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VIDEO: The Dallas Shooting Agenda

Daily Shooter 21st Century WireThe Dallas Sniper Production. What was it really about?Dallas, like so many other mass shooting events, coincidentally triggers a familiar pattern of convenient political and social conditioning effects.Brasscheck TV says: It is odd, isn t it?High profile school shooting, followed by high profile church shooting, followed high profile gay nightclub shooting now this. It s as if they re checking off all the demographic boxes and the conclusion is always the same:1. Guns are the problem 2. Domestic terrorism is out of control 3. We need to assemble a list of risky people and take away their guns 4. Who do they want to put on these lists? Veterans, blacks, anyone with political opinions, anyone deemed mentally unstableWe need to do all this to protect school children, church goers, gays, and cops. What reasonable person can say no to this, right ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBgcYWL6sQ . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctDIWrFN3q8 . READ MORE DALLAS SHOOTING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Dallas Files

STUNNING BETRAYAL! 43 REPUBLICANS, In Dark Of Night Vote To Approve Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Decree

Who knew a President could do so much damage in one year? Who knew he would have the support of so many Republicans we fought so hard to elect, as our last hope to stop Obama s fundamental transformation of America Many are asking what Republicans plan to do to stop Obama s executive war on culture and religious liberty in pursuit of cultural Marxism. Now we know that not only will this party do nothing to stop Obama, they will use their control of Congress to codify Obama s agenda into law.Late Wednesday night, Republicans allowed a vote on an amendment from Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY), which codified Obama s executive order 13672 making transgenderism the law of the land. Obama s executive order, promulgated in July 2014, instructed bureaucrats to sever contracts with companies that don t follow the Obama mandated sexual identity agenda. This could include companies that don t allow men into female bathrooms in their private corporate offices. The Maloney amendment to the $37.4 billion FY 2017 Energy &Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5055) codified that unilateral act into law.The amendment passed 223-195 with 43 Republicans supporting it. The GOP House just supported arguably the most radical Democrat agenda item in the dead of night.Enshrining Obama s specific edict into law and then passing vanity language reaffirming the general importance of religious liberty is like doing CPR on a dead body. GOP leaders are always twisting arms to get conservative members to vote for bad bills. Somehow we are to believe they were impotent in ensuring moderate members (what is moderate about transgenderism?) adhere to the party s platform?The reality is that Paul Ryan has long been a supporter of ENDA (Employment Non Discrimination Act), the legislative vehicle for enshrining transgenderism into law and mandating adherence to its dogma on private businesses. That is why he s been absent in this fight. Moreover, Republicans have failed to allow a single anti-religious bigotry bill to the floor since the illegal gay marriage decision was issued by the Supreme Court, despite the ubiquitous threats against private businesses, states, and private property.Clearly, whipping against this vote was not a priority.Once the Maloney amendment passed with GOP votes, Republicans proceeded to do what they always do so well. They offered side-by-side amendments in an attempt to cover up the damage.They passed the Pitts amendment as a second-degree by voice vote to affirm the constitutional importance of religious liberty. Then they passed the Byrne Amendments to reaffirm that RFRA is still in place and the government cannot discriminate against religious individuals. Well, as we all know, the Constitution and RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) have been in place for the entire Obama administration, yet he is still able to get away with anti-religious bigotry edicts by claiming they don t interfere with religious beliefs.To begin with, this entire spending bill was something that should never have come to the floor. It increased spending and retained a number of green energy programs for a department that shouldn t even exist.Now that leadership has loaded this already sub-par spending bill with transgenderism, conservatives should vote against final passage on Thursday. It s bad enough that a Republican House cannot be used as a tool to go on offense against cultural Marxism and anti-religious-liberty initiatives. To pass a bill placing an exclamation mark on that agenda is unforgivable.Via: Conservative ReviewHere is the list of Republicans who voted to assist Obama in his fundamental transformation of America:Amash (MI)Brooks (IN) Coffman (CO) Costello (PA) Curbelo (FL) Davis, Rodney (IL) Denham (CA) Dent (PA) Diaz-Balara (FL) Dold (IL)Donovan (NY) Emmer (MN) Fitzpatrick (PA)Frelinghuysen (NJ) Gibson (NY) Heck (NV) Hurd (TX) Issa (CA)Jolly (FL)Katko (NY) Kinzinger (IL)Lance( NJ) LoBiondo (NJ)MacArthur (NJ)McSally (AZ) Meehan (PA) Messer (IN) Paulsen (MN) Poliquin (ME) Reed (NY) Reichert (WA) Renacci (OH) Rooney (FL) Ros-Lehtinen (FL) Shims (IL) Stefanik (NY) Upton (MI) Valadao (CA) Walden (OR) Walters, Mimi (CA)Young (IA) Young (IN) Zelda (NY)Via: Conservative Review

master of the estate

to pander to hispanics hillary states some whoppers on univision page link ah hillary you change your accent depending on who you talk to you tell blacks in an interview you carry hot sauce everywhere you try to appeal to native americans with elizabeth warren hahahaha but for her this is a low using her own grandchildit isnt the first time she has used the grandchild either it was the excuse for bill and loretta also link first when asked she says her favorite food is mexican in an article this year for thrillist detailing her favorite restaurants in the state of the new york clinton listed raos italian northern lights creamery gelato ice cream langes little store sandwiches charlie the butchers meat and others but she didnt list a single mexican establishment second she went on to tell the hosts her yo granddaughter is learning spanish really i mean she should have walked on stage with an el chapo tshirt a sombrero and a six pack of sol for goodness sake now i know this is not a big deal but stop and think she is pathological is that who we really want in the white house someone who will say anything to anybody in order to get them to agree using your grandchild to pander to a voting block she is nasty if i was hispanic this may not drive me to vote trump even though they should and will i certainly would not vote for someone as fake as she is only good thing was she got a bottle of tequila for her birthday i am sure bills foot massagers in his library will love it edit on pmpmf t by matafuchs because no reason given edit on pmpmf t by matafuchs because no reason given

OUTRAGE! OBAMA’S FEDERAL Wildlife Officers (?) ARREST Journalists For Videotaping Open Borders [VIDEO]

US Border Agents and local law enforcement gave these journalists permission to be there. But Obama s Federal Wildlife Officers had different plans for journalists, who attempted to expose the danger Obama s radical open-border policies pose to America s national security Federal Wildlife Officers? Infowars reporters were detained and disarmed by federal agents Wednesday while reporting near the Texas-Mexico border. Following the encounter, Infowars Joe Biggs explained how he and Michael Zimmermann were disarmed after the pair were taken into custody alongside fellow reporter Alejandra. We just got out of federal custody we ve been there for 2 hours, Biggs said.Despite previously getting approval from both border patrol and law enforcement to be in the area, federal wildlife officers known to be Obama s attack dogs on the border ordered the crew to put their hands up after encountering them filming a report.After being questioned for hours, Biggs and Zimmermann were told by federal officers that they would need to pay $230 each in order to receive their firearms back. The trio were also charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing and threatened with felony charges if they returned to the area.Despite being told that the area was off-limits to the public, investigation into the location reveals the exact opposite to be true.Only hours earlier an entirely separate law enforcement group told the reporters that they would have to leave a different part of the border as well. Via: InfoWars

Michigan House approves, sends school funding package to state Senate

(Reuters) - Michigan lawmakers on Thursday approved paying off a $467 million deficit incurred by Detroit Public Schools and to fund costs associated with creating a new school system, online legislative records showed and local media reported. The state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved the bill package, sending the legislation to the state Senate which could take up the legislation when it convenes on Tuesday, according to online records. “This plan saves Detroit’s school system and returns local control to the city, preventing a disastrous bankruptcy that would have affected every community in the state,” House Speaker Kevin Cotter, a Republican, said in a statement. The legislation has the state paying off $467 million in operating deficit incurred by the cash-strapped school system and providing $125 million to create a new debt-free school district, the news website MLive.com reported. The Detroit public school system, or DPS, has nearly 46,000 students. It has been under state control since 2009 because of a financial emergency. Thursday’s legislation comes less than a month before DPS was expected to run out of money to pay employees. House Democrats said in a statement that the legislation would force the closing of DPS schools and allow failing charter schools to “proliferate.” “House Republicans are playing games with the Detroit Public Schools, and the children of Detroit are the ones who will lose,” House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel said. Democrats also opposed the legislation because it does not include a Detroit Education Commission, a body that would work to prevent low-performing schools from opening and ensure schools are placed in underserved areas, MLive.com reported.

Trump administration pledges 'great strictness' on Iran nuclear deal

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pledged on Tuesday to show “great strictness” over restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities imposed by a deal with major powers, but gave little indication of what that might mean for the agreement. The 2015 deal between Iran and six major powers restricts Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Trump has called the agreement “the worst deal ever negotiated”. His administration is now carrying out a review of the accord which could take months, but it has said little about where it stands on specific issues. The Trump administration also gave few clues about any potential policy shift on Tuesday in a statement to a quarterly meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors. “The United States will approach questions of JCPOA interpretation, implementation, and enforcement with great strictness indeed,” the statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) 35-nation board said, citing the deal’s full name: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. But the U.S. statement, the first to the Board of Governors since Trump took office in January, also repeated language used by the administration of former U.S. president Barack Obama, for whom the deal was a legacy achievement. “Iran must strictly and fully adhere to all commitments and technical measures for their duration,” it said - wording identical to that used in the U.S. statement to the previous Board of Governors meeting in November. The IAEA, which polices the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities under the deal, last month produced a quarterly report saying that Iran’s stock of enriched uranium had halved after coming close to a limit imposed by the agreement. That report was the first to specify how much enriched uranium Iran has, thanks to a series of agreements between Tehran and major powers clarifying items that would not count toward the stock. Some major powers had criticized previous reports for not being specific enough on items such as the size of the enriched uranium stock, and the U.S. statement called for future reports to be as detailed. “We welcome inclusion of the additional level of detail, and expect it will continue in the future,” it said.

JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO: Mitt Romney Awoke A Sleeping Giant [Video]

Once again, Judge Jeanine nails it! No matter which candidate you support, this is great!

Trump criticizes billions in spending on U.S. air traffic control

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump called the U.S. air traffic control system out of date on Thursday and criticized its $10 billion yearly price tag but stopped short of calling for privatization of the program. “I hear we’re spending billions and billions of dollars, it’s a system that’s totally out of whack,” Trump said during a picture-taking session at the White House ahead of his sitdown with airline and airport executives. His comments heartened advocates of privatization who have long sought to move away from the system they see as outdated. “We want to get the government out of the role of managing the air traffic control system,” Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines Co’s chief executive officer, told Trump during the picture-taking session. The Federal Aviation Administration spends nearly $10 billion a year on air traffic control funded largely through passenger user fees, and has about 28,000 air traffic control personnel. Trump said he had been informed that ongoing modernization efforts to the air traffic control system were already obsolete by the pilot of his private jet. “I hear the government contracted for a system that’s the wrong system,” Trump said. “It’s way over budget, it’s way behind schedule and when it’s complete it’s not going to be a good system.” The FAA has spent nearly $3 billion since 2007 to implement an updated system, “NextGen,” which would utilize satellites to monitor aircraft instead of radar and make other changes. “NextGen is one of the most ambitious infrastructure and modernization projects in U.S. history,” the agency said in a statement. “The FAA invited airline stakeholders to help develop the blueprint for NextGen and they continue to have a seat at the table in setting NextGen priorities and investments through the NextGen Advisory Committee.” The Government Accountability Office said in a 2016 report that the United States “is generally considered to have the busiest, most complex and safest ATC system in the world.” (bit.ly/1Q9oiOF) The chief executives of United Airlines Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc, Southwest and JetBlue Airways Corp were among those who attended the meeting. After the meeting, Airports Council International-North America President and CEO Kevin Burke told reporters on a conference call that airport officials had urged Trump to lift the cap on airport passenger fees to address airport infrastructure needs. Trump proposed during his campaign to spend $1 trillion over a decade to upgrade the country’s infrastructure. Trump also told the executives he recognized that U.S. airlines were facing pressure from foreign carriers. Heads of the three largest U.S. passenger carriers - American Airlines Group Inc, United and Delta - have urged the Trump administration to denounce the U.S. Open Skies agreements with the three major Middle Eastern carriers, which they accuse of having been unfairly subsidized by their governments. The three airlines, Qatar, Etihad and Emirates [EMIRA.UL], have denied that their governments unfairly subsidize them. The Gulf airlines operate around 200 flights per week to 12 U.S. cities. “I know you’re under pressure from a lot of foreign elements and foreign carriers,” Trump said, adding that he wants foreign carriers also to do well. “They come with big investments, in many cases those investments come from their governments, but they are still big investments,” he said.

TRUMP BLASTS John McCain and Lindsey Graham: They “should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start WWIII” [VIDEO]

Two of the most despicable RINO s (Republicans In Name Only) in DC just can t seem to keep their mouths shut when it comes to opposing any measures Trump takes to defend our nation. Wouldn t it have been great if they had been as vocal when Barack Obama was our President? Aside from his honorable service to our nation while in our military, John McCain has offered very little in the past decade to our nation. Now might be a good time for constituents in their districts to think about replacing Arizona Senator John McCain and South Carolina s Senator Lindsey (crybaby) Graham with someone who puts our nation first and their political relevance dead last Republican senators. John McCain and Lindsey Graham on Sunday denounced President Donald Trump s executive order on travel from several Muslim-majority countries, calling it hasty and warning that it could prove counterproductive in the fight against terrorism.McCain, Arizona s senior senator and the GOP s 2008 presidential nominee, and Graham, a South Carolina politician who also competed briefly for the 2016 nomination, are both considered hawkish on national security. However, they frequently buck their party on key issues, which in the past has drawn the ire of grassroots conservatives.They join several of their GOP Senate colleagues, including Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio, in criticizing the measure. The White House has defended the order, arguing it is necessary to properly vet people coming into the U.S. from nations with terrorism concerns.Late Friday, Trump signed the order, which indefinitely bars Syrian refugees from entering the country. It also suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocks citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country for 90 days. CNBCTrump didn t waste any time blasting these two Presidential race losers, who both seem to have a penchant for war: The joint statement of former presidential candidates John McCain & Lindsey Graham is wrong they are sadly weak on immigration. The two Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017 Senators should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017Watch Mike Huckabee tell Fox News host Bill Hemmer: He didn t ban people from 7 countries. I don t know if John McCain read the executive order, he might want to do that because those countries are not mentioned in the executive order. The only country mentioned is Syria. Where did that list of 7 come from? It came from the Obama administration dating back to 2011, signed into law and I assume John McCain probably voted for that law.

OBAMA STARES DOWN AMERICAN SNIPER Widow Taya Kyle, As CNN Gives Her Time To Confront Him About Gun Control On Live TV [Video]

Taya Kyle speaks to Obama regarding the illogical strategy of his new gun control measures:

mike pence is fine with trump sexual assault but offended by voter suppression

by sean colarossi on mon oct st at pm while the media continues to focus on the clinton email nonstory news about donald trumps ties to russia continues to gain steam share on twitter print this post while the media continues to focus on what is increasingly becoming a nonstory fbi director james comeys vague letter regarding more emails related to hillary clinton news about donald trumps ties to russia continues to gain steam not only did nbc just report that the fbi is now in the preliminary stages of investigating trumps excampaign managers connection to russia but slate also reported on monday that a trump server may have repeatedly been communicating with a russian bank slate claims that while a group of computer scientists was looking into the russian cyber attack of the dnc they stumbled onto something unexpectedly the report in late july one of these scientistswho asked to be referred to as tea leaves a pseudonym that would protect his relationship with the networks and banks that employ him to sift their datafound what looked like malware emanating from russia the destination domain had trump in its name which of course attracted tea leaves attention but his discovery of the data was pure happenstancea surprising needle in a large haystack of dns lookups on his screen i have an outlier here that connects to russia in a strange way he wrote in his notes he couldnt quite figure it out at first but what he saw was a bank in moscow that kept irregularly pinging a server registered to the trump organization on fifth avenue more data was needed so he began carefully keeping logs of the trump servers dns activity as he collected the logs he would circulate them in periodic batches to colleagues in the cybersecurity world six of them began scrutinizing them for clues the researchers quickly dismissed their initial fear that the logs represented a malware attack the communication wasnt the work of bots the irregular pattern of server lookups actually resembled the pattern of human conversationconversations that began during office hours in new york and continued during office hours in moscow it dawned on the researchers that this wasnt an attack but a sustained relationship between a server registered to the trump organization and two servers registered to an entity called alfa bank this news doesnt come out of nowhere trump has repeatedly praised vladimir putin as a strong leader all while taking prorussia positions throughout the campaign that come straight off a kremlin wishlist the clinton campaign was quick to jump on the report in a statement by clinton senior policy adviser jake sullivan this secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of trumps ties to russia it certainly seems the trump organization felt it had something to hide given that it apparently took steps to conceal the link when it was discovered by journalists this line of communication may help explain trumps bizarre adoration of vladimir putin and endorsement of so many prokremlin positions throughout this campaign it raises even more troubling questions in light of russias masterminding of hacking efforts that are clearly intended to hurt hillary clintons campaign we can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between trump and russia as part of their existing probe into russias meddling in our elections trumps prorussia rhetoric and policy positions are not a coincidence the more information that comes out the clearer it is that the republican nominee has connections to russia that he is hiding from voters with just a week until election day this is the explosive story the media should be focusing on its critical that the american people know what kind of financial ties a potential president has with an american adversary especially when that adversary is russia

SICKENING! READ OBAMA’S RAMADAN MESSAGE: “I stand firmly with the Muslim American communities…”

THE ARTICLE BELOW IS FROM POLITICO This article is a perfect example of the main stream media s bias combined with Barack Hussein Obama s lies and spin of the truth. First of all, it s pretty ironic that supposedly Obama plans to Protect Muslims from people like Donald Trump who threaten their religious liberties . Who the HELL is threatening any Muslim s religious liberties? The irony in all this is that CHRISTIAN religious liberties are being threatened EVERY DAY around the world! Christian persecution is happening everywhere yet you hear NOTHING from this jackwagon of a president! Obama also says he will continue to bring Muslim refugees despite the voices that seek to divide us ? What the heck is he talking about? Americans have welcomed and paid for over one million Muslim immigrants and refugees since 2001:Twelve years after the September 11th hijackers were invited into the country on temporary visas, the U.S. decided to admit 280,276 migrants from Muslim countries within a single fiscal year.To put these numbers into perspective, this means that every year the U.S. admits a number of Muslim migrants larger in size than the entire population of Des Moines, Iowa; Lincoln, Nebraska; or Dayton, Ohio.The rate of Muslim immigration has been increasing since September 11. Between 2001 and 2013, the United States permanently resettled 1.5 million Muslim immigrants throughout the United States. Unlike illegal immigrants, legal immigrants granted lifetime resettlement privileges will be given automatic work permits, welfare access, and the ability to become voting citizens. Via: BreitbartThis year, we ve welcomed over 1,000 refugees with ONLY TWO being Christian! ONLY TWO! Entire towns have been transformed into little Iraq with the call to prayer five times a day ringing in the ears of welcoming and tolerant Americans. We ve literally bent over backwards to bring in all these refugees at our own expense!Donald Trump was SO RIGHT when he called for a moratorium on Muslim refugees! This has nothing to do with anything other than PROTECTING OUR OWN PEOPLE! We have every right to do so!Please read the article below on Obama s message and you ll be sickened by his attitude and support of one community over all others:President Barack Obama had a message for Muslim Americans preparing to observe the beginning of Ramadan on Sunday: He ll protect them from people like Donald Trump who threaten their religious liberties.In an official statement, Obama said America would continue to welcome immigrants and refugees, despite the voices that seek to divide us. Obama s official statement on the start of Ramadan, a monthlong holiday observed by Muslims through fasting during daylight hours, did not mention Trump by name, but the president s remarks clearly seemed to be a swipe at the presumptive GOP nominee. I stand firmly with Muslim American communities in rejection of the voices that seek to divide us or limit our religious freedoms or civil rights, the president said in the statement. I stand committed to safeguarding the civil rights of all Americans no matter their religion or appearance. I stand in celebration of our common humanity and dedication to peace and justice for all. Obama said he looks forward to hosting Muslims at the White House as the monthlong observation concludes in July. Trump on Sunday suggested that a Muslim judge may be biased against him in a Trump lawsuit because of his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.Read more: POLITICO

The Boston Globe Releases Powerful Cover With This Simple Demand (IMAGE)

The Boston Globe knocks it out of the park with their Thursday edition cover. The cover shows an image of an actual sized AR-15, along with a bullet hole. The cover simply reads make it stop in bold black and red letters. It s the demand we should all be making..Here s the cover:Bold and unprecedented message in today s @BostonGlobe, using the entire front page to promote an editorial pic.twitter.com/p2tZDhHTRe Ben Volin (@BenVolin) June 16, 2016The editorial that the cover promotes begins by saying: Greed, legislative cowardice, advanced technology that is how we got here. The United States has been pummeled by gun violence since the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. This year, mass shootings have already claimed 61 lives. One class of gun, semiautomatic rifles, is largely responsible. But this nation cannot be a hostage of fear. We can make it stop. This follows the mass shooting that recently happened at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The shooting resulted in the loss of 49 lives, with more than that number being hospitalized with serious injuries. The shooting is the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. The shooter, Omar Mateen, purchased the assault weapon two weeks before he executed his massacre at the night club. Mateen was able to legally buy the firearm despite the fact that he had been previously under investigation by the FBI.Since the shooting, the U.S. has once again taken up the ritual of crying out for our leaders to do something to well, to make this stop. However, no real progress has been made in the effort to create more regulations for assault weapons, or return to outright banning them as the Boston Globe editorial calls for.The case for banning assault weapons is laid out clearly in the editorial. People have been able to purchase assault weapons legally since 2004. After the assault weapons ban was repealed, they have been used in massacres across the United States. They name six Senators whom they asses are responsible for blockading legislation that might actually do something to make this stop. Five of the Senators are Republicans, one of them is a Democrat. In their digital edition, the newspaper makes it easy for readers to tweet and email these individuals.We as a nation can no longer allow the gun lobby to hold us hostage. There are limitations to the Constitution, the second amendment is not excluded. We banned these weapons before and we can do it again.You can read the full editorial here.Featured image from screenshot via Twitter

No talk of ousting U.S. House Speaker Ryan, says key conservative

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, a leading House conservative, said on Sunday that fellow conservatives are not discussing replacing Speaker Paul Ryan despite unhappiness with the way Republican leaders handled last week’s debt ceiling increase that included no fiscal reforms. Many Republicans are unhappy with the deal President Donald Trump reached last week with Democratic leaders to raise the government’s debt ceiling and allow it to continue financing federal spending programs until Dec. 8. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Jordan, a Republican, appeared to cast blame for the debt ceiling hike on party leaders including Ryan, saying they had not provided any “good options” to Trump before he struck a deal with Democrats. “In this situation, he (Trump) wasn’t presented with good options,” said Jordan, co-founder and former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, the most conservative group in the House. “No one is talking about changing the leadership,” Jordan told Fox. He said a Washington Post story last week that reported that conservatives had met with Ryan to express their dismay about the debt ceiling increase was “hardly news,” because the lawmakers meet with Ryan every week. Rebellious conservatives pushed out Republican John Boehner, Ryan’s predecessor, as speaker in 2015. The new plan also authorized spending $15.25 billion in emergency disaster relief for the victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Ninety House Republicans, including many members of the Freedom Caucus, voted against the measure, which Trump has now signed into law. Conservatives have long called for coupling spending reforms with any measures that raise the U.S. debt ceiling. But the deal did the opposite, raising the ceiling and paying for hurricane relief without spending cuts elsewhere. Republican leaders had urged an 18-month extension of the debt ceiling, but Trump accepted the three-month extension proposed by Democrats. Jordan said he believed Trump has the same vision and focus as the Freedom Caucus, which was to represent people who felt they had been forgotten by officials in Washington. If conservative options are presented to the president, “I’m confident when that happens, he will pick those options that are conservative,” Jordan said.

Nikki Reed DESTROYS Trump For Insulting Women In Epic Video

The Twilight actress absolutely shredded the Republican nominee.And the reason why is pretty clear. Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has repeatedly insulted women to the point where if only women voted in this election Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide that would give her a mandate.Indeed, Clinton is on pace to do even better with women on November 8th than President Obama did in 2008 and 2012.But just in case there are women out there who have not heard any of the things Trump has said about them, Nikki Reed blasted Trump s misogyny in a new video posted by Humanity For Hillary.In the video, Reed slammed Donald Trump and all the men who support him in an NSFW feminist smackdown that Trump is going to throw a hissy fit about on Twitter for days. This has been a bruising election, Reed begins. On the one hand, we have the chance to elect a lifelong public servant, powerful, experienced, highly qualified to be the first female President of the United States. On the other hand, a candidate who reminds us of the worst men in our lives. Men who saw a powerful woman and tried to block her rise. Our rise. Men who called us bossy, unlikable, liars, and attention seekers. Ambitious, like that s a bad thing. Reed went on to talk about how misogynists like Trump attacked women for doing things like writing books and making movies and that when women continued to achieve new heights despite them they started hurling insults like the C-word, a word that Donald Trump has used in the past. I ve been called the C-word, Reed said. Have you been called the C-word? Reed then pointed out that there is an anti-Hillary SuperPac called C.U.N.T. and proceeded reference Trump calling Hillary a nasty woman by calling upon all nasty women to vote against Trump on Election Day because we are so very close to putting all of that behind us because nasty women vote. And then she sent a message to Trump and his deplorable sexist supporters. So Donald Trump and to every man like Donald Trump who grabbed us, blocked us, who called us fat, unqualified, stupid, ugly and c*nt, we have one thing to say to you: C. U. Next Tuesday. Here s the video via Facebook.Make no mistake, if this campaign and Donald Trump s life before it are any indication, women will be treated like absolute shit if Trump somehow becomes president. There is no doubt about that whatsoever. That s why is it crucial that women vote on Election Day no matter what. Because if Trump wins, women will lose everything they have fought for over the last 100 years, including the right to vote.Featured image via video screen capture

Ivanka Just Fell Flat On Her Face Trying To Convince Women Fall In Line Behind Her Dad (VIDEO)

Ivanka Trump has been sort of the female face of her father s campaign, but despite being a woman, she really doesn t get it. That s quite evident in her new video touting her father s childcare plan, which she kicks off with following gender stereotyping words: The most important job any woman can have is being a mother. That is the height of irony, considering the fact that this video is directed towards working mothers. Working mothers value their jobs and their children, and many resent being shunted into sexist gender roles like this. Such a dismissive attitude toward women, both mothers and non-mothers, will do nothing to warm them up to Trump at all.But wait! There s more. Ivanka goes on to say: Donald Trump understands the needs of the modern workforce. Har de har har. Don t make us laugh too hard, it hurts. Ivanka s father once said that pregnancy is an inconvenience for business, and told a woman she was disgusting for needing to pump her breasts. He s a serial cheater, a serial sexual harasser, and a serial body-shamer.The AP published a story earlier today that exposes Trump s harassment of women on the set of The Apprentice. According to that story, he rated women contestants on the size of their breasts, and openly talked about which ones he d like to sleep with. He also wanted them to bare more cleavage and wear shorter skirts, and asked one woman to twirl for him so he could ogle her figure.As a woman who, at a previous job, was repeatedly asked to twirl around so a manager could ogle my figure before he d even answer a question I had, these revelations make me positively ill.Trump even compared a camerawoman s looks to the beauty of Ivanka on the set of The Apprentice. Ivanka hasn t had a very good role model for a father, let alone for anything to do with feminism and women s rights. Trump always saw his parental duties as limited to providing funds for his children. He never actually parented, and he s said both of the following to boot: I mean, I won t do anything to take care of them. I ll supply funds and she ll take care of the kids. It s not like I m gonna be walking the kids down Central Park. Marla used to say, I can t believe you re not walking Tiffany down the street, you know in a carriage. Right, I m gonna be walking down Fifth Avenue with a baby in a carriage. It just didn t work. And: There s a lot of women out there that demand that the husband act like the wife and you know there s a lot of husbands that listen to that I m really like a great father but certain things you do and certain things you don t. It s just not for me. This is understanding the needs of working mothers, women, and the modern workforce? Not hardly.Ivanka is in awe of her father, it seems, and carries a ton of internalized misogyny because of him and because of society. She s ill-equipped to reach out to women on this level on behalf of her father, because that takes a lot more than simply being a female face.Watch the entire ad below:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video

HIGH SCHOOL SHOWS STUDENTS RACIST “Sh*t White People Say” VIDEO AS PART OF MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS

According to Bedford, Mass. School Superintendent, John Sills, no employees will face disciplinary action for showing this video to the students. People who are sick and tired of watching our nation being divided down racial lines should call him at 781-275-7588. It s time to flood the lines of these leftist school administrators and let him know how you feel about the shaming of white students in a high school he is paid to supervise.BEDFORD, Mass. After students played a video promoting racial stereotypes during the morning announcements, school administrators are dismissing it as a teachable moment. A group of students at Bedford High School who produce BHS Live created a video called Sh*t White People Say, which played off racial stereotypes allegedly held by their white peers.It featured a black girl wearing a blonde wig, several school employees and a number of minority students.It warns white students to DO NOT ASSume things about their black classmates. I m very offended by what I saw, parent Bob Marshall tells Fox 25. It was a very disgusting video, very hurtful video. A lot of them were upset by what they saw, Marshall he says of students who watched it during morning announcements. I m shocked that a video like that could be displayed and that nobody oversaw it. School administrators are pleading ignorance.HERE S THE VIDEO:In a letter home to parents after the incident, the school s principal says, there has not been a vetting process of videos for BHS Live. Therefore, the video was not previewed by any administrator, student or teacher surrounding BHS Live. A protocol for vetting student videos is being developed. That seems a little hard to believe, given that three adults participated in the production.Superintendent John Sills says while it was framed in a way that was offensive, it was a positive thing that the video spurred conversations. I would never say it s good when something offensive happens. But we always seek to find positives, and we continue to work to derive learning from it, according to Sills.That s not good enough for Marshall. To me, it s smoke and mirrors to say oh, it was a learning lesson, Marshall says. Somebody needs to be held accountable and somebody needs to lose their job over it. According to the superintendent, no employees will face disciplinary action.Via: EAG News

Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Sistani opposes secession of Kurdish region

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s top Shi ite cleric opposes the secession of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, his representative said in a Friday sermon on his behalf, in the religious leader s first comments on the Kurds decision to back independence in a referendum. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a reclusive octogenarian, is revered by millions of Shi ite Muslims in Iraq and abroad. Sistani believes that any attempt to make secession an accomplished fact will lead to undesired consequences affecting Kurdish citizens , his representative Ahmed al-Safi said in the sermon in the holy Shi ite city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad. He urged the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to return to the constitutional path in solving disputes such as self-determination for the Kurdish people, Safi said. It is the first direct political sermon by Sistani since early 2016, in a clear sign that he attaches importance to the crisis pitting the KRG against Baghdad and Iraq s neighbors. Sistani stopped making direct political comments in Feb. 2016, in protest at the widespread and deep-rooted corruption within Iraqi government institutions. Most Iraqi Kurds are Sunni Muslims but Kurdish northern Iraq is also home to some Shi ite Turkmens and Arabs. The Shi ite-led government in Baghdad is set to impose a ban on international flights to and from Iraq s Kurdistan region from 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Friday, in retaliation for the vote. Masoud Barzani s KRG says Monday s referendum, which delivered an overwhelming yes for independence, was meant to pave the way for a peaceful secession from Iraq, through talks with Baghdad and neighboring states Turkey and Iran. Barzani said last week one reason for holding the referendum was because he feared Iraq, split between a Shi ite majority and Sunni minority, was becoming a sectarian-based theocracy , not a proper democracy as promised after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted veteran ruler Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi government has rejected any talks with the KRG and demanded that the Kurdish leadership cancel the result in order to avoid sanctions, international isolation and possibly a military intervention.

COMMUNIST SYMPATHIZER NYC MAYOR DEBLASIO Encourages Anti-Trump Protesters To Keep Going: “the more people fight back, the more it takes away his power”

Pointing to Donald Trump s recent comments on abortion and controversial appointment of an extremist right favorite to the White House, Mayor de Blasio on Monday urged all Americans to continue protesting the President-elect.De Blasio, speaking after days of roiling protests against the country s yet-to-be-sworn-in 45th president have sprung up in New York and other cities, said resistance is necessary, especially since Trump is likely to lose the popular vote and therefore doesn t have a mandate to rule.De Blasio said, We need to hold Trump accountable for anything he does that encourages hate and division The more extreme he is, the more people fight back, the more it takes away his power. With Bill de Blasio making headlines for fanning the flames of racial tension between police and protesters it s worth recalling newsworthy information about the New York City mayor s dark past; that he was an active supporter of a brutal communist regime well known as one of the worst human rights abusers in Latin America.Judicial Watch uncovered and reported the scandalous details last year. De Blasio was an active supporter of the communist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua in the 1980s. He was so enamored with Soviet-backed revolutionaries that he traveled to the capital city of the war-torn country, Managua, to aid their cause by participating in a relief mission. Upon de Blasio s return to the United States, he joined the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York (NSN).-JWThe mayor also said that Trump s comments on the campaign trail about stepping up stop and frisk wouldn t happen in New York as long as he s mayor. That s not going to happen on my watch, the mayor said. NYDN

Seizure Victim 2nd Amendmented A Fireman Who Responded To Wife’s 911 Call To Help Him

Greg Pruitt s wife was awoken at approximately 5 a.m. when she noticed her husband was having a seizure. Quickly, she called 911. As help was on its way, Greg s seizure started to subside a bit, and he was coming out of it when help arrived.Twenty-nine-year-old Jason Adams, a volunteer fireman, was the first responder on the scene. When Adams was standing in the doorway of the room where Pruitt was, attempting to evaluate the situation, Pruitt promptly shot and killed Adams, thinking he was an intruder.Adams was a nearby neighbor who lived approximately a half-mile from the residence. A witness who entered the home after the shooting gave the same account of what happened. Adams was rushed to a local medical center in North Little Rock but was pronounced dead.Not very surprisingly, authorities do not know if there will be any charges filed in this accidental shooting.Please, can we admit yet that we have a problem with guns in America? This is a perfect example of why we do. I know when people are in an emergency situation, possibly panicking, they don t think about the gun that is in arm s reach of a seizure victim, or about what will happen because of it when a stranger suddenly enters their home. But, is that really an acceptable way to write off this sort of thing?The idea of responsible gun ownership is exactly what s in question here. Why are we living in such paranoia, in the home of the brave, to where we are shooting at every shadow we see? It s incredibly wrong for a first responder to have to second-guess rendering aid because they re afraid they will get shot just by showing up. The concept of always shoot first because it s just an accident if you do, that has been cultivated by the NRA and Republicans in America needs to come to an end.Watch news coverage of the incident below:featured image via twitter

U.S. Senate committee passes bill to impose new sanctions on Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee backed legislation on Thursday that would impose new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile development, support for Islamist militant groups, weapons transfers and human rights violations. The vote was 18-3 in favor of the legislation, paving the way for its consideration by the full Senate. Lawmakers who backed the bill said they do not believe that its passage, which would require support by the House of Representatives and President Donald Trump to become law, would violate terms of the international nuclear agreement with Iran reached in 2015. Both Republicans and Democrats have been clamoring for a response to Iran’s ballistic missiles development and other activities. But the foreign relations committee waited to take up the bill until after Iran’s election on Friday, when President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected with 57 percent of the vote. Rouhani broke the taboo of holding direct talks with the United States and reached the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. Trump has criticized the nuclear deal, which was opposed by every Republican in Congress and several Democrats. But he has so far not moved to pull the United States out. Instead, his administration has said it would closely police Iran’s compliance with the bill and review it, with an eye toward possibly modifying it to make it stronger.

California bill to wean power sector off fossil fuels dies for this year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A long-shot plan to wean California’s power sector entirely off fossil fuels by 2045 was put on hold until 2018 on Saturday, as lawmakers recessed for the year without hearing the measure. The bill was strongly opposed by the state’s investor-owned utility companies, who said it would not protect consumers from the expense of speeding up the switch to renewable and carbon neutral fuels. Assemblyman Chris Holden, who held the measure in his Utilities and Energy Committee, said he would consider it again when the legislature returns in January for the second half of its two-year session.

U.S. Defense Dept needs to better manage its finances: GAO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department needs to better manage its finances if it hopes to rebuild and modernize the U.S. Armed Forces, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released on Tuesday. The Pentagon needs to give its decision makers and weapons buyers more accurate budget and cost information so they can make better decisions as they modernize weapons systems, the report said. U.S. President Donald Trump’s $4.1 trillion fiscal 2018 budget proposal included $603 billion in defense spending for the Department of Defense as well as nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Energy and other national defense priorities. The GAO report comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis presented lawmakers in the House and Senate with a $33 billion wish list of unfunded military needs. The report said despite increased defense funding under Trump, efforts “underway to rebuild readiness for portions of their military forces” are at risk without more comprehensive planning efforts at the Pentagon. The federal agency, which oversees government resources, also said the Defense Department could police global hot spots with less expensive and more numerous regular troops instead of U.S. special forces. “DOD has not taken steps to examine whether additional opportunities exist to reduce the high demand on these (special) forces by sharing some of their responsibilities with conventional forces,” the report said. U.S. President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal gave the military a modest boost to their budget, 3 percent more than what former President Barack Obama had sought in his long-term budget plan. The $574.5 billion for the Department of Defense would go to warfighting readiness and critical program requirements. GAO said it has made approximately 3,100 recommendations to DOD since 2006. Of these about 1,037 have not been acted on, including 78 priority recommendations. The report released on Tuesday made no new recommendations.

In rightward shift, Dutch PM seals new government pact

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte sealed a deal to form a new coalition government on Tuesday, announcing a major tax overhaul and steering the Netherlands towards the political right. The four-party coalition talks were the country s longest since World War Two, overtaking a record of 208 days set in 1977 as the parties struggled to bridge wide differences. Among the issues discussed in often fraught debates were migration a topic which dominated the national election in March in which the anti-Islam party of Geert Wilders finished second taxation and euthanasia. It took a long time, but we have an ambitious and balanced plan that will benefit all, Rutte said, presenting the pact. Rutte, who leads the liberal VVD party, will head his third government since coming to power in 2010. He is due to start picking his cabinet on Friday, the day after parliament debates the government pact, and have his team installed by the end of this month. The coalition will have a more rightwing hue than the outgoing government of the VVD and the centre-left Labour party. The independent budget office said the government s plans would increase growth in gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.2 percentage points annually through 2021, with average growth forecast at 2 percent. But despite being able to reap the benefits of the strongest Dutch economic expansion in a decade, at over 3 percent, the new government may struggle to promote its political agenda, given its wafer-thin, one-seat majority in both houses of parliament. Among the most important plans of the new coalition which comprises the VVD, the centrist D66 and conservative Christian parties CDA and Christian Union is a large tax overhaul, with a cut in income taxes worth around 6 billion euros ($7.1 billion) that will benefit the wealthy and middle classes. The coalition also aims to lower the corporate tax rate, from 25 to 21 percent, which will be partly offset by higher taxes on food and a scaling-back of tax breaks for homeowners. The largest employers association said the plans would make the Netherlands more attractive for international companies. The dividend tax is going to be totally abolished. That s especially beneficial for foreign investors, said Marcel Klok, a senior economist at ING bank. Lowering taxes for households and companies will bring higher consumer spending and employment that will support the wider economy. It is becoming more rewarding to work and that is one of the main aims of this government. However, labour unions said the plans would raise the cost of living, while companies shareholders are being pampered . The coalition does not include Wilders party and, while a greater focus on national identity is part of its agenda, a clampdown on migration is not. The four parties have agreed to limit financial allowances for asylum seekers in the first two years of their stay, though the Netherlands plans to admit several hundred refugees per year more than until now. Government plans also include higher taxes for polluters and the promise to shut all five coal-fired energy plants in the country by 2030. This should help lower emissions of carbon dioxide in 2030 to 49 percent of the level reached in 1990. That goal seems unfeasible, environmental group Greenpeace said. Coal plants will be allowed to run 10 years longer than necessary, while other plans to reduce emissions remain vague. A plan by D66 to extend euthanasia will not get the full support of the coalition since the CDA and Christian Union oppose the idea.

Teen Vogue Writer Gets Threatened By Sexist Trump Supporters And Publicly Humiliates Them

Teen Vogue writer, Lauren Duca, humiliated Tucker Carlson last week for being a sexist partisan hack, and now she is battling sexist trolls on social media.And, of course, watching a strong independent woman crushing one of their Fox News heroes hurt conservatives feelings so they attacked Duca through social media by sending her rape threats and other demeaning messages designed to scare her.But Duca is fearless and was not about to let some sexist right-wing punks make her cower.So she used her Twitter account to shame them and humiliate them. Now they can tell Tucker Carlson all about the time they were owned by a woman, too.Example! (Cropped because fuck the person who put minutes of his life into making this) pic.twitter.com/zjGExlGoki Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 25, 2016The rape threats are truly challenging my faith in humanity, but this makes it all feel worth it. Love trumps hate. pic.twitter.com/DiIZAcFNOQ Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 25, 2016Easiest way to process a defiant woman receiving any recognition: https://t.co/uqeFSe5l9r Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 26, 2016The people angrily writing to me that I don t matter are kind of making me feel like I might matter lol Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 26, 2016.@fyeahmfabello Some old guy actually told me I was below his contempt in a 300-word email. Sir, I have earned your contempt! Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 26, 2016*you re pic.twitter.com/5VyPCiVpZj Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016.@TuckerCarlson is a partisan hack. He also violates both the SPJ and RTNA code of ethics https://t.co/jX1VCIGUzG + https://t.co/MJTIEpjMcp Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 24, 2016I feel like I got a glimpse of humanity s asshole this weekend. Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016Messages like this positioning sexual assault as a means of keeping women in line make me want to fight even harder. pic.twitter.com/gtvMGQ9cpx Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016I already have a monthly @PPact donation set up, but this made me feel extra generous. Happy holidays, cordial misogynists! pic.twitter.com/KJnE3uSYcB Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016SOURCES OF STRENGTH*Kindness*Watching the patriarchy quiver with toxicity in a vain attempt to quell the power of defiant women*Dogs Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016Harassment is a theft of social capital via time & energy. It s exhausting and wholly unethical. It will also never be enough to silence me. Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 28, 2016My mother couldn t be prouder, but thanks for the patriarchal bullshit masquerading as concern! https://t.co/vWQCHnNO80 Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 28, 2016A two-pound shit sounds like a miracle to me, dude. You re welcome! https://t.co/BNtaF4jCtS Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 28, 2016The lesson misogynists should learn here is that they should not mess with Lauren Duca. Because she has no problem publicly ripping you a new one.Featured Image: Screenshot

WATCH: Black Pastor Totally SHUTS Down Trump, And He Backs Away Like A Wimp

An African-American pastor in Flint, Michigan was able to get Donald Trump to do what nobody else has for the last year: shut up.It happened when Trump, after touring a water treatment facility in the lead-afflicted city, spoke at a church. As part of his speech, instead of addressing the water crisis that has many in the area worried about their children s health, the Republican nominee started in on a political attack against Hillary Clinton.Pastor Faith Green Timmons then stepped in, and stopped the Republican in his tracks.Timmons told Trump, I invited you here to thank us not to give a political speech. Apparently completely chastened, Trump stopped and instead of his usual braggadocio he reverted to an almost childlike tone.He told Timmons, No, I never. Never would. Never would. Never would. He then quickly ended his speech, saying a few more words and promising to bring jobs back to the city.The incident reflects the latest gaffe for Trump with black voters. For a few weeks his campaign has claimed that he is conducting outreach but in reality, Trump has instead repeatedly told blacks that they live in poverty, stuck in inner city hellholes filled with gun violence. He has also described the living situations of blacks in America as so horrible; they can t do any worse. This has prompted considerable backlash among minority voters and others, leading to extremely negative polling for Trump with that voting bloc, even as he has improved among some white voters.Trump has said that this supposed reaching out to black voters will result in gains for his campaign, but the evidence instead shows that his ham-handed activities are more likely to continue the Republican trend of poor performance in this demographic. This incident in Flint is unlikely to help that trajectory.Featured image via screen capture

The Supreme Court Delivered A MAJOR Blow To Neil Gorsuch As He Was Testifying

One of the selling points of Donald Trump s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is that his decisions are actually so mainstream and widely respected that he s never been overturned. Well, that argument wasn t true before he testified, but today it s even less true. One of decisions was unanimously overturned by the very court he s applying for, while he was testifying on his own behalf in front of Congress. To my recollection, no opinion I have authored has been reversed by a reviewing court or affirmed with significant criticism, he wrote in a questionnaire submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee this weekend.Source: Daily CallerBefore this week, Gorsuch had had at least eight cases reviewed by the higher court. Seven were upheld by the court.Two opinions he joined were overturned by the high court. One was Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, a case concerning whether federal courts had jurisdiction to hear a challenge to a state tax law. The second case concerned a sentencing issue. Gorsuch did not write the opinion in either case.His streak was broken on Tuesday. The case was about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which ensures that students with disabilities are provided with a free appropriate public education from the federal government.Under Gorsuch s opinion in Luke P., a school district complies with the law so long as they provide educational benefits that must merely be more than de minimis. De minimis is a Latin phrase meaning so minor as to merit disregard. So Gorsuch essentially concluded that school districts comply with their obligation to disabled students so long as they provide those students with a little more than nothing.Gorsuch s decision was even too much for the hardline conservatives on the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the unanimous opinion, saying that the de minimis criteria is far too low.When all is said and done, a student offered an educational program providing merely more than de minimis progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all. For children with disabilities, receiving instruction that aims so low would be tantamount to sitting idly . . . awaiting the time when they were old enough to drop out. Source: Think ProgressWhile this certainly doesn t disqualify Gorsuch from the office (the fact that he s only under consideration because Republicans stole the seat is what disqualifies him), it is a problem for the Trump administration. Trump rightfully took a lot of heat for mocking a reporter with a disability while on the campaign trail. With the latest Supreme Court decision, that can of worms opened right back up in an already contentious nomination hearing.Featured image via Wikimedia.

Turkey feels betrayed over EU accession but still wants to join the club

LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey feels betrayed by some European Union leaders who have called for the end of accession talks but still hopes eventually to join the bloc, Turkish EU Minister Omer Celik said on Thursday. The European Union has become increasingly critical of Turkey s membership drive since President Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown on critics - including journalists and academics - after a failed 2016 coup. Erdogan accused Berlin of Nazi-like tactics in March when it prevented Turkish ministers speaking at expatriate rallies in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an election debate ten days ago it was clear Turkey should not join the EU and entry talks should end, despite it being a crucial NATO ally. Celik chided European Union leaders over statements on Turkish accession and said some, such as Merkel, were using the criticism to deflect attention away from the EU s internal problems such as Brexit, migration and reform. They put all those aside and they stoke antagonism towards Turkey in order to cover up their vital internal problems, Celik told Reuters in an interview. We are indeed disappointed by Merkel and some others in the EU: at one of the hardest times in our history we were left alone by our friends and allies, he said through a translator. When asked if Turkey felt betrayed, he said: Yes . The abortive coup, in which more than 260 people were killed as mutinous soldiers commandeered fighter jets, helicopters and tanks in a bid to seize power, has deepened a rift between Ankara and its Western allies. Turkish officials said some Western allies were far too slow in showing solidarity with Erdogan after the coup which they cast as a well-planned attempt to subvert Turkish democracy. Since then, some 50,000 people including journalists, opposition figures, civil servants and others have been detained. The crackdown has alarmed rights groups and some of Turkey s Western allies. Celik said that EU leaders such as Merkel had failed to keep their promises to Turkey on its EU bid which began in 1987 with an application to join what was then the European Economic Community. Turkey s accession negotiations began in 2005. The EU has failed to keep all of its promises whereas Turkey has delivered on all of the promises it made, Celik said. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said on Wednesday he saw no prospect of Turkey joining the EU in the foreseeable future . What has Mr Junker done, what giant strides has he made, to find solutions to bring the EU and Turkey closer? That is my question for Mr Juncker, Celik said. If Germany keeps giving orders to the EU institutions such as cutting negotiations with Turkey then it will strengthen the hand of racist groups in Europe, he said. Formally ending Turkey s accession negotiations would require unanimity among EU states, which is lacking, though majority backing is enough to suspend them. Celik suggested that a leaders summit of the EU and Turkey be called to improve relations. Turkey has not given up on its target to be a full member of the EU: We are eager and willing to find solutions to move forward, he said. EU leaders will discuss Turkey at a summit in Brussels in October, though any formal decision on its future may not come before next spring. Celik dismissed concerns that Turkey s purchase of an S-400 air missile defense system from Russia indicated the NATO member could be turning away from the West. It is obvious on which side Turkey really is, he said. Turkey has made immense contributions to security and prosperity in Europe. When it comes to Turkey being an integral part of NATO and Turkey having friendly relations with Russia, it is not an either or : they don t exclude each other and are complementary to each other.

Trump UNRAVELS As Republicans Admit He Should Spend Less Time Playing Golf (DETAILS)

By now, pretty much all of America can agree that Donald Trump needs to spend more time working and less time on the golf course and it s not just the Democrats who think this. Apparently, there is now a big push from the Republican Party to get Trump to spend less time at Mar-a-Lago.Republican Joni Ernst confessed that the GOP is having a hard time defending all the time Trump is spending away from his responsibilities at the White House. At an Iowa town hall, Ernst admitted that the GOP as a whole believes that Trump should drastically cut down on his costly getaways: I do wish he would spend more time in Washington, DC. That s what we have the White House for, we would love to see more of those State Department visits in Washington, DC. I think it s smart that he does business in Washington DC, so I ve had those same concerns myself. Ernst then dropped this bombshell, signaling that many Republicans aren t happy with how Trump is performing: I have not spoken to him about the Florida issue yet, but that is something I think that has been bothering not just me, but some other members of our caucus. So I think that is going to be a topic of discussion that we have when we get back to Washington. Ernst has criticized Trump before, previously stating that he has a number of flaws. While we can t expect that the GOP will lash out at Trump for taking far more golf trips than former President Barack Obama did, this is a step in the right direction. It seems the GOP is trying to reel Trump in and actually get him to perform his presidential duties. They probably won t succeed, but their attempts show that Trump s honeymoon period is coming to an end as he has nothing to show for his first 100 days in office.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Erdogan says Turkey will destroy those in Syria linked to Kurdish militants

ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey will very soon completely destroy those in Syria linked to Kurdish militants. Turkey has been angered by U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters who have spearheaded the Western-backed military campaign against Islamic State. Ankara says the YPG is an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Hillary SLAMS CNN For Ignoring One Of The Most Important Issues In The Election (VIDEO)

At the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday night, Hillary Clinton brought the event to a complete standstill as she called out the CNN debate moderators for ignoring and downplaying the critical issue of abortion. The debate had gone on for nearly an hour and a half by the time Clinton made her statement, and the vital woman s health issue had gone unmentioned, as it mostly has for all the previous debates.Clinton wasn t having it, and she let loose: We ve not had one question about a woman s right to make her own decisions about reproductive health care, not one question, Clinton said. And in the meantime we have states, governors doing everything they can to restrict women s rights. We have a presidential candidate by the name of Donald Trump saying that women should be punished and we are never asked about this. The statement was greeted with loud applause and cheers.Clinton noted the issue goes to the heart of who we are as women, our rights, our autonomy, our ability to make our own decisions, and we need to be talking about that and defending Planned Parenthood from these outrageous attacks. Senator Bernie Sanders added that as president he would take on those Republican governors who are trying to restrict a woman s right to choose. Unfortunately, on the Republican side, abortion has come up as a topic of discussion. Donald Trump said that under a scenario in which abortion had ideally become illegal, there would need to be some sort of mechanism in place to punish women who have undergone the procedure. At the same time, Senator Ted Cruz has been campaigning alongside anti-abortion extremists who have spoken out in favor of anti-abortion terrorists. And Cruz is on record as opposing abortion in all circumstances, even in the case of a pregnancy caused by rape or incest, provisions which past anti-choice Republicans have even given in on.Featured image via YouTube

WATCH: TREY GOWDY FURIOUS OVER LAWLESS Loretta Lynch During Clinton Email Hearing: “It was a total WASTE of time…The facts are embarrassing for her presidential candidate [Hillary]”

The lawless and in-your-face behavior that this President and his regime have been able to get away with is simply breathtaking She [Lynch] could have answered every one of those questions, she just chose not to. It s really not that complicated. You take the facts as Director Comey gave em to us, and as he found, and you apply the law, which it s public and everybody knows what it is. But the facts are embarrassing for her presidential candidate. So, discussing the facts necessarily leads to more questions like, Well, if you had all those good facts, why didn t you indict her?'

NEW LAW WILL PUNISH MUSLIM Migrants…Assimilate Or Get Out!

Is this common sense law even practical given how many Muslims migrants with ties to terrorism have already embedded themselves in communities across Europe. The mass sexual assaults and rapes that took place on New Years Eve in Germany should be a pretty good indicator of how interested these male Muslim migrants are in assimilating. German Chancellor Angela Merkel s ruling coalition agreed Thursday on tough measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees, including sanctions for failing to take part in programs such as language classes.The deal, hammered out in six hours of late-night talks between Merkel s conservative Christian Union bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD), also included plans for new anti-terror legislation. Now that hundreds of thousands (over a million) refugees have arrived in our country, we have a double task: to manage and control refugee flows, and not only to register but to integrate the large numbers, Merkel said at a Berlin press conference on Thursday. We will differentiate between those with good and bad prospects for being allowed to stay, but there will be an offer for everyone who comes to us, she added. Integration in a society with people from very different cultural backgrounds doesn t happen by itself, said Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who claimed the new law was a truly historic step .Indeed, it is the first time a law covering immigration and integration has been mooted since Germany began a postwar programme to invite Turks and other guest workers to fuel its economic miracle, which was criticized for failing to provide millions of immigrants and their descendants a stake in German society and a path to citizenship.The integration bill would take a carrot-and-stick approach, providing subsidized courses to help newcomers find their way in German life but, in some cases, denying residence permits to those who fail to take up the offer.Under the new pact seen by AFP, federal funds would be used to create 100,000 jobs for asylum seekers receiving benefits.Those facing imminent deportation would be excluded, but asylum seekers taking part in job training would be shielded from expulsion for the length of the programme.Refugees who abandon state-assigned housing would face unspecified consequences, but waiting periods for acceptance courses teaching German language and customs are to be slashed to six weeks from three months currently. Learning the language is also necessary for temporary stays in Germany, the document states.The draft law is to be completed on May 24 and then presented to parliament, where the so-called grand coalition has a large majority.Germany took in more than one million asylum seekers in 2015 and Merkel has faced mounting criticism from sceptics, particularly from within her conservative camp, arguing that Europe s top economy is ill-equipped to cope with the influx.The closure of the so-called Balkan route taken by many migrants has led to a sharp decline in new arrivals in recent weeks.Via: The Local de

Trump Just Did Something REALLY Weird On Twitter, And It Makes Him Look EXTREMELY Shady (IMAGE)

Donald Trump really doesn t make sticky situations any better for himself.Trump s entanglements with Russia continue to be a growing story, and a more recent piece to this puzzle came into play as Trump s Attorney General Jeff Sessions was accused of perjury over his communications with Russia. But if Trump was somehow trying to clean up his image and maintain a low profile, the fact that he liked a tweet about Senator Al Franken accusing Sessions of perjury certainly isn t going to help:The fact that Trump would publicly like a story about one of his biggest scandals only proves how insane he is. Every part of the Fox News story that Trump is calling attention to is negative, and portrays Sessions as someone who lied under oath because all of his arguments were so weak. And that s not all the story shows that there was a THIRD time Sessions made contact with Russia, when before only two had been reported.To make this even more bizarre, Trump decided to like this story on the very day a poll was released that revealed most Americans were in agreement that Sessions lied under oath and should resign.Either Trump really thinks he s going to get away with all of this no matter how bold he is, or he s really that stupid. Considering that these actions are coming from the same man that bragged about how he could go out on a popular New York street and shoot someone without losing any votes, he really just might be that confident that he is going to skate by all of these accusations and investigations. Trump has never been one for subtlety, and he probably enjoys pushing the envelope and seeing what he can actually get away with. He needs to stop making fools out of the American people, and he must be held accountable for his actions.

hes never sold an original painting until nowand this ones going in the white house

go to article dear abby i supported a woman i knew had a history of criminal activity who is married to a rapist and who left men to die in benghazi she put our national security at grave risk by leaving top classified emails on her private server and she took money from nations who throw gays off rooftops and treat women worse than cockroaches she is likely very sick and would be unlikely to serve out her first term without someone there to prop her up but nevertheless i supported her anyhow because shes a democrat and has a vagina someone told me she still has a chance of winning the presidency if i just signed a petition they said that trump really didnt win because hillary won the popular vote is that true okay lets address this hillary might win the popular vote isnt that electoral college situation just awful thing head on no its not awful its great and it protects the importance of your vote its also uniquely american and demonstrates yet again the onceincreation brilliance of the founding fathers first of all shes probably not going to win the actual number of votes cast she may win the number of votes counted but not the votes cast states dont count their absentee ballots unless the number of outstanding absentee ballots is larger than the state margin of difference if there is a margin of votes counted and there are absentee ballots outstanding then the state tabulates those if the number of outstanding absentee ballots wouldnt influence the election results then the absentee ballots arent counted who votes by absentee ballot students overseas the military businesspeople on trips etc the historical breakout for absentee ballots is about republican in when al gore won the popular vote nationally by votes and the liberal media screamed bloody murder there were million absentee ballots in california alone a breakout of those yields a to million republican vote advantage so bush would have gotten a vote margin from californias uncounted absentee ballots alone so much for gores popular vote victory that was the headline on the ny times and it was the lead story on nbc nightly news right no youre kidding getting back to the win the popular votelose the electoral college scenario thank gd we have that or else california and ny would determine every election every time but the electoral college brilliantly smooths out the variances in the voting proclivities among states and regions farmers in the middle of the country and importers and exporters on the shore get roughly equal say as do madison ave execs and factory workers in tennessee shortcomings sure the ec can make an r vote meaningless in a very few heavily d states or vice versa but without the electoral college the countrys entire population is subject to the disproportionate voting preferences of the few most populous states american thinker comment on this article via your facebook account comment on this article via your disqus account follow us on facebook

FBI Arrest Cliven Bundy at Portland Airport – Charged with Federal Conspiracy

Patrick Henningsen 21st Century WireCliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher at the center of the federal standoff in Bunkerville in 2014, was arrested by FBI agents at around 10pm Wednesday evening as he touched down at Portland International Airport. Bundy, 74 yrs old, of Bunkerville, Nevada, was taken to Oregon s Multnomah County detention center and charged with conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer the same federal felony charge made two weeks ago against of his two sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy.According to Oregon Live, Cliven Bundy, also faces weapons charges, dating back to the original standoff in April 2014.READ THE FULL FEDERAL COMPLAINT AGAINST CLIVEN BUNDY HERE. Police Mug Shot: Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested in Portland last night.Bundy s dramatic arrest came as he was planning to meet up with staunch Bundy supporter, Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, for a Q & A press conference in Portland scheduled for early Thursday morning, presumably to advocate for the Bundy sons and others currently under federal incarceration, and to help mediate a peaceful resolution for the remaining 4 occupiers still held-up at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Oregon.The timeline of these events is particularly interesting. Before Cliven Bundy touched down in Portland, Fiore (photo, left) had already arrived in town, but was immediately confronted with a breaking situation on Wednesday afternoon, where reports indicate that there were likely dozens of heavily armed federal tactical and state SWAT members positioned at various points around the perimeter of the occupied federal refuge office building. On Wednesday evening, law enforcement appeared to have decided to make their move to end the occupation by re-taking the protest site and remove its occupants. Fiore then headed to Burns while engaged in a 4 hour-long phone call with the protesters live-streamed on YouTube with nearly 60,000 listeners on the call.Clearly, the FBI had plenty of foreknowledge of Cliven Bundy and Michele Fiore s potentially explosive media spectacle scheduled for this morning. FBI agents appear to have preempted this national (and global) press event by Bundy and Fiore, quickly moving on the protest, and then taking Cliven Bundy out of the equation, or off the street , as it were. This chain of events over the last 24 hours indicates that the federal government had made decisive moves at key moments in order to temporarily control the media and political narratives, and by extension, the course of events which have followed. That reality was echoed by Portland attorney, Mike Arnold, currently representing Ammon Bundy, who said earlier today: It s terribly unfortunate the timing of his arrest, given all the progress Assemblywoman Fiore made this evening. In addition to Fiore and Cliven Bundy arriving in Oregon this week, Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, posted on Facebook that he had been talking with the four holdouts for a week, at their request and at the request of the FBI , and was said to be heading for Burns to witness a peaceful resolution. Early on Thursday, Graham stated the following: I am on my way there Please keep them, law enforcement officials, and all involved in your prayers, that everyone will be safe. Presently, federal forces are still at the gates of the refuge, with occupiers still inside. According to the Oregonian, the remaining occupiers are 27-year-old David Fry, the man running the refuge protest YouTube livestream, along with married couple Sean and Sandy Anderson, and one other man known by the name of Jeff Banta. It s not completely clear if all the occupants are armed, and there have been some mixed messages over the last two weeks as to what their exact intentions were, and what concessions were possible through negotiations.UPDATE: 4 holdouts all in FBI custody as occupation endsIn an overwhelming show of force, the FBI have surrounded the small one story detached Malheur office building with MRAP armored vehicles and other assets, including multiple surveillance drones positioned overhead. It s not known exactly how many federal agents are in position at the refuge and the surrounding area, but based on similar events, the number could be at least 300, not including state and other law enforcement agents.At the end of January, a team of federal and state agents shot and killed the protest s spokesman, Arizona rancher, Robert Lavoy Finicum, in what can only be described as a well-organize, federal and state ambush, involving dozens of vehicles and armed agents (including snipers) positioned along an isolated rural stretch of Oregon highway 395. The mainstream media are still disingenuously referring to the event as a traffic stop incident in what appears to be a well-coordinated PR effort to minimize any accusations of over-reach on the part of the federal agencies.The left-wing arm of the media, and a virtual army of anti-Bundy activists online will certainly be celebrating this latest development as a government victory .With the iconic face of the public lands issue, Cliven Bundy, now in custody, this will either stir the burgeoning Constitutionalist movement, or it will further demoralize it.Cliven Bundy is expected to appear in a Portland federal court this afternoon.Watch this space.READ MORE OREGON STANDOFF NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Oregon Files

China urges peaceful, diplomatic resolution to North Korea tensions

BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it opposed North Korea s use of ballistic missiles in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The emphasis on curbing North Korea s missile and nuclear capabilities should not come at the expense of pushing for a peaceful and diplomatic resolution, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said after North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido island far out into the Pacific Ocean. Hua said China had made enormous sacrifices to implement United Nations Security Council resolutions and that its sincerity could not be doubted.

U.S. oil baron Harold Hamm endorses Trump for president

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Harold Hamm, chief executive of shale oil producer Continental Resources Inc and Mitt Romney’s 2012 energy adviser, endorsed U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday, saying he has the “fortitude to make tough decisions.” Hamm, who had previously donated to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, called the real estate mogul a “business leader’s candidate” who has the will to right what he called a series of mistakes from politicians in Washington, including “burdensome government regulations.” “The next president of the United States must have the courage, determination and intelligence to disrupt politics as usual,” Hamm wrote in a public letter. “Such an honor to get the endorsement of Harold Hamm, one of the great men in the history of the oil and energy business,” Trump said in a statement to Reuters. Known for his outspoken views on U.S. energy policy and other matters, Hamm once referred to OPEC leader Saudi Arabia as a “toothless tiger” in the face of growing U.S. oil output. OPEC and Saudia Arabia eventually proved Hamm wrong by using its influence to keep prices low for more than 18 months and counting, exerting sharp pain on U.S. oil producers. Hamm’s Continental is expected to post a quarterly loss next month. Hamm’s endorsement followed President Barack Obama’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman in Riyadh this week. By endorsing Trump, Hamm has parted ways with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate for the White House, who has vigorously opposed Trump’s candidacy.

Stephen Colbert Mercilessly And Hilariously Mocks Unprepared Bundy Terrorists (VIDEO)

In a glorious segment on the Late Show, Stephen Colbert piled on the mockery of the anti-government loons who took over a federal wildlife refuge building without preparing for the long haul.When Ammon and Ryan Bundy seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, they were hoping to ignite a war against the federal government. Instead, the federal government ignored them and most of America laughed at them and the right-wing militia movement became an even bigger joke than it has ever been.The armed militants have been labeled Y all qaeda and Vanilla ISIS and drew even more ridicule after having to beg people to send them snacks through the US Postal Service because they somehow forgot to prepare for a long occupation. Ammon Bundy has even backed away from his brother s claim that the group came there to kill or be killed during an embarrassing interview with Megyn Kelly.Clearly, Bundy s pathetic rebellion has very little support. And Stephen Colbert only added more mockery on Tuesday night. I haven t seen this many angry, bearded men in Oregon since I referred to Blue Moon as a craft beer, Colbert quipped. These confused, fragile, heavily armed creatures need someplace to live where civilization won t upset them. They re clearly endangered, although it s hard to know exactly how many there are because their camo is so good. Here s one standing between two bushes, I believe. Sadly, there s no hope of establishing a breeding program because, frankly, it s a bit of a sausage fest. Colbert also mocked the stand-off the armed traitors hoped for but didn t get. Probably not what the protesters had in mind. That s like taking over the Alamo and then not being surrounded by the Mexicans. To conclude, Colbert mocked Bundy and his friends for being less prepared than a troop of boy scouts. What heroic, go-it-alone mountain men have always needed Go-Gurt, string cheese and Lunchables. I want you to hang in there, fellas, because help is on the way. The refuge should really be renamed the Ammon Bundy Preserve for the Armed and Cranky, Colbert suggested.Here s the video via YouTube.Yeah, hang in there, guys. Because the longer you carry on this farce, the more material you give to Stephen Colbert and the rest of the world with which to mock you. Congratulations, you all are officially a worldwide joke.Featured Image: Screenshot

Trump naysayers push #NeverTrump on Twitter before Super Tuesday

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The use of the #NeverTrump hashtag grew on Twitter on Monday as detractors of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump fretted over his momentum on the eve of Super Tuesday election contests. On Twitter, the top influencer, or person who received the most engagement on their #NeverTrump tweets, was Trump rival Marco Rubio, according to online research firm Hashtagify.me. The senator from Florida and real estate billionaire Trump are engaged in an increasingly personal battle of insults on social media before voters in more than a dozen states select their party’s nominee to run for the White House in November. Rubio began using the tag on Friday, tweeting: “Donald Trump is a con artist - and he cannot be our nominee. #NeverTrump.” The tweet received more than 8,000 “likes” and 5,100 retweets. He repeated the tag in three more tweets over the weekend, with each one getting several thousand likes or retweets. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not immediately return calls for comment. Another major influencer on the tag was conservative commentator Glenn Beck (@glennbeck), even though he has used it just once, on Sunday. Beck supports U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in the campaign. Still, Beck’s post - “Praying for this great country. Praying for a true constitutionalist! God bless (an emblem for the American flag). #NeverTrump #CruzCrew” - proved influential, getting retweeted nearly 1,000 times and liked nearly 2,000 times. Traffic on the hashtag was dominated by users who identify as conservative or Republican, most expressing vexation with the front-runner. Many tweets focused on Trump’s CNN interview on Sunday, when he declined to repudiate an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Trump later said he did not hear the question properly because of a defective ear piece. Whitney Westerfield (@KyWhitney), a Republican state senator from Kentucky, tweeted on Monday, “Wow. Trump blaming his failure to repudiate the hatred & extremism of the KKK on a #BadEarpiece. #NeverTrump.” “No, the white supremacist/David Duke/KKK question isn’t hard. Reject their support & denounce their hate. Again & again & again. #nevertrump,” said Stephen Hayes (@stephenhayes), a writer for the Weekly Standard, a weekly conservative magazine. Trump supporters have countered with their own hashtag: #AlwaysTrump. “We must continue to fight on social media, the Peoples Revolution, the strongest tool right now! #TRUMP2016 #AlwaysTrump,” wrote Trump supporter Linda Alexander (@noopdoggy). Still, the #NeverTrump hashtag was winning the trending battle, seeing roughly twice the traffic as #AlwaysTrump on Monday, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph. (Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Dan Burns and Grant McCool) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Honduras opposition candidate calls on U.S. not to recognize election

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Honduran opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla called on United States on Tuesday not to recognize results announced in his country s presidential election and to suspend aid until a new vote can be held. Speaking at news conference in Washington, Nasralla accused his opponent, U.S.-friendly President Juan Orlando Hernandez, of holding on to power illegally after gross fraud in the Nov. 26 poll. Hernandez declared himself president elect on Tuesday despite a call for new elections by the Organization of American States (OAS) that followed allegations of fraud and deadly protests.

TRUMP SUPPORTERS FIGHT BACK! CA Congresswoman Walks Off Stage After Trump Supporters Shout “We love Trump”…”Respect Our President” [VIDEO]

According to video filmed by one of the protesters, very few of Rep. Barrag n s constituents showed up for the meeting at a local school, and even fewer of her supporters. Meanwhile, dozens of Trump supporters filled the front rows. BreitbartWhen the congresswoman decided to walk off the stage, she was followed out by Trump supporters who were peppering her with legitimate questions about her support for illegal aliens and climate change. She refused to answer the questions. Barrag n even went as far as to move the meeting to another location where she could speak to only those who agree with her positions.It s time to take our country back and Americans can t rely on President Trump to do it all by himself

WATCH: RNC Platform Leader Refuses To Say How Much GOP Hates Muslims (VIDEO)

It appears that Republicans aren t quite sure if they are on board with Donald Trump s plan to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. During an interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC s This Week, Karl questioedn Republican Senator John Barrasso about Trump s proposed Muslim ban.Barasso, who is going to serve as the chair of Republican national convention s platform committee dodged the answer multiple times during the interview.Here s a transcript of the exchange:JONATHAN KARL: Well, Trump has won. What where does the party now stand on that Muslim ban?JOHN BARRASSO: You know, the platform is about the core values of our party. It s who we are, it s what we stand for, and I met with Donald Trump about it and he understands that the platform is very important to the Republican Party. It s going to be a conservative platform that s going to be positive, optimistic, looking to the future, focused on things like jobs, the economy, and national security. And what he was focused on with that ban is national security.The platform is going to be focusing on growing the economy. We have too many Americans who are suffering the stagnant wages KARL: But BARRASSO: This 1 to 2 percent economic growth that we have here is cannot be the new normal for America. So the platform is going to be something that all Republicans can be proud of and national security is going to be a big part of it.KARL: But I asked you very directly where does the Republican Party now stand on the idea of imposing a temporary ban on Muslims coming into this country? Donald Trump won; sixty percent of Republican voters in exit polls agreed with him on that proposal. You called it un-American. Where does it stand now?BARRASSO: Well, the platform committee will meet in Cleveland in July for a full week before the convention. It s 112 members of the platform committee. And we ve asked Donald Trump to allow the process to play out. He has agreed to do that. And I ve asked him personally to embrace the platform and I believe he will. National security will be a big part of it.The fact that Barasso can t even address one of the biggest proposals the GOP s new figurehead has called for reveals exactly how dysfunctional the party is at this time.A house or party in this case is a one that destined to fall. Trump has pushed the GOP to take new extremes on just about every issue. Now the left gets to sit back and watch as the party divides itself between lite-fascists and moderate conservatives.You can watch the interview in full, below.Featured image from video screenshot

French minister calls out Trump on climate change as Irma wreaks havoc

PARIS (Reuters) - French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot said on Friday extreme weather conditions like the powerful hurricane bearing down on Florida risked becoming the norm, and took a dig at U.S. President Donald Trump s stance on climate change. In an interview with France 2 TV about Hurricane Irma, Hulot implied that Trump - who has called global warming a hoax - was ignoring the reality of man-made climate change, which most mainstream scientists regard as an established fact. Trump said in May he was pulling the United States out of the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change that was brokered in Paris, saying it would harm the U.S. economy and cost jobs. Irma - described by Trump as a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential - pummeled Cuba and the Bahamas on Friday, and a second powerful hurricane was tracking towards the northeastern Caribbean. Asked if the storms might force Trump to rethink his climate change policy, Hulot said: What will change in the United States are the federal states, the cities, a whole section of society. I think that is what will make up for the reservations of the American president on the links between cause and effect.

SUPREME COURT: ABERCROMBIE & FITCH LOSES CASE BROUGHT BY HEADSCARF-WEARING MUSLIM WOMAN

This decision by the Supreme Court is confusing in that Christians are shut down for so many things but the A & F corporates need to hire hijab-wearing Muslim woman even though it goes against their policy. Why the double standard?The Supreme Court ruled Monday for a Muslim woman who did not get hired after she showed up to a job interview with clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch wearing a black headscarf.The justices said that employers generally have to accommodate job applicants and employees with religious needs if the employer at least has an idea that such accommodation is necessary.Job applicant Samantha Elauf did not tell her interviewer she was Muslim. But Justice Antonin Scalia said for the court that Abercrombie at least suspected that Elauf wore a headscarf for religious reasons. That is enough, Scalia said in an opinion for seven justices.The headscarf, or hijab, violated the company s strict dress code for employees who work in its retail stores.Via: DFP

U.S. House speaker says Obamacare replacement will pass this year

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives’ Republican leader said on Tuesday that legislation to replace former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law would be completed this year, trying to dispel the idea that the party is retreating from its campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare quickly. “The question is how long does it take to implement the full replacement of Obamacare,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told a news briefing. “We hope to get this done as fast as possible.” Ryan was responding to questions about Republican President Donald Trump’s weekend interview with Fox News in which he said it might take until next year to replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, which Republicans consider federal government overreach. Trump and congressional Republicans campaigned on a promise to scrap the 2010 healthcare law. But they are struggling to agree on a replacement for the law, which has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain health coverage. “Maybe it’ll take till sometime into next year,” Trump said. On Tuesday at the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration was “optimistic about getting this thing completed by this year.” Spicer also said Trump still favors lowering drug prices as part of healthcare reform, with the government negotiating directly with companies on prices to be paid by the Medicare insurance program. Spicer said Trump was committed to using his “skills as a businessman” to drive pharmaceutical prices down. Ryan said it was important to get U.S. Representative Tom Price confirmed as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services soon, so he too can “get to work with replacing” the healthcare law. The Senate is expected to confirm Price this week. Ryan said he was not bothered by recent protests against dismantling Obamacare that have taken place at some Republican lawmakers’ meetings with constituents. “Peaceful protests are something we honor in this country,” he said. While Republicans voted last month to start scrapping Obamacare, they missed a target date of Jan. 27 to begin drafting legislation. This raised some doubts about how quickly they will be able to undo the complicated law, even though they have the majority in Congress. At a recent congressional retreat, Republican leaders told lawmakers they hoped Congress would legislate the repeal by March or April, as part of a process known as budget reconciliation. But some Republicans, like Representative Tom McClintock, have said they think doing it this way will actually make repealing Obamacare “harder and slower, while further disrupting an already faltering healthcare market.”

WHAT? OUR CIA DIRECTOR Just Admitted To An “Indiscretion” That’s Mind Boggling…How Did This Guy Become CIA Director?

CIA Director John Brennan voted for the Communist Party candidate in the 1976 presidential election.Brennan told a congressional panel last week that he froze while taking a CIA polygraph test four years later when the questioner asked him if he had ever worked with or for a group that was dedicated to overthrowing the U.S., CNN reported. This was back in 1980, and I thought back to a previous election where I voted, and I voted for the Communist Party candidate, Brennan said at a panel discussion regarding diversity in the intelligence community during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation s annual conference.Read more: WFB

Trump picks conservative judge Gorsuch for Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Neil Gorsuch for a lifetime job on the U.S. Supreme Court, picking the 49-year-old federal appeals court judge to restore the court’s conservative majority and help shape rulings on divisive issues such as abortion, gun control, the death penalty and religious rights. The Colorado native faces a potentially contentious confirmation battle in the U.S. Senate after Republicans last year refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy caused by the February 2016 death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, indicated his party would mount a procedural hurdle requiring 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate rather than a simple majority to approve Gorsuch, and expressed “very serious doubts” about the nominee. Liberal groups called for an all-out fight to reject Gorsuch while conservative groups and Republican senators heaped praise on him like “outstanding,” “impressive” and a “home run.” Gorsuch, the son of a former Reagan administration official, is the youngest nominee to the nation’s highest court in more than a quarter century, and he could influence the direction of the court for decades. He is a judge on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and was appointed to that post by Republican President George W. Bush in 2006. Announcing the selection to a nighttime crowd in the White House East Room flanked by the judge and his wife, Trump said Gorsuch’s resume is “as good as it gets.” Trump, who took office on Jan. 20 and has sparked numerous controversies, said he hopes Republicans and Democrats can come together on this nomination for the good of the country. “Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline, and has earned bipartisan support,” Trump told an audience that included Scalia’s widow. “Depending on their age, a justice can be active for 50 years. And his or her decisions can last a century or more, and can often be permanent,” Trump added. Gorsuch is considered a conservative intellectual, known for backing religious rights and writing against euthanasia and assisted suicide, and is seen as very much in the mold of Scalia, a leading conservative voice on the court for decades. “I respect ... the fact that in our legal order it is for Congress and not the courts to write new laws,” Gorsuch said, as Trump looked on. “It is the role of judges to apply, not alter, the work of the people’s representatives. A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge, stretching for results he prefers rather than those the law demands.” A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the choice of Gorsuch was seen by the White House as a significant departure from Supreme Court nominations from the recent past, given that many justices have come from the eastern United States. Gorsuch lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he raises horses and is a life-long outdoorsman. The official said a screening committee helped in the selection process that included Vice President Mike Pence, White House counsel Don McGahn, chief of staff Reince Priebus and top strategist Steve Bannon. Gorsuch became the youngest U.S. Supreme Court nominee since Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1991 selected conservative Clarence Thomas, who was 43 at the time. Gorsuch was in the same 1991 graduating class from Harvard Law School as Obama. The selection of Gorsuch, who was on a list of about 20 judges suggested by conservative legal activists, unified Republicans in a way not seen since Trump’s Nov. 8 election victory, with even critics within the party such as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham singing the nominee’s praises. Trump made his choice between two U.S. appeals court judges, Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a source involved in the selection process. The Senate confirmed Gorsuch for his current judgeship in 2006 by voice vote with no one voting against him. Democrats signaled it may not be easy this time. “Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women’s rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent justice on the court,” Schumer said. Trump got the opportunity to name Scalia’s replacement only because the Republican-led Senate, in an action with little precedent in U.S. history, refused to consider Obama’s nominee for the post, appeals court judge Merrick Garland. Obama nominated Garland on March 16 but Republican senators led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denied Garland the customary confirmation hearings and vote. “This is the first time in American history that one party has blockaded a nominee for almost a year in order to deliver a seat to a president of their own party. If this tactic is rewarded rather than resisted, it will set a dangerous new precedent in American governance,” Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley said. McConnell said on Tuesday he hoped the Senate would show Gorsuch “fair consideration and respect the result of the recent election with an up-or-down vote on his nomination, just like the Senate treated the four first-term nominees of (Democratic) Presidents (Bill) Clinton and Obama.” A rally outside the Supreme Court building staged by liberal groups drew hundreds of demonstrators against Gorsuch. Michael Keegan, president of the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, described Gorsuch as an “ideological warrior who puts his own right-wing politics above the Constitution.” Gorsuch is the son of Anne Burford, the first woman to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She served in Republican President Ronald Reagan’s administration but resigned in 1983 amid a fight with Congress over documents on the EPA’s use of a fund created to clean up toxic waste dumps nationwide. Trump’s selection was one of the most consequential appointments of his young presidency as he moved to restore a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that had been in place for decades until Scalia died at age 79 on Feb. 13, 2016. Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a 52-48 Senate majority, meaning some Democratic votes would be needed to confirm his pick under current rules. Trump said last week he would favor Senate Republicans eliminating the procedural move that Democrats have promised, called a filibuster, for Supreme Court nominees if Democrats block his pick. Such a change has been dubbed the “nuclear option.” Trump has said his promise to appoint a conservative justice was one of the reasons he won the Nov. 8 presidential election, with Christian conservatives and others emphasizing the importance of the pick during the campaign. If confirmed, Gorsuch would expand the court’s conservative wing, made up of John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy Samuel Alito and Thomas. Kennedy long has been considered the court’s pivotal vote, sometimes siding with the liberals in key cases such as the June 2016 ruling striking down abortion restrictions in Texas. The court’s restored conservative majority likely would be supportive toward the death penalty and gun rights and hostile toward campaign finance limits. Scalia’s replacement also could be pivotal in cases involving abortion, religious rights, presidential powers, transgender rights, voting rights, federal regulations others. Gorsuch boasts Ivy League credentials: attending Columbia University and, like several of the other justices on the court, Harvard Law School. He also completed a doctorate in legal philosophy at Oxford University, spent several years in private practice and worked in George W. Bush’s Justice Department. Gorsuch joined an opinion in 2013 saying that owners of private companies could object on religious grounds to a provision of the Obamacare health insurance law requiring employers to provide coverage for birth control for women. As long as Kennedy and four liberals remain on the bench, the court is not expected to pare back abortion rights as many U.S. conservatives fervently hope. The Supreme Court legalized abortion in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. In June, the justices ruled 5-3 to strike down a Texas law that restricted abortion access, with Kennedy and the liberals in the majority. The current vacancy is the court’s longest since a 391-day void from 1969 to 1970 during Republican Richard Nixon’s presidency. After Abe Fortas resigned from the court in May 1969, the Senate voted down two nominees put forward by Nixon before confirming Harry Blackmun, who became a justice in June 1970. Aside from that one, no other Supreme Court vacancy since the U.S. Civil War years of the 1860s has been as long as the current one. Trump may get to make additional appointments. Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who Trump called upon to resign last July after she called him “a faker,” is 83 while Kennedy is 80. Stephen Breyer, another liberal, is 78. (Corrects disciple to discipline in paragraph 6)

EU Parliament chief asks Poland to ensure MEPs' safety after far-right protest

WARSAW (Reuters) - The president of the European Parliament said on Monday he would ask Poland s prime minister to ensure the security of Polish members of the assembly after a far-right protest staged a symbolic hanging of the politicians. On Saturday a few dozen people in the southern Polish city of Katowice hanged the portraits of politicians who backed a European Parliament resolution calling on the Polish government to condemn the xenophobic and fascist march held on Poland s Independence Day on Nov. 11. I will write to PM Beata Szydlo to ensure the security of elected members of the European Parliament to express their opinions independently, without threat, and oppose those who spread hatred by exhibiting outrageous pictures of hanged politicians, Antonio Tajani said on Twitter. Poland s socially conservative, euroskeptic government came under fire from the EU and human rights group for allowing far-right marchers - who were among some 60,000 people at the Nov. 11 rally - to brandish banners with racist slogans such as pure blood, clear mind or Europe will be white or uninhabited . Leading members of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) joined other politicians in denouncing the use of hate speech at the rally, but critics said their response was too slow. The PiS government has been increasingly at loggerheads with Brussels since sweeping to power two years ago over what the EU sees as its flouting of democratic rules. One has to condemn what happened in Katowice, Szydlo said. However, she added that if she received Tajani s letter she would also ask him to keep an eye on those MPs who insult and slander Poland in the European Parliament . Organisers of the Saturday protest told the local katowice24.info news portal that they were expressing their opposition to the slanderous voices against Poles expressing their pride during the Independence Day March . The pictures showed six members of the European parliament (MEPs) who belong to the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party. The economically liberal, pro-EU PO party governed Poland for eight years until its defeat by PiS in the 2015 national election. Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said prosecutors would look into the Katowice protest. He said he doesn t like what happened, but he also blamed the opposition, saying that in their protests they also displayed aggression . An action triggers a reaction, Ziobro told the public Trojka radio station.

Chemical weapons watchdog found sarin used in March Syria attack: sources

AMSTERDAM/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An inquiry by the global chemical weapons watchdog found sarin was used in a March attack in Syria on an opposition-held town, just days before the banned nerve agent killed dozens in a separate attack nearby, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The March 30 air strike in the northern Syrian town of Latamneh injured around 70 people who suffered nausea, foaming at the mouth and muscle spasms. Samples analysis results show clear presence of sarin, a source told Reuters of the findings by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The report by the OPCW Syria Fact Finding Mission is due to be finalised within weeks. The Fact Finding Mission reported in June that sarin was used in an April 4 attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people and prompted the United States to launch missiles on a Syrian air base. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the country s more than six-year civil war. The OPCW Fact Finding Mission is only responsible for determining if chemical weapons were used in attacks in Syria. A joint United Nations and OPCW investigation, established by the U.N. Security Council in 2015, determines who is to blame. This team - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - has already found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. It is due to report to the Security Council this month on who is to blame for the April 4 Khan Sheikhoun attack. The 15-member Security Council is due to renew the mandate for the JIM by mid-November. However, Russia has publicly questioned the work of the inquiry and some diplomats said it was uncertain if Moscow would support extending the mandate. The Russians don t like what the JIM has come up with so far, so they are muttering about not allowing a rollover, said a council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia declined to comment on the future of the inquiry on Wednesday. Renewing the U.N. Joint Investigative Mechanism now should be the Security Council s top priority, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a statement on Wednesday. We owe it to the innocent people - including children - who have suffered and died at the hands of the Syrian regime to continue to push for full accountability for these horrific crimes, she said. U.N. war crimes investigators said in a report last month that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons more than two dozen times, including in a sarin attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April that killed more than 80 people.

Melissa Harris-Perry Is DONE With MSNBC, Pens Detailed Letter Explaining Why

As you may or may not know at this point, MSNBC is no longer the place for liberal politics anymore. And if you watch daily, you may have noticed this slow shift over the past year or so. Sure, there s still shows like Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes All In, but all in all, if you re looking for real progressive TV, you re going to have to find it somewhere on the internet. The network is making a strong effort to switch from opinion to hard news, and that s why you re seeing fewer and fewer opinion shows and more generic broadcasts, especially during the day.Unfortunately, it looks like Melissa Harris-Perry was being forced to silence her voice by the network as well, and as of Friday, Harris-Perry has decided that she will no longer do her weekend show.In a letter written by Harris-Perry, and put out by one of her original producers, Jamil Smith, she explains in great detail why she has made this decision.Here s the letter in full:Dearest Nerds,As you know by now, my name appears on the weekend schedule for MSNBC programming from South Carolina this Saturday and Sunday. I appreciate that many of you responded to this development with relief and enthusiasm. To know that you have missed working with me even a fraction of how much I ve missed working with all of you is deeply moving. However, as of this morning, I do not have any intention of hosting this weekend. Because this is a decision that affects all of you, I wanted to take a moment to explain my reasoning.Some unknown decision-maker, presumably Andy Lack or Phil Griffin, has added my name to this spreadsheet, but nothing has changed in the posture of the MSNBC leadership team toward me or toward our show. Putting me on air seems to be a decision being made solely to save face because there is a growing chorus of questions from our viewers about my notable absence from MSNBC coverage. Social media has noted the dramatic change in editorial tone and racial composition of MSNBC s on-air coverage. In addition, Dylan Byers of CNN has made repeated inquiries with MSNBC s leadership and with me about the show and what appears to be its cancellation. I have not responded to reporters or social media inquiries. However, I am not willing to appear on air in order to quell concerns about the disappearance of our show and our voice.Here is the reality: our show was taken without comment or discussion or notice in the midst of an election season. After four years of building an audience, developing a brand, and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced. Now, MSNBC would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant without returning to our team any of the editorial control and authority that makes MHP Show distinctive.The purpose of this decision seems to be to provide cover for MSNBC, not to provide voice for MHP Show. I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin, or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back. I have wept more tears than I can count and I find this deeply painful, but I don t want back on air at any cost. I am only willing to return when that return happens under certain terms.Undoubtedly, television nurtures the egos of those of us who find ourselves in front of bright lights and big cameras. I am sure ego is informing my own pain in this moment, but there is a level of professional decency, respect, and communication that has been denied this show for years. And the utter insulting absurdity of the past few weeks exceeds anything I can countenance.I have stayed in the same hotels where MSNBC has been broadcasting in Iowa, in New Hampshire, and in South Carolina, yet I have been shut out from coverage. I have a PhD in political science and have taught American voting and elections at some of the nation s top universities for nearly two decades, yet I have been deemed less worthy to weigh in than relative novices and certified liars. I have hosted a weekly program on this network for four years and contributed to election coverage on this network for nearly eight years, but no one on the third floor has even returned an email, called me, or initiated or responded to any communication of any kind from me for nearly a month. It is profoundly hurtful to realize that I work for people who find my considerable expertise and editorial judgment valueless to the coverage they are creating.While MSNBC may believe that I am worthless, I know better. I know who I am. I know why MHP Show is unique and valuable. I will not sell short myself or this show. I am not hungry for empty airtime. I care only about substantive, meaningful, and autonomous work. When we can do that, I will return not a moment earlier. I am deeply sorry for the ways that this decision makes life harder for all of you. You mean more to me than you can imagine.Yours always,MelissaIt s really a shame that MSNBC is trying to silence the liberal voice. A voice that is being drowned out endlessly as more and more news outlets are acquired by right-leaning companies and CEOs. It s as though MSNBC gave up on itself, and instead of work on a formula that could really bring in more views, decided it was easier to just be generic. Hopefully the network comes to their senses sooner rather than later, and hopefully we will hear Harris-Perry s very well-educated, and much-needed voice once again. However, we must respect her decision.Featured image: RCP

Trump's pick for Navy secretary withdraws

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Navy withdrew from consideration on Sunday, the second time a Trump nominee to lead one of the armed services bowed out because of government conflict-of-interest rules. Trump last month nominated Philip Bilden, a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer, to lead the Navy, which the president has pledged he will expand. In a statement on Sunday, Bilden said that “after an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family’s private financial interests.” The development leaves Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis without nominees to head both the Navy and Army. Vincent Viola, whom the president had picked to be secretary of the Army, withdrew earlier this month. In a statement, Mattis said he was disappointed but understood Bilden’s decision. “In the coming days I will make a recommendation to President Trump for a leader who can guide our Navy and Marine Corps team as we execute the president’s vision to rebuild our military,” he said.

Ukraine's Tymoshenko expects fair U.S. ruling after Manafort indicted

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said on Wednesday she has faith in the United States justice system to do the right thing after last week s indictment of Paul Manafort, the man who helped bring her arch enemy to power. A political survivor and the strident voice of Ukraine s 2004/2005 Orange Revolution, Tymoshenko was jailed during the pro-Kremlin presidency of Viktor Yanukovich in 2011 in a case condemned by Western leaders as selective justice. According to the indictment of Manafort, who was a consultant to Yanukovich s Party of Regions before becoming Donald Trump s campaign manager, Manafort used offshore accounts to secretly pay $4 million for a report on her imprisonment. Ordered under house arrest as he awaits trial, Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a 12-count indictment on charges that include money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent of Yanukovich s government. Money laundering allegations against Manafort are not new: Tymoshenko herself made them in a legal case she filed in New York against Yanukovich, Manafort and others that was dismissed in September 2015. As a result of the work of Yanukovich and his circle, I ended up in prison, the 56-year-old Tymoshenko said in an interview, in her first public comments about Manafort since his indictment. She said Yanukovich spent huge sums to blacken her name, ... without doubt this affected my life and that of my family and team in a certain way, and Ukraine as well, she said. That is why I believe that U.S. justice will deal with the details, including our claims, and we will get a ruling from one of the most effective legal systems in the world - the U.S. system. Manafort joined the Trump presidential campaign in March 2016 and later became campaign manager, but he was forced to resign in August as questions emerged about his previous work for Yanukovich s party. She used her fiery brand of oratory to try to humiliate Yanukovich, but he proved her nemesis after beating her in a 2010 election for president. She was charged with abuse of power in relation to a gas import agreement signed with Russia in 2009 as prime minister and was jailed. She was freed from prison in February 2014 after Yanukovich fled into exile to Russia during the pro-Western Maidan protests and she addressed crowds from a wheelchair on Kiev s Independence Square because of chronic back trouble. The crowd s sympathy for her condition did not help her though to regain a place in the new pro-western leadership and she lost to President Petro Poroshenko in the 2014 election. But the two-time prime minister who still sports a trademark peasant braid in her hair is now Poroshenko s main challenger at presidential and parliamentary elections due in 2019, according to opinion polls. Tymoshenko said Kiev should have a new type of agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which has propped up Ukraine s economy with a $17.5 billion aid program conditional on economic reforms and tackling entrenched graft. The IMF program is in choppy waters: as of now Ukraine has refused to implement a sharp hike in gas prices it had previously agreed to, while the Fund is also studying whether recently passed pension changes pass muster. When I served as prime minister I cooperated with the IMF and I believe that Ukraine can have positive cooperation with the IMF, she said, when asked whether she would do as the IMF says or abandon the program. But it seems to me that there needs to be a different emphasis in this cooperation. She said the program should be focused not on what she termed a reduction in social spending, but instead on tax reform and reducing the size of Ukraine s shadow economy.