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Trump says he was against Iraq war despite Howard Stern interview

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday said he was against the Iraq war all along despite telling radio interviewer Howard Stern in 2002 that he favored it. Trump used the start of a speech about education at a charter school in Cleveland to push back at Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s statement that his position on Iraq is pretty much like her own: She voted for the 2003 war as a U.S. senator from New York but has since disavowed the vote. At an NBC forum on Wednesday night, Clinton pointed to a September 2002 interview Trump gave to radio host Howard Stern to say that Trump had supported the war. Trump had said “Yeah, I guess so,” when asked about a potential conflict in Iraq. Various fact-checkers have cited this interview to debunk Trump’s statement that he was always against the war. In Cleveland, Trump cited a Jan. 28, 2003, interview he did with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto to say he was skeptical. In that interview, Trump said: “I think the Iraqi situation is a problem. And I think the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned.” He said in his Cleveland remarks that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq had left a power void filled by Islamic State militants. “But I was opposed to that war from the beginning, long before my interview with Howard Stern,” Trump said. He also cited what he said was a March 25, 2003, interview. “Just days after the war started, I was quoted as saying the war is a mess,” Trump said, calling it “more evidence that I had opposed the war from the start.”

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Trump breaks from stump speech to admire ‘beautiful’ Trump mask

Trump breaks from stump speech to admire ‘beautiful’ Trump mask 11/07/2016 POLITICO Midway through a stump speech riff lamenting that Hillary Clinton had appeared on stage with less-than-family-friendly musicians like Jay-Z and Beyonce, Donald Trump paused at an election-eve rally in Florida Monday morning to gawk at an attendee’s mask. “This is different than a Billy Graham crusade, but you know what? We’re all looking for the same thing. We’re looking for greatness for our country. We’re looking for religious liberty,” the Manhattan billionaire said before the rubber Trump mask caught his eye. “Look at this mask. Look at this mask. Oh wow. Wow, that’s beautiful. Look at that. Looks just like me.” Trump then left the podium for a few seconds as the mask made its way up to the stage. He returned to the microphone and held up the mask next to his own face, before examining it closer. He held it up once more time and joked “nice head of hair, I’ll say that,” before tossing it back. “Is there any place more fun to be than a Trump rally?” has asked the crowd before resuming his remarks, turning to his proposal to stimulate job growth in the U.S. by placing a tariff on companies who move production out of the country. The Sarasota, Florida, rally is the first of five for Trump on Monday. From Florida, he will head to events in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan. He will be joined at the final two by his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

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While We Were Watching Comey’s Testimony, The House Quietly Sucker-Punched Our Economy

The news of the day is the testimony that former FBI Director James Comey gave to the Senate Intelligence Committee this morning, along with Trump s lawyer s response in which there were all kinds of false allegations leveled at Comey. And while we were all swept up in that, the House was busy sucker-punching us. They held an important vote today on what to do with the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that was passed in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.They re ridiculously calling their new bill the CHOICE Act. It basically allows the banks to decide for themselves whether they continue to abide by Dodd-Frank or not. Because self-regulation, particularly of the financial sector, has always worked so well in the past.The CHOICE Act has a capital requirement that many banks say is still too high, but in light of what else this bill does, that s a minor complaint. The bill guts the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created specifically as an oversight body to help rein in risky behavior on the part of the big banks.Paul Ryan calls it a jobs bill for Main Street. Oh, please, Mr. Speaker, you know we can see right through your baloney. Especially on this.While Ryan and many of his cohorts are cheering the CHOICE Act s passage, some of the more sane Republicans and most Democrats are slamming it for paving the way back to economic damage of the same scale [as the financial crisis] or worse, as Maxine Waters put it.Furthermore, a story on Fortune s website says that this bill would prohibit the CFPB from publishing the data it collects on complaints about banks and other financial services, such as credit reporting. That, in turn, makes it more difficult for consumers to make informed choices, and it also could potentially remove an avenue for filing complaints and actually getting results: Individuals can also file complaints to try to right a wrong, such as when a credit bureau refuses to fix an error on a credit score. Credit reporting bureaus are notorious for mistakes, with as many as one in five consumers potentially having an error in their credit file.Yet the three main credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) lack proper incentives to fix these errors, which is why it should come as no surprise that they are the three most complained about companies in the CFPB database. [Full disclosure: I once filed a complaint about an error in my credit file, which I had been unable to fix in direct contact with the company, but after I filed a report with CFPB it was quickly fixed.] We know that the GOP doesn t care one whit about creating jobs, helping people in general or protecting the economy. They just proved it, again, with this after proving it with their insipid Obamacare replacement. Fortunately, like the AHCA, this has little chance of even making it to the Senate floor for a vote.Featured image via Ty Wright/Getty Images

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VOTE TO KEEP CONFEDERATE FLAG Flying At The Citadel Passes But Sets Up Looming Battle From Dems

Here we go again the Democrats are trying to erase history at the Citadel. Jim Clyburn is determined to take this fight all the way so the flag will be removed. Don t we have much bigger fish to fry? I would think so In the early hours of Thursday morning, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee voted to keep the Confederate flag flying at The Citadel.The rejection of a Democratic effort to force the military institution to take down the banner atop Summerall Chapel potentially paves the way for a bitter, extended fight on the issue, which is being championed by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, a Washington State Democrat and ranking member of the committee, offered an amendment to the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act to bar Reserve Officers Training Corps funds to any military university that displays the Confederate flag.The only university that falls into that category is The Citadel. The Board of Visitors voted to remove the flag last summer, after revelations that the deadly shooting of nine black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church was motivated by race an incident which, in turn, prompted the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds.But the Board of Visitors says it can t actually take the Citadel s Confederate flag down unless the S.C. state legislature makes changes to the so-called Heritage Act that currently stands in the way. Smith acknowledged that his amendment was designed to force state lawmakers to act. The flag still flies, South Carolina has no pressure to change it whatsoever and probably won t, said Smith, and that embarrassment continues to fly over The Citadel, where there are presumably African American people at attending, and I think we need something to force South Carolina to do the right thing. The Armed Services Committee chairman, U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, registered his opposition to Smith s amendment by essentially moving to amend the amendment. He opted for adding language to Smith s original provision to exempt any university which has already voted to take down the flag from having ROTC funds withheld, thereby nullifying the amendment s entire purpose. Bottom line is, I don t think it s fair to punish those folks who are trying to do the right thing, but the folks in the state legislature that is preventing them from doing that now, Thornberry said.U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, the only South Carolinian serving on the Armed Services Committee, proceeded to read a letter he had received earlier that day from The Citadel s president, Lt. Gen. John Rosa, in opposition to Smith s amendment. The Citadel provides itself on the core values of duty, honor and respect, and moving the (flag) to another location is consistent with those values, Rosa wrote in his letter to Wilson, a Republican. But the values also require the college to follow the law. The committee members ultimately voted on Thornberry s alternative language cancelling out Smith s original intent, with all Democrats opposed and all Republican in favor except for one outlier, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona, who sided with the minority party.This conversation will likely continue once the NDAA bill comes before the full House.Read more: Post and Courier

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How The Oligarchs Plan To Steal The Election

The Failure of Democracy How The Oligarchs Plan To Steal The Election By Paul Craig Roberts I am now convinced that the Oligarchy that rules America intends to steal the presidential election. In the past, the oligarchs have not cared which candidate won as the oligarchs owned both. But they do not own Trump. Most likely you are unaware of what Trump is telling people as the media does not report it. A person who speaks like this: is not endeared to the oligarchs. Who are the oligarchs? —Wall Street and the mega-banks too big to fail and their agent the Federal Reserve, a federal agency that put 5 banks ahead of millions of troubled American homeowners who the federal reserve allowed to be flushed down the toilet. In order to save the mega-banks’ balance sheets from their irresponsible behavior, the Fed has denied retirees any interest income on their savings for eight years, forcing the elderly to draw down their savings, leaving their heirs, who have been displaced from employment by corporate jobs offshoring, penniless. —The military/security complex which has spent trillions of our taxpayer dollars on 15 years of gratuitous wars based entirely on lies in order to enrich themselves and their power. —The neoconservartives whose crazed ideology of US world hegemony thrusts the American people into military conflict with Russia and China. —The US global corporations that sent American jobs to China and India and elsewhere in order to enrich the One Percent with higher profits from lower labor costs. —Agribusiness (Monsanto et.al.), corporations that poison the soil, the water, the oceans, and our food with their GMOs, hebicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, while killing the bees that pollinate the crops. —The extractive industries—energy, mining, fracking, and timber—that maximize their profits by destroying the environment and the water supply. —The Israel Lobby that controls US Middle East policy and is committing genocide against the Palestinians just as the US committed genocide against native Americans. Israel is using the US to eliminate sovereign countries that stand in Israell’s way. What convinces me that the Oligarchy intends to steal the election is the vast difference between the presstitutes’ reporting and the facts on the ground. According to the presstitutes, Hillary is so far ahead that there is no point in Trump supporters bothering to vote. Hillary has won the election before the vote. Hillary has been declared a 93% sure winner. I am yet to see one Hillary yard sign, but Trump signs are everywhere. Reports I receive are that Hillary’s public appearances are unattended but Trumps are so heavily attended that people have to be turned away. This is a report from a woman in Florida: “Trump has pulled huge numbers all over FL while campaigning here this week. I only see Trump signs and stickers in my wide travels. I dined at a Mexican restaurant last night. Two women my age sitting behind me were talking about how they had tried to see Trump when he came to Tallahassee. They left work early, arriving at the venue at 4:00 for a 6:00 rally. The place was already over capacity so they were turned away. It turned out that there were so many people there by 2:00 that the doors had to be opened to them. The women said that the crowds present were a mix of races and ages.” I know the person who gave me this report and have no doubt whatsoever as to its veracity. I also receive from readers similiar reports from around the country. This is how the theft of the election is supposed to work: The media concentrated in a few corporate hands has gone all out to convince not only Americans but also the world, that Donald Trump is such an unacceptable candidate that he has lost the election before the vote. By controllng the explanation, when the election is stolen those who challenge the stolen election are without a foundartion in the media. All media reports will say that it was a run away victory for Hillary over the misogynist immigrant-hating Trump. And liberal, progressive opinion will be relieved and off guard as Hillary takes us into nuclear war. That the Oligarchy intends to steal the election from the American people is verified by the officially reported behavior of the voting machines in early voting in Texas. The NPR presstitutes have declared that Hillary is such a favorite that even Republican Texas is up for grabs in the election. If this is the case, why was it necessary for the voting machines to be programmed to change Trump votes to Hillary votes? Those voters who noted that they voted Trump but were recorded Hillary complained. The election officials, claiming a glitch (which only went one way), changed to paper ballots. But who will count them? No “glitches” caused Hillary votes to go to Trump, only Trump votes to go to Hillary. The most brilliant movie of our time was The Matrix. This movie captured the life of Americans manipulated by a false reality, only in the real America there is insufficient awareness and no Neo, except possibly Donald Trump, to challenge the system. Americans of all stripes—academics, scholars, journalists, Republicans, Democrats, right-wing, left-wing, US Representatives, US Senators, Presidents, corporate moguls and brainwashed Americans and foreigners—live in a false reality. In the United States today a critical presidential election is in process in which not a single important issue is addressed by Hillary and the presstitutes. This is total failure. Democracy, once the hope of the world, has totally failed in the United States of America. Trump is correct. The American people must restore the accountability of government to the people. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order .

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The phantom earpiece phenomenon: Why presidential candidates are consistently accused of cheating during debates

The banner headline on the Drudge Report the morning after Wednesday’s presidential forum screamed “HILLARY AND THE EAR PEARL.” The story it linked to was from Infowars.com, the website of radio host Alex Jones, a crazy person who believes the government has a special tornado weapon and used it to attack Oklahoma in 2013. Citing a tweet from actor and right-wing troll James Woods, Infowars wondered if Clinton had been “wearing an earpiece during last night’s presidential forum,” as indicated by pictures that “appeared to show Hillary with some kind of flesh-colored device embedded inside her ear.” So was it a flesh-colored earpiece as Infowars insisted? Or was it a pearl-colored earpiece as Drudge claimed? No one can say, but the ad hoc investigative group of conspiracy theorists and crackpot celebrities seems pretty convinced that Hillary Clinton had someone secretly feeding answers into her ear during the forum. The “evidence” was convincing enough that Donald Trump’s son — the elephant-butchering one, not the off-Broadway “American Psycho” one — tweeted out a link to the Infowars story. So congratulations, everyone: we’ve officially reached the “Presidential Candidate Cheats Via Secret Radio Technology” stage of the 2016 election. It’s arrived a bit early this year, but this conspiratorial story line has become a recurring fixture of presidential campaigns thanks to the internet’s inexhaustible capacity to prey on gullibility and partisan reflexes. The “secret earpiece” story made its first big splash in the latter stages of the 2004 presidential election, when blogger Joseph Cannon noticed an odd bulge in the back of George W. Bush’s suit jacket during an early October debate. “Bush seemed to have a wire, or an odd protrusion of some sort, running down his back,” Cannon wrote. “Apparently, Fearless Leader used an earpiece during the confrontation.” The speculative accusation might have remained confined to the liberal blogosphere had it not been for the efforts of the website you’re reading at this moment, Salon.com, which published half-skeptical write-ups of the circumstantial evidence surrounding the Bush “wire” and contacted NASA scientists for image analysis of the “Bush bulge.” From Salon, the story jumped to The Washington Post and The New York Times, which managed to obtain derisive denials from Bush campaign staffers. The “bulge” even became the centerpiece of a David Letterman riff. Fervent speculation aside, no direct evidence was ever produced indicating that Bush was wired during his debate with John Kerry. After Bush won re-election a month later, the issue receded back into the shaded corners of the internet. Almost exactly four years later, as a young Democratic senator from Illinois took to the debate stage, it was the conservative blogosphere that found itself on secret earpiece patrol. During the Oct. 7, 2008, presidential debate, blogger Ann Althouse wrote that she had “noticed that Obama was wearing an earpiece” and posted a photo of the alleged device in Barack Obama’s ear. She quickly reconsidered her analysis and recognized that she was looking at light reflecting off Obama’s ear but left open the possibility that a secret earpiece might still exist: “Just because the thing I saw wasn’t there doesn’t mean there wasn’t something there that I didn’t see.” The 2012 election was largely free of any prominent earpiece speculation, though some chain emails bounced around, accusing Obama of wearing an earpiece and having a suspicious Bush-like suit bulge. That cycle’s primary example of overwrought “he’s a cheater” attacks were directed at Republican contender Mitt Romney, whom liberal bloggers accused of consulting crib notes during the first debate with Obama (Romney was actually holding a handkerchief). The relative lack of earpiece mania in 2012 has been more than compensated for in 2016, with this ridiculous story about Hillary Clinton’s clandestine listening device featured prominently on one of the world’s most heavily trafficked political websites and endorsed by the son of the Republican nominee. Other Clinton-related conspiracies have proved to be remarkably persistent this cycle (her allegedly failing health being the most prominent among them). So there’s an excellent chance that this one will stick around, too. The question that arises from all this is why the “earpiece” phenomenon keeps popping up election after election, in defiance of consistent debunking and a lack of evidence to support the allegations. “These sorts of beliefs are dependent on if you have a conspiracy worldview, and then on your partisanship,” said Joseph Uscinski, a professor of political science at the University of Miami who’s written extensively about political conspiracy theories. “People point fingers at the other side.” Basically, if you’re already predisposed to believe that a candidate from the other party is going to cheat, then you’re more likely to take at face value an allegation that he or she cheated during a debate. When someone presents you with grainy screen captures of George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton and claims that they show telecommunications equipment hidden on their bodies, your partisanship enables you to bridge the sizable gap between the poor evidence and the firm conclusion that someone offstage was whispering into the candidate’s ear. These cheating allegations tend to take the form of a secret earpiece simply because that’s really the only way someone participating in a nationally televised presidential debate could conceivably cheat. “It’s just like when Hillary Clinton goes on [“Jimmy Kimmel Live”] and opens the pickle jar,” Uscinski explained, referring to a humorous feat of strength that Clinton performed to mock questions about her health and that conspiratorial conservatives claimed was rigged. “The only way she could have cheated in that test . . .  was to have a preopened pickle jar. It’s sort of obvious that if people are going to be predisposed to thinking that cheating was taking place, that would be the method in which it would be done.” I don’t know whether Matt Drudge and Donald Trump Jr. actually believe that Clinton was wired up during this week’s president forum, but they’re nonetheless legitimizing that idea in the minds of people who are already apt to believe it.

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BREAKING: Two Cops Shot, Killed in ‘Ambush Style’ Attacks While Sitting in Their Vehicles, Shooter At Large

— Marianne Lyles (@MarianneLyles) November 2, 2016 Police are still developing information on a suspect and have warned that the scene remains dangerous. “There’s definitely danger out there, someone is out there shooting police officers,” officer Parizek said. 2 officers killed: “There’s literally a clear and present danger if you’re a police officer” https://t.co/MjAzXn8pUr — Des Moines Register (@DMRegister) November 2, 2016 Des Moines PD have paired up their officers as a precaution following the shootings. “We are always vigilant about our safety, but we still got to get out there and do it,” Parizek told the media. Des Moines police briefing press re: officers shot: “I can’t even begin to talk about how bad this is” @news4buffalo — Katie Alexander (@KatieNews4) 2 November 2016 Police will not be releasing names of either officer during initial presser, family getting notified. At least two more expected during day pic.twitter.com/9qIshG9jPP — Jacob J. Peklo (@JacobPekloTV) 2 November 2016 The Urbandale Schools District said that all schools will be closed Wednesday as a result of the fatal shootings and ongoing investigation. All @UrbandaleSchool Schools & Adventuretime cancelled today Wed Nov 2. All buildings closed. Staff do not report to buildings #UCSDAlert — Urbandale Schools (@UrbandaleSchool) November 2, 2016 1st look at scene where 2 officers were shot & killed in an apparent ambush in Des Moines. Following this #BREAKING news in the #AlertCenter pic.twitter.com/c3kYpNRrrU — Julian Glover (@JulianGloverTV) November 2, 2016 In a statement the governor’s office said that “an attack on public safety officers is an attack on the public safety of all Iowans.” “We call on Iowans to support our law enforcement officials in bringing this suspect to justice,” it added. Share Google + phyllis.goldner I gain around 6.000-8.000 bucks monthly for freelancing i do from my home. Everyone prepared to do basic freelance jobs for 2h-5h a day from comfort of your home and get reasonable paycheck for doing it… This is a work for you… http://chilp.it/8d93f4b Phil Freeman Fuck off! Phil Freeman This is the result of the vicinage no longer tolerating roaming, uniformed, armed, militarized, abusive, banker revenue agents preying upon the working poor. No cop is safe, and this, however unfortunate, can and will continue. I suggest the police nation wide reconsider their role in OUR society. A come to geezuz moment of clarity is in order, that is unless you wish to continue digging holes. We are tired of your shit. ACAB! AlPennG AT THE PRESS BRIEFING THE OFFICER CALLED THE PERSON THAT SHOT THE OFFICERS A COWARD WHICH THEY ARE BUT WHAT DO YOU CALL CRIMINAL COPS THAT SHOT UNARMED AMERICANS IN THE STREETS AND IN THE HOMES!?!?!? I WOULD LIKE HIM TO TELL US THAT Social Trending BREAKING: Two Cops Shot, Killed in ‘Ambush Style’ Attacks While Sitting in Their Vehicles, Shooter At Large November 2, 2016 Breaking: Podesta Told Mills ‘Dump All Those Emails’ on Day News of Clinton’s Private Email Server Broke November 1, 2016

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Russia Denies Building ’Terminator’ Following Release of Weaponized Robot Test Footage - Breitbart

Following the release of footage of a robot firing handguns at targets, Russian officials have stated that they are not making a “terminator” robot. [The Mirror reports that the robot, known as FEDOR — Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research — is part of Russias current developments in space exploration. The robot is being developed by Android Technics and the Advanced Research Fund, initially with the aim to aid during rescue operations, however, now the robot is being considered to replace human engineers on the International Space Station. A video of the robot released recently has made many question the application of these new machines as the android can be seen pistols and firing them at metal targets in the distance. This caused many people to assume that the robot was some sort of new military hardware designed to replace soldiers in the field. Russian officials have denied this claim. “We are not creating a Terminator, but artificial intelligence that will be of great practical significance in various fields. ” said Russian Deputy PM Dmitryi Rogozin. FEDOR is currently scheduled to travel into space in 2021 and could act as a permanent replacement to the cosmonauts onboard the ISS. “This thing can work without a space suit, live not only in a crew vehicle, but even outside it. Its name is Fedor. ” said Deputy PM Rogozin. Vladimir Solntsev, general director of Russian corporation Energia, said: “Our involvement in the space robot project will bring us to the next level in the development of robotic technologies. ” Director of the TSNIImash laboratory of space robotic Alexander Grebenshchikov said: “Every hour of work of cosmonauts on space walks costs from $2 million to $4 million (USD). ” “The use of robots for routine operations in the future will also spare additional time of the crew for leisure or for the fulfillment of other important tasks. ” said Grebenshchikov. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com

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Whom to Vote For? Employees Tend to Follow Their Leader - The New York Times

Late last month, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, hosted a private for Hillary Clinton in Los Altos, Calif. along with his colleague Lisa Jackson, vice president of Apple’s environmental, policy and social initiatives. The private, event required a donation of $2, 700 to $50, 000. While Mr. Cook’s role was as a private citizen — it was not an Apple event — the message to employees about whom he is supporting for president is clear. The influence of chief executives like Mr. Cook over employees’ political leanings and donations, intentional or not, is substantial: It may not be an overstatement to suggest that a chief executive’s politics may be one of the most significant factors in swaying how employees think about elections. The results of a new academic study looking at the power of chief executives over the politics of their employees is stunning and perhaps unsettling. Three business professors set out to examine “how the political preferences of C. E. O.s affect their employees’ campaign contributions and electoral choices. ” The results of the study, which looked at eight federal election cycles from 1999 to 2014 and over 2, 000 companies, showed a statistically significant correlation among campaign contributions made by the chief and his or her employees as well as voter turnout. The study found that “employees direct approximately three times more of their campaign contributions to political candidates supported by their firm’s C. E. O. than to otherwise similar candidates. ” If you’re thinking, “Well, C. E. O.s and employees donate along similar party lines because they share common values and interest,” think again. The study uncovered patterns that show a chief executive’s influence is profound: “When a new C. E. O. contributes to different political candidates from the ones supported by the prior C. E. O. employees tend to follow lead and redirect their donations as well,” wrote the professors, Ilona Babenko of Arizona State University, Viktar Fedaseyeu of Bocconi University in Italy and Song Zhang of the University of Lugano in Switzerland. There is nothing inherently wrong, in most cases, with a chief executive or employee raising money for a particular candidate or party. Mr. Cook, it is worth noting, gives to both sides of the aisle, having just hosted a separate for House Speaker Paul Ryan in June. But the influence of a boss’s political leanings should not be underestimated. “Our evidence indicates that C. E. O.s are a political force, with potentially important implications for firms they manage and for the nature of democracy,” the authors wrote. “The welfare implications depend both on whether C. E. O.s promote their own political agenda or act in the interests of their firms, and on whether the interests of the firm coincide with the interests of its employees. ” Some C. E. O.s don’t just lead by example they actively solicit donations from their own employees for candidates and political action committees, which can create its own thicket of ethical questions. The Federal Election Commission, for example, investigated the way Robert Murray, chief executive of Murray Energy, had solicited political donations from his employees through emails and internal videos. Some employees told The New Republic that they felt pressured to donate, fearing that not to do so might risk their jobs. The Federal Election Commission, ultimately, found Mr. Murray hadn’t broken any laws. Still, the risks — and complex set of election laws — make political a complicated endeavor for those in the corner office. “The potentially coercive effect of an employer’s solicitation counsels in favor of avoiding the situation altogether,” said Harvey Pitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the chief of Kalorama Partners, a Washington consulting firm. “The logical alternative — having a very strong and clear disclaimer — doesn’t really work, since many employees might not believe the disclaimer, no matter how strongly it is worded. ” Tony Fratto, a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush who now operates a consulting firm, Hamilton Place, took issue with the idea that C. E. O.s should remain outside the political campaign arena. “I don’t doubt that some employees feel pressure to align with the C. E. O. politically, but my experience is that in most cases both C. E. O.s and employees are overwhelmingly influenced by a candidate’s views or voting record on industry issues,” he said. “I encourage firms to do more to inform their employees at all levels about what political leaders’ records are on their key policies. I actually think that doesn’t happen enough. ” Alexander a professor at Columbia University, found in his own survey that “a quarter of employees reported that their bosses have tried to engage them in politics,” but reported that “about 7 percent of employees reported clearly coercive kinds of political contact at work — messages that made workers uncomfortable or included threats of plant closures, cuts in hours or layoffs. ” This election cycle, it seems that many C. E. O. s, especially on Wall Street, have chosen to be less public about whom they are supporting in the presidential race. Perhaps because of the lingering negative memories of the financial crisis or perhaps because this presidential election has turned so decidedly nasty, many executives have stayed on the sideline. In June, Brian Krzanich, chief executive of Intel, canceled an event at his home for Donald Trump after it was reported to be causing a firestorm among Intel employees and peers in Silicon Valley that felt Mr. Trump’s policies were damaging to the industry. Mr. Krzanich later said he canceled the event because it had turned into a without his approval. “I do not intend to endorse any presidential candidate. We are interested in engaging both campaigns in open dialogue on issues in technology,” he wrote on Twitter. When it comes to presidential politics, some executives privately say they worry they could see reprisals against their business or industry if they were to actively campaign for one candidate or another. “The risk of being on the record publicly against a politician is high, particularly if that politician may take retaliatory action,” said Brian Richter, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. That didn’t stop 150 technology executives from writing an open letter in July opposing Trump’s policies. The list of signatories included the leaders of Silicon Valley darlings like Slack and Box but notably was not signed by the current leaders of Google, Apple or Facebook, which typically face the most regulatory scrutiny. Clearly the influence of C. E. O.s and other senior executives’ political preferences on the people working for them deserves more scrutiny. In the meantime, while it is hard to know how individuals will ultimately vote when they pull the lever in November, perhaps a new election polling data point should be the preferences of their bosses.

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WATCH HER SKI! AMERICAN TAXPAYERS ON THE HOOK FOR ASPEN TRIP BY FIRST LADY

WOULDN T YOU LIKE TO KNOW THE GRAND TOTAL AND NOT JUST THE TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES ALONE?First Lady s round-trip flight to Aspen, Colorado, with her daughters cost taxpayers $7,712 an hour(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that Michelle Obama s weekend trip to Aspen, Colorado, in February cost American taxpayers $57,068.80 in travel expenses alone for the 7.4-hour round-trip flight. While President Obama flew to California to play golf, speak at a cyber-security summit, and headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, the First Lady and her daughters spent Valentine s Day weekend skiing in Aspen, returning to the White House on February 16.Judicial Watch obtained the Air Force records in response to a February 18, 2015, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the following:According to the newly released records, the transportation costs for the four-day trip to Aspen were based on a flight cost of $7,712 an hour for the First Lady, her daughters, and support personnel in the Gulfstream aircraft. Not included were the attendant costs for U.S. Secret Service personnel, accommodations, meals, rental cars, lift tickets for skiing at Buttermilk, and related expenses. The $57,068.80 tab Mrs. Obama her daughters ran up in travel expenses alone for their weekend trip is more than 14 times what the average American of four spends for an entire week-long vacation.The ski trip was apparently intended to be low-key, and it may have stayed under the radar had it not been for the Obama s motorcade having been forced to stop for a two-car collision ahead of them, which closed the road for 40 minutes. Though the Obamas had been allowed to sneak through while they waited on tow trucks, according to Aspen Police Chief Brian Olsen, the presence of the First Lady was noticed. The Obama family reportedly stayed at the home of Jim and Paula Crown, a Chicago couple who have been major campaign contributors to President Obama throughout his political career.Barack and Michelle Obama and other members of their family have traveled more during his presidency than any other first couple, including extensive and costly trips to Spain, Africa, South America, and China, accompanied by staff and often by friends.Including the Aspen trip, government records indicate that the beyond-first-class travel of the Obamas and Vice President Joe Biden have cost the American people well over $56 million.Read more: Judicial Watch

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Trump Ditches Facts, Goes After United Nations In UNPRECEDENTED Disrespectful Rant (VIDEO)

A few days ago, Donald Trump had done something that many leaders wouldn t even dare to do he insulted the United Nations. And true to form, even after facing tremendous backlash, Trump hasn t learned his lesson and is still going at it.Trump s attacks on the United Nations began the day after Christmas, when he tweeted: The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad! The United Nations promptly responded from the organization s Twitter account, and its response couldn t have been more perfect. In a tweet, the organization provided Trump with a list of 10 ways the UN makes a difference in the lives of millions every day :Here s a list of 10 ways the UN makes a difference in the lives of millions every day.See what else we do: https://t.co/MGT7G5uPFL pic.twitter.com/nMxHV0rvkf United Nations (@UN) December 26, 2016Yet despite having proof of all the good the United Nations does, Trump put his laziness and ignorance on full display yesterday when he spoke to the press outside Mar-a-Lago. First bragging about the thousands of jobs he was bringing back to the United States, Trump quickly pivoted to insult the United Nations. He said, The U.N. has such tremendous potential. Not living up to its potential. And completely ignoring the fact that the United Nations had actually provided him with evidence that it has solved numerous problems, Trump said: When do you see the United Nations solving problems? They don t. They cause problems. So, if it lives up to the potential, it s a great thing, and if it doesn t, it s a waste of time and money. You can watch Trump run his ignorant mouth below:This interview happened just hours after Trump spent his morning attacking the United Nations (again).TwitterTwitter This just serves as more proof that even when you put the truth and facts right in front of Trump, he is going to ignore it and push his own lies and self-interests.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Поезд Сапсан задержался в пути из-за погодных условий

0 комментариев 0 поделились источник Pravda.Ru Как пишет РИА Новости, состав в итоге прибудет в северную столицу на 2,5-3 часа позже указанного в расписании времени. Следовавший из Москвы в Санкт-Петербург поезд из-за образовавшейся на путях наледи застрял в Новгородской области, отмечает издание. По данным Октябрьской железной дороги (ОЖД), "к месту остановки состава выслан вспомогательный локомотив и резервный «Сапсан». Опоздание поезда составит ориентировочно 2,5-3 часа". Издание отмечает, что в Санкт-Петербурге пассажиров опоздавшего «Сапсана» развезут по домам три автобуса. Напомним, "Сапсан" № 778 был задержан в среду в 22:21 мск на станции Мстинский Мост в Новгородской области. При этом в 22:45 мск по техническим причинам там же был остановлен еще один «Сапсан», который прибудет в Санкт-Петербург на полчаса позже запланированного времени. На той же станции в Новгородской области в 22:45 мск по техническим причинам остановлен еще один "Сапсан". Он прибудет в Санкт-Петербург на 30 минут позже запланированного времени. "Специалисты Октябрьской железной дороги делают все возможное для скорейшего ввода поездов в график", - отмечает железная дорога. Правда.ру ранее писала, что спешившая на скоростной поезд "Сапсан" пассажирка разбила стеклянную дверь автобуса во время движения по Невскому проспекту в Петербурге. Согласно информации пресс-службы предприятия "Пассажиравтотранс", инцидент произошел в среду вечером, когда маршрутный автобус № 3 подъезжал к остановке на Невском проспекте около дома № 77. В тот момент пассажирка автобуса, сильно торопясь успеть на свой рейс и не дожидаясь плановой остановки, выбила стеклянную дверь ногой и сбежала. На опубликованном в социальных сетях фото с места событий видно, что стекло в двери автобуса отсутствует полностью. По словам представителя "Пассажиравтотранс", поймать девушку на месте сразу не удалось, поэтому предприятие обратилось за помощью к полиции. О задержании спешившей пассажирки информации пока не поступало, как и том, успела ли девушка на "Сапсан". А недавно высокоскоростной "Сапсан", проезжая этот участок по пути из Петербурга в Москву, насмерть сбил двух мужчин. Скорость состава была 200 километров в час. По мере приближения к платформе, заметив двух людей, переходящих пути, машинист нажал тревожную кнопку, однако те не отреагировали на сигнал и не отошли, в результате чего их буквально затянуло воздушной волной. Как сообщили в местном управлении МВД, после экстренного торможения и наезда на людей машинист не остановился и продолжал маршрут. Погибшими оказались двое мужчин из Карелии, подрабатывавшими в этой области в электричках. Они были глухонемыми и не услышали важного сигнала. По факту инцидента проводится проверка. Читайте последние новости Pravda.Ru на сегодня Поделиться:

1real

Miss Russia | Russia & India Report

Miss Russia AFP/East News Miss Russia Alisa Manenok shows off her souvenir of a stuffed cat while boarding a boat at the Lake Ashinoko in Hakone town, Kanagawa prefecture. Seventy women will compete for the 2016 Miss International crown in Tokyo on October 27. Facebook

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Israel rejects U.N. vote, thanks Trump for stance on Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel rejected a U.N. vote on Thursday that called on the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel rejects the U.N. decision and at the same time is satisfied with the high number of countries that did not vote in its favour, said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s office. Israel thanks (U.S.) President Trump for his unequivocal position in favour of Jerusalem and thanks the countries that voted together with Israel, together with the truth, it said.

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GERMANY ELECTION BOMBSHELL: OPEN BORDERS Angela Merkel CLOBBERED At Polls…Party That Suggested Germany May Need To Start Shooting Migrants At Border WINS By Double Digits

It appears that Obama ally, Angela Merkel is more popular with Muslim migrant males than the citizens of Germany .German voters turned to the far right in droves yesterday in a damning verdict on Angela Merkel s open door border policy. In regional elections she was humiliated by the anti-immigrant AfD Alternative for Germany party.Formed just three years ago, it has surged in popularity following Mrs Merkel s decision to roll out the red carpet for more than a million migrants.Analysts said the regional poll in which Mrs Merkel s ruling Christian Democrats lost two out of three states was a worst case scenario for the embattled chancellor ahead of a general election next year.The timing made it a virtual referendum on Germany s refugee policy. It will also be seen as an indictment of the failure of Europe s ruling classes to acknowledge the public s fears about migration.Mrs Merkel s welcome for arrivals from Syria, other parts of the Middle East and North Africa, has caused chaos across the continent.Initially, the incomers were greeted by crowds of well-wishers. But, faced with the sheer numbers, public opinion soured. And there was outrage when gangs of migrant men were involved in organised sex attacks on women in Cologne and other cities on new year s eve.One by one, EU states have thrown up border fences to stop the flow of arrivals leading to the slow collapse of the Schengen passport-free zone. Via:DMWatch incredible video (below) that explains why German Chancellor Angela Merkel is getting hammered in the polls in Germany:German Chancellor Angela Merkel s party suffered a major setback in key state polls Sunday over her liberal refugee policy, while the right-wing populist AfD recorded a surge as it scooped up support from angry voters.Merkel s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) lost in two of three states in regional elections, and scored a historic low in its stronghold Baden-Wuerttemberg where it came in second place after the Greens, according to projections based on early results published by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.The populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which had sparked outrage by suggesting police may have to shoot at migrants to stop them entering the country, recorded double-digit support in the first elections they have stood for in all three regions.The elections are the biggest since Germany registered a record influx of refugees, and are largely regarded as a referendum on Merkel s decision to open the country s doors to people fleeing war.Bild daily called Sunday s polls a day of horror for Chancellor Merkel as the stunning popularity of the upstart AfD was a clear punishment for her policy. The people who voted for us voted against this refugee policy, said AfD deputy chairman Alexander Gauland.Frauke Petry (L) and Ronald Glaeser of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) party react after state elections exit poll results were announced on tv in Berlin on March 13, 2016Germans had watched in growing alarm as 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in the country in 2015 alone.Despite facing intense pressure to change course, Merkel has resolutely refused to impose a cap on arrivals, insisting instead on common European action that includes distributing refugees among the EU s 28 member states. Via: Breitbart News

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Obama budget to adjust health insurance 'Cadillac tax': adviser

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will propose tailoring the controversial “Cadillac tax” on expensive private health insurance plans to reflect regional differences when he releases his 2017 budget plan next week, a senior White House adviser said in an article released on Wednesday. Obama's proposal would reduce the bite of the unpopular tax by raising the threshold where it takes effect in areas where healthcare is particularly expensive, according to the article in the New England Journal of Medicine co-written by Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. (bit.ly/1QdGlDG) The tax on high-cost employer-based healthcare plans, passed as part of the president’s 2010 Affordable Care Act and set to take effect in 2018, has generated growing opposition in part because labor unions say it could encourage employers to cut back on health insurance plans for workers. The tax was expected to raise some $87 billion a year to help pay for the reform generally known as Obamacare. White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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’Terminate the B*tch with Extreme Prejudice’: How Paramount Changed the Ending of ‘Fatal Attraction’

Former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing is making waves in Hollywood with the release Wednesday of excerpts from her new biography that shed light on some of the film industry’s most scandalous secrets. [Excerpts from Lansing’s forthcoming book, Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker, were revealed Wednesday by its author and The Hollywood Reporter editor Stephen Galloway. Lansing, who at age 35 became the first female president of 20th Century Fox in 1980, details the battle behind one of her most memorable productions: Fatal Attraction. “Everyone passed” on the project, Lansing said. “I begged John Carpenter [Halloween]. And it wasn’t just him. I begged everyone. ” Finding a director for the film quickly became a laborious task. Lansing had lined up director Brian De Palma, but he soured on Michael Douglas playing the lead role. Given a choice between De Palma or Douglas, Lansing went with the budding actor. “It was one of those moments,” Lansing said. “De Palma was the element that got us a green light, but Michael had been on the movie for two years, when everybody else rejected us. We said, ‘We’re sticking with Michael. ’” Flashdance director Adrian Lyne fell in love with the script and signed on to helm the movie, and Anne Archer was tapped to play Douglas’s wife, Beth Gallagher. The only missing piece to the puzzle was a leading lady. Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kirstie Alley, and Melanie Griffith, among others, had all been considered to play the role of Alex Forrest, the film’s emotionally unstable antagonist. While questions lingered about her “sexiness,” actress Glenn Close landed the role. One bombshell Lansing unleashes in her biography is the real reaction test audiences and producers had to the film initially namely, audiences rejected the film’s initial ending, which showed Close’s character framing Douglas’s character for her murder and being taking away by police. “We did about six screenings,” Lansing said. “And at every single screening, when Anne says, ‘If you come near my family again, I’ll kill you,’ the audience bursts into applause. [ CEO] Frank Mancuso said, ‘I think they want Anne Archer to kill Glenn Close.’ And I looked at him speechless because I thought he was crazy. ” Late Paramount Pictures studio boss Ned Tanen rejected the original ending. He put it bluntly to the filmmakers: “They want us to terminate the bitch with extreme prejudice,” he said of Close’s character. “Adrian [Lyne] went nuts,” noted Lansing. “He felt that changing the ending was kowtowing to the lowest common denominator, and I agreed. Here was this wonderful film about how all your actions have consequences, and now they wanted to change the whole point. I felt it was morally wrong, and if I agreed to do it, I’d be selling out. ” Tanen and Paramount even offered to pay the filmmaker an additional $1. 5 million to shoot a new ending. “That was brilliant,” Lansing recalled. But Close reportedly refused to reshoot the ending scene to show her character being killed by Beth. “She came into Stanley’s office, and we couldn’t even get through the conversation with her,” said Lansing. The film’s creator and screenwriter James Dearden “had to pretend it was a great idea. ” “I had to sit there and tell her what the new ending would be, and tears were running down her cheeks. Glenn said, ‘You can take me in a straitjacket, but you can’t make me do it. ’” “I had a big talk to her about the theater, and how you play the show to audiences, and then you adjust,” Douglas reportedly told Close. “The argument was, ‘It may not be the best for your character, but it’s best for the movie. ’” Close finally agreed to film the new ending, but never loved it. The reshoots were riddled with issues. “We went back to [the Gallaghers’ house] and other people had bought it, so we had to reconstruct it just the way it was,” said Lansing of the house the film was originally shot in. “It cost a fortune. Glenn had the worst of it, by far. She was dunked in the bath more than 50 times, and her eyes and nose became infected. ” The rest, as they say, was history. Fatal Attraction opened on Sept. 18, 1987, debuted at the number one spot at the box office, and went on to earn over $156 million on a $14 million budget. Read the full story and excerpts from Sherry Lansing’s upcoming biography here. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson

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Koch Brothers Hold Dark Money Conference To Plot Election 2016 Dirty Tricks

The Koch Brothers arranged their meeting of wealthy right-wing billionaires this weekend in order to come up with the best strategy in order to move America further to the right.As befitting wealthy right-wing industrialists, the Kochs held their $100,000 per seat affair at a luxury hotel. 500 of the super rich right showed up, with about 150 of them new converts to the conservative donor network that already spent close to $400 million in 2015 to lay the groundwork for the 2016 campaign.Many of the Koch network members which include some of the biggest-spending conservative families in America, such as Michigan s DeVoses and the Adelsons from Las Vegas spend tens of millions each year advancing their favored politicians and causes.In his introductory speech, Charles Koch told the donors he had four goals to change the trajectory of American government and society.The first is to reverse the policies that are moving us toward a two-tiered society, which include corporate welfare.The second is to end irresponsible government spending. Of course, the Kochs don t mind it too much when their multibillion dollar enterprises are the beneficiaries of government spending and regulation. The brothers and their allies spend heavily in order to ensure politicians, mostly Republicans, are in place to enact or oppose legislation that affects their bottom line.Charles Koch also told those attending the meeting that free speech is under attack everywhere. Of course, to the Kochs that isn t free speech in the way most Americans think about it, but rather laws and regulations requiring disclosure about who spends money on elections. The Kochs believe in the supremacy of dark money in politics, so that they can make their influence be felt without being held accountable for it.That s the reason why, after the Kochs were called out for their spending in the 2010 and 2012 campaigns, they have mounted a huge effort to advertise their company s philanthropy on television (often during news programming and especially on the influential Sunday morning talk shows). Charles Koch has also recently released a business book, with no mention of course of his company s underhanded practices, fines from the government for pollution, or the violations of election law that affiliates of the Koch network have been caught in.Featured image from Flickr

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America’s Primal Scream: David Icke Explains Reason for Trump’s Election Result

21st Century Wire says Author David Icke talks about the US election shocker and what it says about the relationship between society and big government.In the end, Trump s success was an expression of a complete rejection of the political establishment and the two party system. Like BREXIT, Trump s surprise electoral result represents a much bigger social and spiritual tremor happening beneath the establishment s feet one that the mainstream are prepared to admit. Watch: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

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Holocaust Survivors’ Needs Grow, and Aid Is Slow to Catch Up - The New York Times

BUDAPEST — Agnes Galgoczi, 84, can no longer make it to the toilet on her own. It sits in the kitchen of her apartment in Budapest, just three feet from the bed, where she sings to herself to fight loneliness. Several blocks away, Vera Varga, 78, slides movies into her videocassette player. The images remind her of the outside world. They are two of the estimated remaining Holocaust survivors around the world, a group whose needs are growing in complexity and cost as they age, while funding from a variety of sources that have provided for them over the past two decades is starting to dry up. Both women are widowed and rely on help to shop, cook and clean. Neither can leave her apartment without assistance. Mrs. Galgoczi could use care, but even if Hungary had adequate nursing homes, neither she nor Mrs. Varga would make the move. The Nazis forced them out of their homes once before, marching them to the Budapest ghetto, ripping their families apart and sowing seeds of fear and mistrust that have resurfaced as the women enter their final years. The unique problems that are the legacy of the suffering of their youth, like an intense fear of institutionalization, as well as renewed in Eastern Europe and a lack of family, often mean that sending nurses and social workers into their homes is the only way to care for them. But care is costly, and in some places, survivors are left in lonely or unhealthy situations. “No matter how much you give, their needs are always greater,” said Taly Shaul, the director of the the Hungarian Jewish Social Support Foundation, which provides for about half of the country’s 10, 000 remaining Holocaust survivors. Dozens of volunteers check on survivors and bring them boxes of food staples. Social workers and nurses clean their homes, administer their medications and, in some cases, become like family. The growing costs of providing health care and social services to the survivors in Europe, the United States and elsewhere have raised the pressure on Germany, in particular, to increase aid. “This is the final chapter,” said Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which distributes funding to 240 organizations that provide for survivors around the world. “Over the next five years, an additional amount is needed if the remaining survivors are to live with dignity. ” In recent decades, the Claims Conference relied on financial support from a variety of sources. Payments came from a $1. 25 billion compensation fund from unclaimed Swiss bank accounts held by those murdered, a $5 billion fund to compensate slave laborers and other settlements negotiated in the early 1990s after the fall of Europe’s Communist governments. But as those funds have been spent, the burden has fallen back on Germany. Over eight months, the Claims Conference pressed German Finance Ministry negotiators with numbers and details to demonstrate the dwindling survivors’ increased level of need. of survivors worldwide live in the United States, and added pressure came from Congress. Last week, it passed a resolution calling on Germany “to continue to reaffirm its commitment to comprehensively address the unique health and welfare needs of vulnerable Holocaust victims. ” An agreement between the German government and the Claims Conference, reached in July, resulted in an increase in funding for the care of Holocaust survivors in their homes over the next three years. The funding will increase to 350 million euros, or $390 million, in 2018 from €281. 75 million, or $314 million, this year. “This is pumping a significant additional amount of money into the budget that will have a significant impact in the field,” Mr. Schneider said. For Mrs. Galgoczi — who relies on caregivers to bring her breakfast and help her wash in the morning change the oxygen tank so she can breathe and, throughout the day, administer the bottles of prescriptions in the basket perched beside her bed — the increased funding could mean extra help at night. “I completely depend on them for everything,” said Mrs. Galgoczi, whose darkened apartment holds her bed, a chair and a few of the beloved books that she can no longer read. She refers to her regular nurse as her daughter. Under the new agreement, existing caps on the hours of care an individual survivor can receive will fall away for those who, like Mrs. Galgoczi, survived a ghetto, a concentration camp or life in hiding under the Nazis. Sometimes, the biggest challenge is persuading survivors to admit they need assistance. Gyorgy Rozsa, 77, another survivor of the Budapest ghetto, lies in a bed in a corner of the apartment where his wife has lived since she was a toddler. The acidic stench of urine from the catheter hanging beside his bed fills the dingy room, littered with empty soda bottles, laundry and a wheelchair. Bedridden for the past decade, only recently did he begin to accept outside help, first in the form of packages of nonperishable foods and, more recently, in that of caregivers who swab around his bed with disinfectant and help lift him. In an expression of trauma shared by many survivors, “he can’t stand any light, or anyone cleaning,” said Ms. Shaul of the Jewish support foundation. The fear of change or loss of home means that institutionalizing the survivors is not an option. The former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe also lack nursing home facilities comparable to those in the United States, Australia or Israel, making home care all the more important. The recent political shift to the right across much of Eastern Europe has exacerbated jealousies among neighbors, like the family living next door to Mrs. Varga, who threw rocks through her window after realizing she was receiving special services because she is Jewish. Under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Hungary has become more tolerant of and Ms. Shaul said the foundation had seen an increase in episodes targeting survivors across the country. Even for survivors who are more financially secure, like Agnes Bartha, 94, who lives in an airy apartment with a balcony, caregivers are like family. After a stroke last year, she needs a walker to move around and a caregiver to cook, clean and help her make sense of the 30 pills she must take daily. Gone are the days when she could travel to Germany or visit Hungarian schools to tell children her story. Now, she relies on the internet to tell younger generations how in 1944 she was marched from Hungary to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, how she shocked an SS officer by insisting to him in fluent German that her friend join her as a slave laborer for or how the “biggest present of my life” was a cup of tea handed to her after she escaped in the final days of World War II. For a woman whose life depended on her perseverance and her ability to get by on her wit and fortitude, it is difficult to admit that she can no longer live independently. “Because of my past and my physical condition, I need more and more help,” she said, leaning on her walker, decorated with a star recovered from the archives of the Genshagen forced labor camp. “It is not easy when you lose your strength. ”

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Republicans Cruz, Kasich reach 'stop-Trump' deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican White House rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced a deal on Sunday to stay out of each other’s way in some upcoming state primaries in hopes of blocking front-runner Donald Trump from winning the party’s presidential nomination. Cruz’s campaign said in a statement he would focus on the Indiana and give Kasich a clearer shot in Oregon and New Mexico, states where the Ohio governor expects to do well. Kasich, in turn, agreed to shift resources west and away from Indiana. The Indiana primary is on May 3, Oregon’s is May 17 and New Mexico’s June 7. Trump has won the most state nominating contests, but he has a tough path to earn the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination. The Cruz and Kasich campaigns believe their agreement to cede states where the other candidate appears strong could help limit Trump’s ability to win more delegates. Some Republican strategists who oppose Trump have been calling for such a deal for weeks. The question for Cruz and Kasich is whether their agreement is too late. If no candidate has enough support by the first vote at the Republican National Convention in July, many delegates will be allowed to switch sides on subsequent ballots. Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said Trump, who has offended women, Hispanics and other groups with controversial statements, would lose a general election contest against the eventual Democratic nominee in the Nov. 8 election. “Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee,” Kasich chief strategist John Weaver said in a statement. Late Sunday, Trump tweeted his reaction to the deal: “Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!” Trump has frequently complained that the Republican Party’s nominating process is “rigged” against him because establishment party members oppose him. Party officials argue that the delegate selection rules have been known for some time. The stop-Trump group #NeverTrump welcomed news of the pact. “Whether you support Ted Cruz or John Kasich, a second ballot at the Convention is imperative to stopping Donald Trump. We’re happy to see the Kasich and Cruz campaigns strategically using their resources to deny Donald Trump delegates where they are in the strongest position to do so,” said the group’s senior adviser, Rory Cooper.

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Ex-U.S. consumer bureau head Cordray set to run for Ohio governor

(Reuters) - Richard Cordray, a Democrat whose resignation as head of the U.S. consumer bureau last month triggered a political battle over who should replace him, plans to run for governor of Ohio, an advisor said on Monday. Cordray will make the announcement at an event on Tuesday at a restaurant in his home town of Grove City, Ohio, said the advisor, who asked to remain anonymous. Cordray will later tour Ohio, meeting with Democratic activists, community leaders and voters, the advisor said. When he resigned last month, Cordray named his deputy to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the appointment was mired in turmoil after President Donald Trump assigned White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney to the role. A federal judge last week sided with Trump, but the deputy, Leandra English, is challenging the decision. The 2018 election is to replace Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican who cannot seek a third term because of term limits in the pivotal election battleground state. Kasich ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016. Many Democrats have said Cordray, with his reputation for being tough on banks and defending consumers, is their best hope for taking the Ohio governor’s mansion and chipping away at Republicans’ dominance in state government. Several candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties announced they would run for Ohio governor, according to local media. Cordray delivered a campaign-style speech at a Labor Day celebration in Cincinnnati in September, but at the time he stopped short of saying whether he intended to run for governor. The Ohio native was the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a consumer watchdog agency created under former President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. In Washington, Mulvaney on Monday said he has no intention of firing English.

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Nazareth cuts back Christmas celebrations to protest Trump's Jerusalem move

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where Jesus is thought to have been raised, has canceled some Christmas celebrations in protest at U.S. President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital, an official said. Trump announced the move last week, reversing decades of U.S. policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, jeopardizing Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike. Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel with a Muslim and Christian population of 76,000, is one of the Holy Land s focal points of Christmas festivities. We have decided to cancel the traditional Christmas singing and dancing because we are in a time of dispute, because of what Trump has said about Jerusalem, city spokesman Salem Sharara said. Nazareth is traditionally thought to be where Jesus grew up. The imposing Basilica of the Annunciation in central Nazareth is built on a site which many Christian faithful believe was the childhood home of Jesus mother, Mary. Sharara said the town s market stalls and the traditional Christmas church services would be held as they are every year. Within an hour of the announcement, the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem, Jesus s traditional birthplace, and Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank briefly switched off their Christmas lights in protest. There was no word from the Bethlehem municipality whether it was also weighing a cutback on its celebrations at a crucial time of year for the town s tourist trade.

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Kevin Turner’s Parents Still Watch Football. But Differently. - The New York Times

HOLTVILLE, Ala. — In an airy, house here on Jordan Lake about 25 miles north of Montgomery and around the corner from cotton farms, there is a television on the living room wall. The TV belongs to Myra and Raymond Turner, the parents of Kevin Turner, a former Alabama fullback who played eight seasons in the N. F. L. This Sunday, that TV will be tuned to the N. F. L. playoffs, to the game that killed their son. “I know a lot of people are going to say, ‘How do you watch football knowing football had taken your son’s own life? ’” Raymond Turner said. “But it’s hard to explain, really. It’s just all so hard to explain. ” I traveled to Alabama to hear an explanation and try to understand it — and maybe even understand why they allow their two teenage grandsons to play football after Kevin, the boys’ father, suffered for six long years with a brain disease that research has linked to head trauma in football. He died last March at 46. There was no clear answer to my question, only compartmentalized memories. In the house on the lake, which Kevin helped his parents buy, reminders of him appear at every turn. On the desk in his old bedroom is one of his Alabama playbooks in the rec room are seven of his jerseys, framed in the living room, there is his Philadelphia Eagles helmet and, of course, the giant TV, which used to be his. Kevin, who played for the New England Patriots as well as the Eagles, died after being treated for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as A. L. S. and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Kevin donated his brain to researchers in Boston who have examined the brains of more than 200 former football players after they died. The researchers said Kevin Turner’s brain was “riddled” with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C. T. E. which has been tied to repeated blows to the head. When watching Sunday’s playoff games, you probably won’t think about Turner. But you should. In a life that was shortened by football, he made a wide and lasting impact on the sport. After the diagnosis in 2010, Turner became one of the main plaintiffs in a lawsuit former players brought against the N. F. L. claiming that the league hid the cognitive dangers of the game. The league agreed to a settlement for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, and the first payouts from that litigation are expected in the coming months. Turner didn’t live to see a penny of that settlement money. The cash could have helped him when his body deteriorated and his family had to care for him. The Turners remember their son, who once weighed 235 pounds, dwindling to 100. At first, he lost strength in his left hand. And his left arm. Then his right arm and hand. Then his neck. His mother had to learn how to thicken water so he wouldn’t choke while drinking it, and how to clean his breathing and feeding tubes. By the end, Kevin couldn’t eat, drink, swallow or talk, as he fought for each breath. “It’s all been really hard,” Myra said, as she started to cry. “It’s worse than you can imagine, having to be a nurse to your son and then losing your only son. ” With the family’s cooperation, HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” has chronicled the six years of Kevin’s decline for a segment that will be televised on Tuesday. His parents think it is important to tell their story, to raise awareness about C. T. E. They take no offense at questions about why they haven’t turned their backs on football. They still watch. They just watch differently. They pay a lot more attention to college games than to the N. F. L. and they are always interested in seeing how officials treat a player who might have a concussion. They have tuned into the N. F. L. playoffs, and they plan to watch the Super Bowl. Neither is ignoring the risk of C. T. E. but Raymond said, “It’s probably too late for those guys in the N. F. L. ” As Myra Turner watched the Dallas Cowboys play the Packers last weekend, she saw a TV camera stop on the former Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who was celebrating and grabbing his seatmate, Tony Dorsett, another Cowboys alumnus. Dorsett, who has said he has memory loss and other signs of C. T. E. didn’t look right. “He didn’t even crack a smile,” Myra said. “He was just sitting there and I thought, ‘Wow, how can he sit there with no emotion at all?’ Then I realized, oh, yeah, I do know why. ’” The Turners grew up in this state, where football is king, a rite passed from fathers to sons. Raymond played, then coached Kevin. “I’m a guy, so I love football — the hitting, the running, the scoring, the girls,” Raymond said, before Myra cut him off. “And I was a cheerleader!” she said. “I was the only girl you’re talking about, right?” By their smiles and giggles, you could tell football once brought them unquestionable joy, long before anyone had heard of C. T. E. — or even took concussions seriously. Today, their granddaughter, Natalie, 16, is a cheerleader dating a football player, just as her grandmother did. Myra won’t watch her grandsons play. Raymond watches every game. Nolan was a redshirt freshman at Clemson last season. Cole plays in middle school. “Their dad told them to think long and hard before playing football because of what it could possibly do to their brains,” Raymond said. “But the boys wanted to play. The game is much safer. What can you do? We make sure they are extra careful. ” He said: “If the boys said they didn’t want to play football anymore, I’d be pretty happy about that. But Nolan is 19 and can make his own decisions now. I can’t convince him of anything. ” As the couple talked about their bittersweet relationship with football, Raymond twisted a napkin so many times and so tightly that it became a hard, tiny paper sculpture. Myra’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe my son is gone,” she said. Kevin was buried last Easter in Prattville, Ala. about four miles from his high school football field, which is now named after him. On Thursday, his grave was marked with a small white metal cross and a vase of white artificial flowers, which had fallen onto its side. The squares of sod atop his plot had yet to grow together. His bronze grave marker — which will be finished any day now — will have his name, Paul Kevin Turner, and two etchings of him in a football uniform — one from his days at Alabama, the other from when he was with the Eagles. Between his dates of birth and death, there will be a raised image of a golden football. “I didn’t think twice about putting football on there,” Myra said. “Because that was his life, our life. ”

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Round Up the Unusual Suspects: Moneyball Nerds Squeeze Out Blacks & Latinos from Baseball Jobs

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Erdogan says Turkey, Iran, Russia agreed to carry out political solution in Syria

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Turkey, Iran and Russia have agreed to carry out a transparent process for a political solution in Syria, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. Speaking at a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Erdogan said the solution process relied on the stance of the Syrian government and the opposition, adding that excluding terrorist groups from the process was a priority. Erdogan also said that solving negativities in Syria s Afrin would be a crucial step in the process, and called on the international community to support the steps taken by the three countries.

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DEAR DEMOCRATS AND LIBERALS…Stop Complaining About The Election…You’re The Ones Who Created “Us”

Ouch!

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Kurdish leaders reject Baghdad demand to cancel independence vote, renew dialogue offer

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s Kurdish leadership rejected on Sunday a demand by the Iraqi government that it cancels the outcome of an independence referendum as a precondition for talks to resolve the dispute. Kurdish leaders who met to discuss the crisis in the town of Dokan renewed their offer to resolve peacefully the crisis with Baghdad. The Kurdish parties are ready for talks between Erbil and Baghdad, they said in a statement, referring respectively to the seat of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq and the federal capital of Iraq. The talks between Erbil and Baghdad should be under the supervision of international parties, the statement added. Among those at the meeting were KRG President Masoud Barzani, Iraqi President Fuad Masum a Kurd who holds a largely ceremonial position in the federal state and Hero Talabani, widow of Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader who died earlier this month. They rejected what they described as military threats from Iraqi forces against Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and pledged to defend Kurdish-held territory in case of an attack. The KRG and the Shi ite-led central government in Baghdad have been at loggerheads since the Sept. 25 vote and its loud call for Kurdish independence. Tension between two parties has flared around the multi-ethnic oil city of Kirkuk, which Peshmerga forces took in 2014 when Iraqi security forces collapsed in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. The Peshmerga deployment prevented Kirkuk s oilfields from falling into jihadist hands.

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‘I Didn’t Want to Lose My Identity’: 16,000 Readers Reflect on Their Surnames - The New York Times

“Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!” the other children would shout, teasing Katherine Yuk all through elementary school about her Chinese last name. “When I was a child and a new immigrant in Canada, I longed for the day when I could get married and take someone else’s last name,” she wrote. Ms. Yuk was one of more than 16, 000 readers who responded when The New York Times asked women around the world why they had kept or changed their surnames when they married. By the time she had the chance, Ms. Yuk wrote, her thinking had come around. She decided to embrace and keep her name, despite the teasing. “I hadn’t only survived it, but it had defined me — as someone who was different yet proud of those differences, a survivor of childhood bullying, a immigrant with a funny last name who had found her own skin and found her own opportunities and identity,” said Ms. Yuk, now 45 and living in Toronto. “I didn’t want to lose my identity. ” Women from a variety of nationalities, religions, sexual orientations and ages wrote to The Times about how their names were a core part of who they were. For many, the decision on whether to change their names carried significant weight, and it was shaped by the traditions, the norms and, in some cases, the laws of the societies in which they live. Some looked to their names as badges of cultural identity, others as symbolic links to their fathers that they were eager to preserve, or to sever. Here are some of the responses. They have been edited and condensed. Joy Perkins in New York City, via Facebook. She changed her name. Katherine who grew up in Australia and now lives in Delhi, did not change her name. Zoë Foustokjian, 27, in Montreal. Rebecca Vogels, 32, is German and based in Vienna. Lori Latus, 53, in Lexington, Ky. and Melbourne, Australia. She kept her name. Julie Benton, 62, lives in the United States and Australia and is in a marriage. She took her partner’s surname. Peggy McGillicuddy, 45, in Toronto. She kept her name. Kristina Wallengren Steengaard, 46, a Swede living in South Africa, is married to a Danish man. Both use a combined surname. Morgan Fraser, 27, in Canada. She kept her name. Isolde Raftery, an Irish immigrant living in Seattle, via Facebook. She kept her name. Emily Mathisen, 32, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She kept her name. Natasha Hong, 29, a Han Chinese of Singaporean descent living in Singapore and married to a white British man. Yue Zhou, 32, living in Singapore. Suzie Houghton, 32, in Melbourne. She has been married for a month and is in the process of changing her name. Kappy Flanders, 78, in Montreal. Jennifer Lahue, 48, an American living in Vienna. Angeli Humilde, 26, lives in Canada and is recently engaged. Her mother grew up in the Philippines. Joan Card Redemer, 64, who is from California and living in Antwerp, Belgium. She changed her name.

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N.C. Trooper Investigated in Fatal Shooting of Deaf Motorist - The New York Times

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal inquiry into the fatal shooting of a deaf motorist by a state trooper last week. The death has raised questions about the use of deadly force by police officers and about how they interact with the disabled. The motorist, Daniel K. Harris, 29, was shot and killed by the trooper, Jermaine Saunders, just after 6 p. m. last Thursday after Mr. Harris failed to pull over during a traffic stop near Charlotte, Sgt. Michael Baker, a spokesman for the state’s highway patrol, said in a statement. “After a brief pursuit,” Sergeant Baker said, “the driver exited his vehicle, and an encounter took place between the driver and the trooper, causing a shot to be fired. The driver succumbed to his injuries at the scene. ” The authorities declined to provide any further information about the nature of the encounter between Mr. Harris, who was white, and Trooper Saunders, who is black, or to say whether the trooper believed his life was in danger before he opened fire. Investigators have not commented on what role Mr. Harris’s disability may have played, but his brother said he believed his death was the product of a police department that does not know how to interact with those who are deaf or hard of hearing. “Being shot by the police is just not acceptable,” the victim’s brother, Sam Harris, who is also deaf, said through an interpreter during a video interview with Reuters. “If the officer had known that he was deaf, it would have ended differently, and he would still be around with family, and life would be going on. He’d be happy. ” But on Tuesday, Frank L. Perry, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, urged the public to “refrain from making assumptions or drawing conclusions prior to the internal and independent reviews. ” “Any loss of life regardless of the circumstances is truly a tragic and sad event for all involved,” he said in a statement. “While the Highway Patrol, the State Bureau of Investigation and the district attorney’s office conduct their respective reviews, we are keeping all those affected by this tragedy in our thoughts and prayers. ” Jay Ruderman, the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which works for the rights of people with disabilities, said police departments needed to train officers to respond to the needs of the disabled. “People with disabilities will be safer the more the police are properly trained in this regard, and it needs to happen now before more tragedies occur,” Mr. Ruderman said in a statement. “Whether a person is deaf, autistic or has a chronic health problem, these disabilities are often not understood by police officers when encountering them on the streets. ” Investigators from the bureau of investigation interviewed Trooper Saunders on Tuesday night and planned to meet with Mecklenburg County’s district attorney, R. Andrew Murray, in the coming days, said Shannon O’Toole, a spokesman for the bureau. He said Trooper Saunders had been placed on administrative leave. The agency investigates 90 to 95 percent of the shootings in the state, Mr. O’Toole said, and when it “is requested to conduct an shooting investigation, we do so, with the intent that each and every case is going to trial. ” The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that since 2008 Mr. Harris had been charged with traffic offenses and other misdemeanors, including petty theft, in Connecticut, Florida and Colorado. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to speeding in Florida and also pleaded guilty to interfering with or resisting the police in Connecticut, The A. P. said.

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Central Banks Worry About Engaging World Markets After ‘Brexit’ - The New York Times

As global markets reel after an vote by Britain to sever ties with Europe, investors are again expecting central banks to ride to the rescue. And that may be the problem. Or so believe a number of investors and economists who worry that another round of central bank intervention in the markets will compound the sense of alienation, frustration and anger at global elites that encouraged a majority of Britons to opt for leaving the European Union. Traditionally, market participants have tended to cheer central bank activism. In times of financial panic, wholesale bond buying, negative interest rates and disbursing cash directly to consumers (the weapon in the central banker’s armory) have been seen as easy policy substitutes for governments unwilling or incapable of taking action themselves. But, as the world’s leading central bankers finished a weekend of brainstorming in Basel, Switzerland, as to what their next move might be, some feared that this time around they might do more harm than good. “People say that central bankers have not done enough, but they have done too much already,” said Stephen Jen, a former official at the International Monetary Fund who now manages a hedge fund in London. Global central bankers had already planned to convene at the annual meeting of the Bank for International Settlements, a clearinghouse and research shop that provides a private forum for central bankers to gather and exchange views. But the British referendum results and the sharp fall in the markets that followed brought an extra urgency to the meeting. On Saturday, Agustín Carstens, the head of Mexico’s central bank and chairman of the bank’s policy group that monitors the global financial system, said that committee members had “endorsed the contingency measures put in place by the Bank of England and emphasized the preparedness of central banks to support the proper functioning of financial markets. ” Adding to global political tensions were parliamentary elections on Sunday in Spain, where the party Podemos was expected to continue its recent run of electoral success. While the in stocks on Friday was very sharp, market participants said over the weekend that they were heartened that major market makers were able to absorb the selling fairly well. Playing a central role were funds, which at one point on Friday accounted for close to 50 percent of overall trading volume in stocks. That is an extraordinary statistic, given that the funds were largely unknown a decade ago as an investment option for investors. The ability for investors to quickly and successfully buy and sell stocks and bonds, the crucial advantage that funds have over mutual funds, is seen by regulators as critical in times of acute financial stress. Part of the conundrum for central bankers is that the recent is not the result of an event like Lehman Brothers going bankrupt in September 2008, which provided authorities with an unassailable excuse to intervene. Lehman’s failure caused markets to seize up and financial institutions to stop dealing with each other. But when the crises that rock global finance are social and political, it becomes more awkward for central bankers to defend any form of extraordinary intervention. And that is what worries analysts, who for some time now have been concerned that interventions by central banks were distorting markets by making them less liquid and creating anomalies such as what currently exists in Japan. There, the nation’s central bank owns 34 percent of the country’s government bonds and is one of the top 10 shareholders in 90 percent of the companies listed on the stock exchange, according to data from Bloomberg. “Central banks have done everything to markets,” said Julian Brigden of Macro Intelligence 2 Partners, an independent research company based in Vail, Colo. that advises large money management firms on global investment themes. “What makes you think they won’t want to do more?” Mr. Jen, the hedge fund manager, scoffed at the notion that the extraordinary central bank interventions of recent years were designed to stamp out deflationary threats and spark an increase in prices and economic activity in stagnant economies in Europe and Japan. “We have plenty of inflation, it’s just asset price inflation,” he argued, referring to elevated equity, bond and housing markets that have been one consequence of these policies. “People can’t live in cities anymore, and they are grumpy about their jobs. ” In Britain, this dynamic has been particularly acute. Thanks to aggressive central bank policies, house prices in London are among the most expensive in the world, yet the weekly average wage of 470 pounds, or about $632, is still £20 lower than it was before the financial crisis, according to the Resolution Foundation, a British research organization. Interestingly, one of the most vocal critics of central bank overreach has been the Bank for International Settlements itself. For years now, two senior economists at its research arm, Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin, have been arguing via speeches and papers that artificially low interest rates have created pernicious asset bubbles in equity and housing markets in the developed world and debt frenzies in emerging markets like China and Brazil. These views were highlighted again on Sunday in Basel with the presentation of the bank’s annual report. In a speech, Jaime Caruana, the bank’s managing director, said that extremely low interest rates were a threat to global financial stability as they “depress risk premia and stretch asset valuations. ” The result, Mr. Caruana contended, was the threat of a “loss of confidence in policy making” and “unrealistic expectations about growth and the ability of present policies to lift global growth. ” While couched in platitudes, Mr. Caruana’s message was clear enough. Persistent central bank interventions have not only created dangerous distortions, they have added to a sense of worldwide cynicism that these measures have not accomplished their central aims: lifting economic growth and increasing wages. It is worth noting that Mr. Caruana is familiar with asset bubbles: He was the head of Spain’s central bank a decade ago when reckless lending among the country’s financial institutions resulted in a boom and eventual bust of Spanish property prices. But, Mr. Brigden said, central bankers will have a harder time justifying an intervention when the markets are going haywire because of an election upset somewhere. Of course, bashing central bankers is always a popular and easy pastime for politicians, economists and investors alike. It is also true that central bankers in Britain, Europe, Japan and the United States have consistently said that their actions have been forced by the unwillingness of politicians and governments to act themselves. “Monetary policy cannot do it alone,” said Daniel C. Dektar, a bond investor at Amundi Smith Breeden, a global asset manager. “People have been left behind, which is creating sentiment in just about every democracy in the world. You would think that at some point governments would get the message. ”

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Singapore PM Lee says ready to step down in couple of years; no successor picked yet

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he was ready to step down in a couple of years time and his successor is likely already in the cabinet but a clear choice has yet to emerge In an interview with CNBC released on Friday, Lee, 65, the son of Singapore s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, said a new election could be called any time before 2021, when the current five-year parliamentary term ends. I am ready, said Lee, when asked if he was prepared to step down in the next couple of years. But he said he needed to make sure there was a successor ready to take over, adding: there are people in the wings. The question is, who it will be and that will need to be decided. I think it s very likely that he would be in the cabinet already but which one, well that would take a while to, to account, Lee said when asked he was close to finding a successor. Lee was speaking ahead of a visit to the United States starting Sunday - including a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Local media and analysts say Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing, a former army chief and a minister in the prime minister s office, are among potential successors. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam could be a candidate, although he has repeatedly said he does not want the job and he would be a surprise choice because he is a member of the minority ethnic Indian community. Singapore s leader since independence has always been a member of the majority Chinese community. Questions about succession in the wealthy Southeast Asian city state - which has been governed by the People s Action Party since independence in 1965 - came into focus when Lee, who has twice survived cancer, took ill during a televised speech last year and stumbled at a podium. Doctors subsequently said there were no serious concerns. Lee Kuan Yew s successor, Goh Chok Tong, was identified at least five years in advance while the current leader, who first entered politics in 1984, was also groomed for the position long before he took office in 2004. [nL8N1B30B4] Prime Minister Lee said he was saddened by a feud with his siblings which played out in the public earlier this year over the fate of Lee Kuan Yew s family home. [nL3N1JV06P] The matter is in abeyance. I m not sure if it s solved, Lee said in the CNBC interview, adding he and his siblings had not recently communicated. Lee Hsien Yang and sister Lee Wei Ling accused their elder brother of abusing state power to try to save the house as a historic monument in defiance of his father s wishes. [nL4N1KR04A] The prime minister called for an extraordinary special sitting of parliament in July and subsequently said that debate failed to find any substantiated evidence of abuse of power. He has said the government must decide what to do with the property. Perhaps one day when emotions have subsided, some movement will be possible. These things take time, Lee said.

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White House Gives Up Trying To Control Trump, Lawyers Are Ready To Quit (TWEETS)

Ever since his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has proven himself to be a loose cannon that no one can control. Trump s administration should have known better than to try and reign him in, and to have any hopes that he might be able to restrain himself once he won the election. Perhaps they would be handling his behavior better now, instead of abandoning the disgraceful POTUS.At the moment when Trump s Russia scandal is exploding and he needs his team more than ever, the White House has had it with Trump s incriminating Twitter rants. They once tried to control Trump in various ways such as keeping his schedule tight and only feeding him pro-Trump news, but now they re letting Trump do whatever the hell he wants. To make this even worse for the abandoned man baby in the White House, his lawyers are also at their wit s end. Because no one is controlling Trump, he s become impossible to defend as he continues to make his scandals worse.Gabriel Sherman stated:This basically seals the deal Trump is going down. Not that his team has ever been very successful at keeping him level-headed, but now that they re deliberately taking a hands off approach, he is doomed. His lawyers cannot possibly compete with the amount of damaging tweets Trump puts out every week, proving to the world that no one can take him down better than the man himself. Trump is an absolute nightmare for a legal team, as he repeatedly sabotages all efforts to mend his scandals.No one should be surprised that this is how Trump s administration is going down. The entire staff is made up of incompetent people who can t stand up to Trump and he knows it. The administration was dysfunctional from day one, and proved unable to reach Trump and convince him that shutting up was his best option. Now, Trump is left to his own devices with attorneys who don t even know how they re going to save him anymore.Featured image via Win McNamee / Getty Images

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Rising Number Of Kids Growing Up Without Backyards Blamed For Aussie Cricket Slump

Follow on Facebook Print This Post CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT Former Australian cricket captain, Ricky Ponting, has put the blame squarely on our nation’s town planners in the wake of another “very, very poor batting performance” that led to a heavy second Test defeat. “How do we expect to find any young talent when majority of our countries junior players are growing up in apartments? Or worse off the grid housing developments?” Amid concerns about coaching levels and the strength of club and Shield cricket, Ponting says we need to focus on decentralising our nation’s capital cities, so that kids ‘can grow up with a bit of space’. “Kids don’t learn how to knock them if they’ve got to constantly be worried about putting a hole through dad’s OLED television” “Or knocking grandpas ashes off the mantlepiece” Ponting warned Australia’s current players are starting to make Watson look tough, while the game in this country had been weakened by a rising number of children that have to use an elevator before they can even find a fucking drive way to roll the arm over. “It’s ridiculous. In my day we didn’t even have a neighbours window to worry about. This kids are too crammed” Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Our latest Tweets!

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Guinea rioters burn down police buildings in mining town, 17 wounded

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Hundreds of rioters in the Guinean bauxite mining town of Boke burned down a police and a gendarmerie building on Thursday and clashed with security forces wielding batons, leaving 17 people injured, the local Red Cross said. Guinean authorities managed to avoid the bloodshed of previous days by desisting from using live bullets on the demonstrators in the Boke neighborhood of Kolabounyi, Guinean Red Cross member Oumar Kalissa told Reuters by telephone. Rioting by angry youths - who say bauxite mining has brought constant pollution and noise but no jobs or services like water and electricity - has paralyzed Boke for most of the past week. Despite decades of mining, Guinea, Africa s top bauxite producer, remains one of the world s least developed countries. The mines around Boke produce some 15 million tonnes of aluminum ore for the West African nation s largest mining companies Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB) and Companie Bauxite de Guinee (CBG), but their operations have repeatedly halted in the past week and are currently still blocked by demonstrators. CBG is 49 percent owned by the Guinean state and the remainder by Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan [RIOXXA.UL] and Dadco. SMB is owned by Guinea, China s Winning Shipping Ltd, Shandong Weiqiao [SDWQP.UL] and UMS International Ltd. The Government strongly condemns these acts which are clearly outside law, government spokesman Damantang Albert Camara said in a statement.

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Megyn Kelly’s Pivotal Moment in a Post-Ailes Era at Fox News - The New York Times

Early last year, in an article in The New York Times Magazine, I defined what I called a “Megyn moment,” in a profile of the Fox News host Megyn Kelly: “When you, a Fox guest — maybe a regular guest or even an official contributor — are pursuing a line of argument that seems perfectly congruent with the Fox worldview, only to have Kelly seize on some part of it and call it out as nonsense, maybe even turn it back on you. ” When I wrote that article, the Megyn moment was notable because it was so unusual. Normally, if guests hewed close to Fox News’s perspective (President Obama, woefully incompetent or frighteningly efficient Democrats, bad, especially Hillary Clinton Republicans good, mostly all of them) they were pretty much safe from challenge. In letting Ms. Kelly break from that orthodoxy here and there, the Fox News chief Roger Ailes seemed to be experimenting with ways to expand his channel’s audience, which was older, whiter and in danger of atrophying despite its longtime perch atop the cable news ratings. Ms. Kelly’s youth and divergent approach had the potential to draw in new viewers. The question at the time was, how far would he be willing to let these Megyn moments go? And what did that mean for Fox? That question arose again after Ms. Kelly had another one of her moments on Tuesday night, with a longtime Fox guest and contributor, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker. But this time the question has taken on a more existential quality. The network’s longtime chairman, Mr. Ailes, was ousted over sexual harassment accusations last summer a potential new challenger is threatening to emerge from the right in Trump TV, however uncertain it might seem and Ms. Kelly and Fox’s other big star, Bill O’Reilly, are nearing the end of their contracts. Fox News’s very future is on the line. Ms. Kelly’s moment on Tuesday night initially fit the classic pattern. It began with Mr. Gingrich citing signs of positive news for Donald J. Trump from early voting counts, which he said augured a surprise victory for Mr. Trump. Ms. Kelly, clearly mindful of four years ago, when so many Fox News hosts doubted polls showing an Obama challenged him. “He’s been behind in virtually every one of the last 40 polls that we’ve seen over the past month, that’s the reality,” she said of Mr. Trump. But what really set Mr. Gingrich off was when Ms. Kelly said the sexual assault accusations against Mr. Trump were clearly taking a toll, raising questions about whether the candidate was “a sexual predator. ” Mr. Gingrich asked why Bill Clinton’s accusers weren’t getting covered, and Ms. Kelly replied by saying that on her show they were. The exchange became edgier, and more personal. Mr. Gingrich told her she was “fascinated with sex,” and she told him she was “fascinated by the protection of women. ” She signed off by telling him, “You can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them,” and he more or less said back atcha. (Mr. Trump provided his assessment of the exchange on Wednesday, saying “Congratulations, Newt, on last night. That was an amazing interview. ”) Although the pattern was typical, the rancor was not. And it represented a bigger split at Fox News. By all accounts, in the absence of Mr. Ailes, Ms. Kelly has been freer to pursue her show on her own terms, which are certainly not in line with those of either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump and therefore not in line with many in the Fox News core audience (let alone those of her old boss Mr. Ailes, who informally advised Mr. Trump before the debates). The same has held true for the Fox contributors who have not embraced Mr. Trump’s candidacy — like Dana Perino, the Republican of “The Five,” and the Weekly Standard writer Stephen F. Hayes. They have been given ample time and freedom to call it as they see it in ways that were not as obviously apparent earlier this year. In that vein, the Fox News host Chris Wallace emerged as an exceptional debate moderator in the third presidential debate, holding firm with both candidates and asking tough questions of each. But there’s a flip side. In this “Free( er) to Be You and Me” environment at Fox, network personalities have become even none more than Sean Hannity, the host whose show follows Ms. Kelly’s. An informal adviser to Mr. Trump, his rhetoric has grown as incendiary as that of his candidate. On the same day as Ms. Kelly’s confrontation with Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Hannity announced on his radio show that if Trump won, he would personally pay to fly President Obama to Canada or, for that matter, Kenya or Indonesia. It was a nod to the fake, old “birther” conspiracy that even Mr. Trump has eschewed after promoting it for years. So there, on Tuesday, were two distinct futures of Fox. Rupert Murdoch, whose family controls Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, has so far mostly kept it in its Ailesian mode, which, after all, has made Fox News a major profit driver for its corporate parent and kept it atop the cable news ratings. And Mr. Murdoch’s son Lachlan recently said it would be “foolish of us” to depart from “a winning strategy. ” But CNN is nipping at Fox News’s heels, managing to beat it in the news demographic that advertisers care most about — people between the ages of 25 and 54 — over the last four weeks, the first such sustained victory in 15 years. Still, nothing forces decisions in television news like the hard deadlines of talent contracts. Ms. Kelly’s comes up later next year, followed by that of Mr. O’Reilly. Every rival network has expressed interest in picking her up, and Tuesday night’s Megyn moment can only help her in that regard. The Murdochs have made it clear they would like Ms. Kelly to stay, which they showed with the $6 million advance their book imprint HarperCollins paid for her coming memoir, “Settle for More. ” On Wednesday night, The Wall Street Journal — a Fox News corporate sibling — quoted Rupert Murdoch as saying he viewed Ms. Kelly as important to the network and was hoping to have her contract locked down “very soon. ” But, he added, the network has a “deep bench” of personalities, any of whom would “give their right arm for her spot. ” But if the Murdochs persuade Ms. Kelly to stay, will there be room for her, Mr. Hannity and Mr. O’Reilly? Both Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Hannity have openly feuded with her, though Mr. Hannity’s fights have been more bitter and more recent. If Ms. Kelly stays, will they? Who knows if Mr. Trump will pursue some sort of television venture (he says he has no interest). But if he does, he could conceivably hire Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Hannity, who has a contract provision that would allow him to follow Mr. Ailes out the door (though the window is tight and it would presumably have to happen in relatively short order). A Trump venture raises the prospect of a more moderate — if still plenty — Fox News combating not just CNN and MSNBC but also a challenger from the right. Television news would never be the same.

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U.S. Presidential Race, Apple, Gene Wilder: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing - The New York Times

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. One of the Islamic State’s most senior strategists, Abu Muhammad was killed in the Syrian province of Aleppo. A founding member of ISIS, he was its chief propagandist and headed its efforts to instigate terror attacks in the West. _____ 2. The European Union’s antitrust enforcer ruled that huge tax breaks Ireland provided to Apple were illegal, ordering the country to collect about $14. 5 billion in back taxes. Apple described the record penalty as a “devastating blow” to the rule of law, and the U. S. despite its own frustrations with corporate schemes to avoid taxes, said it jeopardized “the important spirit of economic partnership between the U. S. and the E. U. ” _____ 3. races in Florida and Arizona made Tuesday one of the summer’s biggest congressional primary days. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, above, who was forced to step down as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee by an email leak, hung on to her South Florida House seat. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was nominated by Republican voters for a second term, and John McCain fought off a Republican challenger for his Senate seat. _____ 4. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are preparing for the first presidential debate, due in less than four weeks, in tellingly different ways. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers are consulting Mr. Trump’s ghostwriter on “The Art of the Deal” and psychology experts, reviewing his past performances and looking for trigger points. Mr. Trump has had freewheeling sessions with his debate team, but not mock debates with a Clinton . _____ 5. Brazil’s Senate could vote overnight on whether to convict President Dilma Rousseff of manipulating the federal budget to mask the extent of the country’s economic problems. “Don’t expect from me the obliging silence of cowards,” Ms. Rousseff said as she made a rebuttal on Monday. _____ 6. Israel has been quietly legalizing tiny outposts established by settlers in the West Bank over the past two decades. groups accuse the government of changing the map of the West Bank, now in its 50th year of Israeli occupation, and ruining any possibility of a solution. “We see it as a very gradual move toward annexation,” said an Israeli opponent. _____ 7. Reader appreciations for Gene Wilder are rolling in by the hundreds in comments on our obituary and on our Facebook post. Our critic mused on the genius of the comic actor, who died Monday at the age of 83: glimmering eyes, diction “as crisp as a potato chip” and a barely suppressed lunacy. “His Willy Wonka spent that chocolate factory tour quietly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. ” _____ 8. Our magazine has the back story of Oliver Stone’s herculean efforts to make “Snowden,” the biopic of Edward Snowden opening Sept. 16. Mr. Stone became preoccupied with warding off government surveillance and schemed to secure Mr. Snowden’s appearance in the movie’s finale. That passage required nine takes. “Ed is used to answering questions on a level of intelligence,” Mr. Stone said. “But I was interested in the emotional, which is difficult for him. ” _____ 9. An organization that tracks extremist groups in the U. S. has declared one of them, White Lives Matter, a hate group. Established in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, the group argues that white Americans are being eradicated by immigration and intermarriage. “I wish Hitler were here alive and well today,” one of its founders wrote on a social networking site. _____ 10. Two years ago, turmoil swept over a New Hampshire prep school after a student accused a senior of raping her. He was convicted of misdemeanor charges. Now, the unnamed student has come forward. In an interview with NBC, Chessy Prout described the difficulties she faced, including being shunned by fellow students, and offered support for other victims: “I want other people to feel empowered and just strong enough to be able to say: ‘I have the right to my body. I have the right to say no.’ ” _____ 11. Finally, this is a scientifically proven good dog. It’s one of a group that Hungarian researchers trained to enter a magnetic resonance imaging machine and lie quietly in a harness while their brain activity was recorded. The study found that dogs react not only to the tone of your voice, but also to the words themselves. So, as with humans, both meaning and emotional content matter. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

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Can We Live in a Constant State of Love?

Leave a reply Toni Emerson – When we fall in love, our heart becomes full of feel-good qualities that infuse our life with joy and excitement. Everything feels light, fresh and more vibrant. We wake up to a brighter day, the air is warmer, the sun is brighter, everything is right with the world. Living life through the interactive and colorful kaleidoscope of love is one of the highest human experiences . Wouldn’t it be fantastic to capture this experience and transform it into a permanent state of being? In my next few articles, we will formulate our unique blueprint to reconnect to our love source and transition from experiences of love which come and go to living love at its fullest moment to moment. Love & Emotions Understanding the difference between love and the many feelings inspired by love is essential in realizing that love is the baseline from which everything else emerges. As human beings, we experience many emotional states under love’s vast umbrella, yet each one of them fails to convey the totality of what love is. Love is not equal to the sum of its parts. It is far more powerful than transient emotions. It is an integral state of being waiting to be rediscovered. Each deeply nourishing emotion ushered by love stands on its own merits and offers its own specific gifts. These emotions assist us in reaching our full potential as human being by deepening our interior faculties and also by giving us the human qualities that propel us into action to help others in need and to make our world a better world. Love’s Ambassadors Love’s ambassadors enrich our life experience and increase our range of perception. Love’s ambassadors are: compassion, joy, kindness, wisdom, peace, gratitude, equanimity, appreciation, pleasure, acceptance, intimacy, benevolence, grace, generosity, respect, sympathy, among others. All these supreme heart qualities advocate on behalf of love and fall under its vast umbrella, but none of them define what love is. They suggest what love might feel like, they point in the direction of love, but they individually and collectively do not come close to the full spectrum of love’s power. Each heart quality is unique and offers special gifts. For example, appreciation may feel like love but actually represents a recognition of a certain quality. It has a finite characteristic. So does gratitude which has many uplifting vibrations and is essentially the crystal clear awareness and heartfelt acknowledge-ment of life’s gifts. Compassion, Love’s Favorite Wingman Many of these qualities are considered to be divine in nature because they embody the highest human values. Wisdom traditions foster these qualities of the heart while making the distinction between love and its ambassadors, most notably between love and compassion. The tender feeling evoked by compassion is considered to be a universal virtue, one we extend towards ourselves but more frequently towards other people’s suffering. Compassion has a global history with various ways of expression, depending on cultural differences, yet it has held throughout times its distinct benevolent meaning and its position as love’s favorite wingman. One of the Buddhist interpretation of compassion is the desire to relieve sentient beings of suffering, while love is the desire to bring happiness to sentient beings . The Christian tradition holds universal love to be the principal message of Jesus (the Gospels), with many direct references of love in the Bible, and compassion is viewed as the method for enacting this love as part of our responsibility to alleviate human suffering in the world. In Hinduism, all love for others is considered self love as brahma (universal soul) manifested in the individual ( atman ) while seva (selfless service) is a central theme of life, practical compassion in action and our duty to humanity. Love Is A State Of Being “I’m not interested in being a “lover.” I’m interested in only being love.” — Ram Dass Love evokes the largest colony of feelings known to man. Nothing else comes close. It commands basic emotions, activates a host of feel good feelings and also has the unique capacity to deactivate negative feelings on contact. The power of love to dissolve negativity cannot be underestimated. This power becomes our closest ally in removing the emotional blocks that keep us isolated from our love source. Love is not an emotion. Happiness, in contrast, is an emotion, and as with any other emotion, it comes and goes depending on the circumstances triggering it. We often make the mistake of reducing love to the level of emotion, thereby diluting its power and settling for small love experiences that indeed come and go. If we become aware of this type of love, its qualities, where it comes from, why it comes up in our lives, we notice that generally the emotion we call love is but a shadow of the deeper state of love which is our essence. Love is not sentimentality or even romanticism. Those are what we do with love to express its many delicious ways and plays. When love is a state of being , we can actually experience unhappiness and still be rooted in love. We can feel love amidst other emotions. Love is the background on which all other emotional scenery go by. These distinctions are sometimes faint, delicate, because they are translated according to the depth of our perception. Psychological well-being does not indicate the presence of love, but rather the absence of turmoil, and remains very dependent on the pendulum of life forever swinging from one side to the other, from pleasure to pain. Love as a state of being is independent of outside circumstances. So far, we have been used to the smallest indication of what love really is. We have limited love to an intellectual idea or a set of well delineated beliefs. That is hardly satisfying to the soul, isn’t it? It does not come close to the actual experience of living in a state of love. The absolute difference is to be felt, not just understood. Searching for the state of being called love leads us to the ultimate discovery of who we really are and what our purpose is. Please join me on this adventure, and In the next articles let’s recognize together love in a new light and realize that it has been inside of us all along. Love is just waiting to be discovered, again. SF Source Dreamcatcher Reality

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WATCH: Obama Celebrates Jobs Win, Drops Truth Bomb That Will Make GOP Squeal (IMAGE)

In January of 2016, the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9%, the lowest it has been since February of 2008 as America dealt with the repercussions of the job-killing Bush Recession.Revisions also showed that 2015 was even better for jobs than initial reports had indicated.In terms of the revisions, today s report is the once-a-year report that revises every month from the previous calendar year. On this front, the news is also good: we previously believed the U.S. economy created 2.65 million jobs in 2015, but the new, final tally is 2.74 million.January was the 64th consecutive month of positive job growth the best stretch since 1939 and the 71st consecutive month in which we ve seen private-sector job growth, which is the longest on record.President Obama took the opportunity of the successful jobs report to make an appearance before reporters today, and noted that We should feel good about the progress we ve made and that the U.S. economy is the strongest in the world, while at the same time Americans were working and getting bigger paychecks. He also dinged Republicans, who have opposed the economic reforms proposed during his administration, and in fact have tried their best to slow down the recovery. Obama noted that the positive figures are Inconvenient for Republican stump speeches as their doom and despair tour plays in New Hampshire. I guess you cannot please everybody. He also pointed out that the right has not offered anything beyond rhetoric. Those who are running down the economy and adding to the anxiety don t seem to have any plausible, coherent recipe other than cut taxes for those who have been doing the very best in this economy and somehow magically, that s gonna make other folks feel good, Obama said. Or, alternatively they argue the reason you re feeling insecure is because immigrants, or poor people are taking more and more of your paycheck and that is just not true. The facts don t bear that out. MSNBC s Steve Benen released a chart showing the comparison between Obama s record on jobs and the situation he encountered when taking over for Bush. It gives an excellent picture of how far the economy has come, and a warning about what could be lost.US Unemployment: Bush vs ObamaFeatured image via YouTube

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AWESOME PHOTOS CAPTURE A “Badass” Trump And His Retired Navy Seal Cabinet Member On Horseback

While visiting the USS Gerald R. Ford today docked at Newport News in Virginia where he gave a wonderful speech, President Trump was given an awesome new hat and bomber jacket. We think he looks pretty spectacular, and would go as far as to say that he looks like a pretty badass Commander In Chief. President Trump started his speech by saying: They just gave me this beautiful jacket. They said here Mr President, please take this home . I said let me wear it . Here are a few photos from our Commander in Chief s visit aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford:We re pretty sure that most Americans are grateful that after 8 long years of the me first Commander in Chief, we re ready for someone who truly respects and honors the men and women who wear the uniform: And in other news, Trump s new badass Interior Department secretary and retired Navy Seal Ryan Zinke, caused quite a stir today when he showed up on horseback in DC on his first day on the job.On his first day on the job, the new Interior Department secretary, Ryan Zinke, proved he knows how to make an entrance: arriving high in the saddle on Tonto, an Irish sport horse. Mounted police escorted him a few blocks through Washington.Mr. Zinke, a fifth-generation Montanan who now oversees the country s 500 million acres of public land, including 59 national parks, showed up to work to a grand reception.Officers from various agencies under the Interior Department lined the steps to the administration building. A drummer from his home state s Northern Cheyenne tribe performed. The department is the liaison with federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native nations.Mr. Zinke, 55, served nearly two dozen years with the Navy SEALs before entering politics in 2008 as a Republican. After two terms in the Montana legislature, he was elected in 2014 as the state s at-large representative in the House, before his nomination to the cabinet by President Trump. He was confirmed on Wednesday by the Senate with a vote of 68-31. NYT s

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Senate Democrats block Syria refugee bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday narrowly blocked legislation that would slow the entry of refugees from Syria and Iraq to the United States in a contentious vote cloaked in presidential election-year politics. The vote was 55-43, with “yes” votes falling short of the 60 needed to advance the Republican-backed measure in the 100-member Senate. No Republicans voted against the bill, and only two Democrats backed it. Among other things, the bill would halt the admission of refugees and require high-level U.S. officials to verify that each refugee from Iraq and Syria posed no security risk before being allowed into the United States. Republicans said the tighter screening was essential to ensure the safety of Americans and prevent attacks within the country by Islamic State and other militant groups. “This bipartisan bill would allow Washington to step back, take a breath and ensure it has the correct policies and security screenings in place,” Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in the Senate before the vote. Democrats called the legislation an attack on people who are fleeing war. They accused Republicans of holding the vote to allow their 2016 presidential candidates serving in the Senate to back legislation touted as tough on security. All three Senate Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, backed the bill. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders missed the vote. Democrats also sought to play politics. They tried and failed to reach a deal with Republicans to set up a vote on an amendment establishing a religious test for would-be immigrants. That vote was planned to see if Republicans would side against presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has advocated barring Muslims from entering the United States. The Syria refugee bill passed the House by a large margin days after the Nov. 13 Islamic State attacks in Paris. The bill was supported by dozens of Democrats who defied Democratic President Barack Obama’s veto threat. “We need to talk about efforts to defeat ISIS, not creating more paperwork for cabinet secretaries,” Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, told reporters before the vote. It currently takes 18-24 months for Syrian refugees to be screened before they can move to the United States. Washington has offered refuge to far fewer of the millions fleeing war in Syria and Iraq than many of its closest allies in Europe and the Middle East. Obama announced last year that he would admit 10,000 Syrians.

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THE “OBAMA BOUNCE”: UKIP Leader Claims Obama’s Insulting Threat To UK Voters BACKFIRED…Actually Drove Voters To Support “Leave EU” Movement

Barack Hussein Obama has been in over his head since he first stepped foot in the White House. Our Community Organizer In Chief just found out how unwelcome his Chicago style politics are in the UK UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage told Breitbart that the visit by President Obama, where he threatened to send Britain to the back of the queue if the public voted to leave the European Union (EU), backfired and caused a Brexit Bounce , swaying Britons to vote for Brexit.Comparing the outcome to the American Independence Day, Mr. Farage said: You [Americans] have your Independence Day where in July you celebrate being your own country, governing yourself, having your own courts, controlling your own borders and that s what happened to us yesterday. We have broken away from a political union where our power was being overruled, our courts were being overruled, and we had a complete open border for anybody from southern and eastern Europe, so this is a major historic step. On the EU post-Brexit, he said: We ve not just changed British history. I m sure that the EU project itself will now come tumbling down. I would like to think and hope that right across the globe what we ve done is to prove that people power can beat the establishment. The European Union project has failed. It is dying before your very eyes. It is unwanted, it is unloved, and people across the country are saying what UKIP has been saying for years: We want our country back, we want our democracy back, we want the closest possible relationship with our neighbours. We re happy to have a NAFTA kind of agreement with free trade, but we don t want political union . Asked of any lessons drawn from his own experiences that could be applied during the American presidential elections, Mr. Farage advised: Threatening people insults their intelligence. Don t threaten people repeatedly because if you do in the end they think you re crying wolf and they won t believe you. It s Project Fear, or in the end when Obama came it was Project Threat.Citing Mr. Obama s visit to the UK at the request of Prime Minister David Cameron:The lessons learnt from the Obama visit are fascinating. Here is the most powerful man in the world coming from a country that we have always had huge regard for. And people in Britain listening to Obama said: how dare the American president come here and tell us what to do and it backfired.And I think we got an Obama Brexit Bounce, because people do not want to be told how to think and how to vote. BreitbartWatch here to see how citizens reacted to Obama s threat:https://youtu.be/w-DSGtfWgegRepublican lawmakers warned US President Barack Obama his controversial intervention into the British EU referendum debate threatens to harm the special relationship. During a visit timed to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II s 90th birthday earlier this year, Obama warned that the United States would be in no hurry to agree a bilateral trade deal with a Britain outside the EU. I think it s fair to say that maybe at some point down the line there might be a UK-US trade agreement, but it s not going to happen any time soon because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done. And the UK is going to be at the back of the queue, he said.Obama s comments caused furore among Leave campaigners, with UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage accusing Obama of talking Britain down. Former Defense Minister Liam Fox dismissed the president s intervention, calling his views largely irrelevant, as he will soon be leaving the White House. Via: RT

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LOL! Shelia Jackson Lee Declares that Houston is 50′ Below Sea Level [Video]

Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee joined Roland Martin to talk about the devastation left from Hurricane Harvey. To get a picture of what s happening in Houston the congresswoman tried to explain at the 2:20 mark that, Many people don t know that we are 50 feet below sea level and are still flooding. HUH??? WHAAAAT???? Yes, she opened her mouth and removed all doubt she s clueless!FACTS: SEA LEVEL = HOUSTON: Downtown Houston stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level, and the highest point in far northwest Houston is about 125 feet (38 m) in elevation. Land along the Texas Gulf Coast is sinking at the rate of about 2 inches per decade, which may not seem like much.DON T FORGET THAT RACE CARD: 3:45 Martin starts to talk about the black folks Is the storm racist now?Jackson Lee and Martin went on to pull out that race card: Houston neighborhoods have been hit, but a majority of them have been African American neighborhoods that are underwater. That s where we keep going back to, explained Lee.As of now, Congresswoman Lee wants to, Make sure the President complies and keeps the promises that he made. That people can return to their lives.

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The Corruption of Bill Clinton, Inc.

Aide lays out how the former president raked in tens of millions of dollars through a series of deals while Hillary was Secretary of State in a memo unearthed by Wikileaks By Khaleda Rahman Daily Mail October 28, 2016 The latest hacked email released by WikiLeaks details how one of Bill Clinton’s closest aides helped rake in tens of millions for the former president while his wife was serving as Secretary of State. The 12-page memo was sent by Clinton’s former aide Doug Band in 2011 to him, his daughter Chelsea, several board members of the Clinton Foundation and its lawyers as well as it’s then special advisor John Podesta. Published on Wednesday by Wikileaks, after a hack of thousands of emails from Podesta’s account, it details how Band helped run what he called ‘Bill Clinton Inc.’ Band and another aide helped secure $66million from ventures, including speaking fees, according to the memo. He wrote that using his role as the president of his own consulting firm Teneo, Band worked to raise funds for the Foundation and Clinton personally. Band also wrote that he helped obtain ‘in-kind services for the President and his family – for personal, travel, hospital, vacation and the like.’ ‘Throughout the past almost 11 years since President Clinton left office, I have sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo to support and raise funds for the Foundation,’ Band wrote. ‘This memorandum strives to set forth how I have endeavored to support the Clinton Foundation and President Clinton personally.’ Under a section called ‘For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e. Bill Clinton, Inc)’ Brand said he and another aide, Justin Cooper brought Clinton all four of his advisory arrangements at the time. These yielded more than $30million in personal income – with a further $66million to be paid out over the next nine years should he continue with them. One of these roles was serving as honorary Chairman of Laureate International Universities, a chain of for-profit colleges, which paid Clinton $3.5million a year from 2010 until 2015 when the contract ended and his wife started her run for president. Band also mentioned that neither he nor Cooper was compensated for the work. They were not paid a fee or percentage of the income, but only received their Foundation salaries. Band also said that Teneo was responsible for negotiating a number of speaking fees for Clinton, including $1.15million from Ericson and $900,000 from UBS.

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German Defense Minister warns Donald Trump to stay away from Russia and commit full to NATO

November 12, 2016 2703 German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said the US president-elect needs to understand NATO is more about values than business-like behavior. Share on Facebook German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is in panic mode. Her fear is that Trump may actually call out NATO’s uselessness…and that would mean Germany, and other NATO freeloaders, may actually have pay for their own security. That is why, when von der Leyen warns Trump to not even think about rapprochement with Russia, she is signaling her fear that such a rapprochement would mean the end of her and her war hungry cronies. When von der Leyen tells Trump that NATO stood by the US after the 9/11 attacks, and that NATO “isn’t just a business,” she is trying to kiss Trump’s ass, and admitting that NATO is in fact a “business.” And of course no NATO grand standing would be complete without the exhausted and fictional argument that NATO is actually useful in countering Moscow on Syria and Ukraine. RT reports … Appearing on the ZDF Thursday show ‘Maybrit Illner’, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen emotionally argued that the US president-elect needs to understand NATO is more about values than business-like behavior. She also went on to address some unfounded speculation circulating in Western capitals, namely that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are in a ‘bromance’ – a kind of relationship between the two leaders that would benefit bilateral ties between Moscow and Washington. Therefore, the Defense Minister continued, the issues of the Ukrainian conflict and the ongoing anti-terrorist efforts in the Syrian city of Aleppo are not to be taken off the table during discussions with Moscow. Here are some of von der Leyen remarks to Trump with regard to NATO… “What his advisers will hopefully tell him and what he needs to learn is that NATO isn’t just a business. It’s not a company.” “I don’t know how he values NATO.” “You can’t say ‘the past doesn’t matter, the values we share don’t matter’ but instead try to get as much money out of [NATO] as possible and whether I can have a nice deal out of it,” “Donald Trump has to say clearly on which side he is. Whether he is on the side of the law, peaceful order and democracy or whether he does not care about this and is looking instead for a best buddy.” For his part, Trump has been lukewarm on the whole NATO charade…and rightly so. RT reminds us of what Trump has said about NATO … During his election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly voiced skepticism towards the bloc, calling it “obsolete” in the era of fighting terrorism worldwide. “Maybe NATO will dissolve and that’s OK, not the worst thing in the world,” he said earlier. Trump, however, earlier dismissed claims he favors Putin both personally and as a political leader, saying on NBC in September: “I don’t know him, I know nothing about him really. I just think if we got along with Russia that’s not a bad thing.” Trump has also suggested that the US should not engage too much in defending European allies. “Hey, NATO allies,” Trump wrote in a Facebook post in July, “If we are not reimbursed for the tremendous cost of protecting you, I will tell you – congratulations, you will be defending yourself.”

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We Came, We Saw, He Died: How Gaddafi Was Hunted And Ruthlessly Killed

Email Exactly five years ago, Libya’s ex-leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was brutally murdered by rebels who discovered him in drainage pipes following a NATO air strike that hit his convoy on the outskirts of his hometown, Sirte. The following day, his body was put on display in a storage freezer in the city of Misrata. Via CollectiveEvolution This probed a controversial response from then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who remarked, “We came, we saw, he died.” On April 2, 2011, she received an email from Sidney Blumenthal, who served as her unofficial intelligence operative. The message discussed France’s reasoning for joining the war against Gaddafi in Libya. Blumenthal wrote in the email that Gaddafi had “nearly bottomless financial resources” for pursuing his campaign against the rebels. And while Libya’s frozen bank accounts had become an obstacle, he still had nearly 143 tons of gold and a similar amount in silver that accumulated to a total of $7 billion. SPONSORED LINKS Scroll Down For Video Below! The email goes on to say that Gaddafi had taken the gold before the rebellion in order to “establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar.” The idea was apparently to present a currency in the African region in order to compete with the French Franc. Blumenthal said, “French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya.” Just months later, on October 20, 2011, Gaddafi was murdered . Now, five years later, the once successful Arab country is in a state of chaos filled with tribal wars, leading to tens of thousands of Libyans dead, and displacing hundreds of thousands more. Gaddafi’s death immediately led to an intense power struggle that turned into a civil war. Ultimately, Islamic militant and terrorist groups, like ISIS, carried out attacks on Libyan oil and other important groundwork. Gaddafi had, prior to his reign, advocated socialist ideas. Upon graduating from a military academy in Benghazi, he joined a plot to throw out King Idris I, which eventually happened in September 1969, leading to Gaddafi being promoted to Colonel, and his officers taking on a grand campaign to overturn Western capitalism. British and U.S. military bases in Libya were then closed down, and Western oil companies were immediately nationalized. Gaddafi promised to rule out corruption and enact serious changes in the country’s social, economic, and political life. He created the Jamahiriya, which is an Arabic term that translates to “state of the masses.” His republic vowed to incorporate anarchist, Marxist, and Islamist practices. By March 1977, Gaddafi called for a “people’s republic” referred to as the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Gaddafi served as president, banning all political organizations, with the exception of his devised Arab Socialist Union. By 1979, Gaddafi resigned in order to work for a “continuation of the revolution,” and changed his title to the Leader of the Revolution. The government took advantage of oil money to create extensive and seemingly outlandish social reforms. He proposed that women be allowed to study, serve in the army, and move up the social ladder, for instance. The West and conservative Arab countries remained hesitant of the successful and passionate leader, and remained hands-off until the 2011 region was hit with Arab Spring “revolutions.” The protests-turned-armed-conflict in Libya came about in February 2011, with people demanding Gaddafi to resign after 40 years of ruling the Libyan Arab Republic. Eventually, opponents gained control over almost all of Libya. On March 17, 2011, the U.S. and Western allies proposed a settlement by the UN Security Council that implemented a no-fly zone over Libya which caused Western airstrikes on Gaddafi’s forces. Gaddafi was accused of bombing his own people, and using foreign mercenaries to halt anti-government protests. On March 19, 2011, NATO airstrikes commenced, led by France, and then followed by the US, the UK, and several other countries. NATO jets eventually targeted Gaddafi’s home on April 29, where he survived, but his youngest son and three children were killed. On June 27, the International Criminal Court granted a request to issue a warrant for the arrest of Gaddalfi, as well as his son, Saif al-Islam. By August 21, rebel fighters from Libya’s National Transitional Council bombarded the capital Tripoli to take over the government compound. Gaddafi refused to back down and leave the capital, and called for his loyalists to fight until the bitter end. By the 23, NTC fighters had overrun Tripoli, and taken Gaddafi’s reign out from underneath him. This caused Gaddafi and his loyalists to flee the capital 10 days later, ending up in his hometown of Sirte. Throughout September 2011, Gaddafi loyalists were overrun, and by October, all of Sirte had been captured by the rebels, except for a northern neighborhood referred to as Number Two, where Gaddafi was hiding out. But by October 20, the Libyan rebels had pinpointed Gaddafi’s location there. With Tripoli in ruins, and Number Two under attack, Gaddafi’s life seemed a ticking time bomb. That day, the once leader was injured from a NATO air attack, but many others were killed. Gaddafi sought refuge in a nearby drainage facility along with some of his closest aids. His hideout was soon discovered by a unit of the National Transitional Council, who then assaulted him, including sexually, and then took him prisoner, and are believed to have tortured and killed both him and his son before they were murdered.

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Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — For much of the summer, the F. B. I. pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead — which they ultimately came to doubt — about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank. Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F. B. I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump. Hillary Clinton’s supporters, angry over what they regard as a lack of scrutiny of Mr. Trump by law enforcement officials, pushed for these investigations. In recent days they have also demanded that James B. Comey, the director of the F. B. I. discuss them publicly, as he did last week when he announced that a new batch of emails possibly connected to Mrs. Clinton had been discovered. Supporters of Mrs. Clinton have argued that Mr. Trump’s evident affinity for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin — Mr. Trump has called him a great leader and echoed his policies toward NATO, Ukraine and the war in Syria — and the hacks of leading Democrats like John D. Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign, are clear indications that Russia has taken sides in the presidential race and that voters should know what the F. B. I. has found. The F. B. I. ’s inquiries into Russia’s possible role continue, as does the investigation into the emails involving Mrs. Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, on a computer she shared with her estranged husband, Anthony D. Weiner. Mrs. Clinton’s supporters argue that voters have as much right to know what the F. B. I. has found in Mr. Trump’s case, even if the findings are not yet conclusive. “You do not hear the director talking about any other investigation he is involved in,” Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Democrat of New York, said after Mr. Comey’s letter to Congress was made public. “Is he investigating the Trump Foundation? Is he looking into the Russians hacking into all of our emails? Is he looking into and deciding what is going on with regards to other allegations of the Trump Organization?” Mr. Comey would not even confirm the existence of any investigation of Mr. Trump’s aides when asked during an appearance in September before Congress. In the Obama administration’s internal deliberations over identifying the Russians as the source of the hacks, Mr. Comey also argued against doing so and succeeded in keeping the F. B. I. ’s imprimatur off the formal findings, a law enforcement official said. His stance was first reported by CNBC. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, responded angrily on Sunday with a letter accusing the F. B. I. of not being forthcoming about Mr. Trump’s alleged ties with Moscow. “It has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government — a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity,” Mr. Reid wrote. “The public has a right to know this information. ” F. B. I. officials declined to comment on Monday. Intelligence officials have said in interviews over the last six weeks that apparent connections between some of Mr. Trump’s aides and Moscow originally compelled them to open a broad investigation into possible links between the Russian government and the Republican presidential candidate. Still, they have said that Mr. Trump himself has not become a target. And no evidence has emerged that would link him or anyone else in his business or political circle directly to Russia’s election operations. At least one part of the investigation has involved Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman for much of the year. Mr. Manafort, a veteran Republican political strategist, has had extensive business ties in Russia and other former Soviet states, especially Ukraine, where he served as an adviser to that country’s ousted president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. But the focus in that case was on Mr. Manafort’s ties with a kleptocratic government in Ukraine — and whether he had declared the income in the United States — and not necessarily on any Russian influence over Mr. Trump’s campaign, one official said. In classified sessions in August and September, intelligence officials also briefed congressional leaders on the possibility of financial ties between Russians and people connected to Mr. Trump. They focused particular attention on what cyberexperts said appeared to be a mysterious computer back channel between the Trump Organization and the Alfa Bank, which is one of Russia’s biggest banks and whose owners have longstanding ties to Mr. Putin. F. B. I. officials spent weeks examining computer data showing an odd stream of activity to a Trump Organization server and Alfa Bank. Computer logs obtained by The New York Times show that two servers at Alfa Bank sent more than 2, 700 “ ” messages — a first step for one system’s computers to talk to another — to a server beginning in the spring. But the F. B. I. ultimately concluded that there could be an innocuous explanation, like a marketing email or spam, for the computer contacts. The most serious part of the F. B. I. ’s investigation has focused on the computer hacks that the Obama administration now formally blames on Russia. That investigation also involves numerous officials from the intelligence agencies. Investigators, the officials said, have become increasingly confident, based on the evidence they have uncovered, that Russia’s direct goal is not to support the election of Mr. Trump, as many Democrats have asserted, but rather to disrupt the integrity of the political system and undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly. The hacking, they said, reflected an intensification of operations that never entirely abated after the Cold War but that have become more aggressive in recent years as relations with Mr. Putin’s Russia have soured. A senior intelligence official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing national security investigation, said the Russians had become adept at exploiting computer vulnerabilities created by the relative openness of and reliance on the internet. Election officials in several states have reported what appeared to be cyberintrusions from Russia, and while many doubt that an Election Day hack could alter the outcome of the election, the F. B. I. agencies across the government are on alert for potential disruptions that could wreak havoc with the voting process itself. “It isn’t about the election,” a second senior official said, referring to the aims of Russia’s interference. “It’s about a threat to democracy. ” The investigation has treated it as a counterintelligence operation as much as a criminal one, though agents are also focusing on whether anyone in the United States was involved. The officials declined to discuss any individual targets of the investigation, even when assured of anonymity. As has been the case with the investigation into Mrs. Clinton, the F. B. I. has come under intense partisan political pressure — something the bureau’s leaders have long sought to avoid. Supporters of both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump have been equally impassioned in calling for investigations — and even in providing leads for investigators to follow. Mr. Reid, in a letter to Mr. Comey in August, asserted that Mr. Trump’s campaign “has employed a number of individuals with significant and disturbing ties to the Russia and the Kremlin. ” Although Mr. Reid cited no evidence and offered no names explicitly, he clearly referred to one of Mr. Trump’s earlier campaign advisers, Carter Page. Mr. Page, a former Merrill Lynch banker who founded an investment company in New York, Global Energy Capital, drew attention during the summer for a speech in which he criticized the United States and other Western nations for a “hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change” in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Mr. Page responded with his own letter to Mr. Comey, denying wrongdoing and calling Mr. Reid’s accusations “a witch hunt. ” In an interview, he said that he had never been contacted by the F. B. I. and that the accusations were baseless and purely partisan because of his policy views on Russia. “These people really seem to be grasping at straws,” he said. Democrats have also accused another Republican strategist and Trump confidant, Roger Stone, of being a conduit between the Russian hackers and WikiLeaks, which has published the emails of the Democratic National Committee and Mr. Podesta, the Clinton campaign manager. Mr. Stone boasted of having contacts with the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, and appeared to predict the hacking of Mr. Podesta’s account, though he later denied having any prior knowledge. Mr. Stone derided the accusations and those raised by Michael J. Morell, a former C. I. A. director and a Clinton supporter, who has called Mr. Trump “an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation. ” In an article on the conservative news site Breitbart, Mr. Stone denied having links to Russians and called the accusations “the new McCarthyism. ”

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One Season Ends and Another Begins: Baseball Playoff Matchups Are Set - The New York Times

The baseball gods spend six months twisting the sport into a knotty lump. No one knows quite how to untangle it, and then the final week zips by. All those possibilities, resolved just like that. The season rushes to the end. “Rushes to the end,” Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said, musing in his office at Yankee Stadium before this weekend’s critical series. “That sounds like a great name for a book. ” Now we can close the volume on the 2016 regular season. The Orioles survived to live another day, earning a date in Toronto on Tuesday for the American League game against the Blue Jays. The Mets will host the National League game the next night, against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field. The Orioles and the Blue Jays both won on Sunday to finish with identical records, . The Blue Jays won the teams’ season series to earn the right to host the game, which was also how the Mets did it. The Mets and the Giants both finished but the Mets won the season series. The A. L. winner will face the Texas Rangers, who went in a division series opener on Thursday. The Boston Red Sox will visit Cleveland that day to start their series with the Indians. The N. L. series begin Friday in Chicago and Washington, with the Cubs ( ) facing the winner and the Nationals hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before we get there, though, the appetizers will be delicious. The Orioles lost the A. L. Championship Series in 2014. The Blue Jays lost it last year. Neither of the teams, rivals in the A. L. East, has won a pennant in decades, and both are trying to do it with brute force. The Orioles led the majors in homers this season, with 253, and the Blue Jays had 221 — the next highest total in the playoff field. The N. L. game features a dream pitchers’ duel: the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard against the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner. In Syndergaard’s last postseason appearance — Game 3 of last fall’s World Series against Kansas City — he announced his presence with a fastball to the backstop, then earned the Mets’ only victory. In Bumgarner’s last October game, he twirled five shutout innings on the road on two days’ rest to close out the Royals in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. The Royals are missing from the stage this time, slumping to a . 500 record after their two trips to the World Series. Also absent: the St. Louis Cardinals, bystanders to the party after a streak of five postseason visits. The Cardinals were alive at the start of play on Sunday but needed a victory and a loss by the Giants to force a tiebreaker game with San Francisco. The Cardinals beat Pittsburgh, but the Giants did not comply. They thumped the Dodgers, sweeping their final series after a ghastly second half had threatened their playoff hopes. The Detroit Tigers also started the day needing help to keep playing. Their path to the wild card would have been complicated had they survived Sunday, the Tigers would then have had to make up a game rained out last week. Instead, the Tigers made it easy on themselves. They got seven strong innings from their ace, Justin Verlander, but lost by in Atlanta when Justin Upton took a called third strike to end it with the tying run on first base. The game finished with fans doing one last tomahawk chop chant, summoning the glory days of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux. All returned to Turner Field as the Braves closed the park after only 20 seasons, bound for a new home in suburban Cobb County next spring. The stadium had a brief and unfulfilling legacy. The Braves were a certified powerhouse when it opened, but they played only two World Series games within its walls, losing both to the Yankees in 1999. Three other teams — the 1997 Marlins, the 1998 Padres and the 2001 Diamondbacks — won the N. L. pennant on the Braves’ ground. The Braves were one of eight teams with 90 losses this season, but no team came within nine games of the Minnesota Twins, who managed a victory Sunday over Chris Sale, the ace of the Chicago White Sox, to finish . It was the worst record for the franchise since 1949, when it was the Washington Senators. After the game, White Sox Manager Robin Ventura announced he would not return next season. Ventura, the popular former third baseman, led Chicago to a winning record as a rookie manager in 2012, but four losing seasons followed. “It’s not like they’re going to be building a statue out on the concourse,” he told reporters in Chicago, in his trademark deadpan, when asked what his legacy would be. “You do what you can, and that’s all you can really do. ” There were other goodbyes around the game. Boston’s David Ortiz played his final game, and the Red Sox announced that they would retire his No. 34. The Yankees held a ceremony to honor Mark Teixeira, their first baseman for the last eight years, who is retiring after 14 seasons. The Phillies also saluted first baseman Ryan Howard, whose option they will decline after the season. Howard was the last link to the Phillies’ most recent championship, in 2008. He finished his final season in Philadelphia with a . 196 average, the precise average Mike Schmidt produced as a rookie in 1973. Schmidt and Howard combined for 930 homers and led the Phillies to their only two titles. Ortiz, Teixeira and Howard all went hitless, though Ortiz will get more swings in the playoffs. Vin Scully, the voice of the Dodgers for the last 67 seasons, had a more elegant . Scully, 88, finished his career at the home of the Dodgers’ rivals, who dedicated a plaque in the visiting broadcast booth at ATT Park to commemorate his final game. Willie Mays dropped in for the occasion. Scully grew up in New York and rooted for the Giants as a boy, sharing the story in his closing remarks after the game. “You and I have been friends for a long time,” Scully told his audience. “But I know in my heart that I’ve always needed you more than you’ve ever needed me, and I’ll miss our time together more than I can say. ”

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Political polarization on Facebook | Institution

Data scientists at Facebook recently published their research on how people consume political news on the social network. The study is noteworthy because the researchers had direct access to Facebook’s own data. It examines the factors that influence the likelihood that liberals or conservatives will click on news articles that are cross-cutting or those that run counter to their beliefs. Many Americans get a significant portion of their news from Facebook and in effect the social network is the largest news platform in the U.S. The study shows how the makeup of our social networks, the Facebook News feed algorithm, and individual user choice all influence the content people consume. Social scientists have built a large body of evidence that people tend to befriend others with similar political beliefs. The Facebook study demonstrates that the polarization phenomenon also applies to the social network. The study finds that roughly speaking a Facebook user has five politically likeminded friends for every one friend on the other side of the spectrum. In a democracy it’s generally a value add for citizens to encounter a variety of political opinions. This fact does not enumerate the “right” number of friends to have from across the political aisle. The Facebook News feed does limit the amount of cross-cutting links that viewers choose to read. The News feed algorithm ranks stories based on a variety of factors including their history of clicking on links for particular websites. If a user regularly clicks on stories from sources with a partisan leaning then the chances of seeing a similar story increases. The News feed algorithm functions in this way to make the experience of using the website more enjoyable. This approach also has some unintended negative consequences. The authors find that the News feed algorithm reduces the politically cross-cutting content by 5 percent for conservatives and 8 percent for liberals. Individual choice also plays a role in exposing Facebook users to less cross-cutting content. Users make their own decisions about the stories they want to read. Even after controlling for where the stories appear in the News feed, the authors estimate that user choice decreases the likelihood of clicking on a cross-cutting link by 17 percent for conservatives and 6 percent for liberals. The study does not present the findings in a way that separates out the effects of the algorithm and individual choice. Both of these factors certainly influence each other. It appears that the impact of individual’s user choices is larger in magnitude than the News feed algorithm. Facebook has tweaked the News feed algorithm for a variety of reasons. The company could leverage the popularity of their network to help mitigate the impact of political polarization. The website could change the algorithm to rank cross-cutting news stories highly. It could also include cross cutting links in the trending section of the website. Facebook is not just a social network. It’s the platform that millions of people use to learn about current events. Taking small steps to help combat political polarization in the long run will add to the trust that users have in Facebook.

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HILLARY SHOWS HER TRUE COLORS IN A VIDEO SHE DIDN’T THINK ANYONE WOULD SEE

Since Hillary s making a big announcement today we thought we d give everyone a chance to see the real Hillary. This is a side of Hillary that we ve all heard about, but is rarely captured on film.Don t look now Hillary, but your arrogance is showing.Hillary s war on women

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ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CASE: Justice Roberts Used Obama’s Own Words Against Him

It s great to see one of the Justices questioning the dictatorship of Obama. The vote will likely be a split vote even though the federal law should be followed. Illegal is illegal. If they side with Obama then we ll have millions of illegals who ll get amnesty just in time for the 2016 election. Couldn t be better timing for Barack Let s hope that Justice Roberts finds his manhood and votes with the American people. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. prodded the Obama administration Monday to explain President Obama s immigration flip-flop, when Mr. Obama in 2014 reversed himself and decided he did, after all, have powers to grant a tentative amnesty to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.Mr. Obama had repeatedly denied he had that kind of power, then after the 2014 election, when Congress refused to act on his policies, the president claimed a do-over and said he did have the power.Chief Justice Roberts wondered what changed in Mr. Obama s mind, and even read back one of Mr. Obama s quotes to Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. recounting the president saying he would be ignoring the law if he were to grant a broad stay of deportation to millions of illegal immigrants. What was he talking about? the chief justice prodded.Mr. Verrilli said Mr. Obama may have changed his mind after asking the Justice Department s legal advisory branch to take a closer look at his powers. You know, what happened here is that the president and the secretary went to the Office of Legal Counsel and asked for an opinion about the scope of their authority to the scope of this discretionary authority, and they got one. And they exercised it consistently with that and up to the limits of that and no further, Mr. Verrilli said.Immigrant-rights activists had repeatedly told Mr. Obama he had authority to grant deferred action to million of illegal immigrants, but the president shot those requests down, telling the activists he didn t think he could defend that action in court.Read more: WT

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KICK BUTT MOM Sends BRUTAL Message to Rioting, Crybaby Anti-Trump Punks: “If you’re on any government assistance…I would cut you off!”

This isn t the first time outspoken conservative grandmother Peggy Hubbard has offered her opinion on organized groups of thugs who disrupt cities, roadways and residential areas in an attempt to gain sympathy for their cause. Here she is 2 years ago giving the Ferguson rioters a piece of her mind:

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N.F.L.: There’s Dallas’s Dak Prescott and Then All the Other Rookie QBs - The New York Times

Not all rookie quarterbacks are the same. Here’s what else we learned in Week 11 in the N. F. L.: ■ Dak Prescott is not a product of weak competition. Facing the No. 1 defense in the N. F. L. Prescott, the Dallas Cowboys’ rookie quarterback, had a few poor throws early in the game but recovered to have his second consecutive effort and added three more touchdown passes. Most impressively, he did it with his offensive line allowing a great deal of pressure and without his customary amount of help from Ezekiel Elliott who had a hard time finding running lanes other than in a big third quarter. ■ Playing quarterback as a rookie is not as easy as Prescott makes it look. Carson Wentz of the Eagles looked lost against Seattle’s defense, Cody Kessler of the Browns once again had to leave because of a concussion, and Jared Goff of the Rams, the player drafted ahead of all of them, finally got his first start and managed just 131 passing yards in a losing effort. ■ are hard now. The play may have been too easy prior to last season, but the rule change that pushed it back to being the equivalent of a field goal continues to confound . On Sunday, kickers combined to set an N. F. L. record with 12 misses, breaking the previous mark of 10 that was most recently accomplished in 1985. Mike Nugent of the Bengals and Robbie Gould of the Giants each missed two and even Stephen Gostkowski of the Patriots, who went 52 for 52 in the first year of the change, missed one, giving him three misses for the season. ■ Seattle might be getting scary. The Seahawks’ defense has been stellar all season, but Russell Wilson showed glimpses of his old self, throwing balls downfield, giving himself extra time on passes with his mobility, and even catching a touchdown pass from Doug Baldwin. If Thomas Rawls and C. J. Prosise can become a duo at running back, the Patriots and Cowboys might have some real competition to be the best team in the N. F. L. ■ The Browns might also have some competition to be the worst team in the N. F. L. Cleveland is but the San Francisco 49ers, despite holding the Patriots to just 13 points through three quarters, ended up allowing 30 in the loss. It was the seventh time this season that the 49ers allowed 30 or more points, and it was the team’s ninth consecutive loss after a shutout victory over Los Angeles in Week 1. Sadly the 30 points improved San Francisco’s season average which was 31. 4 coming into the game. The rest of the N. F. L. could be in a lot of trouble if Russell Wilson is back to being himself. With his mobility seemingly having returned after injuries had forced him into being a pocket passer for much of the season, Wilson led the way and his team’s defense followed suit as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Philadelphia Eagles, . Wilson completed 18 of 31 passes for 272 yards, but it was his lone touchdown pass, a to Jimmy Graham, that was a blast from the past. Facing a great deal of pressure, Wilson broke to his left and outran the defensive line. He looked like he would keep the ball for a run, but without stopping or setting himself to throw, and with linebacker Jordan Hicks in his face, he launched the ball to his right, and Graham caught it for the score. If that was not enough to convince people that Wilson had his legs back, he also engaged in some trickery in the second half, flipping the ball back to Doug Baldwin and then sprinting for the end zone. Baldwin was undeterred by pressure and lofted the ball into the end zone, finding Wilson for a touchdown pass. Seattle had mixed results in its endless search for a reliable running back. The rookie C. J. Prosise broke free for a touchdown run in the first quarter, but Prosise, a converted wide receiver making his second career start, was limited to 76 yards on four carries before being forced out of the game by a shoulder injury. There was some room for optimism, however, in the play of Thomas Rawls. The running back had not played since Week 2 because of injuries, but he carried 14 times for 57 yards. Considering their remarkably different running styles, Prosise and Rawls could seemingly be a strong combination if they are both healthy going forward. The game was far more lopsided than it appeared, with all but seven of Philadelphia’s points coming after the game was essentially decided. Seattle’s defense helped drop the Eagles back to . 500 with a great deal of help from Philadelphia’s rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz. Wentz, who had been praised for much of the year for not showing his inexperience, fell into too many traps, including a play late in the first half when he failed to account for the veteran safety Kam Chancellor as he threw across the field. Chancellor intercepted the pass and ended what looked like a promising drive. Wentz was also intercepted by Richard Sherman in the second half and finished the day with passing for 218 yards and 2 touchdowns. If there was anything qualifying as bad news for Seattle, it was Earl Thomas and DeShawn Shead leaving the game because of injuries. Thomas, a veteran free safety and has never missed a game in his career and his status had not been announced. It seems odd for 1977 to come up so often during Dallas Cowboys games, but with Dak Prescott leading the team to its ninth consecutive win, breaking the franchise record set in 1977, and Ezekiel Elliott passing Tony Dorsett for the franchise record for rushing yards by a rookie, also set that season, the parallels between the seasons are natural. It is a little history lesson for a quarterback born in 1993 and a running back born in 1995. But as for the present day, Sunday’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens proved the Cowboys can succeed against a top defense even when things are not going their way early in the game. It was Dallas’s first ever win over the Ravens. Prescott, who this week was named the team’s starting quarterback rather than being designated an injury initially looked lost. The Ravens’ defense was able to get intense pressure from its forcing punts on Dallas’s first four possessions. The rookie Prescott completed just four of his first 10 passes and was not getting much help from Elliott, who was struggling to find holes against the league’s best rush defense. That all turned around with just under nine minutes left in the second quarter. Down and facing a Prescott came alive, tearing down the field for a run. Over the next five plays, he drove his team 60 yards, tossing an throw to Cole Beasley for a touchdown. From that point, a familiar formula of gutsy passes by Prescott and tough runs by Elliott kicked in and Baltimore was powerless to stop it. Prescott ended up completing 27 of 36 passes for 301 yard and 3 touchdowns, topping 300 yards for the second consecutive week. Elliott chipped in with 127 yards from scrimmage and has 1, 102 rushing yards, which tops Dorsett’s 1, 007 in 1977. He is on pace for 1, 763 yards, which would put him just short of Eric Dickerson’s rookie record of 1, 808. Through 10 games, Dickerson had 1, 223. The Ravens, meanwhile, were unable to enjoy Steve Smith becoming the 14th player to top 1, 000 career receptions as the team saw its winning streak end, and its vaunted defense allowed an uncharacteristic 417 yards. Dallas will try to make it 10 wins in a row when it hosts the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving. But with 1977 coming up so often, Cowboys fans may already be thinking of how that season ended: A win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. Redskins Extend Packers’ : Kirk Cousins threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns to lead Washington to a victory over Green Bay, which has lost four consecutive games and five of six, allowing 30 or more points in all of those defeats. The Redskins ( ) have won six of their past eight games going into a showdown with the Cowboys, and chants of “We Want Dallas!” filled FedEx Field in the final minutes. — Associated Press Giants Improve to : The Giants played so lifelessly in the first half, the home crowd responded with sustained booing. But they rebounded for a victory over the Bears to achieve their best record after 10 games since 2008, when they were . Played in blustery conditions, the game featured three missed extra points, which had not happened in a N. F. L. game since 1993. Read our report here. It was seemingly a mismatch for the ages, with the New England Patriots traveling to San Francisco to face one of the worst teams in N. F. L. history in terms of points allowed. But somehow the Patriots went into the fourth quarter clinging to a lead over the 49ers. Things then normalized, with Tom Brady finding Danny Amendola for a touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter — one of his four touchdown passes in the game — as the Patriots rolled to a victory. It was an easy win for New England, but perhaps a satisfying one for Brady, playing in San Francisco for the first time after having grown up a 49ers fan. The weather certainly was not helping New England’s offense in the first three quarters, with rain falling steadily, but the 49ers’ defense, which had previously allowed an N. F. L. 31. 4 points a game, seemed undaunted until it simply had nothing left to give in the final quarter. Brady completed 24 of 40 passes for 280 yards, and LeGarrette Blount contributed 124 rushing yards. Colin Kaepernick threw two touchdowns for San Francisco, but that was not enough to keep the game competitive. The loss and the rain somewhat marred the team’s legendary former owner, Eddie DeBartolo Jr. receiving his Hall of Fame ring at halftime. The stands were largely empty as fans sought out dry concourses rather than seeing the ceremony for the man who owned the team during its run of five Super Bowl wins. The Cleveland Browns ran the team’s losing streak to 11 games by falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers, . Along the way, the team also lost its starting quarterback, yet again, as Cody Kessler had to leave the game with a concussion and was replaced by Josh McCown. Who was at quarterback for Cleveland hardly seemed to matter as the Pittsburgh defense collected eight sacks, including two and a half by Stephon Tuitt, as the Steelers seemed to have players in the Browns’ backfield on every play. Pittsburgh did not get a lot of production out of Ben Roethlisberger, who threw for just 167 yards, but Le’Veon Bell gave the Steelers all of the offense they needed as he carried the ball 28 times for 146 yards and caught 8 passes for 55 more yards. The Browns will try to end their losing streak next week when they host the Giants. Colts Get Big Division Win: Indianapolis beat the Tennessee Titans, but saw Adam Vinatieri’s N. F. L. record streak of consecutive field goals made end at 44. The Colts were able to improve to . 500, leapfrogging the Titans into second place in the A. F. C. South, thanks largely to Andrew Luck’s 262 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. That was enough to overcome another great statistical performance by Marcus Mariota of the Titans (25 of 38 passing, 290 yards and 2 touchdowns). But one of the more impressive streaks in league history came to an end in the second quarter when Vinatieri missed a attempt . His last miss had come in Week 2 of the 2015 season. Bills end Slide: Buffalo preserved its hopes of making the playoffs by beating the Cincinnati Bengals, . The Bengals dropped to and lost A. J. Green to a hamstring injury. The Bengals had led, at halftime but managed just five first downs in the second half as Buffalo’s defense held strong and its offense did enough to get a pair of field goals. The win came in spite of a key injury. LeSean McCoy, who ran for a touchdown in the first half, sustained a thumb injury late in the second quarter and did not return.

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BREAKING: Republican Senate Hopeful Speaks His Mind, Says Putin Is Right, America Is Evil

After more than seven years of Republicans desperately trying to kill everything that is great about this country, like the fact that it s a melting pot or a land of opportunity. Now, one Republican has gone so far as to say that Vladimir Putin is right when he calls the United States evil.We always knew there was a flip-side to Donald Trump Make America Great Again, as if America, in its multiculturalism and in its quest for freedom, is somehow no longer great. Now, Roy Moore, who s hoping to replace now Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Senate, as admitted as much.When The Guardian s Paul Lewis, who was probing the rising popularity of Russian President Vladimir Putin among U.S. conservatives, told Moore that former President Reagan called Russia the focus of evil in the modern world, Moore said it wasn t the only one. You could say that very well about America, couldn t you? Moore responded in the interview published Wednesday. We promote a lot of bad things, added the former chief justice of Alabama s Supreme Court, specifically citing same-sex marriage.Then he had to, like any loyal Trumpster, thrown in a little love for Vladimir Putin. That s the very argument that Vladimir Putin makes, Lewis pointed out. Well, then maybe Putin is right, Moore said. Maybe he s more akin to me than I know. Source: The HillI guess Moore, who s currently in the lead to be the nation s next Senator, doesn t know that Russia has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world. Republicans really have to do a better job of picking their dictator crushes.You may remember Moore as the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and religious nut job who was forced to leave office after refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments as was ordered by a federal court.He took the job back in 2013, but was forced to resign once again for ethics violations, including his refusal to allow gay marriages once the Supreme Court ruled them constitutional.Moore loves him some Donald Trump, though. In two sentences he invoked God in reference to Trump, a man who s almost certainly never read the Bible, a whopping four times. God puts people in positions in positions he wants. I believe he sent Donald Trump in there to do what Donald Trump can do, Moore said. More than thinking I can win, it s up to God and God s will. We will see what God would have me do. And here we thought it was bad enough with Jeff Sessions in the Senate. Actually, it was. Now, we ll have Sessions as AG and who knows what kind of nuttery replacing him in the Senate. If there s any consolation at all, it s that we re all getting screwed and the party in charge wants to take away our birth control.Read more:

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U.S. will strengthen Pacific allies against North Korea hostility: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is committed to the security of its allies in the Pacific region and will bolster its allies there against any hostile actions from North Korea, a White House official said on Sunday. “The message is that we are going to reinforce and strengthen our vital alliances in the Pacific region as part of our strategy to deter and prevent the increasing hostility that we’ve seen in recent years from the North Korean regime,” White House adviser Stephen Miller said on the television show “Fox News Sunday.”

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GOP Rep Introduces Bill Protecting Gun Rights of Military Families - Breitbart

On January 5, Representative Blake Farenthold ( ) introduced legislation that protects the gun rights of military families by allowing the spouses of deployed military personnel to buy guns “in the state where they live due to military orders. ”[This legislation is needed in light of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which bars citizens from purchasing handguns outside their state of residence. Farenthold’s bill recognizes that “exceptions” to that prohibition were made “for active duty military personnel,” but no exception was made for their spouses. This means spouses of a deployed military member could easily find themselves in a home unarmed — i. e. defenseless — for months at a time. Farenthold’s bill is titled, “Protect Our Military Families’ 2nd Amendment Rights Act. ” In the press release which accompanied the Act’s introduction Farenthold said, “Our military spouses give up a great deal to support their active duty service member, often moving far from home and far from family to be with their spouse. Military spouses should not be denied their Second Amendment rights based on the orders of the military member. They have the right to defend themselves and their families just like anyone else. ” A text of the Act was sent to Breitbart News and its language amends current codes so that military spouses’ residency is determined like the residency of active duty military personnel, as relates to the exercise of Second Amendment rights. The Act says: A member of the Armed Forces on active duty, or a spouse of such a member, is a resident of — ‘‘(1) the State in which the member or spouse maintains legal residence ‘‘(2) the State in which the permanent duty station of the member is located and ‘‘(3) the State in which the member maintains a place of abode from which the member commutes each day to the permanent duty station of the member. ” In the wake of recent, heinous attacks witnessed against our stateside military personnel at Chattanooga (July 16, 2015) and Fort Hood (November 5, 2009 and April 2, 2014) — as well as at other installations — taking steps that protect military families who are also near these installations is a necessity. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.

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Cruz says consumer choice, health savings accounts in Senate bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Thursday his proposal for allowing insurance companies to offer policies with less coverage than under Obamacare – if they also offer the higher-quality coverage – will be included in the new Senate healthcare bill. “It is also very significant that the bill includes my amendment to allow individuals to use health savings accounts to pay for premiums. It’s a big deal for lowering premiums, as is the consumer freedom amendment,” Cruz told reporters before closed meeting of Senate Republicans. Several other Republican senators entered the meeting saying they did not yet know what would be included in the retooled bill.

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Germany climbs in development ranking by taking in refugees

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Germany has jumped 10 slots from last year to fifth place on a list ranking how well rich countries policies help improve lives in the developing world, mainly thanks to its willingness to take in refugees - a hot topic in its Sept. 24 election. Denmark took over the top spot from Finland, which falls to third place, while Sweden moves up one notch to second on the list that includes the impact from foreign aid and policies on trade, finance, migration, the environment and technology. Germany moves up to fifth on the 2017 Index, mainly thanks to policies on migration, including accepting a large number of refugees, author Ian Mitchell from the Washington-based Center for Global Development said in the report. Labor mobility is potentially the most powerful tool for poverty reduction and income redistribution, he said. By migrating to richer countries, workers gain valuable skills and broaden their opportunities to earn higher incomes. They also send billions of dollars back home each year in remittances, a flow that surpasses foreign aid several fold. Chancellor Angela Merkel s 2015 decision to open Germany s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees, many fleeing war in the Middle East, cost her support but she has since bounced back. Her challenger in this month s election, Social Democrat Martin Schulz, attacked her on Sunday for failing to coordinate a better European response to the refugee crisis. The report said Germany s surge in the rankings was thanks not only to taking in the large influx, but also to its aid and trade policies. Despite Germany s improvement, France still ranks highest among the G7 countries at fourth place. The United States fell to 23rd from 20th among the 27 countries ranked. Its best performance was on trade and security, while it scored poorly on finance, environment, and aid, the report said. The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord will be reflected in future years, potentially taking the U.S. score lower, the think tank said. Britain, which is in the process of negotiating its departure from the European Union, jumped to seventh place from ninth last year. The report said there was a risk that Brexit could hit Britain s score on trade unless it could quickly replicate favorable EU trade policies toward developing countries. However, on agriculture, it could certainly reduce subsidies compared with the EU and level the playing field for developing world producers. The 2017 rankings show almost all countries improved their performance in the environmental component, with reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and new climate commitments in the 2016 Paris agreement.

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Trump dumps controversial chief strategist Bannon in latest upheaval

WASHINGTON/HAGERSTOWN, Md. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist Steve Bannon in the latest White House shake-up, removing a far-right architect of his 2016 election victory and a driving force behind his nationalist and anti-globalization agenda. Bannon’s firing, a year and a day after Trump hired him as his campaign chief, put an abrupt end to the rabble-rousing political provocateur’s tumultuous tenure in a White House riven with rivalries and back-stabbing during which he clashed with more-moderate factions. He was instrumental in some of Trump’s most contentious policy moves including the ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries, abandoning the Paris climate accord, tearing up international trade agreements and cracking down on illegal immigration. He was no friend of the Republican political establishment and was loathed by liberals but was a darling of some of the president’s hard-line conservative supporters. White House officials said Trump had told new Chief of Staff John Kelly to crack down on the bickering and infighting, and that Bannon’s fate was sealed by comments published on Wednesday in the American Prospect liberal magazine in which he spoke of targeting his adversaries within the administration. Trump, seven months into his presidency, has become increasingly isolated over his comments following white supremacist violence in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville last Saturday and his attacks on fellow Republicans. Some Republicans had even begun questioning Trump’s capacity to govern. As Trump came under fire from Republicans including two former presidents, and from business leaders and U.S. allies abroad, he faced mounting calls for Bannon’s ouster. Critics had accused Bannon of harboring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. “White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. Bannon returned to his post as executive chairman of right-wing Breitbart News on Friday afternoon, the website said. Prior to joining the Trump campaign, he had spearheaded Breitbart’s shift into a forum for the “alt-right,” a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. Bannon said his departure from the White House signals a major shift for the Trump agenda. “The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” Bannon told the conservative Weekly Standard. “I just think his ability to get anything done - particularly the bigger things, like the wall, the bigger, broader things that we fought for, it’s just gonna be that much harder,” Bannon said. He said he would use Breitbart to attack opponents of the populist and nationalist agenda he championed, including establishment Republicans. “I am definitely going to crush the opposition,” Bannon said. He became the latest key figure to abruptly depart a Trump White House that has been chaotic from its first days and already has lost a chief of staff, a national security adviser, two communications directors and a chief spokesman. Trump’s presidency also has been dogged by ongoing investigations in Congress and a special counsel named by the Justice Department into potential collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia, something both Trump and Moscow deny. Bannon, 63, is a former U.S. Navy officer, Goldman Sachs investment banker and Hollywood movie producer. He had been in a precarious position before but Trump opted to keep him, in part because he had played a major role in Trump’s November 2016 election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton and was backed by many of the president’s most loyal rank-and-file supporters. Democrats cheered Bannon’s departure. “Steve Bannon’s firing is welcome news,” said Nancy Pelosi, the top House of Representatives Democrat. “The Trump Administration must not only purge itself of the remaining white supremacists on staff, but abandon the bigoted ideology that clearly governs its decisions.” Wall Street indexes and the U.S. dollar ended a volatile session lower after a week of drama in Washington intensified doubts about Trump’s ability to deliver on policy objectives such as tax cuts. After a late-morning boost following reports of Bannon’s ouster, the dollar and U.S. equities lost ground. Bannon felt a close ideological connection to Trump’s populist tendencies and “America First” message. Like Trump, he has also expressed deep skepticism concerning ongoing American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision to fire Bannon could undermine Trump’s support among far-right voters but might ease tensions within the White House and with party leaders. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress but have been unable to pass major legislative goals including a healthcare overhaul. Trump ran into trouble after saying anti-racism demonstrators in Charlottesville were as responsible for the violence as the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who instigated the protests, and that there were “very fine people” among both groups. Those remarks sparked rebukes from fellow Republicans, top corporate executives and some close allies. Bannon’s departure removes a large source of friction on the White House staff, but does not herald a significant shift by Trump toward the center on major policy issues, three administration officials said. “A good deal of what was attributed to Bannon, for example on China trade and restricting immigration, and the border wall, all came before Bannon joined the campaign and would have happened without him,” said one White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Bannon has been a hawk on China, urging a tougher line on trade to correct a huge trade imbalance and dismissive of recent efforts to try to elicit Beijing’s help to rein in North Korea. In his comments to American Prospect, Bannon said the United States was in an economic war with China. A second official said the biggest winners from Bannon’s departure are national security adviser H.R. McMaster; Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic adviser; and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner. Bannon’s departure cast a cloud over the future of the group of allies he had brought into the White House, such as Sebastian Gorka. Some conservative activists expressed disappointment in Bannon’s ouster. Republicans were largely quiet, though moderate Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she was glad Bannon was out but that the administration “must work to build bridges, not destroy them.” By the time Trump had hired Bannon as campaign manager, the real estate magnate had already vanquished his Republican opponents for the party’s presidential nomination. Asked about Bannon on Tuesday, Trump called him “a friend of mine” but downplayed his contribution to his election victory. “Mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that. And I like him. He is a good man. He is not a racist,” Trump said.

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WATCH: Wolf Blitzer NAILS Giuliani To The Wall For Ten Grueling Minutes Over His FBI Claims

Sometimes it takes a wolf to catch a snake.Rudy Giuliani has been making the media rounds over the last two days, bragging that he knew about FBI Director James Comey s letter two days before it went public.That means Giuliani has been getting inside information from the supposedly non-partisan Federal Bureau of Investigation that he has likely been passing on to Donald Trump, which means the FBI appears to be colluding with Trump s campaign to sabotage Hillary Clinton.And during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Friday night, Giuliani was cornered over it because the only way he could possibly get such information is if a current FBI agent is passing information to him personally, or through someone else. No, I ve spoken to no current FBI agents, Giuliani claimed when asked by Blitzer. Gosh, in the last eight months, nine months, ten months, certainly not about this. Then Giuliani claimed that everything he has been hearing is just hearsay. But that apparently has not stopped him from spewing the hearsay on Fox News and elsewhere in an effort to smear Hillary Clinton. So, I ve had lots of conversations with them and they have told me a lot about the I guess the disagreement between the Justice Department on the one hand and the FBI on the other. But it all comes from former FBI agents and it s all hearsay. But that s hard to believe since Giuliani claimed that he knew about Comey s letter two days in advance and that letter was actually released. It was not hearsay.Blitzer then hit Giuliani with a statement written by Democratic congressmen accusing him of obtaining leaked information from FBI agents.The statement reads: This morning Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump s closest and most vocal campaign advisers, appeared on national television and confirmed that he had obtained leaked information about the FBI s review of Clinton-related e-mails several days before FBI Director James Comey sent his letter to Congress last Friday about this letter. In fact, Mr. Giuliani went even further and bragged about the information that he had obtained stating, Did I hear about it? You re darn right I heard about it. Again, the only way Giuliani could have heard about this is if a current FBI agent leaked the information to him or passed it to him through someone else. Either way, the FBI has a serious breach that is being used to help Donald Trump. That s not correct, Giuliani responded. I ve had no conversations with anyone inside the FBI. I have heard for the last four months a tremendous amount of information about the consternation within the FBI, the fact that FBI agents were very unhappy about the way they were being treated by the Justice Department. But none of it came from any current I haven t talked to a current FBI agent. So Giuliani just admitted that he is getting this information from former agents who are getting the information from current agents.Blitzer actually got Giuliani to claim that he didn t know that Comey was going to release the information he did, and that it came as a surprise, but Giuliani did an about-face only seconds later and said it wasn t a surprise. Seriously, Blitzer did a great job of getting Giuliani to tie himself in knots.The former NYC mayor then repeated his alleged hearsay once again by claiming that he has heard from his sources that FBI agents are angry at the Justice Department for not indicting Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that Director Comey recommended that charges were not warranted.Giuliani then claimed that he read articles about it somewhere, but didn t specify where the articles came from and said he s not sure if they are true.So Giuliani claims that he is talking to former FBI agents, and that what he has heard is merely hearsay that he spreads anyway as if it s the truth, and then he claims that he read this information in articles even though he doesn t know if what he is reading is the truth, and he still repeats it to anyone within earshot.And Wolf Blitzer drove a stake through the heart of Giuliani s bullshit by asking one question. But let me ask you a question, Mayor. If you don t know it s true, why are you suggesting it? Why are you going on national television talking about these issues if you don t know it s true? Giuliani once again touted his FBI sources, only to then be informed by Blitzer that FBI agents sign a form agreeing to never reveal information about investigations and that they have a responsibility to not leak information to people like Giuliani.Here s the video via YouTube.[ad3media campaign= 1302 ]The FBI should be thoroughly investigated by the Justice Department to find out who is leaking information to a private citizen who also happens to be a surrogate for a presidential candidate who will do anything to smear his opponent in an effort to win the election. This is a major breach within the FBI and it definitely looks like the FBI is working with Republicans to persecute Hillary Clinton. People need to be fired for this and the first person to lose their job should be Director Comey.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video

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Swedish Professor: ’Anyone With Eyes’ Can See Migrants ’Fiercely Overrepresented’ in Criminal Cases

Criminology Professor Leif GW Persson appeared on a Swedish television programme and backed up claims by police officer Peter Springare that migrants are vastly overrepresented in criminal cases. [Professor Persson appeared alongside the policeman on an episode of “Weekly Crime” for the Swedish broadcaster SVT and they discussed the recent comments made by U. S. President Donald Trump about the high rate of crime among migrants in Sweden. Persson totally agreed with Springare who was recently slammed for expressing the fact that most of the criminal suspects he sees in his work are from other countries. “There is a strong prevalence of criminal immigrants. It is so obvious when it comes to crimes of this nature. Very serious violent crimes,” Springare said. Persson agreed with him saying, “Yes, I have made the same observation,” and adding “anyone with eyes to see can know who is doing these kinds of actions. ” “ is a fact,” Persson said and noted how many of the migrant criminals come from countries like Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan, while a decade ago they were from Turkey and the Balkans. Both Persson and Springare pointed out the fact that talking about migrant crime in Sweden was a huge taboo, something host Camilla Kvartoft didn’t agree with. “It is a taboo. And it is noticeable now. This has been such an incredible spread widely. And I look at the letters and emails I get that a very large number of police who are involved in serious crimes verifies this data,” Springare said. Persson noted that people were “reluctant” to report migrant crime saying, “The tendency to talk about it decreases the higher up in the police rank you are. But this is no secret. This is a problem you can happily avoid talking about. But times change. ” He claimed the issue could have huge ramifications going into the next general election in 2018. After making his comments on Facebook Springare was investigated for inciting racial hatred for pointing out that the suspects in his cases were overwhelmingly from migrant backgrounds. After President Trump brought global attention to the problems Sweden has had as a result of mass migration Breitbart London published ten reasons why the multicultural experiment in Sweden is falling apart. While crime is a big factor, from deadly shootings to rapes at music festivals, mass migration has had a huge impact on the Swedish school system and has contributed to an already existing housing crisis. Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart. com,

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Ben Carson CLEARLY Concerned Over What Plagues Our Communities: Bear Attacks (VIDEO)

In a perfect world, there would be extraordinarily qualified presidential candidates coming from both sides of the aisle. We d have a battle of the minds. Those who differed in matters of political opinion and policy approach, but all respectable choices. Alas, we don t live in a perfect world. Currently, the United States has one major political party with two very respectable candidates, either of which would make a fine choice as Commander-in-Chief, varying only in strategy, but not terribly in ideology. The other major political party is basically made up of rejects from their high school student council who grew up and couldn t get into leadership roles within their home owner s association, so they decided to go in to politics. To be blunt, there is NO good choice for president running for the Republicans. They all make shit up as they go along.Case in point: Ben Carson.When asked a question regarding Christian values as compared to the social values of Republicans, and how they really don t go together, Carson replied: My stance is that, we the people have the responsibility to take care of the indigent in our society. It s not the government s job. You can read the constitution all you want, it never says that it is the government s job and I think where we ve gotten confused. In the old days of America when communities were separated by hundreds of miles, why were they able to thrive? Because if it was harvest time and the farmer was up in the tree picking apples and fell down and broke his leg, everybody pitched in and harvested his crops for him. If somebody got killed by a bear, everybody took care of their family. Who the hell is getting killed by a bear? Where the hell are they living? And is it a bear, such as one you d find in the forest, or one you d find in the Castro. These are all questions we d like to have answered. Don t leave us hanging like this, Ben. Sure, he s talking about the old days, but how far back are we going? If we re talking about the days when the nation was founded, well, we re not exactly living in the same sort of society with the same needs, and we now have different resources available.Carson s broader point seems to be, we don t need government if we can take care of ourselves and our communities. However, the nation is composed of many different types of communities that are all represented in this thing we call government. Which is an organizational structure in this little thing we like to call, civilization. Without which, we would slip into chaos and despair in what some would call Social Darwinism. So, while Carson s story is sweet, and weird, but actually kind of scary, the everybody that took care of the family is the community structure. Carson actually makes a very good argument for liberals, and especially Hillary Clinton s it takes a village argument.Anyway, watching Carson talk about a bear attack is very entertaining, and you ll likely watch it at least five times. So, enjoy! When asked about social values, Ben Carson reflects on ye olde times, when bear attacks were the norm. pic.twitter.com/eOZH4mR1Jz Mashable News (@MashableNews) February 18, 2016Video/Featured image from Twitter/Wikimedia

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Only 'miracles' can move Brexit talks forward by October, EU tells Britain

TALLINN (Reuters) - Only miracles can move Brexit talks far enough to fulfill Britain s hopes of launching discussions next month on its future ties with the European Union, the head of the European Commission said on Friday. Prime Minister Theresa May had been hoping to use an informal EU meeting in the Estonian capital Tallinn to harness what she describes as renewed goodwill over Brexit to push the talks beyond the terms of the divorce, now just 18 months away. Britain had aimed to make a breakthrough at a summit in Brussels on Oct. 19-20. Two years have been set aside for the Brexit talks and Britain risks crashing out of the 28-state bloc on March 29, 2019, without a deal on future trade terms. But Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the EU executive and long a bogeyman for some in Britain s eurosceptic press, said the first stage of talks on the rights of expatriates, the UK border with EU member Ireland and the financial settlement when Britain leaves had not gone far enough. By the end of October, we will not have sufficient progress, Juncker told reporters in Tallinn, a day after his chief negotiator ended the last round of Brexit talks. At the end of this week, I am saying that there will be no sufficient progress from now until October unless miracles will happen. His words were echoed by other leaders. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said both sides would need a small miracle to make the required progress before the summit. Irish leader Leo Varadkar said it was still very evident that there s more work to be done . Their views will be a blow for May, who wants to move quickly on to discussion of the future trade relationship and a transitional arrangement - part of the deal Britain says is needed before any kind of financial settlement can be agreed. In Tallinn, May sidestepped questions over whether she was confident of the October deadline. After three months of talks, which have become bogged down in a spat over the divorce bill, the British prime minister tried to reset the tone with a speech a week ago in Florence. She had hoped to speak directly to EU leaders and reassure them that Britain was not picking unnecessary fights, going so far as to make concessions on the future role of the European Court of Justice and on the Brexit bill. I made that speech to give momentum to the talks and I think we have seen that being shown in the talks that have taken place this week, and further progress has been made, May said early on Friday. Pressing her case, she met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the Tallinn summit and repeated her pledge for Britain to be the strongest friend and partner to the EU after Brexit, her spokeswoman said. Merkel said there had been progress, but that there was also a lot of work to do before October. Altogether it was a very constructive talk, Merkel told a news conference at the end of the summit. I think that the Florence speech helped to bring a new dynamic into the negotiation process. May also held talks with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who is concerned about the 800,000 Poles living in Britain. Both agreed on the importance of reaching an early settlement on citizens rights , May s spokeswoman said. But a Spanish government official was blunt. We don t negotiate with speeches, we negotiate with documents on the table, he said, describing the two sides as nowhere near agreement on the Northern Ireland border and the divorce bill. On citizens rights, considered by London one of the easier issues to settle, the official said Britain and the EU were getting close, but progress was not sufficient yet . In a morning visit to Estonia s Tapa military base, where 800 British troops are deployed as part of NATO s efforts to defend against a newly assertive Russia, May said Britain was unconditionally committed to protecting Europe after Brexit. By focusing on defense, May wants to show that Britain has something to offer its European neighbors. She will say she is ready to share British expertise including through the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help EU nations build up their own cybersecurity capability. That, she hopes, could bolster her argument on the Brexit talks, and coax the EU into making concessions.

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Senate leader McConnell says 'nobody wants terrorists to have firearms'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that “nobody wants terrorists to have firearms” and that he was open to suggestions from experts on legislation that could address the problem, following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. McConnell, a Republican, made his remarks amid blistering attacks by Democrats on the lack of action in Congress on legislation to prevent suspects on “watch lists” from purchasing guns or explosives. While there was no firm evidence of Republicans and Democrats in either the Senate or House of Representatives moving toward a compromise, there were hints they at least might be willing to talk. “Maybe we can find some middle ground. I hope so,” said Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. The debate in Congress over firearms was reignited on Sunday after a gunman in Orlando, Florida, armed with an assault rifle killed 49 people at a gay nightclub and injured 53 others before he was shot to death by law enforcement officers. The assailant, New York-born Omar Mateen, had been investigated by the FBI for 10 months in 2013 and 2014 over possible connections he had to foreign militant groups. Democrats are pressuring Republicans in the Senate and House to quickly bring up legislation closing a loophole that allows those on “no fly” watch lists to purchase weapons in the United States. The Democrats are targeting a Justice Department appropriations bill this week, hoping to add an amendment prohibiting such gun sales. A similar effort last December failed. “There’s no excuse for allowing suspected terrorists to buy guns,” said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. McConnell took a swipe at the Democrats, saying: “Our suspicion is this is basically a politically motivated effort that we’re likely to see” on the Justice Department spending bill. The Republican leader added, however: “We’re open - nobody wants terrorists to have firearms - we’re open to serious suggestions from the experts as to what we might be able to do to be helpful.” On Wednesday, senators from both parties will have an opportunity to speak directly to some experts when Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson are scheduled to brief them on the Orlando attack. The officials briefed House members on Tuesday and several House Democrats brought up the watch list issue. “There was some question about procedures going forward,” said Representative Jan Schakowsky, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee. But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 Republican in that chamber, told reporters that law enforcement was already being notified if people being investigated for terrorism try to buy firearms. “If you listen, they are being notified.” Durbin said he and his colleagues might pursue other gun-related amendments as well, including tougher background checks on gun buyers, closing some gun show loopholes and possibly new limits on assault rifles like the one used in Orlando.

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As Anthem-Protesting Colin Kaepernick’s Free Agency Goes Nowhere, Sports Writer Searches for Answers - Breitbart

After spending half the season perpetrating an protest against the national anthem, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick announced his free agency. But, with teams snapping up players, Kaepernick has thus far gone ignored by the NFL. Now, sports writer Mike Freeman, searching for a reason for the player’s fall, ultimately decided that Kaepernick is being punished for “the crime of speaking his mind. ”[For BleacherReport. com, Mike Freeman seems gobsmacked that no team has come forward to offer the 49ers quarterback a new birth. With his analysis, Freeman seems to blame the country and the NFL for being racist for not allowing Kaepernick to have unlimited success and untold accolades. Freeman also proclaims that Kaepernick is being punished for “the crime of speaking his mind. ” The San Francisco quarterback became the talk of the league this season with his protests by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem at the start of each game. But, just as Kaepernick declared his free agency he also announced the abrupt end of his refusal to stand for the anthem. With the league’s free agents signing to teams at a quickening pace, Kaepernick has thus far gone unsigned. Kaepernick, once considered an up and coming player with a bright future, helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 only a year after he went pro, and then led the team to an NFC Championship the following year. Since then his playing has declined. After several seasons of lackluster play, rumors circled that the 49ers would trade him ahead of the season. Freeman even notes that some football analysts feel Kaepernick has lost a step, saying, “some teams genuinely believe that he can’t play. They think he’s shot. I’d put that number around 20 percent. ” But Freeman goes on to claim that Kaepernick has become toxic mostly because of his protests: Second, some teams fear the backlash from fans after getting him. They think there might be protests or [President Donald] Trump will tweet about the team. I’d say that number is around 10 percent. Then there’s another 10 percent that has a mix of those feelings. Third, the rest genuinely hate him and can’t stand what he did [kneeling for the national anthem]. They want nothing to do with him. They won’t move on. They think showing no interest is a form of punishment. I think some teams also want to use Kaepernick as a cautionary tale to stop other players in the future from doing what he did. One executive even reportedly told Freeman that Kaepernick is “an embarrassment to football. ” Freeman does admit that teams may just be waiting for the most advantageous time to bid for Colin’s services. But, he thinks that what is happening to Kaepernick is “highly unusual. ” It all adds up to little interest in the player, “and that’s putting it kindly” Freeman writes. Freeman does add a long list of reasons people have criticized Kaepernick for his play, reasons that have nothing to do with his protests. The writer says that some criticize Kaepernick’s throwing accuracy, others think he isn’t much of a team player because he is a moody loner, and still others say he seems out of his depth when asked to learn new schemes. Despite all the complaints about Kaepernick’s play and prickly personality, Freeman finds his lack of free agency opportunity shocking. Freeman writes: Still, it’s hard to emphasize how unusual Kaepernick’s current situation is. If a Super Bowl quarterback can walk and chew bubble gum simultaneously, he gets opportunities. Those opportunities usually arrive until that player is totally and completely done. That’s not the case with Kaepernick. So, why is Kaepernick being left behind? It’s all because everyone is punishing him for “the crime of speaking his mind,” Freeman thinks. Kaepernick’s new agents appear to have foreseen all of this, which is why it wasn’t surprising when sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Kaepernick would start standing for the anthem. Now, he sits. Waiting and waiting. A player whose political statement may have cost him his NFL career. With this, Freeman proves that, like many, he misunderstands freedom of speech. It is absolutely correct that Kaepernick has the right to say America has never been great, to slam our soldiers, the police, and other first responders, to tout Black Lives Matter and the like. But, it is the fans’ corresponding right to decide they don’t like him when he expresses those ideas. It is also highly logical for teams assessing Kaepernick’s free agency to decide they don’t want to bring his controversial views into their locker rooms and to assault their fans with his protests. Kaepernick has a right to speak out, but he doesn’t have a right to expect no repercussions from that speech. Consider the most perfect example of cause and effect concerning the topic of free speech, when country band the Dixie Chicks went on tirades overseas against the United States in the early 2000s Then, here at home they pretty much lost their fan base because of their outbursts. Sure, the Dixie Chicks had a right to mouth off against the U. S. A. and no one said they didn’t have that right. But, fans also had the corresponding right to stop patronizing their musical product, and it wasn’t long before their musical career went from chart topping hits to invisible on the music scene. The reaction to Kaepernick, who said even worse things about the U. S. than the Dixie Chicks ever did, is entirely similar. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.

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ADHD NATION: How Big Pharma Created the ADHD Epidemic

By Kalee Brown While I was at university, many of my peers would take Adderall, a drug commonly used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D.), to help them study or maintain focus while writing an exam. It was somewhat of a social norm and no one seemed to care why because it was so popular; however, I believe it is a clear representation of the social and academic pressures imposed on children to be “successful.” It also begs the question: How are so many kids gaining access to Adderall? Author and journalist Alan Schwarz explains that American children are not only severely over-diagnosed with A.D.H.D., but also frighteningly under-educated on the drugs they’re being prescribed, so they end up selling the pills instead of taking them. Well-known for his investigative reporting on how Big Pharma manufactured the “A.D.H.D. Nation” through advertising and doctor bribery, Schwarz recently published his book A.D.H.D. Nation using a term he coined to describe the widespread mishandling and misdiagnosis of the disorder. How A.D.H.D. Became An Over-Diagnosed Disorder According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 11% of children between the ages of 4 and 17 have been diagnosed with A.D.H.D. as of 2011. However, if you ask the American Psychiatric Association, they maintain that even though only 5% of American children suffer from the disorder, the diagnosis is actually given to around 15% of American children. This number has been steadily rising , jumping from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007. Schwarz identifies two main themes involved with A.D.H.D. misdiagnosis: the pharmaceutical industry’s role in pushing A.D.H.D. drugs, and doctors failing to identify the root cause of children’s behavioural issues. In an interview with Scientific American , Schwarz explains: “Many kids have problems and need help—but those problems in many cases will derive from trauma, anxiety, family discord, poor sleep or diet, bullying at school and more. We must not abandon them. We must help. But we must also be more judicious in how we do that, rather than reflexively giving them a diagnosis of what is generally described as a serious, lifelong brain disorder.” Big Pharma’s Role in Widespread A.D.H.D. Misdiagnosis It’s no secret that pharmaceutical companies essentially buy out the medical industry. As with many other diseases and disorders, when it comes to A.D.H.D., pharmaceutical companies have paid doctors and researchers to overstate the dangers of A.D.H.D. and the benefits of taking their drugs and understate the negative side effects. It’s easy for people to believe this misguided information when it’s affiliated with well-known universities like Harvard and Johns Hopkins. Many people don’t even realize that these studies are funded by the very companies that profit from the drugs’ sale because that relationship is hidden in small print ( source ). Even though many of the advertisements Big Pharma has released state that A.D.H.D. medication is “ safer than aspirin ,” these drugs can have significant side effects and are actually considered to be within the same class as morphine and oxycodone due to high risk of abuse and addiction. You can’t just blame all doctors, either; many of them genuinely believe they’re helping these children because of the information they’ve been given in these studies and by Big Pharma. Big Pharma creates advertisements for A.D.H.D. drugs that are specifically targeted at parents, describing how these drugs can improve test scores and behaviour at home, among other false claims. One of the most controversial ones was a 2009 ad for Intuniv, Shire’s A.D.H.D. treatment, which included a child in a monster costume taking off his terrifying mask to reveal his calm, smiling self with a text reading, “There’s a great kid in there.” The FDA has stepped in multiple times, sending pharmaceutical companies warning letters or even forcing them to take down their ads because they are false, misleading, and/or exaggerate the effects of their drugs ( source ). The following New York Times video was created by Schwarz and Poh Si Teng: What Is A.D.H.D. and Is It Even Real? If brain scans are performed on people with A.D.H.D., there are clear structural differences; however, the majority of A.D.H.D. diagnoses are confirmed by observation, and often not even by a doctor. Parents or school teachers are typically responsible for observing a child’s actions, and if they fit the “criteria” for A.D.H.D., doctors confirm the diagnosis and hand them a prescription. Instead of getting to the root of these children’s “attention deficit,” they are told they have a medical condition that can only be fixed with medication. This is not only unethical, but also clearly damaging to a child’s self esteem. Many of these kids could simply be uninterested in the subject matter, suffering from some sort of emotional trauma, or even have heightened creativity and energy! Many doctors question the legitimacy of A.D.H.D. in general and whether or not it should be classified as a mental disorder. This is largely because the definition of this and similar disorders is usually heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry. American psychologist Lisa Cosgrove and others investigated financial ties between the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) panel members and the pharmaceutical industry. Their findings showed that, of the 170 DSM panel members, 95 (56%) had one or more financial associations with companies in the pharmaceutical industry and 100% of the members of the panels on ‘mood disorders’ and ‘schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders’ had financial ties to drug companies (read our article about it here ). Neurologist Richard Saul spent his career examining patients who struggle with short attention spans and difficulty focusing. His extensive experience has led him to believe that A.D.H.D. isn’t actually a disorder, but rather an umbrella of symptoms that shouldn’t be considered a disease. Thus, Saul believes it shouldn’t be listed as a separate disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic & Statistical Manual. You can read more about his opinion in our article here . No matter what your stance on A.D.H.D. is, it is clear that too many children are being diagnosed with it and handed prescriptions without proper medical evaluations. If you or a loved one has just been diagnosed with A.D.H.D., I suggest you do your own research on the subject instead of simply taking drugs for a “mental disorder” that may have been falsely diagnosed. Source: Collective Evolution

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Cop Awarded $230,000 After Kicking An Unarmed Black Man In The Head (VIDEO)

The Delaware cop who went viral for his 2013 attack on an unarmed young black man is being rewarded with a $230,000 settlement.The August 2013 attack went viral after dash cam footage was released to the public. Dover police corporal Thomas Webster IV and another officer ask Lateef Dickerson to lay on the ground. Ad Dickerson attempts to comply, Webster is seen delivering a brutal kick to Dickerson s head. The attack left the victim with a broken jaw.Webster was indicted by a Grand Jury, but nevertheless cleared of Felony Assault two years later. He was allowed to resign voluntarily, meaning he is able to simply join another police department elsewhere if he chooses.To add insult to injury, Webster is also now being awarded a near quarter of a million dollar settlement by the city. While Webster leaves the force on June 30, and remains on administrative leave until that day, USA Today reports:A settlement agreement commits the city to paying Webster $230,000 over six years. Through 2022, he will get annual payments of roughly half his current $68,398 salary.The settlement document also says an internal affairs investigation concerning Webster that formally began on Jan. 19 will be closed down. At the same time, Webster is forbidden from seeking any other job with Dover city government.Local African American leaders were pleased to see Webster go, but remain concerned that the corporal remains free to sign up to another police force and victimize yet another community elsewhere. This mixed feeling was best expressed by the pastor of a local church, Rev. Rita Page, who said: I think it s sending a message to the police that the community is not settling for anything. We re not settling for injustices. We re going to keep the pressure on until justice is served. I do have a concern because of the fact that he s voluntarily resigning, whether or not he ll be able to serve in other municipalities. I m hoping he will not. I was really hoping he would be terminated, Webster never made an apology or accepted responsibility for his attack on Lateef Dickerson. Now, he is getting another few months of paid leave to look for another job, and a $230,000 golden handshake as he leaves. There s only one signal that send out to crooked cops. Crime pays. Featured image via Dover Police

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MICHELLE OBAMA Rants About Mississippi’s ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill During Commencement Speech

Our racist First lady made an impact on the graduates of Jackson State by turning her commencement speech into a political rant way to go Michelle! Everything is about the shtruggle with this radical ideologue. She s probably the worst person to pick for anything uplifting because in her eyes it s all about being a victim. Can t wait to see her leave the White House!In a rare entrance into a politically charged controversy, first lady Michelle Obama used a commencement speech Saturday at Jackson State University in Mississipppi to directly target the state s recently-passed religious freedom bill. We see it right here in Mississippi just two weeks ago - how swiftly progress can hurtle backward, Obama said. How easy it is to single out a small group and marginalize them because of who they are or who they love. Obama made the comment following an impassioned revival of the state and university s stained history with regard to civil rights. So we ve got to stand side by side with all our neighbors - straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender; Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu immigrant, Native American because the march for civil rights isn t just about African Americans, it s about all Americans, she said. It s about making things more just, more equal, more free for all our kids and grandkids. That s the story you all have the opportunity to write. That s what this historic university has prepared you to do. The state has received growing criticism from human rights organizations and businesses over the controversial law, saying it restricts the rights of the LGBT community. In a press conference Friday in the United Kingdom, President Obama was asked about a recent travel advisory to British LGBT citizens cautioning them of the newly passed law, he said it should be overturned. In her speech, the first lady also reflected on the heated political battles her husband has endured as president, and urged students not to fall into disarray over the anger and vitriol in the political environment. We pay endless attention to folks who are blocking action, blocking judges, blocking immigration, blocking a raise in the minimum wage. Just blocking, Obama said. We are consumed with the anger and vitriol that are bubbling up, with folks shouting at each other, using hateful and divisive language. Obama then revisited some of the vitriol directed towards her husband over his eight years as president, including the birther conspiracy theory widely promoted by GOP frontrunner Donald Trump just five years ago. And then there s the countless times when that language gets personal and is directed at my husband - charges that he doesn t love our country, Obama said. The time he was called a liar in front of a joint session of Congress. The nonstop questions about his birth certificate and his belief in God. Via: ABC

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Austria's Social Democrats urge Facebook to unmask people behind smear campaign

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern s Social Democrats asked Facebook to disclose the identities of those behind sites which they say are spreading libel in an attempt to clean up a smear campaign scandal ahead of an election on Oct. 15. Kern has pledged to get to the bottom of his party s links to Facebook pages which have made unsusbtantiated allegations against Sebastian Kurz, the head of the main opposition People s Party, who is leading in polls for the forthcoming parliamentary vote. The scandal has already cost Kern s campaign manager his job. The Social Democrats lawyers wrote to Facebook in Ireland on Tuesday saying the group must, according to EU rules, hand over details about users who operate sites showing potentially libellous content about Kern and Kurz. We ... ask you to give us all information you have about the persons behind these ... pages, especially names, email-addresses, IP-addresses or other contact details, Vienna-based law firm Freimueller/Obereder/Pilz said. Due to the urgency of the matter we ask for your answer within four days, the lawyers said in the letter obtained by Reuters. Facebook had no immediate comment. The Social Democrats have denied having any connection with two websites making unsubstantiated allegations against 31-year-old Foreign Minister Kurz. But Austrian media reported on Saturday that a former adviser to the Social Democrats who was dismissed this summer was originally behind the sites and that they had been kept in operation. The Social Democrats also sued the as of yet unknown operators of the Facebook pages for libel and for failing to comply with Austria s media law which forbids anonymous publishing. ($1 = 0.8505 euros)

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U.S. lawmakers push for action on human rights in Bahrain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven U.S. senators urged Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday to press Bahrain’s government to do more to promote political and social reform, adding to recent concern in Washington over that country’s human rights record. The letter said the United States should be prepared to consider “tangible consequences,” including reconsidering arms sales, if a recent crackdown on opposition continues. “Bahrain’s failure to address the legitimate grievances of its citizens has strained the country’s social fabric and invited outside actors to take advantage of the deteriorating situation,” six Democratic lawmakers and one Republican said in a letter to Kerry, a former Democratic senator. “Indeed, we believe the government’s harsh crackdown on the political opposition undermines the country’s stability and plays into the hands of Iran,” they wrote, calling themselves “deeply alarmed.” State Department spokesman John Kirby said he was aware of reports about the letter, but had not seen it. Asked about whether U.S. arms provided to Bahrain could be used against the opposition, he said, “We always have concerns about the end use of items that are inside the foreign military sales program.” Bahrain, which hosts the United States’ Fifth Fleet and is seen by Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdoms as a strategic bulwark against Iranian influence, drew U.S. and United Nations criticism this month when it moved to strip a top Shi’ite cleric’s citizenship and closed the main Shi’ite opposition group. A State Department report, first reported by Reuters, found Bahrain’s national reconciliation efforts after it crushed street protests in 2011 have stalled, and said the Western ally in the Gulf has not implemented recommendations to protect freedom of expression. “We continue to urge the government of Bahrain to reverse their recent harmful actions,” Kirby said a news briefing on Thursday. Earlier this week, the State Department said Bahrain’s plan to try an activist for tweets condemning its prison system and involvement in the war in Yemen is worrisome to the United States. The letter was led by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and also signed by Republican Marco Rubio and Democrats Patrick Leahy, Ron Wyden, Bob Casey, Chris Coons and Tim Kaine. It asked for more information on specific actions President Barack Obama’s administration is taking to press Bahrain’s leadership on the issue.

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CLOWN PORN SEARCHES UP 213%

Home › SOCIETY › CLOWN PORN SEARCHES UP 213% CLOWN PORN SEARCHES UP 213% 0 SHARES [11/1/16] As the clown sighting epidemic became more prevalent over recent months in America, so did searches for clown pornography. Pornhub, one of the go-to X-rated websites, released data showing a huge uptick in clown searches on their salacious website, including a 213-percent increase at its highest point. “Clown fetish porn has been around for some time, so searches on Pornhub are not uncommon,” the sites’ official blog post from mid-October reads. But in “the last 30 days there have been over 100,000 clown related searches.” Company statisticians also found that women are 33 percent more likely to search for clown porn than men. Popular search terms related to the costumed entertainers were “clown porn,” “clown girl,” “clown gangbang,” “clown orgy,” “midget clown,” “crazy clown,” “killer clown,” “lesbian clown,” “clown fart,” and “clown feet.” Post navigation

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Cartoon of the Day: What lurks in the swamp Trump has promised to drain?

Clinton aide’s for-profit firm illegally raised $150 million for ‘nonprofit’ Clinton Foundation Commenting Policy We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse. Read more . You may use HTML in your comments. Feel free to review the full list of allowed HTML here . Facebook Comments Disqus Comments Trending on Liberty Unyielding

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Russia's Lavrov, U.S. Tillerson to discuss North Korea in Vienna: RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to discuss the North Korean crisis with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during the meeting in Vienna this week, RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

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Sessions looking into special counsel for Clinton issues: media reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked Justice Department prosecutors to decide if a special counsel should be appointed to investigate certain Republican concerns, including alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation and the sale of a uranium company to Russia, according to media reports on Monday. The Washington Post and New York Times cited a letter from the Justice Department to the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Robert Goodlatte, responding to his request for the appointment of a special counsel to look into various matters. The letter quoted Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd as saying that Sessions had "directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate certain issues raised in your letters," according to the Post, which first reported the story (wapo.st/2zEwN7a) Those prosecutors would then make recommendations “as to whether any matters not currently under investigation should be opened, whether any matters currently under investigation require further resources, or whether any matters merit the appointment of a Special Counsel,” the letter said. Last month, Republican leaders of two House committees launched an investigation into an Obama-era deal in which a Russian company bought a Canadian firm that owned some 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies. Some Republicans have charged that the State Department under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved the deal after her husband’s charitable foundation received a $145 million donation. Democrats have accused Republicans of launching a spurious investigation of Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, to divert attention from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged links between President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said five congressional committees, including the oversight panel, had investigated the deal and “identified no evidence to substantiate allegations that Secretary Clinton orchestrated, manipulated, or otherwise coerced” the interagency committee to approve the deal.

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Trump's chief of staff Priebus to head back to DC after Saudi stop

RIYADH (Reuters) - White House chief of staff Reince Priebus will not be joining President Donald Trump for his full trip through the Middle East and Europe. He is returning to Washington after doing only the Saudi Arabia portion of the journey, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. Sanders said Priebus had planned to return early, in particular because the White House is unveiling its full budget this week. Priebus traveled to Saudi Arabia with Trump on Air Force One on Friday. Trump’s White House is battling scandals related to the president’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Rumors of pending staff shake-ups have been rampant almost since Trump took office in January.

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Presidential Debate: Here’s What You Missed - The New York Times

We analyzed in real time the second presidential debate between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton. Plus, here are our fact checks and email exchanges with William Weld, the Libertarian nominee. The second presidential debate between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton began with explosive attacks and ended with a measure of graciousness, as the two candidates complimented each other at the request of an audience member. Mrs. Clinton said she admired the Trump children, while Mr. Trump called his opponent “a fighter. ” But the candidates savaged each other on the way to the finish, with Mr. Trump struggling mightily for much of the evening to address questions about his finances, policy ideas and treatment of women. In several tense exchanges, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he had avoided paying federal income taxes for years, called his taped description of sexual assault “locker ” and accused Mrs. Clinton of victimizing women and carrying “hate in her heart. ” He also said that as president he would appoint a special prosecutor to pursue Mrs. Clinton. In a comparatively subdued performance, Mrs. Clinton hewed close to the basic arguments of her campaign: That she is an experienced public servant and Mr. Trump is unfit to be president. Mr. Trump, she said, “owes our country an apology. ” • An audience member asked the candidates to name one positive quality in their opponent. Mrs. Clinton jumped in first. “I respect his children,” she said. “His children are incredibly able and devoted and I think that says a lot about Donald. I don’t agree with nearly anything else he says or does, but I do respect that. ” Mr. Trump, expressing gratitude for the compliment, offered his own. “I will say this about Hillary: She doesn’t quit,” he said. “She doesn’t give up. I respect that. ” The debate ended, and the pair shook hands. • Pressed on the 2005 recording which he seemed to boast of sexually assaulting women, Mr. Trump said he was “not proud of” the behavior, saying that he had apologized to his family and the American people. But he disputed that the recording amounted to bragging about sexual assault, calling his comments “locker room talk. ” “I have great respect for women,” he said. “Nobody has more respect for women than I do,” he said, adding, “I was embarrassed by it. ” • Mrs. Clinton, responding to Mr. Trump’s remarks about the recording, said that while she disagreed with past Republican nominees, “I never questioned their fitness to serve. ” “Donald Trump is different,” she said. She suggested that, despite Mr. Trump’s insistence that the recording did not reflect his character, “It’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. ” • Mr. Trump turned the discussion of his lewd remarks on Mr. Clinton, arguing that his “words” did not compare to Mr. Clinton’s history with women. “If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse,” Mr. Trump said. Mrs. Clinton did not address the attacks on her husband. “He gets to run his campaign any way he chooses,” she said. She paraphrased Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention to describe her approach: “When they go low, you go high. ” • Addressing Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump said that if he wins, “I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation,” citing her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Mrs. Clinton pointedly said she could not spend all of her time Mr. Trump, advising viewers to go to her website to see his falsehoods. She said it was a good thing that Mr. Trump was not in charge of the laws in the country. “Because you’d be in jail,” Mr. Trump shot back. Cheers could be heard from the crowd. • Mrs. Clinton said Mr. Trump was plainly trying to divert attention from his own campaign — “the way it’s exploding and the way Republicans are leaving you. ” Mr. Trump asked a moderator, Mr. Cooper, why he had not spent more time discussing Mrs. Clinton’s private email server. (The other moderator, Martha Raddatz, had in fact brought it up moments earlier.) Mr. Trump was unmoved. “Nice, one on three,” he said, suggesting the moderators were teaming up on him. • Asked about how to stop Islamophobia, Mr. Trump said, “You’re right about Islamophobia and that’s a shame. ” But he pivoted immediately to a discussion of what he called “radical Islamic terrorists,” citing the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. and the attacks on the World Trade Center, among other atrocities. Mrs. Clinton suggested Mr. Trump’s statements throughout the campaign had been destructive. “We are not at war with Islam,” she said. “It plays into the hands of the terrorists to act as though we are. ” • Pushed repeatedly to answer whether his proposed ban on Muslim immigration still stood, Mr. Trump deflected, saying his plans amounted to “extreme vetting” and accusing a moderator, Ms. Raddatz, of favoring Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Clinton said it was “important for us, as a policy” not to ban people based on religion. “How do you do that?” she asked. “We are a country founded on religious freedom and liberty. ” • After Mr. Trump said again that he opposed the war in Iraq, despite past public statements that contradict him, Mrs. Clinton reiterated that “we have it on tape” that Mr. Trump had not been against the war before it began. “It’s not been debunked,” he insisted, turning the issue back on Mrs. Clinton. “You voted for it and you shouldn’t have. ” • A black audience member asked if the candidates could serve as president for “all Americans. ” Mr. Trump said that he could, before moving quickly to a standard of his stump speech: wondering aloud what some voters “have to lose. ” “It can’t get any worse,” he said. After Mr. Trump again criticized Mrs. Clinton’s Senate tenure, she noted that she won by a wide margin. She added, “If you don’t vote for me, I still want to be your president. ” • Mrs. Clinton was asked about a remark, leaked from a private speech, in which she seemed to stress the importance of keeping both a public and a private position on given issues as a political figure. She said she was following the example of Abraham Lincoln as he sought to convince lawmakers to ally with him. “Now she’s blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln,” Mr. Trump said. “Honest Abe never lied. ” • Mrs. Clinton cited the specter of Russian hackers seeking to influence the election with strategic leaks, which she suggested were intended to help Mr. Trump. “Believe me, they’re not doing it to get me elected,” she said. (She has spoken often of Mr. Trump’s kind words for Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s president.) Mr. Trump claimed ignorance. “Maybe there is no hacking,” he said, adding, “I know nothing about Russia. ” • Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump tussled over taxes, touching on Mr. Trump’s efforts to avoid paying them given past losses. He was giving “zero for our vets, zero for our military,” she said. “That is wrong. ” Asked directly if Mr. Trump had used a loss in the to avoid paying taxes, he replied, “Of course I do. Of course I do. ” He accused Mrs. Clinton of not doing enough as a senator to reform the tax code. • Asked by an audience member about coarseness in the presidential race, Mrs. Clinton said it was “very important for us to make clear to our children that our country really is great because we’re good. ” She reminded the crowd of her campaign slogan, “Stronger Together. ” Mr. Trump, who before the debate appeared with women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, said he broadly agreed with Mrs. Clinton. “I began this campaign because I was so tired of seeing such foolish things happen to our country,” he said. • In response to a question on the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Trump called the program “a disaster. ” “You know it, we all know it,” he said. Mrs. Clinton was asked about recent remarks from her husband, in which he appeared to criticize Mr. Obama’s signature legislative achievement. “He clarified what he meant,” Mrs. Clinton said. “If we were to start all over again, we might come up with a different system,” she said. “But we have an system. ” • Asked about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Mrs. Clinton called the situation “catastrophic,” pivoting to criticize Russia and accusing the country’s leadership again of favoring Mr. Trump for president. Asked the same question, Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton “talks tough against Russia, but our nuclear program has fallen way behind. ” When Ms. Raddatz, a moderator, brought up the remarks of Mr. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, on Syria, Mr. Trump said, “He and I haven’t spoken and I disagree. ” • Mr. Trump attacked Mrs. Clinton for saying that half of Trump supporters could be placed in a “basket of deplorables. ” “Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Cooper asked Mr. Trump if he had the discipline to lead, citing a recent “Twitter missive” in which he advised followers, without evidence, to “check out” a sex tape featuring a former pageant winner whose weight he had insulted in the 1990s. Mr. Trump denied that he had mentioned a sex tape. He also defended his favored social media practice: “Tweeting happens to be a form of communication,” he said. “I’m not of it. ” • Asked about the Supreme Court, Mrs. Clinton said she wanted “a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a women’s right to choose. ” Mr. Trump said he hoped to find judges “very much in the mold of Justice Scalia,” citing a list he has compiled of possible selections. • Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump took the stage without shaking hands.

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GOP’s ANTI-COP CANDIDATE? Video Shows JOHN KASICH Calling Police Officer “An IDIOT” For Enforcing The Law

The one-state wonder sides with the Left on a number of issues from his views on gay marriage, his flip-flopping on gun control to his support for Communist Common Core. Sheriff Clarke has now unearthed a video showing us the anti-cop side of Governor John Katich.Most of us have been pulled over by law enforcement and many of us have been frustrated after receiving a ticket we didn t think we deserved. We re not all governor s however, and we don t stand up in front of a crowd where we likely have some influence, and call law enforcement officers idiots. Too bad this video wasn t exposed before he narrowly won his home state of Ohio. Have you ever been stopped by a police officer that s an idiot? He s an idiot! You just can t act that way. And what people resent is people who are in the government who don t treat the client (client?) with respect. Who knew that the person being pulled over by the police for potentially breaking the law is considered a client? Here is the original Tweet from the awesome Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke:https://t.co/LXDIrZtj3r @JohnKasich is anti gun and anti cop and people,say Trump is not conservative? Seriously? https://t.co/IHR5wLWIev David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) March 17, 2016

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Hillary Clinton’s “Sudden Move” Of $1.8 Billion To Qatar Central Bank Stuns Financial World

Email An intriguing Ministry of Finance (MoF) report circulating in the Kremlin today says that elite Western bankers were stunned a few hours ago after the Bank For International Settlements (BIS) registered a $1.8 billion transfer from the Clinton Foundation (CF) to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) through the “facilitation/abetment” of JP Morgan Chase & Company (JPM)—and for reasons yet to be firmly established. According to this report, the Bank for International Settlements is the world's oldest international financial organization and acts as a prime counterparty for central banks in their financial transactions; the Qatar Central Bank is the bank of that Gulf State nations government and their “bank of banks”; JP Morgan Chase & Company is the United States largest “megabank”; and the Clinton Foundation is an international criminal money laundering organization whose clients include the Russian mafia. With Hillary Clinton’s US presidential campaign Chairman John Podesta having longstanding ties to the Russian mafia and money laundering, this report continues, the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) maintains complete surveillance of him and his criminal associates—including both Hillary Clinton and her husband, and former US President, Bill Clinton. On Saturday 15 October (2016), this report notes, the SVR reported to the MoF that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta met with JP Morgan Chase & Company CEO Jamie Dimon at Clinton’s Chappaqua Compound outside of New York City—and who, in 2009, both President Obama and Hillary Clinton allowed to break US laws by his, Dimon’s, being able to buy millions-of-dollars of his company’s stocks prior to the public being told his JP Morgan bank was receiving a Federal Reserve $80 billion credit line—and that caused JP Morgan’s stocks to soar and that have had an astonishing 920% dividend growth since 2010. Within 12 hours of the Hillary Clinton-John Podesta-Jamie Dimon meeting at the Chappaqua Compound, this report continues, the BIS registered the transfer of $1.8 billion from the Clinton Foundation to the Qatar Central Bank. To why the Clinton Foundation transferred this enormous sum of money to Qatar, this report explains, is due to the longstanding ties between this Islamic neo-patrimonial absolute monarchy and then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who oversaw the “massive bribery scheme” that allowed this Gulf State nation to secure the 2022 World Cup—and that the Qataris were so appreciative of they donated millions to the Clinton Foundation, and incredibly, in 2011, gave former US President Bill Clinton $1 million for a birthday present—bringing Hillary Clinton’s total “cash grab” from these Persian Gulf sheiks of $100 million—all occurring as recently released secret emails revealed Hillary Clinton’s knowledge that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia were, and still are, funding ISIS. To what Jamie Dimon said to Hillary Clinton that caused her to suddenly transfer $1.8 billion to Qatar, this report notes, revolves around his JP Morgan bank being told by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in April (2016) that this “megabanks” master plan to save itself had “serious deficiencies” that could “pose serious adverse effects to the financial stability of the United States”. Two months after the FDIC’s warning letter to Jamie Dimon, in June (2016), this report says, he cryptically “sounded a warning” that the United States sub-prime auto loan bubble was nearing collapse and stated that “someone is going to get hurt”. Unbeknownst to the American people, MoF experts in this report explain, is that just 8 weeks ago multiple warnings began to be issued that the United States $1 trillion sub-prime auto loan bubble was beginning to collapse—and that this past week became so severe the Bank of America issued a recession warning telling its elite customers that “this market is scary”, and the British-based multinational banking and financial services company HSBC, likewise, issued a “Red Alert” warning all of its clients warning them to “prepare for a severe market crash”. With one of the first casualties of this sub-prime auto loan bubble being the German global banking giant Deutsche Bank that is “nearing its doom” and laying off tens-of-thousands of it workers worldwide, this report grimly states, the American mainstream propaganda media is failing to allow the people of that nation to know the full extent of this looming catastrophe—who unlike Hillary Clinton who has just protected $1.8 billion of her wealth, will be left defenseless once again at the hands of their elite rulers. As Wikileaks secret Hillary Clinton emails have now proven that the US propaganda mainstream media is now totally controlled by her, and who continue their blackout on the “Clinton Crime Story of the Century”, this report continues, the absolutely horrifying statistics released this week showing that an astounding 35% of American who have been brutalized by the Obama-Clinton regime these past 8 years are so buried in debt they can no longer pay their bills is, likewise, being kept from these most innocent of peoples.

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Malaysia's Mahathir calls Trump a 'villain' for Jerusalem plan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Muslim-majority Malaysia s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump an international bully and a villain for his move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Trump last week reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and said the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in the coming years. The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of theirs to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally. The anger from Trump s decision will lead to what is called terrorism , the 93-year-old Mahathir told a protest rally in front of the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Today we have an international bully. Trump, go find someone your own size. This (Jerusalem plan) will only stir the anger of the Muslims, said Mahathir, the chairman of Malaysia s opposition coalition. We must use all our power to oppose this villain who is the president of the United States, he said, urging all Muslim countries to cut ties with Israel. Muhyiddin Yassin, another opposition leader, called on the Malaysian government to not proceed with planned investments in the United States. Last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Muslims worldwide to oppose any recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Social media users in Muslim-majority Malaysia vowed to boycott U.S. companies, such as McDonald s Corp, following Trump s decision. The chain s Malaysian franchise said it did not support or engage in any political or religious conflicts. Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Ahamd Hamidi on Friday said Najib and the leader of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) would lead a protest rally next Friday in Malaysia s administrative capital of Putrajaya, media said.

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Michigan Attorney General says weak Detroit schools can be closed

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Underperforming schools in the cash-strapped city of Detroit can be closed this school year, Michigan’s Attorney General said in a legal opinion issued Wednesday to clarify an existing state law. The position is the latest development in a battle between the state’s Republican and Democratic lawmakers over how best to address Detroit’s struggling school system. Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said schools operated by the Detroit Public School Community District that are among the lowest achieving 5 percent of all public schools during the three preceding school years can be shuttered by the state’s School Reform Officer (SRO). Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who in June approved a dramatic restructuring of Detroit’s school system, previously accepted the opinion of an outside law firm that the SRO could not close schools until 2019, according to the Detroit Free Press. “The law is clear: Michigan parents and their children do not have to be stuck indefinitely in a failing school,” Schuette said in a statement on Wednesday. “Detroit students and parents deserve accountability and high performing schools. If a child can’t spell opportunity, they won’t have opportunity.” Some Democrats argue that the newly restructured school district needs additional time to re-evaluate the performance of schools and integrate best learning practices. Schuette’s opinion said the SRO could issue a mandatory notice of closure to a school, which would then determine the best time to close before the end of the current school term. If a school is closed, students will be re-assigned to another school. The Detroit public school system, which has nearly 46,000 students, has been under state control since 2009 because of a financial emergency. Of the 124 worst-performing schools in the state, 47 are Detroit public schools, according to a list released by the SRO earlier this month. The recent restructuring of the school system splits it into two distinct parts in an effort to improve the academically and financially struggling system. Ari Adler, a spokesman for Snyder’s office, said on Wednesday that the governor’s office was reviewing Schuette’s legal opinion. Republican House Speaker Kevin Cotter, who asked for a clarification of the law from Schuette welcomed the decision on Wednesday. “Detroit students need a final decision, and this opinion provides one,” Cotter said in a statement. State Representative Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, a Democrat representing northwest Detroit, slammed Schuette’s opinion, describing the attorney general as “totally out of touch with the needs of our community.”

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‘Need A Safe Place, Pumpkin?’: The Internet Drags Trump For Begging Supporters To Throw A Rally

Amateur president Donald Trump has avoided doing any real work while only being on the job for just over one month. The 70-year-old has taken several vacations, though, and his trips to his extravagant resort Mar-a-Lago have cost the taxpayers dearly. Just after winning the election, Trump went on a thank you tour. Later, after taking the oath of office, the thin-skinned alleged president held a rally in Florida. Trump needs his ego fed daily. With abysmally low approval ratings and finding himself plagued with scandals, Trump wants his supporters to throw a rally in his honor. Maybe the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN should have their own rally. It would be the biggest of them all!, he tweeted to his 25.5 million followers.Maybe the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN should have their own rally. It would be the biggest of them all! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017Twitter users were quick to respond.@realDonaldTrump or maybe even as big as this one pic.twitter.com/Ry02nfsX1F Rob Szczerba (@RJSzczerba) February 25, 2017Trump apparently forgot he lost the popular vote by 3 million. _( )_/ pic.twitter.com/rZo5ByMzMW Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 25, 2017@JordanUhl snowflake wants a do-over for his pathetic inauguration. Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump #SaturdayMorning #TheResistance pic.twitter.com/I34LfvhlKW #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump In Kansas, a racist murdered an Indian man he thought was Muslim yelling "get out of my country" you have said nothing. Alex Leo (@AlexMLeo) February 25, 2017And it is extremely nice for Donald Trump to give Three Doors Down and Alabama a chance to work again at a rally. MAGAGAGAGA!!! Frog frog! Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump I can picture it now. pic.twitter.com/CGoyHBQRgo Matt Haig (@matthaig1) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump The trouble is though Donald, only dictators have rallies for themselves this early into their 'reign'. Matt Haig (@matthaig1) February 25, 2017Trump has been silent about this murderer..@realDonaldTrump still no comment on this murderer who shot & killed an Indian and wounded 2 others after saying "Get out of my country." pic.twitter.com/NOTfh4AQGH Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump Donald, I hate to break it to you. They did. And it wasn't. pic.twitter.com/kccKZk3fU9 Josh Withey (@josh_withey) February 25, 2017We know what goes on at Trump s rallies.We already know what happens at your rallies @realDonaldTrump.Ht #13th pic.twitter.com/eYJCjuuccP Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) February 25, 2017 Who needs enemies when we have you? @realDonaldTrump who needs enemies when we have you? You discredit our CIA & block free press from their duties of reporting to the people ? ? (@VeeVee) February 25, 2017The difference between Obama and Trump.Watch how differently @BarackObama and @realDonaldTrump treat the Press. pic.twitter.com/Oz7V5i6C78 Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) February 25, 2017Hillary won the popular vote, though, so it wouldn't be the biggest rally. :o @realDonaldTrump Steven Bonnell II (@OmniDestiny) February 25, 2017Trump launched a war on U.S. Intelligence agencies and the press. It looks like the amateur POTUS needs a safe place.@realDonaldTrump You are the biggest snowflake. Get criticized: hold a rally with your sycophants. Need a presidential safe space, pumpkin? Aaron Gouveia (@DaddyFiles) February 25, 2017Trump is Making America Embarrassed Again.@realDonaldTrump Maybe next time you should delete a tweet like this and just find someone to hug you instead. This is EMBARRASSING MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) February 25, 2017A reminder to the Whiner-in-Chief.@realDonaldTrump This is America. We don't have rallies for leaders we've elected. That's why we have elections. Scott Monty (@ScottMonty) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump Lincoln won roughly 40% of the popular vote, but I don't recall him whining about the election. He had work to do. Kevin M. Levin (@KevinLevin) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump if you're that desperate for a crowd, let me assure you the attendance at your impeachment hearings will be YUGE. pic.twitter.com/wvJc3Ex2CB Warning: Not Kimmy (@EasyBakedOven) February 25, 2017@realDonaldTrump Openly trolling your supporters to conduct a rally on your behalf should probably be Webster's new definition of SAD. MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) February 25, 2017Size matters. Lol.@realDonaldTrump Your obsession with size is very telling. Karen ?? (@dvineabsrdities) February 25, 2017Trump had a plan to defeat ISIS but we re not sure what happened to that.@realDonaldTrump why not focus on your job, #BenedictTrump ? pic.twitter.com/U6aEccmpNg DeMOMcrat (@tbbucsbabe) February 25, 2017Bernie Sanders weighed in. They did. It wasn t. .@realDonaldTrump They did. It wasn't. pic.twitter.com/xqt29RJPEr Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 25, 2017Probably the only good thing about our newly minted alleged president using Twitter as his presidential podium is that we can call him out at every turn. Trump unleashes mean-girl tweets to distract the public from what s really going on. Many times he tweets our self-praise while patting himself on the back. In this case, he has to know that another rally won t make him look presidential but it s a great tool to distract us from what s taking place. The White House conveniently banned selective members of the press yesterday and that s because of the new reports on his ties to Russia.Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

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Conservative firebrand defeats Trump pick in Alabama primary for U.S. Senate

(Reuters) - Alabama voters elected conservative firebrand Roy Moore as the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump and other party leaders who had argued that rival Luther Strange was a better bet to advance their priorities in Washington. An outspoken evangelical Christian who has twice lost his position as the state’s top judge, Moore won election with a fierce anti-Washington message and a call to put religion at the center of public life. “We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress,” he said. With all 67 counties reporting, Moore led Strange by 55 percent to 45 percent. Despite campaigning for Strange, Trump congratulated Moore for his victory and urged him to defeat Democrat Doug Jones in the December election to fill a seat that was held by Jeff Sessions before he became U.S. Attorney General in February. “Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!” Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump deleted three other Tweets, voicing his supported for Strange. In one deleted Tweet, the president said Strange “will never let you down!” and in another he said “vote today for ‘Big Luther,’” according to media. Moore is favored to win the December election, as Alabama has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1992. Moore, 70, first lost his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse and a second time for defying the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage. The race exposed rifts between the Republican party’s conservative base and its moneyed establishment — and within Trump’s inner circle. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appeared with Strange at rallies in the race’s closing days and a political group affiliated with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spent close to $9 million on his behalf. Moore, meanwhile, drew support from Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and his secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson. Bannon said Moore’s victory could embolden other grassroots challengers to try to unseat well-funded Republican incumbents in next year’s congressional elections. “You’re going to see in state after state people that follow the model of Judge Roy Moore, that do not need to raise money from the elites,” he said at Moore’s victory party. Strange, 64, a former state attorney general, earned a reputation as a reliable Republican vote after he was appointed to the seat in February. But his close ties to party leaders proved to be a liability with some voters, who questioned whether former Governor Robert Bentley appointed him to Sessions’s seat in an attempt to avoid prosecution for a sex scandal. Bentley pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds and stepped down in April. “It was sort of a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,’” said R.L. Barber, 77, a Moore supporter from Birmingham. Moore’s uncompromising style could bring a new level of turbulence to the Senate, where Republicans have struggled to reach consensus on tax and spending issues and have failed repeatedly to roll back Obamacare. But Moore said he would back the president. “Don’t let anybody in the press think that because he supported my opponent I do not support him and support his agenda,” Moore said.

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Lower Yields and Agropoisons: What is the Point of GM Mustard in India?

Email The decision whether to allow the commercialisation of the first genetically modified (GM) food crop (mustard) in India rumbles on. As I have previously discussed here, the bottom line is government collusion over GM crop technology (that is not wanted and not needed) with transnational agribusiness, which is trying to hide in the background. The real story behind GM mustard in India is that it presents the opportunity to make various herbicide tolerant (HT) mustard hybrids using India’s best germ plasm, which would be an irresistible money spinner for the developers and chemical manufacturers (Bayer-Monsanto). GM mustard is both a Trojan horse and based on a hoax. Various high-level reports (listed here) have advised against introducing GM food crops to India. Allowing for not one but three GMOs (which is what the GM mustard in question constitutes, when we include its two crucial GM parental lines) is according to campaigner Aruna Rodrigues a serious case of regulatory ‘sleight-of-hand’, permissible due to diluted rules to ensure easy compliance. If allowed to go through, India will be forced to accept a highly toxic and unsustainable technology suited to monocropping. HT GM crops would be particularly unsuitable for its agriculture given the large number of small farms growing a diverse range of crops alongside mustard that contribute towards agricultural biodiversity and, in turn, diverse, healthy diets. The processes being used to push through GM mustard are, according to this writ by Rodrigues, based on fraud and unremitting regulatory delinquency. She argues that the whole system is in addition being protected by a subterranean process of regulation that has also broken India’s constitutional safeguards by keeping the biosafety data hidden from the nation. Rodrigues says, “These matters require criminal prosecution.” New development The government has now told the Supreme Court (SC) that it won’t release GM mustard without the court’s say so. At the same time, however, it strongly opposes the writ filed by Rodrigues. In an affidavit response to Aruna Rodrigues’ writ, however, the Union of India revealed something that merited a press release from the civil organisation Navdanya and Aruna Rodrigues (presented in full below this article). According to the press statement, the government’s response contained an admission by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) itself that no claim had been made in any documents submitted to it that HT Mustard DMH 11 out-performs non-GMO hybrids. So then, what is the point of GM mustard? And what were all the claims being made in media about GM mustard outperforming non-GMO hybrids by 25-30% in yield? According to the press statement, that claim was also made by the developers (Dr Pental and his team at Delhi University) and is clearly recorded by the media. It also notes that the claim of superior yield was implied in the Supreme Court (SC) during a ‘hearing’ (24 October) on India’s import bill for edible oil. The press statement says: “It is now clear, by the GEAC’s own admission, that DMH 11 does not out-yield India’s best non-GMO cultivars and this includes hybrids against which this mustard was not tested.” Navdanya and Aruna Rodrigues ask: “Therefore, what is the Union of India’s point? Is this HT mustard being introduced because of its ability to just make hybrids? Given that it does not outperform our non-GMO hybrids, the argument collapses on its essential lack of science and reasoned thinking.” They conclude that this HT Mustard DMH 11 is not needed – which is in fact the first step of a risk assessment protocol for GM crops! HT mustard DMH 11 will make no impact on the domestic production of mustard oil, which was a major reason why it was being pushed in the first place. The argument was that GM mustard would increase productivity and this would help reduce imports of edible oils. Implicit in this was that India’s farmers were unproductive and GM would help overcome this. While it is clear that India’s imports of edible oils have indeed increased, this is not as a result of an underperforming home-grown sector. India essentially became a dumping ground for palm oil. Until the mid-1990s, India was virtually self-sufficient in edible oils. Then import tariffs were reduced, leading to an influx of cheap (subsidised) edible oil imports that domestic farmers could not compete with. This was a deliberate policy that effectively devastated the home-grown edible oils sector and served the interests of palm oil growers and US grain and agriculture commodity company Cargill, which helped write international trade rules to secure access to the Indian market on its terms. It therefore came as little surprise that in 2013 India’s then Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar accused US companies of derailing the nation’s oil seeds production programme. Supporters of GM twisted this situation to call for the introduction of GM mustard to increase productivity. Now their arguments on virtually each and every count have been shown to be erroneous and constitute little more than a cynical ruse to facilitate Bayer-Monsanto GM food crops and associated agropoisons entry into India. PRESS RELEASE UNION OF INDIA REPLY AFFIDAVIT 20/21 OCT 2016 GEAC STATES: “NO CLAIM MADE THAT DMH 11 OUTPERFORMS NON-GMO HYBRIDS” “No such claim has been made in any of the submitted documents that DMH 11 out-performs Non-GMO hybrids. The comparison has only been made between hybrid DMH 11, NC (national Check) Varuna and the appropriate zonal checks — MSY of 2670 Kg/ha has been recorded over three years of BRL trials which is 28% and 37% more than the NC & ZC respectively”. (Ref. U of India Reply Pg 55 point 86-88) Petitioner Comment: With this statement, the Union of India effectively buries its own ‘raison d’être’ for its HT Mustard DMH 11. The following points may be noted: (a) The claim of a 25-30% increase in yield may not have technically been made in the SC. This adherence to a technicality is mischievous to the extreme, but much more moot is that the Regulators by this argument cut the grass from under their own feet. The above yield is indeed the claim by the Developers, clearly recorded by the Media and strangely in the SC by implication, by bringing in the issue of our import bill for edible oil in the ‘Hearing’ of the 24th. The claim is: · That the superior yield of this HT mustard DMH 11, (that despite there being NO TRAIT for YIELD in the Barnase-Barstar system with the Bar gene glufosinate), through its HYBRID-MAKING capability is superior to Non-GMO cultivars in the Country. (b) The Petitioners’ have proven without doubt based on RTI data that DMH 11 field trials were fraudulent, and specifically on the question of DELIBERATELY poor-yielding Comparators used in the field testing of HT Mustard DMH 11 in the BRL I & II field trials . NOTE: By this statement the Government concedes the argument that DMH 11 does not out-yield India’s best NON-GMO cultivars and this includes HYBRIDS against which this mustard was not tested in BRL I &II trials (2010-11 onwards). Therefore, what is the Union-of India’s point? Is this HT mustard being introduced because of its ability to JUST make HYBRIDS? Given that it does not outperform our Non-GMO hybrids, the argument collapses on its essential lack of science and reasoned thinking. CONCLUSION · This HT Mustard DMH 11 is NOT NEEDED (the first step of a risk assessment protocol for GM crops ) AND · This HT mustard DMH 11 will make no impact on DOMESTIC production of Mustard Oil leave alone the import oil bill of which mustard and Rape together are less than 2% of the total oil import (of 14.3 million Metric Tonnes in 2015-16) Aruna Rodrigues: Petitioner GMO PIL Mo: 098263 96033 Indra Shekhar Singh, Media Spokesperson, Navdanya

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

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

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Obama plan to stop tax inversions stirs U.S. business concerns

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration’s plan to prevent American companies from shifting their headquarters overseas to avoid U.S. taxes is coming under fire from companies and banks that say it would be costly and cumbersome. At issue are proposed Treasury regulations to combat “earnings stripping,” a key goal for companies that carry out tax-avoiding mergers known as “inversions” to reincorporate abroad, if only on paper, to cut their taxes. The practice effectively shifts taxable earnings from U.S. operations to the redomiciled former American parent as debt interest payments that are tax deductible in the United States and subject to a lower income tax rate overseas. The Treasury Department is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed changes on Thursday. The administration’s proposals, which could be finalized within months, have already dampened interest in global mergers. The proposals are backed by Democrats in Congress and academics as a responsible step to prevent corporations from exiting the U.S. tax system. Republicans say the measures overstep administration authority and could discourage foreign investment in the United States. Businesses and trade groups representing sectors ranging from bankers and retailers to manufacturers and oil producers said a Treasury proposal to end the deductions by reclassifying the debt as equity would disrupt operations and saddle businesses with new red tape. U.S. multinational Procter & Gamble Co warned Treasury the proposed rules would require countless changes throughout its corporate structure if myriad daily loans between affiliates were recharacterized as equity investments. “It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to monitor and administer,” P&G’s Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller told the Internal Revenue Service in a letter before the regulatory comment period ended last week. He warned that the company would face pre-tax costs of $220 million to $340 million a year as a result of adverse tax consequences and burdens. The regulations would also pose challenges for intercompany loans key to the financial services industry, according to Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp, which filed a joint comment with the Treasury. “A financial services group would face the choice between, on the one hand, staggering administrative complexities and a tax burden disproportionate to its true economic profit, and on the other hand, the imposition of crippling constraints on its ordinary business activities,” said the banks, which seek an industry exemption. A Treasury spokeswoman said officials could respond to the feedback but added the department was moving “swiftly” to finalize regulations.

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NARCISSIST OBAMA Stops Mid-Speech To Admonish Little Boy For Taking “Selfie” While He Talks [VIDEO]

It s okay he was probably just a racist white kid with Republican parents On a positive note, this is the last time America will see these two racist community organizers at a White House halloween party Barack has probably already forgotten the humiliation he caused every American when he took this infamous selfie with a few friends at Nelson Mandela s funeral

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COLLEGES MAY BE FORCED To Stop Pushing Qualified White Students To Back Of Line.. DOJ Will Take On Affirmative Action In College Admissions

The Trump administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Department s civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.The document, an internal announcement to the civil rights division, seeks current lawyers interested in working for a new project on investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions. The announcement suggests that the project will be run out of the division s front office, where the Trump administration s political appointees work, rather than its Educational Opportunities Section, which is run by career civil servants and normally handles work involving schools and universities.The document does not explicitly identify whom the Justice Department considers at risk of discrimination because of affirmative action admissions policies. But the phrasing it uses, intentional race-based discrimination, cuts to the heart of programs designed to bring more minorities to university campuses.Supporters and critics of the project said it was clearly targeting admissions programs that can give members of generally disadvantaged groups, like black and Latino students, an edge over other applicants with comparable or higher test scores.For entire story: NYT sIs it legal for colleges and universities to use race as a deciding factor for purposes of admission? In 1997, one brave student took on the University of Michigan and their unfair practice of making the race of the student applicant a much higher priority than the accomplishments of the student when making admission decisions. Meanwhile, a second lawsuit on behalf of Barbara Grutter against the University of Michigan Law was also filed. Both Gratz and Grutter s cases ended up in the US Supreme Court.Here s what happened:In 2003, the Supreme Court decided the landmark cases of Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. Several years after CIR s historic victory in the Fifth Circuit, Hopwood v. Texas, which struck down the use of racial preferences in all states in the Fifth Circuit, the Sixth Circuit court of Appeals upheld the use of the racial preferences program at the University of Michigan. Because of the contrary conclusions of law reached by the Circuit Courts, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.CIR successfully urged the Supreme Court to strike down the racial preferences system at the University of Michigan s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, but the Court left the door open for universities to continue using racial preferences under narrow circumstances and allowed the University of Michigan s law school to continue its practice of utilizing race-based admissions.Jennifer Gratz applied to the University of Michigan s undergraduate College of Literature, Arts, and Sciences in 1994, when she was still a high-school senior in a suburb of Detroit. In high-school, she worked as a math tutor, a cheerleader, and served as her Class Congress Representative. She scored 25 on the ACT (in the 83rd percentile) and graduated high-school with a 3.765 GPA. Despite these accomplishments, Gratz was put on a waitlist before ultimately being denied admission to the University.At the time Gratz applied, the University analyzed prospective applicants under a grid system. Gratz combined ACT/GPA scores placed her just outside the presumptive admit portion of the grid used to analyze her results. However, the University had a separate grid for analyzing potential applicants it considered underrepresented minorities. On this second grid, Gratz s score placed her far above the minimum threshold of automatic admission.On their own merit, Gratz s achievements gave her a competitive chance of gaining admission. But if the University had considered Gratz as a favored minority applicant, she would have had a 100% chance of gaining acceptance. For Gratz, race was the difference between rejection and acceptance.Two years after Jennifer Gratz was rejected from the University of Michigan undergraduate program, Barbara Grutter applied to the University Of Michigan School Of Law. Barbara Grutter had graduated from Michigan State University in 1978 with high honors and a 3.81 GPA. Even though she scored a 161 on the LSAT, Grutter postponed a Law School career to start a successful health care information firm.In 1996, at age forty-three, Grutter returned to pursue her ambitions of attending law school. Despite a life-long record of achievement, Grutter was wait-listed and eventually denied admission to the University of Michigan Law School.Like the undergraduate admissions process, the Law School used a grid system to evaluate potential candidates for admission. A white female applicant with Barbara Grutter s scores had less than a 9% chance of admission on the grid. However, under the same system, a favored minority applicant with the same scores had a 100% chance of gaining admission. As with Gratz, Grutter s race was ultimately the difference between automatic acceptance and automatic rejection.Lawsuits FiledIn 1997, CIR filed a lawsuit on behalf of Jennifer Gratz against the University of Michigan s undergraduate admission system, and a second lawsuit on behalf of Barbara Grutter against the University of Michigan Law School. Combined with CIR s recent victory in Hopwood v. Texas, these challenges made it substantially more likely that the Supreme Court would take the case.CIR argued that the University violated the Fourteenth Amendment s promise of equal protection by discriminating against Gratz and Grutter. Neither institution could profer a compelling justification for the discrimination, nor could they argue that the system of racial preferences was narrowly tailored to avoid harming students like Gratz and Grutter.In light of the ongoing lawsuits, the University of Michigan changes its admission system. The undergraduate school abandoned the grid system in favor of a points system. Under the new system, an application to the school could score a maximum of 150 points. The higher the number of points, the more likely an applicant would be admitted.The method in which points were allotted made race a decisive factor in the admission process. If the University considered an applicant an underrepresented minority, the applicant was awarded an automatic twenty points, or one-fifth of the total points needed to guarantee admission. The University did not weigh any other factors or considerations as heavily as race. The resulting method meant that an applicant with extraordinary artistic talent could only be awarded a maximum of five points for his talent, while another applicant could receive twenty points by virtue of belonging to a certain racial group.This mechanical method of assigning points based on outward characteristics alone, is a prime example of what Shelby Steele called the disappearance of the black individual. In his classic essay for Harper s magazine, Steele lamented that institutions, like the University of Michigan, failed to treat African Americans as individuals with real accomplishments. These institutions, Steel argued, cared more for their own image than they did for helping individual African-Americans.District Court VictoriesCIR s two cases were heard by different judges in the District Court. In Gratz, Judge Duggan ruled that the grid system under which Jennifer Gratz had been rejected was unconstitutional, but that the points system in place since then was a justified means of attaining a diverse student body.In Grutter, Judge Bernard Friedman issued a more direct and clear cut victory for CIR and Barbara Grutter. Judge Friedman held, in accordance with Hopwood v. Texas, that diversity is not a compelling government justification for discrimination. The court accordingly struck down the Law School s race-based admissions system.The University of Michigan appealed both cases, and a divided en banc panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Grutter s victory at the district court and held that the University was justified in using racial preferences to achieve diversity. The Sixth Circuit never issued a ruling in Gratz.The Supreme CourtAfter the Sixth Circuit loss in Grutter, CIR petitioned the Supreme Court, asking them to hear both cases as they presented an urgent question of constitutional law. The Court agreed and handed down decisions in June of 2003.Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for the Court in Gratz, struck down the University of Michigan s undergraduate admissions system. Justice Rehnquist reasoned that the points system, assigning points based on outward characteristics, treated applicants in a manner that prized their race over their individual accomplishments. The failure of the University to treat applicants as individuals constituted a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.In Grutter, however, Justice Sandra Day O Connor upheld the Law School admissions system and reasoned that fostering diversity in higher education is a compelling government interest. Justice O Connor argued that a distinction could be made between the mechanical racial preferences used in the undergraduate system and the racial preferences employed by the law school. Essentially doing away with the strict scrutiny analysis that racial classifications require, Justice O Connor deferred to the law school to determine whether racial preferences are necessary. The Court did, however, limit the legality of racial preferences to a period of twenty-five years, when the government will no longer have a a compelling justification to foster diversity.Justice Clarence Thomas, who dissented from the ruling, agreed that racial preferences would be unconstitutional in twenty-five years. However, he also argued that what is unconstitutional twenty-five years from now is also unconstitutional today. Either the Constitution forbids the use of racial discrimination or it does not.While the combined cases of Gratz and Grutter failed to end the government s use of racial preferences, it achieved the minor victory of placing limits on when and how the government may use such preferences.Gratz and Grutter are not the end of the story. CIR s client, Jennifer Gratz, was later able to end racial preferences at the University of Michigan by leading the effort to pass an amendment to the Michigan constitution that banned the use of racial preferences. When an activist group challenged the constitutionality of the amendment, CIR once again came to the aid of Jennifer Gratz. In Schuette v. Bamn, CIR successfully defended the amendment before the Supreme Court. Read more about that case here.Furthermore, almost twelve years after the Supreme Court decided Gratz and Grutter, the issue is once again back before the Supreme Court in the case Fisher v. University of Texas. CIR has filed two amicus briefs before the Supreme Court in that case that urge the Supreme Court to apply the strict scrutiny that Justice O Connor failed to apply in Grutter. In an initial opinion, Justice Kennedy agreed with CIR and ruled that even after Grutter courts may not punt on applying rigid constitutional analysis. After being remanded to the Fifth Circuit, that case is once again before the Supreme Court. Read more about CIR s ongoing efforts to challenge racial preferences in Fisher here. Case Status: Partial Win: The Supreme Court struck down the UM undergraduate admissions system but upheld the law school system.Via: CIR

1real

Look, gdi! The president Didn't know sh!t, he Doesn't Know sh!t and he WON'T KNOW sh!t, got it??!!!

1real

Trump, Clinton trade blows on terror and guns in wake of Orlando attack

While investigators try to piece together what led the Orlando gunman to carry out an unspeakable act of terror, the attack is upending the 2016 campaign debate as the two presumptive rivals go toe-to-toe on terror with two very different messages. In back-to-back speeches Monday, Donald Trump doubled down on his call for a Muslim immigration ban while decrying what he described as a "deadly ignorance" that is hurting the country -- and Hillary Clinton renewed her call for an assault-weapons ban while vowing to stop "lone wolf" terrorists. Trump, speaking in New Hampshire, focused largely on his plans for an immigration crackdown. Trump said he wants to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism" against the U.S. or its allies. “We have no choice,” Trump said of the proposed ban. It wasn't immediately clear whether Trump was revising his long-standing proposal to temporarily bar foreign Muslims entering the U.S., which he also defended, or referring to the same plan. The New York businessman also called the Orlando shooting “an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity.” “It we don’t get tough, and we don’t get smart – and fast – we’re not going to have a country anymore – there will be nothing left,” Trump said. Trump, speaking at St. Anselm College, was quick to slam his Democratic rival, claiming she “is in total denial” and that her ultimate plan is to “disarm law-abiding Americans” while admitting immigrants who could pose a threat. A few hours earlier at her speech in Ohio, Clinton called for an "intelligence surge" and a ban on assault weapons as part of a multi-pronged strategy to confront homegrown terrorism. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, following the Orlando terror attack, called on Americans to fight terrorism at home with “clear eyes” and “steady hands.” She delivered a carefully calibrated message, calling for America to get tougher on terrorists while also renewing gun control proposals that have failed to gain steam in Congress. At the Cleveland campaign event, she drew cheers from the crowd after calling for a ban on assault weapons. “Weapons of war have no place on our streets,” Clinton said. Clinton also said if she were in the White House, a top priority would be “identifying and stopping lone wolves,” like the Orlando shooter. She also called for increased efforts to remove Islamic State messages from the Internet and said “peace-loving Muslims are in the best position to help fight radicalization.” Trump’s speech was originally supposed to focus on his case against the Clintons – but Trump changed his focus following the attack in Orlando that left 49 people dead and dozens injured. The gunman died in a shootout with police. On Monday, President Obama said investigators believe the gunman was not directed by external extremist groups, instead saying the shooter “was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet.” He added that there is “no direct evidence” the shooter “was part of a larger plot.” Clinton warned earlier Monday against demonizing an entire religion, saying doing so would play into the hands of the Islamic State group. "We can call it radical jihadism, we can call it radical Islamism," Clinton said on CNN's "New Day." "But we also want to reach out to the vast majority of American-Muslims and Muslims around this country, this world, to help us defeat this threat, which is so evil and has got to be denounced by everyone, regardless of religion." The horrific shooting consumed the White House race just as Trump and Clinton were fully plunging into the general election. It served as a reminder to the candidates and voters alike that the next president will lead a nation facing unresolved questions about how to handle threats that can feel both foreign and all too familiar. Trump said Monday he was revoking the press credentials of the Washington Post after the newspaper published an article with a headline "Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting." "Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post," Trump posted on his Facebook page. Authorities identified the killer in Orlando as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim. FBI officials said they had investigated him in 2013 and 2014 on suspicion of terrorist sympathies but could not make a case against him. Mateen opened fire at the Pulse Orlando club with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. He called 911 during the attack to profess his allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist organization though it was unclear whether he had any direct contact with ISIS or was just inspired by them. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

0fake

Amy Schumer’s Response To Body Shaming Trolls Is Absolutely PERFECT (IMAGE)

Women, especially women in the public eye, are the constant victims of body policing. We re too fat, we re too thin, our breasts are too small, too large, or too fake. Comedian Amy Schumer is one woman who is the constant victim of such comments, specifically those regarding her weight. Schumer may not be a skinny minny, but she is a strong, healthy, beautiful woman who is not ashamed of who she is or how she looks. That never stopped hateful trolls from calling her fat, though. Well, Schumer decided to take those trolls to task via Instagram in the most perfect way by posting a photo of herself in a swimsuit.The post was captioned: I meant to write good morning trolls! I hope you find some joy in your lives today in a human interaction and not just in writing unkind things to a stranger you ve never met who triggers something in you that makes you feel powerless and alone. This is how I look. I feel happy. I think I look strong and healthy and also like miss trunchbull from Matilda. Kisses! Here is the embed of the post:I meant to write good morning trolls! I hope you find some joy in your lives today in a human interaction and not just in writing unkind things to a stranger you ve never met who triggers something in you that makes you feel powerless and alone. This is how I look. I feel happy. I think I look strong and healthy and also like miss trunchbull from Matilda. Kisses!A photo posted by @amyschumer on May 24, 2016 at 10:44am PDTKudos to the brilliant Ms. Schumer for her response to people who would dare to shame her for being proud of her body. The world is so unkind to those who are not a size 0, and that is nothing short of shameful.Amy Schumer is an excellent role model for women and girls and how we should deal with people who think they have the right to constantly comment on our bodies.Well done!Featured image via Brian Bedder/Getty Images

1real

A modest bump for Clinton in online wagering hours after debate

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s probability of winning the White House got a modest bump in online betting markets on Tuesday, a day after her debate with Republican Donald Trump. The price for a contract favoring Clinton on the popular PredictIt betting market was up 2 cents from Monday’s post-debate closing and implied a 68 percent probability that she would win the Nov. 8 election. Although during the debate Clinton was as high as 70 percent, her Monday night closing of 66 matched the highest closing number since her health took a stumble on Sept. 11. A pro-Trump contract on Tuesday indicated his probability for victory was 34 percent. Trading in both contracts remained brisk on the heels of the first of three debates. PredictIt contracts are priced from 0 to 100 cents, with the contract price equating to a probability a candidate will win the election. Initially, the price swings for both candidates were the largest since early August, though a substantial portion of Clinton’s gain and Trump’s fall had been retraced by early afternoon on Tuesday. The swing following the debate put the brakes on a big Trump price rally on PredictIt that coincided with a tightening in most public opinion polls. On PredictIt, the implied probability of him winning had risen to 38 percent heading into the debate from 28 percent at the end of August. Clinton’s prospects also showed comparable improvement on betting sites based in Ireland and the United Kingdom. UK-based Betfair called the debate for Clinton based on odds movements on its platform, where more than 3 million pounds were bet during the event. The implied probability of a Clinton win in November climbed to 69 percent on Betfair, the strongest it has been since her prospects took a hit over her pneumonia diagnosis this month. Trump’s probability fell to 30 percent from 37 percent. On Ireland’s PaddyPower, Clinton’s odds also had shortened, or improved, to 2-to-5 from 1-to-2 in the early moments of Monday’s debate. Trump’s odds, which initially lengthened following the debate, had shortened modestly to 2-to-1.

0fake

U.S. justices to mull president's power to nominate officials

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to review a lower court decision that invalidated part of a former U.S. labor board official’s tenure, in a case that could curb the next president’s power to staff top positions in his or her administration. The justices will hear an appeal of a 2015 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit saying that once President Barack Obama nominated Lafe Solomon in 2011 to be general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Solomon should not have continued to fill the position on a temporary or “acting” basis pending Senate confirmation. The appeals court said a 1998 federal law bars anyone from serving in an acting role while they are the nominee unless they were previously the “first assistant” to that post. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case could decide if the White House can temporarily fill high-level administration positions with nominees waiting for confirmation, which could take on added importance if the next president faces protracted nomination battles in the Senate. The case will give the Supreme Court a second chance to weigh in on executive branch authority related to filling positions at the NLRB. In 2014, the court in NLRB v. Noel Canning ruled that three 2013 appointments Obama made to the board while Congress was in recess were invalid. Although Obama withdrew Solomon’s stalled nomination in 2013, about six current high-level officials are serving on an acting basis while they await a Senate vote, including officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, the NLRB said in its petition for review. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also tapped officials to permanently fill the posts that they were manning in a temporary capacity, the NLRB said. Clinton, Bush and Obama all relied on an interpretation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act that viewed the restriction on first assistants as only applying to people who automatically become acting officers under a chain of command, rather than those nominated by the president, the NLRB said. But the D.C. Circuit, as well as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2016 ruling, have disagreed. The case is NLRB v. SW General Inc, No. 15-1251, in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Fragment of Florence basilica falls and kills tourist: official

FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - A stone fragment, probably a piece of marble from the top of a column, fell on a tourist visiting Florence s Basilica of the Holy Cross, killing him, officials said on Thursday. The church where Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarotti is buried has been closed by police, a spokesman for the national fire rescue service said. The fire service identified the victim as a male Spaniard in his 50s.

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Trump heads home with 'America First' ringing in Asian ears

MANILA (Reuters) - As Air Force One took off from Manila on Tuesday at the end of the longest trip to Asia by an American president in more than quarter of a century, at least two of the region s leaders had good reason to feel satisfied. At a summit in the Philippines, Donald Trump forged a great relationship with President Rodrigo Duterte, who only a year ago had cursed son of a bitch Barack Obama for decrying his administration s bloody war on drug pushers and addicts. And Trump flashed a thumbs-up as he shook hands with Cambodia s authoritarian prime minister, Hun Sen, who praised the U.S. president as a kindred spirit for telling countries to put their own interests first. You are a great man to me, Hun Sen said, addressing Trump at a meeting with other Southeast Asian leaders, and then referenced Trump s America First policy. I would like to inform you that if you follow your new policy in respect of the independence and sovereignty of other countries, the United States will have a lot of friends and you will be much respected and loved. For other leaders across Asia, however, Trump s go-it-alone instincts must have represented a puzzling departure from his predecessors, who were - to varying degrees - standard bearers of multilateralism, democracy and human rights. During a tour that took him to Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam and the Philippines capital, Trump called for joint efforts to tighten the screws on North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons in defiance of U.N. sanctions. But at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam, he declared that redressing the uneven balance of trade between Asia and the United States was at the center of his America First policy, which he says will protect U.S. workers. Trump s vision has up-ended a consensus favoring multinational trade pacts whose regional champion is now China. On the sidelines of the Vietnam meeting, 11 countries kept alive a Trans Pacific trade deal that Trump walked away from last year in the name of protecting American jobs. One cabinet member from a major ASEAN country told Reuters there was little enthusiasm in the region for Trump s bilateral approach to deals. As Singapore Prime Minister Lee pointed out, the reason bilateral trade deals are so attractive for the USA, is precisely why no one will want to enter into one with the USA: because the USA could bully anyone on a bilateral basis, said the Cabinet member who did not want to be named. Why would anyone sign up for that? Trump told reporters before leaving that he had sealed deals of at least $300 billion, possibly triple that figure . U.S. businesses signed around $250 billion dollars worth of deals during Trump s Beijing visit, but many of those were nonbinding. Missing was any agreement on market access or reduction in technology-sharing agreements that American businesses have long complained about. For Trump, dogged at home by low public approval ratings and investigations into Russian links to his election campaign, the deals will be an important prize to flaunt on his return. The multi-billion-dollar deals he struck in Beijing may not help the U.S. trade deficit, said a former Japanese diplomat in Tokyo, who declined to be named. But optically ... he can tell people that because he went to China with business leaders, he was able to come back with a gift. Although there were few weighty deliverables from Trump s tour, for Asian nations looking nervously at China s increasing assertiveness, it may be welcomed as a sign that his administration is still committed to the region. What regional countries wanted was for him to simply show up to underscore that America remained at least notionally committed to Asia, said Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic & International Studies in Malaysia. A senior official in South Korean President Moon Jae-in s administration said Seoul had been worried he would come to South Korea and engage in unexpected behavior and language, but it turned out Trump was quite considerate. South Korea was able to rest assured regarding its partnership with the United States, the official said. He also got good reviews at the start of his Asia tour in Japan, which has been currying favor with Trump since right after his election when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe jetted off to Trump Tower with an expensive golf club as a present. The most important deliverable is that we can send an almost identical message to the world that we share an identical strategy, a Japanese government official said. For Asian leaders, Trump s off-the-cuff style, freewheeling tweets, and rhetorical hyperbole, must have been daunting. But one thing they seemed to learn was that he responds well to a lavish reception. They say in the history of people coming to China there has been nothing like that, and I believe it, Trump told reporters after his visit to Beijing, where President Xi Jinping extended him the honor of a personal tour of the Forbidden City. One measure of the Asian trip s success, he said, was the red carpet, like I think probably nobody has ever received. Diplomats say the bonhomie in Beijing probably stemmed in large part from Washington s expectations Xi will lean more heavily on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump s pronouncements on North Korea during the trip swung from embracing diplomacy to warnings of military intervention. Do not underestimate us. And do not try us, he said in a speech to South Korea s National Assembly. Days later, after Pyongyang dismissed the speech as reckless remarks by an old lunatic, Trump tweeted: Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me old, when I would NEVER call him short and fat? . And then he tacked back toward diplomacy. Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen! David Pressman, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama, said Trump arrived in Asia without a North Korea strategy and left without one. Short and fat is not a nuclear strategy, he said, adding that Washington s approach to North Korea was fed by whim, ego, and theatrical calculations of a fickle and uninformed president.

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Hipster dog only likes 80s dog food that you can’t get any more

Hipster dog only likes 80s dog food that you can’t get any more 07-11-16 A DOG hipster will only eat an obscure type of vintage dog food that he enjoys in a semi-ironic way. Labrador Wayne Hayes refuses to eat normal dog biscuits, preferring a discontinued American 80s brand of dog food called Chunkiez that his owners have to buy off the internet at vast expense. Hayes said: “I’m all about Chunkiez Beefy Mix because the box they come in has such a cool design aesthetic. It just speaks to my vibe. “I realise it’s £17 a box because they stopped making it in 1984 and there’s only one warehouse in Canada that has stock, but like everything in my life it’s paid for by my parents.” Hayes, who also claims to like postmen and fireworks, reckons he is friends with all the working class bull terriers at his local park even though they growl at him whenever he approaches. Share:

1real

Brazil pension vote put off until February

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The lower house of Brazil s Congress will delay a vote on a bill trimming social security benefits until Feb. 19, Speaker Rodrigo Maia said on Thursday, pushing a decision on the cornerstone of President Michel Temer s fiscal reforms into an election year. Temer had said he hoped for a vote by next week, but he has struggled to rally lawmaker support for the unpopular pension cuts, which many investors consider essential to reining in Brazil s surging public debt. Brazil s currency, the real, weakened to a seven-month low of 3.34 per U.S. dollar and the benchmark Bovespa stock index fell 0.8 percent after Maia s comments. Investors fear that failure to streamline social security could weaken Brazil s recovery from a deep economic downturn, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates from an all-time low and potentially triggering new sovereign rating downgrades in 2018. This raises the possibility that the reform will not be approved next year, given political uncertainty surrounding the presidential elections, said Samar Maziad, a senior analyst at Moody s Investors Service, calling the delay credit negative. Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said he plans to meet next week with credit rating agencies to discuss the fate of the legislation, adding that he hoped it could be enacted by March. The bill would require Brazilians to work longer before retiring and cut generous pensions for public-sector employees. Lawmakers may be more reluctant to back that as elections approach in October, but Maia suggested they would rise to the challenge. Even though 2018 is an election year, the fiscal crisis is so big that it will be possible to get pension reform approved, he said. Temer s last-ditch effort to sell the bill this year was cut short on Wednesday, when he had to fly to Sao Paulo for surgery to treat a narrowing of his urethra. His office said the surgery was successful and that he would remain in the hospital until Friday to recover. But it forced Temer to cancel meetings to muster votes. It became clear this week that Temer did not have the three-fifths super majority, or 308 votes, needed to pass the bill in the lower house of Congress. While ministers were still working to gather more votes, the government s chief whip in the Senate stunned the administration on Wednesday by saying the vote had to be put off to February.

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South Korea police seek arrest warrant for Hanjin Group chief

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean police are seeking an arrest warrant for Cho Yang-ho, chairman of Hanjin Group, the parent of Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, on charges of breach of trust following their probe into construction work at his house, a police official said on Monday. In July, police raided the headquarters of Korean Air Lines, South Korea s top airline, as part of an investigation into allegations that company funds were used to pay for the renovation work at Cho s home. A Korean Air spokesman declined to comment.

0fake

Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Deployed to Destroy Zika

by Dr. Mercola Most people in the U.S. first heard of Zika virus about a year ago. It was October 2015 when officials in Brazil reported a possible association between infection with Zika virus and the birth defect microcephaly. The virus, however, was first identified in Uganda in 1947, in monkeys. Several years later, in 1952, Zika virus was found in humans in the same area as well as in the United Republic of Tanzania. Outbreaks have occurred ever since, although infections in humans were limited to Africa and Asia. The year 2007 marked the first large Zika virus outbreak, which took place on the remote Island of Yap, a tiny island in the Federated States of Micronesia. Then, in July 2015, Brazil reported Zika virus infection appeared to be linked to the autoimmune disease Guillain-Barré syndrome. Zika virus is transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, although it is sexually transmitted as well. It has since spread to a small area of the U.S. (southern Florida), but fewer than 1,000 U.S. pregnant women have lab evidence of Zika infection (this includes not only locally transmitted cases but also those that occurred via sexual contact). In other words, it’s extremely rare. Further, many questions remain about its risks. While the World Health Organization (WHO) says there is a “scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome,” [1] other experts have questioned this link. Despite the many unanswered questions, efforts are underway to eradicate the disease, including by releasing controversial man-made and genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes, with largely unknown effects to the environment. Army of Man-Made Mosquitoes to Be Released in South America Scientists are planning to release millions of man-made mosquitoes in Brazil and Colombia in 2017. The $18-million project, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , involves mosquitoes that have been infected with Wolbachia bacteria, which stops viruses from growing inside the mosquito and therefore from being transmitted between people. The Eliminate Dengue research program, which has been working to develop such mosquitoes for a decade, claims the method is “self-sustaining and has the potential to transform the fight against life-threatening viral disease.” The altered mosquitoes have been tested in open trials in dengue-affected communities since 2011, but not yet on the scale expected in Brazil and Colombia. The mosquitoes are expected to be released in large, heavily populated urban areas. The mosquitoes are described as a refinement of a natural method, as Wolbachia bacteria is present in about 60 percent of insect species, including some mosquitoes. However, it is not naturally occurring in Aedes mosquitoes. It took decades for researchers just to figure out how to introduce Wolbachia into Aedes mosquito eggs, but once they did they started experimenting with releasing them into the wild. Field tests suggest the bacteria spread to the vast majority of local mosquitoes, and as Eliminate Dengue said, is a “self-sustaining” system. That’s both the point and the problem. Other experimental GE mosquitoes have been genetically engineered to die in the absence of the antibiotic tetracycline (which is introduced in the lab in order to keep them alive long enough to breed). They were designed this way assuming they would not have access to that drug in the wild, a failsafe (though not a perfect one, especially since antibiotics are now showing up in waterways) to ensure that the GE insects could theoretically be removed from the environment. In the case of the Wolbachia mosquitoes, once they’re released (and they already have been), there’s no stopping them from mingling with wild mosquitoes. While this may help to reduce the spread of certain viruses (although this remains to be seen), it may also have other unintended, as yet unknown consequences. GE Mosquitoes Aim to Wipe Out Mosquito Populations Eliminate Dengue’s Wolbachia mosquitoes are only one variety of GE mosquito now circulating the globe. Biotech company Oxitec has created its own variety, which has been genetically engineered to carry a “genetic kill switch,” such that when they mate with wild female mosquitoes, their offspring inherits the lethal gene and cannot survive. [2] To achieve this feat, Oxitec inserted protein fragments from the herpes virus, E. coli bacteria, coral and cabbage into the insects. Millions have already been experimentally released in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands, and the GE mosquitoes have proven lethal to native mosquito populations. In the Cayman Islands, for instance, 96 percent of native mosquitoes were suppressed after more than 3 million GE mosquitoes were released in the area, with similar results reported in Brazil. [3] Oxitec, in partnership with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD), also has plans to release the GE mosquitoes, which go by the name of OX513A, in Key Haven, Florida, an island of the Florida Keys located about one mile east of Key West. Residents, however, are not overly keen on being guinea pigs in this experiment. A vote is expected November 2016 to determine if the GE insects will be released. Adding to the controversy of releasing GE creatures of any kind into the environment are the unknown consequences of wiping out mosquito populations. While they’re primarily viewed as a nuisance and vector for deadly diseases like malaria, there may be “undesirable side effects” of eradicating them entirely, according to Florida University entomologist Phil Lounibos. BBC News reported: [4] … [Lounibos] says mosquitoes, which mostly feed on plant nectar, are important pollinators. They are also a food source for birds and bats while their young — as larvae — are consumed by fish and frogs. This could have an effect further up and down the food chain. … He warns that mosquitoes could be replaced by an insect ‘equally, or more, undesirable from a public health viewpoint.’ Its replacement could even conceivably spread diseases further and faster than mosquitoes today. Gene-Drive Mosquitoes Are Coming Gene-drive technology is incredibly controversial because it gives scientists the ability to control and potentially quickly eradicate entire populations of species. The technology allows a certain gene to spread to 99 percent of offspring instead of the typical 50 percent. Gene-editing tools like Crispr have made the use of gene-drive technology a reality. “By encoding the Crispr editing system itself into an organism’s DNA, scientists can cause a desired edit to reoccur in each generation, “driving” the trait through the wild population,” the New York Times explained. [5] At Imperial College London, for instance, a gene was created to cause female mosquitoes to become sterile. With gene-drive technology, the gene could cause mosquitoes in the wild to become extinct, fast. According to MIT Technology Review: [6] A gene drive is an artificial ‘selfish’ gene capable of forcing itself into 99 percent of an organism’s offspring instead of the usual half. And because this particular gene causes female mosquitoes to become sterile, within about 11 generations—or in about one year—its spread would doom any population of mosquitoes. If released into the field, the technology could bring about the extinction of malaria mosquitoes and, possibly, cease transmission of the disease. Earlier this year, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the advisory group for the U.S. government on scientific matters, endorsed continued research on gene-drive technology, [7] even though the risks are immense. What Are the Real Risks of Zika Virus? We know there are risks of releasing man-made and GE organisms into the environment. The risks of Zika virus remain unknown, however. Chris Barker, a mosquito-borne virus researcher at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, told WebMD: [8] I think the risk for Zika actually setting up transmission cycles that become established in the continental U.S. is near zero. Barker expects Zika to go the way of other tropical diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as denguepop fever and chikungunya, in the U.S. with perhaps small clusters of outbreaks in southern states and little activity elsewhere. The rising panic of Zika is reminiscent of many past diseases that failed to cause the devastation health officials warned of. Remember SARs, bird flu, swine flu and Ebola ? Or even the measles “outbreak” in 2015? There was widespread fear, outrage and panic that the disease would sweep across the U.S., affecting populations from border to border. Calls for experimental drugs and vaccines were made and millions, if not billions, of dollars were spent. And for what? In most cases, the diseases fizzled out on their own, exacting a far less sensational health toll than the media and, often, the government had you believe. As reported by PRI, Zika’s million-dollar question is, where are the birth defects? Perhaps that question should be answered before man-made and GE mosquitoes are introduced into the environment, possibly permanently. PRI continued: [9] Tens of thousands of Zika cases have been confirmed or suspected in countries like Colombia, Venezuela and Nicaragua since late 2015. The infected have included thousands of pregnant women. But those infections have not led to a dramatic rise in reported birth defects like microcephaly, in which a baby develops an abnormally small head and brain. This is confounding to researchers … ‘Researchers are absolutely curious,’ said Julie Fischer, co-director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. “It’s an enormous relief that the surge in microcephaly cases that was first noticed in northern Brazil has not spread everywhere that the Zika virus has been detected.’ See Also :

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Supreme Court rejects Michigan straight-ticket voting appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Michigan to reinstate its Republican-backed ban on straight-ticket voting for the Nov. 8 general election. The justices left in place a decision by a federal district judge in Michigan who in July suspended a law that abolished straight-ticket voting, the practice of using one mark to vote for all candidates from one party, finding that it would disproportionately affect black voters. The 6th U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that finding last month, prompting the state to seek a stay from the Supreme Court. Two conservative justices on the eight-member court, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, voted to grant the request, the brief order said. The Michigan law, passed by a Republican-controlled legislature and signed by a Republican governor, was one of numerous voting measures passed at the state level that put new restrictions on voting. These measures also include stricter voter-identification laws and reduction of early-voting periods before election day. Proponents of the law, enacted in January, have said most states have moved away from a straight-ticket voting option. Removing the option forces voters to study candidates and encourages voters to make decisions based on criteria other than party affiliation, they said. Opponents say voting restrictions are aimed at reducing turnout of minorities, who are more likely to vote for Democrats. U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain in July granted a preliminary injunction sought by civil rights and labor groups who sued Michigan’s Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette. The judge said elimination of straight-ticket voting would be a burden on voting rights and cause long wait times at polls. After Friday’s decision, Schuette said, “It is my duty to defend Michigan’s laws, in this case a law that stands in 40 other states. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken and I will respect that decision.” The case is one of several voting disputes being litigated ahead of the election and is the second emergency application the Supreme Court has recently been asked to handle. On Aug. 31, the court rejected a bid by North Carolina to reinstate for November’s elections several voting restrictions, including a requirement that people show identification at the polls. The high court is short one justice following the death of conservative Antonin Scalia in February. As a result the court is evenly split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives.

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Amid Opioid Overdoses, Ohio Coroner’s Office Runs Out of Room for Bodies - The New York Times

The bodies just keep arriving. On Thursday, only two days into February, the coroner’s office in Dayton, Ohio, had already handled 25 deaths — 18 caused by drug overdoses. In January, the office processed 145 cases in which the victims’ bodies had been destroyed by opioids. Now, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office is so crammed with corpses that it has asked a local funeral parlor to take in four bodies for “temporary storage,” the first time it has had to make such a request, Kenneth M. Betz, director of the coroner’s office, said on Thursday. “We’re running at full capacity,” he said in a phone interview. “We’ve never experienced this volume of accidental drug overdoses in our history. We now call funeral homes immediately” to ask if there is space available, he added. Widespread abuse of powerful opioid pain relievers in the United States — including oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl, heroin’s cheaper but deadlier cousin — has driven overdose death rates to historic highs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The C. D. C. ’s numbers show that 91 people in the United States die every day from opioid overdose. The number of bodies from accidental overdoses that have come to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office in the first 33 days of the year — 163 — is already more than half the yearly totals for the past two years. In 2015, the total was 259 last year, the number of deaths from January to September was 253, figures from the office show. In Ohio, fatal overdoses more than quadrupled in the past decade and by 2007 had surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death, according to the Department of Health. In 2015, 3, 310 deaths were recorded in the state from unintentional drug overdoses, a 21. 5 percent increase from the previous year, according to the C. D. C. Addiction is so entrenched and widespread that police officials say there are now third and fourth generations of prescription drug abusers. These days, hospitals in Cincinnati require drug testing of new mothers and infants because of a surge in newborns exposed to addictive drugs. The five states with the highest rates of death linked to drug overdose were West Virginia (41. 5 per 100, 000) New Hampshire (34. 3 per 100, 000) Kentucky (29. 9 per 100, 000) Ohio (29. 9 per 100, 000) and Rhode Island (28. 2 per 100, 000) according to the C. D. C. But significant increases were also seen in the Northeast and the South, the agency said, including Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Last year, Mr. Betz said Montgomery County’s coroner’s office had to use refrigerated trucks to store bodies for a week. In his 40 years in forensics, Mr. Betz said, he has never seen such a steady increase in overdose deaths, and it has left him and his colleagues feeling overwhelmed. “Our staff is, quite frankly, tired,” he said. “The doctors are tired. The investigators are tired. We’ve never had volumes like this. ” “This increase from year to year — I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “The drug problem we have is absolutely phenomenal. ”

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