and hopefully Murder One. USN Veteran  BT, I respect your opinion however do not fully agree with you. I do know a few LEO's. Good stock. Adult Scout Leaders. And there was an Officer from my childhood past, whom mentored me. However, I can not defend other LEO's actions. I firmly believe that an armed society is a polite society.  ARIZONA STATE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION \u2014 Article 2, Section 26.  \"The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the State shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain, or employ an armed body of men.\"  Arizona respects the right of all U.S. citizens to carry a concealed handgun with or without a permit, or to carry openly while in this state. An Arizona resident permit can be obtained for the purposes of carrying concealed while in other states that offer recognition or reciprocity.  Castle Doctrine Enacted Right to Carry Confidentiality Provisions Enacted Right to Carry in Restaurants Legal Right to Carry Laws No Permit Required Right To Carry Reciprocity and Recognition Outright Recognition Right to Keep & Bear Arms State Constitutional Provisions With Provisions  As such, Arizona has fewer crimes per capita committed with a firearm as does California. How does extrapolate these facts? Perhaps as Arizonians have come to accept firearms as a know factor in their daily lives, whereas Californians do not. Perhaps California's draconian laws encroach upon human mental health? Whereby inhibiting residents of the State of California to live in fear rather than confidence?  I for one shall leave this contemptuous State, seeking solitude of which only a truly free society can bring. I shall make Arizona my final resting place. (I expect in this forum environment, there may be egregious comments to the \"final resting place\"). ?  I respect all of my fellow American Citizens and their Constitutional RIGHT to express their opinions, as protected by the United States Constitutional First Amendment.  USN Veteran Margie Campbell-Threadgill  Maybe I missed something in the article, but does it state that the cops fired 62 rounds in the car? If so, I missed it. Fed1718 XXX  Department of justice has statistics on police killings and being white doesn't make you immune, in fact MORE whites were killed by police than blacks in the last 20 years. Doesn't excuse this horrible murder of an innocent couple but please don't fall prey to deluded thinking that being white makes a difference. Look for yourself.  How is anyone white or black ever supposed to trust a police officer these days? Blue Thugs  Fuck you dude. My dad is a good cop and i judge his actions too. You are biased. I'm not and leave ppl alone, they never bother with flat tires so fuck off. Chris Cochran  Every single one of these cops needs to be charged with Murder, and the police need to pay to make those kids end up having a good life since they will never have their parents to give them one Gary Harryman  Yes every cop at that scene is guilty of the same crime. Since they acted as a gang, they should stand trial as a gang and all be charged with the same crime \u2013 murder. Terri Spanjer  I wish people would stop and think for a minute about how the government is ALLOWING police to murder citizens and that over the last 2 years these incidents are occurring a hundred times a year. It's all part of the Big Plan to remove ALL YOUR RIGHTS and TERRIFY YOU. \u2026 PS : Yes, 9\/11 was an inside job. Think.  American cops have been given free rein to do whatever they want \u2014 The government ENCOURAGES police brutality. Lucas Vegen  I dont understand, maybe im to young, maybe the UK is completely different.  Black lives are being slaughtered even in their sleep and we sit and watch idol.  I learned at a young age. The Country will only change when its forced to, black people need to stand up, we are not shooting practice and we will raid stores, court rooms and banks in the 100's or 1000's if Money and Property is all they care about.  More may die, but we all die eventually and will die sooner if we watch idol. This is the world you want to live and raise your kids in? Really!?  This is not hate talk, but Black lives matter marches and speeches should be the calm before the storm\u2026 If they continue to kill us and our Children in our sleep. I dont think talking should be our last effort. How many more will die  It won't. They're killing everyone now. Desiree M. Mondesir  INSANE. I KNOW all cops are not like this but the ones who are\u2026God help them. Or rather, God help the people they senselessly murder and their remaining loved ones. How on earth does a sleeping couple threaten you, causing you to \"fear for [your] life\"?!?! B Alan Eisen  I fell asleep in my truck on a very cold night in front of my house. A police officer wanted to arrest me for sleeping in it, but the night was so cold, he got numb hands and left. Ross Thompson Laurie Choate  this of course will be swept under the rug as quickly as possible.. they messed up bad on this one.. i would love to see the dash cams vids. but im sure that too is now gone.. very sad that we can no longer trust any person in uniform.  how does one \"de-escalate\" a situation where the occupants of the car are asleep? David Lynn Courtney  freaking terrible and shameful roomtempIQ  The entire legal system is skewed, in favor of those who have money. No doubt black folks are unfairly targeted\/abused\/killed by cops, but us poor white folks get cop abuse as well, but us poor whites don't seem to be killed by cops as often as black folks.  That being said, I recently moved to a very rural county and the Sherriff's Deputies here are stand-up good guys. They are not cowards or bullies. That is one reason I moved here. B Alan Eisen  I wouldn't compare rural life with inner city life at all. Rural people respect each other. They help each other. The police are neighbors. You can explain inner city hell to yourself. \u042f\u043d \u041a\u0430\u0440\u0438\u0441\u0438  In 2015 the police in USA murdered 303 Black people and 578 White people. Total killed of all was 1140.  So far in 2016 the police in USA murdered 33 black people and 81 White people. Total killed so far as of February 27 is 166.  But, more whites than blacks you say..??? Simple, Only Black Lives Matter to the main stream media. Their mission is to promote an agenda to put us common folk against one another. Also, imagine if us whites acted like blacks when we have one of our own killed by police? When are whites going to loot and riot? Thomas Headen III  You Riot when your sports teams lose, or win, for that matter. Percentages sir, say that black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than white men. I think if the percentage were reversed, you would be alarmed as well. God bless. Michael McMaster  To put it in perspective, if police were shooting people in a colourblind fashion then you'd expect that for every 100 people shot, 12-13 of them would be black, and 68 would be white. Or to put it another way: Left handed people are about 10% of the population. If it turned out that year after year they were 30% of the people killed by police, it would be fair to ask why they were being singled out disproportionally. Anna Black  Whites Loot and Riot during sports. The real question is where is the All lives matter when this happens? Daniel robins one yahoo.com  Woops, they did it again. Todd Schacherl  So now sleeping while black is a capital offense? \"If only they had cooperated while sleeping, they wouldn't have been shot.\" Is that what we are to believe? Deloren Tucker  wtf\u2026 John and Linda Robel  The Blue Code of Silence is well established and routinely used. Tim Egan wrote \"Breaking Blue\" a book that documents the historical corruption of these \"Big Brave Heroes\". Orwell was right, \" BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING\" and THE PIGS ARE RUNNING THE FARM\". Line these POS up for the FIRNG SQUAD and make their families watch.. John and Linda Robel  KEEP VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS ALL YOU STUPID SONS OF BITCHES AND KALIFORNIACATORS. I'M SURE GOV MOONBEAM FEELS YOUR PAIN.  \"must have broke the law\"\"blue lives matter\" -every cop apologist dickhead on the internet  What's wrong with the cops, they couldn't wake them up it's a shame Nancy Keys  They had me confused when they said the woman's twin sister name Kisha??? Blue Thugs  Everyone in America needs to watch the documentry\/movie called \" Peace Officers\". I bet a thousand to a cop's doughnut there was no gun even in the car. If so it was planted after killing them probably. Stayce  Wow, I didn't know things were this bad . It just seems that being black is so wrong anymore. Why do these things keep happening? I just ask that all cops and law enforcement be mindful of what they are doing and double check their situation before over reacting. Now kids are without parents, this is ridiculous. Bless the babies and their parents. Lincoln Kirby  Huh I always thought the conscious scared the police more, i.e. Us. Oh wait they can't tell who's conscious and who isn't. Why was I born with less rights than my parents, and my younger family member born with less freedoms than I was born with? The fuck happened. Did we stop thinking. \u0394\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03ae\u03bb \u039d\u03c4\u03ac\u03bd\u03b9\u03b5\u03bb  FUCK THESE KIND OF MOTHER FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT POLICE WHO ARE JUST BULLYS WITH A BADGE AND A GUN HOPE THEY ALL DIE HORRIBLE PAINFULL DEATHS PIECES OF SHIT!!!! BROKE A WHOLE FUCKING FAMILY FOR WHAT? PUSSY BITCH ASS TRIGGER HAPPY PUSSY ASS PIGS SMFH! Deloren Tucker  When r we going to start fighting back Deloren Tucker  police are only human like us Anthony Georgeson  This has to stop, this is insane 7 orphans. Unarmed people killed by those who are supposed to serve and protect, crazed gunmen killing indiscriminately. This isn't the wild west, this is a war zone. I know guns can be a tool as much as a wepon. A knife, a stick , a rock, a fist, can be a deadly wepon. How do we fix this start making every stich of clothing out of Kevlar. Replace fluoride with Prozac. Can we learn anything from places that don't have a problem like Iceland. It has to stop. The Officers involved should have been interviewed by civilians before the went to Police Academy, maybe they weren't good with serve and protect.  Show me the video! DKSMan  WTF this article is full of major inaccuracies. They weren't parked on the side of the road. They were in the middle of a major street right in front of an intersection. They didn't pull over and go to sleep. All you have to do is loom at the crime scene photos and see this article is full of false information. They had a gun on them as well. Catherine Durnford-Wang  So? For that they deserve to be shot? And they had a gun? So what, again? Aren't guns allowed under the second amendment? Zatanique  How does a sleeping couple put anybody into a state of fear for their lives? I smell a cover up of monumental proportions by the cops involved. I can't believe that they could possibly find a plausible reason to justify opening fire on these two people. Not only do I want to see a Special Grand Jury called to deal with these cops, police department and city. I want to see a wrongful death suit brought against them, the police department and the city. Because of these cops 7 children are without their parents. No amount of money is going to make that better or make up for what they did.  On what planet could you possibly justify what happened? SMH for real  I cannot even grasp this! If they were not conscious why didn't they try to make sure they were not suffering from Co2 poisoning. Oh no lets just shoot them and make up any story we like. Huh???? David Sbraga  If you only had the courage to say that to someone face, and not while 6th were hiding behind a Kevlar and screen. I'd pray for you, but I don't believe in prayer, and I don't believe it would do you any good. Mark Nasia  parents on a date, were asleep in their car? does this headline make sense, I mean, two people shot while sleeping in their car makes more sense, that date would have happened before they decided to sleep, where are the editors these days  Jevez Robinson Paul Myers  Surely the same laws should be used and Policemen and the hiring officials as is used against gangs and organised crime. Lets face it the police force is the biggest organisation of organised criminals in the world!!!  Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Progressives must compete and vie for every civil service job. Once on, rise in rank and change The system. Genevieve Friday King  Two exhausted parents falling asleep in a car in and of itself, not news. Hell, I've been at work and college and found parents zonked out from exhaustion from parenting\u2026..but to be executed like this???? uh, were the cops afraid the parents would wake up and ground them for a week? or a stern talking to? Johndca Marible  These cops need to stop it. So we're suppose to believe that this woman and this man with 7 children between them are in a car that late at night just waiting to threaten cops with a gun. We're REALLY suppose to believe that story? I don't understand how cops can be so afraid when they have a license to carry a gun, training on top of that, a partner, and access to call for backup. I just don't get it. If you're that afraid of a Black person on sight, then you don't need to be a police officer. You need to seek help. Last time I checked, it was Black people getting killed by the police and not the other way around. Yeah, the cops have a handful of tragedies but it cannot compare to the numbers when you talk about deaths of Blacks by police. Not by a longshot. I'm getting really tired of this and the whole USA needs to revamp its law enforcement system. You can give guns to cops who are suppose to protect and serve but where is the protection for the rest of us? Jeff Putterman","label":1}
{"text":"If you ve ever been on Twitter then you know that with how great it is to get and receive information and updates as they happen, with the good comes the bad. The very, very bad.One person who has recently encountered some of the bad is actress and activist Olivia Wilde. She s a huge supporter of equal rights for women and minorities, and stands up frequently against police brutality. However, she recently learned a pretty harsh truth about some of her Twitter followers.First, Wilde tweeted out how important it is to stop Donald Trump and make sure more women get into office:WOMEN CAN STOP TRUMP. Watch this VIDEO & join our movement to elect women! @emilyslist @lauradawnANW @sarahsophief https:\/\/t.co\/b1boVnfOEX olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) May 23, 2016She also tweeted her reaction when learning one of the officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray was not being held accountable at all:Until the police are held accountable for violent crimes, we have no chance at peace in this country. #FreddieGray olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) May 23, 2016However, as anyone knows who frequents Twitter just even a little bit, if you tweet out something against Trump or against police brutality against people of color, you re going to get a deluge of racist replies, and probably a good dose of misogyny as well.After receiving several replies that were pretty awful and offensive, Wilde then tweeted out: You never know how many racists follow you until you post something about police brutality. Or Trump. You never know how many racists follow you until you post something about police brutality. Or Trump. olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) May 23, 2016And while not all Trump supporters are racist, if you re racist, you re probably supporting Trump. That s a pretty safe bet. And Wilde unfortunately learned the truth of that the hard way. Good on her, though, for telling it like it is!Featured Photo by Donald Bowers\/Getty Images for RYOT Twitter","label":1}
{"text":"Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Friday vetoed a bill passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature in April to spend nearly $3.9 billion on state services that have not been funded due to an ongoing fiscal 2016 budget impasse. The Republican governor called the legislation \"an empty promise.\" \"The bill purports to appropriate $3.89 billion, including more than $3 billion in general funds that the state does not have, for higher education and social service providers, but provides no source of funding,\" Rauner said in his veto message. The political stalemate between Rauner and Democrats has left Illinois as the only U.S. state without a complete fiscal 2016 budget, operating instead on court-ordered spending and a muddled patchwork of ongoing and stopgap appropriations. Rauner called on lawmakers to pass complete balanced budgets for the current and next fiscal years, although the governor has proposed funding most fiscal 2017 services with a temporary spending plan and K-12 schools with a full-year budget. Illinois' new fiscal year begins on July 1. The Democrats' spending bill passed with enough votes in the Senate to override a veto, but fell short of that margin in the House. The measure would have sent money to cash-starved state universities and colleges, covered tuition grants for low-income college students, and funded health and human services that were not subject to court orders. The measure also appropriated about $63 million for unpaid wage increases owed to about 24,000 unionized state workers.","label":0}
{"text":"The number of people arrested in Britain on suspicion of terrorism offences rocketed by 68 percent in the last year to the highest figure on record during a period when the country suffered four deadly attacks, figures showed on Thursday. Statistics from the Home Office (interior ministry) showed there were 379 arrests in the year to June, up from 226 from the 12 previous months, and the most since 2001 when the data began to be collected. Britain is on its second-highest threat level, severe , meaning an attack is highly likely and 36 people were killed in terrorist incidents in the first six months of 2017. Among the arrests, 12 came after an attack in March on London s Westminster Bridge when a man drove a car into pedestrians killing four, before he stabbed a policeman to death outside parliament. Another 23 followed a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester in May, and the following month police arrested 21 suspects after three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight. One arrest followed an attack in north London when a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque which left one man dead. Britain s most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley has said police have been arresting a suspect every day. He said this week that there had been a shift in the threat level rather than an isolated spike. In the three years until March this year, police foiled 13 potential attacks but in the next 17 weeks, there were the four attacks while the authorities thwarted six others, Rowley said. The pace has continued to be almost as challenging since then, he told a conference in Israel. The official figures showed that among the 379 arrests, 123 people were charged with an offense, of which 105 were terrorism-related, while 189 were released without charge.","label":0}
{"text":"Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner refused to step away from his stalled legislative agenda on Wednesday while insisting that a spending deal remains within reach, but his words appeared to leave his Democratic rivals unmoved. Republican Rauner and the Democratic-controlled legislature have been locked in a budget stalemate for nearly seven months. \"To achieve a grand compromise, we must cast partisanship and ideology aside,\" Rauner told the state legislature in his State of the State address. \"We must break from the politics of the past and do what is right for the long term future of our state. I'm ready, and it's my genuine hope that you are too.\" Rauner, a political newcomer, became governor a year ago. The wealthy venture capitalist used last year's annual speech to lay out an ambitious agenda that included business-friendly changes to workers' compensation, a freeze on local property taxes, curbs on public-sector collective-bargaining, and legislative term limits. But Rauner's so-called turnaround hit a brick wall in the legislature, where House Speaker Michael Madigan pronounced it \"extreme.\" The stalemate has left Illinois without a budget more than halfway through fiscal 2016. About 90 percent of state government is being funded through court orders, an enacted spending bill for K-12 schools, and continuing appropriations for pensions and bonds. In a nearly 40-minute speech that drew robust Republican applause but only a tepid Democratic response, Rauner did not abandon his stalled plan and lobbed barbs at two primary Democratic constituencies. \"I understand that union leaders and trial lawyers are putting pressure on you to keep the status quo, but if we don't offer a competitive environment for businesses, pretty soon the unions won't have any more jobs to unionize and the trial lawyers won't have any more businesses to sue,\" Rauner said, producing sarcastic laughter from some Democratic lawmakers. After the speech, Democrats continued to balk at the governor's agenda and questioned why he made no direct reference to the casualties of the budget impasse, including the state's university system, rape-crisis centers and other human-service providers that have been deprived of state funds. \"I certainly would have appreciated it had he done that,\" Madigan told reporters. But Rauner's GOP ally, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, dismissed the speaker's criticism. \"Today is the state of the state, not the state of the budget,\" Durkin said. The day ended with the spectacle of the lone public Rauner sympathizer within Madigan's 71-member super-majority Democratic caucus lashing out at the speaker while appearing before reporters and carrying a red sleeping bag and backpack. State Rep. Ken Dunkin, a Chicago Democrat, used his props to dramatize his willingness to stay at the Capitol and even \"shower\" in the speaker's private statehouse bathroom for as long as it takes to strike a budget deal. For a deal to happen, Madigan needs to \"stop holding the citizens of Illinois hostage to his political maneuvering, to his political shenanigans, and actually get things done,\" Dunkin said.","label":0}
{"text":"Voter identification laws (aka Voter ID) are an attempt by Republican lawmakers to suppress the vote with demographics that often vote for Democratic candidates young voters, minorities, the poor. Often, when confronted with this, conservatives claim that the laws are in place to protect the integrity of the ballot against so-called voter fraud, but time and time again studies have shown that voter fraud happens so infrequently it is almost nonexistent.In Wisconsin, failed Republican presidential candidate Governor Scott Walker praised the recent implementation of voter ID in Wisconsin s presidential primary. But one case shows that the law is just a fancy, modern version of Jim Crow:Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said his state s strict new voter-ID requirement worked just fine in the April 5 primary, but thousands of Wisconsinites were unable to cast a ballot because of the new law. One of them was Eddie Lee Holloway Jr.Holloway, a 58-year-old African-American man, moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in 2008 and voted without problems, until Wisconsin passed its voter-ID law in 2011. I never miss voting, he said. He brought his expired Illinois photo ID, birth certificate, and Social Security card to get a photo ID for voting, but the DMV in Milwaukee rejected his application because the name on his birth certificate read Eddie Junior Holloway, the result of a clerical error when it was issued.The Nation goes on to report that Holloway ended up spending $200 on records, made trips between two states, and was still unable to vote in Wisconsin. The U.S. Court of Appeals is currently reviewing a case brought before it on behalf of Holloway by the ACLU. The ACLU estimates that there are thousands of people in Wisconsin who have been disenfranchised like him.This is exactly what Republicans want. They ve said it on the record, multiple times, that voter ID helps them because it suppresses the vote. Their party best succeeds when less and less people get to exercise their Constitutional rights.","label":1}
{"text":"France demanded on Wednesday an urgent U.N. Security Council session on human trafficking in Libya and raised the possibility of sanctions on the country after a video appearing to show African migrants sold as slaves there sparked global outrage. Convened by Italy, which struck a deal with Libya to slash the number of migrants reaching its shores, the Council on Tuesday unanimously backed a resolution urging tougher action to crack down on human trafficking and modern slavery worldwide. Speaking to lawmakers, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian suggested Paris wanted to take things further and called for an urgent session of the Council to specifically discuss the situation in Libya. Libyan authorities, who have been alerted several times, including by myself because I was there in September, have decided to open an investigation into the facts, Le Drian said. We want it to go fast and if the Libyan justice system can not carry this procedure through then we should open international sanctions, Le Drian said. Footage appearing to show African migrants sold as slaves in Libya has sparked an international outcry with protests erupting across Europe and Africa, while artists to soccer stars to U.N. officials have made pleas for the abuse to end. The video broadcast by CNN showed what it said was an auction of men offered to Libyan buyers as farmhands and sold for $400, a chilling echo of the trans-Saharan slave trade of centuries past. What has been revealed is indeed trafficking of human beings, it s a crime against humanity, Macron said during a news conference with African Union President Alpha Conde. Macron said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to discuss what concrete steps could be taken to tackle the issue. A French diplomat said the U.N. session would likely be in coming days, probably next week, and would see what concrete measures could be taken to improve the situation. Despite events in Libya, Conde put the blame firmly on the European Union, accusing it of encouraging the Libyans to keep migrants in the North African country despite there being no government. What happened in Libya is shocking, scandalous, but we must establish the responsibilities, said Conde. In Libya there is no government, so the European Union can not choose a developing country and ask that country to detain refugees (...) when it doesn t have the means to do so, he added. The refugees are in terrible conditions ... so our European friends were not right to ask Libya to keep the migrants. The European Union is responsible. Le Drian said he wanted the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. Refugee Agency to publish details about the trafficking of migrants in the country. Libya splintered along political, ideological and tribal lines during and after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that unseated former leader Muammar Gaddafi. In 2014 a battle for the capital led to rival parliaments and governments being set up in Tripoli and the east.","label":0}
{"text":"The Singapore government s laws limiting critical speech and peaceful assembly are overly broad and make the country a repressive place severely restricting what can be said and published, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. In its first wide-ranging report on Singapore in 12 years, the group called on the government to amend or repeal laws and rules that restrict speech and assembly and drop charges against individuals for peaceful speech and assembly. Singapore s Ministry of Communications and Information did not immediately have a comment on the report. The government has held the position that Singapore s laws and regulations were needed to maintain social order and harmony. The Singapore s attorney-general s office has started contempt of court proceedings against the prime minister s nephew and authorities are prosecuting a prominent human rights activist for organizing assemblies without permit. Beneath the slick surface of gleaming high-rises, however, it is a repressive place, where the government severely restricts what can be said, published, performed, read, or watched, the 133-page report said. Singapore promotes itself as a modern nation and a good place to do business, but people in a country that calls itself a democracy shouldn t be afraid to criticize their government or speak out about political issues, the group s Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said. Human Rights Watch called on the Singapore government to amend or repeal in entirety laws that it said were too broadly worded and used to arrest, harass, and prosecute critical voices, including the Sedition Act and the Public Order Act. The report is partly based on interviews with civil society activists, journalists, lawyers, academics and opposition politicians, many of whom declined to be identified due to fear of possible repercussions, the group said. Late in November, Singapore authorities charged human rights activist Jolovan Wham for organizing public assemblies without a police permit. In August, the Singapore attorney-general s office began court proceedings against Li Shengwu, the grandson of the country s founder, over a Facebook post in which he said the government is very litigious and has a pliant court system.","label":0}
{"text":"Iran is targeting about $30 billion in investment by offering 70 oil and natural gas projects to international companies as the Persian Gulf country anticipates the lifting of economic sanctions. Iranian officials presented the projects at a two-day conference in Tehran as part of an effort to attract more than $100 billion to revive the energy and petrochemicals industries and generate much-needed government income. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh introduced them along with a new type of investor contract offering better incentives than the buy-back agreements Iran offered in the past. The work covers 52 production and 18 exploration projects, both onshore and in the Gulf and Caspian Sea. Iran is offering a negotiable framework for new oil deals rather than a uniform contract for all investors, Roknoddin Javadi, managing director at National Iranian Oil Co., said Saturday in Tehran. The government may modify the framework and plans to present more details in February at a conference in London, Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, chairman of the ministry's Oil Contract Restructuring Committee, said Sunday in an interview. Here are five things to know about this turning point in Iran's campaign to upgrade its energy industry: * The new investor contract will give companies a share of the oil they produce and let them sell it globally, Hosseini said in Tehran. International companies will be paid in cash or in kind based on a fee per barrel, Talin Mansourian, a consultant with Hosseini's committee, said Saturday. Iran would reduce the fee if oil prices fell by more than 50 percent and increase it if prices rose by a corresponding amount, Mansourian said. Iran's old buy-back deals paid companies a fixed fee regardless of how much oil they produced and offered them no incentive to exceed output targets. Buy-backs also paid no compensation to companies that spent more than budgeted amounts to develop a field. Under the new contracts, the NIOC won't limit capital spending and will approve budgets on a yearly basis, though companies still won't receive a higher fee if they produce above their output targets, Hosseini said. * The new contracts will be valid for 20 years, with possible extensions to 25 years. Buy-back agreements were limited to seven years, which wasn't enough time for companies to make adequate returns on their investments, Total SA Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said last month in Abu Dhabi. Investors should be able to recover their development costs five to seven years after starting production, according to Iranian officials. Companies that come up empty-handed after exploring for oil or gas can search for fuel in nearby areas. Under buy-backs, they had to stick to development plans agreed upon before work began and were barred from exploring new areas. * Companies will be able to negotiate directly for some contracts, and Iran could sign its first deal as early as March or April, Hosseini said. Iran won't allow foreign companies to escape their contractual obligations if the U.S. or another party re-imposes unilateral sanctions, said Seyed Mostafa Zeynoddin, an adviser to the committee. If the UN restores sanctions, a company could claim force majeure if unable to execute a contract, he said. * International investors must team up with local partners that the Iranian government selects, and they can't own hydrocarbon deposits. Iran will let international and local companies determine the stakes each will hold in joint-ventures formed to develop fields. * Iran is preparing to start the bidding process for oil and gas rights by the next Iranian calendar year starting March 21. Companies will be asked to make bids based on a per-barrel development fee, Mansourian said. NIOC will announce other terms when it starts the tendering process in four to five months, she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called on the British government on Wednesday to make a formal apology for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which nearly 400 Sikhs were shot dead by British Indian army soldiers. During a visit to the Golden Temple at Amritsar in northern India, the most important pilgrimage site of Sikhism, Khan called the massacre one of the most horrific events in Indian history. On Sunday 13 April 1919, some 50 soldiers began shooting at unarmed civilians who were taking part in a peaceful protest against oppressive laws enforced in the Punjab by British colonial authorities. At least 379 Sikhs were killed, but the figure is still disputed. It is wrong that successive British governments have fallen short of delivering a formal apology to the families of those who were killed, he said. I m clear that the government should now apologize, especially as we reach the centenary of the massacre. This is about properly acknowledging what happened here and giving the people of Amritsar and India the closure they need through a formal apology. Khan, who is from the opposition Labour Party, does not speak for Britain s Conservative government. Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron visited Amritsar at the end of a trade mission to India four years ago in a show of contrition over the massacre but stopped short of making a formal apology. Khan is on a six-day mission to India and Pakistan to strengthen cultural and economic ties with the British capital. The British Foreign Office said in a statement: As the former Prime Minister said when he visited the Jallianwala Bagh in 2013, the massacre was a deeply shameful act in British history and one that we should never forget. It is right that we pay respect to those who lost their lives and remember what happened. The British Government rightly condemned the events at the time.","label":0}
{"text":"After the election of Donald Trump many folks seem to see it as a permission slip to be as racist and vile as possible. However, here s the thing, you re still going to get called out as racist and vile. And one Alabama police officer just found this out the hard way.According to the Washington Post: Talladega Police Officer Joel Husk was terminated Wednesday for violating the department s social media and code of conduct policies, City Manager Patrick Bryant said. What did he do? So glad you asked: Husk had posted several memes on his Facebook page, including one showing Obama and Melania Trump. Fluent in Slovenian, English, French, Serbian, and German, it said over Trump s photo. Over Obama s, it read: Fluent in Ghetto. Not only that, he posted several extraordinarily racist memes:via Washington Postvia Washington PostAccording to the City Manager, the statements were deemed to be biased or racially insensitive or derogatory and because of that, they have to take action to correct it. If you re going to be a police officer and serve all the public, you can t assume black people standing up for their rights are equivalent to the KKK. That s about the most horrific equivalence imaginable.Also, according to WaPo: Husk, 37, who had been with the department for about two and a half years, had also shared a meme showing President Obama with the words: Was Dallas a terrorist attack? Yes! Carried out by Obama s own homegrown terrorist group! Which is a blatant lie and anyone who were to feel that way belongs nowhere near law enforcement. The city took the proper action letting this racist cop go, and hopefully it will be an example to police departments all over the country that this sort of behavior simply cannot be tolerated.Trump s election must not be allowed to serve as a permission slip to bigots everywhere that it s fine to be as awful as possible, because here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, everyone is protected. Everyone, regardless of color, class, gender, sexual orientation, or creed.Featured Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Can an elite, TV network based in Manhattan find a comfortable home at a Dallas telecommunications company led by an executive who is also the Boy Scouts of America president? Richard Plepler, the head of HBO, considered the question at his regular lunch spot \u2014 a corner table at The Lambs Club in New York. It had been a whirlwind few days for Mr. Plepler, and while the restaurant may have been familiar, little else about the week was business as usual. Five days earlier, HBO's parent company, Time Warner, agreed to be taken over by ATT in an $85 billion deal that startled the media world. Mr. Plepler met his potential new boss, the ATT chief executive Randall Stephenson, for the first time last Monday, and they spent 30 minutes chatting at HBO's headquarters overlooking Bryant Park. Still, Mr. Plepler said he was comfortable with this shotgun marriage, and for one big reason: He believes he will be able to run things the way he always has. \"Randall made very clear to everybody that what they are buying they look at with enormous respect and admiration, and the last thing they have any interest in doing is messing with a winning game,\" he said on Thursday. Will it be that simple? HBO, which also has operations in Los Angeles, is a creature of its coastal milieu and creates shows like \"Game of Thrones\" and \"Westworld,\" the kind of entertainment that appeals to viewers with a tolerance for amoral protagonists and graphic violence. It is also home to the liberal host Bill Maher, and the British comedian John Oliver, who delights in skewering powerful corporate interests on his show \"Last Week Tonight. \" The premium cable channel is an unabashed big spender, too, throwing lavish parties and dinners at places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City or the Hotel du Cap in Cannes, and flying actors, directors and writers across the country. ATT, though, will have $175 billion or more in debt on its balance sheet if the proposed merger is completed. \"One is a connectivity sales company and another is an entertainment provider,\" said Gary Arlen, the head of Arlen Communications, a research firm that examines the media and telecommunications industries. \"ATT has a history as being a public utility. It's bland and very vanilla. HBO is showbiz all the way. \" Over a plate of chicken paillard last Thursday, Mr. Plepler acknowledged that assimilation would take some time. \"Obviously when you get to know people, there's a learning curve on both sides,\" he said. But he said that for HBO and other parts of Time Warner to thrive, \"you have to have a Chinese wall between the creative process and everything else. \" For its part, ATT has contended it would stay out of the way. \"I know they're different cultures, and we'll be protective of the cultures to ensure we don't destroy the business,\" Mr. Stephenson said at a conference conducted by The Wall Street Journal last week. \"We'll have the experts that know to run these businesses running these businesses. \" If the deal is not blocked by regulators, ATT will acquire not just HBO, but also CNN and entities like TBS, TNT and Warner Bros. which earn billions in revenue. But HBO is the crown jewel of Time Warner's media properties, having won more Emmys than any other network for 15 consecutive years. Now, however, HBO faces increased pressure to find new hits and pick up new subscribers when there is more competition than ever in television. There are examples of peaceful transitions when a nonmedia company acquires a content company \u2014 like Comcast's ownership of NBC Universal, which has gone smoothly \u2014 but others have created headaches. Universal Pictures, for instance, has endured many owners, including bankers (Standard Capital) liquor moguls (Seagram's) and cable pioneers (Comcast). When it was owned by General Electric, about a decade ago, executives at the film studio were required to attend Six Sigma sessions \u2014 which involve meticulous business analysis exercises \u2014 in Crotonville, N. Y. to their extreme displeasure. When Columbia Pictures was owned by in the 1980s, it had hits like \"Ghostbusters\" and \"Tootsie,\" but the studio was banned from showing soft drinks, and executives chafed under Coke's expectations about profit margin, according to \"Hit and Run,\" a 1996 book about the movie industry by the entertainment reporters Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. Still, the ATT is certainly no stranger to enormous acquisitions \u2014 and bringing in a company, however different, is nothing new. \"At ATT, there's a culture within consumer marketing and there's another culture in the engineering area, but there is mutual respect,\" said James Cicconi, a former longtime ATT executive who ran external affairs and retired last year. \"The same thing would be true for more creative areas or companies like an HBO. ATT is pretty sophisticated in terms of acquisitions and the importance of being able to integrate. \" As a subscription service that does not rely on ratings for revenue, HBO depends on generating excitement, striving to place its shows at the center of the cultural mainstream. It willingly approves big budgets to ensure high production quality and attract top talent, a practice that has allowed it to forge strong relationships with prominent actors, writers and directors. While many television networks now shoot in Canada because it is cheaper, for instance, HBO does not. The reason? Most actors prefer to avoid making the trip. When HBO made the film \"Clear History,\" Larry David's 2013 comedy, the comedian requested that the network add a few million dollars to the budget. They gave it to him. He asked if the movie could be shot on Martha's Vineyard, where he has a home. They did it. \"If we make an investment, whether it's a screening or an event, it's about enhancing our brand and elevating our brand,\" Mr. Plepler said. He said he would \"be very surprised\" if ATT did not embrace that. There are other questions about melding the two cultures. HBO has a proudly progressive view of the world, and its prominent dramas feature plenty of violence and sex. It is also willing to take risks. Michael London, a producer of \"Confirmation,\" an HBO original movie that recreated the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas hearings, said in an interview this year that the filmmakers \"knew it would be difficult and challenging to tell the story within a corporate environment with legal threats and telephone calls. HBO is fearless. \" If ATT gets someone complaining on the phone, will there be bigger problems? \"HBO has succeeded on their terms, but ATT plays a much larger game,\" said Bill Miller, a prominent lobbyist based in Austin, Tex. \"HBO plays to their hometown, but ATT plays to a national audience where half of them aren't progressive, and that puts them in a bit of a bind potentially. As soon as people feel unhappy or victimized, they'll hear a lot about it. That's what elected officials do: They complain. But for now, it is time for the honeymoon, with Mr. Stephenson, the telecom executive and Boy Scouts president, and Mr. Plepler, the consummate media executive, developing a relationship in real time. At the conference in California last week, Mr. Stephenson said he would visit the Warner Bros. studio later that day. And then, making light of their distinct sartorial preferences, he quipped: \"I'm going to unbutton my shirt like Richard's over there. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The DeKalb County Georgia School Superintendent, Stephen Green, has issued a warning to all teachers against making statements in support of President Donald Trump or his policies. Since the warning was given, two teachers have already been forced to tender their resignation.Via World Net Daily: Green is now taking it a step further, warning teachers not to inject their personal beliefs into the classroom if they line up with those of the president of the United States.Green told a local newspaper, the Champion, that his Jan. 30 statement sought to grant students assurance that DeKalb County Schools officials remain committed to being culturally responsive, diverse and supportive of DeKalb County s immigrant population. Our schools will be safe places for learning and teaching, he wrote in the statement. We will not tolerate any form of bullying or discrimination on or off district property that interferes with learning or the rights of others. Apparently teaching jobs in some Georgia public schools now include furthering the superintendent s personal political views.(Source: The Gateway Pundit)","label":1}
{"text":"A senior official in South Africa s ruling ANC said on Wednesday the party must act against those involved in corruption, and that the issue was damaging its image. Zweli Mkhize, seen as a potential candidate to replace President Jacob Zuma as African National Congress head at a party conference in December, made the remarks at a mining conference in Johannesburg. Mining executives, bankers and investors have all expressed growing concern about governance in Africa s most industrialized economy. Zuma, who must step down after a general election in 2019, is the focus of numerous corruption allegations, making the issue a touchstone for those keen to rid the ANC of his influence. Many of the allegations are linked to a slew of leaked emails, which Reuters has not independently verified, that point to the Gupta family, business friends of Zuma s, using their influence to secure lucrative state contracts for their companies. Zuma and the Guptas have consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing. As a party, we should act on those who are involved ... Those emails have come with a lot of revelations, Mkhize, a straight-talking medical doctor, told the conference. Zuma is also under pressure to establish a commission of inquiry based on a report released last year by an anti-graft watchdog into allegations that brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta swayed the appointment of ministers. If there is a proper judicial commission of inquiry, we should be able to put this issue to rest. This is one of the major issues inside the ANC, said Mkhize, a member of the ANC s Top Six leadership group. Mkhize said the graft allegations around the Guptas - widely referred to in South Africa as state capture - were a concern to the ANC because of their effect on the image of the organization . We do not have something that indicates that the ANC itself is captured, he told Reuters. Mkhize told the mining executives that the ANC was concerned about tensions between the industry and the mining ministry. The sides are locked in a bitter legal battle over revisions to an industry charter, which include raising the level of shares that blacks should own in mining companies. Mkhize has said he is available to be a candidate for the presidency if ANC branches choose him. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the conference, he said it was too early to gauge his level of support. The frontrunners are former cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Zuma s ex-wife and preferred successor, and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has also spoken out strongly against corruption. Analysts have said Mkhize, who hails from Kwa-Zulu Natal, Zuma s home province, could emerge as a compromise candidate.","label":0}
{"text":"MONTERREY, Nuevo Le\u00f3n \u2014 Authorities in this state have arrested one of the men allegedly responsible for having robbed, kidnapped and murdered two beer delivery men earlier this month. [As Breitbart reported, since early February, families from Nuevo Leon have been reporting robberies at gunpoint by highway men. The robberies and kidnappings have taken place along the highway and near the international bridges in Reynosa. The crimes have also been reported near the city of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, along the roads that connect Ciudad Victoria with the Texas border. Recently, Jose Alberto Torres Gomez and Romel Guadalupe Cano Hernandez, both beer delivery men with the Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma beer company, had left the warehouse in San Fernando, Tamaulipas. The two employees were making their regular beer deliveries when they were kidnapped. Three days later, authorities in Nuevo Le\u00f3n received a phone call about two bodies dumped near the 30 kilometer marker along the highway that connects China, Nuevo Leon, with Mendez near the Tamaulipas border. The men's clothing, along with their physical appearance, helped Nuevo Le\u00f3n's ministerial police connect the bodies with the kidnapping report. Relatives of the victims took to social media for information about the fate of their loved ones. A law enforcement official with the Nuevo Le\u00f3n Attorney General's Office revealed to Breitbart Texas that the beer delivery truck had a GPS tracker which helped authorities locate the vehicle in the town of General Bravo. Based on the investigations of the case, authorities in this state were able to arrest Ricardo Gonzalez Flores near General Bravo. Gonzalez remains in police custody on two homicide counts and one count of robbery. Authorities revealed that they are working on arresting a second gunman tied to the case. Gonzalez is also under investigation for his role in the theft of fuel in the region. Such acts have long been used by Mexican cartels to supplement income. Editor's Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Le\u00f3n to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and \"J. M. Martinez\" from Piedras Negras, Coahuila.","label":0}
{"text":"President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has been actively considering ways to revamp a temporary visa program used to bring foreign workers to the United States to fill high-skilled jobs, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Possibilities for reforming the distribution of H-1B visas, which are used largely by the tech industry, were discussed at a meeting last month with chief executives of tech companies at Trump Tower, said two sources, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to talk about the closed-door talks. DON'T MISS Pharma grapples with drug price backlash DOJ to examine FBI actions in Clinton email probe Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller proposed scrapping the existing lottery system used to award the visas. A possible replacement system would favor visa petitions for jobs that pay the highest salaries, according to the sources. H-1B visas are intended for foreign nationals in \"specialty\" occupations that generally require higher education, which according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) includes, but is not limited to, scientists, engineers or computer programmers. The government awards 65,000 every year. Companies say they use them to recruit top talent. But a majority of the visas are awarded to outsourcing firms, sparking criticism by skeptics that say those firms use the visas to fill lower-level information technology jobs. Critics also say the lottery system benefits outsourcing firms that flood the system with mass applications. The H-1B visa program tends to be more critical to outsourcing firms than U.S. tech firms. For instance, more than 60 percent of the U.S. employees of Indian outsourcing firm Infosys (INFY.NS) are H-1B holders, and the company in its annual report has cited an increase in visa costs as among factors that could hurt its profitability. The top 10 recipients of H-1B visas in 2015 were all outsourcing firms, according to government data compiled by the IEEE-USA, a professional organization representing U.S. engineers. Sixty-five percent of H-1B petitions approved in the 2014 fiscal year went to tech workers, mostly from India, according to USCIS. In several high-profile cases, American workers were asked to train H-1B holders to do their jobs before being laid off themselves. The idea advanced by Miller in the tech meeting has also been pushed by the IEEE-USA. Miller previously served as a staffer for Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's pick for attorney general, who has been an outspoken critic of abuses of the H-1B program. Trump, who has applied for H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers to his own businesses sent mixed messages about the program on the campaign trail. He assailed it for taking jobs from U.S. workers, but during a Republican debate last March said he was \"softening\" his position \"because we have to have talented people in this country.\" He later issued a statement on his website saying he would \"end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program.\" Trump businesses, like Trump National Golf Club and Trump Model Management, have received permission to bring in more than two dozen foreign employees on H-1B visas since 2011, according to Department of Labor data. During the meeting last month in New York, Trump seemed to be searching for middle ground, and members of his transition team raised specific proposals, the two sources said. A third source familiar with the talks said the Trump team has also discussed the plan to change the lottery system internally. There were more than a dozen top tech executives from some of the country's largest tech companies, including Google (GOOGL.O), Facebook (FB.O) and Apple (AAPL.O), present at the meeting. Microsoft (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella said technology companies need to be able to recruit talent from abroad when necessary. Trump seemed open to modifying the H-1B program, the sources said. He said he wanted to stop \"bad people\" from immigrating to the United States, not \"great people,\" according to one account of the meeting. Among proposals the group discussed was raising the cost of applications from large companies as a way to discourage bulk filing for the visas. Asked by Trump if they would object to that, none of the tech CEOs said they would. \"In our view, the president-elect is not hostile to H-1B visas,\" said one of the sources familiar with discussions at the meeting. While Trump could initiate some changes to the visa program with executive action, significant shifts would likely need to go through a lengthy formal rulemaking process, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration expert at Cornell Law School. Major changes would likely be subject to court challenges, he said. Other reforms, like changing the visa cap or offering more green cards to high-tech workers, could require Congressional action, Yale-Loehr said. A wide variety of companies, including Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), use the H-1B visa program to bring in employees from abroad.","label":0}
{"text":"Venezuela's socialist dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro claimed on national television Saturday that the nation's opposition was \"murdering its own protesters,\" listing individuals killed by Venezuelan soldiers and Chavista gangs and blaming the leadership of the opposition for staging the deaths to garner support for their cause. [Maduro did not present any evidence to justify his claim. \"These protests today are only in one percent of the nation,\" Maduro claimed on state television. \"They are more violent than ever, you have all seen cases where they have murdered their own protesters. \" He listed three cases of alleged staged murders, two shot to death and a third allegedly electrocuted. \"If it weren't for Julio Borges and the MUD none of these tragedies would have happened,\" he alleged. Borges is the president of the National Assembly, the federal legislative body, and a party leader in the coalition known as the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). He has personally been the victim of state violence, beaten by a Chavista gang (colectivo) near the entrance of the National Assembly building in 2016. The gang succeeded in breaking his nose. Maduro also blamed Borges personally in a separate video segment for allegedly sending a gang to kidnap a bus driver. Maduro did not explain who kidnapped the driver or why, but by Monday, Venezuelan state television was showcasing a photo opportunity with Maduro and the driver, identified as Leonardo Leconte, on its online front page. At least 39 people have been killed in this most recent wave of protests, which began in March following an attempt by the Supreme Court to nullify the National Assembly and establish itself as the chief lawmaking body. The Venezuelan newspaper El Universal lists among them two of the most recent cases that align with the descriptions Maduro used in his remarks: Miguel Fernando Castillo Bracho, 27, and Anderson Dugarte, 38, who were both shot to death. The odds of opposition members being responsible for these shootings are barely existent, however, because of Venezuela's strict laws. The opposition is almost completely unarmed, as the private ownership of firearms is banned. Only criminal gangs and colectivos, some of whom operate as official paramilitaries, have the firearms used in these circumstances. In 2014, Maduro opened \"disarmament centers\" to pressure the few remaining civilians possessing weapons to return them. Three years later, Maduro promised a firearm to every Chavista who swore to use them against the opposition, setting a goal of distributing one million firearms to \"militiamen\" working for the government. Many other protester deaths cannot be explained as deeds of the opposition. Among the most notable are the protesters the military has killed on Maduro's orders. In one particularly gruesome incident caught on video, soldiers ran unarmed protesters over using large armored vehicles, killing at least three. Others among the 39 died without even meaning to protest, among them Ricarda Gonz\u00e1lez, who died asphyxiated by tear gas in her home. Only the military has access to tear gas and has used it liberally against protesters. Maduro's claim that the opposition is killing their own people recalls propaganda tactics used by its allies in the Middle East. The government of Iran, a longtime Chavista ally, has been particularly bold in denying violence that investigators have traced back to them. In 2015, when Uruguayan officials accused the Iranian government of using employees at its embassy to plant explosives near the Israeli embassy in Montevideo, Iranian officials accused Israel of bombing its own embassy to \"create Iranophobia and tarnish the Islamic Republic's international image. \" \"Tehran has said in the past that Tel Aviv has ordered attacks against its own embassies in India and Georgia in order to damage Iran's image in the host countries,\" the Iranian government said at the time. Similarly, another ally of Tehran's, Syria's Bashar has accused Syrian rebels of attacking its own to frame his government for assorted human rights abuses. Following a Syrian government chemical weapons attack on civilians in April, Assad said the United States and Syrian rebels \"fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack [a U. S. airstrike against the Syrian air force]. \" Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.","label":0}
{"text":"Blockbuster Audio From '06 of Hillary Proposing RIGGING Palestine Election Observer  On September 5, 2006, Eli Chomsky was an editor and staff writer for the Jewish Press, and Hillary Clinton was running for a shoo-in re-election as a U.S. senator. Her trip making the rounds of editorial boards brought her to Brooklyn to meet the editorial board of the Jewish Press.The tape was never released and has only been heard by the small handful of Jewish Press staffers in the room. According to Chomsky, his old-school audiocassette is the only existent copy and no one has heard it since 2006, until today when he played it for the Observer.The tape is 45 minutes and contains much that is no longer relevant, such as analysis of the re-election battle that Sen. Joe Lieberman was then facing in Connecticut. But a seemingly throwaway remark about elections in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority has taken on new relevance amid persistent accusations in the presidential campaign by Clinton's Republican opponent Donald Trump that the current election is \"rigged.\"Hillary Clinton listens to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speak during the third U.S. presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on October 19, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Hillary Clinton listens to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speak during the third U.S. presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on October 19, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Speaking to the Jewish Press about the January 25, 2006, election for the second Palestinian Legislative Council (the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority), Clinton weighed in about the result, which was a resounding victory for Hamas (74 seats) over the U.S.-preferred Fatah (45 seats).\"I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,\" said Sen. Clinton. \"And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.\"","label":1}
{"text":"In this episode, we depart from the familiar format for a dive into the world of music streaming services. It is a topic that fascinates the Haggler, who can still barely fathom that for a mere $10 a month, he can get access to just about any musical recording on the planet. But which streaming app is the best? The Haggler has been mulling this question for a while, and after a lot of dabbling he regards Spotify as the gold standard. It is sturdy and remarkably fast when you play a song from the cloud, it starts so quickly it seems to be waiting for you. The system is also easy to use. Streaming services, at least to the Haggler, are all about creating playlists \u2014 grabbing albums and songs and putting them in a place where you can find them quickly. That process is simple and intuitive on Spotify. If the system has a weakness, it is a user interface, which is black and a Halloweenish shade of green \u2014 a little too goth for the Haggler's tastes. Far more important, it isn't great at introducing you to new albums and acts. It has features and algorithms designed to help you find undiscovered music, but they aren't compelling or visually appealing enough to be much help. The Haggler winds up listening to the same stuff over and over. This is why the Haggler has been rooting for Apple Music since an Android version of it was unveiled in November. The user interface is gorgeous \u2014 bright, airy and dominated by album art \u2014 and it is the finest new music introduction system ever created. It's like a professional matchmaker who never sleeps. It is always trying to find you something to love. But for all its upsides, Apple Music for iOS has been criticized for randomly deleting both songs and playlists. On Android, though, the app behaves even more weirdly. It took the Haggler a while to figure out what was happening. Then, a few weeks ago, it all became clear: Apple Music is stoned. Not stoned, either. Apple Music is fried. It has the kind of \"Where am I?\" buzz that should worry its friends. To wit: When the Haggler tries to turn an album into a playlist, only half the songs make the journey. Or all the songs make the journey but there are three copies of many. Or two copies. Sometimes, inexplicably, the songs are arranged alphabetically. \"Heh heh heh,\" says Apple Music, or so it seems to the Haggler's ears. \"I'm really high right now. \" You sure are! Just as bad, the system is supposed to learn what music you like, but no matter how many times the Haggler presses the \"I don't like this suggestion\" button on jazz albums, Apple Music keeps serving up Chet Baker and Bill Evans in a \"For you\" list on the main menu. That's especially vexing because each time that button is pressed, up pops this message: \"Got it. We'll keep that in mind. \" But Apple Music forgets. Do you know why? It's totally baked. When someone consumes this amount of weed, for so long, it's time for an intervention, and fortunately Apple Music just completed one. On July 8, the company updated the program, promising a fix for an assortment of bugs. A fix for the iOS version was released a few weeks ago. The Haggler doesn't own an iPhone, so he can't comment on whether it has improved, though the \"My music has vanished!\" online complaints do seem to have died down. But he is happy to report that on his Android smartphone, the fixes work. Since the program update, playlists have been rationally sorted. No more triple copies, no more alphabetized albums. So is it time to ditch Spotify? Not so fast. Apple Music is still missing essential features. It doesn't let users make and share their own playlists, \u00e0 la Spotify, which is how the Haggler got to know every song from the HBO show \"Silicon Valley. \" (Some fan of the show just made a compilation.) Apple Music also lacks crossfade, which allows the next song to fade in, over a customizable number of seconds, as the last song fades out. This is invaluable if you listen to music in part to block out the noise made by the rest of the universe. Also, while it's off recreational drugs, Apple Music is still balkier than Spotify, and is more likely to leave you staring at a spinning red line as it gathers its wits and looks for songs. And Apple Music has failed to streamline its playlist adding system. On Spotify, a playlist of Drake's album \"Views\" is automatically designated \"Drake \u2014 Views. \" On Apple Music, when you create a new playlist, it has no idea what to call it. The name is blank. So you have to type it yourself. This isn't exactly hard labor. But it adds to the sense that Apple Music needs more tweaks. The Haggler contacted Apple, but the company would not discuss whether any of these tweaks were coming, because it generally does not discuss future iterations of products. What's odd is that Apple is the user interface master of the world. If anything, you would expect it to take the bar established by Spotify and then leap over it. Instead, at least in a few crucial areas, it's lagging. Yet recently, after a few hours of rummaging around the \"Radio\" section of Apple Music \u2014 a bunch of shows curated by artists and D. J. s \u2014 the Haggler fell hard for a fantastic indie band from Oklahoma called Broncho and its song \"Class Historian. \" On Dr. Dre's radio station, the Pharmacy, he was reacquainted with A Tribe Called Quest's \"Oh My God\" which he hadn't heard in years. The \"For you\" list last week included an album of Beethoven's string trios that the Haggler will never again live without. If only someone could splice together the best parts of Apple Music and the best parts of Spotify, and then subtract each of their flaws. Unlikely, yes. But the Haggler can dream.","label":0}
{"text":"The youngest son of former vice presidential candidate and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine was arrested in Minnesota last weekend for his alleged role in an organized riot against Donald Trump and his policies. [Authorities discovered that Linwood Michael Kaine, 24, had planned his participation in a in St. Paul, Minnesota, against a rally in a clash that led to scuffles and the arrest of six people: WATCH: 'March 4 Trump' participants and counterprotesters engage in dueling chants at MN Capitol rotunda https: . \u2014 KSTP (@KSTP) March 4, 2017, According to St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders, Kaine, who goes by the name Woody, \"turned around and squared up to fight with the officer\" as police tried to detain him. \"The officer was able to place Mr. Kaine under arrest and take him to the Ramsey County jail for booking,\" the police spokesperson confirmed: Tim Kaine's son arrested after allegedly disrupting rally https: . pic. twitter. \u2014 CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) March 8, 2017, During the rally, which approximately 400 people and 50 attended, a Plymouth woman was hit in the head by a moving object, although she remained unharmed. In a statement, Sen. Tim Kaine ( ) who grew up in St. Paul, did not condemn his son's actions. \"We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues. They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully,\" Kaine said. The rally in Minnesota was one of many rallies to take place nationwide, as people expressed their support for Trump and his administration's agenda. Despite inaccurate media reports that the riots were an outgrowth of the protests themselves, the majority of rallies were peaceful. However, violence did break out in Berkeley, California, after activists disrupted the rally. Ten people were arrested while an elderly man lay in agony after being . You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is busy criss-crossing the nation to spread his message of small government fanaticism, but his own state just got a lesson in why the federal government isn t just important, it can be lifesaving.While Cruz spent his time making offensive jokes about trans people this week, Texas has been hit with a horrific run of severe weather. Many areas of the state, particularly in Harris County, have seen their homes and jobs literally washed away in major flooding. The severe weather, which saw parts of major cities like Houston and Austin go underwater, is estimated to cost over $5 billion.Cruz, whose typical response to tragedy involves tweeting thoughts and prayers to the victims, has offered little else. Meanwhile, President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have gotten to work. This week, Obama approved federal disaster relief funding to the parts of Texas affected by the flooding.Federal assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. The presidential disaster declaration, which includes all of Harris County, allows FEMA and other federal agencies to begin providing relief to individuals affected by this most recent flood. Harris County continues to work with local nonprofit and volunteer organizations to provide immediate relief, said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.Cruz, of course, famously voted against giving similar aid to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy (which may explain why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wanted nothing to do with endorsing Cruz for president). His logic was that states should be left on their own, and federal aid was little more than government overreach. Citing the potential aid package s extra funding for other government projects a standard procedure Cruz said at the time: This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt. Some of the pork projects included funding scientific research into extreme weather events that scientists had hope to be able to help states avoid future disasters. Or as Cruz calls it wasteful spending. Despite Cruz s adherence to strict no hand outs when it came to other states, Texas being a massive state with tens of millions of people and lots of potential disasters has always stuck out its own hand when it came time for help.The recent onslaught of floods in Texas come at a bad time for Cruz politically. It certainly undermines his nearly pathological aversion to the federal government. It might be just the thing to remind people that Ted Cruz infamously shut down the very government that they are now counting on to help them rebuild after a horrific natural disaster. Suddenly reading Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor to avoid funding the government doesn t seem so noble, does it?","label":1}
{"text":"BloombergIn the hours after the president is elected, equity investors need to brace for volatility. What they shouldn t do is panic.That s because regardless of how prices react on Nov. 9, next-day moves in the S&P 500 Index are useless in telling what comes after.While the index swings an average 1.5 percent the day after the vote, gains or losses over the first 24 hours predict the market s direction 12 months later less than half the time.This matters because the compulsion to act in the vote s aftermath is often very strong stocks swing twice as violently as normal those days, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They plummeted 5 percent just after Barack Obama beat John McCain in 2008. But while nothing says Wednesday s reaction won t be a harbinger for the year, nothing says it will, either, and investors should think before doing anything rash. Trying to trade that is very difficult, said Thomas Melcher, the Philadelphia-based chief investment officer at PNC Asset Management Group. Even if the market sells off, if you have any reasonable time horizon, that should be a buying opportunity. The dust will settle and people will conclude the economy is OK. In the 22 elections going back to 1928, the S&P 500 has fallen 15 times the day after polls close, for an average loss of 1.8 percent Continue this story at BloombergREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files","label":1}
{"text":"TIJUANA, Mexico \u2014 Even before President Trump decided to build the wall, this Mexican border city was already overwhelmed. So many Haitian migrants, traveling across the Americas, began arriving here last year with hopes of crossing into the United States that churches, community halls, programs, rehabilitation centers and private citizens have opened their doors to house, feed and clothe them. In one shelter, about 250 migrants \u2014 men, women and children \u2014 share two toilets and one shower. Four hundred are crammed into a church. A soup kitchen sleeps hundreds in hallways, a pantry and a lot out back. Now, some officials and advocates worry that Mr. Trump's plan could spur immigration crises in towns and cities all along the border and, indeed, throughout Mexico. The Mexican government, they say, may not be able to handle it. Mr. Trump is seeking to tighten the border, restrict immigration and increase deportations from the United States. In announcing his actions this week, the president said they would \"help Mexico by deterring illegal immigration. \" \"Going to be very, very good for Mexico,\" he declared. Yet some international officials and advocates envision a potential nightmare for the country. A growing number of people have been streaming north from Central America, fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands. Nearly 409, 000 were caught trying to cross the southwestern border of the United States illegally in the 2016 fiscal year, a 23 percent increase over the previous fiscal year, according to American government statistics. And the trend has continued over the past few months. As more migrants are blocked at the American border and more undocumented immigrants are deported from the United States, border communities in Mexico could be overwhelmed, migrant shelters could overflow, the ranks of the unemployed could swell, and Mexico will bear the strain, officials and advocates say. \"It's worrying us,\" said Christopher Gascon, chief of the Mexico office for the International Organization for Migration. \"How Mexico can handle that is going to be a whole new area of concern. I don't think the absorptive capacity is there. \" Even before this week, Mexico was facing extraordinary migration pressures. The waves of Central Americans heading north were severely testing Mexico's border patrol in the south of the country and led to a sharp increase in the number of people applying for asylum in Mexico, with applications more than doubling from 2015 to 2016. Mexican officials were also scrambling to develop a strategy in case Mr. Trump made good on his promises to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants, a population that includes millions of Mexicans. An intergovernmental group began on Monday to study ways to help integrate deportees into Mexican society. Beyond that, recent changes in American policy during the Obama administration had already contributed to the surge in Haitian migrants, as well as to a separate wave of Cuban migrants. Thousands of Cubans found themselves stranded in Mexico and Central America this month after the Obama administration ended a longstanding policy that favored Cubans. Under American pressure, President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto of Mexico had been trying to stanch the flow of migrants heading through his country, starting the Southern Border Program in 2014 in an attempt to control the movement of people and goods crossing the border with Guatemala. The plan contributed to a doubling of deportations between 2013, before it was enacted, and 2016. Nearly all the deportees in recent years have been from Central America. But the country's borders remain highly porous. The International Organization for Migration estimates that between 400, 000 and 500, 000 undocumented migrants transit through the country every year, about 90 percent of them Central Americans. Here in the state of Baja California, the migrant crisis has highlighted the Mexican government's limited capacity to deal with the challenges. Haitian migrants, traveling from Brazil, began arriving in this border city last spring. For a while, the Haitians had little trouble crossing into the United States. In recognition of the troubles in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake there, American border officials allowed undocumented Haitians to enter under a humanitarian parole provision, with permission to stay for as long as three years. The migrants filled the handful of longstanding migrant shelters and cheap hotels in Tijuana while they waited, often for weeks, for their appointments with American border officials. Then in late September, the Obama administration suddenly announced that it was fully resuming the deportations of Haitians, hoping the policy change would dissuade more Haitians from migrating. Still, the Haitians kept coming. As the Haitian migrant population has ballooned \u2014 there are now about 4, 500 Haitians in Tijuana and elsewhere in northern Baja California \u2014 the Mexican authorities have resisted pleas to open a emergency shelter. More than 30 shelters are providing for the Haitians, yet none are . Most of the burden of sheltering, feeding, clothing and caring for the nonstop stream of Haitians has fallen to civil society groups and individuals, who have accused the government of doing too little too late. This month, a coalition of the main shelters in Tijuana and Mexicali sent a letter to Mr. Pe\u00f1a Nieto demanding a more robust federal \"intervention\" to address the crisis. The shelters have yet to receive a reply, they said. Advocacy and humanitarian groups in Tijuana filed a complaint this week with the National Human Rights Commission alleging that federal officials had violated the migrants' human rights \"in a widespread and repeated manner\" by failing to address the crisis. Federal officials have rejected the criticism that they have been neglectful. \"Is there room to do more? Yes,\" Rodulfo Figueroa Pacheco, chief of the Baja California office of the federal migration agency, said in an interview last week, before the complaint was filed. \"It's been a struggle. \" \"But,\" he added, \"it isn't true that the governments have been unresponsive. \" The crisis, now in its ninth month, has been a crushing burden on the shelters. The migrant population at one longstanding shelter, Movimiento Juventud 2000, with capacity for about 25 people, soared to about 250, many of them living in donated tents in an adjoining lot that becomes a swale of mud when it rains. Iglesia Cristiana Embajadores de Jesus, a church situated in a denuded ravine on the western edge of Tijuana, was sheltering hundreds of people even though it was not connected to the municipal water supply and had to refill its tanks with a water truck. Administrators at Desayunador Salesiano Padre Chava, which had for years served as a soup kitchen, repurposed nearly the entire building, including corridors and the pantry, into a sprawling dormitory that at one point housed more than 500 people. Claudia Portela, coordinator of Padre Chava, which recently opened a smaller second shelter, estimates that donations have provided for 98 percent of their needs during the crisis. Government officials, while acknowledging that the bulk of the humanitarian assistance has come from civil society, insist that they have provided crucial services but have been sorely limited by budgets that were already under strain amid Mexico's economic malaise. \"Our deployment has been very, very small,\" Mr. Figueroa said. \"Institutional capacities are not as robust as we'd like. \" But despite the limitations, he said, government agencies had donated more than $280, 000, about 445, 000 meals, thousands of blankets, hundreds of mattresses and many other goods and services since late October. State and federal officials, he said, were still discussing the possibility of opening a shelter, but the proposal raised difficult practical and philosophical questions. \"Will we be building something we can't unbuild?\" he said. Ad hoc networks of humanitarian groups have scrambled to help. \"For me, the worst part is the omission of the federal government,\" said Soraya Vazquez, one of nine women who run the Comit\u00e9 Estrat\u00e9gico de Ayuda Humanitaria Tijuana, a local group formed in September. \"The government has to recognize it as a humanitarian crisis. \" On a recent morning, she and her colleague, Adriana Reyna, jumped into Ms. Reyna's sport utility vehicle and took a tour of several shelters in Tijuana to assess their needs. At Iglesia Cristiana Embajadores de Jesus, the church in the ravine, a Haitian girl had fallen. Her parents worried she had fractured a bone. So the women drove the child and her father to a nearby clinic where they arranged for a free evaluation, then swung by a pharmacy to pick up some medicine to treat the pain and swelling. At another shelter, the women lined up doctor's appointments for a man with an infected leg wound and for two migrants who were experiencing complications with their pregnancies. They also strategized about setting up a pi\u00f1ata workshop that would give migrants employment. A message arrived, saying that an cinema had about 30 pillows to donate. With a phone call, the women found a taker: a shelter in central Tijuana. At Iglesia Central del Nazareno, which had been converted into a shelter, the coordinator asked the women whether they had heard anything new about how Haitian migrants were being received at the United States border. Were they being deported? It was the day after Mr. Trump's inauguration, and rumors were flying. \"I hope they'll all be able to cross. I hope they'll be O. K.,\" said the coordinator, Ruth Gaxiola, fighting back tears. She looked exhausted. Ms. Vazquez opened her arms, and the women embraced.","label":0}
{"text":"Share on Facebook Share on Twitter A few years ago, Neil deGrasse said that yes, extraterrestrials may be visiting our planet, and people do see Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), but he also stated that it is a big leap for one to assume a UFO is of extraterrestrial in origin. ( source ) As you will see from the information below, it's not a big leap, which is why so many other scientists around the world support the extraterrestrial hypotheses. It's also important to note that this article is not implying that Carl Saga is a 'bad' person. If this information is indeed true, we still do not know the circumstances and details of it. It is a common occurrence for 'UFO's to be tracked on military radar , and more and more people are starting to believe that these objects are of extraterrestrial origin. and there is a good amount of evidence to believe that. One reason for this is the disclosure of evidence supporting such a hypothesis in recent years. If you want to see a fraction of that evidence, you can check out this article or the one pertaining to military radar linked above, or you can visit the exopolitics section of our website, here . If you really want to go in depth and read some proper studies on this topic, you can check out Richard Dolan's books . They are a great place to start, he is a brilliant academic and one of the world's leading researchers on the topic of UFOs. Sagan's Close Colleague Apart from the congressional hearings on this subject, and the fairly recent citizens hearing that took place, along with the release of official documentation, there has been a surge in people believing that ETs are real because of the work of scholars like Dr. Brian O'Leary. Brian was a close colleague of Carl Sagan, who recruited him to teach at Cornell University in the late 1960's, where he researched and lectured in the department of astronomy and physics. After Cornell, he taught physics, astronomy, and science policy assessment at various academic institutions, including the University of California Berkeley, Hampshire College, and finally at Princeton University from 1976 to 1981. After this he went on to Washington, where he would become an advisor to various political leaders, presidential candidates, and the United States Congress. Before all of this, Dr. O'Leary was a NASA astronaut and a member of the sixth group of astronauts selected by NASA in August of 1967. One year after that, as mentioned above, Sagan recruited him to teach at Cornell. O'Leary was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as secretary of the American Geophysical Union's Planetology Section. Furthermore, he was the team leader of the Asteroidal Resources Group for NASA's Ames Summer Study on Space Settlements. He was a founding board member of the International Association for New Science as well as founding president of the New Energy Movement. \"Carl Sagan called me from Cornell and asked me to join the faculty. I accepted the offer and spent many years at Cornell in the astronomy department, planetary science department. And I became very creative in research then, but still within the bounds of western science, but in the planetary exploration program. That was for a period of about a decade.\" ( source )( source ) As you can see, his resume is more than extensive, and O'Leary is just one out of hundreds of people with this type of distinguished background to blow the lid on the extraterrestrial phenomenon. I use his video below in a lot of my extraterrestrial\/UFO related articles, and I apologize to our regular readers, but I feel it's always useful to share with readers who have yet to come across it. The clip is taken from the Thrive documentary which, if you haven't seen yet, I highly recommend. You can read his entire biography \u2014 though I'll warn you it is quite large \u2014 HERE . Above I've provided only the highlights of his impressive career. Brian passed away shortly after this video was taken. Apparently it happened shortly after having a heart attack and a diagnosis of intestinal cancer. What He Said Carl Sagan Did He had some interesting things to say during a live interview with Kerry Cassidy of Project Camelot (view full live interview here , read transcript of video here ). O'Leary and Sagan were close for a number of years, but had a little bit of a falling out when O'Leary decided to leave Cornell. In the interview, he remarked: It was\u2026 One very cold snowy day in May, I landed in Syracuse, and there was a horizontal blizzard \u2014 in May \u2014 and I said: That's it for upstate New York . And Carl thought that was very frivolous. Because, of course, he was kind of an empire-builder kind of guy; and he also had a huge ego. After he left, O'Leary started to examine some of Carl's work. He said that the famous \"Face\" in Cydonia on Mars \u2014 photographed by Viking in 1975, this enormous formation (about a mile across) resembled a human face and created a major buzz at the time \u2014 was tampered with by Sagan before being released to the public: It was very, very disappointing to me, because not only was Carl wrong, he also fudged data. He published a picture of the \"Face\" in Parade Magazine , a popular article, saying that the \"Face\" was just a natural formation, but he doctored the picture to make it not look like a face. At this time, Sagan and O'Leary were arguably the world's two leading experts on Mars, and they entered into many disagreements over that face. This rift was made clear in O'Leary's publication in 1998, \"Carl Sagan & I: On Opposite Sides of Mars.\" It can be found in The Case for the Face: Scientists Examine the Evidence for Alien Artifacts on Mars , eds. Stanley V. McDaniel and Monica Rix Paxson. Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press. In May of 1990, O'Leary released a paper titled \" Analysis of Images of the Face on Mars and Possible Intelligent Origin \" which only further demonstrated his skepticism. It was published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol.43 No.5. O'Leary also went on the record and stated: I began to realize, just directly from the scientific point of view, not only hearsay, that this man was colluding with NASA, that there might be more to this than before. . . . Carl was on a committee with a number of notable people. There was a report issued by the Brookings Institution in 1961 \u2014 and that's about when I knew Carl, during those years; the '60s mostly was when I worked closely with him \u2014 that he and this other group said: Well, if any ETs ever showed up on the Earth, it has to be covered up. That's the only way we're going to be able to manage this, because if we can't, then it would be too much of a culture shock. Quite a shocking statement from someone of Brian's stature, isn't it? In the interview, he goes on to say that Carl and his colleagues recommended that the governments cover up the UFO phenomenon, and that he believes this provided justification for the ongoing cover-up It's important to note that this does not make Sagan a 'bad guy.' He was clearly the opposite of that, and his love for science and educating humanity was quite clear. If he was in favour of covering this up, if he did know about it, there is a very good chance it was done for what they perceived to be, good reasons. Sure, there might be some corporate reasons, and some other not so pleasant reasons the cover-up remains today, but it's plausible to assume that in the beginning, perhaps there was no I'll intent. \"Behind the scenes, high ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.\" Former head of CIA, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, 1960 (source) Why It's Time To Listen To Contactees, Abductees & Experiences\/ A Psychological Standpoint Just to clarify, 'contactees' are usually those who have reported 'friendly' contact experiences with extraterrestrials, 'abductees' are those who have had what they perceive to be fearful experiences, and experiencers are those who neither view the experience as 'good' or 'bad,\" but simply just an experience. It's important to note this, because various people have reported different types of experiences with different types of beings. \"Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered\u2026 We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time.\" \u2013 Dr. Edgar Mitchell, ScD, 6th man to walk on the Moon ( source ) ( source ) The reality is that some people who claim to have had contact with intelligent extraterrestrial beings actually have. John Mack, A Harvard professor, psychiatrist and Pulitzer Price recipient stresses that: \"Yes, it's both. It's both literally, physically happening to a degree; and it's also some kind of psychological, spiritual experience occurring and originating perhaps in another dimension. And so the phenomenon stretches us, or it asks us to stretch to open to realities that are not simply the literal physical world, but to extend to the possibility that there are other unseen realities from which our consciousness, our, if you will, learning processes over the past several hundred years have closed us off.\" ( source ) We published an article earlier this year regarding John Mack, and more than 60 school children witnessing non-human beings and a large craft landing. The children were interviewed by him, and it was quite a remarkable story with all of the children providing very similiar stories. Until this day these children have been speaking of it, an event occurred more than 20 years ago\u2026. \"They describe these events like a person talks about something that has happened to them. I can tell that these are people of sound mind telling me something\u2026\" (quote continued and taken from the video linked below) -Dr. John Mack, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School You can watch THIS video of Mack Interview the children, and you can read THIS article that goes more into detail on that case. According to retired McGill University professor in the Department of Psychology (research areas beings cognition and cognitive Neuroscience), Dr. Don Donderi: \"Some of what people report as UFOs are extraterrestrial (ET) vehicles. Some of those extraterrestrial vehicles actually have ET crews, and some of those ET crews catch and release humans.\" ( source ) Academicians like these, and others like Richard Dolan , David M. Jacobs and more have been studying this phenomena for decades, and the reports of beings and examining why they are here, what they are doing, what they look like and more has been documented by their (and others) research. What I find most fascinating about these stories is how many of them seem to compliment each other instead of contradicting each other, which just adds to the mystery. As far as physical research goes: \"There are a great many photographs of such body marks, many of which are in an equilateral triangle pattern of red dots on the wrist or near the ankle. Also common are scoop marks,\" in which it appears as if a small amount of tissue was removed from beneath the skin, leaving an indentation.\" -Richard Dolan (taken from his book, UFOs for the 21st century mind ) Below is a clip of Dr. Roger Leir. a doctor of podiatric medicine, and arguably the best known individual with regards to extracting alleged alien implants. He has performed more than fifteen surgeries that removed sixteen separate distinct objects. These objects have been investigated by several prestigious laboratories, including Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico Tech, and many others. Unfortunately, he passed away in March 2014, but his legacy lives on.  Truth is, as former NASA astronaut and Princeton Physics Professor puts it, \"there is abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been visiting us for a vary long time.\" ( source ) Interesting Quotes About The UFO Phenomenon (A Few Out Of Many) ***Please keep in mind, the documentation regarding this phenomenon can be found from links that were mentioned in the very first paragraph of this article \" Everything is in a process of investigation both in the United States and in Spain, as well as the rest of the world. The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data.\" \u2013 General Carlos Castro Cavero (1979). From \"UFOs and the National Security State, Volume 2,\u2033 written by Richard Dolan. \"There is a serious possibility that we are being visited and have been visited for many years by people from outer space, by other civilizations. Who they are, where they are from, and what they want should be the subject of rigorous scientific investigation and not be the subject of 'rubishing' by tabloid newspapers.\" ( source ) \u2013 Lord Admiral Hill-Norton, Former Chief of Defence Staff, 5 Star Admiral of the Royal Navy, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee \"There is another way whether it's wormholes or warping space, there's got to be a way to generate energy so that you can pull it out of the vacuum, and the fact that they're here shows us that they found a way.\" ( source ) \u2013 Jack Kasher, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus of physics, University of Nebraska. \"This thing has gotten so highly-classified\u2026 it is just impossible to get anything on it. I have no idea who controls the flow of need-to-know because, frankly, I was told in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I've never tried to make it to be my business since. I have been interested in this subject for a long time and I do know that whatever the Air Force has on the subject is going to remain highly classified.\" \u2013 Senator Barry Goldwater, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (source) \"Yes, it's both. It's both literally, physically happening to a degree; and it's also some kind of psychological, spiritual experience occurring and originating perhaps in another dimension. And so the phenomenon stretches us, or it asks us to stretch to open to realities that are not simply the literal physical world, but to extend to the possibility that there are other unseen realities from which our consciousness, our, if you will, learning processes over the past several hundred years have closed us off.\" \u2013 John Mack,Dr. John E. Mack, a Harvard University psychologist and Pulitzer prize winner\" ( source ) \"An extraterrestrial influence is investigating our planet. Something is monitoring the planet and they are monitoring it very cautiously.\" \u2014 2008 Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel ( source )( source ) \"Some of what people report as UFOs are extraterrestrial (ET) vehicles. Some of those extraterrestrial vehicles actually have ET crews, and some of those ET crews catch and release humans.\" \u2014 Dr. Don Donderi, a retired McGill University Professor of 40 years in the Department of Psychology ( source ) \"Intelligent beings from other star systems have been and are visiting our planet Earth. They are variously referred to as Visitors, Others, Star People, Et's, etc\u2026They are visiting Earth now; this is not a matter of conjecture or wistful thinking. \u2013 Theodor C. Loder III, Phd, Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire ( source ) \"Decades ago, visitors from other plants warned us about where we were headed and offered to help. But instead, we, or at least some of us, interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after.\" \u2013 Paul Hellyer, Former Canadian Defense Minister ( source ) My people tell of Star People who came to us many generations ago. The Star people brought spiritual teachings and stories and maps of the cosmos and they offered these freely. They were kind, loving, and set a great example. When they left us, my people say there was a loneliness like no other.\" \u2013 Richard Wagamese , Ojibway Author ( source ) I'm skeptical about many things, including the notion that government always knows best, and that the people can't be trusted with the truth. The time to pull the curtain back on this subject is long overdue. We have statements from the most credible sources \u2013 those in a position to know \u2013 about a fascinating phenomenon, the nature of which is yet to be determined. John Podesta, for example \u2014 former White House Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama's right hand man (councillor), and the current head of Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign,Taken from Leslie Kean's 2010 New York Times bestseller, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, And Government Officials Go On The Record, in which Podesta wrote the forward \"Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered\u2026 We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time\u2026I happen to be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real.\" \u2013 Doctor Edgar Mitchell, 6th man to walk on the moon( source ) ( source )( source)  The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.  You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.  \"If \"Survivor\" was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and \"The Sacred Science\" hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group.\" - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune","label":1}
{"text":"COLUMBIA, S. C. \u2014 Alex Szkaradek is a landlord who seems to have the best of both worlds. Mr. Szkaradek, 36, collects rent, but he never has to pay for repairs on any of the more than 5, 500 homes \u2014 many of them rundown \u2014 that his firm manages across the country. The firm, Vision Property Management, blurs the line between what it means to be a renter and a homeowner. These companies do not offer regular leases or mortgages \u2014 they offer \"rent to own\" contracts on homes that require tenants to make all repairs, no matter how big or small. Mr. Szkaradek says Vision, a leader in the market, is bringing the dream of homeownership to Americans who lack good credit or are too poor to qualify for mortgages. In many communities, housing prices have recovered from the financial crisis. At the bottom end, however, banks have all but stopped making loans for homes worth less than $100, 000, leaving millions of people with few options. But these agreements reside in a gray area of the law. An examination by The New York Times of contracts and court filings, as well as interviews with housing lawyers and more than a dozen of Vision's customers across the country, found that these deals are risky, lack consumer protections and may not be enforceable in some states. Most tenants walk away with nothing, having sunk money for rent and repairs into homes they had once hoped to own. Others faced surprise evictions, having signed a contract that did not disclose what repairs were needed, yet set a deadline for making sure the home was up to local housing code. As different tenants move in and out of the same property over the course of years, many homes fall further into disrepair. A recent report from the National Consumer Law Center found similar issues with certain programs, calling them deceptive in nature. When Donna Thomas signed a lease for a Cincinnati home with Vision, she said she was not told that it had unresolved building code violations and a standing order from the city to remain vacant. Samuel Rankin thought he was starting fresh when he and his two daughters moved out of a 1970s trailer home into a Vision rental home in Alexander, Ark. But he soon discovered that the house, located just outside Little Rock, had no heat, no water and major problems with its sewage system that led to nearly $10, 000 in repairs. Ms. Thomas's and Mr. Rankin's cases are not isolated, The Times found. It is difficult to measure the size of the housing market. Nobody tracks activity, and few agreements end in actual purchases, so they tend not to be recorded. Across the country, however, dozens of smaller firms offer to lease cheap homes with options to buy, such as Vision does. Entrepreneurs conduct seminars at conferences for small landlords hoping to strike it rich. And housing lawyers in cities including Detroit, Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio, say they are seeing an uptick in disputes involving transactions. Several big Wall Street companies like the Blackstone Group and Home Partners of America offer programs through which people can buy the homes they are renting. But those homes are often relatively new or recently renovated, and worth well over $100, 000. The deals at the lower end of the market are the ones that worry housing advocates. \"We're seeing an influx in these contracts,\" said Katarina Karac, a city lawyer for Columbus, who is involved in one case the city has against Vision. \"It looks like a relationship, except instead of having the landlord take care of the property, they are putting that obligation on the tenant,\" she added. Every home rented by Vision comes \"as is\" and has strict contractual terms that require a tenant to pay for any repairs, no matter how big. Renters are given a few months to deal with any outstanding building code violations and to make the homes habitable. In interviews, as well as in court documents, customers said they were confused by the contracts' terms and requirements, and were not sure whether they were owners or renters. They signed their leases and put down an initial payment to reserve the right to buy the house. Unlike most typical home purchases, contracts have no requirement to obtain an independent home inspection. The customers contend they were not informed of outstanding issues with Vision homes, many of which the company had bought for $10, 000 or less. Tenants who are evicted during the tenure of these contracts walk away receiving no credit for money spent on repairs or renovations. leases are similar in many ways to contracts for deeds: installment contracts that call for the resident to make monthly payments to the seller. Unlike a contract for deed \u2014 which typically lasts 30 years, at the end of a Vision contract, tenants still need to find financing to complete the deal. The buyer does not receive legal title to the home until the last payment is made. Federal and state regulators began looking into deals after a article in The Times in February highlighted the resurgence of these transactions. Seven United States senators recently wrote to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to express concern over the lack of protections for home buyers. Still, contract for deeds are at least subject to basic regulations like the Federal Truth in Lending Act, which requires firms to detail how much interest they are charging and how many payments prospective buyers must make before they own the house. In most states, landlords are required to keep the homes and apartments that they rent in habitable condition. Some legal experts said contracts like the ones used by Vision could violate that requirement. Cincinnati, for example, has an ordinance that requires landlords to adhere to building, housing and safety codes, as well as to \"make all repairs and do whatever is reasonably necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition. \" Judith Fox, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, said that in most states landlord obligations cannot be waived. \"If it's a lease and they are claiming that none of the obligations apply, then I would argue they have to adhere to federal truth in lending rules. \" She added, \"You can't have it both ways. \" Vision, based here, buys homes spread across 24 states through nearly two dozen limited liability companies, all with different names like MI Seven, OH Seven and Kaja Holdings. The firm advertises its properties on its website, through Craigslist and in handwritten signs posted on the lawns of properties promoting low monthly rents. Negotiations are done via phone or email, and prospective tenants are given a code to a lockbox on the door to inspect properties. inspections can be difficult with the power turned off in a home before it is bought, however. Last September, Ms. Thomas signed a lease for a home on McHenry Avenue in Cincinnati that required her to bring the property into a habitable condition within three months. Vision's contract offered to sell her the home for $27, 000. It was only after signing the contract that Ms. Thomas, 38, learned of at least three unaddressed violations and about $5, 000 in unpaid fines. She then sought a lawyer to get out of her contract and recover her $600 initial payment. \"It was like pulling teeth to get them to give me $600 of my money back,\" Ms. Thomas said. Within days, Vision found another tenant, a couple who moved into the same house. None of the building code violations had been addressed. Edward Cunningham, a Cincinnati building department official, said the city had issued more than 20 notices to Vision on the property. \"Communications have been very poor in this case,\" he said. There are $13, 250 in unpaid citations on the McHenry home and the city has referred the matter to a collection agency. Vision bought the house from Fannie Mae for $9, 300 in 2014. Mr. Szkaradek, of Vision, said the firm had a small team that worked with municipal officials to address outstanding code violations. In subsequent emails, he said that Vision offered \"a full and unconditional refund\" to tenants within the first 30 days of a contract and that the firm had consulted with regulatory counsel in drafting its contract. \"Our goal is to put people into houses and turn renters into homeowners,\" Mr. Szkaradek said during an interview at Vision's offices in a building on the outskirts of Columbia, S. C. He declined to comment on specific cases. Mr. Szkaradek refers to Vision's contract as a \"hybrid lease\" that enables renters to build up \"implied equity\" with each monthly rent payment. Vision works with clients to help them through the process of managing payments, he said. Vision, which does not provide financing for tenants to buy homes, pointed to Mr. Rankin as one client it has worked with to help make a home livable. In October, Mr. Rankin moved into his home after signing a contract that valued the house at $38, 000. There was no carpeting and no linoleum on the floors, and the walls were covered with what Mr. Rankin described as a substance. These issues seemed easily fixable, though, Mr. Rankin said, because he runs his own flooring company. But not even a craftsman like Mr. Rankin was prepared for the biggest problem with the house: a condemned septic tank that the local water department said needed to be upgraded. The cost to install a new sewerage system was more than $8, 000, Mr. Rankin said. Vision helped him find a contractor to make the repairs, but it rolled the cost into a new contract that revalued the purchase price of the home to $60, 000 and increased his monthly costs by $65, to $470 a month. \"Financially, they kind of stuck it to me,\" Mr. Rankin said. But, he added, \"when you don't have any options and someone is willing to work with you, it's really a blessing. \" Vision paid $10, 760 to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the house last July. \"If you're doubling your money off of people who are scraping by and you're taking advantage of their vulnerability to enrich yourself, that is being predatory,\" said Beryl Satter, the author of the 2009 book \"Family Properties,\" which chronicled the exploitation of black homeowners in Chicago. Nearly half of Vision's homes were bought from Fannie Mae, the mortgage firm, according to RealtyTrac. A number of tenants and former tenants interviewed said they had hoped to buy homes from Vision either by ultimately getting a mortgage or saving cash to buy a home outright. But other tenants expressed concern they would end up losing the home. That is what happened to Heidi Anderson, 45, whose two children and partner moved into a Vision house in Vassar, Mich. last fall. They spent the winter months without heat because the furnace had been submerged in water and no longer worked. The only thing they had to keep warm during a cold Michigan winter, she said, was an electric heater and a stove in the kitchen. Ms. Anderson said she called Vision several times about the furnace, but nobody got back to her, so she stopped paying rent. In February, Vision filed a nonpayment proceeding, seeking the family's eviction and $3, 100 in overdue rent. She sent a check to Vision, she added, but the company returned it, saying it was late. Days before Memorial Day weekend, the family moved out, before the formal eviction. They have since moved into another nearby home through a deal. It was the best option available because, Ms. Anderson said, she still could not qualify for a mortgage. \"There is a little bit of work, but mostly it's cosmetic,\" she said. \"The furnace works. \"","label":0}
{"text":"A North Carolina police officer has been terminated after shooting her own daughter. She was showing off her service weapon to guests at her home when the girl was shot in the abdomen. A Lincoln County sheriff's deputy is facing a double tragedy after accidentally shooting her daughter with her service firearm while off-duty. Misty Michelle Flowers allegedly had friends to her home Saturday night and was showing her service weapon to them when she accidentally fired. The bullet traveled through a wall and hit her 11-year-old daughter in the abdomen, the Shelby Star reported . The girl is expected to recover, unlike her mother's career. As a result, Flowers has been terminated and is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation. While it is not uncommon for officers to bring their service weapons home with them after a shift, the sheriff's office's policy states, \" Members shall ensure that all firearms and ammunition are locked and secured while in their homes. \" In addition, the policy manual states : \" Members should be aware that negligent storage of a firearm could result in civil liability. \" Lincoln County Sheriff David Carpenter has made efforts to distance his department from Flowers' actions, saying, \" I find gross negligence and disregard for the safety of others over what transpired Saturday. \" He also reiterated how the department's policy on storing firearms had been made clear, saying basic firearm safety measures are \" included in hundreds and hundreds of hours of training they received during basic law enforcement training and also during service training. \" Flowers had been with the department since August 2015. She was terminated on Monday while at the hospital. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple  We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).  Contributed by RT.com of RT.com .","label":1}
{"text":"West Virginia has been devastated by a loss of 10,000 jobs due to the Obama administration s efforts to shut down the coal industry. If Hillary Clinton is elected, we can see a continuation of job loss there. Here s what she said a few weeks ago about the coal industry:","label":1}
{"text":"The left has locked onto a stat that 18 school shootings have happened this year. This is FAKE NEWS that needs to be shut down. Bernie Sanders and others referred to this statistic right after the Parkland mass shooting.Anti-gun groups included in the statistics a suicide at a school in Michigan that had been closed. This fake statistic trivializes the horrific crime that happened at Parkland or any other TRUE school shooting. EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY TRIES TO HIJACK THE NARRATIVE:Everytown for Gun Safety, the Michael Bloomberg backed anti-gun group founded after the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was the original source for that particular statistic. The group s initial tweet claiming that the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was the 18th school shooting in 2018 has now been retweeted more than 1,200 times:Our hearts are with all those impacted by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida today.This is the 18th school shooting in the U.S. in 2018. https:\/\/t.co\/YdPLz4zuOS Everytown (@Everytown) February 14, 2018The group defines a school shooting is any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds. ACCIDENTAL GUN DISCHARGES AND SUICIDES AREN T SCHOOL SHOOTINGS It turns out that Everytown s database turns up ridiculous examples that ARE NOT school shootings:On January 10, gunshots, which most likely originated off-campus, hit a window of the visual arts building at California State University, San Bernardino. Classes were immediately canceled as the university went into lockdown, though a police search failed to turn up any shooter on campus. On February 5, in a suburb of Minneapolis, a school liaison officer was sitting on a bench talking with some students when a third-grader pressed the trigger on the officer s holstered weapon, causing it to fire and strike the floor. Those were no doubt terrifying incidents for the people involved, and they may even have policy implications, but they are not what anyone thinks of when they hear the phrase school shootings. But the media and several prominent politicians, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), eagerly regurgitated the context-free statistic in the aftermath of the shooting in Florida, apparently without stopping to wonder why they hadn t heard about the other 17 school shootings that supposedly had happened since January 1.This isn t just an embarrassing case of confirmation bias. Spreading such misleading statistics affects how Americans from ordinary working people to elected officials understand and cope with these terrible incidents.","label":1}
{"text":"The One World Trade Center Twitter account announced they would be lighting the tower green in solidarity with the #ParisAgreement #OneWTC will be lit green tonight in solidarity with the #ParisAgreement @OneWTC One World Trade (@OneWTC) June 1, 2017Hundreds of people protested in Lower Manhattan and buildings were lit green in solidarity after President Trump declared Thursday that the U.S. is withdrawing from the landmark Paris climate agreement.About 400 protesters gathered at Foley Square after Trump s announcement. They held signs and chanted, What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now! The crowd marched through the streets to nearby City Hall, where they pounded drums and chanted, You can t drink oil, leave it in the soil! In a show of solidarity, Gov. Cuomo said One World Trade Center and the Kosciuszko Bridge would be lit green on Thursday night. Mayor de Blasio said City Hall would also light up green. NBCNYWatch:One World Trade Center lights up green after President Trump ditches global climate agreement https:\/\/t.co\/sCHSiqP25r pic.twitter.com\/M8r66YYgNM NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) June 2, 2017Twitter users responded to liberals and the liberal media who heralded the decision to use the WTC site to trash Trump. Kelly called the decision to use the WTC for international political purposes, disgusting That is disgusting using The World Trade Center for international political purposes! That is AMERICAN sacred ground. Kelly T (@ktellmemore) June 3, 2017Kelly T wasn t the only Twitter user who found the politicizing of the WTC site to be disgusting: World Trade Center people better get their act together blowout the green candle it's disgusting and if it was Blasio it makes worse.! pic.twitter.com\/m7zE3pUH5C joseph e pintinalli (@1handputter) June 3, 2017Others were offended that One World Trade Center was being used as a political pawn Disgusting the WTC is sacred ground of the USA not a political pawn Michael (@mweis1964) June 3, 2017https:\/\/twitter.com\/EntreAmis1000\/status\/870996745215295494Others mocked their hypocrisy, as they used large amounts of electricity to light the massive tower:So they lit the building up using electricity and expanding their carbon footprint?THAT WILL SHOW US!! Meier Ben Avraham (@hebrewservative) June 2, 2017That makes sense show green and waste electricity William Burrows (@wabr101) June 3, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Is there a single person left on Robert Mueller s Trump-Russian collusion team who isn t in bed with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?An attorney for special counsel Robert Mueller attended Hillary Clinton s election night party in New York City, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.Andrew Weissmann s attendance at the party is one of many signs pointing to a troubling bias from the attorney. Weissmann has been described by The New York Times as Mueller s lieutenant and pit bull. Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained an email Tuesday that revealed Weissmann praised former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates defiance of Trump. I am so proud. And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects, Weissmann wrote to Yates on Jan. 30. The email followed Yates instruction to the DOJ not to defend an executive order banning immigration from seven nations, an act that led to her dismissal by President Trump.Weissmann is one of several Democratic donors that have been hired by Mueller, a registered Republican. The special counsel s pit bull donated a combined $6,600 to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.The special counsel s probe has been criticized by Trump s allies, but the White House maintains Trump has no intention to fire Mueller. Daily Caller","label":1}
{"text":"In the small southern market town of Molcaxac, 650 miles (1050 km) from the U.S. border, Alicia Villa is praying to God that Republican candidate Donald Trump does not become the next president of the United States. Over the past two decades, as Mexico's rural economy stalled, Molcaxac and hundreds of towns like it became dependent on dollars sent by relatives who made the perilous journey north, a lifeline she fears will be cut by a Trump White House. Villa, 65, said funds sent by a daughter working illegally as a house cleaner in Sacramento, California have supported her family for 12 years because the work she does as receptionist in Molcaxac does not pay enough to make ends meet. \"I am Catholic and I have asked God and the Virgin of Asuncion that he lose,\" Villa said of Trump, placing her head in her hands and intoning a prayer in the square of the deeply religious hill town dominated by a striking blue church. Inside, the church was adorned with notes thanking migrant relatives for money sent to help build homes, start businesses and pay for marriages in the town surrounded by rivers, mountains and meadows in the state of Puebla. \"Trump says he will kick out everyone who doesn't have papers and we really need them to be there,\" said Villa, adding that she had not seen some family members living in the United States in 20 years. Trump, a real-estate tycoon who has narrowed the gap with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton ahead of next Tuesday's vote, has vowed to make it harder for illegal immigrants to live and work in the United States, to increase deportations and to limit remittances unless Mexico pays billions for a wall along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S.-Mexico border. Such policies would take a heavy toll in Molcaxac, where local authorities say more than 70 percent of the population lives on remittances sent home by immigrants to the United States, many of them undocumented. \"Our town has improved a lot since our people started to leave for the United States,\" said stonemason Esteban Marquez, whose workshop was partly funded by remittances from one of his children. Mexico has more than 5 million citizens living without regular papers in the United States, or about half of the entire undocumented population. Those men and women send back a large chunk of Mexico's foreign exchange earnings, contributing more than $20 billion in remittances wired this year through September. According to Mexico's Central Bank, Puebla received $1 billion in remittances in the same period, making it the fifth biggest recipient among Mexican states. So many people from Puebla live in the New York area that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Trump supporter, visited the state in 2014. Couriers have grown rich transporting salsas and fresh cheese to homesick natives up north. The money has transformed places like Molcaxac, a picturesque town dotted with well-built homes attesting to the flow of dollars. It is not just the potential loss of income Trump could spark that worries Molcaxac locals. The lack of employment in rural Mexico is one of the main reasons drug gangs find it easy to recruit among young people and those deported from the United States, they say. \"Here in Mexico, the truth is there is nothing for them,\" said stonemason Marquez. \"The people who stay need to survive, and since there is no work, they get pulled into crime.\" Opinion polls in the run-up to the election suggest that Villa's prayers stand a good chance of being answered, with most putting Clinton consistently ahead of her Republican rival. But the polls also show her losing ground in the final stretch. Real Clear Politics, which averages the results of most major polls, shows Clinton's advantage had declined from 4.6 percentage points to 1.7 points over the past week. Even those of more modest means in Molcaxac are on edge with America's election. \"Only God knows if they are going to be able to stay there,\" said Serafina Martinez, who at 70 still works in the fields. She worries it would be hard to survive without the little her son in California sends when he can. \"I would like him to keep helping us with pennies,\" said Martinez, her curved back laden with firewood and groceries. Still, the uncertainty has also helped locals in an unexpected way: the Mexican peso's value plunges every time Trump advances, making the dollar remittances stretch further. But there is no doubt in the minds of Molcaxac's townspeople that they would rather see Clinton in the White House. Clinton has proposed comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship, and says she will end detention of immigrant families. \"I think she will win, and that gives us hope that our relatives will be able to regularize (their papers),\" said Teresa Amador, selling flowers in the main market. \"I have a son who was born there, and he is going to vote for the lady.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The new cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been going on for a while, but has now escalated to a critical stage. It would be great if our President would take a stand and make his position known to the American public. But we re not dealing with just any President. We re dealing with Barack Hussein Obama, the guy who buddies up to terrorist and communist nations. We re talking about a President who treats our enemies like friends and many of our allies like enemies. Pay attention to this very important situation in the Middle East. It could get very ugly As the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia heats up, the Barack Obama administration is trying to straddle the fence and not take sides, but its actions tell a different story they all seem to favor Tehran.Following the Saudi government s announcement Saturday that it had executed 47 prisoners, including a popular Shiite cleric, the U.S. State Department did two things. First, it issued a statement expressing concern that Riyadh s actions were exacerbating sectarian tensions. Then Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, urging him to try to de-escalate the crisis.Spokesmen for the White House and State Department on Monday insisted that the U.S. was not taking a side, and that Kerry was set to call Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. But U.S. and Arab diplomats tell us that America s Gulf allies, who feel most threatened by Iran, see things very differently.The State Department has criticized Saudi Arabia before for executions and its human rights record. But this time, its spokesman, John Kirby, undermined the Saudi claim that Iran s government was culpable for the attacks on its embassy, noting in his opening statement that Iran appears to have arrested some of those responsible.What s more, the Saudis argue that this time the U.S. criticism went too far because the cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, was inciting terrorism. We do not accept any criticism of the kingdom s judicial system, al-Jubeir said Sunday. What happened was that those who have led terrorist operations that led to the killing of innocent people, were convicted. Following Saudi Arabia s decision Sunday to cut diplomatic ties and end Iran-bound commercial flights, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates also downgraded relations. One senior Gulf diplomat told us he expected other Sunni Arab states would follow suit.At the root of the problem for Sunni Arab states is the nuclear deal reached last summer by Iran and Western nations. When the White House sold the pact to Congress and Middle Eastern allies, its message was clear: Nothing in the deal would prevent the U.S. from sanctioning Iran for non-nuclear issues. Yet that has not been the case.Last week, the Treasury Department balked at the last moment on sanctioning 11 entities and individuals it deemed responsible for helping the Iranian government develop its ballistic missile program in violation of United Nations sanctions. Treasury officials had told lawmakers the new sanctions would be announced Dec. 30, but then the announcement never came.Hill staffers briefed on the issue said that the State Department had intervened at the last minute, following objections by the Iranian government. A senior administration official told us the sanctions weren t dead and that the U.S. was still working through some remaining issues, but didn t specify any timetable.A week earlier, Kerry wrote personally to Zarif to assure him that the Obama administration could waive new restrictions in a law passed by Congress that would require visas for anyone who had visited Iran to enter the United States. The Iranian government had objected that the visa requirement would violate the terms of the nuclear agreement.","label":1}
{"text":"While Londoners were coming together in a show of courage and compassion for the victims of a terror attack, an intrepid Breitbart writer decided it would be a good time to exploit the tragedy to promote her racist, white nationalist ideology.In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Katie McHugh tweeted:There would be no deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn t live there. #LondonBridge Katie McHugh?? (@k_mcq) June 3, 2017Later, when a user pointed out that she was an idiot, she responded by dismissing him because he was Indian. (He was right, she was wrong. He is an Iranian-American actor. She really is an idiot.)What followed was even more ranting about Muslims, a seemingly endless stream of hate directed at an entire religion which Katie loathes. Even by Breitbart s standards, it was openly racist. CNN contacted several anonymous employees of the right-wing website and they expressed disgust in their coworker. I find it appalling, one Breitbart employee told CNN. It s a terrible comment, another Breitbart employee told CNN, saying it was wrong to make a blanket statement about an entire religious group. I would never write what she said. (Note: These employees shouldn t get too much credit. How sad is it that they wanted their names to be hidden before they said something so straightforward as racism is bad ?)Things only got worse for McHugh as people went digging into her history of racism. She has been proudly boasting of her Islamophobia for years, including disgusting attacks like this one also while she was employed at Breitbart:One day later and Breitbart finally caved to the pressure and fired Katie for the bigoted remarks. (Like at Fox News, 2017 has been a bit of a bloodbath for Breitbart. Before this scandal, they were forced to fire their star personality, Milo Yiannopoulos for endorsing child rape.)But in an added twist of hypocrisy, Katie has now launched a crowdfunding page (hosted by a white nationalist-run website wesearchr ) in which she begs for handouts to make ends meet while she s unemployed. The Breitbarter wants your welfare please!Donate here so I can pay my medical bills and get employed again. And keep telling the truth. https:\/\/t.co\/IRAUOj6pIL #LondonBridge Katie McHugh?? (@k_mcq) June 5, 2017The fact that she needs money to pay her medical bills is particularly rich coming from a Breitbart employee. The website ran relentless attack ads disguised as news to stop universal healthcare from happening. To this day, the site supports a repeal of Obamacare the same insurance pool that would allow McHugh to have health insurance even if she can t find a website to hire her after her racism went viral.And naturally, McHugh is spinning her dismissal from Breitbart as a conspiracy to silence her conservative views.McHugh wanted a raise for tweeting there would be no deadly terror attacks if Muslims didn t live there. To quote an Iranian-American actor:You're a real moron Pej Vahdat (@pejvahdat) June 3, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"A federal judge in Hawaii indefinitely extended on Wednesday an order blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump's revised ban on travel to the United States from six predominantly Muslim countries. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson turned an earlier temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii challenging Trump's travel directive as unconstitutional religious discrimination. Trump signed the new ban on March 6 in a bid to overcome legal problems with a January executive order that caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests before a Washington judge stopped its enforcement in February. Trump has said the travel ban is needed for national security. In its challenge to the travel ban, Hawaii claims its state universities would be harmed by the order because they would have trouble recruiting students and faculty. It also says the island state's economy would be hit by a decline in tourism. The court papers cite reports that travel to the United States \"took a nosedive\" after Trump's actions. The state was joined by a new plaintiff named Ismail Elshikh, an American citizen from Egypt who is an imam at the Muslim Association of Hawaii and whose mother-in-law lives in Syria, according to the lawsuit. Hawaii and other opponents of the ban claim that the motivation behind it is based on religion and Trump's election campaign promise of \"a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.\" \"The court will not crawl into a corner, pull the shutters closed, and pretend it has not seen what it has,\" Watson wrote on Wednesday. Watson wrote that his decision to grant the preliminary injunction was based on the likelihood that the state would succeed in proving that the travel ban violated the U.S. Constitution's religious freedom protection. Trump has vowed to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is currently split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives with the president's pick - appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch - still awaiting confirmation.","label":0}
{"text":"In December 2005, when Congress enacted the Detainee Treatment Act, tightening restrictions against torture but barring lawsuits by Guant\u00e1namo detainees, Neil Gorsuch stood at the center of the internal debate about whether President Bush should issue a signing statement about the bill. Judge Gorsuch, whose Supreme Court confirmation hearing is set to start on Monday, was then a senior official in the Justice Department. He pushed strongly for a signing statement \u2014 in part, he wrote in an email, because it could make clear the Bush administration's view that the new torture ban was \"best read as essentially codifying existing interrogation policies. \" An email chain about the development of Mr. Bush's eventual signing statement, which attracted critics because it also claimed a right to bypass the torture ban under his powers as commander in chief, was among more than 100 pages of emails and documents from Judge Gorsuch's tenure at the Justice Department that the Trump administration provided to the Senate late on Friday. The executive branch had previously withheld those pages from nearly 175, 000 documents it provided to Congress because it considered them covered by a privilege for confidential internal deliberations. But it waived that privilege after Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested their disclosure. Previous disclosures showed that Judge Gorsuch helped to defend and advance the Bush administration's positions related to Guant\u00e1namo detainees, military commissions and other policy disputes arising in the war on terrorism, although those policies had been set by others. That same caveat applies to the newly available documents. Still, they could provide further clues to Judge Gorsuch's approach to defining the scope and limits of a president's power in matters. Disputes about the legality of interrogation and surveillance policies arose in December 2005, and each came to involve Judge Gorsuch. First, Congress enacted the Detainee Treatment Act. Most of the attention given to the legislation focused on its creation of a new law, championed by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, that barred officials from inflicting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on detainees anywhere in the world. The Bush administration, which was running a torture program for terrorism suspects in overseas C. I. A. \"black site\" prisons, opposed Mr. McCain's efforts. At the same time, Judge Gorsuch was working with Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, to include an amendment cutting off Guant\u00e1namo detainees' access to the courts, which the administration supported. Both the torture ban and the components made it into the final bill, setting up the internal debate about whether to have Mr. Bush issue a signing statement, an official document laying out a president's understanding of a bill as he signs it into law. Judge Gorsuch argued for a signing statement for several reasons, including that such a statement would help advance the view that the measure applied to existing lawsuits and not just to future ones \u2014 a view the Supreme Court later rejected \u2014 and that it could set the stage for interpreting the torture ban in a limited way. Although his email did not mention it, the context was that earlier in 2005, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, in a memo, had already concluded that C. I. A. interrogation tactics like waterboarding and sleep deprivation did not amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Judge Gorsuch wrote that issuing a statement \"would help inoculate against the potential of having the administration criticized sometime in the future for not making sufficient changes in interrogation policy in light of the McCain portion of the amendment. \" Importantly, the email chain also shows that the most disputed part of Mr. Bush's signing statement \u2014 a line that implied the president could bypass the new statute under his purported constitutional powers \u2014 was drafted not by Judge Gorsuch but by David Addington, the counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney. Another controversy that broke out in December 2005 stemmed from the revelation that Mr. Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to wiretap Americans' international phone calls and emails without warrants, despite a 1978 law that required warrants. The Bush administration argued that its program was legal in part because the president had inherent power to conduct warrantless surveillance for national security. Critics responded that even if the president may do something in the absence of a legal limit, it does not necessarily follow that he can still do it after a law forbids it. In March 2006, Judge Gorsuch helped to draft a statement for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at a hearing about the program. An initial draft said the president wielded \"inherent\" powers to conduct warrantless surveillance in wartime that \"cannot be diminished or legislated away. \" But, the internal emails show, Paul Clement, the solicitor general at the time, objected that the suggestion Congress cannot encroach upon how presidents conduct surveillance was unconvincing, so Judge Gorsuch took that line out. Still, in an email distributing the revised draft, Judge Gorsuch made clear that he did not endorse either view. \"I am but the scrivener looking for language that might please everybody,\" he wrote, \"and I have tried to accomplish that in the attached latest draft. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Since becoming prime minister for the second time in 2012, Shinzo Abe has made it a centerpiece of his foreign policy to steer Japan closer to the United States. Even as Washington has lost ground in the region, with China expanding its presence in the South China Sea and North Korea defying efforts to restrain its nuclear development, Mr. Abe has stood by the Obama administration, holding it close. Yet as Mr. Abe visits Pearl Harbor on Tuesday with President Obama, in a symbolic capstone to the relationship between the two leaders, that approach may be tested more than ever. The Partnership, the multinational trade deal that both Mr. Abe and Mr. Obama championed, is in tatters now that Donald J. Trump has promised to torpedo it. North Korea appears to be on the verge of a nuclear breakthrough. China has lately been more aggressive in both the East and South China Seas. And Mr. Trump brings other kinds of uncertainty, grumbling about Japanese trade barriers and the cost of United States military support, and raising the specter of a more confrontational approach to China that could have unpredictable results in the region. \"Japan is in a kind of a crisis over what direction we can go,\" said Kyoji Fukao, a professor of international economics at Hitotsubashi University. The alliance between Japan and the United States has endured since the end of World War II, but analysts say Mr. Abe, a conservative nationalist, and Mr. Obama, a liberal who had ambitions to change the world, have helped to make the partnership stronger than it has been for decades. \"This is the strongest, most reliable and trusting relationship probably in the last 40 years at least,\" said Takatoshi Ito, a professor of international finance and trade at Columbia University. \"This has been a good four years. \" Given Mr. Abe's nationalist leanings, he might not have seemed the most likely Japanese leader to embrace the United States, or a Democrat like Mr. Obama, so warmly. Yet since he took office four years ago, after an earlier stint as prime minister in Mr. Abe has committed Japan to several policies favored by the Obama administration. Mr. Abe expanded Japan's support of United States military bases despite fierce opposition in Okinawa, and pushed through controversial security legislation that allows Japan's military, the Self Defense Forces, to participate in combat missions abroad. He offered nonmilitary aid to countries battling the Islamic State, even as ISIS militants killed a Japanese hostage. The clearest motivation for Mr. Abe was the need for a partner in defending against a rising China. \"In the regional geopolitics, I think Japan and the U. S. are both pushed closer to each other by China,\" Mr. Ito said. \"For security, there is no one but the U. S. which can provide the security to Japan, so there is no question about it. \" Mr. Obama provided very clear promises of protection. In 2014, during a visit to Tokyo, he declared that a security treaty obligated the United States to defend Japan in its confrontation with China over a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea, known in Japan as the Senkaku and in China as the Diaoyu. It was the first time an American president had explicitly said so. Now Japan's leaders are warily watching Mr. Trump's approach to China. They may like that Mr. Trump is taking a more aggressive stance toward Beijing on issues like trade, Taiwan and the South China Sea, but there are also risks for Japan if that stance triggers a hostile response. \"Standing tall Beijing is of course welcome,\" said Sheila A. Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. But \"the potential for use of force or a much more bellicose U. S. relationship would be an uncomfortable spot for Tokyo. \" Partly in hopes of providing another counterweight to China, Mr. Abe has worked for months to develop a relationship with Russia, trying to resolve a dispute over a set of islands that has prevented the signing of a peace treaty since World War II ended. But a recent summit meeting in Japan between Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, and Mr. Abe ended with little progress. Perhaps an even bigger disappointment for Mr. Abe is Mr. Trump's vow to pull the United States out of the Partnership, on which both Mr. Abe and Mr. Obama spent considerable political capital. For Mr. Abe, it was in part an excuse to push for changes in Japan's agricultural industry, as well as an opportunity to gain access for Japanese manufacturers to export markets in the United States and elsewhere. Now his only hope is to try to persuade Mr. Trump to resuscitate the deal. Mr. Abe briefly met Mr. Trump in New York in November, and he hopes to see Mr. Trump again in Washington shortly after the inauguration. Mr. Abe has said he will continue to push for trade deals with other countries, and he is also seeking international partners on other issues. He visited Cuba and talked with the former leader Fidel Castro before he died, asking for Mr. Castro's help in reining in North Korea's nuclear program. In October, Japan and Britain conducted their first joint military exercises as part of a move to establish closer security ties in the East and South China Seas. But the alliance with the United States remains the bedrock of Japan's security, and none of its leaders are currently considering any other significant alternative. Given that, Mr. Abe and other Japanese officials will work hard to persuade Mr. Trump to maintain a strong partnership. Some analysts said that may be a matter of education as much as anything else. \"We are not sure that he knows the concrete measures or details of U. S. security relations,\" said Fumiaki Kubo, a professor of political science at the University of Tokyo, speaking of Mr. Trump. \"What Prime Minister Abe has to do is give him Lesson 101 on U. S. relations,\" Mr. Kubo said.","label":0}
{"text":"Investigators on Friday reconstructed the seconds before a train plowed into a school bus at a level crossing in southern France and killed at least five children, an incident the prime minister described as horrific . The collision on Thursday afternoon ripped the bus apart and authorities worked into the night to identify the first victims. The official death toll came after a source close to the investigation earlier said six youngsters had lost their lives in an incident that stunned the small community of Millas, near Perpignan. Hospitals appealed for blood to help them treat seven others who remain in a critical condition. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said the cause of the crash was still unclear. It occurred at a crossing which was not considered dangerous. Investigators are looking into whether the automatic barriers and lights on the level crossing malfunctioned and have taken blood samples from the driver for toxicology studies, French media reported. The driver, a 49-year-old woman who was injured in the collision, was described lucid by the manager of the bus company in an interview with BFM TV. The bus was well maintained, he added. The train was carrying 25 passengers and traveling at 80 kmh, the regulatory speed for the section of track where the collision occurred, the national SNCF railway said.","label":0}
{"text":"South Africa s African National Congress said on Saturday its executive committee had decided that ANC officials barred by courts from attending its leadership conference this weekend would not take part in voting. We had a special (committee meeting), which was urgent, to deal with the three court cases that were given yesterday. All the structures that were nullified will not be voting delegates at conference, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told reporters. We don t want to contaminate the conference... They will not vote on any matter. Courts ruled that senior officials in two provinces seen as backing Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for party leader had been illegally elected and therefore could not attend, sparking a rally in the rand with investors betting that the decision favored her rival, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.","label":0}
{"text":"The NFL was able to take a stand when it comes to the Cowboys attempt to honoring slain police officers in their hometown, but when an NFL player posts an ISIS type execution of a police officer on social media, they can t seem to find their voice to express their disapproval The NFL has denied the Dallas Cowboys request to wear the Arm-in-Arm decal on their helmets for Saturday s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams.The Cowboys had unveiled the decal at an emotional start to their first padded practice of training camp, when they walked arm-in-arm on the field with Dallas police officials, including police chief David Brown, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and the families of the police officers slain in the line of duty last month.The Cowboys, who wear the decal on their helmets during training camp, knew they would not be able to wear the decal for the regular season but had hoped to wear it in the preseason. We certainly understand the position the league takes on this, but it won t diminish our support for that concept of unity and supporting our police force and what they do to make our lives better on a daily basis, coach Jason Garrett said. That arm-in-arm image is something that we really believe in. You heard me talk about it a couple weeks back. What we re trying to do as a football team is build a team that s close. We talk a lot about unity and having each other s backs, and certainly they embody that. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has this to say about the decal controversy:Tight end Jason Witten spearheaded the idea of the players honoring the police and the families. While a little disappointed, Witten believes the gesture at the start of camp can have a long-lasting impact. What s really important is what we tried to do, and that s to unite that community, our community, and show that support for those families and really honor the leadership of our city, Witten said. I think that decal not being on the helmet is not going to stop that. It s going to continue to do that not only now but in the future as we move forward. As players and an organization that is something we re going to continue to support. ESPNWe reported about Cleveland Brown s player, Isaiah Crowell s Instagram post on July 11, 2016. While Cleveland Brown s acknowledged his post, the NFL has yet to make a public admonishment or levy a fine against him for making what was akin to a terrorist threat on social media against law enforcement.Here is a screen shot of the Instagram post that Crowell posted and then removed:Under the vile picture he posted in ebonics: They give polices all types of weapons and they continuously choose to kill us. 100percentfedup.comCleveland Police force was not taking this lightly. Here s how they replied to Crowell s vile post:Crowell got blasted for posting an illustration last week of a cop getting his throat slashed by a masked person. He posted it on Wednesday after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile s deaths, but the day before 5 Dallas officers were shot and killed. The running back deleted the post and the Browns demanded he publicly apologize, which he did.But Stephen Loomis, President of Cleveland Police Patrolmen s Association, thinks the store-bought apology isn t enough. He needs to go to Dallas, help the families who lost their loved ones last week, write them a check, look them in the eyes and give a heartfelt apology. Loomis says Crowell s post was as offensive as putting a picture of historical African-American men being hung from a tree in the 60s. He adds that if Crowell doesn t go to Dallas and make a donation, I will pull Cleveland officers, sheriffs, state troopers out of First Energy Stadium this season if he doesn t make it right. As for Crowell admitting he was wrong and acted out of rage Loomis says, You re a grown ass man, and you claim you were too emotional to know it was wrong? Think we ll accept your apology? Kiss my ass. TMZ","label":1}
{"text":"A group campaigning for the secession of a part of southeastern Nigeria, formerly known as Biafra, on Tuesday accused the army of laying siege to their leader s home, a charge the armed forces denied. Rising tensions prompted the governor of Abia state, where the leader s residence is located, to impose a curfew. Members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group said soldiers had surrounded the home of leader Nnamdi Kanu. Groups have stepped up calls for secession since Kanu was released on bail in April after being detained for nearly two years on charges of criminal conspiracy and belonging to an illegal society. There was no surrounding of Nnamdi Kanu s residence. It is not true, said army spokesman Sani Usman. Secessionist sentiment has simmered in the region since the Biafra separatist rebellion tipped Africa s most populous country into a civil war in 1967-70 that killed an estimated one million people. The military presence in southeastern Nigeria has increased in the last few weeks to crack down on crime. The IPOB also said that soldiers stormed Kanu s family compound on Sunday, which the army also denied. Politicians waded into the dispute on Tuesday. Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu said in a statement that people were advised to observe a curfew from 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) to 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14. A caucus of southeastern lawmakers in the Senate, the upper chamber of parliament, said in a statement through its chairman Enyinnaya Abaribe that the military had sent a strong signal that the region is under siege, which should not be so in a democracy . Renewed calls for Biafran secession prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to use his first speech after returning from three months of medical leave in Britain, in August, to say Nigeria s unity was not negotiable . Amnesty International in 2016 accused Nigeria s security forces of killing at least 150 Biafra separatists at peaceful rallies. The military and police denied the allegations.","label":0}
{"text":"Have Americans already forgotten about the real reason Kaepernick was kneeling during the national anthem? He was kneeling in support of Black Lives Matter and their war against law enforcement. NFL players who kneel or stand in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick are protesting against our law enforcement. Should anyone be surprised by the backlash these players are receiving from their fans, as they disrespect our flag to show their support for Black Lives Matter s war on cops?Breitbart Sports teams ask a lot of their fans, especially in places like Green Bay. Where, depending on the time of year, a fan could get hypothermia while just sitting in his seat. However, one recent request the team has made of the Pack faithful has left fans feeling a little hot.The Packers players, led by their quarterback Aaron Rodgers, issued a call to their fans to join them in interlocking arms during the national anthem. However, some fans have not taken kindly to the request. According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Packers Director of Public Affairs, Aaron Popkey, says fan reaction has been intense. We ve had a steady stream of feedback beginning Monday morning and it continued into Wednesday. We ve heard on both sides of the matter. We take note of their concerns. The fact that Popkey alludes to the concerns of the fans, would certainly lead one to believe that the steady stream of fan feedback has definitely tacked more negative, than positive.The issue of anthem protests, already a hot-button issue, became an even bigger story after President Trump s comments in Alabama last Friday night. Where, he referred to players who protested the anthem as SOB s, and said he wished their team owners would fire them.Those comments, led to a backlash from the league last weekend. All told, more than 200 players from all 32 teams protested the president s comments in some form or fashion. The Packers stood with interlocking arms, in their game against the Bengals. With the exception of three players who remained on the bench.However, those demonstrations did not meet with universal fan approval. Steven Tiefenthaler, a Wisconsin native, Packers shareholder and 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette exactly how the protests made him feel: I am so ashamed of and appalled by the ignorance of any NFL player who would dare disgrace our Stars and Stripes or the memory of hundreds of thousands of fallen U.S. heroes who paid with their lives so that we may live free. Laura Hapke, another Wisconsin native whose mother is a shareholder of the team, was shocked that the Packers would participate in the protests. Hapke herself is on the waiting list to become a shareholder, though, the team s protests have given her some pause. Hapke said, If they come out and say they are more into politics than patriotism, I ll have to rethink it. It will break my heart, but I ll have to rethink it. Hapke also had some really good advice for more constructive ways in which the players could protest, while letting the fans just enjoy the game. Hapke said, If the players association would act outside of the game, I think it would be great. From the Green Bay Press Gazette: I am so ashamed of and appalled by the ignorance of any NFL player who would dare disgrace our Stars and Stripes or the memory of hundreds of thousands of fallen U.S. heroes who paid with their lives so that we may live free, said Steven Tiefenthaler, a native of Brookfield who now lives in San Antonio. Tiefenthaler is a Packers shareholder and 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran.Shawano native Lloyd Hohn, who now lives in Bismark, N.D., said he is more disappointed than angry. It was and is a heartbreaker to see my beloved Packers involved in this protest. I doubt injustice is going to be affected by this action. It is style over substance, he said. The players during their off time need to be physically and vocally involved to bring change. From Mark Panteo:The arrogant Leftists of the Green Bay Packers want fans to join them in protesting the National Anthem in a supposed show of unity. Apparently, the only way to show unity in the NFL is to protest the National Anthem.Disgusting. This detestable league deserves to go the way of the Hillary campaign.","label":1}
{"text":"Observers on Twitter noted Friday afternoon that the White House's page on climate change, a creation of the Obama administration, appears to have been taken down shortly after Donald Trump assumed the nation's presidency. [In its stead, the new White House published an explanation of what the Trump team is calling the \"America First Energy Plan. \" At press time, the link to the White House page publicizing a plan to combat climate change leads to a blank page. RIP @WhiteHouse climate webpage. pic. twitter. \u2014 Amy Harder (@AmyAHarder) January 20, 2017, A cached version of the page shows that President Obama's administration had used it to advertise a plan to reduce America's carbon footprint and have America participate in \"global effort to combat climate change. \" \"For the sake of our children and future generations, we must act now,\" the page read, \"And we are. \" The Trump administration has instead published a page that lays out its energy plan. \"The Trump Administration is committed to energy policies that lower costs for hardworking Americans and maximize the use of American resources, freeing us from dependence on foreign oil,\" the page reads. The page addresses finding economically viable energy solutions that are mindful of the environment: [O]ur need for energy must go with responsible stewardship of the environment. Protecting clean air and clean water, conserving our natural habitats, and preserving our natural reserves and resources will remain a high priority. President Trump will refocus the EPA on its essential mission of protecting our air and water.","label":0}
{"text":"A decorated, active Navy SEAL is under investigation for moonlighting as a porn actor with his wife, the government reports. [The U. S. Navy is investigating Navy Chief Special Warfare Officer Joseph John Schmidt III after he appeared in 30 explicit porn movies, the San Diego reported last week. Schmidt, 42, has served in the Navy for 23 years, was a recruiter for the Naval Special Warfare teams, and was even featured on the SEAL website. But he is also a porn actor under the name \"Jay Vroom,\" appearing in such films as Apple Smashing Lap Dance and Strippers Come Home Horny from the Club. Most of the films he starred in were filmed with his wife, Jewels Jade, as his onscreen partner. But he also appeared in films with several other porn actresses. The Navy is now investigating to see if his side job violates Navy rules for conduct and propriety. \"We have initiated a formal investigation into these allegations. There are very clear regulations which govern outside employment by (Naval Special Warfare) personnel as well as prohibitions on behavior that is discrediting to the service,\" Capt. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the SEALs, told the paper. But Jewels Jade insists that his Naval bosses knew what he was doing as a side job. \"They knew about it at work. He got called in and they said, 'Look, keep it on the low, don't mention the SEAL name and blah, blah, blah,\" the porn actress said. \"He was always pretty open about it with the command. I mean, honestly, all of his buddies knew about it. Everybody knew about it,\" she said. But the SEAL's wife claimed that they only began making the porn films to pay their bills. \"It's helped our family. It got us out of a lot of financial issues we were going through,\" Jade added. \"I could take care of the child. I could try to get us out of financial debt. \" The actress also noted that neither she nor her husband ever used his job as a Navy SEAL to sell their porn videos. In fact, the could not find any instances where either of them mentioned his service directly while selling or advertising their porn films. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, who has spent more than $140 million on fighting climate change, said on Tuesday he will spend whatever it takes to fight President-elect Donald Trump's pro-drilling and anti-regulation agenda. The former hedge fund manager from California is putting together a strategy that will \"engage voters and citizens to fight back\" once Trump takes the White House in January, he told Reuters in an interview. However, he stressed he was not planning to fight Trump through the courts. Instead, he would focus on \"trying to present an opposite point of view and trying to get that point of view expressed, and communicated to citizens.\" Steyer's pledge to fight Trump suggests an intensifying battle for U.S. public opinion on global climate change, an issue that has already divided many Americans, lawmakers, and companies between those who consider it a major global threat and those who doubt its existence. Other U.S. environmental groups are also preparing to resist Trump's agenda, with some vowing street protests and more established organizations that helped draft some of President Barack Obama's environmental regulations preparing to defend them in court. \"We have always been willing to do whatever is necessary,\" Steyer said, when asked how much money he was willing to spend to oppose Trump's agenda. Trump campaigned on a promise to drastically reduce environmental regulation and ease permitting for infrastructure, moves he said would breathe life into an oil and gas industry ailing from low prices, without harming U.S. air and water quality. He has also called climate change a hoax and has promised to \"cancel\" the Paris Climate Accord between nearly 200 nations to slow global warming, a deal he said would cost the U.S. economy trillions of dollars and put it at a disadvantage. While the approach has cheered the industry, it has sent shockwaves through the environmental movement, which is confronting the prospect of losing all progress it made during the Obama administration. Steyer, who had endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, called Trump's policies dangerous. \"Every single one of these things, whether it was getting rid of Paris or cutting back the EPA, we think are extremely dangerous to the security of every American,\" Steyer said. \"We think it is based on willful ignorance of the facts and flies in the face of the realities facing the world.\" Steyer's main political vehicle, NextGen Climate, on Tuesday called on the Obama administration to defy Trump's pro-drilling agenda by issuing an order permanently blocking all new drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump has also promised to ask Canadian oil pipeline company, TransCanada Corp, to resubmit its application to build a pipeline into the United States that would link Alberta's vast oil sands to American refineries and ports on the Gulf Coast. The project, Keystone XL, had been rejected by the Obama administration after years of mass protests and lobbying by environmental organizations. Steyer said the project may no longer make sense since a slump in oil prices has reduced the profitability of oil sands production. Steyer, who four years ago left the hedge fund firm he co-founded to devote himself full-time to environmental activism, said young voter turnout in areas where NextGen focused its mobilization efforts during the 2016 campaign was up more than 20 percent from the last presidential election in 2012. \"Did we get the president we want, absolutely not. Did we get a majority of clean energy supporters in the senate, no,\" Steyer said. \"But in terms of what we did, and the strategy we took, we wouldn't do anything differently.\" NextGen poured nearly $69 million into its elections related programs during the presidential campaign, according to federal records compiled by OpenSecrets.org, slightly lower than the $74 million it spent during the mid-term congressional elections in 2014, when only two of the six candidates it supported won.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump plans to nominate Richard Spencer, who has worked as a financial industry executive, to be Secretary of the Navy, the White House said on Friday. Spencer also served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps and spent five years on the Defense Business Board, most recently as Vice Chairman, the White House said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"Greg Gutfeld scored a priceless TV moment during The Five . He mocked the CNN box-wearing trend that started with the WWE mocked-up wrestling video where President Trump was wrestling with the CNN logo (see below).@greggutfeld IS THE BEST EVER. OPENS @TheFive WITH A @CNN BOX ON HIS HEAD!!! HE S A SAVAGE!!! BLESS YOU GREGG. pic.twitter.com\/1wSN917FCh REV. JAMES LAKE (@jamesplake721) July 15, 2017He posted a picture on twitter of his daring new look:Check out my new outfit. #CNNMemeWar #cnn pic.twitter.com\/IEEos4EOeN GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) July 14, 2017 The tweet from President Trump that started it all:#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com\/WYUnHjjUjg Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017 The tweet from Trump started a mock-fest of tweets that were even funnier. The Gutfeld move is the pinnacle of the mocking of CNN So funny!","label":1}
{"text":"Obama administration officials told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday they would oppose new sanctions on Iran if they interfere with last year's international nuclear agreement, laying the groundwork for a potential fight over any legislation. \"If legislation were to undermine the deal, by taking off the table commitments that we had put on the table, that would be a problem,\" Adam Szubin, the acting Treasury Department undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told a House of Representatives hearing. \"Certainly our allies around the world would see us taking back major chunks of the sanctions relief as bad faith,\" Szubin told a Senate Banking Committee hearing later on Wednesday. House and Senate members are drafting new sanctions measures, accusing Iran of supporting terrorism, human rights abuses and violating its international commitments by testing ballistic missiles. They want to renew the Iran Sanctions Act, a broad U.S. law imposing sanctions over Iran's nuclear and missile programs that expires at the end of 2016. Administration officials have urged Congress not to rush to renew the ISA. Lawmakers argue that new sanctions will help send a message that Washington will take a hard line, despite the nuclear pact. Every Republican in Congress and several of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats opposed the agreement. \"I feel it's not so terrible to have Congress come up with new sanctions if we feel Iran is violating its agreements,\" said Representative Eliot Engel, top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who opposed the nuclear pact. Szubin and Stephen Mull, the State Department's lead coordinator for implementing the nuclear deal, told lawmakers that, so far, the deal announced in July 2015 was being fully implemented. They said the administration was tightly tracking Iran's compliance. \"We believe that we and our allies in the region are considerably safer,\" Mull said. Members of Congress recently accused the administration of allowing sanctions workarounds that might provide Iran direct or indirect access to the U.S. financial system. Szubin reiterated the administration's assurances that it had no such plans. Despite the easing of nuclear sanctions under the international agreement, Tehran's hopes of rapidly ending its economic isolation have been complicated by companies' concerns that doing business with Iran might violate non-nuclear sanctions that remain in place.","label":0}
{"text":"If Donald Trump secures the Republican presidential nomination, he would start the general election campaign as the least-popular candidate to represent either party in modern times. Three-quarters of women view him unfavorably. So do nearly two-thirds of independents, 80 percent of young adults, 85 percent of Hispanics and nearly half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Those findings, tallied from Washington Post-ABC News polling, fuel Trump's overall 67 percent unfavorable rating \u2014 making Trump more disliked than any major-party nominee in the 32 years the survey has been tracking candidates. Head-to-head matchups show Hillary Clinton, as well as her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, leading Trump, often by double digits. Even his two remaining fellow GOP contenders this week backed away from earlier promises to support the eventual nominee. And with each passing day, Trump makes moves that add further uncertainty to his ability to pivot to the general election. His defiant defense this week of his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who was charged with battery for yanking the arm of a female reporter, as well as Trump's remarks Wednesday that women who get illegal abortions should be punished, might play well with his followers, but could further alienate the broader electorate. \"Normally, when you're in a hole, the best advice is to stop digging. That doesn't appear to be his inclination,\" GOP strategist David Carney said. \"It's like taking a wagon full of nitroglycerine across the prairie. It's great if you get to the mountains and blow them up for gold. But it's pretty unpredictable.\" Peter Hart, a veteran Democratic pollster who has studied public impressions of Trump, said voters' views of him are \"exceptionally rancid.\" \"In terms of any domestic personality that we have measured, we've never seen an individual with a higher negative,\" Hart said. Trump has drawn huge crowds and built a passionate base of supporters who have helped him amass a big delegate lead in the battle for the nomination. But his success among a segment of the Republican electorate stands in contrast to his weaknesses in a general election decided by all voters. In that broader context, his dismal standing by all traditional measures points to a big question underlying his nontraditional candidacy: whether Trump, as the GOP nominee, could leverage his celebrity persona and unusual appeal among disaffected voters in both parties to overcome his glaring disadvantages. Trump's unpopularity in the Post-ABC poll was driven in part by sharply negative ratings from Democrats and lukewarm Republicans. The greatest risk for his general election viability stems from the unusually poor ratings he gets from swing-voting independents and white college graduates. A silver lining for Trump is that voters overall also feel antipathy for Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. The distaste for Clinton is not as strong as it is for Trump \u2014 52 percent of voters see her unfavorably \u2014 but Clinton's vulnerabilities, combined with Trump's unpredictability, haunt many Democrats. Guy Cecil, chief strategist for the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, urged Democrats to \"postpone the ticker-tape parade,\" warning that Trump is not as weak a general election candidate as the current atmosphere would suggest. \"I am skeptical of the polls showing such large leads, and it's incumbent upon us to view this as a close race,\" Cecil said. \"He's going to attempt to throw everything, including the kitchen sink and maybe the refrigerator and stove, at Hillary. And I would not be surprised if he changes his views on policy issues.\" Overcoming his hurdles likely would require either a massive influx of working-class white male voters \u2014 Trump's base \u2014 or dramatic changes in his policies and presentation that might reverse the strongly negative views of him held by women and minorities. Trump and his advisers say they have plans to accomplish both objectives. They say he can reverse his favorability ratings over time by framing the fall contest around issues on which they think Trump's positions resonate powerfully across traditional demographics: the economy, trade and national security. Since Trump is not tethered to any particular ideology, his test may be convincing voters that he is not a hostile force and is fit to be president, rather than persuading them to buy into a sweeping conservative ideological project. The Trump team insists that the power of his personality and the potency of his planned attacks on Clinton would win him converts. And it is wagering that millions of working-class voters who for a generation have been politically dormant will rush to the polls and offset Trump's sizable deficit with the ascendant electorate of women, minority and young voters. \"What you'll find is across the board, in states like Pennsylvania or New York or New Jersey or Michigan, you're going to have a bunch of blue-collar workers who have supported Trump in the past and will continue to do so,\" Lewandowski said. \"That broad appeal allows him to expand the electoral map.\" Concerned about his standing in the polls, Trump's allies are offering advice about how to make up ground with important demographic groups. Newt Gingrich, a former Republican House speaker who is unaffiliated but has informally counseled Trump on several occasions, suggested he campaign in black neighborhoods, send targeted messages on social media and embrace his outsider approach to government. \"Imagine Trump on the South Side of Chicago saying, 'People shouldn't be killed, schools ought to actually work, you ought to have jobs in your neighborhood and you know that Hillary can't deliver any of those because she is the system,' \" Gingrich said. The shift from a primary fight to the general campaign would be Trump's crucible, requiring him to communicate persuasively with an entirely different electorate than the primary voters he has courted for the past year. Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who endorsed Trump after dropping out of the Republican presidential race, said he has advised Trump to turn his attention to education reform and charter schools as a means of supplementing his core pitch on trade and immigration to grow his support with young and minority voters. \"Creating ladders of opportunity, such as school choice, is one way to do that,\" Carson said. \"He's been very enthusiastic about that suggestion. He'll have to follow through and get through to those kids and families who don't feel like they're getting the best possible education.\" There are stylistic changes Trump can make, as well, Carson said. \"A little humility would go a tremendous distance, no question about it,\" he said. \"Hopefully, he will find that on his own.\" Frank Luntz, an unaligned GOP pollster, said Trump could erase at least some his deficit if he capitalizes on the fall debates and other events, noting that history is littered with examples of candidates doing just that. \"The big moments cause people to change,\" Luntz said. \"And let's face it, we may have a moment outside of conventions and debates that's even bigger. If you have a Paris or a Brussels on American soil, that can completely change the dynamic.\" It is a tall order, however, for Trump to undo the damage his rhetoric has already done to his image with the rising national electorate that includes Latinos, single mothers and millennials. \"Donald Trump's whole message is somewhat backward looking,\" said Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster who wrote a book, \"The Selfie Vote,\" about these voters. Referring to Trump's slogan, she added: \" 'Make America Great Again' sounds like an attempt to turn back the clock to a time most young voters don't remember.\" Pennsylvania, a Democrat-leaning battleground that Trump hopes to target, is a case study of Trump's upside and downside. While he has picked up endorsements and blue-collar support in the state's industrial regions, centrist Republicans from Philadelphia and its vote-rich suburbs have kept their distance. Trump needs to make inroads to win a state Republicans last carried in 1988. \"Ticket-splitting Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs went for [President] Obama \u2014 and if they don't feel comfortable with Trump, they could go for Clinton,\" said G. Terry Madonna, a professor at Franklin & Marshall College, which conducts polling in Pennsylvania. Madonna said that more than 120,000 voters statewide, mostly Democrats and independents, have switched their registration to Republican since January. But he cautioned against interpreting the moves as a Rust Belt tilt toward Trump. \"Even if these children of Reagan Democrats love his talk about manufacturing and American pride, he's going to have to make sure he's not losing the Republicans who are the heart of the party,\" said John Brabender, a GOP strategist who has guided the political career of former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). \"That will require a campaign of surgical precision.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Turkey s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the United States could no longer be a mediator in efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict after its decision to recognize Israel as the capital of Israel. From now on, it is out of the question for a biased United States to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine, that period is over, Erdogan told a news conference after a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul. We need to discuss who will be a mediator from now on. This needs to be tackled in the UN too, Erdogan said.","label":0}
{"text":"Trump s wild lies continue unabated as he continues to say that he s met with people that have never once spoken to him. This time, he s claiming he talked to the Chicago Police Department about the city s violence, and a top officer told him that he could solve the problem in just a week. The problem, according to Trump, is that they don t have the authority to do so.Trump appeared on Bill O Reilly s show, where he was asked about how to solve Chicago s violent crime problem. Trump spun a whopper of a lie answering that: How? By being very much tougher than they are right now. They re right now not tough. I could tell you this very long and quite boring story. But when I was in Chicago, I got to meet a couple of very top police. I said, How do you stop this? How do you stop this? If you were put in charge to a specific person do you think you could stop it? He said, Mr. Trump, I d be able to stop it in one week. And I believed him 100 percent. Har de har har Trump will say anything to convince people that he knows what he s talking about. There is no way to solve any city s violence problems in a single week. Of course, to avoid looking like the fool he is, he said that he didn t ask for this mysterious officer s strategy when O Reilly asked for it.That vagueness is one of the ways that Trump maintains credibility despite all his lies.CPD refuted his claim that he s spoken to them, and one of their spokespeople said: We ve discredited this claim months ago. No one in the senior command at CPD has ever met with Donald Trump or a member of his campaign Beyond that, the best way to address crime is through a commitment to community policing and a commitment to stronger laws to keep illegal guns and repeat violent offenders off the street. Once all of this became common knowledge, Trump s campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, tried to turn it around on the media by saying that Trump had never said he met with top brass. She claims that s what the media said, which is in keeping with the campaign s assertions that the media intentionally twists his words.CPD has disputed claims from Trump before. Back in March, when he canceled a rally due to violence and said that CPD told him to do so, they said that nobody had ever met with him, let alone told him to cancel his rally for safety reasons.Trump doesn t even know when he s lying because he does it so much. This is another example of that.Featured image by Spencer Platt\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Elly Warren, from Melbourne, was travelling Africa before she tragically died on Wednesday. A 20-year-old woman who was travelling in Africa was last seen dropping off her bag at a beachside hostel before being found dead in a toilet cubicle. Elly Warren, from Melbourne, was expected to return to Australia on Monday before heading to New Zealand with her boyfriend for a holiday. Days before she set off for Africa, the 20-year-old told her father: 'It's dangerous Dad, I don't know if I should be going over there.' And things took a turn for the worst after she was raped and attacked when she reportedly walked home alone from a party in Mozambique on Wednesday. The young traveller had booked two nights at the beachfront Wuyani Pariango backpackers in the picturesque Tofo Bay but she failed to return to her room. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the hostel manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff members had seen the woman before she went missing. 'She came in alone to drop off her bag and then left to meet a friend,' the hostel manager revealed. 'She had pre-booked her accommodation but never stayed here.' The 20-year-old had been holidaying and doing a volunteer stint in Mozambique. The young woman had booked two nights at the Wuyani Pariango backpackers in Tofo Bay. Daily Mail Australia understands Ms Warren's body is currently being transported from Tofo Beach to the country's capital Maputo, some 500 kilometres away where a post-mortem will be performed. Paul Warren, the distraught father of the avid traveller, is currently travelling to Mozambique in an effort to bring his daughter's body home. On Thursday he revealed his heartbreak over his daughter's terrible death. A tearful Mr Warren told 7News: 'She even told me, \"It's dangerous dad, I don't know if I should be going over there\". 'And I said to her: \"Yes it is, very dangerous\".' On Thursday evening, hours after paying a moving Facebook tribute to his daughter, Mr Warren also revealed on social media an autopsy would be conducted to determine her cause of death. 'I would just like everyone to pray for our Elly right now,' he wrote on Facebook. 'She is at peace with Sam, our dog, who she grew up with and loved dearly. Thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes Elly touched us all in some special way. 'The funeral is going to take some time as Elly was in a remote fishing village called Pemba. 'There is going to be an investigation and autopsy, which I have been informed can take up to two weeks. 'I will be going over there in a few day to bring my baby back home. God bless you Elly Rose Warren.' The hostel manager said staff saw Ms Warren drop her bag off before heading out to see a friend but she failed to return to her room (pictured is one of the rooms at the hostel) The young traveller had booked two nights at the Wuyani Pariango backpackers in Tofo Bay. Staff members at the hostel claimed they saw Ms Warren drop her bag off before heading back out to meet a friend. Her family, who found out about the young traveller's death in a heartbreaking late-night phone call from another backpacker, believe she became separated from her group before her body was later found in a toilet cubicle, The Age reported. The revelation comes after her sister Kristy Warren took to Facebook to warn backpackers to be 'careful who they go [travelling] with'. 'My sister was in Africa whilst my mum got a phone call from one of the backpackers saying to her that her daughter has been murdered,' Ms Warren posted to Facebook. 'As I heard that my heart dropped. It is a parent's nightmare to get a phone call like this.' Describing her sister as 'maybe too ambitious', she urged travellers to be vigilant when overseas. 'I want to say if you are thinking of going travelling or going overseas please be careful who you go with,' she wrote. Ms Warren had been in the country since late September as part of Underwater Africa, a conservation program that 'helps protect the oceans'. The volunteer tour's booking manager Graeme Warrack told Daily Mail Australia the young traveller had left their group the day before she was killed. A room at the backpackers Ms Warren was last seen before her death. Ms Warren (pictured) has been killed while on a volunteer holiday to Mozambique, Africa. The 20-year-old from Mordialloc, in Melbourne's south-east suburbs, was also reportedly sexually assaulted before her death. 'Elly arrived with us on the 27th of September and left our program on the November 8,' he said. 'We dropped her at her new accommodation at 5pm, to hear the news the next day has left us as broken as anyone can be, she was our friend and colleague. 'We're trying to find out where exactly she went once she left us, that's something we can't answer.' Mr Warrack described Ms Warren as 'the life of the party' and said her death had taken a large toll on her fellow volunteers and scientists. 'Elly was an incredible volunteer who was doubtlessly the life and soul of any activity,' he said. Ms Warren's mother, Nicole Cafarella told The Age her daughter was 'just one of those girls that wanted to travel the world and see everything she could before she was 30'. Just days earlier Ms Warren had posted a video to Facebook of herself swimming with whale sharks off the Mozambique coast. Her father Paul also shared a tribute on social media and even passed on his condolences to her boyfriend (right) in the midst of his own grief. Tributes flowed online from Ms Warren's friends and family following news of her death. Ms Warren's sister Kristy took to Facebook to share a tribute to her sister and to tell how her mother had received a call from a fellow backpacker telling her of the terrible news. Dozens of online tributes flowed from Ms Warren's friends from Wednesday evening when news broke of her death. 'Taken way too soon, a gorgeous girl who had an amazing life ahead,' one girl wrote on Facebook. 'I feel like this is all just a f***ed up dream\u2026 It can't be true. Rip Elly Warren I'll never forget your huge infectious smile and crazy stories. I love you,' another posted. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they were 'providing consular assistance to the family of a woman who died in Mozambique.' Source","label":1}
{"text":"\"I was in Kentucky when Sen. Rand Paul announced his candidacy and I worked on his campaign.\" So you're still warming up the idea of Donald? \"I'm here for a totally different reason . . .the issue I'm passionate about is medical cannabis oil to treat my autistic son. . . I was up here last week trying to get it in the platform.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Who's laughing now? ( Watch at Youtube ) And for some good comedy from Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle On Saturday Night Live's Election Nigh wrap-up:","label":1}
{"text":"The many, many murders and rapes of American citizens at the hands of people who re here illegally is sickening. Illegal alien criminals are released or deported just to come back and commit another crime. Our elected leaders have done a poor job of protecting the legal citizens of this country BUT they re welcoming in and expecting us to pay for illegals with our tax dollars. We have a perfect example of that in Gov. John Kasich who s stated that he would give amnesty to the millions of illegals within 100 days of the beginning of his presidency. Unreal! A mother of a son who was killed by an illegal gives her take on this proposal by Kasich: It s all so senseless, Maureen Maloney said of the death of countless Americans at the hands of illegal aliens.Maloney s 23 year-old son Matthew was hit by a repeat-offending illegal alien drunk driver. Although Matthew survived the initial crash, he died as he was subsequently dragged a quarter of a mile caught in the wheel well of the illegal alien s pick up truck as the alien sought to flee the crime scene. Witnesses who saw [Matthew] pinned screaming under the truck ran out and pounded on the vehicle, crying out to the driver who kept going '[Matthew] was alive for a good portion of it, wrote one report from the time. NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR STOLEN LIVES He wanted to be a police officer, Maloney said of her young son, who was voted most dependable by his high school senior class. He had taken the civil service exam He liked to help people and do good. He was just a law-abiding person, she said quietly. The person who killed him should not have been in this country, Maloney explained, noting that Matthew s killer had assaulted police officers, he had assaulted paramedics, multiple drunk drivings, domestic violence and each time he had a run in with the police, he d go to court, pay his fine and be let go, Maloney said. Somebody needs to start putting American lives first. Somebody has to take care of the people that are in this country legally, Maloney declared.","label":1}
{"text":"The first case of sexual transmission of the Zika virus has been documented in New York City, raising the prospect that the disease could spread more widely beyond the countries where it is already endemic and largely transmitted by mosquitoes. For months, there has been growing concern about the dangers of sexual transmission, but until now the virus has been thought to pass only from men to women or between two men. \"This represents the first reported occurrence of sexual transmission of Zika virus,\" said a report issued on Friday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The evidence of a previously undocumented transmission means is the latest twist in a viral outbreak that continues to baffle and surprise leading experts. It is prompting officials to rethink, once again, the guidance for health care providers and the general public on how to limit the danger of infection, as the pool of those who could be at risk widens. Much about how the virus works is a mystery, and it remains challenging to detect 80 percent of those infected show no symptoms. For those who do get sick, the illness is often mild, and there is no treatment. But Zika can pose a dire risk to pregnant women. It targets developing nerve cells in fetuses and can lead to a birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. It may also cause developmental problems after birth. Zika is primarily transmitted by the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which thrives in warm, tropical climates. But 11 countries have documented cases of sexual transmission from a man to a woman. Among the 1, 130 people who have received a Zika diagnosis in the continental United States, including 320 pregnant women, the C. D. C. has reported 15 cases of sexual transmission. In a reflection of the urgency of the situation, White House officials joined with congressional leaders and public health officials this month to denounce the failure of lawmakers to provide funding to combat the virus. The legislative session in Congress ended on Thursday with lawmakers failing to provide money to fight it. \"The more we learn about Zika, the more concerned we are,\" Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the C. D. C. said during a recent conference call with reporters. At least seven children have been born with birth defects and five pregnancy losses related to Zika in the United States. The lifetime cost of care is estimated to be $10 million for each sick child. \"Each case is a tragedy,\" Dr. Frieden said. \"A child that may never walk or live independently. \" The New York case is the first in which a man was infected by a woman, and it raises the prospect that other men \u2014 with no travel history to areas and no reason to suspect that they might have the virus \u2014 could become infected and pass the virus on, creating a new chain of transmission. In the report, researchers found that a man, who was in his 20s and did not travel outside the United States during the year before his illness, contracted the virus after one instance of vaginal intercourse, without a condom, with a woman who had recently returned from a country where the virus is endemic. Dr. Mary T. Bassett, the city's health commissioner, said there were several factors in this case that might have raised the risk of infection: The man was uncircumcised, the woman was in the early stages of her illness when her viral load was high, and she was also at the beginning of her menstrual cycle. The woman, described as being in her 20s and not pregnant, had sex with her partner the day she returned to the city. The report does not name the country she visited, but the virus is now widespread in nearly 50 countries throughout South America and the Caribbean. \"She reported having headache and abdominal cramping while in the airport before returning to N. Y. C. ,\" the report said. The next day she developed a number of symptoms associated with Zika, including fever, fatigue, a rash, back pain, swelling of the extremities, and numbness and tingling in her hands and feet. She reported that her period, which began that day, was also heavier than usual. Her primary care physician sent blood and urine samples to the city and state health department laboratories for testing. The tests detected the virus but not antibodies to it, which suggested she was newly infected it takes four or five days for the body to begin producing antibodies. Seven days after intercourse, the woman's partner developed a fever, followed by a rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis. The report said the man had not had any other recent sexual partners or been bitten by a mosquito within a week before his illness. Three days later, the man went to the same primary care physician who had diagnosed Zika in his partner. The physician sent samples of his urine to the same laboratories, and the virus was detected. According to the report, the man \"did not report noticing any blood on his uncircumcised penis that could have been associated with vaginal bleeding or any open lesions on his genitals immediately following intercourse. \" It is unclear if the virus was transmitted to the man by the woman's menstrual blood or by vaginal fluids. If the virus was passed along through vaginal fluid, there is very little information on how long it might persist there or how great the risk of transmission during intercourse is. The report cites a recent study of nonhuman primates where three nonpregnant females were found to have the virus present in vaginal fluid up to seven days after exposure. \"Further studies are needed to determine if the virus is also found in the vaginal fluid of humans and, if so, for how long,\" the report said. Zika has previously been known to be transmissible via semen, where it can persist for months. The current guidance from health officials is that men who may have been exposed either abstain from sex or use a condom for six months. Women who are pregnant or trying to conceive are warned not to have unprotected sex with men who have been in areas where the virus is spreading during that time. Even though it is just one case, the fact that the disease can be transmitted from women to men \u2014 widening the pool of those at risk \u2014 will have to be factored into the response from public health officials. The Aedes aegypti mosquito remains the major means of infection. In the United States, that species is found mostly in the South and the Southwest, though its range can spread in the summer. That mosquito is not present in New York, but a similar species, the Asian tiger mosquito, could theoretically pose a threat of transmission, health officials have said. In response, the city has stepped up its mosquito control and surveillance, and it will soon be starting a new public education campaign that will continue to highlight the risks posed by mosquitoes but with added emphasis on the risks of sexual transmission.","label":0}
{"text":"IPet Goat And The Solar Flare In the video IPet Goat II, you see many symbols, some appear to represent celestial movements. In Egyptian mythology the planets and stars are shown in hieroglyphs as moving about on boats. In the film IPet Goat II, there is a figure riding on a boat which has been called Messianic by some viewers. However, I think this figure is a representation of the sun, he is very yellow, like the Simp(suns), he appears to be covered in flames and his hair looks distinctly like flames. He also seems to have sunspots on his face. Sunspots are quite distinct from ordinary spots.The reason I mention the Simp(suns) is that their eyes are designed to look like the circumpunct, a circle with a dot in the centre which represents the sun. [ link to en.wikipedia.org (secure) ] Also in the simpsons, Homer is obsessed with doughnuts and the torus is a doughnut shape that is seen throughout nature and space and has been the subject of much theorising by physicists such as Nassim Harramein.Sorry, back to IPet Goat II. The II in the title suggests it could be the symbol of Gemini. In the celestial realm the sun is currently moving through the sign of Gemini and will be moving to Wasat, a fixed star in the constellation and which appears to be where you might locate the phallus part of the constellation.You can see the phallus around the 4 min mark [ link to en.wikipedia.org (secure) ] This area is where the water signs are located in the sky. The sun moved through this area over the past few months.A little further in the video, just after the phallus scene, you see the sun produce either a massive solar flare or possibly an EMP which knocks out the grey men in the suits.Now I know there is much speculation about a possible celestial event and\/or a financial collapse happening soon, perhaps these events have been foreshadowed by this video.The sun reaches the phallus around 11th July and if the video is prophetic, then we can expect some solar related event to happen very soon after that.This is the sun's position on 11th July Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare \"The more you know, the crazier you look\" Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Anonymous Coward ( OP ) Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 That's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio. Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 That's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Right but as he emerges he's gazing at the sun. Does the sun gaze at the sun? Anonymous Coward ( OP ) Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 That's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Right but as he emerges he's gazing at the sun. Does the sun gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 I see what you mean, at the end he is gazing at some object which appears to have rings coming off it. Saturn is actually in Libra, where it ends and Scorpio begins. Saturn's been there for a while, it moves very slowly and will continue to remain there for at a while longer. The sun could be gazing at Saturn perhaps. Saturn is golden coloured. Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 That's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Right but as he emerges he's gazing at the sun. Does the sun gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 I see what you mean, at the end he is gazing at some object which appears to have rings coming off it. Saturn is actually in Libra, where it ends and Scorpio begins. Saturn's been there for a while, it moves very slowly and will continue to remain there for at a while longer. The sun could be gazing at Saturn perhaps. Saturn is golden coloured. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 I still think that represents you gazing at the sun. I think there is an important message there for you. Just mho. Anonymous Coward Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare I, Pet Goat is too important. I believe it must be decoded to understand future events and their timeline. Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare I, Pet Goat is too important. I believe it must be decoded to understand future events and their timeline. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 29592187 I think you might be right. Maybe some of it is already happening. ISON Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare In the video IPet Goat II, you see many symbols, some appear to represent celestial movements. In Egyptian mythology the planets and stars are shown in hieroglyphs as moving about on boats. In the film IPet Goat II, there is a figure riding on a boat which has been called Messianic by some viewers. However, I think this figure is a representation of the sun, he is very yellow, like the Simp(suns), he appears to be covered in flames and his hair looks distinctly like flames. He also seems to have sunspots on his face. Sunspots are quite distinct from ordinary spots. The reason I mention the Simp(suns) is that their eyes are designed to look like the circumpunct, a circle with a dot in the centre which represents the sun. [ link to en.wikipedia.org (secure) ] Also in the simpsons, Homer is obsessed with doughnuts and the torus is a doughnut shape that is seen throughout nature and space and has been the subject of much theorising by physicists such as Nassim Harramein.Sorry, back to IPet Goat II. The II in the title suggests it could be the symbol of Gemini. In the celestial realm the sun is currently moving through the sign of Gemini and will be moving to Wasat, a fixed star in the constellation and which appears to be where you might locate the phallus part of the constellation.You can see the phallus around the 4 min mark [ link to en.wikipedia.org (secure) ] This area is where the water signs are located in the sky. The sun moved through this area over the past few months.A little further in the video, just after the phallus scene, you see the sun produce either a massive solar flare or possibly an EMP which knocks out the grey men in the suits.Now I know there is much speculation about a possible celestial event and\/or a financial collapse happening soon, perhaps these events have been foreshadowed by this video.The sun reaches the phallus around 11th July and if the video is prophetic, then we can expect some solar related event to happen very soon after that.This is the sun's position on 11th JulyI realise the video is around 3 years old but these events look like they are on the verge of happening this year, so I thought I would mention this. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Sun Halo - circumpunct - circled dot Anonymous Coward Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 That's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio . Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Report Copyright Violation Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Sorry, back to IPet Goat II. The II in the title suggests it could be the symbol of Gemini. In the celestial realm the sun is currently moving through the sign of Gemini and will be moving to Wasat, a fixed star in the constellation and which appears to be where you might locate the phallus part of the constellation.You can see the phallus around the 4 min mark [ link to en.wikipedia.org (secure) ] This area is where the water signs are located in the sky. The sun moved through this area over the past few months.A little further in the video, just after the phallus scene, you see the sun produce either a massive solar flare or possibly an EMP which knocks out the grey men in the suits.Now I know there is much speculation about a possible celestial event and\/or a financial collapse happening soon, perhaps these events have been foreshadowed by this video.The sun reaches the phallus around 11th July and if the video is prophetic, then we can expect some solar related event to happen very soon after that.This is the sun's position on 11th July Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Genesis 32:30-3130 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel:[a] \"For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.\" 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. Anonymous Coward Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare \"The light halts upon his thigh \" Anonymous Coward Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare \"The light halts upon his thigh \" Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 The light halts upon his thigh \" Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 \"phallus\". See my link above. Anonymous Coward ( OP )User ID: 69290995 Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio . Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 'halo' and it could symbolise rings of Saturn rather than a sun halo. In a still it looks like a halo but in the video there is a lot of movement and a lot of rings\/halos.I'm glad you mentioned clouds because I was going to question whether there would be clouds as far up as the sun. They do seem to have the appearance of clouds. f800 The light halts upon his thigh \" Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 \"phallus\". See my link above. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 Re: IPet Goat And The Solar Flare Maybe the Christ figure is a representation of you and your journey through this reality. Why would the \"son\" gaze at the sun? Quoting: f800 's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio . Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 'halo' and it could symbolise rings of Saturn rather than a sun halo. In a still it looks like a halo but in the video there is a lot of movement and a lot of rings\/halos.I'm glad you mentioned clouds because I was going to question whether there would be clouds as far up as the sun. They do seem to have the appearance of clouds. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Saw a lovely rainbow halo around the sun July 4th This video links I Pet Goat to today based on Scorpius [ ( OP )User ID: 69290995 Saw a lovely rainbow halo around the sun July 4th This video links I Pet Goat to today based on Scorpius [ Quoting: rachel3108 'll find out very shortly if 7th July is the date for the asteroid strike. There are 2 asteroids passing close today I beleive. Personally I'll also be watching out to see if anything interesting happens on 16th August, the date from the Deep Impact film. Anonymous CowardUser ID: 3234272 Watch this full 10 min original version.What does anyone make of this? Please post your thoughts, if that short film is telling, you should see this for more insight. [ ... That's a good question, but I dont think it's the \"son\", I think the figure is the sun and he appears to be moving through the mazzaroth, or what we know as the Zodiac which is how the sun travels along the ecliptic in the sky.I know that some people identified the area where he gazes at the end of the video as possibly Scorpio. The sun will be nearer Scorpio around the winter time, around November. If he is indeed gazing at Scorpio ahead of him,that would indicate that the events are over before winter ends and before the sun moves into Scorpio . Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 'halo' and it could symbolise rings of Saturn rather than a sun halo. In a still it looks like a halo but in the video there is a lot of movement and a lot of rings\/halos.I'm glad you mentioned clouds because I was going to question whether there would be clouds as far up as the sun. They do seem to have the appearance of clouds. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69290995 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 69699674 's so complex. Is there any chance you could summarise what it is about so I and anyone else who might be interested can understand the gist of what is being said and might be able to follow it with some insight.Many thanks. Anonymous Coward","label":1}
{"text":"Hillary Dressed In The Most Perfect 'Costume' Today Without Realizing It Posted on October 31, 2016 by Amanda Shea in Politics Share This Hillary Clinton in \"costume\"  For the first time in her campaigning, Hillary Clinton is working overtime, now that we're in the final hours of this election and she has a major FBI scandal to try to cover up. She's not letting a holiday like Halloween hold her back from her scheduled speaking engagements, scaring everyone she meets with what she inadvertently decided to dress up as.  The troubled Democratic candidate showed up at Kent State University to greet another anemic crowd that she's become accustomed to seeing. While she thought she was treating them with her presence, the \"trick\" was actually on her when everyone took a closer look at what she was wearing and saw the irony in it based on everything Americans have seen over recent weeks.  While she didn't depart from her typical androgynous pantsuit garb, there was something else about her outfit hidden in plain sight. As the American Mirror point out, every inch of the draping fabric she had on was crimson red, making her appear like she dressed as a walking blood clot for Halloween.  Since clots have been suspected as contributing to her health issues, which she's had a hard time hiding, the irony of the outfit wasn't lost on those looking for deeper meaning in what she picked to wear on this particular holiday. Hillary Clinton in all crimson red at Kent State today on Halloween  According to The Sun , Hillary has been known to have clotting issues in the past when they reported on this condition in September. \"Clinton had a long history of ill health starting with a blood clot in 1998 while her husband Bill was commander-in-chief,\" the source explained. \"The 'Venous thromboembolism', which was located behind her right knee, resulted in her foot ballooning in size.\"  The article added that Hillary is on a daily regimen of blood-thinning medications to treat deep vein thrombosis (DVT) \"after suffering two other clots in 2009 and 2012,\" one of which was discovered in her brain.  The symbolism potentially runs deep in this color choice as it's one of her few appearances she's made since Friday when the FBI announced that they were looking back into her e-mails, which possibly mean the end of the road for her. Red represents anger, which she surely feels inside, or perhaps it's a hidden message that the election will end with a win for Republicans whose party is represented by this bold color.","label":1}
{"text":"Headlined to H3 10\/28\/16 - Advertisement -  GOP presidential contender Donald Trump giddily and predictably wasted no time when FBI Director James Comey announced that the agency was looking at more Clinton emails. For the umpteenth time, Trump branded her a criminal and demanded that Americans not let her \"criminal enterprise\" into the Oval Office. No matter that Comey made it clear that there is no evidence at the moment that there was anything improper, let alone illegal, in the emails. But the revelation that the Feds were looking at them coming in the stretch run to the White House was more than enough to set off talk of the perennially mentioned October surprise that could derail a presidential candidate's presidential bid; in this case the candidate being Clinton.  Even if there is something amiss in the emails, it won't change the race's outcome. Trump's path to an electoral vote win was always dicey at best, but more likely, impossible. The big electoral states such as California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, and a handful of other less electoral rich states are solid lock down Democratic states. The six or seven key swing states that are crucial, either trend Democratic. In nearly all cases, they voted for President Obama in his election and re-election bids, and are almost certain to stay that way through Election Day.  Having said that, the email flap just won't go away. This does pose something else that could be problematic for Clinton in the White House. That's turning the GOP into an even more ferocious, obstructionist, take-no-prisoners party that will wage open war against her administration. Trump and the GOP have hammered home the line that Clinton is shady, untrustworthy and, less charitably, a serial liar. It's had an effect. Her approval and popularity ratings have hovered just slightly above those of Trump. In some pithy polls, voters vote \"neither\" for and not for either her or Trump. The race to the bottom in the presidential campaign has been fed by the near fetish focus by much of the mainstream media and far too many pundits on the sex and corruption allegations against respectively Trump and Clinton.  The FBI's announcement of more email probes means that Clinton will have to take precious time out from her campaign focus on the issues that should and do really matter to again answer questions about what she did and why she did it with her emails. Reporters will shout this at her no matter what point she's trying to make about jobs, health care, or a foreign policy matter.  Once in the Oval office, this fetish isn't likely to end, Trump and the GOP will see to that. The opening salvo came from Arizona Senator John McCain when he saber rattled Clinton by calling for the rejection of any Clinton SCOTUS pick. Even if the Democrats take back the Senate, that threat is still not just hot air. The GOP will still have enough Senate votes to delay, foot drag, obstruct, harass, pick and probe endlessly at, and ultimately filibuster a Clinton pick. The hope being that this will force Clinton to withdraw the pick, and send the message that the choice for the High Court must pass the hard-nosed conservative ideological litmus test that's the GOP set piece for a SCOTUS judge.  The warfare will be even worse in the House which the GOP almost certainly will control. House Speaker Paul Ryan gave a huge signal just how fierce that warfare against her will be. He was barely a step behind Trump in climbing all over the Comey announcement about the emails to lambaste Clinton. - Advertisement -  If Clinton moves quickly as she's promised with her plan to ramp up spending on jobs and economic reconstruction to the tune of $300 billion, this will send the GOP scurrying even faster to the barricades. It will try and toss every barrier it can in her way, making all kinds of wild charges that the spending is nothing more than a pork barrel, gravy leaden, pay out to the urban poor, and disadvantaged, at the expense of the long suffering, high tax paying white middle-class.  Clinton takes office with the GOP manufactured and Trump fed cloud of suspicion hanging heavily over her. The great danger is that this will plant the seed even deeper in the public that the Clintons are the personification of sleaze. This in turn would blur, ignore and flat out dodge any real talk about tax reform job growth and the economy, health care, wealth and income inequality, civil rights, environmental concerns and criminal justice reforms.  Clinton's continuing email problems can't make Trump into what he isn't and never was. And that's a credible, qualified choice to occupy the Oval Office. It just makes it that much easier for the GOP to do even more to make it harder for Clinton who is that choice to do the job that she will be elected to do.  Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is \"What We Can Expect from President Clinton\" (Amazon Kindle) He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network. - Advertisement -","label":1}
{"text":"Political parties choose their presidential nominees. But with more Americans opting out of parties, is the process representative of what America wants? The New York primary \u2013 and others ahead \u2013 offer insights. How SNL's 'the bubble' sketch about polarization is all too true Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to supporter Michael Cantalupo while taking a walk in New York's Times Square Tuesday. Mr. Cantalupo said he is unable to vote in the New York primaries Denise Guardascione, a waitress for nearly three decades at the Shalimar Diner in Queens, thinks the New York primary process was rigged. She's a vocal supporter of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, but as a registered Democrat, Ms. Guardascione missed the deadline to switch her registration to become a Republican \u2013 which, shocking to her, was more than six months ago. And now, the independent-minded waitress has become bewildered by what seems to be the complicated, back-room system of electing party delegates both in her own state and across the country. \"It's antiquated, it belongs in the Smithsonian, next to Archie Bunker's chair!\" says Ms. Guardascione, a Queens native who works six days a week slinging eggs and coffee for this well-known political haunt. \"It's just for the [expletive] bigwigs and muckety mucks, not us, not the people who just want to vote.\" In truth, presidential primaries have never been more open. Since 1972, primaries have gone from being the province of party bosses to vibrant voter-driven contests. But in this year of populist revolt in both parties, \"more open\" looks to many voters like \"still pretty antiquated.\" That is by design. Parties, after all, are not democratic. They can choose their nominees in whichever way they think is best. But at a time when Democrats and Republicans are a shrinking share of the population, closed primaries are shutting more and more of America out. The irony is that America is no less partisan. Research suggests the growing ranks of independents are just as partisan as the parties. These voters have just abandoned parties because they are ashamed by how the parties act. The anger over closed primaries, superdelegates, and convention arcana isn't likely to help. (Nor are allegations of irregularities in the New York primary. On Thursday, the state's Elections Board suspended the top official in charge of Brooklyn after numerous allegations, the most serious of which is that 125,000 Democratic voters were incorrectly purged from the rolls before polls opened.) The question is, whether the spotlight of this election could force further change ahead, both in states and in the nation. \"New York and other states have long given power to the parties and to the establishment,\" says Jeanne Zaino, a political scientist at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. \"But who has higher voting turnout? States that have early voting, states that have mail in ballots and same day registration. We in New York allow none of that. This was not just a closed primary, this was an ultra-closed primary. Whether you're running for office or voting, you had to be on top of your game to be a part of it.\" The knock against closed primaries in this election season has been that they hurt insurgent candidates like Trump and Bernie Sanders. But the picture isn't so simple. Yes, Senator Sanders of Vermont has done much better among independents. But his biggest wins \u2013 in Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington state \u2013 all came in closed primaries or caucuses. Trump, meanwhile, has in many cases actually done better among Republicans than independents. What is clear is that the primary rules disenfranchise those who most dislike the parties. \"So why is Sanders doing so well among independents?\" asks Dan Hopkins of the FiveThirtyEight data journalism website. \"It appears to be driven not by their ideology so much as their dislike of partisan politics.\" In one respect, that makes sense. Why would parties give vote to someone who doesn't like them? Yet those people are a growing share of the American electorate. Some 39 percent Americans now identify as independents; 32 percent say they're Democrats, and 23 percent say they're Republicans, according to a Pew Research Center survey last year. In 2000, 29 percent were independents, 33 percent were Democrats, and 28 percent were Republicans, Pew found In Tuesday's closed primary, \"three million people in the state of New York who are independents have lost their right to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary,\" Sanders said. \"That's wrong.\" It almost certainly hurt Sanders. In Michigan, for example, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic vote by 58 to 40 percent \u2013 similar to the 58 to 42 percent margin in New York. But since Michigan was an open primary where independents could vote, Sanders won the state by taking 71 percent of independent voters. Eight of the 16 remaining primary contests \u2013 including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland \u2013 are closed contests. Sanders and his supporters have also complained about the fact that 15 percent of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention \u2013 712 out of 4,763 \u2013 are party leaders known as \"superdelegates,\" who overwhelmingly support Mrs. Clinton. In short, the deck is stacked against Sanders. And intentionally so. Sanders isn't a Democrat; he's an independent who describes himself as a democratic socialist. It is not illogical that Democratic primaries should favor an actual Democrat. The same is true, in different ways, for Trump. The GOP front-runner won a solid victory in New York. But he's getting little help from the establishment in navigating the complex delegate rules \u2013 rules that he says are rigged. Meanwhile, the well-organized campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz outmaneuvered him in Louisiana and swept Colorado's state convention contest. Presidents have always gone through a complex, multilayered processes in which voters, local officials, and party leaders each have their role, scholars say. Party leaders should have no small say in choosing their party's presidential nominee, the thinking goes. But even within the parties, there is some restlessness for change. \"Closed primaries poison the health of that system and warp its natural balance,\" said Charles Schumer (D) of New York, now the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, to The New York Times in 2014. As America's political balance increasingly settles outside either of the two parties, 2016 is showing how even a more open system can be warped. \"And if part of that story is about disenfranchisement, it is about these younger voters, people who are new to the process, or who disengaged from it and didn't register, or registered as independent and couldn't vote,\" says Professor Zaino. \"You're talking about Sanders supporters who are going to be on the losing end of that.\"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump does not plan to invoke executive privilege as a way to block former FBI Director James Comey from testifying to Congress next week, the New York Times said on Friday citing two unnamed senior administration officials. On Saturday, a White House spokesperson referred a question about the Times' story to outside council. Outside council did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Comey was leading a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year's U.S. presidential election and possible collusion by Trump's campaign when the president fired him last month. On Friday, White House officials said that they did not know yet whether President Donald Trump would seek to block Comey's testimony, a move that could spark a political backlash. \"I have not spoken to counsel yet. I don't know how they're going to respond,\" White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Friday. The former FBI chief is due to testify on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its own Russia-related investigation, and his remarks could cause problems for the Republican president. Presidents can assert executive privilege to prevent government employees from sharing information. However, legal experts say it is not clear whether certain conversations between Trump and Comey that the president has talked about publicly would be covered, and any effort to block Comey, who is now a private citizen, from testifying could be challenged in court.","label":0}
{"text":"German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister spoke by telephone on Tuesday and agreed that sanctions against Pyongyang should be stepped up in response to North Korea s nuclear test, a spokesman for the German government said. She agreed with Prime Minister Abe that North Korea s latest nuclear test threatened the security of the entire world and that this massive violation of the U.N. Security Council s resolution must result in a resolute reaction from the international community as well as tougher sanctions, spokesman Steffen Seibert said. Merkel and Abe agreed that increased pressure on North Korea should make Pyongyang more willing to agree to a peaceful solution and that China and Russia had a key role to play in that, Seibert added.","label":0}
{"text":"Democratic presidential Martin O Malley just got real about the response to the right-wing domestic terrorists who are occupying federal land in Oregon.Speaking to an Iowa radio station, O Malley, the former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, was blunt about the ongoing situation. This is not the way we act as Americans and I dare say that the federal government s exercising a lot of restraint here, said O Malley. It s hard to fathom or it s hard to imagine if the people taking over buildings by armed force were Muslim or black, as some commentators have said, it would be the same reaction. So hopefully this will get resolved peacefully. They are not militia, they re acting in criminal ways, this is criminal behavior. Since the militia members led by the son of rogue rancher Cliven Bundy illegally took over the federal facility, the mainstream media has fumbled over what precisely to call the men. First they were called peaceful protesters, and then they were called armed protesters in dispatches from ABC News and the Associated Press.Even after one of the men, who are white, made a public statement that he would be willing to die while occupying the government land, the bulk of the mainstream media has been unwilling to apply the label of terrorism to their activities.The kid gloves treatment being afforded to the gang recently federal law enforcement said they could come and go as they please has led people to compare the treatment to situations like 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Rice, who was black, had the police called on him while he played with a toy gun. Instead of being talked down and negotiated with, he was shot and killed in the street and led by the prosecutor a grand jury declined to indict the police officer who did the deed.In addition to the disparity in treatment, Republican presidential candidates have condemned the specific gun-wielding tactics of the occupiers while also heaping praise on the principles behind their gripes, which are complaints about the federal government collecting money for the use of land owned by the government.These men and other militia affiliated groups have tried to argue that the government cannot own the land in question, and that they should be allowed to raise profit-making livestock on it without paying anyone.","label":1}
{"text":"This woman's \"floating head\" halloween make-up is genius  @Ailishoctigan over on Twitter writes, \"My halloween floating head realness:\"  @Ailishoctigan says, \"I started with a red oval about halfway up my neck then filled above that to my jawline with black\u2026\"  And amazingly she did it all with this simple paint:  Brilliant.","label":1}
{"text":"There was a telltale line in the statement Huw Jenkins, the chairman of Swansea City, released Tuesday to confirm that Bob Bradley's career as a Premier League manager was over after 85 days. Amid the heartfelt expressions of regret that are all but programmed into these things, the eulogies for the condemned man's character and the best wishes for his future, Jenkins explained the logic that had forced his \u2014 and Swansea's American owners' \u2014 hand. \"We felt we had to make the change with half of the Premier League season remaining,\" Jenkins said. \"With the club going through such a tough time, we have to try and find the answers to get ourselves out of trouble. \" Jenkins did not mean that Swansea is about to indulge in a period of intense . There will be no at the executive level about the drift that has been allowed to set in at the club over the last three years or about why Swansea's meteoric rise has been allowed to stall so quickly. Jenkins and his colleagues will not be asking themselves why the club has sold a host of important players, the core of the team that took Swansea into the Premier League and then established the club there, nor why they tried to replace them with a collection of waifs and strays. There will be no deep dive into performance data to try to work out where, what and who the weak links are. No, what Jenkins means is quite different. Swansea is not going to start asking any questions. It is going to skip that part and go out and find an answer. Or rather, it is going to go out and find a man \u2014 almost certainly a white man, and most likely one who in most other walks of life would be about ready for his pension \u2014 who it believes already has the answers. In Italy, there is a word for the manager who is called in when the warning lights are flashing and the fans are in revolt: traghettatore \u2014 the ferryman, the person who guides you through choppy waters to the safety of the bank. England \u2014 where referring to a penalty kick as a \"P. K.,\" as Bradley did, is considered dangerously gauche \u2014 does not have the word, but it most certainly understands the concept. A couple of days before Christmas, Sam Allardyce was confirmed as Crystal Palace's new manager. Alan Pardew, the man he replaced, was a former player at the club, beloved by its fans, and had even taken Palace to last year's F. A. Cup final. His arrival just less than two years ago had been treated as a considerable coup Palace had paid Newcastle \u00a33. 5 million ($4. 2 million) to release him from his contract, and it had been only a couple of months since Pardew himself had explained, at length, why he would not want to leave the club even if he was offered the chance to manage England's national team. But Palace was enduring a worse 2016 than any other Premier League team. The most lavish spending in the club's history \u2014 bringing in the likes of Christian Benteke and Andros Townsend \u2014 had not arrested the slide, and now the heat of the battle to avoid relegation was on Pardew's neck. Despite his close bond with Steve Parish, Palace's chairman, Pardew could not survive it. On Dec. 22, the day he was relieved of his duties \u2014 with a payout to cushion the blow \u2014 Allardyce was summoned for talks with Parish. Those went so well that Allardyce, 62, took charge of training on Christmas Eve. It did not matter that Allardyce had been fired, just a few months earlier, from his dream job as England's manager for a series of damaging comments made to undercover newspaper journalists. It did not matter that the Football Association, English soccer's governing body, had deemed his behavior beyond the pale, and that it had been forced to part with him \"to protect the wider interests of the game. \" It did not matter, either, that at two of Allardyce's four previous clubs \u2014 Newcastle United and West Ham United \u2014 his departure was hardly mourned, or that his preferred style of play was polarizing at best, or that he only won nine of 31 games in charge of Sunderland, his last club post. It did not matter because Allardyce is a traghettatore, and ultimately money trumps what ghosts of morality survive in elite soccer. He is the man who has the answers. He will always find work whenever he is without it, work tends to find him. \"We were fortunate that someone of Allardyce's caliber and experience was available,\" Parish said in bringing him on. That word, experience, is crucial. It is the same one Allardyce chose to emphasize when he was presented as Palace's new manager: He would \"get out of trouble, with my experience. \" The Premier League, more than most other leagues, cherishes experience. Swansea's experiment with Bradley, of course, seems to illustrate perfectly why that is. Bradley was, by Premier League standards, an appointment out of deep left field. He had never before worked in a top European league. He had neither coached nor played in England. His r\u00e9sum\u00e9 was eclectic, and his body of work, weighted with its context, was impressive: spells with the United States and Egypt national teams, fine campaigns with Stabaek in Norway and Le Havre in France's second division. He was convincing in interviews: Jenkins, like Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, Swansea's American owners, believed he was a leader. He was popular within the club, with employees and players. Jenkins meant it when he described him, in his statement Tuesday, as a \"good man. \" And yet the results do not lie. Swansea has only 12 points from 18 games this season Bradley leaves the club in 19th place in the standings, his team having scored 15 goals and conceded 29 during his tenure. It was the latter that did it for him: not the fact of defeats to West Ham, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion, but the nature of them \u2014 the visible collapses, the wilting spirit. Bradley had many admirable traits and a respected work ethic, but in hindsight that all seems irrelevant because he does not have experience, and only experience brings answers. Now Swansea, too, will turn to its own traghettatore. It is possible to, simultaneously, feel that Swansea has made an understandable decision and worry that English soccer is damaged by this tyranny of experience. Not just because the same old jobs going to the same old faces is one of the reasons that England's native managerial stock remains so steadfastly white: Even a properly enforced Rooney Rule \u2014 the N. F. L. 's requirement that teams interview a minority candidate for head coaching vacancies \u2014 would stand no chance of working when the only openings that come up would be inevitably awarded to the same candidates. Not just because it places an insurmountable roadblock on any young coaches \u2014 either or those working their way through the lower leagues \u2014 hoping for a chance to cut their teeth in the Premier League, starving a new generation of oxygen. But because, in encouraging that homogeneity, it locks English soccer \u2014 as opposed to the multinational Premier League \u2014 in stasis. Few clubs risk new ideas, new approaches, new voices those that do seem to lose their nerve with alarming speed. Maybe Bradley was the wrong appointment at Swansea, but that should not mean the league should write off all American coaches, or all coaches in France's second division, or all coaches who have not previously managed in England. To believe that would be to condemn English soccer to the tried and tested, instead of the bold and the brave. It would mean a culture that is forever crossing from one bank to another, never actually getting anywhere.","label":0}
{"text":"Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Andy Nowicki and Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis also with a special report from FunkSoul (21WIRE & ACR contributor), for the hundred and fourteenth episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show we re discussing a plethora of events and disappointments cooked up by the mainstream media and the zombified public who buy into their garbage. The team covers mind control, MK-Ultra, George Webb, media psyops, intelligence and deep state infiltrated movements and FunkSoul brings a special 5 minutes of Funk on a banking industry whistleblower.Direct Download Episode #114Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research:","label":1}
{"text":"Hillary Clinton's historic moment finally arrived on Tuesday night, accompanied by an intensely personal speech from her husband Bill, that sought to recast her image as a symbol of the political establishment. \"She's the best darn change-maker I ever met in my life,\" insisted the former president, recalling decades of Hillary Clinton's work as a social radical. \"This woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything.\" On a night when she became the first woman to be nominated by a major party to run for the White House, Hillary Clinton fully embraced the historic significance of the occasion. She joined the party by live satellite link from New York to the accompanying sound of breaking glass, disrupting a black and white montage of the 44 male presidents of the United States who have gone before her. \"I can't believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet,\" said Clinton. \"If there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, can I just say, I may become the first woman president but one of you is next.\" Amid a growing populist challenge from Republican Donald Trump and scenes of revolt from some Bernie Sanders supporters, her husband's powerfully persuasive speech may go some way to restoring momentum to the campaign. \"Hillary will make us stronger together,\" he said. \"You know it, because she spent a lifetime doing it. I hope you will do it. I hope you will elect her. Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows tend to think more about our children and grandchildren.\" The speech capped a pivotal day for the party, as it sought to move on from scenes of division, and capitalise on Clinton's symbolic breakthrough. She will address the crowd directly on Thursday in a formal acceptance of the nomination but for now, speeches first from Michelle Obama and now from Bill Clinton have done the most to counter a much darker vision of America presented by Republican candidate Donald Trump. \"If she wins she's coming back for you to take you along on the ride for America's future,\" said former president Clinton as he recalled campaigning with coalminers in West Virginia and urged to the party to do more to create more new jobs in the US economy. It was almost the only overtly political message of his own. In contrast with past speeches, where the former president has risked overshadowing the campaign, this one sounded more like the personal speeches made by the wives of male candidates. In an azure blue tie that picked out the colours of the arena, and with his hands shaking slightly, Clinton delivered a highly personal account of their courtship and marriage that seemed at times to be an attempt to make America fall in love with the girl he first met in the spring of 1971. Skipping over the awkward moments in a very public, and at times visibly flawed, marriage, Clinton instead said: \"I married my best friend,\" recalling two failed proposal attempts and then describing when Clinton's water broke during her pregnancy with Chelsea \u2013 undoubtedly a first in a speech about a US presidential candidate. \"The first time I saw her was in a class on political and civil rights \u2026 [she had] big blond hair, big glasses, wore no makeup and exuded a sense that I found magnetic,\" said a clearly infatuated and somewhat awed Clinton. \"I knew I might be starting something I couldn't stop.\" After spending nearly an hour describing her political and personal accomplishments he turned only briefly to her opponent. And he issued a direct challenge to the two-dimensional \"cartoon\" image of his wife which had been painted by her political foes. \"How does this square with what you heard at the Republican convention? One is real, the other is made up,\" said Bill. \"You just have to decide which is which my fellow Americans \u2026 Good for you, because earlier today you nominated the real one.\" The well-received speech, seeking to rewrite the accepted wisdom about her candidacy, may help galvanise the campaign in much the same way Bill Clinton helped revive Barack Obama's listless 2012 effort. But the space was created by another reconcilation between competing Democrats earlier in the evening. Bernie Sanders left the arena with his head held high on Tuesday. In contrast to the chaotic scenes of protest from his supporters that marred attempts at unity on day one, the room largely came together for the historic night, with few boos at all. The healing was helped by fresh opportunities for the Sanders campaign to celebrate its success and vow to continue its fight for more radical social reform. \"Because this is a movement fuelled by love it can never be stopped or defeated,\" said Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as she formally proposed Sanders for the nomination. Shortly before calling for a suspension of the rules to move directly to the nomination of his former rival, Sanders appeared emotional as he listened to his tearful brother Larry announce delegates from the Democrats Abroad primary. The pageant of democracy hid some controversy too. A small group of Sanders supporters staged a sit-in of the media centre, largely in protest at the party's use of superdelegates to bolster Clinton's margin of victory in states where Sanders won the most votes. Clinton was at home watching events from her New York state home in Chappaqua, but her daughter Chelsea was on hand in a venue packed with rising female stars from the Democratic party and wider US society. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, herself a noted breaker of glass ceilings, received one of the warmest welcomes of the evening for a commanding speech that listed Clinton's foreign affairs experience. Trump, she claimed, \"has already done damage just by running for president\". Oscar winner Meryl Streep signed off the night by asking: \"What does it take to be the first female anything? It takes grit and it takes grace.\" Placing Clinton in a lineage of great American women from Rosa Parks and Amelia Earhart to Harriet Tubman and Eleanor Roosevelt, she told the delegates: \"You people have made history and you're gonna make history again in November because Hillary Clinton will be our first woman president \u2026 she'll be the first but she won't be the last.\" Lena Dunham, creator and star of the HBO series Girls, led a series of celebrity endorsements that joined the dots between Clinton's breaking of glass ceilings and Trump's dismissive comments about women. \"According to Donald Trump, my body is probably like, a two,\" she began. \"His rhetoric about women takes us back to a time when we were meant to be beautiful and silent.\" \"Donald Trump is not making America great again; he is making America hate again,\" added fellow actor America Ferrera, from the TV series Ugly Betty. California senator Barbara Boxer emerged on stage to the soundtrack from Rocky, Philadelphia's de facto theme tune. \"Are you ready to elect the very first woman president of these United States of America?\" \"Yes!\" came a reply that sounded less hesitant than usual, as confidence among Democrats grows. Some of the most powerful political messaging came via prepared video footage that interspersed live speakers with clips of Trump: exposing his lack of respect for women, or damning him with his own words as he described pregnancy as an irritant for employers. There were also the first hints of the national security issues, which are likely to be a big feature of the latter part of week. Republicans watching on television have criticised the Philadelphia convention for ignoring pressing safety issues, in a stadium devoid of the usual flags that tend to dominate US political sets. Survivors of the 9\/11 attack on New York paid moving testimony to the support they received from Clinton as a local senator. \"When New York needed her, she was there,\" said Lauren Manning, a burns victim whose emotional speech provided some of the most powerful character testimony yet. Others tried a lighter tack in the campaign's conscious effort to try to humanise a candidate still regarded as aloof and chilly by some Americans. Kentucky secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes began the night recalling that the soon-to-be nominee loves lifestyle TV \"and can devour buffalo wings\". Barbara Mikulski said Clinton would fight for \"macaroni and cheese\" issues, boasting again of her taste for down-to-earth food. There were echoes of a similar attempt to add colour to the larger-than-life media image of Trump at last week's Republican convention, as both campaigns grapple with the historically low favourability ratings of both candidates. But while Trump was pictured as a ruthless winner by his business associates, Clinton surrogates queued up to claim she was a people person \u2013 the opposite of the public stereotype.","label":0}
{"text":"The Libyan capital s Mitiga airport was evacuated on Tuesday and civilian flights were repeatedly suspended as rival armed groups clashed nearby, officials said. Flights had restarted around midday on Tuesday after being suspended for several hours during the morning and the previous evening, Mitiga spokesman Khaled Abukhrais said. But by late afternoon heavy gunfire resumed and the airport was shut. Unfortunately the air space has closed again and the airport has been evacuated for the safety and security of passengers and workers, due to renewed clashes, an airport statement said. Mitiga is a military air base near the center of Tripoli that has also hosted civilian flights since the international airport was largely destroyed by fighting in 2014. The clashes began when the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), a group that controls Mitiga and operates as an anti-crime unit aligned with the U.N.-backed government, conducted raids in the nearby neighborhood of Ghrarat. Rada spokesman Ahmed Bin Salem said the group targeted in the raids had tried to attack the airport area after a wanted drug dealer had been killed when he fired on a Rada patrol. The area of Ghrarat is now under the control of our forces and it s being treated as military zone so we can clear any resistance, Bin Salem said. One member of Rada had been killed and two wounded, and there were several casualties among their opponents, he said. Tripoli is split among various armed groups that have built local power bases since Libya s 2011 revolution. There have been fewer heavy confrontations in the capital since groups linked to a previous, self-declared government were pushed out of the city earlier this year, but armed skirmishes, kidnapping and other criminal activity are still common.","label":0}
{"text":"A declassified report by U.S. intelligence agencies said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Donald Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign. The following quotes are some highlights of the report, which was drafted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency, and released on Friday: - \"Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow's longstanding desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations.\" - \"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.\" - \"We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.\" - \"Moscow's approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia's understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.\" - \"We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election.\" - \"Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behavior since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and goals.\" - \"Moscow's influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations \u2014 such as cyber activity \u2014 with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or 'trolls'.\" - \"Russia's intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major U.S. political parties.\" - \"We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release U.S. victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.\" - \"We assess with high confidence that the GRU relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks. Moscow most likely chose WikiLeaks because of its self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity. Disclosures through WikiLeaks did not contain any evident forgeries.\" - \"Russia collected on some Republican-affiliated targets but did not conduct a comparable disclosure campaign.\" - \"Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple U.S. state or local electoral boards. DHS (Department of Homeland Security) assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.\" - \"We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the U.S. presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against U.S. allies and their election processes.\" - \"Immediately after Election Day, we assess Russian intelligence began a spearphishing campaign targeting U.S. Government employees and individuals associated with U.S. think tanks and NGOs in national security, defense, and foreign policy fields. This campaign could provide material for future influence efforts as well as foreign intelligence collection on the incoming administration's goals and plans.\"","label":0}
{"text":"A fistfight broke out among several passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas to Burbank on Sunday as it was taxiing to the gate at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, the Los Angeles Times reported. [FIGHT OR FLIGHT: Vicious brawl breaks out aboard Southwest Airlines airplane in Burbank https: . pic. twitter. \u2014 ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) May 10, 2017, Video of the altercation shows two men wrestling and throwing punches at each other as a woman yells, \"What is wrong with you? Get off!\" while she tries to break up the fight. A flight attendant tried to intervene, but the two men fell on top of her as they rolled onto the seat where she was sitting. One continued to throw punches until other passengers stepped in to break up the fight. Police arrested the suspect, Chaze Mickalo Cable, 37, of Lancaster, for misdemeanor assault and battery, KABC reported. Cable is being held on $50, 000 bail. The victim suffered a chipped tooth, a contusion to his left eye, and a cut on his nose, police said. CBS Los Angeles reported that the victim refused treatment and continued to his next destination. Whether the two knew each other before the fight and what caused it are unknown. Southwest Airlines said Flight 2530 arrived from Dallas and was making a scheduled layover in Burbank before it continued to its final destination in Oakland, adding that the fight involved three passengers as they were getting ready to deplane. \"We're grateful to our employees who quickly reacted to break up a fight involving three customers,\" a Southwest Airlines spokeswoman said. \"Our Employees are our everyday heroes and are trained to conflict while delivering heartfelt hospitality. \" Another brawl broke out Monday night at Fort Lauderdale International Airport after Spirit Airlines canceled nine flights due to a staff shortage caused by an issue with the airline pilots' union.","label":0}
{"text":"The Senate passed the first broad energy bill in nine years on Wednesday, legislation containing modest measures popular with both Republicans and Democrats to modernize the power grid and speed the permitting process for liquefied natural gas exports. The bill, which passed 85-12, attempts to protect the power grid from extreme weather events such as ice storms and hurricanes, and from cyber attacks. It also aims to spur innovations in storage of power from wind and solar energy. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last year. The Energy Policy and Modernization Act would increase U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), eventually helping to give European consumers alternatives to relying mainly on Russia for gas. After disagreements held the bill up for months, senators last week dropped measures from the bill to aid Flint, Michigan overcome a drinking water crisis, in which children have been exposed to dangerous levels of lead, and on offshore drilling. Lawmakers from both the House and Senate will next iron out differences over the bill. The Senate bill, for instance, requires the Department of Energy to issue a decision on LNG projects within 45 days of an environmental assessment, while the House bill directs the DOE to make the decision on permits after 30 days. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state who co-sponsored the bill, said shortly before it passed that she hoped the chambers would move quickly \"so that we can realize the opportunity to help our businesses and consumers plan for the energy future.\" The White House has signaled that President Barack Obama would sign the Senate bill. Energy policy analyst Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners said the chances the bill would be signed into law this year were about 65 percent, because the White House has had some differences with the House bill. Charlie Riedl, the head of industry group the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, said the vote was a \"big step forward\" and that certainty about the regulatory process is \"crucial\" for projects that cost billions of dollars to build. Rob Cowin, director of government affairs at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group, said the bill falls \"far short\" of what is needed to promote wind and solar power, but is \"better than doing nothing.\" The Senate on Tuesday passed several amendments to the bill, including restricting most sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when oil prices are low.","label":0}
{"text":"The most arresting vista in town comes into view around a curve on westbound Freedom Parkway, on the periphery of downtown. The road crests just before it intersects Boulevard, at a traffic light that always seems to glow red, as if to allow motorists a minute to savor the panorama before them. The striking thing is not the majesty of the skyline but its accessibility \u2014 here I am, the city beckons, come and gawk. For from that vantage point, Atlanta just is: a mecca, the cradle of the civil rights movement, a magnet for transplants, a college football locus, the shimmering capital of the South, and more. All of which are accurate but still do not capture the city's nuances. \"I don't think people understand Atlanta,\" Doug Hertz said. Aside from his schooling at Tulane, in New Orleans, Hertz, 64, has lived here his entire life, which makes him a rarity. The city teems with people who moved here for work, school, family, or just to live nearer to the spinach and sausage meatloaf at Murphy's. They have contributed to a booming growth \u2014 the metropolitan area's diverse population has swelled to more than 5. 7 million, an increase of more than 1. 46 million since 2000 \u2014 that over the past few decades has also shaped Atlanta's layered relationship with its sports teams. Hertz is a limited partner of the Falcons, who on Sunday will play the New England Patriots in the team's second Super Bowl appearance since its inception in 1966. They last reached the championship game in the 1998 season, losing to the Denver Broncos, when I was a freshman at Emory University here and, more to the point, was one of those people Hertz was talking about, struggling to understand Atlanta. That September, I joined surprising brigades of Philadelphia Eagles fans invading the Georgia Dome for the Falcons' home opener. Not even three weeks later, a group of us arrived at Turner Field, maybe two hours before Game 1 of the Atlanta Braves' baseball playoff series against the Chicago Cubs, and still managed to buy tickets. Six of them. In the same row. My frame of reference was Philadelphia, whose zealous fans in analogous circumstances would never accept such apathy. Season after season, the Braves won their division, destroying the Phillies, and this is how their fans responded? \"Are we as rabid and overtly like Boston or New York? No, we could be better,\" Gavin Godfrey, a native Atlanta journalist who chronicles culture and sports said over lunch in Castleberry Hill, a historic arts district by the Georgia Dome. \"But that doesn't mean we don't care, and not every town has to be held to that standard. Not every city's built the same. \" In the Northeast, for instance, with a deep and abiding sports culture that spans generations, and in some cases centuries, there is less competition for sports fans' loyalty. The emotional connection with college football, for instance, is not as strong as it is with some professional sports. For years, the opposite has been \u2014 and to a degree, still is \u2014 true of Atlanta, where on autumn Saturdays fans pack bars and living rooms, or flee for Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee, all within a drive. \"Most of us, that D. N. A. is not there for professional sports franchises,\" Hertz said. The Falcons have built a base of loyalists \u2014 the City Council president, Ceasar Mitchell, said he drove down to Miami for the Falcons' last Super Bowl appearance despite not having a ticket \u2014 but so struggled to pack the Dome that home games were not shown on local television because of the N. F. L. 's old blackout rule. The team's middling history has also failed to entice the local residents and persuade the newcomers to come out. The arrival of the quarterback Michael Vick, in 2001, mirrored the city's spirit at the time \u2014 ascending, vibrant and forward \u2014 and his downfall, for his involvement in an interstate dogfighting ring, created tension, on a racial and cultural level, that lingered for years. Vick's successor, Matt Ryan, is his antithesis in nearly every possible way \u2014 be it race, playing style, pedigree or personality. \"Some of our fans will always be proud that an quarterback succeeded,\" Hertz said. \"What I think has happened over a period of time is a growing appreciation and acceptance in Matt Ryan, and that his style is every bit as spectacular on and off the field. \" The city's evolution, coupled with an effort by the owner of the Falcons, Arthur Blank, to promote a sense of community around the team, has strengthened its bond with the Falcons. Since 2012, when the Falcons lost in the conference championship game, the Georgia Dome, which seats 71, 250, has achieved at least 98 percent of its capacity every year. This season's mark of 98. 2 percent, 15th among the 32 teams and the lowest since 2011, bested that of, among others, the venues for the Giants, Jets, Chiefs and Patriots. As the Braves bolt northwest for a new stadium in Cobb County, a move that has left many fans feeling betrayed, the Falcons remain moored to Atlanta. Next season they move into a new home, Stadium. \"There's something about the nature of fans here that makes them take pride,\" said Molly Slavin, 29, who moved here in 2012 from Illinois. \"Although it might not be in a way that translates to sports fandom as seen in other cities. \" Ryan Cameron, 47, an Atlanta radio personality and a holder since 1998, explained that phenomenon like this: \"There are people who will fight you about these Falcons,\" he said. \"But we're not trying to prove to you that we're so crazy. For us, it's just being loud. We don't have to brag. It's Southern charm. \" Still, Atlanta's gentility, a core virtue, would give way to utter delirium on Sunday \u2014 and for weeks and months thereafter \u2014 if the Falcons were to win. This city has been teased before, by those Braves behemoths of the '90s, by the Falcons in 1998, even by the Hawks, who went two seasons ago before losing in the conference finals. Counting the futility of its two departed N. H. L. franchises, the Flames and Thrashers, Atlanta can claim only one championship \u2014 Braves, 1995 \u2014 across a combined 167 completed seasons. Pellom McDaniels, who played the final two of his eight N. F. L. seasons with the Falcons, suggested that a victory would register a psychological impact \u2014 an acknowledgment of the city's trajectory, from aspirational to and mature. During the 1996 Olympics, and in the years that followed, Atlanta seemed eager to convince others that it was cosmopolitan, sophisticated, worth exploring. Even as it grapples with its identity now, reckoning with gentrification and redevelopment forces that are at once eroding and improving neighborhoods, Atlanta projects a different image \u2014 of comfort and confidence in its direction, whatever that is. \"It would be almost like a beacon,\" said McDaniels, now the curator of collections at Emory, said of a potential title. \"That we're working together as a community, and the success the Falcons have experienced is our success \u2014 that we're doing something right. \" The term Mitchell used was runway, a point of departure for a nascent sports city that has added a Major League Soccer franchise set to begin play next season. The Falcons are thriving, interest is soaring, and from Mitchell's perspective, he sure likes the view.","label":0}
{"text":"One can only imagine what kind of relationship Hillary has with her very close top aide s soon to be ex-husband Fox News Sunday reported this morning that Anthony Weiner is cooperating with the FBI, which has re-opened (yes, lefties: re-opened ) the investigation into Hillary Clinton s classified emails. Watch as Chris Wallace reports the breaking news during the panel segment near the end of the show:https:\/\/youtu.be\/x13hBwS9q2cAnd the news is breaking while we re on the air. Our colleague Bret Baier has just sent us an e-mail saying he has two sources who say that Anthony Weiner, who also had co-ownership of that laptop with his estranged wife Huma Abedin, is cooperating with the FBI investigation, had given them the laptop, so therefore they didn t need a warrant to get in to see the contents of said laptop. Pretty interesting development. Targets of federal investigations will often cooperate, hoping that they will get consideration from a judge at sentencing. Given Weiner s well-known penchant for lying, it s hard to believe that a prosecutor would give Weiner a deal based on an agreement to testify, unless his testimony were very strongly corroborated by hard evidence. But cooperation can take many forms and, as Wallace indicated on this morning s show, one of those forms could be signing a consent form to allow investigators to review the contents of devices that they could probably get a warrant for anyway. We ll see if Weiner s cooperation extends beyond that.","label":1}
{"text":"Next stop after BREXIT is the US! Judge Jeanine nails it and says we need to know the facts to fight this elitist agenda. We re tired of being lectured to by the fat cats in Washington .","label":1}
{"text":"Steve Hayes says the biggest scandal yet for Obama is possibly the downplaying of the progress of ISIS in the middle east. Basically, ISIS intel was cooked to make Obama look good crazy!","label":1}
{"text":"Actress Amber Heard is donating $350,000 to the ACLU just as the historic civil rights organization is gearing up to go toe-to-toe with the incoming Donald Trump administration.Heard s money is coming from her settlement as a result of her divorce from actor Johnny Depp, in which domestic violence allegations were made.From TMZ:We ve now received an email from the ACLU, in which an ACLU rep acknowledged Amber made a $350k payment on August 19th. A source connected with Amber tells TMZ, she advanced the money, relying on Johnny paying her the settlement. We re told she took steps to send Children s Hospital money but didn t send it because she and Johnny began squabbling over the settlement deal.As we reported, Amber s lawyer, Pierce O Donnell, says he s confident the settlement will be signed this week.During the campaign, the ACLU described Trump as a one-man Constitutional crisis, and warned that his statements and policy proposals would blatantly violate the inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The ACLU was one of the first organizations out with a strong statement against Trump after he won the 2016 election:President-elect Trump, as you assume the nation s highest office, we urge you to reconsider and change course on certain campaign promises you have made. These include your plan to amass a deportation force to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants; ban the entry of Muslims into our country and aggressively surveil them; punish women for accessing abortion; reauthorize waterboarding and other forms of torture; and change our nation s libel laws and restrict freedom of expression.These proposals are not simply un-American and wrong-headed, they are unlawful and unconstitutional. They violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. If you do not reverse course and instead endeavor to make these campaign promises a reality, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at every step. Our staff of litigators and activists in every state, thousands of volunteers, and millions of card-carrying supporters are ready to fight against any encroachment on our cherished freedoms and rights.One thing is certain: we will be eternally vigilant every single day of your presidency and when you leave the Oval Office, we will do the same with your successor.Ms. Heard s money, along with thousands of others, will help the ACLU keep their promise. Trump will have a persistent thorn in his side.","label":1}
{"text":"Marc Riboud, the celebrated French photojournalist who captured moments of grace even in the most fraught situations around the world, died in Paris on Tuesday. He was 93. The cause was Alzheimer's disease, his wife, Catherine Chaine, said. Mr. Riboud's career of more than 60 years carried him routinely to turbulent places throughout Asia and Africa in the 1950s and '60s, but he may be best remembered for two photographs taken in the developed world. The first, from 1953, is of a workman poised like an angel in overalls between a lattice of girders while painting the Eiffel Tower \u2014 one hand raising a paintbrush, one leg bent in a seemingly Chaplinesque attitude. The second, from 1967, is of a young woman presenting a flower to a phalanx of members of the National Guard during an War demonstration at the Pentagon. Both images were published in Life magazine during what is often called the golden age of photojournalism, an era Mr. Riboud (pronounced ) exemplified. A prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Henri he was on the front lines of world events, including wars. Even so, Mr. Riboud did not consider himself a record keeper. \"I have shot very rarely news,\" he once said. Rather than portray the military parades or political leaders of the Soviet Union, for example, he was drawn to anonymous citizens sitting in the snow, holding miniature chess boards and absorbed in their books. Of the many hundreds of shots he published from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Tibet and Turkey, only a handful are of figures written about by historians. Born on June 24, 1923, in St. near Lyon, he was the fifth and, by his account, the most shy of seven children from a bourgeois family that expected him to take up a respectable vocation. It was his father, an enthusiastic traveler and amateur photographer, who led him astray by giving him a Kodak when Marc was a teenager. His first photographs were of the Paris Exposition in 1937. After World War II, in which he fought around Vercors as a member of the Resistance, Mr. Riboud studied mechanical engineering at the \u00c9cole Centrale in Lyon. He took a factory job in the nearby town of Villeurbanne after graduating in 1948. Not until he found himself taking pictures of a cultural festival in Lyon during a weeklong vacation in 1951 did he at last decide to commit to the unstable life of a freelance photojournalist. He moved to Paris in 1952. There he met who became his mentor. Already a celebrity in his field, this \"salutary tyrant,\" as Mr. Riboud called him, dictated \"which books to read, what political ideas I should have, which museums and galleries to visit. \" \"He taught me about life and about the art of photography,\" Mr. Riboud said. Among the lessons imparted was that \"good photography\" is dependent on \"good geometry. \" The Eiffel Tower photograph from 1953, the first that Mr. Riboud published, proves how well the pupil absorbed the lesson. In a radio interview more than 50 years later, he still recalled the caption given to the image by the Life copy writers: \" on the Eiffel. \" In 1953, nominated his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to join Magnum, the photo collective he had helped found. Until 1979, when he left to go out on his own, Mr. Riboud traveled and photographed for the agency constantly. In 1955, he drove a specially equipped Land Rover to Calcutta from Paris, staying for a year in India. He was also one of the first Westerners to photograph in Communist China, and he spent three months in the Soviet Union in 1960. Throughout the 1950s and '60s he documented the anticolonial independence movements in Algeria and West Africa, and during the Vietnam War he was among the few able to move easily between the North and South. In the United States, he documented not only protests against the Vietnam War but also a pensive Maureen Dean listening to her husband, the Nixon aide John W. Dean, testify at the Watergate hearings in 1973. Among the events he documented in recent decades were the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Iran the Solidarity movement in Poland the trial of Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief in Lyon during World War II the end of apartheid in South Africa and the mood in the United States before the election of President Obama. During the last third of his life, Mr. Riboud was recognized by museums in many of the countries where he had worked. Photographs from his travels were collected in more than a dozen monographs, including \"Marc Riboud: Photographs at Home and Abroad\" (1986) \"Marc Riboud: Journal\" (1988) and \"Marc Riboud in China: Forty Years of Photography\" (1996). Among many other shows, Mr. Riboud was honored with exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, in 1964, and the International Center of Photography in New York, in 1975, 1988 and 1997. He was the subject of retrospectives at the Mus\u00e9e d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1985 and the Maison Europ\u00e9enne de la Photographie in Paris in 2004. Unlike some artists who resent that the public's infatuation with a few of their works has turned them into clich\u00e9s, Mr. Riboud did not mind describing the circumstances behind \"The Eiffel Tower Painter. \" No, he did not ask the workman to pose, he would answer patiently. To have spoken to the man might have caused him to slip. \"I've always been shy, and I've always been trying to ignore the people I was photographing so that they ignore me,\" he said. Of the flower girl at the Pentagon, a high school student named Jan Rose Kasmir, he ventured, \"I had the feeling the soldiers were more afraid of her than she was of the bayonets. \" (The two later reunited in London, where he photographed her carrying a poster of the 1967 image at a demonstration against the Iraq War in 2003.) The immense popularity of these two photographs, assisted by countless reproductions, could well have warped perceptions of Mr. Riboud's highly diverse body of work. And yet they did truly represent the gravitational bent of his personality. \"I have always been more sensitive to the beauty of the world than to violence and monsters,\" he wrote in an essay in 2000. \"My obsession is with photographing life at its most intense as intensely as possible. It's a mania, a virus as strong as my instinct to be free. If taste for life diminishes, the photographs pale, because taking pictures is like savoring life at 125th of a second. \" In 1961, he married Barbara Chase, the American sculptor, poet and novelist. The marriage ended in divorce in the 1980s. Besides his second wife, Ms. Chaine, a journalist and author, Mr. Riboud is survived by two sons from his first marriage, David and Alexei and a daughter, Cl\u00e9mence, and a son, Th\u00e9o, from his second marriage. Mr. Riboud's weakness for sentimental subjects and causes marred his reputation with some critics. But this optimism, coupled with his overt sympathies for the downtrodden and a working style that put an emphasis on freedom of movement, unencumbered by any equipment except a camera and his wits, also served to keep him photographing until the end of his life. Until a few years ago, he would begin each day by loading film into his Canon EOS 300. \"My vision of the world is simple,\" Mr. Riboud said when he was in his 80s. \"Tomorrow, each new day, I want to see the city, take new photographs, meet people and wander alone. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Governor Rick Scott of Florida may be the worst governor in modern history. So, of course he formally endorsed Donald Trump and has been cited as a possible VP choice for the likely Republican presidential nominee. Rather than let Trump take all the glory in racist provocations, insane proposals, and a supporter base which represents the worst things about this country, Governor Rick Scott matches Trump in how low a public official can really go, and may offer a glimpse into what lies in the future for this country if Donald Trump is elected president.The giant, for-profit, hospital chain, Tenet Healthcare, was investigated by journalists in July 2015 amid claims the hospitals were failing miserably in living up to the state of Florida s quality standards for children s heart surgery. A CNN investigation found the mortality rate for these surgeries was more than three times the national average.Instead of improving the quality of care in their hospitals, Tenet Healthcare responded with a $200,000 donation to Florida Republicans, and in kind, Governor Rick Scott got rid of the standards, allowing Tenet Healthcare to continue making thousands of dollars from performing these surgeries while endangering the lives of thousands of children born with heart defects. Of course, Governor Scott and Tenet denied having conversations with one another, despite the coincidence that Governor Scott decided a couple months after the investigation to repeal the standards when he had since the time he took office in 2011 to do so.Florida s Department of Health excused the repeal due to the legislature not having the authority to have enacted them in the first place, regardless the standards have been in place for an uncontested 32 years. Parents and cardiac pediatricians took the state of Florida to court over the state s repealing of the standards, but the Florida judge ruled in favor of the state. The same judge ruled in 2014, a doctor accused of handcuffing and beating a patient over the course of a yearlong sexual relationship can continue to practice medicine. I can t think of anywhere else in the country where you have safety standards and someone doesn t like them, so you just have it repealed, Dr. Peter Pronovost, senior vice president for patient safety and quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told CNN in an interview this past January. These standards have been in use for more than 30 years, and they re widely acknowledged to ensure safety why would you repeal them? If the state really felt it didn t have the legislative authority to have the standards, why wouldn t they go out and get that authority? This is exactly the kind of corruption we don t need in government, and in the worst possible industry. Sacrificing the health of your constituency for political donations is as low as it gets.","label":1}
{"text":"Maggie Haberman, a New York Times political correspondent, has devoted her journalistic career to two irresistible subjects: politics and New York City. At age 7, her first byline appeared in The Daily News it has now been published in all three New York dailies. A native of the Upper West Side who lives in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, she has covered 10 election cycles, from mayoral contests to presidential campaigns, including the 2016 race, which turns to New York on Tuesday for its primary. Join us for live primary updates. There have been pickles and pizzas, jeering crowds and pushy and dashes out to Coney Island for hot dogs alongside scruffy, bearded rock stars. Campaigns in New York feel at times like a movable feast, with candidates gorging on local specialties as they move along city sidewalks, shaking hands and trying to avoid dripping grease on their shirts. And this presidential race, which once seemed so distant, has taken on a distinctly New York character in the prelude to Tuesday's primary, and not just in its greasy diet. The campaign has captivated New Yorkers, drawing tens of thousands out of their homes from the South Bronx to Staten Island, to take in what this city relishes: a big show. \"Do women like Trump?\" Donald J. Trump asked two female fans wearing \"Make America Great Again\" ball caps on Sunday, as he posed for a picture with them on Staten Island. Mr. Trump, who is heavily favored here in Tuesday's primary, was holding one of his few official campaign events in the city. And the two Trump fans, who said they could not reveal their names because it would imperil their jobs, were ready for the occasion. Mr. Trump smiled as he stood for the snapshot with them, quietly murmuring that the giddy women and another man who pushed himself into the photograph needed to pipe down a bit. No matter, they were very happy to have met the leading Republican candidate. \"He let us know that he loves us, too,\" one of the women gushed. Mr. Trump was greeted like a hometown hero on Staten Island. Outside the Hilton Garden Inn, where he was to give a speech, the line to get in snaked for over 50 yards in the parking lot. About 1, 000 people made it inside. Mr. Trump seemed thrilled to be in the borough, if a little fuzzy on its charms. Asked by a reporter to identify his favorite local pizza place, he responded that there are \"a lot\" of them. He had worked on Staten Island as a youngster for four summers, he told the assembled press corps \u2014 although, ever the salesman, he increased it to \"probably five\" summers by the time he spoke to the Staten Island crowd in the next room. His lowly job? Collecting coins from laundry machines at one of his father's buildings. Watching Mr. Trump take the stage in that ballroom, with people standing on chairs to hear him, was a reminder of why he is doing so well in the Republican primary. The borough is an enclave of voters, police officers and firefighters. And, setting aside his gilded towers and airplane Mr. Trump talks and sounds more like his fans than the city's last Republican mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. I once watched Mr. Bloomberg draw cringes from a Staten Island crowd when he joked that he was the only politician present not to have a vowel at the end of his name. The battle for Brooklyn between Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is intense, and Mrs. Clinton is counting on her deep support in the borough's neighborhoods to offset Mr. Sanders's popularity among white liberals. At a block party in the section on Sunday, she was praised by Representative James E. Clyburn, a leader who traveled from his home state, South Carolina, for the occasion. There has not been an election in his lifetime, Mr. Clyburn told the crowd of about 200 people waiting in the hot sun, \"that's going to be more consequential than this one. \" Finally, Mrs. Clinton arrived and climbed the steps up to the bed of a red pickup truck that was being used as a stage. \"Hello Brooklyn in the house, and on the street!\" Mrs. Clinton called out to the crowd. The former secretary of state is comfortably ahead in the polls here, and she seems to be enjoying hopscotching around the state she represented for eight years in the Senate. But for all the warmhearted reminiscences, Mrs. Clinton has something to fear from Mr. Sanders on Tuesday. Around the time she visited thousands gathered for a rally for Mr. Sanders in Prospect Park, the pristine patch of green wedged between Crown Heights and upscale Park Slope. The actor Danny DeVito led the cheerful crowd in chants of \"Bernie! Bernie!\" and someone handed out copies of a fake newspaper with a banner headline reading \"A Vote for Hillary Clinton Is a Vote for Donald Trump. \" The Sanders campaign said the crowd reached 28, 300, a record for its rallies. If you live here and have yet to see a candidate, you still have time. While the Republicans hold events on Monday in Maryland, Western New York and upstate (Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio will visit Schenectady, the city most likely to be misspelled by reporters) the Democrats are around. Mr. Sanders will hold a rally at Hunters Point South Park in Queens on Monday evening, for which doors open at 5 p. m. And Mrs. Clinton will address one of her core constituencies \u2014 women \u2014 at the New York Hilton Midtown. Doors open at noon.","label":0}
{"text":"As Donald Trump heads into the general election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, he is literally doing everything possible to cause a Republican revolt. As backlash mounts after his racist comments regarding Judge Gonzalo Curiel, GOP lawmakers from Mitch McConnell to Paul Ryan have called on the nominee to soften his rhetoric, focus on the issues, and drop the subject.Speaker Ryan referred to Trump s comments as the textbook definition of racism. McConnell called the comments stupid and requested that Trump apologize immediately.And what does Trump do? The exact opposite of everything they recommended.In an interview with the New York Times, Trump blasted fellow Republicans for being to harsh on him: Politicians are so politically correct anymore, they can t breathe. The people are tired of this political correctness when things are said that are totally fine. It is out of control. It is gridlock with their mouths. Trump also said he expects to work well with these same Republicans because he s always gotten what he wanted. And Trump actually thinks Ryan and McConnell s criticisms of his clearly racist sentiments are hurting the party:Mr. Trump, arms crossed tightly across his chest during lunch, was aggrieved and considered some of the Republican pushback inappropriate and unhelpful though he did not want to address specific critics. He insisted that he is anything but a racist and, with his usual rebuttal by the numbers, stressed that voters have rewarded his outspokenness with a record haul of primary votes while Washington is held in dismal regard.He still thinks he s done nothing wrong. And what s even worse is he thinks politicians calling out his blatant racism is considered being politically correct. One can only imagine what doesn t constitute being politically correct in the mind of Donald Trump.What should worry the nation more? That the Republican nominee thinks he s saying the right thing, or that there are millions of people supporting him?The billionaire blowhard also told the Times that he intends to run his campaign the same way he s been conducting it over the last several months, meaning the racism and sexism will be front and center.This is a man who cannot admit he is wrong. This is a man who cannot apologize for saying the most vile things. This is man who thinks he s so great that Republicans will just fall in line.","label":1}
{"text":"I owe our readers an apology.  In covering the ludicrous letter sent by FBI Director James Comey to Republicans that misleadingly suggested new emails had been uncovered implicating Hillary Clinton in criminal activity, out of an abundance of caution I gave Comey the benefit of the doubt . Maybe this wasn't overtly partisan electioneering by a Republican FBI director abusing his position? Maybe he just screwed up massively?  That generous interpretation has all but been torched by Comey himself. Days after his letter made its way to Hillary's political enemies (including Donald Trump), Comey has yet to set the record straight. The scandal has completely fallen to pieces around him. His own behavior in producing the letter, legal experts say, bordered on criminal . But Comey remains silent. He doesn't even have the decency to admit he screwed up.  And that silence has enabled Republicans to continue lying about what is happening. Trump himself tells his supporters that the FBI director is pursuing a \"criminal investigation\" against Clinton \u2013 a blatant lie that could easily be snuffed out with a single message by the suddenly bashful Comey. We are now leading in many polls, and many of these were taken before the criminal investigation announcement on Friday \u2013 great in states!  \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2016  Instead of setting the record straight, and doing a small part to repair the damage to American democracy he had done, Comey is telling sources that he will refuse to clarify the anti-Hillary letter until after the election . Trump is probably high fiving his campaign staff right now.  NBC's Pete Williams (whose track record covering the botched FBI letter has been impeccable): Pete Williams reports that Comey is UNLIKELY to say anything more before the election  \u2014 Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) October 30, 2016  So having felt totally comfortable with hurting Hillary Clinton's campaign (over what amounts to nothing), Comey now decides it would be unfair to Trump to come out with the truth. That is a level of partisanship that is hard to wrap one's head around.  And sadly, many people seem to be unaware that this new Clinton scandal has been completely manufactured by Comey and the Republican Party. According to poll expert Nate Silver, the post-\"FBI letter\" polls show Clinton's lead dropping. If Democrats keep their eyes on the prize, it shouldn't cost her the election, but it may diminish her chances of succeeding in creating the landslide required to completely eradicate \"Trumpism\" from American politics.  You may not find that on the law books anywhere, but that is a crime nonetheless.","label":1}
{"text":"(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. 1. An attack by suicide bombers at Istanbul's largest airport killed at least 36 people and wounded 140 more, according to the Turkish justice minister, Bekir Bozdag. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the Turkish prime minister said early indications point to the Islamic State. _____ 2. The final report from the House Select Committee on Benghazi, established to investigate the deadly attacks in 2012 on an American compound in Libya, found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton, then the secretary of state. But the report, after an inquiry lasting two years and costing an estimated $7 million, had plenty of criticism for government agencies that, it said, failed to grasp how dangerous the Libyan city was at the time of the attacks. Above, Representative Trey Gowdy, who led the committee. _____ 3. European leaders urged Britain to consummate its vote last week to leave the European Union, with one saying that Britain and Europe could be \"married, or divorced, but not something between. \" But the leaders of the \"Leave\" campaign seem to have no idea what to do after their victory, our analyst writes. Above, Prime Minister David Cameron, center, who has said he would step down. Here's our guide to what has happened so far. _____ 4. Pat Summitt, above, who won eight national basketball championships and more games than any other Division I college coach, male or female, died Tuesday at 64. In the course of her enormously successful career, she transformed the face of American women's sports, drawing national audiences to women's college basketball for the first time. Summitt was legendarily tough: When she dislocated her shoulder in 2008, she tried for more than an hour to reset it herself before finally calling a doctor. _____ 5. Speaking in Pennsylvania, Donald J. Trump vowed to rip up international trade deals and take a hard line against Chinese monetary policy, returning his focus to the economic grievances that have fueled his campaign. He framed his approach as a sharp contrast to the policies of \"a leadership class that worships globalism,\" and warned that his presumptive Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, would \"betray\" those who support her. _____ 6. On July 4, a NASA spacecraft will finish a nearly 1. trip to Jupiter, dropping into the gas planet's gravitational field and assuming orbit. At least that's the plan. Juno, which has undergone a journey to learn more about the solar system's largest planet, will be the first craft to orbit Jupiter in more than a decade. But if anything goes wrong, it'll be impossible to react in time: Radio signals take 48 minutes to travel from Jupiter to Earth. _____ 7. Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have provided $1. 1 billion to fight the Zika virus. They said Republicans had sabotaged the bill by adding partisan provisions, like one that included a ban on direct government financing for Planned Parenthood. The legislation's failure highlighted how partisan gridlock can hurt the government's ability to respond to a public health emergency. There are 3, 000 species of mosquitoes but in the Americas, only two are known to carry the Zika virus. In the United States, six mosquito species are particularly concerning. _____ 8. \"I'm interested less in what qualifies something as black photography, black art, black cinema, as I am in seeing what comes of agency on the part of black artists. I'm interested in seeing what comes out of their heart and mind and soul. \" That's Sarah Lewis, a Harvard professor who guest edited a recent issue of the photography magazine Aperture that was devoted to the black experience. She discussed the project with our Briefing picture editor, Sandra Stevenson. Above, a photo from the project. _____ 9. Amazon has competed directly with print books for some time, but on Tuesday it made a tweak to its Kindle software that borrows from the feature set of a paperback. The new interaction, called Page Flip, mimics the habit of sticking one's thumb into a book to mark a page. Amid all the recent talk of print's resilience, Amazon is taking a page from its competitors' \u2026 well, you know. _____ 10. 2016 has been filled with film sequels that have arrived at least a decade after the original. Some of the franchises have fared well upon their return: \"Finding Dory,\" the sequel to \"Finding Nemo\" (2003) has broken the box office record for a Pixar movie, raking in $286 million. Others have been less welcome. Our critic wrote that \"Independence Day: Resurgence,\" released last week, was plagued by \"lackluster, sometimes abysmal, writing,\" and, with an opening of $41 million, the film did not exactly set the box office aflame. _____ 11. We've put together a guide on how to respond to attacks by wild animals \u2014 alligators, bears, sharks and mountain lions. Shark attacks can be countered by pounding them on the nose and scratching at their eyes and gills. But to avoid the encounter altogether, leave your shiny jewelry on your beach towel and avoid swimming at dawn, at dusk or at night. _____ 12. Some animals are not a summertime threat in fact, they're more likely to be threatened. The sunny season, with its thunderstorms and its fireworks, is a tough time for dogs. Some estimate that at least 40 percent of them experience noise anxiety. Animal behavior specialists differ on what should be done to soothe agitated pets, but a new drug, Sileo, garnered mostly good reviews from animal owners. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday Canada will not walk away from talks to rehash the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) despite a U.S. proposal to include a clause that could terminate the pact in five years. Speaking at a news conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City as a fourth round of talks to renegotiate NAFTA was held near Washington, Trudeau said he was committed to a \"win-win-win\" deal. \"We will not be walking away from the table based on the proposals put forward,\" Trudeau said, in response to a question about whether the so-called sunset clause was a poison pill for the talks.","label":0}
{"text":"Anyone who s paying attention to the stunning final acts by this President should not be shocked by this potential threat to the world s freedom of speech. He is anything but a lame duck The United States could give control of one of the internet s underlying systems to the United Nations after pledging not to, it has been claimed.The government has announced plans to relinquish control of the online addressing and numbering system, turning it over to a private international organization.For years, the US Department Of Commerce has been responsible for managing URLs and ensuring they lead to the proper web pages.It has subcontracted the task to a private nonprofit, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).But the US government, which funded much of the internet s early development, has so far retained veto power.Although the US role has been minimal over the years, many foreign governments have complained that the internet can never be truly international if the US retains veto power.They have sought instead to shift responsibility to an inter-governmental body such as the UN International Telecommunication Union.But business, academic and civil-society leaders balked, worried that UN involvement would threaten the openness that has allowed the internet to flourish.Concerns were also raised that UN control would give authoritarian states like China and Iran equal votes among other countries in influencing policies that affect free speech.Lawrence E. Strickling, assistant secretary for communications and information at the Commerce Department, said the endorsed plan won t replace Commerce s role with a government-led or inter-governmental solution.But the UN could end up managing the addressing system after all, according to Wall Street Journal columnist L Gordon Crovitz. He based his theory on an inquiry by Americans For Limited Government, an advocacy group that sent a Freedom Of Information Act request related to Icann s future.Icann had asked for all records relating to legal and policy analysis concerning antitrust issues for Icann, Crovitz reported. Icann currently benefits from an antitrust exemption because it operates under government control, he said.The contract between Icann and the US government is expected to expire on September 30.","label":1}
{"text":"Mexico's government on Monday said it would work to strengthen the North American economy after the United States published its objectives for the renegotiation of the NAFTA trade deal, which one Mexican official described as \"not as bad\" as feared. In a statement, the Mexican economy ministry said it expected talks between the United States, Mexico and Canada on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to be able to get under way from Aug. 16. For now, Mexico would continue with domestic consultations on the revamp of the accord until early August, it added. The ministry said it would work \"to achieve a constructive negotiation process that will allow trade and investment flows to increase and consolidates cooperation and economic integration to strengthen North American competitiveness.\" The United States said its top priority for the talks was shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada, a recurring complaint of U.S. President Donald Trump. [L1N1K8149] In a highly anticipated document sent to lawmakers, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he would seek to reduce the trade imbalance by improving access for U.S. goods exported to Canada and Mexico under the three-nation pact. Speaking under condition of anonymity, a senior Mexican official said the list of priorities was \"not as bad as I was expecting\" and welcomed that the United States was not pushing to impose punitive tariffs, as Trump has threatened. The official also noted the U.S. wish to ditch the Chapter 19 dispute settlement mechanism that has hindered the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against Mexican and Canadian firms would be resisted firmly by Canada. \"Canada will fight to (the) death on Chapter 19,\" the official said.","label":0}
{"text":"How many times have the press and the Left admonished Trump for saying we need to do a better job of vetting the refugees coming into America? Call me racist, but the threat of polio, measles, TB and this horrific flesh eating disease all seem like pretty good reasons to re-evaluated our open borders to Muslim refugees position The Syrian refugee crisis has precipitated a catastrophic outbreak of a flesh-eating disease that is spreading across the Middle East and North Africa, according to research published on Thursday in the scientific journal PLOS. Largely missing from news media coverage is that the same news-making scientific report warned the ongoing violence in Syria has created a setting in which we have seen the re-emergence of polio and measles, as well as tuberculosis, hepatitis A, and other infections in Syria and among displaced Syrian refugees. Indeed, in 2013 the World Health Organization documented new cases of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, reporting that year alone the number of confirmed measles cases in Syria reached 139, as compared to no documented cases in 2010 and 2011.The WHO reported that 2013 saw Syria s first outbreak of polio since 1999. According to an April 2015 WHO report, 35 children were subsequently paralysed by polio before the start of a new vaccine campaign.In November, 2014 PLOS documented the spread of measles from among the Syrian refugee population.Regarding the flesh-eating disease, leishmaniasis, PLOP warned in its latest report, We may be witnessing an epidemic of historic and unprecedented proportions, but it has largely been hidden due to lack of specific information. The PLOP journal reported leishmaniasis is now affecting hundreds of thousands of refugees and has spread to Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and Yemen. In Yemen alone, 10,000 new cases have been reported annually, the journal reported. Additionally, the number of cases of CL (cutaneous leishmaniasis) has most likely been severely underreported due in part to constraints on collecting data from violence-torn regions, PLOP warned. Few countries have mandated reporting of CL and the resultant weak reporting system promotes a lack of disease awareness and public policies for treatment and prevention, the report added. Due to the violence, Syrians have been forced to flee from their homes and seek refuge across the Middle East, North Africa, and, more recently, Europe, the journal documented.Volcano-like ulcersLeishmaniasis, meanwhile, is a disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is spread almost entirely by sandflies, including those present in the U.S.There are three main types of the disease: cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral leishmaniasis.Cutaneous is the most common form among Syrians. It manifests in skin sores that typically develop within a few weeks or months from a sand fly bite. The sores can initially appear as bumps or nodules and may evolve into volcano-like ulcers.Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis causes skin ulcers like the cutaneous form, as well as mucosal ulcers that usually damage the nose and mouth.Visceral leishmaniasis, which has also been found among Syrian refugees, is the most serious form and can be fatal. It damages internal organs, usually the spleen and liver, and also affects bone marrow.Threat to U.S.?Refugees who enter the U.S. must undergo medical screening according to protocols established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. Each refugee must submit to a physical examination, including a skin test and possibly a chest x-ray to check for tuberculosis,as well as a blood test for syphilis.The blood tests do not currently look for leishmaniasis. Clearly, an attending doctor could easily spot a patient with obvious skin ulcers. However, leishmaniasis cannot be detected upon physical examination if the patient is asymptomatic, as can be the case for years.In December, Dr. Heather Burke, an epidemiologist from the CDC s Immigrant, Refugee, and Migrant Health Branch, explained to Breitbart Jerusalem that there is generally a window of three to six months from the initial physical examination until a refugee departs for the U.S.She said a medical examination is valid for six months, and explained that patients undergo a second examination just prior to departure a quicker fitness to fly screening. While she conceded that this final examination is not thorough, she said it would pick up any visible skin lesions. Burke told Breitbart Jerusalem that she is not aware of a single case of leishmaniasis entering the U.S. via Syrian refugees.Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, warned that most doctors in the U.S. know nothing about leishmaniasis. We d all need to refer patients to tropical diseases specialists, she told Breitbart Jerusalem in December. The treatments are toxic and expensive, and some are not widely available. For Orient, the only sensible public health policy is for all refugees to pass through a quarantined place like Ellis Island. Officials need to know where they ve been and what diseases occur there. We need sophisticated, reliable screening methods and excellent vector control in any areas where refugees stay.","label":1}
{"text":"German Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the rival Social Democrats (SPD) are neck-and-neck ahead of a crucial regional election in the state of Lower Saxony, an infratest dimap poll showed on Thursday. The Oct. 15 snap election is being followed unusually closely because it follows just three weeks after national elections and will delay federal coalition negotiations, since parties are reluctant to alienate core voters by making compromises ahead of a key regional vote. The poll placed the CDU on 35 percent, just ahead of the SPD on 34 percent. The Greens were in third place on 9 percent, followed by the pro-business Free Democrats on 8 percent. The radical Left party was on 5 percent and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was on 6 percent.","label":0}
{"text":"The European Commission said on Friday it had no fresh comment on Catalonia after the region s parliament declared independence from Spain. We have nothing to add to what we said at (the regular) midday (briefing for journalists, Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said. At the briefing, she referred reporters to earlier comments by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who has repeatedly said that the debate on Catalonia s independence was an internal Spanish issue.","label":0}
{"text":"0 Add Comment  THE RETAIL industry has wasted no time in informing the public it is the first of November, Halloween is over and now it's time to 'hand over all of your fucking money', WWN has learned.  Shops around the country have in recent years made the decision on behalf of the Nation to start Christmas on the 1st of November with a barrage of ads, jingles and more ads, searing them into the public's mind until they are on the verge of insanity.  \"Just place all your savings on the counter, and we'll give you some crap made in China in return and nobody has to get hurt,\" the Retail Association of Ireland (RAI) revealed to the public, while pointing to a calendar.  \"It's the first of November and you know what that means, it's fucking Christmas so start spending, and don't be smart and say you're not going 'too mad' this year. Don't fight us on this,\" the RAI added.  Large Tannoy speakers have been erected across Irish towns and cities, armed with subtle messages chosen to induce people into parting with their cash.  \"Ah, they just say things like 'spend, spend, spend' and 'your loved ones will hate you forever and disown you if you don't buy them everything now', played at a higher level than a Metallica concert on speed. We hope the public start to realise what time of year it is,\" senior It's Never Too Early For Christmas Shopping strategist Henry Mulcahy explained.","label":1}
{"text":"Some U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that Donald Trump's \"shoot from the hip\" style could pose national security risks as they prepare to give him a routine pre-election briefing once he is formally anointed as the Republican presidential nominee. Eight senior security officials told Reuters they had concerns over briefing Trump, whose brash, unpredictable campaign style has been a feature of his rise as an insurgent candidate. Despite their worries, the officials said the \"Top Secret\" briefing to each candidate would not deviate from the usual format to avoid any appearance of bias. Most of the officials asked for anonymity to discuss a domestic political issue. Current and former officials said that the scandal over Hillary Clinton's use of emails also raises concerns about her handling of sensitive information. The likely Democratic nominee is facing an FBI probe into whether security was compromised and laws were broken by her use of a private email server for government business while she was Secretary of State. \"The only candidate who has proven incapable of handling sensitive information is Hillary Clinton,\" said Michael Short, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. \"If there is anyone they should be worried about it is Hillary Clinton.\" But Trump's lack of foreign policy experience, his volatile style, and his little known team of foreign policy advisers make him a unique case, the officials said. \"People are very nervous,\" said one senior U.S. security official. Intelligence and other security and foreign policy officials are also trying to determine \"who on (Trump's) team are trustworthy, the official added. \"We've never had a situation like this before. Ever.\" A spokesperson for Trump's campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Other officials downplayed such worries, noting that the traditional briefing, while classified as Top Secret, is mostly a broad overview of national security issues and does not include the most sensitive government secrets about intelligence sources and operations. In the post-Second World War era, confirmed U.S. presidential nominees have traditionally received the briefing from intelligence officials \u2014 including spy agency chiefs \u2014 covering a broad range of national security issues. The nominees are usually briefed shortly after their party nominating conventions, and are allowed to include one or two aides who must undergo security checks. Current and former officials say the nominees are explicitly warned not to share the contents of the briefing, which includes detailed intelligence assessments. After election day, presidents-elect receive the same Presidential Daily Brief, or PDB, that the sitting president gets, complete with material on the intelligence agencies' sources, methods, and covert operations. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Reuters that he shared some of the concerns over how Trump, who has never held public office, might use information from the briefing. \"I would be very concerned with Mr. Trump's ability to know what he can and can't discuss\" publicly about the contents of an intelligence briefing, said Schiff, who has endorsed Clinton for president. Schiff said one consequence of intelligence agencies' worries about Trump's reputation as a loose cannon could be that briefers circumscribe some of the information they provide to Trump and Hillary Clinton, his prospective Democratic opponent. Trump has tended to make broad-brush statements on foreign issues rather than delve into policy nuances. He drew criticism from some former national security officials last month when, without evidence, he quickly tweeted that the downing of an EgyptAir flight appeared to be a terrorist attack. Clinton is honing in on national security as a key potential weakness for Trump, and is set to deliver a foreign policy speech on Thursday designed to portray the billionaire businessman as unfit for the White House. Officials familiar with the views and policy of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's Office, which will give the in-person briefings, say it will do its utmost to avoid any suggestions of political favoritism or bias. Officials say the spy agencies' intend to follow past practice and give identical briefings to both nominees. One former intelligence official said Clinton could have an advantage in the briefing because she would likely ask more probing questions than Trump, a newcomer to foreign policy. The briefings provide an \"overview of pressing issues and hot spots around the world,\" said former CIA officer David Priess, who briefed attorneys general and FBI directors, but not presidents. One U.S. intelligence official said that Trump's style may not be such a risk because the briefings are general in nature and often track publicly available information. \"If he reads the papers every day, he won't hear much that will surprise him,\" the official said. Current and former officials said that covert operations and the intelligence agencies' \"sources and methods,\" which are among the nation's most tightly guarded secrets, are never discussed in the pre-election briefings.","label":0}
{"text":"The Republican National Committee had high hopes that Donald J. Trump would deliver a compassionate and measured speech about immigration on Wednesday, and prepared to lavish praise on the candidate on the party's Twitter account. So when Mr. Trump instead offered a fiery denunciation of migrant criminals and suggested deporting Hillary Clinton, Reince Priebus, the party chairman, signaled that aides should scrap the plan, and the committee made no statement at all. The evening tore a painful new wound in Mr. Trump's relationship with the Republican National Committee, imperiling his most important remaining political alliance. Mr. Priebus and his organization have been steadfastly supportive of Mr. Trump, defending him in public and spending millions of dollars to aid him. But the collaboration between Mr. Trump's campaign and Mr. Priebus's committee has grown strained over the last month, according to six senior Republicans with detailed knowledge of both groups, some of whom asked to speak anonymously for fear of exacerbating tensions. There is no prospect of a full public breach between the Trump campaign and the R. N. C. because both sides rely on a joint arrangement crucial to their election efforts. But tensions have grown to such a point that they threaten to diminish the party's ability to work smoothly with Mr. Trump during the most critical Day phase of the race, when the committee traditionally helps supervise an extensive voter turnout effort. Mr. Trump, who has struggled to raise money, is dependent on his party's national committee to perform many of the basic functions of a presidential campaign. Should the partnership continue to deteriorate, it could hinder Mr. Trump's bid for a late comeback in the race. Mr. Priebus said in a statement that there was no significant friction between his committee and the Trump campaign, describing theirs as a \"fantastic working relationship. \" \"Any insinuation to the contrary is purely overblown gossip,\" Mr. Priebus said. And Jason Miller, Mr. Trump's spokesman, said: \"Cooperation between the Trump campaign and the R. N. C. has never been better \u2014 we are fully integrated. Everybody knows what has to be done to elect Mr. Trump and stop Hillary Clinton. \" But senior advisers to Mr. Priebus and Mr. Trump have collided over the turbulence in the campaign, the senior Republicans said. Mr. Trump's top policy adviser questioned Mr. Priebus's competence in a caustic email this week after the Phoenix speech. And Mr. Trump's Jared Kushner, and Mr. Priebus's chief of staff clashed in a tense meeting over the use of the committee's war chest. Within Mr. Trump's circle, there is impatience with what advisers view as a cautious and conventional party bureaucracy, to accommodate Mr. Trump's improvisational style. At times, Trump aides have vented that frustration in language that was contemptuous of Mr. Priebus, a genial Wisconsin lawyer who has been chairman for five years. When Mr. Trump's immigration speech this week spurred resignations from the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump, a group, one of Mr. Trump's top advisers lashed out at Mr. Priebus in an email to the campaign staff. \"The RNC needs to take control of this situation and quickly,\" wrote Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump's senior policy adviser, who often travels with the candidate. Describing the Hispanic Republicans who resigned in dismay as \"professional amnesty lobbyists,\" Mr. Miller asked, \"Can Reince do his job?\" Inside the committee, top officials have lost confidence in Mr. Trump's ability to right his listing campaign, according to the senior Republicans. Complaints abound about the haphazard nature of Mr. Trump's operation, in which power is so divided among strategists and members of the Trump family that the process of making even simple decisions is laborious and unpredictable. Mr. Trump is on his third campaign leadership team, having dismissed two previous chief advisers, and he has already fired two senior staff members, Rick Wiley and Ed Brookover, whose jobs included coordinating his strategy with the R. N. C. Mr. Priebus, who has a warm relationship with Mr. Trump and speaks with him daily, has also confided to some Republicans that he has been disappointed by Mr. Trump's failure to evolve as a candidate in the general election. He denied in a statement that he had complained about Mr. Trump's refusal to shift course. \"I've said exactly the opposite,\" Mr. Priebus said. \"I think he's had his best three weeks. \" Robin Hayes, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, said he was optimistic about the emerging relationship between his organization and the Trump campaign in his own state. But Mr. Hayes said it was widely understood within the national committee that Mr. Trump needed to make adjustments. \"There have been discussions, that we don't need to create, 'Cleanup on Aisle 3,' for ourselves,\" Mr. Hayes said. \"He's still going to be Trump \u2014 that's important \u2014 but Trump in a way that fits into a general election. \" Throughout the campaign, Mr. Priebus and his committee have been broadly deferential to Mr. Trump, declining to criticize many of his most provocative remarks and quickly designating him as the party's presumptive nominee in May. For Mr. Trump, Mr. Priebus has appeared to be a patient and accommodating partner, eager to promote his campaign and willing to rebuke Republicans who have declined to support him. Recently, the committee has sent aides to work several days a week at Trump Tower to bolster collaboration with Mr. Trump's campaign. These include Sean Spicer, a close adviser to Mr. Priebus. But the conflict has continued. At a meeting in New York late last month, Mr. Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, pointedly challenged Katie Walsh, the committee's chief of staff, over the party's spending plans. In a tone that several witnesses described as imperious and aggressive, Mr. Kushner suggested that the national committee might not be giving Mr. Trump all the support he was due. Ms. Walsh pushed back strongly, telling Mr. Kushner, who has no background in politics, that the committee's and spending are disclosed in detail to the Federal Election Commission, according to the witnesses who were in the room and two people briefed by them afterward. Ms. Walsh told Mr. Kushner that the committee had a responsibility to take a broad view of its finances, mapping out a budget for the entire party and ensuring it could remain operational for the rest of the year, and could not solely focus on Mr. Trump's needs. Mike DuHaime, a former political director for the committee, said tensions with the campaign could be harmful to both sides in the general election. \"For the field operation to be truly effective, the campaign, the R. N. C and races need to be on the same page about goals and resource allocation,\" he said. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who has become one of Mr. Trump's closest advisers, said he was confident that Mr. Priebus remained \"on board\" with the Trump campaign. At the same time, he acknowledged that much of the institutional Republican Party remained unfriendly to Mr. Trump. \"The R. N. C. is giving him a lot of support,\" Mr. Giuliani said. \"He doesn't have the united Republican Party behind him in the way that a more establishment candidate would. \"","label":0}
{"text":"On Tuesday, Republican front runner Donald Trump made the horrendous mistake of dissing leading Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying that she was unqualified to be a candidate and that she only had the woman s card to help her win over voters.Specifically, Trump had said, The only thing she s got going is the woman s card. And the beautiful thing is, women don t like her. He also added that if Clinton were a man, she would only get 5 percent of the vote. (Obviously, Trump has forgotten about all of these qualifications and accomplishments Clinton has worked for over the years).Later that day, NBC host Rachel Maddow properly ripped Trump for his comments, pointing out what an idiot he was for continuing his long history of misogynistic, sexist comments and pushing female voters even further away. Maddow told co-host Brian Williams: As our colleague and friend Nicolle Wallace pointed out earlier this evening, Donald Trump does have a general election problem. Even if he gets this nomination, even if everything goes the way it has been for him during the primary as he heads toward the general election, he brings with him a big problem with women voters.To say about the woman that you re running against that the only reason she s in the race is because she s a woman that her achievement is basically the result of some sort of affirmative action, some favor being paid to her as a woman and that as a human being she is patently unqualified when she is the former two-term senator from New York and the former secretary of state and has the experience that she s had, I do think that even a lot of Republican women will read that wrong. It s literally baffling and somewhat amusing to think that Trump believes that female voters would connect with a sexist, misogynist candidate like himself. What Trump may not realize is that women actually hate him WAY more than they dislike Clinton. According to a survey by Morning Consult, a nonpartisan firm, only 39% of women view Clinton unfavorably, compared to a whopping 52% for Trump.You can watch Maddow blast Trump below:","label":1}
{"text":"A U.S. appeals court on Monday heard nearly two hours of argument on whether to release publicly a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the \"Bridgegate\" criminal case involving allies of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The three-judge panel at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia did not immediately rule, and a rapid-fire volley of skeptical questions aimed at lawyers for both sides made it difficult to predict how the court was leaning. A lawyer representing an individual on the list, identified only as \"John Doe,\" urged the court to throw out a lower judge's decision to release the information sought by a group of media companies. \"It's not about what they would like to know,\" said Doe's attorney, Jenny Parker. \"It's about what they are legally entitled to know.\" But Bruce Rosen, a lawyer for the media, argued the public's right to know was paramount. \"This is an extremely important issue that goes to how deeply this conspiracy went into the government,\" he said. The list could shed light on the extent of the scheme to shut down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in what prosecutors claim was an act of political revenge against a local mayor. Christie, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination this year, has denied any knowledge of the plot, but the scandal has remained a source of embarrassment. The list includes individuals that prosecutors believe were part of the conspiracy but are not facing criminal charges. Prosecutors have given defense lawyers the information as part of pretrial proceedings. Monday's argument largely focused on a technical issue: whether the list was a \"bill of particulars,\" a document that can be subject to public release, or an informal discovery letter that would normally stay sealed. Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, argued in support of Doe's position, saying prosecutors should be allowed to hand over such information to defendants without fear it will be revealed. As an alternative, the court is considering whether to release all the names but that of John Doe, an option both Doe and the government oppose. Three people have been charged in the case. William Baroni, a former official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, are scheduled to face trial in September. David Wildstein, also a former official at the Port Authority, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating.","label":0}
{"text":"0 Add Comment  AS TEACHERS in Ireland enjoy some well earned time off this week, they have been plagued by the undeserved stereotype of being hard party animals that love nothing more than to be 4 days into a session with no end in sight.  WWN carried out some extensive research to discover not all teachers fit the lazy stereotype and are actually making the most of their time off.  Here's 5 things they're doing that won't result in them ending up face down in a pool of their own vomit while haphazardly correcting your child's 'I love my Mammy because' essay.  1) Pre-Session  Don't even try to class this as a balls to the wall session. It isn't. Do not misunderstand the situation. A pre-session is no more a session than the Pope is a Muslim. So don't try and pull a fast one on teachers. Sure it can't be a session, there's no drugs in sight, trust us, we looked.  2) Just the one  Just going for the one is simply that, an expression of a desire to have a casual catch up with a fellow teacher friend without being unfairly labelled a basket case that can't go two minutes without recreating their favourite scenes from Trainspotting. And it's still 'just the one' if it's an early house, after ambling home from last night's pre-session.  3) Correcting essays  See, it's not all fun and games and importing four tonnes of class A drugs. Teachers have some serious work to do, and a bottle of wine and a line will certainly make the whole thing go more smoothly.  4) Bumping into a student in a nightclub  An awkward encounter many people can sympathise with. What is your favourite pupil Thomas doing in Flannerys at 2.30am? And what's he eating a Toffee Crisp for? Why is his mother shouting at you? Wait, why does Flanneys now look eerily like a suburban front garden. An easy mistake to make, don't worry about it.  5) Re-lax-ing-the-fuck-out  Educating the Nation's little shits isn't easy, we can only imagine, which is why teachers often just catch up on their sleep during a midterm. Or if sleep isn't possible, a trance sleep-like state after necking some Ketamine in a field in Kildare.","label":1}
{"text":"Austria s new conservative-far right ruling coalition is likely to be sworn in on Dec. 20, an informed source said on Friday, marking a victory for nationalists so far shut out of government elsewhere in western Europe. Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, whose mainstream conservative People s Party (OVP) won a parliamentary election on Oct. 15 but not a majority, has been in coalition talks with Heinz-Christian Strache s Freedom Party (FPO). Both sides have described the discussions as friendly and constructive but so far failed to disclose the kind of sweeping tax, immigration and administrative reforms they had called for in their campaigns. Kurz, 31, who has taken a tough stance on immigration and Muslim parallel societies , tilting towards the FPO line as the far right surged in popularity, is tipped to become chancellor and the youngest head of government in the European Union. There has been no confirmation on who might get which portfolio in the new cabinet, but the anti-immigration FPO has said it would aim for about half of the ministries. The OVP gained 31.5 percent and the FPO 26 percent of votes in the Alpine republic s October election. (Dec. 20) is certainly a possible date (for the swearing-in), OVP Chairwoman Elisabeth Koestinger said on Oe1 radio, adding they would put quality before speed even if that meant a deal only after Christmas. FPO deputy leader Norbert Hofer told Oe1 that no deal had been sealed yet, repeating previous statements that both parties aimed to finish before Christmas. The Austrian national news agency APA also cited Dec. 20 as the most likely date for the swearing-in of the new government by President Alexander Van der Bellen, but listed Jan. 8 as an alternative date. The FPO, which came within a whisker of winning the 2015 presidential election, is allied with France s National Front and Germany s AfD, which in a September election became the third strongest party in Germany s parliament. The populist far right last entered an Austrian federal government in 2000 and currently rules in coalition with centrists in two of the country s provinces.","label":0}
{"text":"The bomb used to kill Maltese anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia was probably triggered by a call from a boat off Malta, an investigator said on Tuesday, laying out initial evidence against three suspects. Caruana Galizia died in the powerful blast as she was driving near her home in the village of Bidnija on Oct. 16 a killing that appalled Europe and raised questions about the rule of law on the tiny Mediterranean island. Brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat were arrested earlier this month in connection with the murder. The three men, who were known to police, have denied any wrongdoing. Police started laying out their evidence against the trio to a Malta court which will decide whether to order a trial. One of the chief investigators, Keith Arnaud, described how a team from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, brought in by the Malta government to help solve the crime, had focused on a phone number which received a text message at the time of the explosion in Bidnija. Police say the number was not attached to a mobile phone but to a circuit board used in remote-control devices. The appliance was switched on at 2 a.m. local time in Bidnija on the day of the explosion and went off the grid at the time of the blast. Part of the circuit board was later found in the wreckage of the car. Cell phone data suggested the device was triggered by a call from off the coast. CCTV video showed a boat owned by the Degiorgio brothers putting to sea at around 8 a.m. on the day of the killing. It was later seen still at sea at 2.50 p.m. and was idling at the time of the explosion before returning to harbor. The three suspects had never been the target of any of Caruana Galizia s often fierce blogs, leading to questions over their possible motive. The blogger s family say the people who ordered the killing remain at large. Arnaud revealed that police had already been tapping the phone of George Degiorgio at the time of the murder and had heard him asking two separate people to top up the credit of a mobile phone number on the morning of the blast. He did not go into further details, but local media have reported that the same number might have triggered the bomb. Arnaud was the first person called to testify in the pre-trial hearing, which has been delayed twice over the past week after the initial two magistrates assigned to the case recused themselves. A third magistrate, Claire Stafrace Zammit, rejected calls by the defense for her also to abstain from the case because Caruana Galizia had once praised her husband. She dismissed the request as frivolous. The hearing will resume on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"With the map of Syria s conflict decisively redrawn in President Bashar al-Assad s favor, his Russian allies want to convert military gains into a settlement that stabilizes the shattered nation and secures their interests in the region. A year after the opposition s defeat in Aleppo, government forces backed by Russia and Iran have recovered large swathes of territory as Islamic State s caliphate collapses. As U.N.-backed talks in Geneva fail to make any progress, Russia is preparing to launch its own political process in 2018. President Vladimir Putin declared mission accomplished for the military on a visit to Russia s Syrian air base this week, and said conditions were ripe for a political solution. Though Washington still insists Assad must go, a senior Syrian opposition figure told Reuters the United States and other governments that have backed the rebellion had finally surrendered to the Russian vision on ending the war. The view in Damascus is that this will preserve Assad as president. A Syrian official in Damascus said it is clear a track is underway, and the Russians are overseeing it . There is a shift in the path of the crisis in Syria, a shift for the better, the official said. But analysts struggle to see how Russian diplomacy can bring lasting peace to Syria, encourage millions of refugees to return, or secure Western reconstruction aid. There is no sign that Assad is ready to compromise with his opponents. The war has also allowed his other big ally, Iran and its Revolutionary Guard, to expand its regional influence, which Tehran will not want to see diluted by any settlement in Syria. Having worked closely to secure Assad, Iran and Russia may now differ in ways that could complicate Russian policy. Assad and his allies now command the single largest chunk of Syria, followed by U.S.-backed Kurdish militias who control much of northern and eastern Syria and are more concerned with shoring up their regional autonomy than fighting Damascus. Anti-Assad rebels still cling to patches of territory: a corner of the northwest at the Turkish border, a corner of the southwest at the Israeli frontier, and the Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. Eastern Ghouta and the northwest are now in the firing line. The Revolutionary Guards clearly feel they have won this war and the hardliners in Iran are not too keen on anything but accommodation with Assad, so on that basis it is a little hard to see that there can be any real progress, said Rolf Holmboe, a former Danish ambassador to Syria. Assad cannot live with a political solution that involves any real power sharing, said Holmboe. The solution he could potentially live with is to freeze the situation you have on the ground right now. The war has been going Assad s way since 2015, when Russia sent its air force to help him. The scales tipped even more his way this year: Russia struck deals with Turkey, the United States and Jordan that contained in the war in the west, indirectly helping Assad s advances in the east, and Washington pulled military aid from the rebels. Though Assad seems unbeatable, Western governments still hope to effect change by linking reconstruction aid to a credible political process leading to a genuine transition . While paying lip service to the principle that any peace deal should be concluded under U.N. auspices, Russia aims to convene its own peace congress in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The aim is to draw up a new constitution followed by elections. The senior Syrian opposition figure said the United States and other states that had backed their cause - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Turkey - had all given way to Russia. Sochi, not Geneva, would be the focal point for talks. This is the way it has been understood from talking to the Americans, the French, the Saudis - all the states, the opposition figure said. It is clear that this is the plan, and there is no state that will oppose this ... because the entire world is tired of this crisis. Proposals include forming a new government to hold elections that would include Syrian refugees. But the time frame: six months, two years, three years, all depends on the extent of understanding between the Russians and Americans , the opposition figure said. If the Russians and Americans differ greatly, the whole table could be overturned. Russia is serious about accomplishing something with the political process, but on its own terms and turf, said senior International Crisis Group analyst Noah Bonsey. I am not sure they have a good sense of how to accomplish that and to the extent that they seek to accomplish things politically, they may run into the divergence of interests between themselves and their allies, he said. The Syrian Kurdish question is one area where Russia and Iran have signaled different goals. While a top Iranian official recently said the government would take areas held by the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces, Russia has struck deals with the Kurds and their U.S. sponsors. From the start of the crisis, there s been a difference between the Russians and the Iranians and the regime, said Fawza Youssef, a top Kurdish politician. The Russians believe the Kurds have a cause that should be taken into account . Damascus, while issuing its own warnings to the Kurds, may continue to leave them to their own devices as it presses campaigns against the last rebel-held pockets of western Syria. The situation in the southwest is shaped by different factors, namely Israel s determination to keep Iran-backed forces away from its frontier, which could prompt an Israeli military response. There are still major questions and a lot of potential for escalating violence in various parts of Syria, said Bonsey.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama surprised Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction in an emotional White House ceremony that celebrated their partnership over eight years in office. \"This is an extraordinary man,\" Obama said of his friend and running mate at a surprise ceremony with staff, family and friends of the vice president. \"For the past eight years, he could not have been a more devoted or effective partner in the progress that we've made.\" Biden, who was unaware that the ceremony would take place, became visibly moved when Obama said he would bestow on him the highest civil honor in the United States. It will be the last such award that Obama gives before he and Biden leave office on Jan. 20. \"I had no inkling,\" Biden, 74, said after receiving the medal. \"I get a lot of credit I don't deserve,\" he said, proceeding to give a roughly 20-minute impromptu speech thanking Obama and honoring the extended Biden family. Biden and Obama became close friends during their time in the White House. Biden was a U.S. senator from Delaware when Obama chose him to be his running mate in his 2008 presidential campaign. The vice president told an anecdote about Obama offering to help the Bidens financially during Biden's son Beau's illness. Beau Biden died of brain cancer at age 46 in 2015. First lady Michelle Obama and the Obamas' daughters, Malia and Sasha, also attended the ceremony.","label":0}
{"text":"Approval for Brazilian President Michel Temer s government has plummeted, according to a poll published on Tuesday, as the scandal-plagued leader faces new corruption charges and struggles to push his economic reform agenda through Congress. Polling firm MDA said that 3.4 percent of those surveyed thought the Temer government was doing a great or good job - down from 10.3 percent in MDA s last such poll in February. Temer took over a year ago from impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff and has said he does not care about popularity and only wants to push through an austerity package before his term ends in Jan. 2019. Yet his ability to do so has been hamstrung by charges of taking bribes, racketeering and obstruction of justice. The charges against Temer are based on the plea-bargain testimony of the owners of the world s largest meatpacker, JBS SA. They accuse Temer of taking bribes in return for political favors and of conspiring to buy the silence of a witness who could implicate the leader. Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The MDA poll was commissioned by the national transport lobby CNT and surveyed 2,002 people across Brazil from Sept. 13-16. The poll has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.","label":0}
{"text":"Included among the many uplifting economic numbers released by the Census Bureau on Tuesday was a remarkable one about health insurance in the United States: Only 9. 1 percent of Americans do not have coverage, the lowest level ever recorded by the agency. That figure is down from 13. 3 percent in 2013, before the major provisions of the health care law signed by President Obama went into effect. Another government study, released last week, looked at the first part of 2016 and found that the uninsured rate had fallen even further, to 8. 6 percent. So does that mean the Affordable Care Act is solving the puzzle of getting people covered, a major goal of the law? It certainly looks that way. About 18 million more people have coverage now than did in 2013. But the new numbers also highlight where the law is not working well \u2014 and how difficult it will be to drop the uninsured rate much lower. Many states have continued to resist the Obama administration's entreaties to expand their Medicaid coverage, leaving millions of poor Americans with no affordable health insurance options. And the marketplaces created under the law, in which people without insurance can buy policies, are struggling in states across the country. Some insurers are dropping out, and others are sharply raising prices. In New York City, for example, rates for a benchmark plan could go up by an average of 16 percent, according to one analysis. If the marketplaces do not stabilize, the drop in the uninsured rate could stall or even reverse. Adding to the uncertainty is the hazy future of the health care law. Donald J. Trump and Republicans in Congress have vowed to repeal it if they get the chance. And even if the Democrats are in control, there is an array of competing proposals on how to adjust the law. \"The way I would frame it is, this isn't just about whether the Affordable Care Act works,\" said Dr. Benjamin D. Sommers, an assistant professor at Harvard's School of Public Health and former researcher for the Health and Human Services Department, who has analyzed the remaining uninsured population. \"It's also about whether the effort to expand coverage has gone far enough. \" The Affordable Care Act was not intended to cover everyone, the way that systems in many other countries do. Undocumented immigrants, for example, are largely shut out of the health insurance system. And because the system requires people to actively sign up for insurance and often pay a premium, there will always be some Americans too independent \u2014 or isolated \u2014 to seek insurance. But the law was certainly written to get insurance to far more people. The Medicaid expansion, for example, is meant to expand coverage to all Americans earning below a set income threshold \u2014 about $16, 000 for a single person. Adoption of the program has been substantial. But the Supreme Court dealt a major blow to that plan in 2012. The court determined that states could decide whether to expand, and 19 have still declined to do so. Those decisions leave more than three million people who are in poverty uninsured and without good options for obtaining health insurance. The law was written to give poor people coverage through Medicaid, not the private marketplace, so it does not provide financial assistance for buying coverage. The census report highlighted an increasing gap in the uninsured rates between states that expanded their programs and states that did not. There is another large group of Americans \u2014 about nine million, according to recent calculations from the Urban Institute \u2014 who are eligible for Medicaid or the related Children's Health Insurance Program but have not signed up. The online marketplaces, which play a critical role under the law in reducing the number of people without coverage, also remain volatile. Fewer people than expected have signed up for plans through the marketplaces, and the enticements are not improving. Prices are set to rise substantially next year. And in many places, people who enroll will have fewer insurers to choose from. Millions of people qualify for subsidies to buy into the plans. But many people who qualify for small subsidies have still found the plans to be unaffordable or a poor value. And people who make more and do not qualify for much or any government aid \u2014 especially those who are healthy \u2014 have been less likely to enroll. That has kept the mix of people in the pool sicker \u2014 and more expensive to insure \u2014 than expected. \"These gains in coverage don't negate the need to make the insurance marketplaces sustainable,\" Larry Levitt, an executive with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which closely tracks the insurance market, said in an email. \"In fact, coverage needs to grow more, with additional healthy people signing up, to stabilize the individual insurance market. \" Insurers say it is imperative that the people who sign up are not just the sickest people. \"We need to encourage younger and healthier people to enroll,\" said Alissa Fox, a senior executive at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, a trade group. Before the Affordable Care Act, most Americans got insurance from their jobs, and that continues to be true. According to the Census Bureau, employer coverage has held steady since 2013. Many critics of the health law had predicted it would result in a huge in employer coverage. That has not happened. In fact, the persistent strength of employer coverage has been one of the reasons enrollment in the state marketplaces has not been higher. On Wednesday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its annual survey of employer health benefits. It found that the market remained stable, with no appreciable decline in the share of companies offering their employees coverage. While employees are typically paying a greater share of their medical bills, the cost of coverage went up modestly this year. The future trajectory of the uninsured numbers depends largely on the results of the next election. Though the health care law may have come to bear President Obama's name, as Obamacare, its future will be shaped by the president who replaces him \u2014 and by the next Congress. Hillary Clinton has proposed an array of policies to expand outreach to the uninsured and increase financial assistance to Americans buying health insurance, policies designed to bring more people into the health law's programs. She has also proposed introducing public insurance programs for more Americans, including a Medicare for people. Mr. Trump, in contrast, has said he would repeal the health law and move to a more system for health insurance sales, a proposal that is expected to result in a substantial increase in the number of Americans without health coverage. Republicans in the House have put out their own health proposal, also built on a total repeal of the president's health law. \"The stakes are huge,\" said Linda J. Blumberg, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, who has suggested a series of policy changes to help expand coverage under the law. \"You couldn't be further apart in terms of the perspectives on what is needed here. \"","label":0}
{"text":"White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon and his economic nationalism remain at the forefront of the Trump administration's policy agenda despite a media narrative predicting Bannon's immediate doom, former Trump campaign advisor Robert Wasinger writes. [From the Hill: The reports of Steve Bannon's demise have been greatly . The media has pilloried Steve Bannon to the point of utter exhaustion, both ours and theirs apparently. After a solid month of insisting that Bannon and his brand of economic nationalism were on the way out of the White House, he remains in place, and the president continues to emphasize the themes that won him the election in November \u2014 much to the consternation of the Washington set whose reputation depends upon the presumption that they have an inside line to the inner workings of power in the nation's capital. The mainstream media spin on Bannon's loss of influence and relevance has been achieved primarily by glossing over inconsistencies in their own narrative about his role and influence in the White House, and, more insidiously, by introducing into their narrative a total caricature of the \"America First\" themes whose political resonance they have so badly underestimated. For the rest of the article, click here.","label":0}
{"text":"Monday 21 November 2016 by Davywavy and H Short-sighted pervert disappointed not to see a film called 'Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them'  A solitary cinema-goer was today loudly demanding a refund of \u00a318 from the Odeon Leicester Square, 'plus the money for the 3D glasses'.  Myopic raincoat wearer and aggrieved onanist Simon Williams, 47, told the Thump, \"I've always had a keen interest in the, hem, hem, beauties of nature.\"  \"From the pert cups of budding maidenhood to the more rrrrounded and queenly figure,\" he added, breathing rapidly and mopping sweat off his face.  In answer to our next question, Mr Williams confirmed that he had never had a girlfriend, but didn't think this had been an impediment.  \"Au contraire,\" he confided, with what we assume was a roguish snort.  \"Sadly,\" Williams went on, \"over the years, my hobby has led to a deterioration in my eyesight, as my old scoutmaster once warned me would happen.  \"And this has led to me making a perfectly natural and disappointing mistake in the title of a film, for which I hold the Odeon cinema chain entirely culpable.\"  Ordering a couple of bouncers to throw Williams roughly out into the street, the Odeon manager emphasised that he would not be welcome back in the cinema \"now or at any future time.\"  \"And I've warned the Vue and the Empire to keep an eye open for him as well,\" he added. Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently witterings below - why not add your own?","label":1}
{"text":"British Prime Minister Theresa May disagrees with the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because it is unlikely to help efforts to bring peace to the region, her spokesman said on Wednesday. Jerusalem should ultimately be shared between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the spokesman said. We disagree with the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement, the spokesman said. We believe it is unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region. President Donald Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy on Wednesday and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite warnings from around the world that the gesture further drives a wedge between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump sparked outrage in Britain last week after he issued a sharp rebuke of May on Twitter after she criticized him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos. May s spokesman welcomed Trump s desire to end the conflict and his acknowledgement that the final status of Jerusalem, including boundaries within the city, must be subject to negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. We encourage the US Administration to now bring forward detailed proposals for an Israel-Palestinian settlement, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"By Nick Bernabe A small Standing Rock Sioux site in North Dakota called the Sacred Stone Camp has been propelled into the national news narrative following their stand against the Dakota Access...","label":1}
{"text":"Like all other presidents since George H.W. Bush President Obama has worked to build a closer relationship with Israel while still pushing them publicly to stop the development of their Jews only settlements that have all but made a 2 state solution impossible. The progressives in the Democratic party have pushed for accountability with Israel due to its horrific human rights violations against the Palestinians, which rules over them and denies them the most basic of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza. Yet, despite the billions of dollars of tax payer money we give but can t afford to give to Israel, politicians are tripping over each other to grovel to the American Israel Public Affairs committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobby group that can make or break a political career.That s why all the political candidates lined up to speak at the AIPAC conference yesterday (minus the only Jewish candidate Bernie Sanders) to see who can kiss Israel s a** the best; each of the Republican presidential candidates using Israel as a cudgel to hammer President Obama for not sufficiently bowing to the needs of the Israel first AIPAC conference.It was quite embarrassing to watch American leaders grovel to a group whose sole reason for being is to push the interests of a foreign country. Out of all of the pandering and ass kissing that happened at AIPAC there was one moment that brought a long ovation from the crowd. And this one moment really encapsulates the sense of entitlement for Israel.Trump s best line: with President Obama in his final year, yay! And the crowd erupts. One would think there was a Rosh Hashanah celebration with the kind of applause heard in the crowd, but alas it was a group of right wing Americans applauding President Obama being in his final year in office.Because from their vantage point President Obama is secretly trying to destroy Israel. Despite the billions of dollars sent each year, the diplomatic cover the president has provided Israel at the United Nations for its war crimes and apartheid state they hate him. Despite the years of partisanship by Prime Minister Netanyahu where he inserted himself into the 2012 Presidential election to help Mitt Romney or the multiple years of public defiance over international agreements on the Iran peace deal having brokered a deal with the Republican party to speak to Congress behind President Obama s back they blame him.AIPAC is upset because of the president s deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons and would rather see America s kids go to war on Israel s behalf than have the diplomatic solution the president was able to broker, which the great majority of US military leaders have called a good deal. They are also upset because the president has refused to raise Israel s welfare check to $5 billion a year from the current $3 billion we give them, despite the fact that we can t afford clean water in Flint, Michigan.One good word to to describe AIPAC s reaction to Trump s condemnation of the president is: ungrateful.Watch video here: With Pres. Obama in his final year yay, @realDonaldTrump says to cheers at #AIPAC2016: https:\/\/t.co\/ivrbx3iG0B https:\/\/t.co\/8iTFpuMZt9 CBSN (@CBSNLive) March 21, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Veteran FARC leader Rodrigo Londono - known as Timochenko - will run for the presidency of Colombia next year, with the backing of former FARC rebels, the group s new political party said on Wednesday. However, he and other ex-commanders will likely face trials for human rights crimes and it is unclear how they would serve in office if sentenced. The Marxist FARC demobilized under a peace deal with the government last year, ending more than five decades of war. They are now the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force party, still referring to themselves by the Spanish initials FARC. The party is guaranteed 10 seats in Congress through 2026 by the accord, regardless of its success in elections. Among senate candidates will be former guerrilla commanders Ivan Marquez, Pablo Catatumbo, Carlos Antonio Lozada and Victoria Sandino, the FARC said on Wednesday. The party will also run candidates for the lower house in five districts. The group reiterated its willingness to forming a coalition with other leftist parties, a tacit acknowledgement it may have little electoral pull among skeptical Colombians. We manifest our willingness to hold talks with all social political groups and movements to make united lists, the FARC said in a statement. Londono, best known by his war alias Timochenko, suffered a stroke this year and has received treatment in Cuba. It remains unclear how the FARC members would complete their terms if they are tried or sentenced by transitional justice tribunals tasked with bringing former rebels to justice for crimes like murder, kidnapping and rape. The maximum sentence the tribunals can hand out is eight years and those convicted will avoid traditional jails, instead doing reparations work like removing land mines. In a Wednesday press conference, the FARC leaders did not clarify how they would serve possible sentences while holding elected positions. More than 11,000 FARC fighters and supporters handed over their weapons to the United Nations during demobilization. Another 1,000 refused to lay down their arms and continue to operate lucrative drug trafficking and illegal mining operations. The FARC has sought to distance itself from the dissidents and the government has authorized air raids against them. There is a crowded field for 2018 s presidential race, which looks set to focus more on issues like the economy and corruption than on implementation of the deal, the cornerstone of current President Juan Manuel Santos legacy. Security does however remain on the minds of many voters, especially after farmers were killed in a confrontation with police last month.","label":0}
{"text":"An aide to U.S. Democrat Hillary Clinton criticized Donald Trump's foreign policy as making \"no sense for the rest of us\" after the Republican presidential candidate said he would hold talks with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. \"Let me get this straight: Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim Jong Un?\" senior foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. \"I suppose that makes sense for him, since he also praised Kim Jong Un for executing his uncle and seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like Putin and Kim. His approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Demanding reparations from Germany for its actions in Poland during World War Two is a matter of honor for Warsaw, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Saturday. The issue of reparations, revived by Poland s eurosceptic PiS after decades of improving relations with Germany, could escalate tensions between the two European Union members. In September Polish parliamentary legal experts ruled that Warsaw has the right to demand reparations from Germany, although Poland s foreign minister indicated that no immediate claim would be made. The French were paid, Jews were paid, many other nations were paid for the losses they suffered during World War Two. Poles were not, Kaczynski said. It is not only about material funds. It is about our status, our honor ... And this is not theater. This is our demand, a totally serious demand, added Kaczynski, Poland s de facto leader. The PiS government, deeply distrustful of Germany, has raised calls for wartime compensation in recent months but Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has said further analysis was needed before any claims were lodged. Six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war, and the capital Warsaw was razed to the ground in 1944 after a failed uprising in which 200,000 civilians died.","label":0}
{"text":"Wednesday, 26 October 2016 Was This Leg Hacked By The Russians? A London Court Will Soon Decide.  London, UK, England - You can buy anything and connect it to the internet these days; TV's and microwaves, toilets and toasters. Even the latest artificial leg comes with online capabilities and is part of our new world's Internet Of Things . Now, Mr. Evan Youngbone, is wondering if all this I.O.T. nonsense, keeping track of his every step via satellite, is all worth it, after facing a London court on 787 counts of assault on over 360 people in London's West End.  \"Like I told the Police Constables piled on top of me that night, it was all the robot-leg's fault. It wasn't me!\" pleaded the very sorry defendant from the witness box. \"The high-tech leg I received after my car accident was hacked, probably by the Russians , causing it to go completely bonkers; kicking people all over the place! For almost an hour, I couldn't control the damn thing. It dragged me through the streets. It's like it suddenly had a mind of it's own. And it wanted to kick people really, really badly!\"  \"I was kicked three times in the shin, very, very hard,\" cried the first badly-bruised witness, Iris Lillyham (87) of Bumholeshire, near where Mr. Youngbone's kicking rampage first started. \"I'll have to start using my cane again because of that man... and I hate my cane, it's very slippery when it's raining.. and I don't like the rain... because that's slippery too,\" added the lonely victim, who claimed that she didn't believe a word about this strange, futuristic leg being at fault; but, who also had absolutely no idea how to turn on the iphone her son had bought her for emergencies. \"He had a big grind on his face!\" claimed Mrs. Lillyham, regarding the attacker. \"I believe he was loving every second of it!\"  Mr. Youngbone's appointed lawyer is arguing that it's clearly Corninghamshire Hospital's fault, and the doctor's who first attached his client's fake leg, claiming that they never bothered to change the default password of: 1111, which comes standard with each artificial leg, (which are also suspiciously made near the Crimea River in the former Ukraine.) \"This poor man was a sitting pigeon for the Russians,\" charged the lawyer to the courtroom, \"He never even stood a chance!\"  Mr. Youngbone then got up and hopped back to his lawyer's side, not wanting anything to do with his new high-tech appendage. \"I'm getting fitted for a nice old-fashion wooden one, thank you very much,\" The defendant told reporters during a recess. He also plans on going thrift-store shopping for a new toaster and vacuum cleaner this weekend, too. That is, if he's not getting ass-raped in prison.  \"I'm afraid I wouldn't get on very well in there-\" said the worried kicker on the subject of jail, not thrift-stores. \"Look at me, I'm very easy to catch and pin down. If I drop the soap, I'm bloody knackered, aren't I, mate. But thrift-shopping I'm very handy at, if I don't say so myself. Quite a bargainer, I am. I bet they'll knock a few quid off an old hoover, for a man with a used wooden leg!\" Make Paul Blake's","label":1}
{"text":"NEWPORT NEWS, Va. \u2014 President Trump on Thursday used the country's most advanced, aircraft carrier as the backdrop for his push to rebuild America's armed forces with a $54 billion increase in military spending. Speaking in the hangar bay of the Gerald R. Ford, which this year will become the nation's largest and most powerful warship, Mr. Trump said the Navy \u2014 and other military services \u2014 must grow and modernize. \"We will make it easier for the Navy to plan for the future and thus to control costs and get the best deals for the taxpayer,\" the president said. \"The same boat for less money, the same ship for less money, the same airplanes for less money. \" Ever the showman, Mr. Trump arrived on the carrier in dramatic style, landing on the flight deck aboard his helicopter, Marine One. He emerged with a sharp salute and wearing his trademark red Make America Great Again baseball cap. One deck below, watching on large screens, hundreds of sailors and others let up a huge cheer for the commander in chief. After touring the ship, the president was lowered to the hangar bay on the massive elevator that carries fighter jets between the decks. To the sounds of Lee Greenwood's \"God Bless the U. S. A. ,\" Mr. Trump strode into the crowd \u2014 wearing a Gerald R. Ford baseball cap. Mr. Trump marveled at the ship's size, calling it \"4. 5 acres of combat power and sovereign U. S. territory, the likes of which there is nothing to compete. \" \"It is a monument to American might that will provide the strength necessary to ensure peace,\" he said. The Ford is the first of a new, more technologically advanced class of aircraft carrier, and cost about $13 billion to build after cost overruns and years of delay. But Mr. Trump did not mention those challenges, saying instead that he supports expanding to a Navy, from the current 10. He said ships like the Ford will allow him and future presidents to project American power in distant lands. \"Hopefully it's power we don't have to use. But if we do, they are in big, big trouble,\" he said to cheers from the sailors. Mr. Trump asserted, as he did during the presidential campaign, that the Navy is now the smallest it has been since World War I. The Navy swelled from 245 ships in 1916 to a peak of over 6, 000 during World War II, downsizing between conflicts and bulking up during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. From the 1970s, the Navy gradually began to shrink to a total battle force of 275 ships as of September 2016. But that fleet includes 10 aircraft carriers, 22 cruisers, 63 destroyers, 11 amphibious assault ships and 68 submarines, 14 of which are armed with nuclear warheads. These are far more powerful than the fleets of World War II. So comparing the navies of the past and today is \"like comparing the telegraph to the smartphone they're just not comparable,\" Ray Mabus, the secretary of the Navy under President Barack Obama, said in 2012. Lawmakers in both parties have already expressed deep skepticism about Mr. Trump's military spending proposal, in part because of its potential to increase the nation's deficit and in part because of the administration's assertion that it would deeply slash nonmilitary spending to compensate. But the president's desire to expand the military was a core promise during his campaign for the White House. American politicians often seek to associate themselves with the country's enormous, gleaming war machines. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, announced his choice of Speaker Paul D. Ryan as his running mate on the retired battleship Wisconsin. But sometimes the moment goes awry. In 2003, President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln to declare that the military phase of the Iraq war was over. He spoke in front of a banner that proclaimed \"Mission Accomplished. \" The war continued for years. Aides to Mr. Trump are hoping that the images of the president on the Ford are more positive.","label":0}
{"text":"While in Warsaw, Poland, Obama commented on the Dallas shooting proving he s totally divorced from reality. He states that it s hard to untangle the motives of the shooter Huh? First of all, I think it s very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter. I ll leave that to psychologists and people who study these kinds of incidents I think the danger is that we somehow suggest the act of a troubled individuals speaks to some larger political statement across the country. Perhaps he should listen to the video of the Dallas Police Chief (video below) stating directly that the suspect wanted to kill white people and cops. Crazy! President Obama on #Dallas: It's hard to \"untangle the motives of the shooter\" https:\/\/t.co\/7dClE5Mjr6 https:\/\/t.co\/YzdDnT3nDf CNN (@CNN) July 9, 2016 DALLAS POLICE CHIEF S STATEMENT:","label":1}
{"text":"Kansas sought on Wednesday to avoid a court ruling that could force the cash-strapped state to increase school funding by more than $1 billion. Lawyers for the state and for public school districts faced off before the Kansas Supreme Court in the latest chapter of a decades-long battle over equitable and adequate funding. Stephen McAllister, the state's solicitor general, argued that while Kansas may be spending less on education than some other states, student achievement is improving. \"Kansas is making excellent use of resources to do pretty well compared to the nation,\" he told the justices. The state spends about $4 billion on schools, but lawyers for the four districts suing the state claim another $430 million to $1.4 billion would be required to meet the state constitution's requirement for adequate funding. \"We're falling short and we're leaving massive numbers of kids behind,\" said Alan Rupe, an attorney for the districts. He asked the court to declare the system unconstitutional and give the state legislature some direction on achieving constitutionality and a full legislative session to come up with a new system. The justices did not indicate when they might rule. The adequacy question comes after the court ruled in June that Kansas had complied with its order to resolve inequities in educating students. Kansas' budget is feeling the effects of actions taken by Republican Governor Sam Brownback and the legislature in recent years to cut corporate and other income taxes in hopes of helping the state compete with bordering Missouri and other states for business development and jobs. The state's fiscal woes led Standard & Poor's to downgrade Kansas' credit rating by one notch to AA-minus in July.","label":0}
{"text":"Christians are one of the main targets of the Islamic State as they cut a murderous swath through Syria and Iraq. And yet, Christians constitute only 0.5% of the Syrian refugees whom the Obama administration has admitted into the United States.  On October 21, 2016, in his concurrent opinion in the case of Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security , Judge Daniel Manion , a federal appellate court judge for the U.S. Seventh Circuit, issued a sharp rejoinder to the Obama administration over the almost complete lack of Syrian Christian refugees being admitted to the U.S. Note: Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center is a \"progressive\" liberal advocacy organization. The Heartland Alliance v. DHS case has nothing to do with Christian refugees, but pertains to Heartland Alliance's FOIA request to the DHS for information on Tier III terrorist organizations.  While concurring in the 7th Circuit Court's ruling, Judge Daniel Manion explains why he's writing separately. On pages 7-8 of U.S. Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit No. 16-1840 Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security , Judge Manion writes: \"I write separately for a second, critical reason, which is my concern about the apparent lack of Syrian Christians as a part of immigrants from that country . It is possible that our case bears a direct link to this enigma. It is well\u2010documented that refugees to the United States are not representative of that war\u2010torn area of the world. Perhaps 10 percent of the population of Syria is Christian, and yet less than one\u2010half of one percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian. \u00b9 Recognizing the crisis in Syria, the President in 2015 set a goal of resettling 10,000 refugees in the United States. And in August the government reached this laudable goal. And yet, of the nearly 11,000 refugees admitted by mid\u2010September, only 56 were Christian. To date, there has not been a good explanation for this perplexing discrepancy.\"  Judge Manion also noted that while the Obama administration is bringing Syrian refugees into the country by the thousands, it is concealing basic information about those refugees behind a wall of government secrecy, including whether terrorists are among the refugees. The administration refuses to tell the American public or the states how it is making its decisions on who are accepted for resettlement in the U.S., or even what steps it is taking to ensure there are no terrorists among the refugees. Nor is Congress exercising its oversight functions.  As Manion writes in his concurrent opinion: \"The good people of this country routinely welcome immigrants from all over the world. But in a democracy, good data is critical to public debate about national immigration policy. When we demand high evidentiary burdens for states seeking to keep their citizens safe, and then prevent the states from that evidence, we create a Catch-22.\u00b2 [\u2026] And yet, Congress, through the exemptions to FOIA, has consciously made the decision to limit what governmental information is available to the public. If Congress is concerned about how immigration officers are making their decisions related to the designation and application of the Tier III terrorist organization affiliation, Congress has the authority to act. Congress has its own oversight capabilities and subpoena power, and Congress could choose to amend our nation's sunshine laws or our immigration laws. Until that time, however, many of us remain in the dark as a humanitarian catastrophe continues.\"  Daniel Manion , 74, is a senior jurist on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit whose chambers are located in South Bend, Indiana. He was an Indiana state senator (R) from 1978-82. In 1986, Manion was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the 7th Circuit Court.","label":1}
{"text":"After protests erupted in Chicago that led to the cancellation of a Donald Trump rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, the controversial Republican candidate has filed a lawsuit against the city for prohibiting his First Amendment right to free speech.  My free speech right was infringed last Friday in Chicago and thats what it will say in the lawsuit, Trump told reporters. Well be asking for a monetary settlement and for those protestors to be prosecuted. It was very, very wrong of them. I do not condone violence. Im very against violence, especially at my campaign events. Trumps attorneys drew extensive papers on the lawsuit and are filled on Monday. A Chicago judge will review them by next week. Chicago violated my First Amendment right and they arent going to get away with it. Just like China wont get away with stealing our jobs and manipulating their currency. The campaign thinks a conspiracy might be involved with the anti-trump protesters. When the cops saw a bunch of black people entering my rally, they knew they shouldnt be there but let them in anyway. I mean, what the Hell is that? Trump then went after Chicagos Mayor Rahm Emanuel. I know Rahm thinks hes a tough guy, but hell be a mouse looking for his mom by the time I get done with him. He makes Little Rubio look like a giant. A New Yorker will beat a Chicagoan every time. Believe me, he is going to regret not having his city under control. He was terrible as Obamas Chief of Staff and hes been a terrible Mayor. Look at the gang problem and the cities credit rating. Im happy Nabisco closed that Chicago factory and moved it to Mexico. I was against it before, but after tonight, Im totally for it. The Mayor  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel1 called the lawsuit frivolous and ridiculous. You cant have a presidential candidate going around suing cities because the local people dont like the guy, Emanuel told the Chicago Tribune. The city is in massive debt and the last thing we need is to be tied up in court for years to come cause we know Trump loves to sue people. Legal fees arent cheap. Trump claimed the Chicago Police Department told him to call off the event but they responded by saying it was Trumps campaign that called off the event and the Chicago Police did not infringe on his free speech right. If Trump thinks he can bully the City of Chicago, hes got another thing coming.","label":1}
{"text":"You begin describing small aliens\u2026  \"They were small.\"  \"Ah man,\" says the cabbie. \"Just some little small aliens, huh?\"  He seems disappointed. Wait, I changed my mind. They were big.  You begin describing the big aliens\u2026  \"They were big.\"  \"Wow! Big aliens,\" says the cabbie. \"Now we're talking. I never heard of anything like that. What were the big aliens like? Did they have legs?\" They had skin like leather.  You don't tell the cabbie about aliens.  \"That's okay,\" he says as he drives on. \"Aliens! Gee. Makes sense, I guess. I never heard of nothing like aliens.\" Pass the rest of the ride in silence. Come to think of it, I did see some aliens tonight. And they were big.  \"Ah, that's too bad,\" says the cabbie. \"Like I said, I never heard of anything like aliens before, but I was getting ready to believe you, especially if they had big, nice legs. Ones like you just described, though? Thanks but no thanks.\" Pass the rest of the ride in silence. Come to think of it, the aliens I saw did have big, nice legs. Five of them!  The cabbie nods excitedly. \u2026and these hollow black eyes. \u2026and that's it.  The cabbie is rapt with awe. \u2026with fearsome ivory fangs.  The cabbie signals you to keep going. \u2026and five big, nice legs. \u2026and that's it.  \"Ah, the legs! I can picture it perfectly,\" says the cabbie. \"Aliens! I never heard of nothing like that before, but I can practically see those legs kicking, so nice and so big!\"  The cab begins to swerve as the cabbie becomes more excited about how big the aliens' legs were and is no longer paying any attention to the road. I'm telling the truth! The legs were big! Wait, I just remembered! The legs were small!  \"Yes, those big alien legs!\" the cabbie shrieks as he completely loses control of the vehicle, which goes careering up a nearby volcano. His last words as the taxi plummets over the verge and into molten lava are, \"I believe you!\"  Someone believed that you were abducted by aliens, but at what cost? At the cost of dying in a volcano. Start Over  \"Here we are! Sister's apartment!\" says the cabbie. Great. How much do I owe you? Leave without paying.  \"This one's on the house!\" says the cabbie. Thanks!  You're outside your sister's apartment complex, which is where your sister makes $1,111 per day working from home.  You super trust and super admire your sister. She is a master of logic and facts, and you know she'll have a high bar for believing your story. You'll need to remember a lot of good detail if you hope to convince her, and you'll need to hurry, since your memory is already feeling a little fuzzy\u2026 Text your sister about the fact that you are outside and have seen aliens. Send your sister nine emails about the fact that you are outside and have seen aliens. Text your sister the \"alien\" emoji, the \"abduction\" emoji, and the \"outside apartment\" emoji.  Your sister answers the door immediately. She invites you to sit down on the couch and hands you a microphone with the local news channel's logo cube on it and asks you to tell her what happened. I was abducted by aliens, and I am going to tell you all about it. Stand back, my sibling. I am going to convince you that I was abducted by aliens.  \"Aliens, eh?\" your sister asks. \"Abducted by?\" Yes, my sister, they stole me from the atmosphere, and now I'm back. Precisely. Now listen up, my sibling. Here comes the tale.  \"Go ahead then,\" says your sister. \"Tell me a story about how aliens stole you from the atmosphere.\" It began like any other night\u2026 It began right away with aliens\u2026 It began right after the aliens had left me in the forest and disappeared\u2026  You begin your story\u2026  \"The alien light dissipated. I was alone in the forest at night.  I decided to hail a cab, so I stuck out my arm in the universal sign for 'taxi.' Immediately, a cab burst from the forest.  'Where you headed?' the cab driver asked.\" I got in and told him to go to my sister's house. The cabbie got out of the cab.  \"It was then I remember the cabbie got out of his cab.\" Then he got back in the cab. And that's all I remember.  \"So,\" says your sister. \"If I have your story right, you hailed a cab in the forest, and at some point the driver got out of the vehicle, and that's all you remember.\" Exactly. There's more to the story. Let me start over.  \"The next thing I knew, he was back in the cab.  'Where you headed?' he asked me again.\" I told him to go to my sister's house. He got out of the cab again.  \"I believe you about the driver getting out of the car, but I don't think you saw any aliens,\" says your sister. \"I'm sorry, but that's just how I feel.\"  Your sister doesn't believe that you were abducted by aliens. You have failed. Start Over  \"The cabbie floored it, and pretty soon we were driving through the city on the way to my sister's house, which is where you live.\" We arrived, and I thanked the cabbie for his service.  \"When we arrived, I got out of the cab. The cabbie and I pointed at each other and waved goodbye in silence for three minutes.\" And that's the end of my story.  \"Well, it certainly sounds like you took a taxi from the forest to my apartment, but I'm sorry to say I'm not convinced that you saw any aliens,\" says your sister. \"Is that really the whole story?\" Yes, that's it. There was more.  \"Then I don't believe you saw any aliens.\"  Ouch. You really bungled the story about how you were abducted by aliens. You are a miserable bard of the supernatural, and your sister didn't believe you at all. You have failed. Start Over  Your sister settles in as you begin your alien testimony\u2026  \"It began like any other night. I thought it was Guy Fawkes Night, so I was in the forest setting off fireworks by myself.\" I would light the firework, run back to safety, look up, and\u2026  \" Boom! Good riddance, Sir Fawkes!\" It was so much fun, I decided to light another firework. I wasn't having fun, but I decided to light another firework.  \"I lit the firework, stepped back, and looked up. I expected to see a sparkling skyrocket. What I saw was\u2026\" A sparkling skyrocket, just as I had expected. A strange light in the sky.  \"Yes, it was a skyrocket. My expectation was on the money.  I prepared to launch another firework into the sky. I loaded it up, sprinted back to safety, and looked to the sky again, this time expecting to see the gorgeous blue and purple firework known as the Butcher's Delight\u2026\" And the Butcher's Delight it was. And that's when it happened.  \"I was right again. In the clear sky above me, I saw the firework called the Butcher's Delight.  I set up the last firework, drew a match, and lit the fuse. It was a quick fuse, so the firework had already launched by the time I turned around and looked up, thinking I would see the unmistakeable multicolored burst of the Salute to James Buchanan firework. But is that what I saw, looking to the skies?\" Yes, it was. It was not, for that was when it happened.  \"Yes, my sibling. The Salute to James Buchanan firework exploded as planned.  I applauded at the fireworks finale, congratulating myself on another successful night of fireworks even as I realized that I had bungled the Guy Fawkes date again.\" Then I went home. Then I came right to you.  \"Thank you,\" says your sister. \"That was a very nice story about how you set off fireworks in the woods by yourself. And did you see any aliens while you were at it?\" Yes. No.  \"Well, I don't believe you. You only told me about fireworks. I was expecting to hear more about aliens.\"  You have not convinced your sister that you saw aliens. Wait, I didn't tell it right. Start Over  \"Okay,\" says your sister. \"It's too bad nothing happened with aliens.\"  You have not convinced her that you were abducted by aliens. Wait, I didn't tell it right. Start Over  \"A strange light appeared in the sky.\" I ran, but the strange light followed me. I couldn't escape it. There was a sudden burst of futuristic light.  \"Science enveloped me.\" The light only got more futuristic. Then all of a sudden, I was standing on the UFO deck.  \"When the light faded, I noticed that I was on a spaceship.  This part of the ship was clean and triangular.\" I noticed that the spaceship had some sort of artificial gravity. I could tell immediately that the spaceship was in space.  \"Okay, I think I understand that you were on a spaceship,\" says your sister. \"Get to the aliens, though. How about some aliens in the story? When you were on the spaceship, were there any aliens that you saw?\" Yes. I don't know, but my boss from my first job was there.  \"My boss from my first job was there, and he was happy to see me.\" My boss said that I was dreaming, and I said \"Yes, that seems right.\" My boss said that I was dreaming, and I said, \"No, that's wrong,\" but it later turned out that he was right.  \"Hmm,\" says your sister. \"It sounds to me like instead of encountering aliens, you had a dream about seeing your boss in space. Could that be right?\" Yeah, that's definitely right. Wait, I told the story wrong. Let me start over.  You were trying to get your sister to believe that you had seen aliens, but all you managed to convince her of was that you had a dream about seeing your boss in space. You failed! Start Over  \"There were aliens. A crowd of them. Huge, mighty creatures with skin like leather, hollow black eyes, and fearsome ivory fangs.\" The aliens were shouting at me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. \"JENCH CREV AMAMU!\" the aliens shouted, but I could not understand.  \"From among the aliens, a bigger alien stepped forth. I immediately realized this was their mayor of the aliens, as the alien was wearing a ceremonial mayoral jacket.\" The mayor took out a device.  \"The mayor reached out and put the device over my eyes.  Suddenly, I could hear everything differently.\" The mayor then seemed to speak to me in English.  \"'Welcome to my UFO,' said the mayor. 'You are now wearing language glasses. They allow you to understand anything that we say in our language, but be careful: It doesn't work the other way around. If you want to learn how to talk like us, you'll need to visit the Language Room and earn a diploma from the language guide.'\" I told the mayor that I understood. I told the mayor that I didn't understand. I asked the mayor to explain who the aliens were and what their purpose was.  \"'I don't know what you're saying, but I'm going to assume you asked who we are and what our purpose is.  'To do that, I will need to tell you how the world works. In the universe, there are three kinds of things. First, there is us. We are called people. You can tell we're people by inspecting our beautiful ivory fangs and big, thick legs. It's obvious.  'Second, there is God. God is special, secret, and far away, and there is only one of him. And we need to find him so that we can hold hands forever. We don't know where God is, but we are looking for him.  'Last, there is rocks. Rocks is everything else. Planets are rocks. Spaceships are rocks. Since you are not a person, you are probably also a rock\u2026unless of course you are God. But that's very unlikely and illegal.'\" I asked the mayor how to find out if I am a rock or if I am God.  \"'I still can't understand you, but here's the deal. I'm going to retreat to the observation deck and look at the majesty of space for a while. Go to the Language Room, learn our language, then come find me and we'll see if we can find a use for you.'\" The mayor left, and I was alone with the crowd of aliens.  \"In the spaceship's deck, the crowd of aliens was talking excitedly about God and about the kinds of dances they would do together when they found him at last.\" I left the deck area and went south into the hallway.  \"In the Language Room, a man was standing on a small, circular stage.  Above him hung a giant banner that read 'LANGUAGE TUTORIAL FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS.'\" He began the tutorial.  \"'Welcome to this free alien-language tutorial for English speakers!' said the man. 'If you are viewing this in hologram form, it means our captors have determined I am no longer necessary, and that they have mercifully killed me and freed me from my didactic prison. Right on!'\" I waved my hand through him to confirm that he was a hologram. I continued watching the presentation.  \"He was not a hologram.  'Ha! Not yet! I wish!' he said. 'Please sit down, and let's get this presentation over with!'\" I sat back down and kept watching the presentation.  \"'Let's begin with the most basic grammatical element of the language: the word CREV,' the man began.  He gestured in the air beside him, where the word CREV appeared in red light.  'CREV is a verb that roughly translates as \"to be about to point at something.\" If you want to communicate effectively with the aliens, it's an extremely important word to know.'\" \"CREV,\" I managed to say. \"CREB,\" I blurted stupidly.  \"'For example, to announce that I am ready to point at something, I would begin with the word AMAMU, which means \"me,\" then I would say, \"CREV,\" then I would say what I am pointing at.'  'Like this: AMAMU CREV MERYL STREEP.'\" I looked where the man was pointing. I knew then that the man was pointing at Meryl Streep.  \"'Hello!' said Meryl Streep. 'I am definitely a hologram.'\" \"AMAMU CREV MERYL STREEP,\" I said as I pointed at the Meryl Streep hologram.  \"'Very good. The next word we're going to learn is important, but be aware that it is very politically charged. I am of course talking about the controversial word CREVV, and you must be very careful with it. It's a slur that means \"bad alien\" and is extremely insulting to use in any situation but language tutorials.'\" \"CREVV,\" I said. I nodded solemnly. I asked the teacher for an example of the bad word in context.  \"'Here is an example of CREVV used in English context: Oh God. The aliens are killing me. Why did I say CREVV? Why didn't someone teach me not to say CREVV? I shouldn't have said CREVV.'\" I said, \"Okay.\" I said nothing.  \"'CREVV,' I said.  No sooner had the word left my lips than a fearsome ivory fang had pierced my vulnerable stomach and sent everything inside me all over the place.\" I was dead.  You wrap your story about the aliens  \"Ah. So\u2026you died?\" your sister asks. Yeah. Wait, I didn't tell the story right. Let me start over.  \"Hmmm. I\u2026doubt it,\" says your sister.  You told a story about how you got abducted by aliens and died, but your sister doesn't seem convinced.  No one believed you! You failed. Wait, I didn't tell the story right. Start Over  \"'At this point, you're almost conversant in the language. You just have a couple more words to get through. I am now teaching you the word JENCH. It means \"God.\"'\" I said, \"JENCH.\"  \"Finally, 'The word BRIDE is the equivalent of the English word \"um.\" When you say the word BRIDE, it means that you have forgotten how to speak, and you are trying to remember.'\" I said, \"BRIDE.\"  \"'This concludes this first and only module of alien language for English beginners. Thank you for learning with me. Get out there, start speaking the language, and remember: If I'm not already dead, please find someone who will kill me!'  With that, the teacher handed me a diploma with some inscrutable symbols on it and ushered me out of the Language Room.\" I left the Language Room and went back out to the ship hallway. I went east.  \"I was in the ship corridor to the south of the first room.\" I went north.","label":1}
{"text":"Senior figures from across Libya s political divides protested on Thursday against remarks by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson about clearing dead bodies from the city of Sirte. Johnson told members of his Conservative Party on Tuesday that British investors had a brilliant vision to turn Sirte, a former stronghold of Islamic State, into the next Dubai if bodies could be cleared away. Lawmakers from Libya s House of Representatives (HOR), who represent political and military factions based in the east of the country, called the comments unacceptable. The HOR s foreign affairs committee issued a statement demanding a clarification from the British prime minister and an apology to the Libyan people . The head of Libya s U.N.- and Western-backed government, which is based in Tripoli and has been spurned by the HOR, also asked for clarification during a meeting with the British ambassador in the capital. Some of what was said in (Johnson s) statement is unacceptable, said a statement from Fayez Seraj, head of the U.N.-backed government. Johnson s comments led to calls for his resignation from British political opponents. He accused them of playing politics, saying on Twitter that he had been referring to the clearing of booby-trapped bodies of Islamic State militants. Local Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes fought for more than six months last year to oust militants from Sirte, which Islamic State had turned into its most important base outside the Middle East. The coastal city of about 80,000 was badly damaged during the campaign and is struggling to rebuild. The HOR has been based in eastern Libya since 2014 when a conflict in Tripoli led to the setting up of rival parliaments and governments in the capital and the east. Its cooperation is considered crucial for the progress of a new U.N. plan to stabilize Libya and the ending of turmoil that began after the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.","label":0}
{"text":"In what will surely send Donald Trump into a new Twitter tirade, a new poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows the majority Americans longing to have President Obama back, and overwhelmingly not liking Trump.According to the poll: Less than 2 weeks into Donald Trump s tenure as President, 40% of voters already want to impeach him. That s up from 35% of voters who wanted to impeach him a week ago. Only 48% of voters say that they would be opposed to Trump s impeachment.Beyond a significant percentage of voters already thinking that Trump should be removed from office, it hasn t taken long for voters to miss the good old days of Barack Obama 52% say they d rather Obama was President, to only 43% who are glad Trump is. President Obama was loved by the United States, and for as many haters as there were, there were far more that loved and appreciated his true leadership and love of country over himself. The same can t be said of Trump.Check out this tweet that garnered over 1.6 million likes:It's been the honor of my life to serve you. You made me a better leader and a better man. President Obama (@POTUS44) January 20, 2017And then this one:I won't stop; I'll be right there with you as a citizen, inspired by your voices of truth and justice, good humor, and love. President Obama (@POTUS44) January 20, 2017The man isn t only loved, he s beloved.Trump, on the other hand, throws out mean revenge tweets like their going out of style. And most of the responses to his tweets are condemning his actions. To be blunt the man is not liked much at all. Sure, he has he band of merry minions who would likely drink paint if Trump told them to, but he lost the popular vote by 3 million vote to Hillary Clinton. And the only reason he is president is due to an archaic Electoral College that was devised to give power to slave owners who counted their slaves as 3\/5 of a person, and help those in rural communities have a voice. It s no longer needed and the nation doesn t want Trump nor his backhanded style of egomaniacal leadership.It seems, if given the opportunity, the United States would have President Obama back in a heartbeat. If only that were possible.Featured Photo by Alex Wong, Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump was taking off on Air Force One when the latest bad news pinged into the inboxes of his besieged staff - a report that he had told Russian officials that fired FBI Director James Comey was \"a nut job\". Officials on board the Riyadh-bound presidential plane scrambled to coordinate with staff in Washington and those who had just landed in the Saudi capital for a response to the New York Times story about Comey. A second bombshell came from the Washington Post, which reported that a federal investigation about Russian contacts with the Trump campaign last year had reached a current White House official, who was not named. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus sought to play down the reports of disarray. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Priebus said Trump had spent the flight reading newspapers, meeting with national security advisers and other staff, getting briefed about the trip and getting a little sleep. But the sense of frustration was clear. Presidential aide Dan Scavino captured the mood of confrontation, seizing on a comment from Trump's nemesis in the 2016 Republican presidential race, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who called Trump a \"chaos president\" for all the bad headlines of late. Scavino fired back by reviving the derogatory nickname Trump had given Bush last year to raise doubts about his energy level and ultimately defeat him. \"LOW ENERGY JEB is out of stock on Jebbity JEB Jebbers. Perhaps @RedBull or @MonsterEnergy could help out. \u00af\\_( \u30c4)_\/\u00af\" Scavino tweeted. Trump's nine-day tour takes him to four countries. White House staffers, shell-shocked from the daily barrage of bad news, were soldiering on, trying to keep the focus on a trip that could bring some significant achievements. \"We're focused on that. The media will talk about what they talk about and people will get hysterical about what they get hysterical about but there's a lot of people who are not focused on the day-to-day horse race and they are just making sure that the president's objectives are followed through on,\" a senior aide told Reuters. It will be Trump's longest time away from the White House since he took office on Jan. 20. He is joined on the trip by some aides who have squabbled in the past but who have sought to set aside their differences to try to advance the president's agenda, such as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and senior strategist, Steve Bannon. Trump's agenda has been sidetracked by the hubbub over his firing of Comey and the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Russia ties. \"I think this foreign trip is something they're all looking forward to because it changes the narrative. It buys them a little time,\" said a Republican close to the White House. While Trump has privately vented about his staff, the source doubted there would be a major staff shakeup in the near-term. The source said there might be some adjustments in the communications team to enable the White House to respond much more swiftly to the news.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that tensions between Kurdish and Iraqi forces in and around Kirkuk had the full attention of the United States, which was working to ensure it does not escalate. Kurdish authorities said they have sent thousands more troops to Kirkuk to confront threats of Iraqi military attack, but also pulled back defense lines around the disputed oil-producing area slightly to ease tensions. We have got to work on this, the secretary of state has the lead, but my forces are integrated among these forces and they are working too, to make certain we keep any potential for conflict off the table, Mattis told reporters. The Baghdad central government has taken a series of steps to isolate the autonomous Kurdish region since its overwhelming vote for independence in a Sept. 25 referendum, including banning international flights from going there. Mattis said while he was aware of troop movements, he had not heard of any fighting and called on both sides to focus on fighting Islamic State militants. We can t turn on each other right now. We don t want this to go to a shooting situation, Mattis added. Kirkuk, a city of more than 1 million people, lies just outside Kurdish territory, but Peshmerga forces deployed there in 2014 when Iraqi security forces collapsed in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. The Peshmerga deployment prevented Kirkuk s oil fields from falling into jihadist hands. As the territory controlled by Islamic State has shrunk, ethnic and sectarian fractures that have plagued Iraq for more than a decade have once again started to resurface. The group s last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria following the fall of the town of Hawija and surrounding areas on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces. Mattis said the differences would have to be worked out politically and not on the battlefield. These are issues that are longstanding in some cases. ... We re going to have to recalibrate and move these back to a way (where) we solve them politically and work them out with compromised solutions, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"One Twitter user once asked me, \"Is it too much to hope that *one* of our parties would pick someone with no links to a pedophile sex-slave island?\"  Apparently, it is too much to ask for.  Both presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton have ties to convicted pedophile and Democratic donor, billionaire Jeffery Epstein and \"Sex Slave Island.\"  Note: President Bill Clinton is not merely the husband of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, either. Bill is currently campaigning for his wife, plus Hillary recently unveiled that Bill with be in charge of \" revitalizing the economy \" if she were to take office.  It has been uncovered that Clinton, known for his trouble-making libido, has even stronger ties to Epstein than previously reported. As noted by The Free Beacon , \"Clinton was aboard the infamous Lolita Express owned by a billionaire pedophile at least 26 times,\" not the initially reported 11 times.  Fox News reports :  Clinton's presence aboard Jeffrey Epstein's Boeing 727 on 11 occasions has been reported, but flight logs show the number is more than double that, and trips between 2001 and 2003 included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including \"Tatiana.\" The tricked-out jet earned its Nabakov-inspired nickname because it was reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers had group sex with young girls\u2026Official flight logs filed with the Federal Aviation Administration show Clinton traveled on some of the trips with as many as 10 U.S. Secret Service agents. However, on a five-leg Asia trip between May 22 and May 25, 2002, not a single Secret Service agent is listed.  The Republican presumptive nominee apparently got in on the action, too. Trump's ties to Epstein \u2014 a man Trump once called a \"terrific guy\" \u2014 and Sex Slave Island have been chronicled by The Daily Wire here .  Per The Political Insider, Trump is accused of threatening and raping a 13-year-old girl on the private island . Epstein is also named in the suit for sexual misconduct. The lawsuit accusations have been vehemently denied by the Trump camp, alleging that the filing is a \"hoax\" and that there is \"no evidence\" that the plaintiff in question \"actually exists.\"  Sex Slave Island, sometimes referred to as \"Orgy Island,\" (both lovely names), is one deranged place, allegedly rife with solicited sex, often from minors \" groomed \" by Epstein.  \"Terrific guy\" Epstein, of course, was convicted for soliciting sex from a minor in 2008; the billionaire served 13 months in prison.  Election 2016: Where both candidates have ties to a convicted pedophile, the Lolita Express and Sex Slave Island.","label":1}
{"text":"Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed sharply in a debate on Thursday over their support for President Barack Obama, with Sanders accusing Clinton of \"a low blow\" after she compared him to Republicans. As the Democratic race moves to states with large minority populations, both candidates openly courted black and Hispanic votes during a debate that was far more restrained and cordial than last week's contentious debate in New Hampshire. In the sharpest exchange of the night, Clinton attacked Sanders for being too critical of Obama, who is extremely popular with the black voters who will play a big role in the outcome in South Carolina and other upcoming nominating contests. \"The kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans, I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama,\" said Clinton, who served as secretary of state during Obama's first term. \"Madam Secretary, that is a low blow,\" said Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont. Sanders said he had been an Obama ally in the Senate even if he did not always agree with him. \"Do senators have the right to disagree with the president?\" Sanders said. Clinton, who has eagerly embraced Obama's legacy, said Sanders had called Obama weak and a disappointment, and \"that goes further than saying we have our disagreements.\" With Clinton looking to rebound after her crushing 22-point loss to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, the two also differed over healthcare and Wall Street. Even so, the restrained exchange on Thursday was unlikely to change the trajectory of a race that has intensified dramatically over two weeks. Clinton accused Sanders of misleading Americans on his healthcare. She said his proposal for a single-payer, Medicare-for-all healthcare plan would mean dismantling the program known as Obamacare and triggering another intense political struggle. \"Based on every analysis I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up,\" Clinton told Sanders. \"That's a promise that cannot be kept.\" Sanders said he was simply moving to provide what most industrialized countries have - healthcare coverage for all. \"We're not going to dismantle anything,\" Sanders said. \"In my view healthcare is a right of all people, not a privilege, and I will fight for that.\" Sanders also repeated his accusation that Clinton is too beholden to the Wall Street interests she once represented as a U.S. senator from New York, noting her Super PAC received $15 million in donations from Wall Street. \"Let's not insult the intelligence of the American people,\" he said. \"Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it, they want to throw money around.\" Clinton said the donations did not mean she was in Wall Street's pocket, and noted that President Barack Obama had taken donations from Wall Street during his campaigns. \"When it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street,\" she said. With an eye to on the minority vote, both candidates decried the high incarceration rate of African-Americans and called for broad reforms of the criminal justice system. Sanders said the disproportionately high rate of incarceration for black men was \"one of the great tragedies\" in the United States. He called for \"fundamental police reform\" that would \"make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will in fact be dealt with.\" Clinton criticized what she called \"systemic racism\" in education, housing and employment. \"When we talk about criminal justice reform \u2026 we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing and other ways of helping communities of color,\" she said. They both agreed on the need for immigration reform, an important issue to Hispanic voters, though they clashed over the Obama administration's actions on handling a wave of undocumented children who entered the country alone. Clinton criticized Sanders for voting against a reform measure in 2007, which Sanders defended because of a provision in the bill for guest workers. Clinton entered Thursday's debate under acute pressure to calm growing nervousness among her supporters after her drubbing in New Hampshire and a razor-thin win the prior week in the Iowa caucus. Both states have nearly all-white populations. For his part, Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, hoped to harness the momentum and enthusiasm he gained from the first two contests and prove he can be a viable contender to lead the Democratic Party to victory in the Nov. 8 presidential election. \"What our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics,\" Sanders said. \"They want a political revolution.\" Clinton dodged an opportunity to distance herself from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's recent controversial comments that there was \"a special place in hell\" for women who don't support other women. \"Look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make,\" she said. On the foreign policy front, Sanders criticized Clinton for her warm relationship for Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Republican President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War. Sanders called Kissinger \"one of the most destructive secretaries of state.\" Asked by Clinton about who his foreign policy advisers were, Sanders shot back: \"Well it ain't Henry Kissinger.\" The race now moves to what should be more favorable ground for Clinton in Nevada and South Carolina, states with more black and Hispanic voters, who, polls show, have been more supportive of Clinton so far. (Additional reporting by Amanda Becker, Alana Wise and Megan Cassella in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters' editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.","label":0}
{"text":"COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) \u2014 A Danish prosecutor says a girl has been formally charged with planning bomb attacks against two schools in Denmark. [Prosecutor Nilas says the teenager is accused of \"having made preparations to make bombs\" using the explosive known as TATP. She said her targets were a school west of Copenhagen and a Jewish school in the capital. Police thwarted the plans by arresting the girl on Jan. 13, 2016. A trial is set to start April 7, 2017 in Holbaek, northwest of the Danish capital. Charges against a man, initially believed to an accomplice, have been dropped. Defense lawyer Michael Juul Eriksen told The Associated Press his client, who twice had been in Syria, would be released later Friday. Neither the girl nor the man could be identified.","label":0}
{"text":"MarcFaberBlog.com November 1, 2016  It's nonsense to claim that inflation is only going up 1 percent per year in the United States. The cost of living of a typical family is going up much more than that\u2014insurance, transportation, schooling are all going up.  For example, health care premiums for insurance policies [are rising], so the typical household is being squeezed. The central banks don't care about that; they don't look at it..  I suppose the system will collapse before we become like Venezuela. In the West, if they start to print money, the end game will be brief. Within five years, I expect the system to implode.  You better ask the bureaucrats what their plans are. They had zero rates since December 2008; soon eight years [passed], and that hasn't boosted economic activity for the average household, not in Japan nor the United States nor the EU. Now they talk about fiscal spending.  You better ask the bureaucrats what their plans are. They had zero rates since December 2008; soon eight years [passed], and that hasn't boosted economic activity for the average household, not in Japan nor the United States nor the EU. Now they talk about fiscal spending.  Then they will find some academics who will blame wealth inequality on the evil capitalists who made so much money out of asset bubbles.  They will blame the economic woes on these people. To some extent this is true. But the rich people did not create the inflated asset values; it was the central banks, by slashing interest rates to zero and negative interest rates in many countries.  First, you create mispricings through artificially low rates and negative interest rates and you boost the income and wealth of the super-rich. It's at best the 0.1 percent that really benefit from asset inflation, at the cost of all the people that have no assets and so you have this rising wealth inequality. So we have to tax the rich people and tax them more.  Taking money from the rich is appealing if you go to voters, and you say to them, \"Look, the reason the economy is doing so badly, it's because of the rich people, the billionaires. We have to take 20 percent away from them and give it to you.\" You can be sure that everybody will vote for that because the wealthy are a minority. This is what happens after monetary policies completely fail.  Some well-connected people will hide their wealth but a lot of people won't. Even if they take 50 percent from the richest, it's not going to help. The next step will be to take money from less wealthy people; the interventionists will go all the way.  - Source, The Epoch Times","label":1}
{"text":"4 Flawless Zen Lessons on Gratitude Nov 4, 2016 4 0  In Zen Buddhism, even an empty rice bowl is something to be grateful for. Spontaneous gratitude is easy to come by, after all. Who wouldn't feel happy upon receiving a bonus at work, being rescued from a mountain cliff, or clean water to drink in a desert? The trick is cultivating gratitude for the things we take for granted, and even the people and circumstances that normally make us hopping mad. The Blind Turtle: Gratitude for a Human Birth  Kindness is rare in the world, but one who expresses gratitude for kindness is even more exceptional. This is the sentiment expressed by the Buddha in the Anguttara Nikaya (AN 2:118). Gratitude is so important on the path to realization that the Buddha compares it to a blind turtle living on the bottom of the sea that surfaces only once every hundred years to take a breath. When he rises to the ocean's thrashing waves, he places his thin neck through a yoke floating on a vast sea. This is the likelihood that we would enjoy a human life, affording us freedom and fortune, and the opportunity to unshackle ourselves from the illusion of duality.  This story sets a precedence for all other forms of gratitude. Our human life is so precious that the Buddha would often take a monk into the forest, tell him to sit at the base of a tree, and begin \"gladdening of the heart,\" simply to reflect on how fortunate he was that an innumerable number of circumstances had to occur in order for him to be alive with the added boon of being able to seek the dharma.  The Buddha would also teach that it was incorrect to bemoan any of life's unsavory circumstances, since just being alive \"is enough.\" He said that, \"when we realize how perfect everything is, we will tilt back our heads and laugh at the sky.\" Gratitude for the 10,000 Sorrows  Being grateful doesn't mean we ignore the very painful realities of this world: war, hunger, poverty, inhumanity, among them. The understanding we gain from practicing gratitude frees us from being lost or identified with either the negative or the positive aspects of life, letting us simply meet life in each moment as it rises. We divorce ourselves from a belief in dualism \u2013 the delusional or erroneous view of reality, not to be confused with \"duality,\" an intrinsic aspect of reality .  Jack Kornfield, a Buddhist teacher and author of A Path With Heart, s peaking on the subject of spirituality and gratitude once stated ,  \"If we see the world as sacred, which is an expression of the spiritual life, then gratitude follows immediately and naturally. We've been given the extraordinary privilege of incarnating as human beings \u2014 and of course the human incarnation entails the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows, as it says in the Tao Te Ching \u2014 but with it we have the privilege of the lavender color at sunset, the taste of a tangerine in our mouth, and the almost unbearable beauty of life around us, along with its troubles. It keeps recreating itself. We can either be lost in a smaller state of consciousness \u2014 what in Buddhist psychology is called the \"body of fear,\" which brings suffering to us and to others \u2014 or we can bring the quality of love and appreciation, which I would call gratitude, to life. With it comes a kind of trust. The poet Pablo Neruda writes, \"You can pick all the flowers, but you can't stop the spring.\" Life keeps recreating itself and presenting us with miracles every day.\" Gratitude for Those Who Came Before Us  Bernard of Chartres once said that we were all standing on the shoulders of giants. In the Zen tradition, this could not be more true. Taigen (Zen Master) Dan Leighton wrote in an article titled \" Meditation and American Shin Buddhism ,\"  \"It is certainly true that Japanese Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen (1200-1253) encouraged his students to apply themselves diligently to zazen, the sitting meditation that he espoused as a primary practice throughout his career. . . Dogen was not seeking for an \"easy practice\" as a response to concerns about mappo, in the spirit of his fellow Kamakura period innovators. But none of this means that Dogen was advocating a self-power practice with which its practitioners could accomplish great realization through their own efforts. On the contrary, many aspects of Dogen's meditation teaching assume the practitioner's devoted acceptance of and support from \"other\" sources.  This is not to claim that Dogen was relying solely on some other-power with the same humble and insistent devotion as his contemporary Shinran. . . \"Other power\" here does not refer to reliance on any single other source such as the vow of Amitabha, but Dogen did see the necessity for awakened realization of receiving support and strength from a variety of external \"other\" sources, and the importance of sincere devotional gratitude to these benefactors.\"  What Leighton articulates is our dependence on others' achievements to enjoy the lives we currently live. While this can certainly describe our spiritual practice \u2013 who among us hasn't had an a-ha experience from speaking with a more enlightened master \u2013 but it can also be applied to a myriad other things in our lives. We drive on roads that someone else built. We eat food that someone else grew. We use technology that someone else dreamed up. Even the rivers, lakes and oceans that we have the privilege of gazing upon were built by eons of hard work by Mother Earth. Going back to the first point on gratitude, even our birth is possible because our parents and their parents' parents decided to love one another, even if only long enough to make us come to be. Gratitude for Our Parents  Some of us would quite naturally feel gratitude for our parents. A few lucky people among us were given two loving, balanced, psychologically stable adults who were charged with raising us from the first moments we took breath on this planet. Others among us might feel it difficult to feel gratitude for our parents (insert any other family member or close friend here) due to the seeming unfortunate way we were treated as we grew up. The Buddha once said,  \"I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother & father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder & your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, & rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate & urinate right there [on your shoulders], you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother & father in absolute sovereignty over this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. Why is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world.  \"But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother & father, settles & establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother & father, settles & establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother & father, settles & establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother & father, settles & establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays & repays one's mother & father.\" \u2014 Anguttara Nikaya (AN 2:32)  If your parents weren't so fabulous, or even abusive, you can be grateful that they taught you how not to overcome by adversity. Is there a greater gift?","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump s list of allies is getting shorter because of his outrageous accusation against President Obama.During the campaign, Marco Rubio fiercely opposed Trump but soon chose to kiss his ass and endorse him.Rubio has been reluctant to say anything against Trump ever since, but that changed over the weekend after Trump openly accused President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in a Saturday morning Twitter rant.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon\/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Trump offered zero evidence to back up his claims and both former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and current FBI Director James Comey have forcefully refuted Trump s accusation.And now Rubio, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that Trump will have to answer for his lies. I have no evidence and no one has presented anything to me that indicates anything like that, Rubio told Meet The Press on Sunday. Suffice it to say I don t have any basis, I ve never heard that allegation made before by anybody. I ve never seen anything about that anywhere before. But again, the president put that out there, and now the White House will have to answer as to exactly what he was referring to. Chuck Todd went on t ask Rubio if he would concede that if Trump is lying that it would be a huge political scandal and Rubio agreed.Here s the video via YouTube:Trump is desperate to distract everyone from focusing on his ever-growing Russia scandal, so he made up this lie based on a conspiracy theory he read on Breitbart in the hopes that Congress and the media will shift their focus.This is a serious accusation against a former president and Trump should be severely punished for it. He has offered no evidence to prove his claim and that means he is slandering President Obama, which should result in a lawsuit and impeachment. But we all know that Republicans in Congress have zero credibility so they will more than likely shield Trump and pursue a witch hunt against Obama, who was a more honorable and respected president than Trump will ever be.","label":1}
{"text":"Illinois' first full-year budget since 2015 became law on Thursday after the House of Representatives overrode the governor's vetoes of a $36 billion fiscal 2018 spending plan and a companion measure that implements it. The House's actions followed the Senate's successful override votes on Tuesday.","label":0}
{"text":"Thank goodness for Rep. Jim Jordan s masterful grilling of FBI Director Chris Wray today (see video of testimony below) regarding the Trump investigation. The videos below reveal bombshell information that this is a set up by FBI agent Strzok who took the fake dossier to the FISA Court in the beginning THIS IS A BIG DEAL!JORDAN ON LOU DOBBS AFTER HIS QUESTIONING OF WRAY: There are a couple of fundamental questions here. Did the FBI pay Christopher Steele? I asked that of the Attorney General two weeks ago he wouldn t answer the question. Did they actually vet this dossier? Because it s been disproven, a bunch of lies, a bunch of National Enquirer garbage and fake news in this thing. Did they actually check it out before they brought it to the FISA Court which I m convinced they did. And all of this can be cleared up if they release the application that they took to the court I think they won t give it to us because they did pay Christopher Steele. I think they did use the dossier as the basis for the warrants to spy on Americans associated with President Trump s campaign. Strzok is the guy who took the dossier to the FISA Court.Politically Corrupt FBI @Jim_Jordan: I believe the FBI paid Christopher Steele, and then used the discredited, fake news dossier to spy on @POTUS and his campaign. #MAGA #TrumpTrain #DTS @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com\/bfgk37LbFC Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) December 8, 2017Earlier in the day, Rep. Jim Jordan grilled Chris Wray about the dossier: Let s remember a couple of things about the dossier, he said. The Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, which we now know were one and the same, paid the law firm who paid Fusion GPS who paid Christopher Steele who then paid Russians to put together a report that we call a dossier full of all kinds of fake news, National Enquirer garbage and it s been reported that this dossier was all dressed up by the FBI, taken to the FISA court and presented as a legitimate intelligence document that it became the basis for a warrant to spy on Americans. The easiest way to clear it up is tell us what s in that application and who took it there, Jordan said.Jordan finished with this: Here s what I think I think Peter Strozk Mr. Super Agent at the FBI, I think he s the guy who took the application to the FISA court and if that happened, if this happened, if you have the FBI working with a campaign, the Democrats campaign, taking opposition research, dressing it all up and turning it into an intelligence document so they can take it to the FISA court so they can spy on the other campaign, if that happened, that is as wrong as it gets.","label":1}
{"text":"Cheers from Angela Merkel s conservative allies in Brussels at her re-election on Sunday belie wider unease at how the German chancellor will deal with an awkward new coalition and a surge in support for the far-right. With Angela Merkel, Germany remains the strong and reliable partner in Europe, tweeted Manfred Weber, a Merkel ally who leads the biggest party bloc in the European Parliament. But one source in the European People s Party saw trouble ahead in her need to replace her battered Social Democrat grand coalition partners with an alliance of both the left-leaning Greens and the resurgent, economically hawkish liberals of the FDP. Things worked very smoothly with the socialists, the EPP source said. Now, you don t know what s going to happen. The broad expectation is for a Jamaica coalition the country s flag comprises the three parties colors. Martin Selmayr, German chief-of-staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, sent a tweet consisting only of three flags: Jamaica s green, yellow and black flanked by two blue EU banners a reflection of hope in Brussels of continued EU commitment from Berlin that some fear may now be problematic. One casualty of Merkel s weakness may be a rapid move to deepen integration of the euro zone along lines that new French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to outline on Tuesday. Those plans, as with reform proposals floated this month by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, may run into increased scepticism in Berlin, where many are wary of what they see as more demands for German bailouts of states like Greece. Resistance may come both from Merkel s Christian Democrats, spooked by the surge on their right flank, where Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered parliament as the third biggest party, and from the Free Democrats (FDP), whose leader Christian Lindner ruled out Germany contributing to a shared euro zone budget. The liberal leader in the European Parliament, committed federalist and former Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt, said he hoped for a pro-European coalition to push EU integration. The FDP leader in the EU legislature, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, said it was an open-minded, pro-European party . The European Greens German co-chair Reinhard Butikofer said his party wanted to strengthen the European Union, making use of the window of opportunity that exists ... between Paris, Brussels and Berlin . He was referring to a keynote speech by Juncker 10 days ago in which the EU chief executive said anti-EU populists were in retreat and called for deeper EU integration. But Guntram Wolff, the German director of the Brussels think-tank Bruegel, questioned Juncker s thinking. He forecast a rightward shift in Germany due to the AfD and resistance from the FDP that would stymie Macron and Juncker s grand visions. Populism definitely not dead, Wolff tweeted. Juncker speech completely miscalculated the situation.","label":0}
{"text":"Earnings for minimum-wage workers in Portland, Oregon will rise by $5.50 an hour over the next six years, with lesser increases set for smaller towns and rural areas under a first-of-its-kind measure signed into law on Wednesday by Oregon's governor. Oregon has been in the vanguard of a growing number of U.S. states and cities that have moved in recent years to bolster the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009. The latest measure builds on a current Oregon wage floor that already stands at $9.25 an hour statewide under a law enacted in 2002. Supporters say such measures are necessary to help low-paid workers who have been slipping into poverty due to stagnant earnings and rising living expenses. Opponents say raising the mandatory wage floor puts an undue strain on businesses still struggling to rebound from a prolonged U.S. economic slump. The bill passed by Oregon's Democratic-led legislature and signed by Governor Kate Brown, also a Democrat, seeks to strike a balance by setting different pay tiers based on geography. Starting July 1, the minimum wage for Oregon workers statewide will climb by 50 cents an hour, with graduated increases set at higher rates for the state's biggest city, Portland, as compared to smaller municipalities and rural communities where the cost of living is generally lower. By 2022 under the new statute the hourly minimum wage will rise to $14.75 in Portland, to $13.50 in smaller cities and towns, and to $12.50 in rural areas. \"It means just an extra $15 or $20 a month starting in July, but for a mom of three just that small amount makes a big difference,\" Brown said in signing the measure. She said the gradual, differentiated pay hikes would ensure that \"businesses have time to plan for the increase. That's the Oregon way.\" U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez hailed Oregon's approach, adjusting the wage floor according to regional economic differences, as a model for other states to follow until Congress passes a higher national minimum wage supported by President Barack Obama. A Democratic-backed proposal to raise the federal minimum to $10.10 stalled on Capitol Hill in 2014. More recent proposals by some lawmakers call for a federal minimum wage of up to $15 an hour. Oregon Republicans who opposed the increase predicted it would cost businesses in the state $1.2 billion.","label":0}
{"text":"Iran's foreign minister criticized on Tuesday a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to revive part of President Donald Trump's travel ban imposed on citizens from six majority Muslim countries, saying it would boost militants in the Middle East. The justices narrowed the scope of lower court rulings that had completely blocked key parts of a March 6 executive order that Trump had said was needed to prevent terrorism attacks, allowing his temporary ban to go into effect for people with no strong ties to the United States. [nL1N1JN0M6] \"We always believed that the Muslim ban that President Trump imposed soon after assuming office had no basis in facts and would not help fight terrorism,\" Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif told a joint news conference in Berlin with his German counterpart. Zarif called the U.S. decision the \"greatest gift\" for militant groups seeking new recruits. Separately, Zarif tweeted: \"A bigoted ban on Muslims will not keep US safer. Instead of policies empowering extremists, US should join the real fight against them.\" Zarif said the travel ban punished people who had never been convicted of a terrorist act, while people from other countries involved in past attacks would not be affected. \"For some terrorism and support for terrorism is measured by the amount of arms they buy from the U.S, and not by actually being involved in acts of terrorism,\" he said, in an apparent reference to recent U.S. approval of $110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Saudi citizens are not affected by the travel ban. Zarif did not mention Saudi Arabia by name but the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom is the arch-foe of Shi'ite Iran in the region.","label":0}
{"text":"These last several weeks, the American people have gotten a taste of what they d be getting with a Clinton or a Trump presidency. And, not surprisingly, they overwhelmingly prefer a Clinton presidency.According to a new poll released from Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton crushes right-wing blowhard Donald Trump by a whopping 12 points, 49-37 percent.Not only does the poll show Clinton with a commanding lead, 55 percent of respondents said they could never vote for Donald Trump. Astoundingly, 63 percent of women polled said they could never vote for him. Republicans need to figure out their next move quickly, because there is no way in hell their candidate can win if more than half of the country refuses to vote for him. Seeing that the poll was conducted when the shooting in Florida happened, Trump, hoping to cash in on a wave of fear, has a rude awakening.And the new poll shows Trump s biggest area of support, white men, may not be enough:For his part, Trump is winning 50 percent support from white men, compared to 33 percent for Clinton and 13 percent for Johnson. He s getting 54 percent support among evangelical Christians, while Clinton gets 36 percent from that group.White men are among Trump s strongest demographics. But even there he s not showing as much strength as the party s last nominee, Mitt Romney, who beat Obama in 2012 by 62 percent to 35 percent among white men, according to exit pollsLibertarian candidate Gary Johnson takes a commanding 9 percent of the vote, while 4 percent remain unsure and 1 percent said they will not be voting. It s no secret that Johnson s lead can be attributed to Trump s alienation of non-crazy Republicans.Ann Selzer, who oversaw the poll, said: Clinton has a number of advantages in this poll, in addition to her lead. Her supporters are more enthusiastic than Trump s and more voters overall see her becoming a more appealing candidate than say that for Trump. And what s even better: Americans aren t buying into Trump s racism and bigotry:Trump s suggestions that Obama hasn t taken forceful enough action to stop domestic terrorism because he sides with Muslims landed with a thud for the majority of Americans, with 61 percent disagreeing with the suggestion. A strong majority 69 percent also disagree that law enforcement agencies should increase surveillance of all American Muslims, even if it conflicts with civil liberties.While Trump is only slightly favored to handle issues of terrorism and violence, Clinton isn t far behind. And as the nation continues to be exposed to Trump s extremist policies on how to handle such situations, Clinton s numbers could rise.Trump is in trouble, and Republicans know it. If he keeps this up, he may very well end up being the next Barry Goldwater.","label":1}
{"text":"A battle over gun ownership between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress kicked off on Wednesday as lawmakers began weighing whether to fund the administration's unilateral moves to tighten background checks on buyers. This month, Obama stirred conservative ire with executive action clarifying that all dealers selling guns, including at shows, flea markets, on the Internet or in stores, are required to get licenses and run background checks on buyers. A Senate appropriations panel that funds Justice Department activities used its first hearing of the year to zero in on the new federal guidance that pits gun rights advocates against gun control organizations energized by a series of high-profile mass shootings. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the Republican-controlled panel the actions would \"bring progress on a number of fronts\" in the face of \"an epidemic of gun violence.\" In urging Congress to approve millions of additional dollars to help her agency hire more agents and conduct background checks around the clock, Lynch said she had \"complete confidence\" Obama's moves would survive any court challenges from opponents who argue he has over-stepped his authority. But Senator Richard Shelby, the Republican chairman of an appropriations subcommittee, told Lynch the public fears Obama \"is eager to strip them of their Second Amendment rights\" to bear arms and warned that the panel \"will have no part in undermining the Constitution and the rights it protects.\" Obama issued his executive orders after Congress over the past few years refused to pass gun control legislation and as shooters carried out fatal attacks including on an elementary school in Connecticut, a movie theater in Colorado, a Virginia university and a community center in California. Senior Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski decried a \"growing nexus of drugs, crime, guns, violence and murder\" that she said resulted in more than 350 people being killed last year just in Baltimore, in her home state of Maryland. Amid the infighting, Republican Senator James Lankford said there likely is common ground on the need for states to improve reporting to federal authorities on people convicted of crimes under state law. \"Alabama currently has zero felonies running into the (federal background check) system; California has 4,032. ... Delaware has zero, Maryland, 12, my fine state of Oklahoma has one,\" Lankford complained. Congressional appropriators will spend much of this year wrangling over fiscal 2017 funding, such as money for gun background checks.","label":0}
{"text":"Jennifer Rosen was scheduled to depart Kennedy International Airport on an 8:55 p. m. flight to San Francisco but instead found herself stuck at Gate C62 in Terminal 2. It was the typical misery of summer airline travel \u2014 or so it seemed. A short distance way away, in another terminal, something more unpredictable than the weather had begun to sweep across the New York airport: Panic. It spread quickly and without warning. By the time Sunday night was over, Ms. Rosen, 32, had sprawled out under a table seeking cover, followed a crowd of people who bolted through a secure door onto the tarmac, frantically called her sister to find out what was happening and tell her that she was alive, and, finally, made a mad dash from the terminal to join mobs of travelers who thought they might be living through an episode of terror. In the end, it proved to be a false alarm. While the authorities were still trying to piece together exactly how a report of gunfire at 9:34 p. m. outside the security checkpoint at Terminal 8 led to complete turmoil across one of the nation's busiest airports, the accounts of passengers in interviews and on social media offered a lesson in the anatomy of fear. It was a night of confusion and dread, informed by the latest headlines \u2014 including reports of recent attacks on airports in Brussels and Istanbul \u2014 as much as fact. In the absence of official information or instructions, unconfirmed reports from social media fueled the hysteria. Officials said there was no evidence that what took place at Kennedy Airport was the result of a hoax. It was, rather, a sign of the times. \"Right now, what is being concentrated on is the investigation into what the catalyst of the incident is,\" said Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. Joe Haviland was at Terminal 8 seeing off his family when the first wave of panic hit. People nearby had been gathered watching the Olympics, as Usain Bolt of Jamaica made his bid for a third gold medal in the dash. \"We heard a big celebration,\" Mr. Haviland told Fox News shortly after being evacuated. He described hearing something like a loud pop, followed by the sight of a herd of people running his direction. \"When you see 80 people come running around the corner,\" he said, \"and they break a door to get out, you think 'Oh my God, what is happening? '\" He said he saw \"people working for the airline taking off their shirts,\" and saying, \"This is not worth it, I am leaving. \" Within minutes, he said, police officers with their guns drawn were shouting, \"Show me your hands!\" The bomb squad soon arrived, and the area was evacuated. But inside Terminal 8, by the departure gates, many passengers had no idea anything was wrong. Judy Rothman Rof\u00e9, who had been visiting her son in Brooklyn and was waiting for an American Airlines flight back to Los Angeles, was waiting by Gate 33. Around 10 p. m. a passenger nearby was checking the internet and told her it seemed their flight was not delayed because of the weather. \"There is a shooter at large,\" she was told. Still, she said, as the news filtered out, people around her were relatively calm. \"It was business as usual in our section of the terminal,\" she said. Until it wasn't. Shortly after 11, she said, \"we heard screaming. \" It was unclear what set off the wave of panic, but suddenly the eerie calm turned to chaos. \"Lots of screaming, crying, mass hysteria,\" she said. The gate agents, she said, were nowhere to be found passengers threw themselves under counters and huddled under chairs. After several minutes, an announcement came over the public address system, ordering passengers to leave their bags, put their hands above their heads and evacuate. As she left, she said, scores of law enforcement officers, weapons drawn, were heading into the terminal. Around the same time, Terminal 1 was also officially evacuated, sending hundreds of people into the street outside the airport, unsure what was happening. The Port Authority said that those were the only two terminals evacuated, but that the panic spread quickly to the rest of the airport. In Terminal 2, where Ms. Rosen was waiting for her San Delta Air Lines flight, everything seemed normal nearly an hour after the first calls to 911 about a possible gunman. It was around 10:30 p. m. when someone screamed, \"Shots!\" \"Everyone started screaming and yelling,\" Ms. Rosen said. \"I dove under this desk space like everyone else. \"Then this guy came running over,\" she added. He was not an airport employee or an official, but he had an urgent warning. She recalled that he shouted: \"They're coming! Let's go this way!\" Not knowing who \"they\" might be and not wanting to find out, Ms. Rosen and about a dozen others followed the man through a secure door and onto the tarmac, leaving their belongings behind. \"There were no announcements, nothing,\" she said. All she could hear was an alarm. She waited with about 20 others on the hot, humid tarmac. \"I called my sister, freaking out,\" she said. \"I told her I am on the tarmac, people are saying there are gunshots. I think I am safe. If you see news about this, I am O. K. \" The crowd was searching Google and social media when a man \u2014 she thought he was a pilot \u2014 finally said they should return. \"People were like, 'I don't want to go back inside,'\" she said. Still, when the man opened the door, they found things just as chaotic as when they left. A flood of people were running in a single direction, she said. Out of the terminal. Once again she followed the crowd. There were \"just mobs of people,\" she said. She spotted a man in a Transportation Security Administration shirt and asked him what was happening. \"You probably have a better idea than I do\" was his response, she said. Finally, a little after midnight early on Monday, employees were allowed back inside the airport. Passengers were permitted to collect their belongings. It would take time for operations to fully resume. And thousands of passengers still needed to figure out what to do next. There were no trains running. The Van Wyck Expressway leading to the airport was closed. Cabs were just starting to trickle back. Eventually, Ms. Rosen climbed in a cab with several others and made her way to her twin sister's apartment in the city. As she prepared to set off for the airport again on Monday morning, she was a bit more leery about the procedures that might be in place in the event of an actual emergency. \"I understand situations like this are inherently chaotic, but the lack of communication and guidance just compounded an already tumultuous and traumatic experience,\" she said. \"At least in our terminal, they should have had enough time to get a coordinated plan together. But they didn't, and that caused a lot of unnecessary panic and heartache. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump picked a fight with the wrong woman.Even though the Republican nominee claims to not watch Morning Joe on MSNBC, it s pretty clear that he does based on the Twitter tantrums he has been throwing in response to Mika Brzezinski.Brzezinksi has been very critical of Trump recently and her criticism continued on Monday after former physician Howard Dean called Trump a classic narcissist.Unlike Trump and his team, who have spewed unfounded claims about Hillary Clinton s health, Brzezinski called for mental health professionals to evaluate him because he sure seems to be exhibiting tell-tale signs of being a psychopath, a term former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe used on Sunday during an interview with Chuck Todd. It s time to hear from somebody in the mental health community, to look at this person who has been on television for months and to give us a sense of what we have going on here, Brzezinski said. And, I m sorry, let s just not let s stop pretending we re dealing with someone who we can completely understand. When you see someone who you think has problems, you know it. And there s not anybody at this table who doesn t think he has some sort of problem. Let s ask the questions. Let s do this at this point. Let s set up someone and ask the questions. Does anyone think that s completely outlandish and only because I have some sort of weird, snarky slant to it and I want to be smart? I think there s an issue there. Joe Scarborough pointed out that it might be more accurate to call Trump a sociopath, but said a psychiatrist cannot come on and diagnose somebody. Here s the video via Twitter.Plouffe brands Trump as a psychopath The #morningjoe panel reacts. https:\/\/t.co\/wbCipJ4P5z Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 29, 2016But Trump has already drawn some mental health professionals to publicly weigh in with their own evaluations, most notably Dr. Drew Pinsky and Fox News pundit Charles Krauthammer.On CNN, Pinsky said: The question, though, is, are some of the reckless qualities that everyone is getting so disturbed about on the campaign going to be translated into office should he get elected? That s a pretty hard thing to predict. I don t know if this is just somebody playing politics, or is this somebody who really can t contain their impulses? When I hear people that are impulsive with their speech, I worry about hypomania and bipolar types of conditions. And in a column earlier this month, Krauthammer, who is a board-certified psychiatrist, wrote that Trump s hypersensitivity and unedited, untempered Pavlovian responses are, shall we say, unusual in both ferocity and predictability. This is beyond narcissism. I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value indeed exists only insofar as it sustains and inflates him. Featured Image: Screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"Many Americans believe it s racist to keep minorities trapped in a system that forces them to rely on Bernie and Hillary s promises of free shit from the government. Does that mean it s okay for them to go around and disassemble Bernie Sanders displays on college campuses?A Tulane University fraternity has caused an uproar this week after building a wall made of sandbags with the message Make America Great Again and Trump plastered across it.Photos of the wall circulated on social media after it was erected on April 7 on the off-campus house of the university s chapter of Kappa Alpha Order.As part of the local chapter s annual tradition, it has pledges build a wall around its private property each spring ahead of its Old South formal ball, according to The Times-Picayune. However, upset students said this time the wall was filled with connotations of hate and ignorance. The wall has since been torn down by unidentified individuals alleged to be Tulane football players.WATCH here:In a video posted to YouTube, individuals can be seen grabbing the sandbags and tossing them into the street while fraternity members look on, one saying this is private property. These connotations most directly mocked the experiences of Latino immigrants and workers throughout our nation, a post on student Ana De Santiago s Facebook read. By writing Trump in large, red letters across the wall, KA changed what was a tradition of building a wall into a tradition of constructing a border, symbolizing separation and xenophobia. This issue not only affects Latinos but all other marginalized immigrant groups in this country.On Wednesday, the university addressed the incident in a statement, saying that while it encourages the free exchange of ideas and opinions , the local chapter s actions sparked a visceral reaction in the context of a very heated and divisive political season, The Times-Picayune reported.In an effort to support the individuals who dismantled the fraternity s Trump wall , Tulane s Latino student advocacy group, Generating Excellence Now and Tomorrow in Education (GENTE), set up a Change.org petition against the university s administration. We the undersigned stand in solidarity with the individuals who took the brave action of dismantling the wall in front of Kappa Alpha Fraternity House, a statement on the petition read. This wall, although a tradition carried on by Kappa Alpha for many years, has been a source of aggression towards students of colour on this campus, and this year, with the addition of the labels Trump and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, has become overtly threatening towards Muslim and Latino students. In a statement released to The times-Picayune on Tuesday, the fraternity s national chapter Assistant Executive Director for Advancement Jesse Lyons said its chapter takes KA s values of gentlemanly conduct very seriously. This respect extends to every student of Tulane and every member of the broader community, the statement read. The comment was written on a makeshift wall on our private property, normally used for a game of capture the flag, to mock the ideologies of a political candidate. This had a unintended negative effect and as such it has been dismantled. In other words, they caved, and ceded their First Amendment right to free speech, in order to avoid any controversy created by the Leftist Mafia.*According to the fraternity s website, KA was founded in 1865 and Robert E Lee, who is known for commanding the Confederate Army in the Civil War, is listed as its spiritual founder.In 2010, the national fraternity chapter ordered an official ban on fraternity s members wearing Confederate soldier uniforms to its annual Old South Ball.In a document titled Laws concerning Old South , KA also prohibits the display of the Confederate flag from any chapter house, lodge, or meeting place.","label":1}
{"text":"DNA tests on the exhumed body of Salvador Dali showed that a Spanish woman who brought a paternity suit against him was not his daughter, the surrealist painter s foundation said on Wednesday. The court supervising the tests had informed its lawyers that Maria Pilar Abel was not Dali s biological daughter after comparing her DNA with samples taken from his remains, the foundation said in a statement. A spokesman for the court declined to confirm the results of the tests. Contacted by phone, Abel said she had not yet received the results from the court. The Madrid court in June ordered forensic scientists to exhume Dali s body after Abel, who was born in Dali s home town of Figueres, filed a paternity claim that alleged her mother had an affair with him. This conclusion is not a surprise for the Foundation, since at no point has there been any evidence that she was a relative, said the foundation, which manages Dali s estate. The Foundation is happy that this puts an end to an absurd and artificial controversy. Dali, who died in 1989 aged 84, was one of the 20th century s most famous and easily recognized artists. His paintings include The Persistence of Memory , with its iconic images of melting clocks, and he also turned his hand to movies, sculpture and advertising.","label":0}
{"text":"Check out what s happening in Texas! President Trump and the First Lady arrived and got to work helping out. FLOTUS AND POTUS ARRIVE IN TEXAS:TEXAS: We are with you today, we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, and REBUILD! pic.twitter.com\/p1Fh8jmmFA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 2, 2017Melania Trump exited Air Force One ready to get to work:OUR FIRST LADY LOOKING GREAT ROCKING A TEXAS HAT AND CONVERSE TENNIS SHOES:HUGS FROM OUR PRESIDENT!President Trump Serves Food at NRG Stadium: This is awesome! President Trump puts on gloves to serve food. He turns to the press and says My hands are too big! PresidentAs he puts on plastic gloves to serve food at NRG Stadium President Trump turns to press and says: My hands are too big! pic.twitter.com\/WIUTLOS4XD Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) September 2, 2017President Trump hands out food boxes and meets with Harvey victims: We will get through this and rebuild President Trump is handing out food boxes & meeting with #Harvey victims in Houston. We will get through this and rebuild.#TexasStrong pic.twitter.com\/4DAKfnBRIk Alex (@SoCal4Trump) September 2, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Canada s ruling Liberals won a special election in Quebec on Monday, picking up a parliamentary seat in a province where insiders say the party needs to do better if it is to retain power in a 2019 federal election. Provisional results showed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s Liberals won the constituency of Lac-Saint-Jean with about 36 percent of the vote, with the separatist Bloc Quebecois in second place and the opposition Conservatives close behind in third. The Conservatives had held the seat before the sitting legislator retired earlier this year. The Liberals, who now hold 41 of Quebec s 78 seats, privately say they need to win another 12 in the province to offset expected losses elsewhere and maintain their majority in the House of Commons in an election in October 2019. Quebec polls show the party far ahead of the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois in province-wide support. National opinion surveys though show Trudeau s government is slipping in popularity amid an alleged conflict-of-interest problem involving Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Provisional results also showed the Conservatives easily retaining the seat of Sturgeon River-Parkland in the western province of Alberta, the party s stronghold.","label":0}
{"text":"And the hits just keep on coming, as the Pope makes his way around Latin America Pope Francis indicated contraceptives may be used to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, despite the church s longstanding ban on most forms of birth control.His comments may cheer health officials in Latin America but are likely to upset conservative Catholics.At a press conference aboard a flight from Mexico to Rome on Thursday, the Pope was asked if the church should consider contraception the lesser of two evils compared with the possibility of women aborting fetuses infected with Zika. The virus has been linked to an incurable and often devastating neurological birth defect.The Pope answered by calling abortion an absolute evil and a crime. It is to kill someone in order to save another. This is what the Mafia does, Francis said. On the other hand, avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. The Pope then pointed to a narrow exception to the church s ban on most forms of birth control: His predecessor, Pope Paul VI, allowed African nuns to use contraceptives in cases of rape, Francis said. He did not explain why and what forms of birth control were used. In certain cases such as the one I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear, the Pope said. It was Paul VI who wrote Humanae Vitae, the papal document that solidified the church s stance against almost every form of birth control in 1968. The church does allow natural family planning, which involves a woman monitoring her basal body temperature and vaginal secretions to avoid having sex at fertile times of the month.It s not entirely clear what the chances are that a pregnant woman who contracts Zika will have a baby with microcephaly. Babies with the defect have small heads and abnormal brain growth and often have developmental delays, seizures, problems with movement and speech and other issues.On Thursday, the World Health Organization called for access to emergency contraception and counseling for women who have had unprotected sex and do not wish to become pregnant because of concern with infection with Zika virus. But the Catholic catechism states that aside from natural family planning, anything that works to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil. The church s teachings have put women in Latin America, where a majority of people are Catholic, in a difficult situation.In December, authorities in Brazil urged women not to get pregnant. Then last month came the warning from Colombia to delay pregnancy until July. Then in an interview, a health official in El Salvador recommended that women try to avoid getting pregnant this year and the next. But the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has said that birth control is wrong, no matter what. That prohibition doesn t change based on circumstances, he said. So couples have a responsibility to live according to the church s teachings in whatever circumstances they find themselves.","label":1}
{"text":"By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on October 29, 2016 Several Iraqi Soldiers killed by US Airstrike Near Mosul With a blocking force in place preventing ISIS from moving into Syria, reported by Iranian press, the US is doing everything possible to slow down the Iraqi Army and prevent successful operations. There have long been suspicions that the Kurds, who let thousands of ISIS oil trucks through their region each week, have been working with ISIS all along. It was the Kurds, not the real Kurds, but Barzani's Saudi run dictatorship in Erbil, that invited Turkey into Iraq. Deputy Chief of the Nineveh Provincial Council Noureddin Qablan announced that the US-led coalition warplanes have launched airstrikes on army base in Nineveh province, killing several soldiers. \"The US fighter jets hit one of the military bases of Iraqi Army's 16th Division in a region North of Mosul, and the attack left at least four Iraqi soldiers dead,\" Qablan said. According to FNA, He said that the US army has confirmed the attack, calling it a \"mistake\". Qablan said that it is not the first time the US warplanes hit the Iraqi army and volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) military positions, adding, \"The US-led coalition has each time said that air raids were not deliberate.\" It is reported that another peshmerga convoy accidentally hit by an USA-led coalition airstrike near Mosul today. That's was 3 \"Mistakan Raid\" in 24 hours. Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT, VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. LEGAL NOTICE - COMMENT POLICY Posted by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on October 29, 2016, With Reads Filed under World . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. FaceBook Comments  You must be logged in to post a comment Login WHAT'S HOT","label":1}
{"text":"There s a petition on Change.org going around to stop Trump from becoming President, and it has made history, not just for its nature, but because it s the most popular ever seen. At 4.7 million signatures and counting, it s over 80 percent of the way to its goal, and the number of signatories just keeps growing.The second most popular petition on Change.org was to stop a dog meat festival, and had two million fewer signatures. That goes to show the Electoral College that a lot of people are looking for any way imaginable to stop Trump from actually getting inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017.This petition is called Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President, and very likely won t work, if for no other reason than Republican electors just will not cast their votes for her. That s despite a popular vote lead of over two million, which is a bigger margin and several past presidents margins of victory. They should make her president based on that, but they ve been conditioned to hate her guts. So no go there, sadly.However, we may not need the biggest petition in history to work exactly as planned, because there s a growing coalition of faithless electors who won t vote for Trump. Several Democratic electors have gotten together in a mad dash to convince enough other electors to vote against Trump before the Dec. 19 deadline. They re calling themselves Hamilton Electors after Alexander Hamilton.At least two Republican electors from Texas have also declared that they can t vote for Trump. One, Christopher Suprun, penned an op-ed in The New York Times about all the reasons he can t vote for Trump. He s also encouraging his fellow electors to reject Trump and settle on someone like John Kasich. Kasich isn t great, but compared to Trump, he d be the best president ever.Perhaps this petition has gotten the attention of some other electors, and they re planning on defecting, too. The sheer magnitude of this petition should send a clear message to them that the people want them to defect. Here s hoping they take a good, long look at what they re doing and make their decisions for the good of the country.Featured image by Mark Makela\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"\"If my daughter is a success, my happiness is complete,\" declares the title character of \"Fatima,\" a small miracle of a film from the French director Philippe Faucon. Divorced from her husband, whom she followed to France and with whom she is still friendly, Fatima (Soria Zeroual) is a North African woman raising two teenage girls in Lyon. The oldest, Nesrine (Zita Hanrot) 18, is a medical student, and the younger, Souad ( A\u00efche) is a sullen, sexy rebel ashamed of her mother for working as a housecleaner. Souad sneers that Fatima is \"a useless \" and \"a living rag. \" But her mother, however stung, endures the abuse and chooses her words carefully when firing back. Fatima loves her daughter despite her insolence. Steeped in North African Muslim culture, Fatima has traditional notions of what she calls \"respectable\" female behavior that don't apply in France, and she is upset when Souad insists on baring her shoulders. If the movie, loosely based on two books by Fatima Elayoubi, tells a familiar story of immigrants struggling to make something of themselves in an alien culture (Fatima speaks some French but reads only Arabic) it does so in a tone that is kindhearted but clearheaded, and the performances are and believable. (Mr. Faucon picked Ms. Zeroual, a nonprofessional actress, to play Fatima.) It makes you feel the intense pressures facing Fatima and her family from all sides. When a young man flirts with Nesrine on a train, she politely but with a tinge of regret explains that she has to study. Some of those pressures come from gossipy female neighbors who are envious, and judgmental. One Moroccan woman fumes that Nesrine didn't greet her at a bus stop, an incident that Nesrine, lost in her thoughts of school, doesn't recall. While on the job 12 or more hours a day, Fatima is treated with barely disguised contempt by female employers who brusquely order her around and who, she rightly senses, suspect her of petty theft. Nesrine nearly cracks under the strain of her studies, which require her to absorb complex medical terminology. She worries most about not disappointing Fatima, who is sacrificing everything to pay for her schooling. Nesrine simply can't afford to fail. Eventually Fatima, exhausted, falls down stairs with her cleaning equipment and takes a paid medical leave. But when the time is used up, she complains of continuing shoulder pains, although tests indicate she has recovered. She has simply reached her limit. To bolster her morale, Fatima has been keeping a bedside journal, written in Arabic. As she reads aloud from it to a sympathetic doctor, her reflections on hardship, sacrifice and life's unfairness have the tone of a humble manifesto. \"Be proud of all the Fatimas who clean working women's houses,\" she reads, and her words resound with the determination and quiet nobility of a woman who, however downtrodden, knows her own worth. \"Fatima\" is not rated. It is in French and Arabic, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 19 minutes.","label":0}
{"text":"The administration of President Donald Trump has been quietly cutting support for halfway houses for federal prisoners, severing contracts with as many as 16 facilities in recent months, prompting concern that some inmates are being forced to stay behind bars longer than necessary. The Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Justin Long confirmed the cuts in response to an email inquiry from Reuters, and said they only affect areas with small populations or underutilized centers. \"The Bureau remains firmly committed to these practices, but has had to make some modifications to our programs due to our fiscal environment,\" Long said. Halfway houses have been a part of the justice system since the 1960s, with thousands of people moving through them each year. For-profit prison companies such as Geo Group Inc have moved into the halfway house market, though many houses are run directly by government agencies or non-profit organizations. A Geo spokeswoman declined to comment for this article. The bureau, which falls under the U.S. Department of Justice, last year had about 180 competitive contracts with \"residential reentry centers\" run by non-profit and for-profit companies, such as Geo. The International Community Corrections Association says on its website there were about 249 separate halfway houses in communities nationwide that are covered by the 180 contracts. Federal judges who spoke to Reuters said the cuts are having an impact in their districts, particularly in states with fewer facilities or larger geographic areas where the nearest center might be several hundred miles away. Judge Edmund Sargus of the Southern District of Ohio said it was a real \"stumper\" when in July the government ended its contract with the Alvis facility serving the Dayton area. Long said that the cuts have not reduced referral rates or placements, and only impact \"about 1% of the total number of beds under contract.\" However, the changes coincide with other major criminal justice policy shifts by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has pushed for more aggressive prosecutions of drug offenses and a crackdown on illegal immigrants who commit crimes. In May, Sessions ordered prosecutors to charge defendants with the highest provable offense, a move that is likely to trigger lengthy prison sentences. In 2016, of the 43,000 inmates released from federal prison, 79 percent were released into a halfway house or home confinement, according to the trade association. \"We need to improve re-entry services ... This move flies in the face of that consensus,\" said Kevin Ring, whose non-profit Families Against Mandatory Minimums has recently launched a Twitter campaign to raise awareness of the problem. Sessions is scheduled to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ring said he hopes lawmakers will ask Sessions about the changes underway for halfway houses. \"Is cutting re-entry opportunities really going to make us safer? Congress needs to ask the Justice Department if this is part of their strategy,\" he said. For Kymjetta Carr, the cuts have had a personal impact. The 30-year-old from Cincinnati said she had expected her fiance Anthony Lamar to get out of prison and go to a halfway house in November, after serving seven years on a drug charge. But she now has to tell their 10-year-old son his father won't be out for Christmas or his birthday because Lamar's release to a halfway house will not come until late July. \"It seems like the rug has been pulled out from under us,\" she said, in an interview arranged through Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a nonprofit advocacy group. Halfway houses are low-security residences for thousands of convicted prisoners serving alternative sentences or on release from prison into partial freedom programs on the outside. The facilities are meant to help prisoners reenter their communities, find a job and get their lives back on track. A study commissioned last year by the Justice Department found that centers have come under greater strain in recent years, as more people have been released from prison. Blair Campmier, executive director of Reality House in Columbia, Missouri, said he was notified in early June that the center's eight-year-old contract would be terminated. Some of his clients were sent to halfway houses in Kansas City and Springfield, more than two hours away. \"They were not happy, and their families were not happy,\" said Campmier. Ricardo Martinez, the Chief U.S. District Judge in the Western District of Washington and Chairman of the Committee on Criminal Law of the Judicial Conference of the United States, told Reuters he has sent a letter to the Bureau of Prisons' new Director Mark Inch requesting discussions. \"From our perspective, these facilities are not only useful - they are essential,\" Martinez said.","label":0}
{"text":"In this Ted Talk , Michael Murphy discusses how his father's brush with death ultimately opened the doors to his own life path of architecture, but not just as a profession, and not just as a creative expression. When designing, Murphy and his team go beyond the blueprint, considering things like how like airflow and light can produce both a healthy community and gorgeous structures. He shows us his projects in countries like Rwanda and Haiti, and covers his plan for creating The Memorial to Peace and Justice, which mainly aims to heal hearts in the American South. \" Why was it that the best architects, the greatest architecture \u2014 a ll beautiful and visionary and innovative \u2014 is also so rare, and seems to serve so very few? And more to the point: With all of this creative talent, what more could we do?\" Murphy poses in his talk. He broke into the very soul of his work when he came to the realization that buildings are actually making people sicker. \" In this hospital in South Africa, patients that came in with, say, a broken leg, to wait in this unventilated hallway, walked out with a multidrug-resistant strand of tuberculosis. Simple designs for infection control had not been thought about, and people had died because of it.\" With the revelation that hospitals are making patients sicker, he thought of designing one that flips the hallways on the outside, allowing people to walk in the exterior. \" If mechanical systems rarely work, what if we could design a hospital that could breathe through natural ventilation, and meanwhile reduce its environmental footprint?\" he said. He then discussed the incredible community aspect of following through with his healing niche in the architecture world. \" We worked with Bruce Nizeye, a brilliant engineer, and he thought about construction differently than I had been taught in school. When we had to excavate this enormous hilltop and a bulldozer was expensive and hard to get to site, Bruce suggested doing it by hand, using a method in Rwanda called \"Ubudehe,\" which means \"community works for the community.\" Hundreds of people came with shovels and hoes, and we excavated that hill in half the time and half the cost of that bulldozer. Instead of importing furniture, Bruce started a guild, and he brought in master carpenters to train others in how to make furniture by hand. And on this job site, 15 years after the Rwandan genocide, Bruce insisted that we bring on labor from all backgrounds, and that half of them be women. \" Ultimately, the healing journey became twofold, as it was both the process of building to heal as well as allowing an entire community to heal. \"We call this the locally fabricated way of building, or 'lo-fab,' and it has four pillars: hire locally, source regionally, train where you can and most importantly, think about every design decision as an opportunity to invest in the dignity of the places where you serve. Think of it like the local food movement, but for architecture. And we're convinced that this way of building can be replicated across the world, and change the way we talk about and evaluate architecture,\" he explained. In his talk, Murphy reveals how he learned that architecture is more than what it seems. It \"can be a transformative engine for change.\" Watch the full talk below. Perhaps it will show you how your work can be more than what it seems, too.  The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.  You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.  \"If \"Survivor\" was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and \"The Sacred Science\" hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group.\" - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune","label":1}
{"text":"The Donald isn t having a very good week at all. His campaign manager was charged with battery for assaulting a lady, multiple protesters are suing him for assault and battery, his communications director quit and told the truth about him, and his supporters won t even be able to bring their guns to the GOP convention in case things get messy. Now, it looks like he will be facing a criminal investigation for buying Ben Carson s endorsement with an illegal job offer.Last month, Ben Carson made it very clear that he did not endorse Donald Trump because he likes him, agrees with his policies, or even thinks he should be President Trump offered him a job in his future administration in exchange for Carson s unwavering servitude. So far, he s been a good little house boy for the billionaire, heaping praise on the 2016 hopeful and even defending Trump s recent comments that women should face punishment for having an abortion.But this latest bought-and-paid-for bromance may cause some complication in Trump s life. Public interest group the American Democracy Legal Fund has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Criminal Division, asking for an investigation into Trump s actions. Noting that federal law prohibits a candidate from promising a position to any person in exchange for support, the ADLF penned a letter demanding that Trump s illegal actions be investigated:American Democracy Legal Fund ( ADLF ) is a group established to hold candidates for office accountable for possible ethics and\/or legal violations. It has recently come to light that Mr. Donald Trump may have willfully offered Dr. Ben Carson an appointment to his administration should he become president in return for supporting his candidacy in violation of 18 U.S.C. 599. ADLF respectfully requests that you investigate this matter and take all appropriate action as soon as possible.Former presidential candidate Dr. Carson endorsed Mr. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination on March 11, 2016. Mr. Trump and Dr. Carson met the day before to discuss and finalize the endorsement. Three days later, on March 14, Dr. Carson gave an interview to Newsmax TV to discuss his recent endorsement of Mr. Trump. During the interview, Dr. Carson stated that he believed Mr. Trump would surround himself with very good people. When asked if he would be one of those people, Dr. Carson responded, I will be doing things as well. When the interviewer asked whether that meant in a Trump administration, Dr. Carson replied, Certainly in an advisory capacity. The interviewer then asked Dr. Carson if that s been determined and followed by asking, When you sat down with [Mr. Trump] that was discussed? Dr. Carson openly admitted, Yes, and said that while they hadn t hammered out all the details, it is very important that we work together. When asked if this meant a cabinet position, Dr. Carson declined to reveal any details about it right now, because all of this is still very liquid. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 599, [w]hoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. Dr. Carson s comments strongly suggest that Mr. Trump promised him an administration position in return for his endorsement. In his interview, Dr. Carson stated that he would certainly have an advisory capacity within a potential Trump administration. When asked directly whether this role was discussed during their endorsement meeting, Dr. Carson responded, Yes. Dr. Carson s assured answers lead to the reasonable conclusion that Mr. Trump promised Dr. Carson an administration post in order to secure his endorsement in violation of 18 U.S.C. 599.Federal law prohibits a candidate from directly or indirectly promising the appointment of any person to any public or private position in exchange for his or her support. Dr. Carson s comments indicate that Mr. Trump used the promise of a role in his administration to secure Dr. Carson s support for his presidential campaign. For the above stated reasons, we respectfully request that you undertake an immediate investigation of this matter.Trump cares nothing about the law. This is obvious to even the most casual observer after hearing him talk about killing terrorists families, establishing a national Muslim database, and establishing Muslim concentration camp. Trump, a man who promises to pay for his supporters legal defense when they beat up African-Americans at his rallies, is completely detestable. Somehow, it is almost poetic that his illegal interactions with a black man might finally bring him down.Now we must wonder: who else did he buy off?","label":1}
{"text":"DC lawyer Victoria Toensing is one smart cookie. She s representing a former FBI informant who has evidence on kickbacks and bribery involving the transportation of uranium in the US. She recently told Sean Hannity her client will brief Congress about Russian involvement in the U.S. uranium market. This includes widespread bribery and actions that involved the Clintons I m not going into detail, attorney Victoria Toensing said on the Oct. 24 Hannity. You know that, Sean. But the informant will give an overview and specific conversations that he had with Russians in what they were thinking about the money that they were spending. I mean, let me just be that general and it involves the Clintons. The director of the FBI at that time was Robert Mueller, and he is now the special counsel investigating alleged Russian collusion with the 2016 Trump campaign. The undercover investigation involving Toensing s client occurred between 2009 and 2014, and the senior attorney on the case was Rod Rosenstein, who is now the deputy attorney general of the United States and the official who appointed Mueller as special counsel.Further, all this information indicates that many senior Obama administration officials knew about instances of bribery and money laundering involving at least one Russian official, at a time when Russia wanted to expand its uranium market in the United States, and when the administration through a special committee had to approve or deny the sale of a company, Vancouver-based Uranium One, to Rosatom. (Rosatom is the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation.)Some of the people on that Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States included then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napalitano, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.The committee approved the sale of Uranium One to Rosatom in October 2010. That sale gave Russia, and President Vladimir Putin, control over 20% of U.S. uranium production. (At least nine investors in Uranium One prior to, during, and after that sale donated $145 million to the Clinton Foundation.) So, Mueller, [Rod] Rosenstein, maybe even [James] Comey at the time, and the president of the United States certainly Eric Holder was the head of the DOJ they all knew that they had all this evidence that the Russians had infiltrated with the purpose of a criminal enterprise to corner the market on uranium, the foundational material of nuclear weapons? asked Hannity.Toensing said, That is correct.","label":1}
{"text":"A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has recused herself from a second case involving Trump dossier firm Fusion GPS.Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, recused herself on Monday from a case involving a dispute over subpoenas issued for Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned the dossier.This Obama appointee is like so many others controversial. Change.org has a petition calling for her impeachmentA SUPPORTER COMMENT OF THE PETITION: There is Clear and Present Danger, in our Government and to our Country. Judge Chutkin needs to do her duty, as Sworn by Oath, to let in ALL of the evidence pertaining to Imran Awan and Hina Alvi. As it stands today, 9\/12\/2017, Judge Chutkin is not doing her duty to protect the interests and lives of the Citizens of The United States. For this reason, I am standing with others, shoulder to shoulder, and calling for the Removal and Impeachment of Federal District Judge Tanya S. Chutkin. Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian tech executive accused in the dossier of hacking Democrats computer systems, has sought to subpoena Fusion GPS records and to depose its employees to find out more about the research firm s work on the dossier.Gubarev is suing BuzzFeed for defamation for publishing the dossier earlier this year. He denies the allegations laid out in the document, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele.Chutkan recused herself last month from another case involving Fusion GPS. The firm had filed suit against its bank, TD Bank, to keep it from complying with a subpoena issued by the House Intelligence Committee, which sought Fusion s bank records.Chutkan presided over that case from Oct. 20 to Nov. 9. It was reassigned to Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee. Since taking over the case, Leon has indicated that he plans to allow more transparency into the court proceedings involving the battle over Fusion s bank records. He has ordered several documents be unsealed and made public.Chutkan has presided over the case involving the lawsuit against BuzzFeed since Aug. 31. Her replacement is Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee who assumed office in October.The reasons for Chutkan s recusals remain a mystery Chutkan refused to comment on the recusal but her work with a medical technology firm also represented by Fusion GPS could be the reason.In any case, this is yet another case of the Obama hand in just about everything that has to do with corruption and intel agencies.","label":1}
{"text":"A clueless CNN reporter trying to interview a cold and hungry woman with her children is oblivious to the fact that this woman and her kids need help STAT!Unreal! What the f*ck CNN! We couldn t agree more! This is epic and will probably be pulled so watch while you can!\"What the f**k,\" @CNN? pic.twitter.com\/oPGzVg2zNv The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 29, 2017This lady was saying what we all think when the idiotic reporters try and corner someone right after a disaster. Can you believe how Jim Acosta plays it off? Sounds like you ve got a very upset lady right there What in the world!This poor lady was stranded for days with young children not knowing if she would be rescued.","label":1}
{"text":"The timing couldn t possibly be any worse ***WARNING*** GRAPHIC VideoTarget is smack dab in the middle of a PR nightmare. The news of Target suing this good samaritan couldn t have come at a worse time In 2013, everyone agreed that Michael Turner saved the life of a teenaged girl who was attacked in a Pennsylvania Target store. Now, Target is suing him.When she was sixteen, Allison Meadows was shopping in an East Liberty, Pennsylvania, Target store when Leon Walls rushed into the outlet and stabbed her.With the assistance of surveillance video, Walls was convicted of attempted homicide for his attack on the girl.Here is the horrific video of the stabbing and more importantly, of the heroic act by Michael Turner (who Target is suing) that saved her life:The only reason the girl did not suffer more injuries is because Michael Turner interceded and, along with several other men, confronted Walls. Turner himself chased Walls out the store with a baseball bat.Unsurprisingly, Meadows was extremely thankful for Turner s efforts. I thank him, Meadows has said. I thank him every time I see him. But Meadows launched a lawsuit against Target, saying the store s lack of security put all shoppers, not just her, in danger.Target, however, is less grateful for Mr. Turner s heroics. And now the retailer is suing him for endangering the store s customers.According to the company s filing, Target says Turner and several others chased the suspect toward the store s entrance after the attack on the girl. The store insists Turner put other shoppers at risk with his actions.The victim of the stabbing and her family are furious with the retail chain and say Target is just trying to shift the blame away from its own security failures. Suing Michael Turner is just Target s way of trying to blame someone else for what happened under their own roof, the Meadows family attorney said. The family certainly doesn t blame Mr. Turner and they are thankful he was there that day. Target is already getting negative publicity; the chain is the subject of a major boycott effort due to its announcement that it is allowing men to use women s bathrooms and changing rooms.Despite the uproar over its decision not to mention the loss of up to $6 billion in stock values Target doubled down on its policy.","label":1}
{"text":"Every entertainer likes to be subversive \u2014 to push the envelope and surprise their audience. At a time when Hollywood has made itself insufferable with its increasingly hysterical political commentary, Lady Gaga shocked the world simply by entertaining it. [Expectations were before the Super Bowl LI halftime show what would Gaga \u2014 one of Hillary Clinton's top celebrity supporters \u2014 say or do in this, the first halftime show of Donald Trump's presidency? How could she possibly top Beyonc\u00e9's tribute to the Black Panthers from last year's game? \"This performance is for everyone,\" Gaga coyly told reporters in Houston on Saturday, refusing to divulge her plans. \"I want to, more than anything, create a moment that everyone that's watching will never forget. \" Tantalizing stuff. And yet there was barely a whiff of partisan politics at all during the pop star's entire set, not even a requisite \"Resist,\" or \"Love trumps hate. \" Opening with a of \"God Bless America\" and \"This Land Is Your Land\" from the roof of NRG Stadium under a cloud of pulsating red, white and drones, Gaga literally dove into the building and straight into a collection of her greatest hits: \"Poker Face,\" \"Just Dance,\" \"Born This Way,\" \"Telephone\" and the grand finale of \"Bad Romance,\" all delivered (a rare feat given the amount of dancing she was doing) and reasonably well. It was a mesmerizing performance, filled with the kind of expert showmanship that only very confident artists can pull off. It reminded me, if only slightly, of Prince's pageantry and 2007 halftime show in Miami, in which the late artist, ever the consummate entertainer, ran through a collection of Bob Dylan and Tina Turner covers before hoisting his guitar high for a rousing rendition of \"Purple Rain,\" in the middle of an actual downpour. Gaga did her set, and then it was over. No raised fists, no inappropriate language, no threats, no protests. No hysteria. She walked off the field after an epic exit in which she dropped the mic, caught a football and dove offstage, and then that stage was reset for what was to become one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the NFL. It is not unlikely \u2014 given the current political and cultural climate in America \u2014 that Gaga considered going the protest statement route, and then decided against it. After all, it is now firmly established that the endless political grandstanding has gotten celebrities absolutely nowhere. It rarely ever feels authentic, especially coming from people who earn more money in an hour for flashing their ass on TV than most Americans will earn in a lifetime. And even when it does feel authentic, millions across the country are bound to disagree. Conservative media, including yours truly, have made a cottage industry of pointing out exactly how clueless and out of touch celebrities are when compared with ordinary people. Just ask Hillary Clinton and her celebrity army how the last election worked out for them. And consider Beyonc\u00e9's halftime show. For months afterward, the conversation was focused almost entirely on the blatant enforcement message she preached from America's biggest stage, and now, a year after the show and despite liberals' claim that everybody loves Beyonc\u00e9! half the country now hates Beyonc\u00e9. Her show led police groups to boycott her concerts, even as she audaciously used a police escort to get to the game (and later cashed in on the sentiment by offering her very own line of \"Boycott Beyonc\u00e9\" merchandise at her tour stops). More division. More disconnection between law enforcement and the people they serve and protect. All in the name of \"love\" and \"tolerance. \" Or consider Madonna at last month's Women's March on Washington, where she casually suggested to the tens of thousands of activists in attendance that she had often thought of blowing up the White House. What did that do for us? Or Meryl Streep's speech about morality at the Oscars, as if Hollywood is somehow the great arbiter of moral behavior. The only thing Streep's speech accomplished is that conservatives can no longer enjoy Kramer vs. Kramer in the same way again. The bottom line is this: the best way to unite more than 100 million Americans with wildly disparate political views is to refrain from making any political statements at all. That Lady Gaga was the one to buck the trend freaked out plenty of entertainment journalists and commentators. Could this be the same Gaga that hopped on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in the hours of November 9, defiantly holding up a \"Love Trumps Hate\" sign in a show of silent protest? After the show, Los Angeles Times writer Mikael Wood wrote that the collection of hits Gaga played Sunday night \"sounded like objects of distraction, catchy baubles meant to entertain us in the absence of a broader message. \" That sentiment was widely shared among Hollywood journalists, as a cursory look around the Internet revealed on Monday morning. Gaga missed her chance to say something useful, something revolutionary. This would have been The Moment, the chance to break through and show America just how stupid and wrong it was for electing Donald Trump president. Gaga would have found the key. To which I say: good grief. Pop songs are by definition catchy baubles meant to entertain us, and if Lady Gaga wanted to show off her maturity as an artist by performing a collection of her greatest hits (and converting some of the skeptics) then so be it. In the meantime, go masturbate to Meryl Streep's acceptance speech and dream of better days. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum","label":0}
{"text":"A YMCA in Indiana has removed CNN from the TVs in its wellness and exercise areas over complaints from members upset by the constant fake news the cable network airs. [The Valparaiso, Indiana, YMCA issued a statement to members that the cable news network was removed from facility TVs because too many members complained about the programing. Debra Koeppen, the YMCA's chief development officer, said that \"Trying to please everyone\" is the \"No. 1 problem we have in the wellness area,\" according to Chicago Tribune reporter Jerry Davich, who claims to be a member of the YMCA in question. Earlier this week, Robert Wanek, CEO of the Valparaiso YMCA, sent a message to members saying, \"In order to eliminate perceived political bias associated with national news outlets, the Valparaiso Family YMCA will only be showing local news channels in the future. \" Davich asked the CEO to reveal more details about the removal of CNN from the TVs, but Wanek replied, \"I cannot pinpoint the change origins, only to add that we get dozens of requests to change channels every day from numerous interest groups. \" \"We just want the Y to be a haven for wellness where people come together and have a sense of belonging, gain new relationships and achieve their personal goals,\" Wanek added. \"We will display local news moving forward. \" Indeed, Wanek said that from this point forward only local news will be played on the TVs and all cable news networks will be banned. Reporter Davich's article was far from a straight report on the matter, however. The reporter was an open detractor of the decision to remove CNN from the TVs, clearly stating he and some other members disagreed with the new policy. Davich insisted that CNN was a centrist network and noted that \"none\" of the members he talked to \"agreed with the removal of CNN. \" The reporter gave readers his opinion in the very first sentence, saying, \"Is the Valparaiso Family YMCA simply exercising its right to appease as many members as possible, or is the new Donald America already flexing its muscles?\" Davich's final say on the matter was just as clear. As he wrapped up his story. the reporter complained that \"the Y's decision to remove all national news outlets from its televisions says more about its leaders than its members. You'd think this story would be just another example of fake news. Sadly, it's not. \" Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Very little is more infuriating for women than to have our appearances policed. Yet, police us people do, usually by criticizing what s in fashion and calling it too immodest, and crying that men can t stop staring and thus are sinning in their hearts, or saying that women over a certain age should not wear this or that. One of the latest incidents comes from Alan Sorrentino, of Rhode Island, who wrote a letter to editor for EastBayRI saying women over 20 should not be wearing yoga pants in public.Yoga pants draw a lot of ire from the supposedly pious and the supposedly weak-willed. Sorrentino s specific targeting of women in yoga pants earned him a yoga pants parade through the street in front of his house. Hundreds of people men and women participated while wearing yoga pants.Yes, there were men wearing yoga pants to stand in solidarity with women who are tired of being told what they can and cannot wear, and paraded with women in front of Sorrentino s house. Sorrentino got more than an eyeful of the struggles with physicality that he doesn t want to see anymore: To all yoga pant wearers, I struggle with my own physicality as I age. I don t want to struggle with yours. Thanks. His problem is that, as women age, we lose our beauty and our bodies, which, to people like him, necessarily restrict what we can wear. It s like he thinks that if we re not young and beautiful, we should hide ourselves in some way (oh wait, that s exactly what he thinks): Like the mini-skirt, yoga pants can be adorable on children and young women who have the benefit of nature s blessing of youth. However, on mature, adult women there is something bizarre and disturbing about the appearance they make in public. Maybe it s the unforgiving perspective they provide, inappropriate for general consumption, TMI, or the spector [sic] of someone coping poorly with their weight or advancing age that makes yoga pants so weird in public.A nice pair of tailored slacks, jeans, or anything else would be better than those stinky, tacky, ridiculous looking yoga pants. They do nothing to compliment a women over 20 years old. In fact, the look is bad. Do yourself a favor, grow up and stop wearing them in public. [emphasis mine]How disgusting. If someone is dressed or presenting an appearance we don t want to see, we can, you know, just look somewhere else. Or better yet, we can accept that there are things in this world that we personally would rather not see. Truly mature people, one of whom Sorrentino clearly isn t, recognize that it s not our place to tell other people what they can and cannot wear based on our personal comfort.Sorrentino is now claiming he wrote the letter as a joke, and the paper is defending its decision to publish it by explaining that they publish all opinions as long as they aren t attacking a person or a group: In this case, Mr. Sorrentino is not attacking any individual nor specific group. It s safe to assume that his comments target a large portion of America s female population, and that group obviously has ample firepower to respond to Mr. Sorrentino and his opinions. Telling women over 20 how they can and cannot dress isn t attacking women? Okay then. That s systemic sexism, though. Here s hoping the yoga pants parade got Sorrentino s attention, and he rethinks his position. Joke or not, it was inappropriate at best.Here s a short video from the parade:The #YogaPantsParade is underway @ABC6 pic.twitter.com\/VItosLSLaA Bianca Buono (@BBuonoABC6) October 23, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Whitewashing Hitler and the Holocaust seems to be all the rage among today s Republicans. There was the time when the White House remembered the Holocaust on Holocaust Remembrance Day, but forgot to mention the Jews, at all. Yesterday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Hitler didn t use chemical weapons. He s been trying, and failing, at backtracking ever since. Now, a Republican in North Carolina, on his Facebook page, compared Abraham Lincoln to Hitler.It was a comment by GOP Legislator Larry Pittman. He posted his newsletter on Facebook, and among the rest of the hate, he commented this to a person telling him to get over the Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage the law of the land (something he hopes to overturn, at the state level):And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort if tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional.Obviously, his followers let him have it, but perhaps the best answer was this one:The Civil War was unnecessary and unconstitutional? What on earth were you thinking? The Republican Party used to be proudly called the Party of Lincoln. I have no idea what to call it now, at least that could be repeated in polite company.Couldn t NC Rep #LarryPittman find someone else to compare #Hitler to rather than #Lincoln ? @maddow #ncpol https:\/\/t.co\/4sjhsCHPOs pic.twitter.com\/LLSQv6y47q Indy Week (@indyweek) April 12, 2017Pittman clearly has no idea whatsoever what the Constitution says or he would not be putting forth a bill that would try to nullify federal law. That is against the Constitution. Now, so is slavery, although I m sure that s something else Pittman would like to nullify.Racism is nothing new for Pittman. Like Donald Trump, he was a birther. He said this about President Obama: Someone had posted something [on Facebook] with a picture of Barack Obama and across it said traitor, Pittman said. And, you know, I don t always agree with the guy, I certainly didn t vote for him but I gotta defend him on this one. I just don t think it s right at all to call Barack Obama a traitor. There s a lot of things he s done wrong but he is not a traitor. Not as far as I can tell. I haven t come across any evidence yet that he has done one thing to harm Kenya. Source: MSNBCBut hey, this is Trump s country now. It s totally cool these days to let your racist flag fly high. Double points if that flag belongs to the Confederacy.Image of Hitler via BBC | Image of Lincoln via Wikipedia.","label":1}
{"text":"The GOP convention is drawing all sorts, including nutbags like this one on YouTube. It s also drawing those who believe the GOP s policies are a major departure from what this country was supposed to be, despite all their claims that they want us to be exactly that. Because of that, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has a billboard up near their venue with a quote from none other than St. Reagan himself, and conservatives will absolutely despise it.This is the billboard below:FFRF quotes Reagan in Cleveland message to GOP convention https:\/\/t.co\/MIkpBehtQv pic.twitter.com\/6EGURARKW7 FFRF (@FFRF) June 27, 2016The point is clear: Keep church and state separate.Over the last couple of decades, Republicans have worked hard to entangle civil law with biblical law, and they hope to keep us from knowing the difference. Pea-brains like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, James Inhofe, and more allow their religions to have a stranglehold on their policy decisions. The GOP itself has taken the Establishment Clause to mean that Christians should be free to do whatever they want to whomever they want, but all other religions need to put up with being restricted, and shut up altogether.The FFRF has been working to keep church and state separate since 1978, and this billboard is a brilliant idea because it takes a quote from one of the GOP s own idols and turns it back on them. Some places, like The Blaze, have already claimed that the quote is taken out of context, which is nonsense. The full quote is: Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. That s in no way taken out of context. Instead, it s basically a summary of what Reagan was saying. Furthermore, Reagan s own son, Ron Reagan Jr., is on the Honorary Board of Distinguished Thinkers at the FFRF, and is an atheist who isn t afraid to burn in hell. There s little question he supports this display.It s actually the hateful, judgmental, narrow-minded Christians of the religious right who don t want to follow the Constitution, and they re dragging the GOP along with them, all in the name of following the Constitution. It s long past time for the GOP to stop pandering to the evangelicals and actually try to govern according to the Constitution, like they keep insisting they are.Featured image by Win McNamee\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Friday she understands how her meeting with former president Bill Clinton \"casts a shadow\" over the perception of independence in the investigation her department is conducting into his wife's email use. Bill Clinton met with Lynch on her plane in Phoenix on Monday night, triggering a firestorm from Republicans and a public statement from Lynch that she will accept whatever outcome independent investigators decide at the end of the probe into the Democratic presidential front-runner's use of a private email server.","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says It is not looking good for Clinton.Watch a video of this report here: Trump now sits at 45%, with Clinton at 42%.This shows Trump is only widening his lead over Clinton, as held just a 2% lead a few weeks ago.However, the more interesting statistic that the poll reveals is that Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in the entire presidential race that actually can beat Trump.Sanders leads Trump by 4%, meaning for a slightly more convincing victory than Donald could pull over on Hillary.Bernie would come in at 46%, and Trump would trail at 42%.With the anti-Trump campaign proving to be an absolutely futile effort, it appears that those with a deep-seated hatred for Donald could have had a far greater chance of beating him by putting their efforts into supporting Sanders earlier on, instead of just trashing Trump.Will those who have completely wasted their time in the anti-Trump campaign finally recognise where their efforts should be placed if they are actually serious about stopping Trump?GET THE FULL STORY ON THE 2016 ELECTION: 21st Century Wire Election Files","label":1}
{"text":"Republicans are great at creating controversy where there is none. They shut down the get out the vote organization, ACORN, because they fraudulently made people believe that ACORN was a criminal front (because, you know, black people). They ve also tried to strangle the life out of Planned Parenthood, again, for fraudulent reasons.One persistent non-problem that Republicans are manufacturing is voter fraud, which is virtually non-existent. This is actually pretty big deal. According to a poll released this week, more than half of respondents felt that voter fraud was real, and most of those were Republicans.Trump himself has been beating the drum about voter fraud when he proactively claims that the only way he d lose is if the election is rigged. Well, maybe Trump should look right under his nose. It appears that there is voter fraud, but it s coming from Trump s own newly hired campaign CEO, Steve Bannon. Bannon is registered in the swing state of Florida, but records show that no one actually lives at the address to which he s registered. In fact, it s set to be torn down. That makes him a criminal, at least according to Florida law.According to a report in The Guardian, Bannon has never lived in the house he claims as his residence. His ex-wife, Diane Clohesy once lived there. She moved out earlier in the year. The two divorced seven years ago.If you think that s just some sort of inadvertent paperwork error, well, it happened twice.Bannon previously rented another house for Clohesy in Miami from 2013 to 2015 and assigned his voter registration to the property during that period. But a source with direct knowledge of the rental agreement for this house said Bannon did not live there either, and that Bannon and Clohesy were not in a relationship.Bannon, Clohesy and Trump s campaign repeatedly declined to answer detailed questions about Bannon s voting arrangements. Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesman, eventually said in an email: Mr Bannon moved to another location in Florida. Miller declined to answer further questions.According to neighbors, Bannon has been to the first house (which he paid $5,500 a month for), but only a few times and he certainly didn t live there. The neighbors at the second house say they ve never seen Bannon.Bannon does set up shop in what he calls Breitbart embassy, which is a $2.4 million townhouse right next to the Supreme Court building. Bannon lives upstairs while his staff works in the basement. That, however, is owned by Mostafa El-Gindy, who s an Egyptian businessman.This may be less about voter fraud than tax fraud. Florida has no income tax, so people often try to set up Florida addresses to escape taxes. Attorneys typically recommend that they also attach a voter registration address as some sort of evidence of residency. There is no record Bannon has voted from that address.If Bannon is found guilty of submitting false information on a Florida registration form, it s a third-degree felony and punishable by up to five years in prison. Of course, the odds of him actually being prosecuted are pretty damned slim, but it does put a big wrench in the Trump campaign s claims of voter fraud.","label":1}
{"text":"A Muslim teenager from New Jersey was accepted to the prestigious Stanford University after he wrote #BlackLivesMatter a hundred times on his college application.Ziad Ahmed, a senior who attends the $34,600 a year private Princeton Day School, posted his acceptance letter and the essay that helped get him accepted on Twitter. The tweet shows that when he was prompted to answer the question, What matters to you, and why? Ahmed simply wrote the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter one hundred times.In his acceptance letter, Stanford emphasized how the university loved the passion, determination, accomplishments and heart shown in Ahmed s application. They also said he will be joining a diverse, joyful, and welcoming campus community with a shared determination to make our world better if he chooses to attend Stanford.In an interview with Mic, Ahmed said, I was actually stunned when I opened the update and saw that I was admitted. I didn t think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it s quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability, he added.Ahmed said he included a reference to Black Lives Matter because he feels unapologetic progressivism is a central part of my identity, and I wanted that to be represented adequately in my application. To me, to be Muslim is to be a BLM ally, and I honestly can t imagine it being any other way for me, Ahmed explained. Furthermore, it s critical to realize that one-fourth to one-third of the Muslim community in America are black and to separate justice for Muslims from justices for the black community is to erase the realities of the plurality of our community. Happy birthday to my role model, @lsarsour! As an American-Muslim youth today, she inspires\/empowers me through her advocacy. Grateful. pic.twitter.com\/u1YdU3tlyt Ziad Ahmed (@ziadtheactivist) March 19, 2017Ahmed s Twitter profile includes more of his activism and political leanings. On his Twitter page, Ahmed has a profile photo with former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a background photo with former President Obama, a photo with Women s March organizer and terrorist sympathizer Linda Sarsour, and a photo with Teen Vogue writer Lauren Duca, who famously said President Trump is gaslighting America and defended Ivanka Trump being harassed.Although Ahmed s application mentioned his support for Black Lives Matter, according to the College Board website, Stanford is 36 percent white, 21 percent Asian, 16 percent Hispanic or Latino, 10 percent two or more races, 9 percent non-resident alien, but only 6 percent black or African American. MRCTV","label":1}
{"text":"The San Jose Police Department has been plagued with accusations of racism and racial profiling, and now they re getting sued for it. A black family alleges that an officer followed them home from picking up their seven-year old daughter, and held them at gunpoint for absolutely no reason other than they were black, and the father, Emmanuel Stephens, might have matched the description of a suspicious black man in the area. The family is suing for an unspecified amount in damages.The first question that many people will ask themselves when faced with a like this is, what did this family do that caused the officer to draw his gun?According the lawsuit, they did nothing, and it s that kind of question that perpetuates racism in the justice system, because nobody asks themselves that when the victim is white. Officer Alexander Keller followed them home, and then when they got out of their car, he got out of his and drew his gun. The officer also put Stephens in handcuffs and held him in the back of his patrol car for a while. Their car was searched, and Stephens was cited for possession of a small amount of pot, despite having it for medical reasons and producing a prescription to prove it.Worse, when their 14-year old daughter came out, she was threatened with a trip to Juvenile Hall if she went back to get her cell phone and record the whole sordid incident.Their lawyer said: What happened to my clients happens all the time and is a real problem.This type of police misconduct only gets attention when someone ends up dead, but this type of non-lethal harassment is much more widespread and also need to be brought to light and stopped. The department, however, says that there isn t any bias in their policing methods despite strong evidence to the contrary, and this situation would seem to be another piece of that evidence. Another cop later said that someone had reported a suspicious black man with a purple backpack in that area, but Stephens had no such backpack. Keller proceeded to profile him anyway.Even if Stephens did have such a backpack, there was no way for this officer to see that from his car when he decided to follow them, hold them at gunpoint, detain Stephens, and search their car without a warrant and without probable cause. Being black does not constitute probable cause.San Jose s police department is like many others, though. Black people are guilty until proven innocent, and are treated as such. Had this been a white family, and someone had reported a suspicious white man in their area, would Keller still have followed them home and drawn his gun on them? Searched their car without a warrant or evidence of wrongdoing? Cited him for medical marijuana for which he had a prescription?Very likely not.Featured image by David Paul Morris\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Why Trump Won; Why Clinton Lost November 9, 2016  Exclusive: Hillary Clinton's stunning defeat reflected a gross misjudgment by the Democratic Party about the depth of populist anger against self-serving elites who have treated much of the country with disdain, writes Robert Parry.  By Robert Parry  In the end, Hillary Clinton became the face of a corrupt, arrogant and out-of-touch Establishment, while Donald Trump emerged as an almost perfectly imperfect vessel for a populist fury that had bubbled beneath the surface of America.  There is clearly much to fear from a Trump presidency, especially coupled with continued Republican control of Congress. Trump and many Republicans have denied the reality of climate change; they favor more tax cuts for the rich; they want to deregulate Wall Street and other powerful industries \u2013 all policies that helped create the current mess that the United States and much of the world are now in. A sign supporting Donald Trump at a rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix, Arizona. June 18, 2016 (Photo by Gage Skidmore)  Further, Trump's personality is problematic to say the least. He lacks the knowledge and the temperament that one would like to see in a President \u2013 or even in a much less powerful public official. He appealed to racism, misogyny, white supremacy, bigotry toward immigrants and prejudice toward Muslims. He favors torture and wants a giant wall built across America's southern border.  But American voters chose him in part because they felt they needed a blunt instrument to smash the Establishment that has ruled and mis-ruled America for at least the past several decades. It is an Establishment that not only has grabbed for itself almost all the new wealth that the country has produced but has casually sent the U.S. military into wars of choice, as if the lives of working-class soldiers are of little value.  On foreign policy, the Establishment had turned decision-making over to the neoconservatives and their liberal-interventionist sidekicks, a collection of haughty elitists who often subordinated American interests to those of Israel and Saudi Arabia, for political or financial advantage.  The war choices of the neocon\/liberal-hawk coalition have been disastrous \u2013 from Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya to Syria to Ukraine \u2013 yet this collection of know-it-alls never experiences accountability. The same people, including the media's armchair warriors and the think-tank \"scholars,\" bounce from one catastrophe to the next with no consequences for their fallacious \"group thinks.\" Most recently, they have ginned up a new costly and dangerous Cold War with Russia.  For all his faults, Trump was one of the few major public figures who dared challenge the \"group thinks\" on the current hot spots of Syria and Russia. In response, Clinton and many Democrats chose to engage in a crude McCarthyism with Clinton even baiting Trump as Vladimir Putin's \"puppet\" during the final presidential debate.  It is somewhat remarkable that those tactics failed; that Trump talked about cooperation with Russia, rather than confrontation, and won. Trump's victory could mean that rather than escalating the New Cold War with Russia, there is the possibility of a ratcheting down of tensions.  Repudiating the Neocons  Thus, Trump's victory marks a repudiation of the neocon\/liberal-hawk orthodoxy because the New Cold War was largely incubated in neocon\/liberal-hawk think tanks, brought to life by likeminded officials in the U.S. State Department, and nourished by propaganda across the mainstream Western media. Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona. June 18, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)  It was the West, not Russia, that provoked the confrontation over Ukraine by helping to install a fiercely anti-Russian regime on Russia's borders. I know the mainstream Western media framed the story as \"Russian aggression\" but that was always a gross distortion.  There were peaceful ways for settling the internal differences inside Ukraine without violating the democratic process, but U.S. neocons, such as Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, and wealthy neoliberals, such as financial speculator George Soros, pushed for a putsch that overthrew the elected President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.  Putin's response, including his acceptance of Crimea's overwhelming referendum to return to Russia and his support for ethnic Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine opposing the coup regime in Kiev, was a reaction to the West's destabilizing and violent actions. Putin was not the instigator of the troubles.  Similarly, in Syria, the West's \"regime change\" strategy, which dates back to neocon planning in the mid-1990s, involved collaboration with Al Qaeda and other Islamic jihadists to remove the secular government of Bashar al-Assad. Again, Official Washington and the mainstream media portrayed the conflict as all Assad's fault, but that wasn't the full picture.  From the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, U.S. \"allies,\" including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel, have been aiding the rebellion, with Turkey and the Gulf states funneling money and weapons to Al Qaeda's Nusra Front and even to the Al Qaeda spinoff, Islamic State.  Though President Barack Obama dragged his heels on the direct intervention advocated by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama eventually went in halfway, bending to political pressure by agreeing to train and arm so-called \"moderates\" who ended up fighting next to Al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other jihadists in Ahrar al-Sham.  Trump has been inarticulate and imprecise in describing what policies he would follow in Syria, besides suggesting that he would cooperate with the Russians in destroying Islamic State. But Trump didn't seem to understand the role of Al Qaeda in controlling east Aleppo and other Syrian territory.  Uncharted Territory  So, the American voters have plunged the United States and the world into uncharted territory behind a President-elect who lacks a depth of knowledge on a wide variety of issues. Who will guide a President Trump becomes the most pressing issue today. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona. March 21, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)  Will he rely on traditional Republicans who have done so much to mess up the country and the world or will he find some fresh-thinking realists who will realign policy with core American interests and values.  For this dangerous and uncertain moment, the Democratic Party establishment deserves a large share of the blame. Despite signs that 2016 would be a year for an anti-Establishment candidate \u2013 possibly someone like Sen. Elizabeth Warren or Sen. Bernie Sanders \u2013 the Democratic leadership decided that it was \"Hillary's turn.\"  Alternatives like Warren were discouraged from running so there could be a Clinton \"coronation.\" That left the 74-year-old socialist from Vermont as the only obstacle to Clinton's nomination and it turned out that Sanders was a formidable challenger. But his candidacy was ultimately blocked by Democratic insiders, including the unelected \"super-delegates\" who gave Clinton an early and seemingly insurmountable lead.  With blinders firmly in place, the Democrats yoked themselves to Clinton's gilded carriage and tried to pull it all the way to the White House. But they ignored the fact that many Americans came to see Clinton as the personification of all that is wrong about the insular and corrupt world of Official Washington. And that has given us President-elect Trump.  Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America's Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com .","label":1}
{"text":"http:\/\/www.thepoliticalinsider.com\/wikileaks-confirms-hillary-clinton-campaign-acknowledge-massive-email-cover\/ It's always the cover-up that gets ya!  This is certainly getting interesting, folks. It's 13 days before the elections. This email leak confirms Hillary Clinton and her staff were engaged in a cover up designed to prevent Congress from seeing incriminating emails about well \u2013 everything!  The issue is this. Early voting has occurred and is occurring across the nation. People have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton. If the Democrats pull her as a candidate and put anybody else in \u2013 likely Biden \u2013 then they will lose all the votes cast for Hillary as she will no longer be the Democratic candidate.  All the Democrat illegal immigrant voting fraud, dead peopl e voting fraud, busing people around to vote in multiple precincts fraud plus all legal citizen Democrat votes cast early will no longer be valid if Hillary Clinton is removed as the candidate!  And the 32K emails haven't yet been released! How low did you go, Hillary?  It's a bit late now to do Michelle Obama's bidding to \"take the high road.\" For you that might be a gutter. Shift Frequency 2016 SF original Oct. 26, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump, under pressure to show a more presidential image, elevated a top adviser on Thursday and said he planned to hire additional staff to prepare for the possibility of a long fight for the Republican nomination. The developments came as Trump tries to rebound from a loss in Wisconsin on Tuesday to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a defeat that punctured the billionaire businessman's aura of inevitability and made it more likely the nominee will be picked in a floor fight at the Republican National Convention in July. The Republican front-runner's stumble in Wisconsin exposed a variety of weaknesses. Trump alienated many female Republican voters by saying that women who have an abortion if the procedure were banned should be punished, a position he later backtracked on. He also appeared to have been outmaneuvered in the scramble for delegates in Louisiana. Although Trump beat Cruz in that state on March 5, Cruz may end up with more delegates from Louisiana than Trump. Trump announced that he has assigned all functions related to the nomination process to veteran political operative Paul Manafort, who was hired to manage the process of corralling delegates who will pick the nominee. \"The nomination process has reached a point that requires someone familiar with the complexities involved in the final stages,\" Trump said. Trump also canceled plans for a campaign swing through California in coming days in order to concentrate on New York, which has suddenly emerged as a must-win state for him on April 19. He has a big lead in his home state. A Trump campaign statement said that he will add to his team as the Republican National Convention nears and that he would announce new hires in the weeks ahead. The expansion of Trump's campaign means his team will grow beyond the close-knit group of advisers who have been at his side since he jumped into the presidential race last June. Trump said he plans to open a Washington office next week. While there has been speculation that Trump might make Manafort his campaign manager, the candidate's statement made clear that current campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and deputy manager Michael Glassner would remain in their positions. Lewandowski has been charged with simple battery for grabbing a reporter who tried to ask Trump a question in Florida a month ago. Trump, famously loyal to people he trusts, has rejected calls that he fire Lewandowski.","label":0}
{"text":"Republicans insist that everything under President Obama is awful and terrible and getting worse. Their nominee for the presidency has based his entire candidacy on the idea that America is a complete trianwreck and only he alone can fix things.But when you ask actual Americans about what their lives are like after eight years of Barack Obama being president, a completely different message emerges. Gallup did just that, in a survey of over 100,000 people, and almost completely across the board people feel better off than they did before.In 2008, fewer than half of Americans said their life was good enough to be considered thriving, according to Gallup. But that s changed: The 55.4% who are thriving so far in 2016 is on pace to be the highest recorded in the nine years Gallup and Healthways have tracked it, according to the report.The report even has findings that obliterate Donald Trump s constant harping that black Americans are living lives of complete desperation inside crack-destroyed inner city ghettos. The percentages of U.S. whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians who are thriving have all increased during the Obama era, Gallup notes. The percentage of blacks thriving has risen by about 6 points, as has the percentage of whites and Hispanics. Asian thriving has risen by about 10 points since 2008.It isn t magic or left wing propaganda. People simply feel better off and more optimistic, and it isn t a coincidence that this change has occurred between the presidency of a conservative Republican and a progressive Democrat.As a result, President Obama s approval rating has gone over 50 percent and reports are now emerging that Trump is having trouble convincing voters in key states that they need to turn the page from Obama because people are feeling positive about the situation in America.Ignore the hype and noise of the right, check out the data and you ll learn how people really feel.","label":1}
{"text":"Authorities in Philadelphia will station prosecutors throughout the city on election day to respond to any reports of voter intimidation or other illegal activity after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed that polling might be \"rigged\" in this mostly minority city. Philadelphia is one of many U.S. municipalities wrestling with how to respond to Trump's call for supporters to \"watch\" polling places, and corresponding promises from civil rights groups that they will send their own backers to the polls. \"All of our election judges will be provided with cell phones that have direct access to the district attorney's office of Philadelphia,\" said Tim Dowling, chief deputy to City Commissioner Lisa Deeley. \"As soon as you cross the line, you're going to be dealing with law enforcement.\" The Nov. 8 presidential election has been among the most contentious in the nation's history. Trump, whose campaign has been shaken by allegations that he groped numerous women after a video surfaced in which he made lewd comments about groping women, has refused to promise that he will accept the results of the election if he loses to Democrat Hillary Clinton. This week, Trump told supporters to \"watch\" polling places in such cities as Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago - all with large minority populations. As Trump has slipped in the polls, he has repeatedly said the election is \"rigged\" against him. Fearing that to be true, voters in Denver have been calling officials seeking reassurance, said Amber McReynolds, the city's director of elections. \"Voters will call in and say, 'Is the election rigged?' McReynolds said. \"We try to explain how the process works. ... Rigging an election is pretty much impossible.\" Various election experts, including Republicans, have said that it is virtually impossible to rig a presidential election, and numerous studies have shown that voter fraud in U.S. elections is very rare. In Arizona, a traditionally Republican state where polls have recently begun to show an increase in support for Clinton, poll workers are being trained to deal with an expected onslaught of observers, said Elizabeth Bartholomew, spokeswoman for elections officials in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. In North Carolina, where a local Republican party headquarters was badly damaged on Sunday in an unsolved arson attack, state elections officials are taking extra steps to address poll security. On Wednesday, the state elections board's executive director, Kim Strach, sent county elections officials a memo outlining examples of prohibited behavior at polling places and emphasizing that state and federals laws bar intimidation and coercion at the polls. In Philadelphia, teams from the district attorney's office will be stationed throughout the city, ready to respond at a moment's notice, Dowling said. The city is also increasing security at polling places, demanding for the first time identification even from credentialed poll-watchers sent by political parties. The city has activated such teams in previous elections, but this year there are more, and they will be set up at police stations. \"Because of all the rhetoric, we're erring on the side of caution,\" Dowling said. Despite the high-profile nature of the claims, fears about intimidation at polling places may be overblown. Some of Trump's supporters have distanced themselves from his remarks about watching the polls. Many jurisdictions allow poll watchers, but they generally have to be credentialed and their numbers are limited. Several elections officials said they had so far not received an unusually high number of requests for poll-watcher credentials. In Leon County, Florida, for example, where the state capital of Tallahassee is located, 55 people affiliated with the Democratic Party had registered as poll watchers to observe early voting, which begins Monday. Two had signed up on behalf of Trump, and none for the Republican Party, Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections for the county. \"We don't believe there will be any problems at the polls,\" he said. Florida civil rights activist Becca Guerra said she is not worried about voter intimidation inside polling places because of rules on electioneering and on poll watchers, but voters may have trouble outside in the parking lot. \"We are training our folks to be the eyes and ears,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Sunday, GotNews reported that the primary source of the White House leak was traced back to Deputy Chief of Staff and #NeverTrumper Kate Walsh. The goal was to undermine the Trump Presidency and Administration.Walsh is being investigated as a primary person of interest and is said to have been distributing highly confidential information to The New York Times and others. From Got News: Everyone knows not to talk to her in the White House unless you want to see it in the press, says a source close to the president. The only question is whether or not she s doing it at the behest of [White House Chief of Staff] Reince Priebus or if she s doing it to advance herself in DC media circles. Walsh would have significant access as she controls the president s schedule. There s also reportedly a trove of e-mails where Katie Walsh and Reince Priebus discuss how to rid themselves of Trump, according to a former #NeverTrump consultant. The president and his allies have been deliberately feeding her fake information in order to find her network, says a source close to the president s family. It s been going well. Walsh was a #NeverTrump Republican during the campaign . . . a White House investigation is planned into Walsh, who couldn t be reached for comment.(Source: Gateway Pundit)","label":1}
{"text":"It won t lead to any solution. It s a kind of European Union dictatorship towards smaller members An extra 1 billion ( 733 million) has been pledged by EU leaders to help tackle the refugee crisis following an emergency summit in Brussels.It comes as Slovakia says it will go to court to challenge compulsory quotas for relocating 120,000 refugees approved by European Union ministers.Britain has not signed up to the plans, instead opting for a relocation scheme to take 20,000 Syrian refugees from countries in the Middle East over the next five years. Via: itvFour of the 28 EU countries voted against the quota system on Tuesday, with Finland abstaining. Slovakia, one of the loudest critics of the decision, which was advocated strongly by Germany and France, announced it would challenge it in court. We will go in two directions: first one, we will file a charge at the court in Luxembourg secondly, we will not implement the (decision) of the interior ministers, the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters on Wednesday, before leaving for an EU leaders summit in Brussels. We have been refusing this nonsense from the beginning, and as a sovereign country we have the right to sue, he added, saying his country would not submit to the quota as long as he leads it.Slovakia, which has a population of 5.4 million, objects to the relocation of 120,000 migrants and refugees from Italy and Greece throughout the EU. It currently has only a small migrant community and the public opinion is against accepting Muslim asylum seekers, who make up the majority of those looking to enter Europe this year.Fico called the decision passed by a rare vote, rather than the accepted unanimous vote by all EU member states, a dictate of the majority and said the plan fails to address the core issues of the refugee crisis.Meanwhile, Jurgen Elsaesser, editor-in-chief of the German-based magazine Compact, told RT that the way the quota vote took place, threatens European unity, while it was also a total nonsense in practical terms. It won t lead to any solution. It s a kind of European Union dictatorship towards smaller members, he said, speaking to RT. Brussels tries to press them into accepting more refugees, but the people and the governments of these countries are not willing to do so. This will become a serious rift within the European Union.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement that gave no other details. The scheduled telephone calls come as a senior ally of Merkel earlier on Wednesday pressed Japan to quickly seal a trade deal with the European Union.","label":0}
{"text":"Antonin Scalia was one of our most reliable, conservative US Supreme Court Justices. Pray for our nation Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died, setting up a major political showdown between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over who will replace him just months before a presidential election. On behalf of the court and retired justices, I am saddened to report that our colleague Justice Antonin Scalia has passed away, Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement on Saturday, calling Scalia, 79, an extraordinary individual and jurist. Scalia s death was first reported by the San Antonio News-Express, who said he had apparently died of natural causes while visiting a luxury resort in West Texas.Appointed to the top U.S. court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, Scalia was known for his strident conservative views and theatrical flair in the courtroom.Obama, who is traveling in California, extended his condolences, and the White House said he would have more to say about Scalia s death later on Saturday.The U.S. president will face a stiff battle to win confirmation of a nominee to replace the dead jurist, with Republicans likely to delay in the hope that one of their own wins the November election.Obama could tilt the balance of the nation s highest court, which now consists of four conservatives and four liberals, if he is successful in pushing his nominate through the Senate confirmation process. Conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy sometimes joins with the liberals on high profile issues, including gay rights and the death penalty. Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, and the nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next president names his replacement, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican presidential candidate, said on Twitter.The court is set to decide its first major abortion case in nearly 10 years as well as key cases on voting rights, affirmative action and immigration.POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTSScalia s replacement would be Obama s third appointment to the nine-justice court.Obama s first two appointments to the court, liberals Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010, both experienced relatively smooth confirmation hearings in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. Sotomayor was approved by a 68-31 vote and Kagan by 63-37.The battle over Scalia s replacement will be different, with Republicans now in charge of the Senate and keen to exert their influence over the process. Obama is likely to be forced into picking a moderate with little or no history of advocating for liberal causes.","label":1}
{"text":"Republican front-runner Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not attend the next televised Republican presidential debate scheduled for next Monday. \"I think we've had enough debates,\" Trump, who won three states in Tuesday's nominating contests, told Fox News in an interview. Fox on Monday announced the new debate, its latest in the primary season as the party chooses its candidate ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Trump said he had scheduled a major speech the same night - before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee - and was surprised to hear Fox had planned another debate. \"How many times can the same people ask you the same question?\" Trump asked. \"So I was very surprised when I heard that Fox called for a debate. Nobody told me about it and I won't be there, no.\" The pro-Israel lobby group holds its annual policy convention in Washington Sunday through Tuesday and has confirmed both Trump and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton as speakers. It has not issued a formal schedule. It would not be the first time Trump has skipped a debate. He also sat out the Fox News\/Google debate on Jan. 28, after complaining of unfair treatment in a previous Fox debate.","label":0}
{"text":"Despite decades of fervent student protests that reached a peak last fall, the president of Yale announced on Wednesday that the university would keep the name of a residential college honoring the politician and white supremacist John C. Calhoun. The president, Peter Salovey, also said the university would name its two new residential colleges for Anna Pauline Murray and Benjamin Franklin. The selection of Ms. Murray, a legal scholar and civil rights activist who graduated from Yale Law School in 1965, represents the first time the school has honored either an or a woman with the naming of a college. Many students were perplexed by the selection of Franklin, who received an honorary degree from Yale. Franklin, like many other founding fathers, was once a slaveholder himself before he became involved in the abolitionist movement. Mr. Salovey explained that Franklin was a \"personal hero and role model\" of Charles B. Johnson, a businessman and Yale alumnus who donated $250 million to pay for the new buildings \u2014 the largest gift in the school's history \u2014 and who suggested the honor. In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, Mr. Salovey said that while Mr. Johnson's gift was not contingent upon naming the college after Franklin, \"I really want you to remember this is the largest single gift ever given to Yale. \" In addition, the faculty leaders of all Yale residential colleges will shed their title of master they will now be called heads of college, acknowledging the discomfort many students and faculty members felt toward a title that conjures the country's history of slavery. As part of the resolution, Yale will start a historical study examining the \" people, events and narratives behind the familiar facades seen on campus,\" beginning with an appraisal of Mr. Calhoun's legacy. The various decisions came in consultation with the Yale Corporation, the university's governing body. On Wednesday night, the Black Student Alliance at Yale issued a statement calling the naming of Murray College and the abandonment of the master title \" first steps towards creating a better and more inclusive Yale. \" Retaining the name Calhoun, they said, \"is a regression. \" Mr. Salovey defended the Calhoun decision as the best possible way for the university to confront its history. \"Universities have to be the places where tough conversations happen,\" he said. \"I don't think that is advanced by hiding our past. \" Similar heated discussions about historic ties between universities and their racist pasts have inflamed campuses across the country. Princeton's board of trustees decided this month that the name Woodrow Wilson would remain on its buildings and school, despite vociferous student objections. Mr. Wilson was an admirer of the Ku Klux Klan and reinstated segregation in the federal government. Yale has long grappled with the legacy of Mr. Calhoun, who advocated slavery as \"a positive good,\" but the issue found footing last fall after an online petition demanding that the college's name be changed garnered around 1, 500 supporting signatures. The dispute over Calhoun College, founded in 1933, that ensued soon revealed deeper discontent among students and professors over more substantive issues regarding race, in particular what many saw as the university's lack of commitment to faculty diversity and the alienation experienced by many minority students. A group of student activists \u2014 operating under the name Next Yale \u2014 handed Mr. Salovey a list of demands last year that included increasing the number and tenure of diverse faculty members increasing the budgets for ethnic and racial cultural centers abolishing the title of master and naming the two new residential colleges after minorities. Those demands were met in part, but students have largely remained skeptical. In November, the university announced that it was committing $50 million to a initiative, an effort to address the fact that less than 3 percent of its Faculty of Arts and Sciences is black. Among Yale's roughly 5, 400 undergraduates, 11 percent identify themselves as black or . Karl\u00e9h Wilson, a senior from Louisiana who has helped organize the Next Yale protests, said she felt the university did not go far enough to meet student demands. \"There are more than enough alumni of color who the naming committee could have drawn from,\" Ms. Wilson, 22, said. Crystal Feimster, a professor of studies, agreed, saying she was \"deeply disappointed with the decision not to rename Calhoun\" and found the selection of Franklin \"a missed opportunity. \" Still, she lauded the choice of Ms. Murray, whom she called \"a relentless advocate for racial equality and women's rights. \" Jonathan Holloway, the college's first black dean of students, called this year \"a moment of reckoning\" that he hoped would strengthen the university. \"We're trying to reconcile our current values and aspirations with these names,\" he said. \"We will have failed if we do not do that work going forward. \"","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says Back to square one. Quietly, president Barack Obama is deploying more and more US troops in Iraq, not necessarily to fight ISIS , but firstly to guard the Iraqi oil fields.Notice how this announcement is perfectly timed with the Iraqi Army s military offensive this week to retake the supposed ISIS stronghold of Mosul in Northern Iraq.Will a new Kurdistan rise from the ashes of this geopolitical conundrum, or will it just be more instability?There s more to this new trend than meets the eye. Watch this space Fighting Centers on Key Town of MakhmurJason Ditz Antiwar.comEven as Pentagon officials have sought to emphasize their claims of ISIS being on the run, ever more US ground troops are being deployed into Iraq to try to cope with ISIS offensives, with the battle of Makhmur leading to the introduction of US Marines in front-line combat roles.Officials are trying to downplay the operation as force protection for Iraqi ground troops, who have been massing in the area in an effort to ultimately launch an attack on the ISIS-held city of Mosul, not far away.The explanation is unsatisfying for several reasons, but primarily because this tactical assembly area already includes thousands of Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga, and these are the same troops who are supposed to attack Mosul. Yet these troops are apparently unable to even hold Makhmur, let alone advance toward Mosul.The Makhmur District is also a key to holding oil fields around Kirkuk, and the ISIS offensive is seen by many analysts as part of an effort to ultimately regain control over those lucrative oil fields, and have been outgunning the thousands of Iraqi troops in the area.Whether they re trying to save Iraqi ground troops who still can t stand up to ISIS, or save oil fields, however, the latest escalation puts US troops even further in harm s way, and has put the war even further afield from the no boots on the ground affair initially promised by the Obama Administration.READ MORE IRAQ NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iraq Files","label":1}
{"text":"Catalan pro-independence party ERC would leave the regional government if regional president Carles Puigdemont calls a snap election, a party source said on Thursday. Puigdemont is set to call a snap regional election, according to political allies, a move that could help break a one-month deadlock between the Madrid government and separatists seeking a split from Spain. It is not justified. It is an explicit renouncement of the Oct. 1 mandate without any sort of compensation, the party source said.","label":0}
{"text":"Opinions about the Supreme Court's legitimacy and value usually depend on ideology. Conservatives shouted tyranny after the Supreme Court upended bans on same-sex marriage. Liberals were outraged when the court overturned campaign finance limitations in the Citizens United ruling and gutted the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County case. But absent the ideological scoreboard, how can we judge the merit of the court? Is judicial review of laws the best way to avoid political influence? Or is major change more lasting and accepted when it's accomplished legislatively?","label":0}
{"text":"\"honour crimes\" have risen by 40 per cent in five years in London, with the number of forced marriages doubling in the same period. [According to the figures, obtained by the Evening Standard, some of the children involved in the abuse were younger than . Since 2012, honour crimes reported to the Metropolitan Police rose to 1, 081 and those relating to forced marriages shot up to 367. Women and girls were the victims in the vast majority of reported incidents, with over half coming from \"Asian\" backgrounds, the paper reports. Knives and guns were involved in more than 70 incidents, and dozens of rapes and other sexual crimes were reported. Detective Chief Inspector Sam Faulkner, of the Met's Community Safety Unit, said the crimes stem from communities using \"cultural religious justifications for male violence against women and girls and other people\". They were often based on traditions whereby \"an individual, family and community's honour is weighted on women and girls\" he said, including refusing to go along with a marriage. \"We see an increase in these types of offences as a positive step, an indication that victims have more confidence to report offences to police and seek the support they need\" he added. Politicians today called the findings \"troubling\" \"shocking\" and \"abhorrent\". Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chair of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, told the Evening Standard: \"Too many of these awful crimes are still hidden. There is no 'honour' in violence against women, rape, torture or abuse of a family member. \"These are deadly crimes and there is still too little protection, too few prosecutions and too much stigma which prevents people coming forward. \"It's vital that when victims do speak out they get proper help from support groups and from the police to keep them safe. \" The figures, obtained using Freedom of Information requests, show that \"violence against the person\" was the most common \"honour\" attack, accounting for 85 per cent of incidents. Sexual violence was the second largest category, with 56 rapes and 11 \"other sexual\" crimes. 84 per cent were perpetrated against women, with \"Asian\" women accounting for more than half.","label":0}
{"text":"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urged the United States on Tuesday to help control drugs smuggling, blaming Taiwan and Hong Kong-based criminal gangs for using his country as a shipping hub. In a speech, he also said illegal drugs had funded the seizure by Islamist militants of large parts of the southern city of Marawi in May. More than 800 people have died in the conflict, which Duterte said was triggered by an attempt to arrest a drug personality, who he did not identify. The Philippines is a transhipment of shabu to America, Duterte told members of the Philippine Constitution Association, referring to the local term for methamphetamine. It behoves upon America to work closely with the Republic of the Philippines, especially on this serious matter. Duterte, who was elected 16 months ago on promises to fight corruption, crime and drugs, said the so-called 14-K triads in Hong Kong and the Taiwan-based Bamboo triads were using the country as a transhipment point. We are flooded with drugs. This is the first time I would reveal it ... the Philippines today is a client state of the Bamboo triad. They have taken over the operations, he added. Duterte gave no details of the source of his information. Washington has said it supports the country s anti-drug efforts but has also urged Manila to respect human rights and the rule of law in its operations. More than 3,800 people have died in gunfights with police and soldiers in anti-drug operations nationwide since June last year, according to the government. Human rights groups say the figure is much higher.","label":0}
{"text":"Chaosistan , Phenomenon of Terrorism by Gulam ASGAR MITHA (Canada)  The American lust for power and neo-con agendas has been causing catastrophes in the Middle East and the Muslim world now for over four decades. What is, however, a cause for greater fear is that this is leading towards a global conflict. The world just got another warning, this time from Donald Trump the US Republican Presidential candidate who has been speaking the truth though rather incoherently since he is not a politician. He has been set up by a strong establishment to ensure that Hillary Clinton wins the November 4 elections. It may seem that the Republicans did not want to host a conflict which is why they provided an opening for Trump against Hillary who will go down in history as the first US woman President. She has no qualms towing the neo-con agenda.  Trump has now openly come out on CNN on October 26 and suggested that Hillary Clinton, when elected, will start World War 3. Why? In my opinion the best reasonings were provided by WeAreChange in a video titled ISIS: The Start of World War 3 (2014) . So here we've Trump who warns not only about the Great War but he is mentioning the need to focus on ISIS and not on Syria. One must remember that the seeds for the Great War were planted in 2011 in Libya first and following that in Syria under the pretext of toppling Assad.  There are too many dots to connect but by connecting some dots chronographically, it is interesting to note a few facts. One is that ISIL (the L being Levant) drove through from Eastern Syria into Iraq stretching from Mosul to Tikrit to slightly north of Baghdad along the banks of River Euphrates for establishing the \"Islamic Caliphate\". Euphrates is the eastern boundary that Israel claims is the Biblical greater Zion; the Nile being the western boundary. Two, ISIL fighters appeared in a most enigmatic manner in early 2014, very well armed. Some sources have suggested that the weapons were looted from Libyan armories stashed by NATO to topple Gaddafi in 2011 and then smuggled into Syria through Turkey a key NATO ally. On June 13, 2013 the New York Times reported that three Qatari C-17 cargo planes collected arms from Libya then returned to Al-Udeid base from where the cargo was then flown to Ankara, Turkey, along with other weapons and equipment that the Qataris had been gathering for the rebels, officials said. Sources have suggested that funding of $2-4 billion initially came from Saudi Arabia and Qatar through Turkey.  Three, the behaviour of the \"terrorists\" was unbecoming of Islamic preaching or what any Muslim would condone, especially that towards women and children. Four, within one year of ISIL takeover of a large part of Iraq, the P5+1 nuclear deal was finalized as a historic achievement.  Though US-NATO may not have directly created ISIL or ISIS, there has most definitely been suggestions that the US played a covert role with the overt objective of creating a Sunni bloc.  With retrospect to Iran, the Supreme Leader Ayotallah Ali Khamenei had told Javed Zarif that he supports the P5+1 N-deal maintaining that Iran never had the need for a N-bomb. His reservations were about the Israeli-American interests specifically that \"beneath the nuclear bowl lies a half nuclear bowl\". He suggested to Zarif to try and find out the agenda but most importantly to get the sanctions lifted. In words of many experts the Iranians got more out of the deal. The Ayatollah was probably aware of the agenda which could well be the Shia-Sunni conflict. The sanctions against Iran had failed to satisfy the US towards weakening Iran; in fact Iran has become stronger much to American chagrin. By lifting the sanctions the US has economically and politically empowered Iran and by default created a Shia bloc extending from Iran to Lebanon which includes Iraq, Syria and Yemen.  Iran had covertly supported Hezbollah in the July 2006 conflict with Israel and now they're again supporting Iraq to successfully oust ISIL from Iraq. Mosul is the last remaining ISIL bastion after which they might flee and regroup with Jabhat Fatal al-Sham (formerly Al-Nusra) and the Sunni coalition (including Turkey, Egypt and Arab countries) in Syria where Russia, Iran and Hezbollah might become engaged in an open conflict.  President Obama has not supported the no-fly zone (NFZ) in his watch mentioning that the Syrian civil war is \"not a conflict between the US and any party in Syria\" although former US secretary of State Hillary Clinton has publicly supported the idea. In a paper published by the Washington based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on November 4, 2015, it is mentioned that a UN sponsored NFZ resolution is desirable but not essential for US action. The ISW paper has stated that \"if the US intends to lead a sustainable negotiated settlement to the Syrian Civil war or to reinvigorate the moderate rebels, establishing a NFZ is essential.\"If as President, Hillary Clinton does arbitrarily institute the NFZ without a UN approval that would certainly imply the direct involvement of the US in the conflict which could well become the flashpoint for the Great War  It might interest the reader that the founder of ISW is none other than Dr. Kimberly Kagan, wife of Dr. Frederick Kagan who is associated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a Washington based conservative (neo-con) think tank and a signatory to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). The Kagan family also include Donald, Robert (characterized as a leading neo-conservative) and Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in which position she maneuvered the Ukrainian crisis in early 2014. Are these diplomats, including John Kerry, slated to be a strong part of Ms. Clinton's cabinet?  In conclusion, it is not unreasonable to forego that Trump is correct that Hillary Clinton could catalyse the Syrian civil war into a global conflict. This author's premise and We Are Change video provides the reasoning that ISIS is the start of WW III.  Gulam Asgar Mitha is a retired Technical Safety Engineer. He has worked with several N. American and International oil and gas companies. He has worked in Libya, Qatar, Pakistan, France, Yemen and UAE. Currently Gulam lives in Calgary, Canada and enjoys reading and keeping in tune with current global political issues. RELATED POSTS","label":1}
{"text":"The cellphone video shows Zambrano-Montes, a Mexican national, running away from cops after allegedly throwing rocks at police officers and cars, according to the New York Times. At one point, Zambrano-Montes turns around, and police open fire, killing him. Investigators said police shot at the unarmed man 17 times, hitting him five to six times. Police arrested Zambrano-Montes for assaulting an officer in January 2014, according to the Times. Police said he had thrown objects at them and tried to grab an officer's gun. He pleaded guilty in June. Family members told the Times that Zambrano-Montes was unemployed in recent months. They said he was increasingly depressed and disoriented after he fell from a ladder at an apple orchard and broke both his wrists. In January, he was caught in a house fire that destroyed his belongings. \"What I know is that he was alone, that his wife had left him, that he couldn't see his daughters,\" Pedro Farias, his 32-year-old cousin, told the Times. \"I don't know what his reasons were\" for throwing rocks at police, \"but I know all of this affected him.\" Among the similarities between Ferguson, Missouri, and Pasco are racial disparities between the city's residents and local government. Pasco is nearly 56 percent Hispanic, but its local government isn't representative of the city's racial makeup, the New York Times reported: The same was true in Ferguson following the August 9 police shooting of Michael Brown. The St. Louis suburb is 67 percent black, but at the time of the Brown shooting the mayor and police chief were white, just one of six city council members was black, zero school board members were black, and only three out of 53 commissioned police officers were black, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Zambrano-Montes shooting fanned tensions between the local Hispanic community and city government. Hundreds of protesters marched in the week following Zambrano-Montes' death, with some voicing concerns that their own children could be killed by police. In response, the Pasco Police Department claimed it's working to recruit more Hispanic officers. Similar protests, now under the banner of \"Black Lives Matter,\" came about following several police killings of black boys and men in 2014. In Ferguson, former police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old. In Ohio, police killed 22-year-old John Crawford and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in two separate shootings after mistaking toy guns for actual weapons. In New York City, NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo killed Eric Garner by putting the unarmed 43-year-old black man in a chokehold. The most reliable data on police shootings, gathered by the FBI through local and state agencies, is extremely limited \u2014 to the point that some criminal justice experts disavow analyzing it altogether \u2014 since it's based on voluntary self-reporting. But the data is especially limited for Hispanic victims of police shootings. Samuel Walker, a retired criminal justice professor from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said there's no research on how many Hispanic victims are left out of police shooting data, but he has reason to believe they're undercounted. Walker pointed out that other parts of the criminal justice system sometimes classify Hispanic people as white, likely overestimating the number of non-Hispanic white people shot and killed by police and underestimating Hispanic victims. In many cases, determinations of race and ethnicity are made by low-level officials, potentially leading to even more errors based on perceptions and prejudices regarding race. Florida, the state with the third largest Hispanic population, is entirely excluded from the FBI's national tally of police shootings, further skewing the numbers. \"In short,\" Walker wrote in an email, \"we have no reliable data on Hispanic\/Latino people shot and killed by the police.\" Two Supreme Court decisions in the 1980s, Tennessee vs. Garner and Graham v. Connor, set the legal framework for determining when deadly force by cops is reasonable. Constitutionally, \"police officers are allowed to shoot under two circumstances,\" David Klinger, a University of Missouri-St. Louis professor who studies law enforcement officers' use of force, said in August. The first circumstance is \"to protect their life or the life of another innocent party\" \u2014 referred to as the \"defense-of-life\" standard by police departments. The second circumstance is to prevent a suspect from escaping, but only if the officer has probable cause to think the suspect poses a dangerous threat to others. The logic behind the second circumstance, Klinger explained, comes from Tennessee vs. Garner. That case involved a pair of police officers who shot a 15-year-old boy as he fled from a burglary. (He'd stolen $10 and a purse from a house.) The court ruled that cops couldn't shoot every felon who tried to escape. But, as Klinger said, \"they basically say that the job of a cop is to protect people from violence, and if you've got a violent person who's fleeing, you can shoot them to stop their flight.\" what matters is the officer's \"objectively reasonable\" belief that there is a threat The key to both of the legal standards \u2014 defense-of-life and stopping a fleeing violent felon \u2014 is that it doesn't matter whether there is an actual threat when force is used. Instead, what matters is the officer's \"objectively reasonable\" belief that there is a threat. That standard comes from the other Supreme Court case that guides use-of-force decisions: Graham v. Connor. This was a civil lawsuit brought by a man who survived his encounter with police officers, but was treated roughly, had his face shoved into the hood of a car, and broke his foot \u2014 all while suffering a diabetic attack. The court didn't rule on whether the officers' actions had been justified, but said police couldn't justify their conduct solely based on whether their intentions were good. They had to demonstrate that their actions were \"objectively reasonable,\" given the circumstances and compared to what other police officers might do. What's \"objectively reasonable\" changes as the circumstances change. \"One can't just say, 'Because I could use deadly force 10 seconds ago, that means I can use deadly force again now,'\" Walter Katz, a California attorney who specializes in oversight of law enforcement agencies, said in August. In the case of Zambrano-Montes, the legal questions are whether he was actually fleeing after he turned around and whether he posed an imminent threat to the officers or others, which police could substantiate if he was throwing rocks at officers as they allege.","label":0}
{"text":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas is set to get its first immigrant detention center under the Trump administration after a private prison company announced that it won a contract with ICE. [The GEO group announced in a press release on Thursday that it has been awarded a contract by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the construction and operation of a detention facility located in Conroe, Texas, which is just north of Houston. Under the $110 contract with ICE, GEO is expected to, \"design, finance, build, and operate the Facility. \" GEO has a long history of partnering with ICE spanning well over two decades. \"We are very appreciative of the continued confidence placed in our company by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,\" said George C. Zoley, GEO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The GEO group has a total of 23 facilities in the state of Texas which includes correctional centers, detention centers, residential reentries, and youth services. According to GEO's website, ICE is a client at four of the facilities in Texas. The largest of the facilities that ICE has a contract for, the South Texas Detention Complex, is in Pearsall, Texas, which can house 1, 904 detainees. The other facilities are the Rio Grande Detention Center, located in Laredo with a capacity 1, 900 Joe Corley Detention Facility, located in Conroe with a capacity 1, 517 and Ector County Correctional Center, located in Odessa with a capacity 235. Ryan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at @RealSaavedra.","label":0}
{"text":"In a scientific triumph that will change the way the world fights a terrifying killer, an experimental Ebola vaccine tested on humans in the waning days of the West African epidemic has been shown to provide 100 percent protection against the lethal disease. The vaccine has not yet been approved by any regulatory authority, but it is considered so effective that an emergency stockpile of 300, 000 doses has already been created for use should an outbreak flare up again. Since Ebola was discovered in the former Zaire in 1976, there have been many efforts to create a vaccine. All began with a sense of urgency but then petered out for lack of money. Although only about 1, 600 people died of Ebola over those years, the grotesque nature their deaths \u2014 copious hemorrhaging from every orifice \u2014 has lent the disease a frightening reputation. Ultimately, only the huge, explosive 2014 outbreak that took 11, 000 lives in Africa and spread overseas, reaching a handful of people in Europe and the United States, provided the political and economic drive to make an effective vaccine. The test results of the trial in Guinea were released Thursday in The Lancet. The vaccine was not ready in time to stop the outbreak, which probably began in a hollow, tree in Guinea and swept Liberia and Sierra Leone before being defeated. But the prospect of a vaccine stockpile now has brought optimism among public health experts. \"While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa's Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next outbreak hits, we will not be defenseless,\" said Kieny, the World Health Organization's assistant for health systems and innovation and the study's lead author. \"The world can't afford the confusion and human disaster that came with the last epidemic. \" The vaccine opens up new, faster, more efficient ways to encircle and strangle the virus. The many small Ebola outbreaks that occurred between 1976 and 2014 were all stopped in remote villages by laborious methods: medical teams flew in, isolated the sick, and donned protective gear to treat them and bury the dead. But that tactic failed in 2014 when the virus reached crowded capital cities, where it spread like wildfire and dead bodies piled up in the streets. The new vaccine has some flaws, experts said. It appears to work only against one of the two most common strains of the Ebola virus, and it may not give protection. Some of those who get it report side effects like joint pain and headaches. \"It's certainly good news with regard to any new outbreak \u2014 and one will occur somewhere,\" said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which makes many vaccines and did some early testing on this one. \"But we still need to continue working on Ebola vaccines. \" The Lancet study was done in 11, 841 residents of Guinea last year. Among the 5, 837 people who got the vaccine, none came down with Ebola 10 or more days later. There were 23 Ebola cases among the thousands of others not immediately vaccinated. (The window was important because the trial used the \"ring vaccination\" technique developed during the drive to eliminate smallpox. Once a confirmed case was found, researchers contacted everyone in the circle of family, friends, neighbors and caregivers around the victim. About half the \"circles\" were offered vaccine. No one who fell ill within the first nine days after vaccination was counted, however, because it was assumed that they had already been infected before vaccination.) The Ebola trial was led by the World Health Organization, the Guinean Health Ministry, Norway's Institute of Public Health and other institutions. The vaccine, known as was developed over a decade ago by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the United States Army and is now licensed to Merck. Its genetic \"spine\" is that of a vesicular stomatitis virus, which sickens cattle but usually does not infect humans. Spliced into the spine is the gene coding for an Ebola virus surface protein that prompts the immune system to make antibodies. Tests in monkeys showed that one shot protected all of them when it was given at least a week before they were given a high dose of Ebola. The shot even protected a few monkeys who received it a day after being infected with Ebola. The Ebola virus has five known subtypes, the most common of which are the one that caused the West African outbreak, and . Ebola is also related to Marburg virus, which is similarly lethal. An ideal vaccine would protect against all Ebola strains and Marburg. However, Dr. Kieny said, it may not be possible to make a shot effective against several strains if it is t based on the VSV spine because VSV triggers a lot of side effects. Risks that are acceptable in the midst of a deadly epidemic are not acceptable in a preventive vaccine given to healthy children and adults, several experts noted. The new vaccine is \"a step in the right direction but not the ultimate solution,\" said Dr. Gary J. Nabel, chief scientific officer for global health research at the Sanofi pharmaceutical company, who designed a different Ebola vaccine in the 1990s when he worked at the National Institutes of Health. A randomized clinical trial involving tens of thousands of subjects is the preferred way to test any vaccine, he noted. But by the time testing could start in in West Africa, isolation and treatment of the sick in tent hospitals had made Ebola cases so rare that researchers had to switch to ring vaccination around the few they could find. A likely candidate for a routine Ebola vaccine is one now being developed by GSK, Dr. Nabel said. It uses two shots: the first has the Ebola surface protein attached to a chimpanzee adenovirus that can infect humans without harming them the second uses a weakened pox virus similar to that used in smallpox vaccine. Dr. Seth F. Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said his organization's board voted in late 2014 to spend up to $390 million for 12 million doses of an Ebola vaccine. At the time, several companies had candidates but none had been fully tested in humans. \"That was at a time when the epidemic was raging and we did not know if it could be controlled without a vaccine,\" he said. By early last year, when preliminary results suggested the Merck vaccine worked well, Gavi gave the company $5 million to make 300, 000 doses as an emergency supply to be used if exploded again. It is not yet clear how big a stockpile will eventually be created. Merck is now required to seek approval of its vaccine from the World Health Organization, which itself requires licensing by a major regulatory agency like the United States Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency.","label":0}
{"text":"Smaller lavatories are helping airlines to add extra seats to new and existing aircraft for more profit, but some passengers \u2014 if they can get into the bathrooms \u2014 say they are being shortchanged. The continuing installation of smaller and reconfigured bathrooms, which began in late 2013, has led to complaints about safety issues, say travelers and flight crew, who are concerned about restricted access for the physically disabled, as well as ease of use for other passengers Barry Brandes, a retired singer from Somers, N. Y. travels several times a year on United Airlines. At Mr. Brandes said that getting into the new lavatories on the Boeing a airplane, is not easy. \"If I don't duck, I hit my head on the door,\" he said. \"I can't stand up completely, so I have to twist myself into a pretzel to use the facility. \" United has a total of 250 Boeing and aircraft that feature a combination of the new lavatory and the traditional lavatory, according to Erin Benson, a spokeswoman. In an email, she said the airplanes are reconfigured for the best use of space. In some aircraft, she noted, lavatories in first class have a new design, but have not decreased in size, while new lavatories located between first class and the first row of economy have decreased in size. The configuration of the toilets can make it especially difficult during medical emergencies to help travelers who are incapacitated or unable to move on their own, said Jeffrey A. Tonjes, a spokesman for United flight attendants in the Association of Flight a union that represents 50, 000 flight attendants at 18 airlines. \"Both passenger and flight attendant are in harm's way for injury or slowed response if we have difficulty getting to the passenger,\" Mr. Tonjes said. \"United Airlines is aware of this, and committed to addressing the issue about a year ago, but has been slow in getting the fix done. \" The square footage of the old and new bathrooms varies, depending on their location \u2014 whether they are in the back next to the galley, on the sides of the plane in front of the galley, in coach or in first class \u2014 and the model of aircraft. This reporter recently measured the lavatories on a Boeing which had the traditional, older bathrooms, and on a which had the newer bathrooms. The traditional lavatories in first class and coach on a Boeing measured, 41 inches long by 34\u00bd inches wide by 75 inches high. On a Boeing the new bathroom in first class measured 36 by 27 by 77, and in coach measured 39\u00be by 24\u00bd by 77. The new lavatories, which had smaller sinks and trash receptacles, were a bit taller than the traditional bathrooms, but narrower and less deep. Ms. Benson, who declined to give official dimensions, said only that the newer bathrooms shrank three to four inches from the sink to the opposite wall, and lengthened two to three inches from the back of the toilet to the door. The smaller bathrooms, combined with smaller galleys and trimmer seats with less pitch, allow space for an extra row of seats in the rear. Doug Alder, a spokesman for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said that airlines choose their own lavatory, galley and seat arrangements from various suppliers to create optimal use of cabin space. He declined to reveal lavatory dimensions and added, in an email, that \"there is currently only one supplier for lavs across all models of the 737 \u2014 Aerospace. \" Numerous phone calls requesting an interview with executives from Aerospace, which has its headquarters in Wellington, Fla. were not returned. Ms. Benson of United declined to comment on complaints about the smaller bathrooms and referred questions to Airlines for America, a trade group that represents major United States airlines. Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the group, wrote in an email: \"I'm not aware of issues or complaints on the matter. \" United is not the only airline to install smaller lavatories on its newer aircraft. Bobbie Egan, an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman, said six of its airline's 153 Boeing 737s have lavatories that were slightly reduced in size, and that no customer complaints have been registered. \"Separately, adjusting [the seat] pitch and removing a lavatory and closet on these six planes enabled us to add one row of seats,\" Ms. Egan wrote in an email. Delta Air Lines flies the Boeing which all have the smaller lavatories, and Airbus 320s, which are undergoing cabin modification. \"A small number of the A320s now have the smaller lavs,\" said Morgan Durrant, a spokesman for Delta. He said that in customer surveys, there has been no significant feedback or complaints about the size of the lavatories, and no reports of related injuries. Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight has a different perspective. \"The concerns are uniform across the industry,\" said Ms. Nelson, who added that does not represent Delta flight attendants, who are not unionized. Describing facing lavatories, she said that \"the doors of these restrooms open into each other, creating safety issues. There are a lot of injuries, with smashed fingers, doors hitting people, bumps and bruises. \" Ms. Nelson said that the rear cabin restroom doors also create a barricade between the cabin and the back galley when open, limiting the ability of crew to maneuver if a passenger in the cabin is in trouble. Some parents with small children say they cannot help their kids in the toilet unless the door stays open. Passengers of size, and those with physical challenges, say getting into the smaller lavatories is often not possible for them. Jake Fitzpatrick, who is in the process of introducing a that reviews travel accommodations for the physically challenged, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, which requires a caregiver's help in order to use the restroom. When he takes Delta and Alaska Airlines, Mr. Fitzpatrick said, it's impossible for him to get into their bathrooms, so he uses restrooms at the airport before boarding. \"It's hard to hold it, even for three to four hours,\" said Mr. Fitzpatrick, who lives in Portland, Ore. \"If I go before, it takes 30 to 45 minutes to board everybody, and when we land, we often have to wait for a gate. A to flight means someone with a disability might have to wait five to six hours to go to the bathroom. \" Department of Transportation rules require at least one accessible lavatory on aircraft, but do not require accessible lavatories on aircraft like the Boeing or Airbus 320, which are used for many to flights. Caitlin Harvey, a spokeswoman for the department, wrote in an email that the department has not received a significant number of written complaints from passengers with disabilities about the size of bathrooms on aircraft. However, she said, disability rights advocates have consistently raised the issue, advocating a rule requiring airlines to provide an accessible lavatory on aircraft. So the department has formed the Advisory Committee on Accessible Air Transportation, which comprises industry representatives, disability rights advocates and other experts, to look into it. \"The committee is studying a range of promising design and layout solutions, both with respect to the lavatories themselves and with respect to onboard wheelchair design, that may be implemented in the and \" Ms. Harvey wrote in an email. \"The committee is also studying the costs and that may come with imposing any new accessibility standards. \" Such changes can't come soon enough for travelers like Wilma Abbey, a retired teacher from the Nashville area, whose two hip replacements have made maneuvering in airplane bathrooms very difficult. \"Just wait until someone gets stuck in one of those bathrooms, causing an emergency landing, and the airline gets sued,\" Ms. Abbey said. \"How much money do the airlines have to make before they provide the basic necessities? I'd like to see airline executives sit in coach and use the bathrooms they've provided us. It's just an insult to the customers. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Egypt summoned several western ambassadors on Sunday in protest against a statement criticizing the country s detention of a human rights lawyer who was helping investigate the case of a murdered Italian student. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Canada issued a statement late on Friday critical of the detention of Ibrahim Metwaly, who was helping investigate the murder of Giulio Regeni. The PhD student s body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital in 2016 showing signs of extensive torture. An Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement said the German, Dutch and Italian ambassadors had been summoned and that procedures to summon the British and Canadian ambassadors were ongoing. The ministry said the criticism from the five Western countries was a blatant and unacceptable interference in domestic affairs and the work of the judiciary. It is unfortunate that such a statement would be issued from countries that call for respecting rule of law and the principles of separation of powers, it said. Metwaly founded the Association of the Families of the Disappeared after his son disappeared four years ago. He was taken by airport security in September while heading to Geneva to attend a U.N. conference on enforced disappearances, members of his group said. They later said a state prosecutor had ordered his detention. Judicial sources told Reuters on Saturday that Metwaly was detained on charges of spreading false news and joining an illegal group, and that his pre-trial detention was in accordance with the law. Rights activists say Egyptian authorities kidnap dissent and keep them in secret jails without charges. Egypt denies the accusations.","label":0}
{"text":"Get short URL 0 13 0 0 The 40-million strong African American community deserved \"new deal\" to transform their communities, safety and economic prospects as well as the future of their children, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.  WASHINGTON (Sputnik) \u2014 The city of Charlotte was the site of a mass-murder that shocked the United States last year when nine African Americans holding a Bible study in their church were shot dead. A young white racist Dylann Storm Roof is facing trial charged with the crime. \u00a9 REUTERS\/ Mike Segar Half of US Voters Concerned About Potential Violence on Election Day \"[It is time for] a new deal for black America,\" Trump said in on Wednesday. \"I am asking for the honor of your vote and the privilege of serving as your president and I will not let you down\u2026 Whether you vote for me or not , I will be your greatest champion.\" \u00a9 AP Photo\/ Don Ryan Black Lives Matter Activist Endorses Clinton for US President in Opinion Article  Trump said he proposed a three-point plan for the African American community that focused on creating safe communities, great education and high paying jobs. \"My vision rests on a principle that has defined this campaign right from the beginning: It is called America First\u2026 Every African American citizen in this country is entitled to a job that puts them first\u2026 I work for you and I work only for you,\" Trump noted. ...","label":1}
{"text":"A North Korean state agency threatened on Thursday to use nuclear weapons to sink Japan and reduce the United States to ashes and darkness for supporting a U.N. Security Council resolution and sanctions over its latest nuclear test. The Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which handles the North s external ties and propaganda, also called for the breakup of the Security Council, which it called a tool of evil made up of money-bribed countries that move at the order of the United States. The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche. Japan is no longer needed to exist near us, the committee said in a statement carried by the North s official KCNA news agency. Juche is the North s ruling ideology that mixes Marxism and an extreme form of go-it-alone nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong Un. Regional tension has risen markedly since the reclusive North conducted its sixth, and by far its most powerful, nuclear test on Sept. 3, following a series of missile tests, including one that flew over Japan. The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on a U.S.-drafted resolution and a new round of sanctions on Monday in response, banning North Korea s textile exports that are the second largest only to coal and mineral, and capping fuel supplies. The North reacted to the latest action by the Security Council, which had the backing of veto-holding China and Russia, by reiterating threats to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea. Let s reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes and darkness. Let s vent our spite with mobilization of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now, the statement said. Japan s Nikkei stock index and dollar\/yen currency pared gains, although traders said that was more because of several Chinese economic indicators released on Thursday rather than a reaction to the North s latest statement. South Korea s won also edged down around the same time over domestic financial concerns. Despite the North s threats, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he was against having nuclear weapons in his country, either by developing its own arsenal or bringing back U.S. tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn in the early 1990s. To respond to North Korea by having our own nuclear weapons will not maintain peace on the Korean peninsula and could lead to a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia, Moon said in an interview with CNN. South Korea s Unification Ministry also said it planned to provide $8 million through the U.N. World Food Programme and UNICEF to help infants and pregnant women in the North. The move marks Seoul s first humanitarian assistance for the North since its fourth nuclear test in January 2016 and is based on a longstanding policy of separating humanitarian aid from politics, the ministry said. The North s latest threats also singled out Japan for dancing to the tune of the United States, saying it should never be pardoned for not offering a sincere apology for its never-to-be-condoned crimes against our people , an apparent reference to Japan s wartime aggression. It also referred to South Korea as traitors and dogs of the United States. Japan criticized the North s statement harshly. This announcement is extremely provocative and egregious. It is something that markedly heightens regional tension and is absolutely unacceptable, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visiting India, called for strict enforcement of the U.N. resolution, saying the world must force a change. The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on a U.S.-drafted resolution and a new round of sanctions against North Korea on Monday in response to its latest and most powerful test, banning North Korea s textile exports that are the second largest only to coal and mineral, and capping fuel supplies. North Korea had already rejected the Security Council resolution, vowing to press ahead with its nuclear and missile programs. A tougher initial U.S. draft of Monday s resolution was weakened to win the support of China, the North s lone major ally, and Russia. Significantly, it stopped short of imposing a full embargo on oil exports to North Korea, most of which come from China. The latest sanctions also make it illegal for foreign firms to form commercial joint ventures with North Korean entities. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed that North Korea will never be allowed to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile, but has also asked China to do more to rein in its neighbor. China in turn favors an international response to the problem. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the international community had reached a high consensus on trying to realize a peaceful solution. We urge the relevant directly involved parties to seize the opportunity and have the political nerve to make the correct political choice as soon as possible, Hua told a regular press briefing. The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies. The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty. (For a graphic on North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, click tmsnrt.rs\/2vXbj0S)","label":0}
{"text":"Email Print This has been the worst week for Hillary Clinton and the best week for the American people. For years, Americans have accepted that Hillary Clinton is simply \"too big to jail.\" We began to lose hope when the FBI let her off the hook the first time, but it appears Director Comey knew he had to correct a major wrong. An avalanche of investigations has now occurred against Hillary Clinton, her campaign, and her foundation. FBI Director James Comey made the announcement in a letter last Friday afternoon that the bureau will be reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's illegal use of a private email server. Two days later, the FBI opened a second investigation into the Clinton Foundation. As on November 4th, we have reports that two more investigations have been opened by the FBI. The third investigation spawned from WikiLeaks releasing thousands emails and documents purporting that the Clinton Foundation was linked to child exploitation and Jeffrey Epstein. The fourth investigation entails the IRS reviewing the Clinton Foundation for tax evasion, money laundering, and many other things. Hillary sure does make history. Second time she has been under criminal investigation this year as a presidential candidate.  \u2014 Martin Walsh (@mrwalsh8) October 28, 2016 According to sources with the FBI , it is being heavily reported that FBI Director James Comey has ordered all agents in the Washington D.C. field office and Hoover Building headquarters to report to work immediately Friday morning. \"We're preparing for many arrests from the top down,\" an FBI source stated. \"I cannot elaborate beyond that.\" When the FBI source was asked to elaborate on what he meant by \"from the top down,\" he added, \"You're a smart guy; read between the lines.\" FBI protocol indicates that two scenarios could be unfolding in this situation: The FBI is either preparing to obtain search warrants where they will search any and everything dealing with the Clinton Foundation or they are preparing to make arrests on any and all individuals involved. Or, they are preparing to carry out both actions. We cannot confirm what documents the FBI has, but an FBI source has indicated that they are preparing to make arrests in the coming days. We are unsure if that means Hillary Clinton, but we are confident that many of her cronies will be arrested and charged with several crimes in the coming days. The FBI has the opportunity to right their wrongs. They have more than enough evidence to charge @HillaryClinton . Do your job.  \u2014 Martin Walsh (@mrwalsh8) November 2, 2016 At this moment, here is a list of the crimes Hillary Clinton and her team are being investigated for by the FBI: Money laundering Sex crimes with minors (children) Perjury Pay to play through Clinton Foundation Obstruction of justice Other felony crimes The FBI would not open several investigations weeks before a presidential election unless the evidence was overwhelming. For the first time in American politics, it appears that no one is too big to jail\u2013even a Clinton. Sources with with the FBI are indicating that orders have come down from the very top that they will be taking actions immediately against Hillary Clinton, her team, and her foundation. Charges for these crimes would result in long prison sentences as well as hefty fines. They would also result in Hillary Clinton losing this election in a complete landslide. We very well may see Hillary Clinton arrested by the FBI in the coming days. Time will tell. Stay tuned.  If you haven't checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so. Leave a comment...","label":1}
{"text":"This needs to happen.David Letterman is no stranger to dealing with Donald Trump. The comedy legend humiliated Trump repeatedly as host of The Late Show. And since retiring, Letterman hasn t shied away from commenting on Trump s dumpster fire presidency when he is asked about it.During an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Letterman made it clear that he is sick of Trump s constant whining and offered a brilliant solution. We know there s something wrong, but what I m tired of is people, daily, nightly, on all the cable news shows telling us there s something wrong, Letterman said before calling for action. I just think we ought to direct our resources and our energies to doing something about it, Letterman continued. And other people have made this point: If the guy was running Dairy Queen, he d be gone. This guy couldn t work at the Gap. So why do we have to be victimized by his fecklessness, his ignorance? Indeed, Trump would have been fired long before now and definitely would not have even been hired after many of the things he has said in public. Ordinary American workers would no longer have a job if they repeated some of things Trump has said.Letterman also had a message for Trump s supporters. Letterman said he feels bad for them because they got duped into thinking Trump would be best for America. Letterman said that he wishes Trump would be the one who fixes the problems our country faces. But Trump is not the right person to get the job done. In fact, Trump should be ousted from office and placed in a home where he can get the medication he needs whenever he feels the need to rant uncontrollably. But it s just the behavior is insulting to Americans, whether you voted for him or not and I feel bad for people who did vote for him because he promised them things that they really needed and one wonders if he s really going to come through. I know there s trouble in this country and we need a guy who can fix that trouble. I wish it was Trump, but it s not, so let s just stop whining about what a goon he is and figure out a way to take him aside and put him in a home. David Letterman s solution is a great idea but the only place Donald Trump should really be right now is prison. Either that or a mental health facility.Featured Image: Screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"Italy seized more than 24 million tablets of a synthetic opiate that Islamic State militants planned to sell to finance attacks around the world, the head of a southern Italian court said on Friday. The pills were seized by finance police and customs officials in the container port of Gioia Tauro, Italy s biggest, according to a statement. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration collaborated in the investigation. A video shows police opening a container filled with boxes of Tramadol, a powerful painkiller normally available only on prescription. With an average sale price of about 2 euros ($2.33) per tablet, the haul was worth 50 million euros, the statement said. Foreign investigators told the court in the city of Reggio Calabria that the drugs belonged to Islamic State. The drugs sales were managed directly by Islamic State to finance the terrorist activities planned and carried out around the world , Reggio Calabria s chief prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho said. Part of the illegal profit from their sale would have been used to finance extremist groups in Libya, Syria and Iraq, he said. The seizure comes three days after an Uzbek immigrant, Sayfullo Saipov, drove a truck on a New York City bike path, killing eight, in the latest attack claimed by Islamic State. No details on how the illegal shipment was discovered or on its final destination were provided by the court. A similar shipment was discovered in Greece last year, and an even larger one was found in Italy s Genoa port in May.","label":0}
{"text":"German authorities investigating the delivery of a package containing powerful firecrackers, wires and nails to a pharmacy near a Christmas market in the city of Potsdam said on Sunday it was criminal activity rather than terrorism. Karl-Heinz Schroeter, interior minister of the state of Brandenburg where Potsdam is located, told a news conference criminals were behind the package which they had used to try to extort millions of euros from logistics firm DHL, which had delivered the package. Police said it was highly likely that the package could have exploded. Staff at the pharmacy in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, called the police on Friday after they discovered the suspicious package. The Christmas market was evacuated and the package was made safe by a police robot. DHL warned the public not to open packages if they did not recognize the sender s address or if the sender s address was suspicious. As we find ourselves approaching Christmas, which is not only a time of peace, but also a time when many presents are sent, such an act of extortion is reprehensible, Schroeter told the news conference. He said all efforts were being made to catch those who sent the package. Authorities said the people who sent the package most likely lived in Berlin or in the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds the German capital. They did not say how much money they had demanded, but said they had told DHL they would send more packages that could kill or injure if DHL, owned by Deutsche Post, refused to pay up. Brandenburg police chief Hans-Juergen Moerke said that a QR barcode that can be read using a smart phone was found on a piece of paper inside the package. The extortion letter addressed to DHL was found in the barcode. (The story was refiled to remove the reference to the police search after the news conference)","label":0}
{"text":"Will Hillary Clinton Get America Back on Track? Posted on Oct 31, 2016 U.S. Embassy London \/ CC BY-ND 2.0  The parallels are striking. In the last decades of the nineteenth century \u2013 the so-called \"Gilded Age\"\u2014 America experienced inequality on a scale it had never before seen, combining wild opulence and searing poverty.  American industry consolidated into a few giant monopolies, or trusts, headed by \"robber barons\" who wielded enough power to drive out competitors. A few Wall Street titans like J.P. Morgan controlled the nation's finances.  These men used their huge wealth to rig the system. Their lackeys literally deposited stacks of money on the desks of pliant legislators, prompting the great jurist Louis Brandeis to tell America it a choice: \"We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.\"  We face a similar choice today.  Advertisement Square, Site wide  Then, America chose democracy. President Theodore Roosevelt, railing against the \" malefactors of great wealth ,\" broke up the trusts. And he pushed Congress to end the most blatant forms of corruption.  His fifth cousin, FDR, went further \u2013 enacting social insurance for the elderly, the unemployed, and the disabled; a minimum wage and forty-hour workweek; the right to unionize; compensation for workers injured on the job; and strict limits on Wall Street.  In other words, between 1870 and 1900, American capitalism got off track. Between 1901 and 1937 (the effective end of the New Deal), America put capitalism back on track.  We're now in the Second Gilded Age, and American capitalism is again off track. It takes about three generations for Americans to forget how our system, unattended, goes wrong. And then to right it.  Inequality is now nearly at the same level it was in the late nineteenth century. Half of all families are poorer today than they were a decade-and-a-half ago, the pay of CEOs and Wall Street bankers is in the stratosphere, and child poverty is on the rise.  Meanwhile, American industry is once again consolidating \u2013 this time into oligopolies dominated by three or four major players . You can see it in pharmaceuticals, high tech, airlines, food, Internet service, communications, health insurance, and finance.  The biggest Wall Street banks, having brought the nation to the brink of destruction a few years ago, are once again exercising vast economic power. And big money has taken over American politics.  Will we put capitalism back on track, as we did before?  The vile election of 2016 doesn't seem to offer much hope. But future historians looking back on the tumult might see the start of another era of fundamental reform.  Today's uprising against the established order echoes the outrage average Americans felt in the late nineteenth century when they pushed Congress to enact the Sherman Antitrust Act, and when Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan fulminated against big business and finance.  One hundred twenty years later, Bernie Sanders \u2013 the unlikeliest of presidential candidates \u2013 won 22 states and 46 percent of the pledged delegates in the Democratic primaries, and pushed Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party to adopt many of his proposals.  At the same time, Donald Trump \u2013 a faux populist \u2013 has laid bare the deep discontents of America's white working class, which both parties have long neglected. Not incidentally, Trump has also jeopardized the social fabric of America and nearly destroyed the Republican Party.  Hopefully some of America's current elite will conclude, as it did at the turn of the last century, that they'd do better with a smaller share of a growing economy fueled by a flourishing middle class, in a society whose members feel the system is basically fair, than in one riven by social and political strife.  History has proven the early generation of reformers correct. While other nations opted for communism or fascism, Americans chose to make capitalism work for the many rather than the few.  If Donald Trump is elected next week, all bets are off.  But if Hillary Clinton assumes the presidency, could she become another Teddy or Franklin D. Roosevelt?  You may think her too much of an establishment figure, too close to the moneyed interests, too cautious. But no one expected dramatic reform when each of the Roosevelts took the reins. They were wealthy patricians, in many respects establishment figures. Yet each rose to the occasion.  Perhaps she will, too. The timing is right, and the need is surely as great as it was over a century ago.  As Mark Twain is reputed to have quipped, \"history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.\"","label":1}
{"text":"Report Copyright Violation Face It. Nobody Cares About Wikileaks Because Trump Doesn't Have The \"Temperament\" To be President. He's Scary. Trumps twitter rants and threats show him as petty and vindictive, he said Saudi Arabia should have nukes,he throws tantrums.Trumps dangerous temperament overrides everything else because he can't be trusted with the nuclear football.And that is not even speaking of his racism and sexism. Page 1","label":1}
{"text":"We re living in a world where we have willingly surrendered our privacy for the sake of making identification of ourselves, and our children more convenient for our government and for private businesses and entertainment venues like Disney World. Students and faculty at Harrison Street Elementary School just love the new thumbprint scanner in the school s lunch line, but civil rights experts are warning parents about serious privacy concerns with the technology.The Geneva Unit District 304 replaced a different biometric scanner system for school lunch lines this year with devices from a local company, PushCoin Inc., that read students thumb prints to track their accounts, the Daily Herald reports. It s good, because you don t have to carry your own money or anything like that, fifth-grader Quinlan Bobeczko told the news site. It s just there. Your thumb is easy, because you just have to put your thumb on (the device). Officials in several area school districts are watching District 304 in hopes of installing similar devices in their schools.East Maine Elementary District 63 spokeswoman Janet Bishop said the district hired PushCoin Inc. this spring to begin offering the thumb scan option this month, and Lake Zurich Unit District 95 board president Doug Goldberg said schools there will implement the biometric scanners in the 2016-17 school year, the Daily Herald reports. I will tell you that many of the kids aren t very good about keeping track of their ID cards, Goldberg said. And so moving to biometrics was felt to be sort of the next generation of that individual, unique ID. We ll record their thumbprints, there will be thumbprint readers at all the cash registers, and they ll simply come by and bang hit their thumbprint. It makes it faster and, also, there s a lot less opportunity for any kind of misuse or fraud when they re using biometrics. PushCoin Inc. allows parents to closely monitor their children s lunch accounts through email updates, and the company s CEO, Anna Lisznianski contends the scanners can help school officials use lunch time more efficiently.","label":1}
{"text":"On Election Day the enthusiasm of receiving an I Voted sticker never came for many Massachusetts voters. The oval sticker that never came for many voters bears an American flag. Woburn resident Elisabeth Sweeny, who was rejected, stated that she did not get one. Sweeny also said that she was a little bit excited because it is entertaining to post the sticker on social media. She also declared that to wear it shows people that it is important to vote and that she was also extremely disappointed that she did not receive one. Daniel Stiffler who answered the phones at the city clerk's office said that due to budget cuts the local government of Woburn decided not to give voters the stickers. Stiffler also stated that because the state government does not supply the stickers for the cities and towns when the local budget is cut. Elections Division spokesman, Brian McNiff, said it is the responsibility of the individual city and town to stock up on the stickers for election day. However, it is not an obligation to pass out an emblematic tag to any voter who passes through the door. Written by John A. Federico Edited by Cathy Milne Source: Boston.com: Some people are upset they didn't get an 'I Voted' sticker Featured Image Courtesy of Thomas Hawk's Flickr Page \u2013 Creative Commons License election","label":1}
{"text":"Michael Savage is a very well known radio talk personality. The Savage Nation is a nationally syndicated talk show that is the second most listened-to radio talk show in the country with an audience of over 20 million listeners on 400 stations across the United States.Earlier today he was discussing his perspectives on the presidential debate and giving examples of current and anticipated debate bias.In addition, the broadcaster began discussing Hillary Clinton s mysterious health condition that Savage believes might be Parkinsons.Almost immediately, and without any notification, New York (tri-state area) radio station WABC-Radio TV cut Savage off the air and replaced him with the lesser rated Curtis And Cooby Show.Shortly thereafter, as Michael Savage discovered the issue and began discussing what was going on in\/around the New York broadcast area, all Savage affiliates nationwide cut off the broadcast and replaced the live transmission with a recording of a previous show. HERE S THE SHOW AS IT HAPPENED:","label":1}
{"text":"Among those killed last Friday in an attack on Coptic Christians that resulted in 30 deaths was Atef Mounir Zaki, who had recently renovated a local mosque for free. [According to Coptic academic Iz Tawfiq, who spoke with the website Al Arabiya, Zaki was a renovations contractor from the town of Abou Karkass in the Minia district where the attack on a bus of Coptic pilgrims occurred last Friday. Zaki was also used to provide equipment and workers to construction sites. Several months ago, when the Altaqwa Mosque in his city needed renovations due to cracks that endangered the structure, Zaki was asked by the mosque's managers to do the required work. Zaki agreed and, according to witnesses, did the best job possible. Upon completion of the task, when the managers wanted to pay for the work, Zaki refused to take the money and said, according to Tawfiq, that he \"contributed to the renovation of a house belonging to Allah\" and his work \"was a contribution for Allah. \" According to the report, he wasn't killed in the bus itself because he traveled to the monastery where the Coptic pilgrims' bus was headed in his private vehicle. During their escape from the area of the attack, and after a malfunction in their vehicle, a number of terrorists stopped Zaki and shot him and those with him in the car before stealing his vehicle and using it to flee. According to the Al Arabiya report, Zaki's funeral was very large and attended by many Muslims. Copts, including many children, were killed in the attack. Almost all the deaths occurred after armed men disguised as Egyptian security personnel stopped the bus on its way to the St. Samuel the Confessor Monastery in the Minia district south of Cairo.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Michigan to reinstate its Republican-backed ban on straight-ticket voting for the Nov. 8 general election. The justices left in place a decision by a federal district judge in Michigan who in July suspended a law that abolished straight-ticket voting, the practice of using one mark to vote for all candidates from one party, finding that it would disproportionately affect black voters. The 6th U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that finding last month, prompting the state to seek a stay from the Supreme Court. Two conservative justices on the eight-member court, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, voted to grant the request, the brief order said. The Michigan law, passed by a Republican-controlled legislature and signed by a Republican governor, was one of numerous voting measures passed at the state level that put new restrictions on voting. These measures also include stricter voter-identification laws and reduction of early-voting periods before election day. Proponents of the law, enacted in January, have said most states have moved away from a straight-ticket voting option. Removing the option forces voters to study candidates and encourages voters to make decisions based on criteria other than party affiliation, they said. Opponents say voting restrictions are aimed at reducing turnout of minorities, who are more likely to vote for Democrats. U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain in July granted a preliminary injunction sought by civil rights and labor groups who sued Michigan's Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette. The judge said elimination of straight-ticket voting would be a burden on voting rights and cause long wait times at polls. After Friday's decision, Schuette said, \"It is my duty to defend Michigan's laws, in this case a law that stands in 40 other states. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken and I will respect that decision.\" The case is one of several voting disputes being litigated ahead of the election and is the second emergency application the Supreme Court has recently been asked to handle. On Aug. 31, the court rejected a bid by North Carolina to reinstate for November's elections several voting restrictions, including a requirement that people show identification at the polls. The high court is short one justice following the death of conservative Antonin Scalia in February. As a result the court is evenly split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives.","label":0}
{"text":"White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Wednesday that an alleged draft executive order titled \"Detention and Interrogation of Enemy Combatants\" \"is not a White House document. \"[\"I have no idea where it came from,\" stressed Spicer. Various mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times (NYT) and the Washington Post (WaPo) published the contents of this document, suggesting it was a legitimate draft from White House officials. The alleged draft directs national security officials to \"recommend to the president whether to a program of interrogation of alien terrorists to be operated outside the United States,\" and addresses whether to lift the ban on the use of \"black site\" prisons overseas implemented by Barack Obama. Moreover, it orders the Pentagon chief to \"maintain and continue to use the detention and trial facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base for the detention and trial by military commission of alien enemy combatants [already] captured in the armed conflict \u2026 including for the detention and trial of newly captured alien enemy combatants\" not only affiliated with the Taliban and but also the Islamic State ( ). NYT acknowledged in their report that the Trump White House did not respond to a request for comment on the draft order. Today, the White House press secretary denied any affiliation with the document. The alleged draft order would have also directed U. S. Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis to work with the Attorney General and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to \"review the military commissions system and recommend to the president how best to employ the system going forward to provide for the swift and just trial and punishment of unlawful enemy combatants detained in the armed conflict with violent Islamist extremists. \"","label":0}
{"text":"One \"brutally honest\" Oscar voter says nominee Meryl Streep played her role in this year's Florence Foster Jenkins \"like a clown\" \u2014 and believes the actress was only awarded a nomination in return for delivering her infamous Trump speech at last month's Golden Globes. [\"I thought Meryl [Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins] played it like a clown \u2014 she's cute and adorable, but this woman didn't matter to me in the end \u2014 but people are gaga over Meryl, and I think she solidified her nomination when she gave that speech at the Golden Globes,\" the anonymous Oscar voter told the Hollywood Reporter. The Academy member \u2014 a female member of the acting branch \u2014 added: \"I don't think she would have gotten nominated without it. \" In January, Streep used her Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at the Golden Globes to rebuke President Trump for what she called his \"disrespect\" and his \"violence\" the actress also challenged a \"principled press\" to stand up to the president, and urged Hollywood to support the Committee to Protect Journalists. The 's Globes speech was lauded by the film industry and the press and set the tone for other awards shows to feature screeds. Later that month, actors including Ashton Kutcher and Julia trashed Trump and his executive order on immigration from the podium at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In February, a number of artists at the 59th annual Grammy Awards used their performances to make political statements, including Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and Katy Perry. The Hollywood Reporter solicits opinions from anonymous Oscar voters every year in the week before the ceremony. While the responses of one Academy member are hardly an indication of how the entirety of the 6, 000+ members will ultimately vote, the \"brutally honest\" ballots usually offer a refreshing perspective on the process. In addition to her comments on Streep, this year's anonymous voter said La La Land star Emma Stone's performance wasn't \"as wonderful\" as everyone is saying, the thriller Arrival \"just sucked\" and the Denzel Davis starring Fences underwhelmed because \"they just filmed the play. \" See the rest of the anonymous voter's \"brutally honest\" ballot here. The Academy Awards air Sunday night on ABC. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson","label":0}
{"text":"As reported earlier today, Reuters has named the whistleblower in Uranium One as William D. Campbell. According to John Solomon of Circa News, the undercover whistleblower is a consultant and his evidence will show Russian agents with suitcases of cash to bribe the Clintons for US uranium:Campbell says he s in fear for his life and will be testifying on Monday.John Solomon disputes the Reuters attempt to downplay the information from this informant He says this guy has big info on the Dems and Hillary OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON REUTERS OUTING CAMPBELL AND THE GAG ORDER ON CAMPBELL: The FBI informant who went undercover to look into Hillary Clinton s role in an Obama administration-era uranium company was identified yesterday in an exclusive from Reuters:William Campbell, a Russian lobbyist, is the informant, according to Reuters. He will be testifying before a congressional committee about the 2010 sale of Uranium One, where a Russian-backed company bought a uranium firm with mines in the U.S. Campbell gave information to the FBI about what he saw while undercover as an informant. I have worked with the Justice Department undercover for several years, and documentation relating to Uranium One and political influence does exist and I have it William CampbellCongressional committees have previously tried to interview Campbell, as he was undercover for roughly five years, working to get information on Russia s efforts to grow its atomic energy business in the U.S.Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told The Hill that a deal was reached in late October, clearing the informant to talk to Congress for the first time almost eight years after he first went undercover.Two House chairmen also announced a probe in late October which is digging into new reports about Russian efforts to influence the Uranium One nuclear purchase that gave Russia control of roughly 20 percent of America s uranium.When Clinton served as secretary of state, Russia routed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, and former President Bill Clinton collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in Russian speaking fees as part of Russian efforts to influence the U.S. government to approve the deal, The Hill reported.OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON THE GAG ORDER THAT HAS BEEN LIFTED BY SESSIONS:LAWYER FOR FBI INFORMANT: My Client Knows What Russians Were Saying During Bribery of Clintons [VIDEO]Campbell s attorney, Victoria Toensing, said on Fox Business that former attorneys general under the Obama administration are the reason her client hasn t been able to tell what all the Russians were talking about during the time that all these bribery payments were made. The lawyer for the FBI informant under a gag order that prevents him from going before Congress spoke out about what s to come with the Clinton\/Russia Uranium story:Fox Business reported: An informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is under a gag order that prevents him from testifying before the United States Congress that Russian nuclear officials were involved in fraudulent dealings in 2009 before the Uranium One deal was approved.Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch blocked the informant from testifying last year and threatened criminal action against him if he were to do so.In an interview with FOX Business Lou Dobbs, Victoria Toensing, the attorney representing the FBI informant, said she has never heard of a criminal penalty for breaching a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). If it does and it is unconstitutional and it s invalid, if it prohibits my client from giving information to the legislature, the executive cannot say to people, Hey, you can t give information to another body of the government, Toensing said.KEY POINTS: The Republican leadership was blocking the investigation into both Benghazi and the Russia uranium scandal involving Clinton.The NDA (gag order) is unconstitutional and Toensing says this type of gag order has a criminal penalty. She says she s never heard of this type of gag order.Victoria Toensing is one of the best lawyers in DC and will get to the bottom of this one way or another. The plot thickens on this one","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump put pressure on Democrats on Sunday as U.S. lawmakers worked to avoid a government shutdown, saying Obamacare would die without a cash infusion the White House has offered in exchange for their agreement to fund his border wall. The escalated push to get Trump's priorities, which Democrats reject, into spending legislation could jeopardize prospects for an agreement to keep the government open. If talks fail, the government would shut down on Saturday, Trump's 100th day in office. \"Obamacare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going - otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought,\" the Republican president said in a Twitter post. In a second tweet, he added: \"The Democrats don't want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.\" MS-13 is a criminal gang with members of Central American origin. The president's tweets appeared after White House budget director Mick Mulvaney accused Democrats of \"holding hostage national security\" by opposing $1.5 billion to help build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, one of Trump's top campaign pledges. Democrats have said they would not support legislation that ends federal subsidies to help low-income people buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. The healthcare law was former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement, which Republicans are trying to repeal and replace. On Sunday, Democrats called for Trump to stop making \"poison pill\" demands. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in both the House of Representatives and the Senate were \"going quite well\" and that he was hopeful a deal could be reached. \"The only fly in the ointment is that the president is being a little heavy handed, and mixing in and asking for things such as the wall,\" Schumer told reporters. \"We'd ask him to let us do our work, not throw in some last-minute poison pills that could undo it, and we could get this done,\" he said. Trump wants money for the wall included in spending legislation that Congress must pass by Friday to keep the federal government operating through Sept. 30, when the 2017 fiscal year expires. Mulvaney and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus played down the danger of a shutdown. Mulvaney said talks between Republicans and Democrats could produce an agreement as early as Sunday. \"I'm pretty confident we're going to get something that's satisfactory to the president in regard to border security within the current negotiations,\" Priebus said on NBC's \"Meet the Press.\" Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Trump had been clear about his desire for a wall. \"I would suspect he will be insistent on the funding,\" he told CNN's \"State of the Union.\" The White House is expected to address another Trump campaign promise this week with a Wednesday announcement on tax reform that Mulvaney said would offer \"governing principles, some guidance, also some indication of what the rates will be.\" But he said basic elements of the plan remained undecided, including whether to have deficit-funded tax cuts that would not be permanent. \"You can either have a small tax cut that's permanent, or a large tax cut that is short term,\" he said. In a tweet on Saturday, Trump promised that a \"Big TAX REFORM AND TAX REDUCTION will be announced next Wednesday.\" Legislative text on tax reform is not expected until June, Mulvaney said. Spending legislation will require Democratic support to clear the Senate, and the White House says it has offered to include $7 billion in Obamacare subsidies to help low-income Americans pay for health insurance, if Democrats accept funding for the wall. Democrats showed no sign of softening their opposition to wall funding on Sunday and sought to place responsibility for any shutdown squarely on Trump and Republicans who control the House of Representatives and the Senate. \"The Democrats do not support the wall,\" House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC's \"Meet the Press.\" \"The wall is, in my view, immoral, expensive, unwise.\" Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, called on Trump to \"back off.\" \"To think that he would consider shutting down the government of the United States of America over this outlandish proposal of a border wall ... that would be the height of irresponsibility,\" he told CNN.","label":0}
{"text":"For this Sunday's Arts and Leisure section, I profiled John Mayer, the singer, songwriter and guitar virtuoso, who also happens to be a prodigious talker \u2014 for better or worse. In 2010, a run of interviews changed the course of his career as both a musician and a celebrity. \"Only recently do I make decisions about putting a record or a video out that aren't saddled with guilt,\" he said this month in Los Angeles. \"I feel like I have a) done the work and b) been out long enough so that people can believe I've done the work. \" He added: \"It took me five years to go, 'O. K. come on, let's go back to the party. You're not going to make a fool of yourself. '\" As Mr. Mayer prepped for the release next month of his new album, \"The Search for Everything,\" which he hopes will be return to the pop mainstream, I trailed him between the recording studio and a shoot for a music video, a frenetic four days capped by an additional interview over dinner. Below are some additional edited excerpts from our hours of conversation. (You can read the full story here.) \"Your No. 1 Google result is a certain thing, but you've got to do something bigger than that to knock it off of first place. For me, when I was at my most popular, I maligned myself. It's a very interesting thing because if, when you mellow out in your life, it's the wrong time . .. I think a lot of people's last impression of me is outdated. \"As I autopsy that part of my life, it turns out that I was under the impression that I was a bigger star than I was. I appreciate that there was a market correction. I actually really do. There was a market correction and I'm probably about as big as I should be. \" [He quickly revised this statement.] \"I'd like to be a little bigger. \" \"My brother just had a baby. That'll rattle you, man. I'm looking at these pictures of him giving her a bath when I'm lying in a hotel penthouse in Hollywood and it's almost a clich\u00e9. The oxytocin flows freely in my brain when I see that stuff. \"[For me,] everything anatomically and chemically is healthy. It works. All the mechanisms are in place. It's just the life that I have, which is fabulous \u2014 it's just a bit more time on the International Space Station. Don't ever let me give you the sense that I don't love being on the International Space Station. It's a pretty cool reason why you haven't settled down \u2014 because you're an astronaut. I've never hated it. Sometimes I get upset at the way that it is, but the real question is: Will the appearance of this job prevent what I'm absolutely entitled to psychologically? That's the scary part. \"I'm still always going to be a kid from Fairfield, Conn. They don't make rock stars in Fairfield, Conn. They don't. They make good people who get a job, get married, they watch TV together, they start a life together and make other good people. \" \"I live for FedEx tracking numbers. I have a FedEx tracking number that's so hot right now I'll be watching it all night like Norad tracking Santa Claus. It's from Japan, it's getting here tomorrow. But [my stuff] gets held up in customs a lot because it's so much Japanese clothing that customs is like, 'What store is this going to?' Like, no, it's a person. 'It can't be going to a person, this is too much commercial value. '\" \"'Your Body Is a Wonderland' lives so much in its own atmosphere that it's like it's been handed to me by some other person. There was a time where I didn't want to play it, where I took it very personally that people were making jokes about it. Now I go: 'It's kind of cool to have one.' I don't know if you've made it if you don't have the one [thing] that the least initiated person can yell at you when they see you. Dave Chappelle has Rick James, you know?\" \"We live in a time right now where the message will be judged against the messenger. There are times when I say to myself, 'I don't have the right to.' Because I haven't introduced myself to the world or placed myself as a mouthpiece in that way, I guess I shied away from it. \" \"I had the most incredible time there and I learned a lot about who I used to be, because I used to have my heart out in front of me to every person I met. It didn't matter who you were. I didn't have time to make a value judgment. Everybody would get to look at it and touch it and put their gum out on it. And I would leave sad because I would go in with this huge, heavy beating heart for somebody to come put their arms around me and think I was great. And they just wouldn't because you don't do that at a party. \"But I go through the therapy and I grow up and I dig out the things that were stuck in the fibers. [At the party,] I didn't put my heart out to anybody that I didn't know. I didn't even bother going up to people that I didn't know. The thing I told myself, which is so healthy \u2014 so please don't tell me that I'm wrong \u2014 was: 'She doesn't care about me.' It's not my job to win them all over. \" \"You are not included in something if you are a solo artist. You cannot feel inclusion. You cannot feel being under a wing. I had never before been out of that role where you are in the saddle and everything is your call and all eyes are on you. Since I was a teenager! I was just there as a piece of their puzzle. \" \"Here's what'll happen: Some people will write, 'I can't front, John Mayer's got moves, though.' And some people are going to write, 'John Mayer looks hideously dumb dancing.' Here's my prediction: The people who say that I have moves aren't fans of mine and the people who say that I was hideous and made a fool of myself are John Mayer fans. Because they just don't see me that way. \"","label":0}
{"text":"You are here: Home \/ US \/ Look Who 97% of Donations from DOJ Employees Went To Look Who 97% of Donations from DOJ Employees Went To October 26, 2016 Pinterest  It will probably come as no surprise to anyone, but a huge majority of federal workers give political donations to\u2026 Democrats, namely Hillary Clinton.  Of course this isn't a shocker. Federal workers know their jobs will remain intact if they keep helping the people who have continued to grow government to the outrageous behemoth it has become.  From The Hill :  Of the roughly $2 million that federal workers from 14 agencies spent on presidential politics by the end of September, about $1.9 million, or 95 percent, went to the Democratic nominee's campaign, according to an analysis by The Hill.  Employees at all the agencies analyzed, without exception, are sending their campaign contributions overwhelmingly to Clinton over her Republican counterpart. Several agencies, such as the State Department, which Clinton once led, saw more than 99 percent of contributions going to Clinton.  Employees of the Department of Justice, which investigated Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of State, gave Clinton 97 percent of their donations. Trump received $8,756 from DOJ employees compared with $286,797 for Clinton. From IRS employees, Clinton received 94 percent of donations.  What's even more ironic is that these people are paid with taxpayer dollars. They keep using their salaries paid for with taxpayer dollars to help elect Democrats, who keep spending taxpayer dollars to keep these people employed with cushy benefits and salaries that are higher than for the same position in the private sector.  The only people who actually suffer, of course, are those who have to foot the bill for everything. And yes, federal workers pay taxes as well, but they are paying taxes using taxpayer dollars that pay their salaries to further push politicians that will keep increasing the size of government AND taxes and their salaries.  It's especially ironic that the Department of Justice spent so much on Hillary considering she has made fools of them. Obama has completely politicized the department. There is no justice at the Department of Justice anymore. They have lost all credibility thanks to Democrats, just like the FBI.","label":1}
{"text":"It s been less than a week since Donald Trump took the oath of office, and already he s breaking records left and right (and none of them are good).Simply put: Donald Trump is the most hated incoming president this country has seen in at least 60 years.According to Gallup Polling:President Donald Trump is the first elected president in Gallup s polling history to receive an initial job approval rating below the majority level. He starts his term in office with 45% of Americans approving of the way he is handling his new job, 45% disapproving and 10% yet to form an opinion. Trump now holds the record for the lowest initial job approval rating as well as the highest initial disapproval rating in Gallup surveys dating back to Dwight D. Eisenhower.Congratulations, America. You nominated a man you vehemently hate (more so than George W. Bush).To put it in perspective, let s look at the numbers for Trump and past presidents:Donald Trump Approve: 45 percent. Disapprove: 45 percentBarack Obama Approve: 68 percent. Disapprove: 12 percentGeorge W. Bush Approve: 57 percent. Disapprove: 25 percentBill Clinton Approve: 58 percent. Disapprove: 20 percentGeorge H.W. Bush Approve: 51 percent. Disapprove: 6 percentRonald Reagan: Approve: 51 percent. Disapprove: 13 percentJimmy Carter Approve: 68 percent. Disapprove: 8 percentRichard Nixon Approve: 59 percent. Disapprove: 5 percentJohn F Kennedy Approve: 72 percent. Disapprove: 6 percentDwight D. Eisenhower Approve: 68 percent. Disapprove: 7 percentOuch. If Trump can t even beat out Richard Nixon and George W. Bush (who won a contentious and blistering recount), that says something.Of course Trump s biggest base of support men, whites and no college education loved him while all the others women, people of color and the educated despise him. Ninety percent of Republicans give him approval while 81 percent of Democrats disapprove. Independents have a slightly more negative view than they do positive (44-40 percent).Knowing that his pre-inaugural numbers and the turnout for the Women s March sent him into a frenzy, these numbers should only exasperate the new authoritarian-in-chief.","label":1}
{"text":"The newly elected opposition governor of Venezuela s western Zulia state was dismissed on Thursday by the pro-government local state legislature, adding to disarray among foes of the ruling socialists. The sacking of Juan Pablo Guanipa, one of five opposition governors in Venezuela s 23 states, came after he refused to swear loyalty to an all-powerful national legislative superbody aligned with President Nicolas Maduro s ruling socialists. They held a secret, express session to remove him, Guanipa s spokeswoman Erika Gutierrez told Reuters of the morning meeting of Zulia s state legislature. Venezuela s opposition Democratic Unity coalition, which groups several dozen anti-Maduro parties, has been in crisis since a surprise defeat at this month s state elections. Despite polls showing it would win a comfortable majority due to widespread public anger over Venezuela s brutal economic crisis, the opposition only took five states compared to 18 for Maduro s Socialist Party candidates. Opposition leaders blamed dirty tricks by the government, including the last-minute moving of many vote centers in opposition areas, along with abstention by supporters disillusioned at the failure of protests earlier this year. Driving home its advantage, the government said only governors who recognize the supremacy of the pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly could take office. Four opposition governors did that this week, sparking recriminations and bickering within the coalition, but Guanipa said he would never kneel before the dictatorship. This is an assault on the will of the people, he tweeted after his removal on Thursday, denouncing a coup in the oil-rich state on the border with Colombia. OPPOSITION IN-FIGHTING Prior to this week, the opposition, along with various major foreign nations including the United States, had refused to recognize the Constituent Assembly. Elected in July after four months of anti-Maduro protests, the body has overridden the opposition-run national congress. One major opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, said he would no longer participate in the coalition while Henry Ramos, leader of the Democratic Action party whose four governors swore themselves in before the assembly, was a member. Capriles Justice First party, and the Popular Will party of detained opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, have called for a complete reformulation of the opposition grouping. Officials from Maduro down have been rubbing their hands in glee at the opposition implosion, and cheekily urging the controversial Ramos - a polarizing figure unpopular among young opposition militants - to stand for president in 2018. Backstabbing has broken out in the opposition, all against all, crowed Maduro earlier this week. The Constituent Assembly also announced on Thursday local mayoral elections would be held in December, giving the opposition a short time-frame to develop strategy. Popular Will has already said it plans to boycott that vote. Young protesters, who saw hundreds of their fellow demonstrators jailed, injured or even killed in anti-Maduro street protests earlier this year, are disgusted by what for them is now a bleak political scenario. More than 125 people, including supporters of both sides plus security officials and bystanders, died in four months of unrest that Maduro said amounted to a U.S.-backed coup attempt. Let the people continue speaking loud and clear in defense of peace, sovereignty and the sacred right to self-determination, Constituent Assembly head Delcy Rodriguez said, announcing the December municipal vote that the socialists now expect to win handily given the opposition s disillusionment.","label":0}
{"text":"First case of demonetisation-related HIV after man has unprotected sex with an ATM machine Posted on Tweet  10th day into demonetisation and things are going from bad to worse. There is mayhem everywhere. We have already had reports of suicides, murders, robberies, cyclones, earthquakes, and Rohit Sharma's ouster from Indian squad because of demonetisation, and now we have the first case of HIV that this dreadful ban has caused.  The incident happened when a man contracted the disease from an already infected ATM machine in Mumbai. Despite numerous warnings issued by India Today and other media houses about ATM keypads transmitting the virus, he went to an ATM and touched the dangerous keypad. He was later diagnosed with HIV positive.  \"So did he actually have sex with the machine?\" we asked an insider from India Today.  \"No, but withdrawing cash is as good as having sex with the machine. You have more or less the same feeling when you get the cash in your hand,\" he affirmed.  \"Ok that's interesting. So the engineering students are not virgins anymore and they can proudly brag about their sex lives.\"  \"Well, technically speaking, yes, they can.\"  \"So, who is at risk of catching the virus? Someone with a poor immune system?\"  \"No, anyone who is withdrawing cash from an ATM.\"  \"You mean, balance inquiries and other transactions are safe, right?\"  \"Who stands in the queue for 3 hours to check balance?\"  \"Oh ok, you are talking about the current scenario.\"  \"Yes, people should avoid an ATM machine at any cost because it may cause STD as our researcher suggested, and once you are infected with an STD, you become more susceptible to HIV infection.\"  \"And who is the researcher at India Today you are referring to? Is it Rajdeep Sardesai?\"  \"No, he is in Goa. The person who published the report is Jane Carlton.\"  \"Ok but the report was published in 2014. Why are you linking it to currency ban?\"  \"Because it's always relevant.\"  \"But what made you search the report two years after it was published and exactly at a time when people are desperately trying to use ATMs? We are just curious, what was going through your mind when you decided to look it up and what were the keywords you entered into Google that returned this report?\"  \"Listen, I think I am done with the interview. If you have more questions then ask Rajdeep Sardesai. I am going to call him. Here are your boxing gloves.\"  \"But you said he is in Goa,\" we hurriedly wrapped-up the interview.","label":1}
{"text":"Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Wednesday that Italy was a model for Europe on how to reduce migrant arrivals, a day after U.N. agencies said its policies had trapped tens of thousands of people in dire conditions in Libya. Italy is proud to be a good example on the issue of migrants, Gentiloni told parliament before attending a meeting of European Union leaders where immigration policy will be discussed in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. We have reduced the number of people dying at sea and the number of irregular-migrant arrivals, he said. Sea arrivals to Italy and deaths recorded in the Central Mediterranean are down by a quarter so far this year. On Wednesday, EU border agency Frontex said September arrivals dropped by two thirds versus a year earlier. After more than 600,000 arrivals from North Africa mostly Libya in less than four years, Italy trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard, and an Italian navy ship is in Tripoli s port to repair vessels used to turn back migrant boats. With a national election due in the spring, Rome has promised tens of millions of euros to Tripoli and to local authorities to help them shut down people smuggling. The European Union has left Italy largely on its own to deal with Libya, where there are hundreds of armed militias and two rival governments vying for power six years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. More than 20,000 migrants have been trapped in farms, houses and warehouses around Sabratha, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates, in a situation of human suffering and abuse on a shocking scale, spokesman Andrej Mahecic said on Tuesday. Amongst the refugees and migrants who suffered abuse at the hands of smugglers, there are pregnant women and new born babies, Mahecic said. While Gentiloni said there must be an increase in resources for the migrants in Libyan camps, he added that Italy s success in reducing migrant arrivals was very positive . The United Nations, on the other hand, is calling for Europe to create safe and legal pathways to Europe for refugees and migrants so that they will not try to reach Europe by making the dangerous journey through Libya.","label":0}
{"text":"America s First Black President continues to destroy employment opportunities for the black community We ve got a bad guy in the family, but protect him because he s family. We ve got to wake up, slap ourselves and wake up. This is America and everybody s involved in this and if our children are hurting, it s our responsibility to find someone who understands that pain, feels it like Bill Clinton would say. This guy doesn t feel it. In fact he issues a lot of that pain, with a smile. Harry Alford, Black Chamber of Commerce President (Hannity, February 26, 2013)","label":1}
{"text":"Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said on Monday he was impressed by the Chinese leadership's calm reaction to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's call last week with the president of Taiwan. \"At this moment I've been very impressed at the calm reaction of the Chinese leadership, which suggests a determination to see whether a calm dialogue can be developed,\" Kissinger said at an event sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.","label":0}
{"text":"Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State in northern Iraq last week shot down a small drone the size of a model airplane. They believed it was like the dozens of drones the terrorist organization had been flying for reconnaissance in the area, and they transported it back to their outpost to examine it. But as they were taking it apart, it blew up, killing two Kurdish fighters in what is believed to be one of the first times the Islamic State has successfully used a drone with explosives to kill troops on the battlefield. In the last month, the Islamic State has tried to use small drones to launch attacks at least two other times, prompting American commanders in Iraq to issue a warning to forces fighting the group to treat any type of small flying aircraft as a potential explosive device. The Islamic State has used surveillance drones on the battlefield for some time, but the attacks \u2014 all targeting Iraqi troops \u2014 have highlighted its success in adapting readily accessible technology into a potentially effective new weapon. American advisers say drones could be deployed against coalition forces by the terrorist group in the battle in Mosul. For some American military analysts and drone experts, the episodes confirmed their view that the Pentagon \u2014 which is still struggling to come up with ways to bring down drones \u2014 was slow to anticipate that militants would turn drones into weapons. \"We should have been ready for this, and we weren't,\" said P. W. Singer, a specialist on robotic weaponry at New America, a think tank in Washington. Military officials said that the Pentagon has dedicated significant resources to stopping drones, but that few Iraqi and Kurdish units have been provided with the sophisticated devices that the American troops have to disarm them. The officials said they have ordered the Pentagon agency in charge of dealing with explosive devices \u2014 known as the Joint Defeat Organization \u2014 to study ways to thwart hostile drones. This summer, the Pentagon requested an additional $20 million from Congress to help address the problem. In recent months, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency both rushed to complete classified assessments about the Islamic State's drone use. And the secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning, recently assigned a special office he had created to respond to emerging threats and to study how to stop drones. Unlike the American military, which flies drones as large as small passenger planes that need to take off and land on a runway, the Islamic State is using simpler, commercially available drones such as the DJI Phantom, which can be purchased on Amazon. The group attaches small explosive devices to them, essentially making them remotely piloted bombs. \"This is an enemy that learns as it goes along,\" said Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top American military commander in Iraq until August. Of the three known drone attacks in Iraq, only the one involving the Kurdish soldiers caused casualties. \"The explosive device inside was disguised as a battery \u2014 there was a very small amount of explosives in it, but it was enough to go off and kill them,\" said a senior American official who had been provided with a detailed report on the episode. Last week, the Islamic State used a drone strapped with an explosive to attack a checkpoint. The device did not kill anyone but destroyed buildings. On Oct. 1, Iraqi troops shot down a drone that was only a foot long and a foot wide but had a small explosive attached to the top. \"The drone could only hold one small bomb in the middle of it \u2014 no bigger load could be on it,\" said Gen. Tahseen Sayid, a senior Iraqi officer in the area. The Islamic State first used drones to film suicide car bomb attacks, which militants have posted online. But American and Iraqi commanders said that earlier this year it became clear the group was using drones to help them on the battlefield. In March, General MacFarland and American military commanders in Baghdad received an intelligence report that the Islamic State had posted surveillance video online that had been taken by a small drone. The video footage showed a newly created series of bases in northern Iraq where American and Iraqi forces were stationed. Just days after the video was put up, a Katyusha rocket landed in the middle of an outpost of more than 100 American Marines, killing one who was rushing to get others to shelter in a nearby bunker. The strike was so accurate that military officials described it as a \"golden shot\" to pierce the defenses put in place, and there was speculation that a drone was used in the targeting. General MacFarland said he did not believe the footage \u2014 which did not include positional data like GPS locations \u2014 helped militants. \"It couldn't be used for precise targeting,\" he said in a recent email exchange. \"Its value was limited to propaganda. \" In the weeks afterward, American forces in the area unleashed a barrage of retaliatory airstrikes against Islamic State fighters who had launched the drone. \"Whatever capability they had, they lost a lot of it,\" General MacFarland said, referring to the Islamic State's operations in the area. Throughout the summer, however, American troops in Iraq and Syria reported seeing small drones hovering near their bases and around the front lines in northern Iraq. In August, the Islamic State called on its followers to small drones with grenades or other explosives and use them to launch attacks at the Olympics. There were ultimately no such attacks at the Games. On the battlefields in Iraq and Syria, the United States has dedicated resources to take out the Islamic State's drone capabilities. In the past 18 months, the United States has launched at least eight airstrikes that have destroyed Islamic State drones on the ground, according to news releases from the American military command in Baghdad. Despite these efforts, military analysts believe that drones will continue to be a problem in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. A new report by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point says that in the future, drones used by terrorist groups will be able to carry heavier payloads, fly and loiter longer, venture farther from their controller and employ secure communications links. The center provided an advance copy of the report to The New York Times. \"The number and sophistication of drones used is also likely to enhance the scope and seriousness of the threat,\" said Don Rassler, the center's director of strategic initiatives.","label":0}
{"text":"The speech he gave to a sold out crowd on Saturday is epic. We often listen to it to get fired up about bringing down the commies currently trying to destroy America. It s truly epic! THE SPEECH THAT BREITBART IS BEST KNOWN FOR IS HIS CPAC SPEECH:The complaint, filed Friday in federal court in California, says that Leopold filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI for all records related to Andrew Breitbart on Aug. 7, 2012, a few months after Breitbart died at age 43.According to the suit, the FBI responded to the request on Sept. 4, but said that the bureau only searched it main file records, claiming that no records were located.The complaint says that Leopold appealed the FBI s response but was denied by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information in 2013. In its appeal decision, OIP claimed that the FBI is not required to perform cross-reference searches unless the requester provides information sufficient to enable the FBI to determine with certainty that any cross-references it locates are identifiable to the subject of [the] request, including, for example, the dates and locations of contacts between the subject of the request and the FBI, the subject s social security number, or other such information, the suit reads.However, BuzzFeed and Leopold contend in the complaint, Nothing in the FOIA statute requires a requester to provide this information before a cross-reference search must be conducted. As FBI and OIP are certainly aware, Andrew Breitbart was a well-known public figure and is easily identifiable by the FBI in conducting a cross-reference search, the suit reads. As the FBI and OIP are also aware, cross-reference searches frequently turn up records not located in main file searches.","label":1}
{"text":"An Iraqi Yazidi group affiliated with a Shi ite-led armed faction took control on Tuesday of Sinjar, said residents of the northwestern city that is claimed by both Kurdish and central Iraqi authorities. The Yazidi group, called Lalesh, extended control over all of Sinjar after the withdrawal late on Monday of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who were deployed there, the residents said. There was no violence, the Lalesh group moved after the Peshmerga pulled out, said a resident by phone. Responding to a Kurdish referendum on independence held last month, Iraqi government forces on Monday captured the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, transforming the country s balance of power. That was part of lightning strike ordered by Minister Haider al-Abadi to retake all disputed areas, including Sinjar, occupied by the Kurdistan Regional Government s Peshmerga force in the course of the war on Islamic State. Lalesh is affiliated with Popular Mobilisation, an armed group formed mainly of Iran-trained Shi ite paramilitaries, with the participation of smaller forces from other communities including Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis. It is officially under Abadi s authority.","label":0}
{"text":"The World Health Organization (WHO) have told scientists to stay silent on documents relating to the cancer-causing dangers associated with glyphosate.  In a letter, officials from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) warned scientists against disclosing information from a 2015 study that suggests that Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup is carcinogenic.  Agweb.com reports:  The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) distributed a report in early 2015 calling the weed killer \"probably carcinogenic.\"  Makers of the product say the claim is false, citing their own research into the product.  Since then, several groups using Freedom of Information Laws have asked for documents related to how the IARC decision was made, including scientists on the panel that live and work in the U.S. at U.S. institutions.  In response, the WHO said those documents pertaining to glyphosate research are private and its own property.  Reuters reports some parties are considering a lawsuit seeking to clarify whether that's the case and if it's subject to U.S. FOIA laws.  Glyphosate is the key ingredient of Roundup, which is sold by Monsanto.","label":1}
{"text":"Democrats claimed historic gains in Virginia's statehouse and booted Republicans from state and local office across the United States on Tuesday, in the party's first big wave of victories since Republican Donald Trump's won the White House a year ago. Democrats must figure out how to turn that momentum to their advantage in November 2018 elections, when control of the U.S. Congress and scores of statehouses will be at stake. From coast to coast, Democratic victories showed grassroots resistance to Trump rallying the party's base, while independent and conservative voters appeared frustrated with the unpopular Republican leadership in Washington. Democrats won this year's races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, but successes in legislative and local races nationwide may have revealed more about where the party stands a year into Trump's administration. Unexpectedly massive Democratic gains in Virginia's statehouse surprised even the most optimistic party loyalists in a state that has trended Democratic in recent years but remains a top target for both parties in national elections. \"This is beyond our wildest expectations, to be honest,\" said Catherine Vaughan, co-founder of Flippable, one of several new startup progressive groups rebuilding the party at the grassroots level. With several races still too close to call, Democrats were close to flipping, or splitting, control of the Virginia House of Delegates, erasing overnight a two-to-one Republican majority. Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam also defeated Republican Ed Gillespie by nearly nine percentage points in what had seemed a closer contest for Virginia's governor's mansion, a year after Democrat Hillary Clinton carried the state by five points in the presidential election. The losing candidate had employed Trump-style campaign tactics that highlighted divisive issues such as immigration, although the president did not join him on the campaign trail. In New Jersey, a Democratic presidential stronghold, voters replaced a two-term Republican governor with a Democrat and increased the party's majorities in the state legislature. Democrats notched additional wins in a Washington state Senate race that gave the party full control of the state government and in Republican-controlled Georgia, where Democrats picked up three seats in special state legislative elections. \"This was the first chance that the voters got to send a message to Donald Trump and they took advantage of it,\" John Feehery, a Republican strategist in Washington, said by phone. The gains suggested to some election analysts that Democrats could retake the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Republicans control both the House and Senate along with the White House. Dave Wasserman, who analyzes U.S. House and statehouse races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, called the Virginia results a \"tidal wave.\" Even after Tuesday's gains, however, Democrats are completely locked out of power in 26 state governments. Republicans control two-thirds of U.S. legislative chambers. Desperate to rebuild, national Democrats this year showed newfound interest in legislative contests and races even farther down the ballot. The Democratic National Committee successfully invested in mayoral races from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Manchester, New Hampshire. \"If there is a lesson to be taken from yesterday, it is that we need to make sure that we are competing everywhere, because Democrats can win,\" DNC Chairman Tom Perez said on a media call. Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee executive director Jessica Post said national party leaders must remain focused on local races, even in a congressional year. \"We don't focus enough on the state level, and that is why we are in the place we are,\" she said. \"But when we do, we win.\"","label":0}
{"text":"President Obama has shown he s a human being with compassion time and again. Most recently, he met a 12-year old boy with severe cerebral palsy who had just been at a Trump rally the day before. What happened to him at the rally is exactly why Trump fans are deplorable, but Obama showed them how to act like humans, even if they aren t capable of it.J.J. Holmes braved one of Trump s rallies in order to protest the way that Trump makes fun of people with disabilities. Since he was a protester, he was very unwelcome already, but when Trump identified him and started saying, Get them out, security began trying to usher them away while Trump s deplorables pushed and kicked his wheelchair, according to J.J. s mother, Alison.Alison spoke to a pool reporter from the White House, saying, We were put out by security, and The crowd started chanting U-S-A and pushing his wheelchair. As she said that, her son kept saying, I hate Donald Trump, I hate Donald Trump, through his vocalization device.The Trumpkins proved beyond any doubt that they have a black abyss where their hearts should be with that vile act.Trump has come under fire before for mocking disabled people, most specifically when he made fun of Serge Kovalesky, who works for The New York Times and suffers from a chronic condition that s immobilized his right arm. Of course, he denied he was making fun of anyone, let alone someone with a disability, but that s par for the course for Trump.He and his loyal subjects literally care nothing about anyone but themselves. And his fans are deluded he ll hurt them as much as he ll hurt the rest of the country in his quest to prove his legitimacy and gather power. Would Trump ever do this?Yesterday, this young man was kicked out of a Trump rally. As he was leaving, people kicked at his wheelchair. Today, he met his President. pic.twitter.com\/VI4g2tKANG Steve Schale (@steveschale) November 6, 2016Doubtful. Very, very doubtful.","label":1}
{"text":"As President Obama delivered his farewell speech to the nation in Chicago Tuesday night, Hollywood stars and celebrities took to social media to express their gratitude and celebrate his achievements one final time. [Many of the president's most outspoken celebrity supporters, including Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Michael Moore, Russell Simmons and dozens of others used their Twitter accounts to express their feelings with just ten days remaining until Obama leaves office. Some stars like Amy Adams, Regina King and Sarah Jessica Parker said their goodbyes while on the red carpet at Sunday night's Golden Globe awards: On the night of the #ObamaFarewell address, these celebrities had some grateful words for @POTUS pic. twitter. \u2014 VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) January 11, 2017, But others watched along and commented as Obama spoke for just under an hour from a convention center in Chicago. Below are celebrities' reactions to the speech, and their parting words for President Obama. . @POTUS @BarackObama I love you more than I have space on Twitter to describe. #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 11, 2017, When The President First Lady Leave the White House \u2026 . We Will be The Custodians Of HOPE\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffb #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Cher (@CherOfficiaI) January 11, 2017, . @POTUS @BarackObama without question is the greatest speaker and man that I know. #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 11, 2017, This classy eloquent #ObamaFarewell on the heels of today's latest #PEOTUS crap is invigorating my patriotic soul. #vigilantbutnotafraid, \u2014 Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) January 11, 2017, YES WE CAN #obamafarewell, \u2014 kerry washington (@kerrywashington) January 11, 2017, Walks off to Springsteen's \"Land of Hope and Dreams\". And now for something completely different \u2026 #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 11, 2017, Watching Obama's final address, and realizing how very, very far we are about to descend. Farewell, O Captain my Captain! Heavens save us. \u2014 George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 11, 2017, Life goals. https: . \u2014 KATY PERRY (@katyperry) January 11, 2017, So glad I voted for this man. So glad I witnessed this leader, husband and father. #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) January 11, 2017, Chicago! Proud to be home. Sad to say farewell to our Commander In Chief @POTUS. #georgewashingtonisgoinghime, \u2014 shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) January 10, 2017, I admire you so much. And I will do my part to become increasingly aware of my #implicitbias and #whiteprivelege. https: . \u2014 ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) January 11, 2017, President Obama, because of you \"those brown kids\" know that they too can one day be President of the U. S. #ObamaAndKids #ObamaFarewell pic. twitter. \u2014 Russell Simmons (@UncleRUSH) January 11, 2017, Already crying. Love my president #FarewellAddress @BarackObama, \u2014 Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) January 11, 2017, \"Reality has a way of catching up with you\" 's mom. \u2014 Amanda Seyfried (@AmandaSeyfried) January 11, 2017, From here with the Young Senator from Chicago to tonight. #obamafarewell. We will miss you. pic. twitter. \u2014 Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) January 11, 2017, He insipired us, guided us, loved us, made us laugh. We cried with him \u2026 still I cry. @BarackObama #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Nia Long (@NiaLong) January 11, 2017, Thank you Mr. President! #ObamaFarewell https: . \u2014 Bill Nye (@BillNye) January 11, 2017, Things feel grim. The next guy is a nightmare. But at least for tonight we can say we're lucky to have had him. #optimism #obamafarewell, \u2014 Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) January 11, 2017, Thank you for your service @BarackObama and @MichelleObama. #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 11, 2017, #ObamaFarewell \u2014 thoughts on race. #TrumpRally \u2014 racist thoughts. \u2014 Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) January 11, 2017, \"i will forever miss this era \u2026 \" #ObamaFarewell pic. twitter. \u2014 MAXWELL (@_MAXWELL_) January 11, 2017, Hope you enjoyed Obama's speech. You won't hear anything so cogent and kind for a long time. So, with complete sincerity: THANKS, OBAMA. \u2014 Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 11, 2017, I'm lucky to have lived in the Obama era. Thank you for the inspiration, sir. #thanksobama #ObamaFarewell, \u2014 rosanne cash (@rosannecash) January 11, 2017, Obama quoting George Washington who, over 200 years ago, was talking shit about Trump. \u2014 Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) January 11, 2017, This #ObamaFarewell is beautiful. The love. Could Trump soak up all this warmth? \u2014 Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 11, 2017, Future missing Obama so much right now. \u2014 John Cho (@JohnTheCho) January 11, 2017, I love u @POTUS In good times bad the buck stopped w you. Thank u for being a true leader for 8 yrs of astounding, immeasurable progress, \u2014 Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) January 11, 2017, This is what a REAL victory lap looks like and that only works if you have actually done something to to take a lap for. \u2014 Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) January 11, 2017, Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum","label":0}
{"text":"Memos and documents published by DCLeaks continue shedding light on billionaire globalist George Soros and his progressive organization, Open Society Foundations (OSF). Due to their poor digital curation, however, the leaks are hard to comb through which is leading to the information slowly trickling out. The latest of the documents reveals the billionaire's attempt to organize a \"national movement\" to create a federalized police force.  The document shows that OSF saw the killings of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray as an opportunity to implement this mission of federal police guidelines. OSF, according to the documents, then held a meeting titled, \"Police Reform: How to Take Advantage of the Crisis of the Moment and Drive Long-Term Institutional Change in Police-Community Practice.\"  The memo further documents that Soros-financed groups and personalities influenced a Task Force on 21st Century Policing, created by President Obama. Last may, the task force released a final report consisting of 60 recommendations recommending protocol to local departments on how to modify policing practices.  The information is from a 61-page report of an Open Society U.S. Programs Board Meeting that took place in New York City in May of last year.  States the board meeting document:  The federal government is seeking philanthropic support for a number of its initiatives. In addition to seeking support to advance the implementation of the recommendations of the Presidential Taskforce, the White House recently launched the Policing Data Initiative to explore how best to use data and technology to build trust, voice, and solutions to improve community policing. The Department of Justice recently selected the first six cities to host pilot sites for the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, which was launched last fall to help repair and strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve by exploring strategies intended to enhance procedural justice, reduce implicit bias, and support racial reconciliation.  We are gaining a better understanding of these efforts in order to determine how best USP can use this moment to create a national movement. We have already had a set of preliminary conversations with about a dozen key stakeholders and will undertake a field scan to map the areas of work currently underway to advance police reform, including an assessment of the redundancies and gaps in work, and opportunities for collaboration. As we proceed, we will engage the funder network we helped to establish, the Executive Alliance on Men and Boys of Color, which now includes forty foundations.  U.S. Programs (USP) is a part of OSF with the stated mission of working to further a vibrant democratic society in which all people can meaningfully participate in its civic, economic, and political life.  According to the above excerpt, USP was thinking of ways to capitalize on police killings to 'create a national movement' to implement their agenda.  The think tank also raises the question of how to properly steer the ostensible 'grassroots' organizations, such as Black Lives Matter, to achieve USP goals.  The events of the past several months have understandably led to a wide range of activities, including a variety of advocacy efforts, to respond to the significant challenges in policing that have been exposed and the opportunity to promote meaningful and lasting change. For example, organized under the banner of the Civil Rights Coalition on Police Reform, organizations like the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, LCCHR, and LDF are advocating for federal reform efforts with a particular emphasis on data collection and transparency and, as noted above, 35 effecting federal funding streams. A variety of other national advocacy organizations, including grantees Advancement Project, PolicyLink, the Center for Popular Democracy and the ACLU are working to provide advocates with toolkits and resources to help their organizing efforts. Locally based groups such as the Ohio Student Association, the Organization for Black Struggle, the Asian Law Caucus, and the ACLU of New Jersey, to name a few, are advocating for specific reforms at the city and state levels. Another layer of grassroots and youth-oriented groups like Freedom Side, Ferguson Action, Black Lives Matter and Million Hoodies Movement for Justice are also advocating for specific reforms. The range of efforts underway raises a number of questions and concerns about capacity, the need for coordination and the appropriate prioritization of policy objectives, among others, which we will discuss in the policing portion of the meeting.  While the intentions of reforming police in America seem noble, the very idea of a Soros-led initiative is chilling.  Another memo, leaked earlier this month, showed the billionaire was potentially funding the Black Lives Matter movement , to the tune of $650,000. Now, as today's memo shows, we know why.  As the Free Thought Project has pointed out many times before, Soros has been exposed literally manipulating the world.  Earlier this month, in an email found within the WikiLeaks' Hillary Clinton archive, with the subject 'Unrest in Albania,' Soros makes clear to Clinton that \"two things need to be done urgently.\" He then directs the Secretary of State to \"bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha\" and \"appoint a senior European official as mediator.\" Revealing the influence he wields within the corridors of power, Soros then provides Secretary of State Clinton with three names from which to choose. Unsurprisingly, Clinton acquiesced and chose one of the officials recommended by Soros \u2014 Miroslav Lajcak.  This is standard operating procedure for Soros. Anyone familiar with the history of the Soros Open Society Foundations in Eastern Europe and around the world since the late 1980s, will know that his supposedly philanthropic \"democracy-building\" projects in Poland, Russia, or Ukraine in the 1990s allowed Soros the businessman to literally plunder the former communist countries wealth, according to the New Eastern Outlook .  Soros-affiliated organizations are deeply connected to numerous color revolutions, such as the Arab Spring, and a number of other uprisings across the world. They have been intimately involved in the coup that took place in Ukraine, and subsequent ratcheting up of Cold War tensions with Russia.  As these leaked memos and emails prove, the United States is nothing more than one of Soros' pawns.  While Americans remain oblivious and argue over straw men fed to them by the mainstream media, the police state is growing \u2014 both here and abroad. As the citizens are promised 'reform' the only thing that actually changes are the puppets in marble buildings. Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. <a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattAgorist\" data-show-count=\"false\" data-size=\"large\">Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter<\/a> and now on <a href=\"https:\/\/steemit.com\/ Share Google + Real Truth stings  I think its time to end local policing for profit. The police force should exist to protect and serve, not to fill the county coffers. We need direct oversight of the police, the end of the power of their union to protect bad cops and the end of corrupt local government. The downside is the federal government is so big and spread out that they can barely keep track of our military assets. We can count on them to institute a public facing, qualifications search for candidates. Randy Pitts  Do you really not understand that what you just said is exactly what this article is exposing?!?!?!  Soros has indoctrinated you fools into favoring a federal police!!! Real Truth stings  do you have a better idea? we have localized corruption in every state. if you have another way to achieve this, feel free to discuss it. billdeserthills  Right, mostly because obama has been doing everything he can to crap on the police. By your thinking the TSA is doing a fantastic job, huh? Real Truth stings  you aren't looking at the upsides that are possible. billdeserthills  Because there are no 'upsides' except for upside yo head, when those even stupider federalized cops hit you pto  Replace local corruption with centralized corruption\u2026 At least now some places aren't corrupt. billdeserthills  Citizen Oversight cole  Soris is not favoring a national police, he wabts rules and restrictions put on the police before we devolve into a police state, and we already half way there, he is funding BLM because they are at the forefront of bringing police misconduct to lightt, how do you people not see this. Razedbywolvs  I don't like police misconduct. But i don't burn down the city yelling kill the Jews to accomplish it. Tracy Lund  What a stupid thing to say. Razedbywolvs  Does that make you pro burring down the city to stop the 1% who all happen to be Ashkenazi Jews? AZ Patriot  What are you talking about ? What do Jews have to do with this ? You and some other people are on this are now blaming the Jews for the mess we are in. How stupid Razedbywolvs  Well that kind of happens when you use a lobby's to buy off every politician in a foreign country, and are a big contributing factor to what appears to be a 3000 year old blood feud in the ME. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0KMVhb57RqI AZ Patriot  Typical Jew hater there really is no hope for you or your soul . Why not worry about the people who are willing to blow you up ? Razedbywolvs  Would being opposed to a special interest group of Saudi buying off American politicians make me a Arab hater? Thats stupid. I don't hate Jews but i really wounder how you all got brainwashed as bad as North Koreans. I really don't think Israel has a problem blowing us up. They sure as hell don't care about us enough to give a heads up when they know in advance that 2000 Americans are going to die. https:\/\/uploads.disquscdn.com\/images\/23bbf79b4dfbe4c1798c7f00e5225d1d41c1c799c58f13bea0dab4bae52b80fb.jpg https:\/\/uploads.disquscdn.com\/images\/da89e01c99866c5f96482293178464b32f339551dc8aec652bbd2d11c75d9b5b.png s AZ Patriot  So you are one of those 9\/11 crazies who believe the Jews knew about this and that the Bushes did this to get oil. I think you and that other loon Rosie O'Donnell make a one team of nuts Razedbywolvs  Are you one of those crazies that doesn't believe official FBI documents? I figured you would of been trigged by the brainwashing comment. but you skipped right over it and pointed at one the few non Jews in Hollywood as the problem. You have to have a short list for that? especially since Rosie O'Donnell hasn't been relevant for 15 years if ever. My tin foil hat is itching. The Immigrant Absorption Ministry.. I think your I.D.F. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8OyUoGUV7b8 AZ Patriot  This tape means nothing and you havent shown any shred of FBI evidence. You are a crazy 9\/11 loon Razedbywolvs  I guess the difference between loon's and sane people is we read the dam reports. You should try it. AZ Patriot  You read into things that arent there. Go away loser Razedbywolvs  Go away from were. Do you think im inside your computer or something? billdeserthills  Sure cause soros is such an honorable guy, huh?? Why I bet you think he does this for the good of humanity, just so he can get that real special place in heaven that he so richly deserves, don't You?? Prince  Local police should not exist\u2026period! steve yates  Who will protect us from the criminals? Prince  The 2nd. Amendment. Jo  Prince- the second amendment doesn't matter if there is no government and police to ENFORCE it. DUH\u2026.. Prince  Duh Jo, We The People enforce it with guns! Doodlee Pigvirus  check out 6 ideas for a cop-free world. Carolyn  I think you can make a list of crimes in one night that Chicago will commit just for a starter. Carolyn  Mr Prince. When he gets robbed, assaulted in anyway, he wants to call Razedbywolvs to help him because no one else will. Get real. The constitution states that the States should govern themselves not let the government do it. Nishi  I have never been so naive as to think that smart and engaged people refrained from brainstorming solutions together according to their shared beliefs. Nor have I ever thought that would be a good idea. cole  Tell this so called journalist that he can't complain about Soros trying to change the direction of our police force before it turns into a police state, then at the end of the article try himself to tell us we need to be on the watchout for a police state shusei  right? there is no evil plan in these memos.. I don't know much about Soros if he is evil guy or good guy, but, least I can say is this article is BS, and many people in here have no ability to read, understand and think\u2026 Prince  Somebody really needs to put a bullet in Soros' head! Despicable REM1875 \u2713certified  Don't leave out his son. Greg Geitner  Now it's easy to see why soros was paying them to act out Ricialove  As a black woman, here's what I want to know\u2026with all that money that BLM receives\u2026.what the heck do they do?!?! anna miller  George Soros is a criminal subversive who has created havoc on a global level and for a long time. His crimes are well-documented. He is the billonaire who \"broke the British pound\" in 1992. He is responsible for funding numerous revolutions including the coup in Ukraine, toppling a democratically elected president and moving NATO closer to Russian borders. And funding NGO's who were not really charities, but subversive infiltrators. He is an evil man. Have you noticed how many billonaire Jews are involved in all kinds of evil financial schemes, and or hold such high positions in both neoliberal as well as neocon (both sides of the fence)government positions although they only make up 2% of the populace? Why hasn't this criminal been arrested? His aim is to deliberately stir up a race war. The police are attacking people of all colors and ages. Yet BLM seems to defend black men who were in truth, guilty. At least they could pick a black man or woman who was actually innocent. Why doesn\"t Black Lives Matter defend blacks who have been murdered by other blacks, which is usually the case. Or don't those black lives matter? And how about the 72% of black children born to single mothers, with NO father in the home? Often to siblings from multiple fathers. These children often grow up to be street thugs. The facts bear this out. Blacks do commit most of the crime in the U.S, and commit more crimes against whites as well. The issue should be on the increasing police brutality on ALL citizens, not only focused on black lives. The police target them more because blacks commit most of the crime. Does the truth enter this equation? BLM detracts from the entire populace of all races focusing together, on increased police brutality against the public at large. For Soros, and those who want to increase anti-white sentiment and race tensions, BLM is: mission accomplished. The bastard Soros should have been arrested a long time ago, and imprisoned, and not in one of those cushy hotel prisons either. And one can only wonder who is really running this nation, when Soros remains unfettered. Dan  maybe, just maybe Hitler saw something that the rest of the world still can not see\u2026. (or simply refuses to see) AZ Patriot  What are you saying, all Jews should have been sent to the gas chamber so that Soros wouldnt be around ? Dan  oh right, your one of \"those\" kinds of people huh.. next you are going to tell me that they really did make lampshades and soap out of jews huh? AZ Patriot  If I were you, I wouldnt continue to show your ignorance, insensitivity and anti Jew sentiment. Go away Dan  im ignorant? bwahahah. heres an easy one for ya, whats 6 minus 3 ? Carolyn  Idiot must run in your family Carolyn  Dan, you are an atheist who wants the world to believe that Hitler did not slaughter millions of Jews. Go to the Holocaust museums filled with the pictures and tools the Nazi's used to experiment on the children pictures taken by the American soldiers when they entered into the prisons. So go into a Hellnory site and w her with your crap. Dan  so, explain to me how they had to change the plaque at auschwitz in the 90's from claiming 4 million died there to only just over 1 million? and its now believed that its not even 1 million that died there?  and you dare to call me the idiot? keep googling, im sure you can find it\u2026 Carolyn  I did not call you an idiot but I should have. Auschwitz was only one of many concentration and death camps. You check it out. Dan  wow, you have shown your level of stupid on 2 levels in the one post, good work.. but i digress, ad hominems like yours only exist to show your own lack of a reasonable argument\u2026  auschwitz was well known to have been by far the largest concentration camp during ww2 with the greatest population compared to all other camps, it even boasted a swimming pool inside the camp for its population. how do they just \"lose\" 3 million deaths from that camp? if auschwitz could not accomodate 4 million deaths but only closer to 1 million how did the other much smaller camps process more deaths than alschwitz?  now, here is hte real kicker, from back in 1901 jews were already claiming the 6 million 4 decades into the future\u2026 its in the damn newspapers and you can freely search and find them for yourself\u2026  care to explain how that happened? jew magic i guess? https:\/\/uploads.disquscdn.com\/images\/ef1a9d677260b8a4a2ae4d4d3fe66946ef9deedfffe439b92a51c9f1774787bf.jpg Carolyn  Dan did you read any of the small incomplete articles? Evidently not. 6M was quoted to show that Russia and other countries had that many Jews. Nothing about death. These prior years to 1938 were expressing the plight of how the Jewish people were being treated. Now Auschwitz was not the only camp that slaughtered Jews. Now does that sign specifically say that Auschwitz deaths were just Auschwitz murders? Your 'damn newspapers' need to be read by you before you put that smudge attitude in writing. Dan  wow, your brain really is broken huh? you cant see the connection between claiming the magical 6 million prophecy (which is actually about claiming the heartland) in 1900 and using that same exact figure in the lies about ww2? the same lies that the nazis also made lampshades and soap out of jews?  auschwitz plaque was obviously blatantly lying (just like the lampshades and soap myths), once the soviets were forced to give up the ledgers iirc in the 80's it was obvious that they could no longer sustain the lie that 4 million were killed there and were forced to bring that number down to \"about\" 1.5 million. are you really that stupid that you can not see the pattern here?  there is a hell of a lot more but i get the feeling that im talking to someone to stupid to even grasp the basics.  fun fact: anne frank never wrote anne franks diary, otto bought the story from another novelist and changed it to reflect his daughter. there was even a recent copyright case where they are now claiming that he was the author. fun times. Carolyn  Oh I see your pattern. Believe that crap instead of what the pictures, written accounts by the liberation armies, and you did not answer my question on the articles you want to point to that does not say 6M Jews died. Did you pull all of the articles and read the whole story? I would bet you did not. You are a typical atheist, Marxist, Democrat. You can pound your chest again when you check history and find out that the Democraps started the KKK group and were the biggest slave owners. You people amaze me how you put crap out there that you can not back up. Kind of like your loving candidate Hellnory. Dan  show me a single picture of gassed jews? or even of the gas chambers themselves? or even the several thousand dead jews they would have to have piled up waiting for their several hours in the crematorium it actually took back then to cremate even a single body? or you mean i am meant to take the word of the proven lying jews who to this day, like in the video i linked above, have clung to their fantasies even after they have been busted lying?  as for the liberating armies, you do recall that all the \"gas chambers\" were in ruins when they came through? and there was zero evidence, besides the lamp shades and soap, of any jew holocaust? that account you mean?  and of course it dosnt say that 6 million died yet, only that they were in peril etc but you dont find it a mighty large coincidence? you also obviously have no idea how they came up with the 6 million at the end of ww2 do you? go find out where that number came from.. the person who made it up even claimed it was completely symbolic and not to be taken literally.  \"You are a typical atheist, Marxist, Democrat.\" and in the face of clear defeat, out with the mindless ad hominem once again. a clear indicator that you are way outside of your depth\u2026 you are incorrect on all 3 counts, once again. do you ever get anything right?  \"were the biggest slave owners.\" guess who the biggest slave owners were? fucking jews!!! hahaha. they owned all the slave ships and were behind every facet of the trade.  \"Kind of like your loving candidate Hellnory.\" and thats the funniest, go find my twitter feed, its full of anti hillary sentiment, in fact its the only reason i really began using twitter was during this election cycle to keep track of whats going on because i refuse to engage in the corrupt leftist media (once again, mostly jew owned) for fear of turning into a brainless zombie like yourself\u2026  ill give you this tho, you certainly are persistent in your stupidity. its no wonder you cant see anything thats going on around you in this world. Dan  here is a great classic you really should watch about his explaining away his lies as not really lies\u2026 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j30sWIOMIak Carolyn  You really have a real talent referencing things. Dan  yea, this is how you learn things. you take a fairytale, lets use santa as an example, and you work out (when your like 6 years old)\u2026 how can there be 12 santas in the same place? why are my presents always in the bottom of my parents wardrobe a week before \"santa\" apparently brings them to you a week later? and slowly you deduce that there is no santa clause and its just a lie that you have been fed while your brain is all still mushy.  or you know, you can just blindly have \"faith\" that there is still a santa, you know, like you do\u2026 even in the face of such a mountain of evidence\u2026 Carolyn  You need to stop your atheistic info because you do not know what you are talking about. 1.1M Jews killed in all of the Auschwitz camps. Did you know that there were 3 large camps with 4 large crematoriums? No you did not. That is just a drop in the bucket places that murdered, experimented on, starved, gased, and shooting of Jews. 426K Hungary, 300K Poland, 69K France, 60K Netherlands, 55K Greece, 46K Boheman & Moravia, 27K Slovakia, 25K Belgium, 10K Yugoslavia, 8K Itally, 690 Norway, and 34K from other countries. 960K Jews, 74K Poles, 21K Gypsies, 15K Soviet prisoners, 15K Czecks, Yugoslavs, French, Germans. Did you know that Hitler had built 40,000 camps. Death camps, concentration camps, holding camps, gas camp vans, labor camps and detention camps. Many Jews died in ghettos, on trains, during the death march to evade the oncoming of the Russian Army and US forces. These camps were set up in France, Russia, Germany, Poland, and Austria. One of the camps, Berkenau, killed 6 thousand Jews per day. In total 2.7M Jews killed in killing centers and 3.3 Jews shot, gased, experimented on. Now how do you explain your decision to not believe these totals? Dan  of course i knew, i obviously know more about the subject than you do. like you i came from a place of believing the lies until i started questioning some of the \"facts\" i was taught and the advent of the internet and \"survivors\" videos where they constantly get busted telling lies made me reconsider the \"truth\" about ww2  actually current scholars beleive its somewhere between 300k and i think its 700k (it might be 800k) died in all of auschwitz. while i do not doubt that there was some experimenting (america was doing the same thing but on its own people at the time) the great majority were simply natural attrition in a time of war considering the \"allies\" were bombing supply lines constantly (yet never the camps themselves because they also knew they were not \"death camps\") in fact lets invoke the story of the holocaust poster child again anne frank, if they were really gassing people in some huge manner why would they even keep around a weak sickly girl long enough for her to die from typhus?  and yes of course many PEOPLE died, many of them jews. thats what happens when you have wars. none of this supports gassing or mass extermination of jews, stupid.  but my final question is, how do you blindly believe the word of people who have been shown on many occasions to be liars? specially in the face of so much verifiable evidence to the contrary (IE the lampshades, soap, diesel gassing vans, eye witness stories that completely contradict everything etc) specially knowing the fact that many jews chose to escape with their german captors rather than await the soviet armys \"rescue\"? Carolyn  Of course you did not know any of the information I wrote. If you profess that you know how many died, then go on the Holocaust Site and you will see that after they checked the records that the Germans kept, you do know they tattooed the Jews, to make sure what numbers were dead or alive. How would I know why they kept Anne Franks till she died of typhus. They very cruel people. The Jews were at war with the Nazi Germans. What the hell are you talking about. If you go on the Site you will see pictures of the gas chambers and crematories. What the hell else do you want. Why don't you go to Auschwitz and see for yourself? You are so bigoted and I believe you are a lousy Democrap. Despicable REM1875 \u2713certified  Hitler has the rothschild and other bank roll him while killing off the poor and middle class Jews who hardly dominate their own street block let alone the world. As a true socialist he had the pragmatic double standards so many on the left have today. AZ Patriot  You are painting all Jews with a very broad brush. No all Jews, not all billionaire Jews are involved in evil schemes. Stop it. Despicable REM1875 \u2713certified  soros is to Jew as kerry, kaine, biden, pilosi or kennedy is to Roman Catholic. soros is to Jew like ryan or beck are to conservative Or and a better example soros is to Jew like oblamer is to Christian. anna miller  Yes, all these people have one thing in common, they claim connection to the evil Hebrew Yahweh , the tyrannical Iron Age war- volcano god. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. Just another evil scripture found in your not so \"holy\" book. Psalm 137:9 Stop making excuses for evil! Despicable REM1875 \u2713certified  Howdy Anna I an sorry I didn't make myself clear \u2013 I was stating none of those people are believing Jews or Christians . They believe they are God. anna miller  They have no humility nor conscience. Tatiana Covington","label":1}
{"text":". Renowned Harvard Psychologist Says ADHD is Largely a Fraud Viewed by academics as one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, Jerome Kagan r... Print Email http:\/\/humansarefree.com\/2016\/11\/renowned-harvard-psychologist-says-adhd.html Viewed by academics as one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, Jerome Kagan ranked above Carl Jung (the founder of analytical psychology) and Ivan Pavlov (who discovered the Pavlovian reflex) in a 2002 American Psychological Association ranking of the eminent psychologists. He is well-known for his pioneering work in developmental psychology at Harvard University, where he has spent decades documenting how babies and small children grow, and is an exceptional and highly-regarded researcher.So it may be surprising to learn that he believes the diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is an invention \u2014 and only benefits the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatrists. Mislabeling Mental Illness \"That is the history of humanity: Those in authority believe they're doing the right thing, and they harm those who have no power,\" says Jerome Kagan.In an interview with Spiegel, Kagan addressed the skyrocketing rates of ADHD in America , which he attributes to \"fuzzy diagnostic practices.\" He illustrated his point with the following example:Say fifty years ago you have a 7-year-old who is bored in school and exhibits disruptive behavior. Back then, he would be labeled as lazy. But today, that same child is said to suffer from ADHD . That's why we've seen such a dramatic increase in the disorder.Every child who is having problems in school is sent to see a pediatrician, who then claims it's ADHD and prescribes Ritalin . \"In fact, 90 percent of these 5.4 million kids don't have an abnormal dopamine metabolism. The problem is, if a drug is available to doctors, they'll make the corresponding diagnosis,\" he said.\"We could get philosophical and ask ourselves: \"What does mental illness mean?\" If you do interviews with children and adolescents aged 12 to 19, then 40 percent can be categorized as anxious or depressed. \"But if you take a closer look and ask how many of them are seriously impaired by this, the number shrinks to 8 percent. Describing every child who is depressed or anxious as being mentally ill is ridiculous. \"Adolescents are anxious, that's normal. They don't know what college to go to. Their boyfriend or girlfriend just stood them up. Being sad or anxious is just as much a part of life as anger or sexual frustration,\" Kagan told Spiegel.What are the implications for the millions of American children who are inaccurately diagnosed as mentally ill? Kagan believes it's devastating because they think there is something fundamentally wrong with them. He's not the only psychologist to raise the alarm about this trend, but Kagan and others feel they're up against \"an enormously powerful alliance: pharmaceutical companies that are making billions , and a profession that is self-interested.\"Kagan himself suffered from inner restlessness and stuttering as a child, but his mother told him: \"There's nothing wrong with you. Your mind is working faster than your tongue.\"He thought at the time: \"Gee, that's great, I'm only stuttering because I'm so smart.\" If he had been born in the present era, he most likely would have been classified as mentally ill.ADHD isn't the only mental illness epidemic among children that worries Kagan, depression is another. In 1987, about one in 400 American teenagers was using an antidepressant. By 2002, the numbers leaped to one in 40. He feels it's another overused diagnosis, simply because the pills are available. Instead of immediately resorting to pharmaceutical drugs, he thinks doctors should take more time with the child to find out why they aren't as cheerful, for instance. At the very least, a few tests should be carried out \u2014 and an EEG for certain, especially since studies have shown that people who have heightened activity in the right frontal lobe respond poorly to antidepressants.Kagan remembers going into a textbook-type depression after a major research project he was involved with failed. He had insomnia and met all the other clinical criteria for depression. But since he knew what the cause was, he didn't seek professional help. After six months, the depression was gone. Under normal circumstances, he would have been diagnosed as mentally ill by a psychiatrist and put on medication. By Carolanne Wright \/ Reference: Spiegel.de 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","label":1}
{"text":"Nigeria s military has repelled an attack on Monday by suspected Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the regional army commander said. The situation is now under control, Major General Nicholas Rogers, who heads Nigeria s military operations against Boko Haram, told Reuters by phone.","label":0}
{"text":"Laura Loomer of Rebel Media and citizen journalist Jack Posobiac disrupted the Central Park performance of Julius Caesar or more accurately the Trump Assassination play last night. At the point where Julius Caesar, (who is intentionally made to look like President Trump) is about to be stabbed by a gang of minorities, Loomer rushed the stage and admonished the cast and audience for promoting violence against our current president and against Republicans in general.See video of Rebel Media s Loomer rushing the stage here:Only 3 days ago, an unhinged Democrat opened fire on Republican House members at a baseball practice for a charity game against Democrats Congressmen. Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) remains in critical condition. Doctors who were in attendance when the married father of 2 arrived at the hospital have now revealed that Scalise was very near to death when he arrived. Democrats like George Soros continue to fund violence against opposing voices, Barack Obama, former AG Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine have all advocated for action and\/or violence against Trump supporters. Liberal professors promote hate and disrespect for anyone with opposing political views and have made their classrooms a hostile environment for students who dare to speak up or speak out against their radical views. Hollywood has come unhinged, and there doesn t appear to a line they won t cross when it comes to promoting violence against Americans who openly support President Trump. The left has shown themselves to be the largest collection of bullies and domestic terrorists this nation has ever seen.At about the 4:30 mark in the video, Laura Loomer, who is a fan of theater recites a Shakespeare line, Violent delights have violent ends. She then looks into the camera and calls out Hollywood and the left for the violence against Trump supporters and Republicans, Just like Shakespeare said; If you re delighting in this violence, this normalized political violence against the right, it s going to have a violent end. Loomer goes on to point out how liberals like Kathy Griffin and the CNN network who glorify those who commit or threaten violence are responsible for this violent atmosphere, and that they re no better than ISIS. Loomer points out the comparisons between the actors on the Central Park stage who are gang stabbing President Trump: I just couldn t help but think to myself: Wow! When you re holding a knife to someone s throat in the play, and joking about chopping someone s throats off, what makes you any better than ISIS? Jack Posobiac makes a very interesting point at about the gang stabbing of President Trump: It was like a gang stabbing. All the people stabbing him were minorities. Loomer agrees and goes a step further by suggesting the producers were racists because they chose all black actors to stab President Trump.Watch:Citizen journalist and author of Gorilla Mindset, Mike Chernovich called on Americans to join him in disrupting the Trump Assassination play 2 days ago:New York!Who wants to go watch the Trump assassination play maybe use some \"free speech\" during the play?https:\/\/t.co\/64WAPvQjBT pic.twitter.com\/7zDQcjNX7y Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 15, 2017Twitter followers of Chernovich responded by suggesting they skip the ticket process and instead use the same techniques as leftist agitators, like whistles and drums or bongos and cowbells to disrupt the production. Chernovich is all about using the tactics of the left against them. There has never been a better time to shut down the violent left in a non-violent way. To stand back and allow a performance of our president being gang stabbed is about as horrible as it gets:If it's in a park can't we just go to the park and bring our whistles and drums Ralph Butler (@secure1man) June 15, 2017bongos and cowbells for everyone Deplorable Snuzzlez (@SnuzzleBabiez) June 15, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made life a living hell for party leaders since he first began to rise in the polls way back in the overcrowded GOP primary season. Against all odds, Trump s bombast and demagoguery wooed disaffected GOP base voters, and he managed to steamroll past other established, much more qualified Republican presidential candidates. In the interim since then, Trump s controversies have caused many issues for party leaders who have been forced to try to defend and vouch for their nominee. The worst instance of this, of course, was the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump had a lewd and offensive conversation with Billy Bush.Well, since that tape caused condemnation across the board even causing many leading Republicans to withdraw their endorsements- the result was a well-publicized and fiery civil war within the GOP writ large. Now, with just 11 days to go until Election Day, the Trump campaign is making an effort to hold the party hostage, and force support for the embattled Trump\/Pence ticket. An email, obtained by the Washington Post, was sent around to GOP elected officials, which read: I know we are less than 11 days to the 2016 election. But it is imperative that we continue to drive Republican support for the top of the ticket. That means we need your direct, strong support for the Trump\/Pence ticket. Now is the time. No waffling, no week [sic] knees. We strongly urge you today to make a statement take a stand and step out for the Trump\/Pence ticket. So, in other words, this is a support Trump or else message. Trump himself has already floated the idea of punishing party leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan for disloyalty, especially since some of these people are only supporting Trump because they are forced to. Now, Team Trump is essentially holding the GOP hostage, and if their demands are not met, make no mistake the consequences will likely be dire.Hopefully these Republicans don t cave to Trump s insane, strongman-like tactics, and can show a bit of spine and limp on to election day.","label":1}
{"text":"A U.S. State Department spokesman said on Monday that to his knowledge the FBI had not asked the department for anything in connection with its renewed scrutiny of emails linked to a private server used by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. State Department spokesman John Kirby said as far as he knew, the FBI had not approached the State Department for anything related to its decision to look at additional emails connected to the server used by Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee.","label":0}
{"text":"Topics: Twitter , Pies Wednesday, 26 October 2016  Greggs bakery shops in Ashton, Manchester, Salford and Liverpool were targeted by angry mobs yesterday, after a hoax message on Twitter, announced that the company were withdrawing pasties from their product range.  The Greggs pastie is renowned as the staple diet of the working classes, and its devotees can been seen walking around town centres clutching its famous blue bag with the ubiquitous hot, greasy snack poking out of the top.  Thousands of the treats are consumed daily, by the lower ends of society, who cannot afford luxury foods such as baked beans or spaghetti hoops, and fears grew that there would be mass cases of starvation as low earners and benefit claimants were priced out of the food chain completely.  A Red Cross spokesman told us that the situation was so bad, that they were flying back 50,000 corned beef hash and 25,000 sausage and baked bean slices that were on their way to Syrian refugee camps.  Riot police and fire fighters were deployed in the affected areas, and police told us that by late afternoon the crowds had been dispersed and order had been restored. They did however say that there was still some areas of disorder in Liverpool, but they were hoping to restore order soon, as the police helicopter had circled low over the crowd dropping thousands of job application forms, which seemed to be scattering the rioters away from the trouble spots.  Late yesterday afternoon the chairman of Greggs, Sir Fred Battenburg, told a hastily gathered press conference that they had been the victims of a malicious hoax, and that the company had no intentions of withdrawing its best selling product. He went on to say that the company did intend to remove an item from their shops next month, namely the fruit scone, as this was not a big seller with mainstream pastie eaters. He appealed for calm in the affected areas, and assured customers that the fire damaged stores would be open for business as soon as possible.  Last night police reported that groups of angry pensioners and housewives had gathered outside Greggs shops in the stockbroker areas of Hale, Wilmslow, Bowden and Alderly Edge. A spokesman said the protesters were angrily tapping on the shop windows with umbrellas and shoe heels, and shouting \"shame on you\"\"how dare you\" and \"do you know who I am\" at staff who had locked the doors in panic.  An elderly woman, believed to be chair of the Dunham Massey Womens Guild, Lady Dorothy Schiffer-Brains, was arrested by police and later charged with 'aggressively prodding a police officer with a rolled up copy of Cheshire Life.  Lady Schiffer-Brains is due to appear before Knutsford magistrates later today. Make dulcie gabbani's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!)","label":1}
{"text":"President Emmanuel Macron wants to scrap rules allowing some state rail workers to retire on a full pension up to 10 years before most other French workers. The reform plan risks inflaming tensions with labor unions who led the biggest strikes of recent decades in 1995 against a similar proposal that the government of the time floated before abandoning it and losing power. Macron has said his government will embark on overhauling France s myriad pension schemes in early 2018, creating a single system for all. The shake-up of the pension scheme tailored for the SNCF state rail group would affect nearly 200,000 employees, in particular train drivers who can retire as early as age 52, a decade before the pension age of 62. Macron first outlined the idea in an internal SNCF publication in July. He said he wanted a draft legislation presented early in 2018 and a reform that would be effective by mid-2018 or early 2019. Asked about the president s plan for the SNCF s pensions on Wednesday, government spokesman Christophe Castaner said it fell within the wider pension reform package. That s the track the president wants to take, Castaner told a weekly news briefing. Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, was elected on a promise to push through far-reaching social and economic reforms, a program that has drawn increasing public opposition since he took office four months ago. His government last Thursday presented plans to ease labor regulations with only one of the three biggest unions threatening protests. But tougher tests may lie ahead, including overhauling employment insurance this autumn and then pension reforms. In 1995, plans to abolish a pension scheme specific to SNCF workers sparked the biggest wave of street protests and public transport strikes in recent French history. Those protests, including a three-week rail strike, ultimately led to the reform being abandoned, the resignation of then prime minister Alain Juppe and an election where voters replaced the right-wing government with a Socialist one in 1997. Macron said on the campaign trail he wanted to smooth out the big differences between the pensions of state and private sector employees, while keeping the pension age at 62. Beyond the SNCF, that will mean reforming the generous pensions of big state-owned companies such as utility EDF, whose unions have fiercely defended their privileges.","label":0}
{"text":"Tried to remove comments on this site years ago. We wrote a ludicrous satire about a self biography how a fictional character would relate to Mr. Gibson. This site does not allow option to remove comments. Sorry to Mr. Gibson, it was meant to be a joke to point out how ridiculous and annoying press is, not to be taken seriously. Please remove comments from \"Captain Community\". Thanks!","label":1}
{"text":"Font Size \"What does the rising gold price mean for the Russian economy and ordinary consumers?\" \"It means that the Russian Central Bank has been running a justifiable policy, because the bank has been purchasing gold during the recent three years. Now gold will cost even more. Citizens still have an opportunity to buy gold investment coins that are VAT-free in Russia, unlike bullions. \"In Russia, there are three ways of investing in gold. They include unallocated bullion accounts in banks - bullions and coins. This method is bad because unallocated bullion accounts are excluded from the deposit insurance program. Therefore, if a bank collapses, the state will not give you anything back. \u042dA bullion is a good investment, but in Russia, this investment shall include 18% of value added tax. Therefore, your price per one gram or one ounce of gold will be 18 percent higher. Gold investment coins are exempt from VAT, so this is the most profitable way among those that exist. \u042dIn Russia, the most common gold coin is known as \"Pobedonosets\" or \"Victorious.\" This is a quarter of an ounce coin. The global standard is one ounce or 31 grams. In Russia, however, we produce quarter of an ounce coins - approximately 7.7 grams of pure gold. Today, this coin costs about 20,000 rubles. I bought it in the early 2000s when it was 4,000 rubles. The price grows in both rubles and dollars. \u042dThe most popular foreign coin is known as the \"Australian Kangaroo,\" because it depicts a kangaroo. This coin costs about 91,000 rubles today. This is an ounce coin, 9999 purity. Since the beginning of the year the price on the coin has increased by 20 percent,\" said Alexey Vyazovsky. Pravda.Ru","label":1}
{"text":"The Syrian army and its allies seized an oil pumping station in eastern Syria from Islamic State, paving the way for an advance towards the jihadists last remaining Syrian stronghold, a Hezbollah-run news service reported on Thursday. The T2 pumping station is considered a launch pad for the army and its allies to advance towards the town of Albu Kamal ... which is considered the last remaining stronghold of the Daesh organization in Syria , the report said. Albu Kamal is located in Deir al-Zor province at the Syrian border with Iraq, just over the frontier from the Iraqi town of al-Qaim. Iraq declared on Thursday the start of an offensive to capture al-Qaim and Rawa, the last patch of Iraqi territory still in IS hands. Islamic State s self-declared caliphate has crumbled this year with the fall of the Syrian city of Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul. In Syria, the group is now mostly confined to a shrinking strip of territory in Deir al-Zor province. The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State is waging a separate campaign against the group in Deir al-Zor, focused on areas to the east of the Euphrates River which bisects the province. Albu Kamal is located on the western bank of the river.","label":0}
{"text":"Washington (CNN) In an awkward meeting at the White House this month, Mitch McConnell had a message for his adversaries: Democrats had only themselves to blame for the escalating war over the Supreme Court. McConnell, according to two sources familiar with the session, singled out the four Democrats in the room: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama himself. He said all four of them did something he and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley did not do: Attempt to filibuster Samuel Alito's nomination in 2006, setting a new precedent in the Supreme Court wars. \"You reap what you sow,\" McConnell said, according to the sources. In the aftermath of Obama's Wednesday decision to nominate federal judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, Republicans now are planning on setting yet another precedent: Denying confirmation hearings for a nominee, something that has not been done since such proceedings became common practice more than 60 years ago. The hardline has given Democrats ammunition against the GOP-led Senate for treating a qualified nominee unfairly, an argument they plan to make as they try to defeat a handful of vulnerable senators in swing states in November. But in interviews with CNN, the Republican leadership's resolve to deny a hearing for Obama's pick only seemed to be hardening after the President's announcement. And they got backup from some key at-risk senators, who said that the next president -- not the current one-- should make the Supreme Court choice. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, one of the most endangered Republicans this year, said \"out of courtesy and respect,\" she's \"open\" to meeting with Garland, breaking with McConnell, who opposes scheduling such a visit. But she was firmly in McConnell's camp when it came to whether Garland should be considered by the full Senate. \"I still believe this position is a lifetime appointment and one that will have a consequential impact on the country and the Supreme Court for decades to come. So I continue to believe that we should consider the people's view on this by waiting for the confirmation process to go forward after the elections in November,\" Ayotte said. Other vulnerable senators, like Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, sided with Ayotte. Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Reid, said the GOP is taking obstruction to a whole new level. \"Mitch McConnell is the world's most accomplished hypocrite,\" Jentleson said. \"Alito received fair hearings, floor consideration and was confirmed.\" The public pressure will begin Thursday when Garland begins to make the rounds on Capitol Hill, as GOP senators are split on whether to even meet with him. It will intensify over the next two weeks in the home states of endangered Republican senators, with protests by activists that they hope can turn into negative media coverage over the GOP's hardline. Democrats have privately circled July 4 as their target date to get the GOP to crack, before the party conventions that month, the August recess and a brief September session ahead of the November elections. \"I think the Republican leadership position is completely untenable and unsustainable,\" said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut. \"Because No. 1, the American people are absolutely fed up with a Senate that is stuck in gridlock and constant paralysis. What I hear most commonly from my constituents is 'why can't you get things done?'\" Some Republicans seemed receptive to that argument. Sen. Mark Kirk, who faces a tough re-election in the blue state of Illinois, said he will \"assess Judge Merrick Garland based on his record and qualifications.\" And the Maine moderate, Sen. Susan Collins, who voted in 1997 to put Garland in his current spot as the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, said she'd meet with the judge and called on the Judiciary Committee to move forward with hearings. \"I believe the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing,\" Collins said. \"That would be the normal course.\" \"I supported him,\" Roberts said when asked why he voted for him in 1997. Would he vote for him now? \"It's not about the person,\" Roberts said, repeating the mantra from this party leadership. \"It's about the process. Let the people decide.\" Pennsylvania's Toomey, one of the vulnerable Republicans facing a tough re-election in a swing state, dashed from reporters in the Capitol Wednesday, refusing to take questions about Garland and whether he would meet with him. However, in a press release issued by his office, the first-term senator said a confirmation should wait until after the election \"to give the American people a more direct voice\" in picking a justice. Another threatened Republican, Portman of Ohio, acknowledged he will face enormous pressure from Democrats and outside groups on the issue but said he still thinks a nominee should wait for a new president. \"I'm sure there will be ads on both sides. This is not about politics. It's about what's best for the country,\" he said. Republicans believe it's worth spending some political capital in their standoff with Democrats to prevent a major shift in the direction of the court should the seat of the late Antonin Scalia, a reliable conservative, be filled by a more liberal justice. The GOP holds a slim 54-46 majority in the Senate and must defend 24 seats in November compared to just 10 for Democrats if they are to maintain the majority. Republicans insist they won't get hurt politically by their defiant stand, arguing voters are more interested in terrorism, national security, jobs and the economy than a Supreme Court vacancy. \"We have a real comfort level in allowing the American people to voice their feelings about the direction of the Supreme Court,\" said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Senate GOP's campaign committee. \"We trust the people and we think they will appreciate being given an opportunity to speak first.\"","label":0}
{"text":"If you re not paying attention to Donald Trump on Twitter at the moment, you are missing out on witnessing a truly unhinged individual playing a classic game of projection.With allegations and proof being revealed day after day regarding Trump and his administration s ties to Russia, especially throughout the course of his campaign and the years prior, Trump is left to do the only thing he appears to know how to do deflect and blame others of doing exactly what he is doing.Earlier in the day Trump tweeted an image of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer grabbing a donut with Vladimir Putin,We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com\/Ik3yqjHzsA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017Schumer did nothing wrong, and unlike Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he didn t commit perjury surrounding this event.Schumer even tweeted back:Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team? https:\/\/t.co\/yXgw3U8tmQ Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 3, 2017And for the record, they were Krispy Kreme donuts. Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 3, 2017Which is far more transparent than Trump has ever been.Trump, clearly upset that people aren t reacting to this revelation that Schumer and Putin grabbed a Krispy Kreme together then decided to try and throw Nancy Pelosi under the bus in the same regard.He said: I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. https:\/\/t.co\/qCDljfF3wN Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017However, here s the thing, she also wasn t under oath trying to be confirmed as the utmost authority of law and order in the nation.Pelosi shortly thereafter responded with that exact point:.@realDonaldTrump doesn't know difference between official mtg photographed by press & closed secret mtg his AG lied about under oath. https:\/\/t.co\/YRFCuJkjLA Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 3, 2017Meanwhile, Trump, Sessions, Flynn, Kushner, and all the rest of those who have been implicated as being in contact with Russia that would be a devastating blow to Trump and his administration.Trump is merely trying to shift focus, but in the mean time, he s making himself look guilty as hell.Featured Photo by Mario Tama, Win McNamee\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Share on Facebook Share on Twitter The healing art of Reiki has been practiced and taught around the world for many years, with many believing its origins to be as ancient as those of humans themselves. With scientific research now emerging attesting to the ability of human thoughts, emotions, and intentions to affect the physical material world, an increasing number of scientists, quantum physicists in particular, are stressing the importance of studying factors associated with consciousness and its relation to our physical world. One of these factors is human intention. Reiki essentially uses human intention to heal another person's ailments. Practitioners usually place their hands on the patient in order to channel energy into them by means of touch. It can be roughly defined as using compassionate mental action and physical touch, energy healing, shamanic healing, nonlocal healing, or quantum touch. The popularity of this practice is exemplified by the fact that, as of 2000, there were more 'distant healers' in the United Kingdom than therapists practicing any other form of complementary or alternative medicine, and the same goes for the United States. ( Barnes PM, Powell-Griner E, McFann K, Nahin RL. Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults: United States, 2002 . Adv Data. 2004. May 27;( 343 ):1\u201319. [ PubMed ]) Quantum physicists have been advocating for the effectiveness of such treatment for some time. For example, Max Planck, the theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory \u2014 winning him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918 \u2014 stated that he \"regards consciousness as fundamental\" \" and derivative from consciousness.\" He also maintained t hat \"everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.\" Distant healing involves factors associated with consciousness. Eugene Wigner, a well-known theoretical physicist and mathematician, emphasized that \"it was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness.\" Richard C. Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, takes this idea even further in his article \"The Mental Universe,\" published in the journal Nature : A fundamental conclusion of the new physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality. As observers, we are personally involved with the creation of our own reality. Physicists are being forced to admit that the universe is a \"mental\" construction. Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans wrote: \"The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter, we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion. The universe is immaterial\u2014mental and spiritual. With so much evidence to support these ideas and with so many studies published on the subject, that this field remains the subject of ridicule to many in mainstream academia is simply baffling. A study published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, as seen in the US National Library of Medicine, demonstrated that a women with special abilities was and is able to accelerate the germination of specific seeds for the purposes of developing a more robust seed stock. The study determined that this woman could induce plant seeds to grow shoots and roots several cm long within 20 min using mentally projected qi energy. For a selected list of downloadable peer-reviewed journal articles reporting studies of psychic phenomena, mostly published in the 21st century, you can click HERE . Distant Healing Intention Therapies (DHI): An Overview of the Scientific Evidence Did you know that clinical trials testing the effectiveness of DHI have been being conducted since the mid-1990s? Serious scientific inquiry has been ongoing and continues to this day, with both systematic and meta-analytic reviews being published, many of which have concluded that, with nearly half of all the published studies on this topic exhibiting statistically significant results, further study is desperately needed. Your Inbox Will Never Be The Same Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox. A number of studies involving DHI experiments using simple life forms and animals have also reported statistically significant results, which have been seen under randomized and blinded conditions which include enzymes, fungi, yeast, bacteria, cancer cells, red blood cells, fibroblasts, tendon cells, (tenocytes), and bone cells. Distant Mental Interactions With Living Systems (DMILS) Hundreds of experiments in this area, which is closely related to DHI, have been conducted as well. DMILS is not concerned with healing, but rather with searching for measurable empirical evidence that A can affect B in any way, rather than if A can heal B. These studies investigate the influence of A's intention on B's physiological state \u2014 a process referred to as \"remote intention.\" They further examine the influence of A's attention on B's physiological state while A gazes at B over a 1 way video link, called \"remote staring.\" Last but not least, they study the influence of A's intention on B's attention or behaviour, which is referred to as \"remote helping.\" The effects of distant mental interactions are measured using electrodermal activity, heart rate, blood volume pulse, and electrocortical activity (EEG electrodermal activity, heart rate, blood volume pulse, brain blood oxygenation [MRI], and electrogastrogram [EGG]). These studies have yielded remarkable results which have since been successfully repeated in laboratories around the world. An Overview Of The Scientific Evidence DHI is very popular as an alternative healing method, but scientific experiments thus far have failed to produce clinical results which can be reliably assessed. As Dean Radin ( Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences ) argues: The contradiction between persistent popularity and lack of clinical effectiveness may be due on the one hand to some healers, in some contexts, who do seem to produce remarkable outcomes, and on the other hand by conventional RCT protocols that may be incompatible with the nature of DHI phenomena. Tools must match the requirements of the subject, and if the right tools are not available, then new ones must be devised. In other words, it is inadvisable to use a sledgehammer to study the surface structure of a soap bubble. On the other hand, DMILS experiments, which relate to distant healing, more clearly indicate the existence of genuine interactions between people at a distance. As Dean Radin explains, this offers up some challenges: But the proof-of-principle offered by DMILS experiments more clearly indicates the existence of genuine interactions between distant people. This presents us with an evidence-based enigma worthy of serious consideration. However, for many researchers, the mere concept of distant healing continues to elicit significant resistance for two main reasons. The first is based on the assumption that \"action at a distance\" is impossible because it violates one or more physical or biological laws. The second is founded on the neuroscience-based assumption that the mind is identical to the brain, in which case it does not make sense to propose that the brain activity we call \"healing intention\" can interact with anything outside of the brain's own body ( source ) While it's quite clear that healing at a distance hasn't yet been proven scientifically, DMILS effects do indeed manifest shifts in physiological measures, lending credibility to reports of distant healing being successful. Dean Radin himself maintains that \"the implications of DHI for basic science epistemology and ontology and for pragmatic efforts to improve health healing are vast, deep, and perennially intriguing.\" A Few Other Strange Reported Anomalies I find it interesting to consider how much scientific investigation into 'psychic' phenomena has been conducted by the Department of Defense. In the United States, for example, they had project Star Gate, which lasted more than two decades before being unexpectedly shut down. ( source ) One of the most popular projects within that program was remote viewing. According to a declassified report which has since been published in multiple journals: To summarize, over the years, the back-and-forth criticism of protocols, refinement of methods, and successful replication of this type of remote viewing in independent laboratories has yielded considerable scientific evidence for the reality of the [remote viewing] phenomenon. Adding to the strength of these results was the discovery that a growing number of individuals could be found to demonstrate high-quality remote viewing, often to their own surprise. . . . The development of this capability at SRI has evolved to the point where visiting CIA personnel with no previous exposure to such concepts have performed well under controlled laboratory conditions. ( source ) I just want to make it clear that psychic phenomena have been investigated at the highest levels of government, and probably still are. Who knows what information from these programs remains classified? And why do so many mainstream scientists criticize this research when scientists working at the highest levels of government are studying it? This topic has piqued the interest of more than just Western intelligence agencies, as China also actively works to identify individuals with extended human capacities. For example, a paper published in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) in September 1981 in the journal Ziran Zazhi (Nature Journal) tilted \"Some Experiments on the Transfer of Objects Performed by Unusual Abilities of the Human Body\" (Shuhuang et al., 1981) reported that 'gifted children' were able to teleport small physical objects from one place to another. ( source ) A publication titled \"Exceptional Functions of the Human Body\" also makes some extraordinary claims, reporting highly accurate parapsychological effects, including clairvoyance, psychokinetic effects, and more. ( source ) A report published in 2010 by retired research chemist Dong Shen describes an experiment involving mental teleportation of bits of paper out of a sealed plastic film container. Fascinatingly, these methods were taught to others with a success rate of 40 percent. ( source ) \"The results of the Chinese p-Teleportation experiments can simply be explained as a human consciousness phenomenon that somehow acts to move or rotate test specimens through a 4th spatial dimension, so that the specimens are able to penetrate the solid walls\/barriers of their containers without physically breaching them.\" \u2013 Eric Davis, Ph.D, FBIS ( source )  Source Used & Suggested Reading:","label":1}
{"text":"Lawmakers say Washington is dithering while a dangerous epidemic threatens American shores. They suggest darkly that the government is playing down the risk to avoid panic. They warn: Don't wait for it to arrive at the airports and establish a perilous foothold. Fear of the Zika virus today? No, those were Republicans in 2014 as they hammered the Obama administration in the final weeks of the midterm campaign for failing to react quickly and decisively enough to the possible spread of the Ebola virus, which never really became a domestic threat. The politically heated attacks cooled quickly after the election, but the message was credited with helping Republicans sow unease about the administration as they chalked up big wins in Congress. Now it is the Congress moving slowly on providing money to combat the spread of Zika, alarming some lawmakers who fear that their colleagues do not recognize the potential consequences if the disease begins to spread in the United States. \"There is just a lack of urgency about it,\" said Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, who added that lawmakers could find themselves facing difficult questions about a congressional Zika response as Election Day looms this fall. \"People are going to be asking, 'Why didn't you do anything? '\" he said in an interview. \"You are going to have to have a pretty good answer, and I am not sure there is going to be one. \" Mr. Rubio has a special interest in the disease, given that the climate and conditions in his state are well known for breeding mosquitoes. He worries that even the smallest of outbreaks could send his state's economy into a spiral as visitors stay away. \"I tell people we are one infection away from serious damage to our tourism industry,\" he said. He has not been alone in clamoring for a federal fix. In February, President Obama asked Congress for more than $1. 8 billion in emergency funds to step up prevention efforts and speed a vaccine for the disease, which has been linked to serious birth defects and other health problems. Last week \u2014 almost four months later \u2014 the Senate voted to begin negotiations to try to resolve differences among the House, Senate and White House approaches. Democrats are demanding a resolution by the Fourth of July recess, but there is no guarantee that the funding legislation can be completed by then. \"I just think they're long overdue,\" Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said last week. \"An emergency bill could have passed \u2014 we're over 100 days since the request. \" She noted that the public health community \"could have been well down the road to what needs to be done in terms of prevention, in terms of research and the other aspects of stopping the epidemic. \" The issue is particularly grating at the White House, which came under siege in October 2014 over what Republicans called a lack of preparedness for Ebola. The administration believes it was unfairly maligned for political purposes by Republicans who saw an opening to make voters anxious close to the election. Mr. Obama said recently that he was having difficulty squaring Republicans' position on Ebola with their much more casual approach to Zika, \"given that I have, at least, pretty vivid memories of how concerned people were about Ebola. \" Republicans say there is no need for a furious rush since the administration agreed in April to redirect nearly $590 million, most of it previously allocated for Ebola prevention, to the effort against Zika, easing the pressure to act quickly. Some Democrats now think that move, perhaps wise from a policy and prevention standpoint, may have been a strategic mistake because it let Republicans off the hook. \"I think we are fine,\" said Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, predicting that Republicans had done what they needed to avoid a political backlash. He said that shifting the money had provided public health experts with the resources they needed and that the necessary funds \"will be there in the end. \" Negotiators working on a compromise are expected to move toward the $1. 1 billion approved by the Senate as opposed to $622 million allocated by the House. Mr. Rubio and others favor providing the full amount sought initially by the White House. As of last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified nearly 700 Zika infections in the continental United States, though all appeared to have been contracted elsewhere. More than 1, 000 have been counted in Puerto Rico. Public health experts are now preparing for the first case of someone's being infected by a mosquito in the United States. Mr. Rubio worries that the federal response has fallen too far behind. \"I think in some ways we are already too late,\" he said. \"It takes time to get this implemented. Every day that goes by is wasted. \" As they try to hold on to control of the House and Senate, Republicans should hope that Mr. Rubio is wrong and that the disease does not become a crisis in the United States. If it does, it could be Democratic attacks on Republicans for moving too slowly that go viral.","label":0}
{"text":"The latest North Korean missile test failed on Wednesday, with the rocket exploding \"within seconds of launch,\" according to the U. S. Pacific Command. [\"South Korea and the US are aware of the missile launch and to their knowledge, North Korea's missile was not successfully launched,\" said South Korea's Ministry of Defense about the North Korean missile test, in a statement relayed by CNN. Reuters reports the launch was made from \"near the city of Wonsan, on North Korea's east coast, the same place from where it launched several missiles last year, all but one of which failed. \" A South Korean military official agreed with the U. S. assessment that the missile \"may have exploded right after it took off from a launch pad. \" The Washington Post writes that American and South Korean military intelligence services are still analyzing the data they gathered about the launch and are not yet certain precisely what type of missile it was. North Korea tested a rocket engine that dictator Kim described as technology of \"historic significance\" over the weekend, but it's not clear if this failed test involved one of those engines.","label":0}
{"text":"For years, liberals have maintained that evangelicals have only been using religion as a means to achieve absolute power, and now one of their leaders has confirmed it.On Monday, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention president Russell Moore wrote a column for the Washington Post blasting evangelical Christians for proving liberals right.Donald Trump, despite his more than fleeting flirtation with fascism and his campaign of hate and intolerance, has gained massive support from evangelical Christians who are willing to overlook the Republican front-runner s lack of Christian morals as long it means they get a president who will give them more power. The problem is the behavior of some evangelical leaders, Moore wrote. I have watched as some of these who gave stem-winding speeches about character in office during the Clinton administration now minimize the spewing of profanities in campaign speeches, race-baiting and courting white supremacists, boasting of adulterous affairs, debauching public morality and justice through the casino and pornography industries. Moore wasn t finished though. He also slammed evangelicals, a term he is too embarrassed to use to describe himself any longer, because they are flocking to candidates who pretend to be Christians. I watched one evangelical leader pronounce a candidate a Christian, though he explicitly states that he has never repented of sin, because he displays the fruit of the Spirit in job creation. That s not a political problem; it s a gospel problem.Why are many evangelical leaders, including some who pontificate on nearly everything else, scared silent as evangelicalism is associated with everything from authoritarianism and bigotry to violations of religious freedom? How can they look the other way in silence when politicians praise Planned Parenthood and demur about white supremacists and neo-Nazis? And then he admitted that liberals have been right about evangelicals for years and they have been vindicated by evangelicals who have flocked to Trump s campaign. For years, secular progressives have said that evangelical social action in America is not about religious conviction but all about power. They have implied that the goal of the Religious Right is to cynically use the moral to get to the majority, not the other way around.This year, a group of high-profile old-guard evangelicals has proven these critics right. Indeed, evangelical Christians have only sought power and they ve had no problem rewriting or flat-out ignoring parts of the Bible that do not fit with their agenda in order to achieve it.It s been all about money and power, and evangelical leaders have fleeced their congregations so they can keep trying to topple the government and establish religious tyranny. But evangelicals have grown more and more desperate over the years as Americans continually reject them and their radical agenda that would confine women to the home and sentence gay people to death as well as declare America a Christian state governed by the Bible instead of the constitutional principles we hold dear.And Donald Trump may not be an evangelical Christian, but evangelicals are increasingly supporting his campaign because he is saying exactly what they want to hear and they see him as their last chance to take power. It s never been about the gospel or morality to evangelicals. It has always been about gaining power and using it to persecute and indoctrinate those they disagree with. And by supporting Trump, evangelicals are telling the world that they are precisely the fake Christians that liberals have been fighting against for decades.","label":1}
{"text":"A Swedish man is facing charges in court after being accused of eating bacon too closely to a group of veiled Muslim women and calling them derogatory names. [The incident occurred in the Swedish capital of Stockholm over the weekend. The Swedish man, who has not been named by media or the police, is said to have approached the Muslim women who were wearing Islamic veils on a train while he was eating bacon and dangled the bacon in front of their faces, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports. According to the report, the women got up to find seating elsewhere and the man followed them with his bacon. He is alleged to have called them derogatory names and made racist comments, though neither the police nor the court has specified what was said during the incident. The prosecutors allege he then used racial epithets on another woman in the train station after getting off the train. He faces charges of incitement to racial hatred. Reaction to the incident on social media has been a mix of laughter and disbelief amongst English language users. Twitter user PeterSweden tweeted his disbelief at the charges saying: \"What's the next step, being racist for walking your dog?\" What's the next step ? Being racist for walking your dog ? https: . \u2014 PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) March 26, 2017, Other users found humour in the story posting various reaction images involving Islamic extremism and bacon. Many criticised the policies of the Swedish government and political correctness. @PeterSweden7 This insanity is made possible by so called \"politic correctness\" which creates an non liveable situation for nativs! \u1f62 pic. twitter. \u2014 Jo Ker #Nexit (@JoKer33817736) March 26, 2017, However, the reaction to the article from Swedish speakers was different. On Facebook, one Swedish speaker wrote: \"I hope I never see this. I will make him eat the bacon raw the f**k up!\" The sentiment was shared by another Swedish speaker who posted: \"In what way do they really think that it would be okay to shove food in the face of someone you don't know?\" and added: \"Grown men. Shame on you. \" The case is not the first time bacon misuse has led to prosecutions for hate crimes. In the UK last year, two Polish men were jailed for throwing bacon inside a London mosque. The pair were charged with a \"racially motivated attack\" when one of the men swore at a Muslim man and threw bacon at him. In Bristol last year, police were also alerted to another potential hate crime after several people threw bacon sandwiches at the entrance of a local mosque. Police commented on the incident calling it \"abhorrent\". Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart. com","label":0}
{"text":"CNN Technicians Rush To Empty Wolf Blitzer's Urine Tank Midway Through Election Coverage Close Vol 52 Issue 44 \u00b7 News Media \u00b7 Election 2016  NEW YORK\u2014Noting that the storage canister had nearly reached capacity, CNN technicians reportedly rushed to empty Wolf Blitzer's urine tank Tuesday night midway through the network's election coverage. \"All right, people, it's go time\u2014we need to release the pressure valves and drain this thing now, because the clock is ticking,\" said head technician Raymond Harrington, prompting his crew of assistants to assume their designated positions around the 12-gallon stainless-steel vat before discharging the liquid contents into an off-camera waste container while Blitzer delivered a long stretch of uninterrupted state-level voting analysis. \"Easy does it. Be careful of splashback. That stuff is hot. Okay, now make sure all urine lines are clear before closing the runoff spigot.\" At press time, an unforeseen leak in the urine tank had forced CNN technicians to sequester Blitzer in an isolated containment unit and evacuate the set during a commercial break. Share This Story: WATCH VIDEO FROM THE ONION Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter  Give your spam filter something to do. Daily Headlines","label":1}
{"text":"It really is perfect.And it s from a book that was published in 1961.When Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22 over 50 years ago, he had no idea that a particular passage in his classic novel would one day be the EXACT description of the Republican Party.But Twitter user Maris Kreizman certainly noticed the similarities, which is why she shared the discovery, only for it to then be shared worldwide by singing and acting icon Bette Midler.In a post last month that seems to have gone largely unnoticed for some reason, Midler posted the passage, aiming particularly at Donald Trump. However, the paragraph really can be be applied to the GOP in general. It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character. ~Joseph Heller, Catch-22Here s the tweet via Twitter.With credit. pic.twitter.com\/8wrCbwEY49 Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) January 4, 2016For years, Republicans have been hypocrites when it comes to lawbreaking, claiming that it s okay when white conservatives use their guns to seize federal property or use their bibles as an excuse to violate the rights of others. In other words, they want us all to think of these vices as virtues.The slander into truth part is pretty easy since Republicans have been lying about liberals and liberal policies throughout the last eight years while insisting that they are telling the truth.Republicans have also disguised arrogance as humility, although they really aren t hiding it anymore.The way conservative donors like the Koch brothers use pretended philanthropy to give themselves more power is one of the more disgusting aspects of Republicans today, and it was perfectly described by Heller.Republicans have also pretended for decades that stealing from the poor to give to the wealthy is honorable, but it s only caused great suffering among the American people as the middle class shrinks and families struggle to put food on the table.Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have made it very clear during the GOP primary that they intend to bring back torture, which they think is a patriotic and just way of fighting the war on terror. For years, Republicans have displayed fake patriotism while at the same time sending our troops to their deaths in wars for profit and once our troops come home, they refuse to take care of them. This is evident in their blockage of bills that would aid veterans and first responders.And finally, the conservative support of the death penalty and cops who kill unarmed black men are the ultimate examples of how Republicans see sadism as justice.Make no mistake, this paragraph from Joseph Heller is downright prophetic, and Bette Midler did us all a favor by bringing it to our attention. Featured image from Twitter","label":1}
{"text":"A reporter for the conservative website Breitbart News filed a criminal complaint on Friday against Republican presidential election front-runner Donald Trump's campaign manager, saying he grabbed her arm at a rally with such force that he left bruises. A police report released on Friday showed that the reporter, Michelle Fields, said she was the victim of battery on Tuesday night at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, where Trump spoke after that day's contests in the race to nominate the party's candidate for the Nov. 8 presidential election. The accusation prompted a flurry of exchanges between Trump's campaign and Fields. The campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and Trump have denied the accusation. Lewandowski dismissed Fields as an \"attention seeker\" on Twitter. Fields published her account at Breitbart on Thursday of what happened when reporters gathered around Trump to ask him additional questions after a press conference. Fields said she asked Trump about his views on affirmative action. \"Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken,\" Fields wrote. A Trump campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, questioned Fields' story on Friday. Hicks said she had not seen any encounter and said no cameras had captured the incident. Fields, who posted a photo on Twitter of bruises on her arm, initially said she did not know who had grabbed her and caused her to stumble. Ben Terris, a Washington Post reporter who witnessed the incident, told her Lewandowski had seized her arm. He wrote his own account for his newspaper. The political news site Politico posted a transcript of an audio recording of the incident, which included an exchange between Terris and Fields. \"Yeah he just threw you down,\" Terris said to Fields, who replied, \"I can't believe he just did that. That was so hard. Was that Corey?\" Terris said that it was and later reported that Fields was tearful after the incident. In a statement on Friday, Breitbart Chief Executive Officer Larry Solov said Trump's suggestion that Fields may have invented the episode was contradicted by the evidence. \"Breitbart News stands behind Michelle Fields,\" he wrote. Hours later, however, the website posted a story disputing Terris' account. The story said that footage from the event showed Trump flanked by two men: Lewandowski and a security official who bore some resemblance to the campaign manager. \"The person who made contact with Fields was likely not Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski,\" the report said. Terris stood by his account on Friday. He was quoted in a blog by Washington Post reporter Erik Wemple as saying, \"I saw what I saw.\" Terris did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Fields and Solov could not immediately be reached for comment on the complaint to police. Trump's rallies across the United States have been marked by rowdiness and physical contact between protesters and either his supporters or security personnel. At a rally in Virginia on Feb. 29, a Time magazine photographer trying to document the exit of dozens of black protesters was grabbed by the neck and shoved to the ground by a U.S. Secret Service agent. White House spokesman Josh Earnest also weighed in on the Fields incident on Friday, telling reporters: \"There is no excuse or justification for acts of violence against reporters who are covering a political event.\" (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins and Jeff Mason; editing by Grant McCool) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald J. Trump hurled himself into a new effort to reshape the presidential race on Monday, scrambling to allay voters' concerns about his temperament and put Hillary Clinton on the defensive over her critical comments about many of Mr. Trump's supporters. Though Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, has largely withheld comment about Mrs. Clinton's health, showing uncharacteristic restraint after her campaign announced she had pneumonia, he took Mrs. Clinton's unexpected absence from public view as an opportunity to press his case with ferocity. Among Mr. Trump's advisers, there is a sense of urgency. With eight weeks left in the race \u2014 and just two before his first debate with Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic nominee \u2014 Mr. Trump may never again have such a window to make his argument to voters more or less uninterrupted. Without a forceful message and iron discipline heading into the debates, Mr. Trump could struggle mightily to overcome the deeply rooted opposition to his candidacy. An ABC Post poll published over the weekend showed Mrs. Clinton with a edge over Mr. Trump nationally, with six in 10 voters describing Mr. Trump as unqualified and biased against women and minorities. Mr. Trump seized the chance on Monday to turn the charge of intolerance against Mrs. Clinton: Denouncing the allegation that his supporters were bigoted, Mr. Trump argued in a speech in Baltimore that Mrs. Clinton had shown \"contempt\" for voters by deriding many of his supporters as racist and sexist, calling them a \"basket of deplorables\" at a on Friday. At a rally on Monday night in North Carolina, Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton was running a \" and negative campaign. \" The Trump campaign also announced the support of R. James Woolsey, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to reassure voters of Mr. Trump's readiness for the presidency. Mr. Trump made no mention of Mrs. Clinton's health in his campaign speeches. During two television interviews on Monday morning, he said he wished Mrs. Clinton well. He also did not revive his frequent accusation that Mrs. Clinton lacks the physical strength to be president, though he suggested vaguely that \"something is going on. \" Instead, he used a speech to the National Guard Association of the United States to defend his supporters at length, arguing that they were right to be concerned about border security and crime, and that those concerns did not indicate a hateful view of racial and religious minorities. \"If Hillary Clinton will not retract her comments in full, I don't see how she can credibly campaign any further,\" Mr. Trump said, demanding an apology. He claimed that his campaign was doing \"amazingly well with and Hispanic workers. \" But Mr. Trump, who records little support in the polls among racial minorities and educated whites, did not address any of the past remarks that have contributed to his low standing with those groups. He has continued to call for a crackdown on immigrants who are in the country illegally, and has declined to retract his false assertions in the past that President Obama was not born in the United States. Mr. Trump has also not expressed regret for clashing with the family of a slain Muslim Army captain or renounced his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the country. Mrs. Clinton has rebuked Mr. Trump over the last month for what she has called his promotion of racially insensitive messages and policies and his alignment with leaders of the movement known as the \"\" which is widely seen as holding fringe and racist views. Robert Blizzard, a Republican pollster, said that Mr. Trump appeared to be recovering his footing in the race, but that it might be too late for him to change many voters' longstanding assessment of his character and capabilities. \"Hillary Clinton clearly won the summer, and there's little doubt Donald Trump dug himself a very deep hole in the aftermath of the nominating conventions,\" Mr. Blizzard said. \"While Trump is starting to climb out of that hole now, his ability to take advantage of a few bad weeks for Clinton is going to be limited due to enduring views about his judgment, his temperament and his rhetoric toward other ethnicities and women. \" And Democrats are skeptical that Mr. Trump will be able to reinvent himself by using Mrs. Clinton's biting comments as a shield. Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who advises a \"super PAC,\" described an exercise he uses in focus groups, asking voters to write down three words to describe Mr. Trump before the discussion begins. \"People use the word 'racist' consistently to describe him,\" Mr. Garin said. \"But they also talk about him as a dangerous egomaniac. \" Still, on a conference call with top supporters Monday, advisers to Mr. Trump spoke of Mrs. Clinton's turbulent stretch as a source of relief: For the first time in a while, they said, they were starting the week on offense, according to people who participated in the call who spoke on condition of anonymity about a private discussion. Campaign surrogates were told to hammer Mrs. Clinton for her description of Trump voters, and to say as little as possible about her pneumonia diagnosis. Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army officer who advises Mr. Trump, said there was optimism in the campaign that the momentum of the race had \"totally shifted in Mr. Trump's favor. \" He predicted that voters would see a distinction between \"a guy who made all kinds of comments as he was fighting to win the primaries\" and the Donald Trump of the general election. Mr. Trump has taken other steps in recent days to steady his candidacy, moving to shore up his campaign in crucial swing states. With Mrs. Clinton holding a daunting advantage on the Electoral College map, Mr. Trump aimed a new television campaign at the four most critical states for his candidacy: Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. He has given his aides greater leeway in directing his television advertising, allowing the campaign to focus on that smaller cluster of states, a change from as recently as two weeks ago, when Mr. Trump was personally choosing where to run television ads, according to two people briefed on the Trump operation. Mr. Trump also removed the head of his Florida operation last week, replacing her with Susie Wiles, a veteran Republican operative close to Gov. Rick Scott. And Corey Lewandowski, Mr. Trump's former campaign manager, who is still a trusted adviser, has visited New Hampshire in recent weeks, meeting with senior Republicans there and making suggestions on spending and strategy decisions in the state, two people familiar with his activities said. It remains to be seen if Mr. Trump and his allies can maintain this level of determined focus. Numerous times, Mr. Trump has briefly adopted a more disciplined pose on the campaign trail, only to give in quickly to the temptation to taunt and brawl. Even on Monday morning, as he refrained from taunting Mrs. Clinton in a television interview, Mr. Trump made an offhand reference to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as \"Pocahontas. \" Ms. Warren, a Democrat, has described herself as having Native American heritage. Some of Mr. Trump's advisers have suggested in the past that Mrs. Clinton's health should be fair game. Blaise Ingoglia, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said he considered Mrs. Clinton's handling of her health a legitimate campaign issue because she did not immediately disclose that she had pneumonia. \"The disturbing part of that whole thing is that the campaign is willing to conceal that instead of being up front and honest,\" he said. \"You really start to question: What else is being concealed?\"","label":0}
{"text":"With a battle heating up between Republicans and Obama on a Supreme Court nomination, the president chooses to skip the funeral of longtime Supreme Court Justice Scalia. This is a classless move by Obama who s got a track record of not showing up at important funerals. He expects the Republicans to be bipartisan, yet he shows his true colors when he does something like this. The White House has confirmed reports that President Barack Obama will not be attending the funeral of late Supreme Court Justice Scalia s funeral which is scheduled for Saturday. Instead, the president and first lady Michelle Obama will pay their respects to Scalia on Friday, when the Justice s body lies in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building. The White House added that Vice President Joe Biden will attend Saturday s funeral at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.The last supreme court justice to pass away was Justice William Rehnquist in 2005. Then-President George W. Bush not only attended the service, but delivered a eulogy along with Justice Sandra Day O Connor.Critics claim that his decision not to attend Justice Scalia s funeral is just the latest in a string of snubs over the past several years. While Obama has attended some high profile funerals like those of former South African President Nelson Mandela and Senator and ex-KKK member Robert Byrd, the president has skipped out services for a number of high-profile conservatives and members of the U.S. military:Margaret Thatcher When the Iron Lady passed away in 2013, the Obama administration sent what the Daily Signal referred to as a low-level delegation similar in size and scope to the delegation sent to the funeral of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Chris Kyle After Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was murdered on a gun range in 2013, the president opted not to attend his Texas funeral. Furthermore, the president ruffled even more feathers by failing to acknowledge Kyle in his State of the Union address which was held on the same day.Major General Harold Greene Army Major General Harold Greene became the highest ranking combat fatality since Vietnam after he was ambushed by an Afghan police officer in August of 2014. The president was not present when Greene was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. The administration also came under criticism for failing to even releasing a statement upon receiving news of the president s death.Zeinuti Onyango The funeral of President Obama s aunt Zeinuti Onyango was not the high-profile affair of a high ranking government official, but the fact that the decided to play a few rounds of golf instead of attending is somewhat telling. The Kenyan-born Onyango passed away at the age of 61 in 2014.The list could go on and on but here s some great advice from a liberal pundit for Obama:MSNBC host Chris Hayes: Some amazing advice my mom gave me once: If you re wondering whether you should go to the funeral, you should go to the funeral.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump has made his selection for the next full-time head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Testifying before lawmakers on Thursday, Mnuchin did not name the person tapped for the job, but said the decision had been made and the individual is going through background checks before a formal announcement. The comptroller position is currently being filled in an acting capacity by Keith Noreika, an attorney whom Mnuchin named as interim head earlier in May. Noreika replaced Thomas Curry, who had served as comptroller under President Obama. \"We actually have someone the president has approved that is going through the FBI vetting process,\" Mnuchin said. \"This is a time-consuming process.\" Joseph Otting, who formerly worked as a banking executive at OneWest bank, which Mnuchin once headed, is believed to be the favorite for the position. Mnuchin said that an OCC pick had been made in response to criticism from Democrats, who objected to Trump installing a new bank regulator on an interim basis who was not confirmed by the Senate. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland questioned whether this approach was to skirt Senate approval. But Mnuchin insisted Noreika was put in place simply to get someone in the post while a permanent nominee was selected. The Comptroller's office writes money-laundering rules, bank charters and closely monitors banks' lending activities.","label":0}
{"text":"A Sucker's Rally Like No Other This week has seen a political earthquake followed by a financial eruption. But don't be fooled. The Dow's 500 point surge amounts to a Sucker's Rally like no other; it was just a case of raging robo-machines determined to tag an all-time high on the charts You need to login to view this content.  David Stockman's Contra Corner isn't your typical financial tipsheet. Instead it's an ongoing dialogue about what's really happening in the markets\u2026 the economy\u2026 and governments\u2026 so you can understand the world around you and make better decisions for yourself.  David believes the world -- certainly the United States -- is at a great inflection point in human history. The massive credit inflation of the last three decades has reached its apogee and is now going to splatter spectacularly.  This will have lasting ramifications on how governments tax and regulate you\u2026 the type of work you and your family members will have available and what you get paid\u2026 the value of your nest egg\u2026 and all other areas comprising your quality of life. Login","label":1}
{"text":"Gay Mafia descends in 5 4 3 2 1 Given the current body of evidence, the American College of Pediatricians believes it is inappropriate, potentially hazardous to children, and dangerously irresponsible to change the age-old prohibition on same-sex parenting, whether by adoption, foster care, or reproductive manipulation, they conclude. This position is rooted in the best available science. A Utah juvenile court judge ruled Tuesday that a 1-year-old girl, who has been in the care of lesbian foster parents, cannot be adopted by them and should be sent to a more traditional home, says the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.According to CNN, the case is the first major challenge to same-sex adoption rights. LGBT civil rights groups are outraged over the ruling.While Judge Scott Johansen is not commenting on his decision publicly per the Utah Code of Judicial Conduct April Hoagland, one of the lesbians, married over a year ago to Beckie Peirce, told KUTV that Johansen said research indicates children in homosexual homes do not do as well as they do in heterosexual homes. [W]hen they asked to show his research he would not, Hoagland added.Hoagland and Peirce were approved as foster parents by the division of family services and are raising Peirce s two children. They say the state and the child s biological mother are supportive of their desire to adopt the child.As CBS reports, the two women are part of a group of same-sex couples who were permitted to become foster parents in Utah following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Deborah Lindner, a spokeswoman for the Utah Foster Care Foundation, which trains foster parents for the state, said about 20 same-sex couples are caring for children in the foster program. Heartbreaking. We ve been told to take care like a mother would and I m her mother, and that s who she knows and she s just going to be taken away in seven days to probably another good, loving home, Hoagland said. But it s not fair, and it s not right, and it hurts me very badly, because I have done nothing wrong. Removing a child from a loving home simply because the parents are LGBT is outrageous, shocking and unjust, Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. It also flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that children being raised by same-sex parents are just as healthy and well-adjusted as those with different-sex parents. At a time when so many children in foster care need loving homes, it is sickening to think that a child would be taken from caring parents who planned to adopt, he added.Utah child and family services said they are reviewing the ruling to determine their options, including whether to challenge the order. This is the first time there has been an attempt to deprive gay foster parents of their rights to care for an adoptive child, said CNN legal analyst Paul Callan. I believe it was a bizarre and highly unusual decision by the judge based most probably on religious beliefs rather than scientific facts. He predicted the case would be overturned by Utah appeals courts.In 2012, however, sociologist Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas at Austin published research in the journal Social Science Research on a large, random sample of Americans of ages 18-39 who were raised in different types of families. The study of some 3,000 adults found numerous differences that exist among the various family arrangements and that outcomes for children of gay and lesbian parents were suboptimal. In another study by Loren Marks of Louisiana State University also published in Social Science Research Marks debunked a 2005 policy brief on same-sex parents by the American Psychological Association (APA), in which the organization analyzed 59 studies and concluded [n]ot a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents. Marks observed that 55 of the studies analyzed by APA did not even provide evidence of statistical power in accord with APA s own standards. [N]ot one of the 59 studies referenced in the 2005 APA Brief compares a large, random, representative sample of lesbian or gay parents and their children with a large, random, representative sample of married parents and their children, Marks noted. [W]e have been left with large, scientifically strong studies showing children do best with their married mother and father but which do not make comparisons with homosexual parents or couples, observed Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at Family Research Council, and studies which purportedly show that children of homosexuals do just as well as other children but which are methodologically weak and thus scientifically inconclusive. However, Regnerus s research, called the New Family Structures Study, included comparisons with children raised by same-sex parents and surveyed young adults about their experiences growing up in their family situations as well as their current life. Unlike other studies, Regnerus also did not rely on reports of children, while they were still living in their homes, or the potentially biased reports of the parents.Regnerus found that children of homosexuals fared worse on 77 out of 80 outcome measures that compared children with same-sex parents to those from other family arrangements. Specifically, compared with children raised by married, biological parents, children of homosexual parents are more likely to be on public assistance, have lower educational attainment, and report both less safety in their childhood families and more continued negative impact from them. In addition, children of same-sex parents were found to more likely suffer from depression, to have been arrested more often, and to have had more male and female sexual partners if they are female.For children of lesbian mothers, statistical significance in both direct comparisons and with control subjects was found in numerous areas in Regnerus s research. Children of lesbian mothers were found to be four times more likely to be on welfare, more than three times more likely to be unemployed, nearly ten times more likely to have been touched sexually by a parent or other adult caregiver, and nearly four times as likely to have been physically forced to have sex against their will.Despite numerous statistically significant correlations in his study and his carefully controlled methodology, Regnerus still cautions these relationships do not indicate causality. Still, as Sprigg noted, The large number of significant negative outcomes in this study gives legitimate reason for concern about the consequences of homosexual parenting. According to Drs. Michelle Cretella and Den Trumbull:[M]others and fathers parent differently and make unique contributions to the overall development of the child. Psychological theory of child development has always recognized the critical role that mothers play in the healthy development of children. More recent research reveals that when fathers are absent, children suffer as well. Girls without fathers perform more poorly in school, are more likely to be sexually active and become pregnant as teenagers. Boys without fathers have higher rates of delinquency, violence, and aggression. [T]radition and science agree that biological ties and dual gender parenting are protective for children, the doctors continue. The limited research advocating childrearing by same-sex parents has severe methodological limitations. There is significant risk of harm inherent in exposing a child to the homosexual lifestyle.","label":1}
{"text":"When it comes to the Trump family, one thing is for certain, they love photo opportunities, especially with those who they think may boost the image of the campaign.The Trump campaign knows they re losing, by a lot, with minorities, so any chance they can get to make it look like they re not, they seem to hop on board.Seemingly knowing this, a pair of Latina sisters, Annie and Ceci Cardelle from Salisbury, North Carolina, went to go see Eric Trump as he was out campaigning for his dad in their state.The sisters, ages 23 and 17, are Hillary Clinton supporters, and Annie wore a shirt that read Latina Contra Trump, which of course means Latina Against Trump. However, knowing neither Trump nor his supporters would likely notice this, and maybe thought it read Latina Con Trump which means with the sisters took a chance to take advantage of the moment.Ceci tweeted out: When you protest a Trump rally but no one realizes your shirt says Latinas AGAINST trump so they take pics w\/ you like you re supporters. When you protest a Trump rally but no one realizes your shirt says \"Latinas AGAINST trump\" so they take pics w\/ you like you're supporters pic.twitter.com\/5ce8SZw5Mh CC (@cecicardelle) October 21, 2016These women are very proud of themselves, as they should be:No one at the rally realized my shirt said AGAINST tr*mp congrats, y'all played yourselves ? ? ? pic.twitter.com\/qZ3x1ER8j0 Annie (@AnnieCardelle) October 21, 2016Here are the images the sisters shared on Twitter:via Twittervia Twittervia Twittervia TwitterAccording to Buzzfeed, no one seemed to notice that they were there protesting, which actually makes it all the more amusing and amazing. And Trump didn t take photos with everyone, so the campaign clearly saw it as a photo opportunity.Ceci said: I was sort of in disbelief when they actually called us forward. I was like, This is not happening. There s no way they don t see this shirt. via BuzzfeedAnd while reactions have been mixed, quite honestly these women deserve an award for not only their creativity but their bravery and follow-through.","label":1}
{"text":"If Dr. Dre were a white guy the police would have treated him totally differently.But because the legendary rapper is black and some white asshole looking for revenge claimed Dre brandished a gun during a confrontation, police officers swarmed the outside of his own home, slapped handcuffs on him and detained him in a police car.A white motorist was parked in front of Dr. Dre s home in Malibu on Monday when the musician returned. The driver was blocking Dr. Dre s driveway so he asked him to move his vehicle so he could pull in. Rolling Stone reports that the driver complied but yelled at Dr. Dre and hurled curse words at him as he drove off. Rather than move on, the angry white driver returned to the same spot to block the driveway again. Dr. Dre took out his cell phone and began recording the incident. The motorist reportedly said Here we go again. Another black guy with a gun and called police claiming that a black man pulled a gun on him.In response, several police officers showed up to harass the unarmed rapper. Due to the nature of the call, the person was searched, handcuffed, and briefly detained in a patrol car while deputies investigated the incident, Sheriff s Captain Chris Reed said.Here s video of Dr. Dre being handcuffed via YouTube.Despite not finding a gun, the accuser insisted on making a citizen s arrest and filled out a report.Again, look at all the white cops surrounding Dr. Dre, a man who simply wanted to pull his vehicle into his driveway and not be harassed by an angry white guy.Dr. Dre should not only sue the guy for everything he owns, he should sue the police for not arresting the racist who lied to police about him supposedly having a gun.If Dr. Dre were a white guy, the white driver never would have accused him of having a gun and the police certainly would have treated the situation differently. There was absolutely no reason to handcuff Dr. Dre. He was complying. He did nothing wrong. But they chose to humiliate him anyway by treating him like the bad guy instead of questioning whether the white accuser was full of shit. Last time I checked, using a cell phone is NOT a crime. Filing a false report, however, definitely is.","label":1}
{"text":"Mayor Bill de Blasio posted a video on his City Hall Twitter account on Tuesday that featured two Broadway actors singing his praises and promoting his accomplishments, drawing criticism from government watchdog groups who said that it was an inappropriate use of public money and was too much like a campaign ad. The video, which tries to poke fun at itself even as it promotes the mayor, was posted on the official City Hall Twitter account, @NYCMayor, and features Mr. de Blasio in an awkward thespian effort. It also includes his wife, Chirlane McCray a senior adviser, Andrea Hagelgans and two Broadway stars, Jenna Ushkowitz and James Monroe Iglehart. Ms. Ushkowitz starred in the television show \"Glee\" and has appeared in Broadway musicals, including \"Waitress\" and \"Spring Awakening. \" Mr. Iglehart won a Tony Award in 2014 for his role as the Genie in \"Aladdin. \" The video shows Mr. de Blasio, who is running for in the coming year, sitting in the back of what appears to be one of the mayoral sport utility vehicles, talking with Ms. McCray on his cellphone. \"Hey honey, I really like this song idea,\" he says. \"I really think it's the perfect way to wrap up all the great things we've done this year. \" Ms. McCray, Ms. Hagelgans and the actors are shown in a room at Gracie Mansion. Ms. McCray puts the mayor on speaker phone so he can listen as the two actors sing, accompanied by a piano player. \"In case the folks are unaware, we've got some facts we'd like to share,\" they sing. They go on to plug mayoral programs like protections for renters, the construction and preservation of affordable housing, and a mental health initiative. \"Who's bringing cops and community close?\" Ms. Ushkowitz sings as the beat goes . \"Who's got incarceration and crime rates sinking to a record low?\" The performance closes with a rousing reference to Mr. de Blasio. \"No matter what will be, we've got Billy D. B. !\" Ms. Ushkowitz belts out. The mayor starts out nodding happily to all the praise but then whispers to an aide, \"This is kind of over the top. \" In the end, he delivers his review of the performance: \"Maybe the song's a little too elaborate,\" he says. \"Maybe we should just do a couple of tweets and a Facebook post instead. \" Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, a government watchdog organization, questioned whether creating the video was a justifiable use of public resources and said it raised questions because it came right before next year's campaign. \"This is a virtual campaign ad that is meant to be a announcement but goes beyond that in serving to promote the mayor,\" Mr. Dadey said. The video is part of a broader effort by City Hall to increase its use of the internet and social media to reach out to New Yorkers directly, bypassing traditional news media. It also comes as Mr. de Blasio controls his interactions with the press, frequently avoiding questions and limiting the news conferences at which he will take questions on any topic to once a week. Eric Phillips, Mr. de Blasio's press secretary, said that the video was produced by City Hall staff and that the actors volunteered their time. Mr. Phillips said that City Hall spent a total of $700 to pay the piano player and a composer. He said it cost an additional $170 to have the piano tuned and $30 to rent a rehearsal room. Although the mayor is running for next year, Mr. Phillips said in a written statement that the video \"doesn't have anything to do with his campaign. \" He added, \"We think New Yorkers have a right to know what their government does, and it's our job to communicate that work in a modern way. \" The immediate effect of the video was not exactly the stuff of Broadway hit material. In the first seven hours after the video was posted on Twitter, it had received 218 likes on the mayor's account and 88 retweets.","label":0}
{"text":"Few really believe former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has changed her mind about the virtues of free trade or the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Part of the reason is because, despite Clinton's rhetoric, some of her closest allies say she is firmly in the corporate camp and a true free trader who supports NAFTA and TPP. In 2012, Clinton called TPP \" the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field.\" On October 8, 2015, Clinton reversed her position and said she no longer supported TPP. Clinton and her staff pushed back on claims that her reversal was political, but a recently released email from Wikileaks shows Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook uncertain about Clinton's position as recently as March 1, 2015, not even a year before the reversal. When informed on February 28 by White House Director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach David Simas that a bipartisan letter was being drafted by former cabinet officials in support of free trade, Mook responded: I can't recall where we landed exactly on trade. Is she going to say she supports it? Regardless of her position, signing a letter feels like poking the bear with labor to me. Even Clinton's staff didn't now what her position was on trade in 2015? How could someone who had been in public life so long not know their own views? The answer, of course, is that Clinton was likely waiting to see where the polling came out on TPP\u2014a deal that largely resembles the one she helped negotiate as secretary of state. TPP does not poll well, especially among progressive Democrats, whom she was going to have to deal with in the then-future presidential primaries. The problem for those opposing TPP is not Clinton's current position, it is whether, as her friends say, she is going to reverse herself again if she becomes president and sign TPP into law. The post TPP: Leaked Emails Show Clinton Staff Unsure of Trade Positions In 2015 appeared first on Shadowproof .","label":1}
{"text":"The Trump administration is seeking a 17 percent cut to the budget of the government's meteorological agency that monitors the climate and issues daily weather forecasts, the Washington Post reported on Friday. Citing a four-page budget memo, the Post said the proposed reductions in the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would affect research and satellite programs and eliminate funding for some smaller programs. The NOAA is part of the Commerce Department, whose overall budget \"would be hit by an overall 18 percent reduction from its current funding level,\" it said. The paper did not give a total figure for the proposed cuts, but said the White House Office of Management and Budget outline for the Commerce Department's budget for fiscal year 2018 included sharp reductions for specific parts of the NOAA. The agency's satellite data division would lose $513 million, or 22 percent, of its current funding under the proposal, and its Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would lose $126 million, or 26 percent, the Post said. The paper said a spokesperson for the Commerce Department declined to comment, and that an unnamed White House official said the process was \"evolving\" and cautioned against specific numbers.","label":0}
{"text":"Britain said North Korea was behind the WannaCry cyber attack that infected computers around the globe earlier this year on Tuesday, joining the United States in blaming Pyongyang for the ransomware incident. Britain s National Cyber Security Centre had assessed it was highly likely that North Korea s Lazarus hacking group was behind the one of the most significant cyber attacks to hit the UK in terms of scale of disruption, the Foreign Office said. We condemn these actions and commit ourselves to working with all responsible states to combat destructive criminal use of cyber space, Foreign Office minister Tariq Ahmad said. The indiscriminate use of the WannaCry ransomware demonstrates North Korean actors using their cyber program to circumvent sanctions, Ahmad said.","label":0}
{"text":"A successful business man has launched a political campaign against Paul Ryan. We love what he s doing even though it s unconventional. Paul Nehlen put up billboards this week that are devastating to the Republican Speaker:Following last night s historic Brexit vote, House Speaker Paul Ryan s primary challenger, Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen, seems to have taken a page from the playbook of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) with the launch of a new billboard campaign.On Friday morning, Nehlen s campaign went live with a new billboard in Ryan s hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin that is reminiscent of the distinctive UKIP-style campaign.The ad reads: Radical Islam Kills Americans. Vote YES for Immigration Control. Vote NO for Paul Ryan. The billboard then directs viewers to Nehlen s campaign website, ElectNehlen.com.UKIP s national billboard campaign is distinctive for its clear, straight-forward manner of describing the effects of large-scale migration and its impact on workers and Western culture.","label":1}
{"text":"Democratic California Rep. Brad Sherman appeared as a guest on Thursday s Tucker Carlson Tonight, and apparently didn t feel like leaving after his segment was over.Sherman and Carlson went back and forth in a heated arguments over new revelations regarding Russian influence via the Podesta Group and the new tax bill. Sherman also brought up impeaching Donald Trump, something he tried to trigger this summer with his own articles of impeachment.After the segment ended, Carlson began a new segment with Byron York of the Washington Examiner, but Rep. Sherman stuck around, interjecting into the conversation.At the end of Carlson speaking with York, Sherman is still sitting at the other end of the desk, so Tucker invites him to read the teleprompter tease for the next part of the show after the commercial break.Sherman reads it poorly and the show goes to commercials.What a putz!NOT EMBARRASSED?!SHERMAN S PARTY WAS JUST CAUGHT GIVING MILLIONS FOR OPPOSITION RESEARCH! ALSO, THE PAY TO PLAY ALLEGATION WITH URANIUM ONE IS EVEN MORE SERIOUS!","label":1}
{"text":"Former Russian economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev, accused of taking a $2 million bribe from Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, told a court on Thursday he was the victim of a monstrous and cruel provocation. State prosecutors said the bribe was given last year on Nov. 14 in exchange for Ulyukayev approving the sale of state-controlled oil company Bashneft to Rosneft. Ulyukayev denies the charges. He says he thought the bag holding the bribe was a gift of expensive alcohol. A monstrous and cruel provocation was carried out against me, Ulyukayev told the court in his final statement before it hands down a verdict on Dec. 15. This trial has aroused public interest similar to that of a circus, he added. The charges are absurd, the evidence is absurd, and at its base lies the cruelty and impunity of the provocateur. Rosneft head Sechin, a witness in the trial and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has not appeared in court, citing work commitments. Russian prosecutors earlier this month sought a sentence of 10 years in jail for Ulyukayev.","label":0}
{"text":"This is a major conflict of interest that should automatically disqualify him.When the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve Donald Trump s nomination of Brett Talley to a federal judgeship in Alabama, they did so without knowing that Talley is married to White House lawyer Ann Donaldson, who is the chief of staff to White House counsel Donald McGahn.That s a pretty big detail to leave out of a disclosure form.According to the New York Times,Mr. Talley was asked on his publicly released Senate questionnaire to identify family members and others who are likely to present potential conflicts of interest. He did not mention his wife.District judges often provide the first ruling when laws are called into question, decisions that can put them at odds with the White House and its lawyers. Last month, for example, judges in Hawaii and Maryland temporarily blocked Mr. Trump s travel ban.Mr. Talley also did not mention his wife when he described his frequent contact with White House lawyers during the nomination process.Talley has also never tried a case in his life, making him even more unqualified to be a judge. In fact, the American Bar Association judged Tally as unqualified for the position in a very rare unanimous decision.The Senate could hold a confirmation vote as early as Monday, and it is important that they reject Talley, especially since he lied to them by omission.If Republicans confirm Talley, they will be telling future nominees that it s okay to lie to Congress in order to get an important job. That should not be allowed to happen. Trump and Republicans often claim that immigration should be based on merit. Well, becoming a federal judge should definitely be based on merit, not based on who you re married to and whether you ll be a rubber stamp for a corrupt administration.Featured Image: Win McNamee\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Chinese President Xi Jinping told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the two Asian giants are development opportunities for each other, not threats, China s foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, told a regular news briefing on Tuesday. Xi held a meeting with Modi in the southeastern Chinese town of Xiamen on the sidelines of a summit of the BRICS grouping of nations.","label":0}
{"text":"Iceland s prime minister said on Saturday the president had accepted his request for a snap parliamentary election, and Nov. 4 had been discussed as a possible date. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson called on Friday for the snap vote after one party in the ruling coalition quit.","label":0}
{"text":"WASHINGTON (AFP) \u2014 A coalition air strike accidentally killed 18 members of a alliance fighting the Islamic State group near a key town in northern Syria, the coalition said Thursday. [Tuesday's strike occurred south of Tabqa, a strategically important town on the Euphrates River next to a dam and military airport, and close to the IS stronghold of Raqa. \"The strike was requested by the partnered forces, who had identified the target location as an ISIS fighting position,\" a coalition statement read. \"The target location was actually a forward Syrian Democratic Forces fighting position. \" SDF troops backed by coalition air power and other military assistance have been fighting for control of Tabqa since last month. The town is considered an important waypoint ahead of the main offensive for Raqa, the IS group's last bastion in Syria. In its own statement, the SDF described the incident as a \"painful accident\" resulting from a \"mistake. \" \"The accident caused a number of deaths and injuries. The general command of the Syrian Democratic Forces is coordinating with international coalition forces to investigate the incident and uncover the reasons and conditions that led to this accident. \" The coalition offered its \"deepest condolences\" to the members of the SDF and their families. \"The coalition is in close contact with our SDF partners who have expressed a strong desire to remain focused on the fight against ISIS despite this tragic incident,\" the coalition statement said. Officials were assessing the cause and would \"implement appropriate safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future,\" the statement added. The SDF is a local force that the coalition is supporting with arms, air strikes, training and advice as they fight IS.","label":0}
{"text":"Generations upon generations of incest have apparently caused the gerbils operating the brain of Alaska state Representative David Eastman to go on strike. As House Republicans are directly attacking the American people with their new Trumpcare plan, news broke that Eastman a lawmaker from Wasilla, Sarah Palin s neck of th1e woods decided to make the GOP sound even more heartless and stupid than they previously seemed.Eastman, who views the elimination of a clump of cells as the ultimate form of child abuse, recently tacked an anti-abortion message onto a state House resolution meant to raise awareness about sexual assault and child abuse a message he says could not possibly be delivered without badgering people about abortion. Abortion is a very serious issue, and it needs to be talked about, Eastman says, adding that women get pregnant just so they can get a free trip to the city for their glamorous abortion: We have folks who try to get pregnant in this state so that they can get a free trip to the city, and we have folks who want to carry their baby past the point of being able to have an abortion in this state so that they can have a free trip to Seattle. Medicaid can fund a woman s travel to Anchorage or Seattle if they seek an abortion. Asked for evidence that women get pregnant just to take advantage of the free travel a nonsensical claim Eastman said that a number of people have come to (his) office with stories, experiences. He offered no evidence to back the claim.This isn t the first horrible thing Eastman has done or said. KTUU notes that he recently was the only person to vote against resolutions honoring black soldiers who helped build the Alaska Highway during World War II and another honoring Hmong and Lao veterans who fought for the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Those resolutions had otherwise unanimous support.It is unclear if he has f*cked himself yet, or if he still needs to do that.Watch him shame his state below:","label":1}
{"text":"A smiling President Robert Mugabe was pictured shaking hands with Zimbabwe s military chief a day after the army seized power, throwing confusion over predictions that the 93-year-old s nearly four-decade rule had come to an end. Mugabe unexpectedly drove from his lavish Blue Roof Harare compound in Harare, where he had been confined since troops took to the streets, to State House, where official media pictured him meeting military chief Constantino Chiwenga and South African ministers sent to mediate the crisis. The official Herald newspaper carried no reports of the outcome of the meeting, leaving Zimbabwe s 13 million people in the dark as to what was happening as night fell on Thursday. Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe s only legitimate ruler and is refusing to quit, but pressure was mounting on the former guerrilla to accept offers of a graceful exit, sources said on Thursday. Earlier, a political source who spoke to senior allies holed up in the compound with Mugabe and his wife Grace said he had no plans to resign voluntarily ahead of elections due next year. It s a sort of stand-off, a stalemate, the source said. They are insisting the president must finish his term. The army s takeover signaled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through 37 years in power and built him into the Grand Old Man of African politics. A priest mediating between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in what they called a targeted operation against criminals in Mugabe s entourage, has made little headway, a senior political source told Reuters. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for Mugabe s departure in the interest of the people . In a statement read to reporters, Tsvangirai pointedly referred to him as Mr Robert Mugabe , not president. The army may want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked last week triggering the political crisis. The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe from handing power to his wife Grace, 41 years his junior, who has built a following among the ruling party s youth wing and appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out. The last of Africa s state founders still in power from the era of the struggle against European colonization, Mugabe is still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero. But he is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power pauperized one of Africa s most promising states. Once a regional bread-basket, Zimbabwe saw its economy collapse in the wake of the seizure of white-owned farms in the early 2000s, followed by runaway money-printing that catapulted inflation to 500 billion percent in 2008. Millions of Zimbabweans, from highly skilled bankers to semi-literate farmers, emigrated, mostly to neighboring South Africa, where an estimated 3 million still live. After briefly stabilizing under a 2009-2013 power-sharing government, when Mugabe was forced to work with the opposition, the economy has once again cratered, with dollars scarce, inflation surging, imports running out and queues outside banks. A fighter, both literally and figuratively during a political career that included several assassination attempts, Mugabe may now have reached the end of the road. With the army camped on his front door and the police - once seen as a bastion of support - showing no signs of resistance, force is not an option. Similarly, he has little popular backing in Harare, where he is widely loathed, and his influence in the ruling ZANU-PF party is evaporating. ZANU-PF youth leader Kudzai Chipanga, a vocal Mugabe supporter, publicly apologized for opposing the army after being marched by soldiers into the state television headquarters to read out a statement, sources at the broadcaster said. He was then taken back to the army s main KGVI (pronounced KG Six) barracks in Harare, where Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo is also being held, an army source said. Video footage obtained by Reuters from the houses of two key allies of Grace Mugabe - cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere - indicated that the army was also prepared to use force if necessary. Moyo s front door was blown open with explosives, scattering glass across the entrance hall, while the inside walls of Kasukuwere s house were pocked with bullet holes. The pair managed to escape on the evening of the coup and make it to Mugabe s compound, where they remain under effective house arrest, one political source said. Zimbabwean intelligence reports seen by Reuters suggest Mugabe s exit was in the planning for more than a year. Mnangagwa, a former security chief and life-long Mugabe confidant known as The Crocodile , is the key player. According to the files and political sources in Zimbabwe and South Africa, once Mugabe s resignation is secured Mnangagwa would take over as president of an interim unity government that will seek to stabilize the imploding economy. Fuelling speculation that this plan might be rolling into action, 65-year-old Tsvangirai, who has been receiving cancer treatment in Britain and South Africa, returned to Harare late on Wednesday. Ex-finance minister Tendai Biti added to that speculation, telling Reuters he would be happy to work in a post-coup administration as long as Tsvangirai was also on board. If Morgan says he s in, I m in, said Biti, who earned international respect during his time as finance minister in the 2009-13 government. The country needs a solid pair of hands so one might not have a choice. South Africa said Mugabe had told President Jacob Zuma by telephone on Wednesday that he was confined to his home but was otherwise fine. The military said it was keeping him and his family, including Grace, safe. Despite admiration for Mugabe among older African leaders, there is little public affection for 52-year-old Grace, an ex-government typist who began an affair with Mugabe in the early 1990s while his first wife Sally was dying of kidney failure. Dubbed DisGrace or Gucci Grace on account of her reputed love of shopping, she enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks of ZANU-PF in the last two years, culminating in Mnangagwa s removal. Zimbabweans, including the Mnangagwa camp and the military, interpreted the vice president s ouster as a move to clear the way for her to succeed her husband. In contrast to the high political drama unfolding behind closed doors, the streets of the capital remained calm, with people going about their daily business, albeit under the watch of soldiers on armored vehicles at strategic locations.","label":0}
{"text":"Trump has been relentlessly attempting to scrub the government of any program associated with President Obama and an extremely popular program meant to help educated girls and young women around the world has become the latest victim.Characteristically, Trump s administration gave zero defense for cutting the program, just a flat announcement that it was finished. Moving forward, we will not continue to use the Let Girls Learn brand or maintain a stand-alone program, read an email sent to Peace Corps employees this week by the agency s acting director Sheila Crowley.Despite the self-created obstacles, the Peace Corps promised to continue attempting to educate young girls around the world through other means. It doesn t seem likely that they will get much input from Trump, who has not signaled that he cares about girls education one way or the other.One person not involved in this mess is Ivanka Trump which is weird. Republicans and pundits have spent months insisting that Trump s daughter is a rebel feminist working to push her father and his administration into a more pro-woman direction. The evidence for this take on Ivanka is nonexistent. And Trump s dismantling of a program meant to educate girls seems like a perfect opportunity to put up or shut up. Her big moment to stand up for women and she is dead silent.Ivanka s imaginary check on her father didn t prevent him from going after Michelle Obama s efforts to improve school lunches, either. Obama s initiative was meant to combat America s obesity program and help kids have better access to healthy options while in school. Those reasonable goals were savaged by Republicans who by that time had spent so long hating everything the White House did that they rarely stopped to ask themselves whether the things they were after were bad.Trump inherits that knee-jerk opposition to Obama, but now as president he has the ability to actually act on it. And the one person who might have the influence to stop him proves she s all talk.Feature image via Bill Ingalls\/NASA via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The head of a G4S-run immigration unit in Britain at the center of allegations of bullying and abuse, has resigned, the outsourcing company said on Friday. G4S said Ben Saunders, director of the immigration removal center near Gatwick Airport in southeast England, would be replaced on an interim basis by Lee Hanford from Monday, Sept. 25, pending the appointment of a permanent successor. British lawmakers accused G4S last week of repeated failures of detainee welfare safeguards and whistleblowing mechanisms at the immigration center, after physical and verbal abuse by guards was revealed in a BBC documentary. G4S, contracted by the British government to run the Brook House center, earlier this month suspended 10 members of staff, three of whom have now been sacked, for abusive behavior following the documentary. Police are also investigating. Earlier this year an investigation at the G4S-run Medway Secure Training Centre resulted in allegations of abuse and mistreatment of youngsters. The center is now run by the government s National Offender Management Service.","label":0}
{"text":"A New Paradigm for Diagnosis and Treatment of Modern Chronic Illnesses Dr. Judy Mikovits  by John P. Thomas Health Impact News  The persistent investigation of Dr. Mikovits into the cause and treatment of modern illnesses, along with a handful of other scientists and healthcare providers such as the late Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., is leading us toward a new understanding of modern illness and its treatment.  Dr. Mikovits sees the bigger picture of health and illness that few scientists and healthcare providers have the courage to examine. She had great respect for the work of Dr. Bradstreet and his successful use of the new paradigm for treating difficult illnesses. Dr. Mikovits stated:  Dr. Bradstreet recognized that what we call autism is in fact an acquired immune deficiency. What we know of as autism is part of a collection of more than 60 diseases that is spiraling and increasing in our environment.  It is acquired immune deficiency resulting from all the toxins, all the vaccines and other contaminants in our environment from these biologicals that in fact means that what we know of as autism spectrum disorder is an acquired immune deficiency. [1] A Family of Acquired Immune Deficiency Diseases  Many who read this may be initially confused or may even balk at the use of the term Acquired Immune Deficiency , because of the association with HIV\/AIDS. HIV\/AIDS is one of many acquired immune deficiency syndromes (diseases). It is an acquired immune deficiency caused by the virus that is commonly called HIV. However, HIV is not the only acquired immune deficiency disease \u2013 there are more than 60 others, which can result in non-HIV AIDS.  When the human immune system is repeatedly stressed and weakened by toxic food, by toxins in the environment, and by toxic vaccines, then chronic retrovirus related illnesses can begin to emerge from their slumber. We can give a general name to all these illnesses. We can simply call them Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes or non-HIV AIDS.  The conventional healthcare system struggles to accurately diagnose these modern diseases, because there are so many overlapping sets of symptoms. Beyond the specific symptoms is the same underlying problem, which is immune system dysregulation and dysfunction.  People with these diseases have immune systems that have been pushed to the max by various stressors. Their immune systems have been pushed to the point of breakage where retroviral infections can be released from their confinement and begin to reproduce in the body.  Once this happens, the immune system is no longer able to adequately respond to the insults that it was formerly able to control. Various immune system pathways keep trying to fix the situation, but can't overcome the damage.  An acquired immune deficiency is simply an immune system that has been broken to such a degree that it cannot properly respond to the conditions that are causing illness. It is so broken that it cannot even repair itself. The result of such severe immune dysfunction is chronic disabling illness. The Central Tenet of Modern Chronic Illnesses  Dr. Mikovits explains more about the new understanding of the immune system and the paradigm shift that is leading healthcare providers to reconsider long-held assumptions about health and illness. It is causing them to rethink what it means to bring about a \"cure\" for modern illnesses. Dr. Mikovits stated:  The paradigm shift was recognizing that the macrophage was the central tenet of disease. Our central hypothesis, which we have held for more than three decades, is that there is a critical threshold of immune activation, and when the activation rises above that level, damage to the immune system is being created. Damage is created at a distance.  The damage may be subclinical and it will create imbalance not only in the macrophages, but also in other parts of the immune system. What we want to do is to stop this process.  We want to stop the disease engine, stop the microbial switch from turning on the oxidative stress, and turning on the inflammatory cytokines \u2014 and doing this over and over again. If we can limit the damage to the subsets of the immune system, then it is possible to modulate and rebalance the immune system and cure the disease. [2] The Power of the Immune System can Heal Modern Diseases  The new paradigm offers the possibility of true cure, because it relies on the power of the human immune system to bring about a cure. Cure is not seen as the eradication of pathogens by pharmaceutical drugs or other means, rather, the goal is to restore the immune system so that it can once again control or manage pathogens.  In the case of retroviral infection such as HIV, HTLV-1 Leukemia virus, and others, these viruses cannot be eradicated from the body once they have imbedded themselves into human DNA. Once retroviruses have inserted themselves into cells, they cannot be removed \u2013 they are there for life.  This means that successful treatments will need to prevent further viral reproduction and enable the immune system to control the existing viral load. When this is done, then the symptoms of disease subside and people are able to live normal lives again.  The illnesses we are discussing first appeared after the dawn of the genetic age or they had a sudden increase in prevalence since it began. Many of these diseases were once considered only diseases of the elderly; but today they are appearing in children and even in newborn babies. This is especially true for cancer.  We are seeing babies born with cancer, two-year-olds dying of cancer, children being unable to digest food, teens dropping dead while playing sports, children with severe physical and intellectual delays, young adults in their twenties with disabling neurological failure, people in their 40s and 50s with deteriorating brain function and memory loss, and people of all ages developing brain fog and physical weakness to the point where they can no longer work or even take care of themselves.  Such things were virtually unheard of before the dawning of the genetic Age. The Bad Fruit of the Genetic Age  The diseases listed below are some of the illnesses that are associated with retroviral infection and immune system damage. We cannot say these diseases are caused by retroviruses, but only that retroviruses are often expressed in patients who have these diseases. Aberrant retrovirus expression and a compromised immune system are the common threads that link these diseases together. The prevalence of these diseases has increased dramatically over the past four decades.  Illnesses Associated with Retroviral Infection [3]  Cancers: Prostate, Breast, Lymphoma, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell Leukemia, Hairy Cell Leukemia, Liver, Bladder, Kidney, Pancreas, Colorectal, Ovarian, and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  Auto-Immune Diseases: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Crohn's Disease, Peripheral Neuropathy, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, Sjogren's Syndrome, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Polymyositis, and Bechet's Disease.  Neuro-Immune Diseases: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME\/CFS), Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Gulf-War Syndrome, Morgellons Disease, treatment resistant Lyme disease, and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).  Central Nervous System Diseases: Alzheimer's, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, multiple system atrophy, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Parkinson's.  A central sign of immune system dysfunction in these diseases is extreme fatigue. Many people also note unexplained weight loss or gain. These symptoms are early warning signs of cancer, but also are hallmarks of all the other diseases mentioned above.  In addition, there will be: signs of inflammation, significant hormone dysregulation, highly elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS), highly elevated reactive nitrogen species (RNS), changes in gene expression without a change to DNA (epigenetics), actual changes in DNA through the process of insertional mutagenesis in which exogenous genetic material is incorporated within the DNA of a host, and serious immune system deficiency. Proper Treatment of Immune System Dysfunction can Help Patients  This is a grim reality that Dr. Mikovits has been working to change.  The proper treatment of immune system dysfunction can help patients with these types of illnesses. These types of treatments enable the body's normal immune defenses to take up their task and gain control over out-of-control situations in the body. Multiple Factors are Causing Illness and Death in Our Modern Age  These are some of the major factors that work together to damage immune system functioning. Alterations in human DNA caused by the presence of retroviruses, Opportunistic co-infections that accompany retroviral infections, Vaccines and most pharmaceutical drugs, Highly processed food and its toxic ingredients such as GMOs, glyphosate, preservatives, artificial flavorings, hydrogenated oil products, etc., Electromagnetic pollution, Toxic chemical exposure in the environment, Chlorinated and fluoridated drinking water, Biologically inactive and chemically contaminated agricultural soil, Antibiotics and incompatible GMO feed given to animals raised in confined feeding operations, Toxins and artificial fragrances in cleaning products and body care products, Mold infested homes and schools, and Of course, the high sugar and high carbohydrate diet.  These factors, plus many others, which are common to \"modern life\" in America, interact synergistically to damage the immune system. The combined harm is much higher than would be expected by simply adding the potential dangers together. Over time, the stress they produce on the immune system will cause it to crash, and one or more of the illnesses listed above will manifest.  Conventional physicians cannot seem to accept the reality that the modern diseases that plague the world today are linked to multiple factors. They have trouble believing there is synergy between these factors, and that together they could be disrupting the human immune system to the point where disease results. Question for Dr. Mikovits  Is Your Approach Really New?  Basically what I am describing is old-fashioned medicine, and it is rarely done anymore. There are some, of course, who do use these protocols. We need to look at the patient. Talk to the patient. Look at the family. That is what we do. That's what we have always done.  Based on the fact that damage to the immune system is associated with a complex set of interconnected factors, many of which cannot be clearly assessed, then is it reasonable to think that the selection of treatment options needs to be based more on the dysfunctions in immune system pathways, than on the potential triggers of the dysfunction?  Yes, that is correct.  There are any number of therapies \u2013 both natural products and otherwise \u2013 that could be put together to address immune system dysfunction. But, there is no simple fix. Physicians tend to want to just hand a patient an antidepressant, which is not going to work, or give Lyrica or pain medication, which is going to mask the problem. Even steroids mask the problem and prevent immune system functioning, and down the road a few years things are going to get even worse and spin out of control.  Treating these patients is a lot like the protocol we used for treating AIDS patients. If the AIDS patient had TB or mycoplasma we couldn't treat the retrovirus first. We had to clear the terrain. We had to stop some of the other overwhelming infections and prevent the downstream effects on their bodies. Otherwise, they couldn't respond to the treatment. What we learned that was most significant was to never let the CD4 T cells get too low, because if they get too low then patients can't respond to antiretroviral or antimicrobial treatments.  We are also learning which microbes in the human microbiome are key to drug responses, because they modulate the immune system, interferon and things like that.  Most people want natural products for their illnesses. Baicalin, medical marijuana, vitamin D binding protein (GcMAF), and HEEL Lymphomyosot are some of the natural products that we have studied. The New Paradigm must Address Vaccines and Vaccine Injury  Big Pharma and the government scientists who do their will want us to believe that the science regarding vaccine safety is settled, and the current vaccination schedule is safe. However, some scientists object to this conclusion and insist that the science is not settled and the schedule is not safe!  In fact, the science that has been produced since 2010 concerning vaccines is unsettling Big Pharma. It contradicts their past conclusions and is threatening their profitability.  Agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have lost touch with their original mandates to protect and serve the public. These U.S. government regulators continue to ignore the new science and pursue an informal program that discredits scientists who expose the harmful nature of current vaccines, and they discredit those who dare to criticize the CDC's recommended vaccine schedule.  As we saw with the MMR vaccine, the FDA knowingly approves vaccines and drugs when research shows a high potential for harm, and even destroys data and alters its findings for the sake of keeping its corporate funders happy. [4] While the FDA is keeping its head buried in the sand, the CDC is promoting a schedule of childhood vaccination which has caused harm to millions of children.  Despite this level of corruption, strong voices can be heard from outside the corporate and regulatory world declaring the truth about vaccines and their schedule of administration.  Among the voices raising concern about the safety of vaccines and their schedule of administration is the respectful voice of scientist Dr. Judy A. Mikovits, Ph.D. She continues to speak out on the mechanisms of immune system injury and the treatments for retroviral and vaccine related illness. Her clear voice is a wake-up call to all people who value health freedom and independent thinking.  Her teaching is life-enriching, because she is addressing the needs of real people with serious illness, and is speaking directly to doctors who are beginning to realize they need new tools to understand and treat the modern illnesses of their patients.  Her teaching is not anti-vaccine, because Dr. Mikovits is not anti-vaccine. However, Dr. Mikovits is not afraid to raise serious questions about the safety of the vaccines being used today. She is not afraid to give a strong warning about the vaccine schedule used for infants and children, and will not remain silent about the lack of wisdom associated with vaccinating pregnant women and seniors.  Dr. Mikovits allows the science to speak. She works hard to avoid standing on the pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine soapbox. Instead, she quietly asks us to use our intelligence to make decisions concerning the use of vaccines based on everything that is known about the functioning of the human immune system and its reaction to vaccines. Dr. Mikovits is Challenging All of Us to Wake Up  Dr. Mikovits is inserting a healthy dose of common sense into the discussion of vaccine safety. She stated:  You will hear, \"the science is settled, vaccines are safe.\" They aren't safe. What science is settled? We learn new things every day!  Dr. Mikovits is challenging all of us to wake up.  Physicians are being challenged to think twice whenever they consider recommending that all their patients receive vaccines according to the schedule promoted by the CDC. The general public is being challenged to think twice before agreeing to receive vaccines or permit vaccines to be given to their children. Patients are being challenged to engage their physicians in a dialogue about the potential harm that might result from being vaccinated, because vaccine injury is a real possibility whenever a vaccine is given, and the use of clever marketing slogans such as \"the science is settled\" does not remove the possibility of vaccine injury.  Comment on this article at VaccineImpact.com. About the Author  John P. Thomas is a health writer for Health Impact News. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.) from the School of Public Health, Department of Health Administration, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. References  [1] Judy Mikovits, Seeking Health Educational Institute 2016, 4\/21\/2016. https:\/\/seekinghealth.org\/sheicon2016\/  [2] Dr. Mikovits is referencing the analysis of researchers David J. Dowling and Ofer Levy; \"Ontogeny of Early Life Immunity,\" Trends Immunol, July 2014, PMCID PMC4109609. http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4109609\/  [3] This information was derived from my conversation with Dr. Mikovits and from her slides available from: \"PRT 2013 Presentation,\" MAR Consulting Inc., retrieved 12\/ 18\/2015. http:\/\/www.marconsultinginc.com\/prt-2013-presentation.html  [4] \"Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,\" Official Website, Retreived 10\/20\/2016. http:\/\/vaxxedthemovie.com\/ Leaving a lucrative career as a nephrologist (kidney doctor), Dr. Suzanne Humphries is now free to actually help cure people. In this autobiography she explains why good doctors are constrained within the current corrupt medical system from practicing real, ethical medicine. FREE Shipping Available! Order here . Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations \u2013 Should Their Views be Silenced? eBook \u2013 Available for immediate download.  One of the biggest myths being propagated in the compliant mainstream media today is that doctors are either pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine, and that the anti-vaccine doctors are all \"quacks.\"  However, nothing could be further from the truth in the vaccine debate. Doctors are not unified at all on their positions regarding \"the science\" of vaccines, nor are they unified in the position of removing informed consent to a medical procedure like vaccines.  The two most extreme positions are those doctors who are 100% against vaccines and do not administer them at all, and those doctors that believe that ALL vaccines are safe and effective for ALL people, ALL the time, by force if necessary.  Very few doctors fall into either of these two extremist positions, and yet it is the extreme pro-vaccine position that is presented by the U.S. Government and mainstream media as being the dominant position of the medical field.  In between these two extreme views, however, is where the vast majority of doctors practicing today would probably categorize their position. Many doctors who consider themselves \"pro-vaccine,\" for example, do not believe that every single vaccine is appropriate for every single individual.  Many doctors recommend a \"delayed\" vaccine schedule for some patients, and not always the recommended one-size-fits-all CDC childhood schedule. Other doctors choose to recommend vaccines based on the actual science and merit of each vaccine, recommending some, while determining that others are not worth the risk for children, such as the suspect seasonal flu shot.  These doctors who do not hold extreme positions would be opposed to government-mandated vaccinations and the removal of all parental exemptions.  In this eBook, I am going to summarize the many doctors today who do not take the most extremist pro-vaccine position, which is probably not held by very many doctors at all, in spite of what the pharmaceutical industry, the federal government, and the mainstream media would like the public to believe. Read : Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations \u2013 Should Their Views be Silenced? on your mobile device!","label":1}
{"text":"The kiosks in New York were designed to replace phone booths and allow users to consult maps, maybe check the weather or charge their phones. But they have also attracted people who linger for hours, sometimes drinking and doing drugs and, at times, boldly watching pornography on the sidewalks. Now, yielding to complaints, the operator of the kiosks, LinkNYC network, is shutting off their internet browsers, but not their other functions, while it works out a Plan B with city officials. The switch, announced on Wednesday, is a case study in unintended consequences, commendable goals gone somewhat awry. Mayor Bill de Blasio's aim of providing modern technology to the masses ran headlong into the reality of life on the city's streets. After months of complaints from residents, businesses and other elected officials, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, conceded that combining unfettered internet access with free was a recipe for bad behavior. The retreat comes just seven months after the mayor introduced the network amid much fanfare as a key plank of his promise to bridge the digital divide in the city. The kiosks would replace more than 7, 500 public pay phones and bring free and phone service to every neighborhood. Users were expected to make short stops at the kiosks. But the sites quickly attracted homeless people and other idle users who took full advantage of the unlimited access to the internet to turn the kiosks into al fresco living rooms, watching movies and playing music for hours. \"People are congregating around these Links to the point where they're bringing furniture and building little encampments clustered around them,\" said Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance, a business group in Manhattan. \"It's created this really unfortunate and actually deplorable condition. \" Ms. Blair said her organization of Midtown merchants and property owners had welcomed the kiosks as an overdue replacement for increasingly outdated phone booths that were attracting vagrants and drug dealers. \"We're a modern city we should have \" Ms. Blair said. \"But when something has an outcome that you completely weren't anticipating, then you have to go back and reconsider. Maybe other cities don't have this problem. \" Councilman Corey Johnson, a Democrat whose district encompasses Greenwich Village, Chelsea and part of Midtown, said police officials had asked for the removal of \"several problematic kiosks\" along Eighth Avenue. He said he had observed people watching pornography on the kiosk screens with children nearby. \"These kiosks are often monopolized by individuals creating personal spaces for themselves, engaging in activities that include playing loud explicit music, consuming drugs and alcohol, and the viewing of pornography,\" Mr. Johnson wrote in a letter last month to officials of the city and LinkNYC. In a Sept. 1 meeting at his office, Mr. Johnson said, officials agreed to his demand for a moratorium on the installation of additional kiosks on Eighth and Ninth Avenues in his district. But a spokeswoman for the mayor, Natalie Grybauskas, said the Police Department had not made any official request for kiosks to be removed. In a statement explaining the decision, Ms. Grybauskas said: \"There were concerns about loitering and extended use of LinkNYC kiosks, so the mayor is addressing these complaints head on. Removing the internet browser from LinkNYC tablets will not affect the other great services LinkNYC provides \u2014 superfast free phone calls or access to key city services \u2014 but will address concerns we've heard from our fellow New Yorkers. \" Jen Hensley, general manager of LinkNYC, said the consortium that built and operated the kiosks had begun \"removing the internet browsers while we look at ways to enhance the service. \" She said those changes could include adding services, as well as bringing back the browsers with limitations on their use. Ms. Hensley described the process of designing the kiosks as \"iterative,\" noting that several changes had already been made, including turning down the volume of the speakers at night and adding filters to prevent users from accessing pornography. The latest change would not slow the planned rollout of the kiosks throughout the five boroughs, she added. So far, about 400 have been installed in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. Continuing to build the network is critical for the consortium, which is relying on the sale of ads on the sides of the kiosks. It has pledged to share at least $500 million in ad revenue with the city over the first 12 years. Despite the efforts to filter out objectionable material, city officials have continued to receive complaints about people watching pornography at the kiosks. The filters do not affect internet access using the signals on personal phones or tablets. Gale A. Brewer, the Manhattan borough president, who had demanded changes to the kiosks, said she was pleased to hear about the shutdown of the browsers, and noted that the free was the true benefit of the kiosks. \"I don't think anybody should be able to sit there and watch movies all day long,\" Ms. Brewer, a Democrat, said. \"People are pulling up sofas or chairs or what have you. \" She likened turning off the browsers to the decision during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s to block pay phones from accepting calls. All along Amsterdam Avenue, she said, crack dealers were using pay phones as business offices. \"When we changed the incoming calls, we got rid of the drug dealers at the phone booths,\" Ms. Brewer recalled. \"I don't know where they went, but they were gone. \"","label":0}
{"text":"WARNING: ADULT CONTENT] Friday night during his \"New Rules\" segment of HBO's \"Real Time,\" host Bill Maher urged Democrats to go low against the Republicans and \"kick them in the nuts. \" Maher said, \"'When they go low, we go high,' is a great applause line but as a tactic? What country do you think you live in now? Wake up and smell the asshole. Because it turns out when they go low they get reelected, they take the Congress, the Supreme Court, the presidency. From now on the Democratic motto should be when they go low we kick them in the nuts. Democrats have to start winning elections. \" Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"The chairman of the U.S. Senate s East Asia subcommittee is asking China and 20 other nations on Monday to clamp down on North Korea by cutting ties, closing down diplomatic facilities and working to oust the country from the United Nations. As North Korea has defied U.N. Security resolutions to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests, Washington has been scrambling for an effective response. Many of President Donald Trump s fellow Republicans have been calling for tougher action, imposed more quickly, including calling for stiff secondary sanctions and other punishments for companies, banks and countries that do business with North Korea. In a letter seen by Reuters that will be sent to ambassadors from China and 20 other countries, Republican Senator Cory Gardner, the subcommittee chairman, asked that the countries immediately end diplomatic and economic relations with Pyongyang. Maintaining official diplomatic relations with a regime that continues to defy international law and threaten nations across the globe only serves to reward nefarious behavior, wrote Gardner. In addition to cutting off bilateral ties, I urge your government to support expelling the DPRK from the United Nations, the letter said. Gardner recently introduced legislation that would impose a U.S. economic embargo against any entity that does business with North Korea. The U.S. military staged bombing drills with South Korea over the Korean peninsula and Russia and China began naval exercises ahead of a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Tuesday where North Korea s nuclear threat is likely to loom large. Gardner s letter will be sent to ambassadors to the United States from China, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden and Vietnam.","label":0}
{"text":"Hurricane Irma uprooted trees and tore off roofs in Cuba on Saturday with 125-mile-per-hour (200-km per hour) winds that damaged hotels in the island s best-known beach resorts and forced evacuations as far along the coast as low-lying areas of the capital Havana. Power was out and cellphone service was spotty in many regions as Irma neared the end of a 200-mile (320-km) trek westwards along the top of the island. It was forecast to head north toward Florida in the evening. In the fishing town of Caibarien, residents swept mud from beachside homes after storm surge drove 3 feet (1 meter) of seawater up the shore. In streets carpeted with fresh green seaweed as the water receded, people said it was the strongest cyclone ever to hit the town. Sheets of zinc that came flying into our backyard also damaged the kitchen wall and we lost many roof tiles, said Angel Coya, 52, adding he was optimistic that Cuba s Communist government would help repair the damage. We have to keep on. Irma s turn northward was expected to occur around 150 miles (240 km) east of the capital. Nevertheless, authorities shut off power in large parts of the city and evacuated some 10,000 people from central Havana near the Malecon seawall because of fears of flooding from the storm surge. By Saturday evening, the sea had penetrated two blocks over parts of the city s historic seafront boulevard, and the waters were expected to advance farther as the surge grew. Restaurants on the seaside drive pulled down their shutters and stacked sandbags against the storm. Still, many Cubans expressed a sense of relief after the eye of the first Category 5 storm to make landfall on the island since 1932 passed over the northern keys, just grazing the mainland with its full force. Honestly, I expected worse. I thought I would come back and find the roof gone, said Yolexis Domingo, 39, using a machete to hack the branches off a tree that fell in front of his house in Caibarien. Still, it is going to be a while before I can come back to live here. The water came up to a meter high and some of the roof flew off. Overnight, the storm pounded the chain of pristine keys and tourism resorts that stretch along the coast from central Camaguey province to Villa Clara province, and it was headed toward Varadero, Cuba s most famous beach getaway. Cayos Coco and Guillermo, the crown jewels of what is known as the King s Gardens, with 16 hotels frequented by Canadian and European tourists, sustained serious damage, local authorities in the area said. At least one bridge on a causeway to the area collapsed, and the communications tower for the keys was no longer standing. Dozens of coastal towns were damaged, with some reports of collapsed houses, though no deaths had been reported. This is a beautiful town but now it is a disaster, said local resident Sandro Sanchez, 27, walking through the main square after the hurricane had passed Remedios, in Villa Clara. Corrugated iron from roofs were strewn in the streets alongside rubble. Lampposts were bent double, plant pots smashed and the fronds of palm trees shredded. You can t do anything against nature, he said. We never had a storm wreak so much damage here. This is really a mess. On Saturday, Irma covered most of the island, the Caribbean s largest. Its force sent shockwaves and flooding inward. In the city of Camaguey, Anaida Morales said she just been through a night from hell with her mom, stepson and husband. The trees in the park in front of my house are down and others strewn all over the streets. Lots of roofs are gone and some houses collapsed. The river that runs through the city is about to flood, she said. The wind roared all night and it is still strong. I couldn t sleep. I m scared of hurricanes and this is the worst I have been through, she said. Morales said she made a phone call to her daughter, who shares her name, in Florida, where millions of people were preparing for Irma s arrival. I just spoke to Anaida, it is hard to believe she is getting ready to go through the same thing I just did, she said.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump's choice for the top U.S. trade negotiator on Tuesday pledged an \"America First\" strategy to aggressively enforce U.S. laws and trade deals to stop unfair imports and push China to scrap excess factory capacity. Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative nominee, told senators at his confirmation hearing that Trump chose him because of his trade enforcement background. \"I expect that we're going to have a very rigorous enforcement policy,\" Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee. \"This will be the point of emphasis.\" Lighthizer said he would bring as many trade enforcement actions as can be justified under World Trade Organization rules, bilateral trade agreements and U.S. trade remedy laws. As a deputy USTR in the 1980s, Lighthizer, 69, negotiated Japanese import quotas. As a veteran trade lawyer in more recent years, he pursued dozens of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against imports of steel and other products. Lighthizer said he would seek to increase trade while making it \"freer and fairer\" to the benefit of U.S. workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses. An outspoken critic of China, Lighthizer said Beijing's industrial policies have supported vast amounts of \"uneconomic\" production capacity that would not survive without state support. He said this was particularly true in the steel and aluminum sectors, leading to the dumping of products into U.S. markets. Lighthizer told senators that he would engage with China in multilateral forums to reduce that capacity, but said trade enforcement actions may be more effective by raising the costs of keeping such factories alive. \"It has to be more difficult for them to maintain non-economic capacity, and that means enforcing our trade laws, and it means encouraging other countries where they can ship their products to enforce their trade laws.\" Lighthizer said he believes China was a \"substantial currency manipulator\" in the past, but that it was unclear if Beijing was continuing to do so. The comment was in line with more neutral statements on the subject from Trump administration officials more recently after the president threatened during his campaign to declare China a currency manipulator. Lighthizer also pledged to fight for strong protections for intellectual property rights and for digital trade access. In renegotiating the North American Free Trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, he said it was important not to lose gains in agricultural exports to those countries while encouraging more production to return to the United States. Regarding Canada, he said finding a solution to a long-running trade dispute over softwood lumber would be his top priority. Trump's cabinet already is crowded with senior trade officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the director of the newly created White House National Trade Council, Peter Navarro. Lighthizer said that if confirmed, he would have the USTR's full statutory powers and would play a lead role to \"sort out\" U.S. trade policy, working closely with other agencies.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump wrapped up his post-election \"thank you\" tour on Saturday with celebratory geysers from water cannons, greetings from hoop-skirted Southern belles and some gloating over the TV newscasters who had expected him to lose. In the last in a series of rallies Trump has staged during the past three weeks - mainly in battleground states that gave him the margin of victory in the Nov. 8 election - Trump came back to where it all began for his improbable presidential campaign. It was in Mobile, Alabama, last year where Trump, a real estate magnate and reality television star with no previous political experience, drew a huge crowd that gave notice to his rivals that he was a threat for the Republican presidential nomination. When his plane landed at the Mobile airport on Saturday, it taxied beneath blasts from two water cannon trucks. Stepping off the plane, a half dozen young women wearing Old South hoop skirts in a panoply of pastel colors were on hand to greet him. Speaking at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, where there was a steady drizzle that he said would ruin his suit, Trump relived his tense election night when he went from big underdog to eking out a victory over heavily favored Democrat Hillary Clinton. Faced with predictions that he would lose, Trump said he told his wife, Melania, that he was at peace with his campaign because he had worked so hard. \"I went to my wife and I said, 'You know what, I don't feel badly about this,'\" Trump said. Trump said the faces of the newscasters seemed to sink as his fortunes improved, part of his running diatribe against the U.S. mainstream news media that he claims is stacked against him. \"They got paid a lot of money,\" Trump said of television commentators. \"They don't know what the hell they're talking about, folks.\" Trump, who will be sworn into office on Jan. 20, took swings at a few other favorite targets from his campaign: corporations that outsource jobs, Islamic State militants, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, and the political culture in Washington. But he pulled his punches when it came to first lady Michelle Obama, who in excerpts from an interview with Oprah Winfrey set to air on CBS on Monday, said: \"We feel the difference now. See, now, we're feeling what not having hope feels like.\" \"I honestly believe she meant that statement in a different way than it came out,\" Trump said. Trump lost the popular vote by more than 2.5 million votes but still won 306 votes in the Electoral College, plenty more than the 270 required to win. With some Democrats now saying the Electoral College should be abandoned and that the presidential election should be decided by the popular vote, Trump said he's happy with the system the way it is now. \"I never appreciated it until now, how genius it was,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"An anchor for Glenn Beck s TV network, The Blaze, is the latest right-wing media figure to attack Beyonc for her Super Bowl halftime performance.Tomi Lahren, who hosts the show Tomi, used her program to berate Beyonc s work. Lahren, 23, argues that, Your husband was a drug dealer. For fourteen years, he sold crack cocaine. Talk about protecting black neighborhoods? Start at home. https:\/\/youtu.be\/cwVnDRx8EikThat is a reference to Beyonc s husband, rapper and rap mogul Jay Z. The strange bit is that Lahren is referring to behavior Jay Z engaged in when he was a teenager. He is now 46 years old, and has had a multi-decade career topping music charts, producing some of the biggest names in music, working in fashion and other industries. He is worth an estimated $520 million, and has sold over 100 million records and received 21 Grammy Awards.Lahren has inadvertently made a point about the racial injustice and prejudice Beyonc was alluding to in her performance and in the song Formation, when she reduces Jay Z s life to his teenage mistakes which he has been very open about in his work and ignores his business success and philanthropy (he was part of a $1 million donation to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina, for instance).She joins other conservatives like former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in attacking Beyonc s performance for having the nerve to bring up Hurricane Katrina, black pride, and police shootings of black civilians.The mindset being promoted by Lahren in this attack definitely fits in with former Fox News host Glenn Beck, who welcomed her to The Blaze family in October of last year after several of her right-wing video rants went viral.Beck, who is still heard on the radio after a cascade of dropped sponsors pushed Fox to cancel his show. Has a history of racially charged remarks. He said President Obama had a deep-seated hatred of white people, claimed progressives were pushing for a race war, promoted a book written by an anti-semite, and repeatedly claimed Obama was trying to enslave people.","label":1}
{"text":"Here s something a lot of people may not know: a current member of Congress was a victim of a mass shooting.California Rep. Jackie Speier, a progressive Democrat, brought a unique perspective to the historic House sit-in initiated by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis. As members of the House read the stories and names of countless victims of gun violence, Congresswoman Speier told her own story, a story that would shake anyone to their core.But with her speech, she also brought something special with her on the House floor: the bullet the almost killed her.In 1978, Speier, at that time a Congressional aide to Rep. Leo Ryan, accompanied the Congressman and several others to Jonestown to investigate human rights abuses at the hands of cult leader Jim Jones. Upon leaving the encampment, Speier and the others were ambushed in a guerilla attack from members of the cult. Congressman Ryan was killed, along with five others, and Speier was shot five times. She waited 22 hours for help to arrive.This issue was so personal to the Congresswoman that she flew back to D.C. from California just to be in solidarity with her colleagues and the thousands of victims all across the country. Holding up the bullet, still in its FBI evidence bag, Congresswoman Speier laid out just how personal and important this fight is not just for her, but for everyone who has ever been a victim of gun violence:This was taken from my body. Five bullets ripped through my body. I can t begin to tell you what that is like. I can tell you what it s like to live with a disfigured body the rest of your life. I can tell you that this dumdum and my disfigured body are things that remind me each and everyday why what do here now is so important. We cannot continue as business as usual.The Congresswoman, who keeps the bullet in her drawer, has never showed the public before. The act drew gasps from her colleagues, but praise for her act of courage.While Republicans went and smoked cigars, Democrats stood up, and some relived tragedy, like Speier and Rep. Debbie Dingell, a victim of domestic abuse with a gun. The House sit in sums up perfectly the old saying: a liberal says This should never happen to anyone, and that s why I care. A conservative says, This hasn t happened to me, so I don t care. Speier lived through the most horrific tragedy, and that s why she cares. Thank you, Congresswoman.","label":1}
{"text":"High-fat Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss  by Paul Fassa Health Impact News  Ever since the inception of the high-carb low-fat diet for heart health promoted in the U.S. since the 1960s, obesity has continued to climb exponentially. For over a half century, health \"authorities\" have claimed that consuming saturated fats would make you fat.  It's not true.  Despite national compliance to the lipid theory for heart disease dogma from media, medicine, and government, obesity rates among the low and no-fat consumers have climbed exponentially, even among young children, and heart disease has remained the number one cause of death from disease. Fat Dogma Diminishing Slowly as Processed Carbs and Oils Truth is Revealed  Though still not popularly embraced by the public, mainstream media, and most dieticians, more and more recent evidence points to added sugars in processed low-nutrient high-calorie carbohydrate foods created with toxic phony fats as sources of arterial inflammation. Inflammation is the source of most disease, including cardiovascular and heart disease.  So, the saturated fat or lipid theory for obesity and heart disease is without scientific merit. And the synthetic fats offered as substitutes for unprocessed whole natural animal and plant fats and used in high-carb processed foods have been the source of every ailment or health disorder saturated fats were blamed for, and more.  Independent medical researchers and practitioners have recently, over the last decade or so, determined refined or processed carbs, such as table sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as major causes of obesity, metabolic disorder syndrome (aka pre-diabetes), and ultimately diabetes 2. Those two items are ubiquitous in beverages and processed foods, even the ones that don't taste sweet, which are constantly advertised on TV.  The processed food industry has exploited fat phobia to produce most of the refined carbohydrate foods, usually prepared with partially hydrogenated trans-fatty acid oils, which have become popular among consumers since the low or no-fat dietary dogma was proclaimed.  Fully hydrogenated oils constitute margarine products. Both types of synthetically derived processed vegetable oils shower your cells with trans-fatty acids. And trans-fatty acids are considered unusual toxins by your body's cells. Using a Ketogenic Dietary Approach for Reversing Ill Effects of Lipid Theory Misinformation  The term \"ketogenic\" is derived from attaching the suffix \"-genic\" to the word \"ketone.\" Ketones are produced in the liver from fat. As ketones are produced more, a state of ketosis is created. Ketosis allows fat to be converted into energy instead of storing it as fat. Ketosis even promotes reducing existing excess body fat by converting it into energy.  A ketogenic diet produces ketones in lieu of glucose for cellular energy, or if insulin is not being utilized, as is the case with insulin resistance or diabetes 2, to provide fuel for cellular energy. It's a process produced by the liver. It's a clean enough process to avoid fatty liver, which has also become epidemic lately. Ketosis reduces the need for insulin to metabolize glucose from carbohydrates.  Consuming smaller amounts of organic whole carbohydrates is healthy. But the processed carbohydrate foods that comprise the majority of SAD (Standard American Diet) consumers are nutritionally void and filled with toxic strangers to our cells and are stored as fat to isolate their toxicity. Eventually, the stored toxins are secreted from those fats, creating autoimmune illnesses.  One of the most efficient saturated fats for ketosis is virgin coconut oil. Instead of long chain triglycerides that most other healthy fats contain, coconut oil is comprised of medium chain triglycerides, which are most easily converted into ketones.  So consuming healthy fats, not trans-fat substitutes, and cutting back considerably on processed or refined carbohydrates is proving to increase health and reduce obesity and all the problems associated with it, including diabetes and heart disease.  Most of us have mistakenly assumed the ketogenic diet for weight loss is a spinoff of the Atkins Diet for weight loss \u2013 lots of meat, nothing else. The popularized Paleo diet over this last decade has also been associated with ketogenic dieting.  But factually, the ketogenic diet is high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet. The ketogenic diet is the original diet which was started in the 1920s at Johns Hopkins Hospital to cure children of epileptic seizures where drugs were not effective. Most modern-day versions of a low-carb diet, such as Atkins, Paleo, etc., are some version of this original ketogenic diet.  The low carbohydrate aspect of the ketogenic diet should include only unrefined carbohydrate foods, unprocessed and fully intact with their nutrients. The standard American diet (SAD) is overwhelmed with refined flours and sugars and toxic factory farm meats.  Swedish diet doctor Andreas Eenfeldt, M.D., explains that consuming too much whole protein animal foods, especially meat, can lead to excess protein. This excess protein easily converts into more glucose in the body and raises your insulin levels. This compromises optimal ketosis.  Most vegetarians assume that a ketogenic diet is not for them. They fail to recognize that nuts, avocados, cold pressed avocado and olive oil, and coconut oil are plant based. Fudging with non-meat animal products such as real butter from grass fed cows or eggs from truly free range chickens is another route toward ketosis. Fat doesn't have to be from bacon, though many low-carb dieters lean that way. Recent Science Contradicts Bogus Science of Fat Consumption Creating Obesity  This past year (2016), two studies have confirmed what Health Impact News has known for well over a decade: Eating whole healthy fats, even saturated fats, is healthy and reduces body fat, eliminating the precursor to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. (Source)  One study dealt with obese subjects divided into two groups, both were put on very low calorie ketogenic (VLCK) diets. The researchers purpose was to determine what effects supplementing the test group with DHA omega 3 to determine the effects of omega-3 fatty acids.  Keep in mind that omega-3 fatty acids are derived directly from fish fats and other animal sources as well as indirectly from flax and chia seeds. It's a healthy type of fat.  They discovered that after six months, both groups lost almost the same amount of weight, averaging around 20 kg (44 lbs), and both groups demonstrated similar changed \"biological parameters,\" such as stable insulin levels, lower triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and increased leptin among other more esoterically labeled markers. What they were looking for in the DHA omega-3 group was discovered by concluding the DHA omega-3 group had better anti-inflammatory markings.  But the ketogenic diet alone produced the same effect without the improvement of anti-inflammatory markers from DHA omega-3 fatty acid supplementing. Combining a ketogenic diet with omega-3 supplementing seems like a great idea. (Source)  Another 2016 study that focused on whether weight loss from a ketogenic diet was mostly from fat mass and not muscle mass had similar weight reductions of 20 kg (44 lbs) in less time, four months. Amazing!  The researchers concluded: \"The VLCK (very low calorie ketogenic) diet-induced weight loss was mainly at the expense of FM [fat mass] and visceral mass [fat surrounding organs], preserving muscle mass and strength (emphasis added).\" (Source)  So there you have it, a summary of the apparent paradox of high-fat dieting to lose body fat, prevent diabetes, and protect heart health. There's much more available at Health Impact News . Time to wake up from that low-fat diet dogma that has ruined the health of millions of its adherents.  Comment on this article at CoconutOil.com.  Sources:","label":1}
{"text":"Turkish police have detained 54 staff from a university shut down after an attempted coup last year that was blamed on U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday. It said the police had arrest warrants for a total of 171 academics and staff from Istanbul s former Fatih University, which was regarded as having close ties to Gulen. The cleric has denied any involvement in the failed putsch of July 15, 2016. Fatih University was shut under a state decree following the coup attempt and Anadolu said staff there were found to have been users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging application which the government says was commonly used by Gulen s supporters. Since the coup attempt more than 50,000 people, including civil servants and security personnel, have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 suspended or dismissed from their jobs. Rights groups say the crackdown has been exploited to muzzle dissent. The government says the measures have been necessary due to the security threats which has Turkey faced since the putsch, in which 250 people were killed.","label":0}
{"text":"Yemen s cholera epidemic has reached one million suspected cases, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday, with war leaving more than 80 percent of the population short of food, fuel, clean water and access to healthcare. Yemen, one of the Arab world s poorest countries, is embroiled in a proxy war between the Houthi armed movement, allied with Iran, and a U.S.-backed military coalition headed by Saudi Arabia. The United Nations says Yemen is suffering the world s worst humanitarian crisis, and eight million people are on the brink of famine. The cholera figure is almost certainly exaggerated, but that does not diminish the scale and complexity of the humanitarian crisis, said Marc Poncin, Yemen emergency coordinator for aid agency M decins Sans Fronti res. Cholera flared up in April and spread rapidly, killing 2,227 people. The death rate has fallen dramatically, and without laboratory confirmation, recent cases are probably diarrhea, Poncin said. A new wave of cholera is expected in March or April. It s probably unavoidable. We need to be ready to face another big epidemic, said Poncin, adding that cholera may become a long-term burden as it has in Haiti. The places where the war is active are the ones most at risk for increase of disease. The latest emergency is diphtheria, a disease not seen in Yemen for 25 years, which has affected 312 people and killed 35. It has not spread explosively, as cholera did, but diphtheria outbreaks can affect many thousands, and there is a global shortage of diphtheria anti-toxin. Yemen has enough for 200-500 patients, Poncin said. An urgent diphtheria vaccination campaign early in 2018 will complicate the WHO s hope of doing mass cholera vaccination at the same time, especially given the problems with security and accessing remote areas, Poncin said. The Houthis, who control much of the country, are also suspicious of vaccination drives, he added. Yemen s troubles have been aggravated by the Saudi-led coalition s blockade of its ports, which has caused a fuel shortage and a spike in food prices. The health system has virtually collapsed, with health workers unpaid for a year, although the WHO gives incentive payments for cholera work. The ports were closed in retaliation for a missile fired from Yemen by the Houthis. On Wednesday, despite a fresh missile attack on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia said it would allow the Houthi-controled port of Hodeidah, vital for aid, to stay open for a month.","label":0}
{"text":"A woman who was born in Nazi Germany says that what reminds her of Hitler more than anything else isn t Donald Trump, but the rioting leftists who are attempting to shut down free speech on college campuses.Ing Andrews lived in Dusseldorf, Germany during the Second World War and spent time hiding in air raid shelters and helping to clean up rubble from destroyed buildings. InfowarsIf anyone is in a position to have an opinion on the left s hysterical comparison of Donald Trump and Hitler, it s Inga. Here s what she told the Independent Review Journal;For the entire letter go to : IJR","label":1}
{"text":"Failed former presidential candidate Ben Carson is back and crazier than ever. The retired neurosurgeon who was once leading the Republican party before a severe case of dishonesty and ridiculous nonsense-spewing habit ruined his campaign is once again making headlines, for an even more awful reason than before.On Friday, Carson announced his endorsement of Republican front-runner Donald Trump at a press conference, saying that the two men had buried the hatchet and that Trump was the voice of the people to be heard. Almost as ridiculous as that endorsement is Carson s inspiration for such a horrible decision he says he was encouraged to support the disgraced candidate after a so-called vision from God.During the press conference, a reporter made the mistake of asking Carson just how much God played a part in his choice to stand behind Trump. The reporter asked, You said throughout your life God has led you to your most important decisions. This truly is an important decision. Did God lead you to Donald Trump? Carson said that God had given him several signs once of which included a vision from an unnamed friend. I prayed about it a lot, and I got a lot of indications, people calling me that I haven t talked to for a long time saying, I had this dream about you and Donald Trump I mean, just amazing things As if Carson couldn t make himself seem any crazier, he dialed things up when he started speaking about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, stating that she is of the devil. Hillary Clinton was a great friend of Saul Alinsky. On a first-name basis with him as a student. He wrote the book Rules for Radicals and if you haven t read it, I recommend that you read it, and see the kinds of things that are recommended to change, fundamentally change, this nation from the great success we have to a socialist country. And the dedication page of that book says, dedicated to Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom. I don t want anything to do with anything like that. You can watch this outrageous part of the conference unfold below:Carson also said that he was afraid Hillary Clinton would destroy America a hilarious statement considering that most of the GOP is currently freaking out because Trump is leading the party and threatening to do just that. This endorsement from Carson is even more puzzling because just two weeks ago, Carson said that Super Tuesday voters were not quite that dense to help Trump become the nominee. The former candidate also said that voting for Trump was a very very bad mistake. Divine intervention is apparently a powerful thing and we now have Carson s visions to thank for the 700,000-person donor list that Trump just inherited with this endorsement.","label":1}
{"text":"When they go low we go high. Michelle Obama famously used this quote to explain the difference between Democrats and Republicans at the DNC convention. Sadly, the Democrat Party has proven time and time again, that nothing could be further from the truth.Television writer Jen Statsky tweeted Saturday the people who support President Trump should have their children taken away.light reminder that being president of the US means nothing anymore, if you support Trump you should have your children taken away, etc etc Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) October 1, 2017Yesterday s tweet by the woman who writes for the Parks and Rec show as well as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, was not the first time she ventured into the bowels of humanity to come up with a vile comment in order to satisfy her angry and vile base of leftist supporters. Here are a couple of examples, starting with the time she thought touring the country looking for fistfights with people who voted for Trump might be a good use of her time.A tour of the country where I fistfight people who voted for Donald Trump, is that a good use of my time? Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) January 10, 2017To which, one of her fans replied with an image of a boxing glove lined with barbed wire. How very tolerant. This tweet only confirms what we already know, using violence to fight anyone who disagrees with them is one of the first tenants of being a Democrat:Only if you wear these pic.twitter.com\/JXVaR0PMGb Drew Brown (@brewdrown) January 10, 2017In this tweet, Statsky wishes cancer on Donald Trump, husband, father of 5 and grandfather to 9 grandchildren, and oh yeah, the man most of America chose as their leader.I know things seem grim right now, but let's remain optimistic: maybe Trump will get cancer? Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) July 25, 2016Once again, Statsky s classy followers didn t disappoint with their responses:The most luxurious tumors you've ever seen. Cod dependence (@geoffglaab) July 25, 2016In this tweet, Statsky suggests that if you voted for Trump, you should drink bleach .quick reminder that if you voted for Trump you should drink bleach Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) May 15, 2017This classy fan suggests Trump supporters could follow up the bleach with a draino chaser . For anyone who didn t catch it, Drano is spelled incorrectly, but we re pretty sure you already knew anyone who would respond in such a manner isn t the sharpest knife in the drawer anyhow.With a draino chaser emmalu (@emmalu) May 15, 2017And one last ignorant response from the guy who uses the disgraced pedophile Democrat Anthony Weiner as his profile pic, who just wants to clarify that Statsky is, in fact, wanting us to put bleach in their drinks for them, right? He goes on to call it what it is, poison terrorism suggesting they could poison Trump supporters at those fly-over Old Country Buffets. One has to wonder if this guy shouldn t be getting a visit from law enforcement:u want us to put bleach in their drinks for them, right? Inciting poison terrorism at those fly-over country Old Country Buffets SuperSparky (@SuperSparky101) October 1, 2017h\/t Daily Caller","label":1}
{"text":"The Donald Trump supporter who viciously assaulted an African-American protester at a recent campaign rally gave a terrifying interview to Inside Edition, and it confirms what many of us have sensed for a long time: It s only a matter of time before someone gets killed at a Trump rally.TV s Inside Edition caught up with the cowboy hat wearing Trump fan after the rally and asked him about why he sucker punched a young black man as he was being escorted out of the stadium. The man, whom police have identified as 78-year-old John McGraw, was all smiles. He beamed as he told the camera: You bet I liked it. Knocking the hell out of that big mouth. When asked why he needed to punch the 26-year-old, McGraw let his crazy fly at full force: We don t know if he s ISIS. We don t know who he is, but we know he s not acting like an American, cussing me. If he wants it laid out, I laid it out. McGraw believes the African American protester was from ISIS. However, his delusional bloodlust didn t end there. He went on to say that the man deserved it and warned that next time we see him, we might have to kill him. He again reiterated the idea that the man was a terrorist.The victim, Rakeem Jones, was reportedly sore but fine after the incident. However, police at the event decided to arrest him instead of McGraw.McGraw s violence is just another example of a disturbing trend at Trump rallies. As protesters continue to bravely come out to interrupt the Republican front-runner where ever he goes, his fans have taken to physically assaulting them. Based on McGraw s statements, the violence is inspired in part by delusional conspiracies gleaned from Fox News and the GOP that pretends Islamic terrorists, black people, and liberals are working together to destroy America. As such, people like McGraw feel no remorse for attacking them.Don t believe it, just let him tell you himself.","label":1}
{"text":"0 comments  According to ClashDaily , newly leaked email from Hillary Clinton's Campaign Manager John Podesta is titled \"Hillary actions \/ unpleasant odor.\" Many are claiming this is a hoax. Sure sounds like one.  \"People tell me that Hillary is acting 'like a retard' since her head injury,\" wrote Podesta on March 22, 2015. \"Frankly, considering her normal behavior, I'm surprised anyone noticed! (this is a joke!) Have someone talk to her doctor and see if there's anything he can give her.\"  \"Also, I've noticed she's had an 'odor' lately,\" he continued. \"It reminds me of a combination of boiled cabbage, urine and farts. I'm guessing it's either connected to her fall or simply the fact that she rarely bathes.\"  \"Outside of encouraging her to take a shower once in a while, I don't know what to do about this. \u2014 any suggestions would be appreciated.\"  Well, apparently, Hillary Clinton is just as gross as we all thought!","label":1}
{"text":"Thanks to an absurd legal ruling, Donald Trump won t have to answer to charges of defrauding people of tens of thousands of dollars until after the election. A federal judge decided it would be unfair to make him testify while he s running for office presumably because it could give people the impression that he s a conniving huckster who fleeces gullible rubes in order to line his pockets. Heaven forbid.Trump s lawyers were extremely satisfied that they managed to convince a federal judge to schedule Trump s trial including his appearance on the witness stand after a previous judge had scheduled the hearing for June. It could have seriously hurt his political career. Instead, a San Diego judge told Trump s legal team that the law could wait until late November three weeks after the election.Donald Trump will testify after the presidential election on a class-action lawsuit that accuses the billionaire businessman and his now-defunct Trump University of defrauding people who paid up to $35,000 for real estate seminars.It seems likely that, should Trump win, the lawyers will change their mind about Trump attending the trial, however. He ll be busy organizing his transition team and preparing to move to the Oval Office (or moving the Oval Office to Trump Tower, perhaps).It would seem that getting to the bottom of whether or not Donald Trump willfully defrauded eager students of non-existent real estate seminars of $35,000 would be very important for voters who are deciding whether or not to put that man in office. As it stands, most voters will likely have no idea of the pending litigation against Trump come Election Day.As if to highlight the baffling favoritism, the FBI recently announced that despite not finding any evidence that Hillary Clinton committed any crimes with her emails, they are asking her to come into conduct a series of interviews with them just to be sure. The meetings will be sure to be covered wall-to-wall on the news networks and will lend further credence to spurious claims that she had done something wrong. Fair and balanced.So there we have it: One candidate who has never been charged is subjected to endless scrutiny and legal harassment. Another who has more pending and settled lawsuits than any presidential candidate in U.S. history got a federal judge to do him a solid and postpone justice for the people who he ripped off before he decided he d move onto bigger scams. If the moral arc of the universe does indeed bend towards justice, than we are still clearly behind the curve.","label":1}
{"text":"The list of priorities U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released this week for the renegotiation of NAFTA with Mexico and Canada is reasonable and in line with what the Trump administration has promised to focus on, the head of America's largest railroad said on Thursday. \"It was a very reasonable document,\" Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) Chief Executive Lance Fritz said in an interview about a list of priorities released this week by Lighthizer. \"From our perspective, he (Lighthizer) hit all of the elements that we've heard from the administration and they make sense.\" Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement if it is not renegotiated in favor of the United States. Talks with Mexico and Canada on revisions to the treaty, which came into effect in 1994, are due to start in mid-August. The top priority for the talks listed by Lighthizer's office was shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico. Union Pacific's Fritz said that Lighthizer's focus on intellectual property, labor laws and dispute resolution mechanisms all make sense. \"What makes most sense to us is elements (of Lighthizer's priorities) focusing on the streamlining of freight across the border,\" he added. About 40 percent of Union Pacific's freight volume is based on international trade and about 12 percent is based on cross-border trade with Mexico. Fritz said that Mexico should continue to be a \"good driver\" for Union Pacific's growth. The CEO spoke to Reuters after Union Pacific posted a better-than-expected second-quarter profit that was lifted in part by a 25-percent jump in coal revenue. Major U.S. railroads have seen a resurgence in coal volumes this year, following two years of precipitous declines as many utilities switched to burning cheaper natural gas and as unseasonable weather resulted in large stockpiles of unburned coal. Union Pacific said on Thursday that coal volumes in the third quarter should be relatively flat versus the same period in 2016. \"We expect coal to be a bit more stable moving forward and that's dependent on natural gas pricing and to some degree weather,\" Fritz said. \"The large inventory overhang has largely been consumed and that's the good news.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The city council of Columbus, Ohio, voted on Monday to make it against the law to arrest anyone based on their illegal immigration status. The city also and made it illegal to deny someone services because they are an illegal alien. City officials deny that Columbus is a \"sanctuary city. \"[The Columbus Dispatch reported that the Columbus City Council voted to adopt an executive order issued by Mayor Andrew J. Ginther in early February. After he signed the executive order, Mayor Ginther told those at a press conference, \"To all of you I say, Columbus is your home. \" The mayor's executive order provided that the city will \"actively support, to the greatest extent practicable, the placement or settlement in this jurisdiction of aliens eligible to be admitted to the United States as refugees. \" The room was full of leaders from the city's refugee and immigrant communities, the local NBC affiliate reported. The mayor's order dictates: Although the policy prevents the City or employees from using any city property for detecting or apprehending those illegally in the country, or \"the use of local taxpayer resources for the enforcement of federal immigration policy,\" city officials do not declare Columbus a \"sanctuary city,\" reported the Dispatch. \"[T]hey don't want the city a target for President Donald Trump, who has threatened federal funding for cities that adopt the label,\" the article written Monday afternoon about the ordinance and city officials reported. The president of the city council, Zach Klein was reported to say that \"The permanence of city code transcends every mayor. \" \"We decided not to focus on labels and focus more on the substance,\" he added. The ordinance will be effective after 30 days. 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.","label":0}
{"text":"China wants closer ties with Myanmar s military to help protect regional peace and security, a senior Chinese general told the visiting head of the southeast Asian country s army. China and Myanmar have had close diplomatic and economic ties for years, including increasingly in the strategically important oil and gas sectors, and China has offered its support to its southern neighbor, also known as Burma, throughout a crisis over its treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar s Rakhine State, most to neighboring Bangladesh, since a Myanmar military crackdown in response to attacks on the security forces by Rohingya insurgents in August. The United States on Wednesday for the first time called the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya ethnic cleansing and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for horrendous atrocities . Meeting in Beijing, Li Zuocheng, who sits on China s Central Military Commission, which runs its armed forces, told Senior General Min Aung Hlaing that China s development and prosperity were an important opportunity for Myanmar s development, China s Defense Ministry said in a statement. In the face of a complex and changeable regional security situation, China is willing to maintain strategic communication between the two countries militaries, Li was cited as saying in the statement issued late on Wednesday. China wanted greater contacts between the two armed forces and deeper training and technical exchanges and to promote border defense cooperation to ensure peace and stability along their common border, Li added. China has been angered by fighting between Myanmar s military and autonomy-seeking ethnic minority rebels close to the Chinese border in recent years, which has at times forced thousands of villagers to flee into China. The Chinese ministry made no direct mention of the Rohingya issue in the statement. China built close ties with Myanmar s generals during years of military rule, when Western countries imposed sanctions on Myanmar for its suppression of the democracy movement. More recently, their ties have included oil and gas as Myanmar pumps natural gas from the Bay of Bengal to China. A new oil pipeline, opened this year, also feeds Middle East crude through Myanmar to a new refinery in Yunnan, southwest China. This has opened a new oil supply route to China, avoiding the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. The United States and other Western countries have stepped up engagement with Myanmar since the military began handing power to civilians in 2011, and especially since former democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a 2015 election. But an international outcry over Myanmar s violations of the rights of the Rohingya has raised questions in Western countries about that engagement. Rights group Amnesty International has called for a comprehensive arms embargo against Myanmar as well as targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials. China s Defense Ministry cited Min Aung Hlaing as thanking China for its support in helping Myanmar ensure domestic stability.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation to keep federal agencies funded until April 28 and avert government shutdowns at the end of this week when existing appropriations expire. By a vote of 326-96, the House passed the legislation that is now before the Senate where it has encountered opposition from Democrats who are upset over the refusal by Republicans to include a long-term extension of expiring healthcare benefits for retired coal miners and their families. Instead, the bill would continue the benefits only until next April. \"I've never seen anything this callous in my life,\" said West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. As a result, the Senate might not be able to vote on the spending bill until sometime this weekend, technically putting the U.S. government into a partial shutdown mode on Saturday. Flint, Michigan, which has endured a two-and-a-half-year struggle with lead-contaminated drinking water, would get access to a $170 million fund for infrastructure improvements and lead poisoning prevention under the bill. The stop-gap funding bill reflects the inability of the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the dozen regular appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2017, freezing most spending at current levels. Congress was unable to pass them in part because of internal disagreements among Republicans on some of those measures and because Democrats held firm to an earlier budget deal that aims to restrain spending caps on defense as long as those caps were imposed on other domestic programs. Congress likely will end up arguing well into 2017 over spending priorities for the current fiscal year even as it must begin considering funding government operations in fiscal 2018. Congress' delay in finishing its work also means that President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, will have some say in government spending priorities for the period of April 28-Sept. 30, instead of President Barack Obama. A provision is also embedded in the spending bill to make it easier for Trump to win confirmation of General James Mattis to be defense secretary early next year. Republicans demanded it to help Mattis get around a requirement that the defense secretary be a civilian for seven years before taking the job. Mattis retired from the military in 2013. The bill moving through Congress, as lawmakers try wrapping up their work for the year, contains $5.8 billion for waging military operations against the Islamic State worldwide.","label":0}
{"text":"For the second time in a matter of weeks, progressive leftist Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi displayed what many believe can only be accredited to having a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. While speaking to ABC s Jonathan Karl, Nancy confused the presidency of Donald Trump with George W. Bush for the second time since President Trump s inauguration.In an interview on Sunday with Jonathon Karl on ABC s This Week, Pelosi confused President Trump with President Bush, who she hated with vitriol for eight years. But as you can see in the short clip below, Pelosi immediately catches herself and then apologizes to former President Bush for the confusion, claiming to long for the days that he was president over the now dreaded Donald Trump.Even Jonathan Karl was stunned that Pelosi would remember George W. Bush with fondness considering the vitriol she threw his way for eight years. One has to wonder if Pelosi, who continues to be confused about who the current president is, is fit for office. PolitistickHere s what Nancy had to say about President George W. Bush at the end of his term:Watch:","label":1}
{"text":"Three Republican U.S. lawmakers called on Friday for Robert Mueller to resign as special counsel investigating Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, the latest in a series of conservatives' criticisms of the FBI and Justice Department during the probe of how Moscow may have influenced the campaign. Representatives Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs and Louis Gohmert accused Mueller of a conflict of interest because he was director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation when former President Barack Obama's administration approved an agreement allowing a Russian company to buy a Canadian company that owned 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans have been calling for an investigation into the Uranium One deal, amid news of Mueller's first indictments of Trump associates as the special counsel investigates allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow. Moscow denies any effort to influence the election, and Trump has dismissed the investigation as a \"witch hunt.\" On Monday, the day the indictments became public, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said a special counsel should be appointed to investigate Democrats over the uranium deal. Another group of Republican lawmakers, including House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte launched an investigation last week to examine issues including the role of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump's 2016 opponent, in the uranium deal. Democrats have dismissed the Republicans' activities as a partisan effort to distract from Mueller's probe and from efforts to ensure that a foreign government, Moscow, does not influence future U.S. elections. Gaetz, Biggs and Gohmert are all members of the House Judiciary Committee, which has oversight over the FBI and Department of Justice. Gaetz has called for investigations of issues related to Clinton previously, including accusing former FBI Director James Comey of colluding with Mueller on the FBI's investigation of Clinton's emails.","label":0}
{"text":"Jason Brown, despite the colorful appellation, is about the whitest name I ve heard all day. Except I didn t hear it today. Not in the news anyway. Not on that little trending bar on the side of my Facebook feed, or with a hashtag in front of it on Twitter. Which is weird, because a dude named Jason Brown murdered a police officer in Indianapolis on Thursday.I can t help but think if his skin matched his name, you d already know who I was talking about. In fact, if Jason Brown looked a little more like Michael Brown, you might already know he had previous drug charges. You might even have seen this picture of him by now:Image via TwitterI know you haven t seen that picture until now, though. In fact, I know unless you clicked the link above, you still think I m just making some point about how white people can get away with all kinds of stuff people of color in America can t. I m not, of course. I m just here to provide some contrast for the very limited, very, very sanitized coverage available so far about Jason Brown, from the south side of Indianapolis, Indiana.All that is according to literally everyone the news has bothered to contact so far about this guy who murdered a cop. Perhaps if there was some footage of him selling loose cigarettes.You see, when Jason Brown got in a terrible car accident and officers responded to the scene, they expected to find someone in need of assistance. The slain policeman, Lieutenant Aaron Allan, certainly didn t expect to be met by a driver hanging upside-down in the demolished car, ready to fire multiple shots into his torso.Lt. Allan died later Thursday.So where is the wall-to-wall coverage of this cop murderer? It must be hiding behind this family-provided picture that the news is running with:All I can say is, I ve been working on this article for a while now, and I just came across the very first link that provided any insight as to why he might have completely broken character and started shooting at the officer. An Indy NBC affiliate says the police recovered 13 small bags of weed which of course is possession with intent to deliver. Prison time.I wonder if, when they finally do charge Brown with the officer s murder (since they still haven t), they ll tack on those drug charges too, like they would if he was actually, um Brown?","label":1}
{"text":"Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday called running his family's charitable foundation one of the great honors of his life in a passionate defense against criticism of its work as his wife, Hillary Clinton, campaigns to become president. Speaking onstage in a New York City hotel ballroom for about an hour, he told supporters of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation that it had brought about \"a profound advance in the conduct and impact of modern philanthropy.\" \"Don't give up what brought you here,\" he said, closing out the 12th and final annual conference organized by the foundation, called the Clinton Global Initiative. \"You have done something good and noble and worthy.\" The foundation, which Clinton founded as he prepared to leave the White House in 2001, has come under intense scrutiny brought about by a long presidential campaign. Journalists have scoured newly released email records from Hillary Clinton's tenure running the State Department from 2009 to 2013, which show foundation officials seeking meetings with Clinton or other diplomats on behalf of donors. Donald Trump, Clinton's Republican opponent for the presidency, has called for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of breaching government ethics rules. The Clintons have said that even if some of their wealthiest donors, which include corporations and foreign governments with interests before the U.S. government, may have hoped for special favors in return, none were granted. To avert suggestions of conflicts of interest, the foundation has said it will drastically limit its operations if Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, wins the election to succeed Barack Obama on Nov. 8. It would stop accepting money from foreign and corporate donors, foundation officials say, and much of its work would be spun off into independent entities not controlled by the Clintons. Bill Clinton, 70, has expressed frustration that political journalists covering his wife's campaign have written more about the foundation's donors, which include the government of Saudi Arabia and foreign billionaires, than the charitable programs it runs. He spoke at length about how he had been moved by meeting children with HIV in Cambodia, orphans left behind by the 2004 tsunami that struck Indonesia and victims of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. He made only oblique references to the 2016 election campaign. \"Everywhere today there is a temptation to say that everything I just told you is wrong, 'Life is a zero-sum game and I'm losing; no, you're wrong, our differences matter more than our common humanity,'\" he said. \"These are not the right choices.\" (Refiles to make clear in paragraph 5 that foundation officials were seeking the meetings on behalf of donors.)","label":0}
{"text":"\u2039 \u203a Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. VA fails to properly examine thousands of veterans By Arnaldo Rodgers on October 29, 2016 VA  Thousands of veterans may have been improperly diagnosed by the VA.  The federal department admits it was improperly testing for traumatic brain injuries from 2007 through 2015.  Nate Anderson has served in the United States Army for 12 years.  \"There's a promise that we make to service members, that if you serve and you put your life on the line or sacrifice in whatever way you do, we'll take care of you. I didn't know what that was going to look like, it's certainly not what I saw,\" Anderson said. \"This is something the VA should have been prepared for.\"  He enlisted after 9\/11.  \"It was time in my generation that the desire to serve was strong,\" he said.  Fast forward to 2008, Anderson was assigned to his first unit at Fort Bragg and deployed to central Afghanistan.  Read the Full Article at wncn.com >>>> Related Posts: The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on October 29, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments  You must be logged in to post a comment Login WHAT'S HOT","label":1}
{"text":"Mike Huckabee suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday night, the former Arkansas governor announced on Twitter after garnering little support in the Iowa caucuses. \"I am officially suspending my campaign,\" he said on Twitter. \"Thank you for all your loyal support.\" Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, had less than 2 percent of the vote on Monday with 85 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Iowa Republican Party.","label":0}
{"text":"Latest short list for Trump cabinet positions \u2013 It's a \"knife fight\" Communications adviser, Jason Miller, confirmed that Trump's cabinet will be anything but \"traditional\" By Tyler Durden - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 10:04 AM EST  As Donald Trump's transition team continues to debate who will fill key cabinet positions, the competition between potential appointees is growing more fierce with one insider describing it as a \"knife fight.\" So far, Trump has named RNC head Reince Priebus as Chief Of Staff and the controversial Breitbart executive, Steve Bannon, as Chief Strategist. While the transition team has been guarded so far about who will fill the remaining roles, communications adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Trump's cabinet will be anything but \"traditional\": \"You're going to see a number of different names that are ultimately becoming a part of the President-elect's administration. There will be non-traditional names, a number of people who have had wide-ranging success in a number of different fields; wide-ranging success in business \u2026 People will be excited when they see the type of leaders the President-elect brings into this administration.\" Of the key open positions, John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani are the rumored favorites for Secretary of State and Senator Jeff Sessions is thought to be the front-runner for Attorney General. With that said, per Reuters , here is a short list of people thought to be in the running for the various cabinet positions that need to be filled over the coming months:  SECRETARY OF STATE Bob Corker, Tennessee senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush Newt Gingrich, Republican former U.S. House Speaker Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City  ATTORNEY GENERAL Rudy Giuliani Jeff Sessions, senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who takes a hard line on immigration Chris Christie, Republican New Jersey governor Pam Bondi, Republican Florida Attorney General Trey Gowdy, Republican congressman from South Carolina who headed the House committee that investigated the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya TREASURY SECRETARY Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs executive and Trump's campaign finance chairman Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer Tom Barrack, founder and chairman of Colony Capital Inc  DEFENSE SECRETARY Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush Jon Kyl, former Republican senator from Arizona Jeff Sessions, Republican senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Kelly Ayotte, outgoing Republican senator from New Hampshire and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Duncan Hunter, Republican congressman from California and early Trump supporter, member of House Armed Services Committee Jim Talent, former Republican senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee  HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY Ben Carson, former neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich Rich Bagger, former pharmaceutical executive and former top aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Bobby Jindal, former Louisiana governor  HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY Michael McCaul, U.S. Republican congressman from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee David Clarke, Milwaukee county sheriff and vocal Trump supporter Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump  HEAD OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Myron Ebell, a climate change skeptic at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute who is overseeing environmental policy on Trump's transition team Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas attorney general Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management  ENERGY SECRETARY Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, CEO of Continental Resources Inc Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp James Connaughton, CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota Robert Grady Sarah Palin, Republican former Alaska governor who ran for vice president in 2008 Jan Brewer, former Arizona governor Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil Harold Hamm","label":1}
{"text":"British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that his remarks last week about a jailed Iranian-British aid worker could have been clearer, and said he had not wanted to add credence to Iranian allegations against her. On Nov. 1, Johnson said that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in Iran in April 2016. The UK government has no doubt that she was on holiday in Iran when she was arrested last year and that was the sole purpose of her visit, Johnson said. My point was that I disagreed with the Iranian view that training journalists was a crime, not that I wanted to lend any credence to Iranian allegations that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been engaged in such activity, he said. I accept that my remarks could have been clearer in that respect and I am glad to provide this clarification. Johnson said he would travel to Iran in the coming weeks and discuss all consular issues there.","label":0}
{"text":"WINNIPEG, Manitoba \u2014 Almost three months after Bashir Yussuf watched Donald J. Trump win the presidential election, he made his way to Noyes, Minn. where he set off at night into the woods and crawled across the unmarked border into Canada. \"I saw what was coming,\" said Mr. Yussuf, 28, who fled his home in Somalia in 2013 to make a circuitous, voyage to San Diego, where he applied for asylum but was rejected. \"I knew Trump was going to deport me. \" After a walk, much of it through deep drifts, Mr. Yussuf arrived in Emerson, a small farming town in sight of the border with both North Dakota and Minnesota. Emerson's 700 inhabitants have long known \"border hoppers,\" often offering them lifts to the nearby Canadian Border Services Agency office. But they have never seen them coming in these numbers. The morning before Mr. Yussuf arrived with another Somali last Sunday night, 19 other Africans had emerged on the Canadian side of the border, cold and hungry after walking much of the night across frozen farm fields. There were too many to fit into the small border office for processing, so the people of the town rushed to open the community hall, where the new arrivals could get warm, doze on sleeping mats and refuel on Nutella sandwiches, tea and coffee. Noting a worrying trend, Emerson officials convened an emergency meeting on Thursday with the police and border agents to figure out a protocol for the next wave of arrivals \u2014 which they feared would be soon. \"The farmers are worried about what they're going to find when the snow melts,\" said Greg Janzen, the reeve, or chief elected executive, of the municipality. On Christmas Eve, two Ghanaians were picked up on the roadside north of town, some 10 hours after they had set off into a field near the border, sinking to their waists in snow. The temperature that morning was reported to be below zero, with windchill making it even worse. The men's hands were so badly frostbitten that they lost almost all their fingers. Over the past couple of years, a small number of people have been sneaking across the border at Manitoba from the United States and then filing for asylum, Canadian Border Service Agency statistics show. But since the fall, refugee workers in Winnipeg say, there has been a noticeable surge. The Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, known locally as Welcome Place, typically serves 50 to 60 asylum seekers per year, said its executive director, Rita Chahal. \"Since April, we've seen already 300,\" she said. While the government of Canada was unable to provide statistics on the number of people seeking refugee status who illegally enter the country, Sgt. Harold Pfleiderer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said, \"There has been an increase in illegal migration in Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia, with the largest increase being seen in Quebec. \" A loophole in the rules covering asylum seekers has led some to walk for as long as eight hours in the middle of the night, through wintry landscapes and biting prairie cold, before arriving in Emerson. While an agreement between Canada and the United States makes it impossible for them to simply present themselves at the border and claim asylum, those who make it into the country and then present themselves to border guards can do so. Now, in light of the uncertainty and disruption created by President Trump's executive order on immigration, refugee advocates and human rights groups in Canada are demanding that the government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suspend or cancel the refugee pact, which is known as the Safe Third Country agreement. \"We are essentially encouraging people to come across the border through irregular means,\" said Sean Rehaag, a York University law professor who specializes in refugee and immigration law. On Wednesday, the immigration and refugee clinical program at Harvard Law School issued a report stating that Mr. Trump's executive orders on immigration made the United States \"not a safe country of asylum\" for people fleeing persecution and violence. \"When Canada sends someone back to the U. S. we are saying we have confidence the U. S. is going to protect them if they need protection. We don't see how we can have confidence to say that in the current context,\" said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council For Refugees, a nonprofit umbrella organization of 170 refugee advocacy groups. Bashir Khan, a Winnipeg lawyer, has represented 125 refugees before the Immigration and Refugee Board over the past five years. That is on top of the 17 he is representing currently. All were rejected at refugee hearings in the United States. \"Let's be honest here,\" Mr. Khan said. \"They did not get access to justice in the United States. They were locked up from the moment they crossed the Mexican border, and detained an average of nine months. They didn't know how to fill out asylum forms, they were not given legal aid \u2014 not one of them. \" Ms. Chahal of Welcome Place said that in recent months her center had seen another type of applicant \u2014 people like Mourad Hassan, who flew into Chicago in December and then worked immediately to find a way across the border to make his first asylum claim in Canada. \"When Trump became president, I was scared he would deport me,\" said Mr. Hassan, 32, a former army officer from Djibouti who said he had been tortured for political reasons. \"He doesn't like Muslims. \" From Emerson, the refugee applicants typically take cabs for the trip to the provincial capital of Winnipeg, where they formally apply for asylum, welfare checks and legal aid. The hearings are usually scheduled within two to three months of their application, but there are no guarantees. In 2015 the Immigration and Refugee Board approved 57. 7 percent of the 16, 521 refugee claims made inside Canada's borders. The board does not track how many claims come from people who bypassed border controls to enter Canada. With the legal status of Mr. Trump's executive order still in limbo, Canada's government has shown no enthusiasm for suspending its agreement with Washington. On Friday, Camielle Edwards, a spokeswoman for Ahmed Hussen, the immigration minister, said that the agreement \"remains an important tool for Canada and the U. S. to work together on the orderly handling of refugee claims made in our countries. \" She said, \"The conditions of the agreement continue to be met, but we are continuing to monitor the situation closely. \" Ms. Dench said that history suggests that Canada's border will not be overwhelmed by refugee claimants if people entering from the United States are allowed to apply at the border. \"It's not as if everyone in the U. S. would suddenly want to come to Canada,\" she said. And, she said, \"We would not have more people crossing the border irregularly and you no longer have people losing their fingers. \" Mr. Yussuf was prepared for his journey to Emerson. He wore thermal underwear and thick gloves. And he paid a guide $600 to take him close to the border. Other asylum seekers said that they had heard from cabdrivers in Grand Forks, N. D. that they would be deported at the border. The drivers offered to drive them to a place that was better for crossing illegally, but farther from the border. They were unprepared for the wintry crossing. One man, Zurekaneni Issah Adams, wore a thin jean jacket and carpentry gloves. His trip took seven hours. \"We were lucky. We were saved by God,\" said Mr. Adams, 36, who fled Ghana in 2014 for Brazil, before slowly making his way by foot, bus and boat to the California border. After 16 months in detention, Mr. Adams said, his asylum request there was rejected. In Canada, he had a hearing scheduled last week, but it was postponed. \"I am dreaming big,\" he said. \"I will not lose my hope. \"","label":0}
{"text":"BAZINGA! Donald Trump Has Ten Point Swing In Polls BEFORE FBI Reopened Crooked Hillary Investigation The poll was conducted Oct. 24-27 among a random national sample of 1,148 likely voters with a margin of error 3 points. According to the poll, Republicans appear more energized, as 81 percent of registered Republicans signaled that they are likely to vote, up six points from last week. 29, 2016 Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump is rising in the polls, according to the latest ABC News\/Washington Post poll.  EDITOR'S NOTE: Just so you know what you're looking at here, let me break it down for you. Liberal news organ ABC News took a poll among likely voters for the time period of October 24-27, and it showed Trump up by 7 points and Crooked Hillary down by 3. That's a 10 point increase for Donald Trump, all that happening before the game-changing announcement by the FBI on reopening the investigation on Crooked Hillary and her illegal emails. Bazinga!  Donald Trump is now at 45 percent with likely voters , up seven points from his low of 38 percent earlier in the month. Hillary Clinton is at 47 percent while Gary Johnson is at four percent and Jill Stein is at two percent. Newt Gingrich: Trump is likely ahead in the polls  That marks a seven point jump for Donald Trump in just four days. Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton has seen her numbers drop three points in the same time period, making a 10 point swing in Trump's favor.  According to the poll , Republicans appear more energized, as 81 percent of registered Republicans signaled that they are likely to vote, up six points from last week.  Eighty-six percent of Republicans now support Trump, up from 82 percent last week, and 84 percent of Republican leaning independents are now supporting Trump, up six points from last week.  The poll was conducted Oct. 24-27 among a random national sample of 1,148 likely voters with a margin of error 3 points. Partisan divisions are 37-29-29 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents. source","label":1}
{"text":"By wmw_admin on November 5, 2016 Rebecca Rosenberg and Daniel Halper \u2014 New York Post Nov 4, 2016 Weiner on horse at The Recovery Ranch rehab centre. Click to enlarge  This horse's ass is getting touchy-feely with a new partner.  As this exclusive Post photo shows, Anthony Weiner spent Friday morning getting a dose of \"equine therapy'' for his sex addiction at The Recovery Ranch at Nunnelly, TN, a tony woodsy respite for deep-pocketed patrons.  The perverted former Queens pol wore a bright-blue riding helmet, green T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers as he saddled up his poor animal and hopped aboard, accompanied by a blonde.  Weiner \u2014 who was caught obsessively texting other women, including an underage girl , while married to top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin \u2014 looked pensive as he meandered through the trees at the expansive ranch.  But he turned decidedly glum when approached by The Post and asked for comment. He refused to say a word before riding slowly off.  Weiner recently got in more hot water with the Democratic Party when authorities investigating his sexting scandal discovered he had e-mails on his computer that could be linked to the FBI probe involving Clinton's private server.  The bombshell development couldn't have come at a worse time for Clinton, who faces Donald Trump in a presidential-race showdown Tuesday.  But Weiner, 52, is now worlds away, putting his time in at the secluded recovery ranch after Abedin jettisoned him when it surfaced that he even sexted selfies with their 4-year-old son sleeping in the background .  Weiner is bunking down at The Ranch's Swan Creek House, one of several lodgings catering to its addled well-heeled clientele about an hour west of Nashville.  \"Nestled amid rolling hills dotted with mature oaks and maples, Swan Creek House is a 15,000-square-foot home that features warm and inviting living spaces and breathtaking views of the surrounding hills,'' The Ranch's Web site says.  \"The home's sprawling outdoor spaces include a pond, natural rock landscaping and rolling hills as far as the eye can see.  \"Also situated on the property is a state-of-the-art equestrian center equipped with lights, heated water and a \u00be bath, as well as 12 stalls, a wash area and a vet area for the equine partners.\"  The center's equine therapy 'involves caring and interacting with horses in ways that provide valuable lessons in accountability and in how we relate to others,'' the site says.  Weiner is without his cell phone in the 15-bed facility, which is specifically for sex addicts \u2014 who are kept strictly separate by gender.  Plunking down a cool $25,000 for the 35-day program, according to online reviews, the disgraced dad still has to make his own meals and clean up after himself.  Participants get daily group therapy. In addition to riding on a horse at least once a week, they also get plenty of other physical activity such as rope-climbing, zip-lining, hiking and canoeing, as well has have access to a gym.  Ironically, Rob Weiss, who heads the ranch's sex-recovery unit, penned an article for the Huffington Post in 2013 in which he talked about Weiner and fellow sex-shamed former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer \u2014 as well as Ariel Castro, the monster who held captive and raped three young Ohio women for more than a decade.  Another center at the 2,000-acre ranch \u2014 which singer Rihanna reportedly once considered to get treatment for a \"love addiction\" \u2014 revolves around a Native American sweat lodge.  The sweat lodge is designed to offer \"opportunities for physical detoxification, spiritual connection and emotional processing,'' the ranch's Web site says.","label":1}
{"text":"The Seattle judge who temporarily banned the White House's refugee reform plan acted after mistakenly claiming the federal government has not arrested jihadi migrants from the seven Muslim countries covered by the reform. [But the federal government has arrested and jailed at least 76 people since 2001 from the seven countries covered in the first stage of the president's reform, which was announced late January. That fact means there is a huge error in the judge's rationale for imposing a \"Temporary Restraining Order\" ban on the president's popular reform of the expensive refugee and immigration programs. In a hearing before the decision, Judge James Robart told a lawyer from the Department of Justice that the federal government has not arrested people since 2001 from any of the seven countries named in the reform, since the 20o1 atrocity in New York. \"How many arrests have there been of foreign nationals for those seven countries since ?\" he asked. The justice department's lawyer replied, \"Your Honor, I don't have that information,\" prompting Robart to answer his own question: Let me tell, you, the answer to that is none, as best I can tell. You're here arguing on behalf of someone that says we have to protect the United States from these individuals coming from these countries and there's no support for that. But according to a database built by the Senate's immigration subcommittee, the federal government has arrested and convicted at least 73 people from the seven countries of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. The Senate's database was assembled despite repeated refusals by Obama's deputies to provide data to the Senate subcommittee in 2016. However, by reviewing public data, \"at least 380 of the 580 individuals convicted of terrorism or offenses between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2014, were born abroad,\" the report concluded in June 2016. The committee's report also added: At least 380 of the 580 were (71 were confirmed and the remaining 129 are not known). Of the 380 at least 24 were initially admitted to the United States as refugees, and at least 33 had overstayed their visas. Additionally, of those born abroad, at least 62 were from Pakistan, 28 were from Lebanon, 22 were Palestinian, 21 were from Somalia, 20 were from Yemen, 19 were from Iraq, 16 were from Jordan, 17 were from Egypt, and 10 were from Afghanistan. A check by Breitbart News shows that the people convicted include five Iranians, 19 Iraqis, two Libyans, 21 Somalians, six Syrians, three Sudanese and 20 Yemenis. That's a total of 76 people, at least. The committee's review of arrestees was overseen by Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, of the Senate immigration panel. Sessions is expected to become the nation's Attorney General, and will likely reverse the justice department's 2016 policy of hiding information about terrorists' immigration status from the public. A review of the Senate's data in 2016 by Breitbart News showed that at least 100 men named for Mohammed have been arrested and convicted for crimes since 2001.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi King Salman on Wednesday and the two leaders agreed Salman will visit the White House early next year, the White House said in a statement. In the phone call, Trump and Salman also discussed ways to continue advancing shared priorities, including enhancing security and prosperity in the Middle East, the statement said.","label":0}
{"text":"Laura Ingraham is dialed in on the Republican s inability to get a good budget bill. She held up the Washington Post to show how Pelosi and Schumer are celebrating the victory of the budget. The Democrats got pretty much everything they wanted at the expense of the American people. We do not have a Republican Party on Capitol Hill that can get its act together. Laura IngrahamLet s face it the Republicans didn t fight for us and Ingraham knows it. She mentions key parts of the spending bill in her rant on Fox & Friends. We re happy she mentioned the ***Refugee Resettlement Program because that s one part of the bill that we re very disappointed in. The Refugee Resettlement Program is so bloated and needs to be overhauled or defunded altogether. We re sick about it:The bill would include a total of $3 billion towards migration and refugee assistance, which is roughly the same that was spent in Fiscal Year 2016. It would also include $50 million towards the emergency refugee and migration assistance fund, which is also the same amount spent in the previous fiscal year.","label":1}
{"text":"On Thursday, failed 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney met with William Kristol. Kristol, considered an influential voice on the right, is leading the effort to draft an independent candidate to challenge the party s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.According to The Washington Post, Kristol and Romney met privately at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Washington to discuss the possibility of Romney entering the race as a third-party candidate.Kristol confirmed the little meeting during a phone interview with The Washington Post on Friday, saying: He came pretty close to being elected president, so I thought he may consider doing it, especially since he has been very forthright in explaining why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should not be president of the United States. The Washington Post reports that Kristol has been desperately seeking a prominent political or military figure who could be drafted into the general-election contest, in hopes of stopping Donald Trump.Kristol previously attempted to draft retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis, who turned down the proposition.According to statements made by Romney later on Thursday, the former candidate said he is not interested in launching an independent run, however he appeared to wholeheartedly support the idea.The Washington Examiner reports that Romney said: I m certainly going to be hoping that we find someone who I have my confidence in who becomes nominee. I don t intend on supporting either of the major-party candidates at this point. He continued, saying: I am dismayed at where we are now, I wish we had better choices, and I keep hoping that somehow things will get better, and I just don t see an easy answer from where we are. No Republicans, there really is no easy answer from where you are. Where you are is totally screwed.There is no super-hero Republican political or military figure who is going to save the GOP from the monster it created. Even if there was, it certainly wouldn t be Mitt Romney, who was already trounced by Democrats in 2012.Lest we forget, the 2016 primary season began with 22 Republican candidates.The candidates included a long list of Republican all-stars : Rick Santorum, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jim Gilmore, Rand Paul, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Scott Walker, Jack Fellure, Andy Martin, Dennis Michael Lynch, Mark Everson, Jimmy McMillan and of course, Donald Trump. Needless to say, none of the other 21 primary candidates managed to stop Donald Trump.The fact that Republicans are now hoping against hope that somehow Mitt Romney can save the Republican party from certain death is almost comical.The Republican base clearly doesn t want another candidate. If they did, they could have picked any one of the 21 other morons who entered the 2016 primary race.Sadly, they want Donald Trump. Sadder still, they want Trump because his politics of hate aptly represent the dregs of society that the right-wing has been recruiting into the party for decades.Image credit: John Tlumacki\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"President Obama s response to the attacks on Belgium were dignified and hopeful, and it was exactly the opposite of the divisive and racist rhetoric of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who took turns describing the frightening things they would do to Muslims if one of them is elected president. At a baseball game in Cuba, the president said: It s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24\/7 news coverage. You want to be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation. But the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people s ordinary lives and one of my most powerful memories and one of my proudest moments as president was when I watched Boston respond after the marathon. Unlike the president, Ted Cruz s response was venomous and hateful and he had a sickening new plan, calling for Muslim neighborhoods to be under police watch. He said: We need to immediately halt the flow of refugees from countries with a significant al Qaida or ISIS presence. We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized. We need to secure the southern border to prevent terrorist infiltration. And we need to execute a coherent campaign to utterly destroy ISIS. Then of course there is the crazy Donald Trump. Instead of sending condolences and creating unity, here s what he had to say: I ve been talking about this for a long time. Brussels was a beautiful place. Zero crime, and now it s a disaster city. It s a total disaster and we have to be very careful as to who we allow into this country. As usual, nothing but opportunistic Republican politicians looking to cash in on a tragedy. But the president s words resonated hope. He continued by saying: They cannot defeat America. They don t produce anything. They don t have a message that appeals to the vast majority of Muslims or the vast majority of people around the world. What they can do is scare and make people afraid and disrupt our daily lives and divide us and as long as we don t allow that to happen, we re gonna be okay. Cruz and Trump are clearly falling into the trap of what terror is designed to do. Let s hope they don t succeed because if they do, that means that terror has succeeded.Watch Video Here:[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SDdTiKLhCcc]","label":1}
{"text":"Germans are far more satisfied with the direction of their country and less politically polarized than other European nations, a survey showed on Wednesday, underscoring why Angela Merkel is expected to win a new term as chancellor this month. The survey by the Bertelsmann Foundation showed that 59 percent of Germans believe their country is headed in the right direction. Some 77 percent say their personal economic situation has improved or stayed the same over the past two years, while 80 percent describe themselves as political centerists. The results contrast with other European countries where dissatisfaction with the economy and political establishment has led to a surge in support for populist parties on the right and left in recent years. By contrast, German voters seem keen for continuity. Merkel is widely expected to win a record-tying fourth term on Sept. 24, with polls showing her center-right bloc 13-15 percentage points ahead of its closest rival, the Social Democrats (SPD). These findings point to a highly content and status quo oriented German society and contrast starkly with the situation elsewhere in Europe, the authors Catherine de Vries and Isabell Hoffmann said. In Italy, for example, just 13 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the direction of their country. In France and Britain, satisfaction levels stood at 36 and 31 percent, respectively. The average satisfaction level across the 28 countries in the EU was 36 percent. Both Germany and France showed sharp increases in satisfaction levels over the past months. In a survey conducted in March, before young centrist Emmanuel Macron was elected president, just 12 percent of French said their country was headed in the right direction. German satisfaction levels stood at 32 percent in March. Among the big European countries, France was the most politically polarized, with just 51 percent of respondents describing themselves as centrist. Some 24 percent identified as left or extreme left, while 25 percent described themselves as right or extreme right. In Germany, just 13 percent of respondents described themselves as left or extreme left, and only 7 percent as right or extreme right. The Bertelsmann survey was conducted in July and based on interviews with 10,755 Europeans in all EU member states.","label":0}
{"text":"Early Tuesday morning, a wave of Turkish airstrikes reportedly struck a headquarters building used by the Kurdish YPG militia in northeastern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 18 YPG fighters and media officials were killed in the attack. [Turkey also conducted airstrikes in the Sinjar region of Iraq, ostensibly aimed at the militant Kurdish separatists of the PKK. However, Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq \u2014 another key U. S. military ally against the Islamic State \u2014 also said the Turks hit their positions, killing five of their troops. The YPG released a statement saying its headquarters in Mount Karachok near the border was hit by Turkish planes, damaging a media center, radio broadcast facilities, and military installations. The YPG described Turkey's attack as \"treacherous\" and \"barbaric\" and even accused the Turks of attempting to undermine the planned offensive against Raqqa, the Syrian capital of the Islamic State. Critics of Turkey have accused it of tacitly supporting ISIS against the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria and of covertly profiting from trade with the Islamic State. Syrian Kurdish leader Salih Muslim asked the United States to defend them against further Turkish strikes. \"A people that is fighting terrorism is being stabbed in the back. Coalition forces must not remain silent against this. No one should accept these attacks,\" Muslim said. The Turkish military said these airstrikes were intended to stop the PKK from smuggling weapons into Turkey. A statement from the military described the targets as \"terrorists\" and \"terror hubs. \" According to the Turkish military, 70 militants were killed in the airstrikes. The PKK recently claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a police compound in southeastern Turkey that killed three people. The attackers dug a tunnel beneath the compound to plant what they described as \"more than 2. 5 tonnes of explosives. \" Turkey accuses other Kurdish forces, particularly the YPG in Syria, of being in league with the PKK. The PKK does have a presence in the Sinjar region, in part because it came to the aid of the Yazidi minority when ISIS tried to exterminate them. The PKK has been training and arming Yazidis to fight the Islamic State and has said it will not withdraw from Sinjar until Yazidi forces control the area. The Kurdish administration has been urging Yazidis to join the Peshmerga and other militia units instead of the PKK. Peshmerga commanders have asked the PKK to withdraw from the area. This is a difficult conflict for the United States to negotiate. On the one hand, Turkey is a NATO member and an important regional ally the U. S. is nervous about alienating. The U. S. classifies the PKK as a terrorist organization, just as Turkey does. On the other hand, the Peshmerga and YPG are crucial American battlefield allies against the Islamic State. The Peshmerga and YPG have also clashed among themselves, even while both cooperate with the United States. American military officials reportedly visited the Mount Karachok region by helicopter on Tuesday to assess the damage from Turkey's airstrikes. Turkey's Daily Sabah, which has a bent, began its report on the visit by stating the YPG is an \"offshoot\" of the PKK terrorist group and said banners depicting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan can be seen in the background of photos that showed U. S. officials walking with YPG representatives. The U. S. coalition in Iraq and Syria issued a statement encouraging all forces in the region to \"concentrate their efforts on ISIS and not toward objectives that may cause the Coalition to divert energy and resources away from the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. \" The Iraqi Foreign Ministry denounced Turkey's strikes as a violation of its sovereignty, warned that a larger Turkish military incursion would \"destabilize northern Iraq,\" and asked the international community to block further \"interference\" by Turkey.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican Congressman Will Hurd - whose district spans 800 miles (1,290 km) of the Texas-Mexico border - on Friday criticized plans under consideration by the Trump administration to build walls and fences costing an estimated $21.6 billion to deter illegal immigration. Reuters on Thursday revealed details of an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that estimated the cost of covering the entire border. It called for the first phase of construction to begin in San Diego, California; El Paso, Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. \"Building a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border,\" Hurd, whose district includes El Paso, said in an email. He said his district includes rough terrain where \"it is impossible to build a physical wall.\" The estimated price tag in the report is much higher than a $12 billion figure cited by Republican President Donald Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The border wall was one of Trump's main campaign promises. Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, has vowed to make Mexico pay for it, but the United States' southern neighbor has repeatedly said it will not fund its construction. Many congressional Democrats reacted strongly to the news of plans for the wall and its estimated price. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a telephone interview that he welcomed the debate in his committee over funding the wall. \"Instead of funding this costly and ineffective proxy for real action on immigration reform, we should be directing our resources toward finding cures for cancer, building schools for our children, feeding the hungry and rebuilding our bridges and our roads,\" Leahy said. Five Democratic senators on Friday wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly claiming that the money would be misspent. The letter was signed by Senators Kamala Harris of California, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren, a star of the political left, was silenced in the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday evening for speaking out against Trump's attorney general nominee, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions was confirmed on Wednesday. The senators wrote, \"We are extraordinarily concerned that President Trump's executive order appears to require that you divert DHS funds meant for critical security priorities to instead fund the border wall.\" They asked that Kelly respond to a series of questions, including how much funding will be diverted to cover costs for building the wall. Hurd said he had seen estimates as high as $40 billion for the barrier's construction, citing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study released in October.","label":0}
{"text":"In an interview with TIME, Donald Trump pussygrabber extraordinaire went after Stephen Colbert for referring to The Donald s mouth as a place where Russian dictator Vladimir Putin keeps his d*k warm. You see a no-talent guy like Colbert. There s nothing funny about what he says. And what he says is filthy. And you have kids watching. And it only builds up my base. It only helps me, people like him. The guy was dying. By the way they were going to take him off television, then he started attacking me and he started doing better, Trump said. But his show was dying. I ve done his show. But when I did his show, which by the way was very highly rated. It was high highest rating. The highest rating he s ever had. On Thursday, the late night host shot back at Trump, and it just had to be painful. The president of the United States has personally come after me and my show. And there s only one thing to say: Yay! Colbert said during his monologue. I won! Mr. Trump, there s a lot you don t understand, but I never thought one of those things would be show business, Colbert said. Don t you know I ve been trying for a year to get you to say my name? Oh, please, don t make me trend on Twitter again! Don t throw me in that #briarpatch! Making jokes about you has been good for ratings. It s almost as if the majority of Americans didn t want you to be President, Colbert informed The Orange One. But you know who s got really bad ratings these days? You do. Terrible approval numbers. I hear they re thinking about switching your time slot with Mike Pence. Colbert s takedown of Trump was blistering, but the most painful part was when the comedian pointed out that the Trump show was not the highest-rated. As for who was? Let s just say his name rhymes with Neb Kush. Watch it below:featured image via screengrab","label":1}
{"text":"Teachers in Peru started returning to classrooms on Monday after union leaders announced they should suspend a strike that had sparked unrest and dragged on for more than two months in some places. Teachers at public schools in Peru had sought a sharper salary hike than the government s 12 percent proposal for next year and opposed evaluation-based firings. But union leader Pedro Castillo announced a temporary end to the strike during the weekend after the government threatened to dismiss teachers who did not return to class. The strike threatened to force 3.5 million school children to repeat the academic year and had sunk President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski s approval rating as teachers blocked roads and clashed with police. The Education Ministry urged parents to work with teachers to set up schedules to make up for lost time. The government offered to introduce its proposed salary increase to a minimum of 2,000 soles ($618) per month in November instead of next year and said teachers 55 and older could retire early. Kuczynski s approval rating dropped 13 percentage points to 19 percent in August, according to a monthly opinion poll by GfK - a new low for the former Wall Street banker in his year-old government.","label":0}
{"text":"Yevgeny Yevtushenko, an internationally acclaimed poet with the charisma of an actor and the instincts of a politician whose defiant verse inspired a generation of young Russians in their fight against Stalinism during the Cold War, died on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla. where he had been teaching for many years. He was 83. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by a close friend, Mikhail Morgulis, with the TASS news agency. It said he had been admitted late Friday in \"serious condition,\" but the cause of death was not specified. His wife, Maria Novikova, and their two sons, Dmitry and Yevgeny, were reportedly with him when he died. Mr. Yevtushenko's poems of protest, often declaimed with sweeping gestures to thousands of excited admirers in public squares, sports stadiums and lecture halls, captured the tangled emotions of Russia's young \u2014 hope, fear, anger and euphoric anticipation \u2014 as the country struggled to free itself from repression during the tense, confused years after Joseph Stalin's death in 1953. In 1961 alone Mr. Yevtushenko gave 250 poetry readings. He became, as one writer described him, \"a graying lion of Russian letters\" in his later years, teaching and lecturing at American universities, including the University of Tulsa, and basking in the admiration of succeeding generations before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But it was as a tall, athletic young Siberian with a spirit both hauntingly poetic and fiercely political that he established his name in literature. He was the best known of a small group of rebel poets and writers who brought hope to a young generation with poetry that took on totalitarian leaders, ideological zealots and timid bureaucrats. Among the others were Andrei Voznesensky, Robert Rozhdestvensky and Bella Akhmadulina, Mr. Yevtushenko's first wife. Mr. Yevtushenko did so working mostly within the system, however, taking care not to join the ranks of outright literary dissidents. By stopping short of the line between defiance and resistance, he enjoyed a measure of official approval that more daring dissidents came to resent. While they were subjected to exile or labor camps, Mr. Yevtushenko was given state awards, his books were regularly published, and he was allowed to travel abroad, becoming an international literary superstar. Some critics had doubts about his sincerity as a foe of tyranny. Some called him a sellout. A few enemies even suggested that he was merely posing as a protester to serve the security police or the Communist authorities. The exiled poet Joseph Brodsky once said of Mr. Yevtushenko, \"He throws stones only in directions that are officially sanctioned and approved. \" Mr. Yevtushenko's defenders bristled at such attacks, pointing out how much he did to oppose the Stalin legacy, his animus fueled by the knowledge that both of his grandfathers had perished in Stalin's purges of the 1930s. He was expelled from his university in 1956 for joining the defense of a banned novel, Vladimir Dudintsev's \"Not by Bread Alone. \" He refused to join in the official campaign against Boris Pasternak, the author of \"Doctor Zhivago\" and the recipient of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature. Mr. Yevtushenko denounced the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 interceded with the K. G. B. chief, Yuri V. Andropov, on behalf of another Nobel laureate, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and opposed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Mr. Yevtushenko wrote thousands of poems, including some shallow ones that he dashed off, he admitted, just to mark an occasion. Some critics questioned the literary quality of his work. Some writers resented his flamboyance, sartorial and otherwise, and his success. But his foes as well as his friends agreed that a select few of his poems have entered the annals of Russian literature as masterpieces of insight and conscience. Written and read to crowds at critical moments, Yevtushenko poems like \"Stalin's Heirs\" caught the spirit of a nation at a crossroads. In Russia, writers could be more influential at times than politicians. But they could also be severely rebuffed if they offended, as Pasternak did with his novel \"Doctor Zhivago,\" and as Solzhenitsyn did with \"The Gulag Archipelago\" and other works. lingered in the Kremlin after Stalin's death. In one instance, nervous officials thwarted efforts to raise a monument at Babi Yar, a ravine near Kiev, Ukraine, where thousands of Jews were and buried in a mass grave in 1941 by the invading Germans. The reason the Kremlin said it resisted a memorial was that the Germans had shot other people there, too, not only Jews. Mr. Yevtushenko tackled the issue in 1961 in blunt verse that stunned many Russians and earned him acclaim around the world. The poem \"Babi Yar,\" composed after a haunting visit to the ravine, included these lines: There are no monuments over Babi Yar. But the sheer cliff is like a rough tombstone. It horrifies me. Today, I am as oldAs the Jewish people. It seems to me now, That I, too, am a Jew. Alluding to the pogroms that erupted at intervals over the centuries, Mr. Yevtushenko went on: It seems to me, I am a boy in Byelostok. Blood is flowing, Spreading across the floors. The leaders of the tavern mob are ragingAnd they stink of vodka and onions. Kicked aside by a boot, I lie helpless. In vain I plead with the brutesAs voices roar:\"Kill the Jews! Save Russia!\" In a country ruled by Marxist myth, ostensibly free of bigotry, \"Babi Yar\" touched nerves in the leadership, and it was amended to meet official objections. Even so, it moved audiences. Whenever Mr. Yevtushenko recited the poem at public rallies, it was met with stunned silence and then thunderous ovations. He wrote once that he had received 20, 000 letters hailing \"Babi Yar. \" Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Thirteenth Symphony on lines from that and other Yevtushenko poems. But Mr. Yevtushenko was not allowed to give a public reading of the poem in Ukraine until the 1980s. \"Stalin's Heirs,\" published in 1962, also stirred Russians, appearing at a time when they feared that repression might return to the country. It was published only after Nikita S. Khrushchev, the party leader who was then involved in a power struggle with conservatives, intervened as he pushed his cultural \"thaw. \" Stalin had been condemned anew the year before as having been a mad tyrant. The poem appeared in Pravda, the Communist Party's official newspaper, and caused a sensation. \"Stalin's Heirs\" opens with a description of Stalin's body being borne in his coffin out of the Red Square mausoleum to a grave near the Kremlin wall. Sullenly clenchingHis embalmed fists, He peered through a crack, Just pretending to be dead. He wanted to remember all thoseWho carried him out. Mr. Yevtushenko went on: I turn to our government with a plea:To double, And triple the guard at the grave siteSo Stalin does not rise again, And with Stalin, the past. And later, the main point of the poem: We removedHimFrom the mausoleum. But how do we remove StalinFrom Stalin's heirs? By the time democratic changes brought down Soviet Communist rule early in the 1990s, Mr. Yevtushenko had risen in the reform system to become a member of Parliament and secretary of the official Union of Soviet Writers. Along the way he received high honors, was published in the best periodicals and was sent abroad as an envoy of good will. He also endured abuse, jealousy, frustration and censorship. He once joked that Moscow censors were his best readers, the most expert at catching his meanings and nuances. Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Gangnus was born on July 18, 1933, in Zima Junction, a remote lumber station on the Railway in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, near Lake Baikal. His father, Aleksandr Rudolfovich Gangnus, was a geologist, as was his mother, Zinaida Ermolaevna Evtushenko, who became a singer. His parents divorced, and the boy took his mother's surname. Yevgeny spent his early childhood with his mother in Moscow. When German troops approached the city in late 1941, the family was evacuated to Zima and stayed there until 1944. Yevgeny's father would sometimes take the boy on geology expeditions to wild regions of Kazakhstan and the Altai Mountains and, along the way, recite poetry to him. Yevgeny learned to love nature and literature. He was also drawn to sports. At 16 he was selected to join a professional soccer team. But sudden literary success compelled him to abandon that ambition. Soon his poems began appearing in newspapers, popular magazines and literary monthlies. The authorities praised his early poems, which he later called \"hack work,\" and he was admitted to the elite Gorky Literary Institute and to the Soviet Writers' Union. But after Stalin's death \u2014 Mr. Yevtushenko was almost crushed to death in a funeral stampede in Moscow \u2014 his work began to run counter to Soviet Realism, the officially sanctioned artistic style it reflected instead new thinking about individual responsibility and the state. Themes of state repression and fear had recurred in his poetry over the years, but he also began introducing personal matters into it, as he did in his long poem \"Zima Junction,\" about a return to his hometown in 1953. Published in 1956, it was followed by more volumes of poetry that refused to conform to the approved modes of expression. After he praised \"Not by Bread Alone,\" Dudintsev's caustic 1956 novel about Soviet life, Mr. Yevtushenko was expelled from the Literary Institute. But as the 1950s grew to a close, he had published seven volumes of poetry and was allowed to read his work abroad. In the next few years he became familiar to literary circles in Eastern and Western Europe, the United States, Cuba, East Africa and Australia. Indeed, a virtual cult began to develop around him after Time magazine put his portrait, as an \"angry young man,\" on its cover in April 1962 and printed a laudatory article about him as a leading spirit in a changing, liberalizing Russia. For his part, Mr. Yevtushenko stressed that American writers had been important in his literary development. Later that year, he exchanged words with Khrushchev at a Moscow exhibit of contemporary art. Khrushchev, who had simple tastes and was facing serious political challenges, flew into a rage against abstractionism and made threats of coercion. A crackdown on modern art, literature and music was felt soon after the confrontation. Mr. Yevtushenko kept a loyal following, writing about nearly everything of importance at home and abroad. He paid tribute to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after they were assassinated. He honored Allison Krause, one of the students shot to death at Kent State University during a Vietnam War protest. He chided John Steinbeck for not protesting the war in Vietnam. In the poem \"Russian Tanks in Prague,\" he criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. (It was circulated only hand to hand, going unpublished until 1990.) In the Mr. Yevtushenko championed the glasnost campaign of \"openness\" waged by the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. In a speech to the Writers' Union, Mr. Yevtushenko assailed privilege, censorship and the distortion of history. He was a member of the first freely elected Supreme Soviet, the country's standing Parliament. He went on to publicly defy the conservative plotters of an attempt to seize power in 1991. The coup attempt, which temporarily deposed Mr. Gorbachev, sent a shock wave across Russia and around the world. Mr. Yevtushenko was later given a medal as a \"Defender of Free Russia. \" The upheaval became the backdrop for \"Don't Die Before You're Dead,\" one of two novels he wrote. Mr. Yevtushenko did not write only about political and social issues. He composed verses on love, nature, art, travel and the various pains and joys of life. In 1956, for example, while married to Bella Akhmadulina, he wrote \"My Beloved Will Come\": My beloved will comeAnd wrap me in her arms. She will notice the changesAnd understand my fears. Through the black downpour, from night's gloom, Forgetting in haste to shut the taxi door, She will run up the decrepit stairwayFlushed with joy and longing. She will enter soaking wetWithout knocking. She will take my head in her hands, And her blue fur coat will slipHappily from the chair onto the floor. Mr. Yevtushenko had four marriages. He married Galina Semenova after he and Ms. Akhmadulina divorced. (Ms. Akhmadulina died in 2010.) His third wife, Jan Butler, was an English translator of his poetry. His widow, Ms. Novikova, whom he married in 1986, has taught Russian at a preparatory school near the University of Tulsa. Besides Alexander and Dmitry, he had three other sons, Yevgeny, Pyotr and Anton. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available. Mr. Yevtushenko kept homes in Russia and in the United States and, besides the University of Tulsa, taught at the the City University of New York and New York University (where one student remembered him dressed in silver suits \"stalking back and forth across the front of the lecture hall\" as he read his poems in \"booming Russian\"). He traveled widely, reading his poetry, lecturing, teaching and giving speeches to overflow crowds at universities. Through it all, Mr. Yevtushenko regarded himself as a patriot. In \"Don't Die Before You're Dead,\" he summed up his ambivalent feelings of triumph, nostalgia and remorse as a survivor of the defunct Soviet system. In a poem on the final page, \"Goodbye, Our Red Flag,\" he wrote: I didn't take the czars' Winter Palace. I didn't storm Hitler's Reichstag. I am not what you call a \"Commie. \"But I caress the Red Flagand cry. Poetry made him famous, but Mr. Yevtushenko preferred in his later years to describe himself as a \"poet, writer and filmmaker. \" Besides the two novels, he published dozens of volumes of poetry, which have been translated into dozens of languages. He acted or appeared as himself in several films, directed two others, wrote essays and compiled three volumes of his photographs. He preferred Oklahoma to New York. \"In some provincial cities you can find the real soul of a country,\" he told The New York Times in 2003. \"I like the craziness of New York, but New York is really not America. It's all humanity in one drop. Tulsa is very American. \" He called Tulsa \"the bellybutton of world culture. \" There he enjoyed watching younger generations coming into their own. \"Someone is near,\" he said to one class in dramatic tones. \"I feel it. Someone always has to be the leader of a generation. Someone has to be born. Why not one of you?\" He had shown the same fervor a decade earlier, in July 1993, when the Concert Hall of the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow was the setting for a celebration of his 60th birthday and, by extension, a testimonial to the defiant poets and writers of the 1960s who had broken through the iron grip of Stalinism. \"Today you, one of the initiators of the Sixties movement, turn 60,\" President Boris N. Yeltsin wrote in a congratulatory letter to Mr. Yevtushenko. \"Your innate, multifaceted talent arose brightly in the years of the 'thaw.' The civic consciousness of young poets then played a huge role in the spiritual liberation and awakening of the people of Russia. \" A woman agreed, telling a reporter: \"He was a symbol for us then. Later he was attacked for not being exiled or sent to the camps, for making a career of protest. But not many of us had the courage to stand up to the regime, and he did. You can't blame him that he survived. \" Mr. Yevtushenko, still the in a brown silk suit, closed the evening by reading a poem called \"Sixties Generation\": \"We were a fad for some, some we offended with our fame. But we set you free, you envious insulters. Let them hiss, that we are without talent, Sold out and hypocrites, It makes no difference. We are legendary, Spat upon, but immortal!\"","label":0}
{"text":"Five magistrates named by the opposition-run congress who had been holed up in the Chilean ambassador s residence to avoid arrest fled in the early hours of Monday and escaped over the border to Colombia, a source said on Tuesday. The Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Elenis Rodriguez, Luis Marcano, Jose Nunez, Beatriz Ruiz, and Zuleima Del Valle had left the premises on Monday, but did not offer further details. Relatives came to get them at 5 a.m. yesterday. They escaped via (the Colombian border city of) Cucuta, said the source close to the five, who have been granted asylum by the Chilean government. From there they will travel to Washington D.C. to meet with the Organization of American States, the source added. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro threatened the opposition-named magistrates with jail in July after they challenged the existing Supreme Court, which has heavily favored the ruling Socialist Party. The status of the other magistrates remains unclear. Three were detained, although local media reported they were subsequently freed. Others have fled to the United States and Colombia. Venezuela s Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Venezuelan opposition COPEI party member Roberto Enriquez remains in the home of the Chilean ambassador in Caracas, the Foreign Ministry added in its statement.","label":0}
{"text":"By riding his appeal among whites to the top of the Republican Party, Donald J. Trump has emboldened conservative thinkers to press their party of business and the privileged to reshape its economic canon to more directly benefit poorer workers it has often taken for granted. The policy prescriptions of these reform conservatives, or \"reformocons,\" would not only break with some longtime Republican orthodoxy \u2014 disavowing tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich, for example \u2014 they would also counter more recent stances by Mr. Trump on trade and immigration. And because of a lack of policy specifics in Mr. Trump's campaign, reform conservatives see an opening through which to push their prescriptions. \"What it means to be a conservative is up for grabs,\" said Reihan Salam, the executive editor of the conservative National Review. Whether Mr. Trump prevails or the party is left to rebuild from defeat, these conservatives in think tanks, advocacy groups and the news media \u2014 and a few in political office \u2014 will be pressing for a new agenda: to update the playbook with an eye to voters without a college education who form the Republican base. Ronald Reagan's notions that policies that benefit the rich and big business lift all incomes now appear outmoded in an era of rising wealth inequality and stagnant wages. The challenge to the party could be every bit as contentious as Mr. Trump's ascent has been. Beyond conservative think tanks and activist circles, the new breed of conservatives has not made significant inroads among House Republicans, for instance. And even these Republicans do not agree on everything. But some common ideas suggest their proposed road map for the party: \u2022 Reject additional tax cuts for those making more than $250, 000 a year, but expand breaks for and workers through tax credits for children, the tax credit or a new wage subsidy using tax dollars to bring low wages toward the local median level. \u2022 Promote the benefits of global trade agreements, but help displaced workers. \u2022 Rule out fully privatizing Social Security and Medicare, and reassure workers they will be exempt from . \u2022 Acknowledge that universal health care is here to stay, but push for changes. \u2022 Disavow mass deportations and promote the economic benefits of legalizing longtime workers who are in the country illegally, but reduce the legal entry of immigrants. \"What we have going on right now, and Trump's position in the Republican Party, makes this recalibration that much more important, that much more urgent,\" said Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah. \"Some within the party,\" he added, \"have been all too willing to wear the label of the Republican Party as being the party of Wall Street, or the party of the top 1 percent. \" Although most of them oppose Mr. Trump's candidacy \u2014 Mr. Salam called him \"an overwhelmingly noxious and negative force\" \u2014 these conservatives do credit him with engaging voters and dealing them into the economic conversation. \"The biggest thing that Trump offers these voters is finally somebody paying attention,\" said Henry Olsen, a scholar at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. \"Imagine that they're the wallflowers at the high school dance and they're sitting off, ignored by everybody. Suddenly, the football hero comes up and says, 'Come dance with me.' That's intoxicating. \" Led by younger conservatives, the push for new approaches began in the past decade, as big spending and military interventions by the Bush administration and a Congress vexed many in the party. Capturing the ferment was a 2008 book, \"Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream,\" by Mr. Salam and Ross Douthat, who is now a columnist for The New York Times. \"The Trump phenomenon has really opened things up \u2014 people are more inclined to listen, elites within the party are more inclined to listen,\" said Mr. Salam, who, with Mr. Douthat, recently updated their book's theme in an opinion article in The Times. The authors wrote in their that Mr. Trump's white supporters were \"clearly voting against a party leadership that pays them lip service while ignoring their concerns\" \u2014 a revulsion that will not disappear even if Mr. Trump does. Proponents of a new conservative agenda have critics in both parties. Democrats dismiss their ideas as repackaging a familiar agenda. Some Republicans and conservative media figures like Rush Limbaugh condemn their cause as a return of moderate Republicanism or a capitulation to liberalism. Michael A. Needham, the chief executive of Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, said reform conservatives and Tea organizations like his are allies in their desire to rewrite a \"stale\" economic agenda tilted to Republican donors. But he acknowledged differences in tactics and substance. His group and its allies favor conflict, like government shutdowns, for instance. And they still want to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut taxes for everyone. Yet conservative agitators were mostly talking among themselves until Mr. Trump toppled the party establishment, along the way flouting longstanding party dogma on taxes, trade and immigration. Democrats have long charged that white Americans who vote heavily Republican do so against their economic interests. A new poll for The Wall Street Journal and NBC News had Hillary Clinton ahead over all but trailing Mr. Trump by 13 percentage points among whites without a college education and by 21 points among men in that group. Past polls had her even further behind with those voters, however. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in an interview on MSNBC's \"Morning Joe\" last week that the Democratic Party bore some responsibility. While its policies may be geared toward workers, he said, \"The Democratic Party over all hasn't spoken enough to those voters\" \u2014 the \"ordinary people busting their necks. \" It was an echo of the Republican now playing out. For all of Mr. Trump's outreach to whites, Robert VerBruggen, the managing editor of The American Conservative, said the party platform that emerged from the Republican convention was further evidence of the gap between the party's support from white workers and its agenda that all but ignores them. \"The breakdown of the working class was neglected,\" he wrote in his magazine. \"There seems to have been little discussion of the economic anxieties of working families, the safety net or the drug epidemic sweeping rural America. \" \"Instead,\" Mr. VerBruggen wrote, \"their focus on the bottom half of the economic spectrum seems to have been limited to a debate about the purchase of unhealthy snacks with food stamps. \" Oren Cass, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the former domestic policy director for Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, even suggested that Republicans look for ways to harness labor unions for constructive relationships. He also predicted more openness among conservatives to raising taxes when justified. \"It's hard to imagine the Grover Norquist tax pledge having the salience it once did,\" Mr. Cass said, referring to the longstanding vow that most Republican candidates take. \"That model of 'no tax increases, ever, under any circumstances' I think is probably on its way out or gone. \" Mr. Norquist scoffed at the suggestion. \"The pledge came out in '86,\" he said. \"Every six months from then somebody has said, 'Oh, the pledge won't hold.' \" It is, he added, \"nonnegotiable. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Report Copyright Violation BREAKING...Hillary Clinton's E-Mail Server Company Got Almost $1 Million In Gov't Loans After Wiping E-Mails \"Hillary Clinton's e-mail server company got almost $1 million in government loans starting immediately after they were secretly asked to wipe Hillary Clinton's name from her e-mails \" Last Edited by thatonedad on 10\/26\/2016 02:29 PM Anonymous Coward","label":1}
{"text":"Thu, 27 Oct 2016 16:45 UTC \u00a9 Yves Herman \/ Reuters The Belgian government has reached a deal with the Wallonia region on the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, according to Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Michel said \"an agreement\" was found after a last minute round of negotiations with Belgium's French-speaking community who have been holding up the deal. Brussels has not released the details of the compromise. The signing of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was cancelled on Thursday after the deal was blocked by Wallonia's regional parliament. Comment: Belgium's Wallonia region defying EU Junker's CETA trade deal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to cancel Thursday's trip to Brussels as the negotiations had stalled. Wallonia premier Paul Magnette said the region was not opposed to an EU trade deal with Canada. However, he insisted the secret arbitration scheme allowing corporations to sue governments had to be dropped from the agreement. Regional leaders in Wallonia voted 46 to 16 against CETA over fears of job losses due to cheaper farming and industrial imports. CETA promises to eliminate tariffs on 98 percent of goods immediately after ratification and also encompasses regulatory cooperation, shipping, sustainable development and access to government tenders. CETA's supporters say the deal would yield billions in added trade through customs and tariff cuts and other measures facilitating business ties. Opponents claim the trade deal will only benefit the wealthy and large corporations. For CETA to be ratified, all 28 European Union countries have to agree the treaty. Until now, Belgium has been the main obstacle to the free trade deal. \"All parliaments are now able to approve by tomorrow at midnight. Important step for EU and Canada,\" Michel tweeted.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump said on Friday he would spend an extra day in the Philippines during his trip to Asia, which the White House confirmed would be to attend the East Asia Summit taking place there. \"We're actually staying an extra day in the Philippines. We have a big conference, the second conference, and I think we're going to have great success,\" Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for his trip.","label":0}
{"text":"A group of Republican and Democratic U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday that would provide an additional 2,500 visas for Afghans who have assisted U.S. forces by working as interpreters or in other support functions, often risking their lives. The U.S. State Department said last week it would soon run out of visas for the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, designed to help bring to the United States those who have worked for the government during the decade and a half that U.S. forces have been engaged in the country. The U.S. embassy in Kabul has stopped scheduling interviews for applicants seeking a visa through the program. The bill was introduced by Republican Senators John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Thom Tillis, and Democrats Jack Reed, the committee's top Democrat, and Jeanne Shaheen. Tillis and Shaheen are also members of the panel. The four senators led efforts in the Senate to extend the Afghan SIV program last year. \"This legislation would ensure the continuation of this vital Special Immigrant Visa program, and send a clear message that America will not turn its back on those \u2014 who at great personal risk \u2014 stand with us in the fight against terror,\" McCain said in a statement. The National Defense Authorization Act passed late last year added 1,500 visas to the program, while tightening requirements for eligibility. Shaheen's office said more than 10,000 applicants are still in the process of obtaining visas. The Afghan visa announcement came as U.S. officials prepared to implement President Donald Trump's executive order, effective this week, that temporarily bans the admission of refugees and some travelers from six Muslim-majority countries. Afghanistan is not one of the six but some members of Congress have resisted expanding the SIV program out of concern that militants could use it to enter the United States. Supporters of the program dismiss the concerns, noting that applicants are subjected to intense screening.","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says This will rank as one of the most egregious miscarriages of consumer trust in US history. In a brief statement to Reuters, according to these Silicon Valley executives: Yahoo is a law-abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States. Actually, Yahoo is in breach of the law. The laws they think they are talking about do not allow for flipping a dead switch on the 4th Amendment and conducting mass surveillance on all US citizens.In reality, the US Constitution is meant to be the supreme law of the land and Yahoo just colluded with an out of control US federal government to trash the 4th Amendment.So who is Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo CEO who willingly colluded behind closed doors with the NSA and the FBI to submit all of Yahoo s customer base to unwarranted surveillance? Why was this 37 year old neophyte allowed to walk into the top spot from Google with no real managerial experience, and put in charge of such a large corporation and then given a $54 million golden parachute after this dark spying debacle? She has quickly amassed net worth of approximately $500 million half a billion dollars.It sounds like she was definitely hand-picked for this particular job SELL OUT: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer sold out her customer base to an out of control, data-hungry Federal government.The GuardianYahoo last year secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials, sources have told Reuters.The company complied with a classified US government directive, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of the National Security Agency (NSA) or FBI, according to two former employees and a third person who knew about the program.Some surveillance experts said this represents the first known case of a US internet company agreeing to a spy agency s demand by searching all arriving messages, as opposed to examining stored messages or scanning a small number of accounts in real time.It is not known what information intelligence officials were looking for, only that they wanted Yahoo to search for a set of characters. That could mean a phrase in an email or an attachment, said the sources.Reuters was unable to determine what data Yahoo may have handed over, if any, and whether intelligence officials had approached other email providers besides Yahoo with this kind of request.According to the two former employees, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer s decision to obey the directive troubled some senior executives and led to the June 2015 departure of the chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, who now heads security at Facebook.( ) Andrew Crocker, staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that the use of the word directive to describe the program indicated that the request may have been ordered under the section 702 of the 2008 Fisa Amendments Act, which allows the government to target non-US citizens abroad for surveillance.Revelations by Edward Snowden about the Prism and Upstream programs of which the Yahoo program looks like a hybrid, Crocker said show that US citizens were also subject to mass surveillance. The fourth amendment and attendant privacy concerns are quite staggering, Crocker said. It sounds like they are scanning all emails, even inside the US the fourth amendment protects that fully. It s hard to see how the government justifies requiring Yahoo to search emails like that; there is no warrant that could possibly justify scanning all emails Continue this story at The GuardianREAD MORE SCI-TECH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Sci-Tech Files","label":1}
{"text":"Insists ISIS Capital Will Be Attacked With 'Forces Available' by Jason Ditz, November 02, 2016 Share This  Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today confirmed that negotiations with Turkey are ongoing related to the upcoming invasion of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital city of ISIS. Carter suggested Turkey's involvement would only happen \" further down the road .\"  The US announced that it intends to launch an invasion of Raqqa very soon, will conduct the operation concurrent with the ongoing invasion of Mosul in Iraq, and that Kurdish YPG forces will be providing the vast majority of the forces for this offensive.  That's irked Turkey, particularly the last part, as Turkish officials repeatedly warned the US against allowing Kurds anywhere near Raqqa and have suggested their own involvement was contingent on there being no Kurds involved.  Carter's comments suggest the US plan to invade without Turkey is unchanged, and that they intend to try to placate Turkey about the involvement of the YPG by giving them some involvement in the post-ISIS situation in Raqqa. Turkey is particularly keen to ensure that their own allies end up in control of Raqqa, and that's likely the main incentive of this deal. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz","label":1}
{"text":"Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, conceding that her airport meeting with former President Bill Clinton this week had cast a shadow over the federal investigation of Hillary Clinton's personal email account, said Friday that she would accept whatever recommendations career prosecutors and the F. B. I. director made about whether to bring charges in the case. Ms. Lynch said she had decided this spring to defer to the recommendations of her staff and the F. B. I. because her status as a political appointee sitting in judgment on a politically charged case would raise questions of a conflict of interest. But the meeting with Mr. Clinton, she acknowledged, had deepened those questions, and she said she now felt compelled to explain publicly her reasoning to try to put the concerns to rest. \"People have a whole host of reasons to have questions about how we in government do our business,\" Ms. Lynch said at an Aspen Institute conference in Colorado. \"My meeting on the plane with former President Clinton could give them another reason to have questions and concerns. \" Though she insisted the conversation was a purely social encounter, Ms. Lynch said, \"I certainly wouldn't do it again. \" The attorney general's response did little to quell a political tempest in Washington, with some Republicans calling for her to recuse herself from the case \u2014 a step she said she was not going to take. Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said the meeting had \"opened up a Pandora's box. \" He cast doubt on whether it was entirely social, citing it as an example of how \"the special interests are controlling your government. \" For Democrats, already anxious about the political impact of the email investigation, the incident revived fears that Mr. Clinton could become a rogue actor in a campaign that has so far operated more smoothly than Mrs. Clinton's presidential bid in 2008. Mr. Clinton, who was on a swing for his wife, strode across the tarmac at the airport in Phoenix to greet Ms. Lynch after her plane landed there on Monday night. The attorney general joked that she should have acted more swiftly to keep him from boarding. Asked by a journalist to name one thing she wished her predecessor, Eric H. Holder Jr. had told her about her job, she replied, \"Where the lock on the plane door was. \" Still, Ms. Lynch said the episode was personally distressing because it stained the reputation of the Justice Department. \"The fact that the meeting that I had is now casting a shadow over how people are going to view that work is something that I take seriously, and deeply and painfully,\" she said. Even Ms. Lynch's explanation of how she planned to distance herself from the case \u2014 without recusing herself \u2014 required further clarification. \"The case will be resolved by the team that's been working on it from the beginning,\" she said in Aspen. But a Justice Department spokeswoman, Melanie Newman, noted afterward that even if Ms. Lynch accepted the recommendation of her staff, she would be the one making the decision. \"She's the head of the department,\" Ms. Newman said, \"and with that comes ultimate responsibility for any decision. \" The White House declined to comment on Ms. Lynch's decision. President Obama \"believes that this matter should be handled without regard to politics,\" the press secretary, Josh Earnest, said. The F. B. I. is investigating whether Mrs. Clinton, her aides or anyone else broke the law by setting up a private email server for her to use as secretary of state. Internal investigators have concluded that the server was used to send classified information. For the Justice Department, the central question is whether the conduct met the legal standard for the crime of mishandling classified information. Ms. Lynch, whom Mr. Clinton appointed to be a United States attorney in 1999, said that the meeting with the former president was unplanned and largely social, and did not touch on the email investigation. \"He said hello and we basically said hello, and congratulated him on his grandchildren, as people do,\" said Ms. Lynch, who was traveling with her husband. \"That led to a conversation about those grandchildren. \" For Mr. Clinton, who travels frequently by private jet, such airport socializing is common. Last month, he ran into Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, after speaking at the funeral of Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Ky. The two chatted before their planes took off. He has also greeted Representative Paul D. Ryan, the House speaker, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Republican governor of California, on the tarmac. And in Mobile, Ala. he chatted with Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who has called for Mrs. Clinton's imprisonment. This meeting, however, created a particularly awkward situation for Ms. Lynch, a veteran prosecutor who was nominated from outside Washington's political circles. During her confirmation, her allies sought to contrast her with her predecessor, Mr. Holder, an outspoken liberal voice who clashed frequently with Republicans who accused him of politicizing the office. Ms. Lynch's reassurance that she will not overrule her investigators is significant. When the F. B. I. sought to bring felony charges against David H. Petraeus, the former C. I. A. director, for mishandling classified information and lying about it, Mr. Holder stepped in and reduced the charge to a misdemeanor. That decision opened a deep \u2014 and public \u2014 rift. Two other political appointees will review the findings of the email investigation before a final decision is made: John P. Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. But both have also pledged to follow the recommendations of the career prosecutors and the F. B. I. Ms. Newman said. The F. B. I. is expected to make a recommendation to the Justice Department in the coming weeks, though agents have yet to interview Mrs. Clinton. While some legal experts said they believed that criminal indictments in the case were unlikely, the investigation continues to cast a shadow over Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. Beyond the workings of the Justice Department, there is precedent for relying on career officials to make politically charged decisions. When the Justice Department was considering whether to recommend sanctions against former Bush administration lawyers who approved waterboarding, Mr. Holder relied on his most senior career prosecutor to make the decision. No sanctions were recommended. For Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign, the incident in Phoenix resurrected questions about how the campaign would rein in her irrepressible husband. With approval ratings among Democrats of over 60 percent, Mr. Clinton is one of his wife's most potent surrogates. He has traversed the country with a breakneck schedule, campaigning and raising money for Mrs. Clinton, traveling with a staff and security detail. Mr. Clinton and his chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, are in frequent contact with John D. Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign, and Robby Mook, the campaign manager. He often listens in on campaign conference calls from the family's home in Chappaqua, N. Y. But his unpredictable and sociable nature can also cause problems for his wife's candidacy. David Axelrod, the former senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said on Twitter that he took Mr. Clinton and Ms. Lynch \"at their word\" that they had not discussed the investigation, but added that it was \"foolish to create such optics. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The Kremlin said on Thursday it hoped President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Donald Trump would get along and that there would be more mutual respect in U.S.-Russia relations than there was under the Obama administration. Addressing reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to questions about how the Kremlin assessed Trump's news conference on Wednesday. \"Moscow is genuinely hoping that our presidents will get along,\" said Peskov. \"At least Trump has spoken of his readiness for dialogue. This doesn't mean there's a readiness to agree about everything with each other. That is hardly possible and Moscow isn't expecting that, but dialogue is grounds for hope and could help us find a way out of many complex situations.\" Peskov said however that the Kremlin did not agree with views on Crimea expressed by Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson on Wednesday, who said Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula was illegal.","label":0}
{"text":"8 Views November 08, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News  As the world awaits the outcome of the election in the United States, some time ago multi-billionaire Hugo Salinas Price told King World News in stunning fashion what he believes to be the frightening plan to control the world going forward. He described the people planning this as \"barbarians,\" and said, \"this is not going to end well.\" He also issued this ominous warning, \"I have very serious doubts about the survival of our civilization under such people.\" Below is what the multi-billionaire had to say in this incredibly powerful interview.  These People Are \"Barbarians\" Hugo Salinas Price: \"With regards to the social question in the world, in 1929 a Spanish thinker by the name of Ortega y Gasset wrote a book that really shook up the world titled, 'The Revolt of the Masses.' He was talking about the appearance on the world stage of new individuals.  He was writing about the growth of the population and the appearance of new individuals coming in to the mass of humanity. And these individuals evidently are (what he described as) 'barbarians.'\u2026. \"They came too suddenly to be educated, and for the knowledge of how to keep the Western way of life alive. These (barbarian) people have increased (in numbers), and now they have taken over power (in the world).\"  We Are Now In The Hands Of These Barbarians So now we are in the hands of 'barbarians.' They have no idea of how our society came to be, and what is necessary to keep it going. They are fiddling with the controls: You might think of a monkey flying a 747 (airplane) \u2014 they don't have any idea what they are doing. And this is not going to end well with the barbarians at the controls\u2026 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 \u2013 CLICK HERE OR BELOW: Sponsored  Hugo Salinas Price continues: \" We don't have people who write books in power any more. I remember when a Prime Minister of England was a skilled musician and wrote books before he became Prime Minister. Where do we have such people in power today? We don't have scholars or people with a true background of education, history, economics and politics.  \"I Have Serious Doubts About The Survival Of Our Civilization\" They are all working on the spur of the moment. They are experimenting to see if this works and that works. And I have very serious doubts about the survival of our civilization under such people. I expect that a great crisis is coming. We are going to see a great separation and some people are just not going to make it, and the old truths are going to come back into fashion because of the need for survival.\"  Hugo Salinas Price also added: \"I think we are going to see a series of bankruptcies. I think the (eventual) rise in interest rates is the fatal sign which is going to ignite a derivatives crisis. This is going to bring down the derivatives system (and the financial system).  \"It's Not Going To Be A Very Pleasant World\" There are (over) one quadrillion dollars of derivatives and most of them are related to interest rates. The spiking of interest rates in the United States may set that off. What is going to happen in the world is eventually we are going to come to a moment where there is going to be massive bankruptcies around the globe.  What is going to be left after the dust settles is gold, and some people are going to have it and some people are not. Then the problem is going to be to hold on to what you've got because it's not going to be a very pleasant world.\"  ***KWN has now released the extraordinary audio interview with Egon von Greyerz, where he gives KWN listeners a look what is really happening behind the scenes globally and in the gold market, and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.  ***ALSO RELEASED: The Greatest Wealth Transfer In History Nears As 'Deep State' Now Pulling Out All The Stops CLICK HERE.  \u00a9 2015 by King World News\u00ae. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. However, linking directly to the articles is permitted and encouraged. About author","label":1}
{"text":"Syria Is Another Pipeline War | Print This  By Gaius Publius , a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius , Tumblr and Facebook . Originally published at at Down With Tyranny . GP article archive here .  Proposed pipeline routes through the Middle East to gas markets in Europe. The purple line is the Western-supported Qatar-Turkey pipeline. All of the nations it passes through \u2014 Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey (all highlighted in red) \u2014 have agreed to it \u2026 except Syria. The red line is the \"Islamic Pipeline\" from Iran through Iraq into Syria. See text below for further explanation. (Source: MintPress News ; click to enlarge)  Summary first: We have been at war in Syria over pipelines since 1949. This is just the next mad phase.  I'm not sure most Americans have figured out what's happening in Syria, because so much of what we hear is confusing to us, and really, we know so little of the context for it. Is it an insurgency against a brutal ruler? Is it a group of insurgencies struggling for power in a nearly failed state? Is it a proxy war expressing the territorial and ideological interests of the U.S., Russia, Turkey and Iran?  Or something else?  According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. it is something else \u2014 a war between competing national interests to build, or not build, a pipeline to the Mediterranean so natural gas can be exported to Europe. Inconveniently for Syria, that nation lies along an obvious pipeline route.  Which makes it another war between interests for money \u2014 something not very hard to understand at all.  Here's Kennedy's argument via EcoWatch. This is a long piece, well worth a full read, but I'll try to present just the relevant sections here.  The Historical Context: Decades of CIA-Sponsored Coups and Counter-Coups in Syria  Kennedy's introductory section contains an excellent examination of the history of U.S. involvement in Syria starting in the 1950s with the Cold War machinations of the Eisenhower-appointed Dulles brothers, John Foster Dulles, the Secretary of State, and Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA. Together, they effectively ruled U.S. foreign policy.  Kennedy writes (my emphasis):  Syria: Another Pipeline War  \u2026 America's unsavory record of violent interventions in Syria\u2014obscure to the American people yet well known to Syrians \u2014sowed fertile ground for the violent Islamic Jihadism that now complicates any effective response by our government to address the challenge of ISIS. So long as the American public and policymakers are unaware of this past, further interventions are likely to only compound the crisis. Moreover, our enemies delight in our ignorance.  \u2026 [W]e need to look at history from the Syrians' perspective and particularly the seeds of the current conflict. Long before our 2003 occupation of Iraq triggered the Sunni uprising that has now morphed into the Islamic State, the CIA had nurtured violent Jihadism as a Cold War weapon and freighted U.S.\/Syrian relationships with toxic baggage.  During the 1950's, President Eisenhower and the Dulles brothers rebuffed Soviet treaty proposals to leave the Middle East a cold war neutral zone and let Arabs rule Arabia. Instead, they mounted a clandestine war against Arab Nationalism\u2014which CIA Director Allan [sic] Dulles equated with communism\u2014particularly when Arab self-rule threatened oil concessions. They pumped secret American military aid to tyrants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon favoring puppets with conservative Jihadist ideologies which they regarded as a reliable antidote to Soviet Marxism. At a White House meeting between the CIA's Director of Plans, Frank Wisner, and Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, in September of 1957, Eisenhower advised the agency, \"We should do everything possible to stress the 'holy war' aspect.\"  The CIA began its active meddling in Syria in 1949 \u2014barely a year after the agency's creation. Syrian patriots had declared war on the Nazis, expelled their Vichy French colonial rulers and crafted a fragile secularist democracy based on the American model. But in March of 1949, Syria's democratically elected president, Shukri-al-Kuwaiti, hesitated to approve the Trans Arabian Pipeline, an American project intended to connect the oil fields of Saudi Arabia to the ports of Lebanon via Syria. In his book, Legacy of Ashes , CIA historian Tim Weiner recounts that in retaliation, the CIA engineered a coup , replacing al-Kuwaiti with the CIA's handpicked dictator , a convicted swindler named Husni al-Za'im. Al-Za'im barely had time to dissolve parliament and approve the American pipeline before his countrymen deposed him , 14 weeks into his regime.  Kennedy then details the history of coups and counter-coups in and against Syria, and concludes this section with this:  Thanks in large part to Allan Dulles and the CIA, whose foreign policy intrigues were often directly at odds with the stated policies of our nation, the idealistic path outlined in the Atlantic Charter was the road not taken. In 1957, my grandfather, Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, sat on a secret committee charged with investigating CIA's clandestine mischief in the Mid-East . The so called \"Bruce Lovett Report,\" to which he was a signatory, described CIA coup plots in Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, all common knowledge on the Arab street, but virtually unknown to the American people who believed, at face value, their government's denials.  The report blamed the CIA for the rampant anti-Americanism that was then mysteriously taking root \"in the many countries in the world today.\"\u2026 A parade of Iranian and Syrian dictators, including Bashar al-Assad and his father , have invoked the history of the CIA's bloody coups as a pretext for their authoritarian rule, repressive tactics and their need for a strong Russian alliance. These stories are therefore well known to the people of Syria and Iran who naturally interpret talk of U.S. intervention in the context of that history.  While the compliant American press parrots the narrative that our military support for the Syrian insurgency is purely humanitarian, many Syrians see the present crisis as just another proxy war over pipelines and geopolitics. Before rushing deeper into the conflagration, it would be wise for us to consider the abundant facts supporting that perspective.  So much for our supposed interest in \"humanitarian\" intervention in Syria. From a Syrian point of view, it has never been thus. It has been about pipelines since 1949, and they understand that, even if we don't.  The Current Conflagration  Kennedy then turns to the present, or the near-present. Refer to the map above as you read:  A Pipeline War  In [the Syrians'] view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000 when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500km pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey .  Qatar shares with Iran, the South Pars\/North Dome gas field, the world's richest natural gas repository. The international trade embargo, until recently, prohibited Iran from selling gas abroad and ensured that Qatar's gas could only reach European markets if it is liquefied and shipped by sea, a route that restricts volume and dramatically raises costs.  The EU, which gets 30 percent of its gas from Russia, was equally hungry for the pipeline which would have given its members cheap energy and relief from Vladimir Putin's stifling economic and political leverage. Turkey, Russia's second largest gas customer, was particularly anxious to end its reliance on its ancient rival and to position itself as the lucrative transect hub for Asian fuels to EU markets. The Qatari pipeline would have benefited Saudi Arabia's conservative Sunni Monarchy by giving them a foothold in Shia dominated Syria.  The Saudi's geopolitical goal is to contain the economic and political power of the Kingdom's principal rival, Iran , a Shiite state, and close ally of Bashar Assad. The Saudi monarchy viewed the U.S. sponsored Shia takeover in Iraq as a demotion to its regional power and was already engaged in a proxy war against Tehran in Yemen, highlighted by the Saudi genocide against the Iranian backed Houthi tribe.  Which puts the Qatari pipeline squarely opposite to Russia's national interest \u2014 natural gas (methane) sales to Europe.  Of course, the Russians, who sell 70 percent of their gas exports to Europe, viewed the Qatar\/Turkey pipeline as an existential threat. In Putin's view, the Qatar pipeline is a NATO plot to change the status quo, deprive Russia of its only foothold in the Middle East, strangle the Russian economy and end Russian leverage in the European energy market. In 2009, Assad announced that he would refuse to sign the agreement to allow the pipeline to run through Syria \"to protect the interests of our Russian ally.\"  That was likely the last straw vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. Which brings us to another pipeline, the so-called \"Islamic Pipeline\" (see map above):  \"Assad further enraged the Gulf's Sunni monarchs by endorsing a Russian approved \"Islamic pipeline\" running from Iran's side of the gas field through Syria and to the ports of Lebanon. The Islamic pipeline would make Shia Iran instead of Sunni Qatar, the principal supplier to the European energy market and dramatically increase Tehran's influence in the Mid-East and the world. Israel also was understandably determined to derail the Islamic pipeline which would enrich Iran and Syria and presumably strengthen their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.  Another, competing pipeline which would run through Syrian territory, but this time carrying Iranian gas instead of Qatari gas. Thus the demonizing of Assad as evil in the mold of Saddam Hussein, instead of just a run-of-the-mill Middle East autocrat, as bad as some but better than others. Kennedy includes a good section on the history of the al-Assad family's rule of Syria, including this information from top reporters Sy Hersh and Robert Parry:  According to Hersh, \"He certainly wasn't beheading people every Wednesday like the Saudis do in Mecca.\" Another veteran journalist, Bob Parry, echoes that assessment. \"No one in the region has clean hands but in the realms of torture, mass killings, civil liberties and supporting terrorism, Assad is much better than the Saudis.\"  In September 2013, the Sunni states involved in the Qatar-Turkey pipeline were so determined to remove Syrian opposition to the pipeline that they offered, via John Kerry, to carry the whole cost of an U.S. invasion to topple al-Assad.  Kerry reiterated the offer to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL27): \"With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the costs of [an American invasion] to topple Assad, the answer is profoundly Yes, they have. The offer is on the table.\"  Obama's response:  Despite pressure from Republicans, Barrack Obama balked at hiring out young Americans to die as mercenaries for a pipeline conglomerate . Obama wisely ignored Republican clamoring to put ground troops in Syria or to funnel more funding to \"moderate insurgents.\" But by late 2011, Republican pressure and our Sunni allies had pushed the American government into the fray.  The rest is a history of provocation and over-reaction \u2014 a great deal of both \u2014 and chaos and death in Syria. Kennedy provides much detail here, at one point adding:  [Syria's] moderates are fleeing a war that is not their war . They simply want to escape being crushed between the anvil of Assad's Russian backed tyranny and the vicious Jihadi Sunni hammer that we had a hand in wielding in a global battle over competing pipelines . You can't blame the Syrian people for not widely embracing a blueprint for their nation minted in either Washington or Moscow. The super powers have left no options for an idealistic future that moderate Syrians might consider fighting for. And no one wants to die for a pipeline.  I'll leave it there, but again, do read the entire piece if you want to truly understand what's going on in Syria, and what is about to go on.  Bottom Line  Bottom line, it's as Kennedy said: \"No one wants to die for a pipeline\"\u2026 but many do and will.  I'll offer three thoughts. One , if we weren't so determined to be deeply dependent on fossil fuels, this would be their war, not ours. Two , we are deeply dependent on fossil fuels because of the political machinations of the oil companies, their CEOs, and the banks and hedge funds who fund them, all of whom pay our government officials \u2014 via campaign contributions and the revolving door \u2014 to prolong that dependence. We're here because the holders of big oil money want us here.  And three , keep all this in mind during the term of the next president. It will help you make sense of the phony warrior- cum -humanitarian arguments we're almost certain to be subjected to.  We have been at war in Syria over pipelines since 1949. This is just the next mad phase.","label":1}
{"text":"On Monday, Donald Trump once again attacked London s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, for what he thinks Khan said about the London terror attacks. Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his no reason to be alarmed statement, Trump tweeted. MSM is working hard to sell it! Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his \"no reason to be alarmed\" statement. MSM is working hard to sell it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017Of course, Khan didn t have to think fast about anything and the MSM didn t have to work hard at all to sell his remarks.The statement was, again, taken out of context. What Khan actually said was that there would be an increased police presence in the wake of the attack and that citizens have no reason to be alarmed. Naturally, people showed up to once again let Trump know he s a douchebag:Well at least he didn't follow that statement up by playing his 23rd round of golf this year, you lazy cretin. Jonathan Wier (@JonKMBZ) June 5, 2017You just vomit words with no thought PRESIDENT Lil Trump (@USAneedsTRUMP) June 5, 2017Pathetic excuse by American President who never thinks fast and is working hard to sell his bullshit presidency Jamie Lambert (@JamieCollabro) June 5, 2017You are, unfortunately, POTUS. How dare you speak this way about the Mayor of London, a far more noble statesman than you'll ever be? Bumble Ward (@BumbleWard) June 5, 2017Full quote: \"Londoners will see an increased police presence today & over the course of the next few days. There's no reason to be alarmed.\" Liam Dryden (@LiamDrydenEtc) June 5, 2017He also knows his base will just take his word for it and not fact check anything he says Annafyock (@afyock2) June 5, 2017What the fuck is wrong with you? Jay Baruchel (@BaruchelNDG) June 5, 2017HE MEANT THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALARMED ABOUT INCREASED POLICE PRESENCE YOU FUCKING MASSIVE MORON Stefanie Iris Weiss (@EcoSexuality) June 5, 2017Your explanation for misquoting him is that he retroactively changed the quote you were misquoting? Morten verbye (@morten) June 5, 2017You actual mother fucker. Who the fuck do you think you are, twisting his words like that? You are literally disgusting. Ethan Lawrence (@EthanDLawrence) June 5, 2017This is the second time The Donald has attempted to completely misrepresent the London mayor s words. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that Khan says there is no reason to be alarmed? about the at least seven dead and forty-eight wounded.At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is \"no reason to be alarmed!\" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017Through a spokesman, Khan made it clear that he has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump s ill-informed tweet.","label":1}
{"text":"Poverty is entrenched in the Mississippi city of Durant (population less than 3, 000) but violent crime is hardly pervasive. The Police Department website lists current statistics of one report each for lost property, theft and a harassing phone call. It has been years since Durant, which is about 65 miles north of Jackson, last recorded a murder, the authorities said. But on Thursday, that sense of community and security was torn apart after two beloved nuns who worked at a medical clinic in a nearby town were found killed in their Durant home. The nuns were identified as Sister Margaret M. Held and Sister Paula J. Merrill, 68. The women were nurse practitioners who worked about 20 miles away at the Lexington Medical Clinic. Durant's assistant police chief, James Lee, said an officer was sent to the sisters' home around 10 a. m. to conduct what he called a wellness check after they did not show up at work. The door to the home was open, he said, and the officer found the bodies inside. The Rev. Greg Plata, the priest at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lexington, where the nuns were active, said he had been told by the police that they were stabbed. One of their cars, a blue Toyota Corolla, was missing. Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said the car was found abandoned Thursday evening on a secluded street barely a mile from the home, The Associated Press reported. Father Plata said the two women were the only ones who lived in the house. It was not clear if the killings were related to their work. He said they dressed in civilian attire, or scrubs when they were at work. Chief Lee said that he could not speculate about a motive and that a cause of death had yet to be officially determined. The Police Department was being helped by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Holmes County Sheriff's Department. \"An actual double homicide is an enigma,\" he said, adding that the house was in one of the quietest parts of the city and that the nuns would often jog or walk around the neighborhood. The Mississippi secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann, said in a statement that he hoped justice would be \"swiftly served. \" He said the nuns had been violently killed, adding, \"Unbridled love and care for mankind has been met with unparalleled savagery. \" Jamie Sample, 58, of Ebenezer, Miss. the music minister at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, said she had relied on the nuns for their \"gorgeous voices\" at Mass. \"I just cannot tell you what precious people they were,\" she said. \"They were just the sweetest people to ever draw a breath into their bodies. \" She described the nuns as being like family. They spent time together at the holidays, and Ms. Sample's husband and son took care of their home repairs. Ms. Sample added that whoever had killed the nuns was \"the epitome of evil. \" She said Sister Margaret was an outstanding chef who regularly took delicious dishes to the church's potluck events. Sister Paula's nephew, David V. Merrill, 37, of Stoneham, Mass. recalled his aunt battling squirrels to grow blueberries in the backyard of their ranch house. He said she enjoyed ministering to the needy of Holmes County, where 44 percent of the residents live below the poverty level \u2014 the rate among the state's 82 counties, according to census data. \"The work, it was her calling from God,\" Mr. Merrill said. \"She lived and loved it every day. \" Mr. Merrill said his aunt had never expressed concern about her safety. He said the biggest misgiving in the community was about the abuse of opioids. Sister Paula was a native of Massachusetts who developed a Southern drawl but retained a New Englander's cynicism, he said. Maureen Smith, the communications director of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Miss. said Sister Paula was from the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, based in Kentucky, and Sister Margaret was from the School Sisters of St. Francis, in Milwaukee. The United States Province Leadership team for the School Sisters said in a statement that its members were \"deeply shocked and grieved\" by the killings. It noted that Sister Margaret had been with the order for 49 years and devoted herself to \"living her ministry caring for and healing the poor. \" The two nuns had been sent by their orders to serve the poor throughout Mississippi. Sister Paula had spent 30 years in the state, the last six at the clinic, which saw 8, 000 patients last year. Four in 10 people in the county are uninsured or have only Medicaid, Ms. Smith said. The nuns were active in the church's Bible study, Father Plata said, and were deeply connected to the congregation of about 30 parishioners. \"People were attracted to them because of their goodness,\" said Father Plata, who will be among the clergy members to say their funeral Mass.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's watchdog is expanding a review of administrator Scott Pruitt's frequent travels to his home state Oklahoma to include more recent trips taken on military and charter flights, according to a memo seen on Friday. The Office of Inspector General had been investigating the \"frequency, cost and extent\" of Pruitt's travels to Oklahoma through July 31, and will now expand the \"active audit\" to include all travel, including the use of private and military flights he has taken up to Sept. 30. The expanded review coincides with heightened scrutiny surrounding the travels of President Donald Trump's cabinet officials with reports that some have spent tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-commercial flights. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned last week over his use of costly private charter planes for government business. The Interior Department's own inspector general last week confirmed it also opened an investigation into travels by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke after receiving numerous complaints about his use of three chartered flights, including one on an aircraft owned by an oil and gas executive. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also used a private charter flight last week, Reuters reported. The flight cost $11,000, according to travel records provided to Reuters by the Department of Energy. The records show that Perry took four non-commercial flights between May and last week totaling nearly $56,000 of taxpayer money. Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hayes said in a statement on Friday that in the \"rare instances where government-owned or chartered aircraft have been used, trips were pre-approved by an Ethics officer within the Office of General Counsel.\" Separately, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department's inspector general office could not confirm nor deny whether it is investigating his travels. In addition to investigating the frequency of Pruitt's travels, the watchdog is also evaluating whether Pruitt followed EPA travel protocols and whether \"EPA's policies and procedures are sufficiently designed to prevent fraud, waste and abuse with the Administrator's travel.\" Pruitt has taken at least four flights that were either not commercial or military-chartered since mid-February, according to government records. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said the four non-commercial flights had been cleared by EPA lawyers. Pruitt had also traveled to Oklahoma on at least 43 of the 92 days of March, April and May, according to copies of his travel records obtained by the Environmental Integrity Project watchdog and reviewed by Reuters last month, which prompted the initial investigation.","label":0}
{"text":"Political infighting among Iran s ruling elite has moved on to a new battleground - the relief effort after an earthquake that killed at least 530 people and injured thousands. Hardline media are accusing the government of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani of reacting too slowly to last weekend s quake, while highlighting aid work by the Revolutionary Guards - a rival power center. While the government said enough help had been sent to the thousands of people left homeless by the devastation, media affiliated to Rouhani s hardline rivals painted a different picture with reports from villages where survivors complained about a lack of shelter from the bitter cold. Rouhani allies say this reflects a long-running struggle between the president and those who oppose his drive to boost the economy by improving relations with the outside world, notably through sealing a nuclear deal with world powers. Rouhani is very popular, one Rouhani ally told Reuters. It is so sad to see that even under these sad circumstances when we need unity, they are attacking his government and trying to say that the government is incompetent to help people. Shortly after the magnitude 7.3 quake, Iran s worst in more than a decade, state TV aired scenes from the devastated villages in the western Kermanshah province. Iran has so far declined offers of foreign assistance, saying planeloads of tents, blankets, mattresses and emergency food rations had arrived in areas where at least 30,000 houses have been damaged and several villages completely destroyed. The hardline semi-official Tasnim and Fars news agencies both carried reports of the role of the Revolutionary Guards - an elite force loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - and its affiliated Basij militia force in helping the survivors. Khamenei has called on the state agencies to speed up their efforts. This disaster is a test for authorities to perform their duties, he said on Tuesday. His representative, cleric Abdolhossein Moezi, told state TV after visiting Kermanshah province that more relief was needed. Editorials in hardline newspapers adopted a sharp tone, accusing the government of failing to learn the lessons of the Bam earthquake in 2003, in which 31,000 people were killed. State TV covered how the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had restored some degree of normality in one of the worst hit towns, Sarpol-e Zahab. Immediately after the quake, the IRGC rushed to the area to help, said Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guards. We set up shelters, field clinics ... We will not leave until all survivors have a permanent shelter. Our commanders have been working around the clock. Commanders of the IRGC, which also runs a business empire in Iran, have repeatedly criticized Rouhani s failure to improve the economy despite the official lifting last year of most international sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal. In some areas, no building was left standing, elsewhere, survivors have left homes that remain standing, fearing they could come crashing down due to aftershocks. Houses in poor Iranian villages are often made of concrete blocks or mudbrick that can quickly crumble and collapse. Many of the heavily damaged buildings in Sarpol-e Zahab were part of an affordable housing scheme, initiated in 2011 by Rouhani s hardline predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Angry survivors said the low-quality construction in the Mehr scheme had caused the high death toll in the town, nestled in the Zagros Mountains along the border with Iraq. Rouhani has ordered an investigation. It s clear there has been corruption in construction contracts, he told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, state media reported. Anyone responsible will be punished. Ahmadinejad s adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr denounced the accusations. Heavy waves of propaganda against Mehr are aimed at covering up the weakness and inefficiency of the (Rouhani) administration in helping quake-hit people, he said. Major towns and cities in the Kermanshah province appeared to have escaped heavy damage, witnesses said, while many villages were destroyed. My mother told me to buy yogurt for dinner .... As soon as I left the house everything started to collapse, 13-year-old Dozan told Reuters by telephone from Sarpol-e Zahab. I ran back but my parents and sisters were dead - only rubble and dust and no home. Rouhani has promised more help and low-interest loans to survivors to rebuild their collapsed homes. State TV showed Iranians around the country gathering goods and warm clothes and blankets for the survivors. We need shelter ... it is getting colder. They have distributed some tents but it was not enough, Ahmad Irandust, 75, told Reuters from Salas Babajani village by telephone. He said his children have slept outdoor in the freezing cold since Sunday. Don t leave us alone. Don t forget us.","label":0}
{"text":"A planned state visit to Britain by U.S. President Donald Trump is months away and any program has yet to be worked out, a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday. More than 1.6 million people have signed an online petition calling for Trump's visit to be canceled to avoid embarrassing Queen Elizabeth, in protest at his immigration policies. \"The prime minister set out very clearly last night ... (that) the invitation has been extended. She was happy to do that. She looks forward to hosting the president and that will be a state visit this year,\" the spokeswoman told reporters. \"On the program for the state visit, that will all need to be worked out in due course ... It is months away.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The Obama administration reversed course on Tuesday on a proposal to open the southeastern Atlantic coast to drilling as an oil price slump and strong opposition in coastal communities raised doubts about the plan. Besides market and environmental concerns, the U.S. Interior Department said it also based its decision on conflicts with competing commercial and military ocean uses. The decision, which is sure to reverberate in the presidential election campaign, reverses a January 2015 proposal for new leases in the Atlantic as part of the department's five-year plan to set new boundaries for oil development in federal waters through 2022. \"We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast,\" Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. \"When you factor in conflicts with national defense, economic activities such as fishing and tourism, and opposition from many local communities, it simply doesn't make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the coming five years.\" Hillary Clinton, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic Party's nomination to run in the Nov. 8 presidential election, has moved to the left on environment under pressure from green groups. She tweeted: \"Relieved Atlantic drilling is now off the table. Time to do the next right thing and protect the Arctic, too.\" Donald Trump, the businessman and former reality TV personality who is the Republican front-runner, has raised questions about whether more offshore drilling is necessary given the abundance of onshore shale production. The proposal would have opened up drilling sites more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil drilling by 2021. Coastal communities in these states protested the administration's plan, fearing the possibility of an oil spill like the BP Horizon accident in 2010 on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and its effects on tourism and their economies. \"With this decision coastal communities have won a 'David vs. Goliath' fight against the richest companies on the planet, and that is a cause for tremendous optimism for the well-being of future generations,\" said Jacqueline Savitz, environmental group Oceana's vice president for U.S. oceans. Virginia officials had welcomed the initial plan to allow offshore drilling, saying it would bring economic benefits. On Tuesday, Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said he was surprised that the Department of Defense had raised concerns about naval installations, one of which is off the state's coast. \"The DOD has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared their objections with me before,\" he said. Major oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Shell and Chevron, had pushed for an open Atlantic. Shell Oil Company spokeswoman Natalie Mazey said the decision was \"short sighted\" and would \"jeopardize the abundance of affordable domestic energy the economy has become dependent on.\" The American Petroleum Institute said the decision goes against the will of voters, governors and members of Congress who support more development. \"The decision appeases extremists who seek to stop oil and natural gas production which would increase the cost of energy for American consumers and close the door for years to creating new jobs, new investments and boosting energy security,\" said API President Jack Gerard. The Interior Department also announced Tuesday that it would evaluate 13 other potential lease sales in other areas of the country - 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and three off the coast of Alaska. \"The proposal focuses potential lease sales in areas with the highest resource potential, greatest industry interest, and established infrastructure,\" Jewell said. The Interior Department said that in the Gulf, resource potential and industry interest are high and infrastructure already exists. It proposes two annual lease sales that include the Western, Central, and part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico not subject to the current congressional moratorium. It also includes a potential sale each in the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and Cook Inlet planning areas in Alaska. The department would take comments on other options, including an alternative that includes no new leasing. While green groups praised the decision to keep the Atlantic off limits for now, they raised concerns that the United States would keep the door open for drilling in the vulnerable U.S. Arctic. \"The administration must take Arctic leases out of the final five-year plan,\" said Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. \"No place has potentially more to lose due to climate change than the Arctic.\" The Interior Department will open the five-year proposal to a 90-day comment period.","label":0}
{"text":"Highlights for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday: Trump proposes slashing tax rates for businesses and on overseas corporate profits returned to the country in a plan greeted as an opening gambit by his fellow Republicans in Congress. Trump's plan could shift the U.S. economy into higher gear but could have one effect the White House would not welcome \u2014 interest rates ratcheted higher than expected by a wary central bank. The Trump tax cut will generate growth but not nearly enough to replace trillions of dollars in lost revenues, while rising deficits could even take back some of the economic gains, fiscal experts say. Congress inches toward a deal to fund the government through September but is preparing to possibly extend a midnight Friday deadline in order to wrap up negotiations and avoid an imminent government shutdown. Trump is considering issuing an executive order to pull the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, an administration official says, a move that could unravel one of the world's biggest trading blocs. Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discuss bilateral trade in their second conversation in as many days amid strains over softwood lumber and dairy. The Trump administration says it aims to push North Korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs through tougher international sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and remains open to negotiations to bring that about. Trump gives the military the authority to reset a confusing system of troop limits in Iraq and Syria that critics say allows the White House to micro-manage battlefield decisions and ultimately obscures the real number of U.S. forces. Trump signs an executive order to allow national monument designations to be rescinded or reduce the size of sites as the administration pushes to open more federal land to drilling, mining and other development. Trump orders Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to review the government role in school policy, which supporters cheer as a step in creating more local control in education and critics worry it could lead to lower quality schools in poorer neighborhoods. Israel's intelligence minister says his country wants an \"understanding\" with the Trump administration that Iran must not be allowed to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria.","label":0}
{"text":"Pakistan angrily criticized Donald Trump, frontrunner for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination, for saying he would force the country to free a jailed Pakistani doctor believed to have helped the CIA hunt down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Trump, a 69-year-old billionaire real estate developer, told Fox News on Friday that, if elected, he would get Pakistan to free Shakil Afridi \"in two minutes\", saying that Islamabad receives a lot of development aid from the United States. \"Contrary to Mr. Trump's misconception, Pakistan is not a colony of the United States of America,\" Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said in a statement on Monday. The statement said Afridi's fate would be decided \"by the Pakistani courts and the government of Pakistan and not by Mr. Donald Trump, even if he becomes the president of the United States\". The statement came on the fifth anniversary of the killing of bin Laden - architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities - during a secret raid in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad that damaged relations between the strategic allies. Washington views Afridi as a hero but Pakistan sentenced him in 2012 to 33 years in jail on charges of belonging to militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, which he denies. That sentence was overturned and Afridi is now awaiting trial on another charge. Trump has alarmed U.S. allies with his combative rhetoric and his calls for an \"America First\" agenda that many see as a threat to retreat from the world. In his comments about Pakistan and Afridi for Fox News, Trump said: \"I would tell them let (him) out and I'm sure they would let (him) out. Because we give a lot of aid to Pakistan.\" Afridi has also been accused in Pakistan of running a fake vaccination campaign in which he purportedly collected DNA samples to help the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) track down bin Laden. He has not been charged over those allegations. After his original conviction was overturned, he was charged in 2013 with murder relating to the death of a patient eight years earlier. He remains in jail. In the Fox interview Trump also said he supported leaving the roughly 10,000 U.S. troops still based in Afghanistan instead of withdrawing them by the end of 2017. \"I would stay in Afghanistan,\" he said. \"It's probably the one place we should have gone in the Middle East because it's adjacent and right next to Pakistan which has nuclear weapons.\" The United States led the military invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban for sheltering bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders following the Sept. 11 attacks. (This story has been corrected to fix typo in Pakistan minister's name in paragraph 3)","label":0}
{"text":"Photo by Mark Hodgins | CC BY 2.0  It's the perfect time to be an affluent white and politically correct North Side Lakefront \u2013 or other kind of \u2013 Liberal and sports fan in the Chicago area. Think about it. Your beloved Chicago Cubs are finally going to their first World Series since 1945 and they will be doing a battle against a team with the worst racist Native American logo in major U.S. professional sports: the Cleveland Indians \u2013 yes, the \"Indians.\" The Indians' Chief Wahoo \u2013 a wild grinning caricature \u2013 is the single most offensive, politically incorrect image in sports today.  It's enough to make folks forget that the Cubs are owned by a politically active right-wing Republican family, the Ricketts, one of whom recently contributed $1 million to the racist and sexist bigot Donald Trump. And that the Cubs' storied ballpark Wrigley Field will be jammed with rich white people who can swallow up secondary market World Series tickets selling for as high as $18,000 . And that the Cubs owe no small part their ability to overcome their \" Billy Goat curse \" (proclaiming that they'd never go again to the final championship series) largely to massive infusions of big Ricketts money required to purchase free-agent veterans to go along with their younger stars.  Meanwhile, the liberals' party has a presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who is about to become the national government's first female chief executive after trouncing the aforementioned bigot Trump in the November 8 th election. The insane, politically incorrect spectacle of Trump has helped people forget that Mrs. Clinton is herself a \"right-wing fanatic\" and a \"lying neoliberal warmonger\" \u2013 and here I am quoting two left intellectuals who counsel folks to vote for her. Hillary's Wall Street-friendly arch-corporatism and hawkish militarism are well understood in very predominantly white establishment business and imperial circles, where she is by far and away the preferred candidate. This is true even among many normally Republican members of the economic, political, policy, and \u2013 in a word \u2013 power elite.  Identity politics provides cover for, and diversion from, class rule and from the deeper structures of class, race, gender, empire, and eco-cide that haunt American and global life today \u2013 structures that place children of liberal white North Side Chicago professionals in posh 40 th -story apartments overlooking scenic Lake Michigan while consigning children of felony-branded Black custodians and fast food workers to cramped apartments in crime-ridden South Side neighborhoods where nearly half the kids are growing up at less than half the federal government's notoriously inadequate poverty level. Most of the Black kids in deeply impoverished and hyper-segregated neighborhoods like Woodlawn and Englewood (South Side) or North Lawndale and Garfield Park (West Side) can forget not only about going to a World Series game but even about watching one on television. Their parents don't have cable and the Fox Sports 1 channel. There's few if any local restaurants and taverns with big-screen televisions in safe walking distance from their homes. Major League Baseball ticket prices being what they are, few of the South Side kids have even seen the White Sox \u2013 Chicago's South Side American League team, whose ballpark lacks the affluent white and gentrified surroundings of Wrigley Field. (Thanks in no small part to the urban social geography of race and class in Chicago, the White Sox winning the World Series in 2005 \u2013 their first championship since 1917, marking an overcoming of the Black Sox Curse \u2013 was a smaller deal in the city than the Cubs going to the World Series this year.)  The World Series might be playing out before a national and even global audience just miles away in hyper-Caucasian Wrigley Ville, but for tens of thousands of Black and Latino kids on the city's South, West, and (in fact) North Sides (there are significant stretches of minority poverty west and north of the Cubs' storied ballpark), the games are being played in another universe.  Hillary, a Cubs fan from the affluent northern white Chicago area suburb of Park Ridge (though also a self-declared Yankee fan during her years \"representing Wall Street as a Senator from New York\" [her own words]) isn't going to remotely change any of that. She has a long record as a vanguard neoliberal Democrat (a de facto \"moderate\" Republican) going back to the Clintons' days in Arkansas, where and when she played a key role in helping move the Democratic Party ever further away from its last lingering commitments to social, racial, and environmental justice and decency.  I may be a \"far left radical\" stamped as a White Sox fan by family upbringing and a childhood on the South Side. Still, I am going to make the most both of the Cubs going to the World Series and of Hillary trouncing Trump. Much as I wish the Sox were headed for their second championship in eleven year (they held first place in the American League Central Division for a few weeks last spring), I have to admit that nothing can beat the heartwarming story of the \"lovable losers\" the Cubs going to the October Classic when it comes to boosting the profile of baseball relative to that of the sadistically violent, brain-mashing blood sport called U.S. football. It is a telling tragedy that the beautiful pastoral game of baseball has been trounced by the vicious, fascist-lite spectacle that is U.S. football as the nation's favorite sport in the neoliberal era.  Plus, I have nice memories of my father taking me up to enemy territory to watch National League baseball in Wrigley Field in the late 1960s, before it became a Yuppie playground and a tourist attraction. You could sit in Wrigley's bleachers for $1.50.  Like all good leftists, I hate the Clintons, including the ones with two x chromosomes \u2013 and that includes young Chelsea, with her noxious $10 million condo complex in Manhattan Still, I do not await a Hillary Clinton administration with undiluted trepidation. The presence of a Democrat in the nominal top U.S. job can be usefully instructive for young workers and citizens. It helps demonstrate the richly bipartisan nature of the American plutocracy and Empire. The people need to see and experience how the intolerable misery and oppression imposed by capitalism and its evil twin imperialism live on when Democrats hold the White House. At the same time, the presence of a Republican in the White House tends to fuel the illusion among progressives and others that the main problem in the country is that the wrong party holds executive power and that all energy and activism must be directed at fixing that. It just feeds the electoral and candidate obsessions that do so much to divert us from building and expanding the kinds of rank and file social movements required to bringing about an actually progressive transformation.  There is, yes, I know, the problem of Democrats in the White House functioning to stifle social movements and especially peace activism (the antiwar movement has still yet to recover from the Obama experience). But there's more good news here about a Hillary presidency. Not all Democratic presidents are equally good at shutting progressive activism down. As the likely Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein (for whom I took five minutes to early vote in a \"contested state\" three weeks ago) noted in an interview with me last April (when the White Sox still held first place in their division), Hillary Clinton will have considerably less capacity to deceive and bamboozle progressive and young workers and citizens than Barack Obama enjoyed in 2007-08 . \"Obama,\" Stein noted, was fairly new on the scene. Hillary,\" by contrast, \"has been a warmonger who never found a war she didn't love forever!\" Hillary's corporatist track record \u2013 ably documented in Doug Henwood's book My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency (her imperial track record receives equally impressive treatment in Diana Johnstone's volume Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton ) \u2013 is also long and transparently bad. All that and Mrs. Clinton's remarkable lacks of charisma and trustworthiness could be useful for left activism and politics in coming years.  For what it's worth, the first and most urgent place to restore such activism and politics is in the area where Barack Obama has been most deadening: foreign policy, also known (when conducted by the U.S.) as imperialism. When it comes to prospects for World War III, it is by no means clear that the saber-rattling, regime-changing, NATO-expanding, and Russia-baiting Hillary Clinton is the \"lesser evil\" compared to the preposterous Trump. That's no small matter. During a friend's birthday party the night the Cubs clinched the National League pennant, I asked fellow celebrants and inebriates if they were prepared for the fundamental realignment of the space-time continuum that was coming when the North Siders won the league championship. That was a joke, of course, but there's nothing funny about the heightened chances of a real downward existential adjustment resulting from war between nuclear superpowers when the \"lying neoliberal warmonger\" Hillary Clinton gets into office and insists on recklessly imposing a so-called no-fly zone over Russia-allied Syria.  Postscript : Meanwhile, could we save some love for the poor and mostly working class sports fans of Cleveland? They didn't vote for their one and only Major League Baseball team to be named the Indians and bear a noxious racist logo. Until LeBron James delivered on his basketball promise last spring they hadn't won a major sports professional championship in fifty-two years. In the years since 1948, the last time the Indians won the World Series, Cleveland has had two such champions: the football Browns in 1964 and the basketball Cavaliers earlier this year. Over the same period, Chicago has accumulated four National Hockey League (NHL)\/Stanley Cup championships (1961, 2010, 2013, 2015), six NBA (basketball) championship (the 1990s Michael Jordan Bulls), two NFL (football) championships (the Bears in 1963 and 1985-86), and one World Series (the officially unlovable White Sox in 2005). That's Chicago 13, Cleveland 2 (9 to 2 if you subtract hockey since Cleveland has never had an NHL team). That said, I'm still rooting for the Cubs for three reasons: (1) I may be from the South Side but I'm also from Chicago and have lived on the North Side at different times; (2) the Cubs becoming a dynasty (a distinct possibility given the talent and youth of their team the money behind it) will be good for baseball versus football (3) the truly disgusting atrocity that is Chief Wahu. Check it out .","label":1}
{"text":"Share This Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording , the first in almost a year, and expressed his confidence in the group's eventual victory. Amnesty International warned that is has received reports of revenge attacks on civilians in villages near the Tigris River . Victims are accusing the Sab'wai tribal militia, which is a Sunni group, of torture and false imprisonment. There are also reports that Shi'ite militiamen are interrogating civilians on the western Mosul front. In Mosul , civilians by the hundreds were able to escape the Samah neighborhood. Security forces liberated Min Gar and four other villages near Hammam al-Alil. Khafsan, Munita and Qutba were also reported freed . Also captured were Abbasiya, Ayn Shahlub, Bazzunnah, Kharar, Khubairat, Mankar, Qahira, Rahmaniyah, Shahlub, Tal Saif al Athari, Um Izzam, and Ayn al Jahsh factory. Shi'ite militiamen reported the capture of a highway linking Mosul with Raqqa , Syria. At least 283 people were killed and 84 were wounded in recent violence: In Mosul , militants killed 150 civilians as they retreated from Gogjiali . Airstrikes left 100 militants dead and 40 wounded . Eight militants were killed during house-to-house searches in Gogjiali . East of Mosul in the direction of Tal Afar , Shi'ite militias encountered many booby-traps in villages they recaptured. At least 15 militiamen were killed and 30 were wounded .","label":1}
{"text":"The Freedom Party of Austria filed a legal challenge on Wednesday over the results of the country's presidential election, disputing the outcome of the May 22 runoff, in which the party's candidate, Norbert Hofer, was narrowly defeated. Officials said there was no precedent for a challenge to the outcome of a presidential election in the history of modern Austria, a federal republic that was reconstituted in 1945 from the ashes of Nazi Germany, which annexed the country in 1938. The challenge, submitted by the party's chairman to the Constitutional Court, injected an element of uncertainty into a debate that has already stirred questions over the strength of the far right in a nation with a fraught wartime past. Mr. Hofer led the first round of voting, on April 24, in which the country's two mainstream parties were handed a humbling defeat. The runoff pitted Mr. Hofer against an independent candidate and former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen. The results were too close to call when polls closed at 5 p. m. on May 22 only after nearly 700, 000 ballots were tallied was the result announced, midafternoon on May 23. Mr. Van der Bellen was declared the winner, with 50. 35 percent of the vote and a very tight lead of 30, 863 ballots, according to the Interior Ministry. On Wednesday, the Freedom Party's chairman, Strache, submitted 150 pages of documents to the Constitutional Court, claiming \"numerous irregularities and failures\" in the counting of the runoff votes. According to the Austrian news agency APA, Mr. Strache submitted three documents: one from himself, the second from Mr. Hofer and the third from \"voters and citizens. \" Mr. Strache said there had been electoral irregularities or fraud in 94 of 117 regional polling stations. In 82 of the stations, he said, at least 573, 000 ballots were sorted or counted before the election authorities were even on site to monitor the process. \"We are not sore losers, and we are not disputing for dispute's sake,\" Mr. Strache said at a news conference. \"The mistrust is justified. Without these failures and irregularities, Norbert Hofer could have been president. \" The Freedom Party had already claimed election irregularities \u2014 including premature counting of ballots and erroneous tallies \u2014 but Mr. Strache went further on Wednesday, calling the ballot system a \"systemic failure. \" According to the APA, the Interior Ministry has called for an investigation into at six polling stations. The Constitutional Court could call for a recount or even a . Austrian law requires that the challenge must be resolved \"within four weeks of submission. \" That would be July 6 \u2014 two days before Mr. Van der Bellen's inauguration. The president of Austria is elected for a term and serves as head of state, though the position is largely ceremonial. The incumbent, Heinz Fischer, is completing his second term and was not allowed to seek a third. In 1986, Kurt Waldheim, a former foreign minister and secretary general of the United Nations, was elected president of Austria, despite revelations that he had concealed his wartime involvement with German military units that executed thousands of Yugoslav partisans and civilians and deported thousands of Greek Jews to death camps between 1942 and 1944. A commission of historians found no evidence that Mr. Waldheim was guilty of war crimes, but concluded that he must have been aware of the atrocities and, by doing nothing, had facilitated them. Mr. Waldheim did not seek in 1992 he died in 2007.","label":0}
{"text":"In a shift of opinion since the 2014 midterms, Americans now consider the Republican Party more extreme than the Democratic Party, a new HuffPost\/YouGov poll finds. In the days just after the GOP retook the Senate last November, Americans were evenly split as to which party they thought was more extreme. They now say by an 8-point margin that Republicans are further from the mainstream. Half of Americans now say the GOP is too extreme, up 7 points since November. The percentage saying Democrats are too extreme, which has remained relatively steady, is currently 39 percent. Forty-eight percent of independents now say the GOP is too extreme, up 9 points from last year. The percentage of Republicans calling their own party too extreme also rose by 6 points. One thing hasn't changed: Most Americans still want members of both parties to work together. Fifty-six percent say that Republicans should compromise some of their positions to work with Democrats, rather than stick to their positions and risk not coming to an agreement, while 68 percent say Democrats in Congress should compromise. While most Democrats think their leaders should compromise, Republicans support a harder-edged approach, with 58 percent saying their congressional representatives should stick to their positions. Independents say that both sides should work together. The HuffPost\/YouGov poll consisted of 1,000 completed interviews conducted April 25-27 among U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling. Data from all HuffPost\/YouGov polls can be found here. More details on the poll's methodology are available here. Most surveys report a margin of error that represents some, but not all, potential survey errors. YouGov's reports include a model-based margin of error, which rests on a specific set of statistical assumptions about the selected sample, rather than the standard methodology for random probability sampling. If these assumptions are wrong, the model-based margin of error may also be inaccurate. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the model-based margin of error.","label":0}
{"text":"Several top Republicans have yet to endorse Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee. On Sunday, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus had some strong words for those individuals. Appearing on CBS Face the Nation, Priebus issued a thinly veiled threat directed towards those who have yet to get on board the Trump bandwagon, which Reince described as one of the biggest movements as far as people across this country in modern history. The right-wing reactionary movement is missing key GOP politicians such as Ted Cruz and other former presidential hopefuls. While they may not be considered a part of the #NeverTrump crowd, these GOPers have not really done much of anything to support the current Republican presidential candidate.They all agreed to support the eventual presidential nominee no matter who wins the election, and Priebus is expecting them to put party before country. We re a private party. We re not a public entity. Those people need to get on board, Priebus told the show s host, John Dickerson. And if they re thinking they re going to run again someday, I think we re going to evaluate the nomination process, and I don t think it s going to be that easy for them. I think these are things that our party s going to look at in the process. I think people who gave us their word, used information from the RNC, should get on board. What s interesting is that Trump has previously dragged his feet when it comes to endorsing other GOP candidates, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan. It s also interesting to note that the pledge that Priebus is referencing was reportedly designed to discourage Trump from running as an independent or on a non-establishment party campaign. It has no legal significance and is simply just a promise.The fact that Priebus, had to threaten though he insists that his comments are not a threat top members of his Party show that the GOP is still cracking under the weight of trying to hold up Trump s campaign. You can watch the video below.","label":1}
{"text":"\" The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society . Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. \" \u2013 Edward Bernays (\"the father of public relations\"), Propaganda , 1928 (note that Bernays' book, Propaganda , begins with the above quote). If you told somebody 10 years ago that there existed some sort of secret group or \"secret government\" pulling the strings behind the scenes of government policy, international law, various global rules\/regulations, and more, they would have called you a \"conspiracy theorist.\" Today things have changed, largely as a result of information leaked by Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and various other whistleblowers and activists in recent years. Their bravery has shed light on the world of secrecy that's been blinding the masses since its inception. I've mentioned this before, and I'll mention it again, did you know that the U.S. Government classifies more than 500 million pages of documents each year? Did you know that the United States has a history of government agencies existing in secret? For example, the National Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952, but its existence was hidden until the mid 1960's. Even more secretive is the National Reconnaissance Office, it was founded in 1960 but remained completely secret for 30 years. Then we have the entire black budget world, a world dominated by secrecy that was officially revealed by Edward Snowden a couple of years ago. This deals with what are known as \"Special Access Programs.\" It's not just statements that these \"high-level\" people are making. It's all of the proof and evidence that goes along with it. ***You can read more about the black budget HERE *** Canadian Defence Minister Paul Hellyer Former Minister of National Defence, Paul Hellyer, is one of Canada's best known and most controversial politicians. He was first elected in 1949, and was the youngest cabinet minister appointed to Louis S. St. Laurent's government eight years later. He held senior posts in the governments of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre E. Trudeau. He achieved the rank of senior master (Deputy Prime Minister), and went on to become the Canadian Defence Minister. He is best known for the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces, and in September 2005 he became the first person of cabinet rank in the G8 group of countries to state unequivocally that \"UFOs are as real as the airplanes flying overhead.\" Here's what he had to say about the world of secrecy: It is ironic that the U.S. would begin a devastating war, allegedly in search of weapons of mass destruction, when the most worrisome developments in this field are occurring in your own backyard. It is ironic that the U.S. should be fighting monstrously expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, allegedly to bring democracy to those countries, when it itself can no longer claim to be called a democracy, when trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars have been spent on projects about which both the Congress and the Commander in Chief have been kept deliberately in the dark. ( source ) The 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson, an American academic, politician, and the 28th president of the United States, had this to say (among other things) in his book The New Freedom . The book also contains several other, similarly eye-opening statements: Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. ( source ) The 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy Here's what JFK had to say in one of his most famous speeches: The very word \"secrecy\" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. \u2026 For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence\u2013on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. ( source ) John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of The United States John C. Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the United States, from 1825-1832. He was also a political theorist during the first half of the 19th century. Here's what he had to say: A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many, and various, and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. ( source ) This quote reminds me of a great clip from the Thrive documentary by Foster Gamble, heir to the Proctor Gamble corporation. He was groomed for the establishment, but chose a different path. New York City Mayor John F. Hylan John F. Hylan was Mayor of New York City from 1918-1925. He has been famously quoted as saying: The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation \u2026 The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties \u2026 [and] control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection. ( source )( source ) Senator William Jenner A United States senator who said this to Congress in 1954: Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means \u2026 We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state \u2026 It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government \u2026 This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century\u2026 This group \u2026 is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable. ( source ) Senator Daniel K. Inouye Inouye was the highest ranking Asian-American politician in United States history, serving the democratic party from 1963 until his death in 2012. There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself . ( source ) 34th U.S. President And 5 Star General, Dwight Eisenhower In his farewell address to the nation, president Eisenhower offered these words of caution: In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. \u2026 Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful message and goals. ( source ) This speech is relevant to share here, because the disastrous rise of misplaced power within the military industrial complex has indeed occurred\u2026 Benjamin Disraeli, First British MP The world is governed by very different personages to what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes. ( Coningsby, Book 4, Chap. 15. ) \u2013 Page 131 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt President Roosevelt revealed this information: Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. ( source ) The list of quotes is very large and could fill a number of pages, so I will stop there.  The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.  You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.  \"If \"Survivor\" was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and \"The Sacred Science\" hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group.\" - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune","label":1}
{"text":"Other nations are stepping up to play larger roles in the world because of Donald Trump, proving that he is destroying American respect and power abroad.One of Trump s first acts after taking over the White House was to issue a global gag rule on abortion.The executive order bans groups that receive funding from the United States from giving women information on abortion, reversal of President Obama s policy that had been in effect for the last eight years.Apparently, conservatives believe they not only have the right to tell American women what to do with their bodies, they believe they have the right to tell all women around the world what to do with their bodies as well.Trump s policy is an embarrassing shift. Women around the world will now see America as a hostile enemy of women s rights and bodily autonomy.And as a result of of the United States abandoning women around the world, other nations are sticking it to Trump by filling the gaps.According to Reuters,Norway has joined an international initiative to raise millions of dollars to replace shortfalls left by U.S. President Donald Trump s ban on U.S.-funded groups worldwide providing information on abortion.In January, the Netherlands started a global fund to help women access abortion services, saying Trump s global gag rule meant a funding gap of $600 million over the next four years, and has pledged $10 million to the initiative to replace that.Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Canada and Cape Verde have all also lent their support.Norway is also chipping in $10 million. The government is increasing its support for family planning and safe abortion, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement. At a time when this agenda has come under pressure, a joint effort is particularly important. So Donald Trump just hurt American prestige by doing something that will hurt women around the globe. But other nations are boosting their own prestige by filling the funding gap.Abortion is a medically necessary procedure that women should have access to no matter where they live. By trying to deny women that access, Donald Trump is putting lives at risk and taking rights away from women after our country has fought for years to lift up women around the world.Trump and Republicans should realize that as they continue to shrink America s role in the world, other nations will take advantage of it and increase their own prestige and power. As long as Trump and Republicans continue down this path, respect for us will plummet and our influence will wane.","label":1}
{"text":"The head of the largest conservative group in the U.S. Congress, Representative Bill Flores of Texas, said he could not back Republican Donald Trump for president at this time, CNN reported on Wednesday. Flores, the head of the Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives, told CNN he was incredibly angry about comments that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee made about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel.","label":0}
{"text":"Being a pro-Trump pundit must be a tough racket right now. Between his lies, his ignorance and his bungling of nearly everything he touches, it takes a special kind of person to defend #45.Well, former Reaganite Jeffrey Lord has his work cut out for him, but he went completely out on a limb Wednesday when he called Trump the Martin Luther King of healthcare. One of the panelists on CNN Thursday morning happened to be African-American commentator Symone Sanders. As you can imagine, things did not go well for Lord.In a segment discussing the president s plans for Obamacare, Lord called Trump the Martin Luther King of health care. Sanders interjected with an Oh Jeffrey, but Lord went on, When I was a kid, President Kennedy did not want to introduce the Civil Rights bill because he said it wasn t popular, he didn t have the votes for it. Dr. King kept putting people in the streets in harm s way to put the pressure on. That s when Sanders stepped in to quash his metaphor:Okay Jeffrey. You do understand that Dr. King was marching for Civil Rights because people that looked like me were being beaten? Dogs were being sicced on them? Basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because of the color of their skin? So let s not equate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a humanitarian, a Nobel Peace Prize winner to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump.Source: NY MagazineHere s the video:Posting without comment. #healthcare pic.twitter.com\/dspY5BLfuV Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) April 13, 2017Republicans absolutely hate everything Martin Luther King stood for (peace and equality), but they loooove to invoke his name whenever it suits their agenda. In fact, they love to say that King was a Republican. He certainly wasn t then, and now that the Republican party has become the neo-confederate party, there s no way in hell.","label":1}
{"text":"Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe s president on Tuesday, a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end four decades of rule by a man once feted as an independence hero who became feared as a despot. His former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month prompted the military takeover that forced Mugabe out, will be sworn in as president on Wednesday or Thursday, Patrick Chinamasa, legal secretary of the ruling ZANU-PF party, told Reuters. The 93-year-old Mugabe had clung on for a week after an army takeover, with ZANU-PF urging him to go. He finally resigned moments after parliament began an impeachment process seen as the only legal way to force him out. Wild celebrations broke out at a joint sitting of parliament when Speaker Jacob Mudenda read out Mugabe s brief resignation letter. Mugabe, confined to his Harare residence, did not appear. People danced in the streets of Harare and car horns blared at the news that the era of Mugabe who had led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 was finally over. Some brandished posters of Mnangagwa and army chief General Constantino Chiwenga. Workers turned the Christmas lights on early in Africa Unity Square and people climbed aboard armored vehicles to pose for photographs with soldiers. Despite the public outpouring of joy, Mugabe s downfall was as much the result of in-fighting among the political elite as a popular uprising, although thousands of people rallied against him in the days after the army intervened last week. The army seized power after Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa, ZANU-PF s favorite to succeed him, in a bid to smooth a path to the presidency for his wife Grace, 52, known to her critics as Gucci Grace for her reputed fondness for luxury shopping. Since the crisis began, Mugabe has been mainly confined to his Blue Roof mansion in the capital where Grace is also believed to be. ZANU-PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke told Reuters that Mnangagwa would be sworn in within 48 hours and serve the remainder of Mugabe s term until the next election, which must be held by September 2018. I am very happy with what has happened, said Maria Sabawu, a supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), outside the hotel where the impeachment process was happening. I have suffered a lot at the hands of Mugabe s government, she said, showing her hand with a missing finger that she said was lost in violence during a presidential run-off election between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008. Mugabe had led Zimbabwe since a guerrilla struggle ended white-minority rule in the country formerly known as Rhodesia. He took the once-rich nation to economic ruin, presiding over the forced takeover of white-owned farms at the end of the century, which devastated agricultural foreign exchange earnings and led to hyperinflation. But brandishing his anti-colonial credentials and styling himself the Grand Old Man of African politics, Mugabe retained the admiration of many people across the continent. Amnesty International said that under Mugabe tens of thousands of people were tortured, forcibly disappeared or killed in a culture of impunity that allowed grotesque crimes to thrive . The people of Zimbabwe deserve better. The next generation of leaders must commit itself to upholding the constitution, living up to Zimbabwe s international human rights obligations and treating its people with dignity and justice, the rights group said in a statement. Mnangagwa, 75, who fled Zimbabwe after his sacking in fear for his safety, was a chief lieutenant to Mugabe for decades and himself stands accused of participating in repression. He was internal security chief in the mid-1980s when Mugabe deployed a North Korean-trained brigade against rebels during which 20,000 civilians were killed, according to rights groups. Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting to succeed Mugabe, with army backing, at the helm of a broad coalition to seek Zimbabwe s re-engagement with the world after decades of isolation from global lenders and donors. Nicknamed Ngwena , or crocodile in the Shona language, an animal famed in Zimbabwean lore for its stealth and ruthlessness, Mnangagwa issued a statement from hiding on Tuesday calling on Zimbabweans to unite to rebuild the country. Opposition politician and former education minister David Coltart said that call gave hope of lifting a shattered economy from its knees, provided Mnangagwa made good on his promise to reach out to other factions. When we all wake up with hangovers tomorrow, we will be reminded of the dreadful state our nation is in - no money in the banks and businesses collapsing, Coltart told Reuters. As Emmerson Mnangagwa said, ZANU-PF is not capable of resolving this issue on its own. I took some comfort from his words. If he translates them into action, the future is positive. Zimbabwe s Platform for Concerned Citizens, a civil society group, called for a national dialogue and a transitional authority to decide the country s future. Theresa May, prime minister of former colonial power Britain, said Mugabe s resignation provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterized his rule . She said Britain, as Zimbabwe s oldest friend , would do all it could to support the country. The U.S. embassy in Harare said Zimbabwe was living a historic moment . Whatever short-term arrangements the government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair and inclusive elections, it said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"In his final 2016 White House Correspondence Dinner, a sharp tongued President Obama unleashed a scathing but hilarious barrage of humor on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and pretty much everyone who had ties to the GOP. The president drew many laughs in front of journalists, celebrities, and politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. However, one person wasn t there: Donald Trump. The president said of Trump s absence:I m a little hurt that he s not here tonight. We had so much fun the last time. And it is surprising. You got a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras, and he says no. Is this dinner too tacky for the Donald? What could he possibly be doing instead? Is he at home eating a Trump steak, tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel? What s he doing?The president also had lots of fun with how the Republicans have reacted to the fact that Donald Trump is their most likely nominee. The president said:The Republican establishment is incredulous that he s their most likely nominee. Incredulous, shocking. They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president. But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world. Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan. And there s one area where Donald s experience could be invaluable. And that s closing Guantanamo. Because Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground.The president also took a shot at the media for their lopsided coverage of Trump s campaign which often times has been absurd in term of the amount of free press he s received. The president told the audience full of reporters and journalists, I hope you re all proud of yourselves. Let s hope that when all is said and done, the ascendancy of Donald Trump doesn t go beyond November and we can all breath a sigh of relief when we no longer see Trump s face plastered all over the media.Watch video here: [youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PcIrak9gdn8]","label":1}
{"text":"Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) lit into Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump with a series of tweets. Warren hammered away at Trump, calling him a loser and accused him of engaging in petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, flagrant narcissism. Warren is hugely popular and influential with Democrats and liberals, and her series of tweets targeting Trump is seen by some as a sign that the primary season is effectively over and that the general election has begun.Here are Warren s tweets:Let s be honest @realDonaldTrump is a loser. Count all his failed businesses. See how he cheated people w\/ scams like Trump U. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016See how @realDonaldTrump kept his father s empire afloat using strategic corporate bankruptcies to skip out on debt. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016Listen to experts who say @realDonaldTrump might have more money today if he d put his inheritance in an index fund & left it alone. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016.@RealDonaldTrump knows he s a loser. His insecurities are on parade: petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, flagrant narcissism. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016But just because @realDonaldTrump is a loser everywhere else doesn t mean he ll lose this election. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016.@RealDonaldTrump stands ready to tear apart an America that was built on values like decency, community, and concern for our neighbors. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016The way I see it, it s our job to make sure @realDonaldTrump ends this campaign every bit the loser that he started it. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016Warren s tweets all hit at what are considered soft spots for Trump. He has boasted about his huge wealth, but numerous reports indicate that his net worth is considerably exaggerated. From Trump biographer Timothy O Brien:On a single day in August 2004, he told me his net worth was $4 billion to $5 billion, then revised that later the same day to $1.7 billion. Forbes said at the time he was worth $2.6 billion. A year later Donald told me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion, but a brochure left on my nightstand at his Palm Beach resort said he was worth $9.5 billion.The tweets also discuss Trump s sexism, which appears to be one of his major Achilles heels. When Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly pointed out his history of demeaning women, he complained she was bleeding out of her whatever, and still months later has referred to her as crazy, which drew an uncharacteristic rebuke of a Republican from the right-wing propaganda network.Perhaps most importantly, Warren is indicating to the mainstream media and other Democrats that Trump s racially motivated campaign won t be off limits to criticism. So far, Republicans have largely avoided hitting Trump on his offensive language towards latinos and Muslims, as well as towards black activists (he called for protesters to be punched). The Democrats largely have no interest in courting the racists that dwell in the base of the GOP, and have no such restrictions on what they can say in the general election.It looks like the fight is truly on.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. lawmakers said on Monday they did not know when legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia might come up for a vote in the House of Representatives, and the White House said it had concerns about the measure. The legislation passed the Senate by a nearly unanimous margin two weeks ago, looking like it might complicate President Donald Trump's desire for warmer relations with Moscow, where officials have denounced new sanctions. A White House official said the Trump administration felt some provisions in the bill would interfere with its ability to use sanctions to try to influence Russia. \"There are some provisions in the Senate bill that would unprecedentedly impair Treasury's ability to wield its sanctions tools, risk endangering the transatlantic sanctions coalition, and weaken the State Department's ability to credibly signal that we would calibrate our sanctions in response to Russian behavior,\" the official said in an emailed statement, requesting anonymity. Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a co-author of the legislation, said he hoped for progress within the next day or two on a procedural issue that has kept the House from taking up the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes the new sanctions against Russia. The measure must pass the House, where Trump's fellow Republicans control a larger majority than in the Senate, before it can be sent for Trump to sign into law or veto. House Republican leaders said last week that the Senate bill violated a constitutional requirement that any bill affecting government revenues must originate in the House, something known as a \"blue slip\" violation. House aides also said leadership had not yet decided whether to vote on the Senate bill once the \"blue slip\" issue was resolved, or first refer it to House committees, which could further delay or change it. Democrats said they were skeptical about the \"blue slip\" explanation, noting that the issue had resolved very quickly in recent years for other bills. Corker said Senate Republicans remained solidly behind the legislation. \"I've heard no one here have second thoughts, by the way\" he told Reuters. \"If you find one, please tell me.\" White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined comment during a news briefing on Monday on whether the administration would support the sanctions bill.","label":0}
{"text":"Michelle Wallace kisses her baby. Photo source: Love Eva Rose Facebook page .  by Health Impact News\/MedicalKidnap.com Staff  A couple in West Texas was devastated when they were accused of abusing their 6 week old daughter. Michelle and Elliot Wallace began seeking answers after the explanations given by doctors placed the blame on the parents and landed their baby in foster care. They have since learned that baby Eva sustained injuries at birth, injuries which are known complications of the kind of difficult birth that their baby had. These injuries were overlooked at the time of her birth, but are now the very injuries that doctors are claiming are caused by Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Here is their story:  On Jan 29, 2016, Michelle came home from the grocery store when Elliot met her at the door with their six-week-old daughter Eva, who was crying\u2014a high-pitched, wailing type of cry. Her eyelids were fluttering, and her eyes were pointed left and upward, not focusing on anything.  Suddenly, Eva's body went limp, and she passed out.  When they placed Eva on the bed to examine her, she woke up crying but quickly passed out. While lying there, the baby woke up crying, and passed out again. The couple loaded Eva in the car and took her to the Shannon Medical Center emergency room in San Angelo, Texas.  The hospital staff ran tests, took x-rays, and did a CT scan. While waiting for the results, Michelle fed Eva a bottle. But, Eva could not keep it down. She projectile vomited.  The hospital staff began a round of antibiotics, which is standard protocol in an infant presenting with a fever. Also, a CT scan showed she had a blood clot in her brain. The hospital staff determined that Eva needed a specialist, so they airlifted her and Michelle to Cook's Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth. Elliot drove the 4 and 1\/2 hours to join them. Hospital Staff Stopped Looking for Cause of Injuries  That night Eva suffered from intermittent fevers. A lumbar puncture was done to check for meningitis. However, it failed\u2014no fluid was drawn. The staff said that they would hydrate Eva for up to 24 hours and try again. However, when Michelle inquired about it later, she was told that they were not going to try the lumbar puncture again because they had ruled out meningitis as the cause of Eva's injuries.  Afterwards, an MRI was done which showed a ligament injury to her upper neck. The staff believed that it was also a result of abuse.  Reportedly, the consensus among hospital staff was that Eva's injuries were trauma-related, and they stopped looking for other causes.  While waiting on the neurologist, Eva had another seizure and was moved to the intensive care unit. There, she was sedated and given anti-seizure medication. Throughout the night Michelle never left Eva's side, and she looked on as Eva was inundated with hospital staff handling her.  During the night, a CPS worker approached Michelle and pointed at a light-colored bruise on Eva's cheekbone that Michelle had not seen before. Michelle's thoughts went immediately to the hospital staff checking on the thrush in Eva's mouth, and that their fingers were placed in the exact location of the bruise on Eva's cheekbone. Michelle wondered if the bruise had come from the hospital staff handling her face.  While the family awaited Eva's diagnosis, Child Protective Services (CPS) separated everyone present, including their guests, and interrogated them. Then they asked for information to run background tests, as well as names of people with whom they could place Eva. Michelle approached a CPS worker, saying that this was premature and uncalled for, since they had yet to receive a diagnosis. But, Michelle said that she was told that this was to get \"ahead of the game.\" Michelle holding baby Eva. Photo source: Wallace family.  Michelle requested a conference with the Child Advocacy Resources and Evaluation (CARE) team to ask questions. In the meeting, Neurologist Dr. Adrian Lacy said the staff would look at the birth records the following day. He said that Eva had \"bilateral subdurals, areas of stroke, bruising on her head, [and] retinal hemorrhaging,\" but that the skeletal survey showed no broken bones. He informed them that the ophthalmology department said that the bruising was \"consistent with shaken baby or child abuse.\"  He said that Eva had multiple bleeds of different ages in her brain, alleging that Eva had been abused repeatedly over time.  Michelle asked if Eva's injuries could have been caused by vacuum extraction delivery. Dr. Lacy said, \"Talking to neurosurgery [department]\u2026they don't believe that it's from any kind of vacuum delivery.\" He said that this is because \"retinal hemorrhages\" could not possibly be result of vacuum extraction. Dr. Lacy went on to say that Eva had undergone \"a significant trauma.\"  His assertion is contradicted in the medical literature regarding vacuum extraction. Many medical journals and medical resources mention that retinal hemorrhaging is a known complication of birth via vacuum extraction. An article in Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology lists retinal hemorrhaging in the list of neonatal complications:  Vacuum-assisted vaginal deliveries can cause significant fetal morbidity, including scalp lacerations, cephalohematomas, subgaleal hematomas, intracranial hemorrhage, facial nerve palsies, hyperbilirubinemia, and retinal hemorrhage.  As Michelle pondered the possible events that could have occurred to cause Eva's injuries, Dr. Lacy interjected, \"These are things that are severe enough [that] you would have told me. You know, [like] she was in a bad car wreck.\" He went on to say that, the children who come to the hospital emergency room who were in car wrecks \"don't have the degree of retinal hemorrhages\" that Eva had. He and the hospital staff suspected that Eva had been repeatedly shaken. Michelle said that they equated it with \"the force equivalent to being in a car crash at 40 mph.\"  Dr. Lacy concluded, \"There's nothing in the story, as far as the history, her history, that explains the history that we see.\" He said that there was no other explanation but Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Not long after that, Cook's Children's Medical Center Child Abuse Specialist Dr. Sophia Grant said that Eva's injuries must be non-accidental trauma. She said that she found the \"classic Shaken Baby Syndrome triad.\" The accusation of abuse came despite Michelle informing the hospital staff that Eva had been born via vacuum extraction. Further, reportedly, Dr. Grant expressed concern over the scratches on Eva's face, and said that a child at six weeks old was not capable of inflicting them upon him or herself.  It was at that point that the staff stopped looking for other causes, Michelle said. CPS arrived and served her and Elliot an order for emergency removal. The couple was then escorted out of the hospital by security guards.  Afterwards, Eva was discharged from the hospital wearing a c-collar. It left a large dent in the back of her head, and she had to wear a helmet for a couple of months to reshape her skull.  Eva now suffers from dysphasia and is at risk of choking. She also only has 20% of her peripheral vision. Currently, Eva is in therapy and is walking and crawling. Eva still faces challenges today. Photo source: Wallace family. Difficult Birth  During pregnancy, Michelle experienced excessive fatigue, swelling, discomfort, nausea, etc., but she was told it was normal. Also, under doctor's orders, Michelle received the Tdap and flu shots while pregnant.  On December 13, 2015, the OB\/GYN, reportedly \"roughed up\" her cervix in an attempt to bring on labor. Two days later, at 8:30 pm, Michelle was admitted to Shannon Medical Center Women and Children's Labor and Delivery Unit with excessive bleeding. The next day, around 2:00 am her doctor administered Pitocin and an epidural.  During labor Michelle was shaking a lot, and Eva's heartrate kept dropping. About \u00be of the way in, Michelle was given an oxygen mask and was told to keep it on because the baby was not getting enough oxygen. Eva's medical records indicate that she had hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which meant that she was oxygen deprived. There was no mention of staff attempting to change the mother's position in order to help facilitate oxygen flow to the baby.  After about eight hours, the placenta began detaching prematurely. She had a 30% placental abruption. The doctor opted for vacuum extraction instead of an emergency C-section. Eva was born at 7:00 am, after about eight hours of labor and 15 minutes of pushing, weighing 5 lbs. 11 oz.  Birth records indicate that Eva's hands and feet were blue, and her coloring was gray. Eva's pathology reports indicated infection, as well as inflammation of the fetal membranes and connective tissue of the umbilical cord.  Photos taken after her birth indicate a red, bruised and molded head with vacuum marks. They also reveal swollen eyes with cuts on and above them, as well as bruising that started over her right eye. Also, at birth Eva received Hepatitis B and Vitamin K shots and erythromycin eye drops. Pattern of Medical Concerns  When Eva's pediatrician, Dr. Elizabeth Young, came by during her rounds, Michelle mentioned that Eva slept poorly the night before. However, reportedly, Dr. Young dismissed it and said that \"it was normal for a newborn to do that.\"  Michelle attempted to breastfeed Eva for three days, but it was unsuccessful. As a result, Eva was put on formula.  At Eva's one-week checkup, everything seemed normal. Eva had been sleeping well, as well as feeding every two to three hours. That day she received the standard vaccines. Afterwards, Eva's fussiness escalated. She had a lot of gas and was sleeping poorly. Eva with sunglasses during a visit. Photo source: Wallace family.  Michelle suspected an allergy to formula, so she changed brands\u2014to one that was for sensitive digestive systems. However, it did not seem to make a difference. Eva began sleeping poorly and crying excessively, as if she was in pain. Even talking and soft noises were waking her.  Michelle called Medical Exchange Hotline and was told by the nurse that it sounded like constipation. The nurse advised Michelle to add a bit of Karo Syrup to her bottle and use glycerin suppositories when needed, and then follow-up with the doctor the next business day.  The nurse's suggestions helped some. Once Eva would have a bowel movement, she would settle down some. But, within few hours, she would begin crying again. She seemed to be in pain. Michelle also gave Eva gripe water, which sometimes brought some temporary relief.  At the follow-up appointment with Dr. Young, Michelle was told to try putting Eva on soy formula with an extra ounce or two of water to help with constipation. The doctor also showed Michelle how to lay Eva down on her stomach to help ease gas pain.  The soy formula helped for a few days, and then the colic-like symptoms returned \"as bad as ever.\"  At Eva's one month checkup, Michelle told the doctor that Eva was not sleeping and had inconsolable crying spells, severe constipation, and gas. Also, she told the doctor that she had seen Eva making \"jerky, circular arm movements,\" and that she had seen Eva's chin quivering. When Michelle expressed concern, the doctor said that there was nothing to worry about.  Eva was prescribed Zantac for possible acid reflux. The doctor sent them home with a sample of another formula that was hypoallergenic. After about five bottles of it, Michelle discontinued using it because it gave Eva \"explosive diarrhea\" and worsened her gas problem.  Michelle tried other formulas, in hopes that she would find one that agreed with Eva's system, but the problems only worsened. Eva's sleeping deteriorated, as well. Even the slightest sound would wake her, and she rarely slept for more than an hour at a time.  Michelle and Elliot continued giving Eva gas drops, gripe water, glycerin suppositories, and adding water to her formula. They tried giving her Zantac, but they could not get Eva to swallow it. Eva began spitting up with more frequency.  The morning of January 29, 2016, Eva started getting very fussy and crying inconsolably. Michelle got her to settle down for a nap. But, within half an hour, she awoke. When Michelle went to pick her up, she noticed that Eva had two little scratches on her face, with a bruise behind each of them. She figured that Eva had scratched herself.  Later that day, Michelle went to the grocery store to get formula. She returned to find Elliot trying unsuccessfully to comfort Eva, and that's when they saw her go limp with the strange cry and fluttering eyelids. Father Charged but Not Indicted  Because Elliot was the last person to be around Eva when the symptoms occurred, he was arrested in April and charged with first degree felony assault on an infant with a $75,000 bond. Though he has been charged, there has been no indictment. A no-contact order has been issued against him. Elliot adores his daughter, but he can no longer see her. Photo source: Wallace family.  Elliot has been out on bond. He would like to meet with his court-appointed attorney to make a plan to fight the charges and to challenge the no-contact order. However, since there is no indictment and no case file opened by the district attorney, his attorney will not meet with him.  Meanwhile, he is banned from seeing his daughter. Foster Care Placement Is Five Hours Away  When Eva was discharged from the hospital, she was placed with family friends, who live five hours away from her home. Michelle and Elliot have been trying to get Eva placed with blood relatives instead who live closer to them. It has been a difficult road for the Wallaces because of Eva's special needs. Since coming off the anti-seizure medication, under doctor's orders, the baby must have 24\/7 care for a year.  Because Eva's placement is five hours away, and visitation must be supervised with a CPS staff, the only time available for visits has been during the week, when Michelle was working. She is only able to go once a month for a three hour supervised visit. Michelle has to abide by strict attendance guidelines by her employer. She would readily visit Eva more often if it were possible. Missing and missed by her parents. Photo source: Wallace family.  Additionally, Michelle has had to be the breadwinner since Elliot's ability to find work has been hindered by the criminal charges against him. He has been working as a contractor laying cable, and his last contract finished at the end of August.  At their recent hearing, on November 2, 2016, the Wallaces were given a reprieve, and the judge removed the supervised visit requirement and approved visits with a caregiver. This was met with opposition from CPS. However, the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers recommended it, stating that it was in the child's best interests to have the opportunity to bond with her mother. This means that Michelle is not restricted to weekday visits and can be with Eva on her birthday and Christmas. CPS Seeks to Terminate Parental Rights  Despite the fact that Elliot and Michelle have faithfully worked their service plan, last July CPS notified the couple that they are seeking to terminate their parental rights. This is allegedly because they believe that Elliot is guilty. Additionally, the couple had agreed to separate, if it meant bringing Eva home to live with Michelle. However, CPS will not consider the option, since Michelle still believes that Elliot is innocent and that Eva has been misdiagnosed.  Further, the Guardian ad Litem and CASA volunteer are parroting CPS' recommendation of termination of parental rights because the \"medical professionals\" say that Eva was shaken. This is especially concerning to the Wallaces because neither the GAL nor the CASA volunteer has met with Elliot and Michelle to interview them or discuss their daughter. Medical Expert Says This is a Birth Injury  Eva was born via vacuum extraction, which is the use of a cup that attaches to the baby's head and creates suction. According to Healthline , the risks of vacuum extraction or vacuum-assisted delivery, \"range from minor scalp injuries to more serious problems, such as bleeding in the skull.\" It lists the following injuries:  hematoma, cephalohematoma, subgaleal hematoma, intracranial hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage, and neonatal jaundice.  Eva suffered from a retinal hemorrhage, something that Dr. Adrian Lacy said could not be a result of vacuum extraction. She also had intracranial hemorrhaging as well as a subgaleal hematoma.  According to Medical Child Abuse Investigator Anne Renk-Bernardo of Ohana Advocacy Center , who was obtained by the parents to look at this case:  \"This is a birth injury case, plain and simple,\" and \"vacuum extraction could've easily caused the injury.\"  She said that the cup is required to be in a \"very specific position,\" and as a result, \"any excessive or repetitive pressure\" or incorrect position could easily cause injury to the infant. Michelle holding newborn Eva. Photo source: Wallace family.  Renk-Bernardo said that the Pitocin that Michelle was given caused the baby's oxygen levels to drop, and then go back up again, making it difficult for the baby to regulate the oxygen going back into its system. She said that amount of Pitocin was \"too much, too fast,\" causing hyper stimulation. As a result, she said that it produces a \"constant squeezing,\" which can cause complications while the baby's head is engaged in the birth canal using vacuum extraction. Additionally, medical records show that Eva experienced a couple of episodes of severe bradycardia, which is a slowing of the heartbeat caused by a deficiency of oxygen.  Another contributing factor to the complications is the placental abruption. According to the Mayo Clinic :  Placental abruption can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother.  With regards to the scratches on Eva's face, she said that Eva could have done that herself, and that they are \"not significant enough\" to warrant abuse. She said that Dr. Sofia Grant said in her affidavit that Eva had bruising on her forehead, two 0.5 cm bruises, and a small scratch, which were a result of abuse.  Renk-Bernardo said that Dr. Grant's opinion was issued without reviewing Eva's records. Further, she said that the bruising she is referring to is actually on Eva's cheek. Further, she describes it as \"superficial\" and \"over the fatty part\" of her cheek, not on Eva's head. She said that Eva, at the time, \"was moving her extremities,\" and that she could have easily scratched herself.  Renk-Bernardo said that the wide fluctuations in autonomic functions during labor and significant feeding intolerances correlate with those types of complications, indicating that she was in pain. Additionally, her eyes were swollen.  She said that hematomas are not atypical with vacuum extraction, including progressive bleeds. It is possible that Eva had a bleed that could have been slowly bleeding since birth. She pointed out that Eva was irritable and had trouble feeding from birth, including choking episodes. Renk-Bernardo said that the choking episodes are a result of the hypoxia from the subdural hemorrhages and cerebral edema.  Renk-Bernardo believes that Eva's ligament injury was probably a result of the vacuum extraction. She referred to the fact that the baby was \"high up\" in the pelvis and \"never progressed\" out of the birth canal. As a result, she said that the baby had to be forcefully pulled out. According to American Family Physician , this is a risk factor for complications while giving birth.  Lastly, with regards to the multiple bleeds on Eva's brain, Renk-Bernardo said that they are a result of \"probably a bleed from birth that re-bled.\" She pointed out that there are several things that can cause a re-bleed, such as choking, coughing, and illness. She said that vacuum extraction injuries can manifest up to three months after birth. If This is Abuse, \"How Did They Shake the Baby?\"  After examining Eva's medical records, Renk-Bernardo said that the accusation of Shaken Baby Syndrome begs the question, \"How did they shake the baby?\" She pointed out that Eva had no fractures or bruising on the arms, chest, etc., that would be evidence of such abuse. She also said that, to her knowledge, there was no soft tissue damage. Further, Renk-Bernardo said that if there were blunt force trauma, then there would have been evidence, such as significant bruising. \"Miniscule bruising is not from impact,\" she said.  Lastly, in her expert opinion, there is no evidence that Eva has been violently shaken. She pointed out that when the Wallaces took Eva to the emergency room, both the trauma and neurology department refused to admit Eva because they said that the cause of her injuries was not trauma-related. \"Problems All Along, but Nobody Paid Attention\"  According to Michelle, about a month after Eva's release from the hospital, new bleeding was found in a follow-up MRI that the doctor ignored. Further, he did not relay the information to anyone, not even the foster mother.  Further, nowhere in the medical records from Cook's Children's Medical Center does it say anything about a chronic bleed. However, during the CARE team meeting, Dr. Adrian Lacy told the family that Eva had multiple bleeds.  Michelle had expressed concerns since Eva's birth, but they were dismissed. She said, \"There had been problems all along, but nobody paid attention.\" For instance, Eva was born with meconium in the amniotic fluid, which means that she is at risk for developing Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS). MAS is associated with neonatal seizures and chronic seizure disorders. Renk-Bernardo said, \"Normally, it's a concern. But, they [medical professionals] didn't seem concerned.\" Further, Eva's family history includes heart problems, bleeding and bruising disorders, as well as nephrotic syndrome, which involves seizures.  Now, Elliot and Michelle want to share their story to \"help spread awareness of the plague of false allegations based on junk science that destroys innocent families.\" Eva \u2013 her parents' little Superhero. Photo source: Wallace family.  At the November 2, 2016, hearing, the CPS attorney told the Wallaces that she had contacted the district attorney about Elliot's criminal charges and that his case is to go before a grand jury in the next month or two. She went on to say that CPS had secured their own medical expert to testify against the Wallaces. Elliot and Michelle plan to request assistance from the court for securing their own medical expert testimony.  There is a pretrial hearing on December 12, 2016, and a permanency hearing on February 15, 2017. There is a family court bench trial date set for March 23-24, 2017. However, the Wallaces are considering requesting a jury trial instead. If granted, it will take place in late April of 2017. How You Can Help  There is a Facebook page set up for the family called Love Eva Rose where supporters can follow the Wallaces' story and help.  Supporters are asked to contact legislators on behalf of the family.  Texas Governor Greg Abbott may be reached at (512) 463-2000 or contacted here . His Facebook page is here , and here is a link to his Twitter page.  The Texas state representative for the Wallaces' district is Rep. Drew Darby. He may be reached at (512) 463-0331, or contacted here .  The US representative for the Wallaces' district is Rep. Mike Conway. He may be reached at (325) 659-4010, or contacted here .  Charles Perry is the Senator for their district. He may be reached at (512) 463-0128, or contacted here .  Courts and judges across the U.S. are increasingly overturning Shaken Baby abuse convictions, as most of these cases do not present the science against \"Shaken Baby Syndrome,\" and the medical evidence that can support injuries apart from parental abuse.  Comment on this article at MedicalKidnap.com.  See:","label":1}
{"text":"World leaders, Democratic members of Congress and others deplored U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Thursday to pull out of the Paris climate accord, while supporters said the United States needed a more advantageous deal. Following are reactions to Trump's announcement: \"We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies.\" - Joint statement from Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron \"The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership, even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got.\" - Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who was in office when the accord took effect in November, in a statement \"I tell you firmly tonight: We will not renegotiate a less ambitious accord. There is no way. ... Tonight the United States has turned its back on the world, but France will not turn its back on Americans. ... Wherever we live, wherever we are we all share the same responsibility - make our planet great again.\" - Macron in an address with a variation on Trump's \"Make America Great Again\" slogan \"That deal imposes little responsibility on the world's largest emitters, while costing the U.S. economy $3 trillion in reduced output, 6 million industrial jobs and 3 million manufacturing jobs. That amount of economic carnage is unjustified and so we welcome this long overdue action in defense of the American people.\" - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement \"Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.\" - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who had been on a White House advisory council, in a tweet \"As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.\" - Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger on Twitter \"Trump is betraying the country, in the service of Breitbart fake news, the shameless fossil fuel industry, and the Koch brothers' climate denial operation. It's sad.\" - Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment Committee, in a statement \"As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future ... Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement.\" - Tweet from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in response to Trump saying: \"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.\" \"This was not a good deal for the United States. As the president said, we've been one of the leaders in reducing carbon, we've been reducing our emissions, we've been one of the best countries for the environment, and the president is committed to renegotiating the deal but a deal that's fair for us.\" - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in a Fox News interview \"Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a reckless and indefensible action. It undermines America's standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity's ability to solve the climate crisis in time. But make no mistake: if President Trump won't lead, the American people will.\" - Al Gore, former U.S. vice president turned environmental activist, in a statement \"Today's decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.'s leadership position in the world.\" - Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in his first post from a Twitter account he started in 2011 \"President Trump acted in America's best interest, moving away from a flawed agreement ... and opening the door to a new agreement that reaches the right balance. America will remain a leader in environmental protection. But we will not jeopardize our economy in order to please other counties that don't come anywhere near our environmental standards.\" - Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in a statement \"The White House's reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement has devastating repercussions not only for the United States but for our planet. The administration is abdicating its leadership and taking a backseat to other countries in the global fight against climate change.\" - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a statement joining California Governor Jerry Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee in announcing the formation of an alliance of states committed to upholding the Paris agreement \"This great leap backward is another bow to anti-science know-nothingism. Pandering to a handful of billionaires and special interests would impose huge harm upon our generation, upon future generations, and upon our fragile planet.\" - Statement from Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy \"President Trump's decision to withdraw from #ParisAgreement is a catastrophic mistake. We don't have time to bury our heads in the sand. @POTUS is putting his friends in the fossil fuel industry ahead of the safety and security of American people and the future of our planet.\" - Democratic Senator Al Franken in a tweet \"We are deeply disappointed that the United States federal government has decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement ... While the U.S. decision is disheartening, we remain inspired by the growing momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to clean growth economies.\" - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement \"Without question, America is a nation committed to environmental leadership ... But the Paris Climate Accord is another bad deal negotiated by the Obama administration and America should applaud President Trump's decision to exit.\" - Energy mogul-financier T. Boone Pickens \"Though flawed, the climate accord can be fixed ... It's now up to the administration to deliver a better deal.\" - Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce in a statement \"This is the day when the United States did a lot to forfeit its claim to be a leader among nations. ... We're going to be poorer because we took this step. ... I never thought I would say these words but the president of the United States is a clear and present danger to an orderly global system.\" - Lawrence Summers, former Obama economic adviser and World Bank official, in CNN interview \"This decision is an immoral assault on the public health, safety and security of everyone on this planet ... I am committing to honor the goals of the Paris agreement with an executive order in the coming days, so our city can remain a home for generations to come.\" - Statement from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio \"Disappointed with today's decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government.\" - General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt on Twitter","label":0}
{"text":"Please read Introduction, Part IA and I B before this chapter.  The Horn of Africa has the second most globally geostrategic location on the continent behind North Africa, straddling the commercially vital Red Sea and providing international access to the world's fastest-growing economy of Ethiopia. In this sense, the coastal states acquire a dual maritime and mainland importance through which their territories can be simultaneously used to exert influence along the waterway and the regional interior. Furthermore, as it relates to the Red Sea, this body of water occupies a crucial role in China's grand strategy because it serves as the most geographically convenient route for facilitating the transit of goods between the East Asian state and the EU, which is particularly expected to climb with the completion of the Balkan Silk Road in a few years' time. Due to the importance that China places on the One Belt One Road grand strategy and the need that it has for maintaining and strengthening its overseas markets (especially the large and ever-promising EU one) in order to sustain domestic stability and long-term growth, it logically has an inherent interest in preserving stability in the Horn of Africa so as to safeguard its Sea Line of Communication (SLOC) to Europe. For similar reasons, it also wants to tap into the allied Ethiopian economy and assist in the maximization of its potential so as to acquire a strategic presence there that allows it to deepen its presence further inland into the continent's resource-rich interior.  It should be no surprise then that the Horn of Africa is the focal point of international military attention, as evidenced by the previous part of the research which described the vast array of foreign non-African military bases in Djibouti, the recent GCC presence in Eritrea, and the Turkish and Emirati plans for building a base in Somalia. Quite naturally and in accordance with its obvious interests, China is opening its first overseas military base in Djibouti in order take advantage of the country's dual role in exercising maritime and mainland influence. It's clear how and why the tiny coastal state can be used by Beijing for flexing its maritime muscles, but it's less obvious how it plans to do this in the opposite mainland direction. It's therefore relevant to recall the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway that China is building between the coastal city and the inland capital, since this large-scale infrastructure project will serve as the umbilical cord between the Chinese and Ethiopian economies and also allow the later to finally and reliably access the global market in general. Moreover, the connective vision that China is pursuing is complemented by the Kenyan-originating LAPSSET project that it's also helping to finance , which eventually plans to connect Addis Ababa with the Indian Ocean port of Lamu by rail . Suffice to say, the completion of both transnational railways and the Djibouti-based military facility will catapult China into being the most influential country in the Horn of Africa region, although this seemingly inevitable reality will expectedly be opposed by the US using the methods of Hybrid War.  This part of the research therefore endeavors to explain all of the ways in which the US could apply Hybrid War strategy in order to conceivably offset China's grand designs in the Horn of Africa region. It begins by offering a general overview of regional relations that sets the appropriate context for deeper analysis. After having established the state of affairs and provided a solid understanding of each examined countries' interactions with the other, the second portion of the work then delves into a summary of these states' strategic situations, focusing primarily on their most influential determinants. Finally, the last part of the regional study looks at the most realistic Hybrid War scenarios that the US could possibly provoke against China's Horn of Africa interests. Thorny Relations In The Horn  The four states that occupy the Horn of Africa region \u2013 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia \u2013 don't all have pristine relations with one another, with the most obvious problems being between Eritrea & Somalia on one side and Ethiopia on the other.  Ethiopia-Eritrea  To explain the reason behind the abysmal relations between these two states, it's necessary to begin by talking about Eritrea's bloody three-decade-long secessionist war against Ethiopia which only ended in 1993. The roots of the conflict are many, but they can be summarized as starting during the imperial period when the Kingdom of Italy annexed Eritrea from the larger civilization-state of Abyssinia in 1890, thenceforth giving it a sense of identity separateness from Ethiopia and planting the seeds for future conflict after the two entities were reunified following the end of World War II. Addis Ababa's unilateral 1962 abolishment of the ten-year-old Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea sparked the separatist war that raged throughout the proceeding decades, and even after independence, the two countries remained at tense odds with one another over the expectation that there would eventually be a continuation war sometime in the future.  This came to pass from 1998-2000, and despite ending in what has been described as a lingering stalemate , it killed over one hundred thousand people and undermined the economic development potential of these two dramatically impoverished states. In the years since, Ethiopia and Eritrea have still remained each other's primary nemesis, with the two sides regularly accusing the other of attempting to subvert its stability and supporting various anti-government forces. Just like in the immediate years after independence, there still exists the very real possibility today that the two countries will go to war with one another at a moment's notice, and this atmosphere of heightened militant tension is the most destabilizing interstate factor in the Horn of Africa. In fact, it will later be argued that this situation is being exploited by the out-of-regional powers inside the GCC as a means of acquiring leverage over Ethiopia and potentially pushing Eritrea into instigating a renewed round of debilitating violence.  Ethiopia-Somalia  Although not as bad as its ties with Eritrea, Ethiopia's relations with Somalia are objectively pretty poor. Granted, on the surface of things there is positive and pragmatic interaction between both states at the government-to-government level, but the primary issue between them has always been the enticing idea of \"Greater Somalia\" that has captivated some Somalians on both sides of the border and even led to the Ogaden War between 1977-1978. This conflict is notable as being the last conventional attempt to create \"Greater Somalia\" and also as being the only time when the Soviets and Americans switched sides during a proxy war. The issue was over the status of Somalians in Ethiopia's sparsely populated eastern region which has now been revealed to be rich i n oil and natural gas deposits, with Addis Ababa claiming that this is an integral part of Ethiopia's territory and a native people to the multiethnic country while Mogadishu and Somalian nationalists assert that it's an occupied region whose people must be united with their namesake nation-state. While Somalia has no realistic means of ever reattempting another Ogaden land grab anytime again in the foreseeable future, the appeal of Somalian nationalism is dangerous for Ethiopia and can easily be used by the US and others in order to engineer destabilization inside of Africa's second-most populous country.  Complicating matters even further is Ethiopia's 2006 anti-terrorist intervention in Somalia which aimed to overthrow the extremist Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that had seized control of most of the country. Covertly supported and egged on by the US, Ethiopia invaded its neighbor and succeeded in expelling the militia from the capital, however its subsequent three-year occupation of the country generated a lot of hostility against it and led to a surge in Somalian nationalism. This in turn was taken advantage of by Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda- and Daesh-linked terrorist group that grew out of the ICU's youth wing, which blended anti-Ethiopian sentiment, Somalian nationalism, and Islamic extremism in creating a lethal cocktail of hate that has made the group one of the most feared in all of Africa. The Somalian government's inability to appropriately combat Al Shabaab and the sympathy that misguided Somalians (especially the youth) have to the organization's twisted message has made it a major regional threat which has the very real potential of actively causing chaos inside of Ethiopia's Somali Region (formerly called Ogaden). In response, the authorities have been compelled to implement harsh security measures as an anti-terrorist precaution to any Daesh-like attempts to create a transnational territorially administered \"Islamic State\" within the region, though this has had the inadvertent effect of drawing the ire of some Somali locals and cyclically leading to the same type of anti-government attitudes that Addis Ababa has sought to avoid.  Ethiopia-Djibouti  Perhaps the most fruitful and positive relationship in the region is between Ethiopia and its northern Djiboutian neighbor. Demographically and geographically mismatched, the two are inherently tied to one another due to regional circumstances. Ethiopia lost all of its coastal territory with Eritrea's independence and thereafter became a landlocked state, and the sky-high tensions between it and its former province have precluded any possibility of pragmatic economic cooperation. Similarly, because of the anarchic instability and terrorist threat in Somalia, Ethiopia has been unable to use its territory in acquiring reliable access to the sea (although it has made some positive steps in this direction with the autonomous self-proclaimed and de-facto independent state of Somaliland via the port of Berbera). For the most part, Ethiopia's economic potential was bottled up inside the Horn of Africa interior and unable to reach the global markets, but China's visionary and proactive initiative in building the Ethiopia-Djibouti railroad changed all of that. The project essentially turned Djibouti into the 'cork' which controls the flow of economic riches into the Ethiopian 'bottle', making it a literal bottleneck state in pivotally opening up the massive economic possibilities of its southern neighbor.  Along the same lines, however, this breakthrough infrastructure development means the tiny country is disproportionately important to Ethiopia and can be used indirectly as a means of destabilizing the much larger and expanding economy of former Abyssinia. Domestic disturbances such as Color Revolution unrest or possible Afar separatism in Djibouti could disrupt access to the railroad and indefinitely cut Ethiopia and its partners off from one another, thus making it totally dependent on the LAPSSET corridor to its south which runs through Oromo-populated territory and could quickly become a tantalizing target for ethnic-affiliated rebel and terrorist groups. With this in mind, it becomes even more apparent why China chose Djibouti as the location of its first overseas military base, since it's substantially easier to exert positive influence on small Djibouti in safeguarding the viability of its prized railroad investment than in doing so inside of Kenya or anywhere else, and plus, there's of course the added maritime advantage in being located on the Red Sea. As for how China could predictably protect its railroad, it might either employ the direct use of its military as hinted at in its first-ever 2015 white paper on military strategy in order to protect its foreign interests, or it could end up utilizing private military corporations (PMCs) to indirectly do this instead.  The bottom line is that Djiboutian stability is absolutely integral for Ethiopia's strategic security, and it's for this reason that bilateral relations are extraordinarily close and will foreseeably remain so for the future. Djibouti benefits from this relationship by profiting off of its transit state status in facilitating access to and from the Ethiopian economy, so it has a vested self-interest in protecting the railroad as well. Therefore, it's expected that it would use its military forces to safeguard the line in the event of any domestic troubles, likely applying the training that they acquired from their Chinese counterparts inside the country and probably even doing so under the supervision of Chinese advisors as well. By functioning as Ethiopia's critical link to the outside world, Djibouti could also end up being targeted by Eritrea or by Somalian-based terrorist groups as a means of indirectly offsetting the regional hegemon, so this is of course a factor that must be considered.  Eritrea-Djibouti  In reference to the previous, Eritrea does not have positive relations with Djibouti and actually fought a brief border war with its neighbor in 2008. As per UN agreement, Qatar has deployed its troops to both countries in order to mediate the conflict and has remained in the region since 2010, presenting another factor of instability vis-\u00e0-vis Ethiopia which will be discussed later on. To continue with the state of bilateral relations between the two coastal countries, it's worthwhile to also mention that Eritrea has actually had problems with all of its neighbors, and this includes Sudan and Yemen (the latter via the Hanish Islands conflict ), which together demonstrates a distinct pattern of Eritrean behavior. Therefore, the 2008 conflict with Djibouti mustn't be seen in isolation, but rather as a continuation of long-standing Eritrean policy which regularly resorts to militant means to achieve its goals. It can't be discounted that Qatar and Eritrea might conspire together in supporting Al Shabaab attacks inside of Djibouti in order to inflict strategic harm on Ethiopia, since not only has the Gulf state been convincingly linked to the terrorist organization, but Eritrea is actually under UNSC sanctions for allegedly aiding it in the past (although the latest findings indicate that this relationship may no longer be in effect). Therefore, Eritrea's relations with Djibouti absolutely must be seen in the prism of its regional proxy war with Ethiopia which conceptualizes the neighboring state between them as a potential asymmetrical battleground.  Djibouti-Somalia  On the other side of things, Djibouti's relations with Somalia are warm and friendly, despite Mogadishu having no de-facto control over the bordering region with the autonomous and self-proclaimed independent state of Somaliland. While there isn't anything substantial to speak of in this regard, it's worthwhile mentioning the latent threat that non-state-actor-promoted militant Somali nationalism might pose to Djibouti (including the perverted version espoused by Al Shabaab). The country is mostly populated by the Issa clan, which itself is regarded as a subsect of the Somalis and thus places them within the within the purview of \"Greater Somalia\". While this ideal may have had some sway in the Cold War-era past and in the years before and immediately after the former French Somaliland's independence, it no longer has much of an appeal in Djibouti after Somalia descended into failed state status in 1991, although that isn't to say that there might not be some people who are still attracted to the romanticized version of this ideology. What's most threatening, however, isn't the possibility of passively sympathetic Djiboutians supporting \"Greater Somalia\" slogans, but Al Shabaab and other terrorist groups violently targeting the country's nationals and infrastructure projects in order to ostensibly support this vision.  The varied deployment of so many international non-African military forces in Djibouti makes it unlikely that the terrorists would succeed in inflicting long-term harm to the country or the Ethiopia-Djibouti railroad, but their extremist ideology and willingness to die for their cause makes them very dangerous and leads to the impossibility of discounting this scenario. Still, the relatively better policed and more closely administrated Somaliland region serves as a stop gap in inhibiting Al Shabaab's direct movement to Djibouti, although it's of course possible that the organization could infiltrate its coastal target through more conventional means such as covertly entering it by means of the world-famous port and under an assumed cover instead of illegally sneaking across the international border. In any case, the only relevant factor of Djiboutian-Somalian affairs that's applicable to the Hybrid War research is Al Shabaab and the ideology of \"Greater Somalia\", neither of which are promoted at the state level but both of which could lead to serious problems for the targeted country. For this reason, the Djibouti-Somalia axis is the least relevant factor in the Horn of Africa's regional political arrangement, at least on the official level, although it does have the potential to unconventionally become a major destabilizing issue in the future among certain non-state actors.  Eritrea-Somalia  Just like Eritrea views Djibouti, it also holds the same proxy battleground mentality for Somalia as well. If the UNSC's suspicions about Eritrea's support of Al Shabaab are to be believed, then it's clear to see that Asmara is simply employing whatever tool it can get its hands on in order to destabilize Addis Ababa. Whether reckless or justified depending on one's political disposition, it's unmistakable that Eritrea's burning hate for Ethiopia has spread the proxy conflict between them from the joint border all the way to the Somalian frontier, thereby engulfing the region in this turmoil and turning their rivalry into the single most important driver of the Horn of Africa's geopolitical destabilizations. It's likely that the Eritrean leadership is no longer as close to Al Shabaab as it was suspected of being before, partly due to increased international stigma and awareness of this relationship, but that doesn't remove the fact that Asmara may have played a key role in the group's early development and consequently makes the country responsible to an extent for the organization's present existence and violent rise.  Accordingly, the only logical way to view Eritrean-Somalian relations is through the prism of the greater Eritrean-Ethiopian proxy war in the region and the relative benefit that each respective actor gets from Somalia's stability or insecurity. With that being considered, it can be argued that Eritrea benefits more from Somalia's instability and the prevalence of militant non-state actors there (including Islamic-affiliated terrorists and \"Greater Somalia\" nationalists) than it does if normalcy were to return to the country. The arrival of stability would preclude Somalian territory from ever again being used by Eritrea as an asymmetrical springboard against Ethiopia, and it would correspondingly limit Asmara's strategic flexibility in dealing with its larger and better equipped rival. Since Somalia is gradually becoming more stabilized over the past couple of years, Eritrea's strategy might shift from allegedly working with terrorist groups to harnessing its new yet unofficial GCC military partnership in order to make inroads with the autonomous and self-proclaimed de-facto independent state of Somaliland. The strategic fusion of Eritrean and GCC capabilities on Ethiopia's northeastern border might portend a more concerted destabilization sometime in the future, whether of an Islamic terrorist, \"Greater Somalian\", or blended nature thereof.  To be continued\u2026  Andrew Korybko is the American political commentator currently working for the Sputnik agency. He is the author of the monograph \" Hybrid Wars: The Indirect Adaptive Approach To Regime Change \" (2015). This text will be included into his forthcoming book on the theory of Hybrid Warfare.  PREVIOUS CHAPTERS:","label":1}
{"text":"Donald J. Trump explicitly acknowledged for the first time during Sunday's debate that he used a $916 million loss that he reported on his 1995 income tax returns to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for years. Mr. Trump's response \u2014 \"Of course I do. Of course I do\" \u2014 was the fullest the wealthy developer had provided since The New York Times reported that he had declared the loss, and that the tax deduction could have been large enough to allow him to avoid federal income taxes for up to 18 years. Previously he had declined to comment on the documents, issuing a statement that neither challenged nor confirmed the $916 million loss. Asked directly during the debate if he would say how many years he had avoided paying federal income taxes, Mr. Trump responded, \"No. \" But at the same time, he asserted that he paid \"hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes,\" calling it a \"simple\" thing. \"I pay tax, and I pay federal tax, too,\" he said. Unless Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, releases his tax records, it is impossible to determine exactly how he has handled his taxes and what he has paid over the years. If he does not make his taxes public, he will be the first presidential candidate in four decades not to do so. Though the issue has been overshadowed in recent days by a recording of Mr. Trump's lewd comments about women, his refusal to release his tax returns \u2014 and the possibility that he had not paid federal income taxes for years \u2014 has emerged as a central issue in the campaign. During the debate, Mr. Trump appeared to shed some light on his approach to taxes, saying that he knew more about the tax code than any other presidential candidate in history. \"I have a . A lot of it is depreciation, which is a wonderful charge,\" he said. \"I love depreciation. \" But as Mr. Trump explained his own tax situation, he tried to make the case that his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, was among those responsible for the tax code that enabled him to get benefits. \"She has given it to us,\" he said. Mr. Trump also went on to invoke Mrs. Clinton's wealthy allies. \"Many of her friends took bigger deductions,\" he said. \"Warren Buffett took a massive deduction. \" Mrs. Clinton, though, contended that Mr. Trump provided an example of what needed to change in the tax code \u2014 saying he was among the people who \"paid zero in taxes, zero for our vets, zero for our military, zero for health and education. That is wrong. \" She proposed a tax on people who make more than $5 million, calling it the \"Buffett rule. \" In Mr. Trump's case, what is clear is that he derived remarkable tax benefits from the financial ruin he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his foray into the airline business and his purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. \"Simply put, the organization is in dire financial straits,\" New Jersey casino regulators concluded after reviewing his business balance sheet woes in 1990. The 1995 tax documents, which were anonymously mailed to a New York Times reporter, were the first page of a New York State resident income tax return, the first page of a New Jersey nonresident tax return and the first page of a Connecticut nonresident tax return. They did not include any pages from Mr. Trump's 1995 federal return. Mr. Trump was correct when he said he benefited from a provision that had been used by other wealthy families. Known as net operating loss, it allows an array of deductions, business expenses, real estate depreciation, losses from the sale of business assets and even operating losses to flow from the balance sheets of those partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations onto the personal tax returns of people like Mr. Trump. In turn, those losses can be used to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income. With a $916 million net operating loss in 1995, Mr. Trump could have avoided paying more than $50 million a year in taxable income over 18 years. Mr. Trump appears to have embraced other elements of the tax code. In 1991, he lobbied federal lawmakers to relax tax rules that he claimed had strangled the real estate industry. And in less than two years, as part of a budget deal, Congress passed a set of provisions sought by developers that could have helped Mr. Trump avoid large tax bills linked to his enormous debt racked up by the early 1990s, while also allowing him to spin other real estate losses into valuable offsets on his future earnings in licensing, television and other ventures. One provision allowed real estate investors with highly leveraged properties to accept forgiveness of their bank loans without paying taxes on the money, in exchange for giving up other tax benefits. Another allowed them to apply some real estate losses against other kinds of income. While details of Mr. Trump's income taxes and any deductions are scarce, limited details are contained in government filings that have been unearthed during his campaign. For example, Mr. Trump paid more than $71, 000 in federal income taxes on about $218, 000 of taxable income earned from 1975 to 1977, according to a 1981 report assessing his fitness for a casino license. During the next two years, 1978 and 1979, he paid no taxes, the report said. Mr. Trump also avoided paying any federal income taxes in 1984, tax court records show. With his Atlantic City casinos in financial trouble in 1991 and 1993, casino commission reports show that he claimed losses that would have allowed him to avoid paying income taxes in those years. Voters in recent polls have shown interest in Mr. Trump's taxes. A CBS York Times poll last month showed that 59 percent of respondents said it was necessary for him to release his tax returns. Mr. Trump has said he will not release his taxes while he is facing an audit from the Internal Revenue Service. \"I pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, but, but as soon as my routine audit is finished I'll release my returns,\" he said. \"I'll be very proud to. \"","label":0}
{"text":"A technician hired by Hillary Clinton to run the private email system she used while U.S. secretary of state told investigators he tried to pass on colleagues' concerns that the system might not comply with records laws, FBI interview summaries show. Bryan Pagliano, the technician Clinton hired when she joined the State Department in 2009, told federal investigators he relayed the concerns to Cheryl Mills, then Clinton's chief of staff. Mills, whose lawyer did not respond to requests for comment, has previously testified under oath she could not recall anyone alerting her to potential problems with Clinton's email arrangement. The episode had not been disclosed until the Federal Bureau of Investigation released on Friday night nearly 200 pages of additional records from its year-long investigation into the handling of classified government documents by Clinton and her staff via an unauthorized email server in the basement of her New York home. Clinton has said the decision to use a private email system was a mistake, but the controversy has dogged her campaign as the Democratic candidate for the presidency and raised public doubts about her trustworthiness, public opinion polls show. Republicans have criticized her for putting national security at risk. The FBI closed the year-long investigation in July, recommending no charges, although FBI Director James Comey said Clinton and her staff had been \"extremely careless\" in handling classified government secrets. Pagliano has declined to answer questions by Republican lawmakers about his work on Clinton's server, but spoke to federal investigators after securing a form of immunity from prosecution. He told investigators two colleagues from the technology office approached him with concerns during Clinton's first year after learning about the email system. One said it could lead to a \"federal records retention issue,\" Pagliano told investigators, and urged him to raise the concern with Clinton's \"inner circle.\" A colleague also warned Pagliano \"he wouldn't be surprised\" if classified information was being sent through Clinton's unsecure system, Pagliano told the FBI. The newly released interview summaries from the FBI investigation show government employees undercutting other aspects of the public accounts given by Clinton and senior State officials. A State Department employee, whose name was redacted, told investigators they believed senior department officials interfered with the screening of Clinton's emails for public release last year in a way that helped Clinton. The employee, who worked on the screening process, said there was pressure to obscure the fact they were finding classified information in the messages. John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement the department \"strongly disputes\" the claim of interference. Clinton repeatedly said last year she never sent or received classified information, but now says she did not do so knowingly since the release of the FBI findings. The employee also said the Defense Department told the State Department last year it had found about 1,000 emails between Clinton and David Petraeus in its records from his time as the director of the United States Central Command. The State Department has said that Clinton did not include any of her emails with Petraeus when her lawyers screened and returned what they said were all her work emails in 2014. A single conversation of about 10 emails later emerged last year after the Defense Department provided it. Spokesmen for Clinton have declined to discuss the omission, and did not respond to questions about the new interview summaries. Kirby, the department spokesman, said he could not \"speculate\" whether the Defense Department had found more than just a single conversation between Clinton and Petraeus. \"We can only speak to the records in our possession,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"A Mexican columnist just repeatedly stabbed a President Trump pi ata She got it on film thinking it would be funny but Trump supporter Marco Gutierrez shared the video with the Secret Service in hopes that they would visit this nut job to let her know how serious this is.Please make sure you visit @gloaeza & let her know how #USA feels of this acts of hers @FBI @ALT_DOJ @SecretService @infowars @seanhannity pic.twitter.com\/zRKuXfutAl Marco Gutierrez (@MarcoGutierrez) August 17, 2017Others in the video laughed as Loaeza furiously stabbed and stabbed.She stabbed the Trump pi ata at least 56 times before stopping to catch her breath and the video ended.Marco Gutierrez notified the Secret Service of Loaeza s stunt let s hope she gets lots of blowback from Trump supporters! This is ridiculous and disrespectful!TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME!","label":1}
{"text":"Share on Facebook NASA Space Sounds: what happens when spacecraft are used to record radio emissions from planetary environments, which are then converted to sound waves. Some spacecraft have instruments capable of capturing radio emissions. What you're hearing is the result of scientists' conversion of these radio emissions to sound waves. Instruments on NASA's Voyager, INJUN 1, ISEE 1 and HAWKEYE space probes were used to record the vibrations of different objects in our solar system. The recorded sounds are the complex interactions of charged electromagnetic particles from the solar wind, ionisphere, and planetary magnetosphere. The space sounds are really amazing! Nothing was added or tweaked either, these are the beautiful sounds which emanate from that mysterious world above and beyond. Enjoy! Saturn's Rings","label":1}
{"text":"Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump took office, his presidency started generating controversy. Photographs showing that the crowd at Trump's swearing-in was smaller than at Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration in 2009 caused the first ruckus in his administration - but not the last. Trump's first year in office was colored by an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with the Russian government to affect the election outcome, insults and threats of war with North Korea, and an effort to pass business-friendly legislation. From the start, the White House took a combative approach, accusing the media of framing photographs of the inauguration in a way that appeared to understate the crowd size. Press Secretary Sean Spicer argued that the images were not what they seemed and that crowds of historic size watched Trump take the oath of office. Protests would become a hallmark of Trump's first year. On Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration, hundreds of thousands of women jammed the streets of Washington to demonstrate opposition to Trump. A week after taking office, the Republican president signed an executive order to prevent citizens of seven predominately-Muslim countries from traveling to the United States. Known by critics as the \"Muslim ban,\" protesters quickly demonstrated at airports in opposition. Trump would ignite protests again in August, when he was asked to respond to white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia, including one who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman. The president argued there were bad people \"on both sides.\" Following his remarks, business leaders resigned from Trump's business councils and the panels were disbanded. A defining feature of Trump's first year in office was the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the election. Trump ignited a political firestorm in May when he fired Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who had been leading an investigation into possible collusion by the Trump 2016 presidential campaign with Russia to influence the election outcome. Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion. Soon afterward, the Justice Department named former FBI chief Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation. Paul Manafort, who had briefly served as Trump's campaign manager, and his business associate Rick Gates were indicted by Mueller's team in October, accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign governments. A month later, Michael Flynn, who briefly served under Trump as U.S. national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations last December with Russia's then-ambassador in Washington just weeks before Trump took office. Trump has also found himself embroiled in a war of words with North Korea over its missile program, exchanging insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At home, Trump has struggled to enact sweeping changes he promised on the campaign trail. He threatened to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but business lobbyists persuaded him to renegotiate it. Trump signed an executive order setting up talks on the trilateral trade deal, which has hit roadblocks with Mexico and Canada. Trump's team also failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare despite Republican control of the White House and Congress. It was not until December that Trump made headway on major legislative change as both chambers of Congress passed a sweeping tax overhaul. The bill must be reconciled with a different version approved by the House of Representatives, but the Senate bill is expected to remain largely intact. (Click on reut.rs\/2Asabau to see a related photo essay)","label":0}
{"text":"Just suppose the play was cancelled because the school was using black actors. Would this be the only place you would see this story?A small, state college in northern Pennsylvania has canceled a musical about a week before it was scheduled to open after the playwright objected to the use of white actors for South Asian characters.Clarion University had spent much of the year preparing to stage the punk rock version of Jesus in India, by dramatist Lloyd Suh, which ran off-Broadway in 2013 and received favorable reviews.Suh, who owns the rights to the musical, sent an e-mail on Monday to the school s play director Marilouise Michel ordering her to either replace the non-Asian actors with ethnically appropriate actors or cancel the production, which was due to open Nov. 18. I have severe objections to your use of Caucasian actors in roles clearly written for South Asian actors, and consider this an absolutely unacceptable distortion of the play, Suh wrote in the e-mail provided to Reuters by Michel.Michel told Reuters on Thursday that one of the Indian roles was to be played by a biracial girl, and the rest by whites. They were not doing the roles in brownface or using dialects, she said, but Suh rejected any solution other than removing them.Suh, who has another play, Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, running off-Broadway this month, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did his agent, Beth Blickers.Michel said Clarion University, with about 4,900 students, has a student body that is 0.6 percent Asian and that no Asians auditioned for the play.She tried several times to reach Suh by phone to discuss aspects of his play, but he did not take her calls before it was canceled on Tuesday, she said.When he saw the cast photos earlier this month, he demanded through Blickers to know the ethnicity of the actors, she said. I couldn t stop myself from crying when I saw the photos and realized what was happening, Suh wrote in his e-mail.On Tuesday, the day after Suh s e-mail, the New York Times published an opinion piece by Indian-American comedian Aziz Ansari decrying the treatment of Asian, particularly Indian actors, in the media but also noted that such actors were harder to find.VIA: Reuters","label":1}
{"text":"By now, you ve probably heard that at a recent Ted Cruz rally, Carly Fiorina fell off the stage right after announcing the candidate and his family. She s fine, don t worry.Yet, leave it to Donald Trump to use this moment to his advantage in front of his band of merry morons.Trump told his crowd in Carmel, Indiana: Carly s perfectly nice. By the way, she fell off the stage the other day. Did anybody see that? And Cruz didn t do anything. Even I would have helped her, OK? Basically saying, even I, the biggest jerk on earth, would have given her a hand. Then he just kept going with it, because you know, Trump: They just showed it to me coming in. I said, No, I didn t see it. They just showed it to me and I said, wow, that s really cruel. She fell off she just went down. She went a long way down, right? She went down right in front of him and he was talking. He kept talking. He didn t even look like that was a weird deal. Man. And then they were both talking. She was talking from the back and he was talking from there. They re both talking. No, it was weird. Writing out a Trump transcript is very unique, because he will literally repeat himself over and over and over as though you didn t get it the first time.Of course, Trump is making a mountain out of a molehill. Cruz likely didn t even see her fall, and she was back to the stage within seconds. All that aside, it is still wildly bizarre that Carly Fiorina is a running mate of a person who likely won t come near enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination.Watch part of Trump s diatribe here:Trump: Even I would have helped Fiorina up: https:\/\/t.co\/zsb3c5vlqO https:\/\/t.co\/RLxk64Ae3o POLITICO (@politico) May 2, 2016Featured Photo via Win McNamee\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"By Mark S. McGrew  In the year 4874, an ancient document was unearthed. It described how the consciousness of the inhabitants of the earth changed from evil to goodness approximately 3,000 years ago.  We have translated this to our best ability.  And it came to pass, that the world was ruled by an evil Queen. A foul stench was laid upon the peoples of the earth.  She gave the land of her people to foreigners, taking away their power. And the foreigners were arrogant with their stolen gains. They offended the citizens.  And the Queen gave the industries of her citizens to foreigners. And the foreigners were arrogant, hiring only their own kind and displacing the citizens. And the foreigners brought with them, the lazy of their families. The thieves and the liars and the most vile in the families of the foreigners, ruled over the citizens.  And to the worst of the worst, in the foreigner's families, were given unto them, the fruits of the citizens' labor, while the evil Queen laughed down at the citizens.  And the citizens were homeless in their own villages. And the citizens were insulted and violated at will by the foreigners.  The people had only one thing of value left to them that was impossible for the evil Queen to take from them: Their faith. The people prayed.  The people in the village of the Queen prayed. And they sent messages, as a bird tweeting, to the villages nearby and those villages sent messages to the villages nearby and those people sent messages to the villages nearby, until the whole world knew to pray for a savior. And the whole world prayed for a savior.  And it came to pass, after generations, that there was a savior, being prepared, being trained to defeat the evil Queen. And the people prayed harder and longer and more loving, now to protect their young savior and to guide him in righteousness.  And one day, when the Queen was addressing her citizens, a violent wind came from the north, blowing her pantsuit away and the people saw her secrets. And she became known for her true self.  The evil Queen tried to punish the wind and it came again, exposing her generals and she swore to conquer the wind. She ordered all of her people to not feel the wind, to deny it existed. And the wind grew harder and became stronger again.  And the wind blew over all parts of the earth and cried out to all good men, \"Join me!\". And the people joined. From village to village across all the lands, they joined.  And on a dark windy night, the people were all joined in a field and the crowd was all of the good and right thinking people of the earth and it was quiet.  A lone voice cried out, \"He is coming!\" and he pointed to a star in the heavens. And the people saw that he was coming. On his left was a red angel and on his right was a green angel to guide and protect him. And the people saw that he was coming. They prayed for his safety.  They huddled together in fear as they felt the power of his chariot coming from the sky.  His chariot stopped in front of the multitudes and he spoke to them. They were calmed. They were excited. They knew him. They had seen him before without knowing his true purpose. And now, standing amongst them, he was unveiled and the people liked what they saw and what they were hearing. After generations of lie upon lie sent upon their lives, he spoke the truth. And the people were amazed at his truths.  And in the back of the crowd of people, several mountain ranges away, it was difficult to hear him and the people in the back whispered to the ones in front of them, \"What does he say?\". And those people asked the people in front of them, \"What did He say?\". And those people asked and the asking continued to the front of the crowd. And one man answered back in a whisper to the people behind him and those people whispered to the ones behind them, the words that were spoken by their savior and the whisper turned into a voice and the voice became a shout and the shout became a great noise and the great noise became like thunder echoing across all the lands of the earth, the words of the savior, \"LOCK HER UP, LOCK HER UP, LOCK HER UP!!!\"  And the people knew there was a savior standing before them. And they cheered and they cried with joy, knowing that their prayers had been answered.  And he told them, before he departed in his chariot, \"You must help. You must work. You must spread my words to all.\"  When his chariot, with the green angel on his right and his red angel on his left began to leave, the people heard and felt the power of his wings and the people felt the warmth of his love. And the people in the back of the multitudes saw his chariot go into the Heavens, from where it had come. And the people believed him because he told them to believe in their own righteous honor. He did not say they were deplorable and irredeemable.  And the people did work and they did spread his word. And through the word of the people, the evil Queen's soldiers lost faith and they refused to fight the people again. And the words of the savior, being repeated by the people, caused the most trusted of the evil Queen's advisers to flee. And all of her servants fled. All the evil people of the Queen hurried to escape the people. They hid in their caves and in the forests. And she was left alone, with only her drink. And she drank.  And she drank until she was in such a stupor that the people quietly entered her palace and removed her.  And the foreigners were driven out of the lands and permitted to take nothing with them.  When all was prepared and the savior knew his people were righteous, He came back and one by one, he drained the swamp, eliminating the corrupt politicians and the corrupt lawyers and the corrupt jesters and all the corruption was destroyed. There was much destruction and much death at the hands of the savior, for he was savior only to the good and the honest and the just of this world.  The ungood, the dishonest and the unjust were sent away and prohibited from annoying the people anymore and the savior ignored them and let them die in their own time in their own way. And they died in very short time, because the people would not give them work, or food, or shelter or rest.  And he told the people, \"Now you must work, and work hard, to rebuild your lives and rebuild your fortunes and to care for your children, and teach them my words and teach them my actions, for someday I must leave you.\"  And for a great time, there were no wars on the earth, for most of the leaders of nations had seen that the savior was a good man, an honest man and a just man. And they came from all parts of the earth to make peace with him.  And the leaders who did not hear his words and see his actions and learn from them were destroyed. And there was peace for 1,000 years, until this was written and evil does not exist anymore. Rate this:","label":1}
{"text":"By Wayne Allen Root \u2013 Review Journal  The election is Tuesday. So it's time to make my final case for Donald J. Trump. My case is pretty simple \u2014 it's Trump or it's the end of America.  I was raised as a middle-class kid in the greatest country in world history. A country built around mobility, opportunity and economic freedom. A country that allowed this son of a butcher to become a successful business owner, media personality, best-selling author and TV star and producer. Only in America.  I was taught by my wonderful, patriotic, true red, white and blue, salt-of-the-earth, American parents that certain specific things made America great. Here they are:  Faith in God, prayer, love of country, family, a belief in American exceptionalism, capitalism, Judeo-Christian values, the Constitution, limited government, personal responsibility, economic freedom, the military and police.  Well don't look now. But everything from that list above \u2026 everything we believe in \u2026 everything that made America great \u2026 has been under full-scale assault for eight long years \u2014 from multiple directions. And Hillary is here to finish the job. She already publicly stated she wants to be Obama's third term.  The truth is we either send a strong message heard around the world and elect Trump, or the America we know and love is gone. Forever.  Because if Trump doesn't win, no other Republican will ever be elected president again. President Hillary Clinton will make sure of that. Hillary will open the borders like never before to let in millions of illegal aliens who have no love for anything that made America great.  Foreigners come here not out of a love for America, but for a love of the cradle-to-grave welfare state that America has become. Eighty percent of them (or higher) will vote Democrat forever more to keep the welfare checks coming. That's Hillary's plan.  Don't believe me? See California. No Republican will ever again be elected to statewide office. This was the exact formula that destroyed California. Open the borders, let in millions of foreigners, make them dependent on government welfare checks and then train them to vote Democrat to keep the handouts coming.  It worked!  That was the experiment. Now Democrats are onto Plan B \u2014 to turn the rest of America into California.  Hillary will open the borders and tie the hands of border agents in order to flood the country with millions of new illegals. Hillary will legalize the 12 million to 15 million or so already here \u2014 and give them the right to vote.  Hillary will also enthusiastically import millions of Muslim refugees who have no love for America, capitalism, the Constitution, or certainly Judeo-Christian values. Some will become terrorists, almost all will require cradle-to-grave welfare.  Then it's over for America.  So vote. Drag your friends to the polls. Make phone calls to your entire address book. Leave no stone unturned.  Think of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Think of open borders.  Think of your children's and grandchildren's future.  Then vote for Trump like it's \u2026 Trump, or the end of America.  Because it is.  Wayne Allyn Root is a best-selling author and host of \"WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show\" 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now. His R-J columns run Wednesdays and Sundays.  For once in our lifetime, we the people have an opportunity to elect a President who was NOT chosen by Multinational Corporations, Big Banks, DC Elites, and the Globalist Lapdog Mainstream Media.  Please like and share if you are a TRUMP VOTER!","label":1}
{"text":"Trump s Department of Justice has finally figured out they re stupid in one instance, at least. Back in January, a member of Code Pink named Desiree Fairooz laughed during Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing, was charged with disorderly conduct, found guilty, and faced up to a full year in prison for it. A D.C. court tossed out her conviction and set a new trial, but now the DOJ has dropped the case entirely:Here s the Justice Department s notice it s dropping charges against woman who laughed at Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing. pic.twitter.com\/Dv5vqzxdPA Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) November 7, 2017Fairooz own reaction to the news says it all about the stupidity of this endeavor:Just received this, Governments Notice of Nolle Prosequi What a relief! Guess they ve got enough laughing matters to deal with! Desiree Fairooz (@desireefairooz) November 6, 2017She laughed because she felt Senator Shelby s overly-syrupy remarks about Sessions alleged record of treating everyone equally were as ridiculous as they sound. Sessions treats people anything but equally and he has a long track record of that. Code Pink s campaign director said Fairooz laughter was a reflex action more than anything, which actually does make a lot of sense. Fairooz herself didn t mean to actually laugh, but she did say: I felt it was my responsibility as a citizen to dissent at the confirmation hearing of Senator Jeff Sessions, a man who professes anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT policies, who has voted against several civil rights measures and who jokes about the white supremacist terrorist group the Ku Klux Klan. That s the whole problem, though: The Trump administration doesn t want dissent. And while it s true that Fairooz had several prior arrests for protesting, the number of cases publicly brought against dissenters of this administration is absolutely astonishing. This is a victory for all who stand for what s right which is the opposite of what Trump s administration stands for.","label":1}
{"text":"Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) secretly obtained a loan from the big pockets of financial giant Goldman Sachs, which he used to provide a decisive financial edge to his U.S. Senate campaign in 2012.Cruz has previously accused Goldman of being the beneficiary of crony capitalism, and said they they seek out and get special favors from government. The loans obtained by Cruz were not disclosed on forms filed with the federal government.Neither loan appears in reports the Ted Cruz for Senate Committee filed with the Federal Election Commission, in which candidates are required to disclose the source of money they borrow to finance their campaigns. Other campaigns have been investigated and fined for failing to make such disclosures, which are intended to inform voters and prevent candidates from receiving special treatment from lenders. There is no evidence that the Cruzes got a break on their loans.A spokeswoman for Mr. Cruz s presidential campaign, Catherine Frazier, acknowledged that the loan from Goldman Sachs, drawn against the value of the Cruzes brokerage account, was a source of money for the Senate race. Ms. Frazier added that Mr. Cruz also sold stocks and liquidated savings, but she did not address whether the Citibank loan was used.Cruz is now characterizing the omission of this information as inadvertent and a technical matter. He went on to say The facts of the underlying matter have been disclosed for many, many years. He also told reporters, All of the information has been public and transparent for many years, and that s the end of that. But the election was over in the fall of 2010, and it is now 2016 a six year gap between when he spent the money and when he finally acknowledged where it came from and how it was used. Cruz failed to amend or update this information for a large sum of money. Considering the candidate s history of playing fast and loose with the truth, there is no independent verification of his claim that the filing was inadvertent. Cruz s wife Heidi is a managing director at Goldman Sachs in Houston, but is currently on a leave of absence from her job as her husband campaigns for president. When speaking about his wife s career, Cruz omitted the ten years of experience she had at the company.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Congress will pass legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling and lawmakers have a number of options for avoiding default, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday. \"We will pass legislation to make sure we pay our debts and we will not hit the debt ceiling. We'll do this before the debt ceiling,\" Ryan said during a tax reform event at a Boeing plant in Washington state. \"There are many different options in front of us on how we achieve that,\" he added. \"We pay our debts in this country. We will continue to do so.\" Later, in an interview with CNBC, Ryan said he had considered the option of attaching legislation raising the debt ceiling to a measure Congress passed recently extending money to veterans' programs. The comments came after President Donald Trump said on Twitter that Congress could have avoided a \"mess\" if Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had taken his advice to link the debt ceiling and veterans' funding measure. \"That's an option we were looking at but the VA deadline came up and we weren't able to do that then,\" Ryan told CNBC. Congress passed the veterans' measure in early August and Trump signed it August 12. \"I'm really not that worried about this, we have plenty of options ahead of us\" to raise the debt ceiling, Ryan said, adding that he did not interpret Trump's tweets as \"going after me.\" The speaker sidestepped a question as to whether the options included a \"clean\" hike of the debt ceiling, saying he did not want to \"negotiate to the media.\" House conservative Republicans have been pushing for a variety of add-ons to a debt limit bill, such as deep spending cuts or the sale of government assets. The government bumped up against its statutory limit on borrowing at just under $20 trillion in March. Since then, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has had to take \"extraordinary\" measures to stave off a default until Congress agrees to raise the Treasury's borrowing capability. The Trump administration had been hoping Congress would pass a debt limit bill before embarking on a long summer recess.","label":0}
{"text":"Hollywood police spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said Thursday that the body of 37-year-old Beranton J. Whisenant Jr. was found early Wednesday by a passerby on the city s beach. She said detectives are trying to determine if the death was a homicide, suicide or something else. WPTVThe cause of death including whether Whisenant was murdered was still under investigation.However, The Miami Herald reported that the death is being investigated as a crime by the Hollywood Police Department.According to ABC News, the 37-year-old prosecutor s body bore a head wound.In 2013, CNN quoted an expert who called murders of prosecutors in the United States beyond rare, and reported that only 13 prosecutors have been killed in the line of duty in the past 100 years. Murders of federal prosecutors are rarer still, although it s not clear yet what happened to Whisenant.Whisenant worked for the U.S. Attorney s Office in Miami in its major crimes unit. He had joined the office in January. Court records show he had been handling several visa and passport fraud cases.The federal prosecutor s body was discovered lying on the city beach on Wednesday, May 24. His body had washed up on the beach, and The Miami Herald reported that it s not clear whether he died there. Whisenant may have suffered a head wound caused by a possible gunshot or other type of trauma, The Herald reported.According to ABC News, Whisenant was married and was a father of three. Whisenant lived in Miramar with his wife, Ebony, a physician who teaches at Florida International University s College of Medicine, reported Miami Herald.Whisenant was handling some serious cases for the federal prosecutor s office in Miami. PACER, the federal court record website, lists him as an attorney in 39 cases. Not all of those date from his time in the U.S. attorney s office, but there are a number of May filings listed.His recent cases focused on illegal immigration issues. For example, in one recent case, a woman was accused of re-entering the U.S. illegally from Guatemala who had previously been ordered removed from the United States. In another recent case, a man was accused of buying a fake Italian passport and trying to enter Miami with it.Whisenant was assigned to the Major Crimes Unit. His LinkedIn page says that Whisenant had only been in the U.S. Attorney s office for five months.According to ABC News, Whisenant had been working on visa and passport fraud cases, according to court documents. Heavy","label":1}
{"text":"The Democratic Party Got Crushed During The Obama Presidency. Here's Why The GOP may be in the midst of an identity crisis, but the Democratic Party is also facing a political crisis that could be made a lot worse if it doesn't win the White House in November. Part of President Obama's legacy is the health of his party. He's had many successes in office \u2014 health care reform, climate change regulations, Wall Street reform \u2014 but his legacy will also include one huge failure: a diminished Democratic Party. Every president sees his party lose hundreds of positions \u2014 it's the price a party holding the White House pays \u2014 but no president has come close to Obama. During Obama's eight years in office, the Democrats have lost more House, Senate, state legislative and governors seats than under any other president. When Obama took office, there were 60 Democratic senators; now there are 46. The number of House seats held by Democrats has shrunk from 257 to 188. There are now nine fewer Democratic governors than in 2009. Democrats currently hold fewer elected offices nationwide than at any time since the 1920s. 1. There are two different electorates in America There is Presidential Election America, where turnout is diverse. The electorate is younger, browner, more single, more secular \u2014 more Democratic. Then there's Midterm Election America, where the electorate is older, whiter, more rural, more church-going \u2014 in other words, more Republican. What's great for Republicans and bad for Democrats is that the vast majority of the governorships and state legislative seats are elected in the midterms. And those positions are the seed corn for a party \u2014 they're the farm teams for higher-level offices. Right now the Democrats are at a very low ebb. This is something President Obama lamented when he campaigned for Democrats in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014. Republicans manage to turn out their voters every two years, but Democrats, for some reason, only turn their voters out every four. Maybe, Obama mused, because Democrats just don't think midterms are \"sexy enough.\" Democrats had one spectacularly bad piece of luck. The Republicans' Tea Party-fueled surge in 2010 was perfectly timed to coincide with the decennial census, after which new congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by governors and state legislatures. Republicans' huge gains in the 2010 midterms put them in the driver's seat when it came time to draw new congressional districts in 2011. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell remembers what happened when Republicans took over the governor's mansion and the Legislature in his state: \"When I left office in January of 2011,\" says Rendell, \"there were 13 Democratic congressman and six Republican congressman. As a result of redistricting in the 2010 election, that turned around and we now have 13 Republican congressmen and five Democratic congressman.\" It's not only bad timing and gerrymandering that have hollowed out the Democratic Party. Mo Elleithee, a former Democratic National Committee official, says Democrats have never put enough effort and resources into state legislative races. Republicans, on the other hand, make those races a top priority. 4. Too many Democrats live in cities This is another problem that makes it easier for Republicans to draw congressional and state legislative districts that disadvantage Democrats. Democratic voters are clumped together in urban areas. You could say that for the purposes of winning elections, Democratic voters are just not efficiently distributed. Its why even in red states like Texas and Utah there are cities that are solidly Democratic \u2014 and why lesbian mayors were elected in Houston and Salt Lake City. When Democrats cluster in and around cities, they win local elections, but that doesn't help them win suburban or rural congressional seats. This November, the stakes for Democrats couldn't be higher. Without the White House, assuming party control elsewhere remains the same, Democrats would be truly out in the cold.","label":0}
{"text":"Priorities priorities Arizona Sen. John McCain wants a subpoena issued immediately for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to attend a hearing in his home state on the Colorado mine disaster the agency caused last year.The August disaster caused an uncontrolled rupture of an abandoned gold mine that caused 3 million gallons of toxic sludge to spill into the Animas River, which sullied the waterways of three states. It s my understanding that the EPA has decided not to send a representative to this field hearing, the Arizona Republican said Wednesday, requesting that the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee issue a subpoena. EPA s response is unacceptable. It s a violation of our obligation to protect the interests of Native Americans and their tribes and EPA must be present at this hearing. I respectfully request that the committee issue a subpoena for EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to appear at the field hearing. The hearing will be held on Earth Day, April 22, which is a big day for the EPA. McCarthy is expected to be part of President Obama s delegation to New York for a climate change meeting at the United Nations. Obama plans to sign a deal he agreed to in Paris to cut greenhouse gas emissions with nearly 200 other countries to fight global warming.The field hearing will be held in Phoenix at the request of American Indian tribes affected by the toxic spill that crossed through Navajo land.The EPA said it would send testimony from a high-ranking agency official in lieu of an actual official attending.","label":1}
{"text":".@KrisKobach1787: Trump has made clear that sanctuary cities could lose federal grants if the mayors continue to defy federal law pic.twitter.com\/mGrYjDCdFi FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) November 15, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"I first met Brandon Scott the day after Freddie Gray died. It was April 20, 2015. Mr. Scott, a member of the Baltimore City Council, was quietly observing a news conference where Baltimore police officials announced the suspension of six officers involved in the arrest of Mr. Gray, a black man who sustained a fatal spinal cord injury in a police transport van. In the blighted West Baltimore neighborhood where Mr. Gray grew up, protests were growing. Mr. Gray's death was wrenching for Baltimore a lot has transpired here since then. On the day Mr. Gray was buried, riots broke out, prompting Maryland's governor to call in the National Guard. The fiery state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, promptly indicted the six officers on charges including murder. The city paid $6. 4 million to the Gray family. With the murder rate soaring, the mayor fired the police chief \u2014 and decided not to run for office again, as the city struggled to heal. Then came the officers' trials, which ended this week without a single conviction. Throughout, I have repeatedly interviewed Mr. Scott. He is 32, and the vice chairman of the Council committee that oversees the Baltimore police. Before being elected in 2011, he worked in city government and the 300 Men March, an group here. On Thursday, we spoke again, about the latest developments and what has changed. Below is an edited and condensed excerpt from that conversation. Ms. Mosby's team has just accused the Police Department of undermining the prosecution. Does that concern you? My concerns are first and foremost that moving forward, we are doing what we need to do to repair our city \u2014 to improve relations. I have spent a good deal of time over the last year working on body cameras, working on trainings with young people. The most important thing \u2014 what gets lost in all of this, is that we are talking about the loss of a life. But I will be following up with the police commissioner, even though this happened before the current commissioner, to provide a response to those claims. You mentioned body cameras. Are the Baltimore police using them? They will, just like in New York or any other major city, they're going to be rolled out. We already have body cameras out there at this point, we are close to 200 officers. Body cameras were in the works before Freddie Gray, but most definitely it ratcheted up the pace. What else has changed? The department decided to improve the vans, so that's a change. And I'm partnering with an organization called Community Mediation, fostering dialogue between youth and the police. Community Mediation is now mediating some internal affairs complaints. A lot of things have changed, things that people don't see because they're behind the scenes. I've talked to a lot of people who feel as though in the end, justice was not served \u2014 either for Freddie Gray or for the police. What do you say to that? I think what people must know about American justice is that the way the system is set up, you have to have a certain burden of proof and if it's not met, then it's not met. You can be as angry as you want to be, but you have to understand the system and respect it. What about you? Do you personally think justice was served? I can't personalize it. Like myself, what I would do in a situation like that is talk to the family and see how they feel. If Mr. Gray's family feels like everything, from the charges, from the state's attorney proceeding with the trials, everything that has come out of it equals justice to them, then it's justice. That's a careful answer. You've always been so measured in answering my questions. I'm the grandson of poor farmers in rural North Carolina. I truly understand what it means for me being a young black man in this country. But I try not to be divisive, I try not to be polarizing, because that's the last thing we need right now. We have enough of that going on. We've talked about changes in the city. Have you changed? Of course I have changed. I have shifted my work I've tried to do things a little differently. You have to be uncomfortable. If you're not uncomfortable, if you haven't changed the way you operate from April 2015 to now, then you're saying the way our city was, was O. K. \u2014 and it wasn't. So what are you doing differently? For example today, I'm on the labor committee in the City Council and we voted to send a bill to the full council raising the city's minimum wage to $15 by 2022. I don't think that would have happened before last April. Is Baltimore perhaps a better place now, as a result of Freddie Gray's death? I can say that there have been changes in Baltimore for the better. But I can't say that Baltimore is a complete better place, because we still have a lot of people dying. So Ms. Mosby never got any convictions. What, if anything, did she achieve? Many folks feel that her charging the officers would not have happened under the previous state's attorney. That alone is a big deal for thousands of people in the city. But I would also remember \u2014 I talked to you and every other media outlet last year, I said, everyone should stay middle ground, because it's just the beginning of the process. Are you surprised at how it turned out? I thought that at least there would be one charge that would stick with at least one officer, but I can't say I'm surprised that it turned out the way that it did.","label":0}
{"text":"The trend of young Muslim men targeting and attacking white non-Muslims continues world wide. A group of three Muslim men attacked strangers at the Liverpool city center because they were white non-Muslims. One witness feared the men were ISIS terrorists because they were using racist language, talking about Muslims and Christians. A very similar occurrence took place in one of Minneapolis more upscale neighborhoods last year when a mob of up to 30 young Somali men marched through the streets yelling disparaging comments and threatening homeowners:Somalis living in Minneapolis are almost all Sunni Muslims. Residents of the Lake Calhoun area say this wasn t the first time a group of Somali men have made an intimidating march through their neighborhood, which is filled with million-dollar homes.They first approached victim Gary Bohanna inquiring what religion he was affiliated with. When Bohanna answered I m a Christian, the attacker shouted Why aren t you a Muslim? before punching him twice. The three men then approached Paul Lynch, Labour councillor for Moss Bank, and his girlfriend. One of the men punched Mr. Lynch with a sickening blow that could be seen and heard. He did not utter any racist comments, but the attackers laughed as the victim fell. Both men were taken to the hospital for their injuries.Witness Edris Nosrati called police but one of the men tried to flee, so the witness chased and caught him. The teenager struck Mr. Nosrati, but the hero held on. When questioned by police, one of the men claimed he was too intoxicated to remember anything. Another denied the assaults and suggested they had been racially abused by other men. However, he later confessed to targeting people because they were white and non-Muslim. The Counter Terrorism Unit became involved in the investigation and the mens family homes were turned upside down by the police. Amin Mohmed cried in court as he was jailed for 42 weeks. Mohammed and Faruq Patel received 42 and 18 weeks respectively in a young offenders institution.","label":1}
{"text":"Viola Davis said that the issue of racial tensions in America now that Donald Trump has been elected really boils down to one fundamental question, which has more to do with who we are as a nation than who Trump is as a person.Speaking backstage at the Golden Globes on Sunday night, Davis was asked how we can ensure that the progress made over the years, especially in regards to racial tensions, isn t lost under a Trump presidency. Her response was spot on.Davis said that she would begin her answer by removing Trump from the equation. She went on to explain that it s bigger than him. I believe that it is our responsibility to uphold what it is to be an American and what America is about and what the true meaning of what it means to pursue the American dream. I think that America in and of itself has been an affirmation, But I think that we have fallen short a lot, Davis said. Because, there is no way that we can have anyone in office that is not an extension of our own belief system. So then what does that say about us? And I think that, if you answer that question, I think that that says it all. So just what does Trump s election say about America? It s a question that leads to some very uncomfortable answers.Watch Davis insightful interview, here:.@ViolaDavis was just asked about Donald Trump s presidency backstage. Watch her response #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com\/Yrj9Rv8So0 Variety (@Variety) January 9, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"It now appears a sudden, complete explosion caused by a bomb brought down the Airbus over the Mediterranean\u2014but that doesn't mean it was ISIS. Flight tracking data showing its altitude, speed, and direction, ends instantaneously while the plane was at its cruise height of 37,000 feet. This can now be combined with reports that a military satellite using infrared technology detected a flash at the time and location where the airplane was last tracked, according to NBC News. U.S. officials told Reuters a review of preliminary satellite imagery has produced no sign of an explosion so far. If the Airbus A320 was stricken by a mechanical failure it is highly unlikely that the effects would have been so sudden, leaving the pilots at least some time to send a Mayday call. No call was made, officials say. Reports that wreckage has been found floating in the eastern Mediterranean were later denied by Egyptian officials. Once it is found, as it will be, and given the increasing indications that a bomb caused the disaster an urgent priority for investigators will be to look for evidence in the wreckage of blast and fire. If there is evidence of a bomb blast the next priority will be to establish where the bomb was placed on the airplane: in the cabin or in the cargo hold. Essential clues to that could be found both from physical wreckage from the airplane and from bodies of passengers, even down to their seat locations. In this situation the jet's black boxes\u2014the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder\u2014are of little value since their data would have been terminated with the sudden explosion, leaving only a record of what was until then an absolutely normal flight. Wreckage is where the story is to be told. There has yet been no credible claim by any terrorist group that they were responsible. If a bomb was successfully placed on the flight not only does this point to a weak point in security at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the origin of the flight, but it could mean that bomb makers have found a new way of eluding current bomb-detecting technology. The man credited with being the world's most-ingenious bomb designer is al Qaeda's Ibrahim al-Asiri. Al Qaeda has recently been overshadowed by ISIS, and some experts believe that it wants to re-establish its superiority in attacks on what it has always regarded as the most effective Western target, commercial aviation. If the flight was brought down by a bomb, the timing of the blast could be a part of the signature of the bomb maker. Was it timed to detonate specifically at the only place on the EgyptAir jet's route when it was over water? The retrieval of wreckage and, particularly, of the flight data recorders, is far more difficult with a plunge into the sea than when the airplane falls in plain sight over land. On the other hand counter-terrorism experts have always believed that bombers would rather bring down a jet over land and, ideally, over a city for the maximum effect\u2014as was the intention of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underpants bomber, on Christmas Day 2009, aiming for Detroit. The jet was flying what has become one of the most densely trafficked airline routes in the world, a crucial corridor in the sky for international flights. Following the downing by a missile of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014 that part of Eastern Europe was\u2014belatedly\u2014defined as a war zone. The main airline routes between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia were then diverted south to fly over Romania, Greece, Turkey, and across the eastern Mediterranean into Egyptian airspace. The corridor became even more crowded after the crash of the Russian Metrojet while flying over the Sinai Peninsula last October, when the Sinai airspace was also ruled too dangerous for commercial flights. This had the effect of pushing a lot more intercontinental flights further south, flying eastbound and westbound across Cairo, the Red Sea, and Saudi Arabia and Dubai (Dubai is now a major hub for flights between Europe, Africa, and Asia).","label":0}
{"text":"Videos New York Times Admits Key Al Qaeda Role In Aleppo In a backhand way, The New York Times admits that the U.S.-backed \"moderate\" rebels in east Aleppo are fighting alongside Al Qaeda jihadists, an almost casual admission of this long-obscured reality, writes Robert Parry. Be Sociable, Share! Syrian rebels walk in an alley in Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. (AP Photo)  As much as The New York Times and the mainstream U.S. media have become propaganda outlets on most foreign policy issues, like the one-sided coverage of the bloody Syrian war, sometimes the truth seeps through in on-the-ground reporting by correspondents, even ones who usually are pushing the \"propo.\"  Such was the case with Anne Barnard's new reporting from inside west Aleppo, the major portion of the city which is in government hands and copes with regular terror rocket and mortar attacks from rebel-held east Aleppo where Al Qaeda militants and U.S.-armed-and-funded \"moderate\" rebels fight side-by-side.  Almost in passing, Barnard's article on Sunday acknowledged the rarely admitted reality of the Al Qaeda\/\"moderate\" rebel collaboration, which puts the United States into a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda terrorists and their jihadist allies, fighting under banners such as Nusra Front (recently renamed Syria Conquest Front) and Ahrar al-Sham.  Barnard also finally puts the blame for preventing civilians in east Aleppo from escaping the fighting on a rebel policy of keeping them in harm's way rather than letting them transit through \"humanitarian corridors\" to safety. Some of her earlier pro-rebel accounts suggested that it wasn't clear who was stopping movement of civilians through those corridors.  However, on Sunday, she reported: \"We had arrived at a critical moment, as Russia said there was only one day left to pass through a corridor it had provided for people to escape eastern Aleppo before the rebel side was flattened, a corridor through which precious few had passed. The government says rebels are preventing civilians from leaving. Rebels refuse any evacuation without international supervision and a broader deal to deliver humanitarian aid.\"  Granted, you still have to read between the lines, but at least there is the acknowledgement that rebels are refusing civilian evacuations under the current conditions. How that is different from Islamic State terrorists in Mosul, Iraq, preventing departures from their areas \u2013 a practice which the Times and other U.S. outlets condemn as using women and children as \"human shields\" \u2013 isn't addressed. But Barnard's crimped admission is at least a start.  Barnard then writes: \"Instead [of allowing civilians to move through the humanitarian corridors], they [the rebels] are trying to break the siege, with Qaeda-linked groups and those backed by the United States working together \u2014 the opposite of what Russia has demanded.\"  Again, that isn't the clearest description of the situation, which is stunning enough that one might have expected it in the lede rather than buried deep inside the story, but it is significant that the Times is recognizing that Al Qaeda and the U.S.-backed \"moderates\" are \"working together\" and that Russia opposes that collaboration.  She also noted that \"Three Qaeda-linked suicide bombers attacked a military position with explosive-packed personnel carriers on Thursday, military officials said, and mortar fire was raining on neighborhoods that until now had been relatively safe. It was among the most intense rounds in four years of rebel shelling that officials say has killed 11,000 civilians.\"  While she then throws in a caveat about the impossibility of verifying the numbers, the acknowledgement that the U.S.-backed \"moderate\" rebels and their Al Qaeda comrades have been shelling civilians in west Aleppo is significant, too. Before this, all the American people heard was the other side, from rebel-held east Aleppo, about the human suffering there, often conveyed by \"activists\" with video cameras who have depicted the conflict as simply the willful killing of children by the evil Syrian government and the even more evil Russians.  More Balance A Syrian soldier carries Syria's national flag after successfully routing rebels from the Aleppo Military Academy in Aleppo, Syria. Sept. 05, 2016.  With the admission of rebel terror attacks on civilians in west Aleppo, the picture finally is put into more balance. The Al Qaeda and U.S.-backed rebels have been killing thousands of civilians in government-controlled areas and the Syrian military and its Russian allies have struck back only to be condemned for committing \"war crimes.\"  Though the human toll in both sides of Aleppo is tragic, we have seen comparable situations before \u2013 in which the U.S. government has supported, supplied and encouraged governments to mount fierce offensives to silence rockets or mortars fired by rebels toward civilian areas.  For instance, senior U.S. government officials, including President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have defended Israel's right to defend itself from rockets fired from inside Gaza even though those missiles rarely kill anyone. Yet, Israel is allowed to bomb the near-defenseless people of Gaza at will, killing thousands including the four little boys blown apart in July 2014 while playing on a beach during the last round of what the Israelis call \"mowing the grass.\"  In the context of those deaths, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who has built her career as a supposed humanitarian advocating a \"responsibility to protect\" civilians, laid the blame not on the Israeli military but on fighters in Gaza who had fired rockets that rarely hit anything besides sand.  At the United Nations on July 18, 2014, Power said , \" President Obama spoke with [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to reaffirm the United States' strong support for Israel's right to defend itself\u2026. Hamas' attacks are unacceptable and would be unacceptable to any member state of the United Nations. Israel has the right to defend its citizens and prevent these attacks.\"  But that universal right apparently does not extend to Syria where U.S.-supplied rockets are fired into civilian neighborhoods of west Aleppo. In that case, Power and other U.S. officials apply an entirely different set of standards. Any Syrian or Russian destruction of east Aleppo with the goal of suppressing that rocket fire becomes a \"war crime.\"  Perhaps it's expected that the U.S. government, like other governments, will engage in hypocrisy regarding affairs of state: one set of rules for U.S. allies and another for countries marked for U.S. \"regime change.\" Statements by supposed \"humanitarians\" \u2013 such as Samantha Power, \"Ms. R2P\" \u2013 are no exception.  But double standards are even more distasteful when they come from allegedly \"objective\" journalists such as those who work at The New York Times, The Washington Post and other prestige American news outlets. When they take the \"U.S. side\" in a dispute and become crude propagandists, they encourage the kind of misguided \"group thinks\" that led to the criminal Iraq War and other disastrous \"regime change\" projects over the past two decades.  Yet, that is what we normally see. A thoughtful reader can't peruse the international reporting of the U.S. mainstream media without realizing that it is corrupted by propaganda from both government officials and from U.S.-funded operations, often disguised as \"human rights activists\" or \"citizen journalists\" whose supposed independence makes their \"propo\" even more effective.  So, it's worth noting those rare occasions when The New York Times and the rest of the MSM let some of the reality peek through. When evaluating the latest plans from Hillary Clinton and other interventionists to expand the U.S. military intervention in Syria \u2013 via prettily named \"safe zones\" and \"no-fly zones\" \u2013 the American people should realize that they are being asked to come to the aid of Al Qaeda. Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America's Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com ). The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Mint Press News editorial policy. Be Sociable, Share!","label":1}
{"text":"Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST every Wednesday. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Andy Nowicki from Alt Right Blogspot, Randy J of 21Wire, Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis and Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East. Tonight the Boiler Gang discusses psychological operations in the media, HIV\/AIDS deniers, potentially staged gender politics, some out there B-movies with regards to esoteric symbolism, the metaphor of Reptiles as they relate to psychopathy in the elite establishment, and some good comedic relief. If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! REFERENCE LINKS:","label":1}
{"text":"The presumptive Republican nominee is reintroducing Americans to a panoply of dormant scandals, personal transgressions and partisan controversies that rocked Bill Clinton's White House and first lady Hillary Clinton in two turbulent presidential terms leading up to the end of the 20th Century. The goal is to link them with a flurry of more recent dramas such as those over Clinton's private email server and Benghazi, to depict her potential presidency as a return to unsavory days of rumor, innuendo and alleged malfeasance that would exhaust and disgust voters -- in effect, making the 2016 election a referendum on the Clintons, and the baggage that has always haunted their successful and resilient political careers. Case in point: a new Instagram video that pictures Bill Clinton chomping on a cigar and revives claims of wrongdoing against him by several women, which ends with the sound of Hillary Clinton laughing and a slogan: \"Here we go again?\" The billionaire also appears to be taking aim at the already upside-down approval ratings of Hillary Clinton to neutralize rock-bottom perceptions of his own character revealed by polls that threaten his general election appeal, especially with women voters, the majority of whom prefer his likely Democratic rival. \"What he is doing is he is exposing, not just Bill Clinton for what he was and what he had done, but it's the same as it relates to Hillary,\" Michael Cohen, Trump's legal counsel, said on CNN's \"New Day.\" \"She attacked Mr. Trump as being a sexist, misogynist, and he is not any of those things,\" Cohen said, portraying Hillary Clinton as an \"enabler\" of her husband's dalliances. But Trump's personal broadsides against the Clintons are not risk-free. The New York billionaire real estate investor has had a colorful personal life himself, and has been accused by the former secretary of state's allies and in news reports of sexist behavior and a string of unflattering comments about women. Still, the strategy, from Trump's point of view, has the virtue of forcing Clinton into the painful personal position of recalling her husband's past wrongdoing when she would much prefer to focus on other issues. She answered with a terse \"No\" when asked by CNN's Chris Cuomo last week whether she ever felt compelled to defend her or her husband's honor against Trump. \"I know that that's exactly what he is fishing for, and you know, I'm not going to be responding.\" Her campaign has dusted off the classic Clinton scandal playbook -- pivoting to focus on Trump's own vulnerabilities and stressing that the American people have more pressing concerns. \"The reason he is doing it, is his own record his coming under scrutiny,\" said Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon on \"New Day\" Monday , as the Clinton camp lit into Trump over past comments that he hoped the real estate market would crash as it would benefit his businesses. Trump's attacks, aimed at fixing the picture of \"Crooked Hillary\" in the public mind as the general election gears up, recall earlier political branding hit jobs that he pulled against \"low energy\" Jeb Bush and \"little\" Marco Rubio in the GOP race. He also is showing he is ready to fight fire with a flamethrower. It is significant for instance that his first veiled reference to 1990s sexual allegations against Bill Clinton came after he concluded that the Clinton campaign was playing the \"women card\" was against him. Trump's attacks recall a tortured political era in which the Clinton White House seemed to stagger from scandal to scandal -- but repeatedly defied predictions of its demise to survive and prosper. As soon as the new First Couple arrived in Washington from Arkansas, they were beset by rumors of wrongdoing and mini ethics scandals. There was Whitewater, about the First Lady's real estate dealings in Arkansas. Travelgate, about firings of officials in the White House travel office, and Filegate about the alleged misuse of FBI papers. Early on, the Clinton White House was rocked by the suicide of legal counsel Vince Foster, a close friend of Hillary Clinton, which became the cue for another round of conspiracy theories. It all culminated in an independent counsel investigation by Ken Starr, which in turn led to the moment when Clinton became only the second President to be impeached by the House of Representatives, in 1998, for lying under oath about an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. He was subsequently acquitted in a trial before the U.S. Senate in February 1999. None of the other 'scandals' produced criminal charges against the Clintons and the Whitewater investigation was eventually wrapped up in 2002. All of that seemed like ancient history. Bill Clinton Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating, according to CNN\/Gallup\/USA Today polling, and threw himself into an energetic and philanthropic post presidency and built a personal fortune on the lucrative speech making circuit. Hillary Clinton pursued her own political career in the Senate, as secretary of state and her second presidential campaign. Even Starr has praised Clinton's redemptive post presidency and in remarks reported by the New York Times on Tuesday bemoaned the \"tragic dimensions\" of the Clinton scandals and investigations of which he was a part. But Trump is not interested in putting the past to rest. He's dredging it up. \"It's the one thing with her, whether it's Whitewater or whether it's Vince or whether it's Benghazi. It's always a mess with Hillary,\" Trump said in the Post interview. The most pressing question raised by Trump's personal assault using the ugliest moments of the Clinton presidency is whether it will work. Tana Goertz, a senior Trump adviser, told CNN's Pamela Brown on Tuesday that there were no fears in the billionaire's camp that raising Bill Clinton's conduct would boost his wife's approval ratings, just as they did back in the 1990s. \"Back then, people felt sorry for Hillary because her husband was unfaithful. They believed she was going to do the right thing for women and empower women, strengthen women and support women and none of that happened,\" Goertz said. \"That might have been a sympathy vote back then, but that will not happen again.\" Throughout their turbulent political careers, the Clintons have shown an ability to court public support by portraying attacks against them as vicious partisan witch hunts and displayed an almost supernatural capacity to weather political crises. The period of personal anguish, self-reflection and humiliation that Hillary Clinton endured as she questioned whether to save her marriage after the Lewinsky saga meanwhile confounded her enemies as it stirred public empathy for her plight. But she also sparked a public debate over why she had chosen to stay with her husband amid claims by some critics that the marriage was simply a vehicle for her political ambition. But Hillary Clinton supporter Maria Cardona dismissed the idea that the ghosts of the 1990s will stalk her campaign a two decades later. \"The Bill Clinton issue is already baked in. People know him,\" Cardona said on CNN. \"An attack on her because of what her husband did is going to backfire in an incredibly big way -- she is going to continue to be focused on issues.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) voted on Thursday to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives on forming a government after their leader made an impassioned plea for a free hand to work for a social United States of Europe . The vote clears the way for talks that could resolve the impasse into which Europe s economic powerhouse was plunged after Merkel and the SPD shed support in a September election, greatly complicating the parliamentary arithmetic. Martin Schulz urged reluctant center-left SPD members to be open to Merkel s overtures to renew the coalition that has governed for the past four years, saying the party had a responsibility to revive social democracy in Germany. A new grand coalition with the reluctant SPD is Merkel s best hope of extending her 12 years in power after talks with two smaller parties failed, giving the smaller SPD greater leverage in any negotiations. The question isn t grand coalition or no grand coalition, he said in a speech to his party s biennial congress, Nor minority government or fresh elections. No - it s about how we exercise our responsibility, including to the next generation. Schulz said the party would only recover if it could offer a clear vision of a Germany and a Europe that worked for their citizens, calling for deeper European integration and a United States of Europe by 2025. Europe does not always work for its people, rather too often for the big companies, he said, outlining a populist vision that goes well beyond Merkel s own openness to limited structural reforms and bureaucratic streamlining. Talks between the two parties are expected to begin in earnest in the new year. A special congress will have to be convened at which party members will vote on whether to support a final agreement, which could fall short of a formal coalition, and could include tolerating a minority government. Stephan Weil, the influential premier of the state of Lower Saxony, said the SPD would want to see its policies reflected in return for supporting any government. I think the majority of the delegates see themselves as a European party and they expect that Germany becomes a driving force in Europe again, he said of Schulz s proposals regarding the European Union. Schulz s proposals were received more cautiously by Merkel. The (EU s) ability to act should be at the forefront now, she said at a Berlin press conference. So I will concentrate on more cooperation in defense by 2025 and on other issues, including employment and innovation. Outside the congress hall, SPD youth activists, many of whom want the party to chart a distinctive course after spending eight of the past 12 years in centrist coalitions, handed out red cards reading No Grand Coalition . Merkel leads this country without direction, said one speaker addressing the conference. She has no plan for Europe, she leads the country from week to week. We need a strong social democracy in this country. Schulz, who initially said his party should go into opposition after being punished for participating in the previous grand coalition under Merkel, apologized for his party s disastrous electoral result. Schulz attacked European moves to support big banks while doing little to counter high youth unemployment. When states can t balance their budgets they face draconian sanctions from Brussels. If we can mobilize billions for bank rescues but have to fight for paltry sums to support jobs for young people, then this is definitely not my Europe. He struck a tone that was more critical of big companies than French President Emmanuel Macron, who is pushing for deeper euro zone integration and pro-business reforms under a euro zone finance minister. He took aim at U.S. technology firms Apple, Facebook and Google, saying a strong Europe was needed to make them stick to the rules and protect the rights of workers in a changing economy. We don t want an app-directed service society but we want digitalization to lead to more individual freedom, he said to applause, calling for steps to protect the digital economy s self-employed from becoming self-exploiters . On the issue of immigration, one of the main reasons for the collapse of Merkel s first attempt at a coalition, the SPD opposes a conservative plan to extend a ban on the right to family reunions for some accepted asylum seekers. There can be no upper limit to the right to protection from war and persecution, Schulz told delegates, rejecting conservative demands for a ceiling of 200,000 immigrants a year.","label":0}
{"text":"These poor kids have probably practiced for months for this performance, only to have it cancelled by a bunch of low life terrorists:The Minnetonka West MS 8th grade choir was scheduled to sing in the rotunda of the #MOA. They cancelled their performance. #BLM protest Mark J. Westpfahl (@MarkJWestpfahl) December 23, 2015As if locking 8th graders out of their Christmas concert for shoppers wasn t enough, this group of terrorists had to shut down Santa s booth as well. What a shameful group of losers Santa is closing up shop.Repeat: Santa is closing up shop. #MOA #BLM Protest https:\/\/t.co\/GPFBcMzylv Mark J. Westpfahl (@MarkJWestpfahl) December 23, 2015Santa & his helpers will temporarily stop working 2. Sorry shoppers, no pics till after #BlackLivesMatter demo over. pic.twitter.com\/VNSRoia9qG Doualy Xaykaothao (@DoualyX) December 23, 2015The mall warned these punks they were not welcome on the premises.Announcement saying it is unlawful to protest, inside #MOA or in parking ramps. #BLM #BlackXmas2 pic.twitter.com\/RqzLiD3Ktz Mark J. Westpfahl (@MarkJWestpfahl) December 23, 2015So the cops came:Shoppers, workers prevented from entering on east ramp, East side of #mallofamerica. Via @MPRnews pic.twitter.com\/70G3dOLspx Doualy Xaykaothao (@DoualyX) December 23, 2015Escalators were closed:Escalators have been shut down. #MOA #BLM protest #blackxmas2 pic.twitter.com\/dzOpCP9lDh Mark J. Westpfahl (@MarkJWestpfahl) December 23, 2015And then there are these pathetic progressives, who according the person tweeting, are holiday travelers condoning the #BlackLivesMatterTerrorists shutting down the airport:Crowd cheering and chanting to let more protesters further into the airport #BlackXmas #Justice4Jamar pic.twitter.com\/wXHgxXcBRE Brandon Long (@BLongStPaul) December 23, 2015","label":1}
{"text":"Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday that Russia was closely monitoring any signals from the team of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump regarding its future foreign policy, RIA news agency reported. Trump is expected to name Rex Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobil XOM.N, as Washington's top diplomat, a source familiar with the situation said on Saturday. The appointment would add another figure in Trump's cabinet with close ties to Russia.","label":0}
{"text":"Among the never ending stream of Trump administration lies, one in particular has captured the attention of Twitter. Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway pretty much lost all her credibility when she claimed, in an interview with Chris Matthews, that there was a Bowling Green massacre which was somehow the fault of President Obama. There wasn t. I bet it s brand-new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Entire twitter feeds sprung up over Conway s made up massacre. Conway s defense was that she misspoke and that the media is just being mean to her..@KellyannePolls: I misspoke one word. The corrections in the newspapers who are attacking me are 3 paragraphs long every day. pic.twitter.com\/lA0wLk1my8 Fox News (@FoxNews) February 5, 2017Except, this isn t the first time she talked about the Bowling Green massacre and she had even elaborated on it in an interview with, of all sources, Cosmopolitan.(I)n an interview with Cosmopolitan.com conducted by phone days earlier, on Sunday, Jan. 29, Conway used the same phrasing, claiming that President Barack Obama called for a temporary ban on Iraqi refugees after the Bowling Green massacre. (The quotes did not appear in either of two stories recently published on Cosmopolitan.com.) He did, it s a fact, she said of Obama. Why did he do that? He did that for exactly the same reasons. He did that because two Iraqi nationals came to this country, joined ISIS, traveled back to the Middle East to get trained and refine their terrorism skills, and come back here, and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre of taking innocent soldiers lives away. In other words, Cosmo did the job that Chris Matthews failed to do.What Conway was referring to is the fact that there were two Iraqi men, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan, who were refugees and did become radicalized (in the United States, not in Iraq), but were arrested before carrying anything out.While Conway tried to tie the massacre that wasn t to Obama s non-existent travel ban, the facts show that Obama handled the situation very well. They administered a toughing vetting process for Iraqi refugees for six months. There was no ban, and as Cosmo has shown, there was no misstatement on Conway s part.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump's executive order halting the importation of refugees from six countries also includes a section requiring the government to publicly release information on crimes committed by foreign nationals, including honor killings of women. [This lets the government \"be more transparent with the American people and to implement more effectively policies and practices that serve the national interest,\" the order states. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and U. S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions must work together to provide the public with a report on foreign nationals charged with and convicted of offenses, including those who associate with or provide support to terrorist organizations. The order also instructs the government to release information on . The government will now track cases involving individuals who commit \" violence against women,\" or honor killings. Honor killings are a brutal practice wherein Muslim males will murder or mutilate female family members accused of bringing shame and dishonor to their families and Islam. Like female genital mutilation, it is a practice that would not exist in the U. S. without mass immigration bringing its practitioners into U. S. communities. \"Cases of honor killings violence in the U. S. are often unreported because of the shame it can cause to the victim and the victim's family. Also, because victims are often young women, they may feel that reporting the crime to authorities will draw too much attention to the family committing the crime,\" former U. S. government analyst Farhana Qazi explained to Fox News in November 2015. The order requires the government to release its inaugural report by September 2017, close to the sixteenth anniversary of the terror attacks committed by Islamic foreign nationals admitted to the U. S. on various visas. Reports shall be issued every six months from then on. The transparency will likely increase the broad support Trump's immigration policies enjoy. Typically, the government conceals or refuses to collect statistics that reveal troubling consequences of mass immigration policies. A Feb. 8 Morning Consult poll found 55 percent of voters supported Trump's executive order, including 82 percent of Republicans. Another McLaughlin Associates poll release Feb. 8 found 57 percent support for a halt of refugee settlement to implement better screening procedures. A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Feb. 2 found 52 percent of voters favored a freeze on all refugee resettlement until the government could better screen out terrorists, including 57 percent of young voters. A 2015 report detailing honor killings can be read here.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump called the Atlantic City casino that he is so fond of, the Taj Mahal, the eighth wonder of the world. Now, the joint is shutting down likely for good. The shutdown comes after more than 100 days of striking on the part of union workers from the luxury hotel and casino. As negotiations went from difficult to impossible, it became official: there s no going back, and the Taj Mahal is closing.This really isn t surprising, considering that Trump is the king of bankruptcy, and has declared himself bankrupt four times. Despite his own ridiculous record, Trump told the Associated Press with regards to the casino s closing that there was no reason for it to close. However, he also says it will cost too much to re-open, so it s done.However, Trump s billionaire buddy, Carl Icahn, who operated the Taj Mahal, just might be using the cold months to do some negotiating in an effort to save the place and re-open it. This is a theory that the union president, Bob McDevitt, is running on. According to McDevitt, the re-opening after renovations and other improvements is a strong possibility. The Taj Mahal s closing will cost Atlantic City 3,000 jobs, bringing to the total to 11,000 jobs lost as a result of casino closings in the last two years. However, the workers who are on strike seem optimistic, despite the loss of their jobs and many admittedly being in financial trouble with the holidays coming. Tina Condos, who served cocktails at Trump s joint, says: We stood up to a billionaire and told him we wouldn t take it. I hope it gives him pause before he tries to come in and do this to anyone else. We feel like we succeeded here. Rose Hall, who took care of the rooms at the adjoining hotel, says: I gave most of my adult life to this place. I had to pay for health care out of my own pocket, and if you don t think that s expensive, you haven t looked. I lost my fiancee to cancer just when medical insurance came off the table for us.I m angry about what s happened, but I m not sad about what we did. I m at peace with myself. The last word on the situation from the point of view of the union workers president, Bob McDevitt is that the workers were in the midst of their Popeye moment: That s all I can stands; I can t stands no more. For the first time in 30 years, workers stood up to Carl Icahn and made him throw in the towel. Well, good on these workers, and may they find other means of employment soon.","label":1}
{"text":"ASTON, Pa. \u2014 Donald J. Trump unveiled a menu of proposals on Tuesday to help working parents, calling for six weeks of mandatory paid maternity leave and expanded tax credits for child care. The proposals, which Mr. Trump outlined in the politically critical Philadelphia suburbs along with his daughter Ivanka, represent a new attempt to court female voters who polls show have been alienated by his bombast and history of provocative remarks about women. \"Those in leadership must put themselves in the shoes of the factory worker, the family worried about security or the mom struggling to afford child care,\" Mr. Trump said at a rally here. Mr. Trump's decision to put forward such a plan represents a different approach from the one taken by previous Republican presidential nominees. But in selling his case, Mr. Trump stretched the truth, saying that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has no such plan of her own and \"never will. \" Mrs. Clinton issued her plan more than a year ago, and it guarantees up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for a newborn or a sick relative, financed by an increase in taxes on the wealthiest Americans. On Twitter, her campaign posted a link to her plan after Mr. Trump's remark. Mr. Trump and his daughter spoke about the issue at the Republican National Convention in July, but the candidate had not mentioned it publicly until Tuesday. Mr. Trump faces a potentially gender gap with women, but pushing the proposal so close to the election risks looking slapdash on a serious topic. The campaign staved off potential complaints from social conservatives who have historically frowned on giving incentives to mothers to work outside the home, by vowing to make those caretaker roles . At the speech, Mr. Trump was joined by some female members of Congress. Noting one applauding in the audience as he spoke, Mr. Trump pointed to the crowd and said, \"Makes your life a lot easier, right?\" Mr. Trump first proposed the child care initiative weeks ago, but he broadened it to help working parents after facing criticism that his initial proposal would primarily help high earners rather than women and families on the lower end of the economic spectrum. \"Child care is such a big problem,\" he said Tuesday. \"And we're going to solve that problem. \" Ms. Trump, who stood next to her father as he spoke in Pennsylvania, said she would make the plan's passage a priority if her father won. Affordable child care \"should not be the luxury of a fortunate few,\" she said. The new recommendations contained a number of uncertainties, most notably how Mr. Trump would pay for them, and they still favor people with higher incomes. The candidate's aides said his goals would be achieved through a change in the tax code to help pay for child care, to be detailed in another speech, probably this week. The main thrust of Mr. Trump's plan involves a reordering of the tax code so working parents can take an income tax deduction for care of up to four children and dependents. The deduction is available for individuals earning up to $250, 000, or $500, 000 for a married couple filing jointly. There would also be child care spending rebates as high as $1, 200 a year for families on the lower end of the income scale. That is an amount that some critics called inadequate given that the cost of child care in some states is $10, 000 to $20, 000 a year. Another proposal aimed at parents is a dependent care savings account, a version of a flexible spending account usually offered by employers. Such accounts would be universal and used for or traditional child care, with a government match of $500 a year \u2014 a minuscule amount given the cost of such care, and given the difficulty that families have putting away money in such accounts. Among the open questions are whether the deductions that working parents could claim would replace the existing tax credit, whether there would be an age cap for the children involved, and what the actual scale of benefit would be for people of various incomes. The signature element of the plan, six weeks of paid maternity leave for new mothers whose employers do not currently provide coverage, would be financed by eliminating fraud in unemployment insurance. Mr. Trump's aides trumpeted the proposal as unprecedented for a G. O. P. presidential nominee many Republicans oppose requiring paid maternity leave as an onerous new regulation on businesses. Earlier Tuesday, at a campaign rally in Clive, Iowa, the candidate singled out Ivanka Trump, a mother of three who has developed her own licensing and branding company, as the driving force behind the plan. Some social conservatives said they were pleasantly surprised by Mr. Trump's proposed tax benefit for mothers. \"I was quite pleased with it,\" said Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council. He called it \"innovative\" in acknowledging \"the contribution that parents make. \" But the plan was met with criticism from the Clinton campaign and skepticism from some child care advocacy groups, which warned that the people most in need of relief would not get it. \"After spending his entire career \u2014 and this entire campaign \u2014 demeaning women and dismissing the need to support working families,\" Maya Harris, Mrs. Clinton's senior policy adviser, said in a statement, \"Donald Trump released a regressive and insufficient 'maternity leave' policy that is out of touch, and ignores the way Americans live and work today. \" Vivien Labaton, a director of the nonpartisan group Make It Work Action, called Mr. Trump's plan \"woefully inadequate. \" She said the tax credit component meant that families in need would have to wait to receive relief just once a year, and called the $1, 200 rebate a \"drop in the bucket\" for families who were facing child care costs of more than $10, 000 a year. Paid leave has increasing political resonance. One of the major reasons the share of women working in the United States has fallen behind other developed countries is the lack of paid family leave, according to research by Cornell University economists. Mr. Trump's embrace of paid leave would apply only to mothers, as opposed to Mrs. Clinton's plan, which would cover both parents. Some economists say that when leave is offered only to women, it can backfire by lowering women's chances of being hired and promoted and getting raises. Ms. Labaton expressed skepticism about the proposal \"coming less than 60 days before Election Day,\" deriding it as \"a naked attempt to court women voters while not actually offering up much by way of genuine support. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Not too long ago, the Republican Party and Donald Trump made a disgusting move to screw over millions of Americans when they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with the American Health Care Act (Trumpcare). The plan fortunately didn t work out and was shot down immediately, leaving the GOP stunned and upset that their disastrous bill didn t pass. They ve just been delivered another devastating blow, this time by Americans who are showing the Republican Party they haven t forgotten.Thanks to the GOP s unethical Obamacare replacement, Obamacare is now more popular than ever more popular than the Republican Party as a whole!Ezra Klein tweeted this amazing graph to illustrate:This is going to tear Trump and the GOP apart, considering how desperate they were to get rid of Obamacare. The overwhelming support that the Affordable Care Act is receiving now will surely make it harder for Republicans to get rid of it in the future, if they dare try again.This serves as a major warning to the GOP if they keep trying to get rid of Obama s legacy and policies that clearly work, their party will lose all support and soon there will be no Republican Party. If conservatives thought they would have Americans standing behind them during their attempt to repeal a health care law that provides access to more Americans than ever, they ve just learned that they were very, VERY wrong.The GOP has no idea how badly the party has been damaged under Trump. He is completely obsessed with pushing legislation through, and it has been working against the Republican Party as each attempt of his fails and the party becomes more unpopular than ever. With the introduction of Trumpcare, Republicans have basically paved the way for Democrats to get Congress back in two years, and getting Trump out of the White House.","label":1}
{"text":"A second terrorist took part in the subway bombing Tuesday in Brussels and authorities believe he may have survived the blast, meaning there are potentially two \"mystery bombers\" from the twin attacks on the run, according to reports. The development means there is an unidentified bomber in both the attack at the Maelbeek Metro station, which killed 20, and the earlier blasts at Zaventem Airport, which killed 11. Both unidentified suspects were captured by surveillance cameras with known suicide bombers. The French newspaper Le Monde and the Belgian public broadcaster RTBF reported that a man carrying a large bag was seen on CCTV walking with Khalid El Bakraoui, whom authorities believe blew himself up on a train at the Maelbeek station. That possible accomplice also was seen talking to El Bakraoui and did not get on the train that was bombed, police sources told AFP. What is known of the men suspected of direct involvement in Tuesday's attacks: - Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of two brothers involved, is believed to be one of two suicide bombers who died at the airport. - Najim Laachraoui, an ISIS explosives expert believed to have built the bombs used in both the Paris and Brussels attacks, was the other suicide bomber who died at the airport. He and Ibrahim El Bakraoui are believed to be the men seen in a surveillance photo pushing luggage carts and wearing solitary black gloves that may have masked detonators. - A mystery man dressed in white, wearing a dark hat and possibly a disguise who has not been identified was also seen pushing a cart in the surveillance photo. He is believed to have placed a bomb at the airport and fled the scene. Authorities are looking for him. - Khalid El Bakraoui, the brother of Ibrahim El Bakraoui, is believed to have died in a suicide blast at the Maelbeek Metro station 79 minutes after the airport attack. - A second man seen with Khalid El Bakraoui and carrying a large bag at the Metro station is believed to have been an accomplice and either died in the blast or is on the run. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels, which have laid bare European security failings and prompted calls for better intelligence cooperation. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, in a national mourning speech Thursday, said the attacks targeted the \"liberty of daily life\" and \"the liberty upon which the European project was built.\" \"The cries of distress, the cries of pain, the scream of sirens, the apocalyptic images will remain engraved\" on memories, he said. Security experts have told Fox News the bombers were likely targeting Americans, because the airport blast happened near the American Airlines desk, and the Metro station is near the U.S. Embassy. In Brussels, authorities were still sifting through evidence gathered in a series of raids immediately following the attacks, which came during rush hour Tuesday morning. RTBF also reported Thursday that a message found on Ibrahim El Bakraoui's computer Tuesday night does not name Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam, as had previously been suspected. According to the broadcaster, El Bakraoui referenced Mohammed Bakkali, who was arrested last November following the Paris attacks and is suspected of renting out two hideouts to the ISIS cell in Belgium. He is also accused of spying on a top Belgian nuclear official. \"I don't know what to do, I'm in a hurry, people are looking for me everywhere,\" chief prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw quoted the message as saying. \"If I give myself up I'll end up in a cell next to him.\" The message points to a rising sense of panic among the three suicide bombers. Police were drawn to the brothers' apartment Tuesday night thanks to a tip from a taxi driver who had unwittingly delivered them to the airport, Van Leeuw said. Inside the northeast Brussels residence they found an apparent bomb-making factory, including 33 pounds of homemade explosives and nails for use as shrapnel. Neighbors told The Associated Press they had no idea of the brothers' activities and barely saw them until the taxi collected them and their visibly heavy bags Tuesday morning. One neighbor, who was willing to give only his first name of Erdine, said he was about to drive his son to school when he saw the two men carrying their bags out of the building. \"The taxi driver tried to get the luggage,\" he said. \"And the other guy reached for it like he was saying: 'No, I'll take it.'\" The Associated Press contributed to this report.","label":0}
{"text":"Tonight s Oscars were filled with award winners and speeches. However, there was no moment that had a larger collective impact on those watching than Lady Gaga s performance, which brought a standing ovation and tears to the eyes of many in the audience.That s because she performed her Oscar nominated song Till it happens to you, from the documentary The Hunting Ground, which explores rape on college campuses in the U.S. Here s the video:Lady Gaga was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden, who spoke about the White House s It s On Us campaign, urging everyone to get on board. After receiving a standing ovation, Biden said: Lets change the culture so that no abused woman woman or man ever feels they have to ask themselves, What do I do? They did nothing wrong. Then it was Lady Gaga s turn to deliver one of the most memorable moments in Oscar history. Gaga performed while playing the piano and was joined by a group of sexual-assault survivors on stage, drawing a standing ovation and tears from members of the audience. Earlier this week, Gaga gave her support to pop star Kesha, who is currently involved in a legal battle with Sony. Kesha tweeted her thanks to both Lady Gaga and Vice President Joe Biden:thank u @ladygaga and VP @JoeBiden for bringing attention to sexual assault at the oscars. it hit very close to my heart for obvious reasons kesha (@KeshaRose) February 29, 2016Here s Lady Gaga s tweet:I never thought anyone would ever love me because I felt like my body was ruined by my abuser. https:\/\/t.co\/6K0Xgf00kz Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 29, 2016Lady Gaga s performance reached the hearts and minds of tens of millions of people around the world and there s no doubt that she and the vice president have benefited humanity by addressing this issue.","label":1}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says In 2008 and 2012, Ron Paul created a libertarian and paleoconservative insurency in America. The country had an opportunity to elect a real stateman and dedicated constitutionalist in Dr Paul, but unfortunately he could not overcome establishment gatekeepers within his own party, as well as in the corrupt US mainstream media.In 2016, few commentators are as well-placed to analyse the rise of the Trump insurgency as well as Paul.CrossTalk ask: With the surprise election of Donald Trump, can we expect an equally surprising foreign policy from him? During the campaign he provided us with a glimpse of his thinking. Will there be a Trump Doctrine? Watch this incredible one-on-one interview with RT s Peter Lavelle and special guest Dr Ron Paul: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"On April 16th, Senator Bernie Sanders, through a video message, introduced Rapper Killer Mike and his group, Run the Jewels, at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California.Senator Sanders cited his friendship with Killer Mike, who became a fervent supporter and surrogate for the Bernie Sanders campaign after the rapper started reading his tweets. Rolling Stone released a six part interview the rapper conducted with Senator Sanders in December 2015. The rapper has introduced him at several campaign events, campaigned on behalf of Bernie Sanders, and participated in several other video discussions including a forum with Dr. Cornel West, Nina Turner, and Bernie Sanders on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January 2016.After backlash in February alleging Killer Mike was sexist for remarks he made in quoting Jane Elliot, the rapper has focused more on his music career.Next week, Bernie Sanders supporters are putting on Berniechella in the same city Coachella is being held. A block party will be held in Old town Coachella on April 21st and 22nd featuring food trucks, exhibitions, and performances from Zoe Kravitz, Ozomatli, Venus and the Moon, Shepard Farley, and Moses Summey. The event is free and thousands are expected to attend. The event and Bernie Sanders introduction for Killer Mike represents the the impact Bernie Sanders campaign is having on the culture of millennials. Counter culture icons in the music and entertainment industry have embraced Bernie Sanders along with millions of millennials. No matter what the outcome of the Democratic Primaries is, Bernie Sanders has become an iconic figure for younger generations, and his campaign will have a lasting impact on American politics for years to come. https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/therealrunthejewels\/videos\/1097514653639607\/Featured Image courtesy of Flickr","label":1}
{"text":"atican City In a final speech to the synod, Pope Francis endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States, while taking some clear swipes at conservatives who hold up church doctrine above all else, and use it to cast judgment on others. The synod experience also made us better realize that the true defenders are not those who uphold its letter, but its spirit; not ideas but people; not formulas but free availability of Gods love and forgiveness, Pope Francis said. I see in Senator Bernard Sanders a man of great integrity and moral conviction, who understands these principles and genuinely wants whats best for all people The pope went on to criticize ultra-conservatives, saying church leaders should confront difficult issues fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand. It was the latest in a series of admonitions to bishops by the pontiff, who has stressed since his election in 2013 that the 1.2 billion-member Church should be open to change, side with the poor, and rid itself of the arrogance and unfettered narcissism that has alienated so many Catholics in recent years. Naturally, conservative Catholics are not happy with Francis for being so outspoken on social issues and American politics. The pope needs to stick to religion, and stay the hell out of politics, says Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali. Conservative Catholics are losing faith in the Church, and this falls directly on the shoulders of Pope Francis with his socialist ideology and warped political views. Conservative news outlets like Fox News have taken issue with Pope Francis on everything from climate change to income inequality. Bill OReilly has numerous times compared Pope Francis to Bernie Sanders, accusing both of being false prophets. Liberals and progressives on the other hand applaud the pope for bringing social and environmental issues to the forefront of the Catholic Church. Hes a Catholic rockstar, says Prudence Bradley, 19, from upstate New York. Pope Francis has made it cool to be a Christian again.","label":1}
{"text":"North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un said his nuclear weapons were a powerful deterrent that guaranteed its sovereignty, state media reported on Sunday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said only one thing will work in dealing with the isolated country. Trump did not make clear to what he was referring, but his comments seemed to be a further suggestion that military action was on his mind. In a speech to a meeting of the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Workers Party on Saturday, a day before Trump s most recent comments, state media said Kim had addressed the complicated international situation . North Korea s nuclear weapons are a powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, Kim said, referring to the protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists. In recent weeks, North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth nuclear test, and may be fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. North Korea is preparing to test-launch such a missile, a Russian lawmaker who had just returned from a visit to Pyongyang was quoted as saying on Friday. Donald Trump has previously said the United States would totally destroy North Korea if necessary to protect itself and its allies. The situation proved that North Korea s policy of byungjin , meaning the parallel development of nuclear weapons and the economy was absolutely right , Kim Jong Un said in the speech. The national economy has grown on their strength this year, despite the escalating sanctions, said Kim, referring to U.N. Security Council resolutions put in place to curb Pyongyang s nuclear and missile program. The meeting also handled some personnel changes inside North Korea s secretive and opaque ruling center of power, state media said. Kim Jong Un s sister, Kim Yo Jong, was made an alternate member of the politburo - the top decision-making body over which Kim Jong Un presides. Alongside Kim Jong Un himself, the promotion makes Kim Yo Jong the only other millennial member of the influential body. Her new position indicates the 28-year-old has become a replacement for Kim Jong Un s aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who had been a key decision maker when former leader Kim Jong Il was alive. It shows that her portfolio and writ is far more substantive than previously believed and it is a further consolidation of the Kim family s power, said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University s 38 North website. In January, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Kim Yo Jong along with other North Korean officials over severe human rights abuses . Kim Jong Sik and Ri Pyong Chol, two of the three men behind Kim s banned rocket program, were also promoted. State media announced that several other high ranking cadres were promoted to the Central Committee in what the South Korean unification ministry said could be an attempt by North Korea to navigate a way through its increasing isolation. The large-scale personnel reshuffle reflects that Kim Jong Un is taking the current situation seriously, and that he s looking for a breakthrough by promoting a new generation of politicians, the ministry said in a statement. North Korea s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, who named Donald Trump President Evil in a bombastic speech to the U.N. General Assembly last month, was promoted to full vote-carrying member of the politburo. Ri can now be safely identified as one of North Korea s top policy makers, said Madden. Even if he has informal or off the record meetings, Ri s interlocutors can be assured that whatever proposals they proffer will be taken directly to the top, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Jeb Bush was, once upon a time in a land far, far away, assumed to be the shoo-in for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Then, Donald Trump happened, and Jeb s dreams of presidential glory were crushed. In fact, Jeb s campaign is in such trouble now that he had to get his mommy to appear in a political ad reminding everyone that her son should be the GOP s annointed one, and that Trump is just a big bully.Well, it s a good thing that as Jeb s campaign circles the drain and dies, he has other dreams to fulfill. Bizarrely, it s to be a G-rated killer on the hit fictional drama about the U.S. government, Homeland.Apparently, the series The Circus caught Jeb admitting on camera that he d like nothing more than to kill people on television. The thing is, though, Trump is right about one thing. Jeb Bush is a lackluster dork who would be nothing more than a laughingstock on that series. In fact, he very presence would likely make it jump the shark. Nevertheless, it s highly entertaining to realize the revelation that acting in a television drama is the next best thing to really being POTUS in Jeb s feeble mind.Give it up, Jeb. You ll never appear on Homeland, and you ll never be POTUS. No worries, though. You have plenty of time and money. I m sure you ll find something constructive to do.Watch the video of Jeb s confession below:","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump is moving the United States closer to a war with China over some tiny islands.The relationship between the United States has been cordial and peaceful for decades now, but Trump plans to change all that. For someone who claims that our military is depleted, Trump sure has no problem putting our country on the brink of war.China is currently making claims to islands in the South China Sea, which is an international body of water. The matter could probably be settled through diplomacy, but Trump has chosen to bully China instead. And he is inviting a catastrophic war in the process.According to Reuters,The comments at a briefing from White House spokesman Sean Spicer signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of China s assertive pursuit of territory claims in Asia, just days after Trump took office on Friday. The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there, Spicer said when asked if Trump agreed with comments by his Secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson, on Jan. 11 that China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. It s a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we re going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country, he said.Tillerson s remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing prompted Chinese state media to say the United States would need to wage war to bar China s access to the islands where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems.The strong language suggests Trump is considering military action or a naval blockade to keep the islands out of Chinese hands, but even Chinese state media has warned that such action would lead to war between the two nations.And that would be a catastrophe. Not only would this be a war between two nuclear powers, it would be a war between the two largest economies in the world, which means a war between China and the United States would have serious global ramifications.But war is apparently what Trump is thinking about as he has repeatedly treated China with antagonism since before Election Day.And Americans should not expect our allies to help us either. If Trump starts a war with China, America would be on its own. Our troops would be fighting and dying because of Trump s fragile ego. The deficit and the national debt would also skyrocket, especially since Trump has promised Corporate America that he will cut their taxes in half, which would deprive the government of revenues to keep our military strong. That means Trump will get the revenues from the middle class and the poor.China s military and navy are improving rapidly, and they are the most populous nation on Earth. That means Trump would have a reinstate the military draft he himself dodged during the Vietnam War to get enough soldiers to put on the front lines. Even thinking about a military confrontation is insane.The longer Trump is allowed to remain in office, the more dangerous he becomes. This country is now on a path to a war that will cripple our nation and Trump doesn t give a damn because he thinks it makes him look tough. In reality, it just makes him look like an idiot.Featured Image: Spencer Platt\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Net migration to Britain fell by the largest amount on record in the 12 months after the Brexit vote, with more than three-quarters of the drop due to more EU citizens leaving and fewer arriving, official data showed on Thursday. Net migration tumbled by 106,000 to 230,000 people in the 12 months to June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Some 82,000 of the decline was due to EU citizens, cutting net migration from the bloc to its lowest level since June 2013. The total fall in net migration was the largest since people moving to Britain started to outnumber those leaving in the 1980s. The ONS said Brexit was likely to be one of the factors driving the fall. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, a promise first made by the government in 2010 and designed to reassure Britons worried about the impact immigration had on public services. Net migration into Britain has exceeded 100,000 in every year since 1998, as workers from abroad were attracted by a relatively strong currency, a vibrant economy and easy hiring rules. Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at King s College London, linked the latest fall to Britain s economic slowdown since the Brexit vote and the weakening of the pound - which means foreign workers earn less in Britain when converted to their own national currencies. It cannot be good news that the UK is a less attractive place to live and work, and that we will be poorer as a result, said Portes, who has previously argued that Brexit is likely to hurt Britain s economy. He predicted that net migration to Britain was likely to fall further to 150,000 over the next few years. Business groups reacted to the latest figures with disappointment. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said the fall in net migration was an alarm bell for Britain s economy, with many employers struggling to find skilled workers. But Steven Woolfe, an independent British lawmaker in the European Parliament who campaigned for Brexit, said long-term migration remained high. This number again highlights the greater need for Britain to have a brand new immigration system, starting on Brexit day one, he said on Twitter. Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. Larger numbers of foreign workers have helped Britain s economy to expand. The Bank of England has said almost all of its growth in the last decade stems from an increase in workers. Britain s retail, hospitality, manufacturing and agriculture sectors are particularly reliant on staff from abroad. The BoE has said a fall in migrant workers coming to Britain is likely to contribute to a new, slower speed limit for the economy, meaning it would be more prone to inflation. Opinion polls have shown immigration topping the list of concerns among people who voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, in which 52 percent backed leaving the EU. The ONS said the scale of the drop in net migration in the most recent data partly reflected a strong run-up in migration last year, which pushed it to a record high in June 2016.","label":0}
{"text":"The former leader of Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement, Mohamed Akef, has died in a Cairo hospital after an illness, the group s lawyer said on Friday. Akef was supreme guide of the movement, as the leadership is known, until the end of 2009. He was among those detained in a crackdown after Egypt s elected president Mohamed Mursi, also of the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted by the military in 2013. Akef s daughter announced his death on her Facebook page. The group s lawyer, Abdel Monem Abdel Maqsoud, told Reuters he had received a call from the prison service to report Akef s death in Cairo s Qasr El-Eyni hospital. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has engaged in the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt s modern history since toppling Mursi when Sisi was still head of the armed forces. He was later elected president. Sisi presents himself as a bulwark against militant extremism as Egypt battles an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai. But he has come under attack from rights groups, who say his time in power has seen the worst crackdown in their history.","label":0}
{"text":"By Jay Syrmopoulos Moscow, Russia \u2013 With all eyes on Russia's unveiling their latest nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which NATO has dubbed the \"SATAN\" missile , as tensions with the U.S. increase, Moscow's most potent \"weapon\" may be something drastically different. The rapidly evolving geopolitical \"weapon\" brandished by Russia is an ever increasing stockpile of gold, as well as Russia's native currency, the ruble. Take a look at the symbol below, as it could soon come to change the entire hierarchy of the international order \u2013 potentially ushering in a complete international paradigm shift \u2013 and much sooner than you might think. The symbol is the new designation of the Russian ruble, Russia's national currency. Similar to how the U.S. uses the dollar sign ($), the U.K. uses the pound sign (\u00a3), and the European Union uses the euro symbol (\u20ac), Russia is about to begin exporting its symbol internationally. After the failed \"reset\" in U.S.\/Russian relations by the Obama administration, and the continued deterioration of the countries relationship, Washington began targeting entire sectors of the Russian economy, as well as specific individuals, meant to impose an economic burden so severe that it would force Moscow into compliance. Instead of decimating Russia, what it precipitated was a Russian response of gradually weaning themselves off of the hegemony of the U.S. petrodollar, and working with China to create an alternative to the SWIFT payment system that isn't solely controlled by Western interests (see Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , New Development Bank). According to the Corbett Report : New reports indicate that China is ready to launch its SWIFT alternative, and for those who have their ear to the ground this is the most significant move yet in the unfolding process of de-dollarization that is seeing the BRICS-led \"resistance bloc\" breaking away from the financial stranglehold of the US-led \"Washington Consensus.\" For those who don't know, SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and is shorthand for the SWIFTNet Network that is used by over 10,500 financial institutions in 215 countries and territories to transmit financial transaction data around the world. SWIFT does not do any of the clearing or processing for these transactions itself, but instead sends the payment orders that are then settled by correspondent banks of the member institutions. Still, given the system's near universality in the financial system, it means that virtually every international transaction between banking institutions goes through the SWIFT network. This is why de-listing from the SWIFT network remains one of the primary financial weapons wielded by the US and its allies in their increasingly important financial warfare campaigns. Recently, financial guru Jim Rickards, author of the book \"Currency Wars,\" wrote that \"Russia is poised for a major comeback in its economy. Russian bonds and stocks and the Russian currency, the ruble, will all benefit.\" Rickards believes a \"strong turnaround\" is coming within Russia, and that this comeback will benefit the ruble. While still suffering from the economic warfare being waged by the U.S., Russia has realized that as long they are subservient to the petrodollar, there remains a clear and present danger of the Russian economy being devastated by the whims of Washington.  The Bank of Russia, that nation's central bank, is extremely clear about its mission, and monetary policy declaring on its website: Monetary policy constitutes an integral part of the state policy and is aimed at enhancing well-being of Russian citizens. The Bank of Russia implements monetary policy in the framework of inflation-targeting regime, and sees price stability, albeit sustainably low inflation, as its priority. Given structural peculiarities of the Russian economy, the target is to reduce inflation to 4% by 2017 and maintain it within that range in the medium run. In layman's terms, that means that monetary policy, similar to nuclear weapons and the military, are \"an integral part of the state policy\" in Russia. While many analysts have noted the increased build-up in Russia's military arsenal, seemingly few have highlighted the massive build-up of Russian gold reserves over the past decade. Below is a chart showing Russian gold reserves between 1994 and last year, 2015: Since 2006, there has been a year-on-year increase that reveals a significant upward trend. The chart clearly reveals that Russia's state policy of increasing state monetary assets, in the form of gold. Additionally, the Russian government has been converting state rubles into gold assets. From 2006 to 2015, Russia's state holdings of gold tripled. Within just the past year Russia has substantially increased its gold holdings According to the Business Insider : In July of this year, the central bank of Russia added 200,000 ounces of gold to its reserves. The one-month uptick in Russian gold reserves \u2014 200,000 ounces \u2014 is approximately equal to the entire annual output of Barrick Gold's Turquoise Ridge gold mine in Nevada. At that same rate \u2014 200,000 ounces per month \u2014 in a mere five months, Russia would add to state gold reserves the equivalent of the entire annual output of Barrick's massive Goldstrike mine in Nevada. Currently, Russian gold reserves rank seventh in the world. It's clear that there is a concerted effort by Russian authorities to build up the country's gold reserves as part of a national strategy to negate the effects of economic warfare waged by the United States. Rickards, in his 2011 book \"Currency Wars,\" theorized that Russia and China could combine their gold reserves to form a global gold-backed currency to compete against the U.S. dollar. Currently, Russian reserves stand at roughly 1,500 tonnes, with Chinese reserves totaling over 1,800 tonnes (according to China \u2014 it's likely more), which would amount to a combined total of roughly 3,300 tonnes of gold. The U.S. is about to lose overarching control of policymaking within the International Monetary Fund (IMF), thus the U.S. lockup on global gold is about to vanish, according to Business Insider. Imagine for a moment the distinctly real possibility that Russian-Chinese alliance could exercise indirect (or even direct) control over the IMF's gold reserve of over 2,800 tonnes. Russian, Chinese and IMF gold combined would equal roughly 6,100 tonnes, and would allow for direct competition with the U.S. gold reserves, estimated at 8,100 tonnes. Russia and China have realized that the petrodollar is wielded by Washington as it's weapon of choice when opposing a well-armed state, and clearly see the writing on the wall \u2013 thus working together to create a new global financial paradigm. The reality is that the United States is $20 trillion dollars in debt, and eventually the time will come when the U.S. economy begins to implode \u2014 and all the fiat currency people are stuck holding will essentially be worth nothing more than the paper it's printed on. Hard assets, such as gold and silver, should be bought and taken custody of while there is still an opportunity to do so, as a means of hedging against the potentially disastrous results of the U.S. using the petrodollar as a \"weapon.\" Ultimately, the United States, Russia and China are all controlled by centralized power-hungry tyrants attempting to command powerful global bureaucracies like the IMF, the World Bank, SWIFT, New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. It's not Russian nuclear weapons that people should fear, as the policy of mutually assured destruction essentially voids any benefit of a state launching a first-strike nuclear attack. The true threat to America is our economic house of cards, built upon the back of a neoliberal trade policy that puts the \"rights\" of corporations over that of people . Source: The Free Thought Project  Related: Russia to buy 200 tons of gold in 2016 Russia becomes world's largest gold buyer Russia Adds 300,000 oz to Gold Reserves in February China, Russia and Iran planning gold backed currency Russia Bought More Than 200 Tonnes of Gold in 2015 Away From Dollar: Russia, China to Create Entirely Different Gold Market Gold Bullion Is \"100% Guarantee from Legal and Political Risks\" \u2013 Russia Germany joins China and Russia's flight to gold Russian Ruble: Soon to Be Backed by Gold? Is Russia Planning A Gold-Based Currency? END GAME: Putin May End Ruble Crisis by Taking Russia onto the GOLD STANDARD! Checkmate: Is Russia Selling Oil For Gold? China & Russia to Accuse U.S. of Not Having the Gold Russia is stockpiling gold bullion Currency Wars: Russia Not Declaring All Gold Reserves To IMF? Russia admits it's dumping USD and Euro for gold Russia Buys 900,000 Ounces Of Gold Worth $1.17 Billion In April Russia Raises Gold Holdings By 7.247 Tonnes To Over 1,040 Tonnes In February","label":1}
{"text":"The Kremlin may have spent years reviling America, but Russians hoping Donald Trump will usher in a new era of detente marked his inauguration on Friday with parties and trinkets from commemorative coins to \"matryoshka\" nesting dolls in his image. Washington was turned into a virtual fortress with an estimated 900,000 people \u2014 backers and protesters \u2014 descending on the capital. In London, anti-Trump activists draped a banner reading \"Build Bridges Not Walls\" from Tower Bridge. Protests were planned across western Europe on Friday and Saturday. But according to Gennady Gudkov, a Putin critic and former lawmaker, Russia is in the grip of \"Trumpomania\", with state media giving the President-elect blanket air time at the expense of more mundane and sometimes depressing domestic news stories. That, he said, was in part because the U.S. election, unlike elections in Russia, had been unpredictable. The Kremlin is hoping Trump will ease sanctions imposed over the annexation of Crimea, team up with Russia against Islamic State, and cut back NATO military activity near Russian borders. Craftsmen in the city of Zlatoust, east of Moscow, have released a limited series of silver and gold commemorative coins, engraved with \"In Trump We Trust\" - an allusion to the phrase on U.S. banknotes \"In God We Trust\". Sellers of traditional matryoshka nesting dolls have added Trump dolls to their popular line-up of items carved in the likeness of President Vladimir Putin, Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, ex-President Mikhail Gorbachev and Josef Stalin. And a shop selling Russian military kit located opposite the U.S. embassy in Moscow has unveiled a cheeky promotional campaign offering embassy employees and U.S. citizens a 10 percent discount on its wares to celebrate Trump's inauguration. Some of Trump's opponents believe the Kremlin helped him win the White House by staging a hacking campaign to hoover up embarrassing information about Hillary Clinton, his rival. The Kremlin denies that, but few here make any secret of the fact that they are pleased that Trump and not Clinton triumphed. Relations between Putin and Barack Obama had soured badly. \"Trump's election has generated enormous enthusiasm in Russia because his warm words about Russia and Putin have given us hope that the USA and the West will stop their attack on Russia,\" Sergei Markov, a former pro-Putin lawmaker, said on social media. \"We don't know for sure if there will be an improvement (in relations) or not. But we Russians are optimists ... so we are hoping for the best, while preparing for the worst.\" For Russian nationalists, Trump's inauguration is an excuse to mix fun with self-promotion. They are holding an all-night party at what used to be the main Soviet-era post office in Moscow where they will showcase their favorite prop, a triptych of Putin, Trump and French Front National leader Marine Le Pen. Konstantin Rykov, a former pro-Putin lawmaker and one of the event's promoters, said on social media it was right to celebrate the first phase of the \"New World Order.\" \"Washington will be ours,\" he quipped.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., will meet with the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee next week, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement. Representatives for Representative Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the panel's investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by Trump's campaign, and Representative Adam Schiff, the panel's top Democrat, said they could not comment on whether Trump's eldest son was going to appear before the committee. Schiff told reporters that he could not comment on when or if Donald Trump Jr. might appear, but described him as a key witness. The younger Trump played a central role in his father's campaign. \"Obviously, when Donald Trump Jr. comes before the committee there are innumerable areas that we're going to be interested in. It's hard to find a more central figure in this,\" Schiff told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. Schiff also said he thought it would \"very likely\" be necessary to bring the president's son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, to testify again before the intelligence panel. The panel questioned Kushner behind closed doors in July. A lawyer for Donald Trump Jr., Alan Futerfas, did not respond to a request for comment. CNN said the meeting with lawmakers would be held next Wednesday. The House intelligence panel is one of the three main congressional committees, as well as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller, investigating the issue. In September, the younger Trump spoke privately with Senate Judiciary Committee staff. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Senator Richard Burr, has said his panel planned to interview Donald Trump Jr. in December. Trump's son, who has denied any wrongdoing, met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in New York in June 2016. Earlier this month, he released exchanges he had with the Twitter account of WikiLeaks, which released emails stolen from Democrats, during the campaign. The House Intelligence Committee will hear on Thursday from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose contacts with Russians during the campaign have also come under scrutiny, as well as from Erik Prince, who founded the private military contractor Blackwater and was a supporter of Trump's presidential campaign.","label":0}
{"text":"For those who can't wait to get this election over with, there's good news \u2014 early voting is starting. The bad news: That only applies to you if you live in one of 37 states that offer some kind of early voting (in person, absentee or by mail) without an excuse needed. More than 1 in 3 people is expected to cast a ballot early this year. On Friday, voters in Minnesota and South Dakota can start turning in absentee ballots. On Saturday, they can do so in Vermont, and ballots will go out in New Jersey. Voters have already had the chance to go to the polls in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., which started holding early in-person voting Monday. (In Wisconsin, each municipality and county sets its early voting dates.) Over the next three weeks, voters in a third of the country will already be able to vote. Early voting could account for up to 34 percent of the vote this year, according to Michael McDonald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida and founder of the Elections Project, which tracks turnout. He predicts that voting methods such as in-person and all-mail ballots will become the future of exercising democracy. There are even states that operate without physical polling locations, relying solely on the mail during an election \u2014 Washington, Oregon and Colorado. And as Americans start to cast their tickets (some as early as September), those votes will carefully be dissected by both campaigns. \"Early votes will give us a good contour of who's enthused to show up to vote,\" McDonald explained. When the absentee ballots begin to flow in, a campaign could spin the numbers in whatever direction it wants. But those reactions will most likely be overwrought. The Trump campaign could spin mail-in votes as an indicator of the polls being wrong (if they still show Clinton ahead), but that would likely be a false reading, McDonald said. That's because registered Republicans tend to vote by mail in bigger numbers than Democrats, and Democrats tend to use early in-person voting more often. \"Romney in 2012 put out records that he was crushing it in Ohio,\" McDonald said. \"They were saying the polls are wrong, look at how well he's doing there. Well, he lost Ohio.\" A point-in-time comparison is a better indicator of how well a candidate is doing in a certain state. By comparing the data and trends of early voting from previous election cycles, the campaigns will know if citizens are passionate enough about their platform to participate in voting \u2014 and if campaigns are hitting their marks. \"Early voters are people who have already made up their minds,\" McDonald said. \"Clinton and Trump supporters will vote right now, and it won't matter what happens until Election Day. They're well-educated and dedicated.\" This could be a component for each of the campaigns' successes or failures, especially in battleground states that allow early and no-excuse absentee ballot voting. Florida, for instance, saw almost 4 in 10 people vote early (20 percent early in-person, 19 percent absentee). Professor Paul Gronke of Reed College and founder of the Early Voting Information Center told NPR's Scott Simon that Florida could see an even bigger early vote turnout this year. Early voting could also be a factor in Ohio and North Carolina. \"This is going to change the dynamics in those states, so that you will expect to see early rallies timed when the early voting period opens up,\" Gronke said, adding that \"the candidates' travel schedule will reflect this because they want to follow up that kind of enthusiasm and get people to the polls right away.\" It's not clear how the feelings toward these candidates will affect early voting. Partisan divisions are at their highest levels in decades, and although both candidates hold record-low favorability ratings, Clinton and Trump supporters tend to be pretty adamant about their candidate of choice. The earliest movement for absentee voting began during the Civil War. Soldiers on both sides wanted to cast their ballots in the 1864 election. Several state legislators hashed out the details: How would the votes be cast? How would voter fraud and coercion votes be curtailed? And how would the votes be delivered? Despite these sizable challenges, 25 Union states passed some form of absentee voting for soldiers battling in the muddy and bloody trenches. \"Some say Abraham Lincoln might not have been elected if they weren't allowed to vote,\" McDonald said. Since then, the absentee ballot has evolved to include the sick and the elderly, business people who frequently travel and others who can provide valid reasons for being out of state, like students in college in a different state. There are currently 27 states and the District of Columbia that do not require any reason to request an absentee ballot. By the 1990s, many states took up early in-person voting measures, which allowed individuals to cast their ballots at a polling location during a specific period of time before Election Day. \"The only way we can lose, in my opinion \u2014 I really mean this \u2014 in Pennsylvania, is if cheating goes on,\" Trump said at a campaign event in Altoona, Pa. \"I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the 8th, go around and look and watch other polling places, and make sure that it's 100 percent fine.\" But, according to McDonald, the chances of voter fraud occurring at polling locations is slim. \"If we look at the weakness in the election system,\" McDonald said, \"it's not at the polling places. There is impression fraud, but it's so rare.\" So rare, in fact, that there were only about 31 separate incidents of possible voter fraud since 2000, based on data collected by Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School. This includes general, primary, special and municipal elections from 2000 to 2014. To put that in perspective, there were 1 billion ballots cast in the general and primary elections during that time. That's 0.000000031 percent. Some of these incidents may not have been an attempt to actually participate in voter fraud, but could have resulted in data entry errors, a mix-up of matching different people with the same name \u2014 or someone accidentally signing in as the wrong person in a poll book. However, there is a bigger risk of voter fraud when it comes to absentee and mail-in ballots, McDonald pointed out. \"Again, this is small, not a huge problem,\" he noted. \"Local elections are the most vulnerable, not presidential elections.\" There were 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud from 2000 to 2012, according to an analysis by News21. If broken down, that's about 80 cases every two years. There are also checks to confirm the authenticity of these ballots. Certain states require people pick up a ballot in person with a valid ID. All absentee and mail-in ballots require a signature that is cross-verified against the voter's voter-registration signature. Any signatures that look suspicious are thrown out. While voter fraud is one issue, another is whether mail-in ballots are filled out and returned correctly. \"Where most people make a mistake is through the mail,\" McDonald said. \"They won't sign the privacy envelope. People try to save the election board money by putting two ballots in one envelope, but they have to throw that away. It's vital for people to follow the mail procedures accurately.\" Vote by mail: Washington state switched to an entirely vote-by-mail system in 2011. Officials noticed that by 1996, more than half of voters were casting their ballots through the mail. It didn't make economic sense for the state to keep its polling places open. The Internet: It's already being used for military members and certain citizens who live outside the country under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. In addition to the ability to return a mail-in ballot (which may be limited to military members who are serving in remote locations), electronic ballot transmission is another option. How it works, per McDonald: Voters request electronic delivery of the ballot, either by email or by a secured website where the ballot may be downloaded. The voter then prints out the ballot, completes it and signs it. Now, if the state permits electronic ballot return, the voter will scan the completed ballot and send it either by email or by uploading it to the secured website. If the state does not allow electronic ballot transmission, the voter must print out and assemble a privacy envelope to deliver the ballot, which McDonald said officials call the \"origami project.\" When officials receive the ballot, they check the signature against the one on file with the voter's voter-registration application. This option is only available for uniformed military (stationed both abroad and domestically) and overseas citizens through the voting act. However, Alaska was the first state to extend the electronic ballot delivery and return option to everyone. \"It starts in the military and goes down to the general public,\" McDonald said. \"That's usually how this stuff happens.\" That seemed to be the case with absentee voting and the Civil War. \"I believe more states will follow Alaska's lead to expand ballot electronic delivery and return in the future,\" McDonald said. But don't expect the transition to occur anytime soon. With the recent hack in Arizona and Illinois voter registration databases and the Democratic National Committee's computer system, tackling the challenges of cybersecurity will likely take precedence over convenience. When can people start voting? (In-person or absentee drop-off without an excuse) Sept. 19 \u2013 Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. (town holding earliest voting in Wisconsin, where early voting is set by municipalities and counties) Sept. 24 \u2013 New Jersey (mail-in ballots sent out), Vermont (until Nov. 7) Sept. 29 \u2013 Illinois (goes until Nov. 7), Iowa, North Dakota (ballots mailed; due by Nov. 7), Wyoming (until Nov. 7) Oct. 10 \u2013 Los Angeles County, Calif. (early voting is set by counties\/municipalities. LA County has earliest \u2014 until Nov. 7), Maine (until Nov. 7), Montana (absentee ballots set to be available; can be turned in in person), Nebraska (until Nov. 7) Oct. 19 \u2013 Kansas (counties can set earlier dates, goes until Nov. 7), Oregon (most voting is by mail \u2014 ballots mailed out, can be dropped off same day), Tennessee (until Nov. 3) Oct. 21 \u2013 Washington state (ballots go out that day and can be dropped off) Oct. 22 \u2013 D.C. (at Judiciary Square, until Nov. 7), Nevada, New Mexico (in person) Oct. 24 \u2013 Alaska (until Nov. 7), Arkansas (until Nov. 7), Colorado (until Nov. 7; ballots mailed out Oct. 17), Idaho (this is the last day a municipality can begin early voting; goes until Nov. 4), Massachusetts (goes until Nov. 4), North Dakota (until Nov. 7), Texas (until Nov. 4) Oct. 25 \u2013 Hawaii (until Nov. 5), Louisiana (until Nov. 1), Utah (until Nov. 4) States without no-excuse early voting: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia","label":0}
{"text":"A month after President Trump's executive order barring people from seven nations from entering the United States caused tumult around the country, the government's accounting of how many travelers the ban affected remains unclear. A total of 746 people were detained and processed in a period immediately after a federal judge in Brooklyn blocked part of Mr. Trump's Jan. 27 order, according to a list released by the government on Thursday. The figure was nearly seven times greater than the 109 people that Mr. Trump said in a Jan. 30 message on Twitter had been \"held for questioning\" and Sean M. Spicer, the White House press secretary, said had been \"inconvenienced. \" But, according to lawyers for some of those who were detained, 746 may be an incomplete figure. At a hearing before Judge Carol B. Amon of Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Friday, those lawyers challenged the veracity of the government's list, saying they knew of at least 10 people who had been detained who were not included in the tally. Some detainees were forced to return to the countries from which they had come, despite having valid visas. The lawyers initially asked that the government provide them with a list of names so they could help people return to the United States. Joshua Press, a Justice Department trial lawyer, said at the hearing that a vast majority of those who were held were eventually allowed to enter the country and were legal permanent residents. He said he could not provide a specific number. The Justice Department referred a request for that figure to the Customs and Border Protection agency, which declined to comment because of the continuing litigation. At the hearing, Judge Amon ordered the government to inform the plaintiffs how many of the 746 people on the government's list had been allowed to enter the country, and to investigate the cases the plaintiffs' lawyers said had been omitted. The list included only the given name and surname of those who were detained and did not mention nationalities. Judge Amon had not ordered that contact information be included. \"All we're trying to do is put together a puzzle, to which the government has all the pieces,\" said Muneer I. Ahmad, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs. When Mr. Ahmad questioned why the people he and his colleagues cited were missing from the list, Mr. Press replied, \"The government is not omniscient. \" Mr. Trump's executive order was halted on Feb. 9 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, which upheld a ruling by a federal judge in Seattle. The Trump administration has said it plans to issue a revised order next week. Judge Ann M. Donnelly of Federal District Court in Brooklyn originally issued a stay of removal on Jan. 28 just before 9 p. m. At the time, she also ordered the government to provide a list of those people detained as a result of the executive order. The case was later assigned to Judge Amon. On Tuesday, she clarified in an order that a \"snapshot\" to measure how many people had been detained should include those held immediately after Judge Donnelly's ruling, from 9:37 p. m. on Jan. 28 until 11:59 p. m. on Jan. 29. The list provided by the government did not include refugees because they generally do not arrive on weekends, said Rebecca Heller, a lawyer with the International Refugee Assistance Project. According to documents submitted to the court by the American Civil Liberties Union, some of those detained described having their phones confiscated, their requests to talk to lawyers denied and, in some cases, being coerced into signing forms that resulted in their deportation. Sara Yarjani, an Iranian citizen who is studying for a master's degree in holistic health in California, was held for 23 hours at Los Angeles International Airport before being deported, after Judge Donnelly issued her ruling, according to court filings. Suha Amin Abdullah Abushamma, a Sudanese doctor at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio who was born in Saudi Arabia and has a valid work visa, was detained at Kennedy Airport for 10 hours and deported, according to the filings. There is an urgent need to find those on the government's list of people who were held, said Lee Gelernt, lead lawyer with the A. C. L. U. for detainees. He said he feared that those people might be forgotten once the Trump administration releases new travel restrictions. \"We're going to do our best to get everybody back, and then we'll fight the new executive order,\" Mr. Gelernt said.","label":0}
{"text":"Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his Foreign Ministry to sue the U.S. government over the seizure of Russian diplomatic property in the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. Putin this week warned he would order to take legal action over alleged violations of Russia s property rights by Washington. Putin also said Moscow reserved the right to further cut the number of U.S. diplomatic staff in response to what he called Washington s boorish treatment of Russia s diplomatic mission on U.S. soil that took place last week.","label":0}
{"text":"Ever since the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, pretty much everyone has chimed in with an opinion of what should happen next. Republicans want President Obama to hold off on nominating anyone. They are skillfully maneuvering their language to say that the nation should wait for the next president. While everyone with common sense and a basic understanding of the Constitution understands it s the president s job to pick someone new.The next question would obviously be, who should that someone be? Well, as it turns out, Justice Scalia often voiced his opinion on this matter. As President Obama s senior adviser David Axelrod pointed out on CNN, after Justice Souter announced his retirement, Scalia knew exactly who he wanted as a replacement.Axelrod sat with Scalia during a previous White House Correspondents Dinner, and as they sat, they discussed who Scalia would like to see on the court. Scalia told him: I have no illusions that your man will nominate someone who shares my orientation. But I hope he sends us someone smart. But he wasn t done. Continuing, he said: Let me put a finer point on it. I hope he sends us Elena Kagan. Seemingly surprised by this pick, Axelrod wrote on CNN: I was surprised that a member of the court would so bluntly propose a nominee, and intrigued that it was Kagan, the former Harvard Law School dean who was appointed solicitor general by Obama to represent the government before the Supreme Court. Though she had worked on policy in the Clinton administration and had a reputation for pragmatism, Kagan plainly would be a liberal in the context of the court. And although Obama went on to pick Justice Sotomayor, later when Justice John Paul Stevens retired, Kagan got her chance, and undoubtedly Scalia was pleased.Justice Scalia was a conservative through and through on matters of everything policy. However, he was able to maintain very close friendships with those whom he worked with and was close to, even those whose leanings were far more liberal. Axelrod even pointed out: During her confirmation meetings with senators, Kagan had vowed to go hunting to allay their concerns about her cultural awareness on the issue of guns. When she joined the court, she asked her friend, Scalia, to take her. The two, who occasionally shot intellectual darts at each other on paper, became regular, if unlikely, hunting partners. Thus proving that no matter how opposite some may be on matters of policy, those on the highest court in the land were still able to hold friendships and work together despite their differences. A lesson many in Washington probably still need to learn.It s also surprising that Scalia would talk about who he wanted with the president s senior adviser. He clearly wanted Kagan as his pick. Otherwise he probably would ve kept it to himself. This definitely shines a new light on Scalia, a man whose decisions have ranged from racist to homophobic to misogynistic to sometimes outright cruel. However, he clearly favored balance in the court, and for that, he needs to be respected.Featured image: Flickr","label":1}
{"text":"(Before It's News) God spells out the choice we need to make in Duet 30. by Jacqueline Hawkins At UNC Greensboro, a young woman told Deeper Still and GAP volunteer Debbie Picarello that she was a Christian who believed God gave her a \"choice.\" In her mind, God was fine with whatever she wanted to do with her own body, even if it meant destroying her baby's body. She was failing the \"choice\" test, the test of life and death. Debbie pulled out the ultimate life \"cheat sheet,\" the Bible. This is pretty good: In the most important test we will ever take, the test of life and death, God gave us the answers! Debbie showed her the answers she needed to know: \"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.\" (Psalm 139:13,14) In other words, God made us. He put us together Himself. \"For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.\" (1 Cor 6:20.) Our bodies are not our own; they belong to God. This is especially true for Christians purchased by the Blood of the Lamb. \"Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil \u2026 I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live.\" (Duet 30:15;19) The choice should be clear. This was not what the young woman wanted to hear. She told Debbie she felt judged. Debbie assured her that she was not judging her, but was giving her the Word of the very God she claimed to worship. Her belief, that she could do whatever she wanted with her own body and the body of her child, was wrong. Her assertions directly contradicted the Bible. It was indeed her choice to follow the Bible or not. But it was clear how God saw our choices. There are right choices and wrong choices. As followers of Christ, our choices are intended to be conformed to His likeness so that the whole world can know him. Pro-abortion Christians aren't just dangerous for themselves and their children; they are dangerous for everyone on the planet. God gives us the answers to the test, so that we can correct our course and pass with flying colors. Understanding what Debbie was saying, the young woman shook Debbie's hand and thanked her for speaking with her. This is so important. Our most important outreach is not to the pagan world; we are taking truth to confused Christians led astray by complacent church leaders who work harder than Planned Parenthood to cover up the truth. Over and over again, your support is the difference between life and death. When you support CBR , you choose life. Jackie Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and regular FAB contributor.","label":1}
{"text":"Flashback to February 18. 201: In a remarkable dispute just two days before a pivotal Republican primary, Pope Francis said Donald Trump s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is un-Christian, prompting Trump to respond that it was disgraceful for the pope to question his religion. A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian, Francis told reporters Wednesday aboard the papal plane. This is not in the Gospel. The pope s comments were first made public on Thursday. They obviously got to the pope, Trump said. He doesn t know me the Pope heard only one side of the story. In response to Pope Francis comments, candidate Trump told his supporters that I am a Christian and I am proud of it, and also attacked the Mexican government for using the pope as a pawn. There can t be a good economy without good businessmen, without their capacity to create and to produce, he said, shattering his reputation as an enemy of the free market economy.The Pope recognized that the essential value of work and employment is only possible when companies are sound and successful. Moreover, only an economically healthy society can keep a democracy afloat, he suggested. The world of work is a human priority, Francis said, and it s also a priority for the pope. There s always been a friendship between the church and work, starting with Jesus, who was a worker. When work is weakened, it s democracy that enters into crisis, he said. There s a social compact. Without denouncing unemployment benefits, Francis insisted that state intervention wasn t a real solution. A monthly check from the state that allows you to keep the family afloat doesn t solve the problem. It has to be resolved with work for everyone, he said.","label":1}
{"text":"Pepe ESCOBAR | 30.10.2016 | OPINION American Dream, Revisited Will Trump pull a Brexit times ten? What would it take, beyond WikiLeaks, to bring the Clinton (cash) machine down? Will Hillary win and then declare WWIII against her Russia \/ Iran \/ Syria \u00abaxis of evil\u00bb? Will the Middle East totally explode? Will the pivot to Asia totally implode? Will China be ruling the world by 2025? Amidst so many frenetic fragments of geopolitical reality precariously shored against our ruins, the temptation is irresistible to hark back to the late, great, deconstructionist master Jean Baudrillard. During the post-mod 1980s it was hip to be Baudrillardian to the core; his America, originally published in France in 1986, should still be read today as the definitive metaphysical\/geological\/cultural Instagram of Exceptionalistan. By the late 1990s, at the end of the millennium, two years before 9\/11 \u2013 that seminal \u00abbefore and after\u00bb event - Baudrillard was already stressing how we live in a black market maze. Now, it's a black market paroxysm. Global multitudes are subjected to a black market of work \u2013 as in the deregulation of the official market; a black market of unemployment; a black market of financial speculation; a black market of misery and poverty; a black market of sex (as in prostitution); a black market of information (as in espionage and shadow wars); a black market of weapons; and even a black market of thinking. Way beyond the late 20 th century, in the 2010s what the West praises as \u00abliberal democracy\u00bb \u2013 actually a neoliberal diktat - has virtually absorbed every ideological divergence, while leaving behind a heap of differences floating in some sort of trompe l'oeil effect. What's left is a widespread, noxious condition; the pre-emptive prohibition of any critical thought, which has no way to express itself other than becoming clandestine (or finding the right internet niche). Baudrillard already knew that the concept of \u00abalter\u00bb - killed by conviviality - does not exist in the official market. So an \u00abalter\u00bb black market also sprung up, co-opted by traffickers; that's, for instance, the realm of racism, nativism and other forms of exclusion. Baudrillard already identified how a \u00abcontraband alter\u00bb, expressed by sects and every form of nationalism (nowadays, think about the spectrum between jihadism and extreme-right wing political parties) was bound to become more virulent in a society that is desperately intolerant, obsessed with regimentation, and totally homogenized. There could be so much exhilaration inbuilt in life lived in a bewildering chimera cocktail of cultures, signs, differences and \u00abvalues\u00bb; but then came the coupling of thinking with its exact IT replica \u2013 artificial intelligence, playing with the line of demarcation between human and non-human in the domain of thought. The result, previewed by Baudrillard, was the secretion of a parapolitical society - with a sort of mafia controlling this secret form of generalized corruption (think the financial Masters of the Universe). Power is unable to fight this mafia - and that would be, on top of it, hypocritical, because the mafia itself emanates from power. The end result is that what really matters today, anywhere, mostly tends to happen outside all official circuits; like in a social black market. Is there any information \u00abtruth\u00bb? Baudrillard showed how political economy is a massive machine, producing value, producing signs of wealth, but not wealth itself. The whole media \/ information system \u2013 still ruled by America - is a massive machine producing events as signs; exchangeable value in the universal market of ideology, the star system and catastrophism. This abstraction of information works as in the economy \u2013 disgorging a coded material, deciphered in advance, and negotiable in terms of models, as much as the economy disgorges products negotiable in terms of price and value. Since all merchandise, thanks to this abstraction of value, is exchangeable, then every event (or non-event) is also exchangeable, all replacing one another in the cultural market of information. And that takes us to where we live now; Trans-History, and Trans-Politics \u2013 where events have really not happened, as they get lost in the vacuum of information (as much as the economy gets lost in the vacuum of speculation). Thus this quintessential Baudrillard insight; if we consider History as a movie \u2013 and that's what it is now \u2013 then the \u00abtruth\u00bb of information is no more than post-production synch, dubbing and subtitles. Still, as we all keep an intense desire for devouring events, there is immense disappointment as well, because the content of information is desperately inferior to the means of broadcasting them. Call it a pathetic, universal contagion; people don't know what to do about their sadness or enthusiasm \u2013 in parallel to our societies becoming theaters of the absurd where nothing has consequences. No acts, deeds, crimes (the 2008 financial crisis), political events (the WikiLeaks emails showing virtually no distinction between the \u00abnonprofit\u00bb Clinton cash machine, what's private and what's public, the obsessive pursuit of personal wealth, and the affairs of the state) seem to have real consequences. Immunity, impunity, corruption, speculation - we veer towards a state of zero responsibility (think Goldman Sachs). So, automatically, we yearn for an event of maximum consequence, a \u00abfatal\u00bb event to repair that scandalous non-equivalence. Like a symbolic re-equilibrium of the scales of destiny. So we dream of an amazing event \u2013 Trump winning the election? Hillary declaring WWIII? - that would free us from the tyranny of meaning and the constraint of always searching for the equivalence between effects and causes. Shadowing the world Just like Baudrillard, I got to see \u00abdeep\u00bb America in the 1980s and 1990s by driving across America. So sooner or later one develops a metaphysical relationship with that ubiquitous warning, \u00abObjects in this mirror may be closer than they appear\u00bb. But what if they may also be further than they appear? The contemporary instant event\/celebrity culture deluge of images upon us; does it get us closer to a so-called \u00abreal\u00bb world that is in fact very far away from us? Or does it in fact keep the world at a distance \u2013 creating an artificial depth of field that protects us from the imminence of objects and the virtual danger they represent? In parallel, we keep slouching towards a single future language \u2013 the language of algorithms, as designed across the Wall Street \/ Silicon Valley axis \u2013 that would represent a real anthropological catastrophe, just like the globalist\/New World Order dream of One Thought and One Culture. Languages are multiple and singular \u2013 by definition. If there were a single language, words would become univocal, regulating themselves in an autopilot of meaning. There would be no interplay \u2013 as in artificial languages there's no interplay. Language would be just the meek appendix of a unified reality \u2013 the negative destiny of a languidly unified human species. That's where the American \u00abdream\u00bb seems to be heading. It's time to take the next exit ramp.","label":1}
{"text":"Saudi Arabia s foreign minister said on Friday that Lebanon had been hijacked by Hezbollah and could only flourish if the Iranian-backed group disarmed. The Shi ite Muslim militia was set up by the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the 1980s and has grown steadily in influence, sharing power in the Beirut government and giving crucial support to President Bashar al-Assad in Syria s civil war. Its growing strength has alarmed Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim monarchy that is Shi ite Iran s arch-rival for regional influence. Lebanon will only survive or prosper if you disarm Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a conference in Italy. As long as you have an armed militia, you will not have peace in Lebanon. Jubeir said the situation in Lebanon was tragic and accused Iran of fomenting unrest across the Middle East. Since 1979, the Iranians have literally got away with murder in our region, and this has to stop, he said. A month ago, Saad al-Hariri resigned as Lebanese prime minister while he was in Saudi Arabia, triggering a political crisis in Beirut and thrusting Lebanon onto the front line of the regional rivalry. Saudi Arabia denied coercing its long-time ally to quit, and Hariri has now returned to Beirut and indicated that he might withdraw his resignation. Elsewhere in the region, Saudi Arabia fears that Hezbollah and Iran are trying to take control of its neighbor Yemen, by supporting Houthi forces against a Riyadh-led military coalition. Hezbollah denies fighting in Yemen, sending weapons to the Houthis, or firing rockets at Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory. Jubeir rejected this and said his country would not back down in the conflict. The Houthis cannot be allowed to take over a country, he said. Jubeir said his country only had bad relations with two nations Iran and North Korea. He said Riyadh did not have relations with Israel, which shares Saudi worries over Iran, because it was waiting for a Palestinian peace deal. He said everyone knew what a solution would look like to the decades-old conflict. It is not rocket science, he said, adding that he was waiting for the United States to put forward a new proposal. One of the most intractable problems facing negotiators is the spread of Jewish settlements across occupied territory that the Palestinians want for a future state. Jubeir said he expected an eventual deal would set the borders of a Palestinian state on the lines prevailing before the 1967 war, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, he said adjustments could be made for settlers: Seventy percent of the settlers who are on the (1967) Green Line remain in Israel, and the other 30 percent - you offer them compensation and work out housing, and they can move to Israel.","label":0}
{"text":"Remember the report that came out after Hillary left her position as Secretary of State? There was missing money $6 billion couldn t be accounted for. How does $6 billion just vanish? It seems like this is the usual thing with the Clintons. The Clinton Global Foundation also was missing money. Yes, a whopping $17 million went missing! I think we have a couple of Arkansas Grifters on our hands Since Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House in 2001, they have earned more than $230 million. But in federal filings the Clintons claim they are worth somewhere between $11 million and $53 million. After layering years of disclosures on top of annual tax returns, Forbes estimates their combined net worth at $45 million. Where did all of the money go? No one seems to know, and the Clintons aren t offering any answers.From 2001 to 2014 the power couple spent $95 million on taxes. Hillary s 2008 presidential run cost her $13 million. Their two homes cost a combined $5 million, and the Clintons have given away $22 million to charity. All of this is according to FEC filings, property records and years of tax returns. Add it up and you get $135 million. If the Clintons made $230 million, spent $135 million and have just $45 million left over, what happened to the other $50 million? That s kind of strange, says Joe Biden s accountant, Walter Deyhle. You have to report all of your assets. You have to report assets that are owned by your spouse. It seems unlikely that the Clintons could have spent all of it. Over 14 years $50 million averages out to $3.6 million in extra expenses per year, or $9,800 per day. Read the rest:Forbes explores some possible explanations for the missing money but dares not touch on one likely possibility that when you re running a criminal enterprise the size and scope of the Clinton Foundation, there are many, many people whose silence must be bought, and such folks don t come cheap.It s also possible that Bill s sexual shenanigans have resulted in out-of-court settlements in exchange for confidentiality agreements.And of course, political influence can be a two way street. While we assume that foreign entities have paid vast sums to the Clintons in exchange for favors, the Clintons themselves may have had to shell out money in exchange for access.","label":1}
{"text":"For weeks, Facebook has been questioned about its role in spreading fake news. Now the company has mounted its most concerted effort to combat the problem. Facebook said on Thursday that it had begun a series of experiments to limit misinformation on its site. The tests include making it easier for its 1. 8 billion members to report fake news, and creating partnerships with outside organizations to help it indicate when articles are false. The company is also changing some advertising practices to stop purveyors of fake news from profiting from it. Facebook, the social network, is in a tricky position with these tests. It has long regarded itself as a neutral place where people can freely post, read and view content, and it has said it does not want to be an arbiter of truth. But as its reach and influence have grown, it has had to confront questions about its moral obligations and ethical standards regarding what appears on the network. Its experiments on curtailing fake news show that Facebook recognizes it has a deepening responsibility for what is on its site. But Facebook also must tread cautiously in making changes, because it is wary of exposing itself to claims of censorship. \"We really value giving people a voice, but we also believe we need to take responsibility for the spread of fake news on our platform,\" said Adam Mosseri, a Facebook vice president who is in charge of its news feed, the company's method of distributing information to its global audience. He said the changes \u2014 which, if successful, may be available to a wide audience \u2014 resulted from many months of internal discussion about how to handle false news articles shared on the network. What impact Facebook's moves will have on fake news is unclear. The issue is not confined to the social network, with a vast ecosystem of false news creators who thrive on online advertising and who can use other social media and search engines to propagate their work. Google, Twitter and message boards like 4chan and Reddit have all been criticized for being part of that chain. Still, Facebook has taken the most heat over fake news. The company has been under that spotlight since Nov. 8, when Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th president. Mr. Trump's unexpected victory almost immediately led people to focus on whether Facebook had influenced the electorate, especially with the rise of hyperpartisan sites on the network and many examples of misinformation, such as a false article that claimed Pope Francis had endorsed Mr. Trump for president that was shared nearly a million times across the site. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, has said he did not believe that the social network had influenced the election result, calling it \"a pretty crazy idea. \" Yet the intense scrutiny of the company on the issue has caused internal divisions and has pushed Mr. Zuckerberg to say he was trying to find ways to reduce the problem. In an interview, Mr. Mosseri said Facebook did not think its news feed had directly caused people to vote for a particular candidate, given that \"the magnitude of fake news across Facebook is one fraction of a percent of the content across the network. \" Facebook has changed the way its news feed works before. In August, the company announced changes to marginalize what it considered \"clickbait,\" the sensational headlines that rarely live up to their promise. This year, Facebook also gave priority to content shared by friends and family, a move that shook some publishers that rely on the social network for much of their traffic. The company is also constantly its algorithms to serve what its users most want to see, an effort to keep its audience returning regularly. This time, Facebook is making it easier to flag content that may be fake. Users can report a post they dislike in their feed, but when Facebook asks for a reason, the site presents them with a list of limited and vague options, including the cryptic \"I don't think it should be on Facebook. \" In Facebook's new experiment, users will have a choice to flag the post as fake news and have the option to message the friend who originally shared the piece to tell him or her the article is false. If an article receives enough flags as fake, it can be directed to a coalition of groups that will it. The groups include Snopes, PolitiFact, The Associated Press, FactCheck. org and ABC News. They will check the article and can mark it as a \"disputed\" piece, a designation that will be seen on Facebook. Partner organizations will not be paid, the companies said. Some characterized the as an extension of their journalistic efforts. \"We actually regard this as a big part of our core mission,\" James Goldston, the president of ABC News, said in an interview. \"If that core mission isn't helping people regard the real from the fake news, I don't know what our mission is. \" Disputed articles will ultimately appear lower in the news feed. If users still decide to share such an article, they will receive a reminding them that the accuracy of the piece is in question. Facebook said it was casting a wide net to add more partners to its coalition and may move outside of the United States with the initiative if early experiments go well. The company is also part of the First Draft Coalition, an effort with other technology and media companies including Twitter, Google, The New York Times and CNN, to combat the spread of fake news online. In another change in how the news feed works, articles that many users read but do not share will be ranked lower on people's feeds. Mr. Mosseri said a low ratio of sharing an article after it has been read could be perceived as a negative signal, one that might reflect that the article was misleading or of poor quality. \"Facebook was inevitably going to have to curate the platform much more carefully, and this seems like a reasonably transparent method of intervention,\" said Emily Bell, director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. \"But the fake cat is already out of the imaginary bag,\" Ms. Bell added. \"If they didn't try and do something about it, next time around it could have far worse consequences. \" Facebook also plans to impede the economics of spreading fake articles across the network. Fake news purveyors generally make money when people click on the false articles and are directed to websites, the majority of which are filled with dozens of ads. Facebook will review those links and check for things like whether the page is mostly filled with advertising content \u2014 a dead giveaway for spam sites \u2014 or to see whether a link masquerades as a different site, like a fake version of The New York Times. Such sites would not be eligible to display Facebook advertising on their pages. Articles disputed by the coalition will also not be eligible to be inserted into Facebook ads, a tactic viral spammers have used to spread fake news quickly and gain more clicks on their websites. Facebook said that in these early experiments it would deal with only fake news content it does not plan to flag opinion posts or other content that could not be easily classified. The changes will not affect satirical sites like The Onion, which often jabs at political subjects through humor. Facebook must take something else into consideration: its profit. Any action taken to reduce popular content, even if it is fake news, could hurt the company's priority of keeping its users engaged on the platform. People spend an average of more than 50 minutes a day on Facebook, and the company wants that number to grow. Executives at Facebook stressed the overriding factor right now is not just engagement. \"I think of Facebook as a technology company, but I recognize we have a greater responsibility than just building technology that information flows through,\" Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Thursday. \"We have a responsibility to make sure Facebook has the greatest positive impact on the world. \"","label":0}
{"text":"After the teeny-tiny tenure of Anthony (the Mooch) Scaramucci, the gates of hell have opened. Now that we ve had a foul-mouthed Sopranos extra leading the communications team (even if ever so briefly), pretty much anything goes when it comes to Trump s performance art installation previously known as the White House.Why should it surprise anyone that the poster child for corporate greed and everything everyone hates about Millennials, Pharma-bro Martin Shkreli, now wants Scaramucci s job? Oh, and did I mention that Shkreli is currently on trial for federal securities fraud? Score!While Shkreli hasn t yet appeared to make an official pitch for the job, on Monday, he posted this rather cryptic message on Facebook, In for comms director. Some thought it was a completely appropriate idea:This might be a little premature, though, even by Trump standards. The man who s been dubbed the most hated man in America for price gouging AIDS patients with a 5,000 percent price increase for a drug commonly used to treat AIDS, could be headed to prison, but not for that. he has been accused of defrauding half a dozen investors about the size and performance of his hedge funds, and how well qualified he was to manage them. He was also accused of using his pharmaceuticals company, Retrophin, as a piggy bank to pay investors back and cover personal debt.Source: IndependentIf found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison. If found not-guilty, he could be a natural as the face of the White House. According to a former co-worker, Shkreli shares some of the same *um* personality quirks as BLOTUS:A former co-worker, Caroline Stewart, testified that he was a scam artist and mentally unstable . One of his hedge funds imploded after a short trade failed and he ended up owing Bank of America Merrill Lynch $10 million.And as with Dear Orange Leader, Shkreli suffers from a persecution complex which he defends with accusations of a witch hunt. Do you think he could be the Communications Director from prison?","label":1}
{"text":"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 \u2014 in which service members allegedly shared nude photos of female Marines and veterans in the private Facebook group 'Marines United,' \u2014 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 \u2026 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.","label":0}
{"text":"This truth doesn t hurt Donald Trump, it amuses him.That s probably why he flashed a smile after a heckler at a Kissimmee, Florida campaign rally on Thursday called the Republican nominee Putin s b*tch over his ties to Russian oligarchs.Trump paused during his speech after someone in the audience drew his attention and yelled You love Russia. You re Putin s b*tch, before being escorted out of the building by security as Trump said goodbye to the unidentified man several times.A few seconds later Trump asked, Where the hell did he come from? Here s the video via YouTube:I don t know where the heckler came from but I know why he called Trump Putin s b*tch. Donald Trump has borrowed a lot of money from his Russian business pals and they just so happen to be close with Russian President Vladamir Putin. So, let s just say Trump owes them and if he can t pay them back with money, becoming president would give him the power to pay them back in other ways. You know, like lifting sanctions placed on the Russians after they attacked Ukraine, like Trump advisor Carter Page suggested earlier this year, or weakening NATO so that Russia can continue their aggressive stance, or softening the Republican Party s condemnation of Russia s attack on Ukraine which Trump actually fought to make part of the GOP platform.In short, Trump would essentially be Putin s puppet. And it s not like Russia and Putin have not been enthusiastic about this prospect seeing as how Putin directed state media to tout Trump s campaign and Russian hackers broke into the DNC in what amounts to a cyber-Watergate in an effort to hurt Democrats by giving Trump fodder to use to attack Democrats.So the heckler at Trump s rally was absolutely right to call him Putin s b*tch. And Trump could only smirk because deep down he knows it s true.Featured Image: Screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"You may think you are discreet about your political views. But Facebook, the world's largest social media network, has come up with its own determination of your political leanings, based on your activity on the site. And now, it is easy to find out how Facebook has categorized you \u2014 as very liberal or very conservative, or somewhere in between. Try this (it works best on your desktop computer): Go to facebook. on your browser. (You may have to log in to Facebook first.) That will bring you to a page with your ad preferences. Under the \"Interests\" header, click the \"Lifestyle and Culture\" tab. Then look for a box titled \"US Politics. \" In parentheses, it will describe how Facebook has categorized you, such as liberal, moderate or conservative. (If the \"US Politics\" box does not show up, click the \"See more\" button under the grid of boxes.) Facebook makes a deduction about your political views based on the pages that you like \u2014 or on your political preference, if you stated one, on your profile page. If you like the page for Hillary Clinton, Facebook might categorize you as a liberal. Even if you do not like any candidates' pages, if most of the people who like the same pages that you do \u2014 such as Ben and Jerry's ice cream \u2014 identify as liberal, then Facebook might classify you as one, too. Facebook has long been collecting information on its users, but it recently revamped the ad preferences page, making it easier to view. The information is valuable. Advertisers, including many political campaigns, pay Facebook to show their ads to specific demographic groups. The labels Facebook assigns to its users help campaigns more precisely target a particular audience. For instance, Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign has paid for its ads to be shown to those who Facebook has labeled politically moderate. Campaigns can also use the groupings to show different messages to different supporters. They may want to show an ad to their supporters, for example, that is unlike an ad targeted at people just tuning in to the election. It is not clear how aggressively Facebook is gathering political information on users outside the United States. The social network has 1. 7 billion active users, including about 204 million in the United States. Political outlook is just one of the attributes Facebook compiles on its users. Many of the others are directly commercial: whether you like television comedy shows, video games or Nascar. To learn more about how political campaigns are targeting voters on social media, The New York Times is collecting Facebook ads from our readers with a project called AdTrack. You can take part by visiting nytimes. com and searching for \"Send us the political ads. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Paul Lepage, the Tea Party disaster that happens to technically be the governor of Maine, just keeps finding bold new ways to prove he isn t qualified to hold his job. I say he is technically the governor of Maine because the word itself implies governing as in working and doing a job. LePage does virtually none of that.The latest crusade of stupidity he has embarked upon is the outright refusal to perform his constitutional duty and swear in a new state senator, who recently won a special election. This leaves people of his state without representation in their capitol and shows yet again why the phrase tea party automatically disqualifies from any position of authority in any job.Susan Deschambault, a Biddeford Democrat, won a special election for the Senate District 32 seat on Tuesday. She traveled to the capitol with her family to be sworn in, only to be told the governor refused to do it. His reason is even worse than his behavior. LePage won t swear her in because of a totally unrelated issue where the senate has rejected the confirmation of the governor s nominee to the state s unemployment insurance commission.Deschambault literally has NOTHING to do with any of this, but he is denying her the ability to do her job, denying her constituents representation, denying Maine a fully-functional state house and violating his oath of office as governor just because he is an overgrown child who wants to have a tantrum.Tea Partiers are not the brightest bulb in the room normally. However, this move really is beyond reason even for them. We have a sitting U.S. governor who is literally holding his own state s ability to govern itself hostage until he gets his way. Mario Moretto, the spokesman for state senate Democrats, has said that the senate is looking for alternative methods of installing Deschambault into her office. The state attorney general also gave a statement that she is aware of the situation and that alternative methods are being sought, but she declined to comment further on the matter.","label":1}
{"text":"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.","label":1}
{"text":"Washington (CNN) Americans are increasingly unhappy with President Barack Obama's handling of ISIS, and a growing share of the nation believes that fight is going badly, according to a new CNN\/ORC survey released Monday. Fifty-seven percent disapprove of his handling of foreign affairs more broadly, and 54% disapprove of how the President is handling terrorism. Another 60% rate Obama negatively on his handling of electronic national security. The declining approval ratings for Obama on national security come as a weekend of international turmoil further underscores the growing threats abroad. Obama issued a statement condemning the killing of the Christians on Sunday night, though Obama's Republican opponents have consistently made the case that the growing Islamic State threat is exacerbated by what they see as his weak leadership. In the poll, Americans increasingly believe the U.S. military action against ISIS is going badly, with 58% saying so in the latest survey, up from 49% who said the fight wasn't going well in October. Even among Democrats, nearly half \u2014 46% \u2014 say things aren't going well in the battle against ISIS. And about half of respondents, 51%, say they trust the President as Commander-in-Chief of the military. But with ISIS affiliates continuing to commit brutal, gruesome murders and multiple terrorist attacks abroad grabbing international headlines over the past few months, support for sending ground troops to Iraq and Syria to confront the threat appears to be growing. The survey suggests Americans are warming up to the idea of sending ground troops to combat the terrorist organization. In November, just 43% supported deploying ground troops, while 55% of Americans opposed it; now the number in support has ticked up to 47%, the highest level of support yet measured, with just half of Americans opposed. Still, the parties have become more polarized on the prospect since November, with 61% of Democrats opposed and a similar majority of Republicans supportive of the prospect, an eight-point increase. Independents, meanwhile, are split, with 48% in favor and 50% opposed. The prospect of sending in ground troops remains a sticking point for both congressional Democrats and Republicans in the debate over Obama's Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which would give him legal authority to combat ISIS. But the AUMF, and Obama's decision to go to Congress for the official authority to continue battling ISIS, is widely popular, according to the new poll. Seventy-eight percent of Americans say Congress should give Obama the authority to fight ISIS, a slight decline from 82% who supported it in December. A similarly large majority say Obama was right to ask Congress for the authority, rather than proceeding with the battle unilaterally. The survey was conducted among 1,027 adult Americans from Feb. 12-15, and has a margin of sampling error of 3%.","label":0}
{"text":"On May 2, 2011, SEAL Team Six breached Osama bin Laden's Abbottadad, Pakistan compound and ended the life of the most wanted terrorist on earth, and the team member who actually shot bin Laden reportedly did so with a Heckler Koch 416. [Fox News identified the SEAL Team Six member who fired the fatal shots as Rob O'Neill. When the gun type was reported by other outlets, Breitbart News reached out to a former Navy SEAL for verification and he said the HK 416 was \"very likely\" the gun used to take out bin Laden. The Tribunist reported that the HK 416 used in the raid had \"a 10 inch barrel and a list of high dollar accessories. \" This means the gun would have been an HK 416 A5 (11\u2033) as seen here: Or an HK 416 with a 10. 4\u2033 barrel, as seen here: The Heckler and Koch website describes the 416 10. 4\u2033 saying: Heckler and Koch developed the HK416 for U. S. special operations forces as a major product improvement of carbines and rifles. Using the gas piston system found on the G36, the HK416 does not introduce propellant gases and carbon fouling back into the weapon's interior, making it the most reliable of any type weapon. The HK416 has been in Southwest Asia and has also gained worldwide attention of military, law enforcement, and security users. In April 2007, the HK416 was selected as the new Norwegian Army rifle. The 10. 4 inch barrel model is the shortest, most compact variant and is widely used by special operations, law enforcement, and military units worldwide. CNN recounted the details of the raid that ended bin Laden's life: May 2, 2011 \u2014 In the early morning hours (approximately on May 1 in the United States) a group of 25 Navy Seals raid the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. When gun controllers see either of the above versions of the HK 416, they may be quick to describe them as the same kind of rifles that civilians buy stateside. However, military rifles and civilian rifles are far different. On the sides of both photographs of the 416 you will notice a selector switch that lets the firearm go from \u2014 which is the version civilians own \u2014 to fully automatic or three round bursts, both of which are used by military personnel. The civilian versions only resemble the military versions in shape and appearance. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.","label":0}
{"text":"There s a major problem with Trump considering Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, for official positions in the White House. It s not that they re likely to be too close to his business ties, but rather, it s because ignoring the nepotism law and giving family members plum jobs like this is the act of a king, not a democratic president.The very opposite of America.While positions for them in Trump s White House are not yet set in stone, one of Trump s advisers has hinted loudly at Ivanka and Jared having formal positions in his administration. Economist Robert Reich sees a serious problem here as anyone should and said on his Facebook page: Is anyone else uneasy about Trump s daughter and son-in-law becoming White House advisors to President Trump? It s not just their extensive Trump business holdings and conflicts of interest that worry me. It s also their family ties.We ve elected a president, not a king.A president hires advisors. A king bestows privileges and titles on his family.A president wants advice from experts who will tell him what s in America s best interest. A king wants advice from people who will tell him what s in his own personal best interest.A president assembles a White House staff. A king assembles a court.A president dismisses advisors who don t perform. A king doesn t get rid of family members, except when he cuts off their heads. And that s it, in a nutshell. That s the difference between the elected president of a democracy, and a man who would crown himself king like Cheetolini seems to want to do.What has the dark side of America done in electing this autocratic demagogue? Trump supporters are brainwashed; that much is clear. There are so many conflicts of interest with Trump as president that it s insane. Now, those conflicts involve him giving his daughter and son-in-law jobs like a king bestowing lands and titles on his family. Just like Reich said.Of course, there are people close to Trump who believe that the nepotism law doesn t apply, like Kellyanne Conway. She recently said that the law has exceptions that can open up a realm of possibilities. She then tried to assure us that there will be complete distinction and separation, without any ambiguity.Sure. Right. And Trump canceled the press conference where he was supposed to explain when and how he was divesting from his businesses because reasons.People whined up one side and down the other about the Bush dynasty and the Clinton dynasty during the election. But who sees a problem with the dynasty that Trump is literally setting up, one that is unlike either the Bushes or the Clintons? Trump s ensuring that his family has the ties they need to to take over after he s gone (whether he s gone via election or death).Reich is right. We ve elected someone who s going to behave more like a king than a democratic president. If Trump saw himself as president, he d stick by the nepotism law and the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution like they were etched in concrete, rather than looking for loopholes and exceptions to both.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"At 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, Scott Michael Greene, a 46-year-old father of three, would change Urbandale, Iowa, forever. Officer Justin Martin and Sargent Tony Beminio were found shot and killed 20 minutes apart, Wednesday morning. Per authorities, Greene ambushed both Martin and Beminio while in their police cruisers, at two separate locations. Ambush-style shootings on police officers have been a common story on local and national news outlets. On July 17, Gaven Long took the lives of three Baton Rouge police officers. His motives were uncertain but his anger toward white police officials was clear. Recordings of Long ranting and raving about racial injustice surfaced on social media websites days prior to the shootings. Also, Long wore a self-made body camera and visited Dallas, where five officers were killed less than two weeks before his own rampage. There is no physical connection between Long and the Dallas shooter, their mental states were similar. Micah Xavier Johnson, who fatally shot five Dallas officers, believed racial injustice was out of control. Despite his feelings toward police and the black community, Johnson's stepmother was white and he was not known to \"pick particular sides with race.\" Johnson was killed by police officers who used a bomb-wearing robot, following the shootings. This left his motivation for the shootings a mystery. Not all police ambushes are incited by racial discrimination. On Sept. 12, 2014, Eric Frein opened fire on the Blooming Grove state police barracks, in Pennsylvania. One officer died and another was severely wounded. U.S. Marshals would later find Frein, 50 days later, in an airport hangar. He was discovered 23 miles from the barracks. Frein had expressed anger toward law enforcement but the reason for his anger has not been understood. What drives people such as Frein, Johnson, Long, and Green to go and act out such heinous crimes? Perhaps a mental illness can be blamed for such disturbing behavior. The mourning continues for the two officers who lost their lives early Wednesday morning. When a tragedy strikes a community, historically, the people come together. This is what is happening in Urbandale, Iowa. By Amy Weins Edited by Jeanette Smith Sources: Des Moines Register: Suspected police killer had history of run-ins with authorities The Advocate: Before Bloodshed: Where Gavin Long stayed, what he preached, odd encounters all on video Dallas News: Ousted from army, Dallas shooter used military skills for murder Pocono Record: Suspected State Police killer Frein Caught near abandoned airpark Image Courtesy of Brandon Anderson's Eric Frein , Gavin Long , Micah Johnson , Scott Greene , shooting","label":1}
{"text":"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped the United States would continue to support Ukraine in its stand-off with Russia following the victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election. \"The President looks forward to a continuation of U.S support in two important areas: Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression ... and also assistance in the realization of major reforms,\" Poroshenko was quoted as saying in a statement on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"Malaysia has asked Interpol to try to locate a Malaysian financier for questioning over his suspected involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the deputy prime minister said on Monday. The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to seize $1.7 billion in assets that it said were bought with misappropriated funds from 1MDB, according to dozens of civil lawsuits filed by the department in the past two years. The assets include a private jet, a hotel and real estate in New York, and a $107 million interest in EMI Music Publishing bought by Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, the lawsuits said. Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, has not been charged with any crime. But U.S. authorities have said they are pursuing a criminal probe into 1MDB-linked transactions. We are confident Interpol will act professionally, but the police have yet to receive any detailed information (on Low s whereabouts), Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in parliament. A spokesman for Low could not be reached for comment. Low has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying that the U.S. Justice Department s actions were a further example of global overreach in pursuit of a deeply flawed case . Interpol did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. 1MDB, founded by Prime Minister Najib Razak, is facing money laundering probes in at least six countries including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to the U.S. lawsuits. Low is accused in the lawsuits of using 1MDB-linked funds to buy Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio a $3.2 million Picasso painting, and giving about $9 million in jewelry to Australian model Miranda Kerr. DiCaprio and Kerr have turned over the items to U.S. authorities and promised to cooperate in the 1MDB probe. The lawsuits also said $681 million from 1MDB was transferred to the account of Malaysian Official 1 , which U.S. and Malaysian sources have previously identified as Najib. Najib has denied any wrongdoing and a Malaysian government investigation has also cleared him of any wrongdoing. A Malaysian police probe into 1MDB is under way.","label":0}
{"text":"Part FOUR Twenty Thousand Dollar Wire Transfer Returned # soundcloud.com 0  How The Project Establishing the Cover of The Investigator.Setting up the Business Relationship by an Investment of $20,000 got them access to Robert Creamer and the rest of AUFC .After getting a member of The Projects Team an Internship with the DNC Voter Registration Team subsequent meetings occurred and planning began for further opportunities. Thus opening the Door for The Team to Investigate Further. When News of The Projects Videos got out the DNC Voter Registration Team wanted to return the Money because of concerns that \"The Money may be from Foreign Investment\". But why did they take the Money in the first place and Why did hey need the Money so badly that First month??? Tags","label":1}
{"text":"If sane Americans have done one stupid thing over the last year, it s not take Donald Trump seriously. Unfortunately, there s a lot of discontent among the right toward the changing face of the United States and on the left, there s discontent over the fact that the United States isn t changing fast enough, and that discontentment could easily land Donald Trump in the White House, according to FiveThirtyEight s statistical guru, Nate Silver.While the polls are in a virtual tie, a breakdown of electoral college votes paints a much bleaker picture. According to Silver, Trump is ahead of Clinton by a whopping 15 points.Silver s now-cast, updated with fresh surveys on Monday, shows Trump s current likelihood of winning at 57.5 percent, compared with Clinton s 42.5 percent. In the 11 battleground states, Colorado, Virginia and Michigan would go to Clinton, while Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa would go to Trump.The breakdown shifts a bit between the Electoral College and the popular vote. Silver s model currently predicts the popular vote going 45.4 percent to Trump vs. 45.1 percent to Clinton, but the Electoral College giving Trump a wider margin of victory, 285 votes and Clinton 252.6.Source: PoliticoThis warning alone should be enough to wake up some who are on the fence and some Bernie Sanders supporters, but not all is lost. Silver notes that polling during conventions is notoriously inaccurate.On the one hand, the conventions are not a particularly good time to sweat every tick in the polls. Instead, they tend to be one of the less accurate times for polling. Historically, it s unusual for candidates not to at least pull into a rough tie after their party convention John McCain and Sarah Palin did so in 2008, for example, and even Walter Mondale led a couple of polls in 1984. But those bounces do not always turn out to be predictive.Silver has another hand, though, and he s saying that Clinton has had a very bad July. She could get a convention bump this week, but with Wikileaks email dump and Sanders supporters protesting every single speaker, it s doubtful. In other words, be afraid, but vote and drive people to the polls if necessary.","label":1}
{"text":"An atheist group has found a truly genius way to troll christian conservatives over their $101m Noah s Ark being built in Kentucky by crowdfunding mock billboards for the christian theme park. Author and columnist Dan Arel writes in Pathos that a group called the Tri-State Freethinkers are raising $2,000 to place billboards which name the Ark Adventure Genocide and Incest Park. Image via IndiegogoThe Indiegogo page for the project states:The billboards are likely to serious annoy the Ark Adventure team, who have lurched from one crisis to another in their attempts to set up the site.Australian-born Creationist Ken Ham and his fundamentalist Christian organization Answers in Genesis (AiG) are looking to build a $101m Ark Adventure in Kentucky, with the centerpiece of a reconstructed Ark. The problem is, they want you the taxpayer to pay for it.According to Newsweek, AiG purchased a 99-acre plot of land just outside Williamstown, Kentucky got the city for just a dollar five years ago. But since then, the project has hit one hurdle after another. Many, of Ham s own making.The principal issue at stake now, is that Ham and AiG want the taxpayer to pick up the bill for around a quarter of the construction costs of the project in the form of tax rebates. The group sought to exploit subsidies provided by the state to boost tourism through the Tourism Development Incentive program. Projects of $1 million and upwards can recover 25% of project development costs by recouping their sales taxes.After much debate on their initial application, Kentucky approved the site for the scheme so long as AiG agreed to non-discriminatory hiring practices. This means, they could only recover the cash if they recruited people of all faiths and none. They could not specifically hire Creationists.A few bumps down the road later, and Ham and AiG had to significantly strip back their pans for the park. They were unable to gather together the funds and investment to create the full theme park. Due to the substantial changes to the plans, they had to resubmit their application to Kentucky for the tax rebate. This time is was denied. Why? Because apparently, honesty and integrity mean nothing to this group of creationists.Despite their reluctant agreements to get their hands on state cash, AiG had released a decidedly discriminatory recruitment policy for the Ark Adventure. The website demanded a salvation testimony and a creationist statement of faith from all prospective job applicants clearly ruling out non-believers.So now, Ken Ham and AiG are suing Kentucky for the money claiming religious discrimination. Greg Lipper, senior litigation counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State points out the muddled-thinking that AiG is applying in this case. AiG is confusing what they have the right to do as a private organization with what taxpayers are required to fund, They re saying Kentucky taxpayers should pay for them to expand a religious ministry. That kind of argument would make Thomas Jefferson turn in his grave. No one is telling Ham as a private citizen, who or how he can hire. It is only as a recipient of state funds, an agreement which he is free to enter or not, that he is required to follow the stipulations that would be applied to any organization or individual doing the same. Just like chances of his theory of genesis being true, Ham s chances of getting his lawsuit through are slim to none.And his Ark hasn t escaped the attention of social media users either I just realised that America's immigration policy doesn't weed out Australian Ark Building Lunatics. #kenham Michael (@gotapulse) January 3, 2016If #KenHam could get a 500 yr old dude & his kids to build the Ark themselves w\/o modern technology I would give the park more credit. Uncle John (@azmoderate) January 18, 2016If the universe was capable of giving Ken Ham and his cohorts a sign that their project was doomed to failure, this comedy of errors and public embarrassments would be it.","label":1}
{"text":"Many new minimum wage increases took effect on Friday, and Fox was quick to lose their sh*t over it.Fox Business host Stuart Varney discovered that $15 minimum wage laws go into effect today in 15 cities across five states, and proceeded to wax nostalgic along with his panel of guests about the days when there were no minimum wage laws or child labor laws in this country.Panelist Tammy Bruce warned that it will a cause a march towards robotics as if robots taking over a jobs is something that s never happened before. You re going to have kiosks that are going to be able to sell things to people, she continued. This we ve learned from Seattle, and some other cities that have already implemented it, that jobs are lost. That this, it s the burden is put on the back of other struggling people. You will fire individuals in order to maintain that the salary requirement of the others that you have there. And others, of course, are putting fast-food places are putting in robotics, and kiosks, so you can order your own food. This is what s going to happen. In fact, the Seattle minimum wage increase has not caused the sky to fall as Bruce and her Fox colleagues have been claiming since it was first passed. Many workers are bringing home more money to pay bills and take care of their families. Prices for products have not shot up as conservatives warned and it s still too early to tell if the wage increase is slowing job growth.Varney then turned to WWE has-been John Layfield, who makes a living being a loudmouth on television. Layfield spoke from the nation of Bermuda, and giddily explained that Bermuda does not have a minimum wage and that children work for tips.LAYFIELD: There actually isn t a minimum wage here, right now. You see some of these young kids I run a program for at-risk kids down, sacking groceries, about age 12, and they work off tips. So there isn t actually a minimum wage here.BRUCE: That s how it used to be.LAYFIELD: And it actually works fine. The problem I have with this $15 minimum wage is why 15, because it looks good on a bumper sticker? You re not talking about fixing anything. Tie it to inflation, or a basket of wages, so you take it out of politics and union hands. That s all it is.Except that it s really not working fine. As it turns out, there is a significant income gap in Bermuda and poverty affects many locals because unskilled workers from overseas are willing to work for very little which means great wealth for those who don t have to pay their workers very much because there is no minimum wage law. And children are forced to help out by working for nothing more than the hope of a decent tip.But Varney continnued to whine about the wage increases here in the states because people in poverty will now be able to bring in $30,000 a year. Panelist Elizabeth McDonald complained because she thinks anyone in an entry-level job should be in poverty, even if they have a family to support. She even claimed that college tuition will go up because young workers are making more.VARNEY: $15 an hour, for a forty hour week, is $30,000 a year. I mean, what ELIZABETH MACDONALD: It s supposed to be an entry-level job, it s not supposed to be a career. And, by the way, AWOL in this debate when you have things in the [Obama] administration like raising overtime pay depending on the skill set, and minimum wages, watch out college tuition goes up.VARNEY: That s right, because of all those people who work minimum wage in the colleges. You ve got that right.Of course, college prices were going up long before the minimum wage increase came into being. But don t tell that to Fox Business. The truth will hurt their feelings, if they have any.Here s the video via Media Matters.The bottom line is that increasing the minimum wage is not only fair it helps the economy in general.Every year, corporate fat cats receive salary increases of millions of dollars while the workers who make the business successful see their wages stagnate. This forces many workers to apply for federal aid to make ends meet. Raising the wage helps workers take care of their families and makes it unnecessary for a lot of them to apply for aid. It also helps boost the local economy because workers will use their increased earnings to buy goods, thus pumping more dollars into area businesses that will use those extra profits to pay their own workers a higher wage and hire extra workers if there is more demand.In other words, Fox hosts are fearmongering again and if they had their way, Americans would work for pennies and children would work for even less.","label":1}
{"text":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump assured gun owners on Friday he would protect their constitutional right to bear arms and eliminate gun-free zones if elected, accusing Democrat Hillary Clinton of wanting to weaken gun rights. Trump, who will almost certainly be the Republican presidential nominee, picked up the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, a politically powerful lobbying group which claims more than 4 million members. Trump's remarks at the NRA's national convention in Louisville, Kentucky, were not a surprise, but they could solidify his status among conservatives who see protecting the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment as a top priority. Trump also planned to meet on Monday with U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, a source close to the Trump campaign said. The two are expected to consult on foreign policy. The source said Corker remains on Trump's list of potential vice presidential running mates. Clinton, who is close to clinching the Democratic Party's nomination for the Nov. 8 election, has vowed to take on the gun lobby and expand gun control measures to include comprehensive background checks for gun buyers, including at open-air gun shows and online. Trump, who is trying to unite the Republican Party behind him after a brutal primary battle, accused Clinton, a former secretary of state to President Barack Obama, of wanting to end the 2nd Amendment, which says in part that the people's right to keep and bear arms \"shall not be infringed.\" \"Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment, not change it; she wants to abolish it,\" Trump said. Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Maya Harris said Trump is peddling falsehoods and denounced \"Donald Trump's conspiracy theories.\" She said Clinton believes there are \"common-sense steps we can take at the federal level to keep guns out of the hands of criminals\" while protecting the Second Amendment. Trump told the NRA he would eliminate gun-free zones imposed in some areas, noting that the 2015 shooting deaths of four U.S. Marines at an armed forces recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, took place in a gun-free zone. \"The Second Amendment is on the ballot in November,\" he said. \"The only way to save our Second Amendment is to vote for a person you know: Donald Trump.\" The NRA's convention took place on the same day that a man brandished a gun at a checkpoint near the White House in Washington and was shot and wounded by a law enforcement officer. The New York billionaire's NRA speech was another step in his drive to make more conservatives comfortable with his candidacy. Earlier this week, he released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees who are conservative jurists, a step well-received on the right. Many conservatives, who had backed other Republican candidates in the 2016 race, worry that Trump is a closet liberal on many issues. But Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, said it was time for them to get over their qualms about the 69-year-old candidate. \"If your preferred candidate is out of the race, it's time to get over it,\" Cox told the NRA audience. \"Are there valid arguments in favor of some over others? Sure. Will any of it matter if Hillary wins in November? Not one bit.\" In another step toward trying to unify the party, Cox has invited members of Congress to a \"small roundtable discussion\" with one of Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr., on Wednesday at the Capitol Hill Club near the U.S. Capitol, a copy of the invitation said.","label":0}
{"text":"BOGOT\u00c1, Colombia \u2014 Gildardo Ram\u00edrez reached Mocoa on Sunday, only to find a scene of rubble where his Aunt Claudia's neighborhood had been. He looked desperately through the ruins for his missing aunt, who he said had not been seen since a flood of mud and debris plowed through Mocoa the night before. \"I arrived to the house, and it was destroyed,\" he said by telephone from Mocoa, a small city in the southern mountains of Colombia near the border with Ecuador. \"The only thing I found was a backpack. \" Anxious relatives like Mr. Ram\u00edrez and more than 1, 500 rescue workers raced on Sunday to find anyone who might still be alive and trapped in the wreckage in Mocoa, where parts of the city have been wiped off the map by a deluge of mud and floodwaters. In the air of the town, witnesses said they could already smell the dead under the rubble. Cadavers lay unburied in a cemetery while those in the town focused on search and rescue. \"We have a huge challenge to find the missing people,\" Carlos Ivan M\u00e1rquez, the head of Colombia's natural disaster unit, told reporters. The Colombian Red Cross said on Sunday that at least 234 people had died some news outlets reported higher tallies from other sources. Mr. M\u00e1rquez said that in addition to the deaths, the authorities believed that more than 200 people had been injured. Some 600 residents were evacuated to temporary shelters. The destruction began with an overnight downpour of rain that lasted for hours, causing rivers around Mocoa to overflow their banks while most residents were sleeping. The resulting flood surged through the city on Saturday, carrying tons of debris, leveling houses and sweeping away cars and even large trucks. \"The avalanche startled me when I was sleeping, and I went out to the street,\" said Carolina Garreta, 20, a firefighter. \"People were running and yelling the names of family members. Others were screaming at God. \" Ms. Garreta said that night she had found a boy clinging to a washing machine that had been carried away by the waters. \"He told me that his mother and father were still in the home,\" she said. \"But where he pointed to, there was nothing. \" Torrential rains have pummeled other parts of the region as well, including Peru, where at least 80 people have been killed in mudslides in recent weeks. Roads and bridges throughout Peru have been damaged, and some 120, 000 people have been left homeless. After Wilson Carrera heard the news of the disaster in Mocoa, he traveled 50 miles on treacherous roads from the Colombian town of Puerto Asis to search for his parents. He said he had found his father, who told him that his mother may not have survived. \"They had managed to get out of the house when they started to hear noise,\" he said in a telephone interview. \"But the water caught up to them in the street, and my mother let go of his hand. \" The city was cut off from many services on Sunday, leaving nearly all residents without electricity, clean water or gasoline many people huddled in shelters. Survivors used car batteries to recharge cellphones in hopes of contacting loved ones in other towns. \"There's not a single drop of drinkable water \u2014 we need water, that's what's urgent \u2014 and there's nothing to eat,\" Marisol Gonz\u00e1lez, the head of a nearby technological institute, told the newspaper El Tiempo. President Juan Manuel Santos visited Mocoa on Sunday for the second time since the disaster struck. He said more help was on the way, while acknowledging that there had been \"bottlenecks\" in the response. He promised that electric power would be restored soon, that water would be brought in and that destroyed parts of the city would be rebuilt. \"The idea is that Mocoa will be better than it was,\" he said. Colombia's Weather Service predicted light rains on Sunday, far less extreme than those that hit the region earlier in the weekend. Dr. Herman Granados, a surgeon at a hospital in Mocoa, said the medical staff there was overwhelmed and that blood supplies were running very low. Many people were still missing, he said: \"Under the mud, I am sure there are many more. \"","label":0}
{"text":"\"Take off your clothes, step into the pod and shut the top. And be really careful not to get any of the salt in your eyes. \" Those were the instructions I was given recently just before I entered a sensory isolation tank in Seattle. Finally, I would have my chance to see what it would be like to be a brain in a jar. Lying in a supersaturated solution of magnesium sulfate \u2014 better known as Epsom salts \u2014 cranked up to body temperature, I pulled the top down over me and pushed the button to extinguish the violet light illuminating the pod. Cut off from the world of sensory stimuli, my brain had free rein to invent any experience it had up its sleeve. So I floated in pitch blackness and waited for a profound experience to wash over me. This is what adherents paid $89 a pop to feel. I'd heard it was better than meditation, yoga and drugs \u2014 perhaps because it promised nirvana without any effort or side effects. But I felt nothing. After some time, I became acutely aware that I could not feel my body, which I suppose was the whole point of depriving the brain of any connection to the physical world. I started to slowly move my hands and legs to reassure myself they were still there. Check. I had a vivid image of my phantom body I knew intellectually that it was present, but couldn't detect it in the normal sense. Just then, I made the error of letting my head drop too low in the salt broth and got some into my eyes. The sting was immediate and distinctly unpleasant. The brief period of nothingness had ended, and over the next few minutes, my mental state moved from curiosity to boredom to annoyance. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. My stomach rumbled. My brain was bombarded with all kinds of physical sensations. I was beginning to feel sympathy for pickled fish. Instead of a transcendent excursion into an altered consciousness, sensory deprivation had hilariously underscored the primacy of my body it was almost a purely physical experience from start to finish. It was like being at a meditation retreat with a runny nose. My brain was simply incapable of escaping the signals my body was sending it. When the hour was up, I showered and came down to the receptionist to pay. There were three women there who were like me, and they all looked blissful. \"How was it?\" one of them dreamily asked me. Not wanting to be a downer, I replied that it was lovely and interesting. At least it was half true. The experience made me wonder about a question that has never let go of me: Are you more than your brain? Hardly a week goes by, it seems, without an enthusiastic report in the popular media about intriguing neuroscience research linking some human behavior to the function of a particular brain circuit. So you might hear that the insula lights up when you're sad, another region when you're happy and still another when you're enjoying a drink or an orgasm. For some reason we love to hear our mental experiences described in the language of neuroscience, yet what does it actually add to our understanding of ourselves to learn that our brain shows activity when we think and feel one thing or another? By itself, not a lot, except to encourage the erroneous and simplistic idea that the brain is an independent sovereign, calling all the shots. Of course, the brain gives rise to our mind, which then tries to understand and manipulate the very neural apparatus that brought it about. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. Some very smart neuroscientists and philosophers like to say that the very notion of mind is an illusion, a trick of the brain \u2014 something they have been carrying on about for rather a long time. Don't get me wrong. I'm a neuroscience junkie. But we are not just a brain in a jar we are also bodies, and what we do with those bodies can influence the brain. You can easily alter your thinking and mood by manipulating your body: by, for example, injecting your forehead with Botox, shining light into your eye, exercising \u2014 or floating in an isolation tank. In the end, whether or not we are more than our brain is less important and less interesting than the fact that our brain does not just give orders it takes them, too. An isolation tank can turn the body weightless and invisible, but your brain knows better.","label":0}
{"text":"North Carolina's replacement on Thursday of a law prohibiting transgender people from using restrooms in accordance with their gender identity could be the death knell for similar restrictions still being considered in about a dozen other states. Measures similar to North Carolina's House Bill 2, the so-called bathroom bill, were filed in 16 states this legislative session. Momentum had already slowed for most of the bills and some of them had failed. \"Republicans in the state that was in vanguard, North Carolina, are now signaling that this legislation was not, in the end, in the best interest for their state, either for its economy or its reputation,\" said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University in Houston. North Carolina lawmakers said they acted to replace the law in hopes of ending boycotts by businesses and sports leagues that considered the year-old measure discriminatory. The boycotts cost the Southern state's economy hundreds of millions of dollars. Supporters of the restrictions have said the measures offer common-sense solutions that will help keep sexual predators out of bathrooms and changing facilities. Opponents say the measures are unenforceable and promote discrimination against an already marginalized group of people. None of the states that proposed similar legislation this session has enacted a version into law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks statehouses. Proposals introduced in South Dakota, Virginia, Montana and Wyoming failed to pass, according to the organization and news reports. In Tennessee, a bathroom bill died in a Senate committee without a debate. The state's Republican lieutenant governor questioned the need after Republican President Donald Trump's administration in February revoked the former Obama administration's landmark guidance to public schools letting transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice. On Wednesday, Arkansas state Senator Linda Collins-Smith, a Republican, withdrew the bathroom bill she had proposed in that state. She instead recommended the issue for study in committee after facing pressure from the state's pro-business governor and business groups to drop it. After North Carolina, a similar measure proposed in Texas, the most populous Republican-controlled state, has drawn the closest attention. It has already cleared the Texas Senate and moved further than the similar legislation proposed this session in the other states, the National Conference of State Legislatures said. A key backer of Texas' bathroom measure that restricts bathroom access for transgender people and is known as Senate Bill 6, was undeterred by North Carolina's change of course. \"The actions in North Carolina do not affect what we have done in Texas,\" Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said in a statement. He previously said the law would have no economic impact on the state. But the Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives said last week the bill would face a tough time in that chamber because of worries over economic fallout. Alabama Republican state Senator Phil Williams said North Carolina's action would not affect similar restrictions he proposed for his state. Bathroom bills will remain on the legislative landscape this year in many states, analysts said. \"There are people for whom this is part of their constituency and their agenda and they campaigned on it,\" said Sherri Greenberg, a clinical professor at the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.","label":0}
{"text":"The situation on the Korean peninsula is at a very dangerous stage, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told counterparts from the BRICS group of nations, China s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The urgent task is to prevent North Korea s nuclear and missile programs progressing and to avoid a further escalation in tensions and to especially prevent resorting to arms, Wang said, speaking in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting.","label":0}
{"text":"For almost an entire year Donald Trump insulted, berated, bastardized and scrutinized everything that wasn t a white, Christian male. Republicans barely flinched.Then he makes a comment about a Mexican judge s heritage when it pertains to his fraud lawsuit. Republicans lose their minds (and rightfully so).It appears that Trump s comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel has hit a special nerve in one state legislator.The Des Moines Register has broken the news that David Johnson, who has served in the Iowa General Assembly for 18 years as a Republican, will be leaving the GOP over the party s bigot nominee, Donald J. Trump.Johnson told the Register: I will not stand silent if the party of Lincoln and the end of slavery buckles under the racial bias of a bigot. The now former Republican will be registering as a member of no party preference, and said he will never support Hillary Clinton for president. However, Johnson has also stated that he is not sure he will caucus with the Republicans in the Legislature, feeling that members of the GOP have become too timid to take on Trump and his supporters. Johnson did say that if a formidable Republican steps up to the plate and challenged Trump nationally, he may rejoin the party, but said: If Mr. Trump is the nominee, he becomes the standard bearer for a party that s on the verge of breaking apart. He simply cannot unify the GOP. If there is a profound split, I ll gladly rejoin Republicans who are dedicated to equality and justice for all, and let Trump lead his supporters over the cliff. And that s exactly what Mr. Trump will do. Johnson also knows how this will hurt him politically, but says he doesn t care, citing his record of often going against the Republican establishment in the state when it comes to education funding and Medicaid program.One thing is for sure we will see many more Republicans follow Johnson s lead in he coming months.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump has a plan to deal with former President Obama's executive amnesty for children of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally. [\"We'll be coming out with policy on that over the next period of four weeks,\" Trump explained when asked about the \"DREAMers\" in an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir. In 2012, Obama instituted DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) allowing these children to stay in the country legally. During the campaign, Trump vowed to repeal DACA and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) a promise that activists are watching closely. During the ABC interview, however, Trump urged the \"DREAMers\" not to worry. \"They are here illegally. They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart. We're going to take care of everybody,\" he said, promising to restore a strong border. \"Where you have great people that are here that have done a good job, they should be far less worried. \" Trump added that his administration would focus on criminal illegal immigrants first. \"Those people have to be worried 'cause they're getting out,\" he said. \"We're gonna get them out. We're gonna get 'em out fast. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Tensions continued in North Dakota on Monday afternoon as law enforcement officials arrested 16 people at a demonstration, one day after hundreds clashed with the police over the Dakota Access Pipeline. During a news conference on Monday, officials also defended their use of fire hoses against protesters the night before, despite the weather. \"Some of the water was used to repel some of the protest activities that were occurring, and it was used at a time where they were aggressive towards the officers,\" the Morton County sheriff, Kyle Kirchmeier, said at the news conference. In a statement late on Sunday, the Morton County Sheriff's Department characterized the demonstration as an \"ongoing riot,\" releasing photos that it said showed protesters \"setting fires and using aggressive tactics\" while trying to dismantle a police barricade on Backwater Bridge, which has for months been the site of a protest against the pipeline. The statement did not address what dispersal methods the department had used against what it estimated to be a crowd of 400 protesters. Rob Keller, a spokesman for the department, told The Bismarck Tribune that water was being used for crowd control, adding that water cannons had also been used to douse the fires. The paper reported that protesters had started a dozen fires and that officers from the sheriff's department had said that rocks and logs were being thrown at them. One officer was struck on the head, it said. The Associated Press reported that at least one person was arrested. Dallas Goldtooth, a spokesman for the Indigenous Environmental Network, said in a phone interview on Monday that the Oceti Sakowin medical team, which had been working in tandem with medics from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, had reported that nearly 200 people were injured and 12 people were hospitalized for head injuries. One protester went into cardiac arrest and was revived by the medic team, he said. The medical teams attributed many of the injuries to rubber bullets, pepper spray and shrapnel from concussion grenades, according to Mr. Goldtooth, and said that water sprayed from cannons caused early signs of hypothermia. The air temperature in the area was about 23 degrees at 10:15 p. m. according to the National Weather Service. \"I would love to emphasize here that this entire situation is ripe with irony,\" Mr. Goldtooth said, adding that on Friday, Sheriff Kirchmeier had urged the protesters to leave their camps because they might be unfamiliar with the harshness of North Dakota winters. Late last month, tensions boiled over at a protest camp near Backwater Bridge when law enforcement officials forced demonstrators out of the area. That confrontation led to the arrests of more than 140 protesters and resulted in the setting of multiple fires. Reports coming out of the conflict have been highly contested, with law enforcement officials and protesters leveling substantive accusations of violence at each other. Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, said in a phone interview Monday that the measures law enforcement officials took on Sunday represented a clear escalation of violence. \"The use of water in freezing temperatures just goes to show that they're being more aggressive and they're actually trying to hurt people,\" he said. \"This is far more threatening to human life than any other time of confrontation with law enforcement. \" A live video of Sunday's protests was posted by a demonstrator named Kevin Gilbertt, who identifies himself on Facebook as a poet and videographer. Early Monday morning, the and unclear video had been viewed over three million times. Senator Bernie Sanders shared Mr. Gilbertt's video on his Facebook page and called for President Obama to \"take all appropriate measures\" to protect the protesters. Senator Sanders also reposted a tweet that said that law enforcement officials were spraying Native Americans with water cannons in weather. The conflict over the $3. 7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline has lasted for months, as Energy Transfer Partners, a company, attempts to finish construction of the project In an interview with The Associated Press published on Friday, Kelcy Warren, the company's chief executive, said that the company had no alternative but to stick to the plan for construction. \"There's not another way. We're building at that location,\" Mr. Warren said. Native Americans, environmental activists and others have said that the pipeline, which would carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois, threatens the local water supply and would also harm sacred Native American grounds. In an interview with NPR last month, Mr. Archambault, the tribal chairman, said that while protesters were asked to \"remain prayerful and peaceful,\" it was \"hard to resist reacting\" given the dual pressures coming from Energy Transfer Partners and law enforcement. \"Our purpose is to protect the water,\" he said. \"And no matter what we do, nobody cares. They're going to force this down our throats again. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Didn t America have to suffer through a high profile perjury case for another Clinton not so many years ago? Oh yeah that was Bill Clinton who was actually IMPEACHED for LYING to a grand jury. Is there a more corrupt, self-serving power-driven couple in America? WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (UT-03) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (VA-06) sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia requesting an investigation into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed perjury and made false statements when testifying under oath before Congress.The letter states: The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony. In light of those contradictions, the Department should investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes. Background:During a July 5, 2016 hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey stated the truthfulness of Secretary Clinton s testimony before Congress was not within the scope of the FBI s investigation. According to Director Comey the Department of Justice requires a criminal referral from Congress to initiate an investigation into Secretary Clinton s congressional testimony.Additionally, Chairman Chaffetz sent a letter to Director Comey requesting the FBI s full investigative file from its review of former Secretary Clinton s use of an authorized private email server.Chairman Goodlatte sent a letter to Director Comey pressing for more information about the FBI s investigation and also led a letter signed by over 200 members of Congress demanding answers from FBI Director Comey regarding the many questions surrounding his announcement that he does not recommend federal prosecution against former Secretary Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information through private email servers.Full text of letter:The Honorable Channing D. Phillips U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia 555 Fourth Street NW Washington, D.C. 20530Dear Mr. Phillips:We write to request an investigation to determine whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed perjury and made false statements during her testimony under oath before congressional committees.While testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 7, 2016, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey stated the truthfulness of Secretary Clinton s testimony before Congress was not within the scope of the FBI s investigation. Nor had the FBI even considered any of Secretary Clinton s testimony. Director Comey further testified the Department of Justice requires a criminal referral from Congress to initiate an investigation of Secretary Clinton s congressional testimony. We are writing for that purpose.The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony. In light of those contradictions, the Department should investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes.Thank you for your attention to this important matter. oversight.house.govWatch Hillary caught in lies during testimony in video here:Watch the impeachment of Hillary s serial sexual abuser husband, Bill for lying before a grand jury about his affair with young intern Monica Lewinsky:","label":1}
{"text":"ST. LOUIS Former St. Louis police Officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty Friday of murdering a man while on duty.St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson s highly anticipated verdict found the white former St. Louis police officer not guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the December 2011 shooting death of a black drug suspect after a high-speed pursuit and crash.Activists, with support from some of the city s black clergy, had pledged disruptive protests ahead of Wilson s verdict.Wilson addressed such statements in his order: A judge shall not be swayed by partisan interests, public clamor or fear of criticism. Immediately after the verdict was issued, protesters gathered downtown near Tucker Boulevard and Market Street. They blocked a ramp to Interstate 64 off Clark Street, but were blocked by police from entering the highway. Protesters then headed to police headquarters.St. Louis Police reminded protesters that blocking traffic is illegal and is not protected by the First Amendment: Per Ord. 17.16.275, it is unlawful for a person to obstruct & impede the reasonable movement of vehicular or pedestrian traffic. #STLVerdict St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 15, 2017As the protests grew, Wells Fargo and Nestle Purina PetCare sent their nearly 7,000 employees home for the day.Police officers were seen preparing for potential riots:Bike cops are seen amassing in #DowntownSTL. #JasonStockley has been found NOT GUILTY https:\/\/t.co\/eLmJAKkagx pic.twitter.com\/Kvd7aThPZe KMOV (@KMOV) September 15, 2017Damone Smith, 52, an electrician headed to work, was among the motorists being rerouted from the protest area. I think the verdict is disgusting, said Smith, who is black. I m proud of these people protesting. If you look like me, then you feel like there is no other way to express yourself in the face of this kind of verdict. Time and time again, African American men are killed by police and nobody is held accountable. The judge explained his rationale for the verdict in a 30-page document filed about 8:30 a.m. Friday. No one promised a rose garden, and this surely is not one, he wrote of the case. This court, as the trier of fact, is simply not firmly convinced of defendant s guilt. Agonizingly, this court has pored over the evidence again and again This court, in conscience, cannot say that the state has proven every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt or that the defendant did not act in self-defense. Because the state did not prove Stockley did not act in self-defense, Wilson wrote that he could not address lesser charges of homicide or manslaughter. St. Louis Police Department called for peace:We know emotions are running high, however we ask that those who choose to protest, do so peacefully. #STLVerdict St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 15, 2017The fiance of the victim Anthony Lamar Smith, Christina Wilson, bravely stood in front of a microphone just prior to the court s announcement and asked for protesters to not resort to violence. Inspired by your courage, Christina. Honored to stand with you and call for peace in #STL. https:\/\/t.co\/ucUlKuWorO pic.twitter.com\/4HjKvPtIwJ Eric Greitens (@EricGreitens) September 15, 2017Meanwhile, on social media, people who have become famous for doing absolutely nothing but race-baiting, like Tariq Nasheed, are stirring the pot, and totally disrespecting the wishes of Smith s fiance. The unconstitutional #JasonStockley verdict is further proof that LE & the court systems have been fully infiltrated by white supremacists Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) September 15, 2017The Mayor of St. Louis used her opportunity to call for peaceful protests in her city to instead, stir the pot by suggesting that justice was not served, potentially leading angry protesters to believe it is now their responsibility to deliver justice:Mayor Lyda Krewson released a statement following the verdict saying, I am appalled at what happened to Anthony Lamar Smith. I am sobered by this outcome. Frustration, anger, hurt, pain, hope and love all intermingled. I encourage St. Louisans to show each other compassion, to recognize that we all have different experiences and backgrounds and that we all come to this with real feelings and experiences, she wrote.Krewson s comment drew a rebuke from Neil Bruntrager, Stockley s lawyer. How do you promote all those things by creating distrust in a system that clearly worked under these circumstances? Bruntrager said. It is irresponsible and a disservice to the community to make statements like that. It s an insult to Judge Wilson to make statements like that. And it falsely encourages the belief that an injustice was done here when in fact justice was done. St. Louis Dispatch","label":1}
{"text":"On this Thanksgiving, I would like to address an open letter to the multimillionaire National Football League players who continue to take a knee when The Star-Spangled Banner is played.Dear kneeling brothers,As a proud Army veteran, mom and black American, I thank God that I live in the greatest nation on Earth. For me, Thanksgiving doesn t just come once a year. I m thankful 365 days a year.You make far, far more money than almost all Americans regardless of race. Kids look up to you as heroes. You appear on TV and in the media.Yet, you keep on protesting refusing to rise and respect our national anthem and respect the men and women like me who serve or have served in our military.I was willing to die for my country when I put on the Army uniform. And you re not even willing to stand up for a short song? This is too much of a sacrifice for you?One of the many lessons I ve learned along the way is that there is no place on the planet like America. She is not perfect, because we are not perfect. Yet, she is a consummate beacon of light, set upon a hill, for nations who look to her for hope, dignity and direction.You big guys should appreciate that and pause for a few moments to express your patriotism and love for our great nation when our national anthem is played and our flag flies before thousands of people who have paid good money to see you run around a field chasing a little ball.Let me tell you about me. I m not as big and strong as you, but I stepped forward to join the Army to fight for your right to play games in peace.Weeks before I graduated from the Army s basic training program, I had an epiphany: I could be deployed to war. Would I go? Would I put my life on the line for someone else?It didn t take me long to come to a resounding Yes! If called, I would go.But I gave myself an assignment. If I was going to potentially give life or limb to defend this great country, I would need to know what, exactly, I was defending. I am still learning.One of the lessons I ve learned about America is more of a personal lesson. I am not a victim. My two beautiful black babies are not victims. Black Americans are not victims.We are victors not so much because of anything we have done, but because of those who came before us. Slaves in chains, treated like farm animals, to be owned by others. And after Emancipation, those who endured the humiliation of drinking out of the dirty water fountain or taking their child into the colored restroom.Those who were spat upon or cursed out solely because they were deemed the wrong color. Those who had to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar to be eligible to vote, notwithstanding their college education.Those who were hosed down, billy-clubbed across the head or attacked by trained dogs just because they walked across a bridge.Those who were aroused from their sleep to see hate-filled men covered in white sheets, a cross burning in their front yard and their neighbor calling out for their son.Those who, oftentimes, paid the ultimate sacrifice not for their own benefit, but for the joy that was set before them.We, today, are the joy that was set before them. And, how do you repay them for their sacrifice to be treated as equal under the law? You have chosen to take a knee.If you followed the rhetoric we hear today, America is not far removed from those Jim Crow days of legalized discrimination against black people.If you closed your eyes and just listened to the blistering speeches coming from Antifa, the Black Lives Matter folks and many politicians, you would think we re not even 40 years removed from slavery itself.The narrative behind Hands Up, Don t Shoot perpetuates the storyline that around every street corner there s a police officer waiting to shoot a black man. It is these narratives that have given life to you NFL players kneeling during our national anthem.If there was truth behind these narratives, then I would readily support you black millionaire athletes using your national platform to shine a bright light on the systemic racism against the black community.But we re not living in 1850 or 1950. Racism is certainly not dead, but it s not the powerful monster backed by all the resources of government either. And you guys are not exactly downtrodden, going hungry, being shoved to the back of the bus, or used for target practice by Ku Klux Klansmen dressed up like cops.Allow me to make a few suggestions to you as an alternative to continuing to disrespect our country and flag. If you want to make a real difference that extends beyond getting your picture on a magazine cover, please consider doing the following.First, invest in black urban schools, to help them pay for the educational programs and enhanced learning opportunities that wealthy suburban schools have to help their students succeed.Second, commit to providing mentoring and college scholarships for 20, 10 or even just one child in the inner city, from elementary school through high school and into college. You will change their futures.Third, take $1 million or $2 million not all of your vast wealth and invest it into creating jobs, businesses and entrepreneurial internships to help black people achieve the American Dream. Find ways to personally take your millions directly into a distressed community and invest.Fourth, take a family out of the inner city by giving them a mortgage-free home. Consider the ripple effect of good this stand would have on the lives of an entire family for generations to come.Fifth, educate yourselves and then others on what the Democratic Party has done to the black community. I have yet to find an inner city run by conservatives. Yet I see one Democratic politician after another representing some of the most distressed communities. These politicians themselves usually do not live in those distressed communities and often live in expensive homes while their kids attend private schools.Teach yourselves and others to hold elected officials accountable. Be determined to no longer fall prey to their sleight-of-hand manipulations that only serve to distract you from their lack of effort to make real changes in the black community.Doing just one of these things would make an indelible imprint on any community, especially the black community.So instead of taking a knee, take a stand to stomp out poverty by investing in businesses, by creating an environment that promotes family stability, and by fanning the flames of hope, dignity and direction into the lives of some of our most depressed citizens.By the grace of God, I was never called into war during my Army service. I know many others who were. Some did not return whole. So, while I can t play pro football, I have two legs, two arms and a brain that tells me to appreciate and love the United States of America.For all this I am thankful, and I think you should be too.Happy Thanksgiving,Kathy Barnette","label":1}
{"text":"A spectacular explosion of a SpaceX rocket on Thursday destroyed a $200 million communications satellite that would have extended Facebook's reach across Africa, dealing a serious setback to Elon Musk, the billionaire who runs the rocket company. The blast is likely to disrupt NASA's cargo deliveries to the International Space Station, exposing the risks of the agency's growing reliance on private companies like SpaceX to carry materials and, soon, astronauts. The explosion, at Cape Canaveral, Fla. intensified questions about whether Mr. Musk is moving too quickly in his headlong investment in some of the biggest and most complex industries, not just space travel but carmakers and electric utilities. This is not the first problem Mr. Musk has suffered as he tries to create space travel that is cheap and commonplace. Each of his companies, including Tesla and SolarCity, has hit major stumbling blocks recently. The owner of a Tesla car died in May in a crash using the company's autopilot software, and SolarCity faces major financial challenges. \"SpaceX is running a punishing schedule,\" said Scott Pace, the director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and a former NASA official. \"There is probably some human factor involved here. To what extent was human error part of this? And if so, why? Are you running your people too hard? What are your safety requirements?\" Dr. Pace said an internal investigation would have to look at the company's operations as it tried to ramp up the pace of launches. The company's president, Gwynne Shotwell, said in a statement, \"Our No. 1 priority is to safely and reliably return to flight for our customers, and we will carefully investigate and address this issue.\" The Falcon 9 rocket burst into flames in a violent series of blasts starting at 9:07 a. m. spewing plumes of dark smoke around the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and sending vibrations felt by residents nearby. The rocket had been set to launch on Saturday, carrying a satellite for Spacecom, an Israeli company. The explosion was particularly painful news for Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, who is touring Kenya, promoting a program reliant on the satellite, known as with entrepreneurs in the country. He had promised them connectivity. Just hours after the news of the explosion broke, Mr. Zuckerberg expressed disappointment on his Facebook page \"that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite,\" a swipe at Mr. Musk and his team, who were still trying to figure out what went wrong. Mr. Musk did not respond publicly to Mr. Zuckerberg. But he posted a brief explanation on Twitter: \"Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon. \" The Falcon 9, developed by SpaceX with NASA financing, has had previous problems. In June 2015, a rocket carrying NASA cargo to the International Space Station fell apart when a strut holding a helium bottle snapped, setting off a chain of events that destroyed the rocket moments later. This latest episode is likely to push back the timetable NASA had after hiring SpaceX and Boeing to carry astronauts to the space station by the end of next year. NASA said it was too soon to say how the explosion would affect its space station operations, asserting that it remained \"confident\" in its commercial partners. \"Today's incident \u2014 while it was not a NASA launch \u2014 is a reminder that spaceflight is an incredible challenge, but our partners learn from each success and setback,\" the agency said. SpaceX's next cargo mission to the space station is scheduled for November. Coincidentally on Thursday, a report released by NASA's inspector general, Paul K. Martin, said SpaceX and Boeing were likely to face additional delays in their launch schedules anyway. Launches with crews will probably not lift off before the second half of 2018, three years later than planned, the inspector general said. Changes that SpaceX is making to the design of the capsule, to allow landing in water instead of on land, are causing the latest delays, Mr. Martin said. In addition, NASA has been slow in examining safety reviews submitted by the companies, and as a result, late and costly redesigns might be needed, Mr. Martin said. SpaceX lists about 40 launches of satellites and other cargo on its manifest for commercial companies, NASA and the Air Force. Space industry experts say that Mr. Musk faces risks in balancing SpaceX's backlog of contracts \u2014 spanning the next few years \u2014 without cutting corners to stay on the company's busy schedule. \"Whenever you have a failure along these lines, you of course face delays, which inevitably sets back some of your commercial and government satellite contracts,\" said Marco C\u00e1ceres, senior space analyst and director of space studies at The Teal Group, an aerospace research firm. \"They have to fight the temptation to keep to a schedule, even if that means setting back their launches into next year. \" SpaceX had hoped for 18 rocket launches this year so far, eight have occurred. Over all, SpaceX has had 27 successful launches of Falcon 9 rockets. An episode like Thursday's is rare. Jonathan McDowell of the Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. who tracks rocket history, said the last time such an explosion happened on a Cape Canaveral launchpad, before the ignition of engines for liftoff, was in 1959. SpaceX is rebuilding a separate launchpad, one of the two formerly used for NASA's space shuttle missions, for the astronaut launches. That launchpad is scheduled to be ready by the end of the year. Business analysts were mixed on the effects of the explosion on Mr. Musk's other investments at a time when he is under considerable financial pressure with the planned merger of Tesla and SolarCity. Mr. Musk draws vocal admirers and detractors, some of whom are \"short\" investors betting that Tesla cannot execute on its business plan. Trip Chowdry, a senior analyst at Global Equities Research who studies Tesla's performance, described Mr. Musk's situation as a \" sword. \" \"When things work out well, people believe Musk to be a superstar,\" Mr. Chowdry said. But when things go wrong like an explosion at a separate company, Tesla investors tend to make more general inferences, too. \"When all is said and done, does it have any impact on Tesla stock? No,\" he said. \"But events at SpaceX do create headline risk for Tesla stockholders. \" The demise of the satellite, called puts a significant damper on Facebook's Internet. org initiative, a grand plan spearheaded by Mr. Zuckerberg to provide wireless connectivity to nations across the world that do not otherwise have easy internet access. In a partnership with Eutelsat, a French satellite provider, Facebook planned to use to offer internet coverage to large parts of Africa. Along with satellite coverage, Facebook is teaming with local internet providers to offer access, and is also building its own drones \u2014 the first of which is named Aquila \u2014 to beam internet connectivity down to cities. Its Internet. org initiative had already sustained a setback when the company's aggressive overtures were rejected by local regulators in India earlier this year. On Thursday, Mr. Zuckerberg struck an upbeat tone in his post about the rocket failure, noting that the company has other strategies in the works to expand internet connectivity across the world. Aquila, the drone, he noted, recently undertook its first successful flight in the desert. Still, the setback will delay Facebook's ambitious plans and even more ambitious timetable. Shortly after his SpaceX comments, Mr. Zuckerberg struck a cheerier note by posting some \"good news\" from the region: A family of baby giraffes was seen on his safari.","label":0}
{"text":"Pakistan s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended an anti-corruption trial on Friday ordered by the country s Supreme Court when it removed him from office earlier this year. Sharif, 67, arrived at the court with his daughter, Maryam, who is also on trial over the family s wealth and financial dealings. The family has called the case a political conspiracy but opposition leaders who pushed it before the courts have hailed it as accountability for the rich and powerful. The charges in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court are linked to London properties the family owns that were revealed in the 2016 Panama Papers leaks involving offshore companies owned by prominent international figures. Allies of Sharif, who has served as prime minister twice and was toppled in a military coup in 1999, have called the proceedings a political vendetta and hinted at intervention by elements of the powerful army. The Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office in July over unreported sources of annual income of about $10,000, a salary the former premier denies ever receiving. The high court also ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial into the Sharif family s wider finances, including the London properties. Sharif maintains control of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, which elected close ally Shahid Khaqi Abbasi as prime minister after Sharif was disqualified.","label":0}
{"text":"CHARLESTON, S. C. \u2014 They sat on the same courtroom bench, but worlds apart \u2014 the parents of Walter L. Scott, a black man shot to death in 2015, and Michael T. Slager, the white police officer who killed him as he fled after a traffic stop. And the arguments they heard from lawyers were just as disparate as they pleaded with jurors to settle a bitterly divisive case in their favor: for the government, a rare conviction of a police officer, and for the defense, an acquittal of an officer seen on tape shooting a fleeing man. \"Our whole criminal justice system rides on the back of law enforcement,\" Scarlett A. Wilson, the chief prosecutor for Charleston County, told the jury of 11 white people and a black man. \"They have to be held accountable when they mess up. It is very, very rare, but it does happen. \" But Mr. Slager's lawyer, Andrew J. Savage III, pressed jurors to resist \"a false narrative\" \u2014 that the officer malevolently opened fire toward Mr. Scott's back on April 4, 2015, when he fled a traffic stop for a broken taillight \u2014 and to find that Mr. Slager had acted in . \"This shooting didn't happen in a vacuum,\" Mr. Savage said. \"Mr. Scott did not get shot because he had a broken taillight. Mr. Scott was shot because of what he did on April 4. \" Jurors, who began their deliberations on Wednesday evening, must reach a unanimous decision, and they have three options if they are to avoid a mistrial: a conviction for murder, a conviction for voluntary manslaughter or an acquittal. The difference between murder and manslaughter \u2014 charges with vastly different potential penalties in this state \u2014 revolves around whether someone had \"malice\" toward the person who was killed. Under South Carolina law, a conviction for murder carries a prison term of 30 years to life the penalty for manslaughter is between two and 30 years in prison. Mr. Slager has also been charged in Federal District Court with violating Mr. Scott's civil rights. Like the federal case, the state's case, tried over four grueling weeks in a courtroom here, turns on a matter of minutes on the Saturday before Easter last year, when Mr. Slager stopped Mr. Scott for an equipment violation. It was a stop, virtually everyone agrees, that began normally. But Mr. Scott soon decided to flee on foot \u2014 his family and prosecutors believe he did so because of outstanding child support obligations \u2014 and Mr. Slager chased him. The men became involved in a fight, and, according to Mr. Slager, who testified on Tuesday, Mr. Scott took control of the officer's Taser, leaving him in \"total fear. \" Near the end of their physical struggle, a switched on his cellphone's camera and began to record a video of the moments that soon rocketed into the national consciousness: when Mr. Slager fired eight shots and Mr. Scott, wounded, collapsed to the ground. Mr. Scott was at least 17 feet from Mr. Slager, and running away, when the officer began to shoot. Mr. Savage, during a presentation when he argued that Mr. Slager had been maligned by the news media, failed by his department and victimized by a shoddy investigation, said Mr. Scott had left Mr. Slager with little choice after he \"made decisions to attack a police officer. \" \"Should he have assumed that an unarmed man would have attacked a police officer?\" Mr. Savage said of Mr. Slager, who he complained had been made a \"poster boy\" of alleged police misconduct because of controversial killings in other parts of the country. Ms. Wilson unambiguously and furiously denied that other cases had affected the prosecution here, and she told jurors that there could not \"let your decision be based on things going on elsewhere. \" Rather, she contended, investigators had at first sided with Mr. Slager. \"They bought everything he said hook, line and sinker,\" she said. \"They believed him until they didn't, until they knew better. \" Winding down a criminal case that has drawn enormous attention here, Ms. Wilson accused Mr. Savage of relying on a defense strategy she said was intended to confuse jurors and shift blame for Mr. Scott's death. The defense's approach, she argued, could be summarized simply: \"Look at everything else \u2014 everybody else \u2014 but don't look at that video. \" She said that Mr. Slager, who is now 35, had embellished the nature of his confrontation with Mr. Scott, who was 50. She characterized one of Mr. Slager's wounds, cited by his lawyers as evidence of a struggle, as \"a glorified paper cut,\" and she hailed the role that video had played in the case. \"Thank goodness we have a camera,\" she said, \"because it's not just memory that matters. \" Eventually, as Ms. Wilson neared the end of her argument, she played the video of the shooting again. As the eight shots echoed the courtroom one last time, Mr. Scott's parents, still in their seats, embraced, looking away from the killing.","label":0}
{"text":"Pew Research Center, which conducts not just domestic but also international polls, released their newest findings with regards to President Obama and how the world sees him (more specifically, their confidence in him that he will do the right thing).Not surprisingly, it turns out that most of the world loves our president and has the utmost confidence in him. Take that, Republicans who call him weak in the eyes of the world.After gathering information from 40 states across six continents, a median of 65 percent say they have confidence in Obama to do the right thing and 27 percent do not.These are the top 10 countries that have the highest rating for President Obama:The president s approval rating has also skyrocketed in India, from a dismal 48 percent in 2014 to 74 percent now. The lowest approval rating Obama has in Africa is 65 percent, but it is important to remember African citizens loved President Bush as well.When President Bush left the White House in January 2009, western European confidence in America s president reached an all-time low, with some countries giving W. less than 10 percent approval. Today, western Europe remains inspired by our nation s president (unless you count Russia, where only 11 percent approve of him).Although the president has seen a slightly lower approval rating recently than when he entered the presidency in 2009, it should be noted that besides his sharp decline with Russia, he also has drastically declined in Israel. Just last year, his approval rating was a soaring 71 percent (Republicans ignored this while accusing him of hating Israel), and this year his approval rating has fallen to 49 percent.So Israel isn t too thrilled with him and Russia absolutely despises him. Other than that, the world loves him. In the U.S., the poll found that 58 percent of Americans feel he can do the right thing and have confidence in his ability to do so. Not too shabby considering (yet again), Republicans say the people hate him. The only other countries that seem to have no confidence in him are Jordan, Pakistan, Venezuela, the Palestinian Territory, and Argentina.If the world loves President Obama, I can only imagine how much they ll love Bernie or Hillary.America, let s not wreck our standing internationally for God s sake, we don t need President Trump coming in and making the world hate us (again). Featured image by Ashley Landis-Pool\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Colombian police have arrested the local director of operations for Portuguese retailer Jeronimo Martins on charges of corruption, the company said on Thursday, adding it had reported the executive to the authorities itself. Jeronimo Martins, which is the largest food retailer in Poland and the second largest in Portugal, has been expanding in Colombia for the past four years. Jeronimo Martins Colombia has recently reported to the Colombian authorities the existence of a potential case of private corruption, for personal benefit and harmful to the company, which had been detected by our internal systems, a company spokeswoman said. The director of operations of ARA has been detained following joint actions with the Colombian authorities, she said, declining to provide further details. Jeronimo Martins entered the Colombian market in 2013 and has opened more than 200 stores since under the ARA brand.","label":0}
{"text":"President Trump loves to set the day's narrative at dawn, but the deeper story of his White House is best told at night. Aides confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the cabinet room. Visitors conclude their meetings and then wander around, testing doorknobs until finding one that leads to an exit. In a darkened, mostly empty West Wing, Mr. Trump's provocative chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, finishes another day planning new lines of attack. Usually around 6:30 p. m. or sometimes later, Mr. Trump retires upstairs to the residence to recharge, vent and intermittently use Twitter. With his wife, Melania, and young son, Barron, staying in New York, he is almost always by himself, sometimes in the protective presence of his imposing longtime aide and former security chief, Keith Schiller. When Mr. Trump is not watching television in his bathrobe or on his phone reaching out to old campaign hands and advisers, he will sometimes set off to explore the unfamiliar surroundings of his new home. During his first two dizzying weeks in office, Mr. Trump, an outsider president working with a surprisingly small crew of no more than a empowered aides with virtually no familiarity with the workings of the White House or federal government, sent shock waves at home and overseas with a succession of executive orders designed to fulfill campaign promises and taunt foreign leaders. \"We are moving big and we are moving fast,\" Mr. Bannon said, when asked about the upheaval of the first two weeks. \"We didn't come here to do small things. \" But one thing has become apparent to both his allies and his opponents: When it comes to governing, speed does not always guarantee success. The bungled rollout of his executive order barring immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a flurry of other miscues and embarrassments, and an approval rating lower than that of any comparable president in the history of polling have Mr. Trump and his top staff rethinking an improvisational approach to governing that mirrors his chaotic presidential campaign, administration officials and Trump insiders said. This account of the early days of the Trump White House is based on interviews with dozens of government officials, congressional aides, former staff members and other observers of the new administration, many of whom requested anonymity. At the center of the story, according to these sources, is a president determined to go big but increasingly frustrated by the efforts of his small team to contain the backlash. \"What are we going to do about this?\" Mr. Trump pointedly asked an aide last week, a period of turmoil briefly interrupted by the successful rollout of his Supreme Court selection, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch. Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media and an old friend of the president's, said: \"I think, in his mind, the success of this is going to be the poll numbers. If they continue to be weak or go lower, then somebody's going to have to bear some responsibility for that. \" \"I personally think that they're missing the big picture here,\" Mr. Ruddy said of Mr. Trump's staff. \"Now he's so caught up, the administration is so caught up in turmoil, perceived chaos, that the Democrats smell blood, the protesters, the media smell blood. \" One former staff member likened the aggressive approach of the first two weeks to but said the president's team had stormed the beaches without any plan for a longer war. Clashes among staff are common in the opening days of every administration, but they have seldom been so public and so pronounced this early. \"This is a president who came to Washington vowing to shake up the establishment, and this is what it looks like. It's going to be a little sloppy, there are going to be conflicts,\" said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's first press secretary. All this is happening as Mr. Trump, a man of flexible ideology but fixed habits, adjusts to a new job, life and city. Cloistered in the White House, he now has little access to his fans and supporters \u2014 an important source of feedback and validation \u2014 and feels increasingly pinched by the pressures of the job and the constant presence of protests, one of the reasons he was forced to scrap a planned trip to Milwaukee last week. For a sense of what is happening outside, he watches cable, both at night and during the day \u2014 too much in the eyes of some aides \u2014 often offering a bitter of critics like CNN's Don Lemon. Until the past few days, Mr. Trump was telling his friends and advisers that he believed the opening stages of his presidency were going well. \"Did you hear that, this guy thinks it's been terrible!\" Mr. Trump said mockingly to other aides when one dissenting view was voiced last week during a West Wing meeting. But his opinion has begun to change with a relentless parade of bad headlines. Mr. Trump got away from the White House this weekend for the first time since his inauguration, spending it in Palm Beach, Fla. at his private club, posting Twitter messages angrily \u2014 and in personal terms \u2014 about the federal judge who put a nationwide halt on the travel ban. Mr. Bannon and Reince Priebus, the two clashing power centers, traveled with him. By then, the president, for whom chains of command and policy minutiae rarely meant much, was demanding that Mr. Priebus begin to put in effect a much more conventional White House protocol that had been taken for granted in previous administrations: From now on, Mr. Trump would be looped in on the drafting of executive orders much earlier in the process. Another change will be a new set of checks on the previously unfettered power enjoyed by Mr. Bannon and the White House policy director, Stephen Miller, who oversees the implementation of the orders and who received the brunt of the internal and public criticism for the rollout of the travel ban. Mr. Priebus has told Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon that the administration needs to rethink its policy and communications operation in the wake of embarrassing revelations that key details of the orders were withheld from agencies, White House staff and Republican congressional leaders like Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Mr. Priebus has also created a checklist for the release of any new initiatives that includes signoff from the communications department and the White House staff secretary, Robert Porter, according to several aides familiar with the process. Mr. Priebus bristles at the perception that he occupies a diminished perch in the West Wing pecking order compared with previous chiefs. But for the moment, Mr. Bannon remains the president's dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump's anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban. It is partly because he is seen as having a clear vision on policy. But it is also because others who had been expected to fill major roles have been less confident in asserting their power. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump's occupies a central role in the administration and has been present at most major decisions and photo ops, but he is a father of young children who has taken to life in Washington, and, along with his wife, Ivanka Trump, has already been spotted at events around town. Mr. Bannon has rushed into the vacuum, telling allies that he and Mr. Miller have a brief window in which to push through their vision of Mr. Trump's economic nationalism. Mr. Bannon, whose website, Breitbart, was a magnet for white nationalists and xenophobic speech, has also tried to reassure official Washington. He has been careful to build bridges with the Republican establishment, especially Mr. Ryan \u2014 whom he once described as \"the enemy\" and vowed to force out. He now talks regularly with Mr. Ryan to coordinate strategy or plot their planned overhaul of the tax code. Before he was ousted in November as transition chief, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, the Trump adviser with the most government experience, helped prepare a detailed staffing and implementation plan in line with the kickoff strategies of previous Republican presidents. It was discarded \u2014 a senior Trump aide made a show of tossing it into a garbage can \u2014 for a strategy that prioritized the daily release of dramatic executive orders to put opponents on the defensive. Mr. Christie, who agrees in principle with the broad strokes of Mr. Trump's immigration policy, says the president has been let down by his staff. \"The president deserves better than the rollout he got on the immigration executive order,\" Mr. Christie said. \"The fact is that he's put forward a policy that, in my opinion, is significantly more effective than what he had proposed during the campaign, yet because of the botched implementation, they allowed his opponents to attack him by calling it a Muslim ban. \" In the past few days, Mr. Trump's team has stressed its cohesion and the challenges of an administration that few outside its group ever thought would exist. \"This team spent months in the foxhole together during the campaign,\" said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. \"We moved into the White House as a unified team committed to enacting the president's agenda. \" As part of Mr. Trump's Oval Office renovation, he ordered that four hardback chairs be placed in a semicircle around his Resolute Desk now heaped, in Trump Tower fashion, with memos and newspapers. They are an emblem of Mr. Trump's management style, but also a reminder that in the White House, the seats always outlast the people seated in them. But finding enough skilled players to fill key slots has not been easy: Mr. Spicer is serving double duty as communications director, a key planning position, in addition to engaging in combat with the news media. Mr. Trump, several aides said, is used to quarterbacking his own media strategy, and did not see the value of hiring an outsider. An early plan was to give the communications job to Kellyanne Conway, his former campaign manager and top TV surrogate, but the demands of the job would have conflicted with Ms. Conway's other duties as a adviser to Mr. Trump with Oval Office privileges, according to one aide. Mr. Trump remains intensely focused on his brand, but the demands of the job mean he spends less time monitoring the news media \u2014 although he recently upgraded the TV in his private dining room so he can watch the news while eating lunch. He often has to wait until the end of the workday before grinding through news clips with Mr. Spicer, marking the ones he does not like with a big arrow in black Sharpie \u2014 though he almost always makes time to monitor Mr. Spicer's performance at the daily briefings, summoning him to offer praise or criticism, a West Wing aide said. Visitors to the Oval Office say Mr. Trump is obsessed with the d\u00e9cor \u2014 it is both a totem of a victory that validates him as a serious person and an backdrop \u2014 so he has told his staff to schedule as many televised events in the room as possible. To pass the time between meetings, Mr. Trump gives quick tours to visitors, highlighting little tweaks he has made after initially expecting he would have to pay for them himself. Flanking his desk are portraits of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. He will linger on the opulence of the newly hung golden drapes, which he told a recent visitor were once used by Franklin D. Roosevelt but in fact were patterned for Bill Clinton. For a man who sometimes has trouble concentrating on policy memos, Mr. Trump was delighted to page through a book that offered him 17 window covering options. Ultimately, this is very much the White House that Mr. Trump wanted to build. But while the world reckons with the effect he is having on the presidency, he is adjusting to the effect of the presidency on him. He is now a public employee. And the only boss Mr. Trump ever had in his life was his father, a developer the president still treats with deep reverence. With most of his belongings in New York, the only family picture on the shelf behind Mr. Trump's desk is a small photograph of that boss, Frederick Christ Trump.","label":0}
{"text":"After a brief and almost meaningless visit to Texas, during which Donald Trump didn t meet with a single victim of Hurricane Harvey, the president s cavalcade moved on to Missouri, where he returned to what he really cares about: More money for wealthy people.He s first, of course. His tweets from Wednesday morning prove unequivocally that the only victim he cares about is himself. He sent out a placating message about horror and devastation (which he didn t ask even one Harvey refugee about) just 25 minutes after a tweet about North Korea, and only 15 minutes before he went back into Martyr Mode :After reading the false reporting and even ferocious anger in some dying magazines, it makes me wonder, WHY? All I want to do is #MAGA! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017With that much obsession on his own well-being, why wouldn t the next logical step be another campaign-style stop to try and convince people to support his awful tax plan? Did I say campaign-style? What I mean is, this was not a White House event. This was straight-up partisan. If Donald Trump operated under the rule of law, the RNC would have to reimburse taxpayers for his Missouri speech, in which he explicitly called for the ouster of a Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill. Speaking to a crowd in Springfield, Trump said,We must lower our taxes and your senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you, and if she doesn t, you have to vote her out of office.That s campaigning, not laying out policy. But he doesn t have much policy yet to reveal: The GOP has yet to agree on much of what will go into their tax reform package. Trump himself would like to see the business tax rate lowered to 15%, a number so low that it would cripple the government without slashing spending on the poor. But even most Republicans oppose so low a rate, and his plans for tax relief for the middle class and repatriating offshore profits are, so far, still out in the ether somewhere.The bottom line is, now that he s got that awful trip to Texas out of the way, Trump is on the warpath, and his only focus is now on winning. He even warned the members of his party not to disappoint him on taxes, the way they did on Trumpcare:I am fully committed to working with Congress to get this job done, and I don t want to be disappointed by Congress. Do you understand me?Oh, we understand, Donnie. You were embarrassed by Mitch McConnell and humiliated by John McCain, so now you want a McVictory to soothe your fiery case of butthurt. Americans see through your tax reforms, though. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It s the Republican Way!","label":1}
{"text":"If there's one message the Republican presidential candidates not named Donald Trump aimed to get across at the final debate before Iowa's caucuses, it was this: 50 states still have to vote, and a lot could change when they do. \"We're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work?\" Jeb Bush said in Des Moines. The GOP contenders are barnstorming the Hawkeye State Friday on the heels of the Fox News\/Google debate, where Trump's absence put a spotlight on candidates like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio \u2013 but also gave the race's underdogs a chance to engage on the issues, and even capture airtime that eluded them when the front-runner was onstage. Bush and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, in particular, were getting high marks Friday from analysts. The former Florida governor was seen as having one of his best debate performances of the campaign -- including pointed criticism of his former prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Rubio -- perhaps benefiting from not having to worry about Trump belittling his every comment. And Paul, after missing the cut in the last debate, returned to the main stage with a firm critique of his rivals' alleged inconsistencies on immigration, surveillance and more. In Iowa, those candidates may simply be too far behind in the polls for a strong debate showing to make much difference. But the night helped show that few candidates are conceding anything to front-runner Trump, or the other two top-polling candidates, Cruz and Rubio. Asked Friday if he changed any minds at the debate, Bush said, \"I hope so.\" New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, too, played the role Thursday of disenchanted Washington outsider, scolding the Florida and Texas senators after an immigration spat and quipping that he needed a Washington \"dictionary\" to decipher what they were saying. \"This is why you need to send someone outside of Washington to Washington,\" Christie said. \"Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done.\" With Trump out of the picture \u2013 boycotting the debate over complaints about Fox News, instead hosting a veterans event nearby \u2013 Cruz absorbed much of the criticism from the other GOP candidates. He and Rubio tangled the most, as Rubio tries to make up ground against Cruz in both Iowa and New Hampshire. In their most heated exchange, Rubio accused Cruz of falsely describing himself as the most conservative candidate, and changing his position on immigration. \"This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on,\" the Florida senator said. \"Throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say and do anything in order to get votes.\" He said Cruz used to talk about bringing immigrants out of the shadows, and, \"now, you want to trump Trump on immigration.\" The Texas senator flipped the allegation, saying it is Rubio who vowed to fight against \"amnesty\" and then reversed course for political expediency. \"I like Marco, he's very charming, he's very smooth,\" Cruz said, before accusing him of siding with donors in the immigration debate. Bush later sparred as well with Rubio on immigration. Bush said Rubio sponsored the \"gang of eight\" bill that allowed for legalization, but \"then he cut and run\" because it wasn't popular with conservatives. The debate marked a particular opportunity for Paul \u2013 who did not qualify for the recent Fox Business Network debate but returned to the prime-time stage Thursday after making the cut this time. \"It's great to be back,\" Paul said Thursday. Paul, despite struggling with low poll numbers, seemed to have plenty of supporters in the audience, as his responses drew applause from the crowd several times. He also took shots at both Cruz and Rubio on their records. Echoing Cruz' criticism, he said Rubio made a deal with Democrats on immigration and suggested he was weak on border security. At the same time, Paul suggested Cruz was being disingenuous by claiming he was never for \"amnesty.\" He said Cruz has an \"authenticity problem.\" The debate Thursday, with 12.5 million viewers, was the second-highest rated telecast in Fox News' history. Also on stage Thursday night were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Carson's standout moment seemed to come at the end of the debate, when he used his closing statement to recite the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. \"Please think of our founding fathers as you listen,\" Carson asked. After reading aloud the Preamble -- including its call for a \"more perfect union\" \u2013 he said, \"Folks, it's not too late. Enough said.\" The polls in the Hawkeye State show essentially a two-man race for first between Trump and Cruz in the final stretch. Rubio has been holding steady in third position, while Carson's numbers have been on a downward course in recent weeks. After Iowa, the candidates head to New Hampshire, where Trump also leads but several other candidates are jockeying for position behind him.","label":0}
{"text":"Why do we allow stories like these to be buried? It s so important for Americans to know the truth about how easy it is for terrorists to slip through our porous borders. Why do mainstream media sources in the U.S. not report stories like these? When this radical Imam was caught trying to sneak into the U.S. in 2011, the UK Daily Mail was the only publication to cover this story. Why? Jan., 2011 -U.S. border guards got a surprise when they searched a Mexican BMW and found a hardline Muslim cleric banned from France and Canada curled up in the boot.Said Jaziri, who called for the death of a Danish cartoonist that drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed, was being smuggled into California when he was arrested, along with his driver Kenneth Robert Lawler.The 43-year-old was deported from Canada to his homeland Tunisia in 2007 after it emerged he had lied on his refugee application about having served jail time in France.His fire and brimstone sermons and rabble-rousing antics catapulted him into the public eye during his short tenure as imam at a Montreal mosque.He branded homosexuality a disease and led protests over cartoonist Kurt Westergaard s illustrations poked fun at Islam and were published in a Danish newspaper in 2006.He also caused anger when he campaigned for a bigger mosque to accommodate Montreal s burgeoning Muslim population.But after his deportation he complained that he had been physically and mentally tortured during the 13-hour flight repatriating him to Tunisia, a claim Canadian authorities deny.He was being held as a material witness in the criminal case against Mr Lawler, who has been charged with immigrant smuggling.Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard sparked controversy when his drawings of Mohammed appeared in a newspaper in 2006Jaziri had allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling cartel $5,000 to take him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a safe place anywhere in the U.S. According to the court documents, a Mexican guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate.They then trekked across the rugged terrain under cover of darkness to a spot popular for drivers who pick up immigrants for smuggling runs into San Diego.He allegedly told officials he had flown from Africa to Europe, then to Central America and Chetumal, Mexico, on the Mexico-Belize border, where he took a bus to Tijuana. I think he was deported because people hated his ideas. His case drew support from the Muslim community as well as Amnesty International after he claimed he would be tortured if sent back to Tunisia.As a disclaimer, a couple of websites are attempting to pass this off as a current story. This story actually took place in 2011. We want everyone to know this is NOT a current story, but it serves as a reminder of how serious our porous borders were then and how they are even more porous today, thanks to Obama forcing our Border Agents to stand down.","label":1}
{"text":"(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. 1. Major G. O. P. donors are warning the Republican National Committee to cut off Donald Trump or risk lasting damage to the party's image. In the House, some Republicans are gauging how Mr. Trump's problems could affect them. Our election podcast The goes behind the story of the two women who told us that Mr. Trump touched them inappropriately. Mr. Trump calls his accusers liars. President Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Ohio. On Thursday night, Mr. Obama called the Republican situation a \"swamp of crazy. \" ____ 2. Cholera is stalking Haiti's southern peninsula in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. The disease has killed 10, 000 people since 2010, when scientists say it was introduced by U. N. peacekeepers after the earthquake. Now it is ravaging remote areas where clean water was already hard to find before the storm. ____ 3. The Justice Department announced it would track the use of force by the police across the U. S. It's an effort to fill what officials say is a huge void in official data. (The most comprehensive records on police shootings have come from databases built by news organizations.) ____ 4. President Obama issued a sweeping directive on Cuba and loosened many trade restrictions. The move formalizes the changes announced two years ago \u2014 and sidesteps Congress, where Mr. Obama's call to lift the embargo faced opposition. Among the changes? You can now bring unlimited Cuban rum and cigars back to the U. S. for personal consumption. ____ 5. Rates for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act are going up. That's because not enough young, healthy people have signed up for the insurance markets it created. The Obama administration is planning greater outreach to younger Americans during the next enrollment period, which starts on Nov. 1. ____ 6. In Aleppo, Syria, a drone video reveals destruction so complete that our architecture critic says it obliterates even a sense of time. \"At a glance,\" he writes, \"the video could show Berlin in 1945 or Grozny, 2000. Mass death erases all distinctions. \" ____ 7. Bob Dylan, the latest Nobel Prize winner, spent his formative years as a performer in New York, a city he had a complicated, fertile romance with. We conjure what his life in Greenwich Village was like after he arrived in 1961 as a cherubic but determined . And if you want to learn more, a Harvard professor is teaching a whole class on Mr. Dylan. ____ 8. \"The Rocky Horror Picture Show\" was a flop when it was first released in 1975, but went on to become a cult hit at midnight showings. And 41 years later, Laverne Cox is starring in a coming remake as Dr. the pansexual alien scientist. ____ 9. For your weekend planning: \"Kevin Hart: What Now?\" is in theaters, and our critic said most of it was funny, while also acknowledging that the comedian is basically \" . \" Our experts recommend the comedian Kyle Kinane, the British show \"The Durrells in Corfu\" and the movie \"Carol,\" above, which is streaming on Showtime. ____ 10. Finally, Part II of our discussion about eating fish. On Thursday we noted that eating fish is good for you. But a reader asked about the levels of mercury. Good point. Mercury can be harmful for pregnant women and small children, but experts say fish remains preferable to red meat. And you can avoid mercury by skipping varieties that accumulate high levels of it: shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. Have a carefree weekend. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. \u2014 Donnie Gaddis picked the wrong county to sell 15 oxycodone pills to an undercover officer. If Mr. Gaddis had been caught 20 miles to the east, in Cincinnati, he would have received a maximum of six months in prison, court records show. In San Francisco or Brooklyn, he would probably have received drug treatment or probation, lawyers say. But Mr. Gaddis lived in Dearborn County, Ind. which sends more people to prison per capita than nearly any other county in the United States. After agreeing to a plea deal, he was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison. \"Years? Holy Toledo \u2014 I've settled murders for a lot less than that,\" said Philip Stephens, a public defender in Cincinnati. Dearborn County represents the new boom in American prisons: mostly white, rural and politically conservative. A bipartisan campaign to reduce mass incarceration has led to enormous declines in new inmates from big cities, cutting America's prison population for the first time since the 1970s. From 2006 to 2014, annual prison admissions dropped 36 percent in Indianapolis 37 percent in Brooklyn 69 percent in Los Angeles County and 93 percent in San Francisco. But large parts of rural and suburban America \u2014 overwhelmed by the heroin epidemic and concerned about the safety of diverting people from prison \u2014 have gone the opposite direction. Prison admissions in counties with fewer than 100, 000 people have risen even as crime has fallen, according to a New York Times analysis, which offers a newly detailed look at the geography of American incarceration. Just a decade ago, people in rural, suburban and urban areas were all about equally likely to go to prison. But now people in small counties are about 50 percent more likely to go to prison than people in populous counties. The stark disparities in how counties punish crime show the limits of recent state and federal changes to reduce the number of inmates. Far from Washington and state capitals, county prosecutors and judges continue to wield great power over who goes to prison and for how long. And many of them have no interest in reducing the prison population. \"I am proud of the fact that we send more people to jail than other counties,\" Aaron Negangard, the elected prosecutor in Dearborn County, said last year. \"That's how we keep it safe here. \" He added in an interview: \"My constituents are the people who decide whether I keep doing my job. The governor can't make me. The legislature can't make me. \" But many criminal justice experts say that the size of the disparities undercuts the basic promise of equal protection under the law. \"Letting local prosecutors enforce state laws differently throws all notions of equality under the law out the window,\" said Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, which advocates reducing incarceration rates. \"This data puts governors and legislative leaders on notice that if they want to put criminal justice reforms into effect, they need to look at how prosecutors use and abuse their discretion. \" The analysis is based on previously unpublished data from the Department of Justice on state prisons, which hold the vast majority of American inmates sentenced to a year or more. The divide does not appear to be driven by changes in crime, which fell in rural and urban areas at roughly equal rates, according to the F. B. I. Instead, it reflects growing disagreement about how harshly crime should be punished, especially drivers of the criminal justice system like theft, drugs, weapons and drunken driving. Cities have adopted a more lenient approach to drug offenses in particular, diverting many drug offenders to probation or treatment rather than to jail. Those choices have started to reverse \u2014 if only modestly \u2014 longstanding racial disparities in American prisons, where blacks and Hispanics are incarcerated at drastically higher rates than whites. The annual number of new black prison inmates fell by about 25 percent from 2006 to 2013, and the number of Hispanic inmates fell by about 30 percent, while the number of new white inmates fell by only about 8 percent, according to the most complete federal data. The number of black prisoners is still \"shockingly high,\" said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project. \"Nonetheless, these numbers are encouraging. It suggests that this is not necessarily an intractable problem. \" But rural, mostly white and politically conservative counties have continued to send more drug offenders to prison, reflecting the changing geography of addiction. While crack cocaine addiction was centered in cities, opioid and meth addiction are ravaging small communities like those in Dearborn County, where 97 percent of the population is white. A collection of small, quiet towns near the Ohio River, Dearborn County does not look like a prison capital. Violent crime is rare. There are few empty storefronts. And local officials, flush with money brought in by a popular local casino, have built a convention center and a high school football field fit for a movie set. But the extraordinarily high incarceration rate here \u2014 about one in 10 adults is in prison, jail or probation \u2014 is driven less by crime and poverty than by a powerful prosecutor, judges and a growing heroin epidemic. Opioid addiction spread early here. Mr. Negangard, the prosecutor, has fought the heroin crisis by aggressively going after drug crimes. \"If you're not prosecuting, then you're de facto legalizing it,\" Mr. Negangard said. Mr. Negangard has faced few obstacles to getting more convictions. He supervises his own police force, an unusual arrangement that allows him to investigate and prosecute most of the county's serious crime. The police go after even minor drug cases, often offering to dismiss drug possession charges in exchange for information on friends or family members who sell drugs. Probation officials are just as strict. Offenders released on probation are tested for drugs frequently, and hundreds of people who violate the terms of their probation have been sent to state prison in the past few years. By 2014, Dearborn County sentenced more people to prison than San Francisco or Westchester County, N. Y. which each have at least 13 times as many people. \"It's government run amok,\" said Douglas A. Garner, a local criminal defense attorney. Lawmakers in Indiana, concerned about the rising cost of incarceration, enacted a law that reduced criminal penalties starting in 2014 \u2014 one of at least 40 states to approve measures to reduce incarceration in the past few years. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence, now the Republican nominee. But the new rules, which Mr. Negangard fought, have done little to curb incarceration rates in Dearborn County. Mr. Negangard said the long sentences here are the envy of police officers in Cincinnati. If a suspect is willing to sell drugs in Dearborn County, the Cincinnati police will help steer the case here, where greater punishment is almost assured, he said. One Cincinnati man, Scott Huy, drove from Cincinnati to Dearborn County in 2013, enticed by a heroin deal set up by a police informer. Mr. Huy had already been convicted of drug trafficking twice in Ohio, for which he had served a total of five years in prison. After Mr. Huy sold seven grams of heroin to an undercover officer, he was sentenced to serve 35 years. Lawyers here have a term for when defendants like Mr. Huy realize the geographic disparity: \"sticker shock. \" Defense lawyers outside Dearborn County respond with disbelief as well. \"That is so far out of line with the crime itself and any common notion of decency,\" Jeff Adachi, San Francisco's public defender, said of Mr. Huy's sentence. The rural resistance to lighter penalties goes beyond Indiana. Prosecutors in New York City have sharply cut incarceration rates in part by diverting drug offenders from prison after state changes encouraged paths to treatment. But in the rest of the state, prosecutors and judges continue to put drug offenders in prison at a steady flow. In Texas, a series of changes intended to cut the prison population led to large reductions in new prisoners from Houston and Austin. But the rest of the state has had only modest declines. Court systems and jails in many populated areas are overcrowded, putting pressure on judges to offer probation. A federal court ordered California to reduce chronic prison overcrowding in 2009, leading to the largest declines in admissions in the country. offenders are now released on probation or diverted to local jails. At the same time, cities tend to have more resources to fight addiction outside of jail and prison. In Cincinnati, most people who are caught with small quantities of drugs are charged with a crime but are diverted to drug court, where they are placed in an outpatient treatment program, said Mr. Stephens, the public defender. If the offender completes the program, the charge is dismissed. \"People are trying to work with it here in Cincinnati so it doesn't overwhelm the justice system,\" Mr. Stephens said. In smaller counties, prisons are often the only response to a range of social ills, including drug abuse and mental illness. To handle the expanded caseload, Dearborn County officials spent $11. 5 million to double the size of the local jail and approved $11 million more to expand the county courthouse. But money for drug treatment is scarce. At least 225 of the 250 inmates in the Dearborn County jail have a drug addiction, estimated Jonathan L. Cleary, a county judge. But drug treatment programs can serve only about 40 of them. Mr. Negangard said he wished the county could find more money for drug treatment. But he said about half of all addicts in prison had a criminal and would keep committing crimes whether they got clean or not. \"We can't just let the bad guys go,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott has immediately declared an apparently deliberate attack on pedestrians outside Finsbury Park Mosque terrorism \u2014 unlike the Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, and London Bridge attacks, which she called \"incidents\". [Taking to Twitter after news broke that a man had crashed a van into a crowd of people leaving a Mosque in Finsbury the Labour was quick to label it a \"shocking terror attack\". Shocking terror attack outside Finsbury Park mosque. Thoughts prayers with friends families of the victims #FinsburyPark, \u2014 Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 19, 2017, Abbott reiterated her description of the attack as terrorism, calling on police to \"urgently review security for all mosques\" minutes later, and retweeted a message from Shomrim London which also referred to the crash as a \"horrific terrorist attack\". Terror attack outside #FinsburyPark mosque. Police must urgently review security for all mosques #StandTogether, \u2014 Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 19, 2017, Abbott's rush to judgement on this occasion stands in sharp contrast to her pronouncements following the Islamist terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, and London Bridge. The Westminster Bridge attack, in which Muslim convert Khalid Masood ran down several pedestrians before leaping from his car and stabbing a police constable to death on March 22nd, was not acknowledged as a terror attack until the following day in a tweet which pointed followers in the direction of a Guardian article emphasising the fact that the migrant was \" \". The following day, she released a statement in which she claimed it was \"too early now to debate the cause or motivation for this attack\". She warned against \"wild assertions about this attack by people claiming to know what the police can't yet know, why this happened and who precisely was involved\". She added: \"We should reject any false or lazy assertions and wait for the police to do their work. \" Westminster terror attack triggers rhetoric. But the attacker was actually British born https: . \u2014 Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) March 23, 2017, Following the Manchester Arena suicide bombing on May 22nd, in which the son an Islamist refugee murdered and maimed dozens of men, women, and children at a concert, Abbott would only go as far describing the attack as a \"horrific incident\". My thoughts go out to all those affected by the horrific incident in Manchester. Our emergency services have acted swiftly and bravely. \u2014 Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) May 23, 2017, Abbott used similar language following the terror attack on London Bridge and Borough Market on June 3rd, in which former child refugee Khuram Butt, bogus asylum seeker Rachid Redouane, and EU national Youssef Zaghba ran down and stabbed dozens of people in London. The Jeremy Corbyn ally was careful to refer to the terror attacks as \"incidents\" in two separate tweets. My thoughts are with all those affected by the incidents in London tonight, \u2014 Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 3, 2017, Emerging news of frightening incidents tonight: London Bridge, Borough Market Vauxhall. Once again we owe so much to emergency services pic. twitter. \u2014 Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 3, 2017, Breitbart London has described all the attacks, including last night's outside Finsbury Park Mosque, as terrorist attacks.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump was right. Countless others were wrong. The pundits and pollsters who said the former reality TV star could not win the U.S. presidency, the Republicans who shunned him, the business leaders who denounced him and the Democrats who dismissed him failed to fully understand the depth of his support. In a stunning victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump stuck to a plan that worked to perfection in the Republican primary, a campaign built around his blunt-talking celebrity persona, his command of social media, and his anti-establishment message of change. \"Ours was not a campaign, but an incredible and great movement,\" Trump said in his victory speech on Wednesday. It was a movement driven by discontent. The Reuters\/Ipsos Election Day poll found that most Americans who came to the polls were clearly angry with the direction of the country. Six out of 10 people said they felt the country is on the wrong track. Some 58 percent said \"more and more I don't identify with what America has become\" and 75 percent said \"America needs a strong leader to take the country back\" from the wealthy. Those who felt the country was on the wrong track were three times as likely to vote for Trump as Clinton. In a bitter and divisive campaign, Trump cleared a series of obstacles that would doom any other candidate: An audio tape in which he talked of groping women; a refusal to release his tax returns; violence at his rallies; his mockery of a disabled reporter; and his attacks on the heritage of a federal judge and the Muslim family of a U.S. soldier. \"He was an imperfect candidate with a near-perfect message,\" said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist who has long backed Trump. \"I don't think a lot of people understood that.\" In a year when voters in the United States and abroad showed their antipathy toward the political establishment, the globalized economy, and corporate welfare, Trump guessed correctly he could ride that wave of discontent to the White House. He exploited a growing divide in the country between whites and minorities, urbanites and rural residents, the college-educated and the working class. Trump beat Clinton among white men without a college degree by 31 points and white women without a degree by 27 points, according to the Reuters\/Ipsos polling. He also benefited from an opponent with her own flaws. Clinton was continually dragged down by questions over her use of a private email server while secretary of state and the activities of her family foundation, while her corporate-friendly background left some Democrats skeptical and unenthusiastic. That appeared to cost her support among women, young voters and minorities \u2013 three groups that are critical for Democrats to win big. Clinton won each of these groups, but by smaller margins than President Barack Obama held when he defeated Republican candidate Mitt Romney in 2012. Some 49 percent of women supported Clinton, the first woman nominee of a major party, while 47 percent supported Trump. Among women between the ages of 18 and 34, about 55 percent supported Clinton, while 38 percent supported Trump. In 2012, 62 percent of young women supported Obama, while 36 percent supported Romney. White voters, especially men in rural areas, flocked to Trump in record numbers. Trump appealed to voters unhappy with the hollowing out of the country's manufacturing sector and fearful of the country's changing demographics, campaigning on a harsh anti-immigration message. Trump won 56 percent of the white vote, while Clinton won just 39 percent. He dominated to an even greater degree in rural areas, where he beat Clinton by 27 points. Trump promised big things: that he would bring jobs back and punish outsourcing corporations, that he would restore the country to some unspecified early time of prosperity and security - even as unemployment tumbled below 5 percent. Specifics were never Trump's strength. Instead, he used an \"us versus them\" message to build voter enthusiasm in places where most Republican candidates never ventured, rural areas with voters who felt ignored by Washington. Matt Borges, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said Trump, unlike Romney, made voters feel like they mattered. Before Trump, he said, \"we weren't listening to what voters actually care about.\" Trump thumbed his nose at the extensive get-out-the-vote operation and data-rich organization that are seen as essential to a modern winning campaign. His campaign relied instead on more unofficial networks of rabid supporters to get the word out. His advisers argued that he would bring scores of neglected white voters back into the political process, including blue-collar Democrats in places such as Pennsylvania. Until Trump, Republicans had not won Pennsylvania since 1988. Craig Robinson, a veteran of Iowa Republican politics, said pundits underestimated how Trump's strength in the primaries would carry over to the general election. \"In an election where the conventional wisdom was proven wrong time and time again, they convinced themselves that conventional wisdom would prevail in the general election,\" Robinson said. \"The voters saw through it.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Leaders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservative party agreed on Sunday to pursue a grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) to break the political deadlock in Europe s biggest economy. Merkel, whose fourth term was plunged into doubt a week ago when three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens collapsed, was handed a political lifeline by the SPD on Friday. Under intense pressure to preserve stability and avoid new elections, the SPD reversed its position and agreed to talk to Merkel, raising the prospect of a new grand coalition, which has ruled for the past four years, or a minority government. We have the firm intention of having an effective government, Daniel Guenther, conservative premier of the state of Schleswig Holstein, told reporters after a four-hour meeting of leading members of Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU). We firmly believe that this is not a minority government but that it is an alliance with a parliamentary majority. That is a grand coalition, he said. The meeting came after the conservative state premier of Bavaria threw his weight behind a new right-left tie-up. An alliance of the conservatives and SPD is the best option for Germany - better anyway than a coalition with the Free Democrats and Greens, new elections or a minority government, Horst Seehofer, head of the Bavarian CSU, told Bild am Sonntag. An Emnid poll also showed on Sunday that 52 percent of Germans backed a grand coalition. Several European leaders have emphasised the importance of getting a stable German government in place quickly so the bloc can discuss its future, including proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron on euro zone reforms and Brexit. Merkel, who made clear on Saturday she would pursue a grand coalition, says that an acting government under her leadership can do business until a new coalition is formed. The youth wing of Merkel s conservatives raised pressure on the parties to get a deal done by Christmas, saying if there was no deal, the conservatives should opt for a minority government. In an indication, however, that the process will take time, the CDU agreed on Sunday evening to delay a conference in mid-December that had been due to vote on the three-way coalition. The SPD premier of the state of Lower Saxony said he feared there was no way a decision would be reached this year. It is a long path for the SPD, said Stephan Weil on ARD television. Merkel is against going down the route of a minority government because of its inherent instability, but pundits have said one possibility is for the conservatives and Greens to form a minority government with informal SPD support. The Greens have said they are open to a minority government. Even before any talks get under way, the two blocs have started to spar over policy priorities. Merkel, whose conservatives won most parliamentary seats in a Sept. 24 vote but bled support to the far right, has said she wants to maintain sound finances in Germany, cut some taxes and invest in digital infrastructure. She has to keep Bavaria s CSU on board by sticking to a tougher migrant policy that may also help win back conservatives who switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The SPD needs a platform for its policies after its poorest election showing since 1933. Leading SPD figures have outlined conditions including investment in education and homes, changes in health insurance and no cap on asylum seekers. Most experts believe the SPD has the stronger hand and several prominent economists said they expected the SPD to wield significant influence in a new grand coalition. If there is a grand coalition or even if there is toleration (of a minority government) I would expect more emphasis on the SPD s programme, Clemens Fuest, president of the Ifo institute, told business newspaper Handelsblatt. That would mean higher state spending and smaller tax cuts than would have been agreed with other potential partners. The SPD is divided, with some members arguing that a grand coalition has had its day. The SPD premier of the state of Rhineland Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, said she preferred the idea of the SPD tolerating a minority government over a grand coalition, making clear that the party would not agree to a deal at any price.","label":0}
{"text":"Just a few blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House sits the Trump International Hotel, one of the newest luxury additions to Donald J. Trump's real estate empire, and perhaps the most visible symbol of the ethical quandary he now confronts. The Trump International operates out of the Old Post Office Building, which the federal government owns. That means Mr. Trump will be appointing the head of the General Services Administration, which manages the property, while his children will be running a hotel that has tens of millions of dollars in ties with the agency. He also will oversee the National Labor Relations Board while it decides union disputes involving any of his hotels. A week before the election, the board ruled against Mr. Trump's hotel in a case in Las Vegas. The layers of potential conflicts he faces are in many ways as complex as his business empire, adding a heightened degree of difficulty for Mr. Trump \u2014 one of the wealthiest men to ever occupy the White House \u2014 in separating his official duties from his private business affairs. Further complicating matters are Mr. Trump's decision to name his children to his transition team, and what is likely to be their informal advisory role in his administration. His daughter Ivanka Trump joined an official transition meeting on Thursday, the day before Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was removed from his post leading the effort. Mr. Trump has said he will eliminate ethical concerns by turning the management of his company over to his children, an arrangement he has referred to as a blind trust. But ethics lawyers \u2014 both Republicans and Democrats \u2014 say it is far from blind because he would have knowledge of the assets in the trust and be in contact with the people running it, making it unlike a conventional blind trust controlled entirely by an independent party. \"To say that his children running his businesses is the equivalent of a blind trust \u2014 there is simply no credibility in that claim,\" said Matthew T. Sanderson, a Washington lawyer and Republican who has worked on the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Rand Paul and Rick Perry. \"Yes, the American public elected him knowing he has these assets, but unless he deals with this properly there will just be a steady trickle of these stories, and it could be a drag on his presidency. \" Mr. Trump, as part of his bid for the White House, released information about his financial holdings, which include more than a dozen hotels and golf courses commercial real estate space, including Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street in New York and marketing deals in the United States and abroad. But it is unclear how much information was not disclosed, in part because he declined to release even a summary of his tax returns \u2014 becoming the first presidential candidate not to do so in 40 years. Rudolph W. Giuliani, a close adviser to Mr. Trump, said on CNN's \"State of the Union\" on Sunday that excluding Mr. Trump's family from a role in his businesses \"would basically put his children out of work. \" The public, Mr. Giuliani said, needs to trust Mr. Trump. \"You have to have some confidence in the integrity of the president,\" Mr. Giuliani said. \"The man is an enormously wealthy man. I don't think there's any real fear or suspicion that he's seeking to enrich himself by being president. If he wanted to enrich himself, he wouldn't have run for president. \" Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the transition, declined to respond to questions about possible conflicts of interest Mr. Trump might face as president. \"The Trump Organization will respond accordingly,\" she said. A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump's company said in a statement that the Trump Organization was already working to address possible conflicts. \"We are in the process of vetting various structures with the goal of the immediate transfer of management of the Trump Organization and its portfolio of businesses to Donald Jr. Ivanka and Eric Trump along with a team of highly skilled executives,\" the statement said. \"This is a top priority at the organization, and the structure that is ultimately selected will comply with all applicable rules and regulations. \" Previous presidents have encountered questions about their financial holdings. Lyndon B. Johnson, through his wife, continued to have ownership of television stations while he was president. George Washington enlisted the Treasury Department to help find a runaway slave. But presidents have often taken steps to prevent ethical questions. George Bush put his stock holdings into a blind trust after he was elected vice president, and Jimmy Carter turned his peanut farm over to a blind trust after he was elected. As president, Mr. Trump will be exempt from a federal ethics rule that prohibits government employees and members of Congress from taking actions that could benefit their financial interests. But the president still must comply with a law that requires annual financial disclosures of his assets. The first will not be due until May 2018, although President Obama filed one voluntarily during his first year in office. Experts said that even if Mr. Trump was exempt from some federal ethics rules, the public will expect him to not use his office to benefit his personal finances. \"He has campaigned on a platform of getting rid of corruption and that Washington is broken and we need new, refreshing change,\" said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, a nonprofit that pushes for accountability in government. \"As president, the American public expects that Mr. Trump will be held to a higher standard. \" In a statement on Monday, the General Services Administration said that the agency realized it must examine its Old Post Office lease with Mr. Trump's business \"to allow a path to be put in place to identify and address any potential conflict of interest. \" Also on Monday, Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called for an inquiry into how Mr. Trump will handle these potential conflicts. \"The American people have the right to know \u2014 they ought to know \u2014 exactly whether decisions are possibly being made that would benefit him, his family and his associates directly,\" Mr. Cummings said in an interview. The labor dispute in Nevada represents another potential complication. The president appoints all five members of the National Labor Relations Board. But over the past year, the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas has been in a battle with the culinary workers union, at first challenging an effort by hotel employees to unionize. The labor board ruled against him in July. Then the hotel, which Mr. Trump refused to begin negotiations with the new union, and the labor board again ruled against it, in November. Other labor disputes with employees are pending. \"Will he as president of the United States of America use the power he has to interfere \u2014 given that he has a financial interest in the outcome of these matters?\" said Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 of Nevada. Perhaps most troubling for Mr. Trump, several ethics lawyers said, is a relatively obscure provision of the Constitution, called the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits any government official from taking payments or gifts from a foreign government, or even from sharing in profits in a company that has financial ties to a foreign government. Mr. Trump has had business deals with foreign governments or individuals with apparent ties to foreign governments, including real estate arrangements in Azerbaijan and Uruguay. His children have frequently traveled abroad to promote the Trump brand, making trips to Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Scotland. Closer to home, the Bank of China is a tenant in Trump Tower and is a lender for another building in Midtown Manhattan where Mr. Trump has a significant partnership interest. \"Doing business with a foreign corporation, be it in Azerbaijan, Turkey or Russia, if is it owned in part or controlled by a foreign government \u2014 any benefit that would accrue to Mr. Trump could well be a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution,\" said Kenneth A. Gross, a political ethics and compliance lawyer in Washington. There are also more general issues that could prove troubling. For instance, Mr. Trump will nominate the Treasury secretary, yet he owes hundreds of millions of dollars to banks, and he benefits from low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve, an institution he has criticized as political. The head of the Internal Revenue Service is also appointed by the president, and the agency is currently auditing Mr. Trump's taxes and sets tax policy that directly affects his businesses. But it is Mr. Trump's real estate and financial holdings that represent the most sensitive ethical areas, the ethics lawyer said. Mr. Trump's children are already deeply involved in the daily operations of the Trump Organization. Ivanka is executive vice president for development and acquisitions, and is in charge of domestic and global expansion of the company's real estate interests. Ms. Trump also has her own clothing, jewelry and footwear lines. Even this week, Ms. Trump turned her appearance on Sunday on \"60 Minutes\" \u2014 with her father \u2014 into a marketing opportunity for her line of jewelry, with one of her employees urging reporters to write about the $10, 800 gold bangle bracelet she wore during the interview. Donald Jr. is also an executive vice president in the Trump Organization, and the company's website says he directs new project acquisition and development in regions \"from Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia, the Middle East to South America, mainland China to the United States. \" Eric is in charge of the Trump Organization's golf course collection. \"We'll be in New York and we'll take care of the business,\" Eric Trump said in an interview with \"60 Minutes\" that was broadcast on Sunday. \"I think we're going to have a lot of fun doing it. And we're going to make him very proud. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The chances of Donald Trump becoming the Republican nominee for president have gone from impossible to probable, while Hillary Clinton's chances of being the Democrat have moved from likely to virtually certain. So, barring more surprises, it's probably going to be Hillary vs. The Donald in the fall. There is no mystery about Clinton. Those who support her as well as those who oppose her have little trouble explaining why. Trump is another matter. No one I know would even consider voting for Trump. So who are all these millions who support him? Why, they are working-class white men, we are told, who feel betrayed by the failure of both parties to deal with stagnant incomes, growing debts and shrinking possibilities for their retirements and their childrens' futures. It's a plausible theory. And it may help to explain Bernie Sanders. But no one has ever associated Trump with these blue-collar issues. How has he become the tribune of the people in this election? Is he just the one who got there first? The explanation is not so difficult. In the opening paragraph of his novel \"Ravelstein,\" Saul Bellow writes, \"Anyone who wants to govern the country has to entertain it.\" Clinton has been called many things, but \"entertaining\" is not one of them. This is not the case with Trump, who is an authentic American character like something out of Mark Twain. All the other candidates except Sanders had the character squeezed out of them when they decided they wanted to be president. Trump's a phony of course (not to mention a racist), but his phoniness is authentic. He's self-made \u2014 not in the financial sense, but characterologically. And what a character! You always want to know what he will say or do next. To be sure, it's not really the president's job to keep the citizenry entertained, although voting on the basis of entertainment value is not entirely irrational, given that entertainment is the main benefit you're likely to get from our political system. Anyway, not knowing what he'll do next does have its charms, and they go beyond entertainment. During the nuclear standoff of the 1960s and 1970s, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger took advantage of a doctrine out of the branch of economics known as game theory, which holds that sometimes it pays to be \u2014 or at least to be perceived to be \u2014 crazy. No rational person would ever start a nuclear war. So the one who can get the other side to back down in any future nuclear standoff is the one who convinces the world that he or she is more irrational. Vladimir Putin has done a pretty good job here, you have to admit. Imagine Putin and any of the American presidential candidates facing each other across the nuclear divide, each threatening to push the button unless their demands are met. Which of the Americans is crazy enough to actually do it? When Barack Obama proposes something, you know it's been analyzed and balanced and weighed against the alternatives, tested in the laboratory and found to be a reasonable solution given the limitations and under the circumstances. When Trump faces some similar challenge, you don't know what he's going to say or do. And if he says he's going to do something crazy, like get the Mexicans to pay for a wall across their own country to keep themselves out of ours, you can't be sure he won't actually try to do it. It's clear now that the title of Trump's book \"The Art of the Deal \" actually reflects a philosophy of life: Trump believes that everything in life is a negotiation, a deal, and he believes that making deals uses skills that he has and his rivals lack. This is why he may even have been sincere in his puzzlement about why the media has been so insistent that he reveal his tax returns. Paying taxes, like so much else in life, is a negotiation \u2014 at least at Trump's level. And why would you give your opponent a major document, whether it reveals misbehavior or not? What is misbehavior, for that matter? It's all up for negotiation. People (read: liberals) are afraid of what Trump might do as president. All this silly talk about moving to Canada. But the thing to really worry about in a Trump presidency is what happens a couple of years from now, when people who have invested their hopes in Trump and his magic tricks discover that he is not the Wizard of Oz but rather the man behind the curtain.","label":0}
{"text":"The gunshots that ripped through a congressional Republican team practice early Wednesday on a Virginia baseball field not only shook the U.S. Capitol but also upended what many Americans consider a symbol of fair play and summer fun. Before he was killed, a gunman shot and wounded a senior Republican House leader and several others getting ready on an Alexandria, Virginia, field for a charity game between Republicans and Democrats on Thursday in nearby Washington, D.C. The annual Congressional Baseball Game charity event, where Senate and House members from both parties face off together, has raised $600,000 for the Boys and Girls Club, the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation and the Washington Literacy Center, according to several lawmakers and event organizers. The game at Nationals Park may be one of the last vestiges of cooperation between the two sides in the nation's capital, where some believe partisan politics is at an all-time high. \"There's such a hatefulness in what we see in American politics and policy discussions right now ... this has got to stop,\" Representative Rodney Davis, a Republican team member, told CNN in an interview while still wearing his baseball cleats and practice clothes. Davis said the congressional game was a great demonstration that Democrats and Republicans could still get along. \"We have fun,\" said a visibly upset Davis. \"I never thought I'd play a baseball game for charity, got to practice at 6:30 in the morning and have to dodge bullets.\" The gun violence early on Wednesday scarred what is for many almost sacred American ground - the baseball field. Considered America's so-called national pastime, the game dates back to the 1800s even as it now competes heavily with other popular sports including football and basketball. \"I've always felt safe on a baseball field, and now I don't know if I'll ever feel safe on a baseball field again,\" Representative Chuck Fleischmann, also at the shooting scene, told CNN. The grassy field once known for roasted peanuts and hot dogs now instead conjures images of a battlefield, fellow Republican Brad Wenstrup, an Army Reserve officer, said on Twitter. \"You never expect a baseball field in America to feel like being back in a combat zone in Iraq, but this morning it did,\" wrote Wenstrup, a congressman from Ohio. When congressional members were told in a bipartisan briefing that Thursday's baseball game would still be held despite the shooting, they leapt to their feet in a standing ovation, Republican Representative Martha McSally told Reuters. \"Tomorrow we'll go out on the field, we'll root for our team,\" U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi later told lawmakers from the chamber floor. \"We will use this occasion as one that brings us together and not one that separates us further.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Turkey issued arrest warrants for 63 people, including former National Intelligence Agency (MIT) personnel, over alleged links to the U.S.-based cleric accused of orchestrating last year s attempted coup, Anadolu agency reported on Tuesday. The police operation was launched in 21 provinces across Turkey, the state-run news agency reported. Ankara says cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, was behind the abortive putsch in July 2016. Gulen has denied involvement. More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial for alleged ties to Gulen s movement and some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors for the same reason. Some of Turkey s Western allies and rights groups have expressed concern about the crackdown and suspect the government has used the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says the purges are necessary due to the gravity of the threats it has faced since the failed putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed.","label":0}
{"text":"The Sunni Islamic State ( ) has boasted that key U. S. Middle East ally Saudi Arabia is the top provider of terrorists for the jihadist group in Iraq, reports Fox News, citing Iraqi military sources. [Sunni Saudi Arabia shares an estimated border with Iraq. Nevertheless, Fox News reports that the Saudi jihadists crossed into Iraq over the border the country shares with both Turkey and Syria. The news outlet learned from unnamed Iraqi intelligence sources that jihadist from the Saudi kingdom comprise nearly (up to 30 percent) of all ISIS terrorists in Iraq, adding that \"Saudis comprise the largest single contingent of ISIS fighters, with Russian Chechens making up the contingent. \" Speaking to the news outlet on condition of anonymity, a Iraqi intelligence officer said, \"The Saudi presence in ISIS is very large. What we have left are mainly Iraqis and Saudis. \" \"The Saudis make up a large number of suicide bombers, as they already have the ground work of radicalization installed in their minds from radical sheikhs in Saudi [Arabia]. And we've caught important ISIS commanders,\" he added. Fox News points out that it has seen various photographs and documents showing identification and credit cards of Saudi terrorists. The report comes nearly a month after an article by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed that President Donald Trump's administration is considering forming a military alliance with major Middle East allies, including the Sunni Saudi kingdom, to combat Shiite Iran. President Trump's coalition would bring together Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. The Sharia kingdom Saudi Arabia is regarded as a hotbed and top global exporter of radical Islamic thought, namely the Sunni extremist ideology of Wahhabism, adhered to by ISIS and various other jihadists groups. Saudi Arabia imposes extremely strict Islamic laws on its citizens. \"Wahhabism was born in Saudi Arabia. Saudi is leading those extremist organizations like ISIS,\" an anonymous Iraqi official told Fox News. \"They have officials and fighters among their ranks. Saudi is nothing without U. S. protection it is only a bite for Iran to eat. \" Sunni Saudi Arabia considers Shiite Iran its regional rival. Iran exerts tremendous influence over the government of Iraq where militias backed by the Islamic Republic are fighting ISIS. Saudi Arabia is part of the U. S. coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Sunni kingdom, which has cracked down on the jihadist group within its borders, has also suffered attacks carried out by ISIS.","label":0}
{"text":"Two U.S. House Democrats on Monday asked the Federal Communications Commission inspector general to probe whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was biased in favor of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is seeking approval of a $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co. Representatives Frank Pallone and Elijah Cummings cited FCC decisions that benefited Sinclair, the largest U.S. television broadcast group, and a media report last year that the election campaign of President Donald Trump struck a deal with Sinclair for favorable coverage. \"All of these actions \u2013 when taken in context with reported meetings between the Trump administration, Sinclair, and Chairman Pai's office \u2013 have raised serious concerns about whether Chairman Pai's actions comply with the FCC's mandate to be independent,\" the pair wrote. Advocacy group Free Press said in an FCC filing in August that Sinclair forces its stations to \"air pro-Trump propaganda and then seeks favors from the Trump administration.\" A spokeswoman for Pai said the \"request appears to be part of many Democrats' attempt to target one particular company because of its perceived political views ... Any claim that Chairman Pai is modifying the rules now to benefit one particular company is completely baseless.\" Politico, citing unnamed sources, reported in December that Trump's campaign made a deal with Sinclair to get favorable coverage in exchange for more access to Trump. Sinclair did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, told a congressional committee last month, \"All of our media policy decisions seem to be custom-built for this one company.\" Sinclair announced plans in May to acquire Tribune's 42 TV stations in 33 markets as well as cable network WGN America, extending its reach to 72 percent of American households. The FCC is set to vote Thursday on Pai's plan to eliminate the ban on cross-ownership of a newspaper and TV station in a major market and make it easier for media companies to buy additional TV stations in the same market. Approval would make it easier for Sinclair to acquire more TV stations. The FCC will also vote Thursday on Pai's proposal to allow broadcasters to use new technology to improve picture quality and allow better reception on mobile phones, but it could force consumers to eventually buy new equipment. Sinclair holds some patents for the TV technology and Rosenworcel said Sinclair and others could profit.","label":0}
{"text":"The threat level facing Britain remains at critical, interior minister Amber Rudd said on Saturday, as she praised the police for making a very significant arrest following a London train bombing which injured 30 people a day earlier. Police arrested an 18-year-old man earlier on Saturday following the attack in west London. The threat level remains at critical and there will be further investigations and part of the operation later today, Rudd told reporters. This is a very significant arrest. The police have made very good progress. She added that it was too soon to know whether the culprits behind the attack were known to the authorities.","label":0}
{"text":"The ethics probe into U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold, who is already under a cloud for alleged sexual misconduct, is being expanded to look into whether he mixed his political campaign with congressional work and lied to the House Ethics Committee, the panel said on Thursday. Last week, Farenthold said he would not seek re-election next year after accounts surfaced that he created a hostile work environment. The Texas Republican denied allegations of sexual harassment but admitted allowing an unprofessional culture in his Capitol Hill office. On Thursday the ethics committee voted unanimously to investigate whether Farenthold used his congressional staff and other resources of the House of Representatives to further his political campaign, and if he had made false statements or omissions to the committee. The panel was already looking into whether he committed sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation against a former staff member and if he made inappropriate statements to other members of his staff. The committee said the announcement should not be read as an indication that it had found any rule violations. Farenthold's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Congress strictly divides lawmakers' work on Capitol Hill and their runs for re-election so that taxpayers do not end up subsidizing political campaigns. In August, the committee went so far as to warn Representatives, who face elections every two years, they should not even send texts or forward emails related to their campaigns while in House buildings. Congress is reviewing its workplace policies on sexual harassment after a number of lawmakers have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent weeks amid a wave of such allegations against powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House said on Thursday intends to introduce legislation in January reforming a 20-year-old law that covers sexual harassment in Congress, which it hopes will pass soon after.","label":0}
{"text":"Obama spoke to a LGTB group a few days ago where he expressed his genuine concerns regarding religious institutions but that gay rights come before religious freedom. It s obvious Obama s taking a swipe at the Kim Davis case. The Pope met with Kim Davis and gave her encouragement but did the Pope discuss religious freedom and gay rights with Obama? As soon as the Pope took off for Rome, Obama lets it rip on gay rights. Demonizing those who are religious and those who choose not to support the gay community is typical Obama he ll forever be remembered as THE GREAT DIVIDER who really doesn t want to find common ground. I guess that s what old radicals are REALLY good at! We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions, he insisted during a dramatic speech at a LGTB fundraiser in New York City on Sunday night, praising the progress made on gay rights under his administration. But we also have to say clearly that our religious freedom doesn t grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights. The fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee was specifically billed as an LGBT gala held in New York City in coordination with Obama s trip to the United Nations Assembly.During his speech, Obama asserted that his administration was respecting what he described as genuine concerns of religious institutions but suggested that Republicans were using the issue just to earn more votes, as they did in 2004. America has left the leaders of the Republican Party behind, he declared proudly.He ridiculed Ben Carson for suggesting that prison turns you gay and added that another Republican candidate had boasted of his introduction of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, likely referring to Sen. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)96%.Alluding to Gov. Mike Huckabee, Obama mocked a candidate who said that Americans should just disobey the Supreme Court s ruling entirely. I m sure he loves the Constitution except for Article III, Obama said mockingly. And maybe the Equal Protection Amendment. And 14th Amendment, generally. Debbie Wasserman Shultz was in attendance at the fundraiser, and Star Trek s George Takei also was expected to attend.Obama proudly told the audience that he would not back down in his efforts to make progress for the LGBT community, and called for all of them to remain vigilant to hold the line on important legal gains in the country. What makes America special is, is that though sometimes we zig and zag, eventually hope wins out, he said. But it only wins out because folks like you put your shoulder behind the wheel and push it in that direction.","label":1}
{"text":"Jagmeet Singh, an Ontario provincial lawmaker and practicing Sikh, was elected on Sunday as leader of Canada s left-leaning New Democrats, becoming the first non-white politician to head a major Canadian political party. The 38-year-old lawyer, whose penchant for colorful turbans and tailor-made three-piece suits made him a social media star, was elected on the first ballot to lead the New Democratic Party into the 2019 federal election against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s Liberals. Thank you, New Democrats. The run for Prime Minister begins now, Singh tweeted. Singh secured 54 percent of the vote, defeating three rivals to become the new head of the NDP, succeeding Thomas Mulcair. The results of the vote, conducted online and by mail, were announced at a party meeting in Toronto. The Toronto-area politician, who led in fundraising since joining the race last May, had been touted by supporters as someone who could bring new life to the party, which has struggled since the death of charismatic former leader Jack Layton in 2011. Singh s profile was boosted in early September after a video went viral showing him calmly responding with words of love to a heckler who interrupted a campaign event to accuse him of wanting to impose Islamic Shariah law in Canada. His skill, in being able to diffuse the situation, it understandably appealed to a lot of people who ended up supporting him, said Christopher Cochrane, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Cochrane added that Singh s ability to connect both with young people and ethnic minorities would make him a force to reckon with when competing against Trudeau in 2019. Trudeau congratulated his new political rival on Twitter on Sunday, saying: I look forward to speaking soon and working together for Canadians. The NDP is the third largest party in the federal Parliament, with 44 of 338 seats. The party lags well behind the centrist Liberals and right-leaning Conservatives in political fundraising this year, according to Elections Canada data. Singh will now focus on rallying supporters and targeting center-left voters who helped propel Trudeau s Liberals to a decisive victory in 2015. There are hurdles ahead. Singh does not have a seat in the federal parliament and will have to win one in a special election. He also needs to persuade voters that his party can form a government, although it has never held power federally. There are also questions over whether he will have success in Quebec, Canada s mainly French-speaking province, where overt signs of faith are frowned upon.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s tax return: we ve heard about little else over the last few days. Voters are asking for them. Mitt Romney is asking for them. Trump initially told us that he wouldn t provide his taxes because the IRS is auditing them. Well, the IRS weighed in on that issue a couple of months ago, and they didn t mince words.IRS Chief John Koskinen explained in an interview with C-SPAN, The taxpayer controls his returns. There s nothing in an IRS audit process generally that would keep you from sharing that information generally, any way you wanted to. Koskinen further stated, It would be rare for someone to be audited every year, and that someone would not undergo another audit for a few years, two or three at least, after IRS audit the previous year. It would be rare, Koskinen stated.Source: Greenville GazetteHere s the video:Even that hasn t stopped Trump from sticking to his audit story.In interview I told @AP that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2016On Friday, though, his words were harsher, telling George Stephanopolous that it s none of (his) business. Aside from his supporters, few people are buying the audit story. Some are speculating that he might be a lot less wealthy than he says. Romney speculates that there might be something a lot more nefarious, like mob connections.There s also another possibility, and frankly, it could be a combination of everything: Trump is simply pandering to his voters. Angry white men hate the IRS. The love paved roads and wars and many other things our tax money gives us, but they resent the fact that a percentage of their paychecks are going to the common good. As a matter of fact, Trump was one of the only candidates who didn t say he wanted to abolish the IRS altogether.There s a good reason for that kind of rhetoric. Polls show that among Republicans, especially Tea Party Republicans, only 15 percent view the IRS in a favorable light, while 62 percent of Democrats do. What could possibly be a better tactic than turning yourself into a victim of the evil feds? For Trump voters, nothing.Featured image by Scott Olson at Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"A shipment of Kalashnikov rifles, popularly known as was destined for the United States when it was stopped and quickly rerouted to Venezuela. Washington had just slapped Moscow with sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, and the Russian gun maker Kalashnikov Kontsern suddenly found one of its biggest markets off limits. Without access to the ready buyers among American weapons enthusiasts, Kalashnikov had to change its strategy, an increasingly common challenge for Russian companies after the imposition of sanctions. In the two years that followed, Kalashnikov diversified into new product lines, slashed jobs and made over its brand. And the rifle \u2014 long the weapon of choice for militaries and militant groups and the world's most widely used firearm \u2014 was pitched instead to hobbyists and hunters in Russia. That new strategy appears to be yielding results. As Kalashnikov steps into the void left by American competitors in its home market, it is on track to turn a profit this year, bolstered in part by a weaker currency. \"They started paying attention to clients,\" said Dmitry S. Balyasov, a lawyer and shooting enthusiast who was patronizing a firing range outside of Moscow. \"They have a contemporary style for selling a product,\" Mr. Balyasov said, clutching a legal, civilian version of the weapon. For the company behind the weapon, the shift from serving conflict to serving consumers has been stark. The company owns the original license to rifles, colloquially known as \u2014 a name derived from the Russian word for automatic and the surname of the inventor, Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, as well as the year the prototype appeared. In the Soviet era, Kalashnikov's main rifle factory, called the Izhevsk Machine Works, was a military enterprise that stamped out guns in tremendous quantities with sales an afterthought. rifles are ubiquitous in conflict zones. More than 100 million have been sold, including the countless knockoffs the rifle has inspired from China and elsewhere. The chunky guns, with their oversize banana clips, are legendarily rugged, and can remain in armories for decades, limiting sales of new weapons. With the military market largely saturated, Kalashnikov became increasingly dependent on civilian weapons sales. The civilian versions shoot only once with each trigger squeeze, with no option to switch to full automatic as in the military rifle. Before the sanctions, Kalashnikov's plan for expansion focused on the United States, where gun ownership laws are more lenient than in many other countries. Though Russian weapons make up a tiny piece of the United States market, sales of its civilian rifles and shotguns branded as Saiga and Baikal increased at a faster pace than the overall market. By 2013, the United States accounted for about 40 percent of the company's total gun sales, roughly equivalent to the volume bought by the Russian military, where every soldier is equipped with one. American sanctions slammed the door on the expansion plan. The sanctions in mid 2014 took direct aim at Rostec, the military industrial conglomerate that holds a 51 percent stake in Kalashnikov. They forced the gun maker to take a hard look at its business. \"We are moving from iron to intellect,\" said Vasily Brovko, the director of strategy and communications for Rostec. It thinned its ranks of middle managers at the Izhevsk factory in 2015, and diversified this year by buying companies that make motorboats and surveillance drones. While Kalashnikov does not break out sales receipts from its various divisions, it intends for firearms and clothing to make up about 80 percent of earnings by 2020, with motorboat and drone sales accounting for the rest. A clothing line is being unveiled in September, and the company plans to open 60 retail stores in Russia by the end of the year, selling clothes and rifles. It also introduced a marketing campaign, with a new logo \u2014 a stylized letter K, with a curved ammunition magazine as one of the arms \u2014 and a slogan, \"Kalashnikov: Real. Reliable. \" \"Kalashnikov is a global brand,\" Vladimir Dmitriev, the company's chief of marketing, said, likening Kalashnikov to Ferrari or Caterpillar, companies that sell clothing as a sideline to capitalize on brand recognition. \"We are certainly justified in thinking that clothes and souvenirs with our symbols will be in demand, as much as our primary products. \" In Russia, Kalashnikov must navigate a different environment than in the United States. Russian consumers can buy a firearm only with a police permit. Potential buyers must have no criminal record, a diploma from a gun safety course and a medical certificate that clears them of any mental illness. With few exceptions, civilians are not allowed to own pistols. Kalashnikov is playing to patriotic ideals. As part of a marketing effort, the company erected a stand festooned with balloons promoting the rifle in Moscow's Gorky Park on May 9, Victory Day, the holiday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. The type of display \u2014 one associating itself with the Russian government and army \u2014 is a contrast to the United States, where antigovernment sentiment is strong among the public. The company is showing signs of improvement. It says it expects to report a profit of 2. 1 billion rubles, or about $33 million, when 2015 results are published this month, compared with a loss of 340 million rubles in 2014. It now sells fewer guns, but makes more money on each. But the biggest boost for Kalashnikov comes from factors beyond its control. Russia is a major oil exporter, and weak crude prices coupled with the sanctions helped cut the value of its currency. With most of its costs priced in rubles, Kalashnikov products became far more competitive with imported firearms. \"We are talking about the reversal of the Dutch disease, which Russia has been suffering,\" Vladimir Osakovsky, chief economist for Russia at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said. Dutch disease refers to the impact energy prices tend to have on an country's currency, pushing it higher and hurting domestic companies by making their exports look comparatively expensive. Whether the growth is sustainable or the product of favorable currency winds will depend on Kalashnikov's ground campaign. As part its broad new marketing effort, the company now sends representatives to gun stores across Russia to promote its products. At the Hunting Club gun shop in Moscow's suburbs, Kalashnikov has provided two window displays exclusively for its rifles, and racks and shelves to sell branded and shoulder patches. \"The idea is to surround the customer with the brand, so he is not tempted to spend money anywhere else,\" Mr. Brovko, the Rostec strategist, said. With the help of the currency tailwinds, demand for Kalashnikov's shotguns and rifles at the shop has outpaced that for guns made by its rivals, like Beretta of Italy, Sauer of Germany and Winchester of the United States, according to Aleksei V. Lapshin, the owner of the Hunting Club. Customers have also been pleased with the range of special options, including different materials for the rifle exterior, he said. \"It's a very modern approach,\" he said. \"Some people want black plastic, some people want beechwood, some people want walnut. \" \"No two comrades have the same taste. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Republicans in the House of Representatives are preparing legal action in case President Barack Obama tries to transfer detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay to the United States, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday. Ryan told reporters it would be against the law for Obama to bring detainees from the prison in Cuba to the United States, because it would violate a ban on such transfers passed by Congress in 2015. He was speaking a day after the president, seeking to make good on a pledge he made in 2008 before he was first elected to the White House, launched a final push to persuade Congress to close the military prison for foreign terrorism suspects. The Pentagon-authored plan proposes 13 potential sites on U.S. soil to hold some 30 to 60 detainees in maximum-security prisons. Obama is also considering taking executive action to close Guantanamo, situated at a U.S. naval station in southeast Cuba, if Congress does not drop its opposition. \"Our law is really clear,\" Ryan told reporters after a meeting of House Republicans. \"These detainees cannot come to American soil.\" \"We are making legal preparations if the president tries to break the law,\" Ryan said. \"And what boggles my mind is that the president is contemplating directing the military to knowingly break the law.\" The speaker said that Obama is trying to extend the president's executive authority beyond its limits of the U.S. Constitution. Ryan added that not only Republicans but also many in Obama's own Democratic Party oppose detainee transfers to U.S. soil. Democrats accused House Republicans of wasting taxpayer dollars on litigation. In recent years the House Republican majority has spent nearly $3 million in this way, said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. House Republicans have spent $189,498 since November 2014 on litigation challenging the administration's Obamacare healthcare program, and recently agreed to spend up to $150,000 on legal advice on the possible Guantanamo litigation, Pelosi's office said. A spokesman for Ryan, Brendan Buck, defended the spending, saying \"we wouldn't have to spend so much money if the president wasn't overreaching.\" Pelosi's office said that under former House Speaker John Boehner, House Republicans spent $2.5 million defending a law that denied federal benefits to same-sex couples, before the language was struck down by the Supreme Court.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump isn t enjoying his time as President. In a series of interviews marking the first 100 days of his presidency, he s done an awful lot of whining and complaining, including saying that the job is much harder than he thought.One of the reasons the job is so hard for him is that he s not a dictator, as much as he d like to be one. His powers are limited by a document called the Constitution and that frustrates the hell out of him, even though he has an entirely Republican federal government.In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump appeared to have learned a new word, and he used it four times in reference to the Constitution. That word was archaic, and in his context, it was particularly disconcerting because it signaled his desire to completely do away with the constraints of the Constitution and with our system of checks and balances.Remember when White nationalist House stooge and millennial most likely to be punched Steven Miller said that that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned? A collective chill went up the spines of thinking Americans. Be prepared to feel that chill again. Here s what Trump said on Friday.In an interview with Fox News to mark the 100-day mark, he declared himself disappointed with congressional Republicans, despite his many great relationships with them.He blamed the constitutional checks and balances built in to US governance. It s a very rough system, he said. It s an archaic system It s really a bad thing for the country. Here s the video:Mostly, Trump wants to get rid of the filibuster. He has no authority whatsoever over the rules of the Senate, and while the Senate leadership could change the rules, in theory, it would be quite short-sighted because it would mean that the next time Democrats have even a slim majority, Republicans would be powerless to get anything accomplished or to stop a Democratic agenda.When President Obama wasn t able to get past the filibuster, Donald Trump called him weak and ineffectual. Now that the loafer is on Trump s foot, it s the Constitution s fault. Do you have chills yet?","label":1}
{"text":"on November 14, 2016 11:36 pm \u00b7  In reaction to Donald Trump's victory, The Simpsons decided to update their 2000 prediction of a Trump presidency.  In 2000, the show showed a glimpse into the future where President Lisa Simpson inherited an economic mess from \"President Trump.\" Well, now that fictional story line has become a horrifying reality.  Here is The Simpsons new opening with Bart Simpson writing on the chalkboard, \"BEING RIGHT SUCKS\": The Simpsons updates its 2000 prediction of a Trump Presidency\u2026 #TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com\/Myf5rYb9Dj  \u2014 The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) November 14, 2016  Hopefully, the financial despair the fictional President Trump never becomes a reality, but seeing as he has no experience, is a businessman who's not as good as he says he is, and The Simpsons have been right thus far, the future's looking pretty bleak.  Here's the original clip of President Lisa Simpson calling out a Donald Trump presidency for his fiscal fallout and bad economy:  Early on into Trump's campaign, The Simpsons satirized the reality TV host turned president-elect by having Homer Simpson somehow at the campaign rollout and falling into Trump's hair. If we could only go back to that moment and enjoy the comedy over reality.  Now we have to reap what we've sown, or rather what the less than half of voting Americans have sown considering Trump only won with the Electoral College and lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in his own words, big league.  Most of us with The Simpsons were very wrong with the prediction as well.","label":1}
{"text":"Of course, the left applauded Miss Great Britain s bold defiance of the rules (resistance is all the rage in case you haven t heard) ignoring the fact that no one held a gun to her head to make her compete in the pageant.The magazine that teaches teenage girls how to have anal sex had this to say about how proud they were of Muna Jama:She stuck to her beliefs and the Internet couldn't be prouder https:\/\/t.co\/lYqbNEpKwg Teen Vogue (@TeenVogue) August 4, 2017The swimsuit competition. Watching contestants parade around in barely-there swimsuits is synonymous with the world of beauty pageants the way sashes and rictus grins and pledges for world peace are.But now one contestant has thrown out the rulebook, and competed in the finals for Miss Universe Great Britain wearing a kaftan, rather than a two-piece.Muna Jama, from London, is Muslim and earlier this year won the right to compete in the famed competition wearing a kaftan. It is the first time in the history of the competition that a contestant has not not donned a revealing bikini.Here is a picture of the other (less special) Miss Universe contestants wearing the required bikini for the bathing suit competition:Help me congratulate the outstanding and beautiful Anna Burdzy as Miss Universe Great Britain 2017 , I m proud to have come this far with the pleasure to share the stage with all these incredible women! for this I feel like a winner thank you for following me on my journey, it wouldn t have been the same without your encouraging messages, constant support and nonstop love that I was able to make history for the first time ever! Thank you . . . mugb2017 #missuniversegb #cardiff #threecountries #blacksash #Mercurecardiffhollandhouse #missuniversegb #missuniversecardiffA post shared by Muna Jama (@ms_munajama) on Jul 16, 2017 at 12:05am PDTIt has been a long road for Jama to stepping onto the Miss Universe stage.Two years ago she applied to represent the U.K. and made it to the finals, but bowed out out of concern about appearing in swimmers. However, this year, Jama, who is the co-founder of a start-up tackling illegal migration and child abuse in Africa, decided to apply again, but this time petitioning officials to be allowed to wear a kaftan. I wouldn t wear a bikini to a beach, so I m not going to wear one in a competition to score points, she has told Metro.co.uk. NYPHere s a picture of the bathing suit Miss Great Britain wore during the competition:It takes bravery, emotional resilience and most importantly surrounding yourself with strong minded people who are prepared to make great sacrifices to welcome permanent and positive change. I may not be able to unwrite a moment in my life but I know a moment will never define me. I will always rise above your expectations and pushed past your limitations. You are what you say you are, and your imaginations can be your worst enemy unless you overcome your fears. Be careful of what you think of others because it s a reflection of what you are. Work at being a better person, and one day we can welcome a better World. . . This moment has proved that I am capable of almost anything I set my mind to and limitations is a status waiting to be changed. I thank everyone who stood beside me and believed in my vision. . . #missuniverse #mugb2017 #missuniversegb #fear #migrant #refugee #positive #change #love #modelling #friends #family #girls #pageant #empowerment #inspiration #inspire #aspire #history #munajama #caftan #kaftan #stage #london #dubai #love #indonesia #malaysia @missuniversegb Photographer @leedarephotographyA post shared by Muna Jama (@ms_munajama) on Jul 18, 2017 at 8:56am PDTDo you think it s fair that she was not disqualified for failing to follow the same rules every other contestant was forced to follow in order to compete for the title?","label":1}
{"text":"February 4, 2016, in Charleston, SC.  And this? April 16, 2016 at Southwest College, Los Angeles.  And this, less than two months ago on Sept. 11, 2016?  On Thursday, October 26, 2016, Hillary was in Lake Worth, Florida for a rally.  She walks up to the cheering crowd, as a bearded guy in sunglasses hurries to her side.  He extends his left hand to Hillary; she clutches it tightly. The man then helps her to make a step up onto the platform.  Just one step.  Here's the video:  Later that day, Hillary leaves Florida for another rally in Winston Salem, North Carolina.  Walking up a flight of 15 steps to board her campaign plane, while holding an umbrella in her left hand and clutching the handrail with her right, and \"mumbling to herself\" (according to Live Satellite News ), Hillary appears to be wobbly and unsteady. Halfway up the steps, she stumbles, tilting her umbrella down (0:17 mark).  Hillary turned 69 two days ago on October 26, but moves like a disabled old woman.","label":1}
{"text":"Good morning. Here's what you need to know: \u2022 President Trump's immigration order barring refugees and citizens of seven countries from entering the United States unleashed chaos on the U. S. immigration system, prompting continuing protests and legal action, much of it by lawyers working at airport arrival halls. A White House official appeared to reverse part of the order, saying that green card holders from the barred countries \u2014 Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen \u2014 would be allowed to enter \"going forward. \" Here's what we know and don't know about the executive order. And here's our full coverage of the Trump administration. _____ \u2022 Several European leaders rejected the refugee ban in blunt terms, and an array of Christian leaders denounced provisions that would favor Christian immigrants as discriminatory, misguided and inhumane. Even some top Republicans objected. Mr. Trump appeared to have more pleasant exchanges with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Australia's prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who hoped for reassurance that the U. S. would honor the refugee resettlement deal struck with the Obama administration. _____ \u2022 Myanmar was shaken by a rare and brazen assassination. The country's most prominent Muslim lawyer, U Ko Ni, was shot dead at the airport in Yangon, after returning with a government delegation from a trip to Indonesia. He appeared to have been shot while in his family car, while holding his grandchild. A suspect was arrested, but no motive was immediately evident. _____ \u2022 As Japan moves to accommodate Emperor Akihito's wish to give up the throne, many Japanese believe it is also time to clear the way for a woman to reign. It has been nearly 250 years since Japan had an empress. \"Like Queen Elizabeth in England, if Princess Aiko becomes the emperor, things may change in society,\" a woman in Kanagawa Prefecture said. _____ \u2022 And Roger Federer, 35, became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam singles title in 45 years by defeating his longtime rival, Rafael Nadal, in an epic final of the Australian Open. It was Federer's record 18th tournament championship and his first since 2012. The victory came a day after Serena Williams, 35, defeated her sister Venus, 36, for her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, becoming the oldest female Australian Open winner in the current era. \u2022 Hong Kong's monetary office says the city needs as many as 400 million more bank notes in circulation to handle Lunar New Year transactions and lai see distribution, which is valued at $1 billion. \u2022 Toshiba's from its investment in a U. S. construction firm focused on nuclear power projects could rise to $4 billion to $7 billion, enough to put the company's future at risk. \u2022 Here's a snapshot of global markets. \u2022 Three people were killed when a boat carrying 31 people capsized in Sabah, Malaysia. people, mostly Chinese tourists, have been rescued. [Bernama] \u2022 The Philippine government's free distribution of birth control has pitted President Rodrigo Duterte against the Catholic Church, and not for the first time. [The New York Times] \u2022 An American commando was killed in a raid on Qaeda militants in Yemen, the first counterterrorism operation approved by President Trump. [The New York Times] \u2022 North Korea appears to have resumed operation of a reactor used to produce plutonium for its nuclear weapons program, the think tank 38 North said. [Reuters] \u2022 The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, weighed in on a contentious issue, saying the U. S. Embassy \"needs to be\" in Jerusalem. \"All embassies should come here,\" he said. [The New York Times] \u2022 Thousands of Mongolians protested for the second time this winter to demand that the government address choking air pollution in the capital, Ulan Bator. [Associated Press] \u2022 Taliban militants are tapping new revenues sources beyond the opium trade, including collecting utility bills, as they take over increasingly large areas of Afghanistan. [The New York Times] \u2022 If you made a New Year's resolution this year, there's an 80 percent chance you've already given it up or you're just about to. We want to help you stick with it \u2014 or revamp it into something you really want to achieve \u2014 so this month Smarter Living will offer tips, advice and motivation to help you. Every Monday in this space we'll pose a new idea, offer advice for staying strong and ask you a question. Then every Thursday we'll highlight a few of our favorite emails and offer a helping hand. To join in, email us at smarterliving@nytimes. com with the subject line \"My resolution\" and send us answers to the following three bullets. And, because this goes both ways, I'll start us off: \u2022 Your name: I'm Tim Herrera, your Smarter Living Editor. \u2022 Your resolution and why you chose it (either the one you started with, or the one you really want to achieve): My resolution is to be better with money so I can save more and *gasp* maybe actually retire someday. \u2022 Two specific within your resolution: In February, I'll order delivery for dinner one fewer night per week, and I'll stop buying one of my daily afternoon coffees (which I buy solely out of habit, but which cost me around $500 over the course of a year). \u2022 An audacious plan to respond to climate change by building a city of floating islands in the South Pacific is moving forward, with the government of French Polynesia agreeing to consider hosting the islands in a tropical lagoon. \u2022 A song spreading fast online in China offers a bit of relief for those who dashed home for the new year only to face relentless personal questions from their families. \u2022 And we review \"Behemoth,\" a documentary from Zhao Liang that finds horror and surrealism in Inner Mongolia, where migrant iron and coal workers are shown as cogs in China's economic progress. Bruce Lee, the first superstar of films, appeared to Western audiences in only five movies and a handful of TV roles before his early death in 1973. But his influence has never really stopped growing, and his legacy can be found in some remarkable places. Take, for example, the video that Tom Brady, the N. F. L. quarterback, recently posted online to motivate his team for the playoffs. It features Lee's mantra \"Be water, my friend. \" Or the impact he had on 1970s reggae music, appearing on album covers, like Lee Perry's \"Kung Fu Meets the Dragon,\" and inspiring countless songs and artists, such as Dillinger. David Henry Hwang, the playwright, devoted an entire play to Lee's life, and called him the first \" male hero. \" This week, the Museum of Modern Art in New York is screening all five of Lee's films in a series called \"Eternal Bruce Lee. \" He's been honored in museums from Hong Kong to California, not to mention the Bruce Lee Action Museum in Seattle. Despite all the fanfare, Lee still has an aura of mystery. Did you know he was the 1958 champion of Hong Kong? _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"It s been a tragic, but infuriating day for America. In the wake of the mass shooting at a church in Texas, we ve all heard the obligatory thoughts and prayers and May God be with yous, we ve come to expect from Republicans who are more concerned about their NRA ratings than they are about actual lives. So Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut blasted them for it in his official statement on the shooting.In it, he asks a very, very important question: How can you claim that you respect human life while choosing fealty to weapons-makers over support for measures favored by the vast majority of your constituents? This is something he wants each of his Republican colleagues to consider seriously as they go to sleep tonight, because many of these people (like Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan) claim to value human life in the abortion debate, but behave as though the deaths of thousands of people already here on this Earth due to gun violence is simply the price of freedom. That s not valuing life. That s valuing the money they get from various lobbies.Murphy went on to state his heartbreak, not just over high-profile mass shootings, but others as well: My heart breaks for Sutherland Springs. Just like it still does for Las Vegas. And Orlando. And Charleston. And Aurora. And Blacksburg. And Newtown. Just like it does every night for Chicago. And New Orleans. And Baltimore. And Bridgeport. Then he ended it with quite possibly the most powerful statement there is: The terrifying fact is that no one is safe so long as Congress chooses to do absolutely nothing in the face of this epidemic. The time is now for Congress to shed its cowardly cover and do something. Congress continually fails to act because Republicans won t. So while Murphy diplomatically says that we aren t safe because Congress is too cowardly to act, he s laying the blame for this squarely at his Republican colleagues feet. The saddest part is that the GOP won t heed this. The gun lobby will have to be shut down one way or another for Republicans to open their eyes to reality. You can read his full statement below:Whoa, this statement from @ChrisMurphyCT on the Sutherland Springs, Texas shooting is extremely powerful. Wow. pic.twitter.com\/4qyP3sH9co Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) November 5, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Dutch police have declared the courtroom where a Bosnian Croat war crimes defendant said he drank poison on Wednesday during his appeals verdict a crime scene, the presiding judge said. Slobodan Praljak, 72, was receiving medical treatment while judge Carmel Agius continued to read the judgment in the final case the United Nations Yugoslav tribunal will hear before it closes next month.","label":0}
{"text":"President-elect Donald Trump drew a rebuke from former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday, after turning his attention to another Indiana company planning a move to Mexico. \"Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more!\" Trump said in a Friday night Twitter post. Rexnord Corp (RXN.N), an industrial supplier based in Milwaukee, announced plans in October to move a bearing plant, and its 300 jobs, from Indianapolis to Mexico, employees told the Indianapolis Star at the time. Company representatives on Saturday did not respond to a request for comment on Trump's tweet. The Republican, who takes office on Jan. 20, warned on Thursday of consequences for companies that move jobs out of the United States but did not specify what they would be. Trump, who campaigned on promises to keep manufacturing jobs from fleeing the country, claimed credit for a deal in which Indiana state officials agreed to give United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) $7 million worth of tax breaks to encourage the company to keep around 1,000 jobs at its Carrier unit in Indianapolis instead of hiring in Mexico. The agreement was less than a complete victory for Trump, as the air conditioner maker will still send an estimated 1,300 jobs there. The deal does nothing to prevent other employers from shipping work out of state and has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike who call it corporate welfare. Sanders, who attacked U.S. trade policy in his race against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Trump's deal with Carrier set a \"very dangerous precedent\" of having taxpayers subsidize multi-billion dollar corporations to \"beg them\" to keep jobs in the country. On Saturday, he challenged Trump over his Rexnord tweet. \"What are you going to do, @realDonaldTrump? Stand up for working people or give the company a massive tax break?\" Sanders tweeted in response to Trump's post. Sanders supports tougher policies on corporations for outsourcing. During the presidential campaign, Trump said his administration would put a 35 percent import tariff on goods made by American manufacturers that moved jobs offshore. He frequently pilloried Carrier for planning to move production to Mexico as he appealed to blue-collar voters in the Midwest, including in Indiana, whose governor, Mike Pence, is the vice president-elect. It is unclear what steps would have to be taken by federalauthorities before Trump could retaliate against individualcompanies shifting jobs abroad.","label":0}
{"text":"This post was originally published on this site Vyacheslav Volodin  \u00a9 Mikhail Metzel\/TASS  ST. PETERSBURG, November 24. \/TASS\/. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA) elected speaker of Russia's State Duma (lower house of parliament) Vyacheslv Volodin the assembly's chairman at its 9th plenary session on Thursday, a TASS correspondent reported. The decision was taken unanimously.  Earlier in the day, the CSTO PA Council recommended to elect Volodin its chairman. His candidacy was proposed by speaker of Kazakhstan's Majilis (lower house of parliament), Nurlan Nigmatulin.  {{item.group_date}}","label":1}
{"text":"A United States representative from North Carolina said in a television interview on Thursday that protesters in Charlotte \"hate white people because white people are successful and they're not,\" and then hours later recanted and apologized. The representative, Robert Pittenger, a Republican whose district includes parts of Charlotte, was interviewed on a British Broadcasting Corporation show, BBC Newsnight, when he made the comment. In response to an interviewer's question about the demonstrators' grievance, Mr. Pittenger said: \"The grievance in their mind is the animus, the anger. They hate white people because white people are successful and they're not. I mean, yes, it is, it is a welfare state. We have spent trillions of dollars on welfare, and we've put people in bondage so they can't be all that they are capable of being. \" The comment drew criticism on social media. Grier Martin, a Democrat who is a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, on Twitter called the comment \"one of the most ignorant statements I have ever heard. \" Within hours, Mr. Pittenger, 68, apologized and tried to explain himself in a series of posts on Twitter. He said his \"anguish\" about what was happening in Charlotte prompted him to respond to a question \"in a way that I regret. \" He apologized and said he hoped \"we can bring peace and calm to Charlotte. \" He added that he was trying to discuss a lack of economic mobility for \"because of failed policies. \" Mr. Pittenger appeared on CNN on Thursday night to defuse the criticism, but not all were convinced it was effective.","label":0}
{"text":"Brazil s planning minister on Monday acknowledged the possibility of delaying a key vote on a bill cutting social security spending to 2018 but said its approval would be difficult then, an election year. Speaking at an event in Bras lia, Planning Minister Dyogo Oliveira said lawmakers must pass the unpopular bill, which curtails the costly pension system, or risk endangering the nation s fiscal situation.","label":0}
{"text":"The United States and Cuba have taken major steps to end their 50 years of hostility, and some researchers think Americans could reap an unexpected benefit: better access to Cuban medical innovations. \"The US may be the world leader in basic cancer research, biotechnology, and treatment,\" explained Marga Gual Soler, who studies science diplomacy. \"But Cuba has built a universal, free, and public health care system, [and] has the highest number of medical doctors per capita in the world, a robust biotechnology industry developed with very low resources, and guaranteed access to drugs and advanced diagnostics for the population.\" One of the first diplomatic exchanges involved Cimavax, a lung cancer vaccine first developed in Cuba. But it doesn't work for prevention like a traditional vaccine; instead, it stimulates the immune system in a different way, to stop cancers from growing in people who already have the disease. Researchers down there found that the vaccine increased survival rates and had few side effects in patients with late-stage disease. There's reason to be cautious: US studies will need to replicate these findings in order to meet federal regulatory standards. And it's still a long way from clinical trials to being widely available for patients. For now, scientists are excited about the possibility \u2014 and the exchange raises questions about how a political shift might spur medical innovation. To learn more, I spoke to Dr. Kelvin Lee of Buffalo's Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Lee helped lead America's collaboration with Havana's Center of Molecular Immunology, which discovered the vaccine. Here, he explains why he thinks Cimavax is particularly promising, and why he's so enthusiastic about more Cuba-US medical exchanges. Julia Belluz: How did your exchanges with the Cubans change how you think about medical innovation coming out of there? Kelvin Lee: Everybody believes Cuba is this country stuck in the 1950s without realizing that the reason Cuban biotech is so innovative is because Cuba as a country has put a very high priority on health care. The public health care metrics are comparable to the US in terms of longevity and infant mortality. Cuba punches way above its weight. Because it is economically constrained, it has to be extraordinarily innovative. \"Many people think what Cuba has to offer the US is rum, cigars, and baseball players\" They have two other anti-cancer vaccines [in addition to Cimavax] that are equally exciting but earlier in development. They also have a monoclonal antibody called Nimotuzumab [to treat brain cancer]. The US has monoclonal antibodies that target colon and lung cancers. However, those antibodies cause a fair amount of toxicity. Nimotuzumab does not have those side effects, so it's applicable for pediatric patients. They've used it in pediatric brain cancer. We don't have anything we can give to kids safely. That's another drug we'd be very interested in seeing. JB: So how did the warming of relations between the US and Cuba impact bringing Cimavax here? KL: We got the license to import it, but what we needed were manufacturing documents from the Center for Molecular Immunology that described how the vaccine was manufactured, what quality control measures were taken, etc. This is 1,000 pages the FDA needs to review. A trade mission [last year] allowed us to go down there and sign the agreements to move the documents forward. So the mission finalized the last piece and allowed us to march into clinical trials. This was one of the biggest obstacles for us. Many people think what Cuba has to offer the US is rum, cigars, and baseball players. Through the trade mission, many realized the biotech sector in Cuba is really remarkable. JB: This vaccine is being called a revolutionary lung cancer vaccine. But it's actually more a treatment than what we typically think of as a vaccine. Can you explain exactly what Cimavax does? KL: This vaccine has been developed by the Center for Molecular Immunology in Havana. They've been developing it since the late 1990s and have done a lot of interesting clinical trials, including a large phase 3 randomized controlled trial in 405 patients in Cuba. The patients had advanced-stage lung cancer, primarily because that's their No. 1 cancer burden in Cuba and they don't have anything else other than first-line chemotherapy. Now it has been approved by the Cuban FDA for the treatment of lung cancer. The vaccine is made out of a man-made protein that is called epidermal growth factor. This is a protein your body normally produces, and it helps support the growth of normal cells like skin cells. [It can also help cancer cells grow.] In those cells that become cancerous, this vaccine initiates an immune response against the epidermal growth factor protein, thus depleting an important thing the cancer needs to grow and survive. So the cancer can't grow anymore.   JB: Could this method be applied to vaccines for other types of cancers or used for cancer prevention? KL: Our Cuban colleagues have not tested that, because they're economically constrained. They've only tested it in the No. 1 cancer burden in Cuba, lung cancer, and they haven't had the resources to do clinical trials in other types of cancer. [We'll study that.] Can it be used in prevention? We already know patients that have early-stage lung cancer can get their cancers removed. We also know many are smokers who have damaged their lungs all over the place and have pre-cancerous lesions all over their lungs. They have a very high risk of relapse with a second lung cancer. We think the real potential for this vaccine is we can reduce the risk of relapse in this patient population. One can think even further: If we develop an algorithm to predict a person's lung cancer risk, we could potentially vaccinate the very highest-risk cohorts to try to reduce their risk of lung cancer. That patient population is potentially in the millions, especially if you go worldwide. JB: How far are we away from this vaccine reaching the US? KL: Cuba has done the phase-three studies [the final preapproval phase studies to confirm safety and effectiveness], and there are other phase 3 studies going on internationally in lung cancer. But there has been no experience in the US because of embargo issues. So we are predicting that the FDA is going to ask for a phase 1 study [which will test the drug in healthy people to confirm it's safe] in the US, just to replicate the safety data that our Cuban colleagues already reported. Once we get through that, we anticipate we won't see very much toxicity or anything different from what's been reported. After that phase 1 study, we'll move on to other phase 1 studies in prevention and potentially in other cancers. We will be filing an investigational drug application with the FDA. Hopefully we can get that document together and submitted this spring. On a parallel track, we have two clinical trials that are in the institutional approval process here at Roswell Park. We are hoping to get those approved within the same time frame. That would mean we have trials here opening at the end of this year.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump has been nothing but a disaster since taking office nearly four weeks ago and now even Republicans want him impeached.Of particular concern is Trump s ties with Russia and his assaults on the free press and the judicial branch.Trump seems to fancy himself a king and Republicans in Congress are gleefully treating him that way instead of doing their public duty to protect this country from threats like him.Well, a former Republican judge is disgusted with his party and he just publicly called for Trump s impeachment.Mark Painter served on the Ohio Court of Appeals for many years and the Republican Party is unrecognizable to him today. It used to be a center-right party but Trump has solidified it as the party of extremists who deny reality and facts with impunity.And that s why Painter is offering to help Republicans draft articles of impeachment to take Trump down before it s too late. In any time except our post-factual era, no office holder, much less the president, could get away with any one of the dozens of dazzlingly illegal things Trump has already done, Painter wrote in a piece for Cinncinati.com. They would forfeit office immediately. Each new day is a new nightmare. We are still trying to digest one breathtaking assault on America when another is signed, issued, or Tweeted. All this amid constant lies. Constant. Lies. It s tough, but we must end this dangerous presidency. Trump must be impeached and removed with all haste. But only Congress can initiate the process. Painter calls out Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot specifically and tells him to man-up and stop defending Trump, pointing out that Chabot helped draft articles of impeachment for Bill Clinton for far less than what Trump has done.Indeed, Bill Clinton had an extramarital affair in office and lied about it under oath. Donald Trump has lied about anything and everything, including his ties to Russia, his taxes, his conflicts of interest, etc He has violated the Constitution in so many ways it is hard to count them all. But Painter mentions a few. Basic American values free speech, the rule of law, separation of powers, even common decency are unknown in this White House. We now have a president who has no concept of separation of powers, or why we have three branches of government. If he knew anything about the Constitution, he would know the framers envisioned just the situation we have now a would-be dictator. They provided checks and balances such as an independent judiciary to protect us from presidential tyranny.We must admit we have elected a president who has immediately proved himself to be a grifter, a pathological liar, a mean-spirited bully and dangerous to American values. This not-ready-for-prime-time show is too dangerous to continue. America is at stake. It s time to end Trump s regime before he destroys our country. The only problem is that Republicans are eager to help him destroy it. In the end, elections, protests, and impeachment could be useless methods to get rid of Trump. As long as Republicans control Congress they will refuse to save the country and they will remain in control by trying to destroy voting rights. They are also already proposing bills designed to quell protests. And when peaceful methods of changing our government are taken away from the people, that only leaves the kind of method that Thomas Jefferson spoke of in a letter to William Stephens Smith in 1787.Hopefully, it won t come down to that. But we can t keep pretending that peaceful protests will make Republicans listen to reason, nor can we expect Republicans to stop chipping away at voting rights. And the fact that Republicans are okay with Russia helping their candidate win suggests they will expect foreign help in 2018 and 2020. We also can t expect the judicial branch to stop Trump because Republicans are already busy working on a bill to split up the Ninth Circuit Court as punishment for not agreeing with Trump s executive order.The American people need to rise up and demand the impeachment of Trump and his entire administration, and then a new election must be held. The future of our nation depends on it.","label":1}
{"text":"Nunes dropped a bombshell that Obama admin spied on Trump.London attack claimed lives of 5 people. Wounded 40.Meanwhile on CNN: https:\/\/twitter.com\/TEN_GOP\/status\/844693397168283648If you thought this was a joke, and that CNN couldn t possibly have aired something so ludicrous as a entire segment dedicated to the possibility that President Trump may be afraid of stairs, think again Conservative comedian Mark Dice puts CNN s embarrassing news story into perspective:","label":1}
{"text":"At this point, the arguments against the #AllLivesMatter crowd s rebuttal against the #BlackLivesMatter movement have been well documented. The point that Just because someone says Save the rainforest does not mean that they are saying F*ck all other forests should have ended the debate. However, the debate continues. One person on twitter saw the connection between the #AllLivesMatter and the recent sale of the gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin.Here s the tweet:It should be noted that the gun actually sold for $250,000 dollars but that does not change the point at all.There have been no major systemic changes to the institutions that have racism built into their core. Since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement, it has been proven again and again just how much it is needed.Many people have claimed that the gun is a piece of history and that s why people are willing to pay so much money for it. I have to wonder if the person who bought the gun would also be willing to pay a quarter of a million dollars for the hoodie that Trayvon Martin was wearing the night he was killed by Zimmerman. I highly doubt that they or most of the people who put serious bids in for the weapon would be willing to do so. Especially when it is taken into account that at least part of the money Zimmerman will receive, will be donated to groups that fight the Black Lives Matter movement.That s because the gun isn t just a piece of history. It is a trophy for white supremacists. It is a symbol that a grown man can kill an unarmed black teenager, be protected by the state s legal system, and then go on to make a fortune off of the tragedy that person has caused.Featured Image Photo by Joe Burbank-Pool\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Home \u203a HEALTH \u203a TOP DOCTORS: CHEMOTHERAPY ONE OF DOZENS OF PROCEDURES SHOWN TO 'GIVE NO BENEFIT' TOP DOCTORS: CHEMOTHERAPY ONE OF DOZENS OF PROCEDURES SHOWN TO 'GIVE NO BENEFIT' 0 SHARES  [10\/27\/16] VICKI BATTS \u2013 Chemotherapy is arguably one of the medical industry's biggest frauds . Perhaps that's why it recently landed on a list of ineffectual treatments drawn up by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AMRC).  The list was created by 11 top specialists, who were each asked to think of five treatments they felt provided little to no patient benefits. And surprise, surprise \u2013 chemotherapy was one of them. Doctors from the AMRC said that chemotherapy cannot cure terminal cancer, and may bring unneeded distress in the final months of life. The Guardian reported:  \"The treatment is 'by its very nature toxic', the college said. \"Therefore, the combination of failing to achieve a response and causing toxicity can 'do more harm than good.'\"  Do more harm than good? You don't say.  Research has shown that in some hospitals, up to 50 percent of cancer patients are dying, not from their disease, but from chemotherapy drugs. For the first time ever, researchers actually looked at the numbers of patients who were dying within 30 days of chemotherapy administration , which could indicate that the treatment was the cause of death rather than the cancer. What they found was horrifying.  The study, which was conducted by Public Health England and Cancer Research UK, found that the average 30-day mortality rate across England was about 8.4 percent for lung cancer and 2.5 percent for breast cancer. But, in some hospitals, those numbers were much higher. For example, at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, the 30 day mortality rate for palliative chemotherapy for lung cancer was 28 percent. In Milton Keynes, the death rate for lung cancer treatment soared up to 50.9 percent.  The research revealed that the death rate for lung cancer patients was higher than average in several areas, including Blackpool, Coventry, Derby, South Tyneside, Surrey and Sussex.  The data also revealed that about 1-in-5 people who underwent palliative care for breast cancer at Cambridge University Hospitals died because of chemotherapy treatment.  Of course, the industry was quick to defend their practices, with doctors suggesting that these occurrences could simply be the outcome of data problems, noting that even a few deaths could skew statistics.  However, no one really argued with the fact that chemotherapy is indeed a toxin. It doesn't discriminate; it kills cancerous cells and healthy cells \u2013 and therein lies the rub. It may kill the cancer, but not without increasing your risks of getting cancer again in the future.  A 2004 study also found that cytotoxic chemotherapy does very little towards enhancing cancer survivors' 5-year survival rates. The research, which was led by scientists from the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Northern Sydney Cancer Centre of the Royal North Shore Hospital, located in Sydney, Australia, raised serious questions about the actual efficacy of curative and adjuvant chemotherapies.  What they found was that in Australia chemo only contributed 2.3 percent to the 5-year survival rate in adults, and in the U.S., that number dropped to 2.1 percent. These findings suggest that overall, chemotherapy truly provides very little benefit to any patient's survival. In their conclusion, the study authors wrote, \"As the 5-year relative survival rate for cancer in Australia is now over 60%, it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival. To justify the continued funding and availability of drugs used in cytotoxic chemotherapy, a rigorous evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and impact on quality of life is urgently required.\"  The AMRC urges doctors and patients to question whether or not particular treatments are necessary. After all, unwarranted and harmful treatments are truly anything but medicine . Post navigation","label":1}
{"text":"German politicians seeking to form a first of a kind coalition of conservatives, liberals and leftist environmentalists agreed on one thing after their first talks on Wednesday: it s going to take a while. Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) partners held separate talks first with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and later with the Greens. Their party colors - black, yellow and green - match those of the Jamaican flag and have given name to the proposed coalition. If you look in the atlas, the road to Jamaica is long, said CSU General Secretary Andreas Scheuer after his party and the CDU met with the Greens. Setting the stage for tough talks that could take several months, politicians from all parties have set out their stall, narrowing room for compromise in areas from immigration to the European Union and environmental policy. After the first two-hour meeting, general secretaries from the two conservative parties and the FDP emerged, smiling, to tell reporters the talks had been positive. It was a good exchange, at times nice and above all mutually respectful and joyful, Scheuer said. Separate talks between the conservatives and the Greens appeared to have been less joyful. Straight-faced representatives of the CDU, CSU and Greens told reporters the meeting had been positive but made clear that it would take a long time to nail down an agreement. CDU General-Secretary Peter Tauber said both meetings, with the FDP and Greens, were good. Merkel, whose conservatives bled support to the far right in the Sept. 24 election, warned her parliamentary party on Tuesday they would have to compromise. Chancellor for 12 years and known as a skilled negotiator, she angered many voters over her open-door migrant policy and her conservatives saw their worst election result since 1949. She has said she expects a government to be in place by Christmas, but others say January is more likely, pointing to a months-long policy standstill in Europe s biggest economy. The prospect of a minority government or new election hangs over the talks, a scenario Merkel wants to avoid due to fears the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) could make bigger gains. It is totally conceivable that before Christmas or in January we say that the whole thing is pointless and we ll talk to the Social Democrats (SPD), Peter Ramsauer, a senior CSU member not on the negotiating team, told Deutschlandfunk radio. The SPD, which suffered its worst result since 1933, has said it will go into opposition. The parties recognize it will not be easy. The first steps on this path went well, in an objective, solution-oriented atmosphere, said FDP General Secretary Nicola Beer. We agreed that some of us might need to be creative to continue on this path in this way. The talks which will continue on Thursday and Friday focused on building trust and agreeing a format for future talks rather than tackling hard policies. One of which will be immigration. Merkel, further weakened on Sunday by losses in a state election, has already had to give way to the CSU on immigration, effectively bowing to a demand to limit the number of people allowed into Germany. That may be unacceptable to the Greens.","label":0}
{"text":"Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a likely contender for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination and a leading voice for Christian conservatives, said Thursday that governors and state legislatures should consider ways to resist a Supreme Court decision that recognized same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. On USA TODAY's Capital Download, Huckabee likened such a possible decision, on an issue now being weighed by the high court, to the notorious Dred Scott case before the Civil War that ruled African Americans couldn't be citizens. Pushing back against such an opinion \"is not without historical and judicial precedence,\" he said in an interview promoting his new book, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy, published Wednesday by St. Martin's Press. If he were still governor, he said, \"I think I would put it before the legislature. I mean, we would ask, 'We have a constitutional amendment in our constitution. Do we want to hold to that? Do we want to put it before a referendum of the people?' I mean, there are a lot of different angles to pursue it. (Or) you could just surrender and say, 'OK, we just agree that the court is right.' \" Whatever the legal basis for Huckabee's stance \u2014 and constitutional scholars question whether there is one \u2014 as a political matter his fervent opposition all but guarantees that the issue of gay marriage will be prominent in the GOP presidential debate. While other leading contenders also oppose gay marriage, some of them, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, have said court decisions recognizing the right make it a settled question. \"Rather than just immediately capitulate to nine people in robes, and what it will probably be is five people in robes against four people who disagree ... then you have a very, very divided court,\" he told the weekly newsmaker series. \"Do we really surrender the entire American system of government to five people, unelected, appointed for life, with no consequences for the decisions they make? The founders never intended for there to be such incredible, almost unlimited power, put in the hands of so few people.\" However, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Law School, Irvine, said states would have no options if the Supreme Court decided that laws prohibiting same-sex marriage violated the Constitution. \"There have been efforts by states to circumvent or ignore Supreme Court decisions, most notably the intense Southern resistance to Brown v. Board of Education and desegregation,\" Chemerinsky said. \"The Supreme Court made it clear that its ruling was the law of the land. This will be no different.\" The issue has been joined, he noted. \"Already, marriage equality exists in 36 states, mostly because of court decisions, and there has not been the type of resistance Huckabee suggests.\" Still, it is a sign of Huckabee's appeal to the evangelical Christians who are among the GOP's most loyal voters that his new book immediately shot to No. 1 in sales among political books on Amazon and into the top 100 among books of all sorts. In his folksy, conversational style, he unfavorably contrasts New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. \u2014 places he dubs \"Bubble-ville\" \u2014 with those from the heartland, which he dubs \"Bubba-ville.\" At one point in the book, he discussed how \"goooood\" it is to eat game. \"I'm sorry if that sounds cruel to any vegan readers,\" he added. \"(And are there any? Raise your hands, if you have the strength.)\" In the interview, Huckabee also: - Acknowledged he was likely to make his second bid for the White House. He also ran in 2008. \"If everything continues to work well and I sense that there is, say, the proper financial and political support, then I think it's a given that that's where the destination is.\" - Predicted former president Bill Clinton would be an asset to his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, if she runs for the Democratic nomination. \"I mean, he had a good presidency. I'm a Republican but I admire good governing.\" - Dismissed as overblown a furor over comments in his new book criticizing Beyonce and Jay-Z for using sexually explicit lyrics, and the president and first lady for allowing their daughters to listen to them. \"I do think they're good parents,\" he said of the Obamas, adding he has some of Beyonce's songs on his iPhone. \"She's an incredibly gifted singer and dancer. She doesn't need to get into the vulgar in order to be successful and influential.\" He also denied charges of hypocrisy, leveled this week by Jon Stewart in a combative interview on The Daily Show, because he had played bass backing up rocker Ted Nugent as he sang \"Cat Scratch Fever,\" a song with sexually suggestive lyrics of its own. - Discussed reports that the FBI had decided not to pursue civil-rights charges in the police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., saying the Justice Department would have proceeded if it could have found any standing to do so. \"It was obvious that (Attorney General) Eric Holder wanted to be able to bring charges,\" he said. \"It was almost evident from the beginning that he was hoping that they would be able to find some way to indict or bring some charges against officer Darren Wilson.\" Now, he said, \"I hope that (civil rights activist and MSNBC anchor) Al Sharpton will have a rally and apologize for having incited so many people to actions that were hurtful to the people of Ferguson, hurtful to many minority business owners whose businesses were burned and looted because passions were inflamed.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Tim Brown  Well, leave it to the Democrats in Nevada to do something like this. Not only are they engaged in illegal acts concerning voter registration , but now they have ruined the good name of Cliven Bundy by sending out 700,000 mailers to households throughout Nevada and contaminating the jury pool, which has led the defense to call on the court to \"change the venue\" so that Bundy might receive a fair trial.  The flyer reads, \"This man's armed standoff led to the deaths of two Las Vegas Police Officers and he's supported by Congressman Hardy.\" It also contains Cliven Bundy's name and mug shot in front of a row of prison cells. This was also paid for by the Nevada State Democratic Party.  Attorney for journalist Pete Santilli , Chris Rasmussen, joined with Nevada's public defenders in a motion to compel the court for a \"change of venue.\" Rasmussen received one of the flyers and entered it into evidence with the court claiming that Bundy would not receive a fair trial due to the obvious propaganda sent out by the State of Nevada.  This story about tying the Bundy's or anyone at Bundy Ranch to Jared and Amanda Miller, the Las Vegas shooters , is bogus. By his own account, Miller was sent home from Bundy Ranch . Here's Miller's comment to a YouTube video claiming that very thing.  In fact, the media jumped all over the false narrative that Miller and his wife were tied to the Bundy's, labeling them right wing extremist terrorists , and attempting to use the propaganda for advancing attacks on the Second Amendment . The media never mentioned the fact that the Millers were involved in the Occupy Movement and it never informed the public that they were Vegas police informants .  What's worse is that this attempt to smear patriots for standing against the illegal and unconstitutional acts of the DC government and their willing accomplices in the Bureau of Land Management , FBI, and corrupt politicians, both in DC and local, is the fact that this was already dealt with once as Constitutional Sheriff Richard Mack was wrongly connected to the Millers.  Deb Jordan adds , \"Las Vegas Metro Police and the Clark County Sheriff's Department cannot produce any report of violence or destruction of property during the Bundy Civil Rights Protest, except in those instances where the Bureau of Land Management were the perpetrators.\"  \"Sheriff Douglas Gillespie, the then Sheriff of Clarke County said at the time, there was no direct link to the couple's killing spree and Cliven Bundy \u2013 noting that the two had arrived in Las Vegas in January of 2014 and that they had their own agenda for starting a revolution,\" she added. \"Gillespie made clear he had seen NO evidence that the Miller's had come to Nevada seeking out Cliven Bundy.\"  Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore also took time to call out this injustice .  \"This mailer is completely unacceptable she said, and somebody needs to be held accountable for putting this false narrative in Nevada mailboxes,\" she said. \"Clearly the Bundy's Civil Rights were being violated by a United States Government \u2013 Terrorist Organization \u2013 known as the BLM, and we all saw it happening with our own eyes. I was not the only elected official at that protest and what I want to know is, where the hell are they now?\"  Fiore also said :  The level of propaganda being allowed by the Democratic Party must come to an end. We have men whose lives are on the line here in Nevada, and poisoning the jury pool with a downright lie must be dealt with. Not only do we have a case here that is already out of balance because it is being overseen by Judge Gloria Navarro, a left winger who was recommended by Harry Reid and appointed by Barack Obama, and Steven Myhre a Liberal Prosecutor who could obviously care less about fairness and truth, now we add to that more unfairness by allowing a left-wing propaganda machine to send out the message, that Cliven Bundy is directly responsible for the death of two of our Metro Police officers.  This case should be awarded a change in venue in the fairness of law, and my peers should stop being cowards and get back to representing the truth about this case.  Cliven Bundy held a peaceful protest on his own property and even though the Federal Government was not invited, they came anyway.  They literally beat up on his family, set trained snipers on hillsides overlooking his ranch, came at them with stun guns and dogs, tried to restrict them to a first amendment area, killed and buried their cattle on public lands \u2013 in mass graves, threatened everyone who came to a lawful protest with lethal force, had armed helicopters and drones flying all over the place, and now they honestly want the American people to believe the Bundy's were the bad guys \u2014 come on \u2026  The Government has stacked the odds against these men, and I am telling you right now;  I will not stand by and watch them be railroaded by a bunch of left-wing extremist and sent to prison for crimes they did not commit.  This case should not only be moved out of the State of Nevada, it should be dismissed altogether.  I have no regrets for doing the right thing here when it comes to the Bundy's \u2014 As hard as it is, I would rather lose every single race for office, before I would lose one nights sleep knowing I had betrayed them .\"  Fiore is correct. The men in Nevada were more peaceful than the agents who surrounded them. So, what are you going to do America? Will you sit quietly by at your keyboard and rage at the machine, or will you take action?  You can contact the responsible party here: Address : 6233 Dean Martin Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89118","label":1}
{"text":"\u2039 \u203a Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Military Veterans Are Helping To Save Coral Reefs By Combating Climate Change By Arnaldo Rodgers on October 27, 2016 Veterans Are Helping To Save Coral Reefs Find Your Job Now at HireVeterans.com  By Ken Silverstein At a time when the presidential election is dividing families and friends, at least one issue is bridging the gap: giving veterans of the U.S. military a new lease on life by teaching them how to restore coral reefs. And they are trying to enlist big business as their ally. Indeed, the marriage of the ocean's ecology along with those who have served their nation is breathing a new spirit into the coral reefs, which make up a whole community of living organisms that survive on the ocean floor. Those reefs aren't just a thing of beauty. They are also an economic engine, spawning entire enterprises that range from tourism to medicine, including the making of drugs that deal with cancer, arthritis and bacterial infections. \"Our guys are special forces who are physically strong but who are also struggling,\" says Jim Ritterhoff, founder of Force Blue that combines the virtues of military training with coral reef restoration.  Read the Full Article at www.forbes.com >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on October 27, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments  You must be logged in to post a comment Login WHAT'S HOT","label":1}
{"text":"A former top aide to Donald Trump makes an alarming reference to the safety of American troops in a letter sent to Senator John McCain. In the note, Carter Page insists that an attempt from McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and other Republicans interested in probing the role Russia played in the 2016 election could impact U.S. national security.Page previously served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump, and was under FBI investigation for his communications with the Russian government.In the letter, released to the propaganda site Sputnik (which is financed by the Russian government), Page wrote: Any efforts by members of Congress now to undercut potential new approaches to Russia would risk U.S. national security and innumerable service members lives, Page said in a letter to McCain, who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent late on Tuesday. American citizens are largely tired of failed interventionist policies. The number of proxy wars involving Washington and Moscow across the globe still put countless lives at risk today, Page wrote.The Trump team has mounted a full-court press opposing any attempt to investigate and probe Russian attempts to influence the election. Trump himself, responding to President Obama s expulsion of Russian spies and hackers, urged the government to move on from the hacking.The letter from Page appears to be the latest in a coordinated push back on attempts to provide accountability after the election. Republicans have been in an odd position as a result. After decades of pushing back on Russian government, including many of the public statements from Ronald Reagan, they are now backing their incoming president and his praise for the most authoritarian Russian government in decades under Vladimir Putin.By contrast, Democrats have been alarmed at the Russian behavior and Republican disinterest in making them accountable.","label":1}
{"text":"Americans trust Hillary Clinton to handle the threat of terrorism more than any of the leading Republican candidates for president in the wake of the Paris attacks, according to a new poll. The Democratic front-runner leads most of the GOP candidates by a wide margin, and tops GOP front-runner Donald Trump by 8 points and second-place Ben Carson by 9 points. The closest gap is with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is within the margin of error of Clinton, with Clinton at 46% and Bush at 43%. The Washington Post-ABC News poll out Monday asked Americans if they would trust Clinton or one of five Republican candidates more. She led Trump 50% to 42%, Carson 49% to 40%, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz 47% to 40%, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio 47% to 43%. The poll did not ask about Clinton's Democratic opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The poll also found that Americans strongly disapprove of how President Barack Obama is handling ISIS and the threat of terror broadly. Americans disapprove of how Obama is handling ISIS in Iraq and Syria, with 57% who disapprove and 35% who approve. Fifty-four percent also disapprove of his handling of the threat of terrorism, compared with 40% who approve. Questioners surveyed 1,004 American adults by telephone Nov. 16 to Nov. 19, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Sign up for CNN Politics' Nightcap newsletter, serving up today's best and tomorrow's essentials in politics.","label":0}
{"text":"Go to Article Donald Trump was willing to give up a very fulfilling life that took decades to build, so he could step up and take control of an out of control government. He and his family have already sacrificed so much because he chose to put his country first. Making sacrifices is certainly not something loudmouth liberals like Robert DeNiro are accustomed to. DeNiro was very vocal about his opposition to the wildly successful business man Donald J. Trump. He felt so strongly about his hate for Trump that made a video where he angrily stated he'd like to, \"punch him in the face.\" Now that Trump won the election in a landslide, DeNiro has chosen to get behind the Trump rioters who are terrorizing cities across America. Anti-Trump rioters are breaking windows, using baseball bats to smash the windshields of innocent citizens who get trapped in their hellish protests as they try to escape. Women who are taking part in the protests are being punched in the faces by men who are also taking part in the George Soros funded protests. American flags are being burned and families who are walking in major cities are being subjected to the most vile and disgusting, hateful language and images imaginable. If this is the kind of America that Robert DiNero is openly supporting? And if so, why would any American pay to see his movie,\"Comedian\"?  Robert De Niro gave anti-Donald Trump protesters across the United States his backing Friday as he spoke about how \"depressed\" the tycoon's win in the presidential election had made him.  The 73-year-old star was on the red carpet at the world premiere of his new film \"The Comedian\" in Los Angeles when he was asked how he was coping with Trump's victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.  \"How am I doing? I'm very depressed,\" the famously laconic \"Raging Bull\" actor told reporters.  \"We have to just wait and see how things go and keep our eyes ever vigilant on the new government.\"  Asked if he thought the protests were an appropriate response to the outcome of Tuesday's election, he replied: \"Yes, absolutely. Things aren't being done right.\"  Demonstrators took to the streets in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and other US cities for a third straight night on Friday.  In Manhattan, they held signs reading \"Your Wall Can't Stand in Our Way\" \u2014 a reference to the anti-immigration barrier the billionaire has promised to build on the US border with Mexico.  De Niro hasn't minced his words in his criticism of Trump, describing him as \"a punk,\" \"a pig\" and \"an idiot.\"  \"I'd like to punch him in the face,\" he said before the election.  Earlier in the day a town in southern Italy where De Niro's grandparents came from offered the actor a means of escape.  \"If, after the disappointment of Trump, he wants to take refuge here, we are ready to welcome him,\" said Antonio Cerio, the mayor of Ferrazzano.  \"The Comedian,\" De Niro's passion project which took him eight years to bring to the big screen, was part of this year's program for the American Film Institute's annual AFI Fest in Los Angeles. \u2013 Yahoo  Here's a clip of Trump-hater Megyn Kelly promoting DiNero's hateful rant against Donald J. Trump:","label":1}
{"text":"No matter which candidate you are supporting, this is awesome! CNN tried to get a gotcha moment with an interview between Carol Costello and Donald Trump s former butler: He s an incredibly generous person. He s been generous to his employees. He s generous to strangers. He s an entirely a nice guy. He s not the gruff person that people make him out to be. Sure, you attack him, he s going to fight back. But most of the time he s just a nice man. I lasted with him for 20 years, he had to be pretty good.","label":1}
{"text":"A suicide attacker rammed a car full of explosives into a bus leaving Afghanistan s top military training center in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 15 soldiers, including cadets and their trainers, officials said. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a particularly deadly week for Afghanistan s security forces. The bombing was also the second major attack in the capital Kabul in 24 hours after a suicide attack at a Shi ite mosque killed more than 50 worshippers on Friday night. Army personnel were coming out of Marshal Fahim University when a suicide bomber in a car targeted them. Fifteen soldiers who were there for training were killed and four others were wounded, Ministry of Defence spokesman Dawlat Wazari said. A statement from President Ashraf Ghani s office said the bus was carrying trainers and cadets from the defense university on the western outskirts of Kabul that is home to the Afghan military s officer training school and other military academies. Afghan security forces have been struggling against the Taliban since most foreign troops left at the end of 2014. U.S. President Donald Trump committed to an open-ended military training and support mission in Afghanistan in August, despite criticism that it is no closer to peace despite billions of dollars in aid and nearly 16 years of U.S. and allied operations. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for Saturday s car bomb in an email to reporters. The Taliban have been waging an insurgency for a decade and a half in an attempt to overthrow the Western-backed government in Kabul and re-establish a fundamentalist Islamist regime. The insurgents now control or contest about 40 percent of Afghanistan. Afghan security forces including police were being killed at a rate of about 600 per month in battles and targeted bombings earlier this year, according to a U.S. report. This week s toll looked to be particularly heavy for Afghan forces after attacks across the country, including Taliban fighters using captured U.S.-provided Humvee vehicles as vehicle bombs to ram into fortified compounds. On Thursday the Taliban stormed a military base in the southern province of Kandahar, killing at least 43 of the 60 soldiers manning the base, which was left in ruins. Two days earlier dozens of security personnel were killed and scores wounded in Taliban attacks on government compounds in Paktia and Ghazni provinces, with a senior provincial police commander among the dead. In addition to the Taliban, Afghanistan has in recent years seen a rise in violence claimed by fighters who have claimed loyalty to the Islamic State s Middle East-based leadership, although the movement controls little territory in Afghanistan. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Kabul on Friday evening in which a bomber walked into a Shi ite Muslim mosque as people were praying and detonated his explosives. The toll in the attack on Imam Zaman mosque rose to 54 killed, including children, and 55 wounded, a deputy minister for religious affairs, Dai-ul Haq Abid told a news conference on Saturday. Another mosque attack on Friday killed at least 33 people in central Ghor province.","label":0}
{"text":"Over the years, when we Americans have gotten ourselves into trouble, there have been many jokes made by the British people that essentially say that they should never have given Americans our freedom. This was all good-natured ribbing; after all, Britain is one of our closest allies. However, thanks to the election of one Donald J. Trump, no one is laughing now.Prince Charles decided to without mentioning his name, of course take a shot at Donald Trump during a recent speech to the British public. He warned of the dangers of going after certain segments of people based upon their religious beliefs and reminded people that this is exactly what happened in the 1930s, namely with the rise of Hitler and the eventual execution of the Jewish people. The Prince said, in part: We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive to those who adhere to a minority faith. All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s. Of course, we all know of the deeply disturbing proposals Trump has made with regards to American Muslims, with the suggestions of a Muslim ban and a registry of Muslims seemingly still on the table, and many seemed to see this as the Prince s way of warning against those dangerous and bigoted ideas. This sort of thing is right out of Adolf Hitler s playbook, and anyone who cannot see that definitely needs to wake up. Prince Charles continued: The story of the Nativity unfolds with the fleeing of the holy family to escape violent persecution and to have similar compassion for people fleeing persecution in their homelands today. Of course, the bigots in Trump s brainwashed camp will never understand the historical parallels; after all, many of his supporters are incredibly ignorant and bigoted or even outright white supremacists who sincerely believe that anyone who is not straight, white, and Christian SHOULD face discrimination and persecution. Sad, but true. This is somehow the America we live in.Watch the video below via BBC:","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. financier George Soros on Monday denounced a Hungarian government campaign against him as distortions and lies designed to create a false external enemy. Soros, 86, is a Hungarian-born Jew whose longtime support for liberal and open-border values in eastern Europe have put him at odds with right-wing nationalists, in particular the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban, who faces elections in April 2018, last month sent to voters seven statements attributed to Soros that, among other things, called for the European Union to settle a million migrants a year and pay each of them thousands of euros. The statements ... contain distortions and outright lies that deliberately mislead Hungarians about George Soros s views on migrants and refugees, said a statement issued by Soros s Open Society Foundations. With Hungary s health care and education systems in distress and corruption rife, the current government has sought to create an outside enemy to distract citizens. The government selected George Soros for this purpose, it said. The ruling Fidesz party s vice chairman said Soros was engaged in a frontal assault against Hungary. What Soros writes about immigration, in general, is a pro-immigration stance that is open about its disdain for the nation state, Gergely Gulyas told a news conference. Decisions made in Brussels echo that in the field of immigration policy. Days before a recent immigration decision in the European Parliament Soros was meeting with the rapporteur on the subject as well as five different EU commissioners. I am not a conspiracy theorist but this holds some clues. Soros said each of the seven statements was a distortion or lie, refuting them one by one. It said Soros proposed admitting an annual 300,000 refugees to the EU only while strengthening European border controls and making migrant relocations within the bloc voluntary, not mandatory as Budapest asserted. It said Soros proposed no payments to migrants, rather EU subsidies to member states to help them cope with migration. To three other proposals attributed to Soros - that he wanted milder criminal sentences for migrants, to push national cultures and languages into the background to facilitate easier integration of migrants and sanctions against countries that oppose migration, the Open Society statement said, Nowhere has Soros made any such statement(s). This is a lie. Orban once received a Soros grant to study at Britain s Oxford University but later turned against the billionaire philanthropist, vilifying him as an alleged mastermind of a global agenda to weaken nation states. The election campaign of Orban s Fidesz party has built on a series of billboards warning Hungarians, Don t let Soros have the last laugh and showing a laughing Soros in black and white. Some of the billboards have had stinking Jew scrawled on them. The billboards, along with calls from Orban to preserve Hungary s ethnic homogeneity and his endorsement of a World Two Hungarian leader who allied with Nazi Germany, drew accusations of anti-Semitism earlier this year. Alluding to the billboards and to Orban s rejection of immigration, especially from Muslim nations, the Open Society Foundations accused Budapest of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment and employing anti-Semitic tropes reminiscent of the 1930s . Fidesz pulled the billboard campaign just before a July visit to Budapest by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Orban vowed to fight anti-Semitism. The government has denied its campaign was anti-Semitic, and re-launched the billboards in the autumn in promoting a national consultation with voters. Gulyas said it was outrageous that Soros called the campaign anti-Semitic. Immigration which Soros supported was bringing hundreds of thousands of people into Europe whose cultural background was inimical to Jewsm he said. It is not us who should be facing anti-Semitism charges, he said, adding that Fidesz also had nothing against Muslim culture but was against mass immigration of people with a different cultural background to Hungary s Christian roots.","label":0}
{"text":"Are Democrat voters willing to risk what little integrity their party has left to get behind Crooked Hillary? Will they be inspired to go to the polls to elect someone they know has been under criminal investigation for most of her adult life? Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, talked with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon about President Barack Obama s willful disregard for the law as president and the FBI s decision not to charge Hillary Clinton for her actions involving top secret emails. Issa said:We are in a crisis because Hillary Clinton, if the voters do not stop her, will be the next President of the United States. She will, in fact, on Day One say, Pardon me, and she ll mean it. She ll have pardoned herself. She will have, in fact, gone from being a criminal involved in a criminal enterprise obviously, Clinton Cash depicted that and somebody who flaunted the security laws, the privacy laws, the presidential and the Federal Records Act, and gotten away with it.","label":1}
{"text":"Caitlyn Jenner soon takes part in another transition. [According to Us Weekly, the former Olympian has received and accepted an invitation to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump: Caitlyn Jenner accepts invitation to attend Donald Trump's inauguration: https: . pic. twitter. \u2014 Us Weekly (@usweekly) January 11, 2017, Jenner has fought back against charges from the Left that a Trump presidency would create negative effects on women and the LGBT community. Instead, Jenner argued that Trump stands \"very much for women\" in addition to remaining open on some LGBT issues. Jenner, a staunch Republican, gave some idea of what frames her political views in an interview with Bill Simmons in August. \"I believe in the simple things,\" Jenner explained. \"I believe in our Constitution. I think the Republican side, although I've been very disappointed with them over the last 10 to 20 years, has a better opportunity to bring this country back to, really, as close as you can to what it was. \u2026 I have kind of positioned myself with the Republican Party to try to help these people understand, [to help] the Republican Party understand what the issues are for the LBGT community. \" The E! Channel canceled Jenner's show I Am Cait in August, the same month in which she told Bill Simmons about her love of the Constitution and the Republican Party. Surely nothing more than a coincidence there. After supporting Trump and attending his inauguration, Jenner's chances of scoring another show rank only slightly higher than her chances of landing on another Wheaties box. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn","label":0}
{"text":"A few days after the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado Springs that left three dead and twelve injured, the National Rifle Association (NRA) released the dumbest pro-gun commercial likely ever seen. In the months since the commercial was released and in the aftermath of more mass shootings, it has popped up on my television screen multiple times. Every single time I see it my brain melts a little at the sheer absurdity of it.It is titled, Demons At Our Door, (ooohhh scary) and begins with a close-up of a somber NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. He starts out saying, You and I didn t choose to be targets in the age of terror As he is speaking ominous music is playing in the background with black and white photos of ordinary American scenes flash across the screen. He continues: But innocents like us will continue to be slaughtered no amount of bloodshed will every satisfy the demons among us They will come to where we worship, where we educate and where we live. He s so right! They have!Dylann Roof walked into a church and murdered nine people with a firearm while they prayed. Adam Lanza marched into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down twenty first-graders and six educators. Shawn Fuller filled his three- and four-year-old sons bodies with bullets in North Carolina last summer.Gun crazy ammosexuals are murdering our children, mothers, fathers, friends, etc. constantly and no amount of bloodshed has satisfied these people. Never fear, though, Wayne has a solution for us: But when evil knocks on our doors, Americans have a power that no other people on the planet share Tell me more, Savior LaPierre! The full-throated right to defend our families and ourselves with our Second Amendment. Wait WTF? MOAR GUNZ! Really? How is that going to solve the problem?Obviously, I realize that he is fearmongering about scary Mooslims murdering innocent Americans, but it sure didn t sound like it. He perfectly described the right-wing gun lunatics who have waged a campaign of terror on us for decades. Nobody is safe from LaPierre s brethren and no place has been sacred to them.The people we need to fear in this country are not Muslims, they are the people he is actively encouraging to arm themselves. He and his organization are the reason so many of us are dying. His hypocrisy is mind-blowing.Watch it below:","label":1}
{"text":"A man drove a car at the entrance of the Berlin headquarters of Germany s Social Democratic Party (SPD) late on Sunday evening, lightly injuring himself, later telling police that he had intended to commit suicide. Police said the car, which crashed through the first set of glass doors of Willy Brandt House, the SPD s headquarters, was laden with petrol canisters and gas cartridges. The building s sprinkler system extinguished the resulting blaze. Authorities did not identify the man, in part because of a policy of limiting public communications in cases involving suicide, attempted or otherwise, saying only that he was 58 years old. A police spokeswoman said investigators had found nothing to cast doubt on the man s claim that he had been attempting to commit suicide. The incident did not appear to be an attack, she added. It was unclear why he had chosen the SPD, which is about to start negotiations on governing for another four years in coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, as his target. The man was taken to hospital for treatment for superficial injuries to his head. Nobody else was hurt. Police launched an arson inquiry and state security services were also investigating.","label":0}
{"text":"If it weren t for the Electoral College, we would soon be inaugurating President Hillary Clinton. If it weren t for the Inaugural College, we would likely never have had a President George W. Bush and all the disasters that followed. No wonder Republicans love the Electoral College. They haven t won the popular vote for the presidency since 1988. It s also no wonder they want to abolish the popular vote.In an OpEd in the conservative blog, the Reason, writer Eric Boehm argued that ONLY the electors should vote and no one else.It s difficult not to agree with some of the argument. Boehm suggests that the Founding Fathers didn t trust Americans to think for themselves, and there is some truth to that and they were right, to an extent. In their days, literacy was not for the common man and today, well, we fall for fake news.Yes, get rid of the popular vote. For all the money, time, and attention paid to the presidential race, the actual votes cast on Election Day are basically meaningless. In non-swing states, votes are literally meaningless. Even in states where a small number of votes could change the outcome of the election, your vote and mine are still so insignificant as to be practically worthless, as Reason editor in chief Katherine Mangu-Ward explained in detail in 2012.The only reason to hold popular votes for president, as the system functions now, is to select the electors from each state who will participate in the Electoral College.Here s a better way. Hold a national lottery to determine the 538 electors (drawing an appropriate number from the voter rolls of each state) and then let those people choose the president.Source: ReasonAccording to Boehm, this would ensure that people who actually care about the election would be the ones voting. It would also free the rest of us up to do whatever we want to be doing, or whatever we need to do to keeps our lives on track.While it might be appealing to take the masses out of the equation, Boehm s solution does absolutely nothing to solve the problems created by the Electoral College. A vote in Wyoming, for example, is worth four times what a vote in California is worth. In other words, the Electoral College isn t even representative, let alone democratic.The other huge problem with the Electoral College is that it s designed to keep white people and people in power in power. It s also designed to suppress the vote and it leaves women and minorities without a voice at all.Obviously, I can t know what Boehm s motives are, but it s clear that the motives of the Republican party are to keep minorities from voting, wherever they can. The demographics in this country are changing quickly. If it weren t for the Electoral College, it s doubtful we d ever have another Republican president, at least unless they dramatically change their platform. As for the lottery he proposes, well, who s to guarantee the lottery would choose engaged voters? We d still have uninformed voters, just a lot fewer of them.","label":1}
{"text":"\u00ab Previous - Next \u00bb Jesus Christ's 'Burial Bed' discovered In 'Chruch Of The Resurrection'  It has long been debated whether Jesus Christ truly existed and walked the earth. The Bible states that God created a miracle that allowed the Virgin Mary first to be alerted by an angel that she would become pregnant without the assistance of her husband Joseph or any other man. The Truth Of Jesus Christ Revealed  Directly after, she became pregnant, and after giving birth, it was a boy who the angel told to name Jesus Christ and he was given just that name. While on Earth, Jesus would walk the Earth and perform miracles for the non-believers while also spreading the gospel to those who would believe in him. He would preach to those who desired him and his teachings, while also healing those who believed he was the only one who could get them into heaven.  Despite these actions, debates between scholars of religious, scientists and atheists have long argued whether such events whether took place or whether there is a clear scientific reason for the human race being born such as evolution. The debate still continues today. One finding, however, may shut down the long-lived perceptions of scientists and atheists, due to a recent finding what was believed to be a burial slab. A team in Jerusalem found the slab .  In the Bible, the story reads that after being crucified by the Jewish people he was put in a resting place covered by a rock where the dead were often placed. Upon this happening, three days later the rock was removed, and Jesus' body was no longer there, which correlated with Jesus' proclaiming he would be crucified but come back to life three days later.  Researchers are now hoping to study the tomb some more to better understand the history and why and how this tomb would suddenly be found. If enough information is gathered, this can completely reshape history, because the many theories that have been thrown out for hundreds or even thousands of years would be completely negated and Jesus Christ would become the official truth to all people. The belief in science theory would no longer hold any water to the truth of Jesus Christ existing. Evolution would be completely crushed, so this would be one of the grandest findings in the 21st century.  This article (Jesus Christ's 'Burial Bed' discovered In 'Chruch Of The Resurrection') is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv Related Articles","label":1}
{"text":"Large companies and Veteran Friendly employers claim to want veterans to work for them. If they do end up hiring it s usually in an entry level position well below their qualifications. Typically what you would expect an 18 year old to be able to get with a blank resume. How is that even possible when the experience and training the military receives is state of the art? A lot of veterans being only 19 to 21 years old hold more responsibility in their short time in than most middle aged people that choose a different path.Instead of being seen as highly valuable or hard working Americans with great work ethic, we are seen as dangerous and violent. Veteran Jason Talbot says he feels as though this is partly due to the media reporting only when veterans screw up and the movie industry for portraying PTSD in an imperfect light. HypeorlandoThe Trump jobs boom continues, with computer giant IBM announcing that it is set to hire 2,000 veterans of the U.S. Military after a meeting with President Donald J. Trump.IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, who serves on Trump s business advisory board, is to announce the new plans on Friday.The company intends to open 20 new P-TECH schools in the U.S. and will retrain and certify the veterans over a four-year period, Axios reported.Many of the veterans will be trained in the use of IBM s software programs used by law enforcement, cybersecurity, and national security agencies. Breitbart","label":1}
{"text":"Share on Facebook If you only see one astronomical event this year, make it the November supermoon, when the Moon will be the closest to Earth it's been since January 1948. During the event, which will happen on the eve of November 14, the Moon will appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than an average full moon. This is the closest the Moon will get to Earth until 25 November 2034, so you really don't want to miss this one. So how do you get a Supermoon? As NASA explains , because the Moon has an elliptical orbit, one side \u2013 called the perigee \u2013 is about 48,280 km (30,000 miles) closer to Earth than the other side (the apogee). When the Sun, the Moon, and Earth line up as the Moon orbits Earth, that's known as syzygy. (definitely you won't remember the word) When this Earth-Moon-Sun system occurs with the perigee side of the Moon facing us, and the Moon happens to be on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, we get what's called a perigee-syzygy. That causes the Moon to appear much bigger and brighter in our sky than usual, and it's referred to as a Supermoon \u2013 or more technically, a perigee moon. Supermoons aren't all that uncommon \u2013 we just had one on October 16 , and after the November 14 super-supermoon , we'll have another one on December 14. But because the November 14 Moon becomes full within about 2 hours of perigee, it's going to look the biggest it has in nearly seven decades. \"The full moon of November 14 is not only the closest full moon of 2016, but also the closest full moon to date in the 21st century,\" says NASA. \"The full moon won't come this close to Earth again until 25 November 2034.\" Depending on where you're viewing it from, the difference between a Supermoon and a regular full moon can be stark, or difficult to tell. If the Moon is hanging high overhead, and you have no buildings or landmarks to compare it to, it can be tricky to tell that it's larger than usual. But if you're viewing from a spot where the Moon is sitting closer to the horizon, it can create what's known as 'moon illusion'. \"When the moon is near the horizon, it can look unnaturally large when viewed through trees, buildings, or other foreground objects,\" says NASA. \"The effect is an optical illusion, but that fact doesn't take away from the experience.\" Here Are A Couple Of Incredible Supermoon Photos: The full moon silhouettes the statue of the Virgin Mary on top the University of Notre Dame's golden dome on Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo\/South Bend Tribune, Robert Franklin) The Supermoon rises over houses in Olvera, in the southern Spanish province of Cadiz, July 12, 2014. Occurring when a full moon or new moon coincides with the closest approach the moon makes to the Earth, the Supermoon results in a larger-than-usual appearance of the lunar disk. (REUTERS\/Jon Nazca) You'll have some awesome opportunities to take pictures with your phone overnight, but if you want to see it at its absolute biggest, it's expected to reach the peak of its full phase on the morning of November 14 at 8:52am EST (1352 GMT). For those of you in Australia, you'll need to wait until November 15 to see it, and the Moon will hit its full phase at 12:52am AEST. Here's A Taste Of What's To Come: Related:","label":1}
{"text":"At least 24 militants and six soldiers were killed on Sunday in attacks on military outposts in North Sinai, the Egyptian military said in a statement. The statement did not give details, but security and medical sources said about 20 members of the security forces had also been injured when more than 100 militants repeatedly attacked security outposts south of the border town of Sheikh Zuweid. The attackers used car bombs and rocket propelled grenades (RPG), the sources said. The militants also clashed with the security forces using light weapons, the sources added. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. Hours later, air raid sirens went off in a part of southern Israel and the Israeli military said two rockets were fired from Sinai at Israel. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. On Friday, the militant group claimed an attack on security forces in the peninsula that killed at least six soldiers. Egypt is fighting an insurgency by militants affiliated with Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed since 2013, when the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi after mass protests. The militants have also extended their campaign to other parts of Egypt, most recently attacking churches in Cairo and other cities with the loss of dozens of lives.","label":0}
{"text":"HAENGCHI VILLAGE, South Korea \u2014 Each day hundreds of visitors, many with young children, make a pilgrimage to Haengchi Village, where Ban was born 72 years ago. They wander through a replica of Mr. Ban's old house. They learn about his personal journey to the United Nations, where he was secretary general for 10 years. Despite criticism of his tenure there, Mr. Ban is seen as a role model by vast numbers of South Koreans. School textbooks, for example, celebrate him as a \"man who made South Korea proud. \" And many South Koreans want Mr. Ban to be their next president, succeeding Park whom the National Assembly voted to impeach last month on corruption charges. When Mr. Ban arrived home on Jan. 12, crowds of turned out at the airport, waving flags and shouting, \"Ban please save this country!\" Yet there is also deep skepticism about his potential presidential bid, especially among the nation's progressives. They say he is trying to be part of the establishment yet against it at the same time \u2014 a \"Mr. \" in the words of critics. (The word \"ban\" in Korean means \"half. \") Mr. Ban calls himself \"a child of the United Nations,\" part of a generation of South Koreans who remembered United Nations handouts in the destitute years after the Korean War, as well as United Nations Forces who fought in the war. Many of his contemporaries view the United States as South Korea's savior and protector. \"I am ready to give my all to uniting the divided country and making South Korea a nation,\" Mr. Ban said. \"As United Nations secretary general, I have seen why some nations prosper and why some fail. \" His advocates say he is a seasoned, diplomat who can best deal with both North Korea's advancing nuclear weapons program and President Trump, who has raised questions about Washington's trade and defense commitments to its allies. One of the first things Mr. Ban did after his homecoming was support the deployment of an American missile defense system that has angered North Korea and China. Critics say his place in the establishment makes him unsuitable as a figure who can restore trust in government. They believe the political class has been disgraced by Ms. Park's corruption scandal and yet is also desperate for a candidate it can support in an election that could take place as early as this spring. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks whether Ms. Park should be formally unseated. As Mr. Ban crisscrossed the country after his return, paying homage to the dead at national cemeteries and shaking hands with street vendors, his detractors trailed him, holding signs that called him \"an opportunist,\" or worse. \"He has spent his entire life on the sunny side,\" said Moon an opposition leader who comes in ahead of Mr. Ban in surveys on presidential hopefuls. \"He is not the kind who shares the people's desperate desire for change. \" Lee who served as South Korea's prime minister when Mr. Ban was its foreign minister from 2004 to 2006, called Mr. Ban \"a diplomat who looks twice but does not leap. \" Mr. Ban won his United Nations job 10 years ago with the support of Roh then the president, a progressive who handpicked him as a candidate. Critics called Mr. Ban a turncoat when he later appeared to align himself closely with conservatives, including Ms. Park. His popularity rating as a presidential contender has plummeted in the wake of Ms. Park's scandal. Since he has returned home, Mr. Ban has defined himself as a \"progressive conservative\" who can mend an ideologically fractured country. But some local news media suspect him of while he tries to find an ally among the existing political parties or to woo enough lawmakers away to form his own. They also call him a \"slippery eel,\" accusing him of being notoriously vague on tough questions, a trait that has sometimes served him well as a diplomat but now is under harsher scrutiny as he considers a presidential bid. As United Nations secretary general, he praised the deeply unpopular agreement Ms. Park struck with Japan to end a dispute over \"comfort women,\" or Korean sex slaves for Japan's World War II army. But as a presidential hopeful, he began raising questions about the deal, saying that an agreement that failed to satisfy the surviving victims was not enough. With his popularity ratings stuck behind Mr. Moon's, the usually Mr. Ban began bridling at criticism. When journalists recently dogged him with hard questions and then wrote articles that accused him of being over the comfort women issue, he called them names. (He later apologized.) He has also called himself a Mr. Clean, responding to the outcry over Ms. Park's scandal. But to people weary of recurring corruption scandals among political leaders and their families, Mr. Ban's claim has already lost some of its luster this month, the United States indicted his nephew, who is a New York real estate broker, and his younger brother in South Korea on charges of attempting to pay bribes to facilitate a Korean company's sale of a commercial building in Vietnam. Mr. Ban denies involvement. Yet here in his home province of Chungcheong, pride in Mr. Ban is compared to a personality cult by his critics. Streets, marathons and contests are named after him. Songs are written about him, including one that calls him \"Korea's favorite son who embraced five oceans and six continents. \" In Eumseong, the seat of the county that includes this village, a park displays a circle of bronze busts of Mr. Ban and other former United Nations secretaries general. And this hamlet, which has only a dozen households, is a veritable Ban theme park. A monument erected by the local Ban clan calls him a \"sacred peak of the world\" whose \"warm smile dissipated international conflicts. \" Visitors stroll around the \"Ban Peace Land,\" a small park with a granite monument in the shape of the United Nations headquarters surrounded by flags of member states. In the \"Ban Memorial Hall,\" biographical sketches and video clippings tell how Mr. Ban, with his quiet tenacity and \"warm charisma,\" overcame his humble origin and became the \"president of the world. \" \"If I sleep now, I may dream, but if I study now, my dream will come true,\" goes one of the 19 Ban sayings in a museum handout. Older villagers remember the young Mr. Ban walking on a dirt road with his eyes fixated on an English textbook. (His English skills gave him his first big break: As a teenager in 1962, he excelled at an contest, winning a Red trip to the White House, where he met President John F. Kennedy and resolved to become a diplomat.) A roadside motel here added more rooms because so many newlyweds believed that if their firstborns were conceived with the blessing of the energy of the mountains surrounding the village, they would grow up to be luminaries like Mr. Ban. \"I brought my children here so they can learn from Secretary General Ban's life that there is no easy way in life but that if you try hard, your dream comes true,\" said Lee 42, who recently visited here with his daughter and son. Kim 65, a owner who recently visited Mr. Ban's birthplace, said Mr. Ban's \"vast experiences and \" will make him a great president, enabling him to avoid the kind of mistakes that led to Ms. Park's scandal. \"It's an honor to have him in our country,\" he said. But another visitor, Kim also a Ban fan, feared that Mr. Ban might not survive the thrust and parry of domestic politics. \"I wonder why he risks ruining his image by entering domestic politics,\" he said. \"It's a mud pit, and he could end up losing all. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Iraq demanded on Thursday that the U.S. government backtrack on a decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital and summoned the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad to protest the decision. U.S. President Donald Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy on Wednesday and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike. Shi ite-majority Iraq is the only country to have an alliance with regional powerhouse Iran and the United States, who do not see eye-to-eye. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and that it would hand him a memo protesting Trump s decision. We caution against the dangerous repercussions of this decision on the stability of the region and the world, an Iraqi government statement said. The U.S. administration has to backtrack on this decision to stop any dangerous escalation that would fuel extremism and create conditions favorable to terrorism, it said. Iraq s top Shi ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemned the decision and called on the Umma , or Islamic nation, to unite its efforts and reclaim Jerusalem. This decision is condemned and decried, it hurt the feelings of hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims, his office said in a statement. But it won t change the reality that Jerusalem is an occupied land which should return to the sovereignty of its Palestinian owners no matter how long it takes, it said. Dozens of Iraqis protested the decision in Baghdad, carrying signs saying Jerusalem is Arab and vowing to return in greater numbers the following day after Friday prayers. A prominent Iraqi militia, the Iran-backed Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, said Trump s decision could become a legitimate reason to attack U.S. forces in Iraq. Trump s stupid decision to make Jerusalem a capital for the Zionist will be the big spark for removing this entity from the body of the Islamic nation, and a legitimate reason to target American forces, said the group s leader Akram al-Kaabi. The United States is leading an international coalition helping Iraq fight Islamic State and has provided air and ground support. It has more than 5,000 troops in Iraq. Nujaba, which has about 10,000 fighters, is one of the most important militias in Iraq. Though made up of Iraqis, it is loyal to Iran and is helping Tehran create a supply route through Iraq to Damascus. It fights under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a mostly Iranian-backed coalition of Shi ite militias that played a role in combating Islamic State. The PMF is government sanctioned and formally reports to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi s office.","label":0}
{"text":"In a video released by Project Veritas, James O'Keefe exposes what everyone except Democrats have known to be true. There is a lot of voter fraud. In the video, NYC Democratic Commissioner of the Board of Elections Alan Schulkin is caught on hidden camera at a United Federation of Teachers holiday party admitting that there is widespread voter fraud in New York City. \"Yeah, they should ask for your ID. I think there is a lot of voter fraud,\" said Schulkin, who elaborated on the types of voter fraud that are taking place in New York. Voter fraud has been labeled as a right-wing myth by the left, but Schulkin, a Democrat, confirmed everyone's worst fears, going against the grain of his own party. \"You know, I don't think it's too much to ask somebody to show some kind of an ID\u200cLike I say, people don't realize, certain neighborhoods in particular they bus people around to vote,\" said Schulkin. When asked about which type of neighborhoods the busing of voters takes place in, Schulkin confirmed that it was minority neighborhoods, adding, \"they get busses and they move people around.\" Schulkin expressed concern over voter fraud and suggested that Mayor Bill de Blasio was to blame for a lot of the voter fraud taking place in New York City. \"He gave out ID cards. De Blasio. That's in lieu of a driver's license, but you can use it for anything. But, they didn't vet people to see who they really are. Anybody can go in there and say I am Joe Smith, I want an ID card. It's absurd. There's a lot of fraud. Not just voter fraud, all kinds of fraud.\" Despite having disapproval with de Blasio's faulty ID program and widespread voter fraud, Schulkin also expressed concerns over safety in the polling locations as well as the potential for voter fraud, specifically with regards to Muslims wearing burkas. \"They detonate bombs in the public schools, which we are using. That could disrupt the whole election\u200cYour vote doesn't even count, because they can go in there with a burka and you don't know if they are a voter.\" It is clear after listening to a New York City Democratic Election Commissioner that the Democrats are in denial of the fraud that surrounds them. Schulkin confirms that voter ID laws are something that New York City desperately needs as a way to curb voter fraud. Source","label":1}
{"text":"MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 Rafael Nadal completed a slate of throwback singles finals at the Australian Open, beating Grigor Dimitrov, (5) (4) in a battle of 4 hours 56 minutes that started Friday evening and ended at 12:44 Saturday morning. In Sunday's final, Nadal, 30, will face his longtime rival Roger Federer, 35, a nostalgic counterpoint to the women's championship match between Venus Williams, 36, and Serena Williams, 35. Nadal and Federer have not met in a Grand Slam final since the 2011 French Open. Against Dimitrov, Nadal saved three break points in a tightly fought fifth set, including two at . With a backhand winner down the line, he earned the crucial break in the next game to go up by and serve for the match. On Nadal's third match point, Dimitrov's final backhand landed long to end a rally, and Nadal fell to the ground in relief. \"Difficult to describe the emotions,\" he said in his interview. \"First of all, I was tired. \" That last point was emblematic of how the Nadal managed to outlast the Dimitrov, time and again showing his superior physicality in the longest exchanges. The two were more evenly matched on shorter points, but of the 64 points that lasted nine or more shots, Nadal won 39. Dimitrov, 25, had reached only one previous Grand Slam semifinal, at Wimbledon in 2014, but he rarely seemed daunted by the occasion. Already to start the year and a title in Brisbane to his name, Dimitrov frequently displayed improved power and consistency in the match, even as it wore on into the fifth set, striking 79 winners to 45 for Nadal. But he could not match Nadal's ability to turn defense into offense few can. Dimitrov's backhand was particularly exposed by Nadal's attacks and counted for the majority of his forced and unforced errors. \"It's never easy to lose a match like that,\" Dimitrov said. \"I'm happy, though, with a lot of things. I'm going to stay positive and keep my head up high. For sure, Rafa deserves pretty much all the credit right now since he's such a fighter, such a competitor. At the same time it was an honor for me to play a match like that against him. It also shows me that I'm in a good way, I'm on the right path. \" Nadal started the match with dominant serving, winning 90 percent of points on his serve in the first set. But in the second set, Nadal dropped serve three times and Dimitrov twice. Dimitrov, former player who tumbled to 40th last summer, held firm after Nadal won the third set in a tiebreaker. Neither player faced a break point in the fourth set, won by Dimitrov in another tiebreaker. Nadal, a major champion, last reached a Grand Slam final at the 2014 French Open, which he won. He last reached a final in Melbourne earlier that year, losing to Stan Wawrinka. Nadal has missed large stretches of competition in recent years because of various injuries, including a wrist ailment that forced him out of the French Open and Wimbledon last year. \"I never, ever dreamed to be back in a final of the Australian Open, the second tournament of the year, after a lot of months without competing,\" Nadal said on the court after the match. \"But here I am, and I feel lucky, and I feel very, very happy. \" Sunday's match will be the ninth Grand Slam final between Federer and Nadal, and their second here. In their previous one in 2009, Nadal beat Federer, (3) a match perhaps best remembered for Federer's tearful speech in the trophy ceremony. That final was also preceded by an epic semifinal for Nadal, who needed 5 hours 14 minutes to put away Fernando Verdasco in five sets. Federer, the No. 17 seed, needed five sets Thursday to take his semifinal against Wawrinka, but that match was nearly two hours shorter than Nadal's win Friday. Nadal has won 23 of 34 matches against Federer, and 9 of 11 meetings at Grand Slam events. Nadal's 14 Grand Slam titles is second among active players, behind Federer's 17. Federer has not won a major tournament since Wimbledon in 2012. \"It's special to play with Roger again in a final of a Grand Slam,\" Nadal said. \"I cannot lie. It's great. It's exciting for me, and for both of us, that we're still there and we're still fighting for important events. \" The women's final Saturday night also will feature the two active players with the most Grand Slam singles titles, with the winner Serena Williams meeting her sister, the winner Venus Williams. This is the first Grand Slam tournament in the Open era in which all four singles finalists are 30 or older.","label":0}
{"text":"An analysis by the Washington Post has discovered that in the first four months of 2016, there have been 23 people in America that have been shot by toddlers. Our gun obsessed nation has gotten to the point where deadly weapons in the hands of children too young for kindergarten actually has a body count.Last year, a Washington Post analysis found that toddlers were finding guns and shooting people at a rate of about one a week. This year, that pace has accelerated. There have been at least 23 toddler-involved shootings since Jan. 1, compared with 18 over the same period last year.In the vast majority of cases, the children accidentally shoot themselves. That s happened 18 times this year, and in nine of those cases the children died of their wounds.Toddlers have shot other people five times this year.The most recent instance of this problem grabbing national headlines was when a two-year-old Milwaukee child got ahold of a gun carelessly placed on the backseat of a car and shot his mother, 26-year-old Patrice Price, killing her.Despite these horrific incidents, unacceptable in so much of the advanced, modern world but treated in America as if there s nothing to be done, the will to do anything about guns at the federal level is almost nonexistent.Intimidated by the NRA flexing its muscles to oppose pro-gun safety political candidates, Republicans and a few Democrats in Congress have refused to bring up legislation about guns. If any action has occurred, it has been in the states, and largely in states with a large Democratic majority in the northeast which leaves citizens in the rest of the country unprotected thanks to some strategically placed campaign contributions.Recently the NRA s media arm, NRA News, went after Hillary Clinton because she has argued in favor of legislation that the gun lobby opposes. More of that sort of behavior is to be expected in the general election, but they did the same against President Obama in 2008 and 2012, obviously unsuccessfully. Despite their bravado and paid political attackers, their bark at the polls is far louder than their bite. If politicians ignored the noise, gun legislation could actually pass despite the NRA s insistence.","label":1}
{"text":"I am immediately calling for an investigation into the special treatment that the FBI gave Hillary Clinton. Rep. Gaetz: \"I am immediately calling for an investigation into the special treatment that the FBI gave Hillary Clinton.\" #IngrahamAngle pic.twitter.com\/EHkQfyeWDK Fox News (@FoxNews) November 22, 2017Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Goetz is calling for an investigation into why Hillary Clinton s FBI case was labelled special by the FBI s Andrew McCabe:The Hill reports:Shortly before last year s election, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrote an email on his official government account stating that the Hillary Clinton email probe had been given special status, according to documents released Wednesday.McCabe s Oct. 23, 2016, email to press officials in the FBI said the probe was under the control of a small group of high-ranking people at the FBI s headquarters in Washington. As I now know the decision was made to investigate it at HQ with a small team, McCabe wrote in the email. He said he had no input when the Clinton email investigation started in summer 2015, while he was serving as assistant director in charge of the FBI s Washington office. [The Washington office] provided some personnel for the effort but it was referred to as a special and I was not given any details about it, he wrote.FBI officials on Wednesday night refused to answer what McCabe meant by calling the Clinton email probe a special or why it was restricted to a small team at headquarters when it began. We don t have anything to add to the documents that were released, bureau spokeswoman Carol Cratty wrote The Hill.The note was contained in more than 70 pages of emails the FBI released on its public records site known as The Vault.The emails chronicled McCabe s efforts to address a separate controversy involving his wife s 2015 campaign for political office.McCabe s references to a special status for the Clinton probe are likely to be used as ammunition by Republican lawmakers critical of former FBI Director James Comey s handling of the Clinton investigation.Remember that the DOJ s Loretta Lynch also wanted Clinton s case to be called an incident and not an investigation. It looks like all intel agencies were doing all they could to protect Clinton. Was it to save themselves from exposure in the Uranium One case or something else?","label":1}
{"text":"On Thursday's broadcast of MSNBC's \"Morning Joe,\" Senator Angus King ( ) argued that Russian interference in the 2016 election is \"the most serious attack on the United States since September 11th,\" and that Attorney General Jeff Sessions \"doesn't seem very interested in it. \" King said, \"The other thing that was troubling though, that didn't get as much publicity, I asked him [Sessions] did you ever get a briefing on the \u2014 what the Russians did? Did you seek a briefing? Did you ask about it? And he said, no, I only know what I read in the papers. This is the most serious attack on the United States since September 11th, and the chief law enforcement officer doesn't seem very interested in it. \" ( Daily Caller) Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett","label":0}
{"text":"Russia's newly installed ambassador to Washington said on Friday that he had a warm and constructive meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian news agencies reported. \"I was received by President Trump, I presented my credentials. For my part I said that we are looking forward to an improvement in the relations between our two countries,\" Tass news agency quoted the ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, as saying. \"President Trump received me in a warm and friendly way ... The atmosphere was very genial, constructive and welcoming. At least, that was my personal feeling,\" Russia's RIA news agency quoted Antonov as saying. \"We, together with his colleagues, his staff, agreed to continue our cooperation.\" \"I said that I look forward to working with the U.S government in the area of Russian-American mutual interests. And I said that, as far as Russia is concerned, we are ready to do that, we're ready to take concrete steps.\" Antonov took over as ambassador from Sergei Kislyak, whose contacts with members of Trump's campaign team made him a central figure in the row over Russian influence on last year's U.S. presidential election. A special counsel and congressional panels are investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the election, and whether members of the Trump campaign had improper contacts with figures linked to the Russian state. Russia denies trying to interfere in the election. Antonov, born in 1955, is a diplomat by training and before his posting to Washington was a deputy foreign minister. Between 2011 and 2016, he served as deputy defense minister, a period that coincided with Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. Two years ago, the European Union put him on its list of officials subject to Ukraine-related sanctions, citing his involvement in supporting the deployment of Russian troops to Ukraine.","label":0}
{"text":"Many of us have been ready to impeach Donald Trump since election night. However, the downside to this scenario was the prospect of Vice President Mike Pence taking his place. Well, thanks to the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, we may not have to worry about ending up with President Pence when we finally manage to get rid of Trump.On Thursday, Comey testified about how Trump had pressured him to drop his investigation into Mike Flynn s shady Russian ties and tried to back him into a loyalty pledge. Buried in his testimony, which contained one bombshell after another, was this little tidbit: Pence, who was the head of Trump s transition team, knew damn well that Flynn was compromised by not one but two foreign governments and he allowed him to be named National Security Adviser anyway. In a moment that went largely unnoticed, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked Comey if Pence was aware of Flynn s connections to Russia. The former head of the FBI said that yes, Pence knew. He apparently just didn t care. My understanding is that he was, Comey replied, adding that he got this information from then acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who also ended up fired after angering Trump.This statement may become very important in coming months as we move closer and closer towards impeaching Trump. If Pence was in on all of this then he is just as dirty as Trump and the rest of his crooked cronies. If there was anybody who still thought that maybe Pence is just too oblivious to what s going on around him to notice all the shady sh*t, Comey just cleared that up with his testimony. Pence knew. He knew and still allowed Flynn to have access to our country s most sensitive information. And now, the American people know too.Watch Comey shoot down Pence s hopes of ever becoming president here:","label":1}
{"text":"He's best known for bankrolling Republicans Rick Santorum and Scott Walker afloat, but Foster Friess has a new cause a long way from D.C. \"There is no reason why this monopoly [for equipping] should be owned by the U.S. government. I think there's a role for private organizations to generate private support to help the Kurds,\" said Audino, who as a soldier was stationed in Kurdistan for a year. \"Foster and I are certainly talking about it, in concept\u2026 No one's pulled the trigger on it.\" \"When I visited Camp Black Tiger I was amazed to see how many of the fighters had come out of retirement and were in their 40s and 50s,\" Friess said. \"I had tears in my eyes to see the Yazidis [an ethnic minority]... as I passed out 5,000 blankets to them which our family had purchased from Turkey. To think they had to leave their homes and everything they owned and only had the clothes on their backs was indeed sad.\" \"[Friess is] shooting for practical targets. What's the most practical target right now? The easiest target right now is, let's help the United States directly equip the Kurds,\" said Brig. Gen. Audino, who serves as an informal adviser to Friess on Kurdish issues. \"He has a genuinely good heart, and he wants to stay on the right side of history\u2026 He sees the awful slaughter of innocents in Iraq and Syria right now. He doesn't see that ending at Iraqi and Syrian borders.\" Small wonder that rumors have been spreading among anti-ISIS Westerners that Friess could soon be bankrolling their efforts. Matthew VanDyke runs a security contracting firm called Sons of Liberty International in Iraq, which provides free military training to local Christians in Kurdish and Iraqi areas. He said he had heard that Friess \"pledged to help fund the Peshmerga,\" and had been looking to get in touch with him ever since. \"The Kurds have been seen as protectors of the Christians, especially since the fall of Saddam in 2003, when the Christians began to be pushed out of and even murdered in Arab Iraq. By contrast the Christians have been thriving in the Kurdish region of Iraq,\" said Professor Michael Gunter, who has written 11 books on the Kurdish people. If a high-profile Christian American businessman were to privately fund weapons in the ISIS battlespace, it would be a problematic foray into an already-nasty sectarian situation. So far Friess has stayed away from that role. While the Kurds welcome any help they can get from Christian Americans, ISIS has framed its war as one of them versus the \"crusaders.\" And there may be some coming legislative efforts: Sen. John Barrasso, Gabbard and others huddled with Friess in Graham's conference room last month to work on a bill called the Kurdish Emergency Relief Act, the Washington Examiner reported, which would involve some $500 million in aid for the Kurdish people. The legislation has not yet been introduced.","label":0}
{"text":"The Secret Service, tasked with simultaneously protecting President Barack Obama and some of the Republican and Democratic candidates now running to replace him next year, is facing a manpower shortfall at a time of peak demand, the agency told Congress on Tuesday. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy told a House Appropriations panel the agency is focused on \"human capital needs across the organization\" and accruing enough agents to ease overtime demands on the existing force. The Secret Service hopes to have 7,600 agents in its ranks by fiscal year 2019, up from the current figure of approximately 6,200, Committee Chairman John Carter of Texas said during Tuesday's hearing. While Clancy said the Secret Service was making progress in hiring more agents, \"we have yet to see the desired impact on our overall staffing levels due to increased attrition.\" Clancy testified at a hearing to review the agency's funding needs for the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1. Demands of the mission are peaking, he added, with Republican and Democratic presidential nominating conventions slated for this summer, the general elections in November and presidential inaugural events in January. Carter cited the loss of 19 agents in the last four months and the large amounts of overtime hours agents have had to put in on the president's detail, on the campaign trail and in the uniformed division. Carter, a Republican, questioned whether the service's hiring goals were \"obtainable\" with the agency \"losing more agents than they have brought on board.\" Clancy responded that the agency is exploring initiatives to lure more applicants and retain current agents. The Secret Service was rocked in 2012 when it surfaced that some agents working a presidential trip to Colombia were involved with prostitutes. In 2014, agents failed to stop a man who jumped the White House fence, ran across the lawn and made it into the mansion before he was apprehended. More recently, during a rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in Radford, Virginia, a Time magazine photographer was grabbed by the neck and shoved to the ground by a Secret Service agent. An agency spokeswoman said the service is investigating the incident. Besides protecting the president and presidential candidates, Secret Service agents investigate financial crimes such as counterfeiting of U.S. currency and credit card and fraud.","label":0}
{"text":"Ed Ou, a Canadian freelance photojournalist, spent 10 years covering the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. He endured aggressive interrogations at border crossings in some of the world's most authoritarian nations. But he says a recent confrontation at the United States border has left him shaken. The incident has been criticized by advocates of privacy and press freedom. Mr. Ou, 30, said he was detained on Oct. 1 for more than six hours when he tried to fly from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Bismarck, N. D. to cover the protests of an oil pipeline project near the Standing Rock reservation. He was ultimately denied entry, and he said though he was not given a reason, he was told his name matched that of a \"person of interest. \" During the hours of detention, he was asked to describe how and why he had traveled to each country he had visited in the past five years, and questioned about whether he had seen anyone die. Agents requested access to his phones and to look through his photos so that they could make sure he was \"not posing next to any dead bodies,\" he said. When he refused, citing the need to protect his sources as a journalist, they took the phones, he said. The phones were later returned and showed signs that the SIM cards had been replaced, he said. Giving up the contents of his private phone would be akin to a doctor giving up confidential patient information, he said. \"I'm not going to open my phone for any other country,\" Mr. Ou, a New York Times contributor who was an intern for the news organization in 2010, said in a phone interview on Thursday from Nunavut, Canada. \"I can't be expected to do the same for the U. S. \" Jason Givens, a United States Customs and Border Protection spokesman, declined to comment on Mr. Ou's case, citing privacy laws. But he said agents had inspected 4, 444 cellphones and 320 other electronic devices in 2015, amounting to 0. 0012 percent of the 383 million arrivals. \"Keeping America safe and enforcing our nation's laws in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully examine all materials entering the U. S.,\" Mr. Givens said in a statement on Thursday. The American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security, protesting Mr. Ou's treatment and calling it \"harassing and exceptionally intrusive. \" It demanded an explanation of his detention, and asked for a guarantee that any copies of his belongings had been destroyed. Agents made photocopies of several documents in his possession, including a personal journal, Mr. Ou said. It should have been clear to agents that Mr. Ou was a working journalist who had traveled freely to the United States in the past and had longstanding connections to American news agencies, Hugh Handeyside, a lawyer, wrote in the A. C. L. U. letter. \"We believe that C. B. P. took advantage of Mr. Ou's application for admission to engage in an opportunistic fishing expedition for sensitive and confidential information that Mr. Ou had gathered through his activities in Turkey, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere,\" he wrote. Electronic privacy advocates said the episode illustrated a governmental loophole that's especially problematic for journalists but that could apply to anyone: Without a warrant, American border agents can legally search digital devices that they wouldn't be able to touch anywhere else. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, but the Supreme Court carved out space for border patrol agents to examine personal property without a warrant, said Sophia Cope, a staff lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that defends civil liberties in the digital age. Security officers at United States airports don't need a judge's permission to search a traveler's backpack before he or she boards a flight the way a police officer would when stopping someone on the street. But it has to be for the narrow purpose of assuring immigration or security compliance, she said. The privacy implications of examining a cellphone are entirely different from rifling through a suitcase, which contains limited personal information, Ms. Cope said. The law regarding digital devices is \"really unsettled,\" she said. \"The government is saying the old rule at the border applies to digital devices, even though our entire lives are on these devices,\" Ms. Cope said. A Homeland Security policy from 2009 says that searching digital devices requires the owner of the digital device to be present during the search, though it doesn't guarantee the owner can monitor the search. Agents can make copies of the data, but the copies must be destroyed within seven days if there is no probable cause to seize it. Devices can be detained for up to five days, barring \"extenuating circumstances. \" The policy's assurance that agents would \"protect that information from unauthorized disclosure\" is not particularly comforting for journalists, who fear the contents of their devices could unmask sources who would be in danger if the government learned their identities. Maria a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, recounted a similar episode in a Facebook post in July after she was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and asked to turn over her cellphones. The request was eventually withdrawn after Ms. a United States citizen traveling on an American passport, objected and asked to call lawyers for her newspaper. Trevor Timm, the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said that for journalists like Mr. Ou who have worked in the Middle East to be treated with suspicion, potentially forcing them to break promises of confidentiality to sources just to enter the country, sets a poor international precedent, he said. \"If this is requisite for journalists who are not U. S. citizens to enter the U. S. that is an enormous violation of press freedom,\" he said. Mr. Ou was assigned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to cover the Standing Rock protests as part of a project on indigenous health care in North America. He said the agents knew he intended to cover the protests, which have prompted the police to use rubber bullets, pepper spray and water cannons against hundreds of people. His experience at the border led to an \"awful realization,\" Mr. Ou said: \"That wall of na\u00efvet\u00e9 that I had about the freedom of the press in the U. S. kind of shattered at that moment. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Hillary Clinton's claim on Wednesday that she lost the 2016 presidential election in part because of the proliferation of \"fake news\" is contradicted by an extensive study that found fake news didn't significantly impact the outcome of the election. [That study recently received a positive nod from the Poynter Institute, the group helping Facebook determine whether certain news stories are \"disputed. \" Speaking at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Clinton claimed that she lost the election due a plot in which fake news was disseminated on social media in a conspiracy orchestrated by Russian agents and bots. \"Here's what the other side was doing, and they were in a different arena,\" she stated, according to a transcript from the event organizers. \"Through content farms, through an enormous investment in falsehoods, fake news, call it what you will. \" Without citing evidence, Clinton claimed that \"1, 000 Russian agents\" were behind the conspiracy to disseminate fake information about her: The other side was using content that was just false, and delivering it in a very personalized way, both sort of above the radar screen and below. And you know, look, I'm not a tech expert by any stretch of the imagination. That really influenced the information that people were relying on. And there have been some studies done since the election that if you look \u2014 let's pick Facebook. If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake. They were connected to, as we now know, the 1, 000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages. Clinton's claim that voters were influenced by fake news contrasts with a study titled \"Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,\" by economists Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford University and Hunt Allcott of New York University. The research utilized web browsing data, a database of what the authors claimed were fake news stories and a online survey about news trends. The study concluded: Our data suggest that social media were not the most important source of election news, and even the most widely circulated fake news stories were seen by only a small fraction of Americans. For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake news story would need to have convinced about 0. 7 percent of Clinton voters and who saw it to shift their votes to Trump, a persuasion rate equivalent to seeing 36 television campaign ads. Poynter's Chief Media Writer James Warren reported on the study: In sum, they conclude that the role of social media was overstated, with television remaining by far the primary vehicle for consuming political news. Just 14 percent of Americans deemed social media the primary source of their campaign news, according to their research. In addition, while fake news that favored Trump far exceeded that favoring Clinton, few Americans actually recalled the specifics of the stories and fewer believed them. \"For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake article would need to have had the same persuasive effect as 36 television campaign ads,\" they conclude. Aaron Klein is Breitbart's Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, \"Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. \" Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. With research by Joshua Klein.","label":0}
{"text":"Some of America s pretend patriots have taken over the federal building of a wildlife reserve in Oregon. Over the weekend as the internet and news organizations were abuzz with news of this outrageous and illegal activity, one entity was suspiciously and conspicuously missing from the equation: The federal government. Yes, you read that right. At first, the government had absolutely no plans to take action against these people. Why? Because they are white Christians. That really is it. Look at how, in stark contrast, they treat Black Lives Matter protesters, or think of how this situation would have played out if these people had been brown Muslims instead.Well, finally, the government has decided to do its job. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now monitoring the situation with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation by self proclaimed militia members and supposed defenders of the Constitution, which they have clearly not read and understood. If they had, they would not be doing this at all.The occupation is taking place in Harney County, where the sheriff there, David. M. Ward, has told his law abiding citizens to avoid the situation. While the militia members claim to be there defending local ranchers, Ward says that the group s intent is something much more sinister: These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States. As per usual with such people, known anti-government extremist Jon Ritzheimer has warned authorities that the group is armed: Yes, there are some people that are armed. We need to defend our rights. That s what the Second Amendment is there for, people. Senator Ron Wyden (D- Oregon), who has been in touch with the local authorities on this ongoing situation, says that the FBI is definitely monitoring things: The FBI is on this every minute. But based on comments from what we ve heard in the community and what s been reported, we may be in just the early stages of this. Indeed. These are right-wing nuts, some of whom have already said that they are prepared to die here. They won t give up easily.This is nothing more than bona fide domestic terrorism. Arrest them. All of them. They really need to be made to realize that they are not above the law.Americans seem to be so worried about terrorism. Well, we re growing it right here at home and we aren t doing anything about it. And that s the problem.","label":1}
{"text":"German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday voiced her support for tougher U.N. sanctions against North Korea in a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a German government spokesman said. There was agreement that the conflict about North Korea s nuclear armament must be resolved peacefully, Steffen Seibert said in a statement. Merkel told Putin she supported efforts of the U.N. Security Council to rapidly adopt further sanctions against North Korea to make Pyongyang change its course, he added. Merkel also welcomed Russia s proposal of deploying U.N. peacekeepers to address the Ukraine crisis, but stressed that the proposed mandate needed to be expanded, Seibert said. Putin signaled his willingness to look into the idea of deploying U.N. peacekeepers not only on the contact line in the Donbass region, but also in other areas in eastern Ukraine to protect OSCE officials monitoring the Minsk peace deal, he added.","label":0}
{"text":"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that he had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to implement United Nations sanctions on North Korea strictly. On North Korea, we have agreed to implement U.N. sanctions strictly and to continue cooperating closely, Abe told reporters after meeting Putin on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Danang, Vietnam.","label":0}
{"text":"It was an old Soviet tradition: No national art exhibition in Moscow was complete without at least one work from every region. Never mind that geographical balance often resulted in kitsch. Look at \"The People's Friendship Fountain,\" for example, which dominates a major park here that is still called the Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy. (Soviet, or what?) The fountain consists of 16 gilded maidens, each in the national costume of one republic of the Soviet Union, proffering local bounty like wheat or corn. So the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art faced a certain quandary as it took on the challenge of assembling the first representative sample of contemporary art today in Russia \u2014 did it have to be a traditional geographic catalog, or would some other criterion work for a country that covers 11 time zones. \"The country is so huge that we do not always understand it,\" said Daria Kotova, the spokeswoman for Garage. The museum was developed by the art collector Dasha Zhukova and her oil billionaire husband, Roman A. Abramovich. Six curators scoured some 40 cities, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, examining works by hundreds of artists and whittling the selection down to 68 works in seven representative categories. \"We discovered criteria, categories, optics and dimensions that we could not have in any way imagined before our trips,\" said Tatiana Volkova, one of the curators. The resulting exhibition, given the somewhat ambitious title of the Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, opened on March 10 for two months to mixed reviews, underscoring just how difficult it is to boil down such a vast, complex country to just one exhibition. Despite the effort to find unknown talent in the hinterlands, there was a high percentage of works from Moscow and St. Petersburg, critics found. At least one argued that a universal theme would have been better than seven. \"I would have liked to see more new, but maybe there is none,\" Olga Kabanova, the art critic for the Vedomosti newspaper, said in an interview. \"The Triennial does give an understanding of contemporary art in Russia \u2014 there are national stars and there are unknown artists worthy of attention and support. \" A total of 200 portfolios are to be displayed eventually on the Triennial's website. The Garage Museum has been housed here since 2015 in a former cafeteria in Gorky Park retrofitted by Rem Koolhaas. The founders helped kindle something of a rage among Moscow tycoons for building private art museums, with about 10 open or under construction. Russian plutocrats buy plenty of pricey Western art, too, but like a dowager who wears only her paste jewels in public, they tend to stash their Picassos, Bacons and Richters abroad. Given the fickle hand of Russian law, expensive art serves not least as savings accounts out of reach over the border. Instead, these new institutions mostly specialize in Russian art from different epochs. Ms. Zhukova, from the outset, said she wanted to use Garage to explore Russian contemporary art, and from there give it international exposure. The curators excavated some unexpected works in unexpected places. Take Chechnya. That Northern Caucasian republic is best known as the rather brutal fief of Ramzan Kadyrov, the warlord who gained added notoriety this month amid accusations that his security goon squads have been systematically arresting and murdering homosexuals. Yet Ekaterina Inozemtseva, one of the curators, discovered two striking works there. One included in the \"Common Language\" category is a short video by a budding filmmaker, Zaurbek Tsugaev, 33, titled \" . \" In it, an elderly grandmother runs her hands over an iPhone, seemingly trying to figure out how it works. \"What a contrast between the landscape of her hands and the flatness of the new gadget,\" Ms. Inozemtseva said during a tour of the show. Another piece from Chechnya in the \"Fidelity to Place\" category consisted of metal house numbers from a Grozny street, with half missing at random. The artist, Aslan Gaisumov, 25, said he searched for artifacts from old Grozny and the 50 battered plaques were all he could find from one of the many streets leveled during recent wars with Russia. \"To me that was like a that brought back a certain memory before the war,\" said Roxana Marcoci, a senior curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, who was in Moscow for the Triennial's opening. \"It was done in a way that was postconceptual, but dealt with history. \" Ms. Marcoci found the \"Art in Action\" category \u2014 basically political art \u2014 especially intriguing because Russian domestic politics rarely make headlines abroad. Much of the art in this section, often created by collectives, focused on the plight of Russian women. For example, a piece by the Nadenka Creative Association in Omsk, in southern Siberia, took everyday objects like pot holders or panties and embroidered them with important dates or facts related to women. The panties, for example, read \"1920 1936 1955 my right for an abortion,\" referring to the years when abortion laws came into effect. One embroidered oven mitt read: \"As a result of domestic violence in Russia more than 14, 000 women die per year. Legislation in domestic violence has been adopted in 140 countries but not Russia. Happy New 2016!\" Ms. Inozemtseva said that she had seen so many photography portfolios that by the time she reached Kaliningrad and someone mentioned a talented photographer, her first reaction was, \" Please, God, no!\" One portfolio, \"My Friend the Street Musician,\" focused on Oleg Fomin, a Novosibirsk musician. Here is Mr. Fomin performing in the subway. There he is soaking in his bathtub. \"He is a Siberian playboy with a star's face,\" said the photographer, Evgeny Ivanov, 58. \"He was the soul of the city, everyone knew him. \" Mr. Fomin died soon after the series was completed, and the next set of photographs showed his apartment swept clean by relatives of all the he had amassed over decades. \"That is the cycle of life,\" shrugged the photographer. Given the country's history, periodic references to Soviet life were inevitable. The choreographer Sasha Pirogova, 31, created the video \"Queue,\" of a dance piece based on a famous novel by Vladimir Sorokin. The book focused in detail on the almost biological life of the endless lines for everything in the Soviet Union. In \"Queue,\" some performers inked their position in line \u2014 No. 1, 227, for example \u2014 right on their bodies as the line appeared to continue for eternity. Ms. Pirogova will be among the artists representing Russia in the next Venice Biennale. The \"Master Figure\" category grouped artists with reputations. Ilgizar Khasanov, 58, from the Kazan in the south, presented a trilogy, \"Female, Male, Red,\" addressing gender issues. The striking centerpiece, \"Red,\" was inspired by starkly different gender roles in the Soviet Union. It consisted of a giant mobile made up of dozens of ordinary objects \u2014 all Communist red \u2014 used by the two sexes as they matured. Objects like a hairbrush and a dress are on one side male icons like boxing gloves and toy cars on the other. Mr. Khasanov said that he was struck by the growing nostalgia for the Soviet Union despite its many problems, so he wanted to explore why people \"want to become Soviet again. \" The plethora of work disguised just how hard it is to become an artist, noted Taus Makhacheva, 33, whose work \"The Way of an Object\" consisted of three puppets, modeled on museum objects from her native Dagestan, which take on a life of their own. The Soviet Union treated artists well, she noted, granting them subsidized apartments, studios and vacations, and helping to distribute their work. No art scene in any Russian city receives any remotely similar support, she said. \"All these scenes exist 'despite' \u2014 despite the reality, despite no support, despite everything,\" Ms. Makhacheva said. \"It is art despite, which makes it incredibly real and incredibly beautiful. \" Over all, both locals and outsiders find the Triennial uneven, but ultimately an engaging start toward exposing contemporary Russian art to the world. Ms. Marcoci, from MoMA, called the exhibition \"an \" with a \"conversational feel. \" \"It is the first triennial of Russian art, but what is Russia?\" she said. \"Russia is a place grounded in multiple cultures \u2014 it is uneven, but it felt like an exhibition with a lot of energy and an element of disruptiveness. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah will endorse Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz on Thursday, becoming the first member of the Senate to back Cruz, BuzzFeed News and Politico reported. Politico reported the pair would make the announcement later on Thursday at an event in Miami. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has slammed Cruz on the campaign trail for not having received any endorsements from fellow senators. Lee's office could not confirm the reports. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Writing by Eric Beech) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"Cancers of the colon and rectum have been declining in older adults in recent decades and have always been considered rare in young people. But scientists are reporting a sharp rise in colorectal cancers in adults as young as their 20s and 30s, an ominous trend. The vast majority of colorectal cancers are still found in older people, with nearly 90 percent of all cases diagnosed in people over 50. But a new study from the American Cancer Society that analyzed cancer incidence by birth year found that colorectal cancer rates, which had dropped steadily for people born between 1890 and 1950, have been increasing for every generation born since 1950. Experts aren't sure why. Rectal cancers are rising particularly sharply, far faster than cancers in other parts of the large intestine or colon. The American Cancer Society estimates about 13, 500 new cases of colon and rectal cancers will be diagnosed in Americans under 50 this year, with more than 95, 500 cases of colon cancer and nearly 40, 000 cases of rectal cancer in all age groups. \"People born in 1990, like my son, have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer\" compared to the risk someone born in 1950 faced at a comparable age, said Rebecca Siegel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society and the lead author of the new report, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on Tuesday. And though the absolute risk is still small in younger people, she said, \"They carry the risk forward with them as they age. \" It is the upward trend that is worrisome: The risk of colon cancer for individuals who were born in 1990 was five per million people in that birth group, up from three per million at the same stage of life for those born in 1950. And the risk of rectal cancer for those born in 1990 was four per million, up from 0. 9 per million for those born in 1950. Dr. Thomas Weber, a professor of surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center who has served on the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and who was not involved in the new study, said the latest research confirms the problem is real and increasing. \"There is no mistaking these dramatic increases, especially for rectal cancers,\" he said, noting that the number of new colorectal cancers among people under 50 each year exceeds the total number of new cases of less common cancers like Hodgkin's lymphoma. Young people with colorectal cancer run the added risk of getting a diagnosis later in the course of their disease, when the cancer may be less treatable, because doctors typically don't consider the diagnosis at such a young age. Kirsten Freiborg, who is now 27, complained to doctors repeatedly about having blood in her stool when she was in college, but was told she had internal hemorrhoids. She was finally given a diagnosis of advanced colon cancer a month before her graduation, when she was 22. Ms. Freiborg's mother, a registered nurse, \"kept pushing\" for more testing, Ms. Freiborg said, and eventually convinced physicians to send her for a procedure called a flexible sigmoidoscopy, which detected a large tumor in Ms. Freiborg's colon. \"I still remember getting the phone call from the doctor who did the procedure, who was completely shocked, and said 'I would never have guessed that a would have had cancer,'\" said Ms. Freiborg, who was treated with surgery and chemotherapy and is now . Most colorectal cancers are considered a disease of aging, so any increase in young adults, especially when rates of the disease are on the wane in older people, is both baffling and worrisome, experts say. Colorectal cancer rates have declined over all in recent years thanks to widespread use of screening tests like colonoscopies, which can detect precancerous polyps that can be removed before cancer develops. These screening tests have not been considered practical for a younger population, and while other less invasive screening tests exist, doctors are hoping improved methods that will be easier to administer will be developed. Experts also attribute lowering cancer rates to changes in risk factors, particularly lifestyle changes like smoking cessation and healthier diets. Diets that include more fruits, vegetables and fiber and less red and processed meat are linked to lower colorectal cancer risk. Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are also associated with colorectal cancer, as are heavy alcohol use and chronic conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and Type 2 diabetes, all of which are on the rise. But experts are not entirely convinced these are the only reasons colorectal cancer is increasing among young people. While rates of cancers tied to human papillomavirus, or HPV, have been rising in recent years, that virus causes mainly cancers of the cervix, anus or the back of the throat, and only a small number of cases of rectal cancer. \"The honest truth is nobody knows 100 percent why there is an increase,\" said Dr. Mohamed E. Salem, an assistant professor at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. He said that he is older than about 60 percent of his patients \u2014 and he is 42. \"It's hard to blame it on obesity alone. We suspect there is also something else going on. \" Dr. Jason A. Zell, an associate professor of oncology at the University of California, Irvine, who did a study in 2014 that found increasing rates of colorectal cancer among adults ages 20 to 39 in California, said the big challenge is how to shape health policy. \"By now we know the rates are going up, it's been reported several times,\" Dr. Zell said. \"Now the question is, what do we do?\" The latest analysis is the largest and most detailed to date, looking at large cancer registries reporting on nearly half a million cases dating back to 1974 to assess rates by age groups and birth cohorts. It found that in adults ages 20 to 39, colon cancer rates have increased by 1 percent to 2. 4 percent a year since the while rates declined over all among those 55 and older. Rates among adults 40 to 54 increased by 0. 5 percent to 1. 3 percent a year since the . Rectal cancer incidence rates among adults in their 20s increased even more sharply, rising by 3. 2 percent a year from 1974 to 2013. And while rectal cancer rates have declined over all among people 55 and older since 1974, rates in people 50 to 54 increased between and . By nearly 30 percent of all rectal cancers were being diagnosed in people under age 55, compared with 15 percent of all rectal cancers being found in this age group in the study reported. Many patients are so young at the time of diagnosis that they have not been screened by colonoscopy, which is recommended beginning at age 50 for people who are at average risk. The risk is higher among and the American College of Gastroenterology recommends they start screening at 45. Those with colorectal cancer may experience warning signs, but the symptoms are typically vague, including general digestive complaints like diarrhea or constipation, cramping and abdominal pain. Tara Anderson, a mother of four from Bowie, Md. had chronic constipation for years before seeking help at a emergency room clinic in 2015 because she was in so much pain. There, a scan detected a tumor in her colon \"the size of a tennis ball,\" she said. A gastroenterologist who examined her a year earlier merely told her to increase her intake of dietary fiber to ease her constipation, she said. Fortunately, she said, her disease had not spread. For Chris Roberts, who was 29 when he found out he had colon cancer, the first symptoms were weight loss and loss of appetite. \"I lost about 20 pounds and I wasn't really trying to lose weight, but I just didn't enjoy eating,\" said Mr. Roberts, now 30. He had just moved to New York City and did not have a regular doctor, but was fortunate enough to find a doctor who was determined to make a diagnosis quickly and ordered several blood tests and an ultrasound scan that found tumors that had already spread to Mr. Roberts's liver. He has been treated with chemotherapy and had surgery in January to remove parts of his colon and liver. \"I definitely want to get the word out: If you have symptoms that may be linked to cancer, colorectal cancer or any kind, get it checked out,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"American citizens should be more concerned about the Left and the leftist media s attempt to HIDE the brutal truth about Sharia in America, than a billboard that gives readers an opportunity to learn the truth.In a state that doesn t tolerate any discussion of what the massive influx of Somali refugees has done to their neighborhoods and schools, this billboard will likely be a hot topic in Minnesota. Recently, the Minnesota Governor told his constituents to Leave the state if they don t like the massive influx off Muslims. Watch the INCREDIBLE VIDEO HERE. [Video]A billboard of a woman in a niqab went up on I-94 in Rogers at the beginning of June, prompting calls to the sign company from the public. Copy was added to the billboard in July, which now reads Should America Fear Sharia? The billboard is sponsored by the Center for Security Policy, a Washington, D.C. based national security think tank. The site shouldamericafearsharia.org consists mostly of links to videos discussing different topics about Islam and Islamic extremism.The billboard was contracted out by the Center with Franklin Outdoor Advertising, a billboard company in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The billboard went up the beginning of June, Franklin salesperson Chris Barta said, Last Friday we switched it out and put up the one with the website. The website advertisement billboard will be up from July 1st through the end of the month when the advertisement contract expires.The Center for Security Policy s website contains articles and videos on national security threats of Islamic terrorism.In the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, the Center s executive vice president Jim Hanson called the attack, completely in keeping with totalitarian Islamic code called Shariah. Franklin Outdoor Advertising received a number of calls from the public regarding the billboard according to Barta, mostly in June when there was no text accompanying the image on the sign. AlphaNewsh\/t Refugee Resettlement Watch","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump denied on Thursday that Rex Tillerson had threatened to resign after a news report that the secretary of state had called him a moron and had to be repeatedly persuaded not to leave the administration. \"Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign,\" Trump said in his most direct refutation of the resignation report. \"This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me.\" On Wednesday, the top U.S. diplomat, whose tenure has been dogged with rumors about unhappiness with Trump's policies and rhetoric, said he was committed to the president's agenda and had never considered resigning. NBC reported that, in a session with Trump's national security team and Cabinet officials at the Pentagon, Tillerson had openly criticized the president and referred to him as a moron, citing three unidentified officials familiar with the incident. Tillerson sidestepped the issue when taking questions after making a televised statement to the media. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also tried to tamp down speculation that Tillerson was on the verge of leaving the administration. \"He said he has never once thought of resigning,\" Conway said on CNN. \"We're glad he's the secretary of state.\" Another Cabinet member, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, announced his resignation last week after acknowledging he used taxpayer funds to travel on private planes.","label":0}
{"text":"The top Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee said on Thursday the chamber's investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election needs to go forward despite whatever obstacles it may face. \"One way or another, the investigation has to take place,\" Representative Adam Schiff told reporters. \"We're carrying on.\" Schiff, who on Monday called the panel's Republican chairman, Devin Nunes, to recuse himself, said it was up to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Nunes to decide who leads the probe, but that they would have to \"articulate why and how they feel that can be done credibly.\"","label":0}
{"text":"We all heard the reasons why Republicans, mainly Mitch McConnell, swear that they will not confirm President Obama s SCOTUS nominee. It s all about the process or about rules that don t actually exist. That s what Mitch keeps saying anyway. It turns out he s nothing but a damned liar, and the hard evidence is in the video below.Do you remember what Mitch has been saying about why he s blocking the nominee? It s up to the next elected president to appoint a replacement. These were literally his exact words for weeks. He and other Republicans claim it will give the American people a voice by voting for president, allowing them to determine what side gets to pick a replacement on the Supreme Court.With McConnell s exact words in mind, CNN host Dana Bash asked Mitch if Hillary or Bernie won in November, would Republicans then concede to the will of the people and vote on and\/or confirm Merrick Garland during the final months of the Obama presidency?The context is obvious. If Democrats retain control of the presidency and the nominee was content with Garland, then the people have spoken and a Democratic nominee should get a hearing and be confirmed. It would be the will of the people, as Mitch keeps saying.This is the part where Mitch forgot what he was doing and accidentally spoke truthfully.Mitch s answer to Dana was a total contradiction to every reason he s been giving about why he is holding up the confirmation process. Mitch flat out said that Republicans would NEVER allow President Obama s nominee to be placed on the Supreme Court, even if Democrats won the presidential election in November. He literally went from saying if Democrats win they get their pick, to saying even if they won Republicans would not confirm their appointment. McConnell s lame excuse was that the NRA opposed Garland. Great.. Here we go with the NRA again.At this point, it s hard to say if this is a personal grudge McConnell has with Obama, or if this is really the will of the Republican establishment. Mitch has been working very hard for 8 long years to sabotage the president while Obama just keeps handing him defeat after defeat. Now, Mitch s irrationally racist obsession with soiling the legacy of our first black president will officially extend beyond Obama s second term in office.One thing s for sure. Mitch just proved what a total liar he is, that Republicans do not actually care about the will of the voters, and that nobody can ever trust a Republican for any reason.Watch Mitch McConnel prove what a liar he is below:","label":1}
{"text":"A Maryland school official was fired from her job after she corrected a student's spelling over Twitter. [Frederick County Public Schools has fired employee Katie Nash after she stirred up attention on how she ran the district's Twitter feed last week, the Frederick News Post reported. On Jan. 5, a student tweeted to the FCPS Twitter account @FCPSMaryland and said, \"close school tammarow PLEASE. \" Several hours later, Frederick County Public Schools Social Media Manager Katie Nash replied, \"but then how would you learn how to spell 'tomorrow?' :)\" The response drew lots of attention and backlash over social media as thousands of people liked and retweeted the post. She eventually became the subject of a hashtag, #KatiefromFCPS, and later #freekatie when WHAG reported that her Twitter was taken away from her. Nash said she understands why she was fired and said she doesn't want to be a \"distraction\" to the school system, but thought her employer would have provided some suggestions on how to improve her job. \"As a new employee, I think I sort of would have expected that there would have been some counseling or some suggestions on how to improve,\" she said. Nash had decided to take a more playful tone on the school's Twitter account, citing student feedback. \"We had received feedback from some students in a focus group that our tweeting was a bit flat, they were looking for some more engagement,\" Nash said. \"They were looking for us to tweet back at them and I really took that to heart because I know that I am a little bit older and maybe not as hip as some of the students are, so I took that to heart and I took that feedback in. \" The student later said that he didn't take the tweet personally, WGHP reported. Michael Doerrer, the Director of Communications, Community Engagement and Marketing with FCPS, said the school gave a personal apology to the student, WHAG reported.","label":0}
{"text":"With a final call of his campaign mantra \"Yes We Can,\" President Barack Obama urged Americans on Tuesday to stand up for U.S. values and reject discrimination as the United States transitions to the presidency of Republican Donald Trump. In an emotional speech in which he thanked his family and declared his time as president the honor of his life, Obama gently prodded the public to embrace his vision of progress while repudiating some of the policies that Trump promoted during his campaign for the White House. \"So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are,\" Obama told a crowd of 18,000 in his hometown of Chicago, where he celebrated his election in 2008 as the first black president of the United States. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, proposed temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country, building a wall on the border with Mexico, upending a global deal to fight climate change and dismantling Obama's healthcare reform law. Obama made clear his opposition to those positions during fiery campaign speeches for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but has struck a more conciliatory tone with Trump since the election. In his farewell speech, he made clear his positions had not changed and he said his efforts to end the use of torture and close the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were part of a broader move to uphold U.S. values. \"That's why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans,\" he said in a clear reference to Trump that drew applause. He said bold action was needed to fight global warming and said \"science and reason\" mattered. \"If anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we've made to our healthcare system that covers as many people at less cost, I will publicly support it,\" he said in another prodding challenge to his successor. Trump has urged the Republican-controlled Congress to repeal the law right away. Obama, who came to office amid high expectations that his election would heal historic racial divides, acknowledged that was an impossible goal. \"After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America,\" he said. \"Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.\" However, Obama said he remained hopeful about the work that a younger generation would do. \"Yes we can,\" he said. \"Yes we did.\" In an indirect reference to the political work the Democratic Party will have to do to recover after Clinton's loss, Obama urged racial minorities to seek justice not only for themselves but also for \"the middle-aged white guy who from the outside may seem like he's got advantages, but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change.\" Trump won his election in part by appealing to working-class white men. First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, and many current and former White House staff members and campaign workers attended the speech. Obama wiped his eyes as he addressed his wife and thanked his running mate. They all appeared together on stage after the address. The Chicago visit is Obama's last scheduled trip as president, and even the final flight on the presidential aircraft was tinged with wistfulness. It was the president's 445th \"mission\" on Air Force One, a perk he has said he will miss when he leaves office, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. All told, Obama will have spent more than 2,800 hours or 116 days on the plane during his presidency. Obama plans to remain in Washington for the next two years while his younger daughter, Sasha, finishes high school. Sasha, who has an exam on Wednesday, did not attend the speech but her older sister Malia was there. The president has indicated he wants to give Trump the same space that his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush, gave Obama after leaving office by not maintaining a high public profile.","label":0}
{"text":"Videos 15 Civilians Killed In Single US Airstrike Have Been Identified The rate at which civilians are being killed by American airstrikes in Afghanistan is now higher than it was in 2014 when the US was engaged in active combat operations. Photo of Hellfire missiles being loaded onto a US military Reaper drone in Afghanistan by Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson\/U.S. Air Force.  The Bureau has been able to identify 15 civilians killed in a single US drone strike in Afghanistan last month \u2013 the biggest loss of civilian life in one strike since the attack on the Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital (MSF) last October.  The US claimed it had conducted a \"counter-terrorism\" strike against Islamic State (IS) fighters when it hit Nangarhar province with missiles on September 28. But the next day the United Nations issued an unusually rapid and strong statement saying the strike had killed 15 civilians and injured 13 others who had gathered at a house to celebrate a tribal elder's return from a pilgrimage to Mecca.  The Bureau spoke to a man named Haji Rais who said he was the owner of the house that was targeted. He said 15 people were killed and 19 others injured, and provided their names (listed below). The Bureau was able to independently verify the identities of those who died.  Rais' son, a headmaster at a local school, was among them. Another man, Abdul Hakim, lost three of his sons in the attack.  Rais said he had no involvement with IS and denied US claims that IS members had visited his house before the strike. He said: \"I did not even speak to those sort of people on the phone let alone receiving them in my house.\"  The deaths amount to the biggest confirmed loss of civilian life in a single American strike in Afghanistan since the attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz last October, which killed at least 42 people.  The Nangarhar strike was not the only US attack to kill civilians in September. The Bureau's data indicates that as many as 45 civilians and allied soldiers were killed in four American strikes in Afghanistan and Somalia that month.  On September 18 a pair of strikes killed eight Afghan policemen in Tarinkot, the capital of Urozgan provice. US jets reportedly hit a police checkpoint, killing one officer, before returning to target first responders. The use of this tactic \u2013 known as a \"double-tap\" strike \u2013 is controversial because they often hit civilian rescuers.  The US told the Bureau it had conducted the strike against individuals firing on and posing a threat to Afghan forces. The email did not directly address the allegations of Afghan policemen being killed.  At the end of the month in Somalia, citizens burnt US flags on the streets of the north-central city of Galcayo after it emerged a drone attack may have unintentionally killed 22 Somali soldiers and civilians. The strike occurred on the same day as the one in Nangarhar.  In both the Somali and Afghan incidents, the US at first denied that any non-combatants had been killed. It is now investigating both the strikes in Nangarhar and Galcayo.  The rate at which civilians are being killed by American airstrikes in Afghanistan is now higher than it was in 2014 when the US was engaged in active combat operations. Name","label":1}
{"text":"The T.I.N.A. Doctrine There Is No Alternative Brandon Smith Alt-MarketWhen people unfamiliar with the liberty movement stumble onto the undeniable fact of the conspiracy of globalism they tend to look for easy answers to understand what it is and why it exists. Most people today have been conditioned to perceive events from a misinterpreted standpoint of Occam s Razor they wrongly assume that the simplest explanation is probably the right one.In fact, this is not what Occam s Razor states. Instead, to summarize, it states that the simplest explanation GIVEN THE EVIDENCE at hand is probably the right explanation.It has been well known and documented for decades that the push for globalism is a deliberate and focused effort on the part of a select elite; international financiers, central bankers, political leaders and the numerous members of exclusive think tanks. They often openly admit their goals for total globalization in their own publications, perhaps believing that the uneducated commoners would never read them anyway. Carroll Quigley, mentor to Bill Clinton and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is often quoted with open admissions to the general scheme: The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the world s central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world. Carroll Quigley, Tragedy And HopeThe people behind the effort to enforce globalism are tied together by a particular ideology, perhaps even a cult-like religion, in which they envision a world order as described in Plato s Republic. They believe that they are chosen either by fate, destiny or genetics to rule as philosopher kings over the rest of us. They believe that they are the wisest and most capable that humanity has to offer, and that through evolutionary means, they can create chaos and order out of thin air and mold society at will.This mentality is evident in the systems that they build and exploit. For example, central banking in general is nothing more than a mechanism for driving nations into debt, currency devaluation, and ultimately, enslavement through widespread economic extortion. The end game for central banks is, I believe, the triggering of historic financial crisis, which can then be used by the elites as leverage to promote complete global centralization as the only viable solution.This process of destabilizing economies and societies is not directed by the heads of the various central banks. Instead, it is directed by even more central global institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements, as outlined in revealing mainstream articles like Ruling The World Of Money published by Harpers Magazine.We also find through the words of globalists that the campaign for a new world order is not meant to be voluntary. When the struggle seems to be drifting definitely towards a world social democracy, there may still be very great delays and disappointments before it becomes an efficient and beneficent world system. Countless people will hate the new world order and will die protesting against it. When we attempt to evaluate its promise, we have to bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents, many of them quite gallant and graceful-looking people. HG Welles, Fabian Socialist and author of The New World Order In short, the house of world order will have to be built from the bottom up rather than f rom the top down. It will look like a great booming, buzzing confusion, to use William James famous description of reality, but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault. Richard Gardner, member of the Trilateral Commission, published in the April, 1974 issue of Foreign Affairs The New World Order cannot happen without U.S. participation, as we are the single most significant component. Yes, there will be a New World Order, and it will force the United States to change its perceptions. Henry Kissinger, World Action Council, April 19, 1994I could quote globalists all day long, but I think you get the general idea. While some people see globalism as a natural offshoot of free markets or the inevitable outcome of economic progress, the reality is that the simplest explanation (given the evidence at hand) is that globalism is an outright war waged against the ideal of sovereign peoples and nations. It is a guerrilla war, or fourth generation warfare, waged by a small group of elites against the rest of us.A significant element of this war concerns the nature of borders. Borders of nations, states and even towns and villages, are not just lines on a map or invisible barriers in the dirt. This is what the elites and the mainstream media would like us to believe. Instead, borders when applied correctly represent principles; or at least, that is supposed to be their function.Human beings are natural community builders; we are constantly seeking out others of like-mind and like-purpose because we understand subconsciously that groups of individuals working together can (often but not always) accomplish more. That said, human beings also have a natural tendency to value individual freedom and the right to voluntary association. We do not like to be forced to associate with people or groups that do not hold similar values.Cultures erect borders because, frankly, people have the right to vet those who wish to join and participate in their endeavors. People also have a right to discriminate against anyone who does not share their core values; or, in other words, we have the right to refuse association with other groups and ideologies that are destructive to our own Continue this story at Alt-MarketREAD MORE NWO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NWO Files","label":1}
{"text":"More than a week after the Philippines declared victory over pro-Islamic State militants in Marawi, security officials on Friday expressed concern over lone wolf attacks, with Australia issuing a high threat alert about travel to Manila. Skirmishes continued between soldiers and holdouts from the Islamist militant group that seized a lakeside town on the southern island of Mindanao. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops, were killed in the five-month conflict. One concern after Marawi is the possibility of threats from lone wolves, defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told reporters, two days after an Uzbek plowed into New York pedestrians and bikers in what U.S. officials called a terrorist act. The army remained on high alert after President Rodrigo Duterte said five cities in Mindanao were potential targets of Islamist militants after their defeat in Marawi, he added. On Friday, the Australian embassy issued a travel advisory, warning of a high threat of terrorist attack in the Philippines, including Manila, the capital. Be alert to possible threats around locations that have a low level of protective security and places known to be possible terrorist targets, it said. It told Australians to reconsider travel plans to eastern Mindanao and avoid its central and western regions. The advisory was similar to one issued early this year, said military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla. It was only a reiteration, there is no credible threat, he added. Two days ago, army soldiers killed the righthand man of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the emir of pro-Islamic State militants in Southeast Asia, who was gunned down last month. His death hastened the collapse of the Marawi-based militant group, leading to its defeat.","label":0}
{"text":"Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Donald Trump on winning the U.S. presidency, state TV reported on Wednesday, telling him the two biggest economies in the world shared responsibility for promoting global development and prosperity. \"I place great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,\" Xi told Trump in a message. State TV did not specify how the message was delivered. The stable and healthy long-term development of Sino-U.S. relations was in the fundamental interest of the Chinese and American peoples, he said. Trump, a real estate developer and reality TV host, stunned the world on Tuesday by defeating heavily favored rival Hillary Clinton, sending stocks and the U.S. dollar tumbling. On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to take on China and tax Chinese imports to stop currency devaluation. (This version of the story was corrected to change telephone call to message)","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump on Monday responded to charges against former campaign manager Paul Manafort by saying the allegations predated his tenure on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, but the indictment states the activities continued into 2017. \"Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????\" Trump wrote, referring to his former Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. The indictment says Manafort and associate Rick Gates conspired to defraud the United States \"from in or about and between 2006 and 2017.\"","label":0}
{"text":"An Israeli and a Palestinian were killed on Thursday in two separate incidents in Israel and the occupied West Bank, officials said. An Israeli man was stabbed to death in the southern Israeli city of Arad in what police said was most probably a terrorist attack . The investigation is continuing and police units are searching for the suspect who fled the scene, said a police spokesman. Earlier in the day, an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, in what the Israeli army said was a response to an attack by Palestinians throwing rocks, an account that Palestinians denied. The Israeli military said the shooter had opened fire in self-defense as part of a group of settlers hiking near the village of Qusrah who had come under attack. Local villagers identified the Palestinian who was killed as Mahmoud Odeh, a 48-year-old farmer. They denied that any clash had taken place before the shooting. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the incident as a cowardly act and evidence to the world of the ugly crimes conducted by settlers against unarmed Palestinians , his office said in a statement. The Israeli military said troops arrived at the scene after the shooting. Israeli police said they were investigating the incident. A wave of Palestinian street attacks that began two years ago has largely dissipated and it is uncommon for two deadly events to occur in the same day.","label":0}
{"text":"Obama s war against cops and white people in full swing Nobody s a winner in Obama s war on America March Eugene Ratney, according to Department of Correction records, wasn t due to be released from prison until this past June 6 after serving half of a 12-year sentence following his conviction as a serious violent felon with a weapon. Ten days later, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers were called to an east side address where Ratney s sister said he had pulled a gun and threatened to kill her.Investigators now report, and neighbors confirmed, Ratney, on parole, was the man clad in a Black Lives Matter t-shirt and screaming profanities at police, who shot up an IMPD officer s house not far from his own home early this morning.The officer and his family were uninjured. Think about this, this is your home, said IMPD Chief Troy Riggs. If there is one place in this world where you should always feel safe and your family should feel safe, it is in your home. The officer had just returned from work, but had not yet retired for the night, when approximately 17 shots were fired from a 9 mm handgun into his house, fence and patrol car.Neighbors recalled seeing a man in a Black Lives Matter t-shirt that also had obscenities directed at police walking the neighborhood last Friday night.A nearby surveillance camera captured images of a fleeing vehicle shortly after the shooting at 2 a.m.Ratney was driving a similar car and was stopped a few blocks away within an hour.During his interrogation at IMPD headquarters, Ratney denied the shooting but became irate, cursed the officers and urinated in the interview room.At that time the interview was concluded. If we re going to overcome issues in our community, whether perceived or actual, we ve got to work together and we can t tolerate this, said Riggs. This officer represents this city and our city was attacked and his family was attacked as a result. h\/t Weasel Zippers","label":1}
{"text":"Pope Francis told executives of leading internet companies on Friday to use their great profits to defend children from sexual exploitation and other dangers lurking online. The pontiff, speaking at a conference in Rome, said the Catholic Church needed to accept responsibility before God, victims and public opinion for its own sex abuse scandals, but wanted to share the lessons it had learned. Speaking to participants including representatives from Facebook and Microsoft, he said social media businesses had to do more than set up filters and algorithms to block harmful content. The 80-year-old pope spoke out against the spread of extreme pornography, the dangers of so-called sexting between young people and between adults and children, and cyber bullying, calling it a true form of moral and physical attack . He said heinous, illicit activities such as the commissioning and live viewing of rape and violence against minors via the so-called Dark Web had to be stopped. The Church-organized conference - called Child Dignity in the Digital World - was held two months after a monsignor was recalled from the Vatican s Washington embassy in August after the U.S. State Department said he may have violated child pornography laws. Church officials have been caught up in a series of scandals around the world - two years ago, the Vatican put its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, an archbishop, on trial for child sex offences. He died before a verdict was reached. The conference, held at a pontifical university in Rome, brought together experts from digital companies, law enforcement, medicine and academia to discuss online bullying, pornography and the preying on children by pedophiles. The pope said social media businesses had to invest a fair portion of their great profits to protect impressionable minds . He said it would be a mistake to think that automatic technical solutions, filters devised by ever more refined algorithms in order to identify and block the spread of abusive and harmful images, are sufficient to deal with these problems . Businesses also had to address the broader ethical concerns associated with the growth of technology, rejecting the concept of an ideological and mythical vision of the net as a realm of unlimited freedom . He said that while the digital revolution had enormous advantages, we rightly wonder if we are capable of guiding the processes we ourselves have set in motion, whether they might be escaping our grasp . The pope acknowledged the Church s own failures in providing for the protection of children: extremely grave facts have come to light, for which we have to accept our responsibility before God, before the victims and before public opinion . Because of skills gained in the process of conversion and purification, he said the Church felt especially bound to work strenuously and with foresight for the protection of minors and their dignity . Since the Church s scandals exploded around the world about 20 years ago, it has strived to put in to place so-called best practices to protect children. It has defrocked priests, worked with local police and the pope has declared a zero tolerance where clerics could not appeal a conviction on technical grounds. But victim s groups say the Vatican and the pope have not gone far enough, particularly in making bishops accountable for covering up or mishandling cases of child abuse. A commission Francis set up in 2014 to advise him on how to root out sexual abuse has been hit by defections by two key members who lamented lack of progress and cooperation from Vatican officials. The Rome conference s 13-point Declaration of Rome called on politicians, religious leaders, law enforcement organizations to help build a global awareness of the need to protect children from exploitation via the internet.","label":0}
{"text":"A racist Donald Trump fan has been arrested by the FBI after he made threats to kill President Obama. The authorities also found that he had a cache of pipe bombs on his property when they raided his home in Oregon.John Martin Roos, a 61-year-old from Oregon, has been charged with communication of a threat in interstate commerce, and additional charges are likely forthcoming. Roos first came onto the federal government s radar after a concerned citizen brought Roos Facebook and Twitter postings to the FBI s attention in February, according to an affidavit from Special Agent Jeffrey Gray.Roos also had a series of Facebook and Twitter posts with racist rants targeting the President. Obama you goat fffing fudgepacker, the refugees are men of fighting age. Black lives matter! Sure we need someone to pick cotton and wash cars. Paris, burn diseased muslim neighborhoods to the ground and start over with human beings. Obama you are on a hit list, he wrote in a post that appears to have been removed.He is just the latest in a line of people, ranging from the truly dangerous to just out and out cranks, that have been apprehended since Obama s inauguration in 2009 for threats towards the first black president.His postings online definitely took cues from the targets of Donald Trump s ire. The Huffington Post reported that Roos used his online postings to attack Attorney General Loretta Lynch, singer Beyonce, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and reporter Michelle Fields. Roos also had praise for those who have supported Trump or been praised by the reality TV star:He praised Ann Coulter and Stacey Dash, and posted several links to posts on Breitbart.com.Coulter has identified herself as a Trump supporter, while on Fox News, Dash has defended and promoted Trump.Breitbart.com has been the most pro-Trump of the conservative media outlets, and an insider has actually alleged that Trump has been paying the site for favorable coverage.","label":1}
{"text":"Aspartame Corporation Searle Created First Birth Control Pill: American Eugenics and Big Pharma, a History  ( Era of Wisdom ) Did you know that Aspartame producing corporation Searle also manufactured the first birth control pill ?  After Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford , he was the CEO of Searle , engineering their merger with Monsanto. A testament to his influence, he became Secretary of Defense again during the Bush Administration, participating in atrocious torture and war crimes such as the ones at Abu Ghraib.  One of the most veracious proponents for forced sterilization of blacks , the poor, and \"imbeciles,\" Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger , was a main contributor to what would culminate into Searle's manufacture of \"Enovid\": the first hormonal birth control pill. This philosophy is commonly known as \" eugenics ,\" sometimes referred to as \"dysgenics\" or \"epi-eugenics.\"  Well summarized by the Embryo Project : \" Enovid was the first hormonal birth control pill. G.D. Searle and Company began marketing Enovid as a contraceptive in 1960. The technology was created by the joint efforts of many individuals and organizations, including Margaret Sanger, Katharine McCormick , Gregory Pincus, John Rock, Syntex , S.A. Laboratories, and G.D. Searle and Company Laboratories. Although there were many pieces and contributors to the final product, it was first conceived of and created by Gregory Pincus and Margaret Sanger through the Worcester Foundation in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was distributed by Searle, located in Chicago.\"  To illustrate historical ties between \"big pharma\" and eugenics, let's take a look at the legacy of Dr. John Hurty, an early chemist at Prozac producer Eli Lilly and Company in the 1870's.  Hurty would go on to influence the passage of the United States' first mandatory sterilization law, in 1907 Indiana .  He was a tireless eugenicist , who believed that the poor, colored people , the disabled, ect. were a burden to the state and society, unfit for reproduction, and should be sterilized.  Upwards of 60,000 Americans were involuntarily sterilized through to even the 1970's , while Dr. John Hurty, Margaret Sanger, David Starr Jordan and others made major contributions. Reading from an article by renowned author Edwin Black : \"Ultimately, eugenics practitioners coercively sterilized some 60,000 Americans, barred the marriage of thousands, forcibly segregated thousands in \"colonies,\" and persecuted untold numbers in ways we are just learning.\"  Dr. John Hurty, first president of Stanford David Starr Jordan, and Margaret Sanger were members of the scientific, academic class which birthed eugenics, and eventually the world we live in today where Searle had a hand in both birth control, and suspicious toxins such as Aspartame.  Reading from this document, which is based on the 1946 book \" The Hoosier Health Officer: A Biography of Dr. John N. Hurty \" : \"In 1873, John Newell Hurty went to work for Col. Eli Lilly in his newly established Eli Lilly and Company Pharmaceuticals in Indianapolis as his chief chemist. Then in 1879, Hurty opened his own drug store at the corner of Ohio and Pennsylvania streets. In the basement of that establishment, he set up one of the first analytical laboratories in the state. Among the variety of things he tested for purity was water for the Indianapolis Water Company. In 1884, Dr. Hurty established, and for a time taught at, the School of Pharmacy at Purdue University. In 1891, Hurty earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Indiana. In 1899, Dr. Hurty wrote a bill that became the first comprehensive food and drug legislation to be enacted in the United States. It was not only used as a model by other states, but the Federal Law of 1906 is taken almost word for word from Dr. Hurty's bill.\"  This article\/video seeks to pose the question: was birth control created as part of eugenics, population control, as part of something that goes beyond money or some alleged philanthropic agenda? Are certain chemicals or pharmaceuticals in circulation designed to fulfill an agenda that goes beyond money, an agenda perhaps that extends into eugenics?  We are not suggesting people do one thing or another with their bodies, we are not asking you to make a decision about your health, but we are presenting you with historical info to better make decisions for yourself.  We're making the case that Searle profited from the eugenic ambitions of people such as Margaret Sanger: while it is unclear at this moment whether Searle cared about simply money or something deeper. This should raise suspicion about why they pushed so hard for the legalization of Aspartame after the FDA had already banned it , under the direction of powerful Donald Rumsfeld.  Given all of this history, we would be wise to ask: could Aspartame possibly have roots in eugenics? Could certain pharmaceutical drugs have ties to eugenics? It is not a wild accusation or unreasonable question to ponder.  To take it even further: FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg is the daughter of not one, but two directors of the American Eugenics Society, which later was quietly renamed the \" The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology .\"","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said the recent cyber attack on Democratic politicians was \"broad\" and that Russians were clearly behind the breach, adding that the damage was still being investigated. \"It is the Russians,\" Pelosi told reporters at a news conference, referring to the recent breach affecting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pelosi called the attack, made public last month, an \"electronic Watergate\" akin to the 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office that upended the Nixon presidency. \"This is a break-in.\" Pelosi's comments come on the heels of a New York Times report on Thursday that the cyber attack targeting Democrats was wider than first thought, with more than 100 party officials and groups were affected. The Democratic National Committee and U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign was also affected. Asked if she was personally targeted, Pelosi said she did not know. \"We are assessing the damage,\" Pelosi told reporters, adding that she could not speak to the impact on any Democratic governors. The Obama administration has not publicly named Russia as behind the attack, but investigators have concluded the attackers were directed by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service, and the FSB, the civilian espionage agency. Clinton has also pointed to Moscow. Russia has denied involvement in the breach. A U.S. official familiar with the investigation said no evidence has been found so far that indicates the hackers got into Clinton's personal server or any classified systems, but their footprints suggest they \"paid special attention to accounts they thought might lead them to information of national security interest.\" The official said the hackers apparently proceeded beyond the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton campaign, and the Democrats' House of Representatives campaign committee to individual email accounts and probably other Democratic groups and individuals who emailed people using the accounts they first hacked. \"The pattern fits what has come to be standard hacking practice,\" said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation by government as well as private agencies. \"You go as far as you can, hoping you find something useful.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The F. B. I. had a job offer for Nick Young, a veteran Washington transit officer: Become an undercover informant for the bureau and gather information at local mosques on fellow Muslims who might pose a terrorism threat. The clandestine work would be \"a lot sexier\" than his current job, Mr. Young remembered an agent named Ryan telling him. And it could pay him a lot of money if the intelligence was good. Mr. Young turned him down. But it would not be the last time he would see the F. B. I. agent. Last August, five years later, Mr. Young was summoned to the headquarters of the transit agency, Metro, where Ryan and other agents were waiting for him. \"You probably don't recognize me, do you?\" Ryan, whose beard was now thicker, asked him. \"Oh, I recognize you,\" Mr. Young said. This time, the agent handcuffed Mr. Young on a charge of supporting the Islamic State \u2014 a case built, in a twist, by an informant who posed as a terrorist fighter. The prosecution of Mr. Young, the only law enforcement officer among more than 100 Americans who have been accused of helping the Islamic State, offers a revealing look at the F. B. I. 's shadowy efforts to identify possible Islamic extremists. President Trump has vowed to intensify the effort as part of a campaign to \"annihilate\" the militant group. Mr. Young's case also poses a challenge to the F. B. I. 's expanding use of undercover operations to identify Islamic State sympathizers inside the United States who might travel overseas to help the terrorist group or commit \"lone wolf\" attacks at home. His lawyer claims that the F. B. I. entrapped him, with undercover operatives popping in and out of his life for at least six years. To law enforcement officials, however, Mr. Young represents one of their worst fears: a longtime officer, with access to sensitive facilities, who they suspect was \"radicalized\" to support Islamic extremism. He is charged with providing \"material support\" to the Islamic State, in the form of $245 worth of Google Play gift cards. The authorities say he gave the gift cards to a Muslim friend named Mo \u2014 in reality, an undercover informant \u2014 to support recruitment for the terrorist group. Before now, very few American suspects linked to the Islamic State have spoken out. But in three and a half hours of interviews from jail, Mr. Young, a convert to Islam, portrayed himself and many other American Muslims under investigation as victims of religious persecution. He accused an \"overzealous\" F. B. I. of \"manufacturing\" the case. \"I know for sure I wouldn't have been targeted if I was an evangelic Christian or a Sikh or a Hindu or something,\" said Mr. Young, 37. \"I'm not a terrorist,\" he added. \"Seeing these horrible allegations and the way they're trying to paint me, it's just a nightmare. \" Officials at the F. B. I. and the Justice Department declined to comment on the case. In general, the F. B. I. said in a statement, the investigative techniques used in such national security cases \"are subject to vigorous oversight and require us to use the least intrusive means possible. \" The F. B. I. has moved aggressively since the rise of the Islamic State in 2014 to identify suspected extremist supporters inside the United States, opening hundreds of investigations and generating convictions from Brooklyn to Southern California, often against young Muslim men. Mr. Trump has declared that the country must do more to confront what he calls \"radical Islamic terrorism,\" including the possibility of expanding surveillance and intelligence operations, creating a \"registry\" of American Muslims, and reviving torture as an interrogation technique. While Mr. Trump has sent mixed signals on some of those proposals, they have worried some civil liberties advocates, who say they are eager to see whether the Justice Department and the F. B. I. seek to expand their investigative powers still further in domestic terrorism cases. Mr. Young sees himself as a pawn in that broader fight. He acknowledges holding passionate views about the Middle East and the \"slaughter\" of Syrians by the government of President Bashar . On breaks from the transit agency, Mr. Young traveled to Libya twice in 2011 with body armor to join rebels fighting the Qaddafi regime. \"I didn't kill anyone while I was there,\" he said, laughing, but \"I got shot at a lot. \" He insisted that he had never supported terrorists. He plans to take the witness stand at his trial, an unusual tactic for a terrorism suspect. \"Nick doesn't have anything to hide,\" said Nicholas D. Smith, one of his lawyers. As he waits for his trial date, he sits in a rural jail in Warsaw, Va. reading science fiction occasionally, with \"The Jerry Springer Show\" sometimes playing on a television in the background. \"My brain's turning to mush,\" he said. He said the jail had denied him access to Muslim prayer sessions. But the conditions are far better, he added, than the solitary confinement he was placed in for 23 hours a day for months after his arrest. That ordeal, he said, has caused lingering panic attacks and other problems. Unlike the bulk of the Americans charged with supporting the Islamic State, Mr. Young is not accused of plotting violence or trying to travel to the Middle East to fight with the group. He said he was under investigation for so long, it was almost inevitable that the authorities would find a way to charge him. \"At the end of the day, the crime I'm being accused of \u2014 a crime of sending gift cards \u2014 it would be laughable if it wasn't really happening,\" Mr. Young said. He declined to explain the gift cards, citing a pretrial order that restricts what he can say about documents in the case. But he said his explanation would come out at his trial. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, dozens of terrorism defendants caught in undercover stings have claimed in court that they were illegally entrapped into saying or doing incriminating things. None have succeeded. Judges have given the Justice Department wide latitude in using undercover stings in terrorism cases. \"You almost need a perfect case\" to prove entrapment, said Seamus Hughes, a terrorism expert at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, \"and that's difficult to find. \" Still, several legal analysts said Mr. Young might have a legitimate shot, because of the unusual elements of the F. B. I. 's yearslong undercover investigation. They point out that even an charge that Mr. Young faces is based on his statements to agents about a fictional F. B. I. investigation into the whereabouts of a Islamic State fighter who never existed. Mr. Young apparently first came onto the F. B. I. 's radar around 2010 because he knew a fellow student at George Mason University, Zachary A. Chesser, who, like him, was a white convert to Islam from Northern Virginia and attended the same mosque. The F. B. I. interviewed Mr. Young that year as part of an investigation into Mr. Chesser, who ultimately pleaded guilty to charges after he was accused of threatening the creators of \"South Park\" over the show's depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Mr. Young does not appear to have been an F. B. I. target at the time, even as undercover informants began giving the bureau reports about the activities of him and some of his associates. He continued working as an armed officer patrolling subways and bus lines. He said F. B. I. agents \u2014 Ryan and a second agent \u2014 had met with him twice in 2011 to recruit him as an informant. Mr. Young said he found the idea of becoming an informant distasteful. The F. B. I. said in a court affidavit that he had used stronger language in a conversation with one of the bureau's undercover informants, saying that if he were ever betrayed by one, \"that person's head would be in a cinder block\" at the bottom of a lake. Based on wiretaps and statements from informants, the F. B. I. reported that Mr. Young had made a number of other incendiary and perhaps even threatening comments over the years about Muslim informants, F. B. I. investigators and \"kaffirs\" \u2014 or nonbelievers. Mr. Young acknowledged that he could have used \"a little \" in some of his private remarks. But he said he had never meant them to be taken literally. \"Everyone's capable of saying stupid, blustery things,\" said Mr. Smith, his lawyer. Some F. B. I. officials pressed to bring criminal charges against Mr. Young years ago, but the Justice Department rebuffed them because of an apparent lack of evidence that he was involved in supporting terrorism, according to law enforcement officials. It was not until 2014 that Mr. Young crossed the line into supporting terrorism, the Justice Department now alleges. That was when he first met Mo, a Middle Easterner who said he was a military reservist, at a mosque where he prayed. Mr. Young said he had suspected early on that Mo might be an informant because of his strange mannerisms. But his concerns eased, and the two became friends, meeting at a Starbucks or elsewhere. Mo later told Mr. Young that he was thinking of traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State, prosecutors said. While Mr. Young sometimes appeared to offer Mo advice on how best to avoid government scrutiny if he went to the Middle East, he also told him at times that he did not need to join the terrorist group \u2014 at least not then, according to the F. B. I. 's account. \"There is no one with a gun to your head that is counting down,\" he told Mo in a conversation recorded in October 2014. Such statements, said Mr. Smith, his lawyer, show that \"the government is really grasping at straws here. \" Prosecutors are acting on \"really more of a hunch that he might commit crimes in the future,\" he said, \"and they can't prove it. \"","label":0}
{"text":"( ANTIWAR ) A day after reports NATO was soliciting even more ground troops for their deployment into Eastern Europe, officials are reporting \"progress\" in recruiting more troops from more member nations to participate in the deployment, intended to be around 40,000 troops along the Baltic states, near Russia's border. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg claimed to have been \" very inspired \" by the response of nations he sought troops from, after yesterday's report Quote: d diplomats as saying the deployment was meant to both \"confront\" Russia and to undercut Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's complaints NATO isn't participating enough in its own defense. The new participants in the deployment include Albania, Slovenia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium, and Norway. The size of individual deployments from different nations is unclear, but there will be four battalions, and the US is expected to provide the majority. With all these troops headed to the Baltic coast, reports out of Russia's media suggest that they are planning some new warship deployments into their Baltic Fleet, with an eye toward enhancing their targeting capacity along the shore.","label":1}
{"text":"The billionaire head of South Korea s Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, was sentenced to five years in jail for bribery on Friday in a watershed for the country s decades-long economic order dominated by powerful, family-run conglomerates. After a six-month trial over a scandal that brought down the then president, Park Geun-hye, a court ruled that Lee had paid bribes in anticipation of favours from Park. The court also found Lee guilty of hiding assets abroad, embezzlement and perjury. Lee, the 49-year-old heir to one of the world s biggest corporate empires, has been held since February on charges that he bribed Park to help secure control of a conglomerate that owns Samsung Electronics, the world s leading smartphone and chip maker, and has interests ranging from drugs and home appliances to insurance and hotels. Lee, who emerged stony-faced from the Seoul courtroom in a dark suit, but without a tie, and holding a document envelope, was escorted by justice ministry officials back to his detention centre. This case is a matter of Lee Jae-yong and Samsung Group executives, who had been steadily preparing for Lee s succession ... bribing the president, Seoul Central District Court Judge Kim Jin-dong said, using Lee s Korean name. Kim said that as the group s heir apparent, Lee stood to benefit the most from any political favours for Samsung. Lee denied wrongdoing, and one of his lawyers, Song Wu-cheol, said he would appeal. The entire guilty verdict is unacceptable, Song said, adding he was confident his client s innocence would be affirmed by a higher court. The case is expected to be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court, likely next year. The five year-sentence - one of the longest given to a South Korean business leader - is a landmark for South Korea, where the family-run conglomerates - or chaebols - have long been revered for helping transform the once war-ravaged country into a global economic powerhouse. But they have more recently been criticized for holding back the economy and stifling small businesses and start-ups. Samsung, a symbol of the country s rise from poverty following the 1950-53 Korean War, has come to epitomize the cosy and sometimes corrupt ties between politicians and the chaebols. The ruling is a turning point for chaebols, said Chang Sea-jin, a business professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. In the past, chaebols weren t afraid of laws because they were lenient. Now, Lee s ruling sets a precedent for strict enforcement of laws, and chaebols should be wary. Under South Korean law, sentences of more than three years cannot be suspended. The third-generation de facto head of the powerful Samsung Group, Lee has effectively directed operations since his father, Lee Kun-hee, was incapacitated by a heart attack in 2014. Some investors worry a prolonged leadership vacuum could slow decision-making at the group, which has more than five dozen affiliate companies and assets of 363.2 trillion won ($322.13 billion). Its listed companies make up about 30 percent of the market value of South Korea s KOSPI stock index. Many tycoons, including Lee s father, were convicted of crimes in the past, ranging from bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion, only to get presidential pardons, as both the government and the public feared going too hard on them would hurt the economy. But South Korea s new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, who won a May election, has pledged to rein in the chaebols, empower minority shareholders and end the practice of pardoning tycoons convicted of white-collar crime. The presidential Blue House said in a statement that it hopes the ruling will serve as an opportunity to end the nexus of business and politics that has held back the country. In a June interview with Reuters, Moon said he did not believe Samsung s operations depended just on Lee. When Lee was taken into custody, the share prices of Samsung went up, Moon said. If we were to succeed in reforming the running of the chaebols and also increasing transparency, I believe this will not only help the economic power of Korea but also help to make the chaebols themselves more competitive. Investors say shares in chaebol companies trade at lower prices than they would otherwise because of their opaque corporate governance - the so-called Korea Discount. Shares of Samsung Electronics dropped more than 1 percent, and other group companies, including Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS, also turned lower after the verdict. The court said Samsung s financial support of entities backed by a friend of Park s, Choi Soon-sil, constituted bribery, including 7.2 billion won ($6.4 million) in sponsoring the equestrian career of Choi s daughter. In return, prosecutors say, Samsung sought government support for the 2015 merger of two of its affiliates, which helped Lee tighten control of the conglomerate. His lawyers had argued that the merger was done for business reasons. Some criminal lawyers had expected Lee to be found innocent of the major charges, as much of the evidence at the trial has been circumstantial. The appeals court and the Supreme Court might put a greater emphasis on prosecutors to provide direct proof of quid pro quo, the lawyers said. Park, who was forced from office in March, faces her own corruption trial, with a ruling expected later this year. Prosecutors have argued that Park and Lee took part in the same act of bribery - so Lee s conviction would appear ominous for the former president. Hundreds of Park s diehard supporters who rallied outside the court on Friday reacted with outrage to the ruling. Our ultimate goal is Park s acquittal and release, Kim Won-joon, a 62-year-old former construction worker said. We worry how today s guilty verdict for Lee would affect Park s ruling. Such supporters are a minority compared with the huge crowds that turned out in Seoul every week to call for Park s ouster after the bribery scandal surfaced late last year. Public approval of Lee s prosecution may underscore growing frustration in Asia s fourth-largest economy that the wealth amassed by conglomerates has not trickled down. I think it was difficult for a court to ignore public opinion, given that the scandal rocked the country, said Chung Sun-sup, chief executive of research firm Chaebul.com. The five-year sentence was low given that he was found guilty of all the charges. I think the court gave him a lighter sentence, taking into account Samsung s importance to the economy.","label":0}
{"text":"Britain has a constructive relationship with Ireland and will focus on making progress on Brexit negotiations, Prime Minister Theresa May s spokesman said on Friday. An Irish election appeared likely after opposition party Fianna Fail submitted a motion of no confidence in the deputy prime minister, which the ruling party considers a breach of a three-year agreement to support prime minister Leo Varadkar s government. We feel that we have a constructive relationship with Ireland, and we will continue to talk with them regularly, as we do with the other EU27, and we will continue to focus on making progress in the negotiation, May s spokesman said, when asked about the political uncertainty in Dublin.","label":0}
{"text":"Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Wednesday that he spoke to U.S. President-Elect Trump to congratulate him on his election win and the two agreed to meet before he takes office. Pena Nieto also said he had discussed a new work agenda with Trump that would include security issues, and that he would seek to protect the rights of Mexicans throughout the world. Pena Nieto was lambasted in the local press for hosting a pre-election meeting with Trump, who has made disparaging remarks about Mexicans.","label":0}
{"text":"Britain s foreign minister Boris Johnson said he was not going to resign, when questioned on Tuesday following reports that he could quit before the weekend if his Brexit demands were not met by Prime Minister Theresa May. May is due to make a speech on Brexit on Friday and the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that close friends of Johnson believe he will have no choice but to walk away if she advocates permanently paying for access to the EU s single market. Speaking in New York, Johnson was asked by reporters if he planned to resign in footage aired by Sky News. No ... of course not, we re going to deliver a fantastic Brexit, he said. We re working together, and the key thing is to make sure Britain can take advantage of the opportunities that Brexit provides. May later backed Johnson in an interview with Sky News. Boris is doing good work as Foreign Secretary, she said, according to a Tweet by Sky News reporter Beth Rigby. May also said she was confident of getting her whole senior team of ministers to back her Brexit strategy, which she is due to lay out at a specially convened cabinet meeting on Thursday before making her Brexit speech in Florence on Friday.","label":0}
{"text":"Two pasty white Republican men decided that out of every problem that exists in their state of Illinois, the biggest concern for lawmakers should be focusing on actively harming the lives of single mothers and children.John D. Cavaletto and Keith Wheeler, filed a bill HB6064 to deny any form of state aid to a child, if that child does not have a father s name on their birth certificate. The proposed law makes an allowance for another family member to be substituted who will provide financial support for the child if a father can t or won t be listed.A portion of the bill reads as below: Provides that if the unmarried mother cannot or refuses to name the child s father, either a father must be conclusively established by DNA evidence or, within 30 days after birth, another family member who will financially provide for the child must be named, in court, on the birth certificate. Provides that absent DNA evidence or a family member s name, a birth certificate will not be issued and the mother will be ineligible for financial aid from the State for support of the child. Source: ChicagoistSo basically what Republicans are trying to do, it seems, is completely abolish all welfare by either saying you don t need it (because you have a financial benefactor listed) or you don t get any because you don t have someone to pay for your child s needs. What the hell kind of logic is that?This is not the first time Republicans have attempted to actively sabotage the lives of women and children who are in the most desperate of need. Last year, State Rep. Jeanne Ives made remarks along a similar theme during a budget-related debate: You need to have verifiable need. You better know who the daddy is and whether or not he can afford that child and whether or not the taxpayers should be funding that or if there s actual child support he can provide. Source: ChicagoistA verifiable need like not having a known father to ask for help? Is this real? It s so comically absurd that it literally satirizes itself.If there is a bright side to this insult to women and humanity, it s the fact that the bill will likely die a quiet and quick death in the house due to the Democratic supermajority that Illinois currently has to protect it from these evil people.Think about it this way. Republicans would outlaw all contraception and abortion, even in cases of rape. A woman undergoes that heinous assault, and she can t get an abortion because Republicans love life too much to let her make that choice on her own. After 9 months of getting no help with prenatal care or the hospital bill when she gives birth, Republicans would immediately deny that child they protected from abortion any form of state assistance for the next 18 years.Pro-life, indeed.","label":1}
{"text":"FBI Director James Comey said during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing that he was looking into whether agents at the bureau leaked sensitive information to reporters or public figures, including close Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, during the 2016 presidential election.The highly anticipated hearing was revealing.During a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked about former FBI official Jim Kallstrom s and Giuliani s claims that they had inside information about the bureau s probe into Hillary Clinton s use of a private email server. Now either they re lying or there is a serious problem within the bureau, Leahy said. Did anybody in the FBI during this 2016 campaign have contact with Rudy Giuliani about the Clinton investigation? I don t know yet, but if I find out that people were leaking information about our investigations whether to reporters or private parties, there will be severe consequences, Comey said.Comey went on to say that he was very, very interested in getting to the bottom of the matter and that once the FBI did so, he would inform the committee.Last October, the former New York City mayor and Trump adviser, hinted at the FBI s reopening of its email investigation into Clinton during an appearance on Fox & Friends October 25. People speculated that Giuliani appeared to have an inside contact with the agency who was giving him information.Giuliani said the Trump campaign had a couple of surprises left , and said that further revelations were coming.The very next day Giuliani told Fox s Martha MacCallum that there was a surprise or two that you re going to hear about in the next two days. The former mayor and Trump surrogate also claimed to be in contact with numerous FBI officials, then later, he backpedaled that remark, saying that his sources were all former agents.However, during multiple cable news interviews before the election, Giuliani bragged that former agents had clued him into the revolution coming on in the FBI in regards to how the probe into Clinton s email server was handled.During the hearing, Comey also slammed Wikileaks as intelligence porn. The FBI director went on to call Russia the greatest threat of any nation on earth, given their intention and capability, to U.S. political systems.By the way, has anyone seen Rudy Giuliani lately? He has suddenly disappeared from cable news. Weird, huh? It s almost as if he knows a storm is coming.Next week it will be Sally Yates O Clock and she will testify about Michael Flynn.This is what we call karma and it s spelled, ha ha ha ha ha ha haaa! Photo by Drew Angerer\/Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"President Barack Obama did not specify a candidate preference in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Thursday. Earnest was asked about a New York Times report that said Obama told Democratic donors to rally behind candidate Hillary Clinton during the fundraiser in Austin, Texas last weekend.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the derailment of a train, which sent train cars crashing onto a major highway and killed passengers, in Washington state showed the necessity of an infrastructure plan. \"The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly,\" Trump said. \"Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!\"","label":0}
{"text":"Pediatricians Ease Screen Time Guidelines New Company Aims To Explore Intersection Of Technology, Other Thing Intuihub officials say the particular thing needs to incorporate the latest technology if it wants to stay relevant. Close Intuihub officials say the particular thing needs to incorporate the latest technology if it wants to stay relevant. NEWS October 26, 2016 Vol 52 Issue 42 \u00b7 News \u00b7 Technology  SAN FRANCISCO\u2014Explaining how their company was poised to usher in a bold new era of innovation, founders of local startup Intuihub told reporters Wednesday that their mission is to explore the intersection of technology and another thing.  \"When you look at where the world is going right now, it just makes a lot of sense to take cutting-edge technology and incorporate it into this other thing,\" said Intuihub co-founder Martin Fiske, who explained that the other thing will be modernized and streamlined once it is integrated with the latest technological breakthroughs. \"We're looking out at an exciting new frontier, one in which technology will be used to push the boundaries of what the other thing is capable of.\"  \"And we believe there's no limit to what we can accomplish when we take technology and the other thing and put them together,\" Fiske added.  Intuihub will reportedly employ groundbreaking advancements in technology to take the other thing in a variety of new and intriguing directions, including some directions, company officials promised, that have never before been imagined. According to the startup's founders, their work will forever change the way people think about and interact with the thing.  Fiske, who reportedly began his career working solely with the other thing but soon realized that adding technology to what he was doing would \"open amazing new doors for the thing,\" told reporters that his company has an incredible opportunity to revolutionize both technology and the other thing. Five years from now, he said, the thing is likely to be completely unrecognizable by today's standards.  He pointed out that Intuihub is already disrupting the entire landscape by using technology to make the other thing more accessible and convenient.  \"Technology is evolving, and the other thing needs to evolve along with it,\" said Fiske, noting that no other company focusing on the other thing is using technology the way Intuihub is. \"The synergy between technology and this thing will be so strong that when the two come together, they may actually create a third thing, one that we believe could be truly world-altering.\"  After describing their plans to launch a revolution that will change the lives of millions for the better, Intuihub founders confirmed they were also interested in partnering with brands to create more personalized experiences for the thing's consumers. Share This Story: WATCH VIDEO FROM THE ONION Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter  Give your spam filter something to do. Daily Headlines","label":1}
{"text":"After his joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Donald Trump told the press that the two had discussed his wall, but not who would pay for it.It was Trump s easy out on the issue the ability for him to say that discussions on the wall were preliminary. While Trump may have been correct that the two nations respect the right of either nation to build a physical wall, his claim that it wasn t discussed was, as is everything else he says, complete bullsh*t. The AP reports that Nieto has spoken out on the wall issue, and Trump is surely furious. Pena Nieto says he told Trump that Mexico won t pay for border wall, contradicting Trump, who says it was not discussed, the Associated Press Twitter account shot out shortly after Trump s photo-op in Mexico was completed.BREAKING: Pena Nieto says he told Trump that Mexico won't pay for border wall, contradicting Trump, who says it was not discussed AP Politics (@AP_Politics) August 31, 2016President Nieto was also very clear on the issue via Twitter:Al inicio de la conversaci n con Donald Trump dej claro que M xico no pagar por el muro. Enrique Pe a Nieto (@EPN) August 31, 2016 At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump, he said, I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall. The border wall has been the central part of The Donald s campaign since the early days when he called all Mexicans rapists drug dealers and criminals, and pledged to build The Wall to keep the brown people from further ruining our Great White Nation. This promise has been an important part of growth with key Trump demographics like white supremacists, Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and closet racists.Unfortunately for the 2016 Republican nominee s followers, he appears to have all but given up on building their favorite thing ever. What you guys didn t think it was really going to happen, did you? Still think Mexico is going to pay for it, guys? Hmm?Watch Trump claim they never talked about the wall below:","label":1}
{"text":"The Media Research Center, a right-wing media analysis organization, held its annual black-tie affair last week. The Baltimore police officers who are directly responsible for the death of Freddie Gray last year attended, were brought up on stage, and applauded and honored and giving a standing ovation for their work, all while a right-wing talking head glossed over the problems of police brutality.Deneen Borelli, a frequent Fox News contributor, complained loudly that these cops lives and careers were ruined by the lies surrounding Freddie Gray s death. Gray died after his spine was nearly severed due to a rough and unsecured ride in the back of a van. He was handcuffed and put in leg irons, but not belted in at all. Later, officers said he d suffered a medical emergency, but they failed to get him help.Borelli lamented: These five men and one woman, all veteran police officers, were now in handcuffs, fighting for their lives, their careers destroyed, bankrupted, humiliated No one apologized for ruining their lives. No one thanked them for their service or recognized their honor. Who will thank these officers? Who will thank all police officers at a time they are being so vilified? Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we will. This is disgusting.Patently disgusting.The media doesn t jump to vilify the police we have a serious problem with police brutality, particularly against the black community, and the media is shining a light on it. In Baltimore, officers who were witnesses to the case were also on the team investigating Gray s death. Lead detectives started their own counter-investigations to disprove the state s case. The system works for officers, and against their victims.Victims like Freddie Gray. While Borelli whines that nobody s apologized to these officers who, in her view no doubt, were merely doing their duty and then braved the aftermath with grace and courage, Gray is still dead. He died as a direct result of these officers actions.To point this out, though, makes us anti-police. We re police-haters when we point out brutality. Idiots like Franklin Graham say the best way to stop this is for people to just comply with police orders, and yet, many of the black people who die are complying with police orders.Seriously, the Media Research Center ought to be ashamed of itself for this. These cops lives and careers wouldn t have been ruined if they d actually done their entire job.Watch Borelli s remarks below, beginning at the 1:11:50 mark:","label":1}
{"text":"On Thursday, 1,200 hundred people attended a community conversation with Bernie Sanders at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. During the event, indigenous people spoke out against the problems facing their community. The most talked about issue was healthcare.Alex Romero-Frederick says, We ve had relatives that have passed away because of the substandard care at the Rosebud hospital, and as far as having ER available, we live our life like, don t get hurt. While speaking to the enormous crowd gathered before him and one community member in particular, Sanders said: One of the issues that I feel strongly about is just what you said Evie, promises were made, treaties were signed, and those promises were not kept. If elected president, we will keep those promises. Other community members were positively surprised to learn how easy it was to speak with Sanders. The cool part is he s so personable, and he s not this typical Washington, D.C.-level person that s bigger than you and more important and will talk down to you. He was on the same level of us, and that s very important to me, said Evie.You can watch a video report from KEVN Black Hills Fox below.Sanders has made helping indigenous communities a major part of his platform. He has created policy proposals that specifically address the issues that affect indigenous people into his larger reform projects. Included in those agenda items are policies that specifically address inequality in healthcare, education, police violence, and energy infrastructure.So far in the Democratic primary election, Sanders has received massive amounts of support from indigenous communities. On his campaign website, it is noted that: Bernie is proud to have earned more than 80 percent of the votes cast in the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama, Iowa. He was also favored by voters in caucuses on and near reservations in Nevada. Sanders received a major indigenous shout out last February, when the Indigenous activist, economist, and author Winona LaDuke released a video where she publicly endorsed Sanders. You can watch the video below.Indigenous people are one of the most neglected groups of people in the U.S. Coverage of the issues that indigenous communities face hardly ever make their way into the media s spotlight. It is great that there is a candidate out there pushing those issues into that spotlight.South Dakota s primary is scheduled to take place on June 9.Featured image from video screenshot via KEVN","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump is calling for one of the most controversial and racially charged policies enacted by police departments to be expanded across the entire country. The city of New York recently ended stop and frisk, but Trump is pushing for it, apparently egged on by his top campaign surrogate, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. From Politico:In a pre-taped interview on Fox News scheduled to air Wednesday night, Trump was asked by an audience member what he would do to address violence in the black community and black-on-black crime. Trump responded by proposing that stop-and-frisk policing, in which an officer is empowered to stop an individual and frisk them for weapons or any other illegal contraband, be adopted nationwide. I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically, Trump told the questioner.Stop-and-frisk was repeatedly called out and protested against by New York City residents because the policy was shown time and time again to disproportionately target black and Latino residents. They were singled out for examination and interrogation by police officers, in what some felt were quotas set up by police management.When the city stopped using stop-and-frisk, they did not see an increase in crime, despite claims from its supporters that there would be a spike in criminal activity. Most people who had been subject to stop-and-frisk were let go, because they hadn t done anything wrong.Former US District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin, who had ruled the procedure unconstitutional in federal court, described it as destructive in an interview with Buzzfeed. She added: In short, the overstopping in many communities harmed the relationship between the people and the police. Cooperation has now improved due to positive efforts by police to work with the community not against it.","label":1}
{"text":"On Sunday s broadcast of CNN s Reliable Sources, a panel discussed the role Roger Ailes legacy. The Fox News founder is retiring from his position as the network s CEO due to a massive wave of allegations from female employees of sexual harassment.The episode began with the show s host, Brian Stelter posing the question, When you take stock of Roger Ailes legacy, his impact on media, do you think we would have Donald Trump as the GOP nominee without Roger Ailes? Political analyst Jeff Greenfield wasn t ready to say that Trump would not be a political success if it were not Ailes. Roger Ailes did to the media what Donald Trump did to the political process. What Greenfield is saying is that both Ailes and Trump are spectacular at rallying hardcore right-wing conservatives to support whatever narrative they choose to promote.While Greenfield isn t ready to put the burden of Trump on Ailes shoulders, Jane Hall, a former regular guest on Fox News said that you would not have Donald Trump without Roger Ailes. It has been rumored that Ailes next major project besides the autobiography he is going to write would be to work on Trump s presidential campaign. Panelist and Trump supporter, Jeff Lord, didn t provide any more credibility to those rumors. That being said, he did mention that Ailes would be very useful on the Trump campaign trail.Fox News, right-wing extremism, and now Trump exist in a reinforcing feedback loop that has caused so much harm to the United States and the world. They have given megaphones to the biggest loons out there in the United States.You can watch the panel discussion below.https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Qn3AgNq2QikFeatured image from video screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"One day in August 2015, the Princeton University neuroscientist Yael Niv saw an email notice of a conference on deep brain stimulation, a hot topic in treatment for depression and other mental disorders. Dr. Niv noticed that none of the 21 scientists scheduled to speak were women. This was not the first time Dr. Niv had lamented a skewed lineup. For years, she had tried to persuade other conference organizers, sometimes successfully, to invite more women to speak. But something about this particular conference, perhaps that the organizers were women, pushed her and about 20 other female scientists to take action. Over a series of furious emails that night, they decided that the best approach they could take was scientific: They would collect data \u2014 irrefutable evidence \u2014 on the numbers of male and female speakers. The very next day, they started a website called BiasWatchNeuro, with an inaugural post on the conference. Since then, they have posted gender ratios among speakers at more than 60 conferences in various areas of neuroscience, and compared them with the base rates \u2014 the proportion of female scientists in that particular field. The base rates are estimated from the number of women in grants databases. If anything, Dr. Niv said, the site errs on the side of underestimating the base rates. At about half of the conferences listed on the site so far, the number of female speakers matches or surpasses the base rate in that field in general. But what fuels the project, Dr. Niv said, is how many conferences continue to fall not just a little, but far short, of the proportion of women in that field. For the gender ratio of panelists to mirror the base rate in that particular field, assuming the site's estimates are accurate, the dark blue dots, above, would have to turn pink and the dark red dots would have to turn blue. There were a total of just 11 women (compared with 213 male speakers) at 13 conferences that fell in the egregious offender category \u2014 those that were more than two standard deviations below the base rate. You can also see that six conferences on the left had no female speakers at all, and that few conferences reached the 50 percent gender mark. Dr. Niv said that she and her colleagues believed that the gap between the ratio of the women in the field and on panels was primarily the result of implicit bias, which some of them have studied. \"Implicit bias is just that \u2014 implicit: We are not aware of it,\" she said. \"We are not saying that conference organizers are bigots and purposefully discriminating they just can't help it. \" Some conference organizers have been receptive to the criticism, adding more women to their lineups. But others in the world of neuroscience have taken issue with the mission. Panels should be organized based strictly on the speakers' merit, they say, and not on any notion of fairness. Veerle one of the organizers of the deep brain stimulation conference, said she was \"puzzled by the gender issue\" and had never experienced any bias. In selecting speakers for the conference, \"it was not our goal to have an equal distribution between, for example, European and American lecturers, or black and white, or male and female,\" she said. \"Their scientific excellence was the criterion. \" Among the defenders of the project, however, is Anne Churchland, a neuroscientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory who studies how people make decisions. In 2001, she started Anne's List, a directory of 170 women in computational neuroscience, intended to silence claims that no good female scientists existed in that field. Her research suggests that someone you recently had lunch with or someone from your hometown might spring to mind when selecting a speaker, even though neither has anything to do with science. \"It doesn't feel like irrelevant information influences our judgment, but it does,\" Dr. Churchland said. Being invited to speak on panels is more than a matter of prestige it's how your peers come to know who you are, Dr. Niv said. \"When you're not known in science, you're basically doomed, because when your papers are reviewed, they're less likely to be accepted,\" she said. \"Your grants are less likely to be funded. \" When less than 50 percent of a field is made up of women, and then they are barely represented on panels, their ideas may never be heard by their colleagues, Dr. Niv said. \"Science should not be biased,\" she said. Addressing that, she added, \"should be everybody's priority. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is never at a loss for words. As the world is still in shock and reeling from news of the terrorist bombings in Brussels Tuesday morning, the business mogul didn t hesitate to make truly despicable remarks about the attacks on Twitter, as well as insult President Barack Obama s historic trip to Havana, Cuba.In an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Trump used the terrorist attacks to imply that Obama s Cuba visit may correspond with setting up a little area in Cuba for the Muslim population. Trump also said the bombings were a sure sign that if the United States doesn t secure its border, it is going to lead to just catastrophic problems. The disgraced candidate actually had the nerve to say that a big part of the reason he has been leading on the Republican side by a lot was because of his racist, offensively strong position on building walls and controlling the border.Fox News was more than happy to follow Trump on his criticisms of Obama, with Bartiromo noting that it was interesting that the President would be speaking at a press conference during his last day in Cuba. She said: Isn t it interesting that now we understand that President Obama will give a live press conference later on today? He s probably going to discuss the terrorist attack from the brutal communist dictatorship of Cuba. So, what irony that is. Trump jumped in and asked, I wonder how many Muslims Cuba is taking in every year? I wonder if they re setting up a little area in Cuba for the Muslim population. Bartiromo moved right on through the interview, without even clarifying with Trump just why he would connect Muslim camps in Cuba to the President s visit. You can watch the video of Trump s disrespectful comments below:Now, the fact that Trump is making inflammatory remarks about Muslims is no surprise as he has been expressing anti-Islamic sentiments throughout his entire campaign. However, his remarks about Obama have different implications considering that Trump has become infamous for his claims that Obama was not born in America, and therefore should not be president. Trump started his own birther movement surrounding those claims, insisting that the President show his long-form birth certificate despite the overwhelming evidence that Obama was indeed an American citizen. Trump has also criticized Obama for making a speech at an American mosque, saying Maybe he feels comfortable there. Just yesterday, Trump celebrated the fact that it was Obama s final year with a big YAY! while he spoke at the AIPAC conference. On the same day, Trump said Obama was the worst thing to ever happen to Israel during a town hall. It s becoming clear that Trump is now hell-bent on destroying Obama s image, despite the fact that the President has undoubtedly improved America and our relations with other countries.","label":1}
{"text":"As if the election of Donald Trump couldn t get even more disastrous and hypocritical, Senator Lindsey Graham just called on Trump to nominate a right-wing extremist to nation s highest court.All year long, Republicans have been blocking President Obama s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court because they want the next president to make the pick. And because they now have the conservative puppet president they have always wanted, they want to make sure that nominee is a conservative extremist.South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told WYFF-TV that Trump should pick Texas Senator Ted Cruz as the nominee and warned Democrats not to block him, which is hypocritical considering how Republicans have treated President Obama s nominee and threatened to block any nominees Hillary Clinton would have made had she won the election. I m here to tell my Democratic colleagues that I voted for Obama s nominees. I expect them to give Trump s nominees a fair shake. He won this election. He will pick a conservative. I would put Ted Cruz on that list. If they try to block this pick, they will regret it. If you don t honor Trump s nominee, you re making a huge mistake. Democrats should stand up and give Graham a collective middle finger.Since Antonin Scalia died in February, there has been a vacancy on the Supreme Court bench that has yet to be filled. The body wasn t even cold yet before Republicans vowed to block any nominee President Obama picked to replace him, going so far as to even deny Garland a confirmation hearing. That s far from the fair shake Graham is asking Democrats to give to a man as dangerous as Ted Cruz.Putting Cruz on the Supreme Court would guarantee rulings against women s rights and LGBT rights as well as putting laws like the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act in further peril. In no uncertain terms should Democrats grant Cruz a hearing, nor should they respect any of Trump s conservative choices for the court. Republicans should have thought about fair shakes before taking the totally unprecedented step of being complete assholes toward the Supreme Court nominee of a sitting president who also won an election and s far more popular than Trump. Again, Senate Republicans didn t even give Garland a hearing or a vote. They refused to do their jobs entirely out of disrespect towards President Obama. And so that s exactly what Democrats should do to Trump. Turnabout is fair play and Republicans only have themselves to blame.Featured Image: Ethan Miller\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The systematic persecution of minority Muslims is on the rise across Myanmar and not confined to the northwestern state of Rakhine, where recent violence has sent nearly 90,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing, a Myanmar rights group said on Tuesday. The independent Burma Human Rights Network said that persecution was backed by the government, elements among the country s Buddhist monks, and ultra-nationalist civilian groups. The transition to democracy has allowed popular prejudices to influence how the new government rules, and has amplified a dangerous narrative that casts Muslims as an alien presence in Buddhist-majority Burma, the group said in a report. The report draws on more than 350 interviews in more than 46 towns and villages over an eight-month period since March 2016. Myanmar s government made no immediate response to the report. Authorities deny discrimination and say security forces in Rakhine are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists . Besides Rohingya Muslims, the report also examines the wider picture of Muslims of different ethnicities across Myanmar following waves of communal violence in 2012 and 2013. The report says many Muslims of all ethnicities have been refused national identification cards, while access to Islamic places of worship has been blocked in some places. At least 21 villages around Myanmar have declared themselves no-go zones for Muslims, backed by the authorities, it said. In Rakhine state, the report highlighted growing segregation between Buddhists and Muslim communities and severe travel restriction for the Muslim Rohingyas, which limited their access to health care and education. Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled into neighboring Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people. The treatment of Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who critics say have not done enough to protect the Muslim minority from persecution. The London-based Burma Human Rights Network has been advocating among the international community for human rights in Myanmar since 2012, it says on its website.","label":0}
{"text":"October 27, 2016  Incidents of \"bake shaming\" have increased by 600% since Wednesday evening's Bake Off final, say police.  Bake shaming, legally classified as abuse aimed at \"those who haven't seen, or don't really care about, The Great British Bake Off\" has become more of a problem since the announcement that the programme will be crossing channels next year.  One victim, Kevin Dunsford, who has lived his whole life in this country was \"bake shamed\" at his local bus stop. He told our reporter: I was standing with my wife and we were talking about the weather and a woman walked up, looked at us in disbelief and said, \"Why aren't you talking about Bake Off?\" She then started ranting on about British Values and called us an \"unwelcome minority\".  Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, said she was appalled by this situation and condemned these acts as \"despicable\". She added, \"Our cake crime laws are among the best in the world.\" Share this story...  Posted: Oct 27th, 2016 by dominic_mcg Click for more article by dominic_mcg .. More Stories about: News In Brief 0","label":1}
{"text":"On Thursday, during an Oval Office interview with Reuters, President Trump said: \"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely. \"[\"We'd love to solve things diplomatically but it's very difficult,\" the president added. China will clearly play a major role in that diplomatic resolution, as Trump suggested he would not anger Beijing with another phone call to Taiwan's president. He explicitly stated he wanted to avoid \"causing difficulty\" for Chinese President Xi Jinping while he is \"doing everything in his power to help us with a big situation. \" He praised Xi as a \"good man\" who is \"trying very hard\" to avoid \"turmoil and death\" on the Korean peninsula. \"He is a very good man and I got to know him very well,\" said Trump. \"With that being said, he loves China and he loves the people of China. I know he would like to be able to do something, perhaps it's possible that he can't. \" Trump was also surprisingly sympathetic to North Korean dictator Kim . \"He's 27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want but that is not easy, especially at that age,\" he said of Kim. \"I'm not giving him credit or not giving him credit, I'm just saying that's a very hard thing to do. As to whether or not he's rational, I have no opinion on it. I hope he's rational. \" On the other hand, Trump played hardball with South Korea, saying that he intends to renegotiate its deal with the U. S. \"very soon,\" and seek compensation for the $1 billion cost of deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) shield to Seoul. \"It is unacceptable, it is a horrible deal made by Hillary. It's a horrible deal, and we are going to renegotiate that deal or terminate it,\" he said of the Korean trade deal, formally known as KORUS, referring to his defeated 2016 presidential opponent and onetime Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said it would be much easier to terminate KORUS than the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has also strongly criticized. \"With the Korean deal, we terminate and it's over. I will do that unless we make a fair deal. We're getting destroyed in Korea,\" he said. According to the Washington Post, the South Korean Trade Ministry stated on Friday that it has no plans to renegotiate the agreement, whose anniversary occurs next week. The United States is currently running a $27. 7 billion trade deficit in goods with South Korea. When Reuters asked when he planned to announce this surprising review of South Korea trade policy, Trump replied, \"I'm announcing it now. \" This did not go over well in South Korea, where stocks and currency values immediately tumbled. Among other market indicators, shares in Hyundai Motor dropped by as much as 2. 4 percent, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index slid 0. 1 percent, and the South Korean won dropped 0. 2 percent against the dollar. These would seem more like signs of unease than panic. Analysts told CNBC Trump's remarks came as a surprise, but most of the South Korean market and its foreign investors await firmer announcements of the Trump administration's intentions before concluding a trade war is brewing. A foreign policy adviser to the favored candidate in the upcoming emergency South Korea presidential election, Moon said asking South Korea to pay for THAAD was an \"impossible option. \" Moon is already known as a skeptic of THAAD deployment, with his campaign describing the decision of his impeached predecessor Park to install the system \"strongly regrettable\" and \"very inappropriate\" because she did not properly consult with parliament. Moon has called for an immediate halt to the deployment of the THAAD system, which has increased tensions between South Korea and China. Chinese boycotts over THAAD have cost South Korea enough money to raise concerns about the future of South Korea's economic recovery. China objects to the deployment because it believes THAAD's powerful radars will be employed to spy on Chinese activity. The New York Times quotes Moon spokespersons describing Trump's demand for payment as validation of their criticism that Park's administration was not honest with the Korean people about the costs and drawbacks of the missile shield.","label":0}
{"text":"MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon \u2014 A leaked video that was allegedly taken inside a prison in this border state revealed how a group of cartel members dressed their rivals in lingerie and mocked them as they were forced to clean various cells. [The video shows a group of cartel members on their hands and knees wearing bras and other lingerie crawling on the floor while other kick them and shout various insults. The inmates are forced to clean one of the common areas inside the Apodaca state prison. Some of the insults shouted by the inmates point to the humiliated cartel members being members of the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of the Zetas cartel. Breitbart Texas has reported in the past that the CDN has been fighting a territorial war with a rival faction of the Zetas called \"Vieja Escuela Z\" or Old School Z. It remains unclear if the inmates humiliating the CDN are rivals or members of the same faction who have switched sides. One of the men on the floor has been identified as Daniel Gustavo \"El Muletas\" Valencia Trevi\u00f1o. A regional leader within the CDN, he was named Muletas or \"Crutches\" due to the loss of his leg. Valencia Trevi\u00f1o was arrested in late February by Mexican authorities. It remains unclear when the video was taken, however Nuevo Leon authorities confirmed to Breitbart Texas that as soon as the video surfaced, they carried out a series of raids at the prisons in Apodaca and Topo Chico where they seized a cell phone, various shanks, and some small remnants of marijuana. Editor's Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Le\u00f3n to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by \"M. A. Navarro\" from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas and Tony Aranda from Monterrey, Nuevo Le\u00f3n.","label":0}
{"text":"Police warn of eviction 'at any time' as Dakota Access protesters refuse... Police warn of eviction 'at any time' as Dakota Access protesters refuse to leave private land By 0 101  Despite officers threatening to clear private land, Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protesters are refusing to leave. As tensions have built up, police handling of the protest has reportedly cost nearly $6 million in just one month.  \"We have the resources. We could go down there at any time and we are trying everything we can to not have to do that,\" Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney told reporters on Wednesday.  Protesters have been occupying private land known as Cannonball Ranch, which belongs to the Dakota Access Pipeline's developer, the Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners.  Since the weekend, both the company and law enforcement have been asking dozens of protesters to leave the area and move to public land. The occupation began Sunday, when demonstrators set up a new camp of at least 15 tents and 100 teepees. They have also blocked State Highway 1806, putting themselves directly in the path of the planned 1,172-mile pipeline, which will span four states.  \"Just come off the private property, go back to the big camp and let's talk and try figure out the solution for this. Their message was absolutely not, we are standing here,\" Laney said, adding that \"at some point rule of law has to be enforced.\"  Energy Transfer Partners also said in a statement that \"all trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and removed from the land.\" More than 125 people were arrested over the weekend, but the message had no effect on the protest.  Demonstrators have refused to vacate the land or leave State Highway 1806, keeping traffic and local residents from using the road. Dozens of protesters formed a human blockade, enforced with horses and hay bales.  \"No surrender, no retreat!\" protest organizer Mekasi Camp-Horinek, of Oklahoma, reportedly yelled to the people as he left negotiations.  \"We've got to make our bodies a living sacrifice,\" John Perko, a protester from South Dakota told The Bismarck Tribune. \"This is the most honorable thing I could be doing right now.\"  Last week, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has been leading the protest since August, agreed to provide its land to relocate the unauthorized camp from the US Army Corps of Engineers property for the winter.  As police try to abstain from using force, even the peaceful handling of the protests appears to be draining the budget at high speeds.  According to the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, authorities have spent $5.8 million since early September. This is nearly all of the $6 million the state borrowed from the Bank of North Dakota in emergency funds to deal with the protest against the $3.78 billion pipeline.  Meanwhile, an investigation into a September 3 confrontation between protesters and private security guards has revealed license violations. It says that officers who deployed dogs on protesters were not properly licensed and could face criminal charges.  Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.","label":1}
{"text":"This is a great interview with some very personal info on Donald Trump. He also discusses Black Lives matter at around the 17:50 mark.","label":1}
{"text":"Oh, Alabama. In some ways, you ve replaced Arizona, Texas and Florida for craziest state in the nation, and your governor just proved it. Trump has nominated Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, which means Alabama has to replace him in the Senate. Who are they considering? There are several candidates, but one of them really shouldn t be under any consideration at all: Suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore.Roy Moore is the state Supreme Court justice who ordered all his probate judges to violate a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. For that, he was put on trial and suspended because he was in direct violation of a federal court order, along with interfering with the legal process.He also proved that he s not willing to obey the law when it conflicts with his own warped morals. Despite the fact that this is not a Christian nation, Moore insists on practicing his faith from the bench and forcing the rest of the state to break the law to obey his morals.Moore and his attorney, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel, went through all sorts of bizarre gyrations in an attempt to clear Moore s name and keep him on the bench. That included saying his order was merely a status report of sorts. He was just responding to questions from his 68 probate judges, according to his version of events.Staver also accused the court system of being on a witch hunt to eliminate a controversial figure.And this is the type of person that Governor Robert Bentley thinks would make a good interim Senator to replace Sessions until a special election can be held? Moore would be at least as bad as Ted Cruz, but probably worse. Maybe even much worse. Moore has zero business ever holding any public office again, and Bentley must be on something to think otherwise.Featured image by Erik S. Lesser via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The globalists aren t happy which is a signal that the Republican party chose the right guy. The people spoke and their guy is Trump like it or not.The Bush family just announced they re going to be MIA during the 2016 election and now the Romney family has followed suit.The Republican National Convention in July is going to be missing some of the party s most recognizable faces. All of the living former Republican nominees for president said they are skipping the Cleveland convention with the exception of Bob Dole, the 1996 GOP nominee.An aide to Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, confirmed to ABC News that he has no plans to attend the convention. Romney has been one of Trump s most scathing critics. In March, he gave a speech urging the party to reject the real estate mogul, calling him a phony, a fraud. The news that he is not attending this year s convention was first reported by The Washington Post.On Wednesday, the last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, also said they had no plans to back Donald Trump, the party s presumptive nominee.","label":1}
{"text":"Some 20 demonstrators were arrested on Thursday outside a Donald Trump campaign rally in southern California, where the Republican presidential front-runner vowed to his supporters to get tough on illegal immigration if elected. Demonstrators smashed the window of a police squad car, marched in protest and blocked traffic as police in riot gear tried to disperse the crowd outside of the county fair grounds in Costa Mesa, California, according to local media and the Twitter account of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The department said on its Twitter account that about 20 arrests were made and that no major injuries were reported. Trump visited Costa Mesa, a city of more than 100,000 people, a third of whom are Hispanic or Latino, hoping to garner support in California where voters will go to the polls during the state's Republican primary on June 7. A strong primary win in California for the billionaire could thrust him above the delegate count needed to secure the Republican nomination for president and avoid a contested party convention in July. During the campaign stop on Thursday, Trump promised to get tough on illegal immigration by building a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States, a popular theme of his presidential campaign, suggesting that a wall would stop drugs from coming into this country. \"The drugs are poisoning our youth and a lot of other people and we are going to get it stopped,\" he said, telling the crowd that he would force Mexico to pay for the wall. After the event, local news showed hundreds of demonstrators surrounding vehicles, waving Mexican flags and holding signs in protest of Trump outside of the Orange County Fair and Event Center. At least one demonstrator was shown jumping on the top of a police car while other demonstrators were seen shaking a police vehicle. A Los Angeles Times reporter posted a photo on Twitter of a man wearing a Trump T-shirt with a bloodied face. Trump has come under fire from rivals for fueling unrest with his rhetoric as several of his rallies around the country have been met by protests during the last several months.","label":0}
{"text":"Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, an ex-air force pilot and former presidential candidate, said on Wednesday he intended to run in the presidential election early next year and would return to Cairo in the coming days . But Shafiq later told pan-Arab TV channel Al Jazeera that the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of Egypt s where he is currently living, had barred him from traveling. I was surprised that I was prevented from leaving the UAE for reasons I do not understand, Shafiq said, adding that he thanked the UAE for its hospitality but wished to depart. Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, denied on his official Twitter account that any obstacles had been placed to his travel, saying the UAE hosted him despite strong reservations about some of his positions . In a video declaration sent earlier to Reuters as well as a telephoned statement, Shafiq said he would run in the election planned for around April, when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely expected to seek a second term. I m honored to announce my will to run in the upcoming presidential elections in Egypt as a choice to be president of the country for the next four years, he said in the statement from the UAE in which he highlighted his time in the air force. Shafiq would be among a small number of candidates to announce their intentions for 2018. He lost against Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in the first presidential election after Egypt s 2011 uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Sisi, who as a military commander led the army s ousting of Mursi in 2013 before his own landslide election a year later, has yet to announce whether he will run again. He says he will follow the will of the people. His supporters regard Sisi as the key to stability following the prolonged, violent upheaval that followed the 2011 revolt. His government is fighting a stubborn Islamist militancy in the North Sinai and has also enacted painful austerity reforms over the last year that critics say have dented his popularity. After his defeat, Shafiq fled overseas. He formed a political party and led it from abroad but it failed to make significant gains in a 2015 parliamentary election. Shafiq has faced various corruption charges but was either acquitted or had cases against him dropped in most instances. A year ago, his lawyer said he was removed from airport watchlists, clearing his way to return home.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump was not in the room during U.S. President Barack Obama's final State of the Union speech, but the Republican presidential front-runner was a looming presence nonetheless. Both Obama's speech on Tuesday and, for that matter, the Republican response by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, took pains to rebuke Trump, the real estate billionaire whose red-hot rhetoric has endeared him to some and dismayed others in the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama and Haley, although from different parties, offered a defense of establishment politics, a plea for optimism and a quest for common ground. Obama seemed to refer specifically to Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration following a deadly shooting attack last month in San Bernardino, California, by a couple authorities said had been radicalized. \"We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn't a matter of political correctness,\" Obama said. Trump has mounted much of his insurgent candidacy on the notion of America losing ground, both economically and in terms of global influence. Obama rejected that idea outright. \"It's easier to be cynical,\" Obama said, \"to accept that change isn't possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don't matter.\" Soon after Obama concluded his remarks in the chamber of the House of Representatives, Trump tweeted: \"The State of the Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time.\" While consistently criticizing Obama's record, Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a potential Republican vice presidential choice, also seemed to indict Trump's message. \"Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference,\" she said. \"That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.\" Like Obama, Haley did not mention Trump by name during her address but she criticized him in an interview on NBC's \"Today show\" on Wednesday while calling on the Republican Party to be more inclusive. \"Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk,\" she said. Trump responded shortly afterward by telling Fox News that Haley has been \"very weak on illegal immigration\" for a long time. Paul Sracic, chairman of the politics department at Youngstown State University in Ohio, said Trump was dominating \"our political discourse in a way that no one would have predicted even a year ago.\" \"Donald Trump must be smiling tonight,\" he said, pointing out that the candidate managed to make himself the target of not just the State of the Union address, but also the Republican response. The White House gave Haley credit for defending \"American values\" in her speech. \"She was willing to do something that a lot of other Republicans - leading Republicans - have been unwilling to do,\" White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday. But he stressed that the administration disagrees with many of Haley's positions. Obama flew on Wednesday to Nebraska, a Republican \"red state,\" to promote the big-picture ideas he laid out in his speech. On Tuesday night, Obama also appeared to single out conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the top challenger to Trump in the Republican race. Cruz has called for a massive bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria to wipe out Islamic State forces. Meeting the threat of Islamic State, Obama said, \"needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians.\" Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said Obama \"made the argument very well that leadership is not bombing the crap out of someone.\" Cruz quickly countered in a statement. Obama, he said, \"lectures us on civility yet he has been one of the most divisive presidents in American history.\" Both Trump and Cruz, who are topping opinion polls weeks before the early nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, have pledged to push the Republican Party in a more confrontational direction, and seek to undo much of what Obama has accomplished as president. Both candidates are likely in coming days to hammer the Obama administration on its approach to Islamic State. Obama's defense of pragmatic politics may also help his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who is trying to stave off a challenge from self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest, said Bannon. \"He's taking about holding up the establishment,\" he said. \"When the president makes a good case, it helps Hillary more than Bernie.\" But John Geer, an expert on voter opinion at Vanderbilt University, thought Obama, in his bid for unity, damaged Clinton's prospects by not making a stronger case for continuing the Democratic agenda. \"He didn't put forward an argument why there should be another Democrat for four years,\" Geer said. \"I think she would have liked to see that.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The two earthquakes that hit Italy Wednesday were \" retribution \" for the country's support of a UNESCO resolution that disregards the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, according to Israeli Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara (Likud).  Israel suspended its ties with the UN cultural agency after it adopted a draft resolution this month, that Israel says denies Judaism's connections to the religion's holiest sites.  The deputy minister, who was in Italy when the earthquakes struck, ascribed the natural disasters to divine will.  RT.com reports:  \" I'm sure that the earthquake happened because of the UNESCO decision, \" Kara, a member of the ruling Likud Party, wrote in a memo, Ynetnews website reported.  Ironically, the Israeli politician was on a state visit to the Vatican when the quakes hit central Italy on Wednesday, killing one and injuring 10 people.  Earlier the same day, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), passed a resolution criticizing Israel for its handling of the holy site in Jerusalem \u2013 called Temple Mount by Jews, and Haram al-Sharif by Muslims.  The document was adopted after heated debate over its wording, and particularly the Arabic names used in the document. Italy was among the nations voting in favor of the resolution.  Israel blasted UNESCO and its Arab members for trying to undermine Jewish connections to the holy site.  Kara arrived in the Vatican in a fruitless effort to avert the resolution, but still managed to have a small chat with the leader of the Catholic Church.  According to Kara, Pope Francis \" strongly disagreed \" with the resolution.  \" He (the Pope) even said publicly that the holy land is connected to the Nation of Israel, \" the deputy minister stressed.  As for surviving the natural disaster, the Israeli politician said that \" going through the earthquake was not the most comfortable of experiences, but we trusted that the Holy See would keep us safe. \"","label":1}
{"text":"Most Republican lawmakers have remained silent with regard to the armed right-wing terrorist takeover of a federal building in Oregon but not Tennessee state Rep. Andy Holt.Despite that this group of Yee-Hawdists made tear-filled goodbye videos in case they died in a shootout with the Army, occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (or, as ABC said with plenty of sugarcoating, engaged in an action after a peaceful protest), and revealed that they are willing to die for their cause, all in pursuit of a political purpose through intimidation (protecting two convicted arsonists who don t want their help from prison and permanent occupation of the land) the very definition of terrorism we don t even see 1\/100 of the police presence surrounding the staging area as we do at any peaceful protest against police brutality.Holt tweeted and deleted what appears to be an offer to provide material assistance to Vanilla ISIS.Holt compared the armed militia, which has promised a prolonged occupation and has vowed to kill or be killed with arsons that occurred at the same times as protests in Ferguson or Baltimore: While Holt takes a strong stance at any arson that occurs in the vicinity of an area in which African-Americans are standing up for their rights, he is perfectly willing to tolerate and even encourage an armed mob of white seditionists attempting to establish an inbred nation-state by force.The Tenth Amendment, of course, does not authorize a mob of right-wing terrorists to occupy anything, by force or not nor does it give them permission to attempt to extort the federal government. However, as one Democrat, Chattanooga City Councilman Chris Anderson, pointed out, Holt s offer to help the Bundy terrorists may constitute Treason.While Holt may think he understands the 10th Amendment, he doesn t quite grasp Article III of the Constitution, which states:Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.In fact, U.S.C.S 2383 covers insurrection quite nicely, as well:Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.Anderson has asked the Justice Department to investigate. Holt, of course, dismissed Anderson s concerns with the tried-and-true Yeah, well you re gay response:He says that he deleted his treasonous offer so liberal loons will quit responding but whines that More liberal loons have responded since his offer to aid and abet terrorists began to circulate. Get off Twitter & read the Constitution, kids, he said, ironically.Perhaps Anderson is right that Holt who offered to provide material assistance to a terrorist cell that has declared war on the federal government should be investigated for treason.","label":1}
{"text":"Meanwhile, back at the White House, Obama spent the afternoon yesterday thanking the Black Lives Matter terrorists, who ve burnt major cities to the ground and committed unspeakable violence against innocent Americans. Merica A federal grand jury has indicted Cliven Bundy and four others for leading a 2014 standoff with unconstitutional federal agencies at the Bundy Ranch.Bundy, along with his sons Ammon and Ryan, Ryan Payne and Pete Santilli are facing charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, assault on a federal officer, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, obstruction of the due administration of justice, interference with interstate commerce by extortion, and interstate travel in aid of extortion.Here is the true story of the Bundy Ranch standoff and why they re fighting back against the Federal government:Here is the intense, graphic video that shows the Federal agents tazing the protestors, including a pregnant woman:https:\/\/youtu.be\/LhJ6H9vlEDAAccording to a press release by the Justice Department (pause for laughter):Cliven D. Bundy, 69, of Bunkerville, Nev., Ryan C. Bundy, 43, of Mesquite, Nev., Ammon E. Bundy, 40, of Emmet, Idaho, Ryan W. Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Mont., and Peter T. Santilli, Jr., 50, of Cincinnati, Ohio, are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, one count of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, four counts of using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, two counts of assault on a federal officer, two counts of threatening a federal law enforcement officer, three counts of obstruction of the due administration of justice, two counts of interference with interstate commerce by extortion, and one count of interstate travel in aid of extortion. The indictment also alleges five counts of criminal forfeiture which upon conviction would require forfeiture of property derived from the proceeds of the crimes totaling at least $3 million, as well as the firearms and ammunition possessed and used on April 12, 2014.Here is exactly why Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Soebarkah brought in constitution-violating, asset forfeiture criminal and terrorist-tied Loretta Lynch as his Attorney General. Please don t forget the Democrat and Republican senators who helped confirm her because they are just as complicit. No crime of violence occurred at Bundy Ranch, except for the crimes of federal agencies who destroyed the property of Cliven Bundy and his family. There were attempts to corral people into First Amendment Zones, which is unlawful and tazing individuals who were exercising their free speech, but there was no violence committed by the Bundys or the protesters. The rule of law has been reaffirmed with these charges, said U.S. Attorney Bogden. Persons who use force and violence against federal law enforcement officers who are enforcing court orders, and nearly causing catastrophic loss of life or injury to others, will be brought to justice. Who used force? Who used violence?Here is Ammon Bundy showing where he was tazed by Federal Agents and arrested for, according to Bundy taking pictures in a pubic place:Did the court order demand that cattle be slaughtered? Did the court order that snipers be put into place and an army of hundreds of armed federal agents surround American citizens? Again, who was using force? Who committed acts of violence? Was it not the DC government acting in violation of the Constitution s requirement regarding ownership and control of land? I think it was.According to the DOJ release, the maximum penalties for the charges issued are:Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the U.S. 5 years, $250,000 fineConspiracy to Impede and Injure a Federal Law Enforcement Officer 6 years, $250,000 fineAssault on a Federal Law Enforcement Officer 20 years, $250,000 fineThreatening a Federal Law Enforcement Officer 10 years, $250,000 fineUse and Carry of a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence 5 years minimum and consecutiveObstruction of the Due Administration of Justice 10 years, $250,000 fineInterference with Interstate Commerce by Extortion 20 years, $250,000 fineInterstate Travel in Aid of Extortion 20 years, $250,000 fineEditor s Note: If convicted on all counts, these men could face up to 96 years in prison and\/or up to $1.75 million in fines. Would a conviction on all counts and maximum sentence really surprise anyone? This indictment sends a resounding message to those who wish to participate in violent acts that our resolve to pursue them and enforce the law remains unwavering, said Special Agent in Charge Bucheit.No, the indictment sends a message that DC is engaged in a tyrannical overthrow of the Constitution and will put men in jail on trumped up charges when all they were doing was seeking to expose the criminals and uphold the Constitution. Today marks a tremendous step toward ending more than 20 years of law breaking, said Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze. The nation s public lands belong to all Americans. Twenty years of lawbreaking? Mr. Kornze, law breaking continues under the current administration just as it has for well over 150 years in this country. When will you be prosecuting your own DOJ, whose Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has criminally engaged in the trafficking of thousands of weapons across the Mexican border and into the hands of Mexican cartels, which resulted in the deaths of two federal agents, hundreds of Mexicans and who knows how many others?No, my friends, this is not about bringing law breaking to an end. It s about those engaged in crime at the DC level attempting to silence those who are exposing their crimes.At least one federal judge understood the law breaking of the Bureau of Land Management and in his opinion of United States v. Estate of Hage, U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Jones revealed the criminal actions of the BLM against Nevada rancher E. Wayne Hage. Judge Jones held government officials in contempt and referred the issued to Eric Holder s office. We all know what happened nothing.Kit Daniels reported:For over 20 years, the Bureau of Land Management engaged in a literal, intentional conspiracy against Nevada ranchers to force them out of business, according to a federal judge whose court opinion exposes the BLM s true intent against rancher Cliven Bundy.BLM agents who impounded Cliven Bundy s cattle. Based upon E. Wayne Hage s declaration that he refused to waive his rights a declaration that did not purport to change the substance of the grazing permit renewal for which he was applying, and which had no plausible legal effect other than to superfluously assert non-waiver of rights the Government denied him a renewal grazing permit based upon its frankly nonsensical position that such an assertion of rights meant that the application had not been properly completed, Judge Jones wrote. After the BLM denied his renewal grazing permit for this reason by letter, the Hages indicated that they would take the issue to court, and they sued the Government in the CFC [Court of Federal Claims.] And at that point, Jones explained, the BLM refused to consider any further applications from Hage. The entire chain of events is the result of the Government s arbitrary denial of E. Wayne Hage s renewal permit for 1993 2003, and the effects of this due process violation are continuing, he stated. This behavior shocks the conscience of the Court and provides a sufficient basis for a finding of irreparable harm to support the injunction described at the end of this Order, It s shocking because these men should have been upholding the law, but instead, turned against the American people and acted in a criminal fashion.Read the indictment below:Federal indictment against Cliven Bundy and others","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign a bill to provide financial incentives to companies developing treatments for the Zika virus, a White House spokeswoman said, but the bill passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday is insufficient to meet the challenge. \"We hope that this legislation encourages private sector partners to address the challenge of Zika, but it contains no funding and is ultimately insufficient on its own, since it doesn't provide the $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts have said is needed right now to prepare Americans for the imminent local transmission of Zika in this country,\" spokeswoman Katie Hill said.","label":0}
{"text":"One of the greatest institutions in America right now is the Satanic Temple. Their mission is simple: Mock, troll and thwart conservative Christian encroachment into our lives. To this end, the Detroit chapter of the church took to the streets of Ferndale and Detroit dressed unconventionally to expose the creepy obsession the pro-life movement has with fetuses:According to the Temple s Detroit chapter leader, Jex Blackmore, the anti-choice movement s obsession with, and mischaracterization of the fetus obscures medical reality and a woman s constitutional right to choice. The group dressed in baby masks and diapers, replete with BDSM gear, bottles and baby powder.Watch the really funny but reeeealllly creepy videos: Sooooooooo yeah. That actually happened. BDSM babies being flogged for their sins? I dunno. But the leader of the group, Jex Blackmore, refers to the attacks on Planned Parenthood as fetal idolatry which might possibly be the best description I ve ever heard. The fact is, the (mostly) conservative Christian fight against abortion is centered around protecting the fetus until the second it s out of the womb. Then the little moocher and its taker mother are on their own. Don t come asking for food, clothes, healthcare, schooling or anything else! The pro-life movement doesn t have time for any of that! They re on a mission from god to save babies from abortion!Worship the fetus, ignore the baby. If that s not fetal idolatry, I don t know what is. Here s how Blackmore describes it:The Satanic Temple (TST) believes that the anti-choice movement s obsession with, and mischaracterization of the fetus obscures medical reality and a woman s constitutional right to choice. Enlarged images of fetuses which are no larger than an inch and the personalization of mindless, senseless human embryos elevates the fetus to the status of a demigod. The strategy of elevating tiny human em br yos and fetuses to a rever ence creates a fantasy in which the maternal body is both erased and criminalized.All I have to say to that is, Hail Satan!","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday about last week s devastating earthquake that led to the deaths of at least 96 people, the White House said. Asked why Trump had not yet called Pena Nieto, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said a telephone call was scheduled to take place within the hour.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump views Germany as an important U.S. ally and gets along very well with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House said on Tuesday. Speaking at a news briefing after Trump intensified a dispute with Germany by calling Berlin's trade and spending policies \"very bad,\" White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: \"They get along very well. He has a lot of respect for her. ... And he views not just Germany but the rest of Europe as an important American ally.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Girding for four years of potential battles with Donald J. Trump, Democratic leaders of the California Legislature announced Wednesday that they had hired Eric H. Holder Jr. who was attorney general under President Obama, to represent them in any legal fights against the new Republican White House. The decision by the Legislature to retain Mr. Holder, who is now a prominent Washington lawyer, is the latest sign of the ideological battle that may play out over the next four years between this predominantly Democratic state and Washington. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, defeated Mr. Trump by more than four million votes here. \"Having the former attorney general of the United States brings us a lot of firepower in order to prepare to safeguard the values of the people of California,\" Kevin de Le\u00f3n, the Democratic leader of the Senate, said in an interview. \"This means we are very, very serious. \" Mr. de Le\u00f3n said he expected California to challenge Washington \u2014 and defend itself from policies instituted in Washington \u2014 on issues including the environment, immigration and criminal justice. He said California Democrats decided to turn to Mr. Holder as they watched Mr. Trump assemble his cabinet and begin to set the tone for his presidency. \"It was very clear that it wasn't just campaign rhetoric,\" Mr. de Le\u00f3n said of Mr. Trump's proposals over the past year. \"He was surrounding himself with people who are a very clear and present danger to the economic prosperity of California. \" Mr. Trump did not immediately return requests for comment. The move by Mr. de Le\u00f3n and his Democratic counterpart in the Assembly, Anthony Rendon, follows Gov. Jerry Brown's appointment of Representative Xavier Becerra as attorney general last month, to succeed Kamala D. Harris, who was elected to the United States Senate. That appointment made Mr. Becerra one of the Latino officials in this state, and he is expected to be instrumental in battling with the Trump White House over any attempt to enforce stringent measures aimed at immigrants. Mr. Brown has made clear that he intends to challenge the administration on global warming and that his attorney general will be a key to that battle. The Democratic Party controls of both the Assembly and the Senate in California. Every statewide elected official is a Democrat. Mr. Holder was Mr. Obama's attorney general from 2009 to 2015. He was the first to hold that position. He is a partner at Covington Burling, a law firm in Washington that specializes in representing states and companies against the federal government. \"I am honored that the Legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal adviser as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact California's residents and policy priorities,\" Mr. Holder said in a statement. \"I am confident that our expertise across a wide array of federal legal and regulatory issues will be a great resource to the Legislature. \" The Legislature has an ample stable of lawyers on staff, but officials said Mr. Holder and his firm brought specific litigation and political skills that could be needed in the coming years. Mr. de Le\u00f3n said the final compensation for the firm had not been set, but would be publicly disclosed once it was. \"The cost will be very minimal compared to the billions of dollars at stake if California doesn't adequately make its case,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"After the FBI declined to charge Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing in the email scandal conservatives have been frothing at the mouth about for years now, Sarah Palin threw an even bigger temper tantrum than Donald Trump did.In a long rant on her Facebook page, Palin literally called upon conservatives to tear down this tyrannical system because Hillary Clinton was not charged with committing any of the crimes conservatives imagined she committed. It s a farce that no one is above the law and my heart goes out to all who ve been unjustly accused and destroyed over much lesser crimes than Hillary s, Palin wrote. We MUST redouble efforts to restore the rule of law that had sustained the most exceptional nation on earth, with everyone doing their part After telling conservatives to brainwash their kids and annoy anyone who will listen about how Hillary somehow orchestrated the FBI s decision, Palin whined about all the scandals President Obama and Hillary Clinton have gotten away with and accused Congress of being complicit.Letting Hillary skate today is no surprise when the team she s on has celebrated its administrators pleading the fifth, over and over again, sending messages to America that they re all above the law. From the IRS s Lois Lerner to Hillary herself testifying in front of Congress, they ve all told Congress to kiss off, and Congress kissed off.Today s FBI forgiveness of tyrants illegal acts illustrate purpose in why I insist Americans rise up and tear down this tyrannical system that is destroying America from within. Truly, you re either with us or you re against us.Palin concluded her rant with a message to Republicans who refuse to blindly support Donald Trump by referring to them as traitors. Message to all the Republican elites throwing in for Hillary, boasting they ll stay home instead of vote because their particular weakened good ol boy is not the GOP nominee (the R.A.T.s suffering chappedass because their power and purse are threatened by the grassroots movement to destroy their failed politics-as-usual), Hillary thanks you. She knows she can t win without you.And then she included a bunch of anti-Hillary memes that repeatedly refer to Clinton as a criminal or a crook as well as images that bring up other imaginary scandals Republicans wasted time and money investigating only to find zero evidence to support their claims.Here s the full post via Facebook.It must be truly exhausting using the few brain cells she has left whining all the time just because she and her conservative trailer park fans didn t get their way.But that s why she s known as America s village idiot.","label":1}
{"text":"Family members of Japanese abducted by North Korea met U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday and welcomed his sympathy for their very sad plight, but said it meant nothing unless it led to action to bring home their loved ones. Trump has incorporated into his attacks on Pyongyang the story of Megumi Yokota, 13 when she was snatched off a lonely beach by North Korean agents 40 years ago, mentioning her in a September speech at the United Nations. For his part, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he will not rest until the return of all 13 of those Pyongyang says were kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies, making the issue a keystone of his political career. On Monday, Trump met Megumi s mother Sakie, becoming the third president to do so, as well as the relatives of seven other abductees Pyongyang says are dead - like Megumi, who hanged herself, North Korea says. We ll work together and see if we can do something, now the spotlight is on, Trump later told a joint news conference with Abe, calling the abductions a very, very sad thing . Perhaps the regime itself would send them back. I think it would be a tremendous signal if Kim Jong Un would send them back. Megumi s mother and younger twin brothers were later part of a news conference that welcomed Trump s attention, although cautiously, with several members saying decades had passed and nothing had been done, even by Abe s government. It seemed the president listened carefully to all our stories and was impressed, said Koichiro Iizuka, an infant abandoned in a creche when his mother, Yaeko Taguchi, was abducted in 1978. But if this is all that comes of this meeting, it s absolutely outrageous, he added. It s how we face the previous neglect and take action that s important. The families can do little, said Megumi s mother, now 81 and visibly frail. This is an issue of politics, of diplomacy, she said. All we can say is: please help them.","label":0}
{"text":"Russian President Vladimir Putin, a dog lover, received a top breed puppy as a belated birthday gift on Wednesday from Turkmenistan s president who is keen to recover lost Russian markets for Turkmen gas. We have a common friend - this is the world s unique alabai dog. And today I brought this little alabai with me, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said before talks with Putin, pulling the pup out from a portable cage and holding it up by the scruff of its neck. Putin, who marked his 65th birthday on Oct. 7, took the puppy, called Verny which means faithful in Russian, and kissed it in its forehead. The alabai is a home-bred Turkmen variety of the Central Asian shepherd dog. Along with the handmade carpets and the ancient Akhal Teke breed of race horses, it is officially listed as part of Turkmenistan s national heritage. Plush and cuddly when they are young, alabai dogs grow into fierce shepherd dogs, fearless in warding off wolves but also in dealing with human strangers. Berdymukhamedov, a flamboyant former dentist whose interests range from sport cars to noble horses, enjoys a personality cult and autocratic powers in his desert nation which sits on the world s fourth-largest natural gas reserves. The two men held talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, on the sidelines of a summit of ex-Soviet states, with the Turkmen side keen to see a possible resumption of natural gas exports to Russia. Russia, once the main buyer of Turkmen gas, stopped buying the fuel last year due to a price dispute. China, with its growing appetite for energy, is now the main market for Turkmen gas. Some other foreign leaders including those of Japan and Bulgaria have also given Putin puppies of rare breeds as gifts.","label":0}
{"text":"An aggressive advertising and lobbying campaign by conservative activists and financial interests this week stalled a plan in the U.S. Congress to rescue Puerto Rico from crippling debt, while lawmakers adjourned on Friday with no clear path forward. As its economy reels and basic services are threatened, the U.S. island territory is pleading for help from Washington, but lawmakers have been unable to formulate a response, or even estimate when they might be able to advance a legislative fix. Puerto Rico is staring down a May 1 deadline for paying about $422 million to Government Development Bank bondholders. With that as a backdrop, the Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives huddled privately for 90 minutes on Friday to hear ideas, then decided to go home. \"There may be different ways to fix a problem that may include doing nothing and allow it to work through the court system,\" conservative Republican Representative Mick Mulvaney, of South Carolina, told reporters following the meeting. In the face of an election-year wave of radio, television and print advertisements warning of a federal \"bailout\" for Puerto Rico, House Republicans had already put off planned committee votes on a rescue package earlier this week. The Center for Individual Freedom, a conservative activist group, has spent $200,000 on television advertisements around Washington, D.C., this month, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a lobbying watchdog. The center's ads call for a halt to \"the Washington bailout of Puerto Rico.\" Another group that opposes a Puerto Rico rescue, Main Street Bondholders, has run newspaper ads. Radio spots have reached Utah voters warning of a \"radical plan\" to usher Puerto Rico into bankruptcy and urging local Representative Rob Bishop to protect investors. Bishop chairs the House committee overseeing Puerto Rico legislation. With a 45 percent poverty rate and $72 billion in debt, Puerto Rico needs an orderly way to shed some of its debt, leading Republicans agree, though compromise on details remains elusive. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats support a rescue effort to help Puerto Rico. A proposal backed by Ryan and Bishop would lead investors towards a voluntary reduction of loans and a compulsory write-down if no compromise were possible. Democrats have pressed for changes to a draft bill, knowing their votes likely will be needed to win passage in the House. Ryan has insisted that there is no \"bailout\" under development, while scurrying to figure out how he can please conservative Republicans without alienating too many Democrats. Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, a conservative stalwart, told reporters: \"The liberal, financially irresponsible members of the Republican conference will cozy up to the Democrats and they will work out an agreement.\" Anti-rescue ads are also running in Louisiana, whose Representative Garret Graves said on Friday: \"The campaign has been effective in distorting reality.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Steve Bannon, Donald Trump s new campaign CEO, is the former chairman of the radical alt-right media company Breitbart. On Sunday, Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter and former Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella explained that the site is the de facto SuperPAC of Donald Trump. The two, along with former NPR CEO, Ken Stern explained the significance of the merger.Stelter begins the segment by describing the political merger as Trumpbart. We could call it a political merger, Trumpbart. This week, GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway became the new face of Donald Trump s campaign, appearing all across TV. But it s Steve Bannon who may be the new inner voice of the campaign. Until Tuesday, he was the executive chairman of the far-right website Breitbart. On Wednesday, he became the Trump campaign s CEO. Stelter asks Bardell to describe Breitbart to people who may not be familiar with the media site. Bardell responds, saying: I think you look at it as the de facto SuperPAC of Donald Trump. And really for the last year, year and a half in the Republican primary, they have been the rapid response arm of the Trump campaign. Anytime anything, Bardell says before being interrupted by Stelter. Rapid response arm of the Trump campaign? Let s underscore that You re saying it s even, what, further to the right than Fox News? Oh my gosh, it s not even a they make Fox News look like MSNBC, Bardella clarifies. I think that any time that there was a controversy, something that Trump may have said that was generating headlines, Breitbart was the first destination that you could go to to see in real time what the Trump line of thinking was. It was the most sympathetic voice for Trump, and anytime that anyone in the mainstream media would in any way, characterize, or attack, or question Trump s tactics, they were the place that you could go to for that sympathetic ear for Trump. This merger comes at an odd time for the Trump campaign it might end up being Breitbart that benefits from the merger. Trump has already tried and failed to pivot to the center multiple times on his most controversial positions. Having Bannon on board his campaign is only going to make that task that much more difficult. Breitbart, on the other hand, has a spokesman who they can use to make whatever reactionary conspiracy they might have go mainstream.You can watch the segment below.Featured image from video screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"Sunday night's Writer's Guild of America awards show turned into a exercise in as Hollywood's top writers repeatedly skewered the president during presentations and acceptance speeches.[ Patton Oswalt took on hosting duties for the Los ceremony and began the night by introducing his event security, two men dressed as \"soldiers from armed forces of the Russian Federation. \" \"People here tonight are angry about two things \u2014 that Deadpool is nominated for Best Screenplay and that Trump is President,\" Oswalt joked. \"Donald Trump, I want to be very careful about making jokes about. I don't want to be kicked to death tonight by James Woods,\" at which point the conservative actor hopped onstage, snatched off Oswalt's shoe, and chided him: \"This is an awards show, get some shoes, Jesus. \" The impromptu bit was not scripted, Oswalt assured his social media followers. Regaining control of the show, Oswalt continued: \"I feel bad for Trump. Here's what happened: They had the [White House] Correspondents' Dinner, Obama went up and made fun of Donald, and Donald said, 'I'm taking his job. '\" \"Now he's sitting there saying: 'This job sucks! My life before this was amazing! '\" he added. \"Donald Trump taking Obama's job would be like if the head of linguistics at Rutgers made fun of David Lee Roth \u2026 and he said, 'I'm the head of linguistics at Rutgers. Bring on the hookers and cocaine! '\" Later, Chelsea Handler took her own shot at Trump by ridiculing his claim that millions of people may have illegally voted in the 2016 general election, though the talk show host's jokes didn't appear to land with the audience. \"If you win this award tonight I want everybody to remember not to get a big head because there are millions of illegal voters in California. Not to mention the ones in Massachusetts who took a bus and voted in New Hampshire,\" Handler joked. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who was awarded the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, went on a fiery tirade during his acceptance speech. The West Wing creator condemned Trump as being \"out of touch\" and urged the room full of writers to combat the administration by writing stories that help heal the country. While accepting the WGA West's Laurel Award, director Oliver Stone broke from the night's bias and instead bashed both major political parties. \"It's fashionable now to take shots at Republicans and Trump and all that and avoid the Obamas and Clintons,\" Stone said, according to Deadline. \"But remember this: In the 13 wars we've started over the last 30 years and the 14 trillion dollars we've spent and the hundreds of thousands of lives that have perished from this Earth, remember that it wasn't one leader but a system \u2014 both Republican and Democrat. \" Introducing Stone was actor and rare Hollywood conservative James Woods. \"So my publicists says 'Whatever you do don't talk politics.' I say, 'Ok.' And I show up and 15 minutes later I'm Darth Vader,\" Woods joked. Back in New York at the WGA Awards East, which were taking place simultaneously, host Lewis Black also took shots at Trump. \"We're living at the intersection of satire and reality,\" Black joked. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson","label":0}
{"text":"McConnell was shut down completely in this debate as all amendments he put forth were rejected including the McConnell-Burr Amendment.Congress approved sweeping changes Tuesday to surveillance laws enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks, eliminating the National Security Agency s disputed bulk phone-records collection program and replacing it with a more restrictive measure to keep the records in phone companies hands.Two days after Congress let the phone-records collection and several other anti-terror programs expire, the Senate s 67-32 vote sent the legislation to President Barack Obama, who signed it Tuesday night. This legislation will strengthen civil liberty safeguards and provide greater public confidence in these programs, Obama said in a statement. Officials said it could take at least several days to restart the collection.The legislation will revive most of the programs the Senate had allowed to lapse in a dizzying collision of presidential politics and national security policy. But the authorization will undergo major changes, the legacy of agency contractor Edward Snowden s explosive revelations two years ago about domestic spying by the government.In an unusual shifting of alliances, the legislation passed with the support of Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, but over the strong opposition of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell failed to persuade the Senate to extend the current law unchanged, and came up short in a last-ditch effort Tuesday to amend the House version, as nearly a dozen of his own Republicans abandoned him in a series of votes. This is a step in the wrong direction, a frustrated McConnell said on the Senate floor ahead of the Senate s final vote to approve the House version, dubbed the USA Freedom Act. He said the legislation does not enhance the privacy protections of American citizens. And it surely undermines American security by taking one more tool form our warfighters at exactly the wrong time. The legislation remakes the most controversial aspect of the USA Patriot Act the once-secret bulk collection program that allows the National Security Agency to sweep up Americans phone records and comb through them for ties to international terrorists. Over six months the NSA would lose the power to collect and store those records, but the government still could gain court orders to obtain data connected to specific numbers from the phone companies, which typically store them for 18 months.It would also continue other post-9\/11 surveillance provisions that lapsed Sunday night, and which are considered more effective than the phone-data collection program. These include the FBI s authority to gather business records in terrorism and espionage investigations and to more easily eavesdrop on suspects who are discarding cellphones to avoid surveillance.","label":1}
{"text":"It took Trump s family and friends under an hour after a mass shooting at a congressional Republican baseball practice to win the awards for Worst Reaction to a Mass Shooting. And sadly, many Trump voters appear to be eating it up.Both Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump Jr. managed to promote unsubstantiated and largely debunked information coming out to push a narrative that the shooter had targeted Republicans and not Democrats. The reality is: Nobody knows why the shooter did it. Not yet.Don and Kellyanne both used a single source: Rep. Jeff Duncan, whose narrative began coming to pieces shortly after he had made the comment.The man Duncan and other Republicans described as having asked whether the people playing baseball were Republicans or Democrats looked nothing like the man who later shot at them, as numerous reporters began noting.The description of the guy who asked lawmakers if GOP or Dems was practicing and the actual shooter appear to be different people. Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) June 14, 2017.@RepDeSantis says the guy who asked him if it was GOP or Dems was in running clothes.@JeffFlake said shooter was wearing jeans. Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) June 14, 2017Especially since DeSantis said the guy wasn t carrying anything at the time. AR-15s not the easiest to hide. Emily Crockett (@emilycrockett) June 14, 2017In fact, as Andrea Mitchell reported, the FBI is now saying it does not appear to, at first glance, have a political motivation.FBI takes over investigation discounts reports of political motive Alexandria police say 5 people transported to hospital community is safe https:\/\/t.co\/ZifZ6pZa4V Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) June 14, 2017Despite that lack of confirmation, right-wing media ran with the unsubstantiated reports like they were official statements by investigators. Drudge, in one egregious example, even misquoted one of the Republicans at the scene to make it seem like the shooter said he wanted to kill as many Republicans as possible. Breitbart and InfoWars both quickly joined in. No such words were said.The White House released a statement saying the president had been briefed on the situation, but it s unclear what his briefing looked like. Trump gets much of his news from Drudge, Breitbart and Fox News. It s entirely possible that the President of the United States believes the lies being spread by right-wing media and his advisors.At this time no one knows the true motives of the shooter. Police have him in custody and, unlike Trump s son, are conducting a thorough investigation before blasting out unsubstantiated reports into the public. Rather than waiting, the right-wing media and Trump s own White House decided to exploit the tragedy in order to further their agenda of smearing liberals. It s beyond maddening to watch the group who once called President Obama divisive for expressing sorrow for Trayvon Martin now openly and gleefully delight in spreading vitriol and lies about their political opponents.UPDATE: FBI investigators identified the shooter as James Hodgkinson. There is evidence to suggest he supported Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. Police have again dismissed the idea that he had asked people at the baseball game what political affiliation they were.What still isn t known is why he decided to go on a shooting spree.BREAKING: Gov't official: Suspect in shooting of congressman in Virginia identified as Illinois man named James T. Hodgkinson. The Associated Press (@AP) June 14, 2017UPDATE 2: Rep. Duncan says he still believes the man who approached him earlier in the morning was the shooter. Adds that it isn t uncommon for people to drop by and ask questions.Rep. Duncan says he had the conversation with person he believes was shooter, who asked if team practicing was GOP or Democrat Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) June 14, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"WITWATERSRAND BASIN, South Africa \u2014 A mile down in an unused mine tunnel, scientists guided by helmet lamps trudged through darkness and the muck of a flooded, uneven floor. In the subterranean world of the Beatrix gold mine, they shed their backpacks, taking out tools and meticulously prepared test tubes to collect samples. Leaning a ladder against the hard rock wall, Tullis C. Onstott, a geosciences professor at Princeton, climbed to open an old valve about a dozen feet up. Out flowed water of microbes, organisms flourishing not from the warmth of the sun, but by heat generated from the interior of the planet below. These tiny \u2014 bacteria and other microbes and even little worms \u2014 exist in places nearly impossible to reach, living in eternal darkness, in hard rock. Scientists like Dr. Onstott have been on the hunt for life in the underworld, not just in South Africa but in mines in South Dakota and at the bottom of oceans. What they learn could provide insights into where life could exist elsewhere in the solar system, including Mars. Microbial Martians might well look like what lives in the rocks here at a deep underground mine. The same conditions almost certainly exist on Mars. Drill a hole there, drop these organisms in, and they might happily multiply, fueled by chemical reactions in the rocks and drips of water. \"As long as you can get below the ice, no problems,\" Dr. Onstott said. \"They just need a little bit of water. \" Mars has long been a focus of space exploration and science fiction dreams. NASA has sent more robotic probes there than any other planet. But now there is renewed interest in sending people as well. NASA has been enthusiastically promoting its \"Journey to Mars\" goal to send astronauts there in the 2030s. Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, is promising that he will be able to get there a decade sooner and set up colonies. Astronauts on Mars would be able to greatly accelerate the quest for answers to the most intriguing questions about the red planet. Was there ever life on Mars? Could there be life there today? It was not that long ago that scientists had written off Mars as lifeless. Forty years ago, NASA spent nearly $1 billion on its Viking mission, which revealed a cold, dry world seemingly devoid of organic molecules that are the building blocks of life. But more recent missions have discovered compelling evidence that Mars was not always such an uninviting place. In its youth, more than three billion years ago, the planet was warmer and wetter, blanketed with a thick atmosphere \u2014 possibly almost Earthlike. A fanciful but plausible notion is that life did originate on Mars, then traveled to Earth via meteorites, and we are all descendants of Martians. Eventually, Mars did turn cold and dry. Radiation broke apart the water molecules, and the lighter hydrogen atoms escaped to space. The atmosphere thinned to wisps. But if life did arise on Mars, might it have migrated to the underworld and persisted? For a couple of decades, Dr. Onstott has been talking his way into South African gold mines, regaling the mine managers with the wonder of deep Earth life to overcome their wariness. In many ways, the mines provide easy access to the depths \u2014 a ride in a cagelike elevator, jammed against miners starting their shift, descending quickly as lights from the different levels zip past. Think of it as traveling through a skyscraper, going down. Dr. Onstott and his colleagues had made repeated pilgrimages to this particular tunnel in this particular mine, Beatrix, 160 miles southwest of Johannesburg. When miners carve out new tunnels, they poke holes through the rock to see what surprises might lie ahead. Sometimes the borehole taps into a section of fractured rock with water coursing through. Then the fracture is drained and plugged. But this particular tunnel at Beatrix never entered production, so the borehole valve remains, allowing the scientists to return to draw samples from the same place. At this level, almost a mile underground, the elevator gates open to a concrete cavern with the unremarkable plainness of a parking garage. A minirailway system transports miners and ore back and forth. The side tunnel, though, is pitch black save for the helmet lamps, and the trek to the valve is a slosh through muck and over tangles of mangled electrical cabling. Scientists led by Dr. Onstott made their most recent trip to South Africa in June last year. Over a couple of hours, they took their fill of the water and set up an apparatus that remains attached to the valve, trapping microbes, which were retrieved later in the summer. Since then, they have been analyzing the samples to understand this assemblage of life. The existence of what biologists now call the Earth's deep biosphere was unknown to almost all biologists at the time of the Viking mission. Life lived at the surface, in the soil or in the oceans. At the bottom of the food chain, the primary producers, were plants and microbes that used photosynthesis and sunlight to power the conversion of carbon dioxide into organic molecules. Other creatures ate the plants and microbes, and then larger creatures ate the smaller ones. In someplace that was always dark, it seemed obvious there could be no primary producers and therefore no life at all. Some scientists noticed close to a century ago this might not always be true. Edson S. Bastin, a geologist at the University of Chicago, wondered why some petroleum was \"sour\" \u2014 with high levels of sulfur that not only corroded pipes but also generated more pollution when burned. Bastin realized bacteria could do that, in particular a type of bacteria that does not need oxygen and eats sulfur compounds known as sulfates and excretes hydrogen sulfide \u2014 the rotten egg smell \u2014 and bicarbonate, the unwanted chemicals in sour crude oil. He and a colleague, Frank E. Greer, successfully cultured such bacteria from groundwater from an oil field, and Bastin speculated these could be descendants of bacteria that had been trapped in ocean sediments more than 250 million years ago. Other scientists contended that this must be a mistake, merely surface microbes on the drill that had contaminated the sample. In the late 1980s, the Department of Energy started a drilling project, carefully pulling up pristine cores from a couple hundred yards down. Bacteria, fungi and other microbes abounded in the cores. That spurred additional research and discoveries, including bacteria that lived in the heat of underground oil deposits and finally, a microbe that degraded oil as Bastin had predicted. Today, the deep biosphere is thought to account for 10 to 20 percent of mass of all life on Earth. Life, biologists also discovered, perseveres in other environments once thought sterile \u2014 highly acidic water, highly alkaline water, highly salty water, boiling water around volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean. \"The truth is it's virtually everywhere we look,\" Penny Boston, the director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, said in July at a panel celebrating the 40th anniversary of Viking's landing on Mars. Results from an earlier trip to Beatrix befuddled Dr. Onstott. He had expected the mine microbes to be feeding off organic matter dissolved in the water. In this picture, the ecosystem would be largely devoid of primary producers and instead subsist on leftovers, the detritus of long dead organisms washed down from above or deposited with the sediment 2. 9 billion years ago. \"The only problem was that we didn't have any indication they were eating the organic matter in the fracture water,\" Dr. Onstott said. They figured out that the carbon molecules in the microbes came from methane, a plausible answer. Microbes known as methanogens consume hydrogen and carbon dioxide and produce methane other microbes known as methanotrophs eat methane. But the Beatrix water contained little of either. \"It didn't make any sense at all,\" Dr. Onstott said. \"It made zero sense to us. \" Maggie Lau, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Onstott's laboratory, started examining the genetic snippets for clues of how the Beatrix community of microbes worked. With the newest data, it turned out there was a wider community of primary producer microbes, eating nitrogen and sulfur compounds. In essence, the waste of one microbe helped feed its neighbor, and only a little bit of methane, an molecule, was enough to power the entire community. \"Now, for the first time, we're getting a true description of the ecosystem,\" Dr. Onstott said. \"We think it's a fairly common phenomenon. \" After working at Beatrix, the scientists went north, to the Limpopo region close to South Africa's border with Zimbabwe. There, they collected water from hot springs, whose source of water from far below should carry up underground microbes. One sampling site was in the middle of a small village where houses do not have plumbing and the spring, the hottest in South Africa, is a pond that serves as a communal spot for cleaning laundry. Another is a pool at a resort, once catering to the country's white minority. Surprisingly, the spring waters contained almost no microbes \u2014 barely enough DNA to analyze. But water from two locations contained considerable amounts of methane, an encouraging sign. The methane is also a possible connection to Mars. A dozen years ago, three teams of scientists, one using data from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, the other two using observations from Earth, made the controversial claim of methane floating in the Martian atmosphere. That was a surprise, because sunlight and chemical reactions destroy methane any methane there would have had to have been released recently. There are two ways to produce methane. One is a geological process that requires heat and liquid water. The other is methanogens. Perplexingly, the readings of methane later vanished. As NASA's Curiosity rover drove across Gale Crater a couple of years ago, it too detected a burp of methane that lasted a couple of months. But it has not detected any burps since. Perhaps an underground population of methanogens and methanotrophs is creating, then destroying methane quickly, accounting for its sudden appearance and disappearance from the atmosphere. If Beatrix is a guide, the methane could be providing the energy for many other microbes. Conventional wisdom is that Martian life, if it exists, would be limited to microbes. But that too is a guess. In the South African mine, the researchers also discovered a species of tiny worms eating the bacteria. \"It's like Moby Dick in Lake Ontario,\" Dr. Onstott said. \"It was a big surprise to find something that big in a tiny fracture of a rock. The fact it would be down there in such a confined space slithering around is pretty amazing. \" The odds of Mars life, past or present, are just conjecture. Even if life did arise on Mars four billion years ago and later migrated underground, could it have survived for four billion years? There are reasons to be skeptical. When low on water and energy, microbes can slow their metabolism or enter a state of suspended animation, able to revive when conditions improve. But many biologists doubt that such a tenuous hold on life could extend for a few billion years. Mars also lacks Earth's plate tectonics, a continual recycling of the outer crust of the planets that fractures rocks and exposes new minerals for microbes to eat. If life is deep underground, robotic spacecraft would not find them easily. NASA's InSight spacecraft, scheduled to launch in 2018, will carry an instrument that can burrow 16 feet into the ground, but it is essentially just a thermometer to measure the flow of heat to the surface. NASA's next rover, launching in 2020, is largely a clone of Curiosity with different experiments. It will drill rock samples to be returned to Earth by a later mission, but those samples will be from rocks at the surface. All this new interest in possible life on Mars is a sort of vindication for Gilbert V. Levin, one of the scientists who worked on Viking. Dr. Levin is sure he discovered life on Mars 40 years ago, and everyone else has been drawing the wrong conclusions from the Viking data. If he is right, then perhaps rediscovering life on Mars may require just scratching the surface. The two Vikings carried what was known as the labeled release experiment, developed by Dr. Levin and another investigator, Patricia A. Straat. Essentially, radioactive food made with unstable was added to samples of Martian soil. The idea was that if microbes digested the food, the would be released in a stream of radioactive carbon dioxide and other gases rising out of the soil. That is exactly what happened. Then other samples were heated to 320 degrees Fahrenheit to sterilize them. If microbes were generating the radioactive gases, then there should be no gas rising from the sterilized soil. That, too, is what happened. \"The response on Mars is well within the responses from terrestrial soils,\" Dr. Levin said, \"most closely the Arctic and Alaska. \" But in the absence of organic molecules, other Viking scientists discounted the possibility of life. It was like claiming the existence of a city in a place lacking wood, steel, bricks or any other building materials. Dr. Levin has proposed, again and again, sending another labeled release experiment to Mars, to no avail. NASA's 2020 rover will be able to catalog a wide variety of organic molecules, but carries nothing to look for life directly. Dr. Levin may finally get his wish with ExoMars, a European rover scheduled to launch in 2020. He is working with one of the teams building one of ExoMars's instruments to see if it could be modified to incorporate the labeled release apparatus. There is a bit of a race against time. Dr. Levin, the last surviving member of the Viking biology team, is 92. \"All I have to do is last that long,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"The mounting political crisis in Spain over Catalonia s campaign for independence intensified on Saturday with a new row over the control of the local police force as the regional government pressed ahead with plans to hold an illegal vote next weekend. The State prosecutor in Catalonia told all local and national police forces on Saturday that they had been temporarily placed under a single chain of command reporting directly to the interior ministry in Madrid. But Catalonia s interior chief, Joaquim Forn, said his department and the local police, or Mossos d Esquadra, did not accept this decision. We denounce the intervention of the state to control the police forces of Catalonia ... We will not accept this control, Forn said in a televised speech. It was not immediately clear whether the regional administration and the Mossos could actually oppose the decision, as Spanish laws allow for the possibility of state police taking the lead over the police of an autonomous community during a joint operation. The central government representative in Catalonia, Enric Millo, had earlier said the Mossos remained in charge of security in Catalonia though they would be coordinated directly by the interior ministry and not by the local authorities, together with two national police forces also on the ground in Catalonia. We are not taking over the police competencies of the regional government, Millo told reporters after an event held by his People s Party (PP) in Palma de Mallorca, in Eastern Spain. Millo also called on Catalan leaders, including Forn, to stop encouraging street protests and demonstrations. Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia said the prosecutor s order would remain in place until at least Oct. 1, when the vote is due to take place. The Mossos are one of the symbols of Catalonia s autonomy and for many Catalans the prosecutor s decision may be reminiscent of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco, when the Mossos were abolished. Several pro-independence groups have called for widespread protests on Sunday in central Barcelona. Let s respond to the state with an unstoppable wave of democracy, a Whatsapp message which was used to organize the demonstration read. The Catalonian government opened a new website on Saturday with details of how and where to vote on Oct. 1, challenging several court rulings that had blocked previous sites and declared the referendum unconstitutional. You can t stem the tide, Catalonia s president Carles Puigdemont said on Twitter in giving the link to the new website. But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted again that the vote should not go ahead. It will not happen because this would mean liquidating the law, he said at the PP event in Palma de Mallorca. Acting on court orders, the Spanish state police has already raided the regional government offices, arrested temporarily several senior Catalan officials accused of organizing the referendum and seized ballot papers, ballot boxes, voting lists and electoral material and literature. The finance ministry in Madrid has also taken control of regional finances to make sure public money is not being spent to pay for the logistics the vote or to campaign. Between 3,000 and 4,000 police officers coming from other Spanish regions have already arrived in Catalonia or are on their way. They will join 5,000 state police already based in the region and 17,000 local Mossos.","label":0}
{"text":"British Prime Minister Theresa May is fully focused on tackling extremism, her spokesman said on Thursday, responding to a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump telling her to focus on \"destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism\". Asked if May was focused on tackling extremism: her spokesman said: \"Yes.\" \"The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country are law-abiding people who abhor extremism in all its forms. The prime minister has been clear ... that where Islamist extremism does exist it should be tackled head on. We are working hard to do that both at home and internationally and ... with our U.S. partners.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Rep. Louie Gohmert ( ) told Fox and Friends on Friday that Congress concluding business on Thursday and not being in session on the day after fired FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he leaked information about his private conversations with President Donald Trump left the president to \"dangle. \"[House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's office on Tuesday sent out an email announcing the change. \"Members are advised that \u2014 pending timely completion of H. R. 10 \u2014 votes are no longer expected in the House on Friday, June 9,\" the email stated. \"Last votes of the week are now expected at approximately 4:00 PM on Thursday, June 8. \" The Majority Leader's office told Breitbart News that the decision was made because the Democrats withdrew all amendments from the Choice Act being considered by the House leading to business concluding a day early. But Gohmert said it sends the wrong message about Republicans support for Trump. \"Tuesday, apparently, our leadership changed the week's scheduling and said let's go dark on Friday, which means the emphasis will not be on what we're doing good in Washington,\" Gohmert said. \"We are basically leaving the president to dangle,\" Gohmert said. \"I'm very concerned we are not being supportive enough to get the message out and here President Trump is \u2026 as [Senator] Marco Rubio was pointing out \u2026 the only thing that didn't leak was the truth \u2014 that [Trump] was not under investigation. \" Meanwhile, at his weekly press briefing on Thursday, Ryan said he didn't have time to watch the Comey hearing but vaguely supported Trump by claiming he was \"new\" to the government and its modus operandi. \"As far as the conversations and all that, I'm not going to speculate on any of this, I would just add that of course there needs to be a degree of independence between the DOJ, FBI and the White House and lines of communications established,\" Ryan told reporters. \"The president's new at this, he's new to government,\" Ryan continued. \"So he probably wasn't steeped in the long running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses. \"He's new to this,\" Ryan said. \"We now know why [Trump] was frustrated when the FBI director told him three times there's no investigation of him yet the speculation was allowed to continue,\" Ryan said. \"So obviously we know now why he was frustrated. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post on Monday announced that he is banning solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons, citing concerns about its harmful psychological effects. The move comes amid a national movement demanding criminal justice reform, which was sparked by numerous high-profile police killings in recent years. In the opinion piece, Obama also said solitary confinement could no longer be used as a punishment for low-level infractions. He said the package of changes would include an expansion of treatment for mentally ill prisoners and an increase in the amount of time inmates in solitary can spend outside of their cells. He said the changes would affect some 10,000 federal prisoners and stemmed from a review of the practice he directed the U.S. Justice Department to conduct last summer. Obama cited the story of Kalief Browder, a black 16-year-old who was arrested in 2010 and spent almost two years in solitary confinement in New York City's Rikers Island jail before his release in 2013 and eventual suicide two years later. Solitary confinement, Obama wrote, is \"increasingly overused on people such as Kalief, with heartbreaking results \u2014 which is why my administration is taking steps to address this problem.\" Obama said research suggests solitary confinement has been linked to depression, alienation, withdrawal, a reduced ability to interact with others and the potential for violent behavior. He said states that have worked to cut back their use of the technique have seen drops in assaults on staff and more prisoners engage in rehabilitation programs. Obama said he hoped the changes he has ordered in the treatment of federal prisoners would serve as a model for reforms by state and local corrections systems. \"There are as many as 100,000 people held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons - including juveniles and people with mental illnesses,\" Obama said. \"As many as 25,000 inmates are serving months, even years of their sentences alone in a tiny cell, with almost no human contact.\" Just last month, New York state agreed to end its \"overreliance\" on solitary confinement as a means to discipline inmates in its prisons, as part of a settlement to a lawsuit brought against the state by the New York Civil Liberties Union. California last September also agreed to sharply cut its use of solitary confinement as part of a sweeping settlement to a lawsuit brought by prisoners.","label":0}
{"text":"Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants riding on a motorcycle in Gaza were killed in an explosion on Tuesday which the group implied was caused by an accidental detonation during preparations for an attack. Israel s military denied accounts by local residents that the militants were killed in an air strike. Violence along the Israel-Gaza border has flared since U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition last week of Jerusalem as Israel s capital and the Israeli military s demolition on Sunday of a cross-border tunnel it said was dug by Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the small coastal enclave. On Monday, Israel s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired by militants in Gaza. Shortly afterward, Israel responded with tank fire and air strikes targeting positions of Hamas. In a statement after Tuesday s explosion, Islamic Jihad said: We mourn the men - martyrs of preparation . The group usually employs the term to refer to casualties caused by the accidental detonation of weapons or explosives used in attacks against Israel.","label":0}
{"text":"The Syrian army pressed an offensive in Aleppo on Friday with ground fighting and air strikes in an operation to retake all of the city's rebel-held east that would bring victory in the civil war closer for President Bashar al-Assad. \"The advance is going according to plan and is sometimes faster than expected,\" a Syrian military source told Reuters. The Syrian army and its allies had recaptured 32 of east Aleppo's 40 neighborhoods, about 85 percent of the area, he said. Reuters journalists, rebels and a monitor confirmed the military thrust. There were no reports the Syrian army had made significant gains. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Syrian army had suspended military activity to let civilians leave rebel-held areas, RIA news agency reported. The army and its allies tried to advance on two fronts, a Turkish-based official with the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said. \"Helicopters, warplanes and rocket bombardment like every day. Nothing has changed,\" the official said. Despite the bombardment, \"the guys are steadfast,\" the official added. During a tour of Old Aleppo on Friday, which the Syrian army took control of this week, Reuters journalists counted the sound of nine air strikes in about half an hour. Fighting could be heard from other areas nearby. The Russian air force and Iran-backed Shi'ite militias are fighting in Aleppo on the government side. Rebel leaders have given no sign they are about to withdraw as the civilian population is squeezed into an ever-decreasing area. Russian Defense Ministry official Sergei Rudskoi said on Friday up to 10,500 Syrian citizens had fled parts of east Aleppo still controlled by rebels in the last 24 hours. This could not be independently verified. Syrian government and allied forces have in the last two weeks driven rebels from most of their territory in what was once Syria's most populous city. The rebels have controlled the eastern section since 2012, and Assad said in an interview published on Thursday that retaking Aleppo would change the course of the civil war across the whole country. The Syrian government now appears closer to victory than at any point in the five years since protests against Assad evolved into an armed rebellion. The war has killed more than 300,000 people and made more than half of Syrians homeless. Outside of Aleppo, the Syrian army declared a ceasefire in several areas around Damascus and the northwestern province of Idlib beginning on Friday evening, without saying how long it would last. There was no immediate comment from rebels. But there was no sign of any such truce inside Aleppo. \"There are aerial raids on the city's neighborhoods with highly explosive incendiary bombs, barrel bombs and artillery shelling,\" a fighter with the Nour al-Din al-Zinki rebel group on an eastern Aleppo frontline told Reuters. In Old Aleppo, newly recaptured by the government, there was widespread destruction in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, with fire-damaged ancient buildings, structures reduced to rubble and spent ordnance everywhere. At the side of a road sat a woman in her late 20s, veiled, dressed in black, and weeping as she cradled her baby. \"My son was born after three months of siege. There were no hospitals, no diapers, no milk,\" she said. \"My milk is dry from fear and panic.\" Dozens of displaced civilians, including children, had gathered in the road with their belongings after fleeing the Saliheen district, where battles continued. Maher Tashtash, aged nine, said the bombardment had been frightening and rebels had told them they faced death if caught by the army. His brother Mohammed, 12, said they had hidden in a cellar until the fighting passed. Even the dead were not spared the carnage. In the Dar al-Islam cemetery near Ibn Sina street in al-Hamdaniya, graves were destroyed. People were burying corpses in open public ground. The United Nations estimates about 100,000 people are now squeezed into an \"ever shrinking\" rebel-held pocket of Aleppo with virtually no access to food, water or medical care. In rebel-held Aleppo, a Reuters journalist said there were intense clashes on Friday in Sheikh Saeed district in the south of the eastern sector, where the Observatory and a Syrian military source said government forces advanced on Thursday. Fighting also took place northeast of Aleppo, where Turkey has intervened to support rebels against both Islamic State fighters and Kurdish groups. Turkish-backed rebels closed in on the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab with Turkish tanks and warplanes supporting the assault, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Moscow and Washington have discussed a ceasefire to let civilians escape eastern Aleppo and aid enter. Russia also wants the United States to urge rebel fighters to abandon their territory and accept transport out. U.N. envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council on Thursday there were signs fighters in Aleppo may want to leave and the council should help them go, diplomats said. The Syrian government said on Friday it was ready to resume dialogue with the opposition, without external intervention or preconditions. Rebels said no such contacts were taking place. \"There are no negotiations now, except what's being discussed internationally,\" said Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group, speaking from Turkey. \"We have asked for the evacuation of civilians who want to leave and of the injured. The fighters are determined to stay and face things.\" U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Geneva on Saturday to discuss Aleppo, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a news briefing on Friday. The talks will focus on achieving a pause in the fighting, the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, and ensuring a safe departure for those who want to leave, Toner said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has invested months of intensive diplomacy on Syria, acknowledged the exasperation many feel. \"I know people are tired of these meetings. I'm tired of these meetings. ... what am I supposed to do? Go home and have a nice weekend in Massachusetts while people are dying?\" Kerry said at the U.S. embassy in Paris, according to a State Department transcript. \"What is happening in Aleppo is the worst catastrophe \u2013 what's happening in Syria is the worst catastrophe since World War Two itself. It's unacceptable. It's horrible.\" The U.N. General Assembly voted 122 to 13 on Friday to demand an immediate cessation of hostilities in Syria, humanitarian aid access throughout the country and an end to all sieges, including in Aleppo. General Assembly resolutions are non-binding but can carry political weight. The European Union said on Friday it would introduce more sanctions on Syrian individuals and entities over the Aleppo offensive. The U.N. human rights office said hundreds of men from eastern Aleppo were missing after leaving rebel-held areas, voicing deep concern over their fate at the hands of government forces. The government has dismissed reports of mass arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings by its forces as fabrications. Rebels for their part deny they have prevented civilians from leaving opposition-controlled areas.","label":0}
{"text":"Every time I try to be mad at Trump, the media reel me back in by launching some ridiculous, unprovoked attack. This time, it's the fake news story about Trump \"leaking\" classified information to the Russkies. [The president can't \"leak\" classified information: It's his to declassify. The big secret Trump allegedly revealed is that Muslims might try to blow up a plane with laptops. I already knew that. I read it in The New York Times. The New York Times, March 22, 2017: Devices Banned on Some Planes Over ISIS Fears, Intelligence showing that the Islamic State is developing a bomb hidden in portable electronics spurred the United States and Britain on Tuesday to bar passengers from airports in a total of 10 countries from carrying laptop computers \u2026 two senior American counterterrorism officials said. \u2026 This totally secret, Deep information has been widely published in thousands of news outlets throughout the civilized world. There was yet another round of stories last week with the update that the U. S. is considering a laptop ban on flights from Europe as well. Hey, you know what might make more sense than banning laptops? How about banning Muslims? Bear with me here, I'm still working out the details, but I'm almost certain a federal judge in Hawaii can't block a president's temporary ban on Muslim immigration just because he's testy with Trump over some campaign statements. As Northwestern law professor Eugene Kontorovich explained in The Washington Post, courts have never examined a politician's campaign statements for improper motive, because 1) campaigns are not part of the deliberative process and 2) to start doing so would open the door to \"examinations of the entire lives of political officials whose motives may be relevant to legal questions. \" Nonetheless, Kontorovich says, that is the legal argument being advanced against Trump's travel ban: \"Trump is a bigot, and thus his winning presidential campaign in fact impeaches him from exercising key constitutional and statutory powers, such as administering the immigration laws. \" To preserve their judicial coup, this Monday, the 9th Circuit sent out the geriatric ward to hear an appeal of the Hawaii judge's absurd ruling. At their ages, there's a good chance the judges will be dead by the time the Supreme Court overturns them. Arguing against Trump's exercise of his constitutional and statutory powers was American, Neal Katyal. (There are plenty of . You couldn't get one of them to argue that we should end our country through mass immigration?) At oral argument before the three wheezing gargoyles, Katyal announced that, before enforcing federal immigration laws passed by generations of Democrats and Republicans working together in Congress, the president of the United States is required to profess: \"Islam is peace. \" There's a new legal principle! Asked by one of the if Trump is the only president who would be prohibited from issuing this precise travel ban because of his statements about Muslims, the smarmy, preening, pretentious Katyal answered: \"I think the most important point is, if you don't say all these things, you never wind up with an executive order like this. \" As lawyers say: Nonresponsive! But as long as we're operating under these new rules for determining a U. S. president's rights and responsibilities, how about looking at everything Trump has said about Muslims? For example, may the courts consider this quote from September 2015? Trump: \"I love the Muslims. I think they are great people. \u2026 Would I consider putting a in my Cabinet? Oh, absolutely. No problem with that. \" Lawyers like Katyal aren't telling the courts what Trump said they're telling courts their own crazy interpretations of what Trump said. No liberal is capable of accurately reporting Trump's position because the left never understood his position in the first place. As Peter Thiel said, the media take Trump literally, but not seriously, while the people take him seriously, but not literally. After the San Bernardino terrorist attacks in December 2015, Trump made the perfectly reasonable suggestion that we curtail our breakneck importation of Muslims, some of whom periodically erupt in murderous violence. The media concluded: TRUMP HATES MUSLIMS! Nothing Trump or anyone else said could persuade them otherwise. Here's what Trump actually said: What's happened is, we're out of control. We have no idea who's coming into our country. We have no idea if they love us or if they hate us. \u2026 I have friends that are Muslims. They are great people. But they know we have a problem. They know we have a real problem. 'Cause something is going on. And we can't put up with it, folks. \u2026 \"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. \u2026 Where the hatred comes from and why \u2014 we'll have to determine, we're going to have to figure it out. We have to figure it out. We can't live like this. It's going to get worse and worse. You're going to have more World Trade Centers. \u2026 \" Throughout the campaign, Trump supporters tried in vain to explain the \"Muslim ban\" to a hostile media dead set on interpreting everything out of Trump's mouth in the ugliest possible way. For example, our general policy on Muslim immigration would be \"No, thanks!\" but there would be exceptions. So Charles Krauthammer can stop worrying about King Abdullah of Jordan. In March, Trump supporter Andy Dean told a dense CNN anchor: He's talking about the culture of Islam in the Middle East. \u2026 We love Muslims in America and they love us. Why? We have a great culture that respects women's rights. \u2026 The thing about Muslims in the Middle East is they don't respect women's rights. If a woman wants to get a divorce in the Middle East, that woman could be killed. If you want to leave the religion of Islam in the Middle East, you can be killed. It's very real. To the same blockhead anchor, Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany had to fill in an edited quote the network had just shown of Trump: It's important to know what happened 15 seconds later. Anderson Cooper said to him, \"Are you speaking of radical Islam or are you speaking of Islam?\" He said radical sometimes it's hard to tell the difference, though. So he did say radical Islam. He said it repeatedly during his campaign. He said, \"I have Muslim friends. I love the Muslim people. \" \u2026 One of Trump's vast number of supporters told HLN's Drew Pinksy: I love what (Trump) is doing with the Muslims getting out of the country, because if they really knew what that was about \u2014 if they knew that that was about freedom. It was about freedom versus enslavement. He's right. It's not about religion. It's not about nationality. It's about hitting the pause button on bringing in radical Islam's dysfunctional, misogynist, violent, culture. The voters understood Trump. (At least some of us did \u2014 barely enough of us to elect him president!) Liberals didn't. But now the courts are blocking Trump's exercise of presidential powers based on the left's own idiotic misinterpretations of what he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Is there really anything more irresponsible than standing before a large group of people on a stage in South Africa and telling them that SEX doesn t transmit AIDS? As long as Theron s a card carrying Hollywood liberal, she gets a pass and anything she says. After all, her reckless remarks were only for the good of the poor blacks in Africa right?The HIV virus can be spread in plenty more ways than just sex, actress Charlize Theron asserted while delivering the opening remarks at the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa on Monday. It is not just AIDS, she said. It is the culture that condones rape and shames victims into silence. It is the cycle of poverty and violence that traps girls into teen marriages and forces them to sell their bodies to provide for their families. It is the racism that allows the white and the wealthy to exploit the black and the poor and then blame them for their own suffering. It is the homophobia that shames and isolates LGBT youth and keeps them from life-saving healthcare and education. HIV is not just transmitted by sex, Theron added. It s transmitted by sexism, racism, poverty and homophobia. And if we re going to end AIDS, we have to cure the disease within our own hearts and within our own minds first. -BreitbartThis certainly isn t the first time the rabid anti-gun actress has made the news (well almost) for making a completely unfounded and idiotic comment. In May, 2014, Theron compared the media s coverage of her to rape . When asked by Sky News whether she ever Googled herself, Theron replied, I don t do that, so that s my saving grace. When you start living in that world, and doing that, you start, I guess, feeling raped. Critics went wild over her twisted analogy. But in the end, she s a Hollywood liberal and much like their good friend in the White House, they re untouchable. The sky is the limit when it comes to the ignorant and irresponsible statements they are able to make without ever being held accountable.","label":1}
{"text":"Prepare for the Perseids. This week, the annual meteor shower will illuminate the night sky with cosmic fireworks, creating a particularly dazzling display for skygazers across the Northern Hemisphere. NASA estimates that between 160 and 200 meteors will ignite in Earth's atmosphere every hour during the display's peak on Thursday night and Friday morning. Normally the shower has between 80 and 100 space specks. You can thank Jupiter and its intense gravity for turning this year's meteor shower into a meteor hurricane. The Perseids occur when Earth runs into pieces of debris floating in the solar system that were left behind by Comet . The dirty snowball orbits the sun about once every 133 years. It made its last close pass by the sun in 1992. But you won't be seeing the leftovers of that event. A general rule of thumb with meteor showers is that you are never watching remnants from a comet's most recent orbit. Instead, the burning bits come from the previous pass. In this case, the debris were ejected when Comet visited in 1862 or earlier. For this week's shower, Jupiter's gravity has tugged together at least three meteor streams left by the comet into Earth's path. Our planet will run into a cluster of leftovers from Comet 's rendezvous in 1862, 1479 and 1079. \"You're seeing pieces of ice that have been orbiting for that long themselves into the Earth's atmosphere,\" said Bill Cooke, an astronomer with NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Jupiter's large gravitational pull is constantly influencing the meteor streams, according to Dr. Cooke. Sometimes it tugs them toward Earth, and sometimes it pushes them farther away. The last time a special Perseids shower like this one occurred was in 2009. The Perseids zoom through the atmosphere at around 133, 000 miles per hour and burst about 60 miles overhead, according to Dr. Cooke. Most of the meteors are about the size of a grain of sand, but some can be as large as a silver dollar. You should be able to see many of the small bursts, but it's the handful of large ones that create fireballs when set ablaze. \"It scares you to the bone when you see it coming across,\" said Jackie Faherty, an astronomer from the American Museum of Natural History. \"If you get just one, it will be embedded in your vision for all time. I don't think you forget things like this. \" The best way to see the Perseids meteor shower, according to Dr. Faherty, is to go to a location with a clear view of the entire night sky. Ideally you would go somewhere with dark skies, but she said the main thing to look for is a spot that offers a wide, unobstructed view. She said that even in a crowded city like New York you could still spot some of the flashes by going to a rooftop. The best time to watch is before dawn on Friday. Before getting their hopes up, stargazers should be warned that the weather and moonlight can obscure the show. If that happens, there are several livestreams of the event to watch, like one hosted by NASA and one hosted by Slooh, a global system of cameras and telescopes pointed at the sky. Still, Dr. Faherty suggests people get outside and try to see it for themselves. \"It is worth waiting out there for an hour, two hours, three hours, four hours even to catch a glimpse of something like this,\" she said. \"When you get a good one, it will rival the stars in the sky. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran must immediately stop its financial and military support for \"terrorists and militias\" and he reiterated that it never be permitted to possess atomic arms. \"Most importantly, the United States and Israel can declare with one voice that Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon - never, ever - and must cease its deadly funding, training and equipping of terrorists and militias, and it must cease immediately,\" Trump said in public remarks at a meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. The United States brands Iran a \"state sponsor of terrorism\". It says Tehran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war, Houthi rebels in Yemen's civil war and the Hezbollah Shi'ite political party and militia in Lebanon have helped destabilize the Middle East. Trump flew to Israel from Riyadh earlier in the day, on the second leg of his first overseas trip since entering office in January. In his speech at Rivlin's official residence, Trump said he was deeply encouraged by his conversations with Muslim world leaders in Saudi Arabia. \"Many expressed their resolve to help end terrorism and the spread of radicalization. Many Muslim nations have already taken steps to begin following through on this commitment,\" he said. \"There is a growing realization among your Arab neighbors that they have common cause with you in the threat posed by Iran,\" Trump told Rivlin.","label":0}
{"text":"A young Singaporean blogger who says he was persecuted for his political opinions in the Southeast Asian country was released on Tuesday from U.S. detention in Chicago after a federal immigration panel ruled in his favor. The federal Board of Immigration Appeals upheld a March decision by a Chicago immigration judge granting asylum to Amos Yee, 18, who had been jailed twice in Singapore for social media postings critical of government officials, his attorneys said on Tuesday. Now I can criticize the Singapore government without being sent to prison, Yee told Reuters after his release. Yee s trials in Singapore were closely watched by rights groups and the United Nations, and fueled debate in Singapore over censorship, the limits of free speech and political correctness. Yee had been in U.S. immigration detention since December 2016 when he arrived seeking asylum, according to Yee s attorney Sandra Grossman. The court made its ruling on Sept. 21, but Grossman said she only learned of the outcome this week. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which opposed Yee s asylum application and argued the Singapore government had legitimately prosecuted him, could not be immediately reached. The department could appeal the ruling to a circuit court but Grossman said she believed it was unlikely. Chicago immigration Judge Samuel Cole found Yee s prosecution, detention and treatment by Singapore authorities constitute(s) persecution on account of Yee s political opinions. Officials at Singapore s embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. In March, the country s Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement in which it quoted Yee s remarks against Muslims and Christians and noted Yee had pleaded guilty to charges against him. In September last year, Yee pleaded guilty to six charges of deliberately posting comments on the internet - in videos, blog posts and a picture - that were critical of Christianity and Islam. He was sentenced to six weeks in jail. In 2015, Yee was convicted on charges of harassment and insulting a religious group over comments he made about former premier Lee Kuan Yew and Christians soon after Lee s death. His sentence at the time amounted to four weeks in jail. The case now goes back to a Chicago immigration court to complete any security investigations or exams as part of the asylum process.","label":0}
{"text":"While it should surprise absolutely no one that Iowa Rep. Steve King is a blatant, flaming, disgusting pig of a racist, what he just did on Twitter puts him into the same category as the KKK and the Neo-Nazis here in the U.S. He met with two white supremacist demagogues Geert Wilders from the Netherlands and Frauke Petry from Germany in 2016 and expressed strong support for their ahem anti-immigrant policies. But today, he not only doubled down on that, he was so obviously white supremacist he earned accolades for it from one David Duke.King tweeted a cartoon from Voice of Europe, a publication that could easily be a Make America Great Again publication for Trump if it was American. It says:Hundreds of Islamists shouting Allahu Akbar in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Wilders is right for over 10 years. #turkijerel pic.twitter.com\/dV2SjXg23r Voice of Europe (@V_of_Europe) March 12, 2017King, not to be outdone on the white supremacy front, then tweeted:Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can t restore our civilization with somebody else s babies. https:\/\/t.co\/4nxLipafWO Steve King (@SteveKingIA) March 12, 2017In other words, King just said that culture is rooted in demographics, which implies that he believes the only way to preserve true American and Western European culture is to preserve white superiority. That s what known white nationalist groups also say about brown people polluting the white gene pool.Now, read what David Duke s reply was to that:Just in case you were thinking about moving -> sanity reigns supreme in Iowa s 4th congressional district.#MakeAmericaGreatAgain https:\/\/t.co\/RRjTzAzlKw David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) March 12, 2017 Reigns supreme. No double entendre there at all. You know you ve arrived as a white supremacist when David Duke applauds you. Steve King needs to be ousted from Congress. He s the antithesis of America.","label":1}
{"text":"Is there any question what Obama s priorities are in his final 8 1\/2 months in office? His legacy will most certainly be that of the most divisive President (and First Lady) to ever occupy the White House. Every law enforcement officer in America should be concerned about his obsession with taking them down a few notches.President Obama is meeting with a group of music stars on Friday to discuss his push for criminal justice reform and his initiaitve dedicated to helping young men and boys of color.Rappers Busta Rhymes, Common, J. Cole, Wale, Ludacris and Chance the Rapper are all attending the meeting, according to a senior administration official.The meeting comes as Obama is trying to beef up support for the My Brother s Keeper Initiative, which is designed to help young African-Americans get an education, college degree and job training.Obama and his supporters launched a nonprofit group last May that will allow the president to continue the work once he leaves office.The president has also tried to keep momentum behind a bipartisan coalition looking to pass legislation in Congress that would reduce prison sentences for many non-violent drug offenders. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and My Brother s Keeper task force chairman Broderick Johnson also attended the meeting.War On Cops: President Obama says his criminal justice reform doublespeak for pardoning criminals and investigating cops is gaining bipartisan support. New FBI crime data should stop the movement in its tracks.Last fall, we argued that Obama s war on police, prosecuted with the help of his Black Lives Matter goons, sparked a national crime wave. Violent criminals are getting the upper hand as the Ferguson effect takes hold in cities across the country, we noted. Less-aggressive policing has emboldened the bad guys, leading to a nationwide spike in murder. Officers fear violating softer new use-of-force and arrest policies, pushed on cities by the Obama Justice Department, will open them up to civil-rights prosecution. Many have backed off patrols and stops in dangerous urban areas as a result. The result: Year-over-year homicide rates are up 76% in Milwaukee; 60% in St. Louis; 56% in Baltimore; 44% in Washington, D.C.; 22% in New Orleans; 20% in Chicago; 20% in Kansas City; and 17% in Dallas. Single-digit rises have been seen in New York and other cities. Soon after, FBI Director James Comey indicated that spiking murder rates may be partly due to the Ferguson effect police reluctance to carry out their duties over fear of being investigated for abuse or discrimination, or shot by angry thugs in the line of duty.Police chiefs echoed his concerns, prompting the attorney general to gather major police chiefs and mayors together in Washington for a crime summit. It was supposed to be a closed meeting, no press allowed.But a Washington Post reporter snuck in and recorded Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel complaining that all the vitriol thrown at cops had put them in a fetal position. Obama s former chief of staff said they were backing off crime in gang-infested areas of his city.Obama pooh-poohed the city-by-city reports of climbing murder rates, arguing that there wasn t any aggregate data to show a national trend. But now we have the national data from the FBI. It confirms that the U.S. murder rate shot up 6.2% in the first half of 2015 from a year earlier. The spike reverses a three-year downtrend.Overall violent crime murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault rose almost 2%, in contrast to a nearly 5% drop in the comparable period of 2014. Violent crime rose in all but one of the nation s four regions, the FBI said, and all but two city groupings.If liberal pundits and politicians want to stop soaring crime rates, they should stop vilifying cops. And they should start speaking out against the Black Lives Matter race-mongers and their criminal-justice reforming patrons in the White House.","label":1}
{"text":"House Speaker Paul D. Ryan's deepest ideological instincts were formed in the conservative movement of the 1980s. \"You have to understand, I come from the conservative wing of the party, I'm a movement conservative,\" the Wisconsin Republican told a small group of reporters soon after becoming speaker. Three weeks later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) explained that his first instincts were to help get his endangered Republican incumbents reelected, right down to scheduling votes on legislation. \"Our majority will be maintained only if we do well in purple states,\" McConnell said in a December interview with The Washington Post. That distance between two of the three most important Republicans in the nation is at the core of how Ryan and McConnell came to such different conclusions about what to do about the emergence of the other most powerful Republican: Donald Trump. On Wednesday evening, 24 hours after Trump won the Indiana primary and knocked out his remaining presidential contenders, McConnell released a tepid statement saying he would support the nominee. By Thursday afternoon Ryan appeared on CNN to question Trump's conservative credentials on key policy positions, lambaste his campaign of \"belittlement\" toward women and minorities, and said he was not yet prepared to support Trump. [Ryan says he is 'not ready' to back Trump, deepening GOP divide] That Ryan-McConnell split also explains a broader divide among Republicans here in Washington. Much of the Republican political class is coming to terms with the inevitable \u2014 Trump will be their nominee \u2014 and figuring out how best to handle what they consider a bad situation. But for the idealists \u2014 some say ideologues \u2014 who came of age worshiping the Ronald Reagan doctrine of free markets, strong national defense and an optimistic \"shining city upon a hill\" tone, they cannot countenance Trump taking over what they still consider a conservative party. Ryan, 46, is very much in this wing of the party. He cited his late political mentor, Jack Kemp, a 1980s congressman whose optimistic economic vision became a bedrock conservative principle, in his declaration that \"I'm not there yet\" in supporting Trump. Today's conservative intelligentsia has been so flummoxed by Trump's ascendancy because, on so many issues, he is squarely against Ryan's worldview. Trump is ready to start trade wars with China and other nations, rather than support trade deals that Ryan himself helped craft as a committee chairman before he became speaker. Trump has criticized lawmakers for considering sweeping changes to Social Security and Medicare, the very issues that sparked the rise of Ryan when he released budgets with optimistic titles like \"Pathway to Prosperity\" that included radical changes in entitlement policy. Perhaps the only thing they seem to share these days is a love of the media and the back-and-forth jousting it provides \u2014 yet Trump uses his TV appearances to advance slash-and-burn tactics with opponents, while Ryan frequents shows to talk about a \"confident America\" with bold conservative ideas to help the poor. \"A lot of Republicans want to see is that we have a standard bearer that bears our standards,\" Ryan told Jake Tapper on CNN's \"The Lead\" Thursday. [Ryan tries to pivot from \"disheartened state of politics\" \u2013 without ever mentioning Donald Trump] What's stunning to these Reagan-worshiping disciples is that a lot of Republican voters don't want someone who bears Ryan's standards. Trump did not just win the nomination, but he has, quite simply, routed the field. \"The man has won over 10 million votes,\" said Josh Holmes, a top political adviser to McConnell. That's more votes than any Republican ever in a presidential primary. Looking at that equation, McConnell made a different, highly tactical decision on Trump. Sticking by his previous assurances he would support the nominee, McConnell said that the businessman had some work ahead of him. \"As the presumptive nominee, he now has the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals,\" McConnell said in a brief statement. Advisers to both GOP leaders confirmed that each side knew ahead of time what was coming. Ryan's and McConnell's chiefs of staff, David Hoppe and Sharon Soderstrom, are close friends who first worked together in the 1980s. They remain in close contact over each decision, and did so this week. Where Ryan saw Trump's ideological apostasies, McConnell saw a simple reality that he needs to make the best of: Trump no longer has any opponent and he's going to be the nominee, collecting votes from tens of millions of Americans in November. It's time to figure out how those endangered Republicans \u2014 eight of whom are facing tough competition in states that will also be presidential battlegrounds \u2014 can appeal to middle-of-the-road voters who will ultimately tip the balance in their races but also not alienate the Trump supporters. \"McConnell has never spent a lot of time wringing his hands about situations he cannot control,\" Holmes said. \"His job is to run the Senate and help his members and stay out of their way as they navigate their state's politics.\" Some Washington insiders suggested that Ryan's move gave endangered House Republicans cover to take similar positions and steer clear of Trump questions. Instead, Democrats said Ryan gave them the freedom to keep asking, almost daily, whether Trump had \"earned\" their vote, a position that Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) took Friday in her suburban battleground district. \"This starts an alarm clock that will go off eventually,\" Matt Thornton, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said. \"By setting up the 'earn my vote' standard, Republicans are only begging the question, 'OK, what does that mean?' When will Trump earn your vote?\" McConnell considers himself an artful tactician who rarely hands his opponents a weapon to use against him. Ever since Ryan began talking about drafting a \"bold\" agenda for Republicans, McConnell has given polite public support without any assurances his candidates would support it, lest some proposal be too far reaching for any of them. \"Before taking up measures, I'm going to be in consultation with my members, and it is a fact that we have a number of members up in purple states this year,\" McConnell said in December. Ryan never held back, promising early on a vision based on his upbringing under Kemp. \"The conservative movement is beginning to concentrate itself on the fact that 2016 is everything, and the best way to have the best outcome is to unify by applying our principles to ideas and offering an agenda. So to me, the best path to unify is to propose and offer an exciting agenda,\" the new speaker told reporters back in November. It's just no longer clear which Republicans agree with the exciting agenda Paul Ryan wants to craft.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump's new top political strategist predicted on Friday the Republican presidential front-runner would amass the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch his party's nomination well before the Republican National Convention in July. Veteran campaign tactician Paul Manafort was chosen by Trump on Thursday to oversee a fractious nomination process that many Republicans expect may not yield a clear winner before the convention. Manafort said on CNN's \"New Day\" program that rival Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, will not be able to dent Trump's delegate lead before California's June 7 primary. \"The reality is: Ted Cruz has seen his best day,\" Manafort said. \"The reality is: this convention process will be over with sometime in June, probably June 7, and it'll be apparent to the world that Trump is over that 1,237 number.\" Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet on social media after his double-digit loss to Cruz in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, which followed a series of missteps on the campaign trail including his statement, later recanted, advocating punishment for women who have illegal abortions. In elevating Manafort, Trump said he would add more staff before the convention in an expansion of his campaign team beyond the close-knit group of advisers who have been at his side since he jumped into the presidential race last June. \"People that I know that want to get involved and wanted to before but didn't have a way in,\" Manafort said. The next presidential nominating contests before the Nov. 8 election include a number in East Coast states seen as more fertile ground for the real estate tycoon, including in his native New York on April 19. Manafort cited Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland as states where Trump would do well. \"By the time we get to California the momentum is going be very clear and Ted Cruz' path to victory is going to be in shambles,\" he said. Cruz, appearing on the CNN program earlier, said he had a clear path to 1,237 delegates. \"It's difficult. We've got to win and we've got to win consistently,\" Cruz said. \"He's right. He has to win,\" Manafort said.","label":0}
{"text":"Sacked Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont has turned himself in to Belgian police, Belgian public broadcaster VRT said on Sunday, citing a source. Belgian prosecutors, who have a European arrest warrant from Spain for Puigdemont and four of his associates, will brief media on the case at 1300 GMT.","label":0}
{"text":"Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr  The list of women sexually assaulted by Donald J. Trump just keeps growing \u2014 and a new cringe-inducing video from a 2011 corporate speech adds yet another . In the video, Trump not only sexually assaults, but humiliates, the 2004 Miss Universe winner on stage, in front of thousands. \"She's not very bright\"  Both candidates have had cringe-inducing moments this election cycle, but by-the-by, Clinton's have been significantly less than Trump's have and Trump's have come in rapid succession of horrible moments; a parade of everything wrong with the masculine idea in the United States. A new video posted by the Huffington Post on Saturday added yet another horrible moment to the raft of them \u2014 a raft that, in any decent society, would have already sunk.  A few weeks ago, a tape of Donald Trump emerged into the popular conscious. The tape contained two things: Trump admitting that he sexually assaulted women and Trump using the word \"pussy.\" No points for guessing which one pissed off more of his evangelical supporters. Since then, a huge number of women have come forward and leveled accusations of sexual assault at Donald Trump.  Make no mistake, Trump is having his Bill Cosby moment right now.  Among the list of accusations against Trump include claims that Trump told a group of 10-year-olds that he'd date them in 10 years, a telling a group of 14-year-olds he'd date them in a few years, groping women, sexually assaulting women, and we can't forget that he's been accused of raping a 13-year-old at a party hosted by infamous American financier and level three sex offender Jeffery Epstein (who served three months of an 18 month prison sentence for soliciting sex from an underage prostitute, because we don't have a two-tier justice system at all in the United States).  Thus, this new footage that shows Trump forcing 2004 Miss Universe winner Jennifer Hawkins into a nonconsensual kiss and then humiliating her on stage isn't an aberration. It's a continuation of the skeevy behavior that a huge number of men are not only okay with, not only think is normal, but believe is something that's worth preserving and perpetuating instead of stamping out like an intellectual scabies infection.  The video shows Trump calling Hawkins on stage to join him after telling the audience his philosophy of using revenge to succeed in business: \"Get even with people,\" he said. \"If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe that.\"  There are a few quotes from the Bible that are relevant here, but I'm pretty sure that Biblical literalists and right-wing evangelicals don't know what those quotes are. They're too busy agreeing with Trump.  Trump was apparently mad at Hawkins the day before because he thought she'd slighted him by declining to introduce him at an event in Sydney \u2014 Hawkins, it should be noted, is Australian. Once she was onstage with Trump, Hawkings laughed apologetically and said it was a \"miscommunication with my management,\" which left her, \"[feeling] really bad.\"  Trump seemed to accept this, saying: \"When she found out, she got in her car and she got her ass over here, and I love her.\"  Spray-tan Hitler has a well-known vindictive streak. He at least entertained the possibility of forming a PAC to sink the political careers of Ted Cruz \u2014 voted second most punchable face in the world after Trump superfan and Breitbart personality Milo Yiannopoulos \u2014 and John Kasich after the two of them refused to show up at the Republican national convention and kiss his ring. He's threatened to use his power as president to arrest people he disagrees with. To say he's vindictive may well be a British-level understatement (and if he's elected, it'll definitely be a British-level mistake).  That vindictive streak is probably what led to the sequence of bizarre events that followed, culminating ultimately with Trump forcing a nonconsensual kiss on Hawkins.  First, he described how he would have embarrassed Hawkin if she'd really slighted him: \"I was actually going to get up and tell you that Jennifer is a beautiful girl on the outside, but she's not very bright. That wouldn't have been true, but I would have said it anyway.\"  Trump then made a sexual pun, and of course lingered on it until the audience got it or laughed out of awkwardness, I can't be sure which: \"And you know what? She came tonight, she came \u2014 came, she came, she came.\" Once the audience laughed, Trump added: \"See, so they have the same filthy minds in Australia.\"  Then he grabbed her around the waist and forced a kiss on her. This is pretty much on par with what others have accused Trump of doing \u2014 according to Cathy Heller, who claims that Trump assaulted her at a Mother's Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago : \"He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips,\" she claimed. Alarmed, she said she leaned backwards to avoid him and almost lost her balance. \"And he said, 'Oh, come on.' He was strong. And he grabbed me and went for my mouth and went for my lips.\" She turned her head, she claims, and Trump planted a kiss on the side of her mouth. \"He kept me there for a little too long,\" Heller said. \"And then he just walked away.\"  If you feel like you need a shower after this, just remember: you probably have a relative who thinks voting for this man is a good idea.  Photo by Ethan Miller\/Getty Images Share this Article!","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump sure knows how to add insult to injury.Republicans in Congress must be seriously regretting their decision to endorse Trump now after they were totally humiliated on Thursday at the White House.During a meeting inside the Oval Office to discuss debt ceiling proposals, Trump stunned Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell by taking a deal offered by the Democrats which increases the debt ceiling for three months and provides Texas with Hurricane Harvey relief with no strings attached. Republicans were hoping for an 18 month increase and wanted to hold hurricane relief hostage in order to get concessions from the Democrats on other issues.But Trump pulled the rug out from under them because he knows that Republicans are incapable of governing even with majority control of the House and Senate.And that s why Trump kicked Republicans while they were down on Friday morning, suggesting he took the Democrats offer because of Republican failures to pass legislation. He then whined about the filibuster and asked Republicans to work on tax reform and get it done before the end of the month.Republicans, sorry, but I ve been hearing about Repeal & Replace for 7 years, didn t happen! Even worse, the Senate Filibuster Rule will . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2017 never allow the Republicans to pass even great legislation. 8 Dems control will rarely get 60 (vs. 51) votes. It is a Repub Death Wish! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2017Republicans must start the Tax Reform\/Tax Cut legislation ASAP. Don t wait until the end of September. Needed now more than ever. Hurry! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2017Republicans are not going to get tax reform done by the end of the month. They have even passed the debt ceiling bill with Hurricane Harvey relief yet. The GOP is a fractured party right now, the majority of whom are controlled by an extremist base.Trump would be better off working with the Democrats. He d not only get things done, he would be able to sign legislation that is far better for the country.Featured Image: Alex Wong\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Wednesday that he does not see a \"political path forward\" in his 2016 bid for the White House. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who has not yet won a state contest of the more than a dozen held so far, said he will not attend Thursday's Republican debate in Detroit. He has not formally suspended his campaign. (Reporting by Megan Cassella; editing by Tim Ahmann) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"Protesters Clash After Mount Greenwood Police-Involved Shooting Laura Podesta and Will Jones, ABC 7 (Chicago), November 7, 2016  Protesters clashed Sunday afternoon near the site of a deadly police shooting of a 25-year-old man in Chicago's Mount Greenwood neighborhood.  Investigators said Joshua Beal, of Indianapolis, was armed when a confrontation between him and officers resulted in him being fatally shot. However, family members dispute the police narrative.  Michael Beal, Joshua Beal's brother, was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, resisting arrest and attempting to disarm a police officer, a Cook County State's Attorney spokesperson said Monday. He is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.  On Sunday, Mount Greenwood residents squared off against activists demonstrating against the shooting. The clash between Black Lives Matters and Blue Lives Matters groups became tense at times as they exchanged chants such as \"KKK\" on one side and \"CPD\" on the other side.  {snip}  According to police, the shooting occurred after a vehicle leaving funeral services at a nearby cemetery stopped in traffic in front of a Chicago fire house near West 111th Street and South Troy Street. An off-duty firefighter told the driver that they were illegally blocking the fire lane. The occupants exited the vehicle and a verbal\/physical altercation ensured, police said. An off-duty Chicago police officer was inside a nearby business and assisted the firefighter.  A Chicago police sergeant driving to work stopped when he observed a man with a firearm in his hands. After the man \"failed to drop his weapon, shots were fired striking the individual multiple times,\" police said.  {snip}  According to family, an off-duty officer in an unmarked vehicle cut off one of the vehicles in the funeral procession. The family members and officer got out of their vehicles. After a verbal exchange, gunfire erupted but Beal's family said that he did not provoke the officer, and merely disclosing that he had a concealed weapon permit.  {snip}  Video circulated online on Sunday that claimed to show Beal holding a gun.  \"The problem is everybody is making their assumptions based on the little stuff they see, the picture, the video. No one knows what happened,\" activist Ja'Mal Green said.  The video appears to capture the tense moments before the shooting, showing at least two people with their guns out. In another video, gunshots can be heard.  {snip}","label":1}
{"text":"Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday that Russia was preparing lawsuits to reclaim what Moscow says was illegally seized property in the United States, Russia s foreign ministry said. Lavrov, in a telephone conversation with Tillerson, also said it was unacceptable that U.S. authorities had removed Russian flags from its seized diplomatic buildings in the United States, the ministry said. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, asked about the accusations later, told reporters that U.S. actions at the shuttered Russian facilities were perfectly legal and were carried out with a lot of thought and in a judicious fashion. The flags of the former Russian consular properties in San Francisco were respectfully lowered. They re safely stored within each of the buildings, Nauert said. There s no country in the world that pays greater respect to its own flag and to the flags of other nations. That is something that we take seriously. But Russia s foreign ministry said Lavrov stressed to Tillerson that the lawlessness continued by U.S. officials runs counter to declarations made at the highest level in Washington about intentions to normalize the bilateral relations, which have hit an all-time low. Russian staff left the consulate in San Francisco last month after Washington ordered Moscow to vacate some of its diplomatic properties, part of a series of tit-for-tat actions resulting from a souring of relations between the two countries.","label":0}
{"text":"Every American needs to consider this new evidence about Hillary and how her campaign is helping to hide her poor health from voters unless of course, the only reason you re planning to vote for Hillary is because you like her VP candidate, Tim Kaine Why does Hillary reject a bottle of water for a glass of water during her coughing fit in front of press on her new campaign plane? Why does Hillary have a stool and GLASS OF WATER next to her at all times during public appearances? Why does Hillary tell press she s suffering from allergies when allergens aren t even high in the specific region where she s speaking? Why is Hillary resting while Donald Trump is out running circles around her on the campaign trail? Why does the media cover for her lies and MOST IMPORTANTLY, why is anyone supporting this woman who is clearly not well enough to even campaign for the highest office in our nation???During the Republican National Convention last June, two Secret Service agents approached InfoWars and asked to speak to them about Hillary s health. The Secret Service contacted me. They said that Hillary Clinton has Parkinson s disease. They [Hillary s people] spent over a quarter million dollars on these stairs to allow her to step down from the vehicle to the ground because she has trouble walking. They [Secret Service] said that any kind of flashes or strobes will set her off into a seizure, and that s why they wanted to come us.They wanted to contact us and give us information because they knew we [InforWars] would be able to get this out. [Unlike the MSM,] we wouldn t be scared to do it. And you know it really makes a lot of sense when you watch all these videos. The fact that she s refusing to do these news conferences. Hillary had not done a press conference for 8 months. Her last press conference was on December 4, 2015.DOES HILLARY HAVE PARKINSON S DISEASE?As a neurological disorder, Parkinson s disease (PD) has been shown to affect motor skills in the limbs, inhibit muscle coordination, and sometimes contribute to dysphagia.1 Dysphagia is the medical term for difficulty swallowing. Thickened liquids are often used in the management of dysphagia to improve bolus control and to help prevent aspiration. A range of starches and gums has historically been used to thicken liquids. Although thickened liquids improve swallow safety, they appear to have a great potential for unintended physiological consequences.Like this unintended physiological consequence maybe? Why does Hillary always have a stool and GLASS OF WATER at every public appearance? Don t most people in this day and age drink from a bottle of water?Again the stool and the GLASS OF WATER And again On Feb. 4, WND reported Hillary Clinton has been prescribed Armour Thyroid, a natural medication made from desiccated pig thyroid glands, for her hypothyroid condition and Coumadin a brand name of warfarin, which initially was developed as a well-known rat poison for her congenital tendency to form blood clots.WND also reported the medication Clinton has taken since 1998 to deal with her blood-clotting problems may have side effects that are hazardous to her health, including blurred vision and confusion, both of which she has experienced. And a California physician warned Coumadin could be more life-threatening to her than the possibility of a recurring blood clot.Bill Clinton, during a question and answer session at the Peterson Foundation in Washington, on May 14, 2014, told the audience that the concussion Hillary suffered required six months of very serious work to get over. On Nov. 16, 2015, in an exchange between Hillary Clinton s aides Huma Abedin and Monica Hanley dated Jan. 26, 2013, regarding Clinton s schedule, the aides said it was very important to go over phone calls with Clinton because the former secretary of state was often confused. Clinton s five-minute bathroom break at the third Democratic debate in Goffstown, New Hampshire, on Dec. 19, 2015, initially attributed to the distance of the woman s bathroom from the stage, was reported to have caused a flare up of problems from brain injury that required Clinton to sit in a chair off-stage to recover from fatigue, dizziness and disorientation.WND just last week reported that at least 10 prominent physicians have been questioning Hillary Clinton s health.Based on publicly available information, the following physicians have raised concerns: Dr. Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, said images of Clinton being helped up stairs and propped up, and videos showing odd, seizure-like head movements require an explanation to voters, she contends. The author of Emerging Diseases: Protecting Your Family from Pandemics, Viral Threats, and Rogue Vaccines noted the vituperation and anger that she s faced for raising questions. I m not making a diagnosis, she told WND on Monday. But I can look at the video. You can look. She said for a medical professional to simply ignore the evidence would be completely reckless. Meeting someone with these symptoms personally would require a How are you? she said. These are not ridiculous questions. Dr. Lee Hieb, author of Surviving the Medical Meltdown: Your Guide to Living Through the Disaster of Obamacare, agreed. They made a huge deal about [Sen. John] McCain because of his melanoma, she told WND. Melanoma doesn t give you dementia! She said the images and videos are evidence that should be reviewed and explained to voters, contending Clinton is not being forthcoming. If she doesn t want the American people informed we know where she stands. Citing Clinton s previous concussion, Hieb said such injuries can cause long-term side effects, seizures, personality changes and cognitive deficits. The Fox News medical A-Team of Dr. Marc Siegel and Dr. David Samadi had questions. In 2008 I looked over a thousand pages of John McCain s records because of a melanoma he had 10 years ago. What about Hillary? In 2009, a severe fall. She breaks her elbow. In 2011, she boards a plane, falls. In 2012, she has a severe concussion which Bill Clinton says took her six months to recover from, Siegel said. He continued: Then she ends up with a blood clot in the brain and a lifetime of blood thinners. Just that point alone if she s prone to falling, you can see from that picture up there that it looked like she can barely get upstairs without two people carrying her. Guess what if she falls and hits her head? She ll get a blood clot. Dr. Drew Pinsky s television show on the HLN cable network, Dr. Drew on Call, was canceled after he raised questions about Clinton s health in an interview on KABC-AM in Los Angeles. Alt-Right fanatics and conspiracy theorists immediately questioned her health is she ok? And concerns over Hillary s worst coughing fit ever was raised by MSNBC.But as Paul Josepth Watson reports, MSNBC regurgitated claims by Hillary s campaign aides that, Allergens were high in Northeast Ohio on Monday, before asserting that there is no evidence to indicate she is unwell. Whore press already running defense for #HackingHillary, blaming pollen. What about the 10 previous times? pic.twitter.com\/lwDNYjhEhI Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) September 5, 2016The problem for that propadandist line is It was a complete fabrication.As numerous websites that track daily allergen levels confirmed, grass pollen was low, tree pollen was low and ragweed pollen was moderate.","label":1}
{"text":"It sounds like a perfectly legitimate reason it s likley NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has claimed it is hard to hire more black cops because so many of them have spent time in jail. We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail, he told The Guardian. And, as such, we can t hire them. Partially to blame for the pool of eligible officers that is much smaller than it might ordinarily have been is the NPYD s controversial stop and frisk policy that was shut down in 2013, said Bratton.The NPYD commissioner said stop and frisk had unfortunate consequences as it resulted in a number of young black men receiving summons for minor misdemeanors.Stop and frisk, which allowed police to question and potentially search someone if they had so-called reasonable suspicion that person was committing an offense, was ruled unconstitutional in August 2013 by Judge Shira A Scheindlin.Scheindlin said the program was a violation of both black and Hispanic people s right to equal protection, as they were being stopped at much higher rates than those who were white.Both demographics made up 84 percent of the people who were stopped by officers using the policy, according to a report by the Public Advocate s office and cited by the Washington Post.Fifty-three percent of that figure was made up of black people.Black recruits made up only 6.86 percent of this year s police academy, according to another Guardian report, in a city where they represent 22 percent of the population.The NYPD stopped supporting the policy when Bratton returned as commissioner in 2014, after serving in Los Angeles.But he continued to defend a policy he had New York adopt in the early 1990s, dubbed broken windows, which some of his critics say is where the the real blame should lay.Robert Gangi, the director of the Police Reform Organizing Project in New York, said stop and frisk was not at the heart of the problem but a symptom of broken windows blatant racist policing .","label":1}
{"text":"MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, a well-known architect of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, tells CNN that the law known as 'Obamacare' is working exactly as intended.  Full transcript, via CNN:  JONATHAN GRUBER: Obamacare's not imploding. The main goal of Obamacare was two-fold. One was to cover the uninsured, of which we've covered 20 million, the largest expansion in American history. The other was to fix broken insurance markets where insurers could deny people insurance just because they were sick or they had been sick. Those have been fixed, and for the vast majority of Americans, costs in those markets have come down, thanks to the subsidies made available under Obamacare\u2026  The 22% increase [in health care premiums], let's remember who that applies to. That applies to a very small fraction of people, who have to buy insurance without the subsidies that are available.  85% of people buying insurance on the exchanges get subsidies. And for those people, this premium increase doesn't affect them.  Now, for those remaining people, that is a problem, and that's something that we need to address, but it's not a crisis. It doesn't mean the system's collapsing. And most importantly, it doesn't affect the 150 million Americans who get employer insurance, who have actually seen their premiums fall dramatically, relative to what was expected before Obamacare.  CAROL COSTELLO, CNN: OK. So let's talk about how exactly you can fix Obamacare. And I just need you to be specific, because I think people really want answers. So Hillary Clinton says she can fix Obamacare. So what would be one fix that would drive premiums down.  GRUBER: Look, once again, there's no sense of oh it just has to be fixed. The law is working as designed; however, it could work better, and I think probably the most important thing experts would agree on is that we need a larger mandate penalty. We have individuals who are essentially free riding on the system. They're essentially waiting until they get sick and then getting health insurance. The whole idea of this plan which was pioneered in Massachusetts was that the individual mandate penalty would bring those people into the system and have them participate. The penalty right now is probably too low and that's something ideally we would fix.  COSTELLO: So somebody who is president could go to congress and say, \"You know what, lawmakers, this is a fix. Can you pass this?\" Is that what would have to happen to put that fix into place?  GRUBER: Basically, it's hard to know what dramatic fix we could do without congress participating in the process. We could do things like a stronger mandate is one. We could do things like increasing the pressure on states to expand their Medicade programs, a horrible act of political malpractice where states have left millions of people of their lowest income citizens uncovered. We could do things like that, but a lot of that would involve congressional participation. It's hard to know what you can do just on your own as a new administration.  COSTELLO: What about the insurers who have fled the system? How do you convince them to come back or new companies to sign on? GRUBER: Once again, I think the press here has been misleading. Some insurers are leaving. Other insurers are thriving. I think what you have is a system where we've shaken up the status quo, exactly what we expect of new innovation, disruptive innovation if you will, to do. Insurers who were thriving in the old system are finding this new system sort of hard for them. Other insurers are doing really well and what's going to happen is the natural process as the market evolves. These premiums are going to increase. That's going to allow profitable opportunities for new insurers to enter they are(ph) and bring premiums back down. So we're just seeing the ups and downs of a new market. What you have to remember is that premiums in 2014 came in way below what we expected. In fact, where they are today is exactly where they thought they'd be today. It's just they came in lower than we thought and they rose faster than we thought. And that's just some of the unpredictability of a new market. That will settle down over time. And new insurers will enter.  COSTELLO: OK. So hindsight is 20\/20, right?  GRUBER: Yes.  COSTELLO: Looking back, is there one thing that you wish was done differently?  GRUBER: I think there's really probably two things I wish was done differently. One is I wish the mandate penalty was stronger. The other, I wish the federal government had done more to get states to expand their Medicaid programs. I think that this is a fundamental flaw in our system that states are leaving so many systems uncovered and citizens who are sick who are coming into this exchange pool and making it more expensive.  COSTELLO: So realistically, you know, after the next president is put into office, what do you think will happen with Obamacare?  GRUBER: I think nothing much is going to happen, to be honest. I think that basically a system that largely works , that the flaws your seeing now or the premium increase you're seeing now are just the natural dynamics of a market as it transitions to its new state, and I think that we're just going to let it go for a couple years and it's going to get better on its own. And basically I think it's a system which largely works.  COSTELLO: What if Donald Trump becomes president, he has a republican congress, and he does repeal it? What happens then?  GRUBER: Well, first of all he won't repeal it. Remember, the whole argument and public debate against this law is that people didn't get to keep insurance they liked. Well, you're going to have 20 million Americans or more who are now getting insurance that they like. You're not going to take that away from them. And let's be clear, there is no replace. There is only repeal. There is no Republican alternative to this law, and the reason is because this is fundamentally a bipartisan legislation that was originally drafted on Republican principles, to be honest. And so there is no Republican alternative. And so his repeal and replace is just repeal and leave people uninsured. That's not going to happen.","label":1}
{"text":"The White House named a new adviser to President Barack Obama on climate and energy at the National Security Council, a spokesman said on Wednesday. The adviser, John Morton, was previously the chief operating officer at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He replaces Paul Bodnar, who helped push for cooperation between the United States and China on climate and for a global agreement at climate talks in Paris last year. Morton, who began his career at the World Bank, takes the job after the Supreme Court this month put a hold on Obama's Clean Power Plan to cut emissions from power plants, a major part of the president's strategy to fight climate change. The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia four days later may have opened a path for the rule's survival. But the administration's plan could face other legal hurdles from Republicans and fossil fuel interests during Obama's last year in office.","label":0}
{"text":"\/\/ <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_GB\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]>Gitmo detainee, who said he would kill Americans if he was released, has just been freed Posted by Fox & Friends on Tuesday, 12 January 2016Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) eviscerates Obama and his regime for the release of this terrorist:","label":1}
{"text":"An outspoken deputy of Cambodia s detained opposition leader fled the country on Tuesday, saying she feared for her safety after Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened further arrests of opposition politicians. Kem Sokha, leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on Sept. 3 and charged with treason in a widening crackdown on critics of Hun Sen, which his opponents say is a ploy to win an election next year. Without a true opposition and with the wide level of fear, there s no hope for free and fair elections in 2018, Mu Sochua, 63, told Reuters after leaving Cambodia, adding that she did not feel safe . Democracy in Cambodia is very rapidly eroding to a point where no other opposing forces are left to fight dictatorship, she said. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said Mu Sochua had left of her own choice and he did not know whether authorities had planned to arrest her. Known internationally for campaigns to fight sex trafficking and assert women s rights, Mu Sochua had been among the most vocal opposition politicians in Cambodia since Kem Sokha was arrested and accused of plotting to take power with U.S. help. She told Reuters last week that around half the CNRP s members of parliament had fled the country in fear. Hun Sen, who has ruled for more than three decades, threatened more arrests of opposition politicians on Monday, attacking them as rebels in the city bent on staging a colour revolution despite past failures. Western countries have condemned the arrest of Kem Sokha and called for his release, saying the credibility of next year s election is in doubt, but they have given no sign of taking measures against the government. Meanwhile, China has voiced support for the government of Hun Sen, 65. He is a former commander in the Khmer Rouge who later defected from the group whose genocide devastated Cambodia in the 1970s. Strong gains by the CNRP at local council elections in June had pointed to a tough battle for Hun Sen in next year s general election. Despite years of annual economic growth of around 7 percent that have helped transform Cambodia from a failed state, popular anger has grown over inequality and accusations of cronyism. In his first comments since his arrest, Kem Sokha said in a Facebook posting on Monday that he was seeking positive change in Cambodia through the ballot box and not through revolution as charged. One of his three deputies remains in Cambodia. The evidence presented against Kem Sokha so far is a video from 2013 in which he tells supporters that he has support from unidentified Americans for a plan to gain power.","label":0}
{"text":"A dam in Puerto Rico weakened by heavy rains from Hurricane Maria was in danger of failing on Sunday, posing a flood threat to thousands of homes downstream as the storm-battered U.S. island territory struggled through a fifth day with virtually no electricity. Some 70,000 people who inhabit a river valley below the Guajataca Dam in the northwestern corner of the island have been under evacuation orders since Friday afternoon, when authorities first warned that the earthen structure was in danger of imminent collapse. The fear of a potentially catastrophic dam break added to the pandemonium facing disaster relief authorities in the aftermath of Maria, which has claimed at least 29 lives across the Caribbean, according to officials and media reports. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello personally urged residents of the area to heed evacuation orders after surveying damage to the dam on Saturday, telling reporters that a fissure in the structure has become a significant rupture. The dam, which stands about 120 feet (37 meters) tall, was built in 1929 and supplies the surrounding region with hydropower, drinking water and irrigation supplies. The National Weather Service in San Juan, the island s capital, extended a flash flood watch for communities along the rain-swollen Guajataca River below the dam through midday Sunday. If the dam were to fail, flooding would be life-threatening, the Weather Service warned. Stay away or be swept away, it said. Maria, the second major hurricane to savage the Caribbean this month and the most powerful to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, carved a path of destruction through the island after plowing ashore early on Wednesday. Arriving as a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, with top winds of up to 155 mph (249.5 kph), Maria ripped roofs from buildings, turned roads into gushing debris-strewn rivers and knocked out power across the entire island, home to 3.4 million people. We lost our house, it was completely flooded, said resident Carmen Gloria Lamb, a resident near the rain-swollen Guajataca. We lost everything; cars, clothes, everything. Puerto Rico officials have officially confirmed 10 storm-related fatalities on the island, and the hurricane was blamed for at least 19 other deaths across the Caribbean, the bulk of them on the devastated island nation of Dominica. Severe flooding, structural damage to homes and the loss of all electricity, except from backup generators, were three of the most pressing problems facing Puerto Ricans, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state is home to many of Puerto Rican descent, said during a tour of the island. It s a terrible immediate situation that requires assistance from the federal government, not just financial assistance, he said on CNN on Saturday. Even the island s medical facilities have been left in precarious shape, with many hospitals flooded, strewn with rubble and running critically low on diesel fuel needed to keep generators operating. Evacuation to the U.S. mainland is the only option for some patients. Signs of the strain on Puerto Ricans were evident throughout San Juan, the capital. Drivers had to wait up to seven hours at the few filling stations open on Saturday, according to news reports. Water rationing also began on Saturday. Signs posted throughout San Juan s Old Town informed residents that service would return for two hours until further notice. Telephone service also was unreliable, with many of the island s cell towers damaged or destroyed. On Sunday morning, the governor told reporters that officials would continue to clear roads and bridges blocked by the storm and that he would be joining a supply delivery mission to Caguas, a small city in the mountains south of San Juan. The storm caused an estimated $45 billion of damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia. Maria, which was hundreds of miles (km) east of Florida over the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm and was expected to weaken further as it moves north in the Atlantic off the East Coast over the next two days. Maria hit Puerto Rico about two weeks after Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. The two storms followed Hurricane Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston.","label":0}
{"text":"A Texas judge identified by Donald Trump on Wednesday as one of 11 people he would consider nominating to the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly mocked the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on social media. Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett last month likened Trump to \"Star Wars\" villain Darth Vader in a Twitter post. \"'We'll rebuild the Death Star. It'll be amazing, believe me. And the rebels will pay for it.' \u2014Darth Trump,\" Willett tweeted last month with a photo of the Death Star, the giant spherical spaceship built to carry a planet-destroying weapon in the first \"Star Wars\" movie. Willett also linked Trump to liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. \"Can't wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg,\" Willett posted on Twitter last August. Last June he mocked Trump's judgment on picking a nominee to the high court. \"Donald Trump haiku\u2014 Who would the Donald Name to #SCOTUS? The mind reels. *weeps\u2014can't finish tweet*\" tweeted Willett (@JusticeWillett) on the same day Trump launched his candidacy. SCOTUS refers to the Supreme Court of the United States. Asked to comment on Willett's Twitter remarks, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, \"Mr. Trump's sole focus is considering the best potential individuals based on their constitutional principles.\" Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, a key Trump backer, was asked on Fox News Channel about the judge's Twitter posts, replying, \"I doubt he cares.\" Sessions said it was more important to ask whether Willett \"follows the Constitution,\" is a good scholar, has integrity and meets the high standards expected of a Supreme Court justice. Willett's enthusiastic tweeting would be a pivot from the current social media presence of Supreme Court justices. None of the eight sitting justices has a verified Twitter account. Willett did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.","label":0}
{"text":"As the Deseret News said on Saturday, they haven t endorsed a candidate in 80 years, but they made it clear who shouldn t be president in a damning editorial Trump supporters are going to hate. We are neutral on matters of partisan politics, the editorial began. We do, however, feel a duty to speak clearly on issues that affect the well-being and morals of the nation. Accordingly, today we call on Donald Trump to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency. Unlike some evangelical conservative Christian leaders like Tony Perkins and Ralph Reed, who still support Trump even after his lewd comments about groping women dropped like a bombshell on Friday, the Mormon-owned newspaper roundly condemned Trump and called for him to resign his candidacy, citing his lack of character.The idea that women secretly welcome the unbridled and aggressive sexual advances of powerful men has led to the mistreatment, sorrow and subjugation of countless women for far too much of human history.The notion that strength emanates from harsh, divisive and unbending rhetorical flourish mistakenly equates leadership with craven intimidation.The belief that the party and the platform matter more than the character of the candidate ignores the wisdom of the ages that, when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (ProverbsThe editorial pointed to Trump s history of making misogynistic comments about women and said that Trump has failed time and time again to demonstrate the ethical behavior that presidents need to govern a nation with compassion, understanding, and respect. And then the editorial took aim at Trump s supporters.In the face of these revelations, it is disheartening to see otherwise decent individuals now attempting to defend Trump s talk, dismissing it as mere locker room bravado. At the time of the audio recording, Trump was not a hormonal teenage athlete, but rather a 60-year-old husband of an expectant mother and the father of four children.America s locker rooms deserve better.The Deseret News concluded by calling on Trump to resign but if he doesn t, Americans need to stand against him in November.This is one of those rare moments where it is necessary to take a clear stand against the hucksterism, misogyny, narcissism and latent despotism that infect the Trump campaign even as we hope for a more auspicious future of liberty, prosperity and peace for the nation.And it looks like the people will have to take that stand in November because Donald Trump has vowed to stay in the race. Let s just hope voters reject him by a landslide so that Republicans are never stupid enough to nominate someone like him ever again.Featured Image: Jessica Kourkounis\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The FBI, the DHS's Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service, and the Israelis are in cahoots \u2039 \u203a Jonas E. Alexis graduated from Avon Park High School, studied mathematics and philosophy as an undergraduate at Palm Beach Atlantic University, and has a master's degree in education from Grand Canyon University. Some of his main interests include the history of Christianity, U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel\/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the new book , Christianity & Rabbinic Judaism: A History of Conflict Between Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism from the first Century to the Twenty-first Century. He is currently teaching mathematics in South Korea. He plays soccer and basketball in his spare time. He is also a cyclist. He is currently writing a book tentatively titled Zionism and the West. Alexis welcomes comments, letters, and queries in order to advance, explain, and expound rational and logical discussion on issues such as the Israel\/Palestine conflict, the history of Christianity, and the history of ideas. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, Alexis asks that all queries be appropriately respectful and maintain a level of civility. As the saying goes, \"iron sharpens iron,\" and the best way to sharpen one's mind is through constructive criticism, good and bad. However, Alexis has no patience with name-calling and ad hominem attack. He has deliberately ignored many queries and irrational individuals in the past for this specific reason\u2014and he will continue to abide by this policy. By Jonas E. Alexis on November 4, 2016 \"Over the last decade, the NSA has significantly increased the surveillance assistance it provides to its Israeli counterpart, the Israeli SIGINT National Unit (ISNU; also known as Unit 8200), including data used to monitor and target Palestinians.\" \u2026by Jonas E. Alexis  My dear friend Mark Dankof has recently sent me an article which documents that a 17-year-old Israeli firm named Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization has been working with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service, and DHS's Customs and Border Protection since 2009. There is more:  \"U.S. state and local law enforcement agencies use Cellebrite's researchers and tools as well, as does the U.S. military, to extract data from phones seized from suspected terrorists and others in battle zones.  \"In July, months after the unknown third party provided the FBI with a method for getting into the San Bernardino phone \u2014 an iPhone 5C running iOS 9 \u2014 Cellebrite announced that it had developed its own technique for bypassing the phone's password\/encryption lock. And the company is confident that it will be able to deal successfully with future security changes Apple may make to its phones in the wake of the San Bernardino case\u2026  \"Data extracted from phones has eclipsed data extracted from desktop and laptop computers in recent years, since the former can yield not only detailed logs about a user's activities, interests, and communications, but also, in many cases, map the user's whereabouts over weeks and months to produce a pattern of life.\" [1]  Bloomberg itself confirmed that Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization has indeed been working with the FBI. [2] CNN calls Cellebrite \"the mysterious 'outside party'\u2026\" [3]  This shouldn't be a surprise at all, for we know that the NSA and the Israelis are almost two sides of the same coin. The New York Times itself agrees with the prevailing view that \"the N.S.A. was routinely passing along the private communications of Americans to a large and very secretive Israeli military organization known as Unit 8200.\" [4] One can reasonably say that Israel has a way in which the NSA is loused up: \"Over the last decade, the NSA has significantly increased the surveillance assistance it provides to its Israeli counterpart, the Israeli SIGINT National Unit (ISNU; also known as Unit 8200), including data used to monitor and target Palestinians. In many cases, the NSA and ISNU work cooperatively with the British and Canadian spy agencies, the GCHQ and CSEC. The relationship has, on at least one occasion, entailed the covert payment of a large amount of cash to Israeli operatives.\" [5]  Solomon Ehrmann, a Viennese Jew, would have been pleased with what Israel has been doing. In a speech delivered at the B'nai B'rith in 1902, Ehrmann envisioned a future in which \"all of mankind will have been jewified and joined in union with the B'nai B'rith.\" When that happens, \"not only the B'nai B'rith but all of Judaism will have fulfilled its task.\" [6]  Baruch Levy, one of Karl Marx's correspondents, would have agreed. He declared: \"The Jewish people taken collectively shall be its own Messias\u2026In this new organization of humanity, the sons of Israel now scattered over the whole surface of the globe\u2026shall everywhere become the ruling element without opposition\u2026. \"The governments of the nations forming the Universal or World-Republic shall all thus pass, without any effort, into Jewish hands thanks to the victory of the proletariat\u2026Thus shall the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled, that, when the Messianic epoch shall have arrived, the Jews will control the wealth of all the nations of the earth.\" [7]  Well, Judaism is seeking to fulfill \"its task\" through the state of Israel, which we all know by now is based on the Talmud. [8] But Solomon, Levy, and others could not understand that no force is strong enough to impede the triumph of Logos in history. Julian the Apostate tried but failed miserably. Voltaire, Helvitius, d'Holbach, D'Alembert, Lametrie, Diderot, and nearly all the leading lights of the French Revolution tried. Not a single one of them succeeded because they were essentially fighting against the moral and political order, which is based on reason.  If Hegel is right, that reason will triumph in the end, then Solomon, Levy and their minions cannot win. Their evil work is actually drawing them closer and closer to destruction. These people will continue to fail because they are blind to higher realities. They cannot not see that ultimate reason is the beginning and end of human history. They should have at least read Hegel's position on the philosophy of history.  World history, Hegel tells us, \"is governed by an ultimate design\u2026whose rationality is not that of a particular subject, but a divine and absolute reason,\" [9] and sometimes this divine and absolute reason has a cunning way of working itself out in history, irrespective of what evil men intend to do. This \"divine and absolute reason,\" says Hegel will \"realize its end\" in due time. [10]  The carnal man simply cannot understand this \"cunning of reason\" because he is again blind to higher metaphysics. Higher realities goes back to Heraclitus, Plato and Aristotle and was refined by people like Aquinas. It states that there is a mathematical, philosophical, moral, and political order in the universe and it is bigger than human beings.  Heraclitus wrote: \"Listening not to me but to the Logos\u2026\" [11] According to scholar Eva Brann, Heraclitus \"directs us not to intellectual self-reliance, not to seek some truth, but to comprehend and follow this truth: that said b the Logos.\" [12] This Logos, according to Heraclitus, is both \"a maxim and Wisdom Inarnate.\" According to Brann's interpretation of Heraclitus, \"This great Logos has a wisdom, or rather it is the Wise thing, and this Wise Thing has a maxim, or rather it is that practical principle which guides everything through everything, relates all things to all things\u2026\" [13]  What Heraclitus and others of that era were trying to establish is that there is an order in this universe, which is undeniable. There is a mathematical, philosophical, esthetic, political and moral order. Any deviation from that order has serious consequences, including intellectual death. And anyone who studies the universe from a rational and truthful standpoint can recognize that order.  Even physicists and mathematicians like P. C. W. Davis, Sir Fred Hoyle, John D. Barrow, Frank J. Tipler, Sir Martin Rees, among others, have come to realized that the mathematical order in the universe demands an explanation. [14] That explanation cannot be attributed to chance at all. [15]  Rees himself argues that there are basically six numbers that sustain the physical properties of the entire universe. If you change any one of those six numbers (such as the strong nuclear force, gravitational force, etc.) \"even to the tiniest degree, there would be no stars, no complex elements, no life.\" Rees adds, \"Had these numbers not been 'well tuned,' the gradual unfolding of layer upon layer of complexity would have been quenched.\" [16]  Well, these numbers are \"well tuned\" because they were based on what the Greeks and St. John call the Logos, which the carnal mind ultimately rejects. This \"absolute reason,\" says Hegel, will bring about the end of history.  But looking at all the evil and chaos in this world, obviously the carnal man would think that there cannot be an \"infinite power, which realizes its ends.\" But Hegel would respond by saying that this is why this \"infinite power\" is \"cunning\" and is more powerful than human beings.  This \"infinite power,\" according to scholar Robert C. Tucker's interpretation of Hegel, \"fulfill its ulterior rational designs in an indirect and sly manner. It does so by calling into play the irrational element in human nature, the passions.\" [17]  The carnal mind simply lacks vision and insight to understand all this because he limits himself only to the primitive idea that the material universe, as Karl Sagan hubristically propounded, \"is all that is or was or ever will be.\" [18]  The carnal mind cannot see that the materialist position lacks intellectual rigor to explain simple things like love, hate, justice, truth, hatred, etc. The best that the carnal mind can offer here is to posit that those things are simply illusions. As Nobel Laureate Francis Crick put it years ago in his book The Astonishing Hypothesis : \"The Astonishing Hypothesis is that 'You,' your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.\" [19]  Richard Dawkins makes the same assumption when he argues that the universe is \"just electrons and selfish genes,\" therefore \"meaningless tragedies\u2026are exactly what we should expect, along with equally meaningless good fortune.\" [20]  The word \"meaningless\" itself implicitly assumes something called \"meaningful.\" And both words again assume that there is a \"law\" by which to differentiate what is \"meaningful\" and \"meaningless.\" And a law assumes a \"lawgiver.\" That's what the carnal mind like Dawkins is promiscuously trying to deny! Perhaps people like Dawkins need to think goodness that they have never met people like Kant.  [1] Kim Zetter, \"When the FBI Has a Phone It Can't Crack, It Calls These Israeli Crackers,\" The Intercept , November 1, 2016.  [2] Yaacov Benmeleh, \"FBI Worked With Israel's Cellebrite to Crack iPhone,\" Bloomberg , March 30, 2016.  [3] Jose Pagliery, \"Cellebrite is the FBI's go-to phone hacker,\" CNN , April 1, 2016.  [4] See James Bamford, \"Israel's N.S.A. Scandal,\" NY Times , September 16, 2014.  [5] Glenn Greenwald, \"Cash, Weapons, and Surveillance: The U.S. Is a Key Party to Every Israeli Attack,\" The Intercept , August 4, 2014.  [6] Quoted in Albert S. Lindemann, Esau's Tears: Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 331.  [7] Quoted in E. Michael Jones, The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit and Its Impact on World History (South Bend: Fidelity Press, 2008), 1066.  [8] Marissa Newman, \"Netanyahu reported to say legal system based on Talmud,\" Times of Israel , May 8, 2014.  [9] George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), 28.  [10] Ibid., 35.  [11] Quoted in Eva Brann, The Logos of Heraclitus: the First Philosopher of the West on Its Most Interesting Term (Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2011), 15.  [13] Ibid., 21.  [14] See for example John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988); Martin Rees, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe (New York: Basic Books, 2000); Paul Davis, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? (New York: Mariner Books, 2006); Fred Hoyle, Evolution from Space (New York: Touchtone, 1984); Fred Hoyle, The Intelligent Universe (New York: Rinehart, 1988).  [15] See Dean L. Overman, A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997).  [16] Martin Rees, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe (New York: Basic Books, 2000), 161.  [17] Robert C. Tucker, \"The Cunning of Reason in Hegel and Marx,\" The Review of Politics , Vol. 18, NO 3, July 1956: 269-295.  [18] Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Ballantine Book, 1980 and 1013), xxii.  [19] Francis Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 3.  [20] Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 132. Related Posts:","label":1}
{"text":"Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic is the epitome of evil and his conviction on Wednesday for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes was a momentous victory for justice , U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein said. Mladic is the epitome of evil, and the prosecution of Mladic is the epitome of what international justice is all about, Zeid said in a statement. Today s verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take.","label":0}
{"text":"Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump behaved extravagantly during his campaign because he represented ordinary voters and wanted to get his message across. \"He has chosen a method to get through to voters' hearts,\" Putin told foreign policy experts in southern Russia. \"He (Trump) behaves extravagantly of course, we see this, but I think there's a reason for this.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The Washington Post on Wednesday called on Maine Governor Paul LePage to resign, following a series of incidents in which the two-term Republican made racially charged statements and threatened a Democratic lawmaker in an obscenity-laden email. LePage, whose term extends through 2018, last month lashed out at a state lawmaker who criticized his comments blaming black and Hispanic people from out of state for the heroin trade in Maine. In an editorial titled \"Maine's unhinged governor,\" the newspaper wrote \"LePage threatens to remake his state's image from a vacation paradise of surreal natural beauty to a hotbed of hatred.\" LePage had told reporters he had collected a three-ring binder of people arrested for trafficking drugs in the state and that 90 percent of those in it were black or Hispanic. The governor released the binder this week and a review by local media found that closer to one in three arrestees in it matched LePage's description. Maine legislative leaders last month briefly considered convening a special session to reprimand LePage for the outburst, but the effort collapsed with the two parties unable to agree on whether they wanted to censure him or pursue impeachment. A spokeswoman for the governor dismissed the editorial as biased. \"The Post did not contact anyone from the governor's office to fact-check this biased piece of propaganda,\" spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said in an email. \"Clearly, the Post editorial board is exempt from reporting facts.\" Asked about what factual inaccuracies in the editorial concerned the governor, Bennett challenged the Post's description of LePage declining to attend a 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day event hosted by the state's NAACP chapter, noting that he had instead attended a Rotary Club event honoring the slain civil rights activist. At the time that he declined the NAACP's invitation, in his first month as governor, LePage said that critics of his decision could \"kiss my butt.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Former CIA Director Robert Gates rips into Obama for his refusal to say the troops are in a combat role in the Middle East. Obama s doing a great disservice to our troops! Ever since American forces have been deployed to fight ISIS, the White House has said that they are not there in a combat capacity, even though three Americans have been killed fighting the terror group.","label":1}
{"text":"Results of Baltimore's primary election were ordered decertified on Thursday by the Maryland elections board, which cited irregularities in the April 26 vote that may have influenced a tight mayoral race. The state panel will begin a precinct-by-precinct review of voting in the overwhelming Democratic city. The Baltimore elections board will pull its certification this evening, state board administrator Linda Lamone said. The state review could cast doubt on the narrow victory by state Senator Catherine Pugh in the mayoral primary, where she defeated former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Pugh had backed law enforcement reform as Baltimore recovers from April 2015 rioting sparked by a black man's death from an injury in police custody. Three City Council races were determined by a few hundred votes. Lamone said officials had found 80 provisional ballots that had not been checked to see whether they were cast in the right precinct or the voters were registered. Unusually high numbers of voters also checked in at polling places but never cast ballots, she said. That issue was not cleared up when the city board certified the election this week. \"There were enough discrepancies in that reconciliation (on the number of voters) that made me determine we need to review everything more,\" Lamone said. A group of activists has questioned the fairness of the election. Victory in the Democratic primary means an almost certain win in the November general election.","label":0}
{"text":"\u2014 Brad Thor (@BradThor) October 28, 2016 Men ruin everything with their dicks https:\/\/t.co\/vFLzBWDEpO  This FBI-investigation-into-Hillary-plot just got a whole lot thicker, so to speak: NYT alert: new emails were discovered while investigating into ANTHONY WEINER SEXTING SCANDAL.  \u2014 Andrew Clark \ud83c\udf83 (@AndrewHClark) October 28, 2016  Wait, what? New emails tied to the FBI's Clinton inquiry were discovered during the investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting https:\/\/t.co\/FMHEkn03B0  Dude: Federal law enforcement officials said Friday that the new emails uncovered in the closed investigation into Hillary Clinton 's use of a private email server were discovered after the F.B.I. seized electronic devices belonging to Huma Abedin, an aide to Mrs. Clinton, and her husband, Anthony Weiner. \u2026 In a letter to Congress, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said that emails had surfaced in an unrelated case, and that they \"appear to be pertinent to the investigation.\" Mr. Comey said the F.B.I. was taking steps to \"determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.\" He said he did not know how long it would take to review the emails, or whether the new information was significant. Clinton picks up @nytimes  \u2014 David Rutz (@DavidRutz) October 28, 2016  What more can you say about this?  \u2014 Kemberlee Kaye (@KemberleeKaye) October 28, 2016 Oh my god https:\/\/t.co\/Qa8JRQuO8f","label":1}
{"text":"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 \u2014 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 \u2014 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 na\u00efvet\u00e9,\" 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 \u2014 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 \u2014 from Polaris or elsewhere \u2014 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 \u2014 whose lives are in my hands while they're on board my aircraft \u2014 are safe. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The centerpiece of President Barack Obama's climate change strategy faced a key test on Tuesday as conservative appeals court judges questioned whether his administration overstepped its legal authority under an air pollution law to make sweeping changes to the U.S. electric sector. Twenty-seven states led by coal-producer West Virginia and industry groups are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan rules before 10 judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. They argue that the EPA overstepped its regulatory authority under the federal Clean Air Act when the agency issued rules to curb greenhouse emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants. The U.S. Supreme Court has put the regulations on hold while the case is litigated. Tuesday's highly anticipated arguments drew a crowd of hundreds at sunrise to watch the opponents face off against the EPA, 18 states and some supportive power companies. The EPA told the judges that the agency had the power under the Clean Air Act to craft the rule, and that it was cost-effective and achievable. The challengers could face an uphill battle to win over a majority of the 10 judges, six of whom are Democratic appointees. Judge Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by former President George W. Bush, said while he understands the political and moral obligation to address global warming and the importance of the United States to international climate action, the Clean Power Plan's impact on the U.S. economy and on certain coal-reliant communities should require Congress to have a say. \"This is a huge case. It has huge economic consequences,\" said Kavanaugh. He added that climate change does not give the EPA a \"blank check\" to use the Clean Air Act flexibly. Judge Thomas Griffith, another Bush appointee, questioned: \"Why is this (debate) not going-on on the Congress floor but in front of a room full of unelected judges?\" The EPA argued before that the Supreme Court has already given the EPA authority in previous cases to use the section of the Clean Air Act at issue to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Justice Department lawyer Eric Hostetler, representing the EPA, said the agency designed the rule to be cost effective and \"deepen\" the shift already taking place toward cleaner energy. \"The EPA looked at what was going on in the real world,\" he said, noting that most states are already shifting the make-up of their electric generation. In comments indicating support for the government's position, Judge Judith Rogers, appointed to the court by former President Bill Clinton, said the EPA should not close its eyes to trends in the electric sector which have seen utilities diversify their energy mix. \"You can't survive in this market unless you do that,\" she said. Some of the other Democratic appointees voiced similar sentiments indicating they did not think the regulations constituted a major shift as the challengers argue. The Clean Power Plan was designed to lower carbon emissions from U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. Power plants are the largest source of U.S. carbon emissions. The Clean Power Plan is the main tool for the United States to meet the emissions reduction target it pledged to reach at U.N. climate talks in Paris last December. The fate of the Clean Power Plan was thrown into question on Feb. 9 when the Supreme Court made a surprise 5-4 decision to grant a request by the challengers to put the rule on hold while the appeals court considered the matter. The eventual appeals court ruling could decide the case, even if it goes to the Supreme Court. The Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia left the court ideologically split with four conservatives and four liberals. A 4-4 ruling by the high court would leave in place the appeals court ruling. The case is being heard by 10 judges rather than 11 because the court's chief judge, Merrick Garland, has recused himself from the case. Garland is Obama's nominee to replace Scalia. A 5-5 ruling would leave the regulations in place. A ruling is unlikely before the end of the year and possibly not until after Obama leaves office on Jan. 20. The outcome of the Nov. 8 presidential election could be pivotal for the regulations. If Republican Donald Trump wins, the government could reverse the rules or decline to appeal to the Supreme Court should the appeals court strike them down. If Democrat Hillary Clinton is elected, the losing side in the appeals court ruling could be expected to take the case to the Supreme Court. If the case does reach the high court, it may not make it in time for the justices to hear it during the court term that begins next Monday and ends in June.","label":0}
{"text":"Sunday night's episode of \"Keeping Up With the Kardashians\" played less like a breezy record of the demimonde than a documentary. Early in the episode, Kim Kardashian West was called to action by her husband, Kanye West, after audio of him angrily referring to Taylor Swift as \"fake\" leaked in February. Over and over again, she reiterated how she felt that Mr. West was portrayed unfairly in public, by Ms. Swift and others. As the episode goes on, Ms. Kardashian West's ire rises \u2014 clearly, she is plotting her moves. At the end, she seeks advice from her mother and manager, Kris Jenner. Ms. Jenner suggests calling Ms. Swift to smooth things over. Ms. Kardashian West says no, thanks. Just as the episode ended on the East Coast, Ms. Kardashian West released on Snapchat several video clips of a phone conversation between Mr. West and Ms. Swift in which he appears to get her support \u2014 mostly enthusiastic, perhaps slightly hesitant \u2014 for provocative lyrics that refer to her on his song \"Famous,\" from his album \"The Life of Pablo,\" released in February. Not long after, Ms. Swift released a statement on Instagram stating that she had not approved of the song and that Mr. West had not delivered on a promise to play her the final version before its release. \"While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot 'approve' a song you haven't heard,\" she wrote. These are the latest salvos in the running squabble between Ms. Swift and Mr. West, a gripping but unfortunate beef that puts two of the leading pop stars of the day at loggerheads. The first phase of their disagreement dates from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when he crashed her acceptance speech for best female video, in a show of support for Beyonc\u00e9, whom she had beaten. They didn't publicly reconcile until the 2015 Grammys, and the road since has been bumpy. On \"Famous,\" he rapped, in familiar hyperbolic style, that they \"might still have sex,\" and that he was responsible for her success. Shortly thereafter, she lashed out at him (without using his name) from the Grammy stage. The video for \"Famous,\" released last month, features a Swift along with other celebrity topless in bed with Mr. West and Ms. Kardashian West, an jolt of beatific erotica. Ms. Swift and Mr. West couldn't be more different: Ms. Swift is a covert operator, Mr. West a namer of names. Ms. Swift is as careful a crafter of narrative, both in song and in life, as anyone in pop. Mr. West shoots from the hip it's the source of much of his charm. Throughout this battle, each has accused the other of dishonesty. There is a fundamental layer of falseness and contrivance to all public images: Celebrity culture relies on that layer not being disrupted. Part of the power of the video Ms. Kardashian West released is it appeared to show that Ms. Swift's public presentation and private machinations were at odds. The Ms. Swift in those video clips is \u2014 \"I'm, like, this close to overexposure,\" she said \u2014 in a way she often isn't in public, and she is also willing to disrupt her image in unexpected ways. But her stern response to the song's release served as a reassertion of the old order. It also extended a narrative in which Mr. West, who is black, is painted as the predator and Ms. Swift, who is white, as the prey, a story with uncomfortable racial overtones. In the excerpts, though, Mr. West is solicitous and warm. \"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex,\" he says, enunciating each word of the lyric carefully, with Ms. Swift on speakerphone. Rhythmically, it sounds like perhaps he's workshopping one of two options with her. Later, he says: \"I want things that make you feel good. I don't want to do rap that makes people feel bad. \" (The clips are short and choppy, and clearly excerpts. On Twitter in February, Mr. West said the call with Ms. Swift had been an hour long.) \"I just really appreciate it,\" Ms. Swift said. \"I never would have expected you to tell me about a line in your song. \" \"Relationships,\" Mr. West tells her, \"are more important than punch lines. \" Seeking permission for a lyric is an extraordinary step, especially for Mr. West, whose loose tongue is his greatest asset. Ms. Swift, by contrast, has generally avoided identifying the subjects of her songs, though after the 2009 V. M. A. s, she released the rather patronizing \"Innocent\" \u2014 including the words \"Who you are is not what you 're still an innocent\" \u2014 which she described in a 2010 interview with MTV as not a song about Mr. West but one \"to\" him. (Her song \"Dear John\" is widely believed to be about John Mayer, to whom Ms. Swift was romantically linked. It is one of the most effective and ruthless eviscerations of a fellow celebrity in pop history, and it seems unlikely that Ms. Swift ran it past Mr. Mayer for approval.) Given the seemingly genial nature of the conversation between Ms. Swift and Mr. West, what agitated Ms. Swift remains unclear. The release of video clips of the call is a clear violation of trust and raises possible legal issues. (The legality of recording phone calls varies from state to state a representative for Mr. West did not respond to an inquiry about where the rapper had been at the time of the call.) In an interview with GQ released last month, Ms. Kardashian West mentioned that Ms. Swift's legal team knew about the recorded conversation \"and then they sent an attorney's letter like, 'Don't you dare do anything with that footage,' and asking us to destroy it. \" The statement issued by Ms. Swift's representative when Mr. West's \"Famous\" came out said that Ms. Swift had \"cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message,\" but that does not appear to be in line with what she expresses in these video clips. The statement also said, \"Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, 'I made that bitch famous. '\" The video clips on Ms. Kardashian West's Snapchat do not show Mr. West asking about that line. And so, if this conflagration turns on the interpretation of that epithet, then what may be at play is a contextual misread, or perhaps a clash of value systems. Mr. West comes from the world of where use of that term to refer to women can be so pervasive as to dull its pejorative meaning. In 2012, Mr. West unveiled the song \"Perfect Bitch\" \u2014 it was about Ms. Kardashian West, then his girlfriend. But though it has become a catchall term, it still carries undeniable historical baggage. Perhaps Ms. Swift didn't like hearing herself referred to in that fashion, regardless of the context. Maybe she was concerned about her young female fan base and the word's effect on them. Maybe she simply got cold feet. Whatever the case, both sides have opted for public escalation over private reconciliation. Mr. West and Ms. Kardashian West are armed with selectively edited documentation optimized for social media distribution. They are primed for battle. Meanwhile, Ms. Swift and her team increasingly transmit an air of fatigue. After Ms. Kardashian West's GQ interview, Ms. Swift's representative released a statement that concluded, \"Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone. \" And Ms. Swift's latest reply concludes with a similar sentiment, though this time from her directly: \"I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009. \" But this bespeaks a misunderstanding of how public storytelling unfolds. It is crowdsourced, not written from the top down. In the past, Ms. Swift's refusal to name the subjects of her songs or any of her personal antagonists also robbed them of their opportunities to respond, keeping the narrative tidy. But that's not an option when the two main characters are equally famous. Ms. Swift's revulsion only amplifies the situation: The farther from Mr. West she tries to pull, the more tightly they are bound.","label":0}
{"text":"A Turkish judge ordered four prominent journalists and senior staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper to remain in jail for at least two more months during their trial, accused of supporting the organizers of last year s failed coup. Editor in chief Murat Sabuncu, attorney Akin Atalay, correspondent Ahmet Sik and accountant Emre Iper, some of whom have already been detained for 14 months, were ordered to be jailed until the next session of their trial on March 9. Prosecutors say Cumhuriyet was effectively taken over by supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric blamed by the government for last year s failed coup. The newspaper and staff have denied the charges and say they are being targeted to silence critics of President Tayyip Erdogan. Monday s hearing included drama in court, when the judge ordered Sik removed from the hearing for making political comments. Sik, who wrote a book critical of Gulen s movement at a time when it was an ally of the government, described Turkish authorities as an authoritarian regime dedicated to cruelty , according to the newspaper. After he was ordered out, Sik said the case itself was political. The days will come where you will be tried, do not forget this, he said, according to Cumhuriyet. I hope you won t be tried in a court like yours. The court said the next hearing will be held in Silivri courthouse, the site of a large prison about 60 km (40 miles) west of Istanbul, to ensure security and order. The Turkish authorities have launched a crackdown since the failed 2016 coup, which they blame on followers of Gulen, who denies involvement. More than 150,000 police, teachers, university lecturers, journalists and other professionals have been sacked or suspended from their jobs and 50,000 people have been arrested.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. government is poised to approve two long-delayed sales of Boeing Co fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait, and could announce the multibillion-dollar deals during President Barack Obama's visit to the Gulf this week, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Both deals have been stalled amid concerns raised by Israel that equipment sent to Gulf states could fall into the wrong hands and be used against it, and by the Obama administration's broader decision-making on military aid to the Gulf. However, the Pentagon and the State Department both have signed off on the sale of some 36 F-15 fighter jets to Qatar and 24 F\/A-18E\/F Super Hornets to Kuwait, both built by Boeing. The White House is expected to follow suit shortly. The sale to Kuwait is worth about $3 billion and the one to Qatar is probably close to $4 billion, sources familiar with the matter said. \"The last hurdle now is getting approval from the National Security Council and the White House,\" said one of the sources. The Pentagon had no immediate comment. A senior Obama administration official said it was the administration's policy not to comment on potential arm sales until it has formally notified Congress of an intent to sell something. But, the official said, the United States is committed to the security and stability of the Gulf region and defense sales \"fit into the overall U.S. regional diplomatic strategy.\" Expected approval of the fighter jet sales comes as the White House seeks to shore up relations with Gulf allies as they increase their military capabilities amid growing fears that Washington is drawing closer to Iran in the aftermath of the nuclear deal with that country. Senior U.S. officials, including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus have publicly urged approval of the weapons sales, which will help maintain production of the fourth-generation Boeing fighter jets, while the newer and more advanced Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet enters service in coming years. One senior U.S. defense official said the Pentagon is keen to see the Boeing F-15 and F\/A-18 production lines in St. Louis continue and does not want to \"foreclose any options on fourth-generation aircraft at this point.\" Boeing already is spending \"hundreds of millions\" of dollars to buy long-lead materials such as titanium to prepare for a possible Kuwaiti order for F\/A-18E\/F Super Hornets and a separate U.S. Navy order for 12 jets put on the service's \"unfunded priorities\" list submitted to Congress. The Navy is hoping that Congress will provide the funding to pay for the Boeing jets in fiscal 2017, although the planes were not included in its base budget request. It already has earmarked funding for more F\/A-18E\/F jets in fiscal 2018. A larger concern now is the Boeing F-15 line, which is set to end in 2019 after Boeing completes work on a large order for Saudi Arabia, unless a follow-on order is approved.","label":0}
{"text":"If you listen to conservatives, big money interests like the banks have been unfairly attacked by progressives like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. According to them, the system isn t rigged and progressives are just being conspiracy theorists.But now a massive plot inside one of America s biggest banks has been exposed, and the Obama administration is going to make them pay for what they ve done.5,300 Wells Fargo employees are going to be fired, after it was exposed that they have been secretly signing up thousands of customers for accounts they didn t ask for. They did it so they could collect fees and add to their earnings. From CNN Money:The phony accounts earned the bank unwarranted fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales figures and make more money. Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses, Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement.Now, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a government agency created by President Obama and in part credited to Senator Warren, is stepping in to make the bank pay. Wells Fargo will have to pay full restitution to the victims of its greed, including annual fees, interest charges, and overdraft-protection fees that it deceitfully collected.The bank has entered into an agreement with CFPB to pay $185 million in fines, and $5 million in a refund to its customers.It s worth remembering that Republicans backed by donations from the banking and financial industry have tried repeatedly to attack and defund CFPB. Despite the agency being solely dedicated to consumer rights (as opposed to industry concerns, as in other government departments like the notoriously pro-industry Department of Interior), the supposedly populist right has still opposed it.To his credit, not only has Obama defended CFPB, he has argued again and again that Congress should fund it and allow it to stand up for consumers.","label":1}
{"text":"There is no deadlock in divorce talks between Britain and the European Union, EU summit chair Donald Tusk said on Friday, adding he was very cautious, but optimistic that negotiations could move on to the next phase in December. The EU wants to have the main elements of a divorce agreement with Britain on the financial settlement, citizen s rights and the lack of a physical border between Northern Ireland and Ireland before it moves on to talks on a future trade agreement which is key for British-based businesses. So far progress in the three areas has been insufficient, raising the prospect that divorce talks will drag on to next year without starting discussions on a future relationship, as companies need to make strategic business decisions now. There is no deadlock, Tusk told reporters on the sidelines of an EU leaders meeting in the Swedish city of Gothenburg where he also held talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May. I feel much better, safer after my meeting with Theresa May, everything is possible, Tusk said. There was very visibly goodwill on both sides. We still have a chance to achieve our first goal to achieve the finalization of the first phase of negotiations. I am very cautious, but optimistic. He said he will meet May again next Friday, Nov. 24, to consult on progress during another EU meeting in Brussels.","label":0}
{"text":"The current occupant of the White House traveled overseas and met with President Andrzej Duda of Poland at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, then continued to embarrass our country by bashing the media, refusing to say outright that Russia meddled in our 2016 presidential election. He then went on to tout his economy even though he s only been on the job for 167 days.On Thursday, the former reality show star Trump bragged about the U.S. economy, saying everyone else is getting rich.Trump spoke of U.S. stock market gains since he was elected, according to The Hill. Personally, I ve picked up nothing, he said. Everyone else is getting very rich. That s ok, I m very happy. On the 4th of July, Trump tweeted, Really great numbers on jobs & the economy! Things are starting to kick in now, and we have just begun! Don t like steel & aluminum dumping! Really great numbers on jobs & the economy! Things are starting to kick in now, and we have just begun! Don't like steel & aluminum dumping! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2017While on the campaign trail, Trump said, I will be the greatest jobs producer that God ever created but that promise hasn t been kept. 594,000 jobs have been created since Trump took office and that s a dismal number if you compare it to Obama s record. And of the jobs created by the Trump administration, most of those can be attributed to Obama s economy. Businesses that were bleeding jobs unleashed the longest streak of job creation on record, Obama wrote in a letter to the American people.The economy added jobs for 75 straight months.As for Trump bragging about jobs, the US employment growth is actually slowing.Trump says he hasn t made money but that, too, is a lie. Trump and his family members are shamelessly profiting from his so-called presidency. Trump said that everyone is getting rich but a quick visit to my bank online just showed me that that is not true.For the record, 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama. Trump did accomplish one thing, though. He managed to disparage the U.S. media while on foreign soil. That s got to be a first.Photo by Olivier Douliery Pool\/Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"The top Republican in the U.S. Congress dimmed hopes that lawmakers might end the embargo on Cuba after President Barack Obama leaves office, saying on Tuesday he intends to keep the trade restrictions in place. \"As the past two years of normalizing relations have only emboldened the regime at the expense of the Cuban people, I fully intend to maintain our embargo on Cuba,\" U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. The Obama administration has been easing restrictions on dealings with Cuba since the surprise announcement in 2014 by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro that the long-time foes would move toward more normal relations. On Friday, the White House announced new measures to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions, including allowing American travelers to bring home more of the country's coveted cigars and rum. But the half-century-long embargo can only be lifted fully by Congress, which is controlled by Ryan's Republicans. While some join most of Obama's fellow Democrats in backing the new policies, party leaders have opposed legislation to ease restrictions. Some lawmakers had hoped attitudes in Congress might soften after Obama leaves office in January, even if Democrats do not win majorities in the House and Senate, especially with Americans accustomed to two years of freer travel and business. Cuban relations often come to the fore during U.S. election campaigns. Pro-embargo Cuban-Americans are an important Republican voting bloc in Florida, which often has close congressional races and is one of the swing states that can decide presidential elections. Ryan termed Obama's actions \"efforts to appease the oppressive regime\" in Cuba. He said they would strengthen its government and endanger U.S. companies' intellectual property rights. Backers of Obama's policy say half a century of restrictions on trade and travel have not ended Cuban communism, and are not worth denying U.S. citizens freedom of travel and U.S. companies the chance to do business there.","label":0}
{"text":"Truthstream MediaOut of 88 potential horrors this batch of 1,500+ Americans were asked to rank in regard to their personal level of fear in 2015, you ll never guess what the number one thing people are most afraid of in this country Or perhaps you will. What an amazingly sad statement on modern America and the times we are living in.The survey can be found here.Americans Deepest FearsAre Americans today afraid of criminals with guns or a government that would seek to disarm its citizens?The impositions of the system now rank higher among worry than hyped factors like terrorism with distrust at very high levels among citizens and consumers alike. People are becoming disconnected from the wealth and prosperity they once knew, and instead are facing a collapsing system that wishes to loot from its populace as the ship goes down.Dearly held rights in the American tradition are under threat today of vanishing, of being upended by a machine with secret designs.Corporate schemers, conniving bankers and corrupt government insiders are driving perpetual wars, a damaged economy, disappearing jobs and diminishing chances of achieving the American dream.Please share this article and story.Permission to repost or republish with attribution (to Truthstream Media) is granted under creative commons license.READ MORE SOCIAL ENGINEERING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire SE Files","label":1}
{"text":"Should you embrace new age practices you deny Me Saturday Dec 06, 2014 at 02:20 pm My dearly beloved daughter, how is it that those who do not accept My Existence, or the Divinity of My Eternal Father, are so willing to embrace false gods all of their own making?When My Presence is felt by souls who reject My Existence, they feel a need to retaliate without compunction. They will scoff, ridicule, mock My Presence, whether this be in My Church, in books; in the Word or when I Am Present in other souls. The Presence of God is Omnipotent and it is felt in the most painful way by those souls who are in darkness. This is why they react with such venom to any mention of Me. These people have a deep ingrained hatred of Me and they fail to see how they can hate someone Who, in their eyes, does not exist.I warn those who embrace false spirituality and who idolize or obsess about anything that does not come from Me. If you open your souls to any spiritual realm, not of My Making, you will open the door to demons, who will cunningly entice you into their dark world. Whatever peace you believe you receive from new age practices will be short-lived. And as you seek more, you will then enter into a state where your conscience will be taken over by those enemies of God, until you are unable to release yourself from their domain. You will never find peace when you idolize false gods.The world is infiltrated with false doctrines, gods and religions. There is only one True God and you can only come to Him by recognising the Great Sacrifice He made when He sent Me, His only Begotten Son, to bring you salvation from the snares of the evil one.To those who do know Me, but who dabble in other doctrines, know this. Should you embrace new age practices, you deny Me. Should My Church acknowledge other creeds, that are not of Me, then they betray Me.The time when My birth is celebrated, by showing allegiance to other religions, that are not of Me, will be one of the greatest betrayals of the Truth.","label":1}
{"text":"Another day, another Trump supporter commits an atrocity, weakening America s morale one by one. This time, it s a double whammy Trump supporters who happen to be members of the Ku Klux Klan.William Hagen, grand dragon of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (who organized a White Lives Matter rally), and Klan leader Chris Barker, were arrested in North Carolina after the two stabbed another Klansman, who eventually escaped with wounds to the chest.According to the New York Times:The attack took place hours before a Ku Klux Klan parade on Saturday in Roxboro, N.C., billed as a celebration of Mr. Trump s victory Mr. Hagen was in North Carolina to attend that parade, the authorities said. Mr. Barker was arrested before the parade, and Mr. Hagen after, during a traffic stop, Captain Rose said.Hagen was charged with attempted murder and Barker was charged with aiding and abetting an assault.So far, no motive or reason has been released as to why the stabbing took place. But when it comes to the insanity of the reasoning used by Klansmen to justify violence, does it really matter? Since the rise (and election) of Donald Trump, violence and white nationalism not coincidentally has been on a rise in the United States. Today in North Carolina, the two came head-to-head.The victim, Richard Dillon, is being treated for his injuries and his attackers are being held without bail.Once again, the question needs to be asked: is Donald Trump going to denounce this kind of behavior? These men supported him, organized a rally in his honor, and voted for him. They ve been in the news as organizers for his campaigns, and now they have unsuccessfully tried to murder another human being (albeit one with deplorable qualities).The violence, hatred, and deplorabiltiy continues under Donald Trump, who gave new purpose to worst drudges of society.","label":1}
{"text":"Dressed in a thick jacket and wool hat on a cool winter evening, counting the coins for his bus fare, Hedi Hammami looks like any other Tunisian on his way to work. But he walks with a limp and sometimes pauses midspeech and screws up his face in pain. \"That's Guant\u00e1namo,\" he explains. After eight years as a detainee in the United States detention facility in Guant\u00e1namo Bay, Cuba, he says he still suffers from headaches, depression and anxiety attacks from the torture and other mistreatment he says he suffered there, even six years after his release. Married with two children now and employed as a nighttime ambulance driver, Mr. Hammami, 47, seems to have rebuilt his life. Yet the pressures of living in Tunisia's faltering democracy, under harassment and enduring repeated raids by the police, have driven him to make an extreme request. \"It would be better for me to go back to that single cell and to be left alone,\" he said recently. \"Two or three weeks ago I went to the Red Cross and asked them to connect me to the U. S. foreign ministry to ask to go back to Guant\u00e1namo. \" The Red Cross refused to take his request, he said, but he insists nevertheless that at this point, that would be best for him. \"I have lost my hope,\" he says. \"There is no future in this country for me. \" When he was first released from Guant\u00e1namo in 2010, Tunisia was still a dictatorship under the rule of President Zine Ben Ali and notorious for torturing prisoners, in particular Islamists. Deemed no longer a threat to the United States, Mr. Hammami was sent to the former Soviet republic of Georgia. After the popular uprising in 2011 that overthrew Mr. Ben Ali and set off the Arab Spring, Mr. Hammami negotiated his return to Tunisia. He timed it well, benefiting from a national amnesty for political prisoners and a program of compensation that gave him a job in the Ministry of Health. \"I hoped very much that after the revolution everything would get better,\" he said in one of several interviews in his rented home in a suburb of Tunis. Yet, soon after he began work in 2013, the police raided his apartment with dogs at 3 a. m. breaking the door and hauling him down to the police station. \"They made me crawl on all fours down the stairs,\" he recounted. At the police station they said they just wanted to get to know him, and let him go after 15 minutes. \"That was just the beginning. \" Since then, Mr. Hammami has lived under a constant regimen of police surveillance, raids and harassment. His cellphone and computer were confiscated. When he moved to a new house, the police followed him, turning up at all hours to question him. In December 2015 he was placed under house arrest, told he no longer had the right to work and ordered to sign in at the police station morning and evening for six weeks. He remains under \"administrative control,\" and the police enforce the order at will. He cannot travel outside Tunis. Every so often, like on Sept. 11, the police order him to sign in with them. \"I feel someone is doing it for revenge,\" he says. The police have also scared landlords from renting to him, forcing him to move six times in three years. His Algerian wife's residency card was confiscated, preventing her from working to supplement his meager salary. The family is barely managing, she said, asking not to be named for fear of further police harassment. Stress and tension from the police actions have intensified the psychological problems Mr. Hammami brought with him from Guant\u00e1namo. \"I feel too much pressure,\" he said, rubbing his temples. \"All that blackness comes back. \" Rim Ben Ismail, a psychologist working for the World Organization Against Torture in Tunisia, who has counseled 12 Tunisians who were detained in Guant\u00e1namo, says Mr. Hammadi's wish to return to his cell is fairly typical of the Guant\u00e1namo detainees. \"They lived with suffering, physical suffering,\" she said in an interview. \"But now there is a psychic suffering, and often they say, 'Take me back there. '\" \"Because of their past they are all presumed guilty and it is unlivable for all of them and their families,\" she added. \"The families are being threatened and harassed. \" Parents in particular fear the Tunisian security forces and say they think their sons would be safer in Guant\u00e1namo, she added. Raids have often been needlessly violent, she said police officials break down doors and wake a suspect with a gun to his head, often in front of his wife and children. \"Everything is being done to create aggression in a person,\" she said. \"They do not need to raid the house at 2 a. m. \" One of her former Guant\u00e1namo patients was harassed so relentlessly by police that he became suicidal and ran off to Syria, where he was killed. \"He was such a gentle person,\" she said sadly. \"By treating these people like this you create a climate of revenge and the sense that they have no place at home. \" There is no doubt that Tunisia has a terrorism problem. It has been grappling with attacks from Al groups since 2013. The violence escalated to spectacular attacks in 2015 and 2016 that killed more than 70 people, many of them foreign tourists at a national museum and at a beach resort hotel. Moreover, Tunisians reportedly make up the largest number of foreign fighters to have joined the Islamic State and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, and some have been encouraged to conduct attacks when they return home. After an attack killed 12 members of the presidential guard in November 2015, the government imposed a state of emergency. At least 139 Tunisians have been placed under house arrest since, according to Human Rights Watch, which documented the cases in a report released in September. The sanctions have been justified in the context of countering terrorism but have \"left people facing stigmatization and unable to pursue studies and work,\" it stated. International human rights officials have voiced growing concerns of abuses resurfacing in Tunisia. In a report released this week, Amnesty International accused the Tunisian police and security forces of employing repressive measures used by past dictatorships, including torture, deaths in custody, arbitrary house raids and often unlawful harassment of suspects, their families and communities. Ben Emmerson, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights while countering terrorism, said during a recent visit to Tunisia that human rights should be central to counterterrorism operations, noting that torture and other repressive measures fuel radicalism. Mr. Hammami says he feels the police are pushing him that way. The son of a farmer from Tunisia's poor northwest, he says he originally left for Italy in 1986 in search of work. There he fell in with an Islamic missionary group, Tablighi Jamaat, and later traveled to Pakistan, where he obtained refugee status. He was arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the American military in 2002 and transferred to Guant\u00e1namo, where he was accused of training in Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. The Americans also say they found his identification papers in Tora Bora, the last redoubt of Osama bin Laden in the country, according to papers released by WikiLeaks. Mr. Hammami, who denies going to Afghanistan or having any links to Qaeda or terrorism, was eventually released without charge. Whatever his past, he says after nearly 20 years away, he just wants to live quietly. \"I never committed a crime,\" he said. \"I don't have a record, no theft, no ethics problems, nothing. \" \"My only demand is to be stable, but they don't let me live my life in stability,\" he said. \"They are pushing you towards death. \"","label":0}
{"text":"On April 29, Los Angeles marks the 25th anniversary of the riots that engulfed the city in 1992 following the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers who were videotaped beating motorist Rodney King. [Three of the four officers were white King, who died in 2012, was black. (Two officers were later convicted in a federal civil rights trial.) As Bay Area public radio station KQED recalls: Fury over the acquittal \u2014 stoked by years of racial and economic inequality in the city \u2014 spilled over into the streets, resulting in five days of rioting in Los Angeles. It ignited a national conversation about racial and economic disparity and police use of force that continues today. \u2026 The acquittals were announced around 3 p. m. less than three hours later, the unrest began. Residents set fires, looted and destroyed liquor stores, grocery stores, retail shops and fast food restaurants. motorists \u2014 both white and Latino \u2014 were targeted some were pulled out of their cars and beaten. The reaction to the acquittal in South Central Los Angeles \u2014 now known just as South Los Angeles \u2014 was particularly violent. At the time, more than half of the population there was black. Tension had already been mounting in the neighborhood in the years leading up to the riots: the unemployment rate was about 50 percent, a drug epidemic was ravaging the area, and gang activity and violent crime were high. During the riots, a white trucker, Reginald Denny, was nearly beaten to death by gang members, and footage of the beating was captured overhead. Four black bystanders intervened and saved Denny by driving him to the hospital. In the years since then, there has been significant improvement in the relationship between the LAPD and minority communities in the city. For that reason, the marches of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 caught many observers by surprise. During the riots, King pleaded for calm: \"I just want to say \u2014 you know \u2014 can we all get along?\" Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the \"most influential\" people in news media in 2016. He is the of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Thursday to do more to help cut funding streams for North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and to minimize diplomatic relations with Pyongyang. In his first ministerial meeting with all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Tillerson also called on nations with competing claims in the South China Sea to cease all island building and militarization while talks aimed at creating a maritime code of conduct were under way. Patrick Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Tillerson stressed Washington's security and economic commitment to the region, amid doubts raised by President Donald Trump's \"America First\" platform and withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. Tillerson called on ASEAN countries to fully implement U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, which is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States, and to show a united front on the issue, Murphy said. \"We think that more can be done, not just in Southeast Asia,\" he told reporters. \"We are encouraging continued and further steps across all of ASEAN.\" Last week, Tillerson called on all countries to suspend or downgrade diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, saying that North Korea abuses diplomatic privileges to help fund its arms programs. Tillerson also warned that Washington would sanction foreign firms and people conducting business with North Korea if countries did not act themselves. All ASEAN members have diplomatic relations with North Korea and five have embassies there. Murphy said Washington was not encouraging ASEAN states to formally cut ties, but to examine the North Korean presence \"where it clearly exceeds diplomatic needs.\" He said some countries were already doing this and also looking at the presence of North Korean workers, another significant revenue earner for Pyongyang. Some officials of ASEAN members, speaking to reporters, acknowledged concerns about North Korea, but also cited concerns about trade relations with the United States. Philippine acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, whose country currently chairs ASEAN, said of the U.S. call to minimize relations with Pyongyahng, \"We haven't really discussed that among the ASEAN countries, so that's probably something we will look at. \"Our immediate concern is to try and ensure the tension on the peninsula doesn't increase. ... The last thing we would like to see is to have a conflict break out due to some miscalculation,\" Manalo said. Singapore's foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, said sanctions would have to be fully implemented, but North Korea's presence in his country is already minimal.Asked if that could be further reduced, he said: \"I won't say never, but at this point in time that's not the issue - we will stick with the U.N. Security Council's resolutions.\" Balakrishnan, whose country signed the TPP, stressed the importance of U.S.-ASEAN business ties - annual trade of $100 billion supporting half a million U.S. jobs and $274 billion of U.S. investment. \"Southeast Asia is replete with economic opportunities and it's too big to miss out on,\" he said. His remark highlighted growing concern in Asia that Trump has ditched former President Barack Obama's economic \"pivot\" to the region by abandoning the TPP, something analysts say has led to more countries being pulled into China's orbit. Murphy said Tillerson stressed that ASEAN remained a \"very important ... strategic partner,\" which is shown by Trump's commitment to attend regional summits in the Philippines and Vietnam in November. Manalo called the meeting with Tillerson and Trump's travel plans \"encouraging\" signs. Washington wants ASEAN countries to crack down on money laundering and smuggling involving North Korea and to look at restricting legal business too. It has been working to persuade China, North Korea's neighbor and only major ally, to increase pressure on Pyongyang. U.S. officials are also asking China to urge more China-friendly ASEAN members, such as Laos and Cambodia, to do the same. U.S. efforts have included a flurry of calls by Trump to the leaders of the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Diplomats say U.S. pressure has caused some irritation in ASEAN, including Malaysia, which has maintained relations with Pyongyang in spite of the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother at Kuala Lumpur International airport in February\/ On the issue of the South China Sea, ASEAN has adopted a cautious approach recently, with a weekend summit avoiding references to China's building and arming of artificial islands there. This stance coincided with moves by China and ASEAN to draft a framework to negotiate a code of conduct. Murphy said Tillerson had stressed that this process needed \"room and space\" through avoiding fortifying existing claims. The United States has conducted freedom of navigation operations to challenge South China Sea claims, angering China, but not yet under Trump. Murphy said such operations would continue, but declined to say when the next might occur.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama said the European Union and United States must move forward with a trade free trade accord still under negotiation which supporters say could boost each economy by some $100 billion. \"It is indisputable\" that free trade has strengthened the U.S. economy and also has brought enormous benefits to countries that engage in it, Obama said. The U.S. president spoke at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of his closest allies in dealing with a shaky global economy and security crises in the Middle East and Ukraine.","label":0}
{"text":"RT  North Dakota, which ranks second in the US in terms of oil production, endured almost 300 oil spills in under two years and yet managed to avoid reporting a single one of them to the public, according to a new report.  Documents viewed by the Associated Press indicate that, since January 2012, as many as 750 \" oil field incidents \" were recorded in North Dakota. The distinction between spills and incidents was not immediately clear but presumably was related to the magnitude of the accident.  North Dakota, which borders Canada and has an estimated population of under 700,000 people, is like many other states heavily involved in oil production in that it is not required by law to inform the public about oil spills. Yet with the potentially devastating consequences a spill could have in a state that relies on farming and water resources, citizens have begun lobbying for greater access to information.  Dennis Fewless, director of water quality for the state Health Department, told the AP lawmakers and regulators in North Dakota are also reconsidering the current state of affairs after a wheat farmer stumbled across a major oil spill last month. That incident was not made public knowledge until 11 days later, when reporters asked. Questions have also been raised as to whether the relationship between the pipeline's operator, Tesoro Logistics, with regulators is too close for comfort.  \" We're certainly looking at that now and what would be a threshold for reporting to the public ,\" he said. One option he said regulators are considering is a method to better track the spills that occur. Officials \" really have to dig through our database to get specifics ,\" he said of the current situation.  North Dakota pumps out millions of barrels of oil every day and installed nearly 2,500 miles of new transport pipelines in 2012. There is now enough pipeline, a total of about 17,500 miles, in North Dakota to travel the distance from Los Angeles, California to New York City. The state ranks behind only Texas as the most productive, yet farmers are still unaware that the land they till every season could be tainted.  \" What you don't know, nobody is going to tell you ,\" Louis Kuster, a wheat farmer located near the north-western city of Stanley, said. Kuster explained how, earlier this month, he watched as truckloads of oily dirt were driven away from a nearby farm.  \" We have no idea how big the spill is and why it happened ,\" he said, speculating it may have been from a broken pipeline although no one can be quite sure. \" I'd try to get more information from the state but I'm too busy getting my harvest in .\"  In 2013 alone there have already been 291 so-called \"incidents.\" Of the roughly 2,209 barrels that were lost, all but 490 were contained and cleaned up at the well site. Most of the spills that companies reported to the state totaled less than 10 barrels.  Nearly 500 barrels of oil spilled in 2012, the result of 153 pipeline leaks.  \" That's news to us ,\" said Don Morrison, director of the environmentally-minded Dakota Resource Council. \" The public really should know about these. If there is a spill, sometimes a landowner may not even know about it. And if they do, people think it's an isolated incident that's only happening to them .\"","label":1}
{"text":"As James Bond s nemesis Auric Goldfinger famously observed, Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. The third time is enemy action. On Tuesday evening, three prominent Republicans Senator John McCain, Senator Marco Rubio, and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney endorsed the left-wing media s preferred narrative and embraced the masked thugs of Antifa as heroes.No, not the same. One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes. Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) August 16, 2017Twitter users hit back at Romney, who likely has no idea who Antifa really is and the danger the violent, anti free-speech, Soros-funded poses to Americans:The fact that you view Antifa as moral and acceptable is beyond disgusting. No wonder you lost resoundingly in your presidential run. Alex (@SoCal4Trump) August 16, 2017McCain and Romney used almost identical language, bending their knees to the media narrative that only two factions were present in Charlottesville during the awful events of last weekend: white supremacist Nazis and Americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry. There's no moral equivalency between racists & Americans standing up to defy hate& bigotry. The President of the United States should say so John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) August 16, 2017Senator John McCain got hammered by this Twitter user for not recognizing the violence Antifa has inflicted on innocent Trump supporters as a way to shut down free speech. This collage of photos is a not-so-subtle reminder:Here John, u uninformed piece of shit, are the faces of innocent peaceful rally attendees assaulted by Antifa. Antifa went looking for a war pic.twitter.com\/K8fqKkAnH7 TexasStrong.357 (@SonofLiberty357) August 16, 2017As James Bond s nemesis Auric Goldfinger famously observed, Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. The third time is enemy action. On Tuesday evening, three prominent Republicans Senator John McCain, Senator Marco Rubio, and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney endorsed the left-wing media s preferred narrative and embraced the masked thugs of Antifa as heroes.McCain and Romney used almost identical language, bending their knees to the media narrative that only two factions were present in Charlottesville during the awful events of last weekend: white supremacist Nazis and Americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry. Senator Rubio, who just can t seem to get over his loss to President Trump, took to Twitter to defend the violent Antifa group and condemn President Trump for including them in his condemnation of the violence that took place in Charlottesville:The organizers of events which inspired & led to #charlottesvilleterroristattack are 100% to blame for a number of reasons. 1\/6 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017They are adherents of an evil ideology which argues certain people are inferior because of race, ethnicity or nation of origin. 2\/6 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017When entire movement built on anger & hatred towards people different than you,it justifies & ultimately leads to violence against them 3\/6 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017So, is Marco Rubio condoning the type of violence by Antifa that Trump supporters are met with on a regular basis simply for daring to utter a viewpoint that is in opposition to the #AltLeft?Most people disagree with you, Marco. These people absolutely deserve blame for their violence. ANY violence & hate is contemptible pic.twitter.com\/fqtomLASmK Steph (@steph93065) August 16, 2017Senator Rubio probably doesn t visit the Antifa website, but if he did, he might have seen this special credit card sized knife that Antifa was selling on their website for their members to use at Trump rallies to stab people they disagree with:These groups today use SAME symbols & same arguments of #Nazi & #KKK, groups responsible for some of worst crimes against humanity ever 4\/6 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017Mr. President,you can't allow #WhiteSupremacists to share only part of blame.They support idea which cost nation & world so much pain 5\/6 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017Republican Rep Steven Smith shared a video with Senator Rubio, who apparently needs visual aids to see why President Trump was unwilling to call the violence in Charlottesville one-sided :Have you seen the video? No police protection, two violent groups. Clearly two, with one blocking the road. How is it one-sided? pic.twitter.com\/0W5CYqPT6M Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) August 16, 2017The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win.We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected 6\/6 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017Rubio s third tweet explicitly endorses violent responses to hate speech, but the last one is the money shot, as Rubio embraces the essence of Whataboutism and agrees with the media that left-wing thuggery is a fact on the Charlottesville ground that must be ignored if we are to properly condemn white nationalism.McCain and Romney are politically irrelevant, but Rubio still has political ambitions. Imagine the priceless look of surprise on his face when he gets branded a Nazi because he favors pro-growth tax cuts, free-market reforms, or balks at allowing illegal aliens to vote. He ll be so astounded at the way hate speech is expanded to cover his policy positions, and how the next wave of Antifa thugs justifies a violent response. Breitbart News","label":1}
{"text":"In a normal convention season, most politicians are working every lever to try to get a prime speaking slot and bathe themselves in the glow of the party's nominee. Then there is this year. Far from straining to get close to Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, more than a dozen senators suddenly have scheduling conflicts for an event that has been on the political calendar for more than a year. Instead of being in Cleveland, for instance, Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona says he will be \"mowing my lawn. \" The state's senior senator, John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, has a conflict, too: He is planning to trek the Grand Canyon (Mr. McCain, who said he supports Mr. Trump, also has a fight). Steve Daines of Montana will use the time to hone his \"fly fishing. \" _____ Senators in tough races had an easy call when it came to buying a ticket to Cleveland: no mistake by the lake for them. Rather than get national exposure, along with being associated with Mr. Trump, many vulnerable incumbents like Mr. McCain are going it alone. Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Marco Rubio of Florida and Roy Blunt of Missouri all say they will be campaigning, for themselves. _____ Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Dean Heller of Nevada say they just want to reconnect with constituents. Michael D. Crapo will be conducting town meetings in Idaho. Jerry Moran of Kansas will be on a \"listening tour\" in his state. Thad Cochran of Mississippi will not be going for personal and family reasons. _____ Winning the medal for putting the most distance between a senator and Mr. Trump: Lisa Murkowski will be almost 4, 000 miles away in Alaska flying around remote areas of her state on a bush plane. _____ Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, John Thune of South Dakota, Jim Risch of Idaho and David Vitter of Louisiana. _____ Distance is not an excuse for Senator Rob Portman of Ohio. Mr. Portman's staff said he will stick around his home state and attend the convention. But the senator will be off campus at least twice when he does volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity and a Wounded Warriors kayaking event. _____ Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Boozman of Arkansas, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Dan Coats of Indiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Bob Corker of Tennessee, John Cornyn of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, John Hoeven of North Dakota, James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Lee of Utah, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Pat Roberts of Kansas, David Perdue of Georgia, Michael Rounds of South Dakota, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.","label":0}
{"text":"South Africa s Supreme Court more than doubled Oscar Pistorius murder sentence on Friday, accepting prosecutors argument that the original jail term of six years for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shockingly lenient . The gold medal-winning athlete, a double amputee known as the Blade Runner for his carbon-fibre prosthetics, was not in court to hear the new sentence of 13 years and five months handed down. Steenkamp s family were also absent but welcomed the revised term the minimum 15 years prescribed for murder, minus the time Pistorius has already served and said it showed justice could prevail in South Africa. This is an emotional thing for them. They just feel that their trust in the justice system has been confirmed this morning, Tania Koen, a family spokeswoman, told Reuters. Rights groups in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women say Pistorius, 31, received preferential treatment compared to non-whites and those without his wealth or celebrity status. Barry Steenkamp, the father of the slain model, told SABC television the family could now get on with their lives. I always, from the beginning, said justice had not been served, now it has, he said. In the same interview, her mother June Steenkamp said: We felt that we didn t have justice for Reeva by that too-lenient sentence but now we have justice for her. Pistorius elder brother Carl wrote on Twitter: Shattered. Heartbroken. Gutted. The athlete s lawyers could not be reached for comment. The athlete was jailed in July last year after being found guilty on appeal of murdering model and law graduate Steenkamp on Valentine s Day 2013 by firing four shots through a locked bathroom door. The case attracted worldwide interest. He had originally been found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in jail. That conviction was increased to murder by the Supreme Court in December 2015 and his sentence extended to six years by trial judge Thokozile Masipa in July last year. Masipa said in court that while the Steenkamps had suffered a great loss, fallen hero Pistorius life and career were also in ruins, and that a long prison term would not serve justice . Pistorius appearance during the trial without his prostheses had drawn gasps from the courtroom. In a scathing criticism, the appeals court said Masipa s ruling had erred in deviating from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment for murder. The sentence of six years imprisonment is shockingly lenient, to a point where it has the effect of trivializing this serious offence, said Judge Willie Seriti, who read out the unanimous court decision. I am of the view that there are no substantial and compelling circumstances which can justify the departure from the prescribed minimum sentence. Seriti also censured Pistorius, saying his apology to the deceased s family during the hearing did not demonstrate any genuine remorse on his part and that he does not appreciate the gravity of his actions . State prosecutors led by advocate Andrea Johnson had told the appeals hearing this month that there were no mitigating circumstances to justify Pistorius six-year sentence. Defense lawyer Barry Roux argued that Pistorius did not deliberately kill Steenkamp and the appeal should be thrown out. Roux had said during the July 2016 trial that Pistorius disability and mental distress following the killing should be considered as reasons to reduce his sentence. Pistorius reached the semi-finals of the 400 meters at the London Olympics in 2012 and took two golds in the Paralympics. Even in prison, he has been in the news. In August, he was allowed out to attend his maternal grandmother s funeral and spent a night in hospital for what local media reports said was a suspected heart attack. In August 2016, the athlete denied trying to kill himself after he was treated in hospital for wrist injuries. On Pistorius birthday on Wednesday, his father Henke told local YOU magazine that although he was behind bars, it was still a special day for his family, full of love and tears . Legal analysts said Pistorius could still appeal to the Constitutional Court, South Africa s topmost legal authority but saw his chances of success as slim. I don t think it s over. He has one more option, said lawyer Ulrich Roux, who is not linked to the Pistorius defense. All the same there are few grounds of success in this venture, to be honest. Lawyer Zola Majavu said the Constitutional Court was unlikely to agree to hear the case. In my view, that will be a very tall order. It is pretty much the end of the road for Pistorius.","label":0}
{"text":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The city announced Friday that the $7 million it collected after the nightclub shooting would be given directly to family members and survivors instead of being distributed through charities and nonprofit groups. The change was necessary, Mayor Buddy Dyer said, because survivors of the nightclub attack and relatives needed help immediately with expenses like rent and groceries. \"We are working through exactly the way they are going to do that,\" Mr. Dyer said. \"The most important thing is to do it right, do it transparently and make sure our funders are comfortable with how we are doing this. \" A charitable and advocacy organization, the National Center for Victims of Crime, which is based in Washington, had criticized Orlando's plan to distribute money via nonprofits, saying that too little money donated in that manner had made its way to victims and their families after similar tragedies. Of the $7 million collected for the OneOrlando fund, Mr. Dyer said, $6. 5 million came from corporations. With the move, Orlando is the latest to shift away from established charities and opt for direct donations, a move that has become increasingly common, in part because of questions about how some charities use donations. The shooting early Sunday at Pulse, a gay nightclub, left 49 people dead and more than 50 wounded. The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State during a phone call to the authorities in the midst of the attack. Mr. Mateen was killed in a gunfight. Here in Orlando, the families of victims are already receiving help with funerals and airfare, Mr. Dyer said. In Puerto Rico, a representative of the governor's office said each family was receiving $7, 500 to bury loved ones. Mr. Dyer made the announcement at the Camping World Stadium, once known as the Citrus Bowl, where 35 agencies have set up to offer services to the family members. Already 94 families and 256 people have received help, Mr. Dyer said. The city has also established a board led by Alex Martins, chief executive of the Orlando Magic basketball team, to develop a plan to distribute the money. The outpouring for Orlando has raised millions through traditional charities and online campaigns, including through crowdfunding websites. On one such site, GoFundMe, more than 300 campaigns have raised $6. 2 million, including $5. 2 million by Equality Florida, an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, a GoFundMe spokesman, Dan Pfeiffer, said. \"There is a real power to being able to give to an individual story and being able to follow that story,\" Mr. Pfeiffer said. \"It is the power of those individual stories. \" Charity officials said the individual campaigns were also a reflection of the public's concern that their donations get to the people for which they were intended. After the terrorist attacks in September 2001, the American Red Cross came under intense criticism for collecting millions of dollars in the name of the victims and then making plans to use the money elsewhere. Eventually, the Red Cross agreed to use all of its $543 million Liberty Disaster Fund to assist those affected by the attacks. Specialists in charitable giving said Orlando's decision could alter how local governments handle the sudden outpouring of money from the public after natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and mass shootings like the one in Newtown, Conn. \"There have been so many scandals we've seen after these sorts of situations, so it is a big deal that they've bypassed nonprofits because it shows a distrust in how nonprofits are doing things,\" said Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. \"This sends a big message, too, because other cities might decide to use this as a model in the future. \" Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, said Friday that the group, as well as some family members, had told city officials that they feared donations from OneOrlando would not get to victims if a traditional nonprofit was placed in charge. The organization founded a charity, the National Compassion Fund, in 2014, to ensure that donations made after tragedies go to victims. The group has raised about $5 million for Orlando's victims, Ms. Fernandez said, and will start to distribute the money in the next several weeks. Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw the federal government's victim compensation fund and has become the administrator for a number of such accounts, said Friday that he had consulted with officials in Orlando but had not taken a formal role. Mr. Feinberg said he believed that people who donate money after tragedies intend it to go directly to victims. \"There is the understanding that it is a special fund for a special tragedy requiring a special effort,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"The presidential campaigns of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced late Sunday that they were coordinating their efforts in three upcoming primary states in an extraordinary attempt to prevent Republican front-runner Donald Trump from clinching the GOP nomination before this summer's convention. In a pair of simultaneously released statements, the campaigns announced that Kasich would pull out of Indiana to give Cruz \"a clear path\" ahead of that state's winner-take-all primary May 3, while the Cruz campaign will \"clear the path\" for Kasich in Oregon, which votes May 17, and New Mexico, which votes June 7. \"Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans,\" Cruz's campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said. \"To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead.\" The arrangement marks a sharp reversal for Cruz's team, which aggressively opposed the idea of a coordinated anti-Trump effort as recently as late last week. Yet it underscores a bleak reality for the billionaire businessman's Republican foes: Time is running out to stop him. A statement from the Trump campaign called the move \"a horrible act of desperation from two campaigns who have horribly failed.\" The Kasich campaign confirmed to Fox News that it had canceled two Indiana campaign events scheduled for Tuesday. As recently as three days ago Kasich's campaign announced investments in Indiana, including the opening of two offices and the creation of a campaign leadership team. Campaign manager John Weaver said in his statement that the Kasich team hoped to perform well in Oregon and New Mexico, which Weaver said were \"structurally similar\" to northeastern states where Kasich performed well earlier in the cycle. \"Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland,\" Weaver added, \"where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee.\" The announcement came less than 48 hours before voting begins across five Northeastern states where the New York billionaire is poised to add to his already overwhelming delegate lead. Trump campaigned Sunday in Maryland, which will vote on Tuesday along with Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Trump needs 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination. If he falls short, the national Republican gathering in July will evolve into a rare contested convention. At a rally in Hagerstown, Md., Trump stressed repeatedly that he expects to win the 1,237 delegates needed in the first round of voting to stave off a contested convention. \"I only care about the first. We're not going for the second and third and fourth and fifth,\" said Trump. Even before the plan was announced, Cruz had all but abandoned the Northeastern states in favor of Indiana, which holds its primary on May 3. Both Cruz and Kasich had cast the state as a critical turning point. \"Keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1,237 bound delegates before Cleveland,\" Kasich's campaign said Sunday. \"We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and given the current dynamics of the primary there, we will shift our campaign's resources west and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.\" Indiana will award 57 delegates to the winner of its primary. Oregon and New Mexico have 28 and 24 proportionately awarded delegates at stake, respectively. Fox News' Dan Gallo and the Associated Press contributed to this report.","label":0}
{"text":"Two suicide bombers struck a police station in Damascus on Monday, with at least 10 people reported dead, in the first such attack to hit the Syrian capital since July. The interior minister said the blasts killed a number of policemen and civilians in the al-Midan neighborhood, but did not say how many. At least 10 people were killed and 20 more injured when four armed men assaulted the station, the pro-Damascus television channel al-Mayadeen reported. Russian news agency RIA put the toll at 15. Militants targeted the al-Midan police station and clashed with police officers there, Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar said on state television from the station. One man blew himself up at the main entrance and another detonated his explosive device on the first floor, he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Footage on state TV showed bodies in shrouds on the floor of the station and fire fighters putting out flames. The capital has enjoyed relative security as Syria s six-year civil war has raged on nearby and across the country. But several such attacks have hit Damascus in recent years, including a car bomb that killed 20 people in July. A bomb blast had also hit the same police station in al-Midan late last year. Islamic State and the Tahrir al-Sham alliance - led by fighters formerly linked to al-Qaeda - have each claimed separate suicide attacks that killed scores of people in Damascus in the past. Monday s attack came as a response to the major victories that our armed forces are achieving on Syrian land, the interior minister said. With the help of Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, the government has pushed back rebels in western Syria, shoring up its rule over the main urban centres. In recent months, it has also marched eastwards against Islamic State. It s natural to expect that the terrorists will resort to acts like this ... but they are all desperate acts, Shaar said. Such operations are thwarted on a daily basis. Syrian troops and allied forces have captured several suburbs of Damascus from rebel factions over the past year. The army and its allies are currently fighting insurgents in the Jobar and Ain Tarma districts on the capital s eastern outskirts.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. lawmakers should take action to ban China's state-owned firms from acquiring U.S. companies, a congressional panel charged with monitoring security and trade links between Washington and Beijing said on Wednesday. In its annual report to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the Chinese Communist Party has used state-backed enterprises as the primary economic tool to advance and achieve its national security objectives. The report recommended Congress prohibit U.S. acquisitions by such entities by changing the mandate of CFIUS, the U.S. government body that conducts security reviews of proposed acquisitions by foreign firms. \"The Commission recommends Congress amend the statute authorizing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to bar Chinese state-owned enterprises from acquiring or otherwise gaining effective control of U.S. companies,\" the report said. CFIUS, led by the U.S. Treasury and with representatives from eight other agencies, including the departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security, now has veto power over acquisitions from foreign private and state-controlled firms if it finds that a deal would threaten U.S. national security or critical infrastructure. If enacted, the panel's recommendation would essentially create a blanket ban on U.S. purchases by Chinese state-owned enterprises. The report \"has again revealed the commission's stereotypes and prejudices,\" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing. \"We ask that Chinese companies investing abroad abide by local laws and regulations, and we hope that relevant countries will create a level playing field,\" he told a daily news briefing. The panel's report is purely advisory, but could carry extra weight this year because they come as President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is formulating its trade and foreign policy agenda and vetting candidates for key economic and security positions. Congress also could be more receptive, after U.S. voter sentiment against job losses to China and Mexico helped Republicans retain control of both the House and the Senate in last week's election. Trump strongly criticized China throughout the U.S. election campaign, grabbing headlines with his pledges to slap 45 percent tariffs on imported Chinese goods and to label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office. \"Chinese state owned enterprises are arms of the Chinese state,\" Dennis Shea, chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, told a news conference. \"We don't want the U.S. government purchasing companies in the United States, why would we want the Chinese Communist government purchasing companies in the United States?\" The recommendation to change laws governing CFIUS was one of 20 proposals the panel made to Congress. On the military side, it called for a government investigation into how far outsourcing to China has weakened the U.S. defense industry. The 16-year-old panel also said Congress should pass legislation that would require its pre-approval of any move by the U.S. Commerce Department to declare China a \"market economy\" and limit anti-dumping tariffs against the country. The United States and U.S. businesses attracted a record $64.5 billion worth of deals involving buyers from mainland China this year, more than any other country targeted by Chinese buyers, according to Thomson Reuters data. The push into the United States is part of a global overseas buying spree by Chinese companies that this year has seen a record $200 billion worth of deals, nearly double last year's tally. CFIUS has shown a higher degree of activism against Chinese buyers this year, catching some by surprise. Prominent deals that fell victim to CFIUS include Tsinghua Holdings' $3.8 billion investment in Western Digital (WDC.O). Overall, data do not demonstrate CFIUS has been a significant obstacle for Chinese investment in the United States. In 2014, the latest year for which data is available, China topped the list of foreign countries in CFIUS review with 24 deals reviewed out of more than 100 scrutinized by CFIUS. Although the number of Chinese transactions reviewed rose in absolute terms, it fell as a share of overall Chinese acquisitions, the report noted, and the vast majority of deals reviewed by CFIUS were cleared.","label":0}
{"text":"London Mayor Sadiq Khan said police had thwarted seven attacks by militants since March this year, describing the increase in the number as a shift rather than a spike. Speaking at the annual conference of his opposition Labour Party, Khan also said the police needed more spending to help them counter such attacks and that Internet companies must do more to crackdown on extremist content. Between March this year and now, there have been four attacks but seven have been thwarted, he told a Guardian Live event. Earlier this month, the head of the city s police force said six militant plots had been foiled over the last several months.","label":0}
{"text":"Who could forget the unbelievable standoff in Oregon between patriots and the government? Who could forget the dramatic shooting of patriot Savoy Finicum who traveled from Arizona to Oregon from to stand with American ranchers against the BLM, an overbearing government agency. Oregon State Police troopers fired the three rounds that killed the Arizona rancher and father of 11 during a confrontation on a remote road, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Bend.An independent investigation by Oregon authorities later found the troopers were justified in shooting Finicum because he failed to heed their commands and repeatedly reached for his weapon, Masher County District Attorney Dan Norris said.The not guilty verdict of the other members who were involved with Finicum who gave his life for the fight against our government, must be especially stinging for the large loving family this father of 11 left behind.As expected, liberals are freaking out over the verdicts, like this Black Lives Matter crybaby:I have a criminal record for protesting for #FreddieGray meanwhile #oregonstandoff terrorists didn't even get a slap on the wrist. Kwame Rose (@kwamerose) October 28, 2016Here are the verdicts. #oregonstandoff pic.twitter.com\/fXW9GoxKUr Ryan Haas (@ryanjhaas) October 27, 2016Ammon and Ryan Bundy have been found not guilty of conspiracy. Their five co-defendants Jeff Banta, Shawna Cox, David Fry, Kenneth Medenbach and Neil Wampler have all been found not guilty as well. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on Ryan Bundy s theft of government property charge.The jury returned its verdict after some six weeks of testimony followed by less than six hours deliberations, and the last minute replacement of a juror after an allegation surfaced that he was biased.The jury was instructed to disregard their previous work and to re-consider the evidence. It was a pretty jaw-dropping verdict, said OPB reporter Amelia Templeton of the climate in the courtroom. The jury began by reading out the verdict for Ammon Bundy, ostensibly the leader of the occupation, and when we heard that Ammon Bundy was not guilty, it became clear very quickly that likely no one in the case was going to be found guilty, and indeed, everyone has been acquitted. After the verdict was read, Ammon Bundy s attorney Marcus Mumford was tackled to the ground by five U.S. Marshals. He insisted his client was free to go. Ammon Bundy faces a US Marshall hold and is supposed to be transferred to Nevada where he faces charges for the Bunkerville standoff. There s a hold for Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy out of the district of Nevada, said Matt Schindler attorney for Kenneth Medenbach. There s nothing Judge Brown can do about that. So acquitting him here, all it does is effectively release him to that hold, to be transported to Nevada. And the court that has anything authority to deal with that, is the court in Nevada. Marcus let the emotion of the moment, I think, overtake his better judgement. During the incident, Judge Brown ordered everyone out of the courthouse. Mumford was later detained.United States Attorney for the District of Oregon Billy J. Williams reacted to the decision on Thursday saying, While we had hoped for a different outcome, we respect the verdict of the jury and thank them for their dedicated service during this long and difficult trial. The charges stem from the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns in eastern Oregon s high desert. The armed protest began Jan. 2 and ended when the final four occupiers surrendered to the FBI on Feb. 11. For many weeks, hundreds of law enforcement officers federal, state, and local worked around-the-clock to resolve the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge peacefully, said Greg Bretzing, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. Although we are extremely disappointed in the verdict, we respect the court and the role of the jury in the American judicial system. Prosecutors initially charged Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy, and 24 others with conspiracy to prevent Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife employees from doing their jobs at the wildlife refuge in Harney County. Some defendants named in the indictment faced weapons charges for carrying firearms in a federal facility, as well as theft of government property.Only seven defendants went to trial in September. Others have pleaded guilty or are scheduled to go to trial in February 2017. Oregonian","label":1}
{"text":"What do Hillary s emails and police murders of unarmed black citizens have to do with each other? Powerful white men, i.e. the powerful, white men who currently run Congress, who are absolutely pissed and screaming in ugly indignation at the fact that the FBI didn t recommend indicting Hillary for her emails, and the Department of Justice listened.One tweet, posted by @OhNoSheTwitnt, explains the connection as these powerful white men misdirecting their anger towards a scandal that isn t even a scandal:Imagine if powerful white men were as vocally outraged about an innocent black person being shot as they are about improper use of email. OhNoSheTwitnt (@OhNoSheTwitnt) July 6, 2016How do you make this point better than that? If the GOP in Congress were half as angry about real injustice, and real problems, as they are about Hillary s emails, they might actually be able to get some real work done. If they were as angry about police shooting unarmed black men to death as they are about Hillary s emails, they might call for hearings and investigations into why that keeps happening, instead of investigating Hillary over and over, ad nauseam.Two men. Two days. Both black. Both unarmed. One in front of his child. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. And conservatives everywhere repeatedly question what these two along with hundreds of others are doing to provoke the police. They denigrate Black Lives Matter. President Obama s anger is correctly focused. But Republicans?Well, they re talking about opening an investigation into whether Hillary lied under oath now, because she must be a criminal in some way, shape or form. They just have to find it. Four years and millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted investigating Hillary for absolutely everything under the sun, but that s not enough for them.@OhNoSheTwitnt s point absolutely shreds the powerful, white men that run Congress, and run the GOP, in the most brilliant manner possible. Too bad the powerful white men who most need to think about this would rather focus their time, energy and taxpayer dollars on something that really doesn t fucking matter.Featured image by Aude Guerrucci-Pool\/Getty Images and Twitter","label":1}
{"text":"Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr  After a trainwreck campaign, Trump supporters are struggling to find ways to motivate people to vote for their candidate. Trump has alienated nearly every voting bloc in the country, and routinely smears the sort of people who would otherwise be undecided voters. The question for his supporters is how to get people to set aside their hatred for the man and cast their vote for him anyway. For one horse breeder, the answer is semen.  In what has been described as \"gross,\"\"totally illegal,\" and the most Trumpian thing ever, a Texas Trumper posted on his Facebook page that he would be giving a 50 percent off coupon to all Trump voters good for either one breeding session with his stallions, or frozen semen for the horse owner on the go.  The post was flagged by Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall who noted that offering people compensation \u2013 even if it's half off horse semen \u2013 for a vote for Trump violates election law. This is totally illegal; also perhaps the most appropriately Trumpian vote buying scheme possible to devise https:\/\/t.co\/7n0kDam7ZS pic.twitter.com\/f11T5dEOmR  \u2014 Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 8, 2016  After mockery and disbelief swept the internet, the post was deleted from Facebook. It's unclear if the post's creator, Beto Orsi, had a change of heart or merely wanted to avoid the jokes at his expense. From his public profile, it's clear that he still deeply believes in Donald Trump. And also horses. Here's his profile background.  This election can't end soon enough. Share this Article!","label":1}
{"text":"Turkey will suspend flights to the northern Iraqi cities of Erbil and Sulaimaniya starting on 1500 GMT on Friday, in response to a Kurdish independence referendum held earlier this week, the Turkish consulate in Erbil said in a statement. It also said work was going on to increase capacity of flights until Friday. The decision will impact Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS), Pegasus (PGSUS.IS), and Atlas Global flights. Shares of Turkish Airlines fell 4.7 percent, while shares of low-cost rival Pegasus fell 2.9 percent immediately after the statement.","label":0}
{"text":"As soon as the news spread that there was some kind of a takeover of federal land combined with the name Bundy, ears across America perked up. However, this isn t Cliven Bundy himself but rather his son Ammon, who is just as stubborn and since everyone seems to have missed it extremely greedy.Greedy like his Daddy. In 2014, Cliven decided his cattle should get to graze for free and that the more than million dollars in fees he owed the US taxpayer was tyranny. Armed freaks from across the country showed up when BLM agents seized Bundy s cattle and pointed assault rifles at them until the cattle were returned and Bundy was left alone.The federal government allowed the cattle to be returned, but Bundy is far from out of the woods.Now son Ammon has started his very own revolution, breaking into a federal building located on a wildlife refuge in Oregon, a federally protected plot of land with the strictest of rules as far as fires, hunting, alcohol and stupidity go, four things the patriots who have moved in will certainly partake in.The episode started when a local rancher and his son were sentenced to federal prison for setting over 100 acres of public land on fire to cover up their poaching. After a protest of their incarceration, Bundy and company took the piece of forest and released a video recruiting more Murikans, promising them food and a place to stay. Just bring your guns.At the beginning of that video, Bundy lays out three goals for the area, highlighting the kind of person he actually is. Bundy clearly says he s going to protect the people and bring back the ranchers, miners and loggers:When you cast aside all of the I love my country BS and the we re here for the people garbage, you ll see that Bundy and pals targeted a wildlife management area because the things they think they re going to start doing there are strictly forbidden.Ranchers aren t welcome to graze their thousands of head of cattle, because the land has been designated as a natural resource. It s a place where a natural ecosystem can actually survive without being decimated by cattle. Bundy would, of course, change that and with his intention to be there for years if necessary, you know he s thinking setting up a cattle operation might be a good idea.Miners aren t allowed to strip or tunnel, because it s been determined that the risk to the environment of that area is too great from the pollution mining inherently brings to streams and groundwater. You d think the ranchers would care about the heavy metal poisoning of their cattle, but for some reason they don t.Loggers aren t allowed to chop down the forest in an area like this for obvious reasons. Things live in trees, and in this area, this tiny protected little world of plants, animals, streams and ponds, living things are essential.The Bundy stance is about greed. It s about the mentality that just because you ve lived in a place a long time you have the right to destroy it. For private property that may be true; you may destroy your own property at will, but that land next door owned by the taxpayer? We have laws and such about that land. It isn t yours. These people have been mooching for free for so long off of the U.S. government and therefore the taxpayer that they would have no idea how to live on their own.Yes, these are the same people who call people getting food benefits lazy.","label":1}
{"text":"For the last hour, the American gunship had been circling high above the city, carefully observing its target with vision sensors and waiting for clearance to strike. It was 2 in the morning on Oct. 3, 2015, and Kunduz City was enveloped in total darkness. The city's power had gone out five days before \u2014 soon after the Taliban took over the provincial capital, in a humiliating blow to the American and Afghan governments \u2014 and it stayed off through the bitter fighting that followed, as commandos from both nations counterattacked. The aircraft's target, a distinctively shaped building set on an expansive lawn, was lit by generators, a beacon in the out city. As they prepared to fire, the gunship's crew members radioed to the ground force commander, a United States Army Special Forces major, for more information. \"Looking for confirmation on which building to strike \u2014 Confirm it is the large, shaped building . .. in the center of the compound. Affirm. \" An circles its target like a ball swung from a string, raining down gunfire along the radius. At 2:08 a. m. the gunship began its assault, starting on the eastern end of the shaped building and working methodically west. For half an hour, the fired its millimeter howitzer, the largest airborne gun in existence, and its millimeter Bofors cannon, which shoots exploding incendiary rounds and is ideal for hunting people who flee targeted buildings by foot, often referred to by pilots as \"squirters. \" There were about 50 squirters at the site, the crew noted, a surprisingly high number. Through the infrared scope, the building glowed as it burned, while ghostly shapes that flitted from inside were gunned down. \"We started a fire, good effects. \" At roughly the same time, 150 miles south in Kabul, Guilhem Molinie, the head of the Afghan mission for Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials, M. S. F. was woken by a phone call: His hospital in Kunduz was burning. A few minutes later, he received a chilling update: It was being bombed from the air. That could mean only an American or Afghan attack. He began frantically calling the United States military, the United Nations, anyone who might be able to make it stop. At 2:19 a. m. he spoke to an officer at the Army Special Forces headquarters at Bagram Air Base, who said he would investigate. The airstrike would continue for an additional 18 minutes. The officer later texted Molinie: \"I'll do my best, praying for you all. \" By the time the sun rose, the hospital's main building was a smoldering ruin. It had been leveled with devastating precision the other buildings on the compound, some no more than a few dozen feet away, were left unharmed. According to M. S. F. at least 42 people were killed in the attack and dozens injured. It was among the most shocking massacres in the led war in Afghanistan, and certainly the most baffling. Why would an American warplane destroy a working hospital full of doctors and patients? On April 29, seven months after the bombing, the United States military released a heavily redacted version of its investigation into the airstrike. The report asserts that it was an accident, a result of equipment failures and bad decisions on the part of the gunship crew and the Special Forces. \"The investigation concluded that the personnel involved did not know they were striking a medical facility,\" Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of the military's Central Command, said at a news conference. \"They were absolutely trying to do the right thing. \" Even taken at face value, the report reveals more than a simple error. The circumstances that led to the destruction of the hospital are a direct result of how the Special Forces were made to bear the weight of the United States' contradictory strategy in Afghanistan, which seeks to both end its involvement in the war and prop up the struggling Afghan government. Restricted to a supposedly noncombat role as advisers, the Special Forces in Kunduz ended up calling in the airstrike, which was in support of Afghan troops against a target a away, as which meant that it bypassed many safeguards intended to prevent civilian casualties. Moreover, there is evidence \u2014 both buried in the report and from interviews conducted on the front lines in Kunduz \u2014 that suggests that Afghan troops may have deliberately provided the hospital as a target. Though the Special Forces later said they were unaware that it was the hospital, the redacted investigation documents show that they passed a description that matched the M. S. F. compound to the as a target \u2014 a fact that the military elides in its summary of the bombing. This description originated from their Afghan partners. In my conversations with them in November in the aftermath of the bombing, some of the Afghan forces in Kunduz, citing false intelligence that the hospital had been taken over by insurgents, said that it had been justifiably targeted. Both the American military and the Afghan government declined to comment on whether Afghan forces had intended to target the hospital. But a question hangs over the Kunduz bombing, even as the military has moved to declare the matter settled: Did Afghan forces, out of longstanding mistrust of M. S. F. draw the United States into a terrible tragedy? When Maj. Michael Hutchinson, known to his friends as Hutch, redeployed last year to Afghanistan, he was sure \u2014 as he later told military investigators \u2014 that getting outside the wire to engage in combat was mostly a thing of the past. The Americans were there to train, advise and assist the Afghans. It was their war now. The American combat mission in Afghanistan had ended in 2014, as announced by President Obama in a Rose Garden speech that year. The remaining American forces were supposed to be restricted to two narrow roles: A noncombat NATO training mission, called Resolute Support, was there to advise Afghan forces, while the American counterterrorism force under Freedom's Sentinel was charged with targeting Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. \"The U. S. military will not be engaged in specific operations targeting members of the Taliban just because they're members of the Taliban,\" Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, told reporters in 2014. But as the Afghan government has begun to lose ground against the Taliban, United States forces have found themselves pulled back into combat. Since the new missions began in 2015, at least 87 American military personnel have been killed or wounded in action. Much of that fighting has fallen to Special Operations units like Hutchinson's company, which was assigned responsibility for northern Afghanistan under a task force led by the First Battalion, Third Special Forces Group. (Hutchinson's name is redacted in the military's report, but he is referred to throughout as \"the G. F. C. ,\" for ground force commander. His identity was confirmed by Joe Kasper, Representative Duncan Hunter's chief of staff, who has been in contact with Special Forces who were in Kunduz. The military declined to comment on Hutchinson's role or make him available for an interview.) From the start, Hutchinson had been wary of Kunduz and its messy politics. \"Ironically, I probably jinxed myself on this,\" he later told military investigators. \"I said I did not believe that we should get involved in Kunduz any further than [training and advising] unless the provincial capital falls, because structurally it is such a political and ethnic problem. It's not something that we can effectively weigh in on. \" Kunduz, a fertile wedge of rice and wheat fields tucked between the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains and the Amu Darya river basin, is one of the provinces where the Taliban have made their biggest inroads in recent years. Yet in the months leading up to the fall of the city, neither the Americans nor the Afghans seemed particularly worried about its stability. On Aug. 13, Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, the United States military's spokesman in Afghanistan, was asked about the situation there during a news conference. \"I think there's been a lot of generalization when it comes to reports on the north,\" he said. \"Kunduz is \u2014 is not now and has not been in danger of being overrun by the Taliban. \" Roughly six weeks later, around 3 in the morning on Sept. 28, Taliban fighters attacked the city's outskirts on three fronts. \"The mujahedeen were united under one command,\" said a Taliban commander who took part in the offensive and goes by the name Shahid. He spoke by phone from outside the city in the weeks after the attack. \"We broke our enemy. \" Though Kunduz City was home to thousands of Afghan army, police and intelligence personnel, its defenses quickly collapsed, the officers fleeing in disarray to the airport on a plateau overlooking the city. Within hours of their initial assault, the Taliban were freely roaming the streets, looting the abandoned bases of weapons, secret documents, Ford pickup trucks, Humvees and even two old made tanks. Thousands of residents jammed the highways as they fled to neighboring cities meanwhile, hordes of Taliban fighters, some from surrounding provinces, streamed into the city, attracted by the prospect of a major victory. It was the first time since 2001 that the Taliban had captured a provincial capital. As panic spread across northern Afghanistan, the Special Forces were tapped to help save Afghanistan's largest city. There was already one group called an Operational Detachment Alpha \u2014 an \"A team\" of 12 Green Berets, plus some support troops, including joint terminal attack controllers, who direct airstrikes \u2014 based at the Kunduz airport. An additional Operational Detachment Alpha, plus four operators from a third one, were sent up from Bagram, the main American military base north of Kabul. They arrived around 6 in the morning on Sept. 29, a little more than 12 hours after the city fell. Hutchinson was put in command of the entire force. Afghan reinforcements were also flown in, including a contingent of police special forces and about 200 soldiers from the Afghan Army's most elite unit, the Special Operations Force, which was also known by its Pashto initials, K. K. A. and was formerly attached to the United States military's secretive Joint Special Operations Command. These coalition troops confronted a scene of total chaos: thousands of security forces and civilian officials clamoring for space on the few evacuation flights available, some casting aside their uniforms and weapons on the road. When the Taliban attacked the airport plateau that evening, the defenders began fleeing the perimeter, but the Special Forces called in airstrikes, which hammered the insurgent forces, breaking their offensive and leaving dozens of dead fighters scattered through the arid hills. \"If the Americans hadn't intervened,\" said Col. Abdullah Gard, then the head of the Kunduz police's reaction force, \"the airport would have fallen. \" Earlier that same day, a Toyota Corolla pulled up to the main entrance of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz. \"There was a big fat guy driving,\" said an M. S. F. employee who was on duty at the time. \"Someone told me he's the big boss of the Taliban. \" It was Janat Gul, one of the most powerful Taliban leaders in northern Afghanistan. With him was Abdul Salam, the \"shadow governor\" responsible for Kunduz. Salam and Gul got out and went inside, the employee recalled \u2014 unarmed as per the hospital's strict weapons policy \u2014 to meet with expatriate staff members. (Doctors Without Borders confirmed Salam's visit that day but said he didn't enter the hospital.) According to Molinie, who was monitoring events from Kabul, the Taliban leadership pledged full cooperation and protection and asked that the hospital stay operational during whatever fighting was to come. \"The message was that we could continue our activities, that we would be safe and protected and that the patients of the hospital would be safe and protected,\" said Molinie, \"as well as the patients from government forces. \" The hospital staff activated the casualty plan and readied for the flood of patients that would soon arrive. For M. S. F. dealing with the Taliban was a routine part of the neutral role it seeks to maintain in Afghanistan. One of the world's largest medical charities, M. S. F. sees itself as an impartial humanitarian organization in the mold of the International Committee of the Red Cross, one that could cross front lines to provide treatment to anyone who needed it, including wounded combatants. That role has been getting harder to play. M. S. F. has been active in Afghanistan since 1980 and had worked with both the mujahedeen and Taliban governments. But after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, its ethos of political neutrality contrasted sharply with that of the Global War on Terror, where you were either with the United States and its allies or with the terrorists. Afghan forces have been especially resentful of the fact that as patients, insurgents in M. S. F. facilities are entitled to the protection of international law. In 2004, five M. S. F. staff members were shot in an unsolved murder. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, accusing the organization of serving American interests. But according to M. S. F. Afghan officials presented them with credible evidence that local forces were actually responsible. No action was taken against them by the government, and the organization pulled out of the country. When M. S. F. returned to Afghanistan in 2009, it followed the example of the Red Cross and negotiated its access in the field with the Taliban leadership. Eager for the help of humanitarian groups in responding to the worsening conflict, the United States and Afghan governments acquiesced. \"The initial deal with the Afghan government, with NATO and the U. S.,\" Molinie said, \"was that we would reopen a mission on the condition that all parties would accept that we talk to everybody. \" But balancing the demands of belligerents in a ruthless war was fraught with risk. In its zeal to help Afghans trapped behind the Taliban's lines, M. S. F. risked souring its relationship with the Afghan government. One of its more ambitious plans called for opening a hospital in the held northern part of Helmand Province, along with an airstrip to fly in international staff members and medical supplies behind insurgent lines. \"Personally, I thought the idea was completely insane,\" said a Western official who was briefed on the proposal last year. \"The Afghan government would have reacted strongly against M. S. F. \" In 2011, M. S. F. opened the hospital in Kunduz, a location it chose because it believed, presciently, that the province's bloody past presaged a violent future. But some members of the Afghan government and security forces there had little respect for M. S. F. 's neutrality and resented its treatment of wounded Taliban. When I visited Kunduz in November, their anger was still surprisingly raw, despite the recent destruction of the hospital. \"They give them medicine they transport and treat their injured,\" Gard, the commander of the reaction force, told me. \"Their existence is a big problem for us. \" And though the hospital treated many more wounded for the government, there were rumors that M. S. F. had carried out unnecessary amputations on them, according to Fawzia Yaftali, a member of the provincial council. \"The general perception was that M. S. F. supported the Taliban,\" she said. On July 1, an episode occurred that should have been, in retrospect, a warning sign for all involved. A team of Afghan police commandos from elite units mentored by United States and NATO special forces \u2014 the 222 and 333 Battalions, which were later part of the Afghan forces sent to Kunduz with the Green Berets \u2014 had arrived in Kunduz Province to track a value target, a militant commander named Abu Huzaifa. After targeting Huzaifa in an airstrike, the commandos believed that he had been wounded and taken to the M. S. F. hospital in Kunduz City. They drove there and forced their way inside, where they physically assaulted the staff members and fired their weapons into the air, according to M. S. F. Huzaifa was nowhere to be found. \"It was a kind of wild intrusion,\" Molinie said. After M. S. F. phoned the governor and the police chief, the commandos were called off. Furious that the sanctity of the hospital had been violated, M. S. F. closed it to new admissions for five days, until officials received guarantees from Kabul that it would be respected. Huzaifa would be killed seven weeks later \u2014 by an American drone, according to a senior Afghan special forces commander \u2014 but bitterness about the hospital raid lingered among the Kunduz security forces. \"They hid him,\" Gard told me, without offering any evidence. His men had accompanied the police commandos to the hospital. \"The people who work there are traitors, all of them. \" On Wednesday, Sept. 30, the day after the Taliban's assault on the airport was beaten back, Hutchinson started planning an operation to retake the city. The political pressure to do so was made apparent when, before his departure, Hutchinson, along with an Afghan general, spoke by videoconference with Gen. John Campbell, then the commander of American forces in Afghanistan. Campbell, who was in Kabul, was not happy with the Afghans. \"General Campbell was understandably upset,\" Hutchinson told investigators. \"Not only was it a shock and travesty that they had\" \u2014 what follows is redacted in the military's report but seems to refer to how Afghan forces abandoned Kunduz City without a fight. The fall of Kunduz had called into question the viability of Obama's strategy in Afghanistan, and storm clouds were gathering in Washington, where Campbell had previously been scheduled to testify before Congress. \"He was very much in a hurry to get back to D. C.,\" Hutchinson says in the report. \"He had a lot on his plate. \" (Campbell, who is now retired, declined to comment for this article.) After the video conference, Hutchinson briefed his men on what the general told him. This was a strategically vital mission, and the whole world was watching. \"It had to happen as soon as possible. Failure was not an option on this operation. \" The operation fit awkwardly under Resolute Support, the noncombat training mission, and Freedom's Sentinel, which was supposed to engage only ISIS and Al Qaeda, not the Taliban. Indeed, while Hutchinson had submitted his operation plan to his headquarters at Bagram under Resolute Support, it came back approved under Freedom's Sentinel. Later, Hutchinson told investigators that he thought he was operating under Resolute Support's rules of engagement. The distinction between the two \u2014 which were both led by Campbell \u2014 would become almost meaningless in Kunduz. The same unit could be carrying out a training mission one minute and a counterterrorism one the next. According to the military, in the first four days of fighting in Kunduz, 13 airstrikes were conducted under Resolute Support and nine under Freedom's Sentinel. Before conducting strikes, aircrews would sometimes radio to ask under which mission they were about to shoot. The plan Hutchinson submitted, called Kunduz Clearing Patrol, was a risky mission to strike deep into the city, where his men and the Afghan commandos would take over the police and governor's compound and set up a forward stronghold. Hutchinson later admitted that he had underestimated the number of Taliban in the city as \"a small group of dedicated individuals. \" The Green Berets planned to stay for only 24 hours, long enough for the local Afghan forces at the airport to rally and return to the city. \"I really thought that the Afghans would see that it wasn't that big of a deal and they would all come back in,\" he said in the report. \"We all agreed it had to happen fast, and the only people who were willing to go in, unfortunately, were people who did not know the city of Kunduz. \" That same Wednesday night, around 10:30, according to the report, the Green Berets, accompanied by the Afghan police and army commandos, as well as Gard's reaction force, rolled out of the airfield in a convoy of armored vehicles and fought their way into the city. First they cleared Gard's compound, which the insurgents had captured the day before. They were hit by repeated Taliban ambushes and called in airstrikes from a circling gunship, killing dozens of insurgents. While entering the police compound, they set off a tripwire bomb, but no one was hurt. The Afghan and American commandos posted guards on the walls and set up a base inside. A Humvee with a single scale map of Kunduz spread over its hood served as the Special Forces' command post. The city around them was still swarming with insurgents. When the sun rose, the attacks began. Hoping to overrun the police compound's defenders, the Taliban launched relentless assaults from the surrounding buildings, sometimes getting close enough for the Green Berets to use grenades. As the insurgents rained rockets and gun fire on the compound's barriers, the Special Forces called in six \"danger close\" gun runs from the strikes near enough to risk friendly fire. Still, the insurgents kept coming. \"I was in a lot of effective firefights,\" one of the Green Berets later wrote, \"but this was on a completely different level than even any of the experienced special operators on any of the detachments had seen \u2014 particularly over such a sustained period of time. How no one was killed, or even wounded, is an absolute miracle. \" An Afghan force of 500 was supposed to show up the next day from the airport to relieve them it never did. When a few Afghan police and army personnel did arrive, they said they would abandon their positions if the Americans left. It soon became apparent to Hutchinson and his men that their mission was going to last longer. By sending the Special Forces to hold an isolated position deep inside a city held by the Taliban, the American military allowed the Afghan government to claim a badly needed propaganda victory. On Oct. 1, as the Green Berets and the Afghan commandos fought for their lives at the police compound, President Ashraf Ghani held a news conference in Kabul to declare that all of Kunduz City had been retaken. \"Thank God we had no fatalities,\" he said. (In fact, the battle to recapture the city would rage for two more weeks, and at least 38 Afghan police officers and soldiers would be killed.) The fact that the Special Forces were surrounded by Taliban also meant that the liberal use of American air power in Kunduz could be justified as defense. The military went further by applying what it called Persons With Designated Special Status to the Afghan commandos in Kunduz, a designation that allows American forces to consider temporarily defending certain partnered Afghan troops as part of their own defense \u2014 essentially, defense of someone else. Later, investigators would conclude that Hutchinson had improperly used these defense rules in order to launch offensive \" assault fires. \" It was his response, perhaps, to the conundrum he faced by engaging in combat during a supposedly noncombat mission: Was he supposed to wait for the commandos to get pinned down or take casualties before striking the insurgents they had been sent into the city to fight? \"I can't expect them to assault that,\" he told investigators, referring to the K. K. A. 's subsequent attack on the held intelligence headquarters. \"They can't sit out there and die on the road. \" Armed with this authorization and ordered to take back the city of Kunduz, the Special Forces called in air support for the Afghan commandos, who, taking advantage of their superior vision capabilities, would set out from the police compound to raid Taliban positions around the city at night. \"Where there was heavy pressure on us,\" said Yaftali, the K. K. A. commander, \"wherever there was heavy fighting, we told the Americans to strike there. \" In a city where all other institutions had been abandoned by their staff, the M. S. F. hospital was a lifeline for the people of Kunduz. Dr. Esmatullah Esmat had been a surgeon for eight years in Afghanistan, but he had never witnessed anything like this. \"When I saw my patients after surgery and they would say, 'Dr. Esmat, you saved me,' I felt energy,\" he said. \"We never felt tired. \" A shouldered, stocky man with a shy smile, Esmat and his fellow surgeons worked in alternating shifts. Over five days, the hospital would receive 376 patients in its emergency room, more than a quarter of them women and children. Esmat had to amputate the leg of a girl. \"I have a daughter the same age,\" he said. It was a bloody and chaotic scene. In the red room, the most critical cases were prepped \u2014 head and torso wounds, or traumatic amputations, typically \u2014 and then sent immediately into one of the hospital's three operating theaters. There, stripped naked under the surgeon's lamp, Taliban fighters, civilians and government soldiers alike became patients whose lives needed to be saved. Esmat and his colleagues performed 138 operations during those days, almost a third of them emergency laparotomies \u2014 the abdomen was cut open and internal organs were piled on the chest, so that the surgical team could go through them, painstaking inch by inch, looking for lacerations to suture. As the wards overflowed, the staff laid down mattresses between the beds and in the hallways and stretched the hospital to fit 130. There were gruesome and strange sights, like the Taliban fighter from a commando unit, in a distinctive pattern robe, weeping uncontrollably while stroking the head of his bagged friend. \"It was a bit hopeless,\" said Faizullah Alokozai, the hospital's archivist. \"I saw a lot of dead children. \" Though the M. S. F. hospital was crowded with fighters, whether patients or caretakers (each patient was allowed one) staff members and civilians who were present said the insurgents respected the rules. They left their weapons outside or handed them over at the gun lockers at the entrance. One employee recalled seeing a fighter give up his weapon but forget his ammunition vest when the employee nervously approached the fighter about it, the man apologized profusely and handed it over. \"We had respect for the hospital, as they were serving the people,\" said Shahid, the Taliban commander. \"I myself went there once when one of our men was wounded, and before entering we submitted our weapons outside. \" M. S. F. did allow caretakers and patients to keep their cellphones, however, and I was told by several staff members and civilians present that some Taliban caretakers also brought in radios. (Molinie said that while there was no specific rule against radios, he didn't believe that they were allowed in.) According to M. S. F. some of the Taliban patients were ranking leaders. Taliban vehicles were also allowed inside the hospital grounds to drop off critically injured patients. Unknown to M. S. F. Afghan forces in Kunduz were coming to the false conclusion that the hospital was being used as a Taliban stronghold and headquarters, which would have meant the loss of its protected status. \"All their most important leaders were inside the hospital, especially Tajiks, Uzbeks and ranking Pakistanis,\" Gard said. He claimed his information came from local informants who had been inside the hospital and witnessed the Taliban operating there. \"They had raised their flag and established their headquarters there. \" These unconfirmed reports were lent additional weight by signals intelligence. Yaftali, the K. K. A. commander, told me that his unit's Wolfhound radio direction finders, which allowed them to determine the range and bearing of enemy radios, picked up Taliban transmissions from inside the hospital. \"We located about 10 to 15 radios from there,\" he said. \"The Taliban were inside and outside the hospital. \" The Afghan forces I spoke to said they relayed these reports to the American military, and it's clear that, before the strike, some Americans were aware of the concerns that the M. S. F. hospital had been taken over by the Taliban. On Oct. 1, Carter Malkasian, a civilian adviser to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, emailed M. S. F. in New York to ask about the safety of its staff and whether Taliban fighters were \"holed up\" inside the hospital. Maj. Gen. Mark Quantock, Campbell's intelli gence deputy, told investigators: \"Although we assessed that there were Taliban using the hospital, you cannot shoot up a building under the current authorities. Period. \" Molinie, M. S. F. 's head of mission in Kabul, said he was then unaware of the American military's suspicions, which he criticized as baseless. On Sept. 29, he provided Resolute Support with GPS coordinates for four of M. S. F. 's facilities in Kunduz, including the hospital, as a precaution. And the day before the bombing, he coordinated the delivery of three truckloads of medical supplies to Kunduz with an officer at the Special Forces' headquarters at Bagram. \"He informed me of the number of beds, number of international aid workers in the hospital, and that the Taliban were 'protecting' the hospital and were treating the government casualties well,\" the officer later wrote. It's unclear from the report what, if anything, the Special Forces on the ground in Kunduz knew about the M. S. F. hospital. Several staff members at their headquarters at Bagram told investigators that they had passed M. S. F. 's grid coordinates on two separate occasions to the Green Berets at the police compound. \"I know I read the four grids and got a for accuracy,\" one person wrote. \"I think I used the term 'Doctors Without Borders,' not 'M. S. F. ''u2009\" Hutchinson and other members of his team, however, said they never received the coordinates from Bagram and were unaware of the hospital's location before the strike, a contention the investigators accepted in their final report. But whether they heard the Afghans' false reports before or after the strike, some of the Green Berets in Kunduz appeared to believe them. \"There were enemy in there,\" one later wrote, according to an email excerpt provided by Representative Hunter's office. \"They were using it as a [command and control] node. They had already removed and ransomed the foreign doctors, and they had fired on partnered personnel from there. \" For the civilians who remained in Kunduz during the fighting \u2014 the United Nations estimates that 13, 000 families were displaced by the fighting and that 848 civilians were killed or injured \u2014 life was a daily struggle to survive. There was no electricity, and the price of basics like bread and cooking oil had shot up, for those who could find them at all. Heading out in search of supplies meant risking your life in the crossfire on the streets. But for people like Ismail Zahir, a haired, spoken who worked in construction, there was no other choice. With his father deaf and disabled, his family relied on their eldest son as their breadwinner. When there were lulls in the fighting, Ismail would head out into the street, dodging sniper fire. \"I was afraid,\" he said, \"but not as afraid as I was for my family. \" Once Afghan and American forces counterattacked and airstrikes began hitting the city, he grew especially worried for his sisters Morsal and Madina. Morsal, 15, was quiet and fastidious like him, while Madina, at 5 the youngest in the family, was impish and cheeked. At night, they screamed in fear when bombs struck nearby. They begged the family to leave Kunduz. Finally, on Oct. 2, the fourth day after the fall of Kunduz, Ismail and a friend set off across the city to find a car to hire, riding tandem on a borrowed bicycle through the deserted streets. Taliban fighters stopped them at a checkpoint but let them pass \u2014 civilians were free to flee if they wished. On the outskirts of the city, they found a taxi driver. He wanted the equivalent of $200 to take them to Kabul, five times as much as the normal rate, and they had no choice but to accept. Returning home with the driver, he and his friend packed their families into the Toyota station wagon, 14 people in total, most of them women and children. The driver set off south, toward Kabul. As they came around a corner, they spotted an Afghan Army armored vehicle. Perhaps thinking they were insurgents, it opened fire. As the driver wheeled around, bullets tore through the back of the car. Four of the boys were shot in the arms and legs, but the two girls, Morsal and Madina, were the most grievously wounded. Somehow, the car made it to the M. S. F. hospital. When Esmat arrived in the red room, he found Morsal laid out, pale and beautiful. She was dead from a head wound. Madina's abdomen was torn open, and her intestines protruded, but she was still conscious and cried out, \"Mother, mother. \" As Esmat looked around and saw Amin Bajawri, the room doctor, and the rest of the staff members weeping, he felt his own eyes sting and well. All the suffering he had witnessed over the previous days was overflowing inside of him. \"My God, what is the sin of these people?\" he cried. Madina's liver and kidney had been badly lacerated. To survive, she needed an immediate laparotomy. Esmat composed himself and began preparing for the operation. That night, according to the report, the K. K. A. commandos at the police compound planned a raid on the abandoned headquarters of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service, which had been occupied by the Taliban. After dark, the insurgents' daily assault on the police compound had petered out, and the commandos planned to take three of their wounded comrades back to the airport, resupply and then drive back into the city toward the N. D. S. compound, on a northbound path that would take them past the M. S. F. hospital. The commandos asked Hutchinson to provide them with air support, and he replied that he would take care of them. The had already been on station above Kunduz for three hours when, around 1 in the morning, Hutchinson informed the gunship that the Afghan commandos were planning to raid the N. D. S. headquarters and requested that the gunship perform a \"defensive scan\" of the area. Hutchinson passed on the correct grid coordinates for the N. D. S. compound, which had been given to him by the Afghans but because the gunship was flying higher than normal to avoid air missiles, its navigation system pointed the sensor \u2014 a powerful vision telescope, essentially \u2014 at an empty field, located between the N. D. S. headquarters and the M. S. F. hospital. Confused, the sensor operator scanned around and noticed a large facility nearby with people walking around at night. He started observing it to determine if this was the target. In fact, it was the hospital. The gunship hadn't been given the building's coordinates before the mission, and although the hospital had a flag with the M. S. F. logo on its roof, it wasn't marked with a red cross or a crescent. The next step was crucial. Hutchinson, who had been conferring via an interpreter with the K. K. A. ground force and couldn't see the target himself, then gave the an \"updated description of the compound of interest. \" He later told investigators that the Afghans described \"a long shaped building with a small offshoot. \" He continued: \"I can't remember the word I would have used for it. It's a in compound with multiple outbuildings, and there was a gate facing to the north with an arch. \" That description didn't resemble the N. D. S. headquarters. It matched the hospital. At 2 in the morning, the hospital was quiet. Most of the roughly 300 staff members, patients and caretakers were asleep. In the operating theater, the night shift of surgeons was taking advantage of a quiet day to carry out up operations. Esmat, who spent two hours operating on Madina, had finished his shift at midnight and collapsed, exhausted, on a cot in the outpatient department. He had been worried that she might die on the operating table, but she pulled through. Down the hall, Faizullah Alokozai, the archivist, was sound asleep next to the hospital's deputy medical director, Dr. Abdul Satar Zaheer. Shortly after 2 in the morning, both men were woken by loud blasts and flashes of light. Realizing they were under attack, the two jumped up and ran east toward the entrance to the basement, into the ceilinged hallway outside the operating theater. They didn't know it, but they were running toward danger. The gunship had started by hitting the care unit on the east end of the hospital and was working its barrage west. Esmat, who stepped into the hallway behind them, saw the passage suddenly fill with smoke, and he jumped out a window onto the lawn, where he crawled and hid safely in a deep window well for the duration of the attack. As Faizullah and Satar reached the far side of the hallway, a shell punched through the roof and exploded on the floor in front of them. They fell to the ground. Satar's right arm had been blown off at the shoulder. Faizullah could feel his own hot blood gushing down his back. The power went out, and the darkness was rent with flashes of lights. Faizullah crawled up to Satar and held him. \"I lost my right arm, please help me,\" his colleague cried. \"I know,\" Faizullah replied. \"I'll get you out, if we're alive. I'm not going to leave you. \" As they cowered, reciting the Islamic profession of faith, more shrapnel struck them. Three times, Faizullah tried to stand them up, struggling with the bulky Satar, whose legs seemed to be paralyzed, before another explosion would send them sprawling. The sound of the blasts was the hardest thing to bear. By the time the gunship's fire moved on to another part of the hospital, the air had filled with acrid smoke, and Faizullah could hear the sound of flames licking the building. He got to his feet and pulled at Satar's arm. He was limp and silent. He's dead, Faizullah thought, and I'll die if I stay here. In the darkness, he heard a voice. \"Please forgive me for whatever happened, because I'm going to die. Take care of my children. \" Making his way forward, Faizullah saw that it was the young room doctor, Amin, sitting in a doorway, talking on his cellphone. His right leg was missing at the knee, and blood was spurting and pooling underneath him. \"It's going to catch fire!\" Amin shouted, seeing Faizullah. \"We have to get out. \" Amin heaved himself onto his remaining leg and hopped through the filled emergency room, and Faizullah followed him out, through the entrance into the covered driveway, where Amin clutched the row of pillars that lined it. \"I can't move,\" he gasped, and so Faizullah slung him over his back and staggered out onto the front lawn of the hospital, where they collapsed in the grass. As they looked back at the hospital, another round of shells struck the driveway where they had just been standing, partly collapsing its roof. The hospital was on fire now, its flames leaping up and setting tall pine trees alight. The lawn was lit with its dancing orange flame. From inside, Faizullah could hear the screams of people burning alive. Sixteen service members have been disciplined for their role in the airstrike, but the military has declined to pursue criminal charges. The military has argued that while both the Special Forces and the crew made serious errors, and in doing so violated the Geneva Conventions, they were not guilty of crimes because they had not known they were targeting a hospital. \"The label 'war crimes' is typically reserved for intentional acts \u2014 intentional targeting of civilians or intentionally targeting protected objects or locations,\" Gen. Joseph Votel said. Hutchinson was relieved of command and reprimanded, but he was recently assigned as his battalion's executive officer, according to Representative Hunter's office. It is true, as the report states, that there was a pileup of mistakes and technical problems, without any one of which the strike might have been averted. An antenna that would have allowed the gunship to send video of its target to the Special Forces, and to receive an email sent by its headquarters with the M. S. F. hospital's coordinates, stopped working shortly after takeoff. Later, the Special Forces headquarters at Bagram sent a Predator drone to observe the wrong N. D. S. location on the other side of the city, and as a result wasn't watching the strike when it started. Most important, because the strike was carried out under the special others designation given to the Afghan commandos, it didn't have to be approved by anyone besides Hutchinson and the aircraft commander. Hutchinson, who was inside the police compound, claimed that he thought he saw the K. K. A. convoy nearby and then heard them come under gun fire. In fact, the report states, the convoy was still five and a half miles away from the target and had not yet been attacked. The investigators concluded that Hutchinson violated the rules of engagement and stated that his \"version of events surrounding his decision to authorize the strike is internally inconsistent, implausible and contradicted by other available sources of credible information. \" But Hutchinson was arguably only doing what he was asked to do by his ups: fight with Afghan forces to retake the city of Kunduz as quickly as possible. \"If someone must be held accountable, let it not be the man who was ordered to without being given a parachute,\" a Green Beret officer in Kunduz \u2014 his name is redacted \u2014 said, complaining of \"moral cowardice\" and an \"abject failure of leadership. \" As a result of the defense justification, an airstrike against a building \u2014 which would normally have gone all the way to General Campbell for approval \u2014 could be approved on the spot. These safeguards around airstrikes (which succeeded in reducing civilian casualties from airstrikes, to 204 in 2012 from 353 in 2011, according to United Nations figures) were intended not only to prevent simple errors or collateral damage but also to avoid acting on bad intelligence provided by Afghan sources, who had in the past been careless in passing on unverified rumor as fact, or even seeking to maliciously use American air power to target their rivals. This, in turn, raises the question of what targeting information was provided by the Afghan forces. The military has focused on the N. D. S. headquarters' coordinates, which the gunship's targeting system mistakenly indicated as an open field. But those grids were passed to the Special Forces at 6 p. m. when the Afghans informed them of their plan of attack for that night. When Hutchinson asked them, seven hours later, after the confusion with the gunship's targeting system, about the compound to strike, they gave a description of a \"long shaped building\" with a facing gate, which he in turn passed to the gunship. Maj. Gen. William Hickman, who led the military's investigation, described this as \"an ambiguous physical description\" that \"appeared to match the M. S. F. trauma center. \" But it's actually a rather specific description that corresponds to M. S. F. 's distinctive layout. It does not at all resemble the N. D. S. headquarters, which is a trapezoidal compound with a facing gate and two main rectangular buildings facing each other across a cramped courtyard. Indeed, according to the report, when the returned to a normal altitude, the sensor operator, worried that the navigation system had failed earlier, tried punching in the original grid coordinates, and this time it aimed his sensor at the N. D. S. headquarters. The crew members then did a \" comparison\" of the N. D. S. and M. S. F. sites using both of their sensors, but based on Hutchinson's description, they decided that they were 100 percent confident that the shaped building was their target. Hutchinson and the other Special Forces on the ground later told investigators that the Afghans had a second target that night, in addition to the N. D. S. headquarters. They all claimed not to know or recall what exactly it was. \"There was actually two targets they said they were going to hit, but they didn't even have a location for the other one, so we didn't concern ourselves much with it,\" Hutchinson said. Another Green Beret said the Afghans had provided two sets of coordinates, one for the N. D. S. headquarters and the second for what was described as an insurgent control location, but he didn't know precisely what the other grid referred to. \"I don't recall and don't want to speculate,\" said a third, who claimed to have passed both grids to the aircraft. A member of the gunship crew also said they received \"multiple grids\" that night. Could the second target have been the hospital? Did Afghan forces, influenced by their longstanding animosity for M. S. F. believe that it had become a Taliban headquarters and needed to be taken out? Unless their findings have been redacted, the military's investigators seemed not to have probed these questions. When I interviewed them in November, none of the Afghan forces would claim responsibility for passing on the description to the Special Forces. Yaftali, the K. K. A. commander, said that the decision to strike the hospital was made by the United States and that it was unfortunate but justified. \"They were firing R. P. G.s at us from the direction of the hospital,\" he said. \"The Americans were aware that they were firing from there,\" said Captain Munib, an Afghan commando who was partnered with American forces in Kunduz. The K. K. A. \"had reported to them that the Taliban were there, and then they hit it. \" (Independent investigations have revealed no evidence to suggest that armed Taliban fighters were inside the hospital or firing from nearby.) In fairness, much like their American partners, the Afghan special forces sent up from Kabul were reliant on information from local sources, who had longstanding views about M. S. F. 's role in Kunduz. \"That hospital is in the service of the Taliban,\" Gard said when I visited him in Kunduz. \"I swear to God, if they make it a hundred times, we'll destroy it a hundred times. \" Is there still a place in today's wars for a hospital to treat all sides? On May 3, denouncing a pattern of attacks against medical facilities in conflict zones, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2286, which called for an end to impunity for those responsible. Oddly, some of the individuals seated around the Security Council's shaped table represented countries involved in these strikes. In Yemen, for example, the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and supported with American and British intelligence and weaponry has repeatedly struck medical facilities it bombed an M. S. F. clinic on Oct. 26, despite having been provided with its coordinates. In Syria, M. S. F. does not provide coordinates of the medical facilities it supports to the Assad regime or the Russian forces backing it, out of fear that the information will be used to target them. Aid and human rights groups have accused both governments of deliberately attacking medical facilities, including an M. S. F. supported hospital in northern Syria on Feb. 15, an accusation they have denied. \"Can we provide treatment to whoever you consider to be your enemy?\" said Jonathan Whittall, M. S. F. 's head of humanitarian analysis. \"When you look at the track record of the last few months, when four out of the five permanent members of the Security Council have been involved in bombing M. S. F. facilities, it's a question that we urgently need to have answered. \" In Afghanistan, health facilities remain under threat, both by the Taliban \u2014 who frequently commit war crimes like indiscriminately attacking civilians \u2014 and by the Afghan government. According to the United Nations, on Feb. 18, Afghan police commandos stormed into a clinic run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and executed two patients and a teenage caretaker who were suspected of being insurgents. Jorgen Holmstrom, the S. C. A. 's country director, told me that the commandos belonged to the 333 Battalion \u2014 the same unit that raided the M. S. F. hospital last July and participated in the battle for Kunduz \u2014 and were accompanied by British troops. (A spokesman for Resolute Support stated that its investigation found \"absolutely no evidence to support that allegation\" of executions and declined to comment on which units were present.) In Kunduz, the hospital remains in ruins, and its staff has struggled to make sense of what happened. Faizullah, the archivist, survived, but his young friend Amin did not. \"Whenever I went to sleep for two minutes, I was just seeing the bombing and the killing and the dead bodies,\" Faizullah said. Once the airstrike ended, Esmat tried to suture Amin's severed femoral artery on a makeshift operating table, but to no avail. Madina, the little girl, lived through Esmat's operation but not the bombing. Her family found her two days afterward and buried her with her big sister. \"We tried to save her, but she died,\" Esmat said, picking his way through the rubble. \"She died, and she burned. \" The walls around us still stood, but the roof was open to the gray winter sky. Editor's note: The United States military initially declined to comment and referred questions to the Afghan government, which also declined to comment. After this article went to press, Peter Cook, the Pentagon's spokesman, said in a statement: \"The comprehensive investigation that followed the Kunduz tragedy determined that all members of both the ground force and the aircrew were unaware that the aircraft was firing on a medical facility throughout the engagement. The investigation ultimately concluded that this tragic incident was caused by a combination of human errors, compounded by process and equipment failures. \"","label":0}
{"text":"MONTGOMERY, Ala. \u2014 Gov. Robert Bentley engaged in an \"inappropriate relationship\" with his chief adviser, then used intimidation tactics and deployed state law enforcement officials in an effort to cover it up, according to a bruising report released Friday in support of the effort to impeach him. The report also claims that the governor tried to pin nonexistent crimes on a top law enforcement official. The release of the report by a special counsel to the state House Judiciary Committee is almost certain to further imperil Mr. Bentley, an avuncular physician and former Sunday school teacher. Mr. Bentley, a Republican, has vowed to fight to keep his office despite a steady drip of embarrassing and sometimes salacious details that have fueled a scandal that has embarrassed this conservative state and all but consumed its political culture for the last year. Despite mounting calls from members of his own party that he step down, the governor won a significant battle Friday afternoon when a local judge granted a temporary restraining order Mr. Bentley had sought. The order effectively blocks impeachment hearings that were set to begin Monday in the Legislature, which is dominated by Mr. Bentley's own party. In many other ways, it was a very bad week for the governor. On Wednesday, the Alabama Ethics Commission found probable cause that he had violated ethics and campaign laws, and referred the case to a local district attorney for possible criminal prosecution. A separate inquiry, already underway, is being led by a special prosecutor appointed by Alabama's attorney general. This week, both Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh and House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, both Republicans, called on the Mr. Bentley to resign. State Representative Corey Harbison, another Republican, said that he was worried about the possible violation of laws, but also the distraction the scandal has caused, and its damage to the state's reputation. \"It is a terrible black eye for the state,\" said Mr. Harbison, who has called for Mr. Bentley's ouster. When Mr. Bentley was sworn in as governor in 2011, it seemed almost impossible to conceive of a politician with less potential for drama. He was and long married and had earned wide respect as a dermatologist in his hometown, Tuscaloosa. Whatever Mr. Bentley's fate, it is unlikely to shake the dominant Republican Party here. The state is simply too conservative to see mass defections to the Democrats. And he has not been viewed as a particularly powerful governor. Before 9 a. m. Friday \u2014 hours before the release of the report \u2014 Mr. Bentley appeared on the Capitol steps minutes after his office alerted reporters that he would be speaking. The governor spoke of how he had put his fate in the hands of a higher power, mentioning the word \"God\" nine times in under seven minutes. He said he had done nothing illegal, and he apologized directly to the people of Alabama: \"There's no doubt I have let you down,\" he said. He also warned there were more \"embarrassing details\" to come. Headline writers have taken to referring to Mr. Bentley as the \"Love Gov,\" over the accusation that he had engaged in an affair with his former senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason \u2014 an accusation both Mr. Bentley and Ms. Mason deny. For months now, residents have had to endure a leaked audio recording of Mr. Bentley in conversation with a woman \u2014 said to be Ms. Mason \u2014 in which he describes embracing her and placing his hands on her breasts. The governor could also be heard saying, \"If we're going to do what we did the other day, we're going to have to start locking the door. \" The report issued Friday involved interviewing 20 witnesses and 10, 000 pages of documents. In the report, Jack Sharman, the special counsel, noted that Mr. Bentley and his associates, including Ms. Mason, refused to cooperate. The governor, Mr. Sharman said, refused to turn over all state documents investigators requested, while his campaign committee turned over no documents. \"The Committee may consider the Governor's as an independent ground for impeachment,\" the report stated. The report also notes that in Alabama, a gubernatorial impeachment investigation is not a criminal one, and that impeachable offenses \"may include but are not limited to crimes. \" The report described a chief executive racked with \"increasing obsession and paranoia,\" but one who also did little to hide his relationship with Ms. Mason from his inner circle. When his wife was able to make the clandestine recordings of Mr. Bentley speaking \"provocatively\" to Ms. Mason, the report states, \"Governor Bentley's loyalty shifted from the State of Alabama to himself. \" Mr. Bentley worried the recordings would become public, the report stated, and embroiled law enforcement officers in the drama, directing them, among other things, to investigate who might have copies\" and to identify potential crimes which they could be charged. He also encouraged \"an atmosphere of intimidation\" to ensure that no one spoke of it, the report stated. Ms. Mason, meanwhile, exercised \"extraordinary policy authority while receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Governor Bentley's campaign account and from an apparently lawful but shadowy nonprofit,\" it stated. The speculation about an affair came to light in March 2016, after the governor fired Spencer Collier, the head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Mr. Bentley said he had fired Mr. Collier after a review uncovered \"possible misuse of state money\" at the agency. The Alabama attorney general's office opened an investigation, only to close it in October, noting that \"no witness had established a credible basis for the initiation of a criminal inquiry in the first place. \" Soon after his firing, Mr. Collier held a news conference in which he accused Mr. Bentley of having an affair with Ms. Mason, whom he described as Alabama's \"de facto governor. \" The report accuses Mr. Bentley of \"prematurely and publicly\" accusing Mr. Collier of criminal misconduct, with the \"likely\" purpose of demonizing him. It also noted that Mr. Collier has since been cleared of wrongdoing. It is unclear when a new impeachment timetable will be established. Lawyers said that Greg Griffin, the circuit court judge who issued the restraining order, could issue an order laying out an impeachment process that would address the governor's concern that he was not granted proper due process. If the State House, which would take up the matter first, votes to impeach, Mr. Bentley will be temporarily removed from office while the Senate deliberates his ultimate fate. If Mr. Bentley is charged and convicted by the Montgomery County district attorney, he will face a to prison sentence and a fine of up to $20, 000 for each of the four potential violations. This year, Mr. Bentley sparked concerns among some lawmakers when he appointed Luther Strange, a former state attorney general, to the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, who left to become President Trump's attorney general. Mr. Strange had been overseeing an investigation of Mr. Bentley, and his successor has appointed a special prosecutor to take over the investigation. But Mr. Harbison, the Republican state representative, said that the appointment could give the perception that Mr. Bentley was trying to derail the inquiry. Today, Mr. Bentley's private life appears to be as complicated as his public one. His wife filed for divorce in August 2015. Ms. Mason resigned last year. Her husband remains the director of the Governor's Office of and Volunteer Service, and the couple traveled with Mr. Bentley to Washington, for Mr. Trump's inauguration in January. Ms. Mason could not be reached for comment. Her lawyers said in a court filing last year that she had \"done nothing wrong, either civilly or criminally. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The Texas House of Representatives gave formal approval on Monday to a bill that would restrict bathroom access for transgender students in public schools, a measure that critics say promotes discrimination against such children. The state's Republican-controlled legislature has been at the forefront in advancing measures seen by backers as protecting traditional values and religious liberty but criticized by civil rights groups as eroding protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, people. The Texas House gave preliminary approval on Sunday night to the bill, which requires public school students to use bathrooms, changing facilities and locker rooms that match their biological sex, not the gender with which they identify. Under the bill, school districts have to accommodate students who do not wish to use a common facility based on biological sex with a single-occupancy facility, or a multi-occupancy facility if its use occurs when no one else is present. The measure is narrower in scope than a bathroom bill passed along mostly party lines by the state Senate in March that extended to state universities and public buildings. The Senate bill is similar to one enacted last year in North Carolina. The North Carolina law prompted economic boycotts and the loss of sporting events, and was later revamped in the face of criticism. The more limited House measure is seen as a way to avoid an economic backlash in Texas, analysts said. \"It is absolutely about child safety,\" Republican state Representative Chris Paddie, who managed the bill, said in House debate on Sunday. The measure heads back to the Senate for consideration of changes made since it was in that chamber. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has said he supports a bathroom bill. Critics said the House and Senate versions undermined civil rights and used children as political pawns. \"There is no moral middle ground on discrimination, \" said Kathy Miller, president of the civil liberties advocacy group Texas Freedom Network. The legislature on Monday also sent to the governor a bill allowing adoption agencies to reject families on religious grounds, an action slammed by critics as discriminatory against LGBT Texans and non-Christians. LGBT rights groups said they would challenge the adoption bill in court if it became law, arguing discrimination in the name of religion had no place in the state. The bill's backers, which include several Christian groups, said it banned no one and had a mechanism for the state government to offer alternative adoption providers if any service is denied for religious beliefs.","label":0}
{"text":"Top 5 unusual tragic deaths on sets # Top5darkests 0  Over the years, conspiracies and theories of paranormal activity on movie sets has grown. With a large amount of horror productions having unfortunate deaths, some deaths closely resembling story lines of the horror production, theories of movies with a curse has been spoken by some. From deaths on movie productions involving the devil to the conspiracy of the hanging extra in the wizard of oz, we will cover in this video our top 5 unusual tragic deaths on sets. Tags","label":1}
{"text":"Ronald Reagan is largely seen as the Messiah of the Republican Party. Despite how long it has been since the man was president, he has always remained the high standard of GOP morality for potential office holders. That is, until now. Reagan is likely rolling over in his grave at the idea of the state of his party with Donald Trump as its standard-bearer, and he s likely doing the same at the prospect of a bigoted accused child molester like Roy Moore (R-AL) being the next GOP Senator from Alabama. Well, now Reagan has another reason to hate Moore: He s clearly in the pocket of Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin just like Donald Trump is.During an interview where he s talking about Americans being the face of evil in the world right now, Moore indicates that Putin s harsh and murderous treatment of LGBTQ people in Russia is something he would like to see happen in the United States. Then, he does something most appalling, and goes on to give Putin a message in Russian. Now, no one knows where a bigoted, backwoods buffoon like Roy Moore would learn Russian. After all, he s barely left Alabama, where he has spent the last 40+ years wreacking havoc and just basically cementing Alabama s place as America s bigoted boil on the butt of humanity wherever and whenever he can. However, he managed to learn enough Russian to dog whistle to Putin in that interview. That should disturb us all. Not only is the man being a homophobe, a racist, a misogynist, and more than likely a child molester, he s also a Russian stooge.America, we can do better. We have enough Russian puppets at the highest levels of government. Lord knows we don t need one in the United States Senate.Watch the appalling video below:Please watch this until the end, Roy Moore sides with Putin over Reagan, says that America is the focus of evil in the world, and sends a nice message to Putin in Russian. pic.twitter.com\/wFgDkvzEhT The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 10, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"The United States wants to exhaust every diplomatic option on North Korea s nuclear and missile programs, and to see loopholes in the North Korean sanctions regime closed, U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said on Friday. Sanctions have not had a real opportunity to bite as hard as we would like them to bite, and that comes from the fact that they have not been fully implemented, Wood told a news conference in Geneva. North Korea fired a second missile over Japan far out into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, deepening tension after Pyongyang s recent test of its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb. Washington has in the past accused China, North Korea s main trading partner, of failing to apply enough economic pressure to its neighbor. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that if China failed to implement the latest U.N. sanctions on North Korea, he would seek new financial sanctions against Beijing. Wood, formally U.S. ambassador to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, said North Korea had exploited gaping holes in the sanctions regime to secretly acquire equipment for its ballistic missile and nuclear weapon programs: We want to close those loopholes. Asked if war or a U.S. military strike was possible, Wood said: We are not taking any options off the table but ... we are pursuing the diplomatic track right now. That s where we are. We want to exhaust all diplomatic options. The United States wanted to see North Korea further isolated, with more countries breaking off or downgrading relations and cutting off trade. He said China had the same interest as the United States in seeking the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and had helped to apply pressure on North Korea by supporting two U.N. Security Council resolutions. But he said there was much more that China could do, and suggested that Beijing s unique leverage was only just coming into play. We re at a real inflection point with regard to China, Wood said. In a wide-ranging briefing on U.S. disarmament interests, Wood also reiterated President Donald Trump s view that Iran was not fulfilling the spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal that allowed Iran sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear program. If you look at what Iran is doing with regard to ballistic missile activity ... when you look at the support it is giving to the Assad regime in Syria, to Hezbollah, to Hamas, their funding and support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen ... Iran is not in any way, we think, fulfilling the aspirations of the JCPOA. He cited the preface of the JCPOA, which says the signatories anticipate that the agreement will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security . Trump must decide next month whether Iran is complying with the deal.","label":0}
{"text":"Popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, whose fledgling party is gaining momentum ahead of an Oct. 22 general election, said on Thursday at a news conference that she would look into what steps are needed to reduce Japan s dependence on nuclear energy to zero by 2030. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling the snap poll in the hope his Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition can keep its majority in the parliament s lower house, where it now holds two-thirds of the seats. Koike has said she wants Japan to abandon nuclear power - a stance likely to resonate with many voters - but had not previously mentioned a target date. Abe s government plans to retain atomic power as part of the energy mix, despite safety worries after the 2011 Fukushima crisis.","label":0}
{"text":"A new report suggests that in cases of gang rape or sexual assaults involving two or more attackers in Sweden, 85 percent of the attackers come from a foreign origin. [The information comes from a Swedish website \"Gang Rape Sweden\" which has kept tabs on the various instances of group rape that have occurred in the country over a period from 2011 to 2015. The site lists the various rapists' names, case numbers, and other details which show the national origins, if known, of the attackers. According to the site, \"All records and documents available on this website are Swedish public records. \" The site claims that in total between 2011 and 2015 there were 125 individuals accused and convicted of participating in group sex attacks. The majority, 41, come from unknown countries outside of Sweden, and they are followed by 23 from Afghanistan and 20 from Sweden itself. The total number of amounts to 105 or around 85 percent. The site makes a distinction of those accused of true gang rape (participating in sex acts) and those tried along with a rapist for other crimes like failure to disclose the sex attack. Of the \"true gang rapes,\" they measure 50 such cases. Details are also given on the site as to the nature of the accusations, with thirteen of the gang rapists accused of having sex with underage children. Among those accused of molesting minors, none of the suspects are Swedish. The longest sentence for rape occurred in the case of Bardiya Coen Pajouhi, who comes from an unknown country and received a sentence for aggravated rape, though it says he will not be deported to his country of origin. Among those convicted of raping a child, many of the attackers were underage themselves, which matches previous reports of young boys and girls being raped in or around asylum accommodations. In one particular attack, a group of boys from Afghanistan took another young asylum seeker into a wooded area in Uppsala where they beat and raped him, filming the attack on their mobile phones. The Afghani migrants who raped the boy, who is said to have been under the age of 15, were tried and found guilty, but will not be deported back to Afghanistan because Swedish courts have deemed the country \"too dangerous\" for them to return to. In the statistics provided by the site, only 30 of those convicted face deportation, as opposed to 73 who will not be sent back to their countries of origin, more than double. The Swedish government refuses to keep official statistics that track the origin of criminals and have not done so in over a decade. One police officer, Peter Springare, blew the whistle on migrant crime back in February of this year, claiming that almost all of the serious criminal activity in Sweden is committed by foreigners and migrants. Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart. com","label":0}
{"text":"Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who earned a reputation for fighting crime on Wall Street and public corruption before President Donald Trump fired him in March, has signed a book deal with Alfred A. Knopf. The book, as yet untitled, is about \"the search for justice, not just in criminal cases but in life and society in general,\" Knopf said in a statement on Thursday. Publication is expected in January 2019. Bharara said his book would be about the law, \"integrity, leadership, decision making, and moral reasoning.\" \"It addresses what it means to do the right thing, how to avoid doing the wrong thing, and the role of thoughtfulness in making the best choice,\" Bharara said in a statement. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Bharara to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan. During seven and a half years as the chief federal prosecutor in that region, Bharara oversaw several notable corruption and white-collar criminal cases, as well as prosecutions of terrorism suspects. \"Preet Bharara's life experience, coupled with his standing as a U.S. Attorney and the cases he tried as prosecutor, makes him uniquely qualified to write this book,\" said Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief for Knopf, which is a division of Penguin Random House. Bharara, now a distinguished scholar in residence at New York University's law school, was unexpectedly fired by Trump on March 11 after refusing to step down. He had been among 46 U.S. attorneys who were told a day earlier to submit their resignations. In November, Bharara met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York City, three weeks after the presidential election, and said at the time that they had a \"good meeting\" and he agreed to remain in his post as a federal prosecutor.\" He was fired a few months later. This month, Bharara told ABC News in an interview that he received \"unusual\" phone calls from Trump after the election that made him uncomfortable. He said he was fired after declining to take the third call. Bharara said he believed Trump's calls to him violated the usual boundaries between the executive branch and independent criminal investigators. Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards said on Thursday that Bharara \"addresses the circumstances of his firing in the book proposal.\" Whether the book itself goes into the details of Bharara's firing \"remains an open question,\" Bogaards said.","label":0}
{"text":"The Washington Post has removed a reference to MILO in a piece about his upcoming appearance at CPAC implying that he \"espoused racist, and sexist points of view. \"[The article, by David Weigel and Robert Costa, described MILO as being the latest example of the conservative movement's \"embrace of aligned figures,\" despite MILO declaring on multiple occasions that he is not a member of, nor aligned with, the but only sought to give them a fair hearing in the press, notably by writing 'An Establishment Conservatives Guide To The .' After Breitbart News contacted the authors, the introduction was changed to describe MILO as a \" firebrand,\" along with removing all references to the bigotry that MILO was accused of. One reader in the comment section, writing before the article updated, said that \"this article is so riddled with errors, it may as well be fake news. \" Many other news outlets have attempted to brand MILO with the or white nationalist label, including CNN, The Chicago Tribune, CBS, USA Today, LA Times, Glamour Magazine and NBC News. White supremacists have repeatedly attacked MILO the Daily Stormer declared a \"holy crusade\" against MILO, and proceeded to protest him at the University of Alabama. Most of the aforementioned outlets were forced to issue corrections and retract their claims for having no basis in reality. Jack Hadfield is a student at the University of Warwick and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @ToryBastard_, on Gab @JH or email him at jack@yiannopoulos. net.","label":0}
{"text":"After days of chaos at airports and confusion over details of President Donald Trump's immigration executive order, some of his fellow Republicans joined Democrats in saying Congress might need to consider legislation to address his new policies. Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was too early to know all the implications of Trump's order banning travel into the United States by citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations, but lawmakers might eventually need to step in to modify it. \"Seriously, we still don't know all the implications of what happened. I don't think they (the Trump administration) know all the implications of what happened,\" he told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. \"There may well need to be a legislative fix.\" Under the executive order Trump released on Friday, travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen may not enter the United States for at least 90 days while Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and others determine whether there is enough information available to screen them. Democrats in both the Senate and House of Representatives have introduced bills to rescind Trump's order, but those measures are not expected to go anywhere in the Republican-led Congress. Senator John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has criticized the order, saying it could weaken U.S. counterterrorism efforts. He blasted barring Iraqis who risked their lives to work as interpreters for U.S. forces, who have already undergone extensive screening. McCain and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen led a push to pass legislation last year to provide visas to those Iraqis. McCain said he thought Iraq should not be on Trump's list. He said it could invite retaliation by Baghdad and said that Iraq should not be lumped in with frequent U.S. nemesis Iran. \"There's no comparison. There's thousands of Americans fighting in Iraq as we speak. And what if the Iraqis decided, OK, we're not going to let all these contractors (working with U.S. forces) ... have visas to come into our country?\" McCain asked. Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday said the country would not retaliate to Trump's travel ban against Iraqi nationals because it did not want to lose Washington's cooperation in the war on Islamic State. McCain said whether legislation was needed would depend on how the executive order was implemented over time. \"Let's see what they do,\" McCain said. \"General Kelly today made some very significant changes to what was initially publicized. So let's see what they do.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Republican lawmakers plan to introduce their legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare after they return from next week's break, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters on Thursday. Ryan did not give a specific date and added that lawmakers are waiting to see how congressional analysts \"score\" their proposal to reverse former Democratic President Barack Obama's health care law. The House is scheduled to return Feb. 27.","label":0}
{"text":"Prof. Michael Hudson on Hillary Clinton and the US Elections Video Prof. Michael Hudson, economist and author of 'Killing the Host- How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy', speaks to Ross Ashcroft about the difficult choice faced by Americans in the upcoming US elections. Posted October 31, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price promised on Thursday to repay the nearly $52,000 cost of his seats on private charter flights, as expensive air travel by Trump administration officials drew sharp scrutiny from Congress. \"Today, I will write a personal check to the U.S. Treasury for the expenses of my travel on private charter planes,\" said Price, a former member of Congress, in a statement. \"The taxpayers won't pay a dime for my seat on those planes.\" Price was one of a handful of senior officials in President Donald Trump's administration put on the defensive over reports about their use of charter flights and government aircraft, sometimes for personal travel, when they could have flown commercial for less money. Price told Fox News on Thursday that Trump had spoken to him about the matter and was not happy. Asked if he retained Trump's confidence, Price said he worked at the president's pleasure. Washington media outlet Politico reported that Price had taken at least two dozen private charter flights since May at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of more than $400,000. Politico in a report on Thursday night said the White House had approved the use of military aircraft for other trips by Price to Africa, Europe and Asia in the spring and summer that cost taxpayers more than $500,000. \"Secretary Price will write a personal check to the U.S. Treasury for $51,887.31,\" a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday. Price is paying his individual share of the charter flight cost, an HHS official said. Price said earlier on Thursday he believed he retained Trump's confidence. Senior U.S. government officials travel frequently, but are generally expected to keep the costs down by taking commercial flights or the train when possible. Price, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin were all in the spotlight for their travel habits. Politico reported late on Thursday that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took a charter flight from Las Vegas to Glacier Park International Airport in Montana in June that cost $12,375. The route is served by commercial flights. Zinke also took charter flights between St. Croix and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in March and used a military aircraft to travel to Norway in May, according to Politico. \"As with previous interior secretaries, the Secretary traveled on charter flights when there were no commercial options available,\" Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement. \"All travel is pre-approved by the ethics office before booking and the charter flights went through an additional level of due diligence.\" Republican Senator Chuck Grassley urged Trump in a statement \"to emphasize to cabinet secretaries the necessity of using reasonable and cost-effective modes of travel in accordance with federal restrictions.\" In his statement, Price said his travel had been approved by legal and departmental officials. But he expressed regret over the concerns raised and pledged to take no more private charter flights while health secretary. \"I was not sensitive enough to my concern for the taxpayer,\" said Price, an orthopedic surgeon. He was confirmed in February as health secretary despite questions about how he had been buying shares in publicly traded healthcare companies while working on legislation affecting them. As a conservative Republican U.S. representative in 2009, Price chastised \"the fiscal irresponsibility\" of private-plane use by government officials in an appearance on CNBC television that he also posted on Twitter. Price's travels and those of the entire Trump Cabinet are being probed by a U.S. House of Representatives committee. Senate Democrats wrote to Price on Thursday demanding information about his flights. The inspectors general at HHS, EPA and Treasury are investigating to see if government travel rules were followed. The EPA's inspector general said last month it was investigating Pruitt's frequent travels to his home state of Oklahoma. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Pruitt had taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said Pruitt did use one charter flight but that other commissioned flights were done on government planes. \"The administrator flies commercial, unless there is a necessity to do otherwise, and with approvals from EPA's ethics office,\" said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox. At the Treasury Department, the inspector general is reviewing Mnuchin's use of a government plane to fly to Kentucky in August for a visit to Louisville and Fort Knox. Mnuchin and his wife viewed the solar eclipse during the trip. On the \"CBS This Morning\" program on Thursday, Mnuchin said he would use military planes in the future only when there are national security issues or \"there's no other means\" of travel.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. demands for more favorable treatment under the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a proposal that any new deal be allowed to expire after five years, heightened tensions as negotiators held another round of talks to renew the pact this week. NAFTA, long opposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, was first implemented in 1994. It eliminates most tariffs on trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico and underpins $1 trillion of trade. Key issues facing negotiators include: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the United States is seeking to add a so-called sunset clause to NAFTA to provide a regular, \"systematic re-examination\" of the trade pact. The provision, causing NAFTA to expire after five years unless all three countries decide to renew it, has been met with disbelief by Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They say a major reason for having a trade deal is to provide investors with certainty about the future. The United States wants U.S. parts to be make up at least 50 percent of the content of autos made in North America, and parts from the region to make up at least 85 percent of the vehicles. At present cars must contain at least 62.5 percent American, Canadian or Mexican content. Canada, Mexico and the auto industry warn that such strict rules will drive automakers to make their vehicles elsewhere, or buy cheap Asian parts and pay the tariffs. The United States has sought to ditch the so-called Chapter 19 tool, under which binational panels hear complaints about illegal subsidies and dumping and then issue binding decisions. Washington argues that Chapter 19 infringes on the sovereignty of its domestic laws. Canada has said Chapter 19 can be updated, but that a dispute settlement mechanism has to be part of any updated NAFTA. Mexico also says dispute settlement mechanisms are a vital part of the deal and give investors security. Quotas are already a feature of NAFTA in several agricultural commodities including dairy and sugar, but Washington is seeking to eliminate non-tariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports. Dairy was excluded from the original 1994 NAFTA deal, and U.S. President Donald Trump has called Canada's restrictions on dairy imports a \"disgrace.\" The United States is pushing for the Canadian and Mexican governments to open up their tender processes to U.S.-made products, but at the same time it is defending existing \"Buy American\" procurement laws under a proposal dubbed \"Dollar for Dollar.\" The Buy American provisions have blocked the use of Canadian steel to build U.S. bridges, and Canada is pushing for a freer market for government procurement. The United States is exploring ways to protect fresh fruit and vegetable farmers in Florida and Georgia by giving small growers easier access to anti-dumping measures, a move Mexico sees as anti-free trade. It is also opposed by larger U.S. farm outfits that use their Mexican fields to sell cheap berries and tomatoes to U.S. consumer all year round under NAFTA. INVESTOR-STATE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT The United States has proposed a minor tweaking of the NAFTA Chapter 11 provisions, designed to ensure that firms that invest abroad receive \"fair and equitable\" treatment by foreign governments. Opponents of the provisions argue they infringe on sovereignty and benefit multinational corporations. Canada wants to update the mechanism to allow governments to regulate in the interest of the environment or labor, as in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement that Canada recently negotiated with the European Union. Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo last week criticized a U.S. proposal he said was aimed at putting new restrictions on companies that do deals with Mexico's state-run energy companies. In 2014, Mexico opened its energy sector to private investment and says it has since raised at least $60 billion in investment commitments.","label":0}
{"text":"Wenjian Liu, 32, and his partner, Rafael Ramos, 40, were murdered on Dec. 20 as they sat in their squad car in Brooklyn after killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley had stated he was seeking vengeance for the deaths this summer of two unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers. Brinsley killed himself after ambushing the officers. With de Blasio expected to speak at Liu's funeral, police commissioner Bill Bratton told officers ahead of Saturday's wake to refrain from the \"act of disrespect\" seen at Ramos' funeral a week ago, when thousands of officers turned their backs on the mayor. \"A hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance,\" Bratton wrote in a memo to officers. De Blasio and Bratton entered the funeral home together for the wake as officers stood guard by the entrance, saluting both men as they went in. The murders frayed already strained relations between the police force and de Blasio, who sharply criticized the NYPD's \"stop-and-frisk\" tactics during his 2013 campaign. The liberal mayor also offered qualified support for the wave of protests triggered by the two black men's deaths in New York and Ferguson, Missouri, and has said he talked to his bi-racial son, Dante, about interacting with police. Immediately after Liu and Ramos were shot, Patrick Lynch, the head of the city's largest police union, expressed scorn for de Blasio, saying there was \"blood on many hands.\" Ramos' funeral a week ago among the largest in NYPD history, with more than 20,000 officers from around the country on hand. When de Blasio began his eulogy there, many uniformed officers turned their backs in a gesture of disdain, which Bratton called inappropriate, saying it had stolen the \"valor, honor and attention\" that was rightfully due the slain officer. In his memo, Bratton said he understood emotions were running high among the rank and file, adding that his entreaty to the department was not a mandate and he was not threatening to discipline those who did not comply. \"But,\" he said, \"I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it.\"","label":0}
{"text":"According to WIRED THERE ARE HACKABLE security flaws in software. And then there are those that don t even require hacking at all just a knock on the door and asking to be let in. Apple s macOS High Sierra has the second kind.On Tuesday, security researchers disclosed a bug that allows anyone a blindingly easy method of breaking that operating system s security protections. Anyone who hits a prompt in High Sierra asking for a username and password before logging into a machine with multiple users, they can simply type root as a username, leave the password field blank, click unlock twice, and immediately gain full access.In other words, the bug allows any rogue user that gets the slightest foothold on a target computer to gain the deepest level of access to a computer, known as root privileges. Malware designed to exploit the trick could also fully install itself deep within the computer, no password required. We always see malware trying to escalate privileges and get root access, says Patrick Wardle, a security researcher with Synack. This is best, easiest way ever to get root, and Apple has handed it to them on a silver platter. As word of the security vulnerability rippled across Twitter and other social media, a few security researchers found they couldn t replicate the issue, but others captured and posted video demonstrations of the attack, like Wardle s GIF below, and another that shows security researcher Amit Serper logging into a logged-out account. WIRED also independently confirmed the bug.Watch these two incredible videos posted to Twitter letting Apple know they have a HUGE security issue at MacOS High Sierra: pic.twitter.com\/4TBh5NetIS patrick wardle (@patrickwardle) November 28, 2017Just tested the apple root login bug. You can log in as root even after the machi was rebooted pic.twitter.com\/fTHZ7nkcUp Amit Serper (@0xAmit) November 28, 2017The fact that the attack could be used on a logged-out account raises the possibility that someone with physical access could exploit it just as easily as malware, points out Thomas Reed, an Apple-focused security researcher with MalwareBytes. They could, for instance, use the attack to gain root access to a logged-out machine, set a root password, and then regain access to a machine at any time. Oooh, boy, this is a doozy, says Reed. So, if someone did this to a Mac sitting on a desk in an office, they could come back later and do whatever they wanted. Facebook user Brian Matiash tells Mac users about how they protect their Mac from being hacked. We cannot confirm or deny if his advice is legit, we are simply sharing it with you. Matiash gives Facebook users the following advice: Wonders never cease, Apple. How can such a painfully obvious bug like this make it by your QA teams? At least make the default root password be password or something. FFS, guys. Get you damned act together. EDIT: It would be socially responsible of me to state that there is a fairly easy workaround. Start by opening up Terminal.app and type the following command: sudo passwd -u root Next, enter your primary user password. Then, enter a new password for root and retype it to confirm. There. You re protected.(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.11'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Wonders never cease, Apple. How can such a painfully obvious bug like this make it by your QA teams? At least make the default root password be 'password' or something. FFS, guys. Get you damned act together.EDIT: It would be socially responsible of me to state that there is a fairly easy workaround. Start by opening up Terminal.app and type the following command:sudo passwd -u rootNext, enter your primary user password. Then, enter a new password for root and retype it to confirm. There. You're protected.Posted by Brian Matiash on Tuesday, November 28, 2017Reed also notes, however and other researchers confirm that it s possible to block the attack by either setting a password for the root user or disabling root access altogether. If you ve installed High Sierra and haven t set a root password or disabled root access, you should do it now.In a statement, Apple confirmed the problem, reiterated that short-term fix, and promised a longer-term software patch: We are working on a software update to address this issue, an Apple spokesperson wrote.","label":1}
{"text":"The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker! [0610 EDT] - Great reporting by @foxandfriends and so many others. Thank you! [0654 EDT] - Congratulations to Jeb Hensarling & Republicans on successful House vote to repeal major parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law. GROWTH! [1022 EDT] - An honor to join the @FaithandFreedom Coalition yesterday. In America, we don't worship government. We worship God. #FaithandFreedom [1428 EDT] - A great honor to host and welcome leaders from around America to the @WhiteHouse Infrastructure Summit. #InfrastructureWeek [1448 EDT] - It is time to rebuild OUR country, to bring back OUR jobs, to restore OUR dreams, & yes, to put #AmericaFirst! TY Ohio! #InfrastructureWeek [1852 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly\/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly\/2jpEXYR)","label":0}
{"text":"It s teetering on the ridiculous watching the US mainstream media get their knickers in a twist over Donald Trump s provocative comments during the last Presidential Debate about the possibility of election rigging, and whether or not he would respect the official result on November 8th.Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, also weighed in decriying Trump s assertion akin to a threat to democracy , stating, Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity. More than a bit melodramatic, considering recent history It seems that the unashamed pro-Clinton US mainstream media have an incredibly short memory. Remember the 2000 Presidential race between George W. Bush (Republican) and Al Gore (Democrat)? It was not only contested, the election was eventually called on a technicality by the US Supreme Court.Who held up the election: the very same Democratic Party who are going hysterical over Trump s recent off-hand remarks. Again, that same Democratic Party also cried foul in 2004, when John Kerry lost by a narrow margin to the incumbent Bush.Was there fraud and rigging in 2000 and 2004? Many leading leftwing media pundits still think so, and yet the US liberal-dominated mainstream media and political savants still equate Trump s comments with a coup d etat threat.Brasscheck TV says: Here s sanitized, mainstream news media s account of the endless campaign of 2000. And even their version is wild and unbelievable Anyone who has seriously studied the issue knows that the level of voter fraud, although not zero, is minuscule, and that in-person impersonation hardly ever exists. Yet by saying it over and over, Trump is fanning flames that are dangerous for our democracy. Always the dutiful gatekeeper and establishment-controlled media arm, CNN makes the old Pravda seem like Zero Hedge.READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"The shadowy terrorist believed to have made the explosives used in Tuesday's attacks in Brussels and the November massacre in Paris was one of two suicide bombers who died at Zaventem Airport, sources told Fox News. Morrocan-born Najim Laachraoui, 24, was identified by law enforcement sources as one of two Islamic terrorists seen pushing suitcase bombs and wearing single \"dead man's hand\" black gloves - in a surveillance photo. The gloves are believed to have hidden detonators. A third man seen in the photo is believed to have escaped the scene and is being hunted. Laachraoui is suspected of also making the bomb used in a blast 79 minutes later at a Brussels Metro station, as well as the explosives used to kill 130 in the the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks in Paris. ISIS has claimed credit for Tuesday's carnage in Brussels. The announcement came following a day of uncertainty regarding the explosives mastermind. At a midday news conference, Belgian authorities appeared not to know of his fate and he was believed to be the subject of a nationwide dragnet. Raids on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning uncovered his suspected factory, turning up bomb-making materials in a Schaerbeek apartment, including detonators, nails and 15 kilos of acetone peroxide, a highly unstable chemical which is favored by Islamists because it's easy to make. The chemical also was found in the explosives used in the Paris attack. Laachraoui was raised in Brussels' Schaerbeek neighborhood, a predominantly Muslim area, according to The Washington Post. He's believed to have attended a local Catholic high school where he studied electro-mechanical engineering. Laachraoui traveled to Syria in February 2013, prosecutors said, and it was not clear when he returned to Europe. Prosecutors have said Laachraoui played a key role in recruiting and training attackers for ISIS, according to The Wall Street Journal. He was checked by guards at the Austria-Hungary border on Sept. 9 while driving in a Mercedes with Abdeslam and one other person, Belgium's federal prosecutors said in a statement. Using a false identity, Laachraoui also rented a house under the name of Soufiane Kayal in the Belgian town of Auvelais. That residence was allegedly used as a safe house, where prosecutors said traces of his DNA were found. That same DNA was later found on the Paris explosives. The house was searched Nov. 26. On Monday, Van Leeuw said officials wanted to interview Laachraoui, who was \"someone who must explain himself.\" On Tuesday, coordinated terror attacks ripped through Brussels. Investigators reportedly believe attacks already being plotted were expedited in light of Abdeslam's arrest -- and word that he is cooperating with authorities. Earlier Wednesday, two men suspected of taking part in Tuesday's bombings were identified as Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui. Khalid is believed to have blown himself up on the Metro, an attack which killed at least 20 and injured more than 100, while Ibrahim is believed to have been the other airport bomber. The fourth bomber, the man in the far left of the airport photo pushing a cart next to Ibrahim, has not yet been identified. The brothers were well-known to police. In a raid Tuesday at Ibrahim's address, Van Leeuw said \"there was a paper where he described that he is insecure, that he is lost and he does not know what to do and he might end up in jail.\" Both Ibrahim and his brother were Belgian citizens and born in Brussels, authorities said. A March 15 raid on an apartment rented by Khalid, 27, led to Friday's arrest of Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam after one of Abdeslam's fingerprints was discovered in the apartment. Politico Europe, citing a senior Belgian official, reported that Abdeslam was supposed to take part in Tuesday's attacks. The report did not specify what role Abdeslam would have played. DH reported that in October 2010, Ibrahim, 30, was convicted of shooting at police with a Kalashnikov during an attempted robbery. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. In February 2011, the paper reported, Khalid was sentenced to five years' probation in connection with a string of carjackings. Turkey said Wednesday that Ibrahim had been detained on the Syrian border last summer, and that Ankara warned Brussels officials that he was a militant before sending him home.","label":0}
{"text":"The Department of Homeland Security will not target immigrants brought to the United States as children for deportation, despite conflicting statements within the Trump administration, its secretary John Kelly said on Sunday. Kelly, asked on Sunday morning talk shows to clarify the department's position on the status of these illegal immigrants protected under an Obama-era program, said the agency is focused on deporting only dangerous criminals. \"My organization has not targeted these so-called Dreamers,\" Kelly told CNN, referring to the name given to those granted protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by Democratic President Barack Obama and extended by Republican President Donald Trump. \"We have many, many more important criminals to go after,\" he said. Trump has said Dreamers \"have nothing to worry about,\" but Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week said immigrants who arrived in the United States as children were \"subject to being deported.\" On Sunday, Sessions walked back his earlier statement. \"I believe that everyone that enters the country unlawfully is subject to being deported; however, we've got \u2014 we don't have the ability to round up everybody and there's no plans to do that,\" Sessions said on ABC. \"But we're going to focus first, as the president has directed us, on the criminal element.\" On Feb. 17, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who had lived in the United States since he was 9, was deported from the border city of Calexico, California, after being questioned by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer. That was the first documented deportation of a Dreamer. Kelly said in another Sunday interview on CBS that while Dreamers are not being targeted, several of them end up detained by immigration officers as they round up criminals. \"People fall into our hands incidentally that we have no choice in most cases but to go ahead and put in the system,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Wounded Warrior Project has done so much to help so many veterans who have paid a heavy price for our freedom. Senior Airman Brian Kolfage Jr is a good friend and recipient of the WWP s 2014 George C. Lang Award for Courage.The George C. Lang Award for Courage PRESENTED TO BRIAN KOLFAGE Jr. from Brian on Vimeo.Sales from the newly released DVD of American Sniper are expected to generate a million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), a charitable organization founded to honor and empower U.S. veterans and armed service members who incurred a physical or mental injury after 9\/11.A Warner Bros. production company statement says that one dollar of each purchase of the DVD, between its release on Tuesday and December 31, will be donated to WWP, up to $1 million from sales.American Sniper was based on the autobiography of Chris Kyle, a runaway bestseller which spent 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, 13 of those at number one. Kyle is thought to have been the most lethal Navy SEAL sniper in American history with 160 confirmed kills.The blockbuster film, which was unabashedly pro-War on Terror, was a massive box office success and out-grossed every other film released in 2014, including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy. The film grossed some $543 million worldwide.According to The Christian Post, Kyle personally wanted Clint Eastwood to direct the film, and after his tragic death the producers approached Eastwood who agreed to sign on as director of the project.Together with his friend, Chad Littlefield, Kyle was shot and killed by a Marine that he was trying to help overcome PTSD while at a Texas gun range in 2013, not long before the film went into production.Chris Kyle was a Christian whose father served as a deacon and whose mother taught Sunday school. He believed in the morality of what he did as a Navy SEAL sniper, and felt that on Judgment Day he would have things to answer for, but that his service as a SEAL wouldn t be one of them. In his autobiography, Kyle wrote:I believe the fact that I ve accepted Jesus as my savior will be my salvation. But in that backroom or whatever it is when God confronts me with my sins, I do not believe any of the kills I had during the war will be among them. Everyone I shot was evil. I had good cause on every shot. They all deserved to die.","label":1}
{"text":"Chart Of The Day: Private Residential Construction Stalls-Out 40% Below Pre-Crisis Peak By David Stockman. Posted On Tuesday, November 1st, 2016  David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman's latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler's Daily Data Dive and David's personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump set tongues wagging with a tweet on Monday promising a special guest scheduled to appear with him at campaign event in Iowa on Tuesday, January 19. His campaign announced: He ll be making a major announcement & bringing a special guest. Now, after some sleuthing by some conservatives online, it appears that the guest may be none other than failed Republican presidential candidate and half-term governor Sarah Palin.Eagle-eyed campaign watchers found a flight on a private jet that left Anchorage International Airport, and five hours later touched down at Des Moines International Airport.Since her campaign flameout, Palin has kept her brand alive at the center of conservative politics. She has been a featured speaker at the CPAC conference and regularly has pumped out books targeted at conservative readers. A pay-per-view video venture of hers was less successful and recently shuttered. Palin recently put her gated Arizona mansion up for sale.Palin may be accused by some conservatives of being disloyal to Trump rival Ted Cruz, who she endorsed and campaigned for in the past.But Palin has also been a booster of Donald Trump. Last November she said his nomination was a strong possibility. I think it s a very real possibility because people are really tired of professional politicians who, you know, won t call it like they see it and maybe don t have life experiences that allow them to prove a track record of success, the former vice presidential nominee said in a radio interview with WBT Charlotte s News Talk radio on Thursday. That s refreshing about Trump, she said. He s a fighter. We know he s gonna put America first, and he really nailed it early on what the main problems are in America right now, so it s a very real possibility. In 2011 when there was speculation Palin might challenge President Obama in 2012, she took her bus tour to New York City and had a weird pizza date with Trump and his wife, Melania.While mostly a laughingstock to the public at large, Republican base voters remain enamored with Palin, and may view an endorsement by her of the reality TV star as a signal to select him as their candidate as the Iowa caucus waits only a couple of weeks away.","label":1}
{"text":"Moments before Catalonia s leader, Carles Puigdemont, baulked at declaring independence from Spain this week, cracks were already appearing in his secessionist ranks. Some members of his political alliance say they were waiting for him at Barcelona s 18th-century regional parliament building on Tuesday evening, fully expecting him to call for an independence vote in the chamber that night. Instead, after arriving late, to the cheers of thousands of supporters, the former journalist and lifetime advocate of independence told his allies an hour before entering the chamber that there had been a late change of plan, according to one of those present. There would be no vote. Instead, Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence, then suspended it and called for negotiations with Madrid. We are annoyed, we are hurt, we are angry because he came up with a strategic change one hour before the parliamentary session, said Carles Riera, a member of the Catalan parliament from the far-left CUP party, which backs an unequivocal declaration of independence and whose support keeps Puigdemont s minority government alive. A spokesman for Puigdemont s party denied he had surprised all of his own political allies, saying his core coalition had agreed the plan in the morning. The CUP was not included in that morning meeting but was informed afterwards, the spokesman said, without saying when. The CUP s claim of betrayal reveals the shaky political foundations upon which Catalonia s independence movement is built, a jumble of parties ranging from anti-capitalists to free marketeers whose only common cause is to split from Spain. There are now doubts over Puigdemont s ability to survive the worst confrontation between Catalonia, a former principality with its own language and culture, and Madrid in 40 years. Members of the CUP say Puigdemont lost his nerve at the crucial moment. One CUP lawmaker present at the meeting, Eulalia Reguant, quit the day after, citing his reversal. Instead of persuading Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to accept talks, his gesture was met with an ultimatum: renounce independence by Thursday or Madrid will use its constitutional power to take control of the region directly. Now Puigdemont, 54, finds himself in a struggle with not only Madrid, but also internally with the CUP, which may end up being the bigger danger for his political career and for his prospects of winning another regional election on a pro-independence platform. The small CUP party had ousted Puigdemont s predecessor as Catalan president, Artur Mas, in 2015. It refused to back the mainstream independence coalition, Junts pel Si, unless Mas stepped down. If Puigdemont backs down and says we tried but this is not working, unilateral secession isn t doable, I don t think CUP will support him again, said Eurasia analyst Federico Santi. He said Puigdemont s party was already sliding in opinion polls. In the final hour before Puigdemont stood up in the regional parliament to announce that he was suspending the independence push, he also made it clear to those in his political circle that their voices were not the only ones that mattered. I am talking to the world, he told them when pressed for an explanation, according to two people who were present. Some in the room said they suspected he had taken a phone call from a senior EU figure in Brussels, though the heads of the two main EU political institutions, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, said it was not them. One EU official, however, said there was reason to believe that an emotional personal appeal Tusk had made publicly to Puigdemont a couple of hours before he was due to speak had weighed on the Catalan leader s decision. Puigdemont has always considered world opinion as crucial to Catalan independence: as a journalist in the 1990s, he traveled Europe to research media impressions of Catalonia and wrote a book, Cata ... que? (Cata ... what?). A supporter of the European Union, he switches easily from Catalan to Spanish, French or Romanian, the native language of his wife, whom he met at the Catalan News Agency he founded. The president made a speech which was very much addressed to EU institutions and governments, a Catalan government source said on condition of anonymity. Puigdemont also made clear that he considered it would be Spain s responsibility if it rejected his offer of dialogue. Several neighboring countries criticized Spain s use of force to disrupt Catalonia s Oct. 1 independence referendum, which had been banned by Madrid. Hundreds were injured when police used batons and rubber bullets on voters. The crackdown, though, fired up independence supporters and hardened expectations among Puigdemont s base that he would unilaterally declare independence in parliament. When he didn t, supporters watching his speech on large screens outside the assembly buried their heads in their hands, some wept, and they rolled up their Catalan flags and went home. Inside, the recriminations were well underway. Some lawmakers in Puigdemont s Junts pel Si coalition said they, too, had only been informed of his tactic at the 11th hour, though the spokesman for Puigdemont s party denied this. The government source said Catalan companies leaving the region in the days before his speech had also weighed on Puigdemont s mind. Several firms, including Catalonia s two major banks, moved their legal headquarters to other parts of Spain. Some anxious Catalan depositors traveled to neighboring regions to open bank accounts there. Jordi Alberich, director of Barcelona-based business association Cercle D Economia, met Puigdemont on Oct. 7. He seemed to be very conscious of the consequences of a unilateral declaration of independence, Alberich said. He was very worried about companies fleeing.","label":0}
{"text":"Applying for financial aid for college got a lot harder this month, in the thick of application season, but it took federal agencies nearly a week to explain what was happening. To get aid for college from federal or state governments, as well as from colleges, students and their parents must fill out the Fafsa (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The notoriously complicated form, which is longer than the typical 1040 tax form, collects detailed information from students and families about income, expenses and taxes. On March 3, families logging onto the website for federal aid found that a key component of the online application had stopped functioning. The component, known as the Data Retrieval Tool, automatically fills in a Fafsa application with information from an applicant's tax return, via a data connection with the Internal Revenue Service. Without the tool, applicants have to transcribe tax information from their old returns or order tax transcripts from the I. R. S. (which can take several weeks). Twitter started to fill with frustrated messages from applicants wondering when the tool would be back up. Student advocacy organizations, such as the National College Access Network (N. C. A. N.) pleaded with the Department of Education and the I. R. S. to explain the situation and resolve it as quickly as possible, but received no response. N. C. A. N. and others began urging families to contact their elected representatives. Six days later, on Thursday morning, the Department of Education and the I. R. S. jointly released a statement saying that the I. R. S. had \"decided to temporarily suspend the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) as a precautionary step following concerns that information from the tool could potentially be misused by identity thieves. \" The agencies declined to elaborate, and it was unclear whether a breach had occurred or had only been feared. The tool has been in use for five years, with no reports of identity theft stemming from its use. If the move was, as the statement said, a precautionary step, waiting to repair it until after the peak of the aid application season would have been far less disruptive. Students can still apply for student aid, and it seems they should not postpone their application in hopes that the data tool will return anytime soon. While the agencies have provided no specific date, they have indicated it will be down at least several weeks. Completing the Fafsa is now going to require more legwork, more paperwork and more time, and applicants will be putting themselves in a difficult position if they wait until the last minute to apply. Fafsas completed without using the data tool are more likely to be chosen for \"verification,\" an audit that requires applicants to submit additional paperwork to prove that their tax information is accurate. This further slows the process. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has asked the Department of Education to scale back verification requirements given the data tool outage. Federal aid such as Pell grants and Stafford loans have no firm deadline students can apply all year. But many states have limited aid budgets that are rationed on a basis. And colleges have deadlines for their own aid, which is drawn from endowments and tuition revenue and which is limited at most schools. Delayed applications may mean, for many students, no aid from states or school. The unannounced suspension of the data tool comes at a critical moment in the aid cycle. March is a peak time for aid applications, second only to February in the volume of Fafsa submissions. The deadlines for 19 state aid programs are approaching, according to Sarah Pingel of the Education Commission of the States. The I. R. S. suspended the data tool just as it was benefiting more applicants than ever before. In past years, the Fafsa application called for tax data from the previous year, even though most filers wouldn't have had returns processed by this point. But now those applying for aid for the academic year are allowed to submit information from their 2015 tax return (in fact, it's a requirement to use 2015 and not 2016 returns) \u2014 a change made in part to allow many more people to use the data tool. It is not just current students who are affected by the shutdown. Borrowers applying for or renewing their eligibility for repayment plans such as Pay as You Earn use the data tool to verify their income information, which is used to calculate payments. The Trump administration has tightened social media and other communications from agencies. Coordinating communication across multiple agencies may be particularly challenging, as the administration may require approvals from political appointees who are not yet fully in place. This may explain the silence from the education department while the tool was disabled for a week. The problem with this approach is that it takes a broad network of financial aid offices, aid professionals and advocacy groups to keep the aid system functioning. College offices put together aid packages and communicate with students, for example. If this intricate infrastructure is not kept informed about changes, the aid system will grind to a halt.","label":0}
{"text":"North Carolina s anti-transgender law, HB2, has made the state and its notoriously bigoted governor, Pat McCrory, come under fire from decent people and companies everywhere. Well, now they are going to take a huge hit to the state s economy as the National Basketball Association has pulled its All-Star game out of Charlotte over the law. The sports organization said that it would be unable to host the convention while the law is on the books and being enforced. They said in a statement: Our week-long schedule of All-Star events and activities is intended to be a global celebration of basketball, our league, and the values for which we stand, and to bring together all members of the NBA community current and former players, league and team officials, business partners, and fans.While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2. As expected, Pat McCrory, like the good, small-minded bigot that he is, struck back and blamed liberals for the consequences of his own bigotry: The sports and entertainment elite, Attorney General Roy Cooper and the liberal media have for months misrepresented our laws and maligned the people of North Carolina simply because most people believe boys and girls should be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers without the opposite sex present. Twenty-one other states have joined North Carolina to challenge the federal overreach by the Obama administration mandating their bathroom policies in all businesses and schools instead of allowing accommodations for unique circumstances. Left-wing special interest groups have no moral authority to try and intimidate the large majority of American parents who agree in common-sense bathroom and shower privacy for our children. The Human Rights Campaign immediately came out to praise the NBA for their strong stand against bigotry. President Chad Griffin said: Today the NBA and Commissioner Silver sent a clear message that they won t stand for discrimination against LGBTQ employees, players or fans, said Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin in a statement. The NBA repeatedly warned state lawmakers that their hateful HB2 law created an inhospitable environment for their 2017 All-Star Game and other events. Nevertheless, Governor McCrory, Senator Berger and Speaker Moore doubled down on HB2 and refused to undo their discriminatory and costly error in judgment. Every day that HB2 remains on the books, people across North Carolina are at risk of real harm. We appreciate the leadership of the NBA in standing up for equality and call once again on lawmakers to repeal this vile HB2 law. HB2 is nothing more than a strike at the LGBTQ community. These right-wing transphobes and homophobes are so afraid of LGBTQ people that they are literally policing who can pee. It s a level of bigotry and insanity that is unacceptable in our society, and businesses are sending clear messages that they don t reward open, overt, and deliberate discrimination. The NBA follows a long list of businesses and entertainers who have refused to enter North Carolina until they stop making discrimination a matter of law.Keep the pressure on, big business. In the end, hate never wins.","label":1}
{"text":"Since President Trump appointed Sebastian Gorka last month as a deputy assistant, Mr. Gorka has been an increasingly visible defender of the administration. He has spoken out in favor of the targeted travel ban, which spurred mass protests and was then blocked by federal courts. He suggested in a recent interview with The Hill that the CNN anchor Jake Tapper was sexist for aggressively questioning the Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway. He has also insisted that media reports of turmoil in the White House bear \"almost no resemblance to reality. \" Mr. Gorka came out swinging again on Thursday, after Mr. Trump's contentious news conference in which he excoriated the media. Asked by Evan Davis of the BBC to assess Mr. Trump's appearance, Mr. Gorka repeatedly declared the president's performance \"fabulous. \" \"It's only weird to journalists like yourself, who are biased,\" he said. Who is he? Here's what we know: Mr. Gorka is an American citizen who was born in Britain to Hungarian parents. He earned a Ph. D. in political science from Corvinus University of Budapest and has made his living as a national security expert with a focus on Islamist extremism. He wrote a book, published last year, called \"Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. \" In his Breitbart articles, he has criticized foreign policy under the Obama administration and trumpeted the threat of the Islamic State group. Mr. Gorka, 46, is a former editor for the media outlet Breitbart News and a friend of Stephen Bannon, the former Breitbart chairman who is now a powerful assistant to Mr. Trump. Until recently, Mr. Gorka was not well known to Washington policy makers. But his increasing visibility has brought headlines, some less welcome than others. He has appeared in a number of television and radio interviews as a representative of the Trump administration and a member of a White House team called the Strategic Initiatives Group. The Daily Beast called it a think tank within the White House that was set up by Mr. Bannon and the president's and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. The group's formation raised red flags, said Julianne Smith, a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the director of strategy and statecraft at the Center for a New American Security. The National Security Council has traditionally played a decisive role in foreign policy decisions, she said. \"Now we have the Strategic Initiatives Group and the National Security Council both working on issues of national security and strategy. So my question on Sebastian, ultimately, is: Who is he reporting to? Is he reporting to the National Security Council? Or is this a direct line to Bannon?\" Mr. Gorka said he could not comment for this article without clearance from the White House. But after multiple calls and emails since Tuesday, neither he nor the White House has answered questions about his position or the role of the initiatives group. This month, Mr. Gorka told CNN that the group would bring private industry expertise to bear on a range of issues, including cybersecurity, veterans affairs and the modernization of government technological systems. \"That is very different from what the National Security Council is doing every day under the sterling leadership of General Flynn,\" he added, referring to Michael T. Flynn, then the national security adviser, who would resign 12 days later. Ms. Smith said she was not personally familiar with Mr. Gorka, though she had crossed paths with him during the early 2000s. \"I don't know what to believe about this guy, but given his experience at Breitbart and what I had heard years ago, it does appear to me that he takes some rather extreme views,\" she said. Mr. Gorka dismissed such criticisms during a Wednesday interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News and brushed aside some of the more controversial reports buzzing around him. \"I think we're doing our job very well \u2014 don't you, Sean? \u2014 if this is the best they can do,\" he said. He referred to reports, like one from Fusion, that said he had exaggerated his role as an expert witness in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of helping to carry out the Boston bombing of 2013. Mr. Gorka told Mr. Hannity he still had invoices for the expert report he submitted for the case. \"I may not have taken the stand, but I was an expert on the Boston bombing trial,\" he said. As for the speculations about Nazi sympathies, they go back to one of Mr. Trump's inauguration balls, when Mr. Gorka \u2014 appearing in photos and a video interview with Mr. Hannity \u2014 wore a medal that could be interpreted as a nod to Miklos Horthy, a Hungarian leader who entered into a strained alliance with Nazi Germany in the early years of World War II. In a video posted by Breitbart on Tuesday, Mr. Gorka said the medal belonged to his father, who he said had suffered \"under both the Nazis and the Communists\" in Hungary, having lived through World War II and survived torture under the government that later came to power. Mr. Gorka was charged with a misdemeanor after he took a handgun into Reagan National Airport in Virginia last year. In a statement quoted by Breitbart, he said that on his way to the airport, he had \"grabbed the wrong bag, one I had just used\" at a gun range. He added that he was allowed to board his flight, and that the weapon was confiscated. The charge was dropped early this month. Though his appointment to the White House occurred only recently, Mr. Gorka has been in touch with Mr. Trump at least since 2015. He wrote last year that he had submitted some policy papers to the presidential candidate and had met with him twice to discuss national security issues. Federal election commission filings indicate that the Trump campaign paid $8, 000 to Mr. Gorka for policy consulting in 2015. It is difficult to predict the impact Mr. Gorka could have on foreign policy in the White House, Ms. Smith said, especially since he is apparently working under the shadowy aegis of Mr. Bannon. \"We've got a situation where both outsiders and certain members of the government are confused about who is serving as the lead on foreign policy decisions,\" she said. \"And because we are not clear about Steve Bannon's role, it raises a lot of concern because of his personal views, and also his lack of experience. \"","label":0}
{"text":"It s one thing to call a person stupid, it s another to prove it, and that s exactly what Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) just did to Donald Trump in one simple tweet.You see, Takano is a former British literature teacher, knows a thing or two about the English language and can spellcheck you in real time. That s bad news for a guy like Trump who often takes to Twitter in anger-fueled rants and doesn t take the time to proofread his tweets, or even let spellcheck do it for him.In Trump s latest grouping of tweets, he really, really messed up. In fact, following a tweet that said, We must fix our education system, he tweeted I hear by demand and then, I hearby demand and then finally, I hereby demand. Check it out:via TwitterNot letting the moment escape him, Takano pointed out the irony of the spelling errors following a tweet about fixing our education system.Takano tweeted: The moment when one tweet is proof of the other tweet. The moment when one tweet is proof of the other tweet. pic.twitter.com\/aPV0b9jBOw Mark Takano (@RepMarkTakano) March 3, 2017In other words, Trump just got called out on his inability to spell and was kinda sorta called stupid.Now, did a Trump staffer tweet out this mess? Maybe. Undoubtedly, Trump won t say it was him because, according to him, he s seemingly never wrong.Nevertheless, Takano s tweet is absolutely hilarious. Well played.Featured Photo by Tom Pennington\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The U.N. refugee agency urged Bangladesh on Tuesday to speed up vetting of up to 15,000 Rohingya refugees stranded near the border after crossing into the country from Myanmar and move them further inland to safer and better conditions. Some 582,000 Rohingya are now known to have fled since violence erupted on Aug. 25 in northern Rakhine state, where they lack access to food and healthcare, U.N. officials said. We are gravely concerned about humanitarian conditions in Bangladesh, where thousands of new arrivals are stranded near the border, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told a Geneva news briefing. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 have entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point since Sunday night, many of whom described walking for about a week to reach the border, he said. We are advocating with the Bangladesh authorities to urgently admit these refugees fleeing violence and increasingly difficult conditions back home. Every minute counts given the fragile condition they are arriving in, Mahecic said. The delay was due to screening by Bangladesh border guards, he said, emphasizing this was the right of any government. U.N. aid agencies have not had access to the shrinking Rohingya population in northern Rakhine state since the Aug. 25 coordinated insurgent attacks on police posts and army campaign which the U.N. rights office has likened to ethnic cleansing . U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman wrapped up a five-day visit to Myanmar on Tuesday. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Feltman saw dozens of burned and destroyed villages in northern Rakhine. Dujarric said that in Feltman s discussions with the Myanmar military he noted that, in the U.N. s experience, successful counterterrorism efforts do not rely exclusively on security measures and urged them to support credible investigations into allegations of human rights abuses by security officials. Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that Rohingya in Rakhine now faced a desperate choice whether to stay or go , not only due to the violence but also humanitarian needs. Nearly 60 percent of the 582,000 refugees who have fled Myanmar since Aug. 25 are children and thousands more are crossing each week, UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said. UNICEF, which is providing clean water every day to 40,000 people in Cox s Bazar, Bangladesh, and has installed thousands of toilets, may have to stop operations by the end of November unless further funds are received, she said. A U.N. interagency appeal of $434 million for Rohingya in Bangladesh and host communities is only 24 percent funded, OCHA s Laerke said.","label":0}
{"text":"Obama decides to nominate Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court even though the Senate announced they would wait until a new administration to confirm a nominee. This is an attempt to box in the Republicans in the Senate. This nominee is left on some things and right on others like criminal justice but has been supported in the past as a judge who will articulate a broad progressive vision for the law . This should be interesting: To be clear, Garland s record does not suggest that he would join the Court s right flank if confirmed to the Supreme Court. He would likely vote much more often than not with the Supreme Court s liberals. Here s the skinny on left leaning Garland:Garland is unquestionably qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. A 19 year veteran of the DC Circuit a court that is widely viewed as the second-most powerful in the nation Garland graduated with high honors from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Justice William Brennan, and spent a few years as a partner in the multinational law firm Arnold and Porter. He also held senior positions in the Justice Department, including a leadership role in the department s criminal division and a stint as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General.At age 63, Garland is also the oldest person nominated to the Supreme Court since President Nixon named Justice Lewis Powell in 1971. Thus, if confirmed, Garland is unlikely to match or even approach Justice Scalia s nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court. Garland s relatively advanced age may help explain why Hatch floated the DC Circuit chief judge as his ideal Obama nominee. Another factor that almost certainly played a role is Garland s reputation for moderation. In 2003, for example, Garland joined an opinion holding that the federal judiciary lacks the authority to assert habeas corpus jurisdiction at the behest of an alien held at a military base leased from another nation, a military base outside the sovereignty of the United States an opinion that effectively prohibited Guantanamo Bay detainees from seeking relief in civilian courts. A little over a year later, the Supreme Court reversed this decision in Rasul v. Bush. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that legal experts disagree about whether the decision Garland joined was mandated by existing precedents. The former prosecutor also has a relatively conservative record on criminal justice. A 2010 examination of his decisions by SCOTUS Blog s Tom Goldstein determined that Judge Garland rarely votes in favor of criminal defendants appeals of their convictions. Goldstein identified only eight such published rulings, in addition to seven where he voted to reverse the defendant s sentence in whole or in part, or to permit the defendant to raise a argument relating to sentencing on remand, during the 13 years Garland had then spent on the DC Circuit. To be clear, Garland s record does not suggest that he would join the Court s right flank if confirmed to the Supreme Court. He would likely vote much more often than not with the Supreme Court s liberals.","label":1}
{"text":"CNN host Don Lemon asks guest Simone Sanders, former Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders: How can you say it s not a hate crime against a white person? Simone answers Lemon s question by suggesting that this is NOT a hate crime. She goes on to say that if the 4 black thugs that beat and tortured this mentally disabled teen did it because they hated Trump, it shouldn t be a hate crime. Sanders explains, Motive here matters. So was this for hate of Donald Trump, the President-elect because of things that he has said, or was this for pure hate of white people? Yeah, so torturing another human being you kidnapped for hours is okay, as long as it was just about something Trump said.","label":1}
{"text":"According to Bedford, Mass. School Superintendent, John Sills, no employees will face disciplinary action for showing this video to the students. People who are sick and tired of watching our nation being divided down racial lines should call him at 781-275-7588. It s time to flood the lines of these leftist school administrators and let him know how you feel about the shaming of white students in a high school he is paid to supervise.BEDFORD, Mass. After students played a video promoting racial stereotypes during the morning announcements, school administrators are dismissing it as a teachable moment. A group of students at Bedford High School who produce BHS Live created a video called Sh*t White People Say, which played off racial stereotypes allegedly held by their white peers.It featured a black girl wearing a blonde wig, several school employees and a number of minority students.It warns white students to DO NOT ASSume things about their black classmates. I m very offended by what I saw, parent Bob Marshall tells Fox 25. It was a very disgusting video, very hurtful video. A lot of them were upset by what they saw, Marshall he says of students who watched it during morning announcements. I m shocked that a video like that could be displayed and that nobody oversaw it. School administrators are pleading ignorance.HERE S THE VIDEO:In a letter home to parents after the incident, the school s principal says, there has not been a vetting process of videos for BHS Live. Therefore, the video was not previewed by any administrator, student or teacher surrounding BHS Live. A protocol for vetting student videos is being developed. That seems a little hard to believe, given that three adults participated in the production.Superintendent John Sills says while it was framed in a way that was offensive, it was a positive thing that the video spurred conversations. I would never say it s good when something offensive happens. But we always seek to find positives, and we continue to work to derive learning from it, according to Sills.That s not good enough for Marshall. To me, it s smoke and mirrors to say oh, it was a learning lesson, Marshall says. Somebody needs to be held accountable and somebody needs to lose their job over it. According to the superintendent, no employees will face disciplinary action.","label":1}
{"text":"Mitch McConnell probably wasn t expecting this from a Fox News host.Yet, when the Senate Majority Leader appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the closest thing to an actual journalist Fox can muster, McConnell was confronted with what he has said in the past about judicial nominees compared with what he is doing now in the name of partisan politics.McConnell used remarks made by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in 2005 and 2007 to make the claim that Republicans are following a longstanding tradition of not filling vacancies on the Supreme Court during a presidential election.Leave it to Republicans to think that 11 years is a longstanding tradition. The fact is, however, that current Justice Anthony Kennedy was confirmed to the high court in 1988, which was an election year. If we go back even further, we find that Justice William Brennan was confirmed in 1956 and Justice Frank Murphy was confirmed in 1940, both during election years.So it s clear an election year does not justify the refusal of Senate Republicans to do their constitutional duty.But Chris Wallace hit McConnell with his own words from 2005 when he said on the Senate floor that in a democracy an up or down vote should be given to a president s judicial nominees. It isn t complicated. It s simple. It s fair. It worked for 229 years and it has served us well. Frankly, isn t there a fair amount of hypocrisy on both sides here? Wallace said, calling out McConnell s own hypocrisy on this issue. Senator, if an up or down vote for a judicial nominee is simple, fair, and a principle that has served us well for over 230 years; if that s true then, is it still true? Wallace asked.McConnell, of course, tried to weasel his way out of it by saying that it s apples and oranges because Supreme Court nominees are somehow not considered judicial nominees even though the Constitution includes the Supreme Court as part of the judicial branch. It s right there in Article III.When asked if Senate Republicans would confirm Garland after the election to prevent a more liberal nominee should Hillary Clinton become president, McConnell proceeded to trash current nominee Merrick Garland as a liberal and complained that his confirmation would swing the court to the left. And if McConnell and his fellow Republicans are unwilling to confirm Garland, you can bet that if the GOP loses the election, they will continue to obstruct any nominee that Clinton nominates to the Suprem Court as well.Here s the video via YouTube.Basically, McConnell just admitted that the real problem Republicans have with confirming a Supreme Court nominee is that they don t want to lose the conservative-leaning Court they have used to roll back policies they don t like over the last couple decades. They are literally throwing a temper tantrum because they think late-Justice Scalia should be replaced with a conservative judge who will be just like him.But that is not how the Supreme Court works. It has always swung from left to right and back again depending on who the president is at the time a vacancy arises either from a death, which is the case now, or a retirement. Justice Scalia probably would have preferred to serve another decade or more on the bench, but even he would say that his vacancy needs to be filled even if the most liberal nominee in the world ends up filling it.As it happens, Garland is not a liberal. He is, in fact, a centrist. But according to McConnell, even that is far too liberal for him and his colleagues to consider.Republicans are literally willing to keep the Supreme Court from working at full capacity for the next year or more until they get their way. So not only have Republicans kept Congress from working properly, they are now preventing the high court from working properly as well and that should outrage every American to the core enough to boot Republicans out of public office for generations until they learn to do their jobs with honor again and start working for all of the American people instead of just their extreme right-wing base.","label":1}
{"text":"People like to pretend that Mike Pence is the grown-up in the room compared to Donald Trump s brash childishness from the White House. However, he proved that wrong on Sunday, when he left the Indiana Colts football game because a few of the players on the team opposing the Colts chose to take a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality against black and brown Americans. Taking a leaf out of Trump s playbook, Pence tweeted:I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem. Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don't think it's too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017Just like Trump, Pence forgets the meaning of the First Amendment, and seems to think that his position gives him the right to try to bully owners, players, and ultimately the National Football League into following his orders. Further, it is worth noting that the Colts were playing the San Francisco 49ers, which is the former team of Colin Kaepernick, the man who started this protest before being blacklisted from the NFL for taking a stand against police brutality against people of color. Further, Pence and Trump admitted that they used the situation to divide the country and make some kind of point on the taxpayers dime because of course we paid for Pence to travel to that football game. For one thing, the press was kept in the van, in anticipation of Pence stirring the pot and then leaving:The media pool was kept in the vans ahead of the game instead of being led in with VPOTUS. https:\/\/t.co\/NXIFZCp3fb Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) October 8, 2017FLAG: Was Pence leaving Colts game a political stunt? Reporters were told to stay in van bc \"there may be an early departure from the game.\" Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 8, 2017Then, Trump admitted to ordering Pence to leave if the 49ers took a knee, which of course everyone knew they would:I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017So, in short, this was all premeditated racial pot stirring. Unsurprising from Trump, but somewhat surprising from Pence, who has been trying very hard to keep up the idea of how OMFG #notracist! he is. Well, that s out the window now.Another white supremacist takes his hood off in the Trump Administration.","label":1}
{"text":"Carly Fiorina has decided to add her face to the sideshow known as the Ted Cruz campaign. Cruz, who can t possibility win the nomination unless there s a contested convention, would then not be picking his own VP, making this entire collaboration a lesson in futility. Nevertheless, Fiorina has spoken and she will be proud to maybe be on his ticket if hell freezes over and enough loons and zealots come out to vote. Her official position, it appears, is ring announcer. With a head bob that exuded all the confidence a woman with zero political capital could muster, Fiorina announced the future first family to the crowd.As the Cruz family heads down towards the stage, Fiorina suddenly disappears. A quick rewind revealed that she had, in fact, taken a header right in front of Ted And Heidi. How would they react? Would they look for her reaction first to see if she was OK and make a clever joke out of it like, Carly just gets so excited to see Ted. Or do you show immediate concern for your friend and hopeful future Vice-President of the United States? Here s how Ted Cruz handled the situation:Wasn t that classy? Both Ted Cruz and wife Heidi decide that the best course of action is to ignore her altogether. Oh, she fell? Keep smiling. Wave over there. She had better get up or I swear to God I m calling Ben Carson. All thoughts that wouldn t be out of the question in someone like Ted Cruz s head. Cruz has always been out for himself. If Ted Cruz wins the White House we re doomed to an onslaught of legislation and vetoes based on the man s personal religious beliefs. The fact that he just brought on Carly Fiorina, who will only be remembered for being so opposed to Planned Parenthood that she was willing to throw her whole campaign behind these taped that turned out to be edited, out of context lies that have already landed those responsible with an indictment.Carly is a fitting piece to the puzzle. She s irrational, annoying and has little actual clout with anyone. Congrats on the great find, Ted. Apparently you care about as much about her as the rest of America.","label":1}
{"text":"Monday on Bloomberg TV, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez predicted because of what he called a GOP overreach, the Democratic Party would retake both chambers of Congress in 2018. Perez said, \"What Republicans have to do is understand is that we need a budget that reflects our values. When you try to cut Meals on Wheels, when you cut investments in education, when you propose to cut the budget of the National Institute of Health by billion dollars, you are cutting that lifeline of research investment that saves lives. Right now what we are seeing plain and simply is that the Republicans are overreaching. That is why we are going to win seats like the congressional seat in District 6 down in Georgia. That is why we are competitive and on the verge of upsets elsewhere. And that is why I think we cannot only take over the House in 2018, but we can take the senate back as well. \" Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that Representative John Conyers should resign after sexual harassment allegations were brought against him, saying \"zero tolerance means consequences for everyone.\" Pelosi said the situation with Conyers, the longest-serving member in the U.S. House of Representatives, was \"very sad\" but the allegations against him were \"serious, disappointing and very credible\" and \"the brave women who came forward are owed justice.\" \"Congressman Conyers should resign,\" Pelosi said.","label":0}
{"text":"5 Hundreds of far-right protesters marched to Milan's Montello barracks on Monday, to protest the barrack's transformation into a refugee shelter. Supporters of regionalist political party Lega Nord and radical right group Casa Pound turned out to protest. The protesters chanted anti-refugee chants while marching with flares, numerous Italian and Casa Pound flags, and banners such as \"Italians first\"; \"Defend Milan\". COURTESY: RT's RUPTLY video agency, NO RE-UPLOAD, NO REUSE - FOR LICENSING, PLEASE, CONTACT http:\/\/ruptly.tv Leave a Reply Login with your Social ID Your email address will not be published. Name","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump complained on Monday that the United States is shouldering an unfair burden of the cost of the United Nations, but said if the world body reforms how it operates, the investment would be worth it. Trump, who has frequently criticized the cost to the United States of supporting the NATO alliance, took his concerns directly to the ambassadors of the U.N. Security Council, who joined him at the White House for a lunch. \"If we do a great job, I care much less about the budget because you're talking about peanuts compared to the important work you're doing,\" Trump told the 15 council envoys. The United States is the biggest U.N. contributor, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget. These assessed contributions are agreed by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. Trump said the U.S. share of those budgets was \"unfair.\" He has proposed a 28 percent budget cut for diplomacy and foreign aid, which includes an unspecified reduction in funding for the United Nations and its agencies, as well as enforcement of a 25 percent cap on U.S. funding for peacekeeping operations. \"We need the member states to come together to eliminate inefficiency and bloat and make sure that no one nation shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden,\" he said. Trump's remarks came as the General Assembly prepares to negotiate in the coming months the U.N. regular budget for both 2018 and 2019 and the peacekeeping budget from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met briefly with Trump at the White House on Friday for the first time since both took office earlier this year. The United States currently owes the United Nations $896 million for its core budget, U.N. officials said. The United States is also reviewing 16 U.N. peacekeeping missions as the annual mandates come up for renewal by the Security Council in a bid to cut costs. U.N. agencies such as the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the children's agency UNICEF, and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), are funded by governments voluntarily. The State Department said this month it was ending funding for UNFPA, the international body's agency focused on family planning, as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. Guterres warned that the cut could have \"devastating effects\" on vulnerable women and girls. In 2016, the United States was the top contributor to the UNDP's core budget, with an $83 million donation; the leading donor to UNICEF's core budget in 2015 with $132 million; and the fourth-largest donor to the UNFPA, giving $75 million.","label":0}
{"text":"FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Thursday he has \"not detected any whiff of interference\" by the White House into the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Speaking publicly for the first time since being confirmed as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wray also expressed confidence in Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating whether President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the election. \"I can say very confidently that I have not detected any whiff of interference with that investigation,\" Wray said during a panel discussion at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington. Wray was installed as FBI director after his predecessor, James Comey, was fired by Trump in May. In an interview with NBC after Comey's removal, Trump admitted he was thinking about \"this Russia thing\" when he decided to fire the then-FBI chief. Comey later told Congress he believed Trump had tried to get him to drop an FBI probe into former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as part of the broader Russia investigation - testimony that has raised questions about whether Trump was potentially trying to obstruct justice. The White House has repeatedly denied the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the election. Trump's advisers and allies also have questioned Mueller's independence and credibility, with some pointing out that he has hired attorneys who have given political donations to Democrats. But Wray said he has \"enormous respect\" for Mueller, who is also a former FBI director. He stressed that Mueller is running the probe but said the FBI is assisting by dedicating agents and providing other support to the investigation. Wray also reiterated his confidence in a January report compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies which concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election and tried to tilt it in Trump's favor - a finding Trump has often questioned. Prior to his confirmation as FBI director, Wray had only read a non-classified version of the report. \"I have no reason to doubt the conclusions that the hard- working people who put that together came to,\" Wray said.","label":0}
{"text":"Britain is aiming to secure a comprehensive free trade deal with the European Union and wants it to be signed shortly after it leaves the bloc in 2019, Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday. After securing an initial agreement on Friday to move Brexit talks to a second phase, Prime Minister Theresa May is keen to start discussing future ties with the EU, and especially the type of trading agreement to try to offer greater certainty for businesses. But despite Davis striking a confident tone, EU officials say they will only launch negotiations on a legally binding treaty after Britain leaves and becomes a third country , according to draft negotiating guidelines. It s not that complicated, it comes right back to the alignment point ... We start in full alignment, we start in complete convergence so we can work it out from there, Davis told the BBC s Andrew Marr show. The thing is how we manage divergence so it doesn t undercut the access to the market, he said, describing his preferred deal as Canada plus plus plus . The EU has been considering a post-Brexit free trade deal with Britain along the lines of one agreed last year with Canada. But the UK economy is nearly twice the size of Canada s and British officials have said that their current alignment with EU standards and much closer trading links with the continent give them scope for an even deeper relationship. May has been hailed by many in her deeply divided Conservative party for rescuing the agreement to unlock the Brexit talks by offering EU member Ireland and her allies in Northern Ireland a pledge to avoid any return of a hard border. By playing with the wording, May agreed that if the two sides failed to agree an overall Brexit deal, the United Kingdom would keep full alignment with those rules of the EU s single market that help cooperation between Ireland s north and south. Davis described the commitment as more of a statement of intent than a legally binding measure something that might reassure hardline Brexit campaigners who fear that it could imply that Britain was leaving the EU in name only. Despite last week s progress, May will enjoy little respite. The second phase of talks is expected to expose the rifts in her top team of ministers over what Britain should look like once it leaves the EU. On Saturday, environment minister Michael Gove, a Brexit campaigner, opened up the possibility of changing the terms of any agreement with the EU after Brexit if Britons felt that the deal had not reflected their demands to take back control . If the British people dislike the arrangement that we have negotiated with the EU, the agreement will allow a future government to diverge, Gove wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph.","label":0}
{"text":"You could almost hear the gasps from both sides of the ideological divide when President Trump unveiled the outline of his first budget late last month, proposing to slice $54 billion from the discretionary civilian budget next year to pay for a defense. That part of the budget pays for pretty much everything the government does other than the military, pensions and health insurance for older people. And it has been slashed repeatedly already. It adds up to only some $500 billion, hardly the best place to balance a $4 trillion federal budget. After Mr. Trump's proposed cuts it would be 25 percent smaller than it was in 2010, adjusted for inflation. Even Republicans in Congress, no friends of government spending, argued that the math made little sense. While they share Mr. Trump's twin goals of balancing the budget and slashing taxes, they would prefer to square the circle by cutting the entitlements of Social Security and Medicare. And yet Mr. Trump's approach possesses a powerful political logic: The frazzled, anxious men and women who voted for him like Social Security, Medicare and defense. Other government spending, not so much. Notably, there is little political cost for Mr. Trump \u2014 in fact, potential benefit \u2014 in going after programs for the poor. These programs appeal to two constituencies that voters show little affinity for: the poor and urban liberal elites who can express enormous sympathy for the disenfranchised while ignoring the struggle of the white working class. While Mr. Trump is not the first Republican to propose cutting programs to pay for tax cuts, his bluntness breaks, at least rhetorically, with a Republican establishment that insists it cares about poverty. His political calculation could, paradoxically, protect Social Security and Medicare, entitlements that the Republican Party has tried so hard to rein in. But in areas as diverse as food stamps and housing assistance, education for the disadvantaged and Head Start, it could further fray the rest of America's threadbare social safety net. In \"White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America,\" due out in May from Harvard Business Review Press, Joan C. Williams argues that white workers' resentment of the safety net should not be surprising: They get next to no benefit from it. Ms. Williams, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, writes that these struggling workers resent not only the poor beneficiaries of the government's largess but also the liberal policy makers who seem to believe that only the poor are deserving of help. And they bristle at the perceived condescension of a liberal elite that seems to blame them for their failure to acquire the necessary skills to rise to the professional class. By contrast, they see themselves as citizens who struggle to make ends meet, only to be left out of many of the government programs their taxes pay for. Over all, 61 percent of poor Americans draw from one benefit program or another, according to an analysis by the Census Bureau. But among families with incomes above the poverty line \u2014 many of which are barely better off, making just over $24, 000 for a family of four \u2014 only 13 percent do. Struggling families may not understand that welfare programs are so meager that the poor hardly get any help. But they can directly understand that they missed out on the tax credit because their family income hit $50, 000. It is not surprising that harried working mothers resent that 30 percent of families using child care receive some form of subsidy while families get next to nothing. \"All they see is their daily lives, and they resent subsidies and sympathy available to the poor,\" Professor Williams wrote. President Barack Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act \u2014 the most significant expansion of the safety net since the War on Poverty in the 1960s \u2014 has unsurprisingly bred class resentment, too. Many disgruntled workers see it as another program for poor people that just pushed up their own premiums, offering little of benefit. The whites who turned out so enthusiastically for Mr. Trump include people like Lee Sherman, 82, from Louisiana, living precariously on Social Security after a life of hard and dangerous work fitting pipes, and exposed to all manner of toxic chemicals, at a petrochemical plant. Aversion to the safety net is built into his moral view of the world. \"He knew liberal Democrats wanted him to care more about welfare recipients,\" wrote the sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, who portrayed Mr. Sherman in her book \"Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right\" (The New Press). \"But he didn't want their P. C. rules telling him who to feel sorry for. \" To people like Mr. Sherman, government benefits tied to work, like Social Security and unemployment insurance, are legitimate rewards for one's effort. Welfare recipients, by contrast, just \"lazed around days and partied at nights,\" he told Professor Hochschild. Racial mistrust is never far from the surface: Only 13 percent of whites draw benefits from programs, according to the Census Bureau analysis, compared with 42 percent of and 36 percent of Hispanics. So while most beneficiaries of welfare programs are white, many whites perceive them as schemes to hand their tax dollars to minorities. Mr. Trump's agenda serves both race and class resentment: Whites are twice as likely as blacks to prefer a smaller government, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Among Americans, 56 percent would like the government to be smaller and offer fewer services, while among the poor, only 38 percent would like the government to shrink. It is the whites whom Mr. Trump has promised to serve. These resentments are hard to swallow on the left of the political spectrum. Since the 1960s, at least, liberal activists have held to the belief that a grand progressive alliance was possible: working men and women, the poor, immigrants, racial and other minorities coming together in a coalition to counter conservatives and their corporate allies. November's election \u2014 when whites without a college degree voted for Mr. Trump over Hillary Clinton by 39 percentage points \u2014 pretty much drove a stake into those hopes. But could they be revived? As the president takes an ax to much of the government, the pressing question for liberals is whether a coalition can be built to protect the meager social safety net that remains. Could they draw back in the white voters who rejected them so soundly in November? These voters care less about gender rights and minorities. They may not share liberal views on abortion rights. They are unlikely to support a safety net that allows a poor woman to stay at home while offering nothing to a couple day and night shifts to care for their children. But, Professor Williams notes, the liberal goal can't be saved without them: \"If America's policy makers better understood white anger against the social safety net, they might have a shot at creating programs that don't get gutted in this way. \"","label":0}
{"text":"ATHENS, Ohio \u2014 After decades as one of America's most reliable political bellwethers, an inevitable presidential battleground that closely mirrored the mood and makeup of the country, Ohio is suddenly fading in importance this year. Hillary Clinton has not been to the state since Labor Day, and her aides said Thursday that she would not be back until next week, after a monthlong absence, effectively acknowledging how difficult they think it will be to defeat Donald J. Trump here. Ohio has not fallen into step with the demographic changes transforming the United States, growing older, whiter and less educated than the nation at large. And the two parties have made strikingly different wagers about how to win the White House in this election: Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, is relying on a demographic coalition that, while well tailored for Ohio even in the state's Democratic strongholds, leaves him vulnerable in the more diverse parts of the country where Mrs. Clinton is spending most of her time. It is a jarring change for political veterans here, who relish being at the center of the country's presidential races: Because of newer battleground states, Mrs. Clinton can amass the 270 electoral votes required to win even if she loses Ohio. \"Their map is a little different, and Ohio is not as crucial as it once was,\" conceded James Ruvolo, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party who lives in the Toledo area, a Democratic bulwark that Mrs. Clinton has not visited once this year. \"They'll keep putting in money, but I don't think they're going to put a lot of her time in here. \" Ohio has long basked in the presidential spotlight. Every four years, fall would bring frequent candidate visits, ceaseless television commercials and breathless, tallies of its voting returns late into election night. Democrats in the state became used to rallies, like the ones John Kerry staged in Cleveland and Columbus with Bruce Springsteen in 2004 and President Obama held at Ohio State to kick off his 2012 campaign. Mr. Obama held five events over three trips to Ohio in September 2012 alone. And it was all for good reason: No candidate of either party has won the White House without carrying Ohio since John F. Kennedy in 1960. But its Rust Belt profile, Mr. Trump's unyielding campaign and Mrs. Clinton's difficulty energizing Ohio's young voters have made it a lesser focus for Democrats this year, even as it remains critical to Mr. Trump's path to the White House. As Mrs. Clinton's aides privately note, the demographic makeup of Florida, Colorado and North Carolina, which have a greater percentage of educated or nonwhite voters, makes those states more promising for Democrats in a contest in which the electorate is sorted along bright racial and economic lines. And with a Senate race in Ohio turning into a rout for Rob Portman, the Republican incumbent, Democrats can quietly pull back from the state with little fear of consequences. As the place where Appalachia meets the Midwest, and where industrial centers arose not far from a vast farm belt, Ohio has prided itself on being a version of America writ small. Its immigration patterns reflected that, with New Englanders resettling here, followed by Germans and Eastern Europeans. At the same time, Southerners, white and black, crossed the Ohio River in search of freedom and opportunity. But even some of the state's proudest boosters acknowledge that Ohio, which is nearly 80 percent white, is decreasingly representative of contemporary America. \"Ohio, like a melting iceberg, has slowly been losing its status as the country's bellwether,\" said Michael F. Curtin, a Democratic state legislator and former Columbus Dispatch editor who is an author of the state's authoritative \"Ohio Politics Almanac. \" He continued: \"It's a slow melt. But we have not captured any appreciable Hispanic population, and there has been very little influx of an Asian population. When you look at the diversity of America 30 to 40 years ago, Ohio was a pretty close approximation of the country. It no longer is. \" What is less clear than the racial trends is whether the state will continue to grow more forbidding for Democrats in future presidential races. That could be determined by the choices the national parties make after the election, particularly whether Republicans continue Mr. Trump's project of shifting from a to a more populist approach on immigration and trade. \"If the Republican Party looks more like the Trump coalition and the Democratic Party looks more like the Obama coalition, then the states Democrats must win will no longer be Ohio and Iowa,\" said David Wilhelm, a manager of Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign and a former Democratic national chairman who lives in suburban Columbus. \"They will be Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia. \" Yet that same Obama coalition was enough to hand the president a victory in Ohio in 2012, when the state's demographics were no less challenging for Democrats. The difference now, Ohio voters and strategists from both parties say, is in the two candidates and the issues at hand. Facing Mitt Romney, who was easily caricatured as a country club Republican, Mr. Obama battered him as a handmaiden for the wealthy and criticized his opposition to the auto bailout, which lifted Mr. Obama with white union Democrats in communities around Youngstown and Toledo. But this year, Republicans have put forward a candidate whose views on trade are indistinguishable from, if not more than, the A. F. L. . I. O. 's. \"Republicans used to run on God and guns,\" Mr. Ruvolo said. \"Well, Trump added a third element: trade. \" Paired with Mr. Trump's jeremiads about immigrants' taking American jobs, it makes for a powerful combination in a state that has suffered from the decline of manufacturing. Though he lost the Ohio primary to Gov. John Kasich, Mr. Trump still carried a stretch of counties along the eastern spine of the state, its most economically depressed region, where thousands of industrial and jobs have been lost. Mr. Trump is expected to pile up significant margins in those counties in November. Some political veterans speak with wonder about private polls showing Mr. Trump leading even in bedrock Democratic communities. \"I see, at best, lack of enthusiasm in traditional Democratic areas,\" said Dennis E. Eckart, a former Democratic congressman from suburban Cleveland. Mike Dawson, a Republican strategist who runs a website on Ohio's political history, said Mr. Trump would be competitive in two counties in Youngstown's Mahoning Valley that the Democratic presidential candidate has carried in every election for 60 years with the exception of 1972. It is no coincidence that the same region kept Representative James A. Traficant Jr. from 1985 to 2002, despite his routine flouting of ethics. Mr. Traficant, a longtime Democrat who died in 2014, was known for mixing inflammatory rhetoric, a toupee and a populism. \"There is not a dime's worth of difference, as George Wallace once said, between Jim Traficant and Donald Trump,\" said Mr. Eckart, whose district abutted Mr. Traficant's. \"They say anything, do anything, just act outrageous, and people just kind of like that. \" Mrs. Clinton remains strongest in the more affluent and educated areas around Ohio's population centers \u2014 Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati \u2014 where some voters who backed Mr. Romney four years ago are appalled by Mr. Trump. Emily Huber, a evangelical Christian and loyal Republican in Columbus, is one of them. As she sold candles and jewelry made by victims of sex trafficking at a farmer's market in the shadow of the state capitol, Ms. Huber said she and her husband were unsure whether they could back Mr. Trump because of offensive comments that she said \"show his true character. \" What will determine who wins Ohio, said Representative Steve Stivers, a Republican, is if \"Hillary can pick up a bunch of voters in the suburbs to offset the rural and some of the industrial areas. \" Mrs. Clinton has an organizational advantage, with 60 offices across the state, and is flooding Ohio with surrogates: Bill Clinton is expected in the state on a bus tour next week. But her campaign is sensitive about her absence, which has become a local topic of discussion. After this article was published online, it hurried to announce that she would return on Monday, but without specifying which city she would visit. A Clinton victory in Ohio may also require rousing younger voters, which is in doubt. When a group of Democratic Ohio mayors campaigned recently for Mrs. Clinton in Athens \u2014 home of Ohio University and seat of the county with the state's largest percentage of millennials \u2014 they drew little interest. As students stopped at sidewalk A. T. M.s to prepare for parents weekend, they expressed only lukewarm support for Mrs. Clinton. Paula Atfield, a freshman from Cleveland, said she was voting for Mrs. Clinton because \"she's not Trump,\" but added that the election was seen as \"a joke\" on campus. \"Neither of them are suitable,\" she said. \"Most people aren't even voting. \" At a news conference earlier in the day, the Dayton mayor, Nan Whaley, had declared that the state would send Mrs. Clinton to the White House. \"Ohio is the decider of presidents,\" she said. But now, Ms. Whaley sounded less bullish. \"I think it's crucial,\" she said of a Clinton victory in Ohio, before quickly adding of Mr. Trump, \"It's just not as crucial as his. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Five top German politicians received envelopes on Thursday that contained threatening letters and a white powder the letters said was anthrax, which turned out to be harmless, Berlin police said. Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly received one of the letters, the broadcaster ARD said on its website, but the police spokesman did not confirm that. Special security forces were deployed to investigate the incident, a spokesman for the Berlin State Criminal Police office said, confirming news that was first reported ARD. Horst Seehofer, who heads the Bavarian sister party of Merkel s conservatives, told journalists he had received one of the letters. ARD said the other letters went to Katrin Goering-Eckardt and Hans-Christian Stroebele, members of the pro-environment Greens party, and Gregor Gysi, former chief of the left-wing Left party. Stroebele confirmed the incident in a posting on Twitter. He told ARD that the letter was probably sent by right-wing extremists, even though it was written in Arabic. He gave no explanation. A photograph of the letter included the phrases Salafist community, Germany and Lethal, Do not touch, Dangerous, Caution - all in typewritten Arabic characters.","label":0}
{"text":"On Friday morning, a US airstrike killed Abu Alaa al-Afri, a senior leader in ISIS, whom the US says it considers the organization's second-ranked leader. This isn't the first time al-Afri has been reported dead \u2014 though the US government has allegedly verified his death. But if (as seems likely) al-Afri is dead, this will be yet another instance in which ISIS's No. 2 official has been killed. In August of last year, for example, a US airstrike killed Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, then identified as the group's No. 2. This continues a trend that news consumers may recognize from counterterrorism efforts against al-Qaeda, in which the group seemed to lose one third-in-command (after Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri) after another. As some Twitter wags noted, this all harks back to a 2006 Onion article, \"Eighty Percent Of Al-Qaeda No. 2s Now Dead.\" But what's actually going on here? Why is the US killing so many ISIS deputies while somehow failing to hit leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? And does it even matter when you kill top-level ISIS officials? Analysts have developed a few theories as to why the US keeps hitting second-in-commands but not the leader. One of the most plausible is that Baghdadi is a much harder target, whereas the nature of the No. 2 job involves exposing oneself to greater risk of being targeted. As a leader, Baghdadi serves as ISIS's chief executive and ideological head. He doesn't have to move around all that much or actually go out in the field; his job mostly involves issuing orders and, on occasion, making propaganda tapes. That means he can sit wherever he's hiding out, avoiding the kind of contact with the outside world that makes it easier for US intelligence agencies to find you. However, not every ISIS leader has the luxury of doing that. Baghdadi's top subordinates, the ones he gives orders to, have to go out in the field and run ISIS operations. If you command a major combat theater in Iraq, for example, you actually have to be in that part of Iraq. If you run ISIS finances, you need to make sure the extortion and oil operations are running smoothly. When you're out actually doing the work \u2014 managing ISIS outposts, talking to people lower down on the food chain \u2014 you can't hide away like Baghdadi does. That makes it easier for US electronic, satellite, or human intelligence assets to find you \u2014 and serve up targeting data for an airstrike. This difference in responsibilities probably explains why the US, despite targeting Baghdadi multiple times, hasn't managed to kill him \u2014 and yet has successfully taken out many of his deputies. \"That would be my guess,\" Will McCants, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told me. While the US government is understandably trumpeting its alleged strike on al-Afri, there's reason to suspect that killing the group's No. 2 isn't actually all that consequential. Groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda are bureaucratic by design, so they are often able to deal with drone-struck senior officers by rapidly promoting new people to replace them. This theory got some quantitative support in a 2014 study by the University of Georgia's Jenna Jordan, who found that so-called \"decapitation\" strikes \u2014 in which the US killed a senior leader of a terrorist group \u2014 had little effect on reducing violence from that group. In the paper, Jordan argues that this is because al-Qaeda is a bureaucratic organization: It has something like a formal command structure, division of labor, clear assignment of responsibilities, and the like. This allows lower-level leaders to take over after one is killed. And this would likely apply to ISIS as well. \"Each individual decapitation doesn't cripple the organization,\" Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told me. So al-Afri's killing probably will not, in itself, be that consequential for ISIS's future. That said, Gartenstein-Ross pointed out that al-Afri had \"strong connections within the al-Qaeda network.\" ISIS and al-Qaeda are at war in Syria, which distracts and thus weakens both of them, and there is little reason to believe that this is changing. But Gartenstein-Ross points out that the possibility of rapprochement, while already quite low, may have just gotten a little lower with al-Afri's killing. \"Given his connections, [there was] a danger that he could be involved in rapprochement between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State,\" he said. However, the ideological and personal gaps between the two groups will likely remain too wide to bridge anytime in the near future. That would have been true even if al-Afri had lived. So his death is probably not a substantial change for ISIS's prospects.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code have hit a snag in the House of Representatives, where infighting over spending cuts is delaying adoption of a legislative tool they need to move a tax bill forward. The House Budget Committee canceled plans to send a budget resolution for fiscal 2018 to the floor this week, lawmakers said on Tuesday, as conservative Republicans pushed to add hundreds of billions of dollars in mandatory spending cuts to the blueprint. House and Senate passage of a budget resolution is vital to President Donald Trump's pledge to deliver on tax reform this year because the document would free Republicans to circumvent Democratic opposition in the Senate. But the push to cut programs including Medicaid and food stamps, which benefit the poor, could lead to a stalemate. Trump administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress are working separately to agree on a tax bill that can be unveiled in September. \"No budget, no tax reform,\" said Representative Mark Walker, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, a group of more than 150 conservative lawmakers. \"That's why there should be a sense of urgency to get this done pretty quick.\" Their aim is to cut mandatory programs that are required by law and viewed as principle drivers of deficit spending. The result could be legislation containing lower taxes for the wealthy and corporations alongside reduced benefits for the poor. Lawmakers say there is Republican agreement on topline discretionary spending levels of $621.5 billion for defense and $511 billion for non-defense programs. Representative Jim Jordan, a leading member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is pushing to cut as much as $400 billion over a decade from a range of programs that benefit the poor. Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said he wanted another $295 billion in cuts on top of that. \"It has to be linked to tax reform, because we believe tax reform is going to happen,\" Jordan said in an interview. The budget committee canceled its plans this week after the chairmen of several other panels pushed back against efforts to include $250 billion in spending cuts. \"The end game is to get a budget out of the committee,\" House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black told reporters. \"I do see a viable path. And I am going to continue to push.\"","label":0}
{"text":"In a desperate bid to normalize the Republican Party s insane stance on keeping Scalia s seat on the Supreme Court empty, a new talking point is being tried out by conservatives: There s no time limit in the Constitution, and there s nothing magical about there being nine justices, [Dean] Reuter said during a panel meeting at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The country started out with six justices, we ve had as many as ten at some point in time, he continued. As recently as 2010, when Justice Elena Kagan came on the Court, she had been solicitor general so she recused herself in over a third of the cases (so) I don t see a sense of urgency. I fully expect this to be repeated over and over again and eventually mimicked by the corporate media. If there s one thing besides crippling America that the GOP is really good at, it s making their sabotage seem perfectly normal. The corporate media is always a willing accomplice to this charade as they will tie themselves into knots to avoid calling out the historic extremism of the right.A side benefit of using this kind of rhetoric to keep the 9th seat empty for so long is that when a Democrat wins in November, they ll already have normalized a reduced Court. It s like stacking the Court, adding seats to dilute the power of one set of Justices, but in reverse.On the flip side, if Republicans were to somehow win in November, I wouldn t be at all surprised if they suddenly realized that 9 Justices just aren t enough and we really should have 11, 7 of whom would just happen to be conservative. For a group that calls themselves conservatives, ostensibly the party that preserves the status quo, the American right wing has zero interest in preserving tradition, precedent or the Constitution. They re only interested in preserving their own power at any expense.","label":1}
{"text":"The Obama administration urged Congress to pass legislation to help Puerto Rico resolve a debt crisis which was expected to trigger a bond default on Monday. \"Congress has yet to produce a workable legislative response,\" Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a letter to Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. \"Congress must work quickly to resolve the few outstanding issues on the proposed legislation to help Puerto Rico.\"","label":0}
{"text":"United Airlines barred two teenage girls from boarding a flight on Sunday morning and required a child to change into a dress after a gate agent decided the leggings they were wearing were inappropriate. That set off waves of anger on social media, with users criticizing what they called an intrusive, sexist policy, but the airline maintained its support for the gate agent's decision. The girls, who were about to board a flight to Minneapolis, were turned away at the gate at Denver International Airport, the company said on Sunday. United doubled down on that decision, defending it in a series of tweets on Sunday. The incident was first reported on Twitter by Shannon Watts, a passenger at the airport who was waiting to board a flight to Mexico. In a telephone interview from Mexico on Sunday afternoon, Ms. Watts said she noticed two visibly upset teenage girls leaving the gate next to hers. Both were wearing leggings. Ms. Watts went over to the neighboring gate and saw a \"frantic\" family with two young girls, one of whom was also wearing leggings, engaged in a tense exchange with a gate agent who told them, \"I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. \" Ms. Watts said the girl's mother told her the two teenagers had just been turned away because the gate agent said their pants were not appropriate travel attire. The woman had a dress in her bag that the child was able to pull on over her pants, and the family boarded the flight. \"The girl pulled a dress on,\" Ms. Watts said. \"But please keep in mind that the dad had on shorts that did not hit his knee \u2014 they stopped maybe two or three inches above his knee \u2014 and there was no issue with that. \" Ms. Watts judged that the two girls who were barred from boarding were in their \"young teens\" and the girl who changed into a dress was 10 or 11. Ms. Watts described the situation in a series of tweets before her flight to Mexico took off. By the time she landed her tweets had been shared widely, often accompanied by sharp criticism directed at the airline. Jonathan Guerin, a spokesman for United, confirmed that two teenage girls were told they could not board a flight from Denver to Minneapolis because their leggings violated the company's dress code policy for \"pass travelers,\" a company benefit that allows United employees and their dependents to travel for free on a standby basis. Mr. Guerin said pass travelers are \"representing\" the company and as such are not allowed to wear Lycra and spandex leggings, tattered or ripped jeans, midriff shirts, or any article of clothing that shows their undergarments. \"It's not that we want our standby travelers to come in wearing a suit and tie or that sort of thing,\" he said. \"We want people to be comfortable when they travel as long as it's neat and in good taste for that environment. \" He said both teenage girls stayed behind in Denver, \"made an adjustment\" to their outfits and waited for the next flight to Minneapolis. Mr. Guerin did not know if they had successfully boarded or not, and also had no information about the girl Ms. Watts said she saw change into a dress at the gate. The company largely confirmed Ms. Watts's account earlier in the day in a response to her on Twitter that did little to mollify the concerns of its critics. In a series of dozens of tweets, the company said the incident was not simply the result of an overzealous gate agent. Instead, it said United Airlines reserved the right to deny service to anyone its employees deemed to be inappropriately dressed. It also referred to the dress code applied to pass travelers. \"In our Contract of Carriage, Rule 21, we do have the right to refuse transport for passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed,\" the company tweeted. It added, \"There is a dress code for pass travelers as they are representing UA when they fly. \" Few critics appeared to be satisfied by that explanation, which also did little to a perilous public relations situation for the company. United was the target of scores of angry and mocking tweets on Sunday, including from social celebrities like the model Chrissy Teigen and the actor LeVar Burton. By Sunday afternoon, the company's Twitter account was engaged in a tense back and forth with the Academy actress Patricia Arquette, who posted dozens of angry tweets about the situation. Employees running United's Twitter account spent the day walking a public relations tightrope: explaining to angry social media users why the company was not wrong to bar the young women from boarding, while reassuring potential customers that they would not also be barred if they showed up in leggings. People like to be comfortable when they fly, Ms. Watts said, and leggings and yoga pants have become standard casual attire for women. \"I'm pretty sure yoga pants are a thing,\" Ms. Watts said. \"They're part of modern America. They're a staple, a clothing item. \" Mr. Guerin said the company was aware of the criticism leveled at its social media team, but said they were \"working as hard as they can. \" \"We could have stopped to immediately ask the right questions,\" he said. \"We are always engaging with our customers as quickly as possible. Now we are going back. All day we've been going back since that earlier tweet. Now we're going back and telling people what is actually going on. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The United States' top transportation official on Wednesday promoted the Trump administration's proposed privatization of the air traffic control system in the face of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. \"Our air traffic organization must be more nimble,\" U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao told the Senate Commerce Committee. \"A bulky federal government procurement apparatus does not move fast enough to keep pace with new technologies and new demands.\" President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled the plan to modernize air traffic control and lower flying costs. Under the proposal, air traffic control would be spun off from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and put under the aegis of a nonprofit entity. Critics say the plan would hand control of a key asset to special interests and big airlines. Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said on Wednesday that small airports in his state oppose the plan. He said that after air traffic privatization in the United Kingdom airline passenger fees rose 30 percent. \"This is a tough sell,\" Wicker said. Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said he remains \"skeptical\" of the idea of removing Congress from air traffic control oversight and handing it to a 13-member board. The administration says it would not charge the private entity for the government's air traffic control assets and would bar Congress from reviewing fees charged by the board. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, opposes the proposal. \"Why give away billions of dollars in government assets to an entity that will be governed in large part by the airlines?\" he asked. Nelson argued \"a fundamental breakup of the FAA cannot advance when there are such strong divisions among aviation stakeholders and in Congress. It just won't happen.\" Chao denied that the major airlines would control the board and said they would have just two seats on the board. She also pledged to address rural concerns. One big issue is whether general aviation could face higher costs and access to airspace if a private board takes over. Executives from United Airlines (UAL.N), Hawaiian Airlines Inc [HAII.UL], American Airlines Inc (AAL.O) and Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N), all represented by the Airlines for America lobbying group, praised the Trump plan on Monday. The FAA spends nearly $10 billion a year on air traffic control funded largely through passenger user fees, and has spent more than $7.5 billion on next-generation air traffic control reforms in recent years. It is unclear whether privatization would speed the rollout of new systems such as satellite-based aircraft tracking that replaces ground radar dating back to World War Two.","label":0}
{"text":"The Smithsonian s Museum of African-American History opened to much fanfare, and also, much hatred from white people who think that such a thing is an affront to white history and therefore, reverse discrimination. Since Trump was elected, hate crimes and incidents have skyrocketed, and now, some racist asshat (or more than one) has decided to take their hatred straight to that museum.By hanging a noose.Yes, seriously. Someone hung a noose up in the Museum of African-American History. And not just once, but twice over the last four days. The noose isn t an innocent symbol. It s a stark and painful reminder of the days when lynching was common practice, particularly against black people.Which is precisely the reason these people hang nooses like that. According to a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, it s been a long time since we saw hatred like this: We haven t seen such mainstream support for hate in decades, not since the Civil Rights era 50 years ago. We re witnessing a moment when there are tremendous challenges to the country that we built on pluralism and democracy. The civil rights accorded every American are firmly under threat. But people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, and every other marginalized group out there is apparently a direct threat to the straight, white, Christian American, and Trump s election has empowered them to act like they re just taking their country back from the scourge of political correctness they so decried during the campaign.The Smithsonian issued their own statement about this, and they cut whoever it is that s responsible for the nooses: The Smithsonian family stands together in condemning this act of hatred and intolerance, especially repugnant in a museum that affirms and celebrates the American values of inclusion and diversity, wrote the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution David Skorton in an Institution-wide email. We will not be intimated. Cowardly acts like these will not, for one moment, prevent us from the vital work we do. People who do this are trying to drag our country back to a time when they were comfortable because they could step on everybody different from them. We can t let that continue to happen.Featured image by Astrid Riecken via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"They still talk about the Saturday night here 27 years ago when Donald J. Trump partied with former President Richard M. Nixon. Dressed in tuxedos, they sang \"Happy Birthday\" to Texas royalty \u2014 former Gov. John B. Connally and his wife, Nellie, whose birthdays were a few days apart \u2014 as Nixon played the tune on a white baby grand piano. They dined at Tony's, the \"21\" Club of Houston, and Nixon was so fond of the cannelloni pasta that he asked the owner, Tony Vallone, to write the recipe for him on a yellow legal pad. And when it was all over, Mr. Trump flew Nixon back to New York on his 727 private jet. It happened one weekend in March 1989. It was one of Nixon's first public appearances since the Watergate scandal had forced him to resign in 1974. And it was one of Mr. Trump's first presidential experiences, as he socialized with and had the ear of a former president for two days in Houston at a gala event, an impromptu at Tony's, a Sunday brunch the next day at a River Oaks mansion and later aboard his plane. \"I think you can see a core of Trump in this,\" said Barry Silverman, a Houston advertising and marketing consultant who helped coordinate the gala and was a longtime friend of the Connallys. \"He obviously had a road map a lot bigger than any of us ever thought about. \" Mr. Silverman and Mr. Vallone said they did not know what, specifically, Mr. Trump and Nixon had talked about at the gala or at Tony's. But the time they spent together that weekend most likely fed Mr. Trump's fascination with and admiration of Nixon. During the campaign, Mr. Trump borrowed phrases from him, used his speech at the 1968 Republican convention as a template for his own convention address, and spoke glowingly of Nixon in interviews. The Connallys helped bring the fallen president and the future together. They had met Mr. Trump a few months earlier at a wedding in New York in December 1988, and Mr. Connally had been a close friend of Nixon's, serving as his Treasury secretary. Nixon was already familiar with Mr. Trump. The former president had written an unsolicited letter to Mr. Trump in 1987, informing him that Nixon's wife, Pat, had predicted \"that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!\" Mr. Connally invited Mr. Trump and his wife, Ivana, to Houston as special guests at \"A Night for Nellie,\" an event to honor Mrs. Connally at the Westin Galleria hotel on March 11, 1989. Houston was just coming out of the 1980s oil bust. Tens of thousands of workers had lost their jobs and homes. Banks had failed. Mr. Connally filed for bankruptcy in 1987, and he and his wife were forced to auction their belongings to help repay creditors in 1988. Then Mrs. Connally learned she had breast cancer. \"A Night for Nellie\" raised more than $300, 000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, but it also sought to lift Mrs. Connally's spirits \u2014 and Houston's. Barbara Walters was there, along with the airline executive Frank Lorenzo and the elite of Houston society, including Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. an oilman, and his wife, Lynn, who hosted Nixon, Mr. Trump and others at their mansion the next day. In the hotel ballroom, Mr. Trump introduced Nixon and sat at the head table with him. Mr. Connally had assembled the seating chart for the table himself. His wife was seated with Mr. Trump on one side of her and Nixon on the other. Mr. Trump, the event's honorary chairman, seemed to be enjoying himself. He was 42 years old, and his book \"Trump: The Art of the Deal,\" which had been published in November 1987, had enjoyed a position on The New York Times's list for nearly a year. \"Donald Trump would have made a sensational Texan,\" Ms. Walters told the audience, according to The Austin . Mr. Connally decided late in the evening to keep the party going for some of the V. I. P.s at Tony's. Mr. Vallone had about a to clear a third of the restaurant and put on an elaborate buffet. He has wined and dined a host of celebrities and presidents at his restaurant, including Frank Sinatra, Princess Margaret, Andy Warhol and former President Bill Clinton. But he said that night in 1989 was the most memorable. \"There was tremendous enthusiasm and electricity in the air,\" Mr. Vallone said. \"Trump had a commanding presence. People say he's pompous, but he was not pompous. He was very approachable. He'll talk to the waiters. After that, I went out and bought six or eight of his books and gave them away as gifts, I was so impressed with Trump. \" At Tony's, Mr. Trump suggested he was taking a business interest in Houston. \"Every time I'm in a particular city that I like, and Houston happens to be a city that I like very much, I do look,\" he told an ABC affiliate, as he stood in the restaurant. Nixon stayed there until 1 a. m. The party continued well after. \"Dom P\u00e9rignon was flowing like ginger ale,\" Mr. Silverman said, \"and it went on until 3 in the morning. \" The next day, the Trumps, the Connallys and Nixon were among 36 guests at a brunch at the Wyatts' mansion. They ate beef Wellington and sipped Champagne with dessert. Ms. Wyatt, one of Houston's most prominent socialites and philanthropists, asked Nixon to speak about world affairs, and Nixon stood, gave a brief speech and then took questions. Asked if Mr. Trump had asked a question, Ms. Wyatt replied: \"I'm sure he did. Everybody did. I was so proud of my guests because they asked such intelligent questions. I don't have any stupid friends. \"","label":0}
{"text":"British Prime Minister Theresa May s meeting with European Union officials last week was constructive and friendly , her spokesman said on Monday when asked about an unflattering newspaper account of the meeting in a German newspaper. I think you re referring to a newspaper article with no quotes in it, but I have no comment whatsoever on that, the spokesman said. He referred to a joint statement issued following the meeting last week which said the talks were constructive and friendly.","label":0}
{"text":"Written by Robert Parry Two weeks after Donald Trump's shocking upset of Hillary Clinton, the imperious and imperial neoconservatives and their liberal-interventionist understudies may finally be losing their tight grip on US foreign policy. The latest sign was Trump's invitation for a meeting with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, on Monday. The mainstream media commentary has almost completely missed the potential significance of this start-of-the-work-week meeting by suggesting that Trump is attracted to Gabbard's tough words on \"radical Islamic terrorism.\" Far more important is that Gabbard, a 35-year-old Iraq War veteran, endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries because of his opposition to neocon\/liberal-hawk military adventures. She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to Hawaiians, called \"The Cost of War.\" \"Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,\" Gabbard says. \"He understands the cost of war, that that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars and invest it here at home.\" In the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars \"on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.\" Her comments mesh closely with Trump's own perspective. After the meeting on Monday, Gabbard released a statement confirming that the focus of the discussion had been her opposition to escalating the war in Syria by following neocon\/liberal-hawk suggestions for a \"no-fly zone\" that would require widespread US military destruction of Syrian government installations and the killing of a large number of Syrians. \"President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face,\" Gabbard said. \"I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeat of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government \u2014 a war which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their families. \u2026 \"While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives. \u2026 \"I shared with [President-elect Trump] my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly\/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda, and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia which could result in a nuclear war.\" Trading Places So, the surprise election results on Nov. 8 may have represented a \"trading places\" moment for the neocons and liberal hawks who were eagerly counting the days before the \"weak\" President Barack Obama would turn over the Commander-in-Chief job to former Secretary of State Clinton who had made clear that she shared their hawkish agenda of escalating the war in Syria with a \"no-fly\/safe zone,\" and ratcheting up the New Cold War with Russia. There was even speculation that one of Clinton's neocon favorites within the State Department, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, might be rewarded with State's top job for her \"regime change\" in Ukraine that sparked the start of the New Cold War in 2014. Nuland, the wife of arch-neocon Robert Kagan , sabotaged President Obama's emerging strategy of collaborating with Russian President Vladimir Putin on sensitive global issues. In 2013-14, Putin helped orchestrate two of Obama's brightest foreign policy successes: Syria's surrender of its chemical weapons arsenal and Iran's guarantee that it would not develop nuclear weapons. But those agreements infuriated the neocons who favored escalating both crises into direct US bombing campaigns aimed at Syria and Iran \u2013 in accordance with the desires of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Saudi monarchy. Yet, there was perhaps even greater alarm at what the next move of the Obama-Putin tag team might be: demanding that Israel finally get serious about a peace deal with the Palestinians. So, the neocons took aim at Ukraine, which neocon National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman identified as \"the biggest prize\" and an important stepping stone to an even bigger prize, a \"regime change\" in Moscow removing Putin . While Gershman's NED funded (with US taxpayers' money) scores of projects inside Ukraine, training anti-government activists and journalists, Nuland took the point as the key organizer of a putsch that removed elected President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22, 2014, and replaced him with a fiercely anti-Russian regime. Given the geopolitical sensitivity of Ukraine to Russia, including its naval base on the Crimean peninsula, Putin had little choice but to react, supporting a referendum in Crimea in which 96 percent of the voters favored leaving Ukraine and rejoining Russia \u2013 and assisting ethnic Russian rebels in the east who resisted the violent ouster of their president. Of course, the mainstream Western news media presented these developments as simply a case of \"Russian aggression\" and a \"Russian invasion.\" And, faced with this new \"group think,\" Obama quickly abandoned his partner, Putin, and joined in the chorus of condemnations. Nuland emerged as a new star inside the State Department, a hero of the New Cold War which was expected to funnel trillions of tax dollars into the Military-Industrial Complex. Trump's Heresy But Trump surprisingly adopted the position that Obama shied away from, a recognition that Putin could be an important asset in resolving major international crises. The real-estate-mogul-turned-politician stuck to that \"outside-the-mainstream\" position despite fierce attacks from rival Republicans and Democratic presidential nominee Clinton, who even mocked him as Putin's \"puppet.\" After Trump's upset victory on Nov. 8, many pundits assumed that Trump would fall back in line with Washington's hawkish foreign-policy establishment by giving top jobs to neocons, such as former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and ex-CIA Director James Woolsey, or Netanyahu favorites, such as former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney or ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. So far, however, Trump has followed a different course, more in line with the libertarian thinking of the Koch brothers \u2013 not only the more famous ones, Charles and David, but also their long-estranged brother William, who I'm told have become behind-the-scenes advisers to the President-elect. Though Trump did offer high-profile meetings to the likes of Romney and Giuliani, he has yet to hand over any key foreign-policy job to the Republican neocon wing. His one major announcement in that area has been naming as National Security Advisor retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency when it produced a prescient warning that US policy in Syria would lead to the creation of an \"Islamic State.\" Though Flynn is regarded as a hardliner in the fight against Islamic jihadist terror, he is seen as an independent thinker regarding how best to wage that war. For instance, Flynn has objected to the notion that drone strikes, i.e., killing off individual jihadists, is a route to success. \"We've tended to say, drop another bomb via a drone and put out a headline that 'we killed Abu Bag of Doughnuts' and it makes us all feel good for 24 hours,\" Flynn said . \"And you know what? It doesn't matter. It just made them a martyr, it just created a new reason to fight us even harder.\" That leaves open the possibility that a President Trump might eschew the \"whack-a-mole\" approach that has bedeviled the \"war on terror\" and instead go after the \"mole nest\" \u2013 if you will \u2013 the Saudi monarchy that has long financed Islamic extremists both through the fundamentalist Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam and by supplying money and weapons to jihadists dating back at least to the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s, the origin of modern Islamic terrorism. Traditional US politicians have recoiled from facing up to the hard reality that the Saudi monarchy is the real \"terror central\" because of Saudi Arabia's enormous riches and influence, which is now enhanced by its quiet alliance with Israel in their joint campaign against the so-called \"Shiite crescent,\" from Iran through Syria to Lebanon's Hezbollah. Taking on this Saudi-Israel nexus has long been regarded as political suicide, given Israel's extraordinary lobbying power and Saudi Arabia's exceptional wealth. But Trump may be assembling a team that is \"crazy\" enough to take on that mission. So, while the fight over the future of US foreign policy is far from over \u2013 the neocons will surely flex their muscles at the major think tanks, on the op-ed pages and inside the halls of Congress \u2013 the Trump transition is showing some creativity in assembling a national security team that may go in a very different direction. Much will become apparent in Trump's choice of Secretary of State. If it's someone like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, or Rep. Gabbard or a libertarian from the Kochs' world, that would be bad news for the neocons. If it's someone like Romney, Giuliani, Bolton or Woolsey, then that will mean that President-elect Trump has blinked and the neocons can breathe a sigh of relief. Reprinted with permission from Consortiumnews.com . Related","label":1}
{"text":"At least 20 countries in the European Union will sign up to a new defense pact next week, promoted by France and Germany, to fund and develop joint military hardware in a show of unity following Britain s decision to quit the bloc. After years of spending cutbacks in Europe and a heavy reliance on the United States through the NATO alliance, France and Germany hope the accord, to be signed on Nov. 13 in Brussels, will tie nations into tighter defense collaboration covering troops and weapons. The Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, could be the biggest leap in EU defense policy in decades and may go some way to matching the bloc s economic and trade prowess with a more powerful military. But differences remain between Paris and Berlin over what countries legally bound by the pact should do, EU diplomats said. France wanted a core group of governments to bring money and military assets to PESCO as well as a willingness to intervene abroad. Germany has sought to broaden the pact to make it inclusive, which some experts say could make it less effective. This has to bring about a higher level of commitment if it is going to work, said a EU official, describing PESCO as a defense marriage . The EU already has plenty of forums for discussion, the official said. So far France, Germany, Italy, Spain and around 16 other EU countries have pledged to join the pact, which could formally be launched when EU leaders meet in December. Some other members, including Denmark, Portugal, Malta and Ireland, have yet to commit themselves publicly. But it was clear that Britain, which intends to leave the bloc following the Brexit referendum of June 2016, would not participate, officials said. Britain has long sought to block EU defense cooperation, fearing it could result in an EU army. French diplomats said the pact would have several areas where EU governments would agree to work together and pledge funds, including EU military operations, investment and acquiring defense capabilities together as a group. A German official said the initiative won momentum from French President Emmanuel Macron s call for a European intervention force in September and U.S. President Donald Trump s insistence that Europe do more for its security. Proposals for PESCO include work on a European medical command and a network of logistic hubs in Europe, creation of a crisis response center, and joint training of military officers. A key goal is to reduce the numbers of weapons systems and prevent duplication to save money and improve joint operations. It could also serve as an umbrella for projects such as a Franco-German initiative to design a new fighter jet, and existing bilateral military cooperation agreements, such as the close ties between Germany and the Netherlands. Efforts under the pact will be closely coordinated with the U.S.-led NATO alliance to ensure transparency and avoid any redundancies, the German official said. One area where NATO and EU officials see common ground is in the need for a military zone for free movement of troops and equipment, loosely based on the EU s passport-free travel Schengen zone. I welcome integration to the maximum extent practical. We obviously want to avoid duplication and maximize transparency, U.S. Air Force General Tod Wolters, NATO Allied Air Commander, told Reuters. Under the plans, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would focus on collective defense, while PESCO would ensure a quicker and more efficient EU response to events like the 2014 Ebola crisis in Africa, the official said. This will not happen in competition with NATO, the German official said.","label":0}
{"text":"If there s one takeaway from Thursday, it s that Donald Trump is probably going to lay in bed in that bathrobe he doesn t own and cry himself to sleep for days. In yet another blow to Trump s ego and victory for the Constitution, a federal appeals court became the third in the nation to tell The Donald to take his Muslim ban and shove it up his big orange ass.Trump s DOJ lawyers tried everything from claiming that the ban, which blocked people from seven predominantly Muslim countries that have not been tied to a deadly terrorist attack within our borders since 9\/11 from entering the United States, is necessary to protect our nation, to actually attempting to get the court to agree that President Asterisk s decisions are absolute and unreviewable by any court. The Supreme Court has made clear that the Government s authority and expertise in [such] matters do not automatically trump the Court s own obligation to secure the protection that the Constitution grants to individuals, even in times of war, the court said. There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy. Even though he had just been to court, Trump lashed out on Twitter with twelve schadenfreude-laden, ALLCAPS words: SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017Naturally, the Internet responded with joy upon hearing this amazing news because whenever Trump is sad, justice has won..@realDonaldTrump you just did see them in court Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump I'm afraid court already saw you, dear. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump are you tired of winning yet Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 9, 2017@MattBinder @realDonaldTrump Just can't stop winning! Austin Braun (@AustinOnSocial) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump Says the guy who goes to war w\/ Nordstrom, Hamilton, Meryl Streep & SNL but can't acknowledge a terrorist attack in Quebec! Kristina Wong (@mskristinawong) February 9, 2017\"SEE YOU IN COURT!\" @realDonaldTrump yells to the second highest court in the land. David G. McAfee (@DavidGMcAfee) February 9, 2017.@realDonaldTrump The appeals court actually said the government had provided no evidence that the security of the nation WAS at stake. Jim Roberts (@nycjim) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump This is so embarrassing for you! President Bannon is going to be so mad! Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump Trump thinks checks and balances are when his contractors check their bank accounts and see the balance at zero. Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump I'm wondering the same thing ?? pic.twitter.com\/xXyl2R46Rg sam (@SamTheCobra) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump You sound like you're about to rage quit. eBaum's World (@ebaumsworld) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump You know who else did everything in their power to delegitimize the judiciary system? pic.twitter.com\/TABwMPvuQk #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 9, 2017@realDonaldTrump didn't you justnever mind Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) February 9, 2017The Justice Department says it is considering its options in the wake of this very, very bad news for Trump and his Deplorables.This battle will likely end in the Supreme Court which means it is up to our elected officials to refuse to confirm any Trump nominee. Five justices would need to agree to reverse the 9th Circuit Court s decision and the empty spot Merrick Garland should be occupying leaves Trump in extreme danger of a tie, which would effectively uphold the lower court s decision.Today is a great day for America, but the battle is far from over. Resist.","label":1}
{"text":"A U.S. judge on Thursday said he wanted to decide quickly lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's decision to end a program that shielded from deportation children brought to the United States illegally by their parents. President Donald Trump this month decided to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in March 2018. Since it was authorized in 2012 by President Barack Obama, the program has provided protection from deportation and the right to work legally to nearly 800,000 young people. Several states, organizations and individuals have filed lawsuits seeking to protect DACA recipients known as Dreamers. At a hearing in San Francisco federal court, U.S. District Judge William Alsup grouped four of those cases together, including a lawsuit filed by California's attorney general and six individual Dreamers. Legal briefs for many of the issues could be finished by December, he said. \"I don't like the idea that we're fiddling while Rome burns and then suddenly the program is expired,\" Alsup said. The legal claims in all of the cases are similar: That the Trump administration did not follow proper administrative procedure in rescinding DACA, and that making enforcement promises to a group of people, only to revoke them, violates due process. The Trump administration has said it is ending DACA because Obama overstepped his constitutional authority when he bypassed Congress and created the DACA program unilaterally. Trump called on Congress to enact a law to protect DACA recipients and last week angered some of his fellow Republicans by negotiating with top congressional Democratic leaders on possible legislation. During the 2016 presidential election, Trump ran on a hardline immigration platform, promising to end DACA and strengthen border protections to increase jobs for U.S. workers. Dreamers with work permits that expire before March can apply to renew them for another two years if they do so before Oct. 5. The Department of Homeland Security might extend that date. In court on Thursday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the government still had not made a decision on the deadline. Shumate also said the Trump administration has not changed Obama-era restrictions about when a Dreamer's personal information can be shared with other agencies for immigration enforcement purposes.","label":0}
{"text":"The Pentagon is expected to submit to Congress on Tuesday President Barack Obama's long-awaited plan for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, setting up a battle with lawmakers who oppose his efforts. Obama, whose pledge to shut the facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba dates back to the start of his presidency in 2009, is seeking to make good on his promise before he leaves office next January. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the administration intended to meet Tuesday's deadline to present its detailed proposal for closing the facility. There are still 91 prisoners detained there. \"We understand the deadline is tomorrow and it's our intent to meet it,\" Davis told reporters. U.S. officials have said the plan would call for sending to their homelands or third countries detainees who have been cleared for transfer, now numbering 35, and bringing remaining prisoners, possibly several dozen, to U.S. soil to be held in maximum-security prisons. Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011. Another option that will be cited in the administration's blueprint will be the possibility of sending some prisoners overseas for prosecution and trial, one U.S. official said. The closure plan could also serve as a template for how to deal with future terrorism suspects captured in the fight against the Islamic State militant group. However, the document will not name the alternative U.S. prisons under consideration for housing detainees, U.S. officials said. The administration wants to avoid fueling any political outcry over specific sites during a U.S. presidential election year. Still, Pentagon officials have already surveyed a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Navy brig at Charleston, South Carolina. An effort will also be made to speed up parole-style reviews to determine whether more prisoners can be added to the group cleared for release, officials said. The plan will include costs for upgrading U.S. facilities and housing the inmates there, according to a source familiar with the matter. The White House last year rejected one Pentagon proposal as too expensive, sending it back for revisions. Republicans and some Democrats in Congress largely oppose proposals to move any of the prisoners to the United States. Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said on Monday the Obama administration refused to \"level with the American people regarding the terrorist activities and affiliations of the detainees who remain at Guantanamo.\" White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated Obama's view of Guantanamo as a terrorist \"recruiting tool\" and urged lawmakers to look at the plan \"with an open mind,\" although he expressed doubt about whether they would do so. The White House has left open the possibility that Obama might resort to executive powers to close the facility. The prison was opened in 2002 by former Republican President George W. Bush to house foreign terrorism suspects rounded up after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The United States quickly drew criticism from human rights activists and foreign governments over Guantanamo, where most prisoners have been held for more than a decade without trial.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump is literally ordering the government to take two steps back for every step forward.Regulations protect the American people. There are regulations that give us clean water and clean air, regulations that keep workers safe at work with fair wages, regulations that prevent dangerous or poisonous products from being sold to consumers, regulations that keep our food safe, regulations that protect us from predatory banking, and regulations that protect endangered species. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. Without regulations, companies could pollute whenever and wherever they want. Our country would be a disaster. There s a reason why we have regulations.But Donald Trump promised during his first week to kill 75 percent of regulations. The regulations are going to be cut massively, he said during a meeting with corporate CEOs on his third full day in office last week.And now he is following through by signing an executive order that requires federal agencies to kill two existing regulations for every new one created and guts funding for new regulations for the entire year.According to Reuters,Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday that will require that for every new federal regulation proposed, two must be revoked, an administration official said.The order says federal agencies will propose rules they want to eliminate and the White House will review those decisions. The order sets a budget of $0 for new regulations in 2017 and the administration will set a regulation budget each year.Basically, Trump s cabinet could propose a useless regulation and then use it as an excuse to cut two crucial regulations like a food safety rule or rules that regulate pollution.While there surely are regulations that could be loosened to help small business owners, waging total war against regulations and mandating that two be repealed for every new one created is completely asinine and does nothing but hurt the American people and take the country backwards.Again, most regulations on the books were created for a reason and need to remain to protect the environment, our health, and our lives.This is not a game, but Donald Trump sure seems to think it is.","label":1}
{"text":"European Union leaders could hand Theresa May an olive branch in deadlocked Brexit negotiations next week by launching their own internal preparations for a transition to a new relationship with Britain. Draft conclusions submitted by summit chair Donald Tusk to the 27 other EU governments made final Brussels rejection of opening free trade talks now. But they also but gave the beleaguered British prime minister hope that they would do so in December and that, if she ups her offers on divorce terms, the EU will be ready to start talking almost right away. With nerves fraying and threats flying about walking out without a deal come the March 2019 deadline for departure, the pound took a knock when EU negotiator Michel Barnier said a new round of talks this week had ended in continued deadlock over a British refusal to clarify how much it will pay on leaving. But it rallied on word that, despite tough demands from EU governments on what they want from London, the Union is ready to talk about how to avoid a hard Brexit and to ease Britain out with less disruption probably by agreeing to keep it in the single market for a couple of years, diplomats say. The draft of conclusions which would be issued by leaders of the 27 next Friday, a day after meeting May in a full EU summit, still have to be agreed. Envoys, including from heavyweights Germany and France, objected last week to a suggestion from Barnier that the EU should start working on transition plans. But EU officials noted that Tusk, the European Council president, has sounded out most national leaders in recent days he briefed May by on his preparations on Thursday. A senior EU official closely involved in the negotiations said Brussels did not expect major changes to the summit text. A diplomat from one big country said only that the text would be discussed by national envoys in Brussels on Friday. The first version, seen by Reuters, confirms what Barnier and others have said this month: that there is not sufficient progress on agreeing three key elements of a withdrawal treaty for leaders to agree now to open the trade talks May wants. But in an effort to defuse accusations in Britain about EU intransigence, the leaders would welcome progress to date on their three key issues: the rights of 3 million EU citizens in Britain; protecting peace in Northern Ireland from the effect of a new border on the island; and Britain s outstanding payments. They would pledge to reassess things at their next summit in mid-December Barnier on Thursday spoke of making progress in the next two months. And in order not to waste time once they do decide to launch talks on a post-Brexit future, they would ask Barnier and their envoys to start preparing now for a transition albeit without actually starting talking to Britain about it. The European Council invites the Council (Article 50) together with the Union negotiator to start internal preparatory discussions, the draft read. Another EU official said that would avoid weeks of delay in launching a new phase by the new year which business leaders say is vital if they are to make informed investment decisions in 2018 for the time after Brexit. Without a good idea by early next year of what a transition period will look like, international businesses in Britain would start to vote with their feet and move operations to the continent for fear of a hard Brexit , some have warned. The uncertain grip May, who campaigned last year against Brexit, has over her party and hardliners demanding she resist EU demands and be ready to walk out with no deal, has left Europeans unsure of where negotiations may lead. The gesture to May reflects some willingness to help reinforce her in office. Barnier and his British counterpart, Brexit Secretary David Davis, told reporters there had been some progress this week on citizens rights and the Irish border question. Davis renewed his call for EU leaders to give a green light to trade talks next week but that has long been a forlorn hope. Barnier made clear that despite new momentum from May s concessions in a speech at Florence last month, British proposals still failed the sufficient progress test, notably on tens of billions of euros the EU says London owes. May said Britain would ensure the other 27 countries did not lose out financially from Brexit in the current EU budget period to 2020 and would honor commitments but Barnier said London was failing to spell out just what it was ready to pay. There was no negotiation on this, but we did have technical discussions which were useful, he said. We are, therefore, at a deadlock on this question. This is extremely worrying for European taxpayers and those who benefit from EU policies. Nonetheless, he offered hope: I am still convinced that, with political will, decisive progress is within reach in the coming two months. With David Davis, we will organize several negotiating meetings between now and the end of the year. May herself said there had been good progress and welcomed Barnier s talk of further progress over the coming weeks .","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump likes to call most of the press fake so when the White House is called disorganized or unprofessional, it is easy for him to discount the criticism. FOX News, however, is one of his favorite outlets.This week it is hard to call the White House anything but a hot mess. The communications office, for instance, does not seem to have any idea of what s going on. But even Chris Wallace, the host of FOX News Sunday, is saying any problems in the White House communications office should be laid at the feet of the president.Wallace said, One of the problems has been the disarray at the White House communications shop. The president has been blaming that on them, but the fact is it should be blamed on him, because he didn t seem to trust them enough to give them advanced notice. There have been reports that despite not having given his staff the information they needed to develop a coherent and comprehensive strategy, Trump was up watching the television coverage of Comey s firing, yelling at the set and blaming the people around him for not defending the decision.,Wallace said that he has been trying to book a White House spokesperson all week to go on his Sunday show and has had no success. He said, They still haven t given us anybody. We can t even reach anybody they re not available, they re not answering the phone.","label":1}
{"text":"The United States and Cuba have concluded a \"substantive\" second round of talks on multibillion-dollar claims against one another in Washington and agreed to hold more regular meetings on the matter, a State Department Official said on Friday. The former Cold War foes had a first meeting outlining their respective claims in December in Havana as part of a deepening detente. The issue is one of the key and complex obstacles to normalization of relations between the two countries. \"The second meeting was more substantive both in exploring more details about claims that need to be resolved but also in reviewing the practices of both countries in solving claims,\" the State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity. \"Both sides agreed they would have more regular meetings.\" There is no set date yet for the next meeting, which will place in Havana, in accordance with bilateral protocol, the official said. Cuba wants at least $121 billion in reparations for economic damages caused by the U.S. trade embargo and at least $181 billion for \"human damages.\" The United States has awarded its firms and individuals $1.9 billion worth of claims against Cuba for factories, farms, homes and other assets that were nationalized on the island after Fidel Castro's rebels came to power in 1959. Those claims are now roughly worth $8 billion when including 6 percent annual interest. The Cuban government has reached settlements with other countries for expropriated assets but it cut off negotiations with the United States when bilateral relations soured in the 1960s. Many of the nationalized companies no longer exist and individual claims have been passed to heirs. The State Department official said the United States also is claiming $2.2 billion for court judgments outstanding against Cuba and hundreds of millions for former government mining interests on the island. Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a statement the two countries had continued sharing information on their respective claims \"with the aim of preparing the process of negotiation.\"","label":0}
{"text":"President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law the funding bill passed by Congress that will keep the government operating until Dec. 9, the White House said.","label":0}
{"text":"WHAT do subscriptions to a newspaper, magazine or Netflix account have in common? Once you sign up, you expect to pay the same rate every month. Yet that's not the case at Amazon when you subscribe to its Subscribe Save program, which automatically refills orders for household staples like instant coffee, napkins or trash bags. Amazon's subscription program, which was introduced in 2007, lets consumers register to have their favorite consumables delivered regularly \u2014 monthly, for example \u2014 in exchange for a discount of at least 5 percent off each order. Buried in the company's terms and conditions is that the Subscribe Save discount is applied to the price of the item at the time that the order is placed. And on Amazon, prices change frequently \u2014 including sometimes rising. I learned this the hard way while reviewing an email summary of my Amazon subscriptions. A pack of lint rollers that I had subscribed to for more than two years recently jumped to $18. 04 a pack, up from $12. 44 since the last delivery a few months ago, or almost a 50 percent increase. A quick web search revealed other consumers were also surprised by price jumps for Subscribe Save items. One Amazon customer said he signed up for a $10 box of chewing gum and was charged $100 for the same product a month later. In Amazon's online forums, dozens of people posted about prices of Subscribe Save items fluctuating, with some calling the program a \"bait and switch\" subscription scheme. Amazon declined to comment. The company emails people 10 days before a recurring subscription delivery, when it informs customers of a new price of their item so they can change or skip the order. Any sticker shock, analysts said, may be the result of Amazon's complex pricing system coming into conflict with consumer expectations of a traditional subscription. Jared Wiesel, a partner at Revenue Analytics, a pricing and sales consulting firm, said of Amazon, \"I think they've violated the psychological concept of a subscription with their customers in changing prices like this. When people think of a subscription, they think of locking in a set cadence of receiving a good. \" Amazon, the top online retailer in the United States, has not said how many customers use Subscribe Save. Yet its program is prominent among a growing number of internet retailers that are finding success in sales models, such as Dollar Shave Club, the subscription razor company that recently sold for $1 billion to Unilever, or the Honest Company, which lets parents subscribe to baby products like diapers and wipes. Amazon's dynamic pricing system, in which it frequently adjusts item prices based on a sophisticated set of variables like supply and demand, time of day and prices offered by competitors, is the company's way of making it look as if you are always getting the best deal, Mr. Wiesel said. Prices of goods can also fall, of course. But even when prices decline, people need to beware because Amazon's pricing tends to fluctuate more widely and more frequently than at your local grocery store or Walmart, Mr. Wiesel added. In traditional retail, the major price changes typically happen during promotions, he said. To get a preliminary view into whether people can save \u2014 or not \u2014 with Amazon's program, I plugged prices of 50 featured Subscribe Save items into a spreadsheet and looked at their price histories over the previous six months. I compiled the results with the web tool Camel Camel Camel, an Amazon price tracker. Prices of most items, including dishwasher soap and toilet bowl cleaner, changed frequently. As often as weekly, prices rose, dipped and rose again like a roller coaster. In extreme cases, prices for items like instant coffee and napkins jumped between 90 and 170 percent. (Prices below reflect subscription discounts.) \u2022 Folgers Coffee, 30. Tub In June: $6. 64 In August: $12. 50 This week: $7. 59 \u2022 Vanity Fair Napkins In May: $7. 94 In June and July: $21. 46 This week: $15. 36 ______ Only five of the Subscribe Save items held steady. \u2022 Sparkle Paper Towels Over six months: $25. 99 \u2022 Death Wish Coffee Over six months: $19. 99 After the service's 5 percent discount, the paper towels cost $24. 69 and the coffee cost $18. 99. Not bad. ______ In the end, whether you save money depends on when your subscription order is placed and what items you buy. The downside of buying through Amazon's subscription program is the lack of predictability, Mr. Wiesel said. \"I've never seen this type of price fluctuation in a store,\" he added. Some highlights over the last six months (with subscription discounts applied): \u2022 GermGuardian Air Purifier Replacement Filter Low: $18. 06 High: $33. 24 \u2022 Honeywell Humidifier Replacement Filter Low: $4. 67 High: $11. 27 \u2022 Lysol Disinfecting Wipes ( ) Low: $8. 95 High: $17. 91 ______ Mr. Wiesel noted that it would be tough for Amazon to revise its subscription program to offer items at fixed rates. A majority of sales on Amazon are purchases, and dynamic pricing is fundamental to how the company operates. If, for example, Subscribe Save prices remained static, those customers could miss out when prices go down for purchases of the same products. If you truly want to save money on Amazon, one approach is to sign up for price alerts on Camel Camel Camel to get an email when a price drops to a desired amount. When that happens, manually reorder \u2014 yes, that's an extra step \u2014 your instant coffee, toilet cleaner or lint rollers. Sucharita an analyst for Forrester Research who follows Amazon, said the retailer was probably pushing prices up to test how loyal customers are to products and how much more they are willing to pay for them. Yet the sharp price changes on Subscribe Save items caught her by surprise. \"It doesn't seem as as Amazon typically is,\" she said. \"That's what's unusual. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Email  According to Twitter page Jil al HorriyavalTanweer, @jil_ht, the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has claimed in his official twitter account that Turkey is pursuing a revival of Ottoman Empire by deploying military forces to Syria and Iraq, while Saudi Arabia is remaining silent against the disintegration and plundering of the Arab countries by the Erdogan regime, only because of strategic issues and its own hostility toward Bashar Assad.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump stroked his own ego again and got humiliated for it.During a very creepy Cabinet meeting where each member took their turn praising Trump on national television, Trump bragged about the number of bills he has signed, claiming to have signed more legislation than any other president in history except Franklin Roosevelt. I will say that never has there been a president with few exceptions, in the case of FDR he had a major Depression to handle who s passed more legislation, who s done more things than what we ve done, Trump boasted.Technically, it s sort of true. Actually, Roosevelt and Truman signed more. But the kind of legislation Trump has signed thus far is insignificant. For instance, most of the bills include creating memorials, designating buildings, appointing members to the Smithsonian board, encouraging Americans to display the flag on a certain day, and a bunch of other pithy bills that really are pathetic when you consider all the major pieces of legislation other presidents signed after they took office.But that didn t stop Trump from blowing his own horn again on Twitter Friday morning.I ve helped pass and signed 38 Legislative Bills, mostly with no Democratic support, and gotten rid of massive amounts of regulations. Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2017Again, Trump has no major legislative achievements, and it should be pointed out that President Obama signed plenty of bills, including major pieces of legislation without Republican support. Unlike Trump, Obama didn t whine about it.Predictably, and rightfully so, Twitter users were quick to bash Trump for bragging about his pathetic record.Literally every single major legislative effort you ve had has FAILED DRAMATICALLY! Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) June 23, 2017Except that the regulations that this administration got rid of were essential to protecting the environment and checking Wall St excesses. Anirvan Ghosh (@anirvanghosh) June 23, 2017Praising yourself = sad & desperate Ending self praise with Nice! = high fiving yourself after masturbating Pep Rosenfeld (@peprosenfeld) June 23, 2017No Major Bills, despite having the House and Senate on your side. NOT NICE! Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) June 23, 2017you ve mostly just removed laws that protect living creatures. Congratulations, fuck face. https:\/\/t.co\/OjgRh2V7Id. kim (@kim) June 23, 2017Congrats as well, 4 signing bill that now allows hibernating bears in Alaska 2 be shot by hunters, as well as tracked by aircraft & killed!! Pam W ?????? (@dallaspamela53) June 23, 2017You are a seriously needy lil bitch Rogue CPI (@RogueCPI) June 23, 2017It takes a real small man to feel the need to brag. Thanks for the daily reminder of how weak and fragile you are #LamePOTUS Scott Greenstone (@sgreenstonenj) June 23, 2017Donald Trump is a pathetic old man who should be getting impeached and thrown in prison for the rest of his miserable life. Instead, Republicans are letting him disgrace the presidency and embarrass the United States on a daily basis. 2020 can t get here soon enough.Featured Image: Alex Wong\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The Clinton campaign reacted with yet another ad featuring Trump's own words this time disparaging veterans and their families. The anti-Trump Priorities USA SuperPAC went even further with a new spot that shows Trump saying, \"I love war.\" Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway responded by saying the bizarre comment was taken out of context but the full quote, which he gave last November at a wild Fort Dodge, Iowa, rally (the same one where he called Ben Carson a child molester), is even worse than what it sounds like in the ad: Trump has never been in the service, although he has said,\"I always felt I was in the military\" because of his education at a military-themed boarding school and he believes he has \"more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.\" That comment \"I'm good at war\" says everything about Trump as he demonstrated last night at the town hall forum that he is indeed unfit to be president of the United States. There were many aspects of his performance that had people gasping at the mere idea of this man in a position of real power, not the least of which was his comment that President Barack Obama compares unfavorably to Russian President Vladimir Putin who \"has an 85 percent approval rating\" and is \"very much a leader\" because he has \"strong control over his country.\" But it was around the question of ISIS and the Middle East where he really showed his true colors. He was upset that Hillary Clinton had earlier claimed that he had lied when he said he had been against the Iraq War and defended himself by pointing to an Esquire magazine article from 2004 \u2014 which doesn't really help since the war began in the spring of 2003. The fact-checkers have declared his pants are on fire numerous times on this but he just keeps saying it. Last night he also made a passing reference to someone \"asking him about Iraq\" 14 years ago, and you may be surprised to learn that at that same crazy Iowa rally he told the crowd that a delegation from the White House came to him to ask his opinion and he advised not to go in because it would destabilize the region. To the best of my knowledge this claim has never been validated. It's possible, of course, this was the Bush administration. But let's just say that it's as likely as Trump's witnessing thousands of New Jersey Muslims cheering after 9\/11. You'll knock the hell out of one and the other one is going to come and take over the other. You don't have to be a genius to figure this out even though I am a genius. And by the way, I'm more militaristic than anybody in this room. I'm going to make our military so strong, so powerful. Everyone seems to think that Trump has \"pivoted\" from his position that he could not reveal his plan to defeat ISIS to his announcement today that he would give the generals 30 days from the inauguration to come up with one. But that's wrong. Trump's secret plan is not so secret. At that same rally last fall, Trump spoke about it plainly: \"I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me. . . . I would bomb the shit out of 'em. . . . I'd blow up the pipes. I'd blow up the \u2014 I'd blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left. And you know what, you get Exxon to come in there and in two months \u2014 you ever see these guys how good they are? The great oil companies? They'll rebuild that sucker brand-new. It'll be beautiful. And I'd bring it, and I'd take the oil.\" At the forum, he reiterated this belief that America should \"take the oil\" because he thinks this will make ISIS surrender and has taken to saying \"to the victor goes the spoils\" apparently unaware that this is a considered a war crime. He has said in the past it would require a permanent force to protect the oil but that it wouldn't take much. Trump said that under Obama and Clinton's leadership \"the generals have been reduced to rubble\" and \"reduced to a point where it's embarrassing for our country.\" He sounded as if he planned to fire some of them, which isn't actually something the president can do. As he is wont to do he brought up his favorite, General George Patton, saying that he's \"spinning in his grave\" over the state of affairs in the military. The good news is that he didn't bring up General Black Jack Pershing and endorse mass executions with bullets dipped in pigs' blood as he often does on the trail. He maintained that he still believes in his own plan for Iraq and says he won't necessarily follow the generals' advice. So, the GOP nominee for commander in chief tells people that he's \"good at war,\" \"has had a lot of wars of his own\" and \"loves war in a certain way\" despite never having been in the military. He also believes he's a \"genius\" who is \"more militaristic\" than anyone in the room. His plan to defeat ISIS is to blow up the Iraqi oil wells and have Exxon come in and rebuild them. And he believes that half the military leadership are fools and thinks he can just fire the ones he doesn't like. But there's nothing delusional about any of that so there's no need to concern yourselves that the poll numbers are tightening. If he happens to pull this off, what could go wrong?","label":0}
{"text":"A gunman who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 more when he opened fire in a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. early Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in American history. President Obama was in Orlando on Thursday to meet with victims' families. Here is the latest: \u2022 The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in a shootout with the police. Mr. Mateen, an American citizen whose parents were from Afghanistan, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call he made at the time of the attack, law enforcement officials said. He lived in Fort Pierce, Fla. \u2022 On Tuesday, a senior F. B. I. official said investigators suspected the gunman's second wife, Noor Zahi Salman, might have been aware that he was plotting an attack, and the agency was trying to determine her level of involvement. Ms. Salman, the mother of his young son, told the F. B. I. that she had driven him to the Pulse nightclub at some point before the attack and that she had also been with him when he bought ammunition. NBC, which reported the development, said Ms. Salman, 30, lives in Port St. Lucie, Fla. with Mr. Mateen's father. The woman told officials she had tried to talk Mr. Mateen out of any attack, but whether she knew of his true plans was unclear. \u2022 Mr. Mateen was born in Queens, New York, according to public records. His Sitora Yusufiy, said her marriage to Mr. Mateen had been abusive, and that he had at times displayed erratic behavior. \"There were definitely moments when he'd express his intolerance toward homosexuals,\" she said. The marriage ended in divorce. \u2022 Mr. Mateen was removed from his job as a security officer at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce, in 2013 at the request of county sheriff's officials who had grown concerned about his demeanor and his \"inflammatory\" comments. The sheriff then informed the authorities, prompting an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the sheriff's office said Tuesday. Mr. Mateen was transferred to a job as a security guard at a nearby residential golfing community, leading him to lodge a discrimination complaint, an official with the private security company that employed him said on Tuesday. The F. B. I. director, James Comey, said Monday that the gunman was on a terrorism watch list from 2013 to 2014, but that months of investigation into his foreign travels, his inflammatory remarks and his motives did not produce enough evidence to charge him. \u2022 The global security company G4S, based in Britain, said Mr. Mateen had worked for it as a guard since 2007. A said he had repeatedly complained to the company that Mr. Mateen used racial, ethnic and sexist slurs, and talked about killing people. \u2022 The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Mr. Mateen had legally bought both weapons used in the attack, a handgun and a long gun, in Florida within the last week. \u2022 Mr. Mateen opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a popular gay club, at about 2 a. m. He was armed with an assault rifle similar to the and a handgun. \u2022 Mr. Mateen shot about of the people in the packed club. Hundreds of panicked clubgoers escaped and fled into the streets. \u2022 As more police officers rushed to the scene, Mr. Mateen retreated to a bathroom where he is believed to have held four to five hostages. About 15 to 20 people were in another restroom, frantically texting friends and family for help. \u2022 The police chief, John Mina, said that when police negotiators began to talk with Mr. Mateen, he appeared \"cool and calm. \" The gunman made statements that led officers to think he was going to begin killing more people, the chief said, and he spoke of having explosives. Mr. Mateen was killed by a police SWAT team when it raided the building about 5 a. m. with an armored vehicle and stun grenades. One police officer was wounded, and at least 30 people were rescued. \u2022 President Obama said that the attack was a kind of \"homegrown extremism\" because it appeared the gunman had been inspired by extremist information he found on the internet, but that there was no clear evidence he was part of a wider terrorist plot. \u2022 The City of Orlando set up a special web page where it released the names of victims. The New York Times has compiled brief portraits of the victims. \u2022 A staggering 90 percent of the 49 victims were Hispanic or of Hispanic descent, including Mexican, Colombian and Dominican, community leaders said. Of those killed, 23 were Puerto Rican. \u2022 Medical officials said the victims had deep, gaping wounds from the rounds fired from the assault rifle and handgun. In some cases, the rounds bounced around inside their bodies, inflicting internal injuries. \u2022 More people were killed in Orlando than in any previous mass shooting in the United States. The 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech killed 32 people, while 26 people were killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. \u2022 This is the second mass shooting in the United States linked to sympathizers of the Islamic State since December, when a married couple killed 14 people in a rampage in San Bernardino, Calif. The Orlando shooting was the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. \u2022 The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre in a statement released over an encrypted phone app. The group said the attack \"was carried out by an Islamic State fighter,\" according to a transcript provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist propaganda. \u2022 The gunman made a series of Facebook posts, according to Senator Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, including one in which he raged against the \"filthy ways of the west\" and another that warned of more attacks by the Islamic State \"in the next few days. \" He even searched for references to the massacre while he was carrying it out, the senator wrote in a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chairman and chief executive. \u2022 Mr. Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, posted a video on his Facebook page early on Monday in which he expressed regret and confusion about why his son had carried out the mass killing. \"I don't know what caused this,\" said Mr. Mateen, speaking in Dari, a language spoken in Afghanistan. \"I did not know and did not understand that he has anger in his heart. \" \u2022 At a news conference on Monday, A. Lee Bentley, the United States attorney for Central Florida, said the investigators had collected a large amount of electronic and criminal evidence and were trying to determine whether Mr. Mateen acted alone. The statement by the Islamic State did not provide details about its relationship with Mr. Mateen. \u2022 The F. B. I. director, Mr. Comey, said Monday that there was no evidence directly linking the gunman to an outside group, though he appeared to be \u2014 that is, he claimed allegiance to the Islamic State but had no direct tie \u2014 like the husband and wife team behind the attack in San Bernardino last year. \u2022 Investigators continued looking into whether Mr. Mateen's wife knew what he had planned, but officials have deflected questions about possible criminal charges against her. They are also scouring his past movements and possible accomplices. \u2022 Mr. Mateen told the police by phone that he would strap explosives to four hostages and place them strategically in the corners of the building, Mayor Buddy Dyer said on Wednesday. But investigators have not found any evidence of explosives.","label":0}
{"text":"http:\/\/www.veteransnewsnow.com\/2016\/10\/26\/1010359-65-us-journalists-at-a-private-dinner-with-hillary-clintons-team-and-john-podesta\/  I just heard an NPR presstitute declare that Texas, a traditional sure thing for Republicans was up for grabs in the presidential election. Little wonder if this report on Zero Hedge is correct. Apparently, the voting machines are already at work stealing the election for Killary.  http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2016-10-25\/texas-rigged-first-reports-voting-machines-switching-votes-hillary-texas  From my long experience in journalism, I know the American public is not very sharp. Nevertheless, it is difficult for me to believe that Americans, whose jobs, careers, and the same for their children and grandchildren, have been sold out by the elites who Hillary represents would actually vote for her. It makes no sense. If this were the case, how did Trump get the Republican nomination despite the vicious presstitute campaign against him?  It seems obvious that the majority of Americans who have been suffering terribly at the hands of the One Percent who own Hillary lock, stock, and barrel, will not vote for the people who have ruined their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.  Furthermore, if Trump's election is as impossible as the presstitutes tell us\u2014Hillary's win is 93% certain according to the latest presstitute pronouncement\u2014the vicious 24\/7 attacks on Trump would be pointless. Wouldn't they? Why the constant, frenetic, vicious attacks on a person who has no chance? Trump takes aim at those rigging the system  There are reports that a company associated with Hillary backer George Soros is supplying the voting machines to 16 states , including states that determine election outcomes. I do not know that these reports are correct. However, I do know for a fact that the oligarchic interests that rule America are opposed to Trump being elected President for the simple reason that they are unsure that they would be able to control him.  It is hard to believe that dispossessed Americans will vote for Hillary, the representative of those who have dispossessed them, when Trump says he will re-empower the dispossessed. Hillary has denigrated ordinary Americans who, she says, she is so removed from by her wealth that she doesn't even know who they are. Clearly, Hillary, paid $675,000 by Goldman Sachs for three 20-minute speeches, is not a representative of the people. She represents the One Percent whose policies have flushed the prospects of ordinary Americans down the toilet.  What is really disturbing is the pretense by the presstitute scum that Trump's lewd admiration for female charms is deemed more important than the prospect of nuclear war. At no time during the presidential primaries or during the current presidential campaign has it been mentioned that Russia is being assaulted daily by propaganda, threatened by military buildups, and being convinced that the United States and its European vassals are planning an attack. Architects of \"Regime Change\" Wars  A threatened Russia, made insecure by inexplicable hostility and Western propaganda, is a danger manufactured by the neoconservative supporters of Hillary Clinton.  If the American people are really so unbelievably stupid that they think lewd remarks about women are more important than avoiding nuclear war, the American people are too stupid to exist. They will deserve the mushroom clouds that will wipe them and everyone else off the face of the earth.  Donald Trump is the only candidate in the primaries and the general election who has said that he sees no point in conflict with Russia when Putin has shown nothing but desire to work things out to mutual advantage.  In contrast, Hillary has declared the thrice-elected president of Russia to be \"the new Hitler\" and has threatened Russia with military action. Hillary talks openly about regime change in Russia.  Surely, in a free media at least one person in the print and TV media would raise this most important of all points. But where have you seen it?  Only in my columns and a few others in the alternative media.  In other words, we are about to have an election in which the important issue has played no role. And yet allegedly we are the exceptional, indispensable people, a people's democracy protected by a free press.  In truth, this mythical description of America is merely a cloak for the rule of the Oligarchs. And the Oligarchs are risking life on earth for their continual supremacy.  Also see:  The Saker explains how Vladimir Putin wrest the sovereignty of Russia away from the Anglo-Zionist Empire. He hopes that Donald Trump can rescue America. His article is republished with his permission.  Can Trump Save America Like Putin Saved Russia?","label":1}
{"text":"The first meeting of a Russian-North Korea military commission is discussing the implementation of a 2015 agreement on preventing dangerous military activities signed by the two nations in 2015, Russia s embassy to Pyongyang said on its Facebook page on Thursday. Russia s defense ministry delegation arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday. It will stay in North Korea until Saturday, an embassy official told the RIA news agency.","label":0}
{"text":"Source: Arctic News  For some time, Arctic sea ice extent has again been at a record low for the time of the year. The image below shows Arctic sea ice extent on October 26, 2016, when extent was only 6.801 million km\u00b2.  One reason for the low sea ice extent is the high and rising temperature of the Arctic Ocean. On October 27, 2016, the Arctic Ocean was as warm as 14.8\u00b0C or 58.6\u00b0F (green circle near Svalbard), 12.1\u00b0C or 21.7\u00b0F warmer than 1981-2011, as the image below shows.  On October 29, 2016, the Arctic Ocean was as warm as 14.9\u00b0C or 58.8\u00b0F (green circle near Svalbard), 12.1\u00b0C or 21.8\u00b0F warmer than 1981-2011, as the image below shows.  As the sea ice shrinks, less sunlight gets reflected back into space, while more open water and higher sea surface temperatures also cause storms and cyclones to become stronger. Stronger cyclones also cause greater amounts of water vapor to move up the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean toward the Arctic. [ click on image to enlarge ] [ click on image to enlarge ]  Less Arctic sea ice and a warmer Arctic Ocean make that more heat and water vapor gets transferred from the Arctic Ocean to the atmosphere. The two above images show temperature forecasts for November 1 & 2, 2016. In both cases, temperatures over the Arctic as a whole are forecast to be as much as 6.40\u00b0C higher than 1979-2000.  As these images show, temperature anomalies in many places are at the top end of the scale, i.e. +20\u00b0C or +36\u00b0F.  Above combination image shows record low Arctic sea ice for the time of the year (left) and near record low Antarctic sea ice for the time of the year (right), with a combined sea ice extent of only 23.751 million km\u00b2 on October 28, 2016. In other words, the world is now absorbing a lot of sunlight that was previously reflected back into space.  Below are two further temperature forecast:  Above image shows forecasts for October 31, 2016. The Arctic is forecast to be 6.07\u00b0C warmer than 1979-2000, while the Antarctic is forecast to be 4.56\u00b0C warmer than 1979-2000.  Above image shows forecasts for November 1, 2016. The Arctic is forecast to be 6.42\u00b0C warer than 1979-2000, while the Antarctic is forecast to be 3.70\u00b0C warmer than 1979-2000.  Rising temperatures over the Arctic further contribute to a rise in the amount of water vapor in the air over the Arctic at a rate of 7% more water vapor for every 1\u00b0C warming. Since water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas, more water vapor further accelerates warming in the Arctic.  The Climate Reanalyzer image below shows the temperature rise in the Arctic over time.  In the video below, Dr. Walt Meier of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center describes how the Arctic has been losing its thicker and older sea ice over the years (1991 to September 2016).  The Naval Research Lab 30-day thickness animation below (up to October 28, 2016, with forecasts up to November 5, 2016) further shows minimal recent growth of the Arctic sea ice, especially in terms of the ice with a thickness of 1m or above.  As the Arctic Ocean gets warmer, the danger grows that large amounts of methane will erupt from destabilizing hydrates at its seafloor. Ominously, high methane levels are visible over the Arctic on the image below, showing methane levels as high as 2424 ppb on October 24, 2016.  The animation below, made with images from another satellite (and a different scale), shows high methane levels over th Arctic Ocean from October 26 to 28, 2016.","label":1}
{"text":"Actor and director George Clooney, a supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, broke ranks over campaign financing on Saturday to condemn the \"obscene\" sums of money in U.S. politics and praised Clinton's chief political rival in the process. Clooney made the remarks in an interview with NBC News' \"Meet The Press\" the day after he and his wife, Amal, hosted a fundraiser on Democratic Party hopeful Clinton's behalf Friday night with a price tag of up to $353,400 per couple. \"We had some protesters last night when we pulled up in San Francisco and they're right to protest. They're absolutely right. It is an obscene amount of money,\" Clooney said in excerpts released on Saturday. The interview will air on Sunday. Bernie Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont and Clinton's rival in the race for the Democratic nomination to run for the White House in the Nov. 8 election, has pounced on former secretary of state Clinton over the big-ticket event and for accepting large sums of money for her campaign. \"The Sanders campaign when they talk about it is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree completely,\" Clooney said. In response to the dinner, the Sanders campaign on Friday evening sent out an email to supporters asking them to help reach their fundraising goals by chipping in $3.53 apiece, instead.","label":0}
{"text":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 Investigators were reviewing a range of possible terror and hate-crime links to a gunman who professed his allegiance to the Islamic State from the scene of a horrific mass shooting at a crowded Orlando nightclub early Sunday that left at least 50 dead and 53 others wounded, the FBI said. Omar Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., acknowledged his support for the terror group during a 911 call to local law enforcement from the nightclub, Orlando FBI chief Ron Hopper said. During the call, placed in the pre-dawn hours after the first round of shots were fired, Mateen also made reference to the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, said a separate federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to comment publicly. The disclosure closely tracked an account provided earlier Sunday by California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff said that a Department of Homeland Security briefing indicated that Mateen had made the radical proclamation before he died in a shootout with authorities. \"Whether this attack also was ISIS-directed remains to be determined,'' Schiff said in a statement. Hopper also confirmed Sunday that Mateen had been interviewed by federal authorities three times in connection with two investigations during the past three years. In the most recent case, the FBI reviewed Mateen's alleged contacts in 2014 with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, an American suicide bomber from Florida who died in Syria the same year. Hopper said the case was closed when investigators determined that Mateen's contacts were \"minimal.'' A federal law enforcement official later said a review of the Abu-Salha case found no direct contact between Mateen and the bomber. The two attended the same mosque, the official said. In a 2013 investigation, investigators interviewed Mateen twice about \"inflammatory comments'' the gunman made to a co-worker about possible ties to international terrorism. That case also was closed when authorities were unable to \"verify'' the comments. In both cases, the federal law enforcement source said, Mateen agreed to be interviewed and cooperated with investigators. Mateen was not under investigation at the time of the shooting, a status that allowed for his purchase of a handgun and an AR-15 rifle which were used in the assault. A Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives trace found that the firearms were purchased \"legally'' in Florida within the \"last few days.'' Investigators, meanwhile, were interviewing members of Mateen's family Sunday in an attempt to learn what may have prompted the assault, two federal law enforcement officials said. NBC News reported that the attacker's father indicated that Mateen recently expressed anti-gay sentiments, but one of the officials said investigators were still reviewing a wide range of possible motivations. The official also said investigators were reviewing Mateen's recent travels and contacts to learn more about possible preparations for the attack, now the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. According to Florida court records, Mateen was married in 2009 and divorced two years later. Mateen married Sitora Yusufiy on April 16, 2009. The marriage license was issued in St. Lucie County, Fla., records show. A dissolution of marriage was filed in July 2011. Yusufiy could not be immediately reached. But in an interview with The Washington Post, the ex-wife claimed she was beaten repeatedly. A former Fort Pierce police officer who once worked with Mateen as a security guard at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla., said Mateen was \"unhinged and unstable.\" Daniel Gilroy said he worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift with G4S Security at the south gate of the community for several months in 2014 and 2015. Mateen took over from him for a later shift. Gilroy said Mateen frequently made homophobic and racial comments. Gilroy said he complained to his employer several times and quit after he said Mateen began stalking him with up to 20 or 30 texts per day. He also left Gilroy 13 to 15 phone messages a day, the former officer said. \"I quit because everything he said was toxic,\" Gilroy said Sunday, \"and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people.\" John Kenning, a regional G4S chief executive, confirmed that Mateen had been employed there since September 2007. \"We are shocked and saddened by the tragic event that occurred at the Orlando nightclub,'' Kenning said in a written statement. \"We are cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the friends, families and people affected by this unspeakable tragedy.'' Two of Mateen's prior acquaintances described the gunman's actions as completely out of character for the person they knew. \"He would never shoot anybody or kill anybody,'' Lamont Owens said, adding that he had not seen Mateen for a \"few'' years. Another associate, Ryan Jones, described Mateen as \"normal,'' though he also acknowledged not having contact with Mateen for several years. \"He was a cool, calm and collected person,'' Jones said. Born in New York, Mateen lived in a Fort Pierce apartment complex that was teeming with law enforcement officials Sunday. He also used a mailing address at his parents' nearby Port St. Lucie, Fla., address. Mateen received an associates of science degree in criminal justice technology in 2006 from Indian River State College, according to college spokeswoman Michelle Abaldo. Contributing: Anthony Westbury and Nicole Rodriguez in Port St. Lucie; Johnson reported from Washington.","label":0}
{"text":"Zimbabwe s stock market has shed $6 billion while its main index has slumped 40 percent since last Wednesday when the military seized power leading to the fall of Robert Mugabe, stock exchange data showed on Thursday. The main industrial index was at 315.12 points compared with 527.27 points on Wednesday last week when the military announced its takeover and put former president Mugabe under house arrest. On Thursday the index fell 4.4 percent. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange had been on a rapid rise in the last two months, driven by investors seeking a safe haven for their investment amid fears of a return to hyperinflation in an economy suffering acute shortages of foreign exchange. But analysts said the market had entered a period of correction on investor optimism of a change in economic policy in a post-Mugabe era. Market capitalization was $9 billion, down from $15 billion last week, bourse data showed. On the currency front, black market rates for buying cash dollars softened further on Thursday. Buying $100 using electronic transfer cost $150, down from $180 last week. Some black market traders said they were not buying dollars at all, anticipating further softening of rates. Zimbabwe adopted the U.S. dollar in 2009, along with Britain s pound and the South African rand, to tame inflation that topped out at 500 billion percent. The market is adjusting back to reality, an analyst at a Harare-based asset management company said. The gains that we had seen were being fueled by an outlook of a return to hyperinflation, continued isolation of Zimbabwe by international lenders as well as well as a depressed economic outlook. An analyst at a local stockbrocking firm said Mnangagwa had hit the right notes with his speech on Wednesday. Mnangagwa said he wanted to grow the economy, create jobs and for Zimbabwe to re-engage the international community as the country has faced isolation since 1999 when it defaulted on its debt with the International Monetary Fund. Most of Zimbabwe s 13 million people remain poor and face currency shortages and sky-high unemployment, something Mnangagwa promised to address.","label":0}
{"text":"While Trump works like crazy to win your vote, Hillary and Bill are rocking the night away. The Limousine liberals love these two grifters and just keep throwing cash at them. Pretty sickening!Rock superstars Sir Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi and Jimmy Buffett took to the stage at a glamorous fundraiser for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Monday night. The trio serenaded the crowd with the Beatles classic Hey Jude while both Hillary and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, danced with other guests at the bash in the Hamptons.Video from the $25,000-a-ticket event at Jimmy and Jane Buffett s estate shows Buffett, Bon Jovi and McCartney singing on stage for the grand finale: The Democratic presidential nominee hopped from mansion to mansion in the ocean-front vacation destination, appearing at parties and dinners where the contributions ranged from $1,000 to $100,000 for guests and hosts. The top-dollar tour concluded last night with an event in Sag Harbor complete with the stellar musical line-up.On an outdoor stage, Buffett entertained for more than an hour, playing hits like Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise. Bon Jovi serenaded the crowd with Who Says You Can t Go Home, and McCartney s numbers included Can t Buy Me Love and Lady Madonna. The trio closed out the show with a performance of Hey Jude. Attendees said Clinton even hit the dance floor with McCartney during one of Buffett s numbers. McCartney joked with the crowd, according to fundraiser guests, saying that this was the first time I ve paid to hear myself sing.","label":1}
{"text":"The White House on Friday said it was not given any prior notice on the FBI's announcement that it was investigating additional emails relating to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email system. \"We did not have advance warning,\" White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama to a campaign event for Clinton in Orlando, Florida. Schultz said news of the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe has not affected Obama's support for Clinton. \"I don't think anything has surfaced to changed the president's opinion and views of Secretary Clinton,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"The hotline rings, but nobody answers. China's Ministry of Public Security opened the line last month to answer questions about the new law regulating foreign nonprofit organizations, which takes effect on Sunday. But this week and last, calls went unanswered, exemplifying the uncertainty that still surrounds the law, raising concern among thousands of nongovernmental organizations about their ability to continue their work in the new year. The law, which places a raft of new requirements on foreign nonprofits operating in China, is another building block in President Xi Jinping's fortification of rule, which he sees as threatened by foreign influence and unfettered civil society. Under the law, foreign nonprofits such as foundations, charities and many business associations must register with the police, persuade state agencies and organizations to act as their sponsors, and submit regular, detailed reports on their activities. According to an official estimate, there are 7, 000 foreign nongovernmental organizations in China. They range from institutions like the Ford Foundation and Oxfam to groups of a few people working on issues like rural education, nature conservation and health care. But groups working on politically sensitive issues like human rights, legal reform and the rule of law, or those concerning ethnic minorities, are seen as most at risk. Some foreign organizations have already pulled back. The American Bar Association, which has a program providing training and support to strengthen the rule of law, recently closed its Beijing office until it could gain formal approval for its work. Elizabeth Andersen, the association's associate executive director, cited the \"heightened scrutiny of foreign organizations working in China and the uncertainties and lack of information surrounding how the new law will be implemented. \" But the uncertainty has also unsettled groups far removed from political concerns. Numerous aspects of the law remain opaque, and many groups are anxious about the vagueness and expense of the new requirements, while some fear their work will be curtailed or even banned. \"Nothing's clear,\" said Corinne Richeux Hua, executive director of Stepping Stones, a locally registered charity in Shanghai that organizes English teachers for children from the countryside. \"We've got vague directives and guidelines. \" The local police, with whom her group must now register, had been helpful, but \"they are still figuring it,\" she said. \"The rules haven't been made completely clear to them yet. \" Ambiguity about how the law will be enforced is likely to make foreign groups extra cautious, and the Ministry of Public Security, which administers the law, \"has every incentive to maintain uncertainty,\" said Jessica C. Teets, a political scientist at Middlebury College in Vermont who studies nongovernmental organizations in China. \"This will mean that the government is able to more closely monitor the foreign NGOs, and, more importantly, the Chinese citizens working and interacting with them, while allowing them to continue the work that the government deems beneficial,\" Ms. Teets said by email. \"The NGOs have every right to fear the closing off of space for advocacy and programs, but I think the impact will be really differentiated. \" Indeed, a Ministry of Public Security official told diplomats in Shanghai last month that \"the Chinese government will continue welcoming and supporting foreign nongovernmental organizations coming to China. \" After Deng Xiaoping opened up China in the 1980s, foreign foundations, associations and charities became important channels for sharing money, ideas and inspiration. Officials often welcomed their help, especially in poorer parts of the country, even though the rules governing their status were murky. But certain kinds of organizations, especially those that work in law and contentious social issues, have garnered distrust. Through the new law, the government wants to narrow permissible activities of foreign groups and monitor their work much more thoroughly. A list of permitted categories of assistance issued last week suggested that foreign groups offering technical help on environmental, health and other relatively uncontroversial issues had strong chances of gaining approval. Those working on legal issues will have a much narrower foothold. \"Human rights,\" for example, is not on the list of permitted issues. \"Rather than seeing foreign NGOs as potential partners who can help aid in economic, social and legal development in China, instead they see a latent threat that needs to be controlled,\" said Thomas Kellogg, the East Asia director of the Open Society Foundations, which has financed some work in China. \"People on the international side are definitely worried. And well they should be. I think it will be difficult for many foreign NGOs working on legal reform to register. For those that are able to register, the law will likely restrict what they are able to do. \" Even before the new law, combative rights lawyers and advocates, feminists and labor activists have come under Mr. Xi's heavy grip. Peter Dahlin, a Swedish citizen in Beijing, was arrested, forced to apologize on television and expelled from China early this year for working for an unregistered group that did advocacy for legal rights. The party sees groups like his as potential Trojan horses of political subversion. A propaganda video promoted by public security agencies this month warned that forces were \"using foreign nongovernmental organizations to nurture 'proxies' and to establish a social basis\" for insurrection. The groups' worries have been compounded by confusion about many requirements, the belated release of crucial rules, and signs that public security bureaus are poorly prepared for their new role. But it is not just activists and charities who are concerned. The opaque rules mean that organizations such as business groups, universities and education programs that seemingly pose no political threat are also unclear whether they must register for some of their activities. \"Business and trade associations, civil society, environmental groups and educational institutions that are concerned about how their operations in China may be affected\" have met with American diplomats to discuss the law, said Mary Beth Polley, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Beijing. \"We remain deeply concerned about the uncertainties and potentially hostile environment for foreign nonprofit, nongovernment organizations and their Chinese partners that this law creates,\" she said. Foreign organizations working in China have long had to seek out domestic agencies or organizations to act as their sponsors. But the new law narrows the list of permissible sponsors, and those permitted may be reluctant to take on the risk of vouching for foreign groups, or feel they do not have the personnel available for the task. \"Who wants to assume this burden?\" asks Lester Ross, a partner in the Beijing office of the WilmerHale law firm who has been advising companies and organizations on the new law. \"I think there's a real issue of capacity. The NGO community serves as an important ballast for relationships, and if this is mishandled, it won't help. \" While some foreign organizations are resigned to months of uncertainty, some said they would keep working full time in the country, confident that public security offices will let them stay open while the registration is ironed out. Several American trade associations said they thought they would be allowed to stay, and some groups said they looked forward to gaining official status under the new rules. \"We see these new regulations as a pretty positive thing for us,\" said Steve Blake, the acting chief representative in Beijing of WildAid, which works with the Chinese government to fight illegal trading in wildlife. \"We have a big presence here, but we've never been completely officially on the books. \" But organizations working on legal issues or social problems said they were unsure of their futures and may face hard choices. Registration may mean sacrificing autonomy, but the alternative may be abandoning people in China who need their help, said Mr. Kellogg of the Open Society Foundations. \"I would urge foreign NGOs to adopt a attitude before they make any final decisions about either registering or pulling out of China,\" he said. \"Once there is more clarity about how the law will be enforced, it will be at least a bit easier to come up with mitigation strategies. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Kenya s Supreme Court will rule on Monday on cases that seek to nullify the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta last month and the judges could order a fresh vote or clear the way for the incumbent to be sworn in for a second term. The two cases appear to represent a final chance for legal scrutiny of the Oct. 26 election and the ruling could end a protracted political crisis in which more than 60 people have been killed. Kenya is a hub for trade, diplomacy and security in East Africa. We will deliver judgment on the 20th, Chief Justice David Maraga told lawyers at the end of a hearing on Thursday. Kenyatta defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga in August but Odinga challenged the election and the court voided it citing procedural irregularities and ordered a fresh vote. The court s decision was the first of its kind in Africa. Odinga boycotted last month s poll, saying the election commission had failed to carry out sufficient reforms. Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote. Lawyers for the petitioners, a former lawmaker and two human rights activists, urged the court to nullify the repeat poll due to a lack of fresh nominations for candidates and violence in some areas that prevented voting. Their counterparts for the election board, its chairman and Kenyatta, rejected the petition and urged the court to uphold the result to help end a crisis that has hurt the economy. The Supreme Court was created by a 2010 constitution that followed a crisis over a disputed election in 2007 in which around 1,200 people were killed in ethnic clashes. Analysts said the September ruling by the Supreme Court could embolden other judiciaries in Africa. This month, Liberia s Supreme Court halted a presidential run-off until the election board investigates claims of fraud in the first round of voting.","label":0}
{"text":"Russia will offer Turkey partial financing for Ankara s purchase of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a Russian presidential aide. Turkey has been in talks to buy the system for more than a year. Washington and some of its NATO allies see the move as a snub because the weapons cannot be integrated into the alliance s defenses. Turkish and Russian officials would meet to finalize the deal next week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Ankara that credit for the defense industry would be signed with Turkey in the near future. When asked by Interfax whether the Russian financing would cover the full cost of the deal, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin said: Not the whole, partially. Technical questions are being discussed, the interest rate. Everything is in the Finance Ministry, he said of the deal. Turkey expects to receive the first missile system in 2019, Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said in November. The deal included two S-400 systems and a third optional one.","label":0}
{"text":"You d think in the year 2016 we d no longer have to deal with discrimination of this magnitude anymore, but alas, the nation is still filled with bigoted morons, so, we still have businesses refusing service to customers based upon, in this case, religion.The Oktaha, Oklahoma gun range Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gun Range (what a name) decided to prohibit 29-year-old Raja ee Fatihah from their establishment because he s a Muslim. And now the U.S Army reservist, who proudly serves his country despite being openly discriminated against by bigots, is throwing a much-deserved lawsuit back in their face.The gun range, quite openly, prohibits Muslims, as can be seen in the photo:Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gun Range via CAIRLittle did they realize that the person whom they banned from their establishment was none other than a board member in the Oklahoma chapter of the Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the one who helped file the suit, and the legal director of the Oklahoma chapter, Brady Henderson perfectly stated: Whether the sign in question says no Muslims or whether it says no coloreds or whether it says no women or no Christians or no Buddhists it is just as un-American and fundamentally it is just as wrong. Fatihah said the range was fine and pleasant with him until he revealed that he was, in fact, Muslim. He said: At that point, they started treating me with suspicion. The ACLU released this as part of their press release: The lawsuit alleges that the policy violates Oklahoma s non-discrimination law as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids certain places of business from denying service to customers based on their race, color, religion, or national origin. Although the business is open to the general public, in July 2015, the owners posted a sign near the front entrance announcing that Muslims are not permitted at the facility and that the business is a Muslim free establishment. There is no justification for a business denying people service based on religion, said Fatihah. I am a servant of my community in every respect, and as a proud American, I have enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve to protect this country. I should be afforded the same rights and privileges as anyone else. When Fatihah arrived at the business s main counter, owners required him to fill out a liability form and provide his name, address, and driver s license number standard procedure for patrons seeking to use the gun range s facilities. However, after Fatihah identified himself as a Muslim, the owners armed themselves with handguns and demanded to know whether he was there to commit an act of violence or as part of a jihad. Fatihah was then made to leave the gun range without receiving service. According to WBRZ: The Oklahoma store owner s attorney, Robert Muise, says Fatihah was denied service because he was belligerent, not because of his religion. However, if you look at the sign on the front door that reads plain as day, MUSLIM FREE ESTABLISHMENT, it s hard to buy that story line. It will definitely be interesting to see how this lawsuit moves forward and if justice will be served.Featured image: Council on American-Islamic Relations via Mother Jones","label":1}
{"text":"Supporters of Obamacare staged rallies across the country on Thursday denouncing efforts by President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders to repeal the landmark law that has extended medical insurance coverage to some 20 million Americans. Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles marking the seventh anniversary of enactment of Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become widely known. Many talked about a very personal stake in the outcome of the healthcare debate roiling Capitol Hill. \"I feel sick today, but I came here because I'm terrified,\" said Steve Martin, 27, an unemployed Los Angeles resident who was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. \"The legislators have the best healthcare in the world, and we deserve the same.\" The ACA, considered former Democratic President Barack Obama's premiere domestic achievement, has drawn unrelenting scorn from Republicans, with promises to repeal and replace it a centerpiece of Trump's presidential campaign. Thursday's rallies coincided with planned action in the House of Representatives on a Republican-backed bill to begin dismantling Obamacare, but the vote was indefinitely postponed as Republican leaders and the White House scrambled to muster enough votes for passage. Many moderate Republicans as well as Democrats have raised concerns that repeal-and-replace would leave too many Americans without health coverage. Supporters of the bill say it would lower premiums, but critics counter that those savings would in many cases be more than offset by higher co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs. Obamacare backers also worry about the fate of millions who gained insurance under the bill's major expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state program providing coverage for the needy, the elderly and the disabled. In the nation's capital, several hundred chanting protesters gathered at Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House, carrying signs with slogans such as \"We Fight Back\" and \"Keep America Healthy.\" Robinette Barmer, 61, a former seamstress and caterer from Baltimore now on a disability pension, said that without Obamacare she could not afford the various medications she takes for ailments such as asthma and high blood pressure. \"It's co-pay this, co-pay that. I can't pay that. I'm struggling as it is right now,\" she said. After the rally, protesters marched a block to the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, where several dozen sprawled on the sidewalk in a \"die-in\" symbolizing the effect of rolling back Obamacare. Some 24 protesters were arrested in front of the White House after they refused get off the ground, organizers said. Protest organizers said smaller gatherings were also held outside the congressional district offices of various Republican lawmakers around the country.","label":0}
{"text":"Rumors that the DNC hack was tied to Russia have been swirling for several days, but now, this is no longer just a mere suspicion. Researchers with ThreatConnect, who specialize in cyber security, have traced the hacker back to a Russian internet server.According to the Arlington, Va. based ThreatConnect, Guccifer 2.0, the DNC Hacker who has described himself\/herself as Romanian, has been linked to a Russian internet server and a digital address that has been associated with various Russian online scams. Guccifer 2.0 is not thought to be a sophisticated hacker. Researchers with ThreatCOnnect believe it is more likely that this is propaganda by a group of people working with the Russian government in an effort to take attention off Moscow as the actual force behind the DNC hack. Now, after further investigation, we can confirm that Guccifer 2.0 is using the Russia-based Elite VPN service to communicate and leak documents directly with the media. We reached this conclusion by analyzing the infrastructure associated with an email exchange with Guccifer 2.0 shared with ThreatConnect by Vocativ s Senior Privacy and Security reporter Kevin Collier. This discovery strengthens our ongoing assessment that Guccifer 2.0 is a Russian propaganda effort and not an independent actor. The experts with ThreatConnect are the first to trace the self-proclaimed hacker back to Russia.Rich Barger, ThreatConnect s chief intelligence officer, reiterated his believe that the party responsible was not a sophisticated hacker when speaking with The Daily Beast. These are bureaucrats, not sophisticated hackers, he insisted. Barger backed up his assessment up with the following:Republican nominee Donald Trump has had an ongoing bromance with Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Many have said they believe that the DNC hack and subsequent email dump were an attempt by Putin to help out his billionaire buddy s bid for the presidency.","label":1}
{"text":"Billionaire Carlos Slim said on Friday that Mexico should not fear Donald Trump, seeing opportunities for his country in the U.S. president's economic policies, and praising Mexicans for uniting behind their government in talks with the northern neighbor. In a rare news conference, the telecommunications and construction mogul called Trump a negotiator, \"not Terminator\" and said his repeated attacks on Mexico had united the country, giving President Enrique Pena Nieto \"strength\" in trade and border security talks. \"This is the most surprising example of national unity that I've had the pleasure of seeing in my life,\" said Slim, who turns 77 on Saturday. He compared Mexicans' response to that when a devastating earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985. \"We have to back the president of Mexico so he defends our national interests.\" Slim spoke to reporters after Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a planned Washington summit with Trump following a tweet by the American that he should stay away unless Mexico agreed to pay for a border wall. Aiming to cool tensions, the two presidents spoke for an hour by phone on Friday, and the battered peso currency strengthened. Trump's threats to impose steep tariffs on Mexican products have ravaged the peso and spread worries about the economy, which is heavily dependent on the U.S. market. However, Slim, who spoke out against his fellow billionaire during the U.S. election campaign but had dinner with him after the Nov. 8 victory at the polls, said Trump's policies aimed at growing the U.S. economy would boost Mexico's growth as well as provide jobs for Mexican laborers living north of the border. \"The circumstances in the United States are very favorable for Mexico,\" Slim said, adding that he has not had any communication with Trump's team since the December dinner. \"It wasn't a romance,\" he joked about the meeting. Referring repeatedly to Trump's books and other writings, Slim argued that people should not be surprised at Trump's actions because it is all in his book \"Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America,\" which Slim said he had not finished reading. \"He's a great negotiator,\" Slim said. He said businesses should not be too worried if Trump's policies led to the collapse of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) underpinning Mexico's economy, saying the country could fall back on World Trade Organization tariffs. He said Mexican workers in the United States would benefit from Trump's planned infrastructure push, but warned that U.S. protectionism and other policies could hurt American consumers. \"Among these changes is a return to the past, what a dear friend called 'regressive utopias',\" he said, calling on the United States to focus on advanced manufacturing. Asked about Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Slim said the best barrier to illegal immigration would be investment that created opportunities and jobs in Mexico. Before the highly-anticipated news conference, speculation had been growing about whether Slim might try to run for president in 2018, but he poured cold water on that talk. \"I think I can do more on the business side,\" he said. Slim's largest companies do not have much obvious exposure to any border tax Trump might impose on Mexican imports. His high-profile holding in the New York Times Co, made him a target during the U.S. campaign, when Trump accused him of using the newspaper to try to help Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. Slim's shares have limited voting rights. Slim on Friday said he had been selling New York Times stock, but his son-in-law later said this was not correct. At the conference he was flanked by two of his sons, Carlos and Marco Antonio, and his son-in-law, Arturo Elias, with other family members watching. Most of the Slim family's wealth comes from Latin America-focused telecoms giant America Movil. America Movil does have a substantial U.S. business called TracFone which sells prepaid phone plans to customers and rents the networks of big operators. His next largest companies are retail and industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso and Mexico-focused bank Grupo Financiero Inbursa.","label":0}
{"text":"Barron Trump, President Donald Trump's son, reportedly \"panicked\" and became distressed after seeing Kathy Griffin's \"beheading\" photograph because he didn't know who Griffin was or understand the context of the photo. [According to TMZ, Trump's youngest son was watching television Tuesday when he saw the image of Griffin holding a fake, bloody decapitated head meant to resemble the president's head. Sources told the gossip outlet that Barron \"panicked\" and began calling for his mother, First Lady Melania Trump. \"He's 11. He doesn't know who Kathy Griffin is and the head she was holding resembled his dad,\" the source told TMZ. The photo of Griffin holding up Trump's severed head \u2014 taken during a photo shoot with L. A. artist Tyler Shields \u2014 was first published Tuesday morning by TMZ and sparked a firestorm online, with backlash coming from both sides of the political aisle and thousands of people calling for a boycott of Griffin's national comedy tour. The president responded Wednesday morning, saying the photograph had been particularly difficult for his children, including Barron. \"Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!\" Trump tweeted. Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017, Griffin apologized in a video posted to her Twitter account Tuesday, in which she said she \"crossed the line\" and that the photo had gone \"too far. \" The Secret Service has reportedly opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the photo shoot. Meanwhile, the fallout from the incident has continued CNN, where Griffin has a live New Year's Eve broadcast with Anderson Cooper since 2007, announced it was \"evaluating\" her future role in the program, while the comedian's scheduled performance at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been cancelled. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum","label":0}
{"text":"Warner Bros. superhero tentpole Wonder Woman held on to the top spot at the box office while Universal's Tom The Mummy reboot failed to unwrap big gains domestically as Hollywood's bleak summer continued this weekend. [Wonder Woman \u2014 starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian World War I peacekeeper \u2014 raked in $16 million Friday for an estimated $57. 2 million weekend total in its second week of release, according to Box Office Mojo. The Patty film, with a 93 percent \"fresh\" rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, fell just 45 percent in its second weekend for a domestic total of $205 million. The film has fared even better overseas, with its international tally standing at $435 million. Wonder Woman's success \u2014 (the 45 percent drop is the one of the lowest ever for a superhero movie) \u2014 provides a shot in the arm to DC's universe of superhero movies as Warners preps the launch of Justice League later this year. Meanwhile, Universal's monster movie The Mummy debuted to a paltry estimated $32. 2 million frame to come in second place for the weekend. The Tom film, meant to launch Universal's \"Dark Universe\" of monster movies, reportedly cost $125 million to produce before marketing, meaning the film will have to perform exceptionally well overseas to turn a profit for the studio. For comparison, each of the three Brendan Mummy films in the early 2000s opened higher than this latest iteration. Mummy did fare far better overseas, where Cruise's name still carries a ton of star firepower. The film opened to an estimated $52. 2 million in China, a record for a film in the country, on its way to an international total of $141. 8 million, the best international launch for any film in the actor's career. Universal undoubtedly hoped for a better opening for Mummy, as it was meant to serve as the first film in its \"Dark Universe\" series. Upcoming entries in the series are reported to include a Bill Bride of Frankenstein movie in 2019, and the Johnny The Invisible Man. Dreamworks Animation's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie came in third place with an estimated $12. 3 million haul. The animated movie featuring the voices of Kevin Hart and Ed Helms has earned $44. 5 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo, a solid if unremarkable result for a film that reportedly cost just $30 million to produce. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales continued its underwhelming run at the box office with a estimated take of $10. 7 million and a finish, bringing its domestic total to around $135 million. Johnny Depp's fifth outing as the buoyant Captain Jack Sparrow has delivered overseas, however, with an estimated global tally of close to $600 million. Disney's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 rounded out this weekend's top five with an estimated $6. 2 million in domestic receipts. The James superhero ensemble kicked off the summer season in early May with a $145 million debut weekend, and until Wonder Woman, was this summer's only real box office hit. The film's global haul stands at $828 million. Overall, the summer to date has been a disaster for studios, with only Wonder Woman and Guardians breaking out as bona fide hits. The season has suffered with a string of bombs, including Mummy, the aforementioned Pirates sequel, the Ridley sequel Alien: Covenant and Warner Bros.' Charlie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Other misfires included Paramount's Baywatch reboot and the Amy Hawn kidnap caper Snatched. According to Bloomberg, theater companies AMC and IMAX have seen their stock fall precipitously this year due in part to poor box office results. Cowen Co. analyst Doug Creutz told the outlet that this summer's offerings to date have collectively fallen $300 million short of expectations, and summer 2017 could beat out the summer of 2014 to become the worst summer at the box office since at least the . Industry observers will be holding out hope for other scheduled releases this summer, including next weekend's Pixar animated sequel Cars 3, Michael Bay and Universal's Transformers: The Last Knight, and Warner Bros' Christopher World War II epic Dunkirk. Other movies will include Universal's Despicable Me 3, Pictures' : Homecoming and Fox's War for the Planet of the Apes. View this weekend's full box office results at Box Office Mojo. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum","label":0}
{"text":"On Friday's Breitbart News Daily, author Ann Coulter praised the cadre of sharp advisers and feisty defenders assembled around President Donald Trump and said, \"We need more of them. \"[\"I mean, there are a hundred thousand on the other side,\" she noted. She predicted President Trump would not get any pushback \u2014 and probably not the credit he will deserve \u2014 for bringing jobs back. \"When he calls these companies and harangues them and makes them build their plants in America, makes them invest in America, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, they're not going to come out and denounce Trump. They'll say, 'Oh, it was just a hundred thousand jobs. It was just three thousand jobs.' Okay, if that's your best argument, no problem. \" But when it comes to issues like immigration, Coulter predicted \"every single entity\" would strike out at Trump, and he'll need stalwart political fighters to man the battlements. \"The media and the Democrats most of all because, like I say, this is life or death for them, and idiot Republicans who seem to think that we owe Somalis, Guatemalans, and Mexicans for the legacy of slavery, it's the damndest thing,\" she remarked, surveying the forces that will line up against Trump on immigration reform. As an example of furious pushback, SiriusXM host Alex Marlow described MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, speaking as the voice of the centrist establishment, \"going on a tear\" against Marlow's longtime friend Stephen Miller, who now serves as one of President Trump's advisers. He characterized the attack on Miller as \"dirty and dishonest. \" \"I will give our opposition credit: they have figured out the most powerful nerve center, besides Trump himself, within the Trump White House,\" Coulter said. \"Yeah, it would be great for them to take out Trump. This is when we ought to be throwing a party for Stephen Miller and saying, 'Congratulations! They can't call you dumb they realize you're a very important component. '\" \"He's brilliant,\" she said of Miller. \"You know, what I would like to do is go back to when you and he were growing up in L. A. and I don't know, get ahold of the soil conditions or the water or something. The two of you \u2014 oh, my gosh! So patriotic, so smart. You love your country. \" \"I was describing Steve Miller to some reporter recently. I was on a plane at the time, so I was writing out adjectives, and at the end of the sentence, I said, 'I'm not just listing adjectives I'm actually pausing and thinking about each one. But the main ones are brilliant and patriotic,'\" she recalled. \"The same with you,\" she told Marlow. \"And to have that in these young kids, out of all places, Los Angeles! And then a few years later \u2014 well, I won't even say her name, otherwise, she'll just start being attacked, the opposition will figure out the other person they need to take out of the Trump White House. \" \"But oh, my gosh. Thank God \u2014 not taking the Lord's name in vain I mean it literally \u2014 that Stephen Miller is on our side,\" Coulter said. Marlow proposed that Miller's effectiveness at moving the \" Trumpian agenda\" as the reason he has been taking so much fire, even when his critics cannot pinpoint anything he did wrong. \"Yes, he's very, very bright,\" Coulter agreed. \"It always struck me, especially kids from Los Angeles, the very epitome of coastal elites, how seriously and genuinely Stephen Miller cared about Americans. He's such a perfect fit for Trump. It would just casually come up in conversation. It was driving him crazy that they were being screwed over. \" She said she did not see the Joe Scarborough rant against Miller herself but had received many emails about it. \"I didn't even know what it was about at first because they were just blistering, Tourette' emails about how they were never going to watch Morning Joe again,\" she said. \"I don't really understand it, other than I gather the opposition has figured out, 'Danger, danger, person who loves America! '\" \"I probably don't need to worry because every time I do worry about something on Donald Trump's behalf, it turns out I didn't need to worry it's Trump,\" Coulter said. \"But you know, there is the White House bubble. I was just thinking, I travel a lot, I know a lot of people, and a lot of people from different walks of life. Just this week, I've talked to a Hollywood producer, and a union executive, and lots of cab drivers in New York City, Los Angeles, and so on, an actress, a Broadway actress and singer \u2014 okay, I don't need to list them all. But it's been amazing to me how popular the the ban is, and how popular Donald Trump is, and in particular with \u2014 I'm not a liberal I don't think immigrants' opinions are more important than American opinions, but it's interesting because it's contrary to the media narrative. Lots of immigrants in this country [are] wild about Trump, wild about the Muslim ban. \" \"I mean, out there in the middle of the country, he is more beloved than he was the day he was inaugurated. And, by the way, got a larger crowd than Obama. I don't know if you've written much about that, but I have the briefing book. It was a much bigger crowd, and we should probably spend the rest of the radio interview allowing me to prove that. But I kind of think he needs a rally in Washington or someplace. Go out to America,\" she advised. Ann Coulter is the author of numerous books, most recently In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN:","label":0}
{"text":"President Barack Obama suggested on Wednesday that moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem could have \"explosive\" results and said he was worried that the prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were waning. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to re-locate the embassy to Jerusalem, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy. Israel and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, and such a change would draw international condemnation. \"When sudden unilateral moves are made that speak to some of the core issues and sensitivities of either side, that can be explosive,\" Obama said at his last news conference as president. He said his administration had warned the incoming Trump administration that big shifts in policy had consequences. \"That's part of what we've tried to indicate to the incoming team in our transition process, is pay attention to this because this is ... volatile stuff,\" he said in response to a question about a potential embassy move. Obama has said repeatedly that Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is an impediment to creating two states, which the United States believes is the best solution to decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. He said his administration did not block a recent U.N. resolution on Israeli settlement activity because it felt a two-state solution was the only option for peace. \"The goal of the resolution was to simply say that the ... growth of the settlements are creating a reality on the ground that increasingly will make a two-state solution impossible,\" Obama said. \"It was important for us to send a signal, a wakeup call that this moment may be passing.\" Israel described the decision by the United States to abstain in the vote rather than wield its veto as \"shameful.\" The U.S. move, along with a sharp speech by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the issue, reinforced tensions between the outgoing Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.","label":0}
{"text":"There is a particular photo of a little refugee boy lying dead on the beach that went viral last year.It is true that the photo is very sad and makes you reflect on the distress of people fleeing their country at the risk of their lives.The above photo shows people walking to reach their final objective, life in a European country. Even if this photo were to make it around the world, only 1% of the people would notice the truth.In the photo, there are seven men and one woman. This should tell you everything you need to know about who is really being left behind to face unimaginable persecution by radical Muslim terrorists.Look a bit closer, and you ll notice that the woman has bare feet. She is accompanied by three children, and of the three, she is carrying two. Notice that none of the men are helping her. Why? Because in their culture the woman represents nothing. She is only good enough to be a slave to the men. Do you really believe that these men could integrate in our society and respect our customs and traditions?Now you know why this picture is worth 1,000 words.-100% FED Up!","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. senators called on Congress on Tuesday to take back its authority to determine whether the country goes to war, saying recent U.S. strikes in Syria were not covered by existing authorizations for the use of military force. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has begun considering legislation that would cover military action in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen against the Islamic State, al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups. \"I have always believed that it's important for Congress to exercise its constitutional role to authorize the use of force,\" the committee's chairman, Republican Senator Bob Corker, told a hearing on Tuesday. As President Donald Trump has ordered stepped-up military activity in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, members of Congress also want Trump to present a strategy for defeating Islamic State and other militant groups. \"It's difficult for us to carry out our responsibility unless we know what the commander in chief needs,\" Senator Ben Cardin, the committee's top Democrat, said. The Trump administration, like former President Barack Obama's, has been using a 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against al Qaeda passed after the Sept. 11 attacks as the legal basis for a wide range of military action since. Although there is bipartisan support for Congress to debate and vote on a new AUMF introduced by Republican Senator Jeff Flake and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, the measure faces stiff opposition. Lawmakers have introduced war authorizations repeatedly in the past several years. But they have failed to advance amid sharp divisions in Congress over whether, or how, to limit commanders' use of military resources. Many war-weary members of Congress also do not want to vote for anything that might become a foreign military quagmire consuming taxpayer dollars or leading to widespread U.S. casualties. Trump has ordered stepped-up military operations against Islamic State and delegated more authority to his generals. U.S.-led forces said on Tuesday they had shot down an armed \"pro-Syrian regime\" drone near the border between Iraq and Syria. A U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet over Syria on Sunday. Democratic Senator Tom Udall voted for the 2001 authorization while he was a member of the House of Representatives. \"I would have never imagined that vote supporting U.S. troops in Syria in 2017 and engagements with the Assad regime,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Spain s economy is expected to be impacted by the political crisis with Catalonia next year, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Monday. For 2018, we expect growth of 2.3 percent, which would be 2.7 or 2.8 percent without the Catalan issue, he told reporters as he arrived at a meeting with his EU counterparts. The government had already lowered the 2018 forecast from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent last month due to Catalonia. (This version of the story corrects quote)","label":0}
{"text":"On Friday's \"Outfront\" on CNN, former Obama administration green jobs czar and network contributor Van Jones said President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord was \"one of the dumbest moves in politics\" history and a \"big \"for his base. Jones said, \"Trump has said basically it took 25 years for 190 countries to come together and now he says he wants to start something on his own. Nobody is saying they want to do that. In fact, what has happened is exsactly what people predicted. He had created the biggest power vacuum on the planet by calling that press conference. And now you see China rushing forward, California rushing forward, and what he's actually done is give a tremendous gift to his opponents. You see the emerging of what you can call a green growth alliance where cities and states and businesses and tribes and governments are coming together, going around the president of the United States. He gave away power. \" He continued, \"The one thing nobody's talked about is that he also threw his own base under the bus. His rustbelt base needs jobs. Had he doubled down, they could be building wind turbines right now, smart cars right now, smart batteries, solar panels. Instead, he gave all that away to Germany. He not only gave his opponents a huge opportunity he gave his base a big nothing burger when they could have had jobs. It was one of the dumbest moves in politics. It's going to go down in history. Not just bad for the planet, bad for Donald Trump and his voters. \" Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to ease growing Asian worries about the raucous election campaign to succeed him which has been dominated by the incendiary rhetoric of mogul Donald Trump, now the Republican Party's nominee. \"I think other people sometimes look at our election system and say 'what a mess',\" Obama told a townhall meeting with young leaders in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. \"But usually we end up doing okay because the American people are good people ... Sometimes our politics doesn't express all the goodness of the people,\" he said, without referring specifically to any of the presidential candidates. Obama made the comments just before ending a three-day trip to Vietnam, whose high point was an announcement that Washington's ban on sales of lethal weapons to the country - a vestige of the Vietnam War - would be completely lifted. Obama repeatedly insisted that lifting the embargo was not a response to Beijing's assertiveness in the South China Sea. Critics accused Washington of throwing away a powerful lever it had to press communist-ruled Vietnam for improvements in human rights. White House officials say the arms move was a natural step to take with a country that, once an enemy, is now a key part of Obama's strategic 'rebalance' towards Asia and an important trade partner as its economy grows apace. Obama also announced the Peace Corps would begin operating in Vietnam for the first time. Across Asia, policymakers have been startled by Trump's \"isolationist\" foreign policy pronouncements, which have challenged much of the status quo in Washington's relations with the region. Many fear Trump will feed insecurity in nations worried about China's growing power, embolden nationalists and authoritarians, and unravel Obama's 'pivot' to the Asia-Pacific. At the townhall in Ho Chi Minh City, a young woman who had been an exchange student in Montana asked Obama what he thought of the prospects that Trump or Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders following him to the White House. \"Usually, eventually the voters make good decisions and democracy works,\" replied Obama, whose criticism of Trump has sharpened since he all but clinched the Republican nomination. \"Things are going to be ok. I promise.\" Thousands of people lined the streets of Ho Chi Minh City for a second day to cheer enthusiastically and wave mini-flags of Vietnam and the United States as Obama drove by on his way to the airport for a flight to Japan. At his freewheeling townhall, where he was greeted with a standing ovation, Obama noted that two-thirds of the country's population were born after 1975, when the war ended with North Vietnamese tanks rolling into Saigon to bring U.S.-backed South Vietnam under communist rule. Obama prodded Vietnam's leaders on political freedoms during his visit after critics of the government were prevented from meeting him. When a woman rapper at the townhall asked him about supporting arts and culture, he segued into an appeal for people to be allowed to express themselves. However, his unusually long one-country visit was warm and mostly about strengthening diplomatic and economic relations. Annual U.S.-Vietnam trade has swelled from $450 million when ties were normalized in 1995 to $45 billion last year. Washington is a big buyer of Vietnam's televisions, smartphones, clothing and seafood. Obama repeatedly touted the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, of which export-led Vietnam will be one of the biggest beneficiaries, if it survives opponents in Washington concerned about competition and a loss of U.S. jobs. He also talked about the challenges of climate change when asked about the drying-up of the Mekong River in the rice-bowl delta of southern Vietnam, urging Southeast Asian countries to work together. The Mekong River, which sustains 60 million livelihoods as it flows through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is under threat from at least 39 hydro-electric dams being built or under development upstream of Vietnam, most of them in China. Low river levels have allowed seawater to penetrate inland, ruining vast swathes of cropland in the fertile delta. Obama did not name any of the upstream countries but said the United States would provide smaller member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with technical assistance and evaluations of what needs to be done. \"Hopefully ... that information can be used to negotiate on an international level to try to prevent some projects that might have very bad effects,\" he said. \"One of the things that we've seen in ASEAN is that when small countries band together as a unit, then the power magnifies.\" Japan is the final stop on Obama's swing through Asia, where he is attending a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations starting Thursday.","label":0}
{"text":"The Republican Party is truly screwed if Fox News is thinking like this.During an appearance on the O Reilly Factor on Friday night, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace delivered a scathing analysis of the GOP Debate held on Thursday, calling it an embarrassment for the Republican Party. Let me just say first of all- big picture- I thought it was an embarrassment for the Republican party. There were a lot of shots taken, a lot of shots scored, but there was precious little vision. Almost no serious discussion of issues, you know, what are are you going to do, how are are you going to improve people s lives? If you saw someone acting presidentially on that stage, you got better eyesight than I do. Here s the video via YouTube:Indeed, the GOP Debate was a complete circus that saw every candidate sniping at each other with ridiculous attacks. Clearly, Trump brought Cruz and Rubio down to his level of gutter politics.Here s a clip demonstrating the debate in a nutshell:\/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]&gt;#GOPDebate In A NutshellIn case you couldn t watch the laughable mess that was the GOP debate, here s the clip that really showcases what it came down to. Do ANY of them seem presidential? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Want to make it extra fun? Tag your favorite Republican friend and ask them to explain this.Like Americans Against The Republican Party for more!Posted by Americans Against The Republican Party on Thursday, February 25, 2016It truly was a pathetic display that should horrify the Republican Party and the American people. And Republicans only have themselves to blame because they welcomed crazy extremists into the mainstream of the party years ago when they sold out to the Tea Party in 2010. Now it s coming back to bit them in the ass so hard that not even Fox News can spin them out of it.Featured Image: Screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"The nation's consumer watchdog agency on Tuesday ordered the agencies TransUnion and Equifax to pay more than $23. 2 million in fines and restitution for deceiving customers about the usefulness of credit scores and the cost of obtaining them. The watchdog agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the payments would resolve charges that TransUnion and Equifax had lured consumers into enrolling in credit services advertised as free or costing only $1, but which could cost more than $200 a year. TransUnion will reimburse $13. 93 million to consumers and pay a $3 million civil fine, while Equifax will reimburse $3. 8 million and pay a $2. 5 million civil fine, the bureau said. Both companies will also modify their marketing practices. Among the changes, they will obtain customers' consent to enroll them in services in which fees begin after free trials and make it easier for them to cancel services they do not want. The bureau said the wrongful conduct had violated the law and had occurred at TransUnion since July 2011 and at Equifax between July 2011 and March 2014. Many lenders rely on credit scores from TransUnion, Equifax and their rival Experian when lending money. But TransUnion and Equifax falsely represented the credit scores they sold to consumers as being the same scores that lenders used, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said. \"Credit scores are central to a consumer's financial life, and people deserve honest and accurate information about them,\" Richard Cordray, the bureau's director, said in a statement. Neither TransUnion, which is based in Chicago, nor Equifax, which is based in Atlanta, admitted or denied wrongdoing. A TransUnion spokesman, David Blumberg, and an Equifax spokeswoman, Ines Gutzmer, said their companies believed that they had complied with the law and were committed to better educating consumers about their credit. Experian was not charged. A spokesman for the bureau did not immediately have additional comment. In 2015, under a separate settlement with 31 state attorneys general, the agencies agreed to improve how they fixed mistakes and addressed disputes.","label":0}
{"text":"Brazilian President Michel Temer's government introduced to Congress on Tuesday a landmark constitutional amendment to cap public spending, seeking to press ahead with unpopular reforms in the wake of last weekend's municipal elections. Temer's new center-right government hopes the proposal, which would limit growth in spending to the rate of inflation for up to 20 years, will clear a Congressional committee this week and be put to a vote in the lower house by next week. The amendment is designed to curb a budget deficit equivalent to 10 percent of gross domestic product last year. Hopes for its passage have made Brazilian assets among the best performing in the world this year despite an economy submerged in a two-year recession. In a concession to ease its passage, the government announced on Monday that a cap on health and education expenditure would not go into effect until 2018, rather than next year. Leftist opponents have demanded more time to debate a measure they say violates the spirit of Brazil's 1988 constitution, which made generous provisions for social spending. They plan to seek a court injunction to block the amendment. Backers warn that Latin America's largest nation, which is wrestling with a sprawling corruption scandal, could follow Greece's path to financial meltdown if spending is not controlled. Temer said on Monday that public debt, which ended last year at a level equivalent to two-thirds of economic output, would reach 100 percent of GDP by 2024 without the measure. \"If this change is not adopted, fiscal collapse and the insolvency of public accounts are inevitable,\" lawmaker Darcisio Perondi said in his report to the committee studying the measure. \"Brazil could repeat the tragedy of Greece.\" Perondi said the previous government of Dilma Rousseff, who was removed from office in August for breaking budget laws, left an onerous legacy of overdrawn accounts, and he called on the lawmakers who impeached her to back the cap. The conclusion of municipal elections in most cities across Brazil last weekend allows Temer's ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and its coalition allies a freer hand to back the measure. A small number of cities face a second-round runoff this month. But resistance from Rousseff's Workers Party and its allies, as well as division within Temer's own coalition, point to a difficult path for a proposal that requires two approvals in each chamber of Congress by a three-fifths majority. \"We will seek an injunction because this violates the Constitution and the right of five future governments to decide their economic policies,\" said opposition leader Jandira Feghali of the Communist Party of Brazil. Temer, 75, who was sworn in to serve the remainder of Rousseff's term through 2018, had vowed to put Brazil back on its tracks and investors like his promises of fiscal discipline. But a poll published on Tuesday showed Temer has failed to convince Brazilians that his government is any better than Rousseff's. The survey by pollster Ibope showed that Temer's approval ratings remain low and some 68 percent of Brazilians do not trust him. The lower House is also expected to vote on Tuesday on a bill that changes the rules for the exploration of Brazil's vast offshore oil reserves in the costly subsalt layer, aimed at boosting private investment in the oil industry. The proposal removes the obligation for scandal-plagued, debt-ridden state oil company Petrobras to be the only operator of these oil fields and have a minimum 30 percent stake in their development.","label":0}
{"text":"Six months ago, Senator Mike Lee and I offered a variety of ideas on how to reform America's tax code to be both pro-growth and pro-family. Our goal was to slash rates, shrink the IRS, create jobs, grow wages, and empower parents all at the same time. Since offering these ideas, I have gathered input from Americans of all economic backgrounds and engaged in discussions with leaders across the conservative movement to form a complete, pro-growth, pro-family tax reform agenda for the 21st century. My plan is a significant departure from the old school tax reform ideas that so often come out of Washington. First, on the individual side, my plan reduces the number of brackets from seven to three: 15%, 25%, and 35%. The plan eliminates all exemptions and deductions, except for a charitable contribution deduction and a reformed home mortgage interest deduction. Taxpayers will instead receive a personal tax credit that phases out for higher-income Americans. This greatly simplified code will cut taxes for the vast majority of people. Second, my plan cuts rates for all businesses \u2013 large and small \u2013 to no higher than 25%, which would finally make us competitive again with the rest of the developed world. My plan recognizes that big businesses shouldn't get a larger tax cut than small businesses, which are the main drivers of economic growth. To further spur job creation, I will end federal taxation of business investment by allowing for immediate expensing. I will also shift to a territorial tax system, thus ending the double-taxation of profits earned abroad for both businesses and individuals. Furthermore, my plan eliminates the double-taxation on saving and investment income. It provides a transition period during which we will move to a 0% tax rate on dividends and capital gains, which is a forward-looking way to benefit millions of everyday savers across all income levels. My plan also eliminates the death tax, finally putting an end to one of the IRS's most insulting practices. A critical component of my plan is tax relief for middle-class parents. By providing a new child tax credit of up to $2,500, which phases out for wealthier Americans, we can ease the extraordinary financial burdens of parenthood. While some well-respected voices oppose this tax relief, I remain adamant that empowering struggling families should be a priority for any modern reform plan. I know from firsthand experience how expensive it is to raise children in the 21st century, and I believe our tax code should support parents rather than drain their budgets. My reforms will target some of the highest costs facing families today. As part of my efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, I will reform the tax treatment of health care to reduce costs and promote individual ownership of health insurance. I will consolidate all higher education tax incentives into one simple provision that will help millions of Americans pursue higher education. I will also promote an individual and corporate tax credit to finance school choice. I believe one of the greatest threats to family life today is that too many Americans have to give up being with loved ones in times of great need in order to avoid losing their jobs. I will begin to solve this problem by providing a limited 25% non-refundable tax credit to any business that offers between four and twelve weeks of paid leave to workers with qualifying family or medical issues \u2013 for example, a newborn child in need of care, an elderly parent with declining health, a personal health crisis, or a spouse's deployment. My tax reform plan is designed to advance America's two most important goals in this century: a growing, opportunity-rich economy and strong, financially-secure families. Everyone in politics claims to support these goals, yet I can already hear the establishment voices saying my modern approach to tax reform is all wrong. They will say the tax code of the 20th century will continue to work in the 21st. They will say we can continue to raise taxes and increase spending without long-term consequences. They will say that to protect your job we need to raise your boss' taxes \u2013 or that for you to climb up the economic ladder we have to pull someone else down. I disagree. I believe everyone can benefit from a pro-growth and pro-family tax reform plan. I believe by cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code, we will grow our economy and create more taxpayers rather than more taxes. I believe the plan I've offered is a vital step toward creating high-paying modern jobs, fostering more opportunity for more Americans, and making the 21st century a New American Century. Republican Marco Rubio represents Florida in the U.S. Senate. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the Senate will vote early next week on a motion that would pave the way for a vote on a bill to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan. McConnell's decision to hold a vote comes despite opposition from at least four Republicans, which likely dooms its prospects.","label":0}
{"text":"Laura Ingraham reported to Sean Hannity that Republican leaders don t want the border wall built and are actively working against Preisdent Trump One thing I know for sure, Sean, is that we have way too many people on Capitol Hill who are not on the president s side of this. I m talking Republicans. So I have no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump wants this wall to be built. Congress has to appropriate the money. I heard over two months ago that GOP leadership, the most senior senators on Capitol Hill, and I heard it from someone who was in the room with them, they were laughing at an idea a wall would ever get built. Out loud laughing. They were recently telling that source of mine, Don t worry, it s not going to happen. In the mean time, Lou Dobbs gives a classic take down of Paul Ryan:Yes, just get out of the way!BORDER RANCHERS VOUCH FOR BUILDING THE WALL:Fred Davis and John Ladd are two Arizona ranchers who were guests on Fox & Friends to tell their story of what its like to be on the front lines at the border:REPORT: THE COST TO YOU FOR NOT BUILDING THE WALL (Note that this report is from 2013!):The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States TaxpayersThis report estimates the annual costs of illegal immigration at the federal, state and local level to be about $113 billion; nearly $29 billion at the federal level and $84 billion at the state and local level.The study also estimates tax collections from illegal alien workers, both those in the above-ground economy and those in the underground economy.Those receipts do not come close to the level of expenditures and, in any case, are misleading as an offset because over time unemployed and underemployed U.S. workers would replace illegal alien workers.Key FindingsIllegal immigration costs U.S. taxpayers about $113 billion a year at the federal, state and local level. The bulk of the costs some $84 billion are absorbed by state and local governments.The annual outlay that illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers is an average amount per native-headed household of $1,117.The fiscal impact per household varies considerably because the greatest share of the burden falls on state and local taxpayers whose burden depends on the size of the illegal alien population in that localityEducation for the children of illegal aliens constitutes the single largest cost to taxpayers, at an annual price tag of nearly $52 billion. Nearly all of those costs are absorbed by state and local governments.At the federal level, about one-third of outlays are matched by tax collections from illegal aliens.At the state and local level, an average of less than 5 percent of the public costs associated with illegal immigration is recouped through taxes collected from illegal aliens.Most illegal aliens do not pay income taxes. Among those who do, much of the revenues collected are refunded to the illegal aliens when they file tax returns.Many are also claiming tax credits resulting in payments from the U.S. Treasury.With many state budgets in deficit, policymakers have an obligation to look for ways to reduce the fiscal burden of illegal migration. California, facing a budget deficit of $14.4 billion in 2010-2011, is hit with an estimated $21.8 billion in annual expenditures on illegal aliens. New York s $6.8 billion deficit is smaller than its $9.5 billion in yearly illegal alien costs.The report examines the likely consequences if an amnesty for the illegal alien population were adopted similar to the one adopted in 1986. The report notes that while tax collections from the illegal alien population would likely increase only marginally, the new legal status would make them eligible for receiving Social Security retirement benefits that would further jeopardize the future of the already shaky system.An amnesty would also result in this large population of illegal aliens becoming eligible for numerous social assistance programs available for low-income populations for which they are not now eligible. The overall result would, therefore, be an accentuation of the already enormous fiscal burden.","label":1}
{"text":"President Barack Obama knows that President-elect Donald Trump doesn t know what the hell he s doing, and is putting more time in on Twitter than actually trying to figure it out and learn the ropes.Obama has not only agreed to hold Trump s little orange hands and remain close to guide him through this transition period, but he s also just made an unprecedented move to save the world from Trump and his deadly administration. On Monday, our beloved Commander-in-chief released a memo that is basically a guidebook on how to use military force for dummies.The document lays out specific details on national security-related topics, such as how and when to use military force. This is a major move by Obama and the first time a President has EVER had to do this to prevent a completely unqualified person from destroying everything. The Washington Post reported: On the eve of a new administration that has promised more aggressive counterterrorism operations, the Obama White House has released a lengthy compendium of its own policies governing the use of force.The 61-page document outlines eight years of the administration s legal opinions, executive orders and military directives. In a strong defense of the administration s actions, it lists rules for lethal drones and terrorist detention, and describes the international and domestic law that undergirds them. In the introduction of the guidebook, Obama said he d created it to reduce the risk of an ill-considered decision an obvious observation of Trump s lack of emotional stability and impulsive, erratic behavior. And then he wrote something that Trump will REALLY hate when he said it was critical to give as much information as possible to the public so that an informed public can scrutinize our actions and hold us to account. Obama is truly amazing for this. It s clear that even though he won t be America s President in a few weeks, he still deeply cares about the future of our country and the world. Even on his way out, he s committed to serving the people and minimizing the damage our moronic President-elect might do. We re really going to miss him.","label":1}
{"text":"Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump in which he discussed migration and Britain's exit from the European Union, the Irish government said in a statement on Tuesday. \"Particular topics discussed included migration, Brexit and the movement of goods and citizens across the border, climate change, free trade, Irish inward investment in the United States, and the undocumented Irish,\" the statement said, as well as the Northern Irish peace process. The border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, will become the only land frontier between the UK and the EU after Britain exits the bloc in March 2019.","label":0}
{"text":"Venezuelan authorities overnight freed two activists who were in jail for more than a year after being accused of plotting against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, the opposition said on Saturday. Delson Guarate, who had been a mayor in central Aragua state, and former student leader Yon Goicoechea were among nearly 400 jailed anti-Maduro activists who rights campaigners say are political prisoners but whom the government calls coup-plotters. I m with my family today, tweeted Goicoechea, displaying a photo of himself against the backdrop of Caracas Avila mountain. Tomorrow I ll address the country. God is with us. I m free! Guarate tweeted. The pair s freedom, with some unspecified conditions attached, was confirmed by opposition parties and a rights group, but the government had no comment. The releases came as Maduro called for one of the most prominent opposition leaders, congress head Julio Borges, to face treason charges for lobbying against his government in global financial circles. And the pro-Maduro Supreme Court began moves this week to remove parliamentary immunity for congress deputy leader Freddy Guevara, so he can be tried for instigating violence. Guevara runs the militant Popular Will party, which both Goicoechea and Guarate belong to. It has been at the forefront of anti-Maduro protests, including four months of demonstrations this year that led to 125 deaths. Critics say Maduro has turned the OPEC nation into a dictatorship. His supporters say the 54-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez is resisting a Western-backed push to oust him. In a New York Times column earlier this year, Goicoechea described how a dozen policemen put a black cloth over his head when they arrested him before taking him to a cell without natural light or ventilation. When I stretched my arms, I could touch two opposite walls, he wrote in the column smuggled out of prison. The door was blocked with black garbage bags, leaving the room in total darkness. There was rotten, worm-infested food on the floor alongside scraps of clothing covered in feces. It felt as if I had been buried alive. Senior officials said Goicoechea was an imperialist agent caught with explosives in his possession, while Guarate had been financing terrorism. Neither was tried. Popular Will, which the government has threatened to proscribe as a terrorist organization, said it would not stop fighting for the freedom of all activists. The dictatorship s justice is a revolving door, said party legislator Juan Mejia. Some leave, while others come in at its discretion and to its benefit.","label":0}
{"text":"Unidentified men threw a grenade into a laborers hostel in the Pakistani port of Gwadar wounding 26 of them, police said on Friday, in an attack likely to raise concern about security for the Pakistani section of China s Belt and Road initiative. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, one of three on Thursday in the gas-rich southwestern province of Baluchistan, a key section of the plan for energy and transport links connecting western China with the Middle East and Europe. They laborers were having dinner at the hostel when motorcyclists attacked them with a grenade, police official Imam Bakhsh told Reuters. Separatist rebels in Baluchistan, fighting against what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province s resources, have for years attacked energy and infrastructure projects, including the Gwadar deep-sea port on the Arabian Sea. Islamist militants also operate in Baluchistan, which shares borders with both Afghanistan and Iran. Security officials have said that militants trying to disrupt construction of the Chinese economic corridor through Pakistan have killed more than 50 Pakistani workers since 2014. Pakistan has assured China that it can provide security for the $57 billion worth of projects that it plans. In the other attacks, a grenade attack at a food court in the town of Mastung, 55 km (35 miles) from the provincial capital of Quetta, wounded 15 people, a police official said. In the third attack, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at paramilitary soldiers killing one and wounding four in the west of the province. On Wednesday, a suicide car-bomber rammed a police bus in Quetta killing five policemen and two passers-by. The Pakistani Taliban claimed that attack. A suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State at a Sufi Muslim shrine in Baluchistan this month killed 22 people and wounded more than 30.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said on Wednesday that it will take aggressive action to combat other countries' unfair trade practices and may defy World Trade Organization rulings that it views as interfering with U.S. sovereignty In an annual trade policy agenda document, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said the administration \"will not tolerate\" unfair trade practices that distort markets, including currency manipulation, unfair government subsidies, intellectual property theft and state-owned enterprises. The document publicly released to Congress on Wednesday signals that the administration may try to push the limits of what is acceptable under WTO rules in its quest to make good on campaign promises to slash U.S. trade deficits with China and Mexico, and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. The document represents a departure from the Obama administration's strict adherence to WTO compliance in its challenges to unfair foreign trade practices. \"Unlike earlier presidents, Trump is signaling a willingness to impose import restrictions \u2014 especially against a country like China \u2014 where the justification under WTO rules for doing so may be highly questionable,\" said Chad Bown, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. \"The downside of the United States going down this path is that it is likely that other countries will follow suit immediately,\" Bown added. The USTR document said it was not in the United States' interest to let some WTO rulings undermine the use of effective remedies that the Geneva-based trade body expressly allows to fight unfair trade. \"Accordingly, the Trump administration will act aggressively as needed to discourage this type of behavior \u2014 and encourage true market competition,\" the USTR said in the document. Laying out many of Trump's trade plans in writing for the first time, the document said the Trump administration plans to strictly enforce U.S. trade laws, defend U.S. national sovereignty over trade policy, and use all possible leverage to open foreign markets to U.S. exports, the document said. It makes clear the Trump administration's view that U.S. law supersedes WTO rules \u2014 a view that could be invoked should Congress adopt a border tax adjustment plan to impose new taxes on imports that is later challenged as violating WTO tariff rules by other member countries. \"The Trump administration will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy,\" the report said. The nominee to be Trump's top trade negotiator, veteran steel industry lawyer Robert Lighthizer, in 2010 advocated \"aggressive interpretations of WTO provisions that might help us deal with Chinese mercantilism.\" Lighthizer is awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate. He served as a deputy USTR in the Reagan administration, helping to negotiate import quotas on Japanese goods in the 1980s, with the help of powerful trade law provisions that have largely gone unused since the WTO was launched in 1995.","label":0}
{"text":"Three more Senators threw their support behind Obama s Iran deal to further seal a victory for the Democrats. My Senator just announced he s backing the deal which doesn t surprise me he does what he s told to do. Wouldn t it be nice if these goofballs had the strength to reject this deal instead of the saying it s better than no deal at all . Really? What a joke! They obviously aren t listening to the American people:Less Than a Quarter of Americans Approve of Nuclear Agreement with IranDick Chaney and other foreign policy experts are warning the Democrats that this deal is not a good one: The deal with Iran will have profound consequences. Dick ChaneyDem Sen. Joe Manchin: Iran Nuclear Deal Endangers American SecurityHARRY REID CLAIMS VICTORY WITH THE IRAN DEAL: The deal President Obama and other world leaders struck with Iran is the best chance to stop the Islamic Republic s nuclear program, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday in a speech setting the stage for the intense floor fight over the agreement.Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, will be the key figure in leading support for Mr. Obama, and he has now mustered enough backers to mount a filibuster, which would deliver an early victory and prevent the deal from even having to go back to the White House for a final veto showdown. This agreement will stand, Mr. Reid said in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Three new senators declared support for the deal Tuesday morning, giving Democrats 41 backers of the agreement. That is enough to guarantee they can sustain their filibuster and bottle the debate up in the Senate.Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Gary Peters of Michigan all threw their support behind the deal.Mr. Blumenthal called the agreement better than no deal at all, while Mr. Peters said he was only reluctantly backing it, and still had serious reservations.","label":1}
{"text":"Myanmar urged Muslims in the troubled northwest to cooperate in the search for insurgents, whose coordinated attacks on security posts and an army crackdown have led to one of the deadliest bouts of violence to engulf the Rohingya community in decades. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. Aid agencies estimate that about 73,000 Rohingya have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh from Myanmar since violence erupted last week, Vivian Tan, regional spokeswoman for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, told Reuters on Sunday. Hundreds more refugees on Sunday walked through rice paddies from the Naf river separating the two countries into Bangladesh, straining scarce resources of aid groups and local communities already helping tens of thousands. The clashes and military counter-offensive have killed nearly 400 people during the past week. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that violence against Muslims amounted to genocide. It marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when a smaller Rohingya attack on security posts prompted a military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses. Islamic villagers in northern Maungtaw have been urged over loudspeakers to cooperate when security forces search for Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremist terrorists, and not to pose a threat or brandish weapons when security forces enter their villages, a report in state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said on Sunday. ARSA has been declared a terrorist organisation by the government. The group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on security posts last week. In Maungni village in northern Rakhine, villagers this week caught two ARSA members and handed them over to the authorities, the newspaper added. The army wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that Rohingya insurgents had set fire to monasteries, images of Buddha as well as schools and houses in northern Rakhine. More than 200 buildings, including houses and shops, were destroyed across several villages, the army said. While Myanmar officials blamed the ARSA for the burning of homes, Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and human rights watchers say that a campaign of arson and killings by the army is aimed at trying to force out the minority group. On a Twitter account believed to be linked to the ARSA, the group accused the Myanmar army of causing terror and destruction to the ethnic Rohingya population . About a hundred protesters gathered in Myanmar s commercial capital Yangon on Sunday, calling for the authorities to step up security measures in northern Rakhine to protect ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. I want the government to protect the people (from insurgents) without any hesitation, said Zin Lin Aung, a university student. More than 11,700 ethnic residents had been evacuated from northern Rakhine, the government has said, referring to non-Muslims. In Bangladesh, authorities said that at least 53 bodies of Rohingya had either been found floating in the Naf river or washed up on the beach in the past week as tens of thousands continue to try to flee the violence. A senior leader of al Qaeda s Yemeni branch has called for attacks on Myanmar authorities in support of the Rohingya. Amid mounting anger over the violence against Rohingya in Indonesia, home to the world s biggest Muslim population, a petrol bomb was thrown at the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on Sunday, causing a small fire. Separately, hundreds protested in Jakarta, calling on the Indonesian government to take an active role in bringing a halt to human rights violations against the Rohingya. Former colonial ruler Britain said on Saturday that it hoped Suu Kyi would use her remarkable qualities to end the violence.","label":0}
{"text":"Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will speak in the regional parliament next Tuesday, a parliamentary spokeswoman said on Friday. Catalan parliamentary leaders will meet at 1330 GMT on Friday to decide the timing on this speech. It was unclear whether the meeting of the parliament scheduled for Monday to discuss the result of the banned referendum on splitting from Spain and a potential declaration of independence would still go ahead. Another regional government official, Raul Romeva, told BBC radio earlier that Catalonia s parliament would defy a Spanish court ban and go ahead on Monday with a debate that could lead to a declaration of independence from Spain.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he hoped to finish work on a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare by the end of this week. \"This is just the beginning, we're not out here to spike the football,\" McConnell told reporters after the Senate voted to open debate on healthcare. \"This is a long way, but we'll finish at the end of the week,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned under pressure from President Donald Trump on Friday in an uproar over Price's use of costly private charter planes for government business. His abrupt departure was announced an hour after Trump told reporters he was disappointed in Price's use of private aircraft and did not like the way it reflected on his administration. \"Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted,\" the White House said in a statement. Trump named Don Wright to serve as acting secretary. Wright is currently the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the office of disease prevention and health promotion. \"I'm not happy. OK? I'm not happy,\" Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn. Candidates to succeed Price included Seema Verma, who is administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and who is close to Vice President Mike Pence, and Scott Gottlieb, a physician who serves as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, according to industry analysts. Several sources saw Gottlieb as a clear front runner. They said he got along well with the White House and is viewed favorably there. Price's resignation leaves Trump with a second Cabinet position to fill. He has yet to pick a secretary for homeland security after hiring former Secretary John Kelly as his White House chief of staff. It was the latest blow to the Trump White House, which has struggled to get major legislative achievements passed by Congress and has been embroiled in one controversy after another since Trump took office in January. Price, a former congressman, was instrumental in the Trump administration's policies aimed at undercutting Obamacare, as well as working with governors across the country to slowly begin unraveling parts of the law. In a resignation letter, Price offered little in the way of contrition. He said he had been working to reform the U.S. healthcare system and reduce regulatory burdens, among other goals. \"I have spent forty years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first. I regret that the recent events have created a distraction from these important objectives,\" he said. Trump, currently trying to sell his tax cut plan and oversee the federal response to devastation wreaked by three hurricanes, saw the Price drama as an unnecessary distraction and behind the scenes was telling aides \"what was he thinking?,\" a source close to the president said. Price promised on Thursday to repay the nearly $52,000 cost of his seats on private charter flights. \"The taxpayers won't pay a dime for my seat on those planes,\" Price said. But that was not enough to satisfy Trump. Trump told reporters that the \"optics\" of Price's travel were not good, since, as president he was trying to renegotiate U.S. contracts to get a better deal for taxpayers. \"Look, I think he's a very fine person. I certainly don't like the optics,\" Trump said. Price had also been seen in the White House as having been ineffective in getting Congress to pass healthcare reform legislation, an effort that has fizzled on Capitol Hill. Price was one of a handful of senior officials in Trump's administration put on the defensive over reports about their use of charter flights and government aircraft, sometimes for personal travel, when they could have flown commercial for less money. The White House issued an order late on Friday saying use of private planes required approval from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and that the commercial air system was appropriate even for very senior officials with few exceptions. The Washington Post on Friday reported that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin attended a Wimbledon tennis match, toured Westminster Abbey and took a cruise on the Thames this summer during a 10-day trip to discuss veterans' health issues in Britain and Denmark. Shulkin, who traveled on a commercial airline, was accompanied on the trip by his wife, whose airfare was paid for by the government and who received a per diem for meals, the Post said, noting that the Department of Veterans Affairs said she was traveling on \"approved invitational orders.\" His six-person traveling party included an acting undersecretary of health and her husband as well as two aides. They were accompanied by a security detail of as many as six people, the Post said. Washington news media outlet Politico has reported that Price had taken at least two dozen private charter flights since May at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of more than $400,000. Politico also reported he took approved military flights to Africa and Europe costing $500,000. Senior U.S. government officials travel frequently, but are generally expected to keep costs down by taking commercial flights or the train when possible. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have also been in the spotlight for their travel habits.","label":0}
{"text":"\u2039 \u203a Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Disabled veterans find freedom in water By Arnaldo Rodgers on November 4, 2016 Disabled veterans  By Emily Cochrane  Anthony Lopez was surrounded by fish.  Hundreds engulfed him on a recent Sunday morning as he dove off the coast of Pompano Beach, just a 10-minute boat ride from shore.  \"You're in a different world,\" said the retired U.S. Marine Corps corporal. \"We're not naturally supposed to be there, so it's really awesome to see this stuff first hand.\"  For the 28-year-old, scuba diving is a world where he can let go of the painful reminder of a 2009 vehicle rollover accident in Camp LeJeune, North Carolina: the muscle spasms from the blunt trauma to his back, the phantom pain in his left hand where all but one finger was amputated.  Read the Full Article at www.miamiherald.com >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on November 4, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments  You must be logged in to post a comment Login WHAT'S HOT","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he plans to nominate Liberty University School of Law professor Caren Harp to oversee the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. If ultimately confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Harp would oversee the Justice Department office that trains and works with state and local communities to develop effective juvenile justice programs and prevent delinquency. Harp previously was director of the National Juvenile Justice Prosecution Center at the American Prosecutors Research Institute. According to Harp's LinkedIn page, she is in her sixth year as a professor at Liberty, which is located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The law school's website says its program is \"taught from a Christian worldview\" and says it offers a \"uniquely tailored legal program taught with sound biblical principles.\" Harp, who holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, has also worked as both a prosecutor and a public defender, including as chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in New York City, Family Court Division, and as a trial attorney for the Arkansas Public Defender Commission. In an article published in May, Harp raises questions about the role of adolescent neuroscience in the courtroom and writes that the best way to tackle juvenile justice is by teaching youth to accept responsibility and involve them in community-based diversion programs to prevent them from re-offending. \"Misplaced reliance on nascent neuroscience and neuroimaging evidence to remove from youth and young adults the consequences of their criminal behavior invites pushback from those who favor a retributive system, and it may create some unintended and unwanted consequences for youth and young adults,\" she writes. It is unclear when the Senate may consider Harp's nomination. There are a handful of key nominees who have been waiting months now for their confirmation votes. Nominees to head the Criminal, Civil and National Security divisions, for instance, are still pending.","label":0}
{"text":"A plan to raise California's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 passed both houses of the state legislature on Thursday, putting the state on track to become the first in the nation to commit to such a large pay hike for the working poor. The measure, incorporating a deal Governor Jerry Brown reached with labor leaders and progressive Democrats in the Legislature, was approved in the state Senate Thursday afternoon after winning approval earlier in the day in the Assembly, and now goes to Brown for his signature. \"If you work full time, your family shouldn't live in poverty,\" Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Southern California Democrat, said in support of the bill to raise the state's minimum wage from its current level of $10 per hour. Lawmakers from the state's poorer regions said the measure could harm small businesses that are barely hanging on amid double-digit unemployment, ultimately leading to job losses. If enacted, the bill would put California, home to one of the world's biggest economies, among a growing number of U.S. states and cities that have moved in recent years to surpass the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009. A proposal to raise the minimum wage in parts of New York state to $15 was announced Thursday by Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders. The California measure would gradually raise the state's hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2022 for large businesses and by 2023 for smaller firms. The measure would also head off two competing ballot initiatives lacking a provision to allow the governor to suspend increases in hard economic times, a deal breaker for Brown. The proposal sped through the legislative process after the governor's office reached a deal last week with labor unions pushing a similar minimum wage hike in the form of two ballot initiatives. With polls showing strong support for those measures at the ballot box, Brown emphasized that a version passed through the legislature would allow lawmakers to amend it if needed over time instead of going back to voters to request amendments in expensive and uncertain campaigns. Moreover, the deal allows the state to opt out of minimum wage increases if the economy is doing poorly, a provision not in either of the union-backed ballot initiatives. Even so, several moderate Democrats and most Republicans complained that it was being rushed through, and would disproportionately harm businesses in poorer parts of the state, where the cost of living is not high enough to warrant such a dramatic wage hike. The deal reached in New York would raise wages in costly New York City to $15 in three years, but would stagger increases in other parts of the state, some to just $12.50 per hour unless further approval is granted. It still must pass the legislature, where negotiations on the details are ongoing.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Barack Obama said several civil society members in Vietnam were prevented from meeting him on Tuesday and that, despite great strides made by the country, Washington still had concerns about the limits it puts on political freedom. Obama said during a meeting with about six activists that there were \"significant areas of concern\" about political freedom and praised those Vietnamese who were \"willing to make their voices heard\". Obama announced on Monday the end of an arms ban on Vietnam, which Washington had long said hinged on the extent to which the country's human rights record had improved.","label":0}
{"text":"The global climate negotiations scheduled to take place at the end of this year in Paris are not a time for empty rhetoric or half-hearted commitments to cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, President Obama reminded the world Monday evening. On the contrary, he stressed, \"This year, in Paris, has to be the year that the world finally reached an agreement to protect the one planet that we've got \u2014 while we still can.\" Speaking at a meeting of Arctic Circle nations in Anchorage, Alaska, Obama outlined the science behind his urgent call for climate action, and stressed that failure, this time, is not an option. \"On this issue, of all issues, there is such a thing as being too late,\" he said. \"That moment is almost upon us.\" The warning rings frighteningly true, as time is indeed running out not just for an Obama climate deal, but for any climate deal. As talks began last year in Lima, Peru for a draft of the agreement intended to be signed and sealed this December in Paris, experts reminded the delegates that the world has already used up nearly two-thirds of its carbon budget \u2014 the amount of carbon we can continue to pour into the atmosphere while still having a chance at keeping warming below two degrees Celsius. It's a limit, some experts contend, that we've already in effect blown past. Yet with the day of reckoning nearing, negotiations aren't where they should be, to say the least: fewer than 60 countries, representing just 61 percent of the world's emissions, have submitted their goals for cutting back, many of which are considered to be not nearly ambitious enough. In June, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon complained that talks were moving \"at a snail's pace.\" Obama emphasized that the U.S. is on track to meet its submitted goal \u2014 a 26 to 28 percent decrease in emissions from 2005 levels by 2025 \u2014 thanks in large part to the finalization of the EPA's new regulations for coal-fired power plants. There is, unfortunately, still reason to doubt the sincerity of the president's commitment to the radical action he says is needed. Obama continues to press the fact that climate change is not only real \u2014 deniers, he scoffed, are \"on their own shrinking island\" \u2014 but a crisis that we're experiencing right now, a point driven home by his decision to speak from Alaska, where the impacts of climate change are already taking a significant toll. Yet at the same time, his administration has allowed Shell to go ahead and drill for oil in the Arctic, a decision that to many feels irreconcilable with his insistence that the world must address the key causes of climate change as quickly as possible \u2014 not to mention the contention, among experts, that our best hope of preventing climate catastrophe requires us to leave all of the Arctic's oil and gas reserves in the ground. \"I am not trying to suggest that there are not going to be difficult transitions that we all have to make,\" Obama conceded. Still, he said, \"This is within our power. This is a solvable problem if we start now.\"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. congressional Democrats filed suit on Thursday seeking the release of government documents related to Republican President Donald Trump's ownership of a Washington hotel that critics say represents a conflict of interest. In the lawsuit, Democrats on the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the General Services Administration (GSA), the government's property arm, illegally withheld documents about the Trump International Hotel. The 14-page suit marks the latest legal skirmish over the luxury hotel a few blocks from the White House, which has become a rallying point for anti-Trump protesters. Critics say the hotel violates government rules barring elected officials from taking part in a lease of federal property. Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee's ranking Democrat, said the GSA had ignored federal law by refusing to provide documents about the hotel's operation, foreign payments to the hotel or the legal reasoning that Trump could be a party to the lease. \"We have no transparency - no ability to check for ongoing conflicts of interest or unconstitutional foreign payments,\" Cummings said in a statement. The suit filed in U.S. District Court names acting General Services Administrator Timothy Horne as defendant. Pam Dixon, a spokeswoman for the agency, said it would not comment on pending litigation. Cummings and other critics have argued that the hotel housed in the government's historic Old Post Office represented a conflict of interest because Trump is both landlord and tenant of the building. A GSA contracting officer said in March that the hotel was not in violation of federal conflict-of-interest rules. Thursday's lawsuit said the GSA rebuffed three requests from committee Democrats for information about the hotel since Trump took office in January. The requests included ones filed under a law which mandates that a federal agency turn over information requested by at least seven members of the committee. Under the same law, the GSA had produced documents about the Trump International Hotel while Democrat Barack Obama was president, the suit said. Trump is facing numerous lawsuits targeting his alleged failure to distance himself from his business empire while in office. The president ceded day-to-day control of his businesses to his sons, Eric and Donald Jr., in a move he said would steer clear of conflicts of interest.","label":0}
{"text":"Former FBI Director James Comey accused President Donald Trump on Thursday of firing him to try to undermine the agency's investigation of possible collusion by Trump's campaign with Russia's alleged efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. In the most eagerly anticipated U.S. congressional hearing in years, Comey told lawmakers the Trump administration had lied and defamed him and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the president dismissed him on May 9. During more than two hours of testimony, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believed Trump had directed him in February to drop an FBI probe into the Republican president's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as part of the broader Russia investigation. Comey would not say whether he thought the president sought to obstruct justice, but added it would be up to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is now investigating the Russia allegations, \"to sort that out.\" \"I don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning,\" Comey testified. Sitting alone at a small table facing a bank of senators who fired question after question, Comey gave short, deliberative answers. He painted a picture of an overbearing president he did not trust and who pressured him to stop the FBI probe of Flynn. Trump critics say any efforts by the president to hinder an FBI probe could amount to obstruction of justice. Such an offense potentially could lead to Trump being impeached, although his fellow Republicans who control Congress have shown little appetite for such a move. In a speech to supporters across town, Trump vowed to fight on. \"We're under siege ... but we will come out bigger and better and stronger than ever,\" he said. Comey did not make any major disclosures about any links between Trump or his associates and Russia, an issue that has dogged the president's first months in office and distracted from his policy goals such as overhauling the U.S. healthcare system and making tax cuts. Russia has denied such interference. The White House has denied any collusion with Moscow. Nevertheless, the Russia matter likely will continue to overshadow Trump's presidency, especially as the FBI probe has ensnared not only Flynn but Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has had to recuse himself from the investigation. Comey's testimony drew renewed attention to Sessions and his relationship with Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak. After Trump fired Comey, the administration gave differing reasons for his dismissal. Trump later contradicted his own staff and acknowledged on May 11 he fired Comey because of the Russia matter. Asked why he thought Trump fired him, Comey said he did not know for sure. He added: \"Again, I take the president's words. I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation was in some way putting pressure on him, in some way irritating him, and he decided to fire me because of that.\" Comey said repeatedly there were details he could not discuss in a public session, making clear he had sensitive information he could disclose only in a closed session with the senators. Comey said Trump's administration had defamed him in comments made after his firing by saying the FBI was in disarray and that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. \"Those were lies, plain and simple,\" Comey said. His accusations could further mire Trump's administration in legal difficulties. Mueller and several congressional committees are investigating what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an effort by Russia to help Trump win the election. \"The Russian investigation is going to go on and it's not going to stop and the president should have known that,\" committee member Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told MSNBC. Trump's personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said Comey's testimony proved the president was not under any investigation and there was no evidence a single vote was changed as a result of Russian interference in last year's election. Kasowitz denied Trump ever told Comey he needed and expected his loyalty, as Comey said. NBC News reported on Thursday that Kushner was expected to meet with staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in mid-June. Comey said he felt he needed to get his account of his conversations with Trump in the public sphere in the hope it might prompt the appointment of a special counsel, which later occurred. Comey said he gave copies of his memo memorializing his talks with Trump to people outside the Justice Department and asked a friend to share its contents with a journalist. Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman confirmed to Reuters he was the friend to whom Comey was referring. Kasowitz said that \"we will leave it to the appropriate authorities\" to determine whether Comey's leak \"should be investigated.\" Legal experts questioned Kasowitz's contention that Trump's private encounters with Comey should be considered privileged communications. Comey said he did not know if there were tapes of his conversations with Trump, but that if so, they should be released. \"Lordy, I hope there are tapes,\" Comey said. Republicans on the committee questioned Comey intently but did not attack his integrity or try to treat him roughly, as a witness making accusations against a sitting Republican president might expect. Comey testified he kept notes after meeting with Trump because \"I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document.\" From Capitol Hill to San Francisco's Castro district, Comey's appearance attracted television \"watch parties\" beckoning politics buffs to taverns, restaurants and living rooms to view an event some likened to the \"Super Bowl of Washington.\" U.S. stocks closed slightly higher as the market reacted little to Comey's testimony, viewing his testimony alone as unlikely to mark the end of Trump's presidency. Comey said Trump did not attempt to get him to drop the overall Russia investigation, just the part of if that related to Flynn, whom the president fired in February for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his conversations last year with Kislyak. Republican Senator Marco Rubio asked Comey whether he perceived the president's request to let the Flynn matter go as an order given Trump's position as president, the setting and the circumstances surrounding the conversation. \"Yes,\" Comey replied. Laura Donohue, a Georgetown University Law Center professor, said if Trump fired Comey to change the course of the Russia investigation, that would constitute obstruction of justice. Both the conversation between Trump and Comey about Flynn and the firing itself were obstructive acts, she said. \"He wanted to scuttle the investigation - it is hard to see it any other way,\" she said. Regarding Sessions, Comey said he did not discuss Trump's pressure to drop the probe into Flynn with the attorney general because the FBI leadership team believed Sessions would later recuse himself from the Russia probe. \"We were also aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic,\" Comey said, without giving more details. The Justice Department later issued a statement saying that Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe only because he had been part of Trump's campaign. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he did not believe Trump had committed a crime even if his personal style was often brash, adding: \"I'll just say it, if being crude, rude and a bull in a china shop was a crime, Trump would get the death penalty.\"","label":0}
{"text":"\"One of the great weapons of a democracy. \" This was how Harry Belafonte, the performer and civil rights activist, referred to the street march in a recent interview. Mr. Belafonte played a critical role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington, which helped spur the passage of two major civil rights bills. He is also a of the women's march set for Saturday. When thousands of women converge on Washington this weekend, they will join a long tradition of rallies in the capital. From the suffrage processions of the early 20th century to the Tea Party rallies of 2009, marches have drawn attention to crucial issues, occasionally resulted in violence and often prompted opposing gatherings. Marian B. Mollin, an associate professor at Virginia Tech who studies the history of social movements, said successful marches had capitalized on symbolism and street theater, attracted a broad coalition and pushed clear policy goals. But the test of a march's efficacy, she said, is whether it energizes participants long after they've gone home, sustaining them through the less exciting aspects of change. This is what she'll be watching for in the months after Saturday's march. \"Are they continuing to be fired up when they get back? Because there is a lot of unfun, unglamorous work to do,\" she said. We took a look back at several marches in Washington and how they changed \u2014 or didn't change \u2014 history. On March 3, 1913, a named Inez Milholland slipped on her white kid boots, threw a cape around her shoulders and climbed onto a borrowed horse to help lead what was then the largest women's march in American history. Behind her came businesswomen in blue, writers in white, artists in pink and musicians in red, all calling for their right to vote. Five thousand women marched while some onlookers hurled insults and tripped them. \"If my wife were where you are,\" a police officer told one woman, according to this newspaper, \"I'd break her head. \" Woodrow Wilson skipped the event, taking side streets to a hotel to avoid the crowds. By the end, more than 100 women were hospitalized. Women had fought for suffrage since at least 1848. But the 1913 march kicked off a series of political actions that swayed the public and male politicians, finally pushing them to pass the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. By 1920, American women had the right to vote. Read how The New York Times covered the march here. On July 28, 1932, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Army troops surrounded a group of protesting veterans in Washington, wheeled tanks into position, prepared gas bombs and gave the former fighters 30 minutes to disperse. The Bonus Army gathering, in which an estimated 20, 000 World War I veterans demanded the payment of bonuses guaranteed under a 1924 law, is among the marches in American history. The law had said payments would be made in 1945, but veterans reeling from the Depression wanted them earlier. The event lasted weeks, until President Herbert Hoover ordered the protesters' removal. Army troops shot \"a heavy barrage of tear gas\" at the veterans, according to The Times. Two people died during the protest. In \"The Bonus Army: An American Epic,\" the authors Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen wrote that the march changed the nation, pushing Congress to pass the G. I. Bill, landmark legislation that allowed many veterans to go to college. Read how The Times covered the march here. The National Mall swelled with people on Aug. 28, 1963, to urge Congress to pass a historic civil rights bill. It was here that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his \"I Have a Dream\" speech. \"As he arose, a great roar welled up from the crowd,\" the journalist E. W. Kenworthy wrote in The Times. \"When he started to speak, a hush fell. \" The paper reported that more than 200, 000 people had attended. At the time, civil rights legislation was tied up in Congress, facing a filibuster by Southern lawmakers. But the march helped energize everyday people like Hazel Mangle Rivers, a black woman who took the $8 overnight bus to Washington from her home in Birmingham, Ala. \"When I get back there tomorrow I'm going to do whatever needs to be done,\" she told a Times reporter after the protest. \"I don't care if it's picketing or marching or or what, I'm ready to do it. \" The gathering was followed by sustained activism \u2014 including a drive in Mississippi and a march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery \u2014 that helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The march, Mr. Belafonte said recently, showed that there was \"a great swatch of American opinion that was supportive of our cause. \" Read how The Times covered the march here. On Nov. 15, 1969, antiwar activists streamed down Pennsylvania Avenue, calling for a rapid withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. Three drummers led the procession, followed by people carrying 11 coffins bearing names of the dead. Then came rows and rows of marchers, 17 abreast, shouting, \"Peace now! Peace now!\" A police official estimated the crowd to be at least 250, 000 strong, though others have said it was much larger. At the time, many Americans had grown impatient with President Richard Nixon's policy of gradual withdrawal. The White House said the president had spent the day watching college football inside. It was the largest antiwar protest to date. But its success was less clear than the 1963 civil rights gathering. \"In the aftermath of that march, Nixon escalates the war,\" Professor Mollin said. Read how The Times covered the march here. The Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a woman's right to an abortion, spurred anger across the country, particularly among religious and conservative families. A year after Roe v. Wade, on Jan. 22, 1974, thousands gathered in Washington to urge Congress to support a constitutional amendment, known as the Buckley Amendment, which would have effectively overturned the decision. When it became clear it wouldn't happen that year, the march's founder, Nellie Gray, vowed to hold marches every year until it did. This year's march, to be held on Jan. 27, will include a particularly prominent speaker: Kellyanne Conway, the woman in the Trump administration. Read how The Times covered the march here. Andy Humm was a television reporter for the Gay Cable Network on Oct. 11, 1987, when an estimated 200, 000 people gathered in Washington to call for AIDS research and the end of discrimination against gay people. (The event followed a 1979 march, before the AIDS crisis.) By 1987, more than 20, 000 Americans had died of AIDS and an additional 36, 000 had learned they had the disease, which was deeply stigmatizing. Activists were desperate for research and care. They spread a quilt bearing names of the dead. And they wept as Mr. Humm interviewed them. \"There was no hope,\" he said in a recent conversation. \"We were a fairly powerless movement back then. \" The march helped mobilize and personalize the movement. Three years later, Congress passed the Ryan White Care Act, the largest federally funded program for people living with H. I. V. and AIDS. (AIDS deaths continued to climb each year until 1995.) Read how The Times covered the march. Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them black men, came together on Oct. 16, 1995, for a rally organized by Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam. He called on them to \"accept the responsibility\" to \"be good husbands and fathers and builders of our community. \" It was contentious \u2014 Mr. Farrakhan had been criticized previously for sexist and remarks \u2014 and was attended by the poet Maya Angelou but opposed by the N. A. A. C. P. Organizers said the event spurred 1. 7 million black men to register to vote. But the march's legacy is the subject of debate. \"Some say its core message of and atonement left black men grappling alone with issues such as violence, drug abuse and poverty, letting politicians and institutions off the hook,\" a Washington Post reporter wrote. \"Others argue that the earnest assembly was a potent symbol that changed perceptions of black men and inspired the marchers to make great changes in their lives. \" In 2015, Mr. Farrakhan held a second march. Much of the discussion centered on the use of force by the police and continued discrimination. Art Scott, 59, a salesman who attended, told The Times: \"There comes a time, after being pushed for so long, to push back. I think that's the feeling in the black community right now. \" Read how The New York Times covered the march.","label":0}
{"text":"Establishment pundits were horrified when Donald Trump claimed that the system is rigged, and panicked when he wouldn t say whether or or he would respect the elections results if he lost. Like or not, the evidence shows that Trump is right. That s right: there is actual rampant voter fraud and election rigging in the United States.Watch this report by FOX News: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Republican Representative Lee Zeldin said he would not support the tax reform legislation introduced by Republican congressional leaders on Thursday. \"I am a 'no' to this bill in its current form. We need to fix this state and local tax deduction issue. Adding back in the property tax deduction up to $10,000 is progress, but not enough progress,\" Zeldin said in a statement. A number of lawmakers from New York opposed eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes.","label":0}
{"text":"Former RNC chair Michael Steele did not mince words when he called out Donald Trump on Saturday.Rep. John Lewis, who nearly sacrificed his life fighting for voting rights in Selma, Alabama during the Civil Right Movement, remarked on Friday during an interview with Chuck Todd that he doesn t believe Trump is a legitimate president. I believe in trying to work with people, Lewis said. It will be hard. It s going to be very difficult. I don t see this president-elect as a legitimate president. Of course, Trump s ego couldn t handle the truth so he lashed out in the most embarrassing way.Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk no action or results. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017Trump literally accused Lewis of being all talk and no action. Unlike Trump, Lewis has spent his life fighting for equality and civil rights. He was even nearly beaten to death for it. Meanwhile, Trump has never fought for a damn thing except for himself.Trump s attack on Lewis also coincides with Martin Luther King Day weekend, which made his attack all the more offensive, and Steele put Trump in his place during an appearance on MSNBC. Number one, don t tweet that. Number two, don t go there. And number three, try and step back and appreciate what s being said, Steele advised Trump. You can put it in a partisan context. You know, He s a Democrat, I m a Republican. He s black, I m white. It goes to what you were just saying, what s undergirding that? Steele then reminded Trump that if he really wants to heal wounds and bridge divides that he needs to include African-Americans. Instead, Trump just widened that divide by attacking a civil rights legend. If you re looking to heal and bridge, and bring people of America together, well, we re a part of that. As black folks, we re apart of that. Our expectation is, not only will you attempt that same effort that you would to white folks in other communities, but that you will show respect for our leadership, those who do represent our interests. You know, the tweet is unnecessary. John Lewis has a walk that very few people in this country, least of all Donald Trump, have ever walked. In short, Lewis walked the walk while Trump does nothing but talk.Here s the video via Twitter. John Lewis has a walk that very few people in this country, least of all Donald Trump, have ever walked. #AMJoy https:\/\/t.co\/L3WtLNCfNs Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 14, 2017Donald Trump has done nothing but divide this nation since his ugly campaign began. And despite his pathetic calls for unity, Trump has done nothing to deserve the respect he and Republicans are demanding from the American people. And his tweets only undermine him more every day as he continues to insult and attack people who criticize him.","label":1}
{"text":"Kathleen Purvis, the Southern food writer most likely to let you know when you have something wrong, made a peach declaration on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. Peaches, she said, should never be eaten before the Fourth of July. From there, one has six weeks to fill up. Ms. Purvis, the food editor of The Charlotte Observer, adopted the rule after an interview in the 1990s with Jeanne Voltz, the pioneering food editor, who died in 2002. Ms. Voltz said that her Alabama father never wasted his calories or his jaw power on a peach before July 4. It just wasn't worth it. The private Facebook post unleashed a peach debate among a circle of cooks and food writers. \"That is a North Carolina rule, not a Georgia or South Carolina rule,\" admonished Nathalie Dupree, another Southern food writer with deeply held opinions. Texans offered that their peach season was almost over. Cathy Barrow, who writes Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen from her home in Washington, D. C. reported that she had eaten some great peaches from Georgia and Virginia recently, blaming climate change for their early arrival. Peach fans from the Northeast weighed in, crying over what is shaping up to be an exceptionally lousy peach season because of a late frost. Californians were silent, even though the drought has affected the largest state. Here in the South, where high humidity, rain and long hot nights give peaches plenty of time to plump up, the crop isn't as abundant as farmers would like. Still, the fruit itself is exceptional, with dense but yielding flesh so full of sugary juice that leaning over the sink is the best approach to eating one. And in Atlanta, they are indeed at their best in July and August. But for many people, the need to eat a peach overrides seasonal perfection. Juan Carlos Melgar, the peach specialist at Clemson University, ate his first peach around the middle of May. It was a clingstone, a type of peach that is not as good to eat out of hand as the freestones. In Florida, farmers are planting peach trees that produce fruit as early as April or May. \"They are not so nice looking,\" Dr. Melgar said. \"But they are peaches for people who want them as early as possible. People need their peaches. \" Indeed, we all need our markers of summer. For Ms. Purvis, it's a fresh peach not eaten until the Fourth of July. For others, it's a peach whenever one shows up. \"I always go in too early and stay too long when it comes to peaches,\" Katie Monson, a Charlotte resident, posted on the Facebook peach debate. \"I can't help myself!\"","label":0}
{"text":"British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet new U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday seeking to reinvigorate what London views as the two countries' \"special relationship\". May, the first foreign leader to visit Trump, aims to forge closer ties with the United States as Britain leaves the European Union. She hopes to enjoy the same closeness with him that Margaret Thatcher had with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. \"Unquestionably, this relationship has assumed way more importance than it might have had even a year ago,\" said John Bew, a history and foreign policy professor at King's College London. \"Anglo-American relations are back in town in a big way.\" The history of the special relationship between the two countries has always been defined by personalities, Europe and security issues and has not always been easy. The United States declared independence from Britain in 1776 but it was not until 1946 that Winston Churchill coined the term \"special relationship\" following World War Two. The establishment of NATO in 1949 helped to deepen military ties but the alliance saw challenges in the early years of the Cold War. In the 1956 Suez Crisis, when Britain attacked Egypt without informing the United States, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower was incensed and pressured Prime Minister Anthony Eden to seek a peaceful solution, resulting in Eden's resignation. The episode was arguably the worst crisis of U.S.-UK relations in the 20th century but demonstrated to the British establishment its fading imperial power and the importance of collaboration with the United States in international affairs. The relationship was tested again in 1962 when the administration of U.S. President John Kennedy unexpectedly canceled its Skybolt missile program, angering Britain, which had been set to use the missiles. But, as with Suez, the resolution of the crisis deepened ties between the countries and contributed to the decision of France to block Britain's accession into the European Community in the early 1960s. The defining image of British and U.S. relations by the end of the Cold War was of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan. The grocers' daughter and the Hollywood film star struck up a rapport on the basis of their shared commitment to small government, economic liberalism and anti-communism. Even this relationship was subjected to strains, however. Thatcher was angered by the U.S. invasion of Grenada, a Commonwealth nation in 1983. In 2014 a recording of a phone call by Reagan, apologizing to Thatcher, was released. WMDs The special relationship was reinforced again with the co-operation of Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush over the Iraq War. Following the 9\/11 attacks on the United States, Blair was keen to offer support to the United States. However, while the initial military action to depose Saddam Hussein as Iraq's leader in 2003 achieved its aims, the war became drawn out. The lack of weapons of mass destruction, which had provided a justification for the action, drew opposition on both sides of the Atlantic, with some describing Blair as a puppet of Bush. While Blair's close friendship with Bush - they famously shared their toothpaste - became a political issue for him, British leaders tended to see good relations with president Barack Obama as an asset. Obama was popular in Britain and Prime Minister David Cameron was keen to portray their closeness, in contrast to the more awkward manner of his predecessor Gordon Brown. Cameron high-fived Obama as they played table tennis during a visit to London in 2011, while Cameron ate hotdogs with the president as they took in a university basketball game in Ohio. However, Obama's comment in April 2016 that Britain would be \"at the back of the queue\" in trade talks should it vote to leave the EU also raised questions among Britons about the value of the relationship. Tom Packer, research fellow at the Rothermere American Institute in Oxford University, believes that the pragmatic relationship of Bush and Blair may be a better guide to May and Trump's relationship than Reagan and Thatcher. \"I think it can't be like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, because they shared an ideological vision, and also had important personal ties already,\" Packer said. \"It could conceivably be like Bush and Blair, where people who share common objectives slowly become personally and in some ways ideologically close.\"","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump's choice for national security adviser, retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, has turned down the offer, a senior White House official said on Thursday. Harward was offered the job after Michael Flynn was fired by Trump on Monday for misleading Vice President Mike Pence over his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the United States. The White House official said Harward cited family and financial reasons for opting not to take the job. Harward is a senior executive at Lockheed Martin. Two sources familiar with the decision said Harward turned down the job in part because he wanted to bring in his own team. That put him at odds with Trump, who had told Flynn's deputy, K.T. McFarland, that she could stay. Trump appeared to refer to Harward earlier in the day at a presidential news conference, saying: \"I have somebody that I think will be outstanding for the position.\" The president also made clear why he asked Flynn to resign, saying it was because the retired lieutenant general had not been completely truthful with Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak. \"The thing is, he didn't tell our vice president properly, and then he said he didn't remember. So either way, it wasn't very satisfactory to me,\" Trump said.","label":0}
{"text":"The 100 Democratic women who packed into a suburban Maryland conference room recently for a one-day training on how to run for political office were more than activists eager to battle President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans. The teachers, students and business leaders were also a window into the future for a Democratic Party desperate for new blood, and into the booming effort to turn the left's grassroots anti-Trump activism into a new wave of Democratic officeholders. As thousands of potential first-time candidates explore political bids in what Democratic veterans say is an unprecedented surge of activity, a broad but informal network of groups is beefing up efforts to train them for the task. The goal: turning neophytes into successful politicians who can win, giving the party a deep and diverse bench of up-and-coming progressive talent at all levels of government. \"This era of Trump has made everybody just want to run for office, and it's not easy,\" said Josh Morrow, executive director of 314 Action, which since its founding last year has heard from about 6,000 scientists, engineers and mathematicians exploring political runs and trained nearly 500 of them. \"No matter how accomplished people are, they need help when they first run,\" Morrow said. The surge of interest has given dispirited Democrats, long criticized as a top-heavy party lacking fresh faces, hope for a renaissance at the local and state levels after repeated setbacks under President Barack Obama. Building from the ground up, from the school board to the statehouse, is a party priority after losing nearly 1,000 state legislative seats in the last eight years. Republicans also control the White House, both chambers of Congress and 33 governor's offices, the most in nearly a century. \"Local offices matter, and as Democrats we have sort of forgotten that,\" said Amanda Litman, a staffer on Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign who founded the group Run for Something after the 2016 election to recruit and prepare millennials for office. For first-timers, the initial enthusiasm for public service can quickly give way to worried questions about the logistics of building a fundraising list, utilizing social media and crafting a message. \"I knew I had a steep learning curve,\" said Thereasa Black, a lawyer and Navy veteran running for the U.S. Congress from Maryland. She attended the Rockville session run by Emerge America, which prepares women for office. \"This is a way to find people who are like-minded and going through what you are, and can help you,\" she said. A Republican spokesman said Democrats would need more than training and fresh faces to gain ground in next year's midterm elections given the losses of first-time Democratic candidates in special congressional races in Georgia and Montana earlier this year. \"The challenges that Democrats face go much deeper and come down to fundraising and messaging,\" said Rick Gorka, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, which sponsored a training program for about 4,500 volunteer field staff and operatives last year. Geoffrey Dittberner, 30, said he had volunteered on campaigns before deciding to run for the Minnesota legislature, but he was still unprepared for being a candidate before he was accepted into Run for Something's training program. \"There were so many things I didn't know - fundraising, setting up a campaign organization - but they made it pretty easy,\" he said. The group's Slack application gave him access to a variety of resources, from tutorials to mentors and peer networks, discussion groups and on-call experts, he said. Aside from new groups like 314 Action and Run for Something, about a dozen established organizations that have long offered training to progressive candidates also have been flooded with interest since Trump's election. Emily's List, which for years has trained women candidates who favor abortion rights, has hired five more staffers this year for a reconstituted training unit. It already has heard from 16,000 women interested in becoming candidates this year, compared to 920 in 2016. Emerge America has seen applications jump by 87 percent and added five new state chapters. The Maryland state chapter, which ran the one-day course in Rockville, had trained 250 women by mid-year. Last year, it trained 55. At Emerge's Rockville session, candidates were encouraged to listen more than they talk and delve into their own experiences to explain what motivated them to run. \"When we tap into our own personal story, we relate better to people in our community,\" Diane Fink, executive director for Emerge Maryland, told the class. She asked them to put together a three-minute story that explains how they got started. While Democrats nationally have battled over their core message, most of the training programs say they avoid telling candidates specifically what issues to emphasize. \"First and foremost you should be talking about what matters to voters, not to you,\" said veteran Democratic strategist Kelly Dietrich, who founded the National Democratic Training Committee last year to offer free online training for any Democrat running for any office. So far, more than 6,000 have signed up.","label":0}
{"text":"by Dr. Mercola  A new federal report revealed that the majority of U.S. adults (more than 54 percent) had some type of musculoskeletal pain disorder such as back, joint or neck pain in 2012 (the latest year for which statistics are available). [1]  Its prevalence is indicative of the significant price Americans pay for pain \u2014 it's a leading cause of disability and major contributor to health care expenses and disability compensation.  Also revealing, people suffering from pain were significantly more likely to have used a complementary health approach compared to people without pain \u2014 nearly 42 percent versus 24 percent, respectively.  The reason wasn't addressed by the study, but time and again, conventional medicine fails to relieve many people's pain.  Congressional testimony from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) stated that Americans consume 80 percent of the pain pills in the world, [2] and in a survey of more than 2,000 pain patients in the U.S., most said they were taking a dangerously addictive opioid pain medication. [3]  Research suggests, however, that these drugs work for only about three months, after which changes in your brain may lead to increased feelings of pain along with added emotional upset, including feelings of hopelessness and desperation. [4]  Many pain sufferers have tried virtually every treatment that conventional medicine has to offer \u2014 medications, injections, surgery and more \u2014 only to find that their pain hasn't gotten better and they may be struggling with treatment-induced side effects as well (one of the worst of which is opioid addiction ).  At that point (and for many far sooner), it's only natural that you would begin to seek other options, which brings many people to holistic, complementary or \"alternative\" health care options for relief. Science-Backed Natural Pain Relief Options  A recent study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings evaluated several complementary approaches for pain relief. [5] The options that follow have been scientifically proven to help with relief, according to the report.  Acupuncture  One of the most common uses for acupuncture is in treating chronic pain. One analysis of the most robust studies available concluded that acupuncture has a clear effect in reducing chronic pain, more so than standard pain treatment. [6]  Study participants receiving acupuncture reported an average 50 percent reduction in pain, compared to a 28 percent pain reduction for standard pain treatment without acupuncture. It's likely that acupuncture works via a variety of mechanisms.  In 2010, for instance, it was found that acupuncture activates pain-suppressing receptors and increases the concentration of the neurotransmitter adenosine in local tissues [7] (adenosine slows down your brain's activity and induces sleepiness).  Massage Therapy  A systematic review and meta-analysis, published in the journal Pain Medicine, included 60 high-quality and seven low-quality studies that looked into the use of massage for various types of pain, including muscle and bone pain, headaches, deep internal pain, fibromyalgia pain and spinal cord pain. [8]  The review revealed that massage therapy relieves pain better than getting no treatment at all.  Relaxation Techniques  Breathing exercises, guided imagery, meditation and other relaxation techniques may provide relief, especially from pain from tension headaches and migraines.  Research by an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Herbert Benson, found that people who practice relaxation methods such as yoga and meditation long-term have more disease-fighting genes switched \"on\" and active, including genes that protect against pain and rheumatoid arthritis. [9]  Exercise  Among people who had experienced back pain , those who exercised had a 25 percent to 40 percent lower risk of having another episode within a year than those who did no exercise. [10]  Strength exercises, aerobics, flexibility training and stretching were all beneficial in lowering the risk of back pain.  Motor control exercises (MCE), which help to improve coordination of muscles that support your spine,11 may also help. One systematic review found MCE led to reductions in pain and disability and improvements in perceived quality of life compared with minimal intervention. [12]  Yoga , which is particularly useful for promoting flexibility and core muscles, has also been proven to be beneficial if you suffer from back pain.  People suffering from low back pain who took one yoga class a week had greater improvements in function than those receiving medicine or physical therapy. [13] The Yoga Journal has an online page demonstrating specific poses that may be helpful. [14]  Medical Marijuana  There are cannabinoid receptors in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, immune system and more. Both the therapeutic and psychoactive properties of marijuana occur when a cannabinoid activates a cannabinoid receptor.  Research is still ongoing on just how extensive their impact is on our health, but to date it's known that cannabinoid receptors play an important role in many body processes, including metabolic regulation, cravings, pain, anxiety, bone growth and immune function. [15]  Some of the strongest research to date is focused on marijuana for pain relief. In one study, just three puffs of marijuana a day for five days helped those with chronic nerve pain to relieve pain and sleep better. [16]  Also revealing, in states where medical marijuana is legal, overdose deaths from opioids like morphine, oxycodone and heroin decreased by an average of 20 percent after one year, 25 percent after two years and 33 percent by years five and six. [17] Turmeric for Pain Relief  Turmeric was once most known for being a flavorful and colorful addition to curry, but in the scientific world, turmeric has earned a reputation for being a multi-faceted healer. Turmeric contains curcumin, which has notable anti-inflammatory properties.  It can inhibit both the activity and the synthesis of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX), as well as other enzymes that have been implicated in inflammation.  A 2006 study found that a turmeric extract composed of curcuminoids (curcumin is the most investigated curcuminoid) blocked inflammatory pathways, effectively preventing the launch of a protein that triggers swelling and pain. [18]  Turmeric has been found to significantly improve post-operative pain and fatigue, [19] and in a study of osteoarthritis patients, those who added only 200 milligrams (mg) of curcumin a day to their treatment plan had reduced pain and increased mobility.  Time magazine even published the story of one doctor who marveled at one of his older hip patient's lack of pain and remarkably swift recovery from surgery. The patient took turmeric regularly, and the results so impressed the physician that he began taking the supplement himself. [20] Essential Oils for Pain Relief  Essential oils are concentrated, aromatic plant extracts that have been used for thousands of years for emotional, cosmetic, medical and even spiritual purposes. One of their most popular uses is also for relief of chronic and acute pain.  There are a number of ways to use essential oils , including via aromatherapy. Lavender aromatherapy, for instance, has been shown to lessen pain following needle insertion [21] while green apple scent significantly relieves migraine pain . Other essential oils noted for pain relief, including relief from joint pain, include: [22] Lavender","label":1}
{"text":"MADRID (AP) \u2014 If you're taking a bus in the Spanish capital, be sure to keep your legs to yourself. [Madrid authorities on Monday started putting up signs banning the practice of 'manspreading' \u2014 opening one's legs so wide you invade other's seating space \u2014 on city buses as part of their new etiquette guidelines. EMT municipal transportation company says the sign is designed to discourage physical postures that bother people. The sign features an illustration of a man with splayed legs with a red 'X' above. The text beneath urges passengers to \"respect the space of others. \" There are no sanctions or fines for those indulging in the practice. The bus company incorporated the ban following an internet signature campaign by a woman's group, Mujeres en Lucha (Fighting Women). In their campaign petition, the women said it was a \"very common practice. \" La @EMTmadrid a\u00f1ade una nueva se\u00f1al a bordo del bus para evitar el #manspreading: \"Respeta el espacio de los dem\u00e1s\". https: . pic. twitter. \u2014 Ayuntamiento Madrid (@MADRID) June 6, 2017, \"It's not difficult to see women with their legs closed and very uncomfortable because there's a man beside them who's invading their space with their legs,\" it added. The group said women were taught to sit with their legs together whereas men are ingrained with \"the idea of territorial hierarchy, as if the space belongs to them. \" EMT said it felt its initiative, which also includes asking passengers not to eat or drink on buses, to keep their backpacks on or put their feet up on seats, was being well received. Again, there are no sanctions for any of these other requests. \"When a person opens their legs so wide it disturbs others, this is rude,\" said Alvaro Gomez Jordana Moya, 60, as he waited for a bus in Madrid. \"It's also uncomfortable having to ask someone, 'Please, can you close your legs'. \" \"It's a problem because people don't respect seating,\" said another bus passenger Maria Carmen Ventosa, 46. \"It should change things, if only out of respect for others. \" Madrid's underground train company said it had no plans to follow suit.","label":0}
{"text":"The Chinese military, in a move analysts described as a challenge to Donald J. Trump's strident criticism of China, has deployed an aircraft carrier to patrol the contested South China Sea, officials said on Tuesday. The ship, which is known as the Liaoning and is China's first and only aircraft carrier, was spotted leading five other Chinese warships this week in patrols near the coasts of Taiwan and Japan. China claims the South China Sea as its own despite objections from neighboring countries and the United States. Chinese military experts called the deployment of the Liaoning a challenge to American military dominance in the Pacific. Several said the move appeared aimed at testing Mr. Trump, who has antagonized Beijing with acerbic words and actions on issues like Taiwan, trade and North Korea. \"The message is: 'If you test our bottom line, we'll play that game too,'\" said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. The decision by Beijing to deploy the carrier group seemed likely to complicate an increasingly fractious relationship between China and the United States. Nowhere are those tensions more on display than in the South China Sea, where American forces have resisted China's efforts to build artificial islands and military outposts as part of its efforts to assert greater control over the sea, a major commercial waterway. In the weeks since Mr. Trump's election, Beijing has increased pressure on the United States, placing weapons on disputed islands and seizing an underwater United States Navy drone from international waters. Chinese officials appear to be emboldened by Mr. Trump's pledge to focus on domestic issues and his ambivalence toward the One China principle, an understanding between the United States and China that has underpinned relations for decades. \"The mission is to signal to neighbors that Beijing will set the security table in East Asian waters, and that not even President Donald Trump can reverse that trend,\" Patrick M. Cronin, a senior director at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank, said in an email. Chinese officials played down the significance of the Liaoning's journey, saying the ships were taking part in annual training exercises. \"The Liaoning aircraft carrier is entitled to the freedom of navigation and overflight under international law,\" Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news conference on Monday. \"We hope that all parties will respect this. \" Officials in Taiwan and Japan said that the warships were spotted patrolling their coasts over the past several days. Taiwanese officials said the Liaoning came within 90 nautical miles of the southern tip of the island before entering the South China Sea. Japanese officials said the ships were seen near the shores of Okinawa, in the Pacific Ocean. Many people in China cheered the deployment of the Liaoning, a discarded vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refurbished by the Chinese Navy. While the Liaoning lacks the capabilities of its American counterparts, it is a symbol of national pride for the government, which is in the midst of an effort to vastly upgrade its military capacity to meet its ambition of projecting strength far from Beijing. Officials have announced plans for a second aircraft carrier and other weapons. Some commentators in China seized the moment to call on officials to send the Liaoning closer to American shores. \"Aircraft carriers are strategic tools which should be used to show China's strength to the world and shape the outside world's attitude toward China,\" an editorial in Global Times, a newspaper that often adopts a nationalistic tone, said on Sunday. \"As China's only aircraft carrier fleet now, it should have the ability and courage to sail further. \" The Department of Defense declined to directly address China's movements in the South China Sea. \"We continue to observe a range of ongoing Chinese military activity in the region,\" Cmdr. Gary Ross, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in a statement on Tuesday. \"The United States recognizes the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all countries in accordance with international law. \" In Taiwan, officials called for caution. Many residents worry that China is seeking to punish Taiwan for Mr. Trump's actions. He surprised officials in Beijing when he took a call from President Tsai of Taiwan, breaking from decades of diplomatic practice. More recently, he suggested he might abandon the One China principle, prompting sharp rebukes from Beijing. In a speech on Tuesday, Taiwan's defense minister, Feng spoke about the dangers facing the island and urged more training for Taiwanese soldiers. \"The threat of our enemies is growing day by day,\" he said, according to Reuters. As China looks to expand its power in the South China Sea, some experts argue that it risks antagonizing nearby countries, potentially pushing them to form stronger alliances with the United States. \"As China's military power grows, the fear is that so, too, will its appetite for regional hegemony,\" said Mr. Cronin of the Center for a New American Security. \"Thus China's coercion will impose yet new costs on Beijing. \" Still, others note China's ability to win allies in the region through its economic might, and they point to the shifting allegiances of countries like the Philippines, an American ally that has warmed up to Beijing in recent months. Xu Guangyu, a retired major general in the People's Liberation Army, said China's decision to deploy aircraft carriers in faraway waters and to expand its military were natural developments for a country of China's stature. \"People in other countries should rest assured that China will not interfere in other country's affairs like the U. S.,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, was accused on Wednesday of forcing out a prominent female anchor after she refused his sexual advances and complained to him about persistent harassment in the newsroom, a startling accusation against perhaps the most powerful man in television news. In a lawsuit, the anchor, Gretchen Carlson, a longtime Fox employee who left the network last month, portrays Mr. Ailes as a loutish and serial sexual harasser, accusing him of ogling her in his office, calling her \"sexy,\" and describes a boys' club environment at the network. Her charges \u2014 including the accusation that Mr. Ailes explicitly asked Ms. Carlson for a sexual relationship during a meeting in his office \u2014 amounted to an almost unprecedented public attack on Mr. Ailes, a towering figure in media and Republican politics who typically enjoys absolute loyalty from his employees. Late Wednesday, the parent company of Fox News, 21st Century Fox, issued a measured statement, saying it had \"full confidence'' in Mr. Ailes, but had initiated an internal review of Ms. Carlson's charges. \"We take these matters seriously,\" the company said. Mr. Ailes, in a separate statement, was far less temperate. \"Gretchen Carlson's allegations are false,\" he wrote. \"This is a retaliatory suit for the network's decision not to renew her contract,\" which he attributed to ratings he called \"disappointingly low. '' He added: \"This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously. \" The suit arrives at a complex moment for Mr. Ailes, who is facing new challenges to the television empire that he has overseen, with control and huge success, for two decades. While he retains the support of his corporate boss, Rupert Murdoch, Mr. Ailes, 76, has sometimes clashed with Mr. Murdoch's sons, James and Lachlan, who have ascended to the most senior leadership roles at the company. And Fox News, while still enjoying high ratings, is facing renewed competition from CNN, which has been closing what was long an enormous gap in ratings between the networks. (In one important demographic, CNN has narrowed its deficit with Fox News to its slimmest figure in eight years.) The network has also been less of a dominant political force in this year's presidential election, with the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, publicly clashing with the network and some of its anchors, a sharp contrast from previous election cycles. Ms. Carlson, 50, filed her lawsuit in Superior Court in New Jersey, where Mr. Ailes maintains a residence. She contends that during a meeting last fall to discuss her concerns that she was being treated unfairly, Mr. Ailes told her: \"I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better. \" When she rebuffed him, the lawsuit claims, Mr. Ailes retaliated by reducing Ms. Carlson's salary, curtailing her appearances and, to her surprise, declining to renew her contract last month. Ms. Carlson's suit, filed by the law firm Smith Mullin of Montclair, N. J. names Mr. Ailes as the sole defendant and seeks a variety of compensatory damages. Her lead lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, said in an interview that Ms. Carlson's grievance was with Mr. Ailes personally, not the Fox network. \"We were considering taking action before she was terminated,\" Ms. Smith said. \"The firing sort of pulled the trigger for us. \" Mr. Ailes is known as a fierce public relations warrior who can be ruthless with enemies. Ms. Carlson can be on air, but she is working with a formidable team: Ms. Smith once brought a sexual harassment suit against a former acting governor of New Jersey, and Ms. Carlson's husband, Casey Close, is a powerful sports agent known for tenacious negotiating on behalf of clients like Derek Jeter. Ms. Smith, the lawyer, said that several women had contacted her saying they had similar experiences with Mr. Ailes, although she declined to name them. A 2014 biography of Mr. Ailes, by the journalist Gabriel Sherman, \"The Loudest Voice in the Room,'' recounted an episode in the 1980s, when Mr. Ailes was at NBC, involving a woman named Randi Harrison who said he offered her an extra $100 a week in salary in exchange for having sex with him \"whenever I want. \" (Fox News denied the claim at the time Ms. Harrison corroborated the account in a phone interview on Wednesday.) Ms. Carlson joined Fox News in 2005. In her suit, Ms. Carlson, who once walked off a Fox set as her made jokes about women, portrays a culture at the network where casual sexism is tolerated, part of a broader Ailes news aesthetic of bombastic coverage and physically attractive talent. In 2009, Ms. Carlson contends, she complained to the network about her on the popular \"Fox Friends\" morning show, Steve Doocy, saying he belittled her on the set, openly mocked her among colleagues and once tried to shush her during a live broadcast by pulling down her arm. Mr. Ailes, the lawsuit states, responded by calling Ms. Carlson a \"man hater\" and saying \"she needed to learn to 'get along with the boys.' \" Ms. Carlson claims that because of her complaints, Mr. Ailes eventually reassigned her from \"Fox Friends,\" in 2013, to a less prestigious slot. Until last month, Ms. Carlson was still hosting that program, \"The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson,\" which is broadcast at 2 p. m. on the network. The show had consistently won its time slot, averaging 1. 1 million viewers in recent months. But it was the network's daytime program among a crucial advertising demographic, raising concerns at Fox News that it was losing ground to competition from CNN. Mr. Ailes has minted stars like Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly, who now host the two shows in cable news. And he established Fox News as a powerful force in Republican politics and a major profit center for Mr. Murdoch's media empire. Even Ms. Carlson has had kind words for Mr. Ailes. In a book published last year, \"Getting Real,\" Ms. Carlson described Mr. Ailes as \"the most accessible boss I've ever worked for,\" and thanked him for encouraging her career. Shelley Ross, a longtime TV news executive, has been quoted as saying Mr. Ailes used inappropriate comments with her during a job interview. In an email on Wednesday, she played down that incident and praised Mr. Ailes. \"I have had many bosses throughout my career Roger turned out to be one of my favorites,\" she wrote, adding, \"If you want to expose disgusting immoral behavior in network and cable news, I have much better candidates about whom you could write. \" Ms. Carlson's announcement of her lawsuit on Wednesday was carefully coordinated. A public relations firm distributed copies of the complaint to reporters across a variety of disciplines. Shortly afterward, on Twitter, Ms. Carlson offered thanks for an \"outpouring of support\" and introduced a hashtag: #StandWithGretchen. By the afternoon, a link to her lawsuit was prominently posted on her personal website. The public nature of the suit was unusual, some legal experts said, since typically such suits are settled privately. \"The fact that it isn't proceeding along that trajectory suggests that Carlson had an interest in seeing these allegations brought forward in the public forum,\" said Debra Katz, a lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment cases.","label":0}
{"text":"Re: WINDOWS 10 \u00ab Reply #91 on: November 17, 2015, 01:37:05 PM \u00bb nVidia even admitted that they intentionally cripple Linux drivers to put performance under Linux the same as performance under Windows.Clips its own product's wings to please MicrosoftBy Chris MerrimanMon Oct 07 2013, 15:28 CHIP DESIGNER Nvidia has revealed that it crippled its Linux driver to ensure parity with Windows.According to a forum poster at the Nvidia Developer Zone , the v310 version of the drivers for Basemosaic has reduced the number of monitors a user can connect simultaneously to three.The firm's reply to the post was the type of dismissive response that the Linux community has come to expect in its dealings with Nvidia.Nvidia said, \"For feature parity between Windows and Linux we set Basemosaic to [three] screens.\"So let's be clear about this. Nvidia has chosen to remove functionality from a Linux driver to ensure that it isn't more capable than the Windows version. This really doesn't sound like the action of a company that wants to get along well with Linux developers and users. So far, Nvidia hasn't indicated whether this is a temporary situation, or more likely a permanent arrangement.There can be one of two obvious motives for this, which amount to two sides of the same coin. Either Nvidia doesn't want to be seen to show up an embarrassing limitation in Windows or the Windows driver, or the continuing acrimony between the graphics firm and Linux is not over yet.While for most users three monitors are ample, making this a fairly niche problem, it's an example of a company manipulating the marketplace. Of course controlling the flow of progress in order to sell another product is nothing new - video games makers have been doing that since the 1980s.But to control the flow of progress to favour one platform over another is playing \"technology god\" and sets a disturbing precedent. Logged","label":1}
{"text":"USA Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 'Victim Nations' Since World War II Recently, the world commemorated another anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, which changed the world as... Print Email http:\/\/humansarefree.com\/2016\/11\/usa-has-killed-more-than-20-million.html Recently, the world commemorated another anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, which changed the world as we knew it, and has since, cast a terroristic haze over the planet. The War on Terror was engaged; the premise was a globally united citizen, freedom was under attack, \"God Bless America.\" Admitting, in the famous Bush speech , to rally the world to a new war, he stated this:\"The Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941 [ Pearl Harbour ].\"It is with this quote that I bring the attention to the countless deaths over not 136 years, but only those since World War II, that the United States of America can be partially held culpable. Proxy wars, particularly, hold some of the highest numbers; there is barely a nation where the U.S. has not permeated its military might through borders. Yes, wars are messy and incredibly complex. But it is important to recognize, that although Russia, China, North Korea and all the other nations accused of bloodshed are guilty in their own rights, the United States must share a large part of the responsibility. One study, compiled by James A. Lucas , explains with hard evidence, 37 nations deeply affected by U.S. involvement. However, anyone with a history book can see for themselves that the self-proclaimed freedom fighter \u2013 the U.S. \u2013 is not all that it seems. Afghanistan and Russia Most are familiar with the 'Mujahadeen' name. It conjures up Russians, war, and the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan. What a lot don't know is how the proxy war came about, or that Afghanistan \u2013 a secular nation at the time \u2013 was friendly with its Russian neighbors. So what happened? In 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted to a CIA-instigated battle which saw 12,000 deaths in Afghanistan directly attributed to the United States. The Carter administration, at the time, had agreed to provide \"secret aid\" to rebels wanting to overthrow the pro-Soviet regime. Well aware that providing this aid would create a Soviet military intervention, the act was signed off. \"Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it?\" 6 billion dollars later and a 10-year war, over a million were reported dead. The other interventions less talked about\u2026 There are smaller nations, less notable in the history books, but equally devastated by the overthrows, coups and interventions that took place, courtesy of the United States. Angola's civil war lasted 26 years, with a reported 300,000 to 750,000 dead , depending on the literature you read. It was reported that Henry Kissinger [top architect of the New World Order ] had claimed that the US had to intervene in Angola because \"the Soviet Union was already providing military aid to the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the form of Cuban troops.\" It was, years later, discovered that he lied and that the Soviet Union was very reluctant to become involved in Angola, in the first place. Chad saw around 40,000 killed and over 200,000 tortured after the CIA assisted Hissen Habre into power in 1982. Then there is the famous CIA intervention with Chile's elections and Salvador Allende , who became elected president. On Sept. 11, 1973, Allende either killed himself or was assassinated. General Augusto Pinochet rose to power in 1974 \u2013 much to Henry Kissinger's approval, and thousands were murdered, tortured or simply disappeared. In the 1960s the Dominican Republic witnessed 3,000 deaths after a CIA coup overthrew Juan Bosch. When the citizens tried to reelect the man, the U.S. invaded with 22,000 military. Chilean President Salvador Allende, flanked by body guards during the coup on 11 September 1973. Later that day, Allende was reported dead. But you haven't mentioned\u2026 The Korean War? The \" U.S. dropped 650,000 tons of bombs , including 43,000 napalm bombs.\" Fatalities stand anywhere between a few hundred thousand to 4.5 million for the Koreans and Chinese, depending on the literature you read. The Vietnam War? If you include Laos, where an estimated 200,000 died from U.S. bombs, it bumps up the already 5.1 million deaths estimated by the Vietnam government \u2013 but just a little bit. Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge ? Millions were slaughtered after the U.S. left the country in tatters, providing a vacuum of power for Pol Pot's psychopathic tendencies. Or we could focus on the pivotal role the U.S. played in placing General Suharto as leader of Indonesia after the East Timor atrocities of 1975, leaving over a quarter of the population dead. That was Gerald Ford and Kissinger's handy work, providing Suharto with American arms. In 1991 it happened again, with East Timorese protesters in Dili gunned down by Suharto's military. Notably, we can't forget the Iraq Wars, post sanctions: \"excessive deaths among children\" under 5 stand at 227,000 with a real estimate closer to 350,000 , according to some statisticians. Let me say that again: A quarter million children under 5, dead. In Conclusion As one goes through statistics like these, it becomes increasingly difficult to remain impartial. Did the past wars create the build up to the 9\/11 tragedy? I don't say it lightly; the victims of that time, and all the innocent civilians caught up in America's wrath since Bush's War on Terror commenced, have suffered greatly. Everyone since, is suffering. Stepping into civil wars, instigating coups, disrupting functional regimes, baiting nations into proxy wars\u2026 how did 9\/11 not happen sooner? Crimea , Turkey , Syria , North Korea and China\u2026 the world edges towards the precipice. By Anon Watcher 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","label":1}
{"text":"The chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence told reporters at the Capitol Monday he has yet to see evidence of contacts between President Donald Trump's campaign and individuals in the Russian government or part of its extensive network of affiliated persons. [\"As of right now, we have no evidence, but we will continue to ask for evidence and look for evidence,\" said Rep. Devin Nunes (R. .) who called the press conference to deal with a number of issues, including a New York Times report that the members of the Trump campaign were in contact with Russian intelligence and that he was pressured by the White House to call reporters to knock down the Times story. \" Nunes said his committee had not concluded its probe into contact between Russian operatives and any of the presidential campaigns. \"Not only the three Americans named in that story but also any Americans with the Russians. \" Trump's national campaign chairman Paul Manafort was named in the Times report, but the other two individuals were not named. Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign Aug. 19, shortly after the Republican National Convention. The hauling of citizens before a congressional hearing based on media reports would bring back the days of McCarthyism, he said. \"I am trying to be very careful,\" he said. \"We can't have the government \u2014 the U. S. government \u2014 the Congress or another branch of the government chasing down American citizens, calling them before the Congress as if they are some sort of secret Russian agents,\" he said. \"That is what I am concerned about here \u2014 that we go off on some witch hunt against American citizens just because they appear in a press story somewhere. \" The congressman said he has yet to see any sign that members of the Trump campaign or transition team broke any laws dealing with foreign governments. There were, however, contacts between the Trump camp and the Russians that were completely he said. After President Barack Obama issued his Dec. 29 sanctions against Russia, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then designated to serve as Trump's National Security Adviser, spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak a number of times. Those conversations were wiretapped by the Department of Justice and transcripts of the conversations were given to media outlets. If anything, the FBI should focus on how a DOJ wiretap transcript that had to be approved by the classified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court went public, which is indisputably a crime, he said. Nunes said that even if Flynn discussed Obama's December sanctions, he would have no problem \u2014 even if Flynn told the Russians that the incoming Trump administration would ignore or ease that round of sanctions. Flynn has maintained that he did not discuss the sanctions. \"If the discussions occurred around ensuring that there was no overreaction by the Russian government, so that the new administration could do like all the other previous administrations, who thought they could work with Putin, all three have been wrong,\" Nunes said. \"If that is just what General Flynn did, to try and keep the lines of communications open,\" he said. \"That did us a big favor. \" This comment incensed CNN reporter Jim Sciutto. Sciutto called out to the congressman: \"Do you want an administration negotiating against another? Isn't that one U. S. administration negotiating \u2014 \" The congressman subdued a smirk as he cut Sciutto off, saying, \"You want to investigate the Logan Act? You're a Logan Act guy?\" The 1799 Logan Act bans American citizens from negotiating with a foreign power without the approval of the federal government. Sciutto: \"I didn't mention the Logan Act, I'm just saying that if one administration \u2014 \" Nunes cut him off again: \"The Logan Act is ridiculous. You guys all know that. \" No one has ever been prosecuted for violating the Logan Act. The other contentious was between the chairman and reporters, who kept insisting that there was something nefarious about the White House asking Nunes to talk to a reporter about the New York Times story. \"It was kind of an odd story, I thought,\" the congressman said. CNN reporter Manu Raju asked Nunes if he felt that his integrity was compromised when he spoke to the reporter at the behest of the White House. Nunes said he was not compromised at all. \"If the White House asked me to talk to a reporter \u2014 it was one reporter \u2014 if the White House asked me to talk to you? Would that be OK or not OK?\" Raju was silent for a long moment, then asked, \"What is your response to that?\" Raju: \"You're investigating this matter, the White House is urging you to knock down these stories that are leaving questions \u2014 \" Nunes: \"That doesn't happen. That absolutely doesn't happen. \" Following the press conference, Nunes met with other Republican members of the intelligence committee. As the committee moves forward with its investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election cycle, he pledged to hold regular press availabilities.","label":0}
{"text":"Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said on Thursday he would not resign after the state's ethics commission found probable cause that he violated ethics and campaign finance laws, a ruling that could result in criminal charges. The second-term Republican governor faces a hearing in separate proceedings on Monday that could lead to his eventual impeachment and ouster. The probable cause findings by the Alabama Ethics Commission prompted Republican Del Marsh, the leader of the state Senate, to call on Bentley to step down, local media reported. Marsh said the governor was not able to lead effectively. Bentley faces escalating political fallout over his relationship with a former senior adviser and has been dogged for the past year by questions concerning his potentially inappropriate use of state resources. Asked for a response to Marsh's comments, Bentley said in a statement: \"I have no intentions of resigning and I am looking forward to continuing to work on important issues facing the state.\" The Alabama House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee will begin the impeachment process on Monday, said its chairman, Representative Mike Jones. \"It's time to put this in front of us, let's address it, and let's get it behind us,\" Jones said on the floor of the House on Thursday. The committee will make a recommendation to the full House on whether to impeach Bentley. The judiciary committee has been conducting its own investigation apart from the ethics commission and plans to issue a report on Friday. Bentley denies any legal wrongdoing. \"We think there is not a basis that the governor violated any law,\" his lawyer, Bill Athanas, told reporters Wednesday night. \"So the battle goes on.\" After allegations of a scandal broke last year, Bentley apologized for making inappropriate remarks to married staffer Rebekah Mason, while denying allegations of a physical affair. Mason resigned as questions about the pair's relationship began to dominate Alabama politics. Bentley's wife filed for divorce in August 2015 after 50 years of marriage, citing unspecified problems. Local media said the ethics commission found probable cause that Bentley violated state campaign regulations by accepting a contribution and making a loan to his campaign outside the time frame permitted by law and using campaign funds to pay Mason's legal fees. He also may have violated ethics law by using public resources for his personal interest. If charged with breaking Alabama's ethics or campaign finance laws, Bentley could 20 years in prison per violation, the commission said.","label":0}
{"text":"Libya s U.N.-backed government agreed with Italy on Saturday to establish a joint operations room for tackling migrant smugglers and traffickers as part of efforts to curb migrant flows toward Europe, according to a statement. Libya is the main gateway for migrants trying to cross to Europe by sea, though numbers have dropped sharply since July as Libyan factions and authorities have begun to block departures under Italian pressure. More than 600,000 have made the journey over the past four years. The agreement to set up the operations room was announced after a meeting in Tripoli between the head of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Seraj, Libyan Interior Minister Aref Khodja, and his Italian counterpart Marco Minniti. A statement from Seraj s office said the center would consist of representatives from the coastguard, the illegal migration department, the Libyan attorney general and the intelligence services, along with their Italian counterparts. No details were given on the location of the center and how it would operate. In the past, migrant smugglers have worked with impunity in western Libya, where the GNA has little authority over armed groups that have real power on the ground. The Italian navy already has a presence in Tripoli port, providing technical assistance to Libya s coastguard, according to Italian and Libyan officials. The coastguard, which is receiving funding and training from the European Union, has become more assertive in recent months in intercepting migrants and bringing them back to Libya. Activists have criticized the policy, since migrants often face extreme hardship and abuse in Libya, including forced labor. Migrants who are caught trying to cross to Italy are put in severely overcrowded detention centers authorized by the interior ministry. The GNA has said it is investigating reports of migrants being auctioned as slaves in Libya, after CNN broadcast footage appearing to show such auctions. According to Saturday s statement, Seraj told Minniti that despite the successes achieved in the migration file, the number of illegal immigrants outside shelters remains large and we need more cooperation, especially in securing the borders of southern Libya through which these migrants flow .","label":0}
{"text":"For the past two months, Donald Trump has presided over a political team riddled with turf wars, staff reshuffling and dueling power centers. But the tensions are more than typical campaign chaos: They illustrate how Trump likes to run an organization, whether it's a real estate venture or his presidential bid. Interviews with current and former Trump associates reveal an executive who is fond of promoting rivalries among subordinates, wary of delegating major decisions, scornful of convention and fiercely insistent on a culture of loyalty around him. Whether the drama of recent weeks has been cathartic or calamitous is an open question \u2014 and one that is increasingly important as the general election phase of the campaign unfolds. The tumult has often dominated news coverage, stepping on Trump's own campaign message and averting the spotlight from missteps by leading Democratic contender Hillary Clinton. \"It is definitely dysfunctional compared to, say, Ace Hardware Store,\" said David Carney, a veteran Republican political strategist. But, he added, \"it is not fatal in and of itself.\" Honed over decades in business and now suddenly under the glare of a national contest, Trump's style offers a glimpse of the polarizing management techniques he would carry into the White House. In fashioning his campaign after his real estate and entertainment projects, the mogul has inspired supporters and alarmed critics with his brazen moves. [Trump once revealed his income tax returns. They showed he didn't pay a cent.] \"He's always the man in charge,\" said Edward Rollins, the veteran Republican strategist who is working for a pro-Trump super PAC. \"From his people, he gets what he needs. He makes them compete. Sometimes it gets the juices flowing, sometimes it spurs conflict. If he needs to, he steps in to settle it.\" Rollins pointed to the relationship between Trump's 42-year-old campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and his 67-year-old campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as a prime example of how Trump handles people. While they have worked just steps from each other in recent weeks at Trump Tower in New York, the pair \u2014 contrasts in age, experience and personality \u2014 have a simmering rivalry over stature and responsibilities within the candidate's orbit. And Trump doesn't seem to mind. \"One day, Manafort goes up and Corey gets set back. The next day, Corey can move up to the forefront. Trump is at the center, watching it all and seeing it all,\" Rollins said. Trump's firing last week of Rick Wiley as his national political director is a case study in how being close to Trump is usually the best way to influence him. A mantra for Trump's campaign advisers has long been, \"If you aren't close to the principal, you aren't anywhere,\" according to one person on staff. The abrupt dismissal was typical Trump \u2014 reminiscent of his NBC television show, \"The Apprentice,\" which spawned the catchphrase \"You're fired!\" [Trump's bad bet: How too much debt drove his biggest casino aground] Wiley, who joined the Trump campaign in April with a headstrong persona and establishment pedigree, did not endear himself to many of the grass-roots activists and Trump allies who had been working for the campaign for months, including Karen Giorno, who started as Trump's Florida director and is now in charge of 10 Southeastern states. According to multiple people familiar with the situation, Giorno grew unhappy with Wiley throughout May, telling friends that he was unresponsive to her and, in her view, too forceful in asserting his strategy. Eventually, Giorno voiced her complaints directly to Trump. It worked. Wiley's exit was announced Wednesday. In a statement, the campaign said Wiley was \"hired on a short-term basis.\" Wiley did not respond to a request for comment. Giorno said Trump's loyalty \"goes beyond anything I've experienced in politics.\" She also described Trump as a boss constantly testing his employees and turning the tables on them. \"He'll ask questions \u2014 and if you don't know the answer, you can tell that he's disappointed that you don't know it,\" she said. \"But then, he'll brief you.\" On Florida matters, Trump has always been \"extraordinarily curious \u2014 tell me more about what's going on in Florida; give me the snapshot,\" Giorno said. \"As I am telling him information, he's actually feeding me more information.\" From his 26th-floor office in New York, Trump \u2014 who through a spokeswoman declined to be interviewed for this article \u2014 is attempting to bend the nature and norms of a presidential campaign to his unpredictable and outsize personality, eschewing the top-down, consultant-heavy mode used by most candidates. [Trump's businesses boom as he runs for president, financial disclosure show] Rather, Trump functions simultaneously as his own big-picture strategist and micro-managing chief executive. He has gotten involved in intramural skirmishing that has engulfed his campaign, both stoking and calming tensions depending on the circumstances. \"His style can be what I call 'hands off, hands on.' He gives people space to think and work and doesn't get involved in everything each day, but he is the kind of person who can swoop in in a second and change everything,\" said Sam Nunberg, a former aide who was let go from the campaign last year following disagreements with Lewandowski and controversy over past racially charged posts on Facebook. \"He monitors it all and he comes to check in on things when you don't expect him.\" Trump's fondness for stirring internal competition was on display during his Atlantic City heyday, when he pitted his casinos against one another \u2014 much to the dismay of some of the executives who ran them. He encouraged the Trump Castle to compete for customers against the Trump Plaza hotel and casino and, later, his third casino, the Trump Taj Mahal. Trump liked the sparring while others worried about cannibalizing customers; in the end, for a variety of reasons, the three casinos went through corporate bankruptcies. Trump's method contrasts sharply with that of Clinton, who operates her corporate-style campaign from a sprawling headquarters in Brooklyn with legions of professional aides. Unlike Trump, her aides say, Clinton does not offer daily input on personnel or brewing internal debates. \"He takes in information from people around him,\" Lewandowski said. \"We look at that as surround-sound advocacy that gives him the totality of an issue. Then he is decisive. People shouldn't be surprised he's involved. Of course he's involved. It's his campaign and his money.\" Carl Paladino, a businessman and political operative from Buffalo, N.Y. who is the co-chairman of Trump's New York campaign, recalled when Trump called him months ago ahead of the New York primary and asked him to take the position. \"He said: 'Carl, let's do it. Let's go.' He didn't have to say anything else. He trusted me to do what he needed me to do,\" Paladino said. \"He knows that . . . if you get in my way, I'm going to knock you down.\" Such general directives demonstrate the level of trust Trump regularly places with many of his closest supporters. He continues to have faith in them when they collide, as has been the case with Manafort and Lewandowski. Manafort, who declined to comment for this article, was brought into Trump's circle in March when Trump started to fret that he might be headed for a contested Republican convention and would need someone who could navigate that thicket. This month, he was given the title of campaign chairman and chief strategist. Manafort calls Trump \"Donald,\" unlike Lewandowski, who calls the candidate \"Mr. Trump.\" He also does more freelancing than Lewandowski in terms of building relationships and arranging his own media appearances. Trump at times seem to play the two off of each other. Manafort appears to relish being a strategist and chairman more than the manager Lewandowski. Lewandowski, who prides himself on having been at Trump's side since the campaign's start, regularly takes the lead on overseeing events, operations and Trump's travels. Even as Manafort and Lewandowski seek to exhibit and expand their influence on the campaign, there is no doubt within the campaign that Trump is the ultimate arbiter. Sometimes that means drawing conclusions on topics that more traditional campaigns would outsource to aides. Other times, it means his counsel comes from just one person: himself. \"Trump is micromanager on the most important things but not all things,\" said Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York and a Trump ally who has known and observed Trump for decades. \"On the most important things, he realizes you have to be a micromanager. He'll delegate to a point. He has in his head what he wants to do and his issues, and he'll hold onto them instead of sharing those big decisions.\"","label":0}
{"text":"There are too many people in our society who find the idea of two people of the same gender kissing, holding hands, and even being in love just too disgusting for words. These would be our bigots the ones who are working feverishly on keeping the LGBTQ community down by dehumanizing them, and painting them as an evil in our society.These people s hatred led to Omar Mateen killing 49 people in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. A Facebook post, which ends with, You weren t the gunman, but you re the culture that built him. You re the bullets in his gun, is the sheer, naked truth of the situation.There are those who are angry about the politicization of Orlando. If those people would wake up to what s really happening, they d see that it was political from the start.Why? Because we have all of this bigotry coming from our very own lawmakers, pundits, and analysts, who want that bigotry codified in law so they can stay on top of their golden pedestals. We have pastors and other religious leaders who are celebrating what happened in Orlando. And they think they haven t contributed to this? Here are the faces of some of those people, complete with a simple phrase that adds to the power of the above post:Furthermore, the LGBTQ community has been assaulted over and over, by the same cold-blooded fuckery that caused Orlando, with GOP presidential candidates opposition to marriage equality, too: I support same sex civil unions but to me, and millions like me, marriage is a religious service not a government form. Ben Carson I have already introduced a constitutional amendment to preserve the authority of elected state legislatures to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and also legislation stripping the federal courts of jurisdiction over legal assaults on marriage. Ted Cruz Throughout the millennia and in every religion in the world, marriage has a very specific meaning. Marriage is a institution [sic] grounded in spirituality. It is the union of a man and a woman, and from that union comes life, and life is a gift from God. Carly Fiorina We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat. This ruling is not about marriage equality, it s about marriage redefinition. This irrational, unconstitutional rejection of the expressed will of the people in over 30 states will prove to be one of the court s most disastrous decisions, and they have had many. Mike Huckabee [Obergefell] will pave the way for an all out assault against the religious freedom rights of Christians who disagree with this decision. This ruling must not be used as pretext by Washington to erode our right to religious liberty. Bobby Jindal I am disappointed the Supreme Court today chose to change the centuries old definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. I m a firm believer in traditional marriage, and I also believe the 10th Amendment leaves it to each state to decide this issue. I fundamentally disagree with the court rewriting the law and assaulting the 10th Amendment. Rick Perry We have to reclaim marriage as an institution that s not about two adults or more than two adults. That it s about children. Marriage has always been about children. Rick SantorumAnd last, and we certainly wish least, Donald Trump: I would strongly consider [appointing justices to overrule the decision on same-sex marriage.] Then there s North Carolina s bathroom law, and Governor Pat McCrory, who defended it by saying it was a privacy issue. Yes, privacy for everyone except transgender people. One has to wonder if residents of North Carolina have to carry their birth certificates with them now.There was also Florida governor Rick Scott, who refused to acknowledge Orlando as an anti-LGBTQ hate crime in addition to an act of terrorism. He said Florida s LGBTQ community can engage in the oh-so-effective practice of prayer if they want to be safe.We had Kim Davis, who refused to abide by the Obergefell decision and who the religious community celebrated for standing up for the right to discriminate. The same is true of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. They re seen as champions of religious freedom, rather than the purveyors of hate they really are.What all of this does is tell ordinary citizens that it s just peachy keen for them to be hateful and evil towards the LGBTQ community. It also causes severe self-loathing in people who try to subscribe to those beliefs, but are LGBTQ and still in the closet. When these things reach the breaking point and explode, they do so violently, as they did in Orlando. You re the bullets in his gun. Yes, they all were. They don t have to be Mateen, or anybody else who commits a hate crime against the LGBTQ community, to be responsible for this.Featured image by Gerardo Mora\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Just when we think that the Bundy Militia morons couldn t possibly surpass the amount of stupid they have already demonstrated, one of them surprises us. On Friday, Ryan Bundy, leader of Y all Qaeda, decided that he didn t need no stinkin lawyer and is going to represent himself.Bundy is facing charges for possession of firearms in a federal facility, conspiring to impede federal officers from doing their jobs at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, theft of government property as well as possessing and using a firearm while committing a violent act. He could face up to life in prison if convicted.U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown warned Bundy that it wasn t a particularly bright idea to represent himself, saying, The stakes here are extremely high. But Bundy was not dissuaded, he said that he was upset that his younger brother, Ammon Bundy, was told to let his lawyers speak for him during his hearing: I need to be able to speak when the time is right .I feel it very important that I need not be silenced when I need to be able to speak. The judge asked Bundy if he has any courtroom experience and he said he d represented himself before. However, the previous outcomes in those cases were not exactly favorable. As Oregon Live reported in January:2007: Arrested on suspicion of interfering with a legal arrest. He waived his right to an attorney and demanded a jury trial, only to change his plea to no contest on the day of the scheduled trial. He was sentenced to six months of probation in November 2008, ordered to take a life skills class and fined $500, court records show.2011: Found guilty of several vehicle-related citations, including an equipment violation and driving on a restricted license.2012: Arrested on an allegation of misdemeanor theft. A judge ordered the charges to be dropped if Bundy fulfilled 18 months of probation.2014: Charged with interfering with an animal officer. He pleaded no contest in April 2015, but not before he was arrested on a failure-to-appear warrant. He ended up paying a $150 fine.If this case turns out like those, he s definitely going to prison for a long time. Of course, that s where he and his fellow occupiers belong anyway maybe the court will allow him te represent the rest of them too.","label":1}
{"text":"CNN probably detests citizen journalists who bust them on their shenanigans FAKE News Alert! Watch the video and see how the CNN producers plant two reporters right next to each other but a biker that rides through the shot busts them on their split sceeen fake news move Yet another installment of comedic #FakeNews as #FakenewsCNN uses a split screen for reporters standing right next to each other! #MAGA pic.twitter.com\/zWkHcKsYCY TrumpSoldier (@DaveNYviii) November 2, 2017We ve covered other fake news moments from CNN Remember this?CNN CAUGHT STAGING FAKE PROTEST at London Bridge Complete with Muslim Mums Lights, Camera, Action! CNN tried to manufacture a scene of anti-ISIS protest BY SOME MUSLIM MUMS but failed. You can hear people laughing off camera towards the end of the video. You can see British media and CNN correspondent Becky Anderson staging the propaganda for the audience. It s truly sickening to see the extent they will go to push the false narrative that these Muslim mums were there before the cameras got there! Unreal!It s all staged! The media has not only become a weapon of politicians but a propaganda machine to shape the narrative of just about anything very scary! What is the truth if the news stages a scene and pretends it s spontaneous? This is the ultimate in fake news! It s bad enough to shape a news story on CNN by editorializing it but much worse to totally make it up and present it as fact!On Tuesday night, Anderson Cooper was shooting a live interview on CNN when a man ran across the shot yelling CNN is fake news! This couldn t have been a more perfect time to call out CNN for their ridiculous coverage of just about everything A man was also holding a sign that said CNN is ISIS Remember this? Van Jones fake cries Mark Dice nails it! Van Jones on CNN cries over President Trump blaming both sides, and Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and others looked like they were holding back tears. The liberal media freakout hasn t been this bad since Hillary lost the election.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump warned North Korea on Tuesday that any U.S. military option would be devastating for Pyongyang, but said the use of force was not Washington s first option to deal with the country s ballistic and nuclear weapons program. We are totally prepared for the second option, not a preferred option, Trump said at a White House news conference, referring to military force. But if we take that option, it will be devastating, I can tell you that, devastating for North Korea. That s called the military option. If we have to take it, we will. Bellicose statements by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks have created fears that a miscalculation could lead to action with untold ramifications, particularly since Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3. Despite the increased tension, the United States has not detected any change in North Korea s military posture reflecting an increased threat, the top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday. The assessment by Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, about Pyongyang s military stance was in contrast to a South Korean lawmaker who said Pyongyang had boosted defenses on its east coast. While the political space is clearly very charged right now, we haven t seen a change in the posture of North Korean forces, and we watch that very closely, Dunford told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his reappointment to his post. In terms of a sense of urgency, North Korea certainly poses the greatest threat today, Dunford testified. A U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity said satellite imagery had detected a small number of North Korean military aircraft moving to the North s east coast. However the official said the activity did not change their assessment of Pyongyang s military posture. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Monday accused Trump of declaring war on the North and threatened that Pyongyang would shoot down U.S. warplanes flying near the Korean Peninsula after American bombers flew close to it last Saturday. Ri was reacting to Trump s Twitter comments that Kim and Ri won t be around much longer if they acted on their threats toward the United States. North Korea has been working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, which Trump has said he will never allow. Dunford said Pyongyang will have a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile soon, and it was only a matter of a very short time . We clearly have postured our forces to respond in the event of a provocation or a conflict, the general said, adding that the United States has taken all proper measures to protect our allies including South Korean and Japan. It would be an incredibly provocative thing for them to conduct a nuclear test in the Pacific as they have suggested, and I think the North Korean people would have to realize how serious that would be, not only for the United States but for the international community, Dunford said. South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol-uoo, briefed by the country s spy agency, said North Korea was bolstering its defenses by moving aircraft to its east coast and taking other measures after the flight by U.S. bombers. Lee said the United States appeared to have disclosed the flight route intentionally because North Korea seemed to be unaware. U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers, escorted by fighter jets, flew east of North Korea in a show of force after the heated exchange of rhetoric between Trump and Kim. The United States has imposed sanctions on 26 people as part of its non-proliferation designations for North Korea and nine banks, including some with ties to China, the U.S. Treasury Department s Office Of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions said on Tuesday. The U.S. sanctions target people in North Korea and some North Korean nationals in China, Russia, Libya and Dubai, according to a list posted on the agency s website. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit China from Thursday to Saturday for talks with senior officials that will include the crisis over North Korea and trade, the State Department said on Tuesday. Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat who met with a North Korean delegation in Switzerland this month, said that Pyongyang had been reaching out to organizations and individuals to encourage talks with former U.S. officials to get a sense of the Trump administration s thinking. They ve also been accepting invitations to attend dialogues hosted by others, including the Swiss and the Russians, he said. Revere said his best guess for why the North Koreans were doing this was because they were puzzled by the unconventional way that President Trump has been handling the North Korea issue and were eager to use informal and unofficial meetings to gain a better understanding of what is motivating Trump and his administration . During a visit to India, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said diplomatic efforts continued. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said war on the Korean Peninsula would have no winner. We hope the U.S. and North Korean politicians have sufficient political judgment to realize that resorting to military force will never be a viable way to resolve the peninsula issue and their own concerns, Lu said. South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged Kim Jong Un to resume military talks and reunions of families split by the 1950-53 Korean War to ease tension. Like I ve said multiple times before, if North Korea stops its reckless choices, the table for talks and negotiations always remains open, Moon said. In Moscow, Russia s Foreign Ministry said it was working behind the scenes to find a political solution and that it plans to hold talks with a representative of North Korea s foreign ministry who is due to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday, the RIA news agency cited the North s embassy to Russia as saying. The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce and not a peace treaty.","label":0}
{"text":"6 neo-Nazis arrested in Motorola assassination case, SBU plot exposed November 12, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RusVesna - translated by J. Arnoldski - The Ministry of State Security (MGB) of the Donetsk People's Republic has announced the arrest of six neo-Nazis from Misanthropic Division, whose leaders earlier claimed responsibility for the murder of Sparta battalion commander Arsen Pavlov (Motorola). The counter-espionage department of the ministry has reported that those arrested have already given confessions and evidence of the \"circumstances of the committing of such a terroristic and extremist crime.\" The neo-Nazis had maintained contact with employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and operated on the territory of the DPR in its interests. \"It has been established that all terrorist and subversive actions in the DPR and LPR are carried out by the SBU in the framework of an approved operational plan, the purpose of which is to intensify internal contradictions between the leaders of the Donbass republics, creating the preconditions and circumstances for confrontation between them,\" the Ministry of State Security emphasized, adding that the detainees are being further investigated. Follow us on Facebook!","label":1}
{"text":"Philippine troops on Tuesday killed a pro-Islamic State gunman in the southern city of Marawi, a military official said, eight days after the government declared the end of hostilities. Soldiers have focused on securing Marawi against surviving militant fighters since ending five months of operations against Islamic State-inspired militants who seized control of parts of the city in May, in a bid to win a foothold in the region. The conflict displaced about 350,000 residents and killed more than 1,100 people, mostly militants, stirring concern that the southern Philippines is becoming Islamic State s hub in Southeast Asia. The military engaged in a gunfight with one of the suspected remaining gunmen in the main battle area, after foiling his bid to escape, army spokesman Colonel Romeo Brawner said. We still have to put in troops, because there s a possibility for stragglers, Brawner told a news conference in Marawi. In the main battle area, there are many possible hiding spots. Indonesians, Malaysians and Middle Easterners were among the fighters who flocked to Marawi to support the Islamic State s emirate in Southeast Asia. Thousands of Marawi residents have started returning home, only for some to find dwellings ransacked. Brawner said an army official and five more personnel were detained in barracks after being charged with looting. The main battle area in downtown Marawi remains off limits, pending the removal of booby traps and unexploded ordnance.","label":0}
{"text":"The problem of the suddenly green water in the Olympic diving pool worsened Wednesday as whatever was ailing the pool migrated (albeit in a lighter shade of green) to the nearby pool used for water polo and synchronized swimming. But Olympic officials said that after extensive tests, they had finally pinpointed the reason: a chemical imbalance caused by too many people using the water. There had been speculation Tuesday that algae was the cause, but that theory was dismissed by officials. \"Midafternoon, there was a sudden decrease in the alkalinity in the diving pool, and that's the main reason the color changed,\" Mario Andrada, a Rio 2016 spokesman, said Wednesday morning. He noted that a lot of people had been in the pools in the past week at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, and that their presence had touched off changes in the water's chemical balance. \"We probably failed to note that with more athletes, the water could be affected,\" Andrada said. He said, too, that the water had not been monitored as carefully as it should have been and that the trouble was apparently exacerbated by Wednesday morning's rain. \"The people in charge of the pool should have done more intensive tests,\" he said. \"We brought in a team of independent experts to check. \" Andrada said that there was no health risk to the athletes and that \"the pool should go back to its classic blue colors during the day. \" The alarmingly swift transformation of the diving pool from aqua to swamp green on Tuesday spurred the usual social media hilarity, with much of the speculation focusing on the possibility of athletes' using the pool for a bodily function generally frowned upon at pools. Nope, said Nate Hernandez, director of aquatic solutions at VivoAquatics, a pool care company based in California whose clients include hotels and resorts. \"To be honest, people pee in the pool all the time \u2014 this wouldn't affect it,\" he said via email. Pool experts said that with decent pool maintenance, water in a pool should not change color so drastically and quickly. \"If the pool's systems are properly sized with adequate filtration and using appropriate chemical distribution, they should be able to maintain clarity and sanitation even during peak use,\" Jamie Novak, a brand manager at NC Brands, a swimming pool and spa chemical manufacturer in Connecticut, said in an email. Hernandez said that failing to anticipate and plan for a large number of swimmers at an event like the Olympics, which by definition attracts a large number of swimmers, seemed a weird sort of mistake. \"Take a pool like the Hard Rock in Las Vegas,\" he said. \"On a Sunday in the summertime, we'll put 5, 000 people in that water at one time. The most we've ever had is about 8, 200, and it has never turned green. \" The Rio Games have had their share of troubles, particularly at the rowing and sailing venues, where the water is contaminated by a toxic stew of bacteria and pathogens. A visit Wednesday afternoon showed that the diving pool was still a fairly dark shade of green while the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming was somewhat lighter, more of a sea glass green. Officials said the alkalinity levels were already improving.","label":0}
{"text":"It s almost like our Community Agitator in Chief purposefully won t acknowledge anyone who isn t in lock-step with his radical agenda Hope Change Division and Hate The Obama White House sent three officials to robber Michael Brown s funeral in Ferguson. Obama sent more officials to Brown s funeral than to Margaret Thatcher s funeral.Obama sent three White House officials to criminal Freddie Gray s funeral.The White House sent no one to NYPD Officer Brian Moore s funeral.Obama skipped Antonin Scalia s funeral and went golfing instead.The Obama White House will send a representative to Alton Sterling s funeral on Thursday. GPThe Advocate reported:Gary Chambers, spokesman for the Sterling family, confirmed Thursday that both Civil Rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson and a White House representative would be attending the funeral of Alton Sterling on Friday. Jackson will be a speaker at the event along with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond.The family of Alton Sterling is inviting the community to mourn with them on Friday at a public funeral held at Southern University.Chambers said both Richmond and Sharpton immediately reached out to the Sterling family in the wake of Alton Sterling s death and offered to help in any way.","label":1}
{"text":"FAYETTEVILLE, N. C. \u2014 Donald J. Trump formally introduced Gen. James N. Mattis as his choice for defense secretary Tuesday night, appearing side by side with him during a \"thank you\" rally in this heavily military community, home to the Army Special Operations Command and the 82nd Airborne Division. To a roar in the Crown Coliseum, Mr. Trump called General Mattis \"one of the most effective generals that we've had in many, many decades\" and the living embodiment of the Marine Corps motto, \"semper fidelis. \" He vowed that with General Mattis, nicknamed Mad Dog, leading the Pentagon, America would rebuild its military. \"Mad Dog plays no games, right?\" Mr. Trump asked the cheering crowd. The rally was the second of several large events that Mr. Trump is holding before his inauguration next month. In Cincinnati last week, he reprised the brash and biting tone of his presidential campaign and boasted about his victory over Hillary Clinton. But for North Carolinians hoping to see that performance again, Mr. Trump was more restrained. He followed the teleprompter, recapping the agenda he intends to pursue in office, including repealing the Affordable Care Act, stopping illegal immigration, renegotiating trade deals and bringing jobs back to the country from overseas. He barely lashed out at the news media, as he usually does, but he did brag about winning North Carolina, a state that political pundits had repeatedly predicted would support Mrs. Clinton. The location of the rally \u2014 a stadium not far from Fort Bragg, a vast military base housing more than 50, 000 personnel \u2014 gave Mr. Trump an opportunity to emphasize his support for the armed forces and to lavish praise upon General Mattis, whom he has compared favorably to Gen. George S. Patton, the famed World War II officer. For the first 15 minutes of his address, Mr. Trump outlined his approach to foreign policy, saying he would \"engage the use of military forces when it's in the vital national security interests of the United States. \" He promised to make the military stronger than it has ever been, but said that under his leadership, the country would \"stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about. \" \"This destructive cycle of intervention and chaos must finally come to an end,\" he said. The offered few details about how his approach would play out, though he said he would quickly move to eliminate the automatic military spending cuts that Congress and President Obama reluctantly embraced several years ago to control spending and reduce the deficit. He also suggested that the United States would seek to strengthen alliances around the world that help prevent conflicts. \"Any nation that shares these goals will be our partner in this mission,\" he said. The crowd cheered Mr. Trump when he vowed to improve health care for the nation's veterans. \"It will be the duty of my administration to make sure we protect those who protect us,\" he said. Even before he takes office, Mr. Trump, who said once during the campaign that he knew more than the nation's generals, is seizing the opportunity to assume the mantle of commander in chief. On Saturday, he is planning to attend the annual football game, a tradition often observed by the sitting occupant of the White House. A spokesman said Mr. Trump, like the presidents before him, would sit in the stands on both sides during the game, which is the annual pinnacle of a fierce rivalry. Mr. Trump began the rally by inviting General Mattis onto the stage, where the general expressed gratitude for the chance to serve again and said he hoped Congress would give him the waiver he needs to be the Pentagon's civilian leader. He retired from the Marines in 2013, and federal law requires a waiting period between active duty and serving as defense secretary. \"You'll get that waiver, right?\" Mr. Trump said when he came back to the microphone. \"If you didn't get that waiver, there will be such a lot of angry people. \" Republicans in Congress moved on Tuesday to use a stopgap spending bill to pave the way for General Mattis to receive the waiver. The spending measure, which was unveiled Tuesday night and must be approved by Friday to avoid a government shutdown, contains language that would speed up the consideration of legislation granting the waiver early next year. On the same day that Mr. Trump focused on the military in North Carolina, Mr. Obama traveled to Tampa, Fla. where he thanked service members at MacDill Air Force Base and delivered a speech on his administration's approach to counterterrorism. For Mr. Trump, the visit to Fayetteville was a triumphant return to a state that was critical to his election victory and that the Clinton campaign had thought it could win. While he did not spend much time Tuesday night reliving his win, Mr. Trump could hardly resist going off script to get a few cheers. \"We won Ohio. We won Iowa by a massive number, 10 points,\" he said. \"Then we went down and we won Florida. 'We have breaking news: Donald Trump wins Florida. Donald Trump wins North Carolina. '\" That brought a roar from the crowd, and Mr. Trump added: \"We won so many states. We won 30 states, 32 states. We won so much, and we just kept winning. \" The is scheduled to keep traveling in the days ahead. He will hold a rally in Des Moines on Thursday and will go to Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday. More rallies are possible in the coming weeks, officials said. Mr. Trump's presidential campaign is paying for the rallies, according to a spokesman for the transition. Campaign experts said that was allowed, and that candidates often used campaign funds to pay for events that took place between the election and inauguration.","label":0}
{"text":"Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who withdrew from a presidential election re-run set for Oct. 26 saying it should only take place once wide-ranging reforms are undertaken, urged his supporters on Sunday to hold protests. Authorities have banned protests in central Nairobi and other hotspots in a bid to keep a lid on mounting political turmoil in the build-up to the repeat vote, in which Odinga had been set to challenge President Uhuru Kenyatta once again. The Supreme Court nullified Kenyatta s victory in the original election on Aug. 8, citing procedural irregularities. On Friday, Odinga said his withdrawal meant the poll had been canceled and that there should be fresh nominations for a new vote. Come out in large numbers tomorrow like you have done today and fear no-one. This is your country and you have the right to protest, he told a crowd in the coastal city of Mombasa. The election board has said the vote will go ahead, with Kenyatta facing six other candidates, none of whom polled more than 1 percent in August. During a trip to London last week, Odinga told Reuters that he might consider returning to the Supreme Court for clarification on whether the Oct. 26 poll was legal. I went to tell our friends in London the truth of what was happening here. Jubilee should know that we are not interested in a coalition government, he said, referring to Kenyatta s party. Despite the ban, protests have taken place in the East African country a regional and trade gateway which is the region s richest economy and an important Western ally in the fight against militant Islamists. On Friday, Kenyan police shot dead two people and wounded a third when a crowd tried to storm a police station in the town of Bondo in the southwest county of Siaya during a rally. Police also used teargas to break up small demonstrations in Kenya s three main cities Kisumu, the capital and the port of Mombasa the same day, defying the ban on rallies in city centers. Hospital authorities said 20 people were injured in Kisumu, an opposition stronghold. I am ready to die for change in Kenya, James Orengo, an opposition senator and lawyer who led Odinga s successful petition at the Supreme Court, told the crowd in Mombasa, which numbered in the thousands.","label":0}
{"text":"It s clear Ted Cruz isn t even trying anymore. The Republican presidential candidate wasn t even able to use his own verbiage when defending his wife from an attack by Donald Trump.On Tuesday, Trump tweeted out, then deleted, then tweeted out again a bizarre threat aimed at Ted Cruz s wife Heidi.Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016Then, in what could have just ended the weird battle between the two GOP frontrunners, Cruz tweets back:Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought. #classless https:\/\/t.co\/0QpKSnjgnE Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2016End of story, right? Just leave it there, right?While appearing on CNN, Cruz was asked about this little Twitter run-in with Trump regarding their wives, and the bizarre threat Trump placed on Heidi. Cruz, apparently unable to think on his feet or come up with a response on his own and clearly thinking no one would notice, decided to literally use a line from the legendary movie American President. There s a scene in the movie when fictional president Andrew Shepard played by Michael Douglas, says: You want a character debate, Bob? You better stick with me, cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league. And what does Cruz say regarding Trump? And if Donald wants to get in a character fight, he s better off sticking with me, because Heidi is way out of his league. Watch here:Ted Cruz literally lifted a line from The American President pic.twitter.com\/BdG7Qcr4Ye Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 23, 2016C mon now, Cruz, did you think no one would notice? Or did you think you were funny? Or did you think the moment to be funny would be in the defense of your wife from a misogynistic monster?Even the defense of his own wife is disingenuous.","label":1}
{"text":"Before Obamacare, it could be hard to buy your own insurance if you'd already had a health problem like cancer. An insurance company might have decided not to sell any insurance to someone like you. It might have agreed to cover you, but not cover cancer care. Or it might have offered you a comprehensive policy, but at some incredibly high price that you could never have paid. Donald J. Trump says he wants to do away with much of Obamacare, but he has signaled that parts of the law that banned those practices are good policy he'd want to keep. \"I like those very much,\" he told The Wall Street Journal last week about the law's rules that prevent discrimination based on conditions. The conditions policies are very popular. Nearly everyone has relatives or friends with illnesses in their past \u2014 cancer, arthritis, depression, even allergies \u2014 that could have shut them out of the individual insurance markets before Obamacare, so it's an issue that hits close to home for many Americans. But keeping those provisions while jettisoning others is most likely no fix at all. Those policies that make the insurance market feel fairer for sick Americans who need it can really throw off the prices for everyone else. That's why Obamacare also includes less popular policies designed to balance the market with enough young, healthy people. Imagine you're that patient with cancer. You really want health insurance, and you're probably willing to pay a lot to get it. If the law requires insurance companies to offer you a policy, you are very likely to buy it. Now imagine you're a young, healthy person without any health problems. Your budget is tight, and health insurance is expensive. You might decide you'll be fine without insurance, since you can always buy it later, when you're the one with a pessimistic diagnosis. Before Obamacare, several states tried policies like this, and required insurance companies to sell insurance to everyone at the same price, regardless of health histories. The results were nearly the same everywhere: Prices went way up enrollment went way down and insurance companies fled the markets. Some states hobbled along with small, expensive markets. Some experienced total market collapse and repealed the policies. Prices in those markets typically became so high that they were really a good deal only for people who knew they'd use a lot of health care services. And the sicker the insurance pool got, the more the companies would charge for their health plans. The health law attempts to broaden the pool by offering financial assistance to people. By limiting how much people can be asked to pay for insurance, the law's subsidies help make the purchase more attractive for healthier customers. That's the law's carrot. Then there's the stick: The law says that if you don't buy insurance, and you could have afforded it, you have to pay a fine. That rule is designed to discourage people from gaming the system by waiting until they're sick. The mandate remains the law's least popular provision. New York is a great case study. Before Obamacare, it had the conditions policy, but without subsidies or a mandate. When the Obamacare rules kicked in, premiums there went down by 50 percent. This year, Obamacare premiums have risen substantially \u2014 an average of 22 percent around the country \u2014 leading many experts and politicians to question whether the law's incentives were strong enough. Some, including Hillary Clinton, have argued that the government should sweeten the carrot, by making the subsidies more generous. Others have said that the stick should sting more by forcing the uninsured to pay a bigger penalty for sitting out of the market. Republican politicians have tended to criticize both of the incentive provisions. The subsidies have been attacked as excessive government spending. The mandate has been criticized as an inappropriate use of government power. Both have been the subject of big Supreme Court cases challenging the law. Both would have been eliminated under a bill passed by Congress but vetoed by President Obama last year. Taking away those unpopular pieces of the law and keeping the popular conditions piece might seem like a political win. But it would result in a broken system. When Mitt Romney was devising the Massachusetts health reform law that would become the model for Obamacare, he hoped to set up a marketplace for health plans with some financial assistance for people to buy insurance. What he didn't want was a mandate. Then Jonathan Gruber, an M. I. T. economist who had calculated the results, showed him the numbers: His plan would cover only a third of the uninsured and cost as much as an identical plan with a mandate. Mr. Romney embraced the mandate. When Barack Obama ran for president in 2007, he, too, advocated a health reform system. He, too, said he did not support a mandate. Then he became president, and economists brought him the numbers. By the time the Affordable Care Act passed, he had changed his mind. We'll see what happens when the economists bring the numbers to Mr. Trump. His transition website suggests that he might develop a different solution to the problem: a special, separate insurance market just for sick people. But that plan is different from the more modest amendments to the Affordable Care Act he described to The Wall Street Journal. It won't be easy to keep the basic architecture of Obamacare while plucking out its least popular pieces. (Another provision that Mr. Trump says he likes, the requirement that insurers cover young adults on their parents' policies, would be easier to save.) Last year, I spoke with Mark Hall, a law professor at Wake Forest University who studied the states that had tried conditions bans before Obamacare. One of the Supreme Court cases threatened to wipe out the mandate and the subsidies, and I asked him what would happen if the litigants succeeded. \"It would be a big mess,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Two Houston Police Department officers were hospitalized Tuesday after a suspected burglar reportedly shot each of them multiple times. [The Houston Chronicle notes that one identified officer, Ronnie Cortez, remains in critical but improving condition after a bullet lodged near his spine. Cortez's fellow officer remains unnamed. He is reported to be awake and talking at this time. A second officer received a threatening wound to his foot. He is listed in stable condition. One suspect was killed at the scene of the crime in southwest Houston while two others remain at large. Officers were called to the scene of a burglary in progress at a home in southwest Houston. When officers arrived, the suspects were still in the area. A gunfight broke out between the suspected burglars and the officers, Fox 26's Isiah Carey reported. Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Fox reporter one of the officers was shot multiple times. KHOU CBS 11 reported the burglar involved the theft of multiple guns from a home. It is not known if the stole guns were used in the shootout. The injured officers were transported by ambulances that were escorted by Houston police vehicles. HPD: Two officers injured after shooting in SW Houston. Police escorting ambulances as they are rushed to the hospital. pic. twitter. \u2014 Tim Wetzel (@KHOUTim) February 28, 2017, At least one suspect appears to still be at large. A manhunt is underway in the area of the shooting and school officials put several schools on lockdown as a precaution. Click2Houston reported: Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers were called to the neighborhood just after 11 a. m. to investigate a reported burglary. About 20 minutes later, officers who had arrived in the neighborhood were flagged down by a resident who said there was a burglary in progress. More officers were called to the area, a perimeter was established and search began. Another person told two officers they noticed that the door to a shed in their backyard was open, Acevedo said. As the officers opened the door to the shed, a man stepped out and began shooting. The officers returned fire, killing the gunmen. This article will be updated with additional information upon confirmation. Logan Churchwell contributed to this article. He is a founding editor of the Breitbart Texas team. You can follow him on Twitter @LCChurchwell. He also serves as the communications director for the Public Interest Legal Foundation. 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.","label":0}
{"text":"Independent voter Chris Sullivan went to the polls in Princeton, Texas on Super Tuesday, intending to cast a ballot in the Democratic primary.Sullivan says that a poll worker at Princeton High School, located in Collin County, Texas, instructed him to select any voting machine, saying that it didn t matter if he was voting for a Republican or a Democrat.Once Sullivan had selected a machine, however, he says it locked his vote in for a Republican candidate.As a result of being locked into a republican ballot, Sullivan says he was unable to cast his vote in the primary election.Following the debacle, he took to voice his outrage at having his vote stolen by GOP cheats.Image credit: screen capture, Chris Sullivan on FacebookAddicting Info spoke to Sullivan on March 2.He clarified what happened further, saying, It wasn t that I was directed to the wrong line I was specifically told by one of the people at the desk that it didn t matter what party I chose, I could vote for anyone. Sullivan also told us that the poll worker he spoke to was clearly not neutral. I was standing behind a couple and the woman (poll worker) asked if they were voting republican. When they said yes, she replied good cause I already locked you in. It might be easier to dismiss what happened to Sullivan as an error, as opposed to deliberate cheating, had he not overheard the same worker giving very different instructions to the Republican couple.Sullivan also told us that he felt like there was a strong push to vote Republican, from the poll workers.While he s not sure if any other Collin County voters had a similar experience, Sullivan says that he has already contacted attorneys for the Bernie Sanders campaign to report what happened. He also plans to report his experience to the Texas Attorney General s office today.As reported here, Democratic voters in Georgia also may have had their votes stolen, thanks to Republican dirty tricks.Brianna Fleener was one of many Democratic voters who were issued Republican ballots in Lowndes County, GA. I show up, I fill out the paper and I give it to the man at the counter, Fleener told ValdostaToday. Next, I was given a card to insert into the machine, and when I pulled up the screen I realized I was given the wrong ballot. Fleener says that several other Democratic voters were also given Republican ballots. As I look around, I notice I m not the only one. Turns out that anyone voting Democrat received a Republican ballot. After making some phone calls, we were told we could fix it, but we were showing up in the system as voted when none of us had casted our ballots. Democrats may not have been the only ones cheated out of their votes by the GOP on Super Tuesday.Austin s KLBJ radio station was flooded with calls claiming that voting machines were flipping votes from Donald Trump to other GOP candidates.Listen to the vote flipping accusations, reported to KLBJ, via Raw Story on YouTube: Image credit: imagebuddy.com, photoshop","label":1}
{"text":"Just when we thought the situation with the Bundy militia in Oregon couldn t get any worse, it does. The drama is heating up now, because another group of lawless armed militants have decided to come be the security for the militia. There s just one problem with that, though: the original militia says they don t want these new folks there.The new group calls themselves the Pacific Patriot Network, and they have taken it upon themselves to send armed guards from their group to protect the original occupying militia. However, Todd MacFarlane, who is a lawyer for the Bundy side of the standoff, says of these new people: We don t need that. We don t want it and we re asking you to leave. According to the Bundy group, they really want to keep the situation from getting any worse than it already has. MacFarlane says that the Bundy group is, quote, alarmed by the Pacific Patriot Network guards. According the Brandon Curtiss, who heads the Pacific Patriot Network up, the guards he sent will only be patrolling the perimeter and has no plans to interfere with original occupants, or even join them in occupation.However, the point is, the Bundys people don t want them there. The new people must be really scary if the original terrorists don t even want anything to do with them. At this point, the federal government needs to simply step in and do something about these people. It really has gotten way out of hand.Watch Bundy s militia people talk about these newbies, below:","label":1}
{"text":"Argentine president Mauricio Macri's office rebutting a report from an Argentinian journalist that set off waves in the American media.","label":0}
{"text":"British defense minister Michael Fallon quit on Wednesday, the first resignation in a growing sexual harassment scandal that prompted calls for a wholesale change in the locker room culture in parliament. Members of Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservative Party said the first high-profile resignation in the scandal showed it was time for reform at the 800-year-old parliament, where power is concentrated in lawmakers hands and wielded, often unchecked, over junior aides. The loss of Fallon, described by Conservative sources as a political Rottweiler , leaves May with a hole in her cabinet, already at odds on everything from Britain s departure from the European Union to the government s austerity agenda. Weakened after losing her party s majority in a June election, May will want to move swiftly to appoint a replacement with as little disruption as possible. In his letter of resignation to May, Fallon, who had apologized earlier this week for repeatedly touching a radio presenter s knee in 2002, said there had been many allegations about lawmakers, including some about my previous conduct . Many of these have been false but I accept that in the past I have fallen below the high standards that we require of the armed forces that I have the honor to represent, he said, offering no detail on the nature of any other allegations. I have reflected on my position and I am therefore resigning as defense secretary. May replied in a letter saying she appreciated the characteristically serious manner in which Fallon had considered his position and the particular example you wish to set to servicemen and women and others . The prime minister was expected to announce a new defense minister on Thursday and is unlikely to launch a major reshuffle of her cabinet at a time when she is trying to push forward Brexit talks. Dependent on the support of a small Northern Irish party for a majority in parliament, May will be keen to try to limit the fallout of the scandal, which has prompted allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct against lawmakers across parliament. Sexual abuse allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein have prompted hundreds of thousands of women and men to share stories about improper behavior and Britain s parliament - a bastion of tradition - has been no exception. Ruth Davidson, leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, said it was time to break with a culture in politics when powerful people use positions of power to demand things from others . The dam has broken on this now, and these male-dominated professions where the boys-own locker room culture has prevailed and it s all been a bit of a laugh, has got to stop, she told the BBC. Allegations of sexual abuse have ranged from a charge of rape by an activist in the opposition Labour Party by a senior party member, to unconfirmed details of serial sex pests on a list reportedly drafted by aides and researchers in parliament. On Monday, May sat beside the leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom as she set out the government s plans to tackle sexual harassment, including measures to enforce a code of conduct and to set up an independent grievance procedure. May has ordered investigations into a report that one of her ministers asked a female secretary to buy sex toys and an allegation her deputy, Damian Green, made an inappropriate sexual advance on a young woman - something he denies. The prime minister, who has long championed the careers of female lawmakers, said on Wednesday that action would be taken when there were allegations and evidence of sexual misconduct. I am very clear that we will take action against those where there are allegations that we see, and the evidence is there, that there has been misconduct, May told lawmakers.","label":0}
{"text":"totally out of bounds! This is so wrong and so crazy because anyone with half a brain knows this is junk science. What does Obama mean by real change in the statement below:President Obama said in a taped speech presented to medical professionals gathered at the White House, to get to work to raise awareness and organize folks for real change. Americans trust their doctors, so the White House wants these medical professionals to be a mouthpiece for President Obama s global warming agenda. We also need doctors, nurses and citizens, like all of you President Obama said in a taped speech presented to medical professionals gathered at the White House, to get to work to raise awareness and organize folks for real change. The Obama administration has been hard at work trying to draw a link between global warming and public health issues. The summit included the U.S. Surgeon General, top administration officials, and public health experts from around the country telling doctors, nurses and other conference goers how to talk about global warming with their patients.The central message: doctors should warn their patients that global warming could make their health worse.","label":1}
{"text":"A chorus of concern in the U.S. Congress over the potential national security threat of State Department staff cuts grew on Thursday when every Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee signed a letter asking for a briefing. \"The number of minister counselors in the State Department has decreased by 15 percent, career ministers by 42 percent, and career ambassadors by an astounding 60 percent,\" they said in the letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. \"The amount of talent leaving the State Department endangers the institution and undermines American leadership, security and interests around the world,\" said the letter, led by Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the committee. Many members of Congress, Democrats as well as some of President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans, have rejected Trump's proposal to cut the State Department budget by about 30 percent. Tillerson has embraced the plan, and imposed a hiring freeze while analyzing the agency's operations and deciding how to reorganize them. On Tuesday, the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee both blasted the agency for cuts in staff and what they described as a failure to have a plan for a proposed organization. On Wednesday, Republican Senator John McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on a Foreign Relations subcommittee overseeing State, delivered a letter to Tillerson asking him to begin consulting with lawmakers on decisions that have an impact on recruiting, retaining and staffing, removing a hiring freeze and resuming promotions. [L1N1NL2AB] Tillerson has said his reorganization plan aimed to increase efficiency and cut costs, with a target of saving at least 10 percent, or about $5 billion, over the next five years from fiscal-year 2017 levels. A State Department spokesperson said that all congressional correspondence to the department is reviewed and receives an appropriate response. \"We can affirm that the Secretary has said on many occasions that he will advocate for any resources or reforms America's diplomats need to do their jobs,\" the spokesperson said in a email.","label":0}
{"text":"Scott Adams, who s best known as the creator of the Dilbert cartoon, is endorsing Hillary Clinton, but not because he agrees with her policies, or even because he likes her. He s endorsing her because he believes, somewhere in his twisted little mind, that he ll be murdered if he doesn t.In his blog (did you know there was a Dilbert blog?), he says that his politics don t match up with any of the candidates, but he does credit Trump with extraordinary persuasion skills. It gets worse, and don t feel bad if you have trouble keeping up with his theory.This past week we saw Clinton pair the idea of President Trump with nuclear disaster, racism, Hitler, the Holocaust, and whatever else makes you tremble in fear.The only downside I can see to the new approach is that it is likely to trigger a race war in the United States. And I would be a top-ten assassination target in that scenario because once you define Trump as Hitler, you also give citizens moral permission to kill him. And obviously it would be okay to kill anyone who actively supports a genocidal dictator, including anyone who wrote about his persuasion skills in positive terms. (I m called an apologist on Twitter, or sometimes just Joseph Goebbels).If Clinton successfully pairs Trump with Hitler in your mind as she is doing and loses anyway, about a quarter of the country will think it is morally justified to assassinate their own leader. I too would feel that way if an actual Hitler came to power in this country. I would join the resistance and try to take out the Hitler-like leader. You should do the same. No one wants an actual President Hitler.Then, it gets even weirder. Adams predicts that Trump will win in a landslide, but he believes that by endorsing Clinton, he will insulate himself from any backlash, because, according to Adams, one of the first people targeted when people try to assassinate Trump, will be the creator of Dilbert.So I ve decided to endorse Hillary Clinton for President, for my personal safety. Trump supporters don t have any bad feelings about patriotic Americans such as myself, so I ll be safe from that crowd. But Clinton supporters have convinced me and here I am being 100% serious that my safety is at risk if I am seen as supportive of Trump. So I m taking the safe way out and endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.Uh huh. So, that would be a backdoor endorsement of Trump. Believe us when we say, Scott Adams, if Trump is elected, you ll likely be one of the last people anyone thinks about.","label":1}
{"text":"A voting machine has been caught on camera casting a ballot for a Democrat after the voter selected a Republican.  Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are going to steal the next election. \" I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest ,\" he told a campaign rally last week.  The mainstream media are trying to portray him as mad, but take a look at this evidence:  This is attempted election theft through manipulation of the computerized voting machines \u2013 and it must be stopped. The party in power in a given state controls the programming of the voting machines.  When the establishment asked Trump if he would accept the outcome of the election a whole three weeks before the event, it was like asking a sports coach if he thinks the game was refereed fairly before the game is played.  And the Democrats are now attempting to cover all bases. They are sueing the RNC over Trump's election rigging claims, and also suggesting if any evidence of voter fraud does emerge, then it is probably Russia's fault .  Do not believe that voter fraud does not exist. It's real, the numbers are huge, and it's undermining true democracy in the United States. We must fight to eradicate it.  If you notice any sign if possible voter fraud or election rigging, call the Trump Ballot Security Project toll free on 1-855-245-4634 or email StopTheSteal@gmail.com.","label":1}
{"text":"on \"What Does Washington 'Plan B' in Syria Really Mean?\" Leave a Reply Click here to get more info on formatting (1) Leave the name field empty if you want to post as Anonymous. It's preferable that you choose a name so it becomes clear who said what. E-mail address is not mandatory either. The website automatically checks for spam. Please refer to our moderation policies for more details. We check to make sure that no comment is mistakenly marked as spam. This takes time and effort, so please be patient until your comment appears. Thanks. (2) 10 replies to a comment are the maximum. (3) Here are formating examples which you can use in your writing:<b>bold text<\/b> results in bold text <i>italic text<\/i> results in italic text (You can also combine two formating tags with each other, for example to get bold-italic text.)<em>emphasized text<\/em> results in emphasized text <strong>strong text<\/strong> results in strong text <q>a quote text<\/q> results in a quote text (quotation marks are added automatically) <cite>a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited<\/cite> results in: a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited <blockquote>a heavier version of quoting a block of text...<\/blockquote> results in: a heavier version of quoting a block of text that can span several lines. Use these possibilities appropriately. They are meant to help you create and follow the discussions in a better way. They can assist in grasping the content value of a comment more quickly. and last but not least:<a href=''http:\/\/link-address.com''>Name of your link<\/a> results in Name of your link (4) No need to use this special character in between paragraphs: ; You do not need it anymore. Just write as you like and your paragraphs will be separated. The \"Live Preview\" appears automatically when you start typing below the text area and it will show you how your comment will look like before you send it. (5) If you now think that this is too confusing then just ignore the code above and write as you like. vot tak 4 hours 7 minutes ago  If there is some hesitancy in the israeli-american-eu terrorist ops in Syria, something which I've not seen evidence for, I think this may be due to the zionazis being unsure they will be able to force a clinton regime on their american colony. If Trumps wins, they run the risk of exposure if he decides to not go along with israel's war against Syria.  Western Countries Use Militants to Achieve Own Goals in Syria \u2013 Assad's Aide  \"The United States and its western partners are using militants to achieve their goals in Syria and stand behind the collapse of the initiatives on peace settlement, Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said Saturday.\" 1","label":1}
{"text":"Evan Bayh is an excellent example....got into office based on daddy's name...only the kid was a real moron....resigned from office because he was about to be totally humiliated and voted out in a landslide. Of course now we have Bobble-head who's been riding her rapist husband coat-tails for 30 years and whose major qualifications for office are that she is easy to bribe and she lacks a penis! What a sad day for America! If you don't like Trump, vote for his policies....Hitlery will raise taxes, send more jobs overseas, and import more Muslim terrorists....","label":1}
{"text":"A trio of U.S. and Japanese astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for a two-day trip to the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed. Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and flight engineers Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Scott Tingle of NASA lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:21 p.m. local time (0721 GMT\/0221 EST). The crew will gradually approach the station, which orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, for two days before docking. Shkaplerov, Kanai and Tingle will join Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA, who have been aboard the orbital outpost since September. Onboard cameras showed crew members making thumbs-up gestures after the blast-off. Also visible was a stuffed dog toy chosen by Shkaplerov s daughter to be the spacecraft s zero-gravity indicator. Soyuz was safely in orbit about 10 minutes after the launch.","label":0}
{"text":"John Brademas, a political, financial and academic dynamo who served 22 years in Congress and more than a decade as president of New York University in an quest to promote education, the arts and a liberal agenda, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 89. His death was announced by N. Y. U. Mr. Brademas liked to say that being a university president was not much different from being a congressman: You shake hands, make speeches, remember names and faces, stump for a cause and raise money relentlessly. The difference, he said, is that you do not have to depend on voters to renew your contract every two years. As a Democratic representative from Indiana from 1959 to 1981, Mr. Brademas became known as Mr. Education and Mr. Arts. He sponsored bills that nearly doubled federal aid for elementary and secondary education in the and that created the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities. He was also instrumental in annual financing of the arts and humanities and in the passage of Project Head Start, the National Teachers Corps and college tuition aid and loan programs. He opposed the Vietnam War and many defense measures, rebuked President Richard M. Nixon in the Watergate scandal and voted for civil rights legislation, environmental protections, day care programs and services for the elderly and people with disabilities. He became majority whip, the House's official, and was 10 times in a mostly conservative district, winning up to 79 percent of the vote. But he was swept out of office in the 1980 Republican landslide that elected Ronald Reagan president. Mr. Brademas lobbied hard for the N. Y. U. job and, as president from 1981 to 1992, transformed the nation's largest private university from a commuter school into one of the world's premier residential research and teaching institutions. When he took over, Mr. Brademas had no experience running a large organization. The university had seven undergraduate colleges, 10 graduate and professional schools, 13, 000 employees and a $500 million annual budget. There were 45, 000 students and housing for only a few thousand, in crowded Greenwich Village and scattered sites around New York City. But he was a gregarious leader with voluminous contacts in government and corporate life. His skills as a politician and had been honed in a whirlwind of congressional and civic responsibilities. And, as his admirers came to believe, he was \u2014 if there is such a thing \u2014 a natural university president. \"No one hit the ground running as well as Brademas,\" said L. Jay Oliva, N. Y. U. 's vice president for academic affairs, who became chancellor and succeeded his boss 11 years later, and who died in April 2014. \"All his instincts were university presidential. \" Looking collegiate in tweeds and sweaters, displaying boundless energy, Mr. Brademas plunged into meetings with deans, trustees, students and faculty members to learn N. Y. U. 's strengths and weaknesses. He joined the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (he later became chairman) the New York Stock Exchange, the Rockefeller Foundation, RCA and the Loews Corporation. He courted investment bankers, foundation executives, real estate moguls and private philanthropists, and reached out to N. Y. U. alumni across the country and around the world. He also cultivated relationships with Mayor Edward I. Koch, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, leaders of the State Legislature and the City Council, newspaper publishers and other media V. I. P. s, union officials, leaders in the arts and the heads of museums, cultural institutions and other colleges and universities. He was often in Washington, conferring with education officials and members of Congress. He stoutly opposed the Reagan administration's education cutbacks and attempts to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts. By the end of his tenure \u2014 he stepped down in late 1991 but retired as president emeritus in 1992 after a sabbatical \u2014 he had raised $800 million for N. Y. U. and nearly doubled its endowment, to $540 million. He had recruited top scholars from around the country to join the faculty added new fields of study, like the Onassis Center for Hellenic Studies and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies enlarged the campus and added 11 residence halls, providing housing for half of the undergraduates. He also had established N. Y. U. study programs in Cyprus, Egypt, France, Israel and Japan. \"I find in Washington Square a tremendous sense of diversity, vitality and excitement, products of the enlivening mixture of New York University and New York City,\" Mr. Brademas said in his farewell address to 6, 500 graduates. \"With all its troubles, New York City is still the place to be. And N. Y. U. is still the place to get an education. \" John Brademas was born on March 2, 1927, in Mishawaka, Ind. the son of Stephen and Beatrice Goble Brademas. His father, a Greek immigrant, ran a restaurant and quoted Socrates to him: \"Things of value come only after hard work. \" His mother was an teacher, and one grandfather was a college professor. In 1945, he graduated from Central High School in nearby South Bend, where he was valedictorian and the star quarterback on the football team. He enrolled at the University of Mississippi, where he joined a Navy officer training program. After his freshman year, he won a scholarship and transferred to Harvard, a change he called . He became a top student and president of the Wesley Foundation, the campus Methodist student group. In successive summers, he worked at an auto plant in South Bend, lived among Indians in Mexico and was an intern at the United Nations temporary headquarters in Lake Success, N. Y. After graduating from Harvard with high honors in 1949, he attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and in 1954 earned a social studies doctorate. Back home in northern Indiana, he resolved to run for Congress in a largely Republican district with diverse demographics: farmers, retailers, workers, members of East European ethnic groups, affluent and voters, and college communities that included the University of Notre Dame. It took three tries. After losing races in 1954 and 1956, he gained political experience as an aide to two members of Congress and in Adlai E. Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign. He taught political science at St. Mary's College for a year, was active in civic affairs and in 1958 finally won the seat for Indiana's Third Congressional District. Mr. Brademas was unmarried for most of his political career, but in 1977 he married Mary Ellen Briggs, a medical student at Georgetown University and the mother of four children by a former marriage. After the couple moved to New York, she became a dermatologist at N. Y. U. Medical Center. She survives him, as do three stepchildren, John Briggs, Katherine Goldberg and Jane Murray a sister, Eleanor Brazeau and six . His stepson Basil Briggs Jr. died in 2003. Mr. Brademas was the author of \"Washington, D. C. to Washington Square\" (1986) and, with Lynne P. Brown, \"The Politics of Education: Conflict and Consensus on Capitol Hill\" (1987). From 1994 to 2001 he was chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and from 2004 to 2007 he was a member of the New York State Board of Regents. In 2005, N. Y. U. established the John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress, a research and teaching facility. He was the recipient of more than 50 honorary degrees and scores of awards, many of them conferred by European governments or cultural organizations, particularly those of Greece and Spain, whose histories and politics had been among his lifelong interests.","label":0}
{"text":"In Florida, President Obama has nominated the first openly gay black man to sit on a federal district court. In New York, he has nominated the first Asian American lesbian. And his pick for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit? The first South Asian. Reelected with strong support from women, ethnic minorities and gays, Obama is moving quickly to change the face of the federal judiciary by the end of his second term, setting the stage for another series of drawn-out confrontations with Republicans in Congress. The president has named three dozen judicial candidates since January and is expected to nominate scores more over the next few months, aides said. The push marks a significant departure from the sluggish pace of appointments throughout much of his first term, when both Republicans and some Democrats complained that Obama had not tried hard enough to fill vacancies on federal courts. The new wave of nominations is part of an effort by Obama to cement a legacy that long outlives his presidency and makes the court system more closely resemble the changing society it governs, administration officials said. \"Diversity in and of itself is a thing that is strengthening the judicial system,\" White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said. \"It enhances the bench and the performance of the bench and the quality of the discussion . . . to have different perspectives, different life experiences, different professional experiences, coming from a different station in life, if you will.\" But Obama's biggest obstacle is the Senate, where Republicans have frequently blocked judicial confirmation votes for months or, in some cases, years. Obama has 35 nominees currently awaiting votes by the Senate \u2014 including several holdovers from 2012 who have been renominated this year \u2014 and there are more than 50 additional vacancies awaiting nominees, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Some conservatives are skeptical of the push to name more women and minorities to the bench, arguing that it amounts to unjustified affirmative action. Curt Levey, an outspoken Obama critic who runs the advocacy group Committee for Justice, said the White House may be \"lowering their standards\" to nominate more nonwhite judges. \"If they're talking about achieving [diversity] through aggressive identification of minority candidates, then that's their prerogative,\" Levey said. \"If they're talking about doing it through preferences, having a lower threshold of qualifications for minorities, then I don't approve. And it's hard to know which they're doing. Unlike a college admissions system, where it's easy to quantify, this is difficult.\" During Obama's first term, judicial nominations often fell by the wayside in the face of the economic crisis and other policy priorities at the White House. Many liberal allies complained that the president did little to champion nominees once they were named. \"Republicans will throw up every roadblock they can,\" said Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice. \"We're counting on the White House and Senate leadership to be more assertive in getting nominees confirmed.\" The White House said it intends to aggressively push for more judicial nominees during Obama's second term and is hopeful that changes in filibuster rules will help speed up the process. The Senate decided in January to limit debate for district court nominees from 30 hours to two hours, although the restrictions do not apply to nominees for the Supreme Court or federal appeals courts. Obama has already broken more barriers with his judicial appointments than any other president, aides said. At the circuit court level, four states now have their first female justices, five have their first black justices and two have their first Hispanics. Sonia Sotomayor also became the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court. \"There's a leveling-the-playing-field goal that is kind of a frame that overrides the whole endeavor,\" Ruemmler, who oversees the nominating process, said in an interview. Obama, a former constitutional law professor, has long argued for a broad set of criteria in selecting judges. When he picked Sotomayor in 2009, Obama said \"experience being tested by obstacles and barriers, by hardship and misfortune\" was an important qualification for any jurist because it imparts a sense of compassion for ordinary citizens. The diversity of Obama's judicial nominees stands in contrast to staff selections at the start of his second term that have been dominated by white men, including White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. By contrast, 17 of the 35 pending judicial nominees are women, 15 are ethnic minorities and five are openly gay, according to White House statistics. Six are straight white men. During Obama's first term, 37 percent of his confirmed judges were nonwhites, compared with 19 percent for President George W. Bush and 27 percent for President Bill Clinton. The trend is similar on gender: 42 percent of Obama's first-term judges were women, compared with 21 percent for Bush and 30 percent for Clinton. Of the 874 federal judgeships, 39 percent are held by women and 37 percent are held by non-whites, according to data kept by the Federal Judicial Center. \"It's very, very important that these courts reflect the diversity of what's coming in terms of demographics,\" said Nancy Zirkin of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an advocacy group. \"It will be his most long-lasting legacy. . . . Obama, by putting on a diverse number of judges, we believe will shape the courts for years to come.\" Obama nominated Mary H. Murguia for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Murguia's parents emigrated from Mexico to Kansas, where she was born. Others include the first Haitian American, Afro-Caribbean, Vietnamese American and Korean American judges nominated to their respective positions. One senior Republican Senate aide, who requested anonymity in order to discuss the nomination process, said, \"We are going to continue to insist on a level of quality\" among nominees. \"We're not advocating or opposing his diversity goals,\" the aide said. \"But that should not override the substantive qualifications of the nominees, which are professional competence, judicial temperament, respect for the law, understanding the Constitution.\" Liberal groups have been pressuring the White House to look for diversity not just in race, gender or sexual orientation, but also in professional experience. They want fewer corporate lawyers from white-shoe firms and more public defenders and lawyers from outside what is sometimes called the \"judicial monastery.\" \"That's a completely different view than somebody who has only represented General Motors,\" Zirkin said. The Obama judges, many of them in their 40s, also establish a diverse bench of progressives whom Obama or future presidents could tap for Supreme Court vacancies. One such nominee was Goodwin Liu, Obama's pick in February 2010 for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. As a Taiwanese American, Liu was an historic selection. But Republicans stalled his nomination for 15 months, saying that his past writings showing a broad interpretation of the Constitution and his sharp criticism of conservative Supreme Court justices John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. were so liberal that he did not deserve an up-or-down vote. \"Goodwin Liu should run for elected office, not serve as a judge,\" Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in a May 2011 statement. \"Ideologues have their place, just not on the bench.\" According to the White House, Obama's first-term nominees took an average of 225 days to be confirmed, compared with 175 days for Bush and 98 days for Clinton. Ruemmler said that there has been \"very, very little substantive opposition to any of the president's judicial nominees.\" She pointed to the case of Robert E. Bacharach, a district court judge from Oklahoma whom Obama nominated last year for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Bacharach's home-state senators, Tom Coburn and James M. Inhofe, both Republicans, supported him. \"I like the guy,\" Inhofe told the Oklahoman. \"I told him that it's not very often the White House and I agree on anything.\" Still, Senate Republicans filibustered Bacharach's nomination. They gave no specific reason other than a vow to block all of Obama's circuit court nominees because 2012 was a presidential election year. In 2004 and 2008, Senate Democrats did much the same to Bush's election-year nominees. After 263 days of waiting, Bacharach's nomination came to the floor for a vote on Feb. 25. It passed, 93 to 0.","label":0}
{"text":"Illinois' governor on Wednesday proposed boosting the shrinking ranks of the Illinois State Police in an effort to quell a steady increase in gun violence spilling over from Chicago's neighborhoods onto the city's expressways. Bruce Rauner's proposed budget would add a projected 170 troopers through two cadet classes, one this year and another during the 2019 fiscal year. Seventy of these troopers would be sent to the Chicago area. \"Those officers will allow us to send more patrols to the Chicago area, to the expressways to counter the violence that has spilled over onto the highways there,\" the Republican governor told lawmakers in his Springfield budget address. The number of Illinois State Police troopers has declined significantly since 2008 when there were 2,105 sworn officers, according to state police data. That number dropped by more than 400 troopers to 1,671 as of last year. Rauner took office in 2015. Feuding between Rauner and Democrats who control the legislature has kept Illinois without a full operating budget since July 2015, which has meant no cadet hires for the state police in 2015 and 2016. A six-month fiscal 2017 budget expired on Dec. 31. At the same time, the number of shootings on Chicago-area expressways has consistently increased, with law enforcement placing the blame on increased gang activity. There were just nine Chicago-area expressway shootings in 2011 and 2012. Shooting incidents jumped to 19 in 2014 from 16 in 2013. The number nearly doubled to 37 in 2015 and rose again to 47 in 2016. Three of last year's shootings were fatal. There have been two confirmed shootings on the expressways so far this year and six others that are unconfirmed, Illinois State Police spokesman Jason Bradley said by email. The violence in 2016 came as part of a broader surge in violence across Chicago, the nation's third most populous city. With the additions to police numbers, there will be an increase in overall state police headcount of about 140 to an estimated 2,651 for the 2018 fiscal year from an estimated 2,511 for fiscal 2017. The cost of the two classes for the 2018 fiscal year will be $10.5 million, the proposed budget said. The annualized cost of the new officers, including salaries and benefits, will be $20 million.","label":0}
{"text":"Is the Democratic Party really the party of the oppressed and of blacks and minorities ? Critics have accused the Democrat Party has been accused of cynically cultivating a dependence class whose main function for the party is to bring home the minority vote every few years.Were African-Americans better, or worse off after eight years of a Democratic White House?US Senate candidate Derrick Grayson from the state of Georgia explains the actual racist roots of the Democratic Party in America, the tragic loss of Black American icons Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and how the liberal left have successfully managed to use and manipulate minorities in America since the the FDR era.Watch this incredible impromptu piece to camera by an passionate Grayson: READ MORE POLITICALLY CORRECT NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire PC FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"\u2014 Justin Green (@JGreenDC) October 27, 2016  If you get the feeling that President Obama doesn't really understand what it's like to have to live under Obamacare \u2026 then this probably won't make that feeling go away.  On a conference call this afternoon, Obama tried to give enrollment staff a pep talk: . @POTUS tells ObamaCare enrollment staff they have to overcome the skeptics and prove to next Administration, the program is working well.  \u2014 Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 27, 2016 Despite rising health insurance premiums, @POTUS says tax credits will help eligible 7 in 10 find a plan for less than $75\/month.  \u2014 Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 27, 2016  That pep talk included this little gem: \"Have to clear the bugs off the windshield to see the road ahead,\" says Pres Obama on conference call with ObamaCare enrollment personnel.  \u2014 Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 27, 2016  Beg your pardon?  \u2014 Jimmy (@JimmyPrinceton) October 27, 2016  So, if we're understanding you correctly, Mr. President, Obamacare's countless glitches and inadequacies and broken promises are just \u2026 pesky? Lost your plan? Lost your doctor? Higher premiums co-pays and deductibles? You're just a bug on the windshield! https:\/\/t.co\/WhgW3MAHbA  \u2014 jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) October 27, 2016  This friggin' guy \u2026 This guy lied repeatedly to the public and this is how he refers to the problems his law created. https:\/\/t.co\/Ve8SHvMDz2  \u2014 Jason C. (@CounterMoonbat) October 27, 2016  Nice, huh? @JimmyPrincetoni I guess those of us that are paying +50-60% more for health ins are dead bugs on a windshield. Nice. @markknoller  \u2014 Kris Kinder (@kris_kinder) October 27, 2016 @markknoller The bugs on the windshield are the American people that are getting killed by Obamacare premiums and deductibles.  \u2014 Matt Moyer (@mrmattmoyer) October 27, 2016 . @markknoller people being forced to pay thousands more for a shitty law we didn't want and he shrugs it off as bugs on a window? Smug POS  \u2014 Dupes & Knaves (@DupesKnaves) October 27, 2016 \"I lost my doctor & I'm paying a lot more for insurance now.\"  POTUS: Hey, we gotta clear the bugs off the windshield to see the road ahead.  \u2014 Jason C. (@CounterMoonbat) October 27, 2016 @markknoller concerns me more when hearing the likening of a nation's failed healthcare system to an everyday inconvenience  \u2014 mark mark mark (@RevJimJonesInc) October 27, 2016 What about the big ones that just stick and smear everywhere? https:\/\/t.co\/puTOzrb0Mi  \u2014 Bigly Shoe (@TheOneSoleShoe) October 27, 2016 @markknoller If there are that many bugs, doesn't that indicate trouble? Blocks your view?  \u2014 Kris Murphy (@KrisinAL) October 27, 2016 @markknoller I think it is more than bugs on this windshield.This Pres drove us right into it  \u2014 Jean Tuttle (@waffle721) October 27, 2016 Except the bugs are huge. And angry. And still coming. And stole the windshield. And your car fell apart around you. https:\/\/t.co\/JDx9Z3vYyW  \u2014 Sunny (Mat) (@sunnyright) October 27, 2016 @CounterMoonbat @markknoller does he realize the car's totaled on the side of the road?","label":1}
{"text":"Palestinian factions stepped up efforts on Thursday to finalize a Hamas handover of the Gaza Strip to President Mahmoud Abbas as protests broke out in the enclave against the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Under Egyptian mediation, the factions have sought to end a schism dating back to 2007, when Islamist Hamas seized Gaza in a civil war with Abbas s Fatah. A Dec. 1 deadline for giving Gaza to Abbas was postponed to Dec. 10 amid disputes. U.S. President Donald Trump s announcement on disputed Jerusalem on Wednesday infuriated Palestinians, who see the city as their future capital, prompting Hamas to call for a revolt against Israel and demand that Abbas abandon American-sponsored peace-making. Worried that the recrimination could disrupt the reconciliation efforts, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah and other Fatah delegates arrived in Gaza on Thursday to meet Hamas. This historical stage requires that we all unite and speed up the steps of uniting the homeland, Al-Hamdallah told reporters. After Hamas call for an intifada , or uprising, dozens of Palestinians gathered at two points on the Gaza border fence with Israel and threw rocks at soldiers on the other side. One Palestinian was wounded by army fire, medics said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report. In cities inside Gaza, thousands of Palestinians rallied, some chanting: Death to America! Death to the fool Trump! and burning tires.","label":0}
{"text":"IF Trump wins the election, the following is a sign of very serious things to come. The GOP offices are firebombed in North Carolina. The obvious suspects are Soros' groups, the Clinton Foundation and rabid Democrats. And what did Loretta Lynch (Mob) do? The answer to the question and more lies below.   P lease Donate to The Common Sense Show    PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DON'T FORGET TO \"LIKE\" US    This is the absolute best in food storage. Dave Hodges is a satisfied customer. Don't wait until it is too late. Click Here for more information.","label":1}
{"text":"Fraud fraud fraud can't anyone see the family tree isnt even old and using care takers in pictures is beond bullshit i hate the U.S. government for everything theyve done to my family !!! Enjoy your theifing selfs your getting ready to burn in hell ..","label":1}
{"text":"In her standard stump speech, Hillary Rodham Clinton talks about fighting income inequality, celebrating court rulings on gay marriage and health care, and, since the Emanuel AME Church massacre, toughening the nation's gun laws. That last component marks an important evolution in presidential politics. For at least the past several decades, Democrats seeking national office have often been timid on the issue of guns for fear of alienating firearms owners. In 2008, after Barack Obama took heat for his gaffe about people who \"cling to guns or religion,\" he rarely mentioned guns again \u2014 neither that year nor in his 2012 reelection campaign. But in a sign that the political environment on guns has shifted in the wake of recent mass shootings \u2014 and of Clinton's determination to stake out liberal ground in her primary race against insurgent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) \u2014 Clinton is not only initiating a debate about gun control but also vowing to fight the National Rifle Association. \"I'm going to speak out against the uncontrollable use of guns in our country because I believe we can do better,\" Clinton said Tuesday in Iowa City. A few days earlier, she said in Hanover, N.H.: \"We have to take on the gun lobby. . . . This is a controversial issue. I am well aware of that. But I think it is the height of irresponsibility not to talk about it.\" Clinton's comments could stoke millions of politically active gun owners, and Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, argued that the move was fraught with peril for her. \"We've been down this road before with the Clintons,\" \u00adLa\u00adPierre said through a spokesman. \"She needs to read her husband's book.\" In his memoir, \"My Life,\" former president Bill Clinton suggested that his vice president, Al Gore, lost the 2000 presidential election in part because of backlash in states such as Arkansas and Tennessee over the Clinton administration's 1995 ban on assault weapons, which has since expired. Many Democratic lawmakers also lost their elections after gun-control votes. The Republican 2016 presidential candidates, in keeping with GOP orthodoxy, have spoken out loudly against gun control. Many gave speeches at the NRA's spring convention and tout their high ratings from the group. Mark Glaze, a longtime gun-control advocate who until recently oversaw former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's gun-control efforts, argued that Hillary Clinton should embrace her husband's record. \"The Clintons pulled off the almost-impossible by giving us the background-check system and banning assault weapons,\" Glaze said. \"That's something President Obama wasn't able to do. Their political interest lies in owning, rather than obscuring, that accomplishment.\" Many Democratic strategists said campaigning on guns is smart politics for Hillary Clinton both in the primary and, should she become the nominee, in the general election. Gun control is one of the few issues on which Clinton has a more left-leaning record than Sanders, who represents a rural, pro-gun-rights state and has voted in the past for legislation to protect the firearms industry. Although Clinton has not attacked Sanders by name, by invoking guns she makes an unspoken contrast. The issue also fits neatly into the overall narrative Clinton is trying to present. She can stake out a bold stance on an issue that plays well with the liberal base while arguing that she would break through the partisan stalemate in Washington. There are few issues more in\u00adtrac\u00adtable than guns. In 2013, after the massacre of 20 young children and six educators at an elementary school in \u00adNewtown, Conn., a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks for firearm purchases failed to pass the Senate despite overwhelming popular support and President Obama's backing. Clinton began talking about gun control in the days following last month's church shooting in Charleston, S.C., and aides said she plans to keep it in her stump speech, although she has no immediate plans to unveil a detailed gun policy. \"This is an important issue, and she believes that we cannot let partisan gridlock prevent us from continuing to seek \u00adcommon-sense safety measures,\" said Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon. Despite his mixed voting record, Sanders did support the 2013 background-check bill and \u00adassault-weapons ban. And on the stump, he is trying to sound more forceful. He notes that \"guns in Chicago and Los Angeles mean a very different thing than guns in Vermont and New Hampshire\" but says \u2014 as he did two weeks ago in Bow, N.H. \u2014 that the next president must \"come forward with a common-sense proposal on guns.\" In the Democratic field, former Maryland governor Martin O'Mal\u00adley has the strongest record in favor of gun control. He supported an assault-weapons ban as mayor of Baltimore in the early 2000s and then signed one into law as governor in 2013, along with a suite of gun restrictions that stand as among the nation's toughest. \"He's the only person in the race who's led on this issue,\" said O'Malley spokeswoman Haley Morris. Looking to the general election, some gun-control measures are popular, especially with the coalition of swing-state Latinos, African Americans, and young and suburban women the Democratic nominee would need to win the White House. \"There is no more powerful force in an election than the suburban mother, and you don't find a lot of suburban mothers that are against some sort of common-sense gun control,\" said Mo \u00adElleithee, a former Clinton adviser and Democratic strategist who now directs the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. Other Democrats argue that Clinton has nothing to lose. Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) said the NRA has become a \"paper tiger,\" noting the elections he's won despite the NRA's vocal opposition. \"I think she has no illusion that even if she didn't say a word about guns, the NRA would be out there blasting her to say she had a conspiratorial plan to work with the U.N. to take everybody's guns away, so why not go head-on on an issue that will improve safety,\" Kaine said. A survey this year by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found that 89 percent favor requiring background checks for all gun sales, including 85 percent of gun owners. But polling is much more closely divided on other gun restrictions and does not account for the high intensity among gun-control opponents. David \"Mudcat\" Saunders, a Democratic strategist based in conservative rural Virginia, warned that Clinton's focus on guns could taint the entire Democratic ticket, including candidates for state and local offices. \"Never in the history of the Democratic Party have they started a gun debate that didn't cost them numbers in the general election,\" said Saunders, who supports the candidacy of former senator Jim Webb (D-Va.). \"She's trying to get to the left of Bernie, obviously, but I think it'll hurt her in the long run \u2014 and it'll cost anybody on the down ticket in the South and in rural America.\" In her 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton stayed nearly silent on guns. An exception was after Obama's \"cling to guns\" comment surfaced, when she attacked him as being \"elitist\" and fondly recalled her father teaching her to shoot as a little girl at her grandfather's Pennsylvania lake house. Howard Wolfson, for many years a top Clinton aide before going to work for Bloomberg, said Clinton's avoidance of guns in 2008 should not be mistaken for a lack of interest in gun control. \"I started working for her back in 1999 and she talked about it back then,\" Wolfson said. \"As a senator from New York, it was something that was important to her. I think in the wake of Newtown and Charleston, it's more resonant in our political culture.\" In recent months, Clinton's speechwriters and policy staff have sought counsel from Bloomberg's group, Everytown for Gun Safety. Erika Soto Lamb, \u00adEverytown's spokeswoman, said Clinton's focus on the issue is \"striking.\" \"Knowing how hard we tried in 2012 to get [Republican nominee Mitt] Romney or Obama to say something about guns,\" she said, \"it is a changed world now when Hillary and other candidates are making it a part of their stump. This is the first presidential election when we've seen proactive statements.\" Jose DelReal in Iowa City and Scott Clement in Washington contributed to this report.","label":0}
{"text":"A Texas law that requires voters to show identification before casting ballots was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos came after an appeals court last year said the 2011 law had an outsized impact on minority voters. The court sent the case back to Ramos to determine if lawmakers intentionally wrote the legislation to be discriminatory. Ramos said in a 10-page decision that evidence \"establishes that a discriminatory purpose was at least one of the substantial or motivating factors behind passage\" of the measure. \"The terms of the bill were unduly strict,\" she added. Spokesmen for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Jr. and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans, could not be reached for comment. In January, after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Paxton said it was a common sense law to prevent voter fraud. The ruling on voter ID comes about a month after two federal judges ruled that Texas lawmakers drew up three U.S. congressional districts to undermine the influence of Hispanic voters. The measure requires voters to present photo identification such as a driver's license, passport or military ID card. Plaintiffs have argued the law hits elderly and poorer voters, including minorities, hardest because they are less likely to have identification. They contend the measure is used by Republicans to suppress voters who typically align with Democrats. The legislation has been in effect since 2011 despite the legal challenges. Ramos said the law had met criteria set by the U.S. Supreme Court to show intent that included its discriminatory impact, a pattern not explainable on other than racial grounds, Texas' history of discriminatory practices and the law's unusually swift passage. Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling showed other states that discriminatory laws would not stand up to legal scrutiny. \"This is a good ruling that confirms what we have long known, that Texas' voter ID law stands as one of the most discriminatory voting restrictions of its kind,\" she said. In a shift from its stance under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. Justice Department dropped a discrimination claim against the law in February. The department said that the state legislature was considering changing the law in ways that might correct shortcomings.","label":0}
{"text":"Videos Podesta Emails Part 24: Wikileaks Releases Another 2,620 Emails; Total Is Now 39,511 Among today's emails, among the thousands of emails, in May 2015 email from Jen Palmieri to Joel Benenson of the Benenson strategy group suggests that Hillary Clinton knows everything about the Clinton Foundation donors. Be Sociable, Share!  In the aftermath of one of the most memorable October shocks in presidential campaign history, and down the final stretch in the presidential race which has just over one week left, Wikileaks continues its ongoing broadside attack against the Clinton campaign with the relentless Podesta dump, by unveiling another 2,620 emails in the latest, Part 24 of its Podesta release, bringing the total emails released so far to exactly 39,511.  The release comes hours after Wikileaks warned that it was launching its \"Phase 3\" of election coverage this week..  In the latest, Sunday set, of emails Doug Band commented on Teneo's relationship with the Clinton Foundation, saying \"if this story gets out, we are screwed,\" we learned that Google's Eric Schmidt wanted to be \"head outside advisor\" to the Clinton campaign, and a potential conflict of interest with the Clinton Foundation assisting El Salvador in obtaining $50 million in cash. As usual we are parsing through the latest release and will bring readers the more notable emails. Among today's emails, we find a May 2015 email from Jen Palmieri to Joel Benenson of the Benenson strategy group suggests that Hillary Clinton knows everything about the Clinton Foundation donors. We also find more direct involvement by Google's Eric Schmidt, when in an April 2015 email to Cheryl Mills he tells her \"I have put together my thoughts on the campaign ideas and I have scheduled some meetings in the next few weeks for veterans of the campaign to tell me how to make these ideas better.\" A January 2012 email from Laura Graham to Cheryl Mills sheds some more light on the Teneo scandal: \"Below see my draft. I really took a shot in the dark here and didn't know how far we should go on these issues. I remain concerned that email will be forwarded to press and so am against sending an email altogether. If we want to include the broader list of individuals going to the PO (I left a marker in the text for that) then we obviously have to meet with people before any email or staff meeting.\" A May 2013 email from Neera Tanden address to John Podesta discussing a WaPo article how a Super PAC plans to coordinated directly with the Clinton campaign leads to the following exchange: That's fine But skirting if not violating law doesn't help her INMHO This article originally appeared on ZeroHedge.com . Be Sociable, Share!","label":1}
{"text":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he hoped a visit to Israel by U.S. President Donald Trump would be a \"historic milestone\" in achieving regional peace. \"May your first trip to our region prove to be a historic milestone on the path towards reconciliation and peace,\" Netanyahu said in a welcome speech to Trump. He said Israel shared the United States' commitment to peace and that, \"Israel's hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors, including the Palestinians.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Britain s exit from the European Union will not have an impact its defense ties with France despite concerns they could be harmed by tough divorce talks, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said. In an interview with Reuters, Fallon sought to stress the close relationship between Europe s two largest military powers, who agreed in Paris on Thursday to hold joint exercises in September and November in eastern Europe and Kenya. I know French and British companies are concerned that we should not lose any cooperation after Brexit because we are working together on combat aircraft programs and new missiles systems that we need to progress on together, Fallon said. Shrinking budgets, a less indulgent United States and Europe s diminishing military clout in the world have in recent years bolstered the two countries determination to work together. But in July, Paris and Berlin unexpectedly announced plans for a joint fighter jet, catching many in Britain off guard. Asked whether this and other Europe-wide efforts for closer defense integration could hamper the ties, Fallon said he was confident that the two traditional allies would continue as usual. This is a strong relationship and it is not going to be diverted by Brexit, he said. Britain s exit negotiations with the European Union this week failed to make the kind of progress needed to open talks on their future relationship in October, the bloc s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said earlier on Thursday. Fallon said there was bound to be the odd stumble as both sides jostled for position, but that it was in the interests of Britain and EU to end the uncertainty as quickly as possible. Everyone knows that in the end there has to be a settlement, he said. Both permanent veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council, Britain and France are engaged in air strikes on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and Fallon said he believed the militant group would soon be defeated in its Syrian bastion of Raqqa. The battle to liberate Mosul took nine months and we re seeing some of the heaviest urban fighting we ve seen since the Second World War, he said. We won t set a timetable ... but I hope it won t be too long before Daesh is driven out of Raqqa, he said referring to an Arabic acronym for the hardline Islamist group. Fallon also said a military victory should not be achieved to the detriment of stabilizing the city and restoring civilian rule once Raqqa was taken. One thing we learnt from Iraq is that we mustn t let the military campaign get too far ahead of the political process, he said. Islamic State is on back foot in Syria and Iraq and losing territory. We have every prospect of Raqqa being liberated, but after that we have to work for proper governance to make sure Sunni populations have a stake in the future, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"2016 presidential campaign by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley  Democrats used to value things like global peace and justice in the workplace. But, for decades they have given their votes to warmongers and job-exporters. This week, they are mourning the defeat of a politician they once would have despised. In January, lots of Black Democrats will cry over the exit of a president who \"won by making himself palatable to white people while also taking advantage of undeserved black pride.\" Freedom Rider: Obama's Hollow Legacy by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley  \"The sight of Barack and Michelle hosting a state dinner was enough to make black hearts swoon.\"  Obama's legacy is in tatters, and that is good news. Donald Trump's victory was not just a win over Hillary Clinton, but against Democratic Party policies that silenced the rank and file. For years Democrats became convinced that the only means of keeping Republicans at bay was to go along with their party leadership without complaint. If they wanted to expand trade deals that stole workers' jobs, so be it. The people who marched against the invasion of Iraq folded their tents when Democrats became the party of endless war. When Obama promoted austerity and \"grand bargains\" with Republicans not a word was uttered. Even Black Lives Matter refused to point out that the Obama Justice Department left killer cops unpunished.  Barack Obama is nothing if not consistent. While Democrats take to the streets in protest against president elect Trump, Obama declares that the man he once called unfit is not an ideologue, but a \"pragmatist.\" No one should be surprised about the conciliatory tone. Obama never had a problem with Republicans. They may have obstructed him, but he was always happy to assist them because he wasn't really opposed to their policies.  The most obvious example of Obama's lack of substance was his relationship with black Americans. His disdain and contempt for the people who loved him the most was clear to anyone who paid attention. Jokes about \"cousin Pookie\" and parents serving fried chicken for breakfast should have been seen as the racist screeds they clearly were. But the desire to see a black face in a prominent place endures to our detriment.  \"The people who marched against the invasion of Iraq folded their tents when Democrats became the party of endless war.\"  Obama won by making himself palatable to white people while also taking advantage of undeserved black pride. Hillary Clinton would be the president elect if the new voters who emerged in 2008 had remained committed to the Democratic Party. But their loyalty was to the imagery of Barack Obama as president. Their joy was confined to seeing him meet the queen of England alongside his first lady or disembarking from Air Force One with his signature swagger. The sight of Barack and Michelle hosting a state dinner was enough to make black hearts swoon. Policy initiatives need not intrude upon the love fest.  The end result of this unrequited and superficial love was six million fewer votes cast for Hillary Clinton in 2016 than for Obama in 2012. The apocryphal cousin Pookie stayed home and no one should be surprised. There is no secret to keeping voters engaged. They are engaged if their needs are met. Deliver for voters and they deliver in the voting booth.  Even the unpopular and shady Hillary Clinton could have won Michigan if the people of Flint had received the federal help they needed so badly. Not only did the Obama environmental protection agency allow the beleaguered city to be given contaminated water, but he showed up for a photo opportunity and did nothing else as residents suffered. He drank a glass of water, posed for the cameras and returned to Washington. The people of Flint are still living under conditions Americans think of as being \"Third World.\"  \"Democratic voters must ask themselves why they said nothing when their party promoted trade deals that were against their interests.\"  The response to Trump's victory should mean more than protesting policies the Democrats now have little ability to fight. This moment presents an opportunity for much needed introspection and mea culpas. Millions of people did more than just accept Democratic Party policy. They supported actions they would have rejected if carried out by a Republican or a white Democrat. They supported Muammar Gaddafi when Republicans were president but averted their eyes to his murder when committed by a Democrat. They even voted for the person who bragged about the killing. Democratic voters must ask themselves why they said nothing when their party promoted trade deals that were against their interests. Ultimately that acquiescence led to defeat at Trump's hands.  The Obama team's propaganda skills were legendary but the day of reckoning revealed the emptiness of what they produced. The corporate media acted like scribes under White House direction and declared that Russia was an enemy state and its president a 21 st century Hitler. Now it is Donald Trump, the self-promoting reality television star, who declares his willingness to talk to his Russian counterpart. It is the sort of behavior that Democrats once valued.  Democratic presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton began the tradition of getting Democrats to support what they didn't like. Obama perfected the art, which ultimately led to the debacle. He will certainly not be the last to tempt the party faithful but in 2016 Democrats sold their souls and ended up with nothing. Defeat creates the most hollow feelings of all. Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http:\/\/freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump will urge President Xi Jinping to make good on his commitments to pressure North Korea when he visits China next month, a senior White House official said on Monday, stepping up a strategy to have Beijing help rein in Pyongyang. Isolating North Korea further over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests is a key goal for Trump on what will be his longest foreign trip to date. Trump will call on Xi to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang and take other steps to pressure North Korea. China, North Korea s sole major ally, accounts for more than 90 percent of trade with the isolated country. China has said it will strictly enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions banning imports of coal, textiles and seafood, while cutting off oil shipments to the North. But a senior White House official who briefed reporters ahead of Trump s trip said China needs to do more to comply with two U.N. Security Council resolutions that were approved unanimously, including with China s support. We would like to see China follow through on those commitments. We would like to see China do things bilaterally as well that might even go beyond things that are mandated by those U.N. Security Council resolutions, the official said. Though China has been angered by North Korea s repeated nuclear and missile tests and demanded they stop, Beijing also sees the United States and South Korea sharing responsibility for rising tensions because of military drills they carry out in the region. South Korea, the United States and Japan started a two-day missile tracking drill on Tuesday, South Korea s military said in a statement, in preparation for any missile or nuclear threats from North Korea. The exercises will be held in waters off the coasts of South Korea and Japan, South Korea s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with four Aegis combat system-equipped ships from all three countries participating in the drill. China s special envoy for the North Korea nuclear issue, Kong Xuanyou, met his U.S. counterpart, Joseph Yun, in Beijing on Monday, China s Foreign Ministry said, where they had a deep exchange of views on the Korean peninsula issue . The ministry did not elaborate. Trump, who has threatened to totally destroy North Korea, has frequently asked China to help rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But this strategy has so far failed to stop Pyongyang conducting nuclear bomb tests at an underground facility and firing ballistic missile tests into the Pacific Ocean over Japan. The threat from North Korea has grown to a critical and imminent level and the United States, Japan and South Korea must address the matter, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told his U.S. and South Korean counterparts in talks on Monday. Onodera s remarks underscored the deep concern in Tokyo about North Korean weapons tests as Pyongyang seeks to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump is looking for a peaceful resolution of the North Korea standoff. Asked by reporters whether an offer by former President Jimmy Carter to serve as a U.S. envoy to North Korea would be accepted, the official said: There s nothing planned. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday he outlined for Trump his country s efforts to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program but also advised the U.S. leader to use talks to help resolve the conflict. There is no quick and easy solution. Pressure is necessary but so is dialogue. The U.S. will need to work with others, including China, South Korea and Japan and Russia to resolve the issue, he said. With Xi consolidating power in the wake of a Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Trump believes the Chinese president will have a greater authority to take steps against North Korea, senior administration officials said last week. Trump s Nov. 3-14 trip will include visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Trump will also be tough on trade during talks with Xi as he seeks to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, the White House official said. We have huge barriers that Americans companies have to surmount to gain access to the Chinese market. The president is intent on rectifying that situation, the official said. Despite Trump s fierce criticism of China s trade practices during the presidential campaign, he has mostly held off on any major trade action while his administration works with Beijing on North Korea. China has insisted it is doing all it can, and some Chinese diplomats say the Trump administration has overestimated how much influence Beijing has over its defiant neighbor. Even as China has shown signs of tightening enforcement of sanctions on North Korea, it has stopped short of agreeing to U.S. demands for a fuel embargo and has urged the United States to negotiate with Pyongyang.","label":0}
{"text":"Politics Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Finnish President Sauli Niinist\u00f6 meet in Tehran on October 26, 2016. (Photos by leader.ir)  Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Saudi Arabia's killing of Yemenis is \"the worst type of terrorism.\"  \"Terrorism is not limited to terror acts committed by some unofficial groups, and mass killings of people by certain governments, such as the Saudi attack on people in a mourning procession in Yemen, which left hundreds killed and injured, are the worst type of terrorism,\" the Leader said in a meeting with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinist\u00f6 in Tehran on Wednesday.  Ayatollah Khamenei also described terrorism as one of the \"painful\" sufferings gripping the human society, and called for a sincere fight against the scourge.  \"Countering terrorism needs the serious resolve of all those who have an influence within global powers,\" the Leader said, calling on world pundits and governments to take measures to deal with the phenomenon. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) receives Finnish President Sauli Niinist\u00f6 (C) in the presence of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on October 26, 2016.  Ayatollah Khamenei also said the US and certain Western countries are not sincere in the fight against terrorism.  \"These governments calculate all issues based on their own interests, and they do not think about eradicating the malady of terrorism in Iraq or Syria,\" the Leader added.  Ayatollah Khamenei further criticized UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's failure to condemn the Saudi war on Yemen.  \"The UN secretary general said explicitly that it is not possible for the body to condemn the killing of Yemeni children as the UN depends on the Saudi government's money,\" the Leader said, stressing that this approach is indicative of the \"deplorable moral state\" of politicians at the helm of international organizations. Loading ...","label":1}
{"text":"I know you ll miss me. Did he really say that?President Barack Obama has returned to his favorite summer vacation spot of choice, the Massachusetts island of Martha s Vineyard, a day earlier than originally planned.It will likely be the family s last pit-stop at their luxurious rented seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom retreat since it went on the market in July for a cool $22.5million.And it seems the president was eager to savor every moment as he decided at the last minute to fly on Friday afternoon, rather than Saturday as originally planned.Obama beamed and laughed as he boarded Air Force One with Michelle still wearing his work suit.When they disembarked, he emerged looking relaxed without a jacket or tie to greet the crowds.Obama has visited the island every year of his presidency, except during the 2012 re-election campaign.As he wrapped up his duties in the White House on Friday and anticipated his getaway he seemed jovial and excited. I know you ll miss me, he joked to reporters after signing a bill preserving wilderness land in Idaho.With no official appearances on the schedule, Obama, Michelle and their youngest daughter Sasha will spend the time away from Washington dabbling in their usual vacation activities: leisurely rounds of golf, beach outings, hikes and bike rides, and dinner at some of the island s top restaurants.The property in Chilmark, on the western part of the island, includes a dual basketball and tennis court.A cluster of top aides will also enjoy a 17-day stay on the island, known as a summer hangout for the wealthy, to update the president as developments warrant.","label":1}
{"text":"Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking aim at budget chief Mick Mulvaney's plan to fill the ranks of the U.S. consumer financial watchdog with political allies, according to letters seen by Reuters, the latest salvo in a broader battle over who should run the bureau. President Donald Trump last month appointed Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), though the decision is being legally challenged by the agency's deputy director, Leandra English, who says she is the rightful interim head. Mulvaney told reporters earlier this month he planned to bring in several political appointees to help overhaul the agency, but Warren warned in a pair of letters sent Monday to Mulvaney and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees federal hiring, that doing so was inappropriate and potentially illegal. The CFPB is meant to be an independent agency staffed primarily by non-political employees. Hiring political appointees could violate civil service laws designed to protect such employees from undue political pressure and discrimination, Warren said. \"Your naked effort to politicize the consumer agency runs counter to the agency's mission to be an independent voice for consumers with the power to stand up to Wall Street banks,\" Warren, who helped create the CFPB, wrote to Mulvaney. In a separate letter, Warren asked the OPM to review Mulvaney's \"unprecedented and unjustified\" plans. In a third letter sent to Mulvaney and English, Warren asked for information about a review of ongoing enforcement actions at the CFPB. Reuters reported earlier this month that a potential multimillion-dollar settlement with Wells Fargo is among the enforcement actions under review amid the change in CFPB leadership. Spokespeople for Mulvaney and the OPM did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mulvaney, who also serves directly under Trump as the head of his Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said in the long term he would like to see professional staff alongisde political appointees, mirroring an arrangement in place at the OMB. \"We will be staffing up with more permanent political people so the professional staff here have a better feel for where the administration wants to take the bureau,\" Mulvaney said. But Warren said such an arrangement, though understandable for bureaus like the OMB which sit directly beneath the White House, was not suitable for independent financial regulators. The leadership of the CFPB has been in question since the agency's first director, Richard Cordray, resigned in November.","label":0}
{"text":"The White House on Thursday defended the planning and execution of a Special Operations raid in Yemen on Sunday \u2014 the first approved by President Trump since taking office \u2014 that left one American commando dead and three others injured, and most likely killed several civilians, including children. Sean M. Spicer, President Trump's press secretary, offered an unusually detailed chronology of the mission involving members of the Navy's SEAL Team 6 against the home of a senior Qaeda collaborator. He said it started with a plan submitted by the military's Central Command in November under the Obama administration and ended with Mr. Trump receiving updates in the White House on Saturday night as the mission unfolded eight time zones away. \"This was a very, very and executed effort,\" Mr. Spicer said. Mr. Trump has justified the risky attack on the heavily guarded house, saying the commandos recovered valuable information, including laptops and cellphones, that could help thwart future terrorist attacks. Military officials said on Thursday that while that could prove to be true, analysts were only just beginning to delve into the materials. Almost everything on the mission that could go wrong did. A Yemeni tribal sheikh said the Qaeda fighters were somehow tipped off to the troops' stealthy advance toward the village \u2014 perhaps by the whine of American drones that the tribal leader said were flying lower and louder than usual. The assault force, which also included elite troops from the United Arab Emirates, quickly found itself under intense fire from all sides \u2014 even from female combatants who unexpectedly took up weapons from assigned fighting positions \u2014 forcing the Americans to call in strikes from helicopter gunships and attack planes. A Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, denied on Thursday that the mission had been compromised. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be present as the body of the American commando killed in the raid, Chief Petty Officer William Owens, was returned home. It was the first military death on the new commander in chief's watch. Mr. Spicer insisted on Thursday that the commandos had accomplished their mission, even though \"it is tough to ever use the word 'success' when you know that somebody has lost their life. \" His explanation did not quell calls from human rights groups and at least one Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee for an investigation into the mission and the allegations of civilian casualties. The Central Command said on Wednesday that civilian casualties were likely and that it was investigating. According to Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen, the dead include the daughter of Anwar the Qaeda leader who was killed in a targeted drone strike in 2011. Planning for the mission started months ago, Mr. Spicer said. On Nov. 7, the Central Command submitted its plan to the Pentagon for review. The Defense Department approved it on Dec. 19, and the plan was sent to Mr. Obama's National Security Council staff. On Jan. 6, a meeting of senior Obama security aides, called the deputies committee, recommended that the plan go forward, Mr. Spicer said. Military officials have said that Mr. Obama did not act because the Pentagon wanted to launch the attack on a moonless night, and the next one after the meeting would come after Mr. Obama's term had ended. On Jan. 24, shortly after taking office, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis read the plan and sent it back to the White House with his support. On Jan. 25, Mr. Trump was briefed by his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, on the plan and on Mr. Mattis's endorsement. Mr. Trump summoned Mr. Mattis to dinner at the White House that night, along with Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mr. Flynn. Also attending were two of Mr. Trump's closest advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, the C. I. A. director. \"The operation was laid out in great extent,\" Mr. Spicer said. \"The indication at that time was to go ahead. \" On Jan. 26, last Thursday, Mr. Trump formally signed the memo authorizing the action, Mr. Spicer said. Mr. Mattis and other aides updated the president on the raid throughout the night Saturday, Mr. Spicer said. Members of Mr. Obama's national security team pushed back Thursday at Mr. Spicer's description of how the former president had set the stage for the decision. They said the attack had not been approved by Mr. Obama, and that materials left for the Trump team emphasized considerable risks. \"Not what happened,\" Colin Kahl, the national security adviser to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. wrote on Twitter after Mr. Spicer's briefing. Mr. Kahl's colleagues said that Lisa Monaco, Mr. Obama's homeland security adviser, told the national security staff in early January that Mr. Obama was not prepared to approve the concept for the raid. Instead, they prepared a memorandum for Mr. Trump's team that described a variety of options, and underscored the risks.","label":0}
{"text":"HA HA! Look At Arkansas Today Trump +28 If the election were held in Hillary's home state today, Trump would be winning by a landslide. 02\/08\/16 5 08\/14\/15 11 Mail with questions or comments about this site. \"Godlike Productions\" & \"GLP\" are registered trademarks of Zero Point Ltd. Godlike\u2122 Website Design Copyright \u00a9 1999 - 2015 Godlikeproductions.com Page generated in 0.008s (8 queries)","label":1}
{"text":"By Sean Colarossi on Mon, Oct 31st, 2016 at 7:56 pm CNN has obtained audio of North Carolina GOP Senator Richard Burr joking about gun owners putting a \"bullseye\" on Hillary Clinton. Share on Twitter Print This Post  CNN has obtained brand new audio of North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr joking about gun owners putting a \"bullseye\" on Hillary Clinton.  The despicable comments come as Burr faces a close Senate race against Democratic opponent Deborah Ross. Both candidates are within a point of each other, according to RealClearPolitics.  More of the CNN report :  The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop \"nothing made me feel better\" than seeing a magazine about rifles \"with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it.\"  \"I was a little bit shocked at that \u2014 it didn't have a bullseye on it,\" he said Saturday to GOP volunteers, prompting laughter from the crowd in Mooresville, North Carolina. \"But on the bottom right (of the magazine), it had everybody for federal office in this particular state that they should vote for. So let me assure you, there's an army of support out there right now for our candidates.\"  This type of rhetoric is hardly uncommon when it comes to Republican leaders in 2016. As the campaign has gone on, the hateful and violent rhetoric, particularly from the man at the top of the Republican ticket, has become increasingly worse.  At one point this year, Donald Trump suggested that \"Second Amendment people\" should take up arms against Clinton if she nominates a Supreme Court justices they don't like. He also said that he'd like to \"see what happens\" if the Democratic nominee's bodyguards were disarmed.  As CNN notes, Trump has never issued a genuine apology for his dangerous language \u2013 or anything he's ever said or done \u2013 but Burr quickly came out with a statement once the audio was revealed, although it does not excuse what he said.  \"The comment I made was inappropriate, and I apologize for it,\" the Republican senator said, according to CNN.  This type of imagery has no place in our politics, regardless of whether it's being said in public or private, especially given the heightened level of anger and hatred toward Hillary Clinton from Trump supporters.  Whether it's Trump or Burr, voters should remember their irresponsible language when they go to vote in just one week.","label":1}
{"text":"California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday vetoed a bill to end state sales taxes on feminine hygiene products, angering women and advocates who call the taxes unjust. Brown, a Democrat, cited imperatives of fiscal restraint and viable revenue streams in blocking the bipartisan bill, which would have added tampons, sanitary napkins and other menstrual products to a list of necessities such as food and prescription medicines that are exempt from sales tax. Brown also vetoed several similar bills that would have ended certain state taxes for diapers and other items. He said those measures, together with repeal of the tax on feminine hygiene products, would collectively reduce state revenue by $300 million through the coming year. \"Each of these bills creates a new tax break or expands an existing tax break,\" Brown said in a statement. \"As I said last year, tax breaks are the same as new spending \u2013 they both cost the general fund money.\" State Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, chief sponsor of the tampon tax relief bill that passed both houses of the state legislature with unanimous support, railed against the veto in a posting on Facebook. \"Jerry Brown please #mansplain why it's OK to balance the budget on women's backs?\" she wrote, including a slang portmanteau of \"man\" and \"explain\" that is used to disparage men who talk to women in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing. Lawmakers in at least 15 states have introduced measures to abolish their sales taxes on menstrual products. New York repealed its tampon tax in June, joining Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Jersey. The movement appeals to Republicans because it would repeal a tax and is favored by Democrats, who say it eliminates an unfair burden on women, especially those living in poverty. Garcia, the California assemblywoman, said she would press on in seeking repeal, vowing to \"keep pushing until we get it done.\" But it was not immediately clear whether a veto override bid was an option. Overriding a veto in California requires a two-thirds vote in both the state Senate and Assembly, and the legislative session ended Aug. 31.","label":0}
{"text":"Hillary in hot water over her email server, again. Sacramento, CA Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is in hot water again after nearly 5 million uncounted California electronic ballots were found on her email server by the F.B.I. The majority of those ballots cast were by Bernie Sanders supporters. The election commission has an emergency meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning to discuss a possible vote recount which will include the newly-found ballots. Ms. Clinton has already come under fire during this election cycle over using her private email server for personal use, including storing and sending classified information with it. There has been a formal investigation, but no charges have been filed in that case. Some of the charges are facing several charges. Ms. Clintons public relations official released a brief statement saying, Hillary does not know how those ballots ended up on her server. We are conducting an internal investigation into the matter. These ballots could change the fortune of Bernie Sanders in his bid for the presidency as all the ballots found on Hillarys server were cast votes cast for him, with the exception of the one write-in for Perot.","label":1}
{"text":"New York City's fiscal watchdog said the city faces much bigger budget deficits in coming years than the mayor has forecast and warned state lawmakers about treating the city like a \"piggy bank.\" The state, like the city, is finalizing its budget and will soon make decisions affecting New York City. \"Some upstate legislators just don't get it,\" New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said during his review of the city budget on Wednesday. \"They see New York City as their piggy bank.\" Stringer cautioned against last-minute, late-night budget decisions that could deprive the city of resources. His comments reflected growing frustration with state lawmakers over their suggestions that the city is flush with cash after a stronger economic recovery than other parts of the state. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has had a tense relationship with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, persuading his fellow Democrat last year to pay $2.5 billion toward the city's public transportation system, which is run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency. There have also been suggestions in the state capital that the city could do more to fund healthcare costs and pay more for the city's university system. New York State legislators are known for \"vampire\" budget sessions that go into the early hours to beat the budget deadline at the start of the state's fiscal year on April 1. Stringer said that although next year's budget remained balanced, the total gaps forecast through fiscal year 2020 are $1 billion more than the mayor's office had predicted. \"Budget monitors and rating agencies have all applauded this administration's fiscal prudence and focus on protecting against economic uncertainty \u2013 and investors agree,\" said Amy Spitalnick, a spokesperson for de Blasio. The mayor's office points out that Stringer projects $900 million in additional tax revenue for this financial year and next, and cites that as an example of cautious revenue projections on the city's part. Stringer said the mayor should not have included $731 million from the sale of taxi medallions through 2020, saying the taxi business is currently in upheaval. The city has already cut it expectations for revenue from taxi medallion sales but Stringer has been more aggressive in elimintaing it from later years. He also said some taxes would be lower than the mayor is predicting and that costs for overtime, healthcare and homeless shelters would be higher.","label":0}
{"text":"Posted by Madeline | Oct 26, 2016 | 2016 , Daily Blog | 0 | Thanks Gre! Bovendien  Former Defense Minister of Canada, Paul Hellyer, has filed a lawsuit along with several others at the State Canada on the CETA treaty. CETA stands for comprehensive economic and trade agreement, a trade which are entered according to prosecutors constitutional and international rights of people with feet. Paul Hellyer called the treaty therefore Comprehensive Trade and Takeover Agreement. With this convention, which comes out of the hat of the international bankers, 62 families will obtain control over almost the entire world. Constitutions of member countries will no longer apply, only the will of the 62 families (the elite) will apply.  The lawsuit was officially filed on October 21 of this year and actually consists of four  namely separate indictments; the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to sign, execute and implement treaties without the express prior authority of Parliament through an Act of Parliament  the federal government has no constitutional right to sign CETA and \/ or perform without having this treaty first by the Parliament through official channels. (2) the solid majority of the CETA articles and Their Impact encroach on exclusive Provincial spheres or forum-protected by the division of powers under the Constitution Act, 1867  Most of the CETA provisions and their impact undermine exclusive legal rights protected by the Canadian Constitutional Law, 1867 the CETA gouge and extinguishes the constitutionally protected Judiciary in Canada by creating foreign tribunals to determining property and legal issues in Canada without any judicial oversight or Jurisdiction of the Canadian Courts over the disputes; and  CETA removes the constitutional legal system by setting foreign tribunals have to judge between property and other legal issues without overlooked may be the Canadian legal system, and various articles of the CETA violate constitutional enshrined rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms , and over-rides Charter Guarantees That ground Canada's ability to mount public programs on Health, Education, Social Services, and public utilities-including the elimination of subsidies, monopolies, and state enterprises for public welfare. In short, the treaty places the rights of private foreign investors about Those of the Canadian Constitution and Canadian citizens.  various provisions of CETA violated constitutional built-rights enshrined in the document Charter of Rights and Freedoms and transcend guaranteed rights that Canada has the opportunity to develop public programs in the fields of health, education, social services and public funds, including the termination of subsidies , monopolies and state enterprises for the public interest. In short, the treaty puts the interests of private foreign companies over those of the Canadian constitution and its inhabitants.  But this is not all! Paul Hellyer, which is so you can immediately see and hear his call to Canadians and the rest of the world, his mind has put on the roll of the largest crime syndicate has ever known the world, the international bankers, international intertwined the main industries in which the owners of the revenues come from only 62 families.  Paul Hellyer remembers the Canada which was separate from the bankers, yet not so long ago. Until 1974 the Canadian government expressed its money itself, there was no such thing as inflation, poverty and debt. Canada was one of the largest financiers behind the allies that Europe was liberated from the Germans at that time. Life was good, cheap and everyone had enough money to do the things they wanted to do. From one day to the issued money creation in 1974 the central banks and money was no longer free. Within a few years, Canada had a huge debt that is recovered just as us on the civilian population through numerous taxes. Paul Hellyer has evidence that this happened in unconstitutional manner and wants to decide turn back to Canada to give it right back himself pressing her money to spend. This affects every Canadian citizen a large sum of money to free education, health, housing, etc. can be paid without causing debts. Paul Hellyer does the same as Foundation for Our Money aims but in a turbo version! He lets no grass grow, does not perform educational skits for the people who maintain this crime for years, Paul Hellyer goes straight for the scapegoat.  Now the video of Paul Hellyer where he explains personally exactly what is going on and how they want to approach this.  Dear readers. This could be the big break. This information should be shared very broadly as to all countries under the thumb are the bankers, the same applies. We can deliver all of this unfair system where our benefit only a handful of people. The power over the creation of money is a sovereign matter since no one has more to do with it. We want a better and fairer world, then this is the opportunity that everyone has been waiting for!  Privatized money is the reason for all wars, privatized money is the cause of poverty, oppression, exploitation, neglect of our elderly and less fortunate. Privatized money is the root of all evil on this beautiful planet. Now is the chance to get out from under the yoke, to stand up for the future of ourselves and our children. Now is the chance to rid the world of those people who make a huge mess for over 100 years with one goal, to keep the creation of money in their hands and with it the power over almost anything this planet has to offer.  The Earth is not a handful of bankers and politicians, the earth belongs to everyone!","label":1}
{"text":"Home | World | Globe Still Has Two Months Under Obama Globe Still Has Two Months Under Obama By Satyrus Venge 19\/11\/2016 10:19:51  Solitudinem fecerunt, pacem appelunt  LONDON \u2013 England \u2013 Whenever extreme leftists lose an election, there are many prices to be paid as the vindictive sore losers create a maelstrom on the way out.  Socialists do not believe in fair play, and they destroy as much as they can whilst they are in the last days of power.  This scorched earth policy was witnessed in the last days of the Gordon Brown prime ministership in which he succeeded in burning the UK's economy bringing it to the very brink of extension.  As for referendums and other votes by the people, these are not honoured by socialists unless the results go their way. We can see what is happening today with the EU referendum, a vote that was conclusively for Brexit by 17.5 million people, 52% of the electorate. The vicious bad sportsmanship of socialists and Marxists are being witnessed now with illegal judicial trickery and they are doing everything in their power to derail the decision.  There is no such thing as fair play or honour when it comes to these devout socialists who employ every dirty trick in their arsenal to back stab, renege on previous promises or legitimate democratic votes.  They are not men of honour, they instead utilise nasty underhand cowardly techniques to destabilise and engender a scorched earth policy, all the while, whining and moaning with a collective droning sound.  So, the next two months will be another example of nasty socialism that has lost, another example of how socialists use their power to punish those who voted against them. These disgusting, vile creatures will do everything now to get you, the populace who had enough of their control freakery, their underhand techniques, and their never ceasing effort to halt freedom of speech, freedom of expression and general human freedom.  Only stunted morons of the lowest intelligence cannot distinguish satire from fake news, but these are people without any sense of justice, or literary knowledge, they do not care as long as their agenda punishes those who fight for freedom. bono vinci satius est quam almo more iniuriam vincere A good man would rather suffer defeat than defeat another by foul means (Sallust)  The Daily Squib says to these uncouth vagabonds, these lowly turgid vipers splattering their poisonous inhibitive wares of excrement onto the halls of true satire, an indominitable force, which has survived for thousands of years \u2014 you are nothing.  You will be left with nothing, for you are inconsequential, you are irrelevant, you will not be remembered, you will be forgotten in the sands of time, lesser than excrement, or turds that align your ideology of dishonour and hatred for purity.  You will perish without having achieved anything, without even a speck of true creativity or reason, you will be erased from the universe, imploded, and fucked for eternity, for your ill-will, your duplicitous lies will follow you into the deepest depths of the hatred you have created.  A profound Fuck You follows you to your graves, and may history erase your awful memory forever a stain on the collective conscience of humanity.","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump is considering his options for a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and will make an announcement \"at the appropriate time,\" White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Friday after Trump met with his national security team. U.S. officials told Reuters prior to the meeting at Camp David in Maryland that the options being presented to Trump range from a total pullout from Afghanistan, keeping the status quo of some 8,400 U.S. troops, a modest hike, or a small reduction that would focus on counter-terrorism.","label":0}
{"text":"After being found competent to stand trial following a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, Dylann Roof has decided to ditch his attorneys and represent himself in the Charleston Massacre trial.Judge Richard M. Gergel of Federal District Court in Charleston declared Roof competent to stand on Friday. Jury selection had been put on hold for three weeks after the defense team asked the judge to declare Roof incompetent due to mental defect. But a psychiatric evaluation found that Roof was able to assist in his defense and understood the consequences of the proceedings. Therefore, under the law, he was ruled competent.On Monday, things took a surprise turn when Roof petitioned the court to allow him to represent himself. Gergel advised Roof against firing his legal team, which is led by David I. Bruck, a noted capital defense attorney. The judge asked the defendant a series of questions to make sure he understood the ramifications of his actions. But ultimately, after having found Roof competent, Gergel had no choice but to honor Roof s Sixth Amendment right to act as his own attorney. I do find the defendant has the personal capacity to self-representation, Judge Gergel said. I continue to believe it is strategically unwise, but it is a decision you have the right to make. Although Roof will be taking the lead role in his defense, Brock and the rest of his legal team will continue to serve as standby counsel. Jury selection has since resumed.Roof is accused of killing nine African American people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 17, 2015. He reportedly mingled with his victims for an hour, sitting in on their bible study where they welcomed him with open arms. He then began shouting racial slurs and pulled out a Glock pistol from his fanny pack. He opened fire on his unsuspecting victims, killing the pastor of the church, three other ministers and five other members of the congregation.Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, warned of the troubles defendants face when they represent themselves, especially if they have a mental illness. Key issues never get raised because the defendant knows nothing about the law, said Dunham. And often with mentally ill defendants whose murders were a product of their mental illness, they will attempt to justify their conduct instead of presenting evidence that their mental illness makes them less culpable. Abraham Lincoln said, He who represents himself has a fool for a client. While that may be true, it can also be particularly traumatic for the family when a defendant accused of slaughtering their loved ones is acting as his own attorney, as Dunham explained. When an emotionally disturbed defendant is permitted to cross-examine those witnesses and ask questions that may be based on a delusional view of reality, it only makes things worse, Mr. Dunham said.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump will host Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj at the White House on Friday for talks on counterterrorism cooperation and ways to expand bilateral engagement, the White House in a statement on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"Microsoft unveils sleek desktop computer Re: Microsoft unveils sleek desktop computer The Surface has been selling well.Never underestimate the MIcrosoft team, they have a few tricks up their sleeve yet They are building the greatestweapon for oppressionin the history of man-Confidential Source","label":1}
{"text":"The United States on Tuesday sought to downplay its absence from talks on the Syrian conflict among Russia, Iran and Turkey in Moscow, saying it was not a \"snub\" and did not reflect a decline of U.S. influence in the Middle East. However, President Barack Obama's decision to offer only limited support to moderate rebels has left Washington with little leverage to influence the situation in Syria, especially after Moscow began launching air strikes against rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Although Washington has long been a player in efforts to end the Syria civil war and other Mideast conflicts, the United States was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, mounted an assault to pin down the rebels in east Aleppo that culminated in a ceasefire deal. Dennis Ross, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who was an adviser on Iran and the Middle East to both Democratic and Republican administrations, said the United States had made itself \"irrelevant\" in Syria. \"The opposition finds little reason to be responsive to us and Assad. The Russians and Iran know that there is nothing we will do to raise the costs to them of their onslaught against Aleppo and other Syrian cities,\" Ross said. \"Russia, having changed the balance of power on the ground, without regard to civilian consequences, has moved to make itself an arbiter.\" A spokesman for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed suggestions that America's absence from the meeting indicated a change in influence. \"The secretary doesn't see this as a snub at all. He sees it as another multilateral effort to try to get a lasting peace in Syria and he welcomes any progress towards that,\" State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday. \"We would obviously refute any notion that ... the fact that we weren't at this one meeting is somehow a harbinger or a litmus test for U.S. influence and leadership there or anywhere else around the world,\" Kirby said, adding that Washington was still engaged in the region on many other issues. \"We are not excluded, we are not being sidelined,\" he added. At the meeting on Tuesday, Russia, Iran and Turkey said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal and they adopted a declaration that laid out the principles any agreement should follow. Still, the meetings on Tuesday resulted in a \"Moscow Declaration,\" reflecting Russia's growing links with Iran and Turkey, despite the murder on Monday of Russia's ambassador in Ankara, Turkey's capital, and reflects Putin's desire to increase his country's influence in the Middle East and more widely. It also shows that Russia is fed up with what it considers long and pointless talks with the Obama administration over Syria. A U.S. official acknowledged that the U.S. absence from the evacuation talks on eastern Aleppo was Russia's way of showing that Moscow, not Washington, was running the show. \"The fact is that we have put ourselves in a position where Russia is making efforts to try to work with anybody else so they can isolate us,\" the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. \"We let our differences with Turkey over the Kurds and our views over the northern part of Syria create gaps that the Russians have exploited.\" Kirby said that in the end, the United States, Russia, Iran, and Turkey would like to see an immediate ceasefire and the \"urgent delivery\" of humanitarian aid. Ultimately, he said, it was too soon to judge whether the talks were a success. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, were working to organize new Syrian peace negotiations without the United States or the United Nations. Russia says that if they happen, the talks would be in addition to intermittent U.N.-brokered negotiations in Geneva. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday he thought that what he called the Russia-Iran-Turkey troika was the most effective forum for trying to solve the Syria crisis.","label":0}
{"text":"Bernie Sanders' high-flying Democratic presidential campaign fell back to Earth on Saturday in Nevada. If the Vermont senator cannot quickly find a way to broaden his appeal to minorities and union members, last week's 22-point rout of Clinton in New Hampshire could prove to be his campaign highlight. The race moves next week to South Carolina, where blacks make up more than half of the Democratic electorate, and on March 1 to a string of southern states with big blocs of African-Americans, who strongly support Clinton and have been slow to warm to Sanders. The rush of March contests in big, diverse states \u2014 Democrats in nearly two dozen states will vote between March 1 and March 15 \u2014 could leave Sanders grasping for political life. \"This was a bad day for Sanders,\" said David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University in South Carolina. \"He needs to find a way to cut into Clinton's base, and I don't think he is going to find it here.\" Although Clinton's 5-point win was relatively narrow, it was enough to blunt Sanders' momentum. Recent voter surveys had shown a tight race in Nevada, raising the prospect of another damaging setback for Clinton. Entrance polls in Nevada showed Clinton trounced Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, by 3-to-1 among black voters, and also beat him in union households by 11 percentage points. The enthusiasm of younger and liberal voters who rallied around Sanders' calls for reining in Wall Street and reducing income equality was not enough in Nevada to counter Clinton's union and organizational clout, allowing her to reclaim front-runner status as the race shifts to more friendly turf. After the New Hampshire setback, Clinton's campaign was banking that Sanders would be unable to breach a so-called \"firewall\" of Hispanic and African-American support for the former Secretary of State in southern and western states. Nevada's result appeared to support that view. \"He's running a strong campaign, but being close is overrated if you can't make the sale,\" said Mo Elleithee, a Clinton aide in her 2008 campaign and now the executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. The Sanders campaign said it was heartened in Nevada by entrance polls showing he beat Clinton among Hispanics by about eight points. \"What we learned today is Hillary Clinton's firewall with Latino voters is a myth,\" Arturo Carmona, deputy political director for Bernie 2016, said in a statement. But the Clinton campaign questioned those numbers, saying that at one point she had won 60 percent of the delegates in 22 Latino-majority precincts. Clinton's convincing showing in Nevada could reduce the chances of a late run by an independent candidate such as former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who would likely scoop up moderate voters turned off by a socialist nominee. In a sense, Sanders was a victim in Nevada of his own success. His ability to close the gap on Clinton in Iowa and rout her in New Hampshire, nearly all-white states, raised expectations that he could ride to another upset in Nevada. \"Nevada put out the Bern,\" said Ken Tietjen, a Clinton supporter who stood outside her Las Vegas victory rally at Caesar's Palace. \"Hillary has all the momentum going forward.\" But Sanders' strong showings in the first three contests, along with his formidable fundraising, suggest staying power. That could help extend the Democratic race beyond the cluster of early March contests and into April and May, when a string of contests in whiter and more liberal states could help him. Sanders has money for the long haul, although Clinton had more on hand at the end of January. Federal election reports filed as the Nevada results were announced showed Sanders had raised $21.3 million in January and had $14.7 million on hand. In January, Hillary raised $13.2 million from individual donors and had $32.9 million on hand. Some black voters said on Saturday they did not see a reason to switch their loyalty away from Clinton, a fondness that dates back to her husband Bill Clinton's presidency but which was strained by her bitter primary battle with Barack Obama in 2008. Asked who he was backing, Thomas Anderson, an African-American in Columbia, South Carolina, said on Saturday: \"Hillary, of course.\" \"She's got more experience. She knows what the country needs,\" he said, adding \"Bernie's a cool guy. I'm down with Bernie too.\" Clinton's embrace of Obama's presidential legacy, and her argument that Sanders would begin to unravel some of Obama's policies on healthcare and other issues, also has made an impression. Darien Gambrell, 23, said she heard Clinton planned to continue a number of Obama's policies. \"I think that's a good thing. I liked some of his ideas, even the ones that didn't seem to work at first,\" she said, adding she would not want a candidate who would reverse Obama's work. (Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez and Jane Ross in Nevada, Emily Flitter and Steve Holland in South Carolina, Michelle Conlin in New York, Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Stuart Grudgings) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"You know how conservatives are demanding proof that Donald Trump paid some Russian ladies for a golden shower (honestly, wouldn t we all enjoy that)? Well, this gentleman gave The Donald one for free and he can provide evidence.Meet Dino Rachiele. A quick scroll through his Facebook timeline shows that he doesn t post about politics much, if any (though one post reveals that he makes a delicious-looking Timpano), but he is now gaining recognition for a video he made years ago in which he spoke out about the time that he gave a certain billionaire a golden shower. This video was largely ignored until now but with news breaking that Trump allegedly paid a couple of nice Russian ladies to drain the swamp on his bed, his YouTube video is picking up traffic quite quickly.Rachiele manufactures high-end sinks (what did you think we meant by golden shower, perverts?) and used to sell home fixtures, according to Gizmodo. In his 2011 video, I gave Donald Trump a golden shower, Rachiele who inexplicably found himself able to vote for someone as terrible as Trump says he sent Donald Trump one of two gold shower heads in 2007 and decided to gift one of them to The Donald during one of his feuds with Rosie O Donnell because he knows, like a couple Russian prostitutes seem to know, that Donald Trump just adores gold.Now, some might consider it unbelievable that Rachiele gave The Donald a golden shower, so here s a letter from Trump s assistant at the time verifying that Rachiele did, indeed, send Trump a golden showerhead, but it also seems to indicate that it was part of a sales pitch. The letter informed Rachiele that Trump has no interest in purchasing at this time with a vague promise of possibly working together in the future and a boilerplate we wish you the greatest success in your endeavors):In what seems to be a clear attempt to create a demand for a limited edition product by first sending one to Trump and later deceptively omitting the fact that it was manufactured by a company owned by Rachiele, he then invites people to email him to get what he claims is the only other one in existence for the hefty price tag of $350. Either he was lying about it being the only one or there were no takers, as he now says he is considering taking bids on it.If conservatives are as stupid as I know they are, Rachiele will be getting his own golden shower soon enough when one of them spends their kid s college fund on this piece of poorly manufactured history.Watch his video below:","label":1}
{"text":"The Department of Justice is now arguing that the president can take money from foreign governments. Why? The DOJ is arguing for Trump because the Citizens for Responsibilities and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit against Trump stating he is violating the Constitution by accepting foreign money.According to reports, Trump is taking money from foreign governments for hotel room fees and golf club fees when traveling to different countries for affairs having to do with our country. However, CREW (Citizens for Responsibilities and Ethics in Washington) still says Trump is violating the Constitution by accepting money from different countries when traveling and they say that he should have stopped doing this before he took office.Although CREW filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, the Trump administration thinks that CREW lacks legal standing even to be able to file the lawsuit in the first place.It doesn t matter if the Trump team thinks they don t have enough legal standing for this because CREW already filed the lawsuit against Trump and his team during his first week in office as our president.In fact, CREW had this to say about the lawsuit that they filed against the Trump administration: We did not want to get to this point. It was our hope that President Trump would take the necessary steps to avoid violating the Constitution before he took office. However, he did not. His constitutional violations are immediate and serious, so we were forced to take legal action. Since the lawsuit by CREW was filed during his first week in office, there have been several more plaintiff s that have come onboard against Trump. Some of these new plaintiffs added to the lawsuit against the Trump administration include some restaurant associates, restaurant workers, and even a woman who books banquet halls for hotels in Washington D.C.Featured Image by Pool\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Sheriff David Clarke began his closing address to CPAC 2017 as he knew everyone familiar with him would expect, by declaring \"Blue Lives Matter in America! \"[\"To what purpose did our Founding Fathers and the soldiers of our great Continental Army strive? Did they work to form the horrible mistake of what progressive Democrats call the Great Society \u2014 a place of reliance on the benevolent providence of government as the father, the mother, the breadwinner, and the teacher?\" Clarke asked as he settled down to the primary business of his speech. \"I think not,\" he answered. \"You see, General Washington was rightly and firstly proud of the nation that he believed lay within the grasp of the colonists, as they struggled to tear it away from the corpulent arms of an overbearing King of England. George Washington wrote to Benjamin Franklin that no country upon Earth had it more in its power to attain these blessings than united America. \" Clarke quoted extensively from Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his address. His overall theme was a call to arms his closing request was for CPAC attendees to go out and fight. It was, in some respects, the type of closing speech one might have expected to hear if Republicans had lost the 2016 presidential election. Clarke's purpose was to impress upon his conservative audience that they faced determined opposition from the Left, and would need to remain in fighting trim themselves if they wanted President Donald Trump to implement the policies they voted for. Clarke stressed that Washington and his revolutionaries \"never intended to build a nation to be ruled from a throne room or a centralized government. \" \"They weren't building a land where Boston, or Philadelphia, or New York City, or even today's capital city that bears his name would dictate terms and conditions to the American people,\" he continued. \"No, their efforts to secure the basic human rights endowed by the Creator and formation of a most limited government, instituted justly by men and deriving its limited powers from the consent of the governed. They embraced the concept of . \" \"They fought the tyranny of the throne, it's true. They fought to end the abuse of the colonies at the hand of an uncaring and unsympathetic master, but seemingly forgotten yet chief among the complaints outlined by Jefferson in his great Declaration was the refusal of the monarchy to craft and enforce needed laws \u2014 wholesome and necessary to the public good, said Jefferson, and of immediate and pressing importance, they told the king of England. They law, they said, a law that works, a respect and reverence to the rule of law,\" said Clarke. \"These goals were as key at the founding of our great Republic as the need to satisfy our thirst for freedom and religion, and assembly, and a free and unfettered media that we keeping hearing about so much today,\" he added wryly. Clarke used the Civil War as another example of the importance of law, making a compelling argument that passing and fairly enforcing good laws is as essential to the maintenance of liberty as repealing bad laws and scaling back the power of overweening government. \"Lincoln knew the failure to adhere to that standard in our shared American life would surely result in our surrender \u2014 first to the immorality of convenience, then to the sloth of inaction, and finally to the shame of irrelevance,\" he proclaimed. Clarke quoted from George Washington to support the idea that America has legitimate needs as a and requires a certain degree of unity to endure, despite our many important differences: \"We are either a united people or we are not. If it is the former, then let us in all matters of general concern act as a nation which has national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, then let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it. \" Clarke asked: I ask, are we now acting out the farce that President Washington predicted? We have matters under consideration in this capital city, most notably concerning immigration law and its enforcement, that even the most jaded among us would begrudgingly concede are of national importance to everyone. We have border states, most notably on our southern border, that have to date disproportionately borne the brunt and the burden of our failure to act over the past decades. But is there a state in this union in which the impact of that failure is not keenly felt by the American people? \"Yet we seem to have fallen to a place and a time in our national discourse where even the mere restatement and affirmation of laws long ago crafted, and duly enacted by our Constitutional republic's legislature \u2014 laws that were formed and codified in the people's house, by the people's representatives \u2014 is now considered controversial,\" he observed. He went on: In the executive memoranda on immigration laws attested to this past week, no new laws were created. No group was put at risk without affording them due process. The rights of not one of our citizens, even in a land where president, senator, and farmer stand shoulder to shoulder as equals, was imperiled in the least. Instead, we merely restated the laws that were, what they have been, and voiced an intent to see them upheld fairly, impartially, and with a haste born of necessity. \"And yet, in our modern times, that is viewed in some circles as oppressive, as controversial, and as wrong,\" he noted, adding a sarcastic \"Seriously?\" He called it a \"perversion of thought\" to say that Americans are against immigrants. \"Do some critics truly believe that we have become that Orwellian nightmare that views all Americans as equal, yet with some more equal than others? Come on now, seriously?\" he asked. He said those who oppose the fair enforcement of duly passed immigration laws offer only \"lawlessness, obstruction, and chaos\" in other areas of American life as well. \"They offer no morality, and certainly no courage,\" Clarke said. \"They offer only appeasement and the false currencies of concession and popularity over the virtues of morality and certainty. \" He drew a comparison between appeasement in foreign policy and appeasement to domestic lawlessness, warning we could not expect strong support for the rule of law from \"liberal legislators\" who \"mark as their key data point in crafting policy how many Facebook likes their pages get, or what the latest Internet polling shows, or how many smiling emojis follow their every move. \" \"I for one find no safe harbor or view on the middle ground, wheedling or seeking for others to announce the virtue of my actions,\" declared Clarke, whose history of boldly confronting controversy over his words and actions certainly support that claim. \"You see I, like President Reagan, see things not only as Left and Right, but as forward and backward \u2014 swimming sometimes against a powerful tide, or simply treading water, fundamentally failing our duty to make any choice at all by voting 'present. '\" This was an important part of his overall theme about keeping all hands on deck, and conservatism at battle stations, rather than allowing intense opposition from the Left and media to paralyze Congress and the administration. He emphasized the point with an especially apt Reagan quote the audience adored: \"I suggest to you that there is no Left or Right, only an up and a down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. \" Clarke said that as a career police officer, he understood the importance of public servants respecting the public that grants them authority through the consent of the governed. \"We the people do not follow established rules simply because a law enforcement officer is present to enforce them, but because of our basic love of, trust of, and reliance on our fellow citizens,\" he argued. He quoted Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter's admonition that \"if one man can be allowed to determine for himself what the law is, then every man can. That means first chaos, and then tyranny. \" \"American law enforcement officers have always understood this simple truth,\" Clarke said. \"They spend their life's work, as I have thus far, exemplifying my faith in, my belief in, and commitment to our American system of justice \u2014 a system renowned the world over for the provisions of individual due process as a right endowed in each of us by our Creator. \" \"The rule of law doesn't divide us,\" he said. \"It binds us together in our great American life with shared behaviors, beliefs, and manners. I call it, as do many of you, 'American exceptionalism.' We are a nation of limited government in which everyone willfully, and as a matter of civic duty, must obey the law. And the value derived for the small price paid of observance of the common law is the greatest treasure known to mankind: freedom. Sweet freedom. \" \"Freedom is why we get up in the morning and tend the fields. It is why we stay up late at night watching foreign markets. It sustains us. It feeds us. And once we have tasted it, we can never have enough to be satisfied,\" he said. \"As a conservative I believe with all my heart, that in furtherance of the common good, freedom means you decide your destiny. You, your family, your household, your neighborhood, your small town, your state \u2014 and yes, in those few matters of national scope, your nation,\" Clarke said. \"To cede as a matter of simple course of expediency, to cede those powers too quickly or injudiciously to Washington D. C. is just plain wrong, and it always has been. \" He quoted Reagan again: \"We have come to a time for choosing \u2026 either we accept the responsibility for our own destiny, or we abandon the American revolution and confess that an intellectual belief in a capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan our own lives. \" Clarke exclaimed, winning the longest and strongest applause of the hour: How refreshing is that simple concept, that we who run our lives know the course of our own destiny better than some congresswoman from California, better than some judge from Joplin may know it sitting in a office in Washington, making the decisions that can undermine all of our great efforts. How refreshing to see a return to that respectful thought of the importance of and to turn away from the conceit and arrogance that was its predecessor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before January 20th, 2017! In President Donald Trump we have chosen a leader \u2014 a leader who I expect many of you in this room well know I both campaigned and vigorously supported for the highest office in this land. And he was a candidate that I'm certain many in this room also supported, and some may have at first opposed in some measure. That's fine. That's the great nature of this republic. We have choices, and we decide. However, in President Trump I sense a return now to those key virtues first extolled in that letter to a tyrant monarch in 1776. I sense a pride in our nation, and a voice to that pride that I have found lacking for the last eight years. \"We were constantly told by former President Obama that America needed to humble itself. He told us humility is a virtue. But false humility is an affront to the senses, and pride in the greatness and might of our nation has never been a sin,\" he argued. \"President George Washington himself observed, upon the occasion of his first inaugural, 'There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness.' Consider those words once more: 'A rank due the United States of America.' Allow me to translate that language from 1789 to 2017. It means: 'Put America first,'\" he said. Clarke faulted the mainstream media for \"mocking and taunting\" President Trump's America First vision, portraying it as \"dark and feral. \" He said: No, it's not. Yet those who held the office before President Trump would rise up from their graves and nod in agreement with the importance of our shared effort and potential for reward that President Trump offered us when he said, 'We the citizens of America are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country, restore its promise not for an elite few, but for all of our people.' He said together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many years to come. President Trump reminded us we will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Clarke said in closing: Ladies and gentlemen, today is our moment of truth, our point of no return. The choices we need make at this moment are opposed by entrenched interests. The 'resistance' looms. They attack our motives, they assail our beliefs, they decry our notion of justice, they proclaim the high ground of virtue, and they threaten upheaval if not given their way. What will history show we did with our moment of truth? Did we stand and fight, or did we cut and run? \"Ladies and gentlemen, this is my challenge to you. These are your marching orders: Go forth to stand and fight,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"The family of murdered model Reeva Steenkamp welcomed the increased sentence of 13 years and five months handed down on Paralympian Oscar Pistorius on Friday and said it showed that justice could prevail in South Africa. This is an emotional thing for them. They just feel that their trust in the justice system has been confirmed this morning, Tania Koen, a spokeswoman for the Steenkamp family, told Reuters.","label":0}
{"text":"The Clinton Carpetbaggers have moved around doing their influence peddling where the money is they landed in Chappaqua, NY and have managed to make their home into a fortress complete with a huge wall, guards and now a private street. Seems like traffic is for the little people NEW CASTLE The road where Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, lives in Chappaqua has been made a local-traffic-only street for security reasons and to reduce tourists from flocking to the cul-de-sac.The Town Board this week voted to add Old House Lane to the list of such roads. Hillary and Bill Clinton have lived on the road for more than 15 years, moving there when she ran for a U.S. Senate seat.Chappaqua is a hamlet within New Castle. The Town Board also added one other road, Green Lane, to those restricted to local traffic only. It s a short cul-de-sac that runs parallel to Old House Lane.At Tuesday s board meeting, Town Administrator Jill Shapiro said the police chief had received a request for security reasons.Town Supervisor Robert Greenstein said Friday he was not positive, but assumed the request came from the Secret Service. I think it s for security reasons and also for privacy concerns for the residents certainly living there as well, Greenstein said. He said the little cul-de-sac can be turned into a very busy street.","label":1}
{"text":"The Reason Why Jade Helm Is Obama's Favorite Conspiracy Theory May Surprise You By Kristie on November 22, 2015 Subscribe  President Obama has had to deal with his fair share of conspiracy theories. Even before he was elected he had to deal with questions about his origin of birth. He's also secretly a Muslim masquerading as a Christian. One of the best is that he is going to unarm Americans by taking our guns. I'm still waiting on that one. But in a recent GQ interview , President Obama revealed his favorite conspiracy theory \u2013 Jade Helm. Featured image by Boricuaeddie , available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.  As most will recall, Jade Helm was one of the largest military training exercise ever conducted on U.S. soil. In July of this year, roughly 1,200 U.S. military troops participated in exercises that spanned seven states. Jade Helm included New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. As we all know though, this exercise proved itself to be a great opportunity for the bitter right-wing to start up the conspiracy machine.  While this resulted in great ratings for the likes of Alex Jones , Jade Helm turned out to be a \u2014 military exercise \u2014 not a military led plot for Obama to take over the country and stay in power as a dictator. No wonder Jade Helm entertained Obama. Only a right-wing nut-job would believe something like that.  But why is that Obama's favorite conspiracy theory? He explained after GQ asked : \"What's the most entertaining conspiracy theory you ever read about yourself?\"  Obama then answered : \"That military exercises we were doing in Texas were designed to begin martial law so that I could usurp the Constitution and stay in power longer. Anybody who thinks I could get away with telling Michelle I'm going to be president any longer than eight years does not know my wife.\"  You see, even the leader of the free world answers to somebody. About Kristie  Kristie is 22-years-old and resides in Nashville, TN. While reading is a passion, she also has a passion for writing. Reporting on social issues such as LGBT rights, racial injustices, and religious intolerance, she also has a vested interest in the current political climate in America. Connect","label":1}
{"text":"Transgender people barred under a new North Carolina law from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity filed a federal lawsuit on Monday, arguing the measure was discriminatory and threatened their personal safety. North Carolina last week became the first state to enact a measure requiring people to use bathrooms or locker rooms in schools and other public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. \"By singling out LGBT people for disfavored treatment and explicitly writing discrimination against transgender people into state law, (the state) violates the most basic guarantees of equal treatment and the U.S. Constitution,\" said the lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal. The state's Republican-dominated legislature passed the law during a one-day special session called to repeal a Charlotte city ordinance that would have allowed bathroom choice based on gender identity versus sex at birth. State lawmakers also voted to prohibit local governments from enacting anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The actions drew swift criticism from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups and companies including American Airlines, Apple and Google. In response to the law, the mayors of San Francisco and Seattle as well as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have barred non-essential, publicly funded government travel to the state, saying the law is discriminatory. North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, both Republicans, said they were confident the law would be upheld in court. \"This lawsuit takes this debate out of the hands of voters and instead attempts to argue with a straight face that there is a previously undiscovered 'right' in the U.S. Constitution for men to use women's bathrooms and locker rooms,\" they said in a joint statement. State lawmakers have warned of the dangers that could result from men sharing bathrooms with women and young girls. But transgender plaintiffs said they would be vulnerable because making known they are transgender puts them at high risk of violence. \"This is about more than restrooms. This is about my job, my community and my ability to get safely through my day,\" said Joaquin Carcano, a 27-year-old university employee who is a plaintiff in the suit. Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the national ACLU's LGBT Project, said on Monday the new law on bathroom access has \"no clear enforcement mechanism.\" Opponents of the law criticized Republican Governor Pat McCrory, who is seeking re-election in November, for signing the sweeping legislation on the same day it was introduced. They noted the weeks of debate and review given to a Georgia measure that sought to strengthen legal protections for gay marriage opponents before Republican Governor Nathan Deal signaled on Monday he would veto it. \"By contrast, what happened here in North Carolina was a farce,\" said Chris Brook, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina.","label":0}
{"text":"An inquiry by the global chemical weapons watchdog found sarin was used in a March attack in Syria on an opposition-held town, just days before the banned nerve agent killed dozens in a separate attack nearby, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The March 30 air strike in the northern Syrian town of Latamneh injured around 70 people who suffered nausea, foaming at the mouth and muscle spasms. Samples analysis results show clear presence of sarin, a source told Reuters of the findings by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The report by the OPCW Syria Fact Finding Mission is due to be finalised within weeks. The Fact Finding Mission reported in June that sarin was used in an April 4 attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people and prompted the United States to launch missiles on a Syrian air base. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the country s more than six-year civil war. The OPCW Fact Finding Mission is only responsible for determining if chemical weapons were used in attacks in Syria. A joint United Nations and OPCW investigation, established by the U.N. Security Council in 2015, determines who is to blame. This team - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - has already found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. It is due to report to the Security Council this month on who is to blame for the April 4 Khan Sheikhoun attack. The 15-member Security Council is due to renew the mandate for the JIM by mid-November. However, Russia has publicly questioned the work of the inquiry and some diplomats said it was uncertain if Moscow would support extending the mandate. The Russians don t like what the JIM has come up with so far, so they are muttering about not allowing a rollover, said a council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia declined to comment on the future of the inquiry on Wednesday. Renewing the U.N. Joint Investigative Mechanism now should be the Security Council s top priority, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a statement on Wednesday. We owe it to the innocent people - including children - who have suffered and died at the hands of the Syrian regime to continue to push for full accountability for these horrific crimes, she said. U.N. war crimes investigators said in a report last month that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons more than two dozen times, including in a sarin attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April that killed more than 80 people.","label":0}
{"text":"Senior Mexican and American military and interior officials spoke on Tuesday, Mexico's government said, in a sign that communication remains open between the two countries, despite deep tension over President Donald Trump's proposals. In a telephone call, Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly discussed security issues and an upcoming meeting in Mexico City, according to a statement that gave few details. A separate Mexican government communique showed Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos and his U.S. counterpart, James Mattis, spoke about an April meeting of security officials that will include Canada. Mexico's Navy Secretary Vidal Soberon was also on the call. The Pentagon confirmed the call, noting the two countries '\"commitment to strengthen our close bilateral defense relationship.\" It added, \"Mattis lauded Mexico's growing leadership in the region and commended Mexico's willingness to host the Central American Security Conference in July.\" The discussions come despite a deep political crisis between Mexico and the United States. Trump has threatened to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, slap a hefty tax on Mexican-made goods entering the country and pull out of a trade deal with Mexico if he cannot renegotiate it to benefit the United States. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled a planned January summit of the two leaders after Trump said his counterpart should not attend if he was unwilling to pay for the wall. In a radio interview following Tuesday's calls, Osorio Chong said arms were also mentioned in his chat with Kelly, but gave no details. Illegal arms trafficking from the United States into Mexico has been key to the success of the country's notorious drug cartels and a constant worry for its government.","label":0}
{"text":"Tickets to the fundraiser for Hillary hosted by a law firm who was banned from GITMO after being caught giving Muslim terror suspects anti-American propaganda are a mere $2,700 per person You can t make this stuff up!In 2007 Hillary Clinton voted YES on preserving habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees.Sen. Specter s amendment would have stricken the provision regarding habeas review. The underlying bill would have authorized a trial by military commission for violations of the law of war. Here is what Senator Lindsey Graham had to say about the bill from the Senate floor:Senator Graham asked, Do we really want enemy prisoners to bring every lawsuit known to man against the people fighting the war and protecting us? No enemy prisoner should have access to Federal courts a noncitizen, enemy combatant terrorist to bring a lawsuit against those fighting on our behalf. No judge should have the ability to make a decision that has been historically reserved to the military. That does not make us safer. Senator Arlon Spector on the vote: The US Constitution states that Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. We do not have either rebellion or invasion, so it is a little hard for me to see, as a basic principle of constitutional law, how the Congress can suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Even with all the evidence that pointed to the danger this bill would our nation, Hillary voted Yes while the majority of the Sentate voted against her.Today, the attorney s who defended GITMO prisoners are rewarding Hillary for her vote with a major fundraiser.Watch:","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate Budget Committee voted along party lines on Tuesday to send a Republican tax bill to the full Senate for a vote. The 12-to-11 vote \"moves us one step closer to a simpler, fairer, and more transparent tax system,\" Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi said in a statement. The full Senate is expected to begin debating the tax bill and vote on it sometime this week. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has already passed its version of a package of tax cuts.","label":0}
{"text":"The White House on Monday said the Justice Department was reviewing its options after a federal judge denied a request by President Donald Trump's administration to enforce his ban on transgender troops while the government appeals an order blocking it. \"The Department of Justice is currently reviewing the legal options to ensure the president's directive is implemented,\" White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.","label":0}
{"text":"The founding dean of a prominent Singapore school said on Monday he was stepping down, four months after he stirred a heated debate in the city-state with the comment that small countries like Singapore must always behave like small states . Kishore Mahbubani, a long-time diplomat and the wealthy city-state s former envoy to the United Nations, said he had written to the board of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy saying he would step down as dean at the end of the year. The announcement followed a high-profile expulsion by the government of a professor at the school, a China-born U.S. citizen, who was accused of being an agent of influence for a foreign country. In the statement to the school s governing board, Mahbubani cited a double heart bypass operation last year and said he wanted to focus on a new career that involves more time spent on reading, reflection and writing . I realize that the time had come for me to take a fresh look at what I should achieve over the next decade as I enter my 70s, he said. Kishore is 69 and has served 13 years as dean. Kishore s statement did not refer to the controversy fueled by his column in July that Qatar s experience of conflict with its Arab neighbors offered big lessons for small countries. In the piece titled Qatar: Big lessons from a small country , Kishore warned that Singapore could face the fate of the Gulf state which believed it could act as a middle power and exercise influence beyond its borders because it sits on mounds of money . I would like to emphasize as strongly as I can that this Qatar episode holds many lessons for Singapore, he wrote in Singapore s Straits Times newspaper. The first lesson, he said, was: Small states must always behave like small states. Public criticism or perceived admonishments of the government are rare in Singapore, one of the richest and most politically stable countries in the world. His comments drew a sharp rebuke from Singapore s political leaders and fellow former foreign service officials as flawed and intellectually questionable. A veteran diplomat, Bilahari Kausikan, called them muddled, mendacious and indeed dangerous . Mahbubani could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the National University of Singapore, where the Lee Kuan Yew school is an autonomous postgraduate school, said: Professor Kishore Mahbubani s decision to retire is unrelated to the article mentioned. The school is named after modern Singapore s founding father.","label":0}
{"text":"German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday he had a \"friendly and constructive\" discussion with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Berlin and they agreed to work together to promote sustainable global growth and prosperity. \"We found a good basis\" to work together, Schaeuble said at a joint news conference with Mnuchin but added that they would not solve all of their problems at an upcoming meeting of G20 finance ministers.","label":0}
{"text":"Tens of thousands of Catalans are expected to defy Spanish authorities and attempt to vote in a banned independence referendum on Sunday, raising fears of unrest in the wealthy northeastern region. The referendum, declared illegal by Spain s central government, has thrown the country into its worst constitutional crisis in decades and raised fears of street violence as a test of will between Madrid and Barcelona plays out. In a sign of how the planned vote has polarized the country, thousands of pro-unity demonstrators gathered in Spain s major cities, including Barcelona, to express their fierce opposition to Catalonia s attempt to break away. In the region itself, hundreds of supporters of the referendum spent the day with their children playing football, board games and ping pong in schools, traditionally used as voting stations in Spain, to keep them open until voting starts at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday. The government said just a small percentage of schools were occupied, however, and that it had verified that most of the more than 2,300 earmarked for the vote were closed. In those where they gathered, parents brought sleeping bags and prepared to bed down on gym mats. We don t understand why we can t express in a peaceful manner the simplest expression of democracy - a vote, said Pablo Larranaga, as he stood in a school in Barcelona surrounded by parents and small children. We don t know what is going to happen tomorrow. We are going to try to vote in the only way we know, which is peacefully. It is still unclear whether the referendum will go ahead despite the regional government s assertions that it will proceed and Madrid s insistence that it will block the move. The ballot will have no legal status as it has been blocked by Spain s Constitutional Court and Madrid for being at odds with the 1978 constitution. A minority of around 40 percent of Catalans support independence, polls show, although a majority want to hold a referendum on the issue. The region of 7.5 million people has an economy larger than that of Portugal. However much voting takes place, a yes result is likely, given that most of those who support independence are expected to cast ballots while most of those against it are not. Police monitored schools earmarked as polling stations and occupied the Catalan government s communications hub on Saturday in an effort to prevent the referendum from going ahead. The Catalan police, or Mossos d Esquadra, who are monitoring the schools, are held in great affection by the Catalan people, especially after Islamist attacks in the region in August that killed 16. But thousands of extra police have been sent to the region in order to enforce a court order banning the referendum, many of whom are billeted in two ships in the port. A Spanish government source said it would be up to police how they carried out orders to remove people from polling stations on Sunday. The head of the Catalan police on Friday urged officers to avoid the use of force. Organizers urged voters to arrive at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) at polling stations and to wait in line until the schools opened. Voters must show peaceful resistance to police action, organizers said. We must be sure there are lots of people present of all ages, they said in instructions disseminated on social media. Any volunteer staffing a voting station with use of a census listing eligible voters would be liable for a fine of up to 300,000 euros, the government source said. Thousands of pro-unity demonstrators waving Spanish flags filled the central square outside the seat of the regional government and Barcelona city hall. One man burnt the Catalan flag while a group tried to tear down a banner reading More democracy hanging from the front of the town hall to cheers from the crowd. In the capital Madrid, hundreds gathered waving the national flag and chanting Spanish unity and Don t fool us - Catalonia is Spain . Many balconies in the capital are draped with the red and yellow Spanish flag.","label":0}
{"text":"As he prepared last week to deliver his farewell address, President Obama convened three Democratic leaders in the White House for a strategy session on the future of their party. The quiet huddle included Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrats in Congress, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia. One topic of urgent concern, according to people briefed on the meeting: how to break the Republican Party's iron grip on the congressional map. Thwarted for much of his term by a confrontational Republican Congress, and criticized by his fellow Democrats for not devoting sufficient attention to their candidates, Mr. Obama has decided to make the byzantine process of legislative redistricting a central political priority in his first years after the presidency. Emerging as Mr. Obama's chief collaborator and proxy is Eric H. Holder Jr. the former attorney general of the United States and a personal friend of the president. He has signed on to lead the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a newly formed political group aimed at untangling the creatively drawn districts that have helped cement the Republican Party in power in Washington and many state capitals. In an interview this week at Covington Burling, the Washington law firm where he is now in private practice, Mr. Holder, 65, said that he and Mr. Obama believe Republicans have undermined the political system by creating a patchwork of legislative maps \u2014 at both the state and federal levels \u2014 that are designed to stifle the will of voters. Echoing a number of Mr. Obama's top advisers, Mr. Holder described fighting Republican gerrymandering as a \"primary concern\" for the president once he leaves the White House. \"He thinks, and I think, that this is something that threatens our democracy,\" Mr. Holder said. \"We have a system now where the politicians are picking their voters, as opposed to voters making selections about who they want to represent them. \" Mr. Holder is set to kick off his initiative on Thursday with a speech at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. The first major event for the group is to take place in Chicago this spring David Jacobson, a former ambassador to Canada and an Obama campaign is hosting the event. Mr. Holder said he anticipated that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. would also be involved, along with other \"present and former cabinet members. \" For Mr. Obama, the redistricting campaign signals how personally engaged in electoral politics he intends to be after leaving office, unlike many former presidents who enjoy something of a period. Mr. Obama has also appeared to concede in recent weeks that he spent a limited amount of time tending to the Democratic Party as an institution during his time in office, and in a television interview explained almost apologetically that the presidency is a job. But redistricting may be a special preoccupation among Mr. Obama and his allies: For them, Mr. Holder said, there is considerable resentment of how an entrenched House Republican majority undermined the president's goals over of his tenure. \"The tasks that he had placed before him were made a lot more difficult, progress a lot more difficult, than it needed to be,\" Mr. Holder said of Mr. Obama. \"That's because of the Congress that he had to deal with, which was a function of the 2010 redistricting effort. \" While Mr. Holder said he committed to lead the new Democratic group well before Election Day \u2014 and spoke with Hillary Clinton about redistricting during the presidential race \u2014 he said Donald J. Trump's victory had intensified interest among activists and donors. The and campaign comes amid a broader resurgence in Democratic interest in state and local elections, at a moment when Republicans control every lever of government in Washington. Candidates seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee have called for a more intensive focus on nonfederal elections, and several senior Democrats said distraught party donors were turning their attention to the states. The Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, two groups teaming up with Mr. Holder, are already recruiting candidates for upcoming elections. Mr. McAuliffe, who declined to discuss the White House meeting, said he had been in touch with Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer since the elections to refocus the party's attention on races in the states. He said he and Ms. Pelosi had commiserated about the grim state of the congressional map. \"I said: 'Nancy, it doesn't matter how much money you have if we don't have lines where Democrats can run competitively and win,'\" Mr. McAuliffe said. But Democrats have long suffered from a consuming obsession with the presidency at the expense of other elections, said Mr. McAuliffe, a former national party chairman. \"We've got to be smarter about how we're building the future of this party. We have been decimated at the state level, and it's at the state level that they draw the maps,\" he said, adding: \"We raise all this money in the presidential, and then everybody goes away. \" The next round of congressional redistricting is still years away, after the next decennial census in 2020. But the officials drawing the maps in most states will be chosen in elections well before then, starting with the election for governor in Virginia this year. Democrats ruefully acknowledge now that before the 2010 census, riding high after Mr. Obama's 2008 victory and seemingly secure in their hold on Congress, they were far less prepared than Republicans in gearing up for legislative reapportionment. The Republican Party mounted a ferocious campaign that gave it overwhelming control of redistricting, allowing it to lock in many victories in the 2010 midterm elections. In the to 2020, Democrats say, their goal in many places will be not to seize control of redistricting, but merely to capture one or two key offices to keep Republicans from locking them out of the process. Right now, there are 25 states in which Republicans control the whole government \u2014 the governorship and the legislature \u2014 versus just six wholly controlled by Democrats. Mr. Holder said his initiative would unfold on three fronts: In court, where Democrats will challenge maps they see as violating the law on the campaign trail, where they will seek to win offices that influence redistricting and through ballot referendums in states that allow voters to give direct approval to laws mandating new procedures for legislative apportionment. Mr. Holder said he was also prepared to take an unaccustomed leap into electoral politics, campaigning for candidates around the country who can affect the redistricting process. A career prosecutor, Mr. Holder has quickly emerged as a leading figure in Democratic efforts to fight Mr. Trump he has been retained by the California Legislature to help in any battles with the Trump administration. The success of the new effort will depend in part on whether the newfound appetite among Democrats for confronting gerrymandering can be sustained as more attention turns to what will be a presidential primary, the sort of glamorous campaign that often attracts the most attention from liberal donors at the expense of party building efforts. Republican donors have typically been more attentive to state elections they are expected to pour money into defending the party's hold on power outside of Washington. Party strategists hope that having as a figure as Mr. Holder, and eventually Mr. Obama himself, will make it easier for them to solicit and figure checks. Mr. Holder said he and Mr. Obama believed strongly that Democrats needed to look beyond Washington. \"I can remember conversations with him where it was his view that it wouldn't take huge amounts of money to have an impact on state and local races,\" Mr. Holder said, \"but that it would take a substantial amount of effort. \" Leading the legal offensive will be Marc Elias, the prominent Democratic election lawyer who has already won challenges to maps in several states, including Florida and Virginia. Before 2010, Mr. Elias said Democrats had prepared for a conventional negotiation over drawing lines, in legislatures and in court, but had not matched the Republican Party's yearslong strategy for dominating elections, fueled by heavily funded outside groups. Mr. Obama, Mr. Elias said, would help \"direct the best and the brightest in the party to see this as really important. \" For the moment, at least, Democrats are portraying their campaign as a matter of fairness, criticizing Republicans for having mangled the maps in places like Ohio and Michigan, so that solidly purple states are represented disproportionately by Republicans. Democrats believe that where states have drawn maps by nonpartisan means, or by court order, it has tended to benefit them. Republicans have tended to roll their eyes at Democratic complaints about redistricting, given how aggressively some in Mr. Obama's party drew maps in their favor when Democrats had more power. Mr. Holder said he viewed Republican gerrymandering as more extreme than anything Democrats had engineered for their own benefit in blue states. But he declined to say that Democrats should eschew gerrymandering of their own. Yet in a sign of tensions that might later emerge, Mr. Holder suggested that some Democratic incumbents might have to be willing to run in more competitive districts, to avoid clustering core Democratic constituencies in a tiny number of districts. Some senior black lawmakers have resisted efforts to overhaul the map in ways that would make their districts even modestly whiter and more competitive. Democrats see Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder as potentially persuasive messengers in easing such resistance. And Mr. Holder said bluntly that black lawmakers could also win seats that are not necessarily . Incumbents of both parties, he said, should \"get more comfortable with the notion that with fairly drawn districts, elections might be more significantly contested. \" He added: \"That's a good thing for our democracy. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Saudi Arabia s King Salman by telephone on Thursday, Chinese state media reported. No matter how the international or regional situation may change, China s resolve to deepen cooperation with Saudi Arabia would not change, Xi said, according to the report.","label":0}
{"text":"BREAKING : Hillary Clinton Had her MAID Print CLASSIFIED INFORMATION BREAKING : Hillary Clinton Had her MAID Print CLASSIFIED INFORMATION Breaking News By Amy Moreno November 6, 2016  The ineptitude and dangerous, reckless behavior of this nincompoop Hillary Clinton grows stronger every day.  Just when you think her stupidity and carelessness can't get any worse, it does.  We're now learning that Hillary Clinton HAD HER MAID PRINT OUT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.  That's right \u2013 one more time\u2026..  Hillary Clinton had her MAID print out CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.  She should be disqualified immediately.  From the NY Post:  As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton routinely asked her maid to print out sensitive government e-mails and documents \u2014 including ones containing classified information \u2014 from her house in Washington, DC, e-mails and FBI memos show. But the housekeeper lacked the security clearance to handle such material.  In fact, Marina Santos was called on so frequently to receive e-mails that she may hold the secrets to E-mailgate \u2014 if only the FBI and Congress would subpoena her and the equipment she used.  Clinton entrusted far more than the care of her DC residence, known as Whitehaven, to Santos. She expected the Filipino immigrant to handle state secrets, further opening the Democratic presidential nominee to criticism that she played fast and loose with national security.  Clinton would first receive highly sensitive e-mails from top aides at the State Department and then request that they, in turn, forward the messages and any attached documents to Santos to print out for her at the home.  Among other things, Clinton requested Santos print out drafts of her speeches, confidential memos and \"call sheets\" \u2014 background information and talking points prepared for the secretary of state in advance of a phone call with a foreign head of state.  \"Pls ask Marina to print for me in am,\" Clinton e-mailed top aide Huma Abedin regarding a redacted 2011 message marked sensitive but unclassified.  In a classified 2012 e-mail dealing with the new president of Malawi, another Clinton aide, Monica Hanley, advised Clinton, \"We can ask Marina to print this.\"  \"Revisions to the Iran points\" was the subject line of a classified April 2012 e-mail to Clinton from Hanley. In it, the text reads, \"Marina is trying to print for you.\"  Both classified e-mails were marked \"confidential,\" the tier below \"secret\" or \"top secret.\"  Santos also had access to a highly secure room called an SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) that diplomatic security agents set up at Whitehaven, according to FBI notes from an interview with Abedin.  From within the SCIF, Santos \u2014 who had no clearance \u2014 \"collected documents from the secure facsimile machine for Clinton,\" the FBI notes revealed.  Just how sensitive were the papers Santos presumably handled? The FBI noted Clinton periodically received the Presidential Daily Brief \u2014 a top-secret document prepared by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies \u2014 via the secure fax.  A 2012 \"sensitive\" but unclassified e-mail from Hanley to Clinton refers to a fax the staff wanted Clinton \"to see before your Netanyahu mtg. Marina will grab for you.\"  Yet it appears Clinton was never asked by the FBI in its yearlong investigation to turn over the iMac Santos used to receive the e-mails, or the printer she used to print out the documents, or the printouts themselves  As The Post first reported, copies of Clinton's 33,000 allegedly destroyed e-mails still exist in other locations and could be recovered if investigators were turned loose to seize them. Higher-ups at the Justice Department reportedly have blocked them from obtaining search warrants to obtain the evidence.  It also appears the FBI did not formally interview Santos as a key witness in its investigation.  This is a major oversight: Santos may know the whereabouts of a missing Apple MacBook laptop and USB flash drive that contain all of Clinton's e-mails archived over her four years in office.  In 2013, Hanley downloaded Clinton's e-mails from her private server to the MacBook and flash drive.  \"The two copies of the Clinton e-mail archive (one on the archive laptop and one on the thumb drive) were intended to be stored in Clinton's Chappaqua and Whitehaven residences,\" the FBI said in its case summary.  But Hanley says the devices were \"lost,\" and the FBI says it \"does not have either item in its possession.\"  In addition to Abedin, Santos worked closely with Hanley at Whitehaven and could shed light on the mystery \u2014 if only she were asked about it.  My god.  At this point, WHO hasn't seen our classified information?  Perhaps that would be a shorter, more manageable list. This is a movement \u2013 we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.","label":1}
{"text":"Monday 7 November 2016 by Davywavy UK's largest worm to get Viking funeral  The earthworm is expected to join Harambe in Valhalla where they will toast their valour for all eternity.  Dave the giant worm died in battle against scientists trying to measure him and is to receive a fiery, viking funeral in a longship specially constructed for the occasion.  Thor, God of Thunder, has expressed disappointment that he did not defeat Dave himself as he had hoped to practice on the worm in preparation for battle against Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, at the end of all things.  \"We're building a longship that might be as long as fifteen or twenty inches long. When complete we shall lay him on a rich bed of loam with a beetle at his feet\", said Earthworm expert Simon Williams.  \"Okay, not feet. Whatever it is that Earthworms have. Cloaca? You tell me.  \"Then we shall cast the ship adrift in the still, wine-dark sea before sending him aloft with the wormy Valkyrie by firing burning arrows at him until he is utterly consumed by flames and the waves, God rest him.\"  Simon was then interrupted by an announcement that there is no budget for an elaborate funeral and the earthworm will just be put in the bin. Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently witterings below - why not add your own?","label":1}
{"text":"The Republican governor of Texas signed into law on Tuesday a measure that will restrict insurance coverage for abortions, compelling women to buy a supplemental plan if they want coverage for the procedure. Governor Greg Abbott said the measure known as House Bill 214 would protect abortion opponents from subsidizing the procedure. Democratic critics decried it as forcing people to buy \"rape insurance.\" Texas, the most-populous Republican-controlled state, has been at the forefront in enacting abortion restrictions, with many of its measures followed by other socially conservative states. But when HB 214 goes into law on Dec. 1, Texas will be the 11th state to restrict abortion coverage in private insurance plans written in the state. \"As a firm believer in Texas values, I am proud to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child,\" Abbott said in a statement. The Republican sponsor of a Senate bill on abortion insurance restriction, Brandon Creighton, has told local media supplemental coverage would cost $12 to $80 a year. House Bill 214, which passed both chambers this month, mostly on a party-line vote, does not offer exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Abortion rights groups said they plan a court fight to prevent it from becoming law. \"By signing HB 214 into law, Governor Abbott has told women and parents they must pay extra for what is tantamount to 'rape insurance,'\" Democratic Representative Chris Turner, who opposed the bill, said on Tuesday. There are 25 states with restrictions on abortion coverage in plans set up by state exchanges as part of the Affordable Care Act under former Democratic President Barack Obama, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks such legislation. Also on Tuesday, Abbott signed another measure that expands reporting requirements for complications arising from abortions.","label":0}
{"text":"Tweet Widget by Hugh Esco  The author, a reader and colleague of BAR, offers a corrective to our use of the word \"jihad,\" a term that, in \"an Islamic conception, has nothing to do with 'holy war.'\" In this \"appeal,\" Mr. Esco warns: \"When we fail to interrupt this abuse of human language, We lend support to registration programs and internment camps, to islamaphobic attacks and imperial wars of aggression.\" Confusing Jihad with Hirabah Won't Build a More Peaceful World by Hugh Esco  \"No one seems to use of phrases like 'Christian Terrorists,' although there is plenty of evidence in our history and contemporary experience to support the use of such a phrase.\"  Black Agenda Report led the way by banning the perjorative use of \"illegal\" to describe workers in this country without documentation. This publication did so in an article years ago comparing its use to that of the n-word. Many other media outlets including those in the mainstream have since followed suit, so that these days the word is only heard in those venues intent on expressing their contempt for our fellow workers in this divisive way.  This is my appeal that Black Agenda Report and the readers who look to this publication for thought-leadership decide for ourselves that FOX news does not need our help creating a hostile world for our Muslim neighbors who respect a messenger who in his final sermon instructed the faithful, \"Treat others justly so that no one will be unjust to you.\"  Fringe white supremacist groups have long shown a willingness to use violence to advance their political agenda and to justify their tactics by misquoting the Bible and claiming a Christian Identity. Still no one seems to paint all Christians as equally heinous, to treat their claims of Christian faith with any seriousness or to adopt the widespeard use of phrases like \"Christian Terrorists,\" although there is plenty of evidence in our history and contemporary experience to support the use of such a phrase.  Yet it serves the monied interests who profit from war to create fear by conflating the actions and strategies of small sectarian militias who misquote the Quran to advance their secular agenda with the beliefs of 1.6 billion Muslims who actually seek to practice its precepts.  \"The Arabic word 'jihad' most often translates as 'struggle.'\"  For Muslims around the world an Islamic conception of jihad has nothing to do with \"holy war,\" a concept put forward in 1095 by the Catholic Pope Urban II to justify the crusades against Muslims. The Arabic word most often translates as \"struggle,\" and is used forty-one times in the  Quran, thirty-one times to speak of what the context reveals is a \"jihad al-nafs,\" or an inner struggle in the path of the Divine, what Islamic scholars have called \"the greater jihad.\" It is the sort of lifetime commitment to personal integrity that supports being good partners to spouses, good parents to children, good neighbors, to be civically engaged to create a better world for our communities.  The Quran includes ten references to \"jihad al-qital,\" referred to as the \"lesser jihad\" by the scholars and theologians. Jihad al-qital is an external militant struggle, ordained by legitimate civil authorities and constrained by rules-of-engagement respecting the distinctions between combatants and others. It includes an expectation that the lives of captured combatants will be spared. Jihad al-qital bears more in common with the Christian concept of just-war, than with the  scorched earth policies of the crusades which burned the libraries of Byzantium, or the Jewish tribes annihilation of all the indigenous peoples of Canaan, along with their livestock and shrines.  We create a communications disconnect when we turn jihad into a pejorative, one where Muslims and non-Muslims wind up talking past each other.  \"We'd never let Timothy McVeigh define Christianity for us. \"  We also empower Al-Qaida and ISIS and similar organizations and their allies among the elites of the United States, when we let them appropriate this key Islamic concept to describe their terrorist activities. We'd never let Timothy McVeigh define Christianity for us.  When we fail to interrupt this abuse of human language, this hate speech, this disrespect for the faith of 1% of our fellow US citizens and roughly a quarter of our global neighbors, we first show our ignorance but worse share responsibility for creating an atmosphere which lends support to the attacks being suffered on a regular basis by our Muslim neighbors, both here at home and abroad. We lend support to registration programs and internment camps, to islamaphobic attacks and imperial wars of aggression.  If we need an Arabic word to describe terrorism, that word would be hirabah, which translates as \"unlawful warfare.\"  Nuclear blackmail is hirabah. Drone strikes are hirabah. Cluster munitions are hirabah. White phosphorous is hirabah. Wars of imperialism, aggression and occupation are hirabah. Wars for oil are hirabah.  And distorting language to tell people that words mean the opposite of what they mean is also a form of cultural warfare, and ought to be unlawful, but is perpetrated daily by elected officials, agencies of our own government, the war industry funded think tanks, FOX-News and other Islamophobes in the media. Sectarian militias and FOX news ought not be given the power to redefine the 'sixth' pillar of Islam for the non-Muslim world.  \"Wars of imperialism, aggression and occupation are 'hirabah.'\"  And they certainly do not need our help doing it. In that final sermon referenced above, the Muslim Prophet also prohibited usurious loans and instructed those with accumulated wealth to give every year to the state specified percentages for distribution to the needy. No wonder the disaster capitalists want us to be afraid of our Muslim neighbors.  If fearing our neighbors serves the interests of disaster capitalists, it is highly unlikely to do us any good.  Jihad, even in its lower form, shows its practitioners to be more civilized that the imperial purposes to which our tax dollars are put in imperial wars of aggression and occupation. Jihad al-nafs is an islamic principle to which all the worlds' people, with or without faith, should aspire.  So-called 'jihadist terrorist' is an oxymoron, one which creates a disconnect for those who understand Arabic and Islamic teachings. We ought to say 'sectarian militia' when that is what we mean. Doing so is as essential to our learning to respect our immigrant neighbors as was our rejection of the pejorative use of 'illegal'. Getting the language right is a key early step to creating peace with our Muslim neighbors in the global community. It will help us take the next step of ending our imperial occupations. FOX news is not a legitimate source for a vocabulary useful to our struggle, our jihad for a just future. But respect for the faiths of others can move us in the right direction. Hugh Esco is a founding officer of the Georgia Green Party who works by day in IT, and on nights and weekends for a world worthy of passing on to the next generation. He can be contacted at [email protected]","label":1}
{"text":"'How Am I Supposed To Explain This To My Children?' Asks Melania Trump Thoughts - Nov 9, 2016 By: Sarah Pappalardo SHARE: Tweet  It's been a long and draining election cycle, and I don't think any of us could have expected the result that we saw today. For many of us with young children, you probably woke up this morning asking yourself, \"How am I supposed to explain this to my children?\"  I, Melania Trump, am asking myself the same thing.  How can any of us metabolize what happened to a ten-year-old? Should I be honest and let him know just how bad things are, or do I let him enjoy his childhood, his innocence a little while longer? How much longer can we pretend the bathroom door lock is \"broken\" while Donald is stuck in there?  Many of us are concerned about how our sons will learn to treat women in this dangerous, sexist climate. In the case of my son, the nation's biggest tragedy since 9\/11 just told him to stop being a pussy.  How am I supposed to explain that our next president is a bully, and also his father?  And how do I explain to my son that our next president is a man who intimidatingly looked over at my ballot, just to make sure I was still voting for him? Should I remind my son that this man is a terrible role model and his behavior unacceptable, just like I've been quietly whispering to him for his entire short life?  And when he gets older, how am I supposed to tell them how this all began? That their father admitted to sexual assault, never shared his tax returns, was endorsed by the KKK, and still somehow weaseled his way into the presidency without even winning the popular vote? I used to believe that this country was an equal playing field where anyone can make it with hard work, but now I'm not so sure. I hate that my son has to come of age in such a time of uncertainty and also have blood relation to the cause of it all.  What am I supposed to tell my only son about the loud, nasty man on TV who insults immigrants while hiring thousands of them, including me, his wife? Do I need to tell him anything at all when he is on the TV standing right next to that man?  It seems like it's always on the tip of my tongue these days; that \"Donald Trump is a bad man.\" But I can't bring myself to tell him. Mostly because a man said he'd \"send me back to Slovenia\" if I did. But in my heart, I am concerned for the future of our country. I'm concerned for the world my son has to grow up in, and that his father is the next leader of the free world.  What have we done? SHARE:","label":1}
{"text":"A male colleague grabbing her leg. Another one suggestively rubbing her back. Others at work dinners discussing who they'd want to sleep with. Jane Park talked about experiencing all of this behavior in her career in business consulting and strategy. Never has she reported any of it to human resources or management. \"It's made into such a big deal that you have to make a decision: Do you want to ruin your career? Do you want this to be everything that you end up being about?\" said Ms. Park, who is now chief executive of Julep, a beauty company she founded. \"What you really want to happen is that it doesn't happen again. \" Her choice is more common than not, social science research shows. Employers, judges and juries often use women's failure to report harassment as evidence that it was not a problem or that plaintiffs had other motives. But only a quarter to a third of people who have been harassed at work report it to a supervisor or union representative, and 2 percent to 13 percent file a formal complaint, according to a of studies by Lilia Cortina of the University of Michigan and Jennifer Berdahl of the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business. Mostly they fear retaliation, and with good reason, research shows. In response to a New York Times report this month of payouts to women who had accused the Fox news host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment, 21st Century Fox, Fox News's parent company, said: \"No current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of the 21st Century Fox hotline to raise a concern about Bill O'Reilly, even anonymously. \" In interviews, women who worked at Fox said they didn't complain to human resources because they feared they would be fired. Some women who experience harassment confront the perpetrator or confide in friends or family, the found. But the most common response is to avoid the person, play down what happened or ignore the behavior. Some don't report a problem because they don't think their experience qualifies as illegal harassment. An analysis of 55 representative surveys found that about 25 percent of women report having experienced sexual harassment, but when they are asked about specific behaviors, like inappropriate touching or pressure for sexual favors, the share roughly doubles. Those numbers are broadly consistent with other survey findings. Many victims, who are most often women, fear they will face disbelief, inaction, blame or societal and professional retaliation. That could be hostility from supervisors, a bad reference to future employers or the loss of job opportunities. Their fears are grounded in reality, researchers have concluded. In one study of employees, of workers who had complained about mistreatment described some form of retaliation in a survey. \"They become troublemakers \u2014 nobody wants to hire them or work with them anymore,\" Ms. Berdahl said. Paradoxically, official harassment policies and grievance procedures often end up creating obstacles to women's ability to assert their rights, according to research by Marshall, a sociologist at the University of Illinois. \"That is in part because companies put them into place as mini litigation defense centers,\" Ms. Marshall said. \"The way employers deal with it is to prepare to show a court or jury that they did everything they could, rather than to protect women in the workplace. \" There are many ways that company cultures discourage people who are harassed from reporting it. Sometimes the harasser is a superstar \u2014 someone who makes the company so much money that he feels powerful and uninhibited in his behavior because the company has considerable incentive to look the other way. The more someone has a reputation for harassing, the less likely a woman is to complain, Ms. Berdahl said: \"It's natural to conclude that if he's been getting away with this for a long time, then the organization tolerates it, so why become the problem yourself by going to H. R.?\" Other times the human resources department has no interest in helping the employee \u2014 or there is no such department at all. This is common in Silicon Valley, where companies grow so fast \u2014 and where disdain for bureaucracy runs so deep \u2014 that human resources officials often serve only to recruit employees. In February, a former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, wrote that when she reported to the Uber human resources department that her manager had tried persuading her to have sex with him on her first official day on her new team, the department declined to take action. It said she could change teams or accept what would probably be a poor performance review from the manager. Uber has a new human resources executive and is doing an internal investigation. Ellen Pao, a former partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, described an atmosphere of sexism and harassment at the venture capital firm \u2014 with little recourse. In fact, it had no human resources department. She sued and lost a trial. Organizations that are very hierarchical or masculine can breed more harassment, and less reporting of it, according to studies, because gendered power dynamics are a big driver. That's one reason that harassment has been rampant \u2014 and underreported \u2014 in the military. Most sizable companies have policies banning sexual harassment and require some sort of training in what it is and how to report it. But much of the training has been shown to be ineffective, and at worst can backfire. The best way to avoid sexual harassment and ensure that it's reported when it happens is to bake it into company culture, from the top leaders on down, executives and researchers say. \"When you have an effective H. R. department that is supported by leadership, people feel safe about reporting harassment,\" said Bettina Deynes, vice president for H. R. at the Society for Human Resource Management, a professional association. \"It has a lot to do with the type of H. R. department: The motive is not the legal liability, but the culture you want. \" Culture is a squishy concept, but companies can do concrete things. One counterintuitive idea is to reward managers when complaints of harassment increase in their department, because it means they're creating an environment where people are comfortable reporting it, according to a frank report published in June by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Here are some other ideas from the commission and researchers in the field: \u25a0 Authorize dozens of employees throughout the organization to receive complaints, so that people can report to someone they're comfortable with. \u25a0 Hire an ombudsman. \u25a0 Promote more women to positions of power. \u25a0 Train people not in what not to do, but in how to be civil to colleagues, and how to speak up as a bystander \u2014 and have senior leaders attend the training sessions. \u25a0 Put in proportional consequences, so that instances can be handled with conversations instead of firings or legal action. Ms. Pao, now the chief diversity and inclusion partner at the Kapor Center, a research, advisory and investment group that tries to make the tech industry more diverse, says she is pessimistic that company cultures will change unless it starts at the very top. \"If you could fix the problem, then everybody could move on and thrive,\" she said. \"But often it's not just the one bad player, so you may want to get out of the culture. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson continues to shoot himself in the foot on a daily basis. Just a day after the media took his running mate's statements to their logical conclusion \u2013 a tacit endorsement of Hillary Clinton \u2013 Johnson then lost his cool during an interview with the Guardian, in one of the most awkward interviews we've ever seen.  \"I could hear some loud voices just then. Is is the same questions? You get the same questions again and again and again?\" asks Lewis. \"I'm an idiot. Really. I'm the dumbest guy that you've ever met in your whole life\" replies Johnson. An awkward silence follows while Lewis admits \"I'm trying to work out if that's sarcasm or not.\"  When Lews got to more substantial questions, like how Johnson felt about the fact that every major economist considers Johnson's proposals to abolish all taxes and replace them with a flat sales tax to be crackpot lunacy, the candidate blew his top and went off on an angry but unrelated rant about how he was considered a fool for proposing marijuana legalization.  The Libertarian Party never had much chance in the first place, and their poll numbers continue to plummet . Their platform of free-market anarchy and a juvenile obsession with \"freedoms\" is supported largely by stoned fringe wing-nuts who worship Alex Jones and despise the government in the same way a toddler is infuriated at a parent for not letting them jam a fork into an electric socket.  The general displeasure with the mainstream candidates created some increased interest in the Libertarian Party, but Gary Johnson's behavior can be seen as a representation for the party as a whole: unprepared and immature.  Watch it here:","label":1}
{"text":"The irony in Obama s radical Treasury Secretary s decision to remove racist Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill, lies in the fact that Jackson was the first Democrat to be elected President. Rabid Bernie Sanders supporters are hell-bent on seeing Bernie Sanders fulfill his promise of breaking up the big bank monopolies. Andrew Jackson was pioneer in staving off banking domination in his day.But alas it s official .Moments ago Politico reported that the U.S. Treasury will announce that it plans to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the sources said. There will also be changes to the $5 bill to depict civil rights era leaders.Not every dead president is being scraped however: treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday will announce a decision to keep Alexander Hamilton on the front of the $10 bill and put leaders of the movement to give women the right to vote on the back of the bill.Lew s decision comes after he announced last summer that he was considering replacing Hamilton on the $10 bill with a woman. The announcement drew swift rebukes from fans of Hamilton, who helped create the Treasury Department and the modern American financial system. Critics immediately suggested Hamilton take Jackson off the $20 bill given the former president s role in moving native Americans off their land.Jackson may remain on the $20 bill in some capacity, but will clearly be demoted.While some pointed to the many accomplishments and qualities of Hamilton for why he should stay on the currency printed by the very Treasury the man created, the more popular argument for the Founding Father s retention was an argument about how awful the man on the $20 dollar bill was.The Daily Beast described Jackson as villainous and linked to a February article that called him a mass murderer. The New York Post argued that Old Hickory may well have been our most racist president and was a vicious, power-mad kook. Lew told POLITICO last July that Treasury was exploring ways to respond to critics. There are a number of options of how we can resolve this, Lew said. We re not taking Alexander Hamilton off our currency. Confused? Disturbed? Angry? You are not alone. The following rant by Mac Slavo expressed many feeling about the proposed change.Andrew Jackson, Who Fought Central Bank, Removed from $20 As Public Concern for Liberty ErasedJackson narrowly succeeded in staving off banker domination of the U.S. during his day.Of course, Andrew Jackson, who was the United States seventh president, was also a complete controversy his entire lifetime. It is no surprise that the same people who took down the Confederate flag from the South on the back of a mass shooting tragedy are now trying to tear down the image of a particularly controversial and intriguing figure from the American past.Jackson was a recalcitrant and unyielding general and war hero, and later an outsider riding a wave of populist support into the White House, bringing in sometimes unscrupulous companions, and plenty of Masons. Many of his backers were diametrically opposed to the entrenched power of New York bankers and speculators, as well as patrician politicians who dominated the first phase of politics in the nation s history. Jackson played a nasty role in the Trail of Tears affairs with Indians, too, and with the South and Western expansion of slave-friendly territories. Many shades of grey.Erasing Andrew Jackson from the faces of the fiat funny-money that is passed around by an increasingly ignorant and dependent society (which itself has adopted digital currency as the new norm) will further cut off the past from the masses, and ensure their enslavement.","label":1}
{"text":"Last year, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy made national headlines for his insane standoff with government officials over the illegal grazing of his cattle, and now his three sons have followed in his footsteps by taking up arms with about 150 armed and dangerous militia members in an Oregon wildlife reserve. They are occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge HQ in protest of the expected detainment of two ranchers in the area who are expected to face federal arson charges. Ammon Bundy, the presumed leader of this ridiculous occupation, made a video that was later uploaded to social media, where he said: We re going to be freeing these lands up, and getting ranchers back to ranching, getting the loggers back to logging, getting the miners back to mining where they could do it under the protection of the people and not be afraid of this tyranny that s been set upon them. These people need to learn that they are not above the law. This occupation is illegal, and if they are taking up arms against the government they and all of their participants and supporters need to be hauled into federal custody and charged. That was the mistake before Cliven Bundy and his right-wing militiamen never spent so much as a day behind bars for their insanity. Now, Ammon Bundy, his brothers, and other like-minded morons want to rule themselves free from government oversight in their own nutty enclave.Another presumed group leader, a man by the name of Blane Cooper, speaks in the video and trashes the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the equivalent of high school bullies : Until that line is drawn and say we ve had enough of this tyranny, you are going to leave us alone it will not change. Cooper goes on to encourage more occupations like this one across the country: It doesn t have to stop here. This could be a hope that spreads through the whole country, the whole United States. Everybody s looking for this hope because the government has beat us, and oppressed us, and took everything from us; they will not stop until we tell them no. Perhaps this time, the feds will take these lunatics seriously and arrest them.Watch the video of this insane anti-government speech below:\/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]&gt;Here it is. Please know these men will speak to people civilly. Do not go up there guns blazing. Stay safe and smart.Posted by Sarah Dee Spurlock on Saturday, January 2, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Russia is quietly boosting economic support for North Korea to try to stymie any U.S.-led push to oust Kim Jong Un as Moscow fears his fall would sap its regional clout and allow U.S. troops to deploy on Russia s eastern border. Though Moscow wants to try to improve battered U.S.-Russia relations in the increasingly slim hope of relief from Western sanctions over Ukraine, it remains strongly opposed to what it sees as Washington s meddling in other countries affairs, according to Russian diplomats and analysts familiar with the Kremlin s thinking. Russia is already angry about a build-up of U.S.-led NATO forces on its western borders in Europe and does not want any replication on its Asian flank, the sources added. Yet while Russia has an interest in protecting North Korea, which started life as a Soviet satellite state, it is not giving Pyongyang a free pass: it backed tougher United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear tests last month. At the same time Moscow is playing a fraught double game, by quietly offering North Korea a slender lifeline to help insulate it from U.S.-led efforts to isolate it economically. A Russian company began routing North Korean internet traffic this month, giving Pyongyang a second connection with the outside world besides China. Bilateral trade more than doubled to $31.4 million in the first quarter of 2017, due mainly to what Moscow said was higher oil product exports, according to Russia s ministry for the development of the Far East. At least eight North Korean ships that left Russia with fuel cargoes this year have returned home despite officially declaring other destinations, a ploy U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions against Pyongyang. And Russia, which shares a short land border with North Korea, has also resisted U.S.-led efforts to repatriate tens of thousands of North Korean workers whose remittances help keep the country s hard line leadership afloat. The Kremlin really believes the North Korean leadership should get additional assurances and confidence that the United States is not in the regime change business, Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a think-tank close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Reuters. The prospect of regime change is a serious concern. The Kremlin understands that (U.S. President Donald) Trump is unpredictable. They felt more secure with Barack Obama that he would not take any action that would explode the situation, but with Trump they don t know. Trump, who mocks North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a rocket man on a suicide mission, told the United Nations General Assembly last month he would totally destroy the country if necessary. He has also said Kim Jong Un and his foreign minister won t be around much longer if they made good on a threat to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. To be sure, Beijing s economic ties to Pyongyang still dwarf Moscow s and China remains a more powerful player in the unfolding nuclear crisis. But while Beijing is cutting back trade as it toughens its line on its neighbor s ballistic missile and nuclear program, Russia is increasing its support. People familiar with elements of Kremlin thinking say that is because Russia flatly opposes regime change in North Korea. Russian politicians have repeatedly accused the United States of plotting so-called color revolutions across the former Soviet Union and any U.S. talk of unseating any leader for whatever reason is politically toxic in Moscow. Russia s joint military exercises with neighboring Belarus last month gamed a scenario where Russian forces put down a Western-backed attempt for part of Belarus to break away. With Russia due to hold a presidential election in March, politicians are again starting to fret about Western meddling. In 2011, President Vladimir Putin accused then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of trying to stir up unrest in Russia and he has made clear that he wants the United States to leave Kim Jong Un alone. While condemning Pyongyang for what he called provocative nuclear tests, Putin told a forum last month in the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok that he understood North Korea s security concerns about the United States and South Korea. Vladivostok, a strategic port city of 600,000 people and headquarters to Russia s Pacific Fleet, is only about 100 km (60 miles) from Russia s border with North Korea. Russia would be fiercely opposed to any U.S. forces deploying nearby in a reunited Korea. (The North Koreans) know exactly how the situation developed in Iraq, Putin told the economic forum, saying Washington had used the false pretext that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction to destroy the country and its leadership. They know all that and see the possession of nuclear weapons and missile technology as their only form of self-defense. Do you think they re going to give that up? Analysts say Russia s view is that North Korea s transformation into a nuclear state, though incomplete, is permanent and irreversible and the best the West can hope for is for Pyongyang to freeze elements of its program. Kortunov, the think-tank chief close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, said he did not think the Kremlin s defense of Kim Jong Un was based on any personal affection or support for North Korea s leadership, likening Moscow s pragmatic backing to that it has given Syria s President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow s position was motivated by a belief the status quo made Russia a powerful geopolitical player in the crisis because of its close ties to Pyongyang, Kortunov said, just as Russia s support for Assad has gifted it greater Middle East clout. He said Moscow knew it would lose regional leverage if Kim Jong Un fell, much as its Middle East influence was threatened when Islamist militants looked like they might overthrow Assad in 2015. It s a very delicate balancing act, said Kortunov. On the one hand, Russia doesn t want to deviate from the line of its partners and mostly from China s position on North Korea which is getting tougher. But on the other hand, politicians in Moscow understand that the current situation and level of interaction between Moscow and Pyongyang puts Russia in a league of its own compared to China. If the United States were to remove Kim Jong Un by force, he said Russia could face a refugee and humanitarian crisis on its border, while the weapons and technology Pyongyang is developing could fall into even more dangerous non-state hands. So despite Russia giving lukewarm backing to tighter sanctions on Pyongyang, Putin wants to help its economy grow and is advocating bringing it into joint projects with other countries in the region. We need to gradually integrate North Korea into regional cooperation, Putin told the Vladivostok summit last month.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz apologized to Ben Carson on Tuesday over an email his campaign sent on Monday night that implied Carson was about to drop out of the race and that his Iowa backers should be urged to vote for Cruz instead. A staffer for Cruz sent the email after rumors began circulating that Carson would return to Florida following Iowa's caucuses on Monday rather than go straight to New Hampshire or South Carolina, other early voting states in the state-by-state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election. \"The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week,\" the email read, according to CNN. \"Please inform any Carson caucusgoers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz.\" Carson said he was simply leaving Iowa to avoid a winter storm and to get fresh clothes before continuing his campaign on Wednesday. The retired neurosurgeon, who said his fourth-place performance in Iowa would have been better had the email never been sent, criticized the move as \"a dirty trick\" and said the Cruz campaign should face some kind of consequences. \"What this does is makes me more determined than ever to try to save our country,\" Carson said on Fox News on Tuesday. In an apology released on Tuesday afternoon, Cruz, who won the Iowa Republican caucuses, categorized the email as a regular update the campaign would send to grassroots leaders. But the U.S. senator from Texas acknowledged another email should have been sent once Carson clarified he was not dropping out. \"This was a mistake from our end, and for that I apologize to Dr. Carson,\" Cruz wrote. Carson accepted the apology, his communications director, A. Larry Ross, said in a statement later on Tuesday. \"This incident further demonstrates that we need an individual who is not a politician to lead and to heal our nation, not someone driven by ambition,\" Ross said, adding that Carson would continue his campaign in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said he would not interfere in the situation. \"You take them at their word for it, and you move on to the next state,\" he said on CNN. The question remains whether the dispute will hurt Cruz, a favorite of conservative evangelicals looking to win over Carson supporters should Carson drop out. Dartmouth University political scientist Linda Fowler said it could hurt Cruz if other candidates start to pick up on the interaction and say: \"There's a reason why nobody likes Ted Cruz, and here it is.\" (Reporting by Megan Cassella, Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Peter Cooney and Cynthia Osterman) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.","label":0}
{"text":"The United States hopes a new package of U.S. regulatory changes affecting Cuba will encourage people-to-people interactions and provide additional incentives for Havana to make economic and trade reforms of its own, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The regulatory reforms, which were introduced earlier on Tuesday, loosen travel restrictions on Cuba and ease limits on the use of U.S. dollars in trade transactions there just days ahead of President Barack Obama's historic visit to the former Cold War enemy. U.S. officials told reporters the new rules would allow more Cubans to work legally in the United States without having to defect, but they declined to predict how that might affect Major League Baseball. \"It certainly does address the ability of Cuban athletes who can earn salaries in the United States to do so,\" one official told reporters in a briefing.","label":0}
{"text":"Next Prev Swipe left\/right Read the frustrating conversation a man had with his granny after accidentally phoning her Twitter user Big Daddy , also known as @YanniTsunami , has shared an awkward text conversation he had with his grandmother \u2013 because granny texts are a thing now \u2013 after he accidentally called her.  The conversation went like this:  Granny: What's wrong Granny: Did u want anything or just wanted to talk Big Daddy: It was an accident Granny: Were u driving Big Daddy: I'm fine Granny: Who was driving Big Daddy: My mom is driving Granny: The car hurt","label":1}
{"text":"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg erroneously labeled South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham as one of the women of the Senate on Monday.Ginsburg s misstatement came in her remarks upon accepting an Allegheny College award given to her and the late Justice Antonin Scalia for civility in public life. Hours after Justice Neil Gorsuch was sworn in to replace Scalia, Ginsburg took to the podium in calling on lawmakers to work together, but mistakenly identified South Carolina s senior senator as a woman. I thought back to the 1993 confirmation of my nomination to the court the hearing was altogether civil, the vote was 96 to 3. For Justice Scalia, the vote was unanimous, Ginsburg said. Let s hope members of Congress, the members that Allegheny College has already honored Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John McCain, the women of the Senate, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham let s hope that they and others of goodwill will lead in restoring harmonious work ways.","label":1}
{"text":"Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran said he had returned to Washington on Tuesday and was looking forward to \"continuing work on the 2018 appropriations bills and to taking part in the debate on the budget and tax cuts.\" Cochran's absence for a medical procedure threatened to complicate passage of a budget blueprint needed to push through the Republicans' plan for tax reform. Cochran's office said in a statement that the Mississippi senator \"continues to be treated for urological issues and remains under medical supervision, which could affect his work schedule.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Police Use Tear Gas, Arrest 9 During Protests In St. Louis Police used tear gas and arrested nine people during protests in St. Louis on Wednesday. Demonstrators gathered after police shot and killed an 18-year-old they say pointed a gun at them. Police said protesters threw bottles and bricks at them, so they deployed armored vehicles and teams of officers in riot gear. \"The Rev. Renita Lamkin of St. Charles, who regularly attended protests in Ferguson, went to Page Avenue with several other clergy members Wednesday evening. She accused the police of engaging in an overly aggressive response. \" 'There has to be a better way, but the better way is not to terrorize an already terrorized community,' she said. 'How they deal with the situation is classist and dehumanizing. The people here don't matter as much to them.' \"Kayla Reed of the Organization for Black Struggle also said she believed officers were too aggressive toward a crowd 'that never was all that big.' She claimed officers gave no warning firing canisters of smoke and tear gas.\" Police defended their actions, saying they warned protesters that the gathering had been deemed an unlawful assembly. As The Associated Press reports, officers were serving a warrant at a home in that neighborhood Wednesday afternoon. They encountered two suspects. \"The suspects were fleeing the home as [18-year-old Mansur] Ball-Bey, who was black, turned and pointed a handgun at the officers, who shot him,\" the AP says. Police say they found four guns and crack cocaine at the home. \"Police said a 33-year-old white officer with seven years on the force and a 29-year-old white officer with nearly seven years experience fired their weapons after Ball-Bey pointed his gun at them. \"A black male in his mid to late teens escaped and remains at large. Police said they recovered a 9-mm gun with 'an extended magazine' from Ball-Bey that had been reported as stolen in Rolla, Mo. They also recovered three other guns at the scene.\" Of course, these protests come at a time when tensions in the St. Louis area are running high. The last few weeks have been marked by events commemorating the shooting death of Michael Brown. The protests and clashes with police extended through the night. One vacant house was set on fire and the Post-Dispatch says police have received reports of businesses being set on fire.","label":0}
{"text":"Massive Spherical Space Object Disturbed NASA's Satellite H1  NASA still won't talk about a giant mysterious spherical object that sometimes becomes visible in the vicinity of the Sun. Now, it seems a massive unknown force disturbed NASA's satellite H1 on November 17, 2016 which almost led to an equipment malfunction. On November 16, the satellite was still functioning normally then on the 17th something disturbed the satellite but the H1 camera still managed to capture images and one day later the 18th everything returned to normal. Images captured on the 17th show a giant spherical object which was probably the cause of the incident. Whether the object is one of the giant extraterrestrial or interdimensional spacecraft, which are accessing our solar system, using the Sun as a stargate or an unknown celestial body like the famed planet Nibiru, it is clear what happened on the 17th was not the result of an equipment failure. Note: Planet Nibiru \u2013 This mysterious object has been researched by Intellihub's Shepard Ambellas for over 25 years and is likely the basis for all emergency preparations by world governments which we've seen transpire over the last three decades after the object was discovered during the Regan Administration by NASA's IRAS telescope. WATCH THE VIDEO:  UFO Sighting Hotspot SOURCE","label":1}
{"text":"Bangalore car driver drives 200 km in search of U-turn to reach home Posted on Tweet  In another bizarre tale of Bangalore's ever increasing traffic woes, more than hundred car drivers reportedly reached Mysore while searching for a u-turn to reach home. The drivers had started from their offices on outer ring road and had to take a u-turn to reach their homes on the other side of the road but the Bangalore Traffic police made some unexpected changes due to which the car drivers kept on driving, finally finding a u-turn near Mysore.  \"U-turns and one ways! At one point, I even asked a few passersby to help me lift the car and place it on the other side of the road. But some of them rushed and sat inside my car as they had been waiting to cross the road for the last 6 days and finally saw some hope,\" said a frustrated driver after reaching Mysore. \"I could see my home on the right side 5 minutes after starting from office, but then I never found a u-turn. When I did find one, the Google maps lady asked me to keep going straight and I missed it!\" he further lamented.  Even Google Maps isn't able to understand the sudden changes by Bangalore traffic police. \"Our users have been banging their cars into dividers. When our map says take a u-turn, there never is one. That's the magic of Bangalore Traffic police,\" said a developer working on Google maps.  Meanwhile, Bangalore Traffic police has termed this as \"suspense driving\", in which the driver is always alert. \"U-turns should be a suspense and we are going to make this game even more interesting,\" said a policeman.  (Reported by Citizen Satirist Manish Paul . He blogs here )","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment on Wednesday that would have forced the repeal of war resolutions used as the legal basis for U.S. military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and against extremists in Syria and other countries. The Senate voted 61 to 36 to kill the measure, which six months after it became law would have put an end to authorizations for the use of military force (AUMF) passed in 2001 and 2002. The legislation was offered by Republican Senator Rand Paul as an amendment to a must-pass annual defense policy bill, which lawmakers are using as a vehicle to gain a greater say in national security policy. Paul's measure was aimed at asserting the constitutional right of Congress to approve military action, rather than the president. Some of the other amendments address issues such as sanctions on North Korea and President Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops in the military. Many members of Congress are concerned the 2001 AUMF, passed days after the Sept. 11 attacks to authorize the fight against al Qaeda and affiliates, has been used too broadly as the legal basis for a wide range of military action in too many countries. The majority of support for the amendment came from Democrats, who joined Paul in arguing that it is long past time for Congress to debate a new authorization for the use of force. \"We should oppose unauthorized, undeclared, unconstitutional war. At this particular time, there are no limits on war,\" Paul said. Republicans control majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Only two other Republicans backed the amendment. Opponents said it would endanger U.S. forces already deployed in conflicts overseas by generating uncertainty about their mission. \"Repealing the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs without simultaneously passing a new authorization would be premature, it would be irresponsible,\" said Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. However, McCain and several other senators who spoke against the amendment said they would back efforts to pass a new authorization through so-called \"regular order,\" including hearings and debate. A growing number of lawmakers argue that using the 2001 authorization is especially questionable for the campaign against Islamic State, which did not exist when it was passed, and fights against al Qaeda in Syria and elsewhere.","label":0}
{"text":"A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban condemned on Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that he will keep American troops in Afghanistan with no set timetable for withdrawal. \"Instead of continuing of war in Afghanistan, Americans should have thought about withdrawing their soldiers from Afghanistan,\" Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement issued hours after Trump's televised speech on U.S. policy in Afghanistan and South Asia. Mujahid said \"as long as there is even one American solder in our country\", the Islamist insurgents would \"continue our jihad\".","label":0}
{"text":"One way or another, she s going to have to face these charges Former Republican Congressman Tom Delay Note that Tom Delay says the FBI is ready to indict . The FBI cannot indict but the DOJ can indict. If the DOJ chooses not to indict, Hillary will be tried in the court of public opinion. This will be an interesting test for DOJ Director Loretta Lynch. The revelation that the Clinton team took highly classified e-mails and copy and pasted them is a big bombshell in itself. Just a bunch of amateurs on this team","label":1}
{"text":"November 6, 2016 at 11:31 am  I hope the next one really try to tie the 2 you just equated. An ancient cult linked directly to something today is more far fetched than just stating they do crazy stuff and thats about it.It would do you some good to study a little more about how theological perspectives evolve. Not even cults that are proeminent and known throughout history can be linked directly, such as Christianity and Islamism. Why that would be different for any idiotic satan cult?","label":1}
{"text":"Amateur president Donald Trump used his commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday to make the day all about him. Trump did not address the scandals which have inundated the White House directly, but indirectly he did by saying that he s receiving unfair treatment by the media. Even though Trump s scandals have been compared to Watergate, he said, Look at the way I ve been treated lately. Especially by the media. Trump whined that no politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. Apparently, the former reality show star has forgotten how he treated Barack Obama, dogging our first black president for years with baseless allegations saying that he s a scary Muslim from Kenya.Trump gave the cadets some advice, saying that they will need to fight, fight, fight. Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair. You will find that things happen to you that you do not deserve and that are not always warranted, he said, seemingly referring to bombshell reports, which he even admitted to on Twitter, saying he disclosed highly classified information to top Russian officials. Or he could be referring to the other bombshell reports, stating that he asked former FBI Director James Comey to shut down an investigation into his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.Trump went on to brag that he s accomplished a tremendous amount in a very short time. Then he boasted of his upcoming first international trip which is to begin on Friday. As you leave this academy to embark on your exciting new voyage, Trump said, I am heading on a very crucial journey, as well. In a few days, I will make my first trip abroad as President. Things will work out just fine, Trump concluded. Great honor. Good luck. Enjoy your life. Watch:Poor Trump, the media has treated him so unfairly by quoting him verbatim. When Flynn was forced to resign, he called the disgraced retired General a wonderful man then went on to blame the fake media. Tell me if this sounds familiar. Michael Flynn, Gen. Flynn, is a wonderful man. I think he has been treated very, very unfairly by the media, as I call it, the fake media in many cases, Trump said at the time. And I think it s really a sad thing that he was treated so badly. And today, President Bone Spurs addressed graduates who may be headed to active duty to cry about the fake news media.Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"Charles Schumer, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, called on President Donald Trump on Sunday to name a single official to oversee and coordinate relief efforts in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Schumer, along with Representatives Nydia Vel\u00e0zquez and Jose Serrano, said a \"CEO of response and recovery\" is needed to manage the complex and ongoing federal response in the territory, where millions of Americans remain without power and supplies. In a statement, Schumer said the current federal response to Hurricane Maria's impact on the island had been \"disorganized, slow-footed and mismanaged.\" \"This person will have the ability to bring all the federal agencies together, cut red tape on the public and private side, help turn the lights back on, get clean water flowing and help bring about recovery for millions of Americans who have gone too long in some of the worst conditions,\" he said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democrats contended that naming a lone individual to manage the government's relief efforts was critical, particularly given that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is already stretched thin from dealing with other crises, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and the wildfires in California. The severity of the Puerto Rico crisis, where a million people do not have clean water and millions are without power nearly a month after Hurricane Maria made landfall, demand a single person to focus exclusively on relief and recovery, the Democrats said. Forty-nine people have died in Puerto Rico officially, with dozens more missing. The hurricane did extensive damage to the island's power grid, destroying homes, roads and other vital infrastructure. Now, the bankrupt territory is struggling to provide basic services like running water, and pay its bills. \"It's tragically clear this Administration was caught flat footed when Maria hit Puerto Rico,\" said Vel\u00e0zquez. \"Appointing a CEO of Response and Recovery will, at last, put one person with authority in charge to manage the response and ensure we are finally getting the people of Puerto Rico the aid they need.\" On Thursday, Trump said the federal response has been a \"10\" on a scale of one to 10 at a meeting with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello. The governor has asked the White House and Congress for at least $4.6 billion in block grants and other types of funding. Senator Marco Rubio called on Congress to modify an $18.7 billion aid package for areas damaged by a recent swath of hurricanes to ensure that Puerto Rico can quickly access the funds.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, responding to Pope Francis' calling him \"not Christian\" because of his positions on immigration, said on Thursday the pope would have wished Trump was president if Islamic State attacked Vatican. \"If and when the Vatican is attacked by the ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president,\" Trump said in a speech in South Carolina, using an acronym for the militant group. (Reporting by Mohammad Zargham in Washington) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"Will the mainstream media report about this?Contradicting statements by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Virginia State Police say they did not find caches of weapons stashed around Charlottesville in advance of last Saturday s deadly white nationalist rally.In an interview Monday on the Pod Save the People podcast, hosted by Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, McAuliffe claimed the white nationalists who streamed into Charlottesville that weekend hid weapons throughout the town. They had battering rams and we had picked up different weapons that they had stashed around the city, McAuliffe told Mckesson.McAuliffe s comments were picked up by other news outlets and spread through social media. But Corinne Geller, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, says that no such stashes were found. The governor was referring to the briefing provided him in advance of Saturday s rally and the extra security measures being taken by local and state police, Geller tells Reason. As a safety precaution in advance of August 12, such searches were conducted in and around Emancipation and McIntire Parks. No weapons were located as a result of those searches. The Virginia State Police also disputed McAuliffe s claims that Virginia State Police were underequipped to deal with the heavily armed militia members at Saturday s rally. The governor was referencing the weapons and tactical gear the members of various groups attending the rally had on their persons, Geller says. I can assure you that the Virginia State Police personnel were equipped with more-than-adequate specialized tactical and protective gear for the purpose of fulfilling their duties to serve and protect those in attendance of the August 12 event in Charlottesville. McAuliffe claimed in an interview with The New York Times that law enforcement arrived to find a line of militia members who had better equipment than our State Police had. In longer comments that were later edited out of the Times story, McAuliffe said that up to 80 percent of the rally attendees were carrying semi-automatic weapons. You saw the militia walking down the street, you would have thought they were an army, he said. Reason","label":1}
{"text":"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte s eldest son quit as vice mayor of the southern city of Davao on Monday, citing his being linked to a drug smuggling case by opponents and personal problems from a failed marriage as reasons for the move. Paolo Duterte announced his resignation during a special session of the Davao City Council. Davao is President Duterte s hometown and its mayor is Paolo s younger sister, Sara Duterte-Carpio. There are recent unfortunate events in my life that are closely tied to my failed first marriage, the vice mayor said, in a statement made available to media. These, among others, include the maligning of my reputation in the recent name dropping incident in the Bureau of Customs smuggling case and the very public squabble with my daughter. Paolo testified at a senate investigation in September into a seized shipment of around $125 million worth of narcotics from China after opponents of the president, who has instigated a fierce crackdown on the drugs trade, said they believe his son may have helped ease the entry of the shipment at the port in Manila, the Philippine capital. Paolo has denied any involvement. More recently, he has been involved in an online spat with Isabelle, his 15-year-old daughter from his first wife. Paolo has called her embarrassing on Facebook after she complained on Twitter about being treated badly by her father. The president s office, the mayor s office and other members of Paolo s family did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.","label":0}
{"text":"Senate Republicans sink to a new disgraceful low in their childish effort prevent President Obama from filling the vacant Supreme Court seat.When asked about potential Supreme Court nominees, John Cornyn, the second highest ranking Republican in the Senate literally issued a threat to anyone who might accept the nomination from President Obama that their career and reputation will be intentionally ruined by Senate Republicans. I think they will bear some resemblance to a pi ata, Cornyn said according to CNN. What I don t understand is how someone who actually wants to be confirmed to the Supreme Court would actually allow themselves to be used by the administration in a political fight that s going to last from now until the end of the year. Because there is no guarantee, certainly, after that time they re going to look as good as they did going in. Yes, Senate Republicans are so desperate to get their way that they are willing to destroy the life of anyone President Obama nominates to fill the empty Supreme Court seat even if that person has impeccable credentials and is absolutely qualified to do the job.This angered Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid so much that he entered the CNN article into the Congressional Record, where it will remain as an example of just how petulant Republicans have become, and then he took to the Senate floor to blast Cornyn and the GOP. Think about that. They don t know who the nominee is, they don t know anything about the person, but they already have in their mind they are going to beat this person like a pi ata. It doesn t matter who it is. Man, woman, old, young, it doesn t matter. Doesn t matter what their education is, what their experience is, they re going to beat them like a pi ata. I think they ve been listening to Donald Trump too much. The Republicans need to stop and listen to this disgusting rhetoric they re spewing This is vile behavior that is beneath the dignity of this institution. Here s the video of Reid remarks via YouTube:And the American people overwhelmingly agree with Democrats on this issue.Three major polls, including a Fox News poll, reveal that most Americans WANT President Obama to nominate a replacement for Scalia and they WANT Senate Republicans to do their jobs and hold fair confirmation hearings even more. A Rasmussen poll says the same thing, and so does a CNN\/ORC poll released this month.But rather than backtrack his remarks and apologize for his utter lack of professionalism, Cornyn doubled down on his threat and this time used the Senate floor to repeat his offensive promise to destroy the reputation and career of anyone who accepts the nomination, suggesting that President Obama would be at fault if Senate Republicans did such a thing. I would be surprised if any person who actually aspired to be on the United States Supreme Court, a current judge or a legal scholar or lawyer, would allow themselves to be used by this administration in making a nomination to the Supreme Court for a seat that will not be filled during the remainder of President Obama s term. Knowing that they won t be confirmed. This is totally outrageous and Senate Republicans should be ashamed of themselves. They have thumbed their nose at the American people and are an embarrassment to the nation and Constitution they claim to serve.Featured Image: Wikimedia","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called his Japanese counterpart on Saturday to express regrets after an American working at a U.S. military base in Japan was arrested on suspicion of dumping the body of a Japanese woman. The case in Okinawa has sparked a protest from Tokyo and could add to resentment of the large U.S. military presence on the island, where Japanese have long been upset by crimes committed by Americans. It also is likely to stir anti-U.S. sentiment as President Barack Obama visits Japan next week. In his call to Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, Carter \"extended his sincere apologies to the victim's family and friends,\" Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement. \"He also expressed his sympathies to the people of Japan,\" the statement said. A 32-year-old American working at the base on Okinawa admitted to abandoning the corpse of a 20-year-old Japanese woman but did not comment about whether he had killed her, an Okinawa police spokesman said earlier this week. The Pentagon has said the man was a contractor but did not name him. The Pentagon statement said the Defense Department would cooperate with the Japanese government in the investigation and work to prevent similar incidents. Obama is going to Japan for a Group of Seven summit and also will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, a city destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb 71 years ago in World War Two. Okinawa, the site of a bloody World War Two battle, hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces based in Japan since the war with U.S. installations taking up about 18 percent of the island. Earlier this year, a U.S. serviceman stationed in Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman. In the most infamous post-war case involving Americans on Okinawa, three American servicemen raped a 12-year-old girl in 1995.","label":0}
{"text":"Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is really working hard to make Chicagoans feel a part of the city the only problem is he s focusing his efforts on the illegal aliens who live there. To add insult to injury, Chicago s murder rate is sky high with no end in sight but, but, but the illegals have a new fancy ID to give them the same benefits as everyone else in the city at a cost of millions to taxpayers. The card is free to the freeloaders while the taxpayers foot the bill The name municipal ID was initially floated for the program, but Emanuel revealed that Chicago s city IDs would actually be called City Keys. He said City Keys were designed to give a person who doesn t have an ID or a driver s license essentially the same benefits as those who do. When somebody says, Can I see your driver s license? what that unlocks and what that smooths out and all the speed bumps that literally get eliminated because you have a driver s license, Emanuel said.The mayor says the IDs will also provide benefits including discounts at cultural centers, on public transit and for veterans and senior citizens at locations across the city. Chicagoans will be able to link their public transit and library card to the ID and potentially even open bank accounts with it.Critics of the program say it might be a way for undocumented workers or people illegally in the U.S. to obtain a valid ID.GREAT POINT!","label":1}
{"text":"Comments  Former US Attorney General Eric Holder just wrote an op-ed warning the American people to disregard the FBI Director James Comey's unprecedented decision to release information about an ongoing investigation during the heat of an election. Comey released a vague memo when he had little more to go on other than a mere suspicion and is now facing bipartisan calls for removal from office. Democratic congressional staffers now claim that their first warning of the Comey memo was when a House Republican tweeted it out with the usual anti-Hillary spin. That alone demonstrates exactly what Holder wrote about preventing \"investigations from unfairly or unintentionally casting public suspicion,\" which happened nearly instantly on Friday afternoon.  Former Attorney General Holder also pointed out that Comey's \"newly discovered\" emails have no known significance and that the FBI Director violated long standing policies in the Department of Justice \u2013 which are non-partisan \u2013 aimed at upholding the integrity of America's form of electoral democracy, free from government intervention:  I understand the gravity of the work our Justice Department performs every day to defend the security of our nation, protect the American people, uphold the rule of law and be fair. That is why I am deeply concerned about FBI Director James B. Comey's decision to write a vague letter to Congress about emails potentially connected to a matter of public, and political, interest. That decision was incorrect.  The department also has a policy of not taking unnecessary action close in time to Election Day that might influence an election's outcome. These rules have been followed during Republican and Democratic administrations. They aren't designed to help any particular individual or to serve any political interest. Instead, they are intended to ensure that every investigation proceeds fairly and judiciously; to maintain the public trust in the department's ability to do its job free of political influence; and to prevent investigations from unfairly or unintentionally casting public suspicion on public officials who have done nothing wrong.  Director Comey broke with these fundamental principles. I fear he has unintentionally and negatively affected public trust in both the Justice Department and the FBI. And he has allowed \u2014 again without improper motive \u2014 misinformation to be spread by partisans with less pure intentions. Already, we have learned that the importance of the discovery itself may have been overblown. According to the director himself, there is no indication yet that the \"newly discovered\" emails bear any significance at all. And yet, because of his decision to comment on this development before sufficient facts were known, the public has faced a torrent of conspiracy theories and misrepresentations.  High ranking former Justice Department officials like Eric Holder do not make a career out of slamming their former colleagues, so it's a very rare break in the ranks to see a former Attorney General publicly slam his former subordinate. The Hatch Act prevents federal officials from interfering in partisan elections and strictly demands that public officials refrain from doing anything that could impact an election. Holder wrote :  I served with Jim Comey and I know him well. This is a very difficult piece for me to write. He is a man of integrity and honor. I respect him. But good men make mistakes. In this instance, he has committed a serious error with potentially severe implications. It is incumbent upon him \u2014 or the leadership of the department \u2014 to dispel the uncertainty he has created before Election Day. It is up to the director to correct his mistake \u2014 not for the sake of a political candidate or campaign but in order to protect our system of justice and best serve the American people.  FBI Director James Comey knew better than to release a vague memo about an ongoing investigation, which, even under normal circumstances, should never be done. That is why former Attorney General Holder felt compelled to rebuke him in this scathing op-ed.  Hopefully, the current members of the Justice Department tasked with reviewing the bipartisan complaints read the memo and expedite their decision concerning the future of the FBI Director.  It should not take long for any rational investigator to determine that James Comey's \"cry wolf\" memo was little more than a partisan prop handed to a failing campaign \u2014 and to remove the FBI Director from his office.","label":1}
{"text":"Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein criticized the United States' decision to withdraw from the Paris climate deal in his first message on Twitter Inc since joining the platform six years ago. \"Today's decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.'s leadership position in the world,\" Blankfein said, adding the hashtag \"ParisAgreement.\" Goldman spokesman Michael Duvally confirmed that the account is Blankfein's. Blankfein's former No. 2 Gary Cohn is chief economic adviser to President Donald Trump and was part of a \"stay-in\" camp that included Trump's daughter Ivanka, Gary Cohn, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Other top executives also criticized the decision to quit the accord, including Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk and General Electric Co CEO Jeff Immelt.","label":0}
{"text":"Social media news outlets are buzzing today after reporting that a man allegedly threw his 3 year-old son off of the Golden Gate Bridge after he \"broke his father's Apple Watch during its WatchOS 3 update.\" The article claims the man, Richard Thomas, was driving across the bridge when his 3 year-old grabbed the watch during its OS 3 update and threw it out the window. The father reportedly slammed on his brakes, retrieved the Apple Watch, only to find it was broken. As Thomas's car began to back up traffic, he pulled his three-year-old son out of the car and threw him into the water. The news headline has been circulating around the Internet all day. TMZ Breaking SOURCE","label":1}
{"text":"You've just landed in Beijing, Rio de Janeiro or Christchurch, New Zealand, and you're greeted at the airport by a clutch of adoring locals. What is the polite way to greet them? Do you bow, or proffer your hand, or prepare to envelop the assembled strangers in an embrace? More important: To kiss or not to kiss? The world may be increasingly globalized, but when it comes to greeting practices, local customs still prevail \u2014 and things can get awkward when, say, a American businessman meets his Japanese counterpart for the first time. (Best just to bow.) If you find yourself facing a group of native Maoris in New Zealand, you'll want to steel yourself for a traditional nose greeting, which involves touching snouts and foreheads. In Rio, local convention dictates three cheek kisses. But a few hours' drive to the south in S\u00e3o Paulo, the single peck prevails. In Beijing, the locals prefer a nod and a smile. In the interests of international fellowship and peace, here is an incomplete guide to world greetings. In much of Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, air kissing between strangers is common, but each nation, and in some cases each region within a country, may have its own habits. Argentine men will one another, but only if they are friends of friends. In most of the Arab world, a double air kiss is obligatory, though only between people of the same sex. Things can get complicated in France, as this map suggests: Expect anywhere from four kisses (in Nantes) down to two (in Toulouse) or just a single peck (in Brest). The general rule is that lips should never touch cheek, though a faint smooching sound is expected. In most of Northern Europe, a firm handshake will usually suffice between strangers, and a single kiss for friends. \"Firm\" doesn't begin to describe the obligatory handshake between two unacquainted men in Russia, which can feel like a test of strength with near results. And there's a taboo about shaking hands across the threshold of a home: Wait until you are both on the same side of the door. When kisses are called for, where do you aim? In Portugal, the kissing usually progresses from left to right, but in Strasbourg, France, it's right to left. Kissing or touching strangers is frowned upon in Asia. The customary greeting in Thailand involves a bow with the palms pressed together, as if in prayer similar gestures are common from Cambodia to Indonesia. In India, a limp handshake between men is fine, but don't try it with a member of the opposite sex. The traditional way to greet an Indian elder is to bend down and touch his feet. Tibetans have one of the most unusual traditional gestures for greeting others: They stick out their tongues \u2014 though always from a safe distance.","label":0}
{"text":"France s defense minister warned on Tuesday that North Korea could develop ballistic missiles that reach Europe sooner than expected. The scenario of an escalation towards a major conflict can not be discarded, Florence Parly said in a speech to the French military. Europe risks being within range of (North Korean President) Kim Jong Un s missiles sooner than expected, she said.","label":0}
{"text":"A new, Republican-controlled U.S. Congress convenes on Tuesday eager to repeal major portions of President Barack Obama's healthcare law and roll back environmental and financial industry regulations, but could quickly become embroiled in fights over President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet choices. Despite his promise to unite a deeply divided country, Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20 leading a Republican Party that early on will push legislation through Congress without significant - or any - Democratic support. According to a Gallup poll released on Monday, Trump will take office with less than half of Americans confident in his ability to handle an international crisis, use military force wisely or prevent major ethics lapses in his administration. Leading Democrats on Monday warned of a fierce fight over Obamacare, which is expected to have 13.8 million people enrolled in the program that aims to provide health insurance to economically disadvantaged people and to expand coverage for others. Obama is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with congressional Democrats to discuss strategies for fending off Republican attacks on Obamacare. Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with his fellow House Republicans the same day to rally them on repealing Obamacare, Politico reported. Republicans in coming weeks will try to steer legislation through Congress using procedures that would not require Democratic cooperation. Their bill, which has not been unveiled, is expected to repeal Obamacare, but postpone the actions for two or three years while also maintaining some of the law's provisions. \"We're going to fight as hard as ever to protect the ACA (Affordable Care Act), said Representative Steny Hoyer, the House of Representatives' second-ranking Democrat. Speaking to reporters, Hoyer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said they would launch an effort to mobilize grassroots support for Obamacare by explaining how repeal would create a ripple effect hurting a majority of Americans. For years, Republicans have hammered away at Obamacare, insisting it was unworkable and was hampering job growth. With control of Congress and the White House, they will be in a position to enact a repeal bill. The Senate will have more than legislation on its hands in the new year. It has the daunting task of debating and voting on the scores of appointees Trump already has announced to head his Cabinet departments and for other top jobs in the new administration. It also is expected to receive a Supreme Court nomination early on from Trump, triggering a likely confirmation war. Prominent Senator John McCain has warned that Rex Tillerson, Trump's choice for secretary of state, will have to explain his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom McCain has called a \"thug and a murderer.\" Tillerson, who spent much his career at Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), has been involved in business dealings in Russia and opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea. Meanwhile, Democrats are expected to oppose Republican Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, in part because of his opposition to immigration and past remarks that showed racial insensitivity. And given Trump's campaign promise to \"drain the swamp\" in Washington of special interests, especially Wall Street influence, Democrats are also poised to attack the nomination of Steven Mnuchin to be treasury secretary. Mnuchin is a successful private equity investor and hedge fund manager who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N). Nevertheless, Trump is expected to win approval of most, if not all, of his nominees. Besides Obamacare repeal, Republicans also want to curtail or block regulations aimed at controlling industrial emissions that contribute to climate change and banking industry reforms enacted in the wake of the near-collapse of Wall Street several years ago. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who waged bitter battles against Obama over the past eight years, has warned his fellow Republicans against overreaching following their Nov. 8 election victories. In an interview with Kentucky Educational Television on Dec. 19, McConnell said, \"It's certainly no time for hubris\" and there is \"not much I can do (legislatively) with Republicans only in the U.S. Senate.\" While he repeatedly called for removing Obamacare \"root and branch,\" McConnell said in the interview that his top priorities for the new Congress were dealing with \"massive overregulation\" that he said has been a brake on the U.S. economy and accomplishing tax code changes to stop companies from moving jobs offshore.","label":0}
{"text":"The list of Emmy winners | red carpet looks | our critic's review of the show ] LOS ANGELES \u2014 It was business as usual in the two major categories at the Emmys on Sunday night, as HBO's \"Game of Thrones\" and \"Veep\" repeated as winners for best drama and comedy. But for a ceremony that can be numbingly predictable, the Emmys were energized by a slew of winners in the acting categories and a tour de force in the limited series category by FX's \"The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. \" The success of the O. J. series set the theme for the evening as Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown all scored their first Emmy victories. Rami Malek won his first Emmy as well in a race for best actor in a drama, for his role as the tortured hacker in USA's \"Mr. Robot. \" And in a big upset, Tatiana Maslany won as best actress in a drama for her numerous performances in BBC America's \"Orphan Black,\" beating out the likes of Robin Wright, Claire Danes and last year's winner, Viola Davis. Kate McKinnon of \"Saturday Night Live\" provided a change of pace, too, upsetting Allison Janney, a Emmy winner, as best supporting actress for comedy. Likewise, Louie Anderson won his first Emmy in the best supporting comedy category for his role as a suburban mother in FX's \"Baskets. \" There was a changing of the guard in the variety category, as John Oliver's show, \"Last Week Tonight,\" ended the run of Comedy Central victories. There were familiar winners as well: In the comedy category, Julia won her fifth consecutive best actress award for her role on \"Veep,\" and Jeffrey Tambor, for the second year in a row, won for his role as a transgender woman in \"Transparent. \" This was the second consecutive year that \"Game of Thrones\" and \"Veep\" took top honors, which helped propel HBO to six Emmys on Sunday night and 22 Emmys over all (some categories were awarded previously) the biggest haul of any programmer. FX was right behind with 18 wins, including six on Sunday. \"Thrones\" once again led all shows with 12 wins, including three on Sunday, but there is some good news for HBO's rivals in the drama category: Next year \"Game of Thrones,\" one of TV's most widely praised dramas, will not be eligible for the Emmys the network elected to start the show's seventh season in the summer 2017, outside of the window. In a sign of the expected Emmys dominance for \"Game of Thrones\" and \"O. J,\" Jimmy Kimmel, the show's host, said in his opening monologue, \"If your show doesn't have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home. \" Here are some of the themes and highlights of the evening: Comedy Central had a chokehold on the variety talk show category for years, and a Comedy Central alumnus took the award on Sunday: Mr. Oliver, for his HBO show, \"Last Week Tonight. \" The show is now in its third season, and the win represents a breakthrough of sorts. The Emmy in this category has been handed out to daily talk shows for years and hasn't been given to a weekly show since Tracey Ullman won for her sketch series \"Tracey Takes On \u2026 \" nearly 20 years ago. (Starting last year, variety sketch series and variety talk series were separated into different categories.) Mr. Oliver's triumph is a blow for Comedy Central, which had won this award for 13 consecutive years between \"The Daily Show\" and \"The Colbert Report. \" Not this year Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart's replacement, was shut out of the race and not nominated in his first year as host of \"The Daily Show. \" But there was some solace in Comedy Central's night, when \"Key Peele\" won the best variety sketch series award. The bad news? That is now off the air. Not surprisingly, this year's divisive election played a significant role in this year's ceremony. Lamenting the possibility of a Donald J. Trump presidency, Mr. Kimmel lit into the reality show producer Mark Burnett, who was one of the creators of NBC's \"The Apprentice,\" the show that made Mr. Trump a nationwide television star. With ABC's camera firmly squared on Mr. Burnett \u2014 who laughed the entire time, despite the charged barbs \u2014 Mr. Kimmel said that if Mr. Trump is elected president, Mr. Burnett is the man to blame. \"If he's elected and he builds that wall, the first person we're throwing over it is Mark Burnett,\" Mr. Kimmel said. Later in the night, after \"The Voice\" won the best reality show, Mr. Burnett, a producer for that show as well, shot back at Mr. Kimmel saying that the host gave \"another five minutes of free publicity\" for Mr. Trump. Mr. Kimmel took the stage afterward and had his own retort: \"That Emmy is going on the hood of Trump's limousine, isn't it?\" And Ms. who plays the vice president turned president Selina Meyer, said this upon winning her Emmy for every year she's been nominated in the role: \"Our show started out as a political satire, but it now feels more like a sobering documentary. \" FX's \"The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story\" was a ratings hit and a darling of critics, and now a Emmy winner. In addition to winning the limited series Emmy, Ms. Paulson, Mr. Vance and Mr. Brown all won acting awards. Mr. Vance and Mr. Brown both beat to win. Nearly every feature player on the show was nominated for an award, a total of six in all. After Ms. Paulson was named best actress, she got up from her seat and gave a big hug to Marcia Clark, the prosecutor she played in the drama, and whom she brought as her guest to the ceremony. Ms. Paulson's performance was a sympathetic one, and it's been a year of redemption for Ms. Clark. \"I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial and careless in my judgment,\" Ms. Paulson said, choking up as she directed her comments to Ms. Clark. \"And I am glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you I'm sorry. '' For FX, \"The People v. O. J. Simpson\" was the leader for what was turning out to be its best year at the Emmys ever. \"Fargo\" was also nominated in the category and, after years of being shut out, FX's critically praised \"The Americans\" finally broke through with three major nominations \u2014 best drama, best actor (Matthew Rhys) and best actress (Keri Russell) \u2014 though it did not win. The Oscars have been the subject of withering outrage the last two years for a lack of racial diversity in the acting categories. The Emmys? There's been something closer to silence. No one would argue that TV has fully addressed the issue of race \u2014 it has a problem when it comes to tapping minorities behind the scenes, as the Directors Guild of America reported last week, and CBS was criticized in August for a fall lineup featuring familiar white male actors. But nearly two dozen minority actors were nominated for Emmys this year, following Ms. Davis's acting victory a year ago. There were three winners in acting categories Sunday, a notable departure from this year's Academy Awards, in which no minorities were nominated in the acting categories. In addition to wins from Mr. Brown and Mr. Vance, Regina King won the supporting actress in a limited series Emmy for her role in ABC's \"American Crime. \" And \"Key Peele\" prevailed in the variety sketch award. Instead, attention has turned to the awards themselves, with campaigning having turned into something of a blood sport. In the last two years there has been a 40 percent increase in the number of submissions for the best drama Emmy, according to the Television Academy. And \"for your consideration\" mailers have reached comical proportions, with Netflix sending out a package to Emmy voters so hefty that it could crush a toe. For each of the last three years, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have become a larger presence at the Emmys. Netflix had 54 nominations this year, its highest ever, and for the first time, it did better than any of the broadcast networks. But despite the upheaval Netflix has caused in the industry, the streaming service has yet to have a big Emmys night. Though it collected nine Emmys overall, including three on Sunday, Netflix continues to strike out in the best drama, best comedy and best actor and actress categories. Ben Mendelsohn did win the Emmy for best supporting actor for his role in \"Bloodline. \" But even with the lavish attention on the presidential election this year, neither Kevin Spacey nor Robin Wright won for their roles in the political drama \"House of Cards. \" Neither actor has won a Primetime Emmy Award. For Amazon, Mr. Tambor won again for \"Transparent. '' The broadcast networks continued to have a diminished presence at the Emmys. NBC won two awards Sunday night, and ABC and Fox won one. CBS was shut out altogether. 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{"text":"Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published a fascinating and troubling article detailing how aggressively the Department of Injustice moved to stymie efforts of FBI agents who wanted to investigate pay-to-play criminality with regard to the Clinton Foundation.  Of course, none of this should come as a surprise. The Justice Department under President Obama never met a powerful person it cared to prosecute. Indeed, under Eric Holder's crony reign (same now with Loretta Lynch), it's been apparent for a very long time that senior leadership at the DOJ see the institution's primary role to be the coddling and protection of oligarch criminals, especially those in the financial sector (see: Must Watch Video \u2013 \"The Veneer of Justice in a Kingdom of Crime\" ).  The death of the rule of law in America, otherwise known as the two-tier justice system, has been a key topic of mine since the very beginning. In fact, I think it is the number one cancer plaguing our society at this time. As I warned in the 2014 post, New Report \u2013 The United States' Sharp Drop in Economic Freedom Since 2000 Driven by \"Decline in Rule of Law\" :  In my opinion, the U.S. is living on borrowed time. The entrepreneurial spirit is still very much alive, and a lot of innovative things are happening in the tech area, but other than that, the U.S. economy looks very much like a third word oligarchy. From my perspective, we need to reinstate the rule of law at once. The bad actors amongst the rich and powerful will continue to feast relentlessly on the productive parts of the economy so long as they they are never held accountable for their crimes. Simply put: The rule of law must be restored immediately.  When it comes to the restoration of the rule of law, there is simply no time to waste.  The rule of law has not been restored, a realization that is consistently reenforced by the lengths to which the Department of Justice goes to protect the powerful. Yesterday's WSJ article gives us an additional glimpse into how that happens behind the scenes.   article, FBI in Internal Feud Over Hillary Clinton Probe :  The surprise disclosure that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are taking a new look at Hillary Clinton's email use lays bare, just days before the election, tensions inside the bureau and the Justice Department over how to investigate the Democratic presidential nominee.  The new investigative effort, disclosed by FBI Director James Comey on Friday, shows a bureau at times in sharp internal disagreement over matters related to the Clintons, and how to handle those matters fairly and carefully in the middle of a national election campaign. Even as the probe of Mrs. Clinton's email use wound down in July, internal disagreements within the bureau and the Justice Department surrounding the Clintons' family philanthropy heated up, according to people familiar with the matter.  New details show that senior law-enforcement officials repeatedly voiced skepticism of the strength of the evidence in a bureau investigation of the Clinton Foundation, sought to condense what was at times a sprawling cross-country effort, and, according to some people familiar with the matter, told agents to limit their pursuit of the case. The probe of the foundation began more than a year ago to determine whether financial crimes or influence peddling occurred related to the charity.  Some investigators grew frustrated, viewing FBI leadership as uninterested in probing the charity, these people said. Others involved disagreed sharply, defending FBI bosses and saying Mr. McCabe in particular was caught between an increasingly acrimonious fight for control between the Justice Department and FBI agents pursuing the Clinton Foundation case.  Early this year, four FBI field offices\u2014New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Little Rock, Ark.\u2014were collecting information about the Clinton Foundation to see if there was evidence of financial crimes or influence-peddling, according to people familiar with the matter.  Los Angeles agents had picked up information about the Clinton Foundation from an unrelated public-corruption case and had issued some subpoenas for bank records related to the foundation, these people said.  The Washington field office was probing financial relationships involving Mr. McAuliffe before he became a Clinton Foundation board member, these people said. Mr. McAuliffe has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has said the probe is focused on whether he failed to register as an agent of a foreign entity.  In February, FBI officials made a presentation to the Justice Department, according to these people. By all accounts, the meeting didn't go well.  Some said that is because the FBI didn't present compelling evidence to justify more aggressive pursuit of the Clinton Foundation, and that the career anticorruption prosecutors in the room simply believed it wasn't a very strong case. Others said that from the start, the Justice Department officials were stern, icy and dismissive of the case.  \"That was one of the weirdest meetings I've ever been to,\" one participant told others afterward, according to people familiar with the matter.  Anticorruption prosecutors at the Justice Department told the FBI at the meeting they wouldn't authorize more aggressive investigative techniques, such as subpoenas, formal witness interviews, or grand-jury activity. But the FBI officials believed they were well within their authority to pursue the leads and methods already under way, these people said.  According to a person familiar with the probes, on Aug. 12, a senior Justice Department official called Mr. McCabe to voice his displeasure at finding that New York FBI agents were still openly pursuing the Clinton Foundation probe during the election season. Mr. McCabe said agents still had the authority to pursue the issue as long as they didn't use overt methods requiring Justice Department approvals.  The Justice Department official was \"very pissed off,\" according to one person close to Mr. McCabe, and pressed him to explain why the FBI was still chasing a matter the department considered dormant. Others said the Justice Department was simply trying to make sure FBI agents were following longstanding policy not to make overt investigative moves that could be seen as trying to influence an election. Those rules discourage investigators from making any such moves before a primary or general election, and, at a minimum, checking with anticorruption prosecutors before doing so.  \"Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?\" Mr. McCabe asked, according to people familiar with the conversation. After a pause, the official replied, \"Of course not,\" these people said.  For Mr. McCabe's defenders, the exchange showed how he was stuck between an FBI office eager to pour more resources into a case and Justice Department prosecutors who didn't think much of the case, one person said. Those people said that following the call, Mr. McCabe reiterated past instructions to FBI agents that they were to keep pursuing the work within the authority they had.  Others further down the FBI chain of command, however, said agents were given a much starker instruction on the case: \"Stand down.\" When agents questioned why they weren't allowed to take more aggressive steps, they said they were told the order had come from the deputy director\u2014Mr. McCabe.  Others familiar with the matter deny Mr. McCabe or any other senior FBI official gave such a stand-down instruction.  In September, agents on the foundation case asked to see the emails contained on nongovernment laptops that had been searched as part of the Clinton email case, but that request was rejected by prosecutors at the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn. Those emails were given to the FBI based on grants of partial immunity and limited-use agreements, meaning agents could only use them for the purpose of investigating possible mishandling of  Some FBI agents were dissatisfied with that answer, and asked for permission to make a similar request to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. McCabe, these people said, told them no and added that they couldn't \"go prosecutor-shopping.\"  The above revelations, in conjunction with the email server probe being reopened by the FBI, is why I now think Donald Trump has a very good chance of winning the Presidency. As I noted in Friday's post, Another Black Swan Hits the U.S. Presidential Election :  The problems with Hillary Clinton will never go away. They will always resurface or new problems will emerge, and it has nothing to do with a \"vast rightwing conspiracy\" (or Putin). It has to do with her. It has to do with the fact that her and her husband are career crooks, warmongers, and shameless looters of the American public. This re-opening of the FBI investigation just hammers all of that home for everyone. We know what 4 years of Hillary will look like. It'll be Obama cronyism on steroids, plus endless investigations with a side of World War 3. I don't think people want that, and so more Americans than the pundits realize will take a gamble on Trump.  It's not just me saying it. Even longtime Clinton supporter Doug Schoen is revisiting whether he can continue to support Clinton. As he wrote There will be no goodwill or honeymoon period for Clinton. Her first 100-days agenda will take a backseat to partisan divisions and polarization with little chance of constructive legislative action occurring. We have seen that a hyper-partisan, gridlocked Washington is bad for the country. There is no reason to believe that Clinton's tenure will be anything but more of the same in this way and, most likely, a lot worse. Further, Russian President Vladimir Putin said (tongue-in-cheek) that we are not a banana republic.\u200e I greatly fear we could become one if Secretary Clinton is elected president. Our national security will continue to be jeopardized by ongoing investigations by the FBI, and potentially the Justice Department and Congress, putting us at immediate risk of more assertive actions in Europe, Middle East and Asia by the Russians and Chinese. Moreover, we simply cannot face a situation where the president elect may need or want a pardon from the president to govern. Or worse yet, need to pardon herself after she takes office. As of now, I have no confidence that either of those questions will be answered by Election Day or that we will have full clarity on an investigation into what could be as many as 650,000 emails that found their way to Weiner and Abedin's computer. However, in good conscience, and as a Democrat, I am actively doubting whether I can vote for the Secretary of State. I also want to make clear that I cannot vote for Donald Trump as his world view and mine are very different. For more on the Clinton Foundation, see:","label":1}
{"text":"Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited the war-torn Darfur region on Tuesday in an effort to show his country is ready to have 20-year-old sanctions lifted by the United States just weeks before Washington is expected to issue a decision. In July the Trump administration postponed for three months the decision to permanently lift sanctions, setting Oct. 12 as a deadline for Sudan to meet conditions, including resolving conflicts and stepping up its humanitarian efforts. Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan s Arab-led government. A joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping operation, known as UNAMID, has been on the ground for the past decade. Fighting between the army and rebels in the southern Kordofan and Blue Nile regions also broke out again in 2011, when South Sudan declared independence. Sudan had announced short-term truces in these regions in June and October 2016, after which fighting eased in Blue Nile and Kordofan but carried on in Darfur. Bashir has extended a ceasefire in response to the U.S. moves. After security and stability, comes development, Bashir said in a speech. He said Darfur s security has begun recovering and insisted that arms will only be in the hands of state forces. Just before leaving office, former U.S. President Barack Obama temporarily eased penalties against Sudan, suspending a trade embargo, unfreezing assets and removing sanctions. His decision was delayed for six months to allow Sudan time to meet the conditions which also included cooperating with the U.S. to fight terrorism and improving its rights record. Gabriel Belal, the spokesman of the Justice and Equality movement, one of the main rebel groups in Darfur, criticized Bashir s two-day visit, saying it aimed to give a wrong image to the international community that the war was over. Bashir s visit is not welcomed by the people of Darfur because he personally issued direct orders for ethnic cleansing, Belal said. Security, humanitarian and political conditions are tense in Darfur and there s no prospect for a political resolution.","label":0}
{"text":"The virtual currency Bitcoin has been swept up in yet another speculative frenzy, pushing its price toward the peak it last reached in late 2013. The price of Bitcoin has been buoyed by increased interest from places like Venezuela, where the local currency has lost much of its value, and India, where the government recently removed the largest cash notes from circulation. More broadly, a tilt toward isolationism that has emerged in American and European politics \u2014 highlighted by Donald J. Trump's election victory \u2014 has given a new sheen to a currency that can move between countries with little oversight. \"The more there is an expectation for new barriers to be erected, the more there is an expectation that Bitcoin will be valuable for moving money across borders,\" said Gil Luria, the director of research at Wedbush Securities. Still, most of the people actually buying and selling Bitcoin these days are coming from a single country: China. Some wealthy Chinese have used Bitcoin to evade their government's strict controls on moving money in and out of the country, according to Bitcoin specialists in China. But the heavy trading on Chinese Bitcoin exchanges, much of it by automated software, suggests that most of the price movement is a result of bets by speculators. In recent days, the price of a Bitcoin has been about 3 percent higher on these exchanges than on dollar denominated exchanges, suggesting more demand in China than outside. The importance of speculators suggests that the value of Bitcoin is still driven by the hope of how it might be used someday, rather than real world use today, which has generally been hard to quantify. In dollar terms, a Bitcoin was going for about $1, 025 on Tuesday, or about 140 percent more than what it cost at the beginning of 2016. The volatile price has led many analysts to conclude that is less similar to a currency than to a commodity, like gold, which has a value resulting from its scarcity. In Bitcoin's case, the rules of the network dictate that only 21 million Bitcoin will ever be created. The recent rise has brought the price of one Bitcoin to within striking distance of the price of an ounce of gold, which was about $1, 150 on Monday. The price has increased in the last year despite the lack of interest in Bitcoin from banks and a majority of more sophisticated investors. After showing early interest in the currency, most big banks have moved on to make investments in the blockchain, the new type of ledger technology introduced by Bitcoin, while eschewing Bitcoin itself. Some central banks have talked about issuing their own national currencies on some sort of blockchain inspired by but unrelated to the blockchain that Bitcoin uses. Bitcoin and the blockchain were introduced in late 2008 by a mysterious coder who used the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Anyone with a computer and internet access can open a Bitcoin wallet and help maintain the blockchain ledger where all Bitcoin transactions are recorded. Because it is run by a decentralized network of computers around the world, Bitcoin does not require a central authority like a central bank or financial institution. That has made it attractive to people who hope to do financial transactions anonymously, such as the drug dealers who have sold illicit goods for Bitcoin on the Silk Road website and its successors. New Bitcoins are released at regular intervals to computers helping to support the Bitcoin network, and previously released Bitcoins can be bought and sold on exchanges around the world. Since 2009, the price of Bitcoin has generally been defined by long periods of stability marked by short periods of speculative excitement. The only other time the price of Bitcoin has exceeded $1, 000 was in late 2013, when the demand was driven by a surge of interest from Chinese investors and traders. The price soon crashed when one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, Mt. Gox, which was based in Tokyo and went bankrupt, announced that it had lost most of the Bitcoins held by its customers (the cause remains in dispute). The Bitcoin price fell to its low \u2014 under $200 \u2014 in early 2015. Since then, the price has risen in fits and starts, in part because of continuing hacking and fraud, and because of fights over the direction of the Bitcoin network. Many Bitcoin businesses have wanted to edit the basic Bitcoin software to change the number of transactions that can move through the network every day. But the proposed changes have run into opposition from the team of coders responsible for maintaining the basic Bitcoin software. Many Chinese Bitcoin companies have sided with the coders. That disagreement has led to slowdowns on the Bitcoin network, with some transactions taking days to be processed. The slowdowns have made it harder to use Bitcoin for everyday payments. But through the controversy the security of the basic Bitcoin wallets and transaction software has held up, making it a potential alternative for people in countries with less secure currencies and financial institutions. In November, interest in Bitcoin spiked in India after the government announced moves to quickly ban the largest Indian bank notes, in an effort to crack down on corruption. The continued fall in the value of the Venezuelan currency, the bol\u00edvar, has led to reports about Venezuelans desperate to exchange their money for Bitcoin. But despite the new demand, the total value of all outstanding Bitcoin, about $16 billion, is still only that of a American company, and is not large enough to sustain the demand of even a moderate number of Indians or Venezuelans looking to store their wealth in the virtual currency. That points back to the importance of speculators, who are betting that someday soon people worldwide will turn to Bitcoin for their daily financial needs, and push the price much higher. \"I ascribe only 10 percent of the value of Bitcoin to current day usage, and more like 90 percent of it to the expectation of future usage,\" Mr. Luria of Webush Securities said.","label":0}
{"text":"I left Manhattan in 1988, the morning after marrying a peripatetic advertising executive whose career would take us to six different cities over the course of 26 years. On the ascent out of LaGuardia, I turned my head to the clouds and cried. Following stints in the Midwest, the and New England, I eventually arrived in Texas with two babies, two dogs and the aforementioned husband. Last August, after delivering the younger daughter to college and graduating, myself, from the residential restriction in a divorce decree, I returned home. I was just one person, this moving day, one person and a new canine charge, Charles. Some people flee New York without reservation, while others depart uneasily, but certain that one day, they will make it back. The is inspired, typically, by the universal tug of home and family, along with the draw of the city's singular street life, culture and sensibility. The notion of change is inherent in any return, though, since the city will have evolved in your absence and you, too, may be different from who you were when you left. I knew, in 1988, that I would come back to New York. I was born on York Avenue and East 70th Street and raised in Westchester County, but returned twice after graduate school, living first on Central Park West and later on the Upper East Side. This time, in search of reasonably priced space that would accommodate two college students during vacations and Charles the terrier daily, I landed near where I began, on East End Avenue. I didn't know that it would take so long to get here, or that so much would happen before I did. But I counted down, the whole time. Other former New Yorkers have done the same. \"Moving back was in my head, and my friends will say that I've been talking about it forever,\" said David Kurtz, 58, a film and television composer who lived in Los Angeles for 35 years. \"I am very grateful for L. A. but this was always home, whatever all that means. \" The emotional bond with a place, of course, does not develop simply because you may have emerged from a delivery room within its ZIP code. Native New Yorkers are not the only ones who may feel like expatriates anywhere else. Mr. Kurtz grew up in Sayville, N. Y. on Long Island, but he formed a connection to Manhattan when he was a child. \"My grandmother worked in Columbus Circle at the Diners Club. She loved to take me to Radio City for movies. And my grandfather worked the counter at Katz's Deli. \" During high school, Mr. Kurtz took the train to Penn Station almost every Saturday for class in the Juilliard School Division, and he credits his time there for solidifying his New York City identity. \"It was more than a great musical experience,\" he said. \"It was my literal salvation. I blossomed in this city. \" While at the Manhattan School of Music in 1974, he lived on West 89th Street in the home of Isidore Cohen, then the violinist with the Beaux Arts Trio. \"They rehearsed there all the time. Heaven!\" The neighborhood, because of its proximity to Lincoln Center and its \"European feeling,\" was his first choice when he returned from California a year and a half ago. He had sold his Malibu house and bought an apartment on West 76th Street, off Central Park. \"My L. A. friends say, 'How are you going to live in that?' and my New York friends say, 'How did you find that?' \" In March, he and Candace Bowes, a freelance advertising producer who spends weeks at a time working in Los Angeles, were married in the Ladies Pavilion in Central Park, down the street from their new home. \"It was an iconic New York thing to do,\" said Mr. Kurtz, who credits a confluence of events for his return, including his children leaving home, aging parents, immediate family who live here and a shift from composing for television programs to writing a screenplay. Like others who depart New York for places with more serenity and a quieter pace, Mr. Kurtz found he needed to create his own stimulation in California rather than find it in his surroundings. \"The ocean, the environment, it became continuous and I lost the fascination,\" he said. \"Here, I'm in awe every day. I walk out the door, and the city is performance art. \" What a New York will feel like depends on how long the person has been away and what his life was like at the time he left, said Christine Haney, the executive vice president of global relocation for Douglas Elliman Real Estate. \"They come here because they have always loved the city,\" she said. There is a certain age when people are unafraid to make changes and move anywhere, she added, but after they've gone down that path, \"they want to come back and just enjoy. \" Once back in town, where they choose to rent or buy an apartment is often determined by how they will now spend their days, in addition to their budgets. \"I had a client who said to me, 'I am ready to go to Lincoln Center. I want to live facing the steps,' \" said Annie Cion Gruenberger, an associate broker with Warburg Realty. \"We went out and bought an apartment facing the steps. \" Susan Adler Funk, 56, loves seeing plays. She has at least six subscriptions to Off and Off Off Broadway theaters and attends between 50 and 60 performances a year. This past September, she and her husband, Allen Funk, 55, rented a on Columbus Avenue and West 96th Street after selling a house in Sleepy Hollow, N. Y. where they had lived for three years following 18 years in and around Seattle and six in Washington, D. C. Also, the couple recently purchased a home in Flemington, N. J. where they intend to grow and sell grapes, \"a retirement plan,\" Ms. Funk said. \"Every book that I own doesn't have to be in this apartment. I am spoiled that way. \" When the grapes are in their infancy, the Funks will spend more time in New Jersey and keep their apartment as a . Ms. Funk views herself as a Manhattan expatriate, despite a Rockland County, N. Y. upbringing, attributing that status to the years she lived here during her formative 20s. After college, she rented two apartments, first on Sutton Place and then on West 82nd Street. Following Harvard Business School, where she met Mr. Funk, a Los Angeles native and former newspaper publisher, she rented a on West 77th Street. Now, as a \"fully formed\" adult, she has returned to the city and, specifically, to the Upper West Side, for its energy and its closeness to the stage. \"Theater is the reason I'm here,\" she said. \"I don't know how the passion began, but I remember going to Playwrights Horizons when I first lived here and was poor and didn't see much. \" Nostalgia is not part of the for Ms. Funk, who, while in Seattle, started and ran a think tank focused on diversity issues in the technology industry and now is studying to become an accredited executive coach. \"I actually tried to find where I used to live, but I couldn't figure it out,\" she said. Sometimes, though, returning to a place where childhoods happened, first jobs were held and mates were met can evoke strong sentiments about the passing of time and life choices. When people haven't regularly seen the spots where seminal experiences occurred \u2014 both good and bad \u2014 they can feel walloped, emotionally. Across the street from the hospital where I was born is the hospital where my father died I have to bolster myself before walking by or choose a different route. \"You have to be part psychologist,\" said Ms. Haney of helping people relocate. \"You have to be very sympathetic, very understanding of what they're going through. \" In 1993, after six years of city life, Randy Gilman agreed to leave York Avenue and East 79th Street for Livingston, N. J. when her husband, Zvi Bolimovsky, expressed a desire to raise children outside Manhattan. \"From Day 1, when I was pregnant, I was on a countdown to come back once my kids finished high school,\" said Ms. Gilman, 63, who was born on Long Island and grew up near Hartford, Conn. After Ms. Gilman's father died in 1990, her mother, Evelyn, moved to Manhattan, renting an apartment at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street, with a park view. Six years ago, when Ms. Gilman's younger child was 15, the women bought, together, a apartment around the corner, on Park Avenue and East 65th Street, into which the elder Ms. Gilman moved. After Ms. Gilman's daughter graduated from high school three years ago, Ms. Gilman and Mr. Bolimovsky joined Evelyn Gilman, who is now 91, on the premises. \"My daughter left in August and we moved in by October,\" Ms. Gilman said. \"I felt like I always belonged here. \" While leaving New Jersey stirred little emotion, sharing space with her mother, who has her own suite, has prompted Ms. Gilman to reminisce. \"I feel sentimental about living with the beautiful art and artifacts that she accumulated on her many trips with my father,\" Ms. Gilman said. \"Living here also helps remind me about when I was a child and my parents took my sister and me to museums, theater and dance performances. \" When Charles and I landed in New York, there was no party, no ticker tape. The confetti was in my mind, raining down feelings of finish lines, relief, exhilaration, promise. People here ask where I lived before, and when I mention my 17 years in Texas, they seem uniformly horrified. They crinkle up their faces and ask, \"Did you like it?\" expecting a certain response. I would have provided that reply, at first. Now, I feel that I should defend the place that I desperately did not like, and that I would want to do this surprises me a little, but makes me feel encouraged about my time there. I tell the people about the efficient and the civility of the children who shake hands when they are in preschool. I tell them that I raised two daughters there, two daughters who speak softly, saying y'all and ma'am and sir. I feel good about the place, standing in Carl Schurz Park on the East River, with Charles on a lead. I do, really, I do. This realization has played emotional tricks with my return, which, for years, I viewed as a simple construct, an escape from exile. Here, whatever was missing would suddenly exist, and I would feel energized, nurtured and safe. I would feel like me. I must say that this has happened, and in a magnified way \u2014 my old friends are more wonderful, the ballet more breathtaking, the brownstone facades more stunning. But is it home? Does it feel like home? I do not know. Sometimes, the transition is not what people envision it will be. After 40 years, Howard Bloomberg, 70, chose to return to Manhattan and his family's Upper West Side neighborhood \u2014 not because he was nostalgic necessarily, but for its prewar architecture and residential ambience. \"In 1976, I escaped. There was crime, filth, graffiti on the subway, you couldn't see out the windows,\" said Mr. Bloomberg, a retired investment banker who has lived in London, Boston and, most recently, New Hampshire. \"But then, New York became a fabulous city, and it more closely resembled the time when I grew up. \" Mr. Bloomberg and his parents lived at 685 West End Avenue his grandparents, uncle and aunts lived at 697 West End Avenue. Mr. Bloomberg's childhood apartment had bedrooms and baths on one side of a hall, and common rooms on the other. He hoped to duplicate that layout. But Mr. Bloomberg is not one to act rashly. He started his hunt in 2001, but it wasn't until 2010 that he settled on Riverside Drive, across the street from Joan of Arc Park, where he used to play football. The apartment in a 1902 building designed by Ralph S. Townsend overlooks the Hudson, has ceilings and the details that Mr. Bloomberg was looking for. \"I am very particular. It took three years to renovate. It didn't even need a renovation,\" he said. It took another two years to sell his house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, delaying his return to the city until this spring. Mr. Bloomberg was ready to make the transition, to be less sedentary and more engaged in city life. \"Over the decades, I've lost touch with just about everybody,\" he said before he arrived in early May. \"I look forward to having a big dinner party with them in my new apartment. It will be great fun, though we are no longer young men. \" Upon moving in, however, the anticipation turned rapidly to upset. Mr. Bloomberg walked into and out of five supermarkets, unable to navigate the narrow aisles. His phone wouldn't work. His television and computer wouldn't turn on. He was dismayed to see litter. After four days in the city, he thought to himself: \"I can no longer cope. I don't think I can possibly live here again. \" Now, some weeks later, Mr. Bloomberg is still here, though still out of sorts. He contemplated selling the apartment and leaving \u2014 where to, he was not sure \u2014 but the expense of such a turnaround dissuaded him. He did secure a New York City phone number. Adaptation, could it be? Expectations vary, according to Jeff Feuer, an associate broker with Douglas Elliman Real Estate and Mr. Bloomberg's real estate agent for 10 years. Typically, he said, the adjustment is a lot more difficult if you are leaving New York than if you are returning. \"I have a house in Woodstock, and I love it,\" he said, \"but even after a couple of days, I just want to come back. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Ed wasn't excited about his job. He worked for a large automotive manufacturer. This is the kind of industry that might invest heavily into robots and research and development, but when it comes to managing their supply chain and accounts receivable, their IT infrastructure was frozen in amber circa 1974.  The pay was fine, but the work was frustrating. Things like \"Code reviews\" and \"refactoring\" were viewed as \"wastes of time\" or \"developers playing with toys\". Unit tests were a luxury for \"lazy\" developers- good developers should just be writing code that works. If the work you're doing isn't directly involved in getting cars built and shipped, you shouldn't be doing it.  Ed was looking to get out of the company, and while he kept sending out resumes, he found more excuses to get away from his desk by taking smoke breaks with Mitchell. Mitchell was a lifer- he joined the company back when pensions were a thing, and was close enough to retirement that he just needed to keep his head down and stay the course to check out with a nice nest-egg. \"But you,\" he'd tell Ed, \"you've gotta get out of here. You're young. You shouldn't be wasting your time here.\"  After one of those smoke breaks, Ed returned to his desk to see Pilar waiting for him. Pilar was their summer intern, a junior in college. She mostly handled \"manual reporting\", which was a euphemism for \"we don't actually have a reporting system for this data set, so we have an intern run SQL queries against production and then copy\/paste the results into a spreadsheet.\" Yes, there were still manual reports because none of the SBUs wanted to pay to automate them.  \"I've got a new report,\" she said, \"and it's on something called SCORDBE? You wouldn't know how I get access, would you?\"  Ed didn't know. At best, he might have seen the acronym someplace on a PowerPoint during a quarterly meeting once. \"No, but has anyone shown you the Internal Apps Sheet?\" He was referencing a spreadsheet used to track support contacts for different applications. He CTRL+F-ed to the entry for SCORDBE. \"Oh, no\u2026\"  The SCORDBE database was administered by Yev \"Ticket-Nazi\" Kassem. He automatically closed any tickets for changing the database- even for production releases. Any ticket requesting access to the database, for any reason, received a simple reply: \"NO ACCOUNT FOR YOU.\" He used IP whitelists to prevent connections from unapproved devices. While it probably was good for security, that was an afterthought. Yev had a small bit of power, and he wanted to make sure that he held onto it.  Still, that was just the database side. There was an application on top of that database. He scrolled across the spreadsheet, past the cloumns for \"Approving Manager\", \"SBU Contact\", \"SBU Backup Contact\", \"SBU Backup Bakcup Contact\" and found \"IT Development Contact\". It was Mitchell.  \"I don't think you'll get very far with the database,\" Ed said. \"But maybe Mitchell can help?\"  Pilar went off to visit Mitchell, and Ed got back to his regular work. A half hour later, Mitchell CCed him on an email to Pilar. \"I've got a solution. Just visit this URL and it'll run your query. And you can change the id=\u2026 part at the end to do it for other part numbers.\"  Ed didn't think much about it until his next smoke break. \"So,\" he said, \"how'd you get past the Ticket-Nazi?\"  Mitchell laughed. \"I didn't.\" He paused and lit his cigarette, taking a few drags before explaining. \"SCORDBE is about 35,000 lines of Perl written back in the 90s. Nobody ever wants to touch this code, and nobody really understands what it does. I figured there had to be some poorly escaped queries, so I just grepped until I found one. Now we can run ad-hoc queries as needed.\"  Ed left the company a short time later. Mitchell, and his injection-based reporting solution, however, are still there. [Advertisement] BuildMaster integrates with an ever-growing list of tools to automate and facilitate everything from continuous integration to database change scripts to production deployments. Interested? Learn more about BuildMaster!","label":1}
{"text":"The State Department is considering formally declaring the crackdown on Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims to be ethnic cleansing, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, as lawmakers called for sanctions against the Southeast Asian country's military. Pressure has mounted for a tougher U.S. response to the Rohingya crisis ahead of President Donald Trump's maiden visit to Asia next month when he will attend a summit of Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, in Manila. U.S. officials are preparing a recommendation for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that would define the military-led campaign against the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing, which could spur new sanctions, the U.S. government sources said. The proposal - part of an overall review of Myanmar policy - could be sent to Tillerson as early as this week, and he would then decide whether to adopt it, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, mostly to neighboring Bangladesh, since security forces responded to Rohingya militants' attacks on Aug. 25 by launching a crackdown. The United Nations has already denounced it as a classic example of ethnic cleansing. Three U.S. officials testifying at a Senate hearing on Tuesday declined to say whether the treatment of the Rohingya was ethnic cleansing, but listed new measures including targeted sanctions that Washington is considering. Those steps, however, stopped short of the most drastic tools at Washington's disposal such as reimposing broader economic sanctions suspended under the Obama administration. \"I'm not in a position ... to characterize it today, but to me this very closely resembles some of the worst kind of atrocities that I've seen during a long career,\" Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Storella said when pressed to say whether he viewed the situation as ethnic cleansing. Senator Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said he considered the treatment of the Rohingya \"genocide\" and is working on bipartisan legislation that could spell out whether additional sanctions are needed. Myanmar, also known as Burma, insists that action was needed to combat \"terrorists.\" The recommendation to Tillerson - first reported by the Associated Press - is not expected to include a determination on whether \"crimes against humanity\" have been committed, as this would require further legal deliberations, one U.S. official said. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some U.S. lawmakers criticized Aung San Suu Kyi, head of Myanmar's civilian-led government and a Nobel peace laureate once hugely popular in Washington, for failing to do more. Senator Bob Corker, Republican chairman of the committee, chided Suu Kyi for what he called \"dismissiveness\" toward the plight of the Rohingya and said it might be time for a \"policy adjustment\" toward Myanmar. At the hearing, Patrick Murphy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian And Pacific Affairs, said additional sanctions were being considered, but cautioned that doing so could lessen Washington's ability to influence Myanmar.","label":0}
{"text":"A group of 22 members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked the Environmental Protection Agency in a letter on Thursday not to lower some requirements for mixing biofuels into the country's fuel supply, but also not to let ethanol exports qualify for renewable fuel credits, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Reuters. The members of Congress are part of a bipartisan voting bloc dedicated to supporting the biofuels industry called the House Biofuels Caucus. They represent districts in states such as Iowa and Illinois where farmers grow corn for ethanol and other biofuels. They urged the agency to increase biomass-based biodiesel requirements and not to decrease the amount of advanced biofuels required to be added to the fuel supply. \"Our farmers and biofuels producers need greater certainty from the EPA,\" the letter said, adding recent proposals the agency said it was considering \"create unnecessary angst.\" \"We will respond to the House Biofuels Caucus through the proper channel,\" said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox in an email to Reuters. Midwestern politicians and industry representatives have been pressuring the EPA not to reduce renewable fuel standards. Fuel companies, meanwhile, want to change certain rules for complying with the standards to make it easier and cheaper for them to meet their renewable fuel requirements. They want ethanol exports to count as tradable credits toward their renewable fuel requirements, a proposal the Biofuels Caucus members condemned. \"This proposition would upend infrastructure investments needed to blend ethanol into our fuel supply and pick winners and losers in a manner inconsistent with the Congressional intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard,\" they wrote. Iowa's Governor Kim Reynolds said that President Donald Trump told her on a phone call on Wednesday that he was committed to renewable fuels, though advocates say they won't be satisfied until the EPA reverses recent steps it has taken to lower renewable fuel requirements. Last month, the EPA said it was looking to cut 2018 biodiesel blending requirements, roiling markets and drawing criticism from the country's farm belt. In July, it proposed cutting total volumes of all renewable fuels use for next year.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.N. refugee agency has urged Japan to resettle more asylum seekers, its chief said on Monday, pressuring the country to help solve a global crisis after giving refugee status to just three people in the first half of the year. Japan is one of the developed world s least welcoming countries for asylum seekers. It accepted 28 in 2016, despite applications from a record 10,091 people. It has since 2008 given home to limited numbers of refugees through a so-called third-country resettlement scheme, resettling a total of 152 people - mostly ethnic Karen people from Myanmar living in Thai and Malaysian camps. That program is very small, about 20-30 refugees a year, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news conference in Tokyo. I have asked the government to consider whether it could be expanded. Japan s reluctance to accept refugees mirrors a wider caution towards immigration in a nation where many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity. Its record at home has drawn sharp criticism from international human rights groups, and has been at odds with its traditional status as a major international donor on refugees. But Japan s donations to the UNHCR have slipped: in the year to Oct. 2, it was the fourth-largest donor, giving $152 million, compared to the second-largest four years ago. Contributions from the government to the UNHCR have been declining a little bit every year since 2013, Grandi said. What I asked the government to consider is that the needs of refugees and displaced people are increasing. More than 2 million people fleeing wars or persecution have joined the ranks of the world s refugees this year. At the end of last year, the latest figure available, 17.2 million refugees fell under the UNHCR s mandate. Japan says that many people claim asylum in Japan to find work, encouraged by access to renewable work permits for people applying for refugee status. It officially rejects unskilled migrant workers, even as a fast-shrinking and ageing population blunts the potency of government efforts to rouse the economy from over two decades of sluggish growth and deflation. The Justice Ministry, which oversees refugee recognition, is weighing steps including restrictions on work permits for asylum seekers to curb what it deems abusive applications.","label":0}
{"text":"Mysterious, middle-of-the-night drone flights by the U.S. Secret Service during the next several weeks over parts of Washington -- usually off-limits as a strict no-fly zone -- are part of secret government testing intended to find ways to interfere with rogue drones or knock them out of the sky, The Associated Press has learned. A U.S. official briefed on the plans said the Secret Service was testing drones for law enforcement or protection efforts and to look for ways, such as signal jamming, to thwart threats from civilian drones. The drones were being flown between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to publicly discuss the plans. The Secret Service has said details were classified. Some consumer-level drones, which commonly carry video cameras, are powerful enough to carry small amounts of explosives or a grenade. The challenge for the Secret Service is quickly detecting a rogue drone flying near the White House or the president's location, then within moments either hacking it to seize control over its flight or jamming its signal to send it off course or make it crash. The Secret Service has said only that it will openly test drones over Washington, but it declined to provide details such as when it will fly, how many drones, over what parts of the city, for how long and for what purposes. It decided to tell the public in advance about the tests out of concern that people who saw the drones might be alarmed, particularly in the wake of the drones spotted recently over Paris at night. Flying overnight also diminishes the chances that radio jamming would accidentally affect nearby businesses, drivers, pedestrians and tourists. It is illegal under the U.S. Communications Act to sell or use signal jammers except for narrow purposes by government agencies. Depending on a drone's manufacturer and capabilities, its flight-control and video-broadcasting systems commonly use the same common radio frequencies as popular Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies. Jamming by the Secret Service -- depending on how powerfully or precisely it works -- could disrupt nearby Internet networks or phone conversations until it's turned off. Testing in the real-world environment around the White House would reveal unexpected effects on jamming efforts from nearby buildings, monuments or tall trees. Signals emanating from an inbound drone -- such as coming from a video stream back to its pilot -- could allow the Secret Service to detect and track it. Federal agencies generally need approval to jam signals from the U.S. telecommunications advisory agency, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. That agency declined to tell the AP whether the Secret Service sought permission because it said such requests are not routinely made public. The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed it formally authorized the Secret Service to fly the drones and granted it a special waiver to fly them over Washington. The agency declined to provide specifics about the secret program. In January, a wayward quadcopter drone, piloted by an off-duty U.S. intelligence employee, landed on the White House lawn. At the time, the Secret Service said the errant landing appeared to be accidental and was not considered a security threat. The agency had been looking at security issues surrounding drones before the January crash, but the crash of that drone led the agency to focus more attention on security issues surrounding small, unmanned aircraft that can be hard to detect. Previously published reports have disclosed that the Secret Service already uses jammers in presidential and vice presidential motorcades to disrupt signals that might detonate hidden remotely triggered improvised explosive devices. Researchers with the Homeland Security Department's science and technology directorate are working on strategies to interdict an unauthorized drone flying inside security areas. The research arm of DHS is trying to balance security concerns of the small, hard-to-detect devices, with the burgeoning commercial use and interests of hobbyists. Likewise, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said last week it's studying how the U.S. can resolve privacy risks with increasing use of drones. The Homeland Security Department hosted a two-day meeting last month with industry officials, law enforcement and academics to discuss balancing security and commercial interests and establishing security practices. Days later, the Secret Service, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, distributed a three-sentence press release saying it will \"conduct a series of exercises involving unmanned aircraft systems, in the coming days and weeks.\" Trying to keep drones out of a secure area can be tricky. There are basically three ways to stop a drone, said Jeremy Gillula, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation: block the radio signals linking the drone to its controller, hack the aircraft's control signals and trick it into believing it is somewhere else, or physically disable it. Some drone manufacturers program a \"geo fence\" -- location coordinates their drones treat as off-limits and refuse to fly past -- into the drone's programming. Police could physically knock a drone out of the air with a projectile or use a net to catch it. \"If it were me that would actually be the first thing I would think about doing,\" Gillula said. \"You would have to basically encase the White House in this net. It sure wouldn't look pretty, but in some ways it would be the most effective way.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Britain wants to reach agreement over the terms of its departure from the European Union but is prepared for a no deal scenario, Brexit minister David Davis said on Friday. We don t want a no deal, but if one comes, we ll be ready for it, Davis told broadcasters.","label":0}
{"text":"Craig Diangelo, Republican congressional candidate in Connecticut's 5th District and former information technology worker, who was laid off and forced to train his foreign replacement here via an visa, spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow Thursday. [Fox Business News also recently reported Diangelo's story: \"In the very beginning we did not know that we would be training our replacements \u2026 the CIO came down from Boston, said that she would hold a town hall meeting to discuss the future of our IT at our particular company,\" Diangelo said. \"We all got into the room, 220 of us, she proceeded to tell us that \u2026 what we are going to do is \u2026 outsource IT infrastructure and IT development. \" Diangelo said company employees at the time were told it was because \"global employees can adjust to change a lot faster than the American worker. \" He questioned why American workers weren't classified equally. Diangelo said while he feels supported by many average citizens in Connecticut, that's not the case with the state's politicians. \"Senator Blumenthal, after I spoke with him and talked about this, he went out and . \u2026 That was to increase the number of by 100, 000, on top of the 85, 000 visas that are issued every year,\" he said. \"Elizabeth Esty, who I'm running against, she was very curt with me,\" he added, saying she passed him off to an aide who was supposed to call him but never did. Diangelo said Esty was not even informed of the pertinent immigration laws at the time of their encounter. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern.","label":0}
{"text":"One of our biggest concerns is that so many Americans don t realize the magnitude of just how much our nation is in deep trouble. With the election of Trump, the shadowy foes have been coming out and showing themselves to attack Trump. Glenn Greenwald does a great job of explaining what s going on:Co-founding editor of The Intercept says opponents have used the media in open warfare against the President-elect, and the CIA wanted Hillary Clinton to win the presidency:Look no further than Buzzfeed to see what he s talking about:BUZZFEED S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Attempts Lame Explanation Of Why He Published Fake News On Trump: This was absolutely the right thing to do [Video]GREENWALD:The Deep State Goes to War with President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer:This is the faction that is now engaged in open warfare against the duly elected and already widely disliked president-elect, Donald Trump. They are using classic Cold War dirty tactics and the defining ingredients of what has until recently been denounced as Fake News. Their most valuable instrument is the U.S. media, much of which reflexively reveres, serves, believes, and sides with hidden intelligence officials. And Democrats, still reeling from their unexpected and traumatic election loss as well as a systemic collapse of their party, seemingly divorced further and further from reason with each passing day, are willing eager to embrace any claim, cheer any tactic, align with any villain, regardless of how unsupported, tawdry and damaging those behaviors might be READ MORE: THE INTERCEPT","label":1}
{"text":"Six years of war in Syria have ravaged the life of Ebrahim Abbas, 27. Mr. Abbas, a computer technician, was detained for protesting against the Syrian government, besieged in his hometown and shot in the stomach, and watched his brother die in a shelling attack. He escaped, but his father, a diabetic, died later from a lack of medicine, and his mother was killed by a sniper. It was from his refuge in Turkey that Mr. Abbas heard about President Trump's decision to launch 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base to punish President Bashar for a chemical weapons attack. It felt good. \"Watching a world power taking revenge for civilians against the Syrian regime gave me a surge of hope and made me a bit optimistic,\" Mr. Abbas said. But the attack will not bring back all that he has lost nor help him return home soon. In a measure of how entrenched the war is, there were new airstrikes on Saturday on the town targeted in the attack, with at least one person killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The strike on the air base was the most direct, deliberate military intervention by the United States against Mr. Assad's forces since the war began. Mr. Trump said he had launched the strike because he was moved by images of women and children choking on poison gas. \"That was a horrible, horrible thing,\" he told reporters after the chemical attack. \"And I've been watching it and seeing it, and it doesn't get any worse than that. \" But while the strike on Thursday appeared intended to limit the chances of retaliation, Mr. Trump has offered no proposals to end the war or to assuage the vast human suffering it has generated, sending fleeing Syrians across the globe. Yasmine Mashaan, a pharmacy technician from the town of Muhassan in eastern Syria who lost several brothers to the conflict, said the strike was unlikely to change much for her and her family. And she doubts Mr. Trump's motivations. \"It would be great if he continued this in the direction of saving more civilians or establishing a safe zone, but after his racist speeches and policy, I think the strike is more for popularity,\" said Ms. Mashaan, who is now in Germany after fleeing there with her family. \"But judging by how fast he intervened in Syria and how powerful it was, then we might be going somewhere with it. \" The number affected by the conflict boggles the mind. What began as an uprising in 2011 escalated into a civil war as protesters took up arms to respond to the government's repression and seek its ouster. Over time, countries like the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia backed the rebels, while Russia and Iran helped Mr. Assad. As chaos spread, extremist groups gained ground. Al Qaeda infiltrated the rebel movement, while the jihadists of the Islamic State seized territory that extended into Iraq. Now more than 400, 000 people have been killed, a figure roughly equal to the population of Tulsa, Okla. or Oakland, Calif. Many more have been maimed. Half of Syria's prewar population of 22 million have fled their homes, a number close to the population of Belgium. Five million of those are registered refugees abroad, according to the United Nations. Most are in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, where 70 percent live on less than $3. 84 a day, less than the cost of some lattes at Starbucks. Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which does aid work in Syria, said he could not comment for or against the strike by the United States, but he said that \"they do not solve any of my urgent priorities. \" For the humanitarian situation to improve, aid workers would need more border crossings for getting aid into the country, assurances that air and ground forces would not attack hospitals and better access to besieged and suffering communities, including nearly 400, 000 people within an hour's drive of Damascus, the capital. \"It is heartbreakingly frustrating to be a humanitarian worker and to have the resources and the supplies but not to be able to reach these people,\" Mr. Egeland said. Within the conflict's statistics are countless stories of torture, detention, forced conscription, families torn apart and normal lives downgraded rapidly or simply cut short. Even some Syrians who welcomed the strike questioned why, after all of the war's brutality, it was the chemical attack this past week that had brought a show of force against Mr. Assad. \"Of course chemicals are weapons of mass destruction,\" said a doctor east of Damascus who treated victims of the first major chemical attack in Syria, in 2013. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared government reprisal. \"But what about sieges? What about killing children? Isn't it wrong for children to grow up without knowing Tom and Jerry? Without knowing chocolate?\" President Barack Obama did not respond militarily to a chemical attack in 2013, despite having called the use of such weapons a \"red line. \" Since then, the doctor has watched the world move on while the siege of his area has tightened, he said through Skype. He said he had learned to live with less electricity, less fuel, less clean water and less food. \"We are living like ancient people, how they depended on themselves, how they used wood to make fires,\" he said. \"It is a hard life. \" He expected more from the United States and its allies after the 2013 attack, what he called \"a position that was appropriate for the free world. \" But the result was an agreement, brokered by Russia, for Mr. Assad to give up his chemical weapons. \"The solution to the crime was a deal to take away the weapon but leave the criminal,\" the doctor said. The strike by the United States made him mildly optimistic that Mr. Trump would intervene more forcefully than Mr. Obama had. \"Trump is a closed box that has started to open,\" he said. \"Soon we will see what's inside. \" While conflict monitors said that Mr. Assad's forces and their allies had caused the bulk of the war's deaths with their advanced weapons, communities loyal to Mr. Assad have also paid a heavy price. Tens of thousands of Syrian soldiers have been killed, and religious minorities, secularists and others who view Mr. Assad as a symbol of a unified Syria have continued to fight out of fear that they would be eradicated if Islamist rebels take over the country. Others have had to face both the government and the jihadists. Ms. Mashaan, the pharmacy technician, said her family's troubles began when she intervened to stop a security officer from beating her brother for protesting. The officer beat her instead, breaking her arm. As the uprising spread, Ms. Mashaan, 36, and her five brothers joined in. Soon, her brothers and husband were arrested and tortured, in some cases coming home with their fingernails removed, she said. Then they began to die. One was killed when security forces fired into a crowd of protesters, she said. Another was shot in their home by a sniper. Yet another disappeared. She later recognized his face in a trove of photos of bodies smuggled out of a prison near Damascus. As violence spread, Ms. Mashaan's family fled to a refugee camp in the countryside, but it was soon taken over by a new force in the area: Islamic State jihadists. They killed her younger brother and took advantage of her medical training by forcing her to work in a clinic, she said. The family later fled to a refugee camp across the border in Turkey, where they lived until Ms. Mashaan's husband and her last remaining brother joined the migration to Europe and paid smugglers to take them to Greece in rubber dinghies. They made their way to Germany, where she and her five children joined them last year. Living in Germany is hard, she said in a Facebook chat from her new home. Not speaking the language made it difficult to register the children, and many Germans refused to rent lodgings to her family because they were refugees, she said.","label":0}
{"text":"The Other October Surprise---An Eruption In The Bond Pits By David Stockman. Even as the FBI's probe of Huma\/Weiner's laptop was happening behind the scenes during the last several weeks, an even more important eruption was quietly gathering steam in the world's bond markets. To wit, the casino gamblers who have made a killing front-running the central banks have begun to fade the trade. You need to login to view this content.  David Stockman's Contra Corner isn't your typical financial tipsheet. Instead it's an ongoing dialogue about what's really happening in the markets\u2026 the economy\u2026 and governments\u2026 so you can understand the world around you and make better decisions for yourself.  David believes the world -- certainly the United States -- is at a great inflection point in human history. The massive credit inflation of the last three decades has reached its apogee and is now going to splatter spectacularly.  This will have lasting ramifications on how governments tax and regulate you\u2026 the type of work you and your family members will have available and what you get paid\u2026 the value of your nest egg\u2026 and all other areas comprising your quality of life. Login  David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman's latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler's Daily Data Dive and David's personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers.","label":1}
{"text":"Energy infrastructure companies in the Caribbean and southeastern United States continued to restart as of Friday after shutdowns due to Hurricane Irma. Irma was downgraded to a tropical depression on Monday and weakened further into a post-tropical cyclone by Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said. Kinder Morgan Inc said it is making significant progress on restarting systems that were temporarily or partially shut down as a precaution during the passage of Irma. It said the Orlando and Tampa products terminals and their associated truck racks, the Central Florida Pipeline (CFPL), Elba Island LNG Terminal, the Plantation Pipe Line system, and other terminals in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are fully operational. Dominican Republican Refidomsa s Haina refinery and its docks returned to normal after Irma, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Statoil said operations at South Riding Point resumed earlier this week after being shut down during the weekend. Buckeye Partners LP did not immediately have an update available on its Bahamas crude oil and fuel terminal, previously known as Borco. The terminal is Buckeye s largest and can store about 26.2 million barrels of oil, fuel oil, gasoline and other products. Buckeye s terminals in Puerto Rico have returned to normal, a spokesman told Reuters in an email. Port Everglades, South Florida s main petroleum delivery hub, said it is open with no restrictions. Of the 12 petroleum terminals supplying transportation fuels, 10 were up and delivering fuel to retail stations and two that are still working to reopen have water intrusion and related issues, the Port said. Irma, which had ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record before striking the U.S. mainland as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday, has been blamed for at least 82 deaths, with several hard-hit Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, accounting for more than half the fatalities. COMPANY LOCATION ACTION FULL STORY Refidomsa Haina, Refining, docks back Dominican to normal Republic COMPANY LOCATION ACTION FULL STORY Norfolk U.S. Opened origin Southern Corp Southeast facility gates for shipments destined to Charleston, South Carolina, though gates remained closed to traffic destined for Jacksonville, Florida, Savannah-Garden City in Georgia, and Florida East Coast Railway locations COMPANY LOCATION ACTION FULL STORY Buckeye Puerto Rico Terminal facilities Partners in Puerto Rico have returned to normal operations Buckeye Freeport, Targets normal Partners Grand Bahama operations at Bahamas Island oil, fuel terminal on Tuesday Statoil Grand Bahama South Riding Point Island storage and transshipment terminal operations resumed NuStar St. Statia terminal Eustatius suffered damage to several tanks and other equipment due to Hurricane Irma. All employees safe, no oil spills have been registered; Assessments were put on hold due to Hurricane Jose Limetree Bay St. Croix, Hovensa terminal Terminals U.S. Virgin shuttered due to Islands storm, traders said American Brunswick, Shut down around noon Midstream Georgia on Friday and Brunswick evacuated employees Terminal Odfjell Charleston, Continuing Terminal South operations, Carolina monitoring the status of storm Port Hollywood, Open with no [nL4N1LU4L9] Everglades Florida restrictions Kinder Morgan Making significant progress on restarting systems that were temporarily or partially shut down as a precaution COMPANY LOCATION ACTION FULL STORY Shell Eastern Gulf Reduced staff at its of Mexico eastern Gulf of Mexico assets as a precautionary measure BP Thunder Non-essential Horse personnel evacuated platform from platform and associated drill ship West Vela","label":0}
{"text":"French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump on his shock victory in the U.S presidential election, but warned the result would open up a period of uncertainty. \"I congratulate him as is natural between two democratic heads of state,\" said Hollande. \"This American election opens a period of uncertainty.\" France would be vigilant and frank in its talks with the new administration on international issues, he said, adding that Trump's victory showed that France needed to be stronger and that Europe needed to be united. A presidential official said Hollande had spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel before making his declaration.","label":0}
{"text":"The Russian President has immediately sent his Admiral Grigorovich frigate armed with cruise missiles and a self-defence system from the Black Sea to dock in Syria later. It will pass through the east Mediterranean waters where the USS Ross and USS Porter fired the 59 Tomahawk missiles that pounded Assad s al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs in the early hours of Friday. Bret Baier tweeted out the news: Putin today called it an illegal act of aggression and also ripped up an agreement to avoid mid-air clashes between Russian and US fighter jets over Syria. In the continuing fight back Russian or Syrian planes also bombed the town of Khan Sheikhoun, the scene of Tuesday s horrific chemical gas attack where 80 died, witnesses in the rebel-held area claimed. The US was also branded a partner of ISIS by al-Assad s spokesman, calling the missile strikes reckless and irresponsible and accused Trump of naively falling for a false propaganda campaign about the Idlib Sarin massacre. Today world leaders praised the US strikes and urged Putin to hold urgent talks with Trump to prevent the Syria crisis escalating into a wider world conflict. Nikki Haley says U.S. took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary. .@Nikkihaley says U.S. took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary. #Syria pic.twitter.com\/asNvxTZMUz CSPAN (@cspan) April 7, 2017 French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, speaking alongside German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, said: We do not want an escalation. We have to stop the hypocrisy. If Russia is acting in good faith it should stop and negotiate .","label":1}
{"text":"Munich prosecutors have arrested a former board member of Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) unit Porsche in connection with an emissions scandal at carmaker Audi, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Wolfgang Hatz, former Research and Development chief at Porsche and head of powertrain development at Audi and parent Volkswagen in previous roles, was taken into custody, the person said, marking the first arrest of a former board member of one of Volkswagen s units in Germany. A lawyer representing Hatz declined to confirm the arrest and also declined any further comment. Hatz left Porsche last year, having been suspended since Volkswagen s emissions test-cheating scandal broke in September 2015. Investigations found no evidence against him, Porsche said in May 2016. Munich prosecutors earlier said they had arrested a second suspect and widened the number of suspects in their investigation. They did not disclose the suspect s identity. Prosecutors have also searched personal premises, a spokeswoman for the Munich prosecutors said, adding that corporate locations were not part of the raid. Audi has no knowledge of the arrest and continues to cooperate with authorities, a spokesman said. German business daily Handelsblatt first reported the arrest and Sueddeutsche Zeitung disclosed Hatz s identity. Audi admitted in November 2015, two months after parent Volkswagen s diesel emissions scandal broke, that its 3.0 liter V6 diesel engines were fitted with an auxiliary control device deemed illegal in the United States. In March, Munich prosecutors searched offices at the carmaker s Ingolstadt base, where about 44,000 workers are employed, and the premises of Jones Day, a U.S. law firm hired by Volkswagen to lead an investigation into the emissions scandal. Four months later the U.S. Justice Department said it had charged a former Audi manager with directing employees at the company to design software to cheat U.S. emissions tests in thousands of Audi diesel cars. The former Audi manager, Italian citizen Giovanni Pamio, was subsequently arrested by Munich prosecutors on suspicion of fraud and false advertising in connection with the carmaker s emissions scandal. Pamio remains in custody pending ongoing German investigations and an extradition request by U.S. authorities. Pamio s lawyers said he is cooperating fully with prosecutors and has denied the allegations.","label":0}
{"text":"The Republican presidential campaign of Ohio Governor John Kasich has hired a former deputy White House press secretary for President George W. Bush as a top communications adviser, a campaign source said on Tuesday. The adviser, Trent Duffy, is an Ohio native who worked on Capitol Hill when then-Representative Kasich was chairman of the House Budget Committee. Duffy, who has been a public relations consultant in the years since serving in the Bush White House, will be a national communications strategist and responsible for national media outreach on behalf of Kasich's campaign for the Nov. 8 election. The hire takes place during the heat of the South Carolina primary battle. Republicans in the state vote on Saturday and Kasich is campaigning in the state over the next few days to try to build on the momentum he received from a second-place finish in the New Hampshire nominating contest last week. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Howard Goller) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters' editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.","label":0}
{"text":"Every year the nation s press corps meets in Washington D.C. at the Correspondents Dinner. A dinner which is always entertaining, to say the least, as President Obama jokes about events that may have happened throughout the past year, and people who have most significantly appeared in the media.This year was no different as the president quipped about each and every presidential candidate, not leaving anyone out. He also made a joke indicating who he believes will be the president at next year s Correspondents Dinner.Obama said: Next year someone else will be standing here in this spot, and it s anyone s guess who she will be. Obama clearly insinuated that he believes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not only win the Democratic primary, but also win in November against whoever the Republicans may put up against her.Only time will tell to see if President Obama s prediction will come true, but no matter who the nominee may be on the Democratic ticket, we ve got to make sure liberals unite and against the Republican candidate. No matter who, vote blue. Not only for yourself, but for the good of entire nation.Watch the video of Obama s prediction here:Obama: Next year someone else will be here, and \"it's anyone guess who she will be\" #WHCD https:\/\/t.co\/6OZtrfIwim https:\/\/t.co\/w9u1yCIqQv CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 1, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump s pride and joy is the tacky, gaudy literal glass tower he lives in, known as Trump Tower. It, and other Trump structures around the nation and world, are the best indicators of the guy s undeniable and extreme narcissism, so making fun of them is sure to get The Donald s knickers in a twist and that is just what Google Maps did on Saturday.For quite some time during the afternoon, Trump Tower showed up on Google Maps as Dump Tower. This did not go unnoticed on that bastion of internet trollery, Twitter. Here are just a few choice tweets, via The Hill:Look at what cute little Google Maps did they labeled Trump Tower \"Dump Tower\" pic.twitter.com\/sKZ39bTB6o MARK SIMONE (@MarkSimoneNY) November 27, 2016Rigged! @google Maps shows Trump Tower as \"Dump Tower\" pic.twitter.com\/L8pZk1y0zc Evan Smith (@evanasmith) November 26, 2016The Google Maps Trump hack is live ??? #DumpTrump #DumpTower pic.twitter.com\/AuBe7GKjQ4 mcbc (@mcbc) November 27, 2016The Google Maps Trump hack is live ??? #DumpTrump #DumpTower pic.twitter.com\/AuBe7GKjQ4 mcbc (@mcbc) November 27, 2016The best way to get under Trump s skin is, of course, is to mock him. During the election, everyone tried to shame him by painting him as unacceptable, by appealing to the better instincts of the electorate by pointing out his bigotry, misogyny, and other unsavory characteristics. However, since Trump and his supporters have no sense of shame, that didn t work. However, they DO have pride. They can t stand to be disagreed with, and they ESPECIALLY cannot stand to be mocked. So, keep it up, Google Maps and everyone else. Mock and troll the hell out of Trump for his entire presidency until his head explodes.","label":1}
{"text":"On Monday, International Workers Day, protesters will fill the National Mall and the streets of cities elsewhere to protest what they call the federal government's \"deportation machinery\" and to demand civil rights reserved for citizens be bestowed upon illegal immigrants. [The May Day protest by illegal aliens goes back to 2006 when \"1. 5 million people took to the streets across the country to demand immigration reform,\" magazine The Nation reported on Friday. Now, protesters aren't asking for a pathway to citizenship. \"Today, no one, not even immigrants rights advocates, is calling for immigration reform anymore,\" Nation contributor Julianne Hing wrote . \"Immigrants and their allies are now defending civil rights like due process and values like democracy and inclusiveness. \"The policy agenda is no longer about winning citizenship or even legal status for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants,\" the article said. \"It's about defending families from separation. \" This year's march will also include other protesters opposed to President Trump's policies on immigration. \"With the Trump administration intensifying attacks on Native Americans, immigrants, refugees, trans individuals, Muslims, women, people of color in general, and the poor, a coalition led by immigrants and workers is aiming to mark this year's May Day with the biggest workers strike in over a decade,\" The Nation article said. \"One thing I've been struck by since the election is everyone is ready to see how these different movements intersect,\" Jack Darin, director of the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club said in the article, and he cited the Women's March shortly after Trump's inauguration as the prototype for their protest. \"Our members see how our struggles and our goals intersect with these other constituencies. \" \"It showed a lot of people at a moment when we really needed to see it that we were all in this together and combined, we really do represent the majority,\" Darin said. \"As immigrants our livelihoods, our futures, our families \u2014 they're all in danger,\" Cabrera, the director of communications at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) said in The Nation article. \"May Day presents an opportunity for us to not silence ourselves and to remain vigilant. \" Organizers behind the \"Day Without Immigrants\" protest in February are calling again for people to not report to work on Monday. \"Activists in Scranton, Pennsylvania Raleigh, North Carolina and Newark, New Jersey and dozens of other cities have been calling for a strike,\" The Nation reported in an article entitled \"How to Join the 'Day Without Immigrants' on May Day. \" \"We believe that when the country recognizes it depends on immigrant labor to function we will win permanent protection from deportation for the 11 million undocumented immigrants the right to travel freely to visit our loved ones abroad, and the right to be treated with dignity and respect,\" Movimiento Cosecha's Maria Fernanda Cabello in a statement included in the article. \"Immigrant, African American, LGBTQ, indigenous and women workers along with allies are striking on May 1,\" the bsolid. org website states. \"#may1strike is an invitation from the Food Chain Workers Alliance and SEIU USWW to build a General Strike on International Workers Day. Stand with us to pledge your participation \u2026 \" The website states that people said should not be silent when the government and corporations are escalating \"immigration raids,\" violating \"Native sovereignty,\" banning Muslims \"because of their faith,\" \"criminalizing\" black, brown and \"trans people,\" and \"rapidly destroying the environment. \" \"Opposing Trump is not enough,\" the website states. \"We must stop him. \"","label":0}
{"text":"In an interview with Spain's flagship leftist newspaper, Pope Francis warned against rash judgments of President Donald Trump, noting that he deserves to be given a chance to prove himself. [The interviewer from the Spanish daily El Pa\u00eds told the Pope that \"the whole world is tense\" over the election of President Trump, calling him a xenophobe filled with \"hatred for foreigners. \" The Pope said that the new President deserved to be judged by his actions, not by \"prophecies\" of what he may or may not do. \"I think that we must wait and see,\" Francis said. \"I don't like to get ahead of myself nor judge people prematurely. We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion. \" The Pope said it is \"most unwise\" to be afraid of something that might happen. \"It would be like prophets predicting calamities or windfalls that don't take place. We will see. We will see what he does and then evaluate,\" he said. \"I prefer to wait and see. \" The interviewer, Antonio Ca\u00f1o, pressed the Pope further, asking whether he wasn't \"worried about the things you have heard up until now. \" \"I'm waiting. God waited a long time for me, with all my sins \u2026 \" Francis replied. The Pope's words Friday echoed a recent interview with the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Sch\u00f6nborn, who also advised against rushing to negative judgments of Trump, comparing him to Ronald Reagan, who turned out to be a great president. Asked for his impressions about the election of Donald Trump, Cardinal Sch\u00f6nborn noted that when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 \"many shook their heads\" and it turned out they were wrong. \"Good God, an actor from California!\" they said. \"And Reagan was certainly one of the best presidents the U. S. ever had. So you should not be too quick to judge,\" he advised. In Friday's lengthy interview with El Pa\u00eds, Pope Francis was also asked whether he was concerned about the spread of a populism throughout the world that capitalizes on \"people's fears,\" preaching \"a message of hate. \" Francis distinguished between a good, grassroots populism, where it is the people who are \"the protagonists,\" and a cult of personality where a charismatic figure like Hitler rises to power and is welcomed as a savior figure. The latter can be very dangerous, he said. The risk, Francis said, is that in times of crisis we lack judgment and people can begin to think, \"Let's look for a savior who gives us back our identity and let's defend ourselves with walls, whatever, from other people that may rob us of our identity. \" \"And that is a very serious thing,\" he said. \"That is why I always try to say: talk among yourselves, talk to one another. \" Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome","label":0}
{"text":"Soccer leagues such as England s Premier League and Germany s Bundesliga won a reprieve on Friday when EU ambassadors agreed to exclude them from the scope of a copyright reform that would help make content more easily available online. The entertainment and sports industries have been fiercely lobbying against the European Commission s proposed reform of EU copyright law to make films and TV program more available across borders, arguing it would undermine the financing model of the whole sector. Films and TV program are often financed by selling exclusive distribution rights on a country-by-country basis. Rights to show sports, such as Premier League soccer matches, can fetch billions of pounds. The Commission has said it is not seeking to force anyone to make content more available online, but merely to make it easier for broadcasters to obtain the necessary rights. EU member states agreed on Friday to exclude all sports events, TV program co-produced by broadcasters and other third parties, as well as content licensed to a broadcaster by a third party. That means that only content produced and financed entirely by the broadcaster will be able to be shown online across the EU after the rights are obtained in the home country. That mostly includes TV shows made by public broadcasters for home audiences, as opposed to blockbuster TV shows such as Game of Thrones . At issue is the so-called country of origin principle , which allows satellite broadcasters to acquire the rights for content in their home country rather than in every country where the program is received by satellite. Under the Commission s proposal broadcasters could choose to make their catch-up TV and live streaming services available online across the EU after securing the rights in their home country. The agreement is not final and means EU member states can enter into negotiations with the European Parliament to strike a final deal. The Parliament had restricted the scope of the reform even further, limiting it to just news and current affairs program. The Commission has pointed to the large number of European citizens living abroad who may want to watch content from their home country online without resorting to piracy. It says 67 percent of all films are only shown in one EU country and that its proposal could help free up over 50 percent of own productions from broadcasters like the BBC, should they choose to make it available.","label":0}
{"text":"We all know how much conservatives love to whine about how persecuted they are for their mainstream beliefs, and continue promoting their completely skewed perception of what it s really like to be discriminated against.On Saturday during a speech in Iowa, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump revisited his previous comments where he d proposed that all Muslims be banned from coming into the United States, offering up a completely out of touch alternative scenario. Trump actually had the audacity to say that he would have had less difficulty if he had suggested a ban on Christians from coming into America instead of Muslims! The business mogul said to his audience at Dordt College, a Christian school: If I said that about Christians, and if I said banned, I m telling you I would have had less difficulty. And that s pretty sad, because we re Christians. I m Protestant. I m Presbyterian. Trump s faith has been questioned before especially since he d recently said he doesn t like asking God for forgiveness. Now doing damage control, he s embracing the religious right full force. He said: I m a true believer. And you re many true believers I hope all is everybody a true believer in this room? I think so. But Christianity is under tremendous siege. The Donald also lamented that Christians weren t using their full power and political influence in the United States and that they should step it up. The nonsense he s spewing is actually pretty terrifying: The power of our group of people together, I mean, if you add it up it could be 240, 250 million. And yet we don t exert the power that we should have. Now, I think some of the churches are afraid of their tax status, to be honest.But you know the fact is that there is nothing the politicians can do to you if you band together. You have too much power. But the Christians don t use their power. We have to strengthen. Because we are getting if you look, it s death by a million cuts we are getting less and less and less powerful in terms of a religion, and in terms of a force. Trump pulled out all of the stops, even touching on one of the far-right s biggest religion-based complaints the supposed War On Christmas . Complaining that big department stores were not using Merry Christmas during the holiday season, he said: When they don t want to say merry Christmas in department stores anymore. I won t shop at places that don t say merry Christmas. Guess what? I don t too much shopping. No, no, it s true. When I see these stores, and they have a red wall and they have nothing on it. They don t want to say merry Christmas anymore. I say, Why don t you say merry Christmas?' I ll tell you one thing: I get elected president, we re going to be saying merry Christmas again. Just remember that. And by the way, Christianity will have power, without having to form. And as if Trump being president wasn t terrifying enough, his promise to giving Christians more power should have everyone running out to the polls to prevent this nightmare from actually happening. He added: Because if I m there, you re going to have plenty of power. You don t need anybody else. You re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.","label":1}
{"text":"The Pentagon said on Monday it was reviewing adjustments in arms for the Syrian Kurdish forces that have angered Turkey, but it stopped short of halting weapons transfers, suggesting such decisions would be based on battlefield requirements. Turkey said on Friday U.S. President Donald Trump told President Tayyip Erdogan he had issued instructions that weapons should not be provided to the Syrian Kurdish fighters, which Ankara views as threat. We are reviewing pending adjustments to the military support provided to our Kurdish partners in as much as the military requirements of our defeat-ISIS and stabilization efforts will allow to prevent ISIS from returning, said Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon, referring to Islamic State, which U.S. and U.S.-backed forces are battling in Syria. Earlier on Monday Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Friday s call between Trump and Erdogan was a turning point in strained ties between the two countries, but Washington must honor a pledge to stop providing weapons to the Syrian Kurds. The We will not give weapons remark from a U.S. president for the first time is important, but it will lose value if it is not implemented. It would be deceiving the world, Bozdag said. The Syrian Kurdish YPG spearheads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting Islamic State with the help of a U.S.-led coalition. A spokesperson for the coalition said on Sunday that it was looking at adjustments to the support it provides to the SDF, ranging from the number of advisers to training and artillery. Weapons provided to Syrian YPG have been limited and mission specific, the spokesperson added. Ankara has been infuriated by Washington s support for the YPG militia, seen by Turkey as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union.","label":0}
{"text":"Trump administration officials will likely meet in May to reach a final decision on whether the United States should stay in the Paris climate deal, after holding an initial meeting on Thursday at the White House, an administration source said. The group of advisers, which includes Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, was on track to make the decision before a Group of Seven summit on May 26, the source said. President Donald Trump made canceling the Paris agreement part of his 100-day plan for energy policy. He later said he was open to staying in the pact if Washington got better terms. Tillerson, the former head of Exxon Mobil Corp and Perry have said the country should remain in the agreement. McMaster shares that view, a source outside the administration said. Opponents of the pact include Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, the former attorney general of oil-producing Oklahoma, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Nearly 200 countries struck the Paris agreement to limit climate change by cutting carbon dioxide emissions and making investments in clean energy. Many companies such as BP Plc and Microsoft Corp have urged the United States to stay in the agreement to protect their competitiveness. In addition, a group of nine Republican lawmakers urged Trump to stick to the pact, but to weaken the U.S. pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Representative Kevin Cramer of oil-producing North Dakota and eight other Republican House of Representatives members sent a letter to Trump urging him to use the country's \"seat at the Paris table to defend and promote our commercial interest, including our manufacturing and fossil fuel sectors.\" If the United States is to stay in the 2015 agreement, Washington should present a new emissions cutting pledge that \"does no harm to our economy,\" said the letter from Cramer, who advised Trump on energy and climate during his presidential campaign. Trump's Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, had pledged a 26 percent to 28 percent cut in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels, by 2025. Most scientists say the world needs to curb greenhouse gas emissions to limit the effects of climate change, including rising seas, deadly heatwaves, and severe storms and droughts. The Republican lawmakers also said Washington should retain its seat on the Green Climate Fund, which aims to tackle climate change in poor countries, but not make additional transfers to it. Obama pledged $3 billion to the fund in 2014, and gave $1 billion to it, with the last $500 million payment coming in his last days as president.","label":0}
{"text":"The Brexit agreement on the Irish border that assures Northern Ireland will remain aligned with the European Union s customs union and single market puts a floor under what is possible in negotiations on trade after Britain leaves the EU, Ireland s foreign minister said. What it means is any deal that is done has to be better than the default position, otherwise we won t be able to agree it, Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE after the deal was struck early on Friday. I think what that does is, it puts a floor under what is possible in terms of the outcome that we can t fall below, so Ireland obviously has a huge interest in the phase two negotiations.","label":0}
{"text":"Programming Alert:Tune in to the FOX Business Network's GOP Debate on Thursday, January 14, beginning at 6 P.M. ET The good people of Charleston, South Carolina, divide themselves into two groups \u2013 SOBS (folks living south of Broad Street) and SNOBS (those on the northern side). Worse things have been said of the current crop of presidential hopefuls, nearly all of whom invade the Holy City the next few days \u2013 Thursday's GOP debate, sponsored by the Fox Business Network; Sunday's Democratic debate, carried by NBC. If you're counting at home, this marks the sixth time the GOP field has gathered on one stage, the second time that the Fox Business Network (FBN) has done the honors and, with only seven candidates in the main event (watch live at 9 pm ET), it could be the first time an evening with the Republicans might not descend into pouting, posturing and crosstalk. How best to anticipate this debate? The debate's venue, the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center, is less than 10 miles from the Emanuel AME church, the scene of last June's mass shooting. Gun control won't go undiscussed, what with President Obama bringing it up in Tuesday's State of the Union Address and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley revisiting the incident in her Republican response. It's a short walk from Emanuel AME to the Cooper River and a bustling container-ship and car-carrier operation that's converted Charleston from a Navy town to a thriving hub of maritime commerce (BMW and Volvo use the seaport to ship autos made elsewhere in the right-to-work state). There's no better tie-in for a few questions about the global economy. Those ships dock upriver from Fort Sumter and were the site of a louder anti-Washington protest than anything the Tea Party's imagined. Will Donald Trump tell America it's time to party like it's 1861? What else to expect from the Republicans? In the Low Country spirit of sippin' bourbon and whiskey concoctions, six things: 1. Rebel Yell. Before we get into what divides the Republican field, here's what unites it \u2013 multiple opportunities to yell President Obama post-State of the Union. Expect strong words on the President's omission of the situation on Farsi island, his post-San Bernardino emphasis on guns and not domestic terrorism, his invoking the word \"Muslim\" only in conjunction with hate crimes, plus his insistence that America's global influence isn't in decline. 2. Canadian Club. The knock against Ted Cruz is that most folks who've worked with him don't like him. Let's see if that carries over onto the debate stage should Trump resume the questions about Cruz's Canadian birth. Will any other candidate intervene, or will they let Cruz and Trump slug it out? Then there's also the matter of the Goldman Sachs undisclosed million dollar loan\u2026 As for Cruz, does he laugh off these lines of attack, or continue to return fire as he's just begun to do in New Hampshire? 3. Southern Comfort. To the adage about South Carolina's quirkiness (\"too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum,\" said the anti-secessionist James L. Petrigu), there's this reality: it's the most conservative of the four stops on the February primary circuit. How many of the seven contenders will cater to the local electorate, versus those who play to the more moderate Yankees up in New Hampshire? For the latter, keep an eye on Chris Christie, John Kasich and this guy . . . 4. Johnny Walker. That's \"Johnny\", as in John Ellis \"Jeb\" Bush, and \"Walker\" as in Walker's Point, the family's summer compound where the family assembles to celebrate wins and lick wounds. Historically, South Carolina has been invaluable to Bush presidential causes \u2013 both father and brother used it as a \"firewall\" in their respective winning candidacies. But that's not so with Jeb. The Palmetto State doesn't fit into a strategy that's finish strong in New Hampshire or bust. 5. Wild Turkey. Not to suggest that Trump is poultry, but as usual he's the wild card in the two hours he has to bond with the six other Republicans who trail him in national surveys. Do we assume Trump is the aggressor, in attacking Cruz? Or does he go easy on Cruz and go back to his favorite pincushion: the Clintons? 6. Old Fashioned. Not a brand of booze, but a cocktail (bourbon, splash of soda, bitters, sugar, orange wheel, cherry). The \"old fashioned\" candidate in this debate? It might be the decidedly youthful Marco Rubio, who suddenly seems less the futuristic GenXer and more a traditional Republican (convening a constitutional convention, berating Hillary Clinton for wanting higher taxes and bigger government). The last guy to popularize this cocktail: \"Mad Men's\" Don Draper, who knew a thing or two about marketing and salesmanship. That show lasted eight years on television \u2013 the same goal as everyone mixing it up in North Charleston. Bill Whalen is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where he analyzes California and national politics. He also blogs daily on the 2016 election at www.adayattheracesblog.com. Follow him on Twitter @hooverwhalen.","label":0}
{"text":"On the Tuesday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of the Trump administration's agenda. [Gary Miliefsky, the CEO of SnoopWall, Inc. will discuss the recent global ransomware cyberattacks. Breitbart's Joel Pollak and Matt Boyle will discuss the latest deep state leak plaguing President Trump. Breitbart Legal Editor Ken Klukowski will discuss the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing arguments on Trump's revised travel ban. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show \"the conservative news show of record. \" Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: .","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he has not given any thought to the possibility of firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Speaking to reporters at his New Jersey golf club, Trump also said he was surprised by the FBI raid last month of his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, adding that it sent a \"strong signal.\"","label":0}
{"text":"From the first piece headlined James Comey is damaging our democracy : First, the FBI director, James B. Comey, put himself enthusiastically forward as the arbiter of not only whether to prosecute a criminal case \u2014 which is not the job of the FBI \u2014 but also best practices in the handling of email and other matters. Now, he has chosen personally to restrike the balance between transparency and fairness , departing from the department's traditions.  From the second piece by notorious mud-slinger Dana Milbank: I've long believed in Comey's integrity. But if he doesn't step forward and explain his October Surprise, he may inadvertently wind up interfering in the political process \u2014 perhaps even reversing the outcome of a presidential election \u2014 in a way that would have made J. Edgar Hoover gape.  And the third strike : FBI Director James B. Comey's stunning announcement that he has directed investigators to begin reviewing new evidence in the Clinton email investigation was yet another troubling violation of long-standing Justice Department rules or precedent, conduct that raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to serve as the nation's chief investigative official .  Back to the July 7 editorial: \"It appears damage is being done to the rule of law,\" Mr. Ryan said. He's right, but the FBI director isn't doing the damage. The wreckers are those who cast baseless aspersions on U.S. law enforcement in the service of their partisan goals .  I for one believe that Comey was wrong in July and is right today. He should have pressed for charges against Clinton early on. Using a \"secret\" private email server for confidential state business is not legal and would have been out of bounds for anyone else. Now possible new evidence was found and must be investigated. It is not Comey's job to ask if the timing of a renewed investigation is convenient for the potential culprit. He also had to inform Congress because he had reasonably promised to do so. (He also needed to save his ass before anyone else in his department talked to the media.)  The so called \"election\" of a U.S. president is always a sorry show. But this season's version has at least some amusing moments. Seeing the hypocrites at Fred Hyatt's Funny Pages\u2122 squirm is one of them. It makes me smirk. Posted by b on October 30, 2016 at 08:37 AM | Permalink","label":1}
{"text":"When the S. U. V. was recovered, two days after it was stolen, everything inside was gone, a long and bizarre list. More than 100 Brioni neckties. A fur coat that had been a gift from the Onassis family. Two bronze urns that had been in the trunk, and their precious contents. And a 1977 New York Yankees World Series ring, a personal gift from George Steinbrenner. It was inscribed, \"To my friend, Bill White. \" That would be Bill White, the philanthropist and former chief executive of the Intrepid Sea, Air Space Museum. The same Bill White who hosted a with President Obama in his home in 2014. Guests included Rosie O'Donnell, Aretha Franklin and Mark Wahlberg. He spoke on Tuesday by telephone from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where he was attending the Clinton campaign's events, the outcome still unknown. But amid the excitement Mr. White, 49, sounded like just another New Yorker angry at himself. \"This is the tale of three idiots, and I'm all three of them,\" he said. \"I get it. \" On Nov. 2, Mr. White had parked the truck outside his building in Manhattan around 2 a. m. after having dinner with his husband, Bryan Eure. He had loaded a lot of property and memorabilia, like photographs of Barbara Walters with Yitzhak Rabin aboard the Intrepid, into the G. M. C. Yukon to take to his office later that day. And the vehicle contained something more precious, he said: the cremated remains of his parents, inside those bronze urns. The vehicle's windows were tinted, and everything inside was covered, so he felt it was safe to leave his belongings there for the trip the next morning. \"Like an absolute idiot,\" he said. \"I've left my car on the street for 15 years and never had it broken into. \" A familiar figure in social and political circles in the city, Mr. White guided the Intrepid through financial troubles during his five years as president. He resigned abruptly in 2010, and was under investigation by Andrew M. Cuomo, then the state attorney general, for his role in for Alan G. Hevesi, the former state comptroller. That same year, he settled and agreed to pay $1 million to the state. He knows a lot of people. When he had seen that the S. U. V. was gone that morning, Mr. White picked up the phone and called the police. Sort of. \"I called Commissioner Bratton,\" he said, referring to the city's former police commissioner, William J. Bratton. \"And Ray Kelly,\" who was Mr. Bratton's predecessor. \"I even texted my friend Bill de Blasio. \" The vehicle was recovered on East 89th Street in Canarsie, Brooklyn. It was taken to a police lot for processing and fingerprinting. \"I said, 'You've got to tell me, what's in the car? '\" Mr. White said. \"They said, 'A sock.' That's when I lost it. \" \"I'm just trying to get my parents back,\" Mr. White said. \"The other stuff, you can live without. \" The police released an image from a surveillance camera of a man stepping out of the Yukon, but it showed no sign of the property. Did he stop along the way and dump it somewhere? What could he have done with the urns? \"I think he thought it was gold,\" Mr. White said. \"He opened it and saw dust. \" Mr. White's father, William J. White, died in 2015 and was cremated. His son, an only child, said they were very close and had spoken every day, and that it continued after the father's death. \"People will think that's weird, and I don't care,\" Mr. White said. \"I used to drive him around. \" He kept the remains in the trunk area, out of sight. His mother, Patricia White, died in September. Mr. White placed her remains beside her husband's. \"Until I think about what to do with them, I want them to be with me,\" he said, \"and I'm in the car a lot. \" He planned to have both urns placed under a memorial bench with his parents' names inscribed on it, in a park in Point Lookout, N. Y. where they had lived. The thief can keep the rest, he said. Even the ring. Once, in 2008, Mr. White was talking on his phone when a stranger approached and asked, \"Where the hell did you get that ring?\" It was Reggie Jackson, who said, \"I was on that team, my friend, and you definitely were not. \" Mr. White just wants the urns. His parents' names are inscribed on them. \"I'm in a state of depression over it,\" he said. \"If he's just returning the urns, then I will not press charges, and if he wants $25, 000, I'll give it to him,\" Mr. White said. He said goodbye, and returned to the Clinton event.","label":0}
{"text":"Show up at the polls and vote for Donald Trump. Make sure your vote is cast for Donald Trump not being switch by Soros voting machines. This could be our last chance our children and grandchildren to enjoy a Republic called America. TRUMP\/PENCE. 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Ever get the feeling your life circles the roundabout rather than heads in a straight line toward the intended destination? [Hillary Clinton remains the big woman on campus in leafy, liberal Wellesley, Massachusetts. Everywhere else votes her most likely to don her inauguration dress for the remainder of her days the way Miss Havisham forever wore that wedding dress. Speaking of Great Expectations, Hillary Rodham overflowed with them 48 years ago when she first addressed a Wellesley graduating class. The president of the college informed those gathered in 1969 that the students needed \"no debate so far as I could ascertain as to who their spokesman was to be\" (kind of the like the Democratic primaries in 2016 minus the terms unknown then even at a Seven Sisters school). \"I am very glad that Miss Adams made it clear that what I am speaking for today is all of us \u2014 the 400 of us,\" Miss Rodham told her classmates. After appointing herself Edger Bergen to the Charlie McCarthys and Mortimer Snerds in attendance, the bespectacled in granny glasses (awarding her matronly wisdom \u2014 or at least John Lennon wisdom) took issue with the previous speaker. Despite becoming the first to win election to a seat in the U. S. Senate since Reconstruction, Edward Brooke came in for criticism for calling for \"empathy\" for the goals of protestors as he criticized tactics. Though Clinton in her senior thesis on Saul Alinsky lamented \"Black Power demagogues\" and \"elitist arrogance and repressive intolerance\" within the New Left, similar words coming out of a Republican necessitated a brief rebuttal. \"Trust,\" Rodham ironically observed in 1969, \"this is one word that when I asked the class at our rehearsal what it was they wanted me to say for them, everyone came up to me and said 'Talk about trust, talk about the lack of trust both for us and the way we feel about others. Talk about the trust bust.' What can you say about it? What can you say about a feeling that permeates a generation and that perhaps is not even understood by those who are distrusted?\" The \"trust bust\" certainly busted Clinton's 2016 plans. She certainly did not even understand that people distrusted her. After Whitewater, Travelgate, the vast conspiracy, Benghazi, and the missing emails, Clinton found herself the distrusted voice on Friday. There was a load of compromising on the road to the broadening of her political horizons. And distrust from the American people \u2014 Trump edged her 48 percent to 38 percent on the question immediately prior to November's election \u2014 stood as a major reason for the closing of those horizons. Clinton described her vanquisher and his supporters as embracing a \"lie,\" a \"con,\" \"alternative facts,\" and \"a assault on truth and reason. \" She failed to explain why the American people chose his lies over her truth. \"As the history majors among you here today know all too well, when people in power invent their own facts and attack those who question them, it can mark the beginning of the end of a free society,\" she offered. \"That is not hyperbole. \" Like so many people to emerge from the 1960s, Hillary Clinton embarked upon a long, strange trip. From high school Goldwater Girl and Wellesley College Republican president to Democratic politician, Clinton drank in the times and the place that gave her a degree. More significantly, she went from idealist to cynic, as a comparison of her two Wellesley commencement addresses show. Way back when, she lamented that \"for too long our leaders have viewed politics as the art of the possible, and the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible possible. \" Now, as the big woman on campus but the odd woman out of the White House, she wonders how her current station is even possible. \"Why aren't I 50 points ahead?\" she asked in September. In May she asks why she isn't president. The woman famously dubbed a \"congenital liar\" by Bill Safire concludes that lies did her in \u2014 theirs, mind you, not hers. Getting stood up on Election Day, like finding yourself the jilted bride on your wedding day, inspires dangerous delusions.","label":0}
{"text":"November 23: Daily Contrarian Reads By David Stockman. Posted On Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016 My daily contrarian reads for Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016. You need to login to view this content.  David Stockman's Contra Corner isn't your typical financial tipsheet. Instead it's an ongoing dialogue about what's really happening in the markets\u2026 the economy\u2026 and governments\u2026 so you can understand the world around you and make better decisions for yourself.  David believes the world -- certainly the United States -- is at a great inflection point in human history. The massive credit inflation of the last three decades has reached its apogee and is now going to splatter spectacularly.  This will have lasting ramifications on how governments tax and regulate you\u2026 the type of work you and your family members will have available and what you get paid\u2026 the value of your nest egg\u2026 and all other areas comprising your quality of life. Login  David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman's latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler's Daily Data Dive and David's personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers.","label":1}
{"text":"Al Franken returned to DC this week after a series of bombshell allegations of sexual harassment by several women. He claims to be tremendously sorry for his serial groping incidents but can t seem to recall them Yes, you ll love this Clintonesque tactic where you just claim you have no idea how this happened Daily Caller reported:The Minnesota Democrat has faced more and more outcry, even from within his own party, as the allegations continue to stack. In total, four women have now accused Franken of inappropriately touching or groping them without consent. Many in progressive circles are now calling for Franken s resignation. To date, Franken s office has said he will not resign and instead has issued controversial apologies to the women. The apologies issued by Franken range in length and content, however there is one very disturbing trend that each of them has in common.WHEN YOU READ THE FOUR APOLOGIES BELOW, WHAT IS THE COMMON THREAD? Franken is unaware that he is sexually assaulting women. Franken regularly states in his apologies that he is unaware that his groping was offensive and often does not remember if it even happened.2. I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don t remember taking this picture. I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected. 3. It s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don t remember those campaign events. 4. I take a lot of pictures in Minnesota, thousands of pictures, tens of thousands of people, those are instances that I do not remember. It has from the stories it has been clear that there are some women and one is too many who feel that I have done something disrespectful at that assert them and for that I am tremendously sorry.","label":1}
{"text":"The failed Presidential candidate attacked her aides with a potent mix of exhaustion and exasperation after the embarrassing loss to her rival Bernie Sanders in March last year.Clinton s top staff said she was visibly, unflinchingly p***ed off at us and blamed them for making her look vulnerable .During another tirade Bill Clinton took over and gave aides an a** chewing on the phone and told them to do their d**n jobs .The details of the rows show the tensions at the top of Clinton s presidential campaign, tensions that she did her best to keep quiet during the election.They are revealed in Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton s Doomed Campaign , which is out next week and delivers the scathing verdict that her campaign was living in denial .The book says that neither Clinton nor her husband could accept the simple fact that Hillary had hamstrung her own campaign and dealt the most serious blow to her own presidential aspirations . Daily MailAn extract of the book was published by The Hill which said it showed that Clinton s campaign was plagued by bickering : We Got An Ass-Chewing Hillary was so mad she couldn t think straight. She was supposed to be focused on the prep session for that night s Univision debate in Miami, but a potent mix of exhaustion and exasperation bubbled up inside.She d been humiliated in the Michigan primary the night before, a loss that not only robbed her of a prime opportunity to put Bernie Sandersdown for good but also exposed several of her weaknesses. How could she have been left so vulnerable? She knew or at least she thought she did. The blame belonged to her campaign team, she believed, for failing to hone her message, energize important constituencies and take care of business in getting voters to the polls. And now, Jake Sullivan, her de facto chief strategist, was giving her lip about the last answer she d delivered in the prep session. That s not very good, Sullivan corrected. Really? Hillary snapped back.The room fell silent. Why don t you do it? The comment was pointed and sarcastic, but she meant it. So for the next 30 minutes, there he was, pretending to be Hillary while she critiqued his performance.Every time the Yale lawyer and former high school debate champ opened his mouth, Hillary cut him off. That isn t very good, she d say. You can do better. Then she d hammer him with a Bernie line.It wasn t just Sullivan in her crosshairs. She let everyone on her team have it that day. We haven t made our case, she fumed. We haven t framed the choice. We haven t done the politics. She was visibly, unflinchingly pissed off at us as a group, said one aide who was in the room for the humiliating scene. And she let us know she felt that way. Hillary had been up into the wee hours the night before, agitating over her loss. This is because we made poor choices about where we traveled, she thought. She emailed Robby Mook to tell him she believed she d spent too much time in the cities of Detroit and Flint and not enough in the working-class white suburbs around them. Sensing just how angry she was, Mook responded by putting together a morning conference call so that Hillary could vent. But that didn t settle her; if anything, it left her more perplexed and angry, as her debate-prep team witnessed firsthand.Her aides took the browbeating one of several she delivered in person and on the phone that day in silence. They had a lot of their own thoughts on what went wrong, some of which echoed Hillary s assessment: her message was off for Michigan, and she had refused to go hard against trade; Mook had pinched pennies and failed to put organizers on the ground; the polling and analytics were a touch too rosy, meaning the campaign didn t know Bernie was ahead; she had set up an ambiguous decisionmaking structure on the campaign; and she d focused too heavily on black and brown voters at the expense of competing for the whites who had formed her base in 2008. The list went on and on.The underlying truth the one that many didn t want to admit to themselves was the person ultimately responsible for these decisions, the one whose name was on the ticket, hadn t corrected these problems, all of which had been brought to her attention before primary day. She d stuck with the plan, and it had cost her.Months earlier, Hillary Clinton turned her fury on her consultants and campaign aides, blaming them for a failure to focus the media on her platform.In her ear the whole time, spurring her on to cast blame on others and never admit to anything, was her husband. Neither Clinton could accept the simple fact that Hillary had hamstrung her own campaign and dealt the most serious blow to her own presidential aspirations.That state of denial would become more obvious than ever to her top aides and consultants during one conference call in the thick of the public discussion of her server. Joel Benenson, Mandy Grunwald, Jim Margolis, John Anzalone, John Podesta, Mook, Huma Abedin and Dan Schwerin were among the small coterie who huddled in Abedin s mostly bare corner office overlooking the East River at the campaign s Brooklyn headquarters. Hillary and Bill, who rarely visited, joined them by phone.Hillary s severe, controlled voice crackled through the line first. It carried the sound of a disappointed teacher or mother delivering a lecture before a whipping. That back end was left to Bill, who lashed out with abandon. Eyes cast downward, stomachs turning both from the scare tactics and from their own revulsion at being chastised for Hillary s failures Hillary s talented and accomplished team of professionals and loyalists simply took it. There was no arguing with Bill Clinton.You haven t buried this thing, the ruddy-cheeked former president rasped. You haven t figured out how to get Hillary s core message to the voters. This has been dragging on for months, he thundered, and nothing you ve done has made a damn bit of difference. Voters want to hear about Hillary s plans for the economy, and you re not making that happen. Now, do your damn jobs. We got an ass-chewing, one of the participants recalled months later.Hillary came back on the line to close the lecture. It was hard to tell what was worse getting hollered at by Bill or getting scolded by the stern and self-righteous Hillary. Neither was pleasant. You heard him, she admonished. Get it straight. The above excerpt was adapted from Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton s Doomed Campaign, which will be released on April 18. Copyright 2017 by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. Published by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.","label":1}
{"text":"Go back to Africa is a phrase one would expect to hear someone tell an African-American at a Trump rally, but it s also something one can expect to hear pretty much anytime the Obama family is referenced. On Sunday, USA Today reported that the First Lady and her daughters are on their way to Liberia and Morocco as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, a program the President and Michelle started last year to educate the more than 62 million girls worldwide who don t attend school.While there, Michelle Obama plans to meet with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, the first female elected head of state on the continent of Africa, as well as speak to local teenage girls. This is very important, as nearly two-thirds of Liberia s school-aged children do not attend class. In Morocco, 85% of girls are enrolled in primary schools but that number drops as low as 14% by high school.This is, of course, a very important problem and an admirable initiative so, naturally, conservatives have a problem with it. The comment section of USA Today quickly flooded with racist remarks, with conservatives demanding that the Obamas stay there with many gleefully declaring that they are going home and demanding that they take other black people with them. And, of course, the not-racists seized upon the opportunity to call them monkeys: It s not just USA Today; Everywhere we have looked at this story, the comment section is the same. Take news station WKYC, for example: It s almost like the Obama family can t do anything without being subjected to racist hatred. When Malia Obama graduated high school, conservatives everywhere congratulated her by calling her a n*gger and other unsavory terms. When she got into Harvard, the racist hatred was so horrific that Fox News was forced to close down the comment section. When Sasha Obama turned 15, she was subjected to a barrage of bigotry. They even periodically dredge up old sources of their outrage to relive their opportunity to bash the Obama children.It s important to remember that each and every one of these racist dickbags will be voting in November. Make sure you re there and voting BLUE to counter that.","label":1}
{"text":"Eight suspects have been placed under formal investigation in France following their arrest in joint counter-terrorism raids with Swiss authorities, a judicial source said on Saturday. The suspects were among 10 detained on Nov. 7 by French and Swiss police as the result of a four-month investigation into a group of young Islamists thought to have been radicalized by a Swiss imam, who was among those detained. [nL5N1ND33T] Following the arrests, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told French lawmakers the group was believed to have been planning attacks but had not yet chosen specific targets. Seven of the eight suspects placed under formal investigation have been remanded in custody, the judicial source said. A ninth person arrested in the French swoop was released without charge.","label":0}
{"text":"China called on U.S. officials on Tuesday not to let Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen pass through the United States en route to Guatemala next month, days after President-elect Donald Trump irked Beijing by speaking to Tsai in a break with decades of precedent. The U.S. State Department appeared to reject the call, saying that such transits were based on \"long-standing U.S. practice, consistent with the unofficial nature of (U.S.) relations with Taiwan.\" China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, whom it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a renegade province. Her call with Trump on Friday was the first between a U.S. president-elect or president and a Taiwanese leader since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979. Tsai is due to visit Guatemala, one of Taiwan's small band of diplomatic allies, on Jan. 11-12, its foreign minister, Carlos Raul Morales, told Reuters. Taiwan's Liberty Times, considered close to Tsai's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, reported on Monday that she was planning to go through New York early next month on her way to Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Taiwan has not formally confirmed Tsai's trip but visits to its allies in the region are normally combined with transit stops in the United States and meetings with Taiwan-friendly officials. The trip would take place before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20 to replace Democrat Barack Obama and Tsai's delegation would seek to meet Trump's team, including his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the Liberty Times said. An adviser to Trump's transition team said he considered it \"very unlikely\" there would be a meeting between Tsai and Trump if she were to go through New York. China's Foreign Ministry said the one-China principle, which states Taiwan is part of China, was commonly recognized by the international community and that Tsai's real aim was \"self-evident.\" China hopes the United States \"does not allow her transit, and does not send any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' forces,\" the ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Monday he had no information whether Tsai would meet U.S. officials if she stopped in transit but said Taiwanese presidents did stop over periodically. He said the transits were \"based on long-standing U.S. practice, consistent with the unofficial nature of our relations with Taiwan.\" A spokeswoman repeated the position on Tuesday when asked to comment on the Chinese call. In a meeting with American reporters on Tuesday, Tsai played down the significance of her conversation with Trump, saying it was to congratulate the president-elect. \"I do not foresee major policy shifts in the near future because we all see the value of stability in the region,\" she told the reporters. U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence told the Fox News Channel on Tuesday that Trump did not regret taking the call. \"(The) president-elect was fully aware of the one-China policy,\" Pence said. \"He's also very aware that the United States has sold billions of dollars in arms to Taiwan. \"We have a unique relationship with that country that's been defined over the decades since we've reopened relations with the People's Republic of China but I think he think he felt it would be rude not to take the call.\" Taiwan has been self governing since 1949 when Nationalist forces fled to the island after defeat by Mao Zedong's communists in China's civil war. Taiwan's Presidential Office said media reports about a January trip were \"excessive speculation.\" El Salvador's government said it was working with Taiwan on plans for a visit by Tsai in the second week of January but gave no specific dates. The Nicaraguan government had no immediate comment. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is to be sworn in for a third consecutive term on Jan. 10, however, so Tsai's trip to Guatemala would dovetail with that ceremony. The White House said on Monday it had sought to reassure China after Trump's phone call with Tsai, which the Obama administration warned could undermine progress in relations with Beijing.","label":0}
{"text":"Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino has an explanation of the hometown identity of politicians and how it leads to an insider swamp creature like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.Bongino defended President Trump and dismissed criticism by former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper who questioned Trump s fitness for office following a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. They just don t understand Trump. He s a Queens guy, Bongino said on Fox & Friends Thursday.OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON JAMES CLAPPER TRYING TO SLAM TRUMP S FITNESS FOR OFFICE : Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was way out of line and way too political last night when he showed his cards BIGTIME on President Trump. He followed the latest leftist line that Trump isn t fit to serve Yes, the loony left has a new play book that makes the false claim that somehow Trump is unfit to be president.We ve reported on clapper before but his not wittingly comment before the Senate is legend. Remember when he was asked if the NSA spies on Americans and he replied not wittingly ? Yes, well, that was perjury.More recently Clapper bashed President Trump during a discussion on national security and the Trump\/Russia fake scandal.It s clear that Clapper is a political pawn who is out to try and make our president look bad. This is serious Deep State stuff.We re sure this isn t the end of James Clapper s involvement in the opposition to President Trump.","label":1}
{"text":"President Trump ignites a lot of fights, but his failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the biggest defeat in his short time in the White House, was the result of something else: a Republican civil war that humbled a generation of party leaders before he ever came to Washington. A president who believes that Washington's usual rules do not apply to him, Mr. Trump now finds himself shackled by them. In stopping the repeal of President Barack Obama's proudest legacy \u2014 the Republican Party's professed priority for the last seven years \u2014 from even coming to a vote, the rebellious far right wing Mr. Trump, taking on and defeating the party establishment with which it has long been at war and which he now leads. Like every one else who has tried to rule a fissured and fractious party, Mr. Trump now faces a wrenching choice: retrenchment or realignment. Does he cede power to the wing of his party? Or does he seek other pathways to successful governing by throwing away the partisan playbook and courting a coalition with the Democrats, whom he has improbably blamed for his party's shortcomings? \"It's really a problem in our own party, and that's something he'll need to deal with moving forward,\" said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, an ally of the Tuesday Group, which stuck with Mr. Trump in the health care fight and earned the president's praise in the hours after the bill's defeat. \"I think he did a lot \u2014 he met with dozens and dozens of members and made a lot of accommodations \u2014 but in the end, there's a group of people in this party who just won't say yes,\" Mr. Cole said. \"At some point, I think that means looking beyond our conference. The president is a deal maker, and Ronald Reagan cut some of his most important deals with Democrats. \" Mr. Trump is not there yet. Before becoming a presidential candidate, he seemed to have little fixed ideology. But as president, he has operated from the Republican playbook, embracing many of the positions of Speaker Paul D. Ryan and the party establishment. While he is angry and thirsty for revenge, he seems determined to swallow the loss in hopes of marshaling enough Republican support to pass spending bills, an unformed tax overhaul and a $1 trillion infrastructure package \u2014 legislation that could attract considerable Democratic support but has the potential to split the party. On Friday evening, a somewhat shellshocked president retreated to the White House residence to grieve and assign blame. In a search for scapegoats, he asked his advisers repeatedly: Whose fault was this? Increasingly, that blame has fallen on Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, who coordinated initial legislative strategy on the health care bill with Mr. Ryan, his close friend and a fellow Wisconsinite, according to three people briefed on the president's recent discussions. Despite the public displays of unity with the speaker, Mr. Trump and his team now regret outsourcing so much of the early drafting to Mr. Ryan. One aide compared doing that to a developer's staking everything on obtaining a property without conducting a thorough inspection. And they were stunned by his inability to master the politics of his own conference. Mr. Trump, an developer with a lifelong indifference toward the mechanics of governance, made a game effort to negotiate with members of the Freedom Caucus, even if it seemed to some members of that group, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that he did not have the greatest grasp of health care policy or legislative procedure. He told one adviser late Friday that his loss \u2014 a legislative debacle foreshadowed by the intraparty fight that led to the 2013 government shutdown \u2014 was a minor bump in the road and that the White House would recover. In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Mr. Trump asserted that the administration was \"rocking. \" The problem, he suggested, was divisions among Republicans. There are \"a lot of players, a lot of players with a very different \" Mr. Trump said. \"You have liberals, even within the Republican Party. You have the conservative players. \" But his advisers were more realistic. Mr. Trump's chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, according to people familiar with White House discussions, described the president's decision to withdraw the health care bill in the face of its defeat as a failure that could inflict serious damage on this presidency \u2014 even if Mr. Bannon believes Congress, not Mr. Trump, deserves much of the blame. Mr. Bannon and the president's more legislative affairs director, Marc Short, pushed Mr. Trump hard to insist on a public vote, as a way to identify, shame and pressure \"no\" voters who were killing their best chance to unravel the health care law. One Republican congressional aide who was involved in the negotiations said Mr. Bannon and Mr. Short were seeking to compile an enemies list. Mr. Ryan repeatedly counseled the president to avoid seeking vengeance \u2014 at least until he has passed spending bills and a increase needed to keep the government running. In the end, the president decided to back down. But Mr. Trump's advisers worry about the hard reality \u2014 the developer with the veneer was steamrollered by factions in the Republican Congress. As the dust settled on the health care debacle, it was clear that Mr. Trump's lieutenants in the Republican civil war had been divided on how they thought the health care fight should have been handled, which does not augur well for the political battles to come. Mutual disgust with the Freedom Caucus seems to be pulling Mr. Ryan and, despite his misgivings, Mr. Trump, together, at least for now \u2014 just as it briefly united President Barack Obama and John A. Boehner, Mr. Ryan's predecessor, during their doomed effort to reach a \"grand bargain\" on a tax overhaul in 2011. Until the very end, Mr. Trump's team was deeply divided over whether he should fully commit to a hard sell on a bill they viewed as fundamentally flawed, with Vice President Mike Pence pointedly advising the president to label the effort \"Ryancare,\" not \"Trumpcare,\" according to aides. A Pence spokesman denied that the vice president tried to tie the bill to the speaker. Many on Mr. Trump's team disengaged from the process even as he dug in. Gary D. Cohn, Mr. Trump's top economic adviser, had originally been tasked with playing a large role in shepherding the legislation from the White House side. But Mr. Cohn had grown leery of the bill, and the White House recognized that Mr. Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs and a Democrat, was not a good messenger to deal with recalcitrant conservatives. Mr. Trump's Jared Kushner, a key adviser, had said for weeks that he thought supporting the bill was a mistake, according to two people who spoke with him. But he was on a family skiing trip in Aspen, Colo. last week, and did not return to Washington until Friday \u2014 much to the annoyance of Mr. Trump, who thought he should have been in Washington in the whole week, according to two Republicans close to the White House. But Mr. Trump brushed aside those concerns in the last few days and embraced the conventional role as leader of his party. He has one speed when he decides to shift to sales mode, aides said, and he had trouble modulating his tone, issuing superlatives like \"wonderful\" to describe an ungainly bill his aides described as anything but. After it was all over, the president dutifully blamed the Democrats, a party out of power and largely leaderless, after turning his back on their offers to negotiate on a bipartisan package that would have addressed shortcomings in the Affordable Care Act while preserving its core protections for poor and patients. Aides advised him the argument was nonsensical, according to a person with knowledge of the interaction. For Mr. Trump's Republican opponents, here was revenge served cold. As a candidate in 2016, he initially scoffed at signing a Republican loyalty pledge, at times behaving more like an independent invading the Republican host organism than like a typical presidential candidate. As president, Mr. Trump has left dozens of critical administration jobs unfilled, rejecting stalwart Republican applicants deemed insufficiently loyal to him \u2014 and now he is decrying the disloyalty of the 20 to 30 conservative members who outmaneuvered and overpowered him on health care. \"We all learned a lot \u2014 we learned a lot about loyalty,\" a solemn Mr. Trump told reporters late Friday. The dynamic that led to his defeat is bigger than Mr. Trump, despite his tendency to personalize every win or loss. Republicans who gained power by savaging Washington are in full control and cannot agree on a path forward. \"We were a opposition party,\" Mr. Ryan said in assessing the defeat late Friday. \"Being against things was easy to do. \" Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump supporter, said after the health bill was pulled that he was \"getting some d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu right now. \" \"Do you think Donald J. Trump goes home tonight, shrugs and says, 'This is what winning looks like'?\" Mr. Gingrich added. \"No! But this is where the Republican Party is right now, and it's been this way for years. \" But Mr. Trump put on his best face on Saturday morning. \"ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE,\" he said on Twitter. \"Do not worry!\"","label":0}
{"text":"Irrespective of whether Mexico's decision to extradite drug kingpin Joaquin \"Chapo\" Guzman aimed to honor outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama or appease his successor, Donald Trump, law enforcement from both countries say it bodes well for security cooperation. Guzman, the feared boss of the Sinaloa cartel who shot to international stardom after two jailbreaks, was extradited from a prison in northern Mexico to New York on Thursday, the eve of Trump's inauguration. While some Mexican government officials believed Guzman's removal served as a valediction for Obama's presidency, others saw it as an opening gambit in what are likely to be fraught trade negotiations with a seemingly unfriendly Trump administration. But current and former law enforcement officials on both sides of the border said the move would boost security cooperation and could even upgrade relations. \"What happened today is something that's a victory for both Mexico and the United States,\" said Leo Silva, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey until 2015. \"This will obviously improve things.\" According to a senior U.S. law enforcement official based in Mexico, both U.S. and Mexican security forces were already \"three steps ahead\" in identifying the next Chapo. \"From the Mexico side, they work with us a lot, a lot more than people think,\" said the official, who was not authorized to speak with press. \"They think they're going to get more support from us, they're on line and I really don't see a huge change. If anything, an improvement.\" Security cooperation has not always run smoothly, and Mexico, with its proud, nationalist leanings, has often chafed at what it views as U.S. intrusion in its affairs. Silva said after Vicente Fox became president in 2000, Mexico gave less access to U.S. law enforcement. However, Fox's successor, Felipe Calderon, was more willing to accept U.S. help, and Silva said he could even pick up the phone and call then-Attorney General Marisela Morales. The election of the Institutional Revolutionary Party's Enrique Pena Nieto in 2012 represented a fresh set-back, with U.S. officials initially kept at arm's length and a new attorney general appointed, Jesus Murillo Karam, who Silva called \"standoffish.\" Nonetheless, after a rocky start, relations soon warmed and U.S. intelligence, particularly the U.S. Marshals who track fugitives, became a key component in many of the high-profile busts that have taken place under Pena Nieto. \"It's similar to what we were doing and receiving under Calderon, except that this current administration doesn't talk about it or publicize that they're working together,\" said one former DEA agent who worked on Mexican cases. After the victory of Trump, who has threatened to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement, slap tariffs on U.S. firms manufacturing in Mexico and deport millions of illegal immigrants, some speculated years of hard-won security cooperation would fray as Mexico sought to show it wouldn't be pushed around by the brash New Yorker. But behind the bluster, law enforcement officials from both countries said that was unlikely to happen, and that the situation could even improve if Trump, a law-and-order Republican who has repeatedly voiced his support for police and soldiers, focused more on combating Mexican cartels. \"The crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential,\" Trump said during his inauguration speech on Friday. \"This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.\" A Mexican anti-corruption official swatted away the notion that Mexico could shut out the United States on security issues. \"The government is going to continue the policy that it has always had of combating organized crime,\" he said. Vito Guardino, who worked for the DEA for 30 years, said the U.S. government used extradition as a yardstick to measure other countries' willingness to cooperate. But if the United States didn't get what it wanted, he said, it found ways of forcing other nations to play ball, a reality unlikely to be lost on Mexico, which is heavily reliant on U.S. trade. For example, Guardino said that when Colombia stopped extraditing drug traffickers to the United States in the late 1980s, the U.S. government used a carrot-and-stick approach, threatening sanctions while drawing up the multibillion-dollar Plan Colombia. By that metric, Chapo's removal represents a calculated show of faith on the part of Mexico, which has also signaled to Trump's team it is open to reinforcing the northern border to curb drug smuggling and illegal migration. The high-stakes political tensions were, however, only one way of looking at things, Guardino and many others said. Relationships with foreign law enforcement officials often take years to build and rely on trust in dangerous circumstances.","label":0}
{"text":"President Barack Obama's legal defense of some key initiatives including his signature healthcare law is collapsing as courts put cases on hold until after President-elect Donald Trump, hostile to the policies, assumes office on Jan. 20. The pending conservative legal challenges could undo important elements of Obama's presidential legacy if Trump, as expected, opts not to defend the Obama policies in court or simply ditches the initiatives that are under attack. Since Trump's election on Nov. 8, various courts have delayed action in three groups of cases that will not be resolved before Obama leaves office and blocked an administration regulation from going into effect in another. They include a challenge by House of Representatives Republicans to an important provision in the Obamacare law, and cases concerning religious objections to that law's mandate that employers provide health insurance coverage for birth control. They also include Obama's executive action, put on hold by the Supreme Court in June, to spare from deportation millions of immigrants in the country illegally, and his administration's bid to extend overtime protections for workers. Republican-governed states like Texas were behind some of the biggest challenges to Obama policies. \"We have a host of cases pending against the federal government due to the Obama administration's overreach,\" said Marc Rylander, a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who has sued the administration on various issues including immigration. Rylander said Texas officials \"will continue to pursue all of these cases and look forward to working with a new administration.\" The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday put on hold the House Republican Obamacare challenge until at least Feb. 21. Trump and Republican congressional allies have said they plan to repeal and replace the law, meaning the case could become moot. The Obama administration opposed the delay in that case, but agreed to put on hold its effort to revive Obama's 2014 immigration plan. The administration and the states that challenged the plan filed a joint motion on Nov. 18 saying the case should be put on hold \"given the change in administration.\" Trump has vowed to crack down on immigrants in the country illegally and is expected to abandon Obama's blocked policy. The series of cases pending in lower courts concerning efforts by Christian groups to obtain an exemption to a provision of the Obamacare law requiring employers to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives are also in a holding pattern. The Supreme Court sent the cases back to lower courts in May, throwing out several rulings in favor of the administration. The lower courts are now awaiting the change in administrations. In one of the cases, before the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for some of the religious groups said in court papers that a delay \"will afford the newly-inaugurated president and new administration an opportunity to take a fresh look at this litigation and consider potential resolutions acceptable to all sides.\" In the labor case, a federal judge on Nov. 22 prevented Obama's regulation to extend mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million salaried workers from going into effect on Dec. 1 as scheduled. That will give Trump leeway to change course when he takes office. So far, courts have not delayed action on several other cases involving key Obama policies, including a state and industry challenge to rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants. An appeals court in Washington heard oral arguments in September but has not yet issued a ruling. Trump has said he plans to rescind the regulation. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide a major transgender rights case that hinges in part on the Obama administration's policy position in support of a female-born transgender high school student named Gavin Grimm, who identifies as male and sued in 2015 to win the right to use the school's boys' bathroom. The court has not yet scheduled oral arguments in the case. It is due to rule by the end of June.","label":0}
{"text":"A member of the Oakland Raiders Super Bowl winning team told Breitbart News at the Conservative Political Action Conference that it is time for to reclaim their traditional conservatism. [\"Today's generation has been trained to think differently from my generation. We would stand for the flag in a heartbeat \u2014 because we realized the opportunities we had,\" said Burgess Owens on Thursday. Owens was an safety at the University of Miami, who was drafted by the New York Jets in 1973 and played for the Jets until joining the Raiders for their run at Super Bowl XV. Owens was at CPAC to discuss with people his new book \"Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps\" and attend a book signing. \"Today's generation came from BET group \u2014 the BET has been talking down our country for the longest time. \" Black Entertainment Television is the top cable channel focused on the community. Today's young have been twisted up by BET, he said. \"They tend to be more racist. They tend to be more \" he said. \"I was the third black American to be recruited by the University of Miami and I remember going down there \u2014 my goal was not to fail,\" he said. \"That was really what allowed our community to think,\" he said. \"We didn't want to leave our families down. We didn't want to let our race down. We would work as hard as we could, so we would not fail. \" Owens said that when he was coming of age in the late 1960s, there was always a racial consciousness that was trying to break through and disrupt the traditional ways of life. In those times in his hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, the black community was stronger than most other communities, black or white, he said. \"The community as that time was totally committed to the family,\" he said. \"We had the highest percentage of men committed to marriage. We had the fastest growing in the country. \" Conservatism, with its emphasis on work, entrepreneurship, and faith traditions, is a natural fit for but somehow the narrative got switched up. Owens said he wrote his book because politics and policies have destroyed thriving black communities, but no one else seemed to want to talk about it. \"Back in 1910, the NAACP, started by 21 white Marxist, socialist, atheist Democrats, began to intertwine the thought of liberalism into my community,\" he said. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the most prominent of the civil rights organizations. \"We started to pull away from the pillars that always made our country great and towards being and feeling like victims,\" he said. \"They taught our race that the real value was in being with the white race, instead of what we were doing at the time,\" the father of six said. \"I would say to a young man: Recognize who you are, let's . Take the rolls you are supposed to take. Take care of your family. Respect women \u2014 big time \u2014 and we will be a great country again,\" he said. His message to white Americans: \"Don't apologize anymore for who they are. We have a great society with great ancestors, who did their best. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Ken Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney, said on Tuesday that he had recently learned he has cancer and would take a sick leave. Mr. Thompson said in a statement that his chief assistant, Eric Gonzalez, would take over as interim district attorney during \"the absences occasioned\" his \"treatment and recovery. \" \"As a man of intense faith, I intend to fight and win the battle against this disease,\" Mr. Thompson said. \"I humbly seek your sincere prayers as I confront this challenge and respectfully ask that you honor my family's need and wish for privacy during this time. \" Mr. Thompson has been absent from his office for about two months, and had received the cancer diagnosis around August, according to colleagues who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Neither his spokesmen nor several of his friends would disclose what type of cancer Mr. Thompson has. The news of his illness comes three years after he was elected, becoming Brooklyn's first black district attorney. He defeated Charles J. Hynes, an incumbent of more than 20 years who had been weakened by accusations of favoritism toward political supporters in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community, and of allegations of improprieties. Mr. Thompson, 50, a Democrat, had previously had a successful private law practice he represented Nafissatou Diallo, a Manhattan hotel housekeeper who, in 2011, accused the French politician Dominique of sexually assaulting her in a case that was eventually dropped by the Manhattan district attorney's office. Mr. Thompson had also worked as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn and delivered a memorable opening argument at the trial of Justin Volpe, a police officer who pleaded guilty in 1999 to torturing a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, with a broken broomstick in a Brooklyn station house. Having run on an agenda of reform and racial justice, Mr. Thompson, once in office, earned a reputation as both an advocate for minority communities in a section of the city known for its divisions between black and white residents and, simultaneously, as a tough officer who concentrated on cracking down on gun crimes and violent street gangs. Brushing aside the resistance of the New York Police Department, he announced in July 2014 that his office would stop prosecuting most marijuana arrests. He also put in place an amnesty program for people with outstanding warrants. Among his efforts was the creation of one of the country's most robust internal units dedicated to reviewing wrongful convictions, which in the past two years has exonerated 20 defendants. Perhaps the biggest case of his tenure was the prosecution of Peter Liang, a former police officer who was found guilty in February of manslaughter in the shooting of an unarmed black man, Akai Gurley, in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project. The shooting, which took place just days before a Staten Island grand jury elected not to indict an officer involved in the choking death of Eric Garner, placed enormous pressure on Mr. Thompson, who had to balance his campaign promises to Brooklyn's black neighborhoods with his close working relationship with the Police Department. Though he did not shy away from mounting an aggressive case against Mr. Liang, after the trial was over Mr. Thompson decided, in Solomonic fashion, to seek no prison time for the former officer, a move that enraged Mr. Gurley's family and led to bitter protests by reform activists. One took place early in the morning outside Mr. Thompson's home in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. For weeks, Mr. Thompson's illness had been a closely guarded secret, known only to a small circle of friends and associates. On Tuesday, public officials such as Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo issued statements wishing him well. In an email on Tuesday, Douglas H. Wigdor, the of Mr. Thompson's private practice, said, \"As Ken's former partner for over 15 years, I have no doubt that he will tackle his illness with the same determination that he has shared with his clients, the people of Brooklyn and, most importantly, his family. \" Another close friend, Arnold N. Kriss, a lawyer who has served as an adviser to Mr. Thompson over the years, said: \"Ken is doing a remarkable job rebuilding the Brooklyn D. A.'s office. There is no doubt he will successfully continue to fight his illness and, at the same time, fight for the people of Brooklyn. \"","label":0}
{"text":"A low buzz fills the air as an army of mortgage bankers, perched below floating canopies in a kaleidoscope of vivid pinks, blues, purples and greens, works the phones, promising borrowers easy financing and low rates for home loans. By the elevators, nobody blinks when an employee wearing a pink tutu bustles past. On any given day, a company mascot, Simon, a bespectacled mouse, goes on the hunt for \"gouda,\" or good ideas, from the work force. A visit to the headquarters of Quicken Loans in downtown Detroit may seem like a trip to a place where \"Glengarry Glen Ross\" meets Seussville. But the whimsical, irreverent atmosphere sits atop a business in a field \u2014 the selling of the American dream \u2014 that has changed drastically since an earlier generation of mortgage lenders propelled the economy to near collapse in 2008 by issuing risky and even fraudulent loans. In the years since the crisis, many of the nation's largest banks pulled back their activities. Quicken Loans pushed in. Today, it is the retail mortgage lender, originating $96 billion in mortgages last year \u2014 an eightfold increase from 2008. Privately held Quicken, like some of America's largest banks before it, has also landed in regulators' cross hairs. In a federal lawsuit filed in 2015, the Department of Justice charged that, among other things, the company misrepresented borrowers' income or credit scores, or inflated appraisals, in order to qualify for Federal Housing Administration insurance. As a result, when those loans soured, the government says that taxpayers \u2014 not Quicken loans \u2014 suffered millions of dollars in losses. Quicken Loans today is the F. H. A. insurance program's largest participant. Executives at Quicken Loans deny the charges, maintaining, among other things, that the government \" \" a small number of examples to build its case. In an aggressive move, the company sued the Department of Justice, demanding a blanket ruling that all of the loans it had originated met requirements and \"pose no undue risks to the F. H. A. insurance fund. \" Quicken's suit was dismissed. But it reflects the style of Quicken Loans' founder and chairman, Dan Gilbert, the billionaire who once publicly excoriated the N. B. A. superstar LeBron James for leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers, in which Mr. Gilbert has a majority stake. He also owns significant chunks of central Detroit, where Quicken Loans is based. Mr. Gilbert, who founded the company in 1985, sold it to the business software company Intuit in 1999, before buying it back with other investors in 2002. He is working to rectify the city's downtrodden image with streetcars, upscale cafes and boutiques, and data, making him a hometown hero. Late last year, Quicken Loans won a motion to move the Department of Justice case to a federal courthouse roughly three blocks from its Detroit headquarters. Sitting on the edge of a chair in his office, the Motor City's skyline a steel gray in the November sun, Mr. Gilbert said that his company has been unfairly targeted. \"You want to know what this case is about?\" he said. \"Somebody probably put up a whiteboard and said, 'Here are the 10 largest F. H. A. lenders, now go and collect settlements from them, regardless of whether they did anything wrong. '\" In court documents, Quicken argues it has the lowest default rates in the F. H. A. program. It projects the government will reap $5. 7 billion in net profits from the insurance premiums for loans made from 2007 to 2013, after paying out any claims. A spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is home to the F. H. A. program at the center of the case against Quicken, declined to speak about the lawsuit. Late last year, Donald J. Trump named a former Quicken Loans lobbyist, Shawn Krause, to his H. U. D. transition team. A Trump spokeswoman did not respond to an email asking about potential conflicts of interest. In an emailed statement, Quicken Loans said the fact that Ms. Krause had come from the largest F. H. A. lender in the country \"bodes well for the positive impact she has, and will, make on H. U. D. \" In the years since the financial crisis, Quicken has emerged as a leader in the nation's system, a network of nonbank financial institutions that has gained significant ground against its more heavily regulated bank counterparts in providing home loans to Americans. Increased regulation and decreased profits sent the nation's banks packing. Nonbanks, like Quicken, have filled that gap. Today, Quicken is the nation's retail residential mortgage lender, behind Wells Fargo, but ahead of banking giants like J. P. Morgan, Bank of America and Citigroup, according to Mortgage Daily. Considered by many to be a visionary leader, Mr. Gilbert often strikes a pugnacious stance. When Mr. James, the N. B. A. star, announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to join the Miami Heat, Mr. Gilbert \u2014 who not only has a majority stake in the Cavaliers, but also operates Quicken Loans Arena, where they play \u2014 penned a public tirade against the \"cowardly betrayal,\" in a letter written in the typeface Comic Sans. Mr. James is again playing for the Cavaliers. A call to his agent seeking comment was not returned. The year before, Mr. Gilbert got into an altercation at a bar mitzvah, punching a former colleague, David Hall, in the head before he was escorted out by security, according to interviews conducted by the Birmingham Police Department in Michigan. In police documents, Mr. Gilbert's lawyer said Mr. Hall filed the complaint in order to pressure Mr. Gilbert into paying $2 million to buy out Mr. Hall's investments in Mr. Gilbert's companies. The Birmingham city attorney ultimately denied a warrant in the case on the grounds that the charges were not \"supported by probable cause. \" Mr. Hall did not return an email seeking comment. In an email statement, a Quicken Loans spokesman said Mr. Gilbert \"defended himself in a minor confrontation that was instigated by a former employee who was the aggressor. \" On a more trifling scale, after sending text messages about this article to a reporter at The New York Times but not receiving a response \u2014 Mr. Gilbert was texting her landline number by accident \u2014 he followed up with an email accusing the reporter of disconnecting her mobile phone to avoid him. The phone \"likely is one of your temporary numbers that you deploy for the surreptitious work that you do,\" he wrote. When alerted to the misunderstanding, Mr. Gilbert apologized \"for any of it that was caused on my end. \" When Mr. Gilbert was asked in an email if he \"often strikes a 'combative stance' or 'frequently attacks his critics,'\" a Quicken Loans spokesman responded in an email, \"It's interesting that when someone with as long and successful career as Mr. Gilbert is forced to defend his integrity and honor from old insignificant already rehashed incidents and accusations from a media source as credible as The NY Times, you would imply that doing such is 'frequently attacking' his critics. \" These days, Mr. Gilbert appears to be itching for a fight with the Justice Department. In court filings, Quicken argued that the government investigation was based on 55 \" \" loans out of nearly 250, 000. Quicken also argued that a longstanding F. H. A. process to resolve loans that did not meet its requirements, through either the repurchase of the loan or by indemnifying F. H. A. from any losses, was retroactively discontinued for Quicken. Since 2011, Mr. Gilbert has spent more than $2. 2 billion on downtown Detroit, buying up 95 decrepit properties and rehabilitating them in an effort to lure new tenants. Nike opened a store there last year. The New York burger chain Shake Shack is coming in 2017, as is the sports retailer Under Armour. Mr. Gilbert also notes that he has leased space downtown to several local businesses. That sort of presence makes downtown Detroit today seem a bit like a company town, a sort of Quickenville. That's because Quicken Loans is just one of more than 100 closely knit companies that is owned or controlled by Mr. Gilbert with a footprint in the area. Through his commercial real estate properties, Mr. Gilbert can decide which tenants fit into his vision for downtown Detroit, and which don't. Rocket Fiber, an idea developed by three former Quicken Loans technology employees and financially backed by Mr. Gilbert, has brought internet to downtown Detroit. For a $15 million donation, Quicken received the naming rights for the QLine, a streetcar that is expected to start running through downtown Detroit this spring. Mr. Gilbert sits on the board of the streetcar project. Lines of bicycles in downtown Detroit are available free for all employees of Mr. Gilbert's companies. And visitors can bet at the tables at Jack Detroit Greektown, a gambling venture controlled by Mr. Gilbert. The Quicken Loans family also includes one of the largest title companies in the United States, an appraisal firm, a call center and Realty, which says on its website that it is the \"preferred real estate partner\" of Quicken Loans. Mr. Gilbert, who was busted in college for running a football betting ring (the charges were dismissed and his record was expunged) plays on a big stage. Back in 2010, he guaranteed that the Cavaliers would win the N. B. A. championship before LeBron James would. They didn't, but the team, led by Mr. James, did win the title last year, and this season's team has the highest payroll in the league. With Quicken Loans, Mr. Gilbert has built a company in the industry. Former executives describe Quicken Loans as a technology company that sells mortgages. But the heart that keeps Quicken's blood moving is the 3, 500 mortgage bankers who work its phones. Many new employees come in with little to no background in financial services. One employee joined after delivering pizzas to the Quicken Loans office and becoming interested in working there. employees typically make hundreds of calls a day, trying to get potential customers on the phone. Not unlike the assembly lines that put together cars in Detroit, the call is immediately handed off to a licensed mortgage banker, who completes the loan application, then quickly passes it to processing so that he or she can focus on the next loan application. Mr. Gilbert said clients are able to close more quickly on loans when specialists focus on each stage of the loan process. He and other Quicken executives note that the company has repeatedly made Fortune magazine's list of Best Places to Work For and has earned top marks in J. D. Power client satisfaction surveys. Quicken defines its culture and philosophy through a number of \"isms,\" created and curated over the years by Mr. Gilbert: \"Yes before no. \" \"A penny saved is a penny. \" \"We eat our own dog food. \" At the same time, several former employees and executives in interviews described a demanding work environment, with staff members expected to work long hours and weekends to hit targets. In recent years, Quicken and its affiliated companies have faced at least four lawsuits filed by former mortgage bankers seeking overtime. Quicken won one of the overtime cases, but court documents indicate others were directed into settlement negotiations. An email to the various plaintiffs' lawyers was not returned. And in early 2016, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that Quicken and five of its related companies issued an employee handbook with rules that violated workers' right to engage in various activities, including ones. Quicken has appealed the ruling, calling the policies \"common, rational and sensible. \" When asked about criticisms of the work environment, Mr. Gilbert and other executives defended the company, noting that mortgage bankers work an average of 44 hours per week and are compensated well. It is possible for team members, Mr. Gilbert said, to earn over $85, 000 in their second year, more than double the median household income for Wayne County, Mich. Quicken Loans' growing role in parts of the mortgage market may make it a lightning rod for critics. Proponents say that nonbanks like Quicken or PennyMac in California \u2014 which was started by former executives of Countrywide, the mortgage machine in Southern California that was a hotbed of toxic mortgages in the 2008 crisis \u2014 are filling an important void. They argue that they serve people with low to moderate incomes or lower credit scores whom the big banks shun. The big banks, they say, focus instead on jumbo mortgages, or mortgages of more than $424, 100, the maximum amount that can be backed by enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. \"The large banks want to go after the business,\" said Guy D. Cecala, the chief executive and publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. Thanks to low interest rates, home sales are booming and the mortgage market was expected to top $2 trillion in originations in 2016. That's a far cry from the frothy height of $3. 8 trillion that was hit in 2003. Moreover, many other parts of the mortgage machine that were in place leading up to the financial crisis have been dismantled. Still, critics say today's shadow banks, by focusing on the riskier end of the mortgage market, may be revving up the same parts of the engine that resulted in defaults and foreclosures in the past. Nonbanks, which are typically less capitalized and may have more difficulty reimbursing the government for bad loans, now dominate F. H. A. mortgage loans, according to data from the American Enterprise Institute's International Center on Housing Risk. In September 2012, banks originated 65 percent of the loans insured by the F. H. A. according to the data. Today, that number has more than flipped: Nonbanks originate 73 percent of the loans, with banks' share dropping to 18 percent. The figures are more spectacular for refinanced mortgages, where nonbanks now make up 93 percent of loans. \"The market has moved to the nonbanks because the nonbanks' appetite for risk is much higher,\" said Edward J. Pinto, a director of the Center on Housing Risk. He has argued that the F. H. A. is not only failing to help communities with its programs, but is actually weakening them with imprudent loans. Mr. Gilbert disputed any \"false narrative\" that claims Quicken faces less regulatory scrutiny, is lightly capitalized or makes risky loans. He said that the average credit score of a Quicken borrower is one of the highest in the nation that the parent company's assets \"are larger than that of 93 percent of all F. D. I. C. depositories\" and that the company is regulated by 50 states, multiple municipalities and numerous federal agencies. Quicken Loans is privately held, and it is unclear what its assets are worth. In an email response to questions, Mr. Gilbert added, \"Quicken Loans underwriting and production is one of the highest, if not the highest, quality production in the entire country. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Ten people went on trial in Germany on Friday for alleged failures in planning the Love Parade music festival in 2010 when 21 people were killed and more than 650 injured in a stampede. Prosecutors have charged the defendants, four employees of the company that planned the event in the industrial city of Duisburg and six from the local authority, with negligent manslaughter and bodily harm. The defendants have denied wrongdoing in the disaster. Eight foreigners from Spain, Bosnia, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and China were among those killed on July 24, 2010, when panic broke out in a packed underpass that was the only entrance route to the venue for the techno music festival. The trial has been moved to a congress center in the nearby city of Duesseldorf as the court rooms in Duisburg were too small for what is expected to be one of the biggest trials in postwar Germany, with dozens of lawyers and plaintiffs. The trial is expected to take until at least the end of next year. But there is a ticking clock on proceedings as the statute of limitations runs out in July 2020.","label":0}
{"text":"Protesters outside a luxury hotel in Hong Kong shouted anti-racism slogans on Tuesday ahead of a speech by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon at an investor conference organized by a unit of China s largest brokerage. The far-right architect of U.S. President Donald Trump s 2016 election victory, Bannon is the latest controversial figure invited to address a forum hosted by CLSA, a subsidiary of state-backed Citic Securities. Bannon, whose views on immigration, climate and trade helped shape Trump s election campaign and his first months in office, was fired by the Republican president last month in a push to end factional fighting within the White House. No Bannon, no racism, chanted the group of about 15 demonstrators, who also held up a large black banner carrying the words, Nazis are not welcome here . One protester wearing a mask of Trump held up a placard depicting the U.S. president in the shape of a chicken, with the words, Toxic nationalist , on its belly. CLSA initially said Bannon s speech would be open to some print media but reversed its decision a day later, without citing a specific reason, although a CLSA spokeswoman said the event was meant for invited clients only. We reserve the right to open or close sessions as we see fit, she wrote in an emailed response to Reuters. The CLSA Investors Forum provides an agnostic platform for diverse views and opinions from people who influence policy, economies and markets. Mr Bannon is one of these, hence our decision to invite him. Past speakers at the forum have ranged from actors George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger to boxer Mike Tyson, who was convicted of rape, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed secret details of U.S. surveillance programs. In a recent interview with the CBS program 60 Minutes, Bannon predicted Republicans could lose control in the House of Representatives next year because of a looming battle over what to do about immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children. (This story has been refiled to update paragraph 9 descriptions of previous speakers)","label":0}
{"text":"Granting Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont political asylum in Belgium would be not unrealistic if he asks for it, the Belgian migration minister said, underlining his country s position as a contrarian voice in the Spanish standoff. The Madrid government sacked the Catalan leader and dismissed the region s parliament on Friday, hours after it declared itself an independent nation [nL8N1N280L]. Spain s constitutional court has also started a review of Catalonia s independence vote for prosecutors to decide if it constituted rebellion. While there was no indication Puigdemont was hoping to come to Belgium, the country is one of few members of the European Union where EU citizens can ask for political asylum. It is not unrealistic if you look at the situation, Belgium s migration minister, Theo Francken, told Belgian broadcaster VTM. They are already talking about a prison sentence, Francken, a member of Flemish nationalist party N-VA, said. The question is to what extent he would get a fair trial. It would be difficult for Spain to extradite Puigdemont in such a case, he said. While most European leaders have refrained from commenting on the Spanish crisis, saying it was an internal matter and the country s constitution should prevail, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called for dialogue between Madrid and Barcelona[nL8N1MD34Z]. Michel, a centrist from French-speaking Wallonia, has governed in coalition with the N-VA since 2014, a period during which the party toned down its calls for more independence for Belgium s Dutch-speaking North. The relationship between Belgium and Spain soured over a similar issue in the 1990s and 2000s, when the country refused to extradite a Spanish couple wanted over alleged involvement with the Basque militant group ETA.","label":0}
{"text":"The United Nations human rights office called on Australia on Friday to restore food, water and health services to about 600 interned refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea, which Canberra cut off three days ago. The detainees in the Manus Island Centre have defied attempts by the governments of both Australia and PNG to close the camp, saying they fear violent reprisals from the local community if they are moved to other transit centers . We call on the Australian government ... who interned the men in the first place to immediately provide protection, food, water and other basic services, U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing. Australia has an obligation to do so under international human rights law and the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, he said. There was no immediate comment from Australia or its representatives in Geneva. Its government has said the camp had been ruled illegal by PNG authorities and it had committed to supply other sites for 12 months. Colville joined the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in warning of an unfolding humanitarian emergency in the center where asylum seekers began digging wells on Thursday to try to find water as their food supplies dwindled. The remote Manus Island center has been a key part of Australia s disputed immigration policy under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, detaining them instead in PNG and Naura in the South Pacific. We repeat our overall concerns about Australian offshore processing centers which are unsustainable, inhumane and contradictory to its human rights obligations, Colville said. Around 500 of the men have still not had their asylum claims processed, he said. And obviously the sooner the better, some of them have been there I think for four years, Colville said. So that s a very long time to sit in effectively a detention center disguised as a regional processing center without your case being processed. The alternative accommodation being proposed is not finished or adequate to meet their needs, including security, he said. We have conveyed to the Australian government and to the local government of Papua New Guinea as well that until the time the accommodation is ready, refugees should not be moved there, UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said. But also we have urged Australia and PNG to de-escalate the situation, resume basic services - water, electricity, medical services as well, he said. The last food distribution was on Sunday, he said. Australia s policy of deterrence by rescuing people at sea, mistreating them and abandoning them has become a notion of cruelty, Baloch said.","label":0}
{"text":"On the Wednesday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of President Trump's first 100 days. [Breitbart Legal Editor Ken Klukowski will discuss President Trump's Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch. We'll also hear from Congressman Steve King ( ) on President Trump's SCOTUS nominee and recent executive orders. Congressman Louis Gohmert ( ) will also weigh in on the SCOTUS pick, as well as the Senate Democrats' efforts to block Trump nominees. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy will discuss President Trump's executive order temporarily barring immigration from seven countries while a review of the vetting process is completed. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show \"the conservative news show of record. \" Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: .","label":0}
{"text":"Comments  A new story about the cyber attack on Democratic National Committee headquarters is giving rise to new questions. We have to stress that as of right now, it's a single source exclusive report from Mother Jones , which comes from unnamed DNC sources who are quoted on background only. MJ reports that the Democratic Party's outside security company found signal intelligence indicating that a cellular interception device was being deployed to intercept DNC, and that that information and technical details were turned over to the FBI for investigation.  In an episode reminiscent of Watergate, the Democratic Party recently informed the FBI that it had collected evidence suggesting its Washington headquarters had been bugged, according to two Democratic National Committee officials who asked not to be named by Mother Jones :  The second sweep, according to the Democratic officials, found a radio signal near the chairman's office that indicated there might be a listening device outside the office. \"We were told that this was something that could pick up calls from cellphones,\" a DNC official says. \"The guys who did the sweep said it was a strong indication.\" No device was recovered. No possible culprits were identified.  The DNC sent a report with the technical details to the FBI, according to the DNC officials. \"We believe it's been given by the bureau to another agency with three letters to examine,\" the DNC official says. \"We're not supposed to talk about it.\"  The FBI did not respond to a request for comment  Of course, would not the first time that Democratic National Committee headquarters have been targeted for bugging to intercept the information contained within those walls.  We already know that the DNC's emails have been compromised already, which itself IS a second Watergate incident not materially different than stealing memos from a filing cabinet.  However, we cannot stress enough that the Mother Jones report may be inaccurate because is not supported by a major disclosure of the underlying facts, named sources or other corroborating media reports.  Yet.","label":1}
{"text":"MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 \"So Ivan, are you calling Andy 'Sir'?\" Ivan Lendl paused and then laughed, which would surely seem strange to those who know him only as Andy Murray's coach in the front row of the players' box. \"Definitely not,\" Lendl said, chuckling some more before heading off down the crowded main hallway inside Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open. Clearly, not much has changed in the Murray camp since his remarkable stretch run to the No. 1 ranking and a knighthood in 2016. He is still tough on himself on court and on the changeovers. Still Andy \u2014 not Sir Andy \u2014 to his peers and mentor in chief, Lendl. Still deadpan and droll with his voice that sounds as if it emanates from a mine shaft. Asked on Monday by the interviewer John Fitzgerald how Murray's wife, Kim, was handling the transition to Lady Kim, Murray said, \"No more swearing during my matches, for anyone who saw that a few years ago. \" He was referring to Kim's courtside language during his semifinal victory over Tomas Berdych at the 2015 Australian Open. Her tirade did not go unnoticed, and she returned for the final cheekily wearing a shirt that read, \"Parental advisory explicit content. \" Presumably, Lady Kim won't be wearing that sort of thing in the players' box from here on, either (or at least she wasn't on Monday). \"I haven't found it distracting really,\" Murray said of the knighthood. \"I mean, I found out about it four or five weeks ago. Maybe if it happened a day or so, two days before the tournament. But I've had enough time to get my head around it. \" Just as he has had plenty of time to prepare himself for the role of No. 1, however long it lasts. I asked him on Monday, after his stuttering (5) victory over Illya Marchenko, if there had been any downside to No. 1, thinking he might bring up extra demands or burdens. \"No,\" he said. \"It's been great. I think because it's taken me so long to get there, obviously I want to try to stay there. But also I feel like I'm mature enough now to handle it. Maybe if it happens when you're very young, you might feel extra pressures. The responsibilities might feel a bit much, but I think because I'm much older and more mature, it's been good. \" The conventional tennis wisdom is that it is harder to hang on at the top than to reach the top. \"I hope not,\" Murray said. But for anyone who believes that he now has nowhere to go but down, that is hardly true in Australia. He has reached five singles finals in Melbourne and lost all five. No man has done so well at any Grand Slam tournament without breaking through to win the title. Others have lost five finals in the same major event, including Lendl, who lost five at the United States Open. But he also won three. Bill Johnston lost six finals at the United States Championships, but won the event twice. John Bromwich lost five finals at the Australian Championships in the era, but won the title twice, too. Murray, at 29, is in unfortunately uncharted territory, all the more so because Novak Djokovic ended his own long run of frustration at the French Open last year by finally taking the title after reaching four semifinals and three finals. \"Look, it's still a remarkable record, five Slam finals in Australia, and deep down I think it means an enormous amount to Andy to finally complete the puzzle,\" said Roger Rasheed, the Australian who once coached Lleyton Hewitt when Hewitt was chasing the title here without success. But Hewitt reached only one final in Melbourne. Murray is here and has a better winning percentage at the Australian Open than at any other Grand Slam tournament except Wimbledon. \"Andy's been so close,\" Rasheed said. \"What more does he have to do? Well, it's not a matter of big changes. It's just been a matter of points and the moments. \" It's a matter of the opposition, too. The first of Murray's Australian Open defeats in the final came against Roger Federer in 2010. The last four came against Djokovic in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. \"Andy played Roger in his prime and has been playing Novak in his prime,\" Rasheed said. \"It's a handful of points changing the way the match falls. Andy's showing he's in his prime now. He just needs to get there and roll the dice again. \" Murray's timing may still not be quite right. He played a great deal of tennis down the stretch in 2016 and was beaten by Djokovic in a final in Doha, Qatar, to start this season. Freshness just might be a factor down the stretch as well as Djokovic's eagerness to restore the pecking order. But it does not seem quite right in light of their abilities that Djokovic has six Australian Open titles and Murray has not even one. He broke down in tears after losing to Federer in 2010. He stared vacantly into space after losses to Djokovic and sportingly came up with the right words amid major disappointment. And yet he insisted on Monday that his emotions were not mixed when he thought about this tournament. \"Honestly, they're totally positive,\" said Murray, who plays Andrey Rublev in the second round on Wednesday. \"I've had a lot of tough losses here, for sure. But I love it here. Played some great matches as well, but just haven't managed to win the final. But, you know, I keep coming back to try. I'll keep doing that until I'm done, but I still feel like I've got a few years left to try and do it. \" He is, by any measure, due for a change of fortune in Melbourne. And if you like your sports with foreshadowing, the only other top tennis player to receive a knighthood was Sir Norman Brookes, the Australian star of the early 20th century. Guess whose name has been given to the trophy awarded to the men's champion at the Australian Open?","label":0}
{"text":"Iceland s opposition leader Katrin Jakobsdottir will become the country s new prime minister, after her Left-Green Movement on Wednesday agreed to form a coalition government, state broadcaster RUV reported. Her party, which emerged as the second biggest party in snap parliamentary elections on Oct. 28, entered coalition talks with the Independence Party, the main partner in the current government coalition, and the Progressive Party two weeks ago. Current Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of the right-wing Independence Party called the snap election in September, after less than a year in government, as a scandal involving his father prompted a government ally to drop out of his ruling coalition. The Nordic island of 340,000 people, one of the countries hit hardest by the 2008 financial crisis, has staged a remarkable economic rebound spurred by a tourism boom. The formation of a broad coalition government could bring an end to political instability triggered by a string of scandals. The previous snap election took place late in 2016, after the Panama Papers revelations showed several government figures involved in an offshore tax haven scandal. Still, some Left-Green members and voters have criticized the party s plan to enter a coalition with Benediktsson and his Independence Party. Two of Left-Green s mandates did not support the new coalition, giving the three parties a total of 33 of parliament s 63 seats. Jakobsd ttir, 41, campaigned on a platform of restoring trust in government and leveraging an economic boom to increase public spending. She failed to form a left-leaning government earlier this month, but said on election night she was open to forming a broad-based government. While both the Left-Greens and the Independence Party parties agree that investment is needed in areas like welfare, infrastructure and tourism, they disagree over how it should be financed. The Left-Greens want to finance spending by raising taxes on the wealthy, real estate and the powerful fishing industry, while the Independence Party has said it wants to fund infrastructure spending by taking money out of the banking sector. Benediktsson will become finance minister in the new government.","label":0}
{"text":"While many on the left continue to accuse President Trump and his administration of colluding with the Russians, one well-known progressive thinker said such actions hurt their cause. Author Max Blumenthal said he s skeptical of the Russia narrative, remarking that Rachel Maddow s dots may never connect. Blumenthal called Trump the apotheosis of a failed political establishment, saying the Russia story is simply a cover for establishment Republicans and progressive Democrats to be able to avoid do[ing] anything progressive. He accused both parties of scandal-mongering and criticized the left for abandoning their anti-war ideology just to attack the president. He and Tucker Carlson discussed how some Democrats have advocated supporting insurgent elements in Syria for the sake of irritating Vladimir Putin. Blumenthal, the son of former Clinton adviser Sid Blumenthal, warned such behavior on-the-whole will have long-term consequences for the left in this country. Max Blumenthal is a known progressive who s calling out his own party for the constant Russia-Trump bashing. He confronts Rep. Jamie Raskin on the Russia scandal:Max Blumenthal Grilled a Maryland Democrat on Lies About Russia Scam In Epic Interview: I think we should tell the people the truth [Video]This is hysterical! Blumenthal is awesome even though he s a leftist A rarity! Note at the end of the video that he calls out Raskin for saying Trump is a Russian hoax Earlier in July he proposed a panel to oust President Trump: Pointing to the outcry over President Donald Trump s latest controversial tweets, freshman Rep. Jamie Raskin is urging his colleagues to get behind a bill that could potentially oust the President if he was mentally or physically unfit.The Maryland Democrat wants to create an 11-member commission made up of mostly physicians and psychiatrists more formally called the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity. The panel would carry out a medical examination and determine whether the President was physically or mentally able to do the job. Two of the commission s members would also be former high ranking officials, such as presidents, vice presidents, attorneys general or secretaries of state. It s a provocative and long-shot effort, but Raskin is citing as his legal backup the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, which was adopted in 1967 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to establish procedure in the case a president is incapacitated. About two dozen Democrats have signed on to the effort as of Thursday. Raskin is zeroing in on one section of that constitutional amendment, which allows the vice president to assume powers if either the majority of the Cabinet or such other body as Congress finds that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of office. (The vice president would also have to agree to the assessment of the President s abilities.) Raskin is proposing his commission to serve as that body. Raskin is a freshman in Congress Let s hope the people of Maryland kick him out after one term. It s obvious he s a liar and doesn t respect the office of POTUS.","label":1}
{"text":"President Obama, due to his unique position, is able to use the global stage to draw attention to issues unlike any other leader foreign or domestic. On Wednesday, speaking at a joint summit with the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Mexico, the topic of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump came up.In the course of discussing Trump s foot-stamping about economic issues, the President took a second to dissect the media narrative that has described Trump as a populist for months on end.https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gGdIiAO5Pdo Somebody who has never shown any regard for workers, has never fought on behalf of social justice issues or making sure that poor kids are getting a decent shot at life or have health care, does not meet the definition, Obama said. They don t suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes. That s not the measure of populism. That s nativism, or xenophobia. Or worse. Or it s just cynicism, he said.The media has used the reaction of white, blue collar audiences to Trump as evidence that he is a populist speaking to the masses. But the reality TV star is not a man of the people. He has actually made a lot of his money swindling some of those same sorts of people with his fraudulent enterprises like Trump University.As President Obama made clear in just a few seconds, Trump is simply posturing as if he were a populist, but a short glance at his language and his habit of practicing demagoguery destroys his posturing pretty quickly.Trump launched his campaign attacking Latinos as criminals and rapists, he has blamed all immigrants especially Muslims for terrorism, and he has also denigrated blacks and women throughout his career.A populist stands up for the little guy, he doesn t turn him upside down and try to suck the money out of his pockets.","label":1}
{"text":"Americans who are sick and tired of leftist CEO s using their public positions to attack President Trump and his efforts waged a huge boycott against Starbucks and the Starbucks brand: Kudos to this shareholder for standing up and confronting Schultz over his selfish decision to publicly shame President Trump in his efforts to keep terrorists from entering our country With Starbuck s stock underperforming, its about time someone questioned Starbucks s liberal agenda. Just don t expect the media to care.A conservative think tank, The National Center for Public Policy Research, confronted outgoing controversial Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. As an owner of Starbucks stock, the group sent its General Counsel Justin Danhof to Starbucks s annual shareholders meeting on March 22. There, he questioned Schultz for his public liberal opinions that may have hurt the company s stock price.In reference to Schultz s Jan. 29 decision that Starbucks would hire 10,000 refugees, Danhof asked Schultz How much will Starbucks investors have to spend so that the company can properly vet refugees that the federal government admits it can t afford to vet? He also asked Schultz why he condemned President Donald Trump s immigration order but lacked the courage to speak out against the Obama-Clinton travel ban? Watch:","label":1}
{"text":"It s certainly not a stretch to say that this is part of why we have Obama. The media has become the National Enquirer with reports on idiotic items like the one below that does nothing but dumb down Americans. Please make an effort to contact your local news station if they report on items like this. There are plenty of news items without this type of story even making it on the news. This is also a HUGE reason why Americans and people around the world are turning to the NEW MEDIA with Twitter, Facebook and blogs that report what the news doesn t or won t. If you d like to speak up against this particular news station here s the contact information to e-mail or call: WTKRNorfolk, VIRGINIA (Scroll down for video) A woman in Virginia was arrested Tuesday after having sex with her unconscious boyfriend in the parking lot of a shopping center.36-year-old Kimberly M. Jackson told WTKR: I was in the mood, and that s basically what happened. Once police arrived, they found Jackson and her boyfriend, Earl Palmer, in the parking lot. At the time, the man was unconscious and unresponsive. He was taken to Sentara Leigh Hospital for treatment. The alcohol made me think I wouldn t. I m not into erotic public sex or anything like that, says Jackson. Jackson was arrested and charged for being drunk in public. OUR MEDIA JUST CAN T SEEM TO FIND SOMETHING WORTHY TO REPORT ON SO THIS IS NEWS TO THEM:","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump said in a statement on Friday that White House press secretary Sean Spicer was resigning as of August and that businessman Anthony Scaramucci, a long-time supporter, would become White House communications director. \"I'm grateful for Sean's work on behalf of my administration and the American people. I wish him continued success as he moves on to pursue new opportunities. Just look at his great television ratings,\" Trump said in a statement read by White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. Scaramucci told a news briefing that Sanders would become Trump's new press secretary.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s plan to create a national registry of Muslims residing in the United States alarms people of good faith and decent character from coast to coast. But indications are that the Republican majority in Congress, afraid of his rabid right-wing base, could implement this dangerous idea.Despite major losses at the governor and state legislature level, there are still strong, progressive Democrats out there in America. Few have the sort of major platform available to them that the mayor of New York City does, and Bill de Blasio has just announced his plans if Trump choses to go forward with his Muslim registry scheme.New York City would sue to stop the federal government if the Trump administration went forward with a plan to require all Muslims to register in a database, Mayor de Blasio said Monday.De Blasio, in a speech before hundreds of supporters on Monday denouncing many of Trump s policies, said, We will sue to block it. We will use all the tools at our disposal to stand up for our people, he said.De Blasio already angered Republicans with his decision to curtail the discriminatory stop and frisk policy utilized by police, and they also freaked out when he pointed out the dangers young black men like his son face from too many police officers.The promise from de Blasio on the Muslim registry echoes public statements from other officials in diverse cities since Trump s victory. Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago has said that the city will remain a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants, as have officials in Washington, D.C. and in Los Angeles, where the police department said public safety was their goal not immigration purges.Trump s surprise election shocked America, especially on the left, but it may also have renewed a sense of resiliency and unity in the face of blatant bigotry.","label":1}
{"text":"It is awfully ironic how the liberals are bashing President Trump for placing blame on both sides for the violence in the Charlottesville incident and not condemning just the white supremacists, considering they conveniently overlooked Hillary and Obama s close friendship with former KKK member, Robert Byrd.Following the Charlottesville incident involving a car crashing into a crowd of people, President Trump seemed to be one of the only figures in the country condemning both sides for their displays of violence and bigotry. It was not clear who, exactly, was behind the attack, or which group was responsible.Trump waited until the dust settled and condemned both sides, as both sides warrant condemnation in this situation: from the white supremacists to the black supremacists, to the Communists, to Antifa, the situation was hardly one-sided.David Duke attempted to link Trump to the bigotry and hatred that was present in Charlottesville, however, it would be a far cry to say that the President is in any way happy with or affiliated with Duke or those he associates with, and to say so is to insult the President and his supporters.However, President Trump, back when he was dropping out of the Reform Party primary in 2000, condemned David Duke.When pressed by Matt Lauer on why he saw the Reform Party as self-destructing, Trump commented: Well, you ve got David Duke just joined, a bigot, a racist, a problem, I mean, this is not exactly the people you want in your party. Gateway PunditWatch Trump s 2000 interview with Lauer here:Despite mounting criticism for Donald Trump s failure to disavow former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke s support, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton once heaped praise for late Klan leader Sen. Robert Byrd.In a video uploaded to the State Department s official YouTube page on June 28, 2010, Clinton commemorated late Sen. Byrd by saying, Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert C. Byrd. And when the former KKK member, Senator Robert Byrd died, Barack Obama gave the eulogy:President Obama lauded the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd today for keeping faith with his family, his state of West Virginia and his beloved U.S. Constitution. He was a Senate icon, he was a party leader, he was an elder statesman, and he was my friend, Obama told thousands who gathered for Byrd s funeral on the steps of the golden-domed West Virginia statehouse. That s how I ll remember him.","label":1}
{"text":"Muhammad Ali, the world heavyweight boxing champion who helped define his turbulent times as the most charismatic and controversial sports figure of the 20th century, died on Friday in a hospital. He was 74. His death was confirmed by Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman. The cause was septic shock, a family spokeswoman said. Ali, who lived near Phoenix, had had Parkinson's disease for more than 30 years. He was admitted to the hospital on Monday with what Mr. Gunnell said was a respiratory problem. Ali was the most thrilling if not the best heavyweight ever, carrying into the ring a physically lyrical, unorthodox boxing style that fused speed, agility and power more seamlessly than that of any fighter before him. But he was more than the sum of his athletic gifts. An agile mind, a buoyant personality, a brash and an evolving set of personal convictions fostered a magnetism that the ring alone could not contain. He entertained as much with his mouth as with his fists, narrating his life with a patter of inventive doggerel. (\"Me! Wheeeeee! \") Ali was as polarizing a superstar as the sports world has ever produced \u2014 both admired and vilified in the 1960s and '70s for his religious, political and social stances. His refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War, his rejection of racial integration at the height of the civil rights movement, his conversion from Christianity to Islam and the changing of his \"slave\" name, Cassius Clay, to one bestowed by the separatist black sect he joined, the Nation of Islam, were perceived as serious threats by the conservative establishment and noble acts of defiance by the liberal opposition. Loved or hated, he remained for 50 years one of the most recognizable people on the planet. In later life Ali became something of a secular saint, a legend in soft focus. He was respected for having sacrificed more than three years of his boxing prime and untold millions of dollars for his antiwar principles after being banished from the ring he was extolled for his gallantry in the face of incurable illness, and he was beloved for his accommodating sweetness in public. In 1996, he was trembling and nearly mute as he lit the Olympic caldron in Atlanta. That passive image was far removed from the exuberant, talkative, vainglorious who bounded out of Louisville, Ky. and onto the world stage in 1964 with an upset victory over Sonny Liston to become the world champion. The press called him the Louisville Lip. He called himself the Greatest. Ali also proved to be a \u2014 a public figure who kept reinventing his persona. As a bubbly teenage gold medalist at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he parroted America's Cold War line, lecturing a Soviet reporter about the superiority of the United States. But he became a critic of his country and a government target in 1966 with his declaration \"I ain't got nothing against them Vietcong. \" \"He lived a lot of lives for a lot of people,\" said the comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory. \"He was able to tell white folks for us to go to hell. \" But Ali had his hypocrisies, or at least inconsistencies. How could he consider himself a \"race man\" yet mock the skin color, hair and features of other most notably Joe Frazier, his rival and opponent in three classic matches? Ali called him \"the gorilla,\" and long afterward Frazier continued to express hurt and bitterness. If there was a supertitle to Ali's operatic life, it was this: \"I don't have to be who you want me to be I'm free to be who I want. \" He made that statement the morning after he won his first heavyweight title. It informed every aspect of his life, including the way he boxed. The traditionalist fight crowd was appalled by his style he kept his hands too low, the critics said, and instead of allowing punches to \"slip\" past his head by bobbing and weaving, he leaned back from them. Eventually his approach prevailed. Over 21 years, he won 56 fights and lost five. His Ali Shuffle may have been pure showboating, but the \" \" \u2014 in which he rested on the ring's ropes and let an opponent punch himself out \u2014 was the stratagem that won the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman in 1974, the fight in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in which he regained his title. His personal life was paradoxical. Ali belonged to a sect that emphasized strong families, a subject on which he lectured, yet he had dalliances as casual as autograph sessions. A brief first marriage to Sonji Roi ended in divorce after she refused to dress and behave as a proper Nation wife. (She died in 2005.) While married to Belinda Boyd, his second wife, Ali traveled openly with Veronica Porche, whom he later married. That marriage, too, ended in divorce. Ali was politically and socially idiosyncratic as well. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the television interviewer David Frost asked him if he considered Al Qaeda and the Taliban evil. He replied that terrorism was wrong but that he had to \"dodge questions like that\" because \"I have people who love me. \" He said he had \"businesses around the country\" and an image to consider. As a spokesman for the Muhammad Ali Center, a museum dedicated to \"respect, hope and understanding,\" which opened in his hometown, Louisville, in 2005, he was known to interrupt a meeting with an ethnic joke. In one he said: \"If a black man, a Mexican and a Puerto Rican are sitting in the back of a car, who's driving? Give up? The . \" But Ali had generated so much good will by then that there was little he could say or do that would change the public's perception of him. \"We forgive Muhammad Ali his excesses,\" an Ali biographer, Dave Kindred, wrote, \"because we see in him the child in us, and if he is foolish or cruel, if he is arrogant, if he is outrageously in love with his reflection, we forgive him because we no more can condemn him than condemn a rainbow for dissolving into the dark. Rainbows are born of thunderstorms, and Muhammad Ali is both. \" Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born in Louisville on Jan. 17, 1942, into a family of strivers that included teachers, musicians and craftsmen. Some of them traced their ancestry to Henry Clay, the representative, senator and secretary of state, and his cousin Cassius Marcellus Clay, a noted abolitionist. Ali's mother, Odessa, was a cook and a house cleaner, his father a sign painter and a church muralist who blamed discrimination for his failure to become a recognized artist. Violent and often drunk, Clay Sr. filled the heads of Cassius and his younger brother, Rudolph (later Rahman Ali) with the teachings of the black separatist Marcus Garvey and a refrain that would become Ali's \u2014 \"I am the greatest. \" Beyond his father's teachings, Ali traced his racial and political identity to the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a black from Chicago who was believed to have flirted with a white woman on a visit to Mississippi. Clay was about the same age as Till, and the photographs of the brutalized dead youth haunted him, he said. Cassius started to box at 12, after his new $60 red Schwinn bicycle was stolen off a downtown street. He reported the theft to Joe Martin, a police officer who ran a boxing gym. When Cassius boasted what he would do to the thief when he caught him, Martin suggested that he first learn how to punch properly. Cassius was quick, dedicated and gifted at publicizing a youth boxing show, \"Tomorrow's Champions,\" on local television. He was soon its star. For all his ambition and willingness to work hard, education \u2014 public and segregated \u2014 eluded him. The only subjects in which he received satisfactory grades were art and gym, his high school reported years later. Already an amateur boxing champion, he graduated 376th in a class of 391. He was never taught to read properly years later he confided that he had never read a book, neither the ones on which he collaborated nor even the Quran, although he said he had reread certain passages dozens of times. He memorized his poems and speeches, laboriously printing them out over and over. In boxing he found boundaries, discipline and stable guidance. Martin, who was white, trained him for six years, although historical revisionism later gave more credit to Fred Stoner, a black trainer in the Smoketown neighborhood. It was Martin who persuaded Clay to \"gamble your life\" and go to Rome with the 1960 Olympic team despite his almost pathological fear of flying. Clay won the Olympic title and came home a professional contender. In Rome, Clay was everything the sports diplomats could have hoped for \u2014 a handsome, charismatic and black . When a Russian reporter asked him about racial prejudice, Clay ordered him to \"tell your readers we got qualified people working on that, and I'm not worried about the outcome. \" \"To me, the U. S. A. is still the best country in the world, counting yours,\" he added. \"It may be hard to get something to eat sometimes, but anyhow I ain't fighting alligators and living in a mud hut. \" Ali would later cringe at that quotation, especially when journalists harked back to it as proof that a merry had been misguided into becoming a hateful militant. Of course, after the Rome Games, few journalists followed Clay home to Louisville, where he was publicly referred to as \"the Olympic nigger\" and denied service at many downtown restaurants. After one such rejection, the story goes, he hurled his gold medal into the Ohio River. But Clay, and later Ali, gave different accounts of that act, and according to Thomas Hauser, author of the oral history \"Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times,\" Clay had simply lost the medal. Clay turned professional by signing a contract with 11 local white millionaires. (\"They got the complexions and connections to give me good directions,\" he said.) The Louisville Sponsoring Group supported him while he was groomed by Angelo Dundee, a top trainer, in Miami. At a mosque there, Clay was introduced to the Nation of Islam, known to the news media as \"Black Muslims. \" Elijah Muhammad, the group's leader, taught that white people were devils genetically created by an evil scientist. On Allah's chosen day of retribution, the Mother of Planes would bomb all but the righteous, and the righteous would be spirited away. Years later, after leaving the group and converting to orthodox Islam, Ali gave the Nation of Islam credit for offering a message at a time of low and persecution. \"Color doesn't make a man a devil,\" he said. \"It's the heart and soul and mind that count. What's on the outside is only decoration. \" Clay enjoyed early success against prudently chosen opponents. His outrageous predictions, usually in rhyme \u2014 \"This is no jive, Cooper will go in five\" \u2014 put off many older sportswriters, especially since most of the predictions came true. (His fight against the Englishman Henry Cooper did end in the fifth round at Wembley Stadium in 1963, although Cooper, who had knocked Clay down in the fourth, did not \"go down. \") The reporters' beau ideal of a boxer was the laconic Joe Louis. But they still wrote about Clay. Younger sportswriters, raised in an age of Andy Warhol, happenings and the \"put on,\" were delighted by the hype and by Clay's friendly accessibility. In 1963, at 21, after only 15 professional fights, he was on the cover of Time magazine. The winking quality of the prose \u2014 \"Cassius Clay is Hercules, struggling through the twelve labors. He is Jason, chasing the Golden Fleece\" \u2014 reinforced the assumption that he was just another boxer being sacrificed to the box office's lust for fresh meat. It was feared he would be seriously injured by the baleful slugger Liston, a betting favorite to retain his title in Miami Beach, Fla. on Feb. 25, 1964. But Clay was joyously comic. Encouraged by his assistant trainer and \"spiritual adviser,\" Drew Brown, known as Bundini, Clay mocked Liston as the \"big ugly bear\" and chanted a battle cry: \"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, rumble, young man, rumble. \" The Beatles, on their first American tour, were in town and showed up for a photo op at Clay's training gym. Malcolm X, a leading minister for the Nation of Islam and a worrisome presence to many white Americans, was there, too, with his family members as guests of Clay, whom they saw as a big brother. To the shock of the crowd, Clay, taller and broader than Liston at 6 feet 3 inches and 210 pounds and much faster, took immediate control of the fight. He danced away from Liston's vaunted left hook and peppered his face with jabs, opening a cut over his left eye. Clay was in trouble only once. Just before the start of the fifth round, his eyes began to sting. It was liniment, but he suspected poison. Dundee had to push him into the ring. Two rounds later, Liston, slumped on his stool, his left arm hanging uselessly, gave up. He had torn muscles swinging at Clay in vain. Clay, the new champion, capered along the ring apron, shouting at the press: \"Eat your words! I shook up the world! I'm king of the world!\" (More than a year later, in May 1965, he would retain his crown in fashion in a rematch with Liston in Lewiston, Me. Within two minutes of the first round, Ali threw what became known as the phantom punch, sending Liston sprawling and resulting in a disputed decision to end the fight.) The morning after the Miami Beach fight, a calm Clay affirmed his rumored membership in the Nation of Islam. He would be Cassius X. (A few weeks later he became Muhammad Ali, which he said meant \"Worthy of all praise most high. \") That day he harangued his audience with a preview of what would, over the next few years, become a series of longer and more detailed lectures about religion and race. This one was about, as he put it, \"staying with your own kind. \" \"In the jungle, lions are with lions and tigers with tigers,\" he said. \"I don't want to go where I'm not wanted. \" The only prominent leader to send Ali a telegram of congratulations was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. \"I remember when Ali joined the Nation of Islam,\" Julian Bond, the civil rights activist and politician, once said. \"The act of joining was not something many of us particularly liked. But the notion he'd do it \u2014 that he'd jump out there, join this group that was so despised by mainstream America, and be proud of it \u2014 sent a little thrill through you. \" The thrills gave way to darker thoughts. After Malcolm X left the Nation and was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965, by members of the group, there was talk that Ali had been tacitly complicit. Jack Newfield, a political journalist with an interest in boxing, wrote, \"If Ali, as the new heavyweight champion, had remained loyal to his mentor, and continued to lend his public support to Malcolm, history might have gone in a different direction. \" On Feb. 17, 1966, a day already roiled by the Senate's televised hearings on the war in Vietnam, Ali learned that he had been reclassified 1A by his Louisville selective service board. He had originally been disqualified by a substandard score on a mental aptitude test. But a subsequent lowering of criteria made him eligible to go to war. The timing, however, was suspicious to some the contract with the Louisville millionaires had run out, and Nation members were taking over as Ali's managers and promoters. \"Why me?\" Ali said when reporters swarmed around his rented Miami cottage to ask about his new draft status. \"I buy a lot of bullets, at least three jet bombers a year, and pay the salary of 50, 000 fighting men with the money they take from me after my fights. \" But as the reporters continued to press him with questions about the war, the geography of Asia and his thoughts about killing Vietcong, he snapped, \"I ain't got nothing against them Vietcong. \" The remark was news around the world. In America, the news media's response was mostly unfavorable, if not hostile. The sports columnist Red Smith of The New York Herald Tribune wrote, \"Squealing over the possibility that the military may call him up, Cassius makes himself as sorry a spectacle as those unwashed punks who picket and demonstrate against the war. \" Most of the press refused to refer to Ali by his new name. When two black contenders, Floyd Patterson and Ernie Terrell, insisted on calling him Cassius Clay, Ali taunted them in the ring as he delivered savage beatings. On April 28, 1967, Ali refused to be drafted and requested status. He was immediately stripped of his title by boxing commissions around the country. Several months later he was convicted of draft evasion, a verdict he appealed. He did not fight again until he was almost 29, losing three and a half years of his athletic prime. They were years of personal and intellectual growth, however, as Ali supported himself on the college lecture circuit, offering medleys of Muslim dogma and boxing verse. In the sessions that followed, Ali was forced to explain his religion, his Vietnam stand and his opposition (unpopular on most campuses) to marijuana and interracial dating. Now the \"onliest boxer in history that people asked questions like a senator\" developed coherent answers. During his exile from the ring, Ali starred in a Broadway musical, \"Buck White,\" one of several commercial ventures. There was a chain called Champburger and a mock movie fight with the popular former champion Rocky Marciano in which Ali outboxed the slugger until being knocked out himself in the final round. The broadcaster Howard Cosell, one of Ali's most steadfast supporters in the news media, was responsible for keeping him on television, both as an interview subject and as a commentator on boxing matches. As Ali's case made its way to the United States Supreme Court, he returned to the ring on Oct. 26, 1970, through the efforts of black politicians in Atlanta. The fight, which ended with a quick knockout of the white contender Jerry Quarry, was only a tuneup for Ali's anticipated showdown with Frazier, the new champion. But it was a night of glamour and history as Coretta Scott King, Bill Cosby, Diana Ross, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sidney Poitier turned out to honor Ali. The Rev. Ralph Abernathy presented him with the annual Dr. King award, calling him \"the March on Washington all in two fists. \" \"The Fight,\" as the Madison Square Garden bout with Frazier on March 8, 1971, was billed, lived up to expectations as an epic match. With Norman Mailer ringside taking notes for a book and Frank Sinatra shooting pictures for Life magazine, Ali stood toe to toe with Frazier and slugged it out as if determined to prove that he had \"heart,\" that he could stand up to punishment. Frazier won a decision. Both men suffered noticeable physical damage. To Ali's boosters, the money he had lost standing up for his principles and the beating he had taken from Frazier proved his sincerity. To his critics, the bloody redemption meant he had finally grown up. The Supreme Court also took a positive view. On June 28, 1971, it unanimously reversed a lower court decision and granted Ali his status. It was assumed now that Ali's time had passed and that he would become a \"opponent,\" the fighter to beat for those establishing themselves. But his time had returned. Although he was slower, his artistry was even more refined. \"He didn't have fights,\" wrote Jim Murray of The Los Angeles Times, \"he gave recitals. \" He won 13 of his next 14 fights, including a rematch with Frazier, who had lost his title to George Foreman, a bigger, more frightening version of Liston. Ali was the underdog, smaller and seven years older than Foreman, when they met on Oct. 30, 1974, in Zaire, then ruled by Mobutu Sese Seko. Each fighter was guaranteed $5 million, an extraordinary sum at the time. The fight also launched the career of the promoter Don King and was the subject of Leon Gast's documentary \"When We Were Kings,\" which was released more than 20 years later. (Ali attended a special screening, along with performances, at Radio City Music Hall.) The film won a 1997 Academy Award. Ali reveled in the African setting, repeating an aphorism he had heard from Brown, his assistant trainer: \"The world is a black shirt with a few white buttons. \" As the fight progressed, the crowd chanted, \"Ali, bomaye!\" (\"Ali, kill him! \") first out of concern as Ali leaned against the ropes and absorbed Foreman's sledgehammer blows on his arms and shoulders, and then in mounting excitement as Foreman wore himself out. In the eighth round, in a blur of punches, Ali knocked out Foreman to regain the title. He leaned down to reporters and said, \"What did I tell you?\" On Dec. 10, 1974, Ali was invited to the White House for the first time, by President Gerald R. Ford, an occasion that signified not only a turning point in the country's embrace of Ali but also a return of the Lip. Ali told the president, \"You made a big mistake letting me come because now I'm going after your job. \" Ali successfully defended his title 10 times over the next three years, at increasing physical cost. He knocked out Frazier in their third match, the Thrilla in Manila in 1975, but the punishment of their 14 rounds, Ali said, felt close to dying. In 1978 he lost and then regained his title in fights with Leon Spinks. Ali's longtime ring doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, urged him to quit, noting the slowing of his reflexes and the slurring of his speech as symptoms of damage. Ali refused. In 1980, he was battered in a loss to the champion Larry Holmes. A year later, he fought for the last time, losing to the journeyman Trevor Berbick in the Bahamas. Ali was soon told that he had Parkinson's syndrome. Several doctors have speculated that it was brought on by too many punches to the head. The diagnosis was later changed to Parkinson's disease, according to his wife, Lonnie. She said it had been brought on by Ali's exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pa. After retiring from the ring, Ali made speeches emphasizing spirituality, peace and tolerance, and undertook missions to Africa and Iraq. Even as he lost mobility and speech, he traveled often from his home in Berrien Springs, Mich. Product and corporate endorsements brought him closer to the \"show me the money\" sensibilities of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, the heirs to his global celebrity. In 1999, Ali became the first boxer on a Wheaties box. On Dec. 31 that year, he rang out the millennium at the New York Stock Exchange. In 2003, a $7, 500 art book celebrating his life was published. His life was the subject of a television movie and a feature film directed by Michael Mann, with Will Smith as Ali. (Both productions sanitized his early religious and political viewpoints.) The same licensing firm that owned most of Elvis Presley's image purchased rights to Ali's. Thomas Hauser, his biographer, decried the new \"commercialism\" surrounding Ali and \"the rounding off the rough edges of his journey. \" In a book of essays published in 2005, \"The Lost Legacy of Muhammad Ali,\" Hauser wrote, \"We should cherish the memory of Ali as a warrior and as a gleaming symbol of defiance against an unjust social order when he was young. \" In 2005, calling him the greatest boxer of all time, President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Freedom to Ali in a White House ceremony. In recent years, Parkinson's disease and spinal stenosis, which required surgery, limited Ali's mobility and ability to communicate. He spent most of his time at his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz. often watching Western movies and old TV shows. He ventured out mostly for physical therapy, movies and concerts. He rarely did TV interviews, his wife said, because he no longer liked the way he looked on camera. \"But he loved the adoration of crowds,\" she said. \"Even though he became vulnerable in ways he couldn't control, he never lost his childlike innocence, his sunny, positive nature. Jokes and pranks and magic tricks. He wanted to entertain people, to make them happy. \"","label":0}
{"text":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 Human rights activists are gathered in Paris to draw attention to the situation of gays in Chechnya before Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to France. [The activists want French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the issue with Putin at their Versailles palace meeting. They held a banner \"Stop homophobia in Chechnya\" at a square in front of the Eiffel Tower. Amnesty International France vice president Cecile Coudriou says \"it's important that Mr. Putin is ready to hear, we hope, strong words coming from Mr. Macron, to say 'stop' to that homophobia which has lasted for too long. \" Human Rights Watch said in a new report last week that officials in Russia's Chechnya humiliated inmates during visits to detention facilities where gay people were allegedly held and tortured. MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 On a trip that will likely shape ties for years to come, President Vladimir Putin is set to visit France for talks on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron after expressing sympathy for his rivals during the campaign. After Moscow lost its bets in the French vote, the visit offers the Russian leader a chance to turn the page and try to establish ties with Macron as the Kremlin has struggled to mend a bitter rift in relations with the West. The meeting comes in the wake of the Group of Seven's summit over the weekend where relations with Russia were part of the agenda, making Macron the first Western leader to speak to Putin after the talks. The Kremlin has hailed the visit as a chance for Putin and Macron to get to know each other and better understand their views on a range of disputed issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and Russia's ties with the European Union. Macron's invitation for Putin was a surprise after his tough stance on Russia during the presidential campaign that contrasted with the platforms of some of his rivals, including candidate Marine Le Pen and conservative Francois Fillon, who both have spoken for ending Western sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis. Amid the Congressional and FBI investigation into Russia's alleged meddling in the U. S. presidential vote, Macron's aides claimed in February that Russian groups were interfering with his campaign. Moscow has strongly denied all allegations of election meddling. Putin, however, made his preferences in the French presidential election clear by hosting Le Pen at the Kremlin in March \u2014 part of Russia's efforts to reach out to nationalist and forces in a hope of boosting their influence in the West. Over the years, Putin also has frequently met with Fillon, the French prime minister in and praised him as an experienced statesman. Analysts say the visit to Paris offers Putin an opportunity to improve ties with France that had steadily deteriorated in the closing months of Francois Hollande's presidency. \"As a person who pays utmost attention to personal contacts, Putin believes that only a meeting could give answers to many questions about Macron as a person and president of France, as well as his future foreign policy course and his stance on Russia,\" Tatyana Stanovaya of the Center for Political Technologies, an independent wrote in a commentary. \"Putin understands quite well that just one productive meeting could lead to a radical revamping of ties. It would be silly not to use that chance. \" In October, Putin abruptly shelved a trip to Paris after Hollande alleged that Russia could face war crime charges over Syria. Hollande declared that he wouldn't take part in the opening of the newly built Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in the heart of the French capital and was only interested in talking about Syria. As part of his trip Monday, Putin is scheduled to visit the center near the Seine River that includes the Holy Trinity Cathedral along with a school and a book shop. The site was sold to Russia under former President Nicolas Sarkozy amid criticism from rights groups about France's outreach to Putin. Prior to that, Putin and Macron are set to have talks at Versailles and then tour an exhibition there marking the 300th anniversary of Russian Czar Peter the Great's trip to Paris that was prepared by St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. With Peter the Great widely seen as a ruler who modernized Russia and sought to open it up to the West, the exhibition offers a symbolic backdrop for both parties to talk about the importance of ties, and, more broadly, rapport between Russia and the West. Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia is dissatisfied with the current level of political contacts, adding that the talks will offer a chance to review them. \"The meeting is very important for both Russia and France,\" he told reporters. Ushakov noted that he expects an \"interesting discussion\" on ways to implement a 2015 Minsk deal for eastern Ukraine, which was brokered by Germany and France. The U. S. and the EU have made the prospect of lifting economic and financial sanctions against Moscow contingent on fulfilling the peace agreement. The deal has helped reduce the scale of fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine, but clashes have continued and political elements of the agreement have stalled. Ukraine and Russia have blamed one another for the lack of progress. Ushakov said that the two leaders will also have a \"frank\" discussion on Syria, where Russia has backed President Bashar Assad and France has pushed strongly for his removal. He added that last week's suicide attack on Manchester Arena emphasized the need to pool efforts in the fight against international terrorism, so the talks will also touch on that.","label":0}
{"text":"Will it be representative government or thugocracy? Exclusive: Erik Rush envisions Clinton using high court 'as a bludgeon' against liberty Published: 43 mins ago About | | Archive Erik Rush is a columnist and author of sociopolitical fare. His latest book is \"Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal - America's Racial Obsession.\" In 2007, he was the first to give national attention to the story of Sen. Barack Obama's ties to militant Chicago preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright, initiating a media feeding frenzy. Erik has appeared on Fox News' \"Hannity and Colmes,\" CNN, and is a veteran of numerous radio appearances. Print  \" I feel strongly that the Supreme Court needs to stand on the side of the American people, not on the side of the powerful corporations and the wealthy. For me, that means that we need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women's rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community, that will stand up and say no to Citizens United, a decision that has undermined the election system in our country because of the way it permits dark, unaccountable money to come into our electoral system. \"  \u2013 Hillary Clinton  The first salvo from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (or rather, her answer to the first question posed by Fox News' Chris Wallace to her and Donald Trump at the third presidential debate) was as chilling as it was an exemplar of hypocrisy.  Those on the left are quite fond of leveling the accusation against conservatives of employing \"dog whistle politics,\" rhetoric that allegedly contains hidden or esoteric derogatory messaging which targets a specific subgroup within the opposition. Ms. Clinton's response to Wallace's question (where they wanted to see the Supreme Court take the country, and their views on how the Constitution ought to be interpreted) however, was representative of this tactic.  While women's rights and those of the LGBT community may seem to be a curious focus for the high court (since objectively, women wouldn't appear to be particularly oppressed given that one has been nominated to run for president, and the LGBT community accounts for less than 5 percent of the American population), Clinton's answer revealed the focus she believes the court should have once she becomes empress.  \"Women's rights\" is of course \"dog whistle\" for unfettered abortion, even late-term abortion, which is essentially infanticide via dismemberment. \"LGBT rights\" is \"dog whistle\" for disenfranchising the majority of Americans who hold traditional values, primarily Christians. Leveraging a vocal minority of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender individuals whom the left has whipped into a froth against Christians is the methodology that was employed to negate the political power of Christians in Europe and Canada. A direct assault via legislation in this area would not work in the U.S. (at least not at present); however, judicial rulings could effectively bring about the same result.  Let us leave aside for a moment the fact that judicial activism is unethical and skirts the Constitution and that Clinton's overall objectives are manifestly evil. Hillary Clinton's stated priorities for the Supreme Court are a clear indicator of her desire to use the court as a bludgeon against the Constitution and individual liberties, rather than allowing it to perform its designated function. The hypocrisy attendant to Clinton citing the rights of women and homosexuals when she is beholden via financial contributions to nations that institutionally persecute and murder members of these groups remains plain for all to see, despite being conveniently ignored by the press.  Clinton's reference to \"powerful corporations and the wealthy\" and the malign influence of that sinister conservative organization, Citizens United, was of course another exercise in blatant hypocrisy. Clinton is quite wealthy, and corrupt or otherwise compromised powerful corporations have been instrumental in bringing about the designs of American socialists. Even if Citizens United were a vehicle for \"dark, unaccountable money,\" the scope of its influence would pale next to the subversive designs of the Muslim Brotherhood, with which Bill and Hillary Clinton have been partnered for decades, or the myriad tentacles of organizations funded by George Soros, the former Nazi collaborator dedicated to advancing oligarchical collectivism in America, someone with whom the Clintons also have a long association.  One need not attempt to decipher the thinly veiled intent behind Clinton's debate rhetoric to discern what a Hillary Clinton presidency might look like. Her actions to date \u2013 and particularly those in the pursuit of seeking that office \u2013 should suffice quite nicely. Despite the craven complicity of the establishment press (mainstream media), there is ample evidence for even the most indolent news consumer to reach the conclusion that she and the Democratic leviathan supporting her, and which facilitated Barack Obama's rise to power, are fundamentally malignant.  In recent days, we've become aware of all manner of unethical conspiracies and outright criminality that's been brought to bear in getting Clinton elected, from Democratic officials tampering with the outcome of the illegal email server investigation, to the oversampling of key demographics in polling in order to enhance the public perception of Clinton's popularity, to the recent revelation of criminally prosecutable actions on the part of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the White House.  The bottom line here is that Hillary Clinton represents a class of people who transcend even the loathed archetypal modern politician in their rapaciousness and amorality. What all Americans \u2013 not just voters, and not just Republicans \u2013 need to realize is that leaders at the highest levels in the Republican Party are every bit as culpable as the gutter operatives of the Democratic Party who pay miscreants to dress up as ducks, instigate fistfights at opposition rallies and, yes, even vote for their candidates.  The burning question is this: In the end, are we to be governed by the will of the people, or are we going to continue pretending that we have a representative government, when we are in effect being ruled by abject thugs operating behind a faux veneer of government?  Media wishing to interview Erik Rush, please contact . Receive Erik Rush's commentaries in your email BONUS: By signing up for Erik Rush's alerts, you will also be signed up for news and special offers from WND via email. Name *","label":1}
{"text":"Are we finally watching the end times for Hollywood celebrities, who have been worshipped like golden idols by Americans who believe them to be flawless and infallible human beings? Is the morally superior facade of Hollywood actors like Meryl Streep and Gwenyth Paltrow, who admonish and berate Americans that would dare to support President Trump, while sucking up to serial sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein? What about actress Ashley Judd who America watched while she wore her p*ssy hat, go off on an insane rant at the Women s March in DC, over Donald Trump s remarks about a woman, to another man, during a private conversation, while she hid the ACTUAL sexual assault that was allegedly committed against her by mega-Democrat donor Harvey Weinstein. Judd claims she was asked to meet Weinstein for a breakfast meeting at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel some 20 years ago. She said the meeting turned into him inviting her up to his hotel room and claimed he asked to give her a massage and watch him shower. A disgusting audio of Weinstein begging an Italian model to watch him shower in his hotel room was just released today. You can find the story and the audio HERE.Gwenyth Paltrow claims that she was also sexually abused by Harvey Weinstein when she was 22 years old. So that was 23 years ago, why the silence until now? How many countless women could have been saved by Paltrow or Judd if they came out and pressed charges against Weinstein decades ago? Neither one of them has any trouble publicly bashing Trump. But, oh yeah, bashing Trump is a resume enhancer in Hollywood, while ignoring a Hollywood producer who s a sick pervert, is perfectly acceptable, as long as he s the one who signs your enormous paychecks.Gwyneth Paltrow claims that she was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein when she was just 22: https:\/\/t.co\/ZtZlJFXZ6z pic.twitter.com\/oqRm7WSO9q E! Online UK (@EOnlineUK) October 10, 2017Is your skin crawling yet? Wait until you watch the video below and read about the horrific experiences these former child actors had with full-grown men in Hollywood.Cernovich The recent exposure of serial sexual predator and Hollywood Democrat kingpin Harvey Weinstein raises, even more, questions than it answers.In a now famous photo, Weinstein can be seen grabbing young actress Emma Watson in a compromising position.While the public controversy currently centers around Weinstein s sexual abuse of power over young women, the question remains how young were Weinstein s victims?Former child actor Corey Feldman has publicly stated that I was molested and passed around, while discussing how in Hollywood adult males in the industry would pass young stars back and forth to each other. Feldman revealed that his co-star Corey Haim was raped at 11-years-old.Actor Elijah Wood confirmed Feldman s claims in May 2016, describing Hollywood as a den of vipers in an interview, and saying If you can imagine it, it s probably happened. Wood said he was protected from abuse by his mother, who didn t let him go to Hollywood parties, but he said other young child actors were regularly preyed upon by those in power.Wood also compared Hollywood s sexual predators with known pedophile and English TV personality Jimmy Savile. You all grew up with Savile, Wood said. Jesus, it must have been devastating. Clearly something major was going on in Hollywood. It was all organized. X-Men director Bryan Singer is among those publicly accused of sexual abuse of young boys in Hollywood.Was Weinstein one of the men Elijah Wood says is sexually preying upon young children in Hollywood? Is Weinstein one of the men Feldman says would pass young stars around?The questions must be asked when an apparent industry of pedophilia and sexual abuse has been in the open and yet kept secret for decades.Watch this disgusting interview with former child actor Corey Feldman regarding pedophilia in Hollywood: I can tell you the #1 problem in #Hollywood WAS and IS and ALWAYS will be pedophelia. @RedNationRising #MAGA pic.twitter.com\/ARb0W7QYnC DONNA WARREN (@DonnaWR8) October 9, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"9 News reports :  It is understood the American Journalist died of lung cancer surrounded by loved ones in London on Saturday.  Colleagues and fellow journalists across the world, including WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, have taken to social media to pay their respects.  In his illustrious career, MacFayden produced and directed more than 50 documentaries on a wide range of topics including neo-Nazis, child labour, the Iraq arms trade and Frank Sinatra's ties to the mafia.  MacFadyen seemed to be one that stood up for Whistleblowers and sought to breed a new generation of investigative journalists. His wife Susan Benn said , \"His loyalty to those under attack from powerful forces, particularly whistleblowers and journalistic groups like Wikileaks, will remain a beacon for years to come.\"  \"He was the model of what a journalist should be... He spearheaded the creation of a journalistic landscape which has irrevocably lifted the bar for ethical and hard-hitting reporting,\" she added. \"Gavin worked tirelessly to hold power to account.\"  \"His life and how he lived it were completely in sync with the principles that he held dear and practiced as a journalist and educator \u2013 to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,\" she concluded.  However, some have claimed that there may be a cover up involved in the death of MacFadyen due to a tweet that was shortly posted on Twitter and then removed.  We also know that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fears for his life after he has exposed the corruption in government via leaked documents. In fact, we know that many US politicians, including Hillary Clinton have called for his assassination . Hillary Clinton on Assange \"Can't we just drone this guy\" -- report https:\/\/t.co\/S7tPrl2QCZ pic.twitter.com\/qy2EQBa48y  \u2014 WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 3, 2016  In an opinion piece by Kristine Moore following MacFadyen's death, she writes , \"Having Julian Assange stand at his window in the Ecuadorian Embassy might not be such a good idea after all. If a sniper is able to take him out from nearly a mile away, I think we can all understand why Julian stays well away from his window these days. Assange clearly fears for his life and if he didn't, he would just saunter over to the window, pull the curtain, and wave to everybody. He knows people are concerned about him, but he is right not to put his life at risk just to reassure us with a physical appearance, however fleeting it may be.\"  \"Lest you think I am being paranoid by suggesting that there could be a sniper lying in wait for him, just remember that Hillary Clinton once quipped that he should be taken out by a drone ,\" she added. \"Even if you say that it was just 'a joke' and meant in jest only, what Secretary of State jokes about murdering somebody in front of other government officials? Many of us have no doubt whatsoever in our minds that if she or someone else were able to do this and get away with it, they would.\"  I can see why people might question MacFedyen's death, much like the death of Antonin Scalia was questioned , even though both men were advanced in years. It's also understandable why Julian Assange would want to keep out of sight as much as possible considering the criminal in the White House . shares","label":1}
{"text":"British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday the government would maintain its commitment to protecting Europe after Brexit as she accused Russia of military aggression and meddling in elections. The prime minister said Britain would continue to provide assistance to states that were victims of aggression. The UK will remain unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe s security, May said in a speech at the Guildhall in London s financial district. The comprehensive new economic partnership we seek will underpin our shared commitment to open economies and free societies in the face of those who seek to undermine them. The British government is playing one its strongest cards in the Brexit negotiations by offering to put its defense and security assets at the disposal of the EU in the hope of winning concessions on future trading and economic relations. The country has bigger defense budgets than any other EU member state and its diplomatic and intelligence services are among the most extensive in Europe. Its government also argues it is one of the leading EU contributors to a range of security measures, such as data and evidence sharing, extradition measures and to the EU s police agency Europol. May on Monday accused Russia of fomenting violence in eastern Ukraine, of repeatedly violating the national airspace of several European countries, and mounting a campaign of cyber attacks. She also accused Russia of meddling in elections and hacking the Danish defense ministry, the German parliament and its state-media of planting fake stories and photo-shopped images in an attempt to undermine western institutions. May said the government is working to reform NATO so it is better placed to counter Russian hostility and has stepped up military and economic support to Ukraine. We will take the necessary actions to counter Russian activity, she said. May also said she wanted better relations with Russia if it worked to promote peace. Russia can, and I hope one day will, choose this different path, she said. But for as long as Russia does not, we will act together to protect our interests and the international order on which they depend.","label":0}
{"text":"The Athens Metro came to a standstill on Thursday when workers in the Greek capital began a 24-hour strike to oppose the possible privatization of the rail operator. The strike disrupted the daily commute for thousands of Athenians and caused gridlock on streets leading to the city center. Metro workers are protesting the transfer of Attiko Metro operator and other state-owned enterprises to a sovereign wealth fund set up under the latest international bailout with the EU and the IMF. Proceeds from the fund, known as the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations, will help Greece cut its debt burden and fund investments. Privatizations have been a pillar of Greek bailouts since 2010 but have reaped poor revenues so far amid bureaucracy and opposition by politicians and unions. Greece is aiming for 5.5 billion euros from state asset sales by 2018, when its bailout expires. Big tickets this year include the sale of a 66 percent stake in the natural gas grid DESFA and a 67 percent stake in the port of Thessaloniki.","label":0}
{"text":"When President Obama came into office in 2009, his party held commanding majorities in both houses of Congress. By the time he left, they had hemorrhaged dozens of House and Senate seats, and nearly 1, 000 seats in State houses around the country. Obama may have beat Romney in 2012, but voters were sending a clear message about which party they wanted passing the laws. [Still, Obama had no intention of \"waiting for legislation\" when it came to his agenda. \"I've got a pen and I've got a phone,\" he declared. Ignoring the fact that gridlock between the executive and legislative branches is not a defect in America's government, but an essential component, Obama figured the elected representatives of the people would be no match for his executive orders. Certainly, the executive order is a legitimate constitutional tool at the president's disposal. Presidents frequently use them to direct federal departments, and to implement Congressional statutes. Few criticized Obama's mere use of executive orders, or even the number he issued. The problem was always their brazen unconstitutionality. Take for example Obama's executive order on immigration. Congress had been debating \"comprehensive immigration reform\" ad nauseam for decades, with attempts to pass major legislation failing in 2007, and again in 2013. Growing restless, Obama issued an executive order in 2014 that would have delayed deportations of 5 million illegal immigrants. states filed for injunction, arguing that the order violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The Supreme Court would deadlock effectively blocking Obama's executive amnesty. But the issue raised before the Court was telling. For perhaps the first time in American history, the Supreme Court reviewed whether a president had violated the Take Care Clause of the Constitution. Article II, section 3, reads in part that the president \"shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. \" The obscure clause serves as a bulwark against monarchical suspensions of law, while imposing on the President an affirmative duty of faithful execution of the law. Despite campaigning on reversing President Bush's policy of \"trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress,\" it appeared Obama was issuing orders in lieu of legislation. Curiously, now that Obama is no longer president, the left is once again interested in executive overreach. In his first few days in office, President Trump fired off a barrage of executive orders. But while Trump's orders are worthy of debate as matters of executive policy, they so far have not created new law. Yet, reactions have been apoplectic. When Trump issued a temporary freeze on travel from seven Middle East countries, protesters rushed to the airports to stop this \"Muslim ban. \" Where were these people when Obama was openly writing his own laws? Trump's order broadly restricts citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya from entering the U. S. for the next 90 days, and suspends all refugees for 120 days. It was the Obama administration that first identified these countries as areas of terrorist \"concern. \" In 2015, the administration required persons who had travelled to these countries in the previous 4 years to apply for a visa before entering the United States. Obama also blocked Iraqi refugees for six months in 2011, after discovering Al Qaeda terrorists living as refugees in Kentucky. Trump's restrictions are certainly broader than Obama's visa restrictions, and many criticized Trump's order as it applied to permanent U. S. residents holding green cards. But that is a question of policy, not constitutionality. For one, the order says nothing about banning Muslims, and it affects the same seven countries as Obama's visa restrictions. It does not affect other countries. If Trump's order singling out these seven countries amounts to religious discrimination, then so did Obama's visa restrictions. Others say the order religiously discriminates because it prioritizes refugees of a minority religion. But prioritizing classes of refugees isn't a novel policy. In 2015, the Obama administration declared its preference for refugees \"deemed to be the most vulnerable,\" including minorities, \"whether that's a racial minority or an ethnic minority or a religious minority, or even \u2026 an LGBT person. \" Moreover, the Immigration and Nationality Act expressly authorizes the president to suspend immigration in furtherance of public safety, or national security. Indeed, national security policy is indisputably within the president's constitutional authority. In the order, Trump cites national security for these temporary restrictions. As a matter of fact, Obama cited national security when he placed restrictions on visas for these same countries, and when he halted Iraqi refugees. So did President Carter in 1980, when he restricted visas to Iranians. So did several other presidents in the numerous other times immigration restrictions were placed on specific countries. Last Friday, U. S. District Judge James Robart issued a nationwide injunction against the ban. In his brief ruling, Judge Robart does not address any constitutional issues, and merely finds that the State of Washington met its minimum burden. Yet, on the same day, a federal judge in Boston reached the exact opposite conclusion, ruling against the ACLU's similar attempt to block the travel ban. Robart's nationwide injunction now goes to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. No matter the outcome, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which this does not reach the Supreme Court. Nationwide injunctions were issued several times against the Obama administration, including for his executive amnesty. But while the Constitution does not authorize the president to write new laws, or extend legal status to 5 million it certainly grants the president substantial authority where national security is concerned. Perhaps a few federal judges think they have a \"pen and a phone\" too?","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump upped the stakes on Friday in a back-and-forth exchange with President Vladimir Putin over nuclear weapons that tested the Republican's promises to improve relations with Russia. Offering a glimpse of how he might conduct diplomacy after taking office on Jan. 20, Trump reportedly welcomed a nuclear arms race with Russia and China and boasted that the United States would win it. MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski said Trump told her in an off-air phone call: \"Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.\" The television station did not play his comments on air. It was the second brusque comment about atomic weapons in two days from the New York businessman that alarmed nuclear non-proliferation experts worried about fueling global tension. The broadsides from Trump's resort in Florida appeared to be aimed mostly at Putin even though the two men have vowed to patch up relations between their countries once the Republican enters the White House. Trump tweeted unexpectedly on Thursday that, \"The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,\" but gave no further details. That comment appeared to be a response to Putin who said earlier on Thursday that Russia needed to \"strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces.\" Russia and the United States are at odds over Syria's civil war and Ukraine but Cold War-style nuclear tensions have greatly eased in recent years. Moscow and Washington signed the New START nuclear treaty in 2010 which reduced strategic weapons and delivery systems. Putin, accused by the Obama administration of overseeing a wave of cyber attacks against U.S. political organizations during the presidential campaign, said on Friday he had no interest in competing with the U.S. nuclear weapon program. \"If anyone is unleashing an arms race it's not us ... We will never spend resources on an arms race that we can't afford,\" he said at a news conference. The Russian president said he was surprised by State Department comments that the U.S. military is the most powerful in the world. \"Nobody is arguing with that,\" Putin said. He said he did not regard the United States as a potential aggressor and said he saw nothing new or remarkable about Trump's own statement about wanting to expand U.S. nuclear capabilities. The United States is in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its aging nuclear arsenal and replacement of its ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles. It is a price tag that most experts say the United States can ill afford. Russia, also bound by New START limits, is carrying out its own costly modernization program but is not expanding its warhead stockpile. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the president-elect's nuclear comments were meant to send a general message of strength to countries like Russia and China rather than indicate the United States planned to build up its nuclear capabilities. \"He is going to do what it takes to protect this country and if another country or countries want to threaten our safety and sovereignty, he is going to do what it takes,\" Spicer said onCNN. Trump was elected president unexpectedly last month partly on a platform of building up the U.S. military but he also pledged to cut taxes and control federal spending. His nuclear comments suggest that improving relations with Moscow might not be easy. Trump on Friday released what he said was \"a very nice letter\" from Putin dated Dec. 15 in which the Russian leader sought bilateral cooperation and a \"new level\" of relations. In an accompanying statement, Trump said he hoped both countries could \"live up to these thoughts\" rather than \"have to travel an alternative path.\" The Obama administration has accused Russia of trying to interfere with the U.S. election by hacking Democratic Party accounts. Information from those hacks was leaked online, causing political problems for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Putin dismissed suggestions Moscow had helped Trump to victory. \"The current administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are trying to blame all their failures on external factors,\" he said at his Friday news conference. \"(We are talking about) a party which has clearly forgotten the original meaning of its own name. They (the Democrats) are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame. In my view this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity.\" Trump expressed his agreement with Putin's view of the Democrats. \"So true!\" Trump tweeted Friday evening. Putin, who spoke positively of Trump before his election win, said that only Moscow had believed in his victory. \"Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him,\" Putin said, adding with a smile. \"Except for you and me.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The wreckage of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter missing off Svalbard, Norway, since October 26 has been located, Norway s rescue coordination center said on Sunday. The wreckage was found offshore at a depth of 209 meters, it said. Eight Russian men - five crew and three passengers - are assumed dead and the search for them will continue.","label":0}
{"text":"The impassioned election-year debate over President Obama's immigration executive actions lands Monday before a short-handed Supreme Court, where justices will consider a fundamental question: how much power does the president truly have? The justices plan to hold 90 minutes of oral arguments dealing with Obama's bid to spare millions of illegal immigrants from deportation. A coalition of states calls it an executive power grab. \"President Obama's executive action is an affront to our system of republican self-government,\" said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who supports those states. But the White House contends the president's authority is clear, and the policies humane and reasonable. Obama has promoted his program as a plan to \"prioritize deporting felons not families.\" It's a case that will be closely watched in an election season where Republican front-runner Donald Trump has made immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his campaign. The outcome also could have considerable bearing on Obama's legacy, potentially determining whether his lame-duck bid to go around Congress is upheld or ruled an overreach. At issue Monday is whether as many as 5 million illegal immigrants can be spared deportation -- including those who entered the U.S. as children, and the parents of citizens or legal residents. The programs -- known as Deferred Action for Parents of American Citizens and Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) -- effectively went around the Republican-led Congress. Opponents, including 26 states and GOP members of Congress, say the plan exceeds constitutional power. A federal appeals court earlier had struck down DAPA, which has yet to go fully into effect. The Justice Department then asked the high court for a final review, in what could be a key test of Obama's executive powers his last year in office. The decision to review the case was welcome on both sides of the aisle. \"The Constitution vests legislative authority in Congress, not the president,\" said Hatch, urging the justices to rule against the administration. But the White House voiced confidence the policies would be upheld. \"Like millions of families across this country -- immigrants who want to be held accountable, to work on the books, to pay taxes, and to contribute to our society openly and honestly -- we are pleased that the Supreme Court has decided to review the immigration case,\" spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said. The issue of illegal immigration has taken a center-stage role in the Republican primary battle, as Trump calls for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and candidates spar over who is toughest on the issue. The immigrants who would benefit from the Obama administration's plan are mainly parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. said in a court filing that allowing the past rulings to stand would force millions \"to continue to work off the books.\" Besides immigration, Obama has used his unilateral authority to act on such hot-button issues as gun control, health care and global warming. However, as with other high-profile Supreme Court appeals this term -- on ObamaCare, abortion rights and affirmative action -- the outcome here likely will be affected by death in February of Justice Antonin Scalia, which left a 4-4 bench split along conservative-liberal lines. A 4-4 ruling would effectively scuttle the issue until after Obama leaves office in nine months, and mean at least a temporary setback to his domestic policy legacy -- even if the justices punt, and choose to reargue the case when Scalia's replacement is sworn in. The justices also could rule narrowly on procedure, finding a compromise on a technical issue not directly related to the larger policy questions. On the legal side, the GOP-controlled House filed an amicus brief supporting the states, telling the high court, \"the Executive does not have the power to authorize -- let alone facilitate -- the prospective violation of the immigration laws on a massive class-wide scale.\" Supporters of the administration vow this issue will resonate in an election year. \"There are millions of families of U.S.-born citizens that live under the fear of separation and deportation,\" said Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, an Hispanic advocacy nonprofit. \"Our community is watching and will hold accountable those who have stood on the way of our families through the ballots in November.\" MFV and other immigrant rights advocates plan to march at the Supreme Court around Monday's arguments. The case is U.S. v. Texas (15-674). A ruling is expected by late June.","label":0}
{"text":"The shootings were not even over yet before the conservative newspaper New York Post blared a headline declaring civil war between black people and police on Friday. CIVIL WAR Four cops killed at anti-police protest, the headline read late Friday night as the New York Post unveiled their Friday morning cover as blood was being spilled in Dallas.Friday s cover: 4 cops killed in Dallas tragedy https:\/\/t.co\/NpUskqqtLt pic.twitter.com\/tlqx0P721y New York Post (@nypost) July 8, 2016As it turns out, five police officers were killed, but the protesters at the Black Lives Matter rally were peaceful and had nothing to do with the killing.Regardless of the facts, the New York Post clearly suggested that Black Lives Matter activists were responsible for the tragedy and escalated the rhetoric by declaring that police and black people are engaged in a civil war with each other even though that is not the case whatsoever.In the wake of the unjustifiable killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by white police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week, Black Lives Matter took to the streets to protest the murders and to demand that police officers are held accountable for their actions and that all officers learn to exercise restraint.The protests have been peaceful but one idiot chose to retaliate with senseless gun violence and killed five innocent police officers in Dallas who were on the job observing the rally to guarantee the safety of the protesters.And when the shooting started, police actually protected Black Lives Matter protesters, both black and white, and the protesters actually assisted the police by helping them identify where the shots were coming from. A black protester even suffered a gunshot wound to the leg when she threw herself on top of her kids to protest them. BLM worked with police prior to the rally and there was no animosity between the protesters and the Dallas police. Some officers even posed for pictures with protesters in solidarity. Demonstration in #Dallas @ Belo Garden Park pic.twitter.com\/IUx5IaERSB Dallas Police Depart (@DallasPD) July 8, 2016But Micah Xavier Johnson, who was unaffiliated with BLM and was upset with the movement, turned the peaceful demonstration into a tragedy that the New York Post is now exploiting to to increase tensions further between the black community and police. And Twitter users blasted them for it.@nypost delete your paper J rgen Camrath (@uniwave) July 8, 2016 @nypost Shame on you miserable fucks. pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) July 8, 2016That night none of us could sleep because the world was burning and the @nypost decided to pour gasoline on the flames. Melissa Hawks (@MelissaBHawks) July 8, 2016 @nypost This is one of the most irresponsible headlines I have ever seen a news organization put out. This is fucking shameful. Charlie (@notcharchar) July 8, 2016@nypost That seems like race baiting. No evidence protesters had anything to do with attacks on police Mama s Got A Gun (@MamasGotAGun) July 8, 2016 @bdd4 @nypost Sad state of affairs when a newspaper tries to rouse hatred between Americans #UnitedWeStand Mama s Got A Gun (@MamasGotAGun) July 8, 2016.@nypost It was NOT an anti-police rally rather a way of bringing #Dallas together blacks\/whites\/police against senseless killings. Sheindie (@Sheindie) July 8, 2016 @nypost pretty irresponsible headline. Christopher Ridley (@SFviaNJ) July 8, 2016@nypost this is irresponsible as hell and you should all be ashamed of yourselves t.ink (@00Hex) July 8, 2016 @nypost Doesn t get worse than this headline it s un-American. Meredith D. (@YankeeBeatCheck) July 8, 2016The New York Post should be ashamed of themselves for publishing this cover. It only seeks to divide and sow the seeds of hatred and racism. Black Lives Matter did not kill these five officers. A lone individual with a gun did. This cover does nothing more than incite further violence and hate, which is probably making the NRA and their Republican puppets very happy right now.","label":1}
{"text":"Nepal has scrapped a $2.5 billion deal with China Gezhouba Group Corporation to build the country s biggest hydropower plant, citing lapses in the award process, the energy minister said. The cabinet has canceled the irregular ... agreement with Gezhouba Group to build the Budhi Gandaki hydroelectric project, Energy Minister Kamal Thapa, who is also the country s deputy prime minister, said on Monday in a twitter post in Nepali after a cabinet meeting. He did not give further details. Nepal s rivers, cascading from the snow-capped Himalayas, have vast, untapped potential for hydropower generation, but a lack of funds and technology has made Nepal lean on neighbor India to meet annual demand of 1,400 megawatts (MW). In June, a Maoist-dominated coalition government awarded a contract to China Gezhouba Group Corporation to build a 1,200 MW plant on the Budhi Gandaki river, about 50 km (32 miles) west of Kathmandu, to address acute power shortages. Critics say the $2.5 billion project was handed to the Chinese company without any competitive bidding, which is required by law, and a parliamentary panel asked the government that succeeded the Maoist-led coalition to scrap the deal. Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was unaware of the reports but said China maintained very good relations with Nepal and enjoyed cooperation in many areas and projects. Gezhouba did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment and did not answer telephone calls. China and India jostle for influence with aid and investment in infrastructure projects in Nepal. Kathmandu has cleared a 750 MW project to be built on the West Seti River in the western part of the country by China s state-owned Three Gorges International Corp. It has also permitted two Indian companies - GMR Group and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited - to build one hydropower plant each, both capable of generating 900 MW of power each, mainly to be exported to India.","label":0}
{"text":"HAZLETON, Pa. \u2014 Thousands of Dominicans have poured into this little city in eastern Pennsylvania since 2001 to work in the food plants and warehouses on the edge of town, where the highway to New York meets the highway to Philadelphia. Hazleton's population is growing for the first time in more than half a century. Landlords, doctors and shopkeepers are learning to love their new customers. But the city's economic evolution has left behind its previous, working class, and the presidential election has crystallized its frustrations. Many of those losing ground economically, including lifelong Democrats, say they plan to vote for Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee. Many of those who are prospering, including lifelong Republicans, say they will vote for the Democrat, Hillary Clinton. For both sides, how to deal with immigration has become a defining political issue, one that is likely to transcend the contretemps over Mr. Trump's treatment of women that has cost him so much support among elected Republicans. This city was built by European immigrants who flocked here a century ago to work in the coal mines. Their children found better jobs in the factories. Now their grandchildren are struggling against economic decline and cultural displacement. \"I don't care for this town no more because of the Hispanics,\" said Lewis Beishline, 70, as he sat drinking at 11 a. m. on a Friday at Cusat's Cafe, a bar owned by the mayor of Hazleton, who lives upstairs. Mr. Beishline, a retired welder, said he moved from Hazleton to a nearby town last year because he no longer felt safe. He plans to vote for Mr. Trump, he said, \"because of the immigration. \" The Hispanic community, meanwhile, is eager to establish its own political power in the face of what many describe as persistent and painful discrimination. Community leaders in this city of 25, 000 say they have registered more than 800 Hispanic voters in recent months, expanding the voting rolls by almost 10 percent. \"I tell my kids, if someone asks where you are from, you say 'Hazleton,'\" said Guillermo Lara, 49, who moved here from Mexico in the early 1990s and whose two daughters were born here. \"We're here, and we don't go nowhere. We want more. \" That sharp divide is mirrored by the candidates seeking the Oval Office. Beyond his promised wall and deportations, Mr. Trump has denigrated immigrants repeatedly, at times without distinguishing between legal and illegal immigration. \"Donald Trump's position on illegal immigration plays a big role in his support not only in Hazleton but in northeast Pennsylvania,\" said Lou Barletta, a Republican who represents the region in Congress and has stood by his nominee as other Republicans in Congress have fled. In 2006, as Hazleton's mayor, Mr. Barletta championed a ordinance penalizing employers and landlords for dealing with illegal immigrants. The courts blocked it from taking effect, but Mr. Barletta said Mr. Trump's popularity reflected the continued demand for stronger government action. \"He's going to win here, and win big,\" Mr. Barletta said. Mr. Barletta introduced Mr. Trump at a rally in nearby on Monday night, declaring that voters in northeastern Pennsylvania would propel Mr. Trump to the White House. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, has celebrated immigrants, both legal and illegal, as important contributors to American society. Her campaign describes her plan to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as one of her most important ideas for increasing economic growth. \"Comprehensive immigration reform will grow our economy and keep families together \u2014 and it's the right thing to do,\" Mrs. Clinton said in accepting the party's presidential nomination in Philadelphia, about 100 miles southeast of Hazleton. The Hispanic population grew faster in Luzerne County, which includes Hazleton, than almost any other county between 2000 and 2011, according to the Pew Research Center. While immigration has slowed since the 2008 recession, Hispanics continue to move here from larger cities like New York and Paterson, N. J. In the 2000 census, just 4. 9 percent of Hazleton's population identified as Hispanic. A decade later, that figure was 37 percent. By 2014, the most recent data available, 46 percent of the population said it was Hispanic. In all likelihood, Hazleton is now a city, just like the nearby cities of Reading and Allentown. The Hispanic ascendence emerged from seismic economic shifts, said Jamie Longazel, a professor of sociology at the University of Dayton who grew up just outside Hazleton and wrote a book, \"Undocumented Fears,\" about the city's struggles with immigration. When the local coal mines began to close in the 1950s, Hazleton residents raised money to build an industrial park that attracted factories to the region. When the factories began to leave in the 1990s, the city mobilized again. Local officials won state permission to create one of Pennsylvania's largest Keystone Opportunity Zones. A Cargill meat processing and distribution plant arrived in 2001. Other distribution businesses have followed, including an Amazon. com warehouse. Many residents claim that city officials advertised for immigrant labor on billboards in New York or New Jersey, but Mr. Longazel said there was no evidence that ever happened. The truth is that the immigration was unanticipated but most likely inevitable. \"The new jobs don't pay as much as the old jobs did, and the reality is that folks were just not interested,\" Mr. Longazel said. The city also was also aging. Almost a quarter of the population was over 65 in 2000, roughly twice the national average. And nature abhors a vacuum \u2014 especially in a work force. Many of the new arrivals trace their roots to one Dominican city, San Jos\u00e9 de Ocoa. Hazleton's old shopping streets, nearly abandoned in the 1990s, are now lined with Dominican bakeries, barbershops, travel agencies and Mexican restaurants. The Italian restaurants are now run by Mexican families. The city has two Spanish radio stations and a television station that broadcasts six hours of local programming a day. Stephen M. Schleicher, a dermatologist, said Hispanic residents now made up a third of his patients. He has hired a bilingual receptionist and is looking for a bilingual nurse. He has started placing ads in the local newspaper. Dr. Schleicher, a lifelong Republican, said that Mr. Trump's views on immigration had persuaded him, albeit reluctantly, to vote for Mrs. Clinton. \"We're seeing a total revitalization despite the government trying to keep the immigrants out,\" he said. \"It would have been a ghost town of older white people. \" Yet it is easy to overstate Hazleton's recovery. Many of the new jobs pay poorly. Almost 29 percent of the population lived in poverty in 2014, almost twice the national average. And Hazleton's evolution has inspired deep resentment. Many residents complain bitterly about the new arrivals not speaking English, about loud music late at night, about people walking in the street and driving without regard for traffic rules. Wana Bostic, 45, scrapes by on $11. 50 an hour as a home health aide. She said that she was not paid nearly enough, but that employers can squeeze workers because of the ready availability of immigrant labor. \"No one talks about white Americans and what we really need,\" she said. Crime has increased, as has drug use. The police force, meanwhile, has shrunk with declining tax revenue. Many residents are convinced that illegal immigration is to blame. \"If you come into the country breaking the law, that's not a good way to get your foot in the door,\" said Nick Zapotocky, 31, who now has three deadbolt locks on the door of his home. \"That says you're willing to break the law again. \" He voted for President Obama in 2008. In 2012, he did not vote. And this year, he said he will vote for Mr. Trump. Francisco said people were blinded by their fear of change, unable to see the benefits that immigration is bringing to Hazleton. Mr. whose father was Mexican, runs a company that makes caps for old wells. He employs 30 people in the summer, only a few of them Hispanic. And he noted that some of the largest employers in the area are now Mexican companies, including Bimbo Bakeries, which has a plant nearby that makes millions of Thomas' English Muffins. Mr. said he had always voted Republican, loyal to his pocketbook. But he plans to vote for Mrs. Clinton, he said. \"They fear they're losing what they remember,\" he said. \"But what can you do? The United States is in evolution. Apple pie came after the Germans arrived. Maybe it will now be 'As American as salsa.' So what?\" Hazleton still has no Hispanic elected officials. The city just added its first Hispanic police officer. The public school system, which has very few Hispanic teachers, was ordered by the federal Department of Education in 2014 to improve efforts to teach English to immigrants, and to communicate with parents. But a second generation of Hispanic Americans in Hazleton may force change. Mr. Lara worked three jobs to pay private school tuition so his daughters could avoid Hazleton's high school. After days in a factory, he washed dishes at night and cleaned offices on weekends. Two years ago, his eldest daughter, Amanda, graduated from Ithaca College in upstate New York with a degree in psychology and came home. She teaches classes for Hispanic children in the building that was once her elementary school. It has become a community center thanks in large part to Joe Maddon, a Hazleton native who manages the Chicago Cubs. Ms. Lara, who is studying for a master's degree at the University of Scranton, said racial tensions had increased. At the city's annual Funfest, she noticed an empty space between the Hispanic vendors and the Polish and Italian vendors. \"And I hear it from my kids,\" she said of her students. \"They're not dumb. They can tell when they're not liked or they're not welcome. \" But she said she was not sure she wanted to move away. \"People say, 'Why would you want to stay there? '\" she said. \"Well, for one thing, this is my hometown. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The White House on Sunday did not rule out that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may recuse himself from Justice Department investigations into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a deputy White House press secretary, said congressional investigations into possible Russian hacking of Democratic groups would have to run their course before Sessions needed to decide whether to step aside from the FBI probes. Sessions was a top adviser to President Donald Trump, a Republican, during the 2016 presidential campaign. \"I wasn't saying that he shouldn't recuse himself or that he should,\" Sanders told ABC's \"This Week.\" \"My point is I don't think we're there yet. Let's work through this process.\" U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia tried to help Trump win the White House by discrediting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her party through cyber attacks. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, expelled Russian diplomats in retaliation in December. Moscow has denied the accusations. The FBI is investigating alleged Russian election-related hacking and financial transactions by Russian people and companies believed to have links to associates of Trump, according to current and former government officials. Trump has dismissed the controversy about ties between his aides and Russia as a \"ruse\" perpetrated by a hostile news media. \"Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks,\" Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. Trump fired his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, three weeks into the new administration after disclosures surfaced that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Democrats have been pushing for an independent investigation into whether there were links between the Trump campaign team and Russian officials. \"The attorney general must recuse himself,\" House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on ABC. Republican lawmakers echoed the White House, saying the investigations must take their course. Senator Tom Cotton said it was premature to talk about a special prosecutor. \"If we get down that road, that's a decision that Attorney General Sessions can make at the time,\" he told NBC's \"Meet the Press.\"","label":0}
{"text":"McALLEN, Texas \u2014 A story wildly circulated by Mexican news outlets about a woman having her visa taken away because she had memes making fun of U. S. President Donald J. Trump has been deemed false by U. S. authorities. [The story began when Mexican media celebrity Denise Maerker reported on her show Atando Cabos that a woman in one of the Tijuana border crossings had her visa taken away by an immigration official because she had various memes making fun of Trump. Maerker took to Twitter to comment on the story and credited a journalist by the name Rocio Galvan. Various news outlets like Radio Formula, El 5inco, El Ma\u00f1ana, and others went off Maerker's tweet to further disseminate the story. The uncertainty caused by the alleged arbitrary measure spread on social media as various individuals began to ask about the case. \"There were no such events that occurred within any ports within the San Diego Field Office,\" U. S. Customs and Border Protection responded to an inquiry by Breitbart Texas into the stories circulated by Mexican media. Breitbart Texas also requested similar information from ports of entry in Texas, and Arizona and received similar answers. By Friday afternoon, Maerker sent a retraction of sorts in a second tweet and had Galvan back on her show, where they clarified that the woman who had her visa taken away was never told that it was over the Trump memes. According to CBP, officers have the authority to cancel visas if the individual is found to be inadmissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The act lists the grounds for denial of entry into the country including health related reasons, criminality, security, immigration violations and others the act does not list memes or jokes as a reason for canceling denial. The agency further stated that when arriving at a U. S. Port of Entry CBP officers can inspect electronic devices such as computers, cell phones cameras and other items. Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. Brandon Darby is managing director and of Breitbart Texas. He the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.","label":0}
{"text":"Tensions among Republicans about President Donald Trump boiled over on Tuesday as two senators accused Trump of debasing U.S. politics and the country's standing abroad, a rebellion that could portend trouble for his legislative agenda. The extraordinary public criticism of the president from Jeff Flake and Bob Corker further strained what had already been a fraught relationship between Trump and fellow Republicans as they try to enact tax reform and other policy items. In an emotional speech on the Senate floor, Flake repeatedly targeted Trump's style of governing, saying American politics had become \"inured\" to \"reckless, outrageous and undignified\" behavior from the White House. \"The instinct to scapegoat and belittle threatens to turn us into a fearful, backward-looking people,\" said the Arizona lawmaker, who announced he would not run for re-election next year. \"I will not be complicit or silent,\" Flake said. Trump, via Twitter, has been unrelenting in his criticism of Corker and Flake, accusing them of supporting Democratic priorities, and using sometimes slashing language, such as his dismissal of Corker as \"liddle Bob Corker.\" By announcing he will be leaving when his term ends in early 2019, Flake effectively freed himself up to speak his mind, without having one eye on voter reactions in his home state. A Morning Consult survey conducted Sept. 24 to Oct. 24 said Flake had an approval rating in Arizona of 30 percent. Corker, who has also said he is not running for re-election in Tennessee, accused Trump of telling falsehoods that could be easily proven wrong and willfully damaging the country's standing in the world, eviscerating the president with comments that stirred deepening divisions in the Republican Party. \"You would think he would aspire to be the president of the United States and act like a president of the United States, but that's not going to be the case apparently,\" Corker told reporters. \"I've seen no evolution in an upward way. In fact, I would say, he's almost devolved.\" White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders dismissed the comments from Flake and Corker and said Trump wanted senators who could make progress on his policy goals. \"He wants people to be in the Senate that are committed to actually moving the ball down the field, and I don't think these two individuals necessarily have been as focused on that,\" she told reporters. Republican congressional leaders who have learned to tread carefully amid controversies surrounding Trump, largely stayed on the sidelines of the latest fight. \"We're going to concentrate on what our agenda is and not any of these other distractions that you all may be interested in,\" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan played down Corker's criticism of Trump, urging reporters to \"put this Twitter dispute aside.\" Great American Pac, a pro-Trump political group, declared victory over Flake and sent out a fund-raising appeal. \"Senator Flake wisely decided to give up on his own terms rather than fight a losing battle for re-election and have the voters retire him at the ballot box next year,\" said the group's top strategist, Ed Rollins. The president is seeking to build consensus around proposed tax cuts. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but hold just a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Securing passage of his tax-cut plan is critically important to Trump, who has yet to get major legislation through Congress since taking office in January. Trump visited the Capitol on Tuesday for a policy lunch that was described by participants as productive. Over the summer, Trump pilloried Senate Republicans - as a group and some by name - after they failed to generate sufficient votes to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, one of his top presidential campaign promises. The dollar lost ground on news that Flake would not seek re-election because it added to investor worries about the fate of the tax plan, which has widely been seen as a potential boost to American companies. It recovered after a Bloomberg report that Trump asked senators at a closed-door lunch whom they would support to become the next Federal Reserve chairman. Bloomberg quoted one senator as saying that John Taylor, viewed in the markets as an inflation hawk, got the most votes. Trump has also provoked the ire of another respected senior Republican, Senator John McCain, whose war record he mocked during last year's campaign. Last week, former Republican President George W. Bush, who has kept a low profile since leaving office in January 2009, took a thinly veiled swipe at Trump in a speech in which he decried \"bullying and prejudice\" and denounced anti-immigrant sentiment.","label":0}
{"text":"After my first Airbnb guests checked out of our garage apartment last February, I eagerly called up their online review. I had no reason to suspect anything but flattering comments from the two young women from Oregon, one of whom had originally planned on coming with her husband to celebrate their fourth anniversary until he had to drop out at the last minute. She brought a friend instead, but disappointment, I discovered, came along in her suitcase. When they arrived for the stay in my home southwest of Austin, I met them cheerily with a basket of muffins and walked them through the apartment, which my husband and I used to rent out until we decided to jump on the Airbnb gravy train. If all went well, we figured we could make the $650 we used to get per month in six nights. As a travel writer, I've reviewed scores of hotels and was quite sure I knew what I was doing. We bought a sumptuous pillowtop mattress, luscious sheets and towels and an array of pillow styles. I left coffee, tea and real (no powdered creamer for my guests!) as well as bubble bath for the tub. As I arranged the vintage patio furniture on the balcony and looked out over our 15 acres of rolling Texas Hill Country terrain, I thought, Who wouldn't love this? Well, as they say, pride goes before a fall. \"Very little supplies in the kitchen,\" was just one of the gripes the Oregon women left in their review. They gave me three out of five stars \u2014 a rating handed out in fewer than six percent of stays, according to a subsequent note from Airbnb. Thanks to my faceplant out of the gate, I was told my search placement would be impacted. For months to come, my cumulative star rating remained less than nearby hosts. I was devastated, especially since I had sung the guests' praises in my review of them (reviews are published simultaneously so I didn't see theirs in advance). I felt the same pangs of rejection and inadequacy that go with unrequited high school friendships. And so I discovered how little I knew about hospitality in the brave new sharing economy. Airbnb offers pages of advice on how to meet its hosting standards in areas such as communication (\"respond to reservation requests within 24 hours,\" for instance) and pricing (\"a very high price may lead travelers to assume your listing is extra luxurious \u2014 they shouldn't be expecting a castle when they arrive at a cottage\"). The site also lets you know what will happen if you consistently fail to measure up. \"Travelers \u2026 tell us that getting rejected can be discouraging, so if you decline an excess number of reservation requests, your listing may be temporarily deactivated. \" (The company, which says it has removed hosts for apparent discrimination, is attempting to get even more stringent with this type of penalty in order to address recent reports of some hosts not accepting requests from minorities.) But in all those pages of practical information, here's what Airbnb doesn't tell you. Honest reviews of both hosts and guests are what keep the whole Airbnb system in check. Without them, people could go on benders with no consequences. Or hosts could get away with horrors like leaving hair doilies in the shower drain. But even if you're used to people throwing darts at you in your professional life, it's something else to have strangers judging your home and your way of living. And doing it publicly. I'd told the Oregon women they were my first guests and to let me know how I could improve, but they never mentioned any problems and seemed happy enough. Being called out online is like asking someone if you have food in your teeth and having that person proceed to announce that yes, in fact you do, over a loud speaker. That first review started well enough \u2014 beautiful setting and d\u00e9cor kind, gracious host. Then came \"although\" and the first salvo: \"There was no drinking water,\" as if I was a stingy guarding my oasis spring, when I regularly had our well water tested and it was just fine. (The true outrage, I wanted to tell them, is when $ hotels charge $10 for a bottle of water.) The women also complained that the jets didn't work on my whirlpool tub, even though I had told them that's why I hadn't advertised the feature on my listing. The personal sting of such is compounded by the potential financial one, since negative comments affect future bookings. I had been told by experienced Airbnb hosts to price my property low initially to get reservations, which would lead to reviews that would attract other guests. Then I could raise my rates. But they didn't say what would happen if you got a big raspberry. Luckily, I already had more bookings lined up. Even the things you can't control. My worst sin in that first review turned out to be location, location, location. They claimed I was at least an hour from downtown (not 30 minutes as I said truthfully in my listing). Their low rating on my accuracy was, in the Airbnb webosphere, the equivalent of yelling, \"Liar, liar. \" My listing included a map that showed exactly where I was in relation to Austin. When they arrived, the Oregon women told me their GPS took them the wrong way, and they did make the trip during rush hour hence the drive time. No matter. Their travel issues became my issue. I wanted to respond to their review with an apology for not clearing the highways out of Austin for them, but I had the sense to know snark would not win me future bookings. Instead I immediately put a disclaimer on my listing that \"your driving time may vary because of traffic. \" \"Duh\" implied. Once you've gotten a review, you start looking at every possible defect as a potential online skewer. One day, when the wind blew one of the sheets off the clothesline and onto the ground (I had some romantic notion that people would appreciate the smell of bedding) I imagined the review I'd get if our next guests suffered a spider bite in bed. Another time I noticed the bathroom sink was leaking in my head I saw, \"Could not sleep because of the drip, drip, drip. \" The emergency plumber bill was about half as much as my imminently arriving guests were paying for the whole stay. At that moment, the $650 a month from tenants seemed like a bargain. When I bemoaned my bad review to a friend, she mentioned that she always gives wine to her guests. Aha, I thought. That's what I was missing. So in addition to a basket of muffins, I began leaving a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc. \"How much are you spending on each guest?\" my husband asked when he saw me carting the swag to the apartment. To be honest, I didn't really care. My pride was at stake and anyway, it seems to have worked. All my reviews were glowing after the addition of alcohol. You may start your Airbnb career imagining you'll be a magnanimous, kind of host. But at some point you'll have guests who'll make you want to hide under your bed until they've gone out for the day. We had a perfectly nice couple who could not master the thermostat and would call or text every time the temperature was not to their liking. They'd also frequently update us on their struggles with the icemaker, the washer's spin cycle, the ceiling fan switch. On one occasion, when I ran into the couple in the driveway, they informed me that they'd found an insect they suspected was a \"kissing bug\" (which they claimed was poisonous though I'd never heard of it in my 20 years in the Texas Hill Country). They were thinking of sending it off for testing, and oh, by the way, the wife had some weird bite on her arm. I think my eyes spontaneously crossed. Later, after they'd checked out and given me five stars (wine for me after that one) I got a text from them saying that the agricultural extension agency confirmed the insect was indeed a kissing bug. It was with great joy that I deleted it and thanked the patron saint of innkeepers, St. Martin of Tours \u2014 who according to some sources also serves that role for alcoholics, appropriately enough \u2014 that they hadn't included that little tidbit in their review. Even at a Motel 6. I'm no longer hosting for Airbnb \u2014 not because I got my Egyptian cotton sheets in a wad, but because we sold our house five months into my gig. We made a bit of money from our stint as guesthouse hosts \u2014 maybe not as much as my husband hoped with the wine and all. Plus, because of that first blot on my record, I never felt I could raise my rates. However, I gained something else in the process: a new empathy for those I've scrutinized in my other life as a hotel reviewer. Cleaning toilets in between guests will do that for you. These days I avoid using a hotel towel to wipe off my eye makeup because I know firsthand that mascara is nearly impossible to get out. I lose the tone when I call the front desk over a temperamental connection. I was just a hobbyist, but I'll think twice about with Airbnb in our new home though we have the space. The hospitality business is one long, grinning, tap dance, more easily disparaged than done.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared poised to strike down a North Carolina law barring convicted sex offenders from Facebook and other social media services, with justices noting the expansive role such online tools play in today's society. Lester Packingham, a registered sex offender due to a statutory rape conviction, challenged the North Carolina law as a violation of his free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The court heard an hour of oral arguments in Packingham's appeal of his conviction for violating the statute in 2010 when he posted a message on Facebook expressing his surprise at a traffic citation being dismissed. Justice Elena Kagan mentioned Donald Trump's Twitter feed, which he used as a candidate and now as U.S. president, as an example of how social media has become vital in the political sphere. \"The president is speaking to the people through this medium,\" Kagan said. The case, which tested the social media smarts of the notoriously tech-averse justices, is the latest of several in recent years that have explored constitutional rights in the digital age. The North Carolina law, enacted in 2008, makes it a felony for people on the state's sex offender registry to use online services that can lead to social interactions with minors. Leading social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are covered by the law. Opponents of it have raised concerns that the law could be interpreted as covering other online activity in which users must create profiles and can interact with other users. That even could include certain news websites. Packingham was on North Carolina's sex offender list because of his 2002 conviction at age 21 on two counts of statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. Kagan, the youngest of the justices at 56, appeared to speak for the social media generation as she repeatedly mentioned how central to life online interactions have become in recent years. Her questions indicated concerns that the law was written so broadly that it goes beyond the intended purpose of preventing contact between sex offenders and children. \"So whether it's political community, whether it's religious community, I mean, these sites have become embedded in our culture as ways to communicate and ways to exercise our constitutional rights, haven't they?\" Kagan asked at one point. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the 83-year-old liberal and the oldest member of the court, appeared to share Kagan's view. \"The point is that these people are being cut off from a very large part of the marketplace of ideas. And the First Amendment includes not only the right to speak, but the right to receive information,\" Ginsburg said. Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative who is 10 years older than Kagan, was more skeptical of people's reliance on social media, saying they can get information from other sources as they did a decade ago. But Alito conceded: \"Now, I know there are people who think that life is not possible without Twitter and Facebook and these things, and that 2003 was the Dark Ages.\" The law does not require proof that the user intended to use a particular service for an illegal purpose. It also exempted chatrooms and photo-sharing sites, which Kagan seemed to find perplexing because that would be where what she called \"the most dangerous activity\" would take place. Packingham was convicted of violating the law after local police saw the Facebook post he wrote upon avoiding the traffic citation. \"Praise be to GOD. WOW! Thanks JESUS,\" he wrote. Some of the justices over the years have shown a lack of familiarity with cutting-edge technology even as they set legal rules on such issues as police surveillance and intellectual property protections worth billions of dollars. Last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor referred to popular video-sharing website YouTube as \"the You Tube,\" prompting some amused reactions on Twitter.","label":0}
{"text":"BIRDSVILLE, Australia \u2014 Birdsville sits perched on the edge of the vast Simpson Desert, hundreds of miles from the nearest city, on the far reaches of the Australian outback. It is an unforgiving place, choked by swirling sandstorms and baked by summer temperatures that can reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Home to just 100 people, it has one primary school with six students, one tiny hospital and one police station, which are staffed by one nurse and one policeman. But every year, thousands of people descend on the town for the Big Red Bash, which its organizers claim is the remotest music festival on earth. \"This is the ultimate Australian country gig,\" said Jimmy Barnes, one of Australia's rock musicians, as he lounged backstage at the festival in July. The Big Red Bash, named for the towering sand dune on which it is usually held, just outside Birdsville, is what Mr. Barnes called \"a celebration of the bush. \" The event was first held in 2013 with an audience of just 600 this year's festival had 7, 000 attendees. The influx of visitors is critical for the survival of the community that has built its recent fortunes on tourism. The town also hosts the annual Birdsville Races, a renowned horse racing event that was first held in 1882 and now attracts thousands of people each year. \"Once upon a time, Birdsville depended on local ringers, stockman, drovers,\" said Don Rowlands, an Aboriginal elder of the local Wangkangurru and Yarluyandi nations and a ranger of the nearby National Park, referring to the workers on the cattle ranches that surround the town. Now, he said, \"it would not survive without tourism \u2014 not a chance in hell. \" For many, the attraction of the Big Red Bash is its remoteness. Fresh vegetables are delivered twice a week by truck (\"road mail,\" as locals call it) some residents fly their own small planes (the airfield, conveniently, is a walk from the pub) and if the lights go out, electricians must be booked from the closest city, Mount Isa, which is a drive away. \"You don't go through Birdsville, you come to Birdsville, and that makes the difference,\" Nell Brook said. She and her husband, David, whose family settled in Birdsville in 1885, farm on an enormous scale. They own 40, 000 cattle on five properties that span 32, 000 square kilometers. \"It's an effort to get here,\" said Ross McGregor, 51, a laundry worker who drove for two days from his home in Townsville for the Big Red Bash. \"It's a challenge. \" Sporting a bushy beard, a black pirate hat and Mr. McGregor, like many attendees, is a \"gray nomad,\" a movement of retirees and older citizens who traverse the country in trailers. The prevalence of vehicles, in particular, has opened up tourism in the outback. And Birdsville, Mr. McGregor said, has become a destination in itself, a \"beacon in the desert. \" Established in the 1880s to collect tolls for cattle drovers moving across the borders of Australia, Birdsville was once a thriving frontier town. When the tolls were abolished with the federation of six colonies that united under the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, the town, which sits on the Diamantina River, fell into decline. Those who stayed worked on cattle ranches. While the coastal areas of Australia developed, Birdsville's remote inland location ensured its isolation. \"You can't just go down to the shop and buy things,\" Mrs. Brook said. \"You always have to plan what you need for the next two months. \" She said that in the 1970s, the telegraph was the only way to connect with the outside world. A flight brought fruit, vegetables, mail and a movie that residents would gather together at the Brook home to watch. The town's first telephone line was installed in 1986, and the first cell tower in 2011. Birdsville is expected to get broadband internet access next year. To travel to Birdsville, visitors had to fly or take the dangerous, dusty Birdsville Track, a dirt road from Marree, in South Australia, which crosses three deserts. Mailmen willing to risk the hazardous, weekslong journey on the Birdsville Track became heroes. Tom Kruse, who delivered letters to outback properties from the 1930s to the 1950s in his Leyland Badger truck, was immortalized in the 1954 documentary \"The Back of Beyond. \" In the 1960s, the perils of crossing the desert made national headlines when five members of the Page family \u2014 Ernest Page his wife, Emma and their three children \u2014 ran out of gas and water and died from dehydration after abandoning their car. Their partly decomposed bodies were found near Deadman's Sandhill under a coolibah tree on New Year's Day in 1964. Their brutal deaths, combined with Mr. Kruse's expeditions, helped cement the town in national legend. \"It's become a bucket list for people,\" said Greg Donovan, founder of the Big Red Bash and its sister event, the Big Red Run, a ultramarathon through the Simpson Desert. Tourism has become a mainstay. Visitors flock to the Birdsville Hotel, which has quenched thirsty travelers since 1884, and the Birdsville Bakery, celebrated for its curried camel pies, with meat from feral camels that roam the desert. \"I could have built a bakery in Marree to the south, Bedourie to the north, Quilpie to the east,\" said Robert \"Dusty\" John Miller, the owner of the bakery. \"I would have failed in the first year because they don't have the iconic status this town's got. \" Even so, tourism, along with cattle rearing, has taken its toll on the desert. As a boy, Mr. Rowlands, the park ranger, hunted for \"bush tucker\" after school, catching wild goanna, the native monitor lizards, and snakes to cook over a pit of hot ash like his Aboriginal ancestors. \"Now, you can go down with a magnifying glass and find nothing,\" said Mr. Rowlands, 58. \"And here we have Birdsville full of people, but nobody really knows what has happened to the land. \" The town's infrastructure can also buckle under the pressure. During last year's Big Red Bash, the Birdsville Hotel ran out of food. This year, the Birdsville Bakery ran out of bread, and the town's power grid failed. \"We're building our own little minicity with facilities, sanitations, rubbish,\" said Mr. Donovan, noting that almost everything needed to be transported for hundreds of miles on dirt roads. \"If you have a bit of rain, those roads get closed. There are no shortcuts. \" Mr. Donovan, who is from Sydney, applauded the \"she' \" optimism of the residents. \"In the bush, you have your good years and your bad years, and people roll with that. \" Yet, with meager employment opportunities, few young people stay. Tourism is limited to the winter months, when temperatures are more temperate. In summer, \"it's back to the old days,\" said Lucas Trihey, who organizes events at the Big Red Bash. \"There's no one around. You can't go outside and eat a sandwich. It will end up full of sand. There's a real frontier feel. \" Recreation in the summer shrinks to barbecues, swimming in the billabong, and drinking stubbies, or bottles of beer, on Big Red under the stars. But, Mr. Miller said, the lack of diversions has helped foster real community spirit in the town. \"We need one another,\" he said as he as he got up to dispense another curried camel pie to a hungry customer.","label":0}
{"text":"Preet Bharara, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan known for pursuing a series of cases targeting public corruption and crime on Wall Street, said on Wednesday he has agreed to remain in his post after Donald Trump becomes U.S. president. Bharara, appointed to his position by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009, told reporters following a meeting with the Republican president-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan that Trump asked him to stay on during his administration and he accepted. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. \"We had a good meeting,\" Bharara said. \"I said I would absolutely consider staying on. I agreed to stay on.\" The announcement's timing, when Trump has not yet finished filling all Cabinet-level positions, was unusual. But some former prosecutors who served under Bharara said they were not surprised their former boss would be willing to remain as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. \"I think Preet is an independent, law enforcement-minded prosecutor who loves his job and is clearly talented in it,\" said Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former chief of Bharara's public corruption unit who is now a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the incoming Senate Democratic leader who Bharara previously worked for as chief counsel, said Trump called him last week to ask what he thought about Bharara staying in his job. \"I am glad they met and am glad Preet is staying on,\" Schumer said in a statement. \"He's been one of the best U.S. Attorneys New York has ever seen.\" Bharara's office has pursued an aggressive push against corruption in state and city politics, an agenda that could fit with Trump's vow to \"drain the swamp\" in Washington. Those political investigations led last year to the convictions of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican, in separate corruption trials. Bharara also brought dozens of successful cases against insider traders and was on the cover of Time magazine in 2012 with the headline \"This man is busting Wall St.\" Those cases include the 2011 conviction of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is serving an 11-year prison term, and a $1.8 billion settlement and plea deal in 2013 with hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP. His 227-lawyer office also secured corporate settlements with companies including General Motors Co and JPMorgan Chase & Co; won several convictions and guilty pleas of former employees of Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff; and prosecuted Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bharara's office's priorities have often matched those set by Obama's Justice Department. Amid an increase in civil rights investigations nationally, for example, Bharara's office joined a lawsuit that led to a settlement in 2015 aimed at reducing violence in New York City's Rikers Island jail complex. How priorities set by the Justice Department under Trump's pick for attorney general, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, affects the cases Bharara's office pursues remains unclear. \"Obviously there is likely be some changes in priorities from Main Justice (the department's Washington headquarters), and the office will have to adjust to those,\" said Richard Zabel, who previously served as Bharara's deputy before becoming hedge fund Elliott Management's general counsel. Bharara said his office had for the past seven years pursued its work \"independently, without fear or favor.\" Former prosecutors they expect that to stay the same. \"He would have only taken it on if he were 100 percent confident that that independence could be preserved,\" said Matthew Schwartz, partner at the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner and a former prosecutor under Bharara.","label":0}
{"text":"It didn t take long for conservative Christians to jump to the defense of Roy Moore.Not long after the Washington Post published a story containing detailed accusations from several women who claim that Moore sexually assaulted and abused them as teens, conservatives disgustingly continued to back him despite having the opposite reaction to allegations against several high profile Hollywood actors and producers.And that s not to mention the reaction conservatives had when right-wing websites pushed a conspiracy claiming that Hillary Clinton ran a sex trafficking operation inside a pizza restaurant, a conspiracy that was immediately and thoroughly debunked.Conservatives STILL believe that conspiracy, but refuse to believe the very real victims who have come forward about Moore.Rather than call for Moore to step aside, conservative Christians are more rabid than ever, and that includes Jerry Falwell Jr., who along with the rest of his anti-gay friends still supports Moore just like they continued to support Donald Trump despite Trump saying on tape that he likes to grab women by their genitals without their consent. It comes down to a question who is more credible in the eyes of the voters the candidate or the accuser, Falwell said. The same thing happened to President Trump a few weeks before his election last year except it was several women making allegations. He denied that any of them were true and the American people believed him and elected him the 45th president of the United States. And I believe the judge is telling the truth. So Falwell Jr. is making Moore s guilt contingent on whether voters elect him or not. In other words, he s telling Republican voters that electing him is the equivalent of a jury verdict of not guilty. But that s not how the justice system works. And it s not how we should be judging political candidates.It should be pointed out that the race in Alabama has turned into a dead heat according to a poll taken after the bombshell story dropped, so clearly voters must not think Moore is very credible.These are credible allegations that should be taken seriously. Seriously enough that Moore should be forced to withdraw his candidacy. The fact that conservatives are using the Bible to defend sexual abuse and assault proves that they are nothing more than fake Christians. They would support a pedophile rather than vote for a Democrat. That s how far conservative Christians have fallen. They are literally supporting a man who claimed that homosexuality causes pedophilia, the same man who is being accused of predatory sexual behavior involving a 14-year-old girl. Only Moore is a straight white Christian so conservatives think his pedophilia is acceptable.Hillary Clinton was right. These people are deplorable.Featured Image: Scott Olson\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Democrat @timkaine: \"There is no legal justification\" for President Trump's airstrikes on Syrian airbase https: . Friday on CNN's \"New Day,\" Sen. Tim Kaine ( ) the 2016 Democratic nominee, told show host Chris Cuomo there was \"no legal justification\" for President Donald Trump's action against Syria a night earlier, which was a military strike against a Syrian air base in response to the nation's use of chemical weapons earlier in the week. Kaine said although he agreed from a \"moral standpoint\" with the decision, there was no \"legal justification\" for Trump's decision because he did not come to Congress first. \"There is no legal justification for this,\" Kaine said. \"I think from a moral standpoint \u2014 absolutely, I agree with Senator Rubio. It was the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do \u2014 to try to deter Bashar from war crimes and remember, I voted to use military action against Syria in August of 2013. Senator Rubio voted against it back then when Bashar did the same thing. But I said the president has to come to Congress. And Donald J. Trump, citizen Trump back then said exactly the same thing. A president has to go to Congress. He should not have done this without coming to Congress. \" Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor","label":0}
{"text":"A student at the University of Florida lost points on an essay assignment for his decision to use the word \"man,\" instead of the word \"humankind. \"[Student Martin Poirier received a on an essay assignment, despite his professor's claim that the paper was \"thoughtful. \" The reason? He dared to use the word \"man,\" instead of \"humankind. \" \"Thoughtful paper, although the errors are killing you,\" Professor Jack Davis wrote at the bottom of the paper. Davis claimed that the exercise is \"not to enforce political correctness\" but rather serves as \"both a grammar refresher and a style and user guide. \" He also claimed that students would only lose points when they violate two or more \" \" guidelines, meaning that just the singular usage of \"man\" was not enough for Poirier to have his grade marked down. \"I do not lower a student's grade for only one inconsistency, and I single out no student as an example,\" Davis said. Poirier claims that Professor Davis' class is \"certainly biased,\" but that he believes \"Davis is rather moderate compared to his peers and formulated the rule in order to be 'by the books. '\" \"It is on those grammarians who, like the rest of the academy, have eagerly stoked the slide towards gender [and] social anarchy,\" Poirier claimed. \"Political correctness on college campuses goes far deeper than this one excess by this one teacher. By and large, the radical liberationist ideas go unchallenged because no truly oppositional content is presented,\" he added. Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com","label":0}
{"text":"Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment. 1. If forcing a girl to wear hijab is against her freedom and \"feminism,\" what about forcing her not to wear hijab when she wants to? Isn't it also against her freedom of choice? \u2014 Aysha Jahan on The Times's Facebook page, responding to an article about efforts by the police in several French beach towns to enforce a ban against the \"burkini,\" a modest swimsuit worn by observant Muslim women. This comment received more than 2, 450 likes. 2. A 6. 2 magnitude earthquake, while not small, is not particularly large. The reason it caused so much damage is that many of the beautiful ancient buildings are composed of unreinforced masonry (stone). These are the most dangerous buildings to be in during an earthquake as they have very little sheer strength, and therefore collapse when exposed to lateral ground accelerations. Such buildings can undergo seismic retrofitting, but the process is expensive and I suspect that most buildings in Italy have not undergone such a procedure. So therefore it is likely an unaddressed infrastructure issue that led to wide such spread devastation. \u2014 Geoscientist in Tallahassee, Fla. reacting to an article about the earthquake that struck central Italy, killing more than 200 people. 3. I grew up in Southern California. I remember when the Whittier Narrows quake crumbled parts of my hometown and what it felt like to be thrown out of bed for the Northridge quake and being forced to crawl on my hands and knees to safety as my mother screamed from her room down the hall. We were fine, just broken dishes and books everywhere, but I remember the terror. I can't imagine how these people felt as their houses collapsed around them. My heart goes out to Italy. Know that many Americans who have lived through earthquakes themselves are thinking of you. We hope many are pulled from the rubble alive. And hopefully you can rebuild stronger. Peace. \u2014 Dr. A. in Texas. 4. The triple standard continues \u2014 woman, a Clinton and Democrat. Whitewater, a conspiracy theories, Benghazi, and now \"the emails. \" All of these have produced nothing other than a normal human being with a long track record of excellent service who has made a few errors and has a few flaws. Bernie Sanders had a lot of things right, including letting the spinning of the emails fall by the wayside. If this were a man, not a Clinton, and not a Democrat, this wouldn't even be news. \u2014 6Strings in North Carolina, reacting to an article about a judge's order to the F. B. I. to release nearly 15, 000 of Hillary Clinton's emails that it collected off her personal server. This comment received more than 4, 300 reader recommendations. 5. In economics, educational achievement, social status, in those measurable areas, this ethnic group has a large portion of its population at the bottom. Look at the public schools and how Democratic factions like teachers' unions and organizations like the N. A. A. C. P. have a stranglehold on this group's children. Trump's remarks are correct \u2014 just look at these urban cities that have been under Democratic control for decades. One could go on and on, but why not admit the overall accuracy of what Donald Trump stated? I'm voting for Donald Trump. \u2014 Pianki in St. Louis, reacting to an article about Donald Trump's attempts to reach out to black voters. 6. It should surprise no one that white people just don't want to live with blacks, regardless of income. And yet everyone still treats this fact as though it were new, or they bend over backwards trying to deny it all together. Face it. It makes no difference if you are a professional, black person \u2014 because in the end, you're still black. \u2014 N. Smith in New York, reacting to an article about racial segregation in cities like Milwaukee, where 59 percent of black families with household incomes over $100, 000 a year live in poor areas. This comment received more than 190 reader recommendations. 7. My son will now attend elementary school without an EpiPen. I pray he doesn't touch anything with . .. have considered home school now. How long will the people of this country suffer to Big Pharma until we rise up against it? \u2014 Jennifer Ericksen on The Times's Facebook page, reacting to an article about the sudden and steep increase in the price of an EpiPen, an injection device that delivers a dose of epinephrine to a user suffering an anaphylactic allergy attack. 8. I am a chemist by training and trade. As far as the bagels are concerned, the lye (i. e. NaOH) reacts with the proteins and sugars in the flour and causes (I am guessing) carmelization reactions. By the time the bagels are boiled and baked, the lye has been completely neutralized and there should, in fact, be no free lye remaining. If you want to follow the recipe that uses lye, be careful (generally speaking, kitchens can be dangerous places if you aren't careful) but don't worry about having remnants of a toxic chemical in your food. \u2014 Perry Brown in Salt Lake City, reacting to an article about whether lye is a key ingredient in bagel baking. 9. As for Facebook, I've found that it has both fostered all sorts of very productive (i. e. polite and reasonable) political discourse and also led to some personal disappointment. On the one hand, you can speak with people about political matters in a way that would be far too awkward in person (\"no religion or politics\" is still the standard rule of etiquette for most social gatherings, I find). On the other, it means I now have to see how much my grandfather loves Trump. It stings every time I see him post something, but what can you do? You have to let people be themselves and have the emotional restraint to not respond to everything you see online. Facebook, like most digital media, is nothing but what you make it. \u2014 Jonathan Krause in the United Kingdom, reacting to an article about Facebook's role in political news coverage during this election cycle. 10. This is what happens when get more access to the same funding and facilities get, beginning in middle and high school and on through college. This is why women's rights are human rights. The benefits of empowering can be felt all across the societies that choose to do so. \u2014 Leanne Harpin on The Times's Facebook page, reacting to an article about American female athletes in the Rio Olympics, where they won 61 medals. Had the women been a separate country, they would have been third in the overall medal count. This comment received more than 550 likes.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s Education Secretary is off to a terribly embarrassing start.Just a day after being confirmed by the Senators she paid for after Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote, Betsy DeVos is already proving how ignorant she is about teaching and education.After her first full day in the position, DeVos posted a tweet about it and then joked about not knowing where the pencils are, which is pretty damn insulting to teachers since they usually have to buy their own pencils and other supplies.Day 1 on the job is done, but we re only getting started. Now where do I find the pencils? :) pic.twitter.com\/0vRKF1opE9 Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVos) February 9, 2017Understandably, teachers and their supporters were pretty pissed off about DeVos question and they absolutely trashed her for it in response.@BetsyDeVos not in the thousands of public schools that can barely afford supplies. Looking forward to you cleaning that lil issue up. Erin Weaver (@ByErinWeaver) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos Enjoy destroying our education system. Good luck with your incompetence. Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos you realize how NOT funny this is since most teachers buy their own supplies. But I bet you re gonna pink slip them anyway. MalyndaHale (@MalyndaHale) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos A true educator wouldn t have to ask we carry them with us at all times Laura Fischer (@Buckeyegal2008) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos You worked a whole day but didn t have anything to write with? Maybe you could hold a bake sale to buy some pencils. (((David Lytle))) (@davitydave) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos You gave the @GOP $200 million and not one of them will help you find supplies? @marcorubio? eBaum s World (@ebaumsworld) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos At the store. Something you should know: we teachers buy pencils and supplies for our classes with our OWN money. Robin McCauley Lynch (@RobinMcCauley) February 9, 2017@RobinMcCauley @WendyLiebman @BetsyDeVos I know teachers who use their own money for supplies and that s wrong. Teachers deserve better. Race Bannon (@BannonRace) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos I don t know, maybe go to a public school and get one? USC (@AlumniUSC) February 9, 2017Funny enough, DeVos did, in fact, try to go to a public school on Friday morning and got blocked by protesters at the entrance. So she ran away..@BetsyDeVos is this what you plan to do with your pencil while public school teachers work hard to educate and protect students? pic.twitter.com\/fzyCPlhLkb Jaipreet Virdi (@jaivirdi) February 9, 2017. @BetsyDeVos If YOU work in education, YOU buy the pencils, the paper, &, sometimes, a kid s shoes. Spend a week in a school & GET A CLUE. Crystal (@CMorganNC) February 9, 2017@BetsyDeVos Why don t you buy some pencils like you bought off your confirmation? Easy D (@DaveStylee) February 9, 2017Betsy DeVos doesn t give a damn about education. She only cares about indoctrinating our kids into her extremist religion and gutting the Education Department from the inside will help her do exactly that. She should have never been confirmed but Republicans are easily bought.Teachers work hard to educate our kids. They often have to spend their own money to make sure the classroom has enough supplies, including pencils. Betsy DeVos deserves all the mockery she is receiving.","label":1}
{"text":"Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it had found that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May. Facebook, the dominant social media network, said 3,000 ads and 470 \"inauthentic\" accounts and pages spread polarizing views on topics including immigration, race and gay rights. Another $50,000 was spent on 2,200 \"potentially politically related\" ads, likely by Russians, Facebook said. U.S. election law bars foreign nationals and foreign entities from spending money to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. Non-U.S. citizens may generally advertise on issues. Other ads, such as those that mention a candidate but do not call for the candidate's election or defeat, fall into what lawyers have called a legal gray area. Facebook announced the findings in a blog post by its chief security officer, Alex Stamos, and said that it was cooperating with federal inquiries into influence operations during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook briefed members of both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees on Wednesday about the suspected Russia advertising, according to a congressional source familiar with the matter. Both committees are conducting probes into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, including potential collusion between the campaign of President Donald Trump and Moscow. Facebook also gave its findings to Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of investigating alleged Russian interference in last year's presidential election, a source familiar with the matter said. The company produced copies of advertisements as well as data about the buyers, the source said. Mueller's office declined to comment. Facebook said it found no link between the Russian-purchased advertising and any specific presidential campaign. The ads were mostly national in their focus and did not appear to reflect targeting of political swing-states, the company said. Even if no laws were violated, Facebook said the 470 accounts and pages associated with the ads ran afoul of the social network's requirements for authenticity and have since been suspended. Facebook did not print the names of any of the suspended pages, but some of them included such words as \"refugee\" and \"patriot.\" More than $1 billion was spent on political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, thousands of times more than the presumed Russian spending identified by Facebook's security team. But the findings buttress U.S. intelligence agency conclusions that Russia was actively involved in shaping the election. Facebook previously published a white paper on influence operations, including what it said were fake \"amplifier\" accounts for propaganda, and said it was cracking down. As recently as June, Facebook told journalists that it had not found any evidence of Russian operatives buying election-related ads on its platform. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the Facebook report \"deeply disturbing and yet fully consistent with the unclassified assessment of the intelligence community.\" \"We are keenly interested in Russia's use of social media platforms, both the use of bots and trolls to spread disinformation and propaganda, including through the use of paid online advertising,\" he said in a statement. A Facebook employee said Wednesday that there were unspecified connections between the divisive issue ads and a well-known Russian \"troll factory\" in St. Petersburg that publishes comments on social media. Ellen Weintraub, a member of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, said U.S. voters deserve to know where the ads are coming from and that the money behind them is legal. \"It is unlawful for foreign nationals to be spending money in connection with any federal, state or local election, directly or indirectly,\" Weintraub said in a phone interview. She declined to comment on the Facebook ads, saying she could not discuss subjects that could come before the agency. Facebook declined to release the ads themselves, prompting a sharp rebuke on Twitter from Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of First Look Media, a producer of feature and documentary films, television and podcasts. \"Facebook keeps the targeted political ads it publishes secret, emboldening criminals,\" wrote Omidyar, the eBay founder who also provided funding to launch media organization The Intercept. \"I don't see how that can possibly be legal.\" Facebook's disclosure may be the first time a private entity has pointed to receiving Russian money related to U.S. elections, said Brendan Fischer, a program director at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington nonprofit that advocates for more transparency. \"Whoever may have provided assistance to Russia in buying these Facebook ads is very likely in violation of the law,\" he said, adding that Facebook has a legal duty to act if it is aware of similar activity in the future.","label":0}
{"text":"Mississippi's vast flatlands, laced with the remains of a fading industrial base, are fertile ground for the incendiary populism of Donald Trump. For the insurgent presidential candidate, there's plenty of voter outrage to tap into here and in a swathe of other southern states that could push Trump closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination in the coming weeks. Mississippi's unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation: more than 75,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared in the past 15 years; and white voters at the core of the state's Republican Party fear the rise of immigrant workers. The deep economic dislocation felt by many in Mississippi, reflected in Reuters interviews with dozens of voters, explains how Trump is attracting broad-based support in southern states, including from many evangelical Christian voters prepared to overlook his past liberal positions on touchstone social issues. In South Carolina last weekend, exit polls showed Trump comfortably beat both his closest rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio among evangelical voters, despite their more consistent appeals to Christian values. \"Look at immigration, look at terrorism, look at the things that really matter,\" said Heather Fox, a field director for the Trump campaign in Mississippi. \"If we don't have a country, it's not going to matter about the Bible or the Constitution because we are going to be dead and gone,\" she added during a recent gathering of Republican voters in a Holiday Inn conference room in Lucedale, southern Mississippi, that began with a prayer. Caleb Howell, a Baptist deacon, says even those with jobs often see little chance of promotion. \"There are not many options,\" he said, \"even for preachers.\" From the Mississippi coast through Alabama, Tennessee and the Appalachian coalfields of Kentucky, America's economic recovery has been patchy if not outright elusive. The four-state region is the country's least educated and least well paid, according to federal jobs data. Politically, the region has emerged as a bedrock of support for billionaire real estate mogul Trump, who has hammered home his pledge to return America to \"winning\" ways versus foreign competitors and foes. In polling conducted for Reuters by Ipsos, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky ranked among Trump's top seven states nationally, with more than 40 percent of Republicans and independent poll participants backing him. (See this graphic on census data from Trump's heartland. here) Alabama and Tennessee vote on March 1 on \"Super Tuesday\", along with 13 other states and territories in the heated race to select the Republican Party's presidential candidate. Kentucky holds a Republican caucus on March 5 and Mississippians vote in their party primary on March 8. The 2007 to 2009 economic crisis fell particularly hard on Mississippi and neighboring states. The number of jobs fell faster than in much of the rest of the country, climbed back more slowly, and as of last year remained more than 200,000 short of where it was before the crisis, federal data show. Economic and cultural dislocation runs strong, whether it's anger over Washington's regulatory reach into industries like coal mining, the perceived threat to conservative values on issues like same-sex marriage, or the conviction that the economy no longer works for average Americans. A nation-leading 32 percent of the adult population in the four-state region has only a high school degree, a problem at a time when the fastest job and wage growth is in occupations that require a bachelor's degree or more. Since 2000, jobs available in Mississippi for those with only a high school degree fell five percent, according to a Reuters analysis of federal occupational data. Between 2000 and 2014, median household income fell nearly 12 percent in Mississippi, about twice as fast as the overall U.S. decline, adjusted for inflation. Income among white households fell slightly more than 12 percent, compared to a decline of less than five percent for all whites nationally. \"We're shipping out all the work and bringing in all the people that don't want to work,\" said Walter Wright, 46, who owns a real-estate company in Hurley, Mississippi. He said he supports Trump because of his tough build-a-wall approach to stopping illegal immigration and because \"he is angry.\" Although the region has the lowest share of foreign-born residents in the country, at fewer than four percent, and the lowest portion of Hispanic residents, whether born in the U.S. or elsewhere, the numbers have been growing. In Alabama and Mississippi, for instance, the Hispanic population more than doubled from 2000 to 2010. That's coincided with a difficult economy. Mississippi, once a major builder of ships and furniture, has seen an exodus of thousands of jobs in both industries to China and Mexico over the past two decades. Mississippi's manufacturers shed 75,738 jobs between 2000 and 2015, according to Manufacturers' News Inc, a publisher and compiler of industrial directories and databases. \"We have had way too many industries shut down and now they are in Brazil, they are in Mexico, they are in China,\" said Fox. Trump has said he will bring back American jobs \"from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places.\" He has proposed doing this by slapping tariffs on foreign goods and negotiating better trade deals. He has threatened a 35 percent tax on Ford Motor Corp vehicles made in Mexico that are brought back to the United States to be sold. Most economists doubt Trump can revive manufacturing on its former scale in Mississippi or elsewhere, especially for unskilled workers. His threats also risk a trade war that could backfire by raising costs and hurting American jobs. While trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement may have shifted some jobs abroad, the integration of global supply chains has also helped Tennessee stand out in the region with its booming auto industry, and drawn foreign companies like Airbus to Mobile, Alabama. Republican Party officials say Trump has strong support, especially in northwest Alabama where International Paper Co shut a 43-year-old plant in 2014, laying off 1,100 workers. \"The day of putting on a suit and tie at 6 in the morning and getting a clean cut shave and taking your briefcase to an office somewhere, it's gone,\" said Blake Nash, 29, a Trump supporter whose mother was let go at the plant in 2006. In Nash's town of Lexington, near the Tennessee border, red, white and blue Trump signs sprout from streets studded with Baptist churches, the only banners of any presidential candidate in the area. Nash, who has no health insurance and calls his university degree in health sciences worthless, recently applied for a job with a company that contracts work with Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, but was rejected because he didn't have the right training. With good jobs at home scarce, he works on contract in other states such as Texas. Many farmers in Lauderdale County, the location of the International Paper plant, relied on the factory for their primary income, said Charlie Thompson, a farmer who worked there for 34 years and lost his job in 2014. Thompson, 58, former president of the Lauderdale County Farmers Federation, estimates that about 15 percent of the sacked workers were farmers, further straining a county where the number of farms was already in decline. \"If you can equate signs in the yard with being popular, I would say probably Trump is a front runner around here,\" said Thompson. Still, a win is no sure thing. At the Lucedale forum, Chris McDaniel, a Republican state senator in Mississippi and Cruz supporter, hammered at Trump's inconsistency on conservative hot-button issues such as abortion. \"How sure and solid has Trump been? Just a few years ago, he was pro-choice,\" McDaniel said, referring to a television interview Trump gave in 1999 when he said \"I'm very pro-choice\" and that he would not ban partial-birth abortions. He has since said he is against abortion. \"We are kind of afraid of what he has been in the past,\" said Gussie Vise, 71, a retired teacher and wife of a local preacher. She is leaning toward Cruz but says of Trump,\"we like him.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump took quite a bit of heat following the racist shooting in Kansas City that resulted in the deaths of two Indian engineers. The perpetrator shouted what sounded like Trump-inspired racial slurs like get out of my country, before killing Srinivas Kuchibholta, who died and Alok Madasani, who was injured. Trump took almost a week to address the shooting at all. There was also a spate of vandalism toward Jewish cemeteries and for most of a week, crickets from Trump.Trump did finally talk about the shooting and the vandalism in his address to Congress on Tuesday, but many say it was too little too late. After all, Trump doesn t hesitate in calling out Muslim terrorists. He and his people even make up terrorist attacks.In an interview with CNN s Alisyn Camerota, Trump surrogate Anthony Scaramucci said that the only reason Trump didn t address the Kansas City shooting and the string of vandalism in Jewish cemeteries, was that it would cause more fear and civil unrest. He s not constantly condemning [hate crimes by white people], Camerota pointed out. There was silence after Kansas City. He didn t tweet about it. Some people felt if had it been a Muslim, had it been a Middle Eastern gunman instead of a white gunman, he would have immediately condemned it. The president is controlling the bully pulpit and the news cycle, and he doesn t want to overly discuss the stuff because you re worried that in itself will cause a fire, he replied. You re trying to strike the right balance. You can agree with me or disagree with me. I do believe the president has consistently, and maybe not with the level of volume you d like, but he has consistently and his administration has consistently denounced these acts of violence. Source: Raw StoryHere s the video:Let s see if you can follow that logic and I ll be frank, I m having trouble with it. Trump s anti-Muslim rhetoric, which has always flowed freely whenever he speaks or tweets, is a huge recruiting tool for ISIS. Apparently, he doesn t care that he is causing unrest and fear toward Muslims and by Muslims.Hate crimes since the election have been up and hate groups are on the rise. The horse has left the barn as far as Trump inspiring hate, but he does have the bully pulpit. If he can influence hate, he can certainly influence people not to act on their hatred. He won t, though. As more and more sane people turn against him, Trump is left with a base that looks a lot like Hitler s Brownshirts. He doesn t want to offend his biggest supporters.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was preparing to call British Prime Minister Theresa May after a home-made bomb on a London train injured 22 people. Trump, who spoke briefly with reporters before going into the Oval Office, said he had been briefed on the attack, which police called a terror incident, calling it a terrible thing. Asked about a Friday morning tweet in which Trump said the U.S. ban on travelers from certain countries should be more specific, Trump said: We have to be tougher and we have to be smarter. (This story corrects third paragraph to show Trump was referring to the U.S. travel ban in his quote, not the London attack.)","label":0}
{"text":"Does anyone REALLY care what our president drinks? CNN thinks they do. They thought it would be a great idea to bring on a doctor who would tell them how horrible it is for Trump to drink lots of Diet Coke. Well, they thought wrong This one backfires on Brooke Baldwin LOL!Near the close of Brooke Baldwin s CNN program Monday afternoon, she invited on a board-certified gastroenterologist to assess the effect on President Donald Trump s health of his massive Diet Coke intake.VISUAL AIDE:The discussion came with a visual aide of a dozen Diet Coke cans, representing the 12 Trump knocks back per day in the White House, according to a recent New York Times report.Dr. Samantha Nazareth noted the diet soda had less calories than regular soda, but drinking 12 essentially replaces what other liquids will provide to your body. You should be drinking water, not this, she said.Baldwin wondered if drinking that many Diet Cokes could be super crazy harmful to the body, but Nazareth said not necessarily. Instead, it might encourage the drinker to engage in more sweets. You need to think of the body in its entirety. What are you drinking? What are you eating? Nazareth asked. How much are you sleeping? How much stress are you getting a day? This all affects the body. It s not just 12 cans. Trump called the New York Times story an example of fake news because of its report on his reported TV-watching habits, but he didn t push back on the detail about the Diet Cokes.","label":1}
{"text":"Meeeeoowwww The comments below by Ivana Trump were totally out of line and rude. Ivana is promoting her new book but it s only a turn-off when she behaves like this to Melania. Who wants to support anything this snarky woman promotes? The rude comments go on and on First Lady Melania Trump wasted no time in responding. We give her credit she called it exactly what it was: attention-seeking and self-serving noise Ivana Trump said she should be considered the first lady because she was President Trump s first wife, prompting a stinging rebuke from third wife and current first lady Melania Trump that the remark was attention-seeking and self-serving noise. Ivana, the mother of Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric, said she has a line to the White House but tries not to call Trump too often because it makes Melania Trump jealous Ouch!Ivana Trump to @arobach: I don't like to call POTUS at the White House: \"I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy\" https:\/\/t.co\/SiTlUUDX2S pic.twitter.com\/nyvSj3Wk9O Good Morning America (@GMA) October 9, 2017THE FACT THAT IVANA THINKS SHE WOULD CAUSE ANY JEALOUSY IS LAUGHABLE! I have the direct number to White House, but I no really want to call him there because Melania is there, Ivana told ABC s Good Morning America during an interview on Monday. I don t want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I m basically first Trump wife. MELANIA WASTED NO TIME RESPONDING: Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, DC, and is honored by her role as first lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books, spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to CNN. There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise. Ivana Trump, 68, who married Donald Trump in 1977 and divorced him in 1992, has been making the rounds of talk shows to promote her memoir, Raising Trump, which was published on Tuesday.WHAT A B*TCH! IVANA THINKS IT MUST BE TERRIBLE FOR MELANIA TO BE IN WASHINGTONDespite her comment that she should could carry the mantle of first lady, Ivana Trump said she really wouldn t be happy in the White House and wouldn t be willing to change places with Melania. I think for her to be in Washington must be terrible, Ivana Trump said. It s better her than me. I would hate Washington. IVANA TAKES A SHOT AT MELANIA!But then she took a veiled shot at the first lady s White House role. Would I straighten up the White House in 14 days? Absolutely. Can I give the speech for 45 minutes without [a] teleprompter? Absolutely. Can I read a contract? Can I negotiate? Can I entertain? Absolutely. But I would not really like to be there. I like my freedom, she said.Ivana also takes full credit for raising their three children because he was on the telephone making the deals. He was a loving father, don t get me wrong, and he was a good provider, but he was not the father which would take a stroll and go to the Central Park or go play to baseball with them or something, she said, It was only until they were about 18 years old [that] he could communicate with them, because he could start to talk business with them. Ivana Trump on Pres. Trump as a dad: \"He was not the father which would take a stroller and go to Central Park.\" https:\/\/t.co\/iGg9piFeFi pic.twitter.com\/f7ukRIm4t8 Good Morning America (@GMA) October 9, 2017 Before, he really didn t know what conversation to strike with the little kids , she added.","label":1}
{"text":"A Catholic priest has been caught on camera snorting cocaine on church grounds, in a room covered in Nazi memorabilia.As the BBC reports:Fr Stephen Crossan is reported to have snorted coke through a 10 note during a night of drinking in July 2015 in Banbridge, County Down.He was in a room containing Nazi memorabilia, and seemed to say I shouldn t as he snorted, the Sun on Sunday reported.He has taken leave from the priesthood.A spokesperson for the PSNI said: Police are aware of the article in a Sunday newspaper and are making inquiries. The Church has confirmed that the footage took place in the Priest s parochial house, on the grounds of St Patrick s Church, Banbridge, in July of last year.This Priest forms part of the same Catholic Church which in Northern Ireland and the U.S., attempts to exert a moral authority over men, women and children. The same church which is fighting to prevent the equal marriage rights of same-sex couples. The same church which is fighting the reproductive rights of women and men, through opposition to abortion and contraception. The same church which is trapping people in loveless or violent marriages, by fighting the right of (predominantly) women to divorce. The same church which covered up rampant sexual abuse of children by their priests, rather than expose themselves to public accountability.However, this same cocktail of toxic beliefs has infected the Republican Party of the United States through the Christian Conservative movement. Despite the clear and incontrovertible evidence that religiosity is not the same as morality, this party and it s Quiverfull followers still attempt to assert a moral authority of secular liberals.Unfortunately for the Father Crossan, the Duggars and other Christian Conservative leaders your moral hypocrisy has a way of making itself known to the world.Featured Image via Screengrab","label":1}
{"text":"A tightening siege has pushed people to the verge of famine in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, residents and aid workers say, bringing desperation to the only major rebel enclave near the Syrian capital. Cases of malnutrition among children have almost doubled in the last two months at one clinic in the suburbs, which have been under siege by Syrian government forces since 2013 but come under new pressure this year as tunnels used to smuggle in food have been cut off. The child that we consider normal in Ghouta is the child whose weight is on the lowest end of the normal weight scale. We don t have fully healthy children. The main reason is the lack of food and nutrition, said Dr Amani Ballour, a paediatrician. There are children who we previously classified as at risk of malnutrition, who are now classified as medium-level acute malnutrition or extreme-level acute malnutrition cases. At two and a half years old, Hala al-Nufi weighs less than five kilos (12 pounds). She suffers from a metabolic disorder, but a lack of adequate food has made the case extreme. Hala, her eyes hollow and her translucent skin stretching over her tiny bones, had gotten sicker in recent months, her parents said. They worry she will not survive the siege. Um Said, a mother of six, says she is too hungry to breast feed her six-month-old twins, Marwa and Safa. I put the child to the breast, but there is no milk. I am not eating. I slept without supper last night, she said. Sometimes I hit myself against the wall, she said. For God s, sake open the road. In the name of the prophet, I kiss your hands and feet, open the road for us. We are going to die of hunger. We are eating from the trash bins. At least 1,200 children in eastern Ghouta suffer from malnutrition, on the rise with 1,500 others at risk, a spokeswoman for the U.N. children s agency UNICEF said. We could be at the doors of starvation, of a medical catastrophe, said health worker Mahmoud al-Sheikh. He said children were not yet dying of hunger but could be soon. God help the people in the coming time. The army s advances in recent months have shrunk the rebel-held pocket in the densely populated area of satellite towns and farms east of the capital. Food, fuel and medicine once traveled across frontlines into the suburbs through a network of underground tunnels. But early this year, an army offensive nearby cut smuggling routes that provided a lifeline for around 300,000 people in the enclave. Supplies have barely entered in months. Shortages have sent prices soaring even higher. Residents and local aid workers say they fear the worst if nothing changes when the cold arrives and stocks run out. A kilogram of sugar now costs more than 5,000 Syrian pounds ($10.81 dollars), roughly 14 times the state-regulated price in nearby Damascus. Two malnourished babies died this week after the siege aggravated their illnesses, a local official said. Photos of one of them a skeletal baby girl brought widespread attention to a crisis that has been growing there for months. Linda Tom, a spokeswoman for the U.N. humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) in Syria, said the one-month-old girl, Sahar, had congenital abnormalities. Hunger worsened her condition, and the baby died of pneumonia. Through a series of offensives and evacuation deals, the Damascus government has defeated opposition pockets around the capital. Eastern Ghouta has held out, but residents say there is now talk for the first time of agreeing to evacuate. People are under pressure, they will erupt. There is no baby milk at all. Mothers and fathers are watching their children go hungry. They want a solution in any way, at any price, said Adnan, 30, who runs a local aid group. Families relied on crops they harvested in the summer, and meagre food distributions from warehouses run by the opposition government based in Turkey, he said. Adnan s group had preserved and dried vegetables that it will distribute to 1,500 families next week, but besides that, its food aid has halted. Even if I get funding, there are no goods to buy, he said. The eastern Ghouta has shut down. There is a state of paralysis. The Wafideen crossing at the outskirts, where checkpoints allowed some goods to enter, has also been heavily restricted or shut, the U.N. and residents said. Only two aid convoys have reached the Ghouta since July, each with food and medicine for about 20 percent or less of the population. In July, Moscow and rebels in the Ghouta signed a ceasefire that had sparked hopes of opening crossings and aid flowing into the suburbs. But residents say none of that has materialized. The de-escalation deal reduced the barrage of air strikes and artillery, but the siege only got harsher, they said. Fierce ground battles also rage on in some frontline districts. When people in the Ghouta learned of the deal and thought it would bring relief, many began using up their food reserves at home, said Khalil Aybour, head of the local council in the town of Douma. After they saw it was all rumors, he said, the misery grew immensely.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump didn t exactly have the best showing in Iowa, at least, not for a guy who said just before the caucuses began that he would have a tremendous victory. He ended up finishing 2nd, a full 4 points behind Ted Cruz and ended up tying with Marco Rubio for seven delegates.While he didn t throw a huge tantrum on stage, he isn t exactly being that presidential about it, either. Behind the scenes you know he must be fuming mad. Rarely is he silent on Twitter, and after the loss he didn t tweet a word; there was just silence for 14 long hours. Losing Iowa finally brought Donald Trump back down to earth, and if you re able to gather anything from his latest tweet, it s that he doesn t handle losing very well. Instead of preparing himself for the oath of office, and acting presidential, he had to find a way to offer an excuse. And, boy did he.Pic via Twitter.Trump has been known for quite some time for saying anything and everything on the popular site, and normally we could care a less, but he needs to be called out for being a sore loser. Shortly afterwards, he also posted a cryptic message that made it seem like he wasn t as interested in running for president anymore. Really? Here was what he said, in part: I will keep doing, but not worth it! What exactly does this mean? It must mean he doesn t think running for president is worth it unless people give him credit for things. That, or self-funding his campaign isn t worth it enough for him to be president. Either way, if Trump doesn t self-fund his own campaign he d be beholden to outside groups and special interests, and has already said himself that he doesn t want that. So, according to his own rules, he has to fund his it. There s no other way according to him. And, to make matters worse, it s already been proven that he is, in fact, NOT self-funding his campaign. Go figure. So, what he says is not even true. For more on this, visit HERE. He s in this for the attention and nothing else. He could care a less about Making America Great Again. Pic via Twitter.Here s news for you, Donald: being president is much harder than this. You don t give up after the first contest. And, you sure as heck don t complain. That loser front page cover from the New York Daily News must have really got to him.Featured image from Facebook","label":1}
{"text":"When you live in a state that thinks the worst things about their school system is open bathrooms and the fact that textbooks fail to show Jesus riding a dinosaur, it s not surprising that that state s Republican Party platform would fail to pass a 5th grade grammar test.Well, it wasn t a test, so to speak, but when the Republican Party released their platform, along with its official stance against all things gay, the tiniest of grammar fails seemed to indicate that most Texans are gay. Grammar nerds, judge for yourselves:Homosexuality Homosexuality is a chosen behavior that is contrary to the fundamental unchanging truths that has been ordained by God in the Bible, recognized by our nations founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.We ll get to the fact that this is a reprehensible and probably unconstitutional platform in a moment, but for now, let s laugh.The controversy is over the very last comma. There s a grammatical argument going on, said Rudy Oeftering, vice president of the LGBT Republican group Metroplex Republicans, who brought the issue to my attention. Some are insisting the use of commas in the Homosexuality plank in the platform could be interpreted as saying that the founders and the majority of Texans are gay. Source: The New Civil Rights MovementEven if we let that slide, Texans should be embarrassed at how poorly written the sentence is to begin with.Needless to say, it s a poorly written sentence in general. Either truths should be singular or has should be have, and nations lacks a possessive apostrophe.They should be, but anyone who s ever been subjected to Republicans on social media knows that things can get so much worse.Twitter had fun with the Texas GOP, though:Also, the Texas GOP platform would require Caitlyn Jenner and Laura Jane Grace to use men s restrooms, which seems problematic. daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 17, 2016 The Truth is Revealed by the Texas GOP Committee @TexasGOP, The Majority of Texans are Homosexuals! https:\/\/t.co\/Dz9LAHhFrY PC Godless Liberal (@TheAntiCruz) May 19, 2016@mikesmith8026 @GregAbbott_TX if Mike Smith is the face of the @TexasGOP then they are in trouble #grammar #spelling #stopsayingthug John (@JohnsPolitics) July 25, 2015If only this was the worst thing about the Texas GOP platform. They want to abolish the 17th Amendment of the Constitution, which allows citizens to vote for their Senators. The Legislature wants to do it instead.They want to nullify any laws that they think are unconstitutional. This amounts to succession. They also want to defund and abolish the majority of government agencies and anything that might have a chance of saving the environment, but they do want a strong military to kill all the Mooslims. Oh, and they want the gold standard back.By now, we re used to that anti-government stuff from petulant Texans, but the plank on homosexuality is the only one that addresses people directly. Here s the entire paragraph. See if it doesn t make you throw up in your mouth a little. Homosexuality is a chosen behavior that is contrary to the fundamental unchanging truths that has been ordained by God in the Bible, recognized by our nation s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples. We oppose the granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values. Source: EsquireIt doesn t take a deep reading between the lines to see that this platform is a warning to all LGBT people to stay in the closet or risk harassment and bullying, without penalty, from anyone who hides behind the Bible.","label":1}
{"text":"Home This Month Popular Is Western Civilization Worth Saving? Is Western Civilization Worth Saving? Beau Albrecht  My father was a high-ranking student radical poobah and still thinks Castro is the bees' knees. Although this makes me technically a red diaper baby, I rejected all that baloney early on. These days, I write stories - mostly comedy science fiction - as well as maintain a blog mainly about dating advice, political commentary, and my writing projects. November 4, 2016 Politics  By 2050, it's predicted the USA will no longer have a white majority, which in 1960 was 90%. For this, we can thank Ted Kennedy's Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which the politicians swore up and down wouldn't change the American ethnic composition. In Europe, due to declining native birth rates and mass immigration , this will eventually come to pass for several other nations later this century, all according to the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan . The leftists, with their really big hearts , think all this will be wonderful.  Globalism and cultural Marxism are the driving forces behind population replacement policies, but unawareness and apathy are almost as much of a problem . Some think that if Western civilization will go down the toilet, they should just \"go with the flow\" and enjoy the ride all the way down the tubes. Thanks to media propaganda and educational indoctrination, they have no idea that their own civilization is worth anything, and don't have the slightest concern for their own posterity. Still, they're pretty naive to believe that things can't turn far worse within their own lifetimes. Why this is bad (for those who need reminding) In the future, is this going to get better, or worse?  If trends continue unabated, the founding peoples will lose control over their destiny. History shows that when this happens, the results are not good. Pillaging and plundering is a more genteel affair in modern times (though not always ) but you're still not going to like it. Will your new rulers say, \"Since things have changed so much, how about we abolish Affirmative Action and set-asides to show we've transcended race?\" Don't count on it. More likely, they'll double down on these preferential treatment programs, and come up with new ones, and you will have no chance to block the spoils systems.  That's just the beginning, too. The \" diversification \" of cities for the last several decades has been bad\u2014Detroit, need I say more?\u2014and riots really are getting out of hand. Now imagine what it will be like when you have no hope of influencing things like Section 8 housing moving into your neighborhood, or if you'll get any real police protection.  This is what we're facing if the Aztl\u00e1n crowd takes over the Southwest, the community agitators get in charge of the big cities, and together their constituency has an electoral majority controlling the Federal government. (Also remember that they've been told since the 1960s that you're evil oppressors responsible for all their problems.) Parts of \"flyover country\" might be able to hold out for a while, but nothing short of forming their own country will stop the advance of \"progress\". If it were ever to come to secession, they'll be surrounded, outnumbered, and outgunned. Let's keep things from getting to that point. Is there any hope? \"Refugees\" have taken on the characteristics of invaders  I've painted a grim picture, but I have to be realistic. As for what will happen later, things only look worse; Jean Raspail's Camp Of The Saints describes a bleak future like that. This isn't just the USA on the line, but Western Europe too, and perhaps Eastern Europe and Australia in time. If we want to keep from disappearing into the endless night, the time to act is now.  Sometimes, with luck, sovereignty can be regained: for example, the Spanish Reconquista, or the nations of the Balkans rising after a few centuries under the Turkish yoke. However, the results aren't guaranteed; some nations may never recover. In these examples, the \"dhimmis\" were subjugated under military occupation, but they were not outnumbered in their own lands. The founding populations must not allow themselves to be dispossessed in their own countries in the first place.  Granted, the dark forces of globalism are very powerful\u2014and they'd like us to think they're invincible\u2014but they must be stopped. They also want you to think they're smarter than you and know what's good for you . (If they'd simply focus on getting richer, and cease their social engineering, they'd have far less to answer for.) Not only has our political establishment failed us, they're working against the public . It won't be easy, but we must reassert control over our destiny. Do we deserve to be dispossessed? Brainwashed SJWs welcoming their own destruction  Some will even say\u2014often with haughty condescension\u2014that if we lose our countries, then we deserve this fate. Ignoring for a moment the sheer snottiness, as well as the \"might makes right\" argument incongruent with the usual rhetoric of fairness by the \"prepare to be assimilated, resistance is futile\" crowd, let's consider the following facts: In the 1920s, a Communist propaganda campaign was launched in the Western world. In the 1930s, this mutated into cultural Marxism and kicked into high gear during the 1960s. Most people have no idea of the scope of it all, or where things like political correctness came from. Only senior citizens remember what it was like living in a fairly normal country. Even fewer never grew up exposed to this propaganda in one form or another. The rest of us have been indoctrinated from an early age by the mass media and educational establishment. The Western political tradition lately is about openness and democracy. For this reason, we don't conduct political change by torches and pitchforks these days. We play fair, even if our enemies often don't . Further, political correctness encourages the \"disadvantaged\" to have solidarity, but vilifies the same in the majority. This is one reason why we're on the defensive, and (for now) usually losing. Most people only have a vague idea about the extent of managed democracy and sheer corruption. Those against population replacement policies mostly put their faith in the mainstream opposition parties, not realizing that they've sold out to deep-pockets globalists too. \"Mainstream\" conservatism is a controlled opposition , providing token resistance at best.  So with that extent of treachery, disinformation, limited options for resistance, and managed democracy, it's grotesquely dishonest for the defeatists to tell us that we're losing a fair fight! As for their opinion that we should just give up, I have one word: No.  Whenever you hear the defeatists crowing that this is inevitable or that we \"deserve\" it, remember that they want to demoralize you and anyone else listening. (The same goes for when they tell you that loving your people and wanting your posterity to survive is \"hatred\".) Suppose someone is losing his home by a devious swindle, orchestrated by crooks widely lauded for their fairness, caring, and honesty. It would be the height of arrogance to tell the defrauded that he deserved it and should shut up about it and let it happen. The depopulation and population replacement agenda \"First, the EU has to accept at least a million asylum-seekers annually for the foreseeable future\u2026 The EU should provide 15,000 euros ($16,800) per asylum-seeker for each of the first two years to help cover housing, health-care and education costs\u2014and to make accepting refugees more appealing to member states.\"  Don't be fooled: this isn't happening because some vague, invisible force called \"progress\" is pushing things inevitably in this direction. No, it's being actively promoted by globalist interests that have adopted cultural Marxism as a means of control.  Why are native fertility rates declining below replacement level? The major factors are: Women are encouraged to spend their 20s partying and their 30s trying to get rich in a cube farm. Encouraging them to to make starting a family last priority often leaves them very unhappy over the long term, and many will miss the chance to begin. Good economy tends to be positively correlated with higher fertility rates. During recessions, births go down. The implications are obvious. If less tax money was taken from working citizens for costly social services programs and spit-in-your-eye wars, then they'd be able to afford more children. Sending the guilty to prison (instead of bailing them out) when they crash the economy might be a good indirect measure too. About a third of American babies conceived end up aborted . (Thanks, feminism!) The same leftists who think this is wonderful will scream bloody murder whenever a savage killer on Death Row is executed, but all that's another matter.  Because of declining fertility rates, the globalists tell us that we must open the floodgates of Third World immigration to prop up the population and support the aging citizens. So they've fed us poison, and to soothe the symptoms, they want to feed us another kind of poison. To hell with that!  Granted, keeping Social Security going in the USA will be a challenge. Still, it's pretty uncertain that newly-arriving immigrants\u2014if they become the majority\u2014will be able or willing to support millions of elderly \"gringos\". As for future European retirees, will they be well cared for by \"refugees\" from Africa and the Middle East? The way things are now, many of them prefer rioting , looting, and collecting welfare over working. So these are going to be the people propping up the European retirement programs?  Dispossession is inevitable only if we let it happen. For now, we must educate the rest of the public about what's going on, and convince them that their future is worth saving and their posterity is worth preserving. Once we've achieved critical mass, we can confront the political establishment and get the government to start working for us rather than against us What's in it for us? Whenever someone writes that Western civilization is nothing but injustice and oppression, they're using technology we invented to complain about us.  It's fashionable\u2014especially in academia\u2014to bash Western civilization. We're not perfect, but nobody else is either. The truth is that we're a creative, dynamic, and industrious people. Some of us are under the impression that we don't have any culture (only other people do) but that's mistaken. I could spend all day listing our major artists, composers, poets, philosophers, writers, theologians, and the like, but I only would scratch the surface.  Other cultures have made notable contributions\u2014particularly East Asia and the Middle East\u2014but the fact is that the majority of science and technology that makes life comfortable today originated in the Western world. Electricity, motorized transportation, refrigeration, telecommunications, computers (need I go on)? Yep, that was us. We shared our medical advances with the rest of the world, increasing longevity and quality of life around the globe. Whether the world's future looks more like Star Trek or more like Blade Runner may have a lot to do with whether or not our people survive.  Finally, most of us are going to live out our lives in our native countries. Do we want them to stay the same nations we grew up in? Some time in the future, today's youth will be running the show while we're elderly. What kind of a place do we want it to be by then? Western civilization is great; let's keep it going.","label":1}
{"text":"A senior UAE diplomat said on Wednesday the Arab world would not be led by Turkey, the Gulf State s first comment on Ankara since a quarrel broke out last week over a retweet by the Emirati foreign minister that President Tayyip Erdogan called an insult. Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, said there was a need for Arab countries to rally around the Arab axis of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The sectarian and partisan view is not an acceptable alternative, and the Arab world will not be led by Tehran or Ankara, he wrote on his official Twitter page. Last week, Turkey summoned the charge d affaires at the UAE embassy in Ankara, after UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan shared a tweet that accused Turkish troops of looting the holy city of Medina a century ago. Erdogan himself lashed out: Some impertinent man sinks low and goes as far as accusing our ancestors of thievery ... What spoiled this man? He was spoiled by oil, by the money he has, the Turkish leader said at an awards ceremony. Turkey s state-run Anadolu newspaper reported on Saturday that Turkey planned to rename the street where the UAE embassy is located in Ankara after Fakhreddin Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman Turkish troops at Medina in 1916. Medina, the holiest site in Islam after Mecca, is now in Saudi Arabia. The UAE sees itself as a bulwark against political forms of Islam, and views Erdogan s Islamist-rooted ruling AK party as a supporter of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which it opposes.","label":0}
{"text":"Do you know who this is? He is Edward Ed Mezvinsky, born January 17, 1937. Then you ll probably say, Who is Ed Mezvinsky? Well, he is a former Democrat congressman who represented Iowa s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for two terms, from 1973 to 1977.He sat on the House Judiciary Committee that decided the fate of Richard Nixon.He was outspoken saying that Nixon was a crook and a disgrace to politics and the nation and should be impeached.He and the Clintons were friends and very politically intertwined for many years.Ed Mezvinsky had an affair with NBC News reporter Marjorie Sue Margolies and later married her after his wife divorced him.In 1993, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, then a freshman Democrat in Congress, cast the deciding vote that got President Bill Clinton s controversial tax package through the House of Representatives.In March 2001, Mezvinsky was indicted and later pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 counts of bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud.Ed Mezvinsky embezzled more than $10 million dollars from people via both a Ponzi scheme and the notorious Nigerian e-mail scams.He was found guilty and sentenced to 80 months in federal prison. After serving less than five years in federal prison, he was released in April 2008 and remains on federal probation.To this day, he still owes $9.4 million in restitution to his victims.About now you are saying, So what! Well, this is Marc and Chelsea Mezvinsky.That s right; Ed Mezvinsky is Chelsea Clinton s father-in law.Now Marc and Chelsea are in their early thirties and purchased a 10.5 million dollar NYC apartment (after being married in George Soros mansion).Has anyone heard mention of any of this in any of the media?If this guy was Jenna or Barbara Bush s, or better yet, Sarah Palin s daughter s father-in- law, the news would be an everyday headline and every detail would be reported over and over.And yet say there are no double standards in political reporting. And people are already talking about Hillary as our next President! And then there is possibly Chelsea for president in our future!The cycle never ends!","label":1}
{"text":"Australia s lawmakers have rejected legislation that would tighten citizenship and foreign worker visa rules, a blow to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who had sought to stop a loss of his support base to far-right political parties. In April, Turnbull said Australia would abolish a temporary work visa popular with foreigners and replace it with a new program requiring better English-language and job skills. Turnbull also announced plans to raise the bar for citizenship by lengthening the waiting period and adding a new Australian values test. But Australia s senate, where Turnbull s center-right government does not enjoy a majority, rejected the proposal in a late vote on Wednesday, with opposition lawmakers insisting the rules were counter to Australian multicultural values. The senate rejection may further drag on support for Turnbull, which, according to the widely watched Newspoll poll on Monday, languishes at its lowest level in more than two years. The next election is not due until 2019, but continued poor polling could undermine Turnbull s leadership. Mathias Cormann, Australia s special minister of state, said on Wednesday the government will seek to move the legislation through the senate again as soon as they have secured the necessary support. We will keep working with all non-government senators to secure the necessary support, Cormann told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. A spokeswoman for Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton said visa applications would now be considered under the previous rules.","label":0}
{"text":"The key concerns of Russian foreign policy heading into 2017 RD Interview: Chatham House expert James Sherr explains how a variety of global crises, particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine, are impacting Russian foreign policy RD Interview: Chatham House expert James Sherr explains how a variety of global crises, particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine, are impacting Russian foreign policy. One big variable to consider: the results of elections in the U.S., France and Germany.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Athens, on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. Photo: AP  Major international actors are currently preoccupied with all kinds of regional crises: crises in the Middle East \u2013 including Syria , Iraq, Yemen and Libya, the rise of radical extremism, the refugee crisis , the crisis of European integration after Brexit and the rise of right-wing political parties in Europe. Moreover, the situation is exacerbated by the ongoing tensions between Russia and the West, which could take on a new dimension after elections in the U.S., France and Germany. With that in mind, Russia Direct talked with James Sherr , an associate fellow and former head ;of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), about the possibilities for a change in Europe's Russia policy, the prospects of the Minsk agreements and Russia's aims in Syria. RD: Given the crisis in the European Union, which is considered the most serious since its very beginning, how do you assess the prospects for the rise of a more independent foreign policy decision-making process within the European Union? How could a potential change of the political elites, keeping in mind elections in France and Germany, affect Europe's Russia policy? James Sherr: Against the backdrop of uncertainty, the only thing we can say with confidence is that we should not be complacent that things will remain the same. If either Marine le Pen or, more probably, Nicolas Sarkozy becomes president of France, there will be extremely strong pressure, at least in France, to move in a different direction vis-\u00e0-vis Russia. Also read: \" The crisis of European identity and rapprochement with Russia \" Nevertheless, there is a contradictory factor. Russia, in my view, is today under strong pressure to realize its objectives in Syria and the humanitarian consequences of this are already inflaming European opinion against Russia. So if you factor this in with the other variables, it would be far too optimistic for the Russians to conclude that the sanctions regime will diminish. Look at the example of France, where President Francois Hollande a few months ago was saying that Europe should think about how to diminish sanctions, and now he is talking about increasing them. Well, I do not think they will increase, but I think it is unrealistic to assume that sanctions are going to be reduced either. RD: What we should expect in terms of the Western policy towards Russia?  So, it is really very uncertain, but broadly speaking, many of these developments like Brexit, like the migration crisis, the evident discontent of a leader like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, make Russia more comfortable. However, this is not time to be dizzied with success. There is no basis for that. RD: After the recent Normandy Format meeting in Berlin, is there any hope for some positive developments of the Minsk agreements? Do you believe Germany and France will increase their pressure on Kiev in order to implement their part of the agreement? J.S.: In my view, and I believe this is also the view of Kiev, Russia's aim is not to preserve a frozen conflict \u2013 it is to use the warlords [in Eastern Ukraine] as a vehicle, a means to neutralize Ukraine with Western consent . All of the demands of the warlords, and informally those of the Russian leadership, concerning \"special status\" stipulate first of all absolute autonomy for these regions, something that exists in no federal state in the world. But secondly, and even more controversially, they stipulate a right of this entity, which is four percent of Ukraine's territory, to exert a right of veto over Ukraine's foreign and defense policy. And this is all has been stated explicitly and it's been reinforced in discussions on a very high level. This is absolutely unacceptable in Kiev. RD: What about Germany and France? What is their stance on that? J.S.: Berlin and Paris are not yet ready to accept it, so they keep looking for a compromise, they keep hoping that if Ukraine compromises, the other side (the rebels in Eastern Ukraine \u2013 Editor's note) will compromise, but I see no evidence of this and from my perspective, they don't have any reason to do that because the West keeps putting pressure on Kiev to make compromises. So, this leads to what I think is one very dangerous possibility for Ukraine and the West, though it is very encouraging for Russia. If Ukrainian President Poroshenko is put under pressure by the Ukrainian Parliament, and he insists on legislation that would be harmful to Ukraine's national interests, the Parliament will reject it. The president will then have to exercise his financial or administrative resources to try to deal with this. He might do that successfully or not: if he does it successfully, then the street will revolt. In my view, this is exactly what Moscow wants to happen. The problem is that in Europe there is not enough clarity about this situation and the West can blunder into a situation with an endangered Poroshenko regime. They do not want to do that, but after this recent Normandy meeting in Berlin , the risk of such a sequence of errors is more likely than it was before. And therefore, I would predict the Ukrainians would do everything that is necessary to stall, resist, divert until they can talk to a new set of players in Washington after the November presidential election . So, the Normandy Format meeting has not solved anything, it is not going to solve anything, it is an awkward bump on the road. It is going to continue until facts are created that no party can question anymore. RD: Many experts say that one of Russia's major goals in Syria is to divert attention from Ukraine in order to compel the West to cooperate and thus to prove that Russia is an inevitable partner, which the West has to deal with. So, do you think that it is legitimate to say so and did Russia achieve its goals in Syria? J.S.: Russia today is not only militarily but intellectually a very capable state, a very serious opponent . A great power like Russia never does something as significant as this for only one reason. So, the strongest motivation for Russia to deploy its forces to Syria in the fall of 2015 is to recognize the Assad regime and to preserve it and preserve it on Russian terms, which means preserve it in a \"usable\" Syria. Russia is not interested in whether or not Syrian President Bashar al-Assad re-establishes control over all of Syria. What they want is a \"usable\" Syria, which means the Alawites areas, the Western areas on the coast \u2013 areas where Russia's air base and naval facility are located and so on. This is one reason. Also read: \" The rivalry between Moscow and Washington for the right to defeat ISIS \" The second is to enjoy regional dividends. The expenses do not break Russia, but if it goes on for five more years then you can talk about it. The U.S. Obama Administration created the power vacuum in the Middle East and this was for many reasons. They came into office and said the Middle East would be less important. In 2012 they decided on the \"pivot to Asia,\" there are all sorts of new priorities. So, Russia is enjoying now increased authority in the region, including tangible results in Turkey . This is the second. The third is to show the West that there is no global question Russia is interested in that can't be solved without Russia and without Russia's opinion being accepted. In other words, there is no solution to any international problem that will be legitimate or workable without Russia's participation. And the fourth factor is to divert the West's attention from everything that is going on in Europe . And that's it. So, this are four factors there. They each reinforce the other but again, the certain paradox is that, the more Russia does to accomplish its aims in Syria, the bigger the humanitarian consequences, the more Russia's image suffers in the West, the more pressure there is for sanctions for tough policy and everything else. So, it does not all mesh perfectly. But this is a very well thought-through, powerful policy which I think in the short-to mid-term is likely to succeed, but not over the long-term. This is because the fundamental factor is that Syria is a country where 60-65 percent of its population is Sunni and it's true that the Sunni elites are in a sense part of the state's structure, but others are not; this insurgency is very strong and even after Aleppo, the insurgency is going to remain very strong. I don't think it will go away.","label":1}
{"text":"Myanmar s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Thursday urged people not to quarrel as she visited Rakhine State for the first time since a military crackdown that drove more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the country. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has faced heavy international criticism for not taking a higher profile in responding to what U.N. officials have called ethnic cleansing by the army. Myanmar has rejected the accusations of ethnic cleansing, saying its security forces launched a counter-insurgency operation after Rohingya militants attacked 30 security posts in northern Rakhine on Aug. 25. On Thursday, amid heightened security, Suu Kyi boarded a military helicopter at Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, to be taken to Maungdaw, one of the districts worst hit by the violence. Suu Kyi met a group of Muslim religious leaders, said Chris Lewa, of the Arakan Project monitoring group, citing Rohingya sources. She only said three things to the people - they should live peacefully, the government is there to help them, and they should not quarrel among each other, Lewa said, quoting information from a religious leader who was present. Rohingya began fleeing predominantly Buddhist Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh in late August to escape violence in the wake of a military counter-insurgency operation launched after Rohingya militants attacked security posts in Rakhine State. A U.S. State Department delegation will be in Bangladesh on Friday and Saturday to discuss the humanitarian crisis and human rights concerns stemming from the crisis in Rakhine state. The delegation will be led by Simon Henshaw, acting assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, the department said in a statement. On Wednesday, Reuters photographers saw thousands of desperate Rohingya wade through shallows and narrow creeks between islands of the Naf river to reach neighboring Bangladesh as the exodus begun two months ago was far from over. Some had small boats or pulled makeshift rafts to get to Bangladesh on the river s western bank, but most walked, children cradled in their arms and the elderly carried on their backs, with sacks of belongings tied to staves on their shoulders. Reaching the far side, some women and older people had to be pulled through the mud to reach dry land atop steep banks. More than 4,000 crossed at different points on the river on Wednesday, Major Mohammed Iqbal, a Bangladesh security official in the southern district of Cox s Bazar, told Reuters. Suu Kyi had not previously visited Rakhine since assuming power last year following a landslide 2015 election victory. The majority of residents in the northern part of the state, which includes Maungdaw, were Muslims until the recent crisis. Suu Kyi was accompanied by about 20 people traveling in two military helicopters, including military, police and state officials, a Reuters reporter said. Businessman Zaw Zaw, formerly sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for his ties to Myanmar s junta, was also with the Nobel laureate. Suu Kyi, who does not control the military, has lately appeared to take a stronger lead in the crisis, focusing government efforts on rehabilitation and pledging to repatriate refugees. She launched a project last month to help rehabilitation and resettlement in Rakhine and has urged tycoons to contribute. Suu Kyi has pledged to allow the return of refugees who can prove they were residents of Myanmar, but thousands of people have continued to flee to Bangladesh. Refugees in the Bangladesh camps say the Myanmar army torched their villages, but Myanmar blames Rohingya militants. Talks with Bangladesh have yet to deliver a pact on a repatriation process made more complex because Myanmar has long denied citizenship to the Rohingya. Suu Kyi s spokesman voiced fears on Tuesday that Bangladesh could be stalling on the accord to first get millions of dollars of international aid money, an accusation a senior Bangladesh home ministry official described as outrageous. United Nations refugee official Volker Turk appealed for the safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation of Rohingya. In a statement issued on Thursday after a two-day visit to Myanmar, Turk, the U.N. s assistant high commissioner for refugee protection, said he hoped the UNHCR would be involved in the government s plans for voluntary repatriation. But the scenes at the Naf river showed Rohingya were still ready to risk being destitute in Bangladesh, rather than stay in Myanmar in fear for their lives. (For a graphic on 'A desperate escape' click tmsnrt.rs\/2xIvxQF) (For a graphic on 'Mass exodus' click tmsnrt.rs\/2xTId74) (For a graphic on 'Trail of destruction' click tmsnrt.rs\/2y8FgQ8)","label":0}
{"text":"'Sacrificing a Chicken to Moloch'\u2014 The Clinton-Podesta Email Scandal is All About SATANISM The Clinton-Podesta email scandal is truly an astonishing and revealing expos\u00e9. Although, to be fa... http:\/\/humansarefree.com\/2016\/11\/sacrificing-chicken-to-moloch-clinton.html The Clinton-Podesta email scandal is truly an astonishing and revealing expos\u00e9. Although, to be fair to those researchers studying the dark underbelly of the New World Order conspiracy, it is more revealing than astonishing, since we have known for some time that the inner echelon of the New World Order is heavily into pedophilia and Satanism . Now, however, there is proof in black and white in the form of the leaked emails of John Podesta, former lobbyist and Clinton campaign manager. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we now have the verified, authentic emails of Podesta. They are replete with references to pedophilia and Satanism \u2013 although the pedophilia is couched in code language. The code is still being worked on by various independent researchers around the web.Despite the fact we don't know the exact meaning, it is still very clear that it is some kind of code, since some of the sentences and context are completely unnatural and deliberately cryptic. Hopefully, even though Hillary Clinton will no longer be the next US president, enough people will take the time to inform themselves about this crucial connection \u2013 the link between our \"elite\" criminal leaders and their adherence to Satanism (devil worship, black magic , etc.) which propels them into dark activities such as pedophilia . Satanic References in Clinton-Podesta Email Chains: Sacrificing a Chicken in the Backyard to Moloch It's tempting to write this all of as wild conspiracy and rationalize it away, but you can't when the proof is right in front of your face. Check out this email, number 30489 , from the WikiLeaks archive (image above): \"W ith fingers crossed, the old rabbit's foot out of the box in the attic, I will be sacrificing a chicken in the backyard to Moloch . .\" Sacrificing a chicken to Moloch. This may be taken literally, or it quite possible that in pedophilia code that chicken means child , in which case it may be referring to child sacrifice . Either way, the line is an apparent reference to Moloch, a favorite god of Satanism and a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice. Moloch is the deity worshiped at Bohemian Grove as a giant 40 foot owl. Thanks to the footage obtained by Alex Jones when he broke into Bohemian Grove in the year 2000, we know that the NWO conspirators who gather there partake in a dark ceremony known as the \"Cremation of Care\" which features human sacrifice. That particular video appears to show mock sacrifice, but there are people who have personally gone through the horror of being hunted at Bohemian Grove (such as Kathy Collins ) and lived to tell the story. Even if you don't believe that, the very fact that people are gathered around in secret worshiping dark forces and deliberately trying to destroy the compassion, empathy and love inside of themselves (\"cremate care\") is a very disturbing reality \u2013 especially when you consider these are the people running our world . Here are even more Satanic references. Click the following image to enlarge (or save it to your computer and read it zoomed in): Pedophilia Code: Pizza, Pasta, Cheese, Walnut Sauce and More Sites such as WeAreChange have already done a great job exposing Marina Abramovic and her invitation to the Podesta brothers (both John and Tony) for spirit cooking dinners at her house, where the participants would engage in weird Satanic rituals involving body fluids such as blood, semen and breast milk, and using animal (?) blood. \u2014 Read more on the subject here . WikiLeaks Podesta email 15893 revealed the spirit cooking invitation. In a different email chain (below), Hillary Clinton asks her assistant Huma Abedin if Marina will be going with Huma. From WeAreChange: \"Abramovic is known for her often-gory art that confronts pain and ritual. Her first performance involved repeatedly, stabbing herself in her hands. The next performance featured her throwing her nails, toenails, and hair into a flaming five-point star ...\" These are some of the words Marina painted in blood on her wall during her supposed spirit cooking: \"Fresh morning urine sprinkle over nightmare dreams ... with a sharp knife cut deeply into your middle finger of your left hand feel the pain ...\" Meanwhile, numbers 43113 , 35581 and 32795 (among many many others) all contain strange and unnatural references to food items such as pizza, pasta, cheese, walnut sauce, ice cream and more. Who speaks like this? \"Hi John, The realtor found a handkerchief (I think it has a map that seems pizza-related. Is it yorus? They can send it if you want. I know you're busy, so feel free not to respond if it's not yours or you don't want it.\" Some have suggested the code is something like this: Dominos = domination \/ BDSM","label":1}
{"text":"New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Thursday he has urged Donald Trump not to leave the Republican Party, saying it remains unified despite scathing criticism of Trump's presidential candidacy by a senior party leader earlier on Thursday. \"I have urged him not to leave the party,\" said Christie, a former candidate himself, who gave Trump a major boost last week when he endorsed him for the party's nomination for the Nov. 8 election. \"I don't think that's a constructive way to go about it, and he knows that,\" Christie told reporters. Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to leave the Republican Party if it does not respect him, told ABC News on Thursday that Republicans should be glad he has brought millions more people into the party: \"They're leaving the Democrats. They're leaving the independents. And they're with me 100 percent.\" The New York real estate magnate is the clear front-runner to be the Republican nominee in November but is facing heavy criticism from many in the party establishment - including a blistering speech on Thursday by the party's 2012 presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and Ohio Governor John Kasich are trailing Trump in their bids for the nomination, but are trying to coalesce the support of establishment Republicans to topple Trump before or at the party's nominating convention in July. Trump told MSNBC that the increasing number of ads from the establishment targeting him are \"really unfair,\" and that he could depart the party to run as an independent. \"If I leave, if I go ... which I may do, I mean, may or may not, but if I go, I will tell you these millions of people that joined, they've told them, they're all coming with me,\" he said. Concern about Trump among Republicans increased at the weekend over his failure to quickly disavow support from a leading white supremacist. \"I've know Donald Trump for 14 years, and Donald Trump is not a bigot,\" Christie told a news conference in New Jersey. \"In fact, Donald Trump is someone I think who has given a lot of opportunity to a lot of people of a lot of different backgrounds, and I disagree with Governor Romney on that one.\" (Reporting by Washington newsroom; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Frances Kerry) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton on Wednesday proposed a temporary freeze on some student debt and the cutting of college tuition entirely for some families, focusing on an issue important to supporters of her rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton's latest proposal includes a three-month moratorium for federal student loan payments and a new measure to eliminate in-state college tuition for families whose income does not exceed $125,000, according to a release from her campaign. The proposal builds on her earlier plan for easing student debt loads for higher education. Clinton, the former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic Party nominee, is looking to win over supporters of Sanders, the Vermont senator who was her main opponent for the nomination as he consistently sought to push the party left. The presumptive Republican nominee, businessman Donald Trump, also has courted Sanders' voters, trying to use his outsider appeal to bring them over to his campaign. On Wednesday, Clinton proposed using executive action to offer a three-month moratorium on student loan payments to all federal loan borrowers to offer help for borrowers to consolidate loans and find other methods to reduce their payments. She previously has released proposals to increase access to tuition grants, push for income-based repayments, and - like Sanders - to allow graduates to refinance student loans at lower interest rates. Sanders praised the new Clinton measures on Wednesday, saying in a statement that he wanted \"to take this opportunity to applaud Secretary Clinton.\"","label":0}
{"text":"David Duke October 26, 2016  Today Dr. Duke discussed the state of his campaign, including television commercials that he was preparing. He will be in a televised debate with the other leading candidates, which should be critical in putting him in the run off.  Pastor Mark Dankof took over the show at the break. He took calls from listeners. One call asked about Jesus's warning about the Synagogue of Satan. Pastor Dankof ended the show with a passionate warning about the risk of World War III should Hillary be elections.  This is another great show that you won't want to miss.","label":1}
{"text":"Dinner at the Barcelona home of Catalonia-born Montserrat Armisen, an independence supporter, can be a tense affair. He criticizes us and doesn t let us eat in peace, said Armisen of her husband, Gustavo Gomez, a Colombian who favors keeping the Spanish state intact, and their children, Jordi, 18, and Nicolas, 27. We go to our protests, return and don t say anything, but he just carries on, said Armisen, 55. It bothers us because there is no respect for us from his part. For many in Spain, the Catalonia crisis that threatens to fracture the country is also tearing at ordinary families and evoking painful memories of Spain s 1936-39 civil war. The prospect that Catalonia, a former principality which prides itself on its distinct language and culture, might break away has created divisions across Spanish society, from the kitchen table to the soccer pitch. Many in Spain regard Catalan secessionists as a noisy minority whose national identity is built on a misreading of history, ungrateful to a Spanish state that has underwritten the region s peace and prosperity. In their turn, some secessionists decry unionists as fascists , harking back to dictator Francisco Franco, who suppressed Catalan language and traditions after his forces won the civil war until his death in 1975. Most Catalans backed the Republican side against Franco. Small groups of far-right activists have taken part in recent anti-independence protests, with a few giving fascist salutes or carrying the flag of the Falange, the dominant party under Franco. Neo-fascists are disowned by the vast majority of those who want to keep Spain intact but their appearance in public shows how the Catalonia crisis has reopened some of Spain s deepest and most painful wounds. If I say things I am called a fascist, said Armisen s husband, Gomez, 58, who has lived in Barcelona with his family for a decade. Telling them they should not be independent is not being a fascist. Everything that has been done, in my view, is completely illegal, he told Reuters Television, adding that his wife had even asked him to leave home - something she denies. What am I doing here? Gomez asked, holding back tears. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont had pledged to proclaim the region s independence from Spain after Catalans defied a ban and police crackdown and, according to his government s count, voted overwhelmingly to break away in an Oct. 1 referendum. But, in a speech to the Catalan regional parliament on Tuesday, Puigdemont stepped back from a formal declaration of independence, claiming a mandate to launch secession but saying he would delay doing so to allow time for talks with Madrid on the region s future. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria savaged Puigdemont s speech, saying he should come back to the path of the law if he wanted talks with Madrid. She said the Spanish cabinet would meet on Wednesday to discuss its response. On Monday, Pablo Casado, a spokesman for Spain s ruling Popular Party, recalled that 83 years ago, the then Catalan leader, Lluis Companys, was jailed for declaring a Catalan state. He was executed by firing squad in 1940 during Franco s rule. Casado said anyone who declared independence might end up like Companys, in prison. In response, the pro-independence Catalan CUP party said on Twitter: Thanks for being so Franco, Pablo Casado , using a play on the Spanish word for frank and Franco . The dispute has touched Spain s sacred pastime, soccer. On the day after the referendum, the Spanish national team s Catalan defender, Gerard Pique, an independence supporter, was jeered by fans as he trained with the team. Trade unions are also divided. The Catalan arm of one of Spain s biggest unions, Comisiones Obreras (Workers Committees), initially backed calls for a general strike in Catalonia on Oct. 3 in response to the police crackdown on the referendum, according to media reports. But at a national level, Comisiones Obreras and another big union, the UGT, later said their Catalan affiliates would not take part in the strike, only protests against the crackdown. In no case are we going to support positions that give cover to a unilateral declaration of independence, they said in a joint statement. Rosa Borras, 47, took part in a demonstration in favor of national unity in Madrid last weekend. Thinking of her relatives in Catalonia, the situation is deeply saddening, she said. I ve come because I feel very Spanish and it makes me very sad what s happened, she said. I wanted to be here for unity, because I also feel very Catalan.","label":0}
{"text":"Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have created artificial heart tissue with functioning vasculature by stripping a spinach leaf of its original cells and replacing them with human cells. [The spinach leaf was used to solve a problem faced by biological engineers when creating artificial tissues and organs. Methods such as 3D printing that generally make good copies do not have the ability to recreate the complicated vascular systems that are needed to ensure the success of any bioengineered tissue. If oxygen and nutrients cannot be transported to the cells, then that organ will fail and die. While plants use their vasculature to transport water and nutrients rather than blood, the access to the cells that it provides is similar in design to animals. Combined with the fact that cellulose is compatible with human biology, the researchers saw a new opportunity to utilize plants in bioengineering. The process was relatively simple. The spinach leaf was first bleached via a detergent pumped through the veins, stripping away the plant cells. This took several days to complete, after which human blood vessel cells were implanted to make the veins to be compatible with human biology. The process was finished off by covering the leaf in human heart cells, which attached themselves to the skeleton. Eventually, the cells started beating like an actual heart, allowing mock blood to flow through the system. Similar experiments were conducted with peanut plants and parsley. Joshua Gershlak, a researcher at WPI in Massachusetts and the first author on the study explained in a press release where he got the inspiration from: When I looked at the spinach leaf, its stem reminded me of an aorta. So I thought, let's perfuse right through the stem. We weren't sure it would work, but it turned out to be pretty easy and replicable. Its working in many other plants. This is just one step on a long road to successfully utilizing this process in medical science. Researchers need to make sure that plant scaffolds like these would not be rejected, once inside a host, with a further plan to make the new creations stronger. Glenn Gaudette, a professor of biomedical engineering wondered if they could \"stack decellularized leaves, can we create a large thickness more along the thickness of a human heart wall?\" Another theory was perhaps broccoli or cauliflower could be made to replicate lung tissue. Along with requiring further optimisation, it also is unclear how the tissues could be used to actually create a new organ. Researchers are upbeat, claiming that while further investigation may still be needed, \"it has the potential to develop into a 'green' solution pertinent to a myriad of regenerative medicine applications. \" Jack Hadfield is a student at the University of Warwick and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can like his page on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @ToryBastard_ or on Gab @JH.","label":0}
{"text":"Have you ever seen something so stupid that you wish you could just go back to bed on the off-chance that it was a dream? That s how my day has gone so far. You know, we regularly hear from the NRA that gun owners are responsible individuals ready to leap into action and save us from all the ISISes, Commies, and other assorted (largely imaginary) bad guys who are lying in wait to attack us while we re walking around a grocery store or eating at Chipotle (though, of course, the food there might be seen as a reasonable threat these days). In some incredibly rare circumstances, it might be useful to have a gun. But, as usual, one of the NRA s Chosen has reminded us that the risks of universal gun ownership far outweigh the benefits.A woman who reportedly lives in the Southern United States didn t like that her kids disobey her, practically live on social media, and basically are teenagers. While most parents would take their children s electronics to teach them some respect, this unnamed woman decided a SECOND AMENDMENT SOLUTION was in order so she grabbed her shotgun and began shootin stuff while someone else recorded. I hereby denounce the effects that social media have on my children, the mom shouts at the beginning of the video, her trusty boomstick ready to dish out some justice. Their disobedience and their disrespect. She then takes aim at her children s iPhones and fires a shot, blasting them to bits. She then instructs the man behind the camera to place the broken bits of electronics back on the tree stump because she isn t quite through with them yet.Up to this point, the kids have been quite disrespectful, cursing at her and even flipping their mother the bird. In other words, she is likely right that they deserve punishment but she continues to take things to the extreme I refuse to be cursed, she bellows. I refuse to be disobeyed. I take back my role as your parent. This shining example of much of what is wrong with America then instructs the cameraman to make sure the kids are on camera and they can be seen standing with their arms crossed as their mother continues to go insane. One of them throws up both middle fingers because he s exactly the sort of kid someone like this would raise. She fires another shot, blowing the already-destroyed cell phones to even smaller bits. Anything left put it on top, she tells the cameraman who dutifully obeys. Mom then announces that she refuses to have them influenced in negative ways like, hypothetically, if their mother were to line them up and force her children to watch her shoot their belongings while screaming like a crazy woman. She wouldn t stand for that. Oh, wait To emphasize her point, she grabbed a sledgehammer and beat the fragments of the phones with it. I m done, she yelled as she dropped the hammer and walked away.It s easy for some to imagine a world in which everyone is armed but they fail to realize that people like this woman exist, who think a Second Amendment Solution is appropriate for even the most mundane of scenarios. She was not defending her home, saving lives, hunting, or even fighting back against an oppressive government. She used her weapon in an apparently failed attempt to intimidate her children (but let s face it: everyone in this scenario is an asshole). Fortunately, no one was hurt, but someone could have been. Watch it below:https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qxbMlVPThp0","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will press this week for NATO allies to demonstrate a \"clear path\" to increase defense spending, a State Department official said on Tuesday. Tillerson will hold his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on March 31. He will push allies on how they plan to meet a defense spending goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product, and press NATO to increase its role in the fight against terrorism, the official said. \"It is no longer sustainable for the United States to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO's deterrence and defense spending,\" the official said in a briefing with reporters, on condition of anonymity. President Donald Trump has unsettled European allies with demands they increase defense spending and talk of establishing an alliance with Russia to counter Islamic State militants. Tillerson's initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers to attend expected talks in the United States with Chinese President Xi Jinping also reopened questions about the Trump administration's commitment to the alliance. The State Department later said the meeting in Brussels had been rescheduled and Tillerson would attend. Five NATO members - Britain, Estonia, Greece, Poland and the United States - currently meet the 2 percent spending threshold, according to 2016 NATO figures. Members of the alliance have until 2024 to meet the targets. The Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian foreign ministers met with Tillerson at the State Department on Tuesday. The Baltic states have felt especially vulnerable since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014. Asked if they were confident in U.S. support for NATO, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius responded \"No doubts about that\" and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics and Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser nodded in agreement. The senior State Department official said Trump administration officials are \"pushing allies to do more, faster, absolutely no apology for that.\" The United States also wants allies to give a \"clear path\" on how they would meet the threshold, such as timelines and budgetary commitments, he said. But the official declined to state any specifics on what the United States would do if allies did not meet the targets. \"Our joint security requires it, that's the main leverage that we have,\" the official said. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last month the United States might \"moderate\" its support for the alliance but gave no details.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States would maintain sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela until they restore political and religious freedom. We re confronting rogue regimes from Iran to North Korea and we are challenging the communist dictatorship of Cuba and the socialist oppression of Venezuela, Trump told a conservative political conference. And we will not lift the sanctions on these repressive regimes until they restore political and religious freedom for their people.","label":0}
{"text":"Israel must halt new building plans for settler homes in the West Bank, the European Union s foreign service said in a statement on Wednesday, warning that such settlements threatened any future peace deal with the Palestinians. The European Union has requested clarifications from Israeli authorities and conveyed the expectation that they reconsider these decisions, which are detrimental to on-going efforts towards meaningful peace talks, the statement said. All settlement activity is illegal under international law, and it undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for a lasting peace. The EU maintains that the lands Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war - including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights - are not part of the internationally recognized borders of Israel.","label":0}
{"text":"Image: Bin im Garten, Creative Commons This article was written by Tyler Durden and originally published at Zero Hedge .  Editor's Comment: The entire campaign season was composed of stories about how Trump couldn't win, about the derogatory comments he has made, and the terror he would bring. But their lopsided attacks against Trump, and their continuing praise of nothing-but-Hillary was completely wrong in every way\u2026 the epitome of \"fake news.\"  And President-elect Trump reportedly let the media hear his mind\u2026 interesting account of this off-the-record meeting.  Trump \"Exploded\" At Media Execs During Off-The-Record Meeting: \"It Was A F\u2013king Firing Squad\"  by Tyler Durden Earlier today we reported that in a \"summit\" organized by Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, executives and anchors from the major US media outlets, including CNN president Jeff Zucker, ABC News president James Goldston, Fox News co-presidents Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy, and NBC News president Deborah Turness, visited Donald Trump at his Trump Tower penthouse for an off the record meeting. Courtesy of the Post, we have a complete list of the participants at the Trump media meeting: the hour-long powwow included top execs from network and cable news channels. Among the attendees were NBC's Deborah Turness, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, ABC's James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz, CBS' Norah O'Donnell John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham and Gayle King, Fox News' Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, MSNBC's Phil Griffin and CNN's Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett. The contents of what was discussed were initially unclear. Now, according to the Post and Politico , we learn that the President-elect \" exploded at media bigs in an off-the-record Trump Tower powow on Monday .\" \" It was like a f\u2014ing firing squad ,\" one source told the Post. According to the Post's recound of the conversation, \" Trump started with Jeff Zucker and said I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed \u2026.\" Jeff Zucker (left)  \"The meeting was a total disaster . The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,\" the source added. A second source confirmed the encounter. The Post adds that \"the meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks\u2026\" \"Trump kept saying, ' We're in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong. He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was network of liars . \"Trump didn't say Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate \u2013 which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room. \"Gayle did not stand up, but asked some question, 'How do you propose we the media work with you?' Chuck Todd asked some pretty pointed questions. David Muir asked how are you going to cope living in DC while your family is in NYC? It was a horrible meeting.\" Politico adds further details, according to which \"Trump complained about photos of himself that NBC used that he found unflattering, the source said. Trump turned to NBC News President Deborah Turness at one point, the source said, and told her the network won't run a nice picture of him, instead choosing \"this picture of me,\" as he made a face with a double chin. Turness replied that they had a \"very nice\" picture of him on their website at the moment.\" Amusingly, since the meeting was off the record, meaning the participants agreed not to talk about the substance of the conversations, it means they will most likely be unable to confirm or deny the Post's report. Politco's recollection of events was slightly less dramatic: The New York Post on Monday afternoon portrayed a much more heated meeting, including a quote from one source who said the encounter was \"like a f\u2013ing firing squad.\" The Post also said Trump called CNN journalists \"liars\" and that they should be \"ashamed.\" The source who spoke with POLITICO characterized the meeting as less intense, and said the discussion included Trump expressing the possibility of a \"reset\" of the tumultuous relationship between the president-elect and the media and that all he wants is \"fairness.\" Asked how he defines fairness by a network executive, Trump said simply, \"The truth.\" But aside from the few moments of contention in the beginning, the source said the meeting was largely substantive. Politico also adds that Trump, flanked by chief of staff Reince Priebus and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway at the table, also expressed annoyance at the protective press pool and the complaints over him ditching the press when he went out to dinner last week with his family after reporters were advised he was in for the night. But Priebus assured the attendees that the protective press pool will be taken care of and it would all work out. Other attendees at the meeting from Trump's team included chief strategist Stephen Bannon, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, spokesman Jason Miller, and Republican National Committee chief strategist and communications director Sean Spicer. Asked for comment, Miller referred POLITICO to Conway's comments to reporters after the meeting, in which she echoed the sentiments made in the meeting about turning over a new leaf with the media. \"There was no need to mend fences,\" Conway said. \"It was very cordial, very genial. But it was very candid and very honest. From my own perspective, it's great to hit the reset button.\" Conway later on Monday hit back at the New York Post report. \"He did not explode in anger,\" she said. While one can have a subjective interpretuation of the nuances at the meeting, one thing was clear: Trump's attempt at a 'reset' will be frowned at by the media which is not used to this kind of treatment, even if the \"kindler, gentler\" version of events as reported by Politico is accurate. It also means that what has already been a conventional war between the various US media organizations and Trump, is likely about to go nuclear. This article was written by Tyler Durden and originally published at Zero Hedge .","label":1}
{"text":"The Trump transition team wants copies of every single executive order and directive outgoing President Obama ordered on immigration since he took office, along with several other documents that will let them assess how to beef up border security, according to a Reuters exclusive. [Most famous among the executive orders: Obama's unconstitutional shielding of illegal aliens from deportation in 2012, carving out exemptions for illegal aliens who arrived in the U. S. as minors. It granted a form of legal status and work permits to some 1. 4 million illegals who signed up \u2014 and an \"advance parole\" that would let them claim U. S. citizenship, completely absent of Congressional oversight, let alone approval. Trump transition officials also asked to see any illegal aliens' records who had been changed to ensure federal workers were not altering them to help the illegals stay in the U. S. according to Reuters. The illegal aliens who signed up for amnesty freely gave the government their addresses, identities, and admission that they're in the country illegally, meaning they could be the first in line when the deportations begin under a Trump administration. \"Four years ago I pointed out the fundamental problem with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program: Anyone who signed up for DACA would be adding their names to a list of illegal aliens. Should a future administration decide that it would start enforcing the law, the DACA program would provide list of prime candidates for deportation,\" writes John Miano at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). \"At the time, this was so obvious that I was surprised anyone would be stupid enough to sign up for DACA and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans). Yet apparently hundreds of thousands of people did so anyway. \" Roughly one million of the illegal aliens who signed up for Obama's amnesty are from Mexico, CIS added. There may be as many as thirty million illegal aliens living in America in defiance of U. S. law. Any and every illegal alien in the U. S. is subject to deportation, Trump said in a major policy speech given in Phoenix, Arizona, roughly two months before his election win. There will be \"zero tolerance\" for illegal immigration under a Trump administration. \"Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation \u2014 that is what it means to have laws and to have a country,\" Trump said. The Trump transition team also requested that the Department of Homeland Security \" assess all assets available for border wall and barrier construction,\" and look into expanding detention capabilities for illegal aliens and aerial surveillance of the U. S. border: In response to the transition team request, U. S. Customs and Border Protection staffers identified more than 400 miles along the U. S. border, and about the same distance along the U. S. border, where new fencing could be erected, according to a document seen by Reuters \u2026 One program the transition team asked about, according to the email summary, was Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that authorizes 1, 200 Army National Guard airmen to monitor the southern border for drug trafficking and illegal migration \u2026 Adding 413 miles of fencing on the southwest border would be more expensive, according to the estimate of $11. 37 billion, because it would be aimed at keeping pedestrians as well as vehicles from crossing. The meeting between transition team and DHS officials took place Dec. 5, Reuters said.","label":0}
{"text":"Former CIA Director John Brennan said on Tuesday it became clear last summer that Russia was attempting to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, and that he warned the head of Russia's FSB security service that such interference would hurt U.S. ties. \"It should be clear to everyone Russia brazenly interfered in our 2016 presidential election process and that they undertook these activities despite our strong protests and explicit warning that they do not do so,\" Brennan testified at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. Brennan said he believed he was the first U.S. official to raise the matter of election interference with the Russians, citing a phone conversation he had on Aug. 4 last year with FSB head Alexander Bortnikov. He said he raised published media reports of Russian attempts to meddle in the election with the Russian official, who denied any involvement by Moscow. Brennan said he briefed then President Barack Obama and other top officials, and that he discussed the matter with both Republican and Democratic U.S. congressional leaders in August and September. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to tilt the November presidential election campaign in Republican Donald Trump's favor, including by hacking into and leaking the emails of senior Democrats. Moscow has always denied the allegation. The early months of Trump's presidency have been clouded by FBI and congressional probes into Russian meddling and possible collusion by Trump's campaign. Trump has denied any collusion. (Corrects to phone conversation, not meeting, in paragraph 3.)","label":0}
{"text":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the framework agreement reached by world powers to curb Iran's nuclear program, repeatedly calling it a \"free path to a bomb\" that will spark an arms race in the Middle East. Under the framework announced last week, international sanctions would be lifted in phases if Iran meets its commitments. The International Atomic Energy Agency would conduct inspections to monitor significant limits on Iranian nuclear facilities, and the restrictions would be in place for at least a decade. In a series of interviews on Sunday political talk shows, Netanyahu called for world leaders to strike a \"better deal\" that significantly \u2014 and permanently \u2014 rolls back Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Sanctions should be ratcheted up \u2014 not lifted \u2014 to pressure Iran until it stops its \"aggression in the region,\" he said. Netanyahu questioned whether inspections would be effective, saying Iran has shown that it cannot be trusted. \"I wouldn't bet the shop on inspections,\" the Israeli leader said on CNN's \"State of the Union.\" \"It's not a country that you can place your trust in. And it's not a country that you're going to resolve its congenital cheating. You're just not going to replace it by placing more inspectors there.\" The \"very, very bad\" agreement only allows Iran to build a vast arsenal by placing temporary restrictions and lifting sanctions that had crippled the country's economy, Netanyahu said. He repeatedly said the agreement would \"pump up their terror machine worldwide.\" Echoing concerns among skeptics of the framework, Netanyahu said it would spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, with Sunnis states already seeing Shiite Iran as a major threat. \"I think this is a dream deal for Iran and a nightmare deal for the world,\" Netanyahu said on NBC's \"Meet the Press.\" Netanyahu did not outwardly criticize President Obama, but he said there is a \"legitimate difference of view\" between the two leaders. Netanyahu said he believes Obama is doing what is best for the United States. But the agreement will jeopardize not only Israel but also surrounding countries in the Middle East, the Israeli leader said on ABC's \"This Week.\" The framework agreement does not block Iran's path to nuclear weapons, and instead paves it, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Using the long-debunked Planned Parenthood videos that were heavily edited to show the sale of fetal tissue, House Republicans have decided that if they can t punish PP, they would terrorize researchers instead:WASHINGTON A special House committee empaneled to investigate fetal tissue research is preparing to issue 17 subpoenas to medical supply companies and laboratories, seeking the names of researchers, graduate students, laboratory technicians and administrative personnel.The House investigation into how some of the nation s most prestigious universities acquire fetal tissue has prompted charges of intimidation and coercion, escalating a battle that some researchers fear could shut down studies seeking cures for Parkinson s disease, the Zika virus and a host of other conditions.Republicans know full well that the donation of aborted fetal tissue is perfectly legal and vitally necessary to life-saving research. But this is an election year, so they re willfully putting that same life-saving research in jeopardy just to feed red meat to their idiot base.If you listen carefully, you can already hear the so-called pro-life movement flexing their fingers, ready to start typing death threats to any researchers that have their names revealed. But don t call them domestic terrorists! They re just using fear and violence to get their way.Keep in mind, these researchers are literally saving millions of lives by curing diseases and discovering ways to fix traumatic damage to the human body. But once their names are forced into the public square, they will be called murderers and monsters by people who think the height of morality is screaming at teenage girls trying to get rid of their rapist s fetus.Even worse, if Republicans get their way, it s only a matter of time until some crazed, but somehow still responsible, gun owner goes on a rampage and shoots up a research facility to save the murdered babies or some such stupidity. Or maybe someone will just set the lab on fire. Or try to blow it up. The fact that they could be killing the person that cures cancer or destroying the research that could have ended birth defects won t even occur to them.This kind of short-term irresponsibility is all Republicans know how to do anymore. Exposing these people s names to the violent pro-life movement is a recipe for disaster but a surefire way to get votes. But it s not like they ll ever accept responsibility for the consequences, anyway.","label":1}
{"text":"In their ongoing efforts to roll back or hamstring Obamacare, Republicans probably weren't hoping that the first Senate hearing on the matter this year would feature a self-described \"democratic socialist\" getting GOP witnesses to back a key argument for universal health care. Thursday's hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was devoted to the question of moving the full-time work standard under the Affordable Care Act from 30 hours a week to 40 hours, and whether more workers would be hurt by the higher or lower limit. But to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has long supported the creation of a universal health care system, battling over that particular point began to seem absurd, and he opened his remarks by noting that in every other developed country, such a debate would make no sense at all. \"The argument of whether you provide health insurance to people who work 30 hours a week or whether they work 40 hours a week -- whoa,\" Sanders said. \"In every major country on Earth, health care is a right of all people.\" With that as his premise, he then asked three of the hearing's witnesses -- two business owners and a school superintendent -- whether their lives and daily endeavors would be improved if government lifted from them the burden of providing health care to their workers. And despite all the GOP's cries and criticisms of \"socialized medicine\" when the Affordable Care Act was making its way through Congress years ago, the two Republican panelists agreed nearly as readily. \"A question like that -- sure,\" said Betsy Webb, who runs the Bangor School Department in Maine. \"But what is the reality?\" \"The reality is that maybe it should not have to be the responsibility of the Bangor school district to provide health care, that maybe it should be a right of all of our people, whether they work at McDonald's in Bangor, whether they work for the school district, to have health care,\" said Sanders, before taking up the question with the next witness, Andrew Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which runs the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains. \"If what you're saying, Senator, is that if we had a bill that was debated, that was vetted through congressional committees, and we looked at the health care system and really tried to come up with a more rational solution, I would say you're absolutely right,\" Puzder said. He allowed that he and Sanders \"might not agree on the ultimate solution,\" but when Sanders pressed Puzder on whether he would rather not have to worry about providing health care and instead focus on his products, the CEO was emphatic.","label":0}
{"text":"The left is going ballistic over supposed words said by President Trump to a grieving military widow. President Trump made a call to Myeshia Wilson that has been turned into a political football by the left to make Trump out to be crazy . Wilson s husband was killed in Niger while serving in our military.The media also wasted no time covering this story that does it s best to try and make Trump look as bad as possible Just another day in the life of the lefty media.Far left Congresswoman Frederica Wilson jumped right in to trash Trump after the call. She s following the left s narrative by claiming Trump is a sick man . It s pretty funny that Wilson calls Trump crazy while wearing a glittery cowgirl hat 24\/7.According to NBC: He said, But you know he must ve known what he signed up for, the Democrat recounted Trump saying more than once during the call to express his sympathy. According to Wilson, the conversation lasted somewhere from three to five minutes. Everyone knows when you go to war you could possibly not come back alive but you don t remind a grieving widow of that, Wilson said. That s so insensitive. Trump didn t even remember his name, Wilson recalled Myeshia Johnson telling her after the call ended, the congresswoman told MSNBC s Morning Joe Wednesday. She hung up the phone and said, He didn t even remember his name, Wilson said. That s the hurting part. The White House said Tuesday that the president had called the families of all four service members who were killed. He offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their family s extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten, the White House said.Asked about Wilson s characterization of the call, a White House official said Tuesday night that the president s conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private. Trump hit back at the claims saying he has proof of what was said on the call:Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017Wilson took no time in shooting back that Trump is a sick man . She s clearly milking this for all it s worth. It s sick that this Democrat would use this call to a grieving widow to bash our president.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he wants to craft changes to a just-passed tax overhaul bill to provide \"additional tax incentives\" that would help Puerto Ricans recover from Hurricane Maria. In a statement following passage in the House of a major tax bill, Ryan said he would try to insert unspecified provisions into the legislation that would grant new tax incentives \"so that our fellow U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico can have all the possible resources to rebuild their lives and their economy.\" Puerto Rico has been reeling from hurricane damage, which disrupted the U.S. territory's power grid, contaminated water supplies and destroyed homes and businesses.","label":0}
{"text":"Wolfgang Schaeuble s decision to step aside as German finance minister has given the Free Democratic Party what it has long craved: the chance to shape policy from the most coveted perch in Chancellor Angela Merkel s next coalition government. However the opportunity also presents the party with a conundrum. FDP leader Christian Lindner has signaled for months that he would prefer to lead the business-friendly party in parliament rather than take a cabinet job under Merkel. If Lindner sticks to his stance then the FDP, which is returning to parliament after a four-year hiatus, must find someone else to fill one of the most important positions in international economic and financial policy. The person who replaces Schaeuble could also carry the prestigious title of vice chancellor. The only party member besides Lindner with that kind of stature is Wolfgang Kubicki, whose political skills are unquestioned but who is also known as a loose cannon, a reputation that may not suit a sensitive job where a few ill-judged words can move global financial markets. If it is not Lindner, then there are not a lot of options, said one senior figure in the party. Kubicki might be the only one with the profile and political weight. The finance ministry seems to be the FDP s for the taking. As the second biggest party in what is expected to be a three-way coalition with Merkel s conservatives and the Greens, it would have first choice of cabinet post. The post has become more influential over the past decade as Germany, the world s fourth largest economy, navigated the global financial crisis and euro zone turmoil. Schaeuble, who is becoming president of the parliament, was known for his budget discipline and tough stance toward struggling euro partners like Greece. Whoever replaces him will play a crucial role in shaping Germany s response to calls from French President Emmanuel Macron for an ambitious overhaul of the EU and euro zone. The finance ministry will be absolutely crucial in the next government in shaping not just Germany s fiscal stance but the future of Europe, said Jens Boysen-Hogrefe of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. No one besides Lindner deserves more credit for the FDP s revival after its disastrous 2013 election result than the 65-year-old Kubicki, a quick-witted lawyer who sails around on his yacht Liberty and is known as one of the most outspoken, colorful figures in German politics. Earlier this year, after Donald Trump announced his travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries, Kubicki said Berlin should retaliate by barring the U.S. president from entering Germany. He has made clear in the past that he is interested in the finance job. In a 2010 interview with newspaper Die Zeit, he said it was the only position that might lure him from his home in the port of Kiel in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. Only one post would interest me, finance minister, Kubicki said at the time. Finance minister is the key job, and I would like to prove that budget consolidation can work. Asked on Friday by German daily Handelsblatt whether he wanted the job, Kubicki dodged the question, saying policy was more important than cabinet posts. But the interview with Die Zeit showed why the party, and Merkel, might have second thoughts. Explaining why he hadn t yet made a move to Berlin, Kubicki told the paper that if he did, he could turn into a drinker and possibly also a whoremonger . He then painted a hedonistic picture of political life in Berlin, replete with alcohol-soaked receptions and trysts with random women. When asked about these comments today, Kubicki who is married to his third wife, says he has become ethically and morally centered in the intervening years. The names of other FDP politicians are circulating as potential finance ministers. They include Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank (EIB); Carl-Ludwig Thiele of the Bundesbank; Volker Wissing, the former head of the Bundestag finance committee; and Otto Fricke, former head of the budget committee. Two members of the European Parliament, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff and Michael Theurer, have also been mentioned. One cannot completely rule out that Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) will keep the post. If they do, Peter Altmaier, who is expected to replace Schaeuble until the new government is formed, could be a favorite. However, the scenario that several politicians in Berlin said was most likely is that Lindner will be compelled to take the finance ministry, with Kubicki sliding in as parliamentary leader, which is seen as a role more suited to his strengths. Having Lindner, the face of the FDP, outside the government would be frowned upon by Merkel, who will be trying to hold together an unwieldy coalition with the FDP and Greens, a combination that has never been tried at the federal level. There are big differences between the FDP and Greens on economic, environmental and European policy. Add in Merkel s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), which is pushing a hard line on immigration, and it is hard to see how the parties will bridge some policy gaps and hold together. Regardless of who takes the job, big changes in fiscal policy are seen as unlikely. The FDP has called for 30 billion euros in tax cuts, but it is unlikely to get its way in the coalition talks and it remains committed to the Schwarze Null balanced budget that Schaeuble defended. You might see new impulses with an FDP finance minister, said Boysen-Hogrefe of the Kiel institute. But don t count on big changes. The Schwarze Null will remain a priority.","label":0}
{"text":"There are some people you probably shouldn t cross. Donald Trump is one, and conservative author and political analyst Ann Coulter is the other one Conservative columnist Ann Coulter flew into a fit of fury Saturday after Delta Airlines booted her from her reserved Comfort+ seat which comes with 3 additional inches of legroom and gave it to another passenger.In a two-hour tweeting tantrum,she quoted her exchange with a flight attendant: Why are you taking me out of the extra room seat I specifically booked? she asked.Their answer, she said, was I don t know. Before Coulter posted a picture of the woman Delta gave her extra-legroom reserved seat to, she tweeted this:Suckiest @Delta moved me from my PRE-BOOKED SEAT & gave it to some woman, not elderly, child, or sick. I have pictures so don t lie, @Delta! Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017But at least @Delta was nice @ it, summarily snatching my ticket from my hand & ordering me to move w\/o explanation, compensation or apology Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017The 6-foot-tall Coulter, who is 55, tweeted a picture of the woman who got her aisle seat on the flight from LaGuardia to Florida, noting, Delta didn t give my extra room seat to an air marshal or tall person. NYP.@Delta didn t give my extra room seat to an air marshall or tall person. Here s the woman given my PRE-BOOKED seat: pic.twitter.com\/iDNB8xXXOd Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 15, 2017The long-legged Coulter, who still appeared to furious about Delta s decision to boot her from her reserved seat with extra legroom, tweeted again to Delta about the daschund-legged woman who they gave her seat to:So glad I took time investigate the aircraft & PRE-BOOK a specific seat on @Delta, so some woman could waltz at the last min & take my seat. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 15, 2017Hey @Delta, if it was so important for the dachshund-legged woman to take my seat, she should have BOOKED THE SEAT IN ADVANCE. Like I did. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017The sharp-tongued conservative firebrand continued to rip into Delta Airlines in a series of tweets criticizing their customer service:.@Delta motto: \"How can we make your flight more uncomfortable?\" Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017.@Delta employee questionnaire: What is your ideal job: Prison guard? Animal handler? Stasi policeman? All of the above: HIRED! Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017A Delta spokesman said it appeared Coulter was in the same extra-room row, just in a different seat. But he promised to look into it.","label":1}
{"text":"Internet giants, including Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) and Facebook (FB.O), are moving to compromise on several major policy issues as they adjust to an abrupt shift in the political winds in Washington. Just last week, the U.S. Senate took a big step toward advancing legislation that would partially strip away the internet industry's bedrock legal protection, a 1996 law that shields companies from liability for the activities of their users. At the same time, Democratic senators are writing legislation that would create new disclosure rules for online political ads after Facebook this month revealed that suspected Russian trolls purchased more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on its platform during the 2016 election cycle. The U.S. Federal Election Commission is considering bringing in Facebook and other tech firms for a public hearing. Unlike in Europe, where they have faced a bevy of new rules and billion-dollar fines, internet giants have avoided virtually all types of government regulation in the United States, even as their market power continues to grow. Amazon (AMZN.O), for example, controls more than a third of U.S. online commerce, while Google and Facebook combined account for more than sixty percent of the U.S. digital ad market. Internet firms have from their inception urged U.S. politicians in both parties to treat their industry as a nascent sector in need of unique protections. These firms enjoyed an especially close relationship with the Democratic administration of former President Barack Obama, which saw several officials go to work for Google upon leaving the White House. But some Democrats, still bitter over Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election, are now expressing alarm at the industry's power. Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, this month compared political ads on social media to the \"wild, wild West\" and is working on legislation to require more disclosure. On the Republican side, President Donald Trump has been hostile to the tech industry in many of his public remarks. Google and Facebook have been repeatedly attacked from the right for alleged liberal bias and a globalist outlook. Now, the Internet firms are backpedaling from earlier positions as they seek to avoid regulation, according to congressional aides, industry lobbyists and company sources. \"Tech is no longer the golden goose,\" said one technology industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. \"Maybe it's a good thing we start behaving like a rational part of the economy.\" Silicon Valley lobbyists and congressional aides in both parties were quick to temper talk of a sweeping regulatory crackdown, in part because the government agencies that could move against the industry, notably the Federal Trade Commission, remain severely understaffed. But the shift in tone is palpable. On Thursday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company, for the first time, would make it possible for anyone to see details about political ads that run on Facebook, which, unlike television ads, do not fall under U.S. law requiring disclosure of who pays for them. Requiring such transparency is one of the key provisions of the proposed legislation on online political ads. The company also said it would turn over to congressional investigators political ads that it says were likely purchased by Russian entities during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The moves marked an about-face for Zuckerberg, who after the November election said it was a \"crazy idea\" to think that activity on Facebook swayed the vote. Facebook has also shifted its stance on proposed changes to the liability protections for internet companies, formally known as Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. The legislation, which is aimed at stopping online sex trafficking, has been fiercely opposed by companies that see it as a threat to openness and innovation on the internet. But after an emotional hearing last week featuring testimony from the mother of a murdered sex-trafficking victim - which followed two big tech companies, Oracle (ORCL.N) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE.N), breaking ranks with industry peers on the issue - Facebook and Google have opened the door to negotiation on the bill, according to congressional aides and industry sources. In a statement, Erin Egan, Facebook's vice president of U.S. policy, said the company believed a legislative solution was possible to \"address this terrible problem while ensuring that the internet remains open and free and that responsible companies can continue to work to stop sex trafficking before it happens.\" The tech industry in recent years has neutralized other ideas percolating in the halls of Congress that it perceived as threatening, including calls to weaken encryption and demands that social media companies report \"terrorist\" activity to the government. But the effort to amend Section 230 is seen as different. The fast progress of legislation, introduced in August, has alarmed lobbyists and company representatives who initially predicted it would not go far in an otherwise gridlocked Congress. The bill comes after years of law enforcement lobbying for a crackdown on the online classified site backpage.com, which is used for sex advertising. The measure would make it easier for states and sex trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others who fail to keep exploitative material off their platforms. Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead architect of the Section 230 legislation, said in an interview with Reuters that he was confident his measure would become law this congressional term, with or without Silicon Valley's cooperation. The bill has attracted bipartisan support from nearly a third of the Senate; a companion measure has similar backing in the House of Representatives. Portman said he had met with Trump's daughter and advisor, Ivanka Trump, who expressed strong support. \"Frankly, I am disappointed (that) more in the technology industry are not joining us on this effort,\" Portman said. \"It is in their interest to be supportive of a solution on this problem.\"","label":0}
{"text":"TRUTH: No Apartheid in Israel, Says Black South African Politician Oct 28, 2016 Previous post Any black South African who claims there is apartheid in Israel is either uninformed or blatantly dishonest, says a member of parliament in Pretoria.  According to Kenneth Meshoe, chairman of the African Christian Democratic Party faction, any attempt to compare Palestinians' experience in Israel with the former racist regime is offensive to individuals who suffered under the system of racial separation.  Whatever challenges the Arab minority in Israel faces, the reality of life here cannot be compared to his experiences growing up, he insists.  \"There is freedom of movement in this country that we never had in South Africa,\" Meshoe told Tazpit Press Service (TPS) during a visit to Jerusalem last week. \"Benches and bathrooms said 'whites only.' We could never take 'white' transportation. Most white doctors would not treat black patients, only white ones. And those who were willing to treat black patients out of compassion \u2013 many of them would ask the patients to enter their clinics through the back door so they wouldn't be seen by the white patients in the lobby. I don't know if it was illegal for white doctors to treat black patients, but the reality was that very few did.\" 'Perpetuating Propaganda'  According to Meshoe, \"Some South Africans who say there's apartheid in Israel are only repeating things they've heard from other people, not because they've actually seen it themselves. They are just perpetuating propaganda.  \"Other people \u2013 politicians \u2013 are only thinking about their needs, and the statements that will serve their needs. They ask 'what do I gain [by claiming there is or is not apartheid in Israel] and then make a decision. So they are perpetuating something that that they know very well is a lie.\"  Meshoe said he first visited Israel several years after Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994. He joined a church delegation to the Holy Land and used the opportunity both for a religious pilgrimage and a political education, but the latter came as a surprise.  \"On that trip, I deliberately looked for anything that looked like apartheid. I took a bus to the center of Jerusalem, but blacks, Jews, Arabs and","label":1}
{"text":"Chad has withdrawn hundreds of troops from neighboring Niger, where they were helping local forces fight Boko Haram Islamist militants, humanitarian sources and officials said. The pull-out over the past two weeks could weaken a region-wide struggle against the militants who have killed tens of thousands of people, forced many more to flee and triggered a humanitarian crisis. There was no immediate explanation or comment from defense officials in Chad. But the move came a month after the vast central African country complained about an unexpected U.S. travel ban imposed on its nationals. Chad warned at the time the order could affect its security commitments - which include its involvement in the U.S.-backed fight against Boko Haram. Residents said the withdrawal had already had an impact on Niger s Diffa region, which has seen a string of attacks by Boko Haram militants crossing over from their base in neighboring Nigeria. Ibrahim Arimi from the border village of Bosso said banditry had increased since the Chadian troops started leaving and he had been temporarily moved to another village for safety. Diffa parliamentarian Lamido Moumouni said residents had started complaining. They have come to rely on the forces so there is a perception that security will be lacking, he said by telephone. At its peak in 2016 after an attack in Bosso, Chad had 2,000 troops in Niger to help counter Boko Haram although security sources said this has fallen since. Boko Haram has attacked Chad, Niger and Cameroon from its base in northeast Nigeria. Its eight-year bid to carve out an Islamist caliphate has driven millions from their homes - more than 200,000 of them are now based in Diffa, with little prospect of returning home. Thousands of them are camped alongside an unfinished highway in the middle of a barren savannah with few resources. Chad s soldiers also occupy front-line positions in a peacekeeping force in northern Mali. Falling oil revenues after the price crash in 2014 has also sapped Chad s appetite for expensive regional security commitments, analysts say.","label":0}
{"text":"learn more  The main causes are an unhealthy diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and genetics, but considering how many people are affected by this issue and how much strain it is placing on our already overburdened medical systems, researchers are desperate to find other avenues to treat it. And through their efforts, they have now discovered that our gut plays a crucial role in weight management.  New evidence suggests that gut bacteria alter the way we store fat, how we balance levels of glucose in the blood, and how we respond to hormones that make us feel hungry or full. If we have the wrong mix of microbes from birth, we may be predisposed to obesity and diabetes.  Thankfully, researchers are starting to find the differences between the wrong and the right ones, and what factors determine those differences. Their hope is that, with this knowledge, they can prevent and maybe even reverse obesity. We also need to learn how to keep our gut microbes happy in order to avoid weight gain. This begins with redesigning our food choices. Understanding The Importance Of Microbes  While researchers have long known about microorganisms in the human body, only in the past decade did they come to understand that they outnumber our own cells 10 to 1. And rapid gene-sequencing techniques have discovered that the biggest and most diverse of the bunch live in the large intestine and mouth.  From birth, we build up our microbes, first from our mother's bacteria and then from the environment around us. The genes of these microbes, collectively called the microbiome, have been diligently studied \u2014 researchers pinpointing their census, and now the kind of jobs they perform. advertisement - learn more  It was first thought that gut microbes might play a role in obesity from studies comparing intestinal bacteria in obese and lean individuals. Researchers found that the gut community in lean people was very diverse, and they tended to have a wider variety of Bacteroidetes , which are a large tribe of microbes that work to break down bulky plant starches and fibers into smaller molecules in order for the body to use them as a source of energy. But obese people proved to have a much less diverse community.  Other studies pointed out that these discrepancies aren't necessarily responsible for obesity; however, one series of experiments with \"humanized\" mice concluded that there is a cause-and-effect relationship , and that obesity may be preventative. So the obesity conversation is now turning to how we can shape our gut ecosystem to work in our favor. Keep Evolving Your Consciousness Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox. How Diet Plays A Role  Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis and his team of researchers came to the conclusion that highly processed foods have been linked to a less diverse gut community in people by feeding humanized mice a specially prepared unhealthy chow high in fat and low in fruits, vegetables, and fiber. Mice with obese-type microbes grew fatter when housed with lean cagemates. The researchers found that the unhealthy diet kept the bacteria from moving in and flourishing.  Studies have also found how diet can harm our gut bacteria and predispose us to obesity from the day we are born as well, showing that both formula-fed babies and infants delivered by cesarean section have a higher risk for obesity and diabetes than breast-fed babies or those delivered vaginally. For instance, Rob Knight of the University of Colorado Boulder and Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello of N.Y.U. have found that when newborns traverse the birth canal, they ingest bacteria that helps them to digest milk . And babies raised on formula do not get substances in breast milk that both allow beneficial bacteria to thrive and prevent unhealthy ones from doing likewise. A Canadian study even concluded that a major reason for babies being more susceptible to allergies, asthma, eczema, and celiac disease, as well as obesity, may be due to them being fed formula instead of being breast fed .  Antibiotics may also play a role in obesity, with research finding that young mice given low doses of antibiotics develop about 15 percent more body fat than mice that are not given such drugs. \"Antibiotics are like a fire in the forest,\" Dominguez-Bello proclaims. \"The baby is forming a forest. If you have a fire in a forest that is new, you get extinction.\" What's Next  Scientists hope the work they are doing on understanding the microbiome will introduce a new generation of tools to treat and prevent obesity, but with so much research still to be done, and so many questions to answer, time will only tell what will come of these various studies connecting the dots between the gut and weight.  \"Data from human studies are a lot messier than the mouse data,\" explains Claire Fraser of the University of Maryland, who is studying the connection of obesity and gut microbes in the Old Order Amish population.  Many scientists are still developing potential treatments nonetheless, including Dominguez-Bello, who is conducting a clinical trial in Puerto Rico where she will monitor the weight and overall health of babies born by cesarean section who are immediately swabbed with a gauze cloth laced with the mother's vaginal fluids and resident microbes.  The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.  You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.  \"If \"Survivor\" was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and \"The Sacred Science\" hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group.\" - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune","label":1}
{"text":"By INDRA WARNES  In a truly shocking twist the Suptreme Court decided the grown Iraqi man may not have realised the 10-year-old did not want to be sexually abused by him.  Amir A, 20, was visiting the Theresienbad pool in the Austrian capital of Vienna last December as part of a trip to encourage integration.  When the youngster went to the showers, Amir A. allegedly followed him, pushed him into a toilet cubicle, and violently sexually assaulted him.  Following the attack, the accused rapist returned to the pool and was practising on the diving board when police arrived, after the 10-year-old raised the alarm with the lifeguard.  The child suffered severe anal injuries which had to be treated at a local children's hospital, and is still plagued by serious post-traumatic stress disorder.  In a police interview, Amir A. confessed to the crime; telling officers the incident had been \"a sexual emergency\", as his wife had remained in Iraq and he \"had not had sex in four months\".  A court found Amir guilty of serious sexual assault and rape of a minor, and sentenced him to six years in jail.  However, in","label":1}
{"text":"Media outlets such as CNN, Radio Free Europe and Deutsche Welle could be affected by Russia s new foreign agents media law, Andrei Isayev, a senior lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party, told RIA news agency on Monday. Russia s parliament warned last week that some U.S. and other foreign media outlets could be declared foreign agents and obliged to regularly declare full details of their funding, finances and staffing.","label":0}
{"text":"More than five months after a mysterious substance exploded in Central Park, blowing off the lower part of a man's left leg, many questions about the episode persist. Law enforcement officials continue to believe the blast may have been the result of an amateur's experiment with homemade explosives. But they have yet to determine why the explosive was in the park or to identify a suspect or make an arrest. On Friday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is investigating the explosion along with the New York Police Department, said it would offer a $12, 500 reward for information that led to a suspect, bringing the total amount of reward money being offered by law enforcement agencies in connection with the blast to $25, 000. The authorities also asked for anyone to come forward who might have taken photographs or videos near the explosion site, around the entrance to the park at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue, in the days before the blast. The announcement came as investigators continued to struggle to solve the mystery behind the July 3 explosion. Connor Golden, who was visiting New York City from Virginia, was climbing down from a rock formation with two friends when a bag he stepped on exploded around 11 a. m. Occurring in such a heavily used section of the city on a holiday weekend, the accident rattled people in the area. The sense of unease was compounded by news media reports, which proved untrue, that the police had shut down the entire park. Soon after the explosion, officials suggested they believed it was a fireworks experiment gone awry. But no motive or explanation has yet been established. The police have said they do not believe the explosive was placed as a booby trap. Mr. Golden's family has criticized those characterizations. \"We've consistently been maintaining that the public has been lulled in the false sense of complacency by early statements by officials,\" Kevin Golden, Mr. Golden's father, said in a telephone interview from Virginia on Friday. The younger Mr. Golden has returned to the University of Miami, where he is a sophomore. He now has a prosthetic leg. His family has been raising money to help defray the medical expenses they incurred because of the injury. Kevin Golden said the family has kept in touch with investigators in New York and that he had been lobbying officials to describe the explosion with more gravity. The announcement that the reward would double, he said, was \"at least partially the result of that pressing. \" \"We applaud the additional exposure and think it's a step in the right direction,\" he said. \"We think that the people in the New York City area should be concerned about the potential causes of that explosion and should come forward with any information. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Brock Allen Turner, a 20-year-old former student at Stanford University, was sentenced to six months in jail for raping an unconscious woman on campus in January 2015.The prosecutor in the case recommended that Turner should receive a sentence of six years in prison. However, judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in jail saying that a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him I think he will not be a danger to others. Persky also cited Turner s lack of a criminal record and his young age as justifications for the short sentence.The victim in the case is a 23-year-old that had a blood-alcohol level that was twice the legal limit. She has no memory of the incident. Her testimony in the trial is public and is a powerful indictment of Turner s actions. The testimony begins with the 23-year-old woman saying You don t know me, but you ve been inside me, and that s why we re here today. She recounts the horror of having to find out that she was found with her clothes turn off from her behind a dumpster in public.During the testimony, she addressed Turner personally telling him that: You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today. I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt. She concluded her testimony, speaking to all women who have been victims of sexual assault: And finally, to girls everywhere, I am with you. On nights when you feel alone, I am with you. When people doubt you or dismiss you, I am with you. I fought everyday for you. So never stop fighting, I believe you. As the author Anne Lamott once wrote, Lighthouses don t go running all over an island looking for boats to save they just stand there shining. Although I can t save every boat, I hope that by speaking today, you absorbed a small amount of light, a small knowing that you can t be silenced, a small satisfaction that justice was served, a small assurance that we are getting somewhere, and a big, big knowing that you are important, unquestionably, you are untouchable, you are beautiful, you are to be valued, respected, undeniably, every minute of every day, you are powerful and nobody can take that away from you. To girls everywhere, I am with you. Thank you. It seems that in this case that the punishment did not fit the crime that was committed. What Turner did is not something that can be undone. Once again, the United States criminal system has been exposed as a cruel joke. It s a system where criminals get away with a slap on the wrist and non-violent offenders can be locked away for life.Featured image from Stanford University","label":1}
{"text":"\"Unbelievable\", \"embarrassing\" even \"dangerous\" are some of the words the financial elite gathered at the World Economic Forum conference in the Swiss resort of Davos have been using to describe U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. Although some said they still expected his campaign to founder before his party picks its nominee for the November election many said it was no longer unthinkable that he could be the Republican candidate. Some noted that whatever the outcome, a heated campaign, which has also seen self-proclaimed Socialist Bernie Sanders provide a tough challenge to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, could alter the U.S. political environment, giving vent to new populist anger on both sides of the political divide. Trump's nationalist rhetoric, particularly proposals to ban Muslims from entering the United States, tax goods made abroad and build a wall on the Mexican border, were never the sort of thing to appeal to the free trade crowd that typically gathers at events like the annual Davos economic forum. \"Clearly it is not a rhetoric that is inviting for integration,\" said Chile's Finance Minister, Rodrigo Valdes, referring to his comments on the campaign trail. \"In Chile we have a deep view that integration of the Americas is a good thing, whether it is goods, financing and yes people. So I'd be happier with a more welcoming rhetoric.\" Among the present and former government officials in the Swiss resort was Eric Cantor, former Republican majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, now vice-chairman of Moelis & Co, an investment bank. Like much of the Republican party's establishment, he had cold words for Trump. \"He's not serious. He's amazing at promoting his personal brand and reflecting an underlying anger at home,\" Cantor said. \"Trump Fever is an unsustainable phenomenon that will not translate into a victory for the candidate.\" But for Ray Nolte, chief investment officer of Skybridge Capital, a $13 billion hedge fund whose founder has supported other Republican candidates including Jeb Bush, such establishment pronouncements sound like wishful thinking. \"Is Donald going to be the nominee? I don't know. It's sure looking that way now,\" Nolte said. \"Anyone here (at Davos) who is in the mainstream says there is no way he could possibly get the nomination. When I hear that, it probably means it is going to happen.\" Noting the challenge to Clinton from Sanders, which he said could pull her to the left on issues like financial regulation, Nolte said institutional investors were already paying attention to the prospect of increased U.S. political volatility from the election. Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post news website once insisted on covering Trump, a former reality TV star, as an entertainment figure rather than a politician, said the site reversed its policy once he announced his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, which made him too \"dangerous\" to ignore. \"I feel the mainstreaming of Donald Trump, instead of him being treated as an extreme, dangerous candidate, is really the most troubling aspect of American politics right now,\" she said. \"He's being interviewed on all the main shows, and he's being asked questions about what his first State of the Union address would be like if he wins, instead of actually being forced to answer the tough questions about his policy, especially his policy of wanting to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., which is so dangerous, so un-American and should really be the center of the coverage of Trump.\" For Dominic Barton, global managing director for business consultancy McKinsey, Trump has turned the political campaign itself into \"entertainment\", which could hurt the global image of the United States. \"It's a bit embarrassing globally. But I think there's a big difference between the rhetoric and the reality, and I think most people will see that and discount it. But it's incredible how long its been going for. It's just unbelievable,\" he said. But not everyone is worried. Sandeep Dadlani, executive vice president of Indian outsourcing firm Infosys, said his firm has earned the majority of its revenue in the United States for more than 30 years. \"We have seen many elections come and go. It is common in all election seasons for rhetoric and extreme personalities to shine. Inevitably we have found governments from both sides to eventually come up with sensible policies,\" he said. (Reporting by Martinne Geller, Carmel Crimmins, Noah Barkin and others; Writing by Peter Graff; editing by Anna Willard)","label":0}
{"text":"French President Emmanuel Macron s government announced reforms to loosen labor regulations and drive down unemployment, drawing criticism from unions but limited support for the street protests that have hindered previous reform bids. After weeks of negotiations with unions over the summer, the centrist government revealed measures including a cap on payouts for dismissals adjudged unfair and greater freedom to hire and fire. The plan would also give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions. The labor code reform is the first big test of Macron s drive to re-shape the euro zone s second biggest economy with its near double-digit jobless rate, double that in Britain and markedly higher than Germany. He also seeks a grand bargain with Germany over broader reforms of the euro zone. For decades, governments of the left and right have tried to reform France s strict labor rules, but have always diluted them in the face of street protests. The reform makes no direct reference to France s 35-hour week but gives employers more flexibility to negotiate deals with employees to work around it. Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud described the five decrees laying out the reforms as a transformation of labor rules on an unprecedented scale . Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said they were necessary to fight France s stubbornly high unemployment. The truth is that for bosses, especially of small companies, and foreign investors, the existing labor law is seen as a brake on hiring and investment, Philippe said. Trade unions were less upbeat at what they perceived as the loss of long-cherished workers rights. All of our fears have been confirmed, said Philippe Martinez, head of the hard-left CGT union, after the government presented the decrees to unions and employers. He said the union would press ahead with its plan for a protest on Sept. 12. But Macron s assiduous courting of the unions over the summer appeared to have born fruit. France s biggest union, the reformist CFDT, said it was disappointed with what amounted to a missed opportunity to improve labor relations. But both the CFDT and the smaller Force Ouvriere, one of the spearheads of last year s anti-reform protests, said they would not be joining the CGT s protest. This reform does not rise to the occasion , CFDT leader Laurent Berger told reporters, but he added: Taking to the streets is not the only mode of action for unions. It sets a cap on compensation for a dismissal judged in a labor court to be unfair. This will be set at three months of wages for two years in the company with the amount rising progressively depending on how long a worker was with the firm. In a concession to unions, normal severance pay would be increased from 20 percent of one month s wage for each year in a company to 25 percent. Economists drew parallels with Germany and Spain. This very much resembles the labor reform carried out in Germany in 2004-2005, said Florian Hense, European economist at Berenberg Bank. This could very well propel France to a golden decade like Germany had. Dutch bank ING said: The ceiling on dismissal compensation is a milestone in labor flexibility and a real positive for permanent contract creation. In Spain, a similar reform kick-started an unprecedented labor market recovery. Pierre Gattaz, the head of the MEDEF employers federation, described the reforms as an important first step which would boost confidence within companies. The CPME, a small business lobby, was even more positive. At last!, it said in a statement. After months of negotiations, we got results. The reform we had been waiting for so long is there. The labor reforms comes as the 39-year-old president suffers a steep drop in popularity ratings. Early policy announcements including an overhaul of the wealth tax and cuts to housing assistance have left a swathe of voters feeling his policies favor the rich, pollsters say. The government plans to start talks on overhauling unemployment benefits in October before tackling pension reform next year. Parliament, where Macron s Republic on the Move party has a commanding majority, has already voted to allow the government to issue the decrees without a vote in the assembly. The government plans to adopt the decrees on Sept. 22.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump suffered another legal setback on Monday as a second federal appeals court refused to revive his travel ban on people entering the United States from six Muslim-majority nations in a dispute headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals used narrow grounds to reject the Trump administration's bid to undo a Hawaii federal judge's decision blocking the temporary ban. It said the Republican president's March 6 order violated existing immigration law. But the three-judge panel - all Democratic appointees - did not address whether it was unconstitutional discrimination against Muslims. A second court, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on May 25 upheld a Maryland judge's ruling that also blocked Trump's 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The 4th Circuit had ruled that the ban, which replaced an earlier Jan. 27 one also blocked by the courts, \"drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination\" aimed at Muslims. The 9th Circuit largely left in place a nationwide injunction by Judge Derrick Watson that stopped parts of the order, which Trump said was urgently needed to prevent terrorism in the United States. That ruling came in a lawsuit challenging the order brought by the state of Hawaii, which stated the ban would harm its universities and tourism industry. Even before Monday's ruling, the case was on the fast track to the Supreme Court, where the administration on June 1 filed an emergency request seeking to reinstate the order and hear its appeal of the 4th Circuit ruling. The Supreme Court could act on the administration's request as soon as this week. Trump has been on the losing side in all four court rulings on the March order. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration is reviewing Monday's decision and expressed continued confidence that the order is fully lawful and ultimately will be upheld by the Supreme Court. \"I think we can all attest that these are very dangerous times and we need every available tool at our disposal to prevent terrorists from entering the United States and committing acts of bloodshed and violence,\" Spicer told a briefing. The 9th Circuit upheld the block on Trump's three-month travel ban for the six countries and four-month suspension of all refugee admissions. But the court pared back part of Watson's injunction in order to allow the government to conduct internal reviews on vetting procedures for these travelers. The administration said the travel ban was needed to allow time to implement stronger vetting measures, although it has already rolled out some new requirements not blocked by courts, including additional questions for visa applicants. Rather than focusing on Trump campaign statements as the Virginia-based court did, the 9th Circuit said the language in the executive order itself did not make a rational case for why a travel ban was needed. \"The order does not offer a sufficient justification to suspend the entry of more than 180 million people on the basis of nationality,\" the court wrote, referring the combined populations of the six countries. Under immigration law, the administration was required to make findings that entry of the people in question would be detrimental to the United States but failed to do so, the court said. Stephen Vladeck, a professor at University of Texas School of Law, said the 9th Circuit provided an easier path for the Supreme Court to keep the travel ban on hold, because it avoided entirely the controversy over Trump's campaign statements. \"It provides a very attractive way to leave the injunction in place without setting broader doctrinal rules about which they may have pause,\" Vladeck said. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign called for a \"total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.\" Monday was the deadline for the ban's challengers to respond to the administration's request that the order be allowed to go into effect. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents people challenging the ban in the separate Maryland suit handled by the 4th Circuit, filed court papers urging the court not to take up the case, saying the order will become moot on Wednesday, 90 days from when Trump issued it. Lawyers for Hawaii called the order a \"thinly veiled Muslim ban.\" Trump's earlier Jan. 27 order also included Iraq among the countries targeted and a total ban on refugees from Syria. The March order was intended to overcome the legal issues posed by the original ban, but was blocked before it could go into effect on March 16. The suits by Hawaii and the Maryland challengers argued that the order violated federal immigration law and a section of the Constitution's First Amendment that prohibits the government from favoring or disfavoring any particular religion. Hawaii's court papers mentioned a series of Trump Twitter posts on June 5. Trump described the order as a \"watered down, politically correct\" version of his original one.","label":0}
{"text":"With the advent of print on demand and e-readers, parents of toddlers have a fantastic tool to help keep their little ones engaged in reading. They have customizable books, featuring their child as the protagonist. There must be some parents of toddlers in the Trump administration. They have discovered that the only way to get their boss to read a security briefing is to treat him just like a toddler by putting his name in the briefing.According to staffers, Trump s attention span, which apparently only extends to about 140 characters, is so short that one personal mention in a brief isn t enough. They need to squeeze his name in as many placers as possible. That s not the only thing they need to do to keep the Commander-in-Chief paying attention. They need to keep them under one page, if possible, and with lots of pictures, charts and graphs. He likes maps too. He likes to visualize things, said a senior administration official. The guy s a builder. He has spent his whole life looking at architectural renderings and floor plans. The details emerged as people close to the President worried that he may not be able to stick to the script and avoid more problems as he heads out on his first foreign trip. Officials are worried that Mr Trump s lack of focus and attention to detail could cause problems as he visits Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Israel and the West Bank, the pope at the Vatican, NATO leaders in Brussels and G7 counterparts in Sicily.Source: IndependentA Republican official expressed concern that Trump was going to be out of his element during his visit to the Middle East (he s just now figuring this out?). This, after Trump insisted that solving the 4,000 year-old conflict is easy. I want to see peace with Israel and the Palestinians. There is no reason there s not peace between Israel and the Palestinians none whatsoever. Unfortunately, this is Trump in a nutshell. It was easy for him to become rich (he inherited it). It was easy for him to file multiple bankruptcies and pass the losses onto the taxpayers. If something is not handed to him on a gold platter (silver is much too pedestrian), it s not worth the time. Trump is either the laziest or the dumbest man ever to hold the office of the presidency. Hell, why choose? It s clear that he s both.","label":1}
{"text":"Four hours after first hearing gunfire outside his home, Abu Riwar bundled his wife and six children into his car and drove to a remote village 120 km (75 miles) away. We left with the clothes on our back and nothing else, said Abu Riwar, a member of the Kurdish security forces from the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmato, seized last month by Iraqi troops and Iran-backed Shi ite paramilitaries. If the militias found out I was Peshmerga, they d have slaughtered me. They burned his home to the ground instead, his neighbors, who captured it on camera, told him. Tuz Khurmato was part of disputed territory, outside the Kurdish region of northern Iraq but held by Kurdish forces known as Peshmerga, until last month, when the central government recaptured it in a lightning advance to punish the Kurds for staging an independence referendum that Baghdad called illegal. The majority of Tuz Khurmato s 50,000 Kurds around half of the population of the ethnically mixed city fled the Iraqi advance to Kurdish-held villages and towns in nearby countryside, said Mayor Shalal Abdul. The mayor himself fled to the village of Zinana, 120 km east of Tuz Khurmato, where he spoke to Reuters. Most residents have no plans to return home, citing reports of continuing attacks. We can t cope if it continues like this, said the chief of police in Zinana, adding that the government and aid groups had been too slow to respond. Families have taken over school buildings, houses and the hospital, but we can t turn them out on the streets. According to the United Nations, more than 180,000 people were displaced by the Iraqi government offensive on disputed territories last month. Aid agencies say most of those displaced are Kurds, though members of other minorities, including some of Tuz Khurmato s Sunni Arabs and Turkmen, also fled. Until Baghdad s offensive, Tuz Khurmato had been jointly administered by Kurdish forces, local police and the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) paramilitaries, allied with the town s Shi ite Turkmen population. Though the Turkmen and the Kurds had worked together to push Islamic State militants out in 2014, the town s fragile coalition soon fell apart and led to open hostilities. In the run-up to the Kurdish independence referendum, tension escalated between the communities. In Zinana, displaced Kurds told Reuters stories of abuse at the hands of the Shi ite paramilitaries who captured Tuz. One man showed a video he had filmed depicting the crushed body of a relative. Family members said the victim had been shot in his car, dragged out alive by paramilitaries and run over by a tank. He was crushed to death in front of me, by those monsters, said Abu Alan, the relative who filmed the body. He was a good man from a good family. A video circulated on the internet, apparently of the same incident, shows a tank running over a body while uniformed paramilitaries stand by. The paramilitaries deny carrying out any abuse. Joint patrols by the PMF and government forces are securing the town, to prevent any attacks against Kurds, said Ali al-Hussaini, a spokesman for the PMF in northern Iraq and a commander of the largest of the armed groups, the Badr Organisation. It s our job to keep Tuz safe for all sects. The mayor, who is collecting stories and evidence of abuse, said seven people were killed when the town was captured, including the man who was crushed by the tank and three other civilians. He said he also knew of three women and one man who had been raped. Reuters could not verify those accusations. More than 1,000 businesses and 2,000 homes were looted, burned down or demolished, the mayor said. He showed Reuters images of houses and shopfronts in Kurdish areas, blown up and scorched, their residents belongings being carted away by men in military fatigues. Other pictures showed paramilitaries sitting in the mayor s own office, feet propped up on his desk and on his Kurdish flag. Dozens of people were detained, and some say they were tortured, like Thiaa, a 20-year-old Sunni Turkman from the countryside who had gone to Tuz Khurmato the day after the offensive to check on his sister who was married to a Kurd. They detained me because I don t speak Arabic, so they thought I was a Kurd, Thiaa said. They kept me filthy, hungry and blindfolded in a dark room with three Kurds. They beat us with cables all day long. One night, fighters put a gun in Thiaa s mouth and threatened to kill him, only to burst out laughing at his panicked tears, he said. He was released after seven days and is now recovering at home from his injuries. The Kurds held with him had no such luck, he said. More than five are still missing.","label":0}
{"text":"This post was originally published on this site  sott.net\/news  \u00a9 Murad Sezer \/ Reuters An armored police vehicle drives past by the headquarters of Cumhuriyet newspaper, an opposition secularist daily, in Istanbul, Turkey, October 31, 2016.  Turkish PM Binali Yildirim has responded to concerns expressed by Ankara's EU partners over the situation with the freedom of expression in the country, saying that European standards apparently have no importance for Turkey.  Following Monday's arrests of the editor-in-chief and other top staff of Turkey's opposition Cumhuriyet daily, European Parliament President Martin Schulz harshly criticized Ankara's actions, having called it a part of a \"purge\u2026 motivated by political considerations, rather than legal and security rationale.\"  Turkey has once again crossed the \"red line\" against freedom of expression, the politician wrote on Twitter.  \"Brother, we don't care about your red line. It's the people who draw the red line. What importance does your line have. We draw another red line on top of yours,\" Yildirim told members of his ruling AK Party in a parliament speech.  Implying that its only the people of Turkey who can hold the government \"accountable\" for its actions, Yildirim said Ankara would not be intimidated by EU's \"threats\".  Crowds gathered by the Cumhuriyet offices during the night, to express their support for the media, Reuters reported. According to Turkey's journalists' association, 170 media outlets have been shut down following the attempted coup.  \"We are not going to learn from you what press freedom is. We support it all the way,\" Reuters quoted Yildirim as saying.  The new wave of arrests and investigations of the Cumhuriyet staff come under accusations that the media \u2013 which has been critical of President Tayyip Erdogan, had assisted a failed military coup in July. Alleging that the journalists played their part in the coup by publishing \"subliminal messages\" in their columns, according to Turkish Anadolu agency, prosecutors accused them of supporting Kurdish militants and US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The latter is blamed by the government for orchestrating the coup.  \"[Our European friends] always bring up press freedom when we take steps in our fight against terrorism,\" the prime minister said, adding that Turkey has \"no problem with press freedom.\"  [embedded content]","label":1}
{"text":"If you re like me, listening to the sound of Sarah Palin s voice alone, regardless of what she says, is like being stabbed through the skull with a series of high-school geometry class protractors. Only then do I begin to actually absorb the nonsensical content of what she s saying. But, of course, leave it to the internet to take the pain away.A YouTuber called Tronovitch assembled the first what will inevitably be many autotune remixes of Palin s incoherent Trump speech. This one is built around Palin s white trash tendencies, illustrated by the mashed-up use of the phrase hee-haw as well as the 1970s television show of the same name.[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9cs9jP2ILOw&w=560&h=315]While we re here, is there anyone else in politics who s less self aware than Palin? She seems to believe that liberals and the lamestream media are terrified of her because she goes rogue and challenges the establishment. She appears to be completely unaware of the fact that everyone outside of her retirement-aged fanboys are laughing at her her and her Idiot Strength. Consequently, she doesn t seem to grasp that she s embarrassing herself by going Full Dumbstupid. (You never go Full Dumbstupid.)She seems to believe that her speaking style is a threat rather than a source of accidental self-satire. In other words, every time she appears in public, she ratchets up her act, thinking that it ll totally flummox liberals, but in reality it just comes off as Full Dumbstupid. Frankly, it s one of many tell-tale signs that she s totally ensconced in white-trashery, which is often indicated by poor judgment and horrendously bad taste.Suffice to say, she clearly doesn t know. And if she s been told how insanely ridiculous she sounds, she s not paying attention which is yet another sign of being white trash. Besides, if she stops, the comedy ends. And that d be a tragedy.","label":1}
{"text":"A man whose penis was removed because of cancer has received the first penis transplant in the United States, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Thomas Manning, 64, a bank courier from Halifax, Mass. underwent the transplant operation on May 8 and 9. The organ came from a deceased donor. \"I want to go back to being who I was,\" Mr. Manning said on Friday in an interview in his hospital room. Sitting up in a chair, happy to be out of bed for the first time since the operation, he said he felt well and had experienced hardly any pain. \"We're cautiously optimistic,\" said Dr. Curtis L. Cetrulo, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and a leader of the surgical team. \"It's uncharted waters for us. \" The surgery is experimental, part of a research program with the ultimate goal of helping combat veterans with severe pelvic injuries, as well as cancer patients and accident victims. If all goes as planned, normal urination should be possible for Mr. Manning within a few weeks, and sexual function in weeks to months, Dr. Cetrulo said. Mr. Manning welcomed questions and said he wanted to speak out publicly to help dispel the shame and stigma associated with genital cancers and injuries, and to let other men know there was hope of having normal anatomy restored. \"Don't hide behind a rock,\" he said. He said he was not quite ready to take a close look at his transplant. He will have to take several drugs for the rest of his life. One of them, tacrolimus, seems to speed nerve regeneration and may help restore function to the transplant, Dr. Cetrulo said. Another patient, his penis destroyed by burns in a car accident, will receive a transplant as soon as a matching donor becomes available, Dr. Cetrulo said. Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are also planning to perform penis transplants, and have had a combat veteran, injured in Afghanistan, on the waiting list for several months. Dr. Cetrulo estimated the cost at $50, 000 to $75, 000. Both hospitals are paying for the procedures, and the doctors are donating their time. Worldwide, only two other penis transplants have been reported: a failed one in China in 2006 and a successful one in South Africa in 2014, in which the recipient later fathered a child. Veterans are a major focus of transplant programs in the United States because suicide rates are exceptionally high in soldiers with severe damage to the genitals and urinary tract, Dr. Cetrulo said. \"They're to guys, and they feel they have no hope of intimacy or a sexual life,\" he said. \"They can't even go to the bathroom standing up. \" Given the psychological toll, he said, a penis transplant can be lifesaving. Dr. Cetrulo said the team would most likely perfect its techniques on civilian patients and then move on to injured veterans. It will also train military surgeons to perform the transplants. The Department of Defense, he said in an email, \"does not like to have wounded warriors undergo unproven techniques \u2014 i. e. they do not want them to be 'guinea pigs,' as they have already sacrificed so much. \" His team is working on ways to minimize or even eliminate the need for medicines, which transplant patients typically have to take. That research is especially important for veterans, he said, because many are young and will risk serious adverse effects, like cancer and kidney damage, if they have to take the drugs for decades. From 2001 to 2013, 1, 367 men in the military suffered genitourinary injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. Nearly all were under 35 and had been hurt by homemade bombs, commonly called improvised explosive devices, or I. E. D. s. Some lost part or all of their penises. The Massachusetts General team spent three years preparing for the penis transplants. The team did meticulous dissections in a cadaver lab to map out anatomy, and operated on five or six dead donors to practice removing the tissue needed for the transplants. Mr. Manning's operation involved about a dozen surgeons and 30 other health care workers. Dr. Dicken Ko, a team leader and the director of the hospital's regional urology program, said the team had not planned a set number of transplants. Instead, he said, the hospital will evaluate candidates one at a time and decide whether to allow surgery. For now, he said, the transplants will be limited to cancer and trauma patients, and will not be offered to transgender people. An accident at work in 2012 brought Mr. Manning to the hospital, and ultimately to the transplant team. Heavy equipment had fallen on him, causing severe injuries. The doctors treating him saw an abnormal growth on his penis that he had not noticed. Tests revealed an aggressive and potentially fatal cancer. Penile cancer is rare, with about 2, 030 new cases and 340 deaths expected in the United States this year. If not for the accident, Mr. Manning said, \"I would've been in the ground two years ago. \" Doctors said that to save his life, they would have to remove most of his penis, in an operation called a partial penectomy. Mr. Manning's urologic oncologist, Dr. Adam S. Feldman, estimated that a few hundred men a year needed full or partial penectomies because of cancer. Mr. Manning was left with a stump about an inch long. He had to sit to urinate. Intimacy was out of the picture. He was single and was not involved with anyone when the cancer was found. After the amputation, new relationships were unthinkable. \"I wouldn't go near anybody,\" he said. He continued: \"I couldn't have a relationship with anybody. You can't tell a woman, 'I had a penis amputation. '\" Some people close to him urged him to keep the operation a secret, but he refused, saying that was like lying, and he had nothing to be ashamed of. \"I didn't advertise, but if people asked, I told them the truth,\" he said, adding that a few male friends made \"guy talk\" jokes at his expense, but that it toughened him up. \"Men judge their masculinity with their bodies,\" he said. Before he had even left the hospital after the amputation, he began asking Dr. Feldman about a transplant. No one at the hospital was considering the idea yet, and Dr. Feldman admits that he thought it was a bit outlandish. But Mr. Manning never gave up hope. \"I kept my eye on the prize,\" he said. Soon Dr. Cetrulo and Dr. Ko began talking about transplants. About three years later, Dr. Feldman called Mr. Manning to ask if he still wanted the operation. After a battery of medical tests, interviews and psychological grilling \u2014 typical for transplant candidates, to make sure they understand the risks and will take medicine \u2014 Mr. Manning was on the waiting list. Two weeks later, a donor with the right blood type and skin tone became available. Mr. Manning was stunned that it had happened so fast. Dr. Cetrulo credits the New England Organ Bank, which asks families of some dying patients to consider organ donation. The organ bank said the donor's family wished to remain anonymous but had extended a message to Mr. Manning saying they felt blessed and were delighted his recovery was going well. Organ banks do not assume that families who donate internal organs like kidneys and livers will also be willing to give visible or intimate parts like a face, hands or a penis. Those requests are made separately. Several families have agreed to allow the penis to be removed, and none have declined, said Jill Stinebring, the organ bank's regional director of organ donation services. So far, Mr. Manning has had one serious complication. The day after his surgery, he began to hemorrhage and was rushed back to the operating room. Since then, his recovery has been smoother, he said. He has no regrets. He looks forward to going back to work and hopes to eventually have a love life again. \"If I'm lucky, I get 75 percent of what I used to be,\" he said. \"Before the surgery I was 10 percent. But they made no promises. That was part of the deal. \"","label":0}
{"text":"A research division of the World Health Organization announced Monday that bacon, sausage and other processed meats cause cancer and that red meat probably does, too. The report by the influential group stakes out one of the most aggressive stances against meat taken by a major health organization, and it is expected to face stiff criticism in the United States. The WHO findings were drafted by a panel of 22 international experts who reviewed decades of research on the link between red meat, processed meats and cancer. The panel reviewed animal experiments, studies of human diet and health, and cell processes that could explain how red meat might cause cancer. But the panel's decision was not unanimous, and by raising lethal concerns about a food that anchors countless American meals, it will be controversial. The $95 billion U.S. beef industry has been preparing for months to mount a response, and some scientists, including some unaffiliated with the meat industry, have questioned whether the evidence is substantial enough to draw the strong conclusions that the WHO panel did. In reaching its conclusion, the panel sought to quantify the risks, and compared to carcinogens such as cigarettes, the magnitude of the danger appears small, experts said. The WHO panel cited studies suggesting that an additional 3.5 ounces of red meat everyday raises the risk of colorectal cancer by 17 percent; eating an additional 1.8 ounces of processed meat daily raises the risk by 18 percent, according to the research cited. \"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed,\" says Kurt Straif, an official with the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, which produced the report. \"In view of the large number of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance.\" About 34,000 cancer deaths a year worldwide are attributable to diets high in processed meats, according to figures cited by the panel. [WHO says hot dogs, bacon cause cancer. Does this mean we should all become vegetarians?]    The research into a possible link between eating red meat and cancer has been the subject of scientific debate for decades, with colorectal cancer being a long-standing area of concern. But by concluding that processed meat causes cancer, and that red meat \"probably\" causes cancer, the WHO findings go well beyond the tentative associations that some other groups have reported. The American Cancer Society, for example, notes that many studies have found \"a link\" between eating red meat and heightened risks of colorectal cancer. But it stops short of telling people that the meats cause cancer. Some diets that have lots of vegetables and fruits and lesser amounts of red and processed meats have been associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer, the American Cancer Society says, but \"it's not exactly clear\" which factors of that diet are important. Likewise, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the U.S. government's advice compendium, encourage the consumption of protein-containing foods such as lean meats as part of a healthy diet. Regarding processed meats, though, the Dietary Guidelines offer a tentative warning: \"Moderate evidence suggests an association between the increased intake of processed meats (e.g., franks, sausage, and bacon) and increased risk of colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease.\" The Dietary Guidelines do not assert that processed meats cause cancer. Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, which is updating the Dietary Guidelines with the USDA, have not yet reviewed the WHO report, a spokesperson said. [95 percent of the world's people may be wrong about salt] For consumers, the WHO announcement offers scant practical advice even while casting aspersions over a wide array of foods. Red meat includes beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton and goat. Processed meat includes hot dogs, ham, sausages, corned beef and beef jerky \u2014 or any other meat that has been cured, smoked, salted or otherwise changed to enhance flavor or improve preservation. How much of those is it safe to eat? The group doesn't offer much guidance: \"The data available for evaluation did not permit a conclusion about whether a safe level exists.\" Should we be vegetarians? Again, the group does not hazard an answer. And how exactly does red meat and processed meat cause cancer? The group names a handful of chemicals involved in cooking and processing meat, most of them nearly unpronounceable, and some believed to be carcinogenic. \"But despite the knowledge it is not yet fully understood how cancer risk is increased by red meat or processed meat,\" the group wrote. Despite the voids in the science, the WHO findings might cast a pall over diners and those who serve them. At The Pig Restaurant on 14th Street NW in Washington, where the menu includes an array of pork products - kielbasa, prosciutto, pork cheek, etc - a worker sweeping the tables outside encouraged a reporter to look elsewhere for comments about cancer and red meat. Around the corner, outside the Whole Foods grocery, shoppers evinced a weary of fatalism regarding authoritative diet advice. \"It makes some sense,\" said Nassrin Farzaneh, a development consultant, carrying a bag out of the store, said of the WHO finding on processed meat. \"But they say one thing and then two or three years later they something that contradicts it. It goes on and on.\" \"Everything causes cancer,\" said Caroline Rourke, an energy policy analyst, also on her way out of the grocery. \"Life causes cancer. Who cares what food does? Life is terminal, isn't it?\" [Another food to worry about? Honey not as healthy as we think.] In recent years, meat consumption has been the target of multi-faceted social criticism, with debates erupting not just over its role on human health, but the impact of feedlots on the environment and on animal welfare. The public debate over the WHO's findings will probably play out with political lobbying and in marketing messages for consumers. An industry group, the North American Meat Institute, called the WHO report \"dramatic and alarmist overreach,\" and it mocked the panel's previous work for approving a substance found in yoga pants and treating coffee, sunlight and wine as potential cancer hazards. The WHO panel \"says you can enjoy your yoga class, but don't breathe air (Class I carcinogen), sit near a sun-filled window (Class I), apply aloe vera (Class 2B) if you get a sunburn, drink wine or coffee (Class I and Class 2B), or eat grilled food (Class 2A),\" said Betsy Booren, vice president of scientific affairs for the group. \"We simply don't think the evidence supports any causal link between any red meat and any type of cancer,\" said Shalene McNeill, executive director of human nutrition at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. But at its core, the issue revolves around science, and in particular the difficulty that arises whenever scientists try to link any food to a chronic disease. Experiments to test whether a food causes cancer pose a massive logistical challenge: they require controlling the diets of thousands of test subjects over a course of many years. For example, one group might be assigned to eat lots of meat and another less, or none. But for a variety of reasons involving cost and finding test subjects, such experiments are rarely conducted, and scientists instead often use other less direct methods, known as epidemiological or observational studies, to draw their conclusions. \"I understand that people may be skeptical about this report on meat because the experimental data is not terribly strong,\" said Paolo Boffetta, a professor of Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine who has served on similar WHO panels. \"But in this case the epidemiological evidence is very strong.\" [Why the Bureau of Prisons stripped pork from the menu for federal inmates] Some scientists, however, have criticized the epidemiological studies for too often reaching \"false positives,\" that is, concluding that something causes cancer when it doesn't. \"Is everything we eat associated with cancer?\" asked a much noted 2012 paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That paper reviewed the academic studies conducted on common cookbook ingredients. Of the 50 ingredients considered, 40 had been studied for their relation to cancer. Individually, most of those studies found that consumption of the food was correlated with cancer. But when the research on any given ingredient was considered collectively, those effects typically shrank or disappeared. \"Many single studies highlight implausibly large effects, even though evidence is weak,\" the authors concluded. Although epidemiological studies were critical in proving the dangers of cigarettes, the magnitude of the reported meat risk is much smaller, and it is hard for scientists to rule out statistical confounding as the cause of the apparent danger. Moreover, some skeptics noted that two experiments that tested diets with reduced meat consumption, the Polyp Prevention Trial and the Women's Health Initiative, found that people who reduced their meat intake did not appear to have a lower cancer risk. It is possible, though, that the reductions in animal flesh were too small to have an effect. \"It might be a good idea not to be an excessive consumer of meat,\" said Jonathan Schoenfeld, the co-author of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article and an assistant professor in radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. \"But the effects of eating meat may be minimal, if anything.\" Was it wrong that the government steered people away from whole milk for decades? How Coca-Cola has tricked everyone into drinking so much of it What Americans do with fish is shocking Why Americans are falling out of love with one of their favorite fruits Whole milk, butter and eggs are now okay to eat. What's next?","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump once described Jamie Dimon as \"the worst banker in the United States,\" but the president-elect has helped make the boss of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) $50 million richer. Dimon is the top beneficiary among the 30 chief executives who run companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index from a stock rally inspired by Trump's election, according to a Reuters analysis of their option grants. Trump's proposed policies for lower taxes, less Wall Street regulation and more infrastructure spending have energized the U.S. stock market since the real estate magnate's Nov. 8 victory. The post-election rally even resurrected the value of an option award held by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) CEO Lloyd Blankfein that was worthless on the eve of the election. Dimon, a lifelong Democrat, has seen his stock options surge in value by more than $50 million to $146 million since the Republican candidate's White House win. Trump criticized Dimon in 2013 for reaching a $13 billion settlement with the U.S. government over the sale of toxic mortgages instead of fighting the case. Nevertheless, he appointed Dimon to the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of high-profile business leaders he set up last month to advise him on economic growth and job creation. Dimon declined to comment on Trump's criticism or the rise in value of his holdings. Stock options held by Dow 30 CEOs surged in value by 23 percent to about $1 billion in 2016, with most of the gain coming after Trump's election win. The figures reflect outstanding stock options that could be exercised at the end of 2015. Options that expired or vested in 2016 were excluded from the analysis. In a few cases, CEOs exercised some of those options during 2016, U.S. regulatory filings show. Visa Inc (V.N) CEO Charles Scharf did not need a Trump-led stock rally to hit the jackpot. About two weeks before the election, he exercised nearly 800,000 options for gross proceeds of almost $33 million, U.S. regulatory filings show. He resigned from Visa effective Dec. 1. For a look at how the post-election rally has affected Dow 30 stock options, click here (tmsnrt.rs\/2iCbvvT) Trump campaigned on the slogan \"Make America Great Again,\" vowing to bolster the prospects of the American working class by preventing jobs from moving abroad, restricting immigration and renegotiating trade pacts. In 2015, Trump called high salaries paid to CEOs a \"joke\" and a \"disgrace\" and said these were often approved by company boards stacked with CEOs' friends. PRO-BUSINESS AGENDA To be sure, Trump's election has helped investors big and small. Hopes of a pro-business agenda have driven the Dow 30 close to 20,000 - a level it has never breached - in a boon for workers' retirement plans. \"With the recent Trump\/Republican win, it appears that investors are getting more excited about potential growth and animal spirits are on the rise,\" top investment strategists at Morgan Stanley said this month in a wealth management report. \"This is likely to lead to the final euphoric stage of this cyclical bull market which could be quite powerful in 2017's first half.\" Big stock option gains for Goldman Sachs head Blankfein, American Express Co (AXP.N) CEO Kenneth Chenault and JP Morgan's Dimon may be a surprise, given that their companies have reduced or even eliminated option grants in recent years in favor of stock awards tied to hitting financial targets. Blankfein's 322,104 outstanding options, granted in 2007 with a $204.16 strike price, were under water by $7.3 million on the eve of the presidential election. But by the end of 2016, their value had soared to $11.4 million. That was an $18.7 million swing, thanks to the Trump-inspired stock market rally and the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to increase interest rates, a boost for banks and credit card companies. Blankfein declined to comment. Alan Johnson, managing director of pay consulting firm Johnson Associates in New York, said the big gains for the leaders of American Express, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reflect how stock option compensation can magnify gains in a company's share price. \"When the stock goes up, with options, you get more leverage,\" he said. Critics of stock options say the grants can produce large amounts of wealth for CEOs even with mediocre performance. One reason is that grants often are not linked to any financial performance metric, such as return on equity. And so as the United States nears the eighth year of a bull market, options can increase in value even if the CEOs are running companies whose share price has lagged broad benchmarks during their tenure. For example, shares of Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) rose 54 percent during Douglas Oberhelman's tenure as CEO of the big equipment maker from mid-2010 to the end of 2016, while the Dow 30 more than doubled during that span. But the value of Oberhelman's options rallied during his last year as CEO, climbing to $20.3 million after being under water by nearly $9 million at the start of 2016. The options' value got a $10.6 million booster shot after Trump's victory. Caterpillar shares rose 36 percent in 2016, making it one of the best performing stocks on the Dow. Trump has said he would use Caterpillar tractors to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Caterpillar and Oberhelman declined to comment. Not all CEOs have been winners, however. Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) CEO Muhtar Kent, who contributed $2,700 to Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic rival for president, saw the value of his options decline by $11.3 million to $143 million. Coca-Cola shares are off 3 percent since Trump was elected amid lingering concerns about consumers cutting their consumption of sugary drinks. A Coca-Cola spokesman declined to comment.","label":0}
{"text":"Four U.S. senators introduced a joint resolution on Thursday seeking to block the U.S. sale of $1.15 billion of Abrams tanks and other military equipment to Saudi Arabia, citing issues including the conflict in Yemen. The measure was introduced by Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee and Democrats Chris Murphy and Al Franken, the latest indication of strong disapproval of the deal among some U.S. lawmakers. \"Selling $1.15 billion in tanks, guns, ammunition, and more to a country with a poor human rights record embroiled in a bitter war is a recipe for disaster and an escalation of an ongoing arms race in the region,\" Paul said in a statement. In August, 64 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to delay the sale. The Pentagon announced on Aug. 9 that the State Department has approved the potential sale of more than 130 Abrams battle tanks, 20 armored recovery vehicles and other equipment to Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which implements foreign arms sales, said that General Dynamics would be the principal contractor for the sale. Introducing the resolution, the senators cited the conflict in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition in support of forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces from the capital, Sanaa. Human rights groups have criticized the coalition's air strikes because of the deaths of civilians. \"Thousands of civilians are being killed, and terrorist groups inside the country, like al Qaeda and ISIS, are getting stronger. Until the Saudis' conduct changes, the U.S. should put a pause on further arms sales,\" Murphy said in a statement. Some congressional aides questioned whether Congress had the right to try to block the sale, since it has been more than 30 days since Congress was notified about it. But the four senators said the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 allows senators to force a vote on an arms sale by a president. Human rights activists applauded the resolution. \"Congress' silence would signal to the Yemeni people that U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is unconditional \u2013 no matter how cruel the parties' methods of warfare or how unwilling they are to make peace,\" Scott Paul, senior humanitarian policy advisor at Oxfam America, said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"This is just one more fine example of why we can t allow a radical like Hillary or Bernie to choose our next Supreme Court Justices. Our rights are being threatened more and more every day. America s freedom has never been more at risk than it is today A New Jersey man who s been flying Donald Trump s campaign flag in front of his home since February could face up to a $2,000 fine or jail time when he faces a judge in the case.Joe Hornick has been flying Trump s Make America Great Again flag outside his West Long Branch home on a busy corner near the Monmouth University campus for months.But he got a ticket recently citing him for illegally posting political signage more than 30 days before an election. The New Jersey presidential primary isn t until June 7. I m not a football fan, I m not a sports fan, but I m surely a Donald Trump fan, he told NBC 4 New York.","label":1}
{"text":"Hillary Clinton should file a lawsuit against Fox News and Rudy Giuliani for this lie.During an appearance on Fox News with Bill O Reilly, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani blamed Hillary Clinton and President Obama for the rise of ISIS and actually had the gall to claim that Clinton is a founding member of the terrorist organization. If you re talking about doing what she wants to do, which is to rally our forces against ISIS, you gotta come back to the White House, you gotta sit in the Situation Room, and you can t leave until you come up with a plan, Giuliani said.O Reilly then whined about President Obama not dropping everything to go back to Washington once news broke of the terrorist attack on Brussels.Ever since the attack, which killed over 30 and injured hundreds, conservatives have been unfairly criticizing President Obama for not canceling his trip in Cuba to hole up in the Situation Room.The problem is that President Obama can t really do anything beyond offering condolences and assistance if Belgium asks for help. Obama offered both in the aftermath of the attack. Conservatives have also said President Obama should go to Belgium, but that would only distract the first responders and police officers from doing their job since security of the president would require lots of preparation and man power.Giuliani then went off the rails into accusations that are nothing short of slander. She helped create ISIS, Giuliani bellowed. Hillary Clinton could be considered a founding member of ISIS. When asked how Clinton created ISIS, Giuliani told O Reilly that she did so by being part of an administration that withdrew from Iraq and by being part of an administration that allowed Maliki to run Iraq into the ground. O Reilly really didn t do much to challenge Giuliani either, which is yet another example of the lack of journalistic ethics that he and Fox News are known for.In the end, Giuliani said Clinton should have resigned as Secretary of State because that s what a patriot does. Here s the video via YouTube.The fact is, however, that it was President Bush who signed the withdrawal of forces agreement with Iraq and helped install Nouri al-Maliki as the Iraqi Prime Minister in 2006.And let s not forget that Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in the first place, which destabilized the region by removing Saddam Hussein, a traditional enemy of Iran, from power. That alone caused a power vacuum in the region which allowed Iran to have more influence in the region while creating the conditions for ISIS to rise.Bill O Reilly ought to be ashamed of himself for allowing Giuliani to make such outrageous claims, and Hillary Clinton should smack Giuliani with a lawsuit because she clearly has a case against him for slander. Clinton is NOT a member of ISIS and she certainly did not create ISIS. Giuliani, however, is a lying asshole.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump appeared on Fox News on Monday night, only to be embarrassingly stumped by Bill O Reilly.O Reilly wanted to know if Trump plans on taking military action against Iran if he becomes president, and Trump totally demonstrated his lack of foreign policy knowledge by dodging the question and ranting about things he really doesn t understand. If you re elected president are you going to take military action against Iran? O Reilly asked. Are you going to do something to that country? Well, I would want to help Saudi Arabia, Trump replied with what seems to be a reference to Iranians attacking the Saudi Arabian embassy in retaliation against a mass execution the Saudis recently committed on New Year s Day in which 47 were killed, including a Shiite cleric. I would want to protect Saudi Arabia, Trump claimed. But Saudi Arabia is going to have to help us economically Trump suggested that he might attack Iran if Saudi Arabia offered the right price but remained largely unwilling to say one way or another whether he would get America involved in yet another costly and bloody war in the Middle East.O Reilly continued to press Trump for an answer, calling him out for dodging the question.Trump then went on a tirade against the Iran nuclear deal, calling it a disastrous deal that Iran has already supposedly broken before claiming that Iran will have a nuclear weapon very soon. Clearly, Trump is not aware of the fact that Iran recently surrendered their entire stockpile of enriched uranium to the Russians, which is definitive proof that the Iran nuclear deal is a success because it is doing exactly what it was designed to do.The Iran nuclear deal stands as one of President Obama s greatest achievements, and should not be abandoned in favor of war when diplomacy is working. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is nothing more than ISIS posing as a legitimate nation. They use Sharia law and behead so many people every year that ISIS leaders must be envious. The only reason our government has failed to call the Saudis out for their horrible human rights record is because they control the second largest oil reserves in the world.This is why it is not only important for the United States to reject military action in the Middle East, we need to become energy independent so that we no longer have to rely on Saudi Arabia for our energy needs. Frankly, the United States government should grow a pair and strongly condemn Saudi Arabia right now for behaving like a terrorist organization.The bottom line, however, is that Donald Trump is unfit to be commander-in-chief. He not only wants to send American troops to die needlessly in Iran, he wants to make Saudi Arabia pay for it. Basically, Trump would turn America into a puppet for the Saudis. But more likely, he would damage relations with both nations and put America squarely in the middle of a potential conflict that could easily turn into World War III.America does not need more war. We need peace. And as O Reilly pointed out, voters have the right to know what Trump plans to do, even if Trump thinks they have no right to know at all.Here s the video via YouTube.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump is going to throw the mother of all temper tantrums when he learns about this.If you are sick and tired of Trump and you need a way to take out your frustrations, you ll be happy to know that Mexico has just the thing for you, and it s not only useful, you ll be helping people by purchasing it.Antonio Battaglia originally meant the idea to be just a joke but now it s catching on as a full-fledged product that is gaining in supply and demand.Battaglia is a corporate attorney and while he isn t giving up his day job, he will be involved in making sure the people of the world get his Trump toilet paper.That s right. You can now order toilet paper with Trump s name on it, and all while knowing that your purchase will help the people Trump hates the most: Immigrants. I felt the need and obligation of raising my hand against such dangerous nonsense that was putting at risk my country and people, Battaglia told Newsweek.When Trump first announced his candidacy in 2015, he began by branding Mexico as a haven for murderers and rapists and promised to build a useless expensive wall to keep them out of the United States.Trump effort to build his wall has stalled out, but his assault on immigrants continues on as his deportation squads roam the nation looking for innocent immigrants to bully and persecute.Battaglia decided that his joke product could be put to better use as way to help immigrants in need. Once he won, we had to stop the fun approach and focus seriously on developing a product not based on a mockery but based on a response to an insult, based on helping migrants, he said.Indeed, every time someone buys the Trump toilet paper 30 percent of the profits will go to non-profit organizations that help immigrants.So this is a good way for anti-Trump Americans to fight back against Trump s policies while also telling him what they think about him.The packaging even features a roll of toilet paper that looks like Trump and even mocks Trump s wall.And in another jab at Trump, Battaglia trademarked the word trump just for his products.Battaglia went on to say how much he appreciates the American people and how much he loves the United States.After all, he was brought to our country as a child and is a lawyer today because he was able to get an education here and return to Mexico to use his skills there. I am very grateful to U.S. people and feel strongly bounded to them, Battaglia said. He hopes Americans will purchase the toilet paper to help them overcome this daylight nightmare called Donald Trump. The operation is in the beginning stages but the toilet paper will soon be coming to a store near you. Be sure to get in line early, because Trump s popularity is so low that demand is sure to outpace supply.Featured Image: Facebook","label":1}
{"text":"A voice of reason speaks out! Mike Huckabee told Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro that he has a special repulsion for white supremacists and that Trump did the right thing in his statements about Charlottesville. It s part because I m white, he elaborated. It s part because I have seen this evil and hateful attitude that elevates some people above others. And as a believing Christian, I m especially offended because anybody who believes The Bible, especially the gospels, will have to accept that there is no way that God is a respecter of persons- as scripture makes clear, He doesn t love some people more than others because of their color, because of their affiliation, even with Him. He mentioned that because he believe in the gospels that every person has equal worth, that makes him pro-life.Pirro asked Huckabee if the outrage over the president s remarks are just Trump haters who will look for any reason to dump on him. Well it seems like a lot of them are, I don t know what they expect the president to do, Huckabee responded. At the time that he made the comment, the driver of the car had not even been identified. That s exactly right! Pirro exclaimed. And so what is he supposed to say? Huckabee continued. Is he supposed to do what Barack Obama used to do and jump to conclusion and make a decision like he did in Ferguson. Missouri, which turned out to be totally untrue? The president has to be careful in taking steps. I thought what he condemned was what we all could immediately condemn and that was the violence, the car some coward in a car drove into innocent people to try and kill them. And he condemned that! What else is he supposed to do at that point? Amen!","label":1}
{"text":"Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said on Wednesday she has faith in the United States justice system to do the right thing after last week s indictment of Paul Manafort, the man who helped bring her arch enemy to power. A political survivor and the strident voice of Ukraine s 2004\/2005 Orange Revolution, Tymoshenko was jailed during the pro-Kremlin presidency of Viktor Yanukovich in 2011 in a case condemned by Western leaders as selective justice. According to the indictment of Manafort, who was a consultant to Yanukovich s Party of Regions before becoming Donald Trump s campaign manager, Manafort used offshore accounts to secretly pay $4 million for a report on her imprisonment. Ordered under house arrest as he awaits trial, Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a 12-count indictment on charges that include money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent of Yanukovich s government. Money laundering allegations against Manafort are not new: Tymoshenko herself made them in a legal case she filed in New York against Yanukovich, Manafort and others that was dismissed in September 2015. As a result of the work of Yanukovich and his circle, I ended up in prison, the 56-year-old Tymoshenko said in an interview, in her first public comments about Manafort since his indictment. She said Yanukovich spent huge sums to blacken her name, ... without doubt this affected my life and that of my family and team in a certain way, and Ukraine as well, she said. That is why I believe that U.S. justice will deal with the details, including our claims, and we will get a ruling from one of the most effective legal systems in the world - the U.S. system. Manafort joined the Trump presidential campaign in March 2016 and later became campaign manager, but he was forced to resign in August as questions emerged about his previous work for Yanukovich s party. She used her fiery brand of oratory to try to humiliate Yanukovich, but he proved her nemesis after beating her in a 2010 election for president. She was charged with abuse of power in relation to a gas import agreement signed with Russia in 2009 as prime minister and was jailed. She was freed from prison in February 2014 after Yanukovich fled into exile to Russia during the pro-Western Maidan protests and she addressed crowds from a wheelchair on Kiev s Independence Square because of chronic back trouble. The crowd s sympathy for her condition did not help her though to regain a place in the new pro-western leadership and she lost to President Petro Poroshenko in the 2014 election. But the two-time prime minister who still sports a trademark peasant braid in her hair is now Poroshenko s main challenger at presidential and parliamentary elections due in 2019, according to opinion polls. Tymoshenko said Kiev should have a new type of agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which has propped up Ukraine s economy with a $17.5 billion aid program conditional on economic reforms and tackling entrenched graft. The IMF program is in choppy waters: as of now Ukraine has refused to implement a sharp hike in gas prices it had previously agreed to, while the Fund is also studying whether recently passed pension changes pass muster. When I served as prime minister I cooperated with the IMF and I believe that Ukraine can have positive cooperation with the IMF, she said, when asked whether she would do as the IMF says or abandon the program. But it seems to me that there needs to be a different emphasis in this cooperation. She said the program should be focused not on what she termed a reduction in social spending, but instead on tax reform and reducing the size of Ukraine s shadow economy.","label":0}
{"text":"Connecticut native, Hope Hicks, who had been serving as the interim White House communications director, is getting the job full-time, Bloomberg first reported Tuesday.Of course, the left immediately bombarded twitter with negative comments. They failed to note that this is the first time the communications team at the White House is two women. Nope, no mention of Hicks and Huckabee Sanders as a dynamic duo for President Trump. They re just taking bets on how long she lasts. What they failed to note is that Hicks has been with the campaign since day one .Her twitter bio :At age 28, Hicks will be the youngest person to hold the job, and it will mark the first time women have concurrently held the positions of communications director and White House press secretary, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the latter.Hicks replaces Trump s campaign donor Anthony Scaramucci, who held onto the job for just 10 days, and the low key Mike Dubke, the administration s first communications director, who left the White House in May.Hicks was one of Trump s originals, when his campaign was just a rag tag team of aides.Hicks is a Southern Methodist University graduate. She had been working for the first daughter, doing public relations for Ivanka Trump s brand, when the businessman brought her in to handle press requests for his young presidential campaign. She started off with us right from day one, President Trump told supporters at a rally last year, beckoning Hicks to come onstage. She used to be in my real estate company, he explained. I said, What do you know about politics? She said, Absolutely nothing, Trump said. With that, Hicks was hired.","label":1}
{"text":"Austria s anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) expelled one of its officials in Tyrol province over reports that he had displayed Nazi paraphernalia in the back of his pharmacy, a party spokesman said on Wednesday. The FPO, which is fighting with the Social Democrats for the second place in parliamentary elections on Oct. 15, has on previous occasions expelled provincial officials for owning Nazi-related objects, which is illegal in Austria. In Germany s election on Sunday, the FPO s sister party AfD won 12.6 percent of the vote, becoming the third-largest group in parliament and the first from the far right to win seats in the Bundestag since the 1950s. Austria s FPO is poised to become kingmaker as a junior coalition party, with conservative front-runner Sebastian Kurz expected to gain around a third of the vote with his tough rhetoric on fighting immigration and Islamic parallel societies . Martin Hochstoeger stepped back from his post as a member of the FPO Tyrol party executive after pictures were spread in Austrian media of a marble slate engraved with a quote by Adolf Hitler, a swastika and a tally of a local vote in 1938 favoring Austria s annexation by Nazi Germany. Based on current media reports ... I had to expel Dr Martin Hochstoeger last night after internal deliberations, said the head of the FPO in Tyrol, Markus Abwerzger, citing potential danger for the party s ethos. A spokesman for prosecutors in Tyrol s main city, Innsbruck, said they were looking into the case. Public broadcaster ORF said on its website Hochstoeger had declined to comment. Austria long presented itself as the first victim of the Nazis, a narrative initially supported by the Allies, even though large parts of Austrian society celebrated the 1938 annexation and many took on roles in the Nazi war effort and the Holocaust.","label":0}
{"text":"FBI Director James Comey was driven in part by a fear of leaks from within his agency when he decided to tell Congress the FBI was investigating newly discovered emails related to Hillary Clinton, law enforcement sources said on Thursday. The examination of the email traffic is now being carried out under the tightest secrecy by a team at Federal Bureau of Investigations headquarters in Washington, the sources said, requesting anonymity because of the inquiry's sensitivity. Several sources said it was unclear whether the FBI would make any further public disclosures about its latest review before Tuesday's presidential and congressional elections. Two sources said such disclosures were unlikely. Another source, recently in contact with top investigators, said: \"It depends on how it goes and what they find.\" The source said that, as of Thursday, \"nobody really knows\" whether the FBI will have anything further to say before the election. Dropping like a bombshell on the U.S. presidential campaign, Comey's disclosure last Friday in a letter to senior lawmakers just days before the elections raised questions about his motives and drew criticism from some over his timing. Comey disclosed that the FBI was looking at emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email system while secretary of state, without describing the emails' content or how long the inquiry might take. The FBI normally does not comment on ongoing inquiries. The latest emails examination was moving forward \"expeditiously,\" said one source close to the review. The new emails turned up as FBI investigators were examining electronic devices used by former Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner in connection with an alleged \"sexting\" scandal. Weiner's estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is a Clinton confidante. Two law enforcement sources familiar with the FBI's New York Field Office, which initially discovered the emails, said a faction of investigators based in the office is known to be hostile to Hillary Clinton. A spokeswoman for the FBI's New York office said she had no knowledge about this. Democratic Party sources said such a faction was likely responsible for a recent surge in media leaks on alleged details of an ongoing FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation. The FBI has made preliminary inquiries into Clinton Foundation activities and alleged contacts between Trump and associates with parties in Russia, according to law enforcement sources. But these inquiries were shifted into low gear weeks ago because the FBI wanted to avoid any impact on the election. The FBI previously had spent about a year investigating Clinton's use of the unauthorized server at her home in Chappaqua, New York, instead of the State Department system after classified government secrets were found in some of her emails. Comey had said in July that while there was \"evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.\"","label":0}
{"text":"KABUL, Afghanistan \u2014 As heavy snow fell on the muddy arena in northern Afghanistan where a traditional game of buzkashi \u2014 two teams of horsemen fighting for a dead goat \u2014 was underway on Friday, a scuffle broke out near the stands. It was not just another group of hotheaded fans going at it. The man who had thrown the punch is the vice president of Afghanistan, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. And he did not stop there: To drive the humiliation home, he put his foot on the chest of his downed victim, a political rival named Ahmad Ishchi, who was then beaten by the general's bodyguards, thrown into the back of an armored vehicle and taken away, said several of Mr. Ishchi's relatives, many of them speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. \"Dostum came there, and he walked around the stadium, \u2014 then he called Ahmad Ishchi over to him,\" said Gulab Khan, a relative of Mr. Ishchi who was among about 5, 000 spectators at the game. \"After talking with him for a couple of minutes, he punched him, and his bodyguards started beating him with . They beat Ahmad very badly and in a barbaric way. \" The account of General Dostum's actions \u2014 while not unexpected for a former warlord with a history of accusations of human rights violations and abuse, including physical acts of retaliation against allies and rivals \u2014 underscores fears about someone a heartbeat from the presidency. With President Ashraf Ghani traveling on an official visit to Central Asia, General Dostum is technically the acting president. For more than two days, he has held a political rival hostage in one of his properties, with members of Mr. Ishchi's family increasingly concerned about his health. On Sunday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the vice president's pink palace in the northern city of Shibarghan, pleading with him to free Mr. Ishchi. The protesters remained all day, but General Dostum did not meet with them. His guards simply told the protesters that the general was busy or resting. Spokesmen and advisers to General Dostum did not respond to requests for comment, despite promises from several of them. Aides who had accompanied the general to the game, and who were shown at his side in official pictures, flatly denied they had been there. Lutfullah Azizi, the governor of Jowzjan Province, which includes Shibarghan, said on Sunday that he was away from his office on a visit to Kabul, the capital, but was trying to calm the situation. \"I organized the tribal elders and sent them to talk with General Dostum to release Ahmad,\" Mr. Azizi said. \"They are currently meeting General Dostum, and we are emphasizing Ahmad's release tonight, as he is sick. \" While the two men have a long history of not getting along, a senior Afghan official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity said Mr. Ishchi had shown some sign of disrespect at a very vulnerable time for the general. General Dostum has increasingly felt marginalized and humiliated by Mr. Ghani in Kabul. He has spent more time away from his office \u2014 he is often seen in uniform on the battlefields of his northern stronghold \u2014 than behind his desk. Mr. Ishchi has been involved in politics in the north for decades and helped General Dostum found the Junbish party, which he leads now. A former labor leader during the Communist regime, he rose to serve in senior provincial government positions. One of his sons was a district governor in Jowzjan, and another is a member of the provincial council there. A third son has become rich in recent years through businesses he has in Turkey. The senior Afghan official said that although Mr. Ishchi had little power compared with General Dostum, the general considered the Ishchi family a threat to his own dynasty as he groomed his children to inherit his party and influence. The confrontation happened soon after General Dostum returned to the country from an absence that followed another outburst aimed at Mr. Ghani, in which he threatened to cause trouble if he was not taken seriously. The general was angry at the lack of help from the central government when his convoy was ambushed by the Taliban during a military operation in Faryab Province, killing many of the men who had been at his side for years. At Friday's game, General Dostum arrived in a convoy of black armored vehicles. Before the goat was slaughtered to start the action, a video of the event showed, local musicians sang a tribute to the recent martyrs as the general wept. His trembling lips pushing out deep breaths of pain, and with snow gathering on his shoulders, he wiped his tears with a white tissue. Then he took it out on Mr. Ishchi.","label":0}
{"text":"HANGZHOU, China \u2014 President Obama sought on Sunday to heal a rift with Turkey, expressing his wholehearted support for its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the wake of a failed effort to oust him and promising America's help in bringing the coup plotters to justice. Mr. Obama's comments, after he met with Mr. Erdogan before a Group of 20 summit meeting here, seemed calculated to smooth over hard feelings in Turkey, where some officials had blamed the United States for fomenting the July 15 uprising by elements of the military. He said nothing about Mr. Erdogan's crackdown after the coup, in which tens of thousands of people were arrested. And his reference to helping Turkey bring the perpetrators of the uprising to justice was not accidental: Mr. Erdogan is demanding that the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania whom he accused of inciting the coup. \"This is the first opportunity that I've had to meet face to face with President Erdogan since the terrible attempted coup,\" Mr. Obama said, facing the Turkish leader across a long table. \"We're glad you're here, safe, and that we are able to continue to work together. \" He papered over the fact that Turkey's interests have diverged recently from those of the United States, particularly in Syria, where Turkish forces have intervened to prevent Syrian Kurds from making further gains in the northern part of the country. The Kurds are trained and equipped by the United States, which views them as critical in the military campaign against the Islamic State. But Mr. Erdogan fears they are trying to create an unbroken Kurdish corridor just south of Turkey's border with Syria. The Syrian Kurds have links to Turkish Kurds, who have been fighting his government. Mr. Erdogan said it was important for the United States and Turkey to fight against all terrorist groups, not just the Islamic State. He mentioned the acronyms of two Syrian Kurdish groups. \"We have to embrace the same stance against all terrorist organizations around the world,\" he said. \"Our hope is never to see a belt of terrorism, a corridor of terrorism emerging in or around our region. \" Still, Mr. Erdogan was more conciliatory to Mr. Obama than he had been toward Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. when Mr. Biden traveled to Turkey last month. Mr. Biden apologized for not having visited sooner, but Mr. Erdogan sat complaining that Mr. Gulen used his home in Pennsylvania as a base to destabilize the Turkish government. On Sunday, Mr. Erdogan did not repeat those claims. He merely said that the Turkish government planned to submit additional legal evidence against Mr. Gulen to the Justice Department, which will recommend to a federal judge whether to extradite him. Mr. Erdogan noted that the Justice Department had sent officials to Turkey to investigate the case. Earlier in the day, Mr. Obama held his first meeting with Britain's new prime minister, Theresa May. He reassured her, as he had her predecessor, David Cameron, that Britain's vote to leave the European Union would have no effect on its relationship with the United States.","label":0}
{"text":"It s hard to be famous for being a victim in an Arab Gulf state who settles their disputes in a Sharia Court of Law. Someone should have told Clock Boy that being a victim in a country where victims are plentiful isn t really that special. Unlike America, being accused of bringing a fake bomb to school in Qatar isn t likely a guarantee you ll land a visit with their King.Within days of demanding a total of $15 million from the City of Irving and the Irving Independent School District, Clock Boy Ahmed Mohamed announced in a long distance phone interview from Qatar, he is homesick and wants to come home to Texas now.In October, Ahmed accepted a fully-funded education scholarship from the Qatar Foundation, an organization with reputed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, over an invitation to MIT, which is among the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world. The family announced they would relocate to Qatar to accommodate his education, which they did.Happy #Thanksgiving!! Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) November 26, 2015Dallas KTVT 11 (CBS) interviewed the teen from halfway around the world over Facetime. Now, Ahmed claims he misses Texas. I want to go back to a place where everyone knows me, meaning the kids he grew up with. He also hinted a trip to Dallas may be in the works over the Christmas holiday. He told the CBS affiliate he is ready to come home and wants to do so immediately, but insists last week s armed yet peaceful protest outside the Irving mosque stopped him.Breitbart Texas reported on the small group outside of the Islamic Center of Irving. The organizer released dozens of names and addresses considered Muslim and Muslim sympathizers over social media. The list, however, was posted on the City of Irving s website since March with the information of those who signed up to speak for and against the topic of American laws for American courts at an Irving city council meeting.Ahmed told the TV news outlet: I was scared because I ve heard what happened recently with, like, people with guns going to my local mosque, adding: I mean, they have the right to do that but it s scary because I m afraid, you know. Last week, through West Texas attorney Kelly Hollingsworth, Ahmed s family demanded $15 million plus apologies in letters that asserted they moved to the Middle East because threats and fear drove his family from Texas. However, Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne received serious online threats and remains under fire over decisions made by the Irving ISD and Irving police to detain the high school freshman, who, on Sept. 14, brought into school a makeshift clock that resembled a briefcase bomb.The KTVT reporter pointed out that questioning the teen about the $15 million was something that nearly ended (the interview). He captured Ahmed s metered responses with eyes drifting off camera that appeared to look offside for approval from someone before answering questions. Ahmed first looked away when asked if he wanted to come back to Texas before answering yes with a smile. Clock Boy then told the CBS affiliate he was waiting for people to calm down back home before he returned.In a Christmas season blanketed by the Islamic State attacks in Paris, State Department travel alerts, and Syrian refugees at U.S. borders, sympathy continues to wane for the Islamophobia poster child. Breitbart News reported that the same liberal media that championed the teen s every move, including his Qatar Foundation-sponsored tour of Education City, lost interest.The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette added what little sympathy Americans had for the Clock Boy is gone thanks to a shameless money grab by the teen s family. The newspaper added that the Mohamed family s departure and subsequent demands make them look like opportunists, or worse.","label":1}
{"text":"Attorney Robert Barnes joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Thursday's Breitbart News Daily to discuss his latest Breitbart News column, \"Hawaii Obama Judge Rules Muslim Imam Has Special Constitutional Rights to Bring Anyone from Terror Countries into America. \"[Marlow asked Barnes to begin by explaining why Trump's temporary ban on various terror countries was blocked. LISTEN: \"The district court judge in Hawaii, who was a fellow law graduate of Harvard law school with former President Obama \u2014 and, in fact, Obama was in Hawaii yesterday before the decision was issued, so some people have speculated on the coincidence of that. But he issued a decision that blocks the ability of anybody to enforce the order anywhere,\" Barnes said. \"So he went beyond just the district of Hawaii. He said no state can enforce it. Nobody in any part of the country can enforce it. Nobody anywhere in the administration can enforce it. He issued what's called a nationwide injunction, and it precludes any application of the order, pretty much, on any aspect of the order, pretty much, until there's further review. \" \"His basis for doing so was an extraordinary interpretation of the right to travel and the freedom of association, which before, has only been associated with U. S. citizens,\" Barnes continued. \"Every court decision in the 200 years prior to this has said that people who are not citizens of the United States, who are not present within the United States, have no First Amendment constitutional rights. The Constitution doesn't extend internationally to anybody, anywhere, anyplace, at any time. Instead, this judge said it did, as long as you had a university here who wanted to assert, the foreigner's rights, or you had some physical person here. In this case, it was one of the leading Muslim imams in Hawaii he wants to bring over various family and friends from the Middle East. \" \"The Hawaii judge's decision says he has a First Amendment constitutional right to do so because he's Muslim. It was one of the most extraordinary interpretations of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment ever given, which is that because these are Muslim countries that were banned where the issue of terror arises from that that meant they had a special right to access the country and visit the country,\" he said. \"As long as there is somebody here that wants them here, no president can ever preclude them from coming here. He basically gave First Amendment rights to everybody around the world and gave special preferences to people who are Muslim under his interpretation of the First Amendment,\" Barnes summarized. \"So it's an extraordinarily broad order. Its legal doctrine has no limits. If you keep extending this, it means people from around the world have a special right to access the United States, visit the United States, emigrate to the United States, get visas to the United States. There wouldn't be any limit, and the president would never be able to control our own borders. It would be up solely to the whim of a federal judge who effectively delegated it, in this case, to a Muslim imam in Hawaii,\" he contended. Barnes noted that the judge did not \"cite any prior decision\" that has ever established this astonishing new quirk of the Constitution. \"Just last year, the Supreme Court implicitly said the opposite, when they said your right to association does not include a right to bring foreigners into the United States, in the Din decision,\" he pointed out. \"Now, there were several concurrences, so the binding precedent of that has been left open, but he does not even reference or mention or discuss the decision. He doesn't even mention the statute, the main statute that gives the president the right to ban any alien from the country, for any reason the president deems appropriate, for any temporary time period, that the president yesterday cited in his national speech. Like the prior Ninth Circuit decision, the Hawaii judge never mentions the decision at all. \" \"So there's no real legal precedent. He's taking three or four different concepts that have been applied in completely different areas of law, that only ever have historically applied to U. S. citizens, and he's magically adding it to foreigners and acting like that's always been the case when it's never been the case,\" he said. \"It is a product of what I call liberal law school education that was happening when I was in law school, which is they're increasingly teaching lawyers to replace objective analysis with their subjective preference, but to pretend their subjective bias was really objective reality, even when it wasn't,\" Barnes said. \"They basically taught you to lie to yourself about what the law really was and what it really stood for. \" \"Obama reflects that, and this judge deeply reflects that,\" Barnes asserted. \"He's someone whose opinion would be taken apart. If it was a law school exam, he would get an 'F' because of how badly he misapplied the law. Unfortunately, in the liberal law school mentality, it's what they've taught people to do. This judge, who's a relatively recent judge, he's been on the bench a few years, extended it in that way. \" \"To give you an idea of how bad it is, yesterday, five Ninth Circuit judges dissented from reviewing the decision about the prior Ninth Circuit decision,\" he pointed out. \"The prior Ninth Circuit decision effectively became moot when President Trump replace his old executive order with the new one, and these five judges said that prior decision was so bad that they needed to vacate the decision and should vacate the prior decision, even though that's very rare under those circumstances. They referred to the obligation to correct the 'manifest many, obvious, fundamental errors' that went against all the precedent the guy overlooked or neglected in the prior panel decision. \" \"It was one of the harshest condemnations ever issued, and one of its authors was former chief judge of the Ninth Circuit Alex Kozinsky, who is regarded as one of the best and brightest judges from anywhere in the country, even though he's usually more on the liberal side of the spectrum,\" he noted. \"What they all pointed out is it doesn't matter what your politics are, the law is clear. There was no basis for the prior Ninth Circuit decision. Well, this Hawaii decision goes further than any court had ever gone before. Hopefully, it will get reviewed and reversed, but in the interim, the country's safety is put into jeopardy because one federal judge decided to anoint himself the one Supreme Court of the country. \" Marlow asked if President Trump had any recourse, other than waiting for a higher court to overturn the Hawaii decision. Barnes suggested he could \"always do a true Andrew Jackson, since he was there yesterday,\" referring to Trump's visit to Andrew Jackson's grave. \"When the Supreme Court issued a decision, Andrew Jackson's famous comments were, 'Well, they've issued their decision now, they can enforce it,'\" Barnes recalled. \"He was the last president to really challenge a Supreme Court usurping authority they did not have. \" \"In this particular context, because it's a district court decision \u2014 Professor Dershowitz even argued this, earlier in the cycle, when the Ninth Circuit even issued its decision \u2014 was that because there was a conflict between the courts, because you have a court in Boston that actually approved of the original Trump order, a great detailed order, order, cited by the five Ninth Circuit judges yesterday \u2014 the president would be in his legal rights to say: 'There's a conflict between the courts. Until the Supreme Court addresses this, I'm going to do what's appropriate to keep the country safe,'\" he suggested. \"The flip side is if he did that, the media would go on a field day and say the president thinks he's above the law and is refusing to honor a court order,\" he acknowledged. \"He's more likely to wait for this issue to get adjudicated. It ties his hands, unfortunately, and endangers the country in the interim, but politically speaking, he's sort of put between a rock and a hard place. His only real alternative is to either go full Andrew Jackson or let it play out in the courts, and in the interim, the order is not enforced. \" \"You definitely can do impeachment proceedings,\" Barnes said when Marlow asked if there was any course of action that could be taken against the Hawaii judge for abusing his authority. \"I do think that all the political pressure put on the courts and all the public criticism by legal scholars and everybody else publicly about these decisions, and how reckless they are, and how dangerous they are to the and safety of the country, and how they are, and how they mirror and reflect the aspects of Obama's shadow government undermining the government through its Deep State connections and its undemocratically elected officials has real value,\" he said. \"That's even reflected in the decision of the five judges yesterday who were so harsh in the criticism of their former colleagues,\" he pointed out. \"They mention that the attention drawn to the court is a particular concern to them in jeopardizing the credibility of the court \u2014 because, at the end of the day, America's courts only have power as long as people respect and believe and have confidence in the independence and integrity of those courts. \" \"As that gets sacrificed, courts lose power, and we may return back to a time and place where someone like President Trump needs to go back to Andrew Jackson and invoke his tradition and legacy in order to challenge judicial usurpation of the safety and security of the country. At the current time, there's not a lot we can do without being willing to go full Andrew Jackson against the court system,\" he judged. \"Impeachment is always an option in the House. Some congressmen could pursue it because of these judges usurping their authority and invading the security and safety of the country, and violating the tripartite branches of power, where the judiciary is always supposed to have respected the president in this area. But right now, there's not a lot we can do under the current political and legal environment,\" Barnes concluded. He agreed with President Trump's contention that this level of judicial overreach was unprecedented. \"When you have law professors like Jonathan Turley or Alan Dershowitz or Jeffrey Toobin saying that the prior Ninth Circuit decision \u2014 which did not go as far as this case did, as the Hawaii judge did \u2014 saying it basically is bad law, then you know how bad the law actually is,\" Barnes said. \"It's law that has no precedent, that has no historical application. For example, the Supreme Court and our Congress banned anarchists from coming into the country. It banned people that were Communists from coming into the country. We have always been able to use just mere ideology as a test. \" \"We've also favored several religious groups, disfavored other religious groups,\" he added, agreeing with Marlow's example of how the Obama administration treated Christian refugees. \"This Hawaii judge is close friends with Obama, may have met with Obama before the decision was issued, is here condemning President Trump from just trying to keep the country safe as to who can come in. Well, if you apply his doctrine legally, how was Obama Americans and all kinds of people overseas? So you don't have a right not to be but you have a right to live next to somebody in the state of Hawaii or anywhere else in the country?\" he asked sarcastically. \"There's no logic. If you start to apply logically all of the consequences of this judge's ideas, it goes to places that would destroy the whole concept of borders, destroy the whole concept of nationhood sovereignty, destroy the presidential prerogative to destroy our borders. There's just no limit to where this judge's decision could go,\" Barnes warned. He said there is no question executive power has been used in a discriminatory fashion against Christians \"for almost the entire Obama tenure, particularly the Syrian Christians and others who were being actually harassed and persecuted. \" Barnes said the judicial action against Trump's revised executive order dispelled the notion his first order was merely worded poorly or rolled out in a clumsy manner. \"No, the problem is you have Deep State saboteurs, and you have unelected officials who think they're above the law try to create the law, try to change the law, try to rewrite the law. \" \"The problem wasn't how he rolled out the prior order. The problem is, the opposition are people who don't respect democratic elections and don't respect the limits of their office,\" he charged. \"This problem is now right center with the way this judge issued his decision and particularly applying it nationally. He prevented every other federal judge, every other federal circuit, from weighing in on the decision because he unilaterally opposed it across the whole country \u2014 which both the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit have said you're not supposed to do, in cases just like this,\" Barnes said. \"Judges think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want, however they want. The media will celebrate them. Nobody will do anything negative or adverse to them. And the only person pushing back on it is President Trump,\" he said. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. Listen to the full audio of the interview above.","label":0}
{"text":"Saudi King Salman appointed two new ministers on Saturday to key security and economic posts, removing one of the royal family s most prominent members as head of the National Guard and boosting the kingdom s young crown prince. The king also announced the creation of a new anti-corruption committee chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which Al Arabiya TV said had already detained 11 princes, four current ministers and tens of former ministers. The suspects were not named. The cabinet reshuffle saw Prince Miteb bin Abdullah replaced as minister of the National Guard by Khaled bin Ayyaf, while Economy Minister Adel Fakieh was removed in favor of his deputy Mohammed al-Tuwaijri, according to a royal decree carried by state-run media. Prince Miteb, the preferred son of the late King Abdullah, was once thought to be a leading contender for the throne before the unexpected rise of Prince Mohammed two years ago. He had inherited control of the National Guard, an elite internal security force built out of traditional tribal units, from his father, who ran it for five decades. Prince Miteb was the last remaining member of Abdullah s branch of the family to hold a position in the upper echelons of the Saudi power structure. The move consolidates Crown Prince Mohammed s control of the kingdom s security institutions, which had long been headed by separate powerful branches of the ruling family. Prince Mohammed, the king s 32-year-old son, already serves as defense minister and was named heir to the throne in a June reshuffle that sidelined his older cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef who had also served as interior minister. He has been responsible at the same time for running Saudi Arabia s war in Yemen, dictating an energy policy with global implications and behind the plans for the kingdom to build a future after oil. Prince Mohammed, who has pledged to go after graft at the highest levels, will now also head up the new anti-corruption body, which was given broad powers to investigate cases, issue arrest warrants and travel restrictions, and freeze assets. The homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted and the corrupt are held accountable, the royal decree said. The country s new economy minister, Tuwaijri, is a former Saudi air force pilot and former chief executive of HSBC s Middle East operations who has led the economy ministry s program to privatize some $200 billion of government assets. He replaces Fakieh, who served as the point man for the kingdom s wide-ranging economic reforms since his appointment as economy and planning minister in 2015. A former food executive with a reputation for pushing through politically sensitive reforms, Fakieh had previously served as labor minister, health minister and mayor of Jeddah. Fakieh faced down fierce opposition from the business community as labor minister when he established quotas for foreign workers to boost jobs for Saudis. Under Prince Mohammed, Fakieh led the development of a national transformation plan and privatization drive launched last year to end the kingdom s vulnerability to an unpredictable oil market. His replacement comes as the kingdom makes adjustments to that plan, a process dubbed NTP 2.0. The royal decree did not say whether Fakieh would hold any other government position. Former ministers often serve in advisory roles after leaving their posts.","label":0}
{"text":"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s government has been badly shaken by a conflict-of-interest controversy about his finance minister, but the Liberal government s upcoming fiscal update offers an opportunity to reset the public focus on Canada s strong economy, political observers say. The government has been plagued all week about questions about the finance minister, Bill Morneau, the multimillionaire former chief executive officer of human resources management firm Morneau Shepell. Some have questioned whether Morneau would be forced to resign. The focus has been a rare stumble for Trudeau s government, which marked two years in office this month and has mostly maneuvered its way out of political trouble partly because of Trudeau s personal popularity and the youthful momentum of the Liberals after 10 years of Conservative rule. They re politically very astute in a whole bunch of areas but in issues management and parliamentary management they seem to be ham-fisted, said Andrew Graham, professor at the school of policy studies at Queen s University. With Trudeau s strong defense of Morneau, and the finance minister likely to unveil a smaller budget deficit in Tuesday s fall fiscal update, Liberals have a temporary chance to refocus on good news. Economic conditions are a bedrock of whether people feel good or bad about how politicians are performing, and the economy is doing very well for most people, said Abacus Data pollster Bruce Anderson. Morneau said on Thursday he will put his assets in a blind trust and divest stock in a publicly traded family business. That comes after weeks of backlash over tax reform that has become a major obstacle for Trudeau s government. Opposition parties from both the political left and right have seized on the ethics scandal, trying to tie Trudeau s team to what they say is an entitled Liberal Party that has previously faced corruption charges. The opposition has changed the focus from substance to ethics, and they won t let that go that easily, said Genevieve Tellier, a political professor at the University of Ottawa. But Tellier said Trudeau s decision to fill his cabinet with political rookies - including Morneau - rather than turning to the old Liberal guard, could limit the ability of the opposition to land many ethical punches. Moreover, Morneau is respected by markets. I think the prime minister would be very cautious about changing his finance minister. ... (Morneau) presents a reassuring image, he doesn t scare the markets, Tellier said. Ipsos Public Affairs pollster Darrell Bricker put it more bluntly: They really don t have a choice but to tough it out and hope some event will transpire to distract the hyenas. The expected budget improvement in Tuesday s fall fiscal update could also give Morneau the leeway to woo voters with more spending or debt reduction. The way the numbers are playing out, they are in a fairly favorable fiscal position, said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada. Morneau spokesman Dan Lauzon said the finance minister has no plans to change his strategy, and would keep focus on fiscal stimulus matters: He is in this for the long run, and he won t let distractions get in the way.","label":0}
{"text":"On Friday, Donald Trump attacked NFL players such as Colin Kaepernick at a rally for Alabama Senate candidate Luther Strange (R). The amateur president called on NFL owners to fire players for taking a knee rather than standing during the national anthem. Wouldn t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, Trump said, adding, He is fired. Colin Kaepernick s mother wasn t having any of it. Do not mess with her son. Guess that makes me a proud bitch! Teresa Kaepernick tweeted.Guess that makes me a proud bitch! Teresa Kaepernick (@B4IleaveU) September 23, 2017While Puerto Rico remains devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the so-called president is busy attacking black athletes.Stephen Curry, a Golden State Warriors guard and two-time NBA MVP, said that he wasn t interested in visiting the White House to celebrate the team s 2017 championship. He added that he would wait to see how the team feels as a group. Curry said his reasons for not wanting to visit the White House were that we basically don t stand for what our president has said, and the things he hasn t said at the right time, according to SF Gate. By not going, hopefully, it will inspire some change for what we tolerate in this country and what we stand for, what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye toward. So, Trump tweeted a response. Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn! Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017That s right, he can t break up with Trump. Trump is breaking up with him first, so there!NBA star LeBron James fired back at Trump over his tweet, calling him a bum on Saturday. You bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain t going! So therefore ain t no invite, James tweeted. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up! James tweeted.U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up! LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017LeSean McCoy, running back for the Buffalo Bills tweeted, It s really sad man our president is a asshole. It's really sad man our president is a asshole Lesean McCoy (@CutonDime25) September 23, 2017Mrs. Kaepernick retweeted that.After a backlash, Trump took to his Twitter account. If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem, he tweeted. If not, YOU RE FIRED. Find something else to do! Welp, if a president disrespects our country then he should be fired.","label":1}
{"text":"A woman who accused Donald Trump of repeatedly raping her two decades ago when she was a 13-year-old aspiring teen model has again dropped a federal lawsuit over the alleged assaults. The accuser, identified in the lawsuit by the pseudonym \"Jane Doe,\" was expected to appear at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, but that appearance was abruptly canceled. The lawyer who organized the event, Lisa Bloom, said Trump's accuser had received threats and was too frightened to show up. The accuser's lead attorney, Thomas Meagher of New Jersey, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He filed a one-page notice dismissing the case Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan. No explanation was given for the action. Bloom did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Through his attorney, Trump had flatly denied the woman's allegations. There was plenty of speculation \u2014 and skepticism \u2014 from social media users about the validity of the charges. Hillary Clinton's niece came out for TRUMP because 'selfish' aunt wants to win for all the wrong reasons. Source","label":1}
{"text":"China and South Korea have agreed to get their relations back onto a normal track at an early date, China s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, following high level talks between the two countries. Both countries attach great important to their ties, the ministry said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"Nine Turkish citizens were charged in Greece with terrorism-related offences on Wednesday, accused of hoarding explosives and of links to an outlawed militant organization responsible for suicide bombings in Turkey. The arrest of eight men and a woman in early-morning raids at three locations in central Athens on Tuesday came days before an expected state visit by Tayyip Erdogan, the first by a Turkish president to Greece in 65 years. Greece says the two events are unrelated. Police officials said they were being questioned for alleged links to the leftist DHKP\/C, a far-left group blamed for a string of attacks and suicide bombings in Turkey since 1990. Their lawyer said the individuals, who have not been named, were struggling against a fascist regime and had denied any wrongdoing. They were charged with setting up and being members of a criminal organization, terrorist-related acts of supply and possession of explosive materials, illegal possession of firearms, smoke bombs and fire crackers, court sources said. The individuals, escorted handcuffed into a central Athens court wearing bullet proof vests, have not entered a formal plea. They are refugees, lawyer Alexandra Zorbala said. Some have sought, others have received asylum ... they are fighters who are struggling against a fascist regime, against torture and thousands of arrests. . One of the charges they face is resisting arrest. At least one of the defendants entered the courthouse with a black eye. One of the detainees had been wanted by Greek police in connection with an arms and explosives haul off the Greek island of Chios, close to the Turkish coast, in 2013. Turkey s Erdogan is widely expected to visit Greece in December, although his visit has not been officially announced.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican Senator Orrin Hatch tried to justify not doing his job and Chris Cuomo was having none of it.During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch attempted to defend the decision of Senate Republicans to refuse to hold confirmation hearings for anyone President Obama nominates to fill the vacant seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away on Saturday.Ever since news broke of Scalia s death, Republicans have made it clear that they won t allow President Obama to fill the empty position on the bench, opting instead to wait a year until whomever is elected president in November takes office, which they hope will be a Republican.But host Chris Cuomo told Hatch that he and his GOP colleagues should do their damn jobs as the Constitution requires, especially since the document conservatives claim they love so much says nothing about a president not being able to pick a judicial nominee during an election year. You don t get to not vote on judges just because it is an election year and final year of someone s presidency. So, that hypocrisy is as play as well, Cuomo bluntly said. You don t have to like whom he nominates, but shouldn t you go through the process? Of course, like a good little obstructionist Hatch continued to insist that Republicans don t have to do anything. No, I don t think there is any real reason to do that, he said. To which Cuomo asked, What about the Constitution? Hatch responded by claiming that President Obama has been treated fairly by Senate Republicans, which we all know is a crock of shit considering the record amount of obstructing the GOP has done since President Obama first took office seven years ago. At the end of his response, Hatch revealed the only real reason why Republicans want to wait to replace Scalia. Look, this president s been treated fairly. 40 percent of the federal judiciary up and Republicans have allowed votes on all of those. Now what they are saying is look, we are in a tremendous presidential campaign, there is a lot of bitterness on both sides, let s diffuse this thing and let s put this until the next president of the United States. We ll wait and use discretion, and whoever is the next president will do the job. Now the Democrats of course naturally want this because they want to have a 5-4 majority on the court. Throughout the interview, Hatch claimed that Democrats muddied up the system by not confirming conservative extremist Robert Bork to the high court. However, Cuomo pointed out that Democrats at least held confirmation hearings as required by the Constitution and went through the process. It s just that at the end Bork wasn t confirmed, which is the Senate s right. The Senate does have the power to reject a nominee. So it appears Hatch and his fellow Republicans all have a case of sour grapes because Democrats did their job. As it turned out, Anthony Kennedy ended up being confirmed to the Supreme Court instead of Bork.The bottom line is that Senate Democrats went through the process even though they eventually rejected Bork. Fun fact: six Republicans voted against Bork as well.Cuomo then informed Hatch that a 4-4 court is not a good thing because many cases won t be settled due to constant ties, which would delay a real decision while cases pile up since unresolved cases have to be refiled and argued again. But Hatch thinks a 4-4 court is a good thing. A 4-4 court functions it s functioned in the past. It will function this time. Just on the really controversial issues they will probably put them off for a year. It is not the end of the world. As a matter of fact, it is a smart thing to do. And as he had done multiple times throughout the interview, Hatch brought up the presidential election and how it would somehow be unfair to hold hearings during this time. And when Cuomo mentioned that the Constitution doesn t say anything about not confirming judges during a election year, Hatch claimed the Constitution gives you every right to defer this. And to make sure that it is done in the best of ways so that both sides have an opportunity to have their person in the presidency and then, you know, if the Democrats win we ll go through this process the way it ought to be gone through. Here s the video via YouTube.Again, Hatch makes a bullshit claim because we all know that if Republicans still control the Senate in 2017, they will continue to throw a temper tantrum and refuse to do their job if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is the president who makes a nomination. In other words, things will be no different than they are right now.Hatch and Senate Republicans are the reasons why our government can t get anything done for this country and now they are threatening to derail the judicial system and break all precedent just because they don t want the Supreme Court to shift away from the extreme conservative ideology that has controlled the Court for decades. This is totally outrageous and the American people need to punish Republicans for this failure to do their jobs. After all, if any normal American worker failed to do their job, they d be fired. So should Senate Republicans. Featured image from Raw Story","label":1}
{"text":"Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said he would be willing to travel to North Korea on behalf of the Trump administration to help diffuse rising tensions, The New York Times reported on its website on Sunday. \"I would go, yes,\" Carter, 93, told the Times when he was asked in an interview at his ranch house in Plains, Georgia whether it was time for another diplomatic mission and whether he would do so for President Trump. Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981, said he had spoken to Trump's National Security Adviser Lt.-Gen. H. R. McMaster, who is a friend, but so far has gotten a negative response. \"I told him that I was available if they ever need me,\" the Times quoted Carter as saying. Told that some in Washington were made nervous by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's war of words, Carter said \"I'm afraid, too, of a situation.\" \"They want to save their regime. And we greatly overestimate China's influence on North Korea. Particularly to Kim,\" who, Carter added, has \"never, so far as I know, been to China.\"\"And they have no relationship. Kim Jong-il did go to China and was very close to them.\" Describing the North Korean leader as \"unpredictable,\" Carter worried that if Kim thinks Trump will act against him, he could do something pre-emptive, the Times reported. \"I think he's now got advanced nuclear weaponry that can destroy the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and some of our outlying territories in the Pacific, maybe even our mainland,\" Carter said. In the mid 1990s, Carter traveled to Pyongyang over the objections of President Bill Clinton, the Times report said, and struck a deal with Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current leader.","label":0}
{"text":"President Obama said on Monday that he had urged Donald J. Trump to reach out to minority groups, women and others who were alienated by his campaign, during the president's first news conference since Mr. Trump won the election in a stunning upset that has imperiled Mr. Obama's legacy. \"There are certain things that make for good sound bites but don't always translate into good policy, and that's something that I think that he and his team will wrestle with,\" Mr. Obama said in the White House briefing room. \"I did say to him, as I've said publicly, that because of the nature of the campaigns and the bitterness and the ferocity of the campaigns, that it's really important to send some signals of unity, and to reach out to minority groups, or women, or others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign, and I think that's something that he will want to do. \" Mr. Obama also said he thought that Mr. Trump was entering office with fewer set policy ideas than other . \"I don't think he is ideological,\" Mr. Obama said. \"I think ultimately he is pragmatic. \" Mr. Obama, who during the campaign called Mr. Trump temperamentally unfit and dangerously unqualified to be president, has since said his priority is to lead an orderly transition of power to help Mr. Trump succeed for the good of the country. He sidestepped a question about Mr. Trump's actions since his victory, including his selection on Sunday of Stephen K. Bannon, a media mogul whose website, Breitbart. com, has promoted white nationalist, racist and views, as his chief White House strategist and senior counselor. \"Without copping out, I think it's fair to say that it would not be appropriate for me to comment\" on Mr. Trump's personnel decisions, Mr. Obama said. The president remarked last week that Mr. Trump's comments and behavior had been more statesmanlike since the election, saying that he had been \"encouraged\" by the change in tone. Since then, the has used Twitter to complain about postelection protests against him and object to the way The New York Times has covered him. Mr. Trump's elevation of Mr. Bannon, who was a top adviser to the campaign, has drawn scathing criticism from Democrats and some Republicans who warn that the is placing a divisive figure with fringe views deep inside the West Wing. White House officials say Mr. Obama has not changed his view of Mr. Trump since the campaign this fall, when he condemned Mr. Trump as a bigot who had cozied up to white supremacists and could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But Mr. Obama has told the American public that he believes the will of the voters should be respected. During a meeting on Thursday in the Oval Office, the president tutored Mr. Trump, who has no government policy or elective experience, on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy matters he will have to deal with on his first day in office. Mr. Obama held the news conference just before departing for a weeklong trip to Greece, Germany and Peru \u2014 his final scheduled trip abroad as president \u2014 where he expected to face questions from anxious American allies. For months, Mr. Obama assured the allies that Mr. Trump would not win the White House. Now, he said on Monday, he will tell European allies that they should not fear for the future of NATO under a Trump presidency. In the Oval Office conversation on Thursday, Mr. Obama said, Mr. Trump \"expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships, and so one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the alliance. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Donald J. Trump, defending his recent phone call with Taiwan's president, asserted in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States was not bound by the One China policy, the diplomatic understanding that underpins America's relationship with its biggest rival. Mr. Trump, speaking on Fox News, said he understood the principle of a single China that includes Taiwan, but declared, \"I don't know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade. \" \"I mean, look,\" he continued, \"we're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don't tax them with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn't be doing and, frankly, with not helping us at all with North Korea. \" Mr. Trump is not the first incoming Republican president to question the One China policy, but his suggestion that it could be used as a chip to correct Chinese behavior sets him apart, several Asia experts said. While Mr. Trump has been praised by some Republicans for taking a new look at China policy, his stance could risk a backlash by Beijing, the analysts said. Not since 1972, when President Richard M. Nixon and Mao Zedong enshrined the One China principle in the Shanghai Communiqu\u00e9, has an American president or so publicly and explicitly questioned the agreement, which resulted in the United States' ending its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in 1979. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the government had \"serious concern\" about Mr. Trump's remarks, renewing a debate that erupted nine days ago when he took a congratulatory phone call from President Tsai of Taiwan. At first, Mr. Trump played down the implications of the call, saying he was just being polite. Later, his aides said he was well aware of the diplomatic repercussions of speaking to Taiwan's leader. Lobbyists for Taiwan, including the law firm of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, spent months laying the groundwork for the call. On Friday, China's senior foreign policy official, Yang Jiechi, met with Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, whom Mr. Trump has designated as his national security adviser, according to a person told about the meeting. It was not clear what the men had discussed. Some Republican foreign policy experts \u2014 including John R. Bolton, who is believed to be a for the post of deputy secretary of state \u2014 have praised Mr. Trump for shaking up a diplomatic agreement. As a candidate, Ronald Reagan criticized the decision to abrogate recognition of Taiwan after his election, he invited a delegation from Taiwan to attend his inauguration, antagonizing Beijing. In 1982, as president, Reagan pushed for the Six Assurances, one of which was a reaffirmation that the United States did not formally recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. Still, he abided by the terms of the 1979 joint communiqu\u00e9 that established relations between the United States and China. But Mr. Trump's suggestion that the policy could be wielded as a chip in a broader negotiation with China has implications not just for Washington's relationship with Beijing, several experts on Asia said, but also for America's support for Taiwan. \"By putting One China up for grabs, Trump will suck all the oxygen out of the U. S. relationship, and it risks eventually trading away U. S. support for Taiwan for another U. S. interest,\" said Evan Medeiros, a former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council. \"There are good reasons why eight presidents since 1972 have relied on the One China policy,\" he added. \"This is one area where the Trump team would do well to heed the lessons of history instead of bucking them in the uncertain hope of getting something. \" Jeffrey A. Bader, Mr. Medeiros's predecessor in the Obama administration, said the One China policy had \"always been seen as a foundation of the relationship. \" \"Now Trump apparently sees it as part of a broader set of new transactions,\" he said. \"Mixing trade with an issue seen by Beijing as involving sovereignty is likely to produce an angry Chinese backlash and worsen both issues. \" An editorial on Monday in The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid, said that Mr. Trump was \"like a child in his ignorance of foreign policy. \" \"The One China policy cannot be bought and sold,\" the editorial said. \"Trump, it seems, only understands business and believes that everything has a price. \" Mr. Trump, however, did not appear worried about inflaming Beijing. He repeated in the Fox News interview many of the criticisms he has made about China, emphasizing what he said was its unwillingness to help curb the nuclear ambitions of its neighbor North Korea \u2014 an issue that foreign policy experts believe could confront Mr. Trump as the first geopolitical crisis of his presidency. The said he would not tolerate having the Chinese government dictate whether he could take a call from the president of Taiwan. He reiterated that he had not placed the call, and described it as \"a very short call saying, 'Congratulations, sir, on the victory. '\" The Chinese government, which once viewed Mr. Trump favorably as an alternative to the hawkish Hillary Clinton, has struggled to respond to Mr. Trump's unorthodox approach. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, initially played down the significance of the phone call, calling it a \"petty action by the Taiwan side\" that he said would not upset the longstanding policy of One China. But as Mr. Trump has repeated his campaign criticisms of China \u2014 and as his statements about Taiwan have rippled throughout the region \u2014 Beijing has noticeably hardened its tone. It warned him last week, in a editorial in the overseas edition of People's Daily, that \"creating troubles for the . S. relationship is creating troubles for the U. S. itself. \" In a pointed rejoinder to Mr. Trump, the editorial said that pushing China on Taiwan \"would greatly reduce the chance to achieve the goal of making America great again. \"","label":0}
{"text":"There were no banners. No raised fists. As night fell on Tuesday, more than a thousand protesters dressed in black held a silent march through the central business area of Hong Kong. They took care not to jaywalk. Then they quietly dispersed into the night. Collectively, the participants in the march had more power than most demonstrators. They were Hong Kong lawyers, angered by China's move on Monday to effectively rewrite a clause in Hong Kong's charter in order to prevent two young politicians from taking office as legislators. As a group, Hong Kong's lawyers say Beijing's decision to step into a legal case in this city has dealt a blow to its judiciary, famed for its fairness and independence and central to Hong Kong's success as a global financial hub. The local bar association called the decision, announced by China's Parliament, \"unnecessary and inappropriate\" and damaging to the concept of \"one country, two systems\" that has allowed this former British colony to maintain considerable autonomy from the mainland since the 1997 handover of sovereignty. But many practicing lawyers and legal scholars here also say that Hong Kong's judiciary will have to implement the decision, and in doing so will apply legal standards evolved over centuries of precedent \u2014 common law \u2014 that may soften or perhaps even stymie Beijing's will. \"We have to show the world that this is not the accepted norm,\" said Dennis Kwok, a lawyer and organizer of the march who also serves on Hong Kong's Legislative Council. \"It does damage to 'one country, two systems' but at the same time we do have faith in the legal system. \" It is a phenomenon that China may not have foreseen: the artful implementation of a Communist legal diktat in a delicate, system where judges wear wigs, are often educated in England and are trained to make rulings that protect civil liberties. China's government, accustomed to law being a mere appendage of state power, may be in for an unpleasant surprise. \"I don't think we should underestimate the power or resilience of the common law to protect the autonomy and rights of the Hong Kong people,\" Cora Chan, an associate professor who focuses on constitutional law at the University of Hong Kong, said in an interview. \"The irony here is Hong Kong courts, being common law courts, would be using common law techniques to interpret an interpretation handed down from a Leninist legal system,\" Professor Chan said. Beijing's interpretation, issued on Monday by a committee in the National People's Congress, specifies that office holders in Hong Kong have to \"sincerely and solemnly\" take loyalty oaths or be forced to vacate their posts, with no chance for a redo. The ruling came after the two young politicians, Sixtus Leung, 30, and Yau 25, inserted a derogatory term for China in their oaths. That infuriated Beijing, which bristles at any talk of separatism. The interpretation of an article in the territory's governing Basic Law was to compel Hong Kong courts and its Legislature to force the duo to vacate their office, and no lawyer interviewed expected the courts to come to their rescue. But Eric Cheung, who teaches law at the University of Hong Kong, said it was possible that the Hong Kong court that is adjudicating their case could rule that Beijing's interpretation was not retroactive. That may give the duo a chance to retake their oaths, though he said it would take a brave judge to make a ruling that could invite a new, even more specific, interpretation from Beijing. The Chinese interpretation was also aimed at preventing people who back Hong Kong's independence from running for office. In July, Hong Kong's government introduced a new loyalty pledge, requiring that candidates sign a document acknowledging that the city is an \"inalienable part\" of China. Several candidates were disqualified and went to court that case has not yet been decided. A judge could make a narrow ruling that Beijing's interpretation applies only to taking oaths, which candidates, as opposed to officeholders, do not have to do. \"If the Chinese government's ultimate aim is to keep separatists out of the Legislature, then this interpretation is not going to be able to do that,\" said Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong. Several lawyers pointed out that Beijing's ruling was novel because it effectively amended the Basic Law, which serves as Hong Kong's Constitution. \"If you look at it closely, it is more like an amendment, or an addition,\" said Peter Chiu, who participated in Tuesday's march. That is problematic, because amendments to the Basic Law must be approved by the entire National People's Congress, which meets once a year, in March. That raises the possibility, however remote, that Hong Kong's highest court, the Court of Final Appeal, may rule that Beijing's interpretation, which has not been approved by the entire National People's Congress, is an amendment and not enforceable, Professor Chan said. That is the nuclear option. In 1999, the Court of Final Appeal found that it had the power to declare \"invalid\" acts by the Chinese Parliament or its standing committee that violated the Basic Law, Professor Chan said. That kind of weapon \u2014 \"hard legal controls,\" in her words \u2014 is most effective when it is not used. \"Simply claiming that courts in Hong Kong have those powers might well give an incentive to China to exercise restraint in issuing decisions or interpretations on Hong Kong,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s first debate against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton went just as poorly as we thought it would and conservatives know it. It s never been more clear that Trump doesn t even deserve to be on the same stage as Clinton, and all the holes in his campaign are being exposed effortlessly. Between the fact-checking and not having any real policies or plans in place, Trump is f*cked big time. Luckily, Fox News is coming to the rescue with some (truly awful, somewhat hilarious) advice for the inexperienced man-baby.Fox News host Charles Krauthammer thinks that Trump s greatest chances of succeeding during Sunday s second presidential debate will rely on Trump s amazing ability to lie about everything. Basically, Krauthammer thinks Trump can win if he can deny it ever happened and ignore the fact-checkers. The Fox host pointed out where Trump had gone wrong during the first debate: I think the most important thing here for Trump is the morning after. He might have lost the debate. It was pretty close. It was not the rout that people say it was. But he really threw it away the morning after when he went after he went down the rabbit holes on the Miss Universe and all the other stuff. And that s happened to him before. Krauthammer then tried to give Trump some pointers on how to beat a far more experienced, qualified Clinton: I think he can hold his own. He just needs to be to ignore, as everybody here has said ignore the bait. He should just dismiss all the quotations that he hears, the way that Pence did. Deny it ever happened and then ignore the fact checkers the next day. It is hilarious that anyone would suggest that Trump can ignore the bait. Trump is a loose cannon with the temperament worse than a toddler. Literally every time he gets baited (even by Clinton herself), he cannot resist taking it and making a bigger ass out of himself. Krauthammer is basically begging Trump to keep his ego in check, even though he s proven that he s incapable of doing that. Conservatives need to start accepting that Trump is going to blow this debate just like the first one, no matter how hard they try to guide him.You can watch Krauthammer try to help Trump below:","label":1}
{"text":"CHARLESTON, S. C. \u2014 Each morning they flowed into Courtroom Six, escorted by federal officials from a holding room reserved for survivors and families of the victims. The accused, Dylann S. Roof, never turned from the end of the defense table to acknowledge the parents, widows and widowers, children, grandchildren and fellow congregants of the nine he confessed to killing in June 2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Felicia Sanders, who survived the rampage but lost her son and her aunt, watched from the first of six rows of wooden benches, along with her husband, Tyrone. The Rev. Eric S. C. Manning, who now inhabits the office once occupied by the church's pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was among those killed, sat one row back. The Rev. Anthony B. Thompson, whose wife, Myra, led the evening Bible study that Mr. Roof joined, always took his place in the fifth row, along with John Pinckney, the former pastor's father. Until the jury returned a guilty verdict on Thursday afternoon, family members stoically endured a week of tormenting testimony in United States District Court, where Mr. Roof, 22, faced 33 counts. Many will be back on Jan. 3 when the same jury considers whether to sentence Mr. Roof to death. On Thursday morning, there were firm hugs between family members outside the courtroom after a prosecutor delivered a stirring closing argument, illustrated by gruesome crime scene photographs. On Wednesday, they heard from a medical examiner about the more than 60 wounds inflicted by his Winchester bullets. On Tuesday, they watched three unnerving videos that Mr. Roof filmed of himself taking backyard target practice with the murder weapon in a grip. Here is what it has been like for some in the courtroom: Mr. Thompson attended Mr. Roof's trial each day except last Thursday, when he knew prosecutors would show photographs of the blood bath inside the fellowship hall. \"I didn't want to see the images,\" he said in his office at Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church, where he is vicar. \"I didn't want to have that in my head every day for the rest of my life, and of course I didn't want to see my wife like that. \" His decision meant he also missed the videos, captured by a church security camera, of some of the final moments of his wife's life: the clip of her striding purposefully in the side door at 5 p. m. dressed in a black suit and white blouse then the footage of her slipping out an hour later, warmly hugging two church members. Two hours after that, the camera captured Mr. Roof entering, a black pack around his waist, weighted by a . Glock and eight loaded magazines. \"It has been an emotional roller coaster,\" Mr. Thompson said. \"We have shed tears. There has been fear of the unknown. \" Mr. Thompson, 64, was one of the five family members who, in a spontaneous demonstration of grace, expressed forgiveness for Mr. Roof at his bond hearing less than 48 hours after the shootings. That has not changed, he said, despite watching Mr. Roof's nonchalant and largely remorseless admission to plotting the assault to foment racial strife. \"I have no intentions of taking that back,\" the clergyman said, stressing that his forgiveness had been more for himself than for Mr. Roof. \"He is not a part of my life anymore. Forgiveness has freed me of that, of him completely. I'm not going to make him a lifetime partner. \" That said, he wished the Justice Department had accepted Mr. Roof's offer to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. \"The bad part is having to relive it, the going back to the beginning,\" he said. \"It's just a lot to bear. \" Mr. Thompson said he finds Mr. Roof a pathetic figure but not mentally defective, as Mr. Roof's lawyers would like the jury to believe. As a result, although he opposes the death penalty, he does not much care what happens to Mr. Roof. \"His sentence won't affect the way I live, won't bring my wife back,\" he said. \"Whatever he gets I look at it as, well, that's what he's supposed to get. I have no choice in the matter. \" Mr. Manning had no connection to Mother Emanuel until January, when he won appointment to the historic pulpit after a tumultuous six months in which the church's leadership changed three times. Other than his predecessor, Mr. Pinckney, he did not know any of the victims. But he has been in court each day, all day, since jury selection began, often joined by a fellow Emanuel minister, Brenda Nelson. Ms. Nelson would have joined the Bible study on any other Wednesday, but on that sweltering night she drove home to meet an repairman. Mr. Manning, 49, said he felt it important to be at the courthouse to demonstrate \"a ministry of presence. \" \"You might not be able to say everything, but just that you can smile and they can smile back and you can hug, they know you're there,\" he said. The pastor has been preaching from the Book of Psalms during the trial, reminding his congregation on Sunday that \"in the midst of all of this, God's joy is the one constant. \" Mr. Manning said he had been moved by the stoicism of those around him, and of the two survivors who testified. \"What has been displayed,\" he said, \"is just the determination to show once again the resilience and how strong our faith and trust is in God. \" The video taken before the murders of his church's stalwarts affected him deeply. \"They were just there doing what they have done on so many other Wednesdays, just there to study God's word,\" he said. \"And in the midst of that, evil presented itself. \" Although his church opposes the death penalty, he acknowledged that Mr. Roof's lack of remorse had given him \"momentary pause. \" \"But you have to always still do what is required, you have to forgive,\" he said. \"Now, am I there? I don't know yet. Maybe that's a question I'll be able to answer after the trial. \" Jennifer Benjamin Pinckney, who was married to the Rev. Clementa Pinckney for 16 years, and Johnette Pinckney Martinez, the pastor's adoring younger sister, have been inseparable during the trial. Ms. Pinckney and her daughter were in the pastor's study when the killings began, and huddled beneath a desk as bullets pierced the office wall. One of her first calls was to her in Irmo, near Columbia. \"Get to Charleston,\" she implored. Eighteen months later, the trial has brought it all back. \"It's been pretty difficult to hear some of the things, well, most of the things,\" Ms. Martinez, a corrections officer, said. \"But for me it was another step in the healing process. \" The most painful moment was seeing the photographs of Mr. Pinckney, dressed as ever in his dark suit (he even wore them to high school) dead on the linoleum floor, blood pooling from his upper torso. Ms. Pinckney, a school librarian, said that the experience had been \"emotionally excruciating\" and that her reactions had coursed from tears to fury. Both women said it had been comforting to see the surveillance video of the Pinckney family arriving at church, the pastor holding his daughter's hand. He hugged a woman on her way out, patted another on the back, helped a third down a step. \"That was him all the time,\" Ms. Pinckney said of her husband, who was also a state senator. \"He's always greeting people, always hugging people, always interacting with people. It was his final moment, and it's something I've seen dozens of times over. \" Both women said they were stunned to see evidence downloaded from the GPS in Mr. Roof's car that he had cased the church on six trips to Charleston from his home near Columbia. \"It was an eerie feeling to know he had been there for that period of time,\" Ms. Pinckney said. \"He was in the midst of everyone, knowing what he was planning. \" She remains bewildered that he targeted Mother Emanuel. Given the devastation he caused, what confounded Ms. Martinez as she observed Mr. Roof was his boyishness and his slight frame. \"It's just unbelievable,\" she said. \"I would never have thought a child that young \u2014 a man that young \u2014 would have so much hate in his heart. \"","label":0}
{"text":"NORTH POLE, N. Y. \u2014 On a snowy shoulder of Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks, beyond signs advertising \"North Pole, N. Y. \" and \"Rides, Shops, Shows,\" several parking attendants pushed a sedan, its tires spinning, into a packed lot. The car's occupants spilled out, joining other families who through snowdrifts \u2014 just about everyone smiling, some tossing snowballs \u2014 toward the entrance to Santa's Workshop, a theme park from another era. Inside, a line to Santa's house snaked toward a North Pole, where families posed for selfies and a boy in a puffy snowsuit touched his tongue. Some families roasted marshmallows around a fire pit or wandered into the reindeer stable, where the animals were bedded down and out of reach of little hands. A boy raced from stall to stall, stopping in front of an empty one and shouting, \"Where's Donder? Where's Donder?\" (Donder and Dasher, an attendant elf later explained, had been feeling ill so they were recovering in a nearby pasture.) While it appeared to be a scene, Doug Waterbury, the owner of Santa's Workshop, said, \"It's a challenge to keep the door open, frankly. \" \"We lose money or break even every year,\" Mr. Waterbury added. \"Attendance is down. It's hard to get up in the morning to push snow, feed reindeer and then look at all that red ink at the end of the year \u2014 and it's not red because of Christmas. '' Santa's Workshop in North Pole, in Wilmington, N. Y. is among the last of the theme parks in the region, outlasting the Land of Makebelieve, Frontier Town, Time Town, Gaslight Village and other Adirondack roadside attractions. Since 1949, Santa's Workshop, an alpine village scaled for children, has welcomed families along the Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway, a scenic road that meanders toward the peak's summit. Today, the park's Technicolor buildings and rides are a kitschy throwback that draws dedicated fans fueled by nostalgia, who return with their children or grandchildren to share their childhood experience of seeing Santa and his reindeer. Near the Candy Cane Express train, Carrie McDonald, 41, who lives in Harveys Lake, Pa. and her sister, Erin Richburg, 37, who lives in Philadelphia, watched their children flap arms and legs into snow angels. \"We came up in 1984 with our grandparents and have really vivid memories,\" Ms. McDonald said. \"We've made it a tradition to come back. Right now we're choosing this over Disney. \" Ms. Richburg added, \"It's and simple. It's all about Santa. \" Standing by the park's outdoor amphitheater, where Mary and Joseph trudge to the manger, Corinne Curtis, her husband, Dave, and their children, Jack, Deacon, Kainen and Londyn, who range in age from 8 years old to 16 months, were back for a second year, visiting from their home in Binghamton, N. Y. \"The feeling is what appeals to us,\" Ms. Curtis said. And Santa, of course. \"He's a sweet Santa,'' she said. \"He takes the time with them. It's not like other commercial places. \" But in the 21st century, a nice St. Nick might not be enough to sustain a theme park in a remote part of the state. Santa's Workshop's inaccessibility \u2014 far from metropolitan areas, including five hours from New York City along twisty mountain roads \u2014 is \"part of the mystique of the place,\" Mr. Waterbury said. But it has also contributed to its decline. In 1967, the final stretch of Interstate 87 \u2014 through the eastern Adirondacks \u2014 was completed, punching a direct route from New York City to Montreal. It bypassed communities with motels and cabin colonies as well as diners and attractions that had flourished in the years after World War II. In the 1940s, when three businessmen, Julian Reiss, Harold Fortune and Arto Monaco, came up with idea of a destination where it was always Christmas, they hadn't anticipated roller coasters or parks built around Walt Disney's characters. (In fact, before Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif. in 1955, Walt Disney visited Santa's Workshop for inspiration and to consult with Mr. Monaco, according to Mr. Waterbury.) The recession of 2008 pummeled the Adirondack travel industry. The unpredictability of the weather has also presented challenges, including Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, which damaged the park. Attendance has dropped steadily since the 1970s, and now the park attracts no more than about 1, 000 people on most days \u2014 a far cry from the over 14, 000 customers who would show up in the 1950s. But the biggest hurdle for the theme park, Mr. Waterbury said, is the weakening hold that the story of Santa has on children today. In the 1950s \"a might still believe in Santa Claus,\" Mr. Waterbury said. \"It's unusual today that a kid over 7 or 8 still believes. There's an urgency to get families to bring their kids here before they grow away. \" In the lobby of the Jack Jingle puppet theater, where juice glasses, coasters and other memorabilia are displayed, Danielle and Paul Raimondi, from Center Moriches, N. Y. showed their daughters, Isabel, 13, and Sophia, 10, sacks spilling over with 60 years' worth of letters addressed to Santa Claus. After the girls wandered away, Ms. Raimondi whispered, \"A lot of people in our 's school were talking about not believing, and we wanted to show her that he still does exist. \" Mr. Waterbury, whose company, Empire Attractions, buys troubled assets, joined Bob Reiss, a son of Julian Reiss, as a in 2004. A decade later he bought out Mr. Reiss after earning his trust that he was committed to keeping the park's spirit alive. Mr. Waterbury said he felt an obligation to loyal Santa fans, the community and the park's history. Mr. Waterbury recently hired a new general manager, John Collins, who has many years of experience in the theme park industry. They're trying to figure out ways to bolster summertime attendance, the workshop's most dismal season. \"I'm not going to let it go,\" said Mr. Waterbury. \"There are enough bad things. This place is about what's good in life. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The Italian director Saverio Costanzo has signed on to direct and to help write a television series based on the four Neapolitan novels by the author who publishes under the pseudonym Elena Ferrante. The novels, published between 2012 and 2014, have developed a cult international following. They are \"My Brilliant Friend,\" \"The Story of a New Name,\" \"Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay\" and \"The Story of the Lost Child,\" and trace the lives of two friends, Elena and Lila, from their childhoods in postwar Naples to the present. Mr. Costanzo, best known for \"Private\" and \"Hungry Hearts\" (which Adam Driver) said in a telephone interview that the biggest challenge to adapting the novels for television was how \"to convey the same emotions as the books in a cinematographic way. \" He added that he was writing the script with the Italian writers Francesco Piccolo and Laura Paolucci, and that Ms. Ferrante was also expected to contribute to the screenplay. (He expects to communicate with the author via email.) The series will be filmed in Italy in Italian. The first season will cover the first book, with eight episodes of 50 minutes each. Filming is expected to begin in Naples this year and the first season is expected to air in the fall of 2018. A spokeswoman for Wildside, an Italian producer making the series with Fandango, confirmed that talks were in the final stages with a major American producer, as well as with the RAI state broadcaster. Wildside also Paolo Sorrentino's \"The Young Pope,\" starring Jude Law as the first American pope, a coproduction with HBO, Canal+ and Sky. Last fall, an Italian investigative journalist said financial records indicated that the Italian literary translator Anita Raja was behind Ms. Ferrante's books, prompting an international outcry among the novelist's protective fans. Ms. Raja has previously denied she was the author. Mr. Costanzo said he wasn't interested in the author's true identity. \"It's her literary reality that counts,\" he said. \"I'm one of those people who don't care who she is. \"","label":0}
{"text":"CNN, the news organization branded as \"fake news\" by Donald Trump, recently posted a job listing for a full time reporter focusing on fake news. [The Hill reports that a job listing was posted to Turner Media's website seeking a \"Senior Writer\" for CNN media. The reads, \"CNNMoney is expanding its Media team. We're going to be examining the wave of 'fake news' stories and the people behind them, but more than that we're going to be looking at truth \u2014 what happened to it, why so many of us no longer believe it, and where those people are going to get their information instead. \" The ad states that applicants must have at least six years of writing experience and aim for a high level of accuracy within their reporting, and they should, \"get angry every time they see any inaccuracy in any story, whether large or small. \" CNN is also apparently looking for someone tech savvy, as ideal applicants should \"live on the Internet, and be intimately aware of its darkest corners. \" Applicants will apparently be focusing on: \"Investigating fake news, hoaxes and untruths of all kinds\" \"Debunking myths\" and \"Confronting the 'real' media. \" Applicant's should also be \"the kind of person who can't pass by a single rabbit hole without being desperate to jump in to see where it leads,\" and they must have \"Intimate knowledge of and fascination with the parts of the Internet from which dubious news stories bubble up. \" Despite the level of detail given relating to the expectations CNN will be placing on applicants, no salary is listed on the Turner Media website. Successful applicants will be working under CNN media team leader, Brian Stelter, a senior CNN media correspondent and the host of \"Reliable Sources. \" Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com","label":0}
{"text":"This church in Ohio apparently doesn t understand who the victim is here.Columbia Road Baptist Church in North Olmsted actually banned a teenage girl and her family from attending services until she apologizes to the wife of the man who sexually abused her.Youth pastor Brian Mitchell had a wife and three kids, but that didn t stop him from targeting a 16-year-old girl who was simply seeking spiritual guidance at the church.Mitchell began by texting the girl constantly and complained about his wife. The text messages stopped temporarily after church leaders found out about the texts. But since church officials neglected to report Mitchell to the police he pretty much figured he could do whatever he wanted so he moved on to forcibly kissing the underage girl. Then he began sexually abusing her while driving her home.The sexual abuse would continue for the next month and the girl became depressed.Finally, Mitchell was arrested and sentenced to serve ten years in prison after Judge Patrick Corrigan refused to buy his excuse that he loved the girl. Your delusional excuse that there were emotions and love involved is troubling, the judge said. That s extremely delusional. What s also delusional is that the Columbia Road Baptist Church actually thinks the teenage girl their employee raped somehow owes Mitchell s wife an apology.During testimony, the girl s mother revealed that the church basically blamed her daughter for the whole situation and told them not to come back to the church until an apology has been made. Rather than comply with the ridiculous demand, the family just stopped attending church altogether.Rather than rally around the victim in her time of need, the church instead chose to rally around the rapist. You know, because Jesus.Frankly, the church should be slapped with a lawsuit for not reporting Mitchell s harassment of the teen in the first place. Church leaders knew Mitchell was obsessively texting this girl and they basically did nothing which only emboldened him to go further.Mitchell should not be the only one held responsible for how this girl was treated. Church leaders should be punished as well. And any congregant who actually believes the church was right to demand an apology from the victim is no true Christian. They are as fraudulent as the church they attend.Featured Image: Columbia Road Baptist Church Facebook Page","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he did not make and does not possess any tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, laying to rest speculation that arose after he tweeted last month that Comey better hope there were no tapes. \"With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are 'tapes' or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,\" Trump wrote on Twitter.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's estimated net worth is $3.7 billion, $800 million less than a year ago, Forbes magazine reported on Wednesday, attributing the loss largely to New York's softening real estate market. The magazine probed 28 assets or asset classes owned by the New York businessman and found 18 had declined in value, including Trump Tower in Manhattan and his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The value of his 40 Wall Street property in downtown New York had also declined, according to Forbes, which said it has been tracking Trump's wealth for 34 years. At the same time, one asset remained steady while seven others - including 555 California Street, the second tallest building in San Francisco - saw their value increase, it reported. Representatives for the Trump campaign could not be immediately reached for comment. The report comes as Trump, known as a reality television star as well as for his real estate business, heads into the final stretch of campaigning for the Nov. 8 election. Trump, seeking elected office for the first time, has touted his business acumen in pressing for change in Washington. He has vowed to rip up trade deals, negotiate with allies to make them pay more for their U.S. defense protection, and have Mexico pay for a wall he has proposed along the southern U.S. border. If elected, he would be the first billionaire to serve as president, according to Forbes. Details of Trump's wealth are not publicly known because, bucking a decades-old tradition of U.S. presidential candidates, he has refused to release his tax returns. His Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, earned $10.75 million in 2015 alongside her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, their tax filing showed. Clinton and others, including some prominent Republicans, have pressed Trump to release his returns. They have also raised questions about his net worth as well as his charitable contributions and business ties. Forbes said its analysis did not place any value on Trump's brand. It also disputed Trump's assertion in Monday night's presidential debate that he reported $694 million in income from last year to the Federal Election Commission. Forbes said Trump mixed revenue and income in the document. Trump has so far given $54 million to his presidential campaign. His campaign has also paid his companies for office space in Trump Tower and use of his private airline, among other expenses, federal election filings have shown. Politico reported separately on Wednesday that Trump is considering giving more money to his campaign to fund an advertising blitz, citing three sources close to him. Amid the campaign, Trump made just one real estate deal in the past year: purchasing a Charleston, South Carolina, warehouse that was in foreclosure, Forbes said.","label":0}
{"text":"Fresh off his party's victory in this week's parliamentary election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday walked back a statement from earlier this week in which he had ruled out a \"two-state\" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But just a few days earlier, in the midst of what then looked like an uphill battle for Netanyahu's Likud Party, the prime minister said that a two-state solution would never happen on his watch. \"I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands, is giving attack grounds to the radical Islam against the state of Israel,\" he told an Israeli news website on Monday, one day before the Israeli election. These comments contradicted a 2009 speech, in which Netanyahu endorsed the two-state approach as a way to attain peace in the region. In July 2014, however, Netanyahu made clear he had no interest in a fully sovereign Palestinian state. Netanyahu added in Thursday's interview that if the current Palestinian territories did attain statehood, the result would be a \"terrorist state\" because the Palestinians would receive arms from Iran. As long as that was the case, he said, a two-state solution was not possible. The prime minister's comments earlier in the week prompted a threat from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who said Wednesday that the U.S. would \"re-evaluate our position and the path forward in this situation,\" and might even explore pressing for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations. The Obama administration also took issue with Netanyahu's election-day text message blasts warning supporters that \"Arab voters are going to the polls in droves.\" \"Rhetoric that seeks to marginalize one segment of their population is deeply concerning and it is divisive and I can tell you that these are views the administration intends to communicate directly to the Israelis,\" Earnest said. When asked on Thursday by MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell to respond to allegations that he was a racist, Netanyahu simply said, \"I'm not.\" He also reaffirmed the long-standing relationship between the United States and Israel, despite recent tensions over congressional Republicans' invitation to Netanyahu to address the U.S. Congress without giving proper notice to the White House. \"There are so many areas where we must work together, will work together with the United States, and the president, because we have no other alternative,\" Netanyahu said. \"America has no greater ally than Israel and Israel has no greater ally than the United States.\"","label":0}
{"text":"A U.S. House subcommittee will vote on Wednesday on a sweeping proposal to allow automakers to deploy up to 100,000 self-driving vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards and bar states from imposing driverless car rules. The measure, which would be the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would require automakers to submit safety assessment reports to U.S. regulators, but would not require pre-market approval of advanced vehicle technologies. Automakers would have to show self-driving cars \"function as intended and contain fail safe features\" but the Transportation Department could not \"condition deployment or testing of highly automated vehicles on review of safety assessment certifications,\" the draft measure unveiled late Monday said. Last month, a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing on a draft plan to allow U.S. regulators to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles a year per manufacturer from federal motor vehicle safety rules that prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without human controls and bar states from setting rules that could block their use. Automakers must meet nearly 75 auto safety standards, many of which were written with the assumption that a licensed driver will be in control of the vehicle. The 30-page draft bill would also require the Transportation Department within two years to adopt rules requiring automakers to add a driver alert to check rear seating in an effort to prevent children from being left behind and consider setting performance standards for headlights. \"This legislation puts important benchmarks into place that will prioritize consumer safety technologies and enhance mobility opportunities for people across the country,\" said Republican U.S. Representative Robert Latta, who chairs the panel that will vote on the measure Wednesday. Democrats had sought a number of new safety requirements during negotiations over the measure. The bill also includes automakers to take steps to ensure the cybersecurity of self-driving cars. General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Tesla Inc and others have been lobbying Congress to pre-empt rules under consideration in California and other states that could limit self-driving vehicle deployment. States could still set rules on registration, licensing, liability, insurance and safety inspections, but could not set self-driving car performance standards, under the proposal. The administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama last year unveiled voluntary guidelines on self-driving cars that asked automakers to submit a 15-question safety assessment. President Donald Trump's transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, said she plans to update those in the coming months. The issue has taken new urgency after U.S. road deaths rose 7.7 percent in 2015 over the previous year to 35,200, the highest annual jump since 1966. Traffic deaths climbed nearly 8 percent in the first nine months of 2016, government data shows. Automakers also say that without changes in regulations, U.S. self-driving car testing could move to Europe and elsewhere.","label":0}
{"text":"Heidi Schlumpf is a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter and teaches communication at Aurora University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. (CNN) The popular Pope Francis is taking some hits himself after some lighthearted comments that included a pretend punch to a colleague. The comments came while trying to make the point that free speech should have some limits, including on the right to insult another's faith. Speaking Thursday to reporters on the plane ride to the Philippines, the Pope gestured with a fake punch to demonstrate what he would do if someone were to say \"a swear word against my mother.\" Still, the Vatican felt the need to clarify, in response to a later CNN question about the punch, that his words were \"spoken colloquially\" and consistent with the Pope's \"free style of speech.\" I don't for one minute think the Pope is advocating for any type of violence, whether religiously motivated murder or sparring among friends who dis each other's mamas. What concerns me is his apparent belief that religion should have special protection when it comes to free speech. The Pope, responding to a general question about the interplay between religious liberty and free expression, was clearly referencing the massacre of journalists at Charlie Hebdo magazine by Islamist militants in Paris last week. Although he did not say the slain cartoonists brought the attack upon themselves because of their satirical criticism of Islam, it's not a huge logical leap to that conclusion and raises the likelihood of such a misinterpretation. Let's just say it's not what most public relations professionals would advise. And while the Pope has been known to talk more informally with reporters on the papal plane (his \"Who am I to judge?\" comment about gay Catholics came on the return flight from Brazil in 2013), he's still on the record and obviously aware that his words will be reported and analyzed. The Pope is not the only prominent Catholic raising the issue. While no one can match the offensive tone of Donahue, who actually said Charlie Hebdo's Stephane Charbonnier \"didn't understand the role he played in his own death,\" the gist of the Pope's message was the same: Criticism of religion is problematic. As an aside, I'll be curious to see if those who slammed Donahue have the same harsh words for the Pope. Perhaps both of them should take a lesson from the response of another Christian, Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, a progressive, evangelical community and publication. He had a different suggestion for how people of faith should respond to the Paris attacks: I think most American Catholics agree that while blasphemy -- offensive speech against God or religion -- is not particularly nice, it does not follow that it can or should be regulated or outlawed. In the United States, the Supreme Court outlawed blasphemy laws in 1952. I'm hoping the Pope was only offering counsel to his followers, rather than advocating for any sort of legal position. No one has the right not to be offended. Even the Pope.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied multiple women's claims that he sexually assaulted them as \"totally and absolutely false.\" \"The claims are preposterous, ludicrous and defy truth, common sense and logic,\" Trump said at a campaign rally in Florida. \"We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Any move by Kosovo to scrap a war crimes court linked to its independence struggle would seriously undermine relations with friendly western nations, its main backer the United States said on Friday. Lawmakers from the governing coalition, who hold a majority, are pressing for a vote to abolish the court. The vote was scheduled for later in the day but it failed twice due to opposition from other parties. Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli said parliament would continue to attempt to vote on the issue in the coming days. Isa Mustafa, Kosovo s former prime minister and an opposition leader, said the proposal was devastating for our state and very damaging for justice . The Specialist Chamber was established in The Hague in 2015 to bring to justice Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas alleged to have committed atrocities during the 1998-99 war that led to the country s secession from Serbia. It has yet to hear any cases. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, President Hashim Thaci and parliamentary speaker Veseli are former KLA commanders. The court s judges and prosecutors are foreign but it has been set up under Kosovan law, giving Pristina jurisdiction over it. Calling for the parliamentary vote to be halted, U.S. ambassador Greg Delawie said it would have extraordinarily negative implications for Kosovo. It is just a disgrace, he told reporters in Pristina. This will be considered by the U.S. as stab in the back. Kosovo will be choosing isolation instead of cooperation. There was no immediate response from Kosovo officials to Delawie s comments. Washington has been Kosovo s leading political and financial backer since it declared independence in 2008. Nataliya Apostolova, the EU representative in Pristina, called the attempt to scrap the court appalling and extremely damaging . The court was set up following U.S. and European pressure on the government to confront alleged KLA crimes against ethnic Serbs. According to Kosovo media, the court could indict or call as witnesses some of current government officials. It was set up in the Netherlands to minimize the risk of witness intimidation and judicial corruption. Kosovo s war veterans association last week launched an initiative to hold a parliamentary debate to abolish the law that established the court. They gathered 15,000 signatures, Kosovo media reported. NATO air strikes on Serbia forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops from Kosovo in 1999, having killed around 10,000 Albanian civilians. NATO has around 5,000 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep a still fragile peace. Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian and 5 percent Serbian, is recognized by more than 110 mainly by western countries but not by Serbia s key ally Russia or China.","label":0}
{"text":"Burlington Stores Inc joined other retailers, including Nordstrom Inc, in deciding not to sell products of Ivanka Trump's brand online, news website Business Insider reported. Burlington will no longer stock the brand's accessories and clothing online, according to the report, but it was unclear if the off-price retailer would sell the products in its stores. Burlington and Ivanka Trump's representatives were not immediately available for comment. Earlier this month, Nordstrom said it would stop carrying Ivanka Trump's apparel because of falling sales, pushing President Donald Trump to defend his daughter on Twitter by saying she was treated \"unfairly\" by the retailer. Neiman Marcus [NMRCUS.UL] has also said it would not sell Ivanka Trump's jewelry line while TJX Cos Inc told its employees to dump any signs related to the brand. HSN Inc has stopped selling Trump Home products, but still sells Trump presidential memorabilia. Sears Holdings and its unit, Kmart, had also removed 31 Trump Home items from their online product offerings to focus on more profitable items this month.","label":0}
{"text":"The European Union s executive on Thursday stepped up its pressure on the nationalist government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary over its treatment of immigrants, non-governmental groups and a prominent university. Orban has been locked in a series of running battles with the EU, where Western states and the Brussels-based executive Commission decry what they see as his authoritarian leanings, the squeezing of the opposition and the free media. In a series of legal announcements, the European Commission said it was taking Budapest to the bloc s top court, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, over its NGO laws as well as a higher education law that targets a university founded by U.S. financier George Soros, a public enemy of Orban. Brussels, influenced by the Soros Empire, has released a burst of fire on Hungary. The legal procedures are now openly used as tools of political blackmail and exerting pressure, Orban s Fidesz party said in reaction to the announcements. Brussels also confirmed it was taking Hungary - along with eastern EU peers Poland and the Czech Republic - to the tribunal over refusing to host asylum-seekers under an EU-wide quota system. The ECJ cases could lead to financial penalties but take months, or years, to conclude. The Commission has also stepped up its legal case against Budapest over Hungary s asylum laws. Separately, European lawmakers were debating on Thursday whether the rule of law and democratic standards in Hungary were under threat more generally, and to an extent that would merit the triggering of an unprecedented EU punishment against Budapest. The so-called Article 7 procedure would shame Orban by denouncing his government as undemocratic and could even lead to the maximum - though practically highly unlikely - sanction of stripping Hungary of its voting rights in the EU. Hungary s case has been the first time the European Parliament has called for the launching the Article 7 mechanism. At the debate in one of parliament s committees, some lawmakers said Orban was making untruthful accusations against the EU and diverging from European values with his brand of illiberal democracy . Even before the debate, Orban s spokesman Zoltan Kovacs likened it to an amalgamation of a medieval witch hunt and communist-era show trial. The Commission s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, however, made clear the executive arm did not side with the parliament s broader and at times tougher view of Hungary. We believe that we are dealing with very specific issues where we have disagreements with the Hungarian government, Timmermans told a news conference. The situation in Hungary is not in that sense comparable to the systemic threats to the rule of law which we see in Poland, he said of Orban s closest EU ally, the eurosceptic, nationalist Polish government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party. In power for two years, PiS has sought to replicate some of ideas Orban has introduced over his seven years in office. The party s moves on the courts and the media have provoked concern elsewhere in the EU that the biggest ex-communist member in the bloc is backpedalling on democracy and the rule of law. Warsaw faces its own Article 7 proceedings from the Commission. Warsaw and Budapest, which share a broad world view that often goes against the more liberal one of the western EU states, have each other s back in their battles with the bloc and have vowed to shield one another from any sanctions.","label":0}
{"text":"Norway s Liberal Party will launch formal negotiations to join the right-wing cabinet of Prime Minister Erna Solberg, it said on Saturday, although the government would still be ruling in a minority even if the small centrist group is included. Informal talks have taken place since the government won re-election in September, and bringing in the Liberals could give a boost to policies favoring small businesses, the environment and education. We are going to give ourselves a chance ... to find a common platform we can agree on, Liberal Party leader Trine Skei Grande told a meeting of her party in parliament on Saturday, adding it would be a challenging and difficult process. Adding the Liberals to the coalition of the Conservatives and the anti-immigration Progress Party could make day-to-day governing easier for Solberg, although she would still require backing from another small party, the Christian Democrats. The prime minister has sought to include both of the small centrist groups, but the Christian Democrats, which back Solberg on fiscal matters, have rejected the offer.","label":0}
{"text":"It's an unusual move for a presidential candidate to pick a vice presidential running mate before winning his party's nomination \u2013 even more unusual when his path to the nomination is blocked. But despite trailing Trump, Cruz went ahead and announced his choice. But will he hit a home run by naming former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate \u2013 or will he strike out? \"Carly isn't intimated by bullies,\" the Texas senator declared Wednesday. \"Over and over again, Carly has shattered glass ceilings.\" \"This is the fight of our time,\" Fiorina said during Wednesday's announcement. \"And I believe Ted Cruz is the man to lead that fight. And I am prepared to stand by his side and give this everything I have, to restore the soul of our party, to defeat Donald Trump, to defeat Hillary Clinton, and to take our country back.\" Fiorina tussled with Trump early in the primary season for comments he made about her face. The GOP front-runner dismissed this latest move. \"A new relationship has started \u2013 Cruz and Carly,\" the tycoon said. \"Cruz can't win. What's he doing picking a vice president?\" Trump had other things to talk about as well. He gave a major foreign policy speech in Washington and said America's allies would have to start paying for their own defense. He also railed on the Bush and Obama administrations for not stopping persecution of Christians in the Middle East. \"We have done nothing to help Christians, nothing, and we should always be ashamed of that \u2013 for that lack of action,\" he said. Trump went from there to Indiana where he got the endorsement of legendary Indiana Hooters basketball coach Bobby Knight, ahead of Tuesday's primary. \"If we win Indiana, it's over,\" he said. \"It's over. I'm not playing games with Indiana.\" After Indiana votes, Clinton is hoping it's also over for Bernie Sanders. The delegate math is not with Sanders, who rallied thousands of screaming fans at Indiana University hours after he announced the layoffs of hundreds of campaign staffers. \"Next Tuesday let's have the largest voter turnout in Indiana history,\" Sanders said. Cruz is 400 delegates behind Trump and while he expects to win Indiana, if he doesn't, analysts say it's all over.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican Senator John McCain broke with the reassuring message that U.S. officials visiting Germany have sought to convey on their debut trip to Europe, saying on Friday that the administration of President Donald Trump was in \"disarray\". McCain, a known Trump critic, told the Munich Security Conference that the resignation of the new president's security adviser Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russia reflected deep problems in Washington. \"I think that the Flynn issue obviously is something that shows that in many respects this administration is in disarray and they've got a lot of work to do,\" said McCain, even as he praised Trump's defense secretary. \"The president, I think, makes statements (and) on other occasions contradicts himself. So we've learned to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says,\" he said. European governments have been unsettled by the signals sent by Trump on a range of foreign policy issues ranging from NATO and Russia to Iran, Israel and European integration. The debut trip to Europe of Trump's Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to a meeting of G20 counterparts in Bonn, went some way to assuaging concerns as they both took a more traditional U.S. position. But Trump is wrestling with a growing controversy at home about potential ties between his aides and Russia, which he dismissed on Thursday as a \"ruse\" and \"scam\" perpetrated by a hostile news media. Mattis made clear to allies, both at NATO in Brussels and in Munich, that the United States would not retreat from leadership as the European continent grapples with an assertive Russia, wars in eastern and southern Mediterranean countries and attacks by Islamist militants. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will address the Munich conference on Saturday with a similar message of reassurance. Pence will say that Europe is an \"indispensable partner\" for the United States, a senior White House foreign policy adviser told reporters. Mattis told a crowd that included heads of state and more than 70 defense ministers that Trump backed NATO. \"President Trump came into office and has thrown now his full support to NATO. He too espouses NATO's need to adapt to today's strategic situation for it to remain credible, capable and relevant,\" Mattis said. Mattis said the United States and its European allies had a shared understanding of the challenges ahead. Trump has alarmed allies by expressing admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mattis, however, has spoken out strongly against Russia while in Europe. After talks with NATO allies in Brussels on Thursday, he said that he did not believe it would be possible to collaborate militarily with Moscow, at least for now. The Europeans may need more convincing that Washington stands with it on a range of security issues. \"There is still a lot of uncertainty,\" Sebastian Kurz, Austria's foreign minister, told reporters. \"The big topic in Munich is looking to the USA to see which developments to expect next.\" European intelligence agencies have warned that Russia is also seeking to destabilize governments and influence elections across Europe with cyber attacks, fake news and propaganda and by funding far-right political parties. \"We should be under no illusions about the step-change in Russian behavior over the last couple of years, even after Crimea,\" British Defence Minister Michael Fallon said, referring to Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula. \"We have seen a step-change in Russian military aggression, but also in propaganda, in misinformation and a succession of persistent attacks on Western democracies, interference in a whole series of elections including ... the United States.\" NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich, seeing progress on encouraging Moscow to be more open about its military exercises that the alliance says are unpredictable. Russia says it is the Western alliance, not Moscow, that is destabilizing Europe by sending troops to its western borders. \"We have different views,\" Stoltenberg said of the crisis in Ukraine, where the West accuses the Kremlin of arming separatist rebels in a conflict that has killed 10,000 people since April 2014. Russia says the conflict is a civil war. In the latest incident, Lithuanian prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into a false report of rape by German soldiers stationed there on a NATO mission to deter Russia. Mattis, without explicitly citing the case, rallied to the defense of German forces as he spoke in the German city of Munich. \"I have great respect for Germany's leadership in Europe \u2013 and for the ethical performance of your troops on the battlefield,\" he said. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump's favor. McCain acknowledged concern in Europe and beyond that America was \"laying down the mantle of global leadership\" and cited global trends he found disturbing, including hardening resentment toward immigrants and an unwillingness to separate truth from lies. McCain urged the forum not to give up on the United States. \"Make no mistake, my friends: These are dangerous times, but you should not count America out, and we should not count each other out,\" McCain said.","label":0}
{"text":"Chris Wallace tore this prick apart.It s only been a week since a gunman shot and killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500 in Las Vegas with a fully automatic assault weapon.On Sunday, National Rifle Association executive director Chris Cox appeared on Fox News Sunday and began by appearing to suggest that the NRA is only calling for regulating bump stocks because NRA members were shot at the concert. You know, because non-NRA members apparently don t matter.Anyway, Cox went on to once again say that we should not be discussing gun control after this latest mass shooting and that we should wait in the name of common decency. Host Chris Wallace had a problem with that. You say common decency, let s wait, what s enough time? Wallace asked. I mean, here were 58 people killed, almost 500 injured. Is it common decency to wait a day, two days, a week, a month. I mean, it is understandable I know you don t agree with their solution but what s wrong with saying we need to address this? Of course, rather than answer the question, Cox turned the discussion into an attack on Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, all while whining about them have armed guards. Is that a sensible way to have this conversation, to try to turn it into class warfare, where if you re for gun control somehow you re part of an elite? Wallace responded.Indeed, after the numerous death threats directed at her during the 2016 campaign, including one by Trump in which he called for Second Amendment people to do something if she had won, it s understandable why Hillary Clinton would want security. It s not class warfare, Cox replied. It s what the American people want. And that s when Wallace buried him. That s not actually true. If you talk about background checks, if you talk about automatic weapons there are a lot of people, in fact a majority of people according to the polls who would like to see those gun controls. I have to say that I m put off at the argument, if you believe in gun control, you re an elite. I have to tell you, Mr. Cox, I know very few people who have armed body guards. One of the few people I know who has armed body guards is Wayne LaPierre. We can argue about the merits of it. But I think to dismiss people and say, Well, that s just the elite and they have armed guards, it seems to me does a disservice to your argument. Here s the video via YouTube.A CBS poll last year found that 57 percent of Americans support an assault weapons ban.And polls consistently show that 80 percent to 90 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of NRA members, want background checks for all gun sales.So, Cox was clearly lying and Wallace rightfully called him out for it.Featured Image: Screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"WASHINGTON \u2014 When it comes to getting around Congress, President Obama may not be able to move mountains \u2014 but he can rename them. The Obama administration's decision to rename North America's tallest peak to its original native name of Denali is drawing protests from Republican lawmakers in Ohio. That's because the mountain's previous namesake, President William McKinley, was also a Republican from Ohio. \"This decision by the administration is yet another example of the President going around Congress,\" Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said, noting that Congress had been debating the name for years. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, went even further, calling it another example of Obama's \"constitutional overreach.\" \"President Obama has decided to ignore an act of Congress in unilaterally renaming Mount McKinley in order to promote his job-killing war on energy,\" Gibbs said in a tweeted statement Sunday. \"This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans.\" Obama timed the announcement to coincide with a three-day trip to Alaska to highlight the problem of climate change in the Arctic. But the dispute over the name goes back decades. The 20,237-foot mountain was originally known as Denali, which means \"the great one\" in the Athabascan language of the original Alaskans. But that began to change when European-American prospectors and explorers arrived. A Seattle man, William Dickey,rediscovered the mountain in 1896 while prospecting for gold. \"We named our great peak Mount McKinley, after William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the presidency,and that fact was the first news we received on our way out of that wonderful wilderness,\" he wrote in a dispatch to the New York Sun. McKinley was not yet president then, and the naming may have been a political stunt in itself: McKinley, in running against the populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan, favored the gold standard to back U.S. dollars. That name was formalized in 1917 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Mount McKinley National Park Act, which required the park to be \"dedicated and set apart as a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people under the name of the Mount McKinley National Park.\" But another law passed in 1947 gives the Secretary of the Interior and the Board on Geographic Names the power to \"provide for uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography throughout the federal government.\" The Alaska government first petitioned the Interior Department to change the name to Denali in 1975. But because the Board on Geographic Names deferred to Congress if a name was under consideration by lawmakers, the Ohio delegation was able to prevent a name change for four decades simply by introducing bills to keep the McKinley name \u2014 even if those bills never passed. Friday, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that impasse had gone on long enough. In her order issued Friday, she noted that McKinley never stepped foot in Alaska. Still, House Speaker John Boehner, who hails from the opposite corner of Ohio, said he was \"disappointed\" in the decision. \"There is a reason President McKinley's name has served atop the highest peak in North America for more than 100 years, and that is because it is a testament to his great legacy,\" Boehner said in a statement. He recited McKinley's record, which included service in the Union Army in the Civil War, elections to the House of Representatives and to the Ohio governorship. \"And he led this nation to prosperity and victory in the Spanish-American War as the 25th President of the United States,\" Boehner said. It's unclear what the Ohioans can do about the decision. Gibbs said he would would work to overturn the decision legislatively; Portman said he would ask the National Park Service to find a way to \"preserve McKinley's legacy somewhere else in the national park that once bore his name.\" The issue is not strictly a partisan one. Ohio Democrats, too, have introduced bills over the years to retain the McKinley name. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska \u2014 while critical of Obama on energy policy \u2014 praised the decision to rename the mountain. \"For centuries, Alaskans have known this majestic mountain as the 'great one,'\" she said in a statement Sunday. \"I'd like to thank the President for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honor, respect, and gratitude to the Athabascan people of Alaska.\"","label":0}
{"text":"In early September, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a senior Iranian official and cleric, flew to the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq. His entourage included a sizable security detail and the former head of the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the Islamic Republic. Shahroudi, 69, spent several days on a charm offensive meeting officials, clerics and seminary students at his office near the golden dome shrine of Imam Ali, one of the world s holiest Shi ite sites. His aim was to raise his profile as a replacement for the top Shi ite cleric and most powerful man in Iraq: the 87-year old Ayatollah Ali Sistani, according to current and former Iraqi officials. While attention has focused on Iraq s battle against Islamic State, the country s future could equally hinge on what is happening in Najaf. With Sistani s advanced age and persistent rumors about his health, the question of his replacement has become more pointed. Iraqi Shi ite factions are jockeying to influence who replaces Sistani. Iran, whose population is mostly Shi ite, backs Shahroudi. Shahroudi could prove a controversial replacement for Sistani. Senior clergy in Najaf are wary of Iran trying to expand its influence and Shahroudi is viewed with some suspicion, although he could still build support among students. Since Sistani has distanced himself from Iranian politics some of his followers may not want a replacement who is close to Tehran. Sources in Najaf were unwilling to go on the record on a matter as sensitive as Sistani s successor, but a former senior Iraqi official told Reuters: The Iranians will try their best. It s not just religious, politics have become part of it. It will decide the fate of Iraq, the official said. Iran has already expanded its influence in Iraq by helping the Shi ite-led government in Baghdad retake disputed areas from the Kurds. The head of the branch of the Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations outside Iran, Qassem Soleimani, personally convinced some Kurdish leaders to abandon their claim to contested towns, like the oil-rich Kirkuk. Attempts to reach Shahroudi and the Revolutionary Guards media office were unsuccessful, as were attempts to reach Sistani s office for comment. If Iran can influence who becomes the next top Shi ite cleric in Iraq, it could tighten its grip on power within the country for years. A senior cleric in Najaf who is sympathetic to the interests of Iran would also eliminate a rival to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who claims to be the leader of Shi ite Muslims worldwide. For years, Sistani, who has endorsed a religious and political viewpoint independent of Iran, has been Khamenei s top challenger for the leadership of the global Shi ite community. Sistani is rarely seen in public but his decrees are sacrosanct to his millions of Shi ite followers. Sistani s fatwa to rise up against the Sunni militants of Islamic State thwarted the group s push toward Baghdad in 2014. The cleric has also used his decrees to reduce sectarian violence in the country. Sistani opposed the secession of the Kurdish region after the referendum on independence in September but then urged Baghdad to protect Kurds after reports of abuses surfaced last month. Without Sistani s restraining influence, clashes are likely to break out between sects as well as among rival Shi ite groups, Iraqi officials and observers say. Sistani is not just a poor guy sitting in a house. He can control millions of people, the Iraqi former senior official said. It will be a very bloody struggle after Sistani passes away. Sources in Najaf expect Sistani to remain in his post until his death. There is no clear succession process, but Shahroudi would need to obtain the support of a large number of ordinary Shi ites, seminary students and other clerics. Shahroudi is no stranger to Najaf: he was born in the city to Iranian parents. In the 1970s he was jailed and tortured by Saddam Hussein s security forces because of his political activities. He moved to Iran after the Islamic revolution and has been promoted to top posts since Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989. Shahroudi was head of the Iranian judiciary for a decade and is currently the head of the Expediency Council, a body intended to resolve disputes between parliament and a hardline watchdog body, the Guardian Council. In public, Shahroudi is often seen sitting next to Khamenei. Shahroudi s visit is only one sign of how Tehran is trying to rally support for its candidate to replace Sistani. A company linked to the Revolutionary Guards is involved in a $300 million project to expand the Imam Ali shrine, making it the second largest Muslim holy site after Mecca in Saudi Arabia. These projects create a state of dependency between recipients of aid and Tehran since they integrate the Iraqi infrastructure into the Iranian infrastructure network, said Ali Alfoneh, an expert on the Guards at the Atlantic Council. Furthermore, such activities provide a cover for the Islamic Republic s intelligence networks operating in Iraq. In 2011, Shahroudi opened an office in Najaf and began paying clerical students stipends, which observers say was an attempt by Iran to increase its influence. It was a provocative move, said an Iraqi analyst familiar with the Shi ite clergy who asked not to be identified. Shahroudi subsequently opened offices in Baghdad and Karbala. He pays stipends to thousands of seminary students, according to Iraqi officials and clerical sources in Najaf. Clerics often pay stipends to students to gather support, raise their profile and perhaps become accepted as a marja, or top cleric, observers say. Iran is trying to influence the process of who comes after Sistani through the students, said a Western diplomat in Iraq who did not have permission to speak on the record. Sistani is now the main sponsor of Shi ite clerical students, paying millions of dollars in Iraq and elsewhere. His son Mohammed Ridha oversees the financial and administrative work of his office. Follow the dollars to see what will happen next, said an Iraqi senior official familiar with the clerical politics of Najaf. Mohammed Ridha Sistani controls all the cash. Mohammed Ridha s work could position him to replace his father, observers say, though passing the religious mantle within a family would be unprecedented in Shi ite custom. Top contenders to replace Sistani in Najaf include three other marjas but they are old and there is no clear front-runner, according to clerical sources and Iraqi officials. Nothing is fixed to make a decision for this procedure, said Sheikh Ali Najafi, son of one of the top Najaf marjas. While in Iraq, Shahroudi visited prime minister Haidar al Abadi in Baghdad. Iraqi officials said Sistani refused to see him in Najaf, but they do not expect the Iranians to give up.","label":0}
{"text":"While Donald Trump says he d take the Chinese President to McDonald s, it s clear that the Obama s pulled out all the stops for the Chinese leader at the State Dinner last night. The night was heavy on the Silicon Valley and Hollywood moguls like Mark Zuckerberg. Perhaps they were getting tips on how to employee more cheap labor. PROM NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE!The striking difference in the attire of Mooch and the Chinese First Lady. Did anyone else get the feeling it was Prom Night at the White House with the dress and hair Mooch was sporting?I know, I know, it s just that something s not quite right here maybe it s the hair and cleavage. Maybe Mooch is channeling her inner Beyonce. But that hair!President Barack Obama s lavish state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to be the social release after a long day of business. The head table told a different tale bulging with the top brass from Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Disney, DreamWorks and more.The 200-plus guest list for the Friday s soiree was a business-heavy mashup of Hollywood, diplomacy and corporate chieftains, with ballerina Misty Copeland s presence offering it a bit of a lilt.DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, part of the East Room s high-octane head table, was asked as he arrived whether the evening was all about business or pleasure. Fun, he declared, but he added: I hope. For more than a few guests, the dinner was a chance to build up some serious chits with Mom or other family members who arrived as dates. Empire creator Lee Daniels and R&B singer Ne-Yo, who was performing later in the night, both brought their mothers.Clara Daniels, glowing in a coral gown, declared her date my No. 1 son but didn t specify if that was because he s the oldest of her two sons or because he came up with the dinner invitation. I am the most proud mom, enthused Harriett Loraine Burts, mom to Ne-Yo. Then Burts looked for a way to escape the cameras, confessing, I m not good at this red carpet thing. As for how he scored the invitation to perform at such a high-powered event, Ne-Yo theorized it s because he s got some Chinese in my heritage somewhere. First through the guest entry hall for dinner were former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and her dad. Faced with the fashion-forward question What are you wearing? Chao seemed momentarily stumped. Oh my gosh, she stammered. It s something very inexpensive. Copeland, who breezed through in a strapless metallic gown, had a similar response to the same query. I have no idea, she confessed.There was no question about first lady Michelle Obama s fashion statement.She wore a black, off-the-shoulder mermaid gown created by Chinese-American designer Vera Wang.Xi s wife, Peng Liyuan, also a fashion-savvy first lady, selected an embellished silk gown in rich aquamarine.The wow factor was lower-key among seasoned state dinner attendees but still there nonetheless.Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she d been to many state dinners, but added, They re always fabulous. Chris Dodd, the former senator and current chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, was asked if it ever gets old. Never, he said.Ninety-two-year-old Henry Kissinger, the shrewd diplomat who served under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, hustled through without stopping to comment, moving pretty quickly even with a cane. The decor in the big East Room included a 16-foot silk scroll depicting two roses that the White House said was meant to symbolize a complete meeting of the minds. That may have been somewhat aspirational, given the sharp differences between the U.S. and China on a range of issues.But all of that was largely glossed over in the dinner toasts. Obama said that while some differences were inevitable, he wished that the American and Chinese people may work together like fingers on the same hand in friendship and in peace. Xi, for his part, called the state visit an unforgettable journey and praised the good will he felt from West Coast to East.Asian influences were everywhere in the dinner plan, down to the Meyer lemons in the kurd lychee sorbet. (The citrus fruit is thought to have originated in China.)Guest chef Anita Lo, owner of Annisa in New York and a past Top Chef competitor, is a first-generation Chinese-American from Birmingham, Michigan. The culinary team created a menu that highlighted American cuisine with nuances of Chinese flavor, according to the White House. Guests dined on wild mushroom soup, poached Maine lobster, grilled cannon of Colorado lamb and poppyseed bread and butter pudding.","label":1}
{"text":"A convoy of around 30 Civil Guard police vans, unmarked vans and a truck filled with police officers left Barcelona port early on Sunday morning, a Reuters witness said, as lines of voters began forming at polling stations to vote on independence from Spain. Thousands of police have been shipped in from all over Spain to prevent the banned referendum taking place.","label":0}
{"text":"Barack Obama will make a long-awaited trip to Kenya later this year, visiting his father's homeland for the first time since becoming US president six years ago, the White House said Monday. During the long-promised visit this July, Obama will attend a Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the east African nation, a statement said. Obama has visited Africa four times since becoming president, but has not visited the country where he still has relatives. For much of Obama's presidency, Kenya's leaders have been under a cloud of prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Kenyatta was indicted over the country's 2007-08 post-election violence, the worst since it won independence from Britain in 1963. Kenyatta has always protested his innocence. The case was dropped in December, with prosecutors complaining that they had been undermined by a lack of cooperation by the Kenyan government, as well as the bribing or intimidation of witnesses. \"President Obama will meet him in Kenya,\" a White House official told AFP, confirming a meeting that is likely to court controversy. The official, who asked not to be named, said the United States regularly raises \"concerns with the Kenyan government about restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms.\" \"The president's trip will create another opportunity for dialogue with the government and civil society on these issues.\" Obama had visited Kenya before as a senator and before entering politics, visiting his father's home village and taking a very public HIV test. The president's origins have spurred domestic controversy, with some hardline political foes claiming he was not born in the United States and so was ineligible to become president. Obama allies say this is thinly veiled racism. The president has often made light of the controversy. \"If I did not love America, I wouldn't have moved here from Kenya,\" he recently joked. On this visit, Obama expected to take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which is being held in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time. \"Hosting the GES is an opportunity for Kenya to showcase its economic progress,\" said the White House official. \"Kenya maintains enormous potential for economic growth, thanks to the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the Kenyan people.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Guest Posts The Saker  by Oleg Maslov  The time has come for the country with the largest economy and military in the world will soon go to the polls to choose a new leader for itself. Americans will elect a new president on November 8, 2016. However, the two main candidates running for the office of president in the general election have never been more different from each other. Hillary Clinton has lived in the White House as First Lady for 8 years, served as a senator, ran for president in 2008, and served as Secretary of State during Barack Obama's first term, during which she oversaw the NATO intervention in Libya and the Benghazi crisis \u2013 in other words, a career politician. On the other hand, Donald Trump has never served in public office, instead dedicating his life to many different business ventures, some of which became runaway successes and others short-lived failures.  Both candidates boast considerable strengths and face off against damaging scandals. Clinton has been touted as the 'most qualified candidate for the job' and has decades of experience in and around the center of power in Washington. However, she is currently under investigation by the FBI for potentially mishandling classified information after using a private email server to send and receive emails while Secretary of State, faced allegations of corruption relating to donations from foreign entities to the Clinton Foundation in return for political favors, responded to leaked email suggested that the Democratic National Convention colluded with major media companies against Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders, and dealt with ongoing accusations of husband Bill Clinton's sexual relations and infidelities. On the other hand, Trump has pointed to his wealth to promote himself as a self-made billionaire capable of hard negotiations and used his status as a political outsider status to make his promise to change to the establishment believable. He has also been the target of sexual harassment allegations, responded to claims that some of his failed businesses may have been scams, battled accusations of involvement with white supremacy groups, and is the only candidate for president from a major party not to release tax information since Gerald Ford.  Comparing the individual factors and history of both candidates gives us considerable information for analysis, but what effect will the policies of the candidates bring to the world once they enter office? In the following sections, we pit Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a head-to-head comparison, analyzing the likely outcomes of their policies on global conflicts, the world economy, American social and business conditions, the future of Europe, and US relations with Russia and China.  Global Conflicts  Hillary Clinton  The former Secretary of State has been labeled by some analysts as a representative of the 'hawks' in Washington, or the group of influencers who are pro-war and closely connected with the American military industrial complex. Hillary Clinton voted for the American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Senator and spearheaded the American push for the NATO-imposed 'no-fly zone' in Libya as well as the US support for 'moderate rebels' in Syria as Secretary of State in the Obama administration.  A vote for Hillary is a vote for continuing the foreign policies of the Obama administration, including the expansion of NATO activities in Eastern Europe, intensifying American actions against the government of Bashar al-Assad, ramping up US naval might in the South China Sea, and arming and supporting Saudi Arabia in its military operation against Yemen.  One policy favored by Hillary Clinton adequately sums up the potential effects of a Clinton administration on global security: Hillary Clinton has publicly advocated for the implementation of a 'no-fly zone' and 'safe zones' within Syria. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of State, succinctly outlined the consequences of such a policy last month when he explained to the US Senate that carrying out this policy would require the United States to \"go to war against Syria and Russia\", something unequivocally negative for both regional and global security and something which will certainly exacerbate tensions in Syria rather than relieve them.  Trump expresses the greatest fear that such a policy may bring when he says that such proposals may start World War III.  Much can be written on the other conflicts mentioned, but the general trend is relatively apparent \u2013 a Clinton presidency would continue aggressive American policies which only increase tensions and create the possibility for a spark to light the powder keg of conflict.  Donald Trump  If a Clinton administration would be predictably aggressive, a Trump administration would be an unpredictable wild card for global security. Many point to Trump's open call for good relations between the US and Russia, even for cooperation between the two countries in tackling the Islamic State, as a sign of a period of peace and stabilization of the global security climate under a Trump administration. However, others react with alarm when they hear Trump criticize the usefulness of NATO or seemingly advocate for the proliferation of nuclear weapons, although these apparent Trump policies are often taken out of context.  Trump has consistently called for an increased 'sharing of the burden' from NATO partners and other American partners, notably Japan and South Korea. His campaign claims that the remarks that Trump made about the usefulness NATO and the proliferation of nuclear weapons was an extreme example meant to show the necessity of convincing American partners to pay more for the US military umbrella and that Trump has no intention of disbanding NATO or allowing states like Saudi Arabia or Japan to get nuclear weapons.  However, if Trump's drive to push more of the financial burden of US military protection onto allies were to fail, he may be forced to carry out his promises, at least to some degree, if only to save face. Trump's public intentions to mend ties with Russia and pursue cooperation in Syria combined with the potential for a weaker US presence in Europe may in fact encourage Russia to act more aggressively in pursuing their own interests in Europe and the Middle East.  One country has been disproportionately targeted by Trump \u2013 China. Trump has campaigned on the idea that China has been playing the United States for a sucker and that the US-Chinese relationship has been beneficial mostly for one side. His promises to renegotiate trade deals with China (which could be potentially quite harmful for China) could well have to be enforced by naval power projection, and Trump may end up following many of the same naval policies in the South China Sea as the Obama administration. This would, of course, raise tensions between the United States and China.  Trump's proposals and policies have not been thoroughly tested and their success at stabilizing the world situation are far from assured. Although Trump tends to appear more interested in fostering peace and cooling down global conflict, the tensions created by his policies, especially with respect to China, may in fact increase the possibility of conflict, showing just how unpredictable a Trump administration may be.  World Economy  Donald Trump  Trump has positioned himself as a pro-business candidate that will stimulate the US economy, and many of his proposed policies could potentially have positive effects. However, Trump's heavy criticism of global trade agreements, including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP), as well as Trump's intention to force American companies to bring their business operations back from other countries in an attempt to reverse the process of 'offshorization' may well benefit the American economy, but may in fact deal some heavy damage to the global economy.  Policies that benefit the United States directly, such as encouraging auto manufacturers to return production to American soil by raising tariffs on autos made by American companies in other countries, will have a negative effect on other countries. Agreements such as the TTIP would certainly raise global economic activity, despite the fact that they benefit one side over the other, and would raise the level of global economic activity. It follows that delaying or disrupting negotiations on these agreements may lead to more negative consequences for the world economy as a whole.  Trump's public call for better relations with Russia may have the effect of reducing or even removing sanctions thereby restoring former business between Russia and Europe as well as creating new business relationships which compensate for negative effects of other policies on the world economy. Further, if Trump's promises for peace and stabilization of global conflicts is carried out, economic activity and innovation would continue without any obstacle.  Hillary Clinton  A Clinton administration would continue to develop the economic strategy initiated by the Obama administration, including liberal policies toward corporate offshoring and advancement of global trade deals such as TTIP and TPP. In essence, these policies would produce slow but stable growth for the world economy. Maintaing the sanctions on Russia would restrict global growth but if negotiations on either TTIP or TPP would result in an agreement, the resulting economic activity would more than make up for that lost business.  The Clinton administration may appear to offer better opportunities for the global economy, but one major factor still needs consideration. Clinton's preference for resolution of conflicts by military means, seen most acutely in her proposals for resolving the Syrian situation, have a high potential to lead to a wider conflict with Russia and Iran, and ultimately may lead to a third global war, a war in which the main adversaries have a vast amount of deliverable nuclear weapons as well as a protocol for using them, should the need arise.  Needless to say, any conflict in which nuclear weapons are used is unequivocally negative for the global economy in the short term, if a global economy even remains after the dust has settled. If a global war remains conventional or if nuclear weapons are used in limited capacity, the prospect for global economic growth in the medium term is quite positive given the need to rebuild the affected countries, but the loss of life, destruction of productive infrastructure and buildings, and long term psychological and social effects far outweigh the economic growth related to rebuilding what was lost.  US Social and Business Conditions  Hillary Clinton  As the status quo candidate, Hillary Clinton represents a future similar to the present conditions with small but noticeable changes. Although controversial, Obama's healthcare plan, commonly referred to as 'Obamacare', did bring healthcare insurance to more Americans. Clinton will most certainly continue developing Obamacare, which may improve the lives of many people. Hillary has also proposed a plan to finance higher education for students whose household earns a combined income of less than $125,000 per year, something seen as positive for standard of living and development of future business conditions.  Clinton's willingness to accept more refugees from the war torn Middle East may increase already palpable social tensions by increasing competition for low-wage jobs and undermining social cohesion. The liberal policies of allowing companies to seek lower cost labor in other countries will continue to send jobs out of the United States, leaving university graduates, already suffering from low employment rates, with even fewer work opportunities.  Despite meeting with mothers of black teens killed by police, Hillary has no practical solution for addressing the growing issue of perceived racial prejudice by police officers. Neither does Donald Trump for that matter.  Donald Trump  Trump's strongest potential option for improving the social and business conditions in the US is his promise to force American companies to bring production back to the United States. Fulfilling this promise would create many jobs in the US and alleviate the millennial unemployment problem, all the while raising wages and the overall standard of living. Although xenophobic and perhaps even racially charged in nature, Trump's intention to limit immigration may also create more low-wage opportunities for American citizens.  Trump has called for an increase in paid maternity leave, something which may quality of life for average people. One of his main campaign promises is to revise and simplify the tax system. If done properly, this policy will make filing taxes easier for normal citizens and businesses as well, improving business conditions and potentially creating more jobs and economic activity.  On the other hand, Trump is widely seen as a candidate who represents white male superiority and the mere fact of a Trump administration may cause an increase in already palpable social tensions, potentially even leading to open protest from Muslim or Hispanic groups among others at his presidency. The Clinton campaign has worked to paint Trump as a white supremacist and misogynist, and often successfully so. Despite the potential economic benefits of a Trump presidency, the potential explosion of social tensions may cause an overall negative social and business situation in the United States. Of course, a Trump administration will recognize this danger and will make every attempt to prevent it.  The Future of Europe  Donald Trump  A Trump presidency would entail a major reversal of policies for many Eastern European countries, including the Baltic States, Poland, and Ukraine, when it comes to European relations with Russia. Trump has not only publicly questioned the utility of NATO, but has also called for better relations with Russia, both concepts which are anathema to many Eastern European nations. If Trump were to decrease the American footprint in Europe and to attempt to build better relations with Russia, many European nations would be forced to rethink some of their main strategic objectives at the very least. The current government of Ukraine would be one of the biggest losers in Europe should Trump become president and may even be pushed out of power, either peacefully or forcefully, should Trump choose to sacrifice American support for Ukraine in exchange for better relations with Russia, including recognition of Crimea as Russian territory.  A decrease in US forces on mainland Europe as well as American engineered political obstacles to cooperation between Europe and Russia would naturally lead to a blossoming of relations between Europe and Russia. Under a Trump presidency, one may expect a significant rollback of European sanctions on Russia and significant growth in Russia-Europe trade and relations. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe (PACE) would regain influence in regulating Europe-Russia relations. European-Chinese relations would also grow dynamically as 'Silk Road' projects through Russia would take on new relevance.  Many so-called 'Euroskeptic' movements and otherwise 'right of center' political groups would gain influence and perhaps even become part of the mainstream political configuration. Parties like Marine Le Pen's Front National, Alternative fuer Deutschland, Austria's Freedom Party, and Golden Dawn in Greece could make a grand entrance into mainstream politics while ruling parties in Hungary and Italy could become even more entrenched. Pushed forward by Brexit, this trend would bring considerable momentum behind the a drive for the dissolution of the European Union, at least for the monetary union, but this remains unlikely.  A Trump presidency may even allow for the start of negotiations between Europe and Russia on a comprehensive trade and political agreement to regulate relations. Numerous politicians, including Francois Mitterand and Vladimir Putin, have spoken about a free trade zone stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostock, but if China has any say in the matter, the zone will extend to Singapore and cover the entire supercontinent of Eurasia. If this concept were to ever become reality, European nations would gain influence over developing nations and receive access to valuable and profitable investment opportunities.  Further, any major agreement between the United States and Russia on Middle Eastern policy would entail a significant slowdown of the current migration crisis as well as a noticeable reduction in terrorist related activity. Europe may even join a coalition of the US and Russia to fight terrorism. Lastly, US missile defense systems in Poland and Romania are likely to be dismantled.  Hillary Clinton  A Hillary Clinton presidency would entail business as usual with Europe and a continuation of the current trends and policies initiated by the Obama administration. The major features of a Clinton presidency would include continued military build-up in Baltic states, continuation of European sanctions against Russia, increased support for the Ukrainian government, increased media hype about the Russian military threat, and a further break-down in the systems that govern Europe-Russia relations, such as the OSCE and PACE.  A Clinton presidency would entail an increase in the number of American troops in mainland Europe as well as an increase in joint US-European defense projects, including expansions of the missile defense project. More US-led NATO troops, groupings, and exercises would take place in the Baltic countries and a Clinton administration would push for Sweden and Finland closer to NATO, with the ultimate purpose to convince the Scandinavian countries to join the military block. Expect increased media reports about air force interceptions and Russian submarine scandals.  Any European Union political party that has a neutral or favorable position to Russia will come under increased scrutiny and will face attacks on multiple fronts, mostly through the media. The EU will work to make examples of governments such as Hungary, Greece, and Italy that actively resist sanctions against Russia and attempt to circumvent sanctions by making their own economic arrangements with Russia.  Europe will be pressured to sign TTIP and will most likely become more and more dependent on the United States for economic and political policy. More LNG terminals will be built on the European mainland so that European countries can import natural gas from America and Qatar so that dependence on Russia is decreased. China will place less of an effort on the Silk Road overland trade route and will have to make a different trade arrangement with Europe.  Middle East migration numbers will continue in full force as US policy in the Middle East will continue to favor interventionist hawks, forcing reluctant European nations to accept more and more refugees from Middle Eastern nations. The threat of terrorism will remain high and terrorist attacks are likely to occur again on European soil.  US Relations with Russia and China  Hillary Clinton  A Clinton administration will continue to play a double game with China, continuing the liberal policies of offshoring production to Chinese companies and maintaining a strong trade relationship on the one hand, but encircling China militarily with naval hardware and trade partnerships with local Chinese rivals. China will have a difficult time trying to push its goods to Europe through the Eurasian continent as the US will actively block attempts to create a Silk Road structure leading either through Russia or through Iran. However, on the surface, the US will continue to maintain a careful policy of wary respect toward China, never making overt insults or provocations and maintaining an air of pretentious respect.  Relations with Russia will be characterized by increased support to Russia's enemies in Ukraine and Syria, as well as attempts to undermine the governments in Belarus and Central Asian countries. President Clinton will push European allies to increase economic pressure on Russia and media coverage of Russia from all ideological sides of American media will turn increasingly negative. All of this will take place while the United States will continue to do business with Russia as usual, buying rocket engines, space transport services, grain, and even certain types of weapons as if there was no issue in bilateral relations.  Donald Trump  The strategic economic goals of a Trump presidency would almost immediately begin to cause problems for Chinese-American relations. If Trump acts on his promises to raise tariffs for American companies producing goods in foreign countries and then shipping them to the US, many businesses with manufacturing operations in China will be forced to shut down their Chinese subsidiaries, causing significant losses for China. China would potentially experience a major economic downturn as many of its factories and industrial centers would be forced out of business. China would not leave such an unkind gesture unanswered and would most likely sell a significant portion of its US Treasury bills and bonds on the market, or simply demand early payment, leading to a period of financial troubles for the US.  American-Russian relations would potentially enter into a new and unprecedented period of mutual understanding and cooperation. President Trump would work to open Russia's massive market even further to American companies and would deepen partnerships between the US and Russia in areas like space exploration and development, energy distribution and marketing, and perhaps even reopen programs focusing on purchase and delivery of Russian military hardware to groups supported by the Pentagon, including the program to arm and train the Afghan military with Russian helicopters.  In all, both candidates offer substantially different visions of the future, and it is up to individual voters to decide which vision appears more rational and beneficial for both the United States and the world at large. The Essential Saker: from the trenches of the emerging multipolar world $27.95","label":1}
{"text":"By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on November 4, 2016  Moscow's decision to send a fleet of warships, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, to the eastern Mediterranean may have saved the Syrian military from getting bombed by the US, according to military expert Vladimir Evseev. Speaking at a press conference at the Rossiya Segodnya news agency press center in Moscow, Evseev, the deputy director of Russia's CIS Institute, pointed out that Washington had only recently considered the possibility of attacking Syrian government forces, using the pretext of a UN report which alleged that Damascus had used chemical weapons.  \"We recently lived through a very important milestone which many people did not even notice,\" the analyst suggested. \"Why was the question raised of the Syrian Army's alleged use of chemical weapons? The stage was being set for [US] ship-based cruise missile strikes. According to some reports, such a decision was in play\u2026[Western] public opinion was actively being prepared for it.\"  As Russian Ships Complete Passage to Med, Moscow is 'Surprised' by Western Buzz But the entry of a major Russian flotilla, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, into the Mediterranean may been the essential element needed to cool the Pentagon's appetites, Evseev added.  \"The presence of our ships [between Algeria and Italy] excludes the possible deployment of a similar NATO naval group in the area. Factually, our ships have closed Syria off. The Russian ships did not appear where they are by accident, and eliminated the possibility of launching cruise missiles from that direction.\"  The analyst also recalled that earlier, S-300 systems \"were deployed in Tartus\" with similar goals in mind, given that they are \"capable of addressing not only air-based threats, but ballistic targets as well.\" Last week, the contents of a leaked report submitted to the UN Security Council blamed the Syrian government for a chemical attack in Idlib in 2015. Damascus vehemently denied the charges, citing the terrorists' own regular use of poison gas.  Moscow, meanwhile, stressed that more serious evidence would need to be presented before such serious accusations could be leveled. Why Does Media Cover Up War Crimes of 'Rebels' in Aleppo? The US and NATO allies, already engaged in a campaign to demonize Syria and Russia over the fight for Aleppo, used the report to pile on to other charges that Damascus and Moscow were responsible for 'war crimes' in their operation to liberate Syria from armed militants and jihadists.  Commenting on the military situation in Syria, Evseev suggested that together with the liberation of Aleppo, the Syrian military and their Russian allies must make it a priority to surround Nusra Front terrorists in Idlib. \"The terrorists must be destroyed, but most likely a process of squeezing them out will take place,\" he admitted. If forced to leave Idlib, \"the only place for them to go will be Turkey. And here, I would recommend that our Western partners, who currently advise us how to fight in Aleppo, take a moment to think about what will happen to the Idlib militants who end up in Turkey,\" the expert noted.  \"From here, it's likely that they can then be expected to pay a visit to Europe. This is what Western nations should be thinking about, instead of putting a spoke in the wheel and doing everything possible to interfere in the operation to liberate Aleppo and other Syrian territories.\" As far as the situation in the city of Aleppo is concerned, Evseev stressed that \"if we continue to wait and prolong humanitarian pauses, there will be no people left in Aleppo. Without air support, losses are too high. It's necessary to free the city quickly, and to think less about the West thinks about it.\" Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT, VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. LEGAL NOTICE - COMMENT POLICY Posted by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor on November 4, 2016, With 51 Reads Filed under Investigations . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. FaceBook Comments  You must be logged in to post a comment Login WHAT'S HOT","label":1}
{"text":"Finally, the media is giving Donald Trump the critical eye they should. The stories about the Trump University lawsuits and his refusal to release his tax returns are proving to be troublesome to the GOP frontrunner s campaign, but one of the most damaging might be the missing money that was supposedly pegged for veterans.Things are about to get a whole lot worse on the veteran front. The Huffington Post reported that Trump actually discriminates against veterans because they spend too much time serving their country.In at least three cases, Trump s companies have either fired, or refused to hire, military reservists because of the time commitments demanded of them by their service in the armed forces. The veterans involved have sued Trump for violating the laws meant to protect them from precisely these types of penalties. And in all three cases, Trump and his companies have settled the suits.The Huffington Post already reported on the first two of these cases one involving an Air Force senior master sergeant fired from the Trump Institute in 2007, and one an Army staff sergeant fired from her job at Trump University that same year.These two cases, however, have a predecessor. On May 27, 1988, United States Air Force Col. Charles Beattie submitted orders to his bosses at Eastern Airlines, where he worked as a pilot.For Trump, it seems, it s cheaper to pay fines for this clear violation of the law than to follow the law. Trump is an egomaniac. The fact that he doesn t like to employ people whose priority is our country should be all the proof we need that Trump has no desire to serve our country. He never has, beginning with the fact that Trump avoided the draft.It s doubtful that Trump actively dislikes veterans, but it s clear he doesn t care about them. He would happily and haphazardly send them into war zones, perhaps because a world leader hurt his feelings.The fact that he doesn t like vets working for him is only the tip of the iceberg. For a man who has planned on running for president for at least a few years, he s done little to beef up his image as a patriot. The Republican party is supposedly the party of veterans (of course, we wouldn t know it by how they vote, but they think they love the veterans), but Trump gave zero of his personal money to veterans groups, and his foundation donated a paltry $57,000. As Forbes Magazine notes, Trump once demanded that CNN give veterans $5 million for Trump to appear at a debate. They didn t, but that would be $494,000,000 than his foundation has given.As I said, the media is finally beginning to look critically at Trump, but it s time they start calling these things what they are: scandals. They might even qualify for a gate.","label":1}
{"text":"Republicans cheered after the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday thwarted President Barack Obama's plan to offer millions of undocumented immigrants relief from deportation, but any sense of triumph might last only until the November presidential election. If recent history is a guide, the stalled cause of immigration reform could energize Hispanic voters in support of likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, hurting Republican Donald Trump's chances of reaching the White House. Four years ago, Obama, seeking reelection to a second term, made Republican opposition to reform a central theme of his campaign. He ended up swamping his opponent, Mitt Romney, by almost a 3 to 1 margin among Latino voters, who now make up around 12 percent of the U.S. electorate. Republican hopes for securing a larger share of that vote this election already seemed grim given Trump's vow to deport the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally and to build a wall along the southern U.S. border. Democrats were quick to assail the ruling and voice concern about the fate of the 4 million or so immigrants who were to be shielded from deportation by Obama's executive action. But it was also clear that they believe the high court has handed them a potent weapon to spur Latinos \u2014 the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate \u2014 to vote in greater numbers. The Latino voting bloc is expected to swell to 27.3 million in 2016, up 4 million from 4 years ago. The prospect of Clinton filling the current vacancy on the top court with a liberal-leading justice who could, potentially, protect immigration-reform programs, may galvanize those voters as well. Republicans in Congress have refused to accept Obama's pick for the top court to fill the vacancy left by the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February. The justices' ruling on Thursday sent the question of the legality of Obama's program back to a Texas federal court for trial, leaving open the possibility that the matter could return to the high court on appeal at a later date. The court's decision \"just adds fuel to the fire that's already raging,\" said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. \"Each of these events raises the intensity and the Latino turnout even more.\" In the wake of the ruling, immigration activists vowed payback in November's election and staged protests on Thursday. A recent survey by Latino Decisions, a polling firm, showed that about half of the U.S. Hispanic electorate showed greater enthusiasm to vote in 2016 as compared to 2012, with support for Obama's pro-immigrant executive orders running high. \"We should expect similar dynamics this fall, perhaps even more so given the election is likely to determine the ideological direction of the Supreme Court,\" said David Damore, an analyst for the firm. Given Trump's unpopularity with Latino voters, the question for many Democrats both in and outside the Clinton campaign has been less about attracting the bloc's support and more about making sure it votes in large enough numbers to help offset Trump's expected advantage among white voters. The court's decision may also help make traditionally Republican states with increasing Hispanic populations such as Arizona more competitive this election, strategists in both parties said. Reed Galen, a Republican strategist in California, said the ruling could boost Democratic hopes in Latino-heavy battleground states such as Nevada, Colorado, and Florida. \"The issue isn't getting [Latino voters] fired up,\" Galen said. \"It's getting them to show up.\" Galen believes there is little his party can do now to mitigate the damage he believes Trump has done to its appeal among Hispanics. A Republican National Committee \"autopsy\" report after Romney's defeat said it was essential for the party to broaden its appeal to Hispanic voters by embracing immigration reform. \"Trump has pushed the envelope on immigration so far for Republicans, I don't know this [decision] is going to be any more damaging,\" he said. \"The barn's already been blown up.\" But Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a conservative advocacy group, disagreed. He said Republicans in Congress could still enact reform this year, which would ward off Trump's deportation threat while building stronger ties with Latino voters. \"This is the quintessential green light for Republicans to put their money where their mouth is,\" Rodriguez said. Many Republicans were careful on Thursday to applaud the court's ruling on the grounds that it curtailed what they viewed as an abuse of executive authority by Obama, without delving into the underlying immigration issues. \"The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws \u2014 only Congress is,\" said Paul Ryan, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ryan supports comprehensive immigration reform. Trump, however, went further, praising the ruling and saying the election now held the key to blocking further illegal immigration. \"The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country,\" he said in a statement. He has vowed to reverse Obama's executive actions on immigration as president.","label":0}
{"text":"For weeks, Hillary Clinton has looked for the knockout blow that finally forces Bernie Sanders out of the Democratic primary. She may have gotten it tonight in Kentucky. Sanders has to start winning every state by a landslide victory to have even a mathematical chance of catching Clinton's nearly 300-delegate lead. Kentucky was called for Clinton as an \"apparent winner\" at around 9:30 pm by NBC and after 10 pm by Kentucky's secretary of state, who called her the \"unofficial winner.\" Sanders has maintained that he'll stay in the race until the end of voting, and we don't have any new reason to believe he'll fly the white flag after Clinton's victory tonight. And his hard-line response to the Democratic Party over this weekend's events in Nevada certainly doesn't suggest he's ready to call it quits. But Sanders needed to win Kentucky to maintain an increasingly far-fetched path to the Democratic nomination. The fact that he lost tonight \u2014 albeit by what appears to have been a very small margin \u2014 will only dramatically increase the calls for him to exit the race. The loss is particularly tough for Sanders's campaign given that Kentucky was one of the more favorable states for him remaining in the race. \"Given the West Virginia results, I think Sanders is probably favored,\" said Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics in an interview Tuesday morning, before voting began. \"Sanders has a very good chance in Kentucky.\" Sanders will probably face steeper odds in the upcoming contests in California and New Jersey, where have polls have Clinton leading by as much as double digits. Polling from Kentucky was scarce, but the state's largely white and rural voters were widely expected to break for Sanders \u2014 as they have throughout the country. Kentucky has a large number of registered Democrats who are much more conservative than the rest of the party, a group that has in other states backed Sanders in part as a \"protest vote\" against the party's establishment, according to Kondik. \"More than half of Kentucky's registered voters are signed up with the Democratic Party, even though the state's election results have hewed decidedly Republican in recent years,\" wrote the polling firm Morning Consult in a preview of tonight's contest \"That's an indication of the rightward shift of downscale whites, especially in once union-heavy Coal Country; those are voters who used to call themselves Yellow Dog Democrats.\" These voters broke for Sanders by a big margin in West Virginia, and they very well may have in Kentucky as well. But even if they did, it does not appear to have been enough to offset the big difference between Kentucky and West Virginia: diversity. African-American voters are far more numerous in Kentucky \u2014 in part because of its cities, like Louisville and Lexington. (Kentucky's 2008 primary electorate was 9 percent black, compared to just 3 percent in West Virginia.) Black voters have rescued Clinton's campaign since her first big win in South Carolina in February. And, tonight, they may have helped push her opponent out of the race. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said Kyle Kondik works for the Center for Responsive Politics, rather than the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.","label":0}
{"text":"The Ruthlessly Effective Rebranding of Europe's New Far Right Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Guardian, November 1, 2016  In April 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen stunned all of Europe by defeating the socialist candidate, Lionel Jospin, in the first round of the French presidential election, and advancing to the final round between the top two candidates. Terrified by the prospect of a far-right victory, the French left\u2013including communists, Greens and the Socialist party\u2013threw their support behind the incumbent president, Jacques Chirac , a pillar of the centre-right establishment who had served as mayor of Paris for 18 years before becoming president in 1995. This electoral strategy effectively isolated Le Pen's Front National (FN), depicting it as a cancerous force in the French body politic.  Two weeks later, on 5 May, Chirac won the election with an astronomical 82% of the vote, trouncing Le Pen by the biggest margin in a French presidential election since 1848. Raucous celebrations spilled into the streets of Paris. \"We have gone through a time of serious anxiety for the country\u2013but tonight France has reaffirmed its attachment to the values of the republic,\" Chirac declared in his victory speech . Then, speaking to the joyous crowds in the Place de la R\u00e9publique, he lauded them for rejecting \"intolerance and demagoguery\".  But May 2002 was not, in fact, a moment of triumph. Rather it was the dying gasp of an old order, in which the fate of European nations was controlled by large establishment parties.  Jean-Marie Le Pen was an easy target for the left, and for establishment figures such as Chirac. He was a political provocateur who appealed as much to antisemites and homophobes as to voters upset about immigration, drawing his support largely from the most reactionary elements of the old Catholic right. In other words, he was a familiar villain\u2013and his ideology represented an archaic France, a defeated past. Moreover, he did not seriously aim for power, and never really came close to acquiring it; his role was to be a rabble-rouser and to inject his ideas into the national debate.  Europe's new far right is different. From Denmark to the Netherlands to Germany, a new wave of rightwing parties has emerged over the past decade-and-a-half, and they are casting a much wider net than Jean-Marie Le Pen ever attempted to. And by deftly appealing to fear, nostalgia and resentment of elites, they are rapidly broadening their base.  Le Pen's own daughter is a prime example of the new ambitions of the right: unlike her incendiary father, Marine Le Pen is running a disciplined political operation and has already proven that her party can win upwards of 40% of the vote in regions from Calais in the north to the C\u00f4te d'Azur in the south. She and her Danish and Dutch counterparts are not\u2013as some on the left would like to believe\u2013neo-Nazis or inconsequential extremists with fringe ideas lacking popular appeal.  These parties have built a coherent ideology and steadily chipped away at the establishment parties' hold on power by pursuing a new and devastatingly effective electoral strategy. They have made a very public break with the symbols of the old right's past, distancing themselves from skinheads, neo-Nazis and homophobes. They have also deftly co-opted the causes, policies and rhetoric of their opponents. They have sought to outflank the left when it comes to defending a strong welfare state and protecting social benefits that they claim are threatened by an influx of freeloading migrants.  They have effectively claimed the progressive causes of the left\u2013from gay rights to women's equality and protecting Jews from antisemitism\u2013as their own, by depicting Muslim immigrants as the primary threat to all three groups. As fear of Islam has spread, with their encouragement, they have presented themselves as the only true defenders of western identity and western liberties\u2013the last bulwark protecting a besieged Judeo-Christian civilisation from the barbarians at the gates.  These parties have steadily filled an electoral vacuum left open by social democratic and centre-right parties, who ignored voters' growing anger over immigration\u2013some of it legitimate, some of it bigoted\u2013or simply waited too long to address it.  They have shed some of the right's most unsavoury baggage while responding to both economic anxiety and fear of terrorism by blending a nativist economic policy\u2013more welfare, but only for us \u2013and tough anti-immigration and border security measures. Their message is beginning to resonate widely with a fearful population that believes the liberal governing elite no longer listens to them.  Brexit was just the start. Europe's new far right is poised to transform the continent's political landscape\u2013either by winning elections or simply by pulling a besieged political centre so far in its direction that its ideas become the new normal. And when that happens, groups that would never have contemplated voting for a far-right party 10 years ago\u2013the young, gay people, Jews, feminists\u2013may join the working-class voters who have already abandoned parties of the left to become the new backbone of the populist right.  On 6 May 2002, one day after revellers filled the streets of Paris to celebrate Chirac's historic victory, the flamboyant and iconoclastic leader of the Dutch far right, Pim Fortuyn, was gunned down by a radical animal rights activist as he emerged from a radio interview. His assassin later claimed that he had killed Fortuyn to stop him from using Muslims as \"scapegoats\". In national elections nine days later, Fortuyn's eponymous party\u2013the Pim Fortuyn List\u2013 became the second largest in the Netherlands with 17% of the vote.  Fortuyn, a former communist and openly gay man who boasted of sleeping with Muslim immigrants while calling for a ban on Muslim immigration, was an electrifying figure in a country known for its staid politics. His time in the limelight was short but transformative.  It was Fortuyn who blazed the trail for the new generation of far-right leaders across Europe. He may not have intended to be a pioneer, but his brand of plain-spoken political incorrectness and his depiction of Islamic culture as a \"backwards\" and reactionary threat to the hard-won progressive values of western Europe would provide a potent template for a modernised far right. His ideological inheritors in Dutch politics, as well as the revamped Front National in France, the Danish People's Party and Germany's Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland have all emulated Fortuyn in their own ways.  Fortuyn proved that the winning argument for the European far right was not a US-style appeal to conservative religious values, but rather to claim it was \"defending secular, progressive culture from the threat of immigration,\" argues Merijn Oudenampsen of Tilburg University. The Netherlands was a perfect laboratory for this new strategy because, unlike France, it did not have a strong contingent of religious traditionalists opposed to women's liberation and gay rights.  Before founding his own party in 2002, Fortuyn had tried to join an establishment centre-right party, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), in the late 1990s. The party's then-leader, Frits Bolkestein, who had been one of the first figures to speak critically about immigration in the early 1990s, remembers Fortuyn as a talented but inflammatory politician. \"He had a thoroughly theatrical personality, and that played in his favour,\" said Bolkestein, now in his 80s, from his office overlooking the canals of Amsterdam. \"I didn't want him to be in my parliamentary group, so I cold-shouldered him . . . He would have acted as a fragmentation bomb.\"  Fortuyn took his explosive rhetoric elsewhere and, by creating a new type of far-right politics in progressive garb\u2013\"a form of xenophobia ideally suited to a nation that prides itself on its tolerance,\" as a New Yorker profile once described it\u2013he redirected the entire national debate in a way that has endured long after his death.  Two years after Fortuyn was killed, the Netherlands was traumatised by another political assassination. Early one morning in November 2004, the filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a young Dutch-Moroccan, Mohammed Bouyeri, who shot van Gogh eight times, slashed his throat and then pinned a letter to his chest with a knife. The letter was a death threat aimed at the Somali-born Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali \u2013a vocal critic of Islam who was soon placed under the protection of the Dutch security services.  The two assassinations shook the Netherlands to its core and catapulted a little-known and theatrically coiffed politician, Geert Wilders , to popularity as an ideological successor to Fortuyn. Wilders had also flirted with Bolkestein's VVD, beginning his political career as a staffer in the party office. In late 2004, he split off and formed his own. With Hirsi Ali in hiding, he quickly became the most prominent anti-immigration voice in the country\u2013and has remained so ever since.  For those who cared to look, the political ground had already begun to shift. Six months before Chirac's trouncing of Le Pen and Fortuyn's assassination, Denmark had an election. On its surface the result was not a historical watershed; the centre-right Venstre party ousted the Social Democrats, handing power from one establishment party to the other. What had changed was that the Danish People's Party, which had campaigned on an overtly anti-immigrant platform, took 12% of the vote\u2013transforming it into a kingmaker in parliament.  Unlike France, which revelled in its triumph over the FN, or the Netherlands, where the remains of Fortuyn's party failed to become a real parliamentary force, the DPP immediately became a serious player with real influence over policy. And it was not only taking votes from the right; it was also attracting disgruntled social democratic voters who felt that their leaders had abandoned them.  The DPP had crafted a social and economic policy that was in many ways more socialist than that of the Social Democrats\u2013promising better health care, better care for the elderly, and more subsidised housing. As the outgoing Social Democratic prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen told me in 2002, a few months after his defeat: \"They took a part of our rhetoric and tried to sell it as a new package to the people, and with some success, one may say.\" Back then, Naser Khader, a Danish member of parliament who immigrated from Syria as a child, argued that \"the best way to weaken the DPP is to give them influence\". He was wrong.  The headquarters of the Front National sits on a quiet street in the unassuming Paris suburb of Nanterre, near a car repair shop and a Portuguese restaurant. Only when you approach the grey building with its mostly closed blue shutters do the armed guards come into view. In her modest second-floor office, surrounded by books and a cloud of vape smoke, Marine Le Pen explained earlier this year how she transformed a party previously known for calling the Holocaust a \" detail of history \" into a genuine contender for the presidency.  \"Voluntarily or not, he gave ammunition to our adversaries,\" Le Pen said of her father. But she insisted that she has now cleaned house. \"I fired them all . . . all those people who expressed an ideology or held views that I found unacceptable.\"  Julien Rochedy, a 28-year-old who headed the FN's youth wing but has since left the party, told me that he believes the changes are real. Whereas the party's former leader used to pepper his speeches with lines that made Jews' hair stand on end, today, if someone tells a racist joke within the party, \"you will be attacked straight away,\" Rochedy said. \"There is such self-discipline these days. They are so afraid they'll be accused once again of being antisemitic or racist.\"  Still, the party's detractors continue to level the same charges at the FN, which outrages Marine Le Pen . \"Today our adversaries no longer have that ammunition, and they repeat on loop\" old tropes about fascists and racists. \"At a certain point this argument loses its force,\" she continued, \"because voters see clearly that there's absolutely nothing in our platform that remotely resembles fascism or racism.\"  Le Pen has done more than kick out the most blatant racists and antisemites. She has consciously crafted a campaign designed to appeal to voters of the centre and left\u2013and other constituencies\u2013who could never have imagined voting for her father's Front National.  As Le Monde's Olivier Faye has written , she is \"trying to erase another image that has stuck to the skin of the FN\u2013that of homophobia\". And it is working: a survey showed that her share of the vote among married gay couples in the 2015 regional elections was over 32%\u2013up from just 19% in a similar poll from 2012.  As Le Pen has filled her inner circle with more and more openly gay advisers and party leaders, she has also made her pitch to Jewish voters more explicit: \"For a lot of French Jews, the FN appears to be the only movement that can defend them from this new antisemitism nourished in the banlieues ,\" Le Pen told me. \"In a very natural way they have turned toward the FN, because the FN is capable, I think, of protecting them from that.\"  Among French voters threatened by the country's new diversity, rejection of a multicultural society increasingly takes the form of longing for a bygone era. And peddling nostalgia is the centrepiece of many new far-right parties across Europe . In France, Marine Le Pen has promised a return to a time when the French had their own currency and monetary policy, when there were fewer mosques and less halal meat, when no one complained about nativity scenes in public buildings, and when French schools promoted a republican ethos of assimilation.  \"A growing number of French people feel uncomfortable in their own country,\" the prominent philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut , declared in January during a debate with the centre-right presidential candidate Alain Jupp\u00e9\u2013who has taken a less strident line on Islam and migration than his rival Nicolas Sarkozy. Finkielkraut depicted contemporary France as a country of halal butchers and tea shops filled only with men, pleading that \"the public good isn't in the clouds, it's made from tangible things\u2013the French of Proust and Montaigne . . . the Jardin du Luxembourg and the cows of Normandy\".  Finkielkraut, a 67-year-old Jewish liberal, is not an admirer of the Front National, but Marine Le Pen's deliberate appeals to Jews and gay people have given political expression to an argument that he first made more than a decade ago\u2013that the left, with its indulgence of Islam, poses a greater threat to France than the far right. After Chirac \"saved\" the republic from Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002, Finkielkraut watched the celebrations in the streets and warned that the victors were the real danger: \"The future of hate is in their camp and not in the camp of those nostalgic for Vichy,\" he wrote, \" . . . in the camp of the multicultural society and not that of the ethnic nation\u2013in the camp of respect, not that of rejection.\"  Fourteen years later, after the terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan and Nice, Finkielkraut is even more certain he was correct. \"Anti-racism today frequently serves as a pretext for not seeing the true danger that threatens us,\" he told me when we met in his Paris apartment this summer. While he is still no fan of the FN, he believes it has changed and argues that it \"should be resisted, but for what it is today and not what it was in the past, and not in the name of anti-fascism\". The French must, he insisted, \"avoid simplistic analogies with the 1930s. We must not mistake what era we live in. Europe doesn't only have demons; it also has enemies, and it needs to know how to fight those enemies.\"  He worries that integration has been such a failure that France will have to \"reconquer\" its \"lost territories\"\u2013by which he means the suburbs surrounding Paris. \"Integrating people is not telling them 'You are how you are and we are how we are' . . . Integration means making them an integral part of our civilisation.\" And if that doesn't happen, he warned darkly, \"at best we'll have secession and at worst civil war\". Continued immigration from Muslim countries, he argues, is nothing less than the \"planned demise of Europe\".  Across the country, nostalgia for an older, whiter France has become a potent political force. In the southern city of B\u00e9ziers, Mayor Robert M\u00e9nard, a former Trotskyist who cofounded the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders , is seeking to place a moratorium on the opening of kebab shops and has renamed a street after one of the French officers who joined a failed coup against De Gaulle in 1961 to prevent Algerian independence . M\u00e9nard comes from a family of pieds-noirs , French settlers in Algeria. He regards the Evian accords that ended the Algerian war as a \"capitulation\", and those who tried to preserve French Algeria as heroes.  This nostalgia has an unmistakable appeal, but not necessarily for the sort of voters one might expect. Whereas young Britons overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU and the elderly voted to leave, in France it is the opposite. According to Julian Rochedy, the former FN youth leader, appeals to nostalgia work better with the young in France\u2013who dream of an era they never witnessed\u2013than with the old, who lived through the era Marine Le Pen promises to restore. It is older voters, Rochedy argues, who are the greatest obstacle to Le Pen's victory. \"They are afraid of leaving the euro,\" he says. \"They are afraid of huge changes.\" Rochedy is convinced that the FN will never win simply by fetishising the past. \"They just want to go back 30 years,\" he said of his erstwhile colleagues. \"It's a discourse that doesn't at all take into account the world as it is and what France has become.\"  Even if Le Pen cannot win over enough older voters for her to become president, there is one ageing constituency that has already moved significantly to the right\u2013the former members of what used to be the largest communist party in western Europe.  As the French Communist party collapsed, its supporters were left rudderless. According to Andrew Hussey, a Liverpool-born academic who teaches in Paris, the technocratic leaders of the Socialist party\u2013 many of them graduates of the ultra-elite Ecole Nationale d'Administration\u2013\"are so disconnected from ordinary people\" that even former Marxists won't consider voting for them. Distrustful of the establishment and searching for a state that protects them, many have turned to the FN. \"I think you've got a big political question here about who looks after you,\" Hussey said. \"This is a very communist way of thinking.\"  Le Pen knows that she is attracting these people. Many of her supporters \"used to be socialists, but they aren't any more\", she told me. Although she prefers to avoid the phrase welfare state\u2013\"That's a socialist concept,\" she insisted\u2013Le Pen has appealed directly to this yearning for a large and nurturing state that fights for the common man and not the rich.  \"I defend fraternity\u2013the idea that a developed country should be able to be able to provide the poorest with the minimum needed to live with dignity as a human being. The French state no longer does that,\" she told me. \"We're in a world today in which you either defend the interests of the people or the interests of the banks.\" And she has seen results. She points to the northern Pas-de-Calais region. \"It was socialist-communist for 80 years,\" she says. \"I won 45%.\"  At the same time as Marine Le Pen was working to \"de-demonise\" the FN, the leaders of the Dutch far right successfully seized the mantle of radicalism by positioning itself as the only force that dares to challenge an out-of-touch political establishment, and the only party willing to speak out about what many voters fear: extremist Islam.  Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) have surpassed the Dutch Labour party to take up a close second place in polls ahead of the March 2017 election. Last September, Wilders declared that Europe was facing an \" Islamic invasion \"\u2013the sort of comments that landed him in court this week on charges of inciting racial hatred , which he dismisses as an attack on freedom of expression.  The presence of \"masses of young men in their 20s with beards singing 'Allahu Akbar' across Europe\", Wilders warned at the peak of last year's refugee crisis, posed a dire threat to \"our prosperity, our security, our culture and identity\". Across the country, grassroots groups responded to Wilders's warning, attempting to block the resettlement of asylum seekers in their towns. Last October, Klaas Dijkhoff, the deputy minister responsible for refugee resettlement, arrived for a visit to the tiny north-eastern village of Oranje, where the Dutch government had decided to place 700 refugees. Outraged locals blocked the road leading to town, kicked Dijkhoff's car and tore off its rearview mirrors. A few days later, near Utrecht, an asylum centre was attacked by masked men with smoke bombs and fireworks.  In the decade following the assassinations of Fortuyn and Van Gogh, the integration of Muslim immigrants became the most divisive issue in Dutch politics. Suddenly, Turkish and Moroccan-born Dutch citizens became \"Muslims\". And as the public debate over Islam and migration grew even more hostile, even the most basic forms of visible religious observance\u2013wearing the hijab, buying halal meat, fasting during Ramadan\u2013became politically loaded.  The Dutch Labour MP Ahmed Marcouch, who came to the Netherlands from rural Morocco when he was 10, recounted how controversies have erupted everywhere from supermarkets to classrooms. It is a jolt to the traditionally liberal Netherlands when teenage girls tell their male teachers they can't shake hands, or that they fast and pray while many other Dutch kids are out drinking and having sex. As Marcouch remarked, it runs against everything that Dutch youth culture promotes.  Wilders's PVV has capitalised on this cultural angst by using simple and deliberately brash slogans about immigration, crime, and refugees\u2013one of his latest memes is simply \"De-Islamise\"\u2013to win over voters who feel that everything familiar to them is slipping away.  By framing its anti-migrant politics as a battle against imperious elites and political correctness, the PVV has been able to capitalise on a panoply of grievances, from anger over asylum seekers to Euroscepticism. Meanwhile, many causes of the radical left\u2013including anti-racism and anti-colonialism\u2013have now become establishment thinking in the Netherlands. \"Idealism has been bureaucratised,\" argues the journalist Bas Heijne, who writes a column in the liberal daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad. \"And when the establishment enforces universalism, you react against it.\" That's why there is such a strong anti-PC tone to the Dutch right: do not tell us what to say, what to celebrate and who we must live next to.  Just as Marine Le Pen's FN has become a huge presence on social media in France, the right is in the midst of colonising the Dutch media. Geen Stijl (\"No Style\"), a popular Breitbart-style news site featuring abrasive articles and videos, encourages its best and angriest commenters to visit mainstream news sites and go on the attack. \"It is massively important,\" says Tilburg University's Merijn Oudenampsen, \"like a social movement\". The site began as a blog dedicated to those who felt politically homeless after Fortuyn's murder, and has since become a ubiquitous presence in Dutch public debate, with an army of \"reactors\" on Twitter. According to Oudenampsen, some politicians have told him that Geen Stijl is the first site they check in the morning.  The right's newfound media clout has also helped shape what the journalist Kustaw Bessems, from the leftwing Volkskrant newspaper, sees as a new, inverted, form of political correctness. In the old days, he says, there were taboos enforced by the left: badmouth immigrants and \"you were immediately called a racist and extreme right and basically pressured to shut up\". Now, it's the other way around. \"As soon as you say anything other than 'immigration is a problem' or 'Islam is the cause of terrorism' . . . the thought police immediately jump on your neck to correct you.\"  A Dutch government official who focuses on security issues complained that even as the integration of Muslim immigrants and the threat of radical Islam had become the most heated and polarising issues in the Netherlands, almost none of the feverish public debate was informed by knowledge of Islamism or terrorism. While politicians fan the flames of fear, the official said, \"the economists look for the economic roots of the problem, sociologists look for social causes and the anthropologists try to explain jihadi culture\u2013but none of them have any idea about theology\". Even scholars of radicalisation tend to study today's extremists through the historical lens of the European radical left\u2013which does little to explain what leads a small number of young Muslim men such as Van Gogh's killer, Mohamed Bouyeri, to devote themselves to the cause of jihad. \"It's easy to be a Marxist,\" the security official quipped. \"It's fucking hard to be a salafi.\"  As the perception that the state is helpless to prevent the radicalisation of Muslim teenagers deepens and the fear of terrorism increases, so does the share of voters who are newly receptive to the far right's tirades about \"Islamisation\". These days it is not only anti-migration activists pushing back against the bureaucratised consensus. There are also many disappointed progressives\u2013the people who saw the cultural victories of the 1960s and 1970s as major battles that had long since been won, making sexual freedom, feminism and gay rights an unquestioned part of Dutch society. Suddenly those old victories seem tenuous. \"There is a sense that, 'We are welcoming and then they do this,' says Bas Heijne. \"They have been terribly let down in their good intentions.\" And in such an environment, traditionally leftist constituencies such as gay people and Jews feel threatened\u2013and some have become reflexively suspicious of Muslims.  The stereotype that observant Muslims hate gay men and lesbians has become so entrenched in the Netherlands that neither side can fathom evidence to the contrary. When the Moroccan-born Labour MP Ahmed Marcouch first joined in Amsterdam's legendary gay pride parade , he was, as he puts it, the \"first hetero-active Muslim\" to participate. The gay community feared violence from extremists; conservative Muslims were baffled and angry. Both groups concluded, \"Oh, maybe Marcouch is homosexual too,\" he says with a laugh. Neither group could imagine a straight Muslim doing what he did.  But public displays of solidarity such as Marcouch's are rare. Among openly gay couples and religious Jews alike, there is a palpable fear of being targeted by homophobic or antisemitic young Muslim men. Much as in France, this fraught atmosphere has made far-right parties seem a palatable option for groups who would never previously have considered voting for them.  In Amsterdam earlier this year, I had several meetings with a staunch Jewish supporter of Wilders's PVV, who insisted on remaining anonymous. He described his own backing for the far right in terms that echoed Alain Finkielkraut. \"It's an outdated reflex for Jews to always say the problem is the extreme right,\" he told me. \"We have new enemies and we need new ideas.\"  The experience of his own family during the second world war has convinced him that Europe's capacity for murderous violence is always lurking beneath the surface. \"Anne Frank wasn't betrayed by the Germans,\" he argued. \"But by Dutch people. Regular Dutch.\" Jews need to find new allies in a new war, he argues, because they will never be safe. \"The trains for the Jews will always come,\" he added, ominously. \"I'd rather be wrong than be too calm and end up on the trains.\"  He is not unsympathetic to the plight of European Muslims, and told me that he even sees parallels with the persecution his own family faced. \"If I were a Muslim in Europe at this moment I'd be very uneasy,\" he admitted. \"If Europeans regain their manhood, it could be bad. It's the history of Europe to treat foreigners terribly. We Jews know that.\"  For that reason, he argues, Muslims should regard Wilders as a lesser evil. \"Every Muslim should be happy Geert Wilders exists. If someone else channelled these hateful feelings it would be much worse,\" he told me menacingly. \"Wilders is civil. He is a democrat. He is not the new Hitler.\"  To Frits Bolkestein, who led the Netherlands' centre-right VVD in the 1990s\u2013and was briefly Wilders' boss when he was a young aide in the party office\u2013the rise of the far right is as much about class as it is about Islam. The Dutch Labour party, he argues, gave up on its working-class base: \"They made a major mistake,\" he says of his old rivals, with a tinge of satisfaction. Faced with \"the choice between the foreign-born and the labour classes, they chose the foreign-born \u2026 and they've paid for it dearly\". Current polls project that the party will drop from the 36 seats it now holds (out of 150) to just 10.  Marcouch concedes that, like the old leftists in France, many former Labour voters now back Wilders. Moreover, he says, they still live in the very neighbourhoods that families such as his own moved into in the 1980s, as many white Dutch families were moving out. \"Their message to the Labour party,\" he said, \"is: 'You ignored us. You let it happen.'\"  The Danish People's Party has been seeking out such voters for years, and they have masterfully leveraged anti-immigrant sentiment to siphon away the Social Democrats' traditional base\u2013people who fear that the \"bread will be buttered more thinly\", as the Danish journalist Lars Trier Mogensen puts it.  The DPP has effectively combined anti-immigrant rhetoric with a strong pro-welfare message that stresses quality health benefits and good care for the elderly. S\u00f8ren Espersen, the DPP's deputy leader, doesn't think that former Social Democrats will ever go back. \"When one of those takes the step to vote for us, it is a very, very huge step he is taking,\" he says of voters who supported the Social Democrats all their lives. \"And why should he go back? I mean, to come over this first hurdle of voting for us, then he's done it.\"  The Social Democrats first began to lose their dominance in and around the major cities in the 1990s, with many of their votes going to the DPP. One of those places is the small satellite town of Herlev, about 10 miles west of Copenhagen. The 41-year-old Social Democratic mayor, Thomas Gyldal Petersen, has lived there all his life, and he is adamant that controlling immigration numbers is the only way to reverse his party's political misfortunes.  For Gyldal Petersen, the key to successful integration is a demographic balance. As soon as a school or housing estate becomes majority immigrant\u2013or majority unemployed\u2013he says, problems start to arise. He blames his own party's leaders: \"Mayors in the 80s, they were warning, something is going wrong, you have to change.\" But the party leadership \"shut their eyes\", he says.  Then came the Muhammad cartoons . In 2005, the editors at Jyllands-Posten, Denmark's largest newspaper, invited a group of well-known cartoonists to draw the prophet. The initial response was underwhelming, but within a few months\u2013through a combination of diplomatic pressure, a dismissive response from the Danish government, and a concerted campaign by local imams\u2013the cartoons became a full-blown crisis, with boycotts of Danish products and violent protests occurring throughout the Middle East. Danes who had never contemplated voting for the DPP now saw their embassies on fire and death threats against some of their best-known journalists. Suddenly, the DPP's platform was making sense. They had warned that Muslims were extremists in waiting, and now those warnings seemed to come true. Politicians such as Naser Khader, who once warned that giving the DPP influence would weaken them, found themselves moving steadily to the right of the political spectrum. When Khader founded a new organisation called \"Democratic Muslims\" in the wake of the cartoon controversy, he received death threats.  Those at the top of the Social Democrats are now taking a tough stance, too. Earlier this year the party leader, Mette Frederiksen, went to Stockholm to meet with fellow Scandinavian social democrats. There she gave a speech that rattled her colleagues. \"We social democrats must accept that there is a clash,\" she declared. \"It is a very strong part of our identity that we help when people need help . . . but just as strong is our value that we must have a well-functioning welfare state.\" Frederiksen continued: \"My position is that a universally funded Scandinavian welfare state with free and equal access to healthcare, education and social subsidies is not compatible with an open immigration policy.\"  But in its zeal to get tough on migration, Denmark has damaged its international reputation as a bastion of progressivism\u2013the sort of place that Bernie Sanders liked to mention at campaign rallies. In January, just three months after the refugee crisis peaked, Denmark passed what became known as the \" jewellery law \", which stipulated that any refugees carrying valuables worth more than 10,000 kroner (\u00a31,200) would have them confiscated to fund the cost of accommodating asylum-seekers. Editorial pages and columnists across the world lined up to condemn the law. According to Kenneth Kristensen Berth, a babyfaced MP for the DPP, it was about deterrence. \"The goal was, of course, that we should try to tell people that they should not seek asylum in Denmark,\" he said. The jewellery provision was a minor part. \"More important is the fact that many people will be waiting longer for family reunification, like waiting three years,\" he added. And it wasn't just the DPP and government who supported it\u2013the Social Democrats voted for it, too.  Bent Melchior, Denmark's 87-year-old former chief rabbi, was outraged. He bristled at the suggestion that refugees are rich because they flee with some money in their pockets. He would know: although Denmark is always hailed for saving its Jews during the second world war, it is often forgotten that Danish Jews paid fishermen huge sums to ferry them across to Sweden. Melchior's family paid the equivalent of \"almost a year's rent of a six-room flat\" just for his own passage. \"Denmark is not a poor country, for God's sake,\" Melchior says. \"There's food for everybody here, and even if we get a few tens of thousands more people, there will still be food for everybody.\"  The road that led a centre-left party to support such a law has been long and tortuous, but the trajectory has been clear. The Scandinavian welfare system has always been premised on solidarity, with everyone paying their fair share and receiving what they deserve. As the country has become more diverse, some of the trust sustaining it has broken down. There has been abuse of the system by immigrants, and there has been even more tabloid fearmongering depicting immigrants as cheats and leeches sucking the system dry. But the larger issue, as the Oxford economist Paul Collier has argued, is the growing unwillingness of natives to subsidise those seen as the foreign poor.  Herlev's mayor does not oppose asylum, but he insists that the numbers have to be capped. \"We have to help refugees, and we have to take refugees to Denmark in a number that we can help. If the balance tips, the welfare society cannot hold together,\" Petersen warns.  But such balance may only help so much. Aydin Soei, a Danish sociologist and the son of immigrants from Iran, believes there is a larger blind spot in the thinking of the Danish government\u2013one that native Danes who have never been on the receiving end of the state's integration policy have failed to see. \"A lot of refugees were just parked on social welfare instead of [the state] recognising their education and their skills,\" Soei told me, citing the case of his own mother, who arrived in Denmark with a physics degree that was regarded as worthless. \"If your motivation is to create a liberal society where the individual can create a good life for him or herself, then you would have solved this problem years ago,\" he argues.  Instead the state has effectively provided newcomers with an allowance and keys to an apartment, and ignored them\u2013assuming that its work was done. The problem, Soei claims, is that there is no political incentive to integrate asylum seekers into the job market. \"It doesn't have consequences for the politicians . . . because they don't have the right to vote.\" Either way, it plays into the DPP's argument. \"Immigrants can't do right,\" said Gyldal Petersen. \"When they're unemployed they're a burden to society. When they're in a job, they just stole the job from a Dane.\"  Whether or not Marine Le Pen wins next year's French election or Wilders' PVV becomes the largest party in the Netherlands, the new far right is not going away. The reflex among many establishment parties\u2013and media institutions\u2013has been to dismiss them, sideline them or mock them. Others, however, have begun to mimic them in an effort to win their old voters back.  Rhetoric might, in the long run, matter more than election results. When I spoke again recently with the Jewish Wilders supporter from Amsterdam, he was convinced that the battle has in some ways already been won\u2013regardless of the outcome of next year's elections. \"The PVV has shifted the whole political discussion to the right. The Labour party is saying almost exactly the same thing Wilders said five years ago,\" he told me. \"You can have a lot of influence in politics by steering the debate.\"  If traditional political parties want to win, they must first abandon the old strategy of marginalising populist movements and instead engage them on the merits\u2013and flaws\u2013of their policies and counter their messages of fear.  Not least among the lessons of Brexit was that, for millions of disaffected voters, immigration is just one more thing nobody asked them about . This is what makes the issue an especially potent weapon: it combines the resentful energies of nativism, economic instability, and hatred of a remote and unaccountable political elite. And the leaders of the new far right have learned to wield it effectively. They know better than to let themselves be dismissed, as Jean-Marie Le Pen was, as antisemites or racists.  In France, the new majority Marine Le Pen hopes to build is strikingly similar to the coalition that brought the Brexit campaign victory. In a park near Calais' castle-like town hall in May, Samuel and Pascal, activists from a group named Retake Calais, railed against the town's centre-right mayor. They blamed her for the growth of the sprawling, trash-strewn tent city known as the Jungle, which sat three miles east of the town until it was dismantled this month . \"Those who govern us are completely against us. The illegals, who aren't French, can do whatever they want,\" they told me. For them, even Marine Le Pen is \"too soft\".  If resettlement programmes take refugees away from Calais to other parts of France, as dozens of buses have in the past week since the destruction of the camp, they would not be any happier. \"They're sending them to all the little villages in France,\" says Samuel. After they start to open businesses and bring family members, \"in two years the village will be dead\".  About a mile down the road, the Calais ferry terminal lies behind layers of tall steel fences and coiled barbed wire. I met Rudy Vercucque and Yohann Faviere, the local FN leaders, on a blustery morning in June outside the terminal, where they were anxiously awaiting a visiting EU dignitary. Giant seagulls circled and squawked above as they denounced the mayor, Natacha Bouchart, a member of Sarkozy's Republicans party.  \"It's she who has permitted this,\" Vercucque, a portly 35-year-old, fumed. And it was Sarkozy, he reminded me, who negotiated the notorious Le Touquet accords , effectively moving the British border to where we were standing. Calais depends on British tourism and revenues are down sharply. The result is crippling economic and social malaise: \"Find a doctor who wants to move to Calais. Find a surgeon who wants to move to Calais,\" Vercucque exclaimed. \"You work your whole life, you pay off your house and you lose money. It's intolerable.\" Their support locally may have once been a protest vote, said Faviere, but no longer. \"Today we really have people who adhere to our ideas.\"  Vercucque was more blunt: \"We say out loud what people think deep down.\"","label":1}
{"text":"2016 was a great year for most of us \u2014 but just because we've gained the beachhead doesn't mean we're going to win the war. [With Brexit and Donald Trump, we've done the equivalent of capturing everywhere from Pointe Du Hoc to Pegasus Bridge. But just like with the worst of the fighting is yet to come. Our enemy is fanatical, determined, well organised. Plus, they still hold most of the key positions: the big banks, the corporations, the top law firms, the civil service, local government, the universities, the schools, the mainstream media, Hollywood \u2026 Give those bastards half the chance and they'll drive us back into the sea \u2014 which, in contemporary terms, means nixing Brexit (or giving us \"soft Brexit\" which is basically the same thing) and frustrating all the things President Trump will try to do to Make America Great Again. I use the war analogy first because World War II analogies never fail, but second because this really is a war that we're fighting. The bad news is that wars are hard, costly and ugly. The good news is that we're on the right side and we're going to win. Here's how: We will never underestimate the wickedness of the enemy, The loves to portray us as the bad guys. But that's just projection. From Mao's China to Stalin's Soviet Union, from Cuba to North Korea, history is littered with the wreckage of failed left wing schemes to make the world a better, fairer place. As the great, now Thomas Sowell says, \"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it. \" Its malign influence is still with us today. Innocent boys being accused of rape on college campuses genuine rapes committed by gangs of Muslim taxi drivers in northern England and by gangs of Muslim immigrants in German cities like Cologne hundreds of thousands driven into fuel poverty, landscapes ravaged, avian fauna sliced and diced as a result of crazy renewable energy policies a scientist driven out of his job because a feminist loser misreported something he said about women at a conference generations of kids denied a rigorous, disciplined, useful education the needless violence and tension engendered by #blacklivesmatter: we should never concede the moral high ground to the kind of people who make all this sort of stuff possible, no matter how many times they tell us how evil and selfish and uncaring we are. We will always remember that we are better than them, I'll give you an example: the dumbass lecturer at Drexel who tweeted that what he wanted for Christmas was \"white genocide\". Should we be demanding that the university authorities sack him at once? Of course we shouldn't. The man has performed an invaluable public service: he has provided the perfect example of how ingrained the values of the left are in academe he has shown prospective applicants to the Politics and Global Studies course at Drexel University in Philadelphia that unless they want to be indoctrinated with lunacy they might want to reconsider he has further shown alumni of Drexel University who believe in old fashioned stuff like free markets that maybe they shouldn't include their alma mater in their million dollar bequests, after all. Sure, we should jeer and crow when we catch idiots like this man expressing reprehensible opinions. But the idea that someone should actually lose their job for something they said on Twitter ought to be anathema to those of us on the right side of the argument. One of the most thoroughly hateful things about the left is the way it tries to constrain free expression. If we play the same game, we are no better than they are. And face it: we just are. We will take the fight to the enemy, not cower in No Man's Land, One of the best things about 2016 for me was the way it gave the lie to the weaselish and wet aphorism \u2014 so often repeated by so many of our impeccably reasonable, sensible and balanced TV and newspaper pundits \u2014 that elections are \"won in the centre ground. \" This was the Belial philosophy that gave us, in the U. S. that hideous continuum from the Bushes and the Clintons to Obama and in Britain, the grotesque and malign Third Way squishery that took us from Tony Blair through to his ( heir) David Cameron and beyond. (It's also the mindset which invented the disgraceful, concept of \"soft Brexit\".) No wonder so many of us had become so fed up with politics: no matter which party you voted for, whether the notionally one or the notionally one you still seemed to end up up with the same old vested interests, the same old liberal Establishment elite. Of course we should always despise the because their philosophy is morally bankrupt, dangerous and wrong. But I sometimes think that the people we should despise most of all are the squishes who pretend to be on our side of the argument but forever betray our cause. Sometimes they do this by throwing the more outspoken among us to the wolves in order to signal how tolerant and virtuous they are sometimes they do this by endorsing some fatuous liberal position in order to show their willingness to compromise. I call the latter approach the \"dogshit yogurt fallacy. \" If conservatives like fruit or honey in their yogurt and liberals prefer to eat it with dogshit, it is NOT a sensible accommodation \u2014 much as our centrist conservative columnists might wish it so \u2014 to say: \"All right. How about we eat our yogurt with a little bit of both?\" We need to understand, very clearly, that there are such things as right and wrong and that, furthermore, it is always worth fighting to the bitter end for the right thing rather than accepting second best because a bunch of lawyers and politicians and hairdressers from Brazil and squishy newspaper columnists and other members of the liberal elite have told us that second best is the best we can hope for. On Brexit, for example, I'm with Her Majesty the Queen: \"'I don't see why we can't just get out? What's the problem?' We will never apologise, never explain, never surrender, See those scalped corpses, littering the plains? These are the guys \u2014 and it is, invariably, men \u2014 who thought that if only they showed contrition for their confected crimes the enemy would leave them alone. Sir Tim Hunt apologised, the guy from Saatchi apologised, the guy on the Rosetta space programme who wore the \"sexist\" shirt apologised. A fat lot of good it did them. The vengeful doesn't just want humiliation \u2014 it wants total annihilation. Giving even an inch of ground to an enemy so implacable and vile is not only futile \u2014 but it also badly lets the side down by granting them a power that they do not deserve. The most recent sorry example of this was Steve Martin who actually deleted a tweet praising his late friend Carrie Fisher as a \"beautiful creature\" because a bunch of feminazis on Twitter complained that this was sexist objectification. Look, I know it's a scary thing when the SJW mob turns on you. But read Vox Day's SJW Attack Survival Guide, follow the example of Nigel Farage and fight these people to the very last bullet (keeping the final round for yourself). Do not surrender! (And if you need reminding why not, read this piece I wrote the other day, of which I am very proud) We will laugh in the face of death, Something I've noticed about the : they don't have a sense of humour. This is odd, given that 99. 99 per cent of professional comedians are liberals. But it's also unfailingly true. Go on social media and see for yourself: all the wittiest banter, all the funniest memes, all the snarkiest jibes \u2014 they all come from the right side of the argument, not the left. And this is as it should be for not only is humour a sign of intellectual superiority but it's also entirely the right attitude for a team that wants to win. Humour requires a degree of an ability to recognise your own weaknesses (vital if you are to triumph over them) and not to take yourself too seriously. Also, it's a sign that you are a happy warrior \u2014 in the manner of heroes like Andrew Breitbart. I always try to keep this in mind when I'm engaged in a vicious tussle with the : that witty barbs hurt them much more than anger. When your enemy takes himself so seriously, no weapon is more effective than a cutting quip. Sometimes it's hard not be to angry because the left has given us so much to be angry about. But we must resist the temptation if we can because it just plays into the left's caricature of us as angry, blustering conservatives. We should remember at all times that in the culture wars, we are the Greek city states and the enemy are the Persians. If you want to know the significance of this, I recommend you read Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture. Basically, free men will always fight better than serfs because they have more to lose \u2026 We will mercilessly expose their weaknesses, People on the are just like us, really, only slightly less evolved. Their brains are stuck in that stage of evolution just before ours \u2014 the stage when we were all roaming the plains and were programmed to respond in the most basic way to our most primal instincts. This is why so much of the 'argument' has to do with raw emotion rather than logic it's why they'll almost never engage with us on detail, preferring simply to use what Vox Day calls \"point and shriek\" tactics, or to try to belittle and demean us with emotive (but meaningless) pejoratives like \"racist\" \"homophobe\" \"misogynist\" \"Islamophobe\" \"climate change denier. \" They have been using these techniques very successfully for years and in my experience there is only one effective way of dealing with this: you have to show their workings. You have to notice what they are doing and then you have to explain to other people what they are doing. This is hard: it requires patience, courage and persistence \u2014 the equivalent of maintaining discipline under fire. Again, I refer you to this piece I wrote recently because it embodies the kind of attitude and techniques required. Essentially it was a response to a mass assault by SJWs using Twitter to brand those of us on the right as heartless, uncaring, ruthless, evil people who would use a man's recently widowed status against him. The attacks came in 140 character bursts. The response took almost 3000 words. But that's the way it is: logic and rational argument take much longer to develop than emotive cheap shots. If we don't use logic and rational argument though, we concede the field to the pointers and shriekers. Leave no man behind, Diversity is our strength. This is the kind shit leftists, say, I know, but hear me out. At a conservative political meeting I attended in DC, recently, a woman stood up to address the assembled members of the Vast Right Wing conspiracy. Black and dressed a bit like the lovable, wise sassy, prostitute character from a 1970s Blaxploitation movie, she did not look obviously like a Republican. But she was and she had come from California with a message: \"Don't abandon us! We know everyone in the conservative movement thinks that California is a joke. But 40 per cent of us voted for Donald Trump and we need your help!\" She's right. Unlike the left \u2014 which sees ethnic, sexual and religious minorities mainly as client victim groups to patronise and exploit for identity politics purposes \u2014 we on the right \"celebrate diversity\" by not giving a damn about diversity. The reason Sowell's great and Milo's great and Krauthammer's great is not because they're black and gay and disabled and therefore \"helpful\" to our cause, but simply because they think clearly and sensibly and have come to the right conclusions about the world. We support our own through thick and thin. We are all equal and we all have equal rights, just like the 14th amendment says. (Which means, by the way, that we don't believe in positive discrimination \u2014 which is just another form of discrimination, as practised by the disgusting left not the sensible and just right). Always attack, This, pretty much, was the tactic of the Royal Navy throughout the Napoleonic Wars \u2014 even when outnumbered and outgunned by the French and the Spanish. Today we are similarly outgunned and outnumbered by the loathsome edifice of the liberal establishment \u2014 and if we are going to reduce it to rubble, as of course we must, then we shall have to fight as aggressively as Nelson and Cochrane did. For far, far too long, conservatives have been fighting a defensive war \u2014 spending more time apologising for being conservatives than actually taking on the enemy. But at last, in the U. S. at least, we have a leader who is not afraid of a fight. What does \"always attack\" mean in practice, though? Well here's a perfect example: a recent New York Times story headed \"Wielding Claims of 'Fake News' Conservatives take aim at mainstream media\". The author of the story appears slightly taken back that conservatives are behaving in this way. Surely we should be feeling guilty for all those fake news stories spread by evil people on the internet in order to deceive the by acting against their interests by voting for Brexit and Donald Trump? But no, far from apologising it seems that we on the right have been on the attack. If anyone is responsible for pumping out fake news these last few decades its the liberal elite and their mouthpieces in the MSM, not us. OK. We're done. Unleash hell.","label":0}
{"text":"President Obama is expected to deliver the fourth veto of his presidency after Congress passed legislation Thursday overturning new union election rules which labor groups believe could help boost membership but business groups say will leave employers at a disadvantage during organizing drives. Opponents of the new rules, issued last year by the National Labor Relations Board and set to take effect next month, refer to them as allowing \"ambush elections,\" because they could allow a representation election to take place in less than two weeks after an official petition is filed. Under current rules, those elections can take place no sooner than 25 days after filing, and often take place considerably later than that. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for instance, said the rules would \"stack the deck against employers\" and \"virtually eliminate employers' opportunities to communicate their views, stifling a full and robust debate among employees about unionization.\" The NLRB, however, said the new rules represent a long-delayed update to union election procedures, one \"designed to remove unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of representation questions\" by streamlining procedures and allowing for modern electronic communications instead of paper-based filings. Major labor groups strongly support the changes. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called them \"modest but important reforms\" that would \"help reduce delay in the process and make it easier for workers to vote on forming a union in a timely manner.\" \"Too often, lengthy and unnecessary litigation over minor issues bogs down the election process and prevents workers from getting the vote they want,\" Trumka said in December. The Senate approved the bill this month, 53 to 46, on a party-line vote that had Republicans in favor of overturning the rules and Democrats opposed. The House voted Thursday, also largely along party lines, 232 to 186. The Obama administration indicated March 3 that the president is likely to veto the bill, saying the new rules will help \"level the playing field for workers so they can more freely choose to make their voice heard.\" The bill comes to Obama's desk amid tensions with labor groups over his pursuit of fast-track trade authority to complete the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accords. Should Obama use the veto, it would be his second since Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate. Last month, he vetoed a bill mandating approval of the Keystone XL pipeline; the Senate came five votes short of overriding the veto.","label":0}
{"text":"More than 300 Baloch separatist militants have surrendered over the past few months, Pakistani government officials said, after a ceremony to mark the downing of guns and militants return to civilian life. The surrenders are part of government efforts to end a decade-long insurgency in the southwestern Baluchistan province by offering amnesties and financial rewards to soldiers and commanders to help them re-integrate into the society. In a high-profile ceremony on the lawn of the Baluchistan provincial assembly in the western city of Quetta, the regional capital, some 313 militants from three separatist movements handed over weapons to Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, the Chief Minister of the province. I will hug all that who believe in integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan but will not tolerate (those) who will challenge the writ of the State, Zehri said at the ceremony on Saturday. Pakistani government officials say about 2,000 militants have surrendered over the past 18 months. In April, the government held a similar ceremony where about 400 militants handed over their guns. The latest ceremony saw surrenders by 143 militants from the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), 125 fighters from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and 17 from Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), according to officials. Under the agreement, foot soldiers are given 500,000 rupees ($4,700) and the top-level commanders receive about 1 million rupees ($9,500) to help them and their families build a life after militancy. Baluchistan s government and the powerful army, which has a huge say in the running of Pakistan s poorest province, tout the amnesties as an effective way to reduce the power of separatists who accuse Islamabad of exploiting Baluchistan. While security has improved in Baluchistan over the past few years, critics and human rights groups say the army has crushed dissent and free speech, while separatists accuse security officials of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. The military denies abuse claims. Pakistan s desire to dismantle the insurgencies has grown in urgency amid vast Chinese investment from Beijing s Belt and Road infrastructure splurge. China has frequently urged Pakistan to improve security, especially in Baluchistan. A new transport corridor (CPEC) through Baluchistan, linking Western China with Pakistan s Arabian Sea port of Gwadar, is due to become operational in late 2018. Separatists have vowed to disrupt CPEC, and earlier this week China warned its citizens of a security threat inside Pakistan.","label":0}
{"text":"President Trump called Obama s agreement with Australia to bring in economic parasites disguised as refugees to the US a bad deal and a dumb deal . President Obama made this deal right before leaving office dumping it into the lap of the incoming administration. Trump was unhappy about this dumb deal but reluctantly decided to send US officials to vet the refugees:US Officials just abruptly halted screening and left the offshore detention centre on Friday. Is this a sign that this bad deal is upside down and will not go forward? We certainly hope so!AUSTRALIA, Christmas Island: Here are some of the so-called asylum seekers from the hordes of Muslims who have been washing up on the shores of Australia and demanding asylum, even though most are not political refugees, but economic parasites. Do these Iranian illegals look like they are starving to you? THIS WAS A SETUP BY OBAMA THE US HAS NO BUSINESS TAKING ECONOMIC PARASITES FROM IRAN!THE LATEST ON THESE ECONOMIC PARASITES:Reuters Reports:US officials interviewing refugees held in an Australian-run offshore detention centre have left the facility abruptly, throwing further doubt over a plan to resettle many of the detainees in America.US officials halted screening interviews and departed the Pacific island of Nauru on Friday, two weeks short of their scheduled timetable and a day after Washington said the United States had reached its annual refugee intake cap. US officials were scheduled to be on Nauru until July 26 but they left on Friday, one refugee told Reuters, requesting anonymity as he did not want to jeopardise his application for US resettlement.In the United States, a senior member of the union that represents refugee officers at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a Department of Homeland Security agency, told Reuters his own trip to Nauru was not going forward as scheduled.Jason Marks, chief steward of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1924, told Reuters his trip has now been pushed back and it was unclear whether it will actually happen.The Australian Immigration Department declined to comment on the whereabouts of the US officials or the future of a refugee swap agreement between Australia and the United States, which President Donald Trump earlier this year branded a dumb deal .An indefinite postponement of the deal would have significant repercussions for Australia s pledge to close a second detention centre on Papua New Guinea s Manus island on October 31.Only 70 refugees, less than 10 per cent of the total detainees held in the camp, have completed US processing. The US deal looks more and more doubtful, Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said.Former US President Obama agreed a deal with Australia late last year to offer refuge to up to 1250 asylum seekers.The Trump administration said it would only honour the deal to maintain a strong relationship with Australia, and then only on condition that refugees satisfied strict checks.In exchange, Australia has pledged to take Central American refugees from a centre in Costa Rica, where the United States has taken in a larger number of people in recent years.The US government confirmed on Thursday that its refugee intake cap of 50,000 people had been reached with the new intake year not due to begin until October 1.The majority of the detainees interviewed on both Manus and Nauru by US officials in April are from Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan.Australia has already offered detainees up to $25,000 to voluntarily return to their home countries, an offer few have taken up.","label":1}
{"text":"Two leading advocates for reforming illegal and legal immigration enforcement were appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as senior advisors for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). [Jon Feere, the former legal analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies, and Julie Kirchner, the previous executive director for the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR) have both been appointed to senior positions. Feere, who work with the Trump campaign and transition team on immigration policy, will serve as the senior adviser to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency Director Thomas Homan. Kirchner, a campaign alum as well, will serve as the senior adviser to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian told Breitbart Texas that the Trump Administration appointed a person who \"knows the ins and outs\" of immigration when they chose Feere to serve. \"ICE needs somebody like Jon because he's worked on immigration policy for many years,\" Krikorian said. \"After eight years of Obama, there were civil servants and people at ICE who weren't as quite up to date on immigration enforcement. \" FAIR spokesperson Ira Mehlman told Breitbart Texas that Kirchner's appointment is welcome news. \"They're both people with long experience and deep knowledge and they're highly qualified for their positions,\" Mehlman said. Both the Center for Immigration Studies and FAIR have long been advocates for increased border security, a wall, reforming foreign guest worker visas and lower levels of legal immigration to help American wages to rise. The appointments have come with the usual media backlash that the Trump Administration has grown accustomed to. CNN, for instance, has written that Feere and Kirchner's appointments have \"alarmed\" the open borders lobby. The network propped up opposition to the appointments through the Southern Poverty Law Center, with Director Heidi Beirich claiming that that the Center for Immigration Studies and FAIR publish \"racist\" and \"xenophobic\" reports. Krikorian, though, said the open borders lobby is only outraged because they know how effective both nominees could be. \"This isn't a complaint about qualification,\" Krikorian told Breitbart Texas. \"Jon and these others know what they're doing and that's what the groups are afraid of. \" John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.","label":0}
{"text":"Poland s ruling party lawmakers gave preliminary approval on Friday to two bills allowing parliament and the president to replace top judges, plans the opposition and the European Commission denounced as a threat to the rule of law. Once finally approved and signed into law by the president, the bills would likely deepen the right-wing government s standoff with the EU, potentially reducing the flow of EU development funds to Poland. Law and Justice (PiS) party deputies sent the bills authored by PiS-ally President Andrzej Duda to parliamentary committees after Duda vetoed in July PiS-sponsored bills that would have given the justice minister large powers over judges. Duda cast his veto after prolonged mass protests across Poland in July. Several thousand people in more than 100 cities protested the bills again on Friday night, although the demonstrations fell short of the mass summer rallies. I do not suppose that something will change in the way the authorities act, because these authorities are not listening to the people, said 29-year-old Jakub, a company worker who did not want to give his last name. But we are here to show that we will not agree to everything, we will not agree to laws, which lead to us leaving the European Union. In November, Duda and PiS reached an agreement on the shape of the judicial reform, according to which parliament will need a three-fifths majority to appoint new members of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), a key panel that appoints judges in Poland. Details of the judicial reform bills are expected to be revealed on Tuesday and PiS has said all work on them could be finished in December. The PiS currently has an absolute parliamentary majority, but not a three-fifths one. The euroskeptic PiS says reform of the judicial system is needed because the courts are slow, inefficient and steeped in a communist-era mentality. But critics of the government said the bills are part of a PiS plan to increase its powers over the judiciary and reflect its drive towards authoritarianism, both charges PiS denies. Will this demolition speed up court cases? No, lawmaker Krzysztof Paszyk of the opposition PSL told parliament on Friday, adding the bills would introduces pathology into the justice system. The European Commission s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, said earlier in November that Duda s bills - which row back from direct government interference in the judiciary envisaged in the original PiS bills - were still not acceptable. The socially conservative PiS, in power since late 2015, is already at loggerheads with fellow members of the European Union over migration policy, its push to bring state media under more direct government control, as well as over an earlier overhaul of the Constitutional Tribunal. Also on Friday, PiS deputies initially approved a bill amending the electoral system, which the opposition said would threaten the fairness of elections.","label":0}
{"text":"Qatar s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will hold talks in Ankara on Thursday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, an ally of Doha in its dispute with Gulf Arab neighbors. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar three months ago, suspending air and shipping routes with the world s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas. They say Qatar supports regional foe Iran and Islamists. Qatar denies the charges and says the economic boycott aims at neutering an independent foreign policy it says promotes peaceful regional reform and fighting terrorism. Last month Turkey held joint military exercises with Qatari forces in the Gulf state. It has said it will deploy 3,000 troops at a military base there and has increased trade with Qatar since the start of the embargo. Turkey s presidency announced Sheikh Tamim s trip in a statement on Wednesday but gave no details of the talks, which will coincide with a visit to Ankara by the prime minister of Kuwait, which has sought to mediate in the Gulf Arab dispute.","label":0}
{"text":"Danish fishermen could be hit hard by Britain s decision to leave the European Union if it leads to restrictions in their access to British waters, a research report made on request of the Danish government concluded on Wednesday. The Danish fishing lobby has strong clout in Copenhagen and could press the government to adopt a tough stance in Britain s negotiations with the EU on a post-Brexit trade deal. European fishermen want Brussels to use its trump card - continued access to the essential EU market - in negotiations on how to divvy up the seas. Those Danish fishermen that operate the most in British waters could lose more than half of their current catch in the worst of four imagined scenarios, researchers from Copenhagen University concluded in the report. The actual consequences will depend on the negotiations between Britain and the other 27 EU countries, Minister for Fisheries Karen Ellemann said. We are working with the other affected countries to maintain our fishing opportunities and access to British waters, she said in a comment on the report. Each of the years from 2012 through to 2016 Danish fishermen have unloaded fish from British waters worth between 700 million and 1 billion Danish crowns ($109-156 million). That corresponds to 34 percent of the total value of fish uploaded by the Danish fishermen, and 45 percent of the volume. Herring and mackerel would be especially hit, and it would indirectly hurt Denmark s onshore fish processing industry. The Danish vessels might change behavior in a way which has not been foreseen in the analysis, or other fishing opportunities might become possible, for instance in the Norwegian zone, the researchers said in the report. Danish fishermen have argued that if the British get free access to sell fish in the EU, then EU fishermen should also get free access to fish in the British fishing zone. Europe imports about 75 percent of the British catch. Britain has said it plans to allow foreign ships to fish in UK waters after Brexit but claims the right to decide the extent of access. The EU will be seeking to maintain something close to the status quo, industry sources have told Reuters.","label":0}
{"text":"The first edition of Charlie Hebdo since terror attacks in Paris last week left 17 people dead sold out at newsstands across France shortly after going on sale Wednesday. Residents in Paris formed lines at dawn and by mid-morning kiosks sported signs that said \"No more Charlie Hebdo\" and \"Out of stock.\" Local French media reported scuffles broke out as people realized copies were selling quickly. A black market quickly developed, with copies selling on eBay for thousands of dollars. One auction ended Wednesday evening with a bid of $20,000. \"Normally they sit in a box in front of the kiosk and you just help yourself \u2014 and normally, the Charlie Hebdo box always has some copies in it,\" said Marie Dupont, 22, who was passing through Gare du Nord train station on her way to work in Paris. Wednesday's 16-page issue of the satirical newspaper featured a cartoon on its cover depicting the prophet Mohammed. He is crying and holding a sign in his hands that says, \"Je suis Charlie\" (\"I am Charlie\") \u2014 a reference to the slogan adopted by anti-violence and free speech campaigners in the wake of the attacks. It is forbidden under Islam to show images depicting the prophet. Three million copies were printed \u2014 60,000 are usually published\u2014 and that may be extended to 5 million, local French media reported. It has been translated into six languages and is being distributed internationally for the first time. A week ago, gunmen linked to radical Islam murdered eight staff members at the newspaper along with four other people. Five more people were killed in separate attacks on a policewoman Thursday and at a kosher supermarket Friday. Benoit Redureau, a veterinarian in Paris, called the cover \"cheeky\" and also \"very brave.' \"Their cover is militant, they don't let go, despite the pressure, despite the dead, they remain loyal to their (editorial) line, to their soul\u2026to what we like about them,\" said Redureau. Another Parisian, Yann Legall, 58, called the issue funny as well as sincere but also restrained. \"I wonder: did they refrain themselves? Did they go half-measure on this publication? They could have gone a lot further on this, when you have people who get executed like dogs, they could have done something more drastic, they could have been accusatory,'' Legall said. On pages two and three of the newspaper Wednesday were drawings created by four cartoonists killed in the attack. One by Bernard \"Tignous\" Verlhac depicts two Muslim jihadists with one saying: \"We shouldn't attack Charlie Hebdo people.\" The other replies: \"(yeah), they will become martyrs and once in paradise, will steal all our virgins.\" Distributors said they would try to get more copies by Thursday or even later Wednesday. Printer Messageries Lyonnaises de Presse decided to increase the print run following the fast depletion of stock, French daily Le Figaro reported. \"I feel very concerned over what happened (to Charlie Hebdo) and I want to read what the surviving journalists wrote this week,\" said Anne Brisson, 59, trying to get a copy. \"Still, it's the type of collective craziness in which I don't want to take part \u2014 it's like suddenly there is no more sugar so everyone buys 10 kilograms of sugar for the next 10 years.\" Fabrice Perticoz, 48, who was manning a Paris newsstand, echoed many others selling the magazine Wednesday when describing how people lined up at 6:15 a.m. for his 120 copies. \"By 6:45, they were all sold out,\" he said. At his stand, a woman begged. \"Please keep one for me tomorrow, I pay for it, really,\" she said. But Perticoz refused to take her money. \"It gets too complicated, I might forget,\" he said. \"One man wanted to call the cops claiming I refused to sell to him.\" The publication of Charlie Hebdo's controversial new cover comes as France's government was preparing tougher anti-terror laws. The French government announced Wednesday that 54 people had been detained in a crackdown on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism. Among those arrested was Dieudonne, a controversial but popular comic who defended terrorism in comments posted on Facebook earlier this week. In Turkey, police searched trucks carrying the entire print run of the daily Cumhuriyet newspaper early Wednesday to make sure none of the newspapers reprinted cartoons from Charlie Hebdo that depicted the prophet Mohammed. \"When the police proceed to check in advance the copies without a clear decision of the court, I think it is an alarming procedure reflecting perfectly disproportional interference in press freedom in Turkey,\" said Erol Onderoglu, a Reporters Without Borders representative in Turkey. In a separate development, al-Qaeda in Yemen on Wednesday reiterated claims of responsibility for the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The group released a video in which Nasr al-Ansi, a top commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP as the branch is known, said the attack by Said and Ch\u00e9rif Kouachi on the Paris newspaper was in retaliation for insulting the prophet Mohammed. The video was briefly available on YouTube before being taken down. Last week, the same group released a statement to the Associated Press in which it claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings. In the video, Al-Ansi says France is part of the \"party of Satan\" and warns of further \"tragedies and terror.\" Al-Ansi says Yemen's al-Qaeda branch \"chose the target, laid out the plan and financed the operation.\" Amedy Coulibaly, who held hostages at the Jewish supermarket, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a video released Sunday.","label":0}
{"text":"Laughing at their own tribulations, Venezuelan theatergoers have been enjoying a new satire about a senior official who broke with President Nicolas Maduro and fled the socialist-ruled country in a boat. Former chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega has been one of the protagonists in this year s political crisis in Venezuela, denouncing rights abuses and corruption before finally going into hiding and moving to Colombia in mid-August. Dressed in a blonde wig and Ortega s trademark office suit, actress Mercedes Benmoha recreates some well-known scenes - and imagines others - in a 15-minute show called The Prosecutor, which is proving popular at a small venue in a mall. Benmoha, who happens to be a lawyer like her subject, acts out a news conference and an imaginary phone call with Ortega s nemesis, state election board head and diehard Maduro ally Tibisay Lucena. She also recreates the once-powerful Ortega s attempt to re-enter her office after authorities fired her and security forces surrounded the building. Jokes fly about corruption, Maduro, and Ortega s own precipitous fall from power. We use humor as a defense mechanism, Benmoha, 35, told Reuters on Friday night, minutes before going on stage for her sellout show. It s our way to survive, to breathe, to entertain ourselves but also to reflect. Venezuelans have had little to laugh about this year. A fourth year of recession and runaway inflation have pummeled households, with shortages and hunger widespread. Months of opposition-led protests led to about 130 deaths and thousands of injuries. Having first fled to Aruba in a speedboat, Ortega has been traveling round Latin America denouncing the Maduro government, which in turn has accused her of corruption. While Venezuela s opposition has applauded her stance against Maduro, activists also remember she was until recently a pillar of the socialist government and that her office had spearheaded its jailing of political foes. Benmoha, who co-wrote the script for her show, said she watched more than 800 videos of Ortega to study her gestures and mannerisms. But with her subject still making news almost daily, the play is regularly updated. When the show started in early August, a producer actually invited Ortega, but she was never able to attend. After Ortega left the country, however, one of her assistants sent a Lady Justice statue that had been in her office. Now, it adorns a Caracas stage every night.","label":0}
{"text":"An old review of an academic monograph on agrarian revolutionaries in 1930s China is hardly a political third rail in Beijing today, even by the increasingly sensitive standards of the ruling Communist Party. That such a piece appeared on a list of some 300 scholarly works that Cambridge University Press (CUP) said last week the Chinese government had asked it to block from its website offers clues about the inner workings of China s vast and secretive censorship apparatus, say experts. President Xi Jinping has stepped up censorship and tightened controls on the internet and various aspects of civil society, as well as reasserting Communist Party authority over academia and other institutions, since coming to power in 2012. Far from being a well-oiled machine, though, China s censorship regime is fragmented and often undermined by gaps, workarounds, and perhaps even hasty officials, say academics specializing in Chinese politics. Crude is the word, said Jonathan Sullivan, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham in Britain. The blunt way in which articles were chosen for censoring ... suggest to me that there was not a lot of thought put into it. CUP, the publishing arm of Britain s elite Cambridge University, on Monday reversed its decision to comply with the request to censor the articles published in the journal China Quarterly following an outcry over academic freedom. China s response remains to be seen. The education ministry, foreign ministry, cyberspace administration and state publishing authority all declined to comment. The list of articles the authorities wanted blocked covered topics that are considered sensitive by the government, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, Tibet, Taiwan and the violence-prone far-western region of Xinjiang. But it was far from thorough or comprehensive. The article on 1930s agrarian revolutionaries may have got there by mistake, say experts. What appears to have condemned the scathing but otherwise innocuous 1991 review of Kamal Sheel s book about a Communist base area in China s southern heartland was the fact the place was named Xinjiang, and the word appeared in the book title. The Chinese characters are different for Xinjiang, the village, and Xinjiang, the mostly-Muslim region more than 2,500 km (1,550 miles) to the northwest that is beset by ethnic tensions and occasional unrest. But in English they are indistinguishable. Xu Xibai, a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford, tweeted a brief analysis of the list that noted that its creators appear to have hastily searched the China Quarterly database for taboo words in titles and abstracts. The censors probably used a few keyword searches to locate just enough articles to make a nice, long list to impress their superiors, Xu s post said. They did not bother to read the articles or go through the content list manually. An article defending Mao Zedong was on the censored list, for instance, while others more critical of the former paramount leader were not. Some sensitive subjects seem to have eluded the officials net. The Communist Party tightly controls discourse on the 1958-61 Great Leap Forward, in which millions starved to death due to ill-conceived economic policies. Censors have banned books on the topic but it was apparently not on this list. Nor were the brutal, Communist-led land reforms of the 1950s, or the Hundred Flowers Movement, an effort by Mao to lure critics out of the woodwork by feigning openness, only to punish them. The party s efforts to censor news and information have sometimes backfired or left outsiders perplexed. In 2009, software designed to check pornographic and violent images on PCs blocked images of a movie poster for cartoon cat Garfield, dishes of flesh-color cooked pork and on one search engine a close-up of film star Johnny Depp s face. Citizen Lab, a group of researchers based at the University of Toronto, compiled a list of words banned as of last year on popular live streaming sites in China. Among them: Moulin Rouge , braised rabbit , helicopter and zen . The request to block the articles was passed to Cambridge University Press by its import agent, but without knowing where it originated it is hard to draw firm conclusions, said Sebastian Veg, a China scholar at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. The censorship system is of course centrally directed, but not uniform, Veg said. Lee Siu-yau, assistant professor of Greater China studies at the Education University of Hong Kong, suspects the request was a trial balloon. They usually start with something small-scale and gradually expand and make their requirements more difficult, he said. This might be one of the first steps that the Chinese government would take to see if it could actually influence international academic publishers. (Story refiles to add dropped words a and an in paragraphs four and six.)","label":0}
{"text":"(Before It's News) by Leon Pantenburg I bought this knife to review. At the time of publication, Kellem Knives had no sponsorship relationship with Survivalcommonsense.com. I'm a sucker for old time knife designs, especially when they are re-created with modern materials. IMO, this makes for a time-tested, utility design that will do the job. I particularly like the Scandinavian Puukko design, so that's why I got a Kellam Hawk. The Kellam Hawk The puukko is a Finnish knife, and the name lends itself to the Finnish word \"puukotta,\" which means \"to stab\/knife.\" The prefix, \"puu\" means \"wood\" in Finnish. The design of the puukko is attributed to the indigenous Sami people, who created several knives to use for day to day tasks; the puukko was the smaller option, used to skin fish or animals. \"Although historical records vary, the puukko dates back about 1000 years. Both men and women carried (and carry) puukkos, although the sizes change depending on the person, as the puukko handle is meant to fit the hand size of the user. (From: EDC History: Pukko \u2013 A simple knife with a rich history.) The old design is getting some attention from modern knifemakers. I recently reviewed the Battle Horse Knives Feather Stick, another knife with the Puukko design, and it worked out really well. Here's the Hawk's specs: Product Details: Blade: 3\u2033 Carbon Steel Handle: 4.5\u2033 Stained Curly Birch Full Tang construction Dangler-style leather sheath Total Length : 7.5\u2033 Grind: Convex is my all-time, go-to favorite grind , but scandi is a close second or third. For a beginner, it is the easiest to learn to sharpen on. The bevel is sharpening guide \u2013 all you do is lay it flat on a whetstone and hone away. The scandi is also a great woodworking grind, and a practical choice for someone looking for a bushcraft knife. The Hawk handle fits my large hands very well. Handle: I have big hands \u2013 size large gloves \u2013 and many otherwise excellent knives don't work for me because the handle is too short. I don't like two or three finger grips. IMO, they don't give a secure grip for hard work, and I'm concerned they might twist in my hand. The 4.5-inch handle fits my hand really, really well. It is made of dyed curly birch, a common wood in Russia and Scandinavia, with nice figure. The wood makes a handle that doesn't transfer heat or cold. This is a consideration for a knife that will be used in Finland's frigid winter. The diameter is large, which gives me a good, solid grip. When wet or slimy from cleaning fish, or bloody from butchering, the handle seems to get \"grippier.\" A comfortable, safe handle is a really important aspect of a user knife. Pretty doesn't cut it (pun intended) when there are lengthy cutting tasks to be done. Steel: The high carbon steel holds a wicked edge. I don't know exactly what it is, but the Hawk's steel held up nicely to normal cutting and bushcraft tasks. Traditionally, Blade materials can vary from the three-layer approach, which combines strong and flexible steels, to composite designs. Most are made with Finnish steel, Ovako 100Cr6, which is equivalent to U.S 52100 bearing steel, according to Nordic knife blog Nordiska Kniva r. Spine: I would like the spine to be ground at a 90-degree angle, like an ice skate, so it could be used for processing tinder or scraping a ferro rod. It isn't. But a few passes on a grinder could fix that. Sheath: The dangler-style, form-fitted leather sheath holds the knife securely. Almost too securely. It requires a slight twist to loosen the Hawk. It's a consideration \u2013 the knife won't fall out, but it's a two-hand job to remove it. This might be a deal-breaker for some users. I find this annoying, but you can get used to the tight sheath. Full tang construction with a brass bolster. I prefer a full tang on any rigid blade knife, even though I've never needed that extra strength. In fact, one of my favorite user knives, the Mora 840 Companion , has a plastic handle and a three-quarter tang. For the strongest knife available, though, get a full tang. Hand made in Finland. The Hawk is a user knife, able to handle a variety of tasks. In actual use , the Hawk lives up to the user reputation of the Puukko knives. It went along on Fremont District's Webelos Woods, a Boy Scout outing, recently. It was used to whittle sticks and do the assorted tasks associated with camping. On the way home, on an isolated section of highway, I saw a fast-moving car hit a deer up ahead of me. The front end of the vehicle was demolished, and the hood popped. The air bag deployed and the radiator was steaming. After checking out the driver and passenger for injuries, (they were shaken, but fine) the driver and I followed the injured buck. It had dragged itself across the road and was severely injured. It was still alive, with two broken legs, probable internal injuries and it was in agonizing pain. We called 911. Rather than wait a possible half-hour for the Oregon State Police to arrive, we ended the deer's suffering with the only tool available \u2013 the Kellam Hawk. The knife worked quickly and humanely for the sad, but necessary task. That's the mark of a good knife. It gets the job done. Do you need a Hawk? Everybody needs a good knife . The Hawk is based on a proven design, with quality materials. The Hawk has proven to be a very useful tool, and one that can be used in a variety of situations, from slicing a bagel at work, to hunting and fishing. The knife retails for $74.95, and that's a steal for a handmade knife. If you're looking for a good-looking user, that you can work hard and pass down to your grandchildren, the Hawk is a really good choice. Please click here to check out and subscribe to the SurvivalCommonSense.com YouTube channel, and here to subscribe to our weekly email update \u2013 thanks!","label":1}
{"text":"Our White House is currently occupied by someone who s likely certifiably insane, yet for many on both the right and the left, the real travesty is that Trump s predecessor is *gasp* earning a lot of money in speaking fees, just like just about every white male former president in the last 40 years.The news that former President Barack Obama will reportedly accept $400,000 to give a speech to Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald has inspired a strange paroxysm of rage from writers on the center-left. Obama s $400,000 Wall Street speaking fee will undermine everything he believes in, Vox s Matt Yglesias proclaimed. Obama and Bill Clinton biographer David Maraniss said the 44th president does not need the money and should not accept it. Others noted the unseemliness of the fee at a time of income inequality and seemingly rampant populism, especially since Barack and Michelle Obama have already struck insanely lucrative book deals.Even Elizabeth Warren was troubled by Obama s speaking fees. Bernie Sanders called the fees distasteful. Well, everyone can relax now. On Wednesday it was announced that the Obamas would be giving that amount and far more to help youth in Obama s adopted hometown of Chicago. One of the things that we ll be starting this year is Michelle and I are personally going to donate $2 million to our summer jobs programs here in the community, he said at the South Shore Cultural Center. [It s] so that right away young people can get to work and we can start providing opportunities to all of them. Obama is expected to use the center as he focuses on issues such as criminal justice reform and education for underprivileged children now that he has left office. Social media was quick to notice that the Obamas are literally donating five times what he will earn for that one speaking fee.THIS is President Obama. Compassion & class. FIVE times his speaking fee. The @GOP can now shut the hell up. #ObamaFoundation #DemValues ?? https:\/\/t.co\/IfQH7zvV08 Fight Back America (@RonIsrael) May 3, 2017Will all the commentators who condemned Obama for his $400,000 speaking fee commend him for his $2,000,000 charity donation today? Crickets. eli friedmann (@eligit) May 3, 2017@bravenak @edfischman @JessikaJayne @Endoracrat @tinalc1958 @KikiAdine @webgenie01 @Wharfrat2004 @MonicaChilton @imwithher61 @Quietness_Trust @HerbertjeJames @Fangirl31 @Toncuz @SadCondiment @edisn @total_janarchy @adirado29 @dcpetterson @pollyollydoodle @RoseRoselaurie @JustAGurLnSwedn @Zebop @Deemoney521 @IngridBush @Wilkey43 @alaskawater @EmilyEggbert @Eviljohna @Playfulimp @jamescoleman07 @JohnSmithChgo @ShirlsAdams @goodtroubleme @abracadabraNY @livemusic4me @jmichaelkell @RBReich @PolitikMasFina Bernie has the audacity to attack Obama over his speaking fee? When has Bernie ever given to charity? pic.twitter.com\/j7FWPkBkSc Impeach tRump (@vicsepulveda) May 3, 2017Obama just donated $2 million to a summer jobs program so I don t want to hear shit about his $450,000 speaking fee. ?liberal bitch? (@ALiberalLady) May 3, 2017Of course, there s also the fact that President Obama is retired. He can spend the rest of his days Twitter trolling Donald Trump and passing out Kenyan flags and it would be perfectly within his rights. But that s not who Obama is. As this proves, he still has his principles and he s still managing to kick everyone s ass in his game of three-dimensional chess.","label":1}
{"text":"An Egyptian lawyer who is helping investigate the case of murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni was prevented from flying to a U.N. conference and detained by a special prosecutor, his supporters and a security source said. Ibrahim Metwaly, who founded the Association of the Families of the Disappeared after his son disappeared in suspicious circumstances four years ago, himself went missing while heading for his flight to Geneva on Sunday. Members of his group said he was taken from Cairo airport by airport security and he was not heard from until Wednesday when a state security prosecutor ordered him detained for 15 days on charges of joining a group founded illegally , judicial sources said. There was no comment from the Interior Ministry. A security source said Metwaly was legally arrested and not subjected to any violations. Rights activists say Egyptian security forces resort to kidnapping government opponents and keeping them in secret jails where they can spend weeks, months, or years without charge. The authorities deny the accusation. Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, who was conducting research on Egyptian trade unions, disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25 last year. His body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Feb. 3, showing signs of extensive torture. Metwaly has been assisting lawyers working on the Regeni case as an expert on enforced disappearances, according to one of the lawyers. I have no doubts Ibrahim s arrest was in connection to the Regeni case and his upcoming trip, a source at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), a Cairo-based NGO, told Reuters. ECRF lawyers are providing legal representation for the Regeni family in Egypt. Metwaly s son Abdelmoniem Metwaly said his father was now in a Cairo jail and that he was also charged with conducting espionage on behalf of a foreign entity , something he said referred to the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances which he was due to address in Geneva. There was no immediate comment from the U.N. body. Regeni s murder has strained ties between Italy and Egypt, traditional Mediterranean allies with strong economic ties. Security and intelligence sources said Regeni was arrested the day he vanished and taken into custody. Egyptian officials have denied any involvement in his death. Italy recalled its ambassador in April 2016 as it sought to obtain evidence from Egypt to solve the murder. Magistrates in Rome and Cairo have met half a dozen times over the past year but no one has been charged. A new Italian ambassador arrived in Cairo on Wednesday. Pier Antonio Panzeri, an Italian lawmaker who chairs the European Parliament s Subcommittee on Human Rights, said in a statement: I am disturbed by alleged reports that lawyer Ibrahim Metwaly was arrested ... while he was about to fly to Geneva to address the U.N. Working Group.","label":0}
{"text":"Dead Coloradans are Lining Up to Vote for Hillary. Is the zombie apocalypse upon us?  According to a report by the Washington Examiner ,  Local officials in Colorado acknowledged \"very serious\" voter fraud after learning of votes cast in multiple elections under the named of recently-deceased residents.  A local media outlet uncovered the fraud by comparing voting history databases in the state with federal government death records . \"Somebody was able to cast a vote that was not theirs to cast,\" El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman told CBS4 while discussing what he called a \"very serious\" pattern of people mailing in ballots on behalf of the dead.  It's not clear how many fraudulent ballots have been submitted in recent years. CBS4 reported that it \"found multiple cases\" of dead people voting around the state, revelations that have provoked state criminal investigations.  There are dozens of documented examples of dead people voting and they can be found all over the internet.  One thing is for certain.  The Clinton operatives seem to believe in the old adage\u2026 if you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'\u2026 On October 1st it was reported \"Young Virginia Democrat Andrew Spieles confessed this week to registering 19 dead people to vote for Hillary.\"  You can't stop these people. You can call the election rigged if you want, but how can we argue with people who have the power to summon the dead?  When I die, I plan to vote conservative.  OK, my attempts to be humorous are often lost in an overcrowded sea of stupidity. This would not seem to be the exception.  The only good Hillary voters are obviously the dead ones , because at least they have plausible deniability. Hey bro, \" I didn't vote for Hillary \u2014 I died in 1960. \"  Likely story.  Article posted with permission from DCClothesline Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here . shares","label":1}
{"text":"By John Anthony When federal agencies promote programs, like Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, or Common Core they conduct sophisticated and often deceptive marketing campaigns that...","label":1}
{"text":"It gets more outrageous by the day for the Trump campaign when it comes to racism and racists. It appears Trump has assembled a political team and a fan base of individuals who are racist to the core. Take for example current Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson. Back in 2012, Pierson took to Twitter and lamented at the lack of pure breeds running for president in reference to President Obama, who has a father of Kenyan descent, and Mitt Romney, whose father was born in Mexico.Perfect Obama's dad born in Africa, Mitt Romney's dad born in Mexico. Any pure breeds left? #CNNDebate Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) January 20, 2012In her tweet, Pierson implies that having a parent born oversees somehow makes someone less American, or to put it in more eugenical terms, less pure. That s interesting, since Donald Trump s mother was actually born in Scotland. One can easily infer why she would find Scotland more acceptable to be born in than Kenya or Mexico.Pierson is in agreement on all of Trump s policies, including supporting the ban on Muslims from entering the United States. She also advocates using America s nuclear arsenal in some capacity against perceived enemies saying, What good does it do to have a good nuclear triad if you re afraid to use it? Katrina Pierson is not without a checkered history. She s been accused of collecting thousands of dollars in welfare benefits while working. She also made a recent appearance on CNN where she wore a necklace made of bullets. After anti-gun advocates called her out, she promised to wear a necklace made of fetuses. Pierson also has an arrest record for shoplifting. Ironically, four years before her wacky tweet, Pierson sued her previous employer for racial discrimination.Donna Pierson s antics and her checkered history shouldn t be surprising. After all, she s helping steer one of the most racist and frightening presidential campaigns in American history. Let s hope that the country can find a few good laughs with these crazies and put them all in the dust bin of history when the time comes.Featured Image Via YouTube Screenshot.","label":1}
{"text":"By: Voice of Reason | Facebook has done some pretty bad stuff this last year. They spent a lot of money and personal resources to help Hillary Clinton out during the election, but not any more says CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg! After the liberal media tried to make him turn on one of his oldest friends, Peter Thiel, for donating to Donald Trump , Zuckerberg finally decided to fight back. Since Zuckerberg is still technically supporting Hillary for President, in the following video I suggest what his real motive may have been for lashing out with pro-Trump rhetoric, and why the person he's defending doesn't win Zuckerberg any humanitarian awards either\u2026 He wrote a scathing post, telling people that Facebook will stand for more than just the ideas of a few tech elite, but instead for the ideas of the people. Zuckerberg even acknowledged there are GOOD reasons that people support Trump : They believe strongly in smaller government They want a different tax policy They want a better health care system They want to maintain religious freedom They worry about American gun rights Or ANY other issue where he disagrees with Hillary He ended the post by saying: \"That's ultimately what Facebook is about: giving everyone the power to share our experiences, so we can understand each other a bit better and connect us a little closer together.\" So, despite the fact that he still supports Hillary Clinton , I want to thank Mark Zuckerberg for having the common decency to acknowledge the Trump Train even though all his tech billionaire friends will attack him for it. Now let's get this shared out everywhere so we can show the world that Hillary's \"network\" is finally turning it's back on her. In related news, could what happened just hours after the final debate be the REAL reason Zuckerberg came out of the closet as a pro-Trump keyboard warrior? Several hours after what was arguably Trump 's best performance of the campaign so far, one of the world's top political experts gave Trump the best news he could hope to hear\u2026 Danny Gold continues: If you love Trump , today just became a HECK of a lot better! A very well respected political professor from Syracuse has just given Donald Trump the best news of the entire election. Professor Helmut Norpoth stepped forward today, despite HUGE opposition from his peers, to announce that his scientific formula has predicted the TRUE results of the election. And the result is\u2026 There is an 87%-99% chance that Donald Trump will WIN the election! Heck yeah! See, at least there are still some people who have not been bought off by Hillary Clinton. According to Northrop, all the other predictions are based entirely on opinion polls, which are inherently wrong. Instead of opinion polling, Norpoth relies on statistics from candidates' performances in party primaries and patterns in the electoral cycle to forecast results. His model has correctly predicted the victor in every presidential election since 1996. (H\/T- The Gateway Pundit ) So if you wanted something to celebrate, I mean other than Donald Trump 's epic win over Hillary Clinton at the final Presidential debate, then Helmut Norpoth has just given you exactly that. Now let's help share this GREAT news to everyone else in the entire world. Let every Trump supporting Facebook friend you have know! First of all, Zuckerberg may be a flaming liberal, but he's no fool. It's no secret that Zuckerberg has enjoyed a cushy relationship with Obama and the White House over the past eight years, but a Trump presidency could pose a threat to Mark Zuckerberg's current role as the self-proclaimed arbiter of \"free speech.\" As Facebook's CEO, Zuckerberg has almost absolute control over what is, and what is not \"acceptable\" to believe in, or talk about on the Internet. Then, there's the whole issue of who Zuckerberg was defending when he had his micro-aggression and temporarily boarded the \" Trump Train.\" It's not like he was defending Mother Teresa's good name or something. Peter Thiel, the guy who is Zuck's BFF that people were ragging on for donating to Trump , just happens to the chief henchman of the Bilderberg Group, and chairman of its steering committee. It's worth noting too, that Peter Thiel is HARDLY Zuckerberg's closest connection to the Bilderberg group. I won't discuss it here, but he's got another connection that hits MUCH closer to home, so before everyone gets all excited thinking that perhaps Zuckerberg isn't such a bad guy after all, it's more likely he's just hedging his bets, and Hillary was probably fully aware of what he said ahead of time. THE VOICE OF REASON is the pen name of Michael DePinto, a graduate of Capital University Law School, and an attorney in Florida. Having worked in the World Trade Center, along with other family and friends, Michael was baptized by fire into the world of politics on September 11, 2001. Michael's political journey began with tuning in religiously to whatever the talking heads on television had to say, then Michael became a \"Tea-Bagging\" activist as his liberal friends on the Left would say, volunteering within the Jacksonville local Tea Party, and most recently Michael was sworn in as an attorney. Today, Michael is a major contributor to www.BeforeItsNews.com , he owns and operates www.thelastgreatstand.com , where Michael provides what is often very 'colorful' political commentary, ripe with sarcasm, no doubt the result of Michael's frustration as he feels we are witnessing the end of the American Empire. The topics Michael most often weighs in on are: Martial Law, FEMA Camps, Jade Helm, Economic Issues, Government Corruption, and Government Conspiracy. Submit your review","label":1}
{"text":"0 82  Looking over the global landscape, the areas most touched by US interventionist foreign policy are objectively in the worst, most desperate shape. The mainstream media will report that the current disaster in Syria came about because the people decided to stand up to a cruel dictator in the \"Arab Spring\" that swept through the greater [\u2026]","label":1}
{"text":"President Trump spoke via pre-recorded video to cole miners at the announcement of the opening of the first coal mine in 6 years. This is another campaign promise fulfilled!Trump speaking via pre-recorded video to ceremony marking #coal mine opening in Somerset County, PA. pic.twitter.com\/5OQgajZW4m Daniel Moore (@PGdanielmoore) June 8, 2017PRESIDENT TRUMP MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE COAL INDUSTRY IN FEBRUARY OF 2016: President Trump keeps proving the doubters wrong He keeps following through with his campaign promises like his promises to bring coal back. He met with representatives from the coal industry to sign a bill undoing Obama s coal mining rule. The people s president is a worker!OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON SCOTT PRUITT S APPOINTMENT TO EPA CHIEF THE LEFT WENT BONKERS!OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL SCOTT PRUITT is another perfect choice from President-elect Donald Trump. He s sued the feds several times for their overreach in regulations on the coal industry. You have to love his commitment to keeping the federal government on the straight and narrow. It s funny that so many of Trump s picks have gone against Obama s policies We love it! The lefty politicians in DC wasted no time tweeted out their displeasure:When the Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, Scott Pruitt sued. When the Justice Department offered legal status to young undocumented immigrants, Scott Pruitt sued. And when the Obama administration sought to give tax credits to states that hadn t set up their own health insurance exchanges, Scott Pruitt sued.Since becoming Oklahoma attorney general in 2010, Pruitt has filed or joined lawsuits against federal agencies at least a dozen times. Even when Oklahoma isn t an actual party in litigation, the state often submits a legal brief against the federal government. Besides air pollution, immigration and health care, Pruitt has fought federal laws and regulations on banking, contraception and endangered species. These days, whenever states go to court against the Obama administration, the chances are that Pruitt is somehow involved.Not that Pruitt is alone. During Obama s presidency, the entire cadre of Republican attorneys general (27 at present) has coordinated cases against federal agencies at an unprecedented pace. But Pruitt is at the center of the action. He has set up a first-in-the-nation federalism unit, which seeks to combat instances of federal overreach by every possible means.","label":1}
{"text":"Officials from the U.S. government's health research agency are to be questioned by a congressional committee about why taxpayers are funding a World Health Organization cancer agency facing criticism over how it classifies carcinogens. An aide to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform told Reuters that National Institutes of Health officials have agreed to give an in-person briefing to the committee after questions were raised by lawmakers over its grants to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a semi-autonomous part of the WHO based in Lyon, France. The hearing will be in private, with NIH officials answering questions from committee investigators, the aide said. The committee is working with the NIH to schedule the briefing soon, the aide said, but no date has yet been set. The briefing comes after the committee's chairman added his voice to growing concerns among some senior U.S. lawmakers about the way IARC reviews and classifies substances. In recent years IARC has caused controversy over whether such things as coffee, mobile phones, processed meat and the weed killer glyphosate cause cancer. Its critics, including in industry, say it is sometimes too quick to conclude that substances might cause cancer, causing unnecessary health scares. It defends its methods as scientifically sound. In a Sept. 26 letter to NIH director Francis Collins, Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz describes IARC as having \"a record of controversy, retractions, and inconsistencies\" and asks why the NIH, which has a $33 billion annual budget, continues to fund it. \"IARC's standards and determinations for classifying substances as carcinogenic, and therefore cancer-causing, appear inconsistent with other scientific research, and have generated much controversy and alarm,\" Chaffetz wrote. The NIH confirmed in an email to Reuters that it had received Chaffetz's letter and \"will respond directly to the committee\". The WHO referred Reuters to IARC for comment. A spokeswoman for IARC told Reuters that Chaffetz's letter contained \"misconceptions\" which IARC's director, Chris Wild, has sought to address in a letter of his own to the NIH director. Wild's letter, dated Oct. 5 and copied via email to Reuters on Thursday, rejects Chaffetz's criticisms and says IARC's classifications, known as \"monographs\", are \"widely respected for their scientific rigor, standardized and transparent process and ... freedom from conflicts of interest\". Wild also defends IARC's evaluation of coffee and disputed Chaffetz's description of it as a \"retraction\". IARC's previous assessment of coffee as \"possibly carcinogenic\" was updated in June this year, when IARC said it had found \"no conclusive evidence for a carcinogenic effect\". \"The (coffee) report in 2016 was not a 'retraction' but a re-evaluation based on an additional 25 years of scientific evidence,\" Wild said. Chaffetz, however, asks the NIH to detail its standards for awarding grants and the vetting and oversight of grantees. It also asks for full disclosure of NIH funds to IARC or money spent in relation to IARC's activities. Questions over grants awarded by NIH to IARC could put a significant portion of IARC's funding at risk. IARC's resources are relatively modest. Its 2014 revenue was about 30 million euros ($33 million). In his letter, Chaffetz's cites the NIH's grant database as showing that it has given IARC more than $1.2 million so far this year. The database also shows that since 1992, NIH grants to IARC have totaled some $40 million. The American Chemistry Council also joined those voicing concern, issuing a statement following Chaffetz's letter accusing IARC of \"a long history of passing judgment on substances through a fundamentally-flawed process that yields questionable results\". \"We welcome the interest of the House Committee ... and hope it will shed light on the close and somewhat opaque relationship between IARC and NIH, including the use of taxpayer dollars and resources to support IARC's activities,\" it said. IARC is also in dispute with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and United Nations and United States regulators over glyphosate, a widely-used weedkiller developed by Monsanto. IARC says glyphosate is \"probably carcinogenic\", while EFSA and several other regulators say it isn't. This dispute prompted Robert Aderholt, chairman of the U.S. congressional Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, to write in June to NIH's Collins questioning funding of IARC. In that letter, Aderholt says IARC's conclusions \"appear to be the result of a significantly flawed process\" and adds that \"some in academia have raised questions about the quality of the science and the transparency of the process\". The glyphosate dispute also held up a decision on whether to relicense the product for use in Europe. ($1 = 0.8941 euros)","label":0}
{"text":"Seriously. Apparently, he thought being president would automatically make everyone love him.The Women s March on Washington was clearly several times larger than Donald Trump s inauguration. In fact, it was so big that it happened around the world.Trump has been absolutely obsessed with his crowd size since inauguration day just like he is still obsessing over losing the popular vote on Election Day in November.The bottom line is that Trump is an illegitimate president and the truth hurts.And according to White House sources who spoke to the Associated Press, Trump has been whining about the massive protests and media coverage against him because he can t enjoy being president as long as both continue to occur.After relishing in Friday s inaugural festivities, the new president grew increasingly upset the next day by what he felt was biased media coverage of women s marches across the globe protesting his election, according to a person familiar with his thinking Two people close to Trump said he expected his coverage to turn more favorable once he took office. Instead, he s told people he believes it s gotten worse. The bad press over the weekend has not allowed Trump to enjoy the White House as he feels he deserves, according to one person who has spoken with him.If Trump really did not want to be protested, hated, and covered intensely by the media he should not have run for president in the first place. Now he gets to deal with all the pros and cons of the job. Surely, he knew about this stuff prior to throwing his hat in the ring. After all, conservatives constantly attacked President Obama for eight years. Obama also received threats against his life and had all sort of racial epithets hurled at him, something that Trump definitely has not had to deal with.But if Trump wants all the protesting and bad press to stop he has two choices. First, he could simply stop being a dick and start protecting all the progress this country has made over the last 70 years instead of destroying it piece by piece. Or, second, he could just resign.Because the more he whines and the more he tries to restrict the free press, free speech, and the right to protest, the more protests and bad news he will get in return.For some reason, Trump expected everyone to kiss his ass on Election Night and again on inauguration day. He seriously thought he would be adored for destroying the lives of millions of people and embarrassing America around the globe. He assumed the presidency would be just one long vacation and that everyone would worship him and that no one would ever protest him or write something negative about him. In short, he thinks he is the dictator of North Korea, not President of the United States.Donald Trump is a thin-skinned bully, so protests should continue to be a theme over the next years and the free press should get to work telling the truth about Trump every chance it gets. Because the more pissed off he gets, the more clear it will become to the American people that he is totally unfit for the office he holds.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set up a vote late on Monday to expand the Federal Bureau of Investigation's authority to use a secretive surveillance order without a warrant to include email metadata and some browsing history information. The move, made via an amendment to a criminal justice appropriations bill, is an effort by Senate Republicans to respond to last week's mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub after a series of measures to restrict guns offered by both parties failed on Monday. \"In the wake of the tragic massacre in Orlando, it is important our law enforcement have the tools they need to conduct counterterrorism investigations,\" Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican and sponsor of the amendment, said in a statement. The bill is also supported by Republican Senators John Cornyn, Jeff Sessions and Richard Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Privacy advocates denounced the effort, saying it seeks to exploit a mass shooting in order to expand the government's digital spying powers. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, criticized a similar effort last month as one that \"takes a hatchet to important protections for Americans' liberty.\" The amendment would broaden the FBI's authority to use so-called National Security Letters to include electronic communications transaction records such as time stamps of emails and the emails' senders and recipients. The Obama administration for years has lobbied for a change to how NSLs can be used, after a 2008 legal memo from the Justice Department said the law limits them largely to phone billing records. FBI Director James Comey has said the change essentially corrects a typo and is a top legislative priority for his agency. NSLs do not require a warrant and are almost always accompanied by a gag order preventing the service provider from sharing the request with a targeted user. The letters have existed since the 1970s, though the scope and frequency of their use expanded greatly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The amendment filed Monday would also make permanent a provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows the intelligence community to conduct surveillance on \"lone wolf\" suspects who do not have confirmed ties to a foreign terrorist group. That provision, which the Justice Department said last year had never been used, is currently set to expire in December 2019. A vote is expected no later than Wednesday, McConnell's office said.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. lawmakers said Thursday they will seek to recover the missing emails of Colin Powell from his time as U.S. secretary of state by going directly to AOL Inc, whose email service he used for his work. The decision came a few minutes after U.S. State Department officials testified in a hearing that the department never contacted AOL to recover the missing records, despite repeated requests by the National Archives and Records Administration over the last year. The hearing, by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was the latest in the fallout from Hillary Clinton's decision to use an unauthorized private email system for official email while secretary of state. Clinton, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, has said her decision was wrong, but it has continued to dog her effort to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. Her defenders have pointed to some similarities in Powell's earlier use of private email, which drew fresh scrutiny at Thursday's hearing. \"I don't get this, it's ridiculous,\" said Democrat Stephen Lynch, a committee member. \"This is the National Archives asking you to contact AOL, but you didn't do that.\" Patrick Kennedy, the State Department's most senior management official, said that Powell, a Republican, never replied to the department's request to ask AOL to attempt to recover his work emails, which were not properly archived at the agency. He said the department's lawyers decided to decline the National Archives' requests that the department go to AOL directly. \"We cannot make a request for someone else's records from their provider,\" Kennedy said in his testimony. \"That request has to be made by them.\" Jason Chaffetz, the Republican who chairs the committee, then agreed to a request by the committee's most senior Democrat, Elijah Cummings, to try to recover the emails from AOL, using a subpoena if necessary. AOL is owned by telecommunications provider Verizon Communications Inc. A spokeswoman for Powell did not respond to a request for comment. AOL did not immediately respond to questions, and has previously said the its privacy policy precludes it from discussing a customer's emails. The State Department did not have a fully functioning email system when Powell joined it in 2001, according to agency officials. Powell has said he told technology officials to set up a computer with his AOL account in order to become the first secretary of state to use email. In contrast, Clinton eschewed the official state.gov email system when she took office in 2009. Department officials have said she would not have received permission for this had she asked.","label":0}
{"text":"ALEXANDER MERCOURIS | THE DURAN R ussia's use of its aircraft carrier in the Syrian conflict is principally intended to learn lessons for the design of more potent such warships in the future, rather than to change the situation in Syria itself. The Russian navy's deployment of aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean has provoked a very confused response in the Western media.  On the one hand it is described as a major escalation, as if was a US style super carrier. On the other hand there has been a great of deal of derision , with the ship called an obsolete rust bucket dangerous mainly to its crew. Where does the truth lie? The Admiral Kuznetsov is the first and only Russian aircraft carrier capable of launching fighter aircraft conventionally. The preceding Kiev class carriers were smaller ships, which could only launch a small number of aircraft vertically. Contrary to what reports say, Admiral Kuznetsov is by the standards of navy carriers a relatively new ship. She was launched in 1985, commissioned in the then Soviet navy in 1990, but only became operational after prolonged trials in 1995. The US navy currently operates 10 Nimitz class supercarriers. If the age of a ship is determined by its date of launch; then three of the US navy's Nimitz class supercarriers are older than Kuznetsov; if by date of commission, then five are; if by entry into service then six are. The Russian navy had no previous experience of operating carriers, so the lengthy time scale of her sea trials between commission and entry into service is not surprising. In addition what undoubtedly extended this period before her full entry into service was the political and economic crisis Russia experienced during the 1990s. Given the severity of this crisis, it is a wonder a ship as large and complicated as Kuznetsov was brought into service at all. Either way talk of Kuznetsov as some sort of archaic ship from a bygone era is exaggerated, whilst jokes about Kuznetsov being \"\u2026.practically old enough to have been deployed in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war\u2026.\" are simply silly. The Admiral Kuznetsov is expected to deploy off Syria, carrying 15 warplanes, including new MiG-29K\/KUB fighters and the Su-33a, shown here. Aircraft carriers as it happens tend to be long-lived ships. Coral Sea, a US Medway class carrier, served in the US Navy from 1947 to 1990. By the standards of aircraft carriers Kuznetsov is not an old ship. What is true about Kuznetsov is that because she was the first of a type of ship of which the Russians had no previous experience, and because of the fraught period during which she was commissioned and brought into service \u2013 which made it impossible to sort out her teething problems properly \u2013 Kuznetsov suffers by comparison with US navy carriers from design flaws and from engine problems. The ship's engines are unreliable, because they are insufficiently powerful for a ship of this size. The Russians when they built Kuznetsov lacked suitable nuclear reactors for this type of ship (they were designed for the intended follow-on Ulyanovsk carrier, which because of the 1990s crisis was however never built). They also lacked conventional engines large enough for a ship of this size, which was roughly twice as heavy as the largest other ship the Russian or Soviet navy had commissioned before. The Russians accordingly came up with a complicated solution of using multiple steam turbines and turbo-pressurised boilers to make up for the lack of power of the individual engines. Like all complicated arrangements, this arrangement is unreliable and prone to breakdown, with the engines experiencing stress especially in heavy seas. To compound the trouble with the engines, they were built by a plant in what is now independent Ukraine. As political relations between Russia and Ukraine deteriorated, servicing of the engines by this plant became increasingly erratic, and has now stopped completely. It is these problems with the engines that account for the practice of accompanying Kuznetsov on long range deployments with a tug. The tug in question \u2013 the Nikolai Chiker \u2013 is the most powerful tug in the world. This same tug played a key role in successfully hauling Kuznetsov's uncompleted sister ship Varyag from Ukraine to China in 2005, where she has now become the Chinese carrier Liaoning. The fact Kuznetsov is accompanied by a tug on long range deployments has provoked some derision. However it is common practice in any navy to accompany large surface warships with service ships, and accompanying Kuznetsov with a tug ensures in Kuznetsov's case that the carrier will get to where the Russian naval staff are sending it. The engine problems will not affect Kuznetsov's Mediterranean deployment when the carrier finally reaches its position. Kuznetsov suffers from other problems, which are unsurprising given that Kuznetsov is so much bigger and so different to any other ship the Russian navy has ever previously commissioned, and the unhappy times when it was launched. The arduous deployment of the Russian flotilla. Everything is harder for the Russians. (BBC) There are for example known to be problems with Kuznetsov's water pipes, which have a history of breakdowns and of freezing up in Arctic weather. These problems too however will not affect Kuznetsov's capabilities as a warship when the carrier finally reaches the eastern Mediterranean, and the close proximity of Russian bases in Sevastopol and Tartus means they can be dealt with quickly if they arise. Once this deployment is ended Kuznetsov will go through a lengthy refit, which unlike previous refits is intended to be practically a rebuild. With Russia developing a new range of much larger and more powerful engines, Kuznetsov's current unsatisfactory engines will finally be replaced, and the other teething problems like the problem with the water pipes will finally be addressed. Ultimately this is a potent warship, bigger than any other carrier other than those operated by the US navy, and once the refit is done it will be a powerful asset. In the meantime the ship already provides the Russian fleet with a carrier capability matched by no other navy apart from that of the US.  The Russian carrier passing through the English Channel. In saying this it is important to stress however that the US navy carrier force \u2013 with its 10 nuclear powered supercarriers \u2013 dwarfs the capability of any other navy, including Russia's, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Neither the Kuznetsov, nor any other carrier the Russians might build, nor any other navy, can match or rival it. A more pertinent criticism of Kuznetsov is that though Kuznetsov is a large ship (at 55,000 tonnes standard weight and with a 305 metre length Kuznetsov is midway between a US Medway class carrier and a US Forrestal class supercarrier) the air group it carries at 40-50 aircraft is relatively small (by comparison a smaller US Medway class carrier carried an air group of 75-80 aircraft in the 1980s). This suggests that Kuznetsov is inefficient in its use of its spaces, a fact which again reflects Russian inexperience designing this sort of ship when Kuznetsov was built. However it also partly reflects differences in Kuznetsov's intended role. At the time Kuznetsov was built the Russians did not envisage using their carriers for the sort of long range carrier type operations carried out by the US navy. Unlike US navy supercarriers Kuznetsov prioritises air defence of the fleet rather than long range strikes. That explains why Kuznetsov's fighter aircraft take off from the carrier using a ski jump rather than steam catapults. Ski jump takeoffs put less stress on the pilots and shorten takeoff times, enabling more aircraft to take off from the carrier more quickly, which can be important in an air defence situation. The penalty is that aircraft are limited in the loads they can carry by comparison with aircraft launched by steam catapults. For air defence \u2013 the purpose for which Kuznetsov was designed \u2013 this is unimportant since fighter aircraft carrying out air defence missions only carry light air to air missiles rather than heavy air to ground missiles and bombs. However it does significantly reduce the air group's capability to carry out long range strikes. Combined with the relatively small size of the air group, this means that Kuznetsov's ability to carry out long range ground strikes is fractional compared to that of a US navy supercarrier. If Kuznetsov is not really designed to carry out long range ground strikes, why are the Russians deploying Kuznetsov off the coast of Syria? The plan to deploy Kuznetsov to the eastern Mediterranean was made many months ago, long before the recent collapse in relations with the US over Syria. The decision therefore can have nothing to do with deterring the US from declaring a no fly zone over Syria, as some people are suggesting. Most likely the intention is to gain experience operating aircraft against ground targets from an offshore carrier. This is not something the Russians have ever done before. Even if Kuznetsov's capability to do it by comparison with a US navy supercarrier is marginal, the fighting in Syria does at least give the Russians an opportunity to try it out to find out how it is done and what it involves. That way they can learn lessons that will help them with the design of the far more powerful ships that are to come (see here and here ). In other words the deployment of the Kuznetsov to the eastern Mediterranean is essentially a training exercise. It does not merit either the derision or the hype that has been created around it.","label":1}
{"text":"Stocks are listing, bonds are drifting and suddenly gold is back in vogue. Global investors appear to be facing the prospect that next week's U.S. presidential election may not play out as they have been expecting. Until last Friday, when the FBI said it had re-opened a probe of Democrat Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, the prevailing view among the investment set had her coasting to victory. And most investors have said in surveys they were more comfortable with that outcome than a victory by Republican Donald Trump. Now, though, several polls depict an ever-tightening race as the clock counts down to Election Day on Tuesday, although the latest Reuters\/Ipsos poll showed Clinton still with a 6-point lead. Investors generally see Clinton as a known quantity who would not make major changes that would upend financial markets, while Trump's positions have been difficult to nail down. Yet against the tumultuous political backdrop, some of the biggest American stock funds remain either too sanguine, too confused or too focused on extending the bull market to guard against an Election Day result that could shock the world like the Brexit vote did in June. U.S. large-cap mutual funds, which oversee $4 trillion in assets, are heading into the showdown for the White House with only a thin layer of cash to absorb any potential shocks from the stock market. Gerry Sullivan, who runs USA Mutuals' $234 million Barrier Fund, said it would be hard to reposition his portfolio even if he knew the election results ahead of time. \"There is so much confusion,\" Sullivan said. U.S. funds that invest in stocks with large market capitalizations are not showing any drastic moves toward precaution. Overall, they have only 3.1 percent of their assets dedicated to cash, according to the latest data from Morningstar Inc. These same funds held more cash, about 3.4 percent, before Barack Obama defeated John McCain in 2008. Multi-asset investors are more defensively positioned, especially those outside the United States, according to the latest Reuters asset allocation poll. Funds in Europe held 8.1 percent of their portfolios in cash in late October, while U.K.-based funds had some 9.6 percent of their holdings parked on the sidelines. \"Investors are holding higher-than-normal levels of cash,\" said Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer for UBS Wealth Management in London, who oversees around $2 trillion in assets. \"That's one way of hedging the uncertainty.\" Nonetheless, Haefele said: \"We've not seen significant de-risking around the election, but we have seen generally a consistent level of caution in the global client base.\" With uncertainty about the outcome on the rise, a risk-off mood has enveloped markets around the world. The S&P 500 index has declined for eight days in a row, its longest losing streak since the market crash in October 2008, while a benchmark for global stocks, the MSCI All-World Index, has dropped for seven of the last eight sessions. Both sit near four-month lows. Safe-haven bonds, recently under pressure from expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates this year, have seen only a modest boost in the meantime, but gold has surged to a one-month high near $1,300 an ounce. \"The trades you're seeing in the market at the moment will go further in the event of a Trump victory,\" said Mike Bell, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management in London. \"You'd expect more downside to U.S. equities, the dollar and Treasury yields.\" More than half of the stock and bond fund managers polled by Northern Trust in the third quarter said they expected the election to cause a large increase in market volatility. Prices for certain S&P 500 index options expiring in the days after the election indicate a market swing of between 2 and 4 percent, in either direction, by then. Still, portfolio managers sitting on a lot of cash, some with more than 20 percent of assets, say the stockpile is not a sign of worry about the outcome of the race. \"It's due to the diminished risk-reward profile of investment opportunities in a mature profit cycle,\" said Meggan Walsh, a portfolio manager at the $18 billion Invesco Diversified Dividend Fund. \"We do not feel the election is an investable event.\" Some value-oriented large-cap fund managers say the stock market is over-valued and they are on high alert for a market correction as the election coincides with a bull market nearing completion of its eighth year. \"It can be tempting to forget that nasty downturns happen with some regularity, and there is never a bell rung to announce their arrival,\" portfolio managers Arik Ahitov and Dennis Bryant recently warned investors in the $800 million FPA Capital Fund. After Britain surprised the world with a vote to leave the European Union, the S&P 500 Index tumbled nearly 4 percent on June 24. It soon recovered, however, and had regained record territory by mid-August. Even in Britain, the referendum's unexpected outcome has yet to show it has long-lasting effects for investors outside of the currency market, where the British pound has sunk to a three-decade low against the dollar. London's FTSE 100 index is up around 14-percent from its post-Brexit trough. The FPA Capital Fund managers had nearly 28 percent of the fund's $800 million in assets in cash during the third quarter. They see the stock market as too expensive and are ready for a high level of panic, if that happens, according to their October letter to investors. \"An elevated level of forced selling, combined with a lack of liquidity, might result in challenges for many fully invested products such as index funds, many ETFs, and funds that have no to very low levels of cash cushions,\" the FPA Capital Fund portfolio managers said. \"In a down market, cash helps mitigate losses and affords one the opportunity to buy when others are being forced to sell, generally the best time to buy.\"","label":0}
{"text":"On top of failing to pay charities for months after the fundraiser, despite already having beneficiaries listed, it turns out Donald Trump actually lied about how much was raised to the tune of around a million and a half dollars. And now, four months later, his campaign is admitting it.In fact, as of this time, only a little over three million has actually been paid out, meaning it s possible that even the new number given by the Trump s campaign is false. That, or worse, it simply disappeared. According to his campaign, donations were pledged that were not received. But that begs the question: If $4.5 million was definitely raised, where did it go?In any case, the amount of time between the fundraiser and actually paying the money is questionable, and Trump has been called out by many people for it including Sandra Miniutti, the vice president for Charity Navigator, a service that rates charities:In recent weeks, Trump and his campaign repeatedly declined to give new details about how much they have given away. Why should I give you records? Trump said in an interview with The Post this month. I don t have to give you records. In the past few days, The Post has interviewed 22 veterans charities that received donations as a result of Trump s fundraiser. None of them have reported receiving personal donations from Trump.Did Trump make good on his promise to give from his personal funds? The money is fully spent. Mr. Trump s money is fully spent, Lewandowski said.Who did Trump give to, and in what amounts? He s not going to share that information, Lewandowski said.Of course not.Featured image by Christopher Furlong\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Email  Aren't you surprised that Hillary and the presstitutes haven't blamed Putin for FBI director Comey's reopening of the Hillary email case? But the presstitutes have done the next best thing for Hillary. They have made Comey the issue, not Hillary.  According to US Senator Harry Reid and the presstitutes, we don't need to worry about Hillary's crimes. After all, she is only a political woman feathering her nest, just as political men have done for ages. Why all this misogynist talk about Hillary? The presstitutes' cry is that Comey's alleged crime is far more important. This woman-hating Republican violated the Hatch Act by telling Congress that the investigation he said was closed is now reopened. A very strange interpretation of the Hatch Act. During an election it is OK to announce that a candidate for president is cleared but it is not OK to say that a candidate is under investigation.  In July 2016 Comey violated the Hatch Act when he, on orders from the corrupt Obama Attorney General, announced Hillary clean. In so doing, Comey used the prestige of federal clearance of Hillary's violation of national security protocols to boost her standing in the election polls.  Actually, Hillary's standing in the polls is based on the pollsters over-weighting Hillary supporters in the polls. It is easy to produce a favorite if you overweight their supporters in the poll questions. If you look at the crowds attending the two candidate's public appearances, it is clear that the American people prefer Donald Trump, who is opposed to war with Russia and China. War with nuclear powers is the big issue of the election.  Hillary's problem has the ruling American Oligarcy, for which Hillary is the total servant, concerned. What are they going to do about Trump if he wins? Will his fate be the same as John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, George Wallace? Time will tell. Or will a hotel maid appear at the last minute in the way that the Oligarchy got rid of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?  All of the American and Western feminists, progressives, and left-wing remnant fell for the obvious frame-up of Strauss-Kahn. After Strauss-Kahn was blocked from the Presidency of France and resigned as Director of the IMF, the New York authorities had to drop all charges against Strauss-Kahn. But Washington had succeeded in putting its French vassal, Sarkozy, in the presidency of France.  This is how the American Oligarchy destroys those it suspects might not serve its interests. The corrupt self-serving Oligarchy makes sure that it owns the government and the media, the think tanks and increasingly all of the major universities, and, of course, through the presstitutes, Americans' minds.  The Oligarchs are now hard-pressed to rescue Hillary as US president, so let's see if the Oligarchs can once again deceive the American people.  While we wait, let's concern ourselves with another important issue. The Clinton crime syndicate in the closing years of the 20th century allowed a small handful of mega-corporations to consolidate the US media in a few hands. This vast increase in the power of the Oligarchy was accomplished despite US anti-trust law. The media mergers destroyed the American tradition of a dispersed and independent media.  But really, what does federal law mean to the One Percent. Nothing whatsoever. The One Percent's power makes them immune to law. Hillary's crimes might cost her the election, but she won't go to jail.  Not content with 90% control of the US media, the Oligarchy wants more concentration and more control. Looks like they will be getting it, thanks to the corrupt US government. The Federal Trade Commission is supposed to enforce US anti-trust law. Instead, the federal agency routinely violates US anti-trust law by permitting monopoly concentrations of business interests.  Because of the failure of the federal government to enforce federal law, we now have \"banks too big to fail,\" unregulated Internet monopoly, and the evisceration of a dispersed and independent media.  Not so long ago there was a field of economics known as anti-trust. Ph.D. candidates specialized in and wrote dissertations about public control of monopoly power. I assume that this field of economics, like the America of my youth, no longer exists.  Rahul Manchanda explains that \"yet again another huge media conglomerate is being swallowed and acquired by another huge media conglomerate, to create another gargantuan media outlet, in another consolidation of the enormous power, money, wealth, intimidation, conspiracy and control\" that eviscerates the US Constitution and the First Amendment. Join the debate on Facebook Paul Craig Roberts is a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. Roberts' How the Economy Was Lost is now available from CounterPunch in electronic format. His latest book is The Neoconservative Threat to World Order . More articles by: Paul Craig Roberts next -","label":1}
{"text":"President Obama has done something that no other President has ever done on national television, and it s going to drive every Conservative in the country nuts. During an Alaska shoot with survivalist Bear Grylls to highlight climate change, the President painted his nails.In a gloriously un-macho moment, Bear Grylls offers the President some foraged nail paint, and suggests the President might wish to take advantage of the wonderful shade of fuchsia. On camera and with zero homophobic mockery, the President applies the paint to his nails (quite deftly I might add) and sits back and enjoys his handiwork.The footage is an outtake from President Obama s shoot with British survivalist Bear Grylls for a special edition of Running Wild with Bear Grylls.","label":1}
{"text":"Chinese authorities have collected DNA and other biometric data from the whole population of the volatile western region of Xinjiang, Human Right Watch said on Wednesday, denouncing the campaign as a gross violation of international norms. Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years in violence between Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people, and ethnic majority Han Chinese, which Beijing blames on Islamist militants. The unrest has fueled a sweeping security crackdown there, including mass rallies by armed police, tough measures that rights advocates say restrict religious and cultural expression, and widespread surveillance. Police are responsible for collecting pictures, fingerprints, iris scans and household registration information, while health authorities should collect DNA samples and blood type information as part of a Physicals for All program, the New York-based group said in a statement, citing government a document. The mandatory databanking of a whole population s biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms, and it s even more disturbing if it is done surreptitiously, under the guise of a free health care program, Human Rights Watch s China director Sophie Richardson said. According to the Xinjiang-wide plan posted online by the Aksu city government in July, main goals for the campaign include collecting the biometric data for all people between the age of 12 and 65, and verifying the region s population for a database. Blood type information should be sent to the county-level police bureaus, and DNA blood cards should be sent to the county police bureaus for inspection, the plan said. Data for priority individuals should be collected regardless of age, it said, using a term the government has adopted to refer to people deemed a security risk. Government workers must earnestly safeguard the peoples legal rights , plan said, but it made no mention of a need to inform people fully about the campaign or of any option for people to decline to take part. Xinjiang officials could not be reached for comment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked about the report by Human Rights Watch, accused the group of making untrue statements. He told a regular news briefing in Beijing the general situation in the region was good. Human Rights Watch cited an unidentified Xinjiang resident saying he feared being labelled with political disloyalty if he did not participate, and that he had not received any results from the health checks. State media, reporting on the campaign checks, have said participation was voluntary. The official Xinhua news agency in November cited health authorities as saying 18.8 million people in the region had received such physicals in 2017 for a 100 percent coverage rate.","label":0}
{"text":"By Robert Fisk on November 2, 2016 Robert Fisk \u2014 The Independent Nov 1, 2016  They're keeping open the eight passages to western Aleppo , just in case. There have been no more air strikes on the surrounded east of the city by either Syrian or Russian jets \u2013 despite the anti-government bombardment by Jabhat al-Nusra and its largely Islamist allies. The Syrian army has pushed its enemies nine miles further north of the city, in which more than 80 civilians have been killed over the past six days and the militia offensive has predictably failed.  Not that the United Nations could be left out. \"Shocked and appalled\" it was, of course, and Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy, has churned out the old \"war crimes\" threat, this time directed at the West's friendly 'moderates' in eastern Aleppo \u2013 whom he was keen to talk to a couple of weeks ago \u2013 rather than the Bashar al-Assad regime. But the UN's bleatings will make no difference. Nor will the John Kerry's oddly Gaelic fears of Aleppo smashed to \"smithereens\" \u2013 originally an Irish word \u2013 have the slightest effect.  Yet the Syrian government still hopes more civilians \u2013 militiamen, too \u2013 will leave the besieged east and allow it to reabsorb the enclave without another war. Everything depends right now on three people: the commander of the Syrian Aleppo garrison, the head of the Baath party in the city, and the boss \u2013 whoever he is \u2013 of the Jabhat al-Nusra militia and their Ahrar al-Sham allies and other outfits who are defending or imprisoning (delete as appropriate, as usual) the 200,000 to 300,000 civilians in eastern Aleppo.  So we'll start with the bespectacled general in charge of the evacuation whose office I found adorned with vast operational maps of Aleppo \u2013 in which the east of the city appears as a grey, bent sausage with a circle to the left (the ancient citadel, still held by Syrian troops) pierced by eight large red arrows. Whether the arrows represent planned attacks or the crossing points which the government opened on 20 October from 8am to 4pm each day \u2013 with only 48 takers so far \u2013 was unclear. But the four large banners hanging from flagstaffs behind the general's desk told their own story: Hezbollah's green and yellow, the red, white and blue of Russia, the black, white and red of Syria and the green white and red of Iran.  A multicoloured coalition, then, with a lot of firepower \u2013 and an intriguing set of military video clips of the crossings as they opened on 20 October. Each shows a Syrian armoured vehicle with a loudspeaker calling on \"the people of Aleppo\" to \"take out the wounded and civilians from the east of Aleppo along the routes that have been planned by the government\", adding revealingly that \"the Syrian government, in cooperation with the Russian forces, will guarantee safety for you and your family\". Russian officers were indeed at the crossing points on the three first days. Two of them were wounded by snipers. One of the video clips shows a shell, apparently fired from eastern Aleppo, exploding in the background as two men run from the east to the Syrian army lines.  The general thought there were only 75,000 civilians left in eastern Aleppo, an intriguing figure since the number of trapped families in the enclave have moved between 70,000 and 300,000 according to various \"experts\". The UN believes the higher figure, a Syrian army officer on the front line suggested 200,000, another far more senior Syrian intelligence officer thought 250,000, the Ba'ath party guessed between 112,000 to 115,000. All of which proves that no one \u2013 neither the UN, the Syrians or journalists \u2013 has the slightest idea of just how many souls are waiting to be saved or to die.  \"We promised to take care of the injured,\" the general announced. \"We did. The people who came across were free to go and live with their relatives in the west of the city or to apartments which we had reserved for them. They chose their relatives.\" Then he added, almost without hesitation: \"Now the decision is that we must enter the battle and put an end to the Nusra and other terrorist groups to help the people themselves to get rid of them.\"  Did this mean that the halt in Russian and Syrian bombing of eastern Aleppo would resume? A telephone rang on the general's desk and a flurry of staff officers ran into his office with aerial photographs \u2013 presumably the work of a drone \u2013 and his attention suddenly turned to more pressing matters. \"There are armed men crossing from Turkey through the Bab al-Howa border point to the north of Lattakia\" \u2013 which showed just how far the general's remit ran in northern Syria \u2013 \"and they are driving a lot of vehicles with explosives and ammunition. Look! We search for a political solution and they are ready to attack and fight.\"  But would the Syrians and Russians bomb east Aleppo again? \"There are orders that the planes cannot bomb within 10km of eastern Aleppo,\" the general replied. An interesting remark, since the general is the man who orders the air strikes \u2013 along with his Russian colleagues, of course \u2013 and he followed up with a slightly ambiguous remark when I asked for his feelings when he saw the wounded children of east Aleppo on television. \"I see them as like my kids,\" he replied. \"I have a very high sense of humanity with civilians. But with terrorists, I have to do my national duty \u2013 to defend the civilians and protect them. The terrorists\" \u2013 and the general thought there were 15 separate armed groups in eastern Aleppo \u2013 \"are the same wherever they exist \u2013 in Syria, Iran, Britain, Russia, Lebanon\u2026\"  Perhaps. But the general also made a remark about \"medical facilities for terrorists\" which suggested that hospitals who treated militiamen in east Aleppo were targets for the Syrian-Russian coalition, whomever else the hospitals treated. Which also tells its own grim tale. So now to the Baath headquarters in Aleppo, bathed in generator light and sudden power cuts, where the local party head, Ahmed Ibrahim Saleh, described how he talked to east Aleppo civilians by phone, claiming that \u2013 through these interlocutors \u2013 he has contact with 12,000 civilians in the enclave.  And negotiations were continuing, he said. The Ahrar al-Sham group had indirectly received a message from the government via text and they replied by recorded phone calls: the government's message was that they could send over a group of their men if they wanted to cross to the west of the city as a test \u2013 just two if they wanted \u2013 and these two could telephone when they arrived through the government lines and reached a safe place.  \"They said: 'We trust you, but we don't trust the [Syrian] government or the [state] security apparatus'. I said, 'just find four or five armed men to cross'. They said they would discuss this. The problem is that the leaders of these armed groups, the foreigners, make them afraid and tell them that the security apparatus will execute them. But all the armed men who have come to this building have been well-treated.\" This appears to be perfectly true. But the constant reference to the 'security apparatus' was telling; everyone in Syria fears the mukhabarat security police.  When I asked Mr Saleh about hospitals in the east of the city, I heard a familiar story. \"This is war. Maybe there are some mistakes. Maybe the plane cannot see women and children. One hospital shelled by a plane was a base for the leaders of the terrorists and was full of arms and weapons.\" This was quite an admission. When Nato found soldiers hiding in a hospital during the 1999 war on Serbia, its bombs killed all the civilians in the building but none of the soldiers. No one spoke of war criminals. A different morality is in play in Syria, of course, where the bombing of hospitals is immediately \u2013 and legally correctly \u2013 referred to as a war crime.  As for the conflict, \"war ends when foreign support stops\", Mr Saleh said. \"If America says 'Stop the war', the war will stop.\" So now to a young Syrian army captain on the front line who guards one of the crossing points. During the truce, he received two armed men who had contacted him earlier to arrange the crossing. \"They came right here to my office,\" he said. \"One of them was from Ahrar al-Sham, we let them come with their guns. We had vehicles ready for them with covered windows so that no one could shoot at them. I told them which road to use to come out. They were checked by our people in case they carried booby traps. We could see them but the two men could not see our soldiers.  \"They told me that their life stopped when the war began and did not advance any more in the following years. One of the men said his dream was 'just one more night of sleep and one more day of life for me and my family'. The two men knew each other and they complained that the armed groups were uneducated and illiterate. Yes, when we shell east Aleppo, we are defending ourselves \u2013 just as they will defend their side of the city when we rocket them. How many people are there? I myself think the UN's figures might be exaggerated. When the passages were opened, eight wounded men from Ahrar al-Sham came out and we offered them health care and they refused and said they wanted to join the other terrorists in Idlib province. Because they were wounded, they were friendly to the army. I met the eight of them. We allowed them freely to go to Idlib.\"  And this is also true. The armed men who surrendered in Homs were allowed to go to Idlib. So were the armed opposition in the Damascus suburbs, including those of Mouadamiya. Idlib seems to be the favourite dumping ground for all varieties of Islamist fighters. For the Syrian government, the armed men of Aleppo should either agree to go home or head for Idlib themselves, along with their families. But will they? The captain had heard of 40 executions by Ahrar al-Sham of armed men who wished to leave eastern Aleppo. Propaganda? Maybe. But the commanders of the Islamist groups there give no interviews to visiting western reporters \u2013 because western journalists have wisely decided not to turn up in east Aleppo and have their heads cut off.  So was the recent offensive against western Aleppo the answer to the Syrians' \"passageways\" to freedom, to the \"corridors\" of safety which were opened for the civilians? Perhaps. But given the amount of weaponry the militias deployed in recent days, they may have decided that they still have no need to negotiate another truce or take the bus to Idlib. Then we are left with the general's remark about how \"the decision is to enter the battle\". In other words, Aleppo's agony is far from over.","label":1}
{"text":"Sen. John McCain wasted no time at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday as he portrayed the Trump administration as being in a state of \"disarray,\" in contrast to the message of reassurance from administration officials. [McCain used the recent departure of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to defend his portrayal of the administration as in \"disarray. \" \"I think that the Flynn issue obviously is something that shows that in many respects this administration is in disarray and they've got a lot of work to do,\" he said, according to the Huffington Post. McCain lauded Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis: \"The president, I think, makes statements that on other occasions he contradicts himself. So we've learned to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says. \" McCain commented that his job was to work with President Donald Trump on areas where they agree. He spoke of the three coequal branches of the United States federal government, remarking on Trump's recent temporary travel restriction executive order: \"I can assure you that \u2026 what we just saw on the immigration order that both the legislative and the judicial branches will be exercising our constitutional responsibilities. \" A senior White House foreign policy adviser told reporters this week that Vice President Mike Pence would seek to reassure U. S. commitment to European partners and the transatlantic alliance at the conference. In opening remarks to the conference, McCain said: I know there is profound concern across Europe and the world that America is laying down the mantle of global leadership. I can only speak for myself, but I do not believe that that is the message you will hear from all of the American leaders who cared enough to travel here to Munich this weekend. The senator continued, \"These are dangerous times, but you should not count America out. \" McCain then pointed out that Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Vice President Pence, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, and a bipartisan congressional delegation traveled to the conference. A senior administration official told reporters this week that the vice president is attending the security conference on behalf of the President of the United States. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz remarked that there was \"still a lot of uncertainty,\" according to the Post. Kurz said the \"big topic\" at the conference has centered around what to expect next from the United States. \"Today, on behalf of President Trump, I bring you this assurance. The United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance,\" the vice president stated in a Saturday speech to conference participants. \"For our part, thanks to President Trump, the United States will be stronger than ever before. Our leadership of the free world will not falter, even for a moment. \" Pence continued, \"Today, tomorrow, and every day hence \u2014 be confident, that the United States is now and will always be your greatest ally. \" In closing, Pence said, \"Our choice today is the same as it was in ages past: Security through shared sacrifice and strength, or an uncertain future characterized by disunity and faltering will. The United States chooses strength. The United States chooses friendship with Europe and a strong North Atlantic alliance. \" Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana.","label":0}
{"text":"As liberal protesters step up confrontations with Republican lawmakers, leaders of the original Tea Party movement that wrote the book on those tactics are reassembling their political army dispatching activists to push a conservative agenda that includes tax reform and dismantling ObamaCare.FreedomWorks, Tea Party Patriots and other groups are looking to keep pressure on GOP lawmakers to keep their 2016 campaign promises, and not buckle in the face of rowdy town hall protesters angry about the prospect of repealing the Affordable Care Act. A lot of people were elected to Congress based on bold promises about ObamaCare, tax reform and regulatory reform, Noah Wall, FreedomWorks national director of campaigns, told Fox News. We have to hold them to campaign promises, keep up the momentum and the energy. It s time to get off the bench and get this to work. FreedomWorks plans to mobilize its network of grassroots organizations and unite with the Tea Party Patriots on March 15 for a Day of Action on Capitol Hill that will include a rally and visits to members of Congress.The group will follow up with a Month of Action, set to include members driving constituents to congressional district offices and larger-scale rallies across the country to amplify their fiscally conservative message.Wall says his group and its supporters want to capitalize on Republicans now controlling Congress and the White House, and achieve long-awaited policy objectives. If successful, their efforts could mark a revival of the eight-year-old Tea Party movement a political revolt against big government under then-President Obama that crested with Republicans historic 2010 House takeover. Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin on Wednesday said the upcoming Capitol Hill events are to make sure Republicans stay focused on repealing ObamaCare and her group will follow up with its own busy month including daily, micro-focused activities like Message Monday and Tweet Tuesday. She bristled at the suggestion the Tea Party movement has emerged from hibernation, arguing it was instrumental over the past several election cycles in helping Republicans take control of the House, Senate and then the White House. We are not dead, and we have never gone away, Martin told Fox News. There s a time to be active in campaigns, a time to have our voices heard and a time to stand up and be heard by members of Congress. They need to know we are not going away. FOX News","label":1}
{"text":"Posted on November 8, 2016 by WashingtonsBlog  By Robert Parry, the investigative reporter who many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. Originally published at Parry's Consortium News (republished with permission).  As much as The New York Times and the mainstream U.S. media have become propaganda outlets on most foreign policy issues, like the one-sided coverage of the bloody Syrian war, sometimes the truth seeps through in on-the-ground reporting by correspondents, even ones who usually are pushing the \"propo.\"  Such was the case with Anne Barnard's new reporting from inside west Aleppo, the major portion of the city which is in government hands and copes with regular terror rocket and mortar attacks from rebel-held east Aleppo where Al Qaeda militants and U.S.-armed-and-funded \"moderate\" rebels fight side-by-side. Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016. Power has been an advocate for escalating U.S. military involvement in Syria. (UN Photo)  Almost in passing, Barnard's article on Sunday acknowledged the rarely admitted reality of the Al Qaeda\/\"moderate\" rebel collaboration, which puts the United States into a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda terrorists and their jihadist allies, fighting under banners such as Nusra Front (recently renamed Syria Conquest Front) and Ahrar al-Sham.  Barnard also finally puts the blame for preventing civilians in east Aleppo from escaping the fighting on a rebel policy of keeping them in harm's way rather than letting them transit through \"humanitarian corridors\" to safety. Some of her earlier pro-rebel accounts suggested that it wasn't clear who was stopping movement of civilians through those corridors.  However, on Sunday, she reported: \"We had arrived at a critical moment, as Russia said there was only one day left to pass through a corridor it had provided for people to escape eastern Aleppo before the rebel side was flattened, a corridor through which precious few had passed. The government says rebels are preventing civilians from leaving. Rebels refuse any evacuation without international supervision and a broader deal to deliver humanitarian aid.\"  Granted, you still have to read between the lines, but at least there is the acknowledgement that rebels are refusing civilian evacuations under the current conditions. How that is different from Islamic State terrorists in Mosul, Iraq, preventing departures from their areas \u2013 a practice which the Times and other U.S. outlets condemn as using women and children as \"human shields\" \u2013 isn't addressed. But Barnard's crimped admission is at least a start.  Barnard then writes: \"Instead [of allowing civilians to move through the humanitarian corridors], they [the rebels] are trying to break the siege, with Qaeda-linked groups and those backed by the United States working together \u2014 the opposite of what Russia has demanded.\"  Again, that isn't the clearest description of the situation, which is stunning enough that one might have expected it in the lede rather than buried deep inside the story, but it is significant that the Times is recognizing that Al Qaeda and the U.S.-backed \"moderates\" are \"working together\" and that Russia opposes that collaboration.  She also noted that \"Three Qaeda-linked suicide bombers attacked a military position with explosive-packed personnel carriers on Thursday, military officials said, and mortar fire was raining on neighborhoods that until now had been relatively safe. It was among the most intense rounds in four years of rebel shelling that officials say has killed 11,000 civilians.\"  While she then throws in a caveat about the impossibility of verifying the numbers, the acknowledgement that the U.S.-backed \"moderate\" rebels and their Al Qaeda comrades have been shelling civilians in west Aleppo is significant, too. Before this, all the American people heard was the other side, from rebel-held east Aleppo, about the human suffering there, often conveyed by \"activists\" with video cameras who have depicted the conflict as simply the willful killing of children by the evil Syrian government and the even more evil Russians.  More Balance  With the admission of rebel terror attacks on civilians in west Aleppo, the picture finally is put into more balance. The Al Qaeda and U.S.-backed rebels have been killing thousands of civilians in government-controlled areas and the Syrian military and its Russian allies have struck back only to be condemned for committing \"war crimes.\" The second plane about to crash into the World Trade Center towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.  Though the human toll in both sides of Aleppo is tragic, we have seen comparable situations before \u2013 in which the U.S. government has supported, supplied and encouraged governments to mount fierce offensives to silence rockets or mortars fired by rebels toward civilian areas.  For instance, senior U.S. government officials, including President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have defended Israel's right to defend itself from rockets fired from inside Gaza even though those missiles rarely kill anyone. Yet, Israel is allowed to bomb the near-defenseless people of Gaza at will, killing thousands including the four little boys blown apart in July 2014 while playing on a beach during the last round of what the Israelis call \"mowing the grass.\"  In the context of those deaths, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who has built her career as a supposed humanitarian advocating a \"responsibility to protect\" civilians, laid the blame not on the Israeli military but on fighters in Gaza who had fired rockets that rarely hit anything besides sand.  At the United Nations on July 18, 2014, Power said , \" President Obama spoke with [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to reaffirm the United States' strong support for Israel's right to defend itself\u2026. Hamas' attacks are unacceptable and would be unacceptable to any member state of the United Nations. Israel has the right to defend its citizens and prevent these attacks.\"  But that universal right apparently does not extend to Syria where U.S.-supplied rockets are fired into civilian neighborhoods of west Aleppo. In that case, Power and other U.S. officials apply an entirely different set of standards. Any Syrian or Russian destruction of east Aleppo with the goal of suppressing that rocket fire becomes a \"war crime.\"  Perhaps it's expected that the U.S. government, like other governments, will engage in hypocrisy regarding affairs of state: one set of rules for U.S. allies and another for countries marked for U.S. \"regime change.\" Statements by supposed \"humanitarians\" \u2013 such as Samantha Power, \"Ms. R2P\" \u2013 are no exception.  But double standards are even more distasteful when they come from allegedly \"objective\" journalists such as those who work at The New York Times, The Washington Post and other prestige American news outlets. When they take the \"U.S. side\" in a dispute and become crude propagandists, they encourage the kind of misguided \"group thinks\" that led to the criminal Iraq War and other disastrous \"regime change\" projects over the past two decades.  Yet, that is what we normally see. A thoughtful reader can't peruse the international reporting of the U.S. mainstream media without realizing that it is corrupted by propaganda from both government officials and from U.S.-funded operations, often disguised as \"human rights activists\" or \"citizen journalists\" whose supposed independence makes their \"propo\" even more effective.  So, it's worth noting those rare occasions when The New York Times and the rest of the MSM let some of the reality peek through. When evaluating the latest plans from Hillary Clinton and other interventionists to expand the U.S. military intervention in Syria \u2013 via prettily named \"safe zones\" and \"no-fly zones\" \u2013 the American people should realize that they are being asked to come to the aid of Al Qaeda.","label":1}
{"text":"Sunday on CNN's \"State of the Union,\" while discussing Donald Trump saying \"We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud,\" on so called DREAMers, children brought into the U. S. illegally by their parents, the former Republican Governor of Florida and the Democratic Charlie Crist said, \"God would be pleased,\" with Trump's seeming softening on the issue of Dreamers. Crist said, \"I think it's important that we appreciate what the has said on this issue and it's not a softening of the heart. It's showing your heart \u2026 My grandfather immigrated in 1914 when he was 12 and when he got here, he very soon joined the army. And he fought in World War I. He was honorably discharged. As a result of that, he was able to gain his citizenship. That's sort of a modern day dreamer, if you will. Being a nation of immigrants, it's important that we embrace that kind of hope, give people that opportunity. That's what we've always stood for as a country. And so I would say to the I appreciate you showing your heart and if it's a little softer, what's wrong with that? God would be pleased. \" ( Washington Times) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"The head of the U.N. fact-finding mission probing violence in Myanmar s Rakhine state said on Tuesday he is still waiting for permission to enter the country. We have not been able to proceed further in planning the presence of a fact-finding team on the ground until there is a clear signal from the government of Myanmar that the fact-finding mission is in fact enabled to access into the country, Marzuki Darusman told the U.N. Human Rights Council. We continue to hold hopes, high hopes in fact, that this may be resolved.","label":0}
{"text":"Republicans are starting to stammer, talk of delay and say we can't repeal all of Obamacare. One GOP plan even keeps the Obamacare taxes. Another GOP plan says to blue states: \"If you like Obamacare, you can keep it!\" and red states will pay for it. Other GOP plans want to keep Obamacare subsidies but rename them refundable tax credits. [Conservatives need to unite behind immediate and complete repeal! At the same time, conservatives need to rally to a plan that allows more people to buy insurance at a cheaper price. I have just such a plan, and it is gaining momentum. We should not hesitate. Repeal and Replacement should happen as soon as humanly possible. Each day, more stories appear about when to repeal, when and how to replace, and every day it seems some in my party lose their nerve. Let me be as clear as I possibly can: The time is NOW. We must keep our promises and FULLY repeal Obamacare, every bit of it. We must also at the same time offer to the American people our plan for healthcare going forward, and it must take us away from government control and toward a free market. Big Government approaches are wrong, whether they are offered by Democrats and Republicans. We must move in another direction. I've offered a broad, bold and free market Obamacare Replacement bill. It is available to view at paul. senate. gov, along with a summary. My plan will ensure millions more people have access to better, less expensive health care. First, my plan legalizes the sale of inexpensive insurance. Under Obamacare, it became illegal to sell or buy less expensive catastrophic insurance plans. Second, my plan allows people to save for insurance by expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSA's). My plan allows the individual to use their HSA: As more and more people spend their first dollar out of their HSA account, a marketplace will develop that makes patients cost conscious driving prices down. Third, my plan will allow every individual the freedom to join an association to buy their health insurance. For the mom and pop small business, my plan allows them to leave behind a terrible system that causes them to live in fear of becoming ill or getting cancer. Allowing individuals to join an association with hundreds of thousands of other individuals will allow them to gain leverage to get less expensive insurance and demand protections against conditions clauses. Virtually every item in my bill has been previously introduced by Republican legislators. My bill is a consensus bill that compiles the reforms all Republicans generally agree with and leaves out controversial subjects like refundable tax credits that will create a new trillion dollar entitlement program. While it may not be everything everyone would want, it is largely everything we agree on. So let's get it done, and then continue to work on it over the next year. So I say, Repeal Now. Replace Now. Keep our promises to those who overwhelmingly voted for change, and do it right now. As a physician, no one hates Obamacare more than I do. I ran against it. I will vote to repeal it, and I want the chance to do so very soon. But as a physician, I also know the underlying system is still broken, and simply repealing won't fix it by itself. We need the kind of reforms I have proposed. I spoke last week to my fellow physician, incoming HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price. He agreed with me on the need to move soon, and the need to both repeal and offer a replacement. In fact, as I pointed out to him, many of the ideas in my plan came from bills he has offered in the past as a member of Congress. So we have broad agreement. We have a mandate from the elections. We just need to have the political will to get it done. I plan to lead this charge.","label":0}
{"text":"Bill Clinton also claimed to be Mandela's son  Cape Town, South Africa - The Government of South Africa has unofficially announced that President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are relocating to South Africa after Obama's term ends in January. The Obamas reportedly are leaving their daughters and dogs behind with Michelle Obama's mother.  Local papers stated that the President has been concerned with Donald Trump as President, and that living in Africa would be more fun and provide new leadership opportunities.  The Trudeaus invited the Obama family to Canada, but President Obama wanted to go back to his \"birth home.\"  The South African Government further stated that President Obama is actually the love child of Nelson Mandela, and plans to run for President there.  The Obama Administration denies the reports of the South African government as being patently false. The President accuses the government of simply trying to promote tourism by taking over for Trump as the leader of the debunked Birther Movement.  Mike _Peril@aol.com Make Mike Peril's day - give this story five thumbs-up (there's no need to register , the thumbs are just down there!)","label":1}
{"text":"Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Jay Dyer of Jays Analysis, Funk$oul & Infidel Pharaoh (ACR Contributors,) for the hundred and twenty sixth episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing the consternation associated with immigration, DACA, Trump making deals with D.C. Swamp-critters like Schumer and Pelosi, technology, not-so-free markets, 9-11, Hesher s chat with Psonick and the Type 1 Radio crew along with Dr. Judy Wood and Andrew Johnson and much more.Direct Download Episode #126 (Link Available Shortly After Live Recording)Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research:","label":1}
{"text":"Largely united in their dislike of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, some ultra-wealthy U.S. investors who play in conservative politics are warily weighing their choices, torn between third-party candidates, simply focusing on down-ballot contests or even voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton. As Clinton's lead over Trump has grown in opinion polls, some hedge fund managers who have traditionally donated big money to Republican presidential candidates see the congressional elections as their best hope. Stanley Druckenmiller, one of the best-performing hedge fund managers of all time, told Reuters he had recently given to Republican candidates for Congress in the hope of creating a \"firewall\" against Clinton's economic policies, including more government control of healthcare and what he described as \"astronomical disincentives\" to invest. Druckenmiller, who invests privately since closing his hedge fund firm in 2010, said Trump had an \"unstable personality\" that ruled him out as a candidate. \"I might just vote on the down ballot part of the ticket and not bother with the top,\" he said. Public filings show Druckenmiller donated to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in August and the National Republican Congressional Committee in March. He disavowed long-shot Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, saying he was \"out the window\" after a couple of high-profile lapses on foreign affairs, including struggling to name an international leader he admired. But some Republican hedge fund managers contacted by Reuters said they planned to vote for Johnson, who is polling in the single digits. Among them is Tiger Management founder Julian Robertson, according to spokesman Fraser Seitel. Robertson previously backed Republicans Jeb Bush and John Kasich. \"I've heard from a lot of people who say they'll vote for Johnson or not vote at all because they don't want to be held responsible for having elected Hillary Clinton,\" one hedge fund billionaire said in describing industry views. The person, who requested anonymity because they did not want their political views to be public, plans to vote for Clinton. The person believes Clinton is the lesser of two evils and that no vote, or one for someone else, could help Trump. Other conservative investors focused on congressional races instead of the next president include Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management and Paul Singer of Elliott Management, according to people familiar with the situation. Asness recently gave to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and a political action committee supporting Pennsylvania Senator Patrick Toomey, according to public filings. Singer has also given to the NRSC, in addition to Together Holding Our Majority PAC, which recently sent money to two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina. Asness and Singer declined to comment. Spokespersons for Trump, Clinton and Johnson did not respond to a request for comment. To be sure, Trump retains a band of loyal hedge fund industry boosters. They include Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies and economic advisers Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge Capital, John Paulson of Paulson & Co, Stephen Feinberg of Cerberus Capital Management and Steven Mnuchin of Dune Capital Management. Mercer and Scaramucci have re-affirmed their support of Trump in public statements over the last week. Other investors have moved firmly into the Democratic camp: Billionaire Seth Klarman of Baupost Group and Boaz Weinstein of Saba Capital Management are among investors who recently gave Clinton money after years of donations to candidates from both parties. Weinstein declined to comment and Klarman told Reuters in August that Trump is \"completely unqualified for the highest office in the land.\" Attitudes against Trump have hardened since multiple women have accused him of groping them and the release of a 2005 video in which he boasts about such behavior. Trump has denied the accusations and has said his comments were just \"locker room talk.\" One Republican hedge fund industry veteran said that his peers' revulsion with Trump has become so strong that they feel they have to vote for Clinton - if only to prevent the Republican nominee from winning. \"She at least represents predictability and seasoning,\" the person said. \"The difference between her and Trump is no contest.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Americans ripped from fantasy world 'like babies from a womb': By hatesec , on November 14th, 2016  ROANOKE, Va. \u2014 FBI agents claim two stoned American white men were \"ripped like babies from a womb\" following Tuesday's election results.  Investigators who have been working on the case since Wednesday said the men appeared paranoid and terrified, as if they had seen some horrible aspect.  \"It was like they were just seeing the world for the first time,\" the agent said. He called it \"the 9\/11 of their time\"\u2013 a point of reference in their timeline of social consciousness beyond which no innocence can be returned.  One of the guys was passed out in police custody, because he's a pot-smoking CRIMINAL, but the other one was cool because he didn't have weed on him, so he told Internet Chronicle how his world view changed:  I thought we'd come farther than this, man. I actually really thought we had come so far, we could get a career criminal elected into office over Archie Bunker. Turns out, I was wrong about a lot of things. Next time, I'm voting with my heart: I'm going Gary Johnson. Now he has a plan !  \"They'll never forget how they remembered America's paranoid, racist history extending as far back as the 1970s, when white nerds killed disco, for which we have already apologized profusely .\" federal agent Smith said. \"Nor will they forget how flimsy a candidate can be, who deletes subpoenaed emails on command for her corporate power-lords.\"  Internet Chronicle linguistics analyst and hate philosopher Dr. Angstrom H. Troubadour believes in front loading attribution, and that blatant misuse of language itself led to the seemingly eternal crisis of political misunderstanding between the so-called Left and so-called Right.  \"The words 'liberal' and 'conservative' don't even have denotations anymore. They mean what people want them to mean,\" Troubadour said. \"These words are to be avoided at all cost.\"  makin money, makin money, makin money, makin money, makin money, makin money's for the words.  [Editor's note: Remember Trump's CRAZY response when the 60 Minutes lady asked him how many more tax dollars would be spent drone striking weddings?] Share this article","label":1}
{"text":"The Queen of the DNC is in big trouble 1000+ Berners walked out CA is GONE UT Gone Oregon Gone ..& more #DNCWalkOut 1\/2 empty #Demexit https:\/\/t.co\/1uG9312AS6 #AllLivesMatter (@BootStrapzOrg) July 27, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Although most of America did not want Donald Trump to be the country s next President, many of us were holding on to hope that we might see an improved version of what we witnessed during the former reality TV star s presidential campaign. Unfortunately, Trump and his team are proving to be worse than we thought, and they re only churning out more fear mongering and lies during his first week in office.New White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has continuously been backing up Trump s voter fraud claims since starting his new position. Trump has been trying to convince America that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 election, and Spicer has doubled down on those comments recently. Fortunately, the media has been on top of it, obviously frustrated at the lack of transparency from the new President. As Spicer lied his ass off on national television, MSNBC s Katy Tur fact-checked him in real time, and it was pretty amazing. Despite having zero actual evidence that voter fraud occurred, Spicer said: I think there s been studies that came from Pew in 2008 that showed fourteen percent of people who voted were not citizens. There are other studies that have been presented to him. It s a belief he maintains The President does believe that, I think he s stated that before, and stated his concern of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have brought to him. Here s what Tur said as she fact-checked Spicer on air: We want to do a little bit of fact checking on that statement because the White House now is referring to the same research that the campaign had referred to, and the transition had referred to. One was a Washington Post commissioned study which the Washington Post itself debunked, and the other one was a Pew study from 2012, which is actually from 2008, which said that approximately 24 million one in every eight people are on voter registrations in the United States that no longer valid and they are significantly inaccurate. Listing people who had died in the past, obviously, on the voter rolls. It doesn t mention anything about undocumented immigrants, so their basis of evidence isn t quite correct at all. You can watch that brilliant moment below:Here s @KatyTurNBC with an instant fact-check after Spicer said Trump believes millions voted illegally based on studies and evidence pic.twitter.com\/Eb10dxtmqd Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 24, 2017MSNBC is far from the only network to prove Trump wrong. CNN, the media outlet that Trump has dubbed fake news, ran a headline that said, Trump believes millions voted illegally, WH says but provides no proof .Hopefully, we re going to see more real-time fact checking from the media, because Trump and his team are the most dishonest administration we ve ever seen.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"French President Francois Hollande and U.S President-elect Donald Trump had a phone conversation on Friday in which they agreed to clarify positions on key issues such as the Middle East and Ukraine, said a source in Hollande's camp. The source told Reuters that the phone conversation lasted between seven and eight minutes and took place in \"good conditions\". \"They agreed to work together on a number of key issues in order to clarify positions - the 'war on terror', Ukraine, Syria, Iran's nuclear deal and the Paris climate change agreement,\" said the source.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused to admit that his belief and promotion of the racist and inaccurate birther conspiracy theory was wrong. The candidate doubled down on the false idea that has been promoted by conservatives for almost a decade now in an interview with the Washington Post:In the interview, conducted late Wednesday aboard his private plane as it idled on the tarmac here, Trump suggested he is not eager to change his pitch or his positions even as he works to reach out to minority voters, many of whom are deeply offended by his long-refuted suggestion that Obama is not a U.S. citizen. Trump refused to say whether he believes Obama was born in Hawaii. I ll answer that question at the right time. I just don t want to answer it yet, Trump said.When asked about claims in the media from campaign manager Kellyanne Conway that he is no longer a birther, Trump told the paper, It s okay. She s allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs, I want to focus on other things. He added, I don t talk about it anymore. Trump has been promoting the birther conspiracy since 2011, and has never renounced it in the ensuing 5 years. He is on the verge of 2,000 straight days of supporting the conspiracy.President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961. His birth there has been certified at the federal level when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and when he was elected President of the United States in November 2008.Despite this, as the first black president in U.S. history, conservatives have consistently pushed the idea that Obama is not a natural-born citizen and instead was born in Kenya, where his father is from. The story is completely false, but has been a running theme in conservative politics.Trump was the most prominent and well-known person pushing the conspiracy theory, and even since running for president, has never renounced nor condemned it.","label":1}
{"text":"Home \u203a ECONOMIC \u203a THE AMERICAN PUBLIC CAN NO LONGER DEAL WITH THE LIMITLESS CORRUPTION OF THEIR GOVERNMENT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC CAN NO LONGER DEAL WITH THE LIMITLESS CORRUPTION OF THEIR GOVERNMENT 8 SHARES  [10\/28\/16] MARY WILDER -The federal government has really been dropping the ball over the last few decades. Time and time again they prove that they are completely untrustworthy and do not care about the citizens of the United States' best interests. As the recent Wikileaks emails have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, those that hold positions of power within the federal government are owned by the corporations that continue to put financial gain over individual freedom. It's a scary reality, but there's no denying it any longer.  Unfortunately this has been what Americans deal with for decades now. Nothing has ever been done about it because the American people felt as though there is nothing they could do in order to stop it. However, it appears as though we have lately gotten to the point where we are unwilling to put up with the corruption of our government any longer.  In an article published on The Daily Sheeple , Charles Hugh Smith writes that the ruling elite \"have bamboozled, conned and misled the bottom 95% for decades, but their phony facade of political legitimacy and 'the rising tide raises all boats' has cracked wide open, and the machinery of oppression, looting and propaganda is now visible to everyone who isn't being paid to cover their eyes.\"  So what does this realization mean for the future of America? Hopefully that the rest of our country will continue waking up and opening their eyes to the truth. The longer the masses avoid the acknowledging the truth in regards to the federal government, the longer their control over the American people will last. During a time when our individual liberties are under attack every day, there is nothing more important than sending the message that we control our own lives.  Of course, it is also extremely important to prepare for retaliation. These are people whose entire existence revolves around being able to control the populous. They are most likely not going to go down without a fight. When we begin rejecting their corruption on a mass level, they will definitely do everything in their power to silence the outspoken ones. You could argue that it has already begun in regards to social media. Other forms of expression are probably next.  Human lives should be more valued than big governments. It's time that we all realize that and completely reject the global elite's plans to enslave us all. Our lives very well could depend on it. Post navigation","label":1}
{"text":"Heres the nations would-be first lady and right beside her, a second lady. Three years before she met husband Donald Trump, Melania Trump was snapped in a nude frolic with another female model, bombshell photos obtained exclusively by The Post show. Modal Trigger The lesbian-themed pics are from a two-day photo shoot in Manhattan in 1995, when Melania Knauss, as she was called, was 25 years old and modeling under the name Melania K. (Photographer Al de Basseville later told The Post that he misspoke, and the photo session actually took place in 1996 in Manhattan, and appeared in a 1997 issue of the magazine.) Several were featured in Max Magazine, a now-defunct French mens monthly, more than 20 years ago. Others have never been in print until now. The raciest of the photos shows Melania lying nude in a bed as Scandinavian model Emma Eriksson, also naked, embraces her from behind, just below her breasts, which are fully exposed. In another photo, Eriksson wears sheer stockings, a low-cut bustier, high heels and a long robe all designed by John Galliano and raises a whip as if preparing to spank Melania, who pretends to recoil. Melania is more conservatively dressed in a skin-tight gown and high heels. I always loved women together, because I have been with a lot of women who desired the mnage trois, said Jarl Ale de Basseville, the French fashion photographer who snapped the pictures. Melania Trump (right) poses for the January 1997 issue of Max Magazine.Photo: Jarl Ale de Basseville This is beauty and not porn. I am always shocked by the porn industry because they are destroying the emotion and the essence of purity and simplicity. Part of the shoot, which de Basseville said was inspired by Renaissance art, took place on the buildings rooftop, said a fashion-industry insider who was present at one of the photo sessions. Melania behaved like a true professional during one of the nighttime shoots with Eriksson, the source said. She was charming throughout, said the source, adding that the pics lesbian theme didnt faze her. She was always smiling, with a very pleasant personality and was polite and very well educated. Al de BassevillePhoto: Al de Basseville Melania had recently arrived in the city from modeling stints in Paris and Milan at the time. In Gotham, she was booked for mostly commercial work and was later featured in an ad for Camel cigarettes, the source told The Post. Her sexy photo spread appeared in the January 1996 issue of Max Magazine, whose cover featured a photo of supermodel Cindy Crawford. In addition to the lesbian-themed shots, de Basseville took several nude pictures of Melania from different angles. In one of them, Melania pouts at the camera while clad only in stilettos. In another, her back is to the camera, and her arms are raised as if up against a wall. 0:00 \/ 1:10   I think it is important to show the beauty and freedom of the woman, and I am very proud of these pictures because they celebrate Melanias beauty, de Basseville said. Asked about the photos, Donald Trump said: Melania was one of the most successful models, and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common. The Slovenian-born beauty, now 46, first met Trump at a Fashion Week party in 1998. They married in January 2005 and have one son, Baron, 10. She has modeled for Sports Illustrated and Vogue among other publications, posing for such top photographers as Helmut Newton and Mario Testino. Modal Trigger Melania Trump in the January 1997 issue of Max Magazine.","label":0}
{"text":"Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr  On Monday, Paul LePage, Maine's infamous racist Governor, issued a statement which basically threatened any out-of-state student attending college in his state with an investigation should they decide to vote.  LePage's statement came on the eve of Election Day, and many believe it was designed to scare Democratic leaning college students away from the polls.  The governor complained about Democrats encouraging out-of-state students to commit voter fraud by voting in both their home state and the state where they are attending college. He also said that \"there is no way to determine\" if a person has cast his or her ballot in two states.  The Washington Post :  \"Democrats for decades have encouraged college students from out of state to vote in Maine, even though there is no way to determine whether these college students also voted in their home states,\" LePage said in a statement.  \"Casting ballots in two different states is voter fraud, which is why Maine law requires anyone voting here to establish residency here. We welcome college students establishing residency in our great state, as long as they follow all laws that regulate voting, motor vehicles and taxes. We cannot tolerate voter fraud in our state.\"  LePage continued, \"After the election, we will do everything we can that is allowed under state and federal law to verify college students who voted here are following Maine law, which is clearly displayed on the Secretary of State's website.\"  However, Maine's Secretary of State, Matthew Dunlap, says that they do have a system in place to detected that kind of voter fraud, and they've yet to find evidence of this being a real issue. Dunlap told WMTW ABC 8:  \"People are not voting in two different jurisdictions. In fact, the Secretary of State's office back in 2011 did just such an investigation of over 200 students who were from out of state, and who had registered and voted in Maine to see if they had voted in their home state, and nobody did.\"  Along with the Governor's statement, college students at Bates College received a mysterious orange flyer informing them that if they are out of state, students that they must change their driver's license and re-register their vehicle (which the flyer claimed cost \"usually hundreds of dollars in total\").  The flyer included an official government website address, as well as references to several state statutes regarding the registration of personal motorized vehicles in Maine. College students in Maine: This flyer is FALSE. You may use your dorm as your legal address to vote. pic.twitter.com\/jOE6MvH02s  \u2014 Maine College Dems (@MECollegeDem) November 7, 2016  To the average college student, this flyer would probably seem legit. However, as the above tweet states, college students are allowed to use their dorm address as their permanent residence while attending school in the state.  Maine's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has requested that the Justice Department step in to investigate.  \"The governor's statement seems designed to make college students afraid to vote,\" Zachary Heiden, legal director at the ACLU of Maine, said in a statement. \"Voter intimidation and harassment is illegal, and we call on the Department of Justice to investigate the intent of the governor's comments.  \"College students who live in Maine have the right to vote in Maine, and they are not subject to different laws than anyone else. Many of these young people are voting for the first time in a presidential election. The governor should be encouraging that civic participation, not doing everything in his power to undermine it.\"  Maine's Democratic party is calling this a classic case of GOP voter suppression efforts aimed at minority groups whom they feel will vote Democratic.  \"The false information contained in these fliers is a deliberate attempt to suppress the millennial vote,\" Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said in a statement. \"There is nothing in Maine law that states that college students must change their driver's licenses in order to vote.  \"In fact, the Secretary of State's office has made explicitly clear that a dorm can be a student's legal voting residence, and that paying out-of-state tuition does not preclude a student from voting. Maine also has same-day voter registration, so students who are not registered to vote in Maine can still register on Election Day. We urge all Bates students to spread the word to their fellow classmates about their voting rights here in Maine.\"  Despite their best efforts, numerous states are reporting record turnout numbers, which traditionally doesn't bode well for Republicans who prefer low voter turnout for any group that's isn't non-educated, white, and male.","label":1}
{"text":"Get short URL 0 18 0 0 As many as 22 children and six teachers were killed in an attack on a school compound in the Syrian city of Idlib, which may amount to a war crime if it were deliberate, Anthony Lake, the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), According to Lake, the attack was the deadliest since the Syrian war began in 2011. \u00a9 Sputnik\/ Michael Alaeddin Aleppo's 'Humanitarian Pause': Militants Launch Mortar Attack on Civilians Preparing to Leave \"Twenty-two children and six teachers were reportedly murdered today when their school compound was repeatedly attacked in Idlib, Syria. This is a tragedy. It is an outrage. And if deliberate, it is a war crime,\" Lake said in a statement on Wednesday.  Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, following the protests that had turned violent, as part of the so-called Arab Spring. During the conflict, hundreds of thousands Syrians have been killed and millions more have been displaced. ...","label":1}
{"text":"Mudassir, 18, from Pakistan s city of Peshawar has tried to enter the European Union 30 times but was always caught and sent back to his starting point in Serbia. Now, he and dozens of other migrants are braving near-freezing temperatures in shrubs and fields near Sid, a northwestern Serbian town just outside European Union s member Croatia, hoping to make another border run. They spend nights in tents and makeshift shelters in a shrub they call - the jungle. I have tried 30 times, I am in Serbia for 16 months, ... I am tired of sleeping in the jungle , said Mudassir, dressed in a black hooded jacket. Meanwhile, other migrants, all young males, huddled outside an abandoned printing factory in the outskirts of Sid, waiting for a meal delivered by an international volunteer group, the No Name Kitchen. The so-called Balkan route for migrants was shut last year when Turkey agreed to stop the flow in return for EU aid and a promise of visa-free travel for its own citizens. But people mainly from the Middle East, Africa and Asia continued to arrive in Serbia, mainly from Turkey, via neighboring Bulgaria, attempting to enter Croatia and the EU. According to official data there are as many as 4,500 migrants in government-operated camps in Serbia. Rights activists say that hundreds are scattered in the capital Belgrade and towns along the Croatian border. Muhammad, 22 from the Moroccan town of Oujda, said he has tried to reach the EU 26 times. Three times he made it to Slovenia, but was caught and deported back to Serbia. I will try again ... my family is in France and my girlfriend is in Italy, Muhammad said. Bruno Alvares of the No Name Kitchen said migrants are given two meals a day, water, clothes, footwear and tents. Even if it is cold, it doesn t matter, they will keep on trying because there s ... no evolution in their lives in camps, Alvares said. Migrants who cannot afford to pay smugglers, often hide in passing trucks and freight trains or ride on the top of them. Recently an Afghan girl was killed by a train as she and her family attempted to cross into Croatia.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump set the tone for a tense first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week by tweeting on Thursday that the United States could no longer tolerate massive trade deficits and job losses. The White House said Trump would host Xi next Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. It said Trump and his wife, Melania, would host Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at a dinner next Thursday. In a tweet on Thursday evening, Trump said the highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies, which is also expected to cover differences over North Korea and China's strategic ambitions in the South China Sea, \"will be a very difficult one.\" \"We can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses,\" he wrote, adding in apparent reference to U.S. firms manufacturing in China: \"American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives.\" Despite a string of U.S.-China meetings and conversations that have appeared aimed at mending ties after strong criticism of China by Trump during his election campaign, U.S. officials have said the Republican president will not pull his punches in the meeting. General Electric Co Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt urged Trump on Thursday to maintain the country's economic relationship with China, saying the United States had much to gain from globalization. \"The country loses if we don't trade. The relationship with China is key,\" Immelt told an aviation panel hosted by industry group the Wings Club. \"If you give up on trade, you give up on the best lever that the president of the United States has in negotiating around the world. I just think that President Trump is too smart to give up on that.\" The U.S. Commerce Department said earlier that Beijing must change its trade practices and the way its state enterprises operate. \"China and others need to realize the games are over \u2013 continuing their unfair trade practices and operation as a non-market economy will have serious consequences,\" it said. The department said it was launching a new review of China's status as a non-market economy, which allows the United States to maintain high anti-dumping duties on cheap Chinese imports, but the designation is widely expected to remain in place. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang stressed the need to see the big picture while fostering mutual trade interests. \"The market dictates that interests between our two countries are structured so that you will always have me and I will always have you,\" he told a regular briefing. \"Both sides should work together to make the cake of mutual interest bigger and not simply seek fairer distribution.\" Trump administration officials say the need for China to do more to rein in the nuclear and missile programs of its neighbor and ally North Korea will top the agenda, along with trade. The U.S. side is also expected to criticize Beijing for its pursuit of expansive claims in the South China Sea. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing the meeting would be an opportunity for Trump \"to develop a relationship in person with President Xi.\" \"He's spoken to him on the phone a few times, but we have big problems ... everything from the South China Sea, to trade, to North Korea. There are big issues of national and economic security that need to get addressed.\" Asked if the administration had a vision, or a description for its China policy like the \"pivot\" or \"rebalance\" to Asia touted by former President Barack Obama, Spicer said: \"Right now we're not worried so much about slogans as much as progress. \"There's a lot of big things that we need to accomplish with China, and I think that we will - we will work on them.\" U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson agreed in Beijing this month to work with China on North Korea and stressed Trump's desire to enhance understanding. China has been irritated at being told repeatedly by Washington to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, or face U.S. sanctions on Chinese businesses trading with North Korea, and by the U.S. decision to base an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. Beijing is also deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions toward self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, after Trump, as president-elect, broke with decades of U.S. policy by taking a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and saying Washington did not have to stick to a \"one China\" policy. Trump later agreed in a phone call with Xi to honor the long-standing policy and has also written to him since seeking \"constructive ties.\"","label":0}
{"text":"According to Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Michael Flynn is not willing to cooperate with the committee s investigation into Russian interference in American elections.In an interview with Capitol Hill press on Thursday, Burr told reporters that Flynn s attorneys have not yet indicated their attentions to comply with a subpoena, despite the fact that is only a day or two left before Flynn will be forced to produce documents and testimony or be held in contempt. Senator Burr was careful to couch his words to maintain an impartial stance, but reporters present said that the senator was clearly upset by Flynn s disregard for the investigation.Burr initially said that Flynn wasn t going to comply with the subpoena, but walked that statement back in order to make it clear that there was still time for his lawyers to reach out to the committee if they chose to do so.Do the MSM think I'm dumb enough 2 accpt their interview rqusts only 2 see my words twisted\/spun 2 fit their #fakenews agenda? #WastingTime I LOVE AMERICA?? (@mflynnJR) May 17, 2017Flynn himself has declined to comment on the investigation altogether, although his son, Michael Flynn Jr. has been talking on Twitter.Refusing to comply with this subpoena will all but disqualify Flynn from the immunity he sought last month, when his lawyer went on Twitter to beg multiple investigations to consider offering it to his client.Immunity from prosecution typically follows a clearly defined legal path, where the guilty party first meets with prosecutors and tells them everything he knows in a sealed session, which gives them time to consider making a deal. This is called a proffer session and Flynn has shown no willingness to do it.Instead, it appears as though Flynn and his attorneys expect the senate committee to blindly trust that Flynn has something meaningful to say in exchange for immunity.Judging by Burr s response, the senators aren t biting, and they re starting to lose their patience. Photo by Mario Tama via Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"Putin awards Emir Kusturica with Order of Friendship 27 October 2016 TASS Kusturica has been given many awards for his activities. Facebook putin , serbia , award  Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded a number of cultural workers with Orders and Medals, one of them being Serbian movie director Emir Kusturica. The related decree was published on the official legal information website on Thursday.  \"Emir Kusturica, director of the Rasta International production company, citizen of the Republic of Serbia, is being awarded with the Order of Friendship for his significant contribution to promoting friendship and cooperation between peoples, preserving and promoting the Russian language and culture in foreign countries,\" the presidential decree says.  Emir Kusturica was born on November 24, 1954 in Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia. He initiated the International the Kustendorf International Film and Music Festival and a short documentaries festival in Visegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2005, he was President of the Cannes Film Festival Jury, in 2011 he presided over the jury of the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival official selection.  Kusturica has been given many awards for his activities, including the Order of Arts and Literature (France, 2007), Order of the Legion of Honor (France, 2011), Order of St. Sava (Serbian Orthodox Church, 2012), Order of St. King Milutin (Serbian Orthodox Church, 2014), Order of St. Stephen (Serbian Orthodox Church, 2016). In 2009, he received the Unity of Orthodox Nations International Foundation Award.  First published by TASS .","label":1}
{"text":"It s astonishing that after all of the fake Russia collusion on Trump, we have Hillary, Obama and others who are the real thugs dealing with Russia:SENATOR CHUCK GRASSLEY HAD THIS TO SAY ABOUT THE RUSSIA URANIUM DEAL: Despite an ongoing criminal investigation into officials working for subsidiaries of Rosatom, the Russian government entity seeking to acquire ownership of U.S. uranium, the Obama Administration approved the deal. The Justice Department has reportedly threatened to prosecute the informant if he discloses details of his involvement in the investigation. The Executive Branch does not have the authority to use non-disclosure agreements to avoid Congressional scrutiny. If the FBI is allowed to contract itself out of Congressional oversight, it would seriously undermine our Constitutional system of checks and balances. The Justice Department needs to work with the Committee to ensure that witnesses are free to speak without fear, intimidation or retaliation from law enforcement. Witnesses who want to talk to Congress should not be gagged and threatened with prosecution for talking. If that has happened, senior DOJ leadership needs to fix it and release the witness from the gag order, Grassley said.","label":1}
{"text":"How do you feed and shelter nearly half a million traumatized people who have made their way, over the course of just one month, to a spit of monsoon-soaked land where 300,000 refugees are already living in squalor? That is the challenge for aid workers scrambling to help the Rohingya Muslims now crowded into the Cox s Bazar region of southern Bangladesh after a spasm of violence in Myanmar s Rakhine state sent them fleeing across the border. Nothing comparable, in terms of the number of people arriving in such a short space of time, has happened since 1994 in Rwanda, said Christopher Lom, Asia-Pacific spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). About 480,000 men, women and children have arrived in Cox s Bazar since the end of August, according to United Nations estimates. Most came with nothing more than the clothes they wore. Nearly 200 of the women have given birth since they arrived and another 20,000 are pregnant. Meeting the needs of such a vast number - indefinitely, because there is nowhere else for them to go - in one of the poorest regions of a poor country is a logistical nightmare for the Bangladesh government, U.N. agencies and aid organizations. There was a taste of what was to come in October and November last year, when a smaller outbreak of violence brought and influx of 80,000 Rohingya. That prompted improvements in infrastructure and coordination in Cox s Bazar, said the United Nations local chief coordinator, Robert Watkins. It was working extremely well, he said. And then we got this wave of humanity, and we were overwhelmed. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said after a visit to Cox s Bazar this week that the most urgent needs were shelter, clean water and sanitation. Really the first order of business, the first challenge, is to get people out of the mud and the despair in which they are finding themselves into a place where organized relief can be provided, he told a news conference in Geneva. The combination of limited health facilities, poor sanitary and hygiene conditions and overcrowded sites ... is a recipe for disaster in terms of possible epidemics. So far 475 tonnes of aid have arrived at Chittagong airport north of Cox s Bazar, much of it from Muslim-majority countries shocked by the killings and torching of villages in northwestern Rakhine, which U.N. officials have branded ethnic cleansing. While the initial response was chaotic, say aid experts, due to the sheer volume of people arriving, Bangladesh has since won some praise for improvements in organization. At a Sept. 14 meeting in the prime minister s office in Dhaka, the authorities made 22 decisions to remove logistical hurdles. According to a document reviewed by Reuters, these included building 14 storage warehouses, regulating aid distribution, protecting orphans, building roads and power infrastructure, and setting up shelters for more than 500,000 people. Mohammad Shah Kamal, Bangladesh s secretary of disaster management and relief and the main coordinator of the aid effort, said the armed forces were scanning shipments of aid and transporting them from airports and ports to Cox s Bazar, where local officials take charge of distribution. I think everyone has been surprised at the Bangladeshi government, said Karim Elguindi, a senior World Food Program official in Cox s Bazar, noting that it was fast-tracking everything , had offered police support and helped with customs delays. But the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, which is leading the humanitarian response to the influx of Rohingya, said in a recent update that basic coordination was still lacking because staff and agencies had not been assigned to specific camps. Bangladesh hopes to make room for new arrivals by building a 2,000-acre camp in the Ukhia area of Cox s Bazar. The U.N. says much of this area is not suitable for habitation because it lacks water, sewerage and roads, but many refugees are already settling there anyway. Complicating aid efforts are private civic and religious groups that throw food and clothes off the back of trucks, which experts say is no way to get relief to the neediest. Thousands of tarpaulin shelters that refugees have built in recent weeks stretching across dozens of small hills and rice paddies are only accessible by long walks across flimsy bamboo bridges. Families in one of the most remote parts of the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp, a 40-minute walk from the nearest official distribution point, said they mostly rely on handouts from relatives to survive. Mushtaq Ahmed, 66, a religious teacher, sheltering from the rain under a tarpaulin, said he has resorted to begging to buy rice for his children and grandchildren. He has tried to throw himself into the scramble for aid thrown from trucks but comes away with nothing. There are too many people rushing, he said. I am too weak to get it.","label":0}
{"text":"Saturday s GOP debate got off to a hilarious start as candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump both failed to appear on stage after their names were called.Video posted to YouTube by the Washington Free Beacon shows an obviously confused Ben Carson hovering off stage for several minutes, after he apparently failed to hear his name called during the introductions.At this point we see a man at the end of the hallway frantically gesturing to Carson to walk out onto the stage.After a long, awkward pause, during which the cameras were honed in on Carson, the announcer goes on to introduce Ted Cruz.Carson begins to walk toward the stage, then suddenly stops, realizing that it was Cruz s name, not his own, that was called.Carson moves further off stage, and Cruz walks past him, patting his arm.After Cruz takes to the stage, the man at the end of the hallway appears again. Yet again he can be seen waving wildly at Carson, prompting him to walk out.But nope. Carson remains dazed and confused.The announcer then calls Donald Trump.Trump saunters slowly around the corner, but he also fails to walk out on the stage.With Carson and Trump both hovering in the hall, the announcer goes on to introduce Marco Rubio.Rubio walks past both of the other candidates, as Trump stands awkwardly near Carson.Jeb Bush is called next. Bush glides right on past Trump and Carson, who clearly have no idea what they re supposed to doing.After all of the other candidates have finally taken to the stage, the moderators personally invite Carson to come out of the hallway.A moment later they call Donald Trump, noting that he s standing back there as well. Trump misses it again. He finally gets it right the third time around.Watch the hilarious video, courtesy of the Washington Free Beacon on YouTube. Those who watch the GOP debates hoping for substance or serious policy discussion are sure to be disappointed, every time.But those of us who watch expecting nothing more than a good laugh are rarely disappointed.Image credit: video screen capture via Washington Free Beacon on YouTube","label":1}
{"text":"Leave a reply Charles Hugh Smith \u2013 Let's set aside Hillary Clinton as an individual and consider her as the perfection of a corrupt political system. As I noted yesterday, Politics As Usual Is Dead , and Hillary Clinton is the ultimate product of the political system that is disintegrating before our eyes. The corruption of pay-to-play and the commingling of public and private influence is not the failing of an individual\u2013it is the logical conclusion of a thoroughly corrupt political system. Given the incentives built into politics as usual, public\/private pay-to-play doesn't just make sense\u2013it is the only possible maximization of the political system. Cobble together a multi-million dollar private foundation, millions of dollars in speaking fees from big-money contributors, conflicts of interest, the secrecy of private email servers, pay-to-play schemes and corrupted loyalists planted in the Department of Justice, and the inevitable result is a politics as usual money-harvesting machine that lays waste to the nation, supporters and critics alike. All the Clintons did is assemble the parts more effectively than anyone else.Now that the machine has scooped up hundreds of millions of dollars in \"contributions\" and other loot, vested interests and corrupted loyalists within the federal government will do anything to protect the machine and its vast flow of funds. The nation's political system needs a thorough cleaning from top to bottom. Exposing the Clintons' perfection of politics as usual won't change the conditions and incentives that created the Clintons' harvester of corruption. That will require rooting out the incentives that made the Clintons' perfection of corruption both logical and inevitable. SF Source Of Two Minds Nov. 2016 Share this:","label":1}
{"text":"November 9, 2016 at 1:35 pm  i agree with some of what you say but the shit about hitting russia hard? Ukraine wouldn't get within ten feet of russia, they would be wiped out in a day and so would the usa and nato if the come within 100 miles of russia borders. they need to drag russia out. thats why they wont fuck with crimea, that comes under russian territory and within russia umbrella of border area denial defence network. sure they can keep prodding but in july last year Ukrainian dumb cunts got too close.. a two minute salvo from russian artillery wiped out two battalions of vodka guzzling goat fucking neo nazis.. 2 fucking minutes.","label":1}
{"text":"Washington has dramatically increased tensions in talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement by proposing that the lifespan of any new deal be limited to five years, people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. The proposal for a so-called sunset clause - just one of a series of U.S. initiatives that are opposed by NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico - only served to increase uncertainty about the future of the deal. Two sources with direct knowledge of the talks described the atmosphere as \"horrible\" and highly charged. The U.S. side proposed the sunset clause late on Wednesday during the fourth of seven scheduled rounds to update the rules governing one of the world's biggest trade blocs, said two officials, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The Trump administration says the clause, causing NAFTA to expire every five years unless all three countries agree it should continue, is to ensure the pact stays up to date. But Mexico and Canada insist there is no point updating the pact with such a threat hanging over it, arguing the clause would stunt investment by sowing too much uncertainty about the future of the agreement. \"It's a source of total uncertainty,\" said one of the NAFTA government officials. Speaking in Mexico City, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said the government was working on plans to alter tariffs and identify substitute markets in case the NAFTA talks failed. His remarks and the tension around NAFTA helped push the peso down 1 percent against the U.S. dollar to a five-month low. U.S. President Donald Trump says NAFTA, originally signed in 1994, has been a disaster for the United States and has frequently threatened to scrap it unless major changes are made. Business and farm groups say abandoning the 23-year-old pact would wreak economic havoc, disrupting cross-border manufacturing supply chains and slapping high tariffs on agricultural products. Trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico has quadrupled under NAFTA, now topping $1.2 trillion a year. In addition to the sunset clause, the United States wants to boost how much North American content autos must contain to qualify for tax-free status and eliminate a dispute settlement mechanisms that Canada insists must stay. Some trade observers said it is difficult to see how negotiators could reach an agreement given U.S. demands that many see as non-starters. The head of Unifor, Canada's largest private sector labor union, said it was clear the United States did not want a deal. \"NAFTA is not going anywhere. This thing is going into the toilet,\" Jerry Dias told reporters on Thursday. Despite clear signs of impatience from Canada in particular, U.S. negotiators have yet to submit their proposal on rules of origin for the auto sector. That looked unlikely to come before Friday, another official familiar with the talks said. Trump on Wednesday repeated his warnings that he might terminate the pact and said he was open to doing a bilateral deal with either Canada or Mexico. He was speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who later said Canada was \"braced\" for Trump's unpredictability. Negotiators were also set to cover the difficult issue of government procurement on Thursday. Canada and Mexico want their companies to be able to bid on more U.S. federal and state government contracts, but this is at odds with Trump's \"Buy American\" agenda. U.S. negotiators have countered with a proposal that would effectively grant the other countries less access, people familiar with the talks say. On automotive rules of origin, NAFTA negotiators face tough new U.S. demands to increase regional vehicle content to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, with 50 percent required from the United States, according to people briefed on the plan. The rules of origin demands are among several conditions that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has labeled \"poison pill proposals\" that threaten to torpedo the talks.","label":0}
{"text":"A federal appeals court in New York has thrown out a $655. 5 million verdict rendered last year that had held the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization liable for their roles in supporting terrorist attacks in Israel that claimed American lives. In reversing the verdict on Wednesday in the case, which drew the attention of the Obama administration, the appeals court did not minimize the impact of the six terrorist attacks, which occurred from 2002 to 2004, but it held that the Federal District Court in Manhattan had lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case. \"The terror attacks and suicide bombings that triggered this suit and victimized these plaintiffs were unquestionably horrific,\" said a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan. \"But the federal courts cannot exercise jurisdiction in a civil case beyond the limits prescribed by the due process clause of the Constitution,\" the court added, \"no matter how horrendous the underlying attacks or morally compelling the plaintiffs' claims. \" The plaintiffs included 10 families, comprising about three dozen people, eight of whom were physically injured in the attacks, as well as the estates of several victims who were killed. The suit was brought under the Act, which provided for the tripling of the $218. 5 million in damages awarded by a Manhattan jury. The law, which allows United States citizens who are the victims of international terrorism to sue in the federal courts, was passed some years after the 1985 murder of Leon Klinghoffer in the Palestinian hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. Kent A. Yalowitz, a lawyer for the families in the case, said in a statement that the law had been passed by Congress \"to protect Americans wherever in the world they traveled. \" \"The very terrorists who prompted the law have now hidden behind the U. S. Constitution to avoid responsibility for their crimes,\" Mr. Yalowitz said. \"This cruel decision must be corrected so that these families may receive justice. \" Mr. Yalowitz said the plaintiffs were weighing their options, which could include seeking review by the full appeals court, or asking the United States Supreme Court to hear the case. The attacks in Israel occurred on the street, at a crowded bus stop and inside a bus, and in a cafeteria on the Hebrew University campus. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the P. L. O. 's executive committee who testified for the defense in the trial, expressed satisfaction with the appeals court's decision, saying, \"I hope this is the end of it. \" Speaking by telephone from Ramallah in the West Bank, Ms. Ashrawi said, \"Finally the American justice system proved its impartiality. \" She added that the decision \"restores my faith in the judicial system. \" The jury in the trial, which ended in February 2015, heard emotional testimony from victims and witnesses in the attacks. But in finding that the federal court lacked jurisdiction, the appellate panel ruled that the connections between the Palestinian defendants and the United States were not sufficient to give the trial court the power to hear the plaintiffs' claims. Judge John G. Koeltl, writing for the panel, said the attacks in Israel had not been \"expressly aimed at the United States,\" and evidence presented by the plaintiffs had established the attacks' \"random and fortuitous nature. \" \"Evidence at trial showed that the shooters fired 'indiscriminately,'\" the judge wrote, \"and chose sites for their suicide bomb attacks that were 'full of people,' because they sought to kill 'as many people as possible. '\" The decision was joined by Judges Pierre N. Leval and Christopher F. Droney. The trial judge, George B. Daniels, had required the Palestinian Authority to post a bond of $10 million and an additional $1 million monthly to appeal the case. The bond is typically 111 percent of the judgment, but the authority said it could not afford that. Lawyers for the victims had objected to the lower amount, but the authority won support from an unexpected source: the Obama administration. Officials at the Justice and State Departments had asked Judge Daniels to consider the ramifications of requiring too high a bond, suggesting that doing so could cause economic and political harm to the Palestinian Authority and the broader peace process. \"A P. A. insolvency and collapse would harm current and future U. S. efforts to achieve a solution to the conflict,\" Antony J. Blinken, the deputy secretary of state, said in a court filing in August 2015. The government's filing came after sharp debate between officials at the State and Justice Departments over the strategy to take in the case.","label":0}
{"text":"Anyone inclined to find joy when a president's taste collides with yours had a lot to choose from with Barack Obama. There was the time he dropped by the Los Angeles garage where the comedian Marc Maron records his podcast or when he sat between the two ferns where Zach Galifianakis pretends to be a boob hosting a talk show. At the 2015 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, he did a bit with Key as Luther, Mr. Obama's fictional but legitimately irate \"anger translator\" from \"Key Peele. \" He called Kanye West a jackass, invited Miranda to the White House Poetry Jam to perform a song from \"Hamilton\" before \"Hamilton\" was even a thing, and, for two straight years, dropped thoroughly convincing Spotify playlists. That doesn't even include the New York Review of Books conversation (in two parts!) between him and the novelist Marilynne Robinson. They talked about \u2026 about \u2026 well it's just sobering and oracular, and you should read it. But of all the culture Barack Obama has been a part of, inspired, commented on or cultivated, of all the ways in which the culture seemed to evolve around \u2014 and unconsciously respond to \u2014 him, the thing that says so much about his unprecedented relationship to art and popular culture is actually, in the vast scheme of things, just a footnote. Which is to say it's pretty small yet so illustrative of his sense of respect, professionalism and awe. It was the time he was emailed for a quote. The occasion was the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. The inductees included Carole King, who sat in the balcony between her fellow inductee George Lucas and the first couple. And during Ms. King's tribute, out came Aretha Franklin, who sat at a piano in a fur coat and sang \"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,\" the classic Ms. King wrote, and Ms. Franklin released in 1967. Her appearance was pretty much expected. The shock was how powerfully good, at 73, Ms. Franklin sounded \u2014 so good that you worried ecstasy would send Ms. King toppling off the balcony, so good that Mr. Obama wiped tears from his eyes. For a critical profile of Ms. Franklin in The New Yorker, its editor, David Remnick, reached out to the president. As a critic, I feel a duty to point out that that's an unusual move. Mr. Remnick is also, among other things, a critic. He knows Ms. Franklin's worth as an American treasure and that it has no price. He's more than equipped to sum her up. But he outsourced that job. To the president of the United States. And if you got to that section of that story and considered rolling your eyes (\"When I emailed President Obama about Aretha Franklin and that night \u2026 \") you immediately retreated when you read what Mr. Obama wrote in response. \"Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the spiritual, the blues, R. B. rock and roll \u2014 the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope,\" he wrote back, through his press secretary. \"American history wells up when Aretha sings. That's why, when she sits down at a piano and sings 'A Natural Woman,' she can move me to tears \u2014 the same way that Ray Charles's version of 'America the Beautiful' will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performed \u2014 because it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence. \" Mr. Remnick wrote to him because he knew that Barack Obama would deliver. Mr. Remnick asked for two cents. The president gave him a dollar. Mr. Obama, for nearly all of his tenure, was fully aware of, interested in, and knowledgeable about popular culture, even as it grew impossible to take it all in. He tried: sports, movies, television, the internet, music, books. He was protean and catholic. He was thoughtful and cool and yet far from it. He was a version of America's dad and the dad some kids wished theirs could be: fit for world leadership, fit for a sitcom. Lots of smart people are poring over Mr. Obama's record to divine a legacy. Which policies will last? How did he change the job? How did he distinguish himself? But this was a presidency whose few faint whiffs of scandal included being surreptitiously videoed last year by Usher dancing listlessly to Drake's \"Hotline Bling,\" which was more than a year old. So to be fair: It's an addictive song, and he moved like someone who had been dancing to it since it came out. In other words, Mr. Obama's place in popular culture has always felt new, alive and mostly underappreciated. Obviously, other presidents have had a relationship with American culture. Television was in its creative infancy when Dwight D. Eisenhower entered office in 1953, and he took quick advantage of the power of its immediacy. When John F. Kennedy turned 45, he received American history's most famous \"Happy Birthday\" from Marilyn Monroe. But it was tragedy and a glamorous wife that ensured Kennedy's legacy in popular culture. Richard Nixon disliked \"All in the Family\" and was an avid moviegoer, who according to Mark Feeney's surprising book \"Nixon at the Movies,\" watched about 500 films during his presidency. Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood actor before he was a politician, and, as a candidate, Bill Clinton made a lot of sense on MTV and Arsenio Hall's talk show. But has any president been as conversant in the art and popular culture of this country as Barack Obama? Who has been as committed to opening up the White House to the sorts of artists he has? Lunches with the novelists Zadie Smith, Barbara Kingsolver, Junot D\u00edaz, Dave Eggers and Colson Whitehead. One lunch, actually. That was one lunch. Initiative summits that included Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Ludacris, Rick Ross, Pusha T. Common and Chance the Rapper. (So many different rappers and RB singers have come through the White House in the last eight years that the BET Awards could sue for copyright infringement.) Last year, Barack and Michelle Obama hosted \"Jazz at the White House,\" which featured appearances by so many magnificent, important people that to type out all the names \u2014 Chick Corea, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ms. Franklin, for openers \u2014 is to make a very fancy shopping list. Mr. Obama brought all kinds of art and culture into the White House, and he sought culture out. At the same time, how we experience that art and culture, changed as much as the culture itself. When he entered office, in 2009, Netflix was a service. Now it's a major reason we no longer watch TV we scarf it down. But that disruption \u2014 from channels and networks to platforms and apps \u2014 also unleashed TV that looked more like America: more nonwhite characters, more women, more gays. He presided over an era in which television and movies grappled with the meaning and meaninglessness of race, whether to laugh at it or take it seriously or ignore it altogether, whether the idea of a postracial America was ever possible, as though electing a black man for eight years erases the traumas of 400. To that end, \"30 Rock\" was the great situation comedy \u2014 a workplace farce, on and loosely about NBC, that hit its stride in 2008 and ran until 2013. Not so secretly, it was about the insurmountable work of race and gender. Meanwhile, the American movie industry went all in on franchises and sequels while leaving art and humanity for TV. But the \"Fast and Furious\" movies did bounce off the assembly line. The series started in 2001, essentially died in 2003, and came roaring back to life at the start of Mr. Obama's first term and is ludicrously yet thankfully on the verge of an eighth installment. The protagonists are car thieves turned action heroes, who are mostly black, Asian, Latina or racially ambiguous. These aren't great movies. But they're great, fun: serious and without too much (or any) . And they take an issue that Hollywood has always struggled with \u2014 what to do with all these talented, interesting people of color? \u2014 and laughs at it. What to do? It's not that hard: Let 'em drive. Mr. Obama had his priorities straight, of course. Pop culture and art aren't aspects of American life that should dominate a presidency. They have little to do with the business of governance. But Mr. Obama has always seemed to understand the importance of culture as mirror, window, escape hatch and haven. The Obamas were catholic in their tastes not because they had to be, but because that's what we should be: open. Their minds were open, their hearts were open, their arms were open \u2014 to the Willie Nelsons, the Beyonc\u00e9s, the Junot D\u00edazes, to all kinds of excellence. One of the happiest cultural events I've ever watched was the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony in November. The honor went to 21 men and women, from Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks and Michael Jordan to Cicely Tyson and Diana Ross and Ellen DeGeneres. Bill and Melinda Gates were honored. So were Maya Lin and Robert Redford. Mr. Obama had good material for most of them \u2014 philanthropists, movies stars, architect, alike. And, as he so often does and gets nary enough credit for, he delivered it with perfectly timed drollery. (He could easily enjoy a second career as a comedian.) These people meant something to him. His joshing notwithstanding, a few of them appeared to mean everything. The knock on Mr. Obama was that he was dry and aloof. Perhaps but not always. He understood what laughter could do. He knew the power of songs. He knew the power of singers, even if the only person doing the singing was, at first, only him. In 2015, at the memorial service after the Charleston massacre, he takes a dramatic, deliberative pause before intoning the lyrics to \"Amazing Grace. \" He starts and the choir behind him rises, out of surprise. You can tell he's not singing because he thinks his baritone sounds good. He's singing because something's come over him, the way it does me, the way it does lots of people. What appears to have come over him at that memorial is both a sincere holiness and a rare, powerfully particular recognition of the glory and tragic risk of being black and American: He had to sing. In that moment, that song was all he seemed to have. That's not a sensation you go looking for. It finds you. Good historians tend to know the right moment to evaluate a president's place. They wait until the office is behind him, for the right mix of distance and scholarship. In the meantime, Barack Obama's performance as president \u2014 meaning the performance he gave in the role of president of the United States \u2014 was flawless. Culturally speaking, he didn't use his office to lift up, enlighten and entertain so much as share it. He wrote to David Remnick that he loved Ray Charles's version of \"America the Beautiful\" because \"it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence. \" The man knows his country and his Ray. But it's entirely possible to read that quote and catch a chill because Mr. Obama could easily have been writing about himself.","label":0}
{"text":"When Donald J. Trump chose Representative Tom Price of Georgia to be his health and human services secretary, the American Medical Association swiftly endorsed the selection of one of its own, an orthopedic surgeon who has championed the role of physicians throughout his legislative career. Then the larger world of doctors and nurses weighed in on the beliefs and record of Mr. Price, a suburban Atlanta Republican \u2014 and the split among caregivers, especially doctors, quickly grew sharp. \"The A. M. A. does not speak for us,\" says a petition signed by more than 5, 000 doctors. Mr. Trump and a Congress are considering some of the biggest changes to the American health care system in generations: not only the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which is providing insurance to some 20 million people, but also the transformation of Medicare, for older Americans, and Medicaid, for people. Mr. Price has favored those changes. Seven years ago, the A. M. A. 's support helped lift President Obama's health care proposals toward passage, and the group has backed the law, with some reservations, since its adoption in 2010. But as Republicans push for its dismantlement, deep disagreements within the A. M. A. which has long wielded tremendous power in Washington, could lessen its influence. The concerns voiced by dissident doctors do not appear to imperil Senate confirmation of Mr. Price, but they do ensure that his confirmation hearings next month will be as contentious as any held for a Trump nominee, featuring a full public examination of the new president's proposed health policies. \"Doctors are divided big time,\" said Dr. Carl G. Streed Jr. a primary care doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a member of the A. M. A. house of delegates, the organization's principal body. The controversy began soon after Mr. Trump announced on Nov. 29 that he had chosen Mr. Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services, which controls Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act's federal health insurance exchange, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Within hours, the A. M. A. \u2014 the nation's largest medical advocacy group, which has nearly 235, 000 members and calls itself \"the voice of the medical profession\" \u2014 issued a statement saying it \"strongly supports\" the selection. It noted Mr. Price's experience as a doctor, a state legislator and a member of Congress. It praised, in particular, his support for \"patient choice and solutions\" and his efforts to reduce \"excessive regulatory burdens\" on doctors. The enthusiasm was understandable at one level: Mr. Price has been a member of the A. M. A. house of delegates since 2005 and was an alternate delegate for a decade before that, according to the A. M. A. and the Medical Association of Georgia. \"For those who are attacking Dr. Price, I have to ask whom you would rather have at the helm of H. H. S. \u2014 a career bureaucrat? A former governor who views doctors as a cost center to be controlled?\" said Dr. Robert E. Hertzka of San Diego, an anesthesiologist and former president of the California Medical Association. \"Tom Price may turn out to be the best friend that physicians and patients have ever had in that role. \" Many doctors are not willing to take that chance. More than 750 people who identify themselves as members of the A. M. A. signed a letter to the association's board objecting to the endorsement. The \"unqualified support\" for Mr. Price is inappropriate, the letter says, because he has been \"a strong opponent of so much of our clearly delineated A. M. A. policy\" on issues like the Affordable Care Act, contraception and gay rights. Some doctors also said patients could be hurt by major changes in Medicare and Medicaid that Mr. Price, along with other House Republicans, has advocated. Dr. Andrea S. Christopher, 32, an internal medicine doctor at the veterans hospital in Boise, Idaho, said she had decided not to renew her A. M. A. membership over the endorsement, which she called especially upsetting to her generation of physicians. \"Dr. Price has been an outspoken opponent of the Affordable Care Act, which has done so much to address the needs of our most vulnerable patients and reduced the uninsured rate to the lowest level on record,\" Dr. Christopher said. Dr. Kristin M. Huntoon, a neurosurgery resident at Ohio State University in Columbus, said the group's support for Mr. Price had increased the chances that the Affordable Care Act would be dismantled \u2014 and that has put her patients at risk. Ohio has extended Medicaid coverage to more than 600, 000 people under the federal health care law. If that expansion is reversed, Dr. Huntoon said, some patients will not receive imaging or treatment at an early stage of their disease, and they are more likely to arrive when tumors have spread to the brain. \"At that stage,\" she said, \"there's often nothing I can do for the patient. \" Physicians have long been a focus of Mr. Price's legislative efforts. He led the push to fix widely recognized flaws in Medicare's formula for paying doctors and supported changes in malpractice laws that could make it easier for doctors to defend themselves. He supported changes in Medicare that would allow doctors to get around fee limits by signing contracts with patients. He has also backed changes in antitrust law that would enhance doctors' bargaining power in negotiations with insurance companies. \"Pocketbook issues \u2014 the economic of physicians \u2014 may well be a factor contributing to the A. M. A. 's endorsement,\" said Dr. Manan Trivedi, a former Democratic candidate for Congress, who is the president of the National Physicians Alliance, a group of 10, 000 doctors that opposes Mr. Price's confirmation. Dr. Patrice A. Harris, the chairwoman of the A. M. A. strongly defended the group's actions and suggested that Mr. Price could surprise critics as Dr. C. Everett Koop did in the 1980s, when he was surgeon general under President Ronald Reagan. Liberal politicians and women's groups initially criticized Dr. Koop because of his opposition to abortion, but when he stepped down after more than seven years in office, he was widely praised for his role in fighting AIDS and discouraging the use of tobacco. \"We do realize that there is a diversity of opinion on Dr. Price,\" Dr. Harris said in an interview. \"We respect that diversity. We take the concerns that have been expressed by some of our members and by physicians in general seriously. \"Our support for Dr. Price is based on our history with him, his extensive involvement with A. M. A. ,\" she added. \"He's a longtime member, he's a delegate. For us, he has always been accessible. He listens, and he really knows how policies impact the delivery of care and the relationship. \" Phillip J. Blando, a spokesman for the Trump transition team, said Mr. Price had been endorsed by many medical groups and was \"uniquely prepared\" for the job. \"If confirmed,\" he said, \"Dr. Price will work to restore the relationship and clamp down on government overreach. \" Mr. Price has introduced legislation to repeal Mr. Obama's health law, including its expansion of Medicaid and subsidies for the purchase of private insurance. He advocates tax credits to help people buy insurance, greater use of individual health savings accounts and \" pools\" for people with conditions who might otherwise have difficulty finding affordable coverage. As a member of the House Budget Committee, and then its chairman, he has supported proposals to shift Medicare away from its commitment to pay for medical services and toward a fixed government contribution for each beneficiary, which could be used for either private insurance or traditional Medicare. Such proposals could increase costs for some beneficiaries or limit the amount of care they receive, health policy experts say. Mr. Price has also backed turning Medicaid into block grants to state governments. Critics say that states would probably respond by restricting eligibility, cutting Medicaid benefits or reducing payments to health care providers. In leading efforts to repeal the president's health law, he is pursuing a goal in opposition to the policies of the A. M. A. In a 2010 letter to congressional leaders, Dr. J. James Rohack, who was then president of the A. M. A. said the law took \"an important step toward improving the health of the American people,\" by \"extending coverage to the vast majority of the uninsured\" and \"improving competition and choice in the insurance marketplace. \" Dr. Samantha G. Harrington, a doctor at Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts, said she had canceled her A. M. A. membership because she found its endorsement of Mr. Price \"embarrassing and shameful. \" Dr. Thomas M. Gellhaus, president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said Mr. Price had \"worked closely with us\" on many issues. But, he said in a recent letter to the congressman, \"some of the bills you supported in Congress would not serve women's health well. \" Mr. Price has supported efforts to restrict abortion and cut off federal funds for Planned Parenthood clinics. If confirmed, Mr. Price would be only the third physician to serve as secretary in the history of the Health and Human Services Department and its predecessor, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.","label":0}
{"text":"Home Leftist Corruption Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying Freedom Leftist Corruption , Leftist Perversion , News 0  On Sunday, Wikileaks gave Hillary Clinton less than a 24-hour window to drop out of the race or they will dump something that will destroy her \"completely.\"  Recently, Julian Assange confirmed that WikiLeaks was not working with the Russian government , but in their pursuit of justice they are obligated to release anything that they can to bring light to a corrupt system \u2013 and who could possibly be more corrupt than Crooked Hillary?  \"The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything. Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 US intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That's false \u2013 we can say that the Russian government is not the source,\" Assange said in a recent interview. \"Hillary Clinton is just one person. 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 \u2013 for example faint \u2013 as a result of going on, and going with their ambitions. But she represents a whole network of people, and a whole network of relationships with particular states.\"  \"Hey, @HillaryClinton, you have until Monday to drop out, or we will destroy you completely,\" the cryptic tweet says.  It is unknown what information WikiLeaks has that has not already been released. Is it proof that Bill molested children when he was with his friend Epstein? Is it something, dare I say, worse?  Part of me hopes that she stays in the race so we can find out what it is. The rest of me just wants her gone.  Join The Resistance And Share This Article Now! 187","label":1}
{"text":"A group of Republican lawmakers sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Friday urging him not to reverse former President Barack Obama's opening to Cuba even as White House aides moved closer to completing a plan that could tighten rules on trade and travel to the island. With the Cuba policy review approaching its final stages, both sides of the issue have stepped up lobbying to sway Trump's decision on how far to go in rolling back measures that Obama implemented after a 2015 breakthrough with America's former Cold War foe. In the letter, seven of Trump's fellow Republicans expressed \"deep concern\" that he is considering rescinding Obama's policies and said that such a move would \"incentivize Cuba to once again become dependent on countries like Russia and China.\" The warning reflected growing unease on Capitol Hill over returning to a more contentious approach to communist-ruled Cuba, even within a Republican party that has traditionally hewed to a harder line against Havana. Senior officials at the National Security Council were meeting on Friday to craft recommendations that will be sent to the principals committee - Trump's top foreign policy advisers - and then to the president, people familiar with the matter said. Though divisions remain within the administration, Trump could make an announcement within weeks, possibly as early as mid- to late June in a speech in Miami, U.S. officials have said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump's changes are expected to stop short of breaking diplomatic relations restored two years ago after more than five decades of hostility, administration officials say. Among the options under consideration are banning U.S. companies from doing business with Cuban enterprises tied to the military and tightening rules on Americans traveling there, according to people familiar with the discussions. A White House official, asked about the latest meeting, said the Cuba review is still under way and \"not final.\" The U.S. airline and travel industries have made clear they do not want to see reinstatement of Cuba restrictions. But Trump has come under heavy pressure from Cuban-American lawmakers, including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, to roll back Obama's rapprochement. \"My hope is that when the administration is done with their review, they don't let one or two voices overwhelm what is in the interest of the United States,\" Representative Tom Emmer, a signatory to the letter, told Reuters. One of four pro-engagement Republicans who met with White House officials on Thursday, Emmer said they urged the administration not to go too far in rolling back Obama's measures. Trump threatened shortly after his election in November to \"terminate\" Obama's approach unless Cuba made concessions, something it is unlikely to do. Obama implemented his normalization measures through executive actions, and Trump has the power to undo much of it.","label":0}
{"text":"Watch Ted Cruz completely annihilate the Leftist false attacks on Jeff Sessions character! #confirmationhearing pic.twitter.com\/tBaz5rdRoI John Binder (@JxhnBinder) January 10, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"There s a peculiar hysteria around marijuana in this country and for the life of me, I can t understand it. There s so much misinformation out there that it makes my head hurt. As soon as I saw the headline for this article, Medical marijuana: How to prevent an addiction to weed, I knew I was in for a frustrating experience.The author of the piece, Dr. David Casarett, spends half of the article on a mea culpa over his part in creating the current epidemic of opioid addiction. Fifteen years ago, he and his fellow doctors shoved pain killers down our throats that were derived from the same stuff we make heroin from and couldn t see why that would be a problem:Fifteen years ago, a crowd of experts including many physicians proclaimed that opioids such as morphine were safe for use in chronic pain. We also downplayed the risk of opioid addiction.For example, one expert statement on chronic pain management in older adults (on which I was an author) said that Concerns over drug dependency and addiction do not justify the failure to relieve pain. So far, so good. Doctors have been over-prescribing pain killers for years and then abandoning their patients when they re addicted. Casarett is very sorry about his role in this and just doesn t want us to make the same mistake with marijuana:Proponents of medical marijuana advertise its safety. It s natural, they say. In fact, one dispensary owner told me guilelessly, It s perfectly safe it s from a flower. Not like heroin. That dispensary owner ignored the fact that heroin is derived from poppies. And that poppies are also flowers.Besides, he told me, theoretical risks of addiction don t justify withholding a potentially beneficial treatment. But that s exactly what many experts were saying about opioids 15 years ago. And we should worry about marijuana addiction.And that s when he goes off the rails. There s one critical difference between marijuana and opioids: You can easily become physically addicted to one and it s almost impossible to become physically addicted to the other.You can become physically addicted to opioids, sugars, alcohol, tobacco and a slew of other chemicals and substances. It is nigh impossible to become physically addicted the same way to pot. It just doesn t happen and Casarett, as a doctor, knows this. This is why he does a bait and switch from addiction to dependence :The good news is that the risk of marijuana dependence is lower than it is for heroin (approximately 9 percent vs. 23 percent). (The term dependence is used to describe someone who uses marijuana regularly, even though it impairs their ability to function normally, and despite drug-related physical and psychological problems.) Nevertheless, even if marijuana addiction doesn t turn out to be as devastating as opioid addiction is, it can still result in lost jobs, damaged relationships and lost opportunities.Dependence is VERY different from addiction. Even the government website on marijuana points out, correctly, that you can be dependent on marijuana but not be addicted.I know you might be thinking that I m just another stoner defending his precious weed but, honestly, I don t smoke marijuana and I never have. I have zero interest in it, personally. That being said, I grew up around a great many people who smoke pot and not one of them ever became addicted to it. And they smoked a lot of the stuff. None of them even became dependent so addiction was right out the window. This is why I know, from first hand experience, that marijuana simply is not addictive. You have a better chance of becoming addicted to the sugar, salt and fat in McDonald s food than you are to pot.It s easy to read Casarett s article and become concerned that we re facing the next drug epidemic but it s just not true.","label":1}
{"text":"After floating a series of ridiculous Vice Presidential picks, Carson was axed from Trump's selection team, sources close to the campaign told The Daily Beast. Ben Carson has the ability to say everything he shouldn't at exactly the wrong time. Since the former neurosurgeon has taken up the role of working on Donald Trump's vice presidential team, he has suggested that the candidate may pick a Democratic running mate, dropped she-who-must-not-be-named Sarah Palin as a potential pick and earlier generally questioned a number of the presumptive nominee's habits from his Twitter use to lack of pragmatism. Last week, Armstrong Williams (his business manager and close confidant), told The Daily Beast that Carson left the team of his own volition. Carson had bigger and more important things to do, according to Williams, like preparing Trump for his meeting with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. But three sources close to the Trump campaign said Carson didn't leave on his own. He was pushed. According to sources close to Trump's campaign, Carson was demoted after Trump specifically wanted him to head up the VP selection team. He submitted names that he thought would be valuable picks and inevitably lost his top spot days later. Carson allegedly called Trump afterwards and was angry that the situation played out like this. In the absence of a person to head up the operation, embattled campaign manager Corey Lewandowski stepped in and took over the spot, as first reported by The Washington Post. The Daily Beast has confirmed that Lewandowski is still in charge of the process. The list of names Carson later provided to The Washington Post\u2014which included Palin, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich\u2014was apparently just taken from various conversations within the campaign and is in no way confirmed. One source claimed that Carson mentioned the list in order to get retaliation for Lewandowski taking his position. \"Well that's part of what Lewandowski would want you to believe but there's no truth to that,\" Williams said of the takeover. When asked about any possible rocky relationship with Barry Bennett, now a Trump adviser and Carson's former campaign manager, Williams said there were no issues there either. And Williams doesn't either, not since December at least when Bennett exited the campaign after internal disagreements with the business manager who he claimed was causing issues with the struggling presidential bid. Despite multiple people familiar with the matter confirming that a conversation took place to demote Carson, Williams asserted that the relationship between the real estate mogul and the doctor was going swimmingly. \"Dr. Carson and Mr. Trump have a wonderful understanding,\" Williams said. \"Sometimes I along with Trump's top people are not always aware of what they are strategizing. [Carson] doesn't always share with me. That's a good thing.\" Williams has not always been an entirely reliable source of information about the goings-on inside the Trump campaign however. When he told The Daily Beast that Carson was off the VP team, a Trump campaign source told CNN that he had \"fucked it up.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi argued on Wednesday at the European Court of Human Rights against his ban from holding public office, hoping for a green light that will allow him to run for prime minister at Italy s election early next year. In a hearing before the Strasbourg court, the four-times prime minister appealed against his banishment from holding public office that followed a 2013 tax fraud conviction. It is supposed to remain in place until 2019. The billionaire media tycoon was widely written off after he quit as prime minister in 2011 amid a sex scandal involving his bunga bunga parties, while Italian bond yields surged to unsustainable levels at the height of the euro zone debt crisis. However, the 81-year-old Berlusconi has made a remarkable comeback after open heart surgery last year and his Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party is now the lynchpin of a center-right coalition which leads in opinion polls ahead of the election. The Berlusconi versus Italy case is being heard by 17 judges who make up the court s Grand Chamber, which is used for particularly important and complex matters. Berlusconi has hired a top London law firm to represent him. At the end of the hearing Edward Fitzgerald, a lawyer for Berlusconi, told reporters an injustice had taken place in the Italian courts. Basic procedural guarantees were lacking for doing something as massive and draconian as depriving an elected official of his electoral mandate, and the people who elected him of their right to be represented by the person they chose. The court will not issue a verdict on Wednesday, and even if it eventually decides in favor of Berlusconi the ruling may not come in time for him to run in the election, which must be held by May next year. In an interview on Wednesday with la Repubblica newspaper, Berlusconi said he would still be campaigning for his party whether he can stand for office or not. Irrespective of whether I can stand, I ll be a player and I ll bring the center-right to power, he said. Berlusconi was not present at the hearing. Berlusconi argues that because the tax fraud took place many years before the 2013 Italian law that bars him from running for office was passed, the legislation is being applied retroactively and is therefore illegitimate. Berlusconi received a four-year prison sentence in August 2013 for organizing a complex scheme to illegally lower the tax bill of his Mediaset media company. Three of the four years were immediately waived due to an amnesty to relieve prison overcrowding, and he was allowed to serve the remaining year in community service, helping out in an old people s home. After the conviction, Berlusconi was expelled from Rome s Senate, or upper house of parliament. With or without Berlusconi, the election is expected to produce a hung parliament. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leads in opinion polls with around 28 percent of the vote, followed by the ruling center-left Democratic Party on about 25 percent. The center-right bloc is made up of Forza Italia and the anti-immigrant Northern League, each on around 14 percent, and the right-wing Brothers of Italy, with around 5 percent.","label":0}
{"text":"For those itching for a taste of life in America under President Donald Trump a new mobile game provides just that and it s creepy as hell.The new game available on Apple App Store and Google Play is called Great Wall of America The Donald Trump Edition. As you might expect, the game is all abut getting that border wall with Mexico built, and keeping immigrants out of America s southern border.Like a cross between an episode of The Apprentice and Tenko, players have to deploy advanced management skills to achieve one simple goal: to BUILD THAT WALL!There is, of course, one additionally f*cked up element to this game. Rather than building the wall with the standard bricks and mortar in the game, the wall is made up of cuboid versions of Donald trump s opponents. I sh*t you not. Let s take a look at them shall we?The game s creator Michael Kryski is apparently trying to make American mobile gaming great again. Maybe he can follow up with Whack-a-Mexican? The role player game, modeled on the famous whack-a-mole, allows gamers to play the part of a border guard tasked with enforcing Trump s dream of a Mexican-free America. Each time a Mexican attempts to burrow under the border wall, the guard smacks them back down into their tunnels with a giant mallet. This could extend to a Muslim edition.No doubt, this in development somewhere in the world.Kryski notes on his website, the very best part of the game is that it s totally free. Apparently, Mexico is paying for the whole thing.Featured Image via Great Wall of America","label":1}
{"text":"Greg Zimmerman, an environmental activist, was scrolling through the website of a coal industry association when he came across a presentation that startled him: \"Survival Is Victory: Lessons From the Tobacco Wars. \" What surprised Mr. Zimmerman, the deputy policy director at the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation advocacy organization based in Denver, was that the coal industry was, at least in this presentation, deliberately drawing a comparison between itself and the tobacco companies. That is more typically the argument of environmentalists, who often compare fossil fuel companies to the tobacco industry. They note that the tobacco giants for many years funded science and advocacy groups to spread doubt about risks of smoking. Fossil fuel companies, they argue, have engaged in similar efforts, and investigations by state attorneys general have focused on the tactics of Exxon Mobil, which has funded groups that deny the scientific evidence that human activity has increased global warming. Fossil fuel companies and their allies generally ridicule the comparison to tobacco. But here was an internal document from the industry that, as Mr. Zimmerman said, \"has sort of done our job for us. \" Others have taken note of it as well. After reviewing the presentation, shared with him by a reporter, the state attorney general leading the investigation of Exxon Mobil, Eric T. Schneiderman of New York, called it important. \"This is just the latest example of the fossil fuel industry explicitly adopting the Big Tobacco playbook,\" he said. Mr. Schneiderman reached a settlement last year with Peabody Energy, the giant coal company, after finding that it had not properly disclosed to the public and its shareholders the risks of climate change and regulation to its business \u2014 an investigation similar to Mr. Schneiderman's efforts to determine whether Exxon Mobil had committed fraud in its public statements about climate change. The \"Survival Is Victory\" presentation was given a year ago at the convention and annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, an industry group representing coal interests in Western states. The author of the presentation, Richard Reavey, is the vice president for government and public affairs at Cloud Peak Energy, a mining company based in Wyoming. From 1990 to 2007, Mr. Reavey served as an executive with Philip Morris International, working in communications and government affairs. The slides did not acknowledge the scientific consensus on climate change, but stated that public opinion had shifted so substantially that the question was moot. \"We need to get out of the binary debate on climate change,\" one slide read. \"Right, but dead, is not a victory. \" The presentation called on the industry to prepare for more stringent regulation, and to build a better future for the industry and its workers by pushing for more research into technology that can capture carbon dioxide from smokestacks, which could extend the use of coal. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognized a possible role for carbon capture in meeting global goals for limiting carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, but commercial development of the technology has proved somewhat troublesome. Mr. Reavey noted that the tobacco industry had settled lawsuits with 48 states in 1998 and agreed to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. The deal looked to some like the \"End of Days,\" he wrote in a slide, but \"a much more heavily regulated tobacco industry is viable and profitable. \" Like so many elements of climate change, coal is a polarizing issue for political parties. The 2016 Republican Party platform strongly supports a continued role for coal, referring to it as \"an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource,\" and calls for killing the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which would continue the process of reducing dependence on coal for producing energy. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, has promised to \"defend and implement\" the Clean Power Plan while providing economic opportunities in coal communities affected by it. For its part, Exxon Mobil has stated that it now accepts the validity of climate science and favors a carbon tax it also says that since the it has not funded groups that play down scientific evidence of the human role in global warming. In an interview, Mr. Reavey, who developed the slide presentation, said it simply recognized the \"political reality\" that Americans accepted climate science in increasing numbers. And while the presentation compared coal and tobacco, the two industries are \"completely different,\" he added. \"At the end of the day, energy is something that we, as a society, require. Tobacco is not. \" But a string of recent bankruptcy filings by coal companies has shown the extensive support from the industry for groups that deny the scientific validity of climate change and oppose environmental regulations. Mr. Reavey said that his company, Cloud Peak, \"has never fought climate change \u2014 never fought it, never denied it or funded anyone who does. \" The executive director of the industry group, Judy Colgan, recalled that Mr. Reavey's presentation delivered a message the audience was ready to hear. The industry, she said, has recognized that the time for arguing over climate science has passed. \"We can fight this climate debate all we want to it's not going to help the industry survive,\" she said, adding that very few people are going to change their minds. Instead, she added, developing carbon capture should be the top priority. Naomi Oreskes, a historian who has compared the science and public relations of the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, said that while much of the investigative attention in the past year has focused on Exxon Mobil, the coal industry presentation \"is a reminder that this is a much more complicated story than just Exxon Mobil. \" Money the coal industry spent on attacking climate science might have been invested to develop effective carbon capture technology, she said. \"That, to me, is a little bit heartbreaking,\" she added. \"Now I think, 'Guys, that's a day late and a dollar short. '\"","label":0}
{"text":"A man in Red Army garb hits the pavement during a simulated attack during a re-staging of part of the Long March. The scene brings alive an extraordinary chapter in China s history that established the supremacy of Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communist Party. Deep in the mountains of Jinggangshan in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, a classroom of bank tellers participates in an ideological boot camp that plays into Chinese President Xi Jinping s drive to further consolidate his grip on power. Jinggangshan is considered the cradle of the Chinese revolution and, in 1927, was the official birthplace of the Red Army, now known as the People s Liberation Army of China. Reliving the revolution, students walk the route of the Long March, a series of retreats by the Red Army, led by Mao, to evade the pursuing Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek between 1934 and 1935. I can feel the spirit of the revolution, said Wang Pingzhu, a 32-year old garment company employee from the southern province of Fujian. As soon as I got here I could see it along the road. I could imagine the scene at the time, she said. During the three-day course, participants visit historical sites, pledging allegiance to the Communist Party and Xi s dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation ahead of a key party congress next month. I think the Communist Party emphasizes this sort of education, to try to control the thinking of party members and at the same time control a portion of the population who still have faith in the party, so they can support the leadership, said Zhang Lifan, an independent political commentator. In reviving Maoism and courting powerful conservative elements in the party, Xi seeks to remind people that China s dramatic ascent to become the world s second-largest economy was not simply a case of ditching Marx for markets. The Red Culture training camp for private and public sector workers aims to rekindle faith in the founding principles of the party and drown out critics who say it has lost its ideological soul after more than three decades of free-market reforms. Its program fits with Xi s push for patriotic education and ideological control of the people, an agenda he has promoted since coming to power in 2012 and is expected to further build on in October s five-yearly leadership reshuffle. Under the leadership of President Xi, ideological belief education has set off a new wave in China, said Zuo Jianxing, a forestry official in the northern province of Inner Mongolia. Harking back to Mao s time still resonates with some of the population, 41 years after his death. But the fear is that the younger generation of Chinese may be too preoccupied with the fruits of capitalism to care much about Red Culture. That may explain why, five years after taking power, Xi continues to espouse old school Maoism as a way to reassert the primacy of the party. If the Communist Party loses power, they are finished, said political commentator Zhang. (This version of the story refiles to add dateline.)","label":0}
{"text":"Ryan has never made any secret about his desire to welcome immigrants to America. How many will live with him in his large family home in the confines of his fenced in compound? A recent Breitbart News investigation reveals that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has a two-decade-long history of promoting open borders immigration policies, seems to support border fences for himself, even as he denies the American people those same protections.While Paul Ryan s omnibus spending bill does not provide funding for the mandatory completion of a 700-mile double-layer border fence that Congress promised the American people nearly a decade ago when it passed the 2006 Secure Fence Act, Paul Ryan has constructed a fence around his property.As Breitbart News s photographic documentation reveals, Ryan s home is surrounded by a tall border fence reinforced by equally high bushes ensuring both privacy and security. Moreover, the fence is manned by an on-duty agent who guards his property s perimeter. Upon even the slightest appearance of any unusual activity such as a 5 2 female taking a photograph of the fence Ryan s border agent will deploy into action to ensure the perimeter s sovereignty.Over the course of the past six months, there has been heightened national focus on Americans desire for a border fence following the GOP presidential frontrunners call for a border wall. A Rasmussen Reports survey released in August of this year found that likely Republican voters, by greater than a 4-1 margin, support Donald Trump s plan to build a border wall (70 percent vs. 17 percent). Amongst all likely voters, a majority (51 percent) support building the border wall.Congress promised the American people a 700-mile border fence in the 2006 Secure Fence Act. However, funding for the project was subsequently gutted and, as a result, construction was never completed.While Paul Ryan s $1.1 trillion year-end omnibus spending package was able to allocate funding for immigration programs that benefit foreign nationals such as federal grants for lawless sanctuary cities and the U.S. resettlement tens of thousands of refugees his bill does not require an allotment of funds be spent on the completion of the 700-mile-long fence that the American voters were promised.Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)has previously highlighted the hypocrisy of immigration expansionists who surround their homes with border fences and monitor who comes on their property but do not apparently believe the American people deserve the same protections. Sessions pointed specifically to open borders advocate Mark Zuckerberg who, according to reports, spent $30 million buying the surrounding four homes around his own property in order to get a little more privacy. Sessions said, Well, the masters of the universe are very fond of open borders as long as these open borders don t extend to their gated compounds and fenced-off estates. On previous occasions, Ryan has repeatedly suggested that the American people are not entitled to discriminate against who enters their country on a visa. When Sean Hannity asked Paul Ryan about whether or not he would support curbs to Muslim immigration, Paul Ryan declared, That s not who we are. However, Ryan s fence ensures that no refugees will be able to enter his property without his permission even as U.S. communities are not able to make any such restrictions.In 2013, when Ryan traveled with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)to stump for Sen. Marco Rubio s (R-FL) immigration agenda, Ryan declared that America is more than our borders and that the U.S. ought to have an open door system where foreign nationals can come and go as they please. America is more than just a country, Ryan said. It s more than Chicago, or Wisconsin. It s more than our borders. America is an idea. It s a very precious idea. Ryan disparaged Americans who opposed large-scale immigration, characterizing that attitude as ignorant, declaring that throughout American history, Each wave [of immigration] is met with some ignorance, is met with some resistance. Ryan said, We want to have a system where people can come here and work go back and forth if they want to so that we have an open door to the people who want to come and contribute to our country, who want to come and make a difference in their families lives, and our economy.","label":1}
{"text":"MILTON KEYNES (UNITED KINGDOM) (AFP) \u2014 It's got money, jobs and it voted Brexit: the town of Milton Keynes near London represents a slice of voters fed up with a political elite ignoring their concerns. [Just as in the United States, it was not just struggling workers fed up with the flip side of globalisation who rebelled last year. \"We continually underestimate the silent majority,\" said Richard Heffernan, an expert in government at The Open University, which was set up in Milton Keynes shortly after the town was established in 1967. Three days after the inauguration of billionaire property tycoon Donald Trump as US president on January 20, the town will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Enjoying some of the best employment and growth rates in Britain, Milton Keynes could have been fertile ground for those backing the status quo in Britain's 2016 vote on whether to stay in the European Union. But the town voted by 51 percent for Britain to leave the bloc, closely mirroring the vote split across the country. Alongside the state of the economy, Britons who voted to leave the EU said their two other motivating factors were the influx of East European immigrants and the importance of national sovereignty. In Milton Keynes, the latter seemed to dominate. \"It was not so much immigration as sovereignty and accountability,\" retired nurse Diana Miller said of her Leave vote as she toured an exhibition to mark the town's anniversary. In the 1975 referendum on Britain's entry into what was then the European Economic Community, \"we voted for the common market, not a loss of sovereignty,\" she said. \"We are a powerful country, we value our independence. \" \u2014 'Bang on the money' \u2014 The townsfolk put their concerns over the EU directly to then prime minister David Cameron in a television special four days before the June 23 referendum. Voters quizzed Cameron on immigration, the possibility of Turkish accession to the bloc and the idea of spending more money on the National Health Service (NHS) instead of the EU budget. The Brexit result exposed a gulf between metropolitan types and the north, just as the US vote revealed divisions between city liberals and rural conservatives. Yet in both countries, it was quiet support in those places in between that really made the difference. \"As the nation goes, so goes Milton Keynes,\" said Heffernan. \"It's moderate, centrist, and since 1997 it has been an electoral bellwether, in the same way as Ohio in the United States. \"In terms of Brexit, it was bang on the money. \" But the depth of its euroscepticism did not set alarm bells ringing for the establishment, despite political parties spending years doing focus groups in Milton Keynes, seen it as a microcosm of public opinion. \"A lot of people who study politics and analyse it are part of a metropolitan elite,\" Heffernan told AFP. \"The liberal elite's inability to represent many people was held against them. \" Following the Brexit and Trump votes there are now a plethora of movements in Europe seeking to rise up against urban and political elites, as well as against Brussels, and \"return\" their countries to the struggling middle classes. \u2014 Boomtown backs Brexit \u2014 The story of Milton Keynes is being told in an exhibition entitled \"A New City Comes To Life\" which is located in the main shopping centre. Built as a 1960s futuristic vision, its layout is unique in Britain and its boulevards were for the motor age. Sited in the prosperous southeast of England, its major local employers include Spanish bank Santander and German carmakers Volkswagen and . It has seen the highest jobs growth of any British city, up 18 percent between 2004 and 2013. Milton Katherine Moore, 31, who is qualified in catering but off work while looking after her baby, said: \"There's always good job opportunities here. If you're trained in those fields, there's so much work. I will never leave. \"The only reason I voted out was the NHS. But we need the foreign people, they built it up. \" Heffernan said it was alienation, not apathy, that stirred hitherto silent centrists into backing Brexit and Trump. \"It applies to professionals as much as to people who hammer metal,\" he said. \"Politicians are now like rabbits caught in the headlights. They're aware the guy driving at them doesn't like them \u2014 and they don't know what to do. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), facing criticism over its classification of carcinogens, has reportedly been advising its scientific experts not to publish internal research data on its 2015 report on \"probably carcinogenic\" glyphosate.  The IARC urged its scientists not to publish research documents on its 2015 weedkiller glyphosate review, according to Reuters. The agency told Reuters on Tuesday that it tried to protect the study from \"external interference,\" as well as protect its intellectual rights, since it was \"the sole owner of such materials.\"  The scientists had been asked earlier to release all the documentation on the 2015 report under US freedom of information laws.  The groundbreaking review, published in March 2015 by the IARC \u2013 a semi-autonomous agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) \u2013 labeled the glyphosate herbicide as \"probably carcinogenic to humans.\" Glyphosate is a key ingredient of Monsanto's flagship weedkiller well-known under the trade name 'Roundup.' It is one of the most heavily used herbicides in the world and is designed to go along with genetically-modified \"Roundup Ready\" crops, also produced by Monsanto.  The IARC's report caused problems for both the notorious agrochemical giant and the agency itself.  The report sparked a heated debate around the use of Roundup, and caused several EU countries \u2013 including France, Sweden, and the Netherlands \u2013 to object to the renewal of the glyphosate's EU license. The vote on prolonging the glyphosate license for 15 years failed several times in June 2016, but the license was temporarily extended for 18 months during last hours before its expiration.  The controversial report has seemingly made the IARC a target for attacks from multiple directions, and raised scientific, legal, and financial questions.  Various critics, including those in the chemical industry, said the IARC's evaluations are fuel for \"unnecessary health scares,\" since the IARC allegedly studies the potentially harmful substance itself, and not a \"typical human\" exposure to it. It remained unclear whether the critics urged a WHO body to test the potentially carcinogenic chemical on humans.  The critics also brought up other controversial statements from the IARC, over whether such things as mobile phones, coffee, red meat, and processed meat could cause cancer.  The agency defended its methods as scientifically sound and \"widely respected for their scientific rigor, standardized and transparent process and\u2026freedom from conflicts of interest.\" Numerous freedom of information requests by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal), a US conservative advocacy group, have since been turned down with this reasoning.  E&E Legal told Reuters that it is pushing a legal challenge over whether the documents in question belong to the IARC or to the US federal and state institutions where some of the experts work. Basically, it's being decided whether the IARC, as part of the WHO, is truly independent and free from \"conflicts of interest.\"  According to Reuters, officials from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be questioned by a congressional committee about why American taxpayers fund the cancer agency, which faces much criticism over its allegedly faulty classification of carcinogens.  \"IARC's standards and determinations for classifying substances as carcinogenic, and therefore cancer-causing, appear inconsistent with other scientific research, and have generated much controversy and alarm,\" a letter from US Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz to NIH director Francis Collins states, as quoted by Reuters.  The Oversight Committee demanded a full disclosure of NIH funding of the IARC, and even money spent in relation to the cancer agency's activities.  IARC opponents from scientific circles vowed to provide their data on the matter. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which believes glyphosate is \"unlikely pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans,\" promised to release its raw data on the subject as part of its \"commitment to open risk assessment.\" The food safety watchdog made this statement in late September, and still has to deliver the promised information. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles","label":1}
{"text":"Adam Kredo of WFB asks the question we all want the answer to: The fact that this information subsequently leaked to the press, I think raises even more questions about why a U.N ambassador over in Turtle Bay needs to unmask. Samantha Power is a longtime Obama loyalist but her husband might be the key to all of this (see below).Power is believed to have made hundreds of unmasking requests to identify individuals named in classified intelligence community reports related to Trump and his presidential transition team, according to multiple sources who said the behavior is unprecedented for an official in her position, according to the Washington Free Beacon.Hannity asked Kredo how Power would ever have the authority to make the unmasking requests, and then asked whether this has ever happened previously to his knowledge. No, it s truly unprecedented, Kredo said. It s certainly odd, and I think the House Intelligence Committee, rightfully so, has subpoenaed her to find out what is going on here. Look, it s hundreds of unmasking requests in just the final year of the Obama administration. WE VE FOLLOWED THE QUEEN OF GEORGE SOROS AND HERE S WHAT WE KNOW:In 2005 06, Power worked as a foreign policy fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama.In a 2007 interview, Power said that America s relationship with Israel has often led foreign policy decision-makers to defer reflexively to Israeli security assessments, and to replicate Israeli tactics The United States, she explained, had brought terrorist attacks upon itself by aping Israel s violations of human rights.Power has had her fair share of controversy, specifically after she was forced to resign from the president s 2008 campaign following negative remarks she made about Hillary Clinton.In an interview with The Scotsman during the heat of the 2008 presidential race, Power called Clinton a monster. Power was soon back in with the Obama camp. Her husband is Obama s former Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein.SUNSTEIN IS ONE SCARY GUY WHO WANTED GOVERNMENT TO INTRUDE ON YOUR PRIVACY:SALON reported:Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama s closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is Obama s head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where, among other things, he is responsible for overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs. In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo- independent advocates to cognitively infiltrate online groups and websites as well as other activist groups which advocate views that Sunstein deems false conspiracy theories about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists. The paper s abstract can be read, and the full paper downloaded, here.Sunstein advocates that the Government s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups. He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called independent credible voices to bolster the Government s messaging (on the ground that those who don t believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government). This program would target those advocating false conspiracy theories, which they define to mean: an attempt to explain an event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role.","label":1}
{"text":"The Trump campaign is self destructing. If things get any worse between now and the election day, Trump could even be bringing down Congress. Republicans are in a panic and the only way out they see is voter suppression.Florida s Governor Rick Scott saw an opportunity when Hurricane Matthew hit. He refused to extend the registration deadline past 5:00 on Monday (seriously, why would the cutoff be a month before the election anyway?). A federal judge put a quick stop to that, calling it irrational. The deadline is extended till Tuesday. Quite simply, it is wholly irrational in this instance for Florida to refuse to extend the voter registration deadline when the state already allows the governor to suspend or move the election date due to an unforeseen emergency, (U.S. District Judge Mark) Walker wrote in a 16-page order. If aspiring eligible Florida voters are barred from registering to vote, then those voters are stripped of one of our most precious freedoms. Source: TampaBay.comMore than that, Walker called the state s effort to block the vote unconstitutional. The right to vote is a precious and fundamental right, Walker wrote, quoting from an earlier case.It s expected that about 100,000 additional people will be registering between now and the deadline. This is especially bad for Republicans. Clinton is leading the race in Florida by a narrow three points, but between his offensive remarks toward women and the fact that it was revealed that Trump illegally did business with Cuba, his Florida support is quickly fading. Without Florida, Trump is almost assured of losing, while Clinton could still win the election while losing Florida. Those 100,000 people might represent about one percent of the Florida electorate, which might not sound like a lot, but in a race that s that close, in a perennial swing state, that could mean the difference between winning and losing.","label":1}
{"text":"Pussy Riot Released The Perfect Nasty Woman's Answer To Trump (VIDEO) By Natalie Dailey on October 26, 2016 Subscribe  At the third presidential debate last week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made the mistake of calling Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton a \"nasty woman.\"  Just a couple of weeks ago, Trump was caught in some hot audio from an Access Hollywood bus in 2005. He famously said that he can \"grab them by the p***y\" because he is a star.  The Russian band, Pussy Riot, has released a new song in response to Trump's comment. It is called \"Straight Outta Vagina.\" It is a very feminist and body-positive song. As women, we should all be proud of our bodies. Perverts like Donald Trump love to abuse us, but we can be stronger.  Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova told The Guardian : \"This song could be considered an answer to Trump. But I believe the idea of powerful female sexuality is much bigger than any populist megalomaniac man \u2026 Vagina is bigger than Trump.\"  NSFW: Graphic content.  Here are some of the lyrics: \"Does your vagina have a brand? \/ Let your vagina start a band \/ If your vagina lands in prison \/ Then the world is gonna listen \"My vagina is tough and dangerous \/ Shaking up the major labels \/ Vagina gonna take the stage \/ Cuz vagina's got a lot to say \"My pussy my pussy \/ Is sweet just like a cookie \/ It goes to work \/ It makes the beats \/ It's CEO, no rookie \/ From senator to bookie \/ We run this shit, go lookie \/ \"Y ou can turn any page, any race, any age \/ From Russia to the states \/ We tearing up the place.\"  I'll warn you, the song is very catchy. Just watch who you sing it around. Rapists and abusers like Trump don't realize just how strong we women are. This song is a great way to celebrate our bodies.  Here is the video :","label":1}
{"text":"New York's attorney general, who has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump's education venture, Trump University, slammed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday for his attack on a U.S. district judge's ethnicity. Trump, a New York billionaire businessman, is fighting a trio of lawsuits that accuse his education program of misleading thousands of people who paid up to $35,000 for seminars to learn about his real-estate investment strategies. \"This was a fraud from top to bottom. He's using every trick he can to delay the release of documents, to delay the trials, attacking the judge for his ethnicity, attacking me and accusing me of conspiring with the president of the United States,\" New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, told CNN. Days after Judge Gonzalo Curiel ordered some documents in one case involving the school to be unsealed, Trump called Curiel \"hostile\" and \"a hater\" and said he believed the judge was Mexican. Curiel is an American who was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and graduated from the Indiana University School of Law. Schneiderman, re-elected as attorney general in 2014, dismissed a question about Trump's allegation that Curiel's ruling was politically motivated, saying that in three individual cases against the university, \"every judge has said these are valid fraud claims.\" \"He's taking it to New York's highest court for one more round of appeals, but no judge has dismissed this,\" Schneiderman said. Asked about Trump's efforts to downplay the case, Schneiderman called it \"hugely important\" for the way it cast Trump as \"someone who is absolutely shameless in his willingness to lie to people.\" He blasted some of the university's specific tactics, including the way instructors would persuade students to ask their credit card companies for an increased credit limit as a step toward being successful in real estate, and then persuade them to use it to buy more Trump seminars. \"It was shameless, it was heartless, it's important information to get out there,\" Schneiderman said. Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.","label":0}
{"text":"BRACE YOURSELF: End Times War of Gog and Magog Has Already Begun, Says Mystic Rabbi Oct 28, 2016 Previous post  \"And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions.\" Joel 3:1 (The Israel Bible\u2122)  Just a few days prior to the Jewish New Year, Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi , a noted kabbalist with thousands of followers in Israel, has revealed a divine redemptive plan for the world which will see Europe overrun with Muslims, Syria's chaos spilling into the West, the US elections spelling disaster for American Jews, and Israel's importance becoming greater than ever.  But the end result of all this strife is closer, and more rewarding, than anyone can imagine: Messiah.  \"Everyone is ready, waiting for the public revelation of the Messiah!\" the rabbi last week began a post on his webpage. \"Everyone understands and knows that the Messiah is active right now,\" he wrote, noting that all of the world events this year are","label":1}
{"text":"A day after the terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium, Hillary Clinton gave a speech on counterterrorism at Stanford University in California.The speech was billed by the campaign as an opportunity to highlight how now is a time for steady leadership when we must stand in solidarity with our European allies and respond firmly to defeat ISIS. Both Democrats and Republicans have pointed out that by contrast to Clinton former Senator, former Secretary of State Donald Trump s foreign policy ideas have been haphazard, contradictory, and overall would endanger the country.On ISIS and the Belgium attacks, Clinton directly rejected Trump s kneejerk response that America needs to build his beautiful wall because, Walls will not protect us from this threat. We cannot contain ISIS we must defeat ISIS. Clinton took direct aim at Trump s recent reckless claim that America should pull away from NATO and our allies, pointing out that while Vladimir Putin already hopes to divide Europe, it could be even worse because, if Mr. Trump gets his way, it ll be like Christmas in the Kremlin. .@HillaryClinton: \"If Mr. Trump gets his way, it'll be like Christmas in the Kremlin\" pic.twitter.com\/u9D2QO5vx7 POLITICO (@politico) March 23, 2016She also went after Ted Cruz, noting, slogans aren t a strategy for global peace and security because loose cannons tend to misfire. She also called for reigning in Cruz s reckless rhetoric about carpet bombing of targets, saying doing so would be a serious mistake, instead she said, What America needs is strong smart steady leadership. Clinton also echoed President Obama s condemnation of Cruz s proposal to send patrols into Muslim neighborhoods, It s hard to imagine a more incendiary, foolish statement and said: It s wrong, it s counterproductive, it s dangerous. In what is likely to be a consistent counterpoint to Trump s desire to make America great again, the former Secretary of State said, America is a great nation. Instead of the aggressive, dangerous moves supported by Trump and the GOP, Clinton called for a plan that would rely on what actually works, not bluster that alienates our partners that would allow the United States to defeat ISIS.","label":1}
{"text":"South Korea and the United States agreed on Friday to keep working for a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear crisis, but a U.S. envoy said it was difficult to gauge the reclusive North s intentions as there has been no signal . North Korea is under heavy international pressure to end its nuclear and missile programs, pursued in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, but has vowed never to give up its nuclear arsenal which it says it needs to counter perceived U.S. aggression. Lee Do-hoon, South Korea s special representative for Korean peace and security affairs, and his U.S. counterpart, Joseph Yun, met on the southern resort island of Jeju, following a summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump in Seoul last week. There is no doubt that both of the presidents want to find a peaceful way in regard to North Korea s nuclear issue, Yun told reporters, according to Yonhap news agency. So we discussed them and we agreed the pressure campaign has to be a central element. Trump has said the time for talk is over but he took a softer tone on his trip to Seoul. North Korea s last missile test was on Sept. 15 but Lee and Yun did not seem to put much emphasis on the lull, Yonhap said, as they were unable to gauge its intentions. I hope that they will stop forever. But we had no communication from them so I don t know whether to interpret it positively or not. We have no signal from them, Yun said. Lee drew significance from the fact that China, the North s lone major ally, had sent a special envoy to Pyongyang, saying that South Korea was closely watching what would come out of the visit. The envoy arrived on Friday. Trump has traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as North Korea races toward its much publicized goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war. It denies North Korea s persistent accusation that it is planning to invade. (This version of the story was refiled to add Korea to headline)","label":0}
{"text":"Obama pulled troops out so this created a vacuum whereby the terror groups could come in and take over. Terrorists in Afghanistan control more territory than at any time since 2001 as America s grip on the country continues to unravel amid a spike in violence that has made Afghanistan more dangerous than ever, according to a new government oversight report.The Afghan government has lost control of about 30 percent of the country, with terrorists linked to the Taliban, ISIS, and other groups moving freely in the region, according to new findings by the Special Inspector General For Afghanistan Reconstructions, otherwise known as SIGAR. The lack of security has made it almost impossible for many U.S. and even some Afghan officials to manage and oversee ongoing reconstruction projects that could total billions of dollars, according to the report, which found that the Afghan government has control of more than 70 percent of the country.The deteriorating security situation has endangered oversight operations meant to ensure that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are being appropriately spent. American military casualties also have risen as terrorists gain a renewed foothold in the country, according to the report. The security situation leaves billions and billions of dollars worth of U.S.-funded projects and programs out of the reach of any American officials, said an oversight official not authorized to speak on the record. Afghanistan proved even more dangerous than it was a year ago, according to the report. The Taliban now controls more territory than at any time since 2001. Vicious and repeated attacks in Kabul this quarter shook confidence in the national-unity government. About a year after U.S. coalition forces turned security operations over to Afghan forces, the situation continues to worsen, particularly due to the Afghan forces inability to properly conduct operations.","label":1}
{"text":"Now that washed up Democratic \"Consultant\" Carville is finding a \"conspiracy\" between Trump and the KGB\u2026that was disbanded in 1991.  \"Time Traveling KGB\" they were labeled at RT article.  You know, maybe 2 years ago, I made a few comments about some Kevin Costner movies, where the plot was \"Russians destroying our Dollar\" in one of them, and another where he was a CIA operative \"because someone has to do it\" along with passages about the \"Federal Reserve keeps our economy safe and sound\" and a bunch of other obvious CIA-injected Narrative\u2026everyone is aware that Hollywood has a CIA Liaison officer approving the scripts, and injecting lines in it, right?  Kevin \"Hollywood Rose\" Costner\u2026a paid propagandist. Working against America. For the younger generation, I am referring to \"Tokyo Rose\" of WW II.  \"When everything America believes is true, is a lie, I know we've done our job\" A CIA Director William Colby a few days before he \"drowned\" in a canoeing accident. Too bad JFK wasn't able to \"break the CIA into a thousands pieces\" and Eli-Min-ate it. Yes, that is where these words originated: in demonic\/satanic behavior..and I am a confirmed atheist.  Illu of Sais-On\u2026.be aware patriots. Illusion and Programming take vigilance to battle.","label":1}
{"text":"Former U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Sunday ruled out becoming Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, but said he'd be \"honored\" to play some kind of a role in helping him win the White House. Rubio, who clashed bitterly with Trump in the brutal race for the Republican nomination, said his policy differences with the real estate mogul were too great for Rubio to join the ticket. \"I wouldn't be the right choice for him,\" Rubio said in an extensive interview with CNN's \"State of the Union\" program. \"Donald deserves to have a vice president - he's earned the nomination - and he deserves to have a running mate that more fully embraces some of the things he stands for.\" Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, ended his White House bid in March after an embarrassing loss in his home state. Trump, who has practically ensured he will emerge as the nominee from the Republican convention in July, derided Rubio as a lightweight and dubbed him \"Little Marco.\" Rubio called the real estate mogul a con artist and quipped about his small hands, a charge that Trump took to mean as questioning the size of his manhood. Rubio and Trump differed sharply on policy issues, with Trump eschewing the interventionist approach favored by Rubio and Rubio criticizing Trump's call for temporarily banning the entry of Muslims into the United States. Ahead of the July 18-21 Republican convention, Trump has sought to unify the party behind him and gain the backing of other prominent party figures. Rubio said he expected to attend the convention and did not rule out a speaking role. He said he wanted to be helpful to Trump's presidential run because he wants to see likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton defeated in the Nov. 8 U.S. election. \"I don't want Hillary Clinton to be president. If there's something I can do to help that from happening and it's helpful to the cause I'd most certainly be honored to be considered for that,\" Rubio said. In another olive branch to Trump, Rubio said he regretted making the \"small hands\" remark about his former foe. \"I actually told Donald at one of the debates. I forget which one - I apologized to him for that,\" Rubio said. \"I said 'I'm sorry that I said that.' It's not who I am. And I shouldn't have done it.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Bill Clinton visited Bluffton, SC to rally people to vote for Hillary but he met up with a former Marine Drill Sgt. who spoke out against Hillary s lies surrounding Benghazi. This is probably the first time anyone has EVER had a chance to confront Bill Clinton about Benghazi. He clearly couldn t handle the confrontation. I have to say I love these brave Americans for standing up. Pretty awesome!","label":1}
{"text":"European Council President Donald Tusk warned on Tuesday that completing a Brexit treaty and agreeing on future relations with Britain would be a furious race against time where EU states would have to stick together to avoid economic disruption. Writing to national leaders ahead of a summit he will chair in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, Tusk noted his plan to seek their approval to launch a second phase of negotiations, on transition and future ties, after achieving sufficient progress last week and agreeing an outline of the divorce. The conclusion of the first phase of negotiations is moderate progress, since we only have 10 months left to determine the transition period and our future relations with the UK, Tusk wrote. This will be a furious race against time, where again our unity will be key. And the experience so far has shown that unity is a sine qua non of an orderly Brexit.","label":0}
{"text":"Egypt The file photo shows Mohammed Badie, a senior figure of Egypt's now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.  Egypt's Appeals Court has upheld a draconian life sentence that was handed down to Mohammed Badie, the spiritual leader of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.  The court ruled on Wednesday that Badie, along with 36 others, who served as ministers in the government led by the country's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who was supported by the Brotherhood between 2011 and 2013, deserved life behind bars for inciting violence and murder.  Badie has been viewed as a key element in the Muslim Brotherhood, a party which operated under numerous restrictions during the era of the country's former dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The senior Brotherhood figure played a major role in the popular uprising that led to the ouster of Mubarak in January 2011.  During the Wednesday session, the court also upheld the death sentences for 10 other individuals, who had been tried in absentia.  A criminal court in 2014 tried 47 defendants, who include former youth and supplies ministers, for charges of murder, attempted murder, resisting authorities, assaulting policemen, sabotage, and blocking a main road in the Nile Delta city of Qalyubia.  The general legal procedure against the Muslim Brotherhood began in July 2013, when Morsi was ousted in a military coup. The head of the Egyptian armed forces, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, came to power afterward. Sisi is believed to have orchestrated the coup as well as the ensuing crackdown on the Brotherhood.  Estimates provided by human rights campaigners show that 1,400 people have been killed and 22,000 have been arrested in relation to the crackdown on the members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.  Morsi himself has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for escaping prison in 2011. The Appeals Court endorsed the sentence last week, rejecting his appeal. Loading ...","label":1}
{"text":"0 0 With humanity's awakening continuing to speed up as every day passes, we see more and more people desiring information to help them better themselves. Whether that is done through eating healthier foods, beginning a yoga or meditation practice, or whether it is done by being more mindful with the words they choose to use when having an inner dialogue or a conversation with friends and family, more people are looking for information to help them transform their lives in a positive way. While there are many methods to improving one's life, below are some methods that can help a person spark an inner revolution to create positive and uplifting change in his or her world. Grounding\/Earthing Grounding, or what is also called Earthing is when a person has bare skin touching the Earth or a tree and is most commonly done by standing on the Earth with one's bare feet. Doing this begins to balance the electrochemical state of the body because of the negative ions the Earth emits. Negative ions act as antioxidants (free-radical scavengers) by pairing up with the free radicals and rendering them neutral. Thus, pain, inflammation and anything out of balance begins to move towards balance, or homeostasis. There have been several studies that have shown how grounding helps with pain reduction, wounding healing, balancing of the circadian rhythm to help improve sleep, as well as helping to shift a person's brainwaves to the alpha state, which is great for a calm and balanced, yet alert and fully awake state of mind. Standing barefoot on the Earth, sand, dirt or concrete (not asphalt) will allow the free flow of negative ions to come in contact with the sensory neurons on the skin and begin to trigger positive physiological and psychological changes within the body. Taking it a bit further, if a person is able to connect with the Earth in a quiet place, the benefits could be even more as Dr. Joe Dispenza has said , \"In clinical studies, we have proven that 2 hours of nature sounds a day significantly reduce stress hormones up to 800% and activates 500-600 DNA segments known to be responsible for healing and repairing the body.\" Burning Sage In a 2007 study from the Journal of Ethnopharmacology , researchers found that medicinal smoke killed harmful airborne bacteria by up to 94% in just one hour. On a more spiritual level, burning sage has long been used to clear negative or disharmonious energies from a space. This can be done when a person comes home from work or school for that day, as burning sage can be a good way to clear any discordant energy the person may have \"picked up\" or had \"taken on\" from other people or their environment. It is used to clear away such energy so that a person can be centered in who he or she is, rather than having to deal with issues that might have been taken on from others. I personally do this each time after coming home from getting groceries or running and errand. Essential Oils The two best ways to use essential oils are to smell them as well as apply them to the skin. While applying essential oils to the skin has many of it's own benefits, smelling them also creates wonderful responses in the body, and especially the brain. According to the University of Minnesota , smelling essential oils' molecules affect the olfactory organs, the lungs (and thus the respiratory system) as well as the brain. Odor molecules travel through the nose and positively affect the limbic system of the brain, which is sometimes called the \"emotional part of the brain.\" To this end, the limbic system controls heart rate, mood, blood pressure, memory, breathing, stress hormone response and overall stress levels. Applying or smelling essential oils throughout the day is a wonderful way to develop emotional intelligence and can help a person respond to stressful situations in a more positive way than before. Smelling essential oils can be personally described as an uplifting and heavenly experience; one that allows us to smell the cosmic byproduct of thousands of flowers pressed into a wonderful gift for humanity. Breathing Exercises Breathing exercises, which can also be considered a form of meditation, can have profound effects on the body and mind. According to Deepok Chopra , a regular practice of rhythmic deep breathing has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, stabilize blood pressure, increase energy levels and decrease feelings of stress. Over time, a breathing or meditation practice can lead to wonderful internal shifts both physically and emotionally. Incorporating a deep breathing practice into the practice of grounding or Earthing is a great way to accomplish both practices at once. Here is an article of three sample breathing exercises from Dr. Andrew Weil. While there are many other practices a person can use to help catalyze deeper inner growth, such as flower essence therapy (different from essential oils), nature walking, sun-bathing and the use of certain health supplements like fulvic acid and Reishi , this list is a guide that may help those who may just be starting to experience an internal transformation. These four simple practices can be easy to incorporate into one's life and is recommended to experiment with what feels best for that person. What of these practices do you use in your life? What other practices do you use to help you continue your inner revolution? Share with us your practices or suggestions you have in the comments section. Cheers to our health! Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science-Health Coaching and offers health coaching services through his website Orgonlight Health. You can follow the Orgonlight Health Facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, your friend or family member as well as view other inspiring articles.","label":1}
{"text":"The day after he sat in the back row of the House of Representatives chamber to hear President Donald Trump's first address to a joint chamber of Congress, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R. .) was confirmed by the Senate as Interior Secretary with strong bipartsan vote . [Sixteen Democrats joined 51 Republicans with Sen. Angus King (I. ) who caucuses with Democrats, to vote for Zinke. Zinke told Brietbart News on Wednesday he had a good time during his last his last session of Congress as a Member of Congress, checking in with his buddies and taking in the spectacle. \"I enjoyed it,\" he said. \"I enjoyed the camaraderie and I can't wait to get to work. \" The president gave a great speech, he said. \"Like millions of Americans, I was in the audience and I think he hit it out of the park,\" he said. \"For me, the tone was more important,\" he said. \"To me it was presidential. He did reach out, not just to Democrats and Republicans, but to Americans to find common ground on the big issues ahead of us. \" Going into the vote, Montana's only congressman said he was not worred that he would not be confirmed. \" \"I'm not particularly controversial, so I'm very confident that I will be the secretary,\" he said. \"There's a lot of work to do. \" Zinke said his new boss is looking for results. \"The president holds people accountable. He is a man of action and all of us understand that we are there to do a job, roll up our sleeves and get to it. \" Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue said after the vote: \"Congressman Zinke is a great choice to lead the Department of the Interior. Under his leadership, I have full confidence that America will unlock its full energy potential. Congressman Zinke's experience and commitment to preserving our wildlife and natural resources make him uniquely qualified for the position. \" Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said on the Senate floor Tuesday having Zinke lead Interior was good for Alaska and good for America. \"Now, there's been a lot of discussion about Congressman Zinke and he comes to this job with great qualifications,\" said the Marine Reserve lieutenant colonel and combat veteran of Afghanistan. \"He's a patriotic and ethical man from a patriotic and ethical part of America: the American West. \" Sullivan said he cherished Zinke's military service and welcomes a man of the retired Navy commander's experience taking the helm at Interior. \"He's a Navy SEAL who's dedicated his life to protecting our great nation,\" Sullivan said. \"He's a lifelong sportsman. He's a trained geologist. He's a strong advocate for energy independence. He has a keen interest in protecting our environment, while not stymieing more economic growth. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D. ) took to the Senate floor Tuesday and was one of the Democrats rising to oppose Zinke. \"We need a Secretary of Interior who will protect our public lands, make investments to conserve our endangered and threatened species and who will continue to confront climate change,\" Hirono said. \"Congressman Zinke voted to block funding for any listed endangered species on which the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to conduct a review,\" she said. \"It did not seem to matter to Congressman Zinke that the reason why these reviews did not take place was because Republicans and Congress failed to appropriate the necessary funding to produce these reviews,\" she said. \"His record and past statements demonstrate that Congressman Zinke is not the right person to lead the Department of the Interior at this juncture \u2014 at this critical stage, I urge my colleagues to oppose his nomination,\" she said. In the end, Zinke's nomination did not generate the animus among Senate Democrats and their base of Democrats still trying to process what happened to their party Nov. 8. Not only is Zinke an engaging and gregarious politician willing to work with Democrats, as he did a number of times as a congressman, his ascension to the president's cabinet means he will not challenge Sen. Jon Tester (D. . ). Tester was considered one of the most vulnerable of the 23 Senate Democrats up in 2018. Tester won in 2012 with less than 50 percent of the vote in a state where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points, 56 percent to her 35 percent. All House vacancies must be filled by a special election and Montana state law prohibits the setting of a date for a special election until after the vacancy occurs. Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock is required to set the date for the special election within 100 days of Zinke's swearing in. Shortly after Zinke's confirmation, senators invoked cloture on the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development Secretary. The motion started the chamber's 30 hours of debate on the nomination, which should be voted on by the Senate Thursday morning.","label":0}
{"text":"Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's popularity among Republicans has plummeted in recent months and now more of them have negative views of him than positive ones, according to Gallup data released Monday. The proportion of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who view Cruz favorably has dropped to 39% \u2014 down from 61% in January \u2014 and the share who view him unfavorably has skyrocketed, going from 15% in January to 45% now. \"Republicans' views of Cruz are now the worst in Gallup's history of tracking the Texas senator,\" Gallup Editor Frank Newport said. The data comes as Cruz has made several moves to try to shore up support for his campaign and stop Donald Trump from winning enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. He and Ohio Gov. John Kasich had tried to make a deal so Cruz could take on Trump one-on-one in Tuesday's Indiana primary. That appears to have fallen apart. He named Carly Fiorina as his running mate last week, even though he hasn't clinched the nomination and it is mathematically impossible for him to do so on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention. Cruz said this week that he nevertheless intends to go the distance, \"as long as we have a viable path to victory.\" Here's what's happened to his popularity ratings in the Gallup polling: \"After a holding period of sorts in March and early April, Cruz's image began to deteriorate significantly in the last two weeks, with his positive and negative lines crossing in the middle of last week,\" Newport said. At the same time, Trump's popularity among Republicans surged in recent weeks, with the amount who view him favorably growing from 53% to 59% and the share who view him negatively shrinking from 41% to 35%. Of course, both still have popularity problems with the general electorate \u2014 29% more people have a negative view of Trump than a positive one and 25% more view Cruz negatively than positively.","label":0}
{"text":"Welcome to the \"hotel with the worst view in the world. \" Please be mindful of the art on the walls. The elusive British street artist Banksy has decorated the interiors of the Walled Off Hotel, a guesthouse in the West Bank city of Bethlehem whose windows overlook the barrier that separates the territory from Israel. Among the rooms decorated by the artist, who has earned a following for tagging walls around the world with witty illustrations and dark political commentaries, is the \"Banksy Room. \" In the room, a mural on the wall above a bed depicts a Palestinian and an Israeli locked in combat \u2014 only they are having a pillow fight. Banksy, who rarely comments on his work and keeps his real identity a secret, has made trips to the West Bank for years and has previously, under cover of night, painted the barrier itself. On a recent trip, he painted a mural on the barrier, just steps from his current project, showing a girl being pulled aloft by balloons. Last year, four street murals in Gaza were attributed to him, including one depicting a Greek goddess amid the rubble of a destroyed house. In addition to the guest rooms, Banksy has created something of a museum that includes surveillance cameras mounted like taxidermic trophies, a Grecian bust surrounded by a cloud meant to depict tear gas, and a wax statue depicting the signing of the Balfour Declaration, the 1917 letter of British intent to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The hotel will open to guests on March 11, with rooms starting at $30 a night. Banksy, who first came to prominence by stenciling artworks on the walls of Bristol, England, has become an international superstar. In 2015, he created an exhibit called Dismaland, in which works by Israeli and Palestinian artists were displayed side by side. Some of Banksy's works have sold at auction for more than $1 million.","label":0}
{"text":"Three skydivers were killed in Australia on Friday after what authorities believe was a mid-air collision. Two men aged in their 30s and a woman in her 50s are believed to have collided while skydiving near Cairns in northeastern Australia, police said. Their bodies were found about a mile from the designated landing site.","label":0}
{"text":"In what is considered a massive set-back not just to Obama s environmental policy, but to the very planet we live on, the Supreme Court just killed the best chance America had to combat climate change in the foreseeable future. And if you think this wasn t politically motivated the five Justices responsible all come from the right side of the bench.In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled to stay the requirements that energy companies needed to rein in the ludicrous amount of carbon that they were pouring into the atmosphere. For decades, scientists have warned that this carbon is among the number one contributors to global warming. Obama had hoped to address this with a landmark move to curtail these emissions with an initiative he named the Clean Power Plan. With strong but achievable standards for power plants, and customized goals for states to cut the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, the Clean Power Plan provides national consistency, accountability and a level playing field while reflecting each state s energy mix. It also shows the world that the United States is committed to leading global efforts to address climate change.Or not.Instead, America s right-wing showed the world once again that it is not remotely serious about trying to combat climate change. Naturally, this lack of initiative gives other major polluters like China a fantastic excuse to not curtail their own emissions. We will, when you do, they might say.For now, the oil and gas companies get to ignore the rule. This is a major victory for the corporations that are most responsible for polluting in the first place. The Koch brothers, of course, were vehemently opposed to the new plans. So too were the Republican politicians they sponsor. How desperate were Republicans to let their pollution-heavy friends off the hook? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell broke with all existing protocol to deliver a letter to all 50 United States governors telling them to simply ignore Obama s EPA requirements altogether.The four liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan all wrote that they objected to the stay.But if all of this shady monkey wrench tossing is giving you a sense of hopeless, the silver lining is this: All that is standing in the way of bold new plans like this becoming law are five aging conservative members of the Supreme Court. It s expected that the next president will get to appoint at least two new Justices. The ability to change the course of not just America s, but the world s climate rests with who Americans chose as their next president this year. That s a lot of power. Let s use it to elect a person who has our interests in mind, not the Koch brothers.Feature image from YouTube","label":1}
{"text":"Before and after he became president, Donald J. Trump made it pretty clear that he didn't see much value in the United Nations. So when he named Nikki R. Haley as his choice for United Nations ambassador, many wondered whether he was simply shunting a tough critic into a trivial post. In the past week, Ms. Haley has made it increasingly clear that she has no intention of being sidelined. To the contrary, as diplomats at the United Nations saw it, she managed to elbow herself into a leading, outspoken role in the Trump administration. On Wednesday, wielding pictures of dead Syrian children, she was the first senior official in the administration to warn that the United States could take unilateral action against Syria's president for the chemical attack that killed more than 80 people in his country. The same day, she was named a full member of the coveted principals' committee on Mr. Trump's National Security Council, where crucial policy work is done. In the United Nations Security Council, she pushed for a sharply worded draft resolution to remind the Syrian government to share the flight logs of all its air operations with international investigators. She confronted Russia for blocking it, and on Thursday evening, in what diplomats described as tense, negotiations, Ms. Haley not only rejected a compromise, but made it clear she was not happy to be led by other countries in the direction of a compromise. Their attempt at diplomacy had changed her script of pushing Russia to veto. Soon after she walked out of the Council's chambers that evening, news emerged that the United States had, in fact, fired dozens of Tomahawk missiles at an air base in Syria. Diplomacy is as much theatrics as it is dialogue. And Ms. Haley, 45, a former governor of South Carolina, has created at least the impression among her fellow ambassadors that she is carving out a space for herself in an administration where it isn't always clear who is guiding contentious policy. The French ambassador, Fran\u00e7ois Delattre, concluded Thursday evening that she was \"clearly very influential in the Trump administration. \" On Friday, it was left to her to dangle yet another warning. She called the American strikes \"fully justified,\" though she offered no clear legal justification. \"The United States took a very measured step last night,\" she said during a Security Council meeting. \"We are prepared to do more. But we hope that will not be necessary. \" Ms. Haley's office has not responded to repeated requests for interviews, but when asked onstage at the Women in the World conference in New York on Wednesday whether she liked her the job, she cheerfully put it this way: \"You can move the ball. It's not just about talking. \" Is she actually setting foreign policy? That would be highly unusual for any envoy to the United Nations. But in these unusual days, vital positions in the State Department remain vacant, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson is far more distant from the public than his predecessors, and many American embassies are still without an ambassador. That, say current and former American officials, seems to have given Ms. Haley, a neophyte in foreign affairs who works closely with a small band of trusted political aides, a great deal of visibility and, possibly, latitude. \"I think she has been, from the beginning, willing to be out front with policy statements before the White House or Secretary Tillerson,\" said Mich\u00e8le Flournoy, a Pentagon official in the Obama administration and now chief executive of the Center for a New American Security. \"She right now has established herself as the more public voice of American diplomacy. That may be by design. \" But given that Ms. Haley has no foreign policy background, many wonder if the United Nations job is simply a useful steppingstone for her political ambitions. Her remarks on world affairs are usually leavened by slogans \u2014 \"call them out\" is one of her favorites when referring to nations that run counter to American interests. Her statements are also sometimes thin on substance, offering no blueprint on how to approach North Korea or Iran, or how to make the United Nations deliver \"value,\" as she says, for American taxpayers. \"By being so high profile and ready to pronounce, there may be a perception that she's more focused on positioning herself publicly than learning all the complexities of the job,\" said Suzanne Nossel, a former State Department official who noted that the hard lessons of diplomacy come from experience. United States decisions on crucial United Nations matters used to take shape through consultations among senior officials and experts in New York and Washington. These days, policies are drafted in Ms. Haley's office, and sent to Washington to clear, according to two American officials who were not authorized to speak on the record. The policies are on everything from how to handle peacekeeping missions to what to do about United States membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council to who will be part of the delegation to the annual women's rights meeting. Ms. Haley came to United Nations headquarters two months ago with a brash promise that she would be \"taking names\" of those who did not side with the United States. She brought with her a handful of aides from South Carolina and hired a few conservative advisers. Those in her inner circle meet every morning on the 21st floor of the United States mission. Career foreign service staff members are invited only as necessary. Ms. Haley is close to powerful members of Congress, including Senator Lindsey Graham, a fellow South Carolina Republican, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, who leads the Foreign Relations Committee. She has said she speaks to Mr. Trump often, including a talk on Wednesday, the same day she dangled the possibility of unilateral American action in Syria. Her political instincts have been on sharp display. She posts on Twitter about her dog, roots for South Carolina sports and wears the symbol of her home state \u2014 a palmetto and crescent moon \u2014 as a locket around her neck. She got a rousing welcome at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in March her high heels, she told that audience to great applause, could be useful for kicking those she needed to. And she heard a collective murmur of disbelief when, during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, she defended the president's travel ban by pointing to last month's terrorist attack in London the crime was the handiwork of a native Briton, not a migrant. She has used her time here to speak out, again and again, on a handful of issues that have domestic political currency: Iran, Israel, toughness on Russia. She has promised to make the United Nations more efficient, and said she and the secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, \"think alike. \" (She aligned herself with the Tea Party he was president of the Socialist International.) Several diplomats noted privately that Ms. Haley had not bothered to go around and meet most of them, and only on the highest profile subjects has she been present in the Security Council. In contrast to her predecessor, Samantha Power, Ms. Haley goes home in time for dinner with her family most days. She said she was appalled by how much overtime staff members had piled up before she arrived. She has been seemingly at odds with her boss on at least two things. She has repeatedly expressed her distrust of Russia, insisting that sanctions should be maintained for its annexation of Crimea. And she maintained that the United States remained committed to a solution for the conflict, even after the president vaguely suggested otherwise. R. Nicholas Burns, a veteran United States diplomat and a trenchant critic of the president, called her \"one of the most pragmatic and one of the most courageous voices in the administration. \" He pointed to her insistence that sanctions on Russia should remain, even as Mr. Trump signaled his admiration for the Russian president. \"In this case, within the fluidity of this administration, she has been a refreshing tough voice,\" Mr. Burns said. \"I wouldn't say formally she was making policy. She was articulating positions that were not repudiated by others in the administration, and in some cases they then followed her lead. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The Inauguration was a beautiful day full of great images BUT the images of the hate coming from anti-Trump protesters will shake you. Inaugural ball attendees were spat upon and had water thrown at them. The people trying to just walk from one area to the next were assaulted. Bar patrons were even taunted with images of an ISIS beheading from a phone video. Sick! Is this what the Democrats represent? Anarchy and chaos rules the day for the lefty lunatics. One woman even tried to light another woman s hair on fire DC police are now asking for anyone to ID her so they can arrest her. Luckily, a man in the video was seen putting the fire out. Please watch the video below and hopefully someone will come forward:","label":1}
{"text":"John Carney, Breitbart News finance and economics editor, joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Thursday's Breitbart News Daily to talk about the Dow's hitting 21, 000 for the first time after President Trump's address to Congress. [Marlow asked what Dow 21, 000 means to the average person. Carney replied that \"people's retirement savings [and] investment portfolios, have gone up tremendously. \" \"We've seen a tremendous rally \u2014 in fact, the fastest ever, or it tied the fastest ever gain on record. You might remember just a little while ago, we were talking about Dow 20, 000, and then in just a few weeks, we've hit Dow 21, 000. Huge, tremendous rally,\" Carney said. Marlow asked if President Trump's \"gloating\" and \"braggadocio\" over the stock market rally could backfire. \"Yeah, look, you've got to be careful, right? Because if you own the rally, and it reverses, you're going to end up owning the slump, as well,\" Carney cautioned. \"Stock markets don't only go up. They're not only going to go up during the Trump administration. So far, they have \u2014 the stock market's actually up 15 percent since Election Day, which is gigantic. It's up five percent just over the last few weeks. But history is very clear: stock markets go up, and they go down. You've got to be a little cautious about this. \" \"A lot of the force behind the rally is a lot of optimism about what's going to happen with taxes, with trade, with regulation, but all that stuff has to go through Congress, and Congress can be a very messy place,\" he noted. \"We don't know a lot of the details about what's going to happen with Trump's tax plan. Even if we knew the details about what he wants, that'll get changed when it goes to Congress. People could be disappointed. The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates ibn fact, they're likely to. That could also end up putting the brakes on the rally and perhaps causing stocks to go the other way. \" \"Yeah, you've got to be cautious when you start bragging about the stock market going up,\" he advised. Marlow asked if Met Life's \"too big to fail\" case would be a major test of Trump's agenda, a subject Carney is writing about at length for Breitbart News. \"Met Life is one of the three largest insurance companies in the United States. AIG and Prudential are the others,\" Carney explained. \"Under the Obama administration, a financial regulatory body called FSOC labeled them as 'too big to fail.' The official label is a SIFI, Systemically Important Financial Institution. Met Life fought it, won in court, and the court struck down that designation. \" \"The Obama administration appealed that case and said, 'Even though the court struck it down, we would like the appeals court to put that label back on them as too big to fail.' The court hasn't decided anything yet. The Trump administration can, if it wants to, rescind the appeal \u2014 in other words, ask the court, 'Hey, never mind. We're okay with the original decision' and go forward with that,\" he continued. \"This will be a test. The president has said he wants to slow down the enormous growth of the regulatory state. This is an opportunity to do that, but there's a ticking clock on it. Once the appeals court makes its decision, you can't sort of wave it away the way you can right now, and you'll end up having to appeal it perhaps to the Supreme Court,\" he said. \"There's an opportunity to slow the growth of the regulatory state. The question is whether or not they're going to take it now,\" Carney concluded. Marlow noted that Trump has been criticized as a \"champion of Wall Street,\" even though he ran a populist campaign. \"Look, I think that there are multiple ways of thinking about somebody as a 'champion for Wall Street,'\" Carney argued. \"The Trump administration so far, at least in terms of the stock market, has been very good for a lot of these big financial institutions \u2014 but it's also been very good for the smaller businesses. If you look at the broader index, the SP 500 or the Russell 2000, those stocks have also done very well. \" \"Even though it entails putting more regulation on them, it also sort of puts a patina of protection around them and says these are the institutions that the United States thinks are so important it will never let them fail,\" he said. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN:","label":0}
{"text":"Republican and Democratic senators introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday seeking to block President Donald Trump from firing the special counsel probing his ties to Russia, as Congress increasingly seeks to assert its authority on policy. Members of Congress from both parties have expressed concern that Trump might dismiss Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to determine whether there was collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow. The Republican president on May 9 fired FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the investigation. He also recently criticized his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the probe. With signs that Mueller's investigation is intensifying, members of Congress sought to protect the special counsel, who was appointed on May 17. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday that Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to investigate the allegations of Russian meddling. The sources added that grand jury subpoenas had been issued in connection with a June 2016 meeting involving Trump's son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer. Moscow has denied any effort to influence the election, and Trump has disputed any allegations of collusion between his associates and Russia. \"Our bill allows judicial review of any decision to terminate a counsel to make sure it's done for the reasons cited in the regulations rather than political motivation,\" said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who co-sponsored one of the bills with Democratic Senator Cory Booker. A second, generally similar, measure was introduced by Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Chris Coons. Coons told reporters that he expected the two groups of senators would work together and seek more co-sponsors from both parties, to come up with a single bill. He said they were in discussions with the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the hope they would take up the bill, a step toward a vote in the full Senate. The measures were introduced as the Senate prepared to leave Washington for its August recess. Lawmakers will return in early September. Members of Congress, including some of Trump's fellow Republicans, have recently been pursuing legislation seeking to increase Congress' influence on U.S. policy. Last week, lawmakers voted almost unanimously for a sweeping sanctions bill that gave Congress the right to review any Trump effort to ease or lift sanctions on Russia. Trump signed that bill into law on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld federal disclosure rules for political advertising, rejecting an appeal by a Denver-based libertarian think tank that wanted to run an ad without being forced to divulge its major donors. The Denver-based Independence Institute sued the Federal Election Commission, arguing the law requiring such disclosure violated its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's ruling last year in favor of the commission. It was the latest in a decade-long series of cases brought by conservatives aiming to roll back federal campaign finance restrictions. The Independence Institute was supported in the case by influential Republican and conservative voices including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Judicial Watch legal activist group as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group. The institute, ahead of the 2014 congressional elections, had sought to run a radio advertisement about increasing prison costs, telling listeners to urge their Colorado U.S. senators to support sentencing reform. Because the ad mentioned a senator by name in the lead up to an election, it triggered a provision in the 2002 campaign finance statute known as the McCain-Feingold law requiring the institute to file with the election commission and disclose any donors supporting the ad. The law was enacted to combat an explosion of what is known as \"soft money\" in campaigns through so-called sham issue advertisements, which cloaked partisan advocacy in discussions of public policy. Though the Supreme Court allowed unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions in its landmark 2010 decision in the Citizens United v Federal Election Commission case, the court also upheld disclosure requirements for campaign ads. The Federal Election Commission said that for more than a century federal law has required organizations that influence elections to disclose information about their funding sources, a principle upheld in the Citizens United ruling. The Independence Institute sued in federal court in Washington in a bid to keep the names of its donors secret, arguing that its proposed ad focused on the sentencing reforms that senators were considering, not any senator's re-election campaign. Last October, a three-judge panel of the federal court ruled against the group, saying it would be impossible to distinguish genuine issue ads that reference candidates from campaign-style ads that openly promote or disparage a candidate.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump is now the unofficially declared Republican nominee. Congratulations, Republicans, you went from Abraham Lincoln, to Dwight D. Eisenhower, to George W. Bush, and now Trump. We didn t think it could get much worse, but it did.Thankfully for the Democrats and other sane Americans, both Clinton and Sanders stand to beat Trump in a landslide in a general election. The math favors Clinton to be the Democratic nominee, for she only needs roughly 180 more delegates out of the 1,100+ left in the rest of the contests. No matter who you support, this is a good thing.So, unless there is a divine intervention (on both sides), it s going to be Trump v. Clinton.Anti-establishment Republicans are elated though for some weird reason their candidate is screwed.Take a look at the numbers: CNN has Clinton beating Trump 54-41 percent, a thirteen point lead. That s pretty sizable. And what s even more remarkable is the fact that Trump leads Clinton with white voters by only nine points (52-43). Remember, white voters are supposed to be Trump s saving grace in this election the angry white voter, new-age Southern Strategy is supposed to carry the xenophobic buffoon, and he is only leading by nine points.In 2008, McCain garnered 55 percent of white voters to Obama s 43 percent 12 point difference and still lost.In 2012, Romney nabbed 59 percent of whites to Obama s dismal 39 percent a 20 point difference and still lost.Projections show that Trump will have to win 70 percent of white voters if he wants to take the White House. And why is that? Because Clinton is absolutely crushing him among non-white voters. In CNN s poll, 81 percent of nonwhite voters are backing Clinton, while 14 percent are backing Trump, a 67 point difference.That s not even taking into consideration the entire female vote, which Trump is losing in historic proportions.And it certainly doesn t help that Republicans have lost ground with white voters (and white men) while Democrats have picked up the Republican s slack. Reuters found:Among whites under 40, the shift is even more dramatic. In 2012, they were more likely to identify with the Republican Party by about 5 percentage points. In 2015, the advantage flipped: Young whites are now more likely to identify with the Democratic Party by about 8 percentage points.Bottom line: the white vote cannot and will not save Donald Trump. The face of the nation has changed, the demographics have shifted, and it s no longer going to be the white man calling the shots. And no matter how many races and religions Trump wants to ban, the rhetoric will not be enough for his racist base. Of course never say never. There is always a chance he could win if Democrats get too comfortable and stay home. But if Democrats get out and vote, Trump will lose, and lose huge.Let s put the final nail in the white dominance coffin and send a message to the bigots on the Trump train.","label":1}
{"text":"David Duke is a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard who also happens to be one of the most famous white supremacists in modern history. He is also, like many white supremacists, anti-semites, and other assorted despicable bigots, a Donald Trump supporter. Today, as we all know by now, Hillary Clinton issued a blistering takedown of Trump in a brilliant speech delivered in Reno, Nevada. She indicted the so-called alt-right movement which is really nothing more than the new white supremacy as well as Donald Trump himself for being nothing more than bigots, and bringing their bigotry into the mainstream via this presidential election. Well, of course, David Duke was most unhappy with this, and decided to issue a statement defending the alt-right which of course means, at this point, that he is also defending Trump.Duke talked to Buzzfeed s Andrew Kaczynski and said:Kaczynski went on to tweet:Bottom line, the white nationalists trust Trump and don't find his condemnations of them to be sincere. andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 26, 2016He s right, of course. They know that Trump is just doing what he has to do to get elected. He is their guy. They know that all of his pathetic and disingenuous attempts to reach out to communities of color is really just lip service; hell, he isn t even actually talking to communities of color. He s trying to assure more mainstream white people that he isn t quite as racist as they thought, and that they should still vote for him, because he s still their man.Trump s campaign has completely embraced the lunatic fringe, and they are welcoming him with open arms. No matter how much his campaign staff tries to soften his bombastic tone and gets him to read off of a teleprompter, the truth is already out there, via not just Trump s own words, associations, and actions, but also via the full throated endorsement and defense of Klan leaders and other white supremacist leaders like David Duke.GOP, if you ve any sense at all, you ll kick ALL of these racists out of your party. You can t just say you aren t racists. You have to prove it. Take the hit this election, and reject Trumpism before it is too late.","label":1}
{"text":"Nobody can accuse the GOP of having it all together, but they are pretty good at having their press releases done ahead of time. Unfortunately for them, tonight s announcement was about the Vice Presidential debate, declaring Mike Pence the winner, well before the debate even started.Check it out below it s really amazing that they can see into the future:This is at least one Dewey Defeats Truman moment for the GOP. Back in 1948, the Chicago Tribune jumped the gun of the presidential election for that year and published that headline. Anybody who knows anything at all about American history should know we never had a President Dewey and the Tribune has yet to live that gaffe down.The GOP, though, won t deal in facts tonight. They ll declare Pence the winner even if he literally never says a single word. Notice what they highlighted: The economy and Hillary s emails. Tonight s debate started with presidential leadership, and what the VP must do with zero prep should the president become incapacitated.Pence did do every single thing he could to blame Hillary Clinton for weak foreign policy, including lying through his teeth about why we pulled our troops out of Iraq (he repeated the GOP line that Hillary chose to pull our troops out and ignored the fact that it was not our choice it was Iraq s choice). However, he s probably gotten some training from Trump s people, who try and turn even the most unrelated, irrelevant subjects into something about Hillary.Vox decided to be charitable with their evaluation of the GOP s premature ejaculation press release, saying it could be placeholder text on their site. But considering that they also said the other clear winner was Donald Trump, it s really, really hard to see this as anything other than what it is the GOP trying to control the narrative before anything even began.Featured image by Win McNamee\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to revise a joint treaty capping the development of the South s ballistic missiles, Moon s office said on Saturday, amid a standoff over North Korea s missile and nuclear tests. Trump also gave conceptual approval to the purchase by the South of billions of dollars of U.S. military hardware, the White House said. The South wants to raise the missile cap to boost its defenses against the reclusive North, which is pursuing missile and nuclear weapons programs in defiance of international warnings and UN sanctions. The two leaders agreed to the principle of revising the missile guideline to a level desired by South Korea, sharing the view that it was necessary to strengthen South Korea s defense capabilities in response to North Korea s provocations and threats, South Korea s presidential Blue House said. Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States. North Korea sharply raised regional tension this week with the launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. That followed the test launch of two long-range ballistic missiles in July in a sharply lofted trajectory that demonstrated a potential range of 10,000 km (6,000 miles) or more that would put many parts of the U.S. mainland within striking distance. North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and has recently threatened to land missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. South Korea s development of its ballistic missiles is limited to range of 800 km (500 miles) and payload weight of 500 kg (1,100 pounds) under a bilateral treaty revised in 2012. South Korea has said it wants to revise the agreement to increase the cap on the payload. The two countries agreed to the cap as part of a commitment to a voluntary international arms-control pact known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, aimed at limiting the proliferation missiles and nuclear weapons. The two leaders pledged to continue to apply strong diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea and to make all necessary preparations to defend against the growing threat by the North, the White House said. The White House did not mention the voluntary bilateral agreement but said the two leaders agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation and South Korea s defense capabilities. Trump provided his conceptual approval of planned purchases by South Korea of billions of dollars in American military equipment , the White House said. Trump, who has warned that the U.S. military is locked and loaded in case of further North Korean provocation, reacted angrily to the latest missile test, declaring on Twitter that talking is not the answer to resolving the crisis. North Korea defends its weapons programs as necessary to counter perceived U.S. aggression, such as recent air maneuvers with South Korean and Japanese jets.","label":0}
{"text":"0 comments  Leaked audio from 2006, when Hillary Clinton was running for Senate in New York, proves that she has absolutely NO apprehensions about rigging elections.  During an editorial meeting with a small Jewish newspaper in Brooklyn, various topics were discussed, including the then-recent election in Palestine.  Here's what Hillary had to say about it:  \"I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake. And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.\"","label":1}
{"text":"Multiple reports state gunshots were fired outside the Rayburn House Office Building around 9:30 a. m on Wednesday. [Capitol Hill police officers with carbines and riot shotguns are patrolling the grounds. Other reports say the incident involved a truck driver ramming a police cruiser and trying to escape on foot. ABC News reported: U. S. Capitol Police responded to the area at Washington Ave and Independence Ave, which is located near the U. S. Botanic Garden and the Rayburn House office building. The suspect apparently struck a Capitol Police cruiser and then tried running over several officers who were on foot, according to Metro DC Police. At some point, Capitol Police fired shots, but no one was hit. The suspect was apprehended at 3rd and Independence Ave, and has been taken into custody. No one was hit by the suspect's car, police said. Shots fired on Capital Hill. We are locked inside the #Rayburn House building. pic. twitter. \u2014 Cherry Street Films (@cherrystfilms) March 29, 2017, #UPDATE: Suspect in custody after shots fired near US Capitol Capitol Police cruiser struck https: . pic. twitter. \u2014 FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) March 29, 2017, BREAKING: DC police say a driver struck a Capitol Police cruiser then tried running over other officers who were on foot. Now in custody. \u2014 devindwyer (@devindwyer) March 29, 2017, Sounded like shots fired at the Capitol. Our view from Rayburn. pic. twitter. \u2014 Drew Griffin (@GriffDrew4) March 29, 2017,","label":0}
{"text":"KABUL, Afghanistan \u2014 Months after intense fighting between the Afghan government and the Taliban subsided on the outskirts of Kunduz, Hajji Habib Rahmani's family decided to go ahead with a delayed wedding. Amid the festivities, Abdul Basit, one of the children playing behind the house, picked up an unexploded shell, and it blew up. Basit, 14, and his brother Haroon, 8, were killed, and 12 other children ages 7 to 15 were wounded. The shell had been \"fired from a helicopter during the fighting, and it hadn't exploded,\" said Mr. Rahmani, an uncle of the two brothers. On Monday, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan reported that 2016 had been another year of record civilian casualties in the country, and it expressed particular concern about a 65 percent jump in the number of children killed or wounded by explosive remnants as fighting has spread to heavily populated civilian areas. The report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or Unama, said overall civilian casualties had continued their steady increase in recent years. In 2016, 3, 498 civilians were killed and 7, 920 others wounded \u2014 a rise of 3 percent over the previous year, the report said. \"I am deeply saddened to report yet another year of increase in civilian casualties \u2014 another figure for the number of civilian casualties,\" Tadamichi Yamamoto, the United Nations special representative for Afghanistan and the head of Unama, said at a news conference on Monday in Kabul, the Afghan capital. \"The killing and maiming of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable. \" According to the report, Unama documented \"record numbers of civilian casualties from ground engagements, suicide and complex attacks, and explosive remnants of war\" in 2016. The report also said casualties caused by aerial operations were the highest since the mission started systematically tracking them in 2009 and had doubled compared with 2015. Afghanistan is still having to clear what remains of the hundreds of thousands of mines and explosive remnants dating as far back as the war with the Soviet Union and the subsequent factional fighting, even as newer explosives take lives on a daily basis. Just as the conflict is restricting the movements of demining crews, civilians are being killed and maimed by homemade roadside bombs planted by insurgents, as well as unexploded ordnance left behind by coalition forces around bases they abandoned. And now, more children are dying not long after battles in their neighborhoods have ended, as none of the combatants bother to clear explosive remnants afterward as sought by international conventions. About 61 percent of the civilian casualties are attributed to what Unama calls \"antigovernment elements,\" largely the Taliban. But civilian casualties caused by local affiliates of the Islamic State also increased tenfold compared with 2015, with 899 casualties claimed by Islamic State in 2016. forces caused 24 percent of the civilian casualties, the report said, significantly higher than in 2015. The United Nations mission was especially concerned about an overall 24 percent rise in casualties involving children compared with 2015, with 3, 512 such episodes in 2016 causing 923 deaths and leaving 2, 589 wounded. More than half of the child casualties occurred during ground engagements. Afghanistan has successfully carried out one of the world's largest demining efforts over several decades, removing nearly two million items of explosive material, more than 700, 000 antipersonnel mines and more than 29, 000 antitank mines, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service. The efforts have resulted in a 65 percent reduction in casualties caused by mines and explosive remnants since 2001. But in recent years, as the international coalition has closed down bases ahead of its withdrawal from the country, more casualties have been reported from ordnance exploding in areas that had been used as firing ranges and then abandoned by coalition forces. From 2009 to 2015, the United Nations recorded 138 casualties resulting from explosive remnant accidents in or around facilities used by the international coalition, and it said that 75 percent of the victims were children. A clearance operation to start getting rid of the explosives was introduced in 2014 to clear dozens of these sites. The United Nations said many of last year's casualties involving children and unexploded ordnance were caused by new explosive items left behind after recent fighting. \"My team tracks the location of every one of the detonations, and the trend we have documented was a direct correlation between casualties from exploded ordnance and areas where the heaviest ground fighting happened,\" said Danielle Bell, the director of the human rights unit at Unama. \"The majority of casualties resulted from new unexploded ordnance from the current conflict. \" The United Nations is urging the Afghan government to comply with international rules requiring it to clear explosives after a battle.","label":0}
{"text":"Tens of thousands of Romanians rallied in the capital Bucharest and dozens of other cities on Sunday, protesting against a widely criticized plan by the ruling Social Democrats to overhaul the judiciary. The PSD-led coalition, which holds a robust majority in parliament, is drafting an overhaul that the European Commission, foreign diplomats and thousands of magistrates have criticized as placing the justice system under political control, potentially weakening an anti-corruption drive. A special parliamentary commission started debating the bill last week, with the ruling party aiming to have it approved by the end of the year. The commission is headed by Florin Iordache, who resigned as justice minister in February after a decree on corruption that he drafted triggered the biggest street protests since the 1989 anti-communist Romanian revolution. That decree, which was eventually rescinded, would have effectively shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution for corruption. Thieves, Thieves, shouted thousands of protesters in front of the government s headquarters on Sunday. We want justice, not corruption. PSD is the red plague. An estimated 30,000 people marched to parliament in Bucharest, while roughly 20,000 held rallies in about 70 cities. How do you trust wolves to make laws at the sheepfold, former technocrat prime minister Dacian Ciolos said on his Facebook page before going to the protests in Bucharest. The most contested judicial changes include those to an inspection unit that oversees magistrates conduct, the way in which chief prosecutors are appointed and the president s right to veto candidates. Romanian prosecutors have investigated hundreds of public officials, including former prime ministers, in an anti-corruption drive over the past decade. Transparency International ranks Romania among the European Union s most corrupt states, though Brussels has praised magistrates for their efforts. Prosecutors froze personal assets belonging to the leader of the PSD, Liviu Dragnea, this month as part of an investigation into suspected theft of cash from state projects, some of them Brussels-funded. Dragnea has denied any wrongdoing. In a report published on Nov. 15, the European Commission said that justice reform has stagnated in Romania this year and challenges to judicial independence remain a persistent source of concern.","label":0}
{"text":"Finnish President Sauli Niinisto is set to be elected for a second six-year term in January elections by a wide margin, a poll commissioned by public broadcaster YLE showed on Thursday. Known for cultivating good relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, 69-year-old Niinisto an independent candidate who previously represented the conservative National Coalition Party had the support of 76 percent in the poll. Fourteen percent of respondents backed lawmaker Pekka Haavisto from the Greens of Finland while five others had in total around 10 percent. The president is in charge of Finland s foreign and defense policy together with the government, but otherwise the post has become largely ceremonial in the past few decades. Following the Ukraine crisis and chilly East-West relations, Niinisto has taken an active role in maintaining relations with neighboring Russia by regular contacts with Putin. Finland is an EU member but it has stayed out of the NATO military alliance under its tradition of avoiding confrontation with Russia. The two countries share a 833 mile (1,340 km) border and a difficult history. I don t easily declare myself as an advisor... But my message to Moscow, Brussels, Washington and any other place is: you should have dialogue, Niinisto told reporters last week. The election will take place on January 28. If no candidate gets half of the votes, there will be a second round in February. If Niinisto and Haavisto met in a second round, Niinisto would win 82 percent of that vote, the poll showed. The numbers are exceptional. Incumbent presidents always have an advantage, but we ve never seen one s popularity grow as the election gets closer, said Johanna Vuorelma, political scientist at University of Helsinki. With the current tensions in the Baltic Sea region, it seems people look for a safe and familiar candidate, and don t even want to consider alternatives. The poll by Taloustutkimus surveyed 1,470 Finns last week.","label":0}
{"text":"One topic has dominated conversations among elected Republicans since President Trump's stunning victory: Will he actually pursue his campaign agenda of nationalism, all but obliterating the distinctions that have defined America's political parties for a century? While some of his advisers suggested that he would slip back into a more conventional Republican approach, Mr. Trump dropped hints in interviews, Twitter posts and other public comments that he intended to push his party away from its internationalist dogma on trade, foreign alliances, immigration, infrastructure spending and prescription drug access. The hints are over. An inaugural speech delivered with the same blunt force that propelled Mr. Trump's insurgent campaign has dashed Republican hopes for a more traditional agenda. With his \"new decree,\" he declared himself modern America's first populist president \u2014 and all but dared his own party to resist his Republican reformation. \"Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families,\" he said. Mr. Trump's vision will inevitably collide with establishment Republican leaders in Congress, and the outcome could determine not just the success of Mr. Trump's presidency, but also the identity of his party. Republicans have resisted Democratic efforts to spend big on the nation's roads, bridges, tunnels and rail lines use the federal government's power to bargain for lower prescription drug prices block trade agreements and limit foreign interventions. Republican leaders have sought a approach on immigration laws, offering a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and tried to restrain popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. If the president is able to blur party lines on such issues and harness an ascendant coalition to win that clash, he will have untethered conservatism from the Republican Party and shifted the party away from the approach that has been its hallmark since Ronald Reagan stood 36 years ago in the same position on the Capitol steps as Mr. Trump. But Mr. Trump is about to discover that his hopes for a realignment may not come easily. As in his campaign, he faces an array of obstacles: his historic unpopularity and lack of discipline, advisers who hope to nudge him back toward conventional Republicanism and, perhaps most significant, other party leaders who have a more conservative outlook on domestic policy and government spending and a more hawkish attitude on foreign affairs. The alarm and anxiety within the Republican Party's congressional wing toward its own president are remarkable. And among Mr. Trump's most outspoken intraparty critics, the warnings of resistance are unambiguous. \"There are three branches of government,\" said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. \"We now have a majority in both houses. And both majorities I think hold to basic conservative Republican principles. \" the threat of reprisal, Mr. McCain said he intended to be true to what he saw as his party and his voters: \"Trump carried Arizona by four points. I carried my state by 14 points. \" Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who like Mr. McCain has repeatedly clashed with Mr. Trump, said that he was preparing for the president to back his opponent in a primary next year \u2014 but that it would not dissuade him from putting up opposition on some issues. \"There are some of us who will be pushing to get back to the roots of the party: limited government, economic freedom, individual responsibility, free trade,\" Mr. Flake said. \"Those are things that the party has stood on for a long time. \" Mr. Trump and some of his closest advisers say such resistance is not just futile but foolish. And they are already pledging to harness Mr. Trump's following in the states and districts of recalcitrant Republicans to sound warnings of their own. \"The incentive for many of these members will be to follow Mr. Trump's lead because he won many of their states,\" said Kellyanne Conway, the president's campaign chief turned senior White House adviser. Aiming at perhaps the most powerful congressional Republican, and one of the more orthodox conservatives, Ms. Conway pointedly recalled Speaker Paul D. Ryan's inability to carry his own state in 2012 as the party's nominee. \"Speaker Ryan knows lost by seven points in Wisconsin, and Mr. Trump just won the state,\" she said. As Ms. Conway noted, many Republican skeptics were doubtful that Mr. Trump could win in the first place. But even some on the right who are sympathetic to elements of his vision worry that there is no infrastructure to undergird and promote Trumpism \u2014 unlike Reagan's conservative movement or former President Bill Clinton's centrist \"third way\" approach. Traditional conservatives dominate Capitol Hill, Washington's think tanks and advocacy groups, as well as statehouses. \"Populism has been an energy that has carried Republicans into office, but once in office very few of them stay populist,\" said Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the conservative Washington Free Beacon. Reihan Salam, the executive editor of National Review, said, \"I think it's likely that Trump is premature,\" arguing that Mr. Trump is aligned with the party's voters but a step ahead of its congressional wing. \"He is only one man. \" There are Republicans who still believe that Mr. Trump will govern more as a conservative even as he attracts a broader coalition of voters to the party. \"I don't think he is going to fundamentally reshape the party on issues,\" predicted Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. He added that Mr. Trump's political legacy would be to \"open the eyes\" of voters who had not supported Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Mr. Walker said Mr. Trump himself had said he was not \"a policy guy\" and argued that the president would lean heavily on Vice President Mike Pence and the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to carry out his agenda. That is exactly what worries some Republicans who share Mr. Trump's views: that the president will be undermined by some in his inner circle. When Mr. Trump veered away from orthodoxy during the transition, some of his advisers quickly tried to recast his comments with a more conservative veneer. \"My concern with Reince is he's bringing in a lot of the folks,\" said Rick Santorum, a onetime senator from Pennsylvania, who ran a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. \"They're not fans of the agenda, much less real fans of Trump. \" And, Mr. Santorum added of Mr. Pence's roots in traditional conservatism, \"candidly this is not where Mike has been in the past, either. \" Still, Mr. Santorum said, he spoke on the phone to Mr. Trump this past week, and the incoming president was every bit as committed to his style of politics as he was during the campaign. \"He's not going to change,\" Mr. Santorum said. Mr. Trump's Inaugural Address reflected as much, and it highlighted the influence of the most prominent nationalists entering the West Wing this weekend, the senior advisers Stephen K. Bannon and Stephen Miller. The new president not only outlined his brand of politics, but also sent a message to those who work in the building behind him. \"We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action,\" Mr. Trump said. \"The time for empty talk is over. \" Or as Ms. Conway put it, \"When he says, 'We're going to build the wall,' he means it, and when he says, 'We're going to renegotiate trade deals,' he means it. \" \" or undercutting or trying to change Donald Trump is a fool's errand,\" she added. \"People who watched this campaign should have discovered that by now. \"","label":0}
{"text":"And the Wisconsin Republican isn't talking about moving legislation in Congress. Long before Ryan clutched the speaker's gavel, bow hunting deer consumed his late-fall and early-winter weekends. Ryan aims to bag three or four deer a year. He then crafts jerky and sausage from the meat. Ryan has held the speaker's job since late October. And so far, so good in the legislative sausage factory. Passage of major education and transportation bills. A tax relief package. The forging of a bipartisan pact to avoid a government shutdown. Ryan even challenged Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump -- without mentioning the candidate by name. This came after Trump suggested the U.S. should ban Muslims from entering the country. \"What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, it's not what this country stands for,\" said Ryan after Trump's proposal a few weeks ago. Ryan appears to have altered the course on Capitol Hill -- at least for a time. \"I'm very happy with how the last sev\u00aden weeks have gone,\" he declared. But the sausage of late hasn't been the political stuff Otto von Bismarck spoke of when describing the onerous legislative process. Next year is when Ryan's real sausage-curing experiment is put to the test -- merging political pork, veal, beef and venison with intestines, salt, spices and breadcrumbs. The \"barn\" left to Ryan by former House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is now formally clean. Anything from here on is Ryan's barn. Passing the annual spending bills. Dealing with the Obama administration. Deciding what to do about the Benghazi committee. A decision on a threat by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Wrangling over the Asian trade pact. Confronting the threat of terrorism. Chasms in the GOP. Internecine fighting over the 2016 race for president. Right now, most political observers are trained on the campaign for president. But Ryan is campaigning, too. Not for president (at least not yet). But a campaign to calm the House, return to the illustrative but elusive \"regular order\" and instill confidence in the public and lawmakers. But 2015 was marked by exceptional turmoil within the GOP ranks, calls for Boehner's head and his eventual resignation, an aborted campaign for speaker by Majority Leader California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy, squabbling over funding the Department of Homeland Security and raising the debt ceiling vexed Congress this year. Ryan wants 2016 to go differently. Already, there are catcalls from the far-right that Ryan is the same as Boehner. Or maybe worse than Boehner. Or that he already sold out. In the new year, Paul Ryan will face the conservative wing of the GOP. There's no more saying he came into the play during the second act or that Boehner is still on the hook. \"There will always be contrarian voices out there,\" Ryan said. \"Members of the conservative movement know me as one of their own.\" He hopes to hand the biggest legislative keys to the House Appropriations Committee and rank-and-file members as they try to fund the government next year. This involves plowing through the 12 annual spending bills to run each section of the government and avert a crisis next September. They had better get rolling. Congress is scheduled to be out of session for a staggering seven weeks stretching from July through early September to accommodate the Democratic and Republican parties' conventions. That doesn't leave much time to wrap things up by September 30, 2016, the end of the government's fiscal year. When asked how and why things seem easier than under the tenure of his predecessor, Ryan momentarily ponders the question. \"I'm not sure I can give you a good answer on that,\" he finally replies. However, he made clear that his goal is to \"loosen control.\" Perhaps without realizing it, Ryan responds to the Boehner regime interrogatory, saying \"this place used to pre-determine everything, down to the amendment.\" Ryan believes he can empower members to influence policy through the appropriations process. They can do so by prescribing how much or how little money the federal government devotes to a given program. That invests everyone in the enterprise. Of course, that means Republicans won't get a lot of things they want (and demand from Ryan). And Democrats sure won't, either. Ryan got a taste of working with Democrats on the recent pact to fund the government and renew major tax breaks at the end of the year. \"I didn't really know these people,\" he said of the Democrats, pointing out that he talked to Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, Nevada, once for about 30 seconds in 2012. He says he and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., never had a conversation before the omnibus spending talks. That's to say nothing of negotiating with President Obama. Obama wants to dine with the new GOP speaker sometime in the new year. Ryan's spoken with the president by phone on multiple occasions since claiming the gavel. Still, Ryan described the administration's approach to governing as \"arrogant, paternalistic and condescending.\" Even if Ryan's able to get along with Obama and congressional Democrats -- to say nothing of members of his own party -- the presidential sweepstakes will dominate 2016. And what happens if one particular candidate polls well as they approach the Republican convention in Cleveland? \"I put up with politics in order to do policy,\" he says. But there's lots of GOP handwringing about whether Republicans can hold the Senate and maybe (maybe) the House if the party nominates Trump. \"I think we're going to have a good climate,\" Ryan says optimistically of the GOP. But there's already chatter about what happens if the party is torn and Trump is cruising toward victory at the Cleveland nominating convention. What does the GOP do? Some private Republican conversations involve a brokered convention. Maybe the party pulls a Steve Harvey and switches the nominee at the last minute. One line of thought is for the GOP to engineer a brokered convention that perhaps propels someone like Ryan to the nomination. \"He's the only person who can unify the Republican party,\" opined one senior Republican House member, \"and possibly beat Hillary Clinton.\" Ryan publicly eschews that sort of talk. Of course, he also didn't like talk about him running for speaker \u2026 Until he did. Some political observers point to the video Ryan released before Congress abandoned Washington for Christmas. Titled \"A Confident America,\" the slickly-produced, creatively-shot tape mimics a campaign commercial -- if not a movie trailer. It crescendos with dramatic music and inspirational oratory, liberally swiping segments from a speech Ryan delivered a few weeks ago in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress. \"We believe in the American idea,\" Ryan proclaims. \"We stand for a more prosperous, a more secure and a more confident America.\" Note that Ryan is one of few major GOP political figures who has been willing to take on Trump. But for now, there's sausage to be made -- in Washington and in Wisconsin. Ryan knows what to do with the venison back home. And in 2016, we'll see how he does in the Capitol Hill smokehouse.","label":0}
{"text":"(Before It's News) What is Vitamin E? Vitamin E is an important fat-soluble antioxidant compound that aids the body in neutralizing the harmful after-effects of oxidation of fats. Current research is even looking into the important role that this vitamin plays in stopping free-radical production, a key method of preventing the development of chronic diseases and aging. It is also a vital element in the overall maintenance of a healthy immune system. Some studies are even looking into its role in preventing degenerative mental imbalances such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease. And while many of us may do well in taking extra vitamin E supplements, we can use an organic diet to get a large amount of the daily requirements for this powerful antioxidant lipid. In fact, there are many common foods with vitamin E. You probably have a few in your house right now. Foods With Vitamin E Here are fifteen foods with vitamin E that you should strongly consider adding to your diet. 1. Almonds Almonds are one the best vitamin E foods. Just an ounce of almonds offers a whopping 7.4 milligrams of vitamin E. You can also get your vitamin E needs in the form of almond milk and almond oils. We would recommend eating raw almonds, if possible. 2. Raw Seeds Select raw seeds , such as sunflower, pumpkin and sesame, are another common food with vitamin E. In fact, eating just \u00bc of a cup of sunflower seeds gives you 90.5% of your recommended daily value, making them one of the best vitamin E foods you can eat daily. 3. Swiss Chard Swiss chard is easily one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat on a daily basis. Commonly known to be high in vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin C, Swiss chard is another food high in vitamin E. Just one cup of boiled swiss chard greens will provide you with almost 17% of your daily recommended values. 4. Mustard Greens Similar to swiss chard, mustard greens are very nutrient dense and will provide a variety of health benefits. Not only are they one of the best vitamin E foods, but mustard greens are also high in vitamin K, vitamin A, folate , and vitamin c. Eating just one cup of boiled mustard greens contains about 14% of your daily dietary requirements. We would recommend eating organic mustard greens, if possible. 5. Spinach Spinach may not be your favorite veggie, but it is one of the best leafy greens you can add to your diet. Not only is it one of the best calcium foods and naturally high in folate, it's also one of the best vitamin E foods as well. Just one cup of boiled spinach will provide you with approximately 20% of your daily needs. Try adding fresh spinach to your sandwiches to make them extra healthy. 6. Turnip Greens While turnip greens may have a slightly bitter taste, they are very high in many essential nutrients. Like the rest of the leafy greens on this list, just one cup will provide you with plenty of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C and folate. Not to mention approximately 12% of your daily requirements of vitamin E. 7. Kale Kale is another great cruciferous vegetable you should eat as often as possible. Kale is very high in many nutrients, in fact, just one cup of boiled kale can give you almost 6% of your daily vitamin E requirements. We would recommend eating organic kale, if possible. 8. Plant oils Most plant seed oils are very good sources for Vitamin E as well. The best oil with vitamin E is Wheat germ oil. In fact, one tablespoon of this oil holds 100% of your daily Vitamin E requirements. Sunflower oil is another excellent option, as it provides over 5 mg of the vitamin, and can easily be be used for cooking. Other great Vitamin-E-rich oils include hempseed oil, coconut oil, cottonseed oil (with almost 5 mg of vitamin E), olive oil and safflower oil. We would recommend only buying oils that are cold pressed unrefined and organic. 9. Hazelnuts A perfect snack during a long workday, eating just one ounce of hazelnuts can provide you with approximately 20% of our daily requirements of vitamin E. For an alternative to eating nuts, try drinking hazelnut milk in your morning coffee instead of milk or flavored creamer. 10. Pine Nuts Add an ounce of these nuts to anything you please! One serving contains 2.6 mg of vitamin E. You can also use pine nut oil for added health benefits. 11. Avocado Perhaps one of the tastiest foods with Vitamin E, avocados represent natures creamiest, oil-rich food. Just half of an avocado holds more than 2 mg of vitamin E. Avocados are very easy to incorporate into your diet. We would recommend adding sliced avocados to your salad, a sandwich, or mashed up as guacamole! 12. Broccoli For generations now, broccoli has been considered one of the best detox foods , but it's also one of the healthiest foods high in Vitamin E. Just one cup of steamed broccoli will provide you with 4% of your daily requirements. Broccoli may not be as nutrient dense as other Vitamin E foods on this list, but it is definitely one of the healthiest foods you can eat daily. 13. Parsley An excellent spice, parsley is another great Vitamin E food. Try adding fresh parsley to salads and dishes for an extra Vitamin-E kick. Dried parsley will also provide you with this important vitamin, but the fresher the better. 14. Papaya This popular fruit is most commonly known as one of the best vitamin C foods , but it's also high in Vitamin E. Just one papaya will give you approximately 17% of your daily needs. Try adding fresh or frozen papaya to fruit smoothies, along with other fruity vitamin E foods on this list for an extra healthy snack! 15. Olives From the oil to the fruit, eating olives is an excellent way of getting your daily needs for vitamin E. Just one cup of olives can give you approximately 20% of your daily recommended amount. These are just a few examples of foods with vitamin E. There are plenty more that aren't listed here. Which vitamin E food is your favorite? Let's hear your thoughts below. The post 15 Foods That Contain The Most Vitamin E appeared first on The Sleuth Journal .","label":1}
{"text":"The football league formerly known as the Lingerie Football League (now the Legends Football League) announced via Instagram and video this week its belief that America s flag and national anthem are far too sacred to protest.The all-woman league said in a Tuesday statement that its players would not be taking a knee during the national anthem as many of their male counterparts in the NFL have done. The LFL recognizes everyone s First Amendment right to protest, but our nation s flag and anthem are far too sacred, the league said. Too many fellow Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice, so that our flag and anthem continue in all its majesty. It symbolizes all the blood, sweat, and tears that have been shed so that we as Americans can raise our flag across our nation, the organization says during the video. The LFL salutes all those who make this the greatest country in the world. We stand in salute of our flag. This year s Legends Cup Champions were the Seattle Mist, which defeated the Atlanta Steam 38 to 28 in the finals. The Mist finished the season undefeated.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S.-backed militias battled foreign fighters defending the last pocket of Islamic State s one-time Syrian capital of Raqqa on Monday, bringing their four-month offensive for the city to the brink of victory. A Reuters correspondent saw smoke rising above the city and heard mortar fire, but did not see air strikes while in Raqqa. A field commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, said he expected the operation to end on Monday. The U.S.-led coalition that backs them said it could not give a timeline. SDF spokesman Mostafa Bali said they were fighting Islamic State in only one small zone of Raqqa in the evening, around the city s national hospital and stadium. Bali said he could not determine how much longer the battle would take. The clashes are ongoing, he added. A convoy of Syrian Islamic State fighters quit Raqqa on Saturday night with their families, leaving only 200-300 foreign jihadists to mount a last stand, the SDF has said. The SDF is now poised to end Islamic State s rule over a city where it had launched a string of lightning victories in 2014 and plotted attacks on civilian targets across the West. Its defeat in Raqqa mirrors its collapse across Iraq and Syria, where its enemies have driven it from cities, killed its leaders in air strikes and regained the oil fields that funded its self-declared caliphate. Islamic State lost Mosul in Iraq, its largest city and most prized possession, after months of fighting in July. The militants, which at their height ruled millions of people in both countries, are now forced back in Syria into a strip of the Euphrates valley south of Deir al-Zor and desert on each side. We have conducted some (air) strikes in the last 24 hours, but I suspect that that will pick up here very soon with the SDF advancing into the final remaining areas of the city, said coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon. The SDF said they gained control of six more districts on Monday. The coalition has supported the SDF with air power and special forces throughout its Raqqa campaign, which began in November with an offensive to isolate the city. The battle inside Raqqa started in June, and the intense air strikes and street-to-street fighting drove many of its people to refugee camps and left much of the city a mess of concrete debris. The field commander in Raqqa described Monday s fighting as a clearing operation and said he expected it to be completed by the end of the day with the SDF controlling the whole city. Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish leader who co-chairs the SDF s political affiliate, said earlier she expected the end of the offensive to be declared within hours or days. A Reuters correspondent was with an SDF sniper unit on a frontline facing the hospital complex that represents one of Islamic State s last strongholds in the city, and saw two men in camouflage clothing climb a building and raise a flag. Cars in the streets below had loudspeakers mounted on their roofs broadcasting messages to the last Islamic State fighters telling them they would not be ill-treated if they surrendered. Another SDF field commander, who gave his name as Ashraf Serhad, said he had heard that 250 IS fighters remained and on Sunday he had seen several vehicles leave the hospital carrying some who had surrendered. Saturday night s convoy included about 100 IS fighters and nearly 200 family members, said Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council set up under SDF auspices to run the city. The fighters who left in the convoy, as part of a deal brokered by tribal leaders, are being held by security forces before interrogation and may be tried in court, he added. The deal also allowed civilians to leave IS-held districts. Dillon said about 3,500 civilians had left the militant-held parts of the city in the past week. The strongest group in the SDF is the YPG, a Kurdish militia that Turkey regards as an extension of the PKK, which has waged an insurgency against Ankara for three decades. YPG influence across swathes of northern Syria including in majority Arab areas, and its backing by the U.S., has provoked disquiet in Turkey. The U.S.-backed offensive has pushed Islamic State from most of northern Syria, while a rival offensive by the Syrian army, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi ite militias, has driven the jihadists from the central desert. When the jihadist group was entrenched in Syria and Iraq, it turned Raqqa into a planning and operations hub. Many of its leaders were at times based there, and former hostages said Mohammed Emwazi, better known as Jihadi John, imprisoned them along with those he later executed in a building near the city. The group killed dozens of captured Syrian soldiers there in July 2014 and made the city the site of a slave market for Yazidi women captured in Iraq and given to fighters. The coalition has said Raqqa was a center for attacks abroad, and in November 2015, after militants killed more than 130 people in Paris, France launched airstrikes on Islamic State targets in the city. But as the group defends its last patch of bomb-cratered ground in the city, the cost of the battle lies evident all around. Much of Raqqa lies ruined, hundreds of civilians have been killed, and thousands more have fled.","label":0}
{"text":"Frauke Petry, the former co-leader of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD), will unveil her new Blue Party on Friday, promising a reasonable conservative agenda that would appeal to a broad base of Germans, she told a newspaper group. Petry, a 42-year-old chemist, was for a time the most visible face of the AfD, helping to build the public appeal that saw it win 12.6 percent of the vote last month and become the first far right group in the German parliament since the 1960s. But although she has long espoused strong anti-immigrant views, she berated other leading figures in the AfD for holding positions too far outside the mainstream and making it impossible for the party to join a coalition government. During the months leading up to the election she took a lower profile role in campaigning, all but vanishing from TV screens as more radical figures became the party s public faces. She won a seat in parliament on the AfD s list last month, but quit the party the next day in a surprise announcement at its victory press conference, pledging to sit in parliament initially as an independent. She told RND newspaper group in an interview published late on Thursday that she would hold a small initial event to announce her new Blue Party on Friday in her home state of Saxony in the former communist East. More rallies would follow around the country from November under the banner of Blue Change or Blaue Wende , she said. Wende is the term widely used to describe the dramatic shift in German society after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Blue stands for conservative, but also liberal policies in Germany and in Europe, she told RND, adding that her new group would seek to replicate the success of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, on a national level. The CSU, part of Merkel s conservative bloc in parliament, has taken a harder line than Merkel s own Christian Democratic Union over immigration, but fields candidates only in Bavaria, a state that accounts for 15 percent of Germany s population. Every third German would like a reasonable, conservative political offering, she said, adding that many frustrated voters had supported the pro-business Free Democrats, the AfD or Merkel s CDU on Sept. 24 for lack of a better alternative. Petry said she had begun working on plans for her new party as early as August, after AfD members refused to accept her more moderate proposals at a party congress in Cologne. RND said German election authorities listed the new party as having been founded on Sept. 17, a week before the vote. Petry defended her decision to quit the AfD while keeping her seat won on its list, saying she would remain loyal to her voters. The mandate doesn t belong to the party, even if it was won with party funds, she said. The AfD is ostracized by all other parties, which refuse to work with it. None even wants to sit next to the AfD in parliament.","label":0}
{"text":"The video below is a great snapshot of what was going on with the Clinton foundation and huge donors from all over the world. Hillary treated the State Department like an arm of The Clinton Foundation","label":1}
{"text":"The Senate has joined the House of Representatives in averting a government shutdown by funding most of the federal government for one week. The Senate approved the House's Joint Resolution (HR Res 99) on a voice vote shortly after the House passed the Continuing Resolution on a 382 to 30 voice vote. [The CR, introduced in the House on Thursday, amends the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2017. The current CR was set to expire on Friday. \"There's no Democratic objection,\" Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( ) told NBC News. \"There's still some to be negotiated\" on a deal, \"but the negotiators were up 'til 1:30 last night \u2026 so certainly we're willing to give it a few more days. \" \"The measure was needed after negotiations between the two parties in Congress and the administration on a bill fell short of Friday's deadline,\" NBC reported on Friday. \"The CR also amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to extend through May 5, 2017, a provision that provides health care benefits for certain retired miners and their families,\" the congress. gov website states. President Donald Trump has until midnight tonight to sign the Continuing Resolution.","label":0}
{"text":"The president of Honduras declared himself re-elected on Tuesday despite calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) for a fresh vote over allegations of fraud and deadly protests following last month s disputed election. In Washington, his rival asked the United States and others to reject the result and cut off aid, warning that protests in which more than 20 people have died could escalate into generalized violence unless there is a new election. The opposition alliance said it would file a legal challenge to the country s electoral tribunal s verdict that President Juan Orlando Hernandez won the Nov. 26 election. Hernandez spoke for the first time since the tribunal issued that verdict on Sunday. A partial recount did not tip the result in favor of his opponent, TV host Salvador Nasralla, the tribunal said. Hernandez, who is an ally of the United States, said in a televised address that he would bring peace, harmony and prosperity to the poor Central American nation. As a citizen and president-elect of all Hondurans, I humbly accept the will of the Honduran people, said Hernandez, a conservative who has led a military crackdown on the country s violent gangs. Nasralla, who leads a center-left coalition, called for a new vote monitored by international observers, saying Hernandez was holding onto power illegally. Honduras runs the risk of falling into an undesired and fratricidal civil war, with unforeseen consequences in the Central American region, he told reporters. At least 24 people, including two police officers, have died in simmering protests around the country since the opposition declared fraud, according to the Honduran human rights group COFADEH, which tracks kidnappings and murders by the state. However, for the most part the protests have been relatively small. Opposition leaders have accused government security forces of firing into barricades and peaceful protests. A military official said troops are firing only into the air and only if they are in imminent danger, such as coming under fire. Opposition leaders deny protesters are armed with guns. The political unrest has hit a country that struggles with violent drug gangs, one of world s highest murder rates - although murders have dropped under Hernandez s crackdown - and endemic poverty. Together, these drive a tide of Hondurans to migrate to the United States. Nasralla traveled on Monday to Washington to meet with OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro and a senior State Department official. Following his visit, the U.S. State Department urged Honduran political parties to raise any concerns about the official results through a formal legal challenge this week - the step that Nasralla s opposition alliance said later in the day that it would take. However, Nasralla earlier rejected the value of a legal challenge, saying the courts are controlled by Hernandez. Instead, he said the United States, Latin American countries and other foreign powers should push for fresh elections, not recognize the current results and cut off aid to Honduras. In the midst of the post-election chaos, the U.S. State Department certified late last month that the Honduran government has been fighting corruption and supporting human rights, clearing the way for Honduras to receive millions of dollars in U.S. aid. As results rolled in on Nov. 26, Nasralla initially seemed headed for an upset win. But results abruptly stopped being issued. When they restarted, the outcome began to favor Hernandez, arousing suspicion among Nasralla supporters. Shortly after the electoral tribunal backed Hernandez s victory on Sunday, the OAS said the election did not meet democratic standards and called for a re-run. On Monday, one of Hernandez s top officials rejected the call for another vote. Hernandez, 49, has been supported by U.S. President Donald Trump s chief of staff, John Kelly, since Kelly was a top general.","label":0}
{"text":"Georgia s secretary of state has claimed the Department of Homeland Security tried to breach his office s firewall and has issued a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asking for an explanation.Brian Kemp issued a letter to Johnson on Thursday after the state s third-party cybersecurity provider detected an IP address from the agency s Southwest D.C. office trying to penetrate the state s firewall. According to the letter, the attempt was unsuccessful.And now, Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Aaron Diamond has learned two more states election agencies have confirmed suspected cyberattacks linked to the same U.S. Department of Homeland Security IP address as last month s massive attack in Georgia.The two states reporting the suspected cyberattacks were West Virginia and Kentucky. We need somebody to dig down into this story and figure out exactly what happened, said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.In the past week, the Georgia Secretary of State s Office has confirmed 10 separate cyberattacks on its network over the past 10 months that were traced back to DHS addresses. We re being told something that they think they have it figured out, yet nobody s really showed us how this happened, Kemp said. We need to know. He says the new information from the two other states presents even more reason to be concerned. So now this just raises more questions that haven t been answered about this and continues to raise the alarms and concern that I have, Kemp said.Through an open-records request, Diamant acquired the results of a survey Kemp asked the National Association of Secretaries of State to send to its members.West Virginia wrote back, This IP address did access our election night results on November 7, 2016. Kentucky responded the same IP address did touch the KY (online voter registration) system on one occasion, 11\/1\/16. In a letter this week, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson told Kemp the department sourced the mid-November activity in Georgia to a federal contractor conducting what he called normal internet searches on the Secretary of State s website. But Kemp says there s a problem with that answer. We haven t been able to recreate this the way they explained it to us, Kemp said.Kemp also told Diamant that DHS has yet to explain at least nine other suspected network scans linked to DHS IP addresses over the last year on or around important primary and presidential election dates. Kemp s call for answers is amplified now by the National Association of Secretaries of State, or NASS. WSBTV","label":1}
{"text":"Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been essentially blacklisted in the NFL for daring to kneel during the national anthem in order to protest police brutality against people of color. He was the original player to #takeaknee, and has paid dearly for it. However, since Donald Trump has seen fit to attack anyone daring to protest in this way, the tide on the anthem protests has taken on new life. After Trump s original attacks, players throughout the league were taking knees last Sunday. The attacks continued from Trump this week, and players continued to defy Trump. Perhaps most notably, those on Kaepernick s old team.The 49ers had an entire row of players kneeling during the anthem, right in front of those who chose to stand. However, despite choosing to stand, those players had their hands on the shoulders of those kneeling in solidarity. Trump might continue to petulantly tweet at these people who are using their public platform to shine a light on the very serious and deadly issue of police brutality, but clearly things are not going in the way he had hoped.Then again, Trump seems to think that everyone is as tone deaf and racist as he and his mouthbreathing, flag-soaked base are. That is clearly not the case, though. Newsflash, you orange fascist the world is much less tolerant of bigotry than you might like to think. People are sick and tired of your screaming racism through your bullhorn and using the bully pulpit of the White House to attack anyone who would dare to do the right thing here.Good on these brave players. They ll surely be attacked for what they are doing once again, from Donald Trump s overly active Twitter account. But, at the end of the day, they are the ones who are on the right side of history.Watch the video below, courtesy of the 49ers official Twitter:Together pic.twitter.com\/PwKDagudCq San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 1, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"The European Union on Wednesday said it reaffirmed support for Lebanon s stability and unity after Saad al-Hariri s resignation as prime minister on Saturday plunged the country into crisis. In a statement, EU ambassadors called on all sides to pursue constructive dialogue and to continue work to strengthen Lebanon s institutions and to prepare for parliamentary elections in early 2018 in adherence with the constitution.","label":0}
{"text":"Ted Cruz has no interest in playing Mr Nice Guy with Obama or his willing accomplices in the FBI, DHS or his DOJ It s been over a week since the largest terror attack on American soil in 15 years, yet nobody in Congress has successfully steered the discussion to the actual source of our perilous security situation. The Obama administration is covering up all connections of the Orlando shooter to known Islamic terrorists with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood advising DHS and the FBI. Yet, all Republicans and Democrats want to discuss is guns. That is about to change.On Tuesday, June 28, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, will conduct a hearing investigating the willful blindness on the part of the relevant law enforcement agencies to domestic Islamic terror networks. The subject of the hearing is Willful Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts To Deemphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism. Senators on the committee now have an opportunity to expose the Muslim Brotherhood influence within DHS and the FBI, their invidious Countering Violent Extremism Agenda, and their hand in covering up counter-terrorism investigations.Senator Cruz hinted at the agenda he plans to pursue at this hearing in an op-ed for Conservative Review earlier this week:President Obama s politically correct reluctance to attribute the terrorist threat we face with radical Islam hobbles our ability to combat it by discouraging counterterrorism agents from taking radical Islam into account when evaluating potential threats. The examples of Fort Hood, Boston, San Bernardino, and Orlando demonstrate the harmful consequences of this administration s willful blindness.Just yesterday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced at a press conference that the motives of the Orlando jihadist might never be known and that our most effective response to terror is unity and love. This comes on the heels of the government s attempt to redact any mention of Islamic rhetoric in the 911 call and DHS releasing another internal document scrubbing all references to Islamic terror. Just this week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a front group for Hamas, was allowed to sit in on FBI interviews with members of the Fort Pierce mosque. The FBI was supposed to cut ties with CAIR, and DOJ was supposed to prosecute them in 2009 following the Holy Land Foundation trial, in which CAIR was implicated as a co-conspirator, yet they are granted full access to FBI counter-terrorism investigations. How can Republicans let this stand for one day? Worse, they are validating the Democrat premise by obsequiously holding vote after vote on the non sequitur of gun control while our own government is willfully allowing Islamic terrorist sympathizers to operate freely within DHS and sabotage all investigations that would have prevented these attacks.This hearing will likely focus on which figures within the federal government worked to squelch any research connecting the dots between local Muslim Brotherhood officials, these individual terrorists, and foreign terror networks. Senators on the committee now have an opportunity to expose the Muslim Brotherhood influence within DHS and the FBI, their invidious Countering Violent Extremism Agenda, and their hand in covering up counter-terrorism investigations. They can demonstrate how the federal government has hamstrung local law enforcement by refusing to cooperate and share information regarding jihadists living in their communities.Most importantly, this is the first opportunity to finally change the narrative from the false discussion about guns, which has nothing to do with Islamic Jihad. Hopefully, this committee hearing will be the beginning of a concerted effort for the legislative branch to actually engage in some critical oversight of the perfidious actions within the top echelons of federal law enforcement. The fact that GOP leaders in the House and Senate are not pushing multiple hearings and legislation dealing with this issue is scandalous, but unfortunately, not unexpected.","label":1}
{"text":"Rabbis representing four prominent Jewish organizations have decided that they will not hold their annual conference call with the President because the man currently holding that office openly supports white supremacists.Following Trump s atrocious response to the tragic events in Charlottesville, the rabbis issued a statement explaining that they simply cannot organize such a call this year. They said that this decision was made because Trump s reaction to Nazis marching in the streets and the death of Heather Heyer was lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred. We have concluded that President Trump s statements during and after the tragic events in Charlottesville are so lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred that we cannot organize such a call this year, the rabbis wrote. The President s words have given succor to those who advocate anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia, they wrote. Responsibility for the violence that occurred in Charlottesville, including the death of Heather Heyer, does not lie with many sides but with one side: the Nazis, alt-right and white supremacists who brought their hate to a peaceful community. They must be roundly condemned at all levels. In the days following the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that left three people dead, Trump insisted that many sides were to blame for the violence. The rabbis concluded by saying that they would pray that President Trump will recognize and remedy the grave error he has made in abetting the voices of hatred. They added that they will also pray that those who traffic in anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia will see that there is no place for such pernicious philosophies in a civilized society. The statement was signed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, The Rabbinical Assembly, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.","label":1}
{"text":"NBA great and cultural commentator Kareem writes a column for the Hollywood Reporter in which he examines the hit film La La Land and how it \"misleads\" on issues of race, romance and jazz. [From the Hollywood Reporter: A recent Saturday Night Live skit depicts two cops yelling at a handcuffed man they just arrested because he didn't think La La Land was great. \"It dragged in the middle,\" he complains. \"You sick son of a bitch!\" one cop barks. \"You disgust me!\" This pretty much distills the rift in American pop culture that is nearly as contentious as the rift in American politics. As someone who finds La La Land bold, daring and deserving of all its critical and financial success, I can also admit that there are a few elements that warrant closer examination, particularly regarding its portrayal of jazz, romance and people of color. In fact, the better a work of art is, the more we must dissect it, because now we're not just measuring Rotten Tomatoes popularity or boffo box office, we're assessing its proper place in our cultural canon. No, I don't think the film needs more black people. Damien Chazelle should tell the story as he sees fits with whatever ethnic arrangement he desires. However, it is fair to question his color wheel when it involves certain historical elements \u2014 such as jazz. \u2026 The white guy wants to preserve the black roots of jazz while the black guy is the sellout? This could be a deliberate ironic twist, but if it is, it's a distasteful one for . One legitimate complaint that marginalized people (women, people of color, Muslims, the LGBT community, etc.) have had about Hollywood in the past is that when they were portrayed, it was done in a negative way. The ditzy blonde, the Muslim terrorist, the gay predator are all familiar stereotypes from years of TV and movies. So much has been done in recent years to overcome those debasing images, but we still have to be careful. It's not that a black man can't be the sellout or the drug dealer, it's just that they shouldn't be if they're the only prominent black character in the story. Whether it's intentional or unintentional, that sends a bigoted message rippling through our society. \u2026 Read the full column at the Hollywood Reporter.","label":0}
{"text":"We all know by now that House Speaker Paul Ryan is a spineless weasel. He is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of a President Trump, and yet he endorsed the great orange one anyway, and no matter how outrageously offensive Trump becomes, no matter how many times Ryan has to distance himself from Trump s remarks, he still says he s a Donald Trump supporter. Well, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is now calling Ryan out for making such a grave mistake, and wants him to un-endorse Donald Trump.Johnson sat down with CNN to express his views on Ryan s Trump endorsement, and he had nothing good to say about where the House Speaker is right now. Johnson said: I think Paul Ryan has an opportunity here to say, Look, I made a mistake. I m not saying that results in an endorsement of me, but come on, the statements that he s making he s made 100 statements that would disqualify any other presidential candidate from running and yet all you have to do is turn the page and tomorrow it will be 102. Host Erin Burneet pointed out that 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney had once floated the idea of supporting a Libertarian ticket, but had reservations about Johnson s policies, particularly his support of legal marijuana nationwide. Romney said that weed makes people stupid. Johnson disagreed, and admitted to taking a toke or two himself, and said: I do not agree with that. As someone who has used marijuana, I do not agree with that. What Gary Johnson doesn t seem to understand, though, is that Paul Ryan is not Mitt Romney. Paul Ryan is a dyed in the wool, loyal die hard GOPer till death do him and that wreck of a party part even if it means propping Trump up and letting him burn the world down.Give it up, Gary. As much as I agree with you, I think you need to realize that Paul Ryan will never, ever disavow his annointed nominee.Watch the clip below, via The Hill:","label":1}
{"text":"Italy s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a new electoral law for use in the next national election, due by May 2018. The bill now passes to the upper house for further debate. Here are the main points of the bill. Italy gives Latin names to its electoral laws. This new proposal is called the Rosatellum, named after Ettore Rosato, the parliamentary party leader of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) who helped draft the legislation. The bill envisages that some 36 percent of parliamentarians in both the upper and lower houses will be elected on a first-past-the-post basis, with the rest chosen by pure proportional representation via party lists. Parties can stand alone or as part of broader coalitions. Single parties need to win at least 3 percent of the vote to gain seats, while coalitions need to take 10 percent. Unlike the previous Italian electoral law, the Rosatellum does not give an automatic majority to any party or group that wins more than 40 percent of the vote. With opinion polls split three ways between the center-right, the center-left and the maverick 5-Star Movement, there is unlikely to be a clearcut winner in the next election. Voters get two voting slips one for the Senate and one for the lower house. They can only put one cross on each slip, with that vote counted for both the first-past-the-post and PR segments. Under previous electoral systems, voters were able to split their vote between individual candidates and the parties. Candidates can put their name down for the first-past-the-post ballot in one constituency, and also be on five PR lists in locations of their choosing. There will be two to four names on each party PR list. The party leaders will have a major say in whose names go on the lists. In the lower house, 232 seats will be reserved for first-past-the-post winners, 386 will be reserved for the PR lists, and 12 will be reserved for overseas constituencies. In the Senate, 102 seats will go to first-past-the-post winners, 207 will go to the PR lists, and 6 will be for the overseas vote. No more than 60 percent of the candidates on any of the lists can be of the same sex.","label":0}
{"text":"Sweeping tax code changes aimed at keeping U.S. companies from shifting profits offshore to avoid taxes will not affect the battered economy of Puerto Rico, a senior White House official said on Wednesday. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has said the provisions in a new tax bill passed by Congress could prompt drug and medical device manufacturers to leave the island territory, which is considered a foreign jurisdiction for tax purposes. \"I personally do not think that this is going to hurt Puerto Rico,\" the White House official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The tax base erosion provisions in the bill provide exemptions for the cost of goods U.S. companies buy offshore, meaning supplies made in Puerto Rico would not be affected, the White House official said. The manufacturing plants are an economic lifeline for 3.4 million Americans in the territory, where the economy never recovered after Congress in 2006 ended a different set of longstanding business tax breaks. Puerto Rico has $120 billion of combined bond and pension debt and near-insolvent public health systems, and filed the largest-ever U.S. government bankruptcy this year. Three months ago, Hurricane Maria slammed into the island, tearing up homes and the power grid and bringing its economy to a halt. Congress is considering an $81 billion disaster aid bill - some of which is aimed at Puerto Rico - as part of a must-pass government funding bill.","label":0}
{"text":"Turkish authorities have issued detention warrants for 216 people, including former finance ministry personnel, suspected of having links to last year s failed coup attempt, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday. It said 17 former finance ministry personnel had been detained so far and another 65 were sought over alleged links to Gulen s network, Anadolu said. Separately, authorities carried out operations across 40 provinces targeting private imams believed to be recruiting members to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen from Turkey s armed forces. Ankara blames Gulen for orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt last year and has repeatedly demanded the United States extradite him, so far in vain. Gulen denies involvement. In the aftermath of the coup, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sector. The extent of the purges has unnerved rights groups and Turkey s Western allies, who fear President Tayyip Erdogan is using the abortive putsch as a pretext to stifle dissent. The government, however, says the measures are necessary due to the gravity of the threats it is facing following the military coup attempt, in which 240 people were killed.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump's comment on Tuesday calling for the government to cancel the purchase of Boeing's new Air Force One plane reflect the U.S. president-elect's focus on keeping costs down, his transition team told reporters. Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Trump's aides said the team was focused trying to save taxpayers' money and that there would be more specific details about such efforts after Trump takes office on Jan. 20.","label":0}
{"text":"The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Tillerson was leading the field after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took his name out of the running for the job. New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported that Tillerson was expected to meet with Trump today.- BreitbartThe 64-year-old veteran oil executive has no government or diplomatic experience, although he has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The pick would put to rest weeks-long speculation of who would earn the post as the U.S. s top diplomat, and would place Tillerson fourth in line to the presidency.He will also be paired with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton as his deputy secretary of state, one of the sources added, with Bolton handling day-to-day management of the department. NBCTillerson is a surprising choice, particularly for establishment political forces who urged Trump to select Mitt Romney for the job. Romney signaled interest in the position, appearing publicly to recant his opposition to the president-elect s victory.It also shows that Trump will start fresh with his diplomatic team, rather than selecting a life-long politician. Tillerson has spent his life in the private sector, working with Exxon-Mobil and has business relationships around the world.Trump took a break from his deliberations over who to pick for the secretary of state job and other positions by attending the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore.He was joined by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who withdrew from consideration as secretary of state on Friday.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold a federal rule for electricity markets that encouraged grid operators to pay large users to reduce consumption at peak times is good news for consumers and clean energy, the White House said on Monday. \"This decision allows us to continue realizing billions in annual savings from innovative incentives and business models that ensure we use our electricity system efficiently as we integrate more energy efficiency and renewable energy onto the power grid,\" White House spokesman Frank Benenati said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"California Governor Jerry Brown warned on Thursday of near-apocalyptic water shortages if his $15 billion plan to divert water from a Northern California river for use elsewhere gets bogged down in political and environmental disputes. The plan to remove water north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the fragile source of much of the state's drinking water, is opposed by many environmentalists, but Brown insisted it was crucial in shoring up water supplies in the drought-plagued state. \"If we don't have the project, the delta will fail, water will not be available and California will suffer devastating economic consequences,\" Brown, a Democrat, told a meeting of water regulators and utility executives in Sacramento to discuss the state's progress in stabilizing its water system. The plan calls for digging a pair of tunnels under the delta. They would carry water from the Sacramento River to the state's agricultural breadbasket as well as cities in the central and southern parts of America's most populous state. The governor's proposal, which must go through an environmental review and permitting process, has reignited California's century-old water wars, sparked when Los Angeles siphoned water from the Owens Valley north of the city to slake the thirst of the growing Southern California metropolis. Opponents have said the plan will imperil salmon, trout and the endangered delta smelt, damage the delta's role as a center for water recreation and sport fishing, and could ultimately reduce the availability of drinking water for Northern California cities. Brown, who has backing from labor, utilities, moderate Democrats and many Republicans, has said the project will protect the delta while ensuring an adequate water supply. But opponents said the project would harm the ecosystem. \"How will the delta ever recover if freshwaters are never allowed to flow through it, even in rainy seasons,\" said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, director of the Restore the Delta group. Backers estimate construction would take at least 10 years after the necessary approvals are received, barring lawsuits and other actions to try to slow the project.","label":0}
{"text":"Blood donations are urgently needed in the Orlando, Florida area following Saturday night s massacre. So far, 50 people have died in the massacre and at least 53 are hospitalized due to injuries. The shooting took place at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub.The current crisis reveals the incredibly homophobic rules put in place by the FDA regarding blood donations. The FDA s current rules stipulate that any man who has had sex with another man cannot donate blood until they have been celibate for one year. This bars nearly all gay and bisexual men from being able to donate blood.According to reports, One Blood, a blood donation center in Orlando, has temporarily lifted the ban on blood for their organization, allowing men who have had homosexual intercourse donate to their organization. One Blood reports that their blood donation center is currently at capacity. However, they will still need high numbers of donations over the next few days in order to keep replenishing their stock. A tremendous response by blood donors in light of the tragic mass shooting in Orlando. We are asking donors to donate over the next several days to help replenish the blood supply. We are asking people please make an appointment online or call 1.888.9.DONATE (1.888.936.6283). Thank you! As our nation collectively mourns the massive loss of life in Florida, it is a good time for us to look at the institutionalized homophobia that helps to create a culture that determines that LGBT lives and bodies are lesser than that of heteronormative individuals. Right now, the blood of gay and bisexual men, as well as so many others, stains the interior of the Pulse nightclub. Orlando s Mayor Buddy Dyer, described the scene by saying: There s blood everywhere. As far as the FDA is concerned, the blood of those who died on Saturday had no value to living.Blood is thoroughly screened by blood donation organizations no matter who donates to them. There is no need for this discriminatory policy. Nothing should prevent a healthy person from being able to give the gift of saving a life. The horror that occurred on Saturday night proved that gay, bisexual, straight, man, women, black, or white we all bleed and that all life is precious.Featured image from Photo by Tim Matsui\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Anatomy lesson Published: 12 mins ago  Editor's note: Do you need something to smile about? Every day, WND selects the best joke offered up by readers and contributors to its Laughlines forum and brings it to you as the WND Joke of the Day. Here is today's offering:  A pediatrician in town always plays a game with some of his young patients to put them at ease and test their knowledge of body parts.  One day, while pointing to a little boy's ear, the doctor asked him, \"Is this your nose?\"  The little boy turned to his mother and said, \"Mom, I think we'd better find a new doctor!\"","label":1}
{"text":"President Trump's first weekend in office unfolded much the way things often did during his campaign: with angry Twitter messages, a familiar obsession with slights and a series of meandering and at times untrue statements, all eventually giving way to attempts at damage control. The problem is that what works on the way to the White House does not always work once a candidate gets there. To the extent that there was a plan to take advantage of the first days of his administration, when a president is usually at his maximum leverage, Mr. Trump threw it aside with a decision to lash out about crowd sizes at his swearing in and to rewrite the history of his dealings with intelligence agencies. The lack of discipline troubled even senior members of Mr. Trump's circle, some of whom had urged him not to indulge his simmering resentment at what he saw as unfair news coverage. Instead, Mr. Trump chose to listen to other aides who shared his outrage and desire to punch back. By the end of the weekend, he and his team were scrambling to get back on script. New presidents typically find the adjustment from candidate to leader to be a jarring one, and Mr. Trump was not the first to get drawn into the latest flap in a way that fritters away whatever political good will comes with an inauguration. Former President Bill Clinton got off to a tough start by engaging on issues that were not central to his agenda, most notably gays in the military, and took a while to learn how to focus on his highest priorities. But Mr. Clinton showed none of the combativeness and anger of Mr. Trump. \"The adjustment from private citizen to running the country is unbelievably hard,\" said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime adviser to former President Barack Obama. He said that what people, even new presidents, often fail to fully understand \"is that after you stand out there in the weather and take the oath of office in front of an adoring crowd, you walk into that building and you are in charge of the free world. \" At first, at least, Mr. Trump seemed to be resisting the notion that he should adjust his approach now that he is in office. After all, his pugilistic style was a winning formula, one that got him to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the first place. Many of his supporters cheer him taking on the establishment. And some allies said any blowback would not matter long anyway. \"Ultimately this is about governing,\" said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has advised Mr. Trump. \"There are two things he's got to do between now and 2020: He has to keep America safe and create a lot of jobs. That's what he promised in his speech. If he does those two things, everything else is noise. \" \"The average American isn't paying attention to this stuff,\" he added. \"They are going to look around in late 2019 and early 2020 and ask themselves if they are doing better. If the answer's yes, they are going to say, 'Cool, give me some more. '\" That is the long view and ultimately perhaps the most important one. The short view from many political professionals is that Mr. Trump's debut was not a success. The president himself seemed to be trying to find a way forward as the weekend proceeded. He danced to \"My Way\" on Friday night and did it his way on Saturday, but by Sunday he seemed to be trying something different. A day after waves of opponents gathered in Washington and cities around the nation and world to protest his presidency, Mr. Trump began Sunday still in a mood to push back. \"Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election!\" he posted on Twitter in the morning. \"Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly. \" Kellyanne Conway, his counselor, contributed to the combative mood in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd when she described the falsehoods that the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, had told reporters Saturday night as \"alternative facts\" \u2014 an assertion that lit up Twitter. However, Mr. Trump later adopted the more demeanor that presidents typically take. \"Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy,\" he wrote on Twitter. \"Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. \" Mr. Trump faces a challenge few of his predecessors have confronted. Having won an Electoral College victory but not the popular vote, he entered office with less public support in the polls than any other president in recent times. After a transition in which he did relatively little to reach out to his opponents on the left and they hardly warmed to him, he found hundreds of thousands of protesters chanting just a few blocks from his new home on the first morning he woke up there. That has left the new White House feeling besieged from Day 1, fueling the president's grievances and, in the view of some of his aides, necessitating an aggressive strategy to defend his legitimacy. \"The point is not the crowd size,\" Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, said on \"Fox News Sunday\" before the mood began to soften. \"The point is that the attacks and the attempts to delegitimize this president in one day \u2014 and we're not going to sit around and take it. \" Mr. Trump grew increasingly angry on Inauguration Day after reading a series of Twitter messages pointing out that the size of his inaugural crowd did not rival that of Mr. Obama's in 2009. But he spent his Friday night in a whirlwind of celebration and affirmation. When he awoke on Saturday morning, after his first night in the Executive Mansion, the glow was gone, several people close to him said, and the new president was filled anew with a sense of injury. He became even more agitated after learning of a pool report by a Time magazine reporter incorrectly reporting that a bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. (The reporter, Zeke Miller, did not see the bust and, after realizing the error, quickly issued a correction and apology.) While Mr. Trump was eager to counterattack, several senior advisers urged him to move on and focus on the responsibilities of office during his first full day as president. That included a trip to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he had been coached to demonstrate support of the agency and criticize Senate Democrats for delaying confirmation of his nominee to lead it, Mike Pompeo. The advisers left thinking he agreed. But Mr. Spicer, who often berated reporters for what he called biased coverage during the campaign, shares Mr. Trump's dark view of the news media and advocated an declaration of war. After racing through his words of reconciliation at the C. I. A. in Langley, Va. Mr. Trump launched into a rambling, unscripted discussion that drifted to the topic of crowd size, making a series of verifiably false claims. Mr. Spicer then went to the White House briefing room for his first turn at the lectern and issued a blistering attack on reporters, made his own false claims and then stormed out without taking questions. Some of the president's supporters found the first weekend troubling. L. Lin Wood, a prominent libel lawyer who was a vocal defender of Mr. Trump's on Twitter during the campaign, said that he considered it a dangerous debut. \"To someone who believed we might have a good opportunity to change, it's just a terrible start. Because he's got a long way to go,\" Mr. Wood said. \"This is going to go downhill quickly if it's not changed, and that's not good for any of us. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Actress and feminist activist Lena Dunham has come under fire recently for her history of racism, for example, a tweet she posted in 2010 referring to African Americans as \"rodents. \"[\"I'm never mad and I never feel victimized when people point out that they've been injured in some way by my behavior. I truly don't feel like I deserve a certain kind of pass for my feminism or for my politics,\" Dunham said during an appearance on comedian Phoebe Robinson's WNYC podcast, Sooo Many White Guys. \"When you're living your life in the public eye, you will fuck up and you will fall down, and the only power you have is to apologize and keep moving,\" Dunham explained. The actress attempted to atone, specifically, for projecting sexist thoughts onto New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. when the two briefly shared a table at last year's Met Ball. \"I'm not saying that this is in any way an excuse, [but] I move through the world feeling very awkward. It was at a table of notably beautiful women sitting there. I'm just having the experience of being a girl around what I consider to be like a hot, desirable athlete. So that was just projecting my own insecurity,\" Dunham said about falsely attributing comments to Beckham Jr. rejecting her \"marshmallow\" body that he did not make. \"I hadn't understood the way that it fed into a very dark history of, you know, black men being lynched for not responding to white women in the way white women felt they were supposed to be responded to,\" Dunham said, maintaining that she was simply ignorant of the implications of her actions. \"I understood the minute that that was pointed out to me what the issue was. I was seeing myself as the chubby I am inside of myself, and not the person who is a cultural figure, who has the power to say something that could be hurtful and destructive. \" Later in the interview, Robinson, a black actress from New York City, grilled Dunham about the lack of characters in the early seasons of her HBO show Girls \u2014 a raunchy dramedy about four privileged white girls living in the Bronx. \"There was just a certain amount of ignorance,\" Dunham confessed, referencing her privileged white liberal childhood. \"I almost wasn't making a choice because choice implies knowledge. At that point, to be totally frank, I didn't have enough women of color in my life talking to me about what representation meant to them for me to even understand that my show would be seen and have that kind of power. \" To be sure, Dunham says she has learned from her mistakes and promises never to create another show about \"four white girls. \" \"We're not going to make another show that has four white girls on the poster,\" she said, \"because now, we've been very deeply educated about how much representation matters. \" The former Hillary Clinton campaign spokeswoman has been busy since failing to fulfill her promise to move to Canada if Donald Trump won the election. After wishing, last month, that she had an abortion, Dunham gave a \"sizable donation to abortion funds\" and Planned Parenthood. During the weekend, Dunham got naked, jumped in a tub of water, and took to Twitter to encourage her followers to sign up for Obamacare before the January 31 enrollment deadline: Inspired by @captdope, here's a commercial for HEALTH INSURANCE. https: . \u2014 get what's yours #pullthisad \ud83d\ude4f pic. twitter. \u2014 Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) January 28, 2017, Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson.","label":0}
{"text":"Each year, the People For the American Way s Equine Posterior Achievement Award is granted to public figures who drag America to a new low of right-wing extremism. For several years now, Ted Cruz has been honored with the top spot. But this year, the prize has been handed to Donald Trump.It s official Donald, you are the biggest horse s a$$ in America according to the adjudication panel of People for the American Way.Will Trump be as quick to crow about this victory as he was when he was crowned Man of the Year by WorldNetDaily? It didn t seem to bother him that the site is conspiracy theory central, and as Right Wing Watch points out, is convinced that Obama is about to throw every man, woman and child in America into a FEMA camp.Trump worked hard for this honor though. He labeled all latin American immigrants as drug dealers and rapists, he called for Muslims to be banned from entering the U.S. (even Muslim Americans returning from holiday), he lied that thousands and thousands of Muslims in America cheered while 9\/11 was happening, and failed to retract or apologize when he was busted for it. Instead he chose to stand up at his next rally and physically mock the disabled reporter who had exposed his lie. On top of this, he spends the majority of time hate-tweeting any journalist or media outlet that dare refuse to kiss his trust fund tycoon posterior.This level of commitment to running for President as a bigoted man child needs to be honored somehow, and thankfully, People For The American Way solved the problem for us. Sadly, it does mean that Ted Cruz winning streak is over. He will clearly have to work harder to win back the accolade next year. His brand of evangelical, homophobic, anti-choice, anti-science, pro-gun BS might well appall any rational human being but there s a new bigot in town.Featured Image via Flickr\/Flickr","label":1}
{"text":"If history is written by the victors, it is typically filmed by the crowd pleasers. Whether Hollywood histories chronicle the exploits of brave gladiators, courageous soldiers or noble civilians, they almost always exalt the past in a similar cinematic register, with soaring speeches, swelling strings, sweeping montages, thrilling fights and breathless romances. When the filmmaker Jeff Nichols (\"Take Shelter,\" \"Midnight Special\") was writing the spare, understated script for his new drama, \"Loving,\" he knew that his quiet approach was unusual, particularly for a film about a historical subject so well suited to the fall's noisy film awards circuit. In 1958, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, an interracial couple, were married in Washington, D. C. A short time later, back home in Virginia, the pregnant Mrs. Loving and her new husband, a bricklayer, were yanked out of their bed by police enforcing the state's Racial Integrity Act, which prohibited interracial marriage. They were arrested and ordered by a judge to dissolve their union or leave the state for 25 years. For nearly a decade, the Lovings persevered, until the 1967 Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, struck down laws. The Lovings' case remade American history, yet Mr. Nichols described the emotional peak of the film as, \"a man coming home and crying on the edge of the bed because he can't take care of his wife. \" He spoke in his Arkansas drawl over lunch at a downtown Manhattan restaurant: \"That's what I'm giving people as a climax? But it's so true and that's what's so crushing. That guy was good at one thing: going out and building a brick wall. That should have been enough. \" The film, starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as the couple, has received some of the year's best reviews for its deliberate restraint. \"There are few movies that speak to the American moment as movingly \u2014 and with as much idealism,\" The New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote, adding that the \"insistent, quotidian quiet of 'Loving' can feel so startling. \" In part, that quietness emerged after Mr. Nichols watched Nancy Buirski's intimate documentary \"The Loving Story\" and hours of archival footage of the couple. He was struck by Mildred's polite dignity and Richard's taciturn silence. When he learned that the Lovings opted not to attend the Supreme Court on the day of the ruling but instead receive the news by phone, he said his approach came into focus. \"Immediately I saw that end scene, which may or may not represent reality: Richard playing with his kids on the lawn and not saying anything,\" Mr. Nichols said. He was aware enough of the danger of such a contrarian choice that he called his producers at Big Beach to warn them, or at least temper their expectations. \"I remember saying, 'I don't think this is going to be 'The Help,' though 'The Help' made a lot of money and got nominated for a lot of Oscars,\" he said. \"I guess I must have known we were taking a risk in its execution but I never thought there was another way. \" However, when Mr. Nichols was looking for financing, he met one investor who was not so confident. \"He'd shown the script to his bigwig boss who said, 'I just don't get it. It's like a courtroom drama without the courtroom,'\" he said. When this financier asked Mr. Nichols if he could \"punch it up,\" Mr. Nichols said he launched into the sort of rebellious speech that is absent in his film. \"What you need to worry about right now is not whether I'm going to punch up this script so you can be involved,\" he recalled saying. \"What you need to be worried about is how I will ever come back to work with you guys ever again because that is the most simplistic, stupid response I've heard. \" Peter Saraf, a Big Beach producer on the film, said that the production company knew what it was getting into. \"Jeff's idea was to tell the story from Richard and Mildred's point of view and stick to it,\" he said. \"You can't commit to that and then say oh, but we need the big courtroom moment with the gavel falling. \" Showtime's 1996 movie \"Mr. and Mrs. Loving,\" produced with Hallmark Entertainment and starring Timothy Hutton and Lela Rochon, hit more predictable beats and portrayed Richard as more charming and garrulous. But Mr. Edgerton said in a telephone interview that he was drawn to Mr. Nichols's version of the character, who was, \"just shut down and emasculated and weathered by this situation,\" he said, and more in keeping with the man in the documentary footage. \"Every year in Hollywood, true stories get made and we feel the need to renovate them, and suit them up,\" Mr. Edgerton said, then continued: \"That's legitimate sometimes. But to make Richard more articulate or defiant or to place him in that courtroom would have negated the idea of trying to tell a true story truthfully. \" Or as Ms. Negga put it, when discussing her character on the phone, \"It would have been really unfaithful and quite grotesque to have made her any different. \" Though the two stars have been nominated for Gotham Independent Film Awards, one of the many ceremonies that make up Academy Award season, they will not have the explosive reels of other, often more famous, contenders. In today's market, quiet adult dramas don't sell themselves, and reviews only go so far. So Mr. Nichols, who notes that he is \"not a filmmaker who wants to operate in obscurity,\" and his cast have been busy selling the film in a way that might have mortified the Lovings. \"If Mildred were alive now, I don't think she'd want to do any junkets, any of this nonsense, any of this hoopla,\" said Ms. Negga, on a day in which she joked that she had done 782 interviews. \"And there's not much that would have terrified Richard more. \" Mr. Nichols initially objected when the film's domestic distributor, Focus Features, wanted to use the movie's few memorable lines in the trailer, including, \"We may lose the small battles but win the big war. \" (As Mr. Edgerton said, \"Mildred didn't talk much but when she did it was kind of worth quoting. \") Then he relented. \"This film doesn't speak with the histrionics of other potential award contenders, but it does fit into the frame of the award season and that's still how they're going to cut the trailer,\" he said. \"The is just to get people into the theater. I get it. My hope is that people will go see the movie maybe expecting one thing but maybe pleased it's something else. \" Mr. Nichols, polishing off his steak and fries along with his fifth of the day's seven interviews, said that in the thundering horse race of the Oscar season: \"'Loving' is not even a horse. We are a whole other animal. \"","label":0}
{"text":"British police said on Monday that a cordon in Victoria Square in the northern English town of Bolton had been lifted after a package at the site was found to be not suspicious. Greater Manchester Police had earlier evacuated the square as a precautionary measure while they investigated reports of a suspicious package.","label":0}
{"text":"Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ventured outside his beleaguered nation for the first time in more than four years Wednesday to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin in a surprise visit to Kremlin patrons now backing Syria's government with military might. The landmark trip is a powerful signal of Russia's growing support for the embattled Syrian government as it fights an armed rebellion that includes factions backed by the West and many Middle East partners. Russian warplanes have struck Syrian rebel targets across the country in recent weeks, allowing Assad's forces to go on the offensive and giving the Damascus government a critical lifeline after near-constant battles since 2011. Russia insists it is battling the Islamic State, which controls parts of Syria, but anti-government rebels and activists say few of the Russian strikes have hit the jihadists. Assad has painted his government's military crackdown as a fight against terrorism. But the Russian intervention has deepened tensions with Washington, which is leading separate airstrikes against the Islamic State and rejects a long-term role for Assad in Syria's future. [Obama's challenge in three words: \"Assad must go\"] The Pentagon and NATO allies have expressed worry over possible inadvertent encounters between Russian and U.S.-led coalition aircraft in the skies over Syria. Neighboring Turkey has accused Russia of twice violating its airspace and shot down a Russian-made drone last week. On Friday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry is expected to meet with his counterparts from Russia and two main Assad foes \u2014 Turkey and Saudi Arabia \u2014 to discuss Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Putin has made clear that Russia seeks to have a key role in any moves on Syria's political future, apparently to ensure that Moscow does not lose its main foothold in the region. \"We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of military actions . . . but during the political process,\" Putin said, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin. But few specific details emerged from the meetings with Assad. The extraordinary trip was announced after Assad had already returned to Damascus. Putin thanked Assad for visiting Moscow at Russia's request, praised the Syrian people for fighting opponents for several years \"practically on their own\" and said that \"serious results have been achieved in this battle,\" according to the Kremlin transcript. \"If it were not for your actions and decisions, the terrorism that is spreading through the region now would have made even greater gains, and spread to even wider territories,\" Assad said to Putin, according to the transcript. Putin said that at least 4,000 Islamist militants from the former Soviet Union are now fighting in Syria, and he warned that they could not be allowed to foment instability in Russia. He also reiterated the eventual need for a political settlement to end the conflict. The West has demanded that Assad step down as part of any political transition, a condition Putin did not address in his remarks. In the meeting with Assad, Putin said his government believes that \"positive results\" in military operations will lay the foundation for long-term resolution to Syria's conflict. \"We would do this, of course, in close contact with the other global powers and with the countries in the region that want to see a peaceful settlement to this conflict,\" he said. The Kremlin meetings unfolded a day after the Pentagon's new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held talks in Iraq, seeking to bolster U.S. support for Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. said Iraqi leaders gave assurances that Baghdad has not reached out to Russia to possibly expand its airstrikes. But a group of Iraqi political leaders and influential Shiite militias have urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to request Russian airstrikes on Islamic State militants, the Reuters news agency reported. [Did U.S. aid to Syrian rebels prompt Russian moves?] Photographs released by the Kremlin also showed Assad dining with Putin and other top Russian officials, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Russian warplanes have carried out dozens of strikes daily against targets in Syria since bombing began Sept. 30. Russia says it is focused on fighting the Islamic State in Syria, but many of the strikes have been directed against other Islamists and more moderate forces opposed to Assad. The West says that Russia's main goal is to prop up Assad and allow his forces to go on the offensive, not fight the Islamic State. Russian and U.S. officials announced Tuesday that they had signed a \"deconfliction\" agreement to regulate aircraft and drone traffic over Syria. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry released video of a Russian jet tailing what appeared to be an American Reaper drone over Syria. The ministry said the only aircraft legally in Syrian airspace are Russian. Reuters on Tuesday said three Russians were killed in an artillery strike in Syria, citing an intelligence source. The Defense Ministry denied that any Russian service members have been killed in Syria. Critics have said that Russia may send unofficial forces, or \"volunteers,\" as it has done in the Ukrainian conflict. There was no immediate comment from Washington on Assad's trip. But in NATO member Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he hoped Assad would stay in Russia. \"If only he could stay in Moscow longer, to give the people of Syria some relief,\" Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara. Little common ground between Moscow and Washington Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world","label":0}
{"text":"Rafael Nadal, who has not played a match since withdrawing from the French Open in May because of a wrist injury, sounded a note of optimism that his recovery would allow him to compete in the Rio Olympics, after he missed the London Olympics four years ago with a different injury. \"Although, as I always say, there is nothing certain in this life,\" Nadal told reporters in Majorca on Wednesday. The uncertainty surrounding the Rio Olympics has become more pronounced in tennis, with four top players in the last five days having announced that they will skip the Games, now only two and a half weeks away. Two men, Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych, and two women, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova, expressed concerns over Zika, which had been largely minimized by players who answered questions about the virus during the French Open and Wimbledon. \"I concluded that the risks are too high for my career and for my health, especially as a woman,\" Halep said in a statement on Facebook. \"Family is much too important for me and I can't risk not being able to have one of my own after my career in tennis is over. \" Berdych, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals, said previous tournaments had kept him too busy to think about the Olympics until recently. \"Obviously, I've known about the virus a long time, since when it all started,\" Berdych said Tuesday at the Citi Open in Washington. \"But of course the season was going on\" Berdych, who said he hoped to compete in the 2020 Olympics, said that he could not justify the risks that he saw to his life after tennis. \"I'm going to play two, three, four years, and then the rest of my life will be another 60 years, something like that,\" Berdych said. \"If something happens that makes that not the way you want it, because of one week or one tournament, you might have a sad life. No, I don't think so I don't want to take that risk, even if the risks are possibly small or whatever. \" Although several male players removed themselves from Olympic consideration because of a desire to focus on ATP events \u2014 which Raonic also cited in an interview after his initial announcement \u2014 only one player had mentioned Zika before late last week as a reason for not traveling to Brazil. That was Alexandr Dolgopolov, who pulled out in June and cited Zika as a particular concern giving his existing medical concerns, which include Gilbert's syndrome, a liver condition. Concerns over Zika had been discussed privately, however. Horia Tecau, who had planned to play mixed doubles with Halep, a fellow Romanian, before she announced her withdrawal, said that Halep had expressed concerns weeks ago about the virus. Tecau, who still hopes to qualify for the mixed doubles event with a partner, said the withdrawals by Halep and other athletes had disappointed him, especially given what he sees as the relatively low risk posed by the virus. \"When I keep hearing about this virus, if you sit down and think about all the stuff that we go through during the year, with everything that's happening in the world now, there's a lot of risk everywhere,\" Tecau said. \"I think this Zika virus is a very small percentage out of that risk. It's not a solid enough reason. \" As an example of overblown concern, Tecau pointed to a report from the United States State Department about concerns regarding the Olympic Games that the ATP had distributed to players. While 20 of the 33 pages focused on crime and security, less than one page focused on Zika. Other players are also confident. Denis Kudla, an American, expressed faith in organizers' preparedness and said, \"It's going to take a lot more than that to not go to the Olympics. \" Brazilians, such as Bruno Soares, a doubles champion at this year's Australian Open, have been outspoken about assuaging the panic over the virus. \"It's not the end of the world or something like this,\" Soares said. \"I feel like it's a little bit of my duty just to try to inform people. \" Soares has cited the ATP event in Rio de Janeiro in February, when mosquitoes are in season, as reason for his fellow players to be at ease. \"So many guys came to me in the last swing in Europe saying, 'What's the real situation over there? '\" Soares said. \"International media is just making such a huge thing out of it. I'm saying: 'Listen, guys: I'm from Brazil. We played the Rio event in the summer, when the mosquitoes are way worse \u2014 they don't really grow during winter \u2014 and there was zero cases.' If you go to Brazil, there's no worry about that. People are just living normal lives. \" Others remain concerned over the mixed signals. Samantha Stosur, an Australian, said she was \"absolutely, 100 percent going\" but admitted that she had more questions about these Games than about the three previous Olympics she had attended. Eugenie Bouchard, a Canadian, remains undecided. \"I don't know if anyone knows enough about it to really give a good opinion on whether, as athletes, we should go or not,\" Bouchard said. \"I just don't know if the health of my future babies is worth it. So that's what I'm trying to decide in my head. \" Sloane Stephens of the United States said that she had received conflicting medical advice but that she planned to go \u2014 and to pack the mosquito nets she had already bought. \"One doctor I talked to said, 'You shouldn't go, because we don't know what's going to happen,' and yada, yada,\" Stephens said. \"And some other doctors are like, 'You know, if this is your dream and you want to go play the Olympics? Go. ''\"","label":0}
{"text":"In what might be the most shocking 'campaign ad' of the election season, Americans are shown the dangerous potential of a Hillary Clinton presidency.  While Donald Trump attempts to ease tensions with the world's nuclear powers, Clinton ramps up her frightening rhetoric that could undoubtedly tip global stability and usher in a nuclear world war. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles","label":1}
{"text":"Jessica Davis (right) and Susan Oliver (left) (pictured above) are the widows of two Northern California sheriff s deputies who were shot to death in 2014 by a convicted felon who had twice been deported to Mexico.Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes tried to plead guilty to the murders of Sacramento County Sheriff s Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County Sheriff s Deputy Michael Davis Jr. but was ordered to stand trial in October.Jamiel Shaw Sr., the father of a Los Angeles teen who was killed by a gang member who was in the country illegally, will also attend and sit with First Lady Melania Trump. Shaw s son, a standout football player, was shot by Pedro Espinoza as he walked home. Espinoza was sentenced to death in 2012.Shaw strongly supported Trump during the election, speaking during the Republican National Convention and appearing with Trump at a rally in Costa Mesa. SHAW SPEAKING AT THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION:The other guests invited by the president to the speech are Maureen McCarthy Scalia, the widow of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; Megan Crowley, a young woman who was expected to die within a few years of being born; and Kenisha Merriweather, a low-income African-American woman who struggled in school before attending private school on scholarship and becoming the first person in her family to graduate high school and college. LA Times","label":1}
{"text":"With a bitter election campaign finally over, the Congress will reconvene this week to try to set aside its partisan differences long enough to keep the government from closing. As President-elect Donald Trump shapes his administration, Republicans are expected to move away from initial plans for compromise funding legislation and opt instead for a short-term measure to keep the government running into next year, when they will have control of Congress and the White House. Washington has been operating since Oct. 1 under a temporary \"continuing resolution\" on the budget. It expires on Dec. 9. Lawmakers will be trying to approve a new one before then. Mired in partisan gridlock, Congress in recent years has seldom completed the entire federal budget process, falling back frequently on stop-gap measures that last a few months. During their \"lame-duck\" session starting this week, lawmakers will have little time to draft another continuing resolution to cover funding U.S. agencies and military operations. Congress is tentatively set to adjourn by Dec. 17 and has an additional break over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. A new Congress will meet in January, with the 100-seat Senate more closely split than before last week's elections. Neither party will have the 60 votes needed to move legislation easily through the chamber. The voters last Tuesday also preserved the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, though it is slightly smaller, giving the Democrats more power to block the Republicans. Legislation to streamline federal regulations for new drugs could come up during the lame duck session. So could funding for cancer research, precision medicine and treatments for opioid addiction, said congressional aides. Some conservative House Republicans want a budget measure that will expire in March, which would coincide with needed action on the federal debt limit, according to House aides. Others have talked about a continuing resolution that would run until sometime February, giving the new president and Congress enough time to determine their priorities for more comprehensive funding legislation for the remainder of the federal fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. Before the election shifted the political center of gravity in favor of Republicans, Republican leaders had talked about crafting funding legislation through negotiations with Democrats and President Barack Obama and approving it before Christmas.","label":0}
{"text":"Candidates allied with Argentine President Mauricio Macri enjoyed sweeping victories in Sunday s mid-term election, strengthening his position in Congress while dimming prospects for a political comeback by his predecessor Cristina Fernandez. A free-spending populist who nearly bankrupted the country during her 2007-2015 rule, Fernandez came in a distant second in her race for the Senate representing Buenos Aires, Argentina s most populous province. With 98 percent of ballots counted by the interior ministry, Macri s former education minister, Esteban Bullrich, had 41.34 percent versus 37.27 percent for Fernandez in the province that is home to nearly 40 percent of Argentine voters. Macri s Cambiemos or Let s Change coalition won the top five population centers of Buenos Aires City, and Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza provinces. No single party had won all five in a mid-term vote since 1985. Today the change elected in 2015 has been consolidated, Vice President Gabriela Michetti told voters. The election results, largely in line with pre-vote opinion polls, robbed the opposition of the two-thirds majority needed to block presidential vetoes, said Ignacio Labaqui, a local analyst with New York-based consultancy Medley Global Advisors. This is a significant boost for the Macri administration, particularly because of the defeat of Cristina in Buenos Aires province, Labaqui said. Fernandez s second-place showing still grants her one of the province s three Senate seats under Argentina s list system. One third of the Senate and half of the house were elected, and Macri s coalition will not have a majority. The private sector has worried about a political resurgence by Fernandez, who is loved by millions of low-income Argentines helped by generous social spending during her administrations. Fernandez thanked voters at her campaign headquarters and said her Citizen s Unity party would remain a firm opposition to Macri s economic model. Critics say Fernandez s growth-at-all-costs policies stoked inflation and distorted the economy through heavy-handed currency controls. She has been further isolated politically by graft accusations. Fernandez, who as a senator will have immunity from arrest but not from trial, says there may have been corruption in her government but denies personal wrongdoing. Bullrich and Fernandez were tied in a non-binding primary in August but Bullrich pulled ahead in polls soon after, helped by a burst of economic growth as Fernandez failed to unify the Peronist opposition behind her. People are more confident in the future, the economy, in making investments. They are tired of corruption and populism, said Cecilia de Francesca, a 50-year-old writer who was celebrating at the Cambiemos campaign headquarters. Argentina s Merval stock index and its peso currency have strengthened on bets Fernandez would not get enough support to launch a serious bid for the presidency in 2019. Investors, particularly in Argentina s vast agriculture and budding shale oil sectors, have said they want to see Macri push through labor and tax reforms aimed at lowering business costs in Latin America s third-biggest economy.","label":0}
{"text":"Russia is working together with Saudi Arabia to unify the Syrian opposition, Russia s RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying on Friday. Lavrov was speaking at a meeting with United Nations special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who is visiting Moscow. De Mistura said a new Syrian constitution will be one of the main items on the agenda for UN-sponsored talks in Geneva next week between opposing sides in the Syria conflict, RIA reported.","label":0}
{"text":"White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said on Monday he expects the Treasury secretary to use extraordinary cash management measures after the government's current debt ceiling extension expires on March 15. \"The secretary of the Treasury actually makes the decision and I expect him to do what all previous secretaries of the Treasury have done, at least all the ones that I'm familiar with, to use those measures to extend that date,\" Mulvaney said in an interview on Fox News. \"But we will deal with it,\" he said, \"certainly\" before Congress recesses in August. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at his Senate confirmation hearing last month that he would like to see an increase in the debt ceiling \"sooner rather than later\" to avoid another standoff with Congress that could upset financial markets. The United States is one of few nations in which the legislature must approve periodic increases in the legal limit on how much money the federal government can borrow. Rather than setting a specific dollar limit on the debt, Congress in 2015 simply suspended the ceiling until March 15, allowing normal borrowing to continue. The debt ceiling will reset at the total debt level outstanding on that day, but Congress will need to approve a new debt ceiling or extension. As of Feb. 23, the federal debt stood at about $19.88 trillion, according to Treasury data. But analysts estimate that Treasury can continue to borrow and avoid a payment default for several months past March 15 even with no action from Congress as it deploys its extraordinary cash management measures. In the past, the Treasury has been able to stave off depletion of its cash reserves with steps such as temporarily halting investments in some pension funds for federal workers and suspending sales of certain securities to state and local governments. Although such steps are known as \"extraordinary measures,\" they are routinely used by Treasury during debt ceiling debates. In 2011, Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time after a gridlocked Congress waited until the government was possibly within hours of defaulting on its debt to raise the ceiling.","label":0}
{"text":"Can you imagine being POTUS and having this threat every day while you re in the WhiteHouse? The threats are there but this type of threat is frightening because this man is apparently mentally ill. We were unable to find any pictures of this man. He made vile and graphic threats to President Trump and was charged:A truck driver has been charged in federal court with threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump in several phone calls to Secret Service field offices.Special Agent Matthew Lariviere wrote in a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday that James Anthony Jackson repeatedly called the Secret Service field office in Chicago on Oct. 12-13 and made more phone calls to the field office in Detroit on Oct. 18 threatening to blow Trump s brains out. Better watch Donald Trump ass, ya bitch, Jackson said, according to court records. Ya ll think someone playing with yo dumbasses, I am going to blow white brains out his (expletive) head. It appeared Jackson was masking his real number, according to the agent.Jackson called from a phone with a 616 area code number.The number was registered to James Jackson Profit Group LLC in Grand Rapids, according to the agent. The company, which does not appear in state business records, is linked to an outreach center in Grand Rapids.Phone records also showed Jackson frequently called a woman in the 517 area code. The woman told investigators she had met a man online named Jamie who had harassed and threatened her from the same Grand Rapids-area phone number used by Jackson.Jamie threatened to cut off her head and parade it in front of the White House for Trump, according to the court filing.On Friday, investigators interviewed Jackson s uncle.Jackson had cursed and threatened relatives, the uncle said.Agents played a recording of one of the Trump threats for Jackson s sister and she confirmed the voice belonged to Jackson, according to the complaint.The News reports Jackson was born in 1984 but a hometown wasn t available and the U.S. Attorney s Office refused to discuss the case.Via Detroit News","label":1}
{"text":"Throughout the past 19 years, Donald Trump has been sued no less than eight times for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at his various properties, and has done his best to drag out these cases for as long as possible. In addition, a federal inspection at one of his properties also turned up multiple ADA violations.Five of the cases ended in a settlement and two others were resolved in consent decrees that required Trumpto make modifications to the properties to bring them into compliance with the ADA. One ended when both sides requested the case be dismissed and another was brought to a close in a bankruptcy.Christine Da Silva, a Trump Hotels spokeswoman, claims that Trump works very hard and spends lots of money to make sure his buildings are accessible to people with disabilities. It is the policy at all of our properties to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This handful of cases, many of which are over ten years old, are not representative of our organization s strong record of ADA compliance. However, that handful of cases is pretty damning and doesn t support Trump s claims.In a suit filed in 1997, James Conlon, who is paraplegic, filed a lawsuit against Trump s Atlantic City Plaza Hotel alleging basic and serious deficiencies in accessibility. He stayed at the hotel and although he was placed in a room that was supposedly accessible, the toilets and showers were not usable by someone in a wheelchair. As for the public restrooms, they were so inaccessible he had to ask for help from strangers to be able to use them at all. A year later, Trump settled the case and agreed to renovate the accessible guest rooms and public restrooms, bringing them into compliance with the ADA. But a year later, Trump admitted to a judge that the renovations had yet to be completed.In 2001, a suit was brought by Robert Levine and Frieda Zames, who are both wheelchair users. They alleged that Trump International kept the wheelchair lift locked and when employees finally managed to locate the key, they had no idea how to use it. Levine said the degrading incident made him feel like a second-class citizen. Zames said it was as if she were a grade school child asking permission to go to the restroom. In an attempt to shift the responsibility, Trump blamed the architects. The case was amicably settled in 2009 after both sides decided to dismiss the case.In 2003, Conlon filed suit against Trump once again, this time alleging the bus between New York and the Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino was only accessible to wheelchair users if notice was given at least a week in advance. Naturally, Trump sued the bus company and said it was all their fault, but he eventually settled the case.In 2004, a disabled Purple Heart veteran filed suit against the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York, alleging the property was not equipped with adequately accessible emergency exits, guest rooms and restrooms. Trump did everything he could to get rid of the suit, besides just making his hotel accessible to people with disabilities, that is. He attempted to have the case dismissed and dragged it out for three years. Just like in 2004, Trump blamed the architects and even launched a countersuit, which a judge called bullsh*t on and dismissed.Helena Berger, the president and CEO of the nonprofit American Association of People with Disabilities, said Trump s relentless attempts to squirm his way out of the suit were appalling. What was so striking and frankly appalling was the way he tried to fight [the violations]., Berger said. That, I think, is really telling. The Plaza Hotel became the subject of another complaint in 2007, which the plaintiffs eventually agreed to dismiss. Yet another lawsuit was brought against the hotel in 2008 but came to an end when Trump s company declared bankruptcy in 2009.In 2011, the Trump Taj Mahal settled with the Department of Justice after an inspection by the U.S. Attorney s Office turned up a long list of ADA violations. And more recently, in 2014, Trump claimed that making the pool at the Trump National Doral Miami golf course would impose an undue burden. Four months after the suit was filed, Trump and the plaintiffs entered into a consent decree.","label":1}
{"text":"At 7 a. m. on Monday, the line for the soup kitchen snaked through a hallway of St. Bartholomew's Church in Midtown Manhattan as men and a few women, bundled in layers of worn jackets and sweatshirts, waited for a breakfast of mixed greens and egg noodles with beef donated by the nearby Waldorf Astoria. On Tuesday, a handful of soup kitchen regulars will stand in lines at polling places around New York City to cast their votes in a presidential contest where the struggles of poverty rarely made their way into the national debate. But with the help of the League of Women Voters, volunteers with Crossroads Community Services, a nonprofit founded by the church, held voter registration drives in August and September. Homeless people are guaranteed the right to register to vote in New York despite not having fixed addresses as a result of a lawsuit argued by the Coalition for the Homeless in 1984. Wendy Range, 51, signed up, registering for the first time since the 1990s. \"It was too important to not have a voice,\" she said. Ms. Range said she left an abusive home in Dansville, N. Y. where she was discriminated against as a teenager for being gay. Now, she chuckles at the memory of her first vote at 18 when she supported Ronald Reagan. But she grew serious when discussing how her failure to vote over two decades began with apathy and was reinforced by poverty. Ms. Range, who had attended college and had worked on lighting crews for Off Broadway shows, said her finances grew tenuous in 2008 and she lost her job to budget cuts in 2010. She said she could no longer afford her $ studio in Chelsea and became homeless. She also had no time to think about elections. \"Think about being on the street,\" she said during an interview at St. Bartholomew's, where she is a volunteer and a client. \"It's difficult to find somewhere to use the bathroom. It's difficult to find something to eat. Imagine that, and how do I get to the polls?\" But Ms. Range, who recently found a little work, said she had noticed changes in the soup line and was moved to register to vote. \"A lot of people out here are working,\" she said. \"Security guards. Men in suits. What the hell are they doing here? They're working, but they are not making enough. \" As of Wednesday, there were 36, 520 adults in city shelters overseen by the Department of Homeless Services. As a voting bloc, homeless adults could be powerful, but many are uninterested and overwhelmed. \"They are living in crisis and dealing with a lot of immediate needs, and that may prohibit them from voting,\" Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless, said. The organization distributed around 1, 500 fliers in shelters for single adults last week, Ms. Routhier said. The flier says voting could influence local and federal housing policies. \"At all levels of government, these people have the power to impact your lives,\" she said. Vance R. Hinton, who registered two years ago, agreed that voting is an important civic duty, but at the same time he questioned what impact homeless people could have. Born and raised in Harlem within earshot of \"the organ and cheers\" of Yankee Stadium, Mr. Hinton, 62, went to college with the help of basketball scholarships but fell on hard times after a longtime relationship ended in 2003. He said he once called a sleeping bag in Central Park home but lived these days on the E train. After his meal, Mr. Hinton sipped coffee and opined. He wondered which of the candidates really cared about the issues that affect him. \"We have folks living in boxes and living on trains,\" said Mr. Hinton, a registered Democrat who was once a member of the Green Party. \"None of the folks dealt with that issue. \"","label":0}
{"text":"This social media campaign against the GAP is a great example of how the Black Lives agitators are using resources like Twitter to intimidate and threaten individuals, colleges and even large corporations like GAP. You can t blame these blacktivists for using white guilt as a weapon to game the system, as a means to gain an advantage over everyone else (Hispanics and Asians included). The real question is, when is someone going to be brave enough to stand up and say enough of this manufactured hate! The ad for Gap s latest collaboration with Ellen DeGeneres is awash with pleasing blue hues, from the kid models navy outfits to the talk show host s denim jacket.But the shades that really caught people s attention were on the children s skin. The commercial s stars were three white girls and a black girl.https:\/\/youtu.be\/gdxXBqdfWMEThat, in itself, wasn t a problem. In the days following the campaign s launch last week, what drew ire from commentators online was the seeming passivity of the African American girl. While the other girls eagerly fielded DeGeneres s questions about their troupe Le Petite Cirque, she sat silent. While the white girls were highlighted performing solo acrobatic tricks, she seemed to appear only in reference to the others balancing on someone s knees or with her arm wrapped around someone s waist.At least, this was the interpretation of those who were angered by the ad. And they were angered, most of all, by a photograph that showed the white girls standing in all manner of complex poses while the black girl s arms dangled idly at her sides, her head a cushion upon which another white girl rested an elbow.This imagery sparked the usual chain of reactions online. Those who were offended minced no words in expressing their outrage, and they were promptly reprimanded by those who thought they were overreacting.So @Gap decides to use the only Black girl in this campaign as a prop ..we see you! pic.twitter.com\/widB8Axk5U ArtsySneakerGirl (@BamaIntrovert) April 3, 2016That ad certainly isn't suggesting that *black* girls \"can do anything,\" @GapKids. It's incredibly distasteful to your black consumer base. stacia l. brown (@slb79) April 3, 2016Many critics zeroed in on the caption Gap had used to introduce the campaign: Meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything. The Root s Kirsten West Savali articulated the essence of the distress: While all of the girls are adorable, and indeed, all of them should grow up to be and do anything, it becomes problematic when the black child is positioned to be a white child s prop. What race agitators at The Root neglected to mention is that the white girl and the black girl whose head her arm resting upon are actually SISTERS! @TheRoot girl with arm resting on her shoulder is her sister She didn't talk in video because she was 2 shy. everyone needs to calm down. Brooke Smith (@Iam_BrookeSmith) April 3, 2016They also neglected to post the photo from the GAP s ad campaign from last year:The company apologized Tuesday. As a brand with a proud 46 year history of championing diversity and inclusivity, we appreciate the conversation that has taken place and are sorry to anyone we ve offended, Gap spokeswoman Debbie Felix said in a statement to Fortune.The offensive image will be removed, but the campaign will move forward, the company said.","label":1}
{"text":"EU leaders offered Ukraine closer ties on Friday at a summit meant to cement Kiev s ties with the West, but they declined to promise that the country could one day join the bloc. As fighting escalated in Ukraine s industrial east, EU leaders held a summit with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and five other former Soviet republics, part of a tug-of-war with Russia for influence through trade and cooperation. In a summit statement also signed by Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus, EU leaders agreed to the European aspirations and European choice of the partners - code for deeper integration without offering membership. Ukraine, which ousted a Russian-backed president in February 2014 in a pro-European uprising, wants the promise of future membership of the EU, the world s biggest trading bloc, as it seeks to overcome entrenched corruption and economic neglect. A promise of EU membership is important, it s symbolic, said Ukraine s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk on the margins of the biennial summit. No other country was willing to pay such a high price as we did, he told Reuters. Kiev, fighting a Russian-backed insurgency in the east, sees a promise of membership as a morale-boosting next step after agreeing a free-trade accord with the bloc and winning visa-free travel to the EU for its citizens. Some EU leaders are sympathetic to Kiev and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he promised Poroshenko a formal study into how Ukraine might join the EU s customs union. The summit s chairman Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said: I would have preferred that the wording of the (summit) agreement were more ambitious without giving details. But other leaders warned Ukraine not to push too hard, in part because governments are seeking to curb immigration and face down far-right political parties at home, and also because Ukraine s fragile economy is not yet ready to meet EU norms. Stubbornness is good, but the most important thing is not guarantees on entering (the EU), but to be stubborn about reforms, said Lithuania s President Dalia Grybauskaite. Any membership is only as valuable as it is beneficial for Ukraine, she said, referring to the country s need to reform to meet EU business, health and other trade standards. Luxembourg s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel echoed that position, saying it was not the right moment to be discussing any future Ukrainian membership of the European Union. Backed by Washington, the European Union is seeking to build an outer ring of market democracies from the Caucasus to the Sahara without offering EU membership, a policy that has had limited success so far. Ukraine is also unhappy about being grouped in with Belarus, a Russian ally whose authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, did not attend the summit on Friday despite being invited for the first time. On leaving the summit, Poroshenko said he expected a breakthrough soon on a stalled 600 million euro ($712 million) loan to the financial sector from the EU that is held up by Ukraine s failure to meet conditions. Danylyuk told Reuters he also saw the next IMF aid tranche coming early next year. Wary that reforms will slow as Ukraine moves closer to elections in 2019, the EU and IMF governments are using their financial support to push anti-corruption reforms. European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees EU integration, said it was ridiculous that 1.5 million Ukrainians signed up to a wealth declarations register last year but only 100 people had been assessed to date. Danylyuk countered that he was facing a campaign against his economic reform efforts from powerful business groups that benefited from corruption and legal loopholes. This is a fight, he said. For vested interests, it s like we are taking their money.","label":0}
{"text":"Standing on the bluffs of Roma, Texas on a May afternoon two border patrol agents look out over the meandering Rio Grande River that separates Mexico from the United States and recall a time when the scene was far less tranquil. Last fall, during the waning months of the Obama administration, hundreds of immigrants crossed the river on rafts at this point each day, many willingly handing themselves over to immigration authorities in hopes of being released into the United States to await court proceedings that would decide their fate. Now, the agents look out on an empty landscape. Foot paths up from the water have started to disappear under growing brush, with only the stray baby shoe or toothbrush serving as reminders of that migrant flood. The reason for the change, the agents say, is a perception in Mexico and Central America that President Donald Trump has ended the practice known as \"catch-and-release,\" in which immigrants caught in the United States without proper documents were released to live free, often for years, as their cases ran through the court system. Now, would-be border violators know \"they'll be detained and then turned right back around,\" said one of the two agents, Marlene Castro. \"It's not worth it anymore,\" she said. Castro was simply echoing her boss, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who said on a visit to El Paso, Texas in April, \"We have ended dangerous catch-and-release enforcement policies.\" But immigration attorneys, government statistics and even some officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which falls under Kelly, suggest that despite the DHS chief's statement, there has been no clear change to the catch-and-release policy. That's in large part because there are legal constraints on who can be detained and for how long, due to a shortage of beds and a court ruling limiting the stay of women and children in custody to 21 days. A separate court ruling limits detention time for immigrants whose countries refuse to repatriate them. And Kelly noted in a February memorandum that asylum seekers that have proven they have a \"credible fear\" of returning home could be candidates for release if they present \"neither a security risk nor a risk of absconding.\" Daniel Bible, ICE field office director for Southern Texas, told Reuters he and his colleagues have not been issued new directions, and so continue to release illegal immigrants deemed to be low security risks, usually with notices to appear in court. \"We look at each case the same way we always have,\" Bible said. DHS spokeswoman Jenny Burke confirmed to Reuters that the agency has not issued new guidance for releasing migrants caught at the border. Asked to explain why there had been no new guidance, given Kelly's statement in April, Burke said, \"ICE officers make custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing detention resources.\" In a memo made public in February, Kelly defined catch and release as any policy that allows immigrants to be released from detention while they await their court hearings, making it easy to abscond. Ending catch and release was one of Trump's central promises during the 2016 presidential campaign. Some advocates who work with migrants say they have seen little change since Trump came into office. \"Sure, people are still being released,\" said Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies. \"Not because they believe in releasing them, but because there are not enough beds at the moment.\" ICE declined to provide data on the number of migrants being released into the United States. But other ICE data not previously published and reviewed by Reuters shows the pool of people not in custody and awaiting court appearances is growing. Since Trump took office in late January, the number of immigrants awaiting court proceedings while living freely in the United States has grown by nearly 30,000, rising by an average of about 7,500 per month, according to the ICE data. During the last seven months of President Barack Obama's presidency, the rolls of those awaiting legal proceedings outside of custody grew more rapidly, at an average of about 20,600 people per month. Part of the slower rate under Trump can be traced to a 58 percent drop in apprehensions of people crossing the border. Still, the numbers suggest the Trump administration is a long way from ending catch-and-release. NumbersUSA, a Washington-based organization that supports limited immigration, praised the Trump administration's tough talk and its chilling effect on illegal immigration. \"That impact will be temporary, though, unless the administration follows through by ending 'catch and release' for good,\" it said. The Trump administration though has come up against the reality that there simply is not enough space in detention centers. Congress has funded about 34,000 beds to detain immigration violators, and the average daily population of detainees has been near or above capacity since before Trump took office. One way the administration hopes to free up detention space is to decrease the time it takes to resolve cases. The Justice Department has requested funding to hire an additional 125 immigration judges over the next two years, an increase of 50 percent. In the meantime, some border officials hope would-be migrants remain nervous. When told that ICE detention centers are still releasing many immigrants to live in the United States, Castro and her border agent colleague, who declined to be named, exchanged a look and then shrugged. \"Don't tell them that,\" her colleague said. -See a related photo essay here reut.rs\/2qZcutn","label":0}
{"text":"Every day we hear of more voter fraud being uncovered across the United States. This is nothing new and every election we read about more and more early voter fraud being committed. When will Republicans stop cowering to threats of racism and voter suppressions levied by the very people who are stealing our votes?There s a mere four weeks left to go before the presidential election, and the allegations of voter fraud just. Keep. Coming.The Kankakee Daily Journal, a local newspaper in a county just south of Chicago, reported last week that several citizens in the small county reported they were offered bribes in return for casting votes for Democrats. Voting officials were also looking into reports that some mail-in voter applications had been filed from outside the county.From the article:The Kankakee County State s Attorney s office says it is investigating possible voting fraud after the clerk s office reported three complaints from people who said they were offered bribes for votes.In a news release issued late Tuesday afternoon, Jamie Boyd, the state s attorney, also said several vote-by-mail applications seem to have come from people living outside of Kankakee County. This unprecedented action was taken in response to reports of individuals from Chicago offering gifts to potential voters in exchange for a vote for Kate Cloonen, Hillary Clinton and others, Boyd said in the news release. Our office takes seriously the obligation to protect the rights of citizens to vote for the candidate of their choice, and to do so without undue influence from special interest groups. The investigation will also focus on the authenticity of vote by mail requests. Several applications have been filed with the election authority that appear to be fraudulently executed. The report closely followed allegations of voter fraud in Virginia, where at least 20 dead people were illegally registered to vote by a James Madison student working for a local voter registration group called HarrisonburgVOTES. The Washington Free Beacon reported the group is run by one Joe Fitzgerald, the chairman of his local Democratic Committee, and that the student, Andrew Spieles, is also a registered Democrat.Additionally, the Virginia Voters Alliance and the Public Interest Legal Foundation found that at least 1,046 non-U.S. citizens across eight districts had voted in the 2012 presidential election.","label":1}
{"text":"We all remember the horrific violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia in August. White supremacists, Ku Klux Klan members, and other assorted white supremacists descended upon the historic college town to do violence, and they succeeded. Their efforts began with a torch lit march the night before, and continued with a rally the next day that quickly turned violent. It eventually ended in a white supremacist driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Now, it seems that they are at it again.As of this writing, white nationalists are holding another torch lit march in Charlottesville. As despicable as that is, it s true. White supremacist leader Richard Spencer boasted that what he calls Charlottesville 3.0 was, quote, a success. Charlottesville 3.0 was as success. pic.twitter.com\/c18ktP0MWD Richard ?Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) October 8, 2017Here is a photo of the horror unfolding there, courtesy of the anti-fascist website It s Going Down s Twitter:Neo-Nazis have rallied with torches again in #Charlottesville. At emancipation square. pic.twitter.com\/h4EXXQsK4h It's Going Down (@IGD_News) October 8, 2017This is the face of fascism in America, folks. This is what it has come to. Likely, they have another afternoon rally planned for tomorrow, if they were able to get a permit for the torch lit march. Further, there is likely to be more violence as well. That is what they want. Hopefully, no one gets killed this time.This story is breaking. Stay tuned to Addicting Info for further updates.","label":1}
{"text":"Friday on MSNBC's \"Morning Joe,\" host Joe Scarborough criticized the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on President Donald Trump's executive order halting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Scarborough said that although he thought the executive order was bad policy, the appeals court's ruling was \"laughable\" and he said it will be overturned. \"Our law professors always told us \u2014 bad facts made bad law,\" he said. \"Horrific facts coupled with horrific politics makes for horrific law. That's exactly what happened here. \" \"This decision, though, is laughable,\" Scarborough conitnued. \"This is, for me, the most disturbing part of the entire case. And by the way, at the end, this isn't going to matter because I think the White House is going to fix it up, briefly fix it up. They could do a couple quick changes and take care of these problems. But the Ninth said, 'The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order have perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States.' As if it is the executive branches job to actually get the Intel community in and say these are all the things that are going to happen. No, in fact, Barack Obama worked with a bipartisan Congress to come up with these seven countries, not because there was specific attacks, but because they saw deteriorating security situation that they wanted to remedy. They wanted to prevent attacks. That's the entire purpose of that. \" \"This will be overturned,\" he added.","label":0}
{"text":"While it s certainly not true that Donald Trump will have the least diverse cabinet in history. Hell, before a generation or so ago, it was rare to see women or People of Color in positions of authority, but it s 2016. The culture is changing and skin color and gender (and religion and sexual orientation) shouldn t matter at all.Judging by the looks of his cabinet nominees so far, Trump s administration will be the least diverse since Bush George H.W. Bush.Trump, or more likely, someone working for Trump, knows that he needs to offer at least some diversity, especially with the enemies he s made in the Latino community with his wall rhetoric in the campaign. The problem is, though, he can t find any in a country with about 57 million Latinos and Hispanics. I can tell you now I have spoken to numerous folks on the transition, and they say that he s absolutely looking for qualified Latinos for a Cabinet post, said Mario Rodriguez, head of the Latino PAC Hispanic 100. Rodriguez, who sits on Trump s Hispanic advisory committee, said transition officials have asked him for recommendations and they gave him positive feedback about Trump s prior meetings with Hispanic candidates. I think some appointments are going to be pretty quick. President-elect Trump was very impressed by the candidates. He wants to put a Latino in the Cabinet, he s not doing it just for show. Source: PoliticoTrump is trying to fill the position of Agriculture Secretary with a Latino and he s receiving a lot of backlash from his farmer supporters. According to Politico, the farmers don t want it to be a political pick. Of course, they are Trump supporters, so there s a better than even chance they don t like the idea of someone with brown skin determining farm policy, especially after Trump said he wants to deport Latinos.Part of the problem is that Trump is looking for a qualified Latino to take the position. There s no doubt there are plenty, but few who likely share his political beliefs. Still, it s weird that he should look for qualified now. His current picks are some of the least qualified to ever serve office (remember, Rick Perry, who has just a Bachelor s Degree and nearly flunked a class called meats, is slated to be Energy Secretary and Ben Carson, who is a doctor, a medical doctor, will serve as Director of Housing and Urban Development) just as he is among the least qualified who will ever serve in the Office of the Presidency.Even if Trump is able to hire a Latino even a qualified one, it might not matter.Many Hispanic leaders say they are less concerned about having a Cabinet pick than what Trump s policies could mean, particularly with deportation and a wall along the Mexican border. These people say picking a Hispanic Cabinet member for agriculture could be seen as a token with little real value and liken Trump naming his only black Cabinet member to lead Housing and Urban Development.In other words, Trump could have the most diverse cabinet ever and still be the worst president for diversity in history. What Latino (or really anyone) in their right mind would want history to remember them in that way?","label":1}
{"text":"Doesn t Corporate America get enough breaks at the expense of the everyday American? Apparently not, because they re working on a bill that would limit the ability of the American consumer to sue, even in cases of gross negligence and flat-out illegal acts. Already it s difficult to sue due to all the legal fine print that corporations use specifically to make it harder to sue. And now Republicans want to expand and cement corporations immunity from responsibility.Of course, they gave it a name intended to deceive us into believing they re making things more fair for everyone. Leveling the playing field. Things like that. It s called the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017. It s anything but fair it tips the balance of lawsuits so far towards corporations that it s obscene.Class action lawsuits are often the only avenue for Americans to hold corporations accountable if they are victims of widespread illegal behavior. In other words, victims of fraud and scams, unsafe products and workplaces, and of human and civil rights violations, would have little to no recourse, according to a detailed analysis from Elizabeth Burch from the University of Georgia s School of Law.Other egregious behavior companies could get away with include price fixing, gender discrimination, securities fraud could go unchecked, deceptive or even false advertising could likewise go unchecked, and so much more.Sure, there are laws in place that prohibit all of that, but holding companies truly responsible for the harm that their lawlessness causes involves hurting their bottom line. Do Republicans plan to put inspectors in every corporation there is, just to ensure that they all follow the law? Class-action suits really are our only method of holding a corporation s feet to the fire when they break the law.Should this bill pass, it s anything but America first, and as such, it s a major kick in the face to regular consumers. Republicans are disgusting.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The White House admonished Russia on Wednesday after it vetoed a United Nations plan to continue an ongoing investigation that recently found Syria killed dozens of people with chemical weapons and implored the international body to renew the probe. Russia cast a veto at the United Nations Security Council eight days ago, preventing the renewal of a mandate for a mission by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - that investigates the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Russia s attempts to undermine and eliminate the JIM show a callous disregard for the suffering and loss of life caused by the use of chemical weapons and an utter lack of respect for international norms, the White House said in a statement. The JIM found that the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad is to blame for a chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people last April, according to a report sent to the United Nations Security Council last Thursday. This unconscionable attack marks the fourth time that the JIM has confirmed that the Assad regime used chemical weapons, underscoring the brutal and horrifying barbarism of Bashar al-Assad and making the protection provided by Russia even more egregious, the White House said. JIM was unanimously created by the 15-member U.N. Security Council in 2015 and renewed in 2016 for another year. Its mandate is due to expire in mid-November. The United States implores the UN Security Council to renew the mandate of the JIM so that we may continue to identify the perpetrators of these horrific attacks and send a clear message that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated, the White House said. In their 14th report since 2011, U.N. investigators said they had in all documented 33 chemical weapons attacks to date. Twenty-seven were by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, including seven between March 1 to July 7. Perpetrators had not been identified yet in six attacks, they said. The Assad government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. It said its strikes in Khan Sheikhoun hit a weapons depot belonging to rebel forces, a claim excluded by U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria chairman Paulo Pinheiro. That attack led U.S. President Donald Trump to launch the first U.S. air strikes on a Syrian air base.","label":0}
{"text":"Archives Michael's Latest Video Did America Really Pass The Test? \u2013 Hillary Clinton Is Going To Win The Popular Vote By A Wide Margin By Michael Snyder, on November 9th, 2016  The 2016 election was a test, and it would be easy to assume that since Donald Trump won the election that America passed the test. Unfortunately, it may not be that simple. A closer look at the numbers reveals a very sobering reality. Yes, Donald Trump won far more electoral votes than Hillary Clinton did, and that means that he is on track to become our next president . But Hillary Clinton is going to win the popular vote, and it is likely to be by a very wide margin once all the votes are counted.  As I write this article, Hillary Clinton has a lead of 218,000 in the popular vote, but most of the votes that have not been counted are on the west coast.  In California, Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by a 5,482,166 to 2,966,654 margin, and only 68 percent of the vote has been counted so far. So assuming that the ratio stays about the same the rest of the way, Clinton is going to add at least a million more votes to her lead just from the state of California.  Up in Washington state, Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by more than 370,000 votes, and only 60 percent of the vote has been counted there so far. So she could easily pick up another 200,000 votes in that state.  When everything is all said and done, it seems very likely that Hillary Clinton will have received well over a million more votes than Donald Trump did in this election.  So the truth is that the American people chose Hillary Clinton, but because of some electoral college magic Donald Trump is the winner of the election.  And I am certainly very, very happy that Hillary Clinton is not going to be our next president. Four years under her \"leadership\" would have likely been the final nail in the coffin for our nation. My hope is that she will now disappear from national politics for good.  But just because she is not going to be our next president does not mean that we passed the test.  In this election, the American people were faced with a very stark choice. Hillary Clinton is the most wicked politician that our country has ever seen, and over the past three decades the American people have gotten to know exactly who she is and what she stands for.  And despite knowing exactly what they would be getting, more Americans voted for her than voted for Donald Trump.  If every vote counted equally, she would be our next president.  I certainly don't mean to rain on the Trump parade. Christians, conservatives and patriots are right to celebrate this victory by Donald Trump. But the truth is that I don't believe that we did actually pass the test that we were faced with.  As a nation, we willingly chose Hillary Clinton by a pretty substantial margin.  And don't think that the radical left is going to forget that Trump lost the popular vote. Already, violence and protests have erupted all over the nation.  Shortly after Trump declared victory, riots broke out in Berkeley, San Jose and Oakland \u2026  \"Not my president! Not my president!\" chanted anti-Trump rioters in Berkley, California as they light flares and storm the streets.  Riots erupted in Berkley, San Jose and Oakland shortly after the announcement of Donald Trump as president-elect. Rioters are breaking into stores, vandalizing cars and shooting flares.  One woman in Oakland was hit by a car on Highway 24 just after midnight and has suffered serious injuries after. When she pulled over to the right shoulder, she was surrounded by anti-Trump rioters, who vandalized her car and broke the back window, according to CHP officers.  There were reports of protesters burning American flags in some areas of the country, and there were even brawls outside of the White House .  And once the sun set on Wednesday night, the protests started again. According to USA Today , \"thousands of demonstrators\" have hit the streets in New York City\u2026  In New York, thousands of demonstrators blocked off streets around Trump Tower near the busy intersection of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, chanting \"hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go\" and \"p\u2014y grabs back,\" a reference to tape of a Trump conversation from years back in which he One woman protester was topless while another climbed on top of a tree to see the activity. Taxis, city buses and passenger vehicles stood at a standstill.  In Boston, radical leftists were organizing a giant protest against Trump \u2026  Far-left organizers are planning a mass protest in Boston against President-elect Donald Trump, citing the need to \"immediately start fighting against him.\"  Approximately 2,300 people have indicated they will gather outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston tonight for a \"Boston Against Trump Rally.\" According to the Facebook event page, another 5,000 people say they may be interested in attending.  \"Donald Trump is the next President of the United States. We need to immediately start fighting against him. We need to build a movement to fight racism, sexism, and Islamophobia,\" the event description says.  Sadly, this could be the beginning of a new era of protests, rioting and civil unrest.  Instead of coming together behind the new president, the radical left seems ready to go to war.  So even though Trump won the election, the truth is that our troubles may only just be starting. More than half the country didn't want Trump, our nation was already more divided than it has been in decades before he won, and it won't take much for many of our big cities to descend into utter chaos.  Without a doubt, we should be very excited that Donald Trump won the election, but an election victory is not going to magically make our problems go away.  When faced with the most monumental election in any of our lifetimes, Hillary Clinton received the most votes from the American people, and the consequences for that decision may be far more severe than most people are now anticipating.  About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and End Of The American Dream. Michael's controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled \"The Rapture Verdict\" is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.","label":1}
{"text":"It has proven one of Donald Trump's greatest strengths in building a worldwide luxury brand: An obsessive attention to detail, down to the curtains hanging in hotel rooms and the marble lining the lobby floor. As president, it may prove one of his major liabilities, presidential historians warn. Interviews with a dozen people familiar with how Trump conducts business reveal the president-elect as a micromanager who regularly spars over details about decor in projects across his real estate and branding empire. \"I'm very much involved in the details,\" Trump said during a June deposition in a lawsuit stemming from his development of a Washington hotel. \"I was involved in the design of the building and the room sizes and the entrances and the lobby and the marble and the bathrooms and the fixtures and the bars and a lot of things.\" Trump announced on Wednesday that he would leave his businesses \"in total\" so that he could focus on the presidency. But those who have worked with him say a lifetime habit of micromanaging may be difficult to break, providing ammunition for critics who say his decisions as president will be driven by his private interests. A former employee of the Trump Organization who has worked closely with Trump was skeptical that he could leave behind his beloved company after spending decades building it up. \"I can't picture him stepping aside for the presidency,\" the ex-employee said. Even if he does make a clean break, Trump will have to guard against getting bogged down in the bureaucratic minutiae inherent in the office. He should avoid the example of President Jimmy Carter, another famous micromanager, who spent his first months in office poring over the White House tennis court schedule, said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. Micromanagers rarely make successful presidents, said Rick Ghere, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton in Ohio. To be effective, presidents must delegate authority to members of their cabinet and rely on a range of expertise, he said. \"Being a decisionmaker in a high-level public position is a lot different than being a CEO,\" Ghere said. Trump has said he will turn the Trump Organization over to his three adult children, who are already deeply involved in real estate projects around the world. His daughter Ivanka, for instance, was charged with overseeing the renovation of Washington's Old Post Office Pavilion, a $200 million project to turn the historic building into a luxury hotel. In cases where Trump has delegated authority, he still demonstrates a deep reluctance to let go, even when it comes to seemingly trivial details. Two people who participated in an inspection of the Washington hotel with Trump shortly before he announced his candidacy in June 2015 remember the businessman growing incensed over a detail: The restoration of exterior windows. Trump said the windows looked terrible, though one of the sources recounting the story said there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with them. He demanded the contractor not be paid but was told the work had been done for free in the hopes of getting more business from the Trumps, according to the source. That source and two others on the project also recalled hearing Ivanka say she needed her father's approval before signing off on some decisions she wanted to make on the project. The sources said it was not uncommon for her to say she would \"run this by my father\" or \"check with New York.\" Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump is \"incredibly detail oriented as any great developer is, something he shares with his adult children including Ivanka.\" Trump's reluctance to step aside from his company was apparent in a New York Times interview last week in which he said, \"in theory I could run my business perfectly, and then run the country perfectly.\" Trump's reputation as a micromanager dates back to some of his earliest building projects. In her 2013 book 'All Alone on the 68th Floor', Barbara Res, who oversaw construction of Trump Tower in Manhattan, described her boss in 1983 agonizing over the height and thickness of decorative trees in the building's atrium. Three decades later, Trump would bring his management style to the presidential campaign trail. Three sources who worked on the campaign said Trump made almost all the decisions on spending, strategy, and messaging. According to the sources, senior campaign officials were desperate to get aboard the candidate's plane early on in the presidential race, fearful if they were left behind he would change course on strategy and they would be shut out. When Paul Manafort, who was helping run Trump's campaign, secured the candidate's authorization to spend $20 million hiring field operatives, he was triumphant, according to a Republican National Committee member, recounting an RNC meeting with Manafort in April. The committee member though was perplexed - why had Manafort needed Trump's approval for an expenditure on such an essential part of his campaign, and why was the amount so small? At that point in an election year, past candidates had already begun spending upwards of $80 million on the same thing. Manafort told Reuters that while it was true most candidates simply signed off on a budget rather than reviewing each expenditure, Trump was different because he was partly funding his campaign. \"I understood it and totally agreed with that approach,\" Manafort said. Later in the campaign, Trump was still agonizing over details. In October, he insisted on reviewing the script of a radio ad that was to be broadcast on stations with predominantly black audiences, according to a source inside the campaign. Micromanaging is not necessarily a recipe for disaster - presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Carter and Barack Obama gained reputations as micromanagers, said Nancy Koehn, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies the history of leadership in the United States. But Koehn said a micromanager with a lack of any government experience was a potentially toxic combination. \"I think it is highly likely that diving into areas in which he has very little experience without an extraordinary cast of experts around him will result in poor policy decisions which will have large unintended consequences,\" she said. Only two of Trump's nominees so far have U.S. federal executive branch experience, although the lineup does include a state governor, several U.S. lawmakers, and a former Goldman Sachs executive.","label":0}
{"text":"Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions indicated that he would advise the to continue using the U. S. military prison in Guant\u00e1namo Bay, Cuba, to house newly captured jihadists. [Sessions said he sees \"no legal problem whatsoever\" with doing so. His comments came in response to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asking Sessions what he would tell President Trump if he were to request legal guidance on incarcerating newly captured detainees at the Guant\u00e1namo facility, commonly known as Gitmo. \"There's plenty of space. We're for it. It's a perfect place for it. Eventually, this will be decided by the military rather than the Justice Department, but I see no legal problem whatsoever with doing that,\" responded the new AG. \"I've been there a number of times as a senator and it's just a very fine place for holding these kind of dangerous criminals,\" added the former Alabama Republican lawmaker. \"We've spent a lot of money fixing it up, and I'm inclined to the view that it remains a perfectly acceptable place. And I think a lot of the criticisms have just been totally exaggerated. \" Echoing President Trump, Sessions told Hewitt that he did not support former President Barack Obama's failed goal to shut down Gitmo, suggesting that he would encourage the new to keep the facility running. Sessions did urge the military justice system to speed up the process of Gitmo hearings, telling the conservative radio host, \"By now, we should have worked through all the legal complications that the Obama administration seemed to allow to linger and never get decided, so nothing ever happened. \" \"So it is time for us in the months to come to get this thing figured out and start using it [military justice system] in an effective way,\" he continued. \"In general, I don't think we're better off bringing these people to federal court in New York and trying them in federal court \u2014 where they get discovery rights to find out our intelligence \u2014 and get lawyers and things of that nature. \" Towards the end of the Obama administration, the military justice system and the former president's panel proved to be capable of stepping up court hearings and detainee reviews as Obama pushed to shut down Gitmo. The attorney general's comments come nearly a month after the New York Times (NYT) reported that the Trump administration is considering ordering the Pentagon to continue using Gitmo to imprison newly captured terrorists linked to the Taliban, and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. During his presidential campaign, President Trump vowed to \"load [Guant\u00e1namo] up with some bad dudes. \" The new president has blasted Obama for reducing the number of detainees housed at Gitmo. Obama failed to keep his campaign promise of shutting down the detention center. The former president blamed his inability to deliver on \"congressional restrictions,\" explicitly saying, \"all these rules and norms and laws\" prevented him from emptying out and ultimately closing Gitmo. However, Obama himself signed into law a bipartisan bill that prohibited him from carrying out his proposal to close down the facility. The law banned Obama officials from building or modifying U. S. facilities to house Guant\u00e1namo prisoners, a key move to facilitate the former president's plan to shut Gitmo down. Obama did dramatically reduce the prison's population, from 242 at the start of his presidency to 41 by the time he left. His administration liberated many jihadists who had been deemed \"forever prisoners,\" or too dangerous to release. The U. S. intelligence community has determined that some (20) of the prisoners released by Obama are confirmed (9) or suspected (11) to have in terrorist activities. Nevertheless, the recidivism rate for detainees released by former President George W. Bush is higher \u2014 113 confirmed and 75 suspected of having returned to the battlefield. Bush (532) did liberate more than three times the amount of prisoners released by Obama (161) which may explain the high recidivism rate. It appears that the more prisoners are released, the higher the likelihood some will return to terrorist activities.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s Republican running mate Mike Pence, made an appearance on CNN s State of the Union Saturday morning where he was grilled by the show s host, Jake Tapper. The grilling was brought on by a line of questioning regarding Trump s flip-flop on his proposal to forcefully deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.The segment begins with Tapper playing a clip of Trump from last November where he clearly states that We re going to have a deportation force, that will seek out undocumented immigrants and deport them to their country of origin.Throughout his campaign, Trump has referred to the undocumented immigrants his force would target as criminals. It s a clever bit of political double speak that trump has used. It implies that he is only going after undocumented criminals. From Trump s supporters viewpoints and his rhetoric, all undocumented immigrants are here illegally and are therefore criminals. Now that Trump is in general election mode, they need to come up with specifics. Trump cannot back away from his tough talk on immigration without burning his base. However, he also has to bring the scale of his proposals down since they are so radical they sound like they originated from a neo-Nazi s fever dream and thus alienate everyone whose hobbies don t include cutting eyeholes into white sheets.That s why during the interview Pence insists that Trump hasn t pivoted on the issue: Nothing has changed about Donald Trump s position on dealing with illegal immigration. His position and his principles have been absolutely consistent, Pence said. The choice could not be more clear for the American people. Donald Trump has been completely consistent in his positions. Tapper doesn t buy it. He responds to Pence saying: Except on this issue. The one issue you didn t really address is whether or not the 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants will be removed by a deportation force as you heard Mr. Trump say in that clip from November of last year. Let be clear: Trump has been slowly pivoting on immigration since the general election began. First, he wanted to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Now, he wants to ban people who come from what he views as terrorist nations. He is doing the same thing with his proposal to create a mass deportation force. He has to. Setting aside the fact that it would create one of the largest human rights crises in the world, it would also cost the U.S. around $600 billion dollars. It would also have a side effect of completely destroying the U.S. economy.You can watch the interview below.Featured image from video screen capture","label":1}
{"text":"The corrupt covering for the corrupt. Chicago politics at its best Hillary Clinton could be prosecuted in federal court for failing to tell President Barack Obama about her private email server at the time she was running it, according to a veteran FBI agent. Obama said flatly during a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday that No, he did not know Clinton sidestepped security protocols with her a home-brew email setup while she was his secretary of state.The FBI agent who spoke with DailyMail.com has had a 20-year career in federal law enforcement and serves in a supervisory capacity in a domestic FBI field office.He said on Friday that failing to put Obama in the loop could be enough to send her to prison for ten years. Via:Daily MailEver since he opined that the police had acted stupidly prior to the infamous and embarrassing beer summit , Obama has shown himself eager to interfere with ongoing investigations for political reasons. When thuglet Trayvon Martin provided an good example of why jumping and beating down a stranger is a bad evolutionary strategy, Obama jumped on the race-baiting bandwagon saying if he had a son, that son would look like Martin. When the Justice Department was looking into the illegal use of the IRS to harass opponents of the administration, Obama said there is not even a smidgen of corruption. When deserter and failed turncoat Bowe Bergdahl was released by the Taliban, Obama had his hippie parents over for a Rose Garden ceremony even though he was known at the time to be a deserter. Now Obama has interjected himself into the investigation into the fate of top secret documents illegally stored on Hillary Clinton s private server. From his 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft on October 11:Steve Kroft: Do you think it posed a national security problem?President Barack Obama: I don t think it posed a national security problem. I think that it was a mistake that she has acknowledged and you know, as a general proposition, when we re in these offices, we have to be more sensitive and stay as far away from the line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our own personal data. And, you know, she made a mistake. She has acknowledged it. I do think that the way it s been ginned-up is in part because of in part because of politics. And I think she d be the first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better and the disclosures more quickly. But Steve Kroft: What was your reaction when you found out about it?President Barack Obama: This is one of those issues that I think is legitimate, but the fact that for the last three months this is all that s been spoken about is an indication that we re in presidential political season.Steve Kroft: Do you agree with what President Clinton has said and Secretary Clinton has said, that this is not not that big a deal. Do you agree with that?President Barack Obama: Well, I m not going to comment on Steve Kroft: You think it s not that big a deal President Barack Obama: What I think is that it is important for her to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the American public. And they can make their own judgment. I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America s national security was endangered.Steve Kroft: This administration has prosecuted people for having classified material on their private computers.President Barack Obama: Well, I there s no doubt that there had been breaches, and these are all a matter of degree. We don t get an impression that here there was purposely efforts on in to hide something or to squirrel away information. But again, I m gonna leave it to This can only be seen as an attempt by Obama to tell the federal prosecutors who will ultimately decide what, if any, charges should be made in this case that there is nothing to see here:Those statements angered F.B.I. agents who have been working for months to determine whether Ms. Clinton s email setup had in fact put any of the nation s secrets at risk, according to current and former law enforcement officials.Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server had been compromised or whether to recommend charges, according to the law enforcement officials. But to investigators, it sounded as if Mr. Obama had already decided the answers to their questions and cleared anyone involved of wrongdoing.The White House quickly backed off the president s remarks and said Mr. Obama was not trying to influence the investigation. But his comments spread quickly, raising the ire of officials who saw an instance of the president trying to influence the outcome of a continuing investigation and not for the first time.A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment. But Ron Hosko, a former senior F.B.I. official who retired in 2014 and is now the president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said it was inappropriate for the president to suggest what side of the investigation he is on when the F.B.I. is still investigating. Injecting politics into what is supposed to be a fact-finding inquiry leaves a foul taste in the F.B.I. s mouth and makes them fear that no matter what they find, the Justice Department will take the president s signal and not bring a case, said Mr. Hosko, who maintains close contact with current agents.Several current and former law enforcement officials, including those close to the investigation, expressed similar sentiments in separate interviews over several days. Most, however, did so only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.Contrary to what Hillary s campaign is saying, we now have it on pretty good authority that the FBI is conducting an investigation under the part of the Espionage Act that pertains to gross negligence in the handling of Defense information. That information, at a minimum, is the two Top Secret Keyhole satellite derived documents discovered by the Intelligence Community IG though it could be any of the over 400 emails containing classified information that have been uncovered so far.(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump s conflicts of interest are finally starting to create some major problems for the undeserving POTUS.When Trump was elected, most Americans were up in arms over the fact that Trump has so many messy, shady business ties and would clearly be trying to exploit his position in the White House for his own personal gain. Judging from what we ve seen from Trump and his corrupt family in these short six months of his presidency, we had every right to be worried Trump has been trying to profit off of his new role from the second he stepped into the White House.Fortunately, members of Congress are standing up to this unethical behavior. On Monday, a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives proposed legislation that would prevent the government from renting rooms at any of Trump s hotels for official business matters. In a statement that pretty much reflects exactly how most Americans feel about this, Representative Don Beyer of Virginia said: Donald Trump should not be allowed to line his or his family s pockets with taxpayer dollars. Exactly! Rep. Beyer also stated that these amendments to a spending bill were critical due to Trump s unprecedented failure to divest from his business, and the ongoing entanglement between the Trump Organization and the White House. This is following a similar motion that happened last month, when the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit that stated it was a constitutional violation to make government payments to Trump s businesses.The White House has yet to comment on this, but we can all be certain that Trump is going to have a colossal meltdown over it. Every time someone calls out his unethical actions even if they re 100 percent true Trump acts like a toddler and has a meltdown. Whether he likes it or not, Trump should NOT be profiting from his presidency when he is supposed to be serving the American people, and his personal interests must be blocked.","label":1}
{"text":"Ben Carson pitched a tax plan with numbers that didn't add up. Donald Trump boasted that he's paying his own way in the campaign, but he isn't. Chris Christie accused the government of stealing Social Security money that it has actually borrowed -- and has been paying back with interest. Even the price of hamburger got a bad rap in the latest Republican presidential debate, thanks to Ted Cruz. A look at some of the claims Wednesday night and how they compare with the facts: CRUZ: \"If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems.\" THE FACTS: Americans may be facing many economic challenges, but rising inflation isn't one of them. And \"loose money,\" a way of describing the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policies, isn't to blame for expensive hamburgers. Beef prices rose 21 percent in January of this year compared with a year earlier. That reflected a Midwest drought that had caused some cattle ranchers to cull their herds. Beef prices have since settled down and were up just 1 percent in September from a year earlier. Electricity costs have actually fallen 0.4 percent during that period. Those are national averages, so some local areas will have different figures. Overall, inflation has remained below even the Fed's 2 percent target for the past three years. In fact, the government's primary inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index, has actually been unchanged in the past 12 months. CARSON: His proposed flat-rate tax, which would have everyone pay an income tax rate of about 15 percent, \"works out very well\" in budget terms because it would spark enough economic growth to offset the lower rate. THE FACTS: Carson says his proposed tax would not increase the budget deficit because he would tax the entire economic output of the U.S. -- the gross domestic product -- plus corporate income and capital gains. Carson has not laid out a detailed plan, so it is difficult to measure how it would affect revenues or the economy. But based on what he said, he's double-counting because corporate revenues are part of the GDP. A tax rate of 15 percent would be a huge tax cut for the wealthy. The top income tax rate for individuals is now 39.6 percent. The corporate tax rate for corporations is 35 percent. To help offset the rate cuts, Carson said he would \"get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes.\" That's a bold proposal, considering how popular many tax breaks are, including deductions for interest on home mortgages and charitable contributions, as well as exemptions for health insurance and retirement savings. CHRISTIE: FBI Director James Comey said police officers are holding back \"because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States.\" THE FACTS: That's not what Comey said. In a speech last week about an alarming rise in crime, Comey said some officers feel under siege because of the spread of viral videos taken by young people with cell phones. Comey said he'd heard about one police official who told his force \"their political leadership has no tolerance for a viral video.\" But Comey never mentioned Obama or blamed politicians for failing to support police. And Comey made clear he didn't have data to back up his gut impression. Christie also said when Obama was asked to speak about the issue, he declined to support police. In fact, Obama gave a firm defense of police Tuesday, telling a police chiefs convention that \"this country is safer because of your efforts.\" TRUMP: \"I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money.\" THE FACTS: No, he's not. Of $3.9 million raised for his campaign in the latest fundraising quarter, only $100,000 came from his own pocket. That was one major revelation from the latest batch of presidential fundraising reports, filed Oct. 15 with the Federal Election Commission. That's a drastic shift from his springtime fundraising report, when he loaned his campaign nearly all of the $1.9 million it had. BUSH: \"Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up for work.\" RUBIO: \"Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes\" when running for president while he was in the Senate. THE FACTS: Bush correctly cited Rubio's spotty attendance record in the Senate since running for president, but ignored the fact that this is common when someone in public office runs a White House campaign --and previous candidates were absent far more often. Bush himself is free to run for president as he pleases, because he doesn't have a day job from which to be absent. For his part, Rubio didn't offer a fair comparison when comparing his Senate voting rate with Obama's. From Oct. 27, 2014, to Oct. 26, 2015, Rubio was absent for 26 percent of Senate votes, a worse attendance record than other senators running for president, according to an analysis by GovTrack.us, which tracks congressional voting records. But in a comparable period in the 2008 race -- from Oct. 23, 2006, to Oct. 22, 2007 -- Obama was absent for 29 percent of votes, a bit more than Rubio's absences, but not as much more as Rubio charged. Republican John McCain was absent for 51 percent of Senate votes in that period. Both Obama and McCain went on to miss an even bigger share of Senate votes as the election progressed -- an expected development bound to be seen again in 2016. CHRISTIE: The federal government has \"stolen\" the Social Security taxes paid by workers and spent it on other things. \"It isn't their money any more. ... It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it and spent it a long time ago.\" THE FACTS: The money is not stolen, it's borrowed. Over the past 30 years, Social Security has collected about $2.7 trillion more in payroll taxes than it has paid in benefits. By law, the Treasury Department has invested the surplus in U.S. Treasury bonds. Over that same time period, the federal government has run budget deficits in all but a few years. To finance the deficits, the government has borrowed money, from other government agencies as well as public debt markets. The money from Social Security has been spent, but Social Security holds Treasury bonds worth $2.7 trillion, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Saying the money has been stolen assumes that the federal government will not honor the bonds. Social Security has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes since 2010. The program has been able to pay full benefits because the federal government has honored the bonds. TRUMP: Asked about his criticism of Rubio for his support for increasing the number of high-skilled foreign workers given visas to work in the U.S. -- calling Rubio Facebook CEO \"Mark Zuckerburg's personal senator\" -- Trump denied ever making the comment. \"I never said that. I never said that,\" he said. THE FACTS: He did say it, on his own website. Trump's immigration policy calls for a different approach -- raising the prevailing wage for the jobs that attract high-skilled foreign workers, in hopes that they'll be filled by more Americans. Trump's policy statement said doing that \"will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.\" SEN. RAND PAUL: The new budget agreement \"will explode the deficit, it will allow President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money.\" THE FACTS: The agreement allows $80 billion more spending over the next two years, which is only a small addition to the $3.67 trillion the government spends every year. The government's annual budget deficit has declined to $439 billion, about 2.5 percent of GDP, below the average for the past 40 years. Overall, whatever its faults, most economists have responded to this week's budget deal between Congress and the White House with a sigh of relief. The agreement, approved by the House earlier Wednesday, sets funding levels and extends the government's borrowing limit for two more years, thereby taking the threat of a government shutdown and debt default off the table. A 2013 budget fight led to a 16-day partial government shutdown that was widely blamed by most economists for sharp drops in consumer and business confidence that dragged on the economy. GEORGE PATAKI: \"Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others.\" THE FACTS: The former New York governor, speaking in the undercard debate, exaggerated what's actually known about what happened to the emails of Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for her party's presidential nomination. While Clinton's email server was poorly configured and therefore more susceptible to hacking, there is no evidence of intrusion. The FBI is studying the server, which was subjected to a phishing attack by Russian-linked hackers while she was secretary of state. It's not known whether she clicked on any attachments, which would have exposed her account. Her account was also apparently the subject of cyberattacks originating in China, South Korea and Germany after she left office in early 2013. Determining whether a hack was sponsored by a nation, rather than just originating from that country, is notoriously difficult.","label":0}
{"text":"This is a stake to the heart of Senator Ted Cruz! Sarah Palin is shocking everyone with a big endorsement today LIVE STREAMING BELOW (6:00 p.m. Eastern):Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential nominee who became a Tea Party sensation and a favorite of grass-roots conservatives, will endorse Donald J. Trump in Iowa on Tuesday, officials with his campaign confirmed. The endorsement provides Mr. Trump with a potentially significant boost just 13 days before the state s caucuses. I m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for president, Ms. Palin said in a statement provided by his campaign.Her support is the highest-profile backing for a Republican contender so far. I am greatly honored to receive Sarah s endorsement, Mr. Trump said in a statement trumpeting Mrs. Palin s decision. She is a friend, and a high-quality person whom I have great respect for. I am proud to have her support. In Iowa, where Ms. Palin spent years developing support, the endorsement could be especially helpful. Over the years Palin has actually cultivated a number of relationships in Iowa, said Craig Robinson, the former executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa and publisher of the website The Iowa Republican. There are the Tea Party activists who still think she s great and a breath of fresh air, but she also did a good job of courting Republican donors in the state, he added.Other conservatives said that Ms. Palin serves as a particularly effective shield against Senator Ted Cruz, who is battling Mr. Trump for the lead in Iowa polls by courting the state s evangelical voters.LIVE STREAM: WINTERSET, Iowa Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is kicking off a swing through Iowa at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum, where he received an endorsement from the Western film actor s daughter, Aissa Wayne. The endorsement was announced Tuesday in front of a life-size, rifle-toting model of the actor in full cowboy gear.Aissa Wayne said the country needs a strong and courageous leader like her father. She said John Wayne would be offering his endorsement if he were still alive.Trump said he was a big fan of Wayne and that the actor represented strength and power which the American people are looking for.He said, We have exactly the opposite from John Wayne right now in this country. The museum includes an extensive collection of memorabilia from Wayne s movies.VIA: NYPTRUMP S FACEBOOK POST ON THE ENDORSEMENT:A true honor to receive the endorsement of John Wayne s daughter, Aissa Wayne. So proud that if John were here today, he would have endorsed Trump strength!","label":1}
{"text":"Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr  Voter fraud has been on the minds of Republicans for a while now. It has been proven that while yes, there are isolated incidences of in-person voter fraud, there has never been a case where it was so rampant that it changed the results of an election. But that's exactly what the GOP wants you to think is going on.  Donald Trump took Republican rhetoric about voter fraud and has ramped it up to an entirely new level, claiming that the upcoming election is going to be \"rigged.\" Apparently, Republicans are in on this alleged rigging along with Democrats, since a number of the states where the vote looks to be close are controlled by the GOP. And as everyone outside of Trump's basket of deplorables knows, election mechanics are handled by the states, not the federal government.  How are Trump's supporters reacting to all of his claims about voter fraud? Well, in at least one case the answer to that question is \"By committing voter fraud themselves.\"  Terri Lynn Rote, 55, an Iowa Trump supporter, has been charged with \"election misconduct,\" which is a Class D felony in the state. According to Iowa Public Radio, Rote allegedly voted for Trump twice when she cast her ballot during early voting. And her reason? She was afraid that her first vote would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton, so she voted again. The Des Moines Register reports that Rote voted once at the Polk County elections office , then again at a county satellite polling location.  Rote told Iowa Public Radio,  \"I wasn't planning on doing it twice, it was spur of the moment. The polls are rigged.\"  According to the Register, Rote's case was one of three voter fraud cases that occurred in Polk County alone. The other two incidents involved people who voted on mail-in ballots, then voted again in person. Polk County auditor Jamie Fitzgerald says this is the first time in his 12 years in office he has had to deal with even one case of voter fraud, let alone three. There are no details about who the other two suspects cast ballots for. The sad thing is, polls have been saying for weeks that Trump is going to win Iowa. Cases like this might put his win there in question, which would be a perfect example of poetic justice.  This is what the rhetoric about voter fraud has come t0 \u2014 people attempting to vote multiple times because they're convinced that their chosen candidate is going to be cheated out of a legitimate win. Republicans, unwilling to accept that their policies are being rejected by a larger and larger segment of the U.S. population, are trying to sell the message that elections are being stolen from the GOP by \"massive\" voter fraud. Yet, time after time, it seems to be Republicans who are committing the lion's share of it. They claim to love the country, but Trump and the GOP are deliberately undermining the foundation of a democracy \u2014 the integrity of the vote. Next, Trump will claim that people like Terri Rote are \"political prisoners.\" Just wait for it.","label":1}
{"text":"Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards plans to sign legislation making it a hate crime to kill a police officer or another first responder, bolstering penalties for an offense that already qualifies for the state's death penalty, his office said on Tuesday. The legislation adds language to an existing law enhancing penalties for crimes targeting people based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and other identity categories to include \"actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical services personnel.\" Edwards, a Democrat whose relatives have served as law enforcement officers, is expected to sign the bill sometime this week. The state legislature unanimously approved the measure last week. \"Police officers and firefighters often perform life-saving acts of heroism, oftentimes under very dangerous circumstances, and are integral in maintaining order and civility in our society,\" he said in a statement. \"The members of the law enforcement community deserve these protections.\" Supporters say police officers are facing increased threats simply because they wear a badge. Advocates for the law have dubbed the Louisiana measure \"Blue Lives Matter,\" a reference to the color of uniforms often worn by police. The name draws on a prominent national movement, known as Black Lives Matter, which has generated wide protest over the killings of unarmed black citizens by police officers. Yet opponents argued that the bill was unnecessary because state law already makes it a capital offense to kill police officers in the course of duty. Critics say it could weaken the hate crimes law by including a professional distinction that a matter of choice, in contrast to the color of someone's skin. \"Adding professional categories to the current Hate Crimes statue deters efforts from protecting against identity-based crimes,\" Allison Padilla-Goodman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, said in a statement earlier this month. Louisiana would be the first state to use a hate crimes statute to enhance penalties for crimes against police officers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but other states allow for similar outcomes using different approaches.","label":0}
{"text":"The aircraft carrying 66 people was about 175 miles from the Egyptian coast when it disappeared, travelling at an altitude of 11,000 metres (37,000ft). The plane had left Paris at 11.09pm on Wednesday (21.09 GMT\/07.09am Thursday AEST) and disappeared at 2.30am Paris time, about 45 minutes before it was scheduled to land, and only 40 seconds after it left Greek airspace and entered Egyptian space over the Mediterranean. The Greek defence minister, Panos Kammenos, said on Thursday that after entering Egyptian airspace the plane fell 6,706 metres (22,000ft) and swerved sharply before it disappeared from radar screens. On Friday he said debris from the plane, including a \"body part\", two seats and suitcases, had been found by Egyptian vessels in the Mediterranean sea. Egypt's military said it had found personal belongings and parts of the wreckage 180 miles north of the coastal city of Alexandria. The plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew: two cockpit crew, five cabin crew and three security personnel. The airline said two babies and one child were on board. The nationalities of the passengers were as follows: 30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens, two Iraqis and one person each from Britain, Belgium, Sudan, Chad, Canada, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Portugal and Algeria. An Airbus A320, which is considered a safe and reliable plane. Nonetheless, the model has been involved in safety incidents in the recent past, including the Germanwings tragedy in March 2015 that claimed 150 lives. It was also the aircraft Chesley Sullenberger landed on the Hudson river in 2009. EgyptAir said the captain had 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320; the co-pilot had 2,766 flying hours. The plane was manufactured in 2003. Airbus said it was aware of the report about the plane but otherwise made no comment. Egypt's aviation minister, Sherif Fathy, has said the Airbus A320's sudden disappearance was more likely caused by a terrorist attack than technical failure. But the French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said on Friday that there was \"absolutely no indication\" of why the flight came down. The aircraft passed through airports in Tunisia and Eritrea in the four journeys it made on Wednesday before the Paris-Cairo flight, but no warning flags were raised. EgyptAir's vice-chairman, Ahmed Abdel, said there were \"no reported snags\" from the crew in Cairo or Paris, nor was there any special cargo or notification of dangerous goods on board. The area of the Mediterranean where the plane went down is heavily trafficked and much monitored, within reach of British listening posts in Cyprus, close to Israel and near to the US Sixth Fleet. An Egyptian army spokesman says searches are continuing in the area where the debris was found. The location is the centre of a major international air and sea operation to find the aircraft's two black box flight recorders, which might hold the key to what happened. The water in that section of the Mediterranean can be 2,000 metres (6,500ft) deep. The equipment involved in the search for MH370 is able to search depths of at least 6,000 metres. If the EgyptAir A320 is the same as the Germanwings model that crashed last year, it will have two recording components: a cockpit voice recorder, which tapes what the pilots say, and a flight data recorder, which stores some of the 2,500 technical measurements in a modern aircraft. Both are stored at the back of the aircraft and wrapped in titanium or stainless steel, to best survive a crash. They are able to withstand one hour of 1,100C heat and weight of up to 227kg. The boxes can take years to be found \u2013 two years in the case of Air France flight 447, which disappeared in 2009 in the Atlantic. Greece's lead air accident investigator, Athanasios Binis, said: \"The most important thing is that the plane's two black boxes are found. If the cockpit flight recorder and flight data recorder are found, along with wreckage, then a real investigation can begin. \"There are three reasons for a plane [to go down]. Meteorological, technical and human. The first has now been ruled out because the weather was quite good. Whether a technical factor or human factor, either inside or outside the plane, is to blame remains to be seen. All possibilities are open.\" Fran\u00e7ois Hollande, the French president, said: \"We have a duty to know everything about the cause and what has happened. No theory is ruled out and none is certain right now. \"When we have the truth we will draw our conclusions; whether this was an accident or something else, perhaps terrorist. We will have the truth.\" Panos Kammenos, the Greek defence minister, said: \"The plane carried out a 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree turn to the right, falling from 37,000 to 15,000ft and the signal was lost at around 10,000ft.\" The Egyptian prime minister, Sherif Ismail, said it was too early to rule out any explanation for the incident, including terrorism: \"We cannot exclude anything at this time or confirm anything. All the search operations must be concluded so we can know the cause.\" Serafeim Petrou, the head of Greece's air traffic controllers board, said: \"The plane did not give any vocal or electronic signal before it disappeared,\" adding that \"nothing can be excluded\" on causes: \"An explosion could be a possibility but, then, so could damage to the fuselage. I think at this point we are talking about wreckage, wreckage at the bottom of the sea and tracing the cause is going to take time.\" Jean-Paul Troadec, the ex-president of the French air accident investigation bureau, said \"we have to remain very careful\" about possible causes. \"We can make certain hypotheses \u2026 there's a strong possibility of an explosion on board from a bomb or a suicide bomber. The idea of a technical accident, when weather conditions were good, seems also possible but not that likely. We could also consider a missile \u2026 If the crew didn't send an alert signal, it's because what happened was very sudden. A problem with an engine or a technical fault would not produce an immediate accident. In this case, the crew did not react, which makes us think of a bomb.\" The director of Greece's Civil Aviation Authority, Konstantinos Lintzerakos, said air traffic controllers were in contact with the pilot as the plane passed through Greek airspace, and that he did not report any problems. Controllers tried to make contact again with the pilot 10 miles before the flight exited the Greek flight information range, Lintzerakos added, but the pilot did not respond.","label":0}
{"text":"Ukraine has expelled a Russian journalist working for the television channel NTV as punishment for spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda and justifying the actions of separatists, the state security service (SBU) said on Thursday. Relations between Kiev and Moscow have been poisoned since Moscow annexed Crimean from Ukraine in 2014 and backed a separatist insurgency in Ukraine s eastern Donbass region that has killed more than 10,000 people despite a notional ceasefire. Ukraine says Russia is fighting a hybrid war with Kiev, spreading propaganda while supporting the separatists with troops and sophisticated weaponry and launching cyber attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, which Moscow denies. Vyacheslav Nemyshev was expelled in the early hours of Thursday for preparing a series of false anti-Ukrainian materials, the SBU state security service said. The propagandist is forbidden from entering Ukraine for three years. NTV said on its website the incident confirmed that it was practically impossible for Russian journalists to work in Ukraine today. I was at the police station for five hours, first the police took testimony from me, then the SBU officers, NTV quoting Nemyshev as saying. After that we drove around Kiev for a really long time, then we stopped at some street where I sat in a car in the dark. After that, they told me that everything had been decided, and we went to the border. Ukraine in August detained and then deported another Russian journalist for spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda, a move condemned both by Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which monitors the Donbass war. The security service had also barred two Spanish journalists for their negative coverage of the conflict.","label":0}
{"text":"(CNN) Heavily armed gunmen on Friday fired indiscriminately at guests at a hotel hosting diplomats and others in Mali's capital, the ma\u00eetre d' told CNN. At least 21 people were killed in the attack in which an al Qaeda-affiliated group is taking partial responsibility. \"These people started shooting. They were shooting at everybody without asking a single question. They were shooting at anything that moved,\" Tamba Couye said of the attack at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako. One man did yell \"Allahu akbar,\" said Couye, who was working in the restaurant where breakfast was underway. The attackers sounded like they were from northern Mali, he told \"Erin Burnett OutFront.\" Couye said an attacker chased him from the hotel but he came back later to help because his instincts told him he needed to do so to save lives. Dozens of people were trapped in the building for hours, officials in the West African nation said, before Malian and U.N. security forces launched a counterattack and rushed guests away. Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, put the death toll at 21. At least six people injured in the attack have been hospitalized, Health Minister Marie Madeleine Togo told state broadcaster ORTM. Al Mourabitoun, an Islamist militant group, claimed it was jointly responsible for the attack, according to Mauritanian news agency Al Akhbar. The group announced it carried out the attack with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the news agency reported. Al Mourabitoun said the attack was carried out in retaliation for government aggression in northern Mali, Al Akhbar reported. The group also demanded the release of prisoners in France. Algerian jihadist and the leader of the group, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, is \"probably\" behind the attack, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview on France's TF1, but the French are not \"entirely sure.\" Belmokhtar was the target of a June U.S. airstrike in Libya. Libyan officials said he had been killed but U.S. officials never confirmed his death publicly. The assault began about 7 a.m., when two or three attackers with AK-47 rifles exited at least one vehicle with diplomatic plates and entered the hotel with guns firing, Salgado said. The attack, Salgado said, came as the hotel hosted diplomatic delegations working on a peace process in the landlocked country, a former French colony that has been battling Islamist extremists with the help of U.N. and French forces. The Radisson chain said that as many as 170 people -- 140 guests and 30 employees -- had been there as the attack began. Malian soldiers and U.N. troops had the hotel surrounded, a journalist for ORTM told CNN from the scene. Two security personnel were injured, Security Minister Salif Traore said on ORTM. \"We're still hearing erratic gunfire,\" journalist Katarina Hoije told CNN from near the scene Friday afternoon. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The Radisson Blu Hotel is in an upscale neighborhood outside the center of Bamako, rising high above the dusty streets and surrounding houses. With 190 rooms and suites, it is known as a hub for international guests such as diplomats and businesspeople, and it is a 15-minute drive from Bamako-Senou International Airport. \"I think this attack has been perpetrated by negative forces, terrorists, who do not want to see peace in Mali,\" Hamdi said. U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that the United States is still accounting for Americans who may have been inside the hotel. Speaking in Malaysia, Obama said that thanks to the swift action of Malian and other security forces, lives were saved. He said the victims were \"innocent people who had everything to live for.\" The hotel attack, and the diplomats' meeting, came in a country that has struggled with Islamist extremists, especially since 2012. Taking advantage of a chaotic situation after a military coup in March 2012, Islamist extremists with links to al Qaeda carved out a large portion of northern Mali for themselves. When the militants tried to push into the south, France, at the Malian government's request, sent thousands of troops in 2013. The ground and air campaign sent Islamist fighters who had seized the northern region fleeing into the vast desert. The United Nations then established a peacekeeping mission in Mali that year, hoping to keep the government secure enough to continue a peace process. Though military pressure largely drove Islamist militants from cities, they have regrouped in the desert areas, said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. \"Unfortunately, this (hotel) is a likely target\" because it is popular with international guests such as U.N. workers, Pham said. U.S. special operations forces were helping \"move civilians to secured locations as Malian forces clear the hotel of hostile gunmen,\" said Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command. Michael Skapoullis, who lives near the Radisson Blu, told CNN he was using the hotel's gym Friday morning when he noticed fellow exercisers leaving. He hadn't heard anything because he was listening to music, but he decided to follow. He walked to a door leading to the hotel lobby, and that's when he saw something was wrong. \"When I opened the door, I saw, on the floor, bullets,\" Skapoullis said. \"So I gently closed the door, and ... I went back into the gym\" and eventually left the complex. Another man who'd been in the hotel told ORTM that he heard gunshots that he initially thought were fireworks. \"Then we heard the hotel alarm. ... I walked out into the hallway, and I saw a lot of smoke,\" said the man, whom ORTM didn't name. \"Then I went back into my room to stay there. \"Later, the Malian forces came to get us. ... Thank God we are now healthy and safe.\" As news of the attack spread, media outlets and officials from a number of nations reported that some of their citizens were in the hotel or had been freed. A summary: - One U.S. citizen was killed, a senior State Department official told CNN. \"We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. ... Out of respect for the family, we have no further information at this time.\" Of Anita Datar, her brother Sanjeev Datar, said. \"Everything she did in her life she did to help others -- as a mother, public health expert, daughter, sister and friend.\" - \"About a dozen\" Americans were rescued, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. - Geoffrey Dieudonne, an administrative counselor for Belgium's Parliament, died as a result of the attack, Parliament said. Details about his death weren't immediately clear; he was in Bamako as part of a three-day French-language convention. - Three Chinese nationals were killed, the political counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Bamako told media in his country. State-run CCTV reported that four other Chinese guests were rescued. - Seven Algerians, including six members of an Algerian diplomatic delegation, are safe after being trapped in the hotel, the state-run Algerie Presse Service reported. The Algerians were freed during a counterassault by U.N. and Malian forces. - Twenty Indian nationals, working for a Dubai-based company and staying at the hotel long-term, were safely evacuated, Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, said on Twitter. - Twelve Air France crew members who were staying at the hotel were safely extracted, the airline tweeted. Air France has canceled all its flights to and from Bamako as a precaution, the airline said. - Turkish Airlines said at seven of its employees were staying at the hotel, and all had been freed by the afternoon. - Two German nationals were able to leave the hotel, Germany's Foreign Office said. The soldiers stormed the hotel to end a daylong siege that started when gunmen raided the hotel after attacking a military site nearby, witnesses said. At the time, the Malian army said the attackers were affiliated with the Macina Liberation Movement. Human Rights Watch has described the group as Islamists who commit \"serious abuses in the course of military operations against Mali's security forces.\"","label":0}
{"text":"After a really bad week for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, where he was destroyed endlessly by speaker after speaker at the Democratic National Convention, including by the Muslim parents of a fallen soldier, it would seem desperate times called for desperate measures.You may have noticed that the New York Post released photos of Melania Trump where she is posing nude, and even with other girls. Shocking, right? No, not really, considering this was Melania s former career, and her husband has always embraced it to the point of gloating.Here are the covers:Today's cover: Melania Trump like you've never seen her before https:\/\/t.co\/wkoDGWTF9g pic.twitter.com\/V375rBTUEw New York Post (@nypost) July 31, 2016Today's cover: Melania Trump's girl-on-girl photo shoot revealed https:\/\/t.co\/QUEjkxZnXg pic.twitter.com\/38p82c0MiM New York Post (@nypost) August 1, 2016So, the question can be asked, why now? And as to not sound like a complete conspiracy theorist, let s look at all the evidence and connect the dots which doesn t take terribly long.Those dots can probably be reduced even more so, because it doesn t take a genius to figure it all out. So, don t fall for it. It s clear media manipulation at its finest and it s working gloriously. Let s not let it.Focus on the fact that Trump is a racist, misogynistic egomaniac who will attack women, Muslims, Latinos, and now Gold Star families all while never admitting he s wrong. Focus on the fact that he d rather have you looking at his beautiful wife in the nude, and then feign outrage to get you to come back on his side. Focus on the fact that he has absolutely none of the experience necessary to be President of the United States. DO NOT focus on distraction tactics.","label":1}
{"text":"An Austrian former finance minister went on trial on Tuesday accused of bribery and embezzlement in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country s recent history. Karl-Heinz Grasser and 15 former high-ranking politicians, managers and bankers are charged in connection with the privatization of state housing company Buwog in 2004. Grasser, 48, was one of Austria s most popular politicians and became the country s youngest finance minister in 2000 when he was appointed aged 31 to serve in a coalition between the conservatives and the far right Freedom Party. He is accused of embezzling part of a commission for the sale of 60,000 federal apartments. He denies the accusations and said in a television interview on Monday he was glad the trial was starting so he could prove his innocence. Defense lawyers say the case is politically motivated at a time when conservatives and the far-right are working to form a government to replace a coalition led by social democrats. Investigators spent eight years gathering evidence and working on an indictment that runs for more than 800 pages. It says he under-priced the biggest ever sale of state-owned flats. The tender came down to two bidders and the contract was awarded to a financial consortium that offered just 1 million euros ($1.2 million) more than its competitor. After the sale, millions of euros in commissions flowed to two Grasser associates suggesting insider dealing, according to prosecutors. Grasser, who is married to socialite Fiona Swarovski, the heir of the Swarovski crystal manufacturers, says he is a victim of prejudice from the media and the judiciary. The trial is the latest to stem from the tenure of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel who took power in 2000. Others have concerned the telecoms and real estate sectors. The court rejected a petition by Grasser s defense lawyer Manfred Ainedter to remove the chief of the four judges, Marion Hohenecker, due to conflict of interest because of tweets critical of Grasser sent by her husband who is also a judge.","label":0}
{"text":"Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to take help from the U.N. refugee agency to safely repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who had fled violence in Myanmar, Bangladesh said on Saturday. More than 600,000 Rohingya sought sanctuary in Bangladesh after the military in mostly Buddhist Myanmar launched a brutal counter-insurgency operation in their villages across the northern parts of Rakhine State following attacks by Rohingya militants on an army base and police posts on Aug. 25. Faced with a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, the two governments signed a pact on Thursday agreeing that the return of the Rohingya to Myanmar should start within two months. Uncertainty over whether the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would have a role had prompted rights groups to insist that outside monitors were needed to safeguard the Rohingya s return. Addressing a news conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali gave assurances that the UNHCR would play some part. Both countries agreed to take help from the UNHCR in the Rohingya repatriation process, Ali said. Myanmar will take its assistance as per their requirement. The diplomatic breakthrough came just ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Myanmar and Bangladesh from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2 that is aimed at promoting reconciliation, forgiveness and peace . While the violence in Rakhine has mostly ceased, Rohingya have continued to stream out of Myanmar, saying they have largely lost access to sources of livelihood such as their farms, fisheries and markets. Thousands of Rohingya, most of them old people, women and children, remain stranded on beaches near the border, waiting for a boat to take them to Bangladesh. Ali said a joint working group, to be formed within three weeks, will fix the final terms to start the repatriation process. After leaving the refugee camps in Bangladesh, Rohingya who opt to be voluntarily repatriated will be moved to camps in Myanmar, the minister said. Most houses were burnt down. Where they will live after going back? So, it is not possible to physically return to their homes, Ali said. Myanmar officials have said returnees will be moved to camps only temporarily while so-called model villages are constructed near their former homes. Win Myat Aye, the minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement who heads a Myanmar government panel on rehabilitation in Rakhine, said India and China had offered to provide modular houses for returnees. The U.N. and the United States have described the Myanmar military s actions as ethnic cleansing , and rights groups have accused the security forces of committing atrocities, including mass rape, arson and killings. The United States also warned it could impose sanctions on individuals responsible for alleged abuses. Led by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar is in the early stages of a transition to democracy after decades of military rule. But civilian government is less than two years old, and still shares power with the generals, who retain autonomy over matters of defense, security and borders. The commander of Myanmar s armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has denied that soldiers committed any atrocities. On Friday he met China s President Xi Jinping in Beijing having been told earlier in the week by a top Chinese general that China wanted stronger ties with Myanmar s military. Under the deal struck with Bangladesh, Myanmar agreed to take measures to see that the returnees will not be settled in temporary places for a long time. Myanmar plans to issue them an identity card on their return, although most Rohingya have so far rejected a scheme to give them national verification cards . While the agreement says Bangladesh would seek the U.N. refugee agency s assistance on the process, Myanmar - which has largely blocked aid agencies from working in northern Rakhine since August - only agreed that the services of the UNHCR could be drawn upon as needed and at the appropriate time . Win Myat Aye told Reuters on Saturday that Myanmar would discuss technical assistance with the UNHCR, but had not reached a formal agreement with the agency. There were already hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh before the latest exodus, and the Bangladesh minister said they could also be considered for the repatriation, under the terms of the agreement. The agreement, however, says they will be considered separately on the conclusion of the present agreement. Some independent estimates suggest there are still a few hundred thousand Rohingya remaining in Rakhine.","label":0}
{"text":"A regional ballot in Sicily this weekend will serve as a dress rehearsal for a forthcoming general election, with the political dynamics on the Mediterranean island matching those being played out on the national stage. Bolstered by the return of four-times prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to the campaign trail, a resurgent centre-right is looking to reclaim its supremacy over Sicily and show that after years of scandals it is once again a force to be reckoned with. It faces a fierce opponent in the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which has never won control of a Italian region and hopes victory on Sunday might propel it to success in next year s parliamentary election. Meanwhile, the centre-left, which now heads both the Sicilian and national governments, has succumbed to feuding with leftist rivals - a fratricidal struggle that looks likely to wreck its chances of regaining power. Sicily is one of the poorest regions in Europe, ranking 237 out of 263 in European Union competitiveness rankings, and has become a byword for bloated public payrolls, wasteful administration and the ever-present scourge of corruption and organized crime. It is also seen as a bellwether of national politics. The centre-right won all 61 seats on offer here in a 2001 national election when Berlusconi was at the zenith of his power. By 2012, with the mood in the country changing, Sicily shifted towards the centre-left, foreshadowing the bloc s subsequent victory five months later at a national level. The 5-Star hopes the political winds are now blowing in its favor and that voters are ready to embrace its manifesto, which focuses on fighting graft, promoting green energy and offering universal income support for the poor. The vote on November 5 is like a referendum ... You are choosing between the future and the past, between legality and corruption, said Luigi Di Maio, the 5-Star s new national leader, who has campaigned relentlessly in Sicily for weeks. Final opinion polls published before a blackout was imposed on Oct. 23 put the centre-right candidate Nello Musumeci on some 33 percent against 31.5 percent for the 5-Star s Giancarlo Cancelleri. The centre-left s Fabrizio Micari was seen taking some 16 percent, just ahead of the leftist Claudio Fava. Since the release of the last surveys, Musumeci has come under pressure over candidates on his list, some of whom have criminal records or are awaiting trial for graft. The 5-Star says the scandal has given it a major lift ahead of Sunday. While 5-Star and centre-right leaders have criss-crossed Sicily this autumn, the head of the ruling centre-left Democratic Party, former prime minister Matteo Renzi, has kept a low profile, insisting the vote is just about regional issues. Sicily certainly has its share of problems. The island s economic output fell more than 13 percentage points between 2008 and 2015 and it will take many years before it recovers the lost ground. Unemployment stands at over 22 percent, twice the national average, and youth unemployment is at 57.2 percent, compared with some 36 percent nationally. But should the Democratic Party candidate suffer a drubbing, it will undermine Renzi s standing within the party and underscore the cost it is paying for civil war on the left before the national vote, which is due by May 2018. Although the centre-right is running united, it too has internal divisions. Berlusconi has resisted campaigning alongside Matteo Salvini, the leader of his main ally, the Northern League, whom he has dismissed as a populist. But unlike Renzi, 81-year-old Berlusconi has papered over the differences and kept his focus on his main rival. The Sicilian elections resemble the national vote in one way. In Palermo, as in Rome, the fight is between us and the (5-Star), between our experience and competence ... and their utter poverty and incompetence, he said in Palermo on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"The story below from the liberal New York Times is hysterical! Rex Tillerson is sweeping the State Department clean! The angle of the NYT article is one of horror and shock that Tillerson could let these lifers in the bloated bureaucracy of the State Department go in such large numbers. How dare he! LOL!5 MINUTES AND YOU RE OUTTA HERE:Of all the State Department employees who might have been vulnerable in the staff reductions that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has initiated as he reshapes the department, the one person who seemed least likely to be a target was the chief of security, Bill A. Miller.Mr. Miller got just five minutes with the secretary of state, the former officials said. Afterward, Mr. Miller, a career Foreign Service officer, was pushed out, joining a parade of dismissals and early retirements that has decimated the State Department s senior ranks. Mr. Miller declined to comment.DEMOCRATS GO NUTS OVER HOLLOWING-OUT OF DEPARTMENT:Democratic members of the House Foreign Relations Committee wrote a letter to Tillerson citing what they said was the exodus of more than 100 senior Foreign Service officers from the State Department since January . They expressed concern about what appears to be the intentional hollowing-out of our senior diplomatic ranks. Career diplomats are outta here! Tillerson has also slashed the State Department budget by 31 percent! This is great!Tillerson has also frozen hiring and offered payouts to many career employees He s hoping to reduce the State Department workforce by 2,000! Yes, 2,000!MAGA!","label":1}
{"text":"Email  The United States' abstention on a resolution to end its economic embargo on Cuba-a first time it happens after opposing it for 24 years- is an implicit acknowledgement of the wrongness of such a measure. It has brought considerable and unnecessary suffering to the Cuban people and hasn't brought any positive results to the U.S.  Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in September that damage from the embargo between April 2015 and March 2016 amounted to $4.6 billion and to $125.9 billion since the beginning of the embargo more than 50 years ago. By maintaining the embargo, the U.S. has been a target of derision throughout the world, as shown by the repeated and overwhelming U.N. Assembly decisions against the embargo in the last 24 years.  In repeated visits to Cuba I was able to observe the impact of the embargo on the Cuban people. During my first visit to Cuba in 1981 to attend a public health-related meeting, I witnessed an unusual incident. As friends and I walked into the Bodeguita del Medio \u2014 a traditional restaurant famous for its many illustrious visitors over the years (Hemingway was a frequent patron) \u2014 a young Cuban male was discreetly asked to leave.  Realizing we weren't locals, the young man began ranting against government restrictions on Cubans. \"I have money,\" he told us. \"But they prefer foreigners to eat and spend their money here. I am fed up with this regime.\" As we were observing the scene, he asked us, \"Do you see something in that corner?\"  \"Yes,\" I said, \"there is a man standing there.\" \"You are wrong,\" he replied. \"He is not a man. That's a gigantic ear listening to everything I say to you. But I don't care. I am so sick and tired of this situation.\" In those few minutes, I got a first-hand sense of the problems besieging Cuban society: the need for foreign money, the oppressive nature of the regime and the dissatisfaction of the country's youth. These impressions were later confirmed during a later visit to the island when I headed a UN mission to assess the progress of Cuban scientists in developing interferon, an antiviral substance.  Highlighting the Cuban government's shortcomings doesn't diminish its achievements. During my last visit I met Fidel Castro. Although we didn't raise any political issues in our conversation, I was able to assess his enormous interest in \u2014 and knowledge of \u2014 health issues. This interest and knowledge underlies the Castro's government accomplishments in health and education.  Cuba, for all its other faults and drawbacks, is in the forefront in both fields when compared to other Latin American countries. And in some areas, it is on par with the United States. This progress, however, has been hindered by the unnecessary and ineffective embargo against the country, a situation that has cost the United States materially. In addition, the embargo has hurt U.S. prestige among Latin American governments, which consider it a violation of a fellow Latin nation's rights and sovereignty.  There is no doubt that political pressure from the powerful Cuban exile community in Florida has been an important factor in maintaining the U.S. embargo. However, the descendants of that immigrant generation have now a more nuanced view of the Cuban regime. In particular, they have seen the damage caused by decades of antagonism between both countries \u2014 and are eager for friendlier relations between them.  While Cubans have always been clear about their admiration for the American people \u2014 which I have observed first hand during my visits to the island \u2014 the embargo has fostered more hate and mistrust of the U.S. government than of the Cuban government among Cubans.  If votes in the UN General Assembly are a test, no country in the world now supports the embargo. President Barack Obama has wisely eased restrictions on travel to the island by Cubans and their descendants. This policy should be followed by an intense exchange of scientists, doctors, artists and ordinary citizens. The effect would be dramatic in neutralizing the atmosphere of antagonism and should be followed by the rapid lifting of the embargo and the complete normalization of relations between both countries.","label":1}
{"text":"President Michel Temer said on Friday that a bill overhauling Brazil s costly pension system might not clear Congress this year as planned, the first time that he has indicated that such a delay might happen. In an interview with Poder360 news website, Temer said the government had to again consult lawmakers in the government coalition, many of whom have already said they are doubtful the legislation will pass this year. The pension reform is crucial to Temer s attempts to plug Brazil s budget deficit and reduce the bloated pension system. But its provisions to increase the retirement age have made it unpopular with Brazilians. Temer put the delay down to charges in a corruption case that put his legislative agenda on hold for six months. The government is considering a watered-down version of the bill, Temer said, confirming previous statements from officials that it would be ready to settle for a bill that included at least the introduction of a minimum retirement age of 65 years for men, up from the current average age of 55. A diluted pension bill would also need to include a gradual transition to the new rules and parity between the public and private pension systems, he said. His chief of staff Eliseu Padilha, who also took part in the interview, said the government hoped a less extensive reform would still achieve 75 percent of the planned fiscal savings, assuming it included cuts to benefits for public sector employees. Temer also said the government may issue a temporary decree to extend for a few weeks the Refis program that allows companies and individuals to renegotiate delinquent tax payments.","label":0}
{"text":"May 7th is likely going to be a day of clashes against protesters who are coming from all over the United States to demonstrate against the removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans. Homeland Security and New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison have promised that they will be arresting anyone who commits or threatens to commit an act of violence. The three locations they ll be watching are: Lee Circle, Congo Square and the Jefferson Davis monument, as credible threats have been reportedTension in New Orleans has mounted since the Battle of Liberty Place obelisk was removed early on the morning of April 24, part of an initiative by Mayor Mitch Landrieu, backed by the City Council, to rid New Orleans of what some consider to be tributes to racism. Supporters consider the monuments part of history, and their removal an attempt to erase history.Protestors on both sides clashed at the Jefferson Davis statute this week, prompting police to barricade the monument. Barricades also appeared Friday afternoon at Lee Circle.Landrieu has said statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis will come down sometime after the 2017 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival wraps ends Sunday.RADICAL activists like Take Em Down Nola, a group that has long advocated for the monuments removal, plans to rally at Congo Square on Sunday at 1:30 p.m then march to Lee Circle. At least one pro-monument contingent has called for a rally at 11 a.m. at Lee Circle.From the Take Em Down Nola website:TAKE EM DOWN NOLA CALLS FOR PEOPLES CELEBRATION & SECOND LINE TO BURY WHITE SUPREMACYWhile white supremacists gather from many states around confederate monuments in OUR CITY, the mayor nor council has still not publicly called for its own ceremony to honor the historic occasion of 4 monuments to slavery coming down. Even the conservative governor of S.C. had a public ceremony to remove the confederate flag. Cowering in darkness offers no safety or protection, it is shameful and being questioned by world wide media.We the people of New Orleans demand that the Mayor and City Council take immediate action to remove all monuments, school names and street signs dedicated to White Supremacists. These structures litter our city with visual reminders of the horrid legacy of slavery that terrorized so many of this city s ancestors. They misrepresent our community. We demand the freedom to live in a city where we are not forced to pay taxes for the maintenance of public symbols that demean us and psychologically terrorize us. We demand:1.That the city release a timeline for the immediate removal of the monuments; 2.That the city expand the definition from 4 specific monuments to encompass all monuments to White Supremacy 3.That the city develop a community driven process for the removal of the monuments and the choosing of their replacements.Not everyone agrees with Take Em Down Nola that Confederate statues are a sign of racism. One of the most vocal defenders of the Confederate flag and of the Confederate statues in New Orleans is black female conservative activist Arlene Barnum. Barnum is pictured below with her friend, author and popular pro-Confederate flag speaker Anthony Hervey. Barnum was with when she says he was killed by 4-5 black youths after attending a pro-confederate flag rally in Mississippi. According to Barnum, she and Hervey were guest speakers at the rally in Mississippi. As they were leaving the rally, the SUV driven by Hervey was chased down by a silver car with 4-5 young black men inside. During the chase, he lost control of his car, it flipped and he was killed. Apparently his life didn t matter to the black community, as they never uttered a word about his suspicious death:PUBLIC NOTICE.. LISTEN UP very carefully. If anyone of you who claim to be pro-Confederate, but who are anti-Confederate Battle flag, then REMOVE yourself from my friends list. And be quick about it.If you are against the displaying of the Confederate Battle Flag in public, then REMOVE yourself from my friends list. Do it now!If you are advocating that people NOT bring Confederate Battle Flag into New Orleans at the endangered Confederate monuments, then REMOVE yourself from my friends list. And be quick as lickity split!As far as I know, I don t have any BLM folks on my friends list. And when I catch em thru the cracks, I remove & block them with the most extreme prejudice. However, in the case of these self-professed pro Confederate folks who have issues with that battle flag emblem, I will give them the respect, dignity & the curtesy to REMOVE themselves. I m giving them 72 hrs.In photo, the man to the left, Anthony Hervey is a Mississippian who was not afraid to publicly display the Confederate battle flag. As a colored man, he has been vilified, attacked, physically assaulted, called all sorts of racial insults that not even the average white Confederate flaggers had endured. But yet he kept on flagging proudly until the day he was killed. So don t give me that sh*t excuse to justify hiding the Confederate Battle flag to avoid being called a racist. I guarantee you that EVERY colored Confederate flagger I know have been called much worse & treated with violence & are the 1st to be targeted at public venues.You better not be black and support free speech or a Confederate monument in America or expect to be threatened by the left. This is no joke. Facebook user Gene Black threatened a black Confederate statue supporter s family while he s in New Orleans on his wall 4 days ago:Much like ISIS, pro-Confederate monument removal groups like Take Em Down Nola and communist groups like Antifa plan to come together to threaten free speech and freedom of expression.Black Rebel posted this image with the following message: words cannot described the friendships built after fighting side by side. on his Facebook page: Black Rebel also posted this video of an anti-free speech leftist launching a glass bottle, just missing the head of a fellow pro-confederate monument protester. Watch how the police take their time walking over to the area from where the bottle was thrown. You can hear the free speech protesters yelling, Do something! to the police officers as they appear to be in no hurry to do anything about it. Let s hope this is not an example of how police plan to respond to any potential acts of violence today, or things are likely to get very ugly very quickly: New Orleans Police Department held a press conference on Saturday where they made the public aware they are planning to keep the citizens of New Orleans safe and will keep the protesters safe from violence and from the threat of violence. Police Chief Harrison also makes it clear that they will take swift action for anyone who violates the law. Chief Harrison also makes clear that while they respect the rights of citizens to open carry weapons in New Orleans, that those weapons are not allowed at a public protest:Watch the response from American Warrior Revolution member to New Orleans Police Chief Harrison s press conference:","label":1}
{"text":"Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed a bill that paves the way for the state to create what is believed to be the first system in the United States to certify marijuana as organic. The sponsor of the bill, Republican Senator Ann Rivers, said marijuana certified as organically grown is likely to be on sale in Washington in about a year and a half. Washington is among a handful of U.S. states where voters approved the sale of recreational marijuana. Washington was the second state to begin legal recreational pot sales, in mid-2014, after its voters in 2012 approved it. \"This is consumer-driven,\" Rivers told Reuters by phone on Tuesday night. \"As we have moved forward in the legal marijuana market, we're hearing people say, 'We don't want any pesticides, fungicides, none of that stuff in our weed.'\" The new law \"creates a voluntary program for the certification and regulation of organic marijuana products,\" to be administered by the Washington agriculture department, according to a state analysis of the new law. Rivers said the \"heavy lifting\" in certifying marijuana has been done by the system of doing the same for a multitude of food products on supermarkets shelves across America. That process just needs to be adapted for pot, she said. Rivers said that legal recreational marijuana is \"the gift that keeps on giving....this year, we'll make $768 million\" in revenue for the state of Washington. This pays for drug education and drug addiction treatment as well as public education, she said. Organic pot was just one of a myriad of marijuana-related measures in the bill. Many state legislators wanted to vote for only one marijuana-related bill rather than have to go on the record favoring marijuana several times, Rivers said. The November 2012 measure to allow recreational marijuana in Washington passed 56 percent to 44 percent. While it is legal for adults to smoke marijuana in Washington, it is not legal to grow industrial hemp. The new law allows for the study of a method to allow hemp to be grown and used for industrial purposes. Last week, Vermont's legislature approved a bill to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Unless the measure is vetoed, Vermont would be the first state to legalize pot without a public vote. Voters have approved legal recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.","label":0}
{"text":"Brexiters set up demented 'people's courts' 07-11-16 BREXIT supporters have set up a network of 'people's courts' where justice is based on popular opinion. Anti-EU Britons' dissatisfaction with the legal system has led to the creation of makeshift courts dealing with everything from witchcraft to disputes over borrowed garden tools. Accountant and people's judge Roy Hobbs said: \"The court convenes in my living room, with the legal cases argued by our 'barristers' Sandra the local florist and Degsy, an unemployed decorator who's seen A Few Good Men five times. \"Our biggest case so far has been the legality of Brexit. The court came to the unanimous decision that it is totally brilliant and anyone who disagrees deserves a toe up their arse. \"You can accuse anyone of anything. Last week we dealt with 48 cases of people being shortchanged at the local Sainsbury's, a French spy and an old lady who put a curse on a horse than made it go lame. \"Punishments range from the stocks for not wearing a poppy to hanging for more serious crimes, such as men having long hair. \"Tomorrow I've got the case of a man who's guilty of liking Nicola Sturgeon. He won't be spouting his lies when he's being hit in the forehead by turnips.\"  Share:","label":1}
{"text":"The lawyer of an American-Iranian father and son jailed in Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump to get his officials to press for the men's release at nuclear talks with Tehran on Tuesday. An Iranian court sentenced 46-year-old Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi to 10 years in prison each in October on charges of spying and cooperating with the United States. The Namazis' lawyer, Jared Genser, said he had traveled to the nuclear talks venue in Vienna with Siamak's brother, Babak, to encourage Washington's delegation to press the case, adding that he was worried about the detained men's health. The lawyer said a senior administration official in the U.S. delegation had told him on Monday that the case would be raised directly during the talks on the implementation of a deal reached in 2015 to shrink Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. A State Department spokeswoman did not comment directly on the case, but said: \"We continue to use all the means at our disposal to advocate for U.S. citizens who need our assistance overseas.\" Iran has not commented on the Namazis' prison conditions but has repeatedly said that political prisoners are kept under standard condition in Evin prison with full access to medical care. \"In our view, something happening to the Namazis would be devastating not just to one side but to both sides,\" Genser told reporters in a hotel near the venue. \"For either or both of the Namazis to die on (Trump's) watch would be a public and catastrophic failure of his negotiating skills,\" Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak Namazi, a businessman, in October 2015 while he was visiting family in Tehran, relatives said. The IRGC arrested his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor and former UNICEF official in February lat year, family members said. Soon after the sentencing and days before he won the presidential election, Trump said on Twitter: \"Iran has done it again ... This doesn't happen if I'm president!\"","label":0}
{"text":"New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks is absolutely amazing. After years of sitting by while Republicans waged a scorched earth campaign against Democrats, the Constitution and basic human decency, he suddenly laments the toxic level of discourse in America. Why? Because Democrats are ascendant and Republicans are teetering on total collapse. Now, he says, we should work together and it would be bad for America if we don t!Brooks sets the stage by describing how we got here. He calls it anti-politics and he s VERY upset about it: Over the past generation we have seen the rise of a group of people who are against politics. These groups best exemplified by the Tea Party but not exclusive to the right want to elect people who have no political experience. They want outsiders. They delegitimize compromise and deal-making. They re willing to trample the customs and rules that give legitimacy to legislative decision-making if it helps them gain power. I m guessing he s referring to Bernie Sanders supporters as being the left-wing version because I can t think of any other group on the left that even remotely fits the description. But Bernie has been in Washington for 30 something years. He s hardly an inexperienced outsider. His followers may like his rebel cred but they don t want him to get into office for the sole purpose of bringing the government to a grinding halt. This is Brooks creating a false equivalency in order to absolve himself of his responsibility in creating antipolitics.He goes on to describe the antipolitics people as being extremists that cannot compromise and increasingly damage the process of governing. Essentially what the GOP has been doing for years while Brooks gave them ideological cover to wreck the country. Brooks is especially put off by Trump despite having enabled his rise in the first place.So far, the column is the usual right wing shifting of blame. They are patently incapable of accepting responsibility for their actions. But then we get to this, the plaintive wail for sanity: The answer to Trump is politics. It s acknowledging other people exist. It s taking pleasure in that difference and hammering out workable arrangements. As Harold Laski put it, We shall make the basis of our state consent to disagreement. Therein shall we ensure its deepest harmony.' It sure does sound reasonable but the timing of this sudden epiphany is not coincidental. You see, Republicans have spent the last 30+ years polarizing the country to the point where the two sides cannot work together. While Republicans controlled the White House, both chambers of Congress AND the Supreme Court, this was exactly what they wanted. They spent 6 years of ignoring the Democrats and doing whatever they wanted. Then they spent all of Obama s presidency breaking the system so they could stop his agenda. They became the party of antipolitics.But in November, Republicans are going to be crushed at the ballot box. Trump is going to going to lose so badly, he s going to cost Republicans the Senate by a comfortable margin, not a small number of House seats, a few governorships and control of several state legislatures. Oh, and the Supreme Court is going to tilt left for the next 30 years, which will put the final nail in the coffin of the Republican voter suppression schemes that are the only thing keeping Republicans in power in many parts of the country.So after decades of I hate you! I hope you die! Burn in hell! Compromise is surrender! Burn it all down unless we get 100% of what we want! , we should stop playing by their rules of winner takes all? Now that they re on the edge of losing everything, Republicans want to play nice again? Noooooope, fuck that. Republicans don t get to kick sand in our faces and then demand we share our ice cream because they dropped theirs.So sorry, Mr. Brooks. You had your chance and you blew it. You sat by and let your party turn American politics into a polarized blood sport. It s not our fault you lost and we re in no mood to give you the time of day much less any concessions. We re going to put you in a little box and undo all of the damage your policies have wrought since the 80s. Unions are going to grow in strength again. The minimum wage will become a living wage. Workers will have their rights restored. Women will have their rights restored. So will minorities and the victims of the Drug War (most of whom are minorities anyway). Wall Street will still make billions but they won t be able to crash the economy again. All of your voter suppression laws will be repealed and extreme gerrymandering will end. All of this will happen without no input from you because you have painted yourselves into a corner where working with a Democrat is grounds for being primaried from the far right. It won t happen in 4 years. Or even 8. Decades of damage will take decades to clean up. But it s going to happen and there s nothing you can do to stop it.Karl Rove once boasted of a permanent Republican majority in which Democrats would be utterly powerless. While I m not so bold as to claim a permanent Democratic majority, Republicans will grow weaker and weaker until they can stop appealing only to white racists. In the meantime, we re gonna take it all while you, Mr. Brooks, sit and scream in impotent rage at how mean and unfair the left has become. Ha. Ha. Ha. Fuck you.","label":1}
{"text":"World powers attempted to shore up Lebanon s stability on Friday by pushing Saudi Arabia and Iran to stop interfering in its politics and urging Hezbollah to rein in its regional activities. Lebanon plunged into crisis on Nov. 4 when Saad al-Hariri resigned as prime minister while he was in Saudi Arabia, saying he feared assassination and criticizing the Saudis regional arch-rival Iran along with its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. After international pressure and negotiations between Lebanese political factions, he rescinded his resignation on Tuesday and his coalition government, which includes Hezbollah, reaffirmed a state policy of staying out of conflicts in Arab states. The International Lebanon Support Group (GIS), a body that includes the five members of the U.N. Security Council Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States met in Paris on Friday to try to reinforce Hariri s hand to prevent a new escalation. Disassociation applies to everyone - inside and outside, Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a news conference with Hariri after the meeting. These principles were reaffirmed this morning, he said, later referring specifically to both Iran and Saudi Arabia. Without naming Hezbollah, he urged all sides not to import regional tensions into Lebanon. Hariri said that any breach of the policy of non-interference would drag Lebanon back into the danger zone . The disassociation policy is in the overarching interest of Lebanon, he said. The meeting had earlier been opened by President Emmanuel Macron. He has invested political capital in the crisis and leveraged France s close relations with both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to secure a deal that saw Hariri travel to Paris and open the door to a resolution of the crisis last month. (The Group) calls upon all Lebanese parties to implement this tangible policy of disassociation from and non-interference in external conflicts, as an important priority, the final communique read. Saudi concern over the influence wielded by Shi ite Muslim Iran and Hezbollah in other Arab states had been widely seen as the root cause of the crisis, which raised fears for Lebanon s economic and political stability. The Lebanese policy of dissociation was declared in 2012 to keep the deeply divided state out of regional conflicts such as the civil war in neighboring Syria. Despite the policy, Hezbollah is heavily involved there, sending thousands of fighters to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He said that while the diplomatic language for the final declaration would not single out any party, the message was that Saudi Arabia and Iran should not influence Lebanese politics and that Hezbollah should rein in its regional activities. Friday s meeting isn t anti-Saudi or anti-Iranian, it s pro-Lebanon, a senior French diplomat said before the meeting. Highlighting the difficulties of upholding such a policy, Hezbollah backed calls on Thursday for a new Palestinian uprising in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of disputed Jerusalem as Israel s capital. The stability of Lebanon may seem like a small miracle given the many conflicts that destabilize the region, but it is maintained at the cost of sacrifice, dialogue and compromise, Hariri said earlier alongside Macron. Those attending Friday s meeting also committed to strengthening the Lebanese army through a conference in Rome and to support a meeting in Brussels also in 2018 to discuss how to help Lebanon cope with the 1.4 million refugees it hosts. A separate donor conference will also take place in March in Paris to boost the country s economy with a view to stimulating investments once expected legislative elections take place in May.","label":0}
{"text":"Turkey s President Tayyip Erdogan will travel next week to Qatar, which Ankara has supported in its dispute with powerful Gulf Arab neighbors, presidential sources said on Wednesday. They said Erdogan would visit Doha on Wednesday, following trips to Russia and Kuwait. Turkey has backed Qatar since Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut economic and diplomatic ties in July, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, a charge it denies. Turkey has increased trade with Qatar since the start of the embargo and the two countries have held joint military exercises in the Gulf state, where Ankara has a military base. It has said it will deploy 3,000 troops at the base.","label":0}
{"text":"Anthony Scaramucci's swift exit as U.S. President Donald Trump's communications director on Monday has no bearing on the pending sale of the firm he founded, SkyBridge Capital, parties involved in the deal said. \"The transaction remains on track and is expected to close by the end of the summer,\" said Robert Rendine, a spokesman for HNA Capital U.S., a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group. HNA, along with holding company Ron Transatlantic EG, in January announced an agreement to purchase a majority stake in SkyBridge, the New York-based hedge fund investment firm. The sale came as Scaramucci planned to join the Trump administration, although it took months for a role to materialize and was not the one he initially anticipated. A representative for Ron was not immediately available, but a person familiar with the company, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said the transaction was on track. Woomi Yun, a spokeswoman for SkyBridge, also said the deal was proceeding as planned and was expected to close by the end of the summer. She declined to comment on Scaramucci's exit from the White House and whether he would return to the firm. Scaramucci did not respond to an email and phone call seeking comment. Trump fired Scaramucci on Monday just over a week after naming him to the job. The move followed an obscene tirade by the Wall Street financier and the appointment of retired Marine Corps General John Kelly as White House chief of staff, sources familiar with the decision said, in the latest staff upheaval to hit the Republican president's six-month-old administration. The sale of SkyBridge is under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS. A spokesman for the Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, did not respond to an email request for comment. HNA has been on a multibillion-dollar international acquisition spree, scooping up stakes in companies including Deutsche Bank , Old Mutual Asset Management and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc . HNA's chief executive officer, Adam Tan, recently pushed back against media reports that the aviation-to-financial services conglomerate faces mounting pressure from its bankers and regulators, even as the pace of its acquisitions slows.","label":0}
{"text":"Hacking attacks on the web platform used by Italy s 5-Star Movement to select representatives and shape policy threaten to dent confidence in its methods before a parliamentary election it is well placed to win. Internet-based direct democracy, in which members vote online, is a hallmark of the anti-establishment group that first entered parliament in 2013 and leads many opinion polls before the election, due to be held by May. Gianroberto Casaleggio, the late internet guru who co-founded 5-Star in 2009, believed the web would eventually supplant representative democracy, the system under which all eligible citizens vote on representatives to pass laws for them. But in August anonymous hackers broke into 5-Star s web platform, called Rousseau after the 18th century Swiss-born philosopher, and obtained secret data on its members and donors. It is unclear whether there will be any impact on 5-Star s election performance. But if it cannot secure its web platforms, it will be hard to continue using the online methods that set it apart from other political groups. Public worries over theft of personal data could also make it difficult for 5-Star to attract new members. It already has only a modest membership although it has won millions of votes at the polls with promises to clean up politics and offer universal income support for the poor. The hacking problem is very serious for 5-Star because it undermines the credibility of their direct democracy message, sociology professor Luca Ricolfi told Reuters. It will probably be overshadowed by bigger issues ahead of the election, but it hurts their image and is something they will absolutely have to resolve. Casaleggio Associati, a web consultancy company that runs 5-Star s platforms and is headed by Gianroberto s son Davide, said security would be improved before the online election of the movement s new leader last month. Despite this, the election was dogged by hacking attacks which hampered voting and contributed to only 37,000 of 5-Star s 140,000 members casting an online ballot. The voting deadline had to be extended twice as members were unable to log on or connect to necessary web pages. One hacker published screenshots showing the system had been infiltrated again and that it had been possible to vote several times using the accounts of certified 5-Star members. Rousseau s content systems are outdated and its level of security is totally inadequate, said David Puente, a computer expert and web developer who worked for Casaleggio Associati for four-and-a-half years until 2011. Umberto Rapetto, a cyber security expert who used to head the computer crime division of Italy s finance police, called Rousseau a rudimentary platform with a host of weak points . Davide Casaleggio declined to answer questions for this article. Puente, a 5-Star member, said it would now be hard to update Rousseau without sacrificing many functions that have been added recently, meaning the only solution was to dismantle everything and start all over again. That would not be easy even if Casaleggio agreed. Hackers around the world have regularly penetrated the computer systems of public agencies and multinational companies with millions of euros to spend on cyber security. Casaleggio Associati has fewer than 20 employees, posted revenues of less than a million euros in 2016 and has run a loss for the last three years. 5-Star s new leader, 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, says Rousseau s problems are understandable as it is a startup launched only last year. He says web-based democracy can work not only in 5-Star but in all branches of Italian politics. Yet many computer experts are skeptical about both Rousseau and internet democracy in general. One common criticism is a lack of transparency, as in only two of 5-Star s dozens of online votes has Casaleggio named an independent company to verify the regularity of the process. Critics also say there can be no guarantee that voters are anonymous to platform managers, or that the voter casts only one ballot or is not watched or coerced while he votes. Creating a structure that offers the same guarantees as paper ballots would be incredibly difficult, said cyber security strategist Corrado Giustozzi, a member of the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security.","label":0}
{"text":"China s parliament on Wednesday said part of a high-speed railway station being built in Hong Kong would be regarded as mainland territory governed by mainland laws, an unprecedented move that critics say further erodes the city s autonomy. Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, when it was granted a high degree of autonomy under a one country, two systems arrangement, giving it a separate police force, immigration controls, an independent judiciary and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. China s largely rubber stamp parliament, the National People s Congress, voted to allow Chinese immigration checks and the enforcement of mainland Chinese laws within part of the station, so that after boarding the train in Hong Kong passengers would not need to get off the train for immigration checks at the Hong Kong-mainland border. It is appropriate ... that the Mainland Port Area within the West Kowloon station would be regarded as belonging to mainland China, according to the legislative document released by parliament on the decision. Critics say the co-location arrangement, also known as one land, two checks in Chinese, sets a dangerous precedent as it violates the city s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, in which article 18 explicitly states national laws, with a few exceptions, do not apply in Hong Kong. But the document passed by parliament says since mainland officials operations will be strictly confined to specific areas in the station, it is different from the article which governs the whole of Hong Kong. Setting up a Mainland Port Area inside the West Kowloon station does not change the administrative area of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, does not affect the HKSAR s right to a high degree of autonomy accorded by the law, does not reduce or harm (Hong Kong) residents rights and freedoms accorded by the law, the document added. Li Fei, deputy secretary-general of parliament s standing committee, told reporters the decision would not take away Hong Kong people s freedoms. If Hong Kongers don t feel comfortable, they can use another entry port and not take the high-speed train, Li said. At a cost of more than HK$84 billion ($11 billion), the Express Rail Link will link up with the rest of China s high-speed rail network and roughly halve the journey time between Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to 48 minutes. It is expected to be operational in the autumn on 2018. The Hong Kong government said it would seek to put draft laws to its legislature by early February to implement the plan, but the bill is expected to be voted through without strong resistance after a series of controversial court cases stripped the opposition pro-democracy camp of its veto power. The prospect of Beijing tightening its grip on the financial hub has already stoked social tensions and protests including the 2014 Occupy street demonstrations that demanded, in vain, full democracy for the city of 7.3 million. The abductions of a Hong Kong-based bookseller in 2015 who later showed up across the border in Chinese custody also touched a raw nerve. The former head of Hong Kong s legislature and pro-establishment heavyweight, Jasper Tsang, wrote in a column last week that the government should admit frankly the arrangement does not comply with the Basic Law. Opposition lawmaker and barrister Tanya Chan, who leads a group against the arrangement, said the issue represents the most serious violation of the Basic Law since the 1997 handover. What we re seeing is the Central Government exercising overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong, Chan said. What we see today is the (NPC) Standing Committee ruling Hong Kong, zero degree of autonomy. Constitutional law professor Albert Chen said he believed the arrangement was based on reasonable arguments and did not violate the Basic Law. But it remained a grey area whether Hong Kong courts could handle judicial reviews that directly challenge Beijing s decision, he said. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam welcomed the decision, but conceded that there had been complex issues of applicability of mainland and Hong Kong laws for the project as it had been first conceived around a decade ago. She added that these complexities could not have been foreseen back then.","label":0}
{"text":"Just days before the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Pope Francis has sent a message of support to the March for Life taking place in Paris, France, on Sunday. [\"The Church must never tire of being an advocate for life and must not neglect to proclaim that human life is to be protected unconditionally from the moment of conception until natural death,\" the Pope's message said. Pope Francis has been a vocal critic of the abortion industry, comparing it to King Herod's slaughter of the innocents at the time of Jesus, and accusing the abortion lobby of working with a mentality that seeks to eliminate those who get in one's way. In his message to marchers, Francis expressed his solidarity with their efforts and urged them to continue to proclaim the value of human life. \"Beyond this legitimate manifestation in defense of human life, the Holy Father encourages participants in the March for Life to work tirelessly for the building of a civilization of love and a culture of life,\" said the message, which was sent through the Apostolic Nuncio to France, Archbishop Luigi Ventura. On Sunday, President Trump is expected to sign an executive order cutting funding to the International Planned Parenthood Foundation, in a restoration of Ronald Reagan's \"Mexico City policy\" that banned U. S. government funding of abortion around the world. The executive order would reportedly be timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized on all 50 states in the Union. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome","label":0}
{"text":"Because nothing says justice for Freddie Gray like a large group of teenage thugs descending on a defenseless woman and stealing her purse A producer for Ruptly, a video news service run by RT (formerly Russia Today), was robbed on camera while filming the violent protests in Baltimore overnight.The dramatic video shows the female victim first surrounded and harassed by a group of youths, who rapidly grow bolder reaching out at her, all the while hurling a stream of vulgarity and ranting about the police. She is then clearly physically attacked by the group. As the video stabilizes you see that the producer is chasing the thieves down the street trying to retrieve her stolen bag before the intervention of the Baltimore police.The protests in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray while in custody turned into violent riots overnight Saturday into Sunday morning. So much so that 30,000 people were locked down in Camden Yards.As Twitchy notes, at the time of the lockdown President Obama was delivering jokes to the mainstream media and assorted celebrities about a half hour away.Toward the end of the video, the woman who was robbed can be heard sobbing as she continues to film.","label":1}
{"text":"An NBC News report citing \"military sources\" claims Donald Trump and senior military officials are prepared to launch a preemptive conventional strike against North Korea if the country carries out another nuclear weapons test. [Military sources told NBC News that the U. S. has positioned two Tomahawk missiles in the Korean peninsula approximately 300 miles from where North Korea will carry out its next nuclear test. The preparations come amid rising tensions in the region, with North Korea this week promising a \"big event\" as the country prepares to celebrate the \"Day of the Sun,\" the birthday of communist dictator and \"eternal leader\" Kim . Analysts believe that the country is \"primed and ready\" to carry out a nuclear test based on satellite images but that they would not be capable of enacting a nuclear attack. Nevertheless, the country's state broadcasters declared the country \"would hit the U. S. first\" with nuclear weapons at any sign of aggression or provocation. Speaking on Wednesday, Donald Trump remained secretive about his plans to handle North Korea, although he declared he was sending \"an armada\" into the region. Trump has repeatedly argued that China is failing to meet its responsibilities in neutralizing the North Korean threat. He does not appear to consider Chinese cooperation indispensable, however, adding that America would \"solve the problem without them. \" North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U. S. A. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2017, On Tuesday, China turned back North Korean cargo ships and deployed 150, 000 troops to the North Korean border in a bid to control tensions. Reports from South Korean media also claimed that Seal Team 6, the Navy Seal squad who assassinated Osama were simulating drills in which they would take out the North Korean leader Kim . Although the Pentagon would not confirm the reports, they said that \"ground, air, naval and special operations\" are carrying out \"several joint and combined field training operations\" with up to 17, 000 troops. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Stephen K. Bannon has read the book three times. He still keeps a copy of it \u2014 one that's creased and copiously underlined \u2014 in a library with the rest of his favorites at his father's house in Richmond, Va. The book, \"The Fourth Turning,\" a 1997 work by two amateur historians, Neil Howe and William Strauss, lays out a theory that American history unfurls in predictable, cycles of prosperity and catastrophe. And it foresees catastrophe right around the corner. The book delineates history into four seasonal cycles, or \"turnings\": growth, maturation, decay and destruction. It is the kind of wild, provocative idea that Mr. Bannon loves. But it is also just the kind of thinking that his opponents see as evidence that he is too Machiavellian and idiosyncratic for the job of President Trump's chief strategist. The basis of his worldview \u2014 which has been described as everything from Leninist to an extremist fringe movement associated with white nationalism \u2014 is still shrouded in mystery and conjecture. But by his own telling, much of the foundation for his political beliefs can be found in the book, which predicts that America is hurtling toward a crisis on par with the American Revolution, the Civil War and the Great Depression. And the grim future that the book foresees helps explain the underpinnings of the president's conservative, nationalist \"America First\" agenda, one that Mr. Bannon has played a large role in shaping. \"I don't think there's any doubt that the world is in the beginning state of a crisis that it can't avoid,\" Mr. Bannon said in a recent interview, before Mr. Trump removed him from the National Security Council and started contemplating a broader White House that could further marginalize him. But Mr. Bannon, choosing his words carefully, allowed that while he did not believe a cataclysm like global war was inevitable, failing to prepare as if one might happen would be foolish. \"Everything President Trump is doing \u2014 all of it \u2014 is to get ahead of or stop any potential crisis,\" Mr. Bannon added. But those who question Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon's motives say the central premise of \"The Fourth Turning,\" with its religious subtext and dark premonitions, is a convenient excuse to sow fear and justify extreme action. Many academic historians dismiss the book as about as scientific as astrology or a Nostradamus text. And many will find reason for alarm in its conclusion that the coming crisis will demand loyalty and conformity from citizens. It also leads to unavoidable questions about war and whether Mr. Bannon, who has recommended the book to countless friends and made a film about it in 2010, is resigned to catastrophic global conflict. He says he is not. And he remains unconvinced that the United States can effectively intervene in overseas conflicts like the one unfolding in Syria. As one of the voices in the administration who expressed skepticism about a military strike in response to the Assad regime's chemical attack on its own citizens, Mr. Bannon insists he is no warmonger. In the interview, Mr. Bannon rattled off a list of White House policies that he said fit with the larger goal of strengthening the country for whatever calamity might await just over the horizon. They included starting the process of building a wall on the southern border, barring foreigners from seven predominantly Muslim nations, and taking steps that he said were meant \"to empower the secretary of defense, the C. I. A. to step up the war\" against radical Islam. \"I think it's very simple: You've got to take care of the country,\" Mr. Bannon said. Ultimately, he added, America could reclaim its position as a keeper of peace and stability throughout the world. \"America has to be strong \u2014 economically strong and militarily strong. And a strong America could be ultimately a provider of Pax Americana. \" But to those who see Mr. Trump as someone who instigates crises, rather than defuses them, the knowledge that his senior strategist is an evangelist for a theory that forecasts the destruction of society as we know it is alarming. \"If you frame everything as a crisis, then the right response to crisis is action, not deliberation,\" said Alexander Livingston, an assistant professor of political theory at Cornell who has written critically about \"The Fourth Turning\" and Mr. Bannon. \"It puts the people who say 'hold on' in a position of failing to see the crisis but also of being responsible for the crisis. \" In their book, Mr. Howe and Mr. Strauss note the roughly intervals between catalytic events in American history like the Declaration of Independence (1776) the attack on Fort Sumter (1861) and the bombing of Pearl Harbor (1941). They predicted the next crisis would begin around 2005 and reach its climax sometime before 2025. \"History is seasonal, and winter is coming,\" they warn. Precipitating each fourth turning, the authors wrote, is a breakdown of the existing civic order and the institutions that prop it up. Mr. Bannon, who has said the Trump administration will see to the \"deconstruction of the administrative state,\" believes these institutions are already crumbling, and he seems more than happy to pilot the wrecking ball that demolishes them entirely. In an interview, Mr. Howe recalls getting an email about 10 years ago from Mr. Bannon, whom he had never heard of at the time, asking if he would participate in a film about the book. \"We kind of blew him off,\" Mr. Howe, who is now a demographer at the investment firm Hedgeye Risk Management, said recently. Mr. Howe, who eventually agreed to be interviewed for the film, said that Mr. Bannon seemed to have no qualms about the destruction part of the cycle. \"There is something beneficial about the creative destruction that comes with a fourth turning,\" Mr. Howe said. \"There has to be a period in which we tear down everything that is no longer functional. \" Mr. Bannon's suspicion of powerful institutions and the men and women who run them might seem at odds with his personal conservatism. He is a Catholic, a former Navy officer and a traditionalist in many ways. But Peter Schweizer, an author and frequent collaborator with Mr. Bannon on films and books, said Mr. Bannon believes the nation's elites arrogantly underestimate their own role in creating crises and then overestimate their ability to solve them. \"I do think the reason this theory is so powerful in Steve's mind is it kind of goes to the heart of his problem with elites,\" Mr. Schweizer said. \"He does have a skeptical view of the limitations of human intellect. This notion that a few smart guys know how to quote unquote run a global economy is just laughable to him. \" In the 2010 film, \"Generation Zero,\" which was produced by Citizens United, whose films often attack favorite conservative targets like the Clintons, the screen flashes with foreboding imagery: a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb, a shark fin skimming above the water, a guillotine blade falling. The film's thesis is that the financial collapse of 2009 was the beginning of the modern fourth turning. But Mr. Bannon sees not just a financial crisis unfolding. A deeper cultural crisis \u2014 selfishness, excessive political correctness and a lack of civic responsibility \u2014 has infected the country's political and economic institutions, which must be purged. Today Mr. Bannon is much more prudent about tossing out predictions of imminent catastrophe and conflict. But some who spoke with him for the film said he was not always so reticent. \"If we were in an international crisis that might lead to a major war, I don't think that would frighten him at all,\" said David Kaiser, a former professor at the Naval War College and a historian who subscribes to the Strauss and Howe theories. \"I wouldn't go so far as to say Bannon wants it,\" Mr. Kaiser added. \"But I think it's a possibility he willingly accepts it. \" Mr. Bannon insisted that was not his view. \"You're not inexorably pulled into this,\" he said. But it seemed undeniable to him that the book got a lot right about the general direction that America is headed. \"In the 'Fourth Turning' theory you've got a country that believes it's off course,\" he said. \" of Americans now think we're on the wrong track. That's an extraordinary number. \" He added, \"Certainly they feel the country is in some sort of crisis. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Amy Schumer is set to return to the big screen this weekend for the first time since 2015's Trainwreck with the kidnap caper Snatched, alongside veteran actress Goldie Hawn, but negative early reviews from critics could threaten to spoil crucial and dampen the film's Mother's Day weekend prospects. [Snatched doesn't hit theaters until Friday, May 12, but already reviewers from the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire have derided the film as \"lazy,\" \"uninspired\" and \"wildly scattershot. \" The film stars Schumer as Emily Middleton, who is dumped by her boyfriend just before a planned exotic vacation to Ecuador. While Middleton persuades her mother (Goldie Hawn, in her first film appearance in 15 years) to join her on the trip, the two get more than they bargained for as they try to survive after being kidnapped in the jungle. In his review of the film, the New York Times' A. O. Scott calls the film \"lazy, sloppy and witless,\" and says Hawn in particular is \"cruelly and inexplicably\" denied the ability to be as funny as she can be. \"Snatched is one of those movies that subscribes to a dubious homeopathic theory of cultural insensitivity by which the acknowledgment of offensiveness is supposed to prevent anyone from taking offense,\" Scott wrote. \"The idea is that if you use variations on the phrase 'That's racist!' as a punch line a few times, nothing else you say or do could possibly be racist. Including, say, populating your movie with thugs with funny accents and killing a few of them for cheap laughs. \" But perhaps the most harsh criticism of the film comes from IndieWire's Kate Erbland, who calls it \"criminally unfunny. \" Like Scott, Erbland says Snatched commits the \"unforgivable sin\" of not allowing Hawn to \"inhabit her stature as a great comedic performer. \" \"One character calls [Schumer's character] 'garbage' (and makes her repeat the insult) while another tells her she'll be safe from sex trafficking because she's just not pretty enough, but even these attempts to add some meat to the undercooked film fall flat,\" Erbland wrote, giving the film a D grade. \"Pairing up talented comedians like Hawn and Schumer with a wacky plotline to match should spell comedy gold, but Snatched is about as cheap and disposable as a tourist trap tchotchke. \" The Village Voice's Melissa Anderson was similarly down on the film, accusing it of trading in \"offhand xenophobia\" and \"soft racism\" for its depiction of two white main characters unable to cope in a foreign country. \"[Hawn's] performance here, however understandable, suggests she may have regretted the decision to end her \" Anderson wrote. Meanwhile, Variety's Owen Glieberman and the Hollywood Reporter's Jon Frosch gave the movie slightly better marks, though Glieberman wrote that the film's \" jokes are like firecrackers with damp fuses. \" \"Still, in the apocalyptically bleak landscape of the mainstream studio comedy, the mere sight of Schumer and Hawn just doing their thing is almost pleasing enough to get a pass. Almost,\" writes THR's Frosch. Snatched Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Randall Park, Tom Bateman, and Christopher Meloni. Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) directed off of a script by writer Katie Dippold (The Heat, Ghostbusters). The film hits theaters May 12. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum","label":0}
{"text":"Update: A federal jury has unanimously sentenced Dylann S. Roof to die. The white supremacist showed no remorse for killing nine members of a black church in South Carolina. Read more \u00bb \u2022 Mr. Roof, a white supremacist with no known ties to any organized group, was convicted of the assault on Dec. 15 by the same federal jury. \u2022 Mr. Roof's guilt was never in question in the trial, and the jury deliberated for about three hours before assessing the death penalty. \u2022 Judge Richard M. Gergel has scheduled a formal sentencing hearing for Wednesday at 9:30 a. m. \"We want to express our sympathy to all of the families who were so grievously hurt by Dylann Roof's actions. Today's sentencing decision means that this case will not be over for a very long time. We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy. \" \"We are Dylann Roof's family. We will always love Dylann. We will struggle as long as we live to understand why he committed this horrible attack, which caused so much pain to so many good people. We wish to express the grief we feel for the victims of his crimes, and our sympathy to the many families he has hurt. We continue to pray for the Emanuel A. M. E. families and the Charleston community. \" \"No verdict can bring back the nine we lost that day at Mother Emanuel. And no verdict can heal the wounds of the five church members who survived the attack or the souls of those who lost loved ones to Roof's callous hand. But we hope that the completion of the prosecution provides the people of Charleston \u2014 and the people of our nation \u2014 with a measure of closure. \" On the evening of Wednesday, June 17, 2015, Mr. Roof, a white man, walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S. C. and asked for the pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney. Mr. Roof was directed to a Bible study session, where he sat down next to the pastor, and for nearly an hour, listened and took part in the discussion. Mr. Roof then pulled out a . Glock semiautomatic pistol, loaded with bullets, and according to witnesses, told the minister and parishioners, \"You are raping our women and taking over our country. \" He shot and killed nine people, including Mr. Pinckney, before fleeing the church. He shot each victim multiple times, reloading his gun several times. Mr. Roof told investigators and friends that he had hoped to start a race war. He complained of what he saw as black corruption and takeover of the United States and what he said was an epidemic of crime. He owned a website that included an essay on his belief in the danger and inferiority of blacks and the value of segregation. In the essay, Mr. Roof, a dropout with few friends and no steady work, also gave his reasons for the attack: \"We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me. \" The gunman could not have chosen a target more laden with symbolism about the nation's tortured racial history, and he apparently knew it, singling out the church for that reason. Emanuel A. M. E. lies in the historic heart of Charleston, the capital of the slave trade in the United States, the cradle of the Confederacy and the place where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. The church, known as Mother Emanuel, occupies a place of pride in southern black history it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South, dating back two centuries. Many people were shaken because the shooting happened in a place of sanctuary and because of who the victims were: nine people who were described as gentle and deeply religious. Three of them were over age 70, and four were pastors. At Mr. Roof's first court appearance a few days later, victims' family members stunned and moved millions of Americans by speaking of forgiveness and redemption, rather than anger and vengeance. Black churches have been frequent targets of racist attacks for generations, and for people old enough to remember, the shooting carried reminders of the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. that killed four black girls. One of the Charleston dead, Mr. Pinckney, 41, was also a Democratic state senator and a leader of South Carolina's black community whose warmth won him friends even among political adversaries. At his funeral, President Obama gave the eulogy, an impassioned plea to recognize and oppose prejudice, saying, \"For too long, we've been blind to the way past injustices continue to shape the present. \" After decades of debate, a Confederate battle flag was removed from the grounds of South Carolina's state Capitol with remarkable swiftness, lowered for good less than a month after the shooting, following an emotional debate in the Legislature. In previous fights over the flag, white conservatives defended it staunchly, but this time, conservative Republicans like Gov. Nikki Haley, Senator Lindsey Graham and State Senator Paul Thurmond \u2014 son of the United States senator and onetime segregationist champion Strom Thurmond \u2014 publicly opposed the flag, sealing its fate. But calls for stricter gun controls, including tighter background checks for buying weapons, fell flat. Under federal law, Mr. Roof's record of drug abuse might have barred him from buying the gun he used, but the balky background check system failed to produce the needed information within three days, so he was able to go ahead with the purchase. Mr. Roof confessed to investigators soon after he was arrested, and more recently, he offered to plead guilty in return for a sentence of life in prison. But federal prosecutors decided to go to trial and seek the death penalty. At his trial last month, his lawyers conceded that he had committed the attack. A jury found him guilty of all 33 counts against him, including hate crimes resulting in death. The case then moved to the penalty phase, to determine whether Mr. Roof should be executed. (If he had not been sentenced to die, he could have still faced capital punishment in state court.) Acting as his own lawyer in the penalty phase, Mr. Roof declined to present any defense, and he refused any argument or evidence suggesting mental illness. In a journal he kept before the shooting, he had written: \"I am morally opposed to psychology. It is a Jewish invention. \" The vast majority of capital sentences and executions stem from state courts, not federal. Of about 2, 900 people on death rows in the United States, just 68 face sentences meted out by federal courts, including six by military courts. The federal inmates under death sentences include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and Nidal Hasan, who committed the Fort Hood shooting in 2009. When Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was executed in 2001, he was the first federal inmate put to death in 38 years. There have been just two federal executions since then \u2014 in 2001 and 2003. It would be hard to find another crime where the toll was as high, the victims were as sympathetic, the premeditation was as evident and the defendant's guilt was as . But Mr. Roof's case has prompted a debate over whether he should be put to death. Some commentators and editorial boards have argued that a crime of this magnitude cries out for execution. Even some with doubts about how the death penalty is used say that if capital punishment is to continue, Mr. Roof warrants it. Death penalty opponents agree that if any defendant deserves the ultimate punishment, it is Mr. Roof, but they insist that the case against capital punishment should still outweigh the anger and revulsion over any particular case. They argue that its use has been wildly inconsistent and even arbitrary, and exonerations of convicted inmates show that the risk of putting an innocent person to death is high. A twist in this case is that a common argument against the death penalty is that it is more likely to be used when the victims are white and the accused are black \u2014 the reverse of the circumstances in the Charleston shooting. Another is that even some family members of those who were murdered have spoken out against executing Mr. Roof. Much less common than it used to be. States carried out 20 executions last year, the lowest figure in 25 years. Courts handed down just 30 new death sentences, down from more than 300 in 1996, the lowest figure since the early 1970s.","label":0}
{"text":"Does anyone else see a little crazy in this woman? Elizabeth Warren is Hillary Clinton s new best friend and possible VP choice but we think that would be a total disaster for Clinton. Yikes!","label":1}
{"text":"Lawmakers on Tuesday called for more information after reports that President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. The White House said a memo written by Comey after he met with Trump in February was not an accurate portrayal of the conversation. Details of the memo were first reported by The New York Times and were confirmed by a Reuters source. Last week, the Republican president fired Comey, who had been leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign's possible collusion with Russia to influence the election outcome. Flynn resigned in February after disclosures that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Media reports of the Comey memo prompted members of Congress to renew calls for an independent investigation into the Trump campaign's possible connections to Russia and for Comey to testify before Congress. Here are reactions from Capitol Hill: \"@GOPoversight is going to get the Comey memo, if it exists. I need to see it sooner rather than later. I have my subpoena pen ready.\" - Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on Twitter. He later sent the Federal Bureau of Investigation a letter asking for all memos, notes and recordings between Comey and Trump by May 24. \"What we're seeing ... is an obstruction of justice case unfolding in real time. And I'm still stunned that more of my Republican colleagues are not standing strong and speaking out.\" - Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to CNN \"I have to say yes simply because obstruction of justice is such a serious offense. And I say it with sadness and reluctance.\" - Independent Senator Angus King, asked on CNN if Congress was getting close to impeachment proceedings \"We're a long ways from a conviction - the fact that we simply have a headline in The New York Times.\" - Republican Representative Trey Gowdy on Fox News \"We need to have all the facts and it is appropriate for the House Oversight Committee to request this memo.\" - AshLee Strong, spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, in a statement \"I don't want to read a memo. I want to hear it from him (Comey).\" - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in an MSNBC interview \"This is an explosive allegation and it appears like a textbook case of criminal obstruction of justice. We need to hear testimony immediately from Director Comey - in public. ... We also obviously need to get Director Comey's memos immediately, as well as all associated records, including any audio tapes, and notes, if they exist.\" - Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings in a statement \"If true, this is yet another disturbing allegation that the president may have engaged in some interference or obstruction of the investigation. I think we know enough now. There's been enough alleged publicly to want to bring the director back to testify, ideally in open session, either before our committee or the Judiciary Committee.\" - Democratic Representative Adam Schiff to reporters \"Country must have answers. It is clear former FBI Director Comey should testify before Congress.\" - Republican Representative Frank LoBiondo on Twitter \"If these reports are true, the president's brazen attempt to shut down the FBI's investigation of Michael Flynn is an assault on the rule of law that is fundamental to our democracy. At best, President Trump has committed a grave abuse of executive power. At worst, he has obstructed justice.\" - Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi in a statement \"I'm shocked and surprised by this development and would like to discuss it with Chairman Grassley and look forward to doing so. The Judiciary Committee is the appropriate place to hold a hearing and get to the bottom of exactly what was said and by whom.\" - Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein in a statement \"The stories of the last week raise serious questions about whether the president respects the independence of the FBI and law enforcement authorities. It is vital that Congress obtain these memos and hear public testimony from former Director Comey. ... The American people deserve answers about President Trump's conduct.\" - Democratic Senator Bob Casey in a statement","label":0}
{"text":"Government officials in the Philippines have confirmed that some terrorists fighting with the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf, both Islamic State affiliates, are foreigners who traveled to the country to help the jihadists establish themselves. [\"What is happening in Mindanao is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens. It has transmogrified into an invasion by foreign terrorists who heeded the clarion call of [the Islamic State],\" Solicitor General Jose Calida told reporters on Friday. The southern island of Mindanao, home to President Rodrigo Duterte, erupted in violence this week when Maute group terrorists ambushed police attempting to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, the head of Abu Sayyaf. Maute terrorists beheaded the police chief of Marawi city, freed over 100 terrorists from local prisons, and have raised the Islamic State flag over Marawi. Duterte imposed martial law over all of Mindanao and urged civilians to flee Marawi where the Philippine military has begun to conduct airstrikes. Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, a spokesman for the Philippine Armed Forces, confirmed that at least six of the 12 jihadists killed in operations so far are not Philippine citizens, but Indonesians and Malaysians. \"There is a certain information that we received which confirmed the killing of 12 members of this group and half that are foreign terrorists \u2014 Malaysians, Indonesians, and one other,\" he noted. Duterte himself spoke on Friday, warning, \"you can say that the ISIS is here already. \" Duterte also noted the importance of illegal drug smuggling to jihadist operations, telling reports that the brothers who founded the Maute group were \"policemen in Manila who got enamored with the money of shabu [methamphetamine]. They returned here and established one of the biggest factories of shabu in Lanao del Sur,\" where Marawi is located. Duterte won the presidency last year on a campaign to eradicate drug crime and has since launched an expansive national trafficking operation that many in Europe have criticized for allegedly not taking the safety of civilians into consideration. Duterte's imposition of martial law allows police to search, seize, and arrest without warrants and grants police the ability to censor press that may be releasing sensitive information. Duterte has told police to \"spare no one\" fighting them and has assured terrorists, \"you will die\" if confronting officers. The president has also repeatedly warned police not to abuse these powers to avoid losing the support of the people and emboldening the jihadists. Duterte has warned for months that the Philippines, despite boasting a Christian population of over 90 percent and a 5 percent Muslim population, would become an ISIS target. \"Some parts of the islands of Mindanao, there are white people. I suppose they are Arabs, and they are here as missionaries,\" Duterte warned in November. \"They are not armed, but they are here for indoctrination, that's what I'm afraid of. \" Duterte has also confessed to having \"cousins\" in the Islamic State, as his family hails from the Muslim regions of the south. Duterte promised his armed forces \"the weapons and the equipment and we have the air assets to help you. \" \"I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel to look for money to see you through,\" he promised. \"I'll give you all you need. Just wait for the new firearms. \" Duterte has reached out to allies for such aid, and it appears to be working. On Thursday, the Russian government requested the Philippines send Moscow a \"shopping list of defense equipment\" they need to fight both jihadists and drug criminals. \"The response of the Russian Federation through President (Vladimir) Putin was very, very generous. So they said, well, we have the framework in place through our agreements to cooperate,\" Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano said on Wednesday. \"It's nothing new for the Russian Federation to lend a helping hand to countries that are their friends,\" he added. Cayetano added that the police and military were \"suffering\" due to outdated medical equipment use. \"They're getting hurt. They don't have the best hospital equipment. Sometimes, the Abu Sayyaf have better equipment than they do,\" he lamented. Duterte began the week in Moscow, on a trip in which he was scheduled to receive an honorary degree from one of Moscow's best universities and meet with Putin personally. Duterte arrived back in Mindanao on Tuesday following the botched raid on Hapilon's hideout, however, excusing himself due to the national security emergency. Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.","label":0}
{"text":"Newt Gingrich has been one of Donald Trump s most vocal cheerleaders, but in a new book, he threw his President under the bus by revealing the real reason Trump ran for President, and it s far worse than you think. Trump clearly thinks the presidency is a toy that he could buy because it s more fun than buying a yacht. His response was priceless, Gingrich writes in Understanding Trump, in an excerpt published by ABC News on Sunday. After a moment of thought, he said, $70 [million] to 80 million: that would be a yacht. This would be a lot more fun than a yacht! He also noted how Trump ran his campaign like a corporation ahead of schedule and under budget. Describing a phone conversation he had with Trump after the South Carolina primary in February 2016, Gingrich said the presidential candidate said he was indeed under budget. At the tail end of our conversation, he jokingly said, By the way, I know you said I needed to spend $80 million, but I ve only spent $30 million. I feel kind of bad, Gingrich quoted Trump, who won the South Carolina primary, as having said.Source: MarketWatchThat explains a lot. It explains why Trump is woefully unprepared to be president. It also explains why he seems to think the office is his ticket to getting even richer.Trump doesn t read. He doesn t pay attention to National Security Briefings unless his name is plastered all over the briefings, preferably with pictures.Nearly every meeting he s had with a world leader has been a disaster. He s offended all of our allies and he s helped accomplish the Russian goal of destabilizing the country. He also has the most corrupt presidency in history.While Trump might be having fun after spending less than he might have spent on a yacht, it s clear his presidency comes at the expense of the American people and of our reputation as the world s largest superpower. In other words, he s playing a very scary game and he simply doesn t care.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Senate Republicans have reached a tentative budget deal that could allow tax reform legislation to eliminate as much as $1.5 trillion in revenues over 10 years through tax cuts, raising the odds that their planned tax overhaul would expand the federal deficit. Two members of the Senate Budget Committee, Republicans Pat Toomey and Bob Corker, announced the formal agreement late on Tuesday, but their joint news release did not provide dollar figures for revenue reduction or tax cuts. The prospective tax cuts are part of closed-door talks among 12 Senate Budget Committee Republicans who are drafting a fiscal 2018 budget measure needed to help the 100-member Senate pass a tax overhaul with as few as 51 Republicans votes and prevent Democrats from blocking the legislation. The U.S. economy is in a steady expansion and stock markets are rising. But the tax cuts being weighed by congressional Republicans, with encouragement from President Donald Trump, are on a scale normally reserved for times of economic hardship and intended to drive annual economic growth above 3 percent. Trump campaigned last year on a promise of comprehensive tax reform. But Republicans have made little tangible progress toward that ambitious goal so far. Toomey told reporters he is confident that Republicans will agree to a budget resolution that foresees a deficit in the first decade. He said, however, that talks have not settled definitively on $1.5 trillion. \"I'd like to see a bigger number,\" said Toomey, who argues that tax cuts would increase economic growth. In their joint news release, Toomey and Corker said they agreed on a budget resolution that would use a standard analysis of the impact of the tax cuts on the deficit. Some Republicans like Toomey have pushed for a \"dynamic\" model, which tends to assume an increased economic stimulus effect from tax cuts, resulting in smaller projected increases to the deficit. Senator John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, said he expected the agreement to provide maximum flexibility to craft a tax overhaul capable of driving economic growth and ultimately raising worker wages. But looming in the background is Washington's steady flow of red ink that adds every year to the $20 trillion national debt, a target of outrage not long ago for Republican \"fiscal hawks.\" In recent weeks, some fiscal hawks have expressed a willingness to consider deficit financing for tax reform but many at levels well below $500 billion. Toomey's comments suggest Senate Republicans may be looking to deficit spending as a way to cut taxes on businesses and individuals while avoiding hard decisions that would be needed to raise taxes elsewhere or eliminate popular tax breaks. If adopted by Congress in a budget resolution, the $1.5 trillion figure would set a ceiling on how much revenue tax reform could eliminate over 10 years. Analysts and Democrats have warned that higher deficits resulting from tax cuts would eventually overwhelm economic growth at a time when U.S. interest rates are set to rise. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, whose panel would use the budget figure in crafting a tax reform bill, told reporters he was not sure that revenue losses of $1.5 trillion were needed for tax reform. Senator Ron Wyden, the Senate Finance Committee's top Democrat, dismissed the development as a distraction from the more important question of how Republican tax reform would ultimately benefit the wealthy. \"It looks to me like yet another trial balloon,\" Wyden said. Republicans have been unable to agree on how to pay for tax cuts and other proposed tax changes, aside from arguing that some lost revenue would be clawed back from the buoyant economic growth they believe tax reform will deliver. \"There's no way you're going to be able to do tax cuts that pay for themselves,\" said Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, another budget committee Republican. \"But I think most people would concede that cutting taxes does stimulate the economy.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Thu, 27 Oct 2016 16:35 UTC \u00a9 UPI.com Successful eurobond sale in September, credit upgrade by Fitch, and sharp improvement in World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking, all confirm effectiveness of Russian government's economic policies, amidst strengthening recovery. As economic recovery in Russia continues to gain hold, Russia has received authoritative endorsement both for its successful macroeconomic policies and for its rapidly improving business conditions. The US credit rating agency Fitch on 14th October 2016 upgraded Russia's rating from BBB- (negative) to BBB- (stable). Normally I pay no attention to ratings decisions by US credit rating agencies, which have been proved repeatedly wrong, and which in Russia's case are blatantly politicised. Back in 2015, during the worst period of the recession, I pointed out how obviously and completely wrong the decisions of the US credit rating agencies to downgrade Russia's credit rating at that time were. The market clearly agrees with me. Fitch's Russia rating is only just investment grade, whilst those of S&P and Moody's actually give Russia a junk rating. In spite of this - and as I predicted - Russia's last eurobond issue in September was six times oversubscribed, with almost the entirety of the issue on this occasion sold to US investors . Even the Western financial media has been finally forced to admit that Russia's latest eurobond issue was a success . If I refer to Fitch's latest upgrade of Russia's rating, it is not because I agree with Fitch's rating of Russia (I don't) but because of what Fitch has to say about Russia's economic policy \"Russia has implemented a coherent and credible policy response to the sharp fall in oil prices. A flexible exchange rate, inflation targeting, fiscal consolidation and financial sector support have allowed the economy to adjust and domestic confidence to return gradually. The strength and quality of the policy response stands out relative to those of other oil producers similarly affected by the oil price shock. (bold italics added) In other words Russia has responded to the oil price fall intelligently and successfully - more so than have the other oil producers. In his State of the Union address of 20th January 2015 US President Obama famously gloated \"today, it is America that stands strong and united with our allies, while Russia is isolated with its economy in tatters.\" Judging by the success of its latest eurobond issue, and the credit upgrade Russia has just been given by Fitch, neither the market nor even Fitch agree with him. Meanwhile Russia's World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking continues its rapid rise. In 2011 Russia's ranking was 123 in the survey out of 183. By 2014 it had risen to 62 out of 189, by 2015 to 51 out of 189, and in this year's survey it has risen again to 40 out of 190. When I discussed last year's survey I made the point that the dramatic improvement in Russia's World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking is simply incompatible with Russia being the corrupt kleptocracy of the West's imagination \"In corrupt kleptocratic oligarchies courts do not function efficiently, contracts are not performed and enforced, rights of minority shareholders are not protected, and people are not able to register their property easily and do not pay their taxes.\" Comment: Putin's record for fighting corruption is world-class but the Western media will never tell you I also pointed out that the rapid improvement of Russia's World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking proves that the claim that Russia is not \"reforming\" its economy is quite simply wrong. Russia is not only continuously reforming its economy, but it is doing so successfully \" the demand for more and more \"reforms\" simply ignores the fact that reforms are in fact being carried out. Anyone who reads through the World Bank's annual surveys will see that they are all about \"reforms\". It is precisely because Russia is carrying out \"reforms\" that its ranking is rising so fast. To be clear, modernising the court system, introducing a new bankruptcy law, simplifying procedures for connecting to the electricity supply, and passing laws on registering property and on administering bankruptcy, are reforms. They may lack the drama of breaking up Gazprom, but academic research, historical experience and the World Bank all say the same thing: it is these sort of unexciting reforms that in the end are the ones that make a difference and which produce results. In other words Russia is reforming, and it is doing so successfully, in a methodical and purposeful way. Doing so requires hard work and unremitting attention to detail. The Russian authorities deserve credit for successfully doing it, not the criticism for doing nothing that they normally get.\" I also made an extended point about what Russia's ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business survey says about the overall level of Russia's society and economy. The continued advance in Russia's ranking to 40th in the world shows that this point remains valid, so I reproduce it here in full \"The second point is that if one looks at what sort of countries now outrank Russia in the survey, it turns out that they are - broadly speaking - the three Asian industrial giants: Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, the two Asian city states of Hong Kong and Singapore, and the traditional and well established industrialised societies of the West: the US, the three rich countries of the British commonwealth (Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and most (though not all) the states of the EU - in sum what was once called \"the first world\". If one removes the one indicator where Russia scores especially badly, Trading Across Borders - for which there are special reasons (see above) - Russia becomes even more clearly aligned with these \"first world\" countries rather than with those countries that make up what used to be called \"the third world\". The Russian government's target is to achieve 20th place in the World Bank's ease of doing business survey by 2018. That may be too optimistic, though it is worth pointing out that the target for this year was 50th, which Russia only missed by one place. If Russia does achieve a ranking of 20th in the world by 2018 then it will be right in the middle of the \"first world\" group of countries rather than just outside it. At that point it will also have one of the best business climates in the world. Even if Russia does not achieve 20th position by 2018, the pace of improvement in the rankings is so fast it suggests Russia will break in fully in terms of quality of its business climate into the list of \"first world\" countries before long.\" Inevitably, as Russia's position in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business survey has rapidly improved, some commentators both in the West and Russia have cast doubt on the survey, even though its methodology is rigorous (originating apparently with Harvard University) and even though it is based on thorough field work. Needless to say these are the same commentators who regularly cited the survey when Russia's ranking in it was poor. There is in fact no reason to think the rapid rise in Russia's position in the survey does not reflect actual business conditions. As I said in my discussion of last year's survey, its results were anecdotally confirmed to me in a meeting I had with a group of local businessmen in Perm. A far more authoritative person has now come forward and said the same thing. This is German Gref, the single individual who is perhaps best informed about conditions for businesses in Russia because he is the CEO of Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, which is the national (as opposed to local) bank that small businesses in Russia are most likely to look to for credit. Gref stands politically at the farthest liberal end of the spectrum of Russia's political and economic establishment, and he is far from shy about criticising the government, which he does frequently. Yet in a meeting with Putin on 4th August 2016 he confirmed the improvement in business conditions in Russia \"I think that the environment that we will have in place by the end of 2016, when all of the legal amendments take effect, will mean that Russia will be offering one of the most interesting and technologically convenient environments for small businesses. \" (bold italics added) Because of the extremely poor relations between the West and Russia, Russia's economy and its economic management are continuously and relentlessly criticised in a way which plays well to Western prejudice but which grossly distorts understanding of the country and its government. Russia's highly conservative macroeconomic policies emphasising tight budget discipline (the federal budget deficit at the peak of the recession was 3% of GDP, roughly the same as that of the US and below that of Britain during their 'recoveries', with the Russian government planning to cut the deficit by 1% of GDP over each coming year), low taxes (income tax is levied at a flat rate of 13%), high real interest rates (currently around 4% above inflation), open financial markets, low debt (government debt in Russia is 17.7% of GDP compared to 104% in the US, 229% in Japan, 89% in Britain, 96% in France and 71% in Germany), low external debt (roughly 20% of Russia's GDP, compared to 114% of the US's, 570% of Britain's, 220% of France's, 145% of Germany's and 60% of Japan's) and floating exchange rate, have in reality enabled Russia - as Fitch says - to adjust rapidly and very successfully to the fall in oil prices. At the same time the rapid improvement in business conditions shown by the rapid rise of Russia's ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business survey shows that Russia is also working hard and successfully at getting its microeconomic conditions right. In other words the people who run Russia's economy know their job and by and large they do it well. That does not mean they are infallible. In my opinion interest rates are far too high, with the 4% inflation target for next year in danger of becoming a fetish. However compared to the appalling mismanagement one sees elsewhere, far from being the collapsing kleptocratic empire of Western fancy, Russia looks like an island of stability and good sense.","label":1}
{"text":"Wednesday on MSNBC, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani defended Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Breitbart News against network host Stephanie Ruhle's charges of racism. Partial transcript as follows: RUHLE: I've also never seen the hate and the racism out of so many people who are saying we're going to\u2014 GIULIANI: There's no racism. RUHLE: You don't think Breitbart News \u2014 GIULIANI: Breitbart News is not running for office. RUHLE: But Steven Bannon is the architect of Donald Trump's campaign. What do you believe Breitbart represents? GIULIANI: Nobody runs Donald Trump's campaign but Donald Trump. For all the stuff you're throwing around, racist, the last thing in the world Donald Trump is a racist. I've known him for 28 years. The man likes white people, he likes black people, he likes Hispanic people, he plays golf with them. He opened up the first club in Palm Beach that allowed Jewish people, Italian people like me who couldn't get into those clubs. RUHLE: Can you say that Steven Bannon doesn't run his campaign? GIULIANI: Donald Trump runs Donald Trump's campaign. RUHLE: What is he doing paying Steven Bannon? GIULIANI: There are a lot of people who do different things.","label":1}
{"text":"Email  Meditation is some pretty awesome stuff, and the practice is finding its way into more and more lives every day. Now a program at Cedar Creek Middle School in Portland, ME is proving that meditation can have a major impact. By meditating just 15 minutes a day, nearly all of the kids in the program have seen lower stress levels and higher test scores, and three of them have gone absolutely insane.  What a remarkable result!  The program, called Mindful Kids, encourages students to sit silently in a darkened classroom for 15 minutes a day and listen to white noise. Six weeks in, the effects were already striking: Most of the students had noticeably improved behavior and were more engaged in their schoolwork, and three of them had pulled out all of their hair and created their own language that they speak through their nostrils.  \"It's astounding,\" said Colin Creedman, the teacher who started the program. \"We expected the meditation to cause some improvement, but we didn't plan on it having such a big impact. 'C' students became 'A' students. There have been no fights. Three of them started worshipping a Bunsen burner as their god. And they're much more focused in class. Anyone who's skeptical of the effectiveness of meditation really needs to meet these kids.\"  The students in the program have noticed some big differences, too. \"I feel more calm,\" said 11-year-old Melissa Hogseth. \"Not just during the meditation, but throughout the day. I think it's great for kids to meditate.\"  Ten-year-old Jason Woodward says he also has benefited from meditating: \"My blood has become pure mercury. I can absorb shadows now. Meditation has helped me focus my energy into a beam that can cut glass and, soon, flesh and bone.\"  Unbelievable! The brain is an amazing thing, and these kids prove that meditation can unlock its full potential and sometimes make it go batshit insane. Way to go, Cedar Creek Middle School!","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that the United States and Russia lay to rest the controversy over Moscow's computer hacking of Democratic Party computers, saying, \"We ought to get on with our lives.\" Trump has cast doubt on the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian hackers took information from Democratic Party computers and individuals and posted it online to help Trump win the election. The Obama administration plans to announce on Thursday a series of retaliatory measures against Russia for hacking into U.S. political institutions and individuals and leaking information, two U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Asked by reporters if the United States should sanction Russia, Trump replied: \"I think we ought to get on with our lives. I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on.\" Trump made his remarks at Mar-a-Lago, his seaside Florida resort where he is spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays while also interviewing candidates for administration jobs. Trump said he was not familiar with remarks earlier on Wednesday by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who said Russia and President Vladimir Putin should expect tough sanctions for the cyber attacks. \"We have speed. We have a lot of other things but I'm not sure you have the kind of security that you need. But I have not spoken with the senators and I certainly will be over a period of time,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump has tapped a longtime legal adviser to serve as his private attorney while a special counsel investigates whether his campaign worked with Russia in last year's election, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters Tuesday. Fox Business Network and ABC first reported that Trump hired Marc Kasowitz, a New York-based trial lawyer known as a tenacious litigator, to represent him in a Justice Department investigation headed by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller. The appointment of a private attorney may indicate that Trump is seriously considering the impact the federal investigation could have on him personally and that he may wish to protect himself should others in his administration turn against him. The source said Kasowitz is expected to bring other lawyers on to work as a team to protect Trump. Other candidates for the job, including Brendan Sullivan and Robert Giuffra, withdrew their names from consideration, the source said. \"He can be aggressive - he's got that in him for sure,\" said John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, who has worked with and opposite Kasowitz. \"He also can be smooth as silk, respectful and deferential.\" Kasowitz and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Kasowitz has represented Trump for more than 15 years but he is not known as a criminal defense lawyer. During last year's presidential campaign, Kasowitz threatened to sue the New York Times if it did not retract a story about women who accused Trump of touching them inappropriately. The Times did not retract the story. He also assisted in the defense of fraud claims against Trump University, a series of real-estate seminars. After the election, Trump settled the claims for $25 million. Trump has looked to Kasowitz's firm to fill positions in his administration. He has described former Senator Joseph Lieberman, a senior counsel at the firm, as a top candidate to serve as FBI director and is considering Edward McNally, a white-collar defense lawyer at the firm, as the next U.S. attorney in Manhattan. A former partner at the firm, David Friedman, was chosen by Trump as U.S. ambassador to Israel. Kasowitz also represents OJSC Sberbank of Russia, the country's largest bank, which is being accused in a U.S. federal court of conspiring with granite company executives and others to raid the assets of a competitor. The outside counsel would be separate from the White House Counsel's Office, led by Donald McGahn. Mueller was appointed as special counsel by the Justice Department last week to investigate the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia. Several congressional committees and the FBI are also investigating the matter. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump's favor. Russia has denied involvement, and Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia. Controversy has engulfed Trump since he fired FBI Director James Comey two weeks ago as Comey oversaw an investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.","label":0}
{"text":"You may remember Greg Gianforte, the Republican who won Montana s only Congressional seat in May even after assaulting reporter Ben Jacobs of the Guardian. He disputed the charge at first, then audio came out that clearly depicted him body-slamming the journalist after Jacobs asked a series of uncomfortable questions.Gianforte pled guilty to the charge back in June, although it had no bearing on the outcome of his post-assault election. Presumably, the voters of Montana thought Jacobs had it coming, or perhaps they re so committed to their political party that even an assault charge won t deter them from voting for a GOP candidate.At the time, the Tea Party lawmaker protested the judge s order that he be booked and fingerprinted, as well as have his photo taken for a mug shot. His lawyers argued that the judge didn t have the authority to order the proceedings since he was never actually handcuffed and arrested formally a feat he pulled off by coincidentally being the candidate the local Sheriff had made political donations to during his campaign.Now, despite his legal team s argument that he was exempt because he was only charged with a misdemeanor, a judge has ordered that Gianforte turn himself in by September 15th for booking on the charge. If the congressman doesn t comply, the judge said, he will be held in contempt of court.Although Gianforte has paid his fines, apologized to Jacobs, and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, he has yet to complete his community service. There is no word whether he has followed through on the anger management classes he was ordered to attend.Practically speaking, a mugshot should worry the congressman when it comes time for reelection. Campaign ads could use it freely, as they are public record. But the question remains whether Gianforte, who raised nearly $120,000 in donations after admitting to the assault, has anything to worry about at all with the voters of Montana.","label":1}
{"text":"President Trump is lashing out against \"fake news\" in what is quite possibly the greatest course ever publicly taught in America. [Also, there is Mr. Trump's relentless interaction with the press. And I don't just mean the big guys. I mean the little local guys from Poughkeepsie, piped into the White House briefing room for awkward questions asked by disemboweled local anchors. At the end of the day, Mr. Trump is still not done. So he turns to Twitter to unleash yet more unfiltered news awesomeness onto the American media landscape. Welcome to the Age of Raw Journalism. Truly, a new dawn in American media. Drink fully from it, for the flowing bounty has never been like this ever before, and who knows if and when it will ever end. It is the confluence of instant information, manic technologies and a political figure who has the strength, fearlessness and stamina to keep it going around the clock. So let's check in with the professionals, the folks who stand to benefit the most from this most generous newsmaker. \"This is how the muzzling starts,\" New York Times media drip Jim Rutenberg warned ominously, \"not with a boot on your neck, but with the fear of one that runs so deep that you muzzle yourself. \" Not sure exactly what that means, but I checked twice to make sure I copied it correctly. \"Maybe it's the story you decide against doing because it's liable to provoke a president to put the power of his office behind his attempt to destroy your reputation by falsely calling your journalism 'fake.' \"Maybe it's the line you hold back from your script or your article because it could trigger a federal leak investigation into you and your sources (so, yeah, jail). \" All of that is from an actual report by Mr. Rutenberg in the newspaper that is now, according to the president, \"failing. \" Everywhere you turn today, reporters are gasping that the First Amendment is somehow under assault by Mr. Trump. White House reporters say they are under siege during daily briefings with Sean Spicer insulting them, rudely answering questions and assaulting them with the actual White House podium. OK, that last one I made up, but it was from the first funny skit \"Saturday Night Live\" has come up with in decades. But let's seriously consider how Mr. Trump is handling the press. He gave a press briefing in the White House last Thursday. He walked in and began by \"mentioning\" the name of his new nominee for labor secretary. And then he turned the whole thing over to reporters. All modern presidents have opened such briefings with a list of handpicked reporters they would call on to ensure they only got the type of questions they wanted. Nobody in the doormat press corps ever complains about that. Donald Trump threw the gates wide open. If he walked in with a list, he tossed it aside by the time he got going. He was up there pointing to random reporters and pitting them against one another, at times barking like a tobacco auctioneer. He took any and all questions. He was tough, he was funny, he was belligerent. But he was always engaging. Mr. Trump's immediate predecessor was famous for taking eight questions and bloviating at length and droning on long enough on each question that he would stretch it out to 50 minutes. He never wavered, of course, from his list of approved questioners. In Mr. Trump's freewheeling press conference, he answered questions from two dozen reporters, more than 40 questions total if you include . And the entire thing was riveting and revealing and supremely watchable. How is this an affront to the First Amendment? Katy Tur, another journalistic lion over on the MSNBC television channel, was recently interviewing a Republican in Congress. \"As we know, there's since 2000 been a couple dozen suspicious deaths of journalists in Russia who came out against the government there,\" Ms. Tur said. \"Donald Trump has made no secret about going after journalists and his distaste for any news that doesn't agree with him here. Do you find that this is a dangerous path he is heading down?\" So Donald Trump likes to mix it up with reporters and challenge them? So next step is he's going to start killing them? OK, I am not in the least bit concerned about the First Amendment in America with Mr. Trump in the White House. But we are seriously on the precipice of doom if fragile dopes like Katy Tur are our last line of defense. \u2022 Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes. com follow him on Twitter via @charleshurt.","label":0}
{"text":"21st Century Wire says It was an awkward fit of nerves when Donald met Angela During an interview in October 2015, when asked about Chancellor Merkel s open door refugee policy, Trump famously replied, I always thought Merkel was, like, this great leader What she s done in Germany is insane, before adding, They re going to have riots in Germany. This was followed by a number of other disparaging remarks, including the obligatory Twitter rant from then candidate Trump:I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite They picked person who is ruining Germany Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2015It didn t end there either. In March 2016, when commenting on the Cologne New Year s Eve sexual assaults, Trump proceeded to blame Merkel. The German people are going to riot. The German people are going to end up overthrowing this woman [Angela Merkel]. I don t know what the hell she is thinking. With so much bad water under the bridge, it s no wonder how at their press conference the normally bolshy Trump continued to appear sheepish in Merkel s presence a far cry from the campaign trail Vaudeville atmosphere.It s the difference between campaigning and governing READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV","label":1}
{"text":"During an interview on CNN Sunday morning, Jake Tapper pressed Donald Trump hard asking for some shred of evidence that the presumptive Republican frontrunner s claims regarding the Iraq War are true.Trump attempted to position himself against Hillary Clinton s vote in favor of the Iraq War: I have a very strong temperament, but I have a temperament that s totally under control. And [Hillary Clinton] mentions that I ll bring us into war. She s the one that wanted to go into Iraq. She raised her hand. She didn t know what the hell she was doing. She raised her hand. I said, I don t want to go into Iraq. Iraq is going to destabilize the Middle East, and I was 100 percent right, Trump told Tapper.Now, this might actually be a legitimate talking point if this were a normal election and Trump wasn t Trump. However, that is not at all the case. That s why Tapper decided to call out Trump s statement that he was against the Iraq War before it started.Here is a transcript of the exchange:JAKE TAPPER: Can I just say one point on that, I have looked so long and hard for any evidence TRUMP: I ll give it to you. 2004, they had newspaper articles.TAPPER: Right, but the war started in 2003.TRUMP: It did, but you know what, you look at I did an interview with Howard [Stern], and that interview was the first time I was ever asked the question. Don t forget I was an entrepreneur. I m a real estate person.TAPPER: But didn t you say to Howard that you thought it was a good idea?TRUMP: This was before the war started, long before the war started and it was a very, like, I don t know. First, nobody ever asked me the question, when you re do what I did nobody was talking about a lot of the questions that you ask me today, and I was I sort of like, well, I don t know, maybe, I don t know. By the time that started, I was totally against it, and from 2004 on, there s a lot of proof of that, because, as you know, there was articles in magazines, there was a lot of articles.TAPPER: Yeah. A year after the war started.TRUMP: No, no, but I was against it from before it started. And if you go back and look at that interview, and I ll get it for you if you want, but that interview was substantially before the war started. It was the first time I was ever asked the question. And even that, it wasn t like, oh yeah, we should go in. It was a very, like yeah, maybe.TAPPER: The only thing I would say, and then we don t have to belabor this point, is if there is evidence of you being against the war strongly before the war actually started, I would love to see that.TRUMP: OK, but I think there is evidence.TAPPER: I just haven t seen it.TRUMP: I think there is evidence. I haven t been asked that question before. Nobody said that to me before. I think there is evidence, I ll see if I can get it. But I will say, from the beginning of 2004, I mean I ve had articles, and I mean there are magazines TAPPER: 2004 no question.TRUMP: I was against the war a long time ago and it destabilized the Middle East, and that s exactly what I said was going to happen.While the political theater of watching Trump try to back up one of his claims without there being any actual evidence to back his claims is always entertaining, Trump accidently exposed a huge weakness of his in the interview. No one cares what Trump has had to say about anything before this election cycle. His greatest achievement in the political realm until now was his fanning of the flames that was the birther conspiracy theory.No one cared in 2013 what Trump had to say about the Iraq War then. Trump has alleged that the reason that there isn t any evidence of his disapproval of the Iraq War was because no one asked him about it. Who would ask the Trump of 2003 his opinion on any matter of seriousness? He was reality television star. He didn t matter.That being said, if Trump did actually have such strong feelings against the Iraq War, why didn t he bring it up. Trump had the money and social capital to launch a campaign against the Iraq invasion that could have possibly have had an actual impact.Yet he didn t. That s because Trump is a selfish opportunist and taking a stand at the right time in history is not in his nature.You can watch the interview below.https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M5dC2l8j6UUFeatured image from video screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"Twisted reasoning is all that comes from Pelosi these days especially when in 2006 most prominent Democrats voted to build a barrier at the border.Fred Davis and John Ladd are two Arizona ranchers who were guests on Fox and Friends this morning. As ranchers who are living and making a living on our US-Mexico border, they had a very different story to tell viewers. While laughing at claims made by Democrat House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Ladd and Davis talked about how ridiculous her claims were and what the benefits of a real wall on our borders would mean to the actual residents living in the nightmare of illegal immigration.John Ladd was asked if he ever invited Pelosi to the border and he responded to Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy by saying, Yes, but she never responded.","label":1}
{"text":"55 King World News  As we kick off the third week of trading in November, today James Turk spoke with King World News about why what Donald Trump faces is very different from what Ronald Reagan face, but here is the good news\u2026  James Turk: \" Congratulations to Mr Trump. If his presidency is as remarkable as his election, Eric, he could go down in history as a great president. I expect that a lot of things will change because of Trump. That's what voters want\u2026 Sponsored  I've seen polls showing that 70% or more of the electorate believes the country is headed in the wrong direction. A result like that cuts across party lines.  The last time I felt like this about the potential for major systemic change was when Reagan became president in 1981. Coincidentally, a lot of people back then were shocked that Reagan would be president, just like the shock we are seeing today with Trump's victory. I hope that with his performance that Trump confounds his cynics just like Reagan did.  With Reagan the coming systemic changes were pretty obvious because Paul Volcker had already been appointed as Fed chairman and had unsettled the markets by increasing interest rates. That signaled a major inflationary cycle was ending.  The Reagan presidency began a new disinflationary cycle, which lasted until Bush No. 2 took office. Annual increases in monetary debasement once again became measurable, and the gold price began rising in response.  I am not convinced at this time that we are at the end of any cycle, but I nevertheless expect circumstances will indeed be different going forward. My thinking is that the present cycle of monetary debasement is not going to end or even just abate as occurred with Reagan.  The change I expect is the trend of purchasing power erosion will accelerate. Trump of course could change that trend. He is so far making the right statements. Lower taxes and less regulation will indeed improve the economy. A stronger economy will increase tax revenues, which will be needed to fund the infrastructure spending that Trump is promising.  But so far he seems to be ignoring a key issue. The federal government's debt has become so big it is now unmanageable. To illustrate my point, let's take Trump at his word that he is going to control government spending so it doesn't increase the deficit, even though he is going to increase spending for defense and infrastructure. Let's assume that the increased spending in these two areas is covered by higher tax revenue from economic growth, and is therefore neutral to the deficit.  But what if interest rates rise to a more normal 5% as some are predicting?  Let's assume Mr Trump saves money by completely eliminating the Departments of Commerce, Education, Housing and Labor. Then he also eliminates the Environmental Protection Agency, and throws in some other savings by completely eliminating International Assistance Programs, NASA and the National Science Foundation.  Add it all up and Trump saves about $200 billion each year. That's about equal to the additional annual interest expense on the $20 trillion federal government debt if rates rise 1%. So if interest rates rise to 5%, the federal deficits are going to soar. To fund those deficits, the Federal Reserve is going to have to do a lot of money printing, which of course will debase the dollar by eroding its purchasing power.  The important point is that if the Fed hikes rates, then rising interest rates will borrow even more just to pay interest on its debt, which creates a vicious cycle that will ultimately destroy the dollar. But if interest rates stay low, the Fed destroys savers and capitalism because it is eliminating the incentive to save any national currency, which lowers the demand for that currency and in this way too the Fed ultimately destroys the dollar.  So in either scenario, the dollar is toast, but there is a solution\u2026This will be continued tomorrow in part two of James Turk's powerful interview. In the meantime, for those who are interested in hearing more about the gold market and the Trump shocker, KWN has just released gold, more. and you can listen to this extraordinary interview Legend Art Cashin On A Trump Presidency, The New World Order, Gold, Brexit, The Great Depression And Why We Will See Panic","label":1}
{"text":"A U.S. judge on Thursday handed a victory to congressional Republicans who challenged President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, ruling that his administration overstepped its constitutional powers relating to government spending. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, based in Washington, ruled that the administration cannot spend billions of dollars in federal funds to provide subsidies under the law known as Obamacare to private insurers without the approval of Congress. At issue in the case, brought by the Republican-led House of Representatives, are reimbursements to insurance companies to compensate them for reductions that the law requires them to make to customers' out-of-pocket medical payments. The ruling will not have an immediate effect on the law because the judge put the decision on hold pending an expected appeal by the administration. But it adds to uncertainty over the future of Obama's signature domestic policy achievement ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential and congressional elections, including whether enough health insurers will continue to participate in the program. Insurers have sustained losses from their Obamacare business, saying they have not attracted enough healthy customers to offset the costs of sicker members. Two of the largest players, UnitedHealth Group and Humana Inc, had already said they would not offer plans in many markets next year. \"If you're going to lose more money, why participate?\" asked Steve Halper, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets. Shares in hospital operators such as Community Health Systems Inc fell sharply, while insurer stocks including Aetna Inc, which plans to remain in at least 15 Obamacare markets next year, also declined. In court papers, the administration had warned that a court victory for the House Republicans would lead to a spike in insurance premiums for Americans and force the government to pay more in tax credits to insurance policy-holders. As part of an appeal, the administration is likely to press its argument that the House lacks legal standing to sue. \"This suit represents the first time in our nation's history that Congress has been permitted to sue the executive branch over a disagreement about how to interpret a statute,\" White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. \"It's unfortunate that Republicans have resorted to a taxpayer-funded lawsuit to re-fight a political fight that they keep losing,\" Earnest added. \"They've been losing this fight for six years, and they'll lose it again.\" Conservatives have mounted a series of legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act since it was passed by Congress in 2010 over unified Republican opposition. Collyer was appointed to the bench by Republican former President George W. Bush. The law has helped bring insurance coverage to millions of Americans who previously had none, subsidizing the cost of insurance through tax credits. In addition, the federal government helped defray consumers' out-of-pocket costs. The House Republicans argued that the administration's action violated the U.S. Constitution because it is the legislative branch, not the executive branch, that authorizes government spending. \"BIG win for the Constitution,\" House Speaker Paul Ryan wrote on Twitter. Jonathan Turley, the lawyer who spearheaded the lawsuit, in a blog post called the ruling \"a resounding victory not just for Congress but for our constitutional system as a whole.\" The appeals court in Washington may be more receptive to the administration's arguments, in part because seven of its 11 active judges are Democratic-appointees, including four picked by Obama. The case focuses on a cost-sharing provision of Obamacare that requires insurers to reduce deductibles and co-pays. Insurers are supposed to be reimbursed for these costs by the federal government. Cost-sharing is determined by the income of the policyholder and is a mechanism for reducing healthcare costs for lower-income households. The Obama administration has interpreted the provision as a type of federal spending that does not need to be explicitly authorized by Congress. The House Republicans who filed the challenge disagreed. Collyer ruled that the cost-sharing provisions cannot be funded through the same permanent appropriation that covers tax credits made available under the law. The judge rejected the administration's contention that the appropriation should be viewed as permanent because the alternative interpretation would lead to \"absurd economic, fiscal and healthcare policy results.\" The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2015, in a ruling authored by Bush-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts, rejected a conservative challenge that could have gutted Obamacare, upholding nationwide tax subsidies crucial to the law. Roberts also wrote a major 2012 ruling preserving Obamacare.","label":0}
{"text":"An explosion overnight in the southern Swedish town of Helsingborg caused extensive damage to the entrance of a police station, authorities said on Wednesday. Nobody was injured in the explosion, which occurred shortly after midnight local time and also shattered windows in a neighboring building, police said in a statement. It is unclear what caused the detonation, police said. Police said they were carrying out checks in the Helsingborg area but had not made any arrests. Gang-related violent crime in southern Sweden has been in the spotlight in recent years with several shootings in the region.","label":0}
{"text":"Bill Still's 5-minute report :  No colleague I know of, nor I, have objectively verifiable factual information on a possible \"white hat\" recapture of lawful government. That said, what is easy to document and prove: When Americans are told an election is defined by touching a computer screen without a countable receipt that can be verified, they are being told a criminal lie to allow election fraud . This is self-evident, but Princeton , Stanford , and the President of the American Statistical Association are among the leaders pointing to the obvious (and here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here ). Again, no professional would\/can argue an election is legitimate when there is nothing for anyone to count. President Kennedy , Martin King , Robert Kennedy (and here ), and dozens of others were assassinated by the .01% \"Deep State.\" The evidence is overwhelming in each case. The US is a literal rogue state empire led by neocolonial looting liars. The history is uncontested and taught to anyone taking comprehensive courses. If anyone has any refutations of this professional academic factual claim for any of this easy-to-read and documented content , please provide it. US ongoing lie-started and Orwellian-illegal Wars of Aggression require all US military and government to refuse all war orders because there are no lawful orders for obviously unlawful wars. Officers are required to arrest those who issue obviously unlawful orders. And again, those of us working for this area of justice are aware of zero attempts to refute this with, \"War law states (a, b, c), so the wars are legal because (d, e, f).\" All we receive is easy-to-reveal bullshit . And, duh, corporate media are criminally complicit through constant lies of omission and commission to \"cover\" all these crimes. Historic tragic-comic empire is only possible through such straight-face lying, making our Emperor's New Clothes analogy perfectly chosen. The top three benefits each of monetary reform and public banking total ~$1,000,000 for the average American household, and would be received nearly instantly. Please read that twice. Now look to verify for yourself . More on the $2 billion Clinton Foundation giving just 10% of their money to charity. The categories of crime include: Wars of Aggression (the worst crime a nation can commit). Likely treason for lying to US military, ordering unlawful attack and invasions of foreign lands, and causing thousands of US military deaths. Crimes Against Humanity for ongoing intentional policy of poverty that's killed over 400 million human beings just since 1995 (~75% children; more deaths than from all wars in Earth's recorded history).  US military, law enforcement, and all with Oaths to support and defend the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, face an endgame choice: Demand arrests , with those with lawful authority to enact it. An arrest is the lawful action to stop apparent crimes , with the most serious crimes documented here meaning the most serious need for arrests. Watch the US escalate its rogue state crimes that annually kill millions, harm billions, and loot trillions.  In just 90 seconds , former US Marine Ken O'Keefe powerfully states how you may choose to voice \"very obvious solutions\": arrest the criminal leaders (video starts at 20:51, then finishes this episode of Cross Talk ): Solutions worth literal tens of trillions to 'We the People':  Again: The top three benefits each of monetary reform and public banking total ~$1,000,000 for the average American household, and would be received nearly instantly. Please read that twice. Now look to verify for yourself . We can quantify the end of the lie-started and illegal Wars of Aggression quickly into the trillions, and that said, it's worth a lot more than what we quantify. Truth : a world in which education is expressed in its full potential to only and always begin with good-faith effort for objective, comprehensive, and verifiable data.  **  Note: I make all factual assertions as a National Board Certified Teacher of US Government, Economics, and History, with all economics factual claims receiving zero refutation since I began writing in 2008 among Advanced Placement Macroeconomics teachers on our discussion board , public audiences of these articles , and international conferences (and here ). I invite readers to empower their civic voices with the strongest comprehensive facts most important to building a brighter future. I challenge professionals, academics, and citizens to add their voices for the benefit of all Earth's inhabitants.  **  Carl Herman is a National Board Certified Teacher of US Government, Economics, and History; also credentialed in Mathematics. He worked with both US political parties over 18 years and two UN Summits with the citizen's lobby, RESULTS , for US domestic and foreign policy to end poverty. He can be reached at  Note: Examiner.com has blocked public access to my articles on their site (and from other whistleblowers), so some links in my previous work are blocked. If you'd like to search for those articles other sites may have republished, use words from the article title within the blocked link. Or, go to http:\/\/archive.org\/web\/ , p aste the expired link into the box, click \"Browse history,\" then click onto the screenshots of that page for each time it was screen-shot and uploaded to webarchive. I'll update as \"hobby time\" allows; including my earliest work from 2009 to 2011 (blocked author pages: here , here ).  This entry was posted in General . Bookmark the permalink . Not Guilty: The Power of Nullification to Counteract Government Tyranny \u2192 MyWikiDisQus  If Mr.Trump is elected president, he must purge the federal government of the militarists who have usurped the federal republic in the \"soft coup d'etat\" that was perpetrated by them on September 11, 2001. He must be aggressive, firm, and not deterred by any rancor that may rise from legal challenges, the corporate media, civil rights groups and foreign State lobbyists who have a vested interest in the neoconservative polity. He must do what Recep Erdogan did in Turkey but on a larger scale, with the panache that only the \"Donald\" can pull off, American style. He must charge them all with endangering the national and economic security of the United States.  He must open a federal investigation of the coverup of the 9\/11 commission perpetrated by the Clinton and Bush (Bush 41 and Bush 43) regimes and restore the U.S.Department of Justice's reputation as the standard bearer for equal justice under the rule of law. No person is exempt, not a member of the U.S. Congress former or incumbent, member of the United States Military active or retired, Wall Street financier, corporate CEO including the national media or lobbyists for a foreign State. The pursuit of these persons will be ongoing, thorough, and not be restricted by any statute of limitations.  All the illegal wars in foreign lands made in the name of the American people will be reconciled by trial and recompense made to the victims from the assets confiscated by all the accused and their conspirators who are found guilty.  Trump must claim the title of American Paladin, a council member of the new global trust that lays the foundation for peace and well being in the 21st century. Donate","label":1}
{"text":"In 1832, during a performance of \"Richard III\" at the Bowery Theater in Manhattan, 300 boisterous audience members joined the cast onstage to participate in the final sword fight and the slaying of the tyrannical King Richard. According to a newspaper account, \"the audience mingled with the soldiers and raced across the stage\" and during the last duel \"made a ring around the combatants to see fair play, and kept them at it for nearly a quarter of an hour. \" In today's theater, where audience members are admonished to unwrap their candy in advance to avoid making a sound, such a scene is hard to fathom in the theater, it was of a piece (although on the rowdy side of the spectrum) with standard audience behavior. Attending the theater before 1850 or so in the United States was far more akin to attending a football game today than to attending contemporary theater. The audience was expected to make some noise, and as the scene at \"Richard III\" shows, it exercised the right to influence what happened on the stage as well \u2014 not just by buying tickets, but also by speaking up and acting out. People attended the theater to be seen and to be heard. They went to make themselves visible as the \"people\" of a democratic nation, and they went to debate, enact and imagine political issues concerning class relations, immigration, federalism, Indian policy and the future shape of the nation. [ Wherever we fall on the political spectrum, we're going to see our desires and fears reflected in theater ] The vitality of early theater and its history as a place for spirited debate came to mind when Donald J. Trump admonished the cast of \"Hamilton\" on Twitter for addressing Vice Mike Pence at the theater. The cast and creators of \"Hamilton\" have conjured a wildly popular multiracial version of the early United States on the Broadway stage, revising a longstanding image of the white founding fathers in ways that make visible the racial diversity of the nation at its origins and today. And in their recent address, they have also brought us back to a theater in which politics extends off the stage and into the audience. But while the \"Hamilton\" cast spoke directly to the audience from the stage, the audience has historically spoken back as well, and in ways that few are aware of today. Far more so than the voting booth (which restricted who could vote not only on the basis of race and gender, but also on the basis of wealth, meaning only half of white men were eligible to vote in 1800) the theater itself was a place where people of many different classes, races and religions \u2014 including Native Americans, Jews, Muslims, whites and immigrant Irishmen \u2014 appeared onstage and often in the audience as well. In the early 19th century, \"Bowery B'hoys\" in New York City attended the theater in droves and recited Shakespeare by heart \u2014 correcting actors when they missed a line. And although it was officially illegal for (free or enslaved) to attend the theater in late Charleston, S. C. I have found newspaper evidence that significant numbers of regularly attended and were considered an important component of the audience by the performers onstage. Actors addressed the audience, and the audience spoke back: In theaters from Baltimore to Boston, attendees routinely insisted that musicians repeat the songs they loved multiple times, castigated actors who missed lines and questioned casting decisions. Newspaper accounts of theater performance in the 19th century often refer to actors as continuing a play \"in dumb show\": This describes a moment when the actors continue to perform without being heard because crowd noise has drowned out the sound of any lines pronounced by the actors. The audience frequently felt free to substitute its own voice for that of the script being spoken onstage. Theatergoers understood themselves to be part of the performance rather than passive observers of actions occurring onstage. In 1801, Washington Irving wrote of attending the theater in New York City, where he was assaulted by apples, nuts and gingerbread thrown from the \"gallery gods\" \u2014 the people sitting in the cheap seats at the top of balcony \u2014 onto the heads of those in the audience below. Irving was \"a little irritated at being saluted aside of my head with a rotten pippin\" but brushed it off because the assault was not aimed at him in particular. It was, he concluded, the right of the working class to make its presence known to the elite. This was not just unruly behavior. It was democratic performance in action. As one American critic wrote in 1805, \"The public, in the final resort, govern the stage. \" Actors and theater managers were held accountable to a vocal public \u2014 a public that did not vote merely with its feet but with eggs, rotten apples, peanut shells, pumpkins and even, according to one account, the occasional sheep carcass that was tossed onstage. Debate was allowed \u2014 between sections of the audience and between the audience and the actors \u2014 because the audience was understood to be a reflection of a diverse public, a public that had space to cheer, jeer, sing and debate together. The theater is no longer that space for the most part, audiences now sit in the dark and assume the role of private consumers, not that of representatives of the people. And tickets to the theater \u2014 especially in the case of a Broadway megahit like \"Hamilton\" \u2014 are so expensive that the sort of class contention played out upon Irving's head would no longer be imaginable only the wealthy can pay the full price of admission. But when Brandon Victor Dixon, a \"Hamilton\" cast member, urged Mr. Pence to embrace an inclusive version of the American people, he brought the theater of the founding period vividly to life. Speaking on behalf of his fellow actors and the show's creators, he crossed the line between actor and audience, not to harass Mr. Pence, but to use the public space of theater to debate the ideal nature of that public, just as audience members routinely did in the days when Hamilton himself attended the theater. This is the longstanding and perhaps too rarely used promise of live theater \u2014 a promise realized in dialogue and debate over the collective creation of a community through living presence and theatrical representation. Mr. Trump has called upon the cast to apologize, but in doing so, he is closing a democratic opening \u2014 an open stage where people have historically found a place for their voices to be heard in counterpoint and chorus, even when their voices did not count at the ballot box. Far from demanding an apology, we might want to thank the cast of \"Hamilton\" for reminding us of the history of public debate and live, messy democracy in the theater and for reminding us that theater and performance are powerful resources for embodying and imagining community together.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday assailed what he said were illegal and \"criminal\" leaks from U.S. intelligence agencies in the controversy over contacts with Russian officials that forced his national security adviser Michael Flynn to resign. Speaking at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump called Flynn a \"wonderful man\" and added: \"I think it's very, very unfair what's happened to General Flynn, the way he was treated, and the documents and papers that were illegally, I stress that, illegally leaked.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Thank goodness someone is closing down the free-for all that s been happening with immigration for way too long! Did you know we let 50k diversity lottery winners come to America every year just because some government bureaucrat decided we needed more diversity. Oy vey! This lottery has gotten to be scam whereby favored people are given preference to immigrate. It needs to end NOW!Sen. Tom Cotton and Georgia Sen. David Perdue have started taking steps to crack down on legal immigration, a focus shared by the Trump administration. They ll formally propose legislation on the matter as soon as today. The details:1.Eliminates multiple avenues for U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor family members for green cards. Chain migration is out of control! It means a family comes and then is allowed to bring other family members increasing the immigration numbers tremendously! This must end!2. Gets rid of the diversity visa lottery, which allots 50k visas per year for citizens of countries with low levels of immigration to the U.S.3. Restricts the number of refugees allowed into the country to 50k annually similar to rates outlined in Trump s travel ban. We believe 50k is still way too high! 4. If approved, the number of legal immigrants allowed into the U.S. under the bill would plummet by 40% in the first year and by 50% over the next 10 years, according to Cotton s aides.","label":1}
{"text":"Protesters campaigning against Sharia Law were met with a number of on Saturday, as rallies took place in 28 cities across America. [The rallies, which were organized by the national security organization ACT! for America, attracted strong support in cities such as Phoenix, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, New York, Boston, and Seattle. Sharia is the law of Islam, which governs how Muslims pray, eat, establish families, and all aspects of a Muslim's life. The rules of sharia come from Quranic commandments and the hadiths, a collection of sayings of Muhammad. Sharia significantly restricts the freedom of women and allows for extreme punishments for violations such as adultery, blasphemy, and apostasy. Sharia is the basis of laws in Islamic countries, both Sunni and Shia. A press release from the ACT! for America website reads: This is a march against Sharia law and for human rights. Our nation is built on the freedom of religion \u2014 a pillar of our democracy \u2014 which we must always respect, protect, and honor. However many aspects of Sharia law run contrary to basic human rights and are completely incompatible with our laws and our democratic values. However, many marches were disrupted by who accused participants of \"Islamaphobia\" and stoking hatred against Muslims. #MuslimsAreWelcomedHere being chanted pic. twitter. \u2014 Dan Renzetti (@DanRenzetti) June 10, 2017, In Seattle, protesters could be heard singing: \"No hate, no fear, Muslims are welcome here,\" as footage showed the two groups involved in a physical altercation. ANTIFA JUST BEATDOWN A TRUMP SUPPORTER. HUGE WILD BRAWL. BATTLE IN SEATTLE! !!! pic. twitter. \u2014 Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) June 10, 2017, In New York, protesters attempted to drown out the chanting of the march by sounding air horns and banging pots and pans. Video footage from the event showed protesters launch urine towards Canadian conservative journalist Lauren Southern. Here's the moment #antifa threw pee at Lauren Southern as I was trying to interview her pic. twitter. \u2014 Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) June 10, 2017, \"Out of nowhere liquid was splashed onto my face from one of the masked individuals in the crowd. It got all in my eyes and over my face and totally reeked. The first two seconds were a little horrifying because I wasn't sure if it was an acid attack,\" Southern told Breitbart News. Several people were arrested after fights broke out at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, although nobody was injured, according to local reports. Fights break out during \"anti sharia\" march, counterprotest at Minnesota State Capitol https: . Photos: @floresliz12 pic. twitter. \u2014 Star Tribune (@StarTribune) June 10, 2017, According to Reuters, there was a heavy police presence at the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg, as barricades and police mounted on horses separated two groups of approximately 60 protesters. were reportedly \"dressed in black masks and hoods\" and could be heard chanting, \"No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA. '\" On Friday, 129 national and local organizations signed a letter urging city mayors to condemn the marches, emphasizing the fact they take place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com, This article has been edited since publication.","label":0}
{"text":"After Netflix CEO Reed Hastings dismissed net neutrality as an issue that was only important to \"the Netflix of ten years ago\" at a conference two weeks ago, the company's Twitter account sent out a tweet claiming they would \"never outgrow\" the cause. [The tweet linked to BattleForTheNet. com, a site dedicated to a \"Day of Action\" on July 12th where multiple companies will protest against efforts by the FCC to roll back their current rulings on neutrality online. Netflix will never outgrow the fight for #NetNeutrality. Everyone deserves an open Internet. https: . \u2014 Netflix US (@netflix) June 15, 2017, Netflix joins the already growing list of companies and groups that are part of the effort, including Amazon, Reddit, Etsy, Kickstart, and GitHub. This is in contrast to the comments made by Hastings at Recode's Code Conference last month. Hastings claimed that Netflix is too big a company to bother with issues like net neutrality that wouldn't greatly affect them anymore: It's not our primary battle at this point. Other people it is, and that's an important thing, and we're supportive through the industry association, but I think you're right that we don't have the special vulnerability to it. We had to carry the water when we were growing up and we were small. Now other companies need to be on that leading edge. Jack Hadfield is a student at the University of Warwick and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can like his page on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @ToryBastard_ or on Gab @JH.","label":0}
{"text":"Two women accused of murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with a banned nerve agent pleaded not guilty at the start of a high-profile murder trial in a Malaysian court on Monday. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, a Vietnamese, are charged with killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations, at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. Both women wore bullet-proof vests as they were led into the court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. They face the death penalty if convicted. Police have also named four North Koreans as suspects in the case and an Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, has been issued for the North Koreans, who remain at large. Defence lawyers demanded that the prosecution immediately name the four other suspects, who have also been charged, so they can prepare their case. The charge must be clear, said Siti Aisyah s lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng. Judge Azmi Ariffin dismissed their request. The two women nodded their heads when the charges were read out by two interpreters. They pleaded not guilty. The prosecution said the women s actions showed intent to kill the victim by smearing his face and eyes with VX nerve agent, which a Malaysian post-mortem confirmed had killed Kim. The women told their lawyers they did not know they were participating in a deadly attack and believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV show. The prank practice carried out by the first and second accused with the supervision of the four who are still at large was preparation to see through their common intention to kill the victim, lead prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said in his opening statement. The two women sat quietly in the packed courtroom. Siti was dressed in a black floral suit, while Huong wore a white long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. Juliana Idris, who works at the airport, told the court a man later identified as Kim Jong Nam approached her and asked her to take him to a police station. She said the man, who spoke English, told her he had been attacked by a woman from behind ... another one closed his eyes . His hands were shaking a bit, I don t know why, she said. Police Lance Corporal Mohd Zulkarnain Sanudin, who was on duty at the airport, said Juliana had brought Kim Jong Nam to him. He said Kim told him a substance had been wiped on his face. Kim s eyes were red and he could see some liquid on his face, Zulkarnain said. He also said the he had wrongly recorded Kim Jong Nam s nationality as South Korean. The police report I made showed the nationality as South Korean, while on the passport, it was written DPR Korea, whereby I did not know what DPR meant. I was only sure that Korea was South Korea, he told the court. DPRK are the initials for North Korea s official name, the Democratic Republic of North Korea. Other witnesses described how Kim Jong Nam had seizures at the clinic - his eyes rolled upwards and there was drooling of saliva and mucus. Rabiatul Adawiyah Mohd Sofi, a medical assistant, said Kim Jong Nam was at the clinic for just over an hour and moved to a hospital. By the time they arrived at the hospital emergency ward, they could not get a blood pressure reading, she said. There was a high probability that there was either a problem with our monitor or the patient had died, said Rabiatul. The case continues on Tuesday.","label":0}
{"text":"House Republicans have taken their first step towards repealing Obamacare, and that step opens the door for them to work toward full repeal within months. They say they ve built a fail-safe in to protect those who may otherwise lose their insurance while they continue dilly-dallying on coming up with an actual replacement delaying implementation of the repeal so they have time to develop their replacement (because the last six years apparently wasn t enough time).Here s a secret: Those people will probably lose their insurance anyway.And not just for the reasons we already know. One massive problem that s not really getting discussed is that Republicans repeal and delay tactic creates too much market uncertainty for risk-based insurance. Republicans have been sowing the seeds of uncertainty for a long time, and they re one of the big reasons insurers like United Healthcare began pulling out of the exchanges despite still raking in billions in net profits.J.B. Silvers, a former health insurance CEO, first explains this while describing the risk corridor program, which was supposed to help offset the risks insurers took when enrolling high-risk people in their programs. He then says: But when the time came to pay up for risk reduction in the Obamacare exchanges, Congress reneged and paid only 12 percent of what was owed to the insurers. So, on top of the fact that the companies had to bear the risk of unknown costs and utilization in the start-up years, which turned out to be higher than they expected, insurers had to absorb legislative uncertainty of whether the rules would be rewritten. He s talking about the payments that were supposed to go out for 2014, after Republicans regained control of both houses of Congress. Insurers risk corridor claims were much higher than their contributions. For FY2015, Congress stipulated that risk corridor payments under Obamacare could not exceed the amount that insurers owed to the program. Thus, they only got 12 percent of what they believe they were promised.Or, to put it another way, they were playing by one set of rules, and then Congress abruptly changed those rules.Now, we can argue till we re blue in the face whether insurers, Congress, Obamacare, or all of them, are responsible for that problem. It won t change the cold, hard fact that Republicans have been working hard on creating uncertainty in the market, and their repeal-with-no-replacement plan just makes that uncertainty much worse.It s worth noting that that s a big reason for why premiums are going up this year, too.So, as Silvers says: And now comes the reality of the repeal and replace initiatives from the Republicans. If the uncertainty of this market was large before with the ACA, it is almost unknowable under whatever comes next. Thus the initial exit of some latecomers, including United Healthcare, and undercapitalized minor entrants, such as nonprofit co-ops, is almost certain to become a flood of firms leaving the exchanges. They have little choice since the risks are too large and the actuarially appropriate rates are still not obvious given the political turmoil and changing rules If we want them to continue to do the good things required by the ACA, we can t make it so uncertain. What this means is that the mechanisms designed to reduce risk and a stable set of operating arrangements must be reaffirmed as core principles of all reform and replace efforts. This shouldn t be hard for market-oriented Republicans, if they can leave behind their political baggage. Blind talk of repeal with no clear way to build confidence among the private insurers, which will be needed in the replace phase, leads to market failure. In short, their idea of a fool-proof repeal is going to backfire horrifically on them. While that might seem like something we can laugh at, it isn t, because millions of Americans will become collateral damage in this mess. Good job, GOP.Featured image by Win McNamee via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"China s Communist Party opened a meeting on Wednesday to make final preparations for a key party congress later this month, state media said, a five-yearly event where President Xi Jinping is expected to further tighten his grip on power. The seventh plenary session of the party s Central Committee will review draft reports on the work of the party, its discipline and anti-corruption commission, and amendments to be made to the party s constitution, all of which will be delivered at the 19th Party Congress that opens on Oct. 18, the official Xinhua news agency said. The congress will summarize historical progress and precious experiences in advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics gained with Xi at the party s core, Xinhua said. The congress will also thoroughly examine the current international and domestic situation and draw out guidelines and policies that respond to the call of the times, the news agency said, without giving specifics. Details of the speech that Xi, the party s general secretary, will give at the opening session of the congress are closely guarded secrets, although the event is more about ideology than concrete policies. It is unclear how long the plenum will last, but it could be just a single day. It will end with a long communique, issued by Xinhua, that is usually full of party phraseology but could be short on specifics. Last October, the party gave Xi the title of core leader, a significant strengthening of his position ahead of the congress, at which a new Standing Committee, the pinnacle of power in China, will be constituted. The party s constitution will be amended at the end of the congress, likely to include a reference to Xi s thinking or ideology as a guiding party principle. Mao Zedong and the reformist former leader Deng Xiaoping already have their names enshrined in the document, although Xi s two immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, do not.","label":0}
{"text":"Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the success of the Syrian ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia depends on whether Moscow decides it is in its interest to follow through with the agreement. \"Whether or not this works is really up to the Russians,\" Clinton told reporters after addressing a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. \"It is up to whether or not Vladimir Putin decides that it's time to do what the Russians can do to bring this conflict into a period where there can be the beginning of political discussions, a hoped-for protective zone for people who are under relentless assault form the air, and a commitment to going after the terrorist groups that pose a threat to everyone.\"","label":0}
{"text":"When Theresa May visits Brussels on Friday, EU negotiators will be listening intently for signs the British prime minister is preparing to risk a domestic backlash and raise her offer to secure a Brexit deal in December. European Union officials and diplomats from the other 27 member states involved in the process hope that within a week to 10 days of meeting European Council President Donald Tusk, during a summit with ex-Soviet neighbors, May will deliver movement on three key conditions so that her EU peers can launch a new phase of Brexit negotiations when they meet on Dec. 14-15. I don t know what room for maneuver May has, but what we can see is a willingness to act, one senior EU official told Reuters. Another spoke of efforts to arrange the choreography of a deal over the next three weeks, including an EU-UK joint report pinning down interim accords to unlock talks on trade. I feel the tectonic plates moving now, a diplomat handling Brexit for an EU government said. Time is running out and a failure in the December Council would serve nobody s purpose. There has been only a day of top-level talks between the two lead negotiators since a mid-October summit that dismissed May s call for immediate talks on a future trade agreement. But talks are continuing apace behind the scenes, ahead of a deadline of early December to strike a deal which can then be formalized by the 27 government leaders at the summit. Everyone is talking to everyone already, at all levels, the European Commission s chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters on Thursday when he confirmed that May would meet Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday, Dec. 4. That is two days before envoys from the 27 meet on Dec. 6 to discuss a first draft of the Dec. 14-15 summit conclusions, including, crucially, whether the leaders should accept Britain has made sufficient progress to merit opening trade talks. Hopes in Brussels have been raised by reports in British media that May has secured backing from pro-Brexit hardliners in her cabinet to increase the amount of a financial settlement of what Britain owes to the Union when it leaves in March 2019. If there is a political willingness in Britain, we should be ready, a senior EU official said, while warning that nothing was being taken for granted. May s room for maneuver to cut a deal that would please business while irritating Britons who want a sharper break with Brussels is limited. And Germany and France, the Union s lead powers, have taken a tough line so far. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel distracted at home by a search for a new coalition, May can expect little focus from her to help smooth a deal, several diplomats said. Some in Britain have suggested May could take advantage of Merkel s weakness at home to drive a harder bargain. But EU diplomats argue that Merkel s troubles make it harder for her, and so for the 27, to water down their existing demands. So any brinkmanship around the summit could mean no deal in December. That would create some kind of crisis in negotiations, the second EU official said, noting that time was already short to complete a treaty by late next year to ensure an orderly Brexit. But maybe that is necessary. The sides already believe they are quite close on agreeing the scope of rights for expatriate citizens in Britain and on the continent, though the EU will be particularly looking to pin Britain down to accepting its demands that any agreement be subject to enforcement through the Union s legal system. The third key criterion for moving to Phase Two, an outline agreement on how to avoid the new EU-UK land border disrupting the peace in Northern Ireland, remains a potential stumbling block. Differences of opinion between London and Dublin have been marked this month, worrying EU officials. However, it is the financial settlement that has been the most concerning for the past few months. Officials believe that could be resolved by a combination of May stating clearly that Britain will pay a share after leaving of two major EU budget lines, staff pensions and agreed but undisbursed spending. British press reports, seen in Brussels as planted leaks from May, suggesting she might offer to pay something like 40 billion pounds ($53 billion) have encouraged EU negotiators. While that is well short of the 60 billion euros ($71 billion) the European Commission has mentioned, that was always seen by EU officials as a maximum demand. And they are willing, they say, to help May massage the public messaging of the amount in order to limit the political flak she takes at home. On presentational issues, Barnier is ready to help, not to call things by their real name, an EU official said.","label":0}
{"text":"Former President George W. Bush reportedly ripped into Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at a weekend gathering of donors to his brother's presidential campaign, according to a published report Monday. Politico reported that Bush said of Cruz, \"I just don't like the guy,\" at the event, which was held Sunday night in Denver. According to the report, which cited at least six donors who were at the event, Bush said he did not like Cruz's de facto alliance with Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who has notably spared Cruz from the criticism he has ladled onto other members of the 15-candidate Republican field. \"He said he found it 'opportunistic' that Cruz was sucking up to Trump and just expecting all of his support to come to him in the end,\" one donor told Politico when asked to describe Bush's remarks about Cruz. The report added that the former president had been engaging with amiable discussions about the state of the GOP race when Cruz's name came up. \"I was like, 'Holy s---, did he just say that?'\" the donor told Politico. \"I remember looking around and seeing that other people were also looking around surprised.\" The report also said that Bush warned the donors to not underestimate Cruz's strength in the South and in Texas, where his message of religious liberty is expected to play very well with voters. Cruz, in a written statement put out by the campaign on Tuesday, said he would not be \"reciprocating\" after the comments. \"I have great respect for George W. Bush, and was proud to work on his 2000 campaign and in his administration,\" he said in the statement. \"It's no surprise that President Bush is supporting his brother and attacking the candidates he believes pose a threat to his campaign. I have no intention of reciprocating. I met my wife Heidi working on his campaign, and so I will always be grateful to him.\" Freddy Ford, a spokesman for George W. Bush, did not deny that the former president had made the disparaging remarks about Cruz when asked to comment by Politico. \"The first words out of President Bush's mouth [Sunday] were that Jeb is going to earn the nomination, win the election, and be a great President ... He does not view Senator Cruz as Governor Bush's most serious rival.\" Ford denied further requests by Fox News to address Bush's reported \"I just don't like the guy\" remark. Cruz joined George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser and helped put together the legal team that argued Bush v. Gore before the Supreme Court in the aftermath of the controversial election. He later served as an associate deputy attorney general in the Justice Department before becoming Solicitor General of Texas in 2003. Click for more from Politico. Fox News' Mike Emanuel and Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.","label":0}
{"text":"About 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State militants have been moved to a new site north of Mosul, Iraqi authorities confirmed on Monday, dismissing the concerns of aid organizations, who were not warned about the move. They were transported to a safe location with better services, in Tal Keif, under the supervision of the Iraqi forces and specialized committees, said an Iraqi military statement. Foreign aid officials in Iraq said on Sunday they were gravely concerned about the families, who had been held by Iraq since Aug. 30 in the Hammam al-Alil transit camp, south of Mosul. These women and children are extremely vulnerable. Regardless of what their family members may be accused of, they have a right to protection and assistance, the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement on Monday. None of the aid groups supporting the families at the camp, including the United Nations, were told in advance about the move, according to the NRC spokeswoman in Iraq, Melany Markham. The women and children were put on buses and taken away, with many leaving personal belongings behind. Aid officials are asking the Iraqi authorities for unfettered access to the families and calling on foreign governments to act quickly on behalf of their citizens. Humanitarian organizations and representatives from their home countries should be allowed to offer to them help, the NRC said. More than 300 of the families came from Turkey, many others from former Soviet states, such as Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Russia, according to preliminary figures from the Iraqi army. Efforts to determine the nationalities of the families continued, said Laila Ali, a spokeswoman for Unicef said. Thereafter, the family tracing and repatriation process is expected to begin. Most of the families had fled to Tal Afar after Iraqi troops pushed Islamic State out of Mosul. Iraqi forces retook Tal Afar, a city of predominantly ethnic Turkmen that produced some of Islamic State s senior commanders, last month. It is the largest group of foreigners linked to Islamic State to be held by Iraqi forces since they began driving the militants from Mosul and other areas in northern Iraq last year, an aid official said. Thousands of foreigners have been fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.","label":0}
{"text":"Many people observe Black History Month by learning about important African-American figures in our nation s history or otherwise doing something that isn t horrible then there are Republicans, who have their own ways to celebrate.Donald Trump spent Wednesday hanging out with all the black people he has paid and bribed to like him and having them shower him with compliments. While treating African-Americans as nothing more than subservient praise machines is, oh, let s just say bad, The Donald s friends on the Senate Judiciary Committee spent the early part of theirconfirming lifelong opponent of civil rights Jeff Sessions day as Attorney General (every Democrat voted against him).Sessions confirmation especially on Wednesday or any day during Black History Month was a slap in the face to African-Americans and all who care about equal rights in this country. Many have criticized Republicans for their decision to consider Sessions who was once deemed too racist to be a federal judge because he threw the n-word around and liked calling African-Americans boy at all, but the GOP was perfectly happy to push his nomination through.Following Sessions ascension to a post that, to use terms familiar to him, is just below Grand Wizard, Rep. Barbara Lee took to Twitter to put Trump and his GOP Klavern on blast. Trump says he s honoring #BlackHistoryMonth How? By nominating Jeff Sessions as AG? Or by promoting alt-right leader Steve Bannon? she wrote in one tweet, adding that The Donald is paying lip service to Black History Month while propping up racist Sessions and longtime white supremacist Steve Bannon and their ideas.Trump says he s honoring #BlackHistoryMonth. How? By nominating Jeff Sessions as AG? Or by promoting alt-right leader Steve Bannon? Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017Here s an idea @POTUS : Instead of offering lip service this #BlackHistoryMonth, why not work with @OfficialCBC to end systematic racism? Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017 If you truly want to honor Black History Month, she tells Trump, you should start by apologizing to civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis, whom Trump attacked repeatedly for the entire weekend preceding Martin Luther King Day.President Trump: if you truly want to honor #BlackHistoryMonth, you should start by apologizing to civil rights hero @repjohnlewis. Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017 On 1st day of #BlackHistoryMonth, GOP Senators on Judiciary voted unanimously for Jeff Sessions AG nomination. This is a slap in the face, she added.On 1st day of #BlackHistoryMonth, GOP Senators on Judiciary voted unanimously for Jeff Sessions AG nomination. This is a slap in the face. Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 1, 2017This is a slap in the face to African-Americans, but we can not expect Trump or his GOP cronies to do anything for African-Americans at all, let alone apologize for the attacks on Lewis or fight any kind of racism. In fact, the man they just confirmed as AG is more likely to continue the GOP s mission of eroding African-Americans civil rights while promoting his and Donald Trump s white supremacist agenda.","label":1}
{"text":"The Supreme Court on Monday decided that Oklahoma may continue the use of the controversial sedative midazolam for lethal injections \u2014 even after the drug was linked to several botched executions in 2014. The Supreme Court case dealt with the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. The Lockett execution, which took 43 minutes after experimental lethal injection drugs were administered, led four inmates \u2014 one of whom was executed before the Supreme Court decided the issue \u2014 to file a lawsuit challenging Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol. The Supreme Court ultimately decided the botched execution, along with other evidence, wasn't adequate proof that midazolam was cruel and unusual punishment. But Oklahoma didn't always use midazolam for executions. The use of the controversial sedative is actually a response to an ongoing lethal injection drug shortage, which has left the future of the death penalty unclear in Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and the 29 other states where executions are legal, and added a new angle to the perennial debate about the morality and effectiveness of capital punishment. Over the past few years, a shortage of sodium thiopental, a key drug in lethal injections, has left states scrambling for alternative ways to execute prisoners and has inspired some to shroud the process in secrecy. The shortage began around 2010, when drug suppliers around the world, including in the US, began refusing to supply drugs for the injections \u2014 out of either opposition to the death penalty or concerns about having their products associated with executions. \"The drugs were being cut off right and left,\" Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert at Fordham University, said. \"The drugs were being cut off right and left\" Hospira Inc. was the sole US supplier of sodium thiopental, according to Denno. But Hospira stopped producing the drug in 2011, after struggling to procure active ingredients for its production and fielding legal threats from authorities in Italy, where the death penalty is vehemently opposed. Some states still managed to import sodium thiopental from shadier overseas sources. But beginning in 2012, the US District Court of the District of Columbia issued several rulings banning imports of the drugs, deciding that the imported supplies didn't meet FDA regulations. As the shortage continued, states turned to other European companies for alternative drugs, such as phenobarbital and propofol, that are typically used as sedatives for surgeries. But these companies \u2014 under pressure from a European Union export ban, activists like Reprieve, and foreign governments that prohibit the death penalty \u2014 over time refused to supply the drugs. As these companies either stopped supplying drugs or were unable to export to the US, states began to look for new \u2014 and sometimes untested \u2014 ways to execute prisoners. With pharmaceutical companies out of the picture, states resorted to compounding pharmacies to make the drugs, which until now escaped most regulations since they did small, mostly out-of-sight transactions with individuals, not major customers. The US-based pharmacies began to produce experimental, sometimes secretive cocktails for states' executions. Compounding pharmacies were originally meant to make custom drugs for individual people, not major buyers like state governments, Denno said. As a result, their drug cocktails can often be very shoddy \u2014 Georgia stopped an execution because its lethal injection drug was \"cloudy\" \u2014 and have been decried as experimental and dangerous by civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union. But even compounding pharmacies may soon stop providing execution drugs to states. The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists on March 24 announced that it \"discourages its members from participating in the preparation, dispensing, or distribution of compounded medications for use in legally authorized executions.\" Producing lethal injection drugs \"is only going to invite further scrutiny\" The stance may be a way for compounding pharmacies, which are largely unregulated, to avoid the extra regulatory scrutiny that can come with producing lethal injection drugs. \"These compounding pharmacies already have enough of a [public relations] issue,\" Denno said. Massachusetts, for instance, in 2014 passed a law cracking down on compounding pharmacies after a local company's drugs were implicated in the deaths of more than 60 people. Producing lethal injection drugs, Denno said, \"is only going to invite further scrutiny.\" But instead of stepping up regulations, some death penalty states have adopted measures to shield compounding pharmacies that provide lethal drugs from outside scrutiny. In December, Ohio passed a law that will keep suppliers of lethal drug injections anonymous. John Murphy, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which supports the law, said last December that the changes are not meant to make the execution process more secretive. \"This just protects the identity of the people involved so they don't get harassed, intimidated, or attacked,\" he said. The drug shortage hasn't only led to concerns about market forces, regulations, and supply and demand. It's also raised important constitutional questions about cruel and unusual punishment, as the shortage has led some states to try experimental and unpredictable drugs for executions. Since 2014, there have been several high-profile botched executions \u2014 described in gruesome detail in the press \u2014 all of which have involved secretive, experimental uses of midazolam. Here are some of the cases: These botched executions drew criticism and put an unwanted spotlight on the use of experimental lethal drugs, which critics say is a violation of constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Some states, including Ohio and Oklahoma, have delayed further executions as they review their practices. Denno expects these problems to continue as states struggle to replace superior drugs like sodium thiopental. \"Every time a state changes to a new drug, it introduces a degree of uncertainty,\" Denno said. \"These drugs aren't the first choice.\" Botched executions have been around as long the death penalty. About 7 percent of lethal injections and 3 percent of all executions between 1890 and 2010 were botched, according to Austin Sarat's Gruesome Spectacles. Part of the reason states began using lethal injection drugs is because the previously preferred method of execution for many states, electrocution, often had horrifying results, including the eruption of burned flesh and even live fires as prisoners gasped for air and slowly died. \"We have really incompetent people doing this\" But lethal injections carry problems beyond the drugs used for the procedures that may make them even more prone to being bungled. For one, most doctors \u2014 who are likely the most qualified to administer the deadly drugs \u2014 won't participate in executions because administering a deadly drug to kill someone would violate professional ethics. In 2010, the American Board of Anesthesiologists voted to revoke the certification of any member who participates in executing a prisoner. As a result, states aren't typically able to bring in the best-trained doctors, particularly anesthesiologists, to administer drugs that are very dangerous when mishandled. \"We have really incompetent people doing this,\" Denno said. Perhaps as a result, lethal injection has always been one of the riskier forms of execution \u2014 even before the drug shortage forced states to experiment with alternative substances. In Oklahoma, the doctor and paramedic who participated in Clayton Lockett's botched execution said they received no training, the AP's Sean Murphy reported. The execution team administered needles that weren't long enough for the procedure, and caused what a state official called a \"bloody mess\" when the doctor tried to set an IV line in Lockett's groin and blood gushed out. In addition to physically botching an execution, it's always possible the state will execute an innocent person. An April 2014 study published in PNAS, a scientific journal, suggested that at least 4 percent of people sentenced to death in the US are likely innocent. At least six people were exonerated of death sentences in 2014, according to a January report from the National Registry of Exonerations. So far, Denno of Fordham University has tracked three states that are moving toward alternatives to lethal injection should they run out of drugs. Tennessee reinstated the possibility of the electric chair, Utah has allowed the firing squad again, and Oklahoma has permitted nitrogen gas. These methods of executions were largely abandoned 50 years ago. After the Supreme Court forced states in 1972 to reform their execution procedures to be less racially discriminatory, states began mostly using lethal injections, as this fantastic chart posted by John West at Quartz shows: States could potentially seek out different drugs to continue using lethal injections and avoid execution methods that are widely seen as more gruesome. But states are also likely wary of repeating the same problems they've experienced with the current batch of drugs. \"The same thing is going to happen,\" Denno said. \"This has been a cycle: every time states have tried to do it, they've been cut off.\" But many of the methods of execution that don't involve injected drugs have major problems. Denno predicted gas executions will likely turn into \"a disaster.\" She said gas has the same issues as lethal injection drugs: it's unclear where states would get the chemicals required for the executions, and whatever chemicals are used may not be suitable for a quick, relatively painless death. It also recalls ghastly memories of World War II, when the Nazis used gas chambers to kill prisoners in death camps. The firing squad is \"the quickest, the surest, and you have trained executioners to do it\" Electrocution and hanging were abandoned in the first place because they often resulted in botched executions. Electrocutions caused burned skin or live fires during multiple executions, and hangings could go very wrong when the rope broke or the prisoner was decapitated. Both can also take longer than 10 minutes to kill a prisoner. Denno argued the firing squad may turn out to be the most humane of the available options, even above lethal injections. \"It's the quickest, the surest, and you have trained executioners to do it,\" she said. Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center said states are dealing with the reality that there's no humane way of killing someone. \"All the methods of execution have problems,\" Dunham said. \"The involuntary termination of another person's life by execution is an inherently violent act.\" Of course, states may be able to come up with another method entirely \u2014 or repeal the death penalty altogether. But at least for now, states appear to be sticking to the traditional ways of executing prisoners. Capital punishment persists through drug shortages and botched executions because it still has strong public support in the US, which puts pressure on lawmakers to find alternatives to lethal injection drugs rather than abolishing the death penalty in the 32 states where it's still legal. America's support for the death penalty stands in sharp contrast with Europe, where only Belarus, a pro-Moscow dictatorship, still allows capital punishment. An October 2014 Gallup poll found 63 percent of Americans support the death penalty, while 33 percent oppose it. Support for the death penalty gets a little more complicated when Americans are asked about specific methods of execution. An NBC News poll from May 2014 found nearly two-thirds of voters support alternatives to lethal injection if the needle isn't an option. But most US adults told YouGov in a February 2015 survey that the gas chamber, electric chair, firing squad, hanging, and beheading are cruel and unusual punishment, while lethal injection isn't. Support for the death penalty also varies from state to state. Executions are much more culturally and legally ingrained in the South and, to a lesser extent, the West than in the rest of the country. Eighteen states have abolished the death penalty, most of which are in the Northeast and Midwest, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. So while popular support generally pressures lawmakers to find alternatives to lethal injections, that's not necessarily true in all parts of the country, and most US adults don't appear to support all methods of execution. Regardless of what lawmakers do, the number of executions has been dropping for years. A report from the Death Penalty Information Center found the number of executions hit a 20-year low in 2014. But even if that's the case, the death penalty as a whole remains very popular and culturally ingrained in the US \u2014 and that's led states to seek alternatives like experimental drugs, the firing squad, and nitrogen gas rather than abolishing executions altogether.","label":0}
{"text":"Ever wonder what's on the mind of today's most notable people? Well, don't miss our unbelievable roundup of the best and most talked about quotes of the day: \" Toads are dry and frogs are wet. What more do I have to say? \" \u2014Bindi Irwin On telling frogs and toads apart \" When I was in college, I would sometimes run around campus and frantically shout for everyone to go to the river because someone was drowning. It would really get people's attention, and we'd all run to the river. Then in the middle of the river would be a big box with the word 'SOCIETY' written on the side of it that I had planted there. I'd then look at everyone and go 'What are you going to do?' \" \u2014Moby On why he was kicked out of school \" When I was a kid, my father would point to our television and say, 'Son, one day you are going to be inside of that thing telling everyone about the latest Bruno Mars dance.' \" \u2014Willie Geist","label":1}
{"text":"World War 3 is on the Horizon 10\/30\/2016 In today's mini-doc, we explain the implications of the U.S. Election and why World War 3 is on the Horizon. 10\/27\/2016 TRUTH REVOLT http:\/\/youtu.be\/PsVNKmb6jEc There's a lot of accusations going around that the 2016 election is r ... Netflix Ceo: TV's Future includes Hallucination Pills 10\/27\/2016 INDEPENDENT The future of TV might everyone taking hallucinogenic drugs, according to the head of Netflix. The thr ...","label":1}
{"text":"Tweet Home \u00bb Headlines \u00bb World News \u00bb Get Ready For Civil Unrest: Most Americans Are Concerned About Election Violence  There is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. Voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, it may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.  From Michael Snyder :  Could we see violence no matter who wins on November 8th? Let's hope that it doesn't happen, but as you will see below, anti-Trump violence is already sweeping the nation. If Trump were to actually win the election, that would likely send the radical left into a violent post-election temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before.  Alternatively, there is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. And as I showed yesterday, it appears that voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, that also may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.  At this moment there is less than two weeks to go until November 8th, and a brand new survey has found that a majority of Americans are concerned \"about the possibility of violence\" on election day\u2026  A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; one in five are \"very concerned.\" Three of four say they have confidence that the United States will have the peaceful transfer of power that has marked American democracy for more than 200 years, but just 40% say they are \"very confident\" about that.  More than four in 10 of Trump supporters say they won't recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn't have won fair and square.  But many on the left are not waiting until after the election to commit acts of violence. On Wednesday, Donald Trump's star on the Walk of Fame was smashed into pieces by a man with a sledgehammer and a pick-ax\u2026  Donald Trump took a lot of hits today, and not just in the Presidential race. With less than two weeks to go before America decides if the ex- Apprentice host will pull off a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Famewas destroyed early Wednesday morning by a man dressed as a city construction worker and wielding a sledgehammer and pick-ax in what looks to be a Tinseltown first.  And there were two other instances earlier this year when Donald Trump's star was also vandalized. One came in January, and the other happened in June\u2026  This is of course not the first time the GOP candidate's star has been attacked or defaced since Trump announced his White House bid in summer 2015. The most extreme measure was a reverse swastika being sprayed on the star at 6801 Hollywood Blvd in late January. In June this summer, a mute sign was painted on Trump's star in a seemingly protest against the antagonistic language and policies some have accused Trump of promoting and reveling in during the campaign. In both cases, Trump's star was quickly cleaned and back as new within a day.  We have seen anti-Trump violence on the east coast as well. Earlier this month, someone decided to firebomb the Republican Party headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina. On the building next to the headquarters, someone spray-painted \"Nazi Republicans get out of town or else\" along with a swastika.  There have also been other disturbing incidents of anti-Trump violence all over the nation in recent days. A recent Lifezette article put together quite a long list, and the following is just a short excerpt from that piece\u2026  On Oct. 15 in Bangor, Maine, vandals spray-painted about 20 parked cars outside a Trump rally. Trump supporter Paul Foster, whose van was hit with white paint, told reporters, \"Why can't they do a peaceful protest instead of painting cars, all of this, to make their statement?\"  Around Oct. 3, a couple of Trump supporters were assaulted in Zeitgeist, a San Francisco bar, after they were allegedly refused service for expressing support for Trump, GotNews reports. \"The two Trump supporters were attacked, punched, and chased into the street by 'some thugs' that a barmaid called out from the back.\" Lilian Kim of ABC 7 Bay Area tweeted a photo of the men, in which one was wearing a Trump T-shirt and the other was wearing a \"Blue Lives Matter\" shirt.  On Sept. 28 in El Cajon, California, an angry mob at a Black Lives Matter protest beat 21-year-old Trump supporter Feras Jabro for wearing a \"Make America Great Again\" baseball cap. The assault was broadcast live using the smartphone app Periscope.  There is a move to get Trump supporters to wear red on election day, but in many parts of America that might just turn his supporters into easy targets. Let's certainly hope that we don't see the kind of violent confrontations at voting locations that many experts are anticipating.  Of course there are also many on the right that are fighting mad, and a Hillary Clinton victory under suspicious circumstances may be enough to push them over the edge.  For example, this week former Congressman Joe Walsh said that he is \"grabbing my musket\" if Donald Trump loses the election\u2026  Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president.  Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois who is now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted, \"On November 8th, I'm voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket. You in?\"  And without a doubt, many ordinary Americans are stocking up on guns and ammunition just in case Hillary Clinton is victorious. The following comes from USA Today\u2026  \"Since the polls are starting to shift quite a bit towards Hillary Clinton, I've been buying a lot more ammunition,\" says Rick Darling, 69, an engineer from Harrison Township, in Michigan's Detroit suburbs. In a follow-up phone interview after being surveyed, the Trump supporter said he fears progressives will want to \"declare martial law and take our guns away\" after the election.  Today America is more divided than I have ever seen it before, and the mainstream media is constantly fueling the hatred and the anger that various groups feel toward one another.  Ironically, Donald Trump has been working very hard to bring America together. In fact, he is solidly on track to win a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate since 1960.  If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win on November 8th, things will not go well for Hillary Clinton's political enemies. The Clintons used the power of the White House to go after their enemies the first time around, and Hillary is even more angry and more bitter now than she was back then.  And the radical left is very clear about who their enemies are. This is something that I discussed on national television earlier this month\u2026  As I write this, it is difficult for me to even imagine how horrible a Hillary Clinton presidency would be.  But at this point that appears to be the most likely outcome.  Out of all the candidates that we could have chosen, the American people are about to put the most evil one by far into the White House.  Perhaps Donald Trump can still pull off a miracle and we can avoid that fate, but time is rapidly slipping away and November 8th will be here before we know it. On Sale At SD Bullion\u2026 This Week Only\u2026","label":1}
{"text":"This has been a rough year for pollsters and pundits, with prediction after prediction going painfully awry. Even those supposedly unflappable data journalists have found themselves stepping in it. But it's not just the journalists and pollsters. Since I'm a professor of statistics as well as a blogger who often comments on academic papers that I think misuse numbers, I have a front-row seat to some of the least persuasive academic takes on politics and elections. And it's been a big year for bad studies. In journalism and polling, premature obituaries of Trump have been one common problem. In July 2015, the New York Times's Nate Cohn remarked on \"a shift that will probably mark the moment when Trump's candidacy went from boom to bust.\" (That was a reference to Trump crudely dismissing the war record of John McCain, the former Republican presidential nominee.) \"His support will erode,\" Cohn wrote confidently, \"as the tone of coverage shifts from publicizing his anti-establishment and anti-immigration views \u2026 to reflecting the chorus of Republican criticism of his most outrageous comments and the more liberal elements of his record.\" Whoops. Only a month later, famed number cruncher Nate Silver gave Trump a 2 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination. A couple of months after that, Gallup made the historic announcement that the organization would no longer do horse race\u2013style election polling. You can see why this might be a smart time to get out of the predictions game. I'd love to claim that I'm above all this myself, but really I too had no idea what would happen during the primary season. Whenever anyone asked me, I'd point them to an article I wrote in 2011 explaining why primaries are hard to predict. In short, in the general election voters have months to make their decisions, the choice is between two candidates who are ideologically distinct, and most voters can rely on party cues. In contrast, primaries come in a rushed sequence, competing candidates tend to be similar in ideology, and (of course) they come from the same party. And with multiple candidates comes the opportunity for strategic voting (casting a vote for someone you dislike to defeat someone you dislike even more), which is a hard thing to model. In recent years we have seen claims that political attitudes and preferences were determined by menstrual cycles and smiley face icons In short, I avoided making any embarrassing predictions about primary election winners only by the tactic of avoiding making predictions, period \u2014 an option that was not so available to the Nates Cohn and Silver, who were expected to make real-time predictions (and who, to their credit, examined their errors afterward). But academia has had no shortage of errant \"findings\" as well. This year, perhaps more than others, the internet has been swarming with conspiracy theories \u2014 some of these defended with statistical arguments. In June, various people pointed me to a paper by Axel Geijsel and Rodolfo Cortes Barragan, graduate students at Tilburg University and Stanford, respectively, with the portentous title \"Are we witnessing a dishonest election? A between state comparison based on the used voting procedures of the 2016 Democratic Party Primary for the Presidency of the United States of America.\" (Yes, indeed: that presidency.) The paper, issued before the primary race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was decided, made the case that Sanders tended to win in states where electronic voting could be double-checked with a paper trail. Clinton, suspiciously \u2014 or \"suspiciously\" \u2014 tended to win when there was no paper trail. Moreover, Geijsel and Barragan wrote, the inaccuracy of exit polling supposedly rose in states without a paper trail, and the official results seemed biased toward Clinton. The paper itself did not convince me, as there can be all sorts of differences between different states, and there's no reason to pick just one of these factors and give it a causal interpretation. It's what we call an observational comparison. You never know, fraud could always happen, but the paper supplied no useful evidence that this difference was the one driving the election results. (Not that you'd need an explanation as to why a 74-year-old socialist fails to win a major party nomination in the United States.) But if going viral among Bernie followers counted in academia, these students would have tenure already. Closer to the mainstream, in June, economics professors Ray Fisman and Andrea Prat, of Boston University and Columbia, posted a piece in Slate claiming that Fox News support for Donald Trump \"could erase a 12-percentage-point Democratic lead in the popular vote.\" I'm skeptical that this number is anything close to reasonable. After looking at the cited study, by professors Gregory Martin (political science, Emory) and Ali Yurukoglu (Stanford Business School), it seems to me that Fisman and Prat improperly extrapolated an estimate that was already probably too high. Martin and Yurukoglu estimated that watching Fox News an extra 2.5 minutes a day increased a voter's probability of voting Republican by 0.3 percentage points. But it's not reasonable to assume that if the time watching the channel continued to grow, the shift in vote preference would continue to be strong and linear \u2014 all the way to 12 percent! In addition, while I trust that the authors found what they reported, there is a well-known tendency for small but variable effects to be overestimated in this sort of statistical study. In general, estimates near zero are discarded and high estimates are reported. We call this the \"statistical significance filter,\" which can turn weak results into robust-seeming ones. Regarding partisan news sources, I have more trust in a study by political scientists Dan Hopkins and Jonathan Ladd of Georgetown University, who analyze data from a 2000 pre-election poll and find a positive effect of Fox News on support for George W. Bush, but only for Republicans and independents. In summarizing this study, Hopkins writes that media influence \"fosters political polarization. For Republicans and pure independents, Fox News access in 2000 reinforced GOP loyalties.\" Not a lot of room for a 12 percent swing in that claim. The next month came a piece, based on work by the research psychologist Robert Epstein \u2014 Epstein also publicized it last year \u2014 called \"How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election.\" It claimed that \"Google's search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more \u2014 up to 80 percent in some demographic groups \u2014 with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated. \u2026 Given that many elections are won by small margins, this gives Google the power, right now, to flip upwards of 25 percent of the national elections worldwide.\" Quite a claim. The numbers, however, came from a highly artificial set of lab experiments in which participants were asked questions about unfamiliar political candidates after being shown unrealistically rigged search results. The researchers put extremely biased articles favoring one candidate on page one, moderately biased articles on page two, and so on, so participants had to go to pages four and five of a five-page search to find anything strongly favoring the other candidate. Epstein then compounded his exaggerations by claiming, ridiculously, that the real-world impact of Google on elections would \"undoubtedly be larger\" than in his loaded experiments. In fact, the real presidential election is not being held in an isolated lab: Voters have many sources of information about Clinton and Trump, beyond those found in (hypothetically) rigged search results. (Full disclosure: Some of my research is funded by Google.) And it's still only early September! Just wait till next month, when just about any election-related study will get 15 minutes of fame. In recent years we have seen claims that political attitudes and preferences were determined by menstrual cycles, smiley faces displayed near survey questions for subliminally short durations, and the mood swings caused by the results of college football games (really). All of these studies struck me as flawed, either in design or in the analysis of the data. (Follow the links for more details about my doubts.) I'm not saying that these studies shouldn't have been done (well, in most cases). Researchers should be free to try out all sorts of outside-the-box ideas, and, indeed, in some of these cases I'm not criticizing the studies so much as the accompanying hype. But respected news organizations should think twice about dramatic claims about voting and elections, even if they are published in reputable scientific journals. When it comes to research, election season is silly season, and there always seems to be room for one more story about how irrational those voters are. Who knows what else they'll come up with before November 8? Andrew Gelman is a professor of statistics and political science and director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. He blogs at Statistical Modeling.","label":0}
{"text":"The Trump administration intends to unveil this week a plan to trim regulations it believes constrain U.S. manufacturing growth, potentially affecting environmental permits, worker safety and labor rules, an administration official said. The U.S. Commerce Department's regulations \"hit list\" recommendations follow more than three months of study and consultation with industry on ways to streamline regulations and ease burdens on manufacturing firms. A Trump administration official with knowledge of the recommendations to be sent to the White House said the Environmental Protection Agency's complex permitting rules will be a key focus, echoing comments to Reuters by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month. The 171 public comments submitted by companies and industry groups offer a strong hint to priorities for Commerce's streamlining efforts, with numerous industry groups and firms complaining that EPA air quality permit rules for new facilities are often redundant. The report will analyze the submissions and \"will identify a lot of problems and lay out ways to take responsible actions,\" said the official, who declined to be identified by name. The process has looked at many regulations finalized under Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama. A common demand from industry was that the Trump administration should reject a planned tightening of ozone rules under the U.S. Clean Air Act's National Ambient Air Quality Standards, with several groups arguing this would expose them to increased permitting hurdles for new facilities, raising costs. 3M Co (MMM.N) said other permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act contained \"overlapping rules, redundant requirements, conflicts between rules and undue complexity.\" The National Association of Manufacturers said the EPA's review requirements for new sources of emissions such as factories can add $100,000 in costs for modeling air quality to a new facility and delay factory expansions by 18 months. It added that EPA should find ways to ease burdens for smaller projects and smaller firms. Also drawing complaints from construction groups and iron foundries is an incoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule reducing by 80 percent the amount of crystalline silica dust that can be inhaled. The dust, common on construction sites, can cause lung cancer, according to OSHA, but industry groups say reducing it to those levels will be prohibitively expensive. \"To meet these much lower levels, new engineering controls and other measures will become necessary within the roofing industry,\" said the National Roofing Contractors Association. Trump has already taken steps to roll back some not fully completed Obama-era environmental regulations such as restrictions on coal-fired power plants and a clean water rule greatly restricting runoff into small streams. But the Commerce list may target some rules already on the books. \"We are at the outset of what we think will be a very intense deregulatory agenda from the Trump team,\" said Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate at Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group. \"We are concerned that they are looking to gut regulations that benefit workers and benefit consumers.\" Another OSHA rule that drew industry complaints is one that further reduces worker exposure to beryllium, another potential carcinogen, that became effective on May 20 after a decade-long rulemaking effort. Manufacturing groups including auto parts makers have also targeted labor rules that make it easier for unions to organize workers, expand the number of employees eligible for overtime and govern the reporting of workplace injuries. The range of industry complaints is vast. Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N) argued that planned EPA financial responsibility requirements for hard rock mining operations costing billions of dollars were based on inadequate study and \"will have disastrous consequences for the mining industry.\" Guitar maker Taylor Guitars said that permits needed from the Fish and Wildlife Service for mother-of-pearl used to decorate instruments was unnecessarily raising its costs. \"This declaration requirement does not seem to serve any conservation or other purpose. The shell is not a species that is protected under law,\" the company said.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his choices to lead U.S. attorney offices in California, Maryland, Connecticut, Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana, the White House said in a statement. The White House said Trump will nominate John Anderson for U.S. attorney for New Mexico; John Durham for Connecticut; Brandon Fremin for the Middle District of Louisiana; Robert Kyoung Hur for Maryland; McGregor Scott for the Eastern District of California; Joseph Brown for the Eastern District of Texas; and Ryan Patrick for the Southern District of Texas. The nominations are subject to Senate approval.","label":0}
{"text":"(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. _____ 1. Funerals began for some of the 41 victims of a suicide bombing at Istanbul's main airport on Tuesday. The airport also reopened and the city appeared determined to get back to business as usual. Turkey, which faces terrorist threats from both Islamic State militants and Kurdish groups, has endured 14 major attacks in the past year. The government blames the Islamic State for this one, although it has not claimed responsibility. _____ 2. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain returned to London from a European Union summit meeting, leaving the leaders of the other 27 member countries to discuss Britain's decision to exit. Candidates to replace Mr. Cameron when he steps down this fall have begun to come forward, and talk of an early general election is growing. Juan Jasso, above, a who drew attention after video captured him enduring xenophobic insults in Manchester, said he was actually in favor of Britain's leaving the E. U. _____ 3. There's one thing Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump seem to agree on: toughening trade policies to protect American jobs. The two presidential contenders are deadlocked, according to a new poll, and each has the potential to draw voters from the opposite party. We look at how Mr. Trump has shifted his stances on issues, usually with few political consequences. _____ 4. Accusations surfaced on Wednesday that the Trump Institute, a education business to which Mr. Trump lent his name and likeness, plagiarized materials from an obscure real estate manual in 2005. (The institute's owners were a couple accused of fraud.) The complaint comes as lawsuits from another of Mr. Trump's forays into education, Trump University, cast a shadow over his presidential campaign. _____ 5. Mexico, Canada and the United States will use sources to generate half their electric power by 2025, their leaders announced at a summit meeting in Canada. Marketed as a gathering of the \"three amigos,\" the meeting of President Obama, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto of Mexico also served as a farewell of sorts for Mr. Obama and a debut for Mr. Trudeau. _____ 6. The extradition of the Mexican drug kingpin known as El Chapo has stalled. A lawyer for the drug lord, Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n Loera, who escaped from prison twice in Mexico, said two appeals filed this week could take years to resolve. The decision to extradite Mr. Guzm\u00e1n to the United States, where he faces charges in multiple jurisdictions, was made shortly after he was recaptured in January. _____ 7. Changes are coming to your Facebook news feed, and they aren't good for publishers. (Ahem.) Expect more updates from your friends and family members, and fewer links posted by news media sites. Facebook says it's concerned that the growth of publisher posts is making it harder for users to connect with people they know. _____ 8. Wimbledon served up a match on Wednesday, pitting Marcus Willis, who is ranked 772nd, against the Roger Federer, above right. Federer won. But Willis, who teaches tennis at a boat club in England, captured the hearts of fans and received a standing ovation from the crowd. \"It was a pleasure to play against him,\" Federer said. _____ 9. William Shakespeare was a social climber. Previously unknown records shed new light on the playwright's pursuit of a coat of arms on behalf of his father, which would have cemented his own status as a gentleman. They also rebut the idea that Shakespeare wasn't the author of the works attributed to him. _____ 10. Mermaid schools, which have been teaching girls in the United States how to swim with a tail for quite some time, are spreading to France. The teacher who began classes in that country said 500 people took her introductory course in Marseille, and she has plans to expand. Swim on, mermaids. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Wednesday in Ranchos Palos Verdes, CA at the annual Code Conference, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the barrage of \"fake news\" and hacked emails released during the 2016 presidential campaign had to have been from the Russians and \"guided by Americans. \" Clinton said, \"I think it's fair to ask, how did that actually influence the campaign, and how did they know what messages to deliver? Who told them? Who were they coordinating with, and colluding with?\" Clinton continued, \"The Russians in my opinion \u2014 and based on intelligence and counterintelligence people I have talked to \u2014 could not have known best how to weaponize that information unless they had been guided \u2026 Guided by Americans. \" When asked if she believed the campaign of President Donald Trump could have been involved she said, \"Yes, I am leaning Trump. I think it's pretty hard not to. \" Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"Wednesday morning, Donald Trump started his day off just like any normal bizarre despot, with tweets celebrating the world s fear and outrage at his nuclear threats toward North Korea. He retweeted Fox & Friends on Twitter no less than three times for their breathless coverage of his manly escapades. But in the middle of his bluster, Trump forgot once again that the internet is a forever place, where no facts are ever lost, except to the swirling vortex of a Trump supporter s mind.Perhaps he was relying on that very fact that his supporters will believe anything he says when he made a claim about his first order as president. In a pair of tweets continuing the theme of the day, Trump asserted that he was responsible for the modernization of our nuclear program:My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017 Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017Unfortunately for Trump, he s wrong on two counts. Not only was that not his first order that was on Obamacare but it wasn t even him that began the renovation and modernization process. That would be the guy before him. Ben Rhodes, the former foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, was quick to point out Trump s lie:It's literally impossible for Trump to have changed our nuclear arsenal in 6 months. Alarming thing to lie about. https:\/\/t.co\/9cizhVLJAU Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 9, 2017So we all have to rally around the leader because he decided to threaten North Korea with nuclear destruction. Get ready for more of this. https:\/\/t.co\/P5STDMVWMy Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 9, 2017Boasting about the size of our nuclear arsenal and sending aides out to demand we rally around the leader is chilling. And it's only month 7 Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 9, 2017It s not the first time Trump has lied about things he s done, and it certainly won t be the last. But the fact that this is a lie about nukes makes it a little more alarming and indicates that Trump truly doesn t understand the gravity of the situation. Already, we re seeing reports from aides saying that Trump wasn t actually serious in making his nuclear threats. But this isn t something to be taken lightly.What s more, there s plenty of reason to be concerned about the very first thing Trump did do regarding our nuclear arsenal, in case anyone s forgotten. He put a guy he beat in the primary by calling him a dumbass in charge of it.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he had made significant progress on trade issues during a fruitful trip across Asia that saw governments roll out red carpets like nobody has ever seen . We ve made some very big steps with respect to trade, far bigger than anything you know, Trump told reporters in Manila on the sidelines of a summit with leaders of Southeast Asian and East Asian nations. He did not give details of his achievements on trade matters during a tour that took him to Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam before his last leg in the Philippines capital. He said a statement would be issued from the White House on Wednesday about North Korea, and on trade, key issues of a trip he described as fruitful. It was red carpet like nobody, I think, has probably ever seen, he said. In Vietnam at the weekend, Trump and leaders of Pacific Rim nations agreed to address unfair trade practices and market- distorting subsidies , a statement that bore the imprint of Trump s efforts to reshape the global trade landscape. His America First vision has upset a traditional consensus favoring multinational trade pacts that China now champions. On the sidelines of the Vietnam meeting, 11 countries kept alive a Trans Pacific trade deal whose future was thrown into doubt when Trump withdrew from it in the name of protecting American jobs. Chinese President Xi Jinping told the summit in Vietnam that Asia-Pacific nations must uphold multilateralism , countering Trump s message that the United States would stay out of trade deals that surrender its sovereignty. Trump, by contrast, blasted the World Trade Organization and multilateral trade deals during his tour. Some analysts expect tougher U.S. action may be imminent to fight trade imbalances with China exacerbated by its state-led economic model.","label":0}
{"text":"In Texas, Alabama and elsewhere a number of clerks and judges who stated their opposition to gay marriage have thrown up roadblocks to the unions, extending the fight over same-sex weddings two months after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. Galvanizing opponents of gay marriage, Kim Davis, a county clerk in rural Kentucky, this week was jailed for her refusal to issue marriage licenses on the basis that same-sex unions conflict with her Christian beliefs. Others with the power to issue marriage licenses say they would be willing to follow suit, including Alabama Probate Judge Nick Williams. \"Absolutely, I feel the same way. This is a cause worth standing up for,\" said Williams, who ordered his deputies in Washington County not to issue any licenses at all since the court's June decision. The fight has made Davis a martyr-like figure for religious conservatives who argue she is being jailed for her religious beliefs, a view espoused by several Republican presidential candidates. But for legal experts and gay marriage advocates, the issue is clear. Gay marriage is the law of the land and public servants are bound to uphold the decision of the justices. \"In this big country, it's not surprising that there have been a handful of isolated instances of acting out and foot-dragging,\" said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a same-sex marriage advocate. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against Davis, said it knows of only two counties in Texas that have not confirmed whether they will issue same-sex marriage licenses. \"We are not going to discuss marriage policy over the phone. If a couple comes in to apply, we will discuss it at that time,\" said Molly Criner, a clerk in Irion County, which has about 1,600 people located 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Austin. Criner is one of several public officials with the power to issue marriage licenses who stands against gay marriage for religious grounds, and has yet to face a challenge. In Irion County, no same-sex couples have applied and no same-sex licenses have been issued. \"To keep my oath to uphold the Constitution, I must reject this ruling that I believe is lawless,\" she was quoted as saying by Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian religious advocacy organization that said it would back her legally. The group, which also supports Davis, said it represents other county clerks who have yet to face challenges. It is not naming them. \"We have been contacted by other clerks in Kentucky. We've been contacted by other clerks in other parts of the country,\" said Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver, the attorney for Kim Davis. The fight has not been isolated to socially conservative southern states, all of which had bans on same-sex marriage. In left-leaning Oregon, Marion County Circuit Court Judge Vance Day is facing an ethics review over his refusal to perform same-sex marriages. On Thursday, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission approved Day's request to set up a Legal Expense Trust Fund to raise money for his defense. \"I'm the elected probate judge and that's my decision. Thank you,\" said Alabama's Geneva County Probate Judge Fred Hamic, before hanging up his phone. That interpretation in Alabama largely took hold after U.S. District Judge Callie Granade, of the southern district of Alabama, overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in January. The Association of County Commissions of Alabama in Montgomery said that up to 12 counties are not issuing any marriage licenses. That includes Washington County, where Williams, the probate judge, said he spoke with Davis for 10 minutes the day before she was ordered into custody. \"I asked her if she was prepared for whichever the way the judge ruled and she said yes. She was very much at peace,\" said Williams. The fight could also return to Kentucky. Casey Davis, who is no relation to Kim Davis, serves as the clerk for Casey County, which is not issuing any marriage licenses. Attempts to reach Casey Davis were unsuccessful. Whitley County, Kentucky Clerk Kay Schwartz did not respond to repeated calls and on Friday was on vacation. Her office previously said they were issuing traditional marriage licenses for men and women, but no one had asked for a same-sex license. In the end, all counties will be issuing the licenses because it is the law of the land, said Wolfson of Freedom to Marry. \"And this sideshow will soon be over,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Bernie Sanders visited the United States-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona to witness one area that will be most affected by U.S. immigration policy. Sanders then spoke to a large crowd about his time listening to the stories of immigrants and the need to create a reality-based immigration policy that puts compassion first. As I have traveled around this country and talked to immigrant families, and particularly Latino immigrant families, I am struck by the fear and sadness that grips so many of them, Sanders said following the visit. Fathers or mothers or both sent out of the country having to leave their minor children with relatives or guardians here in the United States. A U.S. service member whose spouse was deported. A 12-year-old boy who longs to be reunited with his mother. This human suffering has got to end. That is why I am here today. During the event, Sanders delivered blistering remarks aimed towards Donald Trump and the Republican presidential candidate s incredulous plan to build a giant border wall. The most bizarre part of Trump s plan is to have the construction of this wall be paid for by the Mexican government. Sanders calls out Trump s bigoted remarks against Mexicans, including the time Trump implied that immigrants from Mexico are rapists. I would hope that all of us are rightly appalled by the divisive bigoted and xenophobic comments of people like Donald Trump. Trump s labeling of Mexicans as rapists and criminals repulses all Americans of good will. Mexico is our neighbor, which we have extremely important relations with. To insult an entire nation is not befitting of anybody, let alone a candidate for president of the United States. Citing Pope Francis, Sanders said that Pope Francis has said we should be building more bridges, not more walls. Pope Francis is right. You can watch video footage of the event below.Featured image from video screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"They have to flee the poverty, goyim. Being poor is an international war crime.  The game, faggots: you just lost it.  Politico :  Theo Francken, Belgium's secretary of state for migration, said he will appeal a court ruling that the country must grant a visa to a Syrian family wanting to apply for asylum in Belgium, according to local broadcaster VRT.  The Belgian Court of First Instance ruled the state must pay a penalty of \u20ac4,000 for each day the visa is delayed.  The Syrian family of four is seeking an official visa to come to Belgium without traveling by sea. They claim they will apply for asylum as soon as they are in the country.  Secretary of State Theo Francken called the decision \"insane\" and said he will appeal. Currently, people can only apply for asylum in a country if they are actually on its territory.  \"It will open the door to thousands of people,\" Francken said. \"If we allow people to come to Belgium with a visa to apply for asylum, the whole system will collapse.\"  roflmao and he'll be called a racist for this. Theo Francken be all like \"damn, dawg.\"  And I don't think an EU court could possibly disagree with this decision.  Because of course, if unlimited millions of people are allowed to take boats into Europe, why should they not be allowed to fly-in on airplanes?  No idea why Francken says \"thousands\" though. This is several billion people that it opens the door to. The EU has treated as valid asylum claims from every country in Africa, the Middle East and West Asia. Of course, not all of them are eventually approved, but no one is ever deported (except Albanians lel). They can just keep appealing the decision, and even when the appeals fail and they're issued a deportation order, they are still allowed to loaf around on welfare because there is no mechanism to go find them, arrest them, and ship them out.  So basically, anyone from any African or Moslem country who can afford a plane ticket will be issued an EU visa which will effectively allow them to come live in Europe on welfare forever.  It is obviously insane, but it was insane for Merkel to invite these billions to take boats to Greece and walk across Europe. Everything that happens anymore is insane, so \"this is insane\" is no longer a valid argument for anything. The only accepted argument is \"this is racist\"\u2013 there is no accepted counterargument.  So basically: it's time to spread your legs wider, Europe, because this gang-bang just got a lot more crowded. Note that that metaphor applies in a literal sense to your daughters.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump has found at least one Democrat willing to entertain his tax reform pitch: Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who plans to travel with him on Air Force One on Wednesday to a tax event in her home state. Trump is trying to persuade Democrats to support his push to cut tax rates and simplify the tax code this year, a plan critical to bolstering Republicans heading into 2018 midterm elections, but which so far has included few details. The White House plans to put Trump out on the road on a near-weekly basis this fall to sell his plan, which faces huge obstacles in Congress. Republicans control Congress but have so far been unable to pass Trump's top legislative priorities. He has appealed to Democrats to help, but lawmakers from the party are furious about his recent comments about white supremacists and his move on Tuesday to end a program that gave work permits to some immigrants brought illegally into the United States as children. Last week, Trump made his first major tax reform speech in Missouri, urging voters to reject that state's Democratic U.S. senator, Claire McCaskill, in the 2018 midterm elections unless she supports tax reform. Similarly, Wednesday's speech is aimed in part at Heitkamp, a Democrat up for re-election in a Republican stronghold, who has been willing to buck her party in the past. \"Both of the Reagan tax cuts were passed by a Democratic majority in the House (of Representatives), a Democratic speaker, and the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate, including a Democratic senator from the great state of North Dakota,\" Trump will say, according to excerpts released by the White House. On Friday, Heitkamp said both parties need to work together on tax reform, which she views as critical for businesses and families in her state. \"I hope President Trump uses this visit to address the kitchen-table issues that keep the North Dakotans I've met with across the state this past month up at night,\" Heitkamp said in a statement. Trump's political push on tax reform will get an assist from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbying group, which is set to begin a multimillion-dollar, multi-state campaign in New York on Thursday, a Republican familiar with the plan said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The campaign will be aimed at Republican members of Congress and some members of the conservative Freedom Caucus. \"It talks about the need for a sense of urgency, the need to change tax loopholes, the need for family tax relief, and it's got to happen now,\" the official said.","label":0}
{"text":"Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump's new communications director, said on Sunday that one of his first tasks will be to halt leaks and that staff on his team would be fired if the leaks do not stop. \"If we don't get the leaks stopped, I am a businessperson, and so I will take dramatic action to stop those leaks,\" Scaramucci said on Fox News Sunday. Scaramucci told CBS's Face the Nation that leakers are \"actually un-American,\" and that he would lead a team meeting on Monday. The hiring of Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier and Republican fundraiser, brings a combative style to the White House press office as President Donald Trump lashes out at probes into whether his campaign colluded with Russians during the 2016 campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into any relationships or contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russia during the election, but Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing by federal investigators. White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who became a household name in his short and turbulent drama-filled term, quickly resigned after Scaramucci's appointment. Sarah Sanders, Spicer's deputy, was promoted to press secretary. Scaramucci was forced to deal with leaks on his first days on the job after The Washington Post reported last week that Trump and his legal team had examined presidential powers to pardon aides, family members and potentially himself. Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday that leaks against the administration are a \"crime\" and that he has \"complete power to pardon.\" Scaramucci said Trump only tweeted about the issue of pardons in reaction to the leak. Trump \"doesn't like the fact that he has a two-minute conversation in the Oval Office or in his study and that people are running out and leaking,\" about the administration examining legal options of pardons, Scaramucci, who reports directly to Trump, said on CBS. \"There's no need for him to pardon anybody,\" he said. And Scaramucci, who has at times supported Democrats, spent part of the weekend deleting some of his own past tweets on subjects that run counter to Trump administration policy, such as taking action on climate change. Explaining the deletions, Scaramucci wrote on Twitter that \"past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Sent: Monday, March 30, 2015 9:58:55 AM To: Amitabh Desai Cc: Jon Davidson; Margaret Steenburg; Jake Sullivan; Dan Schwerin; Huma Abedin; John Podesta Subject: Re: Victor Pinchuk  Team HRC \u2013 we'll get back to you on this  On Mar 30, 2015, at 9:53 AM, Amitabh Desai <ami@presidentclinton.com> wrote:>> Victor Pinchuk is relentlessly following up (including this morning) about a meeting with WJC in London or anywhere in Europe. Ideally he wants to bring together a few western leaders to show support for Ukraine, with WJC probably their most important participant. If that's not palatable for us, then he'd like a bilat with WJC.>> If it's not next week, that's fine, but he wants a date. I keep saying we have no Europe plans, although we do have those events in London in June. Are folks comfortable offering Victor a private meeting on one of those dates? At this point I get the impression that although I keep saying WJC cares about Ukraine, Pinchuk feels like WJC hasn't taken enough action to demonstrate that, particularly during this existential moment for the county and for him.> > I sense this is so important because Pinchuk is under Putin's heel right now, feeling a great degree of pressure and pain for his many years of nurturing stronger ties with the West. >> I get all the downsides and share the concerns. I am happy to go back and say no. It would just be good to know what WJC (and HRC and you all) would like to do, because this will likely impact the future of this relationship, and slow walking our reply will only reinforce his growing angst. >> Thanks, and sorry for the glum note on a Monday morning\u2026  RT further reports on the pay-to-play involving Pinchuk and The Clinton Foundation\u2026  In 2008, Viktor Pinchuk, who made a fortune in the pipe-building business, pledged a five-year, $29-million commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative, a program that works to train future Ukrainian leaders \"to modernize Ukraine.\" The Wall Street Journal revealed the donations the fund received from foreigners abroad between 2009-2014 in their report published earlier this week .  Several alumni of the program have already graduated into the ranks of Ukraine's parliament, while a former Clinton pollster went to work as a lobbyist for Pinchuk at the same time Clinton was working in government.  Between 2009 and 2013, the very period when Hillary Clinton was serving as US secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation appears to have received at least $8.6 million from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.  That places Ukraine as the leading contributor among foreign donators to the Clinton Foundation.  The Pinchuk foundation said its donations to the Clinton-family organization were designed to make Ukraine \"a successful, free, modern country based on European values.\" It went on to remark that if Pinchuk was hoping to lobby the US State Department about Ukraine, \"this cannot be seen as anything but a good thing,\" WSJ quoted it as saying.  However, critics have pointed to some disturbing aspects regarding the donations, including the coincidence of the Ukrainian crisis, which began in November 2013, and the heavy amount of cash donations being made to the Clinton Foundation on behalf of wealthy Ukrainian businessmen.  This article originally appeared on The Duran. Be Sociable, Share!","label":1}
{"text":"The two videos below are from the Trump rally in Atlanta today two great examples of how twisted the left is!Back and forth between Trump supporters and Trump protesters outside the Fox. pic.twitter.com\/2ih1aw19hp Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) June 15, 2016 BLM PROTESTER Debates Trump Supporters:","label":1}
{"text":"David Samson, a longtime friend of Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to a felony count of bribery on Thursday and admitted that he had pressured United Airlines to operate a weekly flight to South Carolina for his personal convenience. The plea, which was offered before Judge Jose L. Linares of United States District Court in Newark, appears to put an end to Mr. Samson's career as a public official and power broker. And it casts a shadow over the political fortunes of Mr. Christie, a New Jersey Republican who until this week had been considered a potential running mate for Donald J. Trump, the party's presumptive nominee for president. \"One of the problems with Chris Christie is there are skeletons in his closet that still have skin on the bones,\" Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said. The prosecution of Mr. Samson grew out of a federal investigation into the closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013. Federal prosecutors contend that allies of Mr. Christie at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey conspired to tie up traffic on the New Jersey side of the bridge to punish a local mayor for declining to endorse Mr. Christie's bid for as governor. Mr. Samson, who was Mr. Christie's appointee as chairman of the Port Authority at the time of the lane closings, has not been charged in that case. But two of the governor's former allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, are scheduled to stand trial in September for their alleged roles in the scheme. A third, David Wildstein, has already pleaded guilty in that case. Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey, declined to say whether Mr. Samson was cooperating with the prosecution of the case. The Port Authority is the nexus of the two matters because it operates the bridge and the three big commercial airports in the New York City area. Mr. Fishman said that Mr. Samson, 76, had abused his position at the agency by coercing United to reinstate a canceled route between Newark Liberty International Airport and Columbia, S. C. near one of Mr. Samson's homes. He said Mr. Samson had threatened to block the construction of a maintenance hangar for United at the airport unless the airline restored the \" \" flight. Tall and Mr. Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general, spoke on Thursday in a soft voice when the judge asked if he understood that he could spend up to two years in prison and that his license to practice law might be affected. He said he did. Judge Linares scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 20. Mr. Fishman said he was saddened because \"David Samson was a major force in the legal community in New Jersey. \" He added, \"This kind of case shakes public confidence in our institutions of government, when people who are so accomplished and who have occupied so many positions of public trust misuse their authority to get something for themselves. \" Mr. Fishman also announced that Jamie Fox, a former executive of the Port Authority and former transportation commissioner in New Jersey appointed by Mr. Christie, had been charged with conspiring to commit bribery in connection with the flight. Mr. Fox, who was a lobbyist for United, advised Mr. Samson on how to pressure the airline to acquiesce to his demand, Mr. Fishman said. In one email exchange, he said, Mr. Fox told Mr. Samson, \"You have them dancing. \" Mr. Samson wrote back: \"Good. I hope they dance to my tune \u2014 let me know if there's a way to keep the pressure on this issue: It will save me a lot of heartache. \" The Port Authority staff had recommended that its board of commissioners approve a lease deal with United for the hangar. But Mr. Samson, who controlled the agendas of the board's meetings, pulled the matter off the agenda in November 2011, Mr. Fishman said. Mr. Fox then advised Mr. Samson to bring it up for a vote at the December 2011 meeting to demonstrate his clout to United, Mr. Fishman said. Less than a year after the hangar deal was approved, United started flying a plane every Thursday evening from Newark to Columbia, a short drive from Mr. Samson's home in Aiken, S. C. Every Monday morning, United flew a plane back to Newark. Mr. Fishman said that Mr. Samson used the flights 27 times. Mr. Fishman said Mr. Samson and other agency officials called the route \"the chairman's flight,\" adding that Mr. Fox referred to it as \"Samson Air. \" Mr. Fox, 61, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250, 000 fine. \"They both should have known better,\" Mr. Fishman said of Mr. Samson and Mr. Fox. \"They both did know better. \" Although Mr. Fishman said United \"caved\" to the pressure from Mr. Samson, neither the airline nor any of its executives will be charged in connection with the case. United agreed to pay a penalty of $2. 25 million, he said. Mr. Fishman said United had cooperated and responded just as prosecutors would have wanted. He noted that among the actions the airline took were the dismissals of several executives, including Jeff Smisek, its former chairman and chief executive. United stopped flying the route soon after Mr. Samson resigned from the agency in 2014. He retired last year from Wolff Samson, the law firm he helped found. The firm had been very close to the state's government for decades and had served as outside counsel to state agencies. It had also lobbied agencies on behalf of clients seeking state contracts, favorable regulation changes and approval for large development projects. The firm immediately changed its name to Chiesa, Shahinian Giantomasi. Jeff Chiesa, one of the partners, worked for Mr. Christie in the United States attorney's office, and as his chief counsel and attorney general. He was appointed by the governor to temporarily fill the United States Senate seat left open when Frank R. Lautenberg died in 2013. After the hearing on Thursday, Mr. Samson exhaled deeply as one of his lawyers, Justin Walder, escorted him away from the courtroom. He and Mr. Walder declined to comment. Another of Mr. Samson's lawyers, Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of homeland security, said, \"The next you'll hear from us is at the sentencing. \"","label":0}
{"text":"South Dakota's Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday vetoed a pair of bills that would have loosened restrictions on carrying concealed guns in the state, after saying current laws made sense and were adequate. One measure would have allowed carrying concealed weapons in the state without a permit. The second proposed allowing carriers of an enhanced permit to carry concealed weapons at the state capitol. South Dakota bars convicted felons and those convicted of some violent or drug crimes from obtaining a concealed weapons permit. Eleven U.S. states allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons without a permit, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control advocacy group. Another 39, including South Dakota, allow concealed carry with a permit. In a letter accompanying one of the vetoes, Daugaard, who had previously pointed to his own membership in the National Rifle Association, defended the state's existing concealed weapons laws as reasonable. \"I am unaware of a single instance in which a person who could lawfully possess a gun was denied a permit to carry a concealed pistol,\" Daugaard wrote. By comparison, he added, two counties in the state have turned down nearly 600 permit applicants \"who were disqualified due to mental illness or due to violent or drug-related crimes.\" The veto echoed statements Daugaard made in a Feb. 11 editorial in the Rapid City Journal, in which he said he viewed the state's laws as \"effective, appropriate and minimal.\" Daugaard also vetoed a similar proposal loosening concealed-carry standards in 2012. Rep. Lee Qualm, who sponsored the proposal relaxing the state capitol restrictions, called the vetoes \"frustrating,\" and said in a phone interview on Friday that he would try to override them when the legislature returns from recess March 27. An override requires a two-thirds majority in South Dakota, and Qualm said both bills were only a handful of votes short of that threshold in both chambers. Rep. Lynne Disanto, sponsor of the broader of the two bills, did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. The bills' failure at the hands of a Republican governor pointed to a divide in his party over the regulations. Neither bill received full Republican support in either chamber, and the statewide measure was opposed by about one in five Republicans in the House and one in three in the Senate.","label":0}
{"text":". CDC Scientist Confirms Donald Trump is Right About Vaccines and Autism Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy, including the vaccine debate. In a series of tweets and ... http:\/\/humansarefree.com\/2016\/11\/cdc-scientist-confirms-donald-trump-is.html Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy, including the vaccine debate. In a series of tweets and interviews over the past few years, the presidential candidate has stated that he strongly believes that there is a link between \"monstrous\" vaccines and autism . He has suggested that delivering vaccines in smaller doses over time could reduce autism rates among U.S. children. Despite being cast to the lunatic fringe by the mainstream media for his remarks, CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson has confirmed Trump's suspicions \u2014 namely, that autism is real .Congressman Bill Posey from Florida helped expose the corruption of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) . He recently read a statement on the House floor written by CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson.In the statement, Dr. Thompson admitted to omitting data from a study which showed that autism rates were higher among African American boys who received the MMR vaccination before the age of three.(1) \"Regardless of the subject matter, parents making decisions about their children's health deserve to have the best information available to them. \"They should be able to count on federal agencies to tell them the truth. For these reasons, I bring the following matter to the House floor,\" Posey stated.(2) He then proceeded to read the statement provided by Dr. Thompson. The statement pertained to a 2004 study published in the journal Pediatrics. The doctor revealed that he and his colleagues intentionally destroyed data in the study which showed that African American MMR-vaccinated boys under the age of three had for autism. According to the whistleblower, the CDC held a meeting of scientists to discuss whether they should destroy the evidence. The authors decided to scrap their findings. Fortunately, Dr. Thompson saved computer files and hard copies of the omitted data for legal reasons.(3) \"Mr. Speaker, I believe it is our duty to insure that the documents that Dr. Thompson are not ignored. Therefore I will provide them to members of Congress and the House Committees upon request. \"Considering the nature of the whistleblower's documents as well as the involvement of the CDC, a hearing and a thorough investigation is warranted,\" Posey concluded.(2) Because the report pertains to vaccines, the mainstream media continues to ignore these revelations. Meanwhile, they continue to parade Donald Trump as a kook for suggesting that there is a link The double standard boggles the mind and sickens the stomach.Trump hasn't backed down from the vaccine debate despite the mainstream media's backlash against his remarks. In 2015, he appeared on the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's show stating: \"I've known people that had totally magnificent children, functioning a hundred percent, everything beautiful, smart as a whip, and they go for this shot and get this shot of this massive dose, of everything at one time, and they end up with horrible autism.\"(4) In addition, Trump stated on a Fox News television program in 2012: \"I've seen people where they have a perfectly healthy child, and they go for the vaccinations and a month later the child is no longer healthy.\"(5) Trump made similar remarks in a series of tweets in 2014, after a CDC report revealed that autism rates in U.S. children had increased by 30 percent in the last two years.(6)The CDC report that coincided with Trump's tweets did not actually state what caused the spike in autism rates. Given Dr. Thompson's recent testimony, however, it's easy to think of at least one possibility. By S. Johnson","label":1}
{"text":"Is this a deal Trump should take? If he walks away, will he make voters wonder if he s afraid to debate Cruz?DES MOINES, Iowa A pair of pro-Sen. [score]Ted Cruz (R-TX)[\/score] Super PACs just offered $1.5 million for veterans if Donald Trump will debate Cruz one-on-one in Iowa before Sunday evening.Keep The Promise I and Keep The Promise II offered up the sizable donation for America s veterans on Wednesday evening.The principal donors of Keep the Promise I, the Mercer family, and Keep the Promise II, the Neugebauer family, in a joint statement released Wednesday evening said:Senator Cruz and Mr. Trump both respect the veterans and hold them in the highest regard but Senator Cruz respects the process and we are calling on Mr. Trump to do the same and debates are the purest form of democracy. Iowans and Americans deserve to hear from the frontrunners in this two-man race one last time. Not only would this be a heck of a debate, but it would also be a terrific opportunity to generate millions of dollars for the veterans.The press release made clear the parameters of the pro-Cruz Super PACs offer: The debate must be between just Trump and Cruz, must take place on or before Sunday Jan. 31 in Iowa, must be one-hour long, and the candidates can pick a jointly-agreed-to moderator themselves.The two organizations said in a press release:In response to Senator Ted Cruz s challenge of a one-on-one debate, the principal donors of the Keep the Promise I and II super PACs are offering presidential candidate Donald Trump a truly fantastic deal, pledging to donate $1.5 million to charities committed to helping veterans if Mr. Trump agrees to debate Senator Cruz in Iowa. This money is in addition to the millions of proceeds available to the veterans as a share of the revenues that this debate could secure from a host network.It s unclear at this time whether Trump would move forward with this offer. But at a rally in Des Moines here on Wednesday evening, Cruz announced he has a venue and time and place already set for it. We have a venue, we have a time all we re missing is a candidate, Cruz said.","label":1}
{"text":"We Are Change  Fierce battle for the city of Mosul continues to shock Iraq and the whole Middle East with no significant results. The leading role belongs to the assault of the Iraqi army and Kurdish Self-Defense Forces\u2014which still lack experience and skills\u2014to capture the city in the shortest time. However, 500 elite commandos of the U.S. Special Forces, which had been transferred this week at Mosul should give new impetus to the assault. U.S. combatants are supported by Apache and Chinook helicopters. According to the Inside Syria Media Center , the U.S. Special Forces are located at the forefront of Iraqi and Kurdish combat formations. Military experts believe these combat conditions are atypical for the special operation forces which are aimed to carry out reconnaissance and other specific tasks. Elite combatants in Mosul actually perform the functions of infantry soldiers, resulting in inevitable great losses, which are going to be covered up and silenced by the Washington officials in the usual manner. Although the U.S. officials have repeatedly stated Mosul should be liberated from terrorists to eliminate the Islamic State, the decision to use U.S. Special Forces looks unjustified at first glance. However, the protracted nature of the assault on the city is forcing the Pentagon to take extreme measures to complete the operation before the U.S. presidential election. Therefore, the White House uses this situation, first of all, as a large-scale PR-campaign to support the candidate of the Democratic Party Hillary Clinton. In this context, it becomes clear why the U.S. Government refrained from active struggle against terrorists for so long choosing an opportune moment strangely coincided with the end of the presidential elections in the United States. Liberation of Mosul should also demonstrate to the world community the importance and crucial role of the American nation in the fight against the Islamic State. It is even more regrettable in the light of the recent Wikileaks' revelations, which confirmed the United States and American tycoons' role in the creation and funding of the Islamic State terrorists. The post U.S. Special Forces Join Fight For Mosul appeared first on We Are Change .","label":1}
{"text":"Posted on October 26, 2016 by Michael DePinto  For anyone who has heard about, but not yet had a chance to learn the details about the undercover operation produced by James O'Keefe 's Project Veritas about the inner workings of the Democrat Party, you're in luck. I have written two different posts covering the subject from different angles, and this will be the third, covering Hillary's response. Each post include at least some, if not all of the undercover recordings released so far by James O'Keefe .  For over a year, O'Keefe risked his life by going deep undercover into the Democrat Party's factory of corruption, and just this week after everyone laughed at Trump for calling the election rigged, O'Keefe began releasing portions of the SHOCKING video he took while undercover. In the videos, some of the highest ranking members of the DNC make some of the most jaw-dropping admissions of guilt you've EVER heard in your lives, not the least of which is, \"[w]e have a call with Hillary's campaign EVERY DAY to go over what areas need more focus.\"  In the first post I wrote titled, George Soros' Master Blueprint to Conquer the West Gets Caught on Camera , I go into detail about how the money funding all the illegal operations caught on film comes from Hillary Clinton 's largest donor, none other than George Soros . One very high ranking Democratic operative explains what happens with the money once it comes in. Upon receipt:  \"[t]he campaign (Hillary Clinton campaign) pays the DNC, the DNC pays Democracy partners, Democracy Partners pays the Foval group, and the Foval Group goes and executes the sh** on the ground.\"  WOW! Then, when questioned about the legality, the response was:  \"It doesn't matter what the friggin' legal and ethics people say, we need to win this motherf**ker.\"  That's just the beginning. The evidence gets infinitely worse. Then, in the second post I wrote titled, This Video Guarantees a Trump Win Even With Hillary's Fraud Machine , I present an honest look at both candidates, and how they operate. The post contains 100% of the released undercover footage so far, so you learn EXACTLY who is prescribing what to whom, and I assure you that nothing can prepare you for what James managed to catch on film. You'll be sick.  Then, I contrast the criminal enterprise Hillary is running with a montage of videos taken over a 30 year span of Donald Trump , and in each of the clips spanning all those years, Trump is asked about potentially running for the Presidency some day. Some of the answers are 30 years old, and all are spontaneous. Unlike the scripted (and now we know, totally false) statements we consistently get from Hillary, it is painfully obvious the answers Trump gives are genuine, and from the heart.  Love him or hate him, good luck arguing that Trump isn't authentic in the video. You get a good look at who would be in the Oval Office, and it's not the caricature that Team Hillary has tried so hard to create. On the other hand, Team Hillary's behavior is utterly indefensible, and she knows it, which is why she runs like hell in the video below the second reporters begin to ask her about the recordings.  There's nowhere to run now though Hillary\u2026 You and your staff have a lot to answer for\u2026 much of which is criminal in nature (go figure!)  Article posted with permission from The Last Great Stand  Michael DePinto is a member of the fast growing un-silent American majority that is sick of the insanity going on in this country right now. He has been accused of being vitriolic, bombastic, sarcastic to the extreme, and probably worse behind his back. Michael is sick of being branded a right wing-extremist, racist, homophobe, warmonger, or whatever other asinine adjectives Liberal Progressives have for the words COMMON SENSE these days. Michael is also a blogger at The Last Great Stand and an Attorney. Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this:","label":1}
{"text":"On Independence Day, National Public Radio tweeted the entire Declaration of Independence to accompany their annual reading of the most important document in our nation s history.In Congress, July 4, 1776. NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017When in the Course of human events, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017and to assume among the powers of the earth, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature s God entitle them, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017We hold these truths to be self-evident, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017that all men are created equal, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017 and so on.To people who generally listen to NPR and are typically well-informed (or anyone who graduated kindergarten), this was a wonderful expression of patriotism to be proud of. Then, of course, there are conservatives.While our frenemies on the Right love to wave their flags and call themselves patriots, the Declaration of Independence is apparently on their reading lists alongside the first half of the Second Amendment and parts of the Bible they can use to attack human rights. Conservatives swarmed NPR to whine and cry because they thought the tweets were get this an attack on Donald Trump.When NPR got to this part, things got a bit crazy:it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017Seriously, check this out.stop it braeden (@wokepolitik) July 4, 2017The responses to @NPR tweeting the Declaration of Independence are sort of hilarious and sad all at once ??? ? pic.twitter.com\/yCp6PpSuYg Savannah Grimm (@savvygrimm) July 5, 2017*heavy sigh* pic.twitter.com\/Pb35SNdKqe Melissa Martin (@DoubleEmMartin) July 4, 2017When you're triggered by the Declaration of Independence bc you want so badly to submit to King Donald the Doll-Handed . pic.twitter.com\/aEyLEu24Qc Alexandra ? (@AlexandraAimee) July 4, 2017So, NPR is calling for revolution.Interesting way to condone the violence while trying to sound \"patriotic\".Your implications are clear. D.G.Davies (@JustEsrafel) July 4, 2017Wait wait don t tell me Shakespeare? Bernie? MSNBC? The libtards? No?? Dimo (@hipperfish) July 5, 2017That last person actually repented, which is strange for a Trump supporter, but admirable:Trump says he loves the poorly educated. The reaction to the Declaration of f*cking Independence shows us why.","label":1}
{"text":"Sarah Palin has said a lot of stupid things over the years but she definitely defended her America s village idiot crown with this one.The New York Times is looking to cut costs by vacating eight floors at their current headquarters to generate rental revenue and create a better work environment. Of course, conservative media is gloating about this by claiming that the newspaper is broke and will be laying off hundreds of employees. But it appears that the New York Times is simply restructuring and the moves will only affect a handful of jobs for the time being if any at all. Meanwhile, the publisher and CEO are giving up corner offices, which will save more money to keep more employees. So the plan is displacing everyone on those floors no matter what position they hold in the company.And so Sarah Palin decided to brag about the New York Times supposedly going broke (citing a right-wing website that profits on fake news and can t even bother to check their headlines for typos) by posting about it on Twitter, massacring lyrics from a popular Jamie Foxx and Kanye West song from 2005 in the process.NYT: I ain t saying you a golddigger, but there s a reason you messin with broke, broke, broke. https:\/\/t.co\/PYkWNyyx9k Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) December 19, 2016Seriously, that does not make any sense. And Twitter destroyed her for it.@SarahPalinUSA me reading this trash ass tweet. pic.twitter.com\/3lZw8UEXox Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA congratulations, your caption is somehow stupider than the article it s quoting. That s a tremendous achievement. Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) December 19, 2016.@SarahPalinUSA [P] pic.twitter.com\/rGzbFTf3eb Paul and Storm (@paulandstorm) December 19, 2016Hi, @SarahPalinUSA. Pass this along to your homies @YoungCons: https:\/\/t.co\/kX40uejRmI #unpresidented #commoncore pic.twitter.com\/H0ACfWDdsr Chad Smith (@chadssmith) December 19, 2016Can t wait until @SarahPalinUSA tweets the radio edits All of the Lights and New Slaves #SarahPalinMusicTweets https:\/\/t.co\/4I1RC77SJV Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA delete this Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) December 19, 2016@Phil_Lewis_ @SarahPalinUSA she s totes appropriating black ???? music ? and it don t make sense Rohrabacher (@RohrabacherMD) December 19, 2016@katienolan @SarahPalinUSA it s like when you had your friends over to go swimming but your mom comes out and she s wasted Mike miller (@OtherMikeMiller) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA https:\/\/t.co\/Y8dvcVug9w Gabe Bergado (@gabebergado) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA Welcome to 2005, Sarah. Gabe Ort z (@TUSK81) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA A little early in the day for cocktails, don t you think? The first step is admitting you have a problem. Greg Swartz (@GJSwartz) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA one of the dumbest things you ve ever said. Which is shocking considering that you re a fucking moron The Saurus (@TheSaurus831) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA Don t you have a job to quit? Joseph Finn (@JosephFinn) December 19, 2016@SarahPalinUSA Damn, what did Bristol do now . Harvey King of Shade (@bodysculptorokc) December 19, 2016You can delete you account now, Sarah. Nobody will ever take your place as America s village idiot.Featured Image: The Immoral Minority","label":1}
{"text":"The Washington Post is of course, befuddled as to what all of this means, so let us break it down for them: FOX News moderators hardly gave Ted Cruz the opportunity to speak, so the viewers who liked what they saw in the brief moments given to Cruz had to do their own research on him (and any of the other non-Trump or non-RINO candidates). I think that about covers it It will be interesting to see what the TV ratings for Thursday night s presidential primary debate look like once they come out.The most Googled candidate in the debate at any point was Ted Cruz with 67 percent more searches at his peak than the next most-searched candidate s peak.The search volume is all relative to each other; a 100, the Cruz peak, is the most search in a minute for a candidate.On average, Trump held the most sustained search interest, surprise, surprise. Notice that Ben Carson maintained steady interest, too followed by Cruz and Marco Rubio.The key point: We have no idea what this means. We don t know if the spike in Cruz searches will convert people to his cause, or the new attention to Carson will boost him in the polls. We don t know. But we do, at least, have some sense of who people wanted to know more about. We ll see if this reveals anything more significant down the road.What the Republican field not named Trump needed to do during the Fox News debate was get people to spread the attention around a bit. With the debate over, it looks like at least some of them did.In the first half hour, people Googled Ted Cruz. As the night progressed, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio started to attract some attention. Jeb Bush got people interested when the moderators mentioned his alleged comments about the businessman perhaps because they wanted to look up what he said.All data in the graphs above comes from Google Trends.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump supporters thought that when they donated to his presidential campaign, they were actually receiving Make America Great Again hats, books, and other merchandise actually autographed by their idol. But like so much else with Trump, this was a scam too.These items offered on his website, including signed hats and signed copies of his book The Art of the Deal, were heavily advertised on social media and by Trump himself. But what some buyers may not have realized is that it seems Trump didn t actually sign any of the items available for purchase on his website with his own hand. Instead, the autographs all appear to have been done by an autopen machine, a device used to automatically sign a signature.The use of an autopen machine only became evident to some after Trump won the election, when opportunists who had purchased such items off Trump s website took to eBay to re-sell what they believed would be a more valuable John Hancock.On eBay, the Trump Tribe suddenly realized that all the merchandise had been signed in the exact same identical position, impossible if he had been signing them by hand.One fan told ABC News, You think for $183, you have to be getting the real thing. Had I known, not only would I not have bought this, but I m pretty sure no one would have. Another told the news outlet that he would like to receive a refund after shelling out money for a fake Trump autograph.Trump relies on a world in which people simply accept the snake oil he s selling and don t bother to actually verify what he s saying and compare it to reality. It s a formula that has worked for him for years and years, while he profits and walks away from businesses in collapse. And now he ll be running the country.","label":1}
{"text":"Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon left the White House today and has already returned as Executive Chairman of Breitbart News, where he will continue to go to war for President Trump.Unfortunately for the Left, Steve Bannon will continue to go to war for Trump against his opponents, he just won t be conducting the war from the White House anymore. There are very few conservatives in America who really know how to beat the left at their own game. Conservatives need someone like Steve Bannon more than ever right now. Fortunately for us, he doesn t plan to walk away from the fight. Josh Caplan reports that Bannon will continue his fight for Trump from the outside after his exit from the White House today.FULL STATEMENT: Bannon says he s going to war for Trump after White House exit pic.twitter.com\/e61m6bb74O Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) August 18, 2017 If there s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America, Bannon told Bloomberg News Friday in his first public comments after his departure was announced.Bannon led the evening editorial meeting at Breitbart, where he resumed his role as executive chairman, the website said in a statement. A person who was on the call said Bannon called on the group to hunker down and work like never before to advance conservative causes. Bloomberg The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today, said Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow. Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda. Breitbart News CEO and President Larry Solov agreed. Breitbart s pace of global expansion will only accelerate with Steve back, said Solov. The sky s the limit. Bannon joined the Trump campaign on August 17, 2016 nearly one year ago to the day of his return to Breitbart. He submitted his intention to leave the White House on August 7 of this year. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve s last day, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Friday afternoon. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best. Breitbart","label":1}
{"text":"Hillary Is a Communist Spy- Alex Jones, Dave Hodges and Global Research  Hillary Clinton wanted for treason.  Alex Jones came out with his reasons why he believes that Hillary Clinton is a Communist Chinese spy. Alex and I both have our beliefs as to why Clinton should be considered to be a Communist operative and we both come at this from different angles. Alex maintains that Hillary is a Communist Chinese spy. I maintain that Hillary is a KGB operative. However, I believe at the time we are at today, we are both right. Alex Jones maintains that the Chinese will emerge as the dominant power whose mission it will be to usher in the NWO. I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. For the Moment, China and Russia Are Allied  Russia and China are allied and the linchpin of the Russia\/Chinese alliance are the massive energy deals that Russia and China have mutually entered into. In something that our main stream media (MSM) never talks about, Russia and China are militarily aligned in Syria. as I have noted in past articles. Therefore, in the present moment, when Hillary is working for the Russians, she is also, by default, working for the Chinese.  Alex Jones has a very interesting take on why Hillary's association with China will help perpetuate our downfall.  Global Research Declares Clinton to be Foreign Spy  It is at this point that Alex Jones and Dave Hodges find common ground.  From Global Research : During her 4 years as Secretary of State of the United States (2009-2014), Hillary Clinton controlled US foreign policy. She had access to the most confidential information and state documents, numbering in the tens of thousands, from all of the major government departments and agencies, Intelligence, FBI, the Pentagon, Treasury and the office of the President.  She had unfettered access to vital and secret information affecting US policy in all the key regions of the empire\u2026\"  \"\u2026There are several lines of inquiry against Mme. Clinton:  (1) Did she work with, as yet unnamed, foreign governments and intelligence services to strengthen their positions and against the interest of the United States?  (2) Did she provide information on the operations and policy positions of various key US policymakers to competitors, adversaries or allies undermining the activities of military, intelligence and State Department officials?  (3) Did she seek to enhance her personal power within the US administration to push her aggressive policy of serial pre-emptive wars over and against veteran State Department and Pentagon officials who favored traditional diplomacy and less violent confrontation?  (4) Did she prepare a 'covert team', using foreign or dual national operative, to lay the groundwork for her bid for the presidency and her ultimate goal of supreme military and political power? (Ed. Note: My assertion)  Clinton's covert war policies, which included the violent overthrow of the elected Ukraine government, were carried out by her 'Lieutenant' Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, a virulent neo-conservative holdover from the previous Bush Administration and someone committed to provoking Russia and to enhancing Israel's power in the Middle East. Clinton's highly dangerous and economically destabilizing 'brainchild' of militarily encircling China, the so-called 'pivot to Asia', would have required clandestine exchanges with elements in the Pentagon \u2013 out of the State Department and possibly Executive oversight.  In other words, within the Washington political circuit, Former Secretary of State Clinton's escalation of nuclear war policies toward Russia and China required secretive correspondences which would not necessarily abide with the policies and intelligence estimates of other US government agencies and with private business interests\u2026\" (EDITOR'S NOTE: I MAINTAIN THAT THIS ISSUE IS ALSO CONTAINED IN THE \"MISSING EMAILS\").  My main interest toward Hillary Clinton's treason has recently focused on one issue, namely, the Clinton Foundation's selling uranium to Russia. I would argue that Clinton's policies which pushed the US into a war mode against Russia was done so Clinton would have a willing buyer of uranium (i.e. Russia) should war every come.  Again, from Global Research:  \"The executive leadership now faces the problem of how to deal with a traitor , who is the Democratic Party nominee for US President, without undermining the US quest for global power. How do the executive leadership and intelligence agencies back a foreign spy for president, who has been deeply compromised and can be blackmailed? This may explain why the FBI, NSA, and CIA hesitate to press charges; hesitate to even seriously investigate, despite the obvious nature of her offenses. Most of all it explains why there is no indication of the identity of Secretary Clinton's correspondents in the various reports so far available\"\u2026 Hillary Clinton: An Agent for Russia  I published my assertion that Clinton was a traitor in 2015. I repeated this charge nearly two months ago.  A former key member of the Obama administration and current Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, has proven herself to be the Ethel Rosenberg of her generation. You may recall your U.S. history as Ethel Rosenberg sold nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. In an act every bit as egregious as Ethel Rosenberg's treason, Hillary Clinton sold uranium to the Russians while serving as the Secretary of State. Ironically, the original source on this treasonous act committed by Clinton was none other than the liberal rag we call the New York Times . The proof is undeniable that Hillary Clinton committed the treasonous act of selling uranium to the Russians while Secretary of State , as reported in the New York Times. The Russian blood money, as reported, is being held in an offshore account and is being used to fund her run for the Presidency.  From the New York Times\u2026.  \"A Uranium One sign that points to a 35,000 acre ranch by John Christensen, near the town of Gillette, Wyoming. Uranium One has the mining rights Mr. Christensen's property.\" This is proof of more BLM chicanery which will involve multiple BLM ranches.  The New York Times further asserts that members of the Canadian mining industry, who have supported Clinton's campaign, financed and sold off to the Russians a company known as Uranium One. Uranium One is directly responsible for transferring uranium from BLM land to the Russians through an off-shore holding company. Again, according to the NY Times, the Russians, through three separate transactions, acquired Uranium One, while paying off the Clintons and their Canadian partners from 2009-2013. The business deal also involved paying Bill Clinton $500,000 dollars for a speech on energy which was delivered in Moscow.  Conclusion Alex Jones, Global Research and Dave Hodges all agree on central point. Hillary Clinton is a foreign asset dedicated to the destruction of the United States. Alex maintains that Hillary is aligned with China and I see evidence that she is aligned with Russia. At this point in time, I do not view this as a discrepancy. Nor, do I have an issue with believing that the globalists have chosen China to usher in the NWO agenda. The central point here is that this nation sits upon the precipice of putting a person into the White House who is an absolute traitor to this country. To this point, whether it is the Chinese flavor or the Russian flavor that Hillary represents, \"what does it matter?\" She is going continue to sell America out to her enemies. It is interesting to note that during the Grid EX drills, which simulated a take down of the grid, both the Chinese and the Russians were invited to participate. Finally, when Alex Jones, Dave Hodges and Global Research all reach the same conclusion, via different means, THAT HILLARY CLINTON IS A SPY, perhaps it is time to pay closer attention to who we are electing as our next President.","label":1}
{"text":"Is This Why Comey Broke: A Stack Of Resignation Letters From Furious FBI Agents Source: Zero Hedge  Conspiracy theories have swirled in recent days as to why FBI Director James Comey reopened Hillary's email investigation after just closing it back in July concluding that, although Hillary had demonstrated gross negligence in her establishment of a private email server, that \"no reasonable prosecutor\" would bring a case against her. Democrats, after lavishing Comey with praise for months on concluding his investigation in an \"impartial\" way, have since lashed out at him for seeking to influence the 2016 election cycle with Hillary herself describing his recent actions as \"deeply troubling\". Republicans, on the other hand, have praised Comey's recent efforts as an attempt to correct a corrupt investigation that seemingly ignored critical evidence while granting numerous immunity agreements to Clinton staffers.  According to the Daily Mail , and a source close to James Comey, the decision, at least in part, came after he \"could no longer resist mounting pressure by mutinous agents in the FBI\" who \"felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.\"  James Comey's decision to revive the investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server and her handling of classified material came after he could no longer resist mounting pressure by mutinous agents in the FBI , including some of his top deputies, according to a source close to the embattled FBI director.  'The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim announced last July that he wouldn't recommend an indictment against Hillary,' said the source, a close friend who has known Comey for nearly two decades, shares family outings with him, and accompanies him to Catholic mass every week.  'Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,' said the source. 'They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.'  According to the source, Comey fretted over the problem for months and discussed it at great length with his wife, Patrice.  He told his wife that he was depressed by the stack of resignation letters piling up on his desk from disaffected agents. The letters reminded him every day that morale in the FBI had hit rock bottom.  'The people he trusts the most have been the angriest at him,' the source continued. 'And that includes his wife, Pat. She kept urging him to admit that he had been wrong when he refused to press charges against the former secretary of state.  Though we're sure there are many facets behind Comey's decision making process, we can all be quite certain, at this point, that he's not motivated by a desire to make friends having now alienated just about everyone in Washington, both in law enforcement and in both political parties. In fact, after Tim Kaine just last week praised Comey as a \"wonderful\" career public servant with the \"highest standards of integrity\" ....  ...everything has now been turned on it's head with Hillary calling his latest moves \"unprecedented and deeply troubling\"...seemingly implying an attempt, on the part of Comey, to \"rig\" the election from Trump .  Meanwhile, President Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are apparently also \"furious\" with Comey over his recent decision.  His announcement about the revived investigation, which came just 11 days before the presidential election, was greeted with shock and dismay by Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the prosecutors at the Justice Department.  'Jim told me that Lynch and Obama are furious with him,' the source said.  'Lynch and Obama haven't contacted Jim directly,' said the source, 'but they've made it crystal clear through third parties that they disapprove of his effort to save face.'  And while the decision to reopen the case may appease FBI agents and republicans, in the short-term, we suspect it does very little to restore overall faith in his competence. As such, we continue to question just how long Comey can hold out before being forced to resign his post. At a bare minimum, in light of his continued questionable judgement and serious doubts raised about the integrity of the first investigation, we fail to understand how an independent investigation into Hillary's email server isn't warranted.  OOOOh! The remorse! The GUILT ! I can almost feel it from here!  Get off it, ....you jabbering, fast talking, asshole.  Statements? ... 'Reopening investigations' (Is that a maybe you wiil have a couple of interns fiddle with Emails a little longer?) and then having legal promptly announce they will take MONTHS and MONTHS to complete the case? .... We Have AN ELECTION LOOKING AT US! ..We need to know who the bad guys are. But, then we already know, don't we?  No, a resignation is in order. .. Declare a 'conflict of interest' and turn states evidence would be more like it. .... You - Are - A - Crook Dir Comey.  I know ZHers are getting tired of seeing this but for the benefit of any little clueless FBI junior G-Men out there that can still read English:","label":1}
{"text":"The pace of approvals for nuclear reactor restarts in Japan, where most plants remain shut following the Fukushima disaster, is unlikely to pick up in the coming years, the new head of Japan s nuclear regulator said in an interview on Tuesday. The comments from Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa suggest Japan may not make headway in meeting its electricity generation targets. By 2030, the country was expecting nuclear to power about one-fifth of its generation. However, utilities are having difficulty grappling with tougher rules on protecting reactors from natural disasters in the earthquake-prone country. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the world s worst since Chernobyl in 1986, the NRA was set up in 2012 to draft new safety standards that have been described as among the world s toughest. Since then, 12 reactors at six nuclear plants have passed the safety requirements needed to restart, but only four reactors are currently operating. One more reactor that resumed operations after meeting the requirements has been shut down for scheduled maintenance. Most of the approvals have been for reactors in western Japan and not on the east coast where Tokyo Electric Power Co s Fukushima Daiichi station was located. The plant suffered multiple reactor meltdowns after an earthquake on the northeast coast caused a tsunami that swamped the site. We have accumulated experience in safety reviews, but comparatively speaking, many of the plants in eastern Japan that we are reviewing now have difficult natural conditions, Fuketa, 60, said in the interview. It s doubtful the pace of approvals would quicken. A majority of Japanese oppose nuclear power after Fukushima and restarts are a delicate political issue rather than just a matter of meeting technical safety requirements. When asked if he could place a number of how many reactors may be approved for a resumption of operations in the next five years, Fuketa said: I honestly do not know. About a dozen other reactors are going through safety checks as part of a relicensing process under the new rules. Fuketa is known for taking tough positions during safety reviews of reactors and has been instrumental in directing the clean-up of the wrecked Fukushima plant. Japan s government set an energy mix plan in 2015 that forecasts relying on nuclear power to generate between 20 to 22 percent of the country s electricity in 2030. That requires having about 30 reactors operating by then. Japan s nine regional power utilities and a wholesaler, Japan Atomic Power Co, have 42 nuclear reactors for commercial use, with a total generating capacity of 41,482 megawatts.","label":0}
{"text":"A U.S. congressional draft bill to steer Puerto Rico through its economic crisis was released on Tuesday with elements of U.S. bankruptcy law opposed by creditors who want to keep the island's debt talks out of court. The draft, circulated by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, includes sections of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that allow bankrupt entities under certain circumstances to force creditors to take reduced payouts. An official draft of the bill is expected to be released on April 11 after a public comment period. Puerto Rico has $70 billion in debt, with major bond payments due in coming months. It also has an unfunded state pension liability of nearly $44 billion. The bill \"provides Puerto Rico with tools to impose discipline over its finances, meet its obligations and restore confidence in its institutions,\" Utah Republican Rob Bishop, the committee's chairman, said in a statement. \"We appreciate the constructive efforts by Chairman Bishop and the House Natural Resources Committee to begin drafting legislation to address Puerto Rico's fiscal and economic crisis. But the current draft needs improvements,\" said a statement from a Treasury spokesperson. \"Final legislation must provide Puerto Rico with tools to achieve a lasting, workable solution to this crisis and create a path to recovery for the people of Puerto Rico.\" The Republican-led panel's bill would create a federal board to oversee the island's finances, monitor its accounting and help curb spending. It would also require Puerto Rico to make efforts to restructure debt consensually with creditors. If those talks failed, the island or its public entities could file for a court-supervised debt restructuring process based on key statutes within U.S. bankruptcy law. That would allow Puerto Rico to force such deals on holdout creditors. The bill's elements were unexpected because creditors and House Republicans had largely opposed bankruptcy for Puerto Rico. The Natural Resources Committee had said that \"retroactively adding territories\" like Puerto Rico to the federal bankruptcy code \"is ill-conceived and would undermine the rule of law.\" A congressional aide stressed that the draft legislation was not a bankruptcy law, and does not directly add Puerto Rico to U.S. bankruptcy code, though it follows similar language. The Obama Administration has advocated to allow Puerto Rico to restructure its debt in a court-sanctioned process. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticized the \"sweeping powers of the oversight board proposed\" in the bill. The bill in its final form may include language that protects an existing consensual restructuring deal between creditors and the power utility, PREPA, the congressional aide said. PREPA earlier this year reached the deal with creditors holding roughly 70 percent of its $8.3 billion in debt. \"The bill in its current form is fiscally irresponsible,\" financial adviser Stephen Spencer of Houlihan Lokey said in an emailed statement. The company's clients include major Puerto Rico creditors such as OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisers. \"As we showed with the PREPA deal, fair solutions can be reached between Puerto Rico and its creditors that benefit all stakeholders. However, the Discussion Draft Bill is worse for creditors than Chapter 9,\" Spencer said. How the oversight board treats the island's General Obligation bonds, which is typically regarded as the most senior debt, versus pension payments is also a source of concern for creditors. The oversight board will look at each bond issued and make a determination on how it relates to other creditors under the existing law, the congressional aide said. If the GO bonds are constitutionally protected and within their limits then the board would take that into consideration, the aide said.","label":0}
{"text":"Reza Zarrab, a prominent Turkish gold trader who has been jailed in New York on charges of violating the United States sanctions on Iran, has added Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, to his legal team, adding intrigue to a case that has been steeped in international politicking between Turkey and the United States. Just last month, Mr. Giuliani and another prominent lawyer, Michael B. Mukasey, traveled to meet with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as part of their efforts on behalf of Mr. Zarrab, according to a person briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the trip. Mr. Giuliani is close to President Donald J. Trump, raising the question of whether Mr. Zarrab has retained him in an effort to negotiate a beneficial resolution of his case at the highest levels of the Trump administration. Mr. Mukasey is a former federal judge and attorney general in the George W. Bush administration. Since Mr. Trump's election, there has been a warming of ties between Turkey and the United States, with officials close to Mr. Erdogan quoted as saying they see the prospect of a fresh start in relations. The United States attorney's office in Manhattan said in a court filing on Monday evening that it was told that Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mukasey \"have been retained by the defendant and are involved in, and will continue to be involved in, efforts to explore a potential disposition of the criminal charges in this matter. \" Mr. Zarrab, 33, who was born in Iran and moved to Turkey as an infant, has dual citizenship. He was arrested in March 2016 as he arrived on a trip to Miami, and was sent to New York to face charges. Prosecutors, arguing against bail, said Mr. Zarrab had used his considerable wealth and influence to be released from a prison in Turkey after he was detained there in 2013 as part of a corruption investigation of businessmen with close ties to Mr. Erdogan, then Turkey's prime minister. Mr. Erdogan has publicly criticized Mr. Zarrab's prosecution in the United States. According to Turkish news reports, Mr. Erdogan said last fall that he had raised Mr. Zarrab's case with President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. during talks at the United Nations, and Mr. Erdogan also said there were \"malicious\" intentions in the prosecution, according to the reports. Mr. Zarrab has been charged with facilitating millions of dollars in illicit transactions on behalf of Iran and other sanctioned entities through the use of front companies and false documentation. Prosecutors have said he \"allegedly tricked numerous U. S. financial institutions into processing barred transactions. \" Mr. Zarrab has also been charged with conspiracies to commit money laundering and bank fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was ordered detained without bond. Mr. Zarrab's decision to retain Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mukasey was revealed on Monday in a court filing by the office of Joon H. Kim, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan, who took office this month after Preet Bharara was dismissed by the Trump administration. Mr. Kim's office said it was advising the judge, Richard M. Berman, of potential conflicts of interest posed by representation of Mr. Zarrab by the two lawyers, noting that Mr. Giuliani's firm, Greenberg Traurig, and Mr. Mukasey's firm, Debevoise Plimpton, had each represented banks that prosecutors say were victims in the case. Mr. Kim's office asked that the judge hold a hearing on the issue. Mr. Zarrab's lead lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, responded in a letter to the judge, saying no hearing was necessary because no lawyers from either firm \"will have any involvement in the trial preparation or trial in this case, and neither Mr. Giuliani nor Mr. Mukasey intends to file a notice of appearance before your honor. \" \"Their roles will not require any appearing in court,\" Mr. Brafman wrote. Mr. Brafman, Mr. Mukasey and a spokeswoman for Mr. Giuliani each had no comment on Monday. The United States attorney's office also declined to comment. Mr. Kim's office, responding with the filing in the evening, argued that a hearing was \"especially appropriate and necessary at this time if, as the letter from defense counsel indicates, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mukasey's involvement in this case is intended to occur entirely outside of the court's purview and knowledge. \" Adding to the intrigue surrounding the Zarrab case is the fact that Mr. Giuliani has recommended Mr. Mukasey's son, Marc L. Mukasey, a fellow lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, to Mr. Trump to become the next United States attorney in Manhattan, according to two people briefed on the discussions. The firm's spokeswoman said the younger Mr. Mukasey has no involvement in the Zarrab case.","label":0}
{"text":"Venezuela s pro-government legislative superbody ruled on Wednesday that parties who boycotted this month s local elections had lost legitimacy, potentially eliminating the main opposition groups from the 2018 presidential race. The decree by the Constituent Assembly - created in a controversial July vote boycotted by the opposition and widely condemned abroad - infuriated Venezuela s opposition and drew criticism from the United States. The Venezuelan government and its illegitimate Constituent Assembly are inventing rules as they go along. This is not democracy, the U.S. Embassy said on Twitter. The Justice First, Democratic Action and Popular Will parties did not run candidates in this month s mayoral polls in protest against what they said was a biased election system designed to perpetuate leftist President Nicolas Maduro s dictatorship. Maduro had warned that could cost them participation in future votes and the Constituent Assembly echoed that position on Wednesday, saying the parties had lost their legal status and should re-apply to the National Election Board. Given that the board is pro-Maduro and authorities are constantly throwing up obstacles to the opposition, that could well mean those parties are now effectively unable to run in the presidential election due before the end of 2018. Maduro, 55, is expected to run for re-election despite the disastrous state of the economy in Venezuela, where millions are skipping meals and struggling to survive amid one of the world s highest inflation rates and widespread shortages of basics. Two of his potentially biggest rivals already cannot run against him: Popular Will leader Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest, while Justice First leader Henrique Capriles is prohibited from holding political office. We alert the world and all democratic governments that banning opposition political parties is yet another measure by the dictatorship that deserves rejection and condemnation, said Capriles party colleague Tomas Guanipa. Maduro and his allies say the Constituent Assembly has brought peace to the OPEC nation after months of opposition protests earlier this year in which more than 125 people were killed. Demonstrators said they were fighting for freedom, but the government condemned them as violent subversives. It s time for the coupsters to face the constitution. Let no one undermine the people s participation and the democratic system, Constituent Assembly head Delcy Rodriguez said after the passage of Wednesday s measure.","label":0}
{"text":"When trying to figure out who these people are who are actually considering voting for Trump, or have already, two things come to mind they re either racist or just dumber than a bag of bricks.Trump has been so vague on policy and his supporters simply don t seem to care. They hear about his hatred of Muslims and Mexicans and come running in droves. His plans: a wall, the best wall; healthcare, the best healthcare; military, the best military; education, the best education; guns. He literally offers no specifics. He just says what comes to mind and these imbecilic supporters cheer. Watch any rally and you ll soon realize that he s not running for the nation, he s running for himself. Count how many times he mentions polls. Notice how few times he mentions legitimate policy ideas. Keep track of how many times he uses me, my or I. This vagueness is working though, because while at a diner in Nashville, Tennessee, Anna Kooiman of Fox News spoke with a Trump supporter by the name of Austin who said Trump is a proven businessman who has employed tens of thousands of people, he s a man that knows how to get the job done right. Austin is basically just repeating, verbatim, what Trump says at every single one of his rallies and events. Trump proclaims over and over that he is a great businessman who has employed tens of thousands of people and knows how to get the job done right. It s pretty much guaranteed that he ll say this at the next debate as well.When Kooiman pressed this Trump supporter on why he thinks Trump isn t specific on any policy, he replied: I am not concerned about that. I think he is not being specific so he does not give his competition everything that he s doing so they copy him. And Fox News being Fox News, Kooiman said, There s a great theory there and he s a dealmaker. So, let s get this straight, Trump isn t being specific because he doesn t want people to copy him? That s his grand plan to lure voters. That s like a salesman saying, I have this thing, and you re gonna love it, I just can t tell you what it is until you buy it. Who in their right mind would buy something they know nothing about? Apparently, this guy Austin in Nashville.Trump really wasn t kidding when he said he loves the poorly educated. Here s the video from Huffington Post:","label":1}
{"text":"Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows met with the Vice President late Monday after which he told reporters the caucus was \"intrigued\" at an offer to give states an option to waive two provisions of Obamacare. [Meadows established that the White House had not offered legislative text for a deal, but expects text within 24 hours. CNN reported that Meadows told reporters the provisions involved were the \"essential health benefits\" mandate, which dictates what insurers must cover, and a community health ratings requirement on insurers which prohibits charging higher premiums based on health status. Conservatives have lobbied to have the two Obamacare provisions strike from the House Leadership's Obamacare replacement plan, the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The potential new deal appears to be an alternative option that would allow states to opt out. There is no final deal and no Freedom Caucus members have changed their positions on AHCA, was the message from Meadows. \"There is no deal in principle there is a solid idea that was offered,\" he said according to the Hill. Lawmakers indicated the White House may be looking for a vote later this week, but Meadows warned of voting too soon and without time to allow the Congressional Budget Office to offer analysis. He did offer that they are encouraged by the progress that appears to be happening. Some members of the moderate Tuesday Group, which could also stall passage of the AHCA, met with Pence earlier in the day at the White House according to the report. Over the weekend Sen. Rand Paul, who has opposed the AHCA, met and golfed with the President in Virginia. Paul took a brief moment to tell reporters that he was \"very optimistic\" about progress on repealing Obamacare. Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana","label":0}
{"text":"Katie Uhlaender was a United States Olympian when she competed at the Sochi Games in February 2014. She was seeking her first Olympic medal, and after four runs down an icy 1. skeleton course, she was sure she had succeeded. She had not. She placed fourth, finishing of a second behind Elena Nikitina of Russia, who took third. Two years later, after replaying the competition in her mind countless times, Ms. Uhlaender learned that Ms. Nikitina was among dozens of Russian athletes at the Sochi Games who were part of a doping program, according to the longtime director of Russia's antidoping lab, Grigory Rodchenkov. \"My gut just got all wrenchy,\" Ms. Uhlaender said recently, tears welling up as she slowed her pedaling on a stationary bike. \"It's opening a wound. \" Dr. Rodchenkov's account of how doping controls were breached at the 2014 Olympics has tarnished the performance of dozens of Russian athletes and marred the integrity of the Games. His claims also have left many athletes who finished behind Russians feeling cheated. \"I'll never know what it feels like to stand on the podium in Sochi, but I want to put this behind me,\" Ms. Uhlaender said. \"I want to know: Am I a bronze medalist?\" Ms. Nikitina's name appears on a spreadsheet provided to The New York Times by Dr. Rodchenkov. The document, which he said was sent to him by Russia's sports ministry two weeks before the Sochi Games, lists key competition dates for each athlete \u2014 in Ms. Nikitina's case, Feb. 14, the date of her final two races, in which she had some of the fastest running starts at the Games. That list, Dr. Rodchenkov said, guided him in his nightly ritual in Sochi: surreptitiously swapping out the urine of Russia's top athletes, at least 15 of whom won medals. An investigation into Dr. Rodchenkov's account is expected to conclude within days, three weeks before the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are set to begin, and the full results of the investigation, due on Monday, could prove explosive. Dr. Rodchenkov has cooperated with the inquiry, which was commissioned in May by the World Agency and has been conducted by Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer who was part of a commission that last fall accused Russia of systematic doping. In a preliminary report last month, Mr. McLaren, who received the Sochi spreadsheet, called Dr. Rodchenkov's story \"both credible and verifiable. \" Last month, global sports officials barred Russian track and field athletes from the Rio Games. WADA has said that if the allegations prove true, it will consider recommending all Russian athletes be barred from competition Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, said he would resign if such a ban were imposed. In an interview in Moscow this week, Mr. Mutko denied that the government had been involved in any scheme, but expressed concern that his deputy was accused of giving Dr. Rodchenkov direct orders. Mr. Mutko was alternately confident in Russia's athletes and contrite about their attitudes toward drugs. \"We have to persuade people you can win without doping,\" he said. \"It's the culture. It's a problem. \" Waiting for the Sochi inquiry to conclude, Ms. Uhlaender, who will turn 32 next week, has fought to keep her focus on the next Winter Olympics, in 2018 in South Korea. Still, she is concerned that sports officials will fail to deliver the rigorous and decisive result she craves. \"I'm worried Sochi will be forgotten, and it scares me,\" she said. \"Rodchenkov said he tampered with the samples, and there are rules against that. I just want to see them follow the rules. \" Ms. Uhlaender is training in the desert, spending her days lifting weights in Arizona with fellow professional athletes at a gym and sprinting alongside dozens of other Olympians, mostly track and field athletes preparing for Rio. Between workouts, there is conversation of all kinds \u2014 about diets, \"Game of Thrones,\" the price of gas \u2014 but there is little mention of the allegations of widespread doping by the Russians. Ms. Uhlaender said she had talked about the situation twice with her coach. \"What are you going to do about it?\" he asked her before moving on. \"The worst thing I can do is talk about it,\" she said over a chicken lettuce wrap and four shots of espresso. When not training, she meditates works in education for a traumatic brain injury center, having recovered from a concussion herself watches Netflix and exchanges texts with two Navy SEAL friends who have helped keep her tough, she said. \"When I come to train, I don't want drama,\" she said, fiddling with a National League championship ring belonging to her father, the former baseball player Ted Uhlaender. The ring, which she tucks into the back of her sports bra as she works out, hangs on a silver chain alongside a tiny baseball charm that holds his ashes. One of the few people Ms. Uhlaender has talked to about the doping scandal in recent months is Ms. Nikitina, her Russian competitor. In May, days after Dr. Rodchenkov's account became public, Ms. Uhlaender and Ms. Nikitina exchanged more than a dozen messages on Facebook. Ms. Nikitina expressed shock at Dr. Rodchenkov's statements. \"We all think this is politics!\" she wrote. \"We basically joke about it. \" She added: \"Each athlete sure of himself! As we say in Russia, 'Such complex situations make us stronger. '\" Ms. Nikitina, who did not respond to messages from The Times, told Ms. Uhlaender her name was not on Dr. Rodchenkov's spreadsheet, and she emphasized the sacrifices she had made to train twice a day to become a better athlete. When Ms. Uhlaender asked if Russian Olympians had doped at Sochi, Ms. Nikitina said that she could speak only for skeleton racers, and that the answer was no. Dr. Rodchenkov's spreadsheet listed five Russian skeleton athletes, including Alexander Tretyakov, who won gold at the Games. Asked about the allegations this year, the Russian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation wrote in an email that all of its athletes \"underwent doping control procedures in accordance to the rules,\" adding, \"All of them were clean, and not one positive result was found. \" Mr. Mutko said in Moscow this week that Mr. Tretyakov and other accused athletes had long careers with clean histories. \"These athletes didn't appear in sport all of a sudden,\" he said. \"No whiskey would be enough to stop them,\" he said, referring to the mixture of steroids and liquor that Dr. Rodchenkov said he developed and distributed to coaches to help Russian athletes absorb drugs more quickly before traveling to international competitions for testing. Mr. Mutko said, however, that if Mr. McLaren's inquiry proved Dr. Rodchenkov's account true, the athletes in question would be disciplined. \"I am not on the list!\" Ms. Nikitina wrote to Ms. Uhlaender in a recent exchange. \"I hope that the truth will prevail! And the perpetrators of this scandal will be punished!\" Medalists like Ms. Nikitina received high praise for their performance at Sochi. After the Games, President Vladimir V. Putin presented Ms. Nikitina, a Olympian, with a state award, the Order for Merit to the Fatherland. \"Your amazing debut,\" Mr. Putin said in a public statement to Ms. Nikitina at the time, \"met the expectations of your fans, coaches and teammates. \" Regardless of what may come of the investigation, Ms. Uhlaender called herself more determined than ever to work toward the only major title she has yet to capture in her career. \"I want to win Korea,\" she said. \"If I'm first, I'll know no one ahead of me doped. \" She said she felt sympathy for Ms. Nikitina, whether or not the claims against her were substantiated. \"She's going through something, too,\" Ms. Uhlaender said. \"The shininess has been dulled for both of us. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday it was time for Iranian-backed militias and their Iranian advisers who helped Iraq defeat Islamic State to go home , after a rare joint meeting with the leaders of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The United States is concerned that Iran, a Shi ite regional power, will take advantage of gains against IS in Iraq and Syria to expand the influence it gained after the U.S. invasion in 2003, something Sunni Arab rivals such as Riyadh also oppose. Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh and ISIS is coming to a close, those militias need to go home. The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control, Tillerson said at a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir. Tens of thousands of Iraqis heeded a call to arms in 2014 after IS seized a third of the country s territory, forming the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which receive funding and training from Tehran and have been declared part of the Iraqi security apparatus. A senior U.S. official said Tillerson had been referring to the PMF and the Quds Force, the foreign paramilitary and espionage arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif berated Tillerson s remarks as influenced by Iran s oil-rich regional rival Saudi Arabia. Exactly what country is it that Iraqis who rose up to defend their homes against ISIS return to?, Zarif said in a tweet. Shameful US FP (foreign policy), dictated by petrodollars. Iraq s military, armed by the United States but supported by the PMF, ejected the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim militant group from Mosul and other cities in northern Iraq this year. Several thousand U.S. troops are still in the country, mostly for training but also to carry out raids against IS. The campaign to uproot the militants left whole cities in ruins and has hit Iraq s economy. A new joint ministerial-level body between Iraq and Saudi Arabia convened its inaugural meeting earlier on Sunday to coordinate their fight against IS and on rebuilding Iraqi territory wrested from the group. Jubeir emphasized historic ties between the two neighbors, which share a border, vast oil resources and many of the same tribes. The natural tendency of the two countries and people is to be very close to each other as they have been for centuries. It was interrupted for a number of decades. We re trying now to make up for lost ground, he said. The rare senior meeting, signaling a thaw between states that have been at loggerheads for decades, was also attended by Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Tillerson said the council would contribute to reforms to build Iraq s private sector and encourage foreign investment. This will be critical to winning the peace that has been earned through the hard-fought military gains, he said. State media said the council had expressed satisfaction with global oil markets recovery as a result of a deal with other countries to boost prices by limiting production. The council also agreed to reopen a Saudi Basic Industries Corp office in Iraq and grant Saudi agriculture company SALIC an investment license. A second meeting will be held in Baghdad but no date was mentioned. Saudi Commerce and Investment Minister Majid al-Qusaibi told Reuters his country seeks to boost exports and is eyeing investment opportunities in Iraq s agricultural and petrochemical sectors, among others. He said backing from the highest levels of both governments would produce quick results on the ground . Let s not cry over spilt milk. Whatever happened in the past has happened. The good news is we are all here toward building a prosperous and beneficial future for both countries, he said in a telephone interview. Tillerson and Jubeir also discussed Washington s hawkish new policy towards Iran, including a possible withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and new sanctions on the IRGC. Both our countries believe those who conduct business with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, any of their entities, European companies or other companies around the world really do so at great risk, Tillerson said. Relations between Riyadh and Baghdad were cut for 25 years, before recent rapprochement, after former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, is wooing Baghdad now in an effort to halt the growing regional influence of Iran. Arriving in Doha later on Sunday for the next leg of a multi-country trip, Tillerson told a news conference that there was little chance of a swift breakthrough to resolve a blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies. The kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain imposed trade and travel curbs on Doha in June for alleged support of terrorism and friendship with Iran - charges Qatar denies. There is not a strong indication that the parties are ready to talk yet, Tillerson said. The secretary of state s six-day trip will also take him to Pakistan, India and Switzerland.","label":0}
{"text":"Home \u203a POLITICS \u203a IF HILLARY CLINTON IS CHARGED WITH OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE SHE COULD GO TO PRISON FOR 20 YEARS IF HILLARY CLINTON IS CHARGED WITH OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE SHE COULD GO TO PRISON FOR 20 YEARS 0 SHARES  [10\/31\/16] MICHAEL SNYDER -In the world of politics, the cover-up is often worse than the original crime. It was his role in the Watergate cover-up that took down Richard Nixon, and now Hillary Clinton's cover-up of her email scandal could send her to prison for a very, very long time. When news broke that the FBI has renewed its investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, it sent shockwaves throughout the political world . But this time around, we aren't just talking about an investigation into the mishandling of classified documents. I haven't heard anyone talking about this, but if the FBI discovers that Hillary Clinton altered, destroyed or concealed any emails that should have been turned over to the FBI during the original investigation, she could be charged with obstruction of justice. That would immediately end her political career, and if she was found guilty it could send her to prison for the rest of her life.  I have not seen a single news report mention the phrase \"obstruction of justice\" yet, but I am convinced that there is a very good chance that this is where this scandal is heading. The following is the relevant part of the federal statute that deals with obstruction of justice \u2026  Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsified, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under Title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.  If Hillary Clinton is sent to prison for 20 years, that would essentially be for the rest of her life.  I have a feeling that the FBI is going to find a great deal of evidence of obstruction of justice in Huma Abedin's emails. But unfortunately there is not likely to be a resolution to this matter before November 8th, because according to the Wall Street Journal there are approximately 650,000 emails to search through\u2026  As federal agents prepare to scour roughly 650,000 emails to see how many relate to a prior probe of Hillary Clinton 's email use, the surprise disclosure that investigators were pursuing the potential new evidence lays bare building tensions inside the bureau and the Justice Department over how to investigate the Democratic presidential nominee.  Metadata found on the laptop used by former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide, suggests there may be thousands of emails sent to or from the private server that Mrs. Clinton used while she was secretary of state, according to people familiar with the matter. It will take weeks, at a minimum, to determine whether those messages are work-related from the time Ms. Abedin served with Mrs. Clinton at the State Department; how many are duplicates of emails already reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and whether they include either classified information or important new evidence in the Clinton email probe.  Of those 650,000 emails, an inside source told Fox News that \" at least 10,000 \" would be of interest to the investigation.  At this point, FBI officials have not even begun searching through the emails, because a search warrant has not been secured yet. The following comes from CNN \u2026  Government lawyers haven't yet approached Abedin's lawyers to seek an agreement to conduct the search. Sources earlier told CNN that those discussions had begun, but the law enforcement officials now say they have not.  Either way, government lawyers plan to seek a search warrant from a judge to conduct the search of the computer, the law enforcement officials said.  But the FBI is reportedly already searching a laptop that was co-owned by Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin, and no warrant was necessary for that search because Weiner is cooperating with the FBI.  Many have been wondering why FBI Director James Comey would choose to make such a bold move just over a week until election day. Surely he had to know that this would have a dramatic impact on the election, and it is unlikely that he would have done so unless someone had already found something really big. In addition, Comey was reportedly eager to find an opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of his peers at the FBI. The following is an excerpt from a Daily Mail article that was written by Ed Klein, the author of a recently released New York Times bestseller about the Clintons entitled \" Guilty As Sin \"\u2026  'The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim announced last July that he wouldn't recommend an indictment against Hillary,' said the source, a close friend who has known Comey for nearly two decades, shares family outings with him, and accompanies him to Catholic mass every week.  'Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,' said the source. 'They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.'  According to the source, Comey fretted over the problem for months and discussed it at great length with his wife, Patrice.  He told his wife that he was depressed by the stack of resignation letters piling up on his desk from disaffected agents. The letters reminded him every day that morale in the FBI had hit rock bottom.  So what happens next?  In the most likely scenario, the FBI will not have time to complete the investigation and decide whether or not to charge Hillary Clinton before the election. This means that we would go into November 8th with this scandal hanging over the Clinton campaign, and that would seem to be very good news for Donald Trump.  However, it is possible that once the FBI starts searching through these emails that they could come to the conclusion very rapidly that charges against Clinton are warranted, and if that happens we could still see some sort of announcement before election day.  In the unlikely event that does happen, we could actually see Hillary Clinton forced out of the race before November 8th.  Once again, this appears to be very unlikely at this point, but it is still possible.  If Clinton was forced to step aside, the Democrats would need to come up with a new nominee, and that process would take time. In an article later today on The Most Important News I will reveal who I believe that nominee would be.  In such a scenario, the Democrats would desperately need time to get their act together, and so we could actually see Barack Obama attempt to delay or suspend the election . The legality of such a move is highly questionable, but Barack Obama has not allowed a little thing like the U.S. Constitution to stop him in the past.  This week is going to be exceedingly interesting \u2013 that is for sure.  The craziest election in modern American history just keeps getting crazier, and I have a feeling that even more twists and turns are ahead.  It sure seems ironic that Anthony Weiner is playing such a central role this late in the story, and I can't wait to see what is in store for the season finale. Post navigation","label":1}
{"text":"Britain is considering a request to sell military equipment to Nigeria to help it fight Boko Haram Islamist militants, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday. British soldiers were already training Nigerian 28,000 troops confronting the militants in the northeast, Johnson told Reuters in the commercial capital Lagos. They have put out a request for more help with materiel - equipment of one kind and another. We are going to look at that, he said. We will look at that very seriously on counter-IED provision, on a request for more help with attack helicopters, for instance. Let s have a look at what we can do, he added, without going into further detail. Boko Haram militants have killed more than 20,000 people, forced around 2 million to flee and attacked Nigeria s neighbors in a campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate. Britain s Foreign Office was unable immediately to provide details of military sales to Nigeria in the last few years. The Pentagon notified the U.S. Congress this month of the sale to Nigeria of 12 Super Tucano A-29 planes and weapons worth $593 million, to help it fight Boko Haram, . [nL2N1LE1A7] Johnson traveled to Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city at the heart of the insurgency, on Wednesday and met Nigeria s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in the capital, Abuja, earlier on Thursday.","label":0}
{"text":"The Daily Sheeple \u2013 by Melissa Dykes  Josh Earnest\u2026 what a stupid name for a guy who obviously thinks we're all as stupid as he sounds at this press conference.  When confronted with a question on the Project Veritas undercover videos showing all kinds of Dem operatives admitting on tape that they created the Trump protests and other such nasties to incite violence at Trump rallies in an attempt to throw this election Hillary's way, Earnest told the reporter in his best condescending grown up voice that 'we have to take these videos with not just a grain of salt but a whole bag because we can't believe what we see\u2026'  Watch for yourself.  Don't believe your own eyeballs. That's the White House's official response. That's the best they could do.  Again, it's undercover video he's talking about here. Not only that, but Robert Creamer did go to the White House over 340 times . It's all on record.  Come on, dammit.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday agreed to expand the use of disaster aid to help rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid and other infrastructure wrecked by Hurricane Maria, the White House said. In a unique agreement recognizing both the massive devastation on the island and its dire financial problems, aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for infrastructure projects will be released in a faster, more flexible way than is typical after disasters, a senior White House official told Reuters. The plan, agreed to with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello, will also provide for third-party advisers to estimate how much money is requires for big-ticket projects, and how it is spent - a provision aimed at protecting taxpayer dollars in what is expected to be a massive, long-term effort to rebuild the island. \"We're doing it in a way that grants flexibility, but also imposes a mutually agreed upon set of controls,\" the official said in an interview. The new agreement will see FEMA cover 90 percent of the costs for rebuilding public infrastructure, up from the typical level of 75 percent. Puerto Rico - home to 3.4 million Americans - is in bankruptcy, struggling with $72 billion in debt. Its finances were put under federal control last year. Six weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, only about 30 percent of Puerto Rico's power grid has been restored. Private sector estimates of total damage from Maria have ranged as high as $95 billion. The White House is expected to deliver a new request for disaster aid to the U.S. Congress in mid-November to help defray costs from Maria and two other major hurricanes - Harvey and Irma - as well as damage caused by wildfires in the western United States. It is not yet clear how big the federal tab for Puerto Rico will be. \"Obviously it's going to be a big dollar figure,\" the official said. \"I know there won't be any balking at the amount of money needed from the administration.\" Even with FEMA covering 90 percent of the costs, it could be difficult for the territorial government to put up its 10 percent. On top of its fiscal constraints, the storm has ground its economy - and tax revenues - to a halt. The federal government provided a $150 million loan in an aid package approved by Congress last month that can be used to help cover its share, the official said. \"We didn't want to create the precedent of giving 100 percent in the grant program and then disincentivizing good stewardship,\" the official said. The federal government will also use relatively new procedures created in 2013 after Hurricane Sandy known as \"Section 428\" in the Stafford Act, the law that provides for federal disaster aid. \"It's not been used on this scale before,\" the official said. The procedures will allow Puerto Rico to estimate the costs of big projects up front - with help from third-party advisers - and draw down from approved grants, eliminating the slow and cumbersome process of being reimbursed for upfront spending on each segment. The agreement will also allow Puerto Rico to access hazard mitigation grants - normally tapped only outside of disasters - while rebuilding the creaky power grid and other infrastructure so that the structures are more resilient to future hurricanes. \"We're going to build them back smarter,\" the official said.","label":0}
{"text":"Over the last decade or so, a handful of people have become what you might call economic rock stars, at least for liberals. Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz grab the attention of liberals when they talk about income inequality, taking corporate influence out of politics and a more equitable tax structure.Bernie Sanders had talked about bringing on Stiglitz and Reich, if he were to win the presidency. In other words, these are men who have all the credibility in the world when it comes to evaluating political candidates and Nobel Prize winning economist Stiglitz believes that if Clinton wins, we are in for an even more liberal agenda than Obama has had.To be fair, Stiglitz is an advisor to Clinton s campaign, but he rarely tones down his progressive rhetoric, no matter who he s talking to or about. With Clinton, though, he gets quite specific in an interview with Slate Magazine. Stiglitz believes that in the years since Bill Clinton left office, the country has changed and that we are far more focused on income inequality, something he believes Hillary Clinton will do something about:Where do you situate Hillary Clinton ideologically in terms of economics?I think that s a good question. I think the world today is different from where it was 20 years ago, and the issues are being framed considerably differently. For instance, I think there s a recognition that inequality is a much bigger problem. I think she is much more concerned about more progressive taxes and dealing with tax avoidance of multinational corporations. I think she is very committed to that. I think progressives are not against trade, but they are concerned with trade agreements that are pushed by corporations, for their interests, by and for corporations. That is what we have in the form of TPP. I think it is a good thing that she has come out against that.Stiglitz also believes that the very fact that Clinton is pragmatic something she s often criticized for on the left will keep he on the right track:One of the progressive concerns about Clinton has been that the Clintons are enmeshed with this sort of global, financial elite through their foundation, and just through the circles they travel in.I understand those concerns, and I guess part of the answer to that is the reality of 2016 is that the Senate Banking Committee has people like Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, and Jeff Merkel, and you are not going to get through legislation that is a sell out to Wall Street. Knowing that, and knowing that she does not want to fight within her party, I think she is pragmatic enough. The criticism occurs because she s been, you might say, too pragmatic. The fact is she is pragmatic enough to know that these people will not tolerate the kind of sell-out that I think many people have seen in previous administrations. I think it is unlikely that we will get policies that stray too far from the progressive agenda.Stiglitz credits Bernie Sanders with Hillary Clinton s more progressive policies. As for Clinton compared to Obama:More conservative than Hillary, yes. I think his temperament is basically more conservative and he did not go as far on Dodd-Frank as many people wanted. He opposed some of the key provisions that eventually got in the bill.For those who are still worried that Hillary Clinton will take on the more neoliberal policies of her husband, remember that times have changed and that we are no longer a center right nation. If anything, we are center left, and Clinton knows that if she disappoints the growing progressive wing of the Democratic party, she is doomed to just one term.","label":1}
{"text":"For Republicans, the Robert Mueller investigation into Donald Trump s Russian ties is a very inconvenient truth. If Trump is found guilty, there s little doubt that many others in the party would be dragged down with him. It s also putting a big damper on the Republican agenda to screw the poor and the middle class while giving big bonuses to Trump and those in his tax bracket (whatever that is). Now there s a bill in Congress to shut the whole thing down and it can be done, legally.Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill that would financially starve the investigation by cutting off funding after six months and would limit its scope to nothing prior to June, 2015, which was when Trump decided to run for president.According to a Washington Post report, Trump has been seeking business opportunities in Russia for three decades. It began in 1987, when he explored the options of opening a hotel in Moscow. He found it rather inconvenient, because everything is owned by the government while Russia was under communist rule.Almost 10 years later, in 1996, Trump announced that he was going to invest $250 million in buildings in Moscow. Those deals didn t pan out, but he was given a lot of trademarks that year.In 2005, Trump further expressed interest in building in Moscow, saying, It s ridiculous that I wouldn t be investing in Russia, he said. Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment. We will be in Moscow at some point. In 2008, Donnie Jr. admitted that the Trumps have all kinds of money tied up in Russia. In terms of high-end product influx into the US, he says, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. In 2013, while planning the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, Trump tweeted about Putin becoming his best friend. Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow if so, will he become my new best friend? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2013During that year, he also continued his talk about doing more business in Russia.Cutting the investigation off at 2015 isn t a guarantee that Trump will get away with it. There have been numerous meetings between Russian officials and Trump officials since then.Mueller, though, is going broad. He s going after money laundering and all of Trump s business ties and he s probably going back years. DeSantis sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on the Judiciary. It s very possible that he has some insight into the scope of Mueller s investigation and he knows that if he prevents him from looking at anything pre-2015, Trump may have cleaned up his act, at least on paper.The provision, which is part of a government spending package may never see a vote, but if enough Republicans see this as a way out of the mess, it could.","label":1}
{"text":"Penguin Random House announced on Tuesday night that Barack and Michelle Obama have both signed book deals with the publisher. According to the statement, the former president and former first lady will each be authoring a book in the near future.The announcement reads: Penguin Random House is pleased to announce that it will publish forthcoming books by former President of the United States Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Oenguin Random House CEO MArkus Dohle announced today that the company has acquired world publication rights for two books, to be written by President and Mrs. Obama respectively. The statement did not disclose an actual dollar amount for these deals, but according to a report in Financial Times, bids on their books had reached more than $60 million. If accurate, this would blow away the price tag attached to the memoirs of other recent presidents. Bill Clinton got $15 million for his book My Life and George W Bush made approximately $10 million from his book Decision Points.The announcement did say that in support of the mission of The Obama Foundation and Penguin Random House s own commitment to social responsibility, the company will donate one million books in the Obama family s name to First Book. The First Book program strives to promote equal access to education by providing new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need. In addition, the Obamas also plan to donate a significant portion of their author proceeds to charity. We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with President and Mrs. Obama, Dohle said. With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same. Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance. This is not the first time the former president has worked with the publisher. CNN points out that Penguin Random House has published Obama s past books, so the new deal continues a two-decade-long relationship. The hefty figures quoted in the bids for their books clearly demonstrate the expectation that these books are going to be huge best sellers. Personally, I have only one question: Where can I place a pre-order?New books by @BarackObama and @MichelleObama have been acquired by @penguinrandom, the publisher says. pic.twitter.com\/EkF5cfRaOH Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 28, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"13 Hours debuted in movie theaters today. So far, it s getting rave reviews. Do supporters of Hillary and Barack Obama even care about the truth?Here s one of the first reviews of 13 HOURS: Here is the official 13 HOURS movie trailer:Even though evidence shown during her testimony proved Hillary was lying, her supporters still moved forward with her nomination. Watch this incredible footage:","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump urged two senior intelligence officials in March to publicly deny there was any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing current and former officials. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers refused to comply with Trump's requests because they believed them inappropriate, according to two current and two former officials, the Post said.","label":0}
{"text":"Argentine President Mauricio Macri is almost certain to run for re-election in 2019, his top campaign adviser said on Thursday, even as he acknowledged that the leader s market-friendly reforms were unpopular among many poor Argentines. Jaime Duran Barba, an Ecuadorian who has run campaigns across Latin America and is considered the political guru behind Macri s surprise win in 2015, told Reuters on Thursday he did not see a scenario where Macri was not a candidate. The most likely is for Macri to go for re-election, it s highly probable. But what is certain is that after that he will leave politics, Duran Barba said in an interview. Center-right Macri has not said if he will seek re-election and told Reuters in an August interview that he was focused on his current government. When the time came for Macri to move on, Duran Barba said that there were important, prepared people who could dispute the succession. He pointed to city of Buenos Aires mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, Macri s Cabinet Chief Marcos Pena, and Maria Eugenia Vidal, the governor of Buenos Aires and the most popular politician in Argentina, according to several polls. But Macri s Let s Change coalition must first post a strong performance in October s legislative elections, where one third of the Senate and half of the lower house seats are up for re-election. Mauricio s strategy has always been: in the first two years we can start a transformation, but the point at which we will know if it is possible or not to change Argentina is the mid-term election, said Duran Barba, who has advised Macri since he first ran for political office in 2003. The Oct. 22 vote is being closely watched by investors because Macri s political nemesis and populist two-term predecessor, Cristina Fernandez, is vying for a Senate seat in Buenos Aires province, home to 40 percent of voters. She is believed to be testing the waters for a potential bid for the presidency in 2019. Fernandez eked out a narrow win over Macri ally Esteban Bullrich in the non-binding primary vote in August, a scenario Duran Barba said was ideal for motivating voters to rally around Bullrich against a divided opposition. It was the best option, our numbers always predicted a tie (with Fernandez). I said hopefully she wins by a bit because that way the people will see a need to do something. The latest polls, including an internal poll from the Fernandez camp, are showing Bullrich ahead. Macri s approval ratings are running at 44 percent, according to an Observatorio Electoral survey on Tuesday. But his reforms have been unpopular with the country s powerful unions and triggered anti-Macri protests. Argentina s economy came out of recession in the second half of last year, later than expected. Duran Barba acknowledged that Macri s austerity measures had particularly hurt poor slum-dwellers in Buenos Aires province. They raised (energy) tariffs, and that was unpopular. We hoped there would be fast results for the economy and that there would be investment. There wasn t, Duran Barba said. He said Fernandez, who has toned down her formerly tub-thumping speeches and gave a rare live interview last week, is copying some of his tactics - such as visits to voters homes, ripe for recording and posting on social media. Cristina has copied a lot of our way of campaigning, Barba said. But it s hurting her. Fernandez s campaign declined to comment.","label":0}
{"text":"Not long before Donald Trump pathetically admitted that President Obama was born in the United States, two of his white supporters stood outside the Republican nominee s new Washington D.C. hotel and claimed that black people don t work as hard as white people.And that was an incredibly bad idea considering they were standing in a city that would not exist without the back-breaking labor of slaves who built many of the buildings around the city, including the White House.So when these two Trump supporters ran their mouths, Carlos Maza of Media Matters starting filming them just as a black man rode up on his bicycle and informed them of just how wrong they are. You see these buildings down here? Black people built the buildings on slave labor, he said using Georgetown University as an example. So a lot of black people have residual anger for their ancestors building this country as free labor. Indeed, white racists would rather pretend black people had nothing to do with constructing our nation s capitol rather than acknowledge that they played a major role.But the man was not finished schooling Trump s supporters. As soon as a white person steps into America, they have an advantage just by being white, the man pointed out before going on to explain that systemic racism has been built into the system.The Trump fans tried to change the topic by claiming that thousands of Europeans have been killed by Muslims, which is incorrect. Hundreds of Europeans have been killed by terrorists, not true practitioners of Islam.A white people standing by the black man then asked the Trump duo if they have really ever experienced discrimination and they admitted that they haven t.Here s the video via Twitter.Here s a Trump supporter getting schooled on systemic racism after suggesting white people work harder: pic.twitter.com\/gbHPkT4A2o Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) September 16, 2016And yet Donald Trump wonders why black people don t want to vote for him.","label":1}
{"text":"President Barack Obama and the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia on Friday discussed ways to support Iraqis in their fight against Islamic State militants and the importance of a political transition in war-torn Syria, the White House said. Obama met with Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval office for about an hour. The deputy crown prince is visiting the United States to repair frayed relations and to promote a plan, known as Vision 2030, to slash the kingdom's dependence on oil exports. \"The President expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia's contributions to the campaign against ISIL,\" the White House said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. The two talked about steps to support Iraqis \"including increased Gulf support to fund urgent humanitarian and stabilization needs,\" the White House said. U.S. officials have expressed unease about the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which according to the United Nations and human rights groups has resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties. Saudi Arabia is worried about closer relations between the United States and Iran, Riyadh's arch enemy, after a 2015 nuclear deal. Obama welcomed Saudi Arabia's commitment to a political settlement of the Yemen conflict and support by the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which the kingdom is a member, to address humanitarian needs and rebuild the country, the White House said. On Syria, Obama and the prince talked about the importance of supporting a political transition away from President Bashar al-Assad, the White House said. The United States is working with international partners on what it calls a Syrian-led transition process facilitated by the United Nations, but so far there has been little progress. Over 50 diplomats at the U.S. State Department signed a memo, leaked on Thursday, that was critical of the Obama administration's Syria policy and called for targeted military strikes against Assad's government. Asked about the memo, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, also in Washington, told reporters the kingdom had been arguing for a \"more robust intervention\" including airstrikes, a no-fly zone, and a no-drive zone, from the beginning of the five-year civil war. Obama does not see a military solution to the crisis in Syria, White House spokeswoman Jen Friedman said. Both Washington and Riyadh are anticipating the release of classified pages of a U.S. report into the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, that some U.S. lawmakers have alleged link Saudi government officials to the attacks. Jubeir said investigations show that the allegations \"are not correct and they don't hold.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Barring something completely unforeseen, Donald Trump will be our new President in just a few weeks. That means that all personal liberties could fly right out the window, except for one: the liberty to discriminate based on who people love. Trump and the new Congress haven t even taken office yet and the legislative hatred has already begun.Ted Cruz, who s never met a gay person or a woman who didn t make him feel self-righteous, is expected to reintroduce the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which, despite its completely inoffensive name, is all about allowing bigots to freely discriminate. Trump is expected to sign it.In the text, the bill says that businesses can refuse service based on one of two beliefs, and both are ridiculous: that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman or sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage. As for the second one, well, unless a couple is entering an establishment demanding space to specifically have sex, it doesn t seem there s ever a reason to declare that one. As for the first, marriage is what the law says it is, and the law says that marriage is between two consenting adults who get married. Okay, that s not the legal definition, but the Supreme Court, when Antonin Scalia was still alive, said that defining marriage is unconstitutional.The CEO of Equality Texas agrees that the proposed law shouldn t be a law at all. The legislation that Senator Cruz is proposing specifically elevates two narrow interpretations above any other religious practice, Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas said. The bill is titled the First Amendment Defense Act, but in reality it is an unconstitutional attempt to totally redefine what the first amendment protects. Source: KXANIt would also put the Federal Government in the weird position of suing itself. The FADA would allow businesses to sue if the government wouldn t let them discriminate. The U.S. Attorney General would be required to defend the businesses against the government.Trump will likely sign the bill, at least according to his campaign s website: If I am elected president and Congress passes the First Amendment Defense Act, I will sign it to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics and the beliefs of Americans of all faiths. Here s the video:The other bad news is that by the time this reaches the Supreme Court, we will likely have another conservative justice.","label":1}
{"text":"Anticipating that Hurricane Irma will devastate part of the United States, U.S. officials were preparing a massive response to the storm, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Friday. With Irma set to hit Florida as early as Saturday night, parts of Florida was expected to lose electricity for days, if not longer, and more than 100,000 people may need shelter, FEMA Administrator Brock Long warned at a news conference. Hurricane Irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the United States in either Florida or some of the southeastern states, Long said. Irma was a Category 5 hurricane, the most dangerous measure by the National Hurricane Center, before being downgraded to Category 4 early Friday after pummeling islands in the Caribbean. The United States has experienced only three Category 5 storms since 1851 and Irma is far larger than the last one to hit the United States in 1992, Hurricane Andrew, according to Long. He warned people not to ignore evacuation orders. They need to get out and listen and heed the warnings, Long said. Officials have thousands of personnel ready to respond and millions of meals and liters of water in place nearby, Long said. The National Weather Service said that Friday was the last day to evacuate before winds would start to reach unsafe speeds in Florida. Airlines added extra flights from Florida on Thursday before announcing plans to halt service from some southern Florida airports starting Friday afternoon. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price called Irma a remarkably dangerous storm and the window to get yourself in the right spot ... is closing rapidly. Price said the main hospital in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands was closed after being damaged by Irma, and critically ill patients were being evacuated to Puerto Rico or other islands. On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 316-90 to approve a measure to more than double funding to $15.25 billion for FEMA and local block grants to handle natural disasters after the Senate passed the measure Thursday, 80-17. FEMA s disaster assistance fund could have run out of money Friday without action. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measure Friday. The measure also extends the life of the National Flood Insurance Program through Dec. 5. It had been set to expire Sept. 30.","label":0}
{"text":"For seven years, the United States has fought to keep the euro zone intact, urging European officials toward action and supporting international bailout programs to keep the 17-nation currency union from cracking apart. That appears to have changed less than two weeks into Donald Trump's new administration. A sharp shift in tone toward Germany, casting the euro as fuel for that country's massive trade surplus, has raised concerns that the U.S. president's trade-centric world view may see the euro not as a geopolitical plus, but as another needless bit of multilateralism. While Trump has refrained from commenting directly on the euro, he praised Britain's decision to exit the European Union as a \"great thing\" and predicted that others would leave the bloc as the result of an influx of refugees. In comments published in the European press on Tuesday, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro said the \"grossly undervalued\" euro served as a currency for Germany alone, allowing the country to \"exploit\" the United States and others. On Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin softened the traditional U.S. \"strong dollar\" mantra, suggesting that the dollar's current strength may be working against what has become perhaps the administration's central economic priority: reviving U.S. manufacturing and exports. Framed narrowly, that could put the United States on a clear a collision course with Germany, the world's fourth-largest economy and home to companies that rival top U.S. industrial giants, as it is with Mexico or China. \"There seems to be this desire to go back to a divide and conquer style strategy where the U.S. negotiates against individual countries,\" said Douglas Rediker, executive chair of International Capital Strategies and a former U.S. executive board member at the International Monetary Fund. \"To single (Germany) out when they don't have authority to manipulate their currency, requires you to make a leap - which is to say that 'We don't care that there actually is a common currency. We are going to take you to account.'\" Monetary policy in the euro zone is set by the European Central Bank, and it is the ECB's money creation policies that have contributed to the euro's recent decline in value. Like the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing, those efforts have been regarded internationally as a reasonable response to the region's dangerous economic weakness - not as an effort to cheapen the currency to gain a trade advantage. \"The question is how far will the new administration go with this?\" said Jeromin Zettelmeyer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former German economic official. Trump could, for example, try to tax German goods to offset any perceived advantage gained from a cheap euro, Zettelmeyer said. An import duty has already been suggested as a way to redress alleged currency manipulation by China. \"Trump seems to think that having a trade deficit with another country means that the other country is somehow stealing or at least getting the better deal,\" said Zettelmeyer. The first days of Trump's administration have touched off a wave of anxiety in Europe. European Council President Donald Tusk went so far as to list the new government in Washington among the chief \"external\" threats faced by Europe. Criticism of Germany's trade surplus, however, is not unique to Trump. The Treasury Department under President Obama added Germany to a \"watch list\" because of its large trade imbalances. The U.S. trade deficit with Germany stood at $77 billion as of 2015, three times that of other European Union countries combined, and $20 billion more than the deficit with Mexico, one of Trump's other economic nemeses. But for Obama officials, the aim was to get Germany to spend more and boost its imports of goods from the rest of Europe and the rest of the world. It was not to target the euro's value and, by extension, the steps taken by the ECB to revive European growth more broadly. Partly under American influence, the Group of 20 nations, including China, has in recent years agreed to consensus language that countries would \"refrain from competitive devaluations.\" They have also generally avoided criticizing each other's central banks. That diplomacy is credited at least in part for China's recent shift toward a more flexible currency regime that organizations like the International Monetary Fund feel have brought the renminbi currency close to fair market value. In their last report on the euro zone, IMF staff said they did think the euro was undervalued. But they said the range could be anywhere from 0 to 10 percent, though likely larger for Germany. \"The consequences (of a protectionist United States) affect us Germans as a leading export and import nation particularly hard,\" Federation of German Industries chief Dieter Kempf said in a speech in Berlin after the Navarro comments.","label":0}
{"text":"A Reuters\/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday put Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton just 5 percentage points above Republican rival Donald Trump ahead of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election. But major bookmakers and online exchanges are much more confident about a Clinton victory. Here is where they put the probability as of Sunday of each candidate winning the election: PredictIt, an online trading platform jointly run by Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, and Washington, D.C.-based political consulting firm Aristotle International Inc: Clinton - 81 percent Trump - 20 percent Iowa Electronic Markets, winner-takes-all trading market: Clinton - 71 percent Trump - 28 percent UK-based Betfair, internet betting exchange: Clinton - 83 percent Trump - 18 percent UK-based Ladbrokes, online betting platform: Clinton - 83 percent Trump - 22 percent Ireland's Paddy Power, bookmaker: Clinton - 83 percent Trump - 18 percent Probabilities were as of roughly 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT) on Sunday.","label":0}
{"text":"The United States has charged a former Senegalese foreign minister and a former top Hong Kong government official with links to a Chinese energy conglomerate with bribing high-level officials in Chad and Uganda in exchange for contracts for the mainland company. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, of Hong Kong, and Cheikh Gadio, 61, were charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international money laundering and conspiracy, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Monday. It said Gadio, a former foreign minister of Senegal, was arrested in New York on Friday. It added that Ho, a former Hong Kong home affairs secretary who heads a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong and Virginia, was arrested on Saturday. \"Wiring almost a million dollars through New York's banking system in furtherance of their corrupt schemes, the defendants allegedly sought to generate business through bribes paid to the president of Chad and the Ugandan foreign minister,\" Joon Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was quoted as saying in the statement. No one could be reached at the embassies of Chad and Uganda in Washington late on Monday. The missions did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment. In a statement, the U.S. Justice Department said the case against Ho involved two bribery schemes to pay high-level officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for a Shanghai-headquartered, multibillion-dollar energy firm. This energy company funded a non-government organization (NGO) based in Hong Kong and Virginia that Ho heads, the statement said, without naming the Shanghai company or the NGO. Ho is the secretary general of the Hong Kong-based China Energy Fund Committee, a mainland-backed think-tank that describes itself as a charitable, non-government organization. China Energy Fund Committee is fully funded by CEFC China Energy, a Shanghai-based private conglomerate, according to the think tank's website. The organization did not respond to an email requesting comment. CEFC China Energy said in a statement posted on its website late on Tuesday that: \"As a non-governmental, non-profit organization, the fund is not involved in the commercial activities of CEFC China Energy.\" CEFC does not have any investment in Uganda, the company said in the statement, and its investment in Chad had been acquired via a stake bought from Taiwan's state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp and it had not dealt directly with the Chad government. \"The company will continue monitoring this matter and will take necessary measures based on developments,\" it said. CEFC has been a key player in Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative, which aims to bolster China's global leadership ambitions by building infrastructure and trade links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing Tuesday that he was not aware of the specific details of the case. \"I want to emphasize that the Chinese government consistently requires Chinese companies abroad to operate lawfully and abide by local laws and regulations.\" Idriss Deby has been Chad's president since 1990. Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa served as the president of the U.N. General Assembly in 2014 and 2015. Ho's attorney, Ed Kim, of Krieger Kim & Lewin LLP, declined to comment to Reuters. Bob Baum of Federal Defenders, who represented Gadio for the bail argument, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ho was ordered detained after appearing in court on Monday, the Justice Department statement said. It said Gadio appeared before a judge on Saturday and is being held until he can meet the conditions of a $1 million bond, according to court records. The Justice Department said a $2 million bribe was paid to Chad's president, who then provided the company with an opportunity to obtain oil rights in Chad without international competition. The department said in the statement that Gadio was the go-between and was paid $400,000 by Ho via wire transfers through New York. The Justice Department accused Ho of being involved with bribes and promises of future benefits to Uganda's foreign minister in exchange for help in obtaining business advantages for the Chinese company.","label":0}
{"text":"March 2, 2016: Zika PAYDAY! Obama wants to funnel $1.8 billion for vaccine research and more  I even published a mini-documentary revealing the published science that shows how DEET insecticide causes brain damage in humans. You can watch it at this link or view the video below:  If anyone from the Washington Post bothered to read Natural News and learn about real science, they would have learned that Zika has infected tens of millions of people throughout South America for decades , with absolutely no measurable increase in neurological deformations. (But facts be damned, the WashPost had a panic to push!) Nation after nation records tens of thousands of infections with ZERO birth defects\u2026  Despite the factual reality of the situation, the state-controlled propagandists writing for rags like the Washington Post \u2014 a bogus newspaper that has lost all credibility in the minds of intelligent people \u2014 continued to pummel home their kooky science theories that claimed much of the U.S. South would be overrun by brain damaging mosquitoes, turning Southerners into shrunken-brained mutants while pregnant women fled northward to survive the airborne insect onslaught.  Instead, nothing happened . No explosion in shrunken-headed babies. No wave of birth defects across Florida, even as city officials desperately bombarded their own cities with brain-damaging insecticides. No national emergency declared by Obama to bring back DDT and eradicate baby-murdering mosquitoes by dousing our open streets with thick clouds of organophosphate neurotoxins.  Instead, the rate of neurological birth defects in most countries approached zero. Via the Washington Post's own graphic: (partial list)  Venezuela: 60,791 Zika infections\u2026 ZERO birth defects Honduras: 31,933 Zika infections\u2026 ONE birth defect Guadalupe: 30,969 Zika infections\u2026 ZERO birth defects Puerto Rico: 29,084 Zika infections\u2026 TWO birth defects Mexico: 4,837 Zika infections\u2026 ZERO birth defects  From the WashPost article:  Brazilian officials were bracing for a flood of fetal deformities as Zika spread this year to other regions of the country, Marinho said. However, \"we are not seeing a big increase.\"  Gee, really?  The vast majority of the brain defects, it turns out, came from just one small region of Brazil. A total of 2,033 children are so far recorded with neurological defects there, even while most other countries throughout the region had ZERO birth defects (or near zero).  So what gives? Zika mosquitoes apparently carry geopolitical maps so they can solely target Brazil  You don't have to be a genius to figure out that the stupid science theories of the mainstream media are total hokum and bunk . If Zika really did cause brain defects, it would have spread all across South America by now. It would have spread into Florida, California, Mississippi and Louisiana. It would have devastated the American South, Cuba, Haiti, Curacao and all the other island nations across the Caribbean.  Yet the neurological defects were limited almost exclusively to Brazil.  Somehow, if we believe the illiterate Washington Post science writers \u2014 who may in fact be the only brain damage victims of Zika in North America \u2014 mosquitoes carry MAPS to make sure they only activate their brain damage voodoo in Brazil .  \"\u2026[A]lthough the outbreak has spread this year to more than 50 nations and territories across the Western Hemisphere, U.N. data shows just 142 cases of congenital birth defects linked to Zika so far outside Brazil,\" says WashPost.  Yes, my friends: GPA-carrying Zika mosquitoes are very careful to limit their pandemic voodoo to just one region of Brazil. By sheer coincidence, that's the same region where larvacide chemicals were dumped into the public water supply.  Apparently, there isn't a single \"official\" scientist in the entire global government who has thought to test the water. Just freaking WOW\u2026 Let's throw these morons out of power in every election, okay? They don't deserve any positions of authority over anyone else. They're all so incredibly stupid, they couldn't survive at all unless they functioned as parasites on the taxpayers. They aren't giving up hope just yet\u2026 science writers desperately hope for more brain damaged babies to prove them right  Enthusiasm for more brain damaged babies runs high at the Washington Post, which explains why they are all in for Hillary Clinton, the candidate of choice for brain damaged adults . Writing with a sense of real enthusiasm, the Washington Post can't wait for more brain damaged babies to appear:  Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are closely watching Puerto Rico, which has reported more than 26,800 cases of Zika. More than 7,000 pregnant women could be infected by the end of the year, according to the CDC. (Yippee?)  And now, the loony tunes quack science of the Zika \"scientists\" goes apoplectic, grasping for silly metaphors to try to obscure the fact that they are all stupid beyond belief . Via the WashPost:  \"Now we've settled on Zika as the smoking gun, but we don't know who pulled the trigger,\" said Marques, speaking from Recife, where he is working with government researchers.  Huh? Wha? The metaphor doesn't even make any sense.  Maybe the problem is too much fornicating. Seriously, this is now part of their idiotic theory:  \"Sexual habits and hygiene may also play a role,\" he said, explaining that researchers are looking at whether sexual transmission can infect the uterus and placenta with the virus, potentially exposing the fetus to elevated risk. \"We suspect the villain has an accomplice, but we don't know who it is,\" Marques said.  Huh? Do they seriously think that people only have sex in Brazil but not other South American countries? Where does the Washington Post find these morons? I'm a real scientist saying all this  As you read all this, remember that I have rapidly become one of the world's leading research scientists on the quantitation of cannabinoids in hemp extracts using mass spec instrumentation. I led the team that developed the most pioneering (and accurate) CBD mass spec analysis method in existence today. You can read about it at this link . I also routinely test water, food and environmental samples for heavy metals, pesticides and a multitude of chemical contaminants. When I say these Zika scientists are complete morons, that's the educated opinion of an accomplished scientist correctly pointing out the lunacy of Zika scaremongering.  I could have solved this entire problem in the first few days by analyzing and detecting brain-damaging larvacide chemicals in the public water supply in Eastern Brazil. The entire project would have taken just a few days and cost almost nothing. Instead, Obama handed $1.8 billion to the vaccine companies in the midst of the Zika panic pushed by laughable rags like the Washington Post. It's all a racket, of course, just like their coverage of elections and political candidates. Everything you read at the Washington Post is a deception of one kind or another . The paper exists solely to promote the propaganda of the state so that the population can be manipulated and controlled. The Washington Post exists to terrorize the citizens with fascist propaganda parading as science  As you've also learned by now, the corrupt leftist establishment of junk science, criminal politicians and idiotic journalists isn't interested in legitimate scientific solutions . They all function as extensions of a fascist state that must routinely terrorize its citizens with pandemic boogeyman scare stories in order to demand absolute obedience to the vaccine mandates that actually do damage the brains of children.  Thus, SCIENCE be damned. They've got an agenda to push, and it doesn't matter to them whether that agenda is based on a single shred of real science. Zika is dangerous because they told you so, in exactly the same way they told you Hillary Clinton is totally honest, Obamacare would make health care more affordable, there's no such thing as voter fraud in America, and GMOs and vaccines are really, really good for you.  So you can put down the DEET and stop poisoning your skin like an obedient idiot. Yes, it was all a scam. Yes, the official \"science\" was totally rigged. Yes, the media lied to you yet again. Yes, the CDC is a criminal racket. Yes, all the health \"officials\" were completely full of s**t. And no, Zika is not going to cause your babies to be born with shrunken heads. VACCINES, on the other hand, will most definitely cause brain damage, as they still contain mercury, a potent neurotoxin the Washington Post ridiculously insists becomes magically neutralized when you inject it into the body of a child.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel said on Wednesday he would take more time to decide whether video excerpts of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump answering questions under oath about his Trump University seminars should be made public. Curiel is overseeing two class-action lawsuits in San Diego over the real estate seminar venture. A separate fraud case by New York state's attorney general is pending. Trump has suggested Curiel is biased against him because of his campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration. Curiel was born in Indiana but is of Mexican descent. On Wednesday, Trump's lawyers fought release of the videos, arguing that they would be exploited during the presidential campaign. \"There's all kinds of potential for mischief,\" Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Trump, told Curiel. Jason Forge, a lawyer for the students who claim they were misled and defrauded by Trump University, said Petrocelli could not point to any particular harm if the videos are released since transcripts are already public. The lawsuits accuse Trump of bilking students who paid as much as $35,000 each to learn his real estate investment strategies. The students claim they learned little. Trump has claimed a majority of students were satisfied with the seminars.","label":0}
{"text":"Get short URL 0 1 0 0 Relations between Moscow and Belgrade are developing favorably, nevertheless, additional stimuli would benefit their trade and economic cooperation, Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday.  BELGRADE (Sputnik) \u2014 During his visit, apart from Dacic and Stefanovic, Patrushev is expected to meet with Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic, and President Tomislav Nikolic. As part of the visit, Patrushev will take part in the ceremony of laying wreaths at the memorial to the liberators of Belgrade and at the monument to Soviet soldiers. \u00a9 AP Photo\/ Darko Vojinovic Serbian Minister Stands for Increased Cooperation With Russian Security Services \"Minister Dacic stressed that relations between Serbia and Russia are traditionally good, and are developing in the interests, and to the satisfaction, of both countries, as well as that it is necessary to provide additional incentives for the development of trade and economic relations,\" the Serbian Foreign Ministry press service announced, citing the first deputy head of the Serbian government.  In the afternoon, before speaking with Patrushev, Interior Minister of Serbia Nebojsa Stefanovic said that Belgrade was successfully cooperating with the Russian Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service and the National Guard. Patrushev proposed to work on a memorandum of understanding to create the conditions for regular communication on security matters of mutual interest. ...","label":1}
{"text":"When the F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, said on Tuesday that his investigators had no \"direct evidence\" that Hillary Clinton's email account had been \"successfully hacked,\" both private experts and federal investigators immediately understood his meaning: It very likely had been breached, but the intruders were far too skilled to leave evidence of their work. Mr. Comey described, in fairly blistering terms, a set of email practices that left Mrs. Clinton's systems wide open to Russian and Chinese hackers, and an array of others. She had no cybersecurity professional monitoring her system. She took her BlackBerry everywhere she went, \"sending and receiving emails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. \" Her use of \"a personal email domain was both known by a large number of people and readily apparent. \" In the end, the risks created by Mrs. Clinton's insistence on keeping her communications on a private server may prove to be a larger issue than the relatively small amount of classified data investigators said they found on her system. But the central mystery \u2014 who got into the system, if anyone \u2014 may never be resolved. \"Reading between the lines and following Comey's logic, it does sound as if the F. B. I. believes a compromise of Clinton's email is more likely than not,\" said Adam Segal, the author of \"Hacked World Order,\" who studies cyberissues at the Council on Foreign Relations. \"Sophisticated attackers would have known of the existence of the account, would have targeted it and would not have been seen. \" Mr. Comey couched his concern on Tuesday by repeating the intelligence community's favorite phrase \u2014 \"we assess\" \u2014 four times, but ultimately reached no conclusion. \"We assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal email account,\" he said. But that was notable: Until Mr. Comey spoke, Mrs. Clinton and her campaign have said that her server \u2014 there were actually several, in succession \u2014 was never hacked. A State Department inspector general's report issued this year reported what looked like several attempts at \"spear phishing\" \u2014 fake emails intended to get a user to click on a link that would install malware on a computer \u2014 but there is no evidence that those links were activated. Mrs. Clinton, and her campaign, have always maintained that the server was secure. President Obama backed her up in an interview last October on CBS's \"60 Minutes. \" \"I don't think it posed a national security problem,\" he said. But Mr. Comey painted a different picture. \"Hostile actors gained access to the private commercial email accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact,\" he said. And that would have meant that tracking the trail of electronic breadcrumbs back to her server would have been a pretty simple task. After that, their ability to break in would have been a mix of skill and luck, but they had plenty of time to get it right. Mrs. Clinton's best defense, and one she cannot utter in public, is that whatever the risks of keeping her own email server, that server was certainly no more vulnerable than the State Department's. Had she held an unclassified account in the State Department's official system, as the rules required, she certainly would have been hacked. Russian intruders were thoroughly inside that system for years \u2014 since at least 2007 \u2014 before the State Department shut its system down several times to perform a digital exorcism in late 2014, nearly two years after Mrs. Clinton left office. Either out of embarrassment or to protect its sources of intelligence, the Obama administration has never publicly blamed Russia for stealing data from the unclassified systems at the State Department and the White House, just as it has never publicly identified China as the culprit in the theft of information on nearly 22 million Americans stored by the Office of Personnel Management. Mrs. Clinton's campaign has insisted that the server did have some cyber protection software, but they have not said what kind. But security software is useless unless it is updated constantly to reflect threats that change every day. Even then, there are ways for a determined, hacker to get in. The best hackers use a gap in the software that has never been discovered before called a \"zero day,\" suggesting there are zero days of warning about its dangers, or they wait for a user error, including clicking on a link. Perhaps Mr. Comey's most surprising suggestion was that Mrs. Clinton had used her private email while in the territory of what he called \"sophisticated adversaries. \" That usually means China and Russia, but could include visits elsewhere, including Eastern Europe. James A. Lewis, a former government cyber security expert who now studies the cyber activities of nations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said, \"If she used it in Russia or China, they almost certainly picked it up. \" Once the hardware is in a foreign country, and on its phone networks, it is particularly vulnerable. Malware can be placed on it that could turn the phone into a listening device. One lurking question is whether Mrs. Clinton's own practice of taking the phone around the world made it susceptible to tinkering by a foreign government. The State Department worries so much about corrupted cellphones that visitors to the secretary's suite on the seventh floor must place their devices in lockers near the guard's desk. Mrs. Clinton, her campaign said on Wednesday, took her smartphone to the State Department but kept it in a room outside the secure area around her office suite. Moreover, for truly sensitive data, the State Department does not use its own networks at all. It quietly uses a network run by one of the major intelligence agencies, according to officials familiar with the system. That suggests a lack of confidence that State's classified systems can be fully trusted. Since the disclosure that Mrs. Clinton used private email, officials in the government and many outside it have been monitoring the internet, looking to see if any of her messages, or those directed to her, made their way into the public domain. Documents from the Democratic National Committee began circulating after it announced a breach that also appears to have been conducted by Russian intelligence. Nothing from Mrs. Clinton has surfaced. But that does not mean they were not stolen, only that they have not been made public.","label":0}
{"text":"Leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties about Tillerson, as they contend with intelligence assessments saying that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election to help turn the tables Trump s way. FOX NewsThe RINOs will certainly join in with their concerns just like Marco Rubio did in a tweet: Being a friend of Vladimir is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState. Sen. Marco RubioPresident-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he intends to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.Tillerson impressed Trump during the two meetings he had with him. Trump had high praise for the energy titan, calling him a world class player . He s in charge of an oil company that s pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor, Trump told host Chris Wallace. It s been a company that s been unbelievably managed, and to me a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia, he does massive deals for the company. Not for himself, for the company. Trump pointed to Tillerson s relations with Moscow and other political hot spots as a selling point. As ExxonMobil s chief, he maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by Russian President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, a high honor for a foreign citizen.","label":1}
{"text":"President Obama is optimistic about Brazil's ability to meet political and economic challenges in the wake of a recent International Monetary Fund assessment, the White House said on Tuesday. \"The United States and President Obama himself have confidence in the durability of the Brazilian democracy to weather those challenges,\" said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.","label":0}
{"text":"In another humiliating defeat that will have major ramifications for Republicans going forward, all 8 Justices on the Supreme Court upheld a lower court s ruling that Texas Republicans could not redraw voting districts to suppress the growing Latino vote.The one person, one vote case was designed by conservatives to exclude non-voting populations when drawing the electoral map for the state. The immediate effect would be that districts with large numbers of non-eligible voters (like, for instance, Latino immigrants and children), would be lumped together, giving much more power to rural, mostly white and older, districts.I m sure you ll be shocked to know that older white people tend to vote Republican. But that surely wasn t the intent behind this move to consolidate power increase the fairness of elections for white people everyone.If this all sounds a bit confusing (and it should), what Republicans were trying to say is that people who can t vote, children, immigrants, convicted felons, etc. do not deserve the same kind of representation in their local government. Because they re not really people or something. But really, this was just the latest GOP attempt at rigging elections.Right now, the populations of large racially diverse cities mean that those cities have several (or more) voting districts and they tend to be far more liberal than rural, mostly white districts. That means that in a state like Texas, the cities are threatening to overpower the rural areas in terms of electoral power and turn the state purple and eventually blue. The goal of this court case was to reverse that trend and greatly reduce the number of city districts, thus, making the rural (and conservative) districts more powerful.But apparently this was a voter suppression tactic too far for even the conservatives on the Court:Six justices signed on to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg s decision, and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas the most conservative members of the court concurred in the judgment. Total-population apportionment meets the equal protection demand, by rendering each representative alert to the interests and constituent-service requests of all who dwell in the representative s district, Ginsburg said.Even if Scalia had still been alive, it looks like he might have been the only dissent. And maybe Thomas after Scalia had told him what to think.The conservative Justices were not opposed to the basic premise of the plan (stripping large cities of their voting power), just this particular method. Once Republicans come up with a new avenue of attack (and they will), they ll try it again and if Republicans control the White House and put another Scalia on the bench, they might get away with it next time.See why voting blue is important?","label":1}
{"text":"Thousands of demonstrators from largely Francophone Cameroon s English-speaking minority took to the streets to demand more rights on Friday, some of them hoisting separatist flags. Two Anglophone regions in the west account for about a sixth of Cameroon s population. Long-standing complaints of political and economic discrimination spilled over there last year when lawyers and teachers called for reforms. Security forces killed six protesters and arrested hundreds of others, and the internet was shut down in the region from January to April, crippling businesses in a crackdown that was condemned internationally. Friday s protests were the largest and most widespread in months and came the day after a bomb suspected to have been planted by separatists wounded three policemen in Bamenda, capital of the Northwest region. The protests appeared to go beyond previous demands for justice and education reform. In Buea, capital of the Southwest region, a Reuters reporter saw protesters take down a national flag outside a police station, while officers looked on, and hoist the blue and white striped one of Ambazonia , a name for the Anglophone territory. A local journalist described a similar incident in the nearby town of Ekona. In Buea, young men with their faces painted blue and white blew whistles and shouted We want freedom! . We need independence. We need to be free. We are Ambazonians, said Emmanuel Che, one of the protesters. The only solution to this matter is let the government solve the problem by giving our independence. Some Anglophones have been demanding independence for years, but they are outnumbered by those merely demanding reforms, experts say. Still, the unrest is uncomfortable to the government of President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 35 years and was addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Friday. It is intensifying now. It has shifted to another level of extremism, said political analyst Albert Nchinda. Cameroon s linguistic divide harks back to the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors. After independence in 1960, the English-speaking part opted to join French Cameroon instead of Nigeria.","label":0}
{"text":"John McCain survived brutal torture and six years as a prisoner of war during Vietnam. If Donald Trump thinks he can intimidate him, he should think again.On Friday, the Arizona senator released a statement announcing his intention to vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill that Republicans have introduced to repeal Obamacare.The bill would strip healthcare from 30 million Americans, and turn Medicaid into a block grant program that would cease to exist after a few years. The bill also gives states the power to obtain waivers so that insurance companies can discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. America s healthcare system would be thrown into dire chaos, and Trump is absolutely okay with that.McCain is not.The issue is too important, and too many lives are at risk, for us to leave the American people guessing from one election to the next whether and how they will acquire health insurance. A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.Senators Alexander and Murray have been negotiating in good faith to fix some of the problems with Obamacare. But I fear that the prospect of one last attempt at a strictly Republican bill has left the impression that their efforts cannot succeed. I hope they will resume their work should this last attempt at a partisan solution fail.I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will effect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it. Without a full CBO score, which won t be available by the end of the month, we won t have reliable answers to any of those questions.And for that, Trump viciously attacked McCain.John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017Arizona had a 116% increase in ObamaCare premiums last year, with deductibles very high. Chuck Schumer sold John McCain a bill of goods. Sad Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017Large Block Grants to States is a good thing to do. Better control & management. Great for Arizona. McCain let his best friend L.G. down! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017First off, block grants are not enough to cover all the people who desperately need healthcare. In fact, it limits funding to the point where state officials will have to decide who gets care and who doesn t to avoid using up the grant money on expensive treatments, which sounds a lot like a death panel.Second, Lindsey Graham s friendship with McCain does not mean they vote the same, as Graham made clear on Twitter.My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he s lived his life and the person he is. Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 22, 2017Obamacare has its flaws, but those flaws can be fixed easily with bipartisan legislation. McCain understands this and he understands that repealing Obamacare would leave tens of millions of Americans without healthcare, including millions of conservatives in red states.Donald Trump is an asshole. He wants to kill a major healthcare law just because it is known as Obamacare and because he is desperate for major legislation to sign. He hasn t even actually read the damn bill, which medical organizations and the healthcare industry agree is terrible.Besides, if Trump wanted McCain s vote so much he should have thought of that before criticizing him for being a POW.Featured Image: Alex Wong\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"President-elect Donald Trump played a round of golf at his Jupiter golf course Saturday morning without notifying the traveling press pool that traditionally reports on his whereabouts. According to media reports, Trump headed to his Trump National Golf Club sometime in the morning. The golf course sits off Donald Ross Road about a half-hour drive north of Trump s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, where he and his family have been spending time for the Christmas and New Year s holidays. Mar-a-Lago was slated to host its lavish annual New Year s gala later Saturday.A club member tweeted a photo of Trump on the course, saying he was accompanied by about 25 Secret Service agents, The Associated Press reported.David Markus of Miami was spending some time at the golf club to celebrate the New Year s holiday when he and his family spotted Trump. He snapped a few photos of Trump, including one with Markus three daughters taken near the club s pool. Markus said Trump started his golf game around 9:30 a.m. and ate lunch around 2 p.m. before leaving the club.Trump s golf outing was a last-minute decision to play We are in the home stretch of this transition period and don t anticipate any additional situations like this between now and inauguration, Grisham said in a statement to the AP. We hope this one incident doesn t negate all the progress we have made and look forward to continuing the great relationships we have built. Grisham said Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago about 3:10 p.m.","label":1}
{"text":"By Heather Callaghan, Editor There's no denying that nature \u2013 and our exposure to it \u2013 has a profound effect on our mental well-being. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is only...","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. allegations that Russia is breaking its Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Washington lack evidence and are speculative, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.","label":0}
{"text":"Just another day in the holy month of Ramadan London is the scene of carnage again with another terror attack. A van plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge with reports of men jumping out of the van to stab random people. We re posting details as they come in from the UK. Several people have been killed and the latest update is that 5 armed terrorists are on the run in London.Meanwhile, a video has been posted on social media showing what appears to be Muslim men who have just witnessed the London Bridge terror attack and are simply observers of a horrific terror attack against innocent people. You can hear them speaking in Arabic and saying something about 3 attacks, after which time you can hear one of them yell, Allah Akbar! It s interesting to hear how the Muslim men in the vehicle respond to the murder of innocent people at the hands of Islamic extremists . After watching this video, one has to wonder how exactly, we should go about differentiating between the moderate and extremist Muslims Muslims laughing and yelling Allah Ackbar in London after #LondonBridge attack pic.twitter.com\/6XjlwwQqQ7 Tanya Tay (@realTanyaTay) June 3, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Military British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon (Photo by AFP)  British Defense Minister Michael Fallon says the UK is set to deploy hundreds of troops to the Baltic region in Europe to support its NATO allies in the face of a \"more assertive Russia.\"  Fallon told a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels on Wednesday that Britain would send 800 soldiers to Estonia to fulfill its pledge to deliver one of four battalions to NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in Eastern Europe.  \"Backed by a rising defense budget, this deployment of air, land and sea forces shows that we will continue to play a leading role in NATO, supporting the defense and security of our allies from the north to the south of the alliance,\" Fallon said.  NATO had announced in July that it would deploy, on a rotational basis, four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states\u2014Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania\u2014to deter what it referred to as \"any Russian incursion.\"  During his address at the meeting, Fallon also said that four British Typhoon fighter jets would be dispatched to Romania under the NATO Southern Air Policing mission, which is supposed to protect the Baltic states' airspace against possible attacks from Russia.  \"This is about two things: reassurance, and that needs to be done with some formidable presence, and deterrence,\" Fallon had said in an earlier interview. \"This is not simply a trip-wire\u2026.This is a serious military presence.\"  The move is likely to draw criticism from Moscow, which has been angered by NATO's military buildup on its Western borders.  The US-led military alliance cut its ties with Moscow in 2014 and has been reinforcing its presence near Russia's borders ever since.  The UK and Russia have strong disagreements over a number of issues, mainly the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.  The two countries' military forces have been involved in a series of aerial and naval confrontations, with Britain sending its jets and warships on several occasions to intercept Russian bombers and naval fleets.  The latest of those encounters occurred on Thursday, when the Russian aircraft career Admiral Kuznetsov and its seven-ship task force were \"shadowed\" by two British warships on a course to sail through the North Sea and English Channel, on their way to Syria. Loading ...","label":1}
{"text":"There s crazy and then there s nonsensical, conspiratorial, out of your head, paranoid with a tinfoil hat on your head, curled in the fetal position in your mom s basement crazy. The latter would be radio talk show host Alex Jones.Not only does he believe that President Obama somehow secretly had Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia killed, a man who was 79-years-old and a known smoker and we know died of natural causes, but now he believes that the president has plans for other people as well. You know, so Obama can finally unleash his true intentions for the nation. After all, he still hasn t come for anyone s guns or forced us all to be Muslim yet.Jones declared in a morbid Facebook post, this is the season of treason, this is the time of betrayal and we would be fools not to ask the question. Which clearly begs the question, who is allowing Alex Jones to have any sort of internet privileges? He s more than lost his mind, he s replaced it with a new bag of nuts.However, he goes on: You just get used to this, Scalia found, it s natural, nothing going on here, he just died naturally. And you re like, Whoa. Red flag. Then you realize, Obama is one vote away from being able to ban guns, open the borders and actually have the court engage in its agenda and now Scalia dies. I mean, this is hard core I wonder if Clarence Thomas will die of a heart attack next week. If this is an assassination, it signifies that they re dropping the hammer, that s the canary in the coal mine. Wait! There s more! Are they going to kill Clarence Thomas? Maybe they ll kill Ron Paul. Maybe they ll kill Donald Trump next. They all had heart attacks. How many more of these are we going to sit here and put up with? Or maybe their airplane blows up. Someone needs to tell this guy to relax. However, he adds: My gut tells me they killed him and all the intellectual evidence lays it out. The only thing his gut indicates is that he s had one too many cheeseburgers.He then goes on to insist that Republicans need to block anyone Obama nominates, because if they don t liberals are going to destroy the Constitution and start a civil war. He literally believes Obama is coming after everyone.Jones has said a lot of crazy things in his career, but this may take the cake. \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ \/\/ < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]&gt;Breaking: Justice Scalia Murdered?Posted by Alex Jones on Saturday, February 13, 2016Featured image: screencap","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump on Wednesday shared anti-Muslim videos posted on Twitter by a far-right British party leader, drawing condemnation from Britain, U.S. Muslim groups and some members of Congress. The White House defended the retweets by the Republican president, who during the 2016 U.S. election campaign called for \"a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,\" saying that he was raising security issues. As president, Trump has issued executive orders banning entry to some citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, although courts have partially blocked the measures from taking effect. \"Look, I'm not talking about the nature of the video,\" White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. \"The threat is real and that's what the president is talking about is the need for national security, the need for military spending, and those are very real things. There's nothing fake about that.\" Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of anti-immigration Britain First, posted the videos which she said showed a group of people who were Muslims beating a teenage boy to death, battering a boy on crutches and destroying a Christian statue. Fransen was convicted earlier this month of abusing a Muslim woman and was ordered to pay a fine and legal costs. Some British lawmakers demanded an apology from Trump for sharing the videos with his nearly 44 million Twitter followers and U.S. Muslim groups said he had been incendiary and reckless. \"It is wrong for the president to have done this,\" the spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said. \"Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions. They cause anxiety to law-abiding people,\" the spokesman said. Trump fired back at May over her criticism. \"Theresa @theresamay, don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine,\" Trump tweeted, using an incorrect Twitter handle for May. He later issued a tweet with her correct handle, \"@Theresa_May\". Reuters was unable to immediately verify the videos and Fransen herself said they had come from various online sources which had been posted on her social media pages. \"I'm delighted,\" Fransen, who has 53,000 Twitter followers, told Reuters. She said Trump's retweets showed the president shared her aim of raising awareness of \"issues such as Islam\". The White House repeatedly refused to be drawn into the content of the videos or whether Trump was aware of the source of the tweets. \"It's about ensuring that individuals who come into the United States don't pose a public safety or terrorism threat,\" White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters aboard Air Force One. Fransen thanked Trump and said, \"The important message here is Donald Trump has been made aware of the persecution and prosecution of a political leader in Britain for giving what has been said by police to be an anti-Islamic speech.\" ANTI-IMMIGRATION One of the videos that Trump retweeted first circulated on social and Egyptian state media in 2013, showing what appeared to be supporters of now-ousted Islamist President Mohammed Mursi throwing two youths from a concrete tower onto a roof. In reference to another video that was titled \"Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!\", the Netherlands embassy in the United States tweeted back at Trump saying: \"@realDonaldTrump Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law.\" Trump's promotion of the videos contrasts with the way he often criticizes mainstream U.S. media, lambasting some outlets for \"fake news\" when they air segments he regards as being against him. \"What we saw today is one of many videos that is circulating on anti-Muslim hate websites,\" said Ilhan Cagri with the U.S.-based Muslim Public Affairs Council. \"It is years-old and simply aims to breed fear for Muslims and Islam and breed violence. It has nothing to do with the practice of Islam itself,\" Cagri said. The Anti-Defamation League said the retweets would only encourage \"extremists and anti-Muslim bigots in the United States and abroad who exploit the propaganda value.\" \"Such content is the engine that fuels extremist movements and will embolden bigots in the U.S. who already believe the president is a fellow traveler,\" the ADL said in a statement. Democrats in Congress and at least one Republican lawmaker were also critical of Trump. \"The violence depicted in these videos is horrific, but it is abhorrent that President Trump would choose to deliberately fan the flames of hatred and religious bigotry,\" Democratic U.S. Senator Jack Reed said in a statement. Republican Senator John McCain, a frequent critic of Trump, said he was \"surprised\" that Trump had chosen to retweet those videos. \"What do I think about it? Obviously, surprised. Surprised,\" he told Reuters as he left a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah at the U.S. Senate. Britain First is a peripheral political party which wants to end all immigration and bring in a comprehensive ban on Islam, with anyone found to be promoting the religion's ideology to be deported or imprisoned. The group, which rarely garners any media attention but attracts a few hundred protesters to its regular street demonstrations, states on its website it is a \"loyalist movement.\" Critics say it is simply racist. Last week, Fransen was charged by the police in Northern Ireland with using threatening, abusive or insulting words in a speech at a rally in Belfast in August. Along with the group's leader, she was also charged in September with causing religiously aggravated harassment over the distribution of leaflets and posting online videos during a court trial involving a number of Muslim men accused and later convicted of rape. Politicians in Britain condemned Trump, with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, describing his tweets as \"abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society.\" In contrast, David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who has run for political office in Louisiana, praised Trump. \"He's condemned for showing us what the fake news media won't,\" Duke wrote on Twitter. \"Thank God for Trump! That's why we love him!\"","label":0}
{"text":"Connie Kopelov, whose wedding to Phyllis Siegel in 2011 was the first legal marriage in New York City, died in Manhattan on Saturday. She was 90. Her death was confirmed by Ms. Siegel, who said Ms. Kopelov had been in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease. Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel had been partners for 23 years when they were married by the city clerk on July 24, 2011 \u2014 the same day that a state law took effect allowing couples to marry. That morning, Ms. Kopelov, then 85, and Ms. Siegel, 76, were the first couple through the door of the marriage bureau, on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan. The City Council speaker at the time, Christine C. Quinn, a lesbian and prominent gay rights activist, stood in attendance around 9 a. m. as the clerk, Michael McSweeney, said, \"I now pronounce you married. \" Ms. Siegel held Ms. Kopelov's head and kissed her on the left cheek. Ms. Kopelov smiled and held her marriage license aloft. \"I lost my breath,\" Ms. Siegel said in March, recalling the moment. \"It was just the most exciting loss of breath I've ever had. I just was so happy. \" From that day on, Ms. Siegel said, people would stop them on the street and congratulate them. Constance Kopelov was born on April 14, 1926, in the industrial city of Kokomo, Ind. to Samuel and Bessie Kopelov. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in political science and later earned a master's from Goddard College in Vermont in 1974. In 1955 she moved from Chicago to New York City, where she held positions in union organizations, including the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the Workers Defense League. Her work often focused on women's issues, and she taught courses on women's labor history at Cornell University and New York University. \"She was always fighting for an issue,\" Ms. Siegel said. \"She was always for the underdog. \" Besides her wife, Ms. Kopelov is survived by a sister, Deborah Dorosin. Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel met in the through their involvement with an advocacy group, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders. New York State's legalization of marriage followed a multiyear legislative battle that ended with the State Senate's narrow approval of the Marriage Equality Act in June 2011. The law took effect one month later, on a Sunday, after which hundreds of gay and lesbian couples turned up at town halls and city clerks' offices across the state. New York became the sixth and largest state to allow couples to wed, a milestone that energized advocates as they pushed their campaign across the country. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees all Americans, including couples, a right to marriage. In 2012, just shy of their first wedding anniversary, Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel were honored as grand marshals of New York City's Gay Pride Parade, along with the singer Cyndi Lauper and Chris Salgardo, the president of the cosmetics company Kiehl's. The couple were chauffeured down Fifth Avenue in a lime green convertible.","label":0}
{"text":"On Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will consider Donald J. Trump's choice of Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma's attorney general since 2011, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Pruitt spent much of his time in office fighting the Obama administration over the E. P. A. 's actions to regulate air and water pollution and to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The committee is led by Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, an outspoken contrarian on climate change, and includes several Republicans openly hostile to federal action to address it. The Democratic members of the committee include some of the Senate's strongest supporters of the E. P. A. and most forceful voices for decisive action on climate change. We asked readers what questions they would ask if they could question Mr. Pruitt. More than 2, 000 replied, and their answers largely fell into a few categories. Here is what some of them would like to know. Many readers seemed familiar with Mr. Pruitt's statement that the science of climate change is \"far from settled. \" Most pointed out that an overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity, specifically by the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and asked for Mr. Pruitt's sources for his position. Seth Rudman, 28, a scientific researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, asked, \"Can you describe the shortcomings of the scientific evidence for climate change and the type of data that would be needed to convince you that climate change is happening?\" While being a scientist is not a requirement for the job, readers worried about what having a climate denialist at the top might mean for the agency. \"During the Bush administration, climate scientists, including Dr. James Hansen, claimed that their voices were suppressed and their reports changed to minimize the role of humans in accelerating climate change and its impact,\" wrote Donald Chartier, 60, the founder and chief executive of an internet company in Chicago. \"Can you assure us that E. P. A. scientists will be allowed to present scientific evidence and data freely to the American people, without retaliation?\" Others focused on the risk Mr. Pruitt was taking by denying the risks of climate change. \"If the scientific consensus on climate change proves correct and the changes in the Earth's weather cause widespread devastation, loss of life and property and great economic damage, who should be held responsible for staying the actions that might have prevented or ameliorated these outcomes?\" asked Joseph Griffin, 72, a retiree from Bellefonte, Pa. During his time as attorney general of Oklahoma, Mr. Pruitt has been seen by some to be cozy with the fossil fuel industry. He filed 14 suits against the E. P. A. challenging the agency's environmental regulations, looking to soften the blow of federal policies against oil, gas, agriculture and other interests. In 13 of those cases, companies that had contributed money to Mr. Pruitt or to political campaign committees also signed on. Readers were concerned that Mr. Pruitt might continue to advance the interests of industry, possibly to the detriment of public health and safety. \"How do you intend to serve the public need to protect the environment when you have demonstrated a preference for the rights of corporate shareholders?\" asked Alison ten Cate, 50, an energy efficiency consultant from Belmont, Calif. Others wrote that Mr. Pruitt should be asked if he would be willing to disclose the companies and lobbyists that have given money to his campaigns, and agree to recuse himself from decisions involving them. Mr. Pruitt has argued that states are in a better position to regulate their environment and industries than the federal government, which he has accused of overreach. Many readers argued that air and water do not respect state borders, so it is the federal government's responsibility to regulate these interstate issues. \"You have worked against the E. P. A. in favor of managing interstate and global issues at the state level. Why?\" asked Charles Haddox, 59, a marketing manager in Denver. \"What success stories can you relate in detail showing states are more successful at protecting resources in the absence of federal regulation?\" They also wondered where the limits of Mr. Pruitt's federalism might lie. \"Does your belief in federalism mean you will not interfere with the efforts of California and other states to address climate change?\" wrote Michael McCabe, 19, a student at Sarah Lawrence College. \"Or will you serve the interests of the fossil fuel industry and interfere with states' efforts?\" Some asked practical questions, like Mavis 65, a teacher and naturalist in Memphis, who wanted to know how Mr. Pruitt could continue to push for state and local jurisdiction of clean air and water \"in light of the Flint, Mich. water scandal. \" High levels of lead were found in the city's water supply, largely a result of state and local regulatory failures, and the federal government had to intervene (some argue too late). Several readers seemed puzzled at why Mr. Pruitt would want to run a federal regulatory agency if he saw federal regulations as a problem, and wondered if he had other ideas for how to regulate pollutants. Some also would like to hear examples of success on environmental issues from his time in office in Oklahoma. Mark Baker, 48, an American who works for Diageo, an international beverage company, in Brussels, asked, \"Can you provide an example of a policy that originated at the state or local level under your watch in Oklahoma and that resulted in cleaner water or air for Oklahoma's citizens?\" \"Do you believe in protecting water, air and land from pollution?\" wrote Sabina Gasper, 55, who works for the pharmaceutical industry in Bismarck, N. D. \"Do you believe that regulations are the way to do this? If not, how should these resources be protected?\" Some struck a more hopeful tone, like Lilian Howard, \"nearing 80 years of age,\" a retired travel consultant and writer from Virginia Beach, who wrote, \"Would you briefly discuss a few actions by the E. P. A. which you believe were successful in protecting the American people and their natural surroundings from harm and how you might hope we can improve upon these during the new administration?\"","label":0}
{"text":"For those blithely inclined toward the view that Britain would somehow find a way to sever its relationship with the European Union free of drama or financial consequences \u2014 like canceling a car rental reservation, with a tad more paperwork \u2014 Friday was a sobering day of reckoning. As the British pound plunged some 6 percent against the American dollar in the span of two minutes in early trading in Asia, the markets offered a reminder that divorce tends to be messy, expensive and laced with uncertainties. It rarely ends happily. The selling was so frenzied and swift that those who swap currencies for a living spoke of computerized transactions going haywire, rogue algorithms at work or a data entry error. The drop in the value of the pound appeared excessive, and it soon recovered some losses, though the British currency was down about 17 percent \u2014 around 25 cents \u2014 since June 23, the day Britain voted to abandon Europe. More than anything, though, the precipitous drop seemed to attest to an increasingly unmistakable reality: Britain's vote to exit the European Union \u2014 Brexit, in common parlance \u2014 has put its commercial relationships with the world on uncertain and potentially perilous ground. That poses risks for the British economy, making its money less attractive to hold. \"The world believes that the U. K. is going to be poorer in the future, and find it more expensive to trade,\" said Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent research institution in London. \"Essentially, the world is betting against the pound. \" And against the British economy. The immediate cause of the plunge appeared to be a speech by the French president, Fran\u00e7ois Hollande, on Thursday evening in Paris, in which he endorsed the view that Britain must be forced to swallow unpalatable terms of departure to discourage other European Union members from eyeing the exits. \"The U. K. has decided to do a Brexit, I believe even a hard Brexit,\" Mr. Hollande said. \"Well, then, we must go all the way through the U. K.'s willingness to leave the E. U. We have to have this firmness. \"If not,\" he continued, \"we would jeopardize the fundamental principles of the E. U. Other countries would want to leave the E. U. to get the supposed advantages without the obligations. \" Hard Brexit, Soft Brexit, Brexit Over Easy. No one really knows what these terms mean (and the last one is made up). But, crudely, they divide potential outcomes into the ones in which Britain maintains effective inclusion within Europe's single market \u2014 a realm sprawling from Ireland to Romania, holding some 500 million people \u2014 and the ones in which Britain winds up outside. Mr. Hollande's line echoed a speech given by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany earlier that day. The week began with an admission from Britain's new Conservative prime minister, Theresa May, that access to the European market is likely to be a casualty of Britain's pursuit of a primary aspiration expressed in the Brexit vote: imposing limits on immigration. European leaders have been resolute that free movement of people across the borders of member nations is a nonnegotiable cost of admission in the common market. But Brexiteers had steadfastly maintained the illusion that Britain could have it both ways \u2014 that it could retain access to the European market while still controlling immigration. In destroying that idea, the prime minister's admission badly rattled the markets. The stakes are considerable. Britain ships nearly half its exports to other European Union members. The giants of global banking have turned London into a financial center rivaling New York, using hubs here to extend their reach across the rest of the European market. Investment has poured into Britain from around the world, as major manufacturers have set up factories so they can sell their wares across Europe without incurring tariffs. To one degree or another \u2014 and no one really knows how much \u2014 Brexit puts all of this in play. Negotiations between Britain and Europe are expected to commence sometime early next year. Whatever settlement results must be ratified by the remaining members of the European Union, meaning that Britain's economic prospects are now tethered to the vagaries of domestic politics in 27 other countries. None of these risks were unforeseen. During a fractious campaign leading up to the referendum, great reams of paper were released sketching out the potential effects on the British economy should voters opt to leave. Reports varied on details and degree, but they nearly unanimously concluded that Brexit would entail economic pain. The British Treasury surveyed the trading arrangements the government might strike with Europe after a Brexit vote and concluded it could lop some 6. 2 percent off the gross domestic product by 2030. That would leave the average household worse off by about 4, 300 pounds a year (at the current, depressed exchange rate, about $5, 300). But those campaigning to leave dismissed such talk as fearmongering. They described a swashbuckling and reinvigorated Britain that would break free from a stagnating Europe \u2014 the land of unemployed children moving in with their parents \u2014 to instead focus on improving trade with countries like China, India and the United States. Since the vote, those who urged leaving Europe have pointed to the facts that the sun still rises and the earth still spins to declare validation. Even as the pound has fallen against the dollar, consumer spending has generally held up along with employment. Economic growth has yet to be hit. Boutiques and restaurants in London remain packed. Some have focused on the upsides of a declining pound, which makes British exports cheaper on world markets and renders Britain a more affordable tourist destination. But this misses the fact that nearly of the goods and services consumed in Britain are imported. In dollar terms, the price of those goods and services is spiking. Eventually, economists assume, this inflation will work its way through the economy, further depressing growth by crimping consumer spending and potentially sowing unemployment. During the campaign, those in favor of leaving offered assurance that, whatever resulted, Britain would ultimately secure a beneficial trade deal with Europe. Germany sells vast quantities of cars to British consumers, giving it every incentive to keep trade flowing unimpeded by tariffs. As the largest economy in the union, Germany would hold the cards. But in her speech on Thursday, Ms. Merkel took direct aim at that argument, telling a gathering of industry leaders that any wavering on the principle of free movement of people would pose \"a systemic challenge for the entire European Union. \" The sudden plummeting of the pound appeared to signal that investors were absorbing the intricacies of this dynamic, and seeing through the Brexiteers' claims that Britain could impose limits on immigration while also negotiating a settlement with Europe that would maintain access to the common market. Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who campaigned for leaving the European Union and is now foreign secretary, managed last week to maintain the government line while simultaneously making fun of the charade. \"Our policy is having our cake and eating it,\" he told the British tabloid, The Sun. But on Sunday, as Prime Minister May addressed a gathering of her governing Conservative Party in Birmingham, she essentially dumped the cake in the bin. \"We have voted to leave the European Union and become a fully independent, sovereign country,\" Mrs. May declared. \"We will do what independent, sovereign countries do. We will decide for ourselves how we control immigration. \" In short, a \"hard Brexit\" appeared to be in Britain's future. \"Somehow, a whole combination of people were in denial up until now,\" said Adam S. Posen, a former member of the committee at the Bank of England, and now president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. \"There were the people who thought Brexit would be reversed,\" he continued. \"There were the people who delusionally thought there would be a soft Brexit, and all the northern Europeans would be nice to them. And there were people who believed that this crew in charge of the British negotiations were somehow going to strike a good deal. All of the delusions have run out of material. \"","label":0}
{"text":"When should you leave for your Thanksgiving drive in order to avoid getting stuck in traffic with the tens of millions of people on the road? That depends on where you are, according to Google. Based on last year's travel patterns from Google Maps users, the best day to leave is the Sunday before Thanksgiving, though the time varies. If you've already missed that window, never fear: Google has also compiled the worst time to leave. Below are the best and worst departure times and return times for 10 popular U. S. cities, as well as some airport traffic recommendations and trending destinations. If you do not see your city, the general trend is that you'll hit less traffic if you can leave on Sunday and return on Friday, while the slowest commutes are for those departing on Wednesday and returning on Saturday. Also, stores that sell stuff tend to be busy. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 3 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 5 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Airport Traffic You'll hit less traffic before noon or after 4 p. m. Trending Destinations How badly do you want that $5 player? \"Outlet mall\" searches point to heavy on Thursday and Friday. Searches for \"animal shelter\" are also high on Friday, which is great news for animals needing new homes. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 5 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 5 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 7 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Airport Traffic The only time to avoid O'Hare is if you're coming from Milwaukee around 3 p. m. Otherwise, it should be business as usual. Trending Destinations Chicagoans love to party on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with \"night club\" topping the list. That might explain why \"Mongolian BBQ restaurant\" is tops on Thanksgiving. Who feels like cooking at that point? Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 3 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 2 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Trending Destinations The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has free admission on Thanksgiving, which may explain why \"zoo\" is the destination on turkey day. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 3 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 8 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Trending Destinations Pies and parades rule Houston Thanksgiving week, with \"pie shop\" being the most searched for term on Wednesday and \"city hall\" on Thursday, which points to Houston's 67th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year's marshalls are Simone Biles and Simone Manuel. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 5 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 5 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Airport Traffic Arrive before 3 p. m. or leave after 10 p. m. to avoid the worst of it. Anyone leaving on a around 10 p. m. can expect a trip twice as long. Trending Destinations When I think of Los Angeles, ham shops always come to mind. No, not really, but \"ham shop\" is what people are looking for the most on the day before Thanksgiving. Is turkey not a thing in Los Angeles? Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 2 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Trending Destinations Where's the buffet? Buzzed Miamians want to know. \"Buffet restaurants\" and \"liquor store\" are the top two search terms on Thanksgiving day. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 5 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 3 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 2 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 3 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Airport Traffic From Manhattan, arrive before 6 p. m. or the commute could be twice as long. Trending Destinations Many are wondering if the \"natural history museum\" is open on Thanksgiving, but not as many who are looking for a \"pie shop,\" which is the top term on Wednesday and Thursday. And, of course, that classic Thanksgiving tradition of dining at a \"fondue restaurant\" is represented with the search term on Thursday. I think we can all remember our first Thanksgiving memory quite well. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 3 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 7 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Trending Destinations Nothing out of the ordinary here, with \"electronics store,\" \"liquor store\" and \"appliance store\" topping the list. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 2 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 7 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Trending Destinations More folks in Phoenix are concerned about airport parking on Thanksgiving day than most of these other cities, with \"airport parking lot\" listed as the third most searched term. Departure Traffic Best: Sunday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 3 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Wednesday at 2 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 7 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Return Traffic Best: Friday at 6 a. m. Try to avoid driving around 4 p. m. when the traffic is the most congested. Worst: Saturday at 4 p. m. If you have to travel that day, leave by 6 a. m. to avoid the worst of it. Trending Destinations There are a lot of people shopping, but many are also checking out the historic sites, with \"zoo,\" \"national museum\" and \"memorial park\" rounding out the top five most searched terms on Friday.","label":0}
{"text":"David Duke October 27, 2016  Today Dr. Duke and Dr. Slattery talked about Hillary's clear acts of treason against the United States by providing massive shipments of weapons to Saudi Arabia at a time that she knew they were providing support to ISIS. Dr. Duke, if elected to the Senate, would be in a position to expose Hillary and push for her impeachment should she win (steal) the election.  Dr. Slattery discussed post-election scenarios. He noted that if Trump wins in a close election, a small number of Republican electors could be bribed to vote for Hillary, throwing the election to her, or even vote for Pence, throwing the election to the House of Representatives to decide from amongst Trump, Hillary, and Pence. Should Hillary win and Trump supporters feel the election was illegitimate, impeachment would be more likely.  This is an extremely educating and enlightening show. Please share it widely.","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Congress moved rapidly on Thursday to send President Donald Trump a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend, leaving fights over budget priorities and a range of other controversial issues for the coming weeks. The House of Representatives, working against a Friday midnight deadline, approved legislation in a 235-193 vote to fund a wide range of federal programs through Dec. 22. The Senate followed up by approving the bill 81-14. The White House has said Trump will sign it into law. The measure creates more time for a reckoning between Republicans and Democrats about budget differences, which Trump discussed in a meeting with leading lawmakers at the White House earlier in the day. \"We hope that we're going to make some great progress for our country. I think that will happen,\" Trump said. The White House said negotiations would resume on Friday. Leaders now have about two weeks to find common ground on a host of thorny issues for the next government funding bill in order to prevent a partial government shutdown on Dec. 23. Both sides want to avoid having parts of the government close, particularly during the holidays, for fear of a public backlash, and leaders from both parties have preemptively blamed the other for such a potential outcome. That political blame game is likely to continue in the next two weeks while, behind the scenes, leaders hammer out a compromise. Republicans mainly want a big increase in defense spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018. But Democrats are insisting that any added Pentagon funding be accompanied by increases to other domestic programs. Democrats also want to enact into law protections for nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were children when they were brought into the United States. Republicans want a much wider series of immigration law changes to further clamp down on foreign arrivals, and they want immigration negotiations to be held on a separate track from the government funding bill. Democrats also want to shore up the Affordable Care Act, known as \"Obamacare,\" by reviving federal subsidies for low-income people in the program. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer joined Trump and Republican congressional leaders for the talks after canceling a similarly planned meeting last week when the president posted a note on Twitter attacking their policy positions. The two Democrats said in a statement that the meeting on Thursday was productive but nothing specific had been agreed. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis joined the group to discuss military matters. The White House foresees a compromise with lawmakers that will include increases in defense and non-defense spending, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told Reuters. He said the White House wants a deal that covers spending for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Earlier on Thursday, Schumer said Trump seemed to be rooting for a shutdown and warned that, if one occurs, \"it will fall on his shoulders.\" \"His party controls the Senate, the House and the presidency,\" he said. \"Nobody here wants to see a shutdown. We Democrats are not interested in one.\" Pelosi said Democrats were not willing to shut down the government over the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) immigration program, but she also said \"we will not leave here without a DACA fix.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Collective Gridwork Fluctuations 10\/23\/2016  We are going through many fluctuations in the gridwork this month and these are challenging many as they are \"moved\" from one gridwork to the next\u2026 connected, disconnected, connected, disconnected\u2026 there are huge periods of template wipes where we go offline, disconnect and then come back up online\u2026 This is the strongest I've experienced this since June 2015. Huge disconnects, which need to occur so we can shift to a whole new collective timeline.  If you are feeling this, then it's continual re-calibrations in the gridwork, which you hold\/link up to with your Crystalline LightBody Structure.  A lot of people's feelings are all over the place, whether subtly or loudly\u2026. The more we exist as a soul, the more subtle this is. The more human, the more external\/loud this is. There have been such huge energetic releases lately by collectives\u2026.  This month has been about re-calibrating our systems, massive physical upgrades for many as how we function is completely re-worked even more than before.  To cleanse collective wounds for more love to emerge from within all, many must experience what they don't want before they understand what's important and the kundalini fire must be ignited to awaken the spirit\/soul inside. This mass root chakra awakening that was triggered collectively in January 2016 has lit the fire, fueling the souls need to emerge from within. As collectives exit the old 3D matrix simulation and awaken from the slumber, all the suppression and victimhood must be cleared as each takes their power back from within. As chaos ensues for many to release, the more released, the more the gridwork is affected by the masses coming online, going back offline, coming back online\u2026 These fluctuations are affecting all of us, in our own ways.  To understand, one must be totally connected inside and in-tune with their own energetic gridwork to be aware of what is what. While the more crystalline light we are, the less we are subjected to unconscious collectives, we are affected when our NEW Earth Gridwork is being re-calibrated with such intensity now.  So, for those who feel disconnected, this is a part of the process as we clear old timelines and move\/jump into new ones. We have to disconnect from anything that's no longer in alignment\/supporting our new existence here. The programs for this were held in the physical body\/cellular structures and these continue immense re-sequencing and re-coding, because of these mega-frequency upgrades that we are experiencing every day now.  As multi-dimension light beings, you can experience multiple emotions simultaneously, while not being bound by any of them. You can observe what your re-calibrations are and honor this, while not being affected by the transitional phases as much as before. Your mind is no longer dictated by the emotion you feel. You can be a peace and always feel the magic while something else cleanses\/clears. You don't shift out of alignment while your body\/mind\/emotions do their thing. It's a process that you honor and understand through your presence and connection inside. You can feel disconnected yet not be totally disconnected\u2026. for you know the adjustments are important to move you into your next phase of a more awesome reality\u2026\u2026  The reason I write this is because if there is any human'ness left, the human aspect will go to judgement and this creates suffering inside. Let go of the judgment and be okay, accept whatever you are feeling or not feeling inside and choose how you desire to experience the phase you are going through as these huge shifts occur. Kindness and compassion towards yourself, will allow you to feel these for others too. Remember, you are evolving beyond human comprehension and you don't always need to understand everything first\u2026. it takes awhile\u2026.be patient and listen to your body, honor you and how you need to feel as you shift. Pull away if you need to, connect with others if you need to\u2026.  These are unprecedented vibrations we are in now. These are new territory for all. We don't know until we experience, and those predicting can only predict according the the vibrations that they have access to thus far. No one can tell you what timeline you are going to be in, for every moment is a different vibration now. Vibrations create realities, so the moment you shift vibrationally, then your timeline changes. As you master what you are doing\/creating\/transmitting vibrationally, then you get to participate in which timelines you desire to activate to experience here. Some timelines are always a surprise, because there are always a gazillion that were a higher vibration than you had access to before. The faster we integrate, the faster we experience the highest one's possible thus far.  Now, we have connected back up and the Unified Field is stronger and at a much higher frequency than before. Collectively the gridwork is back online. We have super high frequencies continually now. Much is going on for everyone moving further into being responsible for the realities that they create. The backlash of unconsciousness is going to continue to be more visible as the physical reality becomes louder for those hearts and minds not open yet. The beauty and magnificence for intentionally transmitted conscious realities become more profoundly magical by the moment. The polarity continues out there, but it does not have to inside. The more in-tune and aligned one is, the softer and easier physical realities are. These higher vibrational realities are very soft, the exchanges are beyond beautiful when all is aligned. You will know when it is not, as you won't be happy, inspired and in-joy the experience. Just the recognition gives you the ability to choose where you are going to focus your energy and attention for what you experience here.  Get ready loves\u2026.. powerful energies is an understatement. For many of us, we are going through physical realignments more than normal, as our crystal bodies are embedded with deep sacred soul codes now. It's not an emotional or mental experience anymore. It's just physical re-calibrations and our physical bodies process energies much differently than before. We've moved beyond the heart and the head. Now the spine is the primary processing center, which is why so many are experiencing the nervous system overhauls. I'll share more on this as we go. Bizarre is an understatement for our \"new bodies\"\u2026. They require great care now.  See you guys tomorrow. Sleep well and happy traveling! p.s. We entered Galactic Frequencies a bit ago as well. Not that these all aren't, but we've achieved the overall frequency field-wise to be fully galactic right now. In-JOY these exquisite HOME frequencies loves! \u2665","label":1}
{"text":"Libya's U.N.-backed government has criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary ban on its nationals and those of six other countries entering the United States, which put in question attendance at a high-profile conference on Libya planned in Washington for mid-February. The executive order by Trump comes at a time of uncertainty over U.S. policy in Libya, which remains mired in the chaos that followed the NATO-backed 2011 uprising against long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), was strongly supported by former U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, but has struggled to assert its authority in Tripoli and beyond. Factions in eastern Libya aligned with a rival government and with powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar welcomed Trump's election, hoping for more support for their anti-Islamist stance. Trump's travel ban has angered some Libyans, including students studying or planning to study in the United States. GNA Foreign Minister Mohammed Siyala called it an \"unjust decision\" that should be reviewed. \"These actions represent racial discrimination on the basis of religion and are incompatible with human rights,\" he told local TV station Libya's Channel. Authorities in eastern Libya declined to comment on the ban for days. A spokesman for the eastern-based government said on Wednesday however the order \"could not be rejected\", given Libya's own institutional confusion. A member of the eastern parliament, Youssef al-Fakhri, said that despite Libya's political and security problems, the measure was \"not appropriate\". The order appeared to put in jeopardy the participation of Libyans invited to a Feb. 16 conference titled \"Libya-U.S. Relations 2017: New Vision, Hope and Opportunities\". The event, co-hosted by the National Council on U.S.-Libya Relations, lists Libyan speakers including two former prime ministers and the head of the National Oil Corporation (NOC). Several speakers are loyal to or connected with eastern-based factions. \"We are clearly concerned with the risk of denial of entrance to some of our key speakers and participants from Libya,\" Hani Shennib, the council's president, said in an email. \"However, we are working diligently with authorities here in the USA and we are hopeful that a resolution to facilitate entrance of our conference participants will [be] present in the next 2-3 days.\" A GNA spokesman, Ashraf al-Tulti, told Reuters Libya's foreign ministry would request exceptions from the U.S. Department of State for Libyan attendees. Exceptions to the travel ban can be made on a case by case basis, and diplomatic visas are exempt. Tulti, who was invited to attend the Washington conference and holds a diplomatic passport, said he was still waiting for a visa. One Libyan speaker said she had a visa, but was still investigating whether she would be able to attend. Under the order released on Friday, travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are banned from entering the United States for at least 90 days. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said some countries \"may not be taken off the list anytime soon, if they are countries that are in various states of collapse\".","label":0}
{"text":"The British actor Jude Law, whose recent screen incarnations include playing a warlord (the forthcoming \"King Arthur: Legend of the Sword\") and the pope (in HBO's \"The Young Pope\") can now add wizardry to his oeuvre: He'll play a young Albus Dumbledore in the next installment of \"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,\" J. K. Rowling's prequel series to the Harry Potter tales. Played in the Harry Potter films by Richard Harris and then, after Mr. Harris' death, Michael Gambon, Dumbledore is the beloved headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts. In the next \"Fantastic Beasts,\" Mr. Law's Dumbledore will be the school's professor of transfiguration. Released last November, the first \"Fantastic Beasts\" starred Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston, and was a lucrative hit for Warner Bros. drawing $234 million domestically at the box office. It was Ms. Rowling's first screenplay, and she has also written the second. David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films as well as the first \"Fantastic Beasts,\" will return as director. The film is scheduled for a November 2018 release.","label":0}
{"text":"As the Islamic State seeks to export its brand of barbaric terror to would-be affiliates, the U.S. faces a growing challenge to find the sources of ISIS funding and blunt its flow to allied militants. The terror army's most recent atrocity was the mass beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. It remains unclear how closely tied those militants are to ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but the Islamic State's underground economy continues to thrive. Even as the U.S.-led coalition strikes at what was long the heart of ISIS' revenue stream -- oil fields and refineries -- officials say the terror network is making money in other ways. \"We know that oil revenue is no longer the lead source of their income in dollars,\" Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said recently. But he added: \"They get a lot of donations. They also have a significant black market program.\" How much money ISIS truly makes from donations is a matter of debate. But experts agree that ISIS receives significant revenue from black-market smuggling and other operations. \"ISIS is selling anything they can get their hands on,\" Dr. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in an interview with Fox News. Plus, according to reports, the group is even skimming Iraqi taxpayer dollars by shaking down government employees in areas they've conquered. In short, ISIS is set on building a terror empire, going so far as to tout its annual financials. Reportedly, ISIS released a $2 billion budget for 2015 including a $250 million surplus, though those numbers are disputed. After Mosul fell to the Islamic State in June, the International Business Times declared ISIS the \"world's richest terrorist organization\" after the central bank's vaults were looted of some $420 million. Estimates vary, but ISIS reportedly rakes in between one and three million dollars per day, though the strikes against its oil refineries have taken a toll. The United Nations last Thursday tried to strike at the money stream. The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at cutting off millions of dollars in earnings from oil smuggling, antiquities trafficking and ransom payments to ISIS. The measure calls for sanctions against individuals and entities that trade in oil with ISIS and Al Qaeda affiliates such as the Al-Nusra Front in Syria. The resolution was co-sponsored by more than 35 countries. It called for all 193 countries of the U.N. to take steps to prevent ancient artifacts from being smuggled and sold and to ban the direct or indirect sale of ransoms. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said payments and donations to ISIS \"perpetuate a cycle of horrific brutality, giving these groups resources to carry out more murderous acts and incentivizing them to take more people captive.\" How much ISIS really receives from donations is unclear. \"Most charities [supporting radical Islam] in the Gulf are aligned with Al Qaeda, not ISIS,\" said Gartenstein-Ross. Gartenstein-Ross pointed to Abdulrahman al-Nuaymi, a Qatari who has been accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of transferring millions of dollars to Al Qaeda affiliates in Iraq and Syria, as a prime example of this arrangement. While many blame Qatar for playing a \"double game\" of supporting both radical Islamist groups and the coalition against ISIS, the Obama administration disputes the notion that wealthy Arabs from Persian Gulf countries give generously to ISIS. \"ISIL derives a relatively small share of its funds from deep-pocket donors, and thus does not, today, depend principally on moving money across international borders. Instead, ISIL obtains the vast majority of its revenues through local criminal and terrorist activities,\" said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen in October, at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. \"There is a lot of opacity,\" Gartenstein-Ross admitted. But he said the smuggling of black market goods, similar to the opium trade by the Taliban inside Afghanistan; taxation among the Iraqi population particularly in Mosul; and the sale of oil round out other areas of ISIS funding. Gartenstein-Ross pointed out that airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition against oil refineries in Syria have denied ISIS a large source of revenue. Looting and ransoms make up for some of the difference, however. Some experts point to the Iraqi government as unwittingly contributing to ISIS' coffers. Aki Peritz, a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, said in a recent New York Times op-ed that the Iraqi government continues to pay its civil servants in Mosul, despite being controlled by ISIS. Peritz wrote, \"Baghdad provides about $130 million every month to pay all its workers in Mosul\" and estimated that Iraq's treasury has paid over $1 billion to these civil servants since Mosul fell in June 2014. He estimated that ISIS has taken half of those payments in the form of taxation. While efforts are currently underway to dismantle key revenue sources for the Islamic State, there are signs the caliphate is receiving setbacks from within. According to syriadirect.org, \"Assassinations, bombings and defections plague the Islamic State in Deir e-Zor,\" in oil-rich eastern Syria. The nonprofit news outlet based in Amman, Jordan, says that over the past month, assassination attempts against members of ISIS religious police have become more common. Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews","label":0}
{"text":"During nearly every sporting event, at one point in the game, the cameras are taken off the game to scan the crowd for loving couples to smooch each other on the infamous Kiss Cam. Almost always, or let s just say it like it is, these cameras seem to always find straight couples. However, last year, a beautiful couple got caught on the Kiss Cam at Dodger stadium, and it looks as though another beautiful couple got their moment recently during a hockey game.In what is being reported as the first same-sex Kiss Cam moment in NHL history, Brad Parr and Andy Evans, while attending a Los Angeles Kings game at the Staples Center, were featured. The kiss drew huge cheers from the crowd.Parr told Outsports: It was a particularly sweet night since the Kings were playing and beat my hometown Toronto. My parents and siblings live in LA but the rest of my family think I am a terrible traitor for being a Kings fan; I ve lived in LA for 17 years. Not only did these fantastic men get to smooch in front of thousands of fellow King s fans, but they are also triathletes raising money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society s Team in Training.This beautiful moment in history is wonderful and shows the progress we ve made as a nation, but it also highlights that in 2016, we re just now getting around to acknowledging that gay couples, male and female, do in fact attend sporting events.Congrats to the beautiful couple, and if you d like to donate to help their cause, go HERE.You can see the full video HERE, but here s a highlight of just the pair in their moment in history: Progress! Hear the cheers for the first gay kiss on Kiss Cam. A first in NHL history. LA Kings vs Maple Leafs Game. pic.twitter.com\/ngEJnqqqif My Daughter s Army (@mydaughtersarmy) January 9, 2016 Video\/Featured image: Twitter","label":1}
{"text":"On the Thursday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart London Raheem Kassam will offer the latest analysis of Wednesday's terror attack in London. [He'll be joined by Dr. Alan Mendoza, the Founder and Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society Phillip Haney, former Department of Homeland Security official and author of See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government's Submission to Jihad and Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to President Trump and author of the bestselling book Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. Rep. Dave Brat ( ) will discuss the latest developments regarding House Speaker Paul Ryan's Obamacare replacement bill, which is coming under intense criticism from all quarters and has been dubbed \"Ryancare,\" \" \" and \" \" by critics. The bill is expect to face a House vote on Thursday. We'll also hear from former UN ambassador John Bolton about FBI director James Comey's testimony on Capitol Hill, the latest revelations about the leaking of classified intelligence, Trump's proposed defense budget, and the terror attack in London. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show \"the conservative news show of record. \" Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: .","label":0}
{"text":"Truth Revolt October 26, 2016  As usual, Pat Condell nails it in this video commentary about the differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, about immigration, about Brexit, and more.  Check out the video above \u2014 probably the best 8 minutes you'll spend today. Condell helpfully provides related links below:  Hillary Clinton embraces George Soros' vision of an open border world","label":1}
{"text":"During game 1 of the WNBA Finals, the LA Sparks WNBA Nneka Ogwumike claimed to be inspired by the cowardly act of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, when he chose to hide from the cameras rather than take a stand one way or the other on the national anthem, and stayed in the tunnel during the playing of the national anthem:The LA Sparks will take the lead of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin today, Nneka Ogwumike said, and stay in the locker room during the anthem. Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 24, 2017Meanwhile, the Minnesota Lynx team showed their disrespect for the national anthem by linking arms in protest while it was being played.The LA Sparks team stayed in the locker room.The scene at Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. The Lynx link arms during the anthem, the Sparks stay in the locker room. pic.twitter.com\/jckFULAvux Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 24, 2017In game 2 of the WNBA Finals, the LA Sparks decided to leave the floor and head to the locker room for the national anthem. They were booed as they left the floor.Sparks booed as they leave the floor for the playing of the national anthem here in Minneapolis. Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 27, 2017The LA Sparks were booed again as they returned from the locker room:Sparks booed as they retake the floor after the singing of the national anthem in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com\/upZTj4bDMb Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 27, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Puerto Rico's governor on Monday said the island's vote in favor of becoming a U.S. state, despite low voter turnout and widespread boycotts, was \"a fair and open\" process that U.S. Congress should act upon. An island-wide referendum on Sunday favored statehood in a 97 percent landslide, though voter turnout reached just 23 percent as opponents of Governor Ricardo Rossello's push to become a state boycotted the vote. The non-binding plebiscite is not expected to sway the U.S. Congress, which would have to agree to make Puerto Rico a state. Currently a U.S. territory, the island is struggling with $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, and is not viewed as a priority in Washington. Rossello, who campaigned on a push for statehood, said in a telephone interview with Reuters that he will go to the U.S. capital this week to urge federal lawmakers to begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico into the union. \"We will make sure this becomes an issue,\" Rossello said. The vote comes at a critical time for Puerto Rico, whose hazy status - which dates to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain - has contributed to its ongoing economic crisis. Last month, the island filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its woes make statehood even more urgent, Rossello said. \"Statehood brings stability, allows us to have fewer rule-changes from Congress, provides resources to our people,\" he said. Sunday's referendum, which cost Puerto Rico between $5 million and $7 million, according to government estimates, was the island's fifth since 1967 - and the third in which pro-statehood sentiments triumphed, though none have moved Congress to act. \"If the U.S. is going to go to Venezuela and Cuba and Afghanistan and push democracy abroad, they've got to do the same\" with their own territories, he said. But Puerto Ricans are skeptical the island's status will change. \"This has all been a waste of time,\" said taxi driver Felix Salasarar, 54, adding that federal lawmakers will \"look at the voter turnout and say, 'where's the will of the people?'\" Working against the governor may be a perception in Washington that Sunday's vote was not fair. The U.S. Department of Justice in April called on Rossello to change ballot language that initially did not give voters an option to remain a U.S. territory. Rossello told Reuters he made that decision because the territory option - which Rossello equates to colonialism - already lost in a previous status referendum, in 2012, making this year's vote a choice between statehood and independence. The Justice department viewed the language as politically unfair to millions of Puerto Ricans who favor territory status, prompting Rossello to add the territory option. But the Justice department never reviewed or approved the new language. To be sure, Sunday's results do not reflect the true nature of Puerto Ricans' views on statehood, which are fairly evenly divided between those who favor it and those who do not, based upon historical election results. Statehooder Rossello, for example, won his own election with just 42 percent of the vote. But that, the governor said, is how democracy works: \"Everybody knows that those who go through the voting process have a louder voice than those who don't,\" he said. Carolina Santos, a single working mother struggling to make her mortgage payments, said bankrupt Puerto Rico has more important things to worry about than a status vote. \"Maybe we should focus more on fixing our financial problems and our schools,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump decided to war with the one person most politicians have enough sense not to touch: The Pope. Pope Francis was asked what he thought of Donald Trump, and said that it was not a Christian thing to do, to talk of building walls instead of building bridges. Of course, Trump being Trump, he retaliated in fury. Pope Francis said: A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel. I would only say that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. Now, an idiot pastor has joined the fray, and is saying that the Pope, of all people, is confused about what it means to be a Christian. Pastor Robert Jeffress went on-air on The Sean Hannity Show, and said to the right-wing host: Sean, I think the Pope needs to ask Donald Trump s forgiveness for making such an outlandish statement. I want to remind our listeners that it was exactly one year ago this week that 21 Coptic Christians had their heads chopped off by ISIS on a Libyan beach and then ISIS said, we are coming to Rome next. As if that wasn t enough, the man actually suggested that the Pope is the one who is confused here about what he should be doing as Pope. And the fact that we have a candidate like Donald Trump who wants to protect America, that s not unbiblical. The Pope is confused between the role of the Church, which is to show compassion, and the role of government, which is to uphold order and to protect its citizens. And I want to make a prediction. I think the Pope has succeeded in doing what no other man on Earth could do, and that is creating a martyr in Donald Trump. Well, Pastor Jeffress, as many issues as I have with the Catholic Church, I think you d do well to step away from this one. If the Pope himself doesn t know what the Church should be doing and saying here, who does?Watch the video below, via Media Matters for America:","label":1}
{"text":"Chinese state media on Monday continued to play down the protocol-bending phone call last week between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan's president, with editorials in two newspapers saying the move showed Trump's inexperience. China's national English-language newspaper, the China Daily, said the 10-minute call \"exposed nothing but the inexperience Trump and his transition team have in dealing with foreign affairs\". \"The action was due to a lack of a proper understanding of the sensitive issues in Sino-U.S. relations and cross-Strait ties,\" it said. The Friday call was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of \"one China\". China's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it had lodged \"stern representations\" with what it called the \"relevant U.S. side,\" urging the careful handling of the Taiwan issue to avoid any unnecessary disturbances in ties. China considers Taiwan a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday pointedly blamed Taiwan for the exchange, rather than Trump, calling it \"a petty action\". The China Daily said that for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, the call \"achieves nothing substantial, only pride in making what is an illusionary 'groundbreaking move', and temporarily diverting public attention on the island away from her bad performance\". \"It would be a mistake for Tsai and her party to over-interpret the significance of the call,\" it said. Her attempts to \"stir up tension... will ultimately backfire\". The Global Times, a hawkish tabloid under the ruling Communist Party's top newspaper the People's Daily, called Trump \"bluffing and unpredictable\", but said he did not have plans to overturn America's international relationships. \"It seems that Trump is still taking advantage of his perceived fickleness and unpredictability to make some choppy waves in the Taiwan Straits to see if he can gain some bargaining chips before he is sworn in,\" it said. The Global Times added targeting him would be inappropriate since he is not yet president. \"He has zero diplomatic experience and is unaware of the repercussions of shaking up Sino-U.S. relations,\" it said. Instead, China could send a message to Trump by punishing Taiwan, wooing away one or two of the island's diplomatic allies or beefing up military deployments against Taiwan, it said. \"It is certain that Trump doesn't want a showdown with China, because it is not his ambition, and neither was it included in his promise to the electorate. He puts out feelers to sound China out and chalk up some petty benefits.\" On Monday, Taiwan's Liberty Times, considered close to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, reported Tsai is planning to transit in New York early next month on her way to visit three diplomatic allies - Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. The trip would take place before Trump's inauguration January 20 and Tsai's delegation would seek to meet with Trump's team, including Reince Priebus, Trump's White House chief of staff, the report said. Taiwan's Presidential Office said media reports about a January trip were \"excessive speculation\". It said it would announce any presidential trips at the appropriate time.","label":0}
{"text":"A U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul was arrested on charges of links to a cleric blamed for last year s failed coup, Turkish authorities said on Thursday, a move condemned by Washington as baseless and damaging to ties between the NATO allies. President Tayyip Erdogan s spokesman said the locally-recruited consulate worker had been in contact with Adil Oksuz, a theology professor dubbed the imam of the air force for his alleged close links to coup plotters high up in the military. The arrested U.S. consulate worker was found to have had frequent communication with the FETO suspect Adil Oksuz, Ibrahim Kalin told reporters, using Erdogan s acronym for the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen that Erdogan accuses of engineering the coup attempt. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said it was deeply disturbed by the arrest of the locally employed staff member. Baseless, anonymous allegations against our employees undermine and devalue (the) longstanding partnership between the United States and Turkey, the embassy said in a statement. Turkey s Foreign Ministry said the arrested individual was not on the official list of registered personnel for the U.S. consulate and therefore had no diplomatic or consular immunity. U.S.-Turkish tensions have risen over U.S. military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, considered by Ankara to be an extension of the banned PKK which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey. Turkey has also pressed, so far in vain, for the United States to extradite Gulen over the July 2016 putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed. Gulen denies any involvement. Authorities say Oksuz, the theology professor, helped orchestrate the bombing of parliament by rogue air force pilots during the coup bid. He was detained near an Ankara air base hours after the coup was put down, only to be released by a judge two days later. He has been on the run since. The state-run Anadolu news agency identified the consulate employee as a male Turkish citizen and said he was arrested late Wednesday on charges of espionage and attempts to damage the constitutional order and Turkey s government. Since the coup attempt, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over alleged links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors. Human rights groups and some of Turkey s Western allies have voiced concern about the crackdown, fearing Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says deeply infiltrated institutions such as the army, schools and courts. Friction with the United States has also arisen from the indictment last month by a U.S. court of Turkey s former economy minister Zafer Caglayan. Caglayan and the ex-head of a state-owned Turkish bank were charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran s behalf. Turkey says Caglayan acted within international law and that charges against him amounted to a coup attempt through American courts.","label":0}
{"text":"Children returning to school in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab were handed a new textbook this term: T rk e reniyorum - I am learning Turkish . Turkish lessons, Turkish signposts, Turkish-trained police and most recently a Turkish post office all point to Turkey s deepening role in an area of northern Syria it captured from Islamic State (IS) with the help of Syrian rebels. Turkish administrators are even helping to run hospitals in the area. Ankara has taken on a widening role in the 100-km (60-mile) stretch of territory seized in its eight-month long Euphrates Shield operation, laying the foundations for long-term ties with an area that is of crucial strategic importance to Turkey. Launched to drive IS away from the border, the operation also aimed to block further expansion by Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara deems a threat to its national security. With the Euphrates Shield region calm for months, Ankara says it wants to help recovery and to encourage a return of Syrian refugees, millions of whom fled the six-year-long war into Turkey. But Turkish support is also consolidating the region s status as a Syrian opposition-held territory where Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups are building their own government even as the forces of President Bashar al-Assad win back swathes of the country elsewhere. After Daesh (Islamic State) was expelled ... we returned and the cities were suffering from large-scale destruction and general ruin, said Mohammad Karaz, director of education in al-Bab. Some schools were wiped out entirely, he said. The restoration was done by our Turkish brothers who restored 10 schools, one of which we are sitting in today, he said during an interview at the Major Bulent al-Bayrak elementary school, named after a Turkish officer killed while fighting Islamic State for control of al-Bab. Arabs and Turks are siblings reads a mural in the schoolyard. Turkish aid includes stationery, books and clothes. Karaz said the schools were teaching a Syrian curriculum modified to remove the state s Baathist ideology. The decision to add Turkish was taken unanimously by Syrian education officials in the area, he said. Turkish classes, taught by Syrians trained in Turkey, have started for pupils aged between six and nine. Explaining the decision, Karaz noted that two-thirds of al-Bab citizens had sought refuge in Turkey. Turkish authorities had given assurances that qualifications from schools in the area would be recognized in Turkey and students can apply to Turkish universities , he said. A senior Turkish official said Ankara aimed to recreate the conditions to bring life back to normal in the area which is located northeast of the city of Aleppo and stretches to the western bank of the Euphrates River. Turkish support included health care, security, food and police training. Turkey wants the Syrians living (in Turkey) to return to their country ... However, it will continue to host the Syrians here and provide humane living conditions for the Syrians in the regions under its control for as long as necessary, the official told Reuters. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech last weekend, said: We don t have a wish to occupy these lands but we want the rightful owners to go back there. Damascus has, however, long accused Turkey, a major backer of the Syrian opposition to Assad, of colonial ambitions in northern Syria. The front page of the pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar on Thursday declared that Ankara was undertaking the Turkification of the area. Turkey s intervention was driven chiefly by concern over the growing sway of Syrian Kurdish groups seen by Ankara as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade long insurgency against the Turkish state. The Euphrates Shield operation shattered the Syrian Kurds hopes of joining up two Kurdish-dominated regions of northern Syria, where the war has allowed Kurdish militia to carve out their own autonomous regions. The Syrian opposition s efforts to establish their own interim government in the Euphrates Shield area received a big boost this week when a Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group handed it control of a border crossing to Turkey. The interim government s aims include drawing investment to move the people from a state of war to work and building the region , said Khaled Aaba, a senior official with the Jabha Shamiya FSA group that handed over Bab al-Salama crossing. Crediting Turkey for standing by Syrians in their travails , he said Ankara was actively participating in supporting administrative and service institutions in the area . The existence of (the interim) government better organizes this relationship. Turkey s support to the health sector has included repairing and expanding hospitals previously operated by the Syrian state. Turkish administrators are working alongside Syrians at the Hikmeh Hospital in al-Bab, said Ahmad Aabo, a Syrian medical official in the city. Turkey s main project is a 200-bed hospital that will replace one destroyed during the war with IS. The companies taking control of the construction are Turkish, we don t have companies capable of doing such a project, said Aabo, speaking to Reuters in a telephone interview from the city. He said work on the hospital, which began a month ago, should be completed by New Year, comparing the rapid pace of the Turkish project with the 25 years it had taken to build its predecessor. Turkish support for Syrian security forces has included training police officers who began deploying in the region in January. Abdel Razzak al-Laz, the head of the National Police and General Security Forces , said 7,000 have now been deployed. Everyone wants the return of security and stability, wants to see a police patrol at night and during the day, said Laz, a police director when he defected to the opposition in 2012. The numbers are increasing, and there are continuous courses.","label":0}
{"text":"The Trump administration has set a collision course with the auto industry as it launches renegotiations of the 23-year-old NAFTA trade pact this week, aiming to shrink a growing trade deficit with Mexico and tighten the rules of origin for cars and parts. More than any other industry, autos have been the focus of U.S. President Donald Trump's anger over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he blames for taking car factories and jobs away from America to low-wage Mexico. The United States had a $74 billion trade deficit with Mexico in autos and auto parts last year, the dominant component of an overall $64 billion U.S. deficit, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. \"The Trump administration has framed their NAFTA negotiating objectives around reducing the trade deficit with Mexico,\" said Caroline Freund, a senior trade fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. \"If they don't touch autos, there's no way of getting at what they want.\" Among tools that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer may seek to boost auto employment in the U.S. is strengthening the rules of origin to shut out more parts from Asia, and possibly an unprecedented U.S.-specific content requirement for Mexican vehicles. Lighthizer's negotiating objectives for NAFTA seek to \"ensure the rules of origin incentivize the sourcing of goods and materials from the United States and North America,\" which has raised concerns among auto industry executives and trade groups that he will seek a deal that guarantees a certain percentage of production for the United States. The industry is opposed to such a carve-out or to increasing the percentage of a vehicle's value that must come from the region above the current 62.5 percent - already the highest of any global trade bloc. They say this would raise costs and disrupt a complex supply chain that sees parts crisscrossing NAFTA borders and has made North American car production competitive with Asia and Europe. \"Our members feel very strongly that rules of origin are not the tools to use to reshore jobs into the U.S.,\" said Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs for the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade group representing auto parts makers. Wilson and other industry advocates say a better way to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs is through policies aimed at expanding vehicle exports. But if U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross gets his way, it would be harder to reach the 62.5 percent content threshold because the \"tracing list\" of parts that count towards that goal would be modernized. He argues the current rules are too loose and allow a tariff-free \"back door\" for Chinese auto parts. Parts that did not exist when the 300-plus page list was devised in the early 1990s, largely electronics sourced from Asia such as console touch screens or hybrid-drive controllers, do not count against reaching the threshold. If they are put on the list, companies would have to source them from North America or pay tariffs on them. If the content requirements become too onerous, automakers will simply skip compliance \"and they'll just end up paying the duty,\" said Charles Uthus, vice president for international policy at the American Automotive Policy Council, a lobbying group for Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Fiat Chrysler. Foregoing all NAFTA tariff-free access benefits - something that could happen if Trump is dissatisfied with the negotiations and decides to scrap the trade pact - would raise costs by about $4 billion-5 billion a year, Ulthus added. Ford plans about $7 billion in total capital spending this year. Among the other contentious NAFTA issues that U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators will tackle starting on Wednesday in Washington is the future of a mechanism for resolving trade disputes. The United States wants to eliminate a so-called \"Chapter 19\" provision, arguing that it fails to combat unfair subsidies of some Mexican and Canadian goods. Mexico and Canada have vowed to keep the provision. Negotiators are expected to pursue new NAFTA chapters governing digital trade, and tightening environmental and labor standards, changes previously agreed by the three countries as part of the now-defunct 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership. U.S. negotiators will also seek a provision to deter currency manipulation, aiming to set a precedent for future trade negotiations, such as a revised U.S.-North Korean deal or a bilateral pact with Japan. The negotiations face an extremely tight timeline, with officials saying they want to complete negotiations by early next year to avoid ratification difficulties posed by elections in Mexico in July 2018 and in the U.S. in November 2018. Freund, a trade economist for more than a decade at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, said the negotiators should focus on a few key areas. \"If you really want to do a full-blown modernization of NAFTA, it's going to take a lot more than six months,\" she said. \"Ultimately I think they're going to get bogged down in all these details and pick two to three things and have a smaller agenda.\"","label":0}
{"text":"French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday it was not up to him to lecture Egypt on civil liberties, but told its visiting leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that strengthening human rights was in its interest. Sisi, denying accusations by human rights groups that he had allowed his forces to use torture, told a Paris news conference: We do not practice torture and ... we must be wary of all the information published by rights organizations. With both France and Egypt concerned by the political vacuum in Libya and the threat from jihadist groups in Egypt, the two countries have cultivated even closer economic and military ties during Sisi s rise to power. But rights organizations have accused France under Macron of turning a blind eye to what they say are increasing violations of freedoms by Sisi s government as the 2018 presidential elections approach. I believe in the sovereignty of states, and therefore, just as I don t accept being lectured on how to govern my country, I don t lecture others, Macron said at a joint news conference with Sisi in Paris following talks. My deeply held conviction is that it s in President Sisi s interest to accompany the defense and consolidation of human rights by the Egyptian state, in the context that only he can be the judge of, the French president said. During their 50-minute meeting, Macron brought up the issue of a dozen cases of alleged abuses of freedoms, in particular relating to Egyptian journalists and human rights activists, sources close to Macron said. Sisi, replying to journalists questions, said he was responsible for 100 million Egyptians who lived in turbulent times and alongside people who followed extremist thought and did not like to co-exist in peace. When it comes to human rights, we re not evading an answer but I hope that we understand it in its true context of a country in Egypt s situation. We are not in Europe, with its intellectual, cultural, civilization and human advancement. We re in a different region. In a report in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced widespread and systematic use of torture by Egyptian security forces. The United Nations on Oct. 13 condemned an anti-gay crackdown in Egypt. It also slammed French indulgence towards repression in Egypt. Rights groups accuse France of abandoning principles in favor of economic and security interests. They are particularly critical of the relationship between Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian who in his previous role as defense minister developed a personal relationship with Sisi. French officials dismiss the criticism and say the new administration is following a policy of not openly criticizing countries over human rights so as to be more effective in private and work on a case by case basis. Reacting to a lack of progress in respecting human rights and on democratic standards, the United States decided in August to freeze the payment of $195 million in military aid to Egypt. Under the previous government, France concluded several major military agreements with Egypt, including the sale of 24 Rafale combat aircraft, a multi-mission frigate and two Mistral warships in contracts worth some six billion euros. France will discuss the possible sale of more Rafale aircrafts with Sisi, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said earlier on Tuesday.","label":0}
{"text":"On Tuesday Hunter Jackson was suspended for seven days after bringing an empty . 22 shell casing to school to show his friends. [Hunter's school \u2014 A Place to Grow \u2014 is located in Troy, Illinois. According to Fox 2 Now, Hunter's mother, Kristy Jackson, said her son was excited because he had just spent time with his grandpa \u2014 a Caseyville, Illinois, police officer \u2014 who was teaching him about hunting and gun safety. Jackson said: [Hunter] just was wandering around in a field and picked up and put it in his pocket and didn't tell his parents \u2026 it's paranoia. It's something that's become quite an epidemic where guns are automatically assumed that they're bad \u2026 and I'm not sure how a suspension teaches my son anything about tolerance or anything about why he was wrong. It just means his school doesn't want him there because of things he enjoys. In a Facebook post, Jackson she went to the school to pick her son up like any other day, only to met by \"a stone faced teacher\" who said her son had brought a \"shotgun bullet\" to school. Jackson said her immediate thought was, \"My kid? Who just spent the weekend learning gun safety?\" She said the teacher then handed her a letter saying \"[Hunter's] behavior warranted a seven school day suspension. Which [Kristy] still was expected to pay tuition for, of course. And a threat that if his enthusiasm for guns continued, he'd be permanently expelled. \" Fox 2 Now reports that the letter also said the school had \"repeatedly\" told Hunter to quit \"using other toys as make believe guns\" The school's also emailed Jackson to inform her that he was \"notifying the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)\" about the suspension. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.","label":0}
{"text":"0 Add Comment  WITH 400 schools shut and 200,000 students not attending lessons, striking teachers have provided children with an insight into what their life will be like on the dole after they leave school.  \"It obviously wasn't the ASTI's intention, but it's an interesting lesson for my three lads, sitting around on the couch, bored out of their holes thinking 'is this it? Is this all I can do?' That's basically the dole like. Things being largely out of your control. Good to get training in early,\" shared concerned parent Olwyn Nelligan.  As youth unemployment remains worryingly high in Ireland at over 15%, teachers striking for better pay have inadvertently given their students a window into what life will be like post-second level education for many of them as despite being keen to learn and further themselves all they have is free time on their hands.  \"Teachers are striking for better pay, and if they were granted it, it would could serve as a way for the government to show it cares about education standards in Ireland and those who provide it,\" explained one teacher on strike, pleading with the government to show the education sector the respect it deserves.  A government spokesman did respond when we put the teacher's concerns to them earlier today.  \"We. Don't. Care. I thought that was pretty obvious. Have you not being paying attention to our policies for the last few years at all?\" the spokesman responded.  \"Having said that teachers are the rock bed of the foundation of the first steps of a child's life, blah, blah, blah,\" the spokesman added.  The government refused to comment on ongoing funding concerns with several IT colleges, or lengthy waiting lists for third level students wishing to access counselling services.  Some 99% of the country was backing the ASTI's bid to be paid for supervision work until they learned it may require an increase in their taxes in order to fund it.","label":1}
{"text":"Airstrikes Move To Syria, Target More Than Just ISIS In a major escalation of the air campaign against Islamic extremist groups, the U.S. and its Arab allies jointly hit targets inside Syria for the first time. The New York Times says, \"The intensity of the attacks struck a fierce opening blow against the jihadists of the Islamic State, scattering its forces and damaging the network of facilities it has built in Syria that helped fuel its seizure of a large part of Iraq this year.\" Besides the U.S., the Pentagon says that Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates \"participated in or supported\" operations against targets associated with the self-declared Islamic State. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki confirmed that \"we informed the Syrian regime directly of our intent to take action through our Ambassador to the United Nations (Ambassador [Samantha] Power) to the Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations. At a morning Pentagon briefing, Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the Joint Chiefs director of operations, said there were three waves of attacks, and that coalition partners provided combat air patrols and conducted airstrikes as part of the final two waves. \"We warned Syria not to engage U.S. aircraft. We did not request the regime's permission. We did not coordinate our actions with the Syrian government. We did not provide advance notification to the Syrians at a military level, or give any indication of our timing on specific targets. Secretary [of State John] Kerry did not send a letter to the Syrian regime,\" Psaki said. \u2014 The Islamic State in its Syrian headquarters of Raqqa. \u2014 The al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra, in northwest Syria. \u2014 A shadowy group known as Khorasan that the U.S. says is planning an imminent attack against the United States and Western interests. NPR's Deborah Amos tells Morning Edition that militants with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, were a major focus of the attacks. The Pentagon said the strikes \"employed 47 [Tomahawk cruise missiles] launched from USS Arleigh Burke and USS Philippine Sea operating from international waters in the Red Sea and North Arabian Gulf, as well as U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fighter, remotely piloted and bomber aircraft deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations.\" According to Deborah: \"What is striking about this air campaign is that it was expanded to include the Nusra Front. NPR's Tom Bowman says not much is known about the Khorasan group: \"The Pentagon says they took this action to disrupt an imminent attack plotting against the United States by this group that's made up of seasoned al-Qaida veterans. There were eight strikes around Aleppo targeting this group. [The Pentagon says] it had training camps, explosives and munitions productions facility, communications building and also command and control facilities.\" Gen. Mayville said that \"we've been watching\" Khorasan and that the group \"clearly is not focused\" on fighting the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad but instead had been \"putting down roots\" to work toward attacks on the U.S. Mayville said in the first strike, which began about midnight Syrian time and involved mainly Tomahawk cruise missiles, the U.S. unilaterally hit Khorasan command and control in the country's northeast. The second wave employed F-22 Raptors in their first combat roles, as well as F-15s, F-16s and B-1 bombers, he said. The third and final wave against Islamic State militants in the east employed F-18 Hornets from the USS George H.W. Bush as well as ground-based F-16s, he said. Mayville said the majority of support from Arab allies came in the third wave. He showed journalists \"before and after\" bomb-damage assessment photos and video of various structures that had been hit. An unnamed U.S. official tells The New York Times that the Khorasan group is led by \"Muhsin al-Fadhli, a senior Qaeda operative who, according to the State Department, was so close to [Osama] Bin Laden that he was among a small group of people who knew about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks before they were launched.\" The Times says: The Wall Street Journal reports: \"So far, more than a dozen airstrikes have hit Islamic State military targets and administrative buildings in Aleppo and Raqqa provinces in the north as well as al Qaeda's official arm in the country, al Nusra Front in the northwestern city of Idlib, the opposition said.\" What Are The Consequences? Reuters quotes a resident in Raqqa as saying there is an \"exodus\" from the city in the wake of the bombardment. \"It started in the early hours of the day after the strikes. People are fleeing toward the countryside,\" the resident tells Reuters. The participation of the partners \"gives the operation some legitimacy \u2014 more legitimacy in the region because Arab governments took part. There [are] political optics about this operation put together in Washington,\" NPR's Deborah Amos says, adding that the agreement to participate \"changes the stakes\" for the Arab partners. The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner speculates that the Islamic State \"will be enraged by this \u2014 it has no effective military answers to US air power \u2014 so those Arab countries that supported or took part in the action may well now be bracing themselves for possible reprisals.\" The Associated Press quotes Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as saying, \"There is confirmed information that there are casualties among Islamic State group members.\" Speaking on MSNBC, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby says the U.S. \"is still assessing the effectiveness of these strikes.\" Later, Gen. Mayville said: \"Last night's strikes are the beginning of a credible and sustained campaign to destroy\" the Islamic State.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump is committed to overhauling the U.S. tax code before the end of 2017, a top White House economic advisor said on Monday. \"The president is 100 percent committed to getting tax reform done this year,\" said Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, at the start of a listening session with real estate industry groups on taxes. \"We just had a cabinet meeting ... the No. 1 topic at the cabinet meeting was talking about taxes and tax reform and what it would take to get tax reform done this year,\" Cohn said.","label":0}
{"text":"Thousands of Zimbabweans poured onto the streets of Harare after President Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, and cars were hooting in the streets. Some people were holding posters of Zimbabwean army chief Constantino Chiwenga and former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month triggered the military takeover that forced Mugabe to resign.","label":0}
{"text":"When Donald Trump began his improbable run for president 15 months ago, he offered his wealth and television celebrity as credentials, then slyly added a twist of fearmongering about Mexican rapists flooding across the Southern border. From that moment of combustion, it became clear that Mr. Trumps views were matters of dangerous impulse and cynical pandering rather than thoughtful politics. Yet he has attracted throngs of Americans who ascribe higher purpose to him than he has demonstrated in a freewheeling campaign marked by bursts of false and outrageous allegations, personal insults, xenophobic nationalism, unapologetic sexism and positions that shift according to his audience and his whims. Now here stands Mr. Trump, feisty from his runaway Republican primary victories and ready for the first presidential debate, scheduled for Monday night, with Hillary Clinton. It is time for others who are still undecided, and perhaps hoping for some dramatic change in our politics and governance, to take a hard look and see Mr. Trump for who he is. They have an obligation to scrutinize his supposed virtues as a refreshing counterpolitician. Otherwise, they could face the consequences of handing the White House to a man far more consumed with himself than with the nations well-being. Heres how Mr. Trump is selling himself and why he cant be believed. Don Levi September 27, 2016 Just went through the history of the endorsements over the last 45-years from NYT. Except for Bill Clinton, who was a moderate. The Times... Divorce is Good For American Economy September 26, 2016 The evidence is here that the Establishment is really, really desperate.Evidently enough of ordinary Americans are ready what their British... Liberty Apples September 26, 2016 'Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President'I assume this is Part One. SEE ALL COMMENTS Despite his towering properties, Mr. Trump has a record rife with bankruptcies and sketchy ventures like Trump University, which authorities are investigating after numerous complaints of fraud. His name has been chiseled off his failed casinos in Atlantic City. Mr. Trumps brazen refusal to disclose his tax returns as Mrs. Clinton and other nominees for decades have done should sharpen voter wariness of his business and charitable operations. Disclosure would undoubtedly raise numerous red flags; the public record already indicates that in at least some years he made full use of available loopholes and paid no taxes. Mr. Trump has been opaque about his questionable global investments in Russia and elsewhere, which could present conflicts of interest as president, particularly if his business interests are left in the hands of his children, as he intends. Investigations have found self-dealing. He notably tapped $258,000 in donors money from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits involving his for-profit businesses, according to The Washington Post. A straight talker who tells it like it is? Mr. Trump, who has no experience in national security, declares that he has a plan to soundly defeat the Islamic State militants in Syria, but wont reveal it, bobbing and weaving about whether he would commit ground troops. Voters cannot judge whether he has any idea what hes talking about without an outline of his plan, yet Mr. Trump ludicrously insists he must not tip off the enemy. Another of his cornerstone proposals his campaign pledge of a total and complete shutdown of Muslim newcomers plus the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants across a border wall paid for by Mexico has been subjected to endless qualifications as he zigs and zags in pursuit of middle-ground voters. Whatever his gyrations, Mr. Trump always does make clear where his heart lies with the anti-immigrant, nativist and racist signals that he scurrilously employed to build his base.","label":0}
{"text":"Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins, who has demanded changes to a Republican tax bill, said she had \"good discussions\" with the White House and colleagues on the legislation and that \"productive negotiations\" continue. \"Many of these discussions have focused on my proposals to help middle-income families, including allowing a deduction for property taxes and helping to lower insurance premiums on the individual market to offset any increases that might result from repealing the individual mandate,\" Collins said in a statement. Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has expressed concerns about the bill's effect on the deficit, said details about a provision of the legislation known as a \"trigger,\" which would raise taxes if expected economic growth does not materialize, will be unveiled on Thursday.","label":0}
{"text":"Ivanka is not her father, no more than you are yours. No one is perfect and making Ivanka responsible for Don's actions are bullshyte. I suuport her, even though I cannot afford her products! I am a woman and Donalds remarks did not fall out of Ivanka's mouth.","label":1}
{"text":"This is too good to miss! Mr. Teleprompter didn t do so well when he went off script during an appearance in Indiana.","label":1}
{"text":"With Donald Trump writing Executive Orders that ban Muslims from several countries, including refugees from war torn countries, it s left many wondering if Trump even has a soul.There are literally families dying, children dying, communities ravaged, and Trump has the audacity to turn his cold shoulder to all of them. It s not only cruel, it s brutally un-American and stands against everything we ve ever been as a nation.The Statue of Liberty still stands, and the message of refuge cannot be lost.With one of the most honest and poignant messages yet, Malala Yousafzai wrote a statement regarding Trump and his orders. Everyone needs to listen to it and take it to heart, most especially Donald Trump.Here is Malala s statement regarding Trump s executive orders: I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war. I am heartbroken that America is turning its back on a proud history of welcoming refugees and immigrants the people who helped build your country, ready to work hard in exchange for a fair chance at a new life.I am heartbroken that Syrian refugee children, who have suffered through six years of war by no fault of their own, are singled-out for discrimination.I am heartbroken for girls like my friend Zaynab, who fled wars in three countries Somalia, Yemen and Egypt before she was even 17. Two years ago she received a visa to come to the United States. She learned English, graduated high school and is now in college studying to be a human rights lawyer.Zaynab was separated from her little sister when she fled unrest in Egypt. Today her hope of being reunited with her precious sister dims.In this time of uncertainty and unrest around the world, I ask President Trump not to turn his back on the world s most defenseless children and families. Hopefully, he listens sooner rather than later. Featured Photo by Dan Kitwood WPA Pool\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Email  Media coverage has recently been saturated with distressing scenes showing the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, where aerial bombardment has led to a heavy loss of civilian life. The severity of the crisis instinctively makes us want to help \u2013 scores of protesters gathered outside the seat of the British prime minister on Saturday holding signs calling on the government to \"Save Aleppo\" and impose a \"No-Bomb Zone Now\". While the anger is understandable, the way it is being channeled reflects a circumscribed policy debate \u2013 there are other options than a No-Fly Zone, which should be avoided as it would harm rather than help efforts to alleviate the suffering of Syrian civilians.  In any area of policy, the mainstream debate revolves around policy alternatives that reflect establishment divisions. For example, in economics, 'there is no alternative' to neoliberalism, at least there wasn't until Keynesianism was rediscovered by some elites after the 2008 crisis. The debate over what is to be done over Syria revolves around two policy alternatives: the hawks, including likely next U.S. president, Hillary Clinton, advocate a NFZ and the doves, including the current U.S. administration, maintain that the sanctions regime should be increased. This effectively reflects a division within the establishment on how to proceed. Serious policy alternatives are not discussed. In particular, discussion of increasing aid and support to refugees, surely the most obvious way of directly helping civilians in Syria, and what the UN has called on industrialized countries to do , is curious by its absence.  This circumscribed debate does not logically follow from its supposed pretext \u2013 stopping civilian loss of life. In fact, a NFZ is a policy that would unavoidably lead to civilians dying. Enforcing a NFZ means destroying air defenses, which are located to defend cities \u2013 i.e. they are located in areas where there are many civilians. Even the flagbearer for the hawks, Hillary Clinton, has admitted privately that with a No-Fly Zone \"you're going to kill a lot of Syrians\"; such intervention will \"take a lot of civilians\". This realization would seem inconsistent with the often-used humanitarian pretext, but it makes sense given Hillary Clinton's recent admission that her top priority in Syria is removing Syrian President Assad.  There is a clear parallel with the imposition of a NFZ in Libya, which prolonged the conflict and worsened the situation for civilians. NATO bombing directly led to scores of civilian deaths and facilitated the overthrow of the regime by rebel militias that have killed, and are continuing to kill , thousands. Particularly repugnant was the ethnic cleansing of black people , including through public lynching . In a 2013 paper , Alan Kuperman, a Harvard academic, argued that NATO intervention extended the war by a factor of 6 and increased the death toll 7 to 10 times; given that Libya is now a failed state, torn apart by warlords, we can safely say that these estimates were too conservative. President Obama privately calls the situation in Libya a \" shit show \". Only last month a report from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament found that the humanitarian justification was an insufficient pretext and based on falsehoods, the supposedly limited intervention led \"ineluctably\" to regime change, and that the (British) government, and by implication other participating Western powers, did not seriously consider diplomatic alternatives to military action.  Regardless, the mantra of Western foreign policy is \"it will be different this time\" \u2013 unlike all recent Western military interventions this one will be limited, successful and won't leave a worse humanitarian situation in its wake. Although, if the dire humanitarian situation in Aleppo necessitates immediate action, then why are there not equally loud calls for action for civilians facing similar situations? U.S. bombing in Manbij and Kobane in Syria and Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and flattened entire neighbourhoods ; more than a third of US and UK backed Saudi airstrikes in Yemen have hit civilian sites, including schools , hospitals , weddings and funerals .  Talking about this is not meant as a distraction or relativization; the fact that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are engaged in similar activities does not make the bombing of Aleppo less objectionable. However, it does raise questions about the motives of those pushing so hard for a no-fly zone. If western foreign policy actors, and their allies in press, were motivated by humanitarian concerns, then surely stopping these atrocities should appear on the policy agenda \u2013 especially given that the action required is easier and does not risk war with Russia.  If humanitarian considerations were really the important factors in the foreign policy debate, then there would be discussion on the legitimacy of aerial bombardment of cities and towns, given that this invariably leads to civilian deaths. International agreements have been successful in making chemical and biological weapons illegal, a prohibition which is generally followed ( though not always ). The first well-publicized use of aerial bombardment, the Nazi bombing of Guernica in 1937, caused righteous, popular outrage. Tragically, however, its use became normalized during the Second World War and a ban on aerial bombing of cities was not included in the post-war international settlement. The fact that this seems so hopelessly idealistic reflects the fact that it is geopolitics, not humanitarian considerations, that govern international relations and foreign policy discussion; human suffering is nothing more than a useful pretext for whatever actions you want to take in order to secure geopolitical advantage. The U.S. and its allies want to remove Syria from Russia's orbit, so therefore the dictator there must go, but airstrikes to support the dictator in Yemen are fine, because the dictator there is a friend of close U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.  There is an added complication with the NFZ in Syria in that it marks a return to Cold-War era brinkmanship and possible armed confrontation with Russia. The logic of brinkmanship runs that to make geopolitical gains, one must escalate to a level that will make the other side back down, partly by convincing your enemy you are ready to commit irrational acts. There is an inherent danger in this game: both states are nuclear armed and the consequences of a spiral of escalation could be devastating .  Syria hawks, or what close Obama aide Ben Rhodes called the \" pro-stupid shit \" caucus, argue that a NFZ will lead Russia to effectively back down: for example, Clinton argued that it will \"give us leverage in our conversations with Russia\". (Interestingly, in the exchange this quote from Clinton indicated the war goal: a NFZ will make Russia \"put the Assad future on the political and diplomatic track\" \u2013 i.e. Russia will be forced to accept regime change.) After all, despite the panic in the press, Russia is actually a feeble successor state to a superpower, and would come off worse in a direct conflict with the preeminent might of North America, or so the logic runs.  However, 'dovish' Western foreign policy actors point to the danger that advanced Russian materiel support to Syria poses to the enforcement of a NFZ. Unlike other recent U.S. military adventures, enforcing a NFZ in Syria could lead to significant, and politically unpalatable, American casualties \u2013 pilots will be shot down. This realization means that saner establishment figures are opposed to a NFZ. For example, U.S. Army General Carter Ham, who oversaw the NFZ in Libya, said a NFZ is a \"violent combat action that results in lots of casualties and increased risk to our own personnel\".  Instead, relative doves like current Secretary of State John Kerry advocate intensifying the sanctions regime against Syria and Russia. Again, this does not seem to be seriously about helping civilians. A leaked UN report has revealed that the existing Western sanctions regime is preventing humanitarian aid and creating a humanitarian disaster that threatens to rival that caused by the Oil-for-Food program in Iraq during the 1990s. The history of sanctions tends to show that the costs are borne by civilians, and a Petersen Institute study of all sanctions incidents since WWII shows that sanctions failed to achieve their goals in about \u2154 of cases, and are even less successful when applied against enemies and autocrats.  So, what is to be done? What should people in the West and globally push for to help the people of Syria? Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any quick fixes \u2013 the situation in Syria is complex and involves diverse actors, with competing interests. Immediate relief to the refugees fleeing the conflict should be a priority. In terms of foreign policy, campaigning for de-escalation and diplomacy against constant militarism remain the best solutions for the Syrian people, and humanity generally.","label":1}
{"text":"Indonesian police have pledged to bar Islamist groups from staging a rally on Friday at the Borobudur Buddhist temple in central Java to protest against the persecution of Myanmar s Rohingya Muslims. Islamist groups say they plan the demonstration close to the stupa-topped Borobudur temple, which dates from the 9th century and is a popular tourist site, to call for an end to violence against the religious and ethnic minority in Myanmar. Indonesia has the world s largest population of Muslims and there have been a number of anti-Myanmar protests in Jakarta and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur over the treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Rohingyas. Almost 125,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee clashes between Rohingya insurgents and the army in the northwest Rakhine state. Tens of thousands have crossed the border into neighboring Bangladesh. The action at Borobudur temple will be prohibited, National Police Chief Tito Karnavian told reporters, according to media. This is not just part of the heritage of Indonesia, but that of the world. There is no need for protests in response to the Rohingya conflict because the Indonesian government is taking action on it already. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Monday met Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and top security officials to call for a halt to the bloodshed. Marsudi was due in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, on Tuesday. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed deep anguish at the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslims and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take immediate and effective action to bring an end to all human-rights violations against innocent and unarmed Rohingya Muslim population . An organizer of Friday s planned protest said the groups wanted to protest peacefully near the Borobodur temple to show Indonesia s tolerance. The Borobudur is an extraordinary symbol of tolerance, said Anang Imamuddin. We want the world to know that it is in a majority Muslim country but it is safe. Buddhist monks are safe here too.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday a policy of engagement with Cuba has financially benefited the island's government in violation of U.S. law, further fueling expectations that President Donald Trump this week will roll back parts of former President Barack Obama's opening to Havana. Speaking ahead of Trump's expected trip to Miami on Friday to announce his new Cuba policy, Tillerson insisted that Havana \"must begin to address human rights challenges\" if it wants Washington to continue normalizing relations between the Cold War-era foes. Tillerson, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged that rapprochement with the communist-ruled island has led to an increase in U.S. visitors and U.S. business ties. However, Tillerson added: \"We think we have achieved very little in terms of changing the behavior of the regime in Cuba .... and it has little incentive today to change that.\" His comments came as Trump's aides sought to finalize rules that, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the discussions, are likely to bar U.S. trade with Cuban enterprises linked to the military \u2013 which controls a large part of the economy \u2013 and tighten some rules on Americans traveling there. But the new policy will stop short of closing embassies or breaking off relations re-established in 2015 after more than five decades of hostility, the sources said. In his speech, Trump is expected to claim fulfillment of a campaign promise to the Cuban-American community to tighten the screws on the government of Cuban President Raul Castro. While Tillerson declined to confirm any details, he left no doubt that the Trump administration was prepared to undo some pieces of Obama's policy that it sees as boosting the Cuban government financially, which would violate U.S. law. \"As we're developing these business relationships and as we're enjoying the benefits on the economic and development side, are we inadvertently or directly providing financial support to the regime? Our view is we are,\" Tillerson said. \"And the question is ... how how do we bring that back into compliance with longstanding statutory obligations\" he said. Many of Trump's fellow Republicans, and some Democrats, objected to Obama's policy shift, saying he gave too much for too few concessions from Cuba. But Obama's measures have proven popular with the public, U.S. businesses and many lawmakers from both parties. Tillerson agreed that moves toward more normal relations with the United States have helped some Cubans lift themselves out of poverty and provided opportunities for U.S. companies. However, Tillerson said there is a \"dark side\" to relations with Cuba, noting that the government in Havana continues to jail political opponents and harass dissidents. \"We are supportive of the continued economic development, as long as it is done in full compliance with our existing statutes to not provide financial support to the regime,\" Tillerson said. \"That's the focus of our current policy review.\" But divisions remain within the Trump administration over how far to go. Some aides have argued that Trump, a former real estate magnate who won the presidency promising to unleash U.S. business and create jobs, would have a hard time defending any moves that close off the Cuban market. But other advisers have contended that it is important to make good on a promise to Cuban-Americans whose support they considered significant in winning Florida in the 2016 election. Miami is home to the largest Cuban-American community. One proposal under consideration, according to the U.S. sources, would tighten enforcement to make sure Americans legally fit the authorized categories they claim to be traveling under. Another tougher change being weighed would revert to regulations requiring at least some types of U.S. travelers to seek a special license to travel to Cuba. However, airline officials say they do not expect the Trump administration to revoke any flights to Cuba approved by the Obama administration but said new measures to restrict visits to Cuba could result in less demand for seats.","label":0}
{"text":"Print journalism and longstanding papers have been struggling since the advent of the internet and increased competition faced by blogs and op-ed sites. That, combined with poor understanding of marketing on new platforms, has combined to really cause a struggle in the journalism industry.So, on a certain level, journalists can thank Trump. Despite unleashing a war on freedom of the press never before seen in our nation s history, he s been a boon to business, with massive public backlash against Trump and his fake news army resulting in a thirst for facts and information.Take the New York Times, for example. In the first quarter of 2017, the NYT signed on more new subscribers than any other period in history. Stock is up 50 percent. Digital advertising revenue went up nearly 20 percent. So when Donald Trump says when is the failing NYT going to go out of business, as he did today, the answer is not soon. They ve been around for 160 years and don t look to be going anyplace anytime soon.Here s the specific tweet in question:How much longer will the failing nytimes, with its big losses and massive unfunded liability (and non-existent sources), remain in business? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2017And here s the reply by the New York Times, completely demolishing whatever little remnants of dignity Trump has left at this point:That is incorrect. NYT s business is thriving. Most ever paid subs: 3.3 million; and growing profit, income and revenues. (1\/2) pic.twitter.com\/NE5fqu8RVW NYTCo Communications (@NYTimesComm) August 7, 2017They went on to establish the veracity, at length, of a particular article Trump took issue with. Unfortunately for the NYT, Trump won t (or can t) read anything over 140 characters, so it seems somewhat unlikely they will have broken through.","label":1}
{"text":"At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate. \"There used to be a lot more people coming,\" said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing assistant, sighing. The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more transformative than many had predicted. Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers. Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving \u00adpublic-sector unions were not just shrunken \u2014 they were crippled. Unions representing teachers, professors, trash collectors and other government employees are struggling to stem plummeting membership rolls and retain relevance in the state where they got their start. Here in King, Magnant and her fellow AFSCME members, workers at a local veterans home, have been knocking on doors on weekends to persuade former members to rejoin. Community college professors in Moraine Park, home to a technical college, are reducing dues from $59 to $36 each month. And those in Milwaukee are planing a campaign using videos and posters to highlight union principles. The theme: \u00ad\"Remember.\" [ Questions linger over Walker's college exit as he mulls White House bid ] But recalling the benefits that union membership might have brought before the 2011 law stripped most public-sector unions of their collective-bargaining rights is difficult when workers consider the challenges of the present. \"I don't see the point of being in a union anymore,\" said Dan Anliker, a 34-year-old technology teacher and father of two in Reedsburg, a tiny city about 60 miles northwest of Madison. The law required most public employees to pay more for health insurance and to pay more into retirement savings, resulting in an 8 to 10 percent drop in take-home pay. To help compensate for the loss, Anliker said he took an additional 10-hour-a-week job. \"Everyone's on their own island now,\" he said. \"If you do a good job, everything will take care of itself. The money I'd spend on dues is way more valuable to buy groceries for my family.\" Sean Karsten, a 32-year-old middle and high school reading instructor in his first year of teaching in Reedsburg, said the unions are \"just not something I concern myself with.\" \"I just look to keep improving my teaching in the best way I can and try to keep my nose out of the other stuff,\" he said. Walker has pointed to the unions' membership troubles as a victory \u2014 presenting himself as a conservative warrior unafraid of taking on big battles against liberal interests. Walker's administration has said forcing public employees to contribute more to retirement plans and health insurance helped local governments save $3 billion. The governor also has credited the 2011 law with saving homeowners money on property taxes while giving school districts the ability to make reforms that increased third-grade reading levels and high school graduation rates. And the law has emboldened Republican state lawmakers to further challenge Wisconsin's labor movement this year by pushing right-to-work legislation that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of paying union dues \u2014 a measure Walker has said he would sign. \"We took the power away from the big-government special interests and put it firmly in the hands of the hard-working taxpayers,\" Walker told Iowa Republicans recently. \"That is what we need more of in this great country. The liberals don't like that.\" Union officials declined to release precise membership data but confirmed in interviews that enrollment is dramatically lower since the new law was signed in 2011. The state branch of the National Education Association, once 100,000 strong, has seen its membership drop by a third. The American Federation of Teachers, which organized in the college system, saw a 50 percent decline. The 70,000-person membership in the state employees union has fallen by 70 percent. The decline is politically significant in Wisconsin, a presidential battleground where the unions have played a central role in Democrats' get-out-the-vote drives. John Ahlquist, a University of Wisconsin political scientist who specializes in labor movements, said Walker had \"effectively dismantled the financial and organizing structure of unions in Wisconsin.\" \"Although it is too early to tell if unions are near the end of their political power here, they are in a very vulnerable position,\" Ahlquist said. The mass protests that gripped the state Capitol have subsided, but anxiety remains high in union halls across Wisconsin. At Magnant's meeting in King on a frigid February afternoon, union members finally began trickling in, one by one, filling a few of the empty seats. A groundskeeper at the veterans home complained that supervisors were no longer assigning overtime based on seniority because \"there was no union.\" Others complained that there were no longer enough nursing assistants on shifts, while management positions seemed to grow. \"This is what we are trying to live with,\" Magnant said. \"But we can't continue like this.\" Dean Johnson burst through door with a big grin on his face. Johnson, 55, told the story of how he felt so bold at work that he yelled \"Join the union!\" in the middle of the veterans home. A stalwart union supporter, he vowed he'd do anything to keep the movement going. But Johnson said he could no longer do it as an employee. He told the group he was retiring \u2014 prompting a discussion about the new mantra for those choosing to leave union work: \"Goodbye tension, hello pension.\" While some union members have been energized by the fight, they say they notice a new, more vocal animosity toward them. It has been particularly pronounced in rural areas, where public-sector jobs were some of the most prized gigs in town. In King, population 1,700, Magnant said she couldn't change a sign at the union hall without someone giving her the finger. Farther west, in Stanley, prison workers said they ditched their favorite pizza pub because the owner stood by while other customers called them \"leeches.\" In Reedsburg, that tension surprised Ginny Bourgeois, 52, who clerks at a local Kwik Trip. The community had always been divided, defined as much by the factories manufacturing car parts as it was by cornfields now blanketed in snow. Still, it was a place where the community got together for spaghetti and corn feeds and filled bleachers to watch the Reedsburg Beavers play. Now, she said, people were fighting over politics at gas stations. Still, she felt unions needed to sacrifice. \"Everyone knows teachers' insurance was some of the best you could get,\" Bourgeois added.\"They do fairly well around here, and they do a good job teaching. But everyone in this town has had to tighten their belts. They should too.\" Judy Brey, a 58-year-old speech therapist who taught in the community for 22 years, said such sentiment hurt teachers' morale. She said she grew up admiring her dad, who put six children through college on his union-supported job as a forester. \" 'I don't make a lot, but we'll be okay with retirement,' \" she said he told her. That, she was taught, was the reward for public service in Wisconsin. \"Now I'm always nervous that everyone will think they're moochers,\" Brey said. \"That I'm a moocher.\" While some union members across the state knocked on doors to court members, Brey tried another strategy: finding more allies. A day before Magnant opened the doors for a meeting at the union house in King, Brey went to a local restaurant to call to order the meeting of the Reedsburg Area Concerned Citizens. On the top of Brey's list was deciding guests for a planned panel discussion on the state of public education. Someone raised a hand. \"Are we getting any interest from the schools in this?\" one man asked. \"I haven't seen any of the teachers out here since we were marching with them on the streets four years ago.\" At the meeting, the husband of the columnist called Walker \"a pig\" \u2014 which prompted the board supervisor to wonder why he was insulting pigs. They debated whether or not it's worth it to invite Republicans to the education event, but Brey insisted it's important to keep things balanced. Eventually, the group agreed. \"We're getting somewhere,\" Brey said as a waitress handed out checks. But were the unions? Brey vowed not to give up on them. Two days later, she attended a union meeting that had been called to discuss possible changes in teacher retirement. Ten of the district's 192 teachers had gathered at the meeting. They appreciated that the superintendent had previously met with union leaders even though he didn't have to. Still, they grew agitated when discussing his proposal to reduce retirement benefits. Another teacher, Linda Zauner, 58, said she was working to build a case that teachers wanted to keep benefits the same, but she had struggled to get teachers to respond to a survey. She said she wanted to emphasize that teachers still thought of health care as a \"bargained right.\" \"This is the closest thing we're going to get to negotiations,\" Zauner said. \"You have to be mean,\" she said. \"We never got anything by being nice. We've had to walk out. We got things when we banged our fists on tables.\" \"Sometimes I think,\" she stopped to collect the words delicately. \"Sometimes, I think, . . . that's . . . why they came after us, Jenny. Because they thought these teachers were too demanding.\" \"No, we have to fight,\" Fish responded. \"It's for our students.\" Brey nodded. As long as there were teachers, she said, she'd be fighting along with them.","label":0}
{"text":"Callista Gingrich, wife of the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Friday became U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, which is at odds with Washington over immigration, climate change and Jerusalem. Callista Gingrich, 51, an author, documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide, presented her credentials to Pope Francis at the Vatican to officially assume her role. Her husband Newt Gingrich was an early supporter and vocal ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. Newt Gingrich is expected to continue his role as a political contributor to Fox News from his new base in Rome. Trump's nomination of Callista Gingrich to the post at the Holy See in May caused some controversy because of her marriage to Gingrich, with whom she became involved when he was still married to his second wife. Both are Roman Catholic. On Thursday they attended the funeral at the Vatican of Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as Archbishop of Boston 15 years ago after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests. The pope has implicitly criticized Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris accord on climate change. He said last month that denying climate change or being indifferent to its effects were \"perverse attitudes\" that blocked research and dialogue aimed at protecting the future of the planet. Francis is also opposed to Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The pontiff has called for respect for the city's \"status quo,\" saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts.. On Thursday at the United Nations, where the Vatican has permanent observer status, more than 120 countries defied Trump and voted in favor of a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition. The U.S. embassy said in a statement that the new ambassador \"looks forward to working with the Holy See to defend human rights, advance religious freedom, combat human trafficking, and to seek peaceful solutions to crises around the world\".","label":0}
{"text":"British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday apologized for causing distress with remarks about a Iranian-British aid worker jailed in Iran. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the Islamic Republic s clerical establishment. She denies the charges. Johnson said on Nov. 1 that she had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016, contradicting her and her employer, who said she had been on holiday visiting her family. Of course I apologize for the distress, for the suffering that has been caused by the impression I gave that I believed she was there in a professional capacity. She was there on holiday, Johnson told parliament. I do apologize. Of course I retract any suggestion she was there in a professional capacity.","label":0}
{"text":"Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name Recipient Email =>  I was born on July 20, 1944, the day of the failed officers' plot against Adolf Hitler. That means I preceded the official dawning of the nuclear age by exactly 369 days, which makes me part of the last generation to do so. I'm speaking not of the obliteration of two Japanese cities by America's new \"wonder weapon\" on August 6th and 9th, 1945, but of the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexican desert near Alamogordo on July 16th of that year. When physicist Robert Oppenheimer , the \"father of the atomic bomb,\" witnessed that explosion, the line from the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad Gita , that famously came into his head was: \"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.\"  How apt it still remains more than seven decades later, at a moment when nine countries possess such weapons \u2014 more than 15,000 of them \u2014 in their arsenals, most of which are now staggeringly more destructive than that first devastating bomb, and as TomDispatch regular Michael Klare points out today, some of which are closer to possible use than at any point in at least a couple of decades. For those of us who lived through the years of bomb shelters, atomic movie monsters , the Cuban Missile Crisis (which left me, age 18, fearing I might be toast in the morning), the rise and fall of antinuclear movements, and nuclear nightmares of a sort I still remember vividly from my youth in a way I no longer recall the dreams of last night, it's a horror to imagine that nuclear war is still with us; even more so, because, in Election 2016, we have a presidential candidate who is not only ignorant about those weapons in hard-to-believe ways, but who wonders why \"we can't use them,\" and who might months from now have his finger on that \"nuclear button\" (or rather command of the nuclear codes that could launch such a war). Don't tell me that this isn't a living nightmare of the first order.  I find it eerie in the extreme and unnervingly apt that the Clinton campaign has brought back a living icon of our nuclear fears, the little girl from the 1964 election who appeared in the famous (or infamous) \" Daisy \" ad President Lyndon Johnson ran against Republican contender Barry Goldwater (who, in retrospect, seems like the soul of stability compared with you know whom). She was then seen counting to 10 as she plucked petals off a daisy just before an ominous, echoing male voice began the countdown to an atomic explosion that filled the screen. Now, that girl, Monique Luiz , a grown woman, is shown saying , \"The fear of nuclear war we had as children, I never thought our children would ever have to deal with that again. And to see that coming forward in this election is really scary.\"  She's now 55 years old and, however the Clinton campaign may be using her, there's still something deeply unnerving for those of us who had hoped to outlast the nuclear age simply to see her there more than five decades later. And if you think that's unnerving on the eve of the most bizarre presidential election in memory, then read today's piece by Michael Klare and imagine just how unsettling, in nuclear terms, the years ahead may prove to be.","label":1}
{"text":"White house Nazi Stephen Miller is a scumbag. At this point, there s no question about it. He s a Nazi and therefore is a scumbag.But there are other reasons Miller is a piece of trash outside of his struggle, or kampf, with people remembering his long history of riding the white rage train to the White House, spouting Nazi dog-whistle terms like cosmopolitan (it means Jew, in case you re unaware) when insulting opponents.Miller, whose family mostly seems to hate him based on their social media remarks, is now beset by the FAKE NEWS fake newsing up some more fake news about oh, the White House confirmed this one?The New York Times reports that in high school Miller showed his contempt for women by leaping into the final stretch of a race they had been running for quite some time:Mr. Miller set off on a patriotic semi-striptease before the editor of the student newspaper, according to the editor, Ari Rosmarin, theatrically removing a button-down to reveal an American flag T-shirt in protest of an article he found inconsistent with the national interest. (The White House denied any symbolic unbuttoning, though officials confirmed Mr. Miller s fondness for the T-shirt.)He jumped, uninvited, into the final stretch of a girls track meet, apparently intent on proving his athletic supremacy over the opposite sex. (The White House, reaching for exculpatory context, noted that this was a girls team from another school, not his own.)Miller apparently hoped to take advantage of this head start to show that he is genetically superior to women by crossing the finish line first (this, of course, perfectly matches his current professed views on women).Donald Trump hires only the best people.","label":1}
{"text":"The FBI's acting director promised on Thursday to tell the Senate Intelligence Committee of any effort to interfere with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into links between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. \"I absolutely do,\" acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who leads the agency following President Donald Trump's abrupt firing of former director James Comey on Tuesday, told the committee, which is also investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.","label":0}
{"text":"Globalization and technology are routinely cited as drivers of inequality over the last four decades. While the relative importance of these causes is disputed, both are often viewed as natural and inevitable products of the working of the economy, rather than as the outcomes of deliberate policy. In fact, both the course of globalization and the distribution of rewards from technological innovation are very much the result of policy. Insofar as they have led to greater inequality, this has been the result of conscious policy choices. Starting with globalization, there was nothing pre-determined about a pattern of trade liberalization that put U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with their much lower paid counterparts in the developing world. Instead, that competition was the result of trade pacts written to make it as easy as possible for U.S. corporations to invest in the developing world to take advantage of lower labor costs, and then ship their products back to the United States. The predicted and actual result of this pattern of trade has been to lower wages for manufacturing workers and non-college educated workers more generally, as displaced manufacturing workers crowd into other sectors of the economy. Instead of only putting manufacturing workers into competition with lower-paid workers in other countries, our trade deals could have been crafted to subject doctors, dentists, lawyers and other highly-paid professionals to international competition. As it stands, almost nothing has been done to remove the protectionist barriers that allow highly-educated professionals in the United States to earn far more than their counterparts in other wealthy countries. This is clearest in the case of doctors. For the most part, it is impossible for foreign-trained physicians to practice in the United States unless they have completed a residency program in the United States. The number of residency slots, in turn, is strictly limited, as is the number of slots open for foreign medical students. While this is a quite blatantly protectionist restriction, it has persisted largely unquestioned through a long process of trade liberalization that has radically reduced or eliminated most of the barriers on trade in goods. The result is that doctors in the United States earn an average of more than $250,000 a year, more than twice as much as their counterparts in other wealthy countries. This costs the country roughly $100 billion a year in higher medical bills compared to a situation in which U.S. doctors received the same pay as doctors elsewhere. Economists, including trade economists, have largely chosen to ignore the barriers that sustain high professional pay at enormous economic cost. In addition to the items subject to trade, the overall trade balance is also very much the result of policy choices. The textbook theory has capital flowing from rich countries to poor countries, which means that rich countries run trade surpluses with poor countries. While this accurately described the pattern of trade in the 1990s up until the East Asian financial crisis (a period in which the countries of the region enjoyed very rapid growth), in the last two decades developing countries taken as a whole have been running large trade surpluses with wealthy countries. This implies large trade deficits in rich countries, especially the United States, which in turn has meant a further loss of manufacturing jobs with the resulting negative impact on wage inequality. However, there was nothing inevitable about the policy shifts associated with the bailout from the East Asian financial crisis that led the developing world to become a net exporter of capital. The pattern of gains from technology has been even more directly determined by policy than is the case with gains from trade. There has been a considerable strengthening and lengthening of patent and copyright and related protections over the last four decades. The laws have been changed to extend patents to new areas such as life forms, business methods, and software. Copyright duration has been extended from 55 years to 95 years. Perhaps even more important, the laws have become much more friendly to holders of these property claims to tilt legal proceedings in their favor, with courts becoming more patent-friendly and penalties for violations becoming harsher. And, the United States has placed stronger intellectual property (IP) rules at center of every trade agreement negotiated in the last quarter century. In this context, it would hardly be surprising if the development of \"technology\" was causing an upward redistribution of income. The people in a position to profit from stronger IP rules are almost exclusively the highly educated and those at the top end of the income distribution. It is almost definitional that stronger IP rules will result in an upward redistribution of income. This upward redistribution could be justified if stronger IP rules led to more rapid productivity growth, thereby benefitting the economy as a whole. However, there is very little evidence to support that claim. Michele Boldrin and David Levine have done considerable research on this topic and generally found the opposite. My own work , using cross-country regressions with standard measures of patent strength, generally found a negative and often significant relationship between patent strength and productivity growth. There is also a substantial amount of money at stake. In the case of prescription drugs alone, the United States is on path to spend more than $430 billion in 2016 for drugs that would likely cost one-tenth of this amount in the absence of patent and related protections. While we do need mechanisms for financing innovation and creative work, it is almost certainly the case that patent and copyright monopolies as currently structured are not the most efficient route, even if their negative consequences for distribution are quite evident. The structuring of trade and rules on IP are two important ways in which policy has been designed to redistribute income upward over the last four decades. There are many other ways in which the market has been structured to disadvantage those at the middle and bottom of the income distribution, perhaps most notably macroeconomic policies that result in high unemployment. While tax and transfer policies that reduce poverty and inequality may be desirable, we should also be aware of the ways in which policy has been designed to increase inequality. It is much easier to have an economic system that produces more equality rather than one that needlessly generates inequality, which we then try to address with redistributive policies. This article was originally published by the Institute for New Economic Thinking .  Dean Baker is a macroeconomist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was encouraged by progress in the Colombian peace process after meeting on Monday in Havana with representatives of Colombia's Marxist FARC guerrilla group and the Bogota government, a State Department spokesman said. Kerry, in Cuba as part of U.S. President Barack Obama's historic visit to the Communist-run island, met the two sides separately and called for them to redouble their efforts to resolve the remaining issues in the talks, spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. Kerry told both sides he was \"encouraged that the 'end of conflict' issues are now front and center in the negotiations, including a formal bilateral ceasefire monitored by the U.N. Security Council, a timetable for disarmament, and security guarantees post-conflict for all lawful political actors,\" according to the statement. His involvement at the request of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos marked the first time a U.S. secretary of state had met with negotiators from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since peace talks started in Havana more than three years ago. The meeting between the Colombian government delegation and Kerry was \"very productive,\" lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle told journalists. \"There were extraordinarily concrete elements,\" de la Calle said. \"For example, the announcement of help from the United States relating to the security of people who lay down arms, which is a critical subject at the talks.\" The FARC thanked the U.S. for its support of the peace talks and said they hope to reach a final peace agreement in the coming months. \"On a not-distant date we will give good news to the country and the world - that Colombia has reached peace,\" the rebel group said in a statement on its website. Last year, the two sides agreed a March 23 deadline for a final accord, but negotiators have said a deal by that date now looks unlikely. Washington designated the FARC a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and many of its leaders have been indicted in the United States on charges of cocaine trafficking. The United States sees the Colombian peace talks hosted by Cuba as an example of how restoring normal relations with Havana can help it achieve its wider goals in Latin America. The Colombian war is the region's longest-running conflict, with some 220,000 people killed and millions of others displaced since 1964.","label":0}
{"text":"Six more U.S. senators signed on to support a sweeping Republican tax bill on Friday, leaving only one known Republican opponent - Bob Corker - and virtually assuring the measure would pass despite Democratic opposition. A vote was expected later Friday. Here are the Republican senators who have been pivotal to the bill's fate. Corker, a deficit hawk from Tennessee, said on Friday he could not vote for the Senate legislation because of fiscal concerns. In a statement, he said he believed the tax overhaul \"could deepen the debt burden on future generations.\" Corker had stalled momentum on the tax bill on Thursday by demanding Republicans look for more ways to keep the bill from causing the U.S. deficit to balloon. He said Friday he felt it would have been fairly easy to alter the measure in a way that would have been more fiscally sound, but \"unfortunately, it is clear that the (Republican) caucus is in a different place.\" However, Corker said he had told President Donald Trump in a phone call Friday that he would take a close look at the final version of the bill, expected to be produced by a House-Senate conference, before deciding how to vote on it. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated on Thursday that the Republican bill would expand the national debt by $1 trillion over 10 years, far short of assertions by Republicans that the tax cuts would pay for themselves. The moderate senator from Maine announced Friday she will support the tax bill after securing several improvements in the text and getting assurances that other legislation would be advanced to help lower health insurance premiums. Collins dislikes a clause in the bill repealing a fee imposed on people who do not comply with Obamacare's \"individual mandate\" to obtain health insurance. She said she worried that repealing this fee would drive up insurance premium costs, canceling out gains from tax cuts that many constituents might get from the bill. She said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had pledged to help mitigate the effect of the repeal by supporting passage of two other healthcare bills before the end of the year. One would help insurers cover expensive patients; the other would continue Obamacare subsidy payments for low-income people for two years. Collins also got three amendments included in the tax bill, including one to keep the state and local property tax deduction of up to $10,000 from federal income tax. This would mirror legislation already passed by the House of Representatives. The Montana Republican signed on to support the bill Friday after having voiced concerns about its treatment of \"Main Street\" businesses. He said he had won more tax relief for non-corporate pass-through businesses, which include partnerships, sole proprietorships and other non-corporate enterprises. The senator from Wisconsin endorsed the bill after demanding more for pass-throughs. The bill now features a 23 percent tax deduction for such business owners, up from the original 17.4 percent, said statements from Daines and Johnson. The Arizona conservative announced in a statement on Friday he would vote for the bill. He said he had succeeded in eliminating an $85 billion expensing \"budget gimmick\" and received a firm commitment from Senate leaders and the Trump administration to work on permanent protections for immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children. Oklahoma's Lankford came aboard on Friday after having questioned whether tax revenues from economic growth would compensate for an expected increase in the national debt. He announced on Friday he was voting for the bill. Moran had earlier been wary of its impact on the debt. The Arizona maverick and former presidential candidate announced on Thursday that he would back the tax bill. The senator from Alaska will vote for the tax bill, she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.","label":0}
{"text":"President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey may shut its border with northern Iraq at any moment after closing its air space to the region, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday, reviving a threat first made after Kurds there voted for independence. We have completely closed our air space to the regional government in northern Iraq, the paper cited Erdogan as telling reporters on his plane returning from a trip to Poland. Talks are continuing on what will be done regarding the land (border) ... We have not shut the border gates yet but this could happen too at any moment, he added. Turkey announced on Monday it was closing its air space to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and said it would work to hand control of the main border crossing into the region to the central Iraqi government. The Habur gate is the main transit point between Turkey and Iraq s semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. A Sept. 25 referendum, in which Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence, alarmed Baghdad, Iraq s neighbors and Western powers, all of whom feared further regional conflict could arise from the vote. Subsequently Kurdish Peshmerga forces retreated to positions they held in northern Iraq in June 2014 in response to an Iraqi army advance into the region after the referendum, a senior Iraqi commander said on Wednesday. Ankara, which has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its own mainly Kurdish southeast, fears an independent Kurdish state on its borders would heighten separatist tension at home.","label":0}
{"text":"Citizen journalism with a punch Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors   War is first and foremost a profitable racket The Nation  Washington, DC, may be the only place in the world where people openly flaunt their pseudo-intellectuality by banding together, declaring themselves \"think tanks,\" and raising money from external interests, including foreign governments, to compile reports that advance policies inimical to the real-life concerns of the American people.  As a former member of the House of Representatives, I remember 16 years of congressional hearings where pedigreed experts came to advocate wars in testimony based on circular, rococo thinking devoid of depth, reality, and truth. I remember other hearings where the Pentagon was unable to reconcile over $1 trillion in accounts, lost track of $12 billion in cash sent to Iraq, and rigged a missile-defense test so that an interceptor could easily home in on a target. War is first and foremost a profitable racket.  How else to explain that in the past 15 years this city's so called bipartisan foreign policy elite has promoted wars in Iraq and Libya, and interventions in Syria and Yemen, which have opened Pandora's box to a trusting world, to the tune of trillions of dollars, a windfall for military contractors. DC's think \"tanks\" should rightly be included in the taxonomy of armored war vehicles and not as gathering places for refugees from academia.  According to the front page of this past Friday's Washington Post, the bipartisan foreign-policy elite recommends the next president show less restraint than President Obama. Acting at the urging of \"liberal\" hawks brandishing humanitarian intervention, read war, the Obama administration attacked Libya along with allied powers working through NATO.  The think tankers fell in line with the Iraq invasion. Not being in the tank, I did my own analysis of the call for war in October of 2002, based on readily accessible information, and easily concluded that there was no justification for war. I distributed it widely in Congress and led 125 Democrats in voting against the Iraq war resolution. There was no money to be made from a conclusion that war was uncalled for, so, against millions protesting in the United States and worldwide, our government launched into an abyss, with a lot of armchair generals waving combat pennants. The marching band and chowder society of DC think tanks learned nothing from the Iraq and Libya experience.  The only winners were arms dealers, oil companies, and jihadists. Immediately after the fall of Libya, the black flag of Al Qaeda was raised over a municipal building in Benghazi, Gadhafi's murder was soon to follow, with Secretary Clinton quipping with a laugh, \"We came, we saw, he died.\" President Obama apparently learned from this misadventure, but not the Washington policy establishment, which is spoiling for more war.  The self-identified liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) is now calling for Syria to be bombed, and estimates America's current military adventures will be tidied up by 2025, a tardy twist on \"mission accomplished.\" CAP, according to a report in The Nation, has received funding from war contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who make the bombers that CAP wants to rain hellfire on Syria.  The Brookings Institute has taken tens of millions from foreign governments , notably Qatar, a key player in the military campaign to oust Assad. Retired four-star Marine general John Allen is now a Brookings senior fellow . Charles Lister is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute , which has received funding from Saudi Arabia , the major financial force providing billions in arms to upend Assad and install a Sunni caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria. Foreign-government money is driving our foreign policy.  As the drumbeat for an expanded war gets louder, Allen and Lister jointly signed an op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post, calling for an attack on Syria. The Brookings Institute, in a report to Congress , admitted it received $250,000 from the US Central Command, Centcom, where General Allen shared leadership duties with General David Petraeus.Pentagon money to think tanks that endorse war? This is academic integrity, DC-style.  And why is Central Command, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of transportation, and the US Department of Health and Human Services giving money to Brookings?   Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who famously told Colin Powell , \"What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it,\" predictably says of this current moment , \"We do think there needs to be more American action.\" A former Bush administration top adviser is also calling for the United States to launch a cruise missile attack on Syria.  The American people are fed up with war, but a concerted effort is being made through fearmongering, propaganda, and lies to prepare our country for a dangerous confrontation, with Russia in Syria.  The demonization of Russia is a calculated plan to resurrect a raison d'\u00eatre for stone-cold warriors trying to escape from the dustbin of history by evoking the specter of Russian world domination.  It's infectious. Earlier this year the BBC broadcast a fictional show that contemplated WWIII, beginning with a Russian invasion of Latvia (where 26 percent of the population is ethnic Russian and 34 percent of Latvians speak Russian at home).  The imaginary WWIII scenario conjures Russia's targeting London for a nuclear strike. No wonder that by the summer of 2016 a poll showed two-thirds of UK citizens approved the new British PM's launching a nuclear strike in retaliation. So much for learning the lessons detailed in the Chilcot report.  As this year's presidential election comes to a conclusion, the Washington ideologues are regurgitating the same bipartisan consensus that has kept America at war since 9\/11 and made the world a decidedly more dangerous place.  The DC think tanks provide cover for the political establishment, a political safety net, with a fictive analytical framework providing a moral rationale for intervention, capitol casuistry. I'm fed up with the DC policy elite who cash in on war while presenting themselves as experts, at the cost of other people's lives, our national fortune, and the sacred honor of our country.  Any report advocating war that comes from any alleged think tank ought to be accompanied by a list of the think tank's sponsors and donors and a statement of the lobbying connections of the report's authors.  It is our patriotic duty to expose why the DC foreign-policy establishment and its sponsors have not learned from their failures and instead are repeating them, with the acquiescence of the political class and sleepwalkers with press passes.  It is also time for a new peace movement in America, one that includes progressives and libertarians alike, both in and out of Congress, to organize on campuses, in cities, and towns across America, to serve as an effective counterbalance to the Demuplican war party, its think tanks, and its media cheerleaders. The work begins now, not after the Inauguration. We must not accept war as inevitable, and those leaders who would lead us in that direction, whether in Congress or the White House, must face visible opposition.","label":1}
{"text":"In the middle of Marilyn Oshman's otherwise cozy apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, between an antique candelabra, curtains and framed family photos, was a hospital bed. \"I was dying,\" Mrs. Oshman, 85, said. \"I felt like I was in a prison in that lousy hospital bed. I couldn't get out. \" She was bedridden and unable to walk because of venous stasis and cellulitis, a painful bacterial infection that covered the lower half of her body with large, sores. Ordinary tasks, like getting out of bed every morning, became impossible. It was a drastic setback for someone who loved to move around on her own. As a child born and raised on Monroe Street on the Lower East Side, she loved exploring the city by foot. When she was 20, she had a job at a toy factory on Broadway, and it was there that she met her husband, David Oshman. They divorced in the late 1980s after 35 years of marriage, but Mrs. Oshman recounted fond memories of their active, early years together: Dancing the jitterbug on Fridays and Sundays at a club on the Lower East Side (\"And he was some jitterbug dancer!\" she said) fishing for pogies off a Coney Island pier and when they had children, a son and a daughter, taking family vacations to the mountains. Most of all, though, she said she loved doing the simpler things around the house: washing the walls, scrubbing the floors and cooking her favorite Jewish delicacies, stuffed cabbage and pot roast. But her health took a bad turn around 50 and deteriorated over the last three decades. For the last two years, Mrs. Oshman has made many trips between Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital at 16th Street and First Avenue, and Gouverneur Health on the Lower East Side, and then back to her apartment. \"Two years of hell,\" she said. \"And I mean hell. \" The back and forth became so strenuous that her doctor helped Mrs. Oshman get a hospital bed \u2014 not the centerpiece she would have preferred \u2014 so that she could receive medical care in her apartment. She was home, but she was miserable she could not lie comfortably in the new bed and often resorted to sleeping upright in a wheelchair. The ordeal became a dangerous cycle: She struggled to stand on her own, meaning she spent more time bedridden and immobile, which intensified the swelling, redness and pain. \"I don't want money, I don't want jewelry,\" Mrs. Oshman said, glancing at her still swollen legs, wrapped in compression socks. She added, through tears: \"The only thing I want, at this stage in my life, is to be able to walk again. \" Over the summer, Mrs. Oshman's doctor recommended a special recliner that could help her stand up, but Mrs. Oshman could not afford it. Every month she receives $1, 251 in Social Security benefits and $180 in food stamps, which is not enough to cover her monthly grocery bills. She pays $406 a month to Medicaid for the home care services, and $350 monthly toward her apartment. She was 62 when she retired from Citibank, where she was a greeter and an assistant to bankers, after she got too sick to continue working. Mrs. Oshman left with no retirement savings and does not receive financial support from her children. She has been getting help from the Educational Alliance, an organization that offers a social service program for people over 60. The Educational Alliance is a beneficiary agency of of New York, one of the eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. When the Alliance learned of Mrs. Oshman's need for the recliner, the group used $799 from the Neediest funds to buy it. It arrived in August. \"This chair saved my life, and I'm not kidding when I tell you that,\" Mrs. Oshman said. \"I was suffering with the hospital bed, and because of this chair, I'm able to walk again. It's a blessing. I'm doing more for myself than I ever did. I'm changing myself. \" She has had to relearn tasks once taken for granted: standing up on her own, dressing herself and getting into the kitchen. \"I'm living since I got this chair,\" she said, tilting it up and down. It even has a massage function and heated seats. \"What should we name it?\" she asked, referring to the chair draped in a bright purple sheet and blanket. Mrs. Oshman has been able to get out of the apartment more in recent months than she ever did during the last few years. She is again walking the streets of the Lower East Side, where she grew up. \"I was a familiar face around the neighborhood then, and until this day, I still am,\" she said. \"I was away from here for two years, and when the aide took me downstairs one day recently, people stopped me in the street saying, 'What happened to you? Where were you?' And all I said was, 'I'm back. '\"","label":0}
{"text":"Food Stamp use has miraculously gone down in several states! It s a miracle! In 13 Alabama counties, food stamp use went down a whopping 85%!When Obama took out the welfare-to-work requirement, the use of food stamps skyrocketed to nearly 45 million Americans! That s 1 in every 7 US citizens using food stamps! Now that the Trump administration has vowed to reduce the use, it s interesting to see that people jump off of assistance when the work requirement is put back in.Georgia and Alabama have seen a sharp decrease in food stamp use with the work requirement back in:Georgia:More than half of the 11,779 people enrolled for food stamps in 21 counties, an estimated 7,251 people, have dropped out of the food stamp program a drop of 62 percent, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.Georgia first rolled out its work requirements for the food stamp program in three counties in January 2016. Since then, the state has expanded work requirements in an additional 21 counties, giving people in those 21 counties until April 1, 2017 to find a job or lose food stamp benefits. Via: BNALABAMA:Thirteen previously exempted Alabama counties saw an 85 percent drop in food stamp participation after work requirements were put in place on Jan. 1, according to the Alabama Department of Human Resources.The counties Greene, Hale, Perry, Dallas, Lowndes, Wilcox, Monroe, Conecuh, Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Sumter and Barbour had been exempt from a change that limited able-bodied adults without dependents to three months of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits within a three-year time frame unless they were working or participating in an approved training program.During the economic downturn of 2011-2013, several states including Alabama waived the SNAP work requirements in response to high unemployment. It was reinstituted for 54 counties on Jan. 1, 2016 and for the remaining 13 on Jan. 1, 2017. As of April 2017, the highest jobless rate among the 13 previously excluded counties was in Wilcox County, which reported a state-high unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, down more than 11 percentage points from the county s jobless rate for the same month of 2011.Ending the exemption has dramatically cut the number of SNAP recipients in the counties.As of Jan. 1, 2017, there were 13,663 able-bodied adults without dependents receiving food stamps statewide. That number dropped to 7,483 by May 1, 2017. Among the 13 counties, there were 5,538 adults ages 18-50 without dependents receiving food stamps as of Jan. 1, 2017. That number dropped to 831 a decline of about 85 percent by May 1, 2017. Based on the trend, the number of (able-bodied adults without dependents) recipients for SNAP benefits is expected to continue to decline statewide and in the formerly 13 exempted counties, according to Alabama DHR spokesperson John Hardy.Statewide, the number of able-bodied adults receiving food stamps has fallen by almost 35,000 people since Jan. 1, 2016. Each recipient receives about $126 a month in benefits.Nationwide, there are about 44 million people receiving SNAP benefits at a cost of about $71 billion. The Trump administration has vowed to cut the food stamp rolls over the next decade, including ensuring that able-bodied adults recipients are working.","label":1}
{"text":"A thousand metaphysical miles from the Olympic zone, a couple of activists and I entered the Favela do Mandela, a ramshackle collection of buildings. We walked a narrow road ringed by young men, which led to a narrower one, which led to a alleyway. We found the home of Marie Auxiliadora. With blond hair brushed back, she was a diminutive eruption of joy. She apologized for her modest home, scrubbed and packed with crucifixes and plastic flowers and pastel curtains. She wore a sun dress and pink . Although morning gunfire had earlier forced her to hide in her bedroom, she insisted hers had been a good life. She noted she had four beautiful adult children, thank God. On her television, we watched demonstrators protest the presence of the Olympic torch on the day before the Olympics started. She pursed her lips and put her hands over her chest. \"I am so upset,\" she said. Her eyes turned . \"I have not gotten my retirement check for a month. Our hospitals and schools are broken. Shooting every day, and they spend all of our money on this Olympics. \"The rich play, and we die. \" Seen from the northern and western precincts of Rio de Janeiro, which sprawl inland from the green Tijuca forest and the coastal mountain spine, the Olympics inhabit a foreign and wealthy world. In two days of wandering through favelas and neighborhoods, I found Olympic excitement an often extinguished fire. Graffiti and signs draped across walls by labor activists document the Games' huge cost to a wounded city. Olympic torchbearers jogged into several neighborhoods and left sprinting, chased by angry residents. Outrage is not difficult to understand. Billionaire developers and media magnates have made a fortune off the Olympics bribe and corruption investigations arising from these Games are a growth industry, with construction companies and hundreds of congressional deputies potentially in the dock. An extremely expensive subway was built to run the length of this city's south coast from Copacabana to the Olympic site. A forest of towers to house athletes rose on publicly owned land afterward, the developer will turn these into luxury housing. On the route from the international airport to the south shore, Olympic organizers put up colorful walls so that visitors could not see the favelas. The International Olympic Committee's chieftain, Thomas Bach, proclaimed the Rio Games a grand success last week. I wondered at the quality of his eyes. To write of pain is to take nothing from the Brazilians, who are gracious hosts and exuberant fans, crowding the waterfront of Copacabana for beach volleyball. Grand athletic achievement is inspiring, and these athletes, the world's greatest, deserve applause. But the practiced I. O. C. shakedown of cities, the demands that local officials compete to construct obscenely expensive stadiums and news media centers and to guarantee that tourist zones have been swept of the desperate, has rarely looked more problematic. Rio is all but bankrupt. Teachers have gone months without pay. Retirees are months behind on pension checks. University professors gather to mop floors and empty overflowing garbage cans. I talked to a hospital administrator in a northern neighborhood who asked that I not use his name for fear he might lose his job. Officials had instructed him, he said, to reserve beds in overcrowded wards and to put aside medicines, such as blood pressure pills, for Olympic tourists. His hospital received a new ambulance to serve the Olympics. I traveled this day in the company of Anderson Franca, a sturdy, bearded activist, writer and researcher, and his wife, Suelen Masiero. Anderson sees a bill of lading for decades of neglect come due. \"In a way, the Olympics are to be congratulated,\" he says. \"The contradictions of this city are emerging faster and more dramatically. \" Later, we will put the question of the Olympics to Geovane Prince, a muscular, tattooed photographer in the Mandela favela. He has created a thriving studio and travels about the city. He shakes his head before I get the question out. \"All the corruption, the suffering, there is too much pain,\" he says. \"We protest. To keep building giant arenas in the wealthy zone? We are sick of investing in this. \" Violence is a caldron still boiling and cannot be separated from this Olympic antipathy. In advance of the 2014 World Cup and now the Olympics, the police and the military pushed at the point of semiautomatic rifles and armored cars into hundreds of favelas in brutal pacification campaigns. Homicides dropped significantly but spiked again this year. New York City recorded 350 murders in 2015. Rio de Janeiro, a state with roughly double the population of New York City, recorded 461 murders in April 2016 alone. The police were responsible for of all murders in Rio last year, according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. At 8:30 a. m. last week, we traveled toward the Complexo do Alem\u00e3o favela, which sprawls across four hills. We stopped at a traffic light. . I tilted my head it sounded like firecrackers, except not really. The driver in the car next to ours rolled his eyes. The paramilitaries and drug gangs, he said through his open window, shoot early this morning. \"You see that hill?\" Franca, the activist and my guide this day, said as he pointed toward a green mountain ridge. Tumbledown homes climbed its slopes azure skies rose above. Those were the Mercy Hills. \"They found a mass grave with dozens of bodies. No names. \" I talked later to a woman who owned a modest grocery store on another hillside in this favela. She cradled her baby granddaughter. \"No one can even get together to watch a game,\" she said. \"The occupation is too dangerous. \" Hers was an often repeated observation. Residents want peace, but they harbor no particular rooting interest in the army or the drug gangs or the paramilitaries composed of retired cops: All armies are lethal. We scrambled up a hardscrabble path to the new police precinct that commands the hill like a medieval castle keep. Inside, three police officers in body armor nodded warily. They pointed to one, two, three bullet holes in the glass windows of the precinct, each the size of a ball the police attack, and the gangs counterattack. The precinct wall is dominated by a painting of a knight kneeling and holding his sword, accompanied by these words: \"You may die, but if you don't fight, you're already dead. \" The precinct commander walked in, a semiautomatic rifle strapped to his chest. \"You should not stay here \u2014 go back to the Olympics,\" he said. \"Shooting is anytime. \" Officials cut several bus lines that run north to south during the Olympics, in hope of keeping gangs from invading the tourist zones of Copacabana and Ipanema and the central business district. Many tens of thousands of Cariocas, as natives of Rio are known, spend two and a half to three hours commuting to distant jobs, journeys made far more arduous during the Games. Anderson's mother lives in a favela. She is in her ninth decade and has never visited the white sand beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. The city's public safety director talks about the disaster that could await when the Olympics end and soldiers withdraw from the tourist zones. The next day, I talked with Carla Maria Avesani, a young professor at the Rio de Janeiro state university. She has a Ph. D. and runs a nutrition institute at the University of Rio de Janeiro. She serves on the board of a prestigious journal and writes for an international audience of academics. She studies how changes in diet help poor patients on dialysis and those with heart problems. It was her dream to work at a public university with a mission. Now she and her fellow professors pool their Brazilian reais to buy computers and paper towels, and to fix doors. They try to figure out what to do about the broken elevator. Their university is broke, its pockets turned out. She lives in an neighborhood, with good restaurants and that Mediterranean climate. The evening atmosphere, with young couples hand in hand, calls to mind Rome, except with enormous rock faces nearby and an ocean lapping at your feet. She watched the opening ceremony, all the brilliant choreographies, and read her friends' proud posts on Facebook. She could not join them. \"It was a beautiful party we Brazilians do wonderful parties,\" Avesani said. \"But to see the amount of money spent for stupid stadiums, I don't want to celebrate when the state is broke and hospitals are closing and the poor are dying by the thousands. \" She paused. \"It's nice to see so many foreigners, and I want you to be happy. I want to be happy. \" She sighed. \"I would be happiest now if the world sees how we are living. I feel absolutely offended by these Olympics. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Bernie Sanders supporters have been in an uproar about the Democratic National Committee s rules for primaries, specifically the use of superdelegates. A superdelegate is someone chosen by the party to represent their interests in a given state. They are unpledged, meaning they are able to vote for whoever they choose at the convention. Bernie Sanders supporters, especially the Bernie or Bust crowd those who pledge to stay home or vote for Trump if Hillary gets the nomination have decided that the use of superdelegates circumvents the democratic process, making it impossible for anyone but an establishment Democratic candidate to win.Let s put that into perspective real quick: If the RNC had the same rules they wouldn t be forced to nominate Donald Trump.Superdelegates act in the best interest of the party. There was a candidate in 2008 who learned first-hand that superdelegates can make or break a candidacy. Her name was Hillary Clinton. The expected nominee from the start of the primary season, Clinton found herself face-to-face with the up and coming Barack Obama, whose candidacy didn t truly flourish until half of the state primaries were over. As he gained in popularity and it became clear that he was the right choice for America to succeed Dubya, those corrupt superdelegates, tasked with securing the best interest of the party, began switching their support to Obama, who was ultimately nominated by quorum call on the convention floor by none other than Hillary Clinton.That s the way these things work. Bernie or Bust may be upset that all those independent voters didn t get to just walk into a Democratic primary and vote, but it really isn t anyone s fault but their own that they don t know the party rules. Primaries aren t general elections; they re nominating processes controlled by the parties. Make no mistake: If Bernie Sanders were in the lead or it looked like he was going to pull ahead, those superdelegates would shift their support and make sure the nominee was someone the registered voters of the party want to support.When Clinton was faced with the exact same scenario in 2008, she wrote a letter to the superdelegates of the party with one last plea for support. Her arguments include things like who polled better against the GOP, who had spent more years arguing progressive causes and who was ultimately more qualified to execute the office of the president:Dear ___________,The stakes in this election are so high: with two wars abroad, our economy in crisis here at home, and so many families struggling across America, the need for new leadership has never been greater.At this point, we do not yet have a nominee and when the last votes are cast on June 3, neither Senator Obama nor I will have secured the nomination. It will be up to automatic delegates like you to help choose our party s nominee, and I would like to tell you why I believe I am the stronger candidate against Senator McCain and would be the best President and Commander in Chief.Voters in every state have made it clear that they want to be heard and counted as part of this historic race. And as we reach the end of the primary season, more than 17 million people have supported me in my effort to become the Democratic nominee more people than have ever voted for a potential nominee in the history of our party. In the past two weeks alone, record numbers of voters participated in the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries. And with 40 and 35 point margins of victory, it is clear that even when voters are repeatedly told this race is over, they re not giving up on me and I am not giving up on them either.After seven years of feeling invisible to the Bush administration, Americans are seeking a President who is strong, experienced, and ready to take on our toughest challenges, from serving as Commander in Chief and ending the war in Iraq to turning our economy around. They want a President who shares their core beliefs about our country and its future and gets what they go through every day to care for their families, pay the bills and try to put something away for the future.We simply cannot afford another four or eight years in the wilderness. That is why, everywhere I go, people come up to me, grip my hand or arm, and urge me to keep on running. That is why I continue in this race: because I believe I am best prepared to lead this country as President and best prepared to put together a broad coalition of voters to break the lock Republicans have had on the electoral map and beat Senator McCain in November.Recent polls and election results show a clear trend: I am ahead in states that have been critical to victory in the past two elections. From Ohio, to Pennsylvania, to West Virginia and beyond, the results of recent primaries in battleground states show that I have strong support from the regions and demographics Democrats need to take back the White House. I am also currently ahead of Senator McCain in Gallup national tracking polls, while Senator Obama is behind him. And nearly all independent analyses show that I am in a stronger position to win the Electoral College, primarily because I lead Senator McCain in Florida and Ohio. I ve enclosed a detailed analysis of recent electoral and polling information, and I hope you will take some time to review it carefully.In addition, when the primaries are finished, I expect to lead in the popular vote and in delegates earned through primaries. Ultimately, the point of our primary process is to pick our strongest nominee the one who would be the best President and Commander in Chief, who has the greatest support from members of our party, and who is most likely to win in November. So I hope you will consider not just the strength of the coalition backing me, but also that more people will have cast their votes for me.I am in this race for them for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families. People who deserve a shot at the American dream the chance to save for college, a home and retirement; to afford quality health care for their families; to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left over each month.I am in this race for all the women in their nineties who ve told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls and little boys whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, See, you can be anything you want to be. As the first woman ever to be in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to them.Finally, I am in this race because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Senator Obama and I both make our case and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.In the end, I am committed to unifying this party. What Senator Obama and I share is so much greater than our differences; and no matter who wins this nomination, I will do everything I can to bring us together and move us forward.But at this point, neither of us has crossed the finish line. I hope that in the time remaining, you will think hard about which candidate has the best chance to lead our party to victory in November. I hope you will consider the results of the recent primaries and what they tell us about the mindset of voters in the key battleground states. I hope you will think about the broad and winning coalition of voters I have built. And most important, I hope you will think about who is ready to stand on that stage with Senator McCain, fight for the deepest principles of our party, and lead our country forward into this new century.The letter was followed by 11 pages of statistics showing that even though she was behind, the race wasn t over. In the end it was the support of superdelegates that gave Obama the clear win.As a Bernie Sanders supporter, I would love to see the last melee of primaries go his way. A big win in California and a couple of other states and there s a chance Bernie becomes the best choice for the party, at which time he can realistically try to woo the superdelegates away from Clinton. If Hillary can hang on and secure the nomination, those of us who care about the future of our country will put our full support behind her.Featured image by NBC Newswire\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"More than 42 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 are infected with genital human papillomavirus, according to the first survey to look at the prevalence of the virus in the adult population. The report, published on Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics, also found that certain strains of the virus infected 25. 1 percent of men and 20. 4 percent of women. These strains account for approximately 31, 000 cases of cancer each year, other studies have shown. Two vaccines are effective in preventing sexually transmitted HPV infection, and researchers said the new data lend urgency to the drive to have adolescents vaccinated. \"If we can get and to get the vaccine, we'll make some progress,\" said Geraldine McQuillan, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and lead author of the new report. \"You need to give it before kids become sexually active, before they get infected,\" Dr. McQuillan said. \"By the time they're in their people are infected and it's too late. This is a vaccine against cancer \u2014 that's the message. \" (Do you have questions about HPV? Read some answers here.) She and her colleagues also found that 7. 3 percent of Americans ages 18 to 69 were infected orally with HPV, and 4 percent were infected with the strains that can cause cancers of the mouth and pharynx. HPV is a ubiquitous virus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. About 40 strains of the virus are sexually transmitted, and virtually all sexually active individuals are exposed to it by their early 20s. The virus usually is spread through direct contact with infected genital skin or mucuous membranes during intercourse or oral sex. Over 90 percent of HPV infections are cleared by the body within two years. The figures released today were a snapshot of the prevalence of active oral HPV infection from 2011 through 2014, and active genital infection in 2013 and 2014. Sometimes, the virus persists in the body. Chronic infections with certain strains can lead to genital warts and cancers of the cervix, vagina, penis, anus and throat. Two viral strains, and cause almost all cervical cancers. \"One of the most striking things that we really want people to know is that HPV is common \u2014 common in the general population,\" Dr. McQuillan said. While the C. D. C. recommends routine screening for cervical cancer for all women ages 21 to 65, adults are not routinely screened for HPV infection itself. Indeed, there is no HPV test for men. (A test for women is sometimes used in conjunction with a Pap screen for cervical cancer.) There were significant differences in rates of genital HPV infection by race and ethnicity, Dr. McQuillan and her colleagues found. The highest rate, 33. 7 percent, was found among blacks the lowest, 11. 9 percent, among Asians. The prevalence of genital HPV infection was 21. 6 percent among whites and 21. 7 percent among Hispanics. Men generally have somewhat higher rates than women, but among Asian and Hispanic men, the infections are not significantly more common. The reasons for these variations are not known.","label":0}
{"text":"During a recent appearance on Good Morning Britain, Donald Trump made several claims about Muslims that are, perhaps unsurprisingly to most people, completely bogus. During the interview, Trump claimed that one of the biggest challenges in the fight against terrorism is that good Muslims are withholding information about terrorist plots. It s like they re protecting each other, Trump said during the interview. They have to report the bad ones. And if you report the bad ones, then all of a sudden you re not going to have the problems. Here s the interview:This statement does not hold up to empirical evidence. Muslims do in fact quit often turn in radical extremists. Vox reports: In 2014, University of North Carolina sociologist Charles Kurzman identified 188 cases since 9\/11 where the police had publicly identified a Muslim American as a suspected terrorist and disclosed where the initial tip came from. Of those 188, 54 individuals were brought to the government s attention via tips from members of the Muslim-American community. Muslim Americans were the single largest source of tips identified in Kurzman s study. To further illustrate the stupidity of Trump s claims, let s look at some other facts. Trump is implying that it is the Muslim population s responsibility to report problems to the authorities. By doing so he is placing responsibility for the actions of terrorists on Muslim communities shoulders.There are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. That s about 23% of the world s entire population. Only about 3.3 million Muslims lives in the United States. During this interview, and for the entirety of his campaign, Trump has been using nearly a quarter of the world s population as a political scapegoat. The reality is that the Islamic State and other terror groups are followers of Salafi Jihadism. They are a relatively tiny cult of extremists, that mainly live in concentrated geographic regions.The chance that a Muslim person would actually know a Jihadist is pretty slim. The odds that they might stumble upon information about a possible terror plot is even slimmer. When we take that into account, and we look at the number of tips that come from Muslims about possible terror attacks since 9\/11 it becomes quite clear that Muslims do almost always turn in information regarding possible terrorist activities when they come across it and they know what they have come across.It s almost as if Muslims almost always do the reasonable thing that anyone would do if they were in that situation.Of course, none of this will probably matter to Trump or his followers. If he says he saw a video of Muslims cheering in New Jersey after 9\/11, that s what they saw too. Featured image from video screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"Common sense is prevailing in Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union, France s foreign minister said on Friday, as he welcomed signs that talks were moving into a new phase after an initial breakthrough. The European Commission said on Friday enough progress had been made in Brexit negotiations with Britain and that a second phase of discussions should begin, ending an impasse over the status of the Irish border. The work that has been done on negotiations ... is gradually leading us to common sense, Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Inter radio. We wanted the conditions for (Britain s) withdrawal to be clearly defined to be able to move into another phase. That s what s going to happen now, I hope.","label":0}
{"text":"Next Prev Swipe left\/right A group of incredibly talented schoolkids play an excellent version of the Luke Cage theme Luke Cage theme co-writer Adrian Younge shared this Instagram video of a group of schoolkids doing an incredible cover of the title music from the Netflix series \u2013 the kid in the hoody especially seems to be really into it. A video posted by Adrian Younge (@adrianyounge) on Nov 1, 2016 at 6:06pm PDT","label":1}
{"text":"A microphone guy who worked on The Apprentice just came forward to tell the world that Donald Trump often referred to him as a f*cking monkey. According to Buzzfeed News, the sound engineer is white, but he wanted his story to be heard without his name being released, because apparently, Trump was quite a monster to him and to many others, including to women whom he sexually harassed.He told Buzzfeed: Micing him was honestly the most abusive, humiliating, experience of my fifteen years as a sound engineer. He treated me like I wasn t a human being. In fact, there were several times Trump would refer to him as a f*cking monkey. Trump would say: Woah, woah woah, who s this fucking monkey? As well as: I m not gonna let this fucking monkey touch me unless he washes his hands. Then he would be monitored by Trump s assistant to make sure he went and washed his hands.He also told Buzzfeed: Trump just kept calling me a f*cking monkey over and over. I ve mic d everyone from Ben Affleck to Ren e Zellweger, and never, ever in my career have I run into something like that. Apparently, working for him was pretty much one of the worst gigs in town. He was a monster to many, many people, including several women he would sexually harass. And after listening to Trump on the released Access Hollywood tapes, that is very, very easy to believe.Trump is not a person who should be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office. He s a racist and misogynistic egomaniac who seems to have a short temper while having none of the required experience to be leader of the free world.Something tells me there will be more and more of these stories coming out as we get closer to election day, and hopefully, it will be the icing on the cake to make sure he s never, ever elected president.Featured Photo by Amanda Edwards\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Jay Dyer from Jays Analysis, FunkSoul (21WIRE & ACR contributor), Randy J (ACR contributor) and Andy Nowicki, author of Conspiracy, Compliance, Control & Defiance, for the hundred and seventh episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club. This week on the show we re side stepping politics and talking about movies, Hollywood, Aliens, Elf-men and paradigm shifts brought on be technological innovation!Direct Download Episode #108Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Reference Links:","label":1}
{"text":"Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to renegotiate or scrap longstanding global trade deals are not protectionist and are more focused on winning better terms for American businesses, the top executive of United Parcel Service (UPS.N) said on Thursday. \"I have to tell you, we don't consider what we are hearing from the president as protectionist,\" Chief Executive Officer David Abney told Reuters in a phone interview after the world's largest package delivery company reported a higher-than-expected second-quarter net profit. \"Protectionist would be 'we don't want trade agreements' and just try to protect the U.S. in that regard,\" he added. \"It's much more about having more favorable terms than it is about protectionism.\" Abney's remarks come as the Trump administration nears the August 16 start of talks with Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump has repeatedly called the 1994 trade treaty a \"disaster\" that has shuttered U.S. factories and sent American jobs to Mexico. UPS has been expanding its services into Mexico. Ahead of NAFTA negotiations, Abney said UPS has told the Trump administration it wants to \"take friction\" out of border crossings to speed them up and modernize the agreement with language about ecommerce. \"I'd be more worried if there were no changes to the deal,\" he said, adding that NAFTA needs to be modernized. \"We believe that we've been listened to.\" In a conference call with analysts earlier on Thursday, Abney praised a free trade pact Japan and the European Union concluded in early July creating the world's biggest open economic area. The CEO also reiterated UPS' previous strong support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and a desire to see the U.S. enter into trade agreements with its member countries. The Japan-EU trade deal was interpreted as signaling resistance to what many world leaders see protectionism by Trump. On the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump has championed \"America First\" policy positions on trade, promising new or revised deals to boost American manufacturing. In January, shortly after taking office, Trump formally withdrew America from the TPP. The 12-nation trade deal was negotiated by former Democratic President Barack Obama's administration. UPS on Thursday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly net profit due to rising ecommerce deliveries even as investors worried about the company's performance in the back-half of the year and shares fell 4.6 percent.","label":0}
{"text":"A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered that all videotaped depositions in a lawsuit over Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton's private email server remain sealed, The Hill newspaper reported. In a brief order on Thursday evening, Judge Emmet Sullivan granted the request of lawyers for Clinton's ex-chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, who had worried that video clips of her interview could be used for political purposes, according to The Hill. And Sullivan went further, ordering all videotaped depositions to remain sealed until he ordered otherwise, the newspaper said.","label":0}
{"text":"Democratic U.S. congressman John Conyers faced increasing pressure to resign on Wednesday, with the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives saying he should step aside if sexual harassment accusations against him were true. With Congress in session, Conyers returned to his home district in Detroit on Tuesday. He has been accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward women who worked for him. The latest accusation was reported by the Detroit News, which cited a former staffer as saying Conyers sexually harassed her three times between 1997 and 1999. Conyers, 88, has denied the accusations and said he would cooperate with a House Ethics Committee investigation. Asked if Conyers was planning to resign, his attorney Arnold Reed told Reuters, \"No.\" The Detroit News earlier quoted Reed as saying, \"He's not going to be forced out of office, and no one has told him he has to leave.\" \"Notwithstanding the credibility of the witnesses, we have a process to determine were these allegations founded? And if they're founded, yes, he should resign,\" Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, said in an interview with MSNBC. Conyers' office did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. The Michigan lawmaker has stepped down as the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee pending the outcome of the ethics investigation. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said it was up to Conyers to decide if he should resign from the chamber. \"I know what I would do if this happened to me. I will leave it up to him to decide what he wants to do. I think he made the right decision in stepping down from his leadership position,\" Ryan said. The House on Wednesday passed a resolution requiring members and their staff to take annual training on sexual harassment. A bipartisan group of House members also introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of public funds to settle sexual harassment claims against members, and require all previously made payments to be made public. Conyers and his wife Monica left their house in Detroit in separate vehicles on Wednesday. He did not talk to reporters who had gathered outside. Some of Conyers' colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus have been privately pressing him to resign, according to Democratic aides. Representative Joe Crowley, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, said he believed that in Michigan, Conyers was \"taking counsel from his family as well as his constituents.\" \"And I believe at the end of the day the right thing will be done. I think accountability will be had,\" Crowley told a news briefing. Democratic Representative Linda Sanchez said lawmakers were trying to pursue a fair process for both sides. \"It appears that there's more than one complainant, which does heighten my sense of 'there may be something there,'\" Sanchez said, adding that she could not call for Conyers' resignation unless she has heard all the evidence. Sexual harassment accusations have been made against a number of public figures in recent weeks, including former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein, Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama and Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump on \"The Apprentice\": The false values of reality TV have been carried over into the current presidential race. (NBC)  There is no shortage of signs of impending environmental catastrophe, including the melting of the polar ice caps and the rise of atmospheric carbon to above 400 parts per million . The planet's sixth mass extinction is underway. It is not taking place because of planetary forces. Homo sapiens is orchestrating it. We are at the same time bankrupting ourselves by waging endless and unwinnable wars. We have allowed our elites to push more than half the U.S. population into poverty and, often, profound despair through deindustrialization. We do nothing to halt the waves of nihilistic violence by enraged citizens who carry out periodic mass shootings in schools, malls, movie theaters and other public places. The political and financial elites flaunt their greed and corruption. Donald Trump appears to pay no federal income taxes. Bill and Hillary Clinton use their foundation as a tool for legalized bribery. Our largest corporations have orchestrated a legal tax boycott. The judicial system is a subsidiary of the corporate state. Militarized police carry out public executions of unarmed people of color. Our infrastructure, including our schools, roads and bridges, along with our deindustrialized cities, are in ruins. Decay and rot\u2014physical and moral\u2014are pervasive.  We are blinded to our depressing reality by the avalanche of images disseminated by mass media. Political, intellectual and cultural discourse has been replaced with spectacle. Emotionalism and sensationalism are prized over truth. Highly paid pundits who parrot back the official narrative, corporate advertisers, inane talk shows, violent or sexually explicit entertainment and gossip-fueled news have contaminated cultural life. Reality television, as contrived as every other form of mass entertainment, has produced what might be called a reality presidential candidate.  Mass culture, because it speaks to us in easily digestible clich\u00e9s and stereotypes, reinforces ignorance, bigotry and racism. It promotes our individual and collective self-glorification. It sanctifies nonexistent national virtues. It takes from us the intellectual and linguistic tools to separate illusion from truth. It is all show business all the time.  Advertisement Square, Site wide  There are hundreds of millions of Americans who know that something is terribly wrong. A light has gone out. They see it in their own suffering and hopelessness and the suffering and hopelessness of their neighbors. But they lack, because of the contamination of our political, cultural and intellectual discourse, the words and ideas to make sense of what is happening around them. They are bereft of a vision. Austerity, globalization, unfettered capitalism, an expansion of the extraction of fossil fuels and endless war are not the price to be paid for progress and the advance of civilization. They are part of the savage and deadly exploitation by corporate capitalism and imperialism. They serve a neoliberal ideology . The elites dare not speak this truth. It is toxic. They peddle the seductive illusions that saturate the airwaves. We are left to strike out at shadows. We are enticed to succumb to the racism, allure of white supremacy and bigotry that always accompanies a culture in dissolution.  We cannot, for this reason, discount the possibility that Donald Trump will be elected president. The election outcome will be decided by whatever emotion Americans feel when they cast their ballots.  Celebrity narratives, manufactured pseudo-drama, sex scandals, natural disasters, insults and invective, mass shootings and war flash before us in a constant jumble of images on ubiquitous screens. The assault of images obliterates reality. A former congressman who sends a picture of himself in underwear to a woman is a national news story. Sober examinations of our economic, foreign, judicial and environmental policies are dismissed as too complicated and boring. It does not produce engaging images. The electronic media's sole goal is to attract viewers and advertising dollars. It has conditioned us to demand an endless vaudeville act.  We are infected because of this mass indoctrination by what Daniel Boorstin in \" The Image : A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America\" calls \"social narcissism.\" The bottomless narcissism of Trump and Bill and Hillary Clinton cater to this social narcissism. They reflect back to us our desperate longing for, as well as celebration of, entertainment, celebrity, wealth, power and self-aggrandizement. It is not only advertising and public relations, as Boorstin points out, that carries out the incessant manufacturing of illusions that feed social narcissism. Journalists, book publishers, politicians, athletes, entertainers, positive psychologists, self-help gurus, the Christian Right and talk show hosts all feed the mania for illusion. They all chant the insane mantra that reality is never an impediment to what we desire. We can have anything we want if we work hard, get an education, believe in ourselves, grasp that we are exceptional and believe the impossible is always possible. It is magical thinking. And magical thinking is the only real commodity the elites have left offer to us. Make American Great Again. Or America already is great. Take your pick of idiotic clich\u00e9s.  \"We tyrannize and frustrate ourselves by expecting more than the world can give us or than we can make of the world,\" Boorstin writes. \"We demand that everyone who talks to us, or writes for us, or takes pictures for us, or makes merchandise for us, should live in our world of extravagant expectations. We expect this even of the peoples of foreign countries. We have become so accustomed to our illusions that we mistake them for reality. We demand them. And we demand that there be always more of them, bigger and better and more vivid.\"  The incessant search for instant gratification and the most appealing image, including the image of ourselves we manufacture for others on social media, has robbed us of the ability to examine ourselves and our society. It has extinguished the truth. The terminal decline of the American empire, the utter incompetence of our elites to manage everything from the ecosystem to the economy and foreign policy, the climate crisis, along with the widespread poverty and despair that defines over half of America, do not fit with the illusion. So these realities are blotted from public consciousness. The poor are rendered invisible. The climate crisis is ignored. The foreign policy debacles will be fixed with more bombs. A culture that can no longer discern or confront reality is unable to reform itself and dies. Only the Soviet and fascist dictatorships, along with the medieval Catholic Church, controlled thought as effectively.","label":1}
{"text":"White House officials are now saying Trump won t make a trip to England this summer after a hurried, secret plan to sneak the president into the country was leaked to the English press causing widespread outrage.Trump s unpopularity in the United Kingdom is legendary, and his aversion to protesters has caused him to refuse to visit the nation until they can guarantee there won t be mass protests. But his staff apparently came up with a gamble that would allow him to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May while avoiding the backlash. Unfortunately for him, it fell through almost immediately.Trump wanted to visit his golf course in Scotland (because, of course) while he was in Europe for the G20 meeting and the plan was to have him quietly pop over to London so he could meet with May. To avoid any chance of protests, Trump s staff is said to have warned British officials that the president would only be giving 24-hour notice before dropping by. This way, they reasoned, protesters wouldn t even know he was in the country before he was leaving again.Whitehall sources confirmed the government had been warned that the president could visit Turnberry, one of his two golf resorts in Scotland, during his trip to Europe, between attending the G20 summit in Hamburg and joining celebrations for Bastille Day in France on 14 July.Trump would be expected to come to Downing Street to meet the prime minister for informal talks as part of any such visit, though final confirmation would be likely to be given with just 24 hours notice to minimise the risk of disruption.But like everything with Trump s flailing administration, the plan leaked to the press and protesters vowed to be ready, even at short notice.So the White House is back to saying he won t be visiting our ally after all. At least not this summer.A spokeswoman for the US president said on Monday that no trip was imminent, amid mounting speculation that Trump was planning to make an unofficial visit to the UK on his way to or from the G20 summit in Hamburg this week. While we look forward to visiting the UK, it will not happen in the next two weeks, the spokeswoman said.It s doubtful that the White House s denials are going to make any would-be protesters put their guard down. The Trump administration has such a deep reputation of lying, that a denial from them means absolutely nothing. It s likely that angry English citizens will gather at Trump s Scottish golf course while Trump is in Europe juussstttt in case. And Trump has a notoriously hard time resisting a game of golf.Meanwhile, Trump is getting ready to meet his on-again, off-again friend Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit. His advisers told CNN that the president is not planning to bring up the fact that Russia hacked the U.S. elections. Nevertheless, it will certainly be the elephant in the room.","label":1}
{"text":"\"From the start,\" Hillary Clinton declared today in Reno, \"Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He has taken hate groups mainstream, and [is] helping a radical fringe take over the Republican Party.\" The speech that followed those words was an extended argument that her opponent is a racist, a conspiracy theorist, and a man temperamentally unfit to be president. Clinton's campaign had promoted this in advance as an address about \"Donald Trump and his advisors' embrace of the disturbing 'alt-right' political philosophy\"\u2014the alt-right being an umbrella term for an assortment of racist micro-movements and online subcultures. Yesterday I suggested that making the alt-right the stars of such a speech could only give a signal boost to what is, after all, a rather obscure political faction. But Clinton's comments about that faction took up only about a minute of her remarks. And while that minute was pretty juicy, the alt-right wasn't really the rally's star villain after all. The star villain was Donald Trump. Everyone else that Clinton brought into the address\u2014the alt-right, Breitbart, Alex Jones, David Duke, Nigel Farage, Vladimir Putin\u2014was there in a supporting role. Some of Clinton's arguments didn't make a lot of sense. She led her litany, oddly, by quoting Trump's recent remarks about how bad blacks have it in America. (\"Poverty. Rejection. Horrible education. No housing. No homes. No ownership. Crime at levels nobody has seen.\") Most people would call his comments a clumsy attempt to reassure voters that he cares about the black community's problems, but Clinton declared them \"a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.\" She also wildly overstated the alt-right's influence, declaring that \"the de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump campaign\" means the alt-rightists have \"effectively taken over the Republican Party.\" She was on sturdier ground at other moments, as when she mentioned Trump's habit of retweeting white nationalists or his false claim that he watched thousands of New Jersey Muslims cheer the 9\/11 attacks. Running through all her claims, both the weak ones and the strong ones, was one basic theme: Donald Trump is a bigot and a nut. And while that's an idea you've been hearing ever since the mogul turned reality TV star entered the race, this was as forceful and concentrated an expression of it as I've ever heard emerge from Hillary Clinton's mouth. It's bound to fire up her supporters, and I expect it will help her get out the vote. Whether it also leads a bunch of curious conservatives to Google \"alt-right\" depends, I suppose, on how much coverage that minute of the speech gets in the next few days. But the guy who must be really delighted right now is Alex Jones. Hillary Clinton just attacked him by name! His listeners will be hearing clips from this speech til Ragnarok.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump thinks African-Americans are worse off now than they have ever been, and President Obama just took him to the woodshed for it.During a rally, Trump declared that African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape than they ve ever been in before. The assertion suggests that slavery was a picnic for black people and that Jim Crow was heaven on earth.But President Obama set Trump straight during an interview with Good Morning America at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. You know, I think even most 8-year-olds ll tell you that whole slavery thing wasn t very good for black people, Obama told Robin Roberts. Jim Crow wasn t very good for black people. What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make more progress in the future. Here s the video via ABC.President Obama also slammed those who think racism no longer exists in this country simply because he was elected to the presidency or because some black people make a lot of money. It s unrealistic to think that somehow that all just completely went away, because the Civil Rights Act was passed or because Oprah s making a lot of money or because I was elected president. You know, that s not how society works. And if you have hundreds of years of racial discrimination it s likely that the vestiges of that discrimination linger on. And we should acknowledge that and own that. As President Obama said, Donald Trump could learn a lot from a visit to this museum. To think that black people had it easy as slaves is offensive and it s almost as if Trump thinks they would be better off going back to being slaves. So he s definitely on a slippery slope, and while that may get his white supremacist supporters frothing at the mouth, it does nothing to help him get black people to vote for him.Featured Image: Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed Greece's economic reforms in a meeting on Wednesday in Davos, the White House said on Wednesday. \"The leaders agreed on the importance of moving forward as quickly as possible on Greece's economic reforms, including serious discussions with creditors on debt relief,\" the White House said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"Singapore should end harassment of peaceful activists, Human Rights Watch has said, after participants at a candlelight vigil for a man being executed for drug trafficking were stopped from leaving the country. On July 13, around a dozen people, including opponents of the death penalty and relatives Prabagaran Srivijayan, 22, attended the vigil outside Changi Prison in support of the man, who was to be hanged early the next morning. The man, who was executed on July 14, was convicted of trafficking 22.4 grams of heroin into Singapore. During the vigil, participants said they were approached by police and told that a police report had been filed and that they were to remove the candles. The police removed the candles and photographs of Prabagaran but the participants say they were not asked to disperse. A police statement on Saturday said 17 people were under investigation relating to whether they had been involved in an illegal assembly. Assemblies and processions for a cause in public places without a permit is a criminal offense in Singapore. Anyone convicted of organizing such an assembly faces penalties of up to S$10,000 ($7,440) in fines and up to six months in jail. The Singapore government has said that the law is required to provide for the individual s rights for political expression without compromising on order and safety . Among those at the vigil were a journalist, who is an activist against capital punishment, an editor of independent online blog Online Citizen and a filmmaker whose most recent work focused on the detention in 1987 of political activists under Singapore s Internal Security Act. The three said in social media postings that they had been prevented from leaving the country, and had been told that they were required to stay in Singapore to assist police with an investigation. Human Rights Watch said the government should respect the right of free speech and assembly. The government should end its harassment of activists campaigning against capital punishment and respect their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, the group said in a release on Thursday. None of the three had been arrested or charged, Kirsten Han, the activist and journalist, told Reuters.","label":0}
{"text":"GREENBELT, Md. \u2014 The next great space telescope spread its golden wings this month. Like the petals of a sunflower seeking the light, the 18 hexagonal mirrors that make up the heart of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope were faced toward a balcony overlooking a cavernous clean room at the Goddard Space Flight Center here. Inside the room, reporters and a gaggle of space agency officials, including the ebullient administrator Charles Bolden, were getting their pictures taken in front of the giant mirror. Now, after 20 years with a budget of $8. 7 billion, the Webb telescope is on track and on budget to be launched in October 2018 and sent a million miles from Earth, NASA says. The telescope, named after NASA Administrator James Webb, who led the space agency in the 1960s, is the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope. Seven times larger than the Hubble in ability, the Webb was designed to see farther out in space and deeper into the past of the universe. It may solve mysteries about how and when the first stars and galaxies emerged some 13 billion years ago in the smoky aftermath of the Big Bang. Equipped with the sort of infrared goggles that give troops and police officers night vision, the Webb would peer into the dust clouds and gas storms of the Milky Way in which stars and planets are presently being birthed. It would be able to study planets around other stars. That has been NASA's dream since 1996 when the idea for the telescope was conceived with a projected price tag then of $500 million But as recently as six years ago, the James Webb Space Telescope was, in the words of Nature magazine, \"the telescope that ate astronomy,\" mismanaged, over budget and behind schedule so that it had crushed everything else out of NASA's science budget. A House subcommittee once voted to cancel it. Instead, the program was rebooted with a strict spending cap. The scientific capabilities of the telescope emerged unscathed from that period, astronomers on the project say. The major change, said Jonathan P. Gardner, the deputy senior project scientist, was to simplify the testing of the telescope. Most of the pain was dealt to other NASA projects like a proposed space telescope to study dark energy, which the National Academy of Sciences had hoped to put on a fast track to be launched this decade. It's now delayed until 2025 or so. Typically for NASA, the Webb telescope was a technologically ambitious project, requiring 10 new technologies to make it work. Bill Ochs, a veteran Goddard engineer who became project manager in 2010 during what he calls the \"replan,\" said the key to its success so far, was having enough money in the budget to provide a cushion for nasty surprises. The telescope smiling up at us like a giant Tiffany shaving mirror is 6. 5 meters in diameter, or just over 21 feet, compared with 2. 4 meters for the Hubble. The aim is to explore a realm of cosmic history about 150 million to one billion years after time began \u2014 known as the reionization epoch, when bright and violent new stars and the searing radiation from quasars were burning away a gloomy fog of hydrogen gas that prevailed at the end of the Big Bang. In fact, astronomers don't know how the spectacle that greets our eyes every night when the sun goes down or the lights go out wrenched itself into luminous existence. They theorize that an initial generation of stars made purely of hydrogen and helium \u2014 the elements created during the Big Bang \u2014 burned ferociously and exploded apocalyptically, the seeding of the cosmos with progressively more diverse materials. But nobody has ever seen any Population 3 stars, as those first stars are known. They don't exist in the modern universe. Astronomers have to hunt them in the dim past. That ambition requires the Webb to be tuned to a different kind of light than our eyes or the Hubble can see. Because the expansion of the cosmos is rushing those earliest stars and galaxies away from us so fast, their light is \" \" to longer wavelengths the way the siren from an ambulance shifts to a lower register as it passes by. So blue light from an infant galaxy bursting with bright spanking new stars way back then has been stretched to invisible infrared wavelengths, or heat radiation, by the time it reaches us 13 billion years later. As a result, the Webb telescope will produce cosmic postcards in colors no eye has ever seen. It also turns out that infrared emanations are the best way to study exoplanets, the worlds beyond our own solar system that have been discovered in the thousands since the Webb telescope was first conceived. In order to see those infrared colors, however, the telescope has to be very cold \u2014 less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero \u2014 so that its own heat does not swamp the heat from outer space. Once in space, the telescope will unfold a giant umbrella the size of a tennis court to keep the sun off it. The telescope, marooned in permanent shade a million miles beyond the moon, will experience an infinite cold soak. The sunshield consists of five thin, layers of a material called Kapton. Way too big to fit into a rocket, the shield, as well as the telescope mirror, will have be launched folded up. It will then be unfolded in space in a series of some 180 maneuvers that look in computer animations like a cross between a parachute opening and a swimming pool cover going into place. Or at least that is the $8 billion plan. Engineers have done it on the ground, and it worked. The same people who refolded the shield after each test will fold it again, in a process Mr. Ochs compares to packing up your parachute before a jump. The test will come in space, where no one will be able to help if things go wrong. That whole process will amount to what Mr. Ochs called \"six months of high anxiety. \" \"For the most part, it all has to work,\" Mr. Ochs said. The last time NASA did something this big astronomically, in 1990, things didn't quite work. Once in orbit, the Hubble couldn't be focused it had a misshapen mirror that had never been properly tested. Astronauts eventually fitted it with corrective lenses, and it went on to become the crown jewel of astronomy. Making sure that doesn't happen this time is the agenda for the next two years. \"Our telescope is finished,\" John C. Mather, the senior project scientist, said. \"Now we are about to prove it works. \" In the coming weeks, the mirror and the box of scientific instruments on its back will be put on a rig and shaken to simulate the vibrations of a launch, and then sealed in an acoustic chamber and bombarded with the noise of a launch. If the parts survive unscathed, the telescope assembly will be shipped to a giant vacuum chamber at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. There it will be chilled to the temperatures at which it will have to work, and engineers will actually focus the telescope, twiddling the controls for seven actuators on each of the 18 mirror segments. No Hubble surprises here. Then the telescope will go to Los Angeles to be mounted on its gigantic sunshield. That whole contraption, now too big for even the giant military transport plane, will travel by ship through the Panama Canal to French Guiana. It will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European Space Agency as part of Europe's contribution to the observatory, and go into orbit around the sun at a point called L2 about a million miles from Earth. Canada, NASA's other partner, supplied some of the instruments. Then come the six months of anxiety. Sometime in the spring of 2019, if all goes well, the telescope will record its first real image \u2014 of what, the assembled astronomers were not ready to guess. In a bonus undreamed of when the Webb telescope was first conceived, it looks as if the Hubble will still be going strong when the Webb is launched. They will share the sky and the potential for joint observing projects. A million miles apart, they can view objects in the solar system from different angles, providing a kind of stereoscopic perspective. Besides the expected baby galaxies and the exoplanets, there are, as astronomers like to remind us, always new surprises (like colliding black holes when the LIGO observatory was turned on last year) when humanity devises a new way to look at the sky. Asked what the telescope's greatest discovery would be, Dr. Mather said, \"If I knew, I would tell you. \" Nor would the project members talk about contingency plans to rescue the telescope if anything goes wrong a million miles from Earth. There are no plans to fix it or bring it back. They know how to attach a probe or robot to the telescope, Dr. Mather said, but \"we are planning to not need it, thank you. \"","label":0}
{"text":"On Tuesday's \"Mike and Mike\" on ESPN Radio, Mike Golic reacted to a group of Boston Red Sox fans berating Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones with racial slurs Monday night. Golic said the fans, who were removed from the stadium, should be publicly outed along with their quotes for everybody to see. \"What kind of idiot are you to do something like that?\" Golic scolded. \"The way I look at it, you're yelling that out publicly to somebody, I wish you would be publicly outed. I wish your face would be somewhere and with the quote of what you said right under your face publicly for everybody to see since you feel the need to yell something about someone. \" Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent","label":0}
{"text":"The judge presiding over the criminal case against President Donald Trump's former campaign manager issued a gag order on Wednesday barring anyone involved in the case from making public statements that might taint it. Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were arraigned in federal court in Washington last week on a 12-count indictment that accused them of conspiring to launder money, failing to disclose foreign bank accounts and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine's former pro-Russian government. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in her written order she wanted to make sure the trial was fair and that potential jurors were not influenced by pre-trial publicity. She directed the defendants, all lawyers and any potential witnesses to \"refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice\" to the case. Jackson had previously warned lawyers about discussing the case publicly after Manafort defense lawyer Kevin Downing made a defiant statement outside the courthouse following his client's arraignment on Monday. \"This is a criminal trial and not a public relations campaign,\" Jackson said in court last week. Downing, appearing before television cameras on Monday, said the charges against Manafort were \"ridiculous\" and said the president was correct to insist there was \"no evidence the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.\" The charges against Manafort and Gates stem from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Manafort and Gates have both pleaded not guilty. The Kremlin has denied meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion took place. Downing did not respond to a request for comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment. Jackson had asked the parties last week if they had any objections to a gag order. None responded. Downing's statements outside the courthouse had raised eyebrows among defense lawyers. \"Judge Jackson is a no-nonsense judge and he's clearly angered her to no purpose,\" said Eric Lewis, a longtime Washington trial lawyer. But Los Angeles defense lawyer Mark Geragos said he thought Downing might indeed have had a purpose in mind: currying favor with Trump in the hopes of eventually securing Manafort a presidential pardon. \"The cynic in me would say that was exactly what was happening,\" said Geragos, \"that there was an audience of one.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Longer prison sentences for non-violent criminals and crowded prisons are hurting the American economy more than they are helping it, economists in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said in a report released on Saturday. The prison population in the United States is 4.5 times larger than it was in 1980, primarily driven by longer sentences and higher conviction rates for nearly all offenses, according to the Council's report. Economists are \"of one mind\" that packed prisons, excessively long sentences, and insufficient reentry programs \"are counter-productive to our economy as a whole in addition to hurting the people involved,\" Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters in a call on Friday. On Monday, administration officials, economists, business leaders, and scholars will discuss the Council's findings at an event hosted by the White House, the American Enterprise Institute think tank, and New York University's Brennan Center for Justice. The United States can reap greater economic benefit through investments in police, prisoner education, and job opportunities for ex-prisoners than it can from putting additional funding toward prisons, the Council's report said. The Council's report was based on a review of existing economics research, and does not estimate the indirect costs borne by the U.S. economy as a result of its current criminal justice policies. Later this year, the Brennan Center will unveil a study quantifying how much the U.S. criminal justice system costs Americans in terms of employment, wages, and gross domestic product, said the center's director of justice programs, Inimai Chettiar. Previous administrations have not brought the same focus to how criminal justice policies affect the U.S. workforce, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who led the Congressional Budget Office from 2003-05 and is now president of the American Action Forum think tank. Since the recession of the late 2000s, \"every aspect of the workforce has been scrutinized more closely, and this sort of popped out,\" he told Reuters.","label":0}
{"text":"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton widened her lead over likely Republican nominee Donald Trump to 13 percentage points in a Reuters\/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. The July 1-5 poll included responses gathered mostly over the holiday weekend, before the Federal Bureau of Investigation recommended on Tuesday that no criminal charges be filed against Clinton over her use of private email servers and what it called her \"extremely careless\" handling of classified information while she was U.S. secretary of state. The presumptive Democratic nominee led Trump, a New York businessman, by 9 percentage points in a previous Reuters\/Ipsos poll that ran from June 27 to July 1. Tuesday's poll showed that 46 percent of likely voters supported Clinton, while 33 percent backed Trump. Twenty-two percent said they would not support either candidate for the Nov. 8 election. Throughout the campaign, Clinton has been dogged by her use of a personal email server during her years as the nation's top diplomat. Over the past several months, she has handed over thousands of pages of emails to investigators and responded to a number of government inquiries. Clinton has repeatedly said she never sent or received classified documents on her private servers, yet the public appears distrustful of her, according to Reuters\/Ipsos polling. In early May, 63 percent of Americans, including 36 percent of Democrats, said they did not believe Clinton was \"honest and truthful.\" But Clinton has led Trump most of the year among likely voters. Since mid-May, she has maintained a relatively consistent level of support among likely voters, while Trump's popularity has eroded as his campaign wrestled with a variety of issues. Republican leaders distanced themselves from Trump after he suggested a federal judge was biased because of his Hispanic heritage and after he doubled down on a pledge to block Muslims from entering the country. On Tuesday, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan criticized a tweet posted by Trump over the weekend that many deemed to be anti-Semitic. Trump's level of support among likely voters was about 10 points below what 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney received in early July 2012. Among Clinton's supporters, nearly half said they were backing her because \"I don't want Donald Trump to win.\" A further 39 percent said they \"agree with her positions,\" and about 13 percent said they \"like her personally.\" The online national poll of 1,441 American adults had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.","label":0}
{"text":"For about a year, the guys at the gym just called him Joe. He lifted weights in the early mornings wearing a . He worked out on the elliptical, wiping it down when he was done. Then one day Shaun Yeary, a salesman at a landscape supply company, asked him in the locker room what he did for a living. \"I used to be a priest,\" Joe recalled telling him. \"And now,\" he said, his voice growing quieter so as not to scare anyone in earshot, \"I'm the archbishop of Indianapolis. \" \"I was like, for real?\" Mr. Yeary recalled. \"This guy is benching two and a quarter!\" \u2014 gymspeak for 225 pounds. Joe, also known as Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, recently became one of the 120 men in the world who will choose the next pope. But he wants to be judged by his actions, not his lofty position in the Roman Catholic Church. Though he has led the Archdiocese of Indianapolis since 2012, a status that usually comes with perks like a driver, he drives himself around in a Chevy Tahoe and helps with the dishes after lunch meetings. He introduces himself simply as Padre Jos\u00e9 to the children at a local Catholic school. He showers and shaves at the Community Healthplex gym like any other member, and calls his workout buddies his Band of Brothers. In short, he is just the kind of leader Pope Francis is elevating to realign the church in the United States with his priorities. As the pope has made clear over the past three years, fancy lifestyles, formality and regal titles like Prince of the Church are out of style for cardinals. So is an emphasis on the divisive issues of abortion and marriage, even though the church's underlying position on those issues has not changed. Instead, in the pope's view, the church should emphasize humility and service to the poor. It should be multicultural, welcoming different styles of worship. It should reach out to other faiths and stand up for immigrants, refugees and nuns. And that, church experts and members of his flock say, is a close description of the priorities of Cardinal Tobin, who will be heading east just after Christmas to lead the approximately 1. 5 million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Newark. He is replacing Archbishop John J. Myers, 75, who preferred to be addressed by the formal title Your Grace, and who achieved notoriety when the church spent some $500, 000 to outfit the house he will retire to with an indoor exercise pool and an elevator. Cardinal Tobin's appointment in October as one of the nation's 18 cardinals came as a surprise to many, including the man himself. But perhaps it should not have. For what his unassuming bearing does not reveal is that he is no stranger to the corridors of power in the church. He is a friend of Pope Francis. And under Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, he had helped lead the Vatican office that oversees the roughly one million men and women in religious orders around the world. That position did not end so well. It was an open secret that Cardinal Tobin was sent to Indiana as a kind of exile most likely because he questioned an inquiry by his office into supposed doctrinal lapses among the roughly 50, 000 nuns in the United States. As he got to know the faithful in the chancery of Indianapolis, he would joke with them about it. \"I was kicked out and I'm grateful for it,\" the chancellor of the archdiocese, Annette Lentz, recalled his saying about how he turned up on her doorstep. And she would tell him, \"Their loss is our gain. \" How Cardinal Tobin, 64, an amiable who likes Bob Seger, plays piano and speaks five languages, went from being the oldest of 13 children living in Detroit to the pinnacle of the global church is a story that bears telling. He grew up in a neighborhood where the big houses were perfect for the large families of Irish, Polish and other Eastern European backgrounds that filled them. The local parish, Holy Redeemer, was run by an order of priests called the Redemptorists, and was unusually large, with 14 Masses each Sunday for up to 20, 000 worshipers, he recalled in a Dec. 5 interview. His mother was a teacher who quit her job to raise her brood nine of her cousins and three of her aunts were nuns. Growing up in a deeply Catholic environment, Cardinal Tobin had two role models: the parish priests and his father, a cost analyst at General Motors who attended 6 a. m. Mass daily. Joe Tobin was a child, who once crashed through the window when he was being chased. But he also learned the deeper lessons taught by the nuns at the parish school. \"Joe came home in second grade and said to me, 'Mom, I need a pair of socks,'\" his mother, Marie Tobin, 93, recalled before Cardinal Tobin's emotional farewell Mass in Indianapolis on Dec. 3. \"And I looked at his feet and saw his socks were fine. 'Mother,' he said, 'there's a boy in my class who has rags around his feet and a safety pin. '\" In 1977, when the cardinal was in seminary in Esopus, N. Y. his father died of a heart attack. By that time, the family had moved across the border to Canada, and his father had been commuting to Michigan. \"I idolized my dad,\" Cardinal Tobin said. \"He was everything I think a man should be. He was strong, he played in the Orange Bowl as a freshman in Boston College. He lost his leg in World War II, so he never played football again. He had a quiet, unpretentious faith. He was chivalrous with women. \"And I remember when he died,\" he added, \"and I was waiting at the seminary for someone to drive me to La Guardia, and one of my teachers came and said, 'If you can be a man like your father, when they call you Father you will be all right.' And I suppose I am still trying to do that. \" He remains close with his siblings. And in the Redemptorists, an order that requires a vow of poverty and emphasizes missionary outreach, he found a second family. He dreamed of being sent to locales once he was ordained in 1978. Instead, because he spoke Spanish, he was sent right back to Holy Redeemer, which had a growing Hispanic population. There, he learned about serving the poor. An older priest modeled what was to become a signature of Cardinal Tobin's ministry: an intense focus on each person. \"When he is there and you are talking to him, it's as if you have known him all your life,\" said Bernice Guynn, 89, a parishioner at St. Rita in Indianapolis. From Detroit, he was moved during the AIDS epidemic to Chicago, where he ministered at the bedsides of the dying. The church's stance against homosexuality was not a barrier to him. \"It's important to be there for people,\" he said. By 1991, the of his order had taken notice and he was moved to Rome. For 12 years, he led the Redemptorist order, finally traveling the world to missions in more than 70 nations. In that capacity, he made an impression on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the Vatican official responsible for enforcing Catholic doctrine. In 2010, five years after Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict, he offered Father Tobin the title of archbishop and the position of secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the Vatican. Cardinal Tobin recalled that he was painting his mother's porch in Ontario when he got the call from the Vatican secretary of state. \"I turned white and started stuttering,\" he said. He did not want the job, he said, but how does one refuse the pope? The office he had been tapped to administer was investigating American nuns for supposedly adopting a \"secular mentality\" and straying from Catholic orthodoxy. In other words, the nuns were accused of being too liberal, and Cardinal Tobin was to oversee the inquiry. But he had an \"extremely positive\" view of the nuns, he told The National Catholic Reporter at the time, and he wanted to explain their good works. \"My first job, I thought, was to ask, 'What were people trying to accomplish with this? '\" he said this month. But the problem, he came to believe, was structural: the investigation of 55, 000 religious women by a tiny staff for the alleged errors of a few. \"It made as much sense as an ophthalmologist trying to do cataract surgery standing in center field in Yankee Stadium and pointing his laser gun up at the bleachers,\" he said. Two years into his term, his priest secretary surprised him with the news. \"We are so sorry you are going,\" Cardinal Tobin recalled him saying. \"And I said, 'Really, where am I going?' And he said, 'Indianapolis. '\" The official news did not come for four months. \"It was like death by 1, 000 cuts,\" he said. When he arrived in Indiana in December 2012, most American Catholics had never heard of him. But to the nuns he was something of a hero. \"We thought that he was a tremendous individual,\" said Mother Anne Brackmann, the prioress of the Carmelite Monastery in Terre Haute, Ind. \"And he was welcomed very, very warmly. \" Someone else took note of his dismissal: Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, who would become Pope Francis. The two men met in 2005 during a synod of bishops in Rome, and they bonded over a shared view of the church. There were conservative bishops in their group who wanted, for example, to ban girls from being altar servers. \"I have eight sisters, and at the time, I had nieces who were serving at the altar, and I didn't see the justification for it,\" Cardinal Tobin said. \"Bergoglio was on the same page. There are more important things to talk about. \" They had also laughed together: Cardinal Tobin recalled telling Cardinal Bergoglio that he had been his mother's choice for pope that year, because she had read how he picked up after himself and cooked his own food. Still, Cardinal Tobin was surprised to get a note from Cardinal Bergoglio in 2010 wishing him luck in his Vatican position. \"He said: 'I remember our time together, I remember our conversations, and I remember your mother's good taste. I'm praying for you. '\" By the time Cardinal Tobin came to the Vatican in 2013 to receive his pallium \u2014 the cowl that would mark his status as the archbishop of Indianapolis \u2014 Pope Francis had been elected. He was not sure the new pope would remember him. But Francis again surprised him. \"I've been praying intensely for you since I heard what happened,\" Cardinal Tobin said the pope had told him. What happened next was a kind of rehabilitation. Francis appointed him to the oversight committee of the same Vatican office he had been removed from. Then, in October, came the announcement: The pope was naming him a cardinal. He would be the youngest one in the United States. Cardinal Tobin was shocked. \"It's kind of like you are sleeping in class and all of a sudden the spotlight is on you,\" he said. At a news conference last month in Newark, he put it this way: \"Sometimes I think Pope Francis sees a lot more in me than I see in myself. \" Cardinal Tobin said he loved his time in Indianapolis, where he visited parishes in 39 counties, ministered to prisoners on death row and baptized about 1, 000 new Catholics each Easter. He was up by 4 many mornings to pray before arriving at the gym by 5:30. With the help of a trainer, Shane Moat, he learned how to deadlift 425 pounds. \"Big breath, explode, keep it close,\" Mr. Moat coached him earlier this month. Cardinal Tobin strained and hoisted the weight to his waist. \"You the man!\" someone shouted. \"No, I'm not,\" Cardinal Tobin said after dropping the weight with a bang. That morning, Mr. Yeary, the salesman, presented him with a goodbye gift: a framed photo of the cardinal with his seven workout buddies, whose ages range from 27 to over 70. \"Oh, man, that's wonderful, thank you,\" the cardinal said. Then he reverted to his lighthearted tone: \"None of those Sopranos are going to mess with me. This is my crew. \" Cardinal Tobin has had a hard time saying goodbye. He choked up at his farewell Mass and had only one request of the congregation that had packed the cathedral: Pray for him. But his admirers here and elsewhere are hoping that Cardinal Tobin will become a more public voice for Pope Francis and his priorities. He has already done that once, in a showdown with Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, a Republican who is now the vice over welcoming Syrian refugees. In November 2015, Mr. Pence announced that he would suspend Syrian refugee resettlement programs, citing security fears. Cardinal Tobin felt that was not only illegal, but also immoral. He met with Mr. Pence, discussed his objections and told him he would continue the Catholic Charities resettlement program. A federal court has since overturned the governor's directive. In an email, Mr. Pence said, \"Cardinal Tobin is a personal friend, and I deeply respect his commitment to his faith and his ministry. \" While Cardinal Tobin did not tell anyone whom to vote for in the presidential election, he said he was disturbed by appeals to fear during the campaign of Donald J. Trump, particularly his views of refugees and immigrants. Mr. Trump, he said, \"was appealing to the dark side of the divisive forces, to the unredeemed part of us. \" And while the cardinal believes American democracy will ultimately resist such appeals, \"you can't be too Pollyannish about things. \" In Newark, he said, his first job after his installation on Jan. 6 will be to listen. Encompassing Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union Counties in northern New Jersey, the archdiocese has pockets of great wealth and poverty, and an array of immigrants so diverse that Mass each Sunday is celebrated in 20 languages. About 30 percent of the parishioners are Hispanic. It is also a community in need of healing. In July, citing the failure of the archdiocese to effectively remove priests accused of sexual abuse from contact with children, the editorial board of The of Newark called the departure of Archbishop Myers a \"true blessing. \" \"During his tenure as New Jersey's Catholic, he protected pedophile priests,\" the board said. \"He urged his flock to vote based on two issues \u2014 abortion and gay marriage \u2014 at the threat of being denied Holy Communion. \" Jim Goodness, the spokesman for the archdiocese, denied those allegations, saying that Archbishop Myers had permanently removed from ministry some 20 abusive priests and that he had \"never threatened to deny Communion to anyone. \" Cardinal Tobin will bring a different message. One of his priorities, he said, would be to ensure that the archdiocese is fully compliant with church and criminal protocols on handling sexual abuse allegations. At the Vatican in the late 1990s, the cardinal recalled, it was difficult to convince people that the abuse issue was serious. \"I think they just believed it was an American problem,\" he said, adding, \"I don't want to make it like I was a great crusader over there, but I did take it seriously. \" He later led an effort to establish protocols for abuse claims in his order. Yet the most outspoken American victims group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said that Cardinal Tobin, like the church as a whole, must do more, such as posting the names of all credibly accused priests online. \"Certainly there are worse bishops, but that fact should comfort no one,\" David Clohessy, the organization's national director, said. Cardinal Tobin assumes his role in an uneasy time. He said that he hoped to lead with joy and transparency, and that he intended to encourage dialogue to bridge divisions. But he would go further if he believed that policies ran counter to the moral values that Jesus taught. On the threats by Trump to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants, for example, Cardinal Tobin was clear. He recalled how Pope John XXIII, before he became pope, issued false baptismal certificates to help Jews escape the Nazis in World War II. \"We have to resist,\" he said. \"With public statements, and then, you do what you got to do. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The evil George Soros wrote a rare op-ed for The Guardian. You see, someone has finally challenged the dark underbelly of the radical far left and that man is Donald Trump. Just knowing that Soros feels it necessary to comment (since he rarely comments) on Trump tells me the left is considering Trump a major threat.The op-ed by Soros is below please note the deflection:It appears The Establishment has decided to bring in the big guns to dislodge The GOP s nightmare scenario as Donald Trump goes from strength to strength in the polls. Writing in an op-ed for The Guardian, billionaire puppet-master George Soros urges Americans to resist the siren song of the likes of Donald Trump, adding that the terrorists and demagogues want us to be scared. We mustn t give in. Authored by George Soros, originally posted at The Guardian,It s not easy to resist the threats and the hysteria that surround us, but we must do, as fear is the greatest danger to open societyOpen societies are always endangered. This is especially true of America and Europe today, as a result of the terrorist attacks in Paris and elsewhere, and the way that America and Europe, particularly France, have reacted to them. Jihadi terrorist groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida have discovered the achilles heel of our western societies: the fear of death. Through horrific attacks and macabre videos, the publicists of Isis magnify this fear, leading otherwise sensible people in hitherto open societies to abandon their reason.Scientists have discovered that emotion is an essential component of human reasoning. That discovery explains why jihadi terrorism poses such a potent threat to our societies: the fear of death leads us and our leaders to think and then behave irrationally.Science merely confirms what experience has long shown: when we are afraid for our lives, emotions take hold of our thoughts and actions, and we find it difficult to make rational judgments. Fear activates an older, more primitive part of the brain than that which formulates and sustains the abstract values and principles of open society.The open society is thus always at risk from the threat posed by our response to fear. A generation that has inherited an open society from its parents will not understand what is required to maintain it until it has been tested and learns to keep fear from corrupting reason. Jihadi terrorism is only the latest example. The fear of nuclear war tested the last generation, and the fear of communism and fascism tested my generation.The jihadi terrorists ultimate goal is to convince Muslim youth worldwide that there is no alternative to terrorism. And terrorist attacks are the way to achieve that goal, because the fear of death will awaken and magnify the latent anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe and America, inducing the non-Muslim population to treat all Muslims as potential attackers.And that is exactly what is happening. The hysterical anti-Muslim reaction to terrorism is generating fear and resentment among Muslims living in Europe and America. The older generation reacts with fear, the younger one with resentment; the result is a breeding ground for potential terrorists. This is a mutually reinforcing, reflexive process.How can it be stopped and reversed? Abandoning the values and principles underlying open societies and giving in to an anti-Muslim impulse dictated by fear certainly is not the answer, though it may be difficult to resist the temptation. I experienced this personally when I watched the last Republican presidential debate; I could stop myself only by remembering that it must be irrational to follow the wishes of your enemies.To remove the danger posed by jihadi terrorism, abstract arguments are not enough; we need a strategy for defeating it. The challenge is underscored by the fact that the jihadi phenomenon has been with us for more than a generation. Indeed, gaining a proper understanding of it may be impossible. But the attempt must be made.Consider the Syrian conflict, which is the root cause of the migration problem that is posing an existential threat to the European Union as we know it. If it was resolved, the world would be in better shape. It is important to recognise that Isis is operating from a position of weakness. While it is spreading fear in the world, its hold on its home ground is weakening. The United Nations security council has unanimously adopted a resolution against it, and the leaders of Isis are aware that their days in Iraq and Syria are numbered.Of course, the outlook for Syria remains highly uncertain, and the conflict there cannot be understood or tackled in isolation. But one idea shines through crystal clear: it is an egregious mistake to do what the terrorists want us to do. That is why, as 2016 gets underway, we must reaffirm our commitment to the principles of open society and resist the siren song of the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, however hard that may be.","label":1}
{"text":"The first cruise ship in nearly 40 years to sail across the Florida Straits from Miami to Havana docked in the Cuban capital on Monday, cutting a ribbon of water that for years was a symbol of the political gulf between the two countries. Hundreds of Cubans stood near the dock and on Havana's sea wall, snapping pictures with smartphones and filming the arrival of the ship, Adonia, which arrived in the port after crossing overnight from Miami. The ship is operated by Fathom Travel, a unit of Carnival Corporation. Isabel Buznego, a passenger aboard the cruise, was born in Cuba but left about 40 years ago, when she was 5. She said she was overcome with emotion when she first spotted the fortifications that protect Havana's bay. \"That really got to me,\" Ms. Buznego said. The ship's arrival on Monday caused a stir among the locals, too: So thick was the crowd as the American passengers disembarked that a passing tourist asked, \"Who's the celebrity?\" The cruise was the latest stage in the surge of American travel to the island since President Obama announced the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba in December 2014. The arrival of a ship from Florida recalls the heady days before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, when the island was a tropical getaway for Americans, and Cubans could board a ship in Havana and be in Miami within hours. Commercial sea traffic all but dried up when the United States broke off diplomatic and commercial relations with Cuba in the early 1960s. The Florida Straits became a treacherous barrier that tens of thousands of desperate Cubans crossed, or drowned trying to cross, on rafts and leaky vessels. Plans for the cruise ran into trouble in April after it emerged that it would exclude passengers because they were barred by the Cuban government from entering the country by sea. That prompted a furor in Miami and Washington, and the Cuban government lifted the restriction. Robert L. Muse, a lawyer in Washington who specializes in laws related to Cuba, said the Cuban government's concession was probably driven by diplomatic considerations, not because it was concerned about lost tourism dollars. \"If it were purely about the money, they wouldn't have backed down,\" Mr. Muse said. With Washington eager for the d\u00e9tente to produce more commercial deals, the Cubans conceded \"to keep the dialogue afloat,\" he said. The last time an American cruise ship sailed to Cuba from the United States was in the late 1970s, during a brief thaw begun by President Jimmy Carter. Since the 2014 announcement of restored relations, several ferry and cruise companies have applied to the Treasury Department for licenses to carry American passengers to Cuba. So far, only Carnival and a French company, Ponant, have reported receiving a license to offer cruises to Cuba from American ports. The Treasury Department has issued a general license to American ferry operators, but they have yet to get permission from the Cuban authorities. For Cubans, the possibility of regular sea crossings to the United States brings the prospect of closer ties with their expatriate friends and relatives living there. Antonio Serrano, 53, a hospital worker who was watching the Adonia passengers arrive in Old Havana on Monday, said he was there to show returning Cubans that his \"solidarity is strong. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Major governments, including the United States, the European Union and Canada, and top United Nations officials, are among those demanding the release of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from detention in Myanmar. The reporters were arrested on Dec. 12 after being invited to meet police officials on the outskirts of Yangon. They had worked on stories about a military crackdown in Rakhine state, from where about 665,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled since August and sought refuge in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations. The two journalists were sent to Yangon s Insein prison on Wednesday after a brief court appearance where they were allowed to meet their families and a lawyer for the first time since their arrest. Myanmar s Ministry of Information has said the reporters illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media, and released a photo of them in handcuffs. It said the reporters and two policemen faced charges under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, though officials said they have not been charged. Reuters President and Editor-In-Chief Stephen J. Adler has called for their immediate release. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are journalists who perform a crucial role in shedding light on news of global interest, and they are innocent of any wrongdoing, he said in a statement. Here are comments on their detention from governments, politicians, human rights groups, journalists and press freedom advocates around the world: - A group of 50 Pulitzer Prize winners called their arrest an outrageous attack on media freedom and demanded their immediate release. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are brave, principled and professional journalists who were working in the public interest and were jailed simply for doing their jobs, they said in a statement on Wednesday. - Two U.N. human rights experts called on Myanmar last week to release the two reporters, saying it was putting Myanmar on a dangerous path by using the Official Secrets Act to criminalize journalism. Journalism is not a crime. These detentions are another way for the Government to censor information about the military s role in Rakhine State and the humanitarian catastrophe taking place, said Yanghee Lee and David Kaye, who are the U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar and on freedom of expression respectively. - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the United States was demanding their immediate release or information as to the circumstances around their disappearance. Last week, the State Department reiterated the U.S. demand for the reporters immediate release. - Senator Ben Cardin, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called the arrests outrageous . It just brings back the memory of the horrible practices with the repressive military rule, he said. - Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Chris Coons, leaders of the U.S. Senate Human Rights Caucus, said they were gravely concerned about the reporters arrests and that press freedom was critical to ensuring accountability for violence against the Rohingya. - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kano said last week, Freedom of the press is extremely important, including in order to protect fundamental human rights. The Japanese government would like to watch (this matter) closely. Tokyo-based Human Rights Now has called on Japan to take a stronger stance. - The European Union has urged Myanmar to release the reporters as quickly as possible. A spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said, Freedom of the press and media is the foundation and a cornerstone of any democracy. - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said countries should do everything possible to secure the journalists release and press freedom in Myanmar. - Britain, Holland, Canada, Norway and Sweden have demanded the release of the Reuters reporters. Australia has expressed concern and Bangladesh has denounced the arrests. - Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said it was disturbing to hear of the detention of the two Reuters journalists. Press freedom is very important, she said in a tweet on Christmas Day. - Vijay Nambiar, former special adviser on Myanmar to the U.N. Secretary-General, said in a statement to Reuters that the detentions had caused widespread disappointment within and outside the country that is likely to further damage the international reputation and image of Myanmar. - President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani called on Myanmar to protect media freedoms and release the reporters. - The New York Times said in an editorial on Saturday that releasing the two journalists immediately would help restore at least some lost faith in Aung San Suu Kyi s government. - Human Rights Watch said the detentions appeared to be aimed at stopping independent reporting of the ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya. - The Committee to Protect Journalists said the arrests were having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance . - Reporters Without Borders said there was no justification for the arrests and the charges being considered against the journalists were completely spurious . - Advocacy group Fortify Rights demanded Myanmar immediately and unconditionally release the Reuters journalists. - Myanmar s Irrawaddy online news site called on Dec. 14 for the journalists release in an editorial headlined The Crackdown on the Media Must Stop. It said it is an outrage to see the Ministry of Information release a police record photo of reporters handcuffed as police normally do to criminals on its website soon after the detention. It is chilling to see that MOI has suddenly brought us back to the olden days of a repressive regime. - The Southeast Asian Press Alliance said the journalists were only doing their jobs in trying to fill the void of information on the Rohingya conflict. - The Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists, local reporters who have demonstrated against prosecutions of journalists, decried the unfair arrests that affect media freedom . - The Foreign Correspondents Club of Myanmar said it was appalled by the arrests and gravely concerned about press freedom in Myanmar. - The Foreign Correspondents Club in Thailand, Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club and Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong have issued statements supporting the journalists.","label":0}
{"text":"Russians didn t hack ANY votes. Period. #ComeyHearing pic.twitter.com\/yz6c76frz1 Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) March 20, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"From the very outset of Trump s improbable political career one thing has been abundantly clear: His contempt for the American soldier borders on pathological.While he occasionally gets goaded into praising the troops (with all the enthusiasm of a hostage held at gunpoint), the Republican nominee, who deferred his own military service in Vietnam a number of times, more often than not shows nothing but outright disgust for them. He famously accused John McCain of being a loser because he was captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese (while Trump was sitting out the war). He more recently used the military to avoid partaking in an uncomfortable primary debate and then refused to give veterans the money he raised until he was exposed.And now, in a moment that is sure to be Hillary Clinton s very next campaign ad, Trump accused unnamed Iraq War veterans of stealing millions of dollars from the U.S. government that was meant to help rebuild the war-torn country. If it s not immediately obvious, that would be a massive crime. Trump tossed around the accusation almost casually.Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, ladies and gentlemen: Iraq, crooked as hell. How about bringing baskets of money? Millions and millions of dollars and handing it out? I want to know, who were the soldiers who had that job? Because I think they re living very well right now. Trump, as could be expected, offers absolutely zero proof that this took place. Another conspiracy to add to his vault full of them.In fact, the soldiers who returned home from Iraq are not doing very well right now. Having served their country in a war without a clear objective, they got back to discover that the Republicans who sent them there now had no interest in helping them. Struggling with war injuries both physical and psychological, high rates of suicide and devastating unemployment, the veterans of the most wealthy nation on earth were kicked to the curb.In 2014, Senate Republicans unilaterally killed a sweeping $21 billion bill that would have expanded medical, educational and other benefits for these troops. Their reasoning? It s an entitlement that we cannot afford.Republicans have charged the bill was too expensive and disputed the way it would be paid for with overseas contingency operations funds used to fund the war in Afghanistan. And that, Republicans argued, wouldn t amount to real savings, since the money wouldn t have been spent anyway with the war winding down by year s end.If there were baskets of money sent to Iraq. It certainly doesn t seem like the troops who served there came home with any.Kudos to Donald Trump. In a week where one might have assumed accusing the President of the United States of helping ISIS was the lowest thing he could do, he managed to dig a little deeper. It s a wonder he has any supporters left.UPDATE: As expected, Donald Trump s campaign has rushed to do damage control. Spokesperson Hope Hicks claimed Trump was referring to Iraqi soldiers, not American ones. A blatant lie given the exact quote (go back and re-read it), but undermined even further by the fact that, as Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs noted, Trump has previously made a similar claim about American soldiers stealing money (as far back as 2015).He also suggested that some American soldiers charged with distributing money to fund the Afghan and Iraqi government embezzled it instead. I want to know who are the soldiers carrying suitcases with $50m? asked Trump. How stupid are we? I wouldn t be surprised if those soldiers, if the cash didn t get there. Trump doesn t even have the guts to stand by what he said. Sad!","label":1}
{"text":"Moscow is prepared to work with Pyongyang to try to find a peaceful resolution to the North Korean missile crisis, the Russian Foreign ministry said on Friday. The comments came in a statement issued by the ministry after a meeting between Russian ambassador-at-large Oleg Burmistrov and Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of North Korea s foreign ministry. Choe also met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, the ministry said. The Russian side confirmed its readiness to combine efforts in the interests of finding ways to solve the problems in the region by peaceful, political and diplomatic means, it said.","label":0}
{"text":"Unidentified attackers killed more than 30 cattle herders in the northeastern Nigerian state of Adamawa, a police spokesman said on Tuesday. The attack, in the Numan area of Adamawa, began on Sunday night and fighting continued into Monday morning, said Othman Abubakar, a police spokesman for the state, adding that an investigation was underway. He gave no further details. Earlier on Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed 50 worshippers during morning prayers in a mosque in the town of Mubi in northeastern Nigeria, police said, in one of the deadliest attacks in the region in years.","label":0}
{"text":"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's indignant dissents from the bench have turned her into a heroine of the left, beloved for methodically skewering her conservative colleagues. On the internet, she has become the Notorious R. B. G. But after being roundly criticized for a remarkable series of interviews in which she mocked Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Justice Ginsburg on Thursday did something highly unusual for a member of the nation's highest court: She admitted making a mistake. \"Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office,\" she wrote in a brief statement issued by the court, admitting her remarks were \"ill advised\" and expressing regret. \"In the future I will be more circumspect. \" A revered figure at some of the nation's most elite law schools since her appointment to the court in 1993, Justice Ginsburg, 83, flabbergasted many in the legal community when she called Mr. Trump a \"faker,\" and said she could not really imagine what it would be like if he became president. Barry Friedman, a professor of law at New York University who describes himself as a friend of Justice Ginsburg's, said her comments were a stark example of a breach in the neutrality that justices must adhere to. \"The price you pay for being on the bench is that you withdraw from politics,\" Mr. Friedman said. \"You need to be extremely circumspect. \" Mark Tushnet, a law professor at Harvard, said Justice Ginsburg's comments reflected the divisive nature of today's politics, which had already affected the legislative and executive branches of government. \"Maybe this is an example of how hyperpolarization affects the court,\" he said. In expressing her disdain for Mr. Trump, Justice Ginsburg was anything but circumspect, leading some to wonder whether, after 23 years at the court, she is looking toward a possible retirement after the presidential election. Shana Knizhnik, the of a biography titled \"Notorious R. B. G.: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,\" said the justice was well aware that her time on the bench would not last forever. But Ms. Knizhnik said she was still surprised by Justice Ginsburg's comments. \"She has always said she is going to do this job as long as she can do it full steam,\" Ms. Knizhnik said on Thursday. \"But from an actuarial standpoint, she sees that there aren't going to be too many more elections during her tenure. \" A legal advocate for most of her life, Justice Ginsburg made a name for herself when she represented the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in several landmark cases before the court on issues including gender discrimination, equal protection and due process. After serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for more than a dozen years, Justice Ginsburg was elevated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, becoming the second woman to serve there. Though a stalwart of the court's liberal bloc, she was hardly a household name. But that started to change in the last decade, as conservatives on the court more aggressively asserted their philosophy and Justice Ginsburg began reading fiery dissents. In a 2007 case about discrimination in the workplace, she said the court \"does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination. \" In 2013, she said that \"only an ostrich\" would believe that race would not continue to be a factor in university admissions despite the court's ruling in an affirmative action case. In a religious liberty case the next year, Justice Ginsburg said the majority on the court had endorsed a radical overhaul of corporate rights. Her dissent in that case, involving whether Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts store chain, must provide insurance coverage for contraception to its employees, went viral on the internet, spawning Facebook memes and even a tribute song on YouTube. Ms. Knizhnik's Tumblr site, Notorious R. B. G. sells coffee mugs, iPhone cases and tote bags with Justice Ginsburg's face on them. Ms. Knizhnik said the internet offered a caricature that exaggerated the liberal philosophy of Justice Ginsburg, who had formed a close personal bond with Justice Antonin Scalia, the court's most outspoken conservative before his death this year. \"The idea that she is this hyperpartisan is not true, even though certain people in political life paint her that way,\" Ms. Knizhnik said. \"She is very much about disagreeing agreeably. \" That may have been why her comments about Mr. Trump took her allies and critics by surprise. Mr. Trump lashed out at Justice Ginsburg after her comments, and she was criticized in editorials and by legal ethics experts. \"I think it's highly inappropriate that a United States Supreme Court judge gets involved in a political campaign, frankly,\" Mr. Trump said on Tuesday. \"I think it's a disgrace to the court, and I think she should apologize to the court. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. \" He later called on Justice Ginsburg to resign, something she did not respond to in her statement. Legal scholars said they could not remember a time that a sitting justice expressed regret publicly for something he or she said, though many justices have been known to socialize with political figures or to privately express their political preferences, only to have them reported in the media. Justice Scalia went hunting with Dick Cheney, the former vice president, even as he participated in cases involving Mr. Cheney's activities in government. On the night in 2000 when news networks initially reported that Al Gore had won the presidential election, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was said to have told friends at a dinner party that it was terrible news. Mr. Tushnet said the idea of what was acceptable political activity for a Supreme Court justice had evolved over time. In the early 1900s, it was not uncommon, he said, for justices to openly express their desire to run for president. Charles Evans Hughes resigned his seat on the court in 1916 to run for the White House. But norms have changed, Mr. Tushnet said. Now, Americans expect the justices to keep their opinions largely to themselves. \"My guess is that similar things occur today, but they are behind the scenes,\" Mr. Tushnet said. \"What's different about this was that it was in front, on the record. \" Mr. Friedman said Americans should not be na\u00efve by thinking that the justices do not have opinions. But he also criticized the current members of the court for being too willing to attend conferences with partisan leanings or too eager to grant interviews when they have a book to sell. \"This comment comes as a part of the culture of the justices being public figures instead of paying greater attention to the black robes they wear,\" he said. \"It is still their job to operate from a position of neutrality. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The White House on Friday said it had asked Congress for $44 billion in supplemental disaster assistance to help those hurt by recent hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands, far short of the aid some officials have called for. The White House said it expected to seek additional funds after a fuller analysis. U.S. Representative Frank Pallone and Senator Ron Wyden, both Democrats, called the request \"a dereliction of duty by the Trump administration to American citizens in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that need our help. \"This woefully inadequate funding request does not provide the necessary resources required to properly respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis,\" they added. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello asked for $94.4 billion to rebuild the U.S. territory's infrastructure. Texas was seeking $61 billion and Florida had asked for $27 billion. The $44 billion would be in addition to about $50 billion Congress previously approved for hurricane and disaster relief. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan that the $44 billion \"does not represent the final request\" for assistance for the victims, especially in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where needs were still being assessed. \"At this time, the administration is requesting an additional fiscal year 2018 funding in the amount of $44 billion and the necessary authorities to address ongoing recovery efforts,\" Mulvaney said in the letter. The administration also wants Congress to approve new tax relief for victims of recent California wildfires, which mirror what Congress awarded recently to hurricane victims. The White House also wants to make houses of worship eligible for disaster relief funding. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, on Thursday dismissed the latest request as \"wholly inadequate\" for his state. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders defended the request. \"Up until this point Texas has not put any state dollars into this process. We feel strongly that they should step up and play a role and work with the federal government in this process. We did a thorough assessment and that was completed and this was the number that we put forward to Congress today,\" she said. She said the new request \"primarily addresses Texas and Florida Those storms took place ahead of Puerto Rico. The assessment for Puerto Rico hasn't been completed yet. Once that's done, we fully anticipate that there will be additional requests at that time.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump hates the press, unless the press is the far-right wing rags that kiss his ass nonstop, and report only what he likes. On Friday, Sean Spicer held a press gaggle in his office and included some of those rags, while excluding established media outlets with long histories in the White House. The AP and TIME Magazine boycotted the gaggle in solidarity with The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and Politico.CNN and The New York Times hit back pretty hard, and the White House Correspondents Association likewise hit back. Now, with the White House Correspondents dinner coming up in a couple of months, Trump is yet again insulting the press. He just announced on Twitter he s not going to attend the dinner this year.I will not be attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017The president generally attends the dinner and gets up onstage to poke fun at himself and everyone in existence, and it s generally hilarious. Trump, however, is at war with the press as evidenced not just by Spicer s treatment of certain media outlets, but also by his own speech at CPAC, where he railed against the fake news media.He does it all the time on Twitter, too, and some press outlets are getting tired of it.As far as the dinner, CNN and MSNBC have indicated that they might not attend this year. Vanity Fair and The New Yorker have both announced they won t be there. A list of attendees hasn t been published yet, but we can probably expect more outlets to refuse to attend even if Trump isn t going to be there.Featured image by Olivier Douliery via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"A longtime Republican financial backer who attended a New York fundraiser held by Chris Christie for Donald Trump Thursday tells The Daily Caller that most Republican donors are on board with Trump, yet House Speaker Paul Ryan is hoping Trump loses so he can run in four years.The source tells TheDC that the reason Ryan has not been coming out strongly for Trump is because of his desire to run in four years. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has been fervently anti-Trump, also wants to run in four years, according to the longtime Republican backer. Romney will be 73 in 2020. Daily CallerOn Friday, the Clinton Campaign (Washington Post) released video of Donald Trump bragging about grabbing p*ssy in an off the record conversation with Billy Bush.The Los Angeles Times reported hours after audio was released of Donald Trump making sexually suggestive comments about a woman, that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan castigated Trump and said he would no longer attend their scheduled event on Saturday. I am sickened by what I heard today, Ryan said in a statement. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests. Paul Ryan was scheduled to campaign with Trump for the first time on Saturday. It never happened.On Sunday Donald Trump crushed Hillary Clinton in one of the most lopsided debates in political history. It was a brilliant performance. Trump made everyone forget about the WaPo tape.On Monday Paul Ryan sabotaged Donald Trump again and changed the political narrative.Ryan announced he will not campaign with or defend Donald Trump for the rest of the election cycle. This was an odd statement considering Paul Ryan has not once defended Donald Trump this year. He s only attacked Trump, the record-setting Republican primary winner.Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. suggested today that GOP elites may have leaked the video..@dansenor Writing about #BillyBush tapes, hearing your wife (ex NBC) got a hold of tapes and you pushed the story for your boss. Comment? Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) October 11, 2016https:\/\/twitter.com\/dansenor\/status\/785445216299978759Here s Paul Ryan caught on tape cozying up to rapist Bill Clinton:Now this There are rumors that Paul Ryan s close advisor #NeverTrumper Dan Senor is behind the leaks.I spoke with a reporter tonight who believes the reports are true. It was GOP elites who released the audio to the Washington Post.Dan Senor has been pushing the WaPo audio all day. He is determined to keep the story alive. And he s a Republican?https:\/\/twitter.com\/dansenor\/status\/785444757912838144","label":1}
{"text":"British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday the government has confidence in its relationship with the United States, and will continue to share intelligence with Britain's most important defense and security ally. President Donald Trump has defended his decision to discuss intelligence with the Russians during a White House meeting last week, saying he had an \"absolute right\" to share \"facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety\". \"Decisions about what President Trump discusses with anybody that he has in the White House is a matter for President Trump,\" May told a news conference when asked whether Trump's disclosure had made her reluctant to share intelligence with him. \"We continue to work with the United States and continue to share intelligence with the United States as we do with others around the world because we are all working together to deal with the threats that we face.\" The question came during a press briefing ahead of Britain's June 8 election, which polls show May is on course to win, and in which national security is seen as one of her political strengths. May is a former interior minister who spent six years in charge of the domestic security brief. May was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump following his inauguration, and has repeatedly reaffirmed the special relationship between the two countries: a military and economic alliance dating back to 19th century. Trump has endured a week of tumult at the White House after he fired the head of the FBI and then discussed sensitive national security information about Islamic State with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. But, May said she remained confident in the special relationship, highlighting the need to cooperate with the United States and other allies to counter the security threats posed by Islamic State and al-Qaeda. \"We continue to work together and we have confidence in that relationship between us and the United States that it helps to keep us all safer,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"Fears of purges of personnel based on ideology have now reached the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security after a new, unusual request from the Donald Trump transition team has surfaced. The incoming Trump team is demanding a list of names for some reason.U.S. President-elect Donald Trump s transition team has asked two Cabinet departments for the names of government officials working on programs to counter violent extremism, according to a document seen by Reuters and U.S. officials.The requests to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security involve a set of programs that seek to prevent violence by extremists of any stripe, including recruitment by militant Islamist groups within the United States and abroad.Reuters could not determine why the Trump team asked for these names. The Trump team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trump has often attacked President Obama and his team, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for not being tougher on extremists. Often this critique has included the complaint that Obama and his subordinates do not explicitly blame the Islamic faith, rather than point out how extremists deviate from mainstream Islam.It is certainly plausible that the Trump team is considering some way in which to remove those who differ from their ideology from the permanent bureaucracy once they assume power. Such a purge of those seen to be disloyal would be in line with the authoritarian mindset that Trump has so often embraced during the campaign.Trump has also issued a similar demand to the Department of Energy, asking for the names of those who worked on the Obama administration s climate change policy. The Department refused the request, and the Obama White House expressed concerns that the Trump team was trying to target civil servants like scientists and lawyers. Eventually facing bad headlines, the Trump team disavowed the purge request.","label":1}
{"text":"Monday was in many ways typical for the comedy shows, with network hosts like CBS's Stephen Colbert and NBC's Seth Meyers performing pointed satirical monologues about Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his many years spent propagating lies about President Obama's birthplace. But Samantha Bee, on her TBS cable series, \"Full Frontal,\" took aim at a different target, condemning the NBC network and its host Jimmy Fallon for putting Mr. Trump on \"The Tonight Show. \" She faulted Mr. Fallon for conducting a genial, interview on Thursday, even as Mr. Trump had refused that day in other interviews to acknowledge that Mr. Obama was born in the United States. \"Network execs, and a lot of their audience, can ignore how very dangerous Trump is because to them, he isn't,\" Ms. Bee said on her show. \"They're not going to be deported. They're not going to live under a president who thinks of them as a collection of sex toys. \"They're not racist. They just don't mind if other people are, which is just as bad. \" It's one thing to make fun of Mr. Trump, who said on Friday that Mr. Obama \"was born in the United States, period. \" It's another to criticize a network or Mr. Fallon, who is typically not held up to such scrutiny, partly because of his amiable personality and the perception that his \"Tonight Show\" (which draws more than three million viewers a night, the most in its category) is a place for nonpartisan diversions. He and rival hosts like Mr. Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel try to avoid criticizing one another in public. NBC declined to comment on Tuesday, and Mr. Fallon has not spoken publicly on his conversation with Mr. Trump, except in a short TMZ. com interview, in which Mr. Fallon says on camera: \"Have you seen my show? I'm never too hard on anyone. \" But Mr. Fallon took plenty of criticism for the Thursday interview, and Ms. Bee's monologue was perhaps the bluntest denunciation of it so far. On a day in which Mr. Trump continued to give ambiguous answers on whether he still supported his false birtherist theory, Mr. Fallon asked him mostly uncontroversial questions and playfully ran his fingers through Mr. Trump's hair. Playing off that image, Ms. Bee said sarcastically, \"Aw, Trump can be a total sweetheart with someone who has no reason to be terrified of him. \" Jo Miller, an executive producer of \"Full Frontal,\" said in an interview on Tuesday that seeing the cozy behavior between Mr. Fallon and Mr. Trump \"was a punch in the gut. \" Ms. Miller said that she and her \"Full Frontal\" colleagues \"love Jimmy. \" She added, \"Who doesn't love Jimmy?\" But, she said, Mr. Fallon's ingratiating treatment of Mr. Trump is \"a problem because we love him. \" \"If he thinks that a demagogue is O. K. that gives permission to millions of Americans to also think that,\" she continued. Ms. Miller, who came with Ms. Bee from Comedy Central's news satire \"The Daily Show,\" said she has no problem \"showing candidates and public servants as human beings, and I think there needs to be more of that. \" \"That said,\" Ms. Miller added, \"this is not a race between Democrat and Republican \u2014 this is a race between Democrat and demagogue. You don't normalize someone who's inciting violence. \" The \"Full Frontal\" segment about Mr. Fallon and NBC had been touched off when Ms. Miller received a text early Friday morning from Travon Free, a former writer for \"The Daily Show\" who now works on HBO's \"Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons. \" The text from Mr. Free included a picture of Mr. Fallon caressing Mr. Trump's coiffure, and an urgent, slightly vulgar message exhorting Ms. Miller and Ms. Bee to address the subject on their show. \"That was the first I heard of it,\" Ms. Miller said. \"I was like, What? This didn't happen. \" Mr. Free said on Tuesday in a phone interview that, other than Ms. Bee, \"I knew no one would do it, because it's just this buddy culture among the hosts in that category. \" Mr. Free added: \"If Jimmy Fallon was my friend, we would have had a real conversation. Not being cool with what he did on his show doesn't make you his enemy. \" Echoing Ms. Bee's monologue, Ms. Miller said that Mr. Fallon did not deserve all the blame, and that NBC was more culpable for providing Mr. Trump a platform as the star of its reality shows \"The Apprentice\" and \"The Celebrity Apprentice. \" Even after NBC said in June 2015 that it was firing Mr. Trump for \"derogatory statements\" at his presidential announcement, in which he referred to Mexican immigrants as \"rapists\" and \"murderers,\" the network continued to feature him on \"The Tonight Show\" and \"Saturday Night Live. \" Ms. Miller pointed out that there is still an awkward relationship between Mr. Trump and NBC, where the \"Today\" show host Matt Lauer was criticized for going too easy on him in a presidential forum, and Mr. Trump has expressed skepticism of the NBC \"Nightly News\" anchor Lester Holt, who will moderate the first presidential debate. She drew a distinction between the broader categories of political satire programs like \"Full Frontal\" and talk shows that can only engage their guests in harmless banter. \"It's not their job to be political satirists and to shake people by their shoulders and say, 'Look at this thing \u2014 do you think it's O. K.?'\" Ms. Miller said. \"That's our job. \" Ms. Miller said it would be helpful to hear her message reinforced by white men in her field. Otherwise, she said, \"It becomes, 'Oh, you see everything through the lens of sexism,' or, 'Not everything has to be about race. '\" \"To me, this is just about decency,\" she said. On Monday night, meanwhile, Mr. Fallon's \"Tonight Show\" guests included Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. Going through items that they said belonged to Mr. Trump, Ms. Clinton offered Mr. Fallon something that she said Mr. Trump had left behind for him: a bag of softballs. Mr. Fallon responded, \"That was my gift to him. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The Trump administration's search for a new FBI director hit roadblocks on Tuesday when two high-profile potential candidates, a moderate judge and a conservative senator, signaled they did not want the job. Advisers to Judge Merrick Garland and U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas told Reuters they discouraged them from leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation, cautioning that they would be leaving important, secure jobs for one fraught with politics and controversy. The advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the new FBI director would have little job security and heightened scrutiny by political observers following President Donald Trump's abrupt firing of James Comey on May 9. Garland and Cornyn distancing themselves from the selection process just three days before Trump has said he may make a decision, points to the difficulties the White House has in filling the FBI post amid turmoil in the administration. Trump's firing of Comey, the man in charge of an investigation into possible collusion between 2016 election campaign associates and the Russian government, outraged many lawmakers, including some Republicans. Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, \"loves his job and is not interested in leaving the judiciary,\" said one source familiar with the judge's thinking. Cornyn said in a statement that he had informed the White House that \"the best way I can serve is continuing to fight for a conservative agenda in the U.S. Senate.\" White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday that an announcement on FBI director was still possible before Trump leaves on his first foreign trip on Friday. He said the U.S. Department of Justice was still interviewing candidates. Several Republican senators had promoted Garland even though they had refused to give him a hearing when Republican Trump's predecessor President Barack Obama, a Democrat, nominated Garland last year for a then-vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Republicans' reasoning appeared to be that Garland would be accepted by Democrats and help restore faith in the FBI as a nonpartisan agency. In an interview on Bloomberg Television, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell referred to Garland, a former federal prosecutor, as \"an apolitical professional.\" A second Garland acquaintance who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Garland sought advice from those who told him he would be leaving his life-long position on the federal bench to take a job that could be terminated by Trump overnight. A Republican Senate aide said Cornyn's staff also worried that the third-term Texas Senator could cut his- and their own- careers short by going to the FBI. An adviser to another candidate on the White House short-list, former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, 75, said Kelly is also being persuaded to step out of the running. Kelly has not said that he would not consider the job, but so far he has not been interviewed. Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor whose name had been floated, said on Monday he was not interested in the director position. The difficulty in filling key administration jobs is not just limited to the FBI director post. Trump's habits of contradicting his top aides, demanding personal loyalty and punishing officials who contradict him in public has discouraged a number of experienced people from pursuing jobs, said three people who declined to discuss possible positions with administration officials. \"It's becoming increasingly difficult to attract good people to work in this administration,\" said one senior official. \"In other cases, veteran people with expertise are leaving or seeking posts overseas and away from this White House.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans a closed briefing and a public hearing on the Russia hacking issue as soon as the Senate returns from its year-end recess in the first week of January, a spokeswoman said. \"The committee plans to systematically look at this issue and will begin with both a classified briefing and an open hearing in early January when the Senate returns,\" said Micah Johnson, a spokeswoman for the panel's Republican chairman, Senator Bob Corker.","label":0}
{"text":"They came close in Iowa, but just fell short of claiming victory. Tuesday night in New Hampshire was a different story. The political outsiders have taken control of this election. Donald Trump won Tuesday night's Republican primary in New Hampshire. By a margin of 34 percent to 16 percent for John Kasich, Trump proved that his slogan of \"Make America Great Again\" resonates with voters \u2013 in a big way. On the Democratic side, self proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders edged Hillary Clinton out by 20 percentage points. His message railing against the rigged economy, special interests that control Washington and pledging to give Americans universal healthcare and free college tuition brought together a larger coalition of young voters than the one Barack Obama built in 2008. To my mind, Tuesday night's results show that there are finally politicians who understand how marginalized, disenfranchised and betrayed a majority of Americans feel. It's both Republicans and Democrats, including the 42 percent of Americans who now identify as independent because they think the two parties don't represent their values and positions. We are seeing a full scale rejection of the political establishment. This is a threat that we did not take seriously enough over the past few years, as evidenced by the fact that most rejected Trump as a clown and a joke. His ideas on illegal immigration and placing a temporary ban on Muslims ruffled our national feathers even though a majority of Republican primary voters agreed with him. That's how out of touch our political class has become. Indeed, 46 percent of GOP voters say they feel betrayed by Republican politicians. Trump won 32 percent of that group. We did the same thing to Bernie Sanders who began this race upwards of 50 points behind Hillary Clinton. We said a socialist could never win. And he may not be able to win a national election, but we are seeing an electorate so starved for an honest and trustworthy politician that they will make allowances for ideologies that they may not have considered before. Sanders has argued about oligarchy and money in politics and has been his whole career. He doesn't flip flop or evolve on his advocacy for the average American. Sanders is just Bernie Sanders. And Donald Trump is just Donald Trump. We are living in a time when trust in Americans institutions has collapsed. A recent Pew survey shows that less than 20 percent of Americans trust the government always or most of the time. And a CNN poll showed that 60 percent think the American Dream is unachievable today. Against this backdrop, it's no surprise that America is in revolt. Honesty and trustworthiness matters more than whether a candidate has experience or can win in November according to voters. And the establishment isn't delivering anything resembling what the American populace desires in their political leaders. I see a clearer path to the nomination for Trump than for Sanders, but there is no doubt that Americans have spoken and they're done with business as usual. Douglas E. Schoen has served as a pollster for President Bill Clinton. He has more than 30 years experience as a pollster and political consultant. He is also a Fox News contributor and co-host of \"Fox News Insiders\" Sundays on Fox News Channel at 7 pm ET. He is the author of 12 books. His latest is \"The Nixon Effect: How Richard Nixon's Presidency Fundamentally Changed American Politics\" (Encounter Books, February 2016). Follow Doug on Twitter @DouglasESchoen.","label":0}
{"text":"Home | Health | Hook Up Sites Tinder and Grindr Good For Population Control Hook Up Sites Tinder and Grindr Good For Population Control By Girolamo Fracastoro 30\/10\/2016 22:17:24  LONDON \u2013 England \u2013 News that there has been a massive spike in syphilis amongst users of Tinder and Grindr is welcome news to many who are seriously concerned with over population.  Because syphilis can stay mainly undetected if untreated it can remain latent in the body for years. In the late stages of syphilis, the disease damages the internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones and joints leading to early death.  Antibiotics are increasingly becoming redundant due to overuse and the WHO has warned of a coming cataclysmic disaster where many ailments are untreatable due to resistance.  \"These people are spreading STIs around like candy and soon their diseases will not be treatable. It works both ways, deaths from syphilis and gonorrhoea will eventually cull these populations thinning the herd,\" a clinical insider revealed.  What about HIV? Unfortunately it has not had the effect in population reduction that was needed. Although it is still prevalent amongst the gay population, it needs to make more in roads into the heterosexual population to become effective in reducing the population numbers.  Since the discovery of HIV\/AIDS it has only killed 36 million, considering the global population is 7.5 billion and growing, it's a drop in the ocean.  We must therefore encourage more sites like Tinder and Grindr, the more the better. These sites peddle death to the stupid, and less stupid people on earth can only be a very good thing.  App developers need to make in roads in creating more hookup apps tailored not only for the developed world but for the third world, especially nations like China and India as well as the African continent, where population growth is beyond unsustainable.  Once STDs like syphilis explode in these regions, which are wholly untreatable, they will continue to spread like wildfire.  The creators of Tinder and Grindr should be commended for their great works, you have fired the starting gun in the race to reduce the global population before it is too late. Promiscuous risky sexual encounters should be encouraged at all junctures to spread STIs.  Finite resources are being permanently depleted daily, and it is only a matter of time before the Malthusian nightmare is upon us. Estimated projections for global population growth are 11.2 billion by 2023 according to the UN.  This cannot be allowed to happen, so please go on Tinder and Grindr now, and do your bit. You can catch chlamydia, genital warts, HIV, syphilis and gonorrhoea, maybe all at the same time. Share on :","label":1}
{"text":"One Donald Trump supporter just realized that she voted for the wrong candidate.Teena Colebrook knew she had made a terrible error in judgment after Donald Trump picked former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin to head the Treasury Department. I just wish that I had not voted, Colebrook said. I have no faith in our government anymore at all. They all promise you the world at the end of a stick and take it away once they get in. Colebrook believed Trump when he said he would drain the swamp, his term for getting rid of all the Washington insiders and elites. She believed he would keep his promise to look after and take care of ordinary Americans like herself. But Trump s choice of a billionaire big Wall Street banker changed her mind about Trump.Colebrook bought a triplex in 1998 in Los Angeles for $248,000. She rented out two units to make extra income and lived in the third. She kept up the payments but then the recession hit and her two tenants lost their jobs.According to the Associated Press,Over five years, she tried unsuccessfully to adjust her loan with OneWest through the Treasury Department s Home Affordable Modification Program. But she said that One West Bank lost paperwork, provided conflicting statements about ownership of the loan and fees and submitted charges that were unverified and caused her loan balance to balloon. By the time she lost her home in foreclosure in April 2015, the payoff balance totaled $517,662.OneWest Bank was owned by Steven Mnuchin, and Colebrook is not the only person he screwed over. Two years ago, Mnuchin s vulture bank literally tried to take a house away from a 90-year-old woman over a 27 cent bill.That s how petty and greedy Mnuchin is, and that makes him unfit to be in a position that is supposed to serve the American people and protect them from economic predators like himself.Featured Image: Screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"How did we ever get to the point where we would even consider electing a woman who is the most well-known liar in America? The media has been buzzing since what many consider an inappropriate private conversation that Donald J. Trump had with another man 11 years ago was released. Funny how the media is willing to gloss over a shameful career of a congenital liar simply because her last name is Clinton (wife of the former President Bill Clinton who was impeached for lying under oath to a Grand Jury) and because she comes equipped with the right genitatlia Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation is a congenital liar.Drip by drip, like Whitewater torture, the case is being made that she is compelled to mislead, and to ensnare her subordinates and friends in a web of deceit.1. Remember the story she told about studying The Wall Street Journal to explain her 10,000 percent profit in 1979 commodity trading? We now know that was a lie told to turn aside accusations that as the Governor s wife she profited corruptly, her account being run by a lawyer for state poultry interests through a disreputable broker.She lied for good reason: To admit otherwise would be to confess taking, and paying taxes on, what some think amounted to a $100,000 bribe.2. The abuse of Presidential power known as Travelgate elicited another series of lies. She induced a White House lawyer to assert flatly to investigators that Mrs. Clinton did not order the firing of White House travel aides, who were then harassed by the F.B.I. and Justice Department to justify patronage replacement by Mrs. Clinton s cronies.Now we know, from a memo long concealed from investigators, that there would be hell to pay if the furious First Lady s desires were scorned. The career of the lawyer who transmitted Hillary s lie to authorities is now in jeopardy. Again, she lied with good reason: to avoid being identified as a vindictive political power player who used the F.B.I. to ruin the lives of people standing in the way of juicy patronage.3. In the aftermath of the apparent suicide of her former partner and closest confidant, White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster, she ordered the overturn of an agreement to allow the Justice Department to examine the files in the dead man s office. Her closest friends and aides, under oath, have been blatantly disremembering this likely obstruction of justice, and may have to pay for supporting Hillary s lie with jail terms.Again, the lying was not irrational. Investigators believe that damning records from the Rose Law Firm, wrongfully kept in Vincent Foster s White House office, were spirited out in the dead of night and hidden from the law for two years in Hillary s closet, in Web Hubbell s basement before his felony conviction, in the President s secretary s personal files before some were forced out last week.Why the White House concealment? For good reason: The records show Hillary Clinton was lying when she denied actively representing a criminal enterprise known as the Madison S.& L., and indicate she may have conspired with Web Hubbell s father-in-law to make a sham land deal that cost taxpayers $3 million.Why the belated release of some of the incriminating evidence? Not because it mysteriously turned up in offices previously searched. Certainly not because Hillary Clinton and her new hang-tough White House counsel want to respond fully to lawful subpoenas.One reason for the Friday-night dribble of evidence from the White House is the discovery by the F.B.I. of copies of some of those records elsewhere. When Clinton witnesses are asked about specific items in lost records which investigators have the White House finds its copy and releases it. By concealing the Madison billing records two days beyond the statute of limitations, Hillary evaded a civil suit by bamboozled bank regulators.Another reason for recent revelations is the imminent turning of former aides and partners of Hillary against her; they were willing to cover her lying when it advanced their careers, but are inclined to listen to their own lawyers when faced with perjury indictments.Therefore, ask not Why didn t she just come clean at the beginning? She had good reasons to lie; she is in the longtime habit of lying; and she has never been called to account for lying herself or in suborning lying in her aides and friends.No wonder the President is fearful of holding a prime-time press conference. Having been separately deposed by the independent counsel at least twice, the President and First Lady would be well advised to retain separate defense counsel. New York Times","label":1}
{"text":"License DMCA  The United States is so committed to the notion that its electoral process is the world's \"gold standard\" that there has been a bipartisan determination to maintain the fiction even when evidence is overwhelming that a U.S. presidential election has been manipulated or stolen. The \"wise men\" of the system simply insist otherwise.  We have seen this behavior when there are serious questions of vote tampering (as in Election 1960) or when a challenger apparently exploits a foreign crisis to create an advantage over the incumbent (as in Elections 1968 and 1980) or when the citizens' judgment is overturned by judges (as in Election 2000).  Strangely, in such cases, it is not only the party that benefited which refuses to accept the evidence of wrongdoing, but the losing party and the establishment news media as well. Protecting the perceived integrity of the U.S. democratic process is paramount. Americans must continue to believe in the integrity of the system even when that integrity has been violated.  The harsh truth is that pursuit of power often trumps the principle of an informed electorate choosing the nation's leaders, but that truth simply cannot be recognized.  Of course, historically, American democracy was far from perfect, excluding millions of people, including African-American slaves and women. The compromises needed to enact the Constitution in 1787 also led to distasteful distortions, such as counting slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of representation (although obviously slaves couldn't vote). - Advertisement -  That unsavory deal enabled Thomas Jefferson to defeat John Adams in the pivotal national election of 1800. In effect, the votes of Southern slave owners like Jefferson counted substantially more than the votes of Northern non-slave owners.  Even after the Civil War when the Constitution was amended to give black men voting rights, the reality for black voting, especially in the South, was quite different from the new constitutional mandate. Whites in former Confederate states concocted subterfuges to keep blacks away from the polls to ensure continued white supremacy for almost a century.  Women did not gain suffrage until 1920 with the passage of another constitutional amendment, and it took federal legislation in 1965 to clear away legal obstacles that Southern states had created to deny the franchise to blacks.  Indeed, the alleged voter fraud in Election 1960, concentrated largely in Texas, a former Confederate state and home to John Kennedy's vice presidential running mate, Lyndon Johnson, could be viewed as an outgrowth of the South's heritage of rigging elections in favor of Democrats, the post-Civil War party of white Southerners.  However, by pushing through civil rights for blacks in the 1960s, Kennedy and Johnson earned the enmity of many white Southerners who switched their allegiance to the Republican Party via Richard Nixon's Southern strategy of coded racial messaging. Nixon also harbored resentments over what he viewed as his unjust defeat in the election of 1960. - Advertisement -  Nixon's \"Treason\"  So, by 1968, the Democrats' once solid South was splintering, but Nixon, who was again the Republican presidential nominee, didn't want to leave his chances of winning what looked to be another close election to chance. Nixon feared that -- with the Vietnam War raging and the Democratic Party deeply divided -- President Johnson could give the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a decisive boost by reaching a last-minute peace deal with North Vietnam. President Richard Nixon with his then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in 1972. License DMCA  The documentary and testimonial evidence is now clear that to avert a peace deal, Nixon's campaign went behind Johnson's back to persuade South Vietnamese President Nguyen van Thieu to torpedo Johnson's Paris peace talks by refusing to attend. Nixon's emissaries assured Thieu that a President Nixon would continue the war and guarantee a better outcome for South Vietnam.","label":1}
{"text":"We'll get to the GOP debate momentarily. But first, a word about the Republicans' odyssey and oddity this past year. Welcome to the most volatile Republican presidential race in modern times. The upper 66 percent of last year's field is either out of the running or running on fumes. The top 74 percent in the current field is five times larger than its 15 percednt share of a year ago. And 2016? It may only add to the confusion. On to the main event and what transpired Tuesday night at The Venetian Las Vegas. The good news: It was smaller grouping than the last time CNN\/Salem Radio ran the show (nine candidates, down two from September's gathering at the Reagan Presidential Library). And it was truncated \u2013 40 minutes less than September's three-hour debate from hell). Still, CNN was plagued by the same problems as before: a candidates' forum that was too long, too lumbering, and too laxly herded. Here are seven observations from this, the final Republican debate of 2015: 1. No One Trumped Trump. It wasn't for a lack of effort. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul ripped into Donald Trump less than 30 seconds into the debate's start over Internet policy. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tut-tutted: \"You're not going to insult your way to the presidency.\" What they don't get: Trump didn't earn the center spot on the stage courtesy of profound thinking or refined elegance. Better to construct one's own case, rather than try to deconstruct The Donald. Blame it on the candidates' approach and Wolf Blitzer's herky-jerky style of questioning (like watching a 16-year-old drive a stick-shift for the first time): how many of Trump's rivals made a lasting impression as to how they'd defeat ISIS and protect the homeland? 2. The Cage Match. At various points, Paul took swings at Trump, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The libertarians in the crowd loved it, but the candidate came across as desperate \u2013 for attention and a lifeline for a campaign struggling to stay afloat. The dust-up that the media wanted but didn't get: Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Both were too smart to take the bait. Cruz didn't expound on his differences with Trump over the Muslim immigration ban or a previous comment suggesting he thought Trump lacked a presidential temperament. Trump expressed \"great respect\" for the other candidates on the stage and ruled out an independent run (the night's biggest news). Time will tell whether what Trump said in Vegas stayed in Vegas. Cruz did have some momentary tussles \u2013 with Rubio over Senate votes (always a good way to put an audience to sleep). And Trump: his testiest moments came in a personal back-and-forth with Bush over demeanor and poll numbers. 3. Executive Order. It was a national security debate long on tough talk about leadership skills, which would seem an opening for the two sitting governors looking for a leg-up in this race: Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Did either succeed? Not quite. For Christie, the problem was numbers. Yes, he had some good moments connecting national security to his New Jersey heritage. However, nine candidates and a round-robin style of Q&A too often reduced Christie to interjecting himself into the debate to remind viewers of just how vapid senators can be (Carly Fiorina also went down this path, at several points jumping into the cross-talk to bemoan the awfulness of the political class). As for Kasich, it's a matter of rhetorical substance abuse. Three governors past and present have departed the race. A fourth, Bush, is struggling to stay relevant. It's a political climate in which the Republican base isn't impressed by resumes, yet Kasich continues to recite a long Washington biography. Oh(io) the humanity. 4. Auld Lang Syne. And so ends the GOP's debate circuit for 2015. Next up: a Jan. 14 debate in North Charleston, S.C., hosted by the Fox Business Network. 5. At a time when many a college student is taking semester finals, this debate had the vibe of that last exam of the week before an extended break. Tempers were short; the candidates seemed tired of sharing the same oxygen. 6. Debate winners, if we must: Trump and Cruz, for playing mostly error-free ball. 7. Debate losers: anyone who lost their place in line for the \"Star Wars\" premiere by staying home to watch a mostly uneventful debate. Bill Whalen is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where he analyzes California and national politics. He also blogs daily on the 2016 election at www.adayattheracesblog.com. Follow him on Twitter @hooverwhalen.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s project that is supposedly converting the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C. is the subject of a Labor Department investigation. It is being alleged that workers on the site are being paid less than what is mandated under federal law.The Labor Department confirmed to POLITICO that it s looking into allegations of wage-rule violations by the Craftsmen Group, a Trump Organization subcontractor that restores windows. And workers on the site, including one Craftsmen Group employee, told POLITICO that they and others aren t receiving pay rates mandated by law. Two of them produced pay stubs to support their claims.Trump s refurbishment of the Romanesque pile, built in 1899, into a luxury hotel is his highest-profile real estate project, if only because the historic structure is situated just a few blocks from the White House. Trump staged a campaign event at the construction site in March, blending presidential politics with commerce. When it s completed, he said, it will be truly one of the great hotels of the world. Trump s contract with the federal government for the site is actually structured so that Trump is actually leasing it from the government. That means wages on the site are set by federal law, which requires all workers union or not on the site to be paid the prevailing wage set in the area by labor unions.A sign at the Trump site pointed out that glaziers, the workers installing shower doors, should be paid between $24.30 to $27.64 an hour. But their paystubs show them earning way less between $13 to $16 an hour almost half of what the law requires.Trump has been slammed recently for repeatedly underpaying contractors who have done work on his properties, and in some instances not paying them at all for the work they ve done for him and his companies. Trump claimed that he was completely justified in stiffing workers.","label":1}
{"text":"Between Hollywood and our elected officials, it s hard to keep track of who has the worst record when it comes to being a disgusting hypocrite When President Trump was running for office, Alabama s Republican Governor Robert Bentley was one of the first politicians to announce that he would not support him over the exposed private conversation he had with a guy on a bus about a woman. He proudly claimed his support would be given to Governor Kashich of Ohio AP Bentley comments came as state Alabama U.S. Reps. Martha Roby and Bradley Byrne, on Saturday called for Trump to step aside from the GOP ticket. Trump is under fire for his remarks about him groping women in a 2005 recording.Roby was one of the first Republicans to speak out against Trump on Saturday, leading what would soon be a chorus of voices against the GOP nominee. Now, it is abundantly clear that the best thing for our country and our party is for Trump to step aside and allow a responsible, respectable Republican to lead the ticket, Roby said in a statement. Hillary Clinton must not be president, but, with Trump leading the ticket she will be. But that was yesterday before anyone knew what a hypocrite scumbag Governor Bentley was.In June 2014, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and first lady Dianne Bentley agreed to a divorce settlement, ending their 50-year marriage, the governor s office said Monday.The settlement was filed just four weeks after the first lady filed for divorce, saying their marriage had suffered an irretrievable breakdown. The governor said he has asked a judge to unseal the case file so the public and media can see it. CBS NewsAfter a tumultuous day in Montgomery, Governor Robert Bentley has resigned from office. The time has come for me to look at new ways to serve the people of our great state. I have decided it is time for me to step down as Alabama s governor. This comes hours after a House committee began impeachment hearings, and about one hour after Bentley was booked in the Montgomery County Jail on misdemeanor charges. He pleaded guilty to the charges.","label":1}
{"text":"The United States on Tuesday condemned the slaying of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and said the FBI had responded to Malta s request for assistance in investigating the car bomb attack that killed her. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States condemned the appalling violence that took place against her in the strongest terms, calling it a cowardly attack against a reporter who was dedicated to fighting corruption. We responded quickly to the prime minister s request for assistance. The government of Malta and Malta police force have been in contact with the FBI about the investigation and the FBI is providing specific assistance, said Nauert, who called for a thorough, transparent and independent probe.","label":0}
{"text":"Carol Adl in News , World \/\/ 1 Comment  Spain is having to review its decision to allow Russian warships to refuel at one of its ports amid international outrage.  \"The latest stopover requests are being reviewed at the moment based on the information we are receiving from our allies and from Russian authorities,\" the Spanish foreign ministry said.  A naval fleet headed by the Admiral Kuznetzov aircraft carrier, which passed through the English Channel last week, was expected to dock this morning in the autonomous enclave of Ceuta to take on fuel and supplies under a permit issued by Spain's Foreign Ministry.  NATO, the British government & EU officials have expressed anger even though Spain says Russia's warships have been mooring there \"for years.\"  The Independent reports:  Asked about Spain's role in supplying the fleet, Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato Secretary-General, said he was \"concerned\".  \"I have expressed that very clearly about potential use of this battle group to increase Russia's ability and to be a platform for airstrikes against Syria,\" he added.  \"I repeat those concerns today and I believe that all Nato allies are aware that this battle group can be used to conduct airstrikes against Aleppo and Syria.\"  Guy Verhofstadt, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament, called Spain's decision \"scandalous\".  He wrote on Twitter: \"Spain signed EU statement on Russian war crimes in Aleppo last week \u2013 today [Tuesday] helps refuel fleet on way to commit more atrocities. Seriously?\"  The UK said that although access to Spanish ports was a matter for local authorities, concerns had been raised.  \"Her Majesty's government has previously expressed concerns to the Spanish government about its hospitality to the Russian navy when we have concerns about Russia's military activity,\" a British Government spokesperson said.  Spain, a Nato member, regularly allows Russian war ships to stop in its enclave of Ceuta, which borders Morocco at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea.  A spokesperson for the foreign ministry told El Pais permission was granted on a case-by-case basis depending on the ship in question and possibly security risks.  \"We are looking at the latest [supply] stops requested based on information requested by Russian authorities,\" he added.  Intense international media coverage has followed the fleet's progress from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, with Royal Navy ships tracking it through the Channel.","label":1}
{"text":"Paul Ryan and the Republican leadership are rolling out plans to keep wages stagnant in America for the foreseeable future. A $23 billion cut is aimed at eliminating food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to people on unemployment who are either in school or job training. It s an age-old GOP tactic. Eliminate the help for people who are looking to do better and they are forced out of school or training and into minimum wage jobs.Once they get there, the Republicans can claim they re teenagers living at home for free and it s their own fault for settling for a minimum wage job when all they have to do is go back to school or get some training. And the cycle continues. According to Roll Call:Republican leaders have proposed more than $23 billion in food stamp cuts in a budget plan that could be brought to the House floor in the next two weeks, several sources say.The proposed changes in the food stamp, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, include the end of waivers that allow some adults to receive assistance for a limited amount of time, while they are in school, or training for a job.$23 billion in cuts to food for people. Is there nowhere else we could look for $23 billion dollars? How over budget is that fighter jet program again? We re not talking about handing people cash outside a liquor store here; we re talking about food. All the BS about fraud and dependence and still one in four children in this country struggle with food. Republicans have been after the food stamp program for no reason other than to keep people as desperate as possible.Just imagine if Donald Trump is elected with a Republican majority in Congress. Food will be distributed to the poor in the streets in the form of bags of flour and rice and maybe some milk and whey to make cheese. OK, maybe that s a little extreme. There won t be any free food. Certainly in a Trumptopian society, the poor will stay out of sight where they belong.Featured image from foodsecuritychallenge.com","label":1}
{"text":"Bill Maher is not shy about what he thinks of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Maher unleashed a 6 minute destruction of the billionaire demagogue, at one point calling him a pu**y and a whiny little bit*h, saying that Trump fit American stereotypes about 1950 s housewives. Maher said: Never forget, Lady Trump, that Hillary Clinton was born a woman. But you chose to live your life as a whiny little b*tch. Which is why, if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, I ll be voting for the only one who has balls. Maher continued: And like a daffy housewife of the 50s, Trump can t balance a checkbook. In a skit where Maher appeared to voice bewilderment and frustration that someone like Donald Trump actually has a shot at the presidency, Maher pointed to his personal experiences with the GOP demagogue, including the time Trump sued him for challenging him to prove he was not the son of an orangutan in response to Trump s birther rhetoric about President Barack Obama.Maher also criticized Trump s business dealings, pointing to his failures: Trump Airlines, Trump Casinos, Trump University, Trump Steaks. He s got the Midas touch if every time Midas touched something it exploded. Maher is able to sum up the absurdity that is Donald Trump. It s important that we do all we can to make sure he doesn t become president by going out and voting this November.Watch video here:[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WB4sGX0R5ak]","label":1}
{"text":"Conservatives would be so pissed if this actually happened.In what would perhaps be the most entertaining Supreme Court nominating process in American history, a petition is circulating asking President Obama to nominate Anita Hill to replace recently deceased Justice Antonin Scalia on the bench.Hill is most remembered for her courageous testimony against current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings in 1991. Hill testified that Thomas made unwanted sexual advances toward her during his stint as supervisor at the Department of Education. Despite her passing a lie detector test while he refused to take one, the Senate still confirmed Thomas 52-48 in the narrowest margin since the 1800s after other women were denied the chance to testify in support of Hill.Thomas and his conservative supporters, of course, demonized Hill, accusing her of being used by white liberals to cut down an uppity black with a high-tech lynching. But while Hill may seem to be a controversial choice to fill Scalia s seat on the high court, it s not out of the realm of possibility, nor does she lack the qualifications.Hill is an experienced attorney who also serves as University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women s Studies at Brandeis University. The 59-year-old attended Oklahoma State University and Yale Law School. She is one of the most prominent experts in her field and certainly possesses the legal and academic chops to serve on the Supreme Court.Furthermore, there has never been an African-American woman on the Court, which makes this an opportunity to make history with a much needed change. What better way to replace a racist misogynist like Scalia than with an educated black woman who specializes in social policy?Not only that, just imagine how uncomfortable her nomination would make Clarence Thomas feel. He d probably be sweating bullets while watching and hoping the nomination process eliminates her as the nominee. And it would be incredibly hard for conservatives to grill her without reminding the American public of how big of creep Thomas is. And if Republicans are too hard on her, they can be the ones accused of a high-tech lynching of an uppity black woman as they let their sexism and racism fly during hearings that would would likely be nationally televised and strewn across social media.And even if Hill fails to be confirmed, it would make Republicans look like the terrible lawmakers and human beings that they are, all while embarrassing the hell out of Thomas, who may even end up feeling too exposed to remain on the Court. And if she does get confirmed, he might resign anyway or at the very least be forced to watch as the woman he harassed and humiliated over 20 years ago puts on the same black robe to help the American people in a way he has refused to do throughout his own tenure. She could end up being the social justice crusader women and minorities have hoped for and become more revered than Scalia and Thomas could ever hope to be.As the petition says, Now THAT S Justice! Featured image from Wikimedia","label":1}
{"text":"Oh, What a Lovely War! Delusional foreign policy could bring disaster Email This Page to Someone Your Name Here's  The American people don't know very much about war even if Washington has been fighting on multiple fronts since 9\/11. The continental United States has not experienced the presence a hostile military force for more than 100 years and war for the current generation of Americans consists largely of the insights provided by video games and movies. The Pentagon's invention of embedded journalists, which limits any independent media insight into what is going on overseas, has contributed to the rendering of war as some kind of abstraction. Gone forever is anything like the press coverage of Vietnam, with nightly news and other media presentations showing prisoners being executed and young girls screaming while racing down the street in flames.  Given all of that, it is perhaps no surprise that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, neither of whom has served in uniform, should regard violence inflicted on people overseas with a considerable level of detachment. Hillary is notorious for her assessment of the brutal killing of Libya's Moammar Gaddafi, saying \"We came, we saw, he died.\" They both share to an extent the dominant New York-Washington policy consensus view that dealing with foreigners can sometimes get a bit bloody, but that is a price that someone in power has to be prepared to pay. One of Hillary's top advisers, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, famously declared that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children due to U.S. led sanctions were \"worth it.\"  In the election campaign there has, in fact, been little discussion of the issue of war and peace or even of America's place in the world, though Trump did at one point note correctly that implementation of Hillary's suggested foreign policy could escalate into World War III. It has been my contention that the issue of war should be more front and center in the minds of Americans when they cast their ballots as the prospect of an armed conflict in which little is actually at stake escalating and going nuclear could conceivably end life on this planet as we know it.  With that in mind, it is useful to consider what the two candidates have been promising. First, Hillary, who might reasonably be designated the Establishment's war candidate though she carefully wraps it in humanitarian \"liberal interventionism.\" As Senator and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has always viewed a foreign crisis as an opportunity to use aggressive measures to seek a resolution. She can always be relied upon to \"do something,\" a reflection of the neocon driven Washington foreign policy consensus.  Hillary Clinton and her advisors, who believe strongly in Washington's leadership role globally and embrace their own definition of American exceptionalism, have been explicit in terms of what they would do to employ our military power. She would be an extremely proactive president in foreign policy, with a particular animus directed against Russia. And, unfortunately, there would be little or no pushback against the exercise of her admittedly poor instincts regarding what to do, as was demonstrated regarding Libya and also with Benghazi. She would find little opposition in Congress and the media for an extremely risky foreign policy, and would benefit from the Washington groupthink that prevails over the alleged threats emanating from Russia, Iran, and China.  Hillary has received support from foreign policy hawks, including a large number of formerly Republican neocons, to include Robert Kagan, Michael Chertoff, Michael Hayden, Eliot Cohen and Eric Edelman. James Stavridis, a retired admiral who was once vetted by Clinton as a possible vice president, recently warned of \"the need to use deadly force against the Iranians. I think it's coming. It's going to be maritime confrontation and if it doesn't happen immediately, I'll bet you a dollar it's going to be happening after the presidential election, whoever is elected.\"  Hillary believes that Syria's president Bashar al-Assad is the root cause of the turmoil in that country and must be removed as the first priority. . It is a foolish policy as al-Assad in no way threatens the United States while his enemy ISIS does and regime change would create a power vacuum that will benefit the latter. She has also called for a no-fly zone in Syria to protect the local population as well as the insurgent groups that the U.S. supports, some of which had been labeled as terrorists before they were renamed by current Secretary of State John Kerry. Such a zone would dramatically raise the prospect of armed conflict with Russia and it puts Washington in an odd position vis-\u00e0-vis what is occurring in Syria. The U.S. is not at war with the Syrian government, which, like it or not, is under international law sovereign within its own recognized borders. Damascus has invited the Russians in to help against the rebels and objects to any other foreign presence on Syrian territory. In spite of all that, Washington is asserting some kind of authority to intervene and to confront the Russians as both a humanitarian mission and as an \"inherent right of self-defense.\"  Hillary has not recommended doing anything about Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, all of which have at one time or another for various reasons supported ISIS, but she is clearly no friend of Iran, which has been fighting ISIS. As a Senator, she threatened to \"totally obliterate\" Iran but she has more recently reluctantly supported the recent nuclear agreement with that country negotiated by President Barack Obama. But she has nevertheless warned that she will monitor the situation closely for possible violations and will otherwise pushback against activity by the Islamic Republic. As one of her key financial supporters is Israeli Haim Saban, who has said he is a one issue guy and that issue is Israel, she is likely to pursue aggressive policies in the Persian Gulf. She has also promised to move America's relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a \"new level\" and has repeatedly declared that her support for Israel is unconditional.  One of Hillary's advisors, former CIA acting Director Michael Morell, has called for new sanctions on Tehran and has also recently recommended that the U.S. begin intercepting Iranian ships presumed to be carrying arms to the Houthis in Yemen. Washington is not at war with either Iran or Yemen and the Houthis are not on the State Department terrorist list but our good friends the Saudis have been assiduously bombing them for reasons that seem obscure. Stopping ships in international waters without any legal pretext would be considered by many an act of piracy. Morell has also called for covertly assassinating Iranians and Russians to express our displeasure with the foreign policies of their respective governments.  Hillary's dislike for Russia's Vladimir Putin is notorious. Syria aside, she has advocated arming Ukraine with game changing offensive weapons and also bringing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, which would force a sharp Russian reaction. One suspects that she might be sympathetic to the views expressed recently by Carl Gershman in a Washington Post op-ed that received curiously little additional coverage in the media. Gershman is the head of the taxpayer funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which means that he is a powerful figure in Washington's foreign-policy establishment. NED has plausibly been described as doing the sorts of things that the CIA used to do.  After making a number of bumper-sticker claims about Russia and Putin that are either partially true, unproven or even ridiculous, Gershman concluded that \"the United States has the power to contain and defeat this danger. The issue is whether we can summon the will to do so.\" It is basically a call for the next administration to remove Putin from power\u2014as foolish a suggestion as has ever been seen in a leading newspaper, as it implies that the risk of nuclear war is completely acceptable to bring about regime change in a country whose very popular, democratically elected leadership we disapprove of. But it is nevertheless symptomatic of the kind of thinking that goes on inside the beltway and is quite possibly a position that Hillary Clinton will embrace. She also benefits from having the perfect implementer of such a policy in Robert Kagan's wife Victoria Nuland, her extremely dangerous prot\u00e9g\u00e9 who is currently Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and who might wind up as Secretary of State in a Clinton Administration.  Shifting to East Asia, Hillary sees the admittedly genuine threat from North Korea but her response is focused more on China. She would increase U.S. military presence in the South China Sea to deter any further attempts by Beijing to develop disputed islands and would also \"ring China with defensive missiles,\" ostensibly as \"protection\" against Pyongyang but also to convince China to pressure North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. One wonders what Beijing might think about being surrounded by made-in-America missiles.  Trump's foreign policy is admittedly quite sketchy and he has not always been consistent. He has been appropriately enough slammed for being simple minded in saying that he would \"bomb the crap out of ISIS,\" but he has also taken on the Republican establishment by specifically condemning the George W. Bush invasion of Iraq and has more than once indicated that he is not interested in either being the world's policeman or in new wars in the Middle East. He has repeatedly stated that he supports NATO but it should not be construed as hostile to Russia. He would work with Putin to address concerns over Syria and Eastern Europe. He would demand that NATO countries spend more for their own defense and also help pay for the maintenance of U.S. bases.  Trump's controversial call to stop all Muslim immigration has been rightly condemned but it contains a kernel of truth in that the current process for vetting new arrivals in this country is far from transparent and apparently not very effective. The Obama Administration has not been very forthcoming on what might be done to fix the entire immigration process but Trump is promising to shake things up, which is overdue, though what exactly a Trump Administration would try to accomplish is far from clear.  Continuing on the negative side, Trump, who is largely ignorant of the world and its leaders, has relied on a mixed bag of advisors. Former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency General Michael Flynn appears to be the most prominent. Flynn is associated with arch neocon Michael Ledeen and both are rabid about Iran, with Flynn suggesting that nearly all the unrest in the Middle East should be laid at Tehran's door. Ledeen is, of course, a prominent Israel-firster who has long had Iran in his sights. The advice of Ledeen and Flynn may have been instrumental in Trump's vehement denunciation of the Iran nuclear agreement, which he has called a \"disgrace,\" which he has said he would \"tear up.\" It is vintage dumb-think. The agreement cannot be canceled because there are five other signatories to it and the denial of a nuclear weapons program to Tehran benefits everyone in the region, including Israel. It is far better to have the agreement than to scrap it, if that were even possible.  Trump has said that he would be an even-handed negotiator between Israel and the Palestinians but he has also declared that he is strongly pro-Israel and would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, which is a bad idea, not in America's interest, even if Netanyahu would like it. It would produce serious blowback from the Arab world and would inspire a new wave of terrorism directed against the U.S.  Regarding the rest of the Middle East, Trump would prefer strong leaders, i.e. autocrats, who are friendly rather than chaotic reformers. He rejects arming rebels as in Syria because we know little about whom we are dealing with and find that we cannot control what develops. He is against foreign aid in principle, particularly to countries like Pakistan where the U.S. is strongly disliked.  In East Asia, Trump would encourage Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear arsenals to deter North Korea. It is a very bad idea, a proliferation nightmare. Like Hillary, he would prefer that China intervene in North Korea and make Kim Jong Un \"step down.\" He would put pressure on China to devalue its currency because it is \"bilking us of billions of dollars\" and would also increase U.S. military presence in the region to limit Beijing's expansion in the South China Sea.  So there you have it as you enter the voting booth. President Obama is going around warning that \"the fate of the world is teetering\" over the electoral verdict, which he intends to be a ringing endorsement of Hillary even though the choice is not nearly that clear cut. Part of the problem with Trump is that he has some very bad ideas mixed in with a few good ones and no one knows what he would actually do if he were president. Unfortunately, it is all too clear what Hillary would do.","label":1}
{"text":"The timing of Emperor Akihito s abdication, Japan s first in nearly two centuries, is to be discussed by a special panel that will meet from Dec. 1, the top government spokesman said on Wednesday. Akihito, who turns 84 on Dec. 23 and has had heart surgery and treatment for prostate cancer, said in rare remarks last year that he feared age might make it hard to fulfill his duties. A law adopted in June that allows him to step down and be succeeded by Crown Prince Naruhito, 57, left details, such as timing, to be worked out. News the Imperial Household Council - whose 10 members include Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the chief justice of the Supreme Court along with two royals - would convene grabbed domestic headlines after Abe called on Akihito on Tuesday, apparently to inform the emperor of the meeting. Once considered divine, Japan s emperor is defined in the post-war constitution as a symbol of the state and of the unity of the people , and he has no political power. But Akihito, who has spent much of his time on the throne seeking to soothe the wounds of a war fought in his father Hirohito s name, and consoling people suffering from disasters or other woes, is widely respected by many average Japanese. At a special news conference to announce the meeting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga did not comment on media reports that two options were being considered - March 31, 2019, or April 30 that year. After hearing (the panel s) opinion, based on that, we would like to decide the date promptly, he said. The government had proposed the emperor retire at the end of 2018 but Imperial Household Agency officials demurred, media have said, citing a cluster of rituals and other events around that time. Some in government, however, now worry an alternate proposal of March 31, 2019, would be complicated by nationwide local elections set for that spring, media said. Once Akihito steps down, a new imperial era will begin, replacing the current Heisei , or achieving peace period, which began on Jan. 8, 1989, the day he took the throne. Japan uses the Western-style Gregorian calendar but has also preserved the ancient custom in which the reign of a new emperor ushers in a new era.","label":0}
{"text":"Republicans and Democrats in Congress sparred on Tuesday over U.S. states setting rules for testing and deployment of self-driving cars and a proposal to allow automakers and technology companies to bypass existing regulations in introducing autonomous cars. Democrats on a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee said that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) must play a more aggressive role in mandating self-driving car safety. A Republican draft package of 14 bills would allow NHTSA to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles per year from federal motor vehicle safety rules, which currently prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without human controls. It would also bar states from setting self-driving rules and prevent NHTSA from preapproving self-driving car technologies. \"We simply cannot have cars that stop at state lines,\" Representative Robert Latta said at a hearing of the subcommittee. \"This isn't the government saying you have to get in a self-driving car. This is government make sure that industry can innovate.\" Latta said he hoped to win committee approval of a bipartisan legislative package by the end of July. General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Tesla Inc and others have been lobbying Congress to pre-empt rules under consideration in California and other states that could limit self-driving vehicle deployment. Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat, said that under the Republican proposal, states would be barred from regulating self-driving car safety \"without a guarantee that NHTSA will step in\" to set binding rules. \"We need to be sure that we get this right and that safety is the first priority,\" Pallone said. Democrats noted that the administration of President Donald Trump, a Republican, has not nominated a candidate to head NHTSA, which has a number of vacant senior positions. NHTSA did not sent an official to testify. Two automaker trade associations said in testimony it is essential they do not face a \"patchwork\" of self-driving state rules. They said NHTSA will have to approve exemptions. Republicans, citing competition from other countries and the rising number of traffic deaths, say it is urgent Congress approve sweeping legislation to ensure automakers and technology companies test the vehicles inside the United States. The administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama last year unveiled voluntary guidelines on self-driving cars. Trump's Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has vowed to quickly update those.","label":0}
{"text":"The United States will provide Ukraine with enhanced defensive capabilities, the State Department said on Friday, as Kiev battles Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. U.S. assistance is entirely defensive in nature, and as we have always said, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself, the department said in a statement. It said the decision was part of the U.S. effort to help Ukraine defend its territorial integrity and deter further aggression, but did not specify the capabilities being considered. Earlier on Friday, ABC News reported that President Donald Trump was expected to approve the sale of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, citing State Department sources. Any sale would need congressional approval. Ukraine and Russia are at loggerheads over a war in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 10,000 people in three years. Kiev accuses Moscow of sending troops and heavy weapons to the region, which Russia denies. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in September that any decision by the United States to supply defensive weapons to Ukraine would fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine and possibly prompt the separatists to expand their campaign there. On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was recalling officers serving at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) in Ukraine, accusing the Ukrainian side of obstructing their work and limiting access to the front line. Ukrainian officials, security monitors and Kiev s foreign backers warned on Wednesday that Moscow s decision to withdraw from a Ukrainian-Russian ceasefire control group could worsen the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Earlier this week the State Department said it had approved an export license for Ukraine to buy certain light weapons and small arms from U.S. manufacturers. Senator John McCain on Wednesday welcomed the small arms sale. McCain, a Republican, urged Trump to authorize additional sales of defensive lethal weapons, including anti-tank munitions, and to fully utilize security assistance funds provided by the Congress to enable Ukraine to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.","label":0}
{"text":"Americans in liberal enclaves from New York to San Francisco reacted with shock and despair on Wednesday to Republican businessman Donald Trump's defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton, with many struggling to explain the result to their children. Trump, who had never before run for public office, won on a broad wave of support both from the Republican U.S. heartland and by flipping previously Democratic states, including Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio, helping his party protect majorities in both chambers of Congress. The victory stunned residents of major cities up and down the East and West coasts, many of whom had trusted opinion polls that had long predicted a Clinton victory but were proven profoundly wrong by Tuesday's results. \"I'm feeling physical pain. I'm shocked. I'm sad,\" said Sofia Huizar, 30, as she waited outside the Manhattan hotel where Clinton conceded her loss on Wednesday morning, some eight hours after Trump declared victory. Huizar, a U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico, said she spent much of Tuesday night commiserating with family across the border. \"It's a way to help process the fear,\" Huizar said. Trump's campaign promises have included building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal crossings and to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Others, like Kim Priban, a 38-year-old nurse who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Boston Heights, Ohio, said they had a difficult time breaking the news to their children. Priban said she had proudly taken her 5-year-old daughter along to vote for Clinton, who would have been the first woman U.S. president, and on Wednesday morning had to discuss the result with her. \"I still haven't quite figured out what to tell my daughter. I've been crying all day,\" Priban said. \"I feel like I have to go out and make my voice heard for women and children.\" Priban and Huizar are likely far from alone in the depth of their pain over Clinton's loss, academic research suggests. A 2015 paper by researchers at Harvard University found that voters who supported Republican Mitt Romney's unsuccessful White House bid reported sharper spikes in their unhappiness than parents following the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre of Connecticut schoolchildren or Boston residents after the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. While many Democrats along the coasts mourned Clinton's defeat, Trump supporters celebrated the outcome, saying they hoped he would shake up a dysfunctional political system. \"The overwhelming majority of Americans want change, and this is a direct result. ... Trump is the disrupter, for better or for worse,\" said Kelley Smith, 33, who lives in Chicago and works in software sales. \"He's a little bombastic. I don't think he's polished. But I don't think he's going to purposefully take our country down.\" The divide between the coasts and the heartland, evident not only in the results but also in the social media battles ahead of the election, made the Trump victory more shocking for liberals. Deena Pioli, an attorney from San Francisco, said she had rarely run into people who were not supporting Clinton, and that she now regrets that. \"Those of us here in San Francisco and California should not be so safe in our bubble,\" she said. Trump dropped his angry speaking style to take a conciliatory tone when he declared victory early Wednesday morning, saying, \"I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.\" Clinton and Democratic President Barack Obama sounded similarly restrained. But the breadth of Trump's win left his opponents urging self-examination. \"Folks should have deep humility in this moment,\" said civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson on Twitter. \"We all have things to learn from how Trump happened.\" Karen Parnett, a 48-year-old mother of three in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said she had been heartbroken to tell her children about Trump's win, and said the result illustrated the growing anger of lower-income voters who believe their concerns are being ignored by Washington. \"I have too much at stake with three kids to just throw up my hands and weep and say that all is lost,\" Parnett said. \"There are new realities and we need as a country to reckon with what in the world we are going to do about the disenfranchisement of the white working poor.\" (This story has been refiled to fix typo in ninth paragraph)","label":0}
{"text":"Chart Of The Day: The Giant Bubble In Janet's Hometown Is Now Fixing To Crack By David Stockman. Posted On Saturday, November 19th, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"We didn t mean to send a negative message. We wanted to be positive. Yeah because telling Asians, Whites and Hispanics to stay back and do school work while their black friends go on a field trip is a pretty positive experience for everyone Administrators at a Florida middle school faced a severe backlash from parents and students after they organized a field trip only for black students.Heron Creek Middle School scheduled a trip to Black Violin, a performance by black musicians, WSTP reports. I think it should be the whole school not just blacks, says black seventh-grader Richard Service.Instead, administrators were caught segregating students based on race.The school received 50 tickets and decided to give them only to black students. They said it was for blacks to be motivated to improve their grades, according to Service. I did think it was kind of racist that Latinos, Chinese couldn t go, says Jennifer Bender, another student at the school. No matter what race it s wrong all the way around, according to parent Steve Moreno.Other parents were harshly critical of the move on a community Facebook page. Linda Prince wrote:Just wanted to let the community be aware of what is happening at Heron Creek Middle School. Yesterday they called an assemble for ONLY African American students. The assembly was to tell them that they could earn a field trip for good behavior. After writing a email to the school board last night letting them know I was upset, I received a call from the vice principle this afternoon. He told me it was because there was an upcoming performance from a group called Two Black Musicians and they thought it would be a good motivational tool for their African American students. I thought segregation ended a long time ago. I completely do not agree with this. Basically I was told we just have to agree to disagree.After the backlash, administrators decided to allow all students to attend. We care about every child on this campus. We celebrate diversity all the time, Principal Matthew Gruhl says. We didn t mean to send a negative message. We wanted to be positive, according to Gruhl. We learned from this, he says, adding a bit sarcastically, We are sorry if we hurt people s feelings. Gruhl had told students they were changing the rules not because they were caught segregating students based on race, but because, We learned there s a demand for all our students to have an opportunity to see this great performance. They re now trying to raise $3,500 to purchase 500 tickets so more students can go, based on grades and behavior and not race. There s no word on who will go if they don t raise that amount of money. They had some parents upset this opportunity was not extended to more students, Sarasota County schools spokesman Scott Ferguson tells the Herald-Tribune. They decided today to open it up to all students who met the same criteria. That involves grades and behavior and other criteria. That s how should have been in the beginning, parent Steve Moreno tells the news station.","label":1}
{"text":"Russia has left troops behind after staging war games in Belarus despite promising not to, Ukraine s Commander in Chief Viktor Muzhenko told Reuters. In an interview on a military plane on Thursday evening, Muzhenko said Russia has withdrawn only a few units from Belarus and had lied about how many of its soldiers were there in the first place. His comments could increase tension between the two neighbors and contradict the Belarussian defense ministry spokesman, who said the last train of Russian troops and equipment had left Belarus on Thursday. Russia s defense ministry did not respond to an immediate request for comment. Relations between Kiev and Moscow nosedived after Russia s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and the outbreak of a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 people. Ukraine sees itself as being at war with Russia and has accused Moscow of sending troops and hardware to fight in the Donbass region, which Moscow denies. There are frequent casualties despite a notional ceasefire agreed in 2015. The Zapad wargames, held by Russian and Belarussian troops on territory in both countries in September, are a new source of concern for neighboring Ukraine and NATO member states on Europe s eastern flank. Russia has said the exercise was to rehearse a purely defensive scenario, that the scale of the wargames was in line with international rules, and that allegations it was a springboard to invade Poland, Lithuania or Ukraine were false. But Muzhenko said the wargames were of an offensive nature. Ukraine staged its own drills in northern Ukraine in response to Zapad and built up troops there. I wouldn t say that the tension has lessened. We can say tension is building up or rising, he said. We had information that they had withdrawn only a few units of the declared 12,500 troops, of which 3,000 were Russians, but there were significantly more of them there. Muzhenko said the Russians had withdrawn air units from Belarus to make a show of leaving. Russia demonstrated, and it was primarily a demonstration, the return of aviation units they took off from the airfields and flew to airfields in Russia. But we understand that 300-400 km for aviation is a distance that can be overcome in a very short time, he said. The 55-year-old, who became Chief of the General Staff in 2014, said Ukraine was still outgunned in terms of its air defense capabilities in the Donbass war and needed air reconnaissance and anti-missile systems. Kiev is hoping to receive lethal defensive weapons from U.S. President Donald Trump. Muzhenko said talks had been concluded. We expect the corresponding decision because all negotiations are over and the relevant issues have been agreed on the list and types of weapons and we expect only the political decisions of our partner countries, he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Nothing betrays your official narrative that your administration is functionally well and you are not a crook like tweeting assurances from Fox News that your chances of being impeached are only slim. One might argue that frantically insisting that you are probably not going to get impeached only makes the notion that you probably are all the more reasonable. No sane president would get caught doing something so desperate.But Trump woke up and did just that.In another humdinger to add to a series of self-owns, Trump retweeted a video of Fox News host Geraldo Rivera insisting that Trump s chances of being impeached went from 3 percent (a number he pulled out of thin air) to 0 percent (another number he pulled out of thin air). In doing so, Trump inadvertently acknowledged that his chances of being impeached weren t zero before and are only zero now if you listen to the network that operates as state media for his administration.Trump s self-incrimination is a nice reminder of how troubled his administration is. In an effort to spin the testimony of the former FBI director he recently inappropriately fired, he is reduced to leaning on Fox News to make the case that the hearing didn t prove he was trying to obstruct justice (as most neutral observers noted) but actually it vindicates him somehow. It s a line of spin so patently absurd that even conservative pundits are having a hard time trumpeting it with a straight face.Enter Rivera. The longtime shockjock is, of course, among the least reputable men in journalism. His legendary fails include botching the opening of Al Capone s vault on live television, getting kicked out of Iraq after revealing U.S. troop positions to the enemy on live television, and saying Travyon Martin brought his murder on himself for wearing a hoodie on live television. Put Rivera in front of a camera, broadcast it live, and chances are he will do something to humiliate himself. He has become one of Trump s biggest defenders.It says something about Trump s chances of making it through his first term without being thrown out of office that he s just a few months in and already he s been reduced to using disreputable Fox hosts like Rivera to defend him. The fact that nobody else will risk destroying their reputation to stand up for him speaks volumes. Luckily, Trump is just dimwitted enough to keep reminding us of his precarious situation because he is fundamentally incapable of not tweeting incredibly stupid things each day.","label":1}
{"text":"This is sad and infuriating.In February, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich suffered the loss of his father.Despite his dad s death, an insurance agent called to inform Reich that his dad is behind on his car insurance payments.Now, one would think that being informed of the death would not only draw condolences, but also an end to the business at hand considering deceased people can t drive, nor can they pay insurance from the grave.But this auto insurance agent couldn t get the reality of the situation through his thick skull. He proceeded to try and bully Reich into paying hundreds of dollars and even informed Reich that not paying would affect his father s credit rating.Reich described the phone call on Facebook. I just got a call from my father s auto insurer, telling me he s behind on his payment. I explained he died in February. He still needs to pay for the last two months, said the man from the insurance company. But he can t pay. He s deceased, I said. He owes $348.62, for the period April 24 to June 24, he said. But he didn t drive then. He died in February. No one has driven his car since he died. Well, someone has to pay or his insurance will be cancelled, and it will hurt his credit rating. I m sure he d be okay if it s cancelled, I said. And I don t think he cares about his credit rating. Are you infuriated yet?Clearly, this insurance agent must be a truly heartless person. He even became snippy with Reich upon hearing that Reich s father won t care about his credit rating and the conversation continued to go in circles as the insurance agent tried another intimidation tactic and didn t seem to get that his client was dead and no longer needed car insurance. Are you trying to be smart with me? asked the man from the insurance company. No, I m just trying to tell you that my father is deceased and he doesn t need car insurance. Have you cancelled his car registration? No, I haven t got around to that. Well, you should. If he s deceased, he shouldn t have a registration. I understand. Nobody s supposed to have a registration if they re not paying their auto insurance. Right. So, are you going to pay the insurance that s due? I wasn t planning to. Then it s an illegal car. But it won t be on the road. Still illegal. Sorry. That could be a problem for him. He s no longer with us. I know. You made that clear. I m referring to his estate. I don t see how. Well, let s say the state of Florida imposes a penalty for having a car registered in his name but no insurance. And let s say that penalty holds up any legal proceedings in resolving The insurance agent STILL tried to get Reich to pay the insurance, even going so far as to talk about a hypothetical situation in order to force Reich to reach into his pocket and pay for something that was no longer necessary.Frustrated and growing tired of the phone call, Reich asked the insurance vampire who he is supporting for president. And the answer explains everything. May I ask you a personal question? Personal? Who do you support for President? For President? I don t mean to pry. [chuckling] Oh, no problem, he said. You have a favorite candidate? I asked. As a matter of fact, I do, he said. And who is it? That Trump fella. Really? Yeah, Trump. Good man. No bullshit. Here s the post via Facebook.Personally, I would have hung up the phone rather than keep repeating myself to the same asshole, but there you have it, folks. An ignorant insurance agent who tries to bully money out of people even if they are dead. That sounds exactly like the kind of person who would support Donald Trump.","label":1}
{"text":"A bishop of the Protestant Church of Norway has launched a proposal urging Christians to hire illegal migrants, a move that the minister of immigration called \"irresponsible. \"[Tor Berger J\u00f8rgensen, formerly the bishop of in northern Norway, sent out a series of letters last week to various Christian organizations requesting that they provide employment for those unable to work legally in Norway. Although employing illegal immigrants is against the law, the bishop said that his campaign was about giving people \"in a hopeless situation\" the chance at a livelihood. J\u00f8rgensen, who is also a agitator for gay rights, said he has already received \"several positive responses\" from people who would like to help. \"I am quite optimistic that we can achieve something among church organizations and with church connections,\" he said. J\u00f8rgensen was inspired by learning that an evangelical church in Stavanger, Norway, had employed an Eritrean woman named Tita who had been living in the country illegally for 8 years, a move he called \"brave\" and \"important. \" The bishop has reportedly requested a meeting with Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug (FRP) who has called the bishop's proposal \"irresponsible. \" \"What he is in fact doing is creating false hopes for people who have to return to their homeland,\" she said. \"Individuals who have received a final rejection of their asylum application are obliged to return home. \" For his part, J\u00f8rgensen posted on Facebook that what the Minister calls illegal is really just \" . \" \"Sylvi Listhaug calls us irresponsible,\" the bishop responded in a recent \"because we encourage people to do something illegal. But Listhaug doesn't know what degrading and dehumanizing experiences many 'undocumented' have had over the years. \" According to current legislation, employers who hire illegal foreign workers are subject to fines or imprisonment. Christian Wedler, a local leader for the Progress Party (FRP) in Stavanger, said that he understands the desire to help people who find themselves in a difficult situation, yet people must also consider \"what is right for the country and the big picture. \" \"If an asylum application has no consequences, then the system will collapse altogether and we are going to experience arrangements that ensure that the whole asylum system is in jeopardy,\" he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter","label":0}
{"text":"A man who refused to provide passwords to his electronic devices when stopped by British police was found guilty under terrorism laws at a court in London on Monday, in a case that campaigners say threatens personal privacy. Muhammad Rabbani, 36, the international director of campaign group CAGE was found guilty of wilfully obstructing or seeking to frustrate an examination or search, and given a conditional 12-month discharge, and was ordered to pay a 620 pound ($830) fine. CAGE is an advocacy group which campaigns against the impact of counter-terrorism policies, and came to international attention over its links to Jihadi John, a British Islamic militant, before he went to Syria. Rabbani said he was returning from a wedding in Qatar when he was stopped at Heathrow last November. Police seized his phone and computer, and demanded the passwords for the devices. Rabbani said that he had not provided the passwords as he wanted to protect the privacy of a client who he was working with on an anti-torture case. However, judge Emma Arbuthnot found that Rabbani was lawfully required to provide the passwords. Rabbani said he would appeal the decision. He was held under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which was used to detain David Miranda, the partner of the journalist who brought leaks from former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to world attention in 2013. Rabbani said that the law poses a threat to personal privacy, and told reporters and supporters outside the court that the decision highlights the absurdity of the Schedule 7 law. They accept that at no point was I under suspicion, and that ultimately this was a matter of having been profiled, he said, referring to the judge and prosecution. There are important implications for our collective privacy, as Schedule 7 acts as a digital strip-search. But the police welcomed the verdict. Today s verdict is an important one. It s crucial that police are able to use the legislation that exists to help keep the public safe, said Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Met Police Counter Terrorism Command, in a statement, adding that Schedule 7 was a vital tool in the fight against terrorism. The Met has retained Rabbani s phone and laptop and is continuing its efforts to examine the contents. ($1 = 0.7437 pounds)","label":0}
{"text":"Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Sign up.) The election of Donald J. Trump has left many California Latinos feeling on edge. But one Election Day outcome has given Latino groups that opposed Mr. Trump a measure of encouragement \u2014 the largest ever Congressional Hispanic Caucus. \"It's historic what actually happened,\" said Chuck Rocha, a political consultant. Latinos now make up nearly 40 percent of California's population. Election analysts said strong Latino turnout played a crucial part in contests throughout the West, including the election of Catherine Cortez Masto, of Nevada, who will become the first Latina senator. As a result, the Hispanic caucus will grow from 26 to 31 members, with more than a third from California. Representative Linda S\u00e1nchez, the caucus chairwoman, said members had already asked for a meeting with Mr. Trump. \"Obviously, we are going to be pushing back on some of the really divisive and flawed policies that Donald Trump has discussed with respect to the Latino community,\" said Ms. S\u00e1nchez, whose district includes southeastern Los Angeles. How much clout the lawmakers can wield on issues like immigration policy, a major concern, is uncertain given the Republican control of the White House and chambers of Congress. Nanette D. Barrag\u00e1n, a Democrat who won an open seat representing a heavily Latino part of Los Angeles, said many of her constituents were fearful about Mr. Trump's plans. \"I just think having us at the table being a part of the conversation is so very important with a president like this,\" she said. On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump said he has nothing against immigrants but vowed to deport all of those who are in the country illegally, an estimated 11 million people. Speaking in an interview on \"60 Minutes\" that was broadcast on Sunday, the appeared to soften that stance, saying he would seek to deport just those undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds, and only up to three million of them. Salud Carbajal, who was elected to Congress from the Central Coast, said immigrant leaders have always supported efforts to deport people who have committed serious crimes. The question is how broadly a Trump administration would define the group. \"Am I glad that he has lowered the number? Yes,\" Mr. Carbajal said. But, he added, \"The devil's in the details. \" \u2022 \"That is not our job\": The Los Angeles police chief said he would not help deport immigrants under a Trump administration. [Los Angeles Times] \u2022 Climate change, immigration and education: How a President Trump could change California, profoundly. [Opinion | San Diego ] \u2022 Loretta Sanchez went on a failed bid for California's United States Senate seat. Now, her next move is unclear. [Los Angeles Times] \u2022 Google and Facebook are taking aim at purveyors of fake news after criticism that misinformation may have influenced the 2016 election. [The New York Times] \u2022 In a surprising reversal, Airbnb said it is ready to police its San Francisco hosts. [Mercury News] \u2022 Review: Apple's new MacBook Pro laptops are thin and powerful, but the jury is out on the usefulness of the Touch Bar. [The New York Times] \u2022 NASA and FEMA rehearsed for the unthinkable: an asteroid strike on Los Angeles. [The New York Times] \u2022 The University of California and California State University are considering raising tuition for the first time in six years. [Los Angeles Times] \u2022 A photographer hung out in corners of Alice Waters's celebrated restaurant Chez Panisse to create an intimate portrait of life there. [The New York Times] \u2022 Over the past year, the National Geographic Channel has turned itself inside out. \"Mars\" is the latest example. [The New York Times] \u2022 Corey Seager, a shortstop for the Dodgers, was a unanimous choice for the National League Rookie of the Year. [The New York Times] People once thought Yosemite's El Capitan was unclimbable. It was this month in 1958 that Warren Harding, a Californian, proved them wrong, ascending the granite monolith for the first time. Mr. Harding, along with a series of partners, climbed the Nose route in stages over the course of 18 months. They fixed ropes to the wall that hung to the ground and allowed the climbers to quickly return to where they had left off. Altogether, it took about 45 days of climbing to reach the top in freezing weather on Nov. 12. The feat redefined what was thought possible in the infant sport, and ushered in an era of big wall climbing. Mr. Harding continued rock climbing through the 1970s, making about 30 first ascents in Yosemite and becoming a legend of the sport's golden age. He died in 2002 at his home near Anderson in Shasta County at age 77. Today, the latest generation of elite climbers is taking the sport to new levels. Last year, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson scaled one of El Capitan's most difficult routes, the Dawn Wall \u2014 without the benefit of ropes, other than to catch their falls. Some considered it the hardest climb in the world. California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian \u2014 born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley.","label":0}
{"text":"Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here's the .) Let's turn it over to Jonah Engel Bromwich for today's introduction. A California law that went into effect on Sunday barring drivers from holding phones while operating vehicles is among the most stringent in the nation. But experts say that it most likely won't be enough to prevent accidents caused by distracted driving. Jennifer Ryan, AAA's director of state relations, cautioned in a phone interview on Thursday that, \"hands free is not risk free. \" Ms. Ryan said the California measure matched a larger trend of states bringing legislation with contemporary phones. But while the state's provisions were particularly broad, she said, it was important for motorists to take responsibility for themselves and pay attention. The law goes beyond what federal authorities recommend to prevent distracted driving, which remains a significant cause of traffic fatalities. The latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that more than 3, 400 people died in 2015 in crashes that involved a distracted driver. Of those, 272 were teenagers. And while the use of smartphones is certainly part of the problem, many are unconvinced that keeping them out of drivers' hands will be a panacea. Some have speculated that the California law may encourage enthusiasm for cars. When Gov. Jerry Brown signed the measure into law in September, he approved of another bill that allowed for the first tests of autonomous driving vehicles on public roads. Steve Finnegan, the government affairs manager of the Automobile Club of Southern California, said that while the new legislation \"is a step in the right direction,\" it does not address \"the complete issue of distracted driving. \" \"One of the bigger issues is cognitive distraction,\" Mr. Finnegan said. \"It's not what your hands are doing it's what your brain is doing. \" (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have metered paywalls.) \u2022 Senator Dianne Feinstein will be at the center of the debate over Donald J. Trump's nominees. [McClatchy] \u2022 San Diego's mayor has quietly started mulling a run for governor. [Politico] \u2022 A lawmaker's claim that California legalized child prostitution was rated \"Pants on Fire\" by a group. [PolitiFact] \u2022 California is bracing for the type of punishing rains that happen about once every . [San Francisco Chronicle] \u2022 Grapes ripen earlier. Nights warm up. Aquifers run dry. Climate change is hitting wine country. [The New York Times] \u2022 Why more California families are falling into homelessness. [KPCC] \u2022 After overhauling its football stadium, U. C. Berkeley owes more money than any other college sports program. [Bloomberg News] \u2022 It was one of the most productive, disjointed and confusing years in the life of Kanye West. [The New York Times] \u2022 How the Hollywood artist Tyrus Wong fused traditional influences with his own style to create the look of \"Bambi. \" [The New York Times] \u2022 The category at the Oscars is a race, with \"La La Land\" in the lead. [The New York Times] \u2022 Pete Wells's harsh review of an Oakland fast food restaurant faced some backlash. [Los Angeles Magazine] Boats bobbing in the marina, a shimmering blue bay, the echoing calls of seabirds. Sausalito, a tiny waterfront community just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, is an inspiring place. So it was, many summers ago, that Otis Redding stayed on a houseboat there and came up with the first idea for an American classic. It was this weekend in 1968 that Mr. Redding's \"(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay\" was released. In August 1967, the soul singer had come to San Francisco to do a series of gigs at Basin Street West, a storied club at the time. According to Jonathan Gould, the author of a forthcoming biography of Mr. Redding, the rock promoter Bill Graham offered Mr. Redding the use of his houseboat up in Sausalito. While relaxing there with his guitar, he is thought to have sketched the lines: Later, the guitarist Steve Cropper helped to fill out the rest of the song and it was recorded in November. But Mr. Redding never heard the single. Just 18 days after the studio session, he died in a plane crash in Madison, Wis. on Dec. 10, 1967. He was 26. On Jan. 8, 1968, the \"Dock of the Bay\" album was released. The single rose to No. 1 on Billboard's pop chart and stayed there for four weeks. It was the biggest hit of Mr. Redding's career. California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian \u2014 born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump s rollout of TrumpCare is already crashing and burning (just like everything he tries to do) and his White House Press Secretary certainly isn t helping him. Earlier today, Sean Spicer tried to address the questions surrounding the much-hated TrumpCare plan, and accidentally admitted that tons of people are going to lose their health care coverage because of it.Spicer basically said that it didn t matter how many people would be covered under the new horrible Obamacare replacement:You can watch Spicer f**k up in the video below:Spicer went off on Obamacare, incorrectly stating that people had cards under the Affordable Care Act, yet they were not receiving care. This is absolutely false, as Obamacare had measures put in place to guarantee that people would be covered by insurance companies unlike TrumpCare, which doesn t have any of those regulations.So far, the GOP has fallen silent over how many people would be covered under their Obamacare replacement measure. They purposely avoided running TrumpCare past the Congressional Budget Office a move that is being highly criticized for its lack of transparency. Leader Nancy Pelosi suggested that this secrecy was to prevent word getting out that millions of Americans will lose their coverage under the new plan. This looks like yet another thing that Trump won t be able to deliver. Let s not forget that Trump promised again and again that his new health care plan would cover everyone. He once said: I am going to take care of everybody everybody s going to be taken care of, much better than they re taken care of now. Trump also promised America that he was so good at making deals that the government would basically pay for everyone s coverage:How do we go from everyone being covered to not being able to even say how many people were going to be covered and trying to spin the issue to be about people not getting care? What Spicer is doing is trying to reframe Trump s campaign promises, because the White House knows they can t be delivered. TrumpCare is an abomination compared to Obamacare, and millions of Americans are going to suffer because of the GOP s incompetence.Featured image is a screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. 1. It's official. Simone Biles, the gymnast some call the best in history, was crowned the gymnastics champion at the Rio Olympics. Her teammate Aly Raisman came in second. Here's a of two of Biles's signature moves. With a win in the individual medley, Michael Phelps earned his thirteenth individual gold medal, surpassing Leonidas of Rhodes, who won 12 gold medals in the ancient Olympics. Another achievement for the books: Simone Manuel became the first woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming. Our full coverage of the Games is here \u2014 including the odd version of the U. S. national anthem being played at medal ceremonies. _____ 2. Hillary Clinton rejected the economic agenda Donald Trump laid out this week, calling him an enemy of \"the little guy. \" He wants to \"give trillions in tax cuts to people like himself,\" she said, while deepening the financial pain of the middle and working classes. Neither candidate, however, has said much about helping people who are not working \u2014 many of them living in abject poverty. _____ 3. Mr. Trump faced down critics of his unorthodox campaign style, telling an interviewer, \"It's either going to work or I'm going to, you know, I'm going to have a very, very nice long vacation. \" After weeks of hearing detractors saying a Trump presidency would be a grave threat to national security, Mr. Trump has begun portraying Mrs. Clinton and President Obama as of the Islamic State. He held a rally in Kissimmee, Fla. in the evening. _____ 4. The F. B. I. has widened its investigation into what officials believe was a Russian cyberattack directed against the Democratic Party. The attack appears to have been far larger than first thought, raising the possibility of more damaging disclosures like the emails published recently by WikiLeaks. After a impasse that has kept the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, Sweden has agreed to question him there over rape accusations. _____ 5. Almost 55 miles a gallon \u2014 that's what U. S. regulators say automakers' fleets must average by 2025. Engineers, racing to meet the mark, are working with new batteries for hybrids. Some cars are going on a superglue diet: adhesives, like the one being used on the GMC Acadia above, can stiffen seams and allow components to be made of thinner steel. _____ 6. The animated \"Sausage Party,\" opening nationwide this weekend, sends foodstuffs ranging through the supermarket for 89 minutes of bawdy, silly humor \u2014 and a deeper layer. Characters voiced by Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Michael Cera, Bill Hader and others end up in a classic confrontation between comforting religious beliefs (weekend shoppers are gods who will liberate them) and scientific thought (their actual fate). Our reviewer saluted \"the intellectual rigor of a project that probably didn't require it\" and called the movie \"fun pretty much all the way through. \" _____ 7. Fox News has not managed to put a scandal behind it, despite rapidly forcing out its chairman, Roger Ailes. More women have come forward to describe a culture of intimidation and misogyny, including a former Fox host, Andrea Tantaros, above. Top Ailes deputies who remain are being accused of abetting Mr. Ailes's behavior. _____ 8. \"I found the numbers heartbreaking. \" That was a senior U. S. health official, commenting on a new study that found high rates of rape, bullying, depression and other harms suffered by gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers. The survey found that they make up about 8 percent of the high school population, or 1. 3 million students. Future studies are likely to include an option for students to identify as transgender. Above, a youth contingent at Miami's gay pride march in April. _____ 9. U. S. forces seized most of the coastal Libyan city of Surt, a stronghold of the Islamic State. But in Syria, the battle between government forces and rebels has left two million people in the city of Aleppo with critical shortages of food and water. If the turmoil in the Mideast seems too overwhelming to grasp, this could help. A team spent more than a year charting the catastrophe that has befallen the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. At words, it's not a quick read, but it is a remarkably clear account that connects the region's history and the Arab Spring uprisings to the creation of the Islamic State and the global refugee crisis. _____ 10. One of our articles today focuses on the pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories and its operations in India's highly competitive drug market. A Times investigation found that managers pushed workers to pursue sales in violation of Indian law, medical standards and the company's own ethics guidelines. One of the country's top salesmen jumped in front of a train last month, leaving a note that said he was committing suicide because of the pressure. Above, his daughter. _____ 11. Finally, Mongolia, a sparsely populated country with nomadic traditions, will be pioneering a novel system next month. The country is adopting an app created by a British What3Words, that looks up a unique code (dissident. sloth. ploy, for instance) for every patch of the earth's surface \u2014 all 57 trillion. Users enter an address or position a pointer on a map to retrieve the code, which the postal service can then use for deliveries. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"Two non-politicians, businessman Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, dominate the contest for the Republican nomination, together accounting for more than half of the potential vote as support for traditional politicians continues to decline, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. In the contest for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton has lost significant ground over the past two months, as she has struggled to manage the controversy over her use of a private e-mail server while secretary of state. She still leads the field of Democrats, but for the first time her support has dropped below 50 percent in Post-ABC surveys, with the biggest decline coming among white women. Overall, the survey underscored the degree of dissatisfaction toward government and politics that is shaping the campaign. More than 7 in 10 Americans say people in politics cannot be trusted. More than 6 in 10 say the political system is dysfunctional. Sizable majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents agree with those assessments. But Democrats and Republicans part ways over the kind of experience they are looking for in the next president. Nearly 6 in 10 Republicans say they prefer the next president to have experience that comes from outside the political establishment. Only about a quarter of Democrats say the same. Two-thirds of the Republicans who say they are looking for non-political experience currently support either Trump or Carson \u2014 the foundation of the wide division between the two outsiders and the rest of a field made up almost exclusively of traditional politicians. Several of these current or former elected officials registered new lows in the survey. Their next big chance to reverse their fortunes comes at a debate Wednesday evening at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., that will feature the top 11 candidates. The debate, hosted by CNN, will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern time. There will be an earlier forum, beginning at 6 p.m., for the candidates who did not qualify for the main debate. The new poll found Trump to be the favorite of 33 percent of registered Republicans and \u00adRepublican-leaning independents. That is a jump of nine percentage points since mid-July and a 29-point increase since late May, just before Trump announced his candidacy. He does well with most groups of GOP voters, but his strongest support comes from those who do not have a college degree and those with incomes below $50,000. Carson runs second at 20 percent, 14 points higher than in July. His surge is consistent with several other national polls that show him moving up the ranks since the first Republican debate in Cleveland last month. Carson's base is more strongly rooted in the conservative wing of the party. After Trump and Carson, there is a significant falloff in support for the other candidates. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who began the year as the nominal GOP front-runner, stands at 8 percent, his lowest ever in Post-ABC surveys of the 2016 field. Next, at 7 percent each, are Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida. No one else registered above 5 percent. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie either tied or registered their lowest levels of support in Post-ABC polls of the 2016 race dating to the beginning of 2014. Walker suffered the steepest decline since the July survey, falling from 13 percent to 2 percent. Recent polls in Iowa, where Walker had been leading, also have shown a loss of support. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, Clinton is the choice of 42 percent of registered voters. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is second with 24 percent and Vice President Biden, who is deciding whether to run, is third with 21 percent. Sanders's support has risen by 10 points since July, while Biden has gained nine points. Biden advisers have said he is likely to make a decision this month. The vice president has said recently that he is still dealing with the death of his son Beau a few months ago and cannot yet say he has the emotional commitment needed to seek the presidency. But his advisers are preparing for a possible campaign as Biden and his family weigh the personal costs of running. The survey indicates that if Biden decides not to run, Clinton would benefit far more than Sanders, at least initially. Without Biden on the list, Clinton jumps 14 points, to 56 percent, among Democratic-leaning voters, while Sanders rises four points, to 28 percent. While Clinton maintains the lead, her support has dropped 21 points among Democrats since July. She has lost ground with most demographic groups, but the sharpest drop has come among women and particularly white women. In July, 64 percent of white women said they supported Clinton; today, it is 31 percent, the same level of backing as Sanders, whose support has doubled among this group. A majority of Americans (55 percent) say they disapprove of the way Clinton has handled questions about her use of a private e-mail account while serving as secretary of state. An almost identical percentage (54 percent) say that she has tried to cover up facts. Asked whether Clinton stayed within government guidelines or broke the rules by using a private server, 51 percent say she broke the rules, while 32 percent say she did not, with the remainder offering no opinion. The public is divided on the question of whether the e-mail issue is a legitimate one in the coming election, although today, unlike four months ago, slightly more say it is not legitimate. On all those questions, there is a big difference in the responses of Democrats vs. Republicans and independents. A majority of Democrats (55 percent) approve of how she has handled the controversy, while a third do not. More than 7 in 10 say the e-mails are not a legitimate issue in the coming campaign. In a hypothetical general election, Clinton runs about evenly with Trump, leading 46 percent to 43 percent among registered voters. Clinton holds a much bigger lead, 51 percent to 39 percent, among all adults. Clinton and Trump share one vulnerability: Almost 6 in 10 Americans say Trump is not honest and trustworthy, while 56 percent say that about Clinton. But in other measures, Clinton is seen as far readier to be president than the GOP front-runner. At this point, 6 in 10 say Trump is not qualified to be president, though more than 6 in 10 Republicans say he is. Two-thirds say he does not understand the problems of \"people like you.\" More than 6 in 10 say he does not have the kind of personality and temperament it takes to serve effectively as president. Just over half of all Americans say Clinton does not understand their problems, but 56 percent say she has the personality and temperament to serve as president. Among all Americans, 57 percent oppose Trump's tough positions on immigration. Among Republicans, 56 percent support them \u2014 with 39 percent saying they strongly support them. The Post-ABC News poll was conducted Sept. 7-10 among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, including landline and cellphone respondents. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Full results of the poll and detailed methodology are available at wapo.st\/pollarchive.","label":0}
{"text":"Sounding like a frustrated Cassandra, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. lamented last week that Hillary Clinton had not done enough to reach white voters in the presidential campaign. Even more egregious to Mr. Biden, some fellow Democrats had concluded that whites were not even worth pursuing. \"I mean these are good people, man!\" Mr. Biden exclaimed in an interview on CNN. \"These aren't racists. These aren't sexists. \" With his typically unambiguous assessment, the vice president thrust himself into a heated debate that has shaped the Democrats' since Donald J. Trump won the presidency: Should the party continue tailoring its message to the young and nonwhite constituencies that propelled President Obama, or make a more concerted effort to win over the white voters who have drifted away? For Democrats, the election last month has become a Rorschach test. Some see Mrs. Clinton's loss as a result of an unfortunate series of flukes \u2014 Russian tampering, a late intervention by the Federal Bureau of Investigation director and a poor allocation of resources \u2014 but little more than a speed bump on the road to a demographic majority. Others believe the results reflect a more worrisome trend that could doom the party. It is a sensitive topic, touching on race and class, but the choices that Democrats make in the coming months will shape their identity and carry major implications in both the 2018 midterm elections and the next presidential race. Few leading Democrats are arguing for a reconsideration of the party's core liberal agenda. After all, history is a game of inches, and Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2. 8 million votes, but lost the presidency by 77, 000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin \u2014 less than the capacity crowd at Lambeau Field on any given Sunday. \"Demographically, the Electoral College is heading in the right direction\" for Democrats, Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to Mr. Obama, said. What Mr. Trump pulled off, he added, \"would be hard to replicate. \" Even those who believe the party has become too fixated on identity politics do not think it should reverse course on such issues as immigration, criminal justice and legal protections for gay and transgender Americans. Yet as a matter of politics, those in Mr. Biden's camp believe the party's ethos of inclusion may add up to less than the sum of its parts. In the minds of those Democrats, they will not be a majority party again in Washington or across much of the country without winning back white voters of modest means. \"You don't need those people?\" Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, asked. \"You're going to wait how many decades before this other strategy works?\" Mr. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, had tried to push Mrs. Clinton, a longtime ally, toward focusing more on rural America, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. He was just as exasperated over what he described as his party's pattern of neglect of many of the voters he spent eight years working with in his cabinet post. \"Rural America is 15 percent of America's population,\" Mr. Vilsack said. \"It's the same percentage as it's the same percentage as Hispanics. We spend a lot of time thinking about that 15 percent \u2014 and we should, God bless them, we should. But not to the exclusion of the other 15 percent. \" In their zeal for pursuing clearly defined constituencies, some Democrats now worry they missed the bigger picture: failing to deliver a message that would cut across all constituencies, and ceding too much territory to Republicans in whiter, more conservative areas that Mr. Trump won by wider margins than other recent Republican nominees. Entering the race for chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday, Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez summed up this view in blunt terms. \"We got our ass kicked in a lot of these rural pockets because we weren't there in sufficient force,\" Mr. Perez said. Representative Gwen Graham, Democrat of Florida and a likely candidate for governor in 2018, called her party's message \"too funneled. \" It needed to be more open to pursuing moderate and conservative voters, she said. Ms. Graham, who was elected in a district in the Florida Panhandle, said she would campaign across every part of the state if she ran for governor. Though she declined to criticize her party's presidential nominee directly, such campaigning would be starkly different from the approach Mrs. Clinton took in 2016, when she focused overwhelmingly on the state's biggest metropolitan areas. \"I would run a strategy,\" Ms. Graham said. \"And I would reach out to all different kinds of Democrats and Republicans, along the ideological spectrum. \" But while this may make for a good message at the outset of a campaign, it is, to a vocal contingent of Democratic strategists, a dated approach that ignores inexorable political and demographic trendlines. To win in a changing country, these Democrats said, the party must tailor a platform and strategy that explicitly appealed to younger and nonwhite voters on issues like policing, climate change and immigration. Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster, said it was folly to continue developing a message for and devoting considerable resources to \"a shrinking, increasingly resistant market. \" Mr. Belcher recalled focus groups in North Carolina this year in which nonwhite voters who had come out for Mr. Obama's two elections could not name the party's Senate candidate in the state. (It was Deborah Ross she lost.) \"We're spending all of our resources on broadcast television chasing this mythical unicorn white swing voter,\" he said. Mr. Belcher, who has published a new book about race and the Obama presidency, \"A Black Man in the White House,\" said the party should not ignore white voters. But he said Democrats also should not react to this election by refashioning their appeal as if the country were just as white as it was when Bill Clinton and other centrists began the Democratic Leadership Council 30 years ago. \"Why would we go back to running campaigns as though it's the 1980s?\" Mr. Belcher asked. \"Because it's not the 1980s. \" Mr. Pfeiffer, the former Obama adviser, noted that red states like Arizona and Georgia were closer to turning blue this year even as Mrs. Clinton lost, and argued that new arrivals in Florida and North Carolina would make those states tilt Democratic. Yet even Democrats in solidly blue states, who can in theory win elections without a single conservative vote, said the party's message was lacking. Mayor Eric M. Garcetti of Los Angeles said Democrats had not explained to many voters how tolerant social values translated into government action. \"Of course we are for a tolerant, diverse, inclusive, cooperative future,\" he said. \"It isn't enough. \" Mr. Garcetti likened the party's message to the gestures of conciliation proposed by civic leaders in Los Angeles after the Rodney King riots in the 1990s \u2014 well intentioned but insufficient. \"If the starting point is: 'Hey, we are a party and we are a country that stands for blacks and Koreans and people of all stripes liking each other,' that's not an agenda,\" Mr. Garcetti said. \"These values aren't just about social inclusion. They're about getting things done. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Washington was rocked by yet another staff shakeup in the White House on Monday when Trump s newly hired communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, was fired after only ten days on the job. But who they are thinking about replacing him with is astounding.Apparently, the Trump administration is somehow considering the possibility of naming Kellyanne Conway, the queen of alternative facts, as the new White House communications director.The Daily Caller reports:There is chatter within the White House that Kellyanne Conway is being looked at as the next communications director, a White House insider told The Daily Caller.Scaramucci was ousted after an embarrassingly profane rant in which he called Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who has since been fired, a f*cking paranoid schizophrenic. During his temper tantrum, he also made some very unfortunate comments about Steve Bannon s c*ck. And as the White House explained, President P*ssy Grabber just can t have someone in his administration using that type of language. (Insert eye roll here.)Now Trump thinks that maybe the person he needs as his communications director is his good old adviser and former campaign manager, Conway. She has proven time and time again that she is loyal to Trump and that she has no problem lying to the press about anything and everything. This also happens to be the reason that she has absolutely no credibility.Way back in February, Morning Joe s Mika Brzenski said that she refused to have Conway appear on the show because she is the epitome of fake news. So, Joe was just saying that she books herself on these shows. We know for a fact she tries to book herself on this show. I won t do it because I don t believe in fake news or information that is not true. Everytime I ve ever seen her on television something s askew, off, or incorrect, Brzenski said on-air.And this is who the White House thinks should be their number one spokesperson? Seriously? The fact that she is even being considered is enough to let you know that these people are a few flakes short of a full bowl of cornflakes. But with Trump in the Oval Office one thing is for sure, just when you think things can t get any more absurd, they do.","label":1}
{"text":"A draft law allowing Moscow to designate foreign media as foreign agents gives Russia a tool to reciprocate to restrictions Washington has imposed on Russian media operating in the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. He said it was too early to say how tough the law would be as the draft, approved on second reading by the lower house of parliament on Wednesday, did not spell out how it would be applied in practice.","label":0}
{"text":"One of the biggest Democratic themes of the 2016 election is building on President Obama s legacy. It has come from many establishment Democrats during the 2016 primary season. Even Debbie Wasserman Schultz has used this theme in a statement released by her office, and she isn t even running in the primaries. This all makes it rather strange that with this in mind, Wasserman-Schultz has decided to help Republicans to destroy a very popular Obama-created governmental office of which he is very proud and voters absolutely love.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was set up by Elizabeth Warren after President Obama personally appointed her to do so, is coming under heavy attack by the ultra-predatory payday lending industry. The industry is also enjoying the assistance of Republicans and a few Democratic sellouts which now includes Wasserman-Schultz among their number.The CFPB is approaching a point where they are going to be able to adopt better rules to protect consumers from predatory lending practices, which disproportionately harm the poorest among us and can throw an otherwise financially stable family into a long and sometimes inescapable cycle debt. This has caused the industry to rally Republicans to assault the CFPB by attacking its budget, burdening it with impossible amounts of regulation, and creating outright lies about the agency unilaterally shutting down businesses.Wasserman-Schultz is co-sponsoring a new bill that would completely gut the CFPB s approaching payday loan regulations and she is trying to lobby other Democrats in Washington to join her in this unprecedented attack on the poorest and most vulnerable Americans.The upcoming Republican sabotage is wrapped in a misleading name, the Consumer Protection and Choice Act. What exactly it has to do with protection and choice is not clear, since it actively blocks protections and poor people who are in desperate need tend to have no choice when it comes to resorting to a payday loan. The legislation would delay the CFPB s new regulations by two years, and would allow for state-level nullification of their federal authority in states that adopted their own laws regarding payday lenders. It s important to note that it doesn t have any classification for a level of protection of consumers only that the state has adopted a law regarding payday lenders. It could be a mostly anti-consumer measure, but if it fulfills the letter of the law it would make it literally impossible for the CFPB to help an entire state.The Consumer Federation of America, the NAACP, The National Consumer Law Center, The National Council of La Raza, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and dozens of others sent letters to every member of Congress urging them to oppose the law. This isn t an online petition by regular people on some website. These are some of the biggest progressive social justice movements in America.A typical Florida payday loan customer takes out 9 loans per year and is stuck in debt for almost half that year. The average interest on Florida payday loans is 304 percent, which is less than the national average but still huge.Wasserman-Schultz is partially reacting to a state-level law she helped create in Florida, that her office claims sharply reduced the need to go after bad actors, curbed predatory practices, and created standards and protections for low-income borrowers. The problem with this is, it simply isn t true. 76 percent of payday loans are turned, which means that they are made to help the borrower pay off a previous payday loan. This is exactly what the CFPB wants to help stop a cycle of debt that the poor can t escape where they need to keep taking out loans to pay off previous ones.Debbie Wasserman Schultz is quickly becoming a pariah among Democrats. Her management of Democratic primary debates has garnered her a fair amount of infamy, and many have been calling for her to resign from her position as DNC chairperson. She will also be facing a primary challenge for her seat in the next election cycle. With this latest assistance to Republicans, will it mean the end of her seat at the DNC as well as in Congress?","label":1}
{"text":"Voting rights expert, Ari Berman, sat down with Joy Reid during Saturday s broadcast of The Reid Report where he and Reid discussed a court ruling that found that the GOP worked to prevent black voters from voting in North Carolina.The segment begins with a reading of part of the Fourth Circuit Court s decision, which reads: The only clear factor linking these various reforms is their impact on African American voters. The record thus makes obvious that the problem the majority in the general assembly sought to remedy was emerging support for the minority party. This decision in North Carolina was the biggest victory for voting rights since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act because the fourth circuit court was so clear about what happened. North Carolina, as you mentioned, passed the country s strongest and most sweeping voting restrictions, Berman assesses. They did so just a month after the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act, Berman continued. John Roberts said it was a thing of the past. What the Fourth Circuit said all of these things they did were meant to target black voters, with almost surgical precision. The Republican Party have tried to position themselves as the champions of free and fair elections since the Voting Rights Act was struck down. In reality, the reforms that they have put in place have been nothing except an attempt to disenfranchise minority voters.The left has fought against these reforms since they began cropping up. Now, with this landmark decision, the left has much more more legislative muscle to fight back against these racist laws.You can watch the segment below, in full.Featured image from video screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"Trending Articles: Trending Articles: Clinton emails: FBI director ignored Attorney General's advice not to 'take action that could influence election' Source: The Independent  FBI director James Comey reportedly ignored the advice of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who urged him not to thrust the controversy over Hillary Clinton's emails back into headlines less than a fortnight from election day.  US Department of Justice officials, Democrats and even some Republicans were said to be aghast at the timing of the FBI's announcement, on Friday, that it was reviewing a fresh cache of emails, which Mr Comey said may be \"pertinent\" to the investigation into Ms Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State.  According to a report from the New Yorker , Ms Lynch \"expressed her preference\" that Mr Comey uphold the Justice Department's \"longstanding practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations, and not taking any action that could influence the outcome of an election.\" The FBI director, however, \"said that he felt compelled to do otherwise.\"  Writing in the Washington Post , former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Mr Comey's decision was a \"troubling violation of long-standing Justice Department rules or precedent, conduct that raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to serve as the nation's chief investigative official.\"  The emails were discovered \"in connection with an unrelated case,\" the FBI director wrote in a letter to Republican congressional committee chairs on Friday. That separate case, it later emerged, concerns disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner , who is under investigation for allegedly sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina.  Mr Weiner is the estranged husband of Ms Clinton's closest aide, Huma Abedin , and the emails were found on one or more electronic devices belonging to the couple, which had been seized as part of the Weiner probe. The FBI is now investigating whether those emails contained any classified information.","label":1}
{"text":"The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee told Breitbart News the new Border Adjustment Tax is the way for Capitol Hill conservatives to support President Donald Trump's efforts to reform the tax code and reverse American trade disadvantages, as well as unleashing trillions of dollars currently sitting on the sidelines. [\"We know what our competitors do to beat us,\" said Rep. Kevin Brady (R. ) who took over one of the House's most powerful committees from Speaker Paul Ryan (R. .) upon Ryan's taking up the gavel. \"China, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and these others, they beat us on low rates, but not anymore,\" Brady said. \"They border adjust. \" The chairman said virtually every other country in the world has a system in place, where they take major taxes off of a product as it is exported to the United States and they slap a tax on products coming into their country from the United States. Brady said the president is deeply involved with the chairman's tax reform effort, because it lines up with his campaign rhetoric. \"President Trump gets it,\" he said. \"He knows it is not a level playing field and American workers and American communities are really getting hurt by this, so we are having very good discussions about how to end the 'Made in America Tax',\" he said. \"I am very encouraged with our talks with President Trump,\" Brady added. Helping Brady's cause is the popular support for what he promises the Border Adjustment Tax achieves. According to a confidential poll by Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio and his partner David Lee that is circulating Capitol Hill offices and was made available to Breitbart News, 58 percent of the voters in 14 states key support the BAT, and 29 oppose it. Among Republicans, 80 percent support the BAT with Democrats split: 45 percent oppose and 39 percent support. The poll asked: \"( ) people say that they would prefer a tax code that incentivizes goods imported and sold in American stores for lower prices. ( ) People say that they would prefer a tax code that incentivizes American manufacturing of goods to be sold in American stores and exported throughout the world.\" percent chose to incentivize American goods, and 13 percent chose to incentivize foreign goods. The poll was conducted among 1, 000 registered voters from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22 in 14 states and the District of Columbia. percent of the calls were made over landlines, and 44 percent were made on cell phones. The poll carries a 3. 1 percent margin of error with a 95 percent level of confidence. Brady's BAT is not a small piece of the puzzle it is the puzzle. It is estimated that the tax will reassign a macro tax burden by roughly $1 trillion, or about of federal revenues. The legislative lift alone is massive, given that this is the most significant restructuring of the tax code since President Ronald Reagan's 1986 reform. That reform reduced the individual tax code to three brackets, lowered the rates, and eliminated hundreds if not thousands of tax breaks. The BAT's $1 trillion haul then allows conservatives to achieve long overdue items on their agenda, such as the full repeal of the tax on estates, lowering the tax rates on personal and business taxes, and elimination of the tax code's infestation of tax loopholes written in for special interests. Brady said the estimates vary, but it is safe to say that American businesses are sitting on $6 trillion in cash that they were unwilling to use to hire new workers or invest. \"Because of President Obama's constant attack on the free enterprise system, businesses didn't feel comfortable unleashing that investment,\" he said. \"Under the Republican blueprint, we allow businesses to immediately write off from their taxes all their new investment, new buildings, new equipment, new technology, and new software,\" the Texan said. \"We'll bring all that investment off the sidelines and inject it right into the US economy,\" he said. \"That's where you are going to see lots of growth as well. \" Under the current system, low American trade barriers and the tax rebate other countries offer on exports means that American companies have a solid incentive to move manufacturing overseas and then send their products into the United States as our competitors do. Brady said the BAT equals out that disadvantage and fosters an environment where businesses are comfortable hiring and investing. During the campaign, Trump promised to lower the business tax to 15 percent from its current 35 percent. This rate is one of the highest in the world and creates the conditions for lawmakers to give their friends tax breaks. Were Congress to lower the business tax from 35 percent, there would be less reason to hire lobbyists to secure a tax loophole. One other advantage of lowering the business tax rate is the estimated $2. 5 trillion parked overseas by companies unwilling to pay 35 percent off the top when they bring those profits home \u2014 those funds suddenly become reasonable to repatriate, he said. \"Those profits, stranded overseas, we want them reinvested in America in new jobs, new research, and new growth. \" The chairman said his goal is to have the bill marked up out of committee by the end of spring and signed into law before the end of 2017. \"You want to give the Senate plenty of time to act on their tax reform as well,\" he said. \"After 30 years, the prospects of getting tax reform done this year are the best they have ever looked. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Print  The number of migrants sleeping rough on the streets of Paris has risen by at least a third since the start of the week when the \"Jungle\" shanty town in Calais was evacuated, officials said.  Along the bustling boulevards and a canal in a northeastern corner of Paris, hundreds of tents have been pitched by migrants \u2013 mostly Africans who say they are from Sudan \u2013 with cardboard on the ground to try and insulate them from the cold.  While the presence of migrants there is not new, it has grown substantially this week, Colombe Brossel, Paris deputy mayor in charge of security issues, told Reuters. \u2026  Between the Stalingrad and Jaures Paris metro stations, migrants who spent the night camped out on the median strip of a major road, with traffic passing on either side, had scattered on Friday morning, many carrying their tents while police patrolled the center of the boulevard.  Migrants and officials said police checked ID papers and asylum requests and later let the migrants return to the central reservation of the avenue where they put their tents back up.  \"There's a lot of new people here,\" said Mustafa, 21, from Darfur, as he waited on the side of the road.","label":1}
{"text":"Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Myanmar President Htin Kyaw on Sunday that China was willing to keep playing a constructive role over the Rakhine state issue, China s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.","label":0}
{"text":"After learning that Bill Nye had been very publicly demolishing her new climate change denial movie, Sarah Palin lashed out at the beloved science communicator with the ultimate insult saying he s as dumb as she is.In what might be the most mismatched battle of intellect in history, Palin and Nye have recently gone toe-to-toe over an upcoming documentary meant to prove climate change is a lie called Climate Hustle. The film is produced by infamous right-wing climate denier Marc Morano and is billed as the long-awaited response to Al Gore s Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth. Palin, a woman whose catchphrase is Drill, baby, drill is the film s chief promoter.For a brief moment it appeared that Nye would actually get a chance to debate Palin over climate science face-to-face, however the deal quickly fell through. The two sides have been trading barbs online ever since. Nye seemingly put the matter to rest with a final Facebook post in which he explained: Marc Morano did not invite me to his movie but he said I refused to come after he did invite me he was making that up, Nye said in a video posted on his Facebook page. It s disingenuous, at best. Morano did interview Nye and a clip in which he humiliates himself by refusing to put his money where his mouth is with a simple $20,000 bet quickly went viral.Never one to know when to keep her mouth shut, Palin has now jumped into the fray and hilariously tried to attack Nye s credibility by comparing it to her own.As The Hill caught at an event on Capitol Hill:Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, said the man known for his show Bill Nye the Science Guy, is using his position of authority to harm children by teaching them that climate change is real and man-made.Palin said behind the alarmism that the climate is changing is a predetermined and political agenda of those, I think, who are controlling the narrative right now on changes in the weather. The irony of a half-term governor and now reality television star criticizing Bill Nye for his science credentials is rich. And while Nye doesn t currently work as a research scientist, he received a Bachelors of Science from Cornell in mechanical engineering and spent his early career teaching astronomy and ecology courses at the college level. Furthermore, he s been honored with dozens of prestigious awards for his work at being an effective communicator of science (a job that is sorely needed). He s dedicated his life to passing along oftentimes complex scientific ideas in a way that is digestible and fun.In terms of climate science, Nye isn t a leading authority doing the cutting edge research but he listens to the people who are. Palin, of course, hasn t bothered to listen to a scientist once in her career. Instead, she s latched onto Morano, a man who viciously smeared respected climatologists to push his climate denial agenda. Before being humiliated by Nye during his own interview, Morano s last claim to fame was appearing on Fox News to complain that Google was unfairly discriminating against his articles by fact-checking them.Who would you trust?","label":1}
{"text":"Atlantic City's mayor said on Tuesday that bankruptcy was \"back on the table\" after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed legislation considered essential to the distressed gambling hub's tax base and cash flow. \"If the state is not able to come up with the funding we need within the next few weeks, we will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy,\" Mayor Don Guardian said in a statement. The seaside city's gambling industry, facing increased competition from neighboring U.S. Northeastern states, lost four of its 12 casinos in 2015. The legislation called for casinos to make fixed payments in lieu of taxes and would have added a measure of stability to the city's rapidly shrinking property tax base. Lawmakers first passed it in June. Nearly five months later, Christie vetoed it but said he would consider signing it with certain changes he required. The Democratic-led legislature then amended the measure, which was part of a package of bills, passed it, made yet more changes and passed it again. Christie, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, also declined on Tuesday to sign the other bills in the package. The city's emergency manager, Kevin Lavin, who was appointed by Christie a year ago, said in a report on Friday that without the revenues generated in the package, the city's cash flow would run dry by April. Legislative leaders, who have proposed a takeover of the city, will have to reintroduce the bills if they want to keep pushing for them. Democratic Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, whose district includes Atlantic City, said in a statement that Christie's vetoes showed a \"brazen disregard\" for Atlantic City's fiscal recovery and added he would move forward on measures to restore the region's economic security. Asked why Christie vetoed the bills, the governor's office referred to comments he made on Saturday when he was campaigning in Iowa. \"If I don't think the total package makes sense, I won't (sign it),\" he said, according to the remarks. He has been discussing \"some accommodation on this\" with Senate President Steve Sweeney and other legislative leaders. Sweeney, a Democrat, originally championed the legislation but is now pushing for a takeover of the city's operations. \"We cannot afford to let Atlantic City go bankrupt,\" Sweeney said in a statement. \"The best way out is for the State of New Jersey to take control of Atlantic City's finances and the best way to do it is to act quickly.\"","label":0}
{"text":"It s pretty much common knowledge that all Mitt Romney s speech against Donald Trump did was serve to help the Republican frontrunner with his band of merry morons voting for him. They, like Trump, see any and all criticism of The Donald as a means to rise up. If Trump is racist, they love him more. If he s misogynistic, he rises in the polls. If he criticizes disabled people, they d give him a medal.So, when you add up all the mean tweets being written by Trump supporters and Trump himself, you can only imagine how many poured in after Romney made his attempt at tearing Trump down. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Romney read a few of those tweets, and added a few jabs back that were actually pretty funny.Here are just a couple to give you the general idea of what comes out of the Trump campaign and his minions:Mitt Romney had his chance and blew it. Lindsey Graham ran for president, got ZERO, and quit! Why are they now spokesmen against me? Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2016@MittRomney = loser, who are you any way, and by the way where do u buy the shoe polish u wear in ur hair lol #Trump2016 Annette (@arpace4) March 2, 2016I actually met Mitt Romney in a bank a couple months back. I'm now working on a time machine to go back & punch him in the throat!#TRUMP VOTE4TRUMP_2016 (@VOTE4TRUMP_2016) March 4, 2016And while it s clear Donald Trump s skin and his ego are very fragile, kudos to Romney for proving he knows how to take criticism with a grain of salt. That s what one actually has to do when in the public eye. However, Trump turns in to a whining schoolboy destined for revenge and ends up being the class bully.Watch the hilarious segment here:","label":1}
{"text":"For someone who promoted his management skills and campaigned as an \"organizational genius,\" as Anderson Cooper of CNN put it, it has been a rocky White House debut for Donald J. Trump, the first president to go directly from the executive suite to the Oval Office. \"Chaos\" seems to be the word most often invoked, closely followed by \"turmoil. \" (One exception: the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, who said he preferred \" . \") In less than two weeks, Mr. Trump created upheaval at the nation's borders, alienated longtime allies, roiled markets with talk of a trade war and prompted some of the largest protests any president has faced. The conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal bemoaned a refugee policy \"so poorly explained and prepared for, that it has produced confusion and fear at airports, an immediate legal defeat, and political fury at home and abroad. \" Even the top House Republican, Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who had released a statement praising the immigration order, later distanced himself, saying, \"It's regrettable that there was some confusion with the rollout. \" All new presidents undergo a learning curve. But Mr. Trump promised a seamless transition and, with a real chief executive in charge as opposed to a career politician, an administration that would function as a machine. So it doesn't seem premature to ask some leading management experts for an assessment of Mr. Trump's first weeks, purely from the viewpoint of organizational behavior and management effectiveness, as I did this week. The unanimous verdict: Thus far, the Trump administration is a textbook case of how not to run a complex organization like the executive branch. \"This is so basic, it's covered in the introduction to the M. B. A. program that all our students take,\" said Lindred Greer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. By all outward indications, Mr. Trump \"desperately needs to take the course,\" she said. Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford and the author of \"Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't,\" said Mr. Trump's executive actions as president \"are so far from any responsible management approach\" that they all but defy analysis. \"Of course, this isn't new,\" he told me. \"His campaign also violated every prudent management principle. Everyone including our friends on Wall Street somehow believed that once he was president he'd change. I don't understand that logic. \" Wall Street did take notice. After months of cheering the prospect of tax reform and infrastructure spending, investors sold stocks after a weekend of chaos at the nation's airports connected to the president's executive order on immigration. On Monday, the Dow industrials experienced the biggest decline since the election, fueled by worries that a dysfunctional White House wouldn't be able to execute Mr. Trump's policies. \"If you thought immigration was bad, just wait for health care,\" Mr. Pfeffer warned. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. There is an enormous amount of literature and data exploring what constitutes effective management of complicated organizations. \"The core principles have served many leaders really well,\" said Jeffrey T. Polzer, professor of human resource management at Harvard Business School. \"It's really common sense: You want to surround yourself with talented people who have the most expertise, who bring different perspectives to the issue at hand. Then you foster debate and invite different points of view in order to reach a solution. \" This is often easier said than done. It \"requires an openness to being challenged, and some and even humility to acknowledge that there are areas where other people know more than you do,\" Mr. Polzer continued. \"This doesn't mean decisions are made by consensus. The person at the top makes the decisions, but based on the facts and expertise necessary to make a good decision. \" Mr. Trump has already violated several of these core principles. The secretary of Homeland Security, John F. Kelly, was still discussing a proposed executive order restricting immigration when Mr. Trump went ahead and signed it. Nor was Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, consulted he saw the final order only hours before it went into effect. Not to consult thoroughly with top cabinet officers before deciding on the order \"is insane,\" since they \"have the expertise and should be on top of the data,\" Ms. Greer said. \"Ignoring them leads to bad decisions and is also incredibly demoralizing. \" And there's another reason to consult, Mr. Polzer said: \"When people are genuinely involved in a decision and their input is heard and valued and respected, they are more likely to support and buy into the decision and be motivated to execute to the best of their abilities, even if the decision doesn't go their way. \" Conversely, people who aren't consulted feel they have no stake in a successful outcome. Far from encouraging and weighing differing views as part of the process, Mr. Trump appears to view dissension as disloyalty. After career State Department officers circulated a draft cable questioning the effectiveness of the immigration ban, Mr. Spicer responded, \"They should either get with the program or they can go. \" \"Debate and dissent are essential to reaching any thoughtful outcome,\" Ms. Greer said. Comments like Mr. Spicer's \"will discourage anyone from speaking up. You end up with group think, an echo chamber where people only say what they think the president wants to hear. \" And while it's understandable that the president was eager to act swiftly to follow through on his campaign promises \u2014 he had made a long list of actions to be carried out on \"Day 1\" \u2014 his directives came across as needlessly hasty and poorly thought through. Some had to be reframed (talk of a Mexican border surcharge) or significantly modified and clarified after the fact (immigration policy). I asked the management experts to ignore their views about the merits of Mr. Trump's policies, but all said that execution and substance are inextricably linked. \"When you're on the receiving end of a policy decision, the merits of the decision and the execution go hand in hand,\" Mr. Polzer said. \"If either one is done poorly, the outcomes will be bad. Even good plans that are poorly rolled out aren't going to work well. \" For many people, the Affordable Care Act was indelibly tainted by the computer malfunctions that plagued its start. Similarly, for many Americans, the enduring image of Mr. Trump's immigration policy will be that of a tearful Iraqi immigrant who was detained at Kennedy International Airport after risking his life working as a translator for the American military over a period. (He was released after lawyers intervened on his behalf.) That prompted even Mr. Ryan to say, \"No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas, like translators, get caught up in all of this. \" Some Trump defenders have said that the president thrives on chaos, and it has proved to be an effective management approach for him in the past. But every expert I consulted said there is no empirical data or research that supports the notion that chaos is a productive management tool. \"I'm not aware of anyone who advocates that,\" Mr. Polzer said. \"I don't really know what's going on in the White House, so I don't feel comfortable commenting on that specifically. But I can say in general that in organizational settings, less chaos is a good thing. \" Everyone agreed that there was still time for Mr. Trump to right the ship. Other administrations have had course corrections and personnel . But having to reorganize only weeks into a first term is not promising. If this were the private sector, \"someone would be fired,\" Ms. Greer said. That seems highly unlikely, since Mr. Trump has not even acknowledged a problem, instead blaming the media for an impression of upheaval in the White House. That is a fundamental problem, Mr. Pfeffer said. \"No good business makes decisions that are based on falsehoods,\" he said. \"My sense is that Trump takes no one's counsel but his own. That's bad management, period. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Meanwhile, in virtually every media outlet across America, Trump Trump Trump and Russia Russia Russia!Evidence shows that John Roberts, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, was hacked by a Deep State surveillance operation overseen by Obama administration CIA director John Brennan and Obama director of national intelligence James Clapper.Roberts, the Bush appointee who made the decisive vote to uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare before the 2012 election, was allegedly the victim of the same Deep State surveillance program that spied on President Donald Trump.Tapes released by Federal Judge G. Murray Snow preserved on a Whistleblower Soundcloud page show real estate billionaire Timothy Blixseth explaining Brennan and Clapper s surveillance program to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and detective Mike Zullo. The existence of this surveillance program has been corroborated by Wikileaks Vault 7 release and by the public comments of former CIA and NSA contractor Dennis Montgomery, who says he worked on the program for Brennan and Clapper.Montgomery has gone public with his claims exposing how the program was used to spy on President Donald Trump when he was a private citizen. Montgomery has gained immunity and desperately wants House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes or other lawmakers to call him to testify about what he knows.On the explosive tapes, Blixseth walks Arpaio and Zullo through the details of the program on a computer screen. At one point, the three begin pulling up specific names of targeted individuals.LISTEN TO TAPES (at the 18 minute mark HERE) You know who that guy is? That s the head of the FISA court they hacked into, Reggie Walton, Blixseth tells the investigators. John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, was hacked, Blixseth tells Arpaio and Zullo.Insiders have always been skeptical of Roberts motives for siding with President Obama on the 2012 Obamacare case. While there s still no available evidence that Roberts was blackmailed, the allegation that he was hacked by Obama officials provides some more context into the justice s controversial career.As Big League Politics reported, former FBI director James Comey seized and buried volumes of information that demonstrated this wide-ranging government surveillance operation targeting Donald Trump before he became president.","label":1}
{"text":"Hollywood Icon And Superstar Sylvester Stallone gave an interview with Variety to pump his latest project Creed now in theaters. The only thing the libs didn t count on was Stallone s total support for Trump. He really likes a fighter but who s surprised about that. Rambo!!!Stallone told Variety, I love Donald Trump. Variety reported:Although he s been called a Republican, for supporting John McCain s 2008 presidential run, Stallone says he s not a member of the GOP. May the best fighter win, he said. I don t think you can be totally one-sided forever. Then you close your mind to all sorts of possibilities. It s just, Who comes along better at that time for what the planet is going through? Right now, it s pretty confusing on every side. What does he think of the Republican frontrunner? I love Donald Trump, he said. He s a great Dickensian character. You know what I mean? There are certain people like Arnold, Babe Ruth, that are bigger than life. But I don t know how that translates he let out a laugh to running the world.","label":1}
{"text":"A Senate panel on Tuesday approved legislation to renew the National Security Agency's internet surveillance program, while other lawmakers pushed a competing measure seeking to end the ability to search for data on Americans without a warrant. The competing plans were likely to complicate congressional renewal of that law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, due to expire at the end of the year. The Trump administration supports a permanent renewal of the program without any changes. The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-3 to advance legislation renewing Section 702 until Dec. 31, 2025. The panel voted privately, meaning it did not immediately share the bill text, a common practice for the committee. Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner, the panel's Republican and Democratic leaders, said in a statement the bill would protect national security while improving privacy protections for Americans and adding transparency requirements about who can be targeted. The three no votes came from Democrats, including Senator Ron Wyden, an author of the alternative measure. U.S. intelligence officials value Section 702, calling it a vital tool for fighting national and cyber security threats and helping protect American allies. It allows U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on and store vast amounts of digital communications from foreign suspects living outside the United States. The panel unanimously adopted an amendment from Warner, requiring the Federal Bureau of Investigation to send any queries it makes for U.S. data to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to a source familiar with the vote. The court would have two days to review the query for legality, the source said. Privacy advocates have blasted the bill, saying it does not contain enough safeguards. Some complained that a version of the bill that had leaked might even expand the U.S. government's surveillance powers. Fourteen other senators introduced legislation that would require the NSA to obtain a warrant for queries of data on Americans under an internet surveillance program. The effort, led by Wyden and Republican Rand Paul, would reform other aspects of the warrantless program. The surveillance program, classified details of which were exposed in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, also incidentally scoops up communications of Americans, including if they communicate with a foreign target living overseas. Those communications can then be subject to searches without a warrant, including by the FBI. The USA Rights Act authored by Wyden and Paul would end that practice. The measure was introduced with support from more than 40 civil society groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and FreedomWorks. A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. It would renew Section 702 for four years with additional transparency and oversight provisions, such as making it easier for individuals to raise legal challenges against the law and expand the oversight jurisdiction of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a government watchdog. Earlier this month, a bipartisan group in the House introduced separate legislation to add privacy protections to Section 702, including partially restricting the FBI's ability to access U.S. data when investigating a crime. Privacy groups criticized that plan as too narrow.","label":0}
{"text":"Robert Dear, the accused terrorist who shot up the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, CO, is speaking out about his rampage and still sounding like anti-choice activists on the right.Dear spoke to the Colorado Gazette newspaper, and was not ashamed of what he did.The accused Planned Parenthood shooter spoke to The Gazette on Friday at the El Paso County jail, saying he had no remorse for killing three people at the clinic on Nov. 27. I killed three and I saved 3,000 3,000 babies or more, said Robert Lewis Dear Jr., referencing abortions conducted at the clinic.Dear s shooting spree followed the release of several videos deceptively edited to make it seem as if workers at Planned Parenthood clinics were breaking the law and selling fetal body parts. Those videos were created by activists at the group Center for Medical Progress and their leader David Daleiden, who was recently indicted in Texas for tampering with government records and other charges.Despite this, attacks on Planned Parenthood have become a part of the Republican mainstream. Presidential candidates have said they would defund the organization to varying degrees, citing the hoax videos as evidence.Meanwhile congressional committees have previously and continue to harass and attack Planned Parenthood but have been unable to point to any crimes that haven committed.Similarly, numerous state attorney generals including Republicans have investigated Planned Parenthood but have been completely unable to bring up evidence of crimes on their behalf.The attacks have continued, even after Dear s murder spree. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently promised to ramp up investigations of Planned Parenthood while vowing to give Daleiden a pardon for his crimes.In conservative media like Fox News Channel, viewers have been fed a steady diet of anti-abortion, anti-Planned Parenthood on a regular basis. Those outlets have told their viewers that Planned Parenthood is doing illegal, horrific things with baby parts, and have thought nothing of the consequences of those lies on the public and people like Dear.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders brought his strategy of trying to reenergize the Democratic Party by lending his star power to lower-level races to a small city just outside Boston on Monday, with a stop to endorse candidates for alderman and city council. Sanders, an independent who ran for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2016 presidential election, announced his support for a dozen candidates backed by \"Our Revolution\" a group formed by supporters of Sanders' campaign to boost progressive, liberal candidates. It is unusual for a politician with Sanders' profile to weigh in on races with no serious Republican contenders, political observers said. \"The local level, more than any other level, is a way to involve people in the political process,\" Sanders said in Somerville, Massachusetts, a city of 80,000 people. Sanders last week pointed to the appearance as one of a series to try to build enthusiasm for lower-level elections. Sanders served four terms as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, before being elected to the Senate. His remarks on Monday mirrored his 2016 stump speeches, without directly addressing the candidates he was supporting in Somerville and neighboring Cambridge. Political observers said Sanders, and the candidates he endorsed, will face a challenge in translating the enthusiasm his campaign generated into votes for lower-level races. In the city's last municipal election that followed a presidential race, one-in-four registered voters, some 10,241 people, cast ballots. Three out of four who voted in last year's Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential matchup. \"Sanders envisioned his candidacy as a launching pad for nothing short of a revolution within the Democratic Party,\" said Jeffrey Berry, a professor of political science at nearby Tufts University. \"The energy is more around 'How do we fight Trump' than it is 'How do we create a Democratic Party in the image of Bernie Sanders.'\" Sanders may not need to tip too many voters to influence the typically low-turnout city races. In the 2013 ward races, just two candidates secured more than 1,000 votes and the four closest races were decided by an average of 166 votes. \"It's definitely a draw and I think it's important that he is supporting local candidates,\" said Ellora Derenoncourt, a 30-year-old graduate student who was out to show her support for alderman candidate J.T. Scott, a gym owner in his first race. The event did attract some undecided voters who said Sanders' endorsement would sway their picks among fields of Democratic candidates. \"Our country has moved so far to their right since the mid-90s that just being a Democrat doesn't necessarily qualify you as a liberal or progressive,\" said Pamela Massey, 59, of Cambridge. Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator who serves as president of Our Revolution, acknowledged that the group faced a challenge in drumming up enthusiasm for down-ticket races. \"We have to try,\" Turner said. \"We have to remind people that they have an obligation to participate and so often the level of vitriol that is put out the national level can have a negative effect.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Media Bias Has Become Mental Illness Media Bias Has Become Mental Illness 31 am by Cliff Kincaid Leave a Comment 0  Accuracy in Media  Aware that their credibility is shot with the American people, the publisher and executive editor of The New York Times sent a \"To our readers\" note on Friday, saying, \"we aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism.\"  This was another way of saying, \"Sorry, we blew it,\" without being honest with readers.  Those familiar with the paper's \"journalism\" understand this to be media bias. But Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. and Dean Baquet were suggesting something else\u2014that something had gone wrong and they don't quite know what happened, but don't worry because the Times will get back to its mission of reporting truthfully.  Beating around the bush, they said Trump's victory was \"the biggest political story of the year,\" which had \"reached a dramatic and unexpected climax late Tuesday night\u2026\"  The word \"unexpected\" means that the paper's predictions were wrong.  Then they said that the paper's newsroom had covered the campaign \"with agility and creativity,\" which are terms for incompetence and bias. Some people cling to the old-fashioned idea that a paper should report events objectively.  Pretending to reflect on the poor coverage, they finally got to the problem without saying so directly. They asked, \"Did Donald Trump's sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters?\" and \"What forces and strains in America drove this divisive election and outcome?\"  In other words, Trump's \"sheer unconventionality\" caused the paper to misreport what was happening. He had appealed to mysterious \"forces and strains,\" terms that apparently refer to the voters.  Sulzberger and Baquet insisted that the Times will \"report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor, striving always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you.\"  In other words, they blew it during the 2016 campaign and will try to do better next time. But nothing is really changing at the paper. Nobody is being fired. And nobody is being hired who has an understanding of the conservative electorate.  The paper, they said, will \"hold power to account, impartially and unflinchingly.\"  But who will hold The New York Times accountable?  In a real howler, they then claimed, \"We believe we reported on both candidates fairly during the presidential campaign. You can rely on The New York Times to bring the same fairness, the same level of scrutiny, the same independence to our coverage of the new president and his team.\"  This is another indication that the paper is hopelessly liberal, and that nothing will really change.  The business as usual attitude was reflected in the front-page headline in the Times after Trump won: \"Democrats, Students and Foreign Allies Face the Reality of a Trump Presidency.\"  As Accuracy in Media Chairman Don Irvine noted , the headline was even funny to various MSNBC personalities, because it focused on the disappointment of liberals at Trump's victory, rather than the victory itself.  Mark Halperin commented, \"If a Democratic candidate who was thought to have a 10 percent chance of winning by The New York Times that ended up winning, and winning red states as Trump won blue states, I don't think that would have been the headline. And I'll just say again, the responsibility of journalists is to not report on their biases. It's to go out and understand the country through the prism of the election and say, 'Why are people feeling the way they're feeling?'\"  Of course, the Times was not alone.  Consider the story in Politico headlined , \"Insiders: Clinton would crush Trump in November.\" It began, \"In the swing states that matter most in the presidential race, Donald Trump doesn't have a prayer against Hillary Clinton in the general election.\"  In a story headlined, \"The Democrat Media Complex Will Never Understand What Happened Tuesday Night,\" Stephen Kruiser at PJ Media commented that the talking heads want desperately to avoid the topic of the \"overwhelming lack of political and intellectual diversity in their ranks,\" but that the problem of their liberalism is compounded by their laziness.  This is a fact, as reflected in my analysis of Post \"journalist\" Dana Milbank, who got caught asking Democratic Party officials for help on an anti-Trump column.  For his part, Milbank crafted another anti-Trump column after the Trump victory, in the form of a letter to his daughter. \"This is a sad day for our country,\" he told her . \"I want you to know that I did everything I could to prevent this from happening. My efforts and those of many others came up short.\"  Those \"many others\" were in the media and the Democratic Party, for whom Milbank worked. Perhaps Post owner Jeff Bezos ought to ask the Democrats to pay Milbank's salary.  Milbank told his daughter, \"You are going to be okay.\"  That's more than what we can say about Milbank. He is not okay. He is more than just a lazy liberal who gets the Democratic Party to help write his columns. He is completely out of touch with the America he claims to be writing about.  Like those at the Times, Milbank and others at the Post will never change. They are elitists whose hatred for their fellow Americans borders on mental illness.  Like other liberals, they claim to be on a crusade for \"the children,\" in his case his daughter. It's frankly despicable that he would use his kid as a political prop. She needs our prayers. Cliff Kincaid  Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org. View the complete archives from Cliff Kincaid . 0","label":1}
{"text":"It hasn't been a good year for the troika that dominates soft drink sales, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple. The public's attention on the health effects of sugary sodas has continued to increase, slowing growth and increasing political pressure. This year, soft drink companies and their lobbying group, the American Beverage Association, spent $38 million to defeat proposals to impose taxes on sugary drinks in four cities: San Francisco, Oakland and Albany in California, and Boulder, Colo. The companies lost all of those fights. Now, seven cities around the country have a soda tax. One way the companies have tried to get ahead of the tax efforts is by vowing to reduce the calories in their products. In September 2014, they committed to reducing calories 20 percent nationwide by 2025 and focus on 10 communities where rates of obesity, heart disease, hypertension and diabetes are among the highest. The effort has been underway for about a year now, and as the beverage association prepared to release research about the efforts, it invited a handful of reporters to see what had been done to encourage consumption of healthier beverages in three stores in the neighborhood in Brooklyn, one of the 10 sites the companies promised to focus on. Here are the findings and observations, which suggest that the companies have a long way to go to meet their goal. The average American consumed an estimated 199 calories a day from beverages in 2014, when beverage companies made their pledge, and that fell to 198. 7 calories a day the next year, according to research by Keybridge Public Policy Economics, an independent firm paid by the beverage association to conduct the study. That is a decline of less than 1 percent, far off the pace need to reach a 20 percent drop over a decade. To achieve their 2025 goal, the companies must reduce calories to 159. 2 calories per person per day. Americans actually increased the volume of beverages they consumed by 2. 2 percent from 2014 to 2015, largely because they drank more water. Consumers drank less soda, but substituted bottled coffee and tea, sports drinks and energy drinks, according to Robert F. Wescott, president of Keybridge. \"The increase in water \u2014 it's not replacing something else,\" he said. The companies are offering several alternatives to traditional soda, and have retooled older products to reduce calories. This has often been done quietly, with subtle changes to the drinks. \"Consumers won't buy something if you tell them you've changed it,\" said Michael Morel, sales director for Brooklyn at the Bottling Company of New York. Pepsi, for instance, reformulated nine varieties of Brisk, an iced tea and juice line it owns together with Unilever. Using a combination of caloric and noncaloric sweeteners, PepsiCo lowered calories in the drinks by as much as 44 percent. \"There was a dramatic decrease in calories in Brisk \u2014 but not in sales,\" Mr. Wescott said. \"Calorie decreases like that need to accelerate to meet the 2025 target. \" More additions are coming. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group has nearly doubled sales of seltzers over the last several years as part of its effort to encourage greater consumption of drinks. On Tuesday, the company announced it was paying $1. 7 billion for Bai Brands, a maker of enhanced waters with just five calories, thus expanding its portfolio of drinks. The companies have also renegotiated their agreements with grocery chains and bodegas in to give better placement to drinks. For instance, Coke Zero and other drinks from are now standing cheek by jowl with traditional Powerade and other beverages on shelves at the Ideal Food Basket in . \"We didn't sell any of those products here before,\" said Kamau Brown, 's director of sales and operations for the New York City metro region. and the other beverage companies have also persuaded retailers to let them to add racks and cardboard display cases, which effectively create additional shelf space for the products. This ensures that stores don't lose revenue from sweetened products until products demonstrate solid sales, Mr. Brown said. For instance, 33. bottles of Smart Water, which has no calories, were displayed on a wire rack at a price of four for $5. A cardboard display of different flavors of Aloe Gloe, a new enhanced water line from Coke, offered two small cardboard \"bottles\" for $4. But the products are not far away. Separating the Smart Water and Aloe Gloe displays were two shopping carts filled with bottles of ginger ale and Pepsi Wild Cherry, on sale for $2. 99. The companies are using a variety of promotions designed to encourage greater sales of and drinks. At the deli, for instance, PepsiCo's drinks are sold for 99 cents. had a variety of \"buy one, get one free\" offers on displays that encouraged consumers to get an of small 7. cans of Coke Zero if they bought the same size pack of classic Coke. All three big beverage companies have signs that read, \"Balance what you eat, drink and do\" and show images of some products. Pepsi's, for instance, shows bottles of Gatorade and Aquafina, its water brand. But a small bottle of classic Pepsi is also featured front and center. Moussad Elghandour, a Yemeni immigrant who owns the Utica Express Deli in said that the promotions were driving sales \u2014 but that sugary drinks were also selling well. Changing demographics in the neighborhood, he said, noting specifically a higher number of white residents, were also responsible for the changing mix of drinks he's selling. \"Some people care about themselves, their health. Some people don't,\" Mr. Elghandour said.","label":0}
{"text":"Despite what many racists say and regardless of the hand-picked statistics of the federal government in an effort to demonize black people, the rate of white-on-white crime in the United States is far higher than that of African-Americans victimizing white citizens.In a report published last Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) on Race and Hispanic Origin of Victims and Offenders 2012-2015, some staggering figures emerged. Research conducted over a four year period during which U.S. residents experienced 5.8 million violent victimizations each year found that the rate of white-on-white violent crime (12.0 per 1,000) was almost four times higher than black-on-white violent crime (3.1 per 1,000).However, even when the facts are blatantly obvious and staring them right in the face, there is no swaying some Republicans who still subscribe to the idea that African-Americans are still the largest threat to themselves and others. Case in point: former White House advisor Sebastian Gorka in this interview last Monday:On a Sinclair station, Gorka refers to \"black African crime on black African crime\" & says black men are killing each other \"by the bushel\" pic.twitter.com\/Cbtqm39tTd Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) October 24, 2017Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, an African-American himself, shares the same sentiments as Gorka. One of the most dramatically difficult things to fathom in this country is the amount of lives lost black lives lost as a result of black-on-black violence, Hill said on Saturday. In the same year that we experienced about 259 police officer shootings of blacks in 2015, there were 6,000 black lives lost to murders from black people. However, contrary to what both Mr. Gorka and Mr. Hill believe, black men aren t killing each other by the bushel. In fact, according to the report, black-on-black violence has decreased exponentially in the last two decades, by almost the exact same rate as white-on-white violence. From 1994 to 2015, white-on-white violence and black-on-black violence declined at a similar rate. White-on-white violence declined 79 percent (from 52.5 to 10.8 victimizations per 1,000 white persons). Black-on-black violence declined 78 percent (from 66.6 to 14.5 victimizations per 1,000 black persons). Information on Hispanic origin of offenders was not collected prior to 2012, the report stated.It s time that the U.S. government started to report the facts when it comes to the issue of race, instead of dividing the country.","label":1}
{"text":"Wednesday on MSNBC's \"Hardball,\" host Chris Matthews said President Donald Trump's \"boasts and bragging\" was \"simian,\" adding it was like a \"monkey banging with a stick. \" Matthews said, \"The ego here is \u2014 well it's something. By the way, his teeth come out like it's simian almost. It's simian, like a monkey banging with a stick, You know, 'I'm the biggest. I'm the biggest.' Pounding his chest. It does have a simian quality to it, I mean primordial, I should say. \" Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN","label":0}
{"text":"Taya Kyle, the widow of infamous American Sniper Chris Kyle, attended CNN s Guns in America town hall Thursday, where she grilled President Obama on his executive actions regarding gun control and safety. Mrs Kyle, who received the thank you right-wingers said would never come from the president for her husband s service, took to the moment like a champ, managing to squeeze every conservative talking point possible into a few short minutes.A somewhat bizarre moment came when she told the president we can t outlaw murder. She presumably meant that there s no way to stop all murders from happening, so why bother trying if it will inconvenience someone with a 10-minute background check: The thing is that the laws that we create don t stop these horrific things from happening, right and that s a very tough pill to swallow. We want to think we can make a law and people will follow it, but by the very nature of their crimes they are not following it. By the very nature of looking at the people who hurt our loved ones here, I don t know any of them would have been stopped by the background check and yet, I crave that desire for hope, too. Part of it is we have to recognize that we cannot outlaw murder, because the people who are murdering, right, are they are breaking the law but they also don t have a moral code that we have, so they could do the same amount of damage with a pipe bomb. Mrs. Kyle and those who think like her probably thought her point was some form of a slam-dunk that the president wouldn t be able to answer. That turned out to not be the case, as her argument is based in NRA myths and lies and not in the reality that we all live every day.She does make some interesting points about the direction the country has been traveling when it comes to violent crime but stops short of reasonable when she says we should be celebrating the dropping murder rates in our country. The president agreed that we don t put enough emphasis on the good that we ve done, but that s because there s still so much horror happening every day.He s right. We can t simply say, hooray for us, we kill fewer people than we did in 1985, let s stop worrying about it! We have to remain vigilant and continue to institute policies that will bring the violent crime rates even lower over the NEXT 2 decades as well. The president s actions are a part of that plan and a part of his ongoing commitment to make America safer.Watch the entire exchange between President Obama and American Sniper widow Taya Kyle below:","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate is under no obligation to consider President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said on Wednesday. \"This has never been about who the nominee is. It is about a basic principle. Under our Constitution, the president has every right to make this nomination, and the Senate has every right not to confirm a nominee,\" Ryan said. Ryan said he supported Senate Republican leaders' decision not to move forward with the confirmation process after Democrat Obama sent his nomination of Garland to the Senate on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"Turkey, Iran and Iraq may hold a trilateral meeting to discuss the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum, Turkey s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Thursday. Yildirim also said he agreed with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi to coordinate economic and trade relations with the central government in Baghdad, after Abadi s government took control of border crossings with Turkey.","label":0}
{"text":"European Union ministers on Monday congratulated Austria s Sebastian Kurz on his election victory but some were uneasy about the far-right, eurosceptic party that may enter the new government and has clashed with the bloc before. The Freedom Party (FPO) got around 26 percent of votes in Sunday s parliamentary vote, boosted by a European migration crisis in 2015 that affected Austria and also led Kurz to campaign on an anti-migration platform. I don t have a problem with Sebastian Kurz as a person. We re not following the same line politically, that has never been the case and it never will be, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said on arriving to talks with his EU peers. He listed pro-European Austrian politicians as role models for Kurz and warned Vienna not to side with migration hardliners, including Hungary, whose government is also eurosceptic. Austria became a member of the European Union in 1995 after voting in favor of joining the bloc with a two-thirds majority. Recent opinion polls suggest three quarters of Austrians want the country to stay in the bloc. While the FPO had been a member of socialist-led governments in the 1980s, the anti-immigrant rhetoric of party leader Joerg Haider led to fierce criticism from EU neighbors when his party joined a government with the Christian Democrat OVP in 2000. The EU s 14 other member states at that time reduced bilateral cooperation with Austria until a report by senior diplomats found that the country s respect for human rights had not been diminished since the FPO joined the government. The party demanded a referendum only last year to exit the EU, as Britain is doing now. The FPO has toned down its anti-EU rhetoric in recent months but continues to call for weaker members to leave the euro zone and Austria to pay less into the common EU budget. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, entering the same talks in Luxembourg in which Kurz would normally also take part, said the 31-year-old Austrian conservative was his friend. We are happy that a sister party of ours won the elections ... and we are happy that their candidate has won who in many cases represented similar positions regarding migration to the Hungarian government, Szijjarto told reporters. Szijjarto expected that the anti-immigration eastern EU states - Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - to work more closely with Austria now, which would only deepen the east-west divides weakening the bloc s unity. As Austria turns to the right, the bloc s top official dealing with EU s ties vis- -vis its neighbors, Commissioner Johannes Hahn of Austria, sought to ease concerns that Vienna may become a new enfant terrible in the bloc. One should not forget that only a year ago Austria elected the first Green president and now it looks as if the Greens will be kicked out of parliament. There is a huge volatility among voters, Hahn said in Luxembourg. Each government will have a very pro-European agenda because all the major political parties are very much committed to the European Union, he added.","label":0}
{"text":"Foreign ministers from NATO and European Union nations are concerned about comments on NATO that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump made in a newspaper interview published on Monday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. \"I've spoken today not only with EU foreign ministers but NATO foreign ministers as well and can report that the signals are that there's been no easing of tensions,\" Steinmeier told reporters when asked about Trump's interview with Bild newspaper and the Times of London. In the interview, Trump said he viewed NATO as obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks.","label":0}
{"text":"Outspoken broadcaster Katie Hopkins is parting ways with LBC Radio \"immediately\" following a controversial tweet in which she called for a \"final solution\" to Islamic terrorism. [Hopkins amended the tweet to read \"true solution\" soon after posting it on Tuesday, explaining that she had found the \"typo\" to be \"disrespectful\" to the victims of the attack on the Manchester Arena on Monday which killed 22 people. But fellow Twitter users were quick to make the connection to the holocaust, labelling Hopkins a \"Nazi\". 22 dead \u2014 number rising. Schofield. Don't you even dare. Do not be part of the problem. We need a true solution. #ManchesterArena, \u2014 Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) May 23, 2017, @KTHopkins How come you changed this from \"final solution\" to \"true solution\"? Come on, stand by those nazi words, nazi. pic. twitter. \u2014 (@JohnSeaborn) May 23, 2017, @JohnSeaborn I stand by my tweet. I find the typo disrespectful to the survivors in Manchester, \u2014 Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) May 23, 2017, Later the same day Hopkins was accused of inciting racial hatred after she tweeted \"Western men. These are your wives. Your daughters. Your sons. Rise up. Demand action. Do not carry on as normal. Cowed. \" Both tweets were reported to the police for hate speech. The Met's Contact Centre Twitter account confirming that complaints had been received and would be \"assessed by specialist officers\". This is the response from the Met Police to the slaughter of our children in Manchester pic. twitter. \u2014 Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) May 23, 2017, This is not the first time Hopkins' tweets have landed her in trouble. In March, she was ordered to pay \u00a324, 000 in damages and \u00a3107, 000 in costs to social justice activist Jack Monroe after wrongly accusing her of vandalising war memorials. Hopkins had meant to direct her tweet to New Stateman columnist Laurie Penny, who had shown indifference to a memorial to the Women of World War II being sprayed with graffiti reading \"Fuck Tory scum\". On Friday morning, LBC Radio appeared to have reached breaking point with Hopkins, announcing via Twitter that she would no longer be hosting her two hour slot, \"effective immediately\". LBC and Katie Hopkins have agreed that Katie will leave LBC effective immediately. \u2014 LBC (@LBC) May 26, 2017, The station refused to either confirm or deny that Hopkins had been sacked. A spokesman probed for further details responded: \"That's all we're saying. \" The BBC's Amol Rajan has reported that there were \"massive cheers and applause\" from the station's newsroom when her departure was announced.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump on Thursday stood by his belief that both sides were to blame for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and counterprotesters last month. Trump had drawn criticism for not initially condemning white supremacists who organized the event on Aug. 12, with even some of his fellow Republicans expressing dismay at his opinion. Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One a day after a meeting with South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, an African-American who had expressed concern about Trump's comments. \"We had a great talk yesterday,\" he said of his meeting with Scott. \"I think especially in the light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what's going on there. You have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also. And essentially that's what I said.\" Trump said anti-fascist groups known as the \"antifa\" must share blame for neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan fighting with anti-racism protesters in the streets. One woman was killed when a suspected white nationalist crashed his car into demonstrators. On Thursday, the president also signed a resolution sent to him by Congress that condemned the violence in Charlottesville and opposed \"hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms.\" \"No matter the color of our skin or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God,\" Trump said in a statement regarding the resolution. In Berkeley, California, violence erupted on Aug. 27 when a small group of masked antifa and left-wing protestors attacked right-wing demonstrators. \"Now, because of what's happened since then with antifa, you look at really what's happened since Charlottesville. A lot of people are saying, in fact a lot of people have actually written, 'Gee, Trump might have a point,'\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Federal appeals courts in the states of Washington and Virginia are set to hear arguments this week on the legality of President Donald Trump's most recent travel ban, which sharply limits visitors and immigrants from eight countries, six of them Muslim-majority. Challengers, including the state of Hawaii and immigrant advocacy organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argue the ban is discriminatory and violates the U.S. Constitution. The Trump administration says it is necessary to protect the United States from terrorist attacks. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in San Francisco, will hold a hearing in Seattle, Washington on Dec. 6 and the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has its hearing on Dec. 8. Soon after taking office in January, Trump signed an order temporarily barring all refugees and visitors from seven predominately Muslim countries. The decision led to chaos at airports and numerous legal challenges and the administration eventually replaced it with a second, somewhat narrower order. When the second ban expired in September, Trump replaced it with a presidential proclamation indefinitely restricting travel from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, North Korea and barring certain government officials from Venezuela. The administration said the restrictions were put in place after a worldwide review of each country's ability to issue reliable passports and share data with the United States. After the most recent order was issued, the same challengers who sued to stop the earlier bans went back to court. They said the new version still discriminated against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuits did not dispute the restrictions placed on Venezuela and North Korea. All refugees were temporarily barred as part of Trump's first order but were not addressed in the latest ban. Instead, under a separate directive issued Oct. 24, refugees from 11 countries mostly in the Middle East and Africa now face additional security screening. The 9th circuit appeals court on Nov. 13 ruled the ban could go partially into effect for everyone without close family relationships to people in the United States. The White House has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift those partial restrictions while the cases are moving forward in lower courts so that the ban would apply to everyone. The government argues the president has broad authority to decide who can come into the United States, but detractors say the expanded ban violates a law forbidding the government from discriminating based on nationality when issuing immigrant visas. The administration has repeatedly said the ban is not discriminatory and pointed out that many Muslim-majority countries are unaffected by it. Trump has made statements, however, that his legal opponents say reinforce their contention that his actions are based in anti-Muslim sentiments. Last week, for example, the president shared on Twitter anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right British party leader. In response to the tweet, Neal Katyal, attorney for the State of Hawaii Tweeted: \"Thanks! See you in court next week.\" The ACLU said in a letter sent to the Supreme Court on Monday that the group planned to file a motion that would expand the record to include the recent statements by the President.","label":0}
{"text":"This item has been updated. House Republican leaders abruptly dropped plans late Wednesday to vote on an anti-abortion bill amid a revolt by female GOP lawmakers concerned that the legislation's restrictive language would once again spoil the party's chances of broadening its appeal to women and younger voters. In recent days, as many as two dozen Republicans had raised concerns with the \"Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act\" that would ban abortions after the 20th week of a pregnancy. Sponsors said that exceptions would be allowed for a woman who is raped, but she could only get the abortion after reporting the rape to law enforcement. A vote had been scheduled for Thursday to coincide with the annual March for Life, a gathering that brings hundreds of thousands of anti-abortion activists to Washington to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. But Republican leaders dropped those plans after failing to win over a bloc of lawmakers, led by Reps. Rene Ellmers (R-N.C.) and Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who had raised concerns. The House will vote instead Thursday on a bill prohibiting federal funding for abortions -- a more innocuous anti-abortion measure that the Republican-controlled chamber has passed before. A senior GOP aide said that concerns had been raised \"by men and women Members that still need to be worked out.\" The aide, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the plans, said in an e-mail that Thursday's vote will help \"advance the pro-life cause\" and that GOP leaders \"remain committed to continue working through the process [on the Pain Capable bill] to make sure it too is successful.\" Other aides said that leaders were eager to avoid political fallout from a large number of female Republicans voting against an abortion bill in the early stages of the new GOP-controlled Congress. The dispute erupted into the open in recent days and once again demonstrated the changing contours of the expanded House Republican caucus. The 246-member caucus is seeing rifts on issues where it once had more unity. That's because there are now more moderate Republicans from swing districts who could face tough reelections in 2016 when more Democratic and independent voters are expected to vote in the presidential election. Already this month, a large bloc of moderate Republicans voted against a spending bill that would repeal President Obama's changes to immigration policy enacted by executive action. More than two dozen Republicans from metropolitan areas with large immigrant populations also voted against an amendment to the bill that would end temporary legal protections to the children of illegal immigrants. The abortion bill pulled Wednesday night was strongly opposed by Democrats and women's rights groups. But a similar version of the bill easily passed the GOP-controlled House in 2013 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had vowed to bring it up for a vote. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), the bill's lead sponsor, had predicted Wednesday that his proposal would easily pass because it \"has overwhelming support among the American people.\" But Ellmers and Walorski had withdrawn their support and voiced concerns during meetings at the annual Republican policy retreat in Hershey, Pa. Ellmers did so again Wednesday at a closed-door House GOP meeting in the basement of the Capitol, according to several people who attended. Seeking to rebut growing criticism from conservatives, Ellmers said on Facebook Wednesday evening that she would vote for the bill: \"I have and will continue to be a strong defender of the prolife community,\" she wrote. But she had recently asked leaders to reconsider holding the vote, noting that Republicans had faced harsh criticism from Democrats in recent years for mounting a \"war on women\" by passing restrictive abortion legislation and other similar bills. \"The first vote we take, or the second vote, or the fifth vote, shouldn't be on an issue where we know that millennials\u2014social issues just aren't as important [to them],\" she said in an interview with National Journal. The opposition set off a scramble Wednesday among top GOP leaders concerned about how several \"no\" votes could be perceived by their party and the general public. With word of the opposition spreading, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) conferred nervously off the House floor after a midday vote. From there, Scalise headed to a meeting in his office suite with Ellmers, Walorski, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) -- a lead co-sponsor of the bill -- and several other women. In a caucus dominated by men, a meeting with top leaders requested and attended almost exclusively by women is a rare sight. One-by-one they exited the meeting and remained tight-lipped. Walorski said the dispute \"is no different\" than conversations that occur before votes on other legislation. When pressed to explain her specific concerns, she rushed off: \"I can't. I can't.\" Others seen exiting included Reps. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.). Hartzler had already signaled her support for the bill to reporters. The other women declined to comment. The impasse prompted Tony Perkins, who leads the conservative Family Research Council, to visit the Capitol Wednesday to meet with Scalise. He cited \"a lot of misconceptions\" for causing last-minute disputes with the bill. \"We're talking about a measure that would limit abortions after five months,\" he said. \"America is only one of four nations that allows abortions throughout the entire pregnancy.\" Women's rights groups and Democrats have denounced the legislation as dangerous and unconstitutional. In a message to group members, the National Organization for Women cited federal statistics showing that just 35 percent of rape victims report the incident to police -- and said that the bill will do nothing to increase the rate of reporting. Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, cheered the decision of GOP leaders. \"I never thought I would see the day that the Tea Party-led House of Representatives would wake up to the fact that their priorities \u2014 outright abortion bans \u2014 are way out of touch with the American people,\" she said in a statement. \"The GOP drafted a bill so extreme and so out of touch with the voters that even their own membership could not support.\" The 22 women in the House GOP caucus are well aware that many of their male colleagues have earned the ire of Democrats and women's rights groups for talking about rape and women's rights. At the same closed-door retreat two years ago, Republican pollsters implored GOP lawmakers to stop discussing rape on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill. The warnings came after several candidates faced heat in 2012 -- including former congressman Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who said a woman could terminate a pregnancy resulting from a \"legitimate rape,\" and Richard Mourdock, a GOP candidate for an Indiana Senate seat, who said that babies resulting from rape were a \"gift from God.\" Franks, who is an ardent antiabortion activist, has been known to take an aggressive stance on the issue in the past, often clashing with Democrats opposed to his proposals. But on Wednesday, he took a notably softer tone as he acknowledged the concerns of his colleagues. \"I've maintained an open heart, because I realize that all of the people involved have sincere perspectives and have knowledge and experiences and information that I don't have,\" he said. \"So my heart is open \u2013 my desire here is not a political victory, it is to try to somehow be part of catalyzing an awakening in America to where we finally see the humanity of these little victims and the inhumanity of what's happening to them.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Two people were injured on Thursday, police said, after a report of an explosion near the Scottish town of Glasgow. The blast was reported inside a building in Wishaw, southeast of Glasgow, and police said they had evacuated nearby buildings as a precaution. Emergency services are at the scene and two injured parties are being treated by ambulance, Lanarkshire Police said on Facebook. Scotland s Fire and Rescue Service said it too was at the scene. We are in attendance at Bonkle Road, Wishaw tackling small fire following small explosion in commercial building, it posted on its Twitter feed.","label":0}
{"text":"Hey Bernie how s that whole Queen of Wall Street\/ Democrat mob boss endorsement working out for you?Wikileaks has released another batch of emails. One of those emails is likely from Joel Johnson, the Managing Director of The Glover Park Group, a Washington DC firm specializing in strategic communications and government relationsThe email was sent on Feb. 2, 2016 to John Podesta with the subject matter: Friendly advice. No mercy. From:Joel@gpg.com To: john.podesta@gmail.com Date: 2016-02-22 00:09 Subject: Friendly advice. No mercy.Bernie needs to be ground to a pulp. We can t start believing our own primary bullshit. This is no time to run the general. Crush him as hard as you can. Other than that, hope all is well and congrats on Nevada!Only 4 days ago, The Hill named GPG s Joel Johnson as one their Top Lobbyists or Hired Guns for 2016:Joel Johnson, The Glover Park GroupClients have a trusted guide in Johnson, a former Clinton administration official who leads the advocacy efforts of the public relations powerhouse.Buzzfeed In September 2015, Susan Brophy, managing director of the Glover Park Group, emailed top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills on Oct. 4, 2011, telling her that a planned speech before a joint session of Congress by the Korean president was running into some hurdles. Brophy suggested that the State Department could move things along in Congress.The only problem was, Brophy was representing a country she wasn t registered to represent.Foreign Agent Registration Act rules require individual lobbyists to register the clients they represent, and lobbying firms are required to file their contacts on behalf of those clients.Brophy is a former Clinton White House official, and has raised money for Ready for Hillary, a pro-Clinton super PAC that shut down when the former secretary of state announced her presidential campaign. The Clintons attended her wedding to lawyer and diplomat Gerald McGowan in 1998.The speech by then-president Lee Myung-bak did proceed and took place on Oct. 13, 2011.Joel Johnson, a managing director for Glover Park Group, told BuzzFeed News that Brophy had in fact been on the team working on the South Korean account and that she should have been listed as doing so in their FARA documents. She absolutely was working on the account and had been throughout, and the fact that she had somehow not been listed directly as the principal working on the account was an administrative error, Johnson said.Johnson also said that Brophy should have reported that that contact had been made to the State Department and for whatever reason that was not included in our list of activities and it should have been, and I ll go back and make sure we do whatever is appropriate to amend that. Blah blah blah Is anyone else sick and tired of the Clinton s and anyone attached to the Clinton s not having to follow the same rules and laws the rest of America is expected to follow, or face the consequences of our actions? We take these reporting requirements seriously and we are as diligent as we ever can be, but in that case there s no question that the email she sent to [Mills] have been included in the list of contacts Glover Park Group had made on behalf of South Korea, he said.Yep So are we to believe you took Grounding Bernie to a pulp seriously?","label":1}
{"text":"After all of the conspiracy theories and lies Sean Hannity has peddled over the years, he definitely does NOT deserve an award.But the right-wing Media Research Center is rewarding Donald Trump s top propagandist with a William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence anyway, and a New York Times columnist is having none of it.Bret Stephens is a conservative columnist for the Times, and he thoroughly ripped Hannity in a recent column pointing out exactly why he is unworthy of the award. If we have reached the point where rank-and-file conservatives see nothing amiss with giving Hannity an award named for Buckley, then surely there s a Milton Friedman Prize awaiting Steve Bannon for his insights on free trade, Stephens wrote. And maybe Sean Spicer can receive the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent for his role in exposing fake news. The floor s the limit. Or, in Hannity s case, the crawl space beneath it. Stephens went on to point out that Buckley once expressed his disgust about Donald Trump, calling him a demagogue and a narcissist. He warned Americans to not fall into Trump s trap. But conservatives fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Hannity fell even harder for it, going so far as to lob softball questions at him and then defend him on a daily basis. Hannity even committed hypocrisy by defending Trump for doing all of the things he complained about President Obama doing. When Hannity peddles conspiracy theories about Seth Rich, the young Democratic National Committee staffer murdered in Washington last year, that s an echo of John Birch, Stephens continued. And so we reach the Idiot stage of the conservative cycle, in which a Buckley Award for Sean Hannity suggests nothing ironic, much less Orwellian, to those bestowing it, applauding it, or even shrugging it off. The award itself is trivial, but it s a fresh reminder of who now holds the commanding heights of conservative life, and what it is that they think. Well, that set Hannity off on a Twitter rage in which he whined and bragged about himself just like Trump does.For the first time in my life I partly agree with @BretStephensNYT I do not deserve the WFB award. I also never deserved the 2 Marconis .. Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017Nor do I deserve the Radio Hall of Fame, Free speech awards from Talkers or the R&R tall host of the year awards I have won. Nor do I care Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017To my audience that has given me the honor of 30 years on radio 22 years on Fox, I thank you. You mattter, Faith, family Country matter Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017As long as you honor me with these opportunities I will continue to fight hard for the things I truly believe in. Not what WFB, Media, NYT s Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017Believes in. I m not Buckley, Rush, Mark, or anybody else. I m myself. I will fight for limited Govt, lower taxes, less regulation, Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017Energy independence, school choice, balanced budgets, secure borders, defeating Isis and radical Islam. And will battle a corrupt media. Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017I will also fight for the forgotten men and woman in America left behind, in poverty, on food stamps, and out of work. That matters to me. Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017So @BretStephensNYT I ll say to you and the @nytimes (Fake News) I do not care what u think. God bless America. Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017Can ANYONE think of just ONE memorable thing @BretStephensNYT has written? WFB was on my show numerous times, would WFB trust the @nytimes ? https:\/\/t.co\/r0NnuDidUZ Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 7, 2017Except that Sean Hannity is the face of corrupt media. He spends so much time kissing Trump s ass that he might as well give him a blow job while he is down on his knees.22 years on Fox News is 22 years too many. He should never have been hired and he certainly should be fired now, especially after pushing the Seth Rich conspiracy theory in defense of Trump for as long as he did.William F. Buckley was an intellectual conservative. He was a graduate of Yale and he served this country as a United States Army officer. Hannity, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. There is nothing intellectual about Hannity. He s a college dropout who pretends to be a tough guy. He has made his money duping conservatives into believing his propaganda bullshit, which he peddles while offering little or zero evidence of his claims.Not only should Hannity by booted off the air, he should not receive a media award. A fake media award would be more appropriate.Featured Image: Rob Kim\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Thursday on Fox News Channel's \"Fox Friends,\" former United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said it was time to ignore 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the heels of her remarks at a tech conference in California criticizing voters. Farage called Clinton a \"sad and pathetic\" and a \"bad loser\" now worthy of being ignored. \"I mean, Hillary said the same things about me when I came across and supported Donald Trump in his campaign,\" he said. \"I don't think it's worth getting angry about Hillary. I just think she looks sad and pathetic. There is nothing worse in life than a bad loser, nothing worse than somebody who blames absolutely everybody else for their own failings. And let's face it, you know, she represented an establishment. She almost appeared as if it was her right to become the president and I'm very pleased she didn't. I'll tell you what \u2014 let's just from now ignore her. \" Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor","label":0}
{"text":"George Zimmerman, the infamous neighborhood watchman\/violent wannabe cop who murdered unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin is in the news again, and as usual, it is for nothing good. Showing once more that he has absolutely zero remorse regarding the fact that he killed an unarmed teenage boy who was carrying nothing but Skittles and a can of iced tea, Zimmerman is now auctioning off the gun he used to kill Martin for more fame and money.However, Zimmerman s efforts to sell the murder weapon have been quite rocky. First he tried to use a gun dealer called Gunbroker.com to sell the Kel-Tec PF-9 that he used to gun the teen down in cold blood, but the site has now removed the advertisement, in which bidding for the gun started at $5,000. Don t be too happy with Gunbroker.com just yet, though. This is the same website that allowed targets that strongly resembled Trayvon Martin available when the controversial shooting was still in the news. The social media sites of Gunbroker.com are now down, including their Facebook and Twitter, because they know how wrong they are for allowing Zimmerman to list this gun in the first place. The listing on the site now reads, Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system. As if this cowardice isn t bad enough, another gun dealer has taken up the cause of allowing George Zimmerman to continue to profit from his murdering without remorse of an unarmed child. A site called United Gun Group has taken up Zimmerman s fame-whoring, murderous, money-making cause, and they have released the following statement regarding the listing of Zimmerman s weapon, via TMZ: A spokesperson for unitedgungroup.com says he got in touch with Zimmerman through a mutual friend once the initial listing was removed. He tells us unitedgungroup.com s stance on the controversial item is if it s legal, they have no objections and it comes down to a moral decision for George to do what he wants with his property. But, as we are all well aware, acquittal and\/or legality does not always = justice. Then again, we really can t expect gun nuts to know or care anything about these simple facts, or about the crazy and unjust law that allowed this goon to literally get away with murder. George Zimmerman is a murderer, and he has profited without remorse for being a murderer, and these events show that he continues to do so.Shame on anyone who helps this despicable excuse for a human being continue to get rich quick and rub salt in the wounds of Trayvon Martin s grieving family.","label":1}
{"text":"The villagers said the soldiers came first, firing indiscriminately. Then came civilians, accompanying the soldiers, to loot and burn. Now in Bangladesh, 20 Muslims and Hindus gave interviews in which they recounted how they were forced out of their village of Kha Maung Seik in Myanmar s Rakhine State on Aug. 25. The military brought some Rakhine Buddhists with them and torched the village, said Kadil Hussein, 55. All the Muslims in our village, about 10,000, fled. Some were killed by gunshots, the rest came here. There s not a single person left. Hussein is staying with hundreds of other new arrivals at the Kutapalong refugee settlement, already home to thousands of Rohingya who fled earlier. Nearly 150,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched attacks on security forces in Rakhine State. Reuters interviewed villagers from Kha Maung Seik and neighboring hamlets, who described killings and the burning of homes in the military response to the insurgent attacks. Reuters has been unable to verify their accounts. Access to the area has been restricted since October, when the same insurgent group attacked police posts, killing nine. Myanmar says its forces are in a fight against terrorists . State media has accused Rohingya militants of burning villages and killing civilians of all religions. Myanmar does not recognize the 1.1 million Rohingya as citizens, labeling them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The refugees from Kha Maung Seik, and from numerous other villages across the north of Rakhine State, say Myanmar forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists are intent on forcing them out. One refugee, Body Alom, 28, said he hid in forest with thousands of others when the soldiers arrived. He waited for hours before emerging to look for his family. He says he saw corpses in paddy fields, and eventually found his mother and brother dead with gunshot wounds. Two other villagers said they saw bodies in the fields. It wasn t safe, so I just left them, he said. I had no chance to give them a burial. A military official denied that Buddhist civilians were working with authorities and instead accused Muslims of attacking other communities. The military arrived at the village later but did not find any bodies, said the military source, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to media. Another military source in the state capital, Sittwe, said Kha Maung Seik was in the conflict zone and clear information about what happened had yet to emerge. The main village of Kha Maung Seik was home to a mixed community, with Rohingya Muslims in the majority along with about 6,000 Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and others. The village is known to the Rohingya as Foira Bazar for its market of about 1,000 shops where everyone did business. But relations have been strained for some time. A government plan to grant Hindus citizenship, violence in the state in 2012 and October, and an identity card scheme that the Rohingya rejected as it implied they were foreign, all contributed to tension, the refugees said. Since October, more soldiers were posted near the village, with border police. Patrols went house-to-house arresting anyone suspected of having militant links, they said. Abu Kalam, 31, showed Reuters welts on his back, arms and legs, and what he said were cigarette burns on his arms. He said he was detained by the military last month, before the attacks, as he was working in his vegetable patch with a knife. After October, the military told us not to have knives. When they saw me using one they arrested me, he said, adding he was kept in a barracks for six days. They regularly tortured me, asking are you connected with al-Yaqin? , he said, using another name for the rebels. Villagers in Kha Maung Seik say they heard shooting at 2 a.m. on Aug. 25. A military source in Maungdaw town and two Muslim residents said militants attacked a police post near the village that night. According to the military source, the rebels attacked with grenades then turned their attention to a Hindu neighborhood. Four Rohingya villagers separately gave Reuters accounts of how, at about 5 a.m., soldiers entered the village, firing indiscriminately. Thousands fled. I was at the front of a big group running for cover, but I looked back and could see people at the back getting shot, said Abul Hussein, 28. Later, grenades and mortar bombs were fired into the forest, according to Hussein and three other villagers. I saw a mortar hit a group of people. Some died on the spot, he said. From the forest, residents watched military and civilians loot and burn houses. Civilians helped gather bodies, according to Body Alom and two other villagers. They collected the bodies, searching for belongings, said Body Alom. They took money, clothes, cows, everything. Then they burned the houses. Members of Myanmar s small Hindu community seem to have been caught in the middle. The military source said some Hindus from Kha Maung Seik were unaccounted after the militant attack. A group of Hindu women refugees in Kutapalong said they saw eight Hindu men killed by Buddhist Rakhines after they refused to attack Muslims. They asked my husband to join them to kill Rohingya but he refused, so they killed him, said Anika Bala, 15. Six months pregnant, she said Muslims helped her get to Bangladesh. After seeing their homes burned, Kha Maung Seik s Muslim leaders decided it was too dangerous to stay. We thought we might be able to return and live with other types of people, said Mohammed Zubair, 30, assistant to the village chairman. But we realized that s not possible. About 100 men decided to stay and fight, Body Alom said. One said to me If I have to die, I will die here .","label":0}
{"text":"President Obama got real and raw with CNN s Anderson Cooper during a televised town hall meeting on gun violence..@POTUS addresses the \"conspiracy\" that \"we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns\" https:\/\/t.co\/AFzFmmsvGC https:\/\/t.co\/p611SWIrgk CNN (@CNN) January 8, 2016Obama was speaking about the right-wing conspiracy that he is in favor of mass confiscation of guns when Cooper interrupted him and asked, Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? A lot of people believe this deeply. That stopped the President in his tracks, and he angrily turned to the anchor. I m sorry Cooper, yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy. What are you saying? Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody s guns away so that we can impose martial law is not a conspiracy? Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that. For years President Obama has had to keep his emotion in check, knowing that flashes of anger and outbursts would instantly give his political opponents fodder for tired, old lines of attack about the angry black man. But Cooper s indulgence of the right wing myth of gun confiscation came at the wrong time in Obama s presidency. He has a year left in office, with no more elections left to fight without the need to soothe the egos of those spinning wild yarns without any connection to reality.While Anderson Cooper isn t a right-winger like the figures littering the airwaves on Fox News, his invocation of a both sides talking point was almost as bad. Obama s actual actions and proposals on guns bear no resemblance to the right s ongoing characterization of them as a gun grab, and even less so the idea that Obama supports gun confiscation. The people promoting that idea the NRA, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and other figures on the right are simply pushing a conspiracy theory on par with the idea that the 9\/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job or that the government is covering up alien abductions. It is patently absurd for Cooper to give credence to this wild-eyed assertions, and Obama understandably was put off by Cooper giving it credibility on-air.","label":1}
{"text":"State lawmakers on Friday reached a deal to conclude the 2016 legislative session that included a modest ethics package, state funding for supportive housing for the homeless, and a extension \u2014 with major caveats \u2014 of Mayor Bill de Blasio's control of New York City schools. Consensus on the ethics reform seemed to come quickly on Friday, the day after the last official day of the legislative session. The deal would, among other things, strip state pensions from public officials convicted of corruption and strengthen prohibitions on political campaigns' ability to coordinate with independent expenditure committees. But a similar consensus kept lurching out of reach on the issue that mattered most to Mr. de Blasio: mayoral control. In the end, he ceded significant concessions to his Albany antagonists in exchange for an extension of a single year, down from the three years he had hoped for. Bowing to demands from the State Senate majority leader, John J. Flanagan, a Republican who is not disposed to be helpful to a mayor who has openly worked to flip control of the chamber to the Democrats, the mayor and his allies in the Assembly agreed to disclose more information about city school districts' spending and to accept a change to the oversight structure for more than half the city's charter schools. A extension, with few or no caveats, had seemed all but cemented when lawmakers went to bed on Thursday evening. But the morning found Mr. Flanagan pushing for the funding transparency requirement, followed by the provision in the afternoon. It would effectively create a parallel system of charter schools within the city, allowing \" charter schools in good standing\" to switch to join the State University of New York umbrella or the Board of Regents of the State Education Department. City Hall gritted its teeth. \"This extension is a recognition of the unprecedented progress and achievements mayoral control has delivered for our school system,\" Austin Finan, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said in a statement. For people outside city education circles, however, there was plenty of meat in the agreement that Mr. Flanagan Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat and the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, a Democrat, announced on Friday evening. Lawmakers also agreed to require school districts to test for lead in drinking water, with the state paying for some of the testing costs. The adoption of the lead testing bill was a victory for Assemblywoman Catherine T. Nolan, a Queens Democrat, who heads the Education Committee and who had been criticized for blocking a previous bill that she considered too broad. Under the new bill, schools would be required to periodically test for lead \u2014 though some already do \u2014 and notify parents in the event the dangerous element is discovered. The state will also provide an additional $50 million in capital funding for SUNY and the City University of New York. But the governor's announcement that the state would release $570 million in state resources to build and operate 1, 200 units of supportive housing for the homeless was immediately dissected and dismissed by advocates for the program, who said it fell far short of Mr. Cuomo's initial commitment to pay for 20, 000 units. \"Tonight's plan would appear to be a betrayal of the most vulnerable New Yorkers and the latest broken promise from a governor who makes sweeping announcements that lead to paltry results,\" the Campaign 4 Housing, a supportive housing group, said in a statement. Mr. Cuomo and the legislative leaders had already agreed to funding for 6, 000 units over five years as part of the state budget passed in March, but another deal was required to release the first infusion of money for spending. The $570 million figure included only $150 million of new state funding, said Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, the chairman of the Assembly's Social Services Committee, with the rest coming from existing capital funds and tax credits. \"In January, it was 20, 000 units,\" he said. \"In April, it was 6, 000 units. Now it's 1, 200 units and it's only $150 million in new money. All the rest is smoke and mirrors. \" Early Saturday morning, the lawmakers were in the process of passing the new legislation. At about 2:15 a. m. the Legislature finished its last remaining substantive task: the Senate passed a bill to legalize daily fantasy sports, which had been considered illegal gambling in New York. The Assembly had approved the measure on Friday afternoon. Other bills won both houses' backing on Friday. The Legislature passed a bill that aims to ensure equal access to legal representation for the poor by reimbursing counties for indigent legal services, drawing praise from the New York Civil Liberties Union. The hotel industry in New York City cheered the passage of legislation that would keep people from advertising stays shorter than 30 days in unoccupied homes, a measure that the bill's supporters said would restrict commercial operators of illegal hotels, but that Airbnb \u2014 the company that prompted the bill \u2014 said would affect regular city residents. It is already illegal in New York to rent out an empty apartment for less than 30 days at a time. The Legislature also passed bills that would increase penalties for using software known as ticket bots to scoop up large numbers of tickets to concerts, games or other events, a practice that the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, highlighted in a recent report. Doing so is already illegal, but the bill would make it a misdemeanor. The agreement on Friday, which came after a flurry of deals at the March budget deadline, including an increase in the minimum wage and the establishment of a paid family leave program, did not please corporate leaders like Heather Briccetti, the president of the Business Council of New York State, who called it devoid of any \"major or cost reduction measures. \" Nor did it mollify government watchdogs and other advocates of ethics reforms who had high hopes that the convictions last year of Sheldon Silver, the former Assembly speaker, and Dean G. Skelos, the former Senate majority leader, would finally shame the Legislature into acting to prevent corruption. But of all the measures on ethics that lawmakers did discuss this session, pension forfeiture, a straightforward and broadly popular measure, was the only prominent one to survive. Mr. Cuomo had proposed but failed to win support for more ambitious proposals that included eight different bills for closing a loophole that allows limited liability companies to donate to political candidates up to the limit for individual contributors, rather than for businesses. In order for pension forfeiture to become a constitutional amendment, two consecutively elected legislatures must approve it before voters consider the measure on the ballot. The announcement about the ethics agreement highlighted what were called strong protections against the independent expenditure committees empowered by the Citizens United ruling, the Supreme Court's 2010 campaign finance decision. The governor had made a push to tighten restrictions on such committees over the past few weeks. The ethics package will also require political consultants who simultaneously advise elected officials or candidates and work with companies that have business before the state to register with the state and disclose their clients. It strengthens disclosure requirements for lobbyists and for nonprofits that lobby the state to disclose financial support from other nonprofits that are not supposed to engage in political activity. Blair Horner, the executive director for the New York Public Interest Research Group, said the deal was a \"smorgasbord of elections, ethics and lobbying reforms\" that nonetheless was \"not focused at the heart of what's wrong with Albany,\" including the nearly unchecked flow of money through multiple limited liability companies. That said, Mr. Horner said the move to define coordination between independent expenditure committees and candidates was an improvement. \"No one has defined what that means,\" he said. \"And this does. \" The greatest source of friction on Friday appeared to be the mayoral control issue. There was concern within City Hall that the charter school provision would significantly change how such schools in the city run. Charter schools can be authorized by three agencies \u2014 the State Education Department, the city's Education Department and SUNY \u2014 but all operate according to the same state law. Although the announcement of the agreement did not offer details, the Senate's proposal would exempt SUNY schools from the usual state standards and free to set their own rules, two officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations said. There are 111 charters authorized by SUNY in the city. Another 55 are authorized by the city's Education Department, and 39 by the state department.","label":0}
{"text":"President Donald Trump compared his current job as to his days spent in business before he became president in an interview Sunday. [\"Here, everything, pretty much everything you do in government involves heart, whereas in business most things don't involve heart,\" Trump told the Associated Press. \"In fact, in business you're actually better off without it. \" The interview comes as Trump approaches 100 days serving as president and Congress debates legislation that would keep the government funded. Trump stressed that there is a \"human responsibility\" that comes with the job. He provided an example of that human responsibility to the AP when he explained how much risk went into the decision to strike Syrian President Bashar 's military. \"When it came time to, as an example, send out the 59 missiles, the Tomahawks in Syria,\" he said. \"I'm saying to myself, 'You know, this is more than just like 79 (sic) missiles. This is death that's involved because people could have been killed. This is risk that's involved. '\" Trump is expected to hold a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, April 29 on the 100th day of his presidency, the same night as the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Trump is also looking to cement his legacy in the first 100 days even further, saying in a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni that he expects both health care and government funding to pass this week.","label":0}
{"text":"A group of Democratic senators hopes to ban a pesticide the U.S. government has greenlighted for use, according to a bill unveiled on Tuesday in a challenge to Republican President Donald Trump's push to loosen environmental regulations. The bill, introduced by Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, would outlaw chlorpyrifos, an agricultural insect-killer that has been found to cause brain damage in children. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency denied a petition to ban the chemical on March 29, and a federal appeals court on July 18 denied a petition by green groups to force the agency to reverse its decision and enact the ban. The bill is called the Protect Children, Farmers and Farmworkers from Nerve Agent Pesticides Act of 2017. Seven other senators are co-sponsoring it: Ben Cardin of Maryland, Kamala Harris of California, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. Chlorpyrifos, produced by a variety of manufacturers, including a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, is listed as a neurotoxin by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. \"Current regulatory safety standard for chlorpyrifos rests on five decades of experience in use, health surveillance of manufacturing workers and applicators, and more than 4,000 studies and reports examining the product in terms of health, safety and the environment,\" a Dow spokesman said on Tuesday. \"Authorized uses of chlorpyrifos products, when used as directed, offer wide margins of protection for human health and safety.\" The EPA considered whether to ban it for roughly a decade before Trump appointed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a Republican from Oklahoma, to lead the agency. In denying the petition to ban chlorpyrifos, Pruitt said the EPA had previously relied on \"novel and uncertain\" scientific study methods to conclude the substance was dangerous. The agency said it was still reviewing the chemical's registration. \"EPA will continue to evaluate the potential risks posed by chlorpyrifos as part of the ongoing registration review,\" said EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham. Trump and Pruitt have vowed to roll back environmental regulations they say are harming business growth in the United States. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician who is dean for global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said three long-term, independently funded studies showed the substance was toxic. \"Chlorpyrifos has been shown beyond any shadow of a doubt to damage the brains of children, especially those of fetuses in the womb,\" he said. Udall's bill also calls for the EPA to conduct a broad review of the use of other pesticides similar to chlorpyrifos to determine which groups are most vulnerable to their harmful effects. If the review shows any people are being exposed to harmful levels of the chemicals, called organophosphates, the EPA administrator must take \"appropriate regulatory action\" within three months by either suspending or revoking the their registration or lowering the amount that can legally be used. \"Congress must act because Administrator Pruitt has shown that he won't,\" Udall said in a statement on Monday.","label":0}
{"text":"The British government announced plans on Tuesday to crack down on voter fraud by requiring voters to show official identification at polling stations, tightening rules on absentee ballots and preventing political activists from handling absentee ballots. While some critics argued that fraud was not widespread and that the plans would hit the opposition Labour Party and the poor the hardest, the government minister in charge, Chris Skidmore, said that the new measures would \"protect anyone who is at risk of being bullied, undermined or tricked out of their vote, and their democratic right. \" The government had commissioned a report on fraud after a scandal in Tower Hamlets, a borough in East London, where the elected mayor was stripped of his office last year and found guilty of corrupt practices involving voting fraud. The report was compiled by a former cabinet minister, Eric Pickles, who called Tower Hamlets a \" call\" when introducing it. \"There are sometimes challenging issues over divisive community politics and polarization, but this is no excuse for failing to enforce British law and protect the integrity of our democratic process,\" he concluded in the report. In his report, he cited research suggesting that certain Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities could be more vulnerable to fraud. He suggested that \"kinship\" traditions emphasized collective over individual rights and made it more likely that people would \"hand over\" their vote to others. Ken Livingstone, a former London mayor and a member of the Labour Party before being suspended for comments, said the new checks would make life more difficult for many to vote. \"The real problem is the people most likely not to have a passport or a driving license are going to be the poorest and that I suspect will basically hit the Labour Party,\" he told the BBC on Tuesday. Some suggested that the changes, to be used first for local elections in 18 areas in May 2018, would most affect Britain's Asian communities, which tend to vote Labour. Among those areas considered most susceptible to fraud are Birmingham and Bradford, which have large Muslim communities. Cat Smith, the Labour member in charge of voter engagement and youth affairs, said the party as a whole supported the changes. But she criticized what she called Conservative Party moves in general to reduce the electoral rolls. A new requirement that students, once automatically registered by their schools, register individually is thought to have cut voter turnout in the June referendum on leaving the European Union, also known as \"Brexit,\" which young people generally opposed. Mr. Skidmore said that the trial in 2018 was partly intended to see what kinds of proof of identity were best in a country without a national identity card, unlike most of Europe. It is possible that other proof of address like utility bills or proof of voter registration may be used as well as documents with photographs, like driving licenses and passports. Mr. Skidmore also rejected the accusation that electoral fraud was associated with any one community, although he said racial and cultural sensitivities might have discouraged the police from earlier investigating the case of Tower Hamlets. After absentee ballots were made available to any registered voter in 2000 under the prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, there was evidence that some political activists were \"harvesting\" them from old addresses and filling them out, or collecting them in bulk from some voters. Voters in Northern Ireland, with a long history of electoral pressure in a divided community, have had identity checks at polling stations since 1985, and since 2002 have had to bring photographic IDs, since other forms of documentation were too easily forged. The Electoral Reform Society, a lobbying group, criticized the government's plan as a \"sledgehammer to crack a nut,\" arguing that voting fraud was not widespread in Britain and that \"the government should think very carefully before introducing barriers to voting,\" said its chief executive, Katie Ghose. \"Raising barriers to democratic participation could just put people off voting \u2014 and evidence from the U. S. shows that it's generally those already most excluded from the political process that are worst affected by strict ID laws,\" she said. \"The government should think again and look at all the evidence on voter ID before deciding to use this blunt instrument. \" The group had previously criticized the referendum to leave the European Union for \"glaring democratic deficiencies,\" in particular because voters had been so since \"misleading claims could be made with total impunity. \" Separately, the Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, reacted angrily to comments by President Obama \u2014 made in the same interview in which he said he would have defeated Donald J. Trump \u2014 that seemed to suggest that the Labour Party had lost its footing. Asked if, after Hillary Clinton's election defeat, the Democrats could undergo \"Corbynization\" and \"disintegrate\" like Labour, Mr. Obama said he was not concerned. \"I don't worry about that, partly because I think that the Democratic Party has stayed pretty grounded in fact and reality,\" he said. A party spokesman said that Mr. Corbyn \"stands for what most people want\" and suggested that the American Democratic Party needed to \"challenge power if they are going to speak for working people and change a broken system that isn't delivering for the majority. \"","label":0}
{"text":"The way he's doing business there seems he'll be a daisy pusher before to long. Just say'en. I mean as one poster here said a while back, only so much the drug cartels will tolerate before they retaliate.","label":1}
{"text":"Almost everyone who has lived in Manhattan has had the dream. Wandering through your apartment, you see a door nobody has noticed before. On the other side, you find that you have been living all along with extra rooms: enough space for an office, a guest bedroom, a painting studio, a closet, a tiki bar, a library. That sensation is what you get walking into Agern for the first time. Just off a corridor in Grand Central Terminal that you've probably rushed down hundreds of times, behind a set of doors locked for longer than most New Yorkers can remember, a restaurant has appeared. In the three months since it opened, Agern has made both the train station and the city's dining landscape into roomier, more interesting places. There are no windows, and the front entrance, at the top of a short flight of stairs, is marked by a small sign that's easy to walk past. This makes Agern ( ) feel like a quiet harbor away from the eddies and currents of commuters outside. Hours can slip away. In the modern Scandinavian dining room, pale wood, charcoal seat cushions and wall tiles in mossy Grand Central green create a calming mood. It's like a spa with tasting menus and cocktails. The primary owner is the Danish restaurateur Claus Meyer, one of the founders of Noma, in Copenhagen, and of its New Nordic cooking style. New Nordic is not so much a cuisine as a philosophy. Its followers value traditional methods like curing and smoking, and seek out forgotten or overlooked ingredients from nearby. Mr. Meyer recruited Gunnar Gislason, the chef of the New Nordic restaurant Dill, in Reykjavik, Iceland, to run the kitchen. Mr. Gislason has imported Dill's philosophy but not, for the most part, its Icelandic provisions, like the dried sheep droppings over which fish is smoked. Buying food raised around New York, he and his chef de cuisine, Joseph Yardley, treat the city as another Scandinavian capital: . Sign on for the Field and Forest menu, a vegetarian excursion through seven courses with a salvo of finger foods (the $120 price, like all the prices at Agern, includes service) and the plants you eat are mostly those you could buy at Union Square Greenmarket. What the kitchen does to them gives them an unfamiliar and often transporting cast. There was, for instance, a potato salad that caused double and triple takes. The potatoes had a restrained but durable smokiness. They were served with shaved rhubarb, ramps and feathery red seaweed, which carried a memory of the ocean. Finally, long yellow bands of cured egg yolk had the salty, intensifying effect of bottarga. That salad has been replaced by one with lemon cucumbers and fleshy summer melon, but the cured egg remains, giving the fruit and vegetables a depth I didn't expect. Preserved blackberries, tart and a little salty, brought a welcome sharpness to endive salad, dressed with mild and creamy havgus cheese and chopped almonds. Sweet corn and fresh chanterelles are a classic summer match, but I had no idea how wonderful they could taste with the addition of tarragon and golden raspberries. The Land and Sea menu costs $25 more. In the New Nordic spirit, the animal flesh is not supplied by overworked and unsustainable ingredients. It comes from more humble stuff. Rather than foie gras, there is beef heart, chopped into red filaments that provide ballast and iron to a salad of skinny asparagus stems and garlic scapes with tart green slices of unripe strawberries. Instead of bluefin tuna, you eat skate, cooked gingerly to keep the appealing gelatinous softness, under celery and batons of apple. Heirloom pork is not the loin but the neck, imbued (too strongly?) with rosemary and served with a crisp, simple, creamy and very good salad of green beans. The two menus are not that far apart. Sometimes they are separated by a single ingredient: A few briny spoonfuls of trout eggs get the potato salad admitted to the Land and Sea menu. From time to time, they converge on an identical dish like the unaccountably delicious potato fry bread, a fritter of sourdough mixed with mashed potatoes, or the roasted beet. The last time I ate at Agern, this had become \"our famous beet. \" It does seem to have been consciously designed to be talked about. It's carved on a cart next to the table after being liberated from the crust it's baked in. The crust is supposed to give the beet the flavor it would pick up over a wood fire, but it didn't taste smoky to me. My first bite was impossibly salty, too. But after that, its natural flavors were deeply concentrated, and the underlying beet salad, flecked with fresh horseradish and fried caraway seeds, was stunning on its own. So was the tiny loaf of rye bread, wonderful with beets mashed into it and even more wonderful under a thick coat of butter. These loaves are baked by Rhonda Crosson, and I think they are at least as good as her big rounds of sourdough, and those are exceptional. Agern's pastry chef, Rebecca Eichenbaum, showed how resourceful she could be in her last job, at Wassail, where she spun elaborate desserts out of parsnips and carrots. She is no less inventive at Agern, but the results are a little less effortful, even as she tops ripe berries with a kombucha ice made from rose petals or doubles up on the tartness of sorrel sherbet with curls of barely sweetened rhubarb. Many of these can be ordered individually, a considerate option from a restaurant where on the wrong night the tasting menus can inch forward like the local to New Haven. My last meal lasted more than four hours, for no discernible reason. There may be travelers, or even nontravelers, who would be happy with two courses and dessert. I'd suggest, though, that they stay away from the $68 \" hung beef\" whatever flavor it picked up from hanging was stamped out by horseradish cream and horseradish leaves. In Denmark, Mr. Meyer is also active in delis, bakeries, a coffee roaster and other concerns. Last year, he moved to New York, and he is adapting to his new home with the same entrepreneurial energy. In Brooklyn, he has opened a bakery and a coffee roaster under the direction of a star of the Copenhagen caffeine scene named Omar Maagaard. Mr. Maagaard's beans are brewed into Agern's espresso and which made me think for the first time that the people who compare coffee to great wine are not completely barking mad. And I say this having lived through five excruciating minutes during which coffee was brewed drop by drop atop a digital scale. (For tableside drama, digital scales run a distant third to sharp knives and open flames.) Following the spirit, most of the other drinks are grown in the United States. Chad Walsh has put together a list of domestic wines, beers, spirits, cider and mead. (Strange things are happening in mead, a beverage that is pretty strange to begin with.) As you leave, you're handed a cloth sack or two. Inside you may find a small sourdough loaf with a jar of butter or bright, freshly cooked raspberry jam. Or a bottle of coffee. They could be advertisements for Mr. Meyer's tentacular operations, I suppose, but ads rarely taste so good the next day.","label":0}
{"text":"WASHINGTON, D. C. \u2014 Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told the White House Press Corps that while a government shutdown is \"not desirable\" it could become a reality come September if the appropriations process is not repaired. [Mulvaney also said a government shutdown could be \"good\" if it \"fixes Washington, D. C. permanently. \" President Trump tweeted out on Tuesday, \"either elect more Republican Senators in 2010 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good \"shutdown\" in September to fix mess!\" either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good \"shutdown\" in September to fix mess! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017, Asked to respond to President Trump's tweet about how a shutdown is \"good,\" Mulvaney said, \"It's not desirable \u2026 But you asked me what a good one would look like, and a good one would be something that fixes Washington, D. C. permanently. \" Mulvaney said the reason there is a discussion about a shutdown every few months \"is because the appropriations process is broken. \" He said the \"the way it's supposed to work, and it used to work\" is when the House passes an appropriations bill on a topic, the Senate then passes a bill on the same issue, before it goes to the conference committee, before that bill is placed on the president's desk. \" Mulvaney said that, since he has worked in the government, this process has \"never worked\" the way it's supposed to. He added: I don't think it has functioned for the last decade. I've been here since 2011 and it has never worked. We want to get back to that process. But the reason we can't get back to that process is because the Senate is requiring 60 votes on every single appropriations bill and that is forcing this discussion on continuing resolutions \u2014 which is a bad way to run the government \u2014 and forcing a discussion on shutdowns which is simply not productive. Later in the press conference, Mulvaney said, \"The president wants to see Washington better, get better, get fixed, change the way it does business. \" He said the Democrats are saying, \"They won and we lost is not a bipartisan way to approach things. \" Drawn back to the topic of Trump's early morning tweet by a member of the White House Press Corps once again, Mulvaney said, \"I think what he's foreshadowing is, 'look, this place has to change.' The way we run the town has to be fixed. We have to do something. We cannot simply muddle along using models the previous administration has used. \" Mulvaney said Trump is a president that will usher in change. \"And he's going to change Washington, D. C. And if it takes a shutdown, then that's what it takes. But again, that's several months away from that discussion. We have a lot to do between now and then. \" Follow Adelle Nazarian on Facebook and Twitter.","label":0}
{"text":"By now, everyone knows that Stephen Colbert laid into Donald Trump in spectacular fashion on Monday night with a tirade that culminated with the Late Show host declaring that the wannabe president s mouth isn t good for anything but serving as Russian President Vladimir Putin s cock holster. Now, considering all the vulgar language Trump has used and continues to use, and his cavalier attitude toward said language and, in some cases, even actions one would think this sort of thing would be accepted as par for the course in this administration. But, alas, common sense is scarce here, so of course Trump and his supporters are offended. Hell, even the Federal Communications Commission is trying to go after Colbert for the joke. Well, an MSNBC panel has just about had enough of the double standards and hypocrisy on this one, and they let Trump and his cronies know it on Saturday.Dean Obeidallah, Scott Blakeman and Judy Gold appeared on Saturday s edition of Joy Reid s weekend show, AM Joy, and lit into the people going after Colbert for making fun of Trump in a crude way. First, Obeidallah railed against the idea that GOP types could ever think much less care that joke was homophobic. He also alluded to how it is Trump who took our politics into the gutter, and therefore he is not immune to being the subject of such crude jokes: Nothing is off limits with this guy. I think comedians are playing a role in preventing him from being normalized. Too bad little snowflakes. We re going to make as many jokes as we want. You need a safe space, go hide. Put on your big boy pants because it s just beginning. Judy Gold then chimed in, reminding everyone that right-wingers bitched about Ann Coulter being too nasty to speak at Berkeley, and how right-wingers reacted to that. Either they like free speech or they don t. Gold said: The outrage that we had to listen to about Ann Coulter and her hate speech at Berkeley that the conservatives were, Oh, you know, there s too much political correctness, too much of this and too much of that. Colbert is a comedian. He is telling a joke. Funny is funny. This panel is correct. The Right wants to cry foul if someone shuts down one of their speakers, but they want a late night comedian fined if he says something that is a little too off color for their tastes about their great orange leader. Get used to it, conservatives. Elect a clown, expect a circus. And expect the people who realize what a clown he is to make fun of said clown and its circus.Watch the video below:","label":1}
{"text":"Why Is It So Hard to Reduce the Pentagon Budget?  By William D. Hartung \/ TomDispatch David B. Gleason \/ CC BY-SA 2.0  Through good times and bad, regardless of what's actually happening in the world, one thing is certain: in the long run, the Pentagon budget won't go down.  It's not that that budget has never been reduced. At pivotal moments, like the end of World War II as well as war's end in Korea and Vietnam, there were indeed temporary downturns, as there was after the Cold War ended. More recently, the Budget Control Act of 2011 threw a monkey wrench into the Pentagon's plans for funding that would go ever onward and upward by putting a cap on the money Congress could pony up for it. The remarkable thing, though, is not that such moments have occurred, but how modest and short-lived they've proved to be.  Take the current budget. It's down slightly from its peak in 2011, when it reached the highest level since World War II, but this year's budget for the Pentagon and related agencies is nothing to sneeze at. It comes in at roughly $600 billion \u2014 more than the peak year of the massive arms build-up initiated by President Ronald Reagan back in the 1980s. To put this figure in perspective: despite troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan dropping sharply over the past eight years, the Obama administration has still managed to spend more on the Pentagon than the Bush administration did during its two terms in office.  What accounts for the Department of Defense's ability to keep a stranglehold on your tax dollars year after endless year?  Advertisement Square, Site wide  Pillar one supporting that edifice: ideology. As long as most Americans accept the notion that it is the God-given mission and right of the United States to go anywhere on the planet and do more or less anything it cares to do with its military, you won't see Pentagon spending brought under real control. Think of this as the military corollary to American exceptionalism\u2014or just call it the doctrine of armed exceptionalism, if you will.  The second pillar supporting lavish military budgets (and this will hardly surprise you): the entrenched power of the arms lobby and its allies in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. The strategic placement of arms production facilities and military bases in key states and Congressional districts has created an economic dependency that has saved many a flawed weapons system from being unceremoniously dumped in the trash bin of history.  Lockheed Martin, for instance, has put together a handy map of how its troubled F-35 fighter jet has created 125,000 jobs in 46 states. The actual figures are, in fact, considerably lower, but the principle holds: having subcontractors in dozens of states makes it harder for members of Congress to consider cutting or slowing down even a failed or failing program. Take as an example the M-1 tank, which the Army actually wanted to stop buying. Its plans were thwarted by the Ohio congressional delegation, which led a fight to add more M-1s to the budget in order to keep the General Dynamics production line in Lima, Ohio, up and running. In a similar fashion, prodded by the Missouri delegation, Congress added two different versions of Boeing's F-18 aircraft to the budget to keep funds flowing to that company's St. Louis area plant.  The one-two punch of an environment in which the military can do no wrong, while being outfitted for every global task imaginable, and what former Pentagon analyst Franklin \"Chuck\" Spinney has called \" political engineering ,\" has been a tough combination to beat.  \"Scare the Hell Out of the American People\"  The overwhelming consensus in favor of a \"cover the globe\" military strategy has been broken from time to time by popular resistance to the idea of using war as a central tool of foreign policy. In such periods, getting Americans behind a program of feeding the military machine massive sums of money has generally required a heavy dose of fear.  For example, the last thing most Americans wanted after the devastation and hardship unleashed by World War II was to immediately put the country back on a war footing. The demobilization of millions of soldiers and a sharp cutback in weapons spending in the immediate postwar years rocked what President Dwight Eisenhower would later dub the \"military-industrial complex.\"  As Wayne Biddle has noted in his seminal book Barons of the Sky ,the U.S. aerospace industry produced an astonishing 300,000-plus military aircraft during World War II. Not surprisingly, major weapons producers struggled to survive in a peacetime environment in which government demand for their products threatened to be a tiny fraction of wartime levels.  Lockheed President Robert Gross was terrified by the potential impact of war's end on his company's business, as were many of his industry cohorts. \"As long as I live,\" he said , \"I will never forget those short, appalling weeks\" of the immediate postwar period. To be clear, Gross was appalled not by the war itself, but by the drop off in orders occasioned by its end. He elaborated in a 1947 letter to a friend: \"We had one underlying element of comfort and reassurance during the war. We knew we'd get paid for anything we built. Now we are almost entirely on our own.\"  The postwar doldrums in military spending that worried him so were reversed only after the American public had been fed a steady, fear-filled diet of anti-communism. NSC-68 , a secret memorandum the National Security Council prepared for President Harry Truman in April 1950, created the template for a policy based on the global \"containment\" of communism and grounded in a plan to encircle the Soviet Union with U.S. military forces, bases, and alliances. This would, of course, prove to be a strikingly expensive proposition. The concluding paragraphs of that memorandum underscored exactly that point, calling for a \"sustained buildup of U.S. political, economic, and military strength\u2026 [to] frustrate the Kremlin design of a world dominated by its will.\"","label":1}
{"text":"Snap, the parent of Snapchat, disclosed several important aspects of its business in its initial public offering document. The complete filing is here. Below are notable excerpts. Prospective investors will be drawn to how quickly Snap has grown its advertising business in roughly two years, with the company showing a nearly sevenfold increase between 2015 and last year. The question is how long the can maintain anywhere close to that kind of growth. The company said in its prospectus that it views daily active users as a critical measure of engagement \u2014 a measure that is tracked closely by similar companies. (Facebook on Wednesday reported that it had an average of 1. 23 billion daily active users in December.) As does every company in this kind of filing, Snap laid out a number of potential risks to its business. Among them is Britain's decision to leave the European Union, what has come to be known as Brexit, which could pose large problems for the company because it recently designated London as its international hub. Snap noted that other countries may choose to censor Snapchat. Moreover, the company pointed out that many of Google's services, which power a significant portion of Snap's computer services, are restricted in China. So, according to Snap, it isn't clear \"if we will be able to enter the market in a manner acceptable to the Chinese government. \" The company was originally built for users to send photographs and messages to their friends. But the company's ambitions have grown to include user stories, news and branded content. Evan Spiegel, 26, one of Snap's two founders, started the company while he was a student at Stanford. Mr. Spiegel, who is the company's chief executive and serves on the board, owns a stake in the company that was worth $3. 7 billion at the end of last year. His 2016 compensation package came to $2. 6 million and included $503, 205 in base salary, a $1 million bonus and $901, 635 in other compensation that covered his $890, 339 personal security budget. The company's chief strategy officer, Imran Khan, received nearly $151 million during that same time, largely because of a $145 million stock award when he joined the company from the investment bank Credit Suisse in 2015. A month before the company first filed initial public offering documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, its two each sold stock worth $8. 1 million. The company more than tripled its employee ranks from 2015 to 2016. Yet even with 1, 859 staffers, the company has a relatively small number of workers relative to its valuation. Snap noted that it hired a law firm that employs Mr. Spiegel's father. The elder Mr. Spiegel is a litigator who represented Transocean, which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig at the center of the BP oil disaster. The company has attracted a number of prominent backers, who are expected to reap handsome rewards \u2014 if only on paper \u2014 in the initial public offering. Among them are investment firms like Benchmark Capital, which owns about 13 percent of the company. Snap's offering is being led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley won the desired \"lead left\" position on the prospectus, which indicates that it is the bank that will play the biggest role in the offering. The bank also led Facebook's initial public offering.","label":0}
{"text":"ROME (AP) \u2014 Police in Greece have arrested three Pakistani nationals for holding hostage 16 migrants without authorization to be in the country and demanding money for their release.","label":0}
{"text":"Why would this actor go to a place where violence, crime and murders are a regular occurrence and believe they wouldn t jump at the opportunity to steal whatever he or his crew had that was of any value? Remember, these are people who are leaving their homeland because they were being persecuted, so their violent behavior should be ignored by their host country right? I mean, they ve been through so much already. Who could blame them for stealing from, and beating the a*ses of celebrities who come to help them?A security team guarding Jude Law was attacked by migrants as the Hollywood star visited the jungle camp in Calais.The 43-year-old actor was in France with a film crew and Brit-winning singer Tom Odell , 25, to witness the horrors of the squalid makeshift village, which is due to be demolished.But shortly after the cameras stopped rolling, their minders were ambushed by some of the migrants and had their phones stolen.It is understood Jude was already on the production team s bus when the thugs struck.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump isn t exactly a stranger to making large groups of people angry women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, and mainstream Republicans all despise The Donald. One group, however, has always strongly supported him the Stupid Part of America and he s about to lose them, too. Trump s popularity with conservatives has soared since he began screaming about a god he will never actually understand, baby parts, and other favorite talking points of theirs but his recent remarks about Planned Parenthood may lose him a lot of support among the segment of the population who are dumb enough to fall for heavily-edited propaganda videos.At the insanely heated GOP debate, Ted Cruz managed to trick The Donald into defending Planned Parenthood. During one of the screaming matches between Trump and Cruz that have become rather commonplace, the Texas Senator accused the billionaire of supporting federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Eventually, he managed to goad Trump into supporting Planned Parenthood, though The Donald still spoke out against abortion. But let me say more blunt Donald you notice didn t agree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record he screams Liar! Liar! Liar! , Cruz said, pointing out that Trump has, in the past, said Planned Parenthood does wonderful things. Trump replied: It does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. There are wonderful things having to do with women s health, but not when it comes to abortion. Planned Parenthood absolutely does do wonderful things. But unlike Trump s assertion, those wonderful things include giving women access to a safe, sanitary abortion if they choose to have one. Planned Parenthood also provides numerous irreplaceable services to women that have nothing at all to do with abortion, as well as informs women of alternatives to terminating a pregnancy like adoption. In fact, only three percent of the organization s services are abortion-related.Unfortunately for Trump, this moment of honesty about Planned Parenthood will haunt him right up until election day because conservatives simply don t care about women.Watch the exchange below:","label":1}
{"text":"Theresa May must deliver her offer on a Brexit divorce package this week if she wants European Union leaders to grant Britain s request for talks on future free trade when they meet next week, EU diplomats and officials said on Tuesday. Failure could mean a delay until February, adding to the risk of businesses scaling back investment plans in Britain as uncertainty clouds the outlook beyond Brexit in March 2019. The deadline of deadlines is this week, one senior EU diplomat said, a day after the prime minister had to leave Brussels empty-handed when her Northern Irish allies denounced an offer on the border with Ireland as she was presenting it. May has found it difficult to come up with a formula that satisfies both EU member Ireland, which wants to avoid creation of a hard border, and Northern Ireland s DUP party which says the British province must quit the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK. A tentative deal on the border, promising regulatory alignment on both sides of the island of Ireland, was agreed on Monday. But it was later rejected by the DUP which says it can not allow any divergence in regulation between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK. Brussels officials said they had no reason to doubt the confidence being expressed in London that May would sort out the hitch in the coming days and expect her to return to brief EU Brexit negotiators as early as Wednesday. But, they warn, other member states, including powerhouses Germany and France, are growing nervous that they will not have enough time to scrutinize draft guidelines for the trade negotiations if they do not receive them a week before a summit next Friday at which leaders would approve them. If a proposal doesn t come this week, the EU 27 won t have enough time to prepare new guidelines for the summit, the diplomat said. Some leaders had already grumbled that the deadline missed on Monday was too tight. And if governments refuse to sign off on proposals for what the EU should seek in a post-Brexit free trade deal with London, then May s hopes of being able to show those guidelines at home as a trophy won in exchange for giving in to most of the EU s divorce demands would be thwarted. If the trade offer cannot be made at the Dec. 15 summit, a senior EU official said, the whole process might have to be put back until February - a delay which could increase pressure at home on May and raise a risk of disrupting the existing process. Summit chair Donald Tusk said on Monday he had been planning to distribute his draft negotiating guidelines to member states on Tuesday, had the EU executive s negotiator Michel Barnier given the crucial signal that Britain had made sufficient progress on three key elements of the divorce. Bound by previous EU internal agreements not to share the draft until May has formally committed Britain to covering outstanding EU payments, guaranteeing EU citizens rights and an open border for Northern Ireland, Tusk must now wait until May returns and EU negotiator Michel Barnier has signed off a deal. The guidelines, which are likely to include a commitment to the two-year, status-quo transition period May asked for, will then be scrutinized closely in EU capitals. The other 27 have held a common front on making Britain pay for past commitments, but all have varying interests in a trade deal and so will want time to ensure the guidelines defend their own positions. Leaders advisers, known as sherpas , meet in Brussels in Monday to prepare the summit. The less time they have to digest Tusk s draft negotiating guidelines, the shorter and less detailed those are likely to be, said EU officials who expect a further more detailed set of guidelines to be prepared later.","label":0}
{"text":"Melania Trump made her first solo foray in public as first lady on Thursday, visiting a hospital pediatric wing to read to sick children. Mrs. Trump, who has been reluctant to embrace the and role of presidential spouse, began with a brief and simple outing: an afternoon reading of a Dr. Seuss book in honor of the author's birthday and National Read Across America Day. \"So you know what is today?\" she asked the children, who wore hospital gowns and gathered in a playroom in the pediatric wing of Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan to see Mrs. Trump. \"It's a reading day. So I came to encourage you to read, and to think about what you want to achieve in life. \" Mrs. Trump, whose aides had arranged for a small pool of reporters and photographers to cover the visit, then proceeded to read \"Oh, the Places You'll Go! ,\" a Dr. Seuss classic with an inspirational message that she said was a favorite of hers. \"You'll be as famous as famous can be,\" Mrs. Trump read from the book. \"With the whole wide world watching you win on TV. \" Mrs. Trump has stayed mostly out of the spotlight since President Trump took office. She has appeared at her husband's side for a handful of official events, most recently accompanying him to the Capitol on Tuesday for his address to a joint session of Congress. But she has avoided the press and done nothing in public to carve out her own priorities or initiatives as first lady. Michelle Obama made outings with young people a staple of her time as first lady, often making unscheduled stops to spend time with them. On Tuesday, the former first lady was back at it, surprising students in a vocational program at a Washington public school, where she spent more than an hour discussing the importance of pursuing higher education. Mrs. Obama posted a photograph of her visit on Twitter. A photograph of Mrs. Trump's hospital story time appeared in her Twitter feed on Thursday. Mrs. Trump has said she is interested in working to combat cyberbullying, but has yet to start such a program. And while she has named a chief of staff and a social secretary, the White House has not announced the hiring of other key players in the East Wing, such as a communications director, a press secretary or other senior staff members. Mrs. Trump has made it known she does not intend to be much of a presence in Washington at least in the short term she has opted to reside in New York while the couple's son, Barron, finishes his school year. On Thursday, she donned large black sunglasses and stepped into a car that was part of a small motorcade waiting outside Trump Tower to take her to the hospital about a mile and a half away. \"I hope you're all feeling well,\" Mrs. Trump told the assembled children. After she finished reading the book, Mrs. Trump gave it to a young girl who had been listening, saying, \"I encourage you all to read a lot \u2014 to get educated. \"","label":0}
{"text":"First published October 31, 2016  Iraq is going to invade and destroy Saudi Arabia. They would have done it back in 1990 except for waffling by George H.W. Bush who had initially authorized the move and then rescinded approval, according to statements made by former Congressman Ron Paul, based on WikiLeaks State Department hacks.  Saddam was blocked in 1990, and that may well have been a huge mistake on the part of everyone involved. When the US returned in 2003, it was Saudi cash that financed the Sunni Wahhabist was against the coalition government in Baghdad, a war that continues to this day, with the same cast of characters, the same Saudi cash, but they now call it \"ISIS.\"  5000 Americans died fighting Saudi paid jihadists.  Saudi Arabia has always known that Iraq has only allowed them to continue their mischief so long as they served a purpose. When the war with Iran ended in 1988, that purpose had ended also.  Saudi mischief in Iraq, playing tribe against tribe, pushing for Kurdish separatism and partnering with Israeli intelligence, ramped up as America scaled back her military presence under President Obama.  By 2014, a logistics and command structure to destroy both Syria and Iraq had been established, headquartered in the Saudi embassies in Beirut and Amman and operating military operations centers, designed and built by the Israelis, at key locations in Turkey and quickly bolstered by satellite facilities across Iraq and Syria. The Saudi's were feeling time getting away from them, their decades of military buildup, based on endless oil and investment performance, no long sustainable. They had to knock out Syria and Iraq, using Israel, Turkey and NATO as surrogates, push the US into destroying Iran and cleanse Yemen of threats.  They bribed everyone they got near. Were the Saudi's really the ones behind the Arab spring? Do we see the hands of Saudi Arabia when Israel channels Hamas fighters into the Yarmouk Camp, outside Damascus, to bolster ISIS forces? These are the telling events few see, but that prove the hypothesis and provide what is needed to predict a future that may well no longer include the Dark Kingdom.  With a world obsessed with Islamic extremism and terror threats, why is no one looking at where it comes from, who finances, whose ideas are behind it and who it serves? With fingers pointing at the Mossad or CIA and so many others, the real issue is Wahhabism and the real root of it all is Saudi Arabia.  There is no version of 9\/11 that doesn't credit Saudi Mohammed Atta as planner of 9\/11, whether assisted by Israeli art students or Osama bin Laden, depending on which theories you follow. The Saudi's did it and American civil courts are busy now assessing the damages.  Oil money and sovereign immunity and, oh yes, control of the UN Human Rights Council, from which Russia was just expelled, protect them also, despite their abuses and love of head chopping. Pro-Iran militias in Iraq  What is playing out now will lead only one direction , to a stronger Iraq, one under Shiite control with the economically powerful Sunni families, quietly migrating to their second homes in Dubai and Qatar.  The crippled military the US saddled Iraq with will be gone, replaced by powerful Iranian-trained militias.  The American-trained army joined ISIS. Had Prime Minister Maliki, back in 2014, been more aware of the threat, he would have moved against the Army. That, however, would have renewed the civil war, a war that could only have been ended with Iranian military intervention and Iran was still reeling with sanctions and the threat of American invasion.  That threat is gone also. That world is gone, or soon will be as is being played out in Mosul and Aleppo. No one would have imagined Baghdad's resolve or the partnership between Russia and Iran. Still in question is Turkey's role. It is clear someone promised them Aleppo and Mosul, as is reflected in their military incursions into Syria and Iraq.  If Saudi Arabia thinks Turkey will lift a hand to block Iraq's wrath, they are delusional. Turkey knows it can have peace with Iran and that both share similar ideas about the Kurds. This far outweighs any Turkish ambitions to the South. Turkey may well be planning a new Ottoman Empire, but Saudi Arabia is not in the cards for Turkish occupation. Members of the Abbas combat squad, a Shia militia, trained with Iraqi soldiers in Basra  This leaves the protection of the United States and the upcoming election. Is there any American political leader that would oppose Iraq were they to hit Saudi Arabia, by 2020 or 2021?  The prediction is that Iraq will come out of this war intact and, if they do, with a victorious army for the first time genuinely answerable to Baghdad and reeling from the battle of Mosul, likely to leave 20,000 civilians dead in its wake or more, the national enmity for Saudi Arabia will know no bounds.  The Sunni gangsters from Anbar that aligned with the Saudis are mostly dead, many beheaded by ISIS. The promised Kurdish state in Erbil, the so-called \"Barzani Sultanate\" will not be handed control of the massive Kirkuk oil fields and the Ceyhan Pipeline by ISIS, as may well have been planned.  Without these assets, Erbil will still enjoy a strong commercial presence but will never be able to reach into the Kurdish diaspora and bring the millions home and under questionable rule, subject to Erbil's deal making with everyone. Eventually Erbil will become a ghost town, the sons that returned will again migrate and Turkish ambitions, seemingly undone, will be fulfilled.  As it appears now, Iraq will survive. Iraq also knows that what Saudi Arabia tried twice, they will try again and that the only way Iraq can be free is if Saudi Arabia falls.  And then there is Iran. Iranian aircraft have carried out strikes against the Islamic State. (Photo: TomoNews US) Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War who has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades and consulted with governments challenged by security issues, and is a senior editor and chairman of the board of Veterans Today, especially for the online magazine \" New Eastern Outlook .\"","label":1}
{"text":"Republicans have said for years the first lady hates America, but they defend her words when they come out of Mrs. Trump's mouth . An entire section of Trump's speech\u2014focused on the values she and her husband share\u2014appears to be lifted directly from Obama's comments on the same subject eight years ago. Back then, Republicans claimed Michelle Obama wasn't \"proud\" of her country; now Republicans defend her words when they're coming out of Melania's mouth. The controversy capped a chaotic first day of the Republican National Convention. Monday started with Trump's campaign attacking popular Ohio governor and former presidential challenger John Kasich as an \"embarrassment\" for not attending the convention in Cleveland. By afternoon, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was rallying people outside\u2014until he was interrupted by a popular comedian asking the fringe radio host to \"have sex with my wife.\" Not long after, a fight erupted on the convention floor, with anti-Trump delegates demanding a roll call vote before the RNC got underway. At another point, Rep. Steve King was on MSNBC suggesting white people are better than any \"sub-groups.\" By the evening, speaker after speaker recalled in the most minute detail the attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. \"From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect,\" Melania said [emphasis added]. \"They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son, and we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.\" \"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them. And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children\u2014and all children in this nation\u2014to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.\" Before the convention, Team Trump told CNN that Melania spent five to six weeks working on the speech. She told Matt Lauer on Monday afternoon that she had \"as little help as possible\" writing it. \"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,\" spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement late Monday. \"Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.\" \"This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton she'll... take her down,\" campaign manager Paul Manafort told CNN. \"It's not going to work.\"","label":0}
{"text":"When Mayte Lara Ibarra, the valedictorian of her high school's graduating class, revealed her plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin on a scholarship, she did what any graduate would do: She shared her excitement on social media. Ms. Lara also declared, proudly, that she is undocumented. \"Valedictorian, 4. 5GPA, full tuition paid for at UT, 13 nice legs, oh and I'm undocumented,\" she wrote in a tweet posted last week, hours after she gave her valedictory speech to fellow graduates at David Crockett High School in Austin. In an era where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, has vowed to build a wall to keep out undocumented immigrants and many Latinos are rushing to seek citizenship to vote against him, others are finding ways to raise their voices or step out of the shadows. Ms. Lara, whose path to the United States was not immediately clear and who didn't mention her undocumented status in her speech, chose instead to talk about AP tests, proms and pep rallies. But on the same day, a few hours north in McKinney, Tex. another valedictorian, Larissa Martinez, did. Speaking to her class, Ms. Martinez, who says she's headed to Yale, declared that she is undocumented, and indirectly addressed sentiments voiced by Mr. Trump. According to the website Mic, she crossed the border in 2010 from Mexico with her mother and sister. \"America can be great again without the construction of a wall built on hatred and prejudice,\" said Ms. Martinez, according to WFAA, a local ABC affiliate. She told the station that she had a full scholarship to Yale with plans to study medicine. But some observers saw the students' decision to express pride in being undocumented as an affront, and criticized them on social media. In Ms. Lara's case, the outrage over her tweet led her to delete her Twitter account. One critic, Hillary Shay Davis, who has a daughter who graduated with Ms. Lara, said she believed that the teenager was proud of \"taking advantage of the system. \" \"I have never thought about deporting a child who graduated from a U. S. high school and fought against the odds to be successful. Until this moment,\" Ms. Davis wrote on Facebook. She added, \"Something else that I have NEVER thought I would support until this moment is Trump and #buildthatwall. \" Versions of this sentiment echoed throughout social media. Ms. Lara is departing the Austin Independent School District, where 58 percent of students are Hispanic, and entering a college system where Hispanic students are the share of the population. The University of Texas also offers support services for undocumented students. Gary Susswein, a spokesman for the University of Texas, said that federal law prevented him from discussing the cases of individual students, but he offered a statement that said that the university grants tuition waivers to all valedictorians of Texas public high schools regardless of their residency status. \"State law also does not distinguish between documented and undocumented graduates of Texas high schools in admissions and financial aid decisions,\" the statement said. \"University policies reflect that law. \" Jose Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer journalist and immigration activist who revealed that he is undocumented in The New York Times Magazine in 2011, said that gestures like Ms. Lara's were part of a larger effort on behalf of undocumented people to be open and upfront about their status. \"Being undocumented is part of her identity, as is being a Latina,\" he said Thursday. He added, \"For many undocumented people, this is our way of telling people that we are not who people think we are. \" Define American, a project Mr. Vargas started in 2011, holds events and online campaigns where people can share their immigration status, an effort, he said, that was meant to shape the conversation around immigration \"so it's a more 'human' one. \" Although people have been using Twitter and YouTube to make their immigration status public for years, Mr. Vargas said he thought the criticism of Ms. Martinez and Ms. Lara was coming at a tense time in the election cycle. In the case of Ms. Lara, he said that people were circulating misinformation, and he referred to the state law granting the waivers to valedictorians. \"This young woman is not taking somebody else's spot,\" he said of the waivers. \"She's not getting special treatment. She is getting that because she graduated as valedictorian, and that's how it is in Texas. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Videos Israel: Ancient Papyrus Proves Jerusalem Belongs To Israel Israel is using a fragment of an old tax bill is meant to undercut Muslims', and UNESCO claims to the important site. | October 27, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! A view of the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Monday, May 2, 2016.  While the UNESCO resolution which recognized the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as a \"Muslim holy site of worship\" was barely reported around the world, and considered fairly non-controversial, Israeli officials have been expressing fury over the matter for two solid weeks.  And the Muslims may have a huge, ancient mosque that has been a key part of Islam for 1,300 years, but Israel has a small strip of papyrus they found in a cave, which they're pretty sure is a far more conclusive document, since it mentioned the word Jerusalem and was written in Hebrew.  Israeli officials have claimed that the UNESCO resolution, in recognizing the mosque as important to Islam, was tantamount to denying Israel's absolute and eternal control over the entire city of Jerusalem. Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev said the papyrus strip proved Jerusalem \"was and will remain the eternal capital of the Jewish people.\"  The al-Aqsa mosque was built on a site which is believed to have previously housed an important Jewish temple, and some Israelis advocate the eventual destruction of the mosque and the construction of a new temple, though the details of such a construction would be hugely religiously complicated, and since the destruction of the mosque would undoubtedly start a massive war, it is considered unlikely. Still, the far-right government wants to ensure that they have some international precedent for their claim to the territory. This entry was posted in Daily Digest , Foreign Affairs and tagged Al Aqsa Mosque , Israel , Jerusalem , Muslim holy site , Palestine , UNESCO . Bookmark the permalink . tapatio  Contrary to the propaganda of the Judeo-fascists, the Palestinians DID have a state \u2013 called Canaan, that lasted for over 2000 years and built the city of Jerusalem \u2013 until they were destroyed by ethnic cleansing and genocide by the J6ws for the purpose of stealing the land now called Palestine. The survivors of that genocide are in Palestine and scattered throughout the region.  When the Jews were finally driven out of Palestine, for treachery and terrorism, the great majority of them went North into Eastern Europe. Some scattered into other regions of the Middle East and North Africa, where they integrated and lived among the other tribes before and after the transition to Islam. The J6ws that went into Europe, over the centuries, were driven from state to state because of their conspiracies, treachery, arrogance, usury and all of the other characteristics they exhibit today in Palestine and on Wall and Fleet Streets.  After the Jewish \"kingdom\" in Canaan was defeated, by the Assyrians in 351 BCE, the Jews never were allowed to rise to power again. Their >600 year reign in Canaan was marked by oppression of non-Jews, marauding and attacks on the most heavily traveled trade route in the world. After 66 BCE, for a time, Rome made the error of trying to allow the Jews limited self-rule, which ended in rioting, conspiracy and terrorist attacks by the J6ws on both Romans and the other tribes of Palestine.  From the time of the final defeat of the last Jewish terrorists in 135 CE, until the early 20th Century, Palestine was one of the most peaceful regions of the world. It benefited from a lack of obvious oil resources \u2013 avoiding attention from Western greed. The only upsets during that almost 2000 years were the defeat of the Byzantines (the remnants of the Roman Empire), the European \"Crusades\", a couple of Asian incursions and a few tribal squabbles.  By 1900, Palestine was one of the most productive agricultural regions of the Middle East and a major exporter of citrus and olives. Its \"Jaffa Brand\" oranges were famous throughout the world (I've never eaten one. But, I have a crate with most of the paper label in my office).  The Jew claim that all of the land they obtained in Palestine was purchased is ludicrous. They went to some FORMER land owners of the DEFUNCT Ottoman Empire and paid them something to sign bills of sale to land they didn't own and had probably never seen.  I read one report by a British officer in the Palestine Mandate. His unit was sent to investigate an attack on a small Palestinian town. They found the ENTIRE POPULATION of the town slaughtered, many of the bodies mutilated and most of the women and girls raped, with some tortured. The animals, including house pets, had all been killed and many mutilated. After further investigation, the British Army concluded that the massacre had been carried out by Irgun terrorists and that Menachem Begin almost certainly led the slaughter. This is the sort of sub-human that Jews \"elect\" as their Prime Minister.  The Zionists have the delusion that they can re-write history to suit their cult. They are sadly mistaken. Lonny  Not contrary to you being a racist @$$hoIe, you spend every day of your life whining about Jews for several hours a day. tapatio  NO, JEW-BOY, I SPEND PART OF MOST DAYS HELPING TO BRING ABOUT THE DAY WHEN THE DISEASE, OF WHICH YOU ARE PART, IS ERADICATED AND HUMANS CAN HAVE PEACE AND DECENCY. Lonny  You spend part of your days hating Jews and the other part blowing jihadis, tapaDILDO. Hating Jews doesn't make you decent. It makes you a racist lowlife. Kagey1  Mint Press, you disingenuously fail to state the true objection of Israel to the UNESCO vote. That it fails to also include the Jewish origins of the site. In fact, the resolution appears to state that Jerusalem is only holy to Muslims. It negates the prior Jewish and Christian connections. That is the objection, not the inclusion of the later Muslim connection. tapatio Lonny  TapaDILDO still trying to get negative attention from Jews. Little crybaby never got enough attention from mommy. tapatio  Since the Jews invaded and committed GENOCIDE in Canaan\/Palestine about 3000 years ago \u2013 yup, they were there before Muslims or Christians. The Christians appeared 2000 years ago and the Muslims came 1400 years ago. But, since the Jews'\"claim\" to Palestine is based on their genocide of the Canaanite kingdom after the Jews were driven from Egypt, that claim would seem to be shaky at best.  And, ancient Judaism became functionally extinct at tel Megiddo in 135 CE \u2013 1881 years ago. The \"Jews\" that we see today are the descendants of Eastern European barbarians who were converted to Judaism by the few survivors of their terrorist war against Rome.  Today's Jews and their ancestors NEVER saw Palestine until Rothschild's Zionist disease. The FEW (about 17,000) Jews that lived in Palestine before Zionism were ALL Europeans, living on European charity \u2013 mostly in Jerusalem. They were ultra-orthodox whose entire function was to \"study\" the Torah and pornographic Talmud \u2013 the NEVER worked.  Humanity really needs to comprehend fully that this cult, that has been driven from more than 100 countries in the last 2000 years is NOT \"PERSECUTED\". JUDAISM IS A TOXIC CULT-URE THAT LIVES ON THE BLOOD OF OTHERS \u2013 VAMPIRES, AS THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, VOLTAIRE AND OTHERS.  GREAT JEWISH LEADERS  There goes Tapadildo inventing a fake history again, as always.  Jews didn't invade. Jews lawfully immigrated under the Ottomans and so did the Arabs.  Jews committed no genocide there. The Arab population grows at one of the fastest rates on the planet.  There hasn't been a Canaan for 3500 years\u2026 but you're whining about it as though it was last week. No mention of all the genocides against non-Muslims over the last 1400 years? How about the ones this year?  Hating Jews has turned you into a frothing lunatic, obviously. DumbTwat. ivanacardinale  YOU ARE GREAT!!! WITH THIS, YOU JUST SHUT UP LOONY TUNES!!! tapatio  Thanks, but don't count on that shutting up Lonny. They are assigned to sites and he probably won't quit unless he quits\/is fired from his job. Lonny  Why don't you lead by example and show everyone how to shut-up, TapaDILDO.  Nah, you thrive on several hours' worth of negative attention from Jews every day. ivanacardinale  He might be one of those Mossad trollies, being paid to do the job, the social media counterattack Lonny  You might be one of those racistCUNTS\u2026 Wait, \"might?\"\u2026 sorry. ARE. ivanacardinale  The War on UNESCO: Al-Aqsa Mosque is Palestinian and East Jerusalem is Illegally Occupied http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2016\/10\/27\/the-war-on-unesco-al-aqsa-mosque-is-palestinian-and-east-jerusalem-is-illegally-occupied\/ Lonny  Sorry, racistCUNT\u2026 there is no law which says Jerusalem is illegally occupied. Who do you claim it belongs to, racistCUNT?  Jews were also \"Palestinians\" and were \"Palestinians\" longer than any Arabs were, racistCUNT. ivanacardinale  So, you are palestinian then!!! Is in your DNA!! Lonny  Jews are the actual Palestinians, racistCUNT. It's in your DNA to be a racistCUNT. tapatio  NO Jew has more than a trace of Semitic DNA. That was almost eradicated at tel Megiddo in 135 CE. The traces that exist in SOME Jews are from the terrorists that managed to escape from Megiddo (all men) and breed with the barbarians of Southeastern Europe.  The Iranian and other native Middle Eastern Jews are not Semitic, but Persian, Ethiopian, etc., so far as I know and I taught anthropology for 35 years. Lonny  TapaDILDO and his 1.5 terabytes of insane Jew-hate. Too funny. moosehorn  So the sorry sad son of wxxre that you are admits that Palestinians exist? Lonny  Sorry, stupid\u2026 did you think you wanted to engage in a conversation about what constitutes a \"Palestinian\"? moosehorn  Lol, you are a sorry stupid piece of crap. Lonny  Says the phuqqstain who couldn't engage in a topic if his worthless life depended upon it. moosehorn  Ivana was right by referring to you as loony toones. Lonny  I'm right by referring to you as a dumbschitt. tapatio  You already showed us what you had for lunch today, TapaDILDO. moosehorn  You keep proving that you are a mentally challenged Axxhole. Lonny  The day you offer a mental challenge to anyone is the day you stop being a phuqqstain and graduate into average idiocy. moosehorn  Bravo, couldn't come up with a better description. Lonny  Of what pours into your Jew-hating mouths. tapatio  https:\/\/uploads.disquscdn.com\/images\/77ca2bb6a1767c6776e94afaf505f28bad3b6bb346e4d3d500d1dd0f010ddc9a.jpg moosehorn  I bet your parents are siblings, such stupidity and ignorance is but the result someone conceived by incest. Lonny  I bet that's a jihadiQoqque banging against your tonsils. Such blowing skills are the result of someone who's practiced a lot. tapatio  No \"might\" about it. He\/she\/it is a hasbara troll, either working out of Palestine (and paid with money stolen from the American taxpayer) or is some Jewish escuincle working out of his mama's Brooklyn apartment. Lonny  There 's a definite about this: You are one dumb Jew-obsessed, racist @$$hoIe. tapatio  It's obvious. So is the lunacy and stupidity behind this obsession. tapatio  BTW, discussions in other venues STAY on those venues. ivanacardinale  Well, then America belongs to the native, original peoples, so, the rest of us should start packing their bags and go back to where we come from. Same thing with Europe. It was a Roman Empire, so, Europe belongs to the Italians then. Can the \"israelis\" stop the crap of ancient documents? in which world they think they are living? During thousands of years everybody invaded, killed and squattered each other. So, if we go for history, NOTHING BELONGS TO NOBDY!! Michael Hess  The supreme irony is that Islamophobes are always going on about how backwards Muslims are wanting to protect their culture going back to ancient times, yet Hasbarians do the same thing.  Meanwhile, as the article states, there is simply nothing at all that is controversial in this resolution, the scandal is as made up as Benghazi and Ambassador Stevens and Hillary.  The fact is, there was no state of Israel prior to May 14th, 1948. So these people need to get it out of their heads because you cannot claim sovereignty to a single dunam of land before that. Of course, as more people learn that Palestine was an officially and legally created country twenty-four years before Israel, things are getting far more interesting.  Worse yet still for Israel, the rogue state has no legal hold over Jerusalem at all in the real world not rules by little fragments of papyrus and religious imagery back when people did not bathe and thought that the stars were oil lamps that someone lit up each night.  UN Security Council resolution 476 and about eighteen others prove that Israel holds no legal sovereignty in Jerusalem whatsoever, this is precisely why the US Embassy Act of 1995 is waived every six months because by moving the embassy, that would put the US in violation of more than several Security Council resolutions. Lonny  Sorry, moron. You are always lying about Jews. Who's criticizing Arabs for protecting their culture? You mean, when there are those among them who ATTACK OTHER cultures that you think is an attack on Islamic culture? You think it's a preservation of Islamic culture when ISIS began perpetrating a genocide on the Yzidis?  There is something controversial, numbnutted goatface\u2026 They refuse to use the Jewish terms for the places, even though those are the terms which have been the prolific ones for thousands of years.  The fact is, goatfaced Jew-hater\u2026 Israel was around 2000 years ago, so there was a state of Israel before May 14, 1948, and Jews have been praying at the Western Wall for millennia. And they certainly had sovereign land there historically. You really are one heck of a Jew-hating loser, goatface!  Israel has plenty of legal hold over Jerusalem in the real world, goatface. See how it exercises its legal hold? Who are you claiming it belongs to? You know who REALLY never had sovereignty over a single dunum of the land over there? Palestinian Arabs.  Your misapplication of what you think are laws are not credible. And misusing the 4th Geneva Convention is what is not valid. ivanacardinale  You puke violence through your words, and also ignorance. Violence is the weapon of the people that has no reason. We know very well the history of that land. And you seem to invent it. And I laugh when i read every year about \"Israel Independence\". From whom got the independence? From which Empire? the Palestinian? the Roman? the ottomans? or from the UN? Most countries has battle for years for independence against an empire. Israelis got it through what? as far as we know, you are being called the haggana? Lonny  Actually, the only reason people puke around you is they see your face.  Violence is what you use to defend yourself, stupid. You come on here and attack me\u2026 I never attacked you\u2026 and then you want to pretend you're innocent on top of it! What a dumb hypocrite!  You clearly don't know the history if you think there wasn't a Jewish kingdom there before.  Israel got independence from a region which hadn't been sovereign in 2000 years. The last people who ruled it were the Ottomans, and very temporarily the British. There were no nation-states in that region at the time. Suddenly, there were, because that's how the Allies set it up after beating Germany and the Ottomans.  Didn't know that, did you?  Before there was even a Hagganah, the Jews were struggling for independence there, and even when it was under Ottoman rule they asked for independence.  You don't know much of anything. Now, prattle back at me and pretend that I'm violent, when you're the ignorant one who opened up their mouth at me first. tapatio  Easy-bake monkey, STFU. THIS IS JUDAISM in Palestine .  A cult capable of committing, supporting and defending the crimes below IS A DISEASE and should be eradicated from this Earth .  Jews Blow Up and Kill Palestinian Boy By Force-Feeding Him Gasoline Lonny  Jew-hate is a form of psychosis.  See your stupid little list, Jew-hate weenie? If I posted all the Arab terrorist acts, the ratio would be over 1000 to 1. tapatio  You might note that TRUTH is not \"hate\" Jew-boy, 99% of the \"Arab\" terrorists are from THIS source \u2013 JEW OWNED .  AS SUBORDINATES OF THE ROTHSCHILD-BILDERBERG EMPIRE, WASHINGTON, ISRAEL AND SAUDI ARABIA BUILT AND OPERATE AL QAEDA, ISIS AND THE OTHER TERRORIST GROUPS OPERATING IN SYRIA (and elsewhere) TO DESTABILIZE COUNTRIES AND ESTABLISH A \"CALIPHATE\" THAT WOULD \"COOPERATE\" WITH THE EMPIRE.  LIKE THE TERRORIST GROUPS THEMSELVES, THAT CALIPHATE WOULD BE JUST AS OPPRESSIVE AND VICIOUS AS ITS PARENT (established by Jewish\/British bankers, 100 years ago) \u2013 SAUDI ARABIA. SAUDI ARABIA AND THE TERROR GROUPS SPAWNED THEY ARE THE GUTTER SCRAPINGS OF ISLAM \u2013 EQUAL IN ALL RESPECTS TO THE ZIONIST DISEASE.  Global Warfare: \"We're going to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran  http:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/article1438.htm  \"Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq \u2014 an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right\"  AND  http:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/pdf\/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf  \"Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event \u2013 like a new Pearl Harbor (9\/11 \u2013 PERFECTION). Domestic politics and industrial policy will shape the pace and content of transformation as much as the requirements of current missions.\" (p 63)  AMERICA'S \"RASPUTINS\" RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANNING THE LAST 15 YEARS OF DEATH \u2013 JEWISH ZIONISTS ALL  CLEAN BREAK  Dov Zakheim Lonny  Tapadildo and his usual psychotic copy\/pastes needs a lot of negative attention from Jews. Has for YEARS. tapatio  ANYONE WHO TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT JUDAISM IS GOING TO GET A LOT OF NEGATIVE ATTENTION FROM THAT DISEASE.  MOICHE FEIGLIN IS DEPUTY SPEAKER OF THE ISRAELI KNESET. BELOW IS THE HEBREW TEXT FROM FEIGLIN'S FACEBOOK PAGE. THIS CREATURE IS TYPICAL OF THE JEWISH ANIMALS THAT HAVE INVADED PALESTINE.  TRANSLATION OF FEIGLIN'S FACEBOOK POST\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..  With God's Help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Mr. Prime Minister, We have just heard that Hamas has used the ceasefire to abduct an officer. It turns out that this operation is not about to be over any too soon. The failures of this operation were inherent to it from the outset, because: a) It has no proper and clear goal; b) there is no appropriate moral framework to support our soldiers. What is required now is that we internalize the fact that Oslo is finished, that this is our country \u2013 our country exclusively, including Gaza. There are no two states, and there are no two peoples. There is only one state for one people. Having internalized this, what is needed is a deep and thorough strategic review, in terms of the definition of the enemy, of the operational tasks, of the strategic goals, and of course, of appropriate necessary war ethics. (1) Defining the enemy: The strategic enemy is extremist Arab Islam in all its varieties, from Iran to Gaza, which seeks to annihilate Israel in its entirety. The immediate enemy is Hamas. (Not the tunnels, not the rockets, but Hamas.) (2) Defining the tasks Conquest of the entire Gaza Strip, and annihilation of all fighting forces and their supporters. (3) Defining the strategic goal: To turn Gaza into Jaffa, a flourishing Israeli city with a minimum number of hostile civilians. (4) Defining war ethics: \"Woe to the evildoer, and woe to his neighbor\" In light of these four points, Israel must do the following: a) The IDF [Israeli army] shall designate certain open areas on the Sinai border, adjacent to the sea, in which the civilian population will be concentrated, far from the built-up areas that are used for launches and tunneling. In these areas, tent encampments will be established, until relevant emigration destinations are determined. The supply of electricity and water to the formerly populated areas will be disconnected. b) The formerly populated areas will be shelled with maximum fire power. The entire civilian and military infrastructure of Hamas, its means of communication and of logistics, will be destroyed entirely, down to their foundations. c) The IDF will divide the Gaza Strip laterally and crosswise, significantly expand the corridors, occupy commanding positions, and exterminate nests of resistance, in the event that any should remain. d) Israel will start searching for emigration destinations and quotas for the refugees from Gaza. Those who wish to emigrate will be given a generous economic support package, and will arrive at the receiving countries with considerable economic capabilities. e) Those who insist on staying, if they can be proven to have no affiliation with Hamas, will be required to publicly sign a declaration of loyalty to Israel, and receive a blue ID card similar to that of the Arabs of East Jerusalem. f) When the fighting will end, Israeli law will be extended to cover the entire Gaza Strip, the people evicted from the Gush Katif will be invited to return to their settlements, and the city of Gaza and its suburbs will be rebuilt as true Israeli touristic and commercial cities. Mr. Prime Minister, This is the a fateful hour of decision in the history of the State of Israel. All metastases of our enemy, from Iran and Hizballah through ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, are rubbing their hands gleefully and preparing themselves for the next round. I am warning that any outcome that is less than what I defined here means encouraging the continued offensive against Israel. Only when Hizballah will understand how we have dealt with Hamas in the south, it will refrain from launching its 100,000 missiles from the north. I call on you to adopt the strategy proposed here. I have no doubt that the entire Israeli people will stand to your right with its overwhelming majority, like myself \u2013 if only you will adopt it. 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\u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05da \u05dc\u05d0\u05de\u05e5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e8\u05d8\u05d2\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e6\u05e2\u05ea \u05db\u05d0\u05df. \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc \u05e1\u05e4\u05e7 \u05e9\u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9, \u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e2\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05de\u05d5\u05d7\u05e5 \u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05da \u2013 \u05d0\u05dd \u05e8\u05e7 \u05ea\u05d0\u05de\u05e6\u05e0\u05d4.  \u05d1\u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05df Lonny  TapaDILDO has all of his Jew-hate copy\/pastes rolling to get negative attention from Jews. Such an infantile little Jew-hater\u2026 uses JihadiCokk as a pacifier. tapatio  https:\/\/uploads.disquscdn.com\/images\/6862a06b7dca0b6b4e7021675a233af3ef12f5a747576a7a076f7e66e15d3a52.jpg Lonny  TapaDILDO still trying to get negative attention from Jews by showing them what he just ate for lunch. tapatio  APPARENTLY THIS BEANIE-BABY CAN'T READ. BUT, HIS MAMA PROBABLY CAUGHT HIM IN A TEL AVIV BACK ALLEY. HARDLY A WOMAN IN THAT CULT WITHOUT A COIN SLOT IN HER FOREHEAD. Lonny  Apparently, you're too stupid to understand that I pointed out what you ate for lunch, Jew-hate infant. tapatio  Jew-boy, you fail to comprehend that I couldn't care less about your ad hominem drivel. It only reinforces the reality that Judaism, especially the Zionist form is a FILTHY DISEASE \u2013 just like its cells \u2013 YOU.  For more than 3000 years, from their expulsion from Egypt and from the money changers Jesus is said to have driven from the temple steps to the predatory global Rothschild banking cartel to the lowest loan shark in NY, to the Internet propaganda shill, the IDF thug and Mossad scum and their rabbis preaching the delusion of a \"chosen\" master-race, this predatory cultl posing as religion and ethnicity has most closely resembled a malignant cancer metastasizing through our world, corrupting and spoiling everything it touches.  When one or a few cultures find a particular culture toxic, it could be bigotry. When almost EVERY culture finds Judaism toxic, JUDAISM IS TOXIC .  Every expulsion of Jews below was preceded by widespread and extreme crime and abuses BY JEWS. The Jews have been expelled from more than 100 countries. Listed below are ONLY expulsions that could be directly linked to RAMPANT JEWISH CRIME. They had NOTHING to do with \"persecution\" of Jews. However, often, innocent Jews suffered because of guilt by association with their predatory culture.  The expulsions of Jews were acts of SELF-PRESERVATION by non-Jewish cultures.  Expulsions of Jews","label":1}
{"text":"A display of U.S. state flags in a tunnel under Washington's Capitol complex will be replaced because of controversial Confederate symbols on some of the flags, an administrative committee said on Thursday. In its place, in the busy passageway between the Capitol and adjacent office buildings, depictions of commemorative quarters representing the 50 states, the U.S. territories and Washington, D.C., will be installed, said Committee on House Administration Chairwoman Candice Miller. Michigan Republican Representative Miller said in a statement that she decided to replace the display because of the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag, which is widely seen today as a symbol of racism and slavery. \"I am well aware of how many Americans negatively view the Confederate flag, and, personally, I am very sympathetic to these views,\" she said. Lawmakers who choose to hang their home states' flags outside their offices may still do so. \"In this way all state flags are displayed on Capitol Hill,\" Miller said. Only the Mississippi state flag still depicts the Confederate battle flag, in the top left corner. Symbols from various Confederate flags are evident in the flags of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Arkansas. All these states were among those that seceded from the union in 1860-1861 and joined the pro-slavery Confederate States of America that was defeated by the anti-slavery union in the American Civil War. Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who pushed last year for his state's flag to be removed from the Capitol, praised Miller's announcement as a step toward removing all signs of the \"Confederate revolt against our own country.\" Criticism over public display of the Confederate flag intensified last year after a white man who gunned down nine black churchgoers in South Carolina was pictured on social media with it. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, told a weekly news conference that he supports the decision to change the display. It is expected to be installed once renovations of the tunnel are finished later this year.","label":0}
{"text":"Whenever we have a terror attack in America, the media goes to great lengths to make sure no one assumes of the killer was a Muslim. Meanwhile, the media has gone out of their way to convince Americans that all Hispanics hate Trump. Isn t it interesting how quickly they print a story about the murderer of two Muslim men who witnesses describe as a tall Hispanic man and then blame Trump?An imam and his assistant were shot and killed in broad daylight as they walked home from a mosque in Queens. That s not what America is about, Khairul Islam, 33, a local resident told the Daily News. We blame Donald Trump for this. Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia. Another Imam, whose name is unknown at the moment, also blamed the real estate mogul and former NYC mayor for the shooting. For those in leadership like Trump and Mr. Giuliani, and other members of other institutions that project Islam and Muslims as the enemy, this is the end result of their wickedness, the Imam said at a gathering of Muslims protesting the shooting.Other Muslim gatherings were chanting This is Donald Trump s fault, and Muslim hate crime. Witnesses providing leads to the NYPD described the shooter as a tall man of Hispanic descent. The NYPD is currently conducting an extensive canvass of the area for video and seeking additional witnesses as the shooter remains at large. Breitbart","label":1}
{"text":"in: Medical & Health , Multimedia , Natural Medicine , Sleuth Journal , Special Interests Cannabis contains a compound that may kill brain cancers that chemotherapy and radiation can't touch, so why isn't it being used today? In recent years, we've focused heavily on educating our readers about the still relatively unknown role that cancer stem cells play in cancer, both in terms of conventional cancer treatment failure and the exceptionally promising role that natural interventions play in targeting these highly malignant cells. It is encouraging to witness a growing awareness that cancer has been completely misunderstood , and that in order to make progress against the global epidemic we will have to go back to the wisdom of the ancients by using foods and spices instead of toxic chemicals and radiation to fight a disease that should be classified more as a survival mechanism unmasked than an inexorably lethal, genetically-driven condition . Even the National Cancer Institute now admits that it had been wrong for decades about \"early stage\" breast ( DCIS ) and prostate (HGPIN) \"cancers,\" and that they should be reclassified as indolent or benign lesions of epithelial origin, i.e. not \"cancer\" at all! Essentially, therefore, millions were overdiagnosed and overtreated for cancers they never had. Even now, despite this admission, the vast majority of conventional doctors have yet to account for, acknowledge, or integrate this radically different definition of cancer and its implications for treatment into their \"standard of care.\" Only last week, we featured a new review on natural therapies that target cancer stem cells , many of which included common foods and spices. You can view it here. But one substance conspicuously absent from the list was cannabis , which is the herb we now turn to to give it a fair representation in the context of this topic. A recent article published in the Journal Neuroimmune Pharmacology titled, \" The Antitumor Activity of Plant-Derived Non-Psychoactive Cannabinoids ,\" reviewed the therapeutic potential of a non-psychoactive class of phytochemicals found in cannabis known as cannabinoids . Unlike THC, cannabinoids do not activate the cannabinoid 1 and cannabinoid 2 receptors in the central nervous system in any significant way, making their activity less controversial as they do not produce changes in perception and sensation associated with \"recreational\" and\/or \"psychedelic\" drugs. There are actually over 60 cannabinoids in cannabis, but the second most abundant one, cannabidiol (CBD), has been found to inhibit and\/or kill a wide range of cancers in the animal model, including gliobastoma (a difficult-to-treat type of brain cancer), breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancer. There have been a wide range of mechanisms identified behind these observed anti-tumor activities, including anti-angiogenic (preventing new blood vessel formation), anti-metastatic, anti-cell viability, but the one we wish to focus on in this report is its ability to to inhibit the stem-like potential of cancer cells. Stem cells are unique within the body as they are capable of continual self-renewal, theoretically making them immortal relative to regular body cells (somatic cells), which die after a fixed number or replication cycles. In their normal state of function they are essential for healing and bodily regeneration, as they are capable of differentiating into the wide range of cells that make up the body and need to be regularly replaced when damaged. This so-called pluripotent property of stem cells is also observed in tumor formation and maintenance, as cancer stem cells are capable of producing the entire range of different cells that make up a tumor colony. Unlike regular tumor cells, cancer stem cells are uniquely tumorigenic because they are capable of breaking off from an existing lesion or tumor and forming a new tumor colony of cells. In this sense, they are \"mother cells\" at the heart of cancer malignancy, whose ability to colonize other tissues by producing all the \"daughter cells\" necessary to form a new tumor make their existence highly concerning from the perspective of cancer prevention and treatment. Radiation and chemotherapy, while capable of reducing the size of a tumor, actually enrich the post-treatment residual lesion or tumor with higher levels of cancer stem cells , and in some cases transform non-cancer stem cells into cancer stem cells , ultimately making the post-treatment state of the treated tissue far worse than its pre-treatment condition. This is why identifying and using natural, safe, effective and affordable ways to target cancer stem cells versus the non-tumorigenic tumor cells in a lesion or tumor is the only rational way to treat cancer, and should be the primary focus of present day cancer treatment approaches. The new review discussed the way that cannabidiol targets and\/or inhibits the cancer stem cell subpopulation in cancers such as the highly treatment-resistant form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma, which is widely considered by conventional medicine as \"incurable.\" A 2013 study, 1 mentioned in the review, found that patient-derived glioblastoma cells when exposed to cannabidiol saw a significant down-regulation of the genetic tumor marker Id-1, which has been closely correlated with brain cancer cell invasiveness. They also found that cannabidiol was capable of inhibiting neurosphere formation (a sign of cancer stem cell tumor formation), as well as was capable of inhibiting glioblastoma tumor invasiveness in an animal model. The results of this preclinical study were so compelling that the researchers concluded cannibidiol might make an ideal adjunct treatment: With its lack of systemic toxicity and psychoactivity, cannabidiol is an ideal candidate agent in this regard and may prove useful in combination with front-line agents for the treatment of patients with aggressive and high-grade glioblastoma tumors. Integrative approaches often focus on using natural interventions as \"adjuncts\" to conventional, inherently toxic approaches like chemotherapy and radiation, we believe that another possibility exists, namely, that cannabidiol in combination with a wide range of other natural substances studied for targeting glioblastoma is more effective (and certainly far safer) than a combination approach. To view other anti-glioblastoma substances, view our database on the subject . Another highly relevant study published in 2007 titled, \"Cannabinoids induce glioma stem-like cell differentiation and inhibit gliomagenesis,\" 2 found that cannabinoids target the stem-like properties of glioma cells, encouraging their differentiation into functioning, non-tumorigenic cells, and inhibiting the dysregulated increased production of glioma cells. A more recent 2015 study, 3 found that glioblastoma cells treated with cannabidiol inhibited their self-renewal by down-regulating \"critical stem cell maintenance and growth regulators.\" Another study, published last month, found that cannabidiol inhibits glioma stem-like proliferation by inducing autophagy, a natural form of programmed cell death. 4 Consider, finally, that the cancer stem cell targeting and killing properties of cannabidiol are only one of a wide range of potential mechanisms through which cannabis as a whole plant, comprised of hundreds of different phytochemicals and phytonutrients, can treat cancer. We have indexed hundreds of studies on cannabis' therapeutic properties, a good subset concerning its ability to prevent, kill, or regress a wide range of different cancer types. You can view them all on our cannabis research database . Research on cannabis and brain cancer has only just begun, but considering the abject failure if not also sheer violence of conventional approaches, waiting for sufficient quantities of Pharma or government capital to flow in the direction of a non-patentable substance already saddled with archaic laws in some cases criminalizing its possession is a no win proposition. Anecdotes of healing with cannabis are not uncommon. One such report can be viewed on our colleague Dr. Jeffrey Dach's website, titled, \" Cannabis Oil Brain Tumor Remission ,\" demonstrating just how powerful cannabis and its cannabinoids may be for accomplishing what conventional approaches can not. A couple years ago, we reported on a similar case of temporary remission in childhood leukemia using cannabis extract . Also, consider reports like this one, where a woman clearly being victimized by conventional medicine was able to replace 40 different medications through using raw cannabis juice . The short of it is that the future of medicine , if it is to continue to advertise itself to be concerned with alleviating human suffering and being guided by \"evidence,\" must incorporate this safe, time-tested, affordable and effective healing agent into its standard of care. Failing to do so will not de-validate cannabis, rather, but the medical system itself. One might ask, if cannabis can treat \"incurable\" brain cancers, and is safer and more effective than chemotherapy and radiation, shouldn't withholding it or information about its healing properties be considered criminal? Instead we still live in a time and age where simply possessing it or using it is in some jurisdictions classified as a criminal offense of dire if not irreparable consequence to our civil liberties. Perhaps we are at a critical turning point now and the aforementioned research will lead us all forward to a more enlightened medical ethos that respects the right of a patient to choose his or her treatment as long as it does no harm to others. References 1 Soroceanu L, Murase R, Limbad C, Singer EL, Allison J, Adrados I, Kawamura R, Pakdel A, Fukuyo Y, Nguyen D, Khan S, Arauz R, Yount GL, Moore D, Desprez PY, McAllister SD (2013) Id-1 is a Key transcriptional regulator of glioblastoma aggressiveness and a novel therapeutic target. Cancer Res 73:1559\u20131569 2 Tania Aguado, Arkaitz Carracedo, Boris Julien, Guillermo Velasco, Garry Milman, Raphael Mechoulam, Luis Alvarez, Manuel Guzm\u00e1n, Ismael Galve-Roperh. Cannabinoids induce glioma stem-like cell differentiation and inhibit gliomagenesis. J Biol Chem. 2007 Mar 2;282(9):6854-62. Epub 2007 Jan 2. 3 Singer E, Judkins J, Salomonis N, Matlaf L, Soteropoulos P, McAllister S, Soroceanu L (2015) Reactive oxygen species-mediated therapeu- tic response and resistance in glioblastoma. Cell Death Dis 6:e1601 4 Nabissi M, Morelli MB, Amantini C, Liberati S, Santoni M, Ricci-Vitiani L, Pallini R, Santoni G. Cannabidiol stimulates Aml-1a-dependent glial differentiation and inhibits glioma stem-like cells proliferation by inducing autophagy in a TRPV2-dependent manner. Int J Cancer. 2015 Oct 15;137(8):1855-69. doi: 10.1002\/ijc.29573. Epub 2015 May 8. PubMed PMID: 25903924. \u00a9 November 1, 2016 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http:\/\/www.greenmedinfo.com\/greenmed\/newsletter . Submit your review","label":1}
{"text":". The FOUR Reasons for the Assassination of JFK, The Greatest US President For me, this case is closed. John F. Kennedy was assassinated for stripping the Rothschild-owned Fed... Print Email http:\/\/humansarefree.com\/2016\/11\/the-four-reasons-for-assassination-of.html For me, this case is closed. John F. Kennedy was assassinated for stripping the Rothschild-owned Federal Reserve of its power to print and loan money to the United States Federal Government at interest. President Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 on June 4, 1963, which returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the privately-owned Federal Reserve . Unknowingly, he also signed his death sentence that day. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and the United States Notes (backed by silver) he had issued were immediately taken out of circulation. Federal Reserve Notes continued to serve as the legal currency of the nation. You can read everything on the subject by following this link .But, it's likely that at least three other factors have played a role in the decision to assassinate him and, later, other members of his family . 2. Not long before his death, President Kennedy famously stated: \"I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.\" It is known that JFK fired CIA Director Allen Dulles and this book claims the latter is responsible for ordering the hit on the US President. 3. In a famous speech, JFK exposed the network of secret societies that operate against the American people and publicly opposed their devious ways of undermining mankind's freedom. Just two years before he was assassinated (1961), JFK gave a really chilling \u2014 yet inspiring \u2014 speech, exposing secret societies. The warning is especially powerful because it came from a President in office: For me, this speech is remarkable especially because the Kennedys were part of the 13 \"elite\" families that rule the Earth from the shadows. These three facts are clearly showing that JFK declared war against the shadow \"elite\" and their network of secret societies. And for this reason, he and many other members of his lineage have paid the ultimate price . But he was not the only US President who gave us this warning: Former US Presidents and High Officials Warn About the 'Invisible Government' Running the USA 4. Lastly, just ten days before his assassination, JFK asked for access to the UFO files. Based on evidence , the plot for JFK's assassination was already set in motion when he asked to access the UFO files. In fact, new evidence suggests that Lee Harvey Oswald worked directly for Robert F. Kennedy and \u2014 shockingly \u2014 helped save JFK from an 'assassination plot' three weeks earlier in Chicago . But, in so doing, he sealed his own fate. You can read more on the subject by accessing this link . But, even though JFK was already marked for assassination, demanding access to the UFO files could have expedited the efforts to take him out before he could succeed. The following article, wrote by Makia Freeman , makes a very strong case in support of this idea. Was JFK murdered mostly because he was trying to gain access to classified information on UFOs, ETs and aliens? As we approach the 53rd anniversary of the JFK assassination (which occurred on November 22, 1963) and mark the death of the greatest US president ever to challenge the New World Order Secret Government, it is worth briefly looking back in time to realize the tremendous lessons from the Kennedy murder. Last year in 2015 I released an in-depth 3-part series on the JFK assassination, dealing with the Who , How and Why of the event, which was a sacrificial mass ritual designed (among other things) to traumatize the American public. In part 3 I compiled a list of the various motives certain people and groups had to kill Kennedy. JFK had crossed the CIA, the Nazis, the Zionists, the Military Industrial Complex, the Federal Reserve and the Mafia \u2013 all the while not being part of Secret Society Freemasonic brotherhood. However, was the ultimate reason he was killed due to his persistence and demands in obtaining top secret intelligence on the alien matter? Was JFK murdered because he challenged the power of Majestic-12 or MJ-12, the hidden group Truman had created to be the keepers of UFO and alien secrets? There is substantial evidence to indicate this is indeed the case. Released JFK Letters to CIA and NASA Show His Demand for UFO Files \u2013 10 Days Before His Death Two memos authored by Kennedy were released to researcher William Lester under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Both were written on November 12, 1963, just 10 days before JFK was murdered. One of them is a letter (pictured below) to CIA Director John McCone, who succeeded CIA Director Allen Dulles, one of the JFK assassination conspirators and masterminds (see part 1 ). In the memorandum with the subject \"Classification review of all UFO intelligent files affecting National Security\", JFK explicitly writes that he has initiated a joint space program with the USSR. He is telling the CIA that he wants to share its UFO, ET and alien data with NASA, and wants to distinguish between knowns and unknowns (we can interpret the \"knowns\" as US controlled secret technology such as anti-gravity craft and the \"unknowns\" as genuine extraterrestrial phenomena). Here is the text: \"As I had discussed with you previously, I have initiated [redacted] have instructed James Webb to develop a program with the Soviet Union in joint space and inner exploration. \"It would be very helpful if you would have the high threat cases reviewed with the purpose of identification of bona fide as opposed to classified CIA and USAF sources. \"It is important that we make a clear distinction between the knowns and unknowns in the event the Soviets try to mistake our extended cooperation as a cover for intelligence gathering of their defense and space programs. \"When this data has been sorted out, I would like you to arrange a program of data sharing with NASA where Unknowns are a factor. This will help NASA mission directors in their defensive responsibilities. \"I would like an interim report on the data review no later than February 1, 1964.\" The other memorandum (National Security Action Memorandum No. 271, pictured below) is addressed to then NASA administrator James Webb. It carries the subject line of \"Cooperation with the USSR on Outer Space Matters\". JFK outlines how he wants NASA to develop a program of cooperation with the Russians in the field of outer space. JFK Murdered Over UFO Intelligence Access \u2013 The Bigger Picture However, to put these two memos in context, you need to understand that Kennedy had been chasing the golden goose for a long time. Authors and experts such as Dr. Michael Salla, Richard Hoagland and Mike Bara, some of whose work you can read here in \" President Kennedy's deadly confrontation with the CIA & MJ-12 over ET\/UFO X-Files \u2013 Part II \", have done extensive research to show that JFK was determined, before his presidency even began, to get full UFO intelligence access and as president re-take control of the information. He wanted it out of military, unelected hands and placed back into civilian, elected ones. He was out to undo the damage Truman had done, and Eisenhower had continued, by setting up the hidden MJ-12 group in 1947 and keeping the UFO and alien subject under wraps as a giant secret. The following is from a review or synopsis of Salla's book Kennedy's Last Stand: Eisenhower, UFOs, MJ-12 and JFK's Assassination : \"In searching for answers to who killed President Kennedy we need to start with the death of his mentor, James Forrestal in 1949. Forrestal became the first Secretary of Defense in 1947, a position he held until March, 1949. \"Forrestal was a visionary who thought Americans had a right to know about the existence of extraterrestrial life and technologies. \"Forrestal was sacked by President Truman because he was revealing the truth to various officials, including Kennedy who was a Congressman at the time. Forrestal's ideals and vision inspired Kennedy, and laid the seed for what would happen 12 years later. \"After winning the 1960 Presidential election, Kennedy learned a shocking truth from President Eisenhower. The control group set up to run highly classified extraterrestrial technologies, Majestic-12, had become a rogue government agency. \"Eisenhower warned Kennedy that Majestic-12 had to be reined in. It posed a direct threat to American liberties and democratic processes. Kennedy followed Eisenhower's advice, and set out to realize James Forrestal's vision. \"The same forces that orchestrated Forrestal's death, opposed Kennedy's efforts at every turn. When Kennedy was on the verge of succeeding, by forcing the CIA to share classified UFO information with other government agencies on November 12, 1963, he was assassinated ten days later.\" Joint US-USSR Space Missions: JFK Murdered Over Clever Strategy Although JFK surely and naturally had other reasons for wanting to work together with the Soviets (and thus avoid any possibility of a nuclear war), it is quite possible that his proposed joint US-USSR program was an excuse and a clever means to wrest control of the ET issue from the hands of MJ-12. To have NASA cooperate with the Soviet space administration on lunar missions and outer space exploration would necessarily mean sharing data on UFOs. After all, the existence (and extreme technological capacity) of such craft were an obvious security factor and threat that would impact any space expedition. Kennedy already had Soviet leader Nikita Kruschchev on board. Salla writes : \"Documents confirm that on November 12, 1963 Kennedy and Khrushchev had agreed on steps to share UFO information precisely for this reason, and Kennedy identified the CIA as the lead U.S. agency to implement the process. \"Unknown to Kennedy, the CIA's chief of counterintelligence, Angleton, implemented a secret set of directives that would deny access to classified UFO information to Kennedy, his national security staff and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.\" The \"burned memo\" or MJ-12 Kennedy assassination directive The MJ-12 Kennedy Assassination Directive Truth is heavily guarded by layers of secrecy, deception, falsehood and propaganda. Often, government officials hide the truth by overseeing partial disclosures which are carefully orchestrated to give away just enough of the secret without going in too deep. Ever since the Roswell crash of 1947, the US Government kept 2 sets of UFO files. The tamer cases and less controversial information were made publicly available through Project Blue Book, which was the official public investigation into UFOs by the USAF. It formally ended in 1970. However, the really good stuff with high classifications was kept under lock and key by the CIA and MJ-12. Kennedy must have learnt enough about the situation to have known this, and have slowly but surely been making his way to the source of the information. By the time it got to November 12th, 1963, it was the final straw; MJ-12 who controlled the CIA would not allow Kennedy to have UFO intelligence access \u2013 at any cost. As mentioned in part 3, the Kennedy assassination directive (pictured above) was written in code language to disguise the hit they were ordering. It uses the Russian spy term \"wet\" (i.e. wet from being drenched in fresh blood) to mean a killing. The memo reads:\"when conditions become nonconductive for growth in our environment and Washington cannot be influenced any further... it should be 'wet.'\" This is from Salla's commentary: \"Dr Robert Wood who is the foremost expert in analyzing MJ-12 documents using forensic methods, has concluded that the burned document is an assassination directive... he pointed out that the cryptic phrase \"it should be wet\" originates from Russia, where the phrase 'wet works' or \"wet affairs\" denotes someone who had been killed and is drenched with blood. The codeword 'wet' was later adopted by the Soviet KGB and other intelligence agencies... In drafting this cryptic directive, Allen Dulles was seeking approval from six of his MJ-12 colleagues, to lay the justification for the assassination of any elected or appointed official in Washington DC whose policies were \"non-conducive for growth\". The cryptic directive was a pre-authorization for the assassination of any U.S. President who could not \"be influenced any further\" to follow MJ-12 policies.\" CIA Wiretap of Marilyn Monroe Also Suggests JFK Murdered Over UFO Issue Popular actress Marilyn Monroe was a famous lover of both JFK and his brother Robert, who served as Attorney General in the Kennedy Administration. In April 2014, evidence came to light in the form of an alleged CIA transcription (pictured below). If real \u2013 and it appears genuine \u2013 it shows that the CIA were wiretapping Monroe and knew she was about to go public and blow the whistle on JFK and UFOs. Here is what the alleged CIA wiretap document (dated August 3, 1962) states: \"Rothberg indicated in so many words, that she [Monroe] had secrets to tell, no doubt arising from her trists [sic] with the President and the Attorney General. \"One such \"secret\" mentions the visit by the President at a secret air base for the purpose of inspecting things from outer space. 2. Subject repeatedly called the Attorney General and complained about the way she was being ignored by the President and his brother. 3. Subject threatened to hold a press conference and would tell all.\" CIA wiretap of Marilyn Monroe: more proof JFK murdered due to UFOs and aliens? Robert Kennedy Also Briefed On UFOs Another piece of evidence substantiating the \"JFK murdered due to UFOs\" hypothesis is that his brother and Attorney General Robert Kennedy was also briefed on the matter. Lieutenant Colonel Philip Corso, a man who served in a number of National Security Council committees from 1953-57 during the Eisenhower presidency, says Bobby actually sought him out. In this short video Corso says he personally briefed Bobby Kennedy on the subject of flying saucers or UFOs. Bobby was JFK's closest advisor. Conclusion: Highly Likely JFK Murdered Over UFOs and ETs \/ Aliens So at the end of the day was JFK murdered over the UFOs and aliens? While there were many motives for (and conspirators involved in) the killing of JFK, the evidence is overwhelming that his demand for more control over the UFO and alien subject was the crucial factor in the decision by MJ-12 to assassinate him. It may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, but more likely it was the central issue all along. JFK inherited a system from Eisenhower and Truman, US presidents who had already given away substantial control to the Military Industrial Intelligence Complex. Indeed, the very term \"Military Industrial Complex\" (MIC) has only become so commonplace thanks to Eisenhower using it in his farewell speech , where he issued a grave warning to the American public about the power that the MIC already held (but which he also allowed to a large extent). To study the New World Order and the worldwide conspiracy at the deepest levels is to study the UFO, ET and alien agenda. To study UFOs and aliens, in turn, is to accept the existence of free energy technology (aka zero point or over unity energy). This is the gamechanger . Once people accept the reality of free energy and learn how to create and share it, the control grid and conspiracy will evaporate \u2013 because knowledgeable and abundant people cannot be controlled. There is so much at stake at here! Thank you JFK and to all others who have dedicated their lives to making this information public, widespread and accessible ! The truth cannot be hidden forever. 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","label":1}
{"text":"It seems that Donald Trump is often incapable of avoiding really stupid, but public, mistakes on Twitter. Oftentimes those are spelling errors, and sometimes they re factual errors, but sometimes they re just bizarre. April 26 is Melania s birthday, and to look like a good husband, he tweeted a happy birthday message to her. Across the bottom of the image is a banner that reads, First Lady Melania Trump 4.26.2017, with an American flag.HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our @FLOTUS, Melania! https:\/\/t.co\/rYYp51mxDQ pic.twitter.com\/np7KYHglSv Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017See the problem? The flag on that banner there never existed. It only has 39 stars the U.S. has never had a 39-star flag. In 1889, flag makers were making 39-star flags in anticipation of North and South Dakota becoming states, but they thought that they would be admitted as one state, not two. In addition, three other states were added to the Union in 1890. We went from 38 states to 43, which made the 39-star flag useless before it was even official.As is always the case, Twitter locked onto the fact that the man in the White House, who holds the highest office in the land, tweeted a fake flag:@christinawilkie @chrislhayes @FLOTUS @eventsforgood How soon before we find out a 39-star American flag is some sort of alt-right meme? Greg Saunders (@waltisfrozen) April 27, 2017The US flag in Trump s tweet is missing 11 stars; it only has 39. h\/t @christinawilkie (https:\/\/t.co\/05dwk78JSD) pic.twitter.com\/nvyuOBT3Eu southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS @mauriciomacri @WhiteHouse @HillaryClinton Did he tell you that there are actually 50 stars on the American flag, not 39?https:\/\/t.co\/pTB5Dy5PUn pic.twitter.com\/sAkF5V8rgQ ? Dustin Miller ? (@spdustin) April 27, 2017There are only 39 stars on that flag, is pre-1889 the last time America was great? pic.twitter.com\/R5f2EtusYq Daniel Holland (@DannyDutch) April 27, 2017@christinawilkie @FLOTUS @eventsforgood Oh my god. WE NEVER EVEN HAD A 39 STAR FLAG. ND (39) and SD (40) Were admitted on the SAME DAMN DAY. Taylor (@DizzyCars) April 27, 2017There are only 39 stars on that flag, sir. https:\/\/t.co\/KATgoLIQUv Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) April 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS What s with the 39 stars on this flag? #FALSENEWS #IDIOTINCHEIF DMen (@dmenkens) April 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS 39 stars on flag bro. And ur responsible for the nuclear football???! TheWood (@TheWood52925) April 27, 2017So apparently #DonaldTrump s tweet had a flag with only 39 stars on it. Is he giving us a hint of what s to come or something? https:\/\/t.co\/AVPHcTUx3u Politics Village (@PoliticsVillage) April 27, 2017@ALT_uscis And there s a 39-star flag being featured on official WH documents! His plan is to save money by eliminating STATES. Like Hawaii. Now PR? actor1 (@Actor1) April 27, 2017THE IDIOT THINKS THE FLAG ONLY HAS 39 STARS Even DT s birthday tweet to Melania has a factual error it in https:\/\/t.co\/KDu5zmWHjf via S. Best-James, Ph.D. (@JoylynBest) April 27, 2017@Brasilmagic It s brutal finding a clipart flag with 50 stars. The hilarious part is you probably have to work pretty hard to find one with 39. ?? Terry Hannan (@terryhannan) April 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS why are there only 39 stars in that flag? what 11 states are you removing for her birthday? TJ Liwanag (@TimothyJLiwanag) April 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS Really, a 39 star flag. Someone on your staff needs to purge his computer, since this is 2nd time this has happened Lewis Shatzer (@Shatzer667192) April 27, 2017Maybe the 39-star flag is the last one that Russia recognizes. https:\/\/t.co\/ENenQx2hGS CharlieL (@CharlieLevenson) April 27, 2017LOL what s worse is that the flag has NEVER had 39 stars, on July 4th 1890 it went from 38 to 43 stars w\/ addition of ID MT WA ND SD #USA https:\/\/t.co\/tcenf9u70j Lonnie H. (@dcufan) April 27, 2017Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The first truly great American sports documentary, it's universally agreed, was \"Hoop Dreams. \" Released in 1994, it garnered immediate critical acclaim Roger Ebert later called it the best film of the decade and \"one of the great moviegoing experiences of my lifetime. \" Its failure to be nominated for an Academy Award caused such an outcry that the process for nominating documentaries was eventually revamped. \"Hoop Dreams,\" you'll perhaps recall, followed two promising basketball players from Chicago's West Side from the eighth grade through high school. One of them, William Gates, became a star guard for suburban St. Joseph, where Isiah Thomas went to high school the other, Arthur Agee, began at St. Joseph but ultimately wound up at his local public school, Marshall High, where in 1991 he led the team to a surprise finish in the Illinois state championships. Like thousands of poor families in disadvantaged neighborhoods all over the country, the Gateses and the Agees yearned for William and Arthur to make it as professional basketball players, in no small part to catapult them out of the poverty that permeates the West Side. But there were so many obstacles. William damaged his knee just as he was approaching stardom. Arthur and his family had to deal with the city shutting off their power because they could not pay their bills. The film touches on issues of addiction and domestic violence. Indeed, as I watched \"Hoop Dreams\" recently, I thought there was only one obvious obstacle that didn't make it onto the screen: gun violence. \"The reality is, it wasn't what we really saw a lot in their lives,\" recalled Steve James, the filmmaker who wrote and directed \"Hoop Dreams. \" This was the case even though the crack epidemic was at its peak and the murder rate in Chicago was reaching a record high. \"It was different then,\" James said. So it would appear. Shawn Harrington was one of the bit players in \"Hoop Dreams. \" A sophomore point guard at Marshall who moved from the junior varsity to the varsity during that glorious 1991 tournament run, he had his own star turn a few years later. After bouncing around several colleges \u2014 during which time he both got a degree and became a Division II \u2014 Harrington returned to the West Side, where he raised a daughter and eventually became an assistant coach for the Marshall basketball team. His first year as an assistant, 2008, Marshall won the state championship that had eluded the \"Hoop Dreams\" team. \"When I left for school,\" he told me when I met him this week, \"my mom said she hoped I would never come back. She was happy that I was away. She didn't have to worry. \" \"I had the dream like any other player in Chicago to play in the N. B. A. ,\" he added. \"But God had another plan. \" Then he pushed his wheelchair up a small ramp and joined me by the dining room table in his small, apartment. Harrington, 41, originally returned to the West Side because he had just fathered a daughter and he wanted to be a real parent \u2014 not an absent father as his own dad had been. By 2014, he had etched out a life he was happy with: In addition to his assistant coaching duties, he worked with students at Marshall, and operated a small \"scouting service\" that was meant to help Chicago basketball players land college scholarships. He viewed his life's work as helping youngsters in the neighborhood where he grew up, and he became a proselytizer for the importance of education in achieving a better life. Like many former athletes, he saw sports as a means to that education. Eleven years earlier, Harrington's mother had been killed when she mistakenly walked into a house that was being robbed. \"That was a rough patch,\" he recalled. \"I donated mom's organs, which helped three people. God was preparing me for this. \" By \"this,\" Harrington was referring to his own shooting. One of his daily rituals was driving his daughter, Naja, to high school. Early one morning in late January in 2014, with Harrington's car in a repair shop, they set out together in a rented white sedan. At the corner of Augusta Boulevard and Hamlin Avenue, in the West Side neighborhood of Humboldt Park, a shooting had just taken place involving a white sedan. When Harrington and Naja drove into that same intersection, the men who had been shooting at the other white sedan opened fire, thinking it was the same car. Harrington lay on top of his daughter, trying to protect her. \"Daddy, I don't want to die,\" she cried. By the time the shooting stopped, she was unharmed, but he had been hit twice one bullet went through his back and damaged two vertebrae, causing him to lose the use of his legs. He has used a wheelchair ever since. The person who brought Shawn Harrington to my attention was an assistant professor at New Mexico State, Rus Bradburd. A former college basketball assistant coach, Bradburd had recruited Harrington to New Mexico State from a junior college. Harrington left the school after one year, and the two men had lost touch. But when he heard about the shooting, Bradburd visited Harrington and has since been a constant in his life, helping him in innumerable ways. (Bradburd is also writing a book about Harrington, which is to be published in 2018 and is tentatively titled, \"All the Dreams We've Dreamed. \") In the course of our conversations, Bradburd made me aware that Harrington was not the only former Marshall High basketball player to have been shot in recent years. Most of them had been coached by Harrington. Tim Triplett, star of the 2014 Marshall team, was killed in April 2015 \u2014 just a few years after his brother had been killed. Martin Satterfield, shot six times in the spring of 2014, is now paralyzed. Shawn Holloway was killed in early 2015. Marcus Patrick and Keon Boyd were killed this year. And two months ago, Edward and Edwin Bryant, twins who were sophomores at Marshall, met the same fate. Edward, a talented forward, was becoming a star of the basketball team, and Edwin played football for Marshall. \"The violence has always been there,\" Harrington told me. \"When I was in high school, it was bad. But back then, gang members protected the athletes. They'd say: 'Get out of here. Go back to school. '\" Indeed, that's why Steve James didn't focus on gun violence when he was filming \"Hoop Dreams\" \u2014 athletes, especially basketball players, had a on the street. Regular newspaper coverage of high school basketball turned players into celebrities. Gang members, some of whom had once played basketball themselves, wanted to see them succeed. There was an \"unspoken alliance\" between gang members and basketball players, said Bradburd, who grew up in Chicago and spends his summers there. And sometimes not so unspoken: \"Hoop Dreams\" has a remarkable scene at a sporting goods store where Agee and a friend are buying clothes, paying with a thick wad of bills. Agee explains to the camera that they got the money from drug dealers. \"They're thinking they can give us stuff and keep our career going,\" he says. In 1984, when Benji Wilson, a heralded high school player, was shot and killed, the news was shocking not only because Wilson was considered the next great Chicago talent, but also because it simply didn't happen: Basketball players were supposed to be immune to the violence that was so prevalent in the city's poorer neighborhoods. So what has happened? First, the nature of gun violence on the West Side has changed. Twenty years ago, the gangs were fewer in number and better organized, and most of the shootings were among gang members. \"These were gangs who were mostly fighting over turf,\" said Alex Kotlowitz, the great chronicler of Chicago's poor. Today, gun violence feels much more random, and people can be killed over the tiniest slights, including insults on social media. \"The morality has changed,\" said Dorothy Gaters, Marshall's athletic director and Hall of Fame girls' basketball coach. \"People are getting shot for blowing their horns. \" Harrington told me that Marshall itself is a safe haven for students during school hours, and Gaters agreed. But the school can't protect the students once they leave the building. Second, athletes no longer seem to be protected the way they once were. Gang members simply don't seem to care anymore whether or not athletes succeed. Vince Carter, who coaches the Chicago Demons, a youth traveling team that Edward Bryant played for, told me that the Bryant twins were standing on a corner not far from Wrigley Field around 3:15 a. m. (The Cubs had lost a World Series game that night.) Although the hour was late, the neighborhood was relatively safe. They were gunned down in a shooting. The killers have not been apprehended, and no one has any idea what the motive might be \u2014 if there even is a motive. That's why even though Chicago had 928 homicides in 1991, the city felt safer than it does in 2016, a year in which it had 739 homicides as of Wednesday. \"Even though there were more murders, and the gun violence was greater, it felt more circumscribed,\" said James, who in 2011 made a film with Kotlowitz about gang violence called \"The Interrupters. \" (Gates and Agee escaped Chicago's gun violence, but they each had close relatives who were killed after \"Hoop Dreams\" came out.) Even if you survive being shot, it changes your life irrevocably \u2014 and never for the better. Harrington's circumstances today are pretty dire. He hasn't been able to return to work at Marshall because the school does not have accommodations for wheelchairs it does not even have a freight elevator that might allow him to go from floor to floor. He is essentially confined to his apartment unless someone takes him out. He lives on $300 a month in Social Security, $175 from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (a. k. a. food stamps) and the generosity of family. Although he says he is still coaching Marshall players, it is a volunteer gig now. \"He's been abandoned,\" Bradburd said. \"It is a failure of America. \" Not completely abandoned, though. Dale Brown, the former basketball coach at Louisiana State University, heard about Harrington and took up his cause. In 2015, Harrington was named coach of the year by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports. This year, during the Final Four, he spoke on a panel with Brown and Shaquille O'Neal at the National Association of Basketball Coaches convention. During the event, O'Neal and Brown gave him a check for $40, 000 to buy a van. Harrington remains relentlessly upbeat. He has a machine in his apartment that allows him to stand and put weight on his legs, and he firmly believes that he will walk again someday. He corresponds regularly with Bradburd and Brown. He is trying to shepherd a group of basketball players \u2014 \"teaching them,\" he says, \"to be student athletes, and use it to get an education. \" He checks in from time to time with Martin Satterfield, the former Marshall basketball player who is also paralyzed. Ever since he returned to the West Side all those years ago, Harrington's goal has been to help young people find a better life. Even from a wheelchair, that hasn't changed. \"I'm glad to have the opportunity to help kids in my community,\" he told me. To help them succeed and achieve, yes. But also to help them find a path where they won't end up dead or maimed, victims of the scourge of gun violence in Chicago.","label":0}
{"text":"Recently, I went a whole month without seeing a play. Five weeks, actually. For most people, this is a profound nonevent. For me, it was a marvel. And also sort of a problem. I was a adolescent who became a college actress who became a theater critic. I don't really know what to do with myself if I'm not spending a lot of my week sitting in a creaking plush seat, staring up at a stage. You could call this a vocation. You could also call it an addiction. You'd be right. Why the hiatus? My son was born in late June it seemed wise to take some time off. Still, I jokingly told an editor that I'd tried to schedule my delivery for a slow point in the season. This may not have been a joke. I likewise sent an email to a publicist, teasingly proposing theater matinees for nursing mothers. Also not entirely a joke. My leave has baffled my toddler daughter, who's used to waving me away an hour or two before her bedtime. \"Mama, don't you go to shows anymore?\" she asked. Even my husband seems a little surprised to see me sitting across from him at dinner. It feels strange to me, too. Luckily, it's never been easier to enjoy theater without actually going to the theater. I can stream David Tennant's \"Hamlet\" online while I nurse, or play the \"Hamilton\" cast album while I rock the baby to sleep. I can download audiobooks of plays to hear while I'm pumping, or listen to radio drama podcasts like \"The Message\" or \"Welcome to Night Vale\" while pushing the stroller. I can go to the library and take out stacks of scripts, including the \"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,\" which I read cuddling the baby with the other. He and I might even slip into a movie theater for an encore presentation of a broadcast of \"The Audience\" or \"A View From the Bridge. \" (In truth, I've done all of these things, except for sneaking the baby into the cinema, though that day may come. And yes, I'm aware that this is a weird and possibly even mildly pathological way to spend a maternity leave, but once I'd caught up on \"UnReal\" and read \"The Girls\" and a bunch of Lew Archer mysteries, I started to feel a little restless.) These are good options. For one thing, they're democratizing. Theater is inherently local. It is also often expensive. DVDs and live streams make an experience that was once available to only a few accessible to many, a phenomenon that would have made my preteen self, who used to obsessively play cassettes of original cast recordings of shows I would never see, weep for joy. And they're a mental workout. Scripts and podcasts excite the imagination even more than live theater, forcing us to picture the characters, the settings, the actions and the gestures. (Which is salutary for those experiencing the synaptic haze of \"mommy brain. \") But as grateful as I am for PBS's \"Great Performances,\" Methuen collections of Caryl Churchill, YouTube clips of \"Chess\" (which I can sing, enthusiastically and off key, overture to finale) none of it feels really, properly like theater. What's missing, of course, is the sense of liveness, the thrill of the present tense. Theater is the art form most like life. Sure, the dialogue is snazzier, and the clothes fit better, but it's performed by real people, in real space, in real time. A video, however can't substitute for that. Theater presents a laboratory for human life that obliges me think about my own \u2014 my marriage, my family, my ways of moving through the world. It's why a good play feels meditative, even therapeutic. (I'll confess that after a breakup, I once wept my way through a Broadway production of \"Private Lives\" and felt a lot better afterward.) I learn about my life by slipping, mimetically, into others' as they walk and chat in front of me. And I don't have to meditate alone. Plays ask us to come together to engage with people and relationships presented just a few feet away \u2014 farther, if you have a balcony seat \u2014 while still allowing us the privacy that darkness confers. It offers community and anonymity at once. Additionally, a script or a streaming site won't provide theater's ephemerality, the sensation that each performance will never recur in exactly the same way. Perhaps this isn't always meaningfully true. Plenty of productions alter little from one night to the next. But every show depends on the audience assembled. By simply bunching together in the dark, each of us contributes to the event each of us creates it. My daughter wouldn't articulate it that way, but I've seen her experience it. She loves moments when she's asked to clap or shout along. My husband and I took her to her first show, Soho Rep's antic, kiddie play, \"Washeteria,\" when she was a year and a half, and she still remembers how the performers reached into the crowd and gave high fives. It's that scene that's stuck with her, even as she's forgotten everything else about the play. As a relatively adult, I obviously have a somewhat more fraught relationship with audience participation, but on the right night, I can still feel some of her wonder. The opportunity for reflection, the evanescence, the liveness \u2014 they go a long way toward explaining why, even though I'm usually at the theater four or five nights a week for work, I still sometimes see plays for fun. It's why I've tried to find a performance of some sort on almost every vacation my husband and I have taken. It's why three or four weeks after my son was born, I started looking up outdoor Shakespeare offerings, searching for something we could see together, with exits all around in case he fussed. It's why, a few nights ago, my mother and I settled him into an infant car seat, and we all rode through Brooklyn, from Park Slope to a park in Bushwick, which was hosting an evening performance of Dave Malloy's theatrical song cycle \"Ghost Quartet. \" The park didn't feel much like a theater. It was breezy there and still warm, with flocks of pigeons wheeling overhead, and hot dog and ice cream carts lining the paths. I was relieved to see that other parents had taken babies. I counted a handful of older children, too. (\"Ghost Quartet\" is wonderfully creepy I hope they didn't have nightmares.) When the lights turned on, and the show began, I rocked my son from side to side in time to the music. He shut his eyes and nestled against my chest, while I looked up at the makeshift stage, home in the world again.","label":0}
{"text":"The long and sometimes arcane ritual of electing the next U.S. president begins on Monday in more than 1,100 schools, churches and libraries across Iowa, a state that wields political influence far greater than its small size. After more than a year of up-close and personal evaluation of the candidates, Iowans will gather with their neighbors on what promises to be a cold wintry night to kick off the state-by-state process of picking the Republican and Democratic nominees for the Nov. 8 presidential election. The starring opening-night role of the largely rural Midwestern state in the presidential drama, now four decades old, is a source of pride for Iowa voters, who spend months evaluating the candidates, looking them in the eye and asking questions. \"Iowans see it as a great privilege and a great gift. They take their role very seriously,\" said Tom Henderson, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, home to Iowa's biggest city, Des Moines. The caucuses will begin on Monday at 7 p.m. CST, and results are expected within two or three hours. Most gatherings will be in schools, community centers or other public locations, although at least two Republican caucuses will be in private homes and one Democratic caucus will be held at an equestrian center. Turnout varies by community, with up to 1,000 people typically gathering in cities like Des Moines, while a few dozen or less may gather in more sparsely populated areas. The state Republican and Democratic parties run their caucuses separately, although in some areas they hold them in different parts of the same building. Republicans will have more than 800 caucus sites, and Democrats will have about 1,100. The two parties also have different rules. Iowa Democrats gather in groups by candidate preference in a public display of support, a tradition that can allow for shifts back and forth. If a candidate does not reach the threshold of support of 15 percent of voters in a caucus needed to be considered viable, that candidates' supporters are released to back another contender, leading to another round of persuasion. Republicans are more straightforward. They write their vote privately on a sheet of paper that is collected and counted at the site by caucus officials. A surrogate or volunteer from each campaign may speak to their neighbors in a last-ditch plea for support, adding to the uncertainty going into the process. Neither party is offering voter turnout estimates this year, although many Iowans predict the Republicans will surpass the 121,503 who turned out in 2012. In the last contested Democratic caucus, in 2008, excitement over Barack Obama's candidacy spurred a record turnout of 239,872. Iowa, the 30th most populated state, and tiny New Hampshire, which holds the second nominating contest on Feb. 9, have traditionally served as early filters to winnow out the losers and elevate the top contenders for later contests. But Iowa Republicans recently have had a spotty record at backing the ultimate presidential nominees. Neither the Republican winner in 2008, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, nor the winner in 2012, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, managed to win the party nomination. Iowa Democrats did back the party's last two nominees: John Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008, which ultimately launched Obama's drive to the White House. (Editing by Leslie Adler) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.","label":0}
{"text":"On Tuesday, Senator Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) filed a bill in Austin to expand the use of medical cannabis. The bill, titled Senate Bill 269, will allow for doctors to decide how much or which part of the plant to use in order to treat patients with chronic health conditions such as severe autism, epilepsy, PTSD and a wealth of other disorders that cause debilitating pain and mental and physical disabilities.After this unprecedented bill was filed in Texas on Tuesday morning, Menendez held a press conference along with citizens who were there to speak about why this bill is so important to their lives and what cannabis will do for their children and families who are suffering.Senator Menendez opens with his reasons for this crucial bill: No one has died from an overdose of cannabis in this country, said Menendez. 44 people are dying every single day from overdoses of painkillers, prescription painkillers. Why if we re such a state that is always been, we thrive on talking about our independence and less regulation and less government and all of these things, why are we deciding to put more government or a politician s decisions between a patient and their doctors. One mother, Debbie Tolany, spoke at length about her 13-year-old son, Miles, who is affected by autism, has intractable epilepsy and a rare endocrine disorder called hypoparathyroid disease. In 2015, Texas passed a bill allowing for the limited use of cannabis for certain patients with epilepsy which a giant leap for the red state, but unfortunately, it wasn t enough to help Miles and others like him. Doctors, having little control over the treatment they prescribe, are forced to use medicines with chemical side-effects that can be severely damaging to the brain and can continue to be a detriment to the well-being of their patients.Debbie had this to say about her son and the side-effects that Miles recently endured from chemical medications prescribed to him: I watched a child with low muscle tone and usually low endurance for physical movement run in frantic circles around my living room for 30 minutes. His face and lips were completely white and he cried out in pain, looking at me for support, which his body would not allow him to receive. No parent should have to watch their son suffer in such a way and no human being should be FORCED by doctors, who are supposed to be taking care of them, to ingest chemicals that only make things worse.The answer for these families is pretty simple. Please watch the full report below: You can also view the press conference, in its entirety, here.","label":1}
{"text":"\"Lifeline\" is a thriller directed by an Academy Award winner about a man's search for his missing girlfriend. In the film, set in Shanghai with a plot driven by corporate malfeasance, punches are thrown, shots are fired and people are killed. At one point, the actress Olivia Munn stands over a dead woman, blood on her hands. But this is no ordinary movie. It is an online advertisement for the mobile technology company Qualcomm and, in particular, its Snapdragon 820 chip set, a smartphone processor. As more people skip or block ads when streaming shows or browsing websites, advertisers are trying to find new ways to deliver their messages. The internet has long been a place where companies have tried to break out of the and ad model, but as it has become easier to present videos online \u2014 and as top directors and actors have shown a willingness to be involved \u2014 these efforts have become more sophisticated. The goal of \"Lifeline\" and similar ads is \"to make something you want to see \u2014 and the holy grail is if people seek you out,\" said Teddy Lynn, chief creative officer for content and social at Ogilvy Mather, which produced the film. \"This is a piece of entertainment that can compete in a very crowded marketplace. \" \"Lifeline\" was released in May and pushed out on multiple social media channels in the United States and China. \"Inside Lifeline,\" a look at the film, is also available on the \"Lifeline\" website. It emphasizes the importance of the cellphone to the action in the film and the phone's various features the film hopes to highlight, like its long battery life and improved photo capability. In many ways, \"Lifeline\" is just an extension of product placement and show sponsorship by advertisers that goes back to the early days of radio and television, said Lou Aversano, chief executive of Ogilvy Mather NY. \"I think we continue to push, not just in terms of length, but in terms of the line between entertainment and brand message,\" he said. Many companies are looking for ways to promote their brand through longer storytelling, such as Johnnie Walker, Nike and Prada. It is an impulse that dates to at least 2001 or 2002, when a series of eight films for BMW starring Clive Owen appeared online. \"That was at the time the internet was still \" said Steve Golin, founder and chief executive of Anonymous Content, a multimedia development company that produced the BMW ads and \"Lifeline. \" \"It would take all night to download. \" \"Lifeline,\" which stars Ms. Munn, Leehom Wang and Joan Chen, is directed by Armando Bo, who won an Oscar for best original screenplay for \"Birdman\" in 2015. The film has attracted 20 million views. There have been an additional 100 million combined views of the film's trailers and the video, Mr. Lynn said. Eighty percent of the views came from China, which was the primary market. The dialogue is 70 percent in Chinese and 30 percent in English. Mr. Lynn said Qualcomm would not disclose the cost of the ad, but noted that with less money needed to buy time on television, more was available for the production. \"You can create content that is compelling and you don't have to spend money to place it on TV,\" said Mr. Golin, whose company has been involved with movies like \"Spotlight\" and \"The Revenant\" and TV shows like \"Mr. Robot. \" \"We think this is the direction advertising is headed. As long as sports exists, we will still do and commercials, but with most other entertainment there is a lot of resistance to watching advertising. \" Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of media studies at New York University, said the disappearing boundaries between advertising and entertainment could be troubling. Ads, by their nature, often exaggerate \"the benefits or virtues of the products and, even more troubling, downplay the dangers or risk of a product,\" Mr. Miller said. And using big stars \"makes the commercial intent even harder to perceive and blurs the true purpose behind the work. \" Still, more advertisers are eager to experiment. Take \"The Ballad of the Dreadnought,\" a documentary about the distinctive guitar body originally manufactured by C. F. Martin Company. It is narrated by Jeff Daniels and includes interviews with musicians like Rosanne Cash, Stephen Stills and Steve Miller. The film appears solely on Martin's website, but was selected to appear at several film festivals. It has received 40, 000 views since it first streamed on May 5, said Scott Byers, a managing partner at Lehigh Mining Navigation, the advertising agency that developed the film. The documentary idea developed, Mr. Byers said, when Martin came to his agency wanting to celebrate the dreadnought guitar, which was developed in the early 20th century but never trademarked, enabling many other manufacturers to copy it over the years. \"They asked, 'What can we do to reclaim ownership of the shape? '\" said Denis Aumiller, also a managing partner at the agency. \"The initial thought was that we would produce a short, product video, or maybe a magazine article. \" As enticing as it may be to think of every commercial as a potential short film that could play on the festival circuit, creating something that attracts viewers and promotes a product is not easy. Entertainment, after all, is not the ultimate goal. \"At some point,\" Mr. Aversano said, \"there's a responsibility to deliver the message of the brand. Otherwise it's just empty calories. \"","label":0}
{"text":"America Is Better Without Borders Steven Hahn, TIME, November 1, 2016  \"A nation without borders,\" Donald Trump has warned us , \"is not a nation at all.\" Trump was explaining the logic of the multi-billion dollar wall he promises to build along the U.S.-Mexican border, but he was hardly the first to make the case. Years ago, Ronald Reagan said much the same about the threat of illegal immigration, and others urging border vigilance have wrapped themselves in the high-flown rhetoric. Tee-shirts and coffee mugs have turned the idea into a saleable slogan.  {snip}  {snip} For much of its early history, the United States had hazy borders in good part because through war, conquest and diplomacy the country was constantly expanding and the shifting boundaries were not clearly marked. There was no agreement about how far west the Louisiana Territory reached or how far south the state of Texas stretched or how far north the Oregon Territory extended. Highly charged political words and brutal conflict followed (like the U.S.-Mexican War), while the imperial eyes of many leaders fell on Cuba, Central America and Hawaii.  What's more, the borders that were agreed upon were remarkably porous. Until well into the nineteenth century, immigrants could come and go at will and even participate in electoral politics if they simply declared an intention to become citizens; indeed, for decades it was not at all clear what a citizen of the United States was. The only international migration policed was the African slave trade, which Congress outlawed in 1808 after nearly half a million captives had been forcibly deposited on North American shores.  {snip}  It is easy, when politics and ethnocentrism serve, to proclaim the principle of the nation with borders as the nation itself, while the borders are, in fact, regularly traversed by policy makers, investors and moneyed interests pursuing the main chance and wielding the big stick. Trump himself regularly touts, though refuses to reveal, his international dealings, many of which confound his goal of keeping jobs within American borders if they don't outright violate American laws.  Truth is that the nation's prosperity has long rested on the labor and resourcefulness of immigrants\u2013voluntary and involuntary, free and slave\u2013and that those who most loudly denounce a \"nation without borders\" are likely descendants of immigrants who were themselves harassed for their origins, faith and lifeways at some point in the past. We would do well to recognize that in a global economy such as ours, where the movement of people and goods are the lifeblood of our sustenance, a nation's security is best maintained not by walling itself off but by lifting the prospects\u2013and thereby creating political allies\u2013of working people around the world.","label":1}
{"text":"Even though not all the states in the Democratic Primary have been accounted for, the Clinton campaign is feeling pretty confident as a surrogate reveals they are ready to take on Donald Trump in the general election.Their method? Release hell on the Donald Trump campaign with their copious amount of opposition research. David Brock, who spoke to Politico reporters, said:We [Democrats] can knock Trump Tower down to the sub-basement. American Bridge is building a database of all the regular people, from unpaid vendors to harassed tenants to defrauded students at Trump University, who got screwed over for one reason only: they took Trump at his word.American Bridge, as Brock refers to, is a group of private progressive donors who funnel money to Clinton s campaign through their PAC, and have apparently been collecting data and research on Trump since the summer of 2015. According to Brock, they have discovered a multitude of issues that Republicans missed when vetting the frontrunner. They also claim they have discovered harmful information that the media too has missed.What could be worse than what the media already knows? How much worse can he get after being exposed as a sexist, racist, xenophobic, bombastic, sensationalist fraud? Apparently that isn t enough to turn off voters, Brock warns. Instead, Democrats need to be cautious, saying beating Trump will not be a cakewalk, but is possible if they paint him as a danger to the Constitution, a menace to democracy, and a threat to the nation as a whole. Considering he s all three, this might be a cakewalk for Democrats. And what s even better is that American Bridge is as meticulous as Clinton herself, and has collected equally damaging evidence on rival Ted Cruz, should he squeak out a win at the Republican National Convention.As Brock puts it, should it come to it, this campaign will be a bare-knuckles campaign for the White House. And who better to come out swinging than Clinton? Featured image by Eric Thayer\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"As Spanish police wielded batons and fired rubber bullets at crowds attempting to vote in Catalonia s banned independence referendum on Sunday, the region s own police force gave many voters a much gentler reception. In Catalonia s pro-independence heartland, among the farming towns of Osona county north of Barcelona, the Catalan force made little attempt to remove people from polling stations despite being tasked with the same court order to shut them down. Local courts received several complaints on Sunday against the Catalan police accusing them of inactivity and failing to close polling stations, despite the court order, the region s High Court said in a statement. In Sant Pere and Osona s capital of Vic, crowds waited in orderly queues and cast their ballots in school halls, though the mood was jittery as photos of bloodied voters circulated via social media from the cities of Barcelona and Girona. More than 840 people were injured during Sunday s police crackdown, Catalan officials said. Spain s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, praised the police for carrying out their duties and upholding the law. In Sant Pere, children ran along the street playing tag, young people passed around barbecued kebabs and flagons of red wine, and pensioners at a retirement home nearby sat by windows and waved Catalan flags. If we don t win today, we will never be able to do it. This is the opportunity, Ramon Jordana, a 92-year-old former taxi driver said as he dropped his vote into a ballot box that organizers had smuggled into the town in the dead of night. At the polling station in Sant Pere, a town of some 2,500 people close to the Pyrenees which symbolically declared independence from Spain in 2012, voters arrived before sunrise and Jordana cast the first vote at 9 a.m. Officers from Catalonia s regional police, the Mossos d Esquadra, had tried to enter Sant Pere and Vic s polling stations before voting began but crowds clustered around the entrances to stop them. They withdrew to applause and cheers. We won t use force to enter, but we ll stay outside all day in case at some point we can, one of the officers in Sant Pere told Reuters afterwards. He asked not to be identified. The two officers in Sant Pere chatted casually with locals outside the polling station, and one of them posed with a child for a photo. After a second attempt to enter the voting center, the crowd resisted and they retreated around a street corner. In Osona s overwhelmingly separatist-controlled municipalities, opinion polls show support for independence tops 80 percent on average, around double the overall support among Catalonia s 7.5 million population. The referendum has been declared illegal by Rajoy s central government in Madrid, which says the constitution states the country is indivisible, and it has dispatched police across Catalonia to seize ballot boxes and prevent people voting. However, national police and the Mossos have taken very different approaches, despite Spain s state prosecutor telling Mossos recently that they had been put under a single chain of command reporting directly to the interior ministry in Madrid. The Mossos are held in great affection by Catalans, especially after they hunted down Islamists accused of staging coordinated attacks in Barcelona in August which killed 16 people. In contrast, the Civil Guard national police were branded Rajoy s thugs on Twitter on Sunday. National police unions said officers had carried out an impeccable intervention to preserve the constitution and called the Mossos inaction scandalous . The national police are disappointed and indignant ... The Mossos presence has been insufficient, deliberately weak and embarrassingly neutral, the unions said in a statement. In Sant Pere, before voting got underway, the town s mayor, Jordi Fabrega, asked a crowd of about 200 people to guard the booth s entrance all day and to resist peacefully any attempt by police to enter. The moment we leave it unguarded, they will come, Fabrega said. The first count of Sant Pere s vote showed 80 percent turnout with 97 percent of voters supporting independence. High turnout will be key to legitimizing a yes vote, which the Catalan government says would lead to a declaration of independence from the regional parliament within 48 hours. Locals blocked streets with vans and construction trucks as word spread that national police, who have been drafted into Catalonia in their thousands, were en route to raid the polling station. If the police really want to get the ballot boxes, they will get them, said one Sant Pere voter, 66-year-old Carles, who declined to give his surname as he was worried the Spanish government would come after him. In the end, no national police turned up. Organizers said it had been no easy task to get to this point. Joan Vaque Casas, Sant Pere s head coordinator, said he had received a text message at about 2 a.m. to meet at a secret location to pick up the ballot box and voting papers.","label":0}
{"text":"Alleged President Donald Trump created worldwide chaos with his latest executive order banning Muslims from entering the U.S. Yes, it is a Muslim ban. I ll tell you the whole history of it, Giuliani said in an interview with Fox News Jeanine Pirro. When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban. He called me up. He said, Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally. Of course, the ban isn t implemented in Muslim countries Trump does business with. Protests have erupted across the country for two days straight over Trump s highly controversial move. Travelers, including a 77-year-old woman and a 5-year-old boy were detained.So, what do you do when you re a newly minted president and you just created worldwide chaos? You watch Finding Dory while protesters are outside of the White House, angry over his reckless decision.Trump, along with family members and White House staff, screened the Disney Pixar film in the afternoon after prohibiting foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.Finding Dory is an animated story of a character s attempt to reunite with her parents despite outside forces working against her.The Internet was not amused.The nation is in turmoil over the Executive Order, and @POTUS @realDonaldTrump will be watching @findingdory. https:\/\/t.co\/snpcZJuU2k Derry London (@Derry_London) January 29, 2017Meanwhile in the White House, Trump is watching Finding Dory with his unvetted staffers and their families. https:\/\/t.co\/tLSoAhgh7g Fernando Espuelas (@EspuelasVox) January 29, 2017If you wonder what Trump will be doing today during a potential constitutional crisis that he d have triggered he s watching Finding Dory https:\/\/t.co\/aX7GXzLwZj Zachary Alfred (@ZacAlf) January 29, 2017And it s Finding Dory. For real. This is happening. https:\/\/t.co\/CnZtrN2sgy Bronwen Dickey (@BronwenDickey) January 29, 2017The nation is in turmoil over the Executive Order, and @POTUS @realDonaldTrump will be watching @findingdory. https:\/\/t.co\/snpcZJuU2k Derry London (@Derry_London) January 29, 2017Odd that Trump is watching Finding Dory today, a movie about reuniting with family when he s preventing it in real life. Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) January 29, 2017Bannon running amok while Trump watches Finding Dory pic.twitter.com\/odwqyt5Tjp Joshua Block (@JoshACLU) January 29, 2017Finding Dory is mostly about a family reuniting across a border that wouldn t be blocked by a wall Jared Rizzi (@JaredRizzi) January 29, 2017Imagine if former President Barack Obama just sat back, chillin out, watching a cartoon while the world is freaking out over chaos he created.Image: Pixar with added photo of Trump by Scott Olson\/Getty Images.","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump is surging in new battleground and national polls at a time when Hillary Clinton faces tough questions not only about her health but her sweeping criticism of her Republican opponent's supporters. Several surveys appear to show the Republican presidential nominee effectively ending, at least for now, a post-convention slump that saw Clinton leading in virtually every swing state. Now, a Monmouth University Poll shows Trump taking a narrow 2-point lead in Nevada; a Bloomberg Politics poll shows Trump leading Clinton by 5 points in Ohio; and new CNN\/ORC polls show Trump leading in Florida and Ohio. In the latter survey, Trump leads 46-41 percent among likely voters in Ohio, and 47-44 percent among likely voters in Florida. \"We've really had a good month,\" Trump told Fox News' \"Fox & Friends,\" claiming he's enjoying renewed \"enthusiasm\" from voters. Clinton, though, plans to return to the campaign trail Thursday afternoon after taking three days off to recover from a bout of pneumonia. While her campaign dispatched high-powered surrogates to the stump in her absence -- including Bill Clinton and President Obama -- the Democratic nominee's presence could help reset the race once again. The contest remains tight, and the polls are hardly uniform. A Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday showed Clinton leading 48-43 percent among likely voters. But that still represents a narrowing of the race since a late-August survey showing Clinton up 10 points. The recent surveys come as Clinton grapples with new controversies on two fronts: Her comment at a Friday fundraiser that half of Trump's backers are in a \"basket of deplorables,\" and her campaign's handling of a health scare on Sunday during a 15th anniversary ceremony honoring victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Clinton has since expressed regret for her \"deplorables\" comment, though Trump has called on her to outright retract it. And Clinton's campaign has sought to answer questions about the former secretary of state's health, after Clinton was seen stumbling at the 9\/11 memorial event in New York City. The campaign said she was overheated and dehydrated, and revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. While the incident revived long-simmering questions about her health, the campaign on Wednesday released additional medical details. Dr. Lisa Bardack, Clinton's physician, said she is \"recovering well with antibiotics and rest.\" Bardack also said Clinton remains \"healthy and fit to serve.\" Trump, too, has tried to answer questions about his own health. He discussed the results of a recent physical with TV's \"Dr. Oz,\" and told Fox News on Thursday \"they were good.\" The discussion with \"Dr. Oz\" will air on his show Thursday. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign maintains they always knew states like Ohio would be competitive \u2013 and they are building out their operation there. The campaign announced that they will open a half-dozen new offices in the state, bringing their total to 54.","label":0}
{"text":"Massive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region, officials said on Wednesday. The blasts occurred late on Tuesday at a military base near Kalynivka in the Vynnytsya region, 270 kilometers (168 miles) west of Kiev, Ukrainian emergencies service said in a statement. One person was injured, it said. Arriving in the region hours later, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said external factors were behind the incident.","label":0}
{"text":"Every time Donald Trump lashes out at Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, he gets his ass handed to him.For instance, when Trump threw a petty temper tantrum because Corker criticized him, Corker responded thusly:It s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning. Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) October 8, 2017Corker didn t even have to say another word. He just sat back and watched as the world laughed at Trump. Trump even continued throwing a hissy fit by relentlessly attacking and insulting Corker, but to avail. Corker had already kicked his ass.On Tuesday morning, Trump took aim at Corker once again for criticizing Trump s massive tax cuts for the wealthy.Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017 Corker dropped out of the race in Tennesse when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017Isn t it sad that lightweight Senator Bob Corker, who couldn t get re-elected in the Great State of Tennessee, will now fight Tax Cuts plus! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017Corker could probably get re-elected in Tennessee. It s just that he has decided to retire rather than run again.But while Trump required three tweets to attack Corker, Corker only needed one.Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) October 24, 2017Indeed, where is the adult day care staff? Clearly, General John Kelly has utterly failed to regulate Trump s social media usage. Like a child, Trump needs serious supervision. Every time he rage tweets he embarrasses himself and the nation.If Trump thinks he is winning this little feud with Corker he should think again. Because Corker has zero f*cks left and he ll burn Trump s tiny-handed ass to the ground every single time.Featured Image: Ron Sachs Pool\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hinted at the possibility of laying obstruction of justice charges down against Donald Trump in a conversation with CNN s Manu Raju yesterday.Raju relayed a message to Grassley from Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat out of California, in the Senate s hallways. According to Raju, Feinstein says that she wants the Judiciary Committee to investigate potential obstruction of justice. Raju was referring to a letter Feinstein wrote to Grassley on Friday in which she begged the committee to investigate all issues that raise a question of obstruction of justice. These issues should be developed by our legal staff, presented to us, and be subject to full Committee hearings. Grassley s response was one that we all wanted to hear. Let me give you a process answer because this is where we are, Grassley replied to Raju. Sen. Feinstein wanted to talk to me by phone today. I sent word back that I d like to have her and I sit down face-to-face and we ll work out all of the subpoenas and all the stuff we have to do in the future and work out a whole program. Raju pressed for more details, asking, Are you okay, though, looking into the potential of obstruction of justice? Is that something for your committee? We re going to leave that to a conversation with Feinstein, was Grassley s answer.Dianne Feinstein s letter to Grassley mainly focussed on fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who, on January 26 and 27, warned White House counsel that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had lied about his contact with the Russian Ambassador, leading to Flynn s forced resignation. She also mentioned that, if necessary, the committee could subpoena Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Administrator Mike Rogers following their unforthcoming responses when questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee.These could be the subpoenas that Chuck Grassley was referring to, but you can make up your own mind by reading Feinstein s letter and watching Raju and Grassley s exchange, here.GRASSLEY says he's meeting soon with Feinstein to discuss subpoeanas on Russia, FBI, Comey probes. https:\/\/t.co\/wgNDVuy29D Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 13, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"It s Fox News, but that doesn t mean that everyone is blindly following Donald Trump. Anchor Megyn Kelly fell off the Trump train right about the time of the first Republican presidential debate of the season, after which Trump accused Kelly of having blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever, all because she dared ask about Trump s history of sexism.It s been more than a year since that debate, and in that time, Trump the sexist has come front and center, especially after Trump was caught on a hot mic, saying that he likes to grab women by the pussy, and to confirm Trump s own words, nearly a dozen women are now accusing the self-described billionaire of sexual misconduct.Kelly, when interviewing Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich, suggested that Trump is a sexual predator. At that point, the interview went off the rails. Gingrich became very angry and said to Kelly,Kelly responded in the best way possible, I m not fascinated by sex, but I am fascinated by the protection of women and what we are getting in the oval office. Every woman knows that when a man tells a woman she s fascinated by sex, he s not saying it in a way that means she d be welcome in Trump s locker room not at all. When a man tells a woman she s fascinated by sex, especially in an argumentative context, he s calling her a whore. While that statement might not have the same bite in 2016 that it might have had when Gingrich was young, the intent is there. Gingrich is trying to discredit Kelly in the exact same way that Trump is trying to discredit his alleged victims. A woman liking sex is still used as a defense in rape trials. While men grabbing pussy, or talking about grabbing pussy, is just boys being boys. Women talking about sex is taboo and any woman who dares talk about sex deserve whatever they have coming to them.Believe it or not, that exchange was the most rational part. In the now familiar Trump tactic of I know you are but what am I, Gingrich went on to call Bill Clinton a sexual predator. He even tried subtly bullying Kelly into say(ing) the words, Bill Clinton sexual predator.' Kelly went on to say that on her show, they ve covered the Bill Clinton story and that she s interviewed Kathleen Willey, who has accused Clinton of rape (an accusation for which a grand jury found insufficient evidence).Here s the video:Gingrich has a grudge against Clinton, to be sure. If you recall, the former Speaker of the House was one of architects of the Clinton impeachment, which only served to boost Clinton s popularity while it seriously hurt Congress s.Ironically, Gingrich and the other two Speakers who presided during the impeachment investigation and trials, were all sexual predators. Dennis Hastert molested boys while a wrestling coach in Illinois and Bob Livingston had a string of affairs. Gingrich was cheating on his second wife. Before that, though, Gingrich earned the title of sexual predator, at least that s what he s accused of:One former aide describes approaching a car with Gingrich s daughters in hand, only to find the candidate with a woman, her head buried in his lap. The aide quickly turned and led the girls away. Another former friend maintains that Gingrich repeatedly made sexual advances to her when her husband was out of town. On one occasion, he visited under the guise of comforting her after the death of a relative, and instead tried to seduce her. In certain circles in the mid-1970s, Gingrich was developing a reputation as a ladies man.Source: SalonOh, and he also served his first wife her divorce papers while she was recovering from cancer surgery. Yes, he and Trump are a perfect match.","label":1}
{"text":"Radio host Rush Limbaugh discussed the riots at UC Berkeley that shut down Breitbart Senior editor MILO's scheduled event on his show again today, ridiculing former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich for suggesting that the rioters were plants. [\"The labor secretary, former labor secretary, Robert B. Reichhhh,\" said Rush, \"claims that the protesters in Berkeley were actually hired by Breitbart. That it was a Breitbart false flag. (laughing) They weren't really leftists that were doing this. Go to the audio sound bites. Last night on CNN Tonight, Don Lemon speaking with the former Secretary of Labor for Clinton, said, \"The violence we saw at Berkeley, it plays right into the hands of the white supremacists, you know, the people at Breitbart. What do you think about that, Mr. Secretary?\" Rush then played the clip of Reich claiming that the protesters were planted by MILO and Breitbart. \"Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaaaaaa! Do you hear how enthusiastic he is? (laughing) Do you know any capable of this kind of behavior? (laughing) I mean, go to Ferguson, go to Baltimore, go to San Bernardino, go to Watts. Take any protest, any violence. Go to Oakland any time you want. Any time there is violent protests, it's always left wingers bought and paid for by the Hillary campaign, the Democrat Party, or George Soros, and never once have the Democrats ever condemned them, 'cause they're proud of them. \" \"They're proud of these anarchists. They're proud of the people who blow up bank buildings. They're proud of the people that start fires. They never blame them. They never try to pass it off as fake protesters hired by Republicans. (chuckles) Until now. Why now? Why would it be \u2026 ? Why don't they embrace these people? Why isn't former labor secretary Reichhhh and the rest of the left embracing these people and giving them a bunch of attaboys? Why aren't they encouraging 'em?\" \"You know this is the kind of instability and chaos that they want because they know it's gonna be blamed on Trump. They know that all of this \u2026 The and everybody in education's gonna point fingers at Trump. Peggy Noonan's done it. I've got it \u2026 (That's one of the things that's been superseded by other stuff in the news.) Oh, and they've discovered a new unemployment rate! (chuckling) Wait 'til you hear this. They've discovered the unemployment rate at CNBC. Ah, this is just \u2026 It's too juicy. And here's now the former Clinton labor secretary!\" \"They don't want anybody to think that these protesters in Berkeley that blew that place up were Democrats. They don't want 'em to think it's leftist students. Why do they not want to embrace them, encourage them, and claim credit? What is there to gain by blaming this on Breitbart? Don Lemon, now thoroughly intrigued, said, \"You think this is a strategy by Milo Yiannopoulos or right wingers? Did they put this on in an effort to show that there's no free speech on a college campus like Berkeley? The right wingers did this? \"\" \"These people are losing their minds. \"I was there! I was there! They were all dressed in black! I've not seen this before. \" It's called \u2026 There's a name for these people. They're Black Rock or something, and they are leftists associated with George Soros. They come in in all black and they hide their faces. Many of them are not students. That's the point. They are bought and paid for! (laughing) But here is Reich (paraphrased) \"I was there! I saw them! These were right wingers, sure as I'm sitting here with you, Don!\" (cracking up)\" \"I thought he was checking student IDs or whatever. But no, they weren't students. That's the point. Here's something else about this if I can try to regain my composure. (laughing) I don't know. I just hear this little guy get so juiced, folks. He gets so excited talking about this conspiracy. (impression) \"I really wouldn't bet against it, Don! I \u2026 \" (laughing) I heard that the president of the university \u2014 I'm still tracking this down \u2014 actually had campus cops and Berkeley cops stand down while this happened, that there was, in certain quarters, a desire for this to happen. \" Listen to the full clip here.","label":0}
{"text":"Left wing extremist offences have risen considerably in the last year according to Austrian officials who say that Islamic terror is still the most pressing danger. [The new report, presented by the Austrian Federal Office for Constitutional Protection and Counterterrorism (BVT) shows that criminal offences involving left wing extremists rose 112 per cent in 2016. A total of 383 offences were recorded by police compared to 186 in 2015 whilst there were 463 criminal reports opposed to 312 in 2015, Kronen Zeitung reports. The BVT say 46. 5 per cent of the cases involved left wing activists damaging campaign posters and other material of former migration Freedom Party presidential candidate Norbert Hofer during last year's election campaign. Other incidents have been much more violent such as the attack on the migration Identitarian youth movement Martin Sellner at a Vienna metro station by members of the \" action\" group. Sellner was forced to use a pepper spray gun on his attackers who subsequently fled after punching and kicking him. Whilst the number of right wing offences, which included and incidents, numbered far greater at 1, 313, the increase was much smaller at only 13. 6 per cent. The increase in 2016 was lower than the increase in 2015, according to the report. BVT director Peter Gridling said Islamic extremism was still the biggest security threat to the country. \"As we have seen many times in Europe, religiously motivated Islamic extremism and terrorism is still the greatest threat to the security of democratic Western states,\" he said. \"At the end of 2016, 296 people were known to us who were travelling from Austria to the Syrian or Iraqi regions, but we were able to prevent 51 from leaving the country. Ninety returned to Austria and 45 persons were killed in the fighting area. The rest are still abroad,\" Gridling added. Left wing extremism has also been on the rise in Germany where in certain areas like Berlin, they frequently clash with police. A study showed that most of the extremists were young men who overwhelmingly still lived with their parents and most had no job and no girlfriends. Leipzig is another German city with a large left wing extremist scene. A report from migration organisation Einprozent claimed there had been 22 cases of left wing violence in the city in 2016. Several of the attacks were aimed at the migration Alternative for Germany party which included the torching of several cars including of the party Frauke Petry.","label":0}
{"text":"Lighter, tighter and more carefully worded, the reworked travel ban announced by the Trump administration on Monday aims to pass legal muster in the United States while meeting its stated objective of combating Islamist terrorism. But in the Middle East, where its effects will be most keenly felt, the executive order was seen as boiling down to the same thing: a Muslim ban. In Iraq, where the initial ban had drawn the sharpest criticism, relieved officials welcomed President Trump's decision to drop their country from the list of nations whose citizens will be barred from entering the United States for 90 days. That decision came after pressure from the State Department and the Pentagon \u2014 and as American troops are working closely with Iraqi soldiers in the battle for Mosul. In a minor triumph, there were none of the earlier chaotic scenes of travelers and refugees being turned back at airports. Yet in the other six countries still on Mr. Trump's list, his decision to push ahead with the ban only stoked their sense of grievance and discrimination. Regional experts repeated earlier warnings that Mr. Trump's order handed an easy propaganda victory to enemies and might ultimately weaken American security. \"The idea that this is a Muslim ban has been reinforced even further,\" said Maha Yahya, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. \"Islamic State will use this ban to say: 'I told you so. They only mean you harm. They only see you as the enemy. '\" The six countries left on the list are among the poorest, most chaotic or most politically isolated in the Middle East, so their inclusion carries ostensibly low costs for the Trump administration. Libya has multiple competing governments. Aid officials warn that Yemen, consumed by civil war, is on the verge of famine. Syria's vicious conflict has left vast urban landscapes in ruins. Somalia has been in a state of rolling chaos since 1991. Iran does not suffer domestic upheaval, but decades of diplomatic hostility with the West have left it political isolated. Trump administration officials point out that parts of the banned countries have become havens for Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other groups, largely as a result of war and chronic instability. But by the same token, studies have shown that the citizens of those countries are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence, and have historically not posed a major risk to security in the United States. According to the New America Foundation, all 13 jihadist terrorists who have killed people in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, were American citizens or permanent residents. None had ties to the seven countries first singled out by Mr. Trump in January. A federal appeals court, rejecting that order, said his administration had produced \"no evidence\" linking citizens from the seven affected nations to terrorist acts in the United States. Among citizens in the banned countries, the sense of injustice is compounded when they look at richer or more powerful neighbors, like Egypt or Saudi Arabia, whose citizens have carried out major attacks in the United States, yet which have escaped Mr. Trump's censure because their governments are harder to push around. \"You know what they say: When the wife commits adultery, hit the maid,\" said Abdel Bari Taher, a Yemeni political analyst speaking by telephone from the country's capital, Sana. \"They are punishing Yemen and others because they are the weak ones. Meanwhile, all the Gulf states that funded terrorism carry on as usual. \" Mr. Taher said he had little doubt Mr. Trump's ban was driven by domestic political considerations. \"He is going after us just to please his supporters at home,\" he said. Nonetheless, he added, it stung. In Iraq, the initial ban had been taken as a grievous insult from an ally it was supposed to be partnering with in the fight against the Islamic State. When the ban was announced in January, it prompted calls from some officials in Baghdad for Iraq to reciprocate with a ban on Americans entering Iraq, putting the prime minister, Haider under political pressure to act. The plight of military translators who had worked for the United States government and been promised resettlement in the United States provided a further focus for popular outrage. Mr. Abadi, however, ultimately decided not to impose any restrictions on Americans and instead worked through back channels to have the ban overturned. On Monday, relieved officials said their approach had been vindicated. \"We were hoping for the decision to be reconsidered, and this is what has happened,\" said Jasim Iraq's minister of migration, in a telephone interview. Still, it was equally likely that pressure from the Pentagon, which feared damage to the Islamic State campaign, played a significant part in Mr. Trump's decision. In the revised executive order issued Monday, Mr. Trump dropped a provision to bar Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, but will still freeze all refugee admissions for 120 days. David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary who leads the International Rescue Committee aid agency, denounced that decision as a \"historic assault on refugee resettlement to the United States, and a really catastrophic cut at a time there are more refugees around the world than ever before,\" The Associated Press reported. Ms. Yahya, the analyst, said the refugee decision was part of the growing \"moral and reputational toll\" from Mr. Trump's actions in the Middle East. Yet there was not much of an immediate outcry in many countries \u2014 possibly because, as elsewhere, citizens were becoming slowly used to a steady stream of yet often perishable, decisions from Mr. Trump's White House. Some have been tickled by American news media coverage of the simmering conflict between Mr. Trump and the \"deep state\" \u2014 a phrase more commonly associated with discussions about the Egyptian security services, or Pakistan's Intelligence spy agency. Yet Mr. Trump's assault on the news media as an \"enemy of the people\" has uncomfortable echoes in many countries, and some have taken the parallels to signify that the United States has entered an unwelcome phase. \"Trump has taken America from its ivory tower to the level of a rotten banana republic,\" Mohamed Rageh Roweis, a Palestinian analyst, wrote on Twitter. Even in unaffected countries, the ban has stoked the belief that the true goal of Mr. Trump and senior advisers like Stephen K. Bannon is to pursue a civilizational war against Muslims, rather than to combat terrorism. \"It doesn't make any sense,\" said Mustapha Kamel a professor at Cairo University. \"These terrorist groups are multinational organizations. If they want to attack the United States, they don't have to send people from these six countries. They can just find someone from another country. \"","label":0}
{"text":"It s so much fun watching Kellyanne Conway get humiliated on live television.On Monday morning, the wicked witch of the White House appeared on the Today Show to whine about how the media covers Donald Trump.Specifically, she bitched about the media covering what Trump says on Twitter. This obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little what he does as president, Conway started before NBC host Craig Melvin pointed out that Twitter is Trump s preferred method of communication with the American people. Conway replied by accusing Melvin of lying. Melvin fired back and instantly owned Conway with a simple fact. Well, he hasn t given an interview in three weeks. So lately it has been his preferred method. Here s the video via Twitter.WATCH: This obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little what he does as president @KellyannePolls pic.twitter.com\/iyS3WnHoxh TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 5, 2017Indeed, Trump has especially used Twitter heavily ever since the London terrorist attack on Saturday.He attacked London s mayor and tried to use the tragedy to scare people into supporting his Muslim ban.Trump even threw a temper tantrum on Monday morning because the courts have blocked his unconstitutional ban.But Trump has used Twitter repeatedly like a drunken sailor since taking office and everything he says should be covered and scrutinized by the media. If Kellyanne Conway thinks the media shouldn t cover Trump s tweets she should take his phone away from him and make him quit social media entirely.Until then, Trump s Twitter feed is fair game.Also, why are networks still letting Conway spew her bullshit on the air?For quite some time, she had been kept off the air because of the amount of lying she does every time she makes an appearance. Now she is all of sudden back on television. If the media should be criticized for anything, it s the way they keep giving Trump s minions a platform to lie to the American people.But at least Craig Melvin called Conway out.","label":1}
{"text":"The top U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Democrat said on Wednesday he would push the panel's Republican chairman to expand a probe of Russian hacking to include the calls to a Russian diplomat made by President Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser. Representative Adam Schiff said he would make his case to Republican Devin Nunes, the committee's chairman, when he met with him later on Wednesday.","label":0}
{"text":"It seemed like it took exactly 30 seconds for every person on the right-wing to take Hillary Clinton s early departure from a 9\/11 memorial as proof that she is suffering from some severe medical disorder. In reality, Clinton did actually become overheated. Her medical doctor released a statement that explains that Clinton is currently suffering from pneumonia. It explains why she has been coughing on the campaign trail and why she needed to leave the event she was attending in New York.Politico reports that Clinton s physician, Lisa Bardack released a statement saying: Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during follow up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning s event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely. Shocking. It s almost as if Clinton is a human being who gets sick. Pneumonia can, of course, turn deadly. However, given the medical miracles of the modern age, she ll probably be fine. Just as Clinton s doctor, who you know, actually has a medical degree, and who examined her just today after the incident says she will be.Thanks to right-wing blowhards such as Sean Hannity, this bizarre health conspiracy has gone totally mainstream. It really says a lot about the power that the right-wing has harnessed when it comes to the media, both in traditional and online formats. They managed to turn a brief clip of Clinton falling while being rushed into a car into absolute proof that Clinton is suffering from Alzheimer s disease or whatever they believe she has this week.Welcome to the era of Alex Jones-like mass media speculation.Featured image from Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency will run out of disaster assistance funding on Friday unless Congress approves more money, two Florida senators warned on Thursday. As Hurricane Irma barrels through the Caribbean on its way to an expected landfall on Florida on Sunday, the Senate approved a measure 80 votes to 17 to more than double funding to $15.25 billion to FEMA and local block grants to handle natural disasters. The House is expected to approve the measure later this week. It already approved $7.85 billion on Wednesday. FEMA is stretched, and, of all things, FEMA runs out of money unless we act by tomorrow, Democrat Senator Bill Nelson said in a speech on Thursday, following a letter he wrote with Republican Senator Marco Rubio to congressional leaders warning that more funds were needed. The bill also extends the National Flood Insurance Program through Dec. 8 that was set to expire on Sept. 30. The government-subsidized insurance program helps homeowners in flood-prone areas receive coverage. It is nearly $25 billion in debt and members of both parties want to reform it. FEMA declined on Thursday to say how much remained in its Disaster Relief Fund, which had just over $1 billion on hand as of Tuesday, less than half the $2.1 billion it had last week. The agency has received a record number of disaster assistance requests from victims of Hurricane Harvey. We re not going to let money get in the way of saving lives, FEMA director Brock Long told broadcaster CBS on Wednesday. Congress knows what they need to do. David Lapan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, also declined to say on Thursday when the fund would be depleted, but said it would not be long without congressional action. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for the U.S. Virgin Islands, which makes residents eligible for FEMA and other government grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs. In response to Irma, FEMA said staff had been deployed to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and more than 1,000 personnel were ready to respond in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Provisions include millions of liters of water, meals, medical equipment and generators.","label":0}
{"text":"Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee, said on Sunday that President Donald Trump's executive order on refugees and immigration had been \"poorly implemented,\" particularly for green card holders. \"We all share a desire to protect the American people, but this executive order has been poorly implemented, especially with respect to green card holders,\" Corker said in a statement. \"The administration should immediately make appropriate revisions, and it is my hope that following a thorough review and implementation of security enhancements that many of these programs will be improved and reinstated,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Email  The Times made a reference on Thursday to the suffering of millions of Yemenis using the phrase \"the forgotten war\".  An18-year-old Yemeni girl's image catches the attention on the front page of the newspaper. Her malnutrition reduced her to a skeleton and she has disturbingly become emaciated as a result of food shortage.  This newspaper reported that Saida has been hospitalized in the port city of Hodeidah because of malnutrition while the city is under economic siege of Saudi Arabia.","label":1}
{"text":"DHAKA, Bangladesh \u2014 A Canadian man suspected of having planned a July attack on a bakery in Dhaka that left 22 people dead was killed in a shootout with the Bangladeshi police on Saturday, officials said. The man, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Canadian citizen of Bangladeshi descent, was one of three militants killed in the raid outside Dhaka, the capital, the officials said. The Bangladeshi authorities have said Mr. Chowdhury planned the July 1 assault on the Holey Artisan Bakery, a restaurant popular with expatriates and Bangladeshis. Some analysts believe Mr. Chowdhury acted as a coordinator for the Islamic State militant group in Bangladesh and northeastern India. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in Bangladesh, including the assault on the bakery. The Bangladeshi police, however, identified Mr. Chowdhury as the leader of a new branch of a domestic terrorist group, the Jama'atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and the government initially denied that the bakery attack had been carried out by members of foreign groups. Later, officials acknowledged that the attackers might have had links to such groups, including the Islamic State. The shootout on Saturday morning took place at a house in the Narayanganj district near Dhaka, after the police received a tip that the militants were hiding there, said A. K. M. Kamrul Ahsan, a spokesman. They were given a chance to surrender but attacked the police with guns and grenades, at which point the police opened fire, said a police official, Inspector General A. K. M. Shahidul Hoque, in televised comments to reporters on Saturday. Both officials said Mr. Chowdhury was among the militants killed. The police had offered cash bounties of about $25, 000 this month for information leading to the arrest of Mr. Chowdhury and for another militant, Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, who was suspected of being involved in recent killings of secular writers. Mr. Chowdhury's name was on a list of 10 suspects released by the Bangladeshi authorities last month after the Holey Artisan Bakery attack, an siege carried out by five militants who were eventually killed by soldiers. Analysts said Mr. Chowdhury and two other Bangladeshi expatriates on that list could have been acting as links between local and international extremist groups. The bakery siege was the most deadly in a series of violent attacks carried out by Islamist militants in Bangladesh over the past several years. The frequency of those attacks has increased in recent months. Officials said they suspected that Mr. Chowdhury was also behind a July 7 bombing at Bangladesh's largest prayer gathering for the Eid holiday, which killed four people: two police officers, a civilian and a militant. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Saturday in televised remarks to reporters that the identities of the two militants killed with Mr. Chowdhury would be released after an investigation, but that one of them appeared to be Mr. Chowdhury's man. It was not clear whether either of them was on the list of suspects released last month. \"We think Tamim Chowdhury's chapter has ended here,\" Mr. Khan said. \"We will be able to catch the rest of the militants soon. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Indonesia s foreign minister is due to meet Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday to discuss delivering humanitarian aid to members of Myanmar s Rohingya minority, as Indonesian protesters urged their government to take a tougher line. Dozens of Indonesians protested outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on Monday, calling for a cut in diplomatic ties with Myanmar over violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority. Aid agencies estimate that about 90,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh since violence erupted in the north of Rakhine state last week. We will discuss in detail Indonesia s proposal on how Indonesia can give humanitarian aid to Rakhine state, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a video statement from the Myanmar city of Yangon. She is also scheduled to travel to Bangladesh to urge authorities there to protect fleeing Rohingya refugees. In a sign of mounting public anger in Jakarta, a petrol bomb was thrown at the Myanmar embassy on Sunday, causing a small fire. The protests follow demonstrations in Malaysia and condemnation from world leaders such as President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who on Friday said the violence against Muslims amounted to genocide. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and regarded as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots that date back centuries. Bangladesh is also growing increasingly hostile to Rohingya, more than 400,000 of whom live in the poor South Asian country after fleeing Myanmar since the early 1990s. Indonesia is home to the world s largest population of Muslims. Its government has been actively involved in providing aid for Myanmar to develop Rakhine state and protect the rights of the Rohingya, alongside the majority Buddhist community. Ifah Rohma, an activist from a Jakarta-based organization called Muslim Friends of Rohingya, said many Indonesians as fellow Muslims were concerned about the fate of Rohingya. Indonesia should not be engaging in soft diplomacy, Rohma said outside the Myanmar embassy, which was surrounded by heavy security and barbed wire. Now is the time to cut ties, recall our ambassador and expel their ambassador, she said. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October.","label":0}
{"text":"Investors in financial markets, and those predicting faster economic growth in 2017, would do well to remember the famous words that William McChesney Martin Jr. the former Federal Reserve chairman, uttered way back in 1955: The Fed's job is to remove the punch bowl just as the party gets going. Donald J. Trump's promises to cut taxes and regulation and to increase spending on infrastructure and defense have convinced many that a sugar high in the near term will goose the economy. But Fed officials say the economy is already expanding at something close to its maximum sustainable pace, meaning faster growth would drive inflation toward unwelcome levels. To avoid overheating, the Fed could respond by raising interest rates more quickly. The more Mr. Trump stimulates growth, the faster the Fed is likely to increase rates. \"I guess I would argue that I think people have gotten a bit ahead of themselves about what a Trump presidency would mean,\" said Lewis Alexander, chief United States economist at Nomura. \"If we have a big stimulus, the logical thing for the Fed to do is to raise rates faster. There isn't a whole heck of a lot of scope to just let the economy run under those circumstances. There's a big question about whether fiscal stimulus under Trump just leads to higher interest rates. \" Underscoring that question, the Fed is expected to raise its benchmark rate on Wednesday for the first time since last December in light of new economic data. The rate sits in a range of 0. 25 percent to 0. 5 percent, a low level intended to stimulate economic growth by encouraging borrowing and . Analysts predict the Fed will shift the range upward by a quarter of a percentage point, modestly reducing those incentives. The rate increase is widely regarded as a foregone conclusion. The odds, derived from asset prices, topped 95 percent Monday, according to the CME Group. The looming question is how quickly the Fed will continue to raise rates in 2017. Economic forecasts always require large assumptions, but that is particularly true in the present case because Mr. Trump has provided relatively few details about his plans. Perhaps the most accurate thing that can be said about Mr. Trump's victory is that it has increased the uncertainty of the economic outlook. \"At this juncture, it is premature to reach firm conclusions about what will likely occur,\" William C. Dudley, president of the New York Fed, said in a recent speech. During his campaign, Mr. Trump predicted 4 percent annual growth, and his actions since Election Day point to a goal of job creation. \"Our No. 1 priority is going to be the economy, get back to 3 to 4 percent growth,\" Steven Mnuchin, Mr. Trump's pick to serve as Treasury secretary, said last month. Many economists regard such growth predictions as fanciful the economy has been mired in an extended period of slow growth and the reasons, including an aging population and a dearth of innovation, are unlikely to change quickly. Some think Mr. Trump is more likely to push the economy into recession than to catalyze a new boom. Even if Mr. Trump is right, however, the Fed does not want 4 percent growth. The central bank's outlook has become increasingly gloomy. Officials estimated in September that annual growth of 1. 8 percent was the maximum sustainable pace, and they predicted growth would not exceed 2 percent in the next three years. They will update those forecasts Wednesday, but large shifts are unlikely. Fed officials also are increasingly convinced that steady job growth has substantially eliminated the backlog of people seeking work. The unemployment rate fell to 4. 6 percent in November, a level the Fed regards as healthy. For years, Fed officials urged Congress to increase fiscal spending. Now, Mr. Trump is promising to do just that \u2014 and the Fed has concluded that it is too late. Stanley Fischer, the Fed's vice chairman, said last month the Fed might still benefit from fiscal stimulus because it could raise rates more quickly. That would increase the Fed's ability to respond to future downturns by reducing interest rates. But such gains would come at real cost: A fiscal stimulus would increase the federal government's debt burden, which already is at a high level by historical standards, reducing the room for a fiscal response to a future downturn. Janet L. Yellen, the Fed's chairwoman, urged Congress last month to be mindful that the government is already on the hook for more spending as baby boomers age into retirement. \"With the . D. P. ratio at around 77 percent, there's not a lot of fiscal space, should a shock to the economy occur, an adverse shock, that did require fiscal stimulus,\" she said. The tension between fiscal and monetary policy is likely to unfold in slow motion. Mr. Trump has promised to press for rapid changes in government policy, but Congress is not built for speed. A similar effort to cut taxes at the beginning of the George W. Bush administration, for example, was signed into law on June 7, 2001. The impact of new cuts, and any increase in infrastructure spending that Mr. Trump can persuade dubious Republicans to embrace, would be felt mostly in future years. Mark M. Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, predicted that tax cuts, regulatory rollbacks and spending would fuel faster growth in the first half of Mr. Trump's term. But he said that the Fed's rate increases, and restrictions on trade and immigration, would gradually begin to take a larger toll. By the end, Mr. Zandi predicted, the American economy would be \"unnervingly close\" to recession. \"The Fed and markets in general will ultimately wash out any benefit,\" Mr. Zandi said Monday. \"The economy under President Trump ultimately will be diminished. \" Other economists are more optimistic, predicting that the stimulus will not be fully offset by Fed policy. Mr. Dudley appeared to endorse this view in his recent speech, suggesting that the rise in financial markets was \"broadly appropriate. \" Some of Mr. Trump's proposals also could increase the economy's potential growth rate, for example by improving infrastructure or encouraging corporate investment. On the other hand, the Fed's march toward higher rates may be amplified by the bond market. Rates are already rising, and investors concerned about inflation and larger federal deficits are likely to generate persistent upward pressure. Those effects are already visible. Stock prices have climbed since Mr. Trump's surprising victory, increasing the wealth of shareholders. But borrowing costs also climbed. The average rate on a mortgage loan was 4. 13 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac, up from 3. 54 percent just before the election.","label":0}
{"text":"In a stunning example of just how morally bankrupt right-wing media has become in the Age of Trump, Breitbart the conservative website often described as Trump s de facto propaganda wing wrote a lavish piece praising Melania Trump for her high fashion outfits while accompanying her husband on his first overseas trip.Who cares, right? Why would anyone have a problem with what the first lady is wearing on a trip?Well, Breitbart, the very same website, seems to albeit only when it s the African-American wife of America s first African-American president. Here s the sneering way they covered Michelle Obama s decision to wear a $3,200 dress on the former president s visit with the pope.Politico reports that First Lady Michelle Obama, looking lovely and classy, greeted Pope Francis Tuesday while wearing a $2,290 dress. While the Obamas are not Catholics, this is still a finger-in-the-eye to a White House guest who frequently speaks out to wild Democrat applause about the evils of excessive capitalism.And adding to the absurd critique:According to WorldVision, you can feed a child for just $35 a month. Michelle Obama s dress would feed over 80 children for that month. This choice obviously is contrary to the values of Pope Francis. But the Obamas religious values come from elsewhere, a divisive and disturbing place, not a charitable or unifying one.Almost beyond parody.Flash forward to this weekend. Melania was treated to a photo spread, with Brietbart praising her outfits, including an expensive custom-made creation from fashion designer Dolce & Gabbana.In a visit to meet Pope Francis, Melania worked with Dolce & Gabbana, again, on a stunning custom-made, black coat-dress that showed off a beautiful round collar, framing the First Lady s face. The look was paired with a black lace Mantilla and black Manolo Blahnik stilettos, sticking to the Vatican dress code.The next day, Melania would don a dress that cost $51,000. Conservatives didn t bat an eye.Let s crunch those numbers through Breitbart s bullshit calculator:According to WorldVision, you can feed a child for just $35 a month. Melania Trump s dress would feed over 1400 children for a month. But then the Trump s religious values come from elsewhere, a divisive and disturbing place, not a charitable one. (This comparison, however tongue-in-cheek, is actually unfair in more ways than one, the Obamas actually do have a history of charitable giving. Trump is famous for not donating to charity. A truly divisive and disturbing worldview, if there ever was one.)As the above passages exemplify, Breitbart loved to apply ridiculous, nonsense standards to the Obamas that they would never dream of holding the Trump family up to. The website once run by anti-Semite Steve Bannon and which has a section devoted to black crime has some pretty obvious, bigoted reasons for hating the Obamas. It s egregious but not particularly surprising then that they would find the white first lady s opulence charming while finding the black first lady s show of class distressing.","label":1}
{"text":"The Arab League on Tuesday condemned the killing of Yemeni ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh saying his death threatened to cause an explosion in the Gulf country s security situation, Egypt s MENA state news agency reported. The Arab League s general secretariat also condemned the Houthi movement which killed Saleh as a terrorist organization , demanding that the international community view it as such. All means must be used to rid the Yemeni people of this nightmare, it said, referring to the Houthis.","label":0}
{"text":"Email  Chambers County Clerk Heather Hawthorne announced that all early voting in the county was once again on the iVotronic machines after one day of early voting using paper ballots. The emergency usage of paper ballots took place on Tuesday, October 25 while a software problem was being resolved. The vendor corrected the problem and reinstalled the corrected configuration in time for all ballots the next day, according to Hawthorne in a press release on October 27.  The situation was recounted by ABC 12 News: An error in the voting machine programming by Election Systems & Software (ES&S) caused votes for one statewide court of appeals race not to be entered when a voter tried to vote straight ticket in either party according to a release from Chambers County.  Chambers County, Texas, is a small county, having only 13 precincts and only four early-voting locations. County Clerk Heather Hawthorne told The New American 1,801 ballots were cast before switching to the paper ballots. Some of those 1,801 voters were warned to double check their ballots due to the software glitch. Because Chambers County is a Republican stronghold, the Republican candidate will be more adversely affected than the Democratic candidate by unintended under-votes. The question is how many unintended under-votes were there for these candidates and how close will that contest be?  There was a similar ballot problem in 2010 in Travis County, Texas, although the 2010 error was made on the paper ballots. A number of military absentee voters who were bona fide Texas residents were accidentally sent ballots for federal overseas voters. The ballots for federal overseas voters did not include local contests, such as ones for the Texas House of Representatives, and it was impossible to vote for that contest using the ballots provided. Republican Dan Neil lost by 16 votes. The final vote total was Donna Howard (D) 25,026, Dan Neil (R) 25,010 and Ben Easton (L) 1,518. Neil challenged the election total for a number of reasons, in addition to the ballot format, but the Texas Legislature, even though it was supposedly solidly Republican, seated Howard even though a very common practice in such close elections is to seat neither candidate, pay both candidates, and give both candidates equal access to the building and caucuses while the dispute is resolved or a new election is called.  In this case in Chambers County, the affected contest is a judicial contest. Hopefully, it will not be as close as the House District 48 race in 2010.  The voters who were affected by the Chambers County computer glitch were fortunate the errors were obvious enough for voters to notice and bring to the attention of the election officials. How many errors go undetected because they are not obvious to the voters or the election processes are not transparent? Errors such as this serve as a reminder of how important it is that voting have a paper trail and be a transparent process with plenty of paper documentation in case it becomes necessary to reconstruct precinct vote totals or other vital election records. Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment  Thank you for joining the discussion at The New American. We value our readers and encourage their participation, but in order to ensure a positive experience for our readership, we have a few guidelines for commenting on articles. If your post does not follow our policy, it will be deleted.  No profanity, racial slurs, direct threats, or threatening language.  No product advertisements.  Please post comments in English.  Please keep your comments on topic with the article. If you wish to comment on another subject, you may search for a relevant article and join or start a discussion there.","label":1}
{"text":"With Iran calibrating how to deal with President Trump, its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, caustically thanked the new American leader on Tuesday for revealing \"the true face\" of the United States. \"We are thankful to this newcomer,\" Ayatollah Khamenei told Iranian Air Force commanders, according to a report posted on his official website. Iranian officials had been showing caution since Mr. Trump took office last month. Despite expressing anger at his policies and comments, even have taken care not to provoke the new American president. But on Tuesday, it became seemingly apparent to Iran's leaders that Mr. Trump is not easily ignored. After Ayatollah Khamenei spoke out sarcastically about Mr. Trump, others expressed worries. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in an interview with a local newspaper that he expected \"difficult times ahead\" for Iran, now that Mr. Trump was in charge. Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, defended the nuclear agreement between his country and six world powers, including the United States, by saying that the deal was \" \" for all. But Mr. Trump \u2014 who has described the nuclear agreement as \"really, really bad\" but has not made any moves to alter it \u2014 disparaged Iran again on Twitter, this time in a defense against criticism that he is too close to Russia and its leader, President Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Trump wondered how President Barack Obama could have made a nuclear agreement with Iran, a country Mr. Trump described as \"#1 in terror. \" Mr. Trump seemed to be summarizing comments by his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, who on Sunday called Iran the \"biggest sponsor of state terrorism. \" Many Iranians have expressed astonishment and ridicule at such assertions, pointing to terrorist groups that despise Iran and the West. First Al Qaeda, responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and more recently the Islamic State, which has been killing thousands in the Middle East and is responsible for committing and inspiring attacks in Europe and the United States. \"Trump is trying to corner Iran, to make us bow before the U. S. and change our behavior, or face confrontation,\" said Nader Karimi Joni, a political activist close to Mr. Rouhani's government. Mr. Trump included Iran on a list of seven predominantly Muslim countries whose citizens have been barred from entering the United States under an executive order that has been blocked, for now, in the American court system. Mr. Trump's national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, warned Tehran last week that it had been put \"on notice\" after an Iranian missile test. Washington imposed new economic sanctions on 25 people and entities after the missile launch, which Mr. Flynn said had violated a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution approved after the United States and other world powers reached an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program. Iran has asserted that its missile tests do not violate that resolution and fall within its rights to . In another possible move against Iran, Mr. Trump's advisers are debating an order intended to designate its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, according to current and former officials in the United States briefed on the deliberations. For Ayatollah Khamenei, Mr. Trump's ascent appears to have vindicated many suspicions harbored by the Iranian leader, who has said many times that the United States cannot be trusted. \"He has proven what we have been saying for more than 30 years \u2014 we would always speak about the political, economic, moral and social corruption in the U. S. administration \u2014 this man revealed it during the election campaign and since then,\" Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a translated text of the speech. Hamidreza Taraghi, a political analyst close to Iran's leaders, said Mr. Trump's \"threatening and ranting\" style reflected a miscalculation of Iran's power. \"He will soon realize Iran will not be intimidated,\" Mr. Taraghi said. The history of animosity between both countries is long and deep. Several American administrations, including Mr. Obama's, have argued for years that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, because of its support for the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the United States regards as terrorist organizations. Iran has also been held responsible by the United States for several terror attacks, most decades ago. One of them, of course, was the seizure of 54 members of the American Embassy staff in Tehran for 444 days during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran also has been accused of involvement in a 1983 bomb attack at a Marines barracks in Lebanon, where 241 service personnel died. In 2003, a federal judge ruled that Hezbollah carried out the attack at the behest of Iran. Several judges have ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars in damages. Iran denies the accusations. Iran has pressed several claims against the United States. Iran holds the United States responsible for having supported Saddam Hussein with intelligence, funds and weapons after he attacked Iran in 1980, dragging both countries into a war where thousands of Iranians and Iraqis died. In 1988, an American naval vessel, the Vincennes, shot down an Iran Air commercial plane, flying over the Persian Gulf to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. All 290 people aboard died. Iran called the attack deliberate and the United States called it a mistake. Under a settlement at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the United States offered no apologies and was ordered to pay around $60 million in damages to families of the victims. Some of Mr. Trump's top aides apparently view Iran and its clerical leaders as a leading source of evil. During his inaugural speech, Mr. Trump vowed to \"unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate from the face of the Earth. \" At the time, many thought he meant the Islamic State, but in books and speeches both Mr. Flynn and Mr. Mattis said Iran was radically Islamic and described the country as the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East. In a Twitter post on Friday, Mr. Trump said: \"Iran is playing with fire \u2014 they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!\" Ayatollah Khamenei responded to Mr. Trump's Friday posting in biting fashion with his own remarks on Twitter. \"Iran should've appreciated Obama!\" he wrote, adding, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State: \"How come? Appreciate him for #DAESH, war in Iraq Syria or public support for 2009 unrest?\" In a post, he said that Iranians would hold a rally on Friday, the 38th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, to show \"their position toward threats. \"","label":0}
{"text":"President Obama plans to propose raising $320 billion over the next 10 years in new taxes targeting wealthy individuals and big financial institutions to pay for new programs designed to help lower- and middle-income families, senior administration officials said Saturday. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Obama will propose raising the capital gains and dividend tax rates to 28 percent for high earners; imposing a fee on the liabilities of about 100 big financial institutions; and greatly broadening the amount of inherited money subject to taxes. Obama will also seek to boost private retirement savings by requiring employers without 401(k) plans to make it easier for full-time and part-time workers to save in individual retirement accounts, which could assist as many as 30 million people. The administration would provide small employers tax credits to cover costs. Senior administration officials said that the package would highlight the president's desire to boost taxes on the nation's wealthy households and help lower- and middle-class families. New tax credits would help those in need of child care and households with two earners, they said, while other proposals \u2014 such as covering community college tuition \u2014 would help students. The moves would \"eliminate the biggest tax loopholes and use the savings to let the middle class get ahead,\" said one of the senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a conference call with reporters to describe the plan before the president's speech. This person also said that 99 percent of the impact of the tax increases would fall on the top 1 percent of earners. The ambitious \u2014 and controversial \u2014 proposals demonstrate the White House's increasing confidence about the trajectory of the U.S. economy. For the past year and a half, it has debated how much it could trumpet the recovery when so many Americans have not felt any change in their own economic outlook. But the plan drew immediate fire from Republican \u2014 and could face criticism from some Democrats \u2014 who have in the past increased the amount of money exempt from inheritance taxes they branded \"death taxes.\" Most Republicans have long opposed increases in capital gains rates, and many favor eliminating the tax altogether. \"This is not a serious proposal,\" wrote Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in an e-mail late Saturday. \"We lift families up and grow the economy with a simpler, flatter tax code, not big tax increases to pay for more Washington spending.\" \"Slapping American small businesses, savers, and investors with more tax hikes only negates the benefits of the tax policies that have been successful in helping to expand the economy, promote savings, and create jobs,\" Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said in a statement Saturday night. \"The president needs to stop listening to his liberal allies who want to raise taxes at all costs and start working with Congress to fix our broken tax code.\" The administration tried to head off some of that attack by asserting that elements of the package resembled proposals endorsed by Republicans. Officials also said that the capital gains tax rate was 28 percent during President Ronald Reagan's terms in office. The Obama administration would also seek to limit the impact of the tax increases by saying the higher capital gains and dividend rates would apply only to couples earning more than $500,000 a year. Officials said that the relatively low capital gains tax rate with a top rate of 20 percent has enabled the 400 highest-earning taxpayers \u2014 with $139 million or more of income \u2014 to pay an average rate of 17 percent when the top income tax rate is 35 percent. The proposal to impose a 7 basis point fee on financial institutions with assets of more than $50 billion will also run smack into opposition from big banks and insurance companies. The administration compared the fee with a proposal by former House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) for an excise tax on large financial institutions. And last week, the House Budget Committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), proposed a 0.1 percent surcharge on financial market transactions. One of the senior administration officials Saturday said that the goal of the proposed fee from the White House was to discourage big financial institutions from excessive borrowing. He said that despite banking revisions after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, highly leveraged financial institutions \"still pose risks to the broader economy,\" adding that \"this fee is designed to make that activity more costly.\" The economic recovery has freed the president to push for more ambitious domestic policies, many designed to help those in the poor and middle class who are still lagging behind. In the past week alone, Obama has announced new proposals on paid sick leave, free community college tuition and expanded broadband access. And while he might have trouble pushing those through the GOP-controlled Congress, Obama could still end up defining key issues for the elections in 2016. \"The battle for the next American agenda is already on,\" said Donald A. Baer, chief executive of Burson-Marsteller and formerly chief speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. \"There's this effort to define a new growth and share agenda \u2014 growth but not only growth alone, and sharing the growth but not just sharing the wealth.\" He said Obama's college and broadband access are examples of proposals that could add to growth and give poor and middle-class people the tools to increase their share in it. But Obama has to balance his rhetoric \u2014 between optimism and caution \u2014 by talking up the strong recovery while acknowledging that wage growth remains weak. \"There's always been a tension between things are in fact getting better and people are not feeling great,\" said Wade Randlett, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and major Democratic donor. \"One is economic fact, and the other is polling, which always catches up over time.\" Now the president is so comfortable with the idea of talking up the economic recovery that his advisers have branded it \u2014 \"America's resurgence\" \u2014 and made it a regular talking point in Obama's stump speeches and weekly radio addresses. And it is likely to be a centerpiece of the State of the Union address. In bragging about performance, Obama administration officials point to factors including the best streak of job growth since the 1990s, a recovery in the housing market and healthier balance sheets for households, companies and the federal government. And they have contrasted that performance with the anemic economies of Europe and Japan as evidence that the United States has regained its global economic dominance in what Obama has called a \"breakthrough year for America.\" But wages have been a stubborn reminder of the recovery's shortcomings. In November, average hourly private-sector nominal wages inched up 6 cents, but in December, they fell 5 cents. After adjusting for inflation, wages for the entire year crawled up 0.7 percent, a modest amount in an economic recovery. It is a point that has been featured prominently in comments by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has emerged as a leader of the Democratic Party's liberal wing. \"I'm feeling better about the economy, but I don't think we have in place a set of policies that will assure that this recovery will be either sustained or fully inclusive,\" said Lawrence H. Summers, a former top adviser to Obama, former Treasury secretary and now a professor at Harvard University. \"That's why I think more needs to be done.\" The White House typically aims its messages directly at the middle class, but, partly in response to Warren, Obama administration officials are more comfortable talking about how some of its proposals benefit poorer Americans. \"We're on offense on minimum wage and the environment,\" Randlett said. \"That's the kind you only do when you have the leash of good economics.\"","label":0}
{"text":"China s ruling Communist Party enshrined President Xi Jinping s political thought into its constitution on Tuesday, putting him in the same company as the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, and cementing his power ahead of a second five-year term. A key Xi ally, top corruption fighter Wang Qishan, will not be on the new Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of power in China, to be revealed on Wednesday as he was not among those named on Tuesday to the 204-member Central Committee. Whether or not the powerful Wang would remain on the Standing Committee, which currently has seven members, despite being beyond the customary retirement age of 69, had been among the key questions to be answered at the week-long party congress, which ended on Tuesday. Wang could still assume another senior role over the next few months. As expected, the party unanimously passed an amendment to include Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as one of its guiding principles. The party will announce its new Standing Committee, headed by Xi, at around midday (0400 GMT) on Wednesday, culminating a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle. As expected, the amended constitution affirmed that Xi s signature fight against corruption, which has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials, will continue. Unexpectedly, Xi s Belt and Road initiative, an ambitious program to build infrastructure linking China with its neighbors and beyond, was also included in the party constitution. Also included was a commitment to supply-side industrial reforms, and giving play to the decisive role of market forces in resource allocation, a commitment Xi had made early in his first terms that many investors say he has failed to deliver on. The party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country, the party said in a statement reflecting Xi s ongoing efforts to strengthen the party and its place in contemporary Chinese society. If no clear successor to Xi is named to the new Politburo Standing Committee, it will further fuel speculation that Xi may look to retain power beyond the customary second five-year term. This is about further erasing any distinction between Xi Jinping and the party, said Jude Blanchette, who studies the party at The Conference Board s China Center for Economics and Business in Beijing, referring to Xi s thought getting into the constitution. Add on to this having supply-side structural reform and One Belt One Road written into this, which were Xi s signature policies, this makes questioning or non-compliance with those tantamount to betrayal of the party. Xu Hongcai, deputy chief economist at the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a Beijing think-tank, said party control was needed to push through the market reforms key to restructuring the world s second-largest economy. To build a market economic system in such a big country, it s impossible without the leadership of the party, he said. Others have argued that the two are contradictory. When you put supply-side reform and market playing a decisive role in the same document, then that just shows they have to almost choose one, said Alex Wolf, Senior Emerging Markets Economist with Aberdeen Standard Investments in Hong Kong. China s blue-chip shares climbed to a 26-month high on Tuesday, led by infrastructure and property stocks, as Xi wrapped up a congress that began with his three-and-a half hour speech envisioning a more prosperous, confident China. The yuan strengthened against the dollar. Xi rapidly consolidated power after assuming party leadership in late 2012 and then the presidency the next year. The party gave Xi the title of core leader a year ago, a significant strengthening of his position. Whether Xi was able to have his name crowned in the party constitution had been seen as a key measure of his power, elevating him to a level of previous leaders exemplified by Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory. No other leader since Mao has had an eponymous ideology included in the document while in office. Deng s name was added after his death in 1997. A list of 133 committee members for the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection released on Tuesday included Zhao Leji, who heads the party s Organisation Department, a strong sign that he will take over from Wang as anti-corruption chief. China s top banking regulator, Guo Shuqing, and veteran banker Jiang Chaoliang, front runners to succeed Zhou Xiaochuan as central bank governor, both made it to the Central Committee. The constitutional amendment, along with Xi s work report and a work report of the graft watchdog to the congress, were passed by a show of hands. When Xi next asked for any no votes or abstentions for the amendment or two work reports, the sound of none echoed throughout the chamber, as officials shouted out from different sides of the hall.","label":0}
{"text":"MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 The sibling rivalry, at least on the tennis tour, started right here at the Australian Open for the Williams sisters. It was 1998, and older sister Venus beat younger sister Serena, (4) in a match that \u2014 as intrusive as it felt to watch \u2014 surely drew more attention than any match in history between a pair of Australian Open debutantes. The fascination in their dynamic and their futures was there from the start in Melbourne Park, known then as Flinders Park when it had only one stadium with a retractable roof instead of three. A picture of Venus consoling Serena after the match was on the front page of The New York Times. Though it would be tempting to label their Australian Open final on Saturday as a moment and to speculate that it might be their last meeting at this late a stage of a Grand Slam tournament, it seems best to resist the temptation. The Williams sisters have taught us a lot about the limits of conventional tennis wisdom through the years. And so, even if 19 years have passed and Serena is now 35 and Venus 36, it is wise to avoid fencing them in again after they have run roughshod over so many other preconceptions. \"I watched Venus today celebrating after she won the semifinal like she was a girl, and it made you want to cry for joy just watching her,\" said Marion Bartoli, a former Wimbledon champion. \"Such a powerful image, and it makes you think about all those questions she was getting: 'When are you retiring? Have you thought about retiring? How much longer?' \"You must let the champions decide when the right moment comes. \" The Williamses are both great champions, even if Serena is clearly the greater player with her 22 Grand Slam singles titles and her long run at No. 1, a spot she can reclaim from Angelique Kerber with a win Saturday. Serena has been the most prolific Grand Slam winner after age 30 in tennis history, and she is back in rare form again after another extended break at the end of 2016. She disconnected completely from the game and physical training initially and had to push hard to get back in shape in November and December. It worked. She has not dropped a set here despite a challenging draw, nor has she even been pushed to a tiebreaker. Newly engaged to the American technology entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, who has watched her matches from the players box, and seemingly refreshed, Serena deserves to be the favorite to win her 23rd major singles title and break her tie with Steffi Graf for the highest total in the Open era. In this tournament, Serena has beaten two former members of the top 10 \u2014 Belinda Bencic and Lucie Safarova \u2014 and one current member, the No. 9 seed Johanna Konta. Venus's draw has been soft by comparison, devoid of top 10 players \u2014 past or present \u2014 and including only one seeded player: No. 24 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. On Thursday, she had to scrap and come back to win, (3) against the powerful unseeded American CoCo Vandeweghe, while Serena cruised past the unseeded Croat Mirjana . Serena, who already holds a edge over her sister, could be the fresher player, too, on Saturday. But the psychology remains complex and the fallout unpredictable, even after all these years. \"When I'm playing on the court with her, I think I'm playing the best competitor in the game,\" Venus said. \"I don't think I'm chump change either, you know. I can compete against any odds. No matter what, I can get out there, and I compete. \" They have not played since the 2015 United States Open, when Serena won, in a quarterfinal in which Venus attacked, often successfully, from the start but had no answer in the end for Serena's ultimate weapon: her first serve. It was an intense match in which the big crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium seemed more reflective than fully engaged one in which Serena's celebration was understandably subdued with her sister across the net, even if their matches are no longer the awkward, constricted affairs of their early years. Saturday's final in Melbourne could be intriguing on multiple levels, in part because of the Australian public. Venus is viewed here, as elsewhere, as a sympathetic figure: the older sister who has handled the younger's greater tennis success unselfishly and with dignity. And though both sisters have had to cope with major health problems and family tragedy, with the murder of their half sister Yetunde Price in 2003, Venus is the one whose tennis fortunes dipped more dramatically. A Grand Slam singles champion and a former No. 1, she did not advance past the third round in any major event in singles from late 2011 to the end of the 2014 season. She was a major star reduced to a minor role, largely because of an autoimmune disorder \u2014 Sjogren's syndrome, diagnosed in 2011 \u2014 that sapped her strength and endurance. When Russian hackers breached the World Agency's databases last fall, it was revealed that Venus had needed 13 exemptions for drugs in recent years. The retirement questions to which Bartoli referred started during that period. But Venus's ability to cope with her condition has improved, and after rejoining the top 10 in 2015, she reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last year and then the final here. \"She never even thought of the word retire,\" said David Witt, her coach and hitting partner of 10 years. \"I just think when she got diagnosed, it was a step back, a shock. She's learned a lot about how to deal with it and her body, how to eat, how to manage it. \"There are days she can't work as hard as she wants to work. Some days it's maybe not smart to do it because it will then hurt you for two or three more days. Where she is now in her career, she has to listen to her body, and I don't think she really needs to go out and hit balls for two hours. \" Witt said there were no more sessions in the or in time off tour: just one session in the morning and then gym work, primarily sprints, core strengthening and flexibility. \"It took her years and years to realize that stretching is important and can keep you healthier,\" he said. \"The more flexible you are, you're not going to strain or pull anything. I've been with her 10 years, and I think it took seven years to get her to stretch. She likes to do a lot of dancing, and that consists of a lot of stretching and being flexible, so I think that's helped. \" Her dance skills were in evidence Thursday as she pirouetted after beating Vandeweghe, but what will linger longest in memory were her screams of delight at having conquered an inspired young opponent in a semifinal. It was a moment she described as \"just joy. \" \"You could really see the happiness on her face,\" Serena said. \"I've been there when she was down and out of it, and back and in it. I've been there for all those moments, so I just really was oh so happy. \" As visceral as her reaction on court was, she was nothing but considered in the interview room. \"I think why people love sport so much is because you see everything in a line,\" Venus said. \"In that moment, there is no . There's no retake. There is no . It's triumph and disaster witnessed in real time. \"This is why people live and die for sport, because you can't fake it. You can't. It's either you do it or you don't. People relate to the champion. They also relate to the person who didn't win, because we all have those moments in our life. \" This will be Venus's first major singles final since she lost to Serena in straight sets in the 2009 Wimbledon final, and her first match against Serena in Melbourne since the 2003 final when Serena won her fourth Grand Slam title in a row, having defeated Venus in all four finals. \"It's just amazing,\" said Rennae Stubbs, the Australian star who first met the sisters before they joined the tour. \"They came onto the scene at age 15 and 16 with the beads and the hair and the exuberance, and here they are: mature, remarkable young women at 35 and 36. No matter what anyone says to me, their story from start to finish is the greatest sports story ever. \" And if the Williamses have taught us anything along the way, it is that the story is not finished until they say it is.","label":0}
{"text":"Europe's Battle: Nationalists vs. Elites October 26, 2016  On both sides of the Atlantic, a battle is underway between largely discredited \"elites\" and sometimes disreputable \"nationalists,\" a conflict over un-kept promises about the future and unsettling memories of the past, writes Andrew Spannaus.  By Andrew Spannaus  In recent years \"nationalism\" has become a bad word in Europe, a synonym of closure, racism and wars. Over the past 20-25 years European elites have instead embraced a concept of globalization based on a world without economic, physical and social borders.  This view assumes the gradual affirmation of a set of shared values internationally, consisting of human rights and economic freedom, that however much the remaining closed, autocratic regimes may try, will inevitably become the standard for the entire world. Flag of the European Union.  It is essentially the argument put forward by Francis Fukuyama in \"The End of History:\" liberal democracy and free markets have won the ideological war, and represent the culmination of human evolution.  The political events of 2016 are upending this view of the globalization of human rights and economic liberalism. The American electorate has supported a series of outsiders \u2013 most notably Donald Trump, who has run his campaign in direct opposition to the U.S. political and financial class, invoking economic protectionism and a stronger national identity.  Against expectations, the population of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, marking an irreparable break in the supposedly inevitable process of European unification. And across Europe support is growing for more extreme, anti-system political forces, that threaten not only to withdraw from the common currency \u2013 the Euro \u2013 but also to seal the borders in response to economic and security threats associated with immigration.  Establishment's Failure  It is no exaggeration to speak of the failure of the entire transatlantic political establishment. Since the 1970s, Western economies have undergone a post-industrial transformation that has favored short-term gain over long-term investment. The notion of economic freedom has translated principally into support for deregulation and speculative finance. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is welcomed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on April 14, 2011. [State Department photo\/ Public Domain Central Banks have made unlimited resources available to the financial sector while large areas of the real economy struggle to survive, feeding discontent among the population. It is true that new economic sectors have arisen, along with widespread changes made possible by technologies that were inconceivable until a few years ago, but the overall effect has been to hollow out the middle class and create large-scale income equality. In Europe, the principal vehicle of this process has been the economic policy of the European Union. From the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, European nations have been stuck in a monetary straitjacket, that prevents governments from taking effective economic action. In the name of market principles, liberalization has been implemented that favors large financial interests while lowering standards of living for the middle class.  Countries are constitutionally required to move towards a balanced budget, with the European Commission and the European Central Bank essentially having veto power over national policies. This has translated into harsh austerity, including the massive budget cuts and tax increases inflicted on countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy in recent years.  Despite paying lip service to the need for change, the economic and political elites have refused to abandon this approach, that not only ignores the suffering of the population, but actually makes the problem worse. In fact the austerity causes a drop in economy activity and thus exacerbates budget problems, leading to a vicious cycle that Europe seems unable to stop.  A Big Backlash  The resulting backlash is calling into question the process of European integration as a whole, provoking a strenuous defense by the elite of institutions that are said to have guaranteed \"50 years of peace\" after the Second World War. The run-down PIX Theatre sign reads \"Vote Trump\" on Main Street in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. July 15, 2016. (Photo by Tony Webster Flickr)  It is true, of course, that there are some benefits to E.U. integration, and that nobody wants to return to a situation of conflict among the member states. But the current policies are quite different than the fruitful cooperation that existed until the 1990s, when the financial elite began its move to exert supranational control.  Now, the failed economic policies of the past 20 years are no longer sustainable. Governments are forced to negotiate over .1 percent of the budget deficit with the bureaucracy in Brussels, while the need for public and private investment runs in the trillions.  The pro-finance, anti-production policies must change not for ideological reasons or to serve some specific interest group; they must change because there is no other choice. People are revolting against a political class that does not respond adequately to widespread economic and social discontent. In times of economic distress the population becomes more vulnerable to demagogues, raising the risk of dangerous outcomes, as seen with Fascism and Nazism in the 1920s and 1930s.  Currently, there are unprepared and unpredictable political forces with growing support across Europe, that in some cases represent a threat to the democratic rights and values that the European Union aims to promote. Defending the orthodoxy of E.U. policy against popular movements that target failed economic policies, will only further damage precisely those values on which Europe is said to stand.  What to Do  At this point Europe needs a return to measures that promote productive investment and innovation, rather than cut social welfare programs and encourage further deregulation. Refugees from Mideast wars camped along rail lines in Greece.  There are two potential directions: a wholesale change in the policies of the E.U. institutions, without modifying their essential structure, or a step back from the process of cancellation of national sovereignty.  The first option seems unrealistic, for various reasons. These include the constitutional nature of many economic and budget constraints, and the stubbornness demonstrated by the European ruling class in recent years; a class that, despite numerous alarm bells, does not at all seem ready to abandon an elitist view of globalization.  The response to the Brexit vote is a glaring example. Representatives of the E.U. institutions lashed out with arrogance and bitterness, essentially accusing half of the British population of being ignorant, racist and isolationist. It's a comforting excuse based on partial truths, that avoids reflection on Europe's own mistakes.  At this point a return of decision-making power to national governments is becoming inevitable: not in order to stop international cooperation, or to reject shared values, but because the model pursued by the supranational institutions and their allies in the financial world has failed, and risks producing both serious internal conflicts, and unacceptable strategic failures in an increasingly complex world.  Andrew Spannaus is a freelance journalist and strategic analyst based in Milan, Italy. He is the founder of Transatlantico.info, that provides news, analysis and consulting to Italian institutions and businesses. His book on the U.S. elections Perch\u00e8 vince Trump (Why Trump is Winning) was published in June 2016.","label":1}
{"text":"Country: South Korea In October 2016, the Presidential Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification of Korea suggested to the President of the Republic of Korea returning US tactical nuclear weapons to the country. The report entitled \"The policy of promotion of the second plan on Korean reunification\" states that the search for opportunities to place US tactical nuclear weapons in the Republic of Korea and the permanent basing of American strategic forces may serve as a pressure tool both on the DPRK, and on China to toughen sanctions in respect of Pyongyang. The placement of US tactical nuclear weapons in the Republic of Korea is justified in the report by the following example \u2013 SS-series ballistic missiles were placed in the territory of the former USSR that were targeted on Europe, in response to this, the USA placed Pershing II \u2013 the American medium-range ballistic missiles of mobile basing \u2013 in Europe. Earlier, on September 12, 2016, 31 representatives of the Saenuri governing party signed a statement, which proposed that the Parliament discuss launching an independent South Korean nuclear program. The same former leader of the parliamentary group Won Yoo-chul, who is one of the major proponents of the idea to publicly discuss the issue of nuclear weapons in the South, has announced that the Republic of Korea should consider any protection measures from the provocative acts of the North, including nuclear weapons for the purposes of self-defense. Won Yoo-chul believes that American strategic nuclear weapons should be placed in the South in the short-term in order to achieve nuclear balance with the North. However, in the long-term, the South should create its own nuclear potential exceeding that of North Korea at least two times. According to Chung Mong-joon, member of South Korea's Parliament, as the Rubicon in terms of the peninsula denuclearization has been crossed, the Republic of Korea needs the nuclear weapons. The statement also emphasizes the fact that this is not an opinion of just a few members of Parliament. The day before, on September 11, the leader of the Saenuri governing party Lee Jung-hyun announced to journalists that the adoption of strict measures was required. He said that \"in the current situation this is the topic of discussion to focus on; yet it is the issue that has been always avoided.\" It goes without saying that the opposition called such a proposal unrealistic and potentially leading to increased conflict. The speaker of the Democratic Party of Korea Yoon Kwang-suk has called the proposal unspeakable. The Republic of Korea government also opposes the placement of the nuclear weapons in the country as it contradicts the denuclearization principle on the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, one of the three leading conservative publications, surveyed 16 experts on security and international relations. They are divided into three groups: nine of them support denuclearization, four of them approve of the idea of obtaining the nuclear weapons for the purposes of self-defense or the placement of US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, and the remaining three experts propose using nuclear weapons against the North. Moreover, this division clearly correlates with their liberal or conservative outlook. Academics have noted that the South Korean bomb will go against the non-proliferation system, which may lead to a split in the international community. The Republic of Korea will have to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which will result in international sanctions and the termination of the Cooperation Agreement with the USA on nuclear power engineering. Thus, Seoul will lose access to enriched uranium, which will lead to disruption in the energy sector. In addition, it will send the wrong signal to the DPRK that nuclear weapons might be accepted by the international community. The nuclear armament of Seoul will mean a recognition of Pyongyang's nuclear status and it will completely bury the prospects for the peninsula's denuclearization. That is why some experts have proposed relying on the US nuclear \"umbrella\", stating that Washington is unlikely to allow Seoul to obtain its own nuclear weapons, and any countermeasures may affect the country's economic situation. Another position suggests using the nuclear program as part of a bargaining strategy in order to reach the \"zero option\" and to eliminate nuclear weapons in both the North and the South. Those who support the proposal of the Saenuri Deputies consider the independent nuclear program to be a well-minded response. The USA withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula in 1991, and the majority of its nuclear torpedoes and mines were destroyed. It will be difficult to place American tactical nuclear weapons again. Moreover, \"we should not entrust the destiny of our nation in foreign hands.\" Is there any guarantee that the USA will join the nuclear war for our sake in the changing international environment? What is the public opinion on this issue? An opinion poll conducted by the Gallup Korea agency among 1,010 people showed that 58% of the respondents supported the idea of South Korea obtaining its own nuclear weapons. 34% of the respondents spoke out against it: most of them young people. The remaining 7% refused to answer or said they could not give a definite answer. Relying on the containment model that currently exists between India and Pakistan, supporters of the Seoul bomb suppose that the current technological level will mean a bomb can be made in 8-12 months . However, according to a statement made by an official of the US National Security Council Jon Wolfsthal on September 21, 2016, neither the independent program nor the placement of the US tactical nuclear weapons would boost the security of the Republic of Korea . The USA is able to attack its enemies from any part of the world, and all its potential opponents are aware of this. Therefore, he does not believe that these actions will play an additional role in dissuading the DPRK from turning to a military solution. Neither the USA nor the Republic of Korea is interested in the South Korean nuclear program. In the author's opinion, the entire fact of bringing this issue for the public discussion is indicative, as South Korean nuclear weapons would truly cause great harm to the non-proliferation system. Konstantin Asmolov, Ph.D. in History, Chief Research Fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine \" New Eastern Outlook \".","label":1}
{"text":"Shred the political playbook. The 2016 campaign will be remembered as the year in which the conventional wisdom was anything but wise. Most political pundits have been wrong. And almost every assumption about presidential campaigns since the birth of modern politics in 1960, with the first televised debate and widespread use of TV advertising, has been debunked. Our political catechism has been upended. Consider the following: When the Supreme Court ruled in the 2010 Citizens United case that corporations were people and therefore could spend unlimited amounts of money \u2013 without disclosure, in some instances \u2013 on political campaigns, Democrats and other critics warned that democracy was now for sale and that the candidate who raised the most money would invariably prevail over less well-funded contenders. Enter Jeb Bush, the Republican Party's \"inevitable\" nominee, who raised over $130 million for his campaign and Super Pac even before he formally declared. Eight months later, exit Jeb!, the \"low-energy\" candidate who, having spent the vast majority of the money he had raised, quit the race, dragging his exclamation point behind him. Donald Trump, by contrast, may be wealthy \u2013 just how rich remains in dispute \u2013 but he has spent less overall than any other candidate and, because of the nonstop coverage his slurs and antics have received, virtually nothing on TV advertising. Ted Cruz was supposed to win all the early GOP contests because of his heavy investment in his \"ground game.\" But, with the exception of Iowa \u2013 which he first visited in 2008, only months after being elected a first-term senator from Texas \u2013 organization, like money, has meant little this year. Cruz won Iowa thanks to a large evangelical turnout after Trump skipped what turned out to be a critical debate days before the nation's first caucus, but he has steadily faded ever since. Polls suggest that Trump won in Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina with the most modest of campaign ground organizations because of his powerful slogan of American revitalization; because he is seen as a consummate political outsider, a blunt businessman who says what ordinary people think, a problem-solver and anti-politician; and because of his celebrity status and tempestuous rallies, complete with the by now almost ritualistic ejection of a protester. While Trump has repeatedly flown to primary states in his private jet, he rarely spends a night outside his baronial residence on Fifth Avenue. Apparently not this year. Almost no establishment politician endorsed Trump during the first two primaries. The only other celebrity politician who rallied to Trump's side was Sarah Palin, whose rambling, incoherent 45-minute endorsement prior to the Iowa caucus, if anything, may have cost him votes there. Marco Rubio, the candidate who has garnered the most endorsements, has yet to win a primary and is unlikely to do so, despite his growing support from a still reeling Republican \"establishment.\" 4. You can't run against the media. Trump has mocked this political platitude, repeatedly. If anything, one of the bumptious billionaire's most reliable applause lines is his frequent declaration that the media are \"terrible,\" \"among the most dishonest groups of people\" he's ever met. Apparently his rivals have gotten the message. During the debate in Houston last Thursday, every candidate except John Kasich, who is running a poor fifth except in his home state of Ohio, attacked the press. Quite the contrary. In 2016, given America's deep political polarization, no candidate seems able to win without high negatives. The nation's bitter frustration seems to require candidates to make increasingly stark, even extreme, appeals. The GOP field has no shortage of candidates with high positive ratings, especially Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, neither of whom has carried a single state primary or caucus. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has far higher favorability ratings than Hillary Clinton, who in poll after poll is widely viewed by potential voters of most ages, ethnicities and genders as \"untrustworthy\" and perhaps even \"dishonest.\" Yet Clinton got 73.5 percent of the Democratic vote in South Carolina on Saturday. Many Trump critics continue to assert that he will ultimately stumble, because no candidate can win his party's nomination or be elected to the nation's highest office without substantial political experience. While the 2008 election of a junior senator from Illinois whose resume featured only a brief stint as a community organizer began to challenge that political bromide, the crucial primaries on March 1 and March 15 will be the ultimate referee. Given the pundits' predictive record so far, a degree of humility is in order. Trump, once the \"unthinkable,\" may soon become \"inevitable.\" For better or worse, the 2016 race is anything but politics as usual. Judith Miller, a Fox News contributor, is an award-winning writer and author, and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. The author of several books, her latest is \"The Story: A Reporter's Journey\" (Simon & Schuster, April 7, 2015) now available in paperback. Follow her on Twitter @JMFreeSpeech. Douglas E. Schoen has served as a pollster for President Bill Clinton. He has more than 30 years experience as a pollster and political consultant. He is also a Fox News contributor and co-host of \"Fox News Insiders\" Sundays on Fox News Channel at 7 pm ET. He is the author of 13 books. His latest is \"Putin's Master Plan\" (Encounter Books, September 27, 2016). Follow Doug on Twitter @DouglasESchoen.","label":0}
{"text":"Silvio Berlusconi s center-right coalition has a narrow lead over the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in Sicilian regional elections held on Sunday, according to exit polls, with the center-left a distant third. The election to pick a new regional governor on the Mediterranean island is widely seen as a test of trends across Italy ahead of parliamentary elections due by next May. RAI state television said Nello Musumeci, backed by center-right parties, including former Prime Minister Berlusconi s Forza Italia (Go Italy!), would win between 35 percent and 39 percent of the vote. The 5-Star s Giancarlo Cancelleri was seen taking between 33-37 percent. Another exit poll for private broadcaster La 7 put Musumeci on 36-40 percent and Cancelleri on 34-38 percent. The center-left s candidate Fabrizio Micari, backed by the ruling Democratic Party, was seen almost 20 points behind the frontrunner in both polls, followed by Claudio Fava, the candidate of a cluster of left-wing parties. The vote count will not begin until Monday at 8 a.m (0700 GMT) with the full result expected later that day.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday he would accept the result of the Nov. 8 election - \"if I win\" - fueling Republican concerns his stance would make it harder for his party to maintain control of Congress. His refusal to commit to accepting the election outcome was the standout remark of the third and final 2016 presidential debate between Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Wednesday night. It ratcheted up Trump's allegations the election was being rigged against him, and became the latest flashpoint in an unusually acrimonious race three weeks before voters go to the polls. Clinton called the comment \"horrifying.\" President Barack Obama blasted Trump on Thursday at a rally in Miami Gardens, Florida, for Clinton and U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, who is trying to unseat Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Trump supporter. \"That is dangerous. Because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people's minds about the legitimacy of the elections, that undermines our democracy. Then you're doing the work of our adversaries for them,\" Obama said. Trump modified his comment at a rally in Ohio on Thursday, but did not back off. \"I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States, that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election - if I win,\" he said. He added he would accept \"a clear election result,\" but reserved the right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result. With Trump trailing in opinion polls, the focus ahead of the Nov. 8 vote is shifting to whether Republicans can keep their narrow majority in the Senate or even their larger advantage in the House of Representatives. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Obama, said accepting the election result was \"the American way.\" \"I didn't like the outcome of the 2008 election. But I had a duty to concede, and I did so without reluctance,\" McCain, who has opened a poll lead in his Senate re-election race, said in a statement. \"A concession isn't just an exercise in graciousness. It is an act of respect for the will of the American people, a respect that is every American leader's first responsibility.\" McCain has withdrawn his support for Trump. Asked on Wednesday night if he would commit to a peaceful transition of power, Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, replied: \"What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. OK?\" Trump's statement, the most provocative in a debate that repeatedly descended into rancor, made headlines across the country and raised questions about his commitment to a peaceful transition of power, a cornerstone of American democracy. Clinton accused Trump of being Russian President Vladimir Putin's puppet. Trump called Clinton a \"nasty woman\" and a criminal who should be barred from running. They did not exchange the customary handshake when the debate ended. On Thursday night the two candidates appeared together at a formal charity dinner in New York and shook hands there after giving speeches intended to roast each other. \"Just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me, and she very civilly said, 'pardon me,'\" Trump joked. \"And I very politely replied, let me talk to you about that after I get into office.\" Trump has said Clinton should be imprisoned for her email practices as secretary of state. Clinton spoke after Trump at the dinner, which she joked was remarkable in itself. \"I didn't think he'd be ok with a peaceful transition of power,\" she said. That show of humor was not the norm, however. Democrats jumped to ask Republican candidates whether they agreed with Trump, who is making his first run for public office against Clinton, a former senator and first lady. \"Do you agree with Donald Trump to question the results of the election?\" the Nevada Democratic Party asked in a release targeting Republican Joe Heck. Heck is in a tight race with Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto for retiring Democratic leader Harry Reid's Senate seat. Trump's comments did not worry his supporters. Marion Fields, 48, a registered Democrat who backs Trump, said he did not think concession would be an issue because Trump would win. Were he to lose, \"After it's announced, you'd have to be a professional and concede.\" A CNN\/ORC snap poll said 52 percent of Americans thought Clinton won the debate, to 39 percent for Trump. Trump donor and energy investor Dan Eberhart said Trump won. He disagreed with his rhetoric, but still backs the candidate. \"I think Hillary's policies and track record are not what the country needs leading us forward for the next four years. And that backs me into supporting Trump,\" Eberhart said. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway sought on Thursday to defend Trump, saying in television interviews he was \"putting people on notice\" about voting irregularities. Trump has not offered specific evidence to back up his vote-rigging claims, and numerous studies have shown that the U.S. election system, which is run by the states, is sound. Trump has stepped up allegations that the election is being rigged against a backdrop of accusations that he had made improper sexual advances to women since a video emerged two weeks ago in which Trump boasted of such behavior. A 10th woman came forward on Thursday at a news conference in Manhattan with attorney Gloria Allred, a Clinton supporter who specializes in representing women in cases of alleged assault. Trump campaign spokeswoman Jessica Ditto called the news conference a \"coordinated, publicity-seeking attack\" by Allred. First lady Michelle Obama, a powerful campaigner for Clinton, renewed her criticism of Trump without naming him during a campaign event in Arizona. \"Decent men do not demean women. And we shouldn't tolerate this behavior from any man, let alone a man who wants to be the president,\" she said.","label":0}
{"text":"It s no secret that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is no fan of Donald Trump. They had a frosty visit when she visited the United States. He infamously refused to shake her hand for the cameras as is customary in the Oval Office, and even reportedly presented her with some kind of bogus bill for supposed expenses with regards to financial obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).Combine that with the fact that Trump publicly scolded our fellow NATO member nations at the summit in Brussels, and you have a recipe for Chancellor Merkel coming to a very grave conclusion: The United States of America can no longer be trusted to defend its NATO allies and support Article V which states that when one nation is attacked, all nations are attacked as long as Donald Trump is president. This is an especially striking blow, since the only time Article V of NATO has been invoked is when the U.S. was attacked on September 11, 2001.With all of this in mind, Merkel has made a stunning and historic statement to her fellow member nations of the European Union: Thanks to Trump, America is not to be relied on any longer. Merkel said of Trump s America: The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I ve experienced that in the last few days. We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands. Merkel had the same advice regarding Great Britain, though with less harsh words. She still insists that respectful relationships with Britain and America will be maintained, but told the remaining European Union nations, we have to fight for our own destiny. Another warning came as a result of Trump s refusal to commit to the Paris Climate Agreement at the G7 Summit. All of the other six member nations of the agreement reaffirmed their commitment to addressing the problem of climate change, but Trump and thus the United States did not. Merkel said that this is a very difficult, not to say very unsatisfactory development and a six against one dialogue with regards to a grave world matter. A matter that, by the way, Trump has previously called a hoax. Here is the tweet that confirms his crazy views there:The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012In short, with Donald Trump as president, the United States of America is no longer the leader of the free world. Germany is. Hopefully, Merkel gets re-elected, and can diminish Trump s power on the world stage until he is either impeached and removed from office, resigns, or his term ends.The fate of the free world depends on it.","label":1}
{"text":"Ever since Donald Trump announced he was running for president, most Americans pretty much thought it was a joke and brushed it off as Donald being Donald. However, as his poll numbers began to rise, so did people s curiosity with whether he may actually be in it to win it. And now that Trump has won New Hampshire and is still polling high nationwide the probability of a Trump presidency is actually starting to sink in among several American citizens and it is terrifying the living daylights out of them.However, don t fret! There seems to be a way out if Trump were to actually win the White House.Move to Canada!!A new website has been set up to advise people to move to the lovely Cape Breton Island.The site is called Cape Breton If Donald Trump Wins and it encourages Americans to move to the island if that awful circumstance were to become a reality. It says: Hi Americans! Donald Trump may become the President of your country! If that happens, and you decide to get the hell out of there, might I suggest moving to Cape Breton Island! And you can find lots of cool things there! And lots and lots of yummy SEAFOOD!Where is Cape Breton? Not far from New England! You could be there in no time!While this site is technically a joke website set up by radio host Rob Calabrese, people are still reaching out to him in droves. It seems people are horrified at that possibility of a Trump presidency. Calabrese had no idea it would actually be this popular. He told nationalpost.com: I m in disbelief, Calabrese said in an interview Wednesday from Sydney, the largest community in Cape Breton. I wish everyone from Cape Breton could read them because they really make you proud of living here. You can find the FAQ page telling you it s not a joke:And it actually will lead you to the Canadian government citizen website:So, while it is a joke, you may want to still check out the possibilities anyway. The site also directs you to the real Cape Breton tour page.As they say, it s always good to have a back up plan. Featured image: Flickr\/Wikimedia","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday brought a message of support for Europe from Donald Trump, but failed to wholly reassure allies worried about the new president's stance on Russia and the European Union. In Pence's first major foreign policy address for the Trump administration, he told European leaders that he spoke for Trump when he promised \"unwavering\" commitment to the NATO alliance. \"Today, on behalf of President Trump, I bring you this assurance: the United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance,\" Pence told the Munich Security Conference, offering \"greetings\" from the president. But he also repeated U.S. calls for more defense spending in return: \"As you keep faith with us, under President Trump we will always keep faith with you.\" While Poland's defense minister praised Pence, many others, including France's foreign minister and U.S. lawmakers in Munich, remained skeptical that he had convinced his allies that Trump would stand by Europe. Trump's contradictory remarks on the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, scepticism over the 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and an apparent disregard for the future of the European Union have left Europe fearful for the seven-decade-old U.S. guardianship of the West. After Pence spoke, former NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow, who is American, summed up the mood, telling Reuters: \"Many in this hall are still asking if this is the real policy.\" Pence, whose meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel was described by German aides as \"very friendly\", also marked out a divide on Iran, which the European Union sees as a business opportunity following the nuclear deal. Pence called Tehran \"the leading state sponsor of terrorism\", language never used by European officials. Pence's strident vow to consign Islamist militants \"to the ash-heap of history\" also raised eyebrows, European officials said. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly defended Trump's directive suspending travel to the United States by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries, since blocked by U.S judges, which was condemned by EU governments. Kelly said he would produce a \"tighter, more streamlined version\" soon, saying: \"We need to find ways to vet in a more reliable way to satisfy us that people coming to the United States are coming for the right reasons.\" French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault expressed disappointment that Pence's speech did not mention the European Union, although the vice president will take his message to EU headquarters in Brussels on Monday. \"I hope that we will have a clear response (in Brussels) ... because Donald Trump has said he was overjoyed by the Brexit and that there would be others,\" Ayrault said, referring to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the opposition Democrats, said he welcomed Pence's address but saw two rival governments emerging from the Trump administration. Pence, Trump's Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his foreign minister Rex Tillerson all delivered messages of reassurance on their debut trip to Europe. But events in Washington, including a news conference in which Trump branded accredited White House reporters \"dishonest people\", sowed more confusion. \"I like a lot of what I heard from Vice President Pence,\" Murphy told Reuters. \"It's just hard to square that speech with everything Donald Trump is doing and saying,\" citing an assault on the free press. The resignation of Trump's security adviser Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russia on the eve of the U.S. charm offensive in Europe also tarnished the message Pence, Mattis and Tillerson were seeking to send, officials told Reuters. U.S. Republican Senator John McCain, a Trump critic, told the conference on Friday that the new president's team was \"in disarray\". The United States is Europe's biggest trading partner, the biggest foreign investor in the continent and the European Union's partner in almost all foreign policy, as well as the main promoter of European unity for more than 60 years. Pence, citing a trip to Cold War-era West Berlin in his youth, said Trump would uphold the post-World War Two order. \"This is President Trump's promise: we will stand with Europe today and every day, because we are bound together by the same noble ideals \u2013 freedom, democracy, justice and the rule of law,\" Pence said. Pence received little applause beyond the warm reception he got when he declared his support for NATO. His warning that the \"time has come to do more\" on military spending was met with an awkward silence. The United States provides around 70 percent of the NATO alliance's funds. European governments sharply cut defense spending after the fall of the Soviet Union but Russia's resurgence as a military power and its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula has started to change that. Baltic states and Poland fear Russia might try a repeat of Crimea elsewhere. Europe believes Moscow is seeking to destabilize governments and influence elections with cyber attacks and fake news, an accusation denied at the conference by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Pence's tough line on Russia, calling on Moscow to honor the international peace accords that seek to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, were welcomed by Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz. Lavrov said after a meeting with his French, German and Ukrainian counterparts that there would be a new ceasefire from Feb. 20. \"Know this: the United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which as you know, President Trump believes can be found,\" Pence said.","label":0}
{"text":"When Alan Rusbridger retired last year after two decades as the editor of The Guardian, he was lauded as one of the finest journalists of his generation, having transformed a midsize British newspaper into an international digital media giant. He racked up a string of investigative scoops and made the organization a darling of readers around the world. But Mr. Rusbridger on Friday departed the organization to which he had devoted his career. With mounting financial losses that threatened The Guardian, he was forced to give up the plum role he was set to assume in September, as chairman of the Scott Trust, the nonprofit organization that owns The Guardian. Mr. Rusbridger's decision to cut ties with The Guardian follows a series of events that made his presence seem increasingly untenable: lingering resentments from a battle over his replacement as editor a string of articles detailing the paper's deteriorating finances and, finally, a clash with his successor, Katharine Viner, who helped spearhead his strategy for international growth but now faces a period of retrenchment. The tensions, playing out on a public stage, deviate from the familiar news media angst in the digital world, where print's changing fortunes can create upheaval at the top. In his resignation statement, Mr. Rusbridger, 62, seemed to imply at times that he had been undone by the new regime \u2014 which he helped put in place \u2014 as well as a rapidly shifting environment in which even news organizations hemorrhage money while titans like Facebook and Google devour advertising revenue. The Guardian lost an estimated 45 million pounds, or $65 million, last year. It is seeking to cut its annual budget of $380 million by 20 percent over the next three years. It is cutting its British work force by 310 positions \u2014 250 job cuts and 60 vacant positions that will not be filled \u2014 or 18 percent of the total. \"Much has changed in the year since I stepped down,\" Mr. Rusbridger wrote in a memo to The Guardian's staff members on Friday, stating that the leadership of The Guardian \u2014 David Pemsel, the chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, and Ms. Viner, the editor \u2014 no longer wanted him to take over the Scott Trust. \"We all currently do our journalism in the teeth of a digital hurricane,\" Mr. Rusbridger said in the memo. The leaders of The Guardian \"clearly believe they would like to plot a route into the future with a new chair,\" he said, adding, \"I understand their reasoning. \" A central point of disagreement within The Guardian has been its refusal \u2014 for Mr. Rusbridger, virtually an ideology \u2014 to charge online subscribers, as news organizations like The Financial Times, The Times of London, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have come around to doing. The Guardian has recently experimented with a membership model that amounts to seeking donations, but Mr. Rusbridger insisted that a digital pay wall would be at odds with the newspaper's editorial mission. Under Mr. Rusbridger, The Guardian invested hundreds of millions of dollars in expansion, fueled in part by proceeds from the sale of a trade publication, Auto Trader. The Guardian Media Group's investment fund had been shrinking recently at an alarming rate \u2014 to \u00a3740 million in January, from \u00a3838. 3 million in July. The Guardian, which started in Manchester, England, in 1821, built a presence in Australia and the United States beginning in 2011. It seemed to move easily into the digital realm, staffing 10 bureaus in the two countries and hiring more than 50 reporters. Along the way, Mr. Rusbridger racked up an investigative hat trick, with electrifying scoops on illegal phone hacking by British tabloids, the WikiLeaks trove of diplomatic cables, and leaks from Edward J. Snowden describing the vast electronic surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency. The Guardian won its first Pulitzer Prize in 2014, shared with The Washington Post, for the surveillance articles. The Guardian succeeded in significantly expanding its international readership \u2014 the company says traffic from outside Britain now represents of its digital audience. But its resistance to charging readers for content came at a significant cost. \"He made The Guardian's mark, and made it an international brand,\" said Dominic Ponsford, the editor of Press Gazette, which covers the British news industry. But it was an expensive proposition, and Mr. Ponsford said, \"That cost is one of the reasons that its losses are so high now. \" In a statement on Friday, Ms. Viner lauded Mr. Rusbridger as \"a truly towering figure at The Guardian over the last three decades. \" But she added: \"In his email to staff, Alan recognized how much has changed in the year since he stepped down as editor, and that it is right that we all plot a new route to the future. We face a formidable challenge over the coming months in a digital environment that is shifting all the time. \" Current and former colleagues of Mr. Rusbridger's, who acknowledged criticism of his business decisions, characterized him as a brilliant journalist \u2014 not to mention a talented pianist, an affinity he explored in a 2013 book \u2014 and nearly universally declined to discuss his departure for attribution, describing it as a sad way to end his affiliation with the institution. Mr. Rusbridger, who was born in Zambia and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1976 with a degree in English, started as a journalist at The Cambridge Evening News. He joined The Guardian in 1979, and in 1988 became an editor there. In 1994, he was promoted to deputy editor, before taking over the next year as editor in chief, a position he held until his departure last spring. Cerebral and academic, with often unruly hair, Mr. Rusbridger had an inner steel that won him admiration and devotion. Early in his career at The Guardian, Mr. Rusbridger led the newspaper's tenacious investigation of what became known as the scandal in Parliament, which contributed to the fall of the Conservative government of Prime Minister John Major in 1997. Mr. Rusbridger stared down a libel suit against the newspaper by a powerful former minister involved in the scandal, Jonathan Aitken, who was ultimately jailed for perjury. In the hypercompetitive and partisan world of British journalism, Mr. Rusbridger was sometimes a lonely figure, often more admired in the United States than among his rivals at home. As Mr. Rusbridger's vision for the newsroom played out, the strategy appeared to have the full support of the top brass. Shortly after Mr. Rusbridger retired in 2015, Mr. Pemsel, the chief executive, said he was \"hugely excited at the prospect of managing the next phase of growth at The Guardian, building on our international audience, capitalizing on the many commercial and digital opportunities. \" Around that time, another top executive said the company's finances had been good that year. Then the bottom fell out. Print advertising cratered, and expected digital money never materialized. Support for Mr. Rusbridger suddenly shifted, as he was cast as a negligent manager who had saddled the paper with a slew of problems. Janine Gibson, a favorite of Mr. Rusbridger's who lost out in the race to succeed him, left with other senior Guardian journalists, further shifting the way his legacy was viewed in the newsroom. In January, Mr. Rusbridger's choice as The Guardian's opinion editor, Jonathan Freedland, stepped down in what was seen as a leftward shift in the organization's editorial stance. And Ms. Viner's plans for the newsroom seemed increasingly at odds with Mr. Rusbridger's, making the idea that he would soon return, as essentially her boss, increasingly unsavory. The negative sentiment started to rise in recent months, as several news media reports detailed a rising tide of internal discord, quoting insiders who placed the blame for the company's woes on Mr. Rusbridger's policies and what they saw as his intractability. A critical article in Prospect Magazine took aim at Mr. Rusbridger's decisions to \"lavish money on new presses and delightful new offices. \" It prompted Mr. Rusbridger to strike back, defending the move to make a \"significant investment in digital today\" in the hope of having a \"sustainable business tomorrow. \" It all reached a head on Thursday when the board of the trust met to discuss Mr. Rusbridger's future. The meeting ended without a decision. Mr. Rusbridger was by all accounts apparently dismayed by the public and the sour tone at the institution he dominated for so many years. While his supporters framed the decision to go as his, others said he had lost the battle with the trust and had no choice but to leave. In his memo, Mr. Rusbridger, who is currently the principal, or head, of Lady Margaret Hall, a college at the University of Oxford, wished his colleagues well. In September, he will also become the chairman of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, also at Oxford.","label":0}
{"text":"Investigators in Zurich, ranked among the world s cleanest cities, are probing alleged grubby dealings within the municipal garbage and recycling department. While trash services in the United States and Italy have sometimes been linked with illicit dealings, the Swiss financial center appears an unlikely source of muck. Rubbish bins are ubiquitous, and a fleet of motorized street sweepers keeps boulevards nearly spotless. But so far Zurich has unearthed irregular accounting surrounding some $15 million in cost overruns on one of its marquee projects, possible nepotism and an alleged off-the-books slush fund, according to a series of reports released last week. The garbage and recycling department in Zurich developed into a state within a state, Filippo Leutenegger, a city council member who has overseen the Sanitation and Recycling office since 2014, told state broadcaster SRF. We cannot allow that to happen, he added, rejecting criticism he failed to act quickly enough to halt the problems. The department s chief, Urs Pauli, was fired in June after revelations he was driving a taxpayer-funded BMW sedan worth more than $100,000 and after a so-called secret stash of 215,000 Swiss francs ($226,500) was uncovered in his offices. The city prosecutor s office seized the cash, which Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger has reported resulted from selling used department vehicles and was used to reward employees for good performance. SWEEPING COVER-UP According to the city s reports, the garbage department hid 15 million Swiss francs in cost overruns on a logistics center, including by booking them to unrelated accounts in a sweeping cover-up. A whistleblower alerted authorities in 2015, accusing Pauli s department of neglecting proper documentation as well as irregularities on no-bid construction contracts involving firms with close ties to trash department officials. Awarding contracts without seeking bids or ensuring transparency can prompt questions about compliance when the same contractors are always chosen, according to the city reports. It creates fertile ground for accusations of favoritism. Earlier this year, Leutenegger filed a criminal complaint with city prosecutors, alleging Pauli, who had led the department since 2008, had broken the law by bypassing formal approval for his BMW. Zurich prosecutors did not immediately respond to questions on Tuesday about their investigation s status. Nobody has been charged. Pauli, who has denied wrongdoing, declined to comment this week through his attorney.","label":0}
{"text":"We have compiled a huge list of voter fraud incidents which were caught in the early voting process, all of it done by Hillary Clinton's supporters against Republican candidate Donald Trump. So far there hasn't been a single case where Republicans were caught doing voter fraud for Donald Trump. Remember the following list is a compilation of CAUGHT cases. Imagine how many more there might be out there uncaught. NEVADA  \u2013 CAUGHT ON VIDEO Hillary Supporters Commit Voter Fraud in Las Vegas \u2014 Again! INDIANA  \u2013 More Crooked Democrats : Police Raid Offices of Indiana Voter Registration Project in Voter Fraud Case NORTH CAROLINA  -North Carolina Hillary Supporter Brags on Facebook About Voting Multiple Times PENNSYLVANIA  \u2013 BREAKING: PA STATE POLICE RAID Democrat Group For Evidence Of Voter Fraud FLORIDA  \u2013 GOP Alleges VOTER FRAUD in Broward County \u2013 Democrats Opened TENS OF THOUSANDS of Ballots TEXAS  -Texas Woman \u2013 Who Is Not a US Citizen \u2013 BUSTED for Voting 5 Times in Texas  CALIFORNIA  \u2013 Voter Fraud: 83 Ballots , With 83 Different Names, Sent to One Address in LA County NATIONWIDE  \u2013 Election \"results\" have already been shown in advance, in error, on multiple major news outlets such as CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC. \u2013 Third-party Voters Are \"Trading Votes\" With Clinton Voters To Defeat Trump \u2013 Democrats are suing Roger Stone on bogus charges of \"voter intimidation\" for only wanting to conduct AFTER -voting exit polling! Exit polling is not only legal but its something done in all civilized countries in the world. Democrats want to steal and prevent anyone from exposing their thievery. Exit polling provides perfectly accurate results and if in some state GOP gets for example 55% in exit polls and then 40% or whatever in final results, then we know there was fraud involved in that state. The usual accepted error between actual final results and exit polling can't be bigger than 2%.","label":1}
{"text":"Actress Scarlett Johansson revealed she would be open to running for public office in the future in an interview Wednesday. [In a conversation with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan, the Avengers star said she has been \"interested\" in local politics for some time, but family commitments and her film career have kept her plenty busy. \"I've always, like I said, been interested in local politics,\" the actress said. \"Right now, I think with my young daughter and also the way my career is going right now \u2026 it's just not the right time. But eventually, maybe when my daughter is older and I can totally focus myself on something like that, I think it could be interesting. \" The Ghost in the Shell star said she makes no apologies for supporting liberal policies that might offend her potential audience: \"I'm not afraid to say what I feel is right, just because I think that I'm going to face criticism, or some people might not like me. \" In recent months, Johansson has become a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. In September, the actress appeared alongside her Avengers cast mates in a voter registration PSA meant to rev up support among younger voters and millennials to turn out on Election Day for former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The actress also participated in the Trump Women's March in Washington D. C. where she delivered a speech railing against the president. Scarlett Johansson to Trump: \"I want to be able to support you, but first, I ask that you support me\" and all women https: . \u2014 NBC News (@NBCNews) January 21, 2017, In her interview Wednesday, Johansson said she would continue to support organizations like Planned Parenthood even if it causes some people to stay away from her films. \"If fighting, you know, for women's rights, for women's reproductive rights, and you know, in support of Planned Parenthood, if that's going to, you know, mean that some people don't want to buy a ticket to see Ghost in the Shell, then \u2026 I'm OK with that,\" she said. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson","label":0}
{"text":"When she heard that Nintendo was planning to reproduce its iconic Nintendo Entertainment System video game console for the holiday season, Emily Bradbury put a note on her calendar and set an alarm on her phone. She was not interested in buying it for her children. She wanted it for her husband. \"He's 40 years old and grew up with a Nintendo,\" Ms. Bradbury said. \"It's a nostalgia thing. \" Since its release on Nov. 11, the NES Classic Edition, a smaller version of the original console introduced to North America in 1985, has become one of the hottest gift items of the year. It has struck a chord especially among older millennials and younger members of Generation X, who may have found in it a video game system to share with their children \u2014 if they don't just keep it for themselves. It retails for $60, with one original controller, and comes preloaded with 30 classic games, including Super Mario Bros. Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda and Tecmo Bowl. But this trip down memory lane has not been without headaches. Nintendo has been sluggish in responding to the demand, resulting in huge markups on the secondary market, including on sites like eBay, where the consoles were being resold for as much as $390. Those higher prices are sure to stand out even more on Monday, when many other brands and retailers cut prices for Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday. On the release date, most retailers, including Amazon and GameStop, sold out almost immediately. ( had sold out over the summer.) Walmart kept a very limited supply in stock that it trickled out in online flash sales over the last two weeks. The consoles sold out within two minutes each time. Heeding her calendar warnings and alarms, Ms. Bradbury tried to order the NES online through Amazon and Walmart but could not act quickly enough. She even enlisted friends to visit nearby Target and Best Buy stores in Wichita, Kan. the closest big city to her home. But they, too, returned . \"I thought it would be a bunch of us people going after it, but it won't be much of a big deal,\" said Ms. Bradbury, the member services director for the Kansas Press Association, a trade organization for Kansas newspapers. \"I was shocked. \" But Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst, said he was not surprised by the intense demand or the low supply, which he considered an intentional move by Nintendo to garner attention, knowing that it could restock before the holiday shopping season was over. \"The Classic is sold out for three reasons: It's nostalgic, it's cheap and Nintendo clearly didn't ship enough of them,\" Mr. Pachter said in an email, adding: \"There is plenty of time to stock the channel. They may miss Black Friday, but they won't miss Xmas. \" In a statement, Nintendo said that it was \"working hard to keep up with consumer demand. \" \"There will be a steady flow of additional systems through the holiday shopping season and into the new year,\" the statement read. The company declined to comment further. David Cole, the chief executive of DFC Intelligence, a market research firm, said there was a lot riding on Nintendo's ability to satisfy demand in the next few weeks. The company is introducing a new product, Nintendo Switch, in 2017, which it hopes will make up for its lagging sales of the Wii U and its late entry into mobile gaming. Pok\u00e9mon Go, which was released over the summer and is partially owned by Nintendo, was the company's first major effort in mobile gaming, and it was a sensation. Mr. Cole said buyers were pursuing the NES Classic Edition mostly for nostalgia, but he thought the console could potentially make older customers interested in future Nintendo products. \"They had really lost their brand identity the past two years,\" Mr. Cole said. \"This was the kind of thing that was perfect for bringing that back. \" But such a plan will work, Mr. Cole added, only if Nintendo manages to restock before the holidays are over. \"If they don't, they really miss out on an opportunity,\" he said. \"That demand might not carry over into 2017. \" Jim Silver, editor of TTPM, a toy review website, says that nostalgic items have been big this year, and that retailers are recognizing that many of the children who grew up in the 1980s are starting families of their own. He noted that Stretch Armstrong figurines, and Strawberry Shortcake and Teddy Ruxpin dolls have all begun making comebacks. The NES is no different. \"This is not saying, 'I need to have Zelda,'\" Mr. Silver said. \"This is adults saying, 'These were my favorite games. I get to play them again. '\" But shopping for a hot holiday item, even online, is hardly simple today. And those who have managed to acquire the new NES at the retail price seem to have benefited from extensive planning, research and luck \u2014 even strategizing since July, when Nintendo announced its plans to release the NES. Michael Salazar, from Sacramento, Calif. managed to place a request to a console on July 22 through Amazon's British website. When it arrived last week, shipped directly from Edinburgh, Mr. Salazar was elated. He then used a secondary site, which tracks inventory at Target stores, to monitor whether any consoles had arrived locally. When he saw that a nearby Target had received three, he rushed there at 7:30 a. m. on a Sunday to buy one as a present for his . Now, he is looking for a third to give as a gift. \"I'm 38 that's my childhood,\" Mr. Salazar said. \"Nintendo was always a very important piece of my life. \" Amanda Schluer, of Rocklin, Calif. had the foresight in July to set an alert on Amazon for one minute before the release date. Then she watched the seconds tick down. \"I've sat and waited for Garth Brooks tickets the same way,\" Ms. Schluer said. \"Just wait until the second they go on sale and push the button. \" By acting quickly, Ms. Schluer, 38, managed to buy a console. She and her husband even took their NES to Los Angeles to play with family over Thanksgiving. \"We have a Wii, and my kids never play it,\" said Ms. Schluer of her two daughters, ages 6 and 10. \"That's the good thing about the old retro games,\" Ms. Schluer added. \"They are fun, they're and it's something we can all play together. \"","label":0}
{"text":"In his efforts to weasel out of answering questions about Donald Trump s lie that President Obama tapped Trump Tower s wires, Sean Spicer uttered four little words that he now regrets. No, that s above my pay grade, Spicer told a reporter when asked for evidence that Trump was telling the truth.Jay Carney, President Barack Obama s press secretary, very quickly shut down Spicer s claim that he does not have access to that information via Twitter. Actually, his pay grade is the highest possible at WH same as for chief of staff, national security and other senior personnel, Carney tweeted:Actually, his \"pay grade\" is the highest possible at WH same as for chief of staff, national security and other senior personnel. https:\/\/t.co\/V3BENwFHjI Jay Carney (@JayCarney) March 7, 2017Yes, this means that Sean Spicer lied to you.On Saturday, Trump dropped a bigger lie about Obama than the whole Kenya thing (and that was a whopper). Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! our alleged President said as part of an extended rant that was clearly intended to distract from the very real scandals related to him, his campaign, his staff, and a little shirtless Russian guy he calls Vladdy Poot Poot (we assume on that last bit). A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice, Obama responded via spokesman Kevin Lewis. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false. So far Trump has not been able to provide a shred of evidence and even some of Obama s most vocal opponents have failed to defend The Donald. Nevertheless Trump has demanded that the Republican Congress distract themselves from any of those pesky Russia investigations by looking into whether or not Obama did the stupid and illegal thing he falsely said he did. They agreed, because they legitimately do not care what laws he breaks.Watch Spicer lie again below:","label":1}
{"text":"President Donald Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, following through on a promise from his campaign last year. In an Oval Office ceremony, Trump also signed an order imposing a federal hiring freeze and a directive banning U.S. non-governmental organizations receive federal funding from providing abortions abroad. Trump called the TPP order a \"great thing for the American worker.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Republican nominee Donald Trump has finally made some decisions on a few of his Cabinet members if he wins the election tomorrow, and it s almost just as depressing as imagining him getting into the White House. Following the theme of giving the most offensive GOPers more power, Trump has decided that New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani deserves to be his Attorney General.When MSNBC reported on Trump s list of bigot helpers, host Tamron Hall could barely get the words out about Giuliani. When she tried to deliver the news about the former NYC mayor, she choked up and coughed, making it hard to actually complete her sentence. Hall said: New this morning, Trump campaign sources tell NBC News among those being considered to serve in a Trump administration. Rudy Giuliani for Attorney General, excuse me Hall tried to move on and talk about Newt Gingrinch being chosen as Trump s Secretary of State, but she was already coughing. She recovered quickly, perhaps putting the shock and disgust of Giuliani s new position on the back burner for now, and went through the rest of Trump s choices with zero issues.You can watch Hall get sick to her stomach over the Giuliani news below:Having Giuliani as a major help to Trump in the White House is terrifying. He s not only defended Trump s racism, misogyny and other offensive comments by the business mogul, but he s also been caught lying a fairly good amount. Giuliani is basically just like Trump, and giving both of these idiots more power is just about the worst decision that America could make in this election. This isn t just about Trump anymore it s about the future of America, and making sure that more of these clueless GOPers don t gain more influence than they already have.Featured image is a screenshot","label":1}
{"text":"UPDATE: Trump 304 Clinton 224, Other 6 and 4 pending votes remaining.Among the electors today, there were more Hillary defectors than Trump defectors. Go HERE to see who they were and which states they are from.Although the official electoral college results won t be announced until January 6, when Congress meets in a joint session to officially count the results, many of the votes are already being announced in some states. We will update this post with the electoral count as state results are announced, so you can stay updated on the latest. Trump had 259 electoral votes before Texas cast 36 of its 38 electoral votes for Trump, pushing him over the 270 that he needed to win.Here are the results we know so far, as shared by local media outlets, electors, or state officials:Alabama All 9 electors have voted for Trump.Alaska All 3 electors voted for Trump.Arizona All 11 electors voted for Trump.Arkansas All 6 electors voted for Trump.Connecticut All 7 electors voted for Hillary Clinton.Delaware All 3 electors voted for Hillary Clinton.Florida All 29 electors voted for Trump.Georgia All 16 electors voted for Trump.Idaho All 4 electors voted for Trump.Illinois All 20 electors voted for Clinton.Indiana All 11 electors voted for Trump.Kansas All six electors voted for Trump, per 270 to WIN.Kentucky All 8 electors voted for Trump.Louisiana All 8 electors voted for Trump.Maine Maine and Nebraska are the only states that split their electoral votes. In Maine, Trump earned 1 electoral vote and Clinton earned 3. One of Clinton s electors, David Bright, announced on Facebook that he was giving his electoral vote to Bernie Sanders. He tried to do just that, but he was ruled out of order and the vote was recast, forcing him to vote for Hillary Clinton instead.Maryland All 10 electors voted for Hillary Clinton.Michigan All 16 electors voted for Trump.Minnesota All 10 electors voted for Clinton.Missouri All 10 electors voted for Trump.Mississippi All 6 electors voted for Trump.Nebraska All 5 voted for Trump.New Hampshire All 4 electors voted for Clinton.New York All 29 electors voted for Hillary Clinton.North Carolina All 15 electors voted for Trump.North Dakota All 3 electors voted for Trump.Ohio All 18 electors voted for Trump.Oklahoma All 7 electors voted for Trump.Oregon All 7 electors voted for Clinton.Pennsylvania All 20 votes for Trump (verified by CBS).Rhode Island All 4 electors voted for Clinton.South Carolina All 9 electors voted for Trump.South Dakota All 3 electors voted for Trump.Tennessee All 11 electors voted for Trump.Texas In Texas, 36 out of its 38 electoral votes went to Trump. Chris Suprun wrote today on The Hill that he still intended to cast his vote for John Kasich and not Trump. Once the meeting got underway, four electors resigned and then were replaced, which caused the results to be delayed. One of the electors, Sisneros, did not want to vote for Trump. The other three found out they were ineligible, Sean Walsh of the Statesman reported.Utah All 6 electors voted for Trump, per 270toWin.Vermont All 3 electors voted for Clinton.Washington In Washington, eight voted for Clinton, 3 voted for Colin Powell, and 1 voted for Faith Spotted Eagle.West Virginia All 5 electors voted for Trump.Wisconsin All 10 electors voted for Donald Trump.via: 270towinh\/t Heavy","label":1}
{"text":"The political left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) still reeling from the results of the November election, found traction this weekend in the debate over crowd sizes with the new Trump administration. [For their purposes, it matters less what the Trump said, and even less what the crowd sizes were (or why) and more that they were able to create a common filter through which they will interpret subsequent events as they muster an opposition (pretentiously called \"resistance\"). First, the facts. The crowd on Inauguration Day was massive, and from the front sections \u2014 where this reporter was lucky enough to have seats \u2014 it looked like the entire mall was full. Trump \u2014 and anyone else seeing the event from that vantage point \u2014 could be forgiven for thinking the crowd was at least a million strong, or more. Taking him to task for speculating about that was simply petty. Press Secretary Sean Spicer was correct: the media were trying to undermine the new president. At the same time, the crowd did not feel overwhelming. And that was partly by design. The left did its best to scare Trump supporters away by threatening violence. Furthermore, the timing (on a Friday) and the high price of traveling to, and staying in, Washington over a weekend kept many Trump fans at home. A good portion of the protesters who came in from out of town had probably already booked their travel plans in anticipation of a Hillary Clinton win, driving prices up. The size of the crowds at the respective events was not an issue until the media made it one. In his combative statement to the press on Saturday, Spicer correctly noted that there were some media reports of crowd size that were clearly manipulative. The presence of additional security \u2014 again, required because of threats \u2014 did slow entry onto the Capitol lawn and the Mall. (How easy the left often has it: threaten Republicans, then mock them in the media for taking you seriously!) Most Trump fans were probably happy to see Spicer take the media to task \u2014 especially over the false report that President Trump had removed a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office. That bogus story was undoubtedly motivated by the media's continued quest to find evidence of racism in the Trump camp. It was classic fake news, a clean bust (no pun intended). So, naturally, media critics focused on the more dubious claim that Trump's crowds had rivaled Obama's. To make his case, Spicer presented what Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway later called \"alternative facts\" \u2014 a harmless, and accurate, term in a legal setting, where each side of a dispute will lay out its own version of the facts for the court to decide. In the heated debate, however, the term quickly became a meme as a euphemism for \"lying\" \u2014 in much the way that a Bush aide inadvertently gave the mainstream media a badge of honor when he used the phrase \" community. \" Trump was not lying \u2014 nor were Spicer, or Conway. They were merely giving their version of events. But CNN and the New York Times explicitly said that Trump had made \"false\" claims, whether about crowd size or the media, even when his claims were clearly supportable opinion. It was not enough for journalists to find, and report, the facts independently, and let their readers or viewers decide. They decided to be argumentative \u2014 and laid down a marker, \"Trump lied,\" on Day One (or Two). In some ways, that was simply the media reverting to what they had done under the Bush administration, the last time they had to cover a Republican in power. We are likely to hear a lot more about \"alternative facts\" in the future, stripped of its original (benign) context and used as the foundation for an alternative reality. There is nothing even Trump can do to stop that. But the new administration could choose its battles more carefully, and perhaps learn to deliver rebukes with a smile. 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.","label":0}
{"text":"Wayne MADSEN | 11.11.2016 | WORLD The Clintons and Soros launch America's Purple Revolution Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is not about to \u00abgo quietly into that good night\u00bb. On the morning after her surprising and unanticipated defeat at the hands of Republican Party upstart Donald Trump, Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, entered the ball room of the art-deco New Yorker hotel in midtown Manhattan and were both adorned in purple attire. The press immediately noticed the color and asked what it represented. Clinton spokespeople claimed it was to represent the coming together of Democratic \u00abBlue America\u00bb and Republican \u00abRed America\u00bb into a united purple blend. This statement was a complete ruse as is known by citizens of countries targeted in the past by the vile political operations of international hedge fund tycoon George Soros. The Clintons, who both have received millions of dollars in campaign contributions and Clinton Foundation donations from Soros, were, in fact, helping to launch Soros's \u00abPurple Revolution\u00bb in America. The Purple Revolution will resist all efforts by the Trump administration to push back against the globalist policies of the Clintons and soon-to-be ex-President Barack Obama. The Purple Revolution will also seek to make the Trump administration a short one through Soros-style street protests and political disruption. It is doubtful that President Trump's aides will advise the new president to carry out a diversionary criminal investigation of Mrs. Clinton's private email servers and other issues related to the activities of the Clinton Foundation, especially when the nation faces so many other pressing issues, including jobs, immigration, and health care. However, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said he will continue hearings in the Republican-controlled Congress on Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and Mrs. Clinton's aide Huma Abedin . President Trump should not allow himself to be distracted by these efforts. Chaffetz was not one of Trump's most loyal supporters. America's globalists and interventionists are already pushing the meme that because so many establishment and entrenched national security and military \u00abexperts\u00bb opposed Trump's candidacy, Trump is \u00abrequired\u00bb to call on them to join his administration because there are not enough such \u00abexperts\u00bb among Trump's inner circle of advisers. Discredited neo-conservatives from George W. Bush's White House, such as Iraq war co-conspirator Stephen Hadley, are being mentioned as someone Trump should have join his National Security Council and other senior positions. George H. W. Bush's Secretary of State James Baker, a die-hard Bush loyalist, is also being proffered as a member of Trump's White House team. There is absolutely no reason for Trump to seek the advice from old Republican fossils like Baker, Hadley, former Secretaries of State Rice and Powell, the lunatic former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and others. There are plenty of Trump supporters who have a wealth of experience in foreign and national security matters, including those of African, Haitian, Hispanic, and Arab descent and who are not neocons, who can fill Trump's senior- and middle-level positions. Trump must distance himself from sudden well-wishing neocons, adventurists, militarists, and interventionists and not permit them to infest his administration. If Mrs. Clinton had won the presidency, an article on the incoming administration would have read as follows: \u00abBased on the militarism and foreign adventurism of her term as Secretary of State and her husband Bill Clinton's two terms as president, the world is in store for major American military aggression on multiple fronts around the world. President-elect Hillary Clinton has made no secret of her desire to confront Russia militarily, diplomatically, and economically in the Middle East, on Russia's very doorstep in eastern Europe, and even within the borders of the Russian Federation. Mrs. Clinton has dusted off the long-discredited 'containment' policy ushered into effect by Professor George F. Kennan in the aftermath of World War. Mrs. Clinton's administration will likely promote the most strident neo-Cold Warriors of the Barack Obama administration, including Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, a personal favorite of Clinton\u00bb. President-elect Trump cannot afford to permit those who are in the same web as Nuland, Hadley, Bolton, and others to join his administration where they would metastasize like an aggressive form of cancer. These individuals would not carry out Trump's policies but seek to continue to damage America's relations with Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and other nations. Not only must Trump have to deal with Republican neocons trying to worm their way into his administration, but he must deal with the attempt by Soros to disrupt his presidency and the United States with a Purple Revolution No sooner had Trump been declared the 45 th president of the United States, Soros-funded political operations launched their activities to disrupt Trump during Obama's lame-duck period and thereafter. The swiftness of the Purple Revolution is reminiscent of the speed at which protesters hit the streets of Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in two Orange Revolutions sponsored by Soros, one in 2004 and the other, ten years later, in 2014. As the Clintons were embracing purple in New York, street demonstrations, some violent, all coordinated by the Soros-funded Moveon.org and \u00abBlack Lives Matter\u00bb, broke out in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Oakland, Nashville, Cleveland, Washington, Austin, Seattle, Philadelphia, Richmond, St. Paul, Kansas City, Omaha, San Francisco, and some 200 other cities across the United States. The Soros-financed Russian singing group \u00abPussy Riot\u00bb released on YouTube an anti-Trump music video titled \u00abMake America Great Again\u00bb. The video went \u00abviral\u00bb on the Internet. The video, which is profane and filled with violent acts, portrays a dystopian Trump presidency. Following the George Soros\/Gene Sharp script to a tee, Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova called for anti-Trump Americans to turn their anger into art, particularly music and visual art. The use of political graffiti is a popular Sharp tactic. The street protests and anti-Trump music and art were the first phase of Soros's Purple Revolution in America. President-elect Trump is facing a two-pronged attack by his opponents. One, led by entrenched neo-con bureaucrats, including former Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and Bush family loyalists are seeking to call the shots on who Trump appoints to senior national security, intelligence, foreign policy, and defense positions in his administration. These neo-Cold Warriors are trying to convince Trump that he must maintain the Obama aggressiveness and militancy toward Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and other countries. The second front arrayed against Trump is from Soros-funded political groups and media. This second line of attack is a propaganda war, utilizing hundreds of anti-Trump newspapers, web sites, and broadcasters, that will seek to undermine public confidence in the Trump administration from its outset. One of Trump's political advertisements, released just prior to Election Day, stated that George Soros, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, and Goldman Sachs chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein, are all part of \u00aba global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities\u00bb. Soros and his minions immediately and ridiculously attacked the ad as \u00abanti-Semitic\u00bb. President Trump should be on guard against those who his campaign called out in the ad and their colleagues. Soros's son, Alexander Soros, called on Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, to publicly disavow Trump. Soros's tactics not only seek to split apart nations but also families. Trump must be on guard against the current and future machinations of George Soros, including his Purple Revolution.","label":1}
{"text":"Facing deeply entrenched differences and political headwinds, the top negotiators trying to reach a sweeping U.S.-European free trade deal avoided agriculture, public procurement and other thorny issues in talks this week. Instead, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney and European Commission lead negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercera said on Friday they concentrated on less controversial areas such as small and medium enterprises and technical language. But both insisted after their 13th negotiating round in New York that they can still reach a deal this year before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office in January. Mullaney said concerns over a June referendum in Britain over whether to leave the European Union would not slow efforts to reach a deal to boost trade, investment and job growth on both continents, and nor would anti-trade rhetoric from the U.S. presidential campaign trail. \"We're confident that we can achieve that kind of an agreement and that when we do, later this year, it'll be an agreement that the public on both sides of the Atlantic can support,\" Mullaney said. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said he would scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and has been especially critical of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement for \"destroying\" U.S. jobs. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, has also said TPP is unacceptable in its current form. \"I haven't seen a worse political environment for trade deals\" negotiations, said Robert Vastine, a former president of the Coalition of Service Industries, who gave a presentation on services at a forum on the sidelines of the New York talks. He said the sour environment was contributing to the slow pace of talks and a lack of enthusiasm for making concessions, particularly when any deal would need to be approved under a new U.S. president. In Europe, too, the political environment is challenging, with widespread opposition to allowing more imports of U.S. agricultural products over concerns about genetically modified foods, hormone-raised beef and fierce protection of local food-naming rules for items from Asiago cheese to Parma ham. A new survey released this week by the Bertelsmann Foundation showed waning support for a TTIP deal in both Germany and the United States. The poll, conducted by YouGov, showed that only 17 percent of Germans believe TTIP is a good thing versus 55 percent two years ago. In the United States, only 18 percent of those polled supported such a deal, versus 53 percent in 2014. France has voiced particular frustration at the lack of movement on the U.S. side. French Trade Minister Matthias Fekl this month suggested the talks should be scrapped absent further progress. John Wilson, senior vice president of the Dairy Farmers of America, told the New York forum that his cooperative of 8,500 farms would oppose TTIP unless U.S.-made cheese can break into Europe's closely guarded naming rules, known as \"geographic indications.\" \"We've been producing Asiago cheese for a long time. It's a common name, it's a generic name,\" he said. European Commission agricultural negotiator John Clarke shot back that Europe would fiercely defend its geographical indications, including Asiago, from U.S. imports. \"You will certainly not be able to export Asiago from the USA to Europe. That's absolutely impossible,\" Clarke said. The services sector remains another problem area, with U.S. officials insisting Europe drop exclusions for some 200 sectors, and European officials frustrated at the U.S. refusal to open up its coastal maritime transport sector. The EU's Garcia Bercera said he was mindful of the public debate in the negotiations. \"We believe that the task is to convince public opinion in Europe and the United States that trade agreements are instruments to better manage globalization,\" he said.","label":0}
{"text":"Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week's most notable new songs and videos \u2014 and anything else that strikes them as intriguing. You can listen to this playlist on Spotify here. Like this Playlist? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes. com, and sign up for our Louder newsletter (coming soon!) here. The sleight of hand that made \"Earned It,\" the Weeknd's magisterial song for the original \"Fifty Shades of Grey\" film, so effective was that it relied on a sort of bondage, balancing the tension between its polished exterior and what was easy to imagine as its core. \"I Don't Wanna Live Forever,\" the first offering from the film's sequel, by ZAYN and Taylor Swift, (available on Apple Music) has no such struggle. There's little moistness here: ZAYN's sweet vocals never manage anguish or tension, and Ms. Swift has perhaps never been more obscured by digital manipulation, in places to the point where she's practically anonymized. The pleading in the song is clinical, the chemistry muted. (An opportunity for Ms. Swift to strike back at an ex is largely missed \u2014 ZAYN is a former bandmate of Harry Styles, her paramour.) The thickness of the production conveys the urgency here \u2014 in the beginning, it recalls the hollers of Ms. Swift's \"Out of the Woods\" \u2014 and the chorus gleams. But the song never sweats, nor threatens to. JON CARAMANICA Here's one way to announce a comeback: \"Trying to win your interest you ain't having none of that. \" That's the salutation from Jim and William Reid, the brothers who lead the Jesus and Mary Chain, which released its last album in 1998 but has been touring sporadically since 2007. \"Amputation\" opens a new album due in March, \"Damage and Joy,\" and it barely budges from the sound the Jesus and Mary Chain perfected on \"Psychocandy\" in 1985. It's rock sung with cynical conviction and barricaded with layer upon layer of distorted guitars and additional noise, like the sizzling whistle that opens the track and squeals throughout. The mandate is to keep thickening the mix, loading on the irritants and cranking them up: the way sweet falsetto \"oohs\" arrive with vicious feedback at 1:25, and the way the chorus is chanted for the final minute and a half over implacable drums and a massive pileup of lead and rhythm guitars. It's not chaos it's strategic cacophony. JON PARELES Rage spews every which way in \"Governed by Contagions,\" the first song in 16 years from the reunited At The . The beat gallops and pummels Omar 's guitar parts proceed from buzzing, nagging repetition to jagged leaps to screeching tremolo chords, and the singer and lyricist Cedric rails, obliquely, about desperate people facing detested adversaries, \"singing cannibal hymns of the bourgeoisie,\" and envisioning revolution: \"That's the way the guillotine claps,\" a chorus declares. It's as precise in its aggression as At The Drive In's has always been it's also a gauntlet thrown down. J. P. The title of Ryan Adams's coming album, \"The Prisoner,\" refers to an emotional state \u2014 specifically, what it means to be consumed or paralyzed by desire. On the album's lead single and opening track, \"Do You Still Love Me? ,\" his lyrics suggest the perspective of someone trying to catch sand as it slips through his hands. The chorus consists of the title phrase (with a \"babe\" added for good measure) while one verse elaborates further: \"What can I say? I didn't want it to change Is my heart blind and our love so strange?\" \"The Prisoner\" is due out on Feb. 17. NATE CHINEN Here's a bash from a band that's equally raucous and confronting mortality, media and general pandemonium all at once. It's from the provocatively titled album \"Nazi Hologram. \" The verses pound one chord into drone ecstasy the bridges jump around but come back to that drone. \"As I lay there cruised up to had something she was looked sinister and stuck it in stuck it in me!\" Then the drums crash harder and Andrew Katz sings, \"Turn on your TV sets!\" J. P. Sure, there's plenty of gimmickry in pop music, but it's admirable when someone leans in to it as convincingly as Post Malone does. He's a singer with a background his music is both pointedly hybridized and abstract enough that it can be interpreted many different ways. On \"Cold\" \u2014 a standout from his major label debut album, \"Stoney,\" which was released today \u2014 he ups the ante even further. The singing is spectral, the cadence is practically spoken, and, as a bonus, the beat is with thumps that flicker on and off. The result is unusual and impressive: \"Cold\" flirts with everything, and commits to nothing. J. C. Hurray for the Riff Raff hasn't had to pivot to become part of the resistance. But on its new song, the band sharpens its aim and agenda, aligning with protesters at Standing Rock and in Pe\u00f1uelas, Puerto Rico. Alynda Segarra, the songwriter at the helm of Hurray, sings of cultural theft and systemic oppression, naming no names but making her opposition clear: \"Now all the politicians, they just squawk their mouths They said 'We'll build a wall to keep them out'\" The song, which rides a percussive groove (and has some fine guitar playing) is an early taste of \"The Navigator,\" due out on March 10. Ms. Segarra's touchstones on the album range from Fania Records to Bowery to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, with an animating conviction that's summed up in this song's closing refrain: \"I'll keep fighting 'til the end. \" N. C. This charming song is many months old, but has finally received a vivid video, thanks to its inclusion on Kodie Shane's new EP, \"Zero Gravity,\" her first major label release. Kodie Shane is a member of Lil Yachty's Sailing Team, and in Daliesque fragments similar to the boss. \"Sad\" is a duet between them, with Kodie Shane lamenting her romantic lot, followed by Lil Yachty coming in to offer succor, and more. The climactic scene in the video is both comic and sweet. They sing face to face in a therapist's office \u2014 their voices digitized, their emotions very raw. J. C. The Cuban pianist David Virelles is a brilliant hybridist, but until recently he generally released music with acoustic dimensions, approachable from the vectors of postbop or . \"Antenna\" \u2014 recently released in digital form and as a vinyl EP \u2014 sounds like something else entirely, even as it carries on an inquiry that has always been at the center of Mr. Virelles's work. A track called \"Rumbaku\u00e1\" has electronic textures, splicing and versifying by the Cuban rapper Eti\u00e1n Brebaje Man. The EP is worth seeking out, and so is a performance by Mr. Virelles at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday evening, with partners like the guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. N. C.","label":0}
{"text":"Myanmar security forces have brutally driven out half a million Muslim Rohingya from northern Rakhine state, torching their homes, crops and villages to prevent them from returning, the U.N. human rights office said on Wednesday. Jyoti Sanghera, head of the Asia and Pacific region of the U.N. human rights office, called on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop the violence and voiced fear that if the stateless Rohingya refugees return from Bangladesh they may be interned. If villages have been completely destroyed and livelihood possibilities have been destroyed, what we fear is that they may be incarcerated or detained in camps, she told a news briefing. U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman is due to visit Myanmar on Friday, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. In a report based on 65 interviews with Rohingya who have arrived in Bangladesh in the past month, the U.N. human rights office said that clearance operations had begun before insurgent attacks on police posts on Aug. 25 and included killings, torture and rape of children. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein - who has described the government operations as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing - said in a statement that the actions appeared to be a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without possibility of return . Credible information indicates that the Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the property of the Rohingyas, scorched their dwellings and entire villages in northern Rakhine State, not only to drive the population out in droves but also to prevent the fleeing Rohingya victims from returning to their homes, the report said. It said the destruction by security forces, often joined by mobs of armed Rakhine Buddhists, of houses, fields, food stocks, crops, and livestock made the possibility of Rohingya returning to normal lives in northern Rakhine almost impossible . The campaign was well-organized, coordinated and systematic and began with Rohingya men under 40 being arrested a month earlier, creating a climate of fear and intimidation . We are not in a position to make a finding of genocide or not, but this should in no way detract from the seriousness of the situation which the Rohingya population is currently facing, said Thomas Hunecke, who led the team that went to Cox s Bazar, Bangladesh, from Sept. 14-24. It was highly likely that Myanmar security forces planted landmines along the border in recent weeks to prevent Rohingya from returning, he said, citing doctors treating injuries. Despite growing international condemnation of the crisis, the military campaign is popular in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya, and for Muslims in general, and where Buddhist nationalism has surged. Myanmar on Tuesday launched its first bid to improve relations between Buddhists and Muslims since the eruption of deadly violence inflamed the communal tension and triggered an exodus of some 520,000 Muslims to Bangladesh. But the U.N. s Sanghera, noting that 11,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh on Monday alone, said: Clearly it seems that some level of eviction, displacement, forced movement and violence may be continuing. The U.N. experts documented Myanmar security forces firing indiscriminately at Rohingya villagers, injuring and killing other innocent victims, setting houses on fire . Almost all testimonies indicated that people were shot at close range and in the back while they tried to flee in panic, the report said. The U.N. report quoted a 12-year-old girl from Rathedaung township as saying the security forces had surrounded her house and started shooting. It was a situation of panic they shot my sister in front of me. She was only seven years old. She cried and told me to run. I tried to protect her and care for her, but we had no medical assistance on the hillside and she was bleeding so much that after one day she died. I buried her myself. The girl did not know what happened to her mother and four brothers, nor her father jailed a month earlier. The United Nations said on Wednesday that its current top official in Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessallien, would finish her nearly four-year assignment at the end of October. Myanmar is stalling on accepting a plan by the U.N. to upgrade the U.N. country head to the more powerful rank of assistant secretary-general (ASG) when Lok-Dessallien leaves. Thaung Tun, Suu Kyi s national security adviser, told Reuters earlier this month that the U.N. must treat us equally, adding that: We ll be fine with anybody if all member states have an ASG assigned. Not just us.","label":0}
{"text":"Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has agreed to stand down and his resignation letter has been drafted, CNN said on Monday, citing a source familiar with his negotiations with the generals who seized power in Harare last week. Under the terms of the deal, Mugabe and his wife Grace would be granted full immunity, CNN said. Two senior government sources told Reuters late on Sunday that Mugabe had agreed to resign but did not know details of his departure.","label":0}
{"text":"(Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the .) Good evening. Here's the latest. 1. President Obama angrily responded to a speech Monday by Donald J. Trump in which Mr. Trump appeared to broaden his proposal to bar Muslim immigrants. Mr. Obama called the Republican presidential candidate's comments about the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. \"dangerous. \" Mr. Trump's appeal to fear breaks with the way most American political leaders have reacted to this kind of crisis, but his stance on guns may help his outreach to Democrats. _____ 2. Harrowing accounts of the attack, which left 49 people dead, continued to surface: \"I look over, and he shoots the girl next to me. And I'm just there laying down and I'm thinking, 'I'm next, I'm dead,' \" said Angel Colon, who was shot multiple times. Doctors spoke of bleeding patients lining hospital hallways after arriving in trucks and cars, and on foot. _____ 3. The F. B. I. investigation turned to the second wife of the Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, to determine whether she had been aware of his plot. The wife, Noor Zahi Salman, is not in custody, but indicated she had accompanied him on one trip to the club and to buy ammunition, and tried to talk him out of waging an attack, a senior law enforcement official said. _____ 4. In France, the killings of a police officer and his companion on Monday by a a assailant who swore allegiance to ISIS have raised new concerns about radicalization and the handling of people convicted of activities. The attacker was a Frenchman who was previously found guilty of aiding a group planning terrorist activities, but he was released immediately after his trial ended in 2013. _____ 5. As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met privately amid the largely inconsequential primary contest in the District of Columbia, the Democratic Party confirmed that Russian hackers had breached the computers of the Democratic National Committee for roughly a year. The targets included the trove of opposition research against Donald J. Trump. _____ 6. internet can be defined as a utility, a federal appeals court ruled. The decision upheld net neutrality rules by the F. C. C. that signal a shift in how the government views broadband: as a service that should be equally accessible to all Americans, rather than as a luxury. Companies are banned from blocking or slowing the delivery of internet content to consumers, and they've indicated they may pursue their case all the way to the Supreme Court. _____ 7. Disney is sharing the keys to the Magic Kingdom with China's Communist Party \u2014 at least in Shanghai, where a new resort that will be four times as big as Disneyland opens on Thursday. The Disney has given the country's government an unusual role in running the park and, in doing so, has set the pace for how other multinational companies can do business in there. _____ 8. An influential critic's refusal to review the new \"Ghostbusters\" film \u2014 starring women in the lead roles \u2014 drew more than a million views on YouTube and lots of comments essentially blasting him as a misogynistic jerk. But when our writer dug deeper, he found the reviewer's positions to be less polarizing than he expected \u2014 a reminder that, in this age of speedy public judgment, withholding expectations can be worthwhile for all parties. _____ 9. Let's take a moment to remember the beehive \u2014 not the insect nest, but the 1960s hairstyle made possible by hair spray, and lots of it. The do's creator, Margaret Vinci Heldt, died on Friday at 98. Ms. Heldt was an hairstyling celebrity when she created the look, which was inspired by a black hat and has never really gone away, even making it onto the heads of Beyonc\u00e9 and Adele. _____ 10. Lastly, here are a couple of weasels ( ferrets, specifically). They might look cute, but they are also remarkable predators. Badgers, ferrets and otters are part of the mustelid family: carnivores who are capable of competing for food with much larger predators like big cats, wolves and bears. Maybe it's time to rethink what it means to call someone a weasel. _____ Jonah Engel Bromwich contributed reporting. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don't miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here's last night's briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.","label":0}
{"text":"posted by Eddie \"\u2026Out of the middle of its division, a burning torch sprang, throwing out a long way, flames, coals, and sparks. As well, the moon's body which was lower, twisted as though anxious, and in the words of those who told me and had seen it with their own eyes, the moon palpitated like a pummelled snake. After this, it returned to its proper state\u2026\" The moon is without a doubt, one of the most enigmatic objects in the sky. Thousands of years ago, ancient civilizations observed the sky, watching in awe Earth's faithful companion. Since time immemorial, the moon has also been the subject of numerous myths and conspiracy theories. All kinds of strange 'things' are connected t. Interestingly, in 1178, a group of monks from Canterbury observed how the moon 'suddenly exploded' into 'sparks', taking a 'blackish appearance'. If we look history history, we will realize that man times have astronomical events been mistaken for supernatural signs. In ancient times, these events were considered omens, and from time to time, strange lights observed in the sky were interpreted as evil signs. Mysteriously, on June 18th of 1178, monks in Canterbury observed a fascinating sighting. As they looked up to the sky, they witnessed a fascinating event which they described accordingly: \"\u2026This year on the Sunday before the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, after sunset when the moon was first seen, a marvelous sign was seen by five or more men sitting facing it. Now, there was a clear new moon, as was usual at that phase, its horns extended to the east, and behold suddenly the upper horn was divided in two. Out of the middle of its division, a burning torch sprang, throwing out a long way, flames, coals, and sparks. As well, the moon's body which was lower, twisted as though anxious, and in the words of those who told me and had seen it with their own eyes, the moon palpitated like a pummelled snake. After this, it returned to its proper state\u2026\" So what did they observe in 1178? Did the moon really blow up? According to researchers, they didn't actually witness the moon exploding, but they observed a massive impact of a large body that smashed into the moon, forming what we today know is the Giordano Bruno crater. However, there are others who disagree saying that an impact od such magnitude would have sent towards Earth debris that would have resulted in sightings observed by more people on Earth, and not just a few monks. However, studies have shown that the impact would have launched 10 million tons of ejecta into the Earth's atmosphere in the following weeks. According to a report from NASA , such an impact would have triggered a blizzard-like, week-long meteor storm on Earth \u2013yet there are no accounts of such a storm in any known historical record, including the European, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese and Korean astronomical archives. Withers reported his analysis and other tests of the hypothesis in this month's issue of Meteoritics and Planetary Science . According to many, if we want to explain what the monks saw from a scientific perspective, then the most plausible explanation is that the monks probably witnessed a massive meteor blow up in the atmosphere. From the monk's observational point \u2013and only from there\u2014 It would have looked as if the moon had exploded, while people from elsewhere would have spotted the phenomenon but only as a bright shooting star. \"I calculate that this would cause a week-long meteor storm comparable to the peak of the 1966 Leonids,\" he said. Ten million tons of rock showering the entire Earth as pieces of ejecta about a centimeter across (inch-sized fragments) for a week is equivalent to 50,000 meteors each hour. And they would be very bright, very easy to see, at magnitude 1 or magnitude 2. It would have been a spectacular sight to see! Everyone around the world would have had the opportunity to see the best fireworks show in history.\" \"I think they happened to be at the right place at the right time to look up in the sky and see a meteor that was directly in front of the moon, coming straight towards them.\" \"That would explain why only five people are recorded to have seen it. Imagine being in Canterbury on that June evening and seeing the moon convulse and spray hot, molten rock into space.\" \"The memories of it would live with you for the rest of your life.\" Source:","label":1}
{"text":"German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to exploratory talks on forming a new government starting on Jan. 7, both parties said on Wednesday after informal discussions. The decision, 87 days after a national election that returned a fragmented parliament and complicated coalition arithmetic, brightens prospects for a renewal of the grand coalition that governed Germany over the past four years. A repeat coalition is Merkel s best chance of securing a fourth term as chancellor after talks on forming a three-way alliance with two smaller parties broke down, leaving Europe s largest economy in an unprecedented state of uncertainty. It was a good discussion in a trusting atmosphere, the parties said in a joint statement after leaders met on Wednesday. They agreed to hold four days of talks from Jan. 7, with the aim of deciding by Jan. 12 whether to open formal coalition negotiations. Even in the most optimistic case, Germany will have smashed 2013 s post-World War Two record of needing 86 days to form a new government after an election. The hiatus highlights that Germany, long Europe s bastion of stability, is not immune to the political fragmentation that has swept the continent. The conservatives and Social Democrats have identified 15 policy areas for exploration, including education, the welfare state and employment law, where the SPD is keen to carve out a distinctive left-wing identity for itself after a disastrous election showing blamed in part on Merkel s dominant stature. The SPD s membership, which tends to be more radical than the party leadership, will have to ratify any decision to repeat a coalition with Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years. (This version of the story corrects the date to Jan. 12 in fourth paragraph)","label":0}
{"text":"Cambodia police on Saturday deported 61 Chinese nationals wanted in China on suspicion of extorting money over the internet and by phone, they said, but Taiwan said 19 were from Taiwan. Several hundred suspected scammers have been arrested in Cambodia, which has emerged as a major center of rackets that have cost the victims billions of dollars. Pictures sent to Reuters on Saturday showed suspects wearing red shirts with their wrists bound together ahead of the deportation. Uk Heisela, chief of investigation at Cambodia s immigration department, said Chinese police had arrived to pick up the suspects. The Immigration Department deported 61 suspects, including 13 women, who were involved in extortions on the internet, Uk Heisela told Reuters. Uk Heisela said they had been detained during raids on Oct 17 and Oct 21 in the capital, Phnom Penh, and in Kandal and Preah Sihanouk provinces. Taiwan s government said 19 of them were from Taiwan, and that it had lodged a strong protest with China about the deportations. Taiwan has been unhappy that Taiwanese extortion suspects have been deported to China in the past and has accused Phnom Penh of acting at the behest of Beijing. China considers self-ruled Taiwan sovereign territory and Cambodia is one of China s closest allies in Southeast Asia.","label":0}
{"text":"#disruptj20 protesters blocking men in Air Force uniforms from getting through the #Inauguration checkpoint pic.twitter.com\/XVErOHHBwg Ryan Lovelace (@LovelaceRyanD) January 20, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"US Presidential Elections Sound a Warning of Catastrophes to Come By Daily Bell Staff - November 08, 2016  What's wrong with Hillary Clinton's brand? \u2026 As momentous an occasion as this should be for women around the world, Ms. Clinton would begin her term in the Oval Office with her unpopularity ratings at near-record levels. All of which leads to the question: What's wrong with Brand Hillary? \u2013 The Globe and Mail  In the run-up to today's election, many articles on Hillary in the mainstream media have tried to explain more fully why Hillary is electable and desirable as the leader of the US.  A common theme of these articles is that Hillary's troubles are not mentioned or analyzed in detail. The Economist magazine, like many other publications, recently came out with an endorsement of Hillary.  But the endorsement simply dealt with Hillary's legislative and professional history. As always when it comes to Hillary in the mainstream media, deeper questions are glossed over.  This approach to covering Hillary is deliberate and has generated increasing skepticism among large portions of the American public. Correctly, alternative media reports have pointed out this declining credibility but not enough have explained its widening ramifications.  More:  Ms. Clinton is one of the most qualified presidential candidates in recent memory \u2013 and her credentials are that much more impressive compared to those of her opponent.  After her time as first lady \u2013 in the state of Arkansas, and in the White House \u2013 Ms. Clinton served her country as a U.S. Senator and as secretary of state.  The article goes on to ask why Hillary has not been \"able to break through in a way that inspires fervent support and popularity.\"  At this point a significant analysis would grapple with underlying issues regarding Hillary's background and approach to politics and life. These issues are well known. But instead, these issues are presented as \"multiple scandals, ranging from Lewinsky to Benghazi, and most recently, her e-mails.\"  The use of the word \"scandal\" implies something embarrassing. The significance of these problems in her personal and professional life goes far beyond embarrassment. It illustrates her approach to the US political system and generally how she wields power.  Having skipped past this analysis, the article then minimizes the scandals themselves, stating, \"Any politician who has been in the game that long has their fair share of scandal.\"  The article continues to evolve toward ephemera, suggesting that a big problem with Ms. Clinton is her inability to \"appear likable to voters.\" This is a political problem to be sure, but it is not the UNDERLYING problem, which is much more significant.  Finally, the article brings up the idea that a big reason for the disconnect between Hillary and voters has to do with her gender. \"As disheartening as that still is, society and the media still stereotype women and paint them with a negative brush.\"  The article explains that much criticism of Hillary is gender-related. She has been scrutinized because of her health problems and has too-often been seen by the media as a wife and mother rather than as a businesslike politician with a long, professional history.  As stated, articles like this are at variance with what many believe to be true. Hillary is seen, at this point, by tens of millions as a person with an extremely shady past who may be part of a larger political mafia with her husband that deals in extortion, cover-ups, drug-dealing and even murder to generate vast profits for their Clinton Foundation, and thus for themselves.  Since this information is so widely dispersed, articles that don't deal more directly with these issues can be seen either as painfully naive or as concealing something. It is one of the reasons that trust in the mainstream media has plunged so precipitously.  Additionally, as we pointed out recently, belief in \"conspiracy theories,\" has risen to over 50 percent. Hillary's campaign and its coverage may be directly responsible. Once people were increasingly and regularly exposed to the disconnect between what they believed about Hillary and what was being presented, they began to reexamine various \"conspiracy\" reports they'd previously discounted.  Even among those voting for Hillary, there is widespread sentiment that she may have committed criminal wrongdoings and deserves a trial rather than the presidency.  We've advanced the idea that none of this has come about by accident, not the FBI fumblings, nor reports of her healthcare problems, nor even the email \"scandals.\" All of this in fact was known well in advance of her latest presidential run.  This is simply not a coincidence in our view. The idea, increasingly it seems, is to shatter cultural cohesion in the West with an eye toward creating increased globalization and an internationalized society. This presidential election and its mainstream coverage has done just that.  Going forward, it is probable that cultural destruction will be increasingly significant throughout the West, employing numerous strategies \u2013 political, ethnic, economic and military.  These elections \u2013 whether Hillary wins or Trump \u2013 are evidently the starting gun, along with the European immigrant crisis, for a new series of elite programs. These will likely yield up serial catastrophes that will change lives and belief structures going forward for millions and even billions  Conclusion: Building an international world, whether the effort is to be successful or not, is a massive and horribly disruptive and bloody prospect. Americans would be wise to perceive this latest presidential elections as a kind of warning of what it is to come.","label":1}
{"text":"Print  [Ed. \u2013 How do they go through all this hair-tearing, the sackcloth and ashes, and not question the quality of their candidate \u2014 or their choice to run her?]  [Clinton's allies] said they were \"dumbfounded\" by the revelation that the new FBI review may have been spurred by a separate investigation into Anthony Weiner sending lewd texts to a minor. Weiner is separated from wife Huma Abedin, one of Clinton's closest aides.  And they worried that Clinton's unconventional email arrangement had finally caught up to her and might imperil her presidential bid less than two weeks before Election Day.  \"I'm livid, actually,\" one Clinton surrogate told The Hill. \"This has turned into malpractice. It's an unforced error at this point. I have no idea what Comey is up to but the idea this email issue is popping back up again is outrageous. It never should have occurred in the first place. Someone somewhere should have told her no. And they didn't and now we're all paying the price.\"  Another ally called the campaign's mood something akin to \"paralysis,\" and blamed Weiner's behavior for railroading the campaign.  One strategist said the developments would further cement the notion that Clinton has something to hide.  \"It's made people think there's always going to be something around the Clintons, some investigation, some inquiry,\" the strategist said. \"It never goes away.\"","label":1}
{"text":"North Korea's nuclear threat looms large this week over the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York, where diplomats are eager to hear U.S. President Donald Trump address the 193-member body for the first time. North Korean diplomats will have a front-row seat in the U.N. General Assembly for Trump's speech on Tuesday morning, which will touch on the escalating crisis that has seen Trump and Pyongyang trade threats of military action. Despite his skepticism about the value of international organizations and the United Nations in particular, Trump will seek support for tough measures against North Korea, while pressing his \"America First\" message to the world body. \"This is not an issue between the United States and North Korea. This is an issue between the world and North Korea,\" Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said on Friday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - who, like Trump, took office in January - plans to meet separately with \"concerned parties,\" including North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, on the sidelines of the 72nd General Assembly. \"The solution can only be political. Military action could cause devastation on a scale that would take generations to overcome,\" Guterres warned on Wednesday. A week ago, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth sanctions resolution since 2006 over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said U.N. sanctions had banned 90 percent of the Asian state's publicly reported exports, saying of Pyongyang on Friday: \"This is totally in their hands on how they respond.\" Haley told CNN's \"State of the Union\" program on Sunday that Washington had \"pretty much exhausted\" its options on North Korea at the Security Council. Ri is due to address the General Assembly on Friday. Some leaders will also push Trump not to give up on a 2015 deal curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of U.N., U.S. and European sanctions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was time to \"fix it - or cancel it.\" The foreign ministers of Iran, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and France - the parties to the agreement - are due to meet on Wednesday ahead of an October deadline for Trump to tell Congress if he believes Tehran is sticking to what he has described as \"the worst deal ever negotiated.\" When asked on Friday what Moscow's message would be for Washington, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said: \"Stay in the JCPOA (the nuclear deal).\" A senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: \"We are faced with real uncertainties with respect to North Korea and it's a bit dangerous ... to add another source of uncertainty with respect to Iran.\" Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday his country would not be bullied by the United States and would react strongly to any \"wrong move\" by Washington on the nuclear deal. Iran and North Korea will also feature heavily during a ministerial Security Council meeting on Thursday, at the request of the United States, to discuss the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. While leaders and diplomats are also due to meet on longer-running crises including Libya, Syria, South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Yemen and Iraq, a last-minute addition has been Myanmar, where the United Nations has branded violence against Rohingya Muslims as \"ethnic cleansing.\" Britain is due to host a ministerial meeting on Monday to seek a way to get Myanmar authorities to end a military offensive in the country's Rakhine state that has sent more than 400,000 minority Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. Following Trump's announcement that the United States would withdraw from a landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, several high-level gatherings are planned on the sidelines of the General Assembly to bolster the deal. \"Climate change is a serious threat,\" Guterres told reporters. \"Hurricanes and floods around the world remind us that extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and severe, due to climate change.\" U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to hold the door open for the United States to remain in the Paris climate accord \"under the right conditions.\" \"The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue,\" Tillerson said on CBS' \"Face The Nation\" program on Sunday. Trump will seek to boost support for reforming the United Nations, which he once called \"a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.\" The United States is the largest U.N. contributor and Trump has complained that Washington pays too much. \"The United Nations, of course, holds tremendous potential to realize its founding ideals, but only if it's run more efficiently and effectively,\" McMaster said on Friday.","label":0}
{"text":"Leading presidential candidate and former reality TV star Donald Trump gets angry any time reporters or his political rivals bring up Trump University and the legal problems associated with the enterprise that made him a significant amount of money. Already Republican super PACs are attacking Trump on the issue. But here are 4 secrets about Trump University that Democrats are sure to use against him in the fall election, which could quickly deny him the White House.Trump University was actually a series of seminars often organized and held in the lobbies of hotels across the country, preying on people who hoped to duplicate the success Donald Trump claims he has had in the real estate industry. The school promised regular Joes and Jills they would have access to Trump s unique insights and techniques.In an email to prospective clients, Trump bragged, Seventy-six percent of the world s millionaires made their fortunes in real estate and told people, My father did it, I did it, and now I m ready to teach you how to do it. Of course, Trump s father did it by reportedly engaging in racist practices while a landlord, and Trump himself started out with a million-dollar loan from his dad and a series of shaky deals built on other people s money, sometimes resulting in bankruptcies.Less than a year after the business launched in 2004, the New York State Department of Education said it was operating an unlicensed educational institution, a violation a state law. So by 2010, the name was changed to Trump Entrepreneur Initiative. Trump University is being sued in New York by attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman and in two class action lawsuits in California.In the New York lawsuit, the school has been accused of being a bait and switch operation that relied on totally false advertising.One ad published at least 170 times across the country in 2009, according to Mr. Schneiderman s office, promised that students would learn from Donald Trump s handpicked instructors, and that participants would have access to Trump s real estate secrets. But an investigation by Mr. Schneiderman s office found that Mr. Trump had little to do with picking instructors or developing the curriculums for the seminars, which were run largely by people with motivational speaking backgrounds who were compensated based on how many people they persuaded to buy additional seminars. One of them was a manager at a Buffalo Wild Wings.Here s one of the adsKathleen Meese of Schoharie, N.Y. was caring for her son with Down syndrome attended a Trump University three-day conference at a hotel in Malta, N.Y. and was then hit with a hard sell in which she was told she could make money faster if she signed up for the Gold Elite program which cost $25,000. She said a Trump University trainer pressured her into putting the costs on her credit card that only had a $30,000 limit who told her I had to find the resources to invest in my future. In an affidavit in the New York lawsuit against Trump, Meese testified that all that money bought her was a few visits to some rental properties, noting, I was unable to get my refund and am still paying off debts from my Trump tuition. Trump University students say they were led to believe that at the seminar they would get the opportunity to take a photo with Trump himself, which of course is something a wannabe real estate mogul would love to get a shot at.Instead of a photo with the real-live Trump, they were instead directed to stand next to a cardboard cutout of Trump for a picture.Here is an example of one such photo:I don't know why people say Trump University was a scam: a photo with my cardboard cutout is totally worth $36,000! pic.twitter.com\/LW7q8FZ6Uo Donald J. Trump (@CandidateTrump) February 27, 2016","label":1}
{"text":"Because it was a joke before it was politically incorrect?Before Al Franken became a United States Senator from Minnesota, he had a long career as a comedian (save for Stuart Saves His Family), an original writer on Saturday Night Live, and later as a political radio host on Air America.During that time, and when he was writing books like Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Liar and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, Franken took some shots at his now-fellow senator John McCain s military service. He also made one joke in a 2000 Salon.com essay just as presidential election season started picking up steam. Here s the remark: I have tremendous respect for McCain but I don t buy the war hero thing. Anybody can be captured. I thought the idea was to capture them. As far as I m concerned he sat out the war. Before everyone suggests Franken need to apologize just like Donald Trump should, here s why this is different: Back in 2000, Franken was not a political figure. He wasn t a sitting anything or a candidate for anything; the closest he came to political officialdom was as a revered satirist. More importantly, he even re-told the joke to McCain s face in 2004, when the senator was on Franken s own radio show.Here s how Franken s spokesperson commented on the joke:The fact that a statement came so quickly from Franken s office demonstrates that he is well-aware it is a terrible thing to say about McCain.On the other hand, Trump is not just not apologizing, he s doubling down. Because he knows we ll all keep writing about it.But hey we all need a good clown, even if unintentional. It s a long presidential race.","label":1}
{"text":"A coalition of some of the largest U.S. Latino organizations on Thursday will lay out a raft of policies that, they say, presidential candidates and other politicians must heed to earn the votes of the growing group of voters. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), which includes 40 national and regional groups, will recommend policies on everything from economic security, education and comprehensive immigration reform to the environment and health. For Latino communities and the politicians seeking their votes - including candidates in the November 2016 presidential election - the agenda is a \"road map,\" said Hector Sanchez, the chairman of the NHLA. \"For the next four years, this is our guide for collaborating with Congress and collaborating with the White House,\" he added. The agenda underscores the growing power of Latinos as a part of the electorate, as presidential candidates have sought to win over those voters on the way to the White House. Latinos are among the nation's fastest growing ethnic groups, and, because of lower voter turnout levels in the past, represent a potential pool of previously untapped voters. The campaigns of both Democratic contenders for the presidency, for example, have recently argued over who actually won the Hispanic vote at last week's Nevada caucus. While former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the state overall, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that entrance polls show he won Hispanics. The Clinton campaign disputes those numbers. The NHLA's agenda recommends expanding job opportunities, improving retirement security and increasing support for homeownership. Under immigration, the group wants to see comprehensive immigration reform - a hot button issue in this year's election. The group wants a path to citizenship, protections for immigrant workers and family reunification provisions, among other items. \"The NHLA also supports addressing the root causes of forced migration and opposes efforts that call into question the citizenship of persons born in the United States,\" the group wrote in the 2016 Hispanic Public Policy Agenda. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for his party's nomination, has repeatedly taken a hard line against illegal immigration, calling for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. Trump angered a number of activists, Latinos and others when, in launching his campaign last year, he suggested that Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals. But the criticisms have done little to stop him, with Trump now having won three of the four earliest nominating contests among Republican contenders. (Reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.","label":0}
{"text":"A Japanese court sentenced a former U.S. military base worker to life in prison on Friday for the rape and murder of a woman on the southern island of Okinawa, public broadcaster NHK reported. The Naha District Court found Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 33, guilty of killing 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro in April last year, NHK said. A court spokesman told Reuters he was unable to immediately confirm the decision. The case sparked anger on the island, where locals have long protested the presence of U.S. military bases that they say imposes a heavy burden on Okinawa. Okinawa hosts around 50,000 U.S. nationals, including 30,000 military personnel and civilians employed at the bases. In a bid to assuage locals, the United States last year agreed to limit legal protection and benefits to some U.S. civilian contractors working for the military in Japan under a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that dates back to 1960. SOFA exempts personnel from requiring visas while in Japan, and has been criticized because it has been used by the U.S. military to ship people home before Japanese police can capture them. Other incidents involving U.S. personnel have stirred resentment among Okinawans. On Nov. 19, a local man was killed in road accident after his van collided with a car driven by a U.S. Marine suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol. The U.S. military responded by imposing a drinking ban for personnel in Japan on or off base.","label":0}
{"text":"This was your choice of a question, there goes that relationship! @POTUS reacts to Laura Kuenssberg s question https:\/\/t.co\/v9jJpyT2tn Sky News (@SkyNews) January 27, 2017","label":1}
{"text":"Craning over his shoulder, Douglas Tully slowly, cautiously maneuvered his delivery truck down a block of West 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan \u2014 in reverse. \"I've seen a lot of things as a truck driver, but this has got to be a first, \" said Mr. Tully, 40, who had delivered a rug near Trump Tower only to find he could not exit the street 56th Street was blocked off at Fifth Avenue by the police, blast barricades and dogs. As vehicles nosed toward Fifth Avenue, officers stopped each one, forcing them back down the street against traffic. Ever since Donald J. Trump was elected president last month, the sidewalks around his home and office on Fifth Avenue have been clogged with gawkers, security barriers and officers who search shopping bags filled with presents. Traffic, including city buses, crawls by. All around the building, during what is usually a peak time of the year, restaurants are sending home waiters because there are not enough customers, garages say almost no one is parking and salons are doing fewer hairdos for holiday parties. Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues is closed to all vehicle traffic. These days it is filled with deliverymen pushing crates of vegetables for long blocks from their trucks stranded on 56th Street to restaurant kitchens. \"The block is now unwelcoming and looks like a war zone,\" said Daniel R. Garodnick, a Democratic city councilman who represents the area. \"We are getting to a place where these businesses need to plan and worry that they won't be able to survive. We have a need to protect the but we shouldn't allow our businesses and all of those jobs be sacrificed in the process. \" Trump Tower sits along Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets, the entrance flanked by the Gucci and Tiffany Company flagship stores, all of which are behind a cordon of law enforcement protection. Police officers questioning customers yell out \"Gucci!\" or \"Tiffany!\" like street peddlers. Just a few days before Christmas Eve, few shoppers seemed to be making the effort. But despite Trump Tower's gilded address, the neighborhood is filled with many modest businesses, like cafes and hair salons, all struggling to figure out a way to deal with the intense security perimeter. In a letter sent on Tuesday to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Mr. Garodnick said that revenue had declined by 20 percent or more at over three dozen small businesses in the neighborhood. Ten city bus routes are affected by the new traffic patterns around Trump Tower, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A bottleneck that developed in the days after Election Day has eased on Fifth Avenue, but travel times have increased markedly on 57th Street, where eastbound traffic is 20 percent slower between Fifth and Seventh Avenues than it was before the election, according to the city's Department of Transportation. Drivers, transportation officials said, seem to be adjusting to the traffic challenges by choosing different routes through the neighborhood. \"We are taking an aggressive approach to combating congestion in Midtown,'' said Eric F. Phillips, Mr. de Blasio's press secretary. \"We regularly convene all of the major agencies and stakeholders. '' About 200 members of the New York Police Department serve shifts outside Trump Tower every day, a total of about 1, 400 law enforcement personnel over the course of a week, the police said. The assignments are not permanent, but are done on a rotating basis, using officers from other parts of the city. The officers are pulled evenly from precinct houses across the five boroughs, according to a fact sheet provided by the department. \"This would be a job for any other city,\" Stephen P. Davis, the Police Department's chief spokesman, said. \"But we have done so much of this that it's something that's not alien to us. \" City officials have asked the federal government to reimburse the cost of providing security for Mr. Trump, which they said would reach $35 million by the time of his inauguration on Jan. 20. So far, federal officials have set aside $7 million for such expenses. The constant changing of the guard may prevent policing from suffering in other parts of the city, but it does present complications: Workers collecting garbage from Uncle Jack's Steakhouse, on 56th Street, have been let through by officers on some days, but turned away by different officers on other days, said Robert Smith, the director of operations for the restaurant. Restaurant workers regularly have to fetch customers who have been stopped by officers at Fifth Avenue. \"We go out and find the gold shields and beg them to let people in,\" Mr. Smith said, adding that business has fallen 20 percent in what is usually his busiest season, forcing him to reduce shifts for workers. Last month, David Chang, the celebrated of the Momofuku group of restaurants who has several establishments in the area, vented his frustration on Twitter, saying the situation was \"killing\" foot traffic. In a following tweet, he added: \"Make 56th Street Great Again. \" A spokeswoman for Mr. Chang's restaurants declined to provide details about how severely business had been affected. Mr. Chang, she said, was too busy to speak about the issue. Staff members from the city's Department of Small Business Services met on Thursday with members of the Police Department to discuss new measures for the area. Among those measures were making sure all officers assigned to Trump Tower are familiar with security protocols, including what kind of vehicles are allowed to pass through security barriers, and replacing some of the larger barricades that might intimidate shoppers. \"This is all temporary,\" Sgt. Arthur Smarsch of the Police Department said after the meeting as he stood on 56th Street on Thursday, near Fifth Avenue where barricades blocked traffic from proceeding east. \"Just for the next four years. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump called for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to immediately allow humanitarian aid to reach the Yemeni people, suggesting Washington had run out patience with a Saudi-led blockade that has been condemned by relief organizations. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Iran-aligned armed Houthi movement in Yemen s civil war started a blockade of ports a month ago after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired toward its capital Riyadh from Yemen. Although the blockade later eased and showed signs of breaking on Wednesday, Yemen s situation remained dire. About 8 million people are on the brink of famine with outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria. I have directed officials in my administration to call the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to request that they completely allow food, fuel, water and medicine to reach the Yemeni people who desperately need it, Trump said in a statement, without elaborating. This must be done for humanitarian reasons immediately, Trump said. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said the first food and fuel had arrived in Hodeidah and Saleef ports, but supplies were at a trickle compared to what was needed, since Yemen s population of 27 million was almost entirely reliant on imports for food, fuel and medicine. Oxfam International applauded Trump s statement, calling it long overdue but hugely important. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who has called for restrictions on U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, said he expected the Kingdom to heed Trump s call. Trump s brief, one-paragraph statement is one of the clearest signs of U.S. concern over aspects of Saudi Arabia s foreign policy. Saudi Arabia has also split with Trump over his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Publicly, Trump, his top aides and senior Saudi officials have hailed what they say is a major improvement in U.S.-Saudi ties compared with relations under former President Barack Obama, who upset the Saudis by sealing a nuclear deal with their arch-foe Iran. Even as ties improve, however, U.S. diplomats and intelligence analysts privately express anxiety over some of the more hawkish actions by Saudi Arabia s crown prince, especially toward Yemen and Lebanon, as Saudi Arabia seeks to contain Iranian influence. In turn, Saudi Arabia has been unusually public about its concerns over U.S. policy on Jerusalem. King Salman told Trump ahead of his Jerusalem announcement on Wednesday that any decision on the status of Jerusalem before a permanent peace settlement was reached would harm peace talks and increase tensions in the area, according to Saudi state-owned media. A White House official said Trump s statement on aid to Yemen did not represent retaliation for the Saudi position on Jerusalem. It has to do with the fact that there is a serious humanitarian issue in Yemen and the Saudis should and can do more, the official said. The fuel shortages caused by the blockade have meant that areas hardest hit by war, malnutrition and cholera lack functioning hospital generators, cooking fuel and water pumps. It also makes it harder to move food and medical aid around the country. The Saudi-led military coalition stepped up air strikes on Yemen s Houthis on Wednesday as the armed movement tightened its grip on Sanaa a day after the son of slain former president Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed revenge for his father s death. Saleh, who was killed in an attack on his convoy, plunged Yemen deeper into turmoil last week by switching allegiance after years helping the Houthis win control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday that the killing of Saleh would likely worsen an already dire humanitarian situation in the country in the short term. This is where we ve all got to roll up our sleeves and figure out what you re going to do about medicine and food and clean water, cholera, Mattis said.","label":0}
{"text":"Palestinian officials expressed surprise on Saturday at a U.S. decision to close the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington unless the group enters peace negotiations with Israel, and said they would not surrender to blackmail. A U.S. State Department official said that under legislation passed by Congress, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could not renew a certification that expired this month for the PLO office, given certain statements made by the Palestinian leaders about the International Criminal Court. The law says the PLO, the main Palestinian umbrella political body, cannot operate a Washington office if it urges the ICC to prosecute Israelis for alleged crimes against Palestinians. In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority called on the ICC to open an investigation and to prosecute Israeli officials for their involvement in settlement activities and aggressions against our people. The State Department official added that restrictions on the PLO in the United States, including the operation of its Washington office, could be waived after 90 days if U.S. President Donald Trump determines the Palestinians have entered into direct, meaningful negotiations with Israel. We are hopeful that this closure will be short-lived, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the Palestinian presidency expressed surprise at the U.S. move, which was first reported by the Associated Press. WAFA quoted Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki as saying that Palestinian leaders would not give in to blackmail or pressure regarding the operation of the PLO office or negotiations on an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The agency quoted a spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, expressing surprise, given that meetings between Abbas and Trump had been characterized by full understanding of the steps needed to create a climate for resumption of the peace process. A Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters the State Department had informed the Palestinians of the decision on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what effect the State Department s move might have on the Trump administration s efforts to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which are led by Jared Kushner, the U.S. president s son-in-law and senior adviser. Abbas spokesman called the U.S. move an unprecedented step in U.S.-Palestinian relations that would have serious consequences for the peace process and U.S.-Arab relations, according to WAFA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday: This is a matter of U.S. law. We respect the decision and look forward to continuing to work with the U.S. to advance peace and security in the region. The State Department official said the U.S. move did not amount to cutting off relations with the PLO or signal an intention to stop working with the Palestinian Authority. We remain focused on a comprehensive peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians that will resolve core issues between the parties, the official said.","label":0}
{"text":"If Jared Kushner did not realize that the establishment press and Democrats will never give him or President Donald Trump a free ride after Democrats politicized Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, he is now learning how viciously the antagonistic press can pile on when seeking to destroy their opposition. And it looks like the establishment media are just getting started. [After the Washington Post named Kushner as the \"person of interest\" in the FBI's Russia investigation, Kushner, in just a matter of days, as Fox News's Howard Kurtz wrote, \"has become the media's biggest target \u2014 that is, right after his . \" Kushner may have thought firing Comey would be a \"win\" for Trump because Democrats blamed Comey for costing Hillary Clinton the election. But the media never granted Trump a honeymoon period and will not give him automatic \"wins\" because they consider him an illegitimate outsider. And, as Kushner is finding out, because he is regarded as Trump's top adviser, Kushner will always be in the media's crosshairs no matter how much he tries to \"moderate\" Trump or court and charm the media. After media outlets initially reported that a White House official in Trump's inner circle was a \"person of interest\" in the FBI's Russia investigation, the Washington Post last Friday dropped a supposed \"bombshell\" report naming Kushner as the \"person of interest\" who allegedly wanted a \"back channel\" to communicate with Russian officials. But as Breitbart Joel Pollak noted, nothing in the Post's article was new: \"The meeting with Kislyak was reported nearly three months ago. The meeting with the banker was reported two months ago. And stories about a potential 'back channel' were reported almost two months ago. \" In fact, Kushner is reportedly not even a \"target\" of the investigation. There is also no smoking gun proving Kushner colluded with Russia or did anything illegal, for that matter, as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper emphasized on Sunday. But the media have treated Kushner, like they do with nearly every Republican who does not have favored status with them, as if he is guilty until proven innocent. The establishment press have largely brushed aside the notion that Kushner may have wanted to set up the \"back channel\" to discuss Syria policy, especially if he feared that the Obama administration may have been spying on Trump's campaign team. Fox News reported that the idea for a \"back channel\" was not even Kushner's idea in the first place. The media have also downplayed the fact that Russians often embellish things to engage in disinformation campaigns. Take CNN's report, based on leaks from two anonymous former intelligence officials and even a congressional source, about the Russians having potentially \"derogatory\" information on Trump and his top aides. CNN reported that the Russians believed they had \"leverage\" on Trump's inner circle, especially regarding financial issues. It is only until after the sensational claims are made that the outlet points out that this information \"could have been exaggerated or even made up\" because \"the Russians could be overstating\" things. There are certainly more questions that need to be answered \u2014 like whether Kushner met with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov as a representative of his private company or as a representative of Trump's transition team. But the controversy surrounding Kushner, which the media have ginned up with their anonymous leakers from the Deep State intent on undermining Trump, has given the media an excuse to damage Kushner politically. As if the media had many of these stories in their back pockets for the perfect time, the media immediately blitzed Kushner with an onslaught negative pieces. Here are ten ways the antagonistic press, with help from Deep State officials, have recently ganged up on Kushner. 1. Romney Redux: Kushner Depicted as Soulless Slumlord, The establishment media never investigated Obama's top confidante and adviser Valerie Jarrett's real estate holdings to depict her as a slumlord despite a body of evidence that was right in front of them. But nearly four months into Trump's presidency, the media suddenly had the resources and the wherewithal to find former tenants who lived in Kushner's properties to depict Trump's as a seedy slumlord. ProPublica and the New York Times collaborated on an extensive story about Kushner's real estate holdings and depicted Kushner as a seedy and greedy slumlord. The piece was titled, \"The Beleaguered Tenants of 'Kushnerville. \" They found former tenant Kamiia Warren, who reportedly moved out of her East Baltimore townhouse when a neighbor started acting strangely \u2014 like shouting through and banging on the walls at night, which often woke up her child. According to the report, \"Warren sent a letter reporting the problem to the complex's property manager\" and \"submitted the requisite form giving two months' notice that she was transferring her Section 8 voucher \u2014 the federal subsidy that helped her pay the rent \u2014 elsewhere. The complex's manager signed the form a week later, checking the line that read 'The tenant gave notice in accordance with the lease. '\" Three years later, according to the report, she was sued for $3, 014. 08 by JK2 Westminster LLC, Kushner's real estate company, and the lawsuit \"claimed she owed the money for having left in advance of her lease's expiration, though she had received written permission to leave. \" The establishment media are at their best when depicting Republicans (or even Democrats like Kushner who are now associated with Republicans) as heartless (see: Mitt Romney). The report points out that \"Warren was raising three children alone while taking classes for a bachelor's degree in health care administration\" and paints Kushner and his associates as villains who preyed on an innocent single mother. According to the report, Warren lost her first appeal because \"she did not have a copy of the form the manager had signed. The judge ruled against Warren, awarding JK2 Westminster the full sum it was seeking, plus court costs, attorney's fees and interest that brought the judgment to nearly $5, 000. \" Kushner's company has reportedly pursued such actions against \"hundreds\" of past tenants over the last five years. When Warren could not afford to pay the judgment, Kushner's company \"filed a request to garnish her wages from her elder care job. Five days earlier, Warren had gone to court to fill out a handwritten motion saying she had proof that she was given permission to leave Cove Village in 2010 \u2014 she had finally managed to get a copy from the housing department. \" But since she did not know that she had to attach a copy of her form to the motion, it was denied. Warren's bank account was ultimately \"zeroed out\" and when she returned to court with all of the proper paperwork, her case was reportedly dismissed again without explanation. One of Kushner's lawyers reportedly told her, \"This is not going to go away. You will pay us. \" Soon after, according to the report, \"the court sent notice of a $4, 615 lien against Warren. \" 2. Kushner Threw Trump Under Bus, Claimed Thinks GOP Base Is 'Stupid' When a former Kushner employee ( York Observer editor) claimed that Kushner once told her that Trump was promoting \"birtherism\" even though \"he really doesn't believe it\" because \"he knows Republicans are stupid and they'll buy it,\" the press jumped on the comments as proof that Trump is a \"man with no real morals, no real beliefs, but who is willing to peddle any sort of hatred or monstrous thought if he thinks that it will help him toward the nebulous goal of 'winning. '\" 3. Media Report Trump 'Angry' at Kushner, Relationship Showing 'Unmistakable Signs of Strain' Though Trump went on the record to publicly support Kushner, the media did their best to undercut Trump's comments with stories about how Trump was losing confidence in Kushner's judgment and political acumen. Trump explicitly told the New York Times that \"Jared is doing a great job for the country\" and \"I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person. \" Yet, media outlets pointed out that Trump was not that close to Kushner before Kushner joined his campaign and quoted anonymous sources who said that Trump has yelled at Kushner in recent meetings. The Times reported that Trump has even made snide and disparaging comments about Kushner's family after Kushner's sister reportedly tried to peddle her brother's access in the White House and \"dangled the availability of visas to the United States as an enticement for Chinese financiers willing to spend $500, 000 or more\" to invest in Kushner's real estate holdings. 4. Huffington Post: Marrying Ivanka on Calculating Kushner's 'Checklist' to 'Rehabilitate' Family Name, According to the Huffington Post, \"when Charles Kushner was heading to federal prison in 2005 for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering, his son Jared got some advice from Howard Rubenstein \u2015 the dean of New York damage control \u2015 on how to rehabilitate the Kushner name, Charles would later tell a family friend\": Step one: Buy a New York newspaper. Don't be too particular, Rubenstein told Jared, according to the family friend's recounting of their conversation with Charles. Any newspaper will do. Step two: Buy a big Manhattan building. Any building will do. Step three: Marry the daughter of a rich New York family. Anyone will do. The Huffington Post notes that Jared Kushner \"went on to do just that. He bought the New York Observer in 2006, made a $1. 8 billion purchase of 666 Fifth Ave. in 2007 and married Ivanka Trump in 2009. \" \"Whether or not Kushner was indeed working through a checklist, his actions during those years have served him well,\" the \"story\" points out. \"They also laid the groundwork for the meticulous public relations strategy that has made possible Kushner's current paradoxical role in the press, as a blameless yet uniquely powerful member of the Trump administration. \" Kushner's spokesman reportedly denied the account and Rubenstein told the outlet that the account was \"preposterous\" and \"I never said that or anything like that. \" But when it comes to making Trump's look bad, such a story is too good for outlets like the Huffington Post not to print. 5. Former Kushner Employees Smear Jared: 'Vindictive Sh*thead' Media outlets who were uncurious for eight years about former employees of top Obama administration officials suddenly started interviewing former employees and editors of Kushner's newspaper \u2014 the New York Observer. Of course, the media found those who were all too eager to smear Kushner. An \"anonymous\" editor described to the Washington Post that Kushner was insistent on getting a \"hit job\" on a banker who would not help Kushner refinance one of his buildings. Kushner was reportedly still upset when the paper's editors \u2014 even after assigning three different reporters to find dirt on the banker \u2014 decided that \"there's no story there. \" Politico spoke to another former Kushner employee \u2014 Harleen Kahlon \u2014 who claimed that Kushner asked her to \"take one for the team\" and forego her performance bonus based on meeting \"agreed upon metrics on page views and audience growth. \": Kahlon abruptly quit. Ever since, whenever she sees him on TV or on the streets of New York, she points him out to people as: \"the guy that stole my money. Just before the election, Kahlon described her former boss on Facebook thusly: \"We're talking about a guy who isn't particularly bright or doesn't actually know anything, has bought his way into everything ever (with money he got from his criminal father) who is deeply insecure and obsessed with fame (you don't buy the NYO, marry Ivanka Trump, or constantly talk about the phone calls you get from celebrities if it's in your nature to 'shun the spotlight') and who is basically a shithead. \" 6. Officials Claim Kushner Guilty of Espionage, May Even Be Russian Agent, Though Obama's former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that his \"dashboard warning light was clearly on\" when he found out about Kushner's dealing with Russian agents, he emphasized that there is \"no evidence of collusion. \" But the media rushed to get former Deep State officials who were all too eager to slam Kushner. Former intelligence agent Malcolm Nance suggested Kushner may be guilty of espionage and called for Kushner's security clearance to be revoked immediately. Former double agent Naveed Jamali went as far to say he thought Kushner was actually a Russian agent, a comment which even shocked an MSNBC host. 7. Media Suggest Kushner Family Want to Profit off Trump Presidency, Media outlets hinted that Kushner and his family may be more interested in using Trump's presidency to pad their bottom lines and enhancing their images. They pointed to the fact that a day before Kushner's sister sought funding from Chinese investors through the investor visa program, Trump extended the program when he signed the most recent spending bill, \"raising many eyebrows. \" Even the suggestion that Kushner and his family may be trying to profit off Trump's name has made Trump livid, according go the Times. The Times pointed out Kushner's sister's pitch to Chinese nationals \"violated two major rules: Politically, it undercut his immigration crackdown, and in a personal sense, it smacked of profiteering off Mr. Trump \u2014 one of the sins that warrants expulsion from his orbit. \" 8. Kushner Is 'Naive,' 'Unqualified' and Dumb \u2026 Establishment media outlets used comments from former intelligence officials to push the narrative that Kushner was \"in over his head\" and naive to handle foreign affairs. When asked about Kushner's alleged action, Michael Hayden, the former CIA and NSA Director, told CNN, \"right now, I'm going with na\u00efvet\u00e9, and that's not particularly comforting for me. \" \"What manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the Russian ambassador was a good or an appropriate idea? ,\" he asked. Former KGB spy Jack Barsky told CNN that Kushner was \"naive\" and \"completely unqualified\" to deal with the Russians because of the \"inexperience he has in international affairs. \" He called Kushner's alleged actions \" . \" 9. \u2026 Or Maybe 'Desperate'? The Atlantic's David Frum suggested that perhaps Kushner was not naive but rather desperate to get financing for his family's Manhattan tower. \"Maybe Kushner was desperate, not dumb \u2026 His family faced a huge hike in its debt servicing costs in December 2016. \" Frum wrote. He cited a Bloomberg News report that claimed a Manhattan tower that Kushner's family \"has been losing money for three years and faces increasing loan fees in 2017, which may explain why the family has been negotiating with Chinese insurance behemoth Anbang on new financing\": The fees, at 666 Fifth Avenue, kicked in last month and escalate with each payment until the loan is repaid, a 2011 refinancing agreement shows. December brings another hurdle: Interest paid on the bulk of about $1. 1 billion of loans jumps to 6. 35 percent, more than double what it was after the debt was refinanced in 2011. And as the city's biggest office construction boom in a quarter century creates a glut of supply, the property's occupancy rates are falling. Seventy percent of the building was filled as of September, filings by LNR Partners, the loan managers, show. This is well below 91 percent for the New York metro area reported at year's end by Reis, the firm, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jeffrey Langbaum. 10. Media: 'Miserable,' 'Unhappy' Distraught Kushner May Want to Go Back to NYC, After Kushner was named as the \"person of interest,\" the media quickly reported that Kushner has been \"miserable,\" \"unhappy\" and \"frustrated\" with his job as he has come under more scrutiny. It is as if they had these paragraphs already written, ready to be fired off at the best possible moment. The Times cited anonymous \"friends\" who told the outlet that Kushner \"and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have made no commitment to remain by Mr. Trump's side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in New York. \" Politico reported that there is a \"sense of uncertainty about how long Kushner and Ivanka Trump \u2014 who associates say likes, but doesn't love, Washington \u2014 are planning to stick it out. Some have noted that they rent their Kalorama mansion, which allows them to keep their options of moving back to Manhattan more open. \" On Wednesday, the Times reported that Trump \"has not ruled out the possibility\" that Kushner and Ivanka \"would return to New York this year. \" Writing in the Guardian, Walter Shapiro predicted that Kushner's \"life in the coming months and maybe years will be a study in misery\" because \"he will probably spend more time with his personal lawyer, Clinton justice department veteran Jamie Gorelick, than with Ivanka or his children. Whether it is an appearance under oath on Capitol Hill or the inevitable FBI interview, every sentence Kushner utters will bring with it possible legal jeopardy. \" Shapiro, citing Kushner's sister's visa exploits, wrote that perhaps \"Kushner just calculated that all the hype surrounding his White House role was a family branding opportunity. \" He also suggests that Kushner may end up behind bars, if he is not careful, like his father: \"the worst thing that can happen to an real estate investor (as Trump himself knows well) is bankruptcy. When the FBI and special prosecutor Robert Mueller get involved, the penalties can theoretically involve steel bars locking behind you. \" If Kushner did not realize it already, he should be well aware by now that the Democrats, the institutional left, and the establishment media seek to destroy, do not give an inch, and play for keeps. And they may just be warming up.","label":0}
{"text":"The Golden State Warriors just clenched the 2017 NBA Champions against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They fought hard in the 4-1 series, winning the title Monday night in their home city of Oakland. The following morning they decided to do something almost as amazing.Golden State decided in a unanimous decision not to go to the White House and meet with Donald Trump, which is customary for the winning team to do each year.This is the second NBA championship for Golden State in the past three years, as well as the third consecutive finals series against Cleveland.When the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in the finals back in 2015, they attended the customary celebration ceremony at the White House and were honored by former President Barack Obama. Last year, the Cavaliers took part in a similar visit.This isn t the first time American sports champions have refused to attend the customary White House visit under Trump. Many players on the New England Patriots did not visit Trump after their Super Bowl win due to political reasons.The Golden State Warriors have yet to make any statements about why they made this decision, but it s pretty obvious. What better way to use your fame and influence than to let Trump know how dissatisfied the people are. America is choosing to celebrate its biggest victories without him. Go Warriors!Photo by Thearon W. Henderson\/Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump may think he s the best, but it looks like most Americans disagree. In reality, he s the worst. Numerous polls show that Trump is the least popular president ever. And the more time passes, the lower his approval rating sinks.The most recent Gallup Poll shows Trump s approval rating at a mere 37 percent, with 58 percent of Americans disapproving of the job he s doing as president. That s down from a brief stint at 40 percent approval earlier this month. His lowest approval ratings came in March when only 35 percent thought he was doing a decent job in the White House, but he is darn close to that now.In fact, other polls show that he has already reached the magic number of 35 percent approval, his all-time low. The American Research Group has Trump s approval rating at 35 percent, which has dropped from 37 percent approval in June and 39 percent in both May and April. Rasmussen Reports, Trump s favorite poll, also showed that Trump s approval rating is currently tied with his all-time low.According to Newsweek, Trump is closing in on his record low approval ratings in just about every poll out there. Five Thirty Eight has Trump s approval rating at 38.4 percent, just 0.4 points above his all-time low.But these aren t just record lows for Trump, they are record lows for any U.S. president ever. That s right, Trump is officially the least popular president in the history of the United States and he s only been in office for six f*cking months.It s official: @realDonaldTrump is the least popular new president in history.That could mean big trouble for his presidency. (@Reuters) pic.twitter.com\/lzuJY2ZZ3P Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) July 21, 2017Despite the fact that the majority of Americans disapprove of the alleged president, Trump s core supporters still back him, even as the Russia scandal continues to heat up. A poll from earlier this week found that just like Trump said during his campaign, even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, there are a good many of his supporters (and a subset of Republicans in general) who would back him anyway.","label":1}
{"text":"German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President Donald Trump that the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for banning refugees or people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, her spokesman said on Sunday. Steffen Seibert said Merkel had expressed her concerns to Trump during a telephone call on Saturday and reminded him that the Geneva Conventions require the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds. \"She is convinced that even the necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion,\" he said. Seibert said the German government regrets the U.S. entry travel ban, would review the consequences for German citizens with dual nationalities, and would \"represent their interests, if needed, vis a vis our U.S. partners\". The German and Dutch foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Sunday saying they were pressing U.S. authorities to determine what the order meant for their dual nationals. \"We are determined to protect the rights of our citizens and will take rapid action within the European Union about the steps that are now needed,\" Germany's Sigmar Gabriel and his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders said. Trump ordered on Friday a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily banned travelers from Syria and six other mainly Muslim countries. Seibert's comments were the first indication of discord over the issue between Merkel and Trump, who had highlighted common interests such as strengthening NATO and combating Islamist militancy in a joint statement after their 45-minute phone call. Thomas Oppermann, who heads the parliamentary faction of the Social Democrats, the junior partner in Merkel's right-center coalition, called Trump's order \"inhumane and foolhardy\" and said it would result in significant damage to the U.S. economy. \"The order contradicts everything that makes up the United States' good reputation as a country of immigration,\" he told Die Welt newspaper. \"No one should be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.\" Omid Nouripour, a Green party lawmaker who is vice-chair of the German-American parliamentary group and a German-Iranian dual national, said the new U.S. rule was a \"dirty symbolic gesture that would hurt hundreds of thousands of people\". \"The German government must stand up for the over 100,000 German citizens who are affected by the order,\" Nouripour told Reuters. He said Trump had not included Saudi Arabia in the order because of his strong business ties there. Niema Movassat, a Left party lawmaker who also has German and Iranian citizenship, told the Tageszeitung newspaper that the ban would prevent him from visiting the United Nations to work on development issues and from visiting his relatives. Dieter Janecek, economic spokesman for the Greens in parliament, said Germany should consider a travel ban on Trump and his senior adviser Stephen Bannon unless the order was rescinded. Trump on Saturday accepted Merkel's invitation to attend the a meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Hamburg in July. He also invited Merkel to visit Washington soon.","label":0}
{"text":"Ahhh Mooch The perpetual victim. Never mind that 319 million Americans have been victims of her husband s radical, self-serving policies for the past 7 1\/2 years. And never mind that the Obama clan just spent their vacation palling around with communist dictator, Raul Castro, who is currently committing some of the worst human right violations against women in the history of Cuba. Never mind that there are Christian and Yazidi women being raped and sold into a lifetime of sex slavery. Our First Lady would like to use herself as an example of what a victim of sexism looks like. How very appropriate First Lady Michelle Obama said she faced harassment from men who used to whistle at her when she was a young woman. As I got older, I found that men would whistle at me as I walked down the street, as if my body were their property, as if I were an object to be commented on instead of a full human being with thoughts and feelings of my own, Obama said in a speech in Argentina on Wednesday. I began to realize that the hopes I had for myself were in conflict with the messages I was receiving from people around me, she said at the Let Girls Learn initiative.","label":1}
{"text":"As Taliban fighters push toward the southern city of Lashkar Gah, members of Afghanistan's elite forces are trying to hold their ground here, about 10 miles from the city, the capital of Helmand Province and a critical link in the defense of the entire region. The Afghan government's need to rely on the special forces, highly trained for commando raids, to guard the perimeter of the city exposes a stark reality. As Helmand, the largest province in Afghanistan and the center of its opium production, endures intense enemy fire this summer, the regular police and army forces have failed to stand firm, raising the possibility that the Taliban could overrun Lashkar Gah. \"The police, as soon as they were inflicted with some casualties, gave up about 27 posts one after another without a fight, and our posts were surrounded by surprise,\" said Col. Nematullah Khalil, the commander of the Afghan Army's Third Regiment, 215 Corps, whose soldiers are trying to help the special forces hold the line in in the Nad Ali district. \"The enemy planted a lot of mines wherever they reached, and that slows us down. \" Lt. Col. Mohammad Omar Jan, the police chief of the Nad Ali district, rejected that assessment. The army is blaming the police to cover up its own weakness, Colonel Jan said, adding that the army was responsible for 's security because his forces were busy trying to secure the district governor's compound. \"The police are fighting in the front line and suffer heavy casualties more than any other forces,\" he said. In the scorching heat on the front lines near members of regular police and army units looked tired on a recent day as they gathered in small clusters, resting in the shade of some buildings' mud walls. The main road that separates the Afghan forces from the Taliban, who have been striking more forcefully and relentlessly this fighting season, is heavily mined. The cornfields around the largely abandoned homes look calm, but at night the forces regularly clash with the Taliban. The troops have managed to retake only about a mile in the 10 days since they lost much of the area, said Colonel Khalil, the Afghan Army officer. The entire area held by government forces in Helmand has shrunk in recent months. Four districts, including Musa Qala and Nawzad, that were the focus of thousands of American and coalition troops during the 2010 surge are under Taliban control. Frequent airstrikes and reinforcements are required to keep many of the other 10 districts, some only nominally in government control, from falling. While Afghan officials insist that Lashkar Gah will not be lost, their strategy seems unsustainable against an enemy that has proved to be mobile and resilient. Defending the district centers that have not fallen to the Taliban has required a delegation of senior generals and officials from Kabul to shuttle back and forth to monitor developments. On Thursday morning, the senior generals led the fighting, pushing their ground troops and calling in strikes by Afghan and American aircraft to fend off Taliban advances on the district center of Nawa, just south of Lashkar Gah and one of the safest places in Helmand until recently. The Taliban fire, including mortar barrages, damaged the government buildings and demolished the watchtowers. On returning to Lashkar Gah, the generals remained in emergency mode, constantly on the line with troops in other districts, urging them to hold their ground. The Taliban fighters, many of them retreating from Nawa, shifted to exert pressure on the center of the neighboring district of Garmsir. The generals rallied some commandos and then piled into helicopters to save Garmsir. Another team was busy trying to clear the main road to Kandahar Province, which had remained blocked for a week because of Taliban mines and check posts, officials said. Sultan Muhammad, the police chief of Maiwand District, who participated in the road clearance, said that the authorities had defused as many as 100 roadside bombs, and that teams were continuing to clear more even as they were being engaged by the Taliban. Late on Sunday, the convoy of the provincial police chief, Gen. Aqa Noor Kentoz, struck a roadside bomb. The general and three of his guards were wounded, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. Why are the Afghan forces, who local security officials say outnumber the insurgents at least five to one and receive air support, struggling so badly in a strategic province? Helmand was a center of President Obama's surge, in which tens of thousands of American and coalition troops were sent to try to secure the area, with hundreds of NATO military advisers still aiding the Afghans in the province. Some of the most senior members of the original Taliban are from Helmand, but they now operate from across the border in Pakistan, enabling them to move back and forth, often out of the reach of coalition forces. Beyond its symbolic value, Helmand remains a focus of their attacks not only because it is the gateway to other southern provinces, but also because its fields produce the highest amount of opium in Afghanistan and its vast deserts sit on the main opium trade route. Increasingly, the Taliban have come to resemble a drug cartel as much as an insurgency, relying heavily on the profits from the opium trade to fund their fight. Complicating the situation, officials in Helmand say, local strongmen are using their influence to plant their own men in provincial security jobs in outposts on the route. Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahman, the deputy interior minister, said more than 90 percent of the police officers in Helmand were residents of the province and thus vulnerable to meddling and conflicting loyalties. For example, if a commander is replaced because of incompetence or abuse, security officials say, he is apt to take hundreds of his men with him, leaving a hole in the area's defense. Political ties can also undermine security. When the brother of a powerful lawmaker who served as the security chief of the Garmsir district was fired recently over allegations that he was involved in the drug trade, the lawmaker organized protests in Lashkar Gah and Kabul. (One of the lawmaker's nephews remains the head of counternarcotics in the province.) Moreover, military goals pale compared with the allure of financial gain. \"The most important thing for the forces in Helmand is their own interests and business in the province \u2014 they are trying to get the amount of money which they have been told,\" said Muhammad Jan Rasulyar, a former deputy governor of Helmand, referring to the widely held belief that commanders in lucrative posts pay who help them get such jobs. \"Differences between government authorities in Helmand made the Taliban stronger in the province, and this is the main reason for the increasing of conflicts. The authorities ward off each other instead of the enemy. \" The army itself has struggled to recover after suffering a record number of casualties in Helmand last year. Gen. Murad Ali Murad, the deputy chief of the army staff, said senior officers had tried to use the winter months to rebuild the 215 Corps. But the relentless pace of the fighting, in Helmand and in other parts of the country, derailed their efforts. New recruits with little experience were thrown into battle. \"All of a sudden, the threats in Helmand increased and there was need for those forces to be used in the field, and we felt their deficiencies,\" General Murad said. \"We felt their lack of equipment and experience in the battlefield. \" Conversely, the Taliban seem to be growing in their actual fighting capability, or in their psychological hold over a struggling foe. Afghan commanders, security officials and fighters say the insurgents are physically tough and use goggles, snipers and sophisticated weapons. This phase of the war pits insurgents who plant mines and then swiftly disappear against an armed force that is lured into traps while chasing the insurgents. This happens even as the soldiers are supported by aircraft that can rain down fire that makes the holding of any area costly for the Taliban. But more than anything, it is an uneven fight between insurgents prepared to attack and die, and soldiers who would flee to live. It is also a story told by the disparity in the unverified number of casualties provided by Helmand's governor, Hayatullah Hayat. In the most recent two weeks of fighting, 210 Taliban fighters were killed and 40 were wounded, compared with 15 dead and 35 wounded for the Afghan forces, the governor said (though other local officials have suggested that the casualties to Afghan forces could be much higher).","label":0}
{"text":"Usain Bolt is no longer a Olympic gold medalist. Bolt and the Jamaican team have been stripped of their relay gold medal from the Beijing Games in 2008 because one runner, Nesta Carter, was found guilty of a doping violation, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. Bolt won the 100 meters, the 200 and the 4x100 relay at the last three Summer Olympics, for a total of nine gold medals, tied for the most of any track athlete. Carter initially tested negative after the race in 2008. But his sample was one of many retested by the I. O. C. last year. It was found to contain a prohibited stimulant, methylhexaneamine. Carter's lawyer told Reuters on Wednesday that he intended to file an appeal of the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Olympic officials last year intensified scrutiny of samples from past Olympics after Russia was found to have executed an elaborate, doping scheme. Dozens of athletes from the Beijing and London Games have been found, upon retesting of their stored samples, to be guilty of doping violations. Many were medalists. It is standard practice for Olympic officials to store urine samples for up to a decade so they may conduct additional tests, often with more advanced, newly developed techniques. Carter was also a part of the winning 4x100 relay team in London in 2012, but no announcement about the status of that medal has been made. The I. O. C. directed the international track federation to \"modify the results\" of the 2008 event. Trinidad, Japan and Brazil were second, third and fourth in the race and would each move up a notch. The United States dropped the baton in its heat and did not make the final. The I. O. C. also told the Jamaican federation to secure the return of the physical gold medals. The other two team members in the final were Asafa Powell and Michael Frater. The Jamaican team finished in 37. 10 seconds, which was a world record at the time. When one member of a team tests positive, it is typical for the entire team to be stripped of its medals, although there have been exceptions. Marion Jones lost two relay medals from 2000 after doping violations, but her teammates were allowed to keep theirs after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. When news of Carter's positive test first emerged last year, Bolt told The Guardian, \"It's heartbreaking because over the years you've worked hard to accumulate gold medals and work hard to be a champion \u2014 but it's just one of those things. \" He added, \"If I need to give back my gold medal, I'd have to give it back it's not a problem for me. \" The I. O. C. also announced on Wednesday that Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia was disqualified from the 2008 long jump, in which she won the silver medal, and the triple jump because of a positive test. Bolt, regarded as the greatest sprinter in history, has said he will retire from the sport after this summer's world championships in London.","label":0}
{"text":"Our full report on the horrible shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise is below these hate-filled comments from the left. We wanted you to see that the left wasted no time in continuing the rhetoric:Soon after Congressman Steve Scalise was shot by a crazed shooter, the left wasted no time with their hate-filled comments:Restless News published a meme saying the shooting was karma:A twitter user named Charles Barkley (not the real Charles Barkley): Well that KKK f*cker deserved it The left took on gun control mentioning Sandy Hook:Some on the left even brought up Obamacare: Rep. Steve Scalise was shot Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, in a deliberate attack. A congressional staffer was also shot. Scalise is in surgery right now and is expected to recover.Rand Paul said Scalise being there likely saved everyone because his presence (he s leadership) meant Capitol Police were there.Scalise, a member of the House Republican leadership as the majority whip, appeared to have been shot in the hip and it appeared two Capitol Hill police agents were shot, according to Rep. Mo Brooks who was on deck when the shooting occurred. The shooting took place at a practice for the GOP congressional baseball team.NBC News Special Report: Congressman Scalise, aides shot at baseball practice in Virginia https:\/\/t.co\/KD9i1iP9MZ Jason Calabretta (@JasonCalabretta) June 14, 2017In a statement, Texas Rep. Roger Williams, one of the team s coaches, said one of his staff members was shot during the incident and is receiving medical attention. There was no information on the staffer s injuries.According to both congressional and law enforcement sources, the shooting appears to be a deliberate attack. Two law enforcement sources say the suspect is in police custody, has been taken to a hospital.Lawmakers who spoke at the scene to reporters described a normal morning practice, at a field where they ve practiced for years, when all of a sudden shots rang out. Lawmakers, staff members and even the young son of one of the members ran for cover, jumping into dugouts and over fences to avoid the gunshots.Members described Scalise dragging himself roughly 15 yards away from second base, where he had been playing, and lying there until the shooter was neutralized, at which point some of them ran to assist him and apply pressure to the wound until he could be evacuated. Once they were able, Sen. Jeff Flake said he and Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is a physician, went out to where Scalise was lying to apply pressure to the wound. Scalise was coherent the whole time, Flake said.Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told CNN it would have been a massacre without Capitol Hill Police.","label":1}
{"text":"Johnny Nicholson, whose tiny Midtown Manhattan restaurant, the Caf\u00e9 Nicholson, served as a gathering place for the artists and celebrities known as \"the New Bohemians\" in the 1950s and '60s, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 99. His death was confirmed by Phyllis Eckhaus, a friend and executor. Mr. Nicholson, an antiques dealer and interior designer, opened the first Caf\u00e9 Nicholson in 1948 on 58th Street near Third Avenue, near where he and his romantic partner, the photographer Karl Bissinger, ran an antiques store. At the time, it was a neighborhood of cheap brownstones and photographers' studios. Inspired by the Caff\u00e8 Greco in Rome, he planned to offer coffee and pastries, but the chef Edna Lewis, a cook from Virginia and a close friend, convinced him that a restaurant was a better idea. He offered her a place behind the stove and a partnership in the business, giving her her first exposure in New York. She would go on to write cookbooks that made her one of America's foremost exponents of traditional Southern cuisine. Mr. Nicholson decorated the interior in a spirit of mad eclecticism, combining chic with florid romanticism, a look he once described as \"fin de si\u00e8cle Caribbean of Cuba style. \" \"Oh, it was fun,\" Ms. Lewis told Vanity Fair in 1999. \"We shopped on the Bowery, going into basement after basement. Before we opened we put sheets over all the walls and called them curtains. \" Ms. Lewis devised a simple, unchanging menu, with dishes like roast chicken with herbs, and a chocolate souffl\u00e9 described by Clementine Paddleford in The New York Herald Tribune as \"light as a dandelion seed in a high wind. \" A parrot named Lolita screamed \"Hello\" and \"I'm a parrot. \" The combination of fantasy setting and superb food did the trick. In no time the restaurant became \"a canteen for the creative class,\" the food writer John T. Edge wrote in The Oxford American in 2013 \u2014 a magnet for artists, writers, actors, photographers, designers and fashion editors. In a 1949 photograph accompanying a Flair magazine article titled \"The New Bohemians,\" Mr. Bissinger captured the moment and the tone. It showed, seated at a table in the restaurant's back garden: Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, the Balanchine ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq, the novelist Donald Windham and the artist Buffie Johnson. They were served by the waitress Virginia Reed. \"Until Caf\u00e9 Nicholson, there were only two kinds of restaurants in New York: checked tablecloth places serving spaghetti and meatballs or places like Le Pavillon,\" the Vogue and Harper's Bazaar editor Babs Simpson told Vanity Fair in 1999. \"In a way, Johnny created the first theme park. \" Mr. Nicholson was born John Bulica on Sept. 5, 1916, in St. Louis to immigrant parents from Romania. He later adopted the surname of a favorite uncle. His father, Nicholas, ran a small restaurant, the Cafe Lafayette. His mother, the former Constance Cordista, was a homemaker. He had a troubled childhood. A constant truant, he dropped out of high school and went to work as an errand boy at the Stix, Baer Fuller department store, picking up decorating knowledge that he applied when he opened his own design and furniture store. From time to time he visited relatives in Manhattan, where he worked during Christmastime at Lord Taylor. He was drafted in 1941 but was exempted from military service when an Army psychiatrist recognized him as the chronic truant he had treated at a children's psychiatric hospital. Mr. Nicholson moved to New York, hoping to break into fashion design. After a brief period as a cafeteria busboy, he was hired by Lord Taylor as a window dresser. The antiques store, which did most of its business renting props to photographers, served as a useful training ground for decorating the cafe. Mr. Nicholson was a born scavenger, ferreting out unusual items in unusual places, like the marble countertop he bought from a sanitation worker off the truck, or the marble goddesses he chanced upon in a warehouse in Puerto Rico. The mad surroundings, the intimate scale, and forever and always, the roast chicken, attracted a parade of notables. The gathering immortalized by Mr. Bissinger \u2014 \"pretty good for a summer's day in the garden of a New York City brownstone,\" Mr. Vidal told Smithsonian magazine in 2007 \u2014 was not unusual. Over the years, in its several locations, the Caf\u00e9 Nicholson hosted the cartoonist Charles Addams, and, on one enchanted evening, Gloria Vanderbilt with Frank Sinatra. For a time, Mr. Nicholson arranged for guests with theater tickets to be chauffeured in a Silver Cloud. By the end of the 1970s, Mr. Nicholson's attention had waned. He began traveling frequently, closing the restaurant for months at a time. By this time it had been on East 58th Street for about a decade, in the former sculpture studio of Jo Davidson, just off the entry ramp to the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge. The cafe took a bow in the Woody Allen film \"Bullets Over Broadway\" in 1994. But five years later, Mr. Nicholson, who leaves no immediate survivors, closed it, putting the final punctuation mark on a vanished age. \"You went to my restaurant because it was extraordinary, beautiful, with very good food and a very different experience,\" Mr. Nicholson said in 2013 in \"The Luminous Years: Karl Bissinger and the New Bohemians,\" an documentary by Catherine Johnson. \"You went there to be with your friends. \"","label":0}
{"text":"From Cuba to Antigua, Caribbean islanders began counting the cost of Hurricane Irma on Sunday after the brutal storm left a trail of death, destruction and chaos from which the tourist-dependent region could take years to recover. The Category 5 storm, which killed at least 28 people across the region, devastated housing, power supplies and communications, leaving some small islands almost cut off from the world. European nations sent military reinforcements to keep order amid looting, while the damage was expected to total billions of dollars. Ex-pat billionaires and poor islanders alike were forced to take cover as Irma tore roofs off buildings, flipped cars and killed livestock, raging from the Leeward Islands across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola then into Cuba before turning on Florida. Waves of up to 36 feet (11 meters) smashed businesses along the Cuban capital Havana s sea-side drive on Sunday morning. Further east, high winds whipped Varadero, the island s most important tourist resort. It s a complete disaster and it will take a great deal of work to get Varadero back on its feet, said Osmel de Armas, 53, an aquatic photographer who works on the beach at the battered resort. Sea-front hotels were evacuated in Havana and relief workers spent the night rescuing people from homes in the city center as the sea penetrated to historic depths in the flood-prone area. U.S President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration on Sunday for Puerto Rico, where Irma killed at least 3 people and left hundreds of thousands without electricity. Trump also expanded federal funds available to the U.S. Virgin Islands, which suffered extensive damage to homes and infrastructure. Further east in the Caribbean, battered islands such as St. Martin and Barbuda were taking stock of the damage as people began emerging from shelters to scenes of devastation. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the death toll on the Dutch part of St. Martin had doubled to four, and that 70 percent of homes had been damaged or destroyed. Following reports of looting, the Netherlands said it would increase its military presence on the island to 550 soldiers by Monday. Rutte said that to ensure order, security forces were authorized to act with a firm hand . Alex Martinez, 31, a native of Florida who was vacationing on the Dutch side of St. Martin when Irma hit the island in the early hours of Wednesday, vividly described how his hotel was gutted by the storm, turning it into a debris-strewn tip. Doors were torn from hinges, windows shattered, cars lifted off the ground and furniture blown through the rooms after Irma hit the building with a burst of pressure that was like you were getting sucked out of an aeroplane, he said. Martinez, his wife and two others barricaded themselves in their bathroom, pushing with all their might to secure the door as Irma battered it with winds of up to 185 mph (300 km\/h). That s when we thought, that was it , he said. I honestly, swear to God, thought we were going to die at that point in time. Everything continued for maybe 20, 30 minutes; my wife s there, she s praying, praying, praying, praying, and things just kinda calmed down. I guess that s when the eye (of the storm came). Staff deserted the hotel to look after their families and Martinez and a few others had to scavenge for food and water for three days until they were airlifted out on Saturday, he said. Dutch authorities are evacuating other tourists and injured people to Curacao, where Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk were expected to arrive today. France, which oversees neighboring Saint Barthelemy and the other half of St Martin, said the police presence on the two islands had been boosted to close to 500. The French interior ministry said 11 people suspected of malicious actions had been arrested since Friday as television footage showed scenes of chaos on the islands, with streets under water, boats and cars tossed into piles and torn rooftops. Irma killed at least 10 people on the two islands, the French government said. France s Caisse Centrale de Reassurance, a state-owned reinsurance group, estimated the cost of Irma at some 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion). French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit St. Martin on Tuesday. Barbuda, home to some 1,800 inhabitants, faces a reconstruction bill that could total hundreds of millions of dollars, state officials say, after Irma steamrolled the island. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said Irma had wreaked absolute devastation on Barbuda, which he described as barely habitable after 90 percent of cars and buildings had been damaged. The government ordered a total evacuation when a second hurricane, Jose, emerged, but a handful of people refused to leave their homes, including a gentleman (who) said he was living in a cave , said Garfield Burford, director of news at government-owned broadcaster ABS TV and Radio in Antigua and Barbuda. Irma also plunged the British Virgin Islands, an offshore business and legal center, into turmoil. Yachts were piled on top of each other in the harbor and many houses in the hillside capital of Road Town on the main island of Tortola were badly damaged. Both there and in Anguilla to the east, residents complained help from the British government was too slow in coming, prompting a defensive response from London. We weren t late, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC television on Sunday, saying Britain had pre-positioned an aid ship for the Caribbean hurricane season and that his government s response has been as good as anybody else s. British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, who sought refuge in the wine cellar of his home on Necker island, called Irma the storm of the century on Twitter and urged people to make donations to help rebuild the region.","label":0}
{"text":"A multi-storey building collapsed in the south Indian city of Bengaluru on Monday, killing at least five people and injuring several, officials said. The accident occurred in a densely populated residential area in the south-east of the city after the suspected explosion of a cooking gas cylinder, they said. Rescue operations were under way, according to media reports. Five people have died and five have been rescued, Bengaluru Development and Town Planning Minister K.J. George said on TV from the accident site. The building is more than 20 years old. At around 6 a.m., there was a loud noise, either due to gas cylinder explosion or building collapse, said Karnataka state home minister Ramalinga Reddy.","label":0}
{"text":"Donald Trump is really excited about all the nothing he s accomplished in his first 100 days in office. So, he announced on Saturday that he plans to celebrate by throwing a big rally on his 100th day. Presumably, he expects a better turnout than he got for his pathetic inauguration.Next Saturday night I will be holding a BIG rally in Pennsylvania. Look forward to it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2017Rally will be to mark Trump s 100 days in office & organized\/paid for by Trump s campaign committee, per senior campaign official https:\/\/t.co\/wYW92Z8a87 Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) April 22, 2017So far, with 100 days under his belt, Trump hasn t managed to accomplish squat except for failing to follow through on his absurd campaign promises. Mexico isn t paying for his stupid wall. His Muslim Ban was shot down twice as bigoted and unconstitutional. Obamacare is still the law of the land. And he is known as the biggest recruiting tool ISIS has at the moment. Exactly why he thinks this warrants a party is unclear. But as can only be expected of a narcissist, he is somehow convinced that this is a great idea and it totally won t have an embarrassing turnout.It is worth pointing out that the day of Trump s big rally is the same night the White House Correspondents Dinner will be taking place without the man occupying the White House in attendance because the press hurt his feelings.On Friday, Trump tweeted that the 100-day mark is a ridiculous standard. No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2017He then followed up by telling the press that it s just an artificial barrier. He added that since he didn t have the slightest clue how to actually president when he took office, he should be given extra leeway. He also noted that even though repealing Obamacare was one of his biggest campaign promises, he has really only been thinking about if for two months. I ve been here 92 days, but I ve only been working on the health care, you know, I had to get like a little bit of grounding, right? Trump told the Associated Press. Health care started after 30 day(s), so I ve been working on health care for 60 days.","label":1}
{"text":"0 comments  We all know the corruption in DC is real, but it's still be a very SHOCKING past few weeks with all the skeletons coming out of the closet proving us right!  Now, we have learned that the FBI really wanted to do their job and investigate Hillary correctly to see if she needed to be put away. The problem was \u2026. Obama's Justice Department.  They got in the way.  CLASSIC corruption move\u2026  Now they are busted\u2026.and metaphorically caught with their pants down. What the FBI has released now, is going to make it REAL hard for the Justice Department to dodge this one\u2026  FBI investigators believed the audio was at least worth investigating and they grew increasingly frustrated as they ran into roadblocks erected by corruption prosecutors and even some FBI executives, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The prosecutors reportedly felt the case wasn't worth bringing to a grand jury because the individual in the secret recording wasn't working inside the Clinton Foundation.  FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert Capers, were both at the center of the internal dispute, per the report:  Amid the internal finger-pointing on the Clinton Foundation matter, some have blamed the FBI's No. 2 official, deputy director Andrew McCabe, claiming he sought to stop agents from pursuing the case this summer. His defenders deny that, and say it was the Justice Department that kept pushing back on the investigation.  At times, people on both sides of the dispute thought Mr. Capers agreed with them. Defenders of Mr. Capers said he was straightforward and always told people he thought the case wasn't strong.  Another bombshell Fox News report published Wednesday suggested that FBI agents are now \"actively and aggressively pursuing\" the Clinton Foundation case. Two separate sources told Fox News the case is now \"very high priority.\"  To see the FOX reporting CLICK HERE  There are no answers in DC, and there hasn't been for a very long time. There is now, only corruption. I'd say it's high time we do drain the swamp.  Lets hope what need to happen in order for that to be done\u2026 happens on November 8th. Related Items","label":1}
{"text":"Last night, at a rally in Melbourne, Florida, Trump was trying to build more fear of brown people in his base of loyalists by referencing a completely imaginary terror attack in Sweden. Since then, he s received an earful from the former Prime Minister of Sweden, prompted questions from confused Swedes, and social media has been abuzz with mockery of the imaginary attack, too.One would have expected Trump to respond fairly quickly, since he s now formally joined the ranks of Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer when it comes to fake terror attacks, but he didn t. He waited until this afternoon to respond, and it s extremely laughable:My statement as to what s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017Yes, sure, by all means, let s call this debacle Fox News fault and completely ignore the words that actually spewed forth from his mouth: You look at what s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers. They re having problems that they never thought possible. Twitter, meanwhile, is positively gleeful in their mockery of the liar of liars for another egregious lie:@realDonaldTrump none of which referred to anything that happened two nights ago. Alex Zalben (@azalben) February 19, 2017.@realDonaldTrump I apologize. I will hold myself to provide a more clear and accurate respresentation of my beliefs in future speeches. Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump Hey, dumbass. What happened in Sweden? Nothing. That s what. FAKE NEWS! pic.twitter.com\/PR4Cu42mbb The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews Of course it fucking was. Mark Pygas (@MarkPygas) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump You said last night in Sweden . Don t retract. You are fake news for the unintelligent. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 19, 2017You are fake news, Mr. So-Called President.#swedenincident #iamamuslimtoo #FuckYouBitch https:\/\/t.co\/MGOL0oWFPs Jade Helm Commander (@Anomaly100) February 19, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Who needs the intelligence community when there is Fox News? Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) February 19, 2017Here s someone who was a likely witness to the imaginary attack, since reports say Swedish fish were everywhere at the scene:@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews pic.twitter.com\/bGk4nMmc5e Mike Denison (@mikd33) February 19, 2017@mikd33 @realDonaldTrump @FoxNews These fish are clearly terrorists. Austin Braun (@AustinOnSocial) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews pic.twitter.com\/dYPgcgHhmo #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews pic.twitter.com\/hoF53staXG #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump Also, is @foxandfriends your new National Security Advisor? Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump oh I saw it on TV, people told me this instead of being responsible for what comes out of his mouth. Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews OK time to have a chat again, so tell President Emperor Bannon you need a smoke break. This will take a bit. Kevin (@TheKevinDent) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump So you blindly spout whether @FoxNews tells you to? It s pathetic, not to mention awfully irresponsible, 45. Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) February 19, 2017Here s what someone who appears to be in Sweden has to say:@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews There is no migrant crisis in Sweden. We have free health care, free education, a functioning welfare system. ?? Ines Helene (@inihelene) February 19, 2017How embarrassing. You re hopelessly confused. Sad! @realDonaldTrump https:\/\/t.co\/2mRZAjuj6f Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 19, 2017Um @erichmcelroy is @realDonaldTrump now trying to blame @FoxNews? I thought we could trust them! Mark Machado (@MarkMachado) February 19, 2017 Maybe, just as a change of pace and maybe to keep all of us on our toes, he should actually take responsibility for what he says and apologize. But what are we talking about? Trump is one of the worst pathological liars in the long, sad history of pathological liars.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Senator Mark Kirk on Wednesday introduced legislation that would give the Pentagon more flexibility in funding electronic warfare programs and speed often sluggish acquisition times. Current acquisition rules make it tough for the U.S. military to quickly procure and field electronic warfare weapons systems before they are overtaken by developments around the world. Kirk, an Illinois Republican and retired naval intelligence officer, said the bill would help the U.S. military accelerate work on electronic warfare weapons and stay ahead of other countries that are rapidly developing their own capabilities. \"It is critical our military dominate the offensive and defensive ends of electronic warfare,\" Kirk said in a statement. \"The need for enhanced electronic capabilities is even more pronounced on today's battlefield.\" Senator Kristen Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, is co-sponsoring the bill. The bill would amend the fiscal 2016 defense policy bill to include electronic warfare, or EW, under the Pentagon's Rapid Acquisition Authority (RAA) program. That program lets program managers waive some acquisition rules to more quickly field technology. It would also allow the department to use different contract types, including those used for commercial items, when it buys EW weapons. The bill also includes directives for the Pentagon's new joint Electronic Warfare Executive Committee, which is headed by Air Force General Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a Kirk aide. The bill directs the committee to provide a strategic plan for the services to work together on electronic warfare systems, and tackle acquisition and budget processes, bolster training, fill capability gaps and advance offensive capabilities. Kirk is expected to discuss the legislation during a visit to a Northrop Grumman Corp facility in Rolling Meadows, Il. on Friday, the aide said.","label":0}
{"text":"We know that Donald Trump appeals to what he calls the poorly educated just take a look around any of his rallies but there is a disturbing number of highly educated voters who are also backing the candidate whose platform includes building an 80 ft tall cement wall and tracking Muslim Americans in a database.One such couple, who describe themselves as affluent Americans with postgraduate degrees, wrote a letter to the Financial Times that lays out their support for Trump. It s as baffling as it is terrifying.Noting that they are socially liberal and fiscally mildly conservative, the couple, identified as Jon and Elsa Sands, say they are well aware of [Trump s] vulgarity and nous deficiency and yet are tempted to vote for him anyway.Electing the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party seems purposeless. The neanderthal Republicans barely respected the legitimacy of Bill Clinton s or Barack Obama s election, let alone that of Hillary who would arrive tainted with scandal and the email lapses hanging over her head. We would get four years of gridlock and hearings . The Republican tribunes, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, are backward, foolish and inexperienced. John Kasich, a moderate with extensive governmental experience and a willingness to compromise, is an also-ran.The logic, if it can be called that, is that Republicans in Congress won t let Democratic presidents do anything so you might as well go all-in on a Republican outsider like Trump. This seems to fly directly in the face of President Obama s actual accomplishments an ever-growing list that is proof that an intelligent, driven Democratic president can easily outsmart the Party of No if he puts his or her mind to it.No matter, say the Sands, they are going with Trump.That leaves The Donald, really a moderate in wolf s garb, who would owe nothing to either party and might strike deals, for instance on tax reform. Yes, we could be like the good citizens who voted for a tameable Hitler in 1933 to get things back on track. But the alternatives look worse.Trump, who advocates for bringing back torture and killing the families of terrorists, is what the Sands consider a moderate in wolf s garb. Okay.But even if Trump turns out to be as bad as he freely admits he will be, voting for a Democrat, they say, is worse than knowingly voting for Hitler. Needless to say, this affluent white couple believe they will be safe from the programs of racial and religious of institutionalized bigotry Trump is sure to institute. Because if it doesn t affect you, then what s a little dash of war crimes and racism when Trump will stand strong on giving you tax breaks?While the temptation is to blast this couple for their terrifying support of Trump, the scarier thing is: They aren t alone.don't laugh at the \"sure, maybe he's hitler, but\" argument in FT. Ive heard that many many times from otherwise reasonable people this cycle Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) March 1, 2016It must never be ignored that Trump s victories in every primary state so far has been coming from both low income and high income (white people) and poorly educated and highly educated (white people). The Sands represent the beginning pangs of those looking to excuse Trump s worst attributes so they can support the dictator they want and still sleep at night.As the Sands themselves bring up, a lot of good people voted for Adolf Hitler in 1933, believing him to be an antidote to the dysfunctional German government at the time. He brought change but not the kind many people would have liked to see.","label":1}
{"text":"Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former reality television star-turned political aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, has resigned from the White House to \"pursue other opportunities,\" Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday. Newman served as assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House's Office of Public Liaison. A former star of Trump's TV show \"The Apprentice,\" Newman worked as the director of African-American outreach on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders said Newman's departure would take effect Jan. 20, 2018. Newman had what sometimes appeared to be an ambiguous role in the White House orbit. The New York Times reported in September that chief of staff John Kelly had put her on a \"no-fly list\" of aides who he did not consider fit to attend serious meetings. Sources with ties to the White House have said they expect a wave of departures from the administration once Trump has completed his first year in office.","label":0}
{"text":"On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii many have been remembering all those who lost their lives on that fateful day. It was what brought the United States into WWII and the date, as FDR said, will live in infamy. Yet, as most treat December 7, as a solemn day, Newt Gingrich just tweeted out what sounded like praise for what the Japanese did to us that dreadful day.Gingrich tweeted out: 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines. 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 7, 2016 Professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises ?? Really? That s what Gingrich thinks of when he think of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. How the Japanese surprised attacked us?2.403 Americans died during the attack at Pearl Harbor, with 1,178 wounded.Gingrich thinks that is professional brilliance ?This tweet is absolutely disrespectful to all those who lost their lives and their families. There really couldn t be a more weird and awkward tweet to put out on the day we remember Pearl Harbor.And while relations with Japan have since been mended, we must never think what they did that day was at all brilliant. For goodness sake, someone please take away Gingrich s Twitter privileges. He clearly is out of his mind, much like his pal Donald Trump.Featured Photo by National Archive\/Newsmakers","label":1}
{"text":"Iraq launched an offensive on Thursday to dislodge Islamic State from Hawija, west of the oil city of Kirkuk and one of two areas of the country still under the control of the militants. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said the offensive to capture Hawija in northern Iraq will be swift, state TV reported. The action, announced by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, took place four days before a referendum on Kurdish independence due to be held in northern Iraq, including Kirkuk. Abadi says Monday s referendum is against the constitution and has called on the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government to cancel it. Kirkuk is shaping up as a flashpoint ahead of the independence vote as it is also home to Arab and Turkmen communities who oppose breaking away from Iraq. Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of Kirkuk after the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of Islamic State offensive in 2014, preventing the militants from capturing the oil fields. A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air support to the Iraqi forces offensive on Hawija, state TV said. The Iraqi forces, deployed north and west of Hawija district, are pushing southward along the Tigris River and had cleared the first lines of defense by midday, state TV said. A total of 23 villages were captured from Islamic State, said the operation s commander, Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Yarallah, cited by the TV channel. We finished the first chapter of the liberation operation, in Hawija, he said, without indicating the timing of the second chapter. The United Nations last week said up to 85,000 people could be displaced from the Hawija region. Up to 30,000 children are in extreme danger, Save the Children said on Thursday. They have already suffered horribly under ISIS rule...food, water and medicine are running out, with many children reportedly weak and malnourished, the organization said. It is imperative that all Iraqi and coalition forces open up safe escape routes for people and allow civilians to flee to wherever is safest, it added. Iraqi forces and Sunni tribal fighters also captured on Thursday the region of Ana, in the Euphrates River valley, as they pushed toward the Syria border, a military statement said. The offensive on Hawija should not affect the Kurdish plan to hold the referendum in Kirkuk on Monday, a Kurdish official told Reuters. The Peshmerga hold the frontlines with the Hawija district from the eastern side, near Kirkuk, but are not taking part in the offensive, he said. Hawija, north of Baghdad, and a stretch of land along the Syrian border, west of the Iraqi capital, are the last pieces of the country still in the hands of Islamic State. The group overran about a third of Iraq in 2014. Islamic State s self-declared caliphate effectively collapsed in July, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, after a grueling nine-month battle. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters took part in operations against the militants. Islamic State also controls territory in Syria, along the Iraqi border but it is shrinking fast in the face of a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition and Russian and Iranian-backed forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.","label":0}
{"text":"Bahrain accused Qatar on Monday of illegally seizing three boats with 16 sailors on board, state news agency BNA reported, worsening an already deeply troubled diplomatic situation in the region. Coast Guard Commander Commodore Alaa Siyadi told BNA the boats were seized over the past three days. The report gave no details on the boats or where they were seized. Qatar confirmed it detained fishing boats after they entered its territorial waters illegally, and said the sailors will be released soon. Siyadi said the seizure raised to 15 the number of boats seized, and the number of sailors in Qatari custody to 20, adding that some of the boat seizures date back to 2009, BNA reported. All unauthorized fishing boats receive a warning to leave Qatari waters, and if they are non-compliant, they are referred to the competent authorities, a source at Qatar s Interior Ministry said. The crew will be released within three days, while the ships will be detained until the court makes a decision. Bahrain, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, imposed diplomatic, trade and travel sanctions on Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.","label":0}
{"text":"Meryl Streep, in a fiery speech criticizing President Trump on Saturday night, pledged to stand up against \"brownshirts and bots\" at a time when she and others are increasingly denouncing his administration's policies and the president himself. Ms. Streep, in New York City accepting an award from the Human Rights Campaign, referred to the backlash she received after the Golden Globes in January, when she gave a speech denouncing Mr. Trump. \"It's terrifying to put the target on your forehead, and it sets you up for all sorts of attacks and armies of brownshirts and bots and worse, and the only way you can do it is to feel you have to,\" Ms. Streep said. \"You have to. You don't have an option. You have to. \" It was not immediately clear to whom Ms. Streep was referring in using the loaded term \"brownshirts,\" which was originally applied to a paramilitary group that assisted the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. The speech was an even more stinging rebuke of Mr. Trump than her Golden Globes speech. She seemed to relish a new type of role: Trump provocateur. Although this time, Ms. Streep was without a national television audience. She took a moment to respond directly to Mr. Trump, who called her \"overrated\" in the midst of a barrage of posts on Twitter the morning after the Golden Globes. \"I am the most overrated, overdecorated and, currently, overberated actress, who likes football, of my generation,\" Ms. Streep said. The crowd applauded wildly. Ms. Streep was receiving the National Ally for Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Near the beginning of her acceptance speech, she addressed, initially in a lighthearted way, one of the most controversial parts of her Golden Globes speech. \"I do like football,\" Ms. Streep said, to a roar of laughter from the crowd at the Waldorf Astoria. At the Golden Globes, Ms. Streep said, \"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts. \" She received a torrent of criticism, particularly from conservatives, for disparaging the two sports, something she acknowledged in her speech and attempted to clarify what she meant. \"It isn't helpful to make it us versus them,\" Ms. Streep said. Referring to the film producer and director Mike Nichols, she continued, \"I was making a joke, and Mike Nichols told me, 'If you have to explain the joke, Meryl, you're doomed. '\" Later in the speech, she returned to criticizing Mr. Trump. \"If his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn't lead us to nuclear winter, we will have much to thank this president for,\" Ms. Streep said. \"Because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is. \" At one point, Ms. Streep referred to Mr. Trump as a \"\" and said, \"The whip of the executive can through a Twitter feed lash and intimidate, punish and humiliate, delegitimize the press and imagined enemies with spasmodic irregularity and easily provoked predictability. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan will use a meeting in southern Russia next week to discuss the Syria situation and energy cooperation, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying on Friday. The two men are due to meet in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 13.","label":0}
{"text":"We all know the defense of children comes dead last when it comes to the Left. It s interesting how Hillary helped to get a child rapist off (before she still had her law license taken away) and now nearly a decade later, this news about Bernie s support for child molesters and his non-support for the Amber Alert by way of his NO vote What s happened to Bernie- 2006 anti-Bernie by DailyPolitics Back in 2006, when Sanders was running for the Senate, Republican Richard Tarrant pointed out some things about the socialist s voting record he probably doesn t want his liberal flock to know.For example, Sanders voted AGAINST the Amber Alert system and refused to endorse a bill that would lock away child molesters for life.","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that the United States was considering cutting trade to any country doing business with North Korea. North Korea said it had tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, setting off a manmade earthquake near the test.","label":0}
{"text":"Now that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has crossed the Rubicon of racism, the people are starting to lash out, and rightfully so.After disqualifying the Trump University judge because of his race, Republicans and Democrats alike have been holding Trump s feet to the fire some more so than others. Most Republicans have simply disavowed his comments while some have flat out called him a fraud (and of course Democrats have been saying these things since June of last year).But the most glaring critique from any official came from Democratic Representative Filemon Vela of Texas, who penned a scathing open letter to Trump. Starting out by agreeing that Mexico should do more to deter cartel violence, Vela quickly amps up his attack, saying, Your ignorant anti-immigrant opinions, your border wall rhetoric, and your recent bigoted attack on an American jurist are just plain despicable. Pretty standard criticism. But it gets so much better. Vela beats Trump at his own purity game, and notes that his ancestry is more American than Trump s, and that his family weren t chicken hawks: Before you dismiss me as just another Mexican, let me point out that my great-great grandfather came to this country in 1857, well before your own grandfather. His grandchildren (my grandfather and his brothers) all served our country in World War I and World War II. His great-grandson, my father, served in the U.S. Army and, coincidentally, was one of the first Mexican federal judges ever appointed to the federal bench. But the most telling and poignant line from Vela s letter was a good, old fashioned smackdown: Mr. Trump, you re a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass. This is by far the best response to Trump from any elected official. You know they all want to say it, but finally someone had the guts to actually come out and do it.And that s exactly what Donald Trump can do. Even if he were to be elected, there is no feasible way a wall would be built on the Mexican border and be financed by the Mexican government.Vela represents Texas 34th Congressional District, which makes up Corpus Christie and Brownsville. According to Census data, 60 percent of Corpus Christie s population is of Hispanic or Latino descent. In Brownsville, a border city, the Hispanic\/Latino population accounted for 93 percent of its citizens.The proud people of Hispanic and Latino heritage of Texas 34th district can take solace in knowing they are being represented by a man who speaks for them to the fullest extent. If only this country had 100 more Filemon Vela s.Featured image a screen capture","label":1}
{"text":"0 1949  The ACLU has got a few words for America's newest elected \"leader,\" and the letter they just published through the NY Times, is probably the most amazing jab in the history of politics. It doesn't hurt that the jab came from the American Civil Liberties Union, because the power behind the letter is what makes it so ominous to the president-elect.  The letter begins with a request for Trump to \"change course\" on many of the claims he has made in his extremely short political career.  \"Dear President-Elect Trump,  For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has stood as this nation's premier defender of freedom and justice for all.  As you assume the nation's highest office, we must ask you now as president-elect to reconsider and change course on certain campaign promises you have made.  Specifically, you promised to: amass deportation force to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants ban the entry of Muslims and institute aggressive surveillance programs targeting them restrict a woman's right to abortion services reauthorize waterboarding and other forms of torture change our nation's libel laws and restrict freedom of expression\"  As if this statement alone wasn't enough of a threat, the ACLU continues:  \"These proposals are not simply un-American and wrong-headed. They are unlawful and unconstitutional, and would violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, as well as other statutes and international treaties.\"  \"Many of our country's most cherished rights are the result of ACLU litigation and advocacy. They include the Scopes trial (the right to teach evolution in public science classrooms) and the following Supreme Court cases: Korematsu (challenging Japanese American internment); Miranda (the right to remain silent); Griswold (the right to contraception); Loving (the right of interracial couples to marry); Gideon (the right to a court-appointed attorney if you can't afford one); Windsor (striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act); and Obergefell (the right of same-sex couples to marry) and others. We have worked with and battled American presidents of both parties to ensure that our country makes good on it's founding premise as the land of the free.\"  In the end of the open letter, the ACLU promises to make Trump's life a nightmare if he continues to pave his road to concentration camp hell. They say Trump will have the full firepower of the ACLU to deal with if he doesn't wise up.  They letter concludes:  \"If you do not reverse course and endeavor to make these campaign promises a reality, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at your every step. Our staff of litigators and activists in every state, thousands of volunteers, and millions of supporters stand ready to fight against any encroachment on our cherished freedoms and rights.\"  \"One thing is certain: We will be vigilant every day of your tenure as president. And when you ultimately vacate the Oval Office, we will do likewise with your successor.\" Today we published a full-page open letter in the New York Times to President-elect Trump pic.twitter.com\/FOpRqn9oNY  \u2014 ACLU National (@ACLU) November 11, 2016 Share this Article!","label":1}
{"text":"Comments  The conservative political machine has been working overtime to try to deny that the government of the Russian Federation is interfering with the American election in support of Republican nominee Donald Trump \u2013 but this explosive investigation by former Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee proves once and for all that dictator Vladimir Putin is using every tool at his disposal to tilt the scale in favor of Trump.  Samantha Bee, now the host of her own show, traveled to Moscow to interview two of the \"thinkfluencers,\" members of Putin's underground troll farms that pose as Americans online and flood social media with pro-Russian and pro-Trump propaganda.  \"The reason I'm hired is to make simple people change their mind about their vote and also about Russia\" said one woman, who admitted she identifies herself as a Nebraskan housewife online. When asked why they thought their propaganda was working, she replied it was because Americans are \"lazy and they believe everything they read.\"","label":1}
{"text":"Excerpted from War Is A Lie by David Swanson.  W ars are not fought against flags or ideas, nations or demonized dictators. They are fought against people, 98 percent of whom are resistant to killing, and most of whom had little or nothing to do with bringing on the war. One way to dehumanize those people is to replace all of them with an image of a single monstrous individual.  Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, said that war is \"easier for people to understand if there's a face to the enemy.\" He gave examples: \"Hitler, Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic.\" Fitzwater might well have included the name Manuel Antonio Noriega. When the first President Bush sought, among other things, to prove he was no \"wimp\" by attacking Panama in 1989, the most prominent justification was that Panama's leader was a mean, drug-crazed, weirdo with a pockmarked face who liked to commit adultery. An important article in the very serious New York Times on December 26, 1989, began \"The United States military headquarters here, which has portrayed General Manuel Antonio Noriega as an erratic, cocaine-snorting dictator who prays to voodoo gods, announced today that the deposed leader wore red underwear and availed himself of prostitutes.\" Never mind that Noriega had worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including at the time he'd stolen the 1984 election in Panama. (U.S. outrage at interference in elections is extremely new.) Never mind that his real offense was refusing to back U.S. war making against Nicaragua. Never mind that the United States had known about Noriega's drug trafficking for years and continued working with him. This man snorted cocaine in red underwear with women not his wife. \"That is aggression as surely as Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland 50 years ago was aggression,\" declared Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger of Noriega's drug trafficking. The invading U.S. liberators even claimed to find a big stash of cocaine in one of Noriega's homes, although it turned out to be tamales wrapped in banana leaves. And what if the tamales really had been cocaine? Would that, like the discovery of actual \"weapons of mass destruction\" in Baghdad in 2003 have justified war?  Fitzwater's reference to \"Milosevic\" was, of course, to Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Serbia, whom David Nyhan of the Boston Globe in January 1999 called \"the closest thing to Hitler Europe has confronted in the last half century.\" Except, you know, for all the other ones. By 2010, the practice in U.S. domestic politics of comparing anyone you disagreed with to Hitler had become almost comical, but it is a practice that has helped launch many wars and may still launch more. However, it takes two to tango: in 1999, Serbs were calling the president of the United States \"Bill Hitler.\"  In the spring of 1914, in a movie theater in Tours, France, an image of Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany, came on the screen for a moment. All hell broke loose.  \"Everybody yelled and whistled, men, women, and children, as if they had been personally insulted. The good natured people of Tours, who knew no more about the world and politics than what they had read in their newspapers, had gone mad for an instant,\" according to Stefan Zweig. But the French would not be fighting Kaiser Wilhelm II. They would be fighting ordinary people who happened to be born a little ways away from themselves in Germany.  Increasingly, over the years, we've been told that wars are not against people, but purely against bad governments and their evil leaders. Time after time we fall for tired rhetoric about new generations of \"precision\" weapons that our leaders pretend can target oppressive regimes without harming the people we think we're liberating. And we fight wars for \"regime change.\" If the wars don't end when the regime has been changed, that's because we have a responsibility to take care of the \"unfit\" creatures, the little children, whose regimes we've changed. Yet, there's no established record of this doing any good. The United States and its allies did relatively well by Germany and Japan following World War II, but could have done so for Germany following World War I and skipped the sequel. Germany and Japan were reduced to rubble, and U.S. troops have yet to leave. That's hardly a useful model for new wars.  With wars or warlike actions the United States has overthrown governments in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Honduras, Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, Chile, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq, not to mention the Congo (1960); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); Brazil (1961 & 1964); the Dominican Republic (1961 & 1963); Greece (1965 & 1967); Bolivia (1964 & 1971); El Salvador (1961); Guyana (1964); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); and of course Haiti (1991 & 2004). We've replaced democracy with dictatorship, dictatorship with chaos, and local rule with U.S. domination and occupation.  In no case has a U.S. war clearly reduced evil. In most cases, including Iran and Iraq, U.S. invasions and U.S.-backed coups have led to severe repression, disappearances, extra-judicial executions, torture, corruption, and prolonged setbacks for the democratic aspirations of ordinary people.  The focus on rulers in wars is not motivated by humanitarianism so much as propaganda. People enjoy fantasizing that a war is a duel between great leaders. This requires demonizing one and glorifying another.  This article was originally published at DavidSwanson.org . Share:","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and said he looked forward to playing host to a visit by Modi to Washington later this year. The White House said Trump spoke with Modi to congratulate him on the outcome of recent state-level elections. Trump expressed support for Modi's economic reform agenda. \"President Trump also said he looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in Washington later this year,\" the White House said in a statement. No date for the visit was mentioned.","label":0}
{"text":"There is chatter within the White House that Kellyanne Conway is being looked at as the next communications director, a source within the White House told The Daily Caller.Anthony Scaramucci was ousted Monday as communications director following a week of publicly feuding with former chief of staff Reince Priebus. Scaramucci called Priebus a paranoid schizophrenic in an interview President Trump viewed as inappropriate, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.Kellyanne Conway would be a perfect choice for President Trump s new communications director. Conway is no stranger to dealing with the press. She is also no pushover. Conway has taken on almost every liberal hack at every leftist network in America, and each time she s walked away holding her head high, as she make her points in an eloquent but no holds barred way.Chris Cuomo of fake news network CNN interviewed Kellyanne Conway on Sunday. You would have thought by now, these hacks at CNN would have figured out they are no match for the brilliant Kellyanne Conway. At the opening of his interview with Conway, Cuomo attempted to convince the few viewers who still watch CNN that President Trump was very squishy on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Kellyanne Conway snapped back in her usual calm but witty way, Chris, let s back up. So you re saying you used the word squishy which, itself, is unusual to describe the president s state of mind. So somehow that makes people on CNN insist that the president is never going to raise this with Putin? Why are they still in there? Cuomo responded, It s not about CNN. It s about what the president said, Kellyanne. Kellyanne immediately landed a right hook to fake news host Chris Cuomo when she asked him, Aren t you the least bit reluctant, if not embarrassed that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America? Watch the brilliant exchange here:Conway, currently a counselor to the president, served as Trump s campaign manager and was previously a Republican pollster. She currently is a visible face of the Trump administration through her frequent appearances on cable news and is often relied on by the White House to deliver its message to the press. Daily Caller","label":1}
{"text":"STORRS, Conn. \u2014 One year ago, on the night after Super Bowl Sunday, Geno Auriemma sat alongside three stalwart seniors and momentarily imagined a coaching life without them. \"I start to blink because I look out there and start to think that these three are not going to be there next year,\" Auriemma, coach of the Connecticut women's basketball powerhouse, said after a solid road victory over and South Carolina. He also appeared to be blinking away a tear or two at the thought of losing those three players: Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. That moment of emotional reflection for Auriemma, who is better known for biting sarcasm, came after a 60th consecutive victory, to which the Huskies predictably added 15 more on the way to their fourth straight (and 11th overall) national championship. Not many, including Auriemma, would have bet the mortgage on the streaks \u2014 both in games and titles \u2014 lasting much longer. But on Monday night, in a and expectant Gampel Pavilion, the Huskies made it an even 100 straight victories, swarming that same South Carolina team, to cross the threshold. The Huskies did it behind their forwards, Gabby Williams and Napheesa Collier. Williams scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while Collier added 18 and 9. \"Continuing what they've done for so many years,\" said Williams, referring to past iconic Huskies, several of whom, Stewart included, watched from the stands. It starts to sound ridiculous, but the Huskies, this season, have not lost since November 2014 (in overtime at Stanford). If not for that loss, they'd be working on a streak of 148 straight. Even Auriemma sounded at a loss to explain this. He settled on \"it was meant to be\" after weeks of insisting that he and his players never talked about No. 100. Against the and No. 6 Gamecocks, the subject was unavoidable. And after 12 successive blowouts in an American Athletic Conference in which the Huskies have gone since its formation, the prospect of stiffer competition was preferable. With an eye on bigger game, the N. C. A. A. tournament, Auriemma said: \"The streak isn't all theirs. They carried the streak across the finish line. But if they win the national championship, it's all theirs. \" It's not as if the act of breaking records is new to his program. A previous record winning streak (surpassing the U. C. L. A. men's record established from 1971 to 1974) was bested by the current run last month. There is no doubt that a potential fifth straight national title, and 12th over all, are numbers more appealing to Auriemma. But triple digits in consecutive wins represents another symbolic groundbreaking and powerful statement in the continued and collective excellence of a women's sports team. Only once had Auriemma's program come this close to 100 \u2014 a winning streak that stood at 99 when an upstart St. John's team won at Gampel in February 2012, before Connecticut's departure from what was then a highly competitive Big East Conference. \"Senior night, packed house at Gampel, as always,\" Kim Barnes Arico \u2014 then the St. John's coach, now in her fifth season at Michigan, where she has built a team \u2014 said in a telephone interview. With St. John's trailing by 2 points in the final seconds, Barnes Arico decided during a timeout to try for the win rather than overtime in such a challenging environment. Shenneika Smith \u2014 \"she hadn't made a 3 in weeks\" \u2014 sank the winning shot. On the bus ride home, Barnes Arico's cellphone rang. \"It's Geno, calling to congratulate me after what had to be a crushing loss,\" Barnes Arico said. Auriemma had been supportive of her efforts to elevate the St. John's program, which is why, she said, \"I can't help but applaud what he's doing there, going for 100 straight, just incredible. \" That said, she was \"holding off\" on reaching out, or rooting for either side on Monday, given her ties to South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley. Barnes Arico has coached and U. S. A. Basketball teams with Staley, a Olympian and, like Auriemma, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member. \"Either way, such a great story,\" Barnes Arico said. Staley's team \u2014 as have most ranked teams \u2014 presented Connecticut with its usual handicap of a size disadvantage, with their star, A'ja Wilson, and the center Alaina Coates. But the Huskies countered with Williams, only and Collier, \u2014 both quick jumpers who play bigger than they are. After Wilson helped keep the Gamecocks within at the half, the Huskies limited her to 5 points. They took control late in the third quarter and were never threatened in the fourth. \"You can't let your guard down \u2014 UConn is going to make you pay every time,\" Staley said. In surmounting every obstacle on a schedule with opponents, Auriemma rapidly developed a cohesive Core Four to replace the Big Three of Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck, who were the top three picks in last year's W. N. B. A. draft. \"We have no preseason but we have four really good players, and every time we need something, one of them comes up with something,\" Auriemma said, referring to the juniors Williams and Kia Nurse, and the sophomores Katie Lou Samuelson and Collier. If this wasn't supposed to be a season of extended dominance, the question entering Monday night had evolved. Would the Huskies ever lose? \"It's not if,\" Auriemma said, \"it's just when. \" But if not Monday night, or sometime this season, just when? Next season, Connecticut is planning to suit up Azura Stevens, a transfer from Duke who many believe would have been UConn's best player this season. The Huskies will add Megan Walker, rated by some as the nation's No. 1 high school recruit. They will return six of their seven rotation players, the exception being Saniya Chong, who shares the position with the freshman Crystal Dangerfield. With no formidable opponent left on the conference schedule, and victories over many of the teams already recorded, an inquiring mind wants to wonder whether the Huskies might in a couple of years be on the doorstep of 200.","label":0}
{"text":"The things that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says and does seem completely indefensible, but ABC News Anchor David Muir somehow found a reason to protect Trump for one of his most horrific qualities: his blatantly obvious racism. And unfortunately for him, he did it in front of the WRONG person.On Wednesday night, Muir interviewed Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren at the Democratic National Convention to talk about her ongoing feud with the brash Republican nominee. In asking Warren about Trump s latest attack on her in which he (once again) called her Pocahontas, Muir basically baited the iconic liberal into calling Trump a racist and then criticized her for telling the truth when she did.When Muir asked Warren if Trump calling her Pocahontas was racist, Warren had responded: Donald Trump has proven that he is a thin-skinned racist Muir scolded her and said, But is that calling him a name, too? It was the wrong thing to say to Warren, because she fired back with pure logic and gave him the education that he so desperately needed. She said: No, it fits the facts. Come on. Then she provided, off the top of her head, a list of some of Trump s greatest, most racist hits: Look at what he has said about Mexicans. Look what he has said about Muslims. Look what he says over and over. As a matter of fact, you don t have to quote me on this. When he had rulings against him over Trump University he tried to attack the judge on the basis of his Mexican-American heritage. Muir should really be thanking Warren for helping him put a childish nickname and an actual prejudice and human rights offense into perspective. There is no defending Trump for all of the disrespectful things he has said about minorities, and we all need to be better educated in calling his bigot remarks out instead of brushing them off, or worse yet, likening them to smaller offenses.You can watch Warren school Muir in the clip below:","label":1}
{"text":"Environmental activist Tom Steyer endorsed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for U.S. president a day after she secured the Democratic nomination to run in the Nov. 8 election. \"Hillary Clinton is an experienced leader who will lead us to victory because she embodies the best values of our country,\" Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, said in a statement. \"Now is the time to come together to defeat Donald Trump, who is utterly unfit to be our next president.\"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. immigration enforcement officers are proposing that fingerprints be taken from all people claiming custody of children who have entered the United States illegally without an adult relative, a measure that opponents said could keep thousands of families apart. As a new wave of unaccompanied Central American children pours across the U.S.-Mexico border, the proposal underscores the sometimes conflicting goals of federal agencies in dealing with undocumented immigrants, a volatile issue on the presidential campaign trail. Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is ultimately responsible for finding housing for migrant children, told Reuters they have no plans to change fingerprinting policy. They said the proposal \u2014 made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in an internal memo seen by Reuters \u2014 would delay family reunions and infringe upon the parent-child relationship. \"One of our goals is to place children with an appropriate sponsor as promptly as we can safely do so. And so any delay for placing the child with their parent is time that we're keeping a parent and child separated,\" said Bobbie Gregg, deputy director for children's services at HHS's office of refugee resettlement. The memo by ICE officials, drafted in response to a February Senate hearing, proposes expanding fingerprinting, now limited to non-parents, to include parents. ICE says that would allow fingerprints to be checked against an FBI database of criminals to verify the identities of people who say they are parents while ensuring that children do not go to parents who have criminal histories. The proposal is preliminary and could change. It was unclear whether it would ultimately win the backing of the White House. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) \u2014 which oversees ICE \u2014 and the Justice Department advise HHS on its practices and have a role in enforcing overall immigration policy. The White House declined to comment on the proposal. Asked about the documents that describe the fingerprinting proposal, a Homeland Security spokeswoman said the agency does not discuss internal deliberations. Neither ICE nor HHS would comment on whether they have had discussions on the proposal. From January 2014 to April 2015, more than 31,000 parents claimed children who entered the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog unit. They made up 60 percent of those who claimed children, with most of the rest claimed by other relatives. Only 161 non-relative sponsors claimed children. U.S. authorities are required to find housing for illegal immigrant minors while they await a trial to determine whether they will be deported, a process that can take years. Under current law, people who appear at child migrant holding facilities saying they are parents must show the child's birth certificate to prove the relationship. If that is not available, the parent and child must undergo a DNA test. Immigration advocates say the ICE proposal would discourage parents from sending for their children and claiming them, fearing that ICE would use fingerprinting to trace undocumented immigrants for possible deportation. \"It could keep parents away from their children if they think it is going to land them in a lock-up somewhere,\" said David Leopold, a Cleveland lawyer who formerly headed the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The ICE officials also said in the memo that the agency supports expanding immigration-status checks to all sponsors, including parents. ICE acknowledged that conducting immigration checks on parents claiming children could \"reduce the likelihood that sponsors would come forward to take custody of children.\" Illegal entry into the United States by unaccompanied minors has surged in recent years. Most are Central American children who make the dangerous journey across Mexico and the U.S. border without their parents, fleeing poverty and violence. In the six months through March 2016, almost 28,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended crossing into the United States, close to the record-high number hit in the same period in 2014. (Graphic on unaccompanied minor crossings and relationships to sponsors: tmsnrt.rs\/1NmGQQI) An investigation by the Associated Press in January found that HHS had placed some migrant children in homes where they were sexually assaulted, starved or forced into labor for no pay. None of the known abusers had claimed to be parents. A Senate panel in February asked authorities to improve screening of adults claiming custody of child migrants. The document from ICE is a draft of answers to questions Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley submitted for the record following the hearing. After the AP investigation, HHS said it began doing 30-day follow-up checks on households to which it had assigned a child, while also giving an emergency hotline phone number to all children before they are discharged from HHS custody But ICE's response to Grassley said HHS should go a step further, noting that many state and local child protective service agencies routinely fingerprint parents who reclaim children after periods of separation.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will vote next week on a bipartisan proposal that would make it easier to penalize operators of websites that facilitate online sex trafficking, the panel said in a statement on Wednesday. U.S. technology companies including Alphabet's Google and Facebook have long opposed legislation that would amend what is known as Section 230 of the decades-old Communications Decency Act, arguing it could thwart digital innovation and prompt endless litigation. The vote is a setback for the internet industry, which is witnessing shifting political fortunes in Washington on a range of policy issues after decades of relatively little regulatory scrutiny. Silicon Valley companies generally consider Section 230 a bedrock legal protection because it helps shield companies from liability for the activities of their users. The legislation from Republican Senator Rob Portman and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal in August came after years of law-enforcement lobbying for a crackdown on the online classified site backpage.com, which is used for sex advertising. The measure would make it easier for states and sex-trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that fail to keep exploitative material off their platforms. In a statement, Portman said the lawmakers should \"act with urgency to hold online sex traffickers accountable and give survivors the justice they deserve.\" The bill has attracted bipartisan support from about a third of the Senate. A companion measure has similar backing in the House of Representatives. Republicans control both chambers. Technology lobbyists in recent weeks have engaged in negotiations with lawmakers supportive of the bill in an attempt to narrow its impact.","label":0}
{"text":"Among the more disgusting practices Donald Trump has said he wants to bring back in the presidency is the use of torture by the American military. Despite evidence that has shown it doesn t work, and the fact that it smells of moral depravity, Trump told his ravenous crowds during the election that he would allow waterboarding.But now Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is telling Trump flatly that this isn t going to happen.Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said at the Halifax International Security Forum that any attempt to bring back harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, would quickly be challenged in court. I don t give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do or anybody else wants to do. We will not waterboard. We will not do it, McCain said to applause during a panel discussion.McCain is a hardcore conservative from Arizona, but he is also one of the few people serving in public life at the federal level who has actually experienced torture. McCain was shot down over Vietnam and tortured while he served as a prisoner of war.In a previous exchange with Trump, the former reality star denigrated McCain s service record and said he didn t like soldiers who were captured during war.McCain rescinded his endorsement of Trump during the election when audio surfaced of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women.Trump has repeatedly attacked McCain, who was among the more prominent Republicans who criticized Trump during the campaign.While McCain has a poor record on many topics, he has been consistent in his opposition to torture, even as he has been described by liberals as a warmonger.McCain was Barack Obama s opponent in the 2008 presidential election, and lost in a landslide to the current sitting president.","label":1}
{"text":"Fortune released their The World s 19 Most Disappointing Leaders list on March 30. Coming in at number one on the list is Michigan s Republican governor Rick Snyder.Fortune gave Snyder the Don t Blame Me, I m Just The Governor Award for his failures over his handling of the Flint water crisis. Fortune writes:Snyder and his team sparked national outrage after an attempt at cost-savings left the impoverished city of Flint, Mich. with a lead-tainted water supply that is being blamed for illness and brain damage, especially among its youngest residents. Called to testify before Congress, Snyder, who touted his competence in his gubernatorial campaign, labeled the experience the most humbling of his life then attempted to shift blame. He described it as a failure of government and blasted the Environmental Protection Agency for its dumb and dangerous rules on allowable amounts of lead in water systems.Because you don t win an award like that and not offer a response, Ari Adler, a spokesman for Snyder, said that Snyder is concerned with fixing problems, not internet polls. The rank of each leader received was based on internet votes. Though, the 19 leaders in the poll were chosen by Fortune s editorial staff.Adler also said: The decision on whether to use corrosion control in the Flint water supply was not about saving money, but rather was a mistake made by bureaucrats who misinterpreted a flawed federal rule. Gov. Snyder is the only leader at all levels of government involved in the Flint water crisis who has been willing to stand up and apologize, take responsibility for what happened on his watch, and tackle the problems head on to fix what happened in Flint and fix the system that caused it to happen. It s responses like this that make one wonder how much money Snyder has wasted after he hired two PR firms while the nation raged against him. You can t say that you have accepted responsibility for a crisis right after you blame other people for that crisis.There is also the fact that the Flint water crisis did not happen in a bubble. It happened while the Snyder administration worked fervently to erode democracy in Michigan. It happened while Detroit s and other communities school systems and critical infrastructure were left to ruin.That s why Snyder s sorry-not-sorry is even more disingenuous than it might seem at first glance. He has at no point even acknowledged that his administration s system-wide dismantlement of local governments and austerity measurements that have proven to be fatal, have anything to do with the crisis. The only thing Snyder kind-of-but-not-really acknowledges is that his administration is in charge and, therefore, shares some of the responsibility for the Flint water crisis on the basis of Snyder being Michigan s figurehead.So here s to Snyder s latest achievement. Let it be the first of many.Featured Image: (Photo by Brett Carlsen\/Getty Images)","label":1}
{"text":"The United States is probing North Korea to see whether it is interested in dialogue and has multiple direct channels of communication with Pyongyang, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday. \"We are probing, so stay tuned,\" Tillerson told a small group of reporters during a trip to China. \"We ask: Would you like to talk? We have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We're not in a dark situation.\"","label":0}
{"text":"Indiana Governor Mike Pence said on Friday he would vote for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in the state's primary next week, calling him a \"principled conservative\" who represented the ideas of former Republican President Ronald Reagan. In announcing his decision to back Cruz, Pence praised Republican front-runner Donald Trump and said he would work hard to get the eventual Republican nominee elected in November.","label":0}
{"text":"The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to review a lower court decision that invalidated part of a former U.S. labor board official's tenure, in a case that could curb the next president's power to staff top positions in his or her administration. The justices will hear an appeal of a 2015 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit saying that once President Barack Obama nominated Lafe Solomon in 2011 to be general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Solomon should not have continued to fill the position on a temporary or \"acting\" basis pending Senate confirmation. The appeals court said a 1998 federal law bars anyone from serving in an acting role while they are the nominee unless they were previously the \"first assistant\" to that post. The Supreme Court's ruling in the case could decide if the White House can temporarily fill high-level administration positions with nominees waiting for confirmation, which could take on added importance if the next president faces protracted nomination battles in the Senate. The case will give the Supreme Court a second chance to weigh in on executive branch authority related to filling positions at the NLRB. In 2014, the court in NLRB v. Noel Canning ruled that three 2013 appointments Obama made to the board while Congress was in recess were invalid. Although Obama withdrew Solomon's stalled nomination in 2013, about six current high-level officials are serving on an acting basis while they await a Senate vote, including officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, the NLRB said in its petition for review. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also tapped officials to permanently fill the posts that they were manning in a temporary capacity, the NLRB said. Clinton, Bush and Obama all relied on an interpretation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act that viewed the restriction on first assistants as only applying to people who automatically become acting officers under a chain of command, rather than those nominated by the president, the NLRB said. But the D.C. Circuit, as well as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2016 ruling, have disagreed. The case is NLRB v. SW General Inc, No. 15-1251, in the U.S. Supreme Court.","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Monday said lawmakers from his party insist Puerto Rico be included in any supplemental federal disaster relief packages for hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico last week, tearing apart buildings and infrastructure, flooding communities and downing communications to nearly all of the U.S. territory s 3.4 million residents. Puerto Rico has taken a serious punch to the gut, Schumer said during his opening remarks on the Senate floor. They need our help they, need it now. Schumer also urged his constituents to add the U.S. Virgin Islands, which were ravaged by Hurricane Irma several weeks ago, and western U.S. states ravaged by wildfires to future hurricane-related federal relief packages. He asked for additional aid packages to be prepared quickly. President Donald Trump signed a bill on Sept. 8 extending the government debt limit for three months and providing about $15 billion in aid for states struck by Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Irma. Puerto Ricans are U.S. residents but they do not pay federal income tax or vote in presidential elections. There is a growing movement by residents to have their island become the 51st U.S. state, giving them more access to federal funds and the right to vote for U.S. president.","label":0}
{"text":"Remember when Mooch thought having #CrookedHillary back in the White House wasn t in the best interest of our nation? Yeah neither does she. Maybe someone should remind her as she hits the campaign trail to drum up support from Black female voters. I wonder if anyone is gonna miss this racist freeloader and her regular attacks on anyone whose last name isn t Obama? We sure aren t going to miss 5-Star Mooch, her mooching mother or her embarrassing spouse https:\/\/twitter.com\/TEN_GOP\/status\/776879408724541444","label":1}
{"text":"McCain s war hero status is not in question with the American voter, but his service to our nation as a Senator is clearly an issue Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential field again this week, though controversial remarks about Sen. John McCain may have dented his popularity among RepublicansDonald Trump s rise in the Republican contest for the 2016 presidential nomination doesn t appear to have been slowed much at least not yet by the recent controversy over his criticisms of Arizona Sen. John McCain s war record last weekend. In fact, although Trump s favorable ratings among Republicans have declined, he is still ahead and far ahead when Republicans are asked to choose among the 16 currently announced candidates.In last week s poll, Donald Trump received the highest favorable ratings of any candidate from Republicans, apparently helped by his tough position on illegal immigration. This week, however, Trump s favorable ratings dropped 11 points, and his unfavorable rating has risen 15 points.DONALD TRUMP AND JOHN MCCAINA separate YouGov poll completed Wednesday suggests a reason why the McCain controversy may not have affected Trump as much as some expected. Two out of three Republicans view McCain as a war hero. But fewer say they have a favorable opinion of him. In fact, Republicans in that poll gave both Trump and McCain similar ratings.The differences between the Trump favorable ratings in the Economist\/YouGov Poll and the daily poll are not significant.In addition, while a majority of Republicans (54%) think Trump should apologize for this statement about Trump: He s not a war hero. He s a war hero cause he was captured. I like people that weren t captured. OK? Perhaps he was a war hero, but now he s said some very bad things about a lot of people. 32% of Republicans believe he doesn t need to apologize. In fact, more Democrats than Republicans want Trump to apologize.Even more striking, veterans and those currently in the military are more likely to have favorable views of Trump than to have favorable views of McCain. 41% say they have favorable views of McCain, while more than half are favorable to Trump.Veterans are divided on whether Trump owes McCain an apology.While a core of Republicans appear to have coalesced around a Trump candidacy, the New York businessman has yet to cross the threshold of being viewed as a likely winner with many Republicans. More than three times as many Republican-identifying registered voters view Bush as the likely Republican nominee than say Trump is that person. 36% call Bush the likely winner, 11% choose Walker, and just 10% name Trump.","label":1}
{"text":"It would be better for the United States to carefully review the 2015 Iran nuclear deal rather than unilaterally withdraw from it, Nikki Haley, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said on Wednesday. \"I think what would be more beneficial at this point is that we look at all the details of the Iran deal, we see if they (the Iranians) are actually in compliance. If we find that there are violations that we act on those violations,\" Haley told lawmakers at her Senate confirmation hearing.","label":0}
{"text":"The National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper on Monday showing how widespread unemployment pushes many American men and women towards deadly drug addictions. [Titled \"Macroeconomic Conditions and Opioid Abuse,\" the report says: We use mortality data for the entire U. S. from and state and county level ED data covering from a subset of states. We find that as the county unemployment rate increases by 1 percentage point, the opioid death rate (per 100k) rises by 0. 19 (3. 6%) and the ED visit rate for opioid overdoses (per 100k) increases by 0. 95 (7. 0%). We also uncover statistically significant increases in the overall drug death rate that are mostly driven by increases in opioid deaths. These results also hold when performing a state, rather than county, level analysis. In most specifications, the results are primarily driven by adverse events among whites. Additionally, the findings are relatively stable across time periods they do not pertain only to recession years, but instead represent a more generalizable and previously unexplored connection between economic development and the severe adverse consequences of substance abuse. That is a remarkably consistent and steep relationship between unemployment rates and deaths from opioid drug abuse, The painkiller drugs have become an important contributor to the growing mortality among whites because it is theorized that prescription painkillers are heavily dispensed to and white people, who can become dependent on them or graduate to illegal substances. Use of pain medication among unemployed men approaches fifty percent, according to some studies. To be sure, not everyone using pain medication, even potent prescription drugs, is abusing it. There are people in significant distress who need medication. The tremendous increase in both drug use and mortality rates is the problem. It's sobering to see that problem linked as firmly and precisely to unemployment rates as in the National Bureau of Economic Research study. Also, given the generosity of welfare programs, it really is a question of needing work rather than money, with all of the physical and spiritual gains delivered by productive activity. Of course there are many individuals who can cope with unemployment in healthy ways, but projected across a vast population, the decline of the workforce casts a distinct Grim Reaper shadow. Another intriguing study is called \"When Work Disappears: Manufacturing Decline and the Falling Value of Men. \" Here again, the researchers have calculated a pronounced relationship between unemployment and an unhealthy social trend: single parenting. It's difficult to discuss single parenting as a social phenomenon because individual single parents and their children are not comfortable with the notion there is something \"wrong\" or inferior with the arrangement. Of course there are many single parents doing well, and children raised in such households who flourish. Our society has been conditioned to devalue traditional marriage and reject the notion that it has inherent advantages. But again, the negative trend across large populations is indisputable, as authors David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson acknowledge in their introduction, and describe more extensively in the body of the report: As predicted by a simple model of marital under uncertainty, we document that adverse shocks to the supply of 'marriageable' men reduce the prevalence of marriage and lower fertility but raise the fraction of children born to young and unwed mothers and living in in poor households. The falling value of young men appears to be a quantitatively important contributor to the rising rate of childbearing and childrearing in the United States. In other words, it's not a good thing for society to be producing large numbers of young single women struggling to raise children. It is objectively good for stable young couples to have children and raise them. (Yes, it's important for them to have children at fairly young ages because demographic growth demands a sizable number of families with three or more children, and that's very difficult to achieve if couples don't meet and marry when they're young.) The introduction of the study also quotes a but vitally relevant, observation from William Julius Wilson in When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor: The consequences of high neighborhood joblessness are more devastating than those of high neighborhood poverty. A neighborhood in which people are poor but employed is different from a neighborhood in which people are poor and jobless. Many of today's problems in the ghettos \u2014 crime, family dissolution, welfare, low levels of social organization, and so on \u2014 are fundamentally a consequence of the disappearance of work. This is proving to be universally true of human nature, in both urban and rural environments, for people of every racial and cultural background. The loss of manufacturing jobs is painted as especially significant by Autor, Dorn, and Hanson, which is very different from the conventional view that such lost jobs are easily replaceable by Information Age employment. Their study argues that manufacturing jobs have some unique virtues, one of which is giving men the kind of earnings advantage that makes them attractive marriage partners to women. That observation will not sit well among elites now crazed for \"gender neutrality\" and determined to use whatever policy hammers and chisels are needed to outlaw male and female biology by next year. Those elites will find it difficult to argue with the data presented in this report, which portrays a cascade of damaging social ills descending from the loss of male earning power relative to women: \"Shocks to manufacturing industries are particularly destabilizing to . \" The authors are quite blunt about what the decline of the manufacturing sector has done to American society: Adverse shocks to local employment opportunities stemming from rising international competition from China in manufactured goods yield a fall in both male and female employment a reduction in men's relative earnings, particularly at the lower tail of the earnings distribution an increase in the rate of male mortality from risky and unhealthful behaviors a reduction in the net availability of males in affected labor markets a reduction in the fraction of young adults entering marriage a fall in fertility accompanied by a rise in the fraction of births to teen and unmarried mothers and a sharp jump in the fraction of children living in impoverished and, to a lesser degree, households. If that paragraph doesn't sail far enough into politically incorrect waters for you, the authors later argue that shocks to industries \"have more modest effects on overall fertility but reduce the share of births to teens and unmarried mothers, thus raising births and reducing the fraction of children living in households. \" (It should be noted, as the authors do many times throughout the course of the paper, that these relationships between employment and marriage for the two sexes are significant but not and other forces often come into play.) Negative trends multiply each other in a downward spiral. The demise of stable homes sends a growing number of children into life with huge economic disadvantages. Dissolution of the family also dissolves family wealth, such as property passed from parents to children. Men who don't have wives and children in their lives are missing important resources when they confront midlife despair. Young people are missing bright examples of what the future could hold for them, contributing to the growing sense that \"the American Dream is over. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Breitbart Senior Editor MILO appeared on Judge Jeannine Pirro's show on Saturday night to discuss the aftermath of the UC Berkeley riots.[ MILO appeared on Judge Jeannine Pirro's show on the Fox News channel on Sunday night to discuss the protests that occurred this week at UC Berkeley. MILO called on President Trump to follow through on a tweet he put out in which he mentioned pulling funds from UC Berkeley for failing to protect MILO's First Amendment protection to free speech. If U. C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view \u2014 NO FEDERAL FUNDS? \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017,","label":0}
{"text":"Pardis Stitt still remembers the grocery shopping trips of her childhood in Birmingham, Ala.: loading into the family car, a silver Oldsmobile station wagon with a maroon interior and an player, and wandering the store aisles as her mother tracked down the ingredients for dishes like kuku sabzi, the Persian frittata densely packed with an array of green herbs. \"Back in the day, you couldn't find dill and cilantro at the Piggly Wiggly,\" said Ms. Stitt, 51. \"There was one Asian market, or else we had to drive two hours to Atlanta. \" Most cooks would omit the cilantro from a recipe before making a trek in search of it. But for Ms. Stitt's mother, who moved to the United States from Iran with her husband in 1963, preparing food without herbs would be unthinkable. Fresh herbs, both raw and cooked, lie at the foundation of Iranian cuisine. Leaving them out would be like making Italian food without tomatoes or Japanese food without seaweed. In other words, nearly impossible. This is especially true during Nowruz, the Persian New Year, a celebration that begins on the first day of spring. The holiday, which is secular, begins as families come together to count down to the precise moment of the equinox, even if it falls before dawn. (This year it will arrive on Monday at 6:29 a. m. Eastern time.) During Nowruz (pronounced ) everyone gathers around a haft sin, a table spread with seven items, including sprouts, which symbolize rebirth, and apples, which represent health and beauty. Family members may play music, pour fragrant drops of rose water into one another's palms, or eat a bite of sweet baklava to usher in the holiday with all of their senses. Then comes the feast \u2014 lunch or dinner, depending on what time the equinox falls \u2014 followed by 11 days of meals and teatime sweets. On the final day, it's traditional to retreat outdoors for a day of picnicking. The dishes of the Nowruz table are verdant and flavorful, like the kuku sabzi that Ms. Stitt loves. (Though she runs four restaurants in Birmingham with her husband, the chef Frank Stitt, she still calls her mother to request it.) Yet Iranian cuisine remains stubbornly unfamiliar in the United States, even as Americans have become more interested in Middle Eastern ingredients and foods like hummus, tahini and pomegranate molasses. There is a dearth of Persian restaurants outside the Los Angeles, New York and Washington areas, where a significant percentage of the nation's Americans of Iranian descent live. (\"Iranian\" refers to nationality and \"Persian\" to ethnicity, and many use the terms interchangeably. Ms. Stitt suggested that this was in response to the 1979 crisis at the American embassy in Tehran. \"That's when we all switched from saying we were Iranian to saying we were Persian,\" she said. \"If you said Persian, people didn't really know what that was. \") But even Persian restaurants rarely offer the most distinctive Iranian cooking, which is labor intensive and often involves chopping great quantities of herbs. Instead, they tend to focus on kebabs and rice. Until recently, the best chance most Americans had to experience the food of Iran was to score an invitation to the home of an Iranian friend. There may not exist a better ambassador for cooking with herbs than Hanif Sadr. Nearly every dish the chef serves includes mint, dill, parsley, tarragon, cilantro and tareh, a type of chive. Mr. Sadr, 34, grew up spending Nowruz on his family's farm in the Gilan province in northern Iran, where he'd harvest herbs and forage for wild fruits and nuts for the holiday dishes. When he moved from Tehran to California for graduate school in 2013, he found the similarities in climate and landscape disorienting. \"The first few days after moving to Berkeley, I couldn't tell whether I was in California or northern Iran,\" he said. \"In the hills, I found and foraged the same wild hazelnuts, Persian hogweed, citrus and green plums we have in Iran. \" After a temporary cooking job led him away from his studies and into the kitchen, Mr. Sadr founded Komaaj, a roving Iranian restaurant and catering company, in 2015. At dinners and \"Caspian tea parties\" around the Bay Area, he serves dishes like khiar dalar, cucumbers spread with a shockingly green paste of wild mint, pennyroyal, cilantro and salt. Or baghali ghatogh, a dill and fava bean stew scented with garlic and saffron, in which eggs are poached. Promptly after arriving in Berkeley, Mr. Sadr planted an herb garden. He's now working with farmers and foragers in northern Iran to begin importing herbs, edible flowers and teas that he can't find here. \"It's crazy!\" Mr. Sadr said as he stared down a pile of cilantro, dill, parsley and tarragon on his cutting board, waiting to be chopped for use in bij, the mixture of chopped herbs, walnuts and pomegranate molasses that forms the base of many northern Iranian dishes. Besides the sheer quantity of the herbs \u2014 in Iran, they are measured by the kilogram rather than the bunch \u2014 the thing that distinguishes Persian cuisine is the multifaceted role those herbs play. Whether they are wilted, stewed or fried, fresh herbs transform as they cook, first mellowing and then sweetening in flavor. Americans generally encounter herbs in the form of a condiment, pur\u00e9ed into a sauce like pesto or sprinkled raw over a finished dish, and may not think of them as cornerstone ingredients. Mr. Sadr often meets diners who are incredulous that mint and cilantro can be cooked, with delicious results. \"By the time you have finished dinner, you have eaten two whole bunches,\" he tells them. \"Herbs are not just a garnish for us. \" This year, Komaaj will host Persian New Year events in Berkeley and San Francisco. It's traditional to eat fish, a symbol of life, so Mr. Sadr folds a little fish roe into bij, then stuffs the mixture into trout that he has drizzled with sour orange molasses. After a short turn in a hot oven, the fish emerges with crisp, brown skin. The sweet and sour herbs contrast with the delicate, flaky fish without overwhelming it. \"This is a rich, ancient way of cooking, and people here are so excited about our ingredients, our herbs,\" he said. \"I really want to win people's hearts with the food I'm cooking. \" For Mana Heshmati, an engineer in Detroit who runs a restaurant called Peace Meal Kitchen, the taste of Nowruz is sabzi polo, an herbed rice dish that represents prosperity and rebirth. \"The color of the food, and the symbolic meaning behind it, is as exciting as it tastes,\" she said. Ms. Heshmati, 27, and her family moved around the Midwest after coming to the United States in 1993, but the dish was a constant at the holiday table every year. The rice for sabzi polo is cooked in two stages. The rice is parboiled and then tossed with an abundance of herbs and leeks and layered into a preheated pan coated with butter and oil. As the mixture is spooned into the pan, the bottommost layer of rice sizzles, turning into the crust known as tahdig, while the rest of the rice gently steams until the grains are fluffy. Ms. Heshmati said her mother added an extra flourish: \"She always puts a handful of whole garlic cloves in the rice, because we used to fight over who got those. \" Instead of salad, nearly all Persian meals are accompanied by sabzi khordan, a heaping platter of fresh herbs, radishes, walnuts and feta cheese served with flatbread. Guests delight in making perfectly balanced mouthfuls of pungent herbs, spicy radishes, salty cheese and crunchy nuts wrapped in pieces of warm bread. Sometimes, Mr. Sadr turns sabzi khordan into a salad for diners who are not accustomed to eating handfuls of undressed raw herbs. Ms. Heshmati started Peace Meal Kitchen about a year ago to share her Iranian cooking, like ghormeh sabzi, a fragrant herb, bean and beef stew scented with dried limes. \"I love ghormeh sabzi,\" she said. \"But I took it once for lunch in elementary school and then never again because I got made fun of. I even had a boyfriend in college who made fun of it. \" She now regularly prepares ghormeh sabzi for her guests, some of whom drive from Canada or from suburbs over an hour away. At a recent event, she sold out of 80 servings in 90 minutes. \"Iranian food is delicious,\" she said. \"It's hard to hate on it. \" Recipes: Herbed Rice With Tahdig | Fish Stuffed With Herbs, Walnuts and Pomegranate | Herb and Radish Salad With Feta and Walnuts | More Nowruz Dishes","label":0}
{"text":"Turns out there's no free lunch, even if you're among those lucky few dining at the Harvard Faculty Club. The New York Times is feasting on the delicious uproar created by Harvard professors who are now outraged to be hit with higher health care costs as a result of ObamaCare. I hardly know where to start on this one. Perhaps with the fact that the article appears in the New York Times? I will let that one go for the moment. Here's what's clear: Health care costs at Harvard are going up. Immediately. And they are rising directly as a result of ObamaCare. The explanation written right at the top of Harvard's health care enrollment guide for 2015 states that the university \"must respond to the national trend of rising health care costs, including some driven by health care reform.\" The guide even highlights, in a special little box in the margin, the exact \"Impact of Health Care Reform,\" explaining that \"The Affordable Care Act has brought new benefits and opportunities to many people but with added costs to sponsors.\" Say what?? Who could have predicted that? Anyone who can do math. Still, the special little box goes on to point to such benefits as keeping offspring on your plan until they are 26 and the Cadillac tax as added costs. And as a result, they say premiums and deductibles are rising. One French history professor gasps without a hint of irony that rising premiums are tantamount to a pay cut! Welcome to our world. Still the rising costs aren't necessarily news to everyone. Several years back, Harvard's own provost, Dr. Alan M. Garber, sent an open letter to President Obama praising the Cadillac tax as a way to rein in health care costs and premiums. In subsequent interviews, he's defended his stance and the higher costs he and co-workers are now facing. I'm betting he's having a hard time finding a tablemate at the Harvard Faculty Club this week. Provost Garber should not be confused with another economist with a similar sounding name working about a mile down the Charles River at MIT, Jonathan Gruber. Gruber infamously counted on the \"stupidity of the American voter\" to overlook the obvious math that's now confronting Harvard's staff. Harvard faculty may be a lot of things, but stupid ain't one of them. In fact, Meredith Rosenthal, a professor of health economics and policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, told the Times she was \"puzzled by the outcry. The changes in Harvard faculty benefits are parallel to changes all Americans are seeing. Indeed they have come to our front door much later than others.\" No, I don't think these folks are surprised by the math. I am a graduate of the Harvard Economics Department, and I have sat in these classrooms. I would bet the faculty just didn't believe they would have to foot the bill. Costs may rise, but they would somehow be absorbed in the system. Donors, someone \u2026 someone else, that is \u2026 would pay. And that is, in fact, one of the main problems in American politics. We all want life to be better for everyone. Who wouldn't want all of their fellow Americans, or all of humanity for that matter, to have good health care? But are you willing to personally take a pay cut to pay for the policy you are advocating? That's the hard question the president and proponents of ObamaCare did not want you to grapple with, because they were afraid your reaction would be akin to the screams now echoing through Harvard Yard. Melissa Francis is the host of \"MONEY with Melissa Francis\" (2 PM\/ET), a program that breaks down the day's top stories and how they impact the American taxpayer. Like her on Facebook at MelissaFrancisFOX and follow her on Twitter@MelissaAFrancis. Click here for more information about Melissa.","label":0}
{"text":"Senate Republicans will move this week to speed the confirmation of President Trump's cabinet, an effort that has been stymied by the combination of lax preparation by Mr. Trump's transition team, his many unorthodox nominees and Democrats spoiling for a fight, albeit with few cards in their deck. On Monday, the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, after Democrats used one of the few procedural maneuvers left to them to force a debate on his inevitable approval. Republicans had hoped to push through Mr. Pompeo and others last Friday, but were able to confirm only two: James N. Mattis for defense secretary and John F. Kelly to lead homeland security. President Obama had seven nominees approved on his first day in office. Also on Monday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Mr. Trump's pick for secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, whose road to confirmation has been bumpy. Mr. Tillerson received a lift on Sunday when two Republicans, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they would support him, after weeks of public hedging. Mr. Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has drawn scrutiny over his business connections with Russia and his personal relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, has hinted that he might join Democrats in rejecting Mr. Tillerson, which would lead to the unusual spectacle of a nominee facing the full Senate without a positive recommendation from the committee that held his confirmation hearing. Other nominees have been impeded by attempts to untangle their conflicts of interest, a process that Mr. Trump's transition team started far later than its predecessors and that has led to embarrassing revelations. A committee vote for Betsy DeVos, a billionaire who is Mr. Trump's nominee for education secretary, has been delayed by a week to give senators more time to review her voluminous ethics paperwork, which was released after her hearing last week. Other nominees have been delayed for similar reasons. Last week, Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Mr. Trump's choice for White House budget director, disclosed that he had failed to pay more than $15, 000 in payroll taxes for a household employee. Steven T. Mnuchin, Mr. Trump's Treasury secretary nominee, failed to list nearly $100 million in assets on his federal disclosure forms, an oversight that gave Democrats a club with which to beat on him in his Finance Committee hearing last week. \"Advise and consent doesn't mean ram it through,\" Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on NBC's \"Meet the Press\" on Sunday. \"If I were the Republicans, of course I'd want to ram a cabinet like this through. \" Whether these mistakes will thwart the eventual confirmation of any nominee remains in doubt. For all the intraparty rancor and \" \" during the campaign, Republicans appear to have closed ranks on Capitol Hill to protect their unusual president and his cabinet choices, for now. They have, when possible, prevented Democrats from grilling the nominees too hard, as was the case with Ms. DeVos, when Republicans shut down the hearing after one round of questions from eager lawmakers. Ms. DeVos had been struggling through a series of befuddling answers that raised questions about her grasp of federal education policy, including one flourish \u2014 replayed widely on social media and cable television \u2014 in which she suggested that school officials should be armed to protect against prospective grizzly bears on the premises. In other cases, Republicans have rushed to the defense of nominees under fire, as when Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, suggested during Mr. Mnuchin's hearing that Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, needed to take a Valium. For their part, Democrats showed the frustration that is likely to surface repeatedly now that they have lost the White House and do not have the filibuster available to them. But their approach in confirmation hearings, raw and blunt after a bitter election defeat, probably presages the tactics that lawmakers are already learning in the Trump era \u2014 and the defensive maneuvers Republicans will employ. Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, excoriated the civil rights record of Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama and Mr. Trump's pick for attorney general, breaking with a Senate custom of comity in the chamber. Democrats lobbed hours of questions at Representative Tom Price of Georgia, the nominee for secretary of health and human services, about his trading of stocks in health care companies that may have benefited from his legislating, keeping Mr. Price on the defensive heading into another confirmation hearing this week. \"I've noticed that the questioning frequently has an edge to it,\" said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. \"That is not to say that there aren't legitimate questions to be asked of the nominees. But it's the way they're asked that I've found to be different this time. \" The Senate typically confirms nearly all of a president's cabinet, and many Democrats, if not most, will vote for the bulk of Mr. Trump's nominees. Democrats changed Senate rules when they were in power to make cabinet nominees subject to a mere majority \u2014 rather than 60 \u2014 vote threshold, empowering Mr. Trump to send up more conservative and unusual choices. Their numbers limited, Democrats have opted to put Republicans on the defensive as much as possible. Mr. Booker's decision to testify against a fellow senator particularly rankled opponents, who accused him of grandstanding. In other moments, Republicans have chafed more at Democrats' tone than at the content of their remarks. Democrats are eager to argue the irony of any complaints about partisanship and obstructionism. Many remain bitter over Republicans' blockade of Merrick B. Garland, Mr. Obama's choice for the Supreme Court in his final year in office. \"The Republican majority in the United States Senate refused a hearing and a vote on a nominee to fill a vacancy in the U. S. Supreme Court,\" said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, after Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, chastised Democrats for refusing to consent to a speedy confirmation of nominees on Friday. \"That position on the highest court in the land remained vacant because of the specific political strategy of the Republican leader on the other side. \" Others have pointed to the relentless inquiries into Hillary Clinton and the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, wondering aloud why only a single round of questions was allowed in hearings for Ms. DeVos and Mr. Price. After going over his allotted time questioning Mr. Price, Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, grumbled that he would cede time in the nonexistent second round. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was not amused. He later noted that Mr. Price had been questioned more than any nominee to the post in more than two decades. \"You may be here by yourself,\" Mr. Alexander told Mr. Franken. \"The Benghazi hearing was 11 hours,\" Mr. Franken shot back. \"That's all I'm saying. \" Paul C. Light, a professor of public service at New York University who has worked on Capitol Hill as an adviser on transitions, said the confirmation process had made clear that standards for acceptable nominee conduct have changed. \"There doesn't seem to be any controversy about things that used to be controversial,\" he said. \"We've lowered the bar in terms of offenses that would have taken out nominees. \"","label":0}
{"text":"Crunched for time but still want to see a show in New York? Here are five productions this month that will take about a \"Homeland\" episode of your time, with room enough for dinner \u2014 or a \"Walking Dead\" binge \u2014 afterward. Running time 1 hour I don't know about you, but I'm way too busy to spend more than an hour a day contemplating my own death. That's where this show fits in nicely. Written by the Pulitzer playwright Will Eno, \"Wakey, Wakey\" stars Michael Emerson as a man in a wheelchair who reflects on his life knowing that death is around the corner. There are existential echoes of Beckett and Albee in this contemplative work that's part TED talk, part show and tell. Our critic praised it as a \"glowingly dark, profoundly moving new play. \" [Read the review] At the Pershing Square Signature Center, through March 26 Running time 1 hour 10 minutes Yeah, yeah, yeah: You want to see \"Hamilton. \" But you don't have A) the time, B) the connections or C) the tickets. This \"Hamilton\" parody, from Gerard Alessandrini, the creator of the \"Forbidden Broadway,\" is the next best thing. (O. K. maybe more like the next available thing.) If the lyric \"In New York, you can be a real ham\" sounds like a sidesplitter, this one's for you. (If not, stay far away.) Our critic called it a \"smart, silly and often convulsively funny thesis, performed by a cast that is fluent in many tongues. \" At Stage 72, the Triad, through May 14 spamilton. com Running time 1 hour Marin Ireland, of Amazon's \"Sneaky Pete,\" stars in Mart\u00edn Zimmerman's drama about a university professor whose child is killed. Inspired by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings of 2012, it's a solo show on a bare stage, with a story that takes a surprising direction. The play \"approaches the subject of American gun violence from a startlingly original perspective,\" according to our critic. [Read the review.] [Watch our Facebook Live chat.] At the Black Box Theater, Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, through April 2 Running time 45 minutes For parents of small children, this one's a . Based on Oliver Jeffers's book of the same title, \"The Way Back Home\" is about an adventurous boy who makes an unexpected landing on the moon and has to summon the courage to find his way home. Told with puppets, it's a great way to introduce children as young as 3 to the visual treats of the theater. And tired parents can do it in less time than it might take to put their kids to bed. At the New Victory Theater, March Running time 1 hour 20 minutes Ok, so the reviews for David Mamet's new play weren't great. \"Cynical and morose\" is how our critic put it. But if you've never seen the dark work of this provocative American playwright (\"Glengarry Glen Ross\") now's your chance. This one's about a psychiatrist who refuses to testify on behalf of a gay client accused of a horrific crime. If you don't like it, soothe yourself with a killer cupcake from Billy's Bakery around the corner from the theater. At the Atlantic Theater through March 26","label":0}
{"text":"Hillary Clinton has revealed the person she would love to appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court if she becomes president in 2016 is none other than current President Barack Obama.The prospect of a Justice Obama reared it s head during a campaign event in Deocorah, Iowa on Tuesday. A voter asked Mrs. Clinton is she would consider appointing Obama to SCOTUS if she were made President, and it put a huge smile on her face. She told the 450-strong crowd: Wow what a great idea I love that! Wow! Adding later, I mean, he s brilliant, and he can set forth an argument, and he was a law professor. So he has all the credentials. Now we do have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed so you re going to have to help me on that, OK? This isn t the first time that a future place on the Supreme Court for Mr. Obama has been raised. Sadly, he was a little cold on the idea, put to him by The New Yorker in 2014: I love the law, intellectually, he said at the time. I love nutting out these problems, wrestling with these arguments. I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students. But I think being a Justice is a little bit too monastic for me. Particularly after having spent six years and what will be eight years in this bubble, I think I need to get outside a little bit more. But who knows? Once he s had a chance to get some quality time with the Obama women, played a lot of golf, and wound down from the presidency that hunger that drove him to the White House might propel Obama onto the Supreme Court.What is certain is that the prospect of Justice Obama is going to strike fear into the heart of every gun-loving, woman-hating, gay-bashing, conservative in the country. First the notorious RBG, and now this.Featured Image via Flickr Creative Commons","label":1}
{"text":"A Florida man whom deputies say entered the U. S. illegally allegedly broke into a woman's home and almost choked her to death Sunday. [Deputies say Juan 36, faces felony charges including attempted murder and burglary in connection with the incident, WFLA reported. Polk County deputies responded to a call at a home in Davenport at around 4:06 a. m. about a suspected burglary. One of the victims told deputies that Orozco got into bed with her while she was asleep and followed her down a hallway as she yelled for help. Orozco allegedly grabbed her neck with both hands and said, \"Shut up, shut up or I'm going to kill you. \" The first victim said Orozco squeezed her neck so tight that she could not breathe and felt like she would faint. She added that she was afraid he would kill her. WOFL reports that the victim told authorities that there was no sexual contact between her and the suspect. Another victim heard screaming upon entering the house, according to deputies. The second victim noticed Orozco attempting to flee and tried to capture him, but the suspect pushed the victim away and fled the home through the front door. WFTS reported that deputies found Orozco's vehicle parked in front of the home. Deputies allege that Orozco entered the residence without permission, choked one victim with the intent to kill her, and intentionally shoved the other victim. \"This is an example of an immigrant in our country illegally committing serious and violent crimes,\" Sheriff Grady Judd said. \"He also has a criminal history, and should have been deported after committing his earlier crimes. \" Orozco has a criminal history that includes five felony charges and two misdemeanors dating back to 2004. Orozco is being held at Polk County Jail without bond, and an ICE hold will be placed on him.","label":0}
{"text":"Monday on CNBC, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) said due to the sexual misconduct accusations leveled against former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, he should step aside in his campaign for the U.S. Senate.Bush said, This is not a question of innocence or guilt like in a criminal proceeding, this is a question of what s right and what s wrong. Acknowledging that you re dating teenagers when you re 32-years old as assistant state attorney is wrong. It s just plain wrong. Breitbart NewsWatch:Texas woman Roslyn Corrigan claims that former President George H.W. Bush groped her when she was just 16 years old.According to Corrigan, the groping occurred in November of 2003 at an event in The Woodlands, Texas. This is the sixth woman to publicly accuse the 41st president of grabbing her butt without consent.Speaking to Time magazine, Corrigan, who is now in her early 30s, said, My initial action was absolute horror. I was really, really confused. The first thing I did was look at my mom and, while he was still standing there, I didn t say anything, she said. What does a teenager say to the ex-president of the United States? Like, Hey dude, you shouldn t have touched me like that? Like the other five incidents, Corrigan claims it happened when she was posing with Bush for a photograph. Bush was then 79 years old. As soon as the picture was being snapped on the one-two-three he dropped his hands from my waist down to my buttocks and gave it a nice, ripe squeeze, which would account for the fact that in the photograph my mouth is hanging wide open, Corrigan told Time. I was like, Oh my goodness, what just happened? Breitbart","label":1}
{"text":"Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Andy Nowicki of Alt Right Blogspot, Jay Dyer from jaysanalysis.com, Randy J, and Shawn Helton of 21Wire for the 69th episode of BOILER ROOM. Dim the lights, dawn the headphones and indulge in some Boiler Room with the crew. Tonight we re further deconstructing Cointel Pro with Jay and Shawn, discussing cults & Zen Gardner s recent admission of his involvement with the Children of God. A scathing analysis of the mainstream media being remiss in talking about the new Russian deal with Iran as well as the theater of absurdity that is the US State Department and much more.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY!Reference Links:","label":1}
{"text":"U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton reflected on her religious faith on Thursday during the first of a series of speeches her campaign said would focus on her values and vision rather than those of Republican opponent Donald Trump. The shift comes as opinion polls tighten between Clinton, the former secretary of state and U.S. senator, and Trump, a New York businessman, ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Clinton has focused many of her public remarks on criticism of Trump, including his provocative comments on illegal immigrants, Muslims and women. Trump has criticized Clinton's record in public office and questioned her honesty and qualifications for the White House. But the Clinton campaign acknowledged she had to spend more time focusing her remarks on herself so voters could see the \"aspirational\" vision she hopes to enact if she becomes the first woman elected U.S. president. \"We believe we have to work extra hard to make sure that the positive notion of what she wants to do breaks through given the amount of interest that there is (in Trump) and what he says and also in what we say about him,\" Clinton's communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, told reporters on her plane. Clinton will do that with speeches on the economy, children and families, and national service in the coming weeks. She started on Thursday night with an address to the National Baptist Convention, made up primarily of African-Americans, that focused on her own religious life. Clinton spoke of teaching the occasional Sunday school class and being married for more than 40 years to former President Bill Clinton, a Southern Baptist, despite being a lifelong Methodist herself. She told the crowd about her gruff Navy father praying by his bed every night and her mother, who experienced love during a tough childhood that grounded her faith. Reflecting on her Christianity, Clinton said Jesus Christ's greatest command was to love. \"We're not asked to love each other. Not urged or requested. We are commanded,\" she said. \"Some days it's really hard for me,\" she said to laughter. Clinton does not speak frequently about her faith, although she discussed its importance to her in a televised town hall event in February during her battle with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Her words on Thursday seemed to connect with members of the mostly black audience, who applauded and raised their hands in affirmation of many of her comments. Clinton polls strongly among black voters. \"I've learned to be grateful not just for my blessings but also for my faults, and there are plenty,\" she said, noting the importance of humility among leaders.","label":0}
{"text":"KABUL, Afghanistan \u2014 A Afghan police chief with deep experience in Afghanistan's long conflict with the Taliban was killed in a blast on Sunday in the country's eastern Nangarhar Province, which has been under threat from the Taliban and affiliates of the Islamic State. The police chief, Gen. Zarawar Zahid, was visiting an outpost in the Hisarak district when explosives placed near the outpost detonated, according to Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar. One of General Zahid's bodyguards was wounded, Mr. Khogyani said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, according to a statement by the insurgency's spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid. The attack came a week after twin bombings outside Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense killed at least 40 people, including several senior security officials. Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, has faced mounting security perils over the past couple of years, with new Islamic State affiliates complicating the threat from the Taliban. Zabihullah Zmarai, a member of the provincial council, said the Islamic State posed a danger in five districts, despite repeated operations by the Afghan Army. \"Out of the 22 districts, only six are secure,\" he said. The Taliban's presence across nearly a dozen districts varies, Mr. Zmarai said. But the Hisarak district faced a collapse in recent weeks. That drew the attention of General Zahid, who had gone there to supervise a counterattack. Over the past decade, he rose from a bodyguard to a police chief of several volatile provinces. His postings included two stints as the police chief of southeastern Ghazni Province, and one term each in Zabul and Paktika Provinces. General Zahid was seen as a commander, often arriving at the front lines unannounced. When a major cultural event drew world leaders to the ancient city of Ghazni, the general was photographed riding around the city on the back of a motorcycle to check on security measures. He had been wounded twice and had lost two brothers during the decades of war in Afghanistan. In June, he took part in clashes with Pakistani forces that erupted on the border. In a Facebook video that he posted, he appeared beside two mortars and shouted to his men, \"Strike hard enough to blow up Nawaz Sharif's home,\" referring to the prime minister of Pakistan. Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior Affairs, called General Zahid \"one of the bravest commanders of Afghan police. \" \"He lost his life on the front line of duty in the fight against terrorism,\" Mr. Sediqqi said.","label":0}
{"text":"Many humans are discovering they have unique abilities that science can't explain, suggesting that we may have untapped potential beyond our wildest dreams. Since the majority of people have yet to realize this potential, there is a certain mysticism surrounding this phenomenon, which is why many perceive people with special capabilities as \"superhumans.\" One of the more recent superhumans to share his talent with the world is Nong Yousui , a young boy from Dahua, China. Nong Yousui and His Superhuman Eyesight Like many babies, Nong Yousui was born with blue eyes; however, Nong's eyes have a certain brightness that set him apart from other blue-eyed children. Later in life, he discovered that the colour of his eyes wasn't his only unique attribute, as he claims to have perfect vision in complete darkness. Naturally, his father brought Nong to the hospital in search for answers. As his father explained , \"They [doctors] told me he would grow out of it and that his eyes would stop glowing and turn black like most Chinese people but they never did.\" Even though Nong can see clearly in the dark, he has difficulty seeing in sunlight and finds bright light uncomfortable. His teacher also claims that when light is shined directly into Nong's eyes in the dark, they reflect a neon green tone. When Nong's story first went public, a skeptical Chinese journalist decided to formally test his claim. The journalist created a set of questionnaires for the boy to complete in a controlled setting, a pitch black dark room. After completing the tests, his results clearly proved that the boy can see, read, and write perfectly in complete darkness. The World Record Academy , the organization that certifies world records, deemed Nong Yousui as the first person to be able to see in the dark and awarded him with a world record. Check out the following video about Nong Yousui and his ability to see in the dark: http:\/\/www.medicaldaily.com\/chinese-boy-nong-yousui-can-see-pitch-dark-scientists-unconvinced-253207 The Scientific Debate Surrounding Nong's Night Vision Nong's story has generated a lot of publicity, mostly outside mainstream media (not surprisingly), though it has attracted attention from the scientific community as well. Many scientists remain skeptical of Nong's unique eyesight because it doesn't make sense according to human evolution. As James Reynolds , a pediatric ophthalmologist at State University of New York in Buffalo, explained, evolution is a slow process: \"Evolutionarily, mutations can result in differences that allow for new environmental niche exploitation. But such mutations are modified over long periods. A functional tapetum in a human would be just as absurd as a human born with wings. It can't happen.\" Although evolution clearly occurred in nature, it is important to note that there are still many unanswered questions surrounding the theory of evolution and its relationship to modern-day humans. A University of Glasgow study performed in 2000 proved that modern man was not in fact descended from Neanderthals, a species believed to be our ancestors, disproving the out-of-Africa model of modern human evolution. I'm not suggesting that Darwin's work was wrong whatsoever; I'm simply reiterating the fact that it is a theory that has been applied to humans and that specific parts of it have been disproven, including the hypothesis that we evolved from Neanderthals. With that, I think it's presumptuous to state that the theory of human evolution negates the reality of Nong's night vision, when we're still searching for answers surrounding human evolution in general. Nong's night vision seems more plausible when you consider all of the other species with similar capabilities. Numerous animals including cats and those that are nocturnal have incredible night vision due to a thin layer of cells that exists in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum (as mentioned above). When light shines directly into these animals' eyes, their eyes appear to glow, similar to Nong's. What We Can Learn From Nong's Story This isn't the first time we've observed incredible capabilities in human eyes. Many people have claimed to heal their eyesight naturally and there have been studies performed on humans that have successfully improved their night vision (read our article about it here ). Eyes have also been referred to as the gateway to the soul, which means they could be used as a tool to look beyond the physical world and into the spiritual. Like Nong, many other people have come forward to share their superhuman abilities with the public \u2014 abilities for which scientists have had no explanations. Many of these people are enlightened beings, such as monks who can generate heat and have supernormal mental capabilities. Another infamous 'superhuman,' Wim Hof , can submerge his body in ice for hours while meditating and his body temperature remains stable, an ability which still baffles scientists. Why should we automatically doubt a young boy's uniqueness because science tells us to? It's time we put our scientific egos aside, accept the fact that some things are inexplicable (for now), and recognize that what we deem impossible may sometimes be possible. To read more about other people with superhuman capabilities, check out our article:","label":1}
{"text":"Before dawn on a Sunday late last month, a battalion of pesh merga soldiers \u2014 about 600 Kurdish men, along with a few women \u2014 gathered in the shadow of Bashiqa Mountain, on the western edge of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. They were sons, daughters, fathers, grandfathers. They wore an assortment of camouflage fatigues and traditional Kurdish flowing pants, waist sashes and head scarves. They carried antique Kalashnikovs and new assault rifles. Few had helmets, and fewer had body armor. Strapped to their backs and belts and legs were daggers, revolvers, axes. Some of them had received the call to duty only the day before and were driven to the front by family or rode overnight in taxis. With them was a column of vehicles new, old and very old: armored personnel carriers, vehicles (MRAPs) Humvees, S. U. V. s, ambulances, Soviet tanks, backhoes, bulldozers, sedans and a bestiary of retrofitted pickups and battlewagons, whose tenuous welding and argumentative suspensions told of the years Iraqi Kurds had spent fighting with and homemade hardware in one war or another. At 7 a. m. the idling engines came to life, and cries went up: \"Long live pesh merga!\" \"Death to ISIS!\" The troops started down an unpaved track that led southwest through the Tigris River valley toward the city of Mosul. As the march went on, villages gave way to occasional abandoned farmhouses, crop fields to dunes, and the sun made itself felt. A long dust cloud rose in the wake of the column, whose eventual destination was Bashiqa, a small city on the mountain's edge that was claimed by the Islamic State. The operation to retake Mosul had finally begun one week earlier on Oct. 16. The pesh merga led the charge toward the city, Iraq's and ISIS' last citadel in the country. Mosul had become the focus of the world's attention, and the battle for it had been criticized even before it began. In the second presidential debate, Donald Trump complained that in revealing its designs on Mosul, the international coalition was telegraphing its punches. This was inevitably true \u2014 not even ISIS had ever doubted that Mosul would be invaded \u2014 but it was also true that the first flurry of blows was too big to duck. Embedded in the column was a unit of American Special Forces, in a cluster of MRAPs. They were there, it was understood, to pick out targets for airstrikes. Rumbling in the distance, the bombs had deposited on the horizon a dome of inky vapor. While the pesh merga attacked ISIS from the north and the east, the Iraqi military was approaching from the south. The job of the battalion moving toward Bashiqa was to shore up the eastern front and extend a cordon around Mosul. The Iraqis' next moves would depend in part on the Kurds' success. For the moment, in other words, the progress of the central conflict in the Middle East had come down to this unlikely troop. The first ISIS mortar fire arrived in the midmorning with whizzes and thuds. It was off target, and the soldiers regarded the dirt plumes with indifference. The first incoming bullets soon followed and were cause for more alarm. They flew from a rambling, house on the crest of a slope. The gunfire split the column in two. The back portion halted behind a berm about 12 feet high and about 300 yards downslope from the house. A few soldiers climbed up the dirt and took aim. The rest got out of their vehicles and pulled out phones and cigarettes. Group photos and selfies were snapped. \"Let's use the cannon,\" a commander suggested. A pickup mounted with an gun pulled in front of the berm. The first shot fell short a second hit the house, leaving a disappointingly small hole in the facade. When there was a pause in the fighting, a group of trucks emerged from behind the berm, raced up the track and cut right onto a hillock that overlooked the house. Some pesh merga got out and gathered. They presented a clear target for snipers and artillery, but they didn't appear to mind. They chatted, laughed, smoked, checked their phones. More group photos, more selfies. Even after two mortar rounds landed in quick succession on either side of them \u2014 a sign that a spotter was nearby, bracketing their position \u2014 they remained unhurried. Eventually they got back into their vehicles and, under fire from the house, headed straight for it. The ISIS fighters had built their own berm beside the house's exterior wall. The Kurdish soldiers backed their trucks up to it, and one of them opened up on the house with a machine gun. Others peeked over the berm, taking the occasional potshot. One walked up to a gap in the dirt and, with neither cover nor helmet, a cigarette dangling from his lips, emptied a magazine. The jammed. The fighting subsided again. The soldiers reclined at the base of the berm. Out came the phones. More selfies. Texting. A man called his mother. Another watched a video of a firefight taking place on some other front around Mosul. None of them seemed eager to storm the house. \"I'm deaf from that cannon!\" a soldier said. \"Did you take any photos of it being shot?\" another asked him. The gunner got into an argument with another soldier over whose responsibility it had been to make sure the was working properly that morning. \"You were supposed to fix it!\" \"It's not my job!\" \"It's not as if you had to build an airplane. It's simple. \" \"You came all the way to the front in a taxi, and now all you do is talk. You just talk. \" Another burst of gunfire from the house, and a soldier climbed behind the gun. \"Come help me,\" he instructed a colleague. \"I don't know how. \" \"If you don't get up here and help me, I'm going to do everything that's bad to you. \" The gun was loaded and fired. The backblast shattered a pickup's windshield. \"Bazan, where are your cigarettes?\" Bazan ran to a truck and returned with a pack of cigarettes. \"Who wants a cigarette?\" The group lit up. \"Everyone here talks like a man,\" a soldier said, \"but no one fights like one. \" There was a note of false modesty in this quip. In fact, for centuries Kurds have fought famously, taking on all comers: Persians, Ottomans, Arabs, British and the various governments of Iraq. A diffuse institution \u2014 \"more an attitude than an army,\" as one Kurd put it \u2014 the pesh merga today contain anywhere from several tens of thousands to about a hundred thousand fighters, depending on who's counting and how proud he's feeling. Many are volunteers. Only some of them have training that would warrant the name in a major military. The one thing they all share is that they are willing to die for their land. If their tactics are negligible \u2014 and sometimes as suicidal as those of the jihadists \u2014 their bravery is not. The pesh merga are commanded by Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government. When ISIS overran Mosul in June 2014, Barzani offered the help of his army to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal who snubbed him. It was assumed Maliki worried that Barzani intended to annex whatever land his troops took. Maliki's successor, Haider may have delayed the invasion of Mosul for the same reason. But earlier this year, Barzani, Abadi and the international coalition arrived at an agreement that called for the Kurdish forces to halt their advance at Bashiqa. About six miles from the eastern outskirts of Mosul, Bashiqa was inhabited largely by Christians, Kurds and members of the Yazidi minority, most of whom fled when ISIS arrived. The city presented an added political wrinkle in the war because it is in the \"disputed territories,\" land claimed by both Iraq and the Kurdish regional government. Certain Kurds, mainly older ones, consider Mosul theirs, too. Partly for this reason \u2014 but more because they're accustomed to fighting against the Iraqi military, not alongside it \u2014 some pesh merga worried they would be attacked, or at least mistreated, by Iraqi soldiers when the two forces met on the front lines. Speculation about a sequel war between Kurdistan and Iraq was (and still is) commonplace. But so far relations were cordial, and the Iraqi military, knowing it would have its hands full with the close combat in Mosul's ancient streets, was content to leave the Bashiqa campaign to the Kurds. \"This war is very different for us Kurds,\" Barzani's brother, Sihad Barzani, explained several days after the campaign began. \"This is the first time we've seen airstrikes that we're not afraid of. This is the first time the Iraqi Army is not trying to kill us \u2014 and we're not trying to kill them. We hope it stays this way. \" He was in a large abandoned house that the pesh merga had commandeered and turned into a field headquarters on the periphery of Bashiqa. The march had brought them to the limits of the city. They had not yet entered, but they had it surrounded. \"ISIS has no escape. They will have to die now. \" The Barzanis are de facto royalty in Kurdistan. Massoud and Sihad's father, Mustafa, the patriarch of the incipient Iraqi Kurdish republic, led its revolution against Iraq until his death in 1979. It's common to meet pesh merga with tattoos of Mustafa's portrait. As Sihad stepped from the house, a young soldier lifted up his shirt to reveal the face of Mustafa, with his thick black mustache and checkered red head scarf, sprawled across his back. Sihad looked on approvingly. Asked how many of his own family members were fighting ISIS, he gestured at the soldiers gathered in the courtyard and said, \"They're all my family. \" The Tigris River valley is dotted with villages and olive groves. The ISIS fighters inhabiting it were experienced and disciplined. What they lacked in munitions they made up for in patience, as the pesh merga had learned. Some Kurds had developed a reluctant respect for their adversary. \"They fight as if they want to die,\" it was often said. The night before, the jihadists had told the residents of Buharbuq, an village near Bashiqa, to be ready to leave at 6 a. m. for Mosul. The intent was obvious: They would be used as human shields. In the middle of the night, the village fled en masse. After leaving the headquarters, Barzani's convoy passed the refugee caravan, 80 or so cars and trucks stretched along a roadside. The residents of Buharbuq had taken everyone and everything they could: children, mattresses, blankets, grandmothers, pots, buckets, sheep, chickens. One truck contained a motorized wheelchair, another seven newborn lambs. The women were still dressed according to ISIS decree, fully covered in black hijabs and abayas. Officers with the Asayish, a Kurdish internal security agency, met the villagers on the road with a fleet of buses that would take them to a camp. A soldier pulled up with a freight truck full of crackers and water. \"All of our life is wasted in this ISIS mess,\" a woman waiting in line said to her husband. \"I feel a hundred years old. I hope ISIS goes to hell, then rots in hell. \" \"I'm so tired,\" her husband replied. There were heartsick roadside reunions. Two old classmates, one a pesh merga who had fled Buharbuq, the other a shop owner who had stayed, hugged for the first time in two years. \"Life was very bitter,\" the shop owner told his friend. He pulled from his pocket a note, less than a dollar. \"This is all my money. \" A young man found his mother. She clung to his neck and wept and kissed his face again and again. \"Thank God,\" she muttered. \"Thank God. \" Perhaps the bravest pesh merga are the drivers of earthmovers, who toil mere yards from ISIS positions. They are bombed, mortared, rocketed and sniped, all the while doing astonishingly fast work. Within two days of setting off toward Bashiqa, they had turned the valley into a grid of berms and trenches that prevented an ISIS breakout and cut off the group's supply lines. About 4, 000 Kurdish soldiers now occupied 100 positions and small encampments. The main camp was presided over by Barham Arif, one of the youngest and most respected generals in the pesh merga. Tall and taciturn, he led his men into battle in a jaunty MRAP with a GoPro camera to the hood. \"ISIS is not smart and not brave, but they brainwash stupid people,\" Arif said. \"They give drugs to their fighters. They fight for 20 minutes and then run away. \" For months, Arif had lived with his men on the pesh merga's stalemated front line, on the ridge of Bashiqa Mountain, overlooking the valley. A modest cult of personality had formed around the general, and his camp was home to foreign volunteers and soldiers of fortune. There were American medics, a Brazilian and Czech videographer couple and, constantly at Arif's side, a Scottish sniper in spectacles. On Facebook, under employer, he listed \"pesh merga. \" Generations of Kurds also converged in the camp. A few soldiers were in their 20s. Most were in their 30s, 40s and 50s. One soldier who had come down from the mountain with Arif was Kaefe Ahmed. Ahmed's father, also a pesh merga fighter, was killed by Iraqi soldiers when Ahmed was 4. Ten other family members had died in war. Ahmed refused to wear a camouflage uniform because, he said, \"for decades the Iraqi Army destroyed our land with these uniforms. \" He had fought for more than 20 of his 37 years: in the Kurdish civil war, against Saddam Hussein's forces and now against ISIS. He and his cousin Robar Ali were in a unit with a group of men, some of them related. When ISIS entered Mosul, they fought on its outskirts, before the pesh merga were ordered to withdraw. Had ISIS stopped there, Ahmed and Ali, like most Iraqi Kurds, wouldn't have worried much about the jihadists living nearby. This was a conflict among Arabs, they felt, and at first ISIS was better than Saddam's Baathists ever were. \"In the beginning, the ISIS fighters were generally good with people,\" Ahmed said. But then ISIS pushed into Kurdistan. Ahmed and Ali fought them in Sinjar, and then in Bashiqa, before it was overrun. The fighting there was particularly bitter. \"They're suicidal,\" he said. The oldest soldier in the camp, as far as anyone knew, was a man named Jamil Rashid. When asked about his age, he first said, \"A lot. \" Later offerings ranged from 61 to 78. Asked how many battles he'd fought in over the years, he said, \"That notebook does not have enough paper to write them all down. \" He ate what food local brought to the camp and slept wrapped in a thin blanket in a ditch. Five of his sons were in the pesh merga. One had recently been killed by ISIS. He had more grandchildren than he cared to count. \"ISIS is nothing \u2014 they've been around for two years,\" said Rashid, who was fond of listing, in the profanest terms possible, the Iraqi premiers whose regimes he'd fought against. \"Abd Qasim\" \u2014 the Iraqi prime minister of the early 1960s. \"I screwed his mother. Then there was Ahmed Hassan and then Saddam, and then Nuri . He was a bad guy. And now \u2014 what's his name again?\" \"Abadi,\" a young soldier said. \"Right, Abadi. I fought all of them on this holy ground \u2014 for this holy ground. Our mud is holy. Whoever doesn't fight for his land takes it in the [expletive]. This land is so precious. \" \"Why are you talking about history, Jamil?\" another young soldier asked him. \"We're supposed to be discussing now. \" \"So what if I talk about history?\" Rashid said. \"It's all the same, history and now. \" On Tuesday morning, Arif's men prepared to assault Omar Qapchi, a village barely a from his camp that was still under ISIS control. A commander had got hold of some villagers on a cellphone and was telling them what to do when the fighting started. \"Stay together, don't separate,\" he said. \"If you see any ISIS, call this number. Take care of yourselves. We're coming. \" The armored personnel carriers and tanks and trucks filled up in moments. Far more soldiers wanted to take part in the assault than there was space in vehicles. Omar Qapchi, spreading about a mile down a slope that ended in an arterial road at the foot of Bashiqa Mountain, was made up of tightly packed and homes. Near its western gate, the column split into three smaller convoys. Arif's convoy cut across a field toward the road. Though the ground was known to be full of I. E. D. s, some pesh merga cut one another off as they careered over suspicious patches of dirt and objects, racing to get into the action. When the convoy reached the road, muzzle flashes appeared in windows, and bullets whizzed by. The pesh merga strafed the buildings with fire and grenades. At the eastern gate, the convoy hooked into the village. The streets were empty. From the residents who had phoned, it was known that about a dozen ISIS fighters were somewhere in the village. The convoy raced into the village center and suddenly found itself in a firefight with a contingent of ISIS gunmen, who, surrounded, had taken a stand at one end of a short, wide alley. The soldiers, on the other end, jumped from their vehicles, piled into the alley \u2014 directly in the line of fire \u2014 and began shooting back. There was little aiming but a lot of yelling. One man stepped into the alley with a grenade launcher. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He held the rocket inches from his nose and looked at it quizzically. As bullets hit the dirt near his feet, he slowly peeled off a piece of plastic wrapping, then lifted the launcher back onto his shoulder and tried again. This time it fired. The ISIS fighters took to their heels, and the soldiers, among them Ahmed, gave chase, eventually cornering several jihadists in a mosque. One detonated a suicide vest another was sheared in half by a rocket. By the end of the day, eight of them had died, three had escaped and one was captured. Three pesh merga sustained minor wounds. Rather than going on foot from house to house to make sure the village was cleared, they gathered outside it and celebrated. \"I think I killed someone,\" Rashid said. \"It would be a shame if I shot my rifle and didn't kill anyone. \" Two days later, the wind at their backs, Arif's men moved on Faziliya, a neighboring village. The road to the village was littered with I. E. D. s, which sent up showers of gravel and tarmac. On the wall of a kiosk at the entrance to the village was : \"Every ISIS man who dies goes to paradise. \" An ISIS flag fluttered on a fence post, but the roofs of the houses, which ranged steeply up the foot of the mountain, bore newly hung white flags: The town's residents were eagerly awaiting the pesh merga's arrival. Then gun and rocket fire erupted from a small, windowed spire on a building near the road. A tank reduced the building to smoking rubble. The people of Faziliya streamed from their homes and into the streets. They patted their heads \u2014 a Kurdish gesture of welcome \u2014 and kissed the soldiers. Children chanted: \"Long live pesh merga! Long live pesh merga!\" In the village square, a group of boys tore down an ISIS billboard. Soldiers shot off celebratory rounds. \"Who has cigarettes?\" a man asked the soldiers. \"We want to smoke!\" A soldier found his wife and children \u2014 their first meeting in more than two years. His mother emerged. She took hold of her son. They sank to the ground in an embrace, their tears streaming together. Back at Omar Qapchi, the few residents who had remained for the battle were gathered outside the village next to a caged soccer pitch, where they awaited interrogation by the soldiers and Asayish officers. An elderly woman wanted to know where her brother was. A rocket had destroyed his house, and he was nowhere to be seen. \"He's dead,\" a neighbor of hers explained, out of earshot, \"but she hasn't found out yet. \" An officer had already determined that one resident was allied with ISIS. The man was dragged from the group, his hands bound behind his back with a scarf. A green knit face mask was pulled down over his eyes, and he was forced to the ground. He pleaded his innocence. \"Shut up, you imbecile!\" a soldier yelled at him. \"It's obvious he's ISIS,\" another soldier said. \"Just look at his color. He's taken on the jihadists' color. \" \"I'm not with ISIS, I swear!\" the prisoner said. \"I'm a Kurd!\" \"Shut up or I'll stuff this down your throat!\" the first soldier said, jabbing his rifle's stock in the man's face. The officer was from Omar Qapchi and had fled the village as ISIS approached it in 2014. From his friends who had stayed, he had heard that the prisoner had driven an ambulance for the jihadists. His son, they said, was with ISIS, too. \"I haven't done anything!\" the prisoner protested. \"I was just told to drive somewhere. \" \"Hit him already,\" another soldier said. The prisoner's son, his hands also bound and face covered, was pushed down beside his father. \"My son is a student in Bashiqa,\" the father said. \"I'll tell you anything about him. Please don't put the gun to his head. \" \"I'm just following orders,\" the soldier said. \"Don't worry,\" said an Asayish commander who had arrived on the scene. \"We don't know if he's ISIS. We have to investigate. \" \"You've humiliated my son!\" \"So are you saying your son is ISIS or not?\" the soldier asked. \"He's a student! He's in ninth grade!\" They were bundled into the bed of a pickup and driven away. The Islamic State, the pesh merga knew, hadn't conquered such large swaths of the country with weapons alone. It had won sympathy among many Sunni Muslims who felt neglected by Iraq's national government and abused by security forces. ISIS promised them protection and pride. Many of them saw ISIS as a way out of an already miserable existence. In a camp near Khazer, another town, an elderly farmer who'd fled the village of Topzawa, not far from Bashiqa, which the Iraqi military had taken a few days before, talked about the jihadists fondly. \"Most of the young men who joined ISIS were poor,\" he said. \"They needed the money. They had no other options. \" He confessed that he had come to know some of the ISIS men in Topzawa well. They weren't foreigners, but Iraqis, ordinary ones. They were kind. They allowed him to travel wherever he wanted to sell his produce. He didn't mind that the women in his family had to put on more clothing, and he wore a beard anyway. They treated his wife and daughters with the respect that Islam required. \"At the beginning of Islam, with Muhammad, there were good rules. But with democracy, there are no rules. I'm a fair person. I believe in justice. But there are rules in Islam. No one can change them. Not you, not me, not anyone. \"ISIS treated us as though we were free,\" he went on. \"We felt secure under them. In the final battle, they conducted themselves honorably. They fought until they died. \" The Iraqi Army, by contrast, relied on foreign airstrikes. The bombs had killed 20 of his sheep, 10 of his chickens and 10 dogs, and when the soldiers finally arrived, they were \"very, very bad. \" They forced him from his home and made him come to this camp, where he endured humiliations. His hands were bound. \"They attacked my honor. They told me my wife and daughters had been raped by ISIS. I was disgraced. I wanted to kill myself. \" Two weeks after the Bashiqa campaign began, President Barzani still hadn't given the order to attack the city itself. Rumors about what would be found in it expanded by the day. The number of ISIS fighters supposedly hiding out there crept upward. There would be no end of I. E. D. s, people said, of suicide of snipers. There would be tunnels everywhere. At General Arif's camp, the berms had grown taller and the foxholes deeper. ISIS fighters had attacked by night, and by day they lobbed in mortar rounds and handcrafted missiles. Jamil Rashid spoke with a group of younger soldiers as gunfire rang out. \"This is nothing,\" he said. \"It's air. I like the sound of it. \" Finally, the order was given. The night before the assault, Arif's troops gathered on the mountain above Bashiqa, in their old position. Ahmed and his cousin Ali were part of group of about 30 men who would descend the slope and enter Bashiqa on foot. In the morning, an armored column collected on a road outside the city. Sihad Barzani arrived to wish them luck. \"We must move, but slowly,\" he said. For six hours, the column crept toward the city, while airstrikes and artillery pummeled it. As they waited, soldiers checked for news of the American election, the next day, on their phones. Word came down that a sniper was holed up somewhere inside. He had already killed one soldier and wounded four. On the access road into the city's east end, which climbed up the mountainside, the column drove by a pesh merga bulldozer in flames, the driver incinerated in the cab. As in Omar Qapchi, the streets were quiet. But as the vehicles turned by a small park, a grenade flew at it. Its orange fireball and white smoke trail, visible for less than a second, were terribly beautiful. The rocket exploded against the low concrete wall of the park. Another quickly followed behind it. The column made it to a central plaza. A handsome old church with a suspicious tower was peppered with fire and artillery. Jamil Rashid hopped from the front seat of a truck and took up a position outside the church. Standing in the open, his rifle dangling by his leg, he looked around and breathed in the scent of gun smoke, beaming. The column turned back along the same road it had entered. But now there was an empty white sedan in the middle of an intersection. Was this a car bomb? A roadblock? Had some innocent tried to flee and suffered a breakdown? The driver of the lead tank stuck his head from the turret hatch. A shot cracked the air, its tone higher and sharper than that of a Kalashnikov. Blood sprayed from the driver's head. He slumped over the turret. His crew mates began screaming and crying. Panic passed down the line. \"Sniper! Sniper!\" The column reversed course, honking and and labored back to the plaza. The tank sped from the city by a different route. At the staging point, the driver's body was lifted out and put in an ambulance. His friends bent over the tank's side skirt and knelt in the dirt, weeping. Before the driver was shot, Ahmed, Ali and their detachment had descended into the same side of the city on foot. They came under fire, retreated back uphill and took up a position. A crack. Ali lurched forward, falling over Ahmed's leg. Ahmed thought his cousin had tripped. Then he saw the blood. Three days later, Ahmed was worrying a string of wooden prayer beads in a mosque in his and Ali's hometown, Rawanduz, in Kurdistan's eastern mountains. He sat by the muezzin, who sang a death prayer for Ali, a Quran open before him on a desk stand. Old pesh merga in traditional dress and younger ones in suits and jeans filed in. They greeted Ali's father and Ahmed, their hands to their chests, saying: \"May he rest in peace\" and \"May God forgive him his sins. \" After the service, long rugs were spread on the floor, and Ahmed and the men from his unit sat down to lunch. Their part in the fight against ISIS was over, for now. Bashiqa was liberated, and the Kurdish line stopped there. But the war against ISIS was not going well for the Iraqi Army, which was still stuck on Mosul's outskirts, taking a lot of casualties. \"It will be a heavy fight,\" one man said. Ahmed and his friends would fight in Mosul if they were ordered to, they agreed, but they wouldn't like it. They were not among the Kurds who considered the city part of the homeland. \"Is it fair that a Kurd should die for an Arab?\" Ahmed said. Anyway, history had taught them that another war would come soon enough. \"Once you finish one fight, they prepare another one for you,\" a soldier said. \"It makes you tired. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Tuesday discussed improving and maintaining a \"mutually beneficial economic relationship\" between the United States and China, the State Department said. Tillerson and Yang, China's top diplomat, affirmed the importance of \"regular high-level engagement\" between the two countries during their meeting in Washington, and discussed North Korea's nuclear program, the State Department said in a statement. China's state news agency, Xinhua, quoted Yang as saying China was willing to work with Washington \"to enhance exchanges on all levels from top down\" and to broaden communication and coordination on regional and global issues, while respecting \"each other's core interests and major concerns.\" \"This will help promote sustained, steady and healthy development of the China-U.S. relations, which will benefit the peoples of not only both nations but also the whole world,\" Xinhua quoted Yang as saying. The meeting was the latest exchange aimed at resetting relations between the world's two largest economies following a rocky start after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. On Monday, Yang, who outranks China's foreign minister, met at the White House with Trump, who has attacked China on issues from trade, to the South China Sea and North Korea. They discussed shared security interests and a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a senior U.S. administration official. The State Department said Yang invited Tillerson to visit Beijing, and that Tillerson expressed interest in doing so. Yang's visit to the United States follows a phone call between him and Tillerson last week, during which they affirmed the importance of a constructive U.S.-China relationship. Yang's visit follows months of strong rhetoric from Trump, who has accused China of unfair trade policies, criticized its island-building in the strategic South China Sea, and accused it of doing too little to constrain its neighbor, North Korea. In December, Trump incensed Beijing by saying the United States did not have to stick to the \"one China\" policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part. He later agreed in a phone call with Xi to honor the policy. In an interview with Reuters last week, Trump urged China to do more to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. China later dismissed Trump's remarks, saying the crux of the matter was a dispute between Washington and Pyongyang.","label":0}
{"text":"The White House has launched an internal investigation into the use of private email by senior aides, pulling batches of emails on the White House server to and from their private accounts, Politico reported on Thursday. Citing four unnamed officials, Politico said the effort began this week after it reported that President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and other senior White House officials had used private email accounts to exchange messages for government business. A U.S. House of Representatives committee asked the White House on Monday for information about the Politico report. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, asked if Trump was concerned about the reported use of private emails, told reporters earlier on Thursday, \"The White House has been clear and instructs all staff to fully comply with the Presidential Records Act. All staff has been briefed on the need to preserve those records, and will continue to do so.\" During Trump's 2016 election campaign, the Republican real estate developer attacked Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server for official correspondence when she was secretary of state under President Barack Obama. Some of Clinton's messages were later determined to contain classified information. The White House probe could take several weeks or even months to complete as officials are searching for all emails sent or received about government business, Politico reported. \"The White House counsel's office is reviewing the accounts to determine if the messages are germane to any investigations such as the ongoing Russia probes by Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller,\" Politico reported. Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion with Trump associates. Russia has denied any such efforts, and Trump has dismissed any talk of collusion. Politico earlier reported that other senior Trump aides had also used private email accounts, including former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, former chief strategist Steve Bannon and economic adviser Gary Cohn. The New York Times reported on Monday that private accounts were also used by the president's daughter Ivanka Trump after she became a White House adviser and by Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser.","label":0}
{"text":"SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 He seemed like an ordinary passenger in the departure hall of the airport for Malaysia's capital, awaiting a flight to Macau. Moments later, he felt dizzy and was carried out on a stretcher, apparently dying from punctures or perhaps a toxic liquid splashed on his face by two women who ran away. The ruckus caused by the man's death on Monday at the international airport for Kuala Lumpur was minor news until a thunderbolt from the South Korean and Malaysian news media a day later: The victim was Kim 45, the estranged older half brother of Kim the unpredictable and ruthless leader of North Korea. The death immediately turned into an international assassination intrigue connected to the opaque regime of the Kim family, which has ruled North Korea for more than 60 years. It came as Kim 33, who has ordered scores of subordinates executed when he questioned their fealty, has further shaken up the ranks of his closest aides, purging the chief of the secret police less than two weeks ago. In addition, Kim has stoked a new international crisis with a ballistic missile launching and threats of more nuclear weapons tests. The South Korean news channel TV Chosun said that two women had stabbed Kim with poisoned needles and fled in a taxi and that the local police were searching for them. The Star, a Malaysian newspaper, quoted the police as saying the victim had sought help from a departure hall receptionist after someone \"grabbed him from behind and splashed liquid on his face. \" He died as medics rushed him to a hospital. Political experts on North Korea's politics immediately speculated that Kim had ordered the assassination of his older half sibling, who at one time had been the heir apparent and had been favored by China, the country's ally and principal benefactor. \"Maybe Kim was about to do something drastic that would either compromise the regime or the family,\" said Jae H. Ku, director of the U. S. Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. \"By the nature of things in North Korea, the fact that he is in the bloodline represented a threat. \" Others were even more emphatic in their suspicion that Kim had been responsible, partly because Kim had been publicly critical of the transfer of power that made Kim the top leader after the death of their father, Kim in 2011. \"The apparent murder today of Kim in Malaysia by agents of his brother is the latest explosive turn in Pyongyang's vicious palace intrigue,\" said Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist who specializes in North and South Korea at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. \"The question remains: Do these deadly measures secure his rule or serve to undermine it?\" There also was speculation that Kim might have ordered Kim killed because China might have been planning to support him as a replacement for Kim who has angered Chinese leaders with his provocative weapons and missile tests. \"Kim reportedly has been Beijing's favorite, which may mean one day the Chinese Communist Party may overthrow Kim and install Kim \" said Lee a North Korea expert at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The Royal Malaysia Police identified the dead man as Kim Chol, an alias that South Korean officials said had been used by Kim . A police statement said the cause of death was under investigation. In Seoul on Wednesday, Prime Minister Hwang who is serving as acting president during the impeachment trial of President Park called a meeting of cabinet ministers and urged his government to work closely with the Malaysian authorities to help uncover who killed Kim . \"If he was killed by the Kim regime, it will be an example of its cruelty and inhumaneness,\" Mr. Hwang said. North Korea's media has said nothing about the reports. Kim the eldest son of Kim had been widely considered next in line to succeed him until 2001, when he was caught trying to take his son to Tokyo Disneyland with a fake visa. He was detained for several days, then deported to China. Other analysts in South Korea say Kim fell out of the succession race after his mother, Sung was rejected by the North Korean leader, who favored Kim 's mother, Ko . Ms. Ko and Kim had another son, Kim who was seen at an Eric Clapton concert in London in 2015. North Korea began grooming Kim as heir after his father had a stroke in 2008. As his youngest brother consolidated power, Kim lived in abroad. Until recently, he was sometimes seen in Macau. TV Chosun said he had also been visiting Singapore and Malaysia, where he had girlfriends. Kim 's son, Kim had once studied in Bosnia and later in France. In an interview with a European television channel in 2012, the son said he did not know how his uncle, Kim \"became a dictator. \" Kim was once questioned in Macau by a reporter about the likelihood that his half brother would take over, and he seemed to accept his fate. \"It is my father's decision,\" he said. \"So, once he decides, we have to support. \" But at other times, he was critical of Kim 's ascendance. \"I believe that my father originally was against the notion of a third generation succeeding him,\" Kim interviewed in November 2010, told the Japanese journalist Yoji Gomi in the book \"My Father, Kim and I. \" \"There must have been some internal reasons that made him change his mind. \" Kim also once predicted doom for his half brother's rule while talking to reporters from Japan, North Korea's sworn enemy. His criticism fueled speculation that China and certain generals in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, might be protecting him in case anything should go wrong with Kim 's rule. Mr. Gomi said in an interview on Tuesday that the last time he had contacted Kim in January 2012, he had said North Korea should follow China's economic path. China supported Kim financially for many years because if Kim died, North Koreans, indoctrinated to venerate the Kim family, would look to Kim to step in as leader, according to Kang Chunnu, 51, a distant relative of the Kim family who lives in Britain. \"Kim is a person which China can control and the North Korean people can trust,\" she said by telephone. There seemed little question in South Korea that Kim was behind his half brother's death. A spokesman for South Korea's governing Liberty Korea Party, Kim said the killing was a \"naked example of Kim 's reign of terror. \" Since taking power, Mr. Kim has executed more than 140 senior party and military officials deemed a threat to his authority, often ordering them killed by machine guns and even flamethrowers, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a research group affiliated with the South's National Intelligence Service. Thae who was the North's No. 2 diplomat in London until his defection to South Korea last summer, said he had fled partly because of Kim 's ruthlessness. In 2015, South Korean officials said that Gen. Hyon the defense minister, had been executed with an antiaircraft gun in Pyongyang after dozing off during military events and Mr. Kim's orders. In August last year, they said Mr. Kim found fault with a deputy premier's \"disrespectful posture\" during a meeting and had him executed by firing squad. Relatives were not spared. An uncle and the country's No. 2 official, Jang was executed in 2013 on charges of factionalism, corruption and sedition. Defectors from North Korea live in fear of retaliation. In 1997, Lee a nephew of Kim 's mother, was shot and killed in Seoul. South Korean officials suspected that a North Korean agent killed Mr. Lee, who had become a bitter critic of the government in Pyongyang after defecting to Seoul in 1982. Cheong a longtime researcher on the Kim family, said that the killing of Kim could have been carried out only on the orders of Kim . Ken E. Gause, a specialist in leadership studies at the CNA Corporation, a research group in Alexandria, Va. said the assassination also might have been meant as a warning to all North Korean expatriates. \"Given the recent defections,\" he said, \"Kim felt the need to show that the regime could get to anyone who may be contemplating opposing the regime. \"","label":0}
{"text":"U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said a missile fired by Yemen s Houthi group toward Saudi Arabia on Tuesday bears all the hallmarks of previous attacks using Iranian-provided weapons as she pushed the U.N. Security Council to act. Saudi air defenses shot down the ballistic missile and there were no reports of casualties or damage. In contrast, a U.N. human rights spokesman said coalition air strikes had killed at least 136 noncombatants in war-torn Yemen since Dec. 6. Saudi-led forces, backing Yemen s government, have fought the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen s more than two-year-long war. Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with weapons, saying the U.S. and Saudi allegations are baseless and unfounded. We must all act cooperatively to expose the crimes of the Tehran regime and do whatever is needed to make sure they get the message. If we do not, then Iran will bring the world deeper into a broadening regional conflict, Haley told the council. Haley said she was exploring, with some council colleagues, several options for pressuring Iran to adjust their behavior. However, Haley is likely to struggle to convince some members, like veto powers Russia and China, that U.N. action is needed. Russia s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told council on Tuesday: We need to abandon the language of threats and sanctions and to start using the instruments of dialogue and concentrate on broadening cooperation and mutual trust. Most sanctions on Iran were lifted at the start of 2016 under the nuclear deal brokered by world powers and enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution. The resolution still subjects Tehran to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions that are technically not part of the nuclear deal. Haley said the Security Council could strengthen the provisions in that resolution or adopt a new resolution banning Iran from all activities related to ballistic missiles. Under the current resolution, Iran is called upon to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. Some states argue that the language of the resolution does not make it obligatory. We could explore sanctions on Iran in response to its clear violations of the Yemen arms embargo, Haley said. We could hold the IRGC (Iran s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) accountable for its violations of numerous Security Council resolutions. A separate U.N. resolution on Yemen bans the supply of weapons to Houthi leaders and those acting on their behalf or at their direction.","label":0}
{"text":"THE DELETER OF THE FREE WORLD Hillary's 33,000 emails might not be 'missing' after all Files backed up on multiple platforms never subpoened by FBI Published: 19 mins ago  (New York Post) For months now, we've been told that Hillary Clinton's 33,000 missing emails were permanently erased and destroyed beyond recovery. But newly released FBI notes strongly suggest they still exist in several locations \u2014 and they could be recovered, if only someone would impanel a grand jury and seize them.  In a May interview with FBI agents, an executive with the Denver contractor that maintained Clinton's private server revealed that an underling didn't bleach-clean all her subpoenaed emails, just ones he stored in a data file he used to transfer the emails from the server to Clinton's aides, who in turn sorted them for delivery to Congress.  The Platte River Networks executive, whose name was redacted from the interview report, said PRN tech Paul Combetta \"created a 'vehicle' to transfer email files from the live mailboxes of [Clinton Executive Services Corp.] email accounts [and] then later used BleachBit software to shred the 'vehicle,' but the email content still existed in the live email accounts.\"","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump is so petty about not getting his way on healthcare that he is literally hoping that our healthcare system fails.On Friday, House Republicans were forced to cancel a floor vote on their Trumpcare bill for the second time because it was heading for a massive defeat.It was a humiliating blow for a party that controls the House, Senate, and the White House.The Republican healthcare plan would have repealed the Affordable Care Act. Over 20 million Americans would have lost their health insurance and premiums would have skyrocketed.Only 17 percent of Americans supported the bill, which makes it far less popular than the Affordable Care Act.Trump immediately reacted by blaming Democrats, but again, Republicans control Congress so that excuse won t fly.On Saturday morning, Trump reacted again by expressing his hope that the healthcare system will collapse and told everyone not to worry because he will create a plan for the people, even though his previous attempt would have hurt millions.ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017What you just witnessed is a sitting president literally desiring the failure of our healthcare system. Also, notice that Trump has stopped saying that the Affordable Care Act is imploding and is instead now saying that it will explode. It sounds like Trump just admitted that the Affordable Care Act was not crumbling as he previously claimed. Now he is just making a prediction.Of course, Twitter users responded by humiliating Trump for failing to gut the Affordable Care Act and torched him for hoping that healthcare fails in America.@realDonaldTrump To be clear: Trump s plan at this point is to try to slowly degrade health care then blame the ACA. Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) March 25, 201724 million people keeping healthcare = exploding https:\/\/t.co\/zCnumlKzMx Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) March 25, 2017.@realDonaldTrump gleefully hoping the current health plan explodes shows what a truly heartless, disturbed man you actually are Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) March 25, 2017.@realDonaldTrump So, we should not worry, because the health insurance market will collapse ? Great logic. Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) March 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump The only thing exploding is your orange head, after realising you can t always get what you want, as your fave song goes. Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) March 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump Trumpcare exploded first. Mark Pygas (@MarkPygas) March 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump Maybe make a better plan now and work with both sides? This isn t a reality show, you turd. Ben Berkon (@BenBerkon) March 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump Great leadership! Hoping a program that insures millions will fail cause you COULDN T CLOSE THE DEAL! Erich McElroy (@erichmcelroy) March 25, 2017u r a creep @realDonaldTrump ROSIE (@Rosie) March 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump The fact that you re so gleeful about the possibility of millions of people dying if healthcare does fail, speaks volumes. Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) March 25, 2017@nickbilton @realDonaldTrump to be clear, it was imploding earlier this month. Why the change in talking points? Ben Fox Rubin (@benfoxrubin) March 25, 2017.@realDonaldTrump so, just to recap, you d like Americans to die from losing health insurance or terrorism just so you can yell TOLDYA! Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) March 25, 2017A lot of people will die if Trump s wish comes true and he ll likely try to make it come true by killing regulations and funding in order to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. Trump is not a patriot and he s definitely not a human being. He s a f*cking monster.","label":1}
{"text":"Email  Petty tyranny is alive and well in the home of the Magna Carta, thanks to a sweeping 2014 crime act. According to a new report from the Manifesto Club, a British civil-liberties organization, U.K. residents are being cited and fined \u2014 under the threat of criminal prosecution for failure to comply \u2014 for such offenses as not weeding their gardens, crying too loudly in their own homes, posting signs critical of local government policies, or even feeding wild birds.  The Anti-social Behavior, Crime and Policing Act \u2014 passed at the urging of Theresa May, then home secretary and now prime minister \u2014 gave local officials the authority to issue Community Protection Notices (CPNs) to individuals 16 or older whenever officials believe that \"the conduct of the individual \u2026 is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent and continuing nature, on the quality of life of those in the locality.\"  An official may issue a CPN on the spot, with only minimal warning to the individual being cited, for any offense he deems worthy, including things occurring within someone's home. The CPN may demand that the cited individual either refrain from a particular activity or take specific actions, or both; and it may impose a fine of up to $124. In addition, if an individual refuses to comply with a CPN, he may be subjected to criminal prosecution and, if convicted, fined as much as $3,100.  CPNs, noted the Manifesto Club, do \"not have to go through a magistrates' court, and the standard of proof is significantly lower\" than that for civil injunctions. \"CPNs therefore give council officials unprecedented powers to direct the behavior of particular individuals, backed up by the force of the criminal law.\"  The group found that between October 2014 and October 2015, councils issued 3,943 CPNs and 9,546 CPN warnings. Between April 1, 2015, and December 31, 2015, there were 254 prosecutions for failure to comply with a CPN; 200 of those were successful.  A number of CPNs concerned activities taking place inside the home. Most were related to noises that could be heard in adjoining properties, including apartments. Shouting, swearing, and even crying that could be overheard were forbidden, as was \"noise from televisions, sound equipment (stereo systems), radios, musical instruments, domestic appliances and power tools.\"  Four councils issued CPNs prohibiting people from feeding birds in their gardens \u2014 this despite the fact that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds actually encourages people to do just that.  \"Such orders,\" wrote the Manifesto Club, \"undermine the privacy and sanctity of the home. If you cannot cry within your own house, or feed the birds in your garden, then the home has no significant meaning as a private space which is protected from the demands of the outer world.\" Moreover, \"The noise restrictions specified in these orders are unrealistically low: it is rare that TVs or music cannot be overheard to some extent in adjoining properties, and a certain background noise is part and parcel of living in a flat or terraced house. It may be that some of these individuals' behavior would qualify as a statutory nuisance, but the issued CPNs set the conditions so low as to criminalize very ordinary behavior.\"  Many, if not most, of the CPNs concerned the conditions of people's yards, or \"gardens\" in British parlance. While some requested the removal of waste such as sofas, others were merely for gardens that were not kept up to the standards of the official issuing the CPN. Several councils issued CPNs to individuals unfortunate enough to have Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant species, pop up in their gardens. Should those individuals fail to eradicate the weed \u2014 a lengthy and difficult process requiring deep excavation \u2014 they could end up with criminal records.  \"Councils can also use the measures to stifle criticism of council policy,\" the Manifesto Club found.  A man in East Lancashire was threatened with a CPN ordering him to take down \"inflammatory\" signs that criticized a new housing development sanctioned by the council. The signs were on his back gate and on a tree on the edge of his property. The council's community protection coordinator said: \"This notice would ultimately give the council the ability to enter the land and remove the signs.\"  CPNs have been used to force people to maintain their houses in keeping with others' tastes. One homeowner was threatened with prosecution if he did not clean his windows both inside and out. Another was cited for keeping a bicycle collection on his property.  Furthermore, CPNs can require people to take expensive remedial actions. If an individual refuses to comply, the council can have the work performed and then bill the homeowner for it. Sources of overheard noise can be seized and destroyed.  \"There appears to be little respect for the rights of home ownership or the notion that your house or garden are [sic] places that you can manage as you see fit,\" observed the Manifesto Club. \"Now it is the complainant outsider, and not the home owner or occupier, who appears to have the weight of authority and the balance of the law on their side.\"  Councils have also used CPNs to target particular individuals' public behavior rather than going through the messy and public process of enacting general restrictions or obtaining civil injunctions. At least two councils have no laws against begging or public sleeping \u2014 one, in fact, was forced to withdraw a previous order prohibiting them because of public protest \u2014 but have used CPNs to enforce de facto bans on these activities. Some CPNs were issued to people who clearly needed help rather than prosecution, such as a homeless, mentally ill man who insisted on sleeping in the woods on hospital grounds but was harming no one.  It's not hard to figure out why local officials love CPNs: They can make up \"laws\" on the spot \u2014 some councils' CPN forms don't specify particular offenses but allow officers to write in whatever they please \u2014 and enforce them (and collect fines) without the bother of proving their case in court.  \"It is a principle of law that more specific powers should be preferred to more general ones,\" argued the Manifesto Club. \"In fact, we are seeing the opposite: the more general CPN power is being preferred to more specific powers. A quick-fix, all-purpose measure is being used in areas where other powers could be used, which means that the punishment of offences such as neighbor nuisance is occurring beyond the purview of formal law and procedure.\"  The Manifesto Club, along with other civil-liberties organizations, is calling on the government to greatly curtail the use of CPNs. They also note that individuals can appeal CPNs in court and encourage more to do so.  The good news, the group's Josie Appleton told CNSNews.com , is that the CPN statute hasn't become entrenched law yet.  \"I think it's very early days,\" she said. \"I'm hopeful.\" Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment  Thank you for joining the discussion at The New American. We value our readers and encourage their participation, but in order to ensure a positive experience for our readership, we have a few guidelines for commenting on articles. If your post does not follow our policy, it will be deleted.  No profanity, racial slurs, direct threats, or threatening language.  No product advertisements.  Please post comments in English.  Please keep your comments on topic with the article. If you wish to comment on another subject, you may search for a relevant article and join or start a discussion there.","label":1}
{"text":"He s a controversial, conservative artist and he s coming after the Left. He s an outspoken, brave, modern-day Patriot, and he s not afraid to venture where conservatives have never gone. Sabo (his pseudonym) has shocked many liberals, and conservatives alike with his edgy artwork. It would be an understatement to say that he is constantly pushing the envelope. Whether you agree or disagree with him, conservatives should be thanking Sabo for utilizing his 1st Amendment Right, as he takes the fight against the Left to the streets of cities across America.If you want to help Sabo to create more of these important anti-Left messages leading up to the next election and beyond, please consider donating to him HERE. He s working to get an important message out to Americans, and more specifically to the younger voter. The only thing that pays for his supplies and his bill are donations from his supporters. Please consider helping him out. Here is his website: unsavoryagents.com and his STOREHere is an example of Sabo s most recent work: Here is one of our personal favorites: Hillary s baggage When Democrat candidates come to town for a fundraiser, Sabo tries to have a surprise message waiting for them, like this great piece waiting for Hillary in Greenwich, CT: Here s a great welcome sign waiting for Hillary on the way to one of her fundraisers (courtesy of Sabo): And then there were the special mile markers created just for the Los Angeles Marathon: The Obama Drone signs are some of our personal favorites. If Americans were smart, they d forgo a few hours of entertainment and stop funding these Hollywood freaks who support the destruction of our nation: He s not afraid to call out race baiters like Al Sharpton: And cry-baby college students looking for safe spaces are not immune to his counter-message. This poster mocks the #BlackLivesMatter (Anti-White) movement, and was plastered across the street from a college fraternity house: Sabo used this great illustration to point out the entitlement mentality of the Clinton Crime Syndicate who believes the throne (our White House) rightfully belongs to Hillary: Sabo makes no secret of his support for Ted Cruz. He has been a loyal supporter for years. This piece of art he created illustrates the kick ass, take-no-prisoners style of Ted Cruz that both the GOP and Left despise: Here is an interview with Glenn Beck that explains what motivates Sabo, and why he chose to use street art to get a conservative message out to Americans:Is it any wonder when Sabo saw this message from Obama s Secret Service hanging on his door, he wasn t too surprised? Sabo called the agent listed on the door hanger and scheduled a meeting at his home for 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Before the interview, Sabo posted the above image and alerted his Facebook friends and Twitter followers about the pending visit. Shortly after the Secret Service visit, Sabo posted a video that claims to cover most of the entire interview. Sabo told TheBlaze there was a little more to it, but I just wanted to get it out. You can watch the video of the visit here: (Warning: The video has some objectionable images and the dialogue contains profanity)Here is one of the tweets that supposedly brought the Secret Service to Sabo s door:A MESSAGE TO THE SECRET SERVICE. I HAVE $10,000 IN HAND WHICH I WILL USE BUY A MONTH OF COLUMBIAN HOOKERS FOR YOU TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY. unsavoryagents (@unsavoryagents) September 29, 2014Here is a video showing how Sabo creates his street art:\/\/ <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v2.3\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]>THE BITCH IS BACKPosted by Unsavoryagents on Sunday, October 23, 2011From Sabo s Website unsavoryagents.com : Bush the Younger was elected President and the claws came out in Hollywood. I lost my friends along with a great deal of peace. It was not a good time to be a Republican in Hollywood. There was no place I could go where I wasn t punched in the face by some sort of art defining who I was for being a Republican. Evil, Bigotted, Homophobic, Out of Touch, Rich, Greedy, on and on. And then I snapped. Why was the Left allowed to define me and where are the dissenting voices from the Right setting the record straight? Creatively speaking, no one. I believe the Right has a great message, sadly the only people telling it are those on the Left and they do a damn fine job making us look like ass holes and what do Republicans do about it, NOT A DAMN THING!!! Fuck it! I guess it s just going to have to be me, I thought. My aim as an artist is to be as dirty, ground level, and mean as any Liberal artist out there, more so if I can. Use their tactics, their methods, appeal to their audience, the young, urban , street urchins with a message they never hear in a style they own. My name is SABO, I m an UNSAVORYAGENT.","label":1}
{"text":"The United Arab Emirates has information that Tunisian women or women traveling on Tunisian passports might commit terrorist acts in the Gulf country, Tunisia s state news agency TAP said. Tunisia late on Sunday suspended flights from Dubai carrier Emirates to Tunis, with officials saying the airline was refusing to carry female Tunisian travelers. Emirates has given no reason for not allowing female Tunisians to board its flights since Friday. A spokesman for Tunisia s presidency did not elaborate on the security threat in a brief TAP article. Emirates had stopped its Dubai-Tunis connection on Monday. In Tunisia, anger has been building after women said they had been banned at Tunis airport from boarding Emirates flights to Dubai. Tunisian civil organizations and political parties called on the government to respond. Foreign Minister Khemais Jhianoui told a local radio station the UAE should apologize for the travel ban, which he said its authorities had not informed Tunisia about.","label":0}
{"text":"If there s one conclusion to draw from the horrific shootings that have been happening over the course of this past week, it s that we, as a society, need to have more understanding and compassion for one another. No one deserves to die, especially not for merely existing, or protecting your community.Two black men were shot and killed by police officers who didn t even try to keep them alive for reasons yet to be determined, and five police officers were shot and killed, with seven more injured while serving and protecting protesters who were out voicing their concern over police brutality.Many have been offering their opinions on the violence that s been happening, but one voice of reason seems to really get at the heart of what needs to be heard, and that is the voice of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).The simple, yet solid truth of all the killings that have occurred over the past week was summed up in this tweet by Warren: Black Americans shouldn t be killed in routine traffic stops, and police shouldn t be killed while protecting and serving their communities. Black Americans shouldn't be killed in routine traffic stops, & police shouldn't be killed while protecting & serving their communities. Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 8, 2016It s really that simple. We can be on both sides of this issue and not be against the other side. We can have compassion for the rights of Black Americans to exist without fear of being shot and killed by the police, and we can also have compassion for police officers who are merely trying to protect the community they serve.We need to stand up to and against violence wherever it is, period.","label":1}
{"text":"Cyber security experts and U.S. officials said on Monday there was evidence that Russia engineered the release of sensitive Democratic Party emails in order to influence the U.S. presidential election. The FBI said it was investigating a cyber intrusion at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which has led to discord as the party's convention in Philadelphia opens on Monday to nominate former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton as its candidate. Although the hacking of the DNC was known to officials and cyber security experts a month ago, the timing of the release of the contents of communications within the party is what is causing concern for U.S. authorities. A U.S. official involved in the investigation said that the classified information collected on the hack so far \"indicated beyond a reasonable doubt that it originated in Russia.\" The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the timing of the release of emails \"has all the hallmarks of a classic intelligence operation intended to damage a perceived adversary.\" The official said, however, that it may be impossible to prove definitively that Russian President Vladimir Putin's government directed the attack. The emails, released by activist group WikiLeaks at the weekend, appeared to show favoritism within the DNC for Clinton over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran a close race for the nomination for the Nov. 8 election. The committee is supposed to be neutral and the disclosure forced chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, to resign. The U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee has been briefed and will seek information on any potential connection to Russia or any other state, said Representative Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the panel. \"That foreign actors may be trying to influence our election - let alone a powerful adversary like Russia - should concern all Americans of any party.\" Schiff said in a statement. On Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN that the campaign had been told by \"experts\" that the emails were released by suspected Russian hackers to help Republican Party nominee Donald Trump. The businessman's campaign dismissed the allegation as absurd. Trump has often praised Putin, calling him a \"strong leader.\" Trump is a critic of NATO and last week he told The New York Times that he might not back countries in the alliance if they were attacked by Russia, unless he was sure they had made sufficient contributions to the group. Russia has long been considered among the most elite U.S. adversaries in cyberspace, though its actions are generally viewed as efforts at covert intelligence gathering. \"Usually, the Russians are not ham-handed,\" said Jim Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He said Russia was believed to have hacked Democratic and Republican campaigns in 2008, but that it did not leak material. \"It would be a bold move to try and shape the election, but we can't rule it out,\" Lewis said. CrowdStrike, a cyber firm that helped clean up the breach, said last month it had identified two hacking groups that infiltrated the DNC and that both were believed to be working on behalf of two competing arms of the Russian government. Its findings were later supported by similar conclusions reached by FireEye's (FEYE.O) Mandiant unit and Fidelis, two other U.S.-based cyber companies. Experts said that forensic analysis of the breach also links the same hackers to attacks at the White House, the State Department, the German Bundestag and private companies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to say when its probe of the hack began. \"A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,\" it said in a statement. WikiLeaks released more than 19,000 DNC emails on Saturday. On Twitter it rejected as speculation claims made that Russia was the source of the cache. The group also said that there would be more leaks related to the U.S. election. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he could not speak to the veracity of private sector conclusions pointing to Russia as the culprit in the DNC hack, but that he was confident the FBI would thoroughly investigate the matter.","label":0}
{"text":"The explosion of a nuclear missile in the heart of heavily populated Europe would be an unprecedented act that would kill hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people. Donald Trump told MSNBC s Chris Matthews that he would refuse the suggestion that he take such a horrible idea off the table.The exchange occurred during a televised town hall interview between the current Republican frontrunner and the MSNBC host.https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mCj0B7HhEFsWhen host Chris Matthews asked if the real estate mogul could definitively say he wouldn t use nuclear weapons, he responded: I would never say that. I would never take any of my cards off the table. Matthews pressed him, asking if he would consider using nuclear weapons in Europe. No, I don t think so, Trump said, but he again said he wouldn t definitively write off the option.In a New York Times interview published over the weekend, Trump stressed the importance of unpredictability in his foreign policy. He told Matthews Wednesday that you d be a bad negotiator for taking any strategy off the table.Trump s comments ironically echo the sentiments of 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, who is considered the first person in the mold of a modern conservative to be a major party nominee in America.In an interview, Goldwater said he would consider the use of low-yield atomic bombs in North Vietnam, in order to defoliate forests, and to destroy bridges and railroad lines leading to China. The policy was so extreme and out there, that it became the basis of what is one of the most famous political ads ever, Daisy, released by Lyndon Johnson s campaign. The ad contrasted Goldwater s casual support of atomic war versus the policies of the Johnson administration.The ad only aired once. Johnson went on to one of the largest electoral victories in U.S. history. He won 61% of the popular vote and 486 electoral votes to Johnson s 52 (his home state of Arizona and the 5 states in the pro-segregation south).","label":1}
{"text":"In case you have been living under a rock, we recently learned that Hillary Clinton is human through a series of reports about That One Time She Coughed and The Time She Got Pneumonia. Yes, somehow anytime Clinton gets the sniffles, the Right pounces on it, using anything and everything they can to push absolutely bonkers conspiracy theories about the former Secretary of State s health (she s on her deathbed, don tchaknow).During an interview with ACB s Sarina Fazan Wednesday, the reporter asked Clinton perhaps one of the dumbest f*cking questions she has been asked regarding her health: if she would undergo neurocognitive tests to appease inflated, only-existing-on-Trump s-side-of-the-aisle concerns about whether or not her presidency will be like a four-year-long edition of Weekend at Bernie s.Hillary just laughed in her face. I m very sorry I got pneumonia, I m glad antibiotics took care of it, and that s behind us now, the former Secretary of State said, somehow managing to avoid knocking the reporter for starting off by claiming 9\/11 was last week. Clinton explained that her health meets and exceeds the standards anyone else running for office has met, but Fazan was all so, ummmm, you gonna take those tests? There s no need for that, Clinton said firmly, surely wondering how the f*ck this woman got hired in the first place. The information is very clear. Hillary wasn t the only person laughing at Fazan, who also beat the dead horse that is the email scandal. Twitter lit up with people mocking the reporter for having the gall to waste time during an exclusive interview badgering the 2016 Democratic nominee about her health:@hannahfc and you are reporting this nonsense as if it is legitimate. Is this why you became a journalist? @danmericaCNN @abcactionnews (((David Galiel:-))) (@davidgaliel) September 22, 2016@Women4Trump @hannahfc @dmartosko @abcactionnews her career needs to die a hideous death Naked Punditry (@NakedPundit) September 22, 2016@hannahfc @abcactionnews oh jesus christ Chris (@hugetinymistake) September 22, 2016@hannahfc @danmericaCNN @abcactionnews No wonder media has an even higher negative rating than Trump these days. What dumb question! Violetta Argueta (@Vva10967) September 22, 2016@hannahfc @danmericaCNN @abcactionnews Wanna ask her if she covered up benghazi next? Any other conspiracy theories yall wanna fan flames of P. Williamson (@PWilliamson2006) September 22, 2016@hannahfc @albamonica @abcactionnews Has this reporter asked Trump if he'll undergo psychological tests? At least it's OBVIOUS he needs to. Peggy Holtman (@holtmapa) September 22, 2016@hannahfc @danmericaCNN @abcactionnews Sarina who (?) had the fucking you asked her WHAT??? Go back to school. Find a new career. (((bartnbeka))) (@bartnbeka) September 22, 2016@SarinaFazanWFTS Well at least people are talking about you for awhile even if it's for being a terrible journalist. Enjoy it while it lasts mattydean (@mattydean) September 22, 2016As some pointed out to this simpleton, Hillary released her medical records just after the 9\/11 anniversary, which was more than a week ago. She was diagnosed with a mild, non-contagious bacterial pneumonia, was given antibiotics, and had to practically be tied down to keep her from rushing back out on the campaign trail because she has traditionally insisted on being f*cking Superwoman.What s next? Gonna ask her about Benghazi? Maybe she knows where Obama s real birth certificate is hidden. Could she have some inside information on a second gunman involved in the JFK assassination? Quit your job, Sarina. Seriously.","label":1}
{"text":"Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont cast his ballot in a banned referendum on independence from Spain on Sunday morning, images from TV3 television channel showed. He voted in the village of Cornella del Terri in the province of Girona, the regional government said, not in the village originally planned where police broke down the door of the voting station.","label":0}
{"text":"Thanksgiving Secret Door II Thanksgiving Secret Door II Date Thursday - November 24,  On this festive night, George Noory tried to guess the identity of four surprise guests who were behind the secret door. First through the door was someone speaking in an Irish brogue, whom George correctly guessed was Steve Quayle . Working on a new episode for his True Legends series, he interviewed Zuni elders in the American Southwest who spoke about opening up \"gates\" for giants to come through. He also talked about his contention that after WWII, the Nazis formed a new country\/ underground base called Neu-Schwabenland in Antarctica, and operated advanced aerial technology akin to UFOs.  The next person through the door performed a spot-on imitation of notorious caller J.C. Webster. George was stumped as to his real identity, which turned out to be the host of Cinema Insomnia , Mr. Lobo. He addressed the popularity of binge watching TV shows, and talked about how the movie business has become increasingly fragmented. Mirroring the country's widening divide between the poor and wealthy, films seem to be either low budget independents or bloated expensive epics, he commented. Comedies seem to be making a comeback of late, he added.  Third through the door, was a strange male voice named \"Estelle\" who spoke with a New York accent and insistently claimed not to be a previous C2C guest, but a New Jersey housewife who paid for $65 for a church parish prize to appear on the show. Producer Tom popped on to share that the guest had actually been on the show before...many times, but George was baffled. Estelle was finally revealed be none-other-than Ian Punnett . Ian then talked about his new true-crime book, which covers the 1936 murder of his family member Verna Garr Taylor, and recently received coverage in People .  Last through the door was stock market analyst Joe Meyer , whom George correctly identified. In the short term, he foresees the stock market going as high as 20,000 in the Dow. Eventually, there'll be a big correction possibly triggered by a rise in interest rates, or uncertainties with the EU and IMF, he cited. The Dow could drop back to 14,000 or even its year 2000 top-- 11,780, he continued. The American dream is not dead, but has been \"very badly wounded,\" Meyer remarked, but \"hopefully, we're now on a healing path to take care of that.\"  Couldn't catch this episode of the show? Sign up for Coast Insider to listen at your leisure and never miss another program again! Website(s):","label":1}
{"text":"Donald Trump has a new fundraising scheme. He s raffling off lunch with his son Eric and a tour of the Trump campaign headquarters. While this is pretty standard political fundraising fare, it does show how ridiculous and disingenuous Trump s latest attacks against Hillary Clinton actually are.The latest revelation about Clinton is that as Secretary of State, she sometimes held meetings with donors to the Clinton Foundation. She also often ignored the requests for meetings, which is completely overlooked by the right-wing press.Trump has taken the report and run with it, calling it pay to play, and noting that it s illegal. A couple of very bad ones came out, and it s called pay for play, he said. And some of these were really, really bad and illegal. If it s true, it s illegal. You re paying and you re getting things. Source: Politico Paying and getting things, isn t illegal. That s called capitalism. Paying government officials to get things that only government officials can give that s called pay to play and yes, that is illegal. There s no evidence that Hillary Clinton did that, unless you count an occasional meeting as getting things. Ask absolutely anyone in Hollywood what a meeting means; hell, ask Donald Trump what a meeting means, and you d find that with successful people, a meeting is as much a way of shutting people up as it is an exchange of ideas, let alone favors. Meetings never have and never will imply obligation.Now, let s talk about actual pay to play, the highly illegal type. Donald Trump has actually bragged about bribing politicians and judges. That s unethical at best and illegal at worst. I was a businessman, Trump smarmed at a debate earlier this year. He was being pressed about the piles of dough he has deposited in Democratic coffers through the years for his pals the Clintons (including the Clinton Ca-ching Foundation), Schumer, Reid, Pelosi, Cuomo, Rahm, and the rest of the gang. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. You know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them, and they are there for me. . . . And that s a broken system. Source: National ReviewYes, that is a broken system one Trump is happy to keep broken.Oh, but it gets worse. Trump also allegedly bribes people, as he allegedly bribed people involved in the Trump University case.The trouble started in June, when the Associated Press reported that Bondi personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump in 2013 right around the time she was deciding whether or not to investigate alleged fraud at Trump University. Trump University, of course, is the controversial for-profit school owned by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.It was only four days after Bondi announced she might join an investigation into Trump University when a Trump family foundation gave $25,000 to a political group supporting Bondi s re-election. After that money came in, Bondi said she would not pursue a lawsuit against Trump University. Two years later one day before Florida s crucial primary election Bondi endorsed Trump for president.Source: Think ProgressThat, if it happens as alleged, is pay to play. Holding meetings with donors is not, whether the meeting is with Secretary Clinton or Eric Trump.","label":1}
{"text":"When President Donald Trump was elected last November, Republican lawmakers enthusiastically joined his call to rewrite the tax code and dismantle Obamacare in the first 100 days of his presidency. But as congressional Republicans gathered for an annual policy retreat in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the 100-day goal morphed into 200 days. As the week wore on, leaders were saying it could take until the end of 2017 - or possibly longer - for passage of final legislation. Trump had a different idea when he spoke to lawmakers in Philadelphia, telling them: Enough talk. Time to deliver. The divergent views on the timetable were among many indications of tensions that simmered just below the surface at the three-day Republican retreat. Before the cameras, Trump and Republicans sought to convey an image of a happy, unified family, playing down differences over tax policy, whether to reinstate torture interrogation techniques and investigating 2016 election fraud. And clearly there is none of the open warfare that has sometimes erupted among Republicans, such as when Senator Ted Cruz infuriated many of his colleagues by leading a standoff over Obamacare that partially shut down the government in 2013. But barely visible in Philadelphia, there are potential flashpoints of disagreement within the Republican rank-and-file in Congress as well as between Republican lawmakers and the unorthodox new president. These include how and when to replace Obamacare if Republicans succeed in their quest to repeal it; how to revamp the multi-layered tax code, whether to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and the nature of the U.S. relationship with Russia. When it comes to tax reform, senior congressional aides said the spring of 2018 might be a more likely time than this year for the passage of legislation. Republican lawmakers lavished praise on Trump in public. In dozens of interviews, many said they felt he would be an energetic champion of issues they cared about. But some also voiced fears that his big agenda would drive up deficits and said they were still searching for details on his plans. Several Republican lawmakers and aides said they were wary of the cost of his plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Republican leaders have said the wall proposal under discussion would cost $12 billion to $15 billion cost but some congressional aides say it could end up easily topping $20 billion. Republican Representative Will Hurd, whose Texas district partially borders Mexico, went a step further, calling the wall an ineffective tool for stopping illegal immigration. Others warned a border adjustment tax on foreign goods to pay for that wall could hurt U.S. companies' profits, raise costs for American consumers and spark retaliation by foreign trading partners. Some lawmakers also worry that some of their constituents could be at risk of losing healthcare coverage if the push to repeal Obamacare moves too quickly. Republican Representative Tom Cole said rank-and-file lawmakers have an incentive to fall in line behind Trump. \"You don't want to be the reason why we weren't successful in getting these things done,\" he said. Still, Cole said Republicans are taking stock of the potential cost of the biggest items on Trump's agenda such as the wall, infrastructure projects, tax cuts and beefing up military spending. \"I think they worry about it,\" Cole said. Following Trump's speech to the lawmakers on Thursday, Senator James Risch said that no decisions had been made on the replacement of Obamacare, a complex law that has expanded healthcare insurance to millions of Americans. \"It's going to take a while to resolve it,\" Risch said. Asked by reporters whether Republicans had a clear idea of what Trump would like to replace Obamacare with, Risch responded, \"In detail, no.\"","label":0}
{"text":"The Trump administration plans to publish regulations that will end people-to-people individual travel to Cuba, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday. \"The President instructed Treasury to issue regulations that will end individual people-to-people travel,\" the department said in a statement. It added that the changes will not take effect until new regulations are issued.","label":0}
{"text":"Tanzanian opposition lawmaker Tundu Lissu, a fierce critic of President John Magufuli s government, was seriously wounded in a gun attack on Thursday, police and party officials said. Magufuli condemned the shooting and ordered the country s security forces to investigate the incident. Lissu underwent emergency surgery after being shot in the abdomen and other parts of the body by unknown gunmen outside his residence in the administrative capital Dodoma, they said. Lissu has suffered multiple gunshot wounds and is being treated at the main public hospital in Dodoma, said Tumaini Makene, spokesman for the main opposition CHADEMA party. We strongly condemn this attack and are closely monitoring his condition, the party said in a separate statement. James Kiologwe, a doctor at Dodoma regional hospital, said Lissu was in stable condition. Police said an investigation had been launched into the attack on Lissu, a senior lawyer and CHADEMA s parliamentary chief whip. Police said they did not know what had motivated the attack and the suspects were still at large. I have been saddened by reports of the shooting of Hon. Tundu Lissu. I pray for his quick recovery, Magufuli said on Twitter. Law enforcement agencies should hunt down all those involved in this barbaric act and bring them to justice. Lissu is a vocal opponent of Magufuli and has been arrested on several occasions and charged with incitement. He was detained most recently in July after having called Magufuli a dictator. He was subsequently released. The authorities must take steps to reassure Tanzanians and the world that this shooting was not politically motivated, rights group Amnesty International said in a statement.","label":0}
{"text":"President Trump lashed out at the nation's intelligence agencies again on Wednesday, saying that his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, was brought down by illegal leaks to the news media, on a day of new disclosures about the Trump camp's dealings with Russia during and after the presidential campaign. \"From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked,\" Mr. Trump said at a White House news conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. \"It's a criminal action, criminal act, and it's been going on for a long time before me, but now it's really going on. And people are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton. \" With his statement and a burst of posts he made on Twitter, Mr. Trump tried to shift attention from damaging questions about contacts with Russia by Mr. Flynn and others close to the president, arguing that the outrage is not those contacts, but the leaks about them. He revived his charge that the allegations of a \"Russian connection\" were nothing more than a Democratic conspiracy, fed to a receptive news media to distract from the mistakes made by Mrs. Clinton during the campaign. The White House has said that Mr. Trump demanded Mr. Flynn's resignation on Monday night, after it was revealed that Mr. Flynn, a retired Army general, had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his conversations with a Russian diplomat. But on Wednesday, the president said that Mr. Flynn had \"been treated very, very unfairly by the media,\" undercut by \"documents and papers that were illegally \u2014 I'd stress that, illegally \u2014 leaked. \" Earlier, he had posted on Twitter, \"Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI? ). Just like Russia\" The New York Times and The Washington Post had reported on the contacts Mr. Flynn had with Russia's ambassador to Washington, Sergey I. Kislyak. Mr. Flynn initially told Mr. Pence and others that he and Mr. Kislyak did not discuss matters of substance, like United States sanctions against Russia, but in the days after Mr. Trump's inauguration, the Justice Department notified the White House that he had not been forthright about the conversations. The Times also disclosed broader contacts between Russian intelligence officials and people with ties to the Trump campaign and Mr. Trump's business empire during and after the campaign, and other news organizations followed with similar reports. The president declined to address that revelation and, as he has at other times in recent days, took questions at his news conference only from conservative news organizations and ignored more challenging questions shouted to him as he left the podium. So far, the White House has had little success in trying to shift the narrative from the Russian contacts to accusations about the leaking of sensitive information by the intelligence agencies, as well as by the F. B. I. Mr. Trump used a similar strategy during the transition, after disclosures that the intelligence agencies presented him with a dossier containing potentially compromising \u2014 but unsubstantiated \u2014 information that Russian officials had collected on him during his travels to Russia. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said on Twitter, \"The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!\" The president also praised a column by Eli Lake of Bloomberg View, which criticized the selective leaking of intercepted communications between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak. Mr. Lake went on to suggest, however, that Mr. Flynn had been sacrificed to protect other officials, potentially including the president himself. Mr. Trump, as he has before, rejected allegations that his policy toward Russia was being compromised. \"Crimea was TAKEN by Russia during the Obama Administration. Was Obama too soft on Russia?\" he posted on Twitter.","label":0}
{"text":"Share on Facebook If you remember the Texas primaries, then you would surely remember that Donald Trump shook the world when he said that he was in favor of Libya, and his views on not killing Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein were\/are the same. He went on, saying that if both of them had been alive right now, then the US would not have been involved in this mess, as both the leaders were killing terrorists. He further went on saying that he never supported what they were doing, but he further questioned the mess that the US has involved itself with. According to Donald Trump, it's better if the politicians take a day off, rather than go into a war. However, his views on the Syrian conflict do not differ. When asked about his views on President Assad and the US support, Trump simply explained that President Assad is not a good guy, but if we replace the man there, then who knows if the next one will be worse. He further commented that the money spent on the people there, to help them support the war, is outrageous. Donald Trump was invited into CBS for an interview over his views on the Syrian conflict and Russia's involvement. Take a look below at what he has to say. Related:","label":1}
{"text":"Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here's the .) Let's turn it over to Jennifer Medina, a correspondent based in Los Angeles, for today's introduction. Another day, another example of California's continued fight with the Trump administration. The State Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Monday that essentially turns California into a \"sanctuary state\" for undocumented immigrants. The bill expands protections for immigrants at a time when the Trump administration has expanded who is considered a priority for deportation. The legislation prohibits any state or local law enforcement agency from using resources to investigate, detain, report or arrest people for immigration violations. Under the legislation, county jails would not be able to allow officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to work inside the jails or notify them when a prisoner is being released. After the bill came under fierce criticism from the California State Sheriffs' Association, it was amended to allow local law enforcement officials to notify ICE of the release date of serious and violent felons. It also enables local law enforcement officers to alert federal officials if they come across someone who has a violent felony record and has been previously deported. Language in the bill was also changed to explicitly allow local agencies to participate in task forces even if they include immigration enforcement in investigations. The amendments did little to mollify the opposition. One Republican senator warned that the Legislature would be \"kicking the president right in the groin,\" with the law and warned that \"he will strike back. \" After the vote, Kevin de Le\u00f3n, the leader of the state Senate and sponsor of the bill, said, \"Our communities will become more, not less, dangerous if local police are enlisted to enforce federal immigration laws. \" He called the passage of the bill a \"rejection of President Trump's false and cynical portrayal of undocumented immigrants as a lawless community. \" Just before the Senate passed the sanctuary state bill, lawmakers approved legislation to start a fund that would pay for lawyers for undocumented immigrants facing deportation. Several Republicans spoke out against the legislation, saying it was an unfair use of taxpayer money and also contradicted the idea that the state wants to stay out of immigration enforcement. Both bills will now move to the Assembly. Gov. Jerry Brown has not indicated whether he would sign either one. (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) \u2022 Fight, negotiate or beg: California Democrats are debating how to respond to President Trump. [The New York Times] \u2022 For struggling Kern County, Mr. Trump represents hope and change. [San Francisco Chronicle] \u2022 Slide Show: A first look at proposals for a border wall with Mexico. [San Diego ] \u2022 With uncertainty over a program that lets tech companies import foreign workers, a rush for visas has become an scramble. [The New York Times] \u2022 Calexit might be but redrawing California's state boundaries isn't. [Opinion | The New York Times] \u2022 Today, Los Angeles voters are choosing a member of Congress to fill the vacancy left by Xavier Becerra. [Los Angeles Times] \u2022 A Los Angeles County judge denied a bid from Roman Polanski to have his sexual abuse case resolved in his absence. [The New York Times] \u2022 Studying surfers could offer clues to whether antibiotic resistant genes move from the seas into humans. [The New York Times] \u2022 Tesla surpassed Ford in market value for the first time and moved within striking distance of General Motors. [The New York Times] \u2022 Gary Austin died at 75. He helped changed the shape of American comedy as the founder of the theater company the Groundlings. [The New York Times] \u2022 The Athletics opened the baseball season with new optimism \u2014 on a field named after Rickey Henderson. [San Francisco Chronicle] \u2022 Photos: What 10 gallery crawlers wore to an opening in downtown Los Angeles. [The New York Times] \u2022 Vin Diesel decided to make himself a star after Hollywood didn't give him a chance. [The New York Times] Some visitors to Big Sur go bird watching or relax with a novel at a seaside resort. Others suspend themselves high above the Pacific's crashing waves on a narrow strip of nylon known as a slackline. Billy Rudiger, a reader in Carmel, shared a photo he captured of a slackliner traversing a cove just south of Monterey last November. Rope walking has existed for centuries. But the origins of the modern slackline, flat webbing strung loose enough to bounce like a trampoline, usually between two trees, is traced to Yosemite rock climbers in the early 1980s. It quickly grew into a sport. In the last five or so years, social media has helped to propel its popularity. The pinnacle of the sport is a variation known as highlining, meaning the line is affixed at height. Highliners wear tethers, though a small number of elite practitioners sometimes go without. Injuries can happen, but they are usually of the sprained ankle variety and involve lines a few feet off the ground, said Sonya Iverson, president of Slackline U. S. a group that promotes the sport. \"We aren't daredevils or \" she said. Slackliners talk about the practice as a metaphor for the art of living \u2014 \"balancing everything on the line to demonstrate life's possibilities,\" as the famed climber and highliner Dean Potter put it. For Ryan Robinson, 34, the highliner in Mr. Rudiger's photo, the blue ocean juxtaposed against the jagged rocks represented a cathedral of sorts. \"It's such a beautiful place,\" he said. \"It's nice to pay respect in a very unique way. \" California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian \u2014 born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U. C. Berkeley.","label":0}
{"text":"BREAKING \u2013 Investigative Journalist Found Dead, Was Working For\u2026  Talk about Hillary and a bad way and there is a very good chance you could wind up dead. Is that what happened here?  Gavin MacFadyen, the WikiLeaks Director and Founder of the Center for Investigative Journalism, has died. WikiLeaks has officially confirmed it on their Twitter by posting a tribute to the man, saying that he is now taking \"his fists and his fight to battle God.\" ( inquisitr.com )  This Twitter message was signed JA, referring to the WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange. Somehow even with massive restrictions, Assange was able to post his message.  Wikileaks also shared a statement from MacFadyen's wife, Susan Benn. The statement was published on MacFadyen's Center for Investigative Journalism site where she noted that he was a \"fierce defender of justice and human rights around the world.\"  Susan states her husband was a strong force behind the ever-changing world of journalism, and had always been committed to ethical, yet hard-hitting, journalism. She even quoted him, saying, \"Good journalism is always political journalism.\"  This man was Assange's mentor and closest friend, as well as the mentor for many other people in the industry.","label":1}
{"text":"Trump has invited an interesting and powerful line-up up guests to accompany him to Mexico for his historic meeting with Mexico s President. Could this be a sign that Trump considering former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his Secretary of Homeland Security?LifeZette has confirmed that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pe a Nieto.Sources, that include Mexican officials involved in the planning of the visit, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated the meeting would cover a broad variety of topics ranging from trade to security to immigration and the contentious issue of border enforcement.It is expected that Trump advisor and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, along with high-ranking Mexican officials, will attend the meeting.The meeting will occur, despite concerns from both Mexican security services and the U.S. Secret Service.Officials expect the two leaders to make some statement following the meeting, but do not expect a full press conference.The trip is particularly historic for Trump in that no previous non-incumbent presidential nominee of a major party has ever travelled to Mexico as part of his campaign.The stakes for both Donald Trump and the Mexican president are high.For Nieto, the meeting represents a tremendous opportunity to offer Trump, the potential next President of the United States, an olive branch. Nieto has made negative comments about Trump in the past, including a suggestion Trump was like a fascist dictator. The meeting will offer Nieto the chance to clear the deck with the potential next leader of a nation on which his own is almost entirely economically reliant and earn goodwill for himself and his country among Trump supporters.For Trump, the historic meeting comes at a time when the GOP nominee is ramping up a high-stakes bid to win over support from traditionally Democratic minority voters in the United States. Republican presidential nominees usually aren t bold enough to go into communities of color and take the case right to them, and compete for all ears and compete for all votes, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said in an August 28 interview with ABC, They ve been afraid to do that. So, Mr. Trump deserves credit for at least taking the case directly to the people. Trump surrogate Dr. Ben Carson laid out the key objectives Trump is pursuing in his outreach to minority communities. He wants to find out from a lot of different sources what people perceive the problems to be and what they perceive the solutions to be, Carson said in an interview with Michel Martin on NPR. He also wants to hear about things that have effectively moved people out of the position of dependency and put them on a ladder to success. Tying the ecomic message geared towards minority voters into the campaign s overall theme Carson said, you cannot be great if you have large pockets of people who are failing. Here s a message from a Latino Trump supporter from Oakland, CA:Democrats keep minorities voting for them by simply pulling out the race card. #Getwoke #Staywoke #LatinosForTrump pic.twitter.com\/QNmQwPHO23 Oak-Town Unfiltered (@hrtablaze) August 11, 2016A new report from Gallup indicates Trump s effort may be finding success with U.S.-born Hispanic voters.The analysis of found Hispanics who were born in the United States, those who constitute most of the Hispanic demographic s total voters, only find view Clinton more favorably than Trump by a 14-point margin. To put that in context, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney lost the Hispanic vote by a whopping 44 percent.","label":1}
{"text":"In case you haven t heard about the nasty Eminem rap about President Trump, we bring you the diamond and silk version We think it s much better! Has-been rappers are so boring diamond and silk spice it up a bit in the video below .@DiamondandSilk clap-back at Eminem and them. When you come for President Trump, we are going to come for you, boo . pic.twitter.com\/LyPbrrPk9n Diamond and Silk (@DiamondandSilk) October 12, 2017CHECK OUT THE LYRICS BELOW TO THE 4 MINUTE FREESTYLE RAP FROM HAS-BEEN RAPPER EMINEM: It s the calm before the storm right here Wait, how was I gonna start this off? I forgot oh, yeah That s an awfully hot coffee pot Should I drop it on Donald Trump? Probably not But that s all I got til I come up with a solid plotGot a plan and now I gotta hatch it Like a damn Apache with a tomahawk Imma walk inside a mosque on Ramadan And say a prayer that every time Melania talks She gets a mou Ahh, Imma stopBut we better give Obama props Cause what we got in office now s a kamikaze That ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust And while the drama pops And he waits for s**t to quiet down, he ll just gas his plane up and fly around til the bombing stops Intensities heightened, tensions are risin Trump, when it comes to giving a s**t, you re stingy as I am Except when it comes to having the b***s to go against me, you hide em Cause you don t got the f**king n**s like an empty asylum Racism s the only thing he s fantastic for Cause that s how he gets his f**king rocks off and he s orangeYeah, sick tan That s why he wants us to disband Cause he cannot withstand The fact we re not afraid of Trump F**k walkin on egg shells, I came to stomp That s why he keeps screamin Drain the swamp Cause he s in quicksandIt s like we take a step forwards, then backwards But this is his form of distraction Plus, he gets an enormous reaction When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that Instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for NevadaAll these horrible tragedies and he s bored and would rather Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers Then says he wants to lower our taxes Then who s gonna pay for his extravagant trips Back and forth with his fam to his golf resorts and his mansions? Same s**t that he tormented Hillary for and he slandered Then does it moreFrom his endorsement of Bannon Support for the Klansmen Tiki torches in hand for the soldier that s black And comes home from Iraq And is still told to go back to Africa Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa Who keeps ignoring our past historical, deplorable factors Now if you re a black athlete, you re a spoiled little brat forTryina use your platform or your stature To try to give those a voice who don t have one He says, You re spittin in the face of vets who fought for us, you bastards! Unless you re a POW who s tortured and battered Cause to him you re zeros Cause he don t like his war heroes capturedThat s not disrespecting the military F**k that! This is for Colin, ball up a fist! And keep that s**t balled like Donald the b**ch! He s gonna get rid of all immigrants! He s gonna build that thang up taller than this! Well, if he does build it, I hope it s rock solid with bricks Cause like him in politics, I m using all of his tricks Cause I m throwin that piece of s**t against the wall til it sticks And any fan of mine who s a supporter of his I m drawing in the sand a line: you re either for or against And if you can t decide who you like more and you re split On who you should stand beside, I ll do it for you with this:F**k you! The rest of America stand up We love our military, and we love our country But we f**king hate Trump","label":1}
{"text":"BREAKING : LGBT Group Endorses Trump, Says, \"Hillary is Detrimental for Gays\" BREAKING : LGBT Group Endorses Trump, Says, \"Hillary is Detrimental for Gays\" Breaking News By Amy Moreno November 1, 2016  Hillary is NOT a champion for gays.  She takes MILLIONS from countries who abuse, imprison, and execute gays.  Clinton turns a BLIND EYE to these grotesque atrocities to gays (and women) so she can keep lining her pockets.  She even laughed when Trump asked her to return the BLOOD MONEY to these hateful countries.  On top of that, Clinton wants to FLOOD America with Muslin refugees from these \"moderate Muslim\" countries that abuse, imprison, and execute gays and women.  These people do not want to assimilate to Western culture \u2013 they come here and spread their 7th-century HATE.  This is why so many gays support Trump.  From Washington Examiner :  The Miami chapter of LGBTQ Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) announced on Monday its decision to break with the national organization to support GOP nominee Donald Trump for president.  \"We, as Log Cabin Republicans of Miami, we're Americans first, we're Republicans second, and we happen to be gay or allies of the LGBT community. American national security is our government's first and foremost responsibility, then the economy \u2013 those two issues really are paramount to any American,\" Miami chapter president Vincent Foster told the Washington Examiner on Monday evening.  \"Our membership has gotten behind the Republican national nominee and it's unfortunate that other Republicans are unable to do so. Regardless of differences, we understand that a Hillary Clinton presidency is only going to be detrimental to the LGBT community and the general American population.\"  LCR announced on Oct. 22 that it would not support Trump despite his being \"perhaps the most pro-LGBT presidential nominee in the history of the Republican Party\" because he has \"concurrently surrounded himself with senior advisers with a record of opposing LGBT equality.\"  Foster said the national organization's decision was a \"big surprise\" and prompted the South Florida chapter to re-evaluate the matter. On Oct. 26, the 20 members of Miami LCR unanimously voted to endorse Trump.  The Miami chapter has had a long-standing relationship with Trump, Foster explained. The billionaire businessman's campaign initially reached out to the group months ago to work together in the battleground state. Foster added the campaign attended the group's Lincoln Day dinner and has been fully supportive of them.  \"To have a Republican presidential nominee who cares so much, especially after Orlando \u2013 that resonated so much,\" Foster said.  Although LCR typically does not allow local chapters to support other candidates, the organization is allowing for flexibility in this election. The Washington, D.C.-based national group is permitting regional chapters to endorse or not endorse Trump in this election.  Log Cabin Republicans in Cleveland, Los Angeles, Orange County, Texas and Georgia have also endorsed Trump, according to Angelo. This is a movement \u2013 we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.","label":1}
{"text":"In what amounts to the first pang of just how profound America's Election Day screw up truly was, Trump's campaign is reportedly already working on a plan to scrub that last eight years of progress out of existence on Trump's very first day in office . No Obama accomplishment will remain. They even have a name for the plan: The First Day Project.  Organized by the Heritage Foundation, the goal is to deprive Obama of any lasting effect to his time in office. It's a perverse sort of vengeance from a group of clowns who have spent the last decade smearing the president at every possible step of the way.  Trump aides are organizing what one Republican close to the campaign calls the First Day Project. \"Trump spends several hours signing papers\u2014and erases the Obama Presidency,\" he said. Stephen Moore, an official campaign adviser who is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explained, \"We want to identify maybe twenty-five executive orders that Trump could sign literally the first day in office.\"  Thinking back over Obama's list of wins \u2013 from gay rights to healthcare to the economy \u2013 the idea that these achievements can be erased by a collective of spiteful, bitter men in a matter of hours is almost too much to bear. The suffering to the people whose rights will surely be rolled back will be immense.  And on a separate, but equally terrifying front, Trump's campaign surrogate Omarosa told reporters that Trump has been compiling an \"enemies list\"\u2013 an assortment of people on the right and left who openly stood against him \u2013 and he plans on punishing those on the list when he gets to office.  \"I would never judge anybody for exercising their right to and the freedom to choose who they want. But let me just tell you, Mr. Trump has a long memory and we're keeping a list.\"  Erase his predecessor, punish his enemies. In this way, with pen and sword, Trump plans to dismantle a democracy. The oldest, greatest one in the world \u2013 up until the point when it wasn't.","label":1}
{"text":"Saudi Arabia s Shura Council, a top advisory council to the government, is studying proposals for protection of people who report financial crime, local media reported, following the government s anti-corruption crackdown. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has launched an inquiry into graft that has resulted in the detention of a dozens of princes, senior officials and businessmen. The Shura Council does not have legislative powers, but it can propose laws to the king and the cabinet. It said in a tweet on Monday that it had agreed on the appropriateness of the draft proposal for whistleblower protection for financial and administrative corruption. The Arabic-language newspaper al-Riyadh reported on Tuesday that the council had agreed to study two proposals on the matter that also included protection of eyewitnesses who report violations such as financial crime. A top official said earlier this month that Saudi authorities have questioned 208 people in an anti-corruption investigation and estimate at least $100 billion has been stolen through graft. The Government of Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is working within a clear legal and institutional framework to maintain transparency and integrity in the market, Attorney General Sheikh Saud Al Mojeb said in a statement on Nov. 9. The investigation has spread to the neighboring United Arab Emirates, as the UAE central bank asked commercial banks and finance companies there to provide details of the accounts of 19 Saudis detained in the crackdown. The UAE central bank governor said last week the request by the central bank for local banks and finance companies to provide details of the accounts of 19 Saudi Arabian citizens was just an information-gathering exercise.","label":0}
{"text":"The South Korean army said on Wednesday it conducted a successful air-to-air missile firing drill from Apache helicopters which was designed to respond to any provocation from the enemy . It was the first time the South Korean army test-fired Stinger missiles from Apache attack helicopters, which were introduced to the army in May last year, the South s army forces said in a statement. The statement did not mention whether the drill was conducted specifically to address North Korean provocations.","label":0}