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Finian Cunningham SputnikGoogle is the latest US internet company to claim it found Russia-linked advertisements on its network allegedly posted to influence the US presidential election last year.Twitter and Facebook have already made similar claims and all three are now facing more scrutiny in the coming weeks before Congressional committees.What is truly astounding about this hysteria over alleged Russian interference in US democracy is that American citizens are being distracted from what is, by far, the much more alarming issue of how their government and Congress is bought by US Big Business.Bloomberg reported this week that: Google identifies Russian election interference network . It said the internet giant found political ads worth _CUR_4,700 which it believes are tied to the Russian government . These ads, it is claimed, carried political articles which were meant to influence which way American citizens would vote in the presidential contest between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump last November.Google has reportedly said that another _CUR_53,000 worth of ads are under review for suspicion of being linked to the Russian government. This follows claims made by Facebook that it had earlier identified _CUR_100,000 spent on ads by Russian sources, while Twitter said it had located _CUR_274,000 worth of such ads.The Russian government has repeatedly rejected accusations that it tried to meddle in the US election. Moscow rightly highlights the dearth of any evidence and total lack of due legal process. The American allegations have also whipped up a toxic climate to curb the legitimate media activities of Russian news channels.It is understood that Russia's state-owned news channel RT promoted some of its content through social media like Facebook and Twitter. But as RT editor Margarita Simonyan pointed out such promotion is entirely normal for all news media companies. She estimated that US-based outlets probably spent much more than RT promoting their content through the Russian section of Twitter.Several issues about this Russian meddling trope are patently dodgy, yet are bizarrely overlooked.The first is that, as with other claims of Russian interference in the US election, no evidence is ever presented. Facebook, Twitter and Google are making vague claims of accounts believed to be tied to the Russian government . And the US news media simply repeat these nebulous claims without further question.A second anomaly is that Congressional committees that have been investigating allegations of Russian interference have also not presented any evidence after nearly nine months of intensive probing.Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner, who are heading up a select intelligence committee, made a big presentation last week in Washington on their findings. The findings turned out to be an embarrassing anti-climax. The Congressmen admitted they found no evidence of Russia collusion in the election and baldly asserted that Moscow's influence campaign continues which they will continue to investigate no doubt at a huge cost to American'taxpayers.So, Russia is being accused of interfering in the presidential elections on the basis of the allegation alone, and yet American politicians are also contradicting themselves by saying that the alleged interference did not alter the vote outcome.But here is the biggest absurdity. The'sums of money claimed to have been used by Russia to destabilize US democracy are ridiculously minuscule.For argument sake, let's go along with the claims that somehow Russian agents took out ads on social media to influence the US election. Between Facebook, Twitter, and Google the expenditure amounts to about _CUR_300,000.That figure is a pittance compared with the avalanche of money that US corporations doled out to bankroll the election campaigns of the two candidates.According to Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton's election bid was leveraged with _CUR_1.2 billion from Super-PACs . Trump received less corporate money, raising a total of _CUR_647 million or about half of what Clinton's coffers received.Now put those figures into perspective. The alleged Russian influence ads costing around _CUR_300,000 represent some _NUMBER_ percent of what US corporations actually spent in promoting either Clinton or Trump for the White House. In other words, the much speculated and highly dubious financial outlay that Russian sources allocated to allegedly upset the American democratic process is negligible compared with the actual money spent by major American companies to determine the _NUMBER_ election outcome.While American media and politicians are endeavoring to get citizens all worked up about Kremlin meddling the glaring fact is that their democratic process is subject to enormous US corporate influence. And not just the _NUMBER_ election. Every presidential cycle.Note too that this is only taking into consideration the corporate lobbying in the presidential contest. Every year, it is calculated that US companies spend about _CUR_3 billion lobbying federal government and Congress.That is, every year, year after year, Big Business in America spends _NUMBER_-fold on influencing lawmakers and government policy compared with the alleged ad campaign that Russia supposedly engaged in.Another source of major influence on American politicians are the lobby groups funded separately by the Israeli and Saudi government interests. Each year, these foreign states spend an estimated _CUR_5-_NUMBER_ million on lobbying members of the US Congress and the federal government. This is real money with real impact on US democracy as opposed to alleged Russian interference.Getting back to lobbying by US companies some might call it bribery among the biggest donors are the military manufacturing firms. According to American publication, The Hill, included in the top _NUMBER_ corporate lobbies plying Congress with campaign funds are Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman.Another major lobby although not in the top _NUMBER_ is the National Rifle Association which promotes gun ownership for private citizens by donating to Congress members.Three recent events show how corporate money effectively buys American government policy.President Trump is pushing for an overhaul of tax policy which will result in the biggest ever tax benefit to corporate America.Secondly, with regard to the US military budget, the Congress is due to pass a record increase amounting to _CUR_700 billion annually. This largesse to Pentagon-connected manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Boeing is no doubt fueled by Trump using reckless bellicose rhetoric towards North Korea, threatening war instead of a diplomatic solution.Thirdly, in the aftermath of the latest mass shooting in Las Vegas the worst ever in modern US history in which _NUMBER_ people were mowed down by a _NUMBER_-year-old male shooter armed with an arsenal of assault rifles in his hotel room, both the White House and Congress are adamant that now is not the time to talk about gun control laws . Congressional Republicans, in particular, are big recipients of NRA funding. Trump's election campaign also reportedly received _CUR_30 million from the NRA.In the gargantuan scale of corporate funding and influence on US democracy, it is patently absurd for US media and politicians to chase after Russia for alleged meddling.There again, maybe not so absurd, if such a travesty serves to distract American citizens from the much more pressing issue of how their democracy is bought and sold by elite American interests.***SUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER _USER_.TV

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U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to strengthen their defense posture amid rising tensions with North Korea, the White House said on Friday. Trump and Moon, who met on Thursday, committed to strengthen their "combined defense posture, including through South Korea's acquisition and development of highly advanced military assets" and "agreed to the enhanced deployment of U.S. strategic assets in and around South Korea on a rotational basis," the White House said in a statement.

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Do we even need to ask how _NUMBER_ white West Point cadets posing in uniform, with a white power fist before graduation would have been resolved? Never mind the media circus it would have created Sixteen black West Point cadets who posed with raised fists for a pre-graduation picture that sparked debates on race and proper behavior in uniform won't be punished for the gesture, the U.S. Military Academy said Tuesday.The decision, less than two weeks before the _NUMBER_ female seniors are poised to graduate, found they'didn't violate any U.S. Department of Defense rules limiting political activity.An internal inquiry found that the cadets did not pre-plan or set out to make a political statement, West Point's superintendent, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr., said in a letter to the'student body.But, he'said, they showed a lapse of awareness in how symbols and gestures can be misinterpreted and cause division and they will get some instruction on that.The fists-up image, which circulated online, led some observers to question whether the women were expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which grew out of protests over police killings of unarmed black men.But the inquiry found the picture, one of multiple photos the women made in keeping with an informal campus tradition, captured a spur-of-the-moment gesture intended to demonstrate unity and pride in graduating, Caslen wrote. Groups of cadets often take Old Corps pictures in traditional dress uniforms to echo historical portraits.A raised fist has symbolized political resistance for generations, from Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison in _NUMBER_ to Democratic Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on the presidential campaign trail this year. It was used by black power advocates in the 1960s, including by two American sprinters during a medal ceremony at the _NUMBER_ Mexico City Olympic Games, and more recently by activists for the Black Lives Matter movement.Some observers suggested the women were improperly identifying with the movement while in uniform.Defenders said the women were simply celebrating their forthcoming graduation, something closer in spirit to a team lifting helmets to celebrate a win or Beyonce raising her fist at this year's Super Bowl halftime show. Via: Yahoo h/t WZ

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.@AmbJohnBolton on Obama legacy: He's history. We re just waiting for the calendar to turn. Any exec order he'signs can be reversed _TAG_ _URL_ Lou Dobbs January _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_

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President Donald Trump gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a couple of jolts when they met for the first time on Wednesday as leaders of the United States and Israel. If there were differences, the two men – each immersed in political turmoil on the home front - did all they could to mask them during a White House news conference brimming with smiles, asides and efforts to show how much they like each other. "Bibi and I have known each other a long time — a smart man, great negotiator," said Trump, referring to the _NUMBER_-year-old Israeli leader by his nickname. Netanyahu was equally effusive in response: "There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump," he said, referring to the _NUMBER_-year-old U.S. president who took office on Jan. _NUMBER_. Trump went some distance to embrace Netanyahu's views, upending decades of U.S. Middle East policy by dropping insistence on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu sought to demonstrate personal chemistry with the American property-mogul-turned-politician, an acquaintance since the 1980s, especially after eight years of awkwardness and tensions with his predecessor, President Barack Obama. But Trump caught Netanyahu off-guard, at one point saying that if a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was going to be reached, "Both sides will have to make compromises." Turning to Netanyahu, he said, "You know that, right?" Netanyahu looked momentarily startled and replied, chuckling, "Both sides." Later, while responding to a question about settlements, a particular point of tension during the Obama years, Trump said, "I'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit." Again, Netanyahu's face registered surprise before he offered an ironic smile. "We'll work something out," said Trump, who has appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner as his special adviser on the Middle East. "I think we're going to make a deal. It might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand. That's a possibility. So let's see what we do." "Let's try it," Netanyahu said. Studying his reaction, Trump quickly interjected: "That doesn't sound too optimistic, but he's a good negotiator." In a play on the title of Trump's _NUMBER_ best-selling book, Netanyahu responded, "That's the art of the deal," drawing laughter from the audience. Near the end of his comments, Netanyahu sought to show how well he knows Kushner, whose father, Charles Kushner, has donated generously to Israeli causes. "Can I reveal, Jared, how long we've known you?" said Netanyahu, looking to Jared Kushner, _NUMBER_, who was sitting in the front row, next to his wife, Ivanka Trump. "Well, he was never small. He was always big. He was always tall," Netanyahu said, implying he had known Kushner since he was a baby.

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A Balinese town once bustling with holidaymakers has almost emptied of tourists after warnings that nearby Mount Agung could erupt at any time - a snapshot of the growing cost the rumbling volcano poses to Indonesia's economy. Business has slumped at many hotels, dive resorts and restaurants in towns around the volcano since authorities issue the highest alert level for Mount Agung last month. An owner of a dive center in Amed, around _NUMBER_ km from the volcano and just outside the official danger zone , said many of her guests had canceled. If lasts for nine months or more... then we have no choice but to close down because we will have no money left to operate and pay the staff, said Helene Rabate, a Spaniard who runs the center. Cafes and restaurants were largely empty and few visitors were seen at the usually crowded dive centers of this seaside town. The last time Agung erupted was in _NUMBER_, when more than _NUMBER_ people were killed. Since then, tourism has transformed towns like Amed from sleepy fishing and agricultural villages. Restaurant owner Wayan Widarti has seen a dramatic drop in customers. It could be worse than when the Bali bombing happened because there's uncertainty on when is going to happen and how long we wait, she said, referring to the _NUMBER_ nightclub bombing that killed _NUMBER_ people and prompted a slump in visitors to the holiday island. Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly _NUMBER_ million visitors last year - more than half the total number of foreign tourists to Indonesia. Tourism, a cornerstone of Bali's economy, is Indonesia's fourth-biggest earner of foreign currency after natural resources like coal and palm oil. Indonesian policy makers have been seeking to boost an economy whose growth rate has been stuck at around _NUMBER_ percent for the last few years, so any protracted damage to tourism will be particularly unwelcome. Indonesian officials have said Bali remains safe for tourism, but there have been cancellations even in areas further away from the volcano amid concerns that ash clouds could disrupt air connections. Some tourists are still in the area at a safe distance from the volcano. We plan to... just follow security instructions... and take a fast boat to escape if there is an eruption, said Arlin Shiu, a woman from Hong Kong who was traveling with a friend. Disaster management authorities have imposed an exclusion zone of up to _NUMBER_ km, prompting more than _NUMBER_ residents to flee to neighboring villages. For people who live in safe zones, there is no reason to evacuate, Bali governor I Made Mangku Pastika said, adding that makeshift evacuation centers were straining under the weight of thousands of extra evacuees.

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The head of a private investment firm came one step closer to leading the Federal Reserve's regulatory efforts Wednesday, a key post as President Donald Trump endeavors to trim regulations to boost economic growth. The U.S. Senate voted _NUMBER_-_NUMBER_ to limit debate on Randal Quarles' nomination to join the Fed's Board of Governors, guaranteeing opponents could not delay his confirmation. Quarles is eventually expected to fill the role of vice chair for supervision at the Fed, making him the top official at the central bank in charge of regulatory issues. The Senate will vote to name Quarles formally to that post at a later date, after he has joined the Fed board. Quarles is a prominent investor and former Treasury Department official. Trump nominated him in July. Analysts said the appointment of Quarles and the October departure of Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer, who had spoken out against weakening Wall Street regulations, could accelerate Trump's deregulation agenda, potentially saving banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc , JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley billions of dollars.

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As the polls close in the all-important South Carolina Democratic primary, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton comes away with a very big win. Unlike what happened in Iowa and Nevada, the voters spoke very clearly here: Clinton is their leading lady.Clinton's win is widely seen as a result of _NUMBER_ percent support from Black voters, who have a long and sustained relationship with the Clintons. The'same people who favored Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in _NUMBER_ are now voting Clinton. This is a crucial demographic for the candidate wishing to take the party's nomination, and it seems that Clinton has it locked up.Hillary excitedly took to twitter to thank her volunteers, supporters, and voters:To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the'supporters who power it: thank you. -H _URL_ Hillary Clinton February _NUMBER_, 2016This win is very important, as a candidate's performance in South Carolina is generally a good indicator of performance in the general election. It's a bit of a make or break state, and Clinton's performance there today showed that she is most definitely up to the task.The next big hurdle is this coming Tuesday, the event known as Super Tuesday, in which _NUMBER_ states hold caucuses that will definitely help decide the nominee going into the general election.Great job today, Madame Secretary!Featured image via Hillary Clinton Twitter

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A U.S. senator on Wednesday said Russian internet trolls, seeking to polarize Americans, helped fuel a debate ignited by President Donald Trump over whether NFL players should have the right to kneel during the national anthem. The assertion, made by Republican James Lankford, comes as congressional investigators probing Moscow's alleged meddling in the _NUMBER_ presidential election are focusing on how Russian agents used social media to spread divisive political content. We watched, even this weekend, the Russians and their troll farms, their internet folks, start hashtagging out _TAG_ and also hashtagging out _TAG_, Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a hearing on threats faced by the United States. They were taking both sides of the argument this weekend ... to try to raise the noise level of America and make a big issue seem like an even bigger issue as they are trying to push divisiveness in this country, Lankford said. Lankford did not provide evidence to corroborate his statement. A Lankford aide said U.S. intelligence shared with senators showed that Russian troll operations relied on social media to meddle in U.S. issues going back to last year's presidential election in an effort to divide Americans. Such activity has also been occurring in Europe for years, the aide said. A website built by researchers working with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan, transatlantic project to counter Russian disinformation, showed tweets promoting both sides of the football debate from _NUMBER_ accounts that analysts identified as users who spread Russian propaganda on Twitter. A Senate aide said the website was viewed as credible among congressional investigators. Facebook this month revealed that suspected Russian trolls purchased more than _CUR_100,000 worth of divisive ads on its platform during the _NUMBER_ election cycle. Twitter is expected to privately brief the Senate panel on Thursday, and the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday technology companies would testify about Russian interference in an open hearing next month. Trump last week said that football players should be fired for kneeling during the national anthem. The players want to draw attention to what they say is social and racial injustice. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia orchestrated a multi-pronged cyber offensive on the _NUMBER_ election to discredit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and help Trump, a Republican, win. Russia denies seeking to influence the U.S. election, and Trump has dismissed claims of collusion as fake news.

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Monty Python's John Cleese owned two idiots on Sunday. One of them was Donald Trump. The other was a Trump'supporter. And it was hilarious.On Saturday, terrorists struck in London and killed seven people. So, of course, Trump responded by posting divisive and fear mongering messages on Twitter in order to push for his pro-gun agenda and his travel ban.We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety! Donald J. Trump June _NUMBER_, 2017We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don't get smart it will only get worse Donald J. Trump June _NUMBER_, 2017At least _NUMBER_ dead and _NUMBER_ wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed! Donald J. Trump June _NUMBER_, 2017Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck! Donald J. Trump June _NUMBER_, 2017That's right. Trump actually used this tragedy to push his own agenda and then had the gall to attack London's mayor as the city continues to deal with the aftermath.Well, legendary actor and comedian John Cleese responded to Trump this afternoon by calling out Trump's stupidity.Seeing Trump's recent London'tweet reminds me of the 9th Beatitude : Blessed are the'stupid, for their confidence makes them so easy to spot John Cleese June _NUMBER_, 2017And shortly after Cleese posted, a confident Trump fan made his point for him for the whole world to see.You re wrong. He's right. Adrian Wachowiak June _NUMBER_, 2017It didn't take long for Cleese to proceed with the public humiliation.Thank you for explaining it so wellSorry for my mistake !!Seriously Re-read what I said. It's about you _URL_ John Cleese June _NUMBER_, 2017Once again, John Cleese runs circles around Trump and his pathetically ignorant supporters.Featured image via Molly Riley-Pool/Getty Images

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He has been attacked over countless issues in partisan Washington, but U.S. President Barack Obama drew the line at this one: the idea that he is responsible for the rise of Donald Trump and the attendant Republican Party disarray. "I have been blamed by Republicans for a lot of things, but being blamed for their primaries and who they're selecting for their party is novel," Obama told a news conference on Thursday. "What I'm not going to do is to validate some notion that the Republican crack-up that's been taking place is ... a consequence of actions that I've taken," the Democratic president said. Obama had been asked how he viewed being identified as the cause of Trump's ascent to front-runner in the Republican race to pick a presidential candidate for the Nov. _NUMBER_ election. Obama seemed to relish the question, replying with both serious criticism of Republicans and some pointed mockery of Trump. The New York billionaire is well ahead in the Republican race after the first six weeks of primary nominating contests but his bombastic style and statements on Muslims, immigrants and trade have dismayed many in the party establishment. Many party leaders worry Trump would lose to the eventual Democratic nominee in November's election to replace Obama. Obama, whose White House tenure has been marked by steady resistance to most of his policies by Republicans in Congress, has said previously he regretted not being able to reduce the polarization between the two parties in Washington. But he scoffed on Thursday at the suggestion that his presidency had fueled the chaos among the Republicans. Conservative news outlets on television, radio and the Internet had convinced the Republican political base for seven years that cooperation with him was a "betrayal" and that "maximalist absolutist" positions were advantageous, Obama said. He was holding a joint news conference with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In a clear dig at Trump, Obama said he had not prompted critics to question his U.S. citizenship or birth in Hawaii. Before he launched his longshot presidential run last year, Trump was a high-profile leader of the so-called "birther" movement, which believed Obama was born abroad and not eligible to be president, until he produced his Hawaii birth certificate to put the issue to rest. "What you're seeing within the Republican Party is, to some degree, all those efforts over a course of time creating an environment where somebody like a Donald Trump can thrive," Obama said. For good measure, he took a swipe at two of Trump's rivals for the Republican nomination, saying the real estate magnate's position on immigration was not much different from that of U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Obama urged conservatives who were troubled by the party's position to "reflect on what it is about the politics they've engaged in that allows the circus we've been seeing to transpire." 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.

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Senior Democrats said on Monday their chances of winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives had been hurt by the FBI's surprise announcement last month that Hillary Clinton's email practices were again figuring in a federal investigation. Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday to choose Democrat Clinton or Republican Donald Trump for president, but also to fill _NUMBER_ U.S. Senate seats in the _NUMBER_-chamber body and all _NUMBER_ House seats. Both the House and Senate are currently controlled by Republicans. FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress in late October that the agency would examine newly found emails that might pertain to Clinton's use of a private server while she was secretary of state, "had a tremendous adverse impact with our standing with independents," said Representative James Clyburn, a member of the House Democratic leadership, referring to independent voters. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, while calling Comey's action "out of line," said it resulted in a spike in small campaign donations. But she added: "We would be in a better place and in the manner he did it." Clyburn's and Pelosi's remarks, seen by Reuters, were delivered during a phone call House Democratic leaders had with rank-and-file members. Continued Republican control of Congress could stymie the legislative agenda put forth by Clinton if she wins the presidency. A Trump win along with a Republican Congress could spell doom for Democratic President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law known as Obamacare, which has been the target of a sustained attack by Republican lawmakers. If voters hand power to Democrats in either chamber, _NUMBER_ will likely bring a more moderate bent to bills that lawmakers send to the new president for signing into law. A senior Democratic aide said the October controversy, which consumed U.S. political campaigns for over a week, could reduce by at least _NUMBER_ the number of House seats Democrats may be able to capture from Republicans on Election Day. Comey informed Congress on Sunday that he was standing by his July decision that no criminal charges were warranted against the Democratic presidential candidate in the emails investigation. But coming only two days before national elections, Comey's latest decision may have come too late for Democrats who were hoping for big wins on Tuesday to help them regain control of the House for the first time since _NUMBER_ and the Senate for the first time since _NUMBER_. "It's terribly damaging to us," the aide said, adding that Clinton's support in battleground states could be depressed, which in turn would hurt the party's House candidates. With that in mind, the aide said Democrats could end up gaining only _NUMBER_ to _NUMBER_ House seats on Tuesday, instead of the _NUMBER_ or so needed to win back the chamber. Representative Tom Cole, a senior House Republican, said in a telephone interview he found it "mystifying in how he has interjected himself in the election on three different occasions in ways that were probably inappropriate." Cole was referring to the initial announcement in July that Clinton would not be prosecuted, the late October letter to Congress that FBI agents were again reviewing the issue and Sunday's information that the agency would not change its July findings. Of Sunday's good news for Clinton, the Oklahoma lawmaker said: "I think it certainly takes a little steam out of the Republicans." To win control of the Senate outright, Democrats would have to score a net gain of five seats. Republicans currently hold _NUMBER_ Senate seats to _NUMBER_ Democratic seats and two independents who align themselves with Democrats. For much of the autumn campaign, political analysts were projecting Democrats would pick up anywhere from four to seven Senate seats. The outcome of the presidential race is expected to have a major impact on the outcome of the congressional campaigns. In recent decades, the party that wins the White House has usually fared better in congressional races too. For most of the _NUMBER_ campaign season, the Senate races have been center stage, as Democrats fielded some strong challengers to Republican incumbents. Among them are Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is giving Republican Senator Roy Blunt an unexpectedly stiff challenge, and former environmental official Katie McGinty, who could unseat Republican Senator Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania. John McCain, the Vietnam War hero and _NUMBER_ Republican presidential nominee who has served in the Senate for _NUMBER_ years, appears headed to re-election in a race that has been unusually competitive for him. A possible _NUMBER_-_NUMBER_ tie following Tuesday's elections would mean that the next vice president would cast the tie-breaking vote and determine which party controls the Senate. The Senate that will be sworn in on Jan. _NUMBER_, whether it is held by Republicans or Democrats, will face a weighty decision early on: voting on a U.S. Supreme Court justice to replace the conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February. Since that time, Senate Republicans have refused to consider Obama's nomination of federal judge Merrick Garland, arguing the next president should pick a nominee for Senate review. Other issues confronting Congress next year include illegal immigration and border security, the need to raise U.S. borrowing authority, something some conservative Republicans oppose without substantial budget cuts, and possible approval of free-trade deals with Pacific Rim countries and Europe if negotiations on the latter conclude successfully.

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It's probably not the wisest decision to argue with Dr. Sebastian Gorka about the use of the phrase radical Islamic terrorism especially if you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about in the first place.Dr. Sebastian Gorka defended the Trump administration's use of the phrase radical Islamic terrorism in an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday. We will call it radical Islamic terrorism. We will target the ideology, and we will call them out for being evil, Gorka stated. MSNBC's Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle then tried to criticize Gorka's use of the phrase.Velshi asked Gorka how it would help stop terror attacks if the White House called the problem radical Islamic terrorism. Gorka then engaged a clever metaphor to help them understand. Gorka argued, If you, God forbid, caught cancer, and the hospital was forbidden from calling it cancer and said, You have the flu. Go home and hydrate and take some aspirins, would you actually have the right treatment?.' Ruhle responded, smugly, that there's still no cure for cancer and that it doesn't matter what you call it if it will still kill you.Velshi then accused Gorka of not having a good answer. Gorka fired back by saying that if you misdiagnose anything, whether it's a serious disease or a serious international geopolitical threat, you will never solve it. The White House Adviser then criticized the Obama administration for blaming this geopolitical issue on economic conditions and societal disenfranchisement It is about people having an ideology that is evil, and it has to be destroyed. Read more: The Gateway Pundit

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Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to bring a woman that Bill Clinton had an extramarital affair with when he debates Hillary Clinton.Trump tweeted this response to Mark Cuban sitting in the front row, in an attempt to rattle him during the debates:If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!When Hillary Clinton takes the podium at Monday night's first presidential debate, she could be staring down an old romantic rival sitting in the front row.Gennifer Flowers, who carried on a _NUMBER_-year affair with Bill Clinton when he was attorney general and governor of Arkansas, might attend the debate at Hofstra University as Trump's guest, BuzzFeed reported Saturday. Ms. Flowers has agreed to join Donald at the debate, her personal assistant, Judy Stell, wrote in an e-mail to BuzzFeed, according to the Web site.The development grew from a Twitter broadside Trump launched earlier that day. If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him! he tweeted. NYP

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A Republican plan backed by President Donald Trump to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system passed through a second congressional panel on Thursday, despite controversy among lawmakers, hospitals and insurers about its unknown costs and impact on coverage. The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee approved the proposal to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's "Affordable Care Act" by a vote of _NUMBER_-_NUMBER_, after debating the draft legislation for more than _NUMBER_ hours. The plan had been approved early on Thursday by the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

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Donald Trump's screaming banshee Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News to whine about Democrats on Thursday morning and failed to recognize the hypocrisy.Throughout _NUMBER_, Senate Republicans blocked President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court despite the fact that Garland was a qualified judge who previously received praise and support from the GOP. Garland is considered a moderate jurist who would have sat at the ideological center of the high court.In a completely unprecedented move, Republicans refused to even give Garland a confirmation hearing and left the Supreme Court one member short on the bench out of petty hatred of President Obama.On Tuesday, Donald Trump chose conservative judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. In response, Democrats have vowed to retaliate against Republicans by blocking Trump's nominee. Republicans, however, are now whining because Democrats are treating Trump's nominee the'same way Republicans treated Obama s.Mitch McConnell has repeatedly complained about Democratic obstruction of Trump's nominees, conveniently ignoring his own party's obstruction of President Obama for eight years. Obstruction that he personally ordered.And now Kellyanne Conway is whining about Democratic obstruction as well.During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Conway called Democrats a bunch of crybabies who say they are going to oppose Supreme Court nominees before they even know the person's name and his academic credentials and impeccable judicial record. That sounds a whole lot like what Republicans did last February while Justice Scalia's dead body wasn't even cold yet. Obama picked Garland a few months later and his academic credentials and judicial record were even more impressive than Gorsuch s. This obstinance and obstruction is the modern Democratic Party, Conway cntinued, again failing to recognize the hypocrisy of her claims. I think it's going to cost them because they're hysterical about everything now. There's no gradation of hysteria, everything makes them cry and scream. Here's the video via YouTube.Seriously, do Republicans really think the American people are stupid? For nearly an entire year, Republicans acted like petulant children by refusing to even grant Garland a hearing, yet they are bitching about Democrats for blocking Trump's nominee.Republicans are hypocrites and they only have themselves to blame for creating a new precedent when it comes to Supreme Court picks. They were the ones who blocked President Obama's rightful pick for a year. They literally stole a Supreme Court seat from President Obama, who was the legally elected sitting president at the time. And it should be pointed out that President Obama's election victories were bigger than Trump's by a wide margin. Until Republicans give Garland the fair hearing he deserves, Democrats should block Trump's nominees indefinitely. It's nothing less than what Republicans deserve. They started it. Now they get to reap what they sowed. Turnabout is fair play.Featured image via screenshot

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The longest-serving U.S. diplomat warned against isolationism, protectionism and Russian aggression on Friday in a retirement speech implicitly criticizing some of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies even as he urged officials to serve the White House loyally. Ambassador Dan Fried argued that since becoming a world power over a century ago, the United States had largely pursued an open, rules-based world, rejected "spheres of influence" where great powers bully their neighbors and contributed to "the longest period of general peace in the West since Roman times." "This track record suggests that an open, rules-based world, with a united West at its core, is an asset and great achievement, and a foundation for more," the former assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs said as he wrapped up a nearly _NUMBER_-year career at the U.S. State Department. "Yet, some argue that this is actually a liability, that values are a luxury, that in a Hobbesian or Darwinian world we should simply take our share, the largest possible," he added. The comment was an implicit rebuke to the "America First" approach in which Trump has pledged to end what he sees as decades of other nations freeloading on U.S. security and exploiting trade agreements harmful to U.S. workers. In his speech, Fried noted "how improbable victory in the Cold War appeared" in the 1980s and he hailed the freeing of swathes of Europe, including Poland, where he served as U.S. ambassador, from Soviet domination. "This great achievement is now under assault by Russia," he said. "It is for the present generation to defend and, when the time comes again, extend freedom in Europe." While Fried is a skeptic of Russian intentions, colleagues described him as a pragmatist who led efforts to work with Russia as a White House aide under Bill Clinton after the fall of the Berlin Wall and later when serving George W. Bush. He is the latest member of a generation of experienced hands who have left U.S. diplomatic ranks in recent months. Some, like Fried, have retired voluntarily, while others Trump chose not to retain. Many current and former U.S. officials are troubled by Trump's openness to closer ties with Russia, fearing this could lead to acquiescence in its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and, more broadly, in Russian domination of its other neighbors. Free trade advocates are also worried by Trump's decision to abandon the _NUMBER_-nation Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, his desire to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and his suggestion he could impose punitive tariffs. Fried argued against a winner-take-all attitude in which the great powers each try to carve up the world to their advantage. "Spheres of influence ... would mean our acquiescence when great powers – starting with Russia and China – dominated their neighbors through force and fear, while creating closed economic empires," he said. "America would essentially retreat from whole areas of East Asia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe." In what appeared another implicit criticism of the current administration, whose efforts to clamp down on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations and on refugee admissions have been stymied by the courts, Fried said: "We are not an ethno-state, with identity rooted in shared blood." The retiring diplomat also urged current officials to serve Trump and new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "with loyalty, dedication and courage." "Help Secretary Tillerson. He deserves it. And he needs it. And help the president as well, putting your backs into it." Among those who spoke at the event were former Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who took a dig at how long it has taken Trump to fill State Department jobs, including his own. "When Secretary Kerry used to say to me as deputy, 'you are truly irreplaceable,' I thought it was just flattery," Blinken said. "Who knew?" he added, to loud laughter.

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Ireland is not ready to allow talks on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union to move to the second phase next month, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Tuesday. Yes we all want to move onto phase two of the Brexit negotiations but we are not in a place right now that allows us to do that. We have very serious issues, particularly around the border, that need more clarity, Coveney told a news conference before a meeting with his British counterpart Boris Johnson.

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Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny pressed U.S. President Donald Trump about undocumented immigrants in the United States at their first meeting on Thursday, a day before St Patrick's Day. "We did discuss the question of immigration, which is so important to the fabric of our people. And I know that in this country, this is an issue that the administration and the president are reflecting upon...We discussed that very constructively this morning," Kenny said at a lunch event, hosted by House Speaker Paul Ryan at the U.S. Capitol after the two met at the White House. Kenny's tone was much more convivial than when he spoke in the Irish parliament in June last year, describing the then presidential candidate's rhetoric as "racist and dangerous." Trump has vowed to take a hard line against illegal immigrants, promising to speed up deportations, especially against those with criminal records. Kenny told reporters after their meeting that he would recommend that any illegal Irish immigrants living in the United States with what he called "small issues," such as parking fees or traffic violations, clear those as a way to reduce anxiety about their status in the country. The two also discussed the effects of Britain's exit from the European Union, as well as Northern Ireland, where a recent provincial election saw nationalists Sinn Fein gain ground, Kenny said. Kenny has signaled his intention to step down as Ireland's prime minister, a move some expect could occur after he returns from his U.S. visit. Trump did not publicly address the illegal immigration topic but he did tout the contributions of Irish immigrants to the United States. Trump told reporters that he planned to visit the country, declaring "I love Ireland."

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This police officer is a class act. He went to the Trump rally just to check it out and see what he had to say. He was expecting Trump to be a lot more radical than he was. He came in being an undecided voter and left being a Trump'supporter. His story mirrors our Trump rally story in Sterling Heights, MI. The people inside the rally waited a long time to see Trump and the room was becoming very hot and uncomfortable. The people in attendance who were there to really hear what he had to say were very respectful of each other. It wasn't until the planted protesters started screaming at people leaving the event that things got ugly.Brandon Tatum, an officer in the Tucson Police Department, shared a video Saturday night giving his perspective on Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tucson, Arizona and the disruptive protesters who hurled obscenities at the Republican candidate.Tatum says that as a black man, he did not feel unsafe around Trump's supporters but was ready to fight protesters in self-defense. He calls them the most hateful, evil people he has ever seen. The demonstrators, who he recalls chanting the phrase Black lives matter, used profane language and gestures, leading a mother to cover her child's ears.My experience at Donald Trump's rally in Tucson, AZ. _TAG_ by Brandon Tatum on Saturday, _NUMBER_ March _NUMBER_

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The White House said on Sunday it was unfortunate that Palestinians were declining to meet with Vice President Mike Pence during an upcoming trip to the region in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It's unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region, but the administration remains undeterred in its efforts to help achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians and our peace team remains hard at work putting together a plan, said Jarrod Agen, a deputy chief of staff and spokesman for Pence.

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If U.S. President Donald Trump tells Congress in October that Iran is not complying with a _NUMBER_ nuclear deal it brokered with world powers, that does not mean a U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, U.S. envoy to the U.N. Nikki Haley said on Tuesday. Under U.S. law, the State Department must notify Congress every _NUMBER_ days of Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal. The next deadline is October, and Trump has said he thinks by then the United States will declare Iran to be non-compliant. If the President chooses not to certify Iranian compliance, that does not mean the United States is withdrawing from the JCPOA , Haley told the American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington. Should he decide to decertify he has grounds to stand on, said Haley, adding that she did not know what Trump would decide. We will stay in a deal as long as it protects the security of the United States. Most U.N. and Western sanctions were lifted _NUMBER_ months ago under the nuclear deal. Iran is still subject to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions, which are not technically part of the deal. In April, Trump ordered a review of whether a suspension of sanctions on Iran related to the nuclear deal, negotiated under President Barack Obama, was in the U.S. national security interest. He has called it the worst deal ever negotiated. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned last month that Iran could abandon the nuclear agreement within hours if the United States imposes any more new unilateral sanctions. is a very flawed and very limited agreement ... Iran has been caught in multiple violations over the past year and a half, Haley said. The Iranian nuclear deal was designed to be too big to fail. The U.S. review of its policy toward Iran is also looking at Tehran's behavior in the Middle East, which Washington has said undermines U.S. interests in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. Iran's leaders want to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage to its bad behavior, she said. Haley traveled to Vienna last month to meet International Atomic Energy Agency officials for what she described as a fact-finding mission as part of Trump's review. The IAEA polices restrictions the deal placed on Iran's nuclear activities and reports quarterly. While Haley asked if the IAEA planned to inspect Iranian military sites to verify Tehran's compliance, something Tehran has said they would not allow, she said on Tuesday: We never ask the IAEA to do anything.

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The Caribbean island of Barbuda is a scene of total carnage after the passage of Hurricane Irma and the tiny two-island nation will be seeking assistance from the international community to rebuild, its prime minister said on Thursday. Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, told the BBC that about half of Barbuda's population of some _NUMBER_ were homeless while nine out of _NUMBER_ buildings had suffered some level of devastation, many of them total destruction. We flew into Barbuda only to see total carnage. It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences that I have had, Browne said in an interview on BBC Radio Four. Approximately _NUMBER_ percent of them are literally homeless at this time. They are bunking together, we are trying to get ... relief supplies to them first thing tomorrow morning, he said, adding that it would take months or years to restore some level of normalcy to the island.

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21st Century Wire says Yesterday, we were told by US media that one of the country's key military installations, Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, home of the president's Air Force One airliner, was in lockdown following reports of an Active Shooter situation.While the entire US media went into orange alert mode for over _NUMBER_ and a half hours, 21WIRE recognized exactly what it was, a drill, and called it correctly while the news was breaking. We re told that initial reports of a active shooter were prompted by an emergency _NUMBER_ call to outside law enforcement about a gunman seen on the base. The fact that this alleged distress call came from a staff member at the Malcolm Grow Medical Facility located inside Andrews should have raised some pertinent questions like why base security were not informed first, as one would expect. Furthermore, any reports by the US mainstream media characterizing the event as a genuine active shooter crisis should have been immediately squashed by the fact that Joint Base Andrews was also running a no-notice Active Shooter Exercise scheduled for _NUMBER_ am that morning. Sadly, this did not happen, and all US media outlets began their crisis reporting complete with the usual panel of security experts and justice correspondents on CNN and other mainstream networks.21WIRE Calls it CorrectlyWhile the US media was reporting the base was in full lockdown and appeared confused about what to make of the'situation, 21WIRE analyst Patrick Henningsen appeared on RT International while the'story was breaking, offering a very different take on the event than what was being reported at the time throughout the US media. Here's what he'said:PART _NUMBER_: PART _NUMBER_: Finally, _NUMBER_ hour later, US authorities finally admitted that it was only a drill and that the dramatic lockdown had been lifted.Some might say this was not a hard event to call, and in fact was a no-brainer and in this case they would be correct. For any keen student of false flags and high-profile mass shootings in recent years, it was overtly obvious what kind of drama was playing out.The real story however, is how the entire US media transformed into one giant web of media disinformation amplification from the moment the false media reports and official Tweets from the US military hit the news wires without even pausing to consider that they were all knowing, or unknowing participants within their media/press compartment of the'so-called Active Shooter drill.JBA is currently on lockdown due to a report of an active shooter. All personnel are directed to shelter in place. More info as it comes. Joint Base Andrews June _NUMBER_, 2016The mainstream media did their level best to use this falsely presented nonevent in order to reinforce the federal government's prime PR compliance directives; a running list of mindless Orwellian police state throw away slogans like, See something, say something, and Shelter in place. The end result of all this is a public who are unnecessarily traumatized, or subjected to psychological stress, in effect terrorizing the public, as a result of poor media reporting and dereliction of journalism by a media profession who are all too happy to go along with a high TV ratings draw of a Active Shooter narrative.Rather amazingly, one reporter from CBS News even admitted that the national lockdown scare did not even interrupt that day's drill and that their on-base Active Shooter exercise would continue throughout the day. This should provide as much evidence as one would need to deduce that the media scare was indeed part of the drill itself, although this concept might prove just too difficult to grasp for any US mainstream news anchor or reporter. Watch the CBS report here: What happened is a common thing, it's just, you know, it's sort of the times we live in there were two personnel carrying rifles, long guns, someone in the medical center saw that and phoned in there was a shooter on the base Williams then brushed the misreporting off as normal, before also parroting the tired mantra, When you see something, say something. Watch as a confused Williams tries to rationalize the day's over-the-top media debacle: Luckily, it did not, but yesterdays event does raise some very crucial questions about the highly reactionary and irrational nature of our security-obsessed media, and a police state fusion apparatus which spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds each year in order prepare for some ubiquitous threat which statistically does not actually threaten very many Americans and yet seems to overly-dominate media coverage, as well the operating budgets government agencies and first responder cohorts nationwide.The following is a short video which every American should watch, which explains some of the more worrying aspects of America's new obsession with domestic hyper militarized responses in preparation for what seems like an endless stream of mass shooting and domestic terror events: Support our work and Become a Member @ 21WIRE.TV

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Well, this is rich Hillary Clinton had her housekeeper print out sensitive government e-mails and documents! The former Secretary of State lectured her employees to remind them of how to keep information secure yet she's playing loose and free with top secret documents!What if Marina Santos was a spy for a foreign government that was hostile to the US? Ms. Santos is now in hot water and should be called upon to testify. The big question you're probably asking about now is why the heck Santos wasn't subpoenaed? Marina Santos could hold the'secrets to Emailgate! You REALLY can't make this stuff up!As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton routinely asked her maid to print out sensitive government e-mails and documents including ones containing classified information 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 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 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 _NUMBER_ message marked sensitive but unclassified.In a classified _NUMBER_ 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 _NUMBER_ 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 that diplomatic security agents set up at Whitehaven, according to FBI notes from an interview with Abedin.From within the SCIF, Santos who had no clearance collected documents from the'secure facsimile machine for Clinton, the FBI notes revealed.Read more: NYP

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Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Sunday defended his decision to host a visit by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump to Mexico, but he said it could have been carried out "in a better way". The hastily arranged meeting of Trump and Pena Nieto on Aug. _NUMBER_ sparked outrage in Mexico because of Trump's verbal attacks on Mexicans as well as his threats to build a border wall and tear up trade deals with Latin America's No. _NUMBER_ economy. "I faced a dilemma of 'yes or no' once I had made the proposal and he said 'yes.' Because, at the end of the day, its all about ensuring the best interests of Mexico, even if it could be very controversial, as it turned out to be," Pena Nieto said in an interview on Mexico's Canal _NUMBER_ television. Pena Nieto had invited both Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton, who turned down the offer. "Could we have done things better? Maybe yes, admittedly. I think that this genuine interest to bring about a meeting to take care of Mexico's interests, I think, could have been done in a better way," he said. During his visit, Trump struck a collaborative tone with Mexico. But as soon as he was back in the United States, he told a crowd in Arizona that Mexico would pay for his massive border wall "_NUMBER_ percent." Backlash from the visit forced the resignation of Pena Nieto's finance minister and trusted aide Luis Videgaray, who had helped arrange the meeting.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for three and a half hours on Saturday as part of the probe into her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, her campaign said. The interview at FBI headquarters in Washington followed a week of intense public focus on the investigation and on Clinton's viability as a presidential candidate, with four months to go to the election. Her campaign has tried for months to downplay the controversy as a distraction. In an interview broadcast on MSNBC, Clinton said she was happy to do the FBI interview, which her spokesman earlier described as "voluntary." "I've been answering questions for over a year" regarding the private email server, Clinton said. It was not clear if the questioning of Clinton signaled an imminent conclusion to the investigation in a pivotal time for the presidential race. It does follow FBI interviews of several of Clinton's former staff members, as well as her top aide Huma Abedin. Clinton is expected to be formally nominated as the Democratic candidate for the Nov. _NUMBER_ presidential election at the party's convention in less than four weeks. "Timing of FBI interview, between primaries and convention, probably good timing for _USER_," tweeted David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama who served as the chief strategist for his two presidential campaigns. "Best to get it behind her." Clinton is currently the front-runner for the White House with polls showing her leading presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. In a tweet on Saturday, Trump said it was "impossible for the FBI not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton. What she did was wrong!" He also criticized Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, for meeting privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch earlier this week, which Lynch later said she regretted, though she said they did not discuss the investigation. "What Bill did was stupid!" Trump tweeted. The FBI is investigating whether anyone in Clinton's operation broke the law as result of a personal email server kept in her Chappaqua, New York, home while she was secretary of state from _NUMBER_ to _NUMBER_. One of the questions is whether they mishandled classified information on the server. Clinton and her staff have struggled to respond to accusations that her use of the server in violation of State Department protocol means she is untrustworthy. Trump has said the investigation should disqualify her from being president. "_USER_ campaign statement says She "voluntarily" met w _USER_ for _NUMBER_ hours this morning - yeah, lots of people volunteer _NUMBER_ do that," tweeted the Republican National Committee's communications director, Sean Spicer. FBI Director James Comey said in testimony to Congress in March he felt pressure to complete the investigation quickly. Adding to the uncertainty over Clinton is the FBI's refusal to say who is the target of its investigation. Republican lawmakers have called for an independent investigation, saying they do not trust the Justice Department to handle the inquiry with impartiality. Republicans, including Trump, intensified their criticism of the process on Thursday after news emerged of Lynch's meeting with Bill Clinton. Lynch said she would accept whatever recommendations the career prosecutors working on the case made about whether to prosecute Clinton. The FBI probe and the partisan fight over the server have added an extra layer of uncertainty to one of the most tumultuous presidential races in recent memory. Trump, a political novice once dismissed by the Republican establishment, will likely emerge this month as the party's nominee and has set his sights on Clinton, who he has labeled "Crooked Hillary." Clinton held a nine-point lead over Trump in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

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Smashing windows How progressive!Protests against alt-right speaker Milo move off UC Berkeley campus and into the'streets. _URL_ Shane Bauer February _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ Riots and Berkeley campus protesting Milo event. _URL_ Shane Bauer February _NUMBER_, 2017The Starbucks was literally destroyed and looted:

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.@KrisKobach1787: Trump has made clear that sanctuary cities could lose federal grants if the mayors continue to defy federal law _URL_ FOX & Friends November _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_

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Undisputed Facts:An Oak Creek woman and her son have been indicted on allegations of stealing _CUR_3 million from the federal government through a benefits program intended to help the poor, according to court records.The indictment, released late Wednesday, says the fraud was committed at Family Super Saver store, _NUMBER_ W. Hopkins St., from _NUMBER_ to _NUMBER_. The indictment was handed down by the grand jury Tuesday.Elham M. Brenda Abdul Rahim and Ahmad Zaki Abdul Rahim were both indicted on a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Elham Rahim also was indicted on counts of fraud and unauthorized use of food stamps, while Ahmad Rahim was also indicted on a count of lying to investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The conspiracy count carries up to _NUMBER_ years in prison, but the defendants are likely to get much less time in prison under federal sentencing guidelines if they are convicted.Ahmad Rahim said Wednesday he didn't know that he and his mother had been indicted and he denied being involved in any fraud. He said his father, who has since died, used to run the'store and he could not account for how he ran the operation.According to the indictment:The Rahims used the'store to exchange Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards for cash. Through the program, recipients get a debit card. The defendants would swipe the card for a certain amount, say _CUR_400, and give half the amount to the recipients in cash and keep the rest. The'store would charge the government for the entire _CUR_400.Via: jsonline

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For months now, we've been told that Hillary Clinton's _NUMBER_ missing emails were permanently erased and destroyed beyond recovery. But newly released FBI notes strongly suggest they still exist in several locations 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 email accounts then later used BleachBit software to shred the vehicle, but the email content still existed in the live email accounts. Unless one of Clinton's aides had the capability to log in to the PRN server as an administrator and remove a mailbox, her archived mailboxes more than likely still reside somewhere in that system. And they may also materialize on an internal shared drive that PRN created to control access to the Clinton email accounts among PRN employees. PRN has been under FBI order to preserve all emails and other evidence since the'start of its investigation last year.Clinton's missing personal emails may also be captured on a Google server. According to FBI notes, Combetta transferred all of the Clinton email content to a personal Google email address he created. Only the FBI never subpoenaed Google to find out.The FBI documents also reveal that Hillary's server was mirrored on a cloud server in Pennsylvania maintained by Datto Inc., a tech firm that performs cloud-to-cloud data protection.When PRN contracted with Datto, it requested that Hillary's server be backed up locally and privately. But the techs forgot to order the private node, and they sent the'server backup data remotely to Datto's secure cloud and not to a local private node. The FBI never subpoenaed Datto's server, either.Then there's the laptop Combetta loaded with the Clinton email archive and allegedly shipped back to a Clinton aide in Washington, who claims it got lost in the mail. Not so fast: The latest FBI document dump includes a series of interviews with an unidentified former special assistant to Clinton at the State Department who said the elusive Apple MacBook laptop was actually shipped to the Clinton Foundation in New York City. But in a June follow-up interview, FBI agents inexplicably left it up to this critical witness to inquire about the'shipment with the foundation's mailroom manager, who works in Rockefeller Center. The FBI still does not have the laptop in its possession.It turns out that investigators also know the whereabouts of the original Apple server Clinton used in her first two months in office. Recovering that equipment is critical because it contains a mass of unseen emails from Jan. _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_, to March _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ a critical period in Clinton's tenure at State. Witnesses say the equipment was not discarded, as first believed, but repurposed as a work station used by staff in Clinton's Chappaqua residence.Yet the FBI says it was unable to obtain'the original Apple server for a forensic review. Instead of seizing it, the agency has taken Clinton's aides and lawyers word that the'server's bereft of relevant emails.Read more: NYP

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These _NUMBER_ hostages must certainly feel a sense of comfort knowing that our strong Commander In Chief would never desert an Ameri never mind It was reported weeks ago that the American government has abandoned citizens in Yemen, forcing them fend for themselves. Now we're facing the prospect of Iranian allies holding our countrymen hostage.It really is amazing how many parallels Obama shares with Jimmy Carter. Here's a pretty awful one:The rebel group that has seized power in Yemen has taken at least four U.S. citizens prisoner, according to U.S. officials who said that efforts to secure the Americans release have faltered.One of the prisoners had been cleared for release in recent days only to have that decision reversed by members of the Houthi rebellion that toppled the U.S.-backed government earlier this year and now controls most levers of power in Yemen.The Americans are believed to be held at a prison in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, which has been bombed repeatedly as part of an air campaign led by Saudi Arabia aimed at dislodging the Houthis from power. The United States has provided intelligence support to that operation.The detention of the Americans has complicated U.S. efforts to navigate the chaotic aftermath of the Houthi takeover, which displaced a government that had cooperated extensively with the United States on drone strikes and other counterterrorism operations against a dangerous al-Qaeda affiliate in the country.U.S. officials said three of the prisoners worked in private-sector jobs and that a fourth, whose occupation is unknown, has dual U.S.-Yemeni citizenship. The officials said none of the four were employees of the U.S. government.Via: SooperMexican

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Austrian conservatives and the anti-immigrant Freedom Party have agreed to expand voter participation in legislative matters in their coalition deal to bring the state closer to the citizens, the party chiefs said on Saturday. Austria is set to become the only western European country with a far-right party in government after the FPO under Heinz-Christian Strache and Sebastian Kurz's People's Party struck a coalition deal on Friday. But their plans for more direct democracy ruled out referendums on Austrian membership of the European Union. Our model does not provide for any referendum ... that contradicts European law or fundamental rights or our constitution, Kurz said. It is also clear that there will be no votes on our memberships in international organizations including the European Union. The introduction of more ways for voters to participate in the legislative process was one of the FPO's main conditions and also one of the most difficult issues in the coalition negotiations. In Austria around _NUMBER_ signatures are needed currently to initiate a popular petition. If the petition then gets more than _NUMBER_ signatures it must discussed in parliament. Such petitions are not legally binding and often do not result in legislation but they can fuel the public debate. In future, if a petition has the support of _NUMBER_ voters and parliament does not support the issue, it can be turned into a legally binding referendum, Kurz said at a news conference in Vienna, where he and Strache presented the coalition program. Austrians will have to vote on this proposal as it will require a comprehensive change to the constitution, for which a vote is already mandatory, Kurz said. There were only two binding referendums in post-_NUMBER_ Austria: The nuclear power referendum in _NUMBER_ and the European Union membership referendum in _NUMBER_. History will be written , said Strache. In Europe, the Swiss vote the most, whereas Germany has not as yet held a nationwide referendum. Ireland and Italy are the European Union countries with the most referendums.

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Dozens of American academic groups have taken a stance against a Trump administration proposal to toughen scrutiny of some U.S. visa applicants, saying it will have a chilling effect on international students studying in the United States. The U.S. State Department has proposed requiring about _NUMBER_ visa applicants per year who consular officers believe warrant enhanced screening to provide all prior passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers and _NUMBER_ years of biographical information. More than _NUMBER_ academic and educational groups across a range of social and physical sciences and representing college admission counselors and advisers said in a letter to State Department officials on Thursday that the changes would cause "uncertainties and confusion," lead to "unacceptably long delays in processing" and applies to a "vague and ill-defined" class of visa applicants. "We are very concerned that if the proposed changes are implemented, international undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and scientific collaborators may be discouraged from coming to the United States," the letter said. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. The proposal came earlier this month, as part of a push toward the "extreme vetting" sought by President Donald Trump. The State Department has to obtain approval for the new procedures from the Office of Management and Budget due to federal regulations and allow members of the public to comment. Of the approximately _NUMBER_ comments as of Thursday, the vast majority were opposed, with about a dozen in favor. The deadline to comment is midnight on Thursday. The prospect of requiring tens of thousands of applicants to hand over their social media information stirred particular concern among commenters, who said incoming students would be put off by having their social media presence scrutinized. The State Department said in its proposal that the extra information would allow it to "more rigorously evaluate applicants for terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities." Neil Weissman, interim president of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, said in a comment on the proposal that the additional criteria will harm the "cross-border exchange of ideas." About _NUMBER_ percent of Dickinson's _NUMBER_ students are international, according to its website. Andrea Pietrzyk advises international students at Lewis-Clark State College, a public college in Idaho, and said her school has seen an approximately _NUMBER_ percent drop in international applicants for the fall semester compared with last year. "If people have the perception that it's going to be too difficult to get a visa, they're not going to want to come," Pietrzyk said. "Students from the Middle East do have concerns about whether or not they'll have to show or give up their Facebook passwords." The school had _NUMBER_ international students in fall _NUMBER_, of an overall student body of over _NUMBER_, according to its website. A few people commented in favor of aspects of the proposal, saying they thought it could help protect the United States from terrorism. "It seems reasonable to request records of public social media activity as part of an already rigorous vetting process, especially given the role of social media in recent acts of terror," wrote one anonymous commenter. "Definitely do this!" wrote another commentator, who gave his name as Butch Walton. "In this age of terrorism, we need to know as much as possible about who is coming here."

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This video should be shown in town halls all across America. It should be compulsory viewing for every citizen serving on a city council in a sanctuary city. Americans who are okay with populating our country with hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees need to watch what happens when you allow a large group of people live in our country who have no intention of assimilating England is home to more than three million Muslims for the first time ever, new figures show.The number in the country has doubled in just over a decade as a result of soaring immigration and high birth rates.In some parts of London, close to half the population are now Muslims, according to detailed analysis by the Office for National Statistics obtained by The Mail on Sunday. On current trends they will be the majority in those areas within a decade.How well are these Muslims who have been granted citizenship by Britain assimilating? How do they tolerate other religions?Watch this video and see for yourself:_URL_

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South Korea is considering levying its own sanctions on North Korea as the isolated state ramps up tension with its missile and nuclear provocations, the South's vice foreign minister said on Wednesday, but no decision had been made yet. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam made the remarks at a news conference in Seoul with Deputy U.S. Secretary of State John J. Sullivan and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama.

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Performances like the one in the video below by Trump in NH, are why people are lining up for hours to see him appear at his rallies Businessman Donald Trump OWNED a heckler today at his sold-out event in New Hampshire.There were so many people at the rally reporters were locked out and there was a line of cars stretching outside the city limits. Illegal immigrants are the backbone of our country? I don't think so, darling, Donald J. Trump responded to a heckler who interrupted his campaign rally. You know what the backbone of our country ? People that came here, and they came here legally. People that came here to this country legally, and they worked their ass off, and they made this country great. Via: GP

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This is priceless.Donald Trump has not even taken office yet, but he and his supporters are already getting their asses handed to them by people from other countries and proving themselves to be complete embarrassments to our nation.When Trump attacked Union Steelworkers _NUMBER_ on Wednesday he did so using his favorite attack platform: Twitter.If United Steelworkers _NUMBER_ was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues Donald J. Trump December _NUMBER_, 2016Of course, Trump took a lot of heat for attacking the labor union simply because they were telling the truth about his pathetic deal with Carrier. But something remarkable and hilarious occurred after a Canadian Twitter user responded to Trump.Matty Granger pointed out to Trump that Time Magazine gave him devil horns on the cover.. _USER_ The joke's on you, dude. _USER_ gave you'devil horns. _URL_ Matty Granger December _NUMBER_, 2016A Trump'supporter responded by writing that Granger is a joke because he lives in Canada.@reverendmatty _USER_ _USER_ actually the jokes on you you live in Canada _URL_ JUST DEPLORABLE December _NUMBER_, 2016Well, Granger didn't let that slide and humiliated the Trump'supporter by pointing out the'superiority of the Canadian healthcare system and the fact that Canada is enjoying a period of domestic tranquility.@davism0181 _USER_ _USER_ Tell it to my free medical care and lack of civil unrest. Matty Granger December _NUMBER_, 2016Another Trump'supporter tried to jump in but he got smacked down, too.@reverendmatty _USER_ _USER_ _USER_ lol free lol socialism retardedness at its finest M2 Studios December _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_@M2_SenorGato _USER_ _USER_ _USER_ People with income under 22k pay _CUR_0.00 for unlimited medical care. So you were saying? Matty Granger December _NUMBER_, 2016And then a third Trump'supporter tried his luck.@reverendmatty _USER_ _USER_ _USER_ _USER_ then it's not exactly universal is it? Sure isn't free either Ryan Sauriol December _NUMBER_, 2016But these Trump'supporters were no match for Granger.@RyanSauriol _USER_ _USER_ _USER_ _USER_ Feel free not to come here to find out how well it works. Matty Granger December _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_@AllanSchumacher _USER_ In BC I pay what amounts to a pittance in return to what I receive in medical care. Matty Granger December _NUMBER_, 2016Americans had better settle in because our country is going to be embarrassed a lot over the next four years as Trump turns it into the laughing stock of the world.Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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On February _NUMBER_, three officers with the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department were caught on camera using a taser on an innocent man.The officers were looking for a man named Michael Clay, who had multiple warrants out for his arrest. When they encountered _NUMBER_-year-old Patrick Mumford, they immediately assumed he was Clay.The video shows one of the officers approaching Mumford, who was sitting in his car, minding his own business.One officer asked Mumford his name. Patrick, he responded.A moment later the officer says, What's your name? I m going to ask you one more time. O.K Patrick, Mumford responds. We probably need to talk to you, the cop tells him. So, what's your name? Uh Patrick? Mumford responds.The officer orders Mumford to get out of the car. Mumford, who is clearly worried, asks, What happened? What did I do? You got a warrant, the cop says. I just came back from my probation officer, Mumford tells him.At this point the officer directs another cop to use a taser on him.Mumford refuses to get out of the vehicle and demands to see the warrant.The officer then starts counting down, three two one. They tase him twice, dragging him out of the vehicle and slapping handcuffs on him. All the while Mumford is insisting there is no warrant for his arrest. How can I have a warrant and my probation officer not tell me? he asks.At this point, the cops finally get around to checking his identification. They quickly realize that Mumford is not the man they were looking for and immediately begin to try to cover their own asses.One of the officers can be heard insisting to the crowd of bystanders that has gathered around that Mumford looks exactly like Michael Clay.The cops insist that they asked Mumford for his ID three times, but claim he refused to provide it. A few seconds later, the cops claim they asked for ID four times. As the video shows, the police never once asked Mumford for his ID.Watch the video below, courtesy of the Claiborne Firm on YouTube. As Mumford's attorney, Will Claiborne told the Daily Beast: The problem is Patrick Mumford doesn't look like Michael Clay, he ain't Michael Clay, and they roll up on him like he is. When he'says his name is Patrick, they'don't believe him. If they had had adequate training, they would have known not all black men look the'same. Featured image via video screen capture via the Claiborne Firm on YouTube

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Dominican-born Adriano Espaillat claimed victory on Tuesday in the U.S. congressional race to succeed longtime Representative Charles Rangel, signaling change in the historically black neighborhood of Harlem that has grown increasingly Hispanic. Nine Democrats ran in the primary to select the party's candidate for November's general election. In a district where Democratic voters heavily outnumber Republicans, Tuesday's winner will have a virtual lock on taking Rangel's vacated seat in the House of Representatives. Espaillat, once an illegal immigrant, would be the first Dominican-American member of Congress. A state senator, Espaillat, held a _NUMBER_-point lead on state Assemblyman Keith Wright, an African-American who was endorsed by Rangel and benefited from the political machine of a man who held the job for _NUMBER_ years. With _NUMBER_ percent of polling places reporting, Espaillat had _NUMBER_ percent of the vote compared with _NUMBER_ percent for Wright, a difference of nearly _NUMBER_ votes. "The voters of the 13th congressional district made history tonight," Espaillat, _NUMBER_, said in a victory speech. "The voters ... elected a country boy from Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic," he said, mixing Spanish and English. Wright, however, refused to concede, telling supporters: "No candidate can declare victory tonight, not until every vote is counted." The district is dominated by Harlem, long a leading cultural center, home to black political and commercial life, and an incubator for jazz. Harlem notably has grown more white with gentrification, but it also has become more Hispanic. Besides Harlem, the district also includes predominantly Latino neighborhoods further to the north where Espaillat has his base. Rangel, _NUMBER_, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, won his first congressional election in _NUMBER_, and since then Harlem voters routinely returned him to office every two years, even after his _NUMBER_ censure for ethics violations. Espaillat tried and failed to unseat Rangel in _NUMBER_ and _NUMBER_ primary elections. Gentrification emerged as a leading issue in the campaign, as a decade-long influx of affluent people, many of them white, has transformed Harlem's once-blighted blocks of 19th century brownstone town houses. Change has muted the distinctive black identity of the area, the home of the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club and other monuments of African-American culture. Once an upscale Dutch neighborhood named after the city near Amsterdam, Harlem drew African-Americans during the northward migration of former slaves in the late 19th Century and again between the world wars. In decades past, affluent New Yorkers avoided venturing too far north, or "uptown." But soaring property values have turned Harlem into one of New York's trendiest real estate markets.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping offered warm words for U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, calling him a friend and saying he expected Trump's visit to China in November would be "wonderful". China's relationship with the United States has been strained by the Trump administration's criticism of Chinese trade practices and by demands that Beijing do more to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons and missiles programs. Xi and Trump met for the first time in person at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April. Trump has since played up his personal relationship with Xi, even when criticizing China over North Korea and trade. Meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Xi said he had enjoyed his meetings with Trump and that the two had made considerable efforts to push the development of China-US relations. "The two of us have also maintained a good working relationship and personal friendship," Xi said, in comments in front of reporters. "I believe that President Trump's upcoming visit to China means an important opportunity for the further development of China-U.S. relations," Xi added. "And I believe his visit will be a special, wonderful and successful one." In comments later reported by China's Foreign Ministry, Xi added that cooperation was the only correct choice for both countries, whose common interests far outweighed their differences. Both countries must "on the basis of respecting each other's core interests and important concerns appropriately handle, via dialogue and consultations, differences and sensitive issues", the statement cited Xi as saying. Trump will travel to Asia in November for the first time since becoming president, stopping in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines on a trip expected to be dominated by the North Korea nuclear threat. Tillerson told Xi that Trump and his wife Melania were looking forward to going to Beijing. "This is a relationship that continues to grow and mature on the strength of the relationship between yourself and President Trump. And we look forward to advancing that relationship at the upcoming summit," he said. There was no mention of North Korea in comments made in front of journalists at any of Tillerson's meetings, which also included top diplomat State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China's Foreign Ministry, in separate statements on Tillerson's meetings with Yang and Wang, simply said they exchanged views on the situation on the Korean peninsula, without elaborating.

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Donald Trump has an endless history of racism that dates back decades, so it comes as no surprise that he has now pardoned the very bigoted and controversial former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This is a man who was convicted of being a bigot and using the law and the powers of his office to racially profile and brutalize Latino citizens. He was found in criminal and civil contempt of court, but of course, since he was targeting Latinos, who Trump hates, that is just A-Okay with the orange fascist.Generally, when people receive pardons, they have served some time, and shown some remorse. This is nothing more than an extension of Trump's open and visible contempt for non-white immigrants and those from Mexico in particular and all minorities, really this comes as no surprise, reprehensible as it is.Also, to top it all off, Sheriff Joe is a birther, and he constantly went to the press to dispute the validity of President Obama's birth certificate in explicitly racist terms. This, of course, was Trump's number one crusade in his original foray into presidential politics, and it was a huge factor in his gaining real traction with the racist Republican base voters.Of course, we cannot forget the infamous tent city in which imprisoned immigrants were housed in tents and forced to be humiliated with pink underwear. It goes on and on.This is disgusting. A racist who was found to have used the power of his elected office to enact racism as policy is now going free because the guy squatting in the Oval Office is a racist, too.All I can say is that at least the people of Maricopa County voted him out after all of these years and all of this open bigotry as policy.If there isn't GOP backlash from this, we need to all rise up. This is beyond appalling. With this pardon, racism is officially law in America.Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images

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U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the _NUMBER_ election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. _NUMBER_, the White House said on Friday. In October, the U.S. government formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the Nov. _NUMBER_ presidential election, and Obama has said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about consequences for the attacks. The review and its timeline are a signal that Obama wants the issue addressed before he hands power to President-elect Donald Trump, who cast doubt on Russia's hacking role and praised Putin during the campaign. Obama's homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters the report's results would be shared with lawmakers and others. "The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the _NUMBER_ election process ... and to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders, to include the Congress," she said during an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the review would be a "deep dive" that would look for a pattern of such behavior over several years during election time, dating as far back as the _NUMBER_ presidential election. He noted that Obama wanted the review completed under his watch. "This is a major priority," Schultz said. During his campaign for the White House, Trump called on Russia to dig up missing emails from his opponent, Hillary Clinton, from her time as secretary of state under Obama, a fellow Democrat. That move prompted critics to accuse him of encouraging foreign actors to conduct espionage. The New York businessman has said he is not convinced Russia was behind the attacks. "I don't believe they interfered," Trump told Time magazine about Russia in an interview published this week. "That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, 'Oh, Russia interfered.'" People Trump has nominated for top national security posts in his new administration have taken a harsher stance toward Moscow. Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election. Obama has come under pressure from Democratic lawmakers to declassify more intelligence on the alleged hackings. A government source said the review was sparked in part to respond to those demands as well as to determine how much material related to the subject could be made public. "Given President-elect Trump's disturbing refusal to listen to our intelligence community and accept that the hacking was orchestrated by the Kremlin, there is an added urgency to the need for a thorough review before President Obama leaves office next month," Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. Monaco said cyber attacks were not new but might have crossed a "new threshold" this year. When she was working as a senior Federal Bureau of Investigation official in _NUMBER_, she said, the agency alerted the presidential campaigns of then-Senator Obama and Republican Senator John McCain that China had infiltrated their respective systems. "We've seen in _NUMBER_ and in this last election system malicious cyber activity," Monaco said. Asked if Trump's transition team was not concerned enough about Russia's influence on the election or about other threats to the United States such as infectious disease outbreaks, Monaco said it was too soon to say. She noted that she had not met with her successor because the Trump team had yet to name one.

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While we don't yet have the'smoking gun that specifically says Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to win the presidency, US officials now have the blueprint that the Russians used to ensure that Hillary Clinton lost the election, and much of it will sound very familiar.According to three current and four former US officials, a Russian think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin used tried and true KGB tactics to make sure the election went exactly as they wanted.They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the Nov. _NUMBER_ election. U.S. intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies , after the election.Source: ReutersThe first of the two documents was written in June. It didn't specifically mention Donald Trump, but it did outline a plan of using social media to sour voters toward any candidate who would share President Obama's hardline stance toward Russia.The'second document was from October, just a month before the election:A second institute document, drafted in October and distributed in the'same way, warned that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election. For that reason, it argued, it was better for Russia to end its pro-Trump propaganda and instead intensify its messaging about voter fraud to undermine the U.S. electoral system's legitimacy and damage Clinton's reputation in an effort to undermine her presidency, the'seven officials said.In other words, all the anti-Hillary, anti-DNC crap you heard during the election was straight out of Putin's playbook. From the right, while Trump was making accusations of voter fraud, you can be sure that his marching orders were coming from the Kremlin.The US officials are still remaining anonymous and American intelligence agencies are not commenting right now, but it's clear without Russia's campaign of fake news and their attempt to undermine confidence in our electoral system was exactly what Trump needed to win. The hacking wasn't part of the blueprint, but that was icing on the cake that came from another Kremlin source.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

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Donald Trump has decided to throw out _NUMBER_ years worth of tradition for his inauguration by replacing the man who's done the announcing for presidential inaugurations since Eisenhower's in _NUMBER_, Charlie Brotman. That might not seem like a big deal, but given that his voice is so familiar for this, it's hard to understand why they would make such a move.And it's not like it's a relief for Brotman; he's heartbroken about it. He had already started preparing for his role in the ceremonies, saying he was told he wouldn't be involved in an email. At first I was destroyed, he'said, according to D.C.'s ABC affiliate, WJLA. I ve been doing this for _NUMBER_ years. That's eleven inaugurations for which he's worked. At _NUMBER_, he might be old, but he's still healthy and apparently still perfectly able to do this, given that he was already preparing.The Presidential Inauguration Committee issued a statement that said: Since _NUMBER_, millions of Americans and countless entertainers have come to recognize Charlie Brotman as the voice of the inaugural parade. The Presidential Inaugural Committee will be proud to honor Charlie as Announcer Chairman Emeritus on January 20th. We are thrilled for Steve Ray to be introducing a new generation of Americans to the grand traditions of the inaugural parade. That's not the'same as having him actually do it, and he's weighing whether to even accept that, or the VIP seat he's been offered. This is something that would be more appropriate had Brotman said he was retiring, or was otherwise unable to do it again.Steve Ray is a freelance announcer who has done a lot of work, including promotional spots for the Washington Nationals, but one fishy point about this is that he helped with for Trump's campaign.Trump has been working hard to grant favors to people who worked on his campaign, giving many of them high positions within his transition team. Did he tell the inauguration committee to find someone who had worked for him? Did he tell them that he knew Ray and that Ray should do the announcing?Brotman believes it's more likely ageism at work: Maybe they're afraid I might drop dead at the mic. Right now, nobody's really explaining this decision. Regardless, unlike Trump, who's petty and childish as all fuck and would scream about betrayal on Twitter while wishing for his replacement to fall flat on their face, Brotman wishes Ray no ill-will. In fact, he's flat said that he wants Ray to do spectacular, and that he wishes Ray luck in this.Featured image by Ethan Miller via Getty Images

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President Donald Trump plans to nominate J. Christopher Giancarlo to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator tasked with policing the massive over-the-counter derivatives market, the White House said on Tuesday. Giancarlo, a Republican, has been acting chairman of the CFTC since Jan. _NUMBER_ and was widely expected to be tapped for the permanent position of chairman. He became a CFTC commissioner in _NUMBER_. The nomination comes just one day before Giancarlo is expected to give a major policy address at the annual Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida, where he plans to lay out his regulatory vision for the agency. The CFTC won broad new powers from the _NUMBER_ Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to regulate the swaps market, which until then had been largely unpoliced. Giancarlo previously served as executive vice president of financial services group GFI Group Inc. Throughout his tenure as a CFTC commissioner, Giancarlo has been critical of the way the agency has implemented many of the new rules required by Dodd-Frank. He issued a white paper in _NUMBER_, for instance, which accused the CFTC's regulatory framework of driving global traders away from the United States, fragmenting the marketplace and increasing liquidity risk. He has dissented on a number of other major policy areas, including a proposal requiring automated traders to hand over sensitive code without a subpoena - something Giancarlo said "would strip owners of intellectual property of due process of law." As chairman, Giancarlo is likely to focus his energy on scaling back rules that he believes are overly burdensome to help boost economic growth - a vision that is also shared by Jay Clayton, Trump's pick to head the CFTC's sister regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a speech Monday before the Institute of International Bankers, Giancarlo criticized those who have dwelled heavily on preventing a repeat of the financial crisis, saying the impact has been to "sideline capital from productive uses." If confirmed as chairman, however, Giancarlo could face some initial challenges getting his agenda adopted. Currently, the five-member panel is down to two commissioners - Giancarlo and Sharon Bowen, a Democrat. If the two disagree on a decision, the measure cannot pass. Giancarlo acknowledged this challenge in his speech Monday, saying the agency cannot proceed on a controversial position limits rule without a full commission. Trump has not yet nominated anyone for the remaining three positions.

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It's mind baffling that Donald Trump'still hasn't learned not to make stupid comments on Twitter, especially since people like model Chrissy Teigen are always sure to fire back with some seriously epic burns.During the campaign, Teigen was an outspoken supporter of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and made sure to shoot Trump down on Twitter whenever she could. Now that Trump is in the White House, Teigen has decided to turn it up even more and The Donald isn't going to like it. Following General Michael Flynn's resignation last night, Trump took to Twitter this morning to whine about the illegal leaks coming out of Washington and he's going to wish he hadn't.It was a tweet that seriously lacked self-awareness, considering that just last weekend Trump held an impromptu national security meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe right in front of dinner party guests. While Teigen didn't bother pointing that out, she made sure to remind Trump that everyone hates him. She fired back: This is what happens when your staff hates you. Beyonce's staff are more leakproof than yours. Ouch! Twitter loved Teigen for pointing this out, because Beyonc's team has been known to be tight-lipped, having somehow kept a wedding, pregnancy and major albums completely secret in the past.Teigen is right Trump appointed several untrustworthy, unqualified people and now he's suffering for it. It is insane that just three weeks into his presidency, one of his administration members is resigning. The chaos and confusion has been unprecedented, and Trump'seems to only make things worse for himself every time he complains about it on Twitter. There will always be people like Teigen who aren't afraid to hit back and expose Trump for the moron he is and we should be thankful for them.Featured image via Michael Buckner and Joe Raedle / Getty Images

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A group of hackers affiliated with ISIS are threatening to carry out a cyber attack dubbed Message to America against a number of targets _NUMBER_ p.m. EST today. The targets were not identified on ISIS forums and social channels but the hackers are promising something surprising that will frighten America .ISIS supporters calling themselves the Cyber Caliphate hacked into the Twitter account of the United States Central Command in January.Twitter suspended the account detailing the planned attack about _NUMBER_ a.m. EST.

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If there's one person who definitely doesn't want Donald Trump to be president, it's the man who actually wrote Trump's Art of the Deal, author and Trump's ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz. Schwartz knows, more than anyone, after spending a lot of time with the guy, that Trump's just absolutely unfit for the office of the presidency.And what better way to let the world know how awful Trump is than by using the Republican nominee's medium of choice Twitter.Pretty much day in and day out lately, Schwartz has been letting people know how awful Trump is and why he just shouldn't be president. If you want to read his full Twitter feed, you can find it here, but for now, I m just going to go back a few days and show you exactly what he's doing.On July _NUMBER_, Schwartz wrote: I broke the unspoken code of confidentiality with Donald Trump on Art of the Deal because I truly believe his election imperils the planet. I broke the unspoken code of confidentiality with Donald Trump on Art of the Deal because I truly believe his election imperils the planet. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016And it absolutely does, so Schwartz keeps up his quest of making sure Trump is never elected.Here are just a few more of Schwartz's tweets:In the face of social unrest and opposition, I can easily see Donald Trump declaring martial law and suspending the rights of ALL citizens. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Including this one that is pretty damning:Something I saw early on w/ Trump: most negative things he'says about others are actually describing him. Read his tweets with that in mind Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Why Trump's extreme Russia remarks? Feeling small after two nights of strong Dem speeches. Incapable of measured reflection Just reacts. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016The Trump I know has never listened to anyone. No one can'tell him what to do. Won't take any advice. Terrifying in a president. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Biden on Trump: no empathy or compassion. Over _NUMBER_ months with Trump. I never once saw evidence of kindness, or care. He's only about Trump. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Trump tweeting about "poverty" and "despair." Never once heard him mention those concerns when I was with him. They mean nothing to him. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Trump now says he was joking re: Russia. Here's what I know: he doesn't joke. He is humorless. What he does is lie when he gets in trouble. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Trump viciously criticizes others daily. When he's criticized, wants to punch people in face. Thug instincts, not what we want in president Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Trump's being criticized where he is most insecure his suspect wealth, his limited intelligence prompts him to lash out wildly. Scary. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Donald Trump has made sacrifices? Truly demented. Trump has lived his entire life in privilege. The only thing he'sacrifices is wives. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016Trump attacks grieving parents of war hero. I sometimes wonder if Trump has any decency or humanity at all. Tony Schwartz July _NUMBER_, 2016All I've been saying about Trump incredibly reactive, absence of heart or soul, breathtaking ignorance on evidence this weekend. Tony Schwartz August _NUMBER_, 2016Trump can't apologize for anything, no matter how outrageous. Sense of self-worth too fragile to admit he is wrong, even about the Kahns. Tony Schwartz August _NUMBER_, 2016Fundamental decency. In _NUMBER_ months of following Trump around, I cannot remember any acts of care or generosity, unless to promote himself. Tony Schwartz August _NUMBER_, 2016Trump'selling copies of Art of the Deal for _CUR_184 to raise money for campaign. Isn't worth paper it's printed on. I should know: I wrote it. Tony Schwartz August _NUMBER_, 2016Trump doesn't take advice from anyone. Ever. That won't change. He is who he is. He won't reset because he can't. Tony Schwartz August _NUMBER_, 2016And there you have it. Please, for the love of all things good and decent, listen to the guy who spent an incredibly large amount of time with Trump. He knows, and we will all be better for it. Trump'simply cannot be president.Featured image via Wikipedia

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This _NUMBER_ year old girl gives me such great hope for our future. This video has been going around for a few days and I think it is important to outline the children that will be greatly affected by this upcoming election. Our children are much more in-tune to politics an social going-ons then most of us were at their ages and it's an amazing thing to see.Her enthusiasm and knowledge is refreshing that's for sure. There have been many children at rallies in support and in opposition and we need to really start taking their presence into account. There is a definite shift in this country and it starts at home.Featured image and video courtesy of ITV News

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Special Report: Savvy neocons see Hillary Clinton as their Trojan Horse to be pulled into the White House by Democratic voters, raising the question: would a Clinton-_NUMBER_ presidency mean more wars, asks Robert Parry Robert Parry Consortium NewsThe Democratic Party establishment seems determined to drag Hillary Clinton's listless campaign across the finish line of her race with Bernie Sanders and then count on Republican divisions to give her a path to the White House. But if she gets there the world should hold its breath.If Clinton becomes President, she will be surrounded by a neocon-dominated American foreign policy establishment that will press her to resume its regime change strategies in the Middle East and escalate its new and dangerous Cold War against Russia.If Bashar al-Assad is still president of Syria, there will be demands that she finally go for the knock-out blow; there will be pressure, too, for her to ratchet up sanctions on Iran pushing Tehran toward renouncing the nuclear agreement; there are already calls for deploying more U.S. troops on Russia's border and integrating Ukraine into the NATO military structure.President Clinton-_NUMBER_ would hear the clever talking points justifying these moves, the'swaggering tough-guy/gal rhetoric, and the tear-jerking propaganda about evil enemies throwing babies off incubators, giving Viagra to soldiers to rape more women, and committing horrific crimes against defenseless innocents.Does anyone think that Hillary Clinton has the wisdom to resist these siren songs of confrontation and war, even if she were inclined to?President Barack Obama, who for all his faults has a much deeper and subtler intellect than Hillary Clinton, found himself so battered by these pressures from the militaristic Washington playbook that he whined about his predicament to The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, himself a neocon war hawk.The Washington foreign policy establishment is now so profoundly in the hands of the neocons and their liberal interventionist sidekicks that the'sitting President presumably couldn't find anyone but a neocon to give those interviews to, even as he complained about how the U.S. capital is in the hands of warmongers.Given this neocon domination of U.S. foreign policy especially in the State Department bureaucracy, the major media and the big think tanks Clinton will be buffeted by hawkish demands and plans both from outside of her administration and from within. ARCHTECTS OF WAR: Neocon war hawk and Israeli advocate Robert Kagan and his wife Victoria Nuland are hoping for a Clinton win n November.Already key neocons, such as the Brookings Institution's Robert Kagan, are signaling that they expect to have substantial influence over Clinton's foreign policy. Kagan, who has repackaged himself as a liberal interventionist, threw his support to Clinton, who put him on a State Department advisory board.There is also talk in Washington that Kagan's neocon wife, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, another Clinton favorite and the architect of the regime change in Ukraine, would be in line for a top foreign policy job in a Clinton-_NUMBER_ administration.Neocons Back in ChargeSo, Clinton's election could mean that some of the most dangerous people in American foreign policy would be whispering their schemes for war and more war directly into her ear and her record shows that she is very susceptible to such guidance.At every turn, as a U.S. senator and as Secretary of State, Clinton has opted for regime change solutions from the Iraq invasion in _NUMBER_ to the Honduras coup in _NUMBER_ to the Libyan air war in _NUMBER_ to the Syria civil war since _NUMBER_ or she has advocated for the escalation of conflicts, such as in Afghanistan and with Iran, rather than engaging in reasonable give-and-take negotiations.Though her backers tout her experience as Secretary of State, the reality was that she repeatedly disdained genuine diplomacy and was constantly hectoring President Obama into adopting the most violent and confrontational options.He sometimes did but he'sometimes didn't .In other words, Obama acted as a register or brake restraining Clinton's hawkishness. With Clinton as the President, however, she would have no such restraints. One could expect her to endorse many if not all the harebrained neocon schemes, much as President George W. Bush did when his neocon advisers exploited his fear and fury over _NUMBER_/_NUMBER_ to guide him into their regime change agenda for the Middle East. After Bush's Iraq invasion in _NUMBER_, Washington's neocons were joking about whether Iran or Syria should come next, with the punch line: Real men go to Tehran! But the Iraq War wasn't the cakewalk that the neocons had predicted. Instead of throwing flowers at the U.S. troops, Iraqis planted IEDs Continue this story at Consortium NewsInvestigative 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 .READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire _NUMBER_ Files

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Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani went to Turkey to meet with the country's president and sought meetings with U.S. government officials in an attempt to end U.S. prosecution of a wealthy Turkish gold trader charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran, Manhattan federal prosecutors said. The moves were disclosed in a letter on Friday to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, who is overseeing the case in which the trader, Reza Zarrab, is accused of conspiring with others to conduct illegal transactions through U.S. banks on behalf of Iran's government and other Iranian entities. The new disclosures highlight the politically charged nature of a case that expanded in scope earlier this week with the arrest in New York of an executive at a Turkish state-owned bank charged with conspiring with Zarrab to evade sanctions. Zarrab, a dual national of Iran and Turkey, had been arrested in _NUMBER_ in a corruption probe of people with close ties to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister of Turkey at the time. Erdogan is currently president. In the letter prosecutors said Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey - both recently added to Zarrab's legal team - traveled to Turkey shortly after February _NUMBER_ to meet with Erdogan to discuss ways to end the prosecution. Giuliani informed the office of Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the planned trip, according to the letter. Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim in Manhattan said that Mukasey and Giuliani, who is a close ally of President Donald Trump, had also sought to meet with other officials in the U.S. government on the issue. "Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mukasey's efforts are aimed at reaching a disposition in the case," Kim wrote in the letter. Kim has sought to question whether Giuliani and Mukasey should be allowed to represent Zarrab given the potential conflicts of interest. Zarrab allegedly victimized at least eight large banks which are current or former clients of Giuliani and Mukasey's law firms. Kim had called earlier this week for a special hearing to make sure Zarrab understands the potential conflict. Benjamin Brafman, an attorney for Zarrab, responded in a letter to the court on Friday, saying he would consent to a limited hearing but stressed that he believed the prosecution had no right to question the actions of Giuliani and Mukasey. "That information quite frankly is none of the Government's business," Brafman wrote.

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After years of rising U.S.-Russia tensions over Ukraine, Syria, cyber attacks and nuclear arms control, Donald Trump's election as U.S. president may offer a narrow window to repair relations as he and Russian President Vladimir Putin size up each other. But Trump's ascent to the White House carries the risk of dangerous miscalculation if the U.S. president-elect and Putin, two willful personalities and self-styled strong leaders who have exchanged occasional compliments, decide they have misjudged one another, according to Russia experts and others. U.S. officials and private analysts predict that Putin, who has reasserted Moscow's military and political muscle from eastern Europe to the Middle East, will avoid openly provoking Trump before he takes office. "Putin has the ability to advance his interests in many different ways. Sometimes tactical diplomacy can help," said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank. "We're in temporary truce phase," said Hill, who has served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations and co-authored a book on Putin. Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow under President Barack Obama, said Putin likely will wait to see if he can reach some accommodation with Trump to allow the lifting of Ukraine-related sanctions imposed by Washington and the European Union that have contributed to Russia's growing economic woes. During the campaign, Trump was criticized by his Democratic Party rival, Hillary Clinton, for praising Putin as a strong leader and saying ties with Russia should be improved at a time when Moscow and Washington are at odds over Syria and Ukraine. Trump rattled Washington's European allies with comments questioning NATO's mutual self-defense pledge and suggesting that he might recognize Russia's _NUMBER_ annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. Putin last year called Trump "a really brilliant and talented person" and the Kremlin said on Thursday that the U.S. president-elect's foreign policy approach was "phenomenally close" to that of the Russian leader. Putin "has a future president who has expressed a desire to cooperate, who has expressed a desire to move away from the Obama policies. Why would you screw that up with a provocation?" asked McFaul, now at Stanford University. In Syria, a U.S. official said, Putin appears to be extending a "humanitarian" pause in air strikes against moderate rebels holding the eastern side of Aleppo to give Trump an opportunity to affirm the willingness he expressed during the campaign to seek a more cooperative U.S.-Russian relationship. "I think they were holding their fire for the purpose of decreasing the international pressure on them, and now, like the rest of the world, they may be taking stock of the current situation," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. But U.S. officials caution that Russia still may feel compelled to launch more attacks after dispatching a naval task force led by the aging aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of force. The U.S. government has publicly accused Moscow of hacking the Democratic National Committee and other party organizations during the election campaign, which Russia has denied. Trump declined to blame Russia, and the Election Day Russian cyber attacks that some officials feared never materialized. Trump has not laid out a detailed Russia policy, and many in his party, including potential top advisors and cabinet officials, have taken a hawkish view of Moscow. Former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally rumored for a senior post, lambasted in _NUMBER_ what he called Obama's weak response to Russia's land-grab in Ukraine. Putin, Gingrich wrote, is "a ruthlessly determined leader motivated by nationalism and an imperial drive." And while there was celebration in Moscow after Trump's victory over former secretary of state Clinton, who has been sharply critical of Putin, some Russians cautioned against euphoria. "The idea that it will be easier to strike a deal with Trump than Clinton is wrong. ... Everything will be tested when we get down to business," analyst Vladimir Bruter told the daily pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda before Tuesday's election. Some experts and U.S. officials say there is a high risk of miscalculation or even confrontation, given Trump's history of taking slights and challenges personally. "That's actually where reality is going to intrude," Hill said. "Putin's pretty thin-skinned, too." Putin has a penchant for challenging adversaries, particularly when he senses weakness, and he has long made it clear that he intends to reassert what he considers Russia's rightful global role. Suspending a treaty with Washington on cleaning up weapons-grade plutonium last month, Putin listed conditions for resuming Russian participation that amounted to a laundry list of grievances against the United States. The demands included lifting Ukraine-related U.S. economic sanctions, compensating Moscow for those sanctions and reducing the U.S. military presence in NATO's eastern European states to the levels of _NUMBER_ years ago. Russia's bedrock concern "is whether they believe the threat of U.S.-promoted regime change is abating under a President Trump," said Andrew Weiss, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Everything else is a secondary, lower-order problem." Putin has accused the U.S. government of promoting widespread street protests in Russia following its _NUMBER_ elections, as well as the "color revolutions" in Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere. On specific issues, Weiss said, there are few if any easy opportunities for rapid U.S.-Russian agreements. "The agenda's really threadbare," he said. "We're basically at a standstill."

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Protesters affiliated with the group No Justice, No Pride blocked this year's Capital Pride Parade on three separate occasions, delaying the parade and forcing participants to use an alternative route, in protest of the participation of police officers and certain corporate sponsors.#NoJusticeNoPride in prisons pipelines or deportations _TAG_ _URL_ JaneSee June _NUMBER_, 2017The No Justice, No Pride group first conducted its own march down the planned parade route with signs like rainbows don't cover death merchants and no pride in police violence. They then blocked the route at 15th and P Streets NW. Police formed a barricade around the demonstrators, allowing them to continue the protest, while re-routing the official parade down 16th Street. No arrests have been reported. The DCistSo today _TAG_ stopped the D.C. Pride parade. _URL_ Fras June _NUMBER_, 2017Pride parade fans were furious over the hijacking of their parade by leftist activist groups like Black Lives Matter and lashed out at the thugs who forced them to re-route the parade:Overheard at _TAG_, _USER_ board member: We don't negotiate with terrorists describing _TAG_ B. Loewe June _NUMBER_, 2017The video below shows an interesting exchange that took place during the parade. A female leftist activist attempts to explain'to a male gay parade participant that his definition of pride no longer exists, and that in fact, the radical groups who are hijacking their planned parade have redefined what pride will now mean:_TAG_ blockades have been divisive. Parade-goer: "This isn't the time and place." _URL_ Alejandro Alvarez June _NUMBER_, 2017This gay Democrat suggested that the protesters should commit mass suicide:This pride participant was clearly not happy with the leftist agitators:This is the response of pride goers to a protest over police violence and private prisons. _USER_ _USER_ _TAG_ _URL_ Drew Ambrogi June _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_

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Democratic-leaning states are set to bankroll a big chunk of the tax cuts unveiled in a Republican tax plan on Thursday, as the plan slashes deductions used the most by residents of states that voted against Donald Trump in the _NUMBER_ elections. The bill, introduced by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means on Thursday, took aim at state and local tax deductions as one part of its plan to pay for reductions in taxes elsewhere. Overall, the plan would reduce federal revenues by roughly _CUR_1.5 trillion over _NUMBER_ years. The bill eliminates the most widely-used deduction - income tax - and caps property tax deductions, the second most-used, at _CUR_10,000. State and local deductions are used largely by high-tax states that tend to vote Democratic in presidential elections and local officials say the tax bill appeared to divide its benefits and burdens along partisan lines. "I do think this has been developed in a way that looks at who were the prevailing forces in the presidential election and who were not," Kevin Sullivan, Connecticut's Commissioner of Revenue Services, told Reuters. Connecticut is one of several high-tax Democratic states where, local officials say, middle-class households will end up paying more taxes under the Republican plan. Among those potentially hardest-hit are California and New York with state income tax rates of _NUMBER_ percent - the nation's highest - and _NUMBER_ percent respectively, according to a recent report by the Tax Foundation. That group also includes New Jersey, Minnesota and Oregon - all of which have voted for Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the _NUMBER_ election. By contrast, out the seven states that levy no income tax, Trump only lost Washington and Nevada, while winning Alaska, Florida, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. "By eliminating or rolling back state and local tax deductibility, Washington is sending a death blow to New York's middle class families and our economy," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat and one of the most outspoken opponents of the bill, wrote in a letter to Trump this week. "It's clear this is a hostile political act aimed at the economic heart of New York." To be sure, some Republican legislators from high-tax states, including Representative Lee Zeldin, of New York, have opposed the bill. The legislation would also end a tax exemption for billions of dollars of so-called private activity bonds issued by state and local governments annually to finance affordable housing, non-profit hospitals and colleges, as well as airports and port facilities - a measure that would affect Democrat and Republican states alike. Conservative groups have defended the tax bill, saying it would simplify the tax code, reduce overall burden on the economy and spread the costs and burdens more fairly. "The principles outlined in this federal tax reform effort will provide pro-growth tax rate reductions, while adding fairness and simplicity to the tax code," Jonathan Williams, chief economist at the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization of conservative state legislators, said in an email. Nick Samuels, a senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service, said the proposed bill would hit primarily high–income and high-tax states like California, New York and New Jersey, making it harder for them to raise revenue from income and property taxes. Officials in the affected states say millions of residents, not just high-earners, would suffer because of lost tax breaks and less funding available for public services. In New Jersey, _NUMBER_ million households deduct a total of _CUR_17 billion in state income or sales taxes and _NUMBER_ million households deduct a cumulative _CUR_14.9 billion in local property taxes from their federal taxes, according to the nonpartisan think-tank New Jersey Policy Perspective. "This deal is still terrible for New Jersey's working families, with big tax breaks that overwhelmingly go to the wealthiest _NUMBER_ percent, setting up deep cuts to programs and services that we all rely on," said Jon Whiten, the group's vice president. Minnesota's Democratic Governor Mark Dayton warned on Monday that the legislation would eliminate tax deductions totaling over _CUR_12.3 billion annually for _NUMBER_ families in his state. The states with the highest property tax collections per capita include New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York, according to the Tax Foundation. For California, the Internal Revenue Service reported that approximately one in three residents took a state or local deduction in _NUMBER_, totaling roughly _CUR_113 billion, according to H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state's finance department. "Congress is trying to rush consideration of a tax proposal that will have profound and widespread impacts on California," Palmer said. National Conference of State Legislatures President and Republican South Dakota state senator Deb Peters in a statement called the legislation "an attack on the sovereignty of states."

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Our current government can't be bothered with resolving these heinous acts against our veterans who rely on our government for their health care. They ve got more pressing issues in our military that need to be addressed, like pushing a gay agenda in our military:The VA's Office of Inspector General said it launched an unannounced inspection of the Los Angeles office after hearing allegations that the VA staff there was shredding mail related to veterans disability compensation claims. Though the OIG said it can't measure how often this might have happened, it did say it found some examples of mail lined up for the'shredder that instead should have been opened and read. Although we cannot quantify or identify claims-related documents that the VARO may have shredded prior to our review, we found nine claims-related documents that VARO staff incorrectly placed in personal shred bins for non-claims related documents, the OIG reported. Eight of the nine documents had the potential to affect veterans benefits and one had no effect on the veteran's benefits. The OIG said the placement of these letters in shred bins means that they were able to bypass the first level of control, which requires letters to be reviewed before they are shredded. Of the nine claims-related documents, five did not have required initials of both the employee and supervisor and the remaining four had only the employee's initials, the report said. If staff and their supervisors followed VBA policy, these nine claims-related documents would not have been placed in personal shred bins that are designated for non-claims related documents. The report said if the OIG had not stepped in, it is likely that. staff would have inappropriately destroyed the nine claims-related documents we found. It added that a records management officer was supposed to be on staff in Los Angeles to prevent this from happening, but said there was no one in that position from August _NUMBER_ until February _NUMBER_. The original records officer was promoted, and the office's assistant director determined that it was not necessary to fill the position. Officials who tried to take over that role lacked training regarding maintaining, reviewing, protecting and appropriately destroying veterans and other governmental paper records, the report said.The OIG said the Los Angeles office couldn't provide any documentation at all on what documents it had shredded over the past two years.The watchdog recommended that the Los Angeles office should implement a plan and assess the effectiveness of training when it comes to handling, processing and destroying these records. The arbitrary destruction of mail by officials at the Los Angeles VA is a stark reminder of the need for true reform of the Veterans Administration, said Concerned Veterans for America CEO Pete Hegseth. Rather than make sure each veteran's voice was heard, and each claim was handled professionally, VA officials instead effectively silenced those who fought for our freedom and security, casually sending their letters to the'shredder. Here is the watchdog report:Vash RedVia: Washington Examiner

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Russia hopes that all Syrian opposition groups will attend a Moscow-backed Syrian congress in southern Russia on Nov. _NUMBER_ despite some objections, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported. The event, called the Syrian Congress on National Dialogue, was first mentioned by President Vladimir Putin last month who said he believed that militants in Syria would soon be defeated. It is due to be held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. But while Damascus has backed the Russian plan, some opposition groups have rejected the idea, calling it an attempt to rehabilitate President Bashar al-Assad's government. They have said they will stick to U.N.-brokered Geneva peace talks. Asked if Moscow still hoped to see opposition groups like the High Negotiations Committee, which has refused to come, attending, Interfax cited Bogdanov as saying: We hope that everyone who believes that the fate of the country, its unity, its territorial integrity and its sovereignty are important will participate.

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Oh my gosh! This is awesome! President Trump tweeted back to the dad of the UCLA basketball player who was arrested while in China: Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!, Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail! Donald J. Trump November _NUMBER_, 2017THE JAPANESE PM TWEETED BACK HIS SUPPORT:Great job Donald! I know firsthand that your negotiating skills are world-class! _USER_ Shinzo Abe November _NUMBER_, 2017HERE S OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON WHAT THE DAD SAID: Send this kid back to China! The ungrateful attitude of the father of LiAngelo Ball is so classless. What's even worse the dad makes excuses and even dismisses the'son's crime as no big deal: They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. I m from L.A. I ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. LaVar Ball, father of UCLA player with sticky fingers And we wonder why we have little thugs who aren't remorseful for their crimes? The'sense of entitlement stinks to high heaven! Bad parenting LaVar Ball! WHO? Days after President Donald Trump touted his role in the release of three UCLA basketball students who were arrested in China, LaVar Ball, the father of one of those players, suggested the President had little to do with the matter. Who? Ball told ESPN when asked about Trump's involvement in the'situation. What was he over there for? Don t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out. Trump's social media director, Dan Scavino, fired back at Ball on his personal Twitter account Saturday afternoon, saying Ball's son, LiAngelo, would be in China for a long, long, long time without the President's assistance. Wannabe _USER_ coach, BIG MOUTH _USER_ knows if it weren't for President _USER_, his son would be in China for a long, long, long time! _TAG_, Scavino wrote.LiAngelo Ball, along with two other players, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, were arrested last week on suspicion of stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store while their team was in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Trump had said he personally asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene in the case.On Wednesday, Trump issued a call for gratitude from the players on twitter. He did get a thanks for their release after his tweet.STICKY FINGERS NO BIG DEAL?Athletic Director Dan Guerrero confirmed the trio shoplifted from three stores near their hotel Monday night. The three were identified the next morning after police searched their bags and found the'stolen items.LaVar Ball told ESPN he was happy to have his son back, and also seemed to downplay his alleged crime. As long as my boy's back here, I m fine, he'said. I m happy with how things were handled. A lot of people like to say a lot of things that they thought happened over there. Like I told him, They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. I m from L.A. I ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. All three players have been suspended from the UCLA basketball team indefinitely.

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Bond, James Bond Daniel Craig is out of nearly _CUR_50,000 after donating to a questionable Super PAC. The actor who plays a character that is generally on the right side of the ruse might have been deceived out of a large sum of money.Two months ago, James Bond actor Daniel Craig gave nearly _CUR_50 thousand to a super PAC that misrepresented an affiliation to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders , and now has no idea where his money is, or where it is being spent.Craig donated _CUR_47,300 to Americans Socially United in July, a super PAC that was previously known by the names Bet on Bernie _NUMBER_, and Ready for Bernie Sanders _NUMBER_, before the Federal Election Commission deemed the committee to have no link to the Vermont senator.A report that was released Thursday by the Center for Public Integrity called in to question ASU's founder, a man named Cary Lee Peterson, and legitimacy of the organization. The report also questions whether Daniel Craig and others may have been tricked out of their money, as Peterson has a checkered past, which has been well-documented by the Center.Peterson, whose age and addresses cannot be verified, has has routinely run afoul of creditors and the law including stiffing one of the nation's largest news companies out of a six-figure sum, the report states.Peterson also has a rap sheet, which includes a _NUMBER_ arrest in Arizona for disorderly conduct, and a _NUMBER_ conviction for extreme DUI, in addition to numerous other financial and legal troubles.A representative for Craig confirmed to Variety Thursday the Briton, who is a U.S. resident, is among a number of Sanders supporters who have unwittingly given money to the third party PAC.Via: Breitbart

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Conservative filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch has made some shocking and eye-opening movies that address our nation's failure to properly secure our borders. Lynch's They Come To America III: The Cost Of Obama's Legacy is his most compelling and shocking movie to date. There are some terrifying moments when Lynch exposes Muslim training camps right here in America. In addition to training camps in the US, Dennis Michael Lynch takes us to our northern border to show just how easily Islamic terrorists can cross into the United States. Lynch's interview with an undercover US Border Agent exposes the cover-ups and lies our previous administration used in an attempt to make us trust that our government was sufficiently protecting our borders. As Lynch proves in this short clip, nothing could be further from the truth.WATCH this shocking trailer, as it shows how vulnerable our nation is to terrorists entering the US from Canada:

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Student government leaders at Loyola University Maryland faced a barrage of pressure from the university administration to change the theme of a senior class party described as very alienating, divisive and harmful and against the university's core values, according to emails provided to The Daily Caller. The theme? America.The theme for Loyola's annual Senior 200s party one of four celebrations exclusive to seniors held throughout the year was based upon a survey of Loyola seniors taken last summer. The party was held on Nov. _NUMBER_ and went off without a hitch, according to students who attended, despite warnings that the administration might have to get involved if students were offended.Emails sent to student government representatives were provided to TheDC on condition of anonymity. Multiple student government representatives confirmed the emails authenticity on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the administration.Right before the presidential election, some student government members wondered if they should nix the America theme if Donald Trump won, according to internal SGA group chats shared with TheDC on condition of anonymity for the'same reason.One representative claimed that if Trump wins it will be bad, while another argued it would be wrong to change the party theme simply because of disagreement with the president-elect's policies. The party was still on.The day after Trump's victory, a handful of students messaged SGA representatives to argue that because of Trump's victory an America-themed party was now inappropriate. One female student claimed she was a victim of horrible hate words and worried that similar mean things might be said at the party if the theme wasn't changed.When the possibility of unpleasant feelings wasn't enough to cancel a class-wide event, the administration got involved.The university's executive vice president, Susan Donovan sent an email to two SGA members claiming she talked with a number of students and heard from faculty members about the party. None of it is positive and it sounds very alienating, divisive and harmful. Sheilah Horton, the university's dean of students also tried to pressure students to change the party theme, in a lengthy email that portrayed the'students as insensitive for not canceling the America theme.Horton worried that the theme provides an opportunity for students to dress or behave in a way that offends or oppresses others. Horton also said the administration would have to deal with any fallout from the party, which she worried would make students feel unsafe. She also worried that the America-themed party might keep potential students from attending Loyola and implied the event could be the defining incident of the'senior class. Even one negative event, especially with social media can cause the campus community to feel unsafe; it can be shared with potential students which can have an effect on admissions and indeed can be the defining incident for the class of _NUMBER_, she'said. So, you have made a decision that in effect, has the potential to cause negative consequences for the university and even to the'students whose behavior crosses the line, she continued. Horton did not respond to TheDC's request for comment by press time. I was amazed and shocked at not only the reaction and lack of confidence of the administration in our class and SGA itself, but how they handled everything including some of the rude things said about our organization. It is quite disgusting how people feel and see the word America as something that is discriminatory, said one student government representative, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the administration. We should see the theme America as a way to forget political divide and come together as a country and class and celebrate all that we have accomplished. That is what ended up happening, yet we didn't have the'support of people in our class and the administration itself. Daily Caller

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Lockheed Martin Corp has been awarded a _CUR_1.45 billion contract for Patriot missiles, spare parts and ground support for South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday.

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In April, Reuters photographer Zohra Bensemra was sent to cover the drought in Somalia. Once there, she looked for ways to humanize the plight of more than _NUMBER_ million people trying to survive the famine amid fields of withered crops and the brittle skeletons of livestock. See her portfolio of work here In a makeshift camp for displaced people, Bensemra met Zeinab, a _NUMBER_-year-old girl forced to marry an older man offering _CUR_1,000 as her dowry. Zeinab had wanted to become an English teacher, but that small fortune made it possible for her extended family to travel to a Somali town on the Ethiopian border where international aid agencies providing food for drought refugees. Bensemra found similar stories during a nearly two-week trip through the Horn of Africa. Photography opens eyes to what's going on in the world, says Bensemra, who was named agency photographer of the year by the Guardian, a U.K.-based newspaper. It's not about nationalism or religion but about human beings. The Guardian recognized Bensemra's _NUMBER_ work covering some of the planet's most dire situations: the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria; the Rohingya refugee crisis; and the drought in Somalia, among others. Read the story here In Bensemra's role as an eyewitness to war, human rights abuses and other atrocities, she says it is crucial to remain unbiased. It's important to stay neutral if we want people to believe us and trust us, Bensemra says. We have to be in the middle. We don t take sides. Read her photographer profile here Based in Algeria, Bensemra says she believes being a woman in the field has its advantages. For one, people are more likely to open up to her and share their stories. One of her most memorable photographs of the year shows an exhausted Khatla Ali Abdallah, _NUMBER_, fleeing a battle with Islamic State outside Mosul in February. Bensemra had tears in her eyes as she shot the photograph, imagining the woman as her own grandmother, but unable to help. When you see people suffering and living very, very hard lives, I imagine myself in their place, she says.

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President Donald Trump was speaking on Tuesday with a number of Middle East leaders, the White House said, in advance of his expected announcement about the U.S. embassy in Israel. Trump had spoken to or planned to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. The president has calls scheduled this morning with Prime Minister Netanyahu, King Abdullah of Jordan and Palestinian Authority President Abbas. We will have a readout on these calls later today, Sanders said. Trump was expected to announce as soon as Wednesday that he will again delay moving the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem but stress that he will wants to do so, a senior administration official said. The official said Trump was also likely to say that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

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The Indian capital declared a pollution emergency and banned the entry of trucks and construction activity as a toxic smog hung over the city for a third day on Thursday and air quality worsened by the hour. Illegal crop burning in the farm states surrounding New Delhi, vehicle exhaust emissions in a city with limited public transport and swirling construction dust have caused the crisis, which arises every year. The problem has been compounded this year by still conditions, the weather office said. A U.S. embassy measure of tiny particulate matter PM _NUMBER_ showed a reading of _NUMBER_ at _NUMBER_ a.m. when the safe limit is _NUMBER_. An hour before it was _NUMBER_. PM _NUMBER_ is particulate matter about _NUMBER_ times finer than a human hair. The particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs, causing heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and respiratory diseases. Residents complained of headaches, coughs and smarting eyes. Many stayed home and restaurants in some of the city's most crowded parts were deserted. I d like to assure people that the central government shall do everything possible to bring about improvement in air quality in Delhi and the Nation Capital Region, federal environment minister Harsh Vardhan said as authorities faced criticism for failing to take steps to fight a problem that erupts every year. The haze covered India Gate, a war memorial in the center of the city where Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were due to pay respects in a two-day trip ending on Thursday. Schools have been shut for the week and late on Wednesday the city administration announced a set of measures to try to clean up the air. Commercial trucks have been banned from the city unless they are transporting essential commodities, all construction has been stopped and car parking charges raised four times to force residents to use public transport. The Delhi transport department said it would take a decision later in the day on whether to introduce an odd-even scheme under which cars with license plates ending in an odd number are allowed one day and even-numbered cars the next. But experts said these measures were unlikely to bring immediate relief. There is such a cloud over us that you probably need artificial rain or some such to clear this, said Dr Vivek Nangia, a pulmonologist at Delhi's Fortis hospital. Video images shot by ANI, a Reuters affiliate, showed farmers illegally burning crop stubble in Rohtak, about _NUMBER_ km from Delhi. Farmers in Haryana, where Rohtak is located, and Punjab, the two big agrarian states surrounding Delhi, burn millions of tonnes of crop waste around October every year before sowing the winter crop of wheat. State authorities say it is hard to enforce the ban unless farmers, a powerful political constituency, are given funds to buy machinery to clear their land. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said in a Twitter post: Situation is serious but Punjab helpless as problem is widespread & state has no money to compensate farmers for stubble management.

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21st Century Wire says It was a major scandal that broke out in _NUMBER_. Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, was accused of murdering civilians and smuggling weapons in Middle East ops.Further to the prosecution of four Blackwater employees five years later, guilty of killing _NUMBER_ Iraqi civilians in Baghdad during one spate of violence, there has been a historical boom of private contractors occurring since Iraq and Afghanistan incursions began.More on this report from New Eastern Outlook Martin Berger New Eastern OutlookThe unpunished slaughter of thousands of civilians in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan carried out by the US over the course of the last decade is now being gradually replaced by new types of crimes committed by Washington's henchmen in the course of its ongoing instances of armed aggression against sovereign states.As it's been reported by Bloomberg with a special reference to AP, a well-known American contractor firm Sallyport Global has recently been engaged in a number of illegal operations in Baghdad's vicinity. According to the report, its employees would get engaged in alcohol smuggling and slave trade. It's curious that Sallyport Global's staff would overload cargo planes with illegal alcohol so hard that they could barely fly, while stealing generators and armored off-road vehicles from the Balad air base that they were dispatched to protect. Bloomberg would note that some of company's employees were also involved in selling local residents to sex slavery.Meanwhile, it is a well-known fact that Sallyport Global received _NUMBER_ million dollars from the US government to fulfill a number of missions in the best interests of the American people. Or at least it was supposed to.One could also recall a major scandal that broke out back in _NUMBER_, when a military contractor firm Academi was accused of murdering civilians and smuggling weapons. Five years later the jury in the'state of Washington found four employees of the Blackwater private company guilty of killing _NUMBER_ Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in just one instance of violence. After this attack Iraqi authorities demanded that Blackwater paid _NUMBER_ million dollars in compensation to each of the _NUMBER_ families whose relatives were murdered in the raid that its employers conducted. Additionally, local authorities demanded that a total of _NUMBER_ both former and acting employees of Blackwater would leave Iraq within a week after the tragic event.As soon as the US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan began, along with an number of other military interventions across the globe, the number of private companies involved in providing so-called security services to the Pentagon started booming.In the absence of any independent audit, the actual number of military contractors deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries can only be guessed, since the official evaluation provided by the Pentagon is pretty misleading. The tangled web of contractors and subcontractors and the lack of any comprehensive control led to the'situation when even the top US officials had no real information on the actual of number of US contractors deployed in a particular country. Thus, when the Congress demanded the Interim Coalition Administration of Iraq to provide it with the exact number of military contractors deployed in the country back in _NUMBER_, it took the latter quite a lot of time to draft a list of _NUMBER_ firms employing a total of _NUMBER_ people. However, six year later the number of people employed by the Pentagon, the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development to carry out security related missions in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeded _NUMBER_ people with only every fourth contractor being an American citizen. At times, the number of contractors deployed exceeded the total number of troops US Armed Forces had in these two countries.Private military firms carry out a wide range of missions in the areas controlled by the US military personnel, such as the participation in actual combat engagements, reconnaissance missions, special operations, carrying out security tasks and logistical support. They have also been training local army and police units that are loyal to the forces that Washington supports. Private contractor firms are playing an important role in ensuring that the'situation in a certain country, occupied by the United States, remains under control. The best example of a wide range of activities that military contractors are engaged in is the fact that the people employed by the Anteon International have been maintaining communications systems that Pentagon is using for its operations.In Afghanistan, for example, such military contractor firms as MPRI, Sandline, Control Risk Group, Chilport, along with Israeli Golan Group and Beni Tal were deployed long before the actual invasion began. Back then the CIA was determined to send the maximum possible number of infiltration groups that were formed out of employees of private intelligence companies. Those groups were tasked with the mission of killing Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the Taliban movement. Additionally, they were demanded to get engaged in the bribing of local warlords, collecting operational data, conducting reconnaissance and carrying out acts of sabotage.To this date Washington relies heavily on the'services that private intelligence companies would provide. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that Middle Eastern warlords are getting extremely violent when they find a snitch in their ranks, which results in his death and, quite possible, the deaths of all of his relatives, regardless of the degree of kinship, age and sex. This is the main reason behind the reluctance that most locals towards cooperating with the occupying force. So in a situation when the CIA cannot establish a comprehensive intelligence network, contractors are the only people that lend it a helping hand.The large-scale involvement of private contractor firms led to the practice of bribing local commanders, when money are being paid for the relative security that the employees of such a firm can enjoy in a certain'territory. Thus, an impressive margin of all the money that such firms are getting end up in the pockets of the Taliban movement leaders, who are acting in the capacity of some sort of subcontractors. According to official data, the Taliban movement has received over _NUMBER_ million dollars from the US budget for the'services it has been providing to private contractor firms. This number constitutes the'second largest sources of income for the mujahideen movement, with the proceeds from drug trade still occupying the top of the list.When the number of US troops in certain conflict zones of abroad decreases, it is usually accompanied by an increase in the number of employees of private contractor firms willing to risk their heads for a paycheck...Continue this report at New Eastern OutlookREAD MORE WASHINGTON NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire WASHINGTON FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER _USER_.TV

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Sounds great how about a new car?An immigrant-rights group proposed a Bill of Rights for illegal immigrants Thursday, demanding that Americans recognize there are millions already in the country who deserve health care, in-state tuition rates for college and a guarantee of citizenship in the long term.The list of demands runs _NUMBER_ items long the'same as the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights and also calls for an end to arrests and deportations for all law-abiding undocumented Americans. The document was circulated by United We Stay, which is a group of illegal immigrants, first generation Americans and human rights activists pushing for changes to immigration law. We know we have human rights, even though our very presence is deemed illegal and our existence alien. Now we have our own Bill of Rights and we want it to be the framework for every immigration decision going forward from the local to the national level, the group said in a statement announcing their demands.The _NUMBER_ points include a demand that they be accorded respect; calls for citizenship rights and an immediate deferment of deportations; in-state tuition at public colleges; wage equality ; medical care; and protection against deportation if illegal immigrants report a crime as a witness.The list also includes a specific demand for compelled authorization of birth certificates for our U.S.-born children. That appears to be pushback against the'state of Texas, where officials have ruled that parents must present valid ID to get children's birth certificates and have deemed the Mexican government's Matricula Consular ID card not to be acceptable as primary identification.A federal court has allowed that Texas policy to go into effect, ruling that there are questions about the reliability of the Mexican cards and that state officials have an interest in making sure only authorized relatives are able to get birth certificates.The list of rights begins with a protest against the terms illegal and alien. Immigrant-rights advocates say both terms are dehumanizing, and have offered undocumented workers or, in the case of United We Stand, Undocumented Americans, as their preferred term.The document is meant to serve as a goalpost for the ongoing immigration debate. Immigrant-rights groups had been gaining ground in recent years, with polls suggesting Americans were increasingly open to legalization.A legalization bill even passed the Senate in _NUMBER_ but Democrats, who controlled the chamber, never sent it to the GOP-run House for action.The issue then stalled last year after President Obama took unilateral action to grant a deportation amnesty to as many as _NUMBER_ million of the estimated _NUMBER_ million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Federal courts have put that amnesty on hold, but Mr. Obama's other policies stopping deportations for most illegal immigrants remain in place, which has effectively checked off one of the list of rights demands. Via: Washington Times

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I think this is hope over reality longtime Democrat and Harvard Law professor Allen Dershowitz ripped into Senator Diane Feinstein for making accusation of obstruction of justice against President Trump. He went through all of the reason why there is nothing to the claim by Feinstein that POTUS committed a crime. Dershowitz compared Trump to the crimes of past presidents and concluded that Trump is in the clear. He detailed crimes that Nixon and Clinton clearly committed but said that it's within the Constitutional powers that Trump did what he did by firing former FBI Director James Comey: You cannot charge a president with obstruction of justice for exercising his constitutional power. _USER_ _URL_ FOX & friends December _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ She'simply doesn't know what she's talking about Dershowitz on Senator Diane Feinstein's claim that President Trump obstructed justice.This woman is another one who needs to go! She's gotten rich off of being in Washington and will probably only retire if she's pulled out of her office kicking and screaming. It's been a lucrative business for Diane and we're sure she doesn't want to see it end. Is she pushing the envelope politically because she knows her delusional liberal base will approve? Reelection over truth and integrity wins out with these people every time

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Democrat Hillary Clinton called on Friday for voters to reject the "bigotry" of Donald Trump's White House campaign, releasing a television ad criticizing his efforts to appeal to black voters and saying she was reaching out to people from all parties who are troubled by his candidacy. The ad shows video of Trump's controversial pitch to black voters, in which the Republican candidate urges them to support him by asking, "What do you have to lose?" It also shows headlines about a racial discrimination lawsuit the New York real estate mogul faced in the 1970s. Clinton's presidential campaign said the ad, released a day after she gave a speech accusing Trump of fueling America's "radical fringe," would air in the hotly contested states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Polls give Clinton a wide margin over Trump among Hispanic voters, but he is on a pitch to reduce her advantage by stressing he would create jobs for all. Trump pressed on with trying to broaden his appeal to minority voters on Friday, as he met with Hispanic business leaders at his signature hotel in Las Vegas. "We've been doing very, very well with the Latinos. We've been doing amazing, far, far greater ... than anyone understands. They want to see jobs come in, we're going to bring jobs. They want to see things happen," Trump said. He said the country's GDP growth rate of _NUMBER_ percent in the second quarter was not a good sign for the U.S. economy. "The country has some very, very serious problems," he said. Clinton, meanwhile, followed up on Thursday's tough speech by saying that Trump's temperament and divisiveness made him unfit for the White House. "I am reaching out to everyone, Republicans, Democrats, independents, everyone who is as troubled as I am by the bigotry and divisiveness of Donald Trump's campaign," she told MSNBC, adding she was asking "fair-minded Americans to repudiate this kind of divisive demagoguery" at the Nov. _NUMBER_ election. Clinton attacks came during a difficult week for her campaign, as the release of new emails from her time as secretary of state revived criticism of her decision to use a private address and server rather than a government one. The emails also stoked scrutiny of her family's charitable foundation, including accusations that major corporate and foreign donors gave money in hopes of securing more access to then-Secretary Clinton. Her campaign says no donors received any special favors. Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told MSNBC Clinton was only talking about Trump and race this week to deflect attention from that controversy. Trump countered her rhetoric on Friday by releasing a video showing Clinton in the 1990s discussing a crime bill and referring to "super-predators," or at-risk youth she said needed to be brought under control. The video also shows U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's main opponent in the Democratic primary this year, calling that phrase a "racist term." In targeting what she terms Trump's bigotry, Clinton hopes to remind voters of controversial statements he has made over the course of the campaign. Those include describing some Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, suggesting a judge could not be fair because of his Mexican-American heritage, and proposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to combat terrorism. Trump has tried to sidestep these dust-ups by saying Democrats have failed minorities with their economic policies, leaving them living in poverty and attending failing schools. Jennifer Hochschild, a professor at Harvard University who focuses on race and immigration, said she did not think Trump could fix his relationship with black and Hispanic voters. "General cluelessness about racial dynamics will diminish any possible black support that comes from Trump's emphasis on job creation," Hochschild said in an email. "And Clinton has a lot of deep roots among black politicians." Trump also has been criticized for vowing to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally. In recent days, he had appeared to hold out the possibility of toning down his hardline stance, although his precise plans on immigration have been harder to pin down. On Thursday, he denied he would loosen his proposed immigration restrictions.

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Yes, yes, yes! Tomi nails it again! Tomi goes at it with a radio host over the Black Panthers and Beyonce. She's the best!

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The United States must keep military options on the table when dealing with North Korea, but it does not want to use them unless it has to, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said during a visit to Britain on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a hard line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programmes seen by Washington and others as a direct threat. "Allowing this dictator to have that kind of power is not something that civilized nations can allow to happen ... of course we don't want to have military options employed, but we must keep all options on the table," he said when asked if the U.S. administration would be willing to drop bombs on North Korea. Ryan said he was encouraged by the results of efforts to work with China to reduce tensions, but that it was unacceptable North Korea might be able to strike allies with nuclear weapons. In a wide ranging question and answer session at an event organized by the policy Exchange think tank, Ryan also said he wanted to "ratchet up" sanctions on Iran but believed a nuclear deal struck in _NUMBER_, and previously criticized by Trump, would remain in place. "There are lots of things that Iran is doing outside of this deal: proliferation of terrorism, weapons, violating missile tests - those things we should apply sanctions to," he said. The Trump administration said on Tuesday it was launching an inter-agency review of whether the lifting of sanctions against Iran was in the United States' national security interests, while acknowledging that Tehran was complying with a deal to rein in its nuclear program. Ryan was visiting Britain with a cross-party delegation of lawmakers as part of a trip to reassure European allies of U.S. commitment to the NATO military alliance. He used his remarks to call on countries to meet the alliance's minimum defense spending requirement, and also singled out the international threat posed by Russia. "Russia is determined to exploit weakness and opportunity wherever it may surface," he said, citing Moscow's involvement in supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "As they expand, and seek to expand their sphere of influence, they are continuing to challenge the sovereignty of all our allies in eastern and central Europe." He repeated U.S. concerns, denied by Moscow, that Russia had interfered in its _NUMBER_ election and said Russia was currently interfering in elections in Europe. He gave no further details. "We've learned a thing or two about their tactics in America and we commit to sharing those lessons learned with our allies so that you can be better prepared," he said.

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The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved _NUMBER_ more visas for Afghans who worked for U.S. forces as interpreters or support staff on Wednesday, an effort to preserve a program that had been at risk of shutting down. The committee included the additional visas in its version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act , a must-pass piece of legislation that sets priorities for the Department of Defense budget for fiscal _NUMBER_, which will be about _CUR_650 billion. The Senate and House of Representatives are currently working on separate versions of the legislation, which must be reconciled and passed by both chambers and signed by President Donald Trump before it can become law. The Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program allows Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, often risking their lives, to move to the United States after a rigorous vetting process. Bipartisan pushes by U.S. lawmakers this year for more SIV visas have come against the backdrop of efforts by the Trump administration to clamp down on immigration from majority-Muslim countries. In March, the U.S. embassy in Kabul said it had stopped scheduling interviews for SIV applicants because it had nearly run out of visas, but lawmakers included _NUMBER_ more in a spending bill in April to preserve the program. "Our nation owes a great debt to the civilians who have provided essential assistance to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, and I am very pleased that this legislation authorizes the necessary visas for these brave men and women," said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who led the push for the legislation with Republican Senator John McCain, the Armed Services Committee's chairman.

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Notice in the exchange below that the reporters have a cohesive message saying President Trump calling Senator Warren Pocahontas is a racial slur . They think we ll buy into their effort to make this is a slur if they say it often enough They re trying to hijack the narrative by repeating an untruth as fact Nice Alynsky tactic by the press Watch how Sarah Sanders turns it all around and asks why no one is asking why Warren lied about being Native American Another great job by Sarah!Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Monday it is ridiculous for Senator Warren to consider Pocahontas to be a racial slur Sanders was responding to a question about whether it was offensive for President Donald Trump to use the nickname during a White House event honoring World War II code talkers. A reporter said the comment was offensive to many, but Sanders turned the issue back to Warren's unsubstantiated claim to Native American heritage. I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career. BOOM!Another reporter brought up Warren saying on MSNBC, just before the press conference began, that Trump's nickname constitutes a racial slur. I think that is a ridiculous response, Sanders answered. I think the president certainly finds an extreme amount of value and respect for these individuals, which is why he invited them to come to the White House and spent time with them in recognizing and honoring them today, Sanders replied. He invited them here at the White House today to meet with them and to also remind everybody about what a historic role that they played many years ago.

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Shame on Teen Vogue! Maxine Waters was a guest of Teen Vogue and was interviewed about why she's calling on young teens to resist our president. This sick behavior by a grown woman smells like sedition. Just read the answer to the question below:Teen Vote asked: What advice would you give to burgeoning young activists who want to help the _TAG_ movement and create effective political change? What can citizens do you help you as a congresswoman achieve change?MW: There are several things that can be done. I love that they'dominate social media, and the way that they can communicate with people what I m doing and retweet what I m doing. Every time they bring another person in to listen and to read about what is going on, we gain another supporter, who not only can continue to speak up and convince other people that we have to bring down this president, but now I know they will become voters and that they're going to vote because they have investments in this political process. WE HAVE TO BRING DOWN THIS PRESIDENT Congresswoman Maxine Waters is desperate to Impeach _NUMBER_, and she's pleading with teenagers to follow her example and push her political agenda in church, and everywhere else.Waters led a chant of Impeach _NUMBER_ her rally cry to unseat President Trump at The Teen Vogue Summit in Los Angeles last weekend, before urging the mostly teenage female crowd to take on her cause and repeat her mantra everywhere they go. Impeach _NUMBER_! That's right, Waters said. Let's sing that song all over this country wherever we are. Let's talk about it in the workplace, let's talk about it in our churches, let's talk about it with organized labor, let's get people coming to the forefront. Waters, _NUMBER_, apparently believes that a mob of young girls, many not old enough to vote, chanting Impeach _NUMBER_! will convince Republican lawmakers to reverse course on a plan to lower taxes for Americans, and to remove a president from their own party.So far, Waters calls for her colleagues in Congress to impeach Trump have fallen on deaf ears. Lawmakers voted _NUMBER_-_NUMBER_ against a resolution to consider the move this week, Fox News reports.Read more: American Mirror

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21st Century Wire says 21WIRE reported on Friday about the FBI's surprising announcement that it would be reopening the Clinton email case due to new evidence of classified information found on sex cheat Anthony Weiner's computer which was subject to a seperate investigation. Will this really yield anything significant in the _NUMBER_ days running-up to the Nov 8th election, or is this just clever Democrat party smoke and mirrors? It seems that Washington's political tricksters have already sprung into action After Comey's shock announcement, a leaked memo appeared out of nowhere, supplied to Fox News, in which Comey and the FBI seem to be going through a routine set of prescribed political moves designed to implement damage control. ELITE CIRCLES: FBI head James Comey and friend Hillary Clinton.Certainly, a desperate Democratic Party, and an even more desperate Obama White House , could be pressuring or nudging the FBI on this volatile issue which could easily tilt a close presidential race against Donald Trump. Aside from the obvious potential of another Clinton scandal, yesterday's FBI move could also be a prelude to the following possible scenarios:NOTE: Despite calls from the Clinton camp for FBI to disclose what they have , it is highly unlikely that the FBI will release any real specifics before the election if they have anything at all. It's just too early to tell. SEE ALSO: FBI James Comey was board member of HSBC Clinton Foundation & Drug Cartel bank of choice The FBI director stoked outrage last month when he announced that he would not recommend the Justice Department seek an indictment against Clinton or any of the other parties to the investigation allowing Clinton to dodge any criminal probe before the election despite the fact that Comey stated to a Congressional investigative committee that Clinton was extremely careless, and that Clinton openly lied about her handling classified information on her unsecured private server throughout her tenure as the US Secretary of State.Zero Hedge adds: Now, it is the democrats turn to rage at Comey and the FBI, although Comey likely did not have much choice: had he kept the information secret, it certainly would have leaked as we predicted; as such his best recourse was to come clean, although many have speculated about the cryptic nature of the disclosure. Needless to say, all Comey would need to do to regain'the Demcorats trust and favor is to announce in just a few days that nothing material has been found and that the'second probe is also over. Here is leaked memo from FBI director James Comey:Watch this space. Here is a highlight reel of Hillary Clinton lying on at least _NUMBER_ occasions when asked direct questions about her illegal private email server: . READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire _NUMBER_ FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER _USER_.TV

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Maxine Waters made an appearance on CNBC trying to push the term Kremlin Klan to push the Russia scam.She tried to name the offenders in the group but drew a blank after naming a few people. It's always interesting to hear her talking points and hear what the Democrats are lying about every day. Notice that the anchors repeat the term at the end do you think they might want this term to stick? Clever Waters is on the Financial Services Committee that's scary!

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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 _NUMBER_ 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 _NUMBER_ 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 _NUMBER_ 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

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A state-run newspaper in China's Jilin province, which borders North Korea and Russia, on Wednesday published a page of common sense advice on how readers can protect themselves from a nuclear weapons attack or explosion. China has voiced grave concern over North Korea's nuclear and missiles program, as well as calling on the United States and South Korea to stop provoking Pyongyang. U.S. bombers will fly over the Korean peninsula on Wednesday as part of a large-scale joint military drills with South Korea. The North has warned the drills would push the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war . The full page article in the Jilin Daily, which does not mention possible attacks by North Korea or any other country, explains how nuclear weapons differ from traditional arms and instructs people how to protect themselves in the event of an attack. Nuclear weapons have five means of causing destruction: light radiation, blast waves, early-stage nuclear radiation, nuclear electro-magnetic pulses and radioactive pollution, the article explained. It said the first four kill instantly. People who find themselves outside during a nuclear attack should try to lie in a ditch, cover exposed skin in light colored clothing or dive into a river or lake to try and minimize the possibility of instantaneous death, it said. Cartoon illustrations of ways to dispel radioactive contamination were also provided, such as using water to wash off shoes and using cotton buds to clean ears, as well as a picture of a vomiting child to show how medical help can be sought to speed the expulsion of radiation through stomach pumping and induced urination. The influential state-backed Global Times in a commentary on Wednesday described the article as a public service announcement due to the situation on the Korean peninsula. If war breaks out, it is not possible to rule out the Korean peninsula producing nuclear contaminants, and countermeasures must be seriously researched and spoken openly about to let the common folk know. But at the same time, there is absolutely no reason to be alarmed, the Global Times said. North Korea last week tested what it called its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach all of the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned he would destroy the North Korean regime if it threatened the United States with nuclear weapons. China has rejected military intervention and called for an end to the war of words between Washington and Pyongyang.

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A White House meeting that was to help determine whether the United States should withdraw from the Paris climate accord has been postponed, an administration official said on Tuesday. Some of President Donald Trump's top advisers, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, were scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss how Trump should handle the _NUMBER_ climate deal. The meeting was canceled because "some of the principals are traveling today," the White House official said. The meeting will be rescheduled, but no date has been set, the official said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One as Trump was returning from a visit to Wisconsin that the meeting "could be as soon as tomorrow, but I know that they're working on trying to find a time that works for everybody." The accord, agreed on by nearly _NUMBER_ countries in Paris in _NUMBER_ and ratified in _NUMBER_, aims to limit planetary warming in part by slashing carbon dioxide and other emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Under the pact, the United States committed to reducing its emissions by _NUMBER_ to _NUMBER_ percent from _NUMBER_ levels by _NUMBER_. Trump has said the United States should "cancel" the deal, but he has been mostly quiet on the issue since he was elected last November. The White House has said it would take a position on the agreement before a summit of the Group of Seven wealthy nations in late May.

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Singer/songwriter Joy Villa decided to follow the political theme at The Grammy's tonight by wearing a gown that says Make America Great Again on the front and TRUMP on the back It might not be what the producers expected LOL! WE LOVE IT!If you tweet, PLEASE support this young artist with a retweet! She's being royally abused by the liberals She needs some love from the Deplorables!She's getting lots of attention from the press:From Villa's Website:Who is Joy? True to the lyrics of her song Vagabonds , Joy Villa is a singer songwriter who's never slowing down. Having lived in Hollywood, Seattle, Las Vegas, and now residing in NYC, touring extensively since _NUMBER_ to Asia, Australia the US and Europe.Joy's favorite genre has always been rock and roll, and she considers herself lucky to be a female that looks different than the normal Rockstar . A classic renaissance woman, she also paints, models, acts, dances, composes poetry, and writes screenplays and books.Photo credit: Aaron FortnerVia: GP

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Vogue's latest cover has really set off Breitbart editor John Carney, who apparently is not the brightest guy around:If attacking us has you confused based on the non-political photo, you're not the only one. Luckily, it's explained: he thinks an image of the Statue of Liberty is an attack on conservatives, based on the citation of Lady Liberty and the plaque she bears by liberals and progressives as evidence that we are a nation that welcomes immigrants. And if that wasn't enough, he went on a twitter rant crying about why he thinks he's right:Seriously, I think we could do really well with _USER_ Fashion. Lots of women who would like their fashion without leftism. John Carney August _NUMBER_, 2017The reaction by leftists to my criticism of Vogue's cover is all the proof you need about its political content. John Carney August _NUMBER_, 2017If you want the Statue of Liberty to be a non-partisan symbol of America, don't make her central to your case against immigration reform. John Carney August _NUMBER_, 2017Really? So you think they just coincidentally decided to put one of the most beautiful women in America next to Statue of Liberty? John Carney August _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ Just so you know, John, leftists aren't opposed to immigration reform, just your un-American version of it. And it wasn't leftists that made Lady Liberty a central figure of immigration it was this:Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! cries she With silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! Feedback for this little bit of right-wing lunacy was instantaneous and harsh:Dumbest motherfucker alive _URL_ Luke O'Neil August _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ also, how pathetic are you to be triggered and need a safe space from lady liberty? Oliver Willis August _NUMBER_, 2017Uh _URL_ _URL_ Matt Viser August _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ Telling that the Statue of Liberty triggers someone. Nate August _NUMBER_, 2017Posing in front of Lady Liberty is now an attack on the right? Interesting. Joe Nocera August _NUMBER_, 2017Truly baffled. Isn t the Statue of Liberty the iconic American image of womanhood? What else would be? If you see politics, that's on you. Ellen Clair Lamb August _NUMBER_, 2017That Vogue cover was shot at least _NUMBER_ months ago that's how far out they go and why wouldn't you want the Statue of Liberty everywhere? Ellen Clair Lamb August _NUMBER_, 2017Hilarious. Triggered by the Statue of Liberty. Makes sense tho. Robert Stribley August _NUMBER_, 2017Isn t it amazing how easily they expose themselves? If the Statue of Liberty is anti-right and leftist bias, I m completely ok with that. politically elite August _NUMBER_, 2017What if, when you're attacked by the Statue of Liberty, you're the bad guy? Brook G-D ? August _NUMBER_, 2017Then he tried again: It's contextual. Putting that on the cover right after Miller v. Acosta fight is taking sides. Not sure why people want to isn't otherwise. John Carney August _NUMBER_, 2017Surely you know that magazine deadlines are such that the cover was done LONG before the Miller-Acosta exchange. Joe Nocera August _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ Surely you know Stop right there.He doesn't. Jake Upham August _NUMBER_, 2017Apparently, these days all it takes is the Statue of Liberty to get the authoritarians on the right to throw a tantrum.Read more:Featured image via screencapture

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Obama can be seen addressing a crowd about religion and the role it plays in our lives and in politics. The most interesting line comes at the beginning of the video when he tells the crowd America is no longer a Christian nation: We are no longer a Christian nation. At least not just ! Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It's the art of the impossible. If God's spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts regardless of the consequences. Barack Obama goes on to criticize his interpretation of several passages in the Bible suggesting God's word is ridiculous and needs to be examined and challenged

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Spain's cabinet will hold a special meeting at _NUMBER_ p.m. , the government said on Tuesday without giving any further details.

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21st Century Wire says If you've been following the events outside of Burns, Oregon, you ll have seen _NUMBER_% of the news coverage has been about the presence of armed militia and endless rumors of FBI Waco Siege plots and not about the core legal issues surrounding the Hammond family. These stories often start out as local issues, then quickly spin out of control and end up being managed and contested at the Federal level.Sunday Wire host Patrick Henningsen spoke to independent activist Jason Casella from PANDA UNITE and the Solutions Institute about his recent experience at the Oregon Standoff, and also about America's crisis of liberty , as well as some positive trends in activism today. Casella advocates getting closer to the'sources of power and decision making in your local community: You have to make sure that your city council and county commission is acting on behalf of the people, and acting within the restraints of the Constitution, before you can ask somebody in DC, for example, or even at your state level of representatives. This is where you can actually have the most impact. Listen to the full interview with Jason Casella below.LISTEN TO MORE SUNDAY WIRE: Sunday Wire Show Archives

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India's central bank on Saturday dismissed media reports that it was not necessary to link national identity card numbers, known as Aadhar numbers, to bank accounts. It said in a statement the requirement remained in force under anti-money laundering rules. The Reserve Bank clarifies that, in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering Second Amendment Rules, _NUMBER_, it said in a statement. The RBI also said that anti-money laundering rules announced in June _NUMBER_ have statutory force and banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions. The Aadhar program, which is the world's largest biometric identity card program, has triggered some claims that it is an infringement of privacy of citizens. India's top court in August had said that privacy is a fundamental right and the verdict was expected to complicate efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to make linking of the ID card numbers with bank accounts, telephone numbers, etc.

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In a little over two weeks, the Republican Party will hold its convention to, hypothetically, name Donald Trump as the official nominee. Conventions are usually three day long infomercials that whip up the base and kick off the tone of the campaign for the general public. They re masterpieces of propaganda with the agenda scheduled down to the minute.But that was before Donald Trump.With just a few days left before the big weekend, no one knows who is speaking, who is attending or, seriously, how much time Trump himself will spend at his own nomination:Much of the program remains in flux, including who will speak, how and when Mr. Trump will arrive, and what he will say when he does.And after months of promising that his convention would be special, and not boring like previous ones, Mr. Trump'says he is now embracing a less-is-more approach.One thing there will be less of, which might come as a surprise to anyone expecting all the brashness and ubiquity of Trump branding, is the candidate himself.Trump is refusing to speak all three days of the convention. You know, HIS convention. Apparently he just can't be bothered. He's worried people will think he's grandstanding. Because Donald trump is all about moderation and humility. Said no one ever.But part of the problem, OK, MOST of the problem, is Trump himself. No one wants to be seen endorsing him and Trump literally has no idea what the hell he is doing:At one point, two aides confirmed, Mr. Trump was not even aware that the event had to be held in Cleveland, a decision made almost two years ago by the Republican National Committee.That's the kind of statement that drives Republican operatives to straight up alcoholism. Or suicide. Or both.Very few prominent Republicans have agreed to take the'stage to support Trump and Trump, being the pettiest of men, has declared that he will try to block people like Ted Cruz and John Kasich from speaking unless they bend the knee to him, a most unlikely occurance.Trump is still promising to have big celebrity names at his coronation in lieu of big political names but he's become so toxic, it's hard to imagine anyone who is not already deeply ensconced in right wing culture showing up. Ted Nugent would happily get on stage to shout about guns and Muslims but his appeal is limited to inbred yokels and ammosexuals.On top of all of this, Trump'still doesn't have much in the way of a campaign organization. He's just winging it and assuming his sheer awesomeness will win the day. But at this rate, his campaign, already on life support from his numerous gaffes, scandals and general idiocy, will be DOA out of the'starting gate and it's not clear that Trump would be able to recover from the impending disaster his debut is shaping up to be.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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If you are a young white male in America, apparently you are free to stick your genitalia into whomever you please without having to fear that you will end up in prison. Consent be damned. Proof of this is the disgusting case of an Iowa teen who raped a toddler on camera and was given a free pass when he was finally hauled in front of a judge for his repulsive crimes.Kraigen Grooms has admitted to raping the _NUMBER_-year-old in April of _NUMBER_ when he was _NUMBER_ years old. Not only did he rape the'small child, but he did it on camera so he could livestream the'sexual assault for another pervert to watch online. Investigators believe that the attack was premeditated, and also that he had plans to rape a _NUMBER_-year-old boy in the'same manner.Grooms was arrested in March _NUMBER_, when he was _NUMBER_. Initially, he was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, a felony that could have put him in prison for _NUMBER_ years. However, after spending two years in a juvenile detention center and county jail, he cut a deal and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of engaging in a lascivious act with a child in July. This week, Judge Randy Degeest handed Groom, who also goes by the alias Kraigen Simmers, a _NUMBER_-year suspended sentence and sent him home.This means that he will see absolutely no prison time for raping a _NUMBER_-year-old. Let that sink in for a minute.This is just the most recent in a string of high-profile sexual assault cases that have ended with the rapist getting a slap on the wrist and being sent on his way. The most well-known of these cases being that of Brock Turner, who raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and was given just six months in jail, but ended up only serving three before being released.Is there any question that anyone who rapes a toddler a f*cking toddler should be behind bars until hell freezes over? Is there any question that America's rape culture has spiraled completely out of control when you can rape a _NUMBER_-year-old, on camera, livestream it on the internet, and not end up in prison?Featured image via KTVO screen capture

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This is what Democrats think of people who broke our laws to come to America? Nancy Pelosi thanked a Dreamer's parents Wednesday for bringing him to the United States illegally. Pelosi made the remark during a town hall with CNN's Chris Cuomo where she took a question from Dreamer Adrian Reyna. Our Dreamers, they make America dream again, Pelosi said. They re so lovely and we, frankly, owe a debt to your parents for bringing you here to be such a brilliant part of our future. AND she's happy to let the tax payers foot the bill for these illegals:The'swelling population of illegal immigrants and their kids is costing American'taxpayers _CUR_135 billion a year, the highest ever, driven by free medical care, education and a huge law enforcement bill, according to the the most authoritative report on the issue yet.Dreamers are individuals who were brought illegally to the United States as children. Former president Barack Obama's administration provided cover to Dreamers from possible deportation to their countries of origin with the DACA executive order in _NUMBER_.The Trump administration rescinded the order last month and called on Congress to replace it within six months. Reyna expressed concern about Democrats coming to a deal with President Donald Trump about illegal immigration and Dreamers.Pelosi promised Reyna that a clean Dream Act would be passed before December.Pelosi continued to heap praise on Dreamers and their families and laid out Democrats plan to block the Trump administration and Republicans from taking any kind of potential action against illegal immigration.Read more: WFB

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Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton collapsed on Monday while delivering his state-of-the-state address to legislators in St. Paul, but aides said afterward that Dayton quickly recovered from what they described as a fainting spell and returned home. A video clip from official statehouse footage posted on YouTube showed the _NUMBER_-year-old, silver-haired governor pausing to take a sip of water, then slurring his words as he tried to resume his address before slumping at the lectern. He appeared to hit his forehead on the lectern as he lost his footing and aides rushed to grab him. Gasps rose from the assembly hall and someone was heard saying, "Get him to the ground, get him to the ground, please." Lawmakers immediately adjourned the session while Dayton, a member of the Democratic-affiliated Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, was attended to. The Minneapolis Star Tribune said Dayton appeared to be seated upright and aware some moments afterward. The episode came about _NUMBER_ minutes into Dayton's speech to a joint session of the state legislature, according to a statement released by his chief of staff, Jaime Tincher. "He quickly recovered, walked out of the Capitol and turned home," Tincher said, adding that emergency medical technicians met Dayton at his home and performed a "routine check" on him there. "He is now spending time with his son and grandson" and would present his _NUMBER_ budget to legislators on Tuesday morning as planned. Gubernatorial spokesman Sam Fettig said the governor, now midway through his second four-year term, did not go to a hospital. Fettig declined to say what might have caused the governor's collapse but said he believed Dayton to be otherwise in good health. Dayton's son, Eric, posted a separate message on Twitter saying, "I'm with my dad now and he's doing great. Thank you all for your kind well-wishes and words of concern." Dayton was briefly hospitalized about a year ago after fainting while speaking during an event in the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury. Aides said then that he was treated for dehydration before being released. Dayton served six years at a U.S. senator from Minnesota before he was elected to his first term as governor in _NUMBER_.

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Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Monday said she will lead a new national party that will challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a general election expected to be called for next month. Koike, who named her new political group the Party of Hope, has emerged as a serious threat to Abe after she won the Tokyo governorship a year ago and in July fielded candidates who routed the LDP in elections for the metropolitan assembly. I want the Japanese people to believe that there is hope for tomorrow, she said at a televised press conference. Our ideal is to proceed free of special interests, she added. Koike is an ex-defense minister and former LDP member, and the challenge to her old party could pose a greater risk for Abe, who is expected to call a snap election for next month. Abe is benefiting from improved ratings and opposition disarray, but should he suffer a big loss of seats it could spur a challenge to his leadership from within the LDP. A weekend survey by the Nikkei business daily showed _NUMBER_ percent of voters will back Abe's LDP with only _NUMBER_ percent supporting the main opposition Democratic Party.

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Puerto Rico's debt crisis, if left unaddressed by the U.S. Congress where legislation has stalled in the House Natural Resources Committee, will result in the need to pay for a humanitarian aid package, Congressman Raul Grijalva said on Thursday. Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the HNRC from Arizona, said in a teleconference with reporters that it is an "either/or" situation as Puerto Rico faces _CUR_70 billion in debt it cannot pay off and a growing humanitarian crisis because it cannot afford maintaining basic social services. "Either we begin this process, stabilize, create some carve out opportunities for essential services and/or wait for the crisis to get worse and then have to respond with humanitarian relief," Grijalva said, adding that a new draft of the bill had not been made available as of Thursday morning. Grijalva visited Puerto Rico this week and met with the island's leadership and toured its main medical facilities. He said austerity alone is not going to stay the situation of degraded conditions for health, nutrition and education. "People talk about a bailout. Thus far there is no money being talked about extended by the United States government," Grijalva said, adding: "We are talking about a piece of legislation that provides for a method of restructuring and for some accountability attached to that restructuring." The Republican chairman of the HNRC, Rob Bishop of Utah, said he wants a bipartisan bill to emerge from committee but canceled an expected release of the legislation on Wednesday while lawmakers hashed out language revolving around the status of the island of Vieques, pensions and minimum wage rates. Puerto Rico defaulted on May _NUMBER_ for a third time on some of its debt, missing a roughly _CUR_400 million payment owed by the Government Development Bank, the island's main fiscal agent. It faces a near _CUR_2 billion July _NUMBER_ debt payment. The legislation's basic structure still includes the creation of an independent oversight board to lead the restructuring of the U.S. commonwealth's credit and work with the local government to develop an economic reform plan. On the issue of Vieques, Democrats are concerned the language regarding the transfer of federal land on the island, which is mainly a nature preserve, could leave it vulnerable to commercial development in the name of recreation. "Our position has been from the beginning that Vieques did not belong in this package of legislation," said Grijalva.

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Bank lobbyists who opened the Trump era with great expectations for sweeping regulatory reform are privately striking an increasingly dismal tone as hopes for a quick and thorough rewrite of Dodd-Frank legislation dim. Lobbyists say they are facing the reality that bank deregulation legislation will have to wait in line behind other bigger priorities such as healthcare reform and taxes. "It's so disheartening," said one financial industry representative. "I was excited for this year, and I'm not anymore." Even if Congress does look to rewrite the _NUMBER_ Dodd-Frank law, it is unlikely to muster enough votes in the Senate for the strong across-the-board overhaul industry leaders had hoped for, roughly a half dozen lobbyists told Reuters in recent interviews. Banks say that Dodd-Frank, which was conceived in response to the financial crisis, hobbles their growth. Among Dodd-Frank measures that banks want to see changed are the law's ban on proprietary trading, heightened oversight for some of the nation's largest institutions, and stricter capital requirements. But they see short-term hopes for less stringent oversight by agencies like the Federal Reserve or the Securities and Exchange Commission stymied by the slow pace of Trump appointments for those agencies. The private dejection is in contrast to the upbeat message being delivered to some _NUMBER_ bankers gathered in Washington this week for visits to Congress and speeches from policymakers at an American Bankers Association conference."This year poses the biggest opportunity that we have seen in a long time to see some action on much-needed regulatory relief," Rob Nichols, the ABA's president and chief executive officer, said at the conference. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, the Idaho Republican who will play a key role in any regulatory rewrite, has downplayed immediate expectations. He has emphasized that work in the Senate is slow going. Crapo announced Monday he wanted public input on proposals, underlining the deliberate pace of the panel's work. And the Republican chairman of the House of Representative Financial Services Committee, Jeb Hensarling, has yet to move on his prepared Dodd-Frank overhaul. Industry advocates say they have hoped sympathetic regulators could take major steps absent Congressional action. But the Trump administration has lagged in naming people for key roles, such as Federal Reserve's vice chair for supervision. For instance, a sympathetic Federal Reserve could relax the "living wills" process applied to large banks to determine how they could be dissolved if necessary. And a friendlier SEC could act to roll back rules on industry-opposed measures like requiring companies to disclose the pay ratio between their CEO and the average employee. To be sure, there likely will be some action this year to help banks, though it is likely to be much more limited than the Trump transition team led bankers to expect when it said one day after the November election that it would "dismantle" Dodd-Frank. There appears to be bipartisan appetite for easing capital formation rules or reducing the regulations that smaller banks and credit unions must comply with. Republicans in Congress could attack specific parts of Dodd-Frank, such as gaining control over funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - which was created to help guard individuals from fraud in mortgages, student loans and other financial products - through a budget process that would eliminate the need for Democratic support. Bankers preparing on Tuesday to head to Capitol Hill to make their case heard James Ballentine, a lobbyist for the ABA, emphasize the need to stay on message with stories about the impact of regulation on their banks. He noted they would be competing with wiretapping allegations, Federal Bureau of Investigation probes, Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and a massive healthcare push all at once. "None of those things should be topics of your conversation when you go to meet with your members of Congress," he cautioned the conference crowd.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigations will reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server exclusively during her time as Secretary of State.In a letter to Congress, FBI director James B. Comey revealed that the bureau had learned of more emails connected to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed by on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation, Comey wrote.Previously, Comey testified that the investigation was closed, but said that recent developments caused him to supplement his testimony.Comey did not give a timeline for the conclusion of the investigation.House oversight committee chairman Jason Chaffetz reacted to the news on Twitter.FBI Dir just informed me, "The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation." Case reopened Jason Chaffetz October _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_ Case reopened, he commented, citing Comey's letter.Via: Breitbart

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Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday canceled legislation exempting Jewish religious seminary students from military service, angering ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. A panel of nine justices ruled that parts of the conscription law that exempt seminary students from service were unreasonable and unconstitutional . It gave the government a year to resolve the matter. For decades, the exemption from military service on religious grounds for seminary students has caused friction in Israeli society, where most Jewish men and women are called up for military service when they turn _NUMBER_. The ultra-Orthodox say that their study of the Torah is vital for the continued survival of the Jewish people and also fear that young men serving in the army would come into contact with women and with less pious elements in society. Several hundred ultra-Orthodox men have, however, enlisted in special units that cater to their religious needs. Legislation was enacted in _NUMBER_ to replace arrangements that had previously expired. It was prompted by then-coalition member Yair Lapid's secular, centrist Yesh Atid party which ran on a platform of sharing the national burden . That legislation angered ultra-Orthodox parties who rejoined Netanyahu's subsequent government in _NUMBER_ when Lapid's party went into opposition and they managed to effect a watering down of the law. Eight of the nine justices ruled the law should be scrapped and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor, wrote that the most recent arrangement that was made to appease the ultra-Orthodox parties deeply harms equality in a way that damages the constitutional right to human dignity. Since Israel's founding in _NUMBER_, ultra-Orthodox politicians have campaigned vigorously against the conscription of members of their community, who make up about _NUMBER_ percent of Israel's population of _NUMBER_ million. Netanyahu's government, which controls _NUMBER_ of the Knesset's _NUMBER_ seats, includes both ultra-Orthodox parties, but two other influential factions oppose a further relaxation of the legislation against conscription. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said in response to the ruling that the justices were completely detached from our heritage and tradition and from the people. He encouraged seminary students to continue their Bible studies and said: Do not despair, continue to study the Torah, we will stand firm and will do everything to fix this situation. Lapid, whom opinion polls have shown to be a possible challenger to Netanyahu in future elections, convened a news conference to praise the court's decision, saying it had delivered a verdict that would force equality among communities. This is why we have come to politics. Conscription for everybody, work for everybody. Benjamin Netanyahu can no longer continue to wriggle out all the time. Military conscription is for everybody, not only for the suckers who don t have a party in his coalition, Lapid added.

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Human rights monitors on Wednesday urged Myanmar to withdraw a ban on protests in its largest city, Yangon, amid fears that free speech is under pressure under the government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi led efforts to end decades of military rule and won a landmark election in the Buddhist-majority country in _NUMBER_, but her civilian government shares power with the military and has no control over the army and police. She has also been roundly criticised in the West for failing to rein in the military over its alleged role in atrocities against minority Rohingya Muslims which the United Nations has described as textbook ethnic cleansing. The ban on protests, issued this month by a military-controlled ministry, restricts all applications for processions or assemblies in central Yangon in order to avoid public annoyance and anxiety and disturbance of traffic , according to official documents reviewed by Reuters. The curb came weeks before Pope Francis visit to Yangon, when he is expected to raise the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled the country after a Myanmar army offensive in August. It underscores rising concerns over free speech after recent arrests of journalists and activists in Myanmar. There is no legitimate reason for imposing a ban on all protests in major sections of Burma's largest city, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, referring to Myanmar by its old name. This directive was issued by a military officer and should be seen by the civilian government as a direct challenge to its commitment to basic rights for Burmese citizens. The government needs to reverse this ban and uphold the rule of law and refuse to capitulate to arbitrary actions by the military. The order, issued by Yangon Region Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Aung Soe Moe, instructs authorities in _NUMBER_ townships to deny all applications for assemblies. It does not say how long the curb will last. A senior official from the military-run General Administration Department in Yangon's Ahlone Township confirmed that his office has received the order. He declined to be named as he's not authorized to speak to the media. Reuters was unable to contact Yangon's police deputy chief by telephone. The office of Yangon's chief minister Phyo Min Thein declined to comment. A Myanmar court last week jailed for two months two journalists along with their interpreter and driver for violating an aircraft law by filming with a drone. Police on Sunday arrested an ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk who has a history of stoking sentiment against the Rohingya. Since Suu Kyi's government took power last year, _NUMBER_ people including journalists and activists have been charged or arrested under a controversial law that some worry is used to curb criticism of the authorities, according to advocacy group Research Team for Telecommunications Law.

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21st Century Wire says Is this the biggest new nugget to be found in Trump's joint address from last night?In the following video, Stuart J. Hooper examines Trump's promise to ask Congress for a one trillion dollar fund to rebuild America's infrastructure.Is it possible that this will create millions of jobs? But what of the potential problems that might emerge from the fact that it will be a public-private partnership? Let us know in the comments below.Watch the video here: READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER _USER_.TV

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In _NUMBER_ Dr Kermit Gosnell was convicted of killing four people, including three babies, but is thought to have killed hundreds, perhaps thousands more in a _NUMBER_-year killing spree.Gosnell is currently serving three life sentences for murdering babies and patients at his House of Horrors abortion clinic.This book now a major movie starring Dean Cain reveals how the investigation that brought Gosnell to justice started as a routine drugs investigation and turned into a shocking unmasking of America's biggest serial killer. It details how compliant politicians and bureaucrats allowed Dr. Gosnell to carry out his grisly trade because they'didn't want to be accused of attacking abortion. Gosnell also exposes the media coverup that saw reporters refusing to cover a story that shone an unwelcome spotlight on abortion in America in the 21st century.Gosnell is an astounding piece of investigative journalism revealing a coverup among the medical political and media establishments that allowed a killer to go undetected for decades.Newsbusters Among other things, Gosnell was convicted May _NUMBER_ of first-degree murder of three babies .On Tuesday, The New York Times responded to a Regnery statement Thursday criticizing the news outlet for refus to include Gosnell on their nonfiction Print Hardcover Best Sellers list. While Gosnell made No. _NUMBER_ on the Times Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction list, Regnery still accused the news outlet because it ignored the real sales numbers and refused to correctly list Gosnell as the 4th bestselling nonfiction title. The publishing company argued that Gosnell reached No. _NUMBER_ on Amazon's best-seller book list and was named Amazon's No. _NUMBER_ Hot New Release. This was all without any mainstream media attention no reviews, no features, no author interviews, the'statement added.A New York Times representative defended the outlet's methodology Tuesday in a comment to MRC Culture:The Times's best-seller lists are based on a detailed analysis of book sales from a wide range of retailers who provide us with specific and confidential context of their sales each week. These standards are applied consistently, across the board in order to provide Times readers our best assessment of what books are the most broadly popular at that time.She added, That process is not influenced in any way by the content of a book, or by pressure from publishers or book sellers. Unfortunately, the Gosnell story has faced media silence from the very beginning. Even Gosnell's trial, in which witnesses described baby abortion survivors swimming in toilets to get out, attracted a mere _NUMBER_ _NUMBER_ reporters. And that came only after a local columnist tweeted a picture of the empty courtroom benches reserved for press. Only after _NUMBER_ days, multiple letters from members of the House of Representatives and a public outcry, did all three broadcast networks report on Gosnell.Watch Megyn Kelly tear Dr. Gosnell's attorney who attempts to make her viewers believe Dr. Gosnell was a good guy and a perfect gentleman after he was convicted of murder:From the authors, Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer:The newspaper has admitted it does not use sales numbers to decide which books are allowed on its Best Sellers List . For The New York Times the numbers of books bought by real people don't matter. According to a statement they take into account the context of the'sales. The context?????According to The New York Times this context allows them to provide Times readers our best assessment of what books are the most broadly popular at that time. In other words to hell with the numbers we will decide what is popular and you can be sure it won't be a truthful book revealing the truth about abortion even though that is what people are buying. The New York Times Best Sellers List is a Fake List in a Fake Newspaper.Well we need to send a message to these elites who seem to hate the the truth.Please send this link _URL_ to as many people as you can and buy as many copies as you can. Give them to friends or donate them to your local library. We need to make sure that the mainstream media can no longer ignore this book or the truth about Kermit Gosnell. They tried to coverup the case when he was on trial. We defeated them then and we can do it again.The cover-up stops now.Thank you, Ann and Phelim

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Republicans were just given a leg up over Democrats in this fall's presidential election in the battleground state of North Carolina, and they have a judge put in place by George W. Bush to thank for it.Federal judge Thomas D. Schroeder decided in favor of Republican legislators in court on Monday, letting a controversial voter ID law stay in place despite strong objections from civil rights groups.Research on Voter ID laws have shown that these laws are often a reliable way for Republican conservatives to cut down on voters that often vote for Democrats, especially minorities and young voters.The judge, Thomas D. Schroeder of Federal District Court in Winston-Salem, wrote near the end of his _NUMBER_-page opinion that North Carolina has provided legitimate state interests for its voter ID requirement and electoral system. North Carolina's voter identification law requires people to display one of six credentials, such as a driver's license or passport, before casting a ballot. Those who cannot may complete a reasonable impediment declaration and cast a provisional ballot.Schroeder was officially put in place on January _NUMBER_, _NUMBER_, at the beginning of George W. Bush's last year in office.The North Carolina law also banned same-day registration, cut down on the amount of days available for early voting, and stops _NUMBER_ and _NUMBER_-year-olds from preregistering to vote.An expert testified at the trial that the law was designed in a way to put extra burden on black and Latino voters. Republican legislators and the'state's GOP governor Pat McCrory deny the claim.In _NUMBER_, a Republican Pennsylvania State House leader bragged that that state's voter ID laws would allow Governor Romney to win the'state of Pennsylvania , while recently a Republican congressman from Wisconsin said voter ID would make the'state which has recently voted for Democrats competitive in the fall for Republicans.President Obama won North Carolina in _NUMBER_ by _NUMBER_% then lost it in _NUMBER_ by _NUMBER_%. Polling in March showed the race in North Carolina effectively a toss-up between the Democratic and Republican presidential front runners.Featured image via Flickr