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Trump on Twitter (Feb 7) - Putin, Iran, Betsy Devos

The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : -I don’t know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem! [711 EST] -An honor having the National Sheriffs’ Assoc. join me at the @WhiteHouse. Incredible men & women who protect & serve 24/7/365. THANK YOU!! [1125 EST] -It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats! [2004 EST] -Senate Dems protest to keep the failed status quo. Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids! [814 EST] -An honor having the @NationalSheriff Association join me at the @WhiteHouse. Incredible men & women who protect & serve 24/7/365. THANK YOU! [1125 EST] -Congratulations to our new Education Secretary, @BetsyDeVos! [1250 EST] -@BetsyDeVos sworn in as Secretary of Education by @VP Mike Pence moments ago. Congratulations! [1928 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

WATCH: Obama DRAGS Trump In Epic Fashion On The World Stage

President Obama let loose on Donald Trump, describing the Republican presidential nominee as simply unfit to serve as President of the United States.In a press conference at the White House alongside the Prime Minister of Singapore, Obama as asked about Trump s attack on the family of deceased Army Captain Humayun Khan."The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president," President Obama says https://t.co/wjCjJOvbM5 https://t.co/fb5yN5gmpq The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) August 2, 2016President Obama said: The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as President. I said so last week and he keeps on proving it. The notion that he would attack a gold star family that had made such extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our country. The fact that he doesn t appear to have basic knowledge around critical issues, in Europe, the Middle East, in Asia, means that he s woefully unprepared to do this job. Obama s comments come as Trump has piled one screw-up on top of another, from attacking the Khan family, erroneously stating that Russia never invaded Crimea, going after local fire marshals, and calling Hillary Clinton the devil. On Tuesday morning Trump even made light of Purple Heart winners as a supporter gave him a replica and Trump laughed about how easy it was to get one. The incident occurred as a New York Times report examined Trump s claims of how he avoided serving in the Vietnam War and found that he has made multiple contradictory excuses over the years for how he stayed out of the conflict.His campaign is also in trouble. Trump recently fired two senior staffers, including the man who put together the B-list celebrities who appeared at the Republican Convention.By contrast, Hillary Clinton has seen an uptick in her polling after the convention. CNN recorded the biggest post-convention bounce they ve polled since 2000, with the new CNN/ORC poll showing her 9% ahead of him, 52% to 43%. NBC found a similar result. The latest NBC/SurveyMonkey poll shows Clinton ahead 50% to 42%.Featured image via Twitter

EU's Tusk says 'good deal' or 'no deal' on Brexit up to London

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that it was up to Britain to determine if there was to be a good deal or no deal in Brexit talks. We have managed to build and maintain unity among the 27, but ahead of us is still the toughest stress test. If we fail it, the negotiations will end in our defeat. We must keep our unity regardless of the direction of the talks. The EU will be able to rise to every scenario as long as we are not divided, Tusk, who chairs summits of EU leaders, told the European Parliament. It is in fact up to London how this will end, with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit but in each of these scenarios we will protect our common interests only by being together, he said.

McConnell says deep State Department budget cuts won't pass

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said he would not back slashing State Department funding as the Trump administration is expected to propose, adding that deep cuts would not pass the legislative chamber. Speaking to reporters, McConnell also said Republicans, who control both the Senate and the House of Representatives, are still not in agreement on a healthcare plan to replace Obamacare.

Appeals court revives challenge to Arizona voting law

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday agreed to revisit a challenge to an Arizona voting law which restricted the ability of advocates to collect absentee ballots by hand. A three judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier upheld the Arizona law, but the full court on Wednesday voted to rehear the case before an 11-judge panel. Five conservative 9th Circuit judges dissented from the decision to rehear the case, saying it was made too close to Election Day.

Kremlin says possible Putin-Trump meeting being worked on

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump at the APEC summit in Vietnam is still being worked on, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman as saying on Friday. Discussions continue. There is no clarity yet, Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Interfax as saying. The White House said on Friday Trump will not have a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart.

NUT JOB GLENN BECK Joins Liberal, Foul-Mouthed Whack Job Samantha Bee In Unified Effort To Fight “TRUMPISM” [VIDEO]

Glenn Beck, a man once described by Forbes as someone who s managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth, has (seemingly) had a profound change of heart. Following his call for conservatives to empathize with Black Lives Matter activists in a New York Times op-ed back in September, the Blaze founder joined Samantha Bee on Full Frontal on Monday to declare a common enemy: the Precedent-elect, a.k.a. Mr. Brexit, a.k.a. the former Apprentice host.Complex

North Korean official says will continue missile tests: BBC

LONDON (Reuters) - North Korea will continue to regularly test missiles and any military action against it by the United States would prompt “all out war”, a senior North Korean official told the BBC on Monday. North Korea has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions and has said it has developed a missile that can strike the U.S. mainland. Its latest missile test on Sunday failed a few seconds after launch. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea on Monday that recent U.S. strikes in Syria, one of Pyongyang’s few close allies, and Afghanistan showed that the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested. “We’ll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis,” the BBC quoted Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol as saying in an interview. “If the U.S. is reckless enough to use military means it would mean from that very day, an all out war.” North Korean state media last week warned of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of American aggression, but the White House said there was no evidence it possessed that capability. The BBC reported Han also said North Korea believed its nuclear weapons protect it from the threat of military action by the United States.

Trump Praises Coast Guard’s Hurricane Relief For All The Wrong Reasons, What He Said Is Awful (VIDEO)

Leave it to Donald Trump to disrespect both the heroes and victims of a massive hurricane.Earlier today at the White House, Trump spoke with reporters about the devastating effects Hurricane Irma will have on Florida and the surrounding areas. Trump also assured everyone that he would be traveling to the damaged areas soon to provide assistance. But what grabbed everyone s attention were Trump s comments to the Coast Guard as he praised them for their efforts.Everything started well as Trump commended the Coast Guard for their response to the hurricane. However, Trump ruined his speech by showing America that he still doesn t know how to be presidential and cannot tell the difference between what is appropriate and what is not in a dire situation. While Hurricane Irma rages on, Trump felt it was the perfect time to talk about the Coast Guard s branding. Yes, really. Trump congratulated the agency on raising its image, completely overshadowing any praise about their efforts. Trump said: A group that really deserves credit is the United States Coast Guard. What they ve done I mean, they ve gone right into that, and you never know. When you go in there, you don t know if you re coming out. They are really if you talk about branding, no brand has improved more than the United States Guard. Once again, it s very clear that even in times of great tragedy and danger, all Trump cares about or pays attention to is image and ratings. This was totally disrespectful to the Coast Guard as well as to those suffering due to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. Branding is the last thing we should be concerned about here.You can watch Trump s ridiculous speech below:Pres. Trump says he will visit Florida soon, will keep an eye on how Hurricane Irma develops over the next few hours. pic.twitter.com/itaTVJYuDH CBS News (@CBSNews) September 10, 2017Featured image via Pool/Getty Images

Saudi aims to issue tourist visas next year, official says

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia aims to start issuing tourist visas to foreigners next year, a senior Saudi official told CNN, as the government seeks to open up the conservative kingdom and find new sources of revenue to diversify its economy. At present, foreigners traveling to Saudi Arabia are largely restricted to resident workers and their dependents, business travelers, and Muslim pilgrims who are given special visas to travel to holy sites. The targets are people who want to come and literally experience this country, and really the grandness of this country, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Natural Heritage, said in an interview broadcast late on Wednesday. Asked about plans for the visas, he replied: Hopefully in 2018, adding that the government would use online technology to make applying for visas easy. Saudi Arabia s 32-year-old heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is seeking to develop new industries to wean his country off its dependency on oil exports. He has also taken some steps to loosen its ultra-strict social restrictions, scaling back the role of religious morality police and announcing plans to allowing women to drive next year. Plans to admit significant numbers of tourists from abroad have been discussed for years, only to be blocked by conservative opinion and bureaucracy; the commission announced such a plan as long ago as 2006, but it did not go ahead. This time, the government appears determined to push through the change, partly because of financial pressures. It hopes to earn billions of dollars to cover a state budget deficit caused by low oil prices. Economic reforms aim to lift total tourism spending in the country - by local citizens as well as foreigners - to $46.6 billion in 2020 from $27.9 billion in 2015. Prince Sultan said his commission was focusing mainly on increasing numbers of local tourists. The commission has estimated Saudis spend more than $20 billion annually on tourism abroad, and persuading more of them to holiday inside the country would reduce that drain on the economy. But Prince Sultan told CNN that his commission was also working to prepare tourist spots for foreigners. The government announced plans in August to develop resorts on about 50 islands off the Red Sea coast, with the first phase of the project to be completed in 2022. The kingdom also intends to offer visits to historic sites such as Mada in Saleh, a 2,000-year-old Nabatean city carved into the rocks of the northern desert. Heir to the throne Prince Mohammed would be the first ruler from a new generation since 1953, after six kings who were all sons of state founder Abdulaziz ibn Saud. He has announced wide plans for social and political reforms to the kingdom, which is ruled as an absolute monarchy with a powerful clergy that adheres to Wahhabism, an ultra-austere version of Sunni Islam.

U.S. warns North Korean leadership will be 'utterly destroyed' in case of war

SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States warned North Korea s leadership it would be utterly destroyed if war were to break out after Pyongyang test fired its most advanced missile, putting the U.S. mainland within range, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Trump administration has repeatedly said all options are on the table in dealing with North Korea s ballistic and nuclear weapons programmes, including military ones, but that it still prefers a diplomatic option. Speaking at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley said the United States had never sought war with North Korea. If war does come, it will be because of continued acts of aggression like we witnessed yesterday, she said. ...and if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed. Haley said the United States has asked China to cut off oil supply to North Korea, a drastic step that Beijing - the North s neighbour and sole major trading partner - has so far refrained from doing. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked on the phone earlier on Wednesday. Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled! Trump wrote on Twitter. Previous U.S. administrations have failed to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and a sophisticated missile programme. Trump, who has previously said the United States would totally destroy North Korea if necessary to protect itself and its allies from the nuclear threat, has also struggled to contain Pyongyang since he came to office in January. Urging China to use its leverage and promising more sanctions against North Korea are two strategies that have borne little fruit so far. In a speech in Missouri about taxes, Trump, who has traded insults with the North in the past, referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with a derisive nickname. Little Rocket Man. He is a sick puppy, Trump said. For a graphic on North Korea's missile program, click tmsnrt.rs/2twm7W3 North Korea, which conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test in September, has tested dozens of ballistic missiles under Kim s leadership. Pyongyang has said its weapons programmes are a necessary defence against U.S. plans to invade. The United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, denies any such intention. North Korean state media said on Wednesday the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched from a newly developed vehicle in a breakthrough and that the warhead could withstand the pressure of re-entering the atmosphere. Kim personally guided the missile test and said the new launcher was impeccable . Pyongyang claimed it had finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force . Russia s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called on North Korea to stop its weapons tests and for the United States and South Korea not to hold military drills in December as it would inflame an already explosive situation . The official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial that the latest launch may have been prompted by the Trump administration s decision to label North Korea a sponsor of state terrorism. Beijing wants the two belligerents to calm down and is vexed that a golden opportunity to encourage Pyongyang into talks was casually wasted by the Trump administration, the paper said. The clock is ticking down to one of two choices: learning to live with the DPRK having nuclear weapons or triggering a tripwire to the worst-case scenario, it added. North Korea said the new missile soared to an altitude of about 4,475 km (2,780 miles) - more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station - and flew 950 km (590 miles) during its 53-minute flight. It flew higher and longer than any North Korean missile before, landing in the sea near Japan. Photos released by North Korean state media appeared to show a missile being positioned on the launch site by a mobile vehicle, designed to allow the missile to be fired from a wider number of areas to prevent it being intercepted before launch. Kim is shown laughing and smiling with officials both next to the missile as it is readied, and in a control booth. The launch itself shows the missile lifting off amid smoke and fire, with Kim watching from a field in the distance. U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded from satellite and other data that the test missile was fired from a fixed position, not a mobile launcher, three U.S. officials said. One official said the test appears to demonstrate a more powerful North Korean solid-fuel propulsion system, especially in its second stage rocket. The photos also revealed a larger diameter missile, which could allow it to carry a larger warhead and use a more powerful engine, said David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a U.S.-based nonprofit science advocacy group. Three U.S. intelligence analysts said they were trying to assess whether North Korea s comments meant Kim might now be open to a longer halt in testing in order to reopen negotiations that might help prevent, or at least defer, the imposition of additional sanctions. The officials also noted, however, that North Korea has not proved it has an accurate guidance system for an ICBM or a re-entry vehicle capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and surviving a return from space through Earth s atmosphere, meaning further tests would be needed. An international meeting in Canada in January is designed to produce better ideas to ease tensions over Pyongyang s nuclear and ballistic missile tests, Canadian officials said on Wednesday, although North Korea itself will not be invited. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States has a long list of additional potential sanctions, some of which involve potential financial institutions, and the Treasury Department will be announcing those when they re ready to roll those out . In just three months, South Korea hosts the Winter Olympics at a resort just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border with North Korea. (For a graphic on North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, click tmsnrt.rs/2f3Y8rQ ) (Interactive graphic: Nuclear North Korea, click tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF )

Peru's Kuczynski swears in new Cabinet, opposition signals support

LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski made Vice President Mercedes Araoz his new prime minister in a Cabinet shuffle on Sunday that won praise from the opposition - a sign his year-old government will likely avoid a fresh standoff with Congress. Kuczynski also swore in Deputy Economy Minister Claudia Cooper as his new finance minister and replaced his justice, education, health and housing ministers. The new, more socially conservative Cabinet sparked criticism from Kuczynski s centrist and leftist supporters that he had caved into the right-wing party Popular Force, which has an absolute majority in Congress. But opposition lawmakers said they welcomed the change. I wish success to Meche (Mercedes Araoz) and the new Cabinet, Luis Galarreta, the head of Congress and Popular Force lawmaker, said on Twitter. The country needs change and the government needs a chance to mend its ways. Kuczynski was forced to form a new Cabinet after Congress revoked its confidence in the outgoing one on Friday following a dispute over a teachers strike and his government s education policies that stress gender equality in the school curriculum. Congress ousted Kuczynski s former education minister late last year and was preparing to censure his second education minister last week. Kuczynski s new education minister, Idel Vexler, previously criticized the education reforms that Kuczynski vowed to defend in a message to the nation on Friday. A 78-year-old former Wall Street banker, Kuczynski took office a year ago with a promise to modernize Peru. He broadly shares the same free-market economic ideology as Popular Force, but is more socially liberal. Kuczynski s incoming housing minister, Carlos Bruce, is the first openly gay Cabinet member in Peru. Araoz was finance minister in the 2006-2011 right-wing government of former President Alan Garcia, whose party often works closely with Popular Force. Vexler also worked in Garcia s government. We have to work with them to keep making progress on the country s development, Araoz said in televised comments after being sworn in. Kuczynski s approval rating dropped 7 points to a new low of 22 percent in Ipsos latest monthly poll, which was taken from Sept. 13 to 15 and published on Sunday in daily newspaper El Comercio.

U.S. lawmakers probing Wells Fargo scandal blast arbitration pacts

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co customers aiming to sue the bank over bogus accounts opened in their names may be in for an unpleasant surprise: the fine print requires them to take their claims to an arbitrator instead of a court. Mandatory arbitration rules inserted into account-opening agreements prohibit customers from joining class actions or suing the third-largest U.S. bank in court. Instead, the agreements require individual, closed-door arbitration. U.S. senators highlighted the issue on Tuesday as they grilled Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf during a hearing. Asked if he would set aside the mandatory arbitration agreements for customers affected by the phantom accounts, Stumpf demurred. “I’m not an expert in that,” he said, adding he would talk to his legal team. That was not enough for some lawmakers. “If we had class action on this in 2010, 2009, 2008, the problem never would have gotten so out of hand,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said later, when questioning regulators about the practice. Class actions can be more affordable for unhappy customers, especially those with limited resources, because they can band together to sue, rather than having to hire lawyers individually. Consumers also complain that target companies often choose the arbitrators; proceedings are confidential; and decisions are hard to appeal. Three Wells Fargo customers filed a lawsuit Friday in a Utah federal court, seeking class action status on behalf of hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide they say were harmed by the San Francisco-based bank’s fraud and recklessness. It was unclear whether they could get around the mandatory arbitration clauses, though. Last year, Wells successfully invoked the clauses to defend against a class action suit tied to bogus accounts. In that case, the judge said customers had to arbitrate because of agreements they signed when opening legitimate accounts at the bank. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a brainchild of Warren, was part of the regulatory group that negotiated a $190 million settlement from Wells Fargo over the bogus accounts. The bureau is considering rules to ban banks, credit card issuers and other companies from forcing customers to submit to arbitration and waive their right to join class action lawsuits. Under the proposal, companies could still use arbitration, but would have to tell consumers they could join class action lawsuits instead. Mandating arbitration when signing up for financial products has become standard practice after a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision validated the practice. Still, the tide may be turning, said Joseph Peiffer, a New Orleans lawyer who has represented investors and others in class action lawsuits. “Class actions dissuade companies from ripping people off a thousand dollars here and a thousand dollars there,” Peiffer said.

Merkel pushes for three-way 'Jamaica' coalition in Germany

DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged her conservatives on Saturday to forge a three-way alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, her most explicit backing yet for the so-called Jamaica coalition. Merkel, who won a fourth term in the Sept. 24 election but bled support to the far-right, needs to form a coalition. The Jamaica alliance, named for the black, yellow and green party colors which match Jamaica s flag, is her most likely path to a parliamentary majority. Merkel also said a special party meeting should be held to let members of her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) discuss and vote on any coalition deal. She told the youth wing of her party in Dresden that members should concentrate on talks that lie ahead, first within the conservative bloc between the CDU and its CSU sister party from the state of Bavaria, and then with the FDP and Greens. Aside from internal differences in the conservative camp, especially on migrant policy, the three blocs that would form the Jamaica coalition are at odds on energy and climate policy, tax and Europe. Yet in a marked shift, Merkel made clear there were no other realistic options. She closed the door on another tie-up with the Social Democrats (SPD), her coalition partners for the past four years, who have announced their intention to go into opposition after slumping to their worst post-war result. It is clear that the Social Democrats are not capable of being in government on the national level in the foreseeable future, so I advise us all to waste no time thinking about that any more, said Merkel. If Merkel is unable to form a Jamaica coalition, the prospects of a minority government or even new elections loom, an unpalatable scenario for investors who are already spooked by months of uncertainty ahead. Merkel s first task in building a coalition comes on Sunday when she meets the CSU to agree common positions, most notably on migrant policy, before starting exploratory talks with other parties. The CSU, which has served as sister party to the CDU for decades, fears heavy losses in next year s Bavaria election and is digging its heels in over a demand for a cap on the number of refugees. Merkel says a cap would breach the constitution which guarantees asylum to politically persecuted people. Merkel, who left Germany s borders open to 1 million migrants in 2015, acknowledged her handling of that crisis had shaken the relationship between the CDU and CSU, and took responsibility for election losses because of her decision. Most of the migrants who arrived two years ago entered Germany through Bavaria. Merkel implored both parties to compromise, saying the parties deal to live with their differences and fight the election together this year had meant they had won. I will do everything I can to move this forward.. With good will, that is possible, she said. The conservative youth wing on Friday agreed on a Dresden declaration calling for change after the heavy election losses. While it stopped short of the CSU s demand for an upper limit on migration, it rejected uncontrolled immigration. On euro zone reform, Merkel sounded skeptical on the idea of a finance minister for the currency zone. A finance minister will only be appointed if a finance minister is necessary, she said. The FDP has said it could not agree to a euro zone budget that would help redress economic imbalances within the bloc.

At least eight dead amid Cameroon Anglophone protests

BUEA/BAMENDA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Soldiers shot dead at least eight people and wounded others in Cameroon s restless English-speaking regions on Sunday during protests by activists calling for its independence from the majority Francophone nation, an official and witnesses said. The demonstrations - timed to take place on the anniversary of Anglophone Cameroon s independence from Britain - came as a months-old movement against perceived marginalization by the Francophone-dominated government gathered pace. The protests, which began late last year, have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya s 35-year rule. Donatus Njong Fonyuy, mayor of the town of Kumbo, said five prisoners were killed at around 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) after the jail where they were being held caught fire. We don t know what caused the fire in the prison ... But five prisoners were killed by soldiers. Two were wounded by bullets and are at the hospital, he told Reuters, adding that another two civilians were also injured. In other incidents in Kumbo, soldiers shot and killed a demonstrator and wounded two others who had raised the blue and white flag of the Ambazonia separatist movement in the town. Another woman was killed inside her home, Fonyuy said, without giving further details. Police and army officials were not immediately available to comment on the shootings. We won t use violence unless there is major cause. There are numerous risks, even terrorist risks. We re keeping calm, a security source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said earlier in the day. Writing on his official Facebook account, President Biya condemned the violence. Let me make this very clear: it is not forbidden to voice any concerns in the Republic. However, nothing great can be achieved by using verbal excesses, street violence, and defying authority, he said. Cameroon s divide has its roots in the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors. Authorities had banned all gatherings of more than four people, ordered bus stations, eateries and shops to shut and forbade movement between different parts of the English-speaking regions ahead of the protests. The government also ordered Cameroon s border with Nigeria closed for the weekend. Access to popular social media and messaging apps, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, was disrupted from Friday. Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Sunday threatened to shut any media outlets giving a voice to separatists, saying they must not encourage those who advocate division, who want to destroy and destabilize our country . Businesses were shuttered in the regions main cities, Buea and Bamenda, where military helicopters circled overhead. The security deployment included troops from the Cameroonian army s Rapid Intervention Brigade, a unit that typically fights Islamist Boko Haram militants in the country s north. One protester was killed on the edge of Buea as security forces attempted to block pro-independence marchers from entering the city, three witnesses said. Hundreds nevertheless slipped through the countryside to get around the blockade and into the city, where security forces used teargas to try to stop them from marching on the regional governor s office. A Reuters witness also heard gunfire, though it was not clear whether the shots were targeting protesters or being fired in the air. The military, which is supposed to protect lives and property, has turned into our greatest nightmare, said one Buea resident, who asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisal. In Bamenda, where a bomb attack blamed on separatists wounded three policemen last week, young men brandishing improvised secessionist flags clashed with security forces who attempted to disperse them with teargas. Thousands of government supporters meanwhile marched in Douala, Cameroon s main port city and its commercial hub, voicing their opposition to calls for independence or more autonomy for the Anglophone regions. We are here ... to reject sectarianism, to condemn all kinds of hate, all forms of violence carried out under any pretext whatsoever, Justice Minister Laurent Esso told the pro-government crowd.

Lindsey Graham Just Went ROGUE, Threatened To IMPEACH Trump (VIDEO)

We re only two months into Trump s failing presidency, and even the Republican Party wants nothing more than to see the end of it. What s even more surprising, is that many of the party s most prominent members are doing very little to hide their feelings and disappointment.Earlier today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) took the opportunity to grill Trump s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch during his confirmation hearing. Graham has been a major critic of Trump since his presidential campaign, and he made sure to insult Trump on his stance on torture practices while questioning Gorsuch. Sending a warning to Trump about his stance on waterboarding in particular, Graham said to Gorsuch: You have said several times he is not above the law. So if we have laws on the book that prevent waterboarding do you agree with me that the Detainee Treatment Act prevents waterboarding? Under the Detainee Treatment Act, waterboarding is illegal and yet, Trump has blatantly stated during his campaign that he doesn t believe waterboarding is a torture method. He has previously said in several different interviews that waterboarding absolutely works and claims it is just short of torture. Graham then followed his question to Gorsuch up with this statement, which sounded much like a promise and a threat to Trump: In case President Trump is watching if you start waterboarding, you may be impeached. Gorsuch s response made it perfectly clear that he was in agreement with Graham. He said: Senator, the impeachment power belongs to this body. No man is above the law. You can watch Graham send this shocking message to Trump below:There have never been more reasons to impeach a president, and now even Republicans are beginning to recognize that this man does not belong in the White House.Featured image via screenshot

OFFENDING THE GLOBALISTS: Teen Kicked Out Of UN Building For Wearing Bill Clinton “Rape” Shirt [VIDEO]

Freedom of speech is not a universally accepted right, which is just one more reason the U.S. has no business funding the globalist UN and their activities When you re visiting the UN Building in NYC, it might be a good idea not to offend the globalists or anyone in a leadership role with the globalists https://youtu.be/yvLrss1H4G8The Bill Clinton RAPE shirt can be purchased at InfoWars at this LINK. We are in no way affiliated or benefitting from the sale of this t-shirt. We just thought you might like to know where you can pick one up and spread the truth about the sexual predator husband Hillary has enabled for decades .

sioux indians wish dakota pipeline protesters would go home

hillary campaign launching attacks on the fbi october if the clinton campaign becomes any more deranged hillary will start running attack ads against the fbi this kind of tactic is already perilously close to an attack ad hillary clintons presidential campaign ratcheted up its attack on the director of the fbi on sunday circulating a draft letter critical of james comey to former federal prosecutors it is out of our respect for such settled tenets of the united states department of justice that we are moved to express our concern with the recent letter issued by fbi director james comey to eight congressional committees the clinton campaigns letter speaking for prosecutors said the letter was signed and provided to the daily beast by elkan abramowitz a former chief of the criminal division of the us attorney for the southern district of new york it is expected to be released sunday evening so we have the bizarre spectacle of hillary deciding that she needs to campaign against the head of the fbi who was just being praised for clearing her because when youre a paranoid personality who assembles lists of enemies this is how you react but its also telling that the clinton campaign finds this so threatening that it is waging war on the fbi

WATCH: Iowa Woman’s Vicious, Racist Assault On Black Reporter Caught On Video

KCCI reporter Emmy Victor was covering an officer-involved shooting, which took place in Boone, Iowa, when she was verbally assaulted by a racist white woman. The woman s entire vicious tirade was caught on camera.As KCCI reports here, Victor and another reporter were covering the officer-involved shooting of 28-year-old Michael Disbrowe at the Greenwood Mobile Home park in Boone, when the incident took place.As Victor attempted to cover the story, a white woman dressed in a tee-shirt and sweatpants suddenly flew at her. Victor can be seen backing away, as the woman shoves her finger in the reporter s face, screeching Get out of here you stupid fucking nigger. The reporter keeps her cool as the woman continues to verbally assault and threaten her. Get the fuck outta here, she shouts. One You re gonna start going down, she says storming back towards her a second time.When Victor tells the woman she needs to leave before the police are called, she rages, You gonna shoot me too? The woman storms away, knocking the cameraman s tripod over as she goes.According to the station, the racist hate-spewing woman is the mother of the man shot by police that night.Witnesses report that Michael Disbrowe was threatening residents of the trailer park with a gun on June 27, when police were called to the scene.A neighbor, Patty Webb, told the Des Moines Register that she heard a man and woman screaming and cussing at each other. Webb called 911 after hearing gunshots.After police arrived on the scene, Webb says she and other residents were ordered to stay inside their own homes.Webb told reporters: (The police) begged him for 20 minutes, Please put the gun down, and he wouldn t. It wasn t until Disbrowe raised his arm and pointed the gun directly at police that the officers opened fire.While Disbrowe s mother was understandably distraught over the shooting, that in no way should excuse the vicious, racist assault she directed at the reporter.In a statement following the incident, KCCI General Manager Brian Sather said: The safety of our crews is critically important as they cover stories affecting our communities. This morning Emmy and Zach demonstrated the utmost professionalism in the face of a very difficult, emotionally-charged situation. Here s the video courtesy of KCCI via YouTube. Image credit: video screen capture KCCI

'Red Scare' puts pressure on Indonesian president

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police will deploy as many as 30,000 personnel to guard an anti-communist rally on Friday, as the country s military chief and Islamist groups stoke fears of a hard left revival in the world s most populous Muslim nation. Protesters will gather outside Indonesia s parliament on the eve of the 52nd anniversary of the murder of six Army generals and a young lieutenant by rebel armed forces personnel, an incident that led to a retaliatory pogrom that killed at least 500,000 alleged communists. The massacres ushered in more than 30 years of authoritarian rule under Suharto, the former general who led the communist purge. Earlier this month, Armed Forces Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo instructed military officers to screen a Suharto-era propaganda film depicting the deaths of the generals and the crushing of an alleged Communist coup to prevent what happened in 1965 from recurring . The three-and-a-half-hour film, criticized by historians for inaccuracies and failing to depict the massacre of leftists, has been widely shown in villages and mosques in the past week. During Suharto s rule, it was broadcast annually on the night of Sept 30th, the date of the alleged abortive coup. It was also compulsory viewing for students. Indonesia s Communist Party, once one of the world s largest, remains outlawed, and there appears to be little evidence of a Marxist ideology taking hold in Indonesia. Instead, analysts and government advisers said, the fomenting of a red scare was aimed at Indonesia s reformist president Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, and long falsely accused of being the descendant of communists. Indonesia s growing economic ties with China are also frequently cited by those concerned about rising communist influence in Indonesia. I see Jokowi being the factor behind the rise of communism in Indonesia because of the cooperative relationship with China, said Yudi Syamhudi Suyuti, one of the protest organizers and a failed political candidate for the opposition Gerindra Party, in comments posted online. Friday s rally has been organized by hardline Islamist groups led by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). We reject and fight against the awakening of the Indonesian Communist Party, Slamet Maarif, the chairman of the rally s organizing committee and spokesman for the FPI, told Reuters. The FPI led huge rallies last year that successfully demanded the jailing for blasphemy of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Jakarta s then governor and an ethnic Chinese Christian. Maarif predicted 50,000 protesters would join Friday s rally, which will also urge parliament to overturn a presidential regulation allowing the government to ban mass organizations deemed a threat to national unity. Hizbut Tahrir, an Islamist group that wants Indonesia to become a caliphate, was disbanded under the regulation in July. A Jakarta police spokesman, Argo Yuwono, expected only 15,000 people to turn up. We will deploy 30,000 police personnel, he said on Tuesday, noting the risk that more could arrive. During an anti-Purnama rally in December last year, police arrested eight people for treason in an alleged plot for protesters to occupy the parliament building. We have anticipated all [possibilities], Yuwono said. On Wednesday, a national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto, said police would adapt their deployment depending on the number of protesters. We have prepared for defending parliament, he said. Tobias Basuki, an Indonesian political analyst, said Nurmantyo had clear political ambitions. The armed forces chief, due to retire in March, courted further controversy this month when he falsely claimed 5,000 weapons had been illegally imported on behalf of Widodo. There s not much evidence at all of a communist revival but as we head to the 2019 [presidential] election the communist fear-mongering is being used by various groups, said Basuki. We are seeing a coalescing conspiracy theory from military groups and Islamist groups for political purposes. Nurmantyo has declined to publicly comment after the chief security minister and defense minister corrected his claim about the imported weapons. A military spokesman, Major General Wuryanto, said Nurmantyo did not carry out political moves . Widodo was the subject of a smear campaign during the 2014 presidential election claiming he was a descendant of Communists and had Chinese ancestry. The campaign, mostly prosecuted on social media, coincided with a fall in Widodo s high approval ratings at the time. In a sign of the potency and persistence of the rumors, both Widodo and his mother Sujiatmi Notomiharjo have this year publicly denied any communist links. The military has resisted attempts by rights groups and academics to discuss the 1965 slaughter, one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century. It s not popular with segments of the public, either. Earlier this month, protesters clashed with police as they tried to break up a seminar in Jakarta on the 1965 killings. Bonnie Triyana, an Indonesian historian, said the country has never fully acknowledged or become reconciled over the anti-communist killings even after Indonesia became a democracy in 1998. Most Indonesians had little idea of the scale of the pogrom, he said. Politicians today exploit the collective amnesia of the people, he said.

Trump’s Favorite New Dictator Just Cut Off Access To Wikipedia

The Turkish government has blocked access to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. When people throughout the country try to access the site, all they will see is a swirly symbol until they see a message that the connection to the server has timed out. Turkey was recently subject to a failed coup attempt, and in the aftermath President Erdo an used the incident to seize greater powers over the government, becoming a dictator. Trump praised this.The official reason the Turkish government has given is that the site, has started acting as part of the circles who carry out a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena, rather than being cooperative in fight against terror. This is according to a statement by Turkish ministry officials. There have been articles posted to Wikipedia that equate the Turkish government with various terror groups.The Turkey Blocks organization that watches for these kinds of blocks announced the government actions against Wikipedia. Johnny Wales, the founder of Wikipedia took to Twitter to voice his objections. He posted, Access to information is a fundamental human right. The Turkish people I will always stand with you to fight for this right. While other sites are working normally right now, the Turkish government has used its power to cut off access to other sites in the past. For example, it blocked access to YouTube for several months in 2014. This was in response to a video the site showed of a meeting in Syria on security. The year before that, the government shut off access to a variety of social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook due to bomb attacks or widespread protests.Last November, limitations were placed on access to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.Some clever internet users have been able to get around the blocks by using VPNs. Increasingly, the government has been finding ways to keep these users from accessing banned sites.The government admits that from time to time for security reasons we can use such measures These are temporary measures. Once the danger is passed, everything returns to normal. This is according to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.Featured image via Getty Images

TUCKER CARLSON Tells Liberal Guest: National Endowment for the Arts Is In Effect ‘Welfare for Rich, Liberal Elites’ [VIDEO]

Tucker Carlson asks Robin Bronk, CEO of the Creative Coalition: Why should in a time of budge deficits, taxpayers be subsidizing entertainment for rich people ? Don t you think it s kind of funny that artists who are against the grain and thinking for themselves, all of a sudden they re queuing up for their handouts from taxpayers? Tucker asked. Why wouldn t artists just strike out on their own and be independent? Watch the back-and-forth here: FOX Insider

Australian police cut chains from immigration protesters at PM's residence

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police on Monday used metal cutters to remove five protesters who had chained themselves to the gate of the prime minister s official residence over the treatment of asylum seekers detained in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea police last week expelled about 400 protesting asylum-seekers from a shuttered Australian-run detention camp on Manus Island. The United Nations decried the crackdown as shocking . The Manus Island detention camp, and another in the South Pacific island nation of Nauru, have been cornerstones of Australia s policy under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. The policy, aimed at deterring people from making a perilous sea voyage to Australia, has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but has bipartisan political support in Australia. But some people, including some Christian groups, object to it. It s our hope that as church leaders we can actually respond ... in non-violent ways, in peaceful ways that actually highlight the issue and do justice to the beauty and the courage of the men on Manus Island, said one of the protesters, Jarod Mckenna, who said he was a Christian pastor. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull does not live in the official residence and he was not there during the three-hour protest which ended when police ordered the five to keep still while the chains were cut from around their necks. They were then taken away in a police vehicle. There were no reports of injuries, police said. Australia says allowing asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores would only encourage people smugglers in Asia and see more people risk their lives trying to reach Australia. Australia closed the Manus Island detention center on Oct. 31, after it was declared illegal by a Papua New Guinea court. The asylum-seekers, who have said they fear for their safety as well as being resettled in Papua New Guinea or another developing country, were taken to transit centers. Australia has rejected an offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 of the men, and is instead aiming to sending up to 1,250 of them to the United States under a swap deal. So many people feel hopeless, Kurdish journalist and Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani told Reuters by text message from one of the transit centers. Papua New Guinea immigration and police officials did not return Reuters telephone calls or emails.

Key conservative lawmaker says making headway on healthcare bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Wednesday he is very encouraged by the negotiations with Republican leadership over a sweeping healthcare bill. “I’m very encouraged that we might be seeing some real headway,” Meadows told reporters before a caucus meeting. Earlier, a Freedom Caucus aide said more than 25 members of the group opposed the legislation to replace Obamacare, enough votes to sink the bill in Thursday’s scheduled vote.

Australia, citing concerns over China, cracks down on foreign political influence

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia, concerned about rising Chinese influence, will ban foreign political donations as part of a crackdown aimed at preventing external interference in domestic politics, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday. Turnbull told reporters in Canberra that foreign powers were making unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated attempts to influence the political process in Australia and the world. He cited disturbing reports about Chinese influence . Australia and neighbouring New Zealand are among roughly a third of countries worldwide that allow foreign donations to political parties. Such donations are prohibited in the United States, Britain and several European countries. Australia s new laws, modelled in part on the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, would criminalise foreign interference and require the registration of lobbyists working for nation states, Turnbull said. The announcement came as concern grows that Beijing may be extending its influence and as relationships between Australian politicians and Chinese government interests have become increasingly contentious. Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in June on a concerted campaign by China to infiltrate Australian politics to promote Chinese interests. China denies the claims. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had no intention of interfering with Australia s internal affairs or using political funding to influence them. At the same time, we want to again urge Australia to remove their biases and take an objective and positive attitude to assess China and its relations with Australia, he added. However, leading opposition Senator Sam Dastyari quit some senior Labor Party positions last week after a tape surfaced of him appearing to endorse China s contentious expansion in disputed areas of the South China Sea, against his party s platform. The tape, which showed him standing next to property developer Huang Xiangmo, a major Chinese political donor, was leaked to the media. I take those reports, as do my colleagues, very seriously, Turnbull said. However, the new laws are not about any one country , he said. Foreign interference is a global issue ... for example, we re all familiar with very credible reports that Russia sought to actively undermine the United States election ... the threat is real, Turnbull said. The new laws, should they pass parliament, would ban foreign donations to political parties or any political group that has spent more than A$100,000 ($76,350) campaigning in the past four years - a rule that could also likely affect environmental and other campaign groups. Australia expressed deep concern last month over a crackdown on pro-democracy groups in Cambodia. Despite that, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said foreign donations to activist group GetUp!, a non-partisan but vocal critic of the centre-right government, would be banned under Australia s new laws. GetUp! said in a statement only 0.5 percent of its donations come from overseas. It criticised the proposed laws as an attempt to avoid scrutiny of government policies and for failing to curtail donations from multinational corporations. The definitions of treason and espionage would also be broadened under the new laws to include possessing or receiving sensitive information, rather than just transmitting it. Since the controversial sale of the port of Darwin to a Chinese company in 2015, the government has been at pains to demonstrate limits to its ties to China, its biggest export partner, blocking sales of Australia s biggest cattle station and biggest power grid to Chinese interests. ($1 = 1.3098 Australian dollars)

meet the neocons criminals and goldman bankers on team trump the corbett report

podcast play in new window download embed do you have the sinking feeling that trump may start backing off his promises now that hes in power is there the niggling doubt that the banksters criminals and party insiders hes surrounding himself with may not follow through on that draining of the swamp never fear you can show youre a person of integrity by taking the trumppledge show notes

North Korea-U.S. tensions are not Mexico's business: diplomat

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - North Korea s ambassador to Mexico on Friday said its tensions with the United States were not Mexico City s business after President Enrique Pena Nieto ordered that he leave the country in protest over Pyongyang s nuclear tests. Mexico on Thursday said it had given the ambassador, Kim Hyong Gil, 72 hours to leave Mexico in order to express its absolute rejection of North Korea s recent nuclear activity, describing it as a grave threat to the region and the world. The North Korean ambassador branded the move as ignorant and said disagreement over the country s nuclear program was an issue for the United States and has nothing to do with Mexico. That is why I express great displeasure at the bilateral diplomatic measures taken by the Mexican government that claims to have a sovereign foreign policy. That (claim) is without basis, he told reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Mexico City. Mexico has traditionally sought to steer clear of diplomatic spats, but in the past few months it has adopted robust language to condemn the governments of Venezuela and North Korea as they descended into increasing international isolation. Mexico s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, has led the diplomatic push as he also seeks to convince the United States to keep the North American Free Trade Agreement in place. Mexico s move follows a tide of international condemnation of North Korea for repeated missile launches and the test of a powerful nuclear weapon in recent weeks. Videgaray on Friday stressed that Mexico was not breaking diplomatic ties with North Korea, but that the country wanted to send a clear message of absolute rejection of the recent tests.

Air France flight with engine damage makes emergency landing in Canada

(Reuters) - An Air France flight from Paris to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in eastern Canada on Saturday after one of its four engines sustained serious damage over the Atlantic, the airline said. Air France Flight 66, originating at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, landed at Goose Bay in Labrador at 1542 GMT, the airline said, and no one was hurt in the incident. The regularly trained pilots and cabin crew handled this serious incident perfectly, the airline said in a statement. The aircraft involved in the incident was an Airbus 380 that was about seven years old, according to airfleets.net, an aircraft database. The engine was made by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric Co and United Technologies Corp s Pratt & Whitney unit. The forced landing in Canada s easternmost province is reminiscent of an incident seven years ago in which one of the Rolls Royce engines on a Qantas A380 suffered mid-engine damage after taking off in Singapore. The November 2010 incident prompted the grounding of the entire Qantas A380 fleet six A380s at the time for over three weeks. Photographs taken by passengers aboard the Air France flight circulated on the internet soon after the aircraft landed. The images appeared to show that the inlet, or front part, of the engine had torn off, but the main part of the engine was intact. Rick Engebretsen, one of the passengers, wrote a Twitter message saying he had heard a loud thud and felt vibration while in the air. It was not immediately clear how the engine became damaged. Airbus was not immediately available for comment. Engine Alliance said in a statement that it was looking into reports of an issue involving one of its engines. Officials with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday. The airline said it was making arrangements to send the plane s passengers to their destination of Los Angeles. Aircraft on trans-Atlantic flights commonly use Goose Bay Airport in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador for emergency fueling stops.

Trump Erupts During Speech To ‘Honor’ Veterans, What He Did Is Beyond Disrespectful (VIDEO)

On Saturday night, during a speech to honor veterans in Washington, Donald Trump once again perfectly demonstrated what a petulant child he is and how little he cares about the people who sacrificed their lives for this country.Trump was speaking at the Celebrate Freedom Rally , where he should have been thanking and praising the veterans in attendance. Instead, he completely derailed and went off on one of his characteristically self-centered rants, proving that he is incapable of acting presidential and focusing on anything but himself for more than a few minutes.While some might hope that Trump chose to stop honoring veterans to make an important announcement, most Americans know that wasn t what happened. Instead, Trump stopped his speech to rant about the fake media and bragged about how he d won the election (conveniently leaving out the fact that he lost the popular vote by literally millions).No one understands how Trump went from commending veterans to talking about the media and his presidency, but here s his awful rant: We will not let them because the people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House but I m president and they re not. The fact is the press has destroyed themselves because they went too far. Instead of being subtle and smart, they used a hatchet. And the people saw it right from the beginning. The dishonest media will never keep us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf our great American people. It will never happen. Their agenda is not your agenda. Considering that Trump had spent his entire Saturday attacking the press, from CNN to MSNBC, he clearly needed to get this out of his system and it was in extremely poor taste to do it at this event. Trump s insensitivity, immaturity and self-centeredness continues to embarrass the country, and every American who supported Trump should be ashamed. This is not how our veterans should be treated!You can watch Trump come unhinged below:Featured image via Scott Olson / Getty Images

Big win for automakers as Trump orders fuel economy standards review

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered a review of tough U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards put in place by the Obama administration, handing a victory to auto industry executives and provoking criticism from Democrats and environmental groups. In a move widely seen as a preamble to loosening fuel standards, Trump told an audience of cheering union workers, he would “ensure that any regulations we have protect and defend your jobs, your factories,” and promised he would encourage growth in the U.S. auto sector. “The assault on the American auto industry is over,” Trump said, standing in front of a banner that read “Buy American-Hire American.” Trump added that the White House is “setting up a task force in every federal agency to identify and remove any regulation that undermines American auto production.” The backdrop and message underscored Trump’s efforts to lock down support in industrial states such as Michigan that put him in the White House. Trump spoke at the site of the former Willow Run bomber factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which won fame for building an operational B-24 heavy bomber every 59 minutes during World War Two. Now, the site is being redeveloped as a testing ground for autonomous vehicles. At a roundtable with industry leaders Trump made clear he expected automakers to hire more Americans in return, a theme that dominated his election campaign. “We’re going to do some wonderful work with you, but you’re going to have to help us with jobs,” he said. Trump’s event was attended by around 1,000 people, including automotive executives, United Auto Workers union President Dennis Williams - who sat next to Trump - and workers from Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers: General Motors Co (GM.N), Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N). Automakers lined up examples of vehicles they build in the United States for the president to see. Auto industry executives have said they are hopeful the Trump administration will pursue tax and regulatory policies that would benefit U.S. manufacturers. Reopening the fuel efficiency rules put in place by Democratic President Barack Obama days before he left office is one of the top items on the industry’s agenda. Automakers, through their lobbying groups, have said the Obama rules were too expensive and could cost American jobs. “These standards are costly for automakers and the American people,” said Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. After one participant in Wednesday’s meetings mentioned environmental concerns, Trump said he agreed but did not want an “extra thimbleful of fuel” to get in the way of growth. In a meeting with top auto executives from U.S. and foreign automakers, Trump said the government needs to get out of the way of the auto industry building vehicles, a person who attended the meeting said. Automakers are wary of being seen as out of touch with environmental concerns, or unwilling to invest in new technology. Ford, for example, used its Twitter account on Wednesday to highlight previously announced commitments to develop electric vehicles. It could take a year for the review process to play out, and Wednesday’s event was effectively a starting gun for intense lobbying efforts over how government policy will drive technology investment decisions in the auto sector. Critics like Democratic U.S. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts said Trump’s move could hurt consumers. “Filling up their cars and trucks is the energy bill Americans pay most often, but President Trump’s roll-back of fuel economy emissions standards means families will end up paying more at the pump,” Markey added. The president is not seeking to revoke California’s authority to set vehicle efficiency rules even stricter than federal rules, including mandated sales of electric vehicles, as part of this move, a White House official said. The official did not rule out seeking to withdraw California’s authority in the future. Pruitt, an ally of the fossil fuel industry, would not commit during his Senate confirmation hearing to allowing California to continue its own clean vehicle rules. A group of 10 state attorneys general led by California and New York said on Wednesday they would fight attempts to weaken the rules. California’s attorney general late Tuesday filed legal papers in a federal court defending the Obama administration’s decision to finalize the determination in January. Barclays auto analyst Brian Johnson said in a research note that he expects the Trump administration review will lead to reductions in planned hikes in fuel efficiency standards after 2021. The Obama administration’s rules, negotiated with automakers in 2012, were aimed at doubling average fleetwide fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, although the real-world mileage figures would be lower. Automotive industry executives and lobbying groups were quick to praise the administration’s announcement. “The Trump administration has created an opportunity for decision-makers to reach a thoughtful and coordinated outcome predicated on the best and most current data,” said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry lobbying group. Automakers have signaled they want the government to give manufacturers more credit toward achieving fuel efficiency targets for technologies such as “stop-start” systems that shut down a car’s engine at a traffic light. Regulators should also look at whether ride hailing and vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems designed to prevent accidents and alleviate road congestion could be counted toward the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions goals, the automaker group proposed in comments to the EPA last year. The group represents a dozen automakers, including GM, Ford and FCA. Under the 2012 agreement with the industry, the EPA was given until April 2018 to decide whether the standards were feasible under a “midterm review,” but the agency moved up its decision to a week before Obama left office in a bid to maintain a key part of his administration’s environmental legacy. An EPA analysis indicated that compared with previous rules, the 2025 standards would result in savings of between $1,460 and $1,620 over the lifetime of a vehicle and payback for new technology required to meet the new standards of around five years. The Obama administration said the rules would cost the auto industry $200 billion over 13 years, but save motorists $1.7 trillion over the life of the vehicles.

CRANKY SOCIALIST BERNIE SANDERS HAS A TEMPER TANTRUM And Walks Out Of Interview [Video]

What a grouch! Bernie Sanders must have had a bad day! Maybe he realized he s in Sheriff Joe s territory now.

Army chief says Pakistan should 'revisit' Islamic madrassa schools

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan s army chief on Thursday criticized madrassas that have mushroomed nationwide for mostly teaching only Islamic theology, saying the country needs to revisit the religious school concept. Modernizing madrassa education is a thorny issue in Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim nation where religious schools are often blamed for radicalization of youngsters but are the only education available to millions of poor children. General Qamar Javed Bajwa s remarks, apparently off-the-cuff during a prepared speech, were a rare example of an army chief criticizing madrassas, which are often built adjacent to mosques and underpin Islamisation efforts by religious hardliners. Bajwa said a madrassa education in Pakistan was inadequate because it did not prepare students for the modern world. I am not against madrassas, but we have lost the essence of madrassas, Bajwa told a youth conference in Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan. Bajwa said he was recently told that 2.5 million students were being taught in madrassas belonging to the Deobandi, a Sunni Muslim sub-sect that shares the beliefs of the strictly orthodox Wahhabi school of Islam on the Arabian Peninsula. So what will they become: will they become Maulvis (clerics) or they will become terrorists? Bajwa asked, saying it was impossible to build enough mosques to employ the huge number of madrassa students. We need to look (at) and revisit the concept of madrassas...We need to give them a worldly education. Pakistan has over 20,000 registered madrassas, though there are believed to be thousands more unregistered ones. Some are single-room schools with a handful of students studying the Koran. Security services have kept a close eye on madrassas associated with radicalizing youths and feeding recruits to Islamist militant outfits that have killed tens of thousands of people in the South Asian country since 2000. But only a handful of the schools have been shut down, the authorities hand stayed by fears of a religious backlash. Islamist hardliners hold great sway in Pakistani society, with the capital, Islamabad, paralyzed for nearly three weeks last month by a blockade staged by a newly formed ultra-religious party. Bajwa said poor education was holding back the nation of 207 million people, and especially in madrassas. Most of them are just teaching theology. So what are their chances? What is their future in this country? The military last year proposed a plan to deradicalize religious hard-liners by mainstreaming some into political parties, a plan initially rejected by the civilian government but which now appears to be taking form.

Trump to pitch 'America First' agenda in U.N. debut, press on North Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will take his “America First” message to the United Nations next week and seek support for tough measures against North Korea despite his skepticism about the value of international groups like the 193-member body. Nearly eight months in office, Trump will stress his belief in the importance of national sovereignty and the limits of global organizations during his debut as U.S. president at the U.N. General Assembly, an administration official said. “Multilateral fora are useful, but they’re means, not ends,” the official said. The purpose of a multilateral forum is to be “subservient and subordinate. It is a facilitator.” White House aides say his address, to be given to heads of state and government or their representatives, is still being written and topics could change. It is likely to touch on North Korea and Iran in addition to the sovereignty theme. Friends, diplomats and foreign policy experts will be watching Trump for any signs that globalists in his White House have gained traction since the departure of nationalist champions such as former chief strategist Steve Bannon. “It will be a good measure of how successful some of the internationalists that he’s gathered around him are being in terms of muting his instincts and replacing them with their own,” said Roger Stone, a longtime Trump supporter. Trump has taken a dim view of international groups before. As a presidential candidate he called NATO obsolete and, as president, during a visit to the alliance headquarters in Brussels, he shocked U.S. allies by failing to underscore his commitment to their mutual defense. Facing criticism, he affirmed U.S. support during a later trip to Warsaw. Trump has called for U.N. reform to bring down “out of control” costs and complained that the United States funds 22 percent of the U.N. budget and nearly 30 percent of U.N. peacekeeping duties. He will host an event at U.N. headquarters on Monday to gather global support for reforming the world body. Diplomats said more than 100 countries had agreed to attend. [nL2N1LI17E] Still, the president’s tone towards the U.N. has been noticeably more moderate than his criticism of NATO. At a meeting of U.N. Security Council ambassadors at the White House in April, he drew a comparison between the two. “I’m a budget person. You see the way I’m talking about NATO, the same thing, but if you do a great job at the United Nations, I feel much differently about it because we’re talking pennies compared to the kind of lives and money that you’ll be saving,” he said. Trump drew widespread condemnation for his decision to withdraw the United States from the global Paris agreement on climate change. U.N. officials have criticized him for attacks on the press and for his response to violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. He will speak on Tuesday in front of a wall of marble tiles that as a businessman he described as cheap in 2012. He pledged to replace it with “beautiful large marble slabs” if asked. He was not asked. North Korea fired a missile on Friday that flew over Japan’s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials said, further ratcheting up tensions after Pyongyang’s recent test of a powerful nuclear bomb. [nL4N1LV63L] U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has led the charge for tougher action and further sanctions against Pyongyang. Her willingness to work in the U.N. system was likely to affect Trump’s tone at the gathering, said one European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In her own way she spells out the ‘America First’ agenda, but she has not been hostile to the U.N.,” he said. “With this White House you don’t know: will it prevail? But I don’t expect this to be a hostile speech with the United Nations.” A former reality TV show host, Trump should expect a less responsive crowd than the ones that cheer his message at rallies in the United States, said Elliott Abrams, who was a deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush. “One thing he’s going to find a bit surprising: it is very much like addressing an audience of the dead. It is not like any audience he’s ever addressed before,” Abrams said. Known for his unpredictability, Trump may surprise. “I don’t even think if he walked up with remarks that we would know what he’d say. I don’t think anybody does,” one former U.S. State Department official said.

MELANIA FIRES BACK At Disgusting Liberal Librarian Who Called Her Gift Of Books To Students “RACIST”

First lady Melania Trump fired back Friday at a Massachusetts elementary school librarian who rejected her donation of Dr. Seuss books, claiming their illustrations are examples of racist propaganda. Stephanie Grisham, director of communications for the first lady s office, said in a statement to Fox News that the response was unfortunate, and Mrs. Trump wanted to use her platform to help as many children as she can. She has demonstrated this in both actions and words since her husband took office, and sending books to children across the country is but one example, she said. To turn the gesture of sending young students some books into something divisive is unfortunate, but the First Lady remains committed to her efforts on behalf of children everywhere. To celebrate National Read a Book Day, the first lady had sent out a collection of 10 Dr. Seuss books to one school in each state across the nation. The titles included: The Cat in the Hat ; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ; Wacky Wednesday ; Green Eggs and Ham ; and Oh, the Places You ll Go! She followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, Michelle Obama, who often read Dr. Seuss books to children. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush also read to children at Dr. Seuss-themed educational events.Remember when Mooch read Seuss to a room full of kids at the White House? Hmmm was Mooch promoting racism? I wanted to send you a special gift. Dr. Seuss s Oh, the Places You ll Go! is a book my son and I have read over and over again, and one that we want to share with all of you, the first lady wrote in her letter to students. Please also remember that you are the future of America and that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. But despite the gesture, Liz Phipps Soeiro, a librarian at a public school in Cambridge, wrote a letter to the first lady, which was then published on The Horn Book blog, notifying Mrs. Trump that her school would not be keeping the titles for their collection, explaining that her school didn t have a NEED for the books, due to her school and library s award-winning status. FOX News100 Percent Fed Up Soeiro on Tuesday penned an editorial for the Horn Book s Family Reading blog explaining why her school did not need the donation. My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in literary science, she wrote. Multiple studies show that schools with professionally staffed libraries improve student performance, Soeiro added.Trump s package reportedly included such Seuss classics as Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Soeiro criticized Seuss for being the only author represented in Trump s donation, citing controversy over some of his illustrations. You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a clich , a tired and worn ambassador for children s literature, she told Trump. Another fact that many people are unaware of is that Dr. Seuss s illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes. I work in a district that has plenty of resources, which contributes directly to excellence, Soeiro wrote. My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in library science. Soeiro went on to slam the White House and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for not gifting the books to underfunded and underprivileged communities, which she suggested continue to be marginalized by DeVos policies.But Soeiro seemed to be the most offended by the books themselves.Another FACT that many people are unaware that the HYPOCRITICAL and smug liberal librarian was seen CELEBRATING Dr. Seuss only 2 years ago:Here's D.C. librarian who rejected Melania's Dr. Seuss book donation "steeped in racist propaganda" as Cat in Hat. pic.twitter.com/pek3pT5q2W Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 29, 2017

POPULAR ACTOR TRAVELS TO Calais Jungle To Garner Sympathy For “Migrants”…Refugees Attack Them…Beat Them Up…Steal Their Phones

Why would this actor go to a place where violence, crime and murders are a regular occurrence and believe they wouldn t jump at the opportunity to steal whatever he or his crew had that was of any value? Remember, these are people who are leaving their homeland because they were being persecuted, so their violent behavior should be ignored by their host country right? I mean, they ve been through so much already. Who could blame them for stealing from, and beating the a*ses of celebrities who come to help them?A security team guarding Jude Law was attacked by migrants as the Hollywood star visited the jungle camp in Calais.The 43-year-old actor was in France with a film crew and Brit-winning singer Tom Odell , 25, to witness the horrors of the squalid makeshift village, which is due to be demolished.But shortly after the cameras stopped rolling, their minders were ambushed by some of the migrants and had their phones stolen.It is understood Jude was already on the production team s bus when the thugs struck.For entire story: Mirror UK

If Your Biological Plumbing Doesn’t Match Sign On Door You’ll Have To Use Another Bathroom If This Bill Passes

PC is killing our country. This is called fighting back While counterculture crackpots are working themselves into a lather over the prospect that, in some places, men who think that they re women can go tinkle in the same restroom where a 6-year-old girl is pulling down her panties, one state legislator has decided that it might be time to push back.Indiana State Sen. Jim Tomes, who probably accepts basic biology and believes that people born with a penis are male, proposed a bill that would make it a Class A misdemeanor for trannies to use a bathroom that doesn t correspond to their birth gender.Last week, Tomes uttered the following line that s sure to ignite tempers among the social justice mob: If you were born a man, then you are obliged to use the males restroom. What s next? A hereditary monarchy?Anyone convicted of a Class A misdemeanor could face a year in prison and as much as a $5,000 fine.It should be noted, though, that the language in the legislation makes exceptions for janitors, first aid providers, and parents accompanying children under the age of 8.The bill does, however, cover schools. So if it passes and Little Boy Twinkletoes decides that he needs to use the girls locker room after gym class, then he s facing charges.Indiana saw some action in the culture war last year when the state passed a religious freedom law. That law was widely opposed by American liberals, who hate religious freedom.Via: DownTrend

After Trump pulls out, Fox News cancels Republican debate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican presidential debate scheduled for next week in Utah has been canceled, host Fox News said on Wednesday, after party front-runner Donald Trump told the network he would not participate. Trump, who has clashed with Fox News throughout his campaign, told the network in an interview on Wednesday he would not appear at the event, scheduled for Monday, because he thought the Republicans had “had enough debates.” Ohio Governor John Kasich said afterward he would also skip the debate unless Trump changed his mind and decided to come. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the third remaining Republican candidate seeking the party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, criticized Trump on Twitter, calling him #DuckingDonald and urging his supporters to tell Trump to attend. “He’s scared to debate,” Cruz said in an interview on Fox News. “He’s afraid of being challenged.” Fox News, part of the Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) broadcast media and entertainment company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, earlier this week announced the debate, to be held in Salt Lake City, its latest in the primary season. Utah holds its presidential primary next Tuesday. “Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich - or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant,” Fox News Channel’s executive vice president of news, Michael Clemente, said in a statement. “So the Salt Lake City debate is canceled.” After the cancellation, Trump posted on Twitter that he would make a “big speech” the night of the debate, “but I wish everyone well.” The brash New York billionaire skipped a Fox News debate in Iowa in January after complaining he had been mistreated by the network. He has long clashed with anchor Megyn Kelly and revived criticism of her on Tuesday, saying on Twitter she was “crazy” and “unwatchable.” The Iowa debate went on as scheduled, despite Trump’s decision to host a rally at the same time. But back in January, the Republican field was much larger, with Trump among eight contenders who qualified to participate in the Iowa debate, and four others qualifying for an earlier “undercard” debate. Wednesday marked the first time either party has canceled a debate. Trump’s participation in the debates has helped networks draw record audiences. Two previous debates this election cycle hosted by Fox News attracted the two largest U.S. audiences for non-sports cable TV programs in history. Some 24 million Americans tuned in for the first Republican presidential debate last August, while another in Detroit earlier this month attracted 16.9 million viewers. In February, CBS (CBS.N) Chief Executive Les Moonves spoke candidly about the advertising money the Republican front-runner was bringing to the network. “The money’s rolling in and this is fun,” Moonves said at a telecommunications conference in San Francisco, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us,” Moonves said. “Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”

In rare public speech, Obama decries Republican healthcare bill

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Barack Obama used a rare public appearance on Wednesday to question Republicans’ latest effort to repeal his signature healthcare law, saying it would inflict “real human suffering” on Americans. In his speech at a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation event in New York City, Obama also laid out an optimistic vision of the world’s future while implicitly criticizing Republican President Donald Trump’s “America First” philosophy. The remarks were one of the few times that Obama, a Democrat, has spoken publicly since he left office in January. “It is aggravating,” Obama said of the Republican attempt to eliminate Obamacare. “It’s certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple of months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents.” But Obama said the healthcare fight was a good example of the way that advancement is often made: through fits and starts, with backward steps tempering every success. “Progress is never inevitable,” he said. “It can often be fragile; it’s in need of constant renewal.” The true test, he said, was in how people respond in times of difficulty, when their efforts to make the world better run into resistance. “Your response has to be to reject cynicism and reject pessimism and to push forward with a certain infectious and relentless optimism,” he said. “Not blind optimism, not one that ignores the scale and the scope of challenges, but that hard-earned optimism that is rooted in the stories of very real progress that have occurred throughout human history.” The speech came a day after Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly for the first time as president, offering a full-throated defense of nationalism and expressing skepticism about multilateral foreign policy. During a question-and-answer session with Bill and Melinda Gates after his speech, Obama said the United States cannot hope to solve the world’s biggest problems, such as climate change or mass migration, on its own. As he has largely done since leaving office, Obama did not mention Trump by name, but he made it clear that he disagreed with the president’s viewpoint. “You don’t have to cede your sovereignty or it doesn’t make you less patriotic to believe that,” Obama said. “You just have to have some sense - and read.”

Republican Cruz, hoping to revive struggling campaign, taps Fiorina as No. 2

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, in a last-ditch bid to slow front-runner Donald Trump’s momentum, named former business executive Carly Fiorina on Wednesday as his vice presidential running mate should he win the nomination. After crushing losses to Trump in five nominating contests in the Northeast on Tuesday, Cruz praised Fiorina, a former presidential rival, as a principled fighter for conservative values who would be a valuable ally on the campaign trail. “Carly is a vice presidential nominee who I think is superbly skilled, superbly gifted at helping unite this party,” the U.S. senator from Texas told a rally in Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana. The Midwestern state is the next battleground for selecting the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates for the Nov. 8 presidential election and is shaping up to be Cruz’s best - and perhaps last - chance to block Trump’s march to the nomination. Cruz acknowledged it was unusual to choose a running mate so early in the race. Traditionally, the winners of the Republican and Democratic nominating races announce their running mates in the period between clinching the nomination and summer’s national conventions. “I think all would acknowledge this race, if anything, it is unusual,” said Cruz, 45, adding he wanted to give voters a clear choice and offer a rebuttal to media suggestions the Republican race was over. At a nearby rally in Indianapolis afterward, Trump was scornful of Cruz’s move, calling his rival “desperate.” In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton, 68, won four of Tuesday’s five contests, building a virtually insurmountable lead over rival Bernie Sanders, a 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont, who vowed to keep fighting until the July convention. In tapping Fiorina as his No. 2, Cruz was apparently trying to recover from Trump’s landslide primary wins on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The victories made the uphill climb toward the nomination even steeper for Cruz. “I’ve had tough fights all my life,” Fiorina said after Cruz introduced her. “Tough fights don’t worry me a bit.” Fiorina, 61, dropped her own White House bid in February after a seventh-place finish in New Hampshire. She endorsed Cruz a month later and has been a sharp critic of Clinton. Fiorina and Cruz both said they had grown close since her endorsement, and she sang a few verses of a song she said she sings to Cruz’s two daughters on their campaign bus. The choice of Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard Co chief executive who, like Trump, has never held elective office, could help Cruz with women voters, a group that Trump has had difficulty winning over to his outsider campaign. It also could offer Cruz a boost in the June 7 primary in California, where Fiorina won the Republican primary in 2010 for the U.S. Senate. She was defeated in the general election by incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. Fiorina now lives in Virginia. Trump has amassed 987 of the 1,237 Republican national convention delegates he needs to secure the nomination, to 562 for Cruz and 153 for Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, the third remaining candidate, according to the Associated Press. If Cruz can win a large share of Indiana’s 57 delegates, it will increase the chances that Trump will not be able to win the nomination on the convention’s first ballot. After that, many delegates will be free to turn to Cruz, Kasich or a dark-horse establishment candidate on a second or subsequent ballot. A loss to Trump in Indiana would effectively cripple Cruz’s bid, and increase pressure on the party to rally around Trump as the prospective nominee. Trump called Cruz’s decision to pick a running mate “a pure waste of time” and “a desperate attempt to save a failing campaign by an all-talk, no-action politician.” “He is the first presidential candidate in the history of this country who’s mathematically eliminated from becoming president who chose a vice presidential candidate. ... It’s a record,” the New York billionaire and former reality TV star told supporters in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Trump vowed to campaign extensively in the state between now and Tuesday’s nominating contest. “I’m not playing games with Indiana,” he said. “You are going to get so tired of me.” “We’re going to win it,” he said. Trump was introduced at the rally by famed college basketball coach Bob Knight, who led Indiana University to three national championships. Cruz said Fiorina had already proven her mettle in standing up to Trump last year after he insulted her looks in an interview. “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?” Trump had asked, only to be sternly rebuked by Fiorina in their next presidential debate. “She’s faced challenges a lot worse than someone bellowing and yelling and insulting her face,” Cruz told the Indianapolis crowd. A breast cancer survivor who lost a stepdaughter to drug addiction, Fiorina served as Hewlett-Packard chief executive from 1999 to 2005. She was forced to resign amid weak earnings as the company struggled to digest a $19 billion merger with Compaq Computer Corp. About 30,000 layoffs took place during her tenure. Fiorina’s campaign never took off in the original 17-member Republican presidential field, and she was mostly relegated to the early second-tier debates for low-polling candidates. Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party, said Cruz would have been better off picking an experienced politician who could help him secure delegates in a fight at the convention. “It’s a real head-scratcher,” he said. But some conservatives applauded Cruz’s choice. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which works to elect political candidates who oppose abortion rights, said Fiorina was the “ideal” choice. “She will take Hillary Clinton head-on,” Dannenfelser said in a statement.

Sudan general, nine soldiers killed in Darfur clashes: SUNA

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Sudanese general and nine soldiers were killed in clashes in the war-damaged region of Darfur on Sunday after their vehicles were ambushed by militants, state news SUNA reported on Monday. Conflict in Darfur erupted in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against Sudan s Arab-led government and has led to intermittent clashes ever since, though the government announced a unilateral ceasefire last year. Fresh clashes erupted on Sunday following a military effort by government forces in the southern Darfur region to collect weapons from militants, SUNA reported. Defence Minister Ali Mohamed Salem said that prominent Darfur militia leader Musa Hilal had been arrested and the situation in Darfur was now stable following the clashes, according to SUNA. The news service did not elaborate.

Jared Fogle’s Pedophilic Texts Finally Released, And They Are Absolutely REVOLTING (VIDEO)

Former Subway spokesman and outed pedophile Jared Fogle is rotting in prison where he belongs, but the scandal surrounding the man who made his fortune by hawking sandwiches for the Eat Fresh chain is far from over. The whole world knows that the man is a sick old kiddie diddler, but thus far we haven t been privy to the extent of his depravity. That all comes to an end now, though.The Daily Mail has revealed text messages that Fogle exchanged with a pimp, asking for a 14-year-old girl. According to TMZ, the texts offered $400 for sex with little girls: I ll pay you big for a 14 or 15-year-old, Fogle said to the pimp. He goes on to ask, Do you have any access to any young girls? Like 15 or 16? When the pimp inquires as to why Fogle was asking about young girls, he responds, Because that is what I crave. If that s not sick enough for you, Fogle not only paid for sex with youngsters, he also was caught with a boatload of child pornography, involving as many as 12 innocent children. Hell, even his childhood obesity foundation was nothing more than a way for him and another pedophile he worked with to have access to kids. Luckily, for those children and for the authorities, an informant actually recorded his descriptions of his disgusting proclivities.Hopefully, this horrible man rots for his entire prison sentence and then some. He is a menace to society and should never be let out for the sake of innocent children everywhere.Watch the video below, of the informant describing her recorded conversations with Fogle:Featured image via Joey Foley/Getty Images

EU's Mogherini: U.S. says will fully implement Iran nuclear deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said on Friday she was reassured during meetings with President Donald Trump’s administration that it was committed to full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. In her first visit to Washington since Trump took power, Mogherini came to present the European Union as a valuable friend to the United States with common priorities. In a nod to Trump’s preferred style of diplomacy, she said that the European Union could adopt a more formal “transactional approach” on some issues to appeal to the new administration. Mogherini, who met this week with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Trump’s advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner and members of Congress, said her main intention in Washington was to discuss the nuclear accord, which granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Her visit suggests concern among European and other countries, including Russia and China, that the Trump administration may withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. There have been increasing concerns since the White House put Iran “on notice” for test-firing a ballistic missile. Days later, Washington tightened sanctions against Iran by imposing measures against 25 individuals and entities for the missile test. “I was reassured by what I heard in the meetings on the intention to stick to the full implementation of the agreement,” Mogherini told reporters. Mogherini said she won assurances from members of the Trump administration that they believe Russia should abide by the terms of the 2015 Minsk agreement to end fighting in eastern Ukraine. Mogherini said she and Tillerson discussed how the Minsk agreement might be fully implemented. But Mogherini also signaled doubt about Trump’s commitment to U.S. policy towards Russia. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have expressed concern that Trump will be too conciliatory towards Moscow, perhaps by granting Russia relief from sanctions on its energy, defense and finance industries. “We agreed that as long as the Minsk agreements are not fully implemented, sanctions would remain in place,” Mogherini said later on Friday at a Washington think tank. “But I don’t know if this is going to be the consolidated policy ... I was not in the Oval Office when President Trump called President (Vladimir) Putin.” Mogherini avoided directly criticizing Trump, but said European history showed that blocking the movement of people is doomed to fail. Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. southern border to block illegal immigration from Mexico. He has also issued an executive order barring people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days, except refugees from Syria, who are banned indefinitely. “We tend to celebrate when walls come down,” Mogherini said. “America has always been great because it has been made up of many people coming from different places.”

Budget deal may map U.S. Congress road ahead, via Trump bypass

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, bitterly divided for years along party lines, may be mapping a bipartisan path forward that skirts around President Donald Trump when he refuses to engage constructively with lawmakers, Democrats and some lobbyists said on Monday. The path was discernible in a nearly $1.2 trillion federal spending deal carved out over the weekend to avert a government shutdown. It had Democratic fingerprints all over it, even though Republicans control Congress and the White House. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Trump will sign the 2017 budget bill when he receives it from Congress on Thursday or Friday. Trump, in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, said he was “very happy” with the deal announced late on Sunday. Democrats claimed victory on issue after issue in the agreement, which will keep the lights on in Washington through the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30, provided it holds up and wins final approval as expected. Trump scored a partial win, getting a commitment for up to $15 billion in additional funding for a military buildup. That was about half of what he originally asked for. No money was included for Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. Democratic opposition to it was solid and support from Trump’s fellow Republicans was soft. Mulvaney said Trump will seek wall funding in a budget proposal coming in late May. At a White House briefing, Mulvaney defended the concessions Trump made to reach an agreement, saying Democrats gave up on some items they had wanted as well in order to find a compromise. “Everything we got in this deal ... lines up perfectly with the president’s priorities,” he said. Democrats took an opposite view. Describing the work on Capitol Hill that went into the temporary spending pact, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters: “Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate were closer to one another than we were to the president on so many of the different issues.” Schumer and Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said they were bolstered in negotiations by the fact that several Republican senators opposed funding for Trump’s wall and his call for deep domestic spending cuts. Schumer and Leahy said the White House never tried to work with Democrats in the process. Trump treats engaging with lawmakers on legislation as “an afterthought,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who worked in Congress as an aide to former House Republican leader Eric Cantor. “The power of the Oval Office can provide a lot of leverage when trying to move something on Capitol Hill,” Heye said. “We just haven’t see that level of engagement from Trump, whether it’s healthcare, or building a wall, or tax reform.” But John Feehery, a Republican strategist in Washington, said the spending bill may not be indicative of Trump’s ability to negotiate with Congress because the legislative body should have dealt with this year’s funding months ago and never have been allowed to go into the current year. “He knows that this bill was probably not going to reflect his priorities because it was old business,” Feehery said. “When it comes to new business, he has a lot more leverage in getting his priorities accomplished.“ The spending deal preserved funding for healthcare provider Planned Parenthood, which has drawn Republican ire because it performs abortions; for the Obamacare healthcare law; and for an array of environmental and other domestic programs Trump wanted to slash. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said because the legislation needs to win a supermajority of 60 votes in the 100-member Senate that cannot be achieved without Democratic support, “we couldn’t have our entire way” on the deal. Spicer said the “president’s priorities will be reflected much more” in spending yet to be worked out for the 2018 fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. He said Trump was pleased to see the increase in military spending, a “down payment” on border security and money for scholarships to help low-income children in Washington attend private schools. The fiscal 2017 funds, which should have been locked into place seven months ago, would pay for federal programs from airport and border security operations to soldiers’ pay, medical research, foreign aid, space exploration and education. The Pentagon would win a $12.5 billion increase in defense spending for the fiscal year, with the possibility of an additional $2.5 billion contingent on Trump delivering a plan to Congress for defeating the Islamic State militant group. Congressional negotiators settled on $1.5 billion more for border security, including money for new technology and repairing existing infrastructure. Under the deal, Puerto Rico would get an emergency injection of $295 million for its Medicaid health insurance program for the poor. The impoverished U.S. territory faces a severe Medicaid funding shortfall. The U.S. government and coal companies would be required to pay out healthcare to retired coal miners, guaranteeing benefits to workers even as coal companies face bankruptcy, under the spending agreement. The deal also would reimburse New York City for money spent securing Trump and his family at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Ukraine prosecutor says puzzled by lack of U.S. help on Manafort case

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine is puzzled by the lack of a U.S. response to requests it has made to question former Donald Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort as a witness over two cases involving misuse of Ukrainian state funds, the chief investigator said. Manafort was indicted last month in Washington on charges he denies ranging from money laundering to acting as unregistered agent of former pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovich s Party of Regions. The charges, some going back more than a decade, mention neither Trump nor his campaign. Serhii Horbatiuk, head of special investigations at the general prosecutor s office, told Reuters Ukraine had sent requests in 2014 and 2015 to question representatives of a law firm and Manafort. He said Ukraine had received reassurances from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that the requests would be met, but without result. Of course it s not normal, Horbatiuk said in an interview at his office. I would not say that we are upset, I would not say officially that we are upset, but it s not clear why it is so, he said. Even the results they have got so far, we could have got them back in 2015 or 2016 with their help. But during these years there was no cooperation for unknown reasons. In Washington, the FBI and the Department did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment. Horbatiuk is investigating two cases. One relates to the suspected illegal use of Ukrainian state funds by justice ministry officials to pay a U.S. law firm for a report used to justify the imprisonment of former prime minister and political rival Yulia Tymoshenko during Yanukovich s rule. The second relates to a so-called Black Ledger discovered after Yanukovich s 2014 ouster by street protests, a book supposedly listing payments from a slush fund by Yanukovich s Party of Regions to their associates, including Manafort. Yanukovich denies corruption accusations. Manafort denies all wrongdoing and in Ukraine he is at this stage only wanted as a witness. Horbatiuk said he had not been contacted for assistance by the team of Special Council Robert Mueller, who indicted Manafort during an investigation into alleged Russian efforts to swing the 2016 presidential election in Trump s favor. Manafort s attorney says his work for the Ukrainians ended in 2014, two years before he joined the Trump campaign. But the indictment sheds new light on the Ukrainian cases: the allegation that Manafort used offshore accounts to funnel $4 million to pay for the Tymoshenko report was news to Horbatiuk s team, who thought the report had cost around $1 million. He will submit a new request for help to the U.S. within weeks. It is important to combine our investigations so that we can obtain information to determine the origin of this money ($4 million), he said. And the general information allows us to say that the investigation could be promising provided that the law enforcement agencies of the United States and Ukraine cooperate in what we are interested in. Manafort joined the Trump presidential campaign in March 2016 and later became campaign manager, but he was forced to resign in August as questions emerged about his previous work for Yanukovich s party.

Exxon must confer with New York AG on Tillerson emails: judge

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state judge on Wednesday ordered ExxonMobil Corp to work with New York’s attorney general to recover lost emails from an account once used by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he was the oil company’s chief executive. Justice Barry Ostrager of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan also ordered Exxon by March 31 to turn over documents from its management committee that had been subpoenaed by Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general. Schneiderman had issued the subpoena in November, in connection with his probe into whether Exxon misled investors and the public about climate change. At a court hearing on Wednesday, a lawyer for the attorney general said Exxon had just made a “bombshell” revelation that it had lost a year of emails from an account that Tillerson had used, but under the alias “Wayne Tracker.” Tillerson used the alias account to send and receive information about climate change and other matters, Schneiderman said in a March 13 letter to the court. Schneiderman said Exxon failed to disclose the “Wayne Tracker” account, and that it had been uncovered during the review of other materials. The letter also said Exxon had produced 60 documents bearing the “Wayne Tracker” email, but had not said the account was Tillerson’s. Exxon responded that the account was proper, enabling Tillerson to communicate easily with other Exxon officials, and set up because of the flood of email that Tillerson already received. It has also said it does not consider the lost emails significant, and that copies of many would already have been turned over to the attorney general. In December, Tillerson left Exxon, where he had also been chairman, and stepped down as chairman of the American Petroleum Institute trade group. The discovery of Tillerson’s account came after disclosures that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and current Vice President Mike Pence, when he was Indiana’s governor, had used previously undisclosed accounts to send and receive mail electronically.

WOW! HERE’S WHAT PRESIDENT TRUMP Accomplished During His First Week In Office [Video]

Here s what President #DonaldTrump has accomplished during his first week in office. https://t.co/LB5X7PLKC6 pic.twitter.com/MsMbL0067m Fox News (@FoxNews) January 27, 2017

Indonesia demands answers after military chief denied U.S. entry

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia intends to send a diplomatic note to the U.S. secretary of state and summon Washington s deputy ambassador in Jakarta to explain why the head of its military was denied entry to the United States, Indonesian officials said on Sunday. Armed Forces Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo was about to board a flight on Saturday when the airline informed him that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had denied him entry, military spokesman Wuryanto told a news conference in Jakarta. Nurmantyo was going to the United States at the invitation of General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to attend a Chiefs of Defense Conference on Countering Violent Extremism being held in Washington on Oct. 23-24, Wuryanto said. It was not clear why he was stopped from entering the United States, Wuryanto said, adding that the general did not have any problem during his visit to the United States in February 2016. We ve asked for clarification to the U.S., to the Department of State as well as the embassy in Jakarta and until now we re still waiting for that clarification, Indonesia s Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi told Reuters. The ministry s spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir earlier said Indonesia s embassy in Washington was to send a diplomatic note to the U.S. secretary of state demanding explanation for the incident.The ministry will also summon the U.S. deputy ambassador in Jakarta on Monday to seek explanation, Nasir said, adding that the ambassador is presently not in Indonesia. The U.S. embassy in Jakarta said in a statement it was in touch with Nurmantyo s staff to facilitate his travel, but did not explain further. U.S. Ambassador Joseph Donovan has apologized to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi for any inconvenience to General Gatot, the embassy wrote. We remain committed to our Strategic Partnership with Indonesia as a way to deliver security and prosperity to both our nations and peoples. Nurmantyo has frequently courted controversy in Indonesia because of his actions and what analysts perceive as his political ambitions. The general promotes the notion that Indonesia is besieged by proxy wars involving foreign states and even a renewed communist threat. Indonesian President Joko Widodo said this month that the armed forces should stay out of politics and ensure their loyalty is only to the state and the government. Indonesia, the world s biggest Muslim-majority country, generally enjoys good ties with the United States although in the past ties between the two countries armed forces have been strained by alleged rights abuses involving Indonesia s military.

Iraq says ruling against Trump travel ban is move in right direction

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq is satisfied with a U.S. appeals court ruling against a travel ban imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The ruling given late on Saturday denied a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately restore Trump’s order, which a judge in Washington state had blocked on Friday. “It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused,” the Iraqi spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, told Reuters. Trump’s executive order last week put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee program, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day suspension on people from seven majority Muslim countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Religious minorities persecuted by the Islamic State group, and other Iraqis fleeing violence, were among those affected. The ban would have prevented a total of 20,000 people in “precarious circumstances” in the seven countries targeted from resettling in the U.S. during the 120 days covered by the suspension, according to the United Nations. Baghdad protested against the ban, calling it unfair and saying that no Iraqi had been involved in attacks on U.S. soil. But it refrained from retaliating as it seeks to maintain U.S. support for Iraqi forces battling Islamic State in Mosul. The U.S. has more than 5,000 troops deployed in Iraq, providing critical air and ground support for Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the militants, who declared a self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.

Niger defense minister asks U.S. to deploy armed drones against militants

(This Nov. 1 story refiles to fix typo in author s name) By Tim Cocks and Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger has asked the United States to start using armed drones against jihadist groups operating on the Mali border, raising the stakes in a counter-insurgency campaign jolted by a deadly ambush of allied U.S.-Nigerien forces. On Oct. 4, Islamist militants with sniper rifles and rocket propelled grenades killed four U.S. soldiers and at least four of their Nigerien partners in an ambush that exposed the dangers of an expanding U.S. presence in the largely desert nation. What began as a small U.S. training operation has expanded to an 800-strong force that accompanies the Nigeriens on intelligence gathering and other missions. It includes a $100million drone base in the central Nigerien city of Agadez which, however, at present only deploys surveillance drones. I asked them some weeks ago to arm them (the drones) and use them as needed, Defence Minister Kalla Mountari told Reuters in an interview in his office. Asked if Washington had accepted the request, he said: Our enemies will find out. The deaths of the U.S. soldiers, at the hands of suspected insurgents with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group, shocked Americans, many of whom did not realize their country had such a large presence in Africa s Sahel region. The incident also highlighted the mission creep that has set in and expanded the U.S. role in landlocked Niger, one of the world s poorest and most insecure countries. Mountari said the team of 12 U.S. Special Forces soldiers and 30 Nigerien troops had been right up to the Mali border and had neutralized some bandits just before the ambush took place. He declined to give further details. The U.S. military has been adamant that the Oct. 3-4 mission was not intended to involve contact with enemy forces. Mountari said: They (U.S.-Nigerien contingent) came back to Niger, they greeted the population, they gathered intelligence and it was inside the country, when they didn t expect anything, that the attack happened. U.S. forces do not have a direct combat mission in Niger, but their assistance to its military does include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in their efforts to target violent Islamist organizations. However, Mountari was clear he saw them as close partners. The Americans are not just exchanging information with us. They are waging war when necessary, he said. We are working hand in hand. The clear proof is that the Americans and Nigeriens fell on the battlefield for the peace and security of our country. But a growing U.S. role in Niger could prove unpopular both with Americans, many of whom are tired of costly and sometimes deadly foreign adventures, and in Niger, whose citizens have mixed feelings about foreign forces on their soil. Drone strikes have been controversial in other parts of the world because of the risk of civilian casualties. At a protest rally over a domestic political issue on Sunday, dozens of demonstrators also began chanting against the presence of foreign troops in Niger, a Reuters witness said.

One Person On Hillary’s Shortlist For VP Was Just Removed From DNC Speaker Schedule

It you re into puzzles and figuring stuff out, you ve been loving the past few weeks trying to figure out who the vice presidential picks for either major party will be. Now that we know Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is Donald Trump s pick, we re now left to sift through clues to figure out who Hillary Clinton will give the nod too.Well, one huge clue was given when Elizabeth Warren showed up at Hillary Clinton s Washington D.C. home today, but an ever bigger clue has come as Warren s name appears to no longer be on the speaking schedule for the Democratic National Convention.Originally slotted to speak as the keynote speaker on Monday night of the convention, Warren s name is now missing.According to Politico, this is the schedule as it stands now:Monday: First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders and DREAMer Astrid Silva Gavel time expected at 3:00 p.m.Tuesday: President Bill Clinton Gavel time expected at 4:00 p.m.Also scheduled Tuesday are Mothers of the Movement members Gwen Carr, Mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, Mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, Mother of Dontr Hamilton; Lucia McBath, Mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, Mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Geneva Reed-Veal, Mother of Sandra Bland.Wednesday: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden Gavel time expected at 4:30 p.m.Thursday: Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton Gavel time expected at 4:30 p.m.Very interesting indeed.Noticeably also missing are other members on Clinton s shortlist for vice president, such as Sherrod Brown and Tim Kaine, but seeing as Warren was scheduled to speak, and now isn t, it could be very, very telling.Now that Trump has rounded out his ticket with Mike Pence, a man who represents the only group Trump has yet to openly hate the LGBT community it s looking pretty good for Clinton come November, and hopefully whoever she picks as her VP will round out the ticket nicely.Featured image via Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

Insider Firm ‘FlashPoint’ tied to Orlando Shooting, Now Investigating DDoS Hack on America

Shawn Helton 21st Century WireIn the wake of the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that targeted many online companies and news agencies last week such as Amazon, Netflix, CNN and The New York Times, we learned that the threat intelligence firm Flashpoint assumed the lead public relations role in the media after the event just as they did following the highly suspicious Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando this past the summer. Flashpoint is said to be investigating the nature of the alleged hacker DDoS attacks against the networks of the internet traffic management company Dyn and many others just days ago.Later in this report, we ll focus our attention on the uncanny ties between the firm Flashpoint, the Orlando Shooting and the massive internet related outage this past week.But first things first, let s review elements of the recent DDoS attack in America CYBER GAMES The DDoS attack story falls in line with a designer western political agenda. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)On October 21st, the technology blog Engadget discussed the cyber attacks that led to an internet outage across America and other parts of the world: Today s nation-wide internet outage was enabled thanks to a Mirai botnet that hacked into connected home devices, according to security intelligence company Flashpoint. The distributed denial of service attack targeted Dyn, a large domain name server, and took down Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, The New York Times, Pinterest, PayPal and other major websites. Flashpoint has observed Mirai attack commands issued against Dyn infrastructure, Flashpoint writes. Analysts are still investigating the potential impact of this activity and it is not yet clear if other botnets are involved. The Engadget article mentioned above, further explained that security experts had been prepping the public for an eventual Mirai malware attack since its code open-source was leaked: The author of the Mirai malware made its code open-source, and security experts have been warning of a possible large-scale attack since this information came to light. In another media supplied back story the coming launch of Mirai was discussed through the security based website managed by Brian Krebs, on KrebsOnSecurity who ironically, have twice been the victim of cyber attacks over the years: The source code that powers the Internet of Things (IoT) botnet responsible for launching the historically large distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against KrebsOnSecurity last month has been publicly released. Interestingly, according to Bradley Barth, a senior reporter for the IT security online magazine SC, the Mirai (supposedly leaked on September 30th) contains a very unique subset of characteristics that will not attack certain IP addresses such as the Department of Defense (DoD), the US Postal Service and consumer giant General Electric (GE) due to its coding: An Imperva analysis of the source code revealed several unique traits, including a hardcoded blacklist of IPs that the adversary did not want to attack, perhaps in order to keep a low profile. Some of these IPs belonged to the Department of Defense, the U.S. Postal Service and General Electric (GE). Though SC claims that the makers of Mirai may have been trying to keep a low profile, the recent DDoS attack attributed to the malware was as high-profile as you can get so this begs the question, what was the real reason the malware creators put an IP blockade on the DoD, the Postal Service and GE?Is it possible the malware originated from whitehat hackers associated with the US government, or from a major US defense contractor like GE?Politico disclosed that the hacktivist avatar known as the New World Hackers and Anonymous (now a ubiquitous brand which could be anyone or anything) were responsible for the DDoS attack on Twitter and others, adding that U.S. officials preached caution, arguing there is still scant evidence to determine who is behind the attack, warning that both groups have falsely taken credit for high-profile attacks in the past. Flashpoint then declared that the group were imposters, as the article then referenced Obama s recent far-fetched claims that Russia is somehow meddling with US elections through proxy hackers once again, without offering any definitive proof.Mainstream media pundits, including those at CNN, were also quick to dismiss the New World Hackers as an illegitimate group who had falsely taken credit for hacks in the past. Less than 24 hours after the nationwide DDoS cyberattack, former Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush, Fran Townsend, (left photo) reignited the ever popular blame Russia meme (as we predicted) in a CBS article: CBS News homeland security consultant Fran Townsend pointed to Russia as a possible instigator. Is this sort of a brushback pitch from the Russians sending us a message that we should be pretty careful about engaging in this sort of cyberactivity with them because they are very capable, she said. Townsend, also made the rounds on media after the bizarre anomaly ridden Nice Attack, pushing the mainstream narrative.In our first report regarding the alleged hack on America, we discussed the DDoS event and how it would be politicized by the media and US officials to blame Russia, feeding into the false claims that the Kremlin is somehow tampering with the 2016 US elections. We also talked about how the incident might be used to push a newer and more restrictive Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate doppelg nger, the PROTECT IP Act aka PIPA dual provisions aimed at restricting the use of copyrighted material on the internet, which could have vast implications on free speech. It is also important to reiterate that one of the main issues concerning the US government as the cyberspshere grows is ISP governance which is code for making ISP comply to any unlawful requests by Federal authorities including cutting internet access to individuals or organizations deemed to be undesirable by the state.Last week s choreographed cyber attack on popular websites and companies that allegedly spread through the Mirai botnet malware via the Internet of Things (IoT), has opened up another aspect of the story. This part of the narrative, appears to prey on the fears of the general public as IoT devices have become increasingly connected, setting the stage for new security protocols and new cyber security products to be conveniently rolled out at any future date following a cyber crisis.It should be mentioned that the security firm Flashpoint was front and center (along with the internet performance company DYN) weighing in on the situation prior to any US intelligence agency making an official statement.Flashpoint operates as an intelligence watchdog, as well as an intelligence asset, in addition to playing a PR role for some recent large-scale incidents but who are they really? PUZZLE PIECE The security firm Flashpoint delves into the deep dark web for its clients. Screen Shot Image Source: (flashpoint-intel.com)Meet FlashpointAccording to Flashpoint s own website, they are a private cybersecurity firm that is composed of a diverse crew of white-hat hackers, engineers, analysts, salespeople, marketers, and operations specialists [who] are fearlessly problem-solving as we change the way organizations evaluate risk. The clandestine firm adds that their premium Business Risk Intelligence solutions afford superlative access and visibility into opaque areas of the Internet, empowering our clients to defend themselves against various cyber and physical threats. While looking into Flashpoint s investor section, we learn that the American venture capital firm Greycroft Partners is listed among those contributing to the security firm. It turns out that Greycroft is also a large campaign contributor to the Clinton campaign, as discussed by Huffinton Post: At least eight hedge funders are listed as Clinton fundraisers, collecting more than $100,000 each for the campaign. These include Blair Effron of Centerview Partners, Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital Group, Orin Kramer of Boston Provident, Charles Myers of Evercore, Deven Parekh of Insight Venture Partners, Alan Patricof of Greycroft Partners, and Lisa Perry, who is married to Perry Capital CEO Richard Perry. FLARE UP Here s Flashpoint s mission statement. (Screen Shot Image Source: (flashpoint-intel.com)While Greycroft s contributions to the Clinton campaign are somewhat of a sidebar to the recent internet outage attack, it does represent another uncanny business and political connection that links a secretive firm (Flashpoint) that appears to be taking a large role in steering the public s perception over certain incidents occurring in America. You have to wonder if this is really just a coincidence?By this, we can see just how tight the elite inner circle is, with a small collective of corporate and media gatekeeper and their political operatives all carefully stage-managing the narrative around almost every high-profile controversial event in America, and also in Europe too.From America s largest mass shooting to America s largest Internet outage?On June 24th, less than two weeks after the Orlando shooting at Pulse Nightclub, Flashpoint was said to have acted as a translator for al Qaeda s terror publication Inspire, which according to the security-based firm, appeared to be claiming some responsibility for the shooting even though the purported shooter Omar Mateen was allegedly linked to ISIS.The NBC report stated the following on June 24th: Flashpoint co-founder Evan Kohlmann, an NBC terrorism analyst pointed out that even though Mateen cited ISIS as the inspiration for the attack, al Qaeda seemed to be claiming some responsibility because it has called for lone wolf attacks against the West. Kohlmann said the statement which lauded Mateen as a heroic lone jihad holy warrior appears to be an official Inspire release. But he said it was far less professional than others, including one after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that went to great lengths to praise the Tsarnaev brothers, who said they learned to make their explosive devices from another Inspire publication. The purported terror publication Inspire has come under fire in recent years as some critics charge that the magazine may actually be a CIA creation, something which is echoed through its ties to the dubious AQAP terror operation.During our summertime investigation into the suspicious events at the Orlando Pulse nightclub, we found evidence that Omar Mateen s worldwide security firm G4S was a client of the crisis staging company called Crisis Cast. The following is a passage from that report: Truth is often stranger than fiction when looking at the bizarre phenomena surrounding many mass casualty incidents and the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting was no exception.It was recently revealed that the world s largest security firm G4S, who had employed the man named in the Orlando pulse nightclub shooting, Omar Mateen is a client of the mass casualty staging company called CrisisCast. STAGING REALITY CrisisCast specializes in replicating mass casualty events. (Screen Shot Image Source crisiscast)Casting Crisis & Training for Disaster The heavily-stylized company CrisisCast, appears to be a revamped version of the Visionbox Crisis Actors project (a crisis actor production emerging after Sandy Hook), with a professional team of actors, elaborate film crews, expert producers and theatrical effects makeup squads mimicking real-life injuries (additional prosthetics) all focused to deliver a simulated crisis-likereality to the public, later to be managed accordingly through their public relations division via various forms of social media. RELATED: (VIDEO) Active Shooter and Terror Drills: The Truth WILL Shock YouInterestingly, another client listed on the Crisis Cast website appeared to be another company named Flashpoint, apparently unrelated to the internet based security firm MILITARIZED Another company also called Flashpoint, was tacitly connected to the Orlando shooting via Crisis Cast. (Screen Shot Image Source crisiscast)There is nothing concrete linking the two Flashpoint companies but the very fact that both are tied to the Orlando shooting, albeit in an opaque way, suggests there could be some deeper connection.Is Flashpoint Reality Based Training, the militarized counterpart to the cybersecurity firm Flashpoint?Here s Flashpoint Reality Based Training describing the reality they construct for their clients, which appears to fall in line with the internet based Flashpoint: Environments will need to become more realistic the sights, sounds and smells will increase in fidelity. We believe the requirement for combined live and virtual events will increase and that these will be networked geographically by governments, military and NGOs. We also anticipate an increase in the requirement for us to track trainees and deliver accurate after-action reviews as part of our Reality Based Training. What s next in a world with designed outcomes, false narratives, uncanny connections and staged crises?All we have to do is follow the money.READ MORE ORLANDO SHOOTING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Orlando FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

Trump says he is not looking to phase in corporate tax cut

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was not looking for the corporate tax rate reduction that the White House is seeks to be phased in over time. “Hopefully not,” Trump told reporters when asked about the issue during a meeting on tax reform at the White House. Trump said he wanted lawmakers to pass a tax reform bill by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday in late November.

President Vicente ‘I’m Not Building That F*cking Wall’ Fox Says Trump Is Like Hitler (VIDEO)

During a recent interview on Anderson Cooper 360, Mexico s former president, Vicente Fox, said that Donald Trump reminds [him] of Hitler. Today, he s going to take that nation back to the old days of conflict, war and everything. I mean, he reminds me of Hitler. That s the way he started speaking, Fox told CNN s Anderson Cooper. He has offended Mexico, Mexicans, immigrants. He has offended the Pope. He has offended the Chinese. He s offended everybody. You can watch the interview below:Earlier this week, Fox had made national headlines after he told Fusion s Jorge Ramos, I m not going to pay for that f*cking wall, while discussing Trump s plan to build a giant border wall between the United States and Mexico. A wall that Trump insists must be paid for by Mexico.You can watch the interview below:In response to Fox s comments, Trump went on Twitter to demand an apology from Fox because he used the F word. Here s the tweet:FMR PRES of Mexico, Vicente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2016Fox isn t the only former president of Mexico who has compared Trump to Hitler this week. The Guardian reports the ex-president Felipe Calderon spoke to reporters and said that Trump is praising white supremacy . This logic of praising the white supremacy is not just anti-immigration. He is acting and speaking out against immigrants that have a different skin color than he does, it is frankly racist and [he is] exploiting feelings like Hitler did in his time, Calderon said.The idea that building a border wall between Mexico and the U.S. would do help to curb illegal immigration into the U.S. is pure nonsense. Immigration from Mexico has been on the decline for several years, India and China are number countries of origin for immigrants. Furthermore, 40% of immigrants who are living in the U.S. came here by airplane legally on temporary visas.The idea that Mexico would pay for the mega project, that wouldn t actually achieve anything, is simply delusional.Featured image from video screenshot via YouTube

Italian man sentenced to 24 years for infecting dozens of women with HIV

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian man was sentenced on Friday to 24 years in prison for infecting more than 30 women with the HIV virus, after having unprotected sex with them despite knowing that he was HIV positive, a court ruled. Valentino Talluto, a 33-year-old accountant, seduced dozens of women via social networks for a decade before his arrest in November 2015. Police believe he had sex with at least 53 women during that time, passing on the virus to 32 of them. The male partners of three of the women subsequently contracted the potentially fatal illness, as did an eight-month-old infant of a fourth woman. Talluto often found an excuse not to wear a condom, telling his partners that he was allergic to them, or had just had an HIV test, the court in Rome heard. He expressed regret for what had happened, but said he did not realize the consequences of his actions. Prosecutors had urged the court to give him life in jail, saying he had provoked an HIV epidemic. The court rejected this, convicting him instead of grievous and incurable bodily harm . Many of the women only discovered they had HIV after they heard of Talluto s arrest and had a test. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has killed around 35 million people worldwide since it began in the 1980s.

At G20 summit, Trump pledges $639 million in aid to four countries

HAMBURG (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday promised $639 million in aid to feed people left starving because of drought and conflict in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. Trump’s pledge came during a working session of the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, providing a “godsend” to the United Nations’ World Food Programme, the group’s executive director, David Beasley, told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting. “We’re facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two,” said Beasley, a Republican and former South Carolina governor who was nominated by Trump to head the U.N. agency fighting hunger worldwide. The new funding brings to over $1.8 billion aid promised by the United States for fiscal year 2017 for the crises in the four countries, where the United Nations has estimated more than 30 million people need urgent food assistance. “With this new assistance, the United States is providing additional emergency food and nutrition assistance, life-saving medical care, improved sanitation, emergency shelter and protection for those who have been affected by conflict,” USAID said in a statement. Rob Jenkins, acting head of the USAID’s bureau of democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance, said of the funding, over $191 million would go to Yemen, $199 million to South Sudan, $121 million to Nigeria and almost $126 million for Somalia. Conflict in all four countries had made it difficult to reach some communities in need of food, he noted. “We’re in a dire situation right now,” said Jenkins, adding that USAID was also concerned with the situation in southern Ethiopia. “The situation in southern Ethiopia fortunately does not rise to the dire situation of the other four, but the situation is deteriorating and might very well be catastrophic without additional interventions,” he said, adding that Washington had already provided some $252 million this year to Ethiopia, “but the needs continue to grow.” Beasley said the U.S. funding was about a third of what the WFP estimated was required this year to deal with urgent food needs in the four countries in crisis as well as in other areas. The WFP estimates that 109 million people around the world will need food assistance this year, up from 80 million last year, with 10 of the 13 worst-affected zones stemming from wars and “man-made” crises, Beasley said. “We estimated that if we didn’t receive the funding we needed immediately that 400,000 to 600,000 children would be dying in the next four months,” he said. Trump’s announcement came after his administration proposed sharp cuts in funding for the U.S. State Department and other humanitarian missions as part of his “America First” policy. Beasley said the agency had worked hard with the White House and the U.S. government to secure the funding, but Trump would insist that other countries contributed more as well. A WFP spokesman said Germany recently pledged an additional 200 million euros for food relief.

UK Brexit bill not scheduled for debate in parliament next week

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s parliament will not discuss the key European Union withdrawal bill next week, the leader of the lower House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, said on Thursday, amid concerns the government is struggling to manage divisions over its contents. The bill is at the heart of the government s Brexit strategy. It will transpose EU law into British law at the point of Britain s departure from the bloc and repeal the 1972 act of parliament which made it a member. Lawmakers have proposed hundreds of changes to the bill, some of which have enough backing from lawmakers within Prime Minister Theresa May s Conservative Party to defeat the government - something that would cause May a major headache and question her ability to complete the Brexit process. There is nothing odd or anything to fear from this slight pause, Leadsom told lawmakers. She promised them there would be eight days of debate on the bill but did not say when they would start. The BBC reported on Wednesday that the government might delay the bill s passage through parliament until next month because of political divisions. The bill has already passed its first stage of the legislative process, but is expected to face a stiffer challenge when it is next debated. It has been criticised by lawmakers who say it gives the government too much power to amend EU laws as they are transferred onto the British statute book. Others want safeguards to ensure the government cannot walk away from negotiations without parliament s approval.

Kenyan police fire teargas at Supreme Court protesters

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police fired teargas on Tuesday at supporters of President Uhuru Kenyatta who were protesting outside the Supreme Court against the invalidation of his Aug. 8 re-election, Reuters witnesses said. The Supreme Court nullified the presidential election on Sept. 1 and ordered the electoral body to hold a repeat vote within 60 days. The court, which issued a majority judgment, said there were irregularities in tallying results of the poll. David Maraga, the chief justice and president of the Supreme Court, said threats against judicial staff had risen since the ruling. Since the Supreme Court delivered judgment ... these threats have become more aggressive, Maraga told a news conference at the Supreme Court, as hundreds of protesters wearing the bright red of Kenyatta s Jubilee party gathered outside. He cited the demonstrations outside the court as an example of the rising threats, and threatening messages sent on social media to individual judges and their staff. Senior political leaders have also threatened the judiciary, promising to cut it down to size and teach us a lesson , Maraga said, adding that judges would not be intimidated by anyone and were ready to pay the ultimate price to protect the constitution and rule of law. Maraga accused the inspector general of police of repeatedly ignoring calls to act, exposing judicial officers, property and litigants to danger . George Kinoti, the national police spokesman, denied the accusations, saying the police had provided bodyguards to judges and protection for their homes and the courts. The truth is borne out of facts and they are plain for any citizen to check and confirm, Kinoti said in a statement. The protesters waved placards and shouted slogans against the judiciary and Maraga himself. I have attended this protest to air my grievances after the Supreme Court annulled my candidate s victory, one of the protesters told Reuters. There was a commotion after the teargas was fired, before the protesters regrouped and continued with their protest outside the court building. They were eventually dispersed by further rounds of teargas. The Supreme Court, which gave a summary of its findings when it invalidated Kenyatta s election victory, said it would read its detailed ruling on Wednesday at 0700 GMT. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost by 1.4 million votes to Kenyatta in the annulled poll, has said he will not take part in a repeat vote scheduled for Oct. 17, unless some staff at the electoral commission are fired, among other demands. The heads of Western diplomatic missions in Kenya, including those of the European Union, the United States and Britain, urged Kenyan leaders to avoid comments that could incite hatred and violence. Now is the time to focus on preparing for the new poll, which, in line with the Court s order and the Constitution, must be run by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and be held by the end of October, they said in a joint statement.

Kellyanne Conway Admits Comey Tapes Probably Exist But Says Trump Doesn’t Have Them (VIDEO)

Does Donald Trump have tapes of his conversations with fired FBI director James Comey? Until Thursday, he said yes but after it became apparent that special prosecutor Robert Mueller had hired a team that included former Watergate investigators, Trump changed his story.Now, he says, he was just trying to obstruct justice by using the idea that there were tapes to intimidate James Comey before he testified a gambit that led to Comey laughing at him during a public hearing.At this point, Trump would be stupid to personally be in possession of any tapes of their conversations, but White House spokesidiot Kellyanne Conway hints that tapes may exist Trump just doesn t keep them in his nightstand like they are a book of Adolf Hitler s speeches (yes, he kept a book of Hitler s speeches at his bedside).During an interview with CNN s Alisyn Camerota, Conway refused to say why it took 42 days for The Donald to change his story about the tapes with which he threatened the man whom he fired for requesting additional funding for the Russia investigation but she used some very interesting wording while attempting to explain away Trump s self-made scandal. So the president made clear yesterday and in an interview aired early this morning, Alisyn, on Fox News, that he doesn t have tapes didn t make tapes, but he left open the possibility they may exist, Conway said, hinting that because of the surveillance and leaking going on the tapes might just surface. But why did we live this charade, there might be tapes or might not? Camerota asked. There was no charade, Conway replied. Answer definitively there were no audiotapes? Camerota pressed. He answered definitively yesterday, Conway shot back. Why is he always on your timeline? Strangely, Conway nor Trump denied that tapes were made. Trump just said he personally didn t record them which would have been a rookie move even for him and Conway explained that Trump wasn t personally in possession of them.As Republican Rep. Mike Conaway, who is leading the Russia probe, notes, that hardly clears things up.Watch it below:Featured image via screengrab

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN How This Fairly Accurate Cartoon Is “Racist”?

Perhaps a little trigger warning therapy is in order?A cartoonist has been accused of racism after he portrayed Michelle Obama as masculine and butch next to a pageant-ready Melania Trump in a controversial drawing.#InTrumpsAmerica The #FirstLady will be Great Again! #Trump2016 https://t.co/2FGmMQ1bBo pic.twitter.com/g2SOBjFXSI BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) May 13, 2016The cartoon which has been branded racist and misogynistic shows a muscular Mrs Obama wearing a green dress with a bulge in the groin area.Stood next to her is a feminine, smiling Melania Trump in a pink dress and holding a Trump sign. DMHere are some of the reactions to the CARTOON on Twitter:The artist Ben Garrison tweeted the picture on Friday with the caption: #InTrumpsAmerica The #FirstLady will be Great Again! #Trump2016. the zombies are calling it "racist" and "body shaming"! hahah you triggered them good!!! Mark Dice (@MarkDice) May 15, 2016And finally, here is artist Ben Garrison s awesome response to trigger warning, safe space, racist social media warriors:It's called satire folks-American politicalcartoons have a long tradition of lampooning those in office #DealWithIt pic.twitter.com/oyC2K6T7RZ BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) May 14, 2016And finally, he created this epic cartoon in response to the anger he inspired from Leftists on Twitter:Thank U to all the many,many new followers-0 unfollows! Here's a #cartoon for the triggered #crybullies #DealWithIt pic.twitter.com/MoCaMD30l0 BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) May 14, 2016

EP #9: Patrick Henningsen LIVE – ‘Our Western Lands’ with guest Doyel Shamley

Join Patrick every Wednesday at Independent Talk 1100 KFNX and Alternate Current Radio for the very best in news, views and analysis on all top stories domestically and abroad THIS WEEK: Episode 9 This week saw a media storm, as the President-Elect Trump took on the real fake news empire led by CNN and NBC s online tabloid BuzzFeed. Also, Yemenis must be celebrating now that globalist UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon announced he s finally heading for retirement.Host Patrick Henningsen is joined by special guest Doyel Shamley, newly elected Apache County Supervisor and head of Veritas Research Consulting to discuss the serious challenges facing Arizona and the 11 western states, including Native American tribal government, as well as environmental and water issues, problems with federal land management, and the systematic threat to rural living posed by bureaucratic and federal corruption. Listen Listen to EP 9: Patrick Henningsen Live With Guest Doyel Shamley on Spreaker.This program broadcasts LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm MST, right after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com.LISTEN TO MORE INTERVIEWS AT PATRICK HENNINGSEN LIVE SHOW ARCHIVES

Trump Supporter Threatens Montel Williams So He Publicly Humiliates Her Into Oblivion

Montel Williams is an outspoken opponent of Donald Trump s campaign and has been hitting the Republican nominee particularly hard as of late over his predatory sexual behavior.Here goes accused predator @realDonaldTrump lying about the black community again Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 13, 2016 Boys will be boys, but boys will not be President Ronald Reagan.Donald Trump will NEVER be President. Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 13, 2016DONALD TRUMP IS A DAMN PEDOPHILE. PERIOD FULL STOP. pic.twitter.com/UK6AF3GjjI Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 13, 2016So Trump defender Scottie Nell Hughes responded by privately threatening to bring up sexual misconduct accusations against Williams. Bc I appreciate you and don t want to publicly bring up a bad moment in your life but please be careful publicly going against me Bc others might not have a loyalty to you, she wrote.Rather than bow down to such threat, Williams called Hughes out publicly on Twitter and posted her message for all to see. Trumpers in general: careful threatening me when you don t know what I know and can tell reporters, Williams fired back.@scottienhughes /Trumpers in general: careful threatening me when you don t know what I know and can tell reporters pic.twitter.com/D1kz95gpSE Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 14, 2016It turns out Hughes was referencing sexual assault allegations which Williams was exonerated for in a court of law.Seeing her error, Hughes claimed she wasn t threatening Williams and claimed she was just being a friend. But Williams was having none of it.Yes you were and it s a damn stupid one at that given the case was tossed and the lawyer who filed it sanctioned ;) https://t.co/LH7cijIUKs Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 14, 2016An embarrassed Hughes then offered a pathetic apology to stop the bleeding.@Montel_Williams well I apologize you took it that way Bc unfortunately the part about the lawyer is not highly reported as much. I am sorry Scottie Nell Hughes (@scottienhughes) October 14, 2016But Williams didn t accept.Scottie was referencing series of frivolous sexual harassment lawsuits filed against me. I won EACH AND EVERY ONE https://t.co/Wph3higga0 pic.twitter.com/MjfgBzQ3IV Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 14, 2016I didn t settle a one of those cases because I was innocent, so much so the Judge fined the lawyer who filed them 15k https://t.co/4AZbliptFr Montel Williams (@Montel_Williams) October 14, 2016In a statement provided to Raw Story, Williams explained that while Hughes has only known Trump for a few months, she clearly doesn t know him like he does. Scottie has known Donald a few months, I ve known him more than 20 years. It would be unwise for her or any of these folks from central casting posing as surrogates to threaten me. They have no idea the damage me deciding to talk to a reporter about what I know would cause. Hughes responded on Twitter by playing the victim as if she did nothing wrong by casually making threats to someone she considers a friend. No messages from you sorry or I would have responded that MW and I have had friendly convos since 14. Sorry. I guess I misunderstood how polite our friendship was and very disappointed he has that low of respect for me. Threatening to smear a person s reputation is not what any good friend does. But that s what Hughes did even though Williams was found totally innocent of the allegations against him. Hughes deserved to be humiliated in public, and by sharing the threat publicly, Williams showed the world just how low Trump s minions are willing to sink.Featured image via Facebook

Exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh reaches 270,000 - UNHCR

COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - An estimated 270,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past two weeks, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, announcing a dramatic jump in numbers fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar s Rakhine State. A rights group said satellite images showed about 450 buildings had been burned down in a Myanmar border town largely inhabited by Rohingya, as part of what the Muslim minority refugees say is a concerted effort to expel them. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the estimated number of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar on Aug. 25 had risen from 164,000 on Thursday, after aid workers found big groups in border areas. We have identified more people in different areas that we were not aware of, said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, while adding that there could be some double-counting. The numbers are so alarming - it really means that we have to step up our response and that the situation in Myanmar has to be addressed urgently. The latest flight of Rohingya began two weeks ago after Rohingya insurgents attacked security force posts in Myanmar s Rakhine State. That triggered an army counteroffensive in which at least 400 people died. The United States, a principle backer of Aung San Suu Kyi s civilian government that came to power in Myanmar last year, said there had been shortcomings on the part of Myanmar security forces and the government in dealing with the situation. Patrick Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Washington was calling in talks with Myanmar s military and civilian leaders for urgent restoration of access to Rakhine State for humanitarian assistance and journalists. He said the security forces must respond responsibly to the attacks that began the crisis, telling reporters: They have a responsibility to carry out those activities in accordance with rule of law and international human rights Rights groups briefed U.N. Security Council diplomats on the Myanmar violence on Friday. Russia and China did not send any diplomats, according to people at the meeting. Myanmar has said it is was counting on China and Russia to protect it from any Security Council censure. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Suu Kyi by phone on Wednesday and reiterated his concerns about the situation in Rakhine State, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States was deeply troubled by continued reports of attacks against innocent civilians and will continue to urge (Myanmar) security forces to respect those civilians as it conducts security operations. Washington was also calling on Myanmar to ensure that aid reached those in need as quickly as possible, and that it is delivered in a manner that protects their rights and dignity, she said in a statement. The wave of refugees, many sick or wounded, has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands displaced by previous waves of violence in Myanmar. Many have no shelter, and aid agencies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food. We need to prepare for many more to come, I am afraid, said Shinni Kubo, Bangladesh country manager for UNHCR. We need huge financial resources. This is unprecedented. This is dramatic. It will continue for weeks and weeks. While most refugees are coming on foot, many are braving the sea. At least 300 boats carrying Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh s Cox s Bazar district on Wednesday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Buddhist-majority Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists it blames for the attacks on the security forces, burning homes and civilian deaths. It says about 30,000 non-Muslims have been displaced. The 1.1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar have long complained of persecution. They are denied citizenship and regarded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. There is very limited access to the north of Rakhine State and few if any independent witnesses, raising fears that a humanitarian crisis could be unfolding among Rohingya still there. What we know is what people are saying as they come across, and what they re saying now, given this been going on since Aug. 25, is they are in an absolutely desperate state, said IOM s Leonard Doyle. They say (they are) living out in (the) open, without protection from the tropical sun with their children, without enough food to eat. Bangladesh has proposed safe zones run by aid groups for Rohingya in Myanmar. But it would seem the plan is unlikely to be accepted there. Human Rights Watch said satellite images taken last Saturday showed hundreds of burned buildings in Maungdaw, a district capital in Rakhine State, in areas primarily inhabited by Rohingya. If safety cannot even be found in area capitals, then no place may be safe, said Phil Robertson, the group s deputy Asia director. A Myanmar reporter in the north of the state said he had reports from residents of an area called Rathedaung that six villages there had been torched and that there had also been shooting in the area. It was not clear who was responsible. Critics have accused Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya and some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked. The United States has been careful to avoid direct criticism of Suu Kyi, and Murphy said Washington was looking to help Myanmar s transition to democracy succeed. He noted that most authority in Rakhine State lay with the military, which wielded direct power in Myanmar for decades before Suu Kyi s election win. Murphy called for implementation of recommendations of a commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan set up to find solutions for the ethnically and religiously divided Rakhine. The fact that over a million people inside the country have been devoid of basic rights for generations has been a long-standing issue, Murphy said. It needs to be addressed. Protests against the treatment of the Rohingya were held in several countries, including Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia. Others were held outside Myanmar s embassies in Tokyo and Manila. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was considering raising the issue in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump next week. Malaysia s coastguard said it was willing to offer Rohingya temporary shelter, although it is unlikely refugees would travel hundreds of kilometres south by sea during the monsoon season, which lasts until late November. Thailand has also said it is preparing to receive people fleeing Myanmar, while Singapore said it was ready to help the humanitarian effort.

kurds worried turkey will stab them in the back as they fight isis

obama admin targets soldiers bonuses lets bad va employees keep theirs pentagon asks troops to repay bonuses va rewards employees after widespread problems morgan chalfant free beacon october comments the federal government is trying to recoup enlistment bonuses given erroneously to thousands of california soldiers despite routinely allowing poorperforming va employees to keep their bonus checks the los angeles times reported last week that the pentagon demanded that thousands of california soldiers repay bonuses they were given to fight in iraq and afghanistan the defense department asked the soldiers to repay the bonuses which amounted to or more each after audits revealed they were overpaid by the california national guard but the practice stands in contrast with that of the obama administrations department of veterans affairs which has failed to take back hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to highranking bureaucrats who have been scrutinized for bad behavior or poor management for instance the va said last year it would not collect over in bonuses paid to two senior executives who manipulated the agencys hiring system to take new jobs with less responsibility and receive relocation benefits the va which acknowledged that the employees abused the system said it did not have the legal authority to recoup the money

Homeless Veterans Group Asked Trump For A Donation, So He Sent Them Bumper Stickers

As we ve all heard from Trump, he didn t skip the debate because the thought of facing a woman who is willing to confront him turns his pants just a little brown, or because Fox News would not pay him $5 million for the appearance. Instead, he just wanted to do something nice for America s veterans. According to the billionaire, the rally he scheduled to air on Fox s competing networks during the debate raised a whopping $6 million for Veterans. Unfortunately, this money all went to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which has an abysmal history of helping those who have served our country, with less than 1% of donations going to that particular cause.While Trump is perfectly willing to hide behind our Vets as he pretends that he s not scared of being challenged by Megyn Kelly, a simply look at his recent history reveals how much he actually cares about people who, unlike him, put on a uniform and served our nation. Last year, New York-based Veterans-in-Command, an organization that helps homeless veterans, reached out to The Donald for a donation.More than a year ago, New York-based Veterans-in-Command, an organization that helps homeless veterans, reached out to The Donald for a donation.While one might assume that Trump would jump at the opportunity to help out, time went by and they received no response until just before Trump s little debate day stunt, when the cash-strapped organization got some mail from the Trump campaign. But what was inside was not something that can feed or house those in need unless, of course, someone feel like eating or building a home out of bumper stickers. Unfortunately we are unable to make donations from the campaign, reads a handwritten note in the envelope. Team Trump. The letter informs the organization that Mr. Trump is very passionate about giving veterans the best life possible! Included was a few Trump campaign bumper stickers. Afterward, Veterans-in-Command began receiving emails from the Trump campaign asking them for money.via NY Daily NewsThe group finds this response puzzling because they did not write to the Trump campaign. We never wrote to his campaign, said Veterans-in-Command President Larry Robertson. Now they want us to get out there and campaign and be on his team? Without the veterans, he wouldn t be where he is today. The news that Trump had raised money to help Veterans groups further confounds Robertson and his membership. It just doesn t make any sense. He s campaigning for donations for veterans, said Rodney Moore, a retired U.S. Coast Guard petty officer who works with Veterans-In-Command. We were a little deflated. After taking a proverbial beating for funneling money to his own Foundation, Trump finally released a list of 22 groups the donated money will benefit. Veterans-In-Command was not on the list despite reaching out to the billionaire 2016 hopeful.But, hey, at least they got some bumper stickers and campaign emails. After all, they re sure to support him after all this, aren t they?Featured image via NY Daily News/screengrab

These Ladies Just Created The Most Adorable Song EVER For Hillary (VIDEO)

People have all kinds of ways of supporting their favorite candidates. Some go to rallies, knock on doors, or donate and raise money. However, others get more creative, and that is just what two Hillary Clinton supporters from Missouri.Social entrepreneur Antonio French tweeted the best video ever of a tribute song written by the two ladies. The lyrics are uplifting and the setting is some sort of Hillary support site. In the introduction, the ladies say the following about their little project: We wanted to write a jingle that we thought would address all the issues she represents. Certainly, the little ditty does that, as its chorus says:She s proven and she s tried, she s on the people s side!Oh, Hillary, she ll get the job done, Oh Hillary, she ll get the job done!Here is the tweet, with the video:These ladies wrote a song for @HillaryClinton ? and it's been stuck in my head for days. #ImWithHer @MO4Hillary pic.twitter.com/avPlDz1J5b Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) February 21, 2016The song is set to a gospel style tune, and the passion of these ladies support for the former Secretary of State shines bright and clear. They seem to be ecstatic and excited about their candidate, which is what makes election season so awesome that fire that just isn t present in quite the same way at any other time.Well, done, ladies! No matter who you support, this is a definite must see.Featured image via video screen capture

Germany's Free Democrats forfeit demand for large tax relief

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) will have to accept smaller income tax cuts than they had previously wanted, their leader said on Tuesday, signaling compromise in discussions with two other parties on forming a new government. FDP leader Christian Lindner said his party would not be able to push for tax relief totaling 30-40 billion euros ($35-46 billion) and will instead seek to get the Greens and the conservatives to accept an abolition of the solidarity tax introduced after reunification in 1990 to support poorer eastern states.

Trump Flip Flops On Super Bowl Pick After Finding Out Peyton Manning Supports Jeb Bush

As usual, Donald Trump s support only goes as far as who he thinks supports him. After a week of claiming he was rooting for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, he shamelessly switched sides to the Carolina Panthers after his arch-rival Jeb Bush claimed Manning as his own.During the Republican debate, a smug-looking Jeb Bush announced that Peyton Manning is supporting me, and I m for Denver. He wasn t kidding, Manning has reportedly donated the maximum amount, $2,700, to Bush s campaign. That had to sting the other candidates, because Manning is a well-known conservative who loves throwing cash at his favorite politicians. He gave money to George W. Bush during his re-election campaign in 2004, gave $5000 to Mitt Romney in 2012, and regularly gives checks to Republican politicians in his home state of Tennessee. His brother and fellow NFL quarterback Eli Manning also maxed out a contribution to Jeb Bush.This was an embarrassing moment for Trump, who up until last week was boasting about Manning.Who is Donald Trump pulling for in Super Bowl 50? https://t.co/XbptyG0CGJ Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 31, 2016 I ll stick with Peyton, said Trump at the time, just one week before he very much didn t stick with Peyton.Both Trump and Bush s other rival, Marco Rubio, appeared openly bitter about Manning during the debate. While Trump let his flip-flop speak for itself, Rubio noted that he was rooting for Peyton Manning, but now I m rooting for Carolina. As Addicting Info s Oliver Willis recently reported, it s not just Peyton. The Denver Broncos organization, like many football teams, is itself a massive backer of the GOP.According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Broncos have donated $112,475 to conservative candidates and political committees. By comparison the Carolina Panthers have given $17,000 to support the right. While both teams have also contributed to liberal candidates, the numbers are much smaller $3,500 for the Broncos, $4,000 for the Panthers.It s fun to watch how quickly Trump will turn on a person who so recently praised just because he can t get anything from him or her. It s clear that Trump s opinions about people change at the whims of his fragile ego.Feature image via Flickr/Papa Johns

VIETNAM VET, MILITARY “Lifer” DESTROYS Crybaby Democrats In Scathing Letter: “I sometimes wonder if I’ll get to heaven, but if I go to hell, I’m sure I’ll still be a few hundred floors above that bastard…”

A powerful letter from a lifer in the military:Because I am a lifer in the military, I ve seen the impact of a president more than many of you can imagine. I enlisted with LBJ and saw just what a Democrat clusterflock was all about. I went to Vietnam and saw how we were constantly and incessantly bombarded with micromanagement from Washington that got thousands of military people killed. I sometimes wonder if I ll get to heaven, but if I go to hell, I m sure I ll still be a few hundred floors above that bastard Robert McNamara , LBJ, John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and yes, even the hero John McCain.After Johnson abdicated rather than having his ass waxed, I lived through Nixon who was hawkish but allowed the generals (and there WERE a few real generals back then versus now) run the show. He was so out of touch that he never knew North Vietnam was about to surrender when the Paris Accord was presented.Only God could help us after Gerald Ford was beaten by Jimmy Peanuts who d been funded by Saudi money. The military was turned into Section 8 and even the Whitehouse suffered the austerity. Then the light began to shine and Ronald Reagan swept into the fray. He not only loved the country and the military, they loved him back. Esprit d corps was off the scale during his presidency. The Liberals were slowly turning into socialists, however, and about this time all the draft dodgers of the 1960 s who d been given amnesty by Jimmy Peanuts were turning out college graduates with degrees in socialism. Bush 1 was an enigma from the CIA and though he never did much either way, he NEVER DID MUCH EITHER WAY.Welcome to Bill Clinton. Clinton spent most of his two terms wagging the dog and creating the Oral Office, sending a bomber to blow up Quaddafi s tent and killing a goat or two, while allowing the UN to set up the infamous Black Hawk Down situation. He made history by becoming only the second president to be impeached.I actually felt sorry for Bush 2. He was doomed to infamy from the start. He thought most of America was still the rah rah patriots of WWII when they were simply socialists waiting to feed him to the sharks. Then there came the Manchurian Candidate with a faked (OK Democrats, let s say of questionable origin to assuage your PC brains) birth certificate, who d gotten a free ride through college under a foreign student exemption, and whose college records and complete life history had been sealed. (We know more about Thomas Jefferson s bastard children than we do about Obama, Michelle, OR their two kids.) From his inaugural address, he slandered America and within days had begun to encourage dissention of the races as well as slandering police who acted stupidly. That was mild to the crap that would come in doubling the national debt from what had been built by ALL THE PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED, feeding us bullspit about how Muslims built this country, and nationalizing American industries. Fueled by George Soros money and using the Air Force fleet as his personal charters, he appointed malcontents and traitors into positions of authority. He trashed the Constitution by installing czars (interesting he chose a title like that) to bypass Congressional authority. By that time, Congress was completely corrupt on both sides of the aisle. No one had balls to impeach this charlatan. Mysteriously, the lone outspoken conservative Supreme Court Justice suddenly dies in his sleep at an Obama pal s hunting lodge and the Supreme Court is evenly split. Finally, Congress shows some balls and rejects Obama s nomination. The Libtards aren t worried because the fix is in. Soros has paid demonstrators to cause turmoil at all the Republican gatherings, Obama concedes that illegal aliens should vote as they won t be prosecuted, and Soros-manufactured voting machines are caught switching votes in certain precincts. Hillary has cheated her way to the nomination and her lies are completely ignored by the brainwashed minions of sycophants who follow her. But a shocking thing happened on the way to the forum.Middle America had had enough and although the pollsters and the pipers tried to convince them not even to bother to vote, they were fed up with the denizens of the swamp. It was time. Florida was designated a swing state ignoring that all those old retirees living in St. Petersburg, and the fed up Cuban Americans of Miami weren t interested in their platform. Ohio and Pennsylvania, where coal production was blacklisted and where Obama had ridiculed them for clinging to their Bibles and their guns, lay awaiting this supposed landslide Hillary vote and creamed it.The Socialist world of the Democratic Party disintegrated. An American who expressed unbridled love of country and respect for police, firemen, and military steamrolled across the heartland and the liberals realized their scheme was trashed. A CONSTITUTIONALIST would be nominated to the Supreme Court and if the hag who d claimed to retire if Trump were elected would actually leave, the Supreme Court would have a massive majority of CONSTITUTIONALISTS for the next 40-50 years.Now, the same party who d ridiculed Trump on his comments about the election being rigged, started screaming that the election was rigged. They even advocated having the election repeated. They created mobs that burned and pillaged, stopped traffic, threatened murder, battery and rape of Trump supporters, and became the anarchists that the socialist dream thrives upon. They run like castrated pigs for safe zones and use diaper pins as their national symbol.This is exactly what happens when political correctness takes over and participation trophies are awarded to everyone. They can t conceive how disgusting and subservient they have become. Donald Trump may NOT be the best person for the job, but he s such a welcome respite from the candy-assed whimps who ve been running the swamp that it s refreshing to see. At the very least, Donald Trump derailed the Socialist train and bought us precious time. If he only does half of what he s promised, we ll still be legions ahead of where Obama has dragged us. Already countries who held us in contempt are lining up to be found in the favor of America.So for you liberal lurkers and you half-assed fence-sitters, kiss off. You had your big hurrah and now your party is over. For you staunch Republicans in office, don t gloat so much yourselves. You ve been put on notice by the American people that we re fed up with ALL YOU BASTARDS and if you don t start putting America first, you do so at your own peril. You might want to buy a copy of George McGovern s autobiography and see how shocking and humbling it can be for a professional politician to have to try to find legitimate work once he falls from grace. This election was pure, unadulterated AMERICAN. Hillary got beaten and AMERICA WON THE ELECTION. You can claim he s not your president all you want, but unless you forfeit your American citizenship, YES HE IS!!!! Go cry a river some place they need water.Retired Chief Master Sergeant George Roof gave permission to 100percentfedup.com to publish his amazing letter on our website. We applaud George s passion and his honesty. Most of all, we thank him for dedicating his life to service in our US armed forces.

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi sets out aid plan to end Rohingya crisis

GENEVA (Reuters) - Aung San Suu Kyi has set out plans for a new humanitarian project to enable Myanmar s Rakhine State to emerge as a peaceful and developed region, which a close adviser said showed her determination to fix the country s refugee crisis. Suu Kyi said in a televised address on Thursday evening that she would invite aid organizations, business leaders and civil society to take part in the initiative, which aims to defuse the violence that has caused 536,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee from Rakhine State to Bangladesh in the past two months. What she s interested in is how to fix this, how to... give the civilian government, as opposed to the military, the power to deliver aid, reconciliation and rebuilding, said the adviser, who briefed reporters, by telephone, on condition of anonymity. That s the task she has set herself. In her speech, Suu Kyi said that although the government may not be strong, she hoped the strength and generosity of the people would turn the initiative, to be launched on Sunday, into a milestone in Myanmar s history. Representatives of Suu Kyi in Myanmar could not be reached to confirm the adviser s comments. But two leading Myanmar experts confirmed to Reuters that the adviser was close to her. The United Nations has called the violence in Myanmar a textbook example of ethnic cleansing , and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has been widely criticized for failing to take action to stop it. She is appalled by what she has seen. She does care deeply about this. I know that does not always come across. But she really does, Suu Kyi s adviser told reporters. But she had to tread carefully in order not to inflame things further, he said, saying Myanmar s transition to democracy was in a perilous position .

Rescued Canadian-U.S. couple reunited with family; receiving medical attention

TORONTO (Reuters) - A U.S.-Canadian couple freed in Pakistan this week, nearly five years after being abducted in Afghanistan, reunited with the husband s family on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman arrived with their three children late on Friday in Toronto, where the husband said one of his children was murdered and his wife had been raped. Citing an email from Boyle, the AP reported the family had reached the first true home that the children have ever known after they spent most of Friday asking if each subsequent airport was our new house hopefully. Boyle, a Canadian, and Coleman, an American were kidnapped while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012 by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network. Pakistani troops rescued the family this week in the northwest of the country, near the Afghan border. The United States has long accused Pakistan of failing to fight the Haqqani network. The couple had three children while in captivity. Boyle opened his Friday media statement by saying he was delayed due to a medical emergency involving one of his children. AP, citing Boyle s email, said his daughter had a cursory medical exam and hospital staff were enthusiastically insistent that her chances seemed miraculously high based on a quick physical. Boyle made a brief statement at Toronto s Pearson International Airport late on Friday, calling on the Taliban to provide my family with the justice we are owed. God willing, this litany of stupidity will be the epitaph of the Haqqani network, he said.

Inspector General To Investigate Comey Over Pre-Election Influence

In a bit of irony, the Inspector General (who investigated Clinton s use of a private email server) will now be conducting an investigation of James Comey and the FBI to determine if the damaging letter sent to the House Oversight Committee in October of last year was mishandled and unfairly influential.Some outlets, including FiveThirtyEight, Vox and Al Jazeera, contend that Comey s letter inflicted a fatal blow to the Clinton campaign in the last week of the election, allowing Donald Trump to clinch a surprise win.The Justice Department and Inspector General s office say that the move comes as pressure mounts from members of Congress and the public that the releasing of the letter was politically motivated and intended to hurt the Clinton campaign.Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General, also said the FBI would be focused on a slew of other issues pertaining to the email controversy, including if any members of the DOJ gave information to the campaign and if an agent, whose wife was running for Congress on the Democratic ticket, should have recused himself from the initial email investigation.Horowitz also told ranking members of Congressional committees that the incoming investigation will not change the outcome of the initial clearance of Hillary Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing, and that the White House had no role in pressuring for the incoming probe.The Inspector General also did not say how long said probe would take to complete.Perhaps justice will be served although the election cannot be undone Comey will resign in shame, and Hillary Clinton will once again be vindicated in the court of public opinion. That is, everyone will see that Trump was illegitimately elected and thus is an illegitimate president.James Comey single-handedly had the biggest influence on the outcome of the election. He arrogantly told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that he cannot comment on a pending investigation, for which independent Senator Angus King rightfully called him out for it.If that s Comey s contention, then the probe will most likely prove as fatal to his career as it did to Hillary Clinton s.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S Powerful First Commencement Speech: “In America We Don’t Worship Government, We Worship God” [VIDEO]

President Trump told the graduates that they are graduating to a totally brilliant future. Trump specifically recognized graduates who have served in the military, It is truly a testament to this university and to the values that you embrace, that your graduating class includes so many patriots who have served our country in uniform. He also thanked Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. and members of the Falwell family. You are about to begin the greatest adventure of your life, said Trump who remarked how blessed the graduates are.Trump said that he knows each graduate will be a warrior for the truth , a warrior for our country and for your family. He encouraged them that they will do what is right even when it isn t easy, You will be true to yourself, your family, your beliefs. The President then referred to what he has seen so far in his short time serving in Washington, D.C.:Trump remarked that those graduating have given half a million hours of charity in just the past year. We don t need a lecture from Washington on how to lead our lives, he followed.He said he was standing in front of leaders, one or two future U.S. presidents could be in the crowd. America has always been a land of dreams because America is a nation of true believers, said Trump who then referred to the pilgrims landing at Plymouth. He remarked that the pilgrims prayed and, later, America s Founding Fathers invoked Creator God four times in the Declaration of Independence. Because in America we don t worship government, we worship God, he said.Watch:He recognized that United States currency bears the phrase, In God We Trust and referenced One nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. The story of America is the story of an adventure that began with deep faith, big dreams, and humble beginnings, said Trump who said Liberty University began in the same way.For entire story: Breitbart News

Republicans join push to lift secrecy around misconduct in Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prominent Republican senators on Thursday embraced a push to overhaul rules for addressing sexual harassment in the U.S. Congress, signing on to a bill that would protect victims and require lawmakers to pay for their own settlements. The legislation builds on demands to lift the veil of secrecy around sexual harassment and misconduct on Capitol Hill, and has gained steam in recent months as a wave of women have come forward with accusations against prominent American men in politics, media and entertainment. The bipartisan push signaled momentum in the Republican-led U.S. Congress for overhauling a process for handling misconduct allegations that many lawmakers say is antiquated and stacked against victims. The Senate bill, called the Congressional Harassment Reform Act, draws from proposals that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Jackie Speier, both Democrats, have been developing. “Congress is really behind the eight-ball. I think that, in many respects, the private sector has acted more swiftly than we have in terms of addressing sexual harassment,” Speier said in an interview. High-profile Republican senators co-sponsoring the bill include John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican; Ted Cruz; Joni Ernst and Lisa Murkowski. The legislation would require any member of Congress found liable for harassment to pay settlements themselves, rather than with taxpayer funds, as the current process allows. “Congress is not above the laws, and secret settlements with taxpayer money to cover up harassment should no longer be tolerated,” Cruz said in a statement. Settlements would be made public automatically unless victims choose to keep them private. Outrage over sexual misconduct in politics helped to fuel an upset victory by Democrat Doug Jones in the U.S. Senate race in deeply conservative Alabama on Tuesday. Voters rejected the Republican candidate in the race, Roy Moore, who had been accused by multiple women of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, including one woman who said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14. Moore denied the allegations but many prominent Republicans distanced themselves from Moore, although President Donald Trump backed him. In Washington, allegations of sexual misconduct prompted the resignations last week of three lawmakers - Democratic Senator Al Franken, Democratic Representative John Conyers and Republican Representative Trent Franks. On Tuesday, Republican Representative Blake Farenthold said he would not seek re-election in November. Politico reported that the congressional Office of Compliance had paid $84,000 from a public fund on behalf of Farenthold to settle a sexual harassment claim in 2015. Reuters has been unable to verify the allegations against Farenthold, who has said that the charges were false and has denied wrongdoing. The 1995 law governing the process for complaints in Congress - created in the wake of a harassment scandal - has been criticized as ineffective. The lengthy and cumbersome process requires victims to go through mandatory mediation and requires complete secrecy. “It created a protective blanket around the harasser and left the victim out in the cold,” Speier said. Speier, who has worked on the issue since 2014, came forward in October with her own story of unwanted sexual contact from the chief of staff for the lawmaker she worked for as a congressional aide. “He kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth,” said Speier, who has become a resource from women seeking advice on how to handle similar situations. “When it happened to me, it disgusted me. I kind of recoiled.” Speier’s proposals for reforms have attracted support from more than 100 members, including 19 Republicans. A group of conservative Republicans have championed a separate bill focused on banning the use of taxpayer dollars for settlements, and requiring past settlements to be disclosed and reimbursed. “What we do agree is that taxpayers should not be on the hook for misbehavior and for those settlements that are made,” said Marsha Blackburn, a Republican representative who has advocated for the proposal. “We need to use that to make certain that workplaces are respectful,” Blackburn said in an interview. A House committee is reviewing reforms with an eye to making recommendations in coming weeks. “I think that what we are doing is taking the best of all the ideas out there and putting them into one package,” a senior House Republican aide said.

gop scandal falls apart as new emails didnt come from hillary clintons server

by rmuse am the voter suppression tactic is right out of the gop election rigging playbook to suppress the black vote in north carolina the following is an opinion column by r muse some americans are likely aware of the psychological term projecting that roughly means a person attributes their own faults and actions onto someone else as an unconscious form of transferring guilt for ones own actions as soon as the republican primaries concluded donald trump projected republicans guilt for election rigging either through vote obstruction or suppression onto democrats and his opponent hillary clinton republicans have been actively suppressing votes since the election of barack obama in and they have only ramped up their election rigging activities over the past eight years and yet trump accuses democrats of election rigging as frequently as most human beings draw breath yesterday the north carolina conference of the national association for the advancement of colored people naacp filed a lawsuit against north carolina republicans and demanded they put an immediate stop to the coordinated effort to suppress the black vote in the state what the naacp rightly said was that the voter suppression tactic was right out of the gop election rigging playbook to suppress the black vote in the state the election rigging amounts to three counties in north carolina canceling voter registration of thousands of mostly african american democratic residents a week before the presidential election the lawsuit charged election officials in beaufort moore and cumberland counties of denying primarily african american voters eligibility to participate in democracy because their voter registration documents mysteriously were bounced back as undeliverable most of the voters whose eligibility to vote was denied and flagged for purging such as james edward arthur sr had moved within the same county and were still legally allowed to cast ballots many of the purged voters lived at their original registration address and were victims of a simple postal service error mr arthur is an african american who lives in a nursing home and has voted in at least the last elections in the same county he was born and raised in without issue arthur testified that he like thousands of other african american democratic voters never received any state or county election documents informing him that his eligibility was denied or that if he didnt attend an appeal hearing to maintain his right to vote he would be denied the right to participate in democracy mr arthur said if i knew my right to vote was in jeopardy i would do whatever i could to protect it i want and plan to vote in the upcoming election but i am concerned that since my registration has been canceled i will not be able to cast a ballot or it will not be counted it is what any sane human being would consider election rigging simply because the tricounty ploy targeted primarily african americans who typically vote for democrats it is also something north carolina republicans have been guilty of for the past six years according to the naacp lawsuit north carolina republicans are in violation of the national voter registration act which bans the systemic removal of voters from the rolls in the final days before an election republican election officials state officials defended their election rigging and said they were justified in purging tensofthousands of mainly african american democratic voters eligibility the definition of systemic on an individual basis however the naacp also accused republicans of conducting a coordinated mailing campaign for the sole purpose of challenging the eligibility of thousands of mainly african american voters eligibility who did not receive the mailing one republican who ran for a local office last year shane hubers challenged the registration of voters?the majority who are them democrats ?in beaufort county in one of the other counties charged in the lawsuit cumberland county one individual used returned mail to challenge the registrations of mostly democratic voters in moore county the secretary of the local republican party n carol wheeldon challenged approximately mainly african american registered voters likely because they do not vote for republicans the lead attorney for the naacps lawsuit penda hair said that although she cannot yet prove there is a concerted republican election rigging conspiracy we know that in two of the counties the people who brought the challenges had connections to the local republican party we also know that the pattern of these challenges is very similar across the counties ms hair also noted that in moore county the return address of a rightwing group called the voter integrity project appeared on the mail that was used to challenge voters this is a very pernicious treatment of voters she said it is also a deliberate act of election rigging by republicans the president of the north carolina naacp reverend dr william barber said we are seeing the worst attempts of voter suppression here in north carolina that weve seen since the days of jim crow the tar heel state is ground zero in the intentional surgical efforts to suppress the voice of voters these attempts are a direct affront to our constitution the naacp lawsuit is demanding the state reinstate all voters challenged since using this election rigging process back on the rolls immediately the organization also demands that the state notifies the voters that they have been reinstated as eligible voters and allow them to cast regular ballots early or on election day they have already put in a request for an emergency hearing this week to decide the case it might be the case that the naacps request for a hearing may be granted especially in light of these new charges arising just days after a federal court ruled that north carolina republicans violated the national voter registration act in yet another manner failing to add tens of thousands of voters to the rolls who registered at a dmv office over the past few years last thursday us district court judge loretta biggs ordered north carolina republicans to permit those tensofthousands of voters to cast provisional ballots it is highly doubtful that north carolina republicans will obey the federal judges orders because they have been the recipients of several court orders over their election rigging actions that have had no effect whatsoever or the republicans would not continue disenfranchising voters republicans have been on a tear to rig elections since the american people first elected barack obama as president and the conservatives on the supreme court are ultimately guilty of conspiring with republicans to suppress or obstruct the voting rights of primarily people of color because they dont support republicans to be perfectly clear it is irrelevant if it is called voter suppression obstruction or disenfranchisement it is a deliberate attempt to rig elections and it is only republicans and the koch brothers outfit the american legislative exchange council alec who are behind each and every attempt in republicancontrolled states to kill democracy by doing what the republican party standard bearer donald trump is guilty of projecting rig elections

Republicans want tech input on U.S. net neutrality legislation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee on Monday asked for input from Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O), Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and other major companies on a proposed rewrite of rules governing consumer internet access, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. Last week, the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee’s chairman asked the chief executives of those three companies, as well as AT&T Inc (T.N), Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) and Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) to testify at a Sept. 7 hearing on the future of net neutrality rules. None of the companies have agreed yet to testify. On Monday, a lawyer for the committee, Robin Colwell, asked the companies to weigh in on what net neutrality legislation could look like. “So all we are looking for at this stage is a list of asks. From your perspective, what needs to stay, what needs to be added, and what needs to go?” she wrote in an email. Representative Greg Walden, the Republican who chairs the committee, said last week that “the time has come to get everyone to the table and get this figured out.” Walden, Colwell added “continues to be interested in moving forward on a bipartisan legislative solution to the longstanding issue of net neutrality. Since we all basically agree on the fundamental principles and the need to provide certainty for all participants in the internet economy, he believes we are close to reaching an agreement.” The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering tossing out 2015 Obama administration net neutrality rules that reclassified internet service as a public utility. The rules bar providers from blocking, slowing or offering paid prioritization of websites. Many internet providers want Congress to step in and write permanent rules. A group representing major technology companies earlier this month urged the FCC to abandon plans to rescind the rules barring internet service providers from hindering consumer access to Web content or offering paid “fast lanes.” Major internet services have urged the FCC to reverse the rules, even as they vowed not to hinder internet access. In May, the FCC voted 2-1 to advance Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to withdraw the Obama administration’s order reclassifying internet service providers as utilities. More than 14 million public comments have been filed. The Internet Association, a group representing companies including Facebook, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), said last week it was “open to alternative legal bases for the rules, either via legislative action codifying the existing net neutrality rules or via sound legal theories.”

WATCH: CVS Employees Hide In Back Room And Call Cops After Black Man Tries To Buy Cheese

An African-American man made a late night trip with a friend to a CVS in Carytown, Virginia when he managed to do something so terrifying that it sent the staff scrambling to the back room while they waited for police to arrive he asked if they sold cheese. That particular CVS does not, in fact, sell cheese, but Ricky Berry (who made the voyage de fromage with his roommate) says that the staff disappeared after one of them explained that they don t sell sandwich cheese. We looked around for probably 30, 45 minutes and we couldn t find anybody, Berry s roommate said, adding that they had encountered another customer who wanted to buy Orajel but could not find anyone to help. After a while, a police officer showed up and searched the store with the duo of cheese-loving men. He was laughing with us because, like, this is how weird, apocalyptic movies start. They found the employees cowering in the back room. The officer then made some calls and told them they would have to leave. We re being kicked out because they were scared of us and hiding, Berry said, He just told us that we need to leave premises or else we would be arrested for trespassing and that flipped the script on all of us. We had no idea what was going on. The men were unsuccessful in their attempt to contact the store manager but did receive a fauxpology from CVS, who explained that the racist employee was being counseled and retrained rather than fired.Watch a report on this latest example of what will become normal with Donald Trump as President below:Featured image via screengrab

WATCH: New Clinton Ad Brilliantly Goes After Trump’s Products That Are NOT ‘Made In The USA’

If you listen to Donald Trump at any of his many rallies, you d think he made all of the products within his many, many product lines here in the good old U.S. of A. However, facts and reality tell a different story from the one currently pouring out of the orifice on the front of his face.As it turns out, Trump likes to save a few bucks himself and ship his manufacturing needs overseas. This, of course, killing jobs in the United States, but boosting jobs overseas. So, he s not lying when he says he ll put people to work, because he s been doing it in China, Peru, Bangladesh, etc. for years now. Too bad those jobs aren t here at home.Noticing the hypocrisy spewing out of Trump s mouth at nearly all of his rallies is none other than the Hillary Clinton campaign. They just put together a brilliant new ad that hilariously shows some Clinton staffers going and buying some Trump merchandise, because they re sure all of it must be made in America. However, it seems as if none of it was actually made in the U.S.A. as Trump likes to boast that s where goods should be made.If only he practiced what he preached.Watch the brilliantly hilarious attack ad here:So @jess_mc & @Zac_Petkanas went to Trump Tower, bought Trump swag & talked to voters about where it was made. Gold. https://t.co/SYT7CcIMwP Ian Sams (@IanSams) July 1, 2016Featured image via video screen capture

Trump names Ohlhausen as acting chair of Federal Trade Commission

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican on the Federal Trade Commission, has been named the FTC’s acting chairman, the agency said on Wednesday. In addition to Ohlhausen, the commission has two Democrats, outgoing Chairwoman Edith Ramirez who steps down early next month and Democrat Terrell McSweeny. It has two vacancies. The appointment was made by a White House order, the FTC said on its website. “I am deeply honored that President Trump has asked me to serve as acting chairman of the FTC and to preserve America’s true engine of prosperity: a free, honest, and competitive marketplace,” Ohlhausen said in a statement. Ohlhausen became a commissioner in April 2012 with her term set to expire in 2018, according to the FTC website. The commission works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law and pursues companies involved in deceptive advertising as well as those accused of fraud. As a member of the Republican minority in the commission, she has often dissented, sometimes arguing that there was insufficient evidence to justify FTC action. In the past few days, she dissented on a $20 million settlement with the ride-hailing app Uber, which was accused of luring drivers with promises of inflated earnings, and the decision to sue Qualcomm for allegedly using its market power to maintain a monopoly on key semiconductors. Also this month, she dissented on the FTC’s decision to file lawsuits against two companies accused of striking deals aimed at delaying generic medicines from coming to market. Ohlhausen has also been skeptical of the Federal Communications Commission’s move to oversee aspects of security and privacy in the Internet, arguing the FTC should do the job. But she signed on to an FTC lawsuit against Wyndham Hotels for being sloppy in its treatment of consumer data. The chain suffered three data breaches in less than two years, and subsequently settled. She also voted against the FTC’s lawsuit to stop food distribution giant Sysco Corp from buying US Foods Inc, a fight the agency won in court. She voted in favor of the lawsuit to stop office supplies superstore Staples Inc from buying Office Depot Inc, which was also successful. Before becoming a commissioner, Ohlhausen was a partner at the law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. Ohlhausen has had a long list of posts at the FTC, including director of the Office on Policy Planning and attorney adviser for a former commissioner.

Egypt-Gaza border opens under PA control for first time in a decade

GAZA (Reuters) - The Egypt-Gaza border opened under control of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority for the first time since 2007 on Saturday, raising residents hopes for easier passage in and out of the impoverished enclave. An Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal last month formally restored Palestinian President Abbas s administrative control of Gaza, including its border crossings with Israel and Egypt, after a 10-year schism with Islamist Hamas. Palestinians hope the pact will ease Gaza s economic woes and help them present a united front in their drive for statehood, although the details of implementation of the deal have yet to be worked out fully. Citing security concerns, Egypt and Israel maintain tight restrictions at their Gaza borders. Hamas, regarded by the West as a terrorist group, seized the enclave in 2007 after fighting forces loyal to Abbas. Hamas quit positions at three Gaza crossings and handed them over to Palestinian Authority employees on Nov. 1, in a step seen as vital to encouraging Israel and Egypt to ease their restrictions on the movement of goods and people. Witnesses said at least five buses loaded with passengers crossed over to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Saturday. Hamas-appointed policemen had checked travellers documents in a separate hall outside Rafah. Egypt has not yet signaled any change to its present policy under which it opens the border crossing three times a week. Palestinians are hoping the crossing will operate full-time, as it had been doing until 2007. About 30,000 Gazans have applied for entry to Egypt in the past few months, according to the Palestinian Interior Ministry. Egypt will host further talks with Hamas, Fatah and other factions next week on Nov. 21 to discuss major reconciliation issues, including security arrangements and a possible date for Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections. Responsibility for security remains an open issue in Gaza, where Hamas, which still polices the territory, has what analysts say are at least 25,000 well-equipped fighters. The group refuses to disarm, as demanded by Israel and the United States.

HERE’S WHY OLE MISS Won’t Be Playing “DIXIE” Before Football Games This Year…There Goes Another SOUTHERN Tradition…

INCLUSIVENESS! That is the reason given in the statement by he Ole Miss Athletic Department another SOUTHERN TRADITION bites the dust! At what point do SOUTHERNERS say, ENOUGH! The traditions of the Southern colleges like Ole Miss are being stopped for fear of hurting people s feelings for not being included? THIS IS THE SOUTH and THIS is the reason so many people from everywhere choose to go to one of the Southern Colleges! These colleges are FULL of tradition. Would we go to any other part of America and demand that they stop a tradition like singing Dixie ? This is ridiculous! SO WHY ARE THEY STILL CALLED THE REBELS ? Ole Miss band will no longer play Dixie before football games.Ole Miss Athletics Department issued a statement saying it was time for the university to create new traditions.Dixie a song that was the unofficial anthem of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War has been a staple of Pride of the South s lineup for nearly seven decades. Recently the band stopped playing the song during games, but had continued to perform it in The Grove on game days.The athletic department released the following statement about the change: The newly expanded and renovated Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will further highlight our best traditions and create new ones that give the Ole Miss Rebels the best home field advantage in college football. Because the Pride of the South is such a large part of our overall experience and tradition, the Athletics Department asked them to create a new and modern pregame show that does not include Dixie and is more inclusive for all fans.

WATCH ANGRY TEACHER Play Out Mock Assassination Of Trump: “Die!” [Video]

Mentally ill teacher shoots Trump with a squirt gun in front of her students. This woman should be fired. pic.twitter.com/Gr0g7RKohD Deplorable Vet (@KGBVeteran) January 25, 2017

Lawyers see limited legal options for workers sent in Zika's way

(Reuters) - Employees of U.S. companies seeking to avoid exposure to the Zika virus likely have few legal avenues to either refuse travel to affected areas or sue if they actually become sick from the virus. But it may be a different story if such workers subsequently give birth to Zika-infected babies. Since Zika was detected in Brazil last year, the mosquito-borne virus has spread to 33 countries, most of them in the Americas. The World Health Organization declared an international health emergency because of strong suspicions that infections in pregnant women may cause microcephaly, a condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and can suffer developmental problems. While the virus had typically caused mild symptoms in adults, it also has been linked to an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome that can cause paralysis. U.S. and world health authorities are not currently warning against all travel to affected areas, as they did with the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. They are, however, advising pregnant women to consider postponing travel, and all travelers to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Adherence to the recommendations of the U.S. Department of State or the World Health Organization would shield companies to a large degree from claims they acted recklessly in sending employees into Zika-affected areas, lawyers who typically represent employers say. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) further recommends that travelers wear insect repellent and sleep with mosquito nets in places where they might be bitten, among other measures. “Your defense to any sort of claim is that you follow the public health guidance,” said Mark Lies, a lawyer with the firm Seyfarth Shaw, which specializes in advising companies on employment issues. Such advisories also mean workers probably would not be protected from termination if they refuse to go to an affected area, lawyers said. While the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act gives workers the right to refuse dangerous tasks, those tasks must pose an immediate risk of death or serious injury. Something like working with a “defective tool that has electrical sparks coming out of it” would meet that standard, said Ben Huggett of Littler, another employment law firm. Traveling to a Zika-affected area, on the other hand, would probably not, he said. Lies said upgraded warnings in the event Zika proves more lethal or virulent could give workers more of a right to refuse travel. But he said OSHA affords no special protection for pregnant women under current threat levels. The law governs only the safety of employees, not any unborn children they may be carrying. If employees contract Zika while traveling on the job, any immediate harm they suffer would be covered by worker’s compensation insurance, a form of no-fault insurance that applies to injuries suffered on the job. Virtually all states require employers to obtain worker’s compensation insurance and mandate that it be the sole remedy for workplace injuries. Worker’s compensation covers lost wages and medical care but awards are typically smaller than private lawsuits, which can seek to recover damages for pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages for negligence. Whether worker’s compensation would cover any purported Zika-related injuries in an employee’s baby is less clear. Huggett said that a fetal injury might be covered as being derivative of the mother’s injury. Huggett said he was unaware of any case that directly addressed worker’s compensation for a fetus harmed by an infectious disease. “It’s really an open question,” he said. Lies said he did not believe worker’s compensation would generally cover injury to a fetus but thought it could open the door for an employee to bring a lawsuit against her employer for negligence. “If someone is pregnant, or trying to get pregnant, or could get pregnant, you could have a case,” said Katherine Dudley Helms, a lawyer with employment law firm Ogletree Deakins. Many states limit worker’s compensation to several years’ pay, while a damage award for a severely impaired child could reach tens of millions of dollars, according to Michael Jones, an employment lawyer with Reed Smith. Michael Gerson of California firm Boxer & Gerson, who brings claims on behalf of employees, said such a case would still be a challenge if the company followed official warnings. The evidence would have to show “that the mother was never given adequate warning to protect herself as she was going into this type of environment,” he said. But Jones said such cases would be tough for the employer too. “I would be concerned if I sent an employee to a high risk region,” he said. “If that claim gets in front of a jury, you’re going to be looking at a very sympathetic plaintiff.” Reuters reported last week that several international airlines are allowing flight crew members who are or may become pregnant to request reassignment to routes that avoid Zika-affected areas. A spokeswoman for one of the airlines, American(AAL.O), declined to comment on possible legal liability requiring such travel could have created, saying the company’s policy was motivated by concern for employees’ well-being. United(UAL.N) and Delta(DAL.N), which have also offered to reassign their employees, could not immediately be reached.

Wow: Did The Palins Lie About When Bristol’s Baby Was Born To Cover Up The Truth? (IMAGES)

Conspiracy theories aren t something I take seriously very often. The type of people who engage in conspiracy theories spend their time on Alex Jones site talking about false flags and how mass shootings are a hoax. Fourteen years later, and they just can t admit that steel does in fact bend and melt and buildings fall down when you crash big planes into them.To be grouped with the crazies is inconceivable, but every so often something comes along that seems far-fetched until you look closely. This particular theory is brought to you by the Blogspot Right Wing Crooks, who seem to have figured out how and why Bristol Palin s baby was born in November and not December like she claims.The entire story goes into great detail about individual Instagram, Facebook and Twitter posts, friends of the family and the supposed father and former fiance brought in to make it all neat and clean. In a nutshell, the theory is that Bristol Palin was impregnated in or around the time she was in Las Vegas last year complaining about the night that ruined her life a month before a Medal of Honor winner mysteriously appears to sweep her off her feet, propose and become an immediate fixture in all aspects of her public, private and online life.The timeline begins on Palin s Instagram on Valentines Day. A selfie of her and an Alaskan prostitute adult industry worker dressed to impress for a night on the town appears with the caption The night before the worst mistake of my life. The picture is still there, but the caption, as reported by Right Wing Crooks, has been changed to #Vegas.If that was the night Bristol Palin was impregnated, a typical gestation period would bring her into early to mid-November for a due date. The fist picture of Bristol with her new daughter, Sailor, appeared on Christmas Eve:The Palins are notorious attention seekers. Up to this point, there was no mention of babies or deliveries or hospitals. All of a sudden, bam. There s Bristol, looking content with her daughter.Sarah hadn t posted at all either, but when she did there was a bit of a problem. When you post to Facebook your location is logged. Sarah Palin was somehow holding and loving on her brand new granddaughter in a Hospital in Parker, Alaska but posting to Facebook from New Orleans. Here is the actual post:https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10153836923483588Things got really fishy when a picture of Bristol and her little girl showed a piece of tape with an IV date on it. After enhancing, both Right Wing Crooks and Winning Democrats are convinced that the date most likely reads 11/4/15. November 4th, which by the Vegas pregnancy theory puts Sailor at exactly where she s supposed to be gestation-wise.Here are the pictures with enhancements:Right Wing CrooksThe theory is simple. To keep Bristol from looking like she got knocked up during a one night stand, a plan was formulated to move the birth. Bristol took pictures along the way, posting them a month or two in advance. If yopu check out her Instagram account, you ll see that at 32 weeks (according to her) pregnant she looked pretty along:32 weeks with my babe girl ? A photo posted by Bristol Palin (@bsmp2) on Oct 29, 2015 at 10:36pm PDTThat from October 29th to this on Thanksgiving, an entire month later? And what s with the Christmas tree? It s almost like the whole thing is just staged:Happy Thanksgiving ? .. thankful for my babies A photo posted by Bristol Palin (@bsmp2) on Nov 26, 2015 at 12:03pm PSTHow far-fetched is it really? You would simply have to consider what Sarah and the Palins would do to keep Bristol safe from the career (doing whatever it is she does) ending publicity of a one-night stand Vegas baby. Already her position as an abstinence counselor makes absolutely no sense, so that s kind of a wash, but with the Duggaresque hypocrisy of Bristol being a faith blogger on Patheos and possibly a future where are they now Dancing With The Stars special guest, the concept of changing a couple of months for a clean(er) slate may have been just that appealing.Did she fake the birth of her daughter nearly two months after it happened? According to Right Wing Crooks there are a slew of other tidbits that add to their theory:That is all admittedly very compelling stuff. It is also very circumstantial. If it turns out to be true it will go down as a not-so-well-planned scandal from America s first family of fools. If it s not true, well shame on the Palins for having an existence that makes it seem plausible.Featured image via Instagram

Britain 'disappointed' with Trump's climate move

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May told President Donald Trump that she was “disappointed” by his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, Downing Street said after a call between the leaders on Thursday. “The Prime Minister expressed her disappointment with the decision and stressed that the UK remained committed to the Paris Agreement, as she set out recently at the G7,” Number 10 said.

Trump mulling lifting status of Cyber Command: sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is close to making a decision to elevate the status of the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, signaling more emphasis on developing cyber weapons to deter attacks, punish intruders and tackle adversaries, current and former officials told Reuters on Thursday. A current U.S. official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump could make a decision as early as Friday. The official added that the timeline could be pushed back if the White House was dealing with more pressing issues. The Pentagon and White House declined to comment. Two former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the plan said that the proposal awaiting Trump’s approval would elevate Cyber Command and lead to a 60-day study to determine whether Cyber Command would be separated from the National Security Agency, a spy agency responsible for electronic eavesdropping. That would lead to Cyber Command becoming what the military called a “unified command,” equal to combat branches of the military such as the Central and Pacific Commands. It would give Cyber Command leaders a larger voice in arguing for the use of both offensive and defensive cyber tools in future conflicts. Currently, the NSA and Cyber Command organizations are based at Fort Meade, Maryland, about 30 miles north of Washington, and led by the same officer, Navy Admiral Michael Rogers. NSA’s focus is gathering intelligence, officials said, often favoring the monitoring of an enemy’s cyber activities. Cyber Command’s mission is geared more to shutting down cyber attacks and, if ordered, counter attacking. The NSA director has been a senior military officer since the agency’s founding in 1952. Under the plan, future directors would be civilians, an arrangement meant to underscore that NSA is not subordinate to Cyber Command. Established in 2010, Cyber Command is now subordinate to the U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees military space operations, nuclear weapons and missile defense.

TransCanada formally seeks NAFTA damages in Keystone XL rejection

TORONTO (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp is formally requesting arbitration over U.S. President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, seeking $15 billion in damages, the company said in legal papers dated Friday. TransCanada submitted a notice for an arbitration claim in January and had then tried to negotiate with the U.S. government to “reach an amicable settlement,” the company said in files posted on the pipeline’s website. “Unfortunately, the parties were unable to settle the dispute.” TransCanada said it then filed its formal arbitration request under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provisions, seeking to recover what it says are costs and damages. The Keystone XL was designed to link existing pipeline networks in Canada and the United States to bring crude from Alberta and North Dakota to refineries in Illinois and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico coast. Obama rejected the cross-border crude oil pipeline last November, seven years after it was first proposed, saying it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the U.S. economy. TransCanada is suing the United States in federal court in a separate legal action, seeking to reverse the pipeline’s rejection. NAFTA, whose arbitration provisions allow companies to challenge governments before international panels, has been a target of recent anti-free-trade sentiments in the United States. The heads of NAFTA members, Canada, the United States and Mexico, are expected to meet in Ottawa for a North American leaders’ Summit on June 29. Canada was supposed to host the meeting early last year but canceled it amid tension between then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Obama over the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada and the U.S. Department of Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Supreme Court denies stay request in North Carolina redistricting case

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay a ruling that two North Carolina congressional districts be redrawn over racial gerrymandering in a 2011 redistricting, forcing congressional primaries to be rescheduled for June 7. A lower court panel of federal judges this month barred elections in the majority black districts, the 1st and the 12th, until new maps are approved, calling the current maps unconstitutional. The Supreme Court gave no explanation for its decision in a one-sentence order issued late on Friday night. The ruling said race had been the main factor when the Republican-controlled legislature redrew the boundaries and state lawmakers were not justified in using that benchmark. Three voters filed suit in 2013 to invalidate the districts. Both are represented by Democrats, with G.K. Butterfield in the 1st, and Alma Adams in the 12th. The primaries for the state’s 13 U.S. House seats will be held on June 7 rather than March 15 after North Carolina lawmakers agreed to move the date on Thursday if the Supreme Court rejected the stay request. The state’s presidential and gubernatorial primaries will still be held on March 15. Broadcaster WRAL reported that while state lawmakers hoped for a stay, legislators in the state’s House on Friday moved ahead and gave final approval to newly-drafted congressional maps ahead of the Court’s decision to reject the stay request. Politico reported that Justice Antonin Scalia had been expected to vote in favor of staying the ruling before his death last Saturday, though it was not immediately clear how his death affected the court’s decision.

Activist ire rises as Dakota pipeline review begins

WASHINGTON/CANNON BALL, N.D. (Reuters) - Native Americans and activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline project expressed alarm on Wednesday after federal lawmakers from North Dakota said the final permit had been granted for the project, a statement later contradicted by the Army, which issues such permits. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Wednesday it has started a review for the permit but that the easement had not been granted. “The Assistant Secretary for the Army Civil Works will make a decision on the pipeline once a full review and analysis is completed in accordance with the directive,” it said in a statement. (Graphic: here) Activists in North Dakota expressed anger after two lawmakers said late on Tuesday that final right-of-way for the pipeline had already been approved. In a statement late on Tuesday, activists at the Sacred Stone camp, the original protest camp on Standing Rock Sioux land, called on other activists to return for prayer and “direct action.” The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, along with other Native American groups, environmentalists and other activists have argued that the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline led by Energy Transfer Partners LP would damage sacred lands and could leak oil into the tribe’s water supply. Proponents believe the pipeline is necessary to transport U.S. oil safely and that it would create jobs. The pipeline would stretch for 1,170 miles (1,885 km) from North Dakota’s oil-producing Bakken region to Patoka, Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe had successfully won delays from the Obama administration for further environmental review, but last week President Donald Trump signed an executive order telling the Corps of Engineers to expedite review of the project. It is unclear how long that review will take. It still needs a required permit to tunnel under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that is part of the Missouri River. The reservoir is the water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, whose land in Cannon Ball is adjacent to the line’s route. Jade Begay, spokeswoman for the Indigenous Environmental Network, a nonprofit group and one of the primary groups protesting the line, said: “People (in protest camps) are watching pretty closely. People are in a reactionary place and it is dangerous for politicians to put out these unfounded statements.” In a statement posted on their website, the Sacred Stone camp - the original camp, established last April - asked protesters to return to their encampment so that they could stage another demonstration. That camp is located on Sioux land in Sioux County; it is not the site of the bulk of protests, which are in Morton County on federal land. The main protest camp, known as Oceti Sakowin, had been the staging ground for ongoing protests, some of which led to violent clashes between law enforcement and activists. That camp is in the process of being broken down, because it is located on a flood plain, and when it floods, any remaining structures could foul the river. Protesters on Wednesday attempted to set up another camp across from Oceti Sakowin, on the other side of Highway 1806, on private property. In a press release, North Dakota law enforcement said they asked protesters to leave the camp, and after refusals, evicted about 40 people from that land, which is owned by Dakota Access. On Tuesday, U.S. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota said in a statement that Acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer had told him and Vice President Mike Pence that Speer directed the Corps to proceed with the easement. U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer also said he had been informed of the directive. A spokesman for Hoeven, Don Canton, said on Wednesday that Speer told the senator that the Army Corps was doing its due diligence in acting on Trump’s memo from last week, and that Hoeven had not discussed the environmental study with the Corps. Lewis Grassrope, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said the Trump administration and North Dakota lawmakers were trying to inspire fear and anger through premature statements. “They want us to react and go do actions, which will give them the right to say, ‘OK, they’re not peaceful. So let’s put in this pipeline,’” he said. Several groups opposing the project, including the Standing Rock Sioux, said they would fight the granting of an easement in court, as an environmental study still needs to be completed. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II last week said he requested a meeting with Trump, but has not received a response. Standing Rock representatives were not available for comment on Wednesday, but Begay said that “Trump, when he made these executive orders, did not have any consultation with tribal leaders.”

After Brexit, Kerry pays tribute to EU achievements

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry paid tribute to the European Union on Monday as it tries to heal the wound of Britain’s vote to leave, saying detractors were overlooking what it had achieved in alliance with America. “I ask anyone who questions the importance of the EU or its relationship with the United States, (to consider) not just the history that I articulated, but the increase of prosperity, the rise in the standard of living ... the better protection of rights for individuals in the EU, as a consequence of what we have done together,” Kerry said in Brussels. He was speaking at a joint news conference with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini after a meeting with his European counterparts including Boris Johnson, Britain’s new foreign minister, who led the Leave campaign. His comments sounded like a jab at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who last month forecast the break-up of the EU due to fears over immigration, and at Johnson, who during the campaign compared the EU’s ambitions with those of Hitler and Napoleon. Kerry, a Democrat, spoke of the close ties between the United States and European Union dating back to the U.S. role in freeing Europe from Nazism in World War Two. But he acknowledged that such memories were fading. “There’s a whole separation of time which has changed attitudes of some people,” he said, adding that in the face of common threats such as Islamist militancy, the EU-U.S. partnership was “as important as it has ever been”. Mogherini responded that it sometimes took a clear-sighted transatlantic view to put Europe’s value into perspective. “I would like to thank you personally, and through you the U.S. administration of President Obama for the strong message and clear message that we always hear from you on the need for a strong and united Europe,” she said. “Sometimes we need our closest friends, our best friends, to remind us of the extraordinary value of the European Union.”

Trump transition clears first paperwork hurdle: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said it received a signed memorandum of understanding from Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Tuesday evening, an initial step in being able to provide more detailed briefing materials to the incoming administration. “The next step is for the President-elect’s transition team to provide us with the names of the individuals they have authorized to represent their transition effort across the government,” said Brandi Hoffine a White House spokeswoman.

hillary clinton and the presidents longer game

is hillary panicking over the fbi and weiner emails these past few days have seen a major shift in the clinton tactics during the original investigation the clinton campaign and its political and media allies launched attacks at republicans for wasting time investigating hillary but did not attack the fbi it misrepresented fbi statements but it certainly did not target investigators in the way were seeing now but now we have open hostilities between lynch at the doj and the fbi we have the clinton campaign circulating a letter attacking the fbi we have countless media hit pieces aimed at the fbi the obvious question is why the clinton campaign kept its cool at least to some degree before it certainly didnt begin an illadvised campaign against the fbi thats the kind of tactic that may play to your core base but alienates everyone else that is to say everyone who isnt in the media so whats going on here the clintons thought they were done its close to the election so theyre lashing out its typically paranoid and nasty behavior by the clintons hillary tried playing humble she tried apologizing but a moment ago her victory seemed inevitable and now shes in a state of fury at having it put at risk there is something in those emails that genuinely frightens the clinton campaign which is why it took the crazy risk of going after the fbi with both barrels its desperate to smear the fbi as much as possible in order to neutralize any revelations or even potential charges the attacks are a warning to treat hillary with kid gloves again or else the first is plausible to a degree but for all of hillarys awkwardness she didnt lose it in the past why is she losing it now theres no evidence beyond speculation for the latter and yet the major shift in tactics is rather striking if the clinton campaign were panicking this is what it would look like

REMEMBER WHEN Democrats, Media Mocked Betsy DeVos For Suggesting Schools May Need Guns To Protect Against Bears?…Look What Just Happened!

A few weeks ago, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos a West Michigan native and Detroit charter schools advocate was widely mocked when she suggested during her confirmation hearing that educators may need a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies. Her point was the issue of whether guns belong in American schools is best left to locales and states to decide. But social media went off the rails after the grizzlies comment, with most people saying it s preposterous to suggest a gun should be in a school, around schoolchildren, due to a threat of bears.Watch Trump s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos cite grizzly bears as a reason states should decide if schools should be allowed to have guns (or not):Citing grizzlies, Trump education pick Betsy DeVos says states should determine school gun policies https://t.co/A8pBds868b pic.twitter.com/qxS1X34aJf CNN (@CNN) January 18, 2017For those who ridiculed Betsy DeVos for mentioning potential grizzlies as a reason for keeping a gun in schools for safety, it may be time to start lining up to apologize: A bear put a pair of Connecticut schools on lockdown this week.Two schools in Southington, Conn., were placed in Secure School Mode when a black bear was spotted nearby Tuesday morning, according to WFSB.com.Though the bear eventually moved away from the schools and the Secure School Mode was only brief, the report says emails were sent out to parents and the schools took precautions to keep schoolchildren safe. Detroit Free Press

obamas weighs options for his final stab at israel

the unraveling of hillarys corrupt sphere of influence november michael cutler the elections are in the final stretch and were shaken to the core by the latest revelations from fbi director james comey on friday october as reported by nbc news on october th fbi obtains warrant for newly discovered emails in clinton probe as reid accuses comey of hatch act violation once again the clinton scandal is creating turmoil in a presidential election that has gone way beyond unconventional indeed tom clancy could not have scripted this years presidential election and intrigues while comeys recent remarks regarding the clinton investigation have been extremely vague the issue to focus on is how hillarys use of a private computer server private email account and nonsecure digital devices to store send and receive classified materials may have drawn others into her tangled web of deception the current focus of the clinton quagmire is on whether or not the laptop computer shared by weiner and his estranged wife contains sensitive information if that laptop had been hacked both weiner and abedin could have been vulnerable to blackmail this was an issue raised by congressman louie gohmert texan republican and former judge in a fox news business interview on october in a segment that was posted under the title rep gohmert clinton is a potential victim of blackmail additional individuals may also have been drawn into this web of deception through these emails as well a chain is as strong as its weakest link the weak links begin with hillary clinton and huma abedin and may now include anthony weiner and perhaps others meanwhile there is no way to yet determine how many other weak links are out there petrified that wikileaks or perhaps a hacker may yet disclose their improper dealings with the clintons or their foundation could not these additional individuals be subject to blackmail as well lets take a moment to understand how all of this began just months earlier hillary clinton had been let off the hook by an fbi director who in his official statement on july included this excerpt to be clear this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences to the contrary those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions but that is not what we are deciding now by comeys own words anyone else might have had their security clearance lifted permanently this raises the issue about such an individual demonstrating fitness for duty as president and raises the question as to why comey did not see fit to take comparable action with ms clinton comeys ultimate decision to not present the case to a grand jury was frustrating to those who have had security clearances and fully understand just how profound an impact these transgressions might have on national security however perhaps comeys hard to comprehend decision can be traced to a meeting between bill clinton and attorney general loretta lynch less than one week before the fbi director conducted that press conference on june abc news reported us attorney general loretta lynch bill clinton meet privately in phoenix before benghazi report that article served as a predication for my article loretta lynchs private meeting with bill clinton prior to release of benghazi report why would the attorney general who sets the tone for law enforcement do this as attorney general lynch is fbi director comeys boss at the time of this meeting the justice department was not only investigating hillarys illegal use of a private email server nonsecure personal digital devices but was also conducting an investigation into the clinton foundation in fact on october breitbart reported clinton foundation fbi investigation confirmed by former assistant fbi director therefore bill clinton was likely the target of an ongoing criminal investigation yet he had a totally inappropriate private meeting with the attorney general to supposedly discuss golfing and grandchildren however just days after that meeting news organizations reported that hillary was contemplating keeping lynch on as attorney general if she won the election on july newsmax reported ny times clinton weighs keeping lynch as attorney general if she wins hillarys statement that she might keep lynch on as attorney general could have provided the incentive for lynch to go along to get along indeed lynch did precisely that during her confirmation hearing as i described in my commentary loretta lynch same as the old boss the attorney general nominees disturbing views on us immigration law my article included an excerpt from a yahooap news report attorney general nominee defends obama immigration changes here is the exchange in which lynch discussed the administrations immigrations policies lynch said she had no involvement in drafting the measures but called them a reasonable way to marshal limited resources to deal with the problem of illegal immigration she said the homeland security department was focusing on removals of the most dangerous of the undocumented immigrants among us pressed by sen jeff sessions of alabama a leading immigration hardliner she said citizenship was not a right for people in the country illegally but rather a privilege that must be earned however when sessions asked whether individuals in the country legally or those who are here unlawfully have more of a right to a job lynch replied the right and the obligation to work is one thats shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here sessions quickly issued a news release to highlight that response under later questioning by democratic sen chuck schumer of new york lynch clarified it stating there is no right to work for an immigrant who has no lawful status this was disturbing and telling clearly ms lynchs views on immigration and likely therefore on other issues are malleable and subject to revision if modifying her position is consistent with her personal goals as attorney general lynch directs the operations of the entire justice department and all those who work for that department ms lynch must understand true democracy can only exist when justice is blind and totally objective however lynch and the others who have fallen under hillary clintons corrupt sphere of influence are trapped in hillarys web of deception having fallen victim to the hillary virus throughout clintons many decades in american politics this highly contagious and virulent malady has proven to be virtually ineradicable it is not likely to change no matter the outcome of the next election

FBI's Comey on Trump travel ban: 'citizenship alone' not threat indicator

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey concurred with a Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday that citizenship alone is not a reliable indicator of the “terror threat” a person may pose to the United States, a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from several Muslim-majority countries. “Most of the people that I talked about that we have open cases on are American citizens,” Comey told a U.S. Senate panel, agreeing with Senator Patrick Leahy that citizenship does not determine a person’s intentions. Trump’s restrictions on visa issuance to citizens of Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia is on hold by federal court order.

U.S. justices mull propriety of recalling discharged jury to duty

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday wrestled with the question of under what circumstances judges can recall jurors to duty after they have rendered a verdict, in a case involving a man seeking damages after suffering injuries in a Montana car accident. The justices, during an hour of arguments, indicated that a gap of just a few minutes in which there is no opportunity for jurors to be exposed to any information that could prejudice their views of the case may be permissible. That would mean North Dakota man Rocky Dietz, who sued a man named Hillary Bouldin for negligence after the 2009 accident in the city of Bozeman, would lose his bid for a new trial. Bouldin ran a red light and his vehicle hit the passenger side of Dietz’s vehicle. Bouldin admitted he was responsible for the collision. The jury initially awarded Dietz nothing. But the judge recalled the jurors within minutes after they had been discharged from duty, reminding them that Bouldin’s lawyers had earlier stipulated Dietz was due at least $10,000 to cover medical expenses already incurred. The jury subsequently awarded $15,000 to Dietz. Dietz’s lawyers objected to the judge’s action to recall the jury, contending that the fact that the jurors initially had awarded him no money indicated they were not fair and impartial toward him. The justices sought clarity on the outer boundaries of what could be permissible in recalling a jury, such as the amount of time the jury was discharged or whether jurors had a chance to leave the courthouse before being recalled. Questions from justices including Chief Justice John Roberts indicated their greatest concern was to ensure jurors would not be exposed to prejudicial information after being discharged. “Why doesn’t it make sense to say, well, if they’re right out in the hall ... bring them back in and ask, just as the judge did here, ‘Have you talked to anybody about the case?’” Roberts asked. Justice Stephen Breyer said if there are no signs of prejudice, it would be more efficient to recall the jurors rather than conduct a new trial with a different jury. “Now, if it saves a lot of money, and that’s the only difference, why don’t we say the efficiency argument is what counts?” Breyer asked. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a former trial judge, noted that immediately after some trials juries can be exposed to prejudicial remarks, including expressions of emotion from family members and comments from court staff. A ruling is due by the end of June.

WATCH: MASSIVE Crowd Of Supporters Line Streets In Phoenix For Trump Rally….Supporters Chant: “WE LOVE TRUMP!”…”PEACE AND LOVE!”…While Alt-Left Protesters Carry AR-15’s To Rally…Bikers 4 Trump Pray For Peace

In the months and even weeks leading up the 2016 presidential election, so many Americans were fearful that the polls were correct. They worried that Hillary might actually be our next president. We warned people to ignore the polls and to ignore the leftist media. We told them the Democrat Party media was only trying to create the illusion that most Americans wouldn t vote for Donald J. Trump to demoralize his base. We implored voters to pay attention to the size of the crowds showing up for his rallies. We explained to them that the reason violent protests were breaking out at his rallies was because they were trying to distract from the truth about the massive numbers of Americans who were showing up to support candidate Trump.Nothing much has changed since the election, except for the level of vitriol and hate by Democrats who were blindsided by the media who promised them Hillary would win. Meanwhile, throngs of people are still showing up to attend President Trump s rallies. His supporters vehemently defend him on social media, and if their brave enough, his supporters may even admit to their friends or co-workers that they admire him for keeping his promises to them.It s been 7 months since President Trump s inauguration and the media is still up to their same dirty tricks. The media recently published a poll showing support for President Trump dropping. They continue to tell their viewers that Trump is wildly unpopular with Americans.Trump s rally tonight in Phoenix, AZ should silence some of the critics:Here s one of Trump s most vocal supporters, Scott Presler, who showed up at the Phoenix rally tonight. Scott also happens to be a proud gay man. I support President Trump even more, now, than I did when I voted for him.That's saying a lot.#PhoenixRally #Phoenix pic.twitter.com/ZkYaG6gmbt #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) August 23, 2017Blacks 4 Trump also showed up in Phoenix to show their support for the President:A Puerto Rican Trump supporter wasn't having CNN's fake news at #PhoenixRally #FakeNewsHere pic.twitter.com/969SGAjdcy Praying Medic (@prayingmedic) August 22, 2017Check out the massive line waiting to see President Trump and Vice President Pence:But-but-but Media tells me Trump's POLLS are at an all-time low!How can this be?It's UNpossible! #PhoenixRally pic.twitter.com/Lau6R1kmQT Boston Bobblehead (@DBloom451) August 22, 2017All one has to do is look at the crowd of supporters who showed up tonight to hear President Trump speak. His supporters know they could be struck with a baseball bat for wearing a Trump hat, they know they could be sucker-punched by a crowd of masked Soros paid Antifa thugs, or they may even have bottles of urine lobbed at them by Democrat activists, but they showed up anyhow, because they love our President, and they re not going to let these leftist goons keep them from showing their support for him.#PhoenixRally So many Trump supporters Been here for 2 hrs & I'm still over a mile away! pic.twitter.com/oqvXC1R2Av Agent Renee (@ReneeCarrollPhx) August 22, 2017Watch the large AZ crowd chant, Build the wall! AZ is where it all started:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/900111429625409538Trump supporters love America and are grateful that we have a president who s actually willing to put our citizens first. That s why this booth in Phoenix tonight is empty:Not a single person at this booth. #PhoenixRally pic.twitter.com/D4EmUT7Uu1 ARYA MF STARK (@miss_linds_xo) August 22, 2017Bikers 4 Trump traveled from all over to help protect innocent Trump supporters from being harmed by Democrat agitators, and Antifa thugs. Here they are praying before the rally for peace:#BikersForTrump say a prayer before #PhoenixRally pic.twitter.com/XSkzbwzGik Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) August 22, 2017This Trump supporter brought a visual to remind everyone what happened to him the last time he wore a Trump hat to a rally:This man took a punch for Trump #PhoenixRally pic.twitter.com/eAFX8qn5rK ARYA MF STARK (@miss_linds_xo) August 22, 2017Alt-Left protesters showed up to Trump s rally with AR-15 s. Pray for peace tonight. Pray for our President and for Vice President Trump who will join him at the rally:https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/900146123352023042Citizen journalist Jack Posobiec exposes the Alt-Left protesters who showed up with AR-15 s:Breaking: Alt Left Shows Up Armed with AR-15s at #PhoenixRally https://t.co/hs9hrJvKdw Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) August 23, 2017Meanwhile, these Trump supporters chant, Peace and Love . Of course MSNBC and CNN will never share this footage:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/900123886657953793Watch President Trump as he s greeted by cheering US Marines as he arrives at the airport in Phoenix:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/900118688594092032

WATCH: Bill Maher Doesn’t Hold Back Defending Bernie Sanders On Foreign Policy

During a segment of Real Time with Bill Maher, the comedic host went all out in his defense of Bernie Sanders foreign policy experience.During the segment, the lefties at the table agreed that Sanders is excellent on economic issues. Though some seemed skeptical that Sanders has the same grasp of foreign policy issues. Maher was asked by MSNBC s Alex Wagner if he seriously thinks that Sanders is fit to lead the nation as president when it comes to foreign policy matters. Wagner asks Maher: Do you want Bernie Sanders getting off Air Force One, making a deal on foreign police with ? Do you think he s at the level that we need? Maher responds to Wagner s question, saying: Fuck yeah! The guy who voted right on the Iraq war? Yea, I do. Then, Armstrong Williams, an advisor for Ben Carson, decided to chime in. Williams implies that it doesn t actually matter how well Sanders knows foreign policy. That s because Sanders would be surrounded by experts.Maher says that might be good enough for Carson, who once repeatedly and publicly referred to Hamas, as Hummus. Maher recounts the time that Carson said that we need to build a coalition of Arab nations, in order to combat the Islamic State. When asked what nations he would have been a part of this coalition, Carson couldn t name a single nation.The idea that Sanders wouldn t be strong on foreign policy issues is ridiculous. Both Hillary Clinton and Sanders, have not been extremely illustrative about their views on foreign policy. That might have to do with the fact that Democrats are not that passionate about foreign policy issues this election cycle. There may be a few areas where the two candidates diverge, though, they both seem to mainly differentiate themselves by tone on issues like the Islamic State.You can watch the segment from the show, below.https://youtu.be/62YiMIGmAdc?t=4s Featured image from video screenshot via YouTube.

France, Germany want Iran to reverse ballistic missile program

PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany agree that Iran must reverse its ballistic missile program and end its hegemonic temptations across the Middle east, the French foreign minister said on Monday. We also have the same view on the necessity for Iran to go back on its ballistic missile program and its hegemonic temptations, Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a news conference alongside his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.

U.N. chief hopes Trump will strengthen international cooperation

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he hopes the administration of Donald Trump will “strengthen the bonds of international cooperation” and described Hillary Clinton as “a powerful symbol of women’s empowerment.” “In the aftermath of a hard-fought and often divisive campaign, it is worth recalling and reaffirming that the unity in diversity of the United States is one of the country’s greatest strengths. I encourage all Americans to stay true to that spirit,” Ban said after Trump’s presidential election victory. “People everywhere look to the United States to use its remarkable power to help lift humanity up and to work for the common good,” Ban told reporters.

House Speaker Ryan blasts Democrats' proposal for 3-month debt limit increase

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday blasted a proposal from the top two Democrats in Congress for a three-month increase in the nation’s debt limit. “I think that’s a ridiculous idea,” Ryan told reporters when asked about the proposal floated earlier on Wednesday by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. “We’ve got all this devastation in Texas. We’ve got another unprecedented hurricane about to hit Florida. And they want to play politics with the debt ceiling?” he said.