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How Trump overshadowed Clinton's bad weekend

(CNN) In any normal presidential election, it would be hard to overshadow news that the FBI interviewed one of the candidates for three and a half hours about potential criminal behavior. But in 2016, Donald Trump seems to be able to seize any news cycle -- intentionally or otherwise. His Saturday tweet of a graphic that included Hillary Clinton's face, a six-pointed star, a pile of cash and the words "most corrupt candidate ever" drew immediate backlash for evoking anti-Semitic imagery. The image was posted 10 days earlier to an anti-Semitic, white supremacist message board. The graphic @realDonaldTrump tweeted yesterday was first posted on an anti-Semitic forum: https://t.co/nlsH0ocvdV pic.twitter.com/RfEB7bKGFm Trump on Monday morning initially addressed the controversy -- again on Twitter -- by blaming the "dishonest media" for "trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff's Star, or plain star!" Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff's Star, or plain star! On Monday afternoon, the Trump campaign finally issued a statement on the matter -- one that amounted more to a response to the Clinton campaign statement than an explanation of his tweet. Trump rejected the Clinton campaign's accusations that his tweet was anti-Semitic by slamming "false attacks" and insisting the star represented a sheriff's badge. "These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says 'Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever' with anti-Semitism is ridiculous," Trump said in a statement. Trump's statement did not address the fact that the campaign tweeted an image that had previously been posted on an anti-Semitic, white supremacist message board. His statement also didn't explain where the campaign obtained the image. On Monday night the Trump campaign's social media director, Daniel Scavino, filled in some details on what he said were the image's origins. "The social media graphic used this weekend was not created by the campaign nor was it sourced from an anti-Semitic site," Scavino said in a statement separate from Trump's. "It was lifted from an anti-Hillary Twitter user where countless images appear." "The sheriff's badge -- which is available under Microsoft's 'shapes' -- fit with the theme of corrupt Hillary and that is why I selected it," Scavino added. Scavino also said that as the campaign's social media director, "I would never offend anyone and therefore chose to remove the image." Trump's stumbles were suddenly back in the spotlight on a weekend that would have otherwise focused on Clinton's vulnerabilities. Trump's prolific Twitter habit is once again forcing Republicans to confront questions about the temperament of the man they will soon formally nominate as their presidential candidate and his apparent unwillingness to forcefully reject the support of those with racist or anti-Semitic views. It also comes as Trump tries to manage a more disciplined campaign, underscoring fears among some in the GOP that the businessman is unable to avoid self-inflicted wounds. Adding to the fire is the Trump campaign's refusal to answer questions about the tweet, its origin or whether anyone would be held accountable. It simply deleted the tweet and replaced the six-pointed star with a circle. The Clinton campaign blasted Trump's tweet Monday as part of a broader pattern. "Donald Trump's use of a blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites to promote his campaign would be disturbing enough, but the fact that it's part of a pattern should give voters major cause for concern," Sarah Bard, Hillary for America's director of Jewish outreach, said in a statement. "Now, not only won't he apologize for it, he's peddling lies and blaming others. Trump should be condemning hate, not offering more campaign behavior and rhetoric that engages extremists." It's not the first time Trump's own controversies have overshadowed Clinton's as a result of the presumptive Republican nominee's unforced errors. Two days before Trump created a weeks-long news cycle by accusing a judge of being biased because of his Mexican heritage, Clinton faced one of the most damaging news items of her candidacy when the State Department's inspector general released a scathing assessment of Clinton's private email use. But Trump's tirade on the judge, his doubling down on those race-based accusations and the ensuing rift it provoked between Trump and newly-supportive Republican leaders eclipsed Clinton's email woes. Shielded by the holiday weekend, top Republicans in the House and Senate were quiet on Trump's latest controversy. But the campaign's refusal to show any sense of accountability when it comes to the tweet may only add to the storm. The first prominent Trump surrogate to address the controversy was not a campaign spokesperson or Trump himself, but was instead Trump's recently-ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski who blamed "political correctness run amok" for the outcry during a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "There's no anti-Semitism in Mr. Trump's body, not one ounce, not one cell," he told CNN's Alisyn Camerota, adding later, "Not every six-sided star is a Star of David." Trump on Sunday, meanwhile, refused to address the controversy over his tweet and sought to refocus scrutiny onto Clinton. He slammed a "totally rigged" system that likely will not bring criminal charges against Clinton and criticized former President Bill Clinton's private meeting with the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch just days earlier. He then tweeted condolences on the passing of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel. But still no word about his use of an image circulating in anti-Semitic circles. Trump's tweet Monday addressing the graphic may only serve to further extend the controversy, drawing attention away from both Clinton's email scandal and a news cycle this week that was expected to focus on Trump's imminent decision to pick a running mate before the GOP convention. Trump's latest trouble is especially loaded because it's not the first instance of him tweeting or retweeting something linked to white supremacists. Trump has previously retweeted neo-Nazi accounts including one named "@WhiteGenocideTM." In November, he retweeted a graphic of false and racist crime statistics overstating the numbers of blacks killed by other blacks. And amid a groundswell of support from white supremacists, Trump and his campaign have been slow and even loathe to reject the support of those individuals. When pressed by CNN's Jake Tapper earlier this year on the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who continues to peddle in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Trump initially said falsely he did not know of Duke and would not disavow his support. He would later do so and blame a faulty earpiece. And when he was later confronted by CNN's Wolf Blitzer about anti-Semitic death threats some of his supporters were directing at a Jewish reporter who wrote a profile about Trump's wife, the presumptive Republican nominee refused to condemn those actions. "I don't have a message to the fans," Trump said when pressed on the anti-Semitic death threats in an interview with Blitzer in May. "A woman wrote an article that's inaccurate." Now, questions continue to swirl around how his campaign obtained and decided to tweet a graphic that had circulated on a message board filled with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and neo-Nazi message boards -- and whether he will repudiate the support of individuals who prescribe to that ideology.

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KY Gov. Matt Bevin Slashes Funding For Ethics Investigations, Elections Oversight

Kentucky governor Matt Bevin recently introduced a budget proposal that will virtually eliminate the agency designed to investigate corruption in his own office.Bevin s budget includes deep cuts to the state s Executive Branch Ethics Commission. The agency, which was created in the 1990 s, was formed in response to an FBI investigation which led to the indictments of almost two-dozen members of the state legislature.According to Katie Gabhart, the executive director of the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, the budget cuts will essentially hamstring the agency. We will be an investigative and auditing agency with no investigator and auditor, Gabhart told state lawmakers, who are deliberating on the budget proposal this week . Public servants are going to violate the ethics code and if they know we have an ethics commission with so few resources that we can t enforce the code, then what is the point of having one? Also included in the proposed budget cuts is funding for the state s Registry of Election Finance.As the name of the agency implies, the office is charged with monitoring political campaigns and enforcing campaign finance laws in Kentucky.John Steffen, Executive Director of the Registry of Election Finance, told lawmakers that the governor s proposed budget cuts would leave the office without the ability to hire an auditor.State lawmakers responded by suggesting that the law could be changed so that some candidates would not be required to file campaign disclosures.In response, Steffen said I don t know what statutory obligations can be changed and not render our entire agency meaningless. Bevin was elected governor of Kentucky in November of 2015, amid accusations of election rigging. Bevin holds the distinction of being one of only three non-democratic governors to hold office in Kentucky since WWII.Prior to assuming the position of governor, Bevin was best known for delivering a political speech at a cockfighting rally in 2014, before losing an embarrassing senate race to Mitch McConnell.He later gained national attention when he praised Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, after she refused to provide marriage licenses to LGBT couples.It should come as no surprise that Bevin s budget seeks to slash the very agency which was created to investigate ethics violations committed in his own office.We saw the same thing from former Texas governor Rick Perry, another politicians with close ties to the Koch-backed Tea Party, in 2013.Nor should it be any surprise that the budget would virtually eliminate campaign finance oversight.The cuts are clearly designed to give corrupt Tea Party politicians like himself free reign in the state, without fear of political or legal repercussions.Image credit: Gage Skidmore, via Flckr

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After Kansas Shootings, Indians Are Wary of Coming to U.S. - The New York Times

NEW DELHI — Jeena Sharma, 25, was applying for a work visa to the United States when news came that two Indian engineers had been shot in a Kansas bar by a man who drunkenly questioned their immigration status. News of the shootings, which took place last Wednesday, was quickly eclipsed by other developments in Washington, and even in Kansas, but the same cannot be said of the Sharma household of Mumbai, where Ms. Sharma has received emphatic maternal lectures about her plans to move, starting first thing in the morning. “She asked me: ‘Why do you even need to go to the States? Why do you need to go to a country that doesn’t want you? I’m going to be scared for your life every day,’” Ms. Sharma said. Even as she endeavored, patiently, to convey to her mother the difference between Kansas and New York City, where she hopes to move, Ms. Sharma felt her own apprehensions growing, as the days passed and President Trump made no statement on the crime. “It’s definitely very scary for me at the moment,” she said. “It’s almost as if a brown person is dead, like it doesn’t matter. ” The body of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the software engineer fatally shot in the Olathe, Kan. bar, was expected to arrive by Monday in Hyderabad, a technology hub where immigration to the United States has long been viewed as the surest path to success. Indians were relatively welcoming of Mr. Trump’s victory, and many here express admiration for his business empire and promised crackdown on terrorism. But even before Wednesday’s shootings, that optimism had been diluted by fears that America might no longer welcome immigrants. India is second only to China as a feeder to American colleges, with around 165, 000 students enrolled in the school year, according to the Institute of International Education. Indians are the largest recipients of temporary skilled worker visas, known as visas, which the Trump administration intends to cut back. And close to half a million Indians, who mostly went to the United States legally as students or tourists or on work visas, have stayed on after their visas expired, the Pew Research Center estimates. Reports of rising American hostility toward immigrants have stunned many Indians, said Alyssa Ayres, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who visited Hyderabad recently. “I had a guy on a plane sitting next to me, who turned to me and said, ‘Is it true, what they say about America under Trump? ’” she said. “There is a kind of confusion: What is happening to the United States? People can’t believe what they’re reading. ” Ill treatment of Indian immigrants has, in the past, caused serious damage to bilateral relationships. In 2009 and 2010, reports of racially motivated crimes against Indian students in Australia set off demonstrations outside the Australian Embassy in New Delhi, where Australia’s prime minister was burned in effigy. After that, the number of Indians applying for student visas plunged by nearly half, with severe costs to Australian educational institutions. The diplomatic effect of the shootings in Kansas has been muted so far. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not commented on them, though the subject will certainly be raised this week, along with the thorny issue of curtailing visas, when Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visits Washington. Some Indians who had planned to go to the United States said they were hesitating. Manavi Das, who is considering several universities, said she was “constantly looking to see if the school is in a red state, or has witnessed a shooting in recent times. “After a certain event in November,” she said, “I have found my apprehensions turned up a notch. ” Sunny Choudhary, 23, said he had decided not to apply to graduate engineering programs in the United States, because “recent conditions, they are turning into, I think, hostile conditions. ” After Mr. Trump was elected, he added, “my parents said: ‘No, you should not go there. Now we won’t let you go there.’ ” He said that, like many of his friends, he had narrowed his search to Europe. And some Indian parents could use their persuasive talents to encourage their children to return home. “For this period, after the transfer of regimes, I think Indians can come back and serve their country,” said Suguna Kadiyala, 73, whose daughter has been in the United States for 20 years. Nageswara Rao, 71, whose son and daughter work in the software sector in the United States, said he was “not much worried,” though he does dispense regular advice on safety measures. “It is always better to keep away from bars,” he said. His children are safe, he added, “because they don’t go to these bars where white people are more. ” He continued, “I give them advice to be a little bit careful and don’t get into a wrangle with anybody. Just have your own peaceful life. ”

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[Video] AWESOME: TEXAS MOM FRUSTRATED BY MCKINNEY POOL INCIDENT Tells Parents To Teach Kids To Respect Authority

Here s a mom who knows how to raise her children

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China is key to resolving North Korean nuclear issue: UK defense minister

LONDON (Reuters) - China holds the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis and must do more to use all its influence and levers to deal with its neighbor, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Wednesday. China holds the key, the oil to North Korea flows from China ... China has not just influence but has many of the levers that are needed to change behavior in North Korea, Fallon told BBC radio. (U.S. Defence) Secretary (Jim) Mattis and I and others across the administration are very clear that we have to absolutely exhaust every possible diplomatic avenue to get this situation under control now, that means working intensively in New York over the next few days to get a new (UN) resolution, it means looking at the existing sanctions and making sure they are properly enforced... Above all it means putting more pressure on China to deal with its neighbor.

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Sanders has gotten nastier. Does it help explain his staying power?

When Bernie San­ders launched his long-shot bid for the presidency 10 months ago, there were two words that rarely crossed his lips: Hillary Clinton. Now he can’t seem to stop talking about her — and not much of what he has to say is very nice. During a boisterous rally here, the senator from Vermont dinged Clinton for supporting a series of “disastrous” trade deals. He mocked her for refusing to release transcripts of paid speeches she gave to Wall Street firms. He said she was wrong to vote for the Iraq War in 2002. The transformation has been stark. What’s less clear is whether Sanders’s rhetoric helps explain his lasting power in a nominating contest that appears likely to drag on for weeks, considering the mounting number of victories he has scored in key states. So far, the evidence is mixed. In Michigan last week, Sanders won a surprising though narrow victory after closing a gap of more than 20 percentage points in the polls. He was relentless in the days before the election in criticizing Clinton on trade. But Sanders also got trounced the same day in Mississippi — albeit a state where he didn’t mount much of a campaign. Tuesday — a day when five states hold primaries — should give a better indication of whether Sanders’s tough talk is paying off. One of those contests is in Illinois, and Sanders isn’t holding back as he campaigns here. In Chicago on Friday, Sanders even took aim at Clinton for her close association with Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), whose approval ratings are in the tank, particularly among black Chicagoans. “I want to thank Rahm Emanuel for not endorsing me. I don’t want his endorsement!” Sanders screamed, to the delight of a crowd estimated at 9,000 people. “I don’t want the endorsement of a mayor who is shutting down school after school and firing teachers.” To drive home his point, San­ders held a news conference the next day devoted entirely to Emanuel. He told reporters that if he were Clinton, he would have refused the mayor’s support. Compared with the Republican presidential race and other elections in past years, the Democratic contest remains relatively tame. But the Bernie Sanders who is fighting to remain relevant in the delegate chase against Clinton sounds quite different from the Sanders whose chief antagonist was the “billionaire class” when he debuted on the campaign trail last spring. Analysts say Sanders’s decision to attack Clinton more aggressively is understandable: It’s what candidates who are behind tend to do. But in Sanders’s case, he risks damaging his brand as an anti-establishment politician who has boasted about never running negative television ads and pledged to stay positive in his bid for the Democratic nomination. “When you’re promising to run a different kind of campaign, it’s never good to look like you’re running the same kind of campaign that other politicians do,” said Mo Elleithee, executive director of the Institute of Politics and Public Service at Georgetown University. “It’s a risk, but it’s a calculated risk, and one they seem willing to take.” In an interview, Sanders acknowledged that he’s adopted a tougher tone but said he has tried to stick to the issues and not engage in character attacks. To the extent that the race has turned more negative, Sanders said, Clinton is to blame. “We’re responding,” Sanders said. “I find it disappointing when the secretary mischaracterizes my record.” Sanders was particularly galled, he said, by Clinton’s assertion during their recent debate in Flint, Mich., that he had opposed releasing funds to bail out the automobile industry — an issue of keen interest to voters in Michigan, given Detroit’s long history as the capital of the auto industry. Most fact checkers who looked into Clinton’s statement concluded she wasn’t telling the whole story. In 2008, Sanders voted for an unsuccessful stand-alone bill to provide aid to the auto industry. The bill Clinton referenced came later, and its primary purpose was to bail out Wall Street, something Sanders staunchly opposed. Some money authorized in the bill wound up flowing to major U.S. automakers, though. “To say that Bernie Sanders, who has perhaps the strongest pro-worker voting record in the United States Congress, does not support automobile workers in their time of need . . . is totally absurd,” Sanders said. “It’s unfortunate that she made that statement.” Sanders and his aides have tried to argue that none of his TV ads mention Clinton by name. But some leave little to the imagination. On Friday, Sanders debuted a pair of ads in Illinois and North Carolina, another state that votes Tuesday, that say that “while his opponent has flip-flopped on trade deals, Bernie has fought them and stood with American workers.” Clinton’s positions on some trade deals, including the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, have, in fact, evolved. As secretary of state, she called the TPP “the gold standard” of trade deals. Last fall, she announced her opposition, which she stated even more strongly over the weekend. She has said she now has a fuller picture of what’s being proposed. In the interview, Sanders said voters have a right to know where he and his opponent diverge. “The differences are becoming fairly clear to the American people, and the more the differences between her views and my views get out there, the better we’ll be,” he said. Clinton doesn’t see it that way. During an appearance Saturday in St. Louis, she said Sanders “has decided to close this election by attacking me and misrepresenting my record and his.” Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said Clinton’s campaign thinks Sanders has “broken his word” about running a positive race. During a rally Saturday in Springfield, Mo., Sanders continued to hammer Clinton on trade, saying their views diverged on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was approved when her husband was in the White House in the 1990s. “I understood at the end of about three seconds that what this trade deal was about was forcing American workers to compete against very, very poor people in Mexico,” Sanders told his audience. “I have voted against every one of these disastrous trade agreements,” he said. “Secretary Clinton’s position has been different. She has supported virtually every one of these trade agreements.” Boos filled the arena at the mention of Clinton’s position. Sanders has also raised questions about Clinton’s judgment, zeroing in on her decision to deliver a series of paid speeches to corporate interests in the run-up to her presidential bid. That included some addresses to the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, which paid her $225,000 for one speech. On that subject, Sanders hasn’t hesitated to take a snide tone. “The way I see it, if you’re going to give a speech and get $225,000, it must be a really brilliant speech,” Sanders told a crowd at the University of Illinois on Saturday. “It must be opening new vistas of human thought.” He also knocked Clinton for refusing to release transcripts of those speeches to the public. She has said she would do so when other candidates are held to the same standard. “Let me make a dramatic announcement to all of you here today,” Sanders sarcastically told his crowd. Saying he was ready to release transcripts of his Wall Street speeches, he swung open his arms to reveal nothing. “Here they are!” he said. The danger for Sanders, Elleithee said, is not that he will lose die-hard supporters with his tougher tone but that it could be harder to attract new ones — including some who like Clinton and are still weighing whether to vote for her. Some Sanders fans, including Samuel Nebinger, who turned out Saturday night to see the candidate in Springfield, say they’re not bothered by the more pointed rhetoric. Nebinger said he welcomes it. Nebinger, 21, recently dropped out of Missouri State University, he said, because it was too expensive, and he now works at a local call center. He was wearing a shirt that said “Help Us, Bernie, You’re Our Only Hope.” “He wanted to run it clean at first,” Nebinger said. “But he needed to go on the offensive, because she’s been doing so many corrupt things. She did that to herself.”

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‘The Boss Baby’ Bests ‘Beast,’ Barely, as Box Office No. 1 - The New York Times

LOS ANGELES — Show business rule of thumb: Never underestimate a tot. Going into the weekend, most box office analysts predicted that “Beauty and the Beast” would easily remain the No. 1 movie in North America. One challenger, “The Boss Baby,” had received negative reviews. (The Los Angeles Times deemed it a “rancid diaper. ”) Another new arrival, “Ghost in the Shell,” had been written off as a contender after becoming embroiled in a “whitewashing” casting controversy. But “The Boss Baby” — in the tradition of “Look Who’s Talking,” Stewie from “Family Guy” and the Baby Herman from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” — proved enormously popular, pushing past Belle of “Beauty and the Beast” to take in roughly $49 million. Theaters far from the coasts (Indianapolis, Denver) saw especially strong turnout, according to the film’s distributor, 20th Century Fox. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, “The Boss Baby” cost at least $200 million to make and market. It has taken in an additional $59 million overseas. Alec Baldwin, riding a wave of popularity for his “Saturday Night Live” portrayal of President Trump, gave voice to the baby. “Beauty and the Beast” (Disney) had $47. 5 million in ticket sales, for a domestic total of $395 million and a global one of $876 million, according to comScore, which compiles box office data. Fizzling in third place was “Ghost in the Shell,” a version of a Japanese manga by Shirow Masamune. It collected about $19 million — not nearly enough given production and marketing costs of at least $150 million. “Ghost in the Shell” (DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures) was also weak overseas, where it took in about $40 million. Casting Scarlett Johansson in a role originally played by an Asian actor was one misstep. The marketing may have been another Paramount’s campaign was visually arresting but failed to broaden the film’s appeal beyond older male fans. And the film was in many ways a mishmash, leading to weak reviews and word of mouth, as evidenced by CinemaScore exit polls.

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Modern Technology Unlocks Secrets of a Damaged Biblical Scroll - The New York Times

Nearly half a century ago, archaeologists found a charred ancient scroll in the ark of a synagogue on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The lump of carbonized parchment could not be opened or read. Its curators did nothing but conserve it, hoping that new technology might one day emerge to make the scroll legible. Just such a technology has now been perfected by computer scientists at the University of Kentucky. Working with biblical scholars in Jerusalem, they have used a computer to unfurl a digital image of the scroll. It turns out to hold a fragment identical to the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible and, at nearly 2, 000 years old, is the earliest instance of the text. The writing retrieved by the computer from the digital image of the unopened scroll is amazingly clear and legible, in contrast to the scroll’s blackened and exterior. “Never in our wildest dreams did we think anything would come of it,” said Pnina Shor, the head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at the Israel Antiquities Authority. Scholars say this remarkable new technique may make it possible to read other scrolls too brittle to be unrolled. The scroll’s content, the first two chapters of the Book of Leviticus, has consonants — early Hebrew texts didn’t specify vowels — that are identical to those of the Masoretic text, the authoritative version of the Hebrew Bible and the one often used as the basis for translations of the Old Testament in Protestant Bibles. The Dead Sea scrolls, those found at Qumran and elsewhere around the Dead Sea, contain versions quite similar to the Masoretic text but with many small differences. The text in the scroll found at the excavation site in Israel decades ago has none, according to Emanuel Tov, an expert on the Dead Sea scrolls at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “We have never found something as striking as this,” Dr. Tov said. “This is the earliest evidence of the exact form of the medieval text,” he said, referring to the Masoretic text. The experts say this new method may make it possible to read other ancient scrolls, including several Dead Sea scrolls and about 300 carbonized ones from Herculaneum, which were destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A. D. 79. The date of the scroll is the subject of conflicting evidence. A measurement indicates that the scroll was copied around A. D. 300. But the style of the ancient script suggests a date nearer to A. D. 100. “We may safely date this scroll” to between A. D. 50 and 100, wrote Ada Yardeni, an expert on Hebrew paleography, in an article in the journal Textus. Dr. Tov said he was “inclined toward a date, based on paleography. ” The feat of recovering the text was made possible by software programs developed by W. Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky. Inspired by the hope of reading the many charred and unopenable scrolls found at Herculaneum, near Pompeii in Italy, Dr. Seales has been working for the last 13 years on ways to read the text inside an ancient scroll. Methods like CT scans can pick out blobs of ink inside a charred scroll, but the jumble of letters is unreadable unless each letter can be assigned to the surface on which it is written. Dr. Seales realized that the writing surface of the scroll had first to be reconstructed and the letters then stuck back to it. He succeeded in 2009 in working out the physical structure of the ruffled layers of papyrus in a Herculaneum scroll. He has since developed a method, called virtual unwrapping, to model the surface of an ancient scroll in the form of a mesh of tiny triangles. Each triangle can be resized by the computer until the virtual surface makes the best fit to the internal structure of the scroll, as revealed by the scanning method. The blobs of ink are assigned to their right place on the structure, and the computer then unfolds the whole structure into a sheet. The suite of software programs, called Volume Cartography, will become open source when Dr. Seales’s current government grant ends, he said. The scroll was brought to Dr. Seales’s attention by Dr. Shor. A colleague, Sefi Porat, who had helped excavate the synagogue in 1970, was preparing a final publication of the findings. He asked Dr. Shor to scan the scroll and other artifacts as part of a project to create images of all Dead Sea scroll material, and showed her a box full of lumps of charcoal. “I said, ‘There is nothing we can do because our system isn’t geared toward these chunks,’ ” she said. But because she was submitting other objects for a scan, she put one of the lumps in with other items. Dr. Shor had the lump scanned by a commercially available, based, tomography machine, of the kind used for scanning of biological tissues. Knowing of Dr. Seales’s work, she sent him the scan and asked him to analyze it. Both were surprised when, after several refinements, an image emerged with clear and legible script. “We were amazed at the quality of the images — much of the text is as readable as that of unharmed Dead Sea scrolls,” said Michael Segal, a biblical scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who helped analyze the text. The surviving content of the scroll, the first two chapters of Leviticus, is part of a listing of the various sacrifices that were performed in biblical times at the temple in Jerusalem. Although some text has previously been identified in ancient artifacts, “the manuscript represents the first severely damaged, scroll to be unrolled and identified noninvasively,” Dr. Seales and his colleagues write in the journal Science Advances. Richard Janko, a classical scholar at the University of Michigan, said the carbonized scrolls from Herculaneum were a small section of a much larger library at a grand villa probably owned by Julius Caesar’s Lucius Calpurnius Piso. Much of the villa is still unexcavated, and its library could contain works of Latin and Greek literature. Successful reading of even a single scroll from Herculaneum with Dr. Seales’s method would spur excavation of the rest of Piso’s villa, Dr. Janko said. Both Dr. Tov and Dr. Segal said that scholars might come to consider the manuscript as a Dead Sea scroll, especially if the early date indicated by paleography is confirmed. “It doesn’t tell us what was the original text, only that the Masoretic text is a very ancient text in all of its details,” Dr. Segal said. “And we now have evidence that this text was being used from a very early date by Jews in the land of Israel. ”

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BOOM! KELLYANNE CONWAY Shuts Down CNN’s Cuomo: “Why do you care?” [Video]

Kellyanne Conway defends Trump s Hamilton twitter scrap: Why do you care https://t.co/11UIp8cKFi https://t.co/vnk4rOhY4m CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2016

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Democrat Phil Murphy wins New Jersey governor's election: media

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor of New Jersey on Tuesday, CNN and MSNBC projected, sweeping to victory in the race to succeed unpopular Republican Governor Chris Christie on a liberal agenda that included a $15 minimum wage and increased school funding. Murphy, a former investment banker and ambassador to Germany, beat Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, who was hampered by her association with Christie and lagged in fundraising. A one-time presidential candidate, Christie has hit record-low approval ratings as he closes out his eight-year tenure in the Democratic-leaning state.

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Angel Messages For November 14-20, 2016 [Video]

Leave a reply Doreen Virtue – It’s a week of your empowerment! You step up into leadership, in helping those who are afraid, angry, or in need of healing – and this includes helping yourself. Your inner child is both strong and sensitive this week, meaning that you may feel extra-imaginative, extra-emotional, and experience the magical healing energy that comes from pure childlike faith. With the full moon, do get extra rest if possible. Be aware that some people may experience insomnia and be grouchy as a result. Take care of yourself accordingly. From the Magical Unicorns Oracle Cards at: http://bit.ly/UnicornsCards SF Source Doreen Virtue

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Berkeley protesters form human chain to stop white students from getting to class

Print Students at the University of California, Berkeley held a day of protest on Friday to demand the creation of additional “safe spaces” for transgender and nonwhite students, during which a human chain was formed on a main campus artery to prevent white students from getting to class. The demonstrators were caught on video blocking Berkeley’s Sather Gate, holding large banners advocating the creation of physical spaces segregated by race and gender identity, including one that read “Fight 4 Spaces of Color.” Protesters can be heard shouting “Go around!” to white students who attempt to go through the blockade, while students of color are greeted with calls of “Let him through!” Students turned away by the mob are later shown filing through trees and ducking under branches in order to cross Strawberry Creek, which runs underneath the bridge. Protesting students went on to march through the Berkeley Student Union, chanting and disrupting students who are studying.

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TRUMPED! LIBERAL NEWS OUTLET BLOOMBERG POLL CONCEDES TRUMP BEATING CROOKED HILLARY IN FLORIDA

TRUMPED! LIBERAL NEWS OUTLET BLOOMBERG POLL CONCEDES TRUMP BEATING CROOKED HILLARY IN FLORIDA by IWB · October 27, 2016 by Geoffrey Grider DONALD TRUMP HAS A SLIM ADVANTAGE IN FLORIDA AS CRITICAL INDEPENDENT VOTERS NARROWLY BREAK HIS WAY IN THE MUST-WIN BATTLEGROUND STATE, A BLOOMBERG POLITICS POLL SHOWS. I can’t speak for south Florida , but as a longtime resident of north Florida I can promise you that there is a near frenzy of support for Donald Trump here. Over the past year I have seen endless amounts of Trump signs, stickers and banners. I saw a fair amount of pro-Bernie stuff as well. But pro-Hillary advertising? It’s practically non-existent, I haven’t even seen half a dozen stickers and absolutely zero lawn signs. So I find it astonishing when I turn on the “news” and hear the libs talking about Hillary’s double-digit lead over Trump. It’s not true, don’t believe it. Donald Trump is doing great and is on track to win the White House in just under two weeks. The Republican presidential nominee has 45 percent to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 43 percent among likely voters when third-party candidates are included, the poll found . In a hypothetical two-way race, Trump has 46 percent to Clinton’s 45 percent. DONALD TRUMP RALLY IN SAINT AUGUSTINE DRAWS TENS OF THOUSANDS: With over 4,000 people already inside the Saint Augustine Amphitheater, I took 60 seconds to do a walk-thru of just a fraction of the thousands of people in the overflow section who stood there for hours waiting to see Donald Trump. This is the type of support Trump has here in Florida. Among independents , Trump gets 43 percent to Clinton’s 41 percent in a head-to-head contest. When third-party candidates are included, Trump picks up 1 point with independents while Clinton drops to 37 percent, with Libertarian Gary Johnson taking 9 percent and the Green Party’s Jill Stein getting 5 percent. “This race may come down to the independent vote,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, who oversaw the survey. “ Right now, they tilt for Trump . By a narrow margin, they opted for Obama over Romney in 2012.” Trump’s showing in this poll is stronger than in other recent surveys in the state. Trump is also surging ahead of HIllary in Ohio and and is rapidly closing the gap in Pennsylvania. CNN ANCHOR’S STUNNED WHEN FACT CHECKER CONFIRMS HILLARY’S CORRUPTION:

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Uninhibited Chinese Swimmer, Discussing Her Period, Shatters Another Barrier - The New York Times

BEIJING — The uninhibited Fu Yuanhui, the Chinese swimmer beloved for her expressions, has made waves once again. On Saturday night in Rio, she freely discussed having her period while competing in the Olympics, breaking what has long been a taboo among female athletes. The video of her poolside interview quickly went viral. Ms. Fu’s remarks came after the Chinese women’s swimming team narrowly missed winning a medal in the medley relay. In a interview, Ms. Fu, who had already won a bronze medal for the backstroke, could be seen crouching as her teammates were questioned one by one. As the commentator turned to her, Ms. Fu stood up, grimacing in pain. The commentator ventured a guess that Ms. Fu must be suffering from a stomachache, which Ms. Fu quickly corrected. “It’s because I just got my period yesterday, so I’m still a bit weak and really tired,” she said. “But this isn’t an excuse for not swimming well. ” Ms. Fu’s candor immediately attracted a deluge of comments online. On Weibo, China’s social media platform, the hashtag related to the subject was searched more than half a million times by the end of Sunday, with many commenters expressing their support for Ms. Fu’s openness. “Only those who have gotten their periods know how deathly painful it can be,” one wrote. “You are too awesome. ” A male user wrote, “To compete during her period and still feel bad about placing fourth: Fu Yuanhui, you are amazing. You are our pride. ” Female commenters also took to social media to dispute largely criticism that swimming in a pool while menstruating was unhealthy and unhygienic. “Don’t talk to me about staining the pool red or taking medicine to stop one’s period,” a female commenter wrote. “Haven’t you heard of something called a tampon?” In many parts of the world, menstruation is still regarded with shame and distaste, though that is changing. In the United States, creative hashtag campaigns on social media and online petitions have challenged the discomfort about topics. Female athletes, including the former tennis star Annabel Croft of Britain, have criticized the silence surrounding menstruation in sports. In 2015, the American musician Kiran Gandhi ran the London Marathon during her period sans female hygiene products to protest crossing the finish line with bloodstains prominently on display. Yet more open discussion about menstruation has been more slow to catch on in China. When talking about their periods, if at all, women still prefer to use euphemisms like “a visit from my aunt” or “taking a break. ” Television ads for feminine hygiene products are banned during prime viewing times as inappropriate. As a result, very few Chinese women use tampons, because it is widely, and falsely, believed that they can rob a woman of her virginity. This month, Chinese entrepreneurs plan to introduce the country’s first domestic tampon brand. All tampons sold in China have been imported, and most are sold online. In February, Anhui Province issued regulations allowing women to take up to two days off for menstrual pain, provided they could procure a doctor’s note certifying their symptoms. However, critics feared the practice might have the unintended effect of discouraging employers from hiring women and pointed out that women might still elect to forgo a paid menstrual leave to avoid criticism from male colleagues. “Fu Yuanhui’s comments have raised awareness, because Chinese society still approaches menstruation indirectly, even considering it unlucky,” said Chen Yaya, a feminist activist and researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. “But there’s no need for this at all. The period is simply an everyday phenomenon. ”

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Trump says thinks Republicans have the votes to pass tax reform: Fox Business interview

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he thinks Republicans have the votes needed to pass a big tax cut package. In an interview with Fox Business Network set to air on Sunday, Trump said he had been thinking about tying tax legislation to an infrastructure spending bill but that it was not clear a combined package would gain more votes. “I don’t want to take any chances cause I feel we have the votes right now the way it is,” he said, according to a transcript provided by the cable news outlet.

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Robotic Advancements & Mars/ Ancient Aliens

Robotic Advancements & Mars/ Ancient Aliens Robotic Advancements & Mars/ Ancient Aliens Date Tuesday - November 15, In the first half, aerospace and defense systems developer Sir Charles Shults discussed the rapid advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and drones. The availability and affordability of drones is creating all new applications from agriculture to outer-space construction. On a consumer-level, there is a type of drone in which you put a chip in your pocket, and the drone follows you around from the air, recording live video of your movements, he reported. In many circumstances, you have to register your drone with the FAA, he cautioned. Drones are a real growth industry, with sales of $300 million this past year in the US alone. Regarding robotics, we can expect a huge drop in the cost of human-like robots over the next five years because China is moving to get into the industry in a big way, he detailed. China is developing robots to take the place of waiters and hotel staff, and we will see a huge increase of companion robots to converse with people over the next five years, Shults envisions. We are on the verge of combining biological and mechanical elements, and eventually people will be able to buy hybrid cyborg devices, he marveled. Shults also updated his research of Martian anomalies (view related images ), and suggested that Mars had a decent biosphere as recent as a few thousand years ago that may have sustained primitive life forms.

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Trump-Clinton showdown breaks TV debate ratings record as 84 million watch

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The first presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump drew 84 million U.S. television viewers, a record for such an event and numbers rarely seen on TV in the age of digital streaming and social media. The audience for the Monday night face-off beat the 1980 record of 80.6 million set by the Jimmy Carter-Ronald Reagan presidential debate, when viewers had far fewer entertainment options. But it fell short of the 100 million viewers some analysts had predicted. The estimated ratings figure from Nielsen included people who watched the raucous encounter across 13 U.S. cable and broadcast networks and public television station PBS. The TV figures did not include millions of people who watched the debate online through Twitter (TWTR.N), Facebook (FB.O) and other social media, including in large groups in bars and restaurants. Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube reported nearly 2 million live concurrent streams of the debate on its platform. The National Football League’s annual Super Bowl attracts more than 100 million viewers, making it the biggest U.S. TV event. Monday’s debate was the first of three scheduled between Clinton and Trump before the Nov. 8 election. The other two are set for Oct. 9 and 19. Fox News Channel (FOXA.O) grabbed the biggest cable audience with an average 11.4 million viewers, early Nielsen data showed. NBC CMSCA.O, whose “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt moderated the contentious exchanges about race, the economy and national security, was first overall with an estimated audience of 18.2 million. TV networks had promoted the debates for days beforehand and reported strong demand compared with four years ago for commercial time during pre- and post-debate programming. Ad rates were far higher than for typical news programming. CNN (TWX.N) charged more than $55,000 for 30-second ad spots as part of packages ranging from $800,000 to $1 million that included future debates and election night, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. CBS (CBS.N) charged between $200,000 to $225,000, according to another source. Both CNN and CBS have limited availability left for the next debate on Oct. 9, the sources said. “Clearly the debate did really well last night,” said Michael Law, managing director of video investments at Dentsu Aegis Network. Law said he did not expect ad rates for the next debate would rise significantly based on Monday night’s audience. The Oct. 9 face-off airs against an NFL matchup of two popular teams - the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants. “The NFL will likely do well on that night, but will probably see some fall-off during the 90 minutes of debate,” Law said.

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Ann Coulter: A Health Care Plan so Simple, Even a Republican Can Understand! - Breitbart

It’s always impossible to repeal laws that require Ann to pay for greedy people, because the greedy run out on the streets wailing that the Republicans are murdering them. Obamacare is uniquely awful because the free stuff isn’t paid for through income taxes: It’s paid for through MY health insurance premiums. This is unfortunate because I wanted to buy health insurance. Perhaps you’re not aware — SINCE YOU EXEMPTED YOURSELVES FROM OBAMACARE, CONGRESS — but buying or selling health insurance is illegal in America. Right now, there’s no free market because insurance is insanely regulated not only by Obamacare, but also by the most corrupt organizations in America: state insurance commissions. (I’m talking to you, New York!) Federal and state laws make it illegal to sell health insurance that doesn’t cover a laughable array of supposedly vital services based on bureaucrats’ medical opinions of which providers have the best lobbyists. As a result, it’s illegal to sell health insurance that covers any of the medical problems I’d like to insure against. Why can’t the GOP keep Obamacare for the greedy — but make it legal for Ann to buy health insurance? This is how it works today: ME: I’m perfectly healthy, but I’d like to buy health insurance for heart disease, broken bones, cancer, and everything else that a normal person would ever need, but no more. INSURANCE COMPANY: That will be $700 a month, the deductible is $35, 000, no decent hospital will take it, and you have to pay for doctor’s visits yourself. But your plan covers shrinks, infertility treatments, sex change operations, autism spectrum disorder treatment, drug rehab and 67 other things you will never need. INSURANCE COMPANY UNDER ANN’S PLAN: That will be $50 a month, the deductible is $1, 000, you can see any doctor you’d like, and you have full coverage for any important medical problems you could conceivably have in a million years. Mine is a plan (and you don’t have to do the second step, so it’s really a plan). STEP 1: Congress doesn’t repeal Obamacare! Instead, Congress passes a law, pursuant to its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce, that says: “In America, it shall be legal to sell health insurance on the free market. This law supersedes all other laws, taxes, mandates, coverage requirements, regulations or prohibitions, state or federal. ” The end. Love, Ann. There will be no whining single mothers storming Congress with their placards. People who want to stay on Obamacare can. No one is taking away anything. They can still have health insurance with free pony rides. It just won’t be paid for with Ann’s premiums anymore, because Ann will now be allowed to buy health insurance on the free market. Americans will be free to choose among a variety of health insurance plans offered by willing sellers, competing with one another to provide the best plans at the lowest price. A nationwide market in health insurance will drive down costs and improve access — just like everything else we buy here in America! Within a year, most Americans will be buying health insurance on the free market (and half of the rest will be illegal aliens). We’ll have TV ads with cute little geckos hawking amazing plans and young couples bragging about their broad coverage and great prices from this or that insurance company. The Obamacare plans will still have the “essential benefits” (free pony rides) that are so important to NPR’s Mara Liasson, but the free market plans will have whatever plans consumers agree to buy and insurance companies agree to sell — again, just like every other product we buy here in America. Some free market plans will offer all the “essential benefits” mandated by Obamacare, but the difference will be: Instead of forcing me to pay a premium that covers Mara Liasson’s special needs, she’ll have to pay for that coverage herself. I won’t be compelled to buy health insurance that covers everyone else’s gambling addiction, drug rehab, pregnancies, marital counseling, social workers, contact lenses and rotten kids — simply to have insurance for what doctors call “serious medical problems. ” Then, we’ll see how many people really need free health care. Until the welfare program is decoupled from the insurance market, nothing will work. Otherwise, it’s like forcing grocery stores to pay for everyone to have a house. A carton of milk would suddenly cost $10, 000. That’s what Obamacare did to health insurance. Paul Ryan’s solution was to cut taxes on businesses — and make the milk watery. But he still wouldn’t allow milk to be sold on the free market. Democrats will be in the position of blocking American companies from selling a product that people want to buy. How will they explain that to voters? Perhaps Democrats will come out and admit that they need to fund health insurance for the poor by forcing Americans to pay for it through their insurance premiums — because otherwise, they’d have to raise taxes, and they want to keep their Wall Street buddies’ income taxes low. Good luck with that! STEP 2: Next year, Congress formulates a better way of delivering health care to the welfare cases, which will be much easier since there will be a LOT fewer of them. No actual business is going to survive by taking the welfare cases — the ones that will cover illegal aliens and Mara Liasson’s talk therapy — so the greedy will get government plans. But by then, only a minority of Americans will be on the “free” plans. (Incidentally, this will be a huge — if anyone cares about the federal budget.) Eighty percent of Americans will already have good health plans sold to them by insurance companies competing for their business. With cheap plans available, a lot of the greedy will go ahead and buy a free market plan. Who wants to stand in line at the DMV to see a doctor when your neighbors have great health care plans for $50 a month? We will have separated the truly unfortunate from the loudmouthed bullies who simply enjoy forcing other people to pay for their shrinks and aromatherapy. And if the Democrats vote against a sane method of delivering health care to the welfare cases, who cares? We have lots of wasteful government programs — take it out of Lockheed Martin’s contract. But at least the government won’t be depriving the rest of us of a crucial product just because we are middle class and the Democrats hate us. There’s your health care bill, GOP! COPYRIGHT 2017 ANN COULTER DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

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LIVE FEED: INAUGURATION 2017!

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OOPS…MAINSTREAM MEDIA Won’t Show You This Video…London Citizens Yell: “DONALD TRUMP, WE LOVE YOU!”

London s Muslim Mayor has been pretending that ISLAM has nothing to do with the terror attacks that have gripped innocent citizens in the city of London the city that he was elected to represent. He wasn t elected to sugar-coat the obvious problem London has with Muslim extremism. He was hired to represent all citizens of London of every race and faith. So far, he has failed to make citizens of London feel any safer under his watch. In fact, his trashing of President Trump over his desire to take the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of American citizens is clearly not resonating with his constituents.Here s an example of a tweet where Mayor Sadiq Khan attempted to trash President Trump on May 10, 2017: Following the second brutal attack during the month of Ramadan, London s Muslim Mayor talked about how angry he was that the cowardly terrorists attacked London citizens. Not once during his interview did Mayor Sadiq Khan mention the fact that the attackers screamed Allah Akbar and that they are MUSLIMS.WATCH:Here s how President Trump responded to the London Islamic terror attack:.A message to #WeThePeople from @POTUS #PresidentTrump #MAGA #mondaymotivation pic.twitter.com/LuORn0Ov6C Jojoh888 (@jojoh888) June 5, 2017It shouldn t surprise anyone that Londoners are wishing they had a strong leader like President Trump, who s willing to stand up and say things that may be unpopular with the politically correct left, but nevertheless, need to be said. President Trump has never been afraid to identify and speak out against the ISLAMIC extremist terrorists and has openly admitted that he is committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep our homeland safe.Watch Londoners yell, We love you, Donald Trump! :Sadiq Khan is an EMBARRASSMENT Londoners chant #Trump's name instead of hispic.twitter.com/flBWoTEKGN@realDonaldTrump #MAGA #LondonBridge Boca Vista (@bocavista2016) June 5, 2017

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Kerry jabs at Trump, warns against isolationism in Boston speech

BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday, warning that isolationist policies would take a toll on the country’s well-being. “You are the most diverse class in Northeastern history. In other words, you are Donald Trump’s worst nightmare,” he jokingly told the 2016 graduates of Northeastern University in Boston. While he did not mention the billionaire businessman’s name again, Kerry alluded to one of Trump’s signature proposals - his call to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. “We will never come out on top if we accept advice from soundbite salesmen and carnival barkers who pretend the most powerful country on Earth can remain great by looking inward and hiding behind walls at a time when technology has made that impossible to do and unwise to even attempt,” said the former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, who was the Democratic nominee for president in 2004. Kerry has generally declined to comment on the race leading up to the Nov. 8 presidential election, though he has noted that foreign leaders have raised concerns about statements made by candidates, particularly Trump. A spokesman told reporters on Friday that Kerry’s remarks in Boston were intended to be lighthearted. “He is not living in a bubble. He is obviously concerned about some of the tone and the effect that is having on foreign leaders,” department spokesman John Kirby told a press briefing. “If you’re asking me because he enjoyed a light-hearted moment with students today has he changed his calculus to more aggressively jumping into active debates ... the answer is no.”

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I'm sure they drastically changed accounting methods because things are going better than ever.

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The B*tch Is Back: MILO Celebrates Cinco de Milo - Breitbart

Former Breitbart Senior Editor MILO celebrated Cinco de MILO today where he announced a number of new Milo, Inc. ventures. [MILO entered his Meme Mansion, packed to the rafters with anxious fans just waiting to get a glimpse of the Dangerous Faggot, with a large snake wrapped around his shoulders and accompanied by a number of large black men, “Welcome to Cinco de Milo! I’m Milo Yiannopoulos!” announced MILO, “I already have my own holiday, October 18th, is celebrated internationally as World Patriarchy Day. But that has been superseded now by Cinco De Milo. ” MILO briefly discussed the events that lead to his exit from Breitbart before continuing, “now you may have heard that I made a couple of phone calls after all that happened, after I’d been sufficiently contrite for a while. And you may have heard that I have raised twelve million dollars. ” the Dangerous Faggot said to the crowd that had begun chanting “MILO” over and over. “I want to tell you all what I’m going to do with that money so we can get back to getting trashed,” said MILO, “first of all, Simon Schuster. I am going to spend the next year making the name Simon Schuster synonymous with censorship. I am going to spend the next year giving out as many free ‘Fuck Simon Schuster’ shirts as I can. ” MILO continued, “do not worry about the scolds and the nannies. So we’re suing them … I am suing Simon Schuster for $10 million dollars. ” “But we’re taking it a step further,” said MILO, “I am going to take not just all of their best authors but all of the best authors of all of the conservative imprints in this country and launch my own imprint called Dangerous Books. We are going to publish every mischievous, dissident, hellraising guy you have ever heard of … We’re going to be going live in the next seven days. ” MILO then announced the return of his touring career stating that he would be launching a student and commercial tour called “Troll Academy. ” MILO stated that Troll Academy would be accepting applications on Monday from venues or colleges that wished to host him. MILO stated that personally would “determine whether you deserve a visit from me. ” In his final announcement of the night, MILO discussed his Free Speech Week at UC Berkeley, which will take place in the fall.

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Russia and the United States Reach New Agreement on Syria Conflict - The New York Times

GENEVA — Russia and the United States agreed early Saturday on a new plan to reduce violence in the Syrian conflict that, if successful, could lead for the first time to joint military targeting by the two powers against Islamic jihadists in Syria. The agreement was reached after 10 months of failed attempts to halt the fighting and of suspended efforts to reach a political settlement to an increasingly complex conflict that began more than five years ago. The conflict has left nearly half a million people dead, created the largest refugee crisis since World War II and turned Syria into a prime incubator of recruiting for the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, an affiliate of Al Qaeda. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, announced the agreement in Geneva after weeks of negotiations that were marred, in President Obama’s words, by deep “mistrust” between the Russians and Americans, who back opposite sides in Syria, but share an antipathy to the Islamic jihadists flourishing there. It came at a time when relations between the United States and Russia, which have worsened throughout much of the Obama administration, have been especially jolted by accusations of Russian hacking and subterfuge in American politics. The tensions have been further exacerbated by the effusive praise for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump. The new arrangement on Syria, set to begin Monday, was greeted with skepticism by Syrians on all sides and carries many risks of failure, which the Pentagon and Mr. Kerry acknowledged. “No one is basing this on trust,” he said. “We are basing it on oversight and compliance. ” The plan starts with a continuous “genuine reduction of violence,” in Mr. Kerry’s words, and broad, unrestricted humanitarian access to the ravaged northern city of Aleppo and other besieged areas. If that works, the United States and Russia are to establish a Joint Implementation Center, where they will share targeting data, and begin to coordinate bombing of militants of the Nusra Front and the Islamic State. The key element is that Russia must then restrain the forces of President Bashar of Syria from conducting any air operations over areas held by Nusra and other opposition forces. The United States hopes this will end the indiscriminate dropping of barrel bombs — including chlorine gas attacks — that have punctuated the conflict. In return, the United States is to persuade the opposition groups it has been supporting to separate themselves from the Nusra forces. Mr. Assad has attacked many of them on the pretense of attacking Nusra fighters. American officials expressed strong reservations about whether this new arrangement would work. Especially skeptical was the Pentagon, long suspicious of Russian intentions in Syria, since the Kremlin first deployed military forces there to help Mr. Assad a year ago. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter was among Obama administration officials who raised questions over whether either Russia or the Assad government would comply with the terms. Mr. Kerry’s announcement of the deal, Mr. Lavrov at his side, was permeated with caveats. “We believe the plan, if implemented, if followed, has the ability to provide a turning point, a change,” he said. But he sounded far more cautious here than he did in Munich in February when he announced an earlier “cessation of hostilities” that failed. The accord was reached after sharp divisions inside the Obama administration over the wisdom of sharing targeting information with Russia, and accusations that the Russians have used the negotiating period to help Mr. Assad regain control in Aleppo and strike at opposition groups. For Mr. Obama, who asked Mr. Kerry to keep working on the negotiation after the president failed to reach an accord with Mr. Putin during the Group of 20 summit meeting in China last weekend, the new accord poses considerable risks. For example, if the bombing of Nusra sites kills civilians — almost inevitable given the proximity of militant extremist groups and civilians — there are bound to be accusations about who is responsible. Pentagon officials are also concerned that Russia will use the targeting data to learn more about how American forces identify and attack targets, at a time when forces from the two countries are often near one another around Europe. Mr. Lavrov took a few shots at the United States even while celebrating the arrangement, denouncing “arrogant sanctions” levied against Russia for its annexation of Crimea two years ago. Late on Friday, he suggested the United States could not decide about the deal, sending pizza and vodka to reporters to ease the wait, and coming by to joke about how long it took Mr. Obama and his team to make decisions. But for Mr. Kerry, reaching this deal has become a personal mission, one that at times put him in conflict with the White House. He has pressed for a stronger military commitment in Syria and support for some opposition groups, along with a series of more aggressive covert actions, according to administration officials. Mr. Obama has been reluctant, as have others in the White House who fear that, even if they could engineer a transition in Syria, it could create a power vacuum that Iran, Russia and militant terrorist groups could exploit. The American skepticism is partly rooted in the failed agreement for a cessation of hostilities reached with the Russians in February. That arrangement collapsed weeks later when Russia moved heavy artillery into the Aleppo area to help Mr. Assad’s forces. Among the Syrians, the latest plan was greeted with wariness, particularly from armed opposition groups and their supporters, who, broadly speaking, have come to believe that the United States has lost interest in ousting Mr. Assad, and is willing to see them wiped out. It is a measure of how little trust the Syrians have in the international community — especially after the in February — that initial reactions were lukewarm, even though the deal holds out the possibility of at least a temporary calming of the violence. Armed opposition groups read the deal as ordering them to remove Nusra fighters from their areas, something they lack the military power to do alone, or else face attack by the United States — a country that has provided some of the rebel groups with training and weapons for years. Some government opponents noted that the deal came hours after Syrian military forces — with Russian air support — their siege of the sections of Aleppo. While Mr. Kerry began his announcement by noting that Mr. Assad’s airstrikes were, as he put it, “the main driver of civilian casualties and migration flows,” the deal — as partly described — contains many loopholes that could allow them to continue. And no measures were described that would hold any of the parties to account if they violated the terms of a deal that is being struck at a time when the United States has little leverage over Russia in Syria. The deal allows Syrian government warplanes to continue to fly missions in some areas that are to be defined later. And Russia and the United States will target areas where they both agree Nusra or Islamic State fighters are present. What that really means hinges on how Russia and the United States define legitimate opposition groups that cannot be targeted under the deal, and how they define areas where Nusra is present. The deal also failed to mention anything about the presence of foreign Shiite militias — such as Hezbollah, which like Al Qaeda and Islamic State is considered a terrorist group by the United States — fighting on the Syrian government’s side. It also said nothing about the tens of thousands of detainees in Syrian government prisons, whose release had long been touted as a possible measure under a deal. And while it spoke of allowing aid deliveries into besieged areas, it said nothing of lifting the sieges and restoring freedom of movement of goods and people.

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Plan to Let Migrant Children Attend School Enrages Many Greeks - The New York Times

ORAIOKASTRO, Greece — Mariya bint Loqman Abdlkarim is 9. She arrived in Greece in February after fleeing Syria with her family and crossing from Turkey in a rickety boat. Since then, she has been living in a shabby camp, her future uncertain, her present reduced to the bare necessities. Not long ago, the Greek government decided to give her a shot at something closer to a normal life: Along with 22, 000 other refugee children, she would be allowed to attend public school starting in October. But as with many aspects of Europe’s effort to cope with the huge numbers of migrants who have come to its shores, the plan quickly ran into intense opposition, in this case from parents in a number of communities near camps in northern Greece. The refugee children, the parents said, might have contagious diseases. Cultural differences, they said, might disrupt learning. Last week, an association representing the parents of schoolchildren in the small town of Filippiada in western Greece sent a letter to local officials and the Education Ministry, saying “explicitly and categorically that we will not accept, under any circumstance and without any compromise, that the children of irregular immigrants” attend local schools, referring to migrants entering the country illegally. “They come from another continent with completely different diseases and health conditions,” the letter said, adding that the refugees have a “different outlook regarding the role of the family, of women, of religion. ” Their presence would “alter the Greek character of the schools,” the letter said, adding, “We will not allow religious fanaticism. ” Earlier in September, the parents’ association of two schools in the town of Oraiokastro in northern Greece threatened to occupy the school grounds in protest if refugees from a nearby facility were allowed to join classes. A few days earlier, the local mayor had called on residents to take the law into their own hands amid rumors that some refugees were moving into houses in the area. The parents’ announcements and a video of the mayor’s suggestion that residents “intervene” caused a public outcry and a storm of angry reactions on social media. They also prompted a Greek prosecutor to investigate whether the parents’ groups or the local mayor should be charged with racist offenses. Since then, both the parents’ groups and the mayor have toned down their responses, saying their only concern is the possible health implication if the refugee children are not vaccinated. The mayor, Asterios Gavotsis, said his comments in the videotaped meeting were “misinterpreted” and that he was “not inciting anyone to commit illegal acts. ” Outside one of the schools, Haralambos Magoulianos, a retiree waiting to collect his two granddaughters, said he opposed admitting the refugee children. “I don’t like it,” he said. “What happens if we have an epidemic? I don’t want them here,” he added, saying that youths from the nearby refugee camp “steal bicycles and jump into our backyards. ” Other parents in the area have been more welcoming. The principal of the school in Filippiada and some parents there said the letter sent by the parents in that area did not reflect their views. In Oraiokastro, Alexandra Hapsi, 41, has two children in school. She said she had cooked food and donated clothes for refugees living at the sprawling camp at Idomeni, farther north, which was shut this year. “In Europe, no one is taking in refugees, and they call us racist,” she said, adding that she also wanted reassurances that the refugees attending local schools had been vaccinated. Asterios Batos, whose children attend the same school as Ms. Hapsi’s, leads the group representing the parents’ associations of all 41 schools in the broader region. “This image of a racist municipality is unfair,” he said, referring to the broader region. “We’re not racists. We’re concerned about whether all the right precautions have been taken. ” The plan calls for the migrant children to attend school in the afternoons. Initially, they would be kept in classes separate from Greek children, but they would eventually be merged into the general student population. In comments to Greek television last week, the education minister, Nikos Filis, said the program for the induction of refugees into schools included vaccinations. The lessons will be in Greek, math and English, or another language, depending on where the refugees plan to travel on to. The government has yet to specify which schools will be part of the program, stoking frustration among some parents and local officials. “Does a neighborhood or a school have the right to say, ‘I don’t want foreigners here?’ No, it doesn’t,” Mr. Filis said. The mayor of Oraiokastro, Mr. Gavotsis, said that he was not opposed to refugees’ being educated, but that classes should be held for a year in other venues, such as disused factories, before the children attend local schools. He said the high proportion of refugees in Oraiokastro, which has a population of 30, 000, was testing tolerance. “We have 10 percent of all Greece’s refugees here,” he said, referring to some 6, 000 migrants at three nearby camps. There are just over 60, 000 refugees in camps across Greece. Tensions often boil over among frustrated migrants, some of whom have been waiting for months for the outcome of their asylum applications, and many local residents are fed up, holding regular protests. The turmoil has been exploited by members of groups who have infiltrated some of the protests. “We just want a fair distribution,” Mr. Gavotsis said. “If that makes us racist, what can I say?” Katerina Karanikolaou, who attended the meeting where Mr. Gavotsis suggested that local residents “intervene” to stop the education plan, was the only one of 72 parents to vote against a motion to occupy one of the schools in protest. She said the health concerns were a smoke screen. “The xenophobia started with Idomeni in February, and it’s taken root since,” she said, adding that residents feared “their town will be downgraded. ” Last Monday evening, Ms. Karanikolaou and her four children joined an antiracism rally, marching from the mayor’s office through the pristine streets of Oraiokastro, which means “beautiful castle. ” It was named by Greek refugees who settled there from 1924 to 1930 after a castle that used to sit on the coast of the Black Sea. “It’s sad,” Ms. Karanikolaou said. “Our ancestors were refugees. ” Around a mile away, in a huge disused tobacco factory, Mariya, the girl from Syria, lives with her parents and seven siblings in a tent, one of hundreds sheltering some 1, 300 refugees. The camp is filthy — state health officials have called for its closure — but aid organizations run an efficient clinic, vaccinating children against mumps, measles, rubella and hepatitis. Stirring chunks of stale bread into a pan with browning onions for the family’s evening meal, Mariya’s mother, Jihan Sheikh Mohammed, 33, said she would prefer that her daughter attend a local school rather than receive the makeshift lessons given on site by humanitarian workers. But her father, Loqman Abdlkarim, 42, is keen to move on, as the family’s next asylum interview is not until April and he has relatives waiting for him in Germany. “I will wait another 20 days,” he said. “If nothing happens, then we’ll go back to Turkey. Even Syria is better than this,” he said, adding that drug dealing and sexual abuse were rife in the camp. Mariya, a bright, friendly girl, wants to stay. She said she would like to be a lawyer eventually. “Helping people,” she said. Oblivious to residents’ objections in the nearby town, she is eager to go to a real school, but is nervous about fitting in. Frowning pensively, she pointed to her grubby purple tracksuit and bare feet. “Will they let me go like this?”

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LOL! HOW TO TRIGGER A LIBERAL On Halloween: “Make Your Costume The Most Tasteless, Triggering Sh*t…And Post It All Over Social Media” [VIDEO]

It probably explains why we love this guy so much!***Strong language warning***

1real

TOP DOCTORS: CHEMOTHERAPY ONE OF DOZENS OF PROCEDURES SHOWN TO ‘GIVE NO BENEFIT’

Home › HEALTH › TOP DOCTORS: CHEMOTHERAPY ONE OF DOZENS OF PROCEDURES SHOWN TO ‘GIVE NO BENEFIT’ TOP DOCTORS: CHEMOTHERAPY ONE OF DOZENS OF PROCEDURES SHOWN TO ‘GIVE NO BENEFIT’ 0 SHARES [10/27/16] VICKI BATTS – Chemotherapy is arguably one of the medical industry’s biggest frauds . Perhaps that’s why it recently landed on a list of ineffectual treatments drawn up by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AMRC). The list was created by 11 top specialists, who were each asked to think of five treatments they felt provided little to no patient benefits. And surprise, surprise – chemotherapy was one of them. Doctors from the AMRC said that chemotherapy cannot cure terminal cancer, and may bring unneeded distress in the final months of life. The Guardian reported: “The treatment is ‘by its very nature toxic’, the college said. “Therefore, the combination of failing to achieve a response and causing toxicity can ‘do more harm than good.'” Do more harm than good? You don’t say. Research has shown that in some hospitals, up to 50 percent of cancer patients are dying, not from their disease, but from chemotherapy drugs. For the first time ever, researchers actually looked at the numbers of patients who were dying within 30 days of chemotherapy administration , which could indicate that the treatment was the cause of death rather than the cancer. What they found was horrifying. The study, which was conducted by Public Health England and Cancer Research UK, found that the average 30-day mortality rate across England was about 8.4 percent for lung cancer and 2.5 percent for breast cancer. But, in some hospitals, those numbers were much higher. For example, at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, the 30 day mortality rate for palliative chemotherapy for lung cancer was 28 percent. In Milton Keynes, the death rate for lung cancer treatment soared up to 50.9 percent. The research revealed that the death rate for lung cancer patients was higher than average in several areas, including Blackpool, Coventry, Derby, South Tyneside, Surrey and Sussex. The data also revealed that about 1-in-5 people who underwent palliative care for breast cancer at Cambridge University Hospitals died because of chemotherapy treatment. Of course, the industry was quick to defend their practices, with doctors suggesting that these occurrences could simply be the outcome of data problems, noting that even a few deaths could skew statistics. However, no one really argued with the fact that chemotherapy is indeed a toxin. It doesn’t discriminate; it kills cancerous cells and healthy cells – and therein lies the rub. It may kill the cancer, but not without increasing your risks of getting cancer again in the future. A 2004 study also found that cytotoxic chemotherapy does very little towards enhancing cancer survivors’ 5-year survival rates. The research, which was led by scientists from the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Northern Sydney Cancer Centre of the Royal North Shore Hospital, located in Sydney, Australia, raised serious questions about the actual efficacy of curative and adjuvant chemotherapies. What they found was that in Australia chemo only contributed 2.3 percent to the 5-year survival rate in adults, and in the U.S., that number dropped to 2.1 percent. These findings suggest that overall, chemotherapy truly provides very little benefit to any patient’s survival. In their conclusion, the study authors wrote, “As the 5-year relative survival rate for cancer in Australia is now over 60%, it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival. To justify the continued funding and availability of drugs used in cytotoxic chemotherapy, a rigorous evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and impact on quality of life is urgently required.” The AMRC urges doctors and patients to question whether or not particular treatments are necessary. After all, unwarranted and harmful treatments are truly anything but medicine . Post navigation

1real

Puerto Rico governor vows statehood push after referendum win

NEW YORK/SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Puerto Rico’s governor on Monday said the island’s vote in favor of becoming a U.S. state, despite low voter turnout and widespread boycotts, was “a fair and open” process that U.S. Congress should act upon. An island-wide referendum on Sunday favored statehood in a 97 percent landslide, though voter turnout reached just 23 percent as opponents of Governor Ricardo Rossello’s push to become a state boycotted the vote. The non-binding plebiscite is not expected to sway the U.S. Congress, which would have to agree to make Puerto Rico a state. Currently a U.S. territory, the island is struggling with $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, and is not viewed as a priority in Washington. Rossello, who campaigned on a push for statehood, said in a telephone interview with Reuters that he will go to the U.S. capital this week to urge federal lawmakers to begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico into the union. “We will make sure this becomes an issue,” Rossello said. The vote comes at a critical time for Puerto Rico, whose hazy status - which dates to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain - has contributed to its ongoing economic crisis. Last month, the island filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its woes make statehood even more urgent, Rossello said. “Statehood brings stability, allows us to have fewer rule-changes from Congress, provides resources to our people,” he said. Sunday’s referendum, which cost Puerto Rico between $5 million and $7 million, according to government estimates, was the island’s fifth since 1967 - and the third in which pro-statehood sentiments triumphed, though none have moved Congress to act. “If the U.S. is going to go to Venezuela and Cuba and Afghanistan and push democracy abroad, they’ve got to do the same” with their own territories, he said. But Puerto Ricans are skeptical the island’s status will change. “This has all been a waste of time,” said taxi driver Felix Salasarar, 54, adding that federal lawmakers will “look at the voter turnout and say, ‘where’s the will of the people?’” Working against the governor may be a perception in Washington that Sunday’s vote was not fair. The U.S. Department of Justice in April called on Rossello to change ballot language that initially did not give voters an option to remain a U.S. territory. Rossello told Reuters he made that decision because the territory option - which Rossello equates to colonialism - already lost in a previous status referendum, in 2012, making this year’s vote a choice between statehood and independence. The Justice department viewed the language as politically unfair to millions of Puerto Ricans who favor territory status, prompting Rossello to add the territory option. But the Justice department never reviewed or approved the new language. To be sure, Sunday’s results do not reflect the true nature of Puerto Ricans’ views on statehood, which are fairly evenly divided between those who favor it and those who do not, based upon historical election results. Statehooder Rossello, for example, won his own election with just 42 percent of the vote. But that, the governor said, is how democracy works: “Everybody knows that those who go through the voting process have a louder voice than those who don’t,” he said. Carolina Santos, a single working mother struggling to make her mortgage payments, said bankrupt Puerto Rico has more important things to worry about than a status vote. “Maybe we should focus more on fixing our financial problems and our schools,” she said.

0fake

HILARIOUS! CNN President Jeff Zucker Is Hitler [VIDEO]

CNN s ratings have been in the toilet ever since they made falsifying news about our President and his nonexistent Russian connection a top priority. Earlier this week, CNN sunk to a new low when they threatened to release the identity of a private user on social media site Reddit, after he made a video showing President Trump body-slamming a CNN logo superimposed over the WWE Chairman s body. Perhaps it s a good time for CNN to think about replacing their vengeful, bully president CNN s president, Jeff Zucker, responded to the fiasco surrounding his network this week with a jab President Donald Trump s way, asserting it s the White House chief who s the aggressor in this tiff that the news organization is the victim.Zucker s like the playground bully, caught mid-punch, mid-push, now standing before the principal, trying to weasel out of blame. My job is to remind everyone that they need to stay focused doing their job, Zuckersaid to The New York Times. [Trump s] trying to bully us, and we re not going to let him intimidate us. You can t lose your confidence and let that change the way you conduct yourselves. Decoded meaning: CNN s not going to change their witch-hunting ways.The whole tiff is over a video clip that Trump retweeted showing him wrestling CNN to the ground. The media, as the media is wont to do, went overboard with the criticism of Trump s retweet, pretending like he was calling for arms against members of the media.CNN then went on a hunt to identify the creator of this video, watchdogging like it s not watchdogged in years. And once identified, the guy was then issued this rather cold, calculating message from CNN: Behave, or we ll name you publicly.Watch Infowars hilarious FAKE NEWS video that replaces the Hitler character with CNN president Jeff Zucker: Hitler reacts to CNN pic.twitter.com/zyjdJTknAN Trump in 2020 (@GOPin2020) July 8, 2017The hashtag #CNNBlackmail quickly gathered steam on Twitter. And rightly so. A media giant going after a private citizen for making a satire video seems a bit, well, Gestapo tactic. But instead of backtracking and apologizing, CNN seems to have dug in for battle.Hmm. Interesting strategy. Washington Times

1real

Exasperated Anderson Cooper Tells Trump Supporter What We’ve All Been Thinking (VIDEO)

CNN s Anderson Cooper has pretty much had it with Trump surrogates. Last week, he became a viral internet meme when he rolled his eyes at Kellyanne Conway. Now, he s about to become another internet meme with his hilariously disgusting and inappropriate comment to Trump sycophant Jeffrey Lord.Cooper was interviewing Lord on Friday afternoon. Lord was defending Trump s telling Russian officials that he fired Comey to take the pressure off his administration. Cooper became just frustrated enough with the BS that was being spouted that Cooper, on live cable news TV, said, If he told a dump on his desk, you would defend it. Cooper realized that the might have wandered outside the norms of professionalism (don t we all these days) and sort of apologized. He even offered Lord a bit of flattery if you can call it that: I mean, I don t know what he would do that you would not defend, Cooper continued. I mean, you re a loyal guy, I think that speaks well of you. Source: Entertainment WeeklyHere s the video:The actual apology came via Twitter:I regret the crude sentence i spoke earlier tonight and followed it up by apologizing on air. It was unprofessional. I am genuinely sorry. Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) May 20, 2017The Twitterverse thought Cooper s apology was completely unnecessary Many were amazed at Cooper s restraint:@Meryals @Green_Footballs @jaunte @andersoncooper This. And really, what was there to apologize for?https://t.co/oZgujz8fe5 Myron @ GOBA 4WKS! (@myronfalwell) May 20, 2017@andersoncooper you better not apologize! These Guests you have on would drive Jesus to start smoking meth to cope. lol you re good Kellee Terrell (@kelleent) May 20, 2017@kelleent @andersoncooper Seriously. I need to apologize. If he was in the studio I would have theoat punched him Marine Zograbyan (@TAINTEDLUVV) May 20, 2017@andersoncooper I would hold the apology until after Trump apologizes for calling for the state execution of the innocent Central Park 5 kids. Anil Dash (@anildash) May 20, 2017@anildash @andersoncooper Or mocking a handicapped reporter, bashing a gold star family, downplaying a Vietnam POW s captivity, accusing his predecessor of a felony Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) May 20, 2017@dwsNY @RobertMaguire_ @anildash @andersoncooper or bragging about sexual assault, sexually objectifying his own daughter, sullying the WH. Kendra of Ulm (@thekendra) May 20, 2017@Rosie @andersoncooper pic.twitter.com/H1vT54my0M Mike Denison (@mikd33) May 20, 2017One, though, noted the real problem with the interview:@andersoncooper @brianstelter CNN should probably stop paying people like Jeffrey Lord to defend everything Trump does without question. It doesn t inform anyone. Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) May 20, 2017Featured image via video screen capture.

1real

Voters Repudiate Clinton

Scott It’s really amazing to see how little of the blame is going to Clinton herself. It was her decision to set-up a private email server. It was her decision to serve as Secretary of State while accepting millions from foreign governments. It was her decision to get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars while unofficially running for President. It was her decision to call millions of Americans deplorable. We have very little idea of what a Trump presidency will amount to. My best guess has been that he will be a Jimmy Carter cubed in Berlusconi packaging. Recall that even though Carter has been the best former President of the modern era, he came to Washington as an outsider with his Georgia team. Despite having ben a governor and thus knowing how to draft legislation and get bills passed, he famously got little accomplished despite having a Democratic party majority in the House and Senate. Trump is likely to spend his first year, and conceivably his entire Presidency, with all of the Democratic party and enough of the Republican party against him to stymie him, fighting for the right to govern. And that assumes he has an agenda beyond the very few goals he has articulated consistently: getting out of “bad” trade deals and entering into better ones; reducing immigration and deporting many undocumented immigrants (and building his famed wall); investing heavily in infrastructure; making NATO members pay their share of its budget (the theoretical level, 2% of each nation’s GDP, is largely footed by the US); cutting back our involvement in overseas conflicts; cutting taxes; and repealing Obamacare. The only initiatives where the Republicans might back him solidly are cutting taxes and ending Obamacare, and even then, given the lobbying power of Big Pharma and the health insurers, the Republicans might not be as willing to pull the trigger on Obamacare as all their kvetching would lead you to believe. There is one more Trump campaign promise that will serve as an important early test of his seriousness as well as his survival skills: investigating Clinton. Even if Obama pardons her, as our Jerri-Lynn Scofield has predicted, it will be critical for Trump to carry out a probe of the Clinton Foundation’s business while Clinton was Secretary of State. If Trump is to cut the cancer of the neocons out of the policy establishment, he has to have them on the run. It is a reasonable surmise that Clinton’s enthusiasm for war was due at least in part to heavy Saudi support of the Foundation. Showing that American’s escalation in the Middle East, which Obama tried with mixed success to temper, was due in part, and perhaps almost entirely, to the personal corruption of the Secretary of State, would keep the hawks at bay, particularly if other prominent insiders and pundits were implicated in Clinton Foundation influence-peddaling. It will be hard for Trump to do much to alter the course of the military-surveilance complex unless he can hamstring the warmongers. Just as Warren has argued relative to bank regulations, “personnel is policy.” If Trump is a fast learner, he’ll see that that is just as true on the foreign policy front. Finally, those on the left need to turn the blame cannon aimed squarely at them back on the professional hacks who are truly responsible. Despite their tiresome chest-beating about meritocracy, these Acela corridor bubble-dwellers are constitutionally incapable of holding their fellow club member accountable. Their preening self regard repelled hard-working Americans who’d done the right thing, as in gotten an education, and if they were older, launched a career, bought a house and started a family, only to struggle harder and harder while seeing any vestige of security and hope of improved living standards erode. And unless they were at the top of the professional classes, they felt defeated by not being able to pay for their kids to go to college and being uncertain as to how to advise them with their educations and job prospects. The Democrats under Clinton and Obama abdicated the duty of the elites, which is to improve the conditions for, or at least limit harm to, the members of the communities they lead. Even Bill Clinton did remember that the most important duty for a Democrat is to create jobs, even if he did so by presiding over a rise in household debt and a stock market bubble. Young people, who poll well to the left of their elders, have inferred a lesson that the labor movement forgot: the exercise of power includes being willing to inflict punishment in the form of withholding support. Look at how diminished organized labor has become by casting its lot with the feckless Dems who’ve sold them out again and again. Hillary tried the Clinton “They have no where to go” trick one time too many, kicking the left after she only narrowly beat Sanders. And the left decided to return the favor. She made clear she has no intention of representing them. They heard her message loud and clear and acted accordingly. As reader aab : The big question to me is, take over the hollow shell of the Democratic Party, or crush it with a new party. Is it possible to take over the Ds — as weak as it is now as a party — without being corrupted and co-opted? I now hate my former party to such a degree, I find myself recoiling at having anything at all to do with it. But given all the institutional constraints, it still may be smart to try; the answer is above my pay grade, as they say. This is an important question to consider as we see how the Democratic party responds to this well-deserved defeat. 0 2 0 0 0 0

1real

Al Gore: Climate Change is “PRINCIPAL” Cause of Syrian War

21st Century Wire says Can you say: out of touch ?Al Gore may have finally proven that he has completely lost touch with reality after his recent comments in London during an interview.The former Vice-President and professional alarmist extraordinaire said that climate change is a principal cause of the Syrian conflict, and even, those in the region recognize that [too] .In the following video report, you ll hear exactly why that explanation is not only intellectually insulting, but how it shifts the blame away from those who are truly responsible for the Syrian crisis, because it certainly was not your SUV driving neighbour: READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

1real

Slain reporter's boyfriend calls for violence discussion

(CNN) One day after reporter Alison Parker, 24, and her cameraman, Adam Ward, 27, were gunned down on live television near Roanoke, Virginia, Parker's boyfriend said merely remembering their lives is not enough. "There needs to be some action that is taken out of an event like this -- out of an event like Sandy Hook, like Charleston, like Aurora, Colorado... where these things just don't occur anymore," Chris Hurst told CNN on Thursday, citing a litany of American gun violence. "We need to have a substantive conversation on what is going on in America that is allowing evil to continue to crop up over love? Is it because we are in the media? And the attacker knew this was going to get a lot of play, and here we are again, another mushroom cloud of coverage over gun violence?" On Wednesday, Vester Lee Flanagan II produced a real-time murder show that he choreographed in detail. In a ranting note sent to ABC News before his death, Flanagan blamed his misery on black men and white women and said he was "somewhat racist against whites, blacks and Latinos." Flanagan shot dead Parker and Ward while she was live on air on WDBJ via Ward's camera, a video of the incident showed. Hurst works at the station as an anchor and had been dating Parker for nine months. They were already talking about marriage. He was saving for an engagement ring, he said. "I think the media can have an even stronger effect to be positive if we can use this as a conversation in figuring out why we are allowing hate to creep into people's hearts instead of fostering love," he said at memorial for the victims. "We need to ask why this is happening, and we need to keep the conversation going. We don't want to keep it going because it's tiresome and then, we just wait for another one to happen, and we say, 'This is a huge issue,' and then forget about it until another one happens... If we don't forget, I think the incidents will lessen. I believe that." Parker's father, Andy Parker, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night that he will honor his daughter's memory by lobbying for laws that will make it harder for the mentally ill to purchase firearms. It was not clear whether Flanagan had been diagnosed with a mental illness. "After Sandy Hook, and the theater shootings, everybody thought, gosh this is terrible," he said. "We have got to do something to keep people that are mentally disturbed, we got to keep them away from guns and having the ability to get guns." It's up to the media, he said, to prevent the story from fading. "That's what the [National Rifle Association] is thinking right now," Parker said. "The NRA is saying, it will go away. And, you know, they are the most powerful lobby in the country. And someone has got ... to take them on. By God, I am going to do it." Parker was reluctant at first to speak to reporters about his daughter's killing, but her career as a journalist changed his mind. The first 24 hours after her death were filled with numbness, uncontrollable grief and anger, he said. "She was kind and she was sweet and she touched everybody," he said. He didn't go nicely back then, and Ward recorded his emotional outburst on camera. Court documents from a discrimination suit that he filed show that Flanagan scoffed at Ward and flipped off the camera. Before police walked him out of the building, Flanagan handed his manager a small wooden cross and said, "You'll need this." Flanagan had not worked with Parker, the reporter he shot dead, but there were signs he resented her having been hired. WDBJ's general manager said Flanagan had run-ins with many co-workers and was a poor performer. Flanagan's performance and behavior problems led to his bosses referring him to the company's employee assistance program, Marks said. The managers did not request he reach out to the program because of his mental state -- they didn't know about that -- but because of his difficulty working with others, Marks said. The final warning for the reporter came in December 2012, and he was fired in February 2013. Flanagan caused a stir and police were called to escort him out, Marks said. Flanagan gave the news director at the time a cross and said "you'll need this," Marks said. All of the claims that Flanagan made against the company and were investigated Marks said. Those investigations concluded that no reasonable person would have taken the alleged instances as discrimination or harassment, he said. Vester Flanagan owned several websites associated with gay porn, records show. Flanagan registered at least seven domain names in 2007 and 2008, and solicited "attractive & muscular men" to model for live web cams. Records obtained by CNN show Flanagan's name and Vallejo, California, address were included in the domain registrations. The shooter planned meticulously to act out a lot of resentment violently and get back into the limelight before turning his gun on himself. Flanagan, aka Williams, recorded video of his killing, which he spread on social media as he fled authorities. He appeared to have prepped his Twitter account days before the killing with a review of images from stations of his life. During his flight, posts to Twitter appeared in the name of Bryce Williams, showing video recorded from the perspective of his gun barrel as his shots struck his victims. Many social media users were horrified by the scenes playing out before them on autoplay. Both Facebook and Twitter quickly shut down the accounts. Flanagan had rented a car weeks before and used it in his getaway instead of his own car, a 2009 Ford Mustang. Virginia State Police spotted the rental car on Interstate 66. A trooper tried to pull him over, police said, but he refused to stop and sped away before running off the road and crashing into an embankment. Troopers found Flanagan inside with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Virginia State Police Sgt. F.L. Tyler told reporters. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon. Flanagan was known for a series of anger and behavioral problems in his workplaces. As news broke about whom police sought in the killing, Don Shafer heard a familiar name on the radio. "Vester Flanagan. He worked for me," he said to himself. "The hair on the back of my neck went up," said Shafer, who is now news director at XETV in San Diego. When he hired Flanagan, Shafer was news director at WTWC in Tallahassee, Florida. The reporter who went by Bryce Williams made a nice impression on Shafer at first, but in 2000, he fired him over run-ins with colleagues. "There were some issues with him and his personality that kind of spiraled down, and that's why we had to get rid of him," Shafer said. Flanagan sued, alleging racial discrimination, but the suit was dismissed. Later, he joined WDBJ but was later fired over performance issues. He sued again, once more alleging discrimination. Court documents from that suit revealed the station had taken disciplinary action against Flanagan for months, met with him many times about angry behavior and told him to seek counseling. Dan Dennison, former news director at WDBJ, said it was the toughest termination decision he'd ever handled. He had to call police to escort the reporter out. "(Williams/Flanagan) had a level of a long series of complaints against co-workers nearly from the beginning of employment at the TV station," Dennison said. He said they were never substantiated. The firings and lawsuits were part of a mishmash of resentments that Flanagan faxed to ABC News, while police searched for him. In a ranting note in his farewell fax, Flanagan tried to justify his killings. "OK, so the big question is 'Why?' " he wrote. "Well, after I compiled well over 100 pages chronicling the hurt in my life, I asked myself, 'Why NOT?' " And he talked about having a disturbed mind. "I've been a human powder keg for a while ... just waiting to go BOOM!!!! at any moment," he wrote. He spent some time making allegations of racism, including against reporter Parker, whom he said "made racist comments" but got hired anyhow. There was no elaboration, and WDBJ General Manager Marks said the claim was unfounded. "We're outraged that any of the comments in that manifesto are taken the least bit seriously," he said, adding that he doesn't believe that Flanagan and Parker crossed paths at WDBJ. But Flanagan also blamed much of his misery on black men and white women and said he was "somewhat racist against whites, blacks and Latinos." Flanagan said he put a deposit down for a gun two days after the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting in June and ranted against the accused shooter. "As for Dylann Roof? You (deleted)! You want a race war (deleted)? BRING IT THEN YOU WHITE (deleted)!!!" the fax said. Police recovered two guns from Flanagan, Glock 9 mm pistols he purchased legally.

0fake

Conflict over Russia is rocky start for Trump and intelligence agencies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s rejection this weekend of U.S. intelligence analysts’ conclusion that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help him win the White House is the latest in a string of conflicts between Trump and the intelligence community he will command. Most of them involve Russia, which has grown increasingly aggressive - according to what U.S. intelligence agencies have told Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama - in Syria and Ukraine. The agencies also reported that Russia has ratcheted up activities in cyberspace including meddling, sometimes covertly, in European and U.S. elections. The intelligence agencies have concluded with “high confidence” that not only did their Russian counterparts direct the hacking of Democratic Party organizations and leaders, but they did so to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, not just to shake confidence in the U.S. electoral system, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The president-elect’s transition office responded by releasing a statement that exaggerated his margin of victory and attacked the U.S. intelligence community’s work on Iraq, but did not address the analysts’ conclusion about Russia. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction,” the statement said. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’” In a statement issued on Saturday, California Democrat Adam Schiff, a member of the House intelligence committee, called the Russian hacking of the U.S. election “spectacularly successful.” “One would also have to be willfully blind not to see that these Russian actions were uniformly damaging to Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton and helpful to Donald Trump,” Schiff said. “I do not believe this was coincidental or unintended.” Trump has rejected the intelligence agencies’ finding. “I don’t believe they interfered,” he told Time magazine about Russia in an interview published this week. “That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, ‘Oh, Russia interfered.’” Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election. The president-elect has been receiving the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), one of the most highly classified documents in the U.S. government and which can include details of U.S. and allied covert operations, only once a week. That is far less often than most of his predecessors.So far, intelligence officials said, Trump has not requested a special briefing on Russia, despite the agencies’ warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to undermine trans-Atlantic unity and test U.S. and allied resolve. In fact, two officials with knowledge of the situation said on Saturday that Trump’s transition team has made only “incidental contact” with the Central Intelligence Agency. This is despite the fact that Trump’s choice to head the CIA, U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo, has limited experience working with the agency. The Kansas Republican served on the House Intelligence Committee and the select committee investigating the 2012 attack on U.S. diplomatic and intelligence facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Democrats and some Republicans in Congress who have been briefed on the Russian activities share the intelligence agencies’ alarm about Trump’s plans for the 17-agency intelligence community, which includes the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Counterterrorism Center. Privately, some members of the clandestine service, the CIA’s body of spies, said they would resign rather than obey any order to resume waterboarding or other “enhanced interrogation techniques” that Trump endorsed during his campaign.Elsewhere in the $70 billion-a-year intelligence community officials on Saturday said they fear that Trump might invite legal trouble by trying to vastly expand electronic and physical surveillance of suspected terrorists based on their religion or national origin. None of that may come to pass, of course, and campaign rhetoric and tweets do not always predict policies, the officials conceded.However, Trump’s statements about Russia and business dealings there, as well as those of retired Army Lieutenant Michael Flynn, his choice for national security adviser, are worrisome to many of the officials tracking Putin’s growing aggressiveness from seas to skies to cyberspace. Obama has ordered the intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. 20, the White House said on Friday. Obama’s homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters on Friday the report’s results would be shared with lawmakers and others. “The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process ... and to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders, to include the Congress,” she said during an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

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Racist Vandalizes Bernie Sanders Supporter’s Car Then Brags About It Online

A Bernie Sanders supporter s car was vandalized by Andy Hallinan. The man put two stickers over top of the woman s Bernie Sanders stickers. The stickers say WARNING: This car is an MFV. The letters MFV are short for Muslim Free Zone. The owner of the car saw photos of her vandalized car online. Hallinan posted two photos of himself before and after he put the stickers on the car, then posted them to them his businesses Facebook page. Hallinan is the owner of Florida Gun Supply, a gun store in Inverness, Florida. He has previously made headlines when he posted a video on his store s Facebook page, where he declared that the gun shop is a Muslim-free zone. The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Department of Justice to investigate the matter, claiming that banning Muslims from his store is a violation of federal law.The owner of the car wrote a post on Facebook where she said: I was at a Barnes and Noble today in Millbury Ma. I was drinking coffee and using my computer and posting and reading lots and lots of things about Bernie Sanders like I have been doing for some time now. Anyhow I come out to my car to find 2 stickers over my Bernie Sanders stickers. As soon as I got to an internet connection again I went to look up what the fuck the stickers where for and then I found a pic of my car on their website Not only did they vandalize my car in my opinion they were trying to use my car to promote hate. And posted to their own FB page The sticker says Warning This car is a MFZ which means a Muslim Free Zone The car owner confronted Hallinan on his Facebook page where she was mocked by the page s fans:Social media is a powerful tool that lets people come together from all over the world to share ideas. Unfortunately, some of those people are only interested in spreading hate. Hallinan is not only interested in spreading his bigoted message he s actually trying to profit from it by selling bumper stickers and promoting his store.Featured image from screenshot via Facebook

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Conviction Against Brendan Dassey of ‘Making a Murderer’ Is Overturned - The New York Times

A federal judge on Friday overturned the murder and sexual assault convictions of Brendan Dassey, one of the defendants whose case was the subject of the wildly popular Netflix documentary series, “Making a Murderer. ” Mr. Dassey, 26, must be released from prison within 90 days unless the authorities schedule a new trial, according to the order from a federal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. In 2007, Mr. Dassey was convicted of participating in the murder and sexual assault of Teresa Halbach, a photographer, and sentenced to life in prison. The series by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, released in December, suggested that police investigators unfairly questioned Mr. Dassey, then 16, without a lawyer or parent present. It suggested he was mentally unfit, was coerced into a confession that he later recanted, and that his lawyer, Len Kachinsky, was content to cut a deal. In the court order, the judge, William E. Duffin, said state courts erred in finding that investigators never made Mr. Dassey promises during his interrogation on March 1, 2006. “The investigators repeatedly claimed to already know what happened on October 31 and assured Dassey that he had nothing to worry about,” Judge Duffin wrote. “These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. ” The documentary also questioned the conviction of Mr. Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery, who was also convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Mr. Avery was not affected by the court order on Friday. “Today there was a major development for the subjects in our story and this recent news shows the criminal justice system at work,” Ms. Ricciardi and Ms. Demos said in a statement. “As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead. ”

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Kerry says has not been contacted by FBI over new Clinton email review

AHERLOW, Ireland (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he had not been contacted by the FBI about new investigative steps being taken related to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she led the State Department. The FBI on Friday said it was investigating more emails in what the Democratic presidential candidate described as “deeply troubling” behavior 10 days before the U.S. elections. “I haven’t been notified of anything, no, I haven’t been requested of anything, no, I’m not aware of the department being requested, and I have no further comment to make,” Kerry told a news conference in Ireland. “As an American citizen and former nominee of the party, there is a lot I’d like to say about what is going on, but I can’t and I am just going to remain out of this,” he added. Clinton on Saturday challenged FBI Director James Comey to provide a fuller explanation of investigative steps he is taking related to her use of a private email server. Comey had decided in July that the FBI was not going to seek prosecution of Clinton. But on Friday he said the agency was trying to determine whether additional emails contained classified information. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has been reeling for weeks from the release of a 2005 audio tape in which he boasted about groping women, has seized on the FBI move as evidence Clinton is unfit to lead the country. Kerry was in Ireland to accept the Tipperary International Peace Award, joining recipients like former South African President Nelson Mandela, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Kerry is due to travel to London on Monday for talks on Libya that will seek to break a political stalemate over the country’s U.N-backed unity government.

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UPDATE: [VIDEO] Bomb Squad Investigating “Substance” Found In Backpack…BREAKING: Faisal Mohammad Is Named As Student Who Stabbed 4 Students With “Large Hunting Knife” On CA Campus

Of course this is the first you ve heard of this crime. The attacker didn t use a gun and a gun was used to stop the attacker from committing mass murder. It took an entire day to identify the name knife attacker as Faisal Mohammad. He was likely a racist, Christian with tea party ties The UC Merced student who wounded four people in a stabbing spree at the campus has been identified as Faisal Mohammad, a freshman student from Santa Clara.Merced Couty Sheriff Vern Warnke confirmed the identity of the 18-year-old Computer Science and Engineering major to the Sun-Star early Thursday.Mohammad was shot and killed by UC Merced police just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning as he ran from the two-story classroom building where investigators said his violent spree began.Warnke said investigators, including the FBI, were still trying to determine the motive for Mohammad s attack, which wounded two students, a female student advisor and a construction worker who was on campus for a remodeling project. The four suffered non-life-threatening injuries.As of Thursday morning, one student remained hospitalized but was expected to recover and the other student was released after being treated, according to a statement from university spokeswoman Lorena Anderson. The student advisor, a member of the UC Merced staff, suffered a collapsed lung and was recovering Thursday after successful surgery, she said.Little information about Mohammad was immediately available, other than he turned 18 in late October. The university said more details would be released at a press conference led by the sheriff s office Thursday at 10:30 a.m.. The Sun-Star will livestream the conference on its Periscope account.Investigators believe Mohammad was armed with a large hunting knife when he entered a second-floor classroom as class was starting Wednesday and struggled with a male student, who was stabbed.Byron Price, a 31-year-old construction worker, was leading a crew in a nearby room when he heard the commotion and went to intervene. Warnke described Price s actions as heroic. Without him, the first victim could have been a lot worse off, or even dead, he said.Price drew the suspect s attention and was slashed around the waist during the confrontation. Price s co-workers drove him to Mercy Medical Center where he was treated and later released.Detectives believe Mohammad then left the building and stabbed another male student outside. He then found the student advisor sitting on a bench and stabbed her twice, officials said.Other than Price, the names of the victims have not been released.Two university police officers chased Mohammad to a bridge on the campus, where he was shot and killed. The identities of those officers have not been released. One of the officers was placed on an automatic three-day leave from the department, a standard protocol in officer-involved shootings. Via: Merced Sun Star

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Boeing Reponds To Trump’s Air Force One Tweet: You’re A F**king Idiot

Update: Slate has pointed out that the Pentagon has budgeted $4 billion in total spending through 2021 for two new Air Force ones from the company. If one plane is four and earmarked R&D is the black-and-white cost of the project, he s right. It isn t, and he isn t. The Pentagon s earmarked funds are not the projected budget by Boeing. Donald Trump made news this morning for a Tweet stating: Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order! Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016I don t know where he got that idea. Like many of Trump s ideas, it was likely pulled from the ether, or maybe from the ass of a white nationalist on Twitter. Boeing was quick to set him straight, however considering the project is more than an order of magnitude less than Trump thinks it is. Here s Boeing s statement on the matter:We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States. We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program allowing us to deliver the best planes for the President at the best value for the American taxpayer.According to Rueters, in January, when the contract was awarded, Details about the total value of the new contract have not been released, but the Air Force has previously said that it had earmarked $1.65 billion for two replacement jets. Costs and the number of jets can change, but it s still not clear at all what Trump is talking about. Even various right wing publications which have blown up the cost over the last year have not reported a figure over three billion, and even that was not sourced to any budget sheet.And, no matter the cost, it s very clear that Donald Trump has no idea what is being paid for. There will be multiple planes, first of all two or three and even if the project DID run that far over budget (there is no evidence of that), it s not just the president s version of a private jet:What drives the price tag isn t the cost of the plane, it s all the costly modifications and equipment that must be installed on such a unique aircraft, said Loren B. Thompson, a senior aviation analyst and industry consultant with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.Air Force One is filled with communications gear and defensive equipment to evade airborne threats, such as anti-aircraft missiles. It s really not just about getting the president from point A to point B, Buckley said. It s adding communication equipment. It s adding defensive gear. It s adding everything that the president needs in order to execute his mission in that airplane. He has to be able to do everything in all his roles: commander in chief, chief executive, head of state, president of the United States. Boeing s 747 is the only U.S.-built jet that can support all the functions required of an airborne White House, Thompson said. The plane must be linked to all U.S. military forces worldwide and able to function even in the midst of a nuclear war. (Source)Yet again, Donald Trump has shown us that he doesn t have even a thin veneer of competence or desire to find the facts. We re doomed.Read more:Featured image via Ty Wright/Getty Images

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Leaked: Podesta's Satanic "Spirit Cooking" Dinner. Distrubing Stuff Beyond Belief!

Leaked: Podesta's Satanic "Spirit Cooking" Dinner. Distrubing Stuff Beyond Belief! Please scroll down for video This is disturbing! Make sure you watch the video at the end of the article. The following e-mail between Tony Podesta and Marina Abramovic can be found in Wikileaks latest leaks. Marina Abramovic first sends Tony the following email: From: Marina Abramovic > Date: June 28, 2015 at 2:35:08 AM GMT+2 To: Tony Podesta Subject: Dinner Dear Tony, I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina The email is then forwarded by Tony to John Podesta. Fwd: Dinner Are you in NYC Thursday July 9 Marina wants you to come to dinner... Mary? Sent from my iPhone From: https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/15893 Mary is Mary Podesta, John Podesta’s wife . The e-mail is about an invitation of Podesta to a "Spirit Cooking" dinner that's happening at Tony's house. STRANGE BOOK BY MARINA ABRAMOVIC When looking up Marina Abramovic it gets you her website and a graphical book she created: Warning: This starts to get really weird and continues to get weirder. And now this is a video by the same woman on a so called "Spirit Cooking": (better download before it gets deleted) Yes, that is Marina Abramovic in the video with the blood paint. We leave the evaluation of the content of the video up to you, but we are speechless. How deep is the rabbit hole? Related Articles

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It's easy to imagine Obama or Kerry pissing him off, but I haven't heard specifically what the US did to set him off.

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Sarah Palin: My Husband Nearly Dying Made Me Realize How Important It Was To Elect Trump (VIDEO)

Just as Sarah Palin was set to deliver another pro-Trump stump speech, the one-time Republican vice presidential candidate learned that her husband, Todd, had been involved in a serious snowmobile accident in Alaska and was in bad condition in the Intensive Care Unit. She cancelled one event, but didn t go home. Instead, she returned to the campaign trail that same day and delivered one of the most pathetic endorsements of Trump yet. She even found a way to exploit her husband. it was painful to watch.It almost makes you feel bad for Todd Palin. Lying in his hospital bed, watching his wife use his moment of need to promote the guy she thinks will keep her relevant.Never one to let a family crisis go to waste (remember when she managed to turn her son s brutal beating of his girlfriend into a critique of Obama?), Palin told the gathered Trump crowd that the experience of learning her husband almost died made her immediately realize how important her time was and that she needed to spend it getting Trump elected.The audience went wild.Incoming word salad (recorded verbatim): Yeah, good to be here. Thawed out and little Alaskas. Literally thawed out. Just before I got on a flight to get out here, he s out ice fishing on our frozen lake and my husband s out snow machinin and thank you guys for your prayers for my husband who is recovering right now in ICUS after a little wreck on a snow machine. So thank you. Big wreck. Thank you. But, you know, when real life happens, right? When someone is sick in your family, there s an accident that happens, all these challenges, these struggles in your business, in your family, with your finances, tryin to get your kids to be able to afford to go to college, all these real life issues that happen, it really puts things into perspective, doesn t it? And doesn t it make you so appreciate your time time is our most valuable resource. It makes me appreciate the time that we have to spend in doing something so worthy. And that s to get Donald J. Trump elected president.When Palin learns her husband is badly injured, she takes the experience to appreciate how important it is for her to shill for Donald Trump. That really does put things into perspective, doesn t it? Palin: Todd s Accident Made Me Appreciate the by tommyxtopherFeatured image via Fox10 screengrab

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U.S. Agriculture secretary nominee submits ethics disclosures

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Agriculture Department said in Senate ethics disclosure forms that he would place his assets, which include part ownership of a grain merchandising company, into a blind trust. Republican Sonny Perdue was tapped to head the department the day before Trump’s inauguration. Progress on his confirmation has been slow, with media reports suggesting that undoing his various business entanglements caused the delay in the ethics filings. Representatives for Perdue did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on the delays. The divestiture plan was disclosed in filings posted online over the weekend by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Submitting the ethics filings is a key step toward possible confirmation. Perdue, the former governor of Georgia, also said he would resign his positions from the National Grain and Feed Association, the Bipartisan Policy Center Governor’s Council and the Georgia Agribusiness Council. Perdue has received strong support from agricultural trade groups. The Senate Agriculture Committee has not yet released a schedule for his confirmation hearings.

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As Donald Trump Stumbles, Hillary Clinton Watches Her Step - The New York Times

On Thursday, Hillary Clinton took a break from in Los Angeles to appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show. ” On Friday, she will fly to Seattle for a private and on Monday, Billy Crystal, along with Matthew Broderick and Miranda, will host a donor soiree on Mrs. Clinton’s behalf. With Donald J. Trump plunging in the polls amid new allegations of sexual assault and the continuing furor over the “Access Hollywood” recording, what Mrs. Clinton will not do is anything that could rattle a race that has shifted solidly in her favor. She enters the final stretch of the presidential campaign with cautious optimism about the outcome. Unlike most presidential candidates, who spend the last weeks before Election Day holding a succession of big rallies, Mrs. Clinton seems to see no reason to pack her public schedule. After Thursday, the Democratic nominee had no public appearances scheduled for the rest of the week, and her campaign has not announced additional events before next Wednesday’s third debate with Mr. Trump, in Las Vegas. Aides point to rallies in Florida, Colorado and Arizona this week and say Mrs. Clinton has spent her downtime preparing for the debates. They have criticized Mr. Trump for shunning debate preparation, to his detriment. But her relatively light schedule also signals a newfound confidence inside the campaign as Mrs. Clinton seeks to get out the vote among specific constituencies and avoid making any unforced errors. After a shaky September, Mrs. Clinton has surged to an lead over Mr. Trump in a race, up from a advantage last month, according to an NBC Street journal poll conducted over the weekend. Democrats expect that lead to widen in the aftermath of the second presidential debate, the tape that surfaced last week in which Mr. Trump can be heard making lewd comments about women, and the new accusations of sexual assault. On Monday, Mrs. Clinton drew her largest crowd yet, 18, 500 people, to an outdoor evening rally at Ohio State University in Columbus. Nearly 2, 700 voters came to a rally on Wednesday in Pueblo, Colo. Campaign aides attribute the larger crowds to fury over what they call Mr. Trump’s tactics. “We think people are turning out to show support for her taking on Trump,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign. “We see we’re hitting goals in voting registration, and enthusiasm on our side is growing. ” But in a fractured news media landscape, a boisterous campaign rally packs less punch than it used to and aides said they can more effectively target voters through other means. And the headlines about Mr. Trump of late underscore the Clinton campaign’s assumption that dominating the national news is not always a good thing. In recent weeks, Mrs. Clinton has talked about her youth in an interview with Snapchat she choked up discussing police brutality with the singer Mary J. Blige she talked about the time she got a bad haircut in high school with an interviewer and about the problems facing Haitian communities with a prominent Miami bishop and she has talked to her own campaign’s “I’m With Her” podcast. (Recent topics include “Presidents are People, Too. ”) “Rallies work for electric candidates, and Hillary Clinton is not an electric candidate,” said Thomas Sander, who runs a program on civic engagement at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “It’s easier to find a sympathetic talk show host who gives you a chance to control the message. ” Rallies can also be fraught with risks. A conservative radio host and Trump supporter, Alex Jones, has offered a cash prize to anyone who will interrupt Clinton events with chants accusing Bill Clinton of rape. Two protesters were escorted out of Mrs. Clinton’s rally in Miami on Monday, where she and Al Gore talked about climate change at an event focused on young voters. Mrs. Clinton has a cadre of Democratic leaders to campaign on her behalf, including her husband President Obama and Michelle Obama Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “Rightly so, they know that if she is not out there making news, it is much more interesting to cover whatever Donald Trump said today,” said Russell J. Schriefer, a Republican political strategist and former senior adviser to Mitt Romney. “They know that ultimately plays to their benefit. ” Indeed, the Clinton campaign has gleefully watched as Mr. Trump has escalated his war with the Republican establishment, publishing a web video on Wednesday called “The Final Meltdown” that features a montage of Mr. Trump’s latest insults. Ever since Mrs. Clinton had to take a few days off the campaign trail to recover from pneumonia last month, Democrats are sensitive about the implication that she is taking it easy. Mr. Trump has mocked Mrs. Clinton’s schedule and accused her of not having the “stamina” to hold multiple rallies a day. He recently released an ad that implies she is not healthy enough to hold the presidency. (Mrs. Clinton’s physician has said she is in “excellent health. ”) “By the way, let Hillary Clinton stand up here for an hour and talk the way I talk and let’s see how long she lasts, folks,” Mr. Trump told a crowd in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday. Mrs. Clinton has held 19 rallies in the 38 days since Labor Day, the official kickoff of the general election campaign, compared with Mr. Trump’s 32 rallies, according to a New York Times tally. But she has had a stream of stops at community centers and small discussions targeted at specific voters. In Charlotte, N. C. this month, Mrs. Clinton spoke at a black church and then had a discussion with community leaders about the recent police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott and ensuing unrest in the city. The talk changed the impression Shaun Corbett, 37 and owner of Da Lucky Spot Barbershop, had of Mrs. Clinton. “I can see how a lot of people would say she’s cold,” Mr. Corbett said, the hum of the razor in the background. “But I saw that she’s just about her business. ” Direct outreach to voters like Mr. Corbett can be more valuable than rallies with crowds. “It’s got to be quality over quantity, return on investment,” said Tracy Sefl, a Democratic strategist who advises the campaign on women’s outreach. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign expects at least 40 percent of votes in battleground states to be cast early. “We actually think that states like Nevada, North Carolina and Florida could be decided before Election Day,” said Robby Mook, the campaign manager. Democrats say that despite Mrs. Clinton’s solid performance in the first two debates, she will still attend her usual “debate camp” and grueling preparation sessions with aides in Westchester, N. Y. and Las Vegas. After the final debate, Mrs. Clinton is expected to make her closing argument with a more robust schedule of rallies, and may even make stops in states like Georgia and Arizona where the margin has tightened.. “You take nothing for granted,” said Joel Benenson, Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategist and pollster. “You campaign all the way to the end, and you regularly look at what’s ahead and you manage time and resources to get the most value out of the candidate’s time around the country. ”

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Hastert loses one Illinois pension, keeps another after sentencing

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois stripped former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert of his teacher’s pension on Wednesday, but his sentencing for a federal financial crime linked to past sex abuse will not cost him a second, more lucrative state pension. The state Teachers’ Retirement System moved swiftly after Hastert’s sentencing by ending his $16,622-a-year annuity from 16 years of teaching in a far western suburb of Chicago, where the sexual abuse to which he admitted occurred. But Hastert will not lose his $28,025 annual pension from his six years as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. The Teachers’ Retirement System, in ending Hastert’s pension, cited an Illinois law that prohibits retired educators from drawing pensions if they are found guilty of a felony arising from their service as teachers. Hastert was sentenced by a federal judge in Chicago on Wednesday to 15 months in prison, followed by two years of probation and sex-offender treatment for a financial crime related to his sexual abuse of high school wrestlers he coached decades ago. As a teacher between 1965 and 1981, Hastert’s contributions to the Teachers’ Retirement System totaled $16,327. Since 1997, Hastert received $237,045 in pension payments, the agency disclosed. But his benefit from his years as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives will continue because the crime to which Hastert admitted happened after 2010, more than two decades after his departure from the Illinois statehouse, said Timothy Blair, executive secretary for the state General Assembly Retirement System. “The one charge on this that stuck happened well after his time in the General Assembly,” Blair said. “Obviously, it couldn’t be related to his role as an elected official here.” As a legislator, Hastert contributed $19,805 to his legislative pension and has received $420,524, Blair’s agency disclosed. The federal agency that administers congressional pensions did not respond to questions about Hastert on Wednesday.

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HOW BUZZFEED Is Using Social Media “News” Feeds To Teach White Kids To Hate Themselves

Does your child spend time on social media? Unless they re Amish, you should probably assume they do. My teenage daughter just shared with me one of the most racist, self-loathing articles with me that I have ever seen in print. This is the most hateful, racist articles aimed at shaming young, white Americans that you ve have ever seen. As we took a closer look at students featured in this Buzzfeed article, we were stunned by some of the racist postings we found on their social media accounts.I suppose it s okay for Buzzfeed to publish an article with the sole purpose of bashing its young white users, because thanks to Barack and Michelle Obama (the ultimate victims), who have been sowing the seeds of racism, division and hate from the White House, it s perfectly acceptable to trash white Americans. Never mind that Barack Obama is the President of the United States. What black United States President who was elected twice by a majority white nation would still consider himself and his wife victims of racism? Here are some of the examples we found from the Buzzfeed article titled: 19 School Powerpoint Presentations That Give Zero F*cks This article, and hundreds more just like it, show up in your children s Snapchat social media feeds, a place where teenagers and young adults frequently go to interact with each other, and where they are constantly bombarded with leftist indoctrination garbage like this: Controversial Tay appears to be very proud of herself and how she s stirring it up at school, she actually goes as far as to say, One day I feel like my professors just gon stop letting me do presentations. Hmmm wonder why?One day I feel like my professors just gon stop letting me do presentations pic.twitter.com/gR8oopDqeG Controversial Tay (@MissTayAmari) November 17, 2016Robin Had the white kids shook by her presentation. How did she think it was going to make them feel good? Wasn t that exactly the reaction she was going for?I HAD THESE WHITE KIDS SHOOK pic.twitter.com/z8E3VPlkfF robin (@thyrobin) October 21, 2016Here s Indigo whose got a bucket ready for your white tears. When the homie comes through with follow up pic.twitter.com/1LiPsJdxxD Indigo (@miesh_b) December 14, 2015As an added bonus, we also found this video on Indigo s Twitter account: Watch this disrespectful black teenage girl attack her teacher during class, and twist his words to fit her narrative after he said, I want [America] to control the borders. She quickly turns it into a race issue, using his statement about the controlling the borders to suggest he, doesn t want too many Latinos in our country. She tells him because you are white and you are so closed-minded that he doesn t accept the truth. The teacher calls her out on her previous statement that, white people are in control of everything, by asking her what color our current President is? Watch how she quickly blames Congress for being white, which apparently makes a black man who holds the highest office in our nation somehow insignificant. Amazing pic.twitter.com/4feVZv49DH (@emotioneIIe) November 16, 2016One of the most race-obsessed teachers on social media that I have ever seen, posted this tweet to his Twitter account. He calls himself Zellie and this is his Twitter profile: All Black Everything. Teacher. Blogger. Activist. Brother. Son. Contact: zellie.imani@gmail.comDoes anyone wanna take bets about whether or not he would be offended if he saw someone on Twitter saying they were All White Everything ?In any case, Buzzfeed chose one of his Twitter posts that shows a student telling a group of students if you believe there is diversity, You re probably a racist. :I'm ready for this workshop. pic.twitter.com/P0oKfDY8VP zellie (@zellieimani) November 7, 2015And another post by the race-obsessed teacher made it to Buzzfeed s top 19 most racist social media posts. Here is #7.Oh look white people who Wanna Be A Nigga! The teacher who calls himself zellie on Twitter used laughing emoji s when he shared this on Twitter as a way to express to viewers how funny he thought this was:Professors about to stop assigning presentations. pic.twitter.com/4yulAjeZDx zellie (@zellieimani) December 18, 2015This user brags about how she s about to shame her fellow students by suggesting, She about to fry them. #Love it! :Now this one is just plain hilarious! Here s a white student who appears to be giving the presenter his full attention and respect, while this black student (who is the presenter) places White People Are A Plague To The Planet on the screen for the entire class to see. Pretty funny huh? You can see why Buzzfeed chose them as their #9 pick:Pretty sure I just got an F on my presentation. pic.twitter.com/7TDprSquuP Shahem . (@pettyblackboy) May 12, 2016This Buzzfeed article would lead you to believe this is a common theme among black high school students, that white people are a plague. And good for him According to his tweet, this racist clown got an A on his racist presentation. Again, it s really no secret why Buzzfeed chose this tweet. It s their #10:Finessed an A on my presentation pic.twitter.com/RFR44ExNMW Shi'Thead (@ExRoyalTy) November 2, 2016And then of course, there s the White People Are Crazy slide. This student didn t mention the grade he got. This gem was posted to Tumblr and was Buzzfeed s #11:We re going to end this sickening display of racism at #12. We ve had enough and we re pretty sure you have as well. It doesn t matter what the color of your skin is, this display of hate and racism is unacceptable from any publication. Buzzfeed should be ashamed of themselves for putting this crap out there, and then paying to promote it on a social media sites geared towards teens and young adults.Our final presenter is simply making the point that he is a victim. Can anyone guess who made him a victim? If your skin color is white, we re pretty sure it was you.Jose Lara at Ethnic Studies panel. #EthnicStudiesNow pic.twitter.com/ufX30bn9ZC Mark Tschaepe (@mdtschaepe) October 30, 2015Radical publications like Buzzfeed are not the only problem. Many of our educators are also indoctrinating our children with the, all white s are racists narrative. When are parents going to start taking a stand, and tell the educators at the schools their children attend they are not going to stand by and watch them shame their children? It may be all the rage in high schools and colleges to unfairly accuse white people of racism and hate, but that doesn t mean you, or your kids have to go along with it.For the entire slide show, go to Buzzfeed. Make sure to leave a comment, and let them know how you feel about the garbage they re putting out to your kids disguised as news. Teenagers and young adults have a hard enough time dealing with self-image and everyday teenage insecurities. Suicide rates and depression are off the charts for teens. Buzzfeed is just doing their part to pile on, and make your kids feel guilty or ashamed for the color of skin they were born with.

1real

Illinois governor vetoes Chicago pension fix, angers city's mayor

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Friday vetoed a legislative fix favored by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for two of the city’s struggling pension funds and castigated it as a “kick-the-can approach.” The financial footing and credit ratings for the nation’s third-largest city have slipped precipitously as its unfunded pension liabilities grew to $33.8 billion for Chicago’s four retirement systems in the most recent accounting. The plan that passed the Illinois Senate unanimously in January and cleared the House overwhelmingly last December would have granted the state’s blessing to alter the city’s pension repayment schedule for its municipal and laborers’ retirement systems. The systems are projected to run out of money in the coming decade and were depending on legislative sign-off of the city’s enactment of a water and sewer usage tax and telephone surcharge designed to help get them 90 percent funded in 40 years. City officials have acknowledged that more money will be needed starting in 2023 when payments will reach actuarially required levels. But Rauner rejected the package, saying it created a payment schedule that eventually would necessitate a tax increase for Chicago. He said it needed to be part of a broader, statewide pension funding strategy to address Illinois’ $129.8 billion unfunded pension liability. “This is another kick-the-can approach to pension funding that landed Chicago in fiscal crisis in the first place,” Rauner said in a prepared statement. “This bill will create an unsustainable funding schedule that will lead to tax increases without solving the real problem.” A spokesman for the Democratic mayor slammed the Republican governor’s action as an “irresponsible and irrational decision.” “Instead of helping secure the future of our taxpayers and middle-class retirees, the governor chose to hold them hostage – just as he has done to social service providers, schoolchildren and universities across the state,” Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement, referring to Rauner’s inability to broker a state budget deal for 21 months. Rauner’s action left Democrats with no ability to block his veto because the pension bailout passed in the previous session of the state General Assembly, which ended in mid-January, and the governor’s only options were to approve or reject the measure. But the city is pinning its hopes on an identical piece of legislation that passed the newly seated state Senate in late January and is awaiting action in the House, Collins said.

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World SITREP November 4th, 2016 by Baaz

@ScottsHumor тут https://t.co/ZqMbC8Un5A в 1080р если надо.После вертушку окончательно до ломали pic.twitter.com/5NlyYeP70h A moment when the Mi-35 helicopter crew is walking towards the rescue helicopter @ScottsHumor Тут момент перехода экипажа из Ми-35 pic.twitter.com/78pRd2XlW5 — Alex (@Molchan_OFF) November 4, 2016 Media briefing of the Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy Russia: Muscovites celebrate Unity Day in capital Monument to Vladimir the Great, Prince of Ancient Rus’ who Christianized the realm, was officially unveiled today in Moscow Monument to Vladimir the Great, Prince of Ancient Rus' who Christianized the realm, was officially unveiled today in #Moscow #UnityDay pic.twitter.com/UdIE1PdUvt — Russia in RSA 🇷🇺 (@EmbassyofRussia) November 4, 2016 Ukraine Nov 2, 2016 – Belarusian officials demanded an apology from Ukrainian authorities for an incident that took place on October 21 in the skies above Ukraine when a Belavia flight en route to Minsk was ordered to return to Kiev, speaking at a press conference in the Belarusian capital on Wednesday. In Ukraine: DAI, Development Alternatives Incorporated is financed by the USAID , United States Agency for International Development, which was ousted recently as a cover for CIA ‘Russia is not behind Clinton leaks’ – Assange interview with John Pilger Courtesy Darthmouth Films” ‘Clinton & ISIS funded by same money’ – Assange interview w/John Pilger (Courtesy Darthmouth Films) ‘Trump won’t be permitted to win ‘– Assange interview with John Pilger (Courtesy Darthmouth Films) On The News Line – US, Russia on road to final collision Nov 4, 2016 These are some of the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line: 1. US Russia on a collision course Tensions between the US and Russia: their relation has hit such a low, that it’s beyond a Cold War. US presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton has pledged to set up a no-fly zone in Syria. The Russian Ministry of Defense has warned that there may be no time for any hot-line discussions with the Americans about stealth aircraft or incoming missiles. No time for talks, meaning anything in the air will be shot down, bringing the two nuclear powered nations ever closer to a confrontation. 2. Lebanon’s new face The power vacuum in Lebanon has ended with the election of the leader of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement party as president. Michel Aoun secured the votes of 83 out of 127 MPs at parliament, capping a political impasse which dragged on for over two years. Aoun is a strong ally of Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah and his election is seen as a disappointment for Israel and Saudi Arabia, two enemies of what is known as the axis of resistance of which Hezbollah is a main pillar. Aoun was earlier endorsed by leader of the pro-Saudi political party March 14 Saad Hariri. 3. Yemen heading for partition No end is in sight for the crisis in Yemen : The country’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has said ‘no’ to a peace proposal put forward by Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN special envoy for Yemen. The details of the plan have not been made public, but according to some sources, it gives Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and its allies a share in the country’s future government. The serious disagreement between forces loyal to Hadi and the Ansarullah movement has sparked fears over Yemen’s possible partition. Two parallel institutions in Sana’a and Aden are in the making which may end up partitioning of the country. Israel plans to build new settler units in east al-Quds Nov 2, 2016 – Israeli authorities say a municipal building-permit sub-committee has approved technical details of plans in the Gilo area. They say more detailed building permits will be required before the settler units are built. The project was first approved in 20-12 and Wednesday’s approvals have been seen as open defiance of international calls to stop settlement expansion on the occupied Palestinian territories. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Israel destroys Bedouin village for 105th time Brave people fighting with occupation Nov 2, 2016 – A Palestinian Bedouin village has been demolished by Israeli forces, and it’s not the first time. For the 105th time, Araqib village in the Negev desert was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers backed by troops. According to Israeli police, a number of buildings were demolished. Palestinians say Israelis confiscated vehicles and possessions of residents of the village. The first demolition of Araqib took place in 20-10. There are approximately 160 thousand Bedouins residing in the occupied territories. Authorities have repeatedly refused to connect Bedouin villages to the national water and electricity grids. Rights groups claim that the Israeli policy to destroy Bedouin villages is aimed at removing the indigenous Palestinian population to make room for the expansion of Israeli communities. The Baltics watch Some background: the Baltic republics lost about 50% of their population and 90% of their industries built by the USSR after they got occupied by the West in the 1990s. Due to the Russia’s countersanctions they have lost about 85% of their trade with Russia and stand to lose the rest in the next two years. Mostly, what’s left it’s income from the use of the Baltic ports for oil and coal transfer. The Baltic republics run by pro-fascist governments and deliberately violate every human right of their ethnic Russian population. Dress warm, pack condoms, hide: Lithuania writes guerilla manual for Russian invasion Estonia: 500 Estonian troops trained by US forces in military drills Estonian and US troops took part in joint military drills near Valga, southern Estonia on November 2nd. The training was provided to 500 new soldiers who had been serving in the Estonian Army for just one month. Platoon commanders and officers used a variety of weapons from handguns to 120-mm mortars in simulations of up-close fighting scenarios. See also, Britain sends tanks, drones and troops to Estonia as part of military buildup on Russia’s borders How Hitler Became Hitler and Why It’s Important Today , by Igor SHUMEYKO The US deliberately provoked the USSR into cancelling the summit conference in May 1960 in Paris where the USSR offered a peace treaty for a united and neutral Germany, for Germany without NATO and the US occupation. How the US military industrial complex survived disarmament In 1959, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev called at the United Nations for an end of the arms race and for an end of nuclear testing. The atmosphere was poisoned by radioactive particles. And he offered a peace treaty for a united and neutral Germany. These proposals should be discussed and concluded at a summit conference in May 1960 in Paris by the victorious Allies of War World II. The US government and the “military-industrial complex” were against this offer. An end of the Cold War would have shaken their supremacy. How did they manage to bring about the failure the summit? There is an official version, and a story that is told the first time in this documentary. According to official history, the Summit in Paris failed because of Krushchev´s anger. Related to the U-2-incident, that spy plane of the CIA. According to the official history, the Soviets alone are responsible for the division of Germany. The official history denies the existence of nuclear tests in Patagonia, invents an „heroic kidnapping“ of a Nazi War Criminal by Israeli agents and describes the earthquake in Chile as a natural event. A true “intelligence fabric” had been built around the Summit conference by the CIA and the Pentagon, consisting of several provocations: Shortly before the summit, a U-2 spy plane violated Russian airspace – at an altitude that made it impossible for the Soviet air defense not to detect it. While Eisenhower was staying at the disarmament summit, his generals arrived in Argentina with four aircraft carriers – full of nuclear explosives. They wanted to conduct nuclear tests, said the newspaper. These tests however were at that time prohibited by the US-Soviet moratorium and by the US Atomic Energy Law. During the summit, the CIA took Russian hostages. But the US nuclear tests in Argentina ended in catastrophe. Thousands of people died. They had to cover up everything. But in the archives of the US, Germany, Argentina and even the Catholic Cathedral are still documents that show what really happened. Brief history of the modern Russian Special Forces Spetsnaz Army FSB ФСБ Centre 2013 Documentary (English Subtitles) The FSB is mainly responsible for internal security of the Russian state, counterespionage, and the fight against organized crime, terrorism, and drug smuggling. Since 2003, when the Federal Border Guards Service was incorporated to the FSB, it has also been responsible for overseeing border security.[1] The FSB is engaged mostly in domestic affairs, while espionage duties are responsibility of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. However, the FSB also includes the FAPSI agency, which conducts electronic surveillance abroad. All law enforcement and intelligence agencies in Russia work under the guidance of FSB, if needed. The FSB combines functions and powers similar to those exercised by the United States FBI National Security Branch, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Protective Service, the National Security Agency (NSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Coast Guard, and partly the Drug Enforcement Administration. The FSB employs about 66,200 uniformed staff, including about 4,000 special forces troops. It also employs about 160,000–200,000 border guards Thank you for your time, Baaz

1real

Former Egypt interior minister Habib al-Adly arrested: security sources

CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian interior minister Habib al-Adly has been arrested after failing to attend his sentencing in a trial over corruption charges, two security sources said on Tuesday. Adly, who served under ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, was due to attend the final hearing in April and hand himself over to authorities, but did not show up and had been missing since then. A copy of the April verdict obtained by Reuters showed that Adly and two other ministry officials were ordered to refund a total of 1.95 billion Egyptian pounds($109.83 million) and were fined the same amount. Adly, who has denied the charges, is due back before the Court of Cassation, Egypt s top civil court, for an appeal in January. His lawyer could not be reached immediately for comment. Egypt s state news agency MENA earlier reported that Adly had been located, but did not disclose his location or whether he had been arrested. A long-serving official at the head of Egypt s feared internal security apparatus, Adly was acquitted of other graft charges two years ago. He was also cleared in 2014, along with Mubarak and six aides, of charges related to killing protesters during the 2011 uprising which had led to their downfall. ($1 = 17.7550 Egyptian pounds)

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Stephen Miller Is a ‘True Believer’ Behind Core Trump Policies - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Staff members on Capitol Hill recall Stephen Miller, the White House adviser behind many of President Trump’s most contentious executive orders, as the guy from Jeff Sessions’s office who made their inboxes cry for mercy. As a top aide to Mr. Sessions, the conservative Alabama senator, Mr. Miller dispatched dozens and dozens of bombastic emails to congressional staff members and reporters in early 2013 when the Senate was considering a big bipartisan immigration overhaul. Mr. Miller slammed the evils of “foreign labor” and pushed around nasty news articles on proponents of compromise, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. One exhausted Senate staff member, forwarding a to a reporter at the time, wrote: “His latest. And it’s only 11:45 a. m. ” The ascent of Mr. Miller from gadfly with little policy experience to the president’s senior policy adviser came as a shock to many of the staff members who knew him from his seven years in the Senate. A man whose emails were, until recently, considered spam by many of his Republican peers is now shaping the Trump administration’s core domestic policies with his economic nationalism and positions on immigration. But his unlikely rise is emblematic of a White House where unconventional résumés rule — where the chief strategist is Stephen K. Bannon, until recently the head of the website Breitbart News, and the president himself is a former reality television star who before winning the nation’s highest office had never shown much interest in the arcana of governing. Yet all three men are bound by a belief in an economic policy that has suddenly moved from the fringes of American politics to the Oval Office. “Stephen was the kind of guy who would make a passionate ideological argument to a roomful of people who were there to make pragmatic decisions,” said Alex Conant, a former aide to Mr. Rubio who remembers squaring off against Mr. Miller at a routine Republican messaging meeting that turned into a immigration debate. Mr. Miller has been at the epicenter of some of the administration’s most provocative moves, from pushing hard for the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico to threatening trade deals at the heart of Republican economic orthodoxy, to rolling out Mr. Trump’s travel ban on seven largely Muslim nations, whose bungled introduction he oversaw. Working in an administration that “didn’t come here to do small things,” as Mr. Bannon has put it, is a role that Mr. Miller — universally known as a tireless worker — has been preparing for much of his life. From his days at a public high school in Southern California, where he preached against “political correctness” and liberalism and called in to conservative radio shows, to his time at Duke University, where he was known for controversial writings in the student newspaper and a failed attempt at a run for dorm president, he has delighted in challenging prevailing orthodoxies. At a freshman mixer, recalled a college classmate who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Mr. Miller announced, “My name is Stephen Miller, I am from Los Angeles, and I like guns. ” Mr. Miller, known for his skinny ties, ’ pants and his recently abandoned habit, enjoyed a relatively ascent in Mr. Trump’s orbit until the travel ban. His eagerness to keep a tight lid on key details of executive orders to prevent leaks — as well as his inexperience — has at times hampered coordination between the West Wing and agencies that would have to carry them out, several White House officials said. In part to deal with the confusion that surrounded the travel ban, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, recently created a protocol that requires all major executive actions to be cleared with the communications department and other senior White House staff members before implementation. But Mr. Miller’s peacock confidence has served him well with Mr. Trump, who first got to know him in 2015, when Mr. Miller helped bring Mr. Sessions, now the attorney general, into the Trump fold. After the Republican National Convention in July, Mr. Miller became Mr. Trump’s principal speechwriter once the candidate had switched from handwritten notes to a teleprompter in the middle of the campaign. The message in those speeches was so reflective of Mr. Trump’s views that it earned Mr. Miller a spot as the act for Mr. Trump’s campaign rallies. His words became Mr. Trump’s — “We’re going to build that wall, and we’re going to build it out of love,” Mr. Miller often said. “Steve is a true believer in every sense of the word, not just in this message of economic populism but in President Trump as a leader,” said Jason Miller, who worked with him in the Trump campaign and is not related. “Steve’s fiercely loyal and has a better understanding of the president’s vision than almost anyone. ” It is sometimes hard to tell Mr. Trump’s voice from that of Mr. Miller, who suppressed his own orotund speech to capture the president’s more visceral, style. Not that he has had much choice: As one of three or four staff members to fly around with Mr. Trump during the last few months of the campaign, Mr. Miller was summoned to speechwriting tasks by a bark of “Ready!” from Mr. Trump, who insisted on dictating practically every word — and laced into staff members who changed a word or inserted an overly complex policy point. Mr. Miller’s flexibility as a speechwriter is offset by the consistent stridency of his political philosophy, which has remained much the same since he was the distinct minority at Santa Monica High School, a liberal outpost where he often railed against fellow students and the school administration. Mexican heritage celebrations and Iraq war protests were things of particular offense. He produced a 2003 essay, “How I Changed My Left Wing High School,” that capped a high school career steeped in political activism. At Duke, Mr. Miller, who is Jewish, cut a similarly confrontational swath, and was briefly friendly with Richard Spencer, who later became a prominent white supremacist, when both were members of the university’s Young Conservatives chapter. From there, it was straight to Capitol Hill, where Mr. Miller worked for Representatives Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and John Shadegg of Arizona before ending up with Mr. Sessions in 2009. Mr. Sessions and Mr. Miller worked tirelessly against the congressional effort at an immigration overhaul. The bill passed the Senate easily in spite of Mr. Sessions’s vociferous objections, but failed in the House. “We knew we were taking on the establishment, and Steve was an incredibly hard worker and had no second thoughts about it,” Mr. Sessions said in an interview. Mr. Miller wrote many of the incendiary speeches that Mr. Sessions gave about the bill, including one in which he suggested that a aide to Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, had been the author of a measure that he believed to be “amnesty” in disguise. Ultimately, it was Mr. Miller’s dour views on illegal immigration that endeared him to Mr. Bannon and a small team of economic nationalists that included Julia Hahn, a former Breitbart writer. The group came together during the 2014 campaign of the Republican candidate Dave Brat, whose upset win over the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, in a suburban Richmond, Va. district augured Mr. Trump’s success. Even then, Mr. Miller had his eye on Mr. Trump, who had flirted with a run for president in 2012. Soon after Mr. Brat’s victory in the Republican primary in July 2014, Mr. Miller sent his friends a Breitbart interview in which Mr. Trump declared, “Everybody is vulnerable because what’s happening in the country is very sad, and the world is watching. ” Mr. Miller added a comment: “Trump gets it. I wish he’d run for president. ” Mr. Bannon, Mr. Miller and the head of the Domestic Policy Council, Andrew Bremberg, spent the later part of the transition period mapping out a protocol of executive orders, sending more than 200 to federal agencies for review. The trouble came when they sent some of them to officials at federal agencies for review, leading to leaks that prompted Mr. Miller to restrict the circulation of the plans. Mr. Trump, initially pleased by the bold series of executive actions orchestrated by the team, was stung by the fallout from Mr. Miller’s execution of the immigration order, and expressed frustration about not being fully briefed on an order reorganizing the National Security Council to give Mr. Bannon additional power. Despite the internal Mr. Miller remains close to the Mr. Bannon, who described him in an email as “a loyal and faithful soldier in the Trump movement, a warrior for the working class. ” In recent days, Mr. Miller has been working on what is expected to be another contentious order: an rewriting of the guest worker program that is likely to impose new restrictions on the cheap foreign labor that Mr. Miller deplored in many of his 2013 emails, according to two officials familiar with their planning. Mr. Miller, one of the officials said, is working closely with Department of Homeland Security aides to avoid a repeat of the travel ban fiasco.

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Top Bush Admin. Official Just Filed Ethics Complaint Against FBI Director For Partisan Meddling (UPDATED)

Comments FBI Director James Comey is being publicly criticized by former Deputy Attorney Generals and others from the law enforcement community over breaking his agency’s neutrality to release a vague memo Friday afternoon which amounted to official slander against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald reported first that University of Minnesota law professor and former Bush Administration White House ethics counsel Richard Painter filed an official ethics complaint with the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel against the FBI Director for abusing his office with pernicious political activity. Richard Painter’s new filing against Comey is similar to the complaint filed by the Democratic Coalition Against Trump , lodged against the FBI Director for violating the Hatch Act , which restricts most federal employees from engaging in any partisan activity. Hours after originally filing this story, Professor Painter wrote this op-editorial in The New York Times to explain why the FBI Director’s actions must not go unpunished: On Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics. I have spent much of my career working on government ethics and lawyers’ ethics, including two and a half years as the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, and I never thought that the F.B.I. could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week. An official doesn’t need to have a specific intent — or desire — to influence an election to be in violation of the Hatch Act or government ethics rules. The rules are violated if it is obvious that the official’s actions could influence the election, there is no other good reason for taking those actions, and the official is acting under pressure from persons who obviously do want to influence the election. Absent extraordinary circumstances that might justify it, a public communication about a pending F.B.I. investigation involving a candidate for public office that is made on the eve of an election is thus very likely to be a violation of the Hatch Act and a misuse of an official position. Serious questions also arise under lawyers’ professional conduct rules that require prosecutors to avoid excessive publicity and unnecessary statements that could cause public condemnation even of people who have been accused of a crime, not to mention people like Mrs. Clinton, who have never been charged with a crime. This is no trivial matter. We cannot allow F.B.I. or Justice Department officials to unnecessarily publicize pending investigations concerning candidates of either party while an election is underway. That is an abuse of power. Allowing such a precedent to stand will invite more, and even worse, abuses of power in the future. Ironically, the Hatch Act was passed because Republicans thought that employees from one of FDR’s New Deal agencies were involved in partisan electioneering. Little did they know that, today, a registered Republican FBI Director was going to violate it blatantly right before an election. Painter and Comey were colleagues in the Bush Administration when the latter held a position as Deputy Attorney General. High ranking current Department of Justice officials discouraged Comey from going public just 11 days before a general election. Shamefully, it’s been revealed that the FBI doesn’t even have a warrant to view these newest emails yet. Former Deputy Attorney Generals Jamie Gorelick and Larry Thomspon, who served Administration with both parties, issued a harshly worded op-ed in The Washington Post today entitled, “ James Comey is Damaging Our Democracy .” They opined: As former deputy attorneys general in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, we are troubled by the apparent departure from these standards in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server. First, the FBI director, James B. Comey, put himself enthusiastically forward as the arbiter of not only whether to prosecute a criminal case — which is not the job of the FBI — but also best practices in the handling of email and other matters. Now, he has chosen personally to restrike the balance between transparency and fairness, departing from the department’s traditions. As former deputy attorney general George Terwilliger aptly put it , “There’s a difference between being independent and flying solo.” At the same time, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch — nominally Comey’s boss — has apparently been satisfied with advising Comey but not ordering him to abide by the rules. She, no doubt, did not want to override the FBI director in such a highly political matter, but she should not have needed to. He should have abided by the policy on his own. The FBI Director broke policy to inform Congress about details of an investigation without any actual details, or having even seen the new evidence that was so urgent that he had to break decades of policy in order to disclose it. Even stone age conservatives knew that these latest allegations are nothing more than a partisan political ploy, describing the Trump campaign’s reaction in grim terms: In Trumpworld as Hitler's Bunker terms, this is probably like when Goebbels thought FDR's death would save the Nazi regime. — Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) October 28, 2016 Within hours of Comey’s official memo breaking, he released an internal “cover your ass” memo admitting that the letter could be misinterpreted, which was instantly leaked to the Washington Post and proved that the FBI Director understood fully the foolishness upon which he had embarked by interfering with an election. Newsweek pointed out that Republican President George W. Bush had undergone FBI investigation himself before being elected, but nobody in the Clinton White House or the FBI used it to torpedo his 2000 presidential campaign. Bush investigated in 96. Cleared. Imagine if FBI came out in 2000, just be4 election, said "new evidence, dont know what it means." Horrible — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 30, 2016 Amazingly, a blogger made requests in 2004 before the election and did get the FBI to release some files about then-President Bush in April of 2005, only five months after the election, but he suspected that they didn’t provide everything and the records show that his requests to expedite release because of the election were denied. The Bush FBI files contained nothing about the events reported by Kurt Eichenwald. The two former Deputy Attorney Generals said it best : As it stands, we now have real-time, raw-take transparency taken to its illogical limit, a kind of reality TV of federal criminal investigation. Perhaps worst of all, it is happening on the eve of a presidential election. It is antithetical to the interests of justice, putting a thumb on the scale of this election and damaging our democracy. Now, the FBI’s top leadership is in open revolt over the Director’s political meddling as bipartisan condemnation is raining down upon the FBI Director, as his colleagues are openly telling the press that their boss compromised their agency to play partisan politics. It’s probably only a matter of time before Comey resigns and faces his own investigation for this entire sordid affair.

1real

Is Hillary Panicking Over the FBI and Weiner Emails?

Is Hillary Panicking Over the FBI and Weiner Emails? These past few days have seen a major shift in the Clinton tactics. During the original investigation, the Clinton campaign and its political and media allies launched attacks at Republicans for "wasting time" investigating Hillary, but did not attack the FBI. It misrepresented FBI statements, but it certainly did not target investigators in the way we're seeing now. But now we have open hostilities between Lynch at the DOJ and the FBI. We have the Clinton campaign circulating a letter attacking the FBI. We have countless media hit pieces aimed at the FBI. The obvious question is why. The Clinton campaign kept its cool, at least to some degree, before. It certainly didn't begin an ill-advised campaign against the FBI. That's the kind of tactic that may play to your core base, but alienates everyone else. That is to say everyone who isn't in the media. So what's going on here? 1. The Clintons thought they were done. It's close to the election. So they're lashing out. It's typically paranoid and nasty behavior by the Clintons. Hillary tried playing humble. She tried apologizing. But a moment ago, her victory seemed inevitable, and now she's in a state of fury at having it put at risk. 2. There is something in those emails that genuinely frightens the Clinton campaign. Which is why it took the crazy risk of going after the FBI with both barrels. It's desperate to smear the FBI as much as possible in order to neutralize any revelations or even potential charges. The attacks are a warning to treat Hillary with kid gloves again... or else. The first is plausible. To a degree. But for all of Hillary's awkwardness, she didn't lose it in the past. Why is she losing it now? There's no evidence beyond speculation for the latter. And yet the major shift in tactics is rather striking. If the Clinton campaign were panicking, this is what it would look like.

1real

Secret messages hidden within the SPAM of the Podesta Emails ?

Secret messages hidden within the SPAM of the Podesta Emails ? page: 1 link Good morning ATS! So, after I get to work and do all my morning routine stuff I sat down at my pc, opened up my usual tabs and began searching through the most recent leak when lo and behold, I ran across a comment on the 4chan thread about today's release: REMEMBER: CHECK EMAILS THAT LOOK LIKE SPAM WE FOUND SPOOKY SOROS # HIDDEN IN FAKE SPAM EMAILS Wow, so my ears perked up at this and I asked for an example. A bit lower down an anon posted this: They are using Spam as a way to communicate. There was thread on plebbit about it, look -- here's an example: https://__._/podesta-emails/emailid/31971 Well, I pulled up the referenced email and read the following: George Soros and the whole hedge-fund phenomenon. They had no Check out our tried-and-true method of male enhancement! waixalle.com... The answer was clear. George Soros seemed to be a modern Midas.body. And all hedge-fund managers have been subject to antifraud legislation. A hedge fund can avoid registering as an investment firm,her contention that the late rise in gold prices had been the result of could cost as much as $1.5 billion.Perfect way to get more manly You can imagine my surprise when I see a reference to George Soros within an email about male enhancement. Well, clicking on that thread lead to the following post: There have been a few interesting emails disguised as spam. Here's a good one: https://__._/podesta-emails/emailid/26434#efmACcADo Well, the email that post references has this: would shunt the wastewater to a treatment facility indifferent image.States. In the above-reference Reddit thread, one poster says this: Holy crap. The woman who owns the ashidome domain is the executive director of at&t Elsewhere, I don't recall where, a Google search for waixalle.com... gives the following as one of the search results: link: the body of Christopher Barrios about 3 miles from his Just imagine how your gf will be happy to see this large love gun! Five British embassy workers who were kidnapped inLouisville would have e= xpected to be soundly booed, they Pakistan Javaid Iqbal said, "the advice of the SupremeHolmes says that lo= w-income single-parent households are Mr=2E Putin confirmed once again his views on any use ofHuge dimension gi= ves increased force

1real

House Speaker Ryan says opposes giving Iran access to U.S. dollar

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday said he opposed any effort to give Iran access to the U.S. dollar, citing concerns about what Tehran would do with any financial access gained in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal. “This is one of the reasons I adamantly oppose any steps this administration may take to give Iran access to the dollar,” he told reporters at a weekly press conference. A top U.S. official has said that Iran is not gaining access to U.S. financial system.

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Trump warns Democrats Obamacare will die without cash infusion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned Democrats on Sunday that Obamacare was in trouble and would die without government funding, apparently referring to the possibility of ending federal subsidies to help lower-income people buy health insurance. “Obamacare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going - otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought,” Trump said in a Twitter post. Republicans want to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act but have not agreed on a replacement.

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Trump's tax cut won't be the biggest in U.S. history

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump repeatedly says his proposed tax cut would be the biggest in U.S. history, but it will not even come close to the record. Trump would be on target if he were talking only about corporate taxes, but he has included other taxes in his boast. The president and his fellow Republicans in Congress propose cutting the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. If they succeed, it would be the largest American corporate tax cut since the modern corporate tax began more than a century ago. As proposed by the Republicans, the corporate rate would fall 43 percent, compared with the second-largest such cut of 26 percent under Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. But on individual taxes, Trump's claim does not hold up, according to data on top personal income tax rates collected by the Tax Foundation, a Washington think tank. (For a graphic tracking U.S. tax rates, see: tmsnrt.rs/2z5Cv20) Some Republicans in Congress are backing away from cutting the top individual tax rate, now 39.6 percent. But even if they did cut it as low as Trump wants, to 35 percent, the president would not even come close to winning bragging rights. The Reagan cuts lowered the top rate to 28 percent from 70 percent. That was an impressive 60 percent drop. But the huge tax cuts of President Warren Harding and President Calvin Coolidge, both Republicans, take the prize. In 1922, the top tax rate was 73 percent. By 1925, it was only 25 percent, almost a 66 percent decline. Coolidge alone was responsible for a 57 percent cut in taxes. Under President John Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson, both Democrats, the tax cuts of 1964 and 1965 cut the top rate to 70 percent from 91 percent, a decline of 23 percent. Still, there are other ways to measure the size of a tax cut besides the rates themselves. One approach would measure how much tax revenue the federal government does not get and taxpayers get to keep. That is the “cost” of a tax cut. But that number is disputed between those who favor tax cuts and those who do not. The Trump administration argues its tax cuts will ignite the economy and tax revenue will increase, not decrease. That way, the cuts “pay for themselves,” they say. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan Washington think tank, estimated the Trump tax cut could be the fourth-largest as a percentage of gross domestic product, or GDP, a measure of national economic output. The think tank favors that measure because it eliminates the effects of inflation, economic growth and the size of total federal revenue. By that measure, it agreed with a number of economists who said the Reagan cuts were the largest in history, even larger than Coolidge’s. As for bragging rights to the all-time biggest tax hike, the winner is Democratic President Woodrow Wilson. During World War One, he increased the top individual rate to 77 percent from 7 percent and the corporate rate to 12 percent from 1 percent.

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Brazil's Meirelles jokes about a vice presidential candidacy

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil s Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles insisted on Monday that he is not planning to run for president and told a business meeting he could consider being a vice presidential running mate. But he later told reporters that it was just a joke and he was too busy working on the recovery of the Brazilian economy as minister to consider the presidential race next October. Meirelles, whose political fortunes are expected to rise as the Brazilian economy recovers from its worst recession, said he had been asked to be a vice presidential candidate in 2010 and 2014 and found the position interesting. Meirelles said he expected Brazil s GDP to grow at least 2 percent next year and the strengthening economy had created more than 1 million jobs so far this year. Inflation slowing to below bottom-end of the official target range will allow the central bank room to cut interest rates further, Meirelles added. If Brazil s Congress fails to approve the reform of the pension system proposed by the government, the task will be the first challenge of the next president who will take office Jan 1, 2019.

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EU Threatens Poland Over Logging, Risks Fresh Clash With Right-Wing Government - Breitbart

BRUSSELS (AFP) — The EU warned Poland on Thursday it may take legal action to stop logging in a UNESCO World Heritage forest, risking a new clash with Warsaw’s government. [Brussels gave Poland one month rather than the usual two to address its concerns about the ancient Bialowieza forest or face being summoned by the EU’s top court. “One month was considered the right time considering the urgency of the situation,” European Commission spokesman Enrico Brivio told reporters. He said Poland’s reply to requests to stop logging in the forest was “not satisfactory” amid concerns it could cause irreparable biodiversity loss. The Bialowieza forest includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland and has been granted protected status by the UN heritage organisation. The threat comes with Brussels and Warsaw already at loggerheads over changes to Poland’s constitutional court which the EU has warned could merit sanctions as a “systemic threat” to the rule of law. Since the populist PiS administration came to power in Warsaw in October 2015, it has come into conflict with Brussels on several fronts. The EU launched both the logging inquiry — based on a complaint by environmentalists — and the rule of law investigation last year. If the logging case goes before the European Court of Justice, Poland could face fines. But if found at fault on the rule of law Poland could face the far more serious prospect of seeing its EU voting rights suspended. The Bialowieza forest straddles Poland’s eastern border with Belarus and is home to unique plant and animal life, including a herd of some 800 European bison, the continent’s largest mammal. The vast woodland includes one of the largest surviving parts of the primeval forest that covered the European plain ten thousand years ago. The Polish government began logging in May last year, saying it was clearing dead trees to prevent damage caused by the spruce bark beetle, and insisting the policy was entirely legal.

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UMass students hold ‘sh*t-in’ for gender-neutral bathrooms

Posted 11/16/2016 2:11 pm by PatriotRising with 0 comments Students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst are staging a week-long “shit-in,” occupying restrooms in an administration building to demand more gender-neutral facilities. Gender Liberation UMass, the student group behind the demonstration, announced Tuesday that administrators had “tentatively agreed to progressive ‘benchmarks’ put forth by organizers,” but urges supporters to remain on-call. Students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst are staging a week-long “shit-in,” occupying restrooms in an administration building to demand more gender-neutral facilities. The “ Shit-In at Whitmore ” demonstration began Monday morning at the Whitmore Administration building (which the activists have nicknamed “Queermore”), and organizers intend to have students continue occupying stalls in the building’s male and female restrooms until their demands are met, though the Facebook event specifies a Friday afternoon ending. “Maybe [administrators] will feel a little bit as anxious as trans students do just trying to pee on campus.” Tweet This Gender Liberation UMass (GLU), a student group at UMass, is responsible for organizing the event, and provides an online sign-up form for supporters to stake out specific times and locations, giving them the option of stating whether they prefer to be along in a stall or to share one with “other sitters.” The primary goal of the protest is to convince the administration to convert additional bathrooms on campus into gender-neutral facilities by changing the signage, which the group believes will promote “trans inclusivity and safety on campus,” but GLU has also articulated two additional demands, pledging to continue obstructing toilets until all three are met. In addition to gender-neutral restrooms, the group is calling for the “advancement of medically and socially competent in-house transgender health services at the University Health Services center,” as well as the “hiring of a professor by the WGSS [Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department] who is an expert in the field of critical transmisogyny from an intersectional perspective.” Divest UMass, a student environmentalist group, released a statement on its Facebook page expressing solidarity with the GLU protesters “These demands are elementary, and it is disappointing that UMass has failed to meet the needs of trans and gender non-conforming students to date. The administration must seriously put a plan into action to de-gender its facilities,” the message declares. “In the meantime, maybe they will feel a little bit as anxious as trans students do just trying to pee on the campus they pay tuition to every single day.” Although the objectives of Divest UMass are not directly related to those being pursued by GLU, but leaders of the Divest group explained their interest in the “shit-in” by asserting that all progressive causes are interrelated, saying, “There can be no climate justice without gender justice. There can no be gender justice without racial justice. There can no be racial justice without economic justice. There can be no economic justice without social justice.” Within a day of the restroom occupation starting, GLU announced that it had secured a meeting with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Enku Gelaye on Tuesday morning to discuss its demands, and subsequently reported Tuesday evening that administrators had “tentatively agreed to progressive ‘benchmarks’ put forth by organizers.” “The administration is definitely listening and the tones of our conversation have changed quite a bit,” one GLU member told Campus Reform , though the group is cautioning its supporters to remain prepared, because “the need for action may arise at any moment.” “Changing the signage really is not very expensive, and I don’t want to talk bad about the administration here, but that’s one of the things we’ve had to go back and forth about, is this idea of the cost of it,” another GLU member added. “I and other members of GLU think the numbers they have proposed for what it would cost to change the signage are way beyond what it would really be.” UMass Executive Director of Strategic Communications Ed Blaguszewski, however, told Campus Reform that the university is committed to expanding the availability of gender-neutral restrooms, making no mention of cost concerns while asserting that university officials would continue to meet regularly with transgender students to discuss their concerns. “Currently, there are more than 200 gender-inclusive, single-user restrooms on campus, and during the coming year more than 50 will be added, either by construction or by converting single-user ‘Men’ or ‘Women’ facilities to ‘Restrooms,’” he explained, adding that “All new construction and major renovations on campus will include gender-inclusive restrooms.

1real

Same-sex marriage may be law in Australia by early December

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australian lawmakers on Thursday vowed to push through laws legalizing same-sex marriage by early December, after a national survey found the majority of Australians favored the move. Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull s Liberal-National coalition government and the main opposition Labor Party said they were aiming to pass the law through parliament by Dec. 7. That timeline was even earlier than the Christmas deadline named by Turnbull on Wednesday after the country s statistics agency reported that 61.6 percent of voters surveyed favored marriage equality, with 38.4 percent against. Legislation was rushed into the national parliament s upper house Senate late on Wednesday, even as colorful celebrations in the major cities continued and congratulations rolled in from international supporters. If the legislation passes as expected, Australia will become the 26th nation to legalize same-sex marriage, a watershed for a country where it was still illegal in some states to engage in homosexual activity until 1997. The legislation faces some opposition from conservative lawmakers in the coalition, who have pledged to introduce amendments to protect religious freedom that would allow discrimination against same-sex couples. Attorney-General George Brandis moved two amendments on Wednesday, seeking to extend protection to civil celebrants to refuse to officiate same-sex weddings. They ll move amendments and some of them will be accepted, Turnbull told a radio station on Thursday. We re cracking (getting) on with it. A rival bill proposed by the conservative faction that would have included widespread protections for religious objectors, including florists, bakers and musicians, to refuse service to same-sex couples was withdrawn after being widely condemned. Full debate on the bill, which was introduced by Senator Dean Smith, a member of the coalition and the country s first openly gay lawmaker, is scheduled to begin on Nov. 27. Almost 80 percent of the country s eligible voters took part in the voluntary public survey - a higher voter turnout than Britain s Brexit vote and Ireland s same-sex marriage referendum.

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Czech president's spokesman likens EU to Third Reich in outburst over spirit ingredient

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech president s spokesman likened the European Union to the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler on Thursday while criticizing the bloc s executive over a regulation on food safety. Jiri Ovcacek made the comment while citing the case of an ingredient in a Czech potato-based alcohol locally known as rum that cannot be labeled that way due to an EU ban which says the term must be reserved for cane-based spirits. The EU s food watchdog, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), has ruled that the ingredient, called rum-ether, should be discontinued and replaced gradually from April 2018 on the grounds that it contains a material that can damage body cells. Ovcacek shared an article from a Czech news website on his Facebook page on the issue, adding the comment: The Empire has decided that there will be no tuzemak (Czech rum) to drink in the protectorate. Empire in the Czech context is often understood to refer to Hitler s Third Reich, while the protectorate is what the country was called by the Nazi regime during World War Two. When asked about the comment, Ovcacek said his words were warranted because such actions by some in the EU damaged its reputation. It points to the absolute insensibility of the European Commission, Ovcacek said. Ovcacek s comments have led to controversy before, such as his outbursts against Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and some of his ministers, and even against the Czech media. Czech President Milos Zeman has portrayed himself as a Europhile and fan of a federal EU. But he has also expressed pro-Russian and anti-immigration views and built up relations with China, in contrast to the pro-Western and human rights-based style of Czech foreign policy established by the late President Vaclav Havel.

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Doubts linger after Florida's Scott pitches biggest budget

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After deep cuts in spending for Florida schools and other public programs following the Great Recession, outgoing Republican Governor Rick Scott this month proposed an $87.4 billion budget he says boosts spending on some depleted services to record levels. Despite Scott’s meaty 2018-2019 budget recommendation, which is about $2.4 billion above current spending, advocates for Florida public education, environment and affordable housing remained skeptical the new plan would go far enough. “It doesn’t move Florida (schools) out from the bottom when compared to other states,” said Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, the state’s teachers union. Florida’s public school per-pupil spending sank from a peak of $7,126 in the 2007-2008 budget to a post-recession low of $6,217 for the 2011-2012 year. In his latest proposal, Scott recommended increasing funding to $7,176 per student, a $50 rise above record-high per-student funding. Florida has more than 2.7 million students enrolled in its public K-12 schools. Pudlow said he welcomed the governor’s increases, but support for Florida education was still lagging far behind most of the United States. The nationwide per-student spending average was $11,392 in 2015, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data available. Adjusted for inflation, Pudlow pointed out, Scott’s budget puts Florida’s per-student spending at about $1,200 less than it was at its peak. Scott proposed increasing public elementary and secondary school spending to about $14.71 billion from some $14.45 billion in the current fiscal year. Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, said she was hopeful Scott’s proposal signaled a an attitude shift in the state capital toward public education financing, but the bill was far from final. The Florida House of Representatives and Senate will hear the governor’s budget recommendations at the next legislative session starting on Jan. 9. They then make their own budget proposals and negotiate until a single plan is agreed on. That budget will go back to the governor, who has the authority to veto line items before signing off on the bill. Scott has also proposed $180 million in cuts to taxes and fees and asked for sharp increases in spending on departments, including corrections, which would see more than 500 added jobs under the plan. The budget for environmental protection would surge to more than $1.7 billion from $1.48 billion in the current year, making it among the budget’s biggest gainers. Florida Everglades restoration would be among the environmental projects to receive an infusion of funds. “That’s one place where we’re happy, although the devil is in the details,” said Frank Jackalone, director of Sierra Club Florida. Jackalone said he was concerned the state would continue to cut environmental rules enforcement and to take from earmarked funds intended for the environment to spend on other government programs. State Representative Carlos Smith, a Democrat who represents a central Florida district seeing an influx of residents fleeing from hurricane-battered areas, including Puerto Rico, said he opposed Scott’s budget proposal on affordable housing. Under the plan, overall spending on affordable housing would rise, Smith said, but it would also include a raid of nearly $92 million on trust funds earmarked for affordable homes. “We don’t know what to do, people are sleeping in cars,” Smith said of storm evacuees, namely Puerto Ricans fleeing the bankrupt and hurricane-battered U.S. commonwealth.

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Trump’s America: White Supremacist Blogger Given Job As Federal Judge

The most controversial judicial nominee on President Trump s list was just confirmed on Thursday in a U.S. Senate vote catastrophe.Meet John Bush, a lawyer from Kentucky and an outspoken political blogger who bashes on gay rights and who believes that the Roe v. Wade decision was equally as deplorable as the Supreme Court s 1857 pro-slavery decision.This right-wing nutjob is now the newest judge on the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.John Bush has published over 400 articles in his career as a right-wing blogger. Under a fake pen name, he regularly cites conspiracy theories and fake news stories from alt-right media reports including the ridiculous story that President Obama was born outside the U.S.During his confirmation hearing, Bush attempted to downplay his destructive alt-right views as political activity. He openly made a pledge to separate his personal politics from his work as a judge on the courtroom bench.The confirmation hearing final vote came in with 51-47, without Republican John McCain.This is the fourth judicial nominee of Trump s to win confirmation, with twenty-two pending nominations. There are far more judicial vacancies on the federal bench than usual, and Trump is actively seeking to fill the slots. The president is looking for judges who are conservative but also young and able to serve for a long time in an effort to permanently shift the judiciary over to conservative activists. At this rate, Trump will quickly erase the judicial nomination gains made by the Obama administration over his entire two terms.Feature Image Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Image

1real

WOW! WOMAN TOTALLY FREAKS OUT At Sight Of Confederate Flag In Store…REAL OR FAKE OUTRAGE? [Video]

WHAT NOT TO DO IS PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING THIS NUTJOB DID:1. Do not angrily confront anyone with children in tow Franklin claims to be terrified of these men and yet she aggressively confronts them and films them while hurling insults at them. She thinks they are racists and people who support hate symbols, which leads one to believe she also thinks they are capable of great violence. Would you provoke violent racists while you have your children with you? I wouldn t. So either she s incredibly stupid or she knows these men aren t dangerous at all and what she is doing is meant to intimidate and shame them. (Let s also acknowledge that it can t possibly be good for children to hear their mother sobbing and freaking out while she does absolutely nothing to reassure them. It s hard to watch.)2. Don t lie about things that are verifiably untrue When faking a hate hoax, make sure you edit out the parts of the video that prove you re a liar. She lied about several things. First, she lied about the Confederate flags hanging on the wall. You ll notice that in the video you can t see any flags. That s because there weren t any on the wall like Franklin claimed. She might have gotten away with it if she hadn t taken a picture of the flags and posted them on her Facebook page for anyone to see. Here is the flag she claims was displayed on the wall: It it not a flag and it is not hanging on the wall. It s a rug that is hanging in a rug rack with other rugs and it s buried in the middle where she would have had to dig through them to find it. Then she lied about what the men said to her. We can clearly hear the man call her a bit*h. But when she describes what happens to her to a bystander, she decides to make it sound worse by saying he called her a f***ing bit*h. She also adds that they followed her around, which also doesn t appear true when watching the video she made.Then she lies about the man in the parking lot approaching her! Clearly, the man is filming her from about 50 feet away while standing absolutely still. He only moves once when she dares him not to come any closer and sarcastically takes one giant step forward like he s playing Simon Says. It s hilarious. This triggers the next mentally unstable reaction from the SJW.3. If you can t muster real tears, don t bother Her out-of-control response and fake crying are Razzie-worthy. She s so terrified and scared for her life that she remembers to turn the camera around so we can all see her dry cheeks as she wails uncontrollably at an ear-splitting frequency. Then, when a good Samaritan comes over to assist her, she continues her bad acting and fake sobbing while her nose grows on camera as she starts recounting a bunch of stuff that didn t happen, proving once again that SJWs always lie.Via: PJMedia

1real

Trump Executive Order on Ethics Commitments Bans Lobbying for Executive Branch Employees

21st Century Wire says Reactions around the world are mixed with regards to the first salvo of executive orders coming out of the Trump White House, but here s one that will likely have many readers nodding in agreement even some reluctant agreement from the left, perhaps?On January 28th, President Trump signed the Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees. Will this executive order have some of the DC swamp life scrambling to tune up the ethics associated with political appointees and lobbying on Capital Hill? Has President Trump just put some gravitas behind his campaign promises to drain the swamp ?Time will tell, but this could be a step in the right direction in curtailing some of the power that lobbyists can wield.RT has more in the report below: RTAs part of his promise to drain the swamp US President Donald Trump has signed an ethics commitments executive order restricting his administration officials from working as lobbyists after they leave government.The order bans his appointees from lobbying any government official for two years and the agency they worked in for five years. It also prevents them from ever lobbying the US on behalf of a foreign government or foreign political parties.The order is solely enforceable by the United States by any legally available means. Anyone found violating the ban could be barred from lobbying their former agency for up to another five years, on top of the five-year period covered by the order.The order also states that Trump, or his designee, may also grant to any person a waiver of any of restrictions contained in the pledge. A huge focus of Trump s election campaign was his promise to tackle Washington insiders. His pledge to drain the swamp became a hugely popular chant at his rallies. The executive order is an effort to deliver on those promises however it s far from certain that it will be effective.It s already common for former officials to find ways to use their influence without registering as lobbyists. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, former officials can avoid registering as lobbyists if they spend less than 20 percent of their time in meetings with government officials Continue this report at RTREAD MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

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WATCH: Trump Campaign Manager Crashes And Burns When Grilled About Immigration Plan

ABC host Martha Raddatz proved once again why she is one of the best choices to be a Presidential Debate moderator on Sunday, when she grilled Kellyanne Conway about the Republican nominee s immigration plan.After Trump s campaign manager talked about how Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine supposedly don t answer questions correctly because they make it about Trump and are not forthcoming, Raddatz asked Conway to clear up some questions about Trump s plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, which she proceeded to answer by not really answering it. He said that the priority will be criminals and those who have overstayed their visas. That still amounts to between 5 million and 6.5 million people that he says will be quickly removed. The cost estimate for that is between $51 billion and $67 billion. How will he manage such a massive operation and who will pay for it? Conway replied by putting the onus on ICE officers and once again said Trump will build a wall and force Mexico to pay for it, completely avoiding answering for how Trump intends to pay for such a costly plan. He ll manage it the way it should have been managed all along, by enforcing the law and relying upon those law enforcement officers and those ICE officers to do their job, Conway said. They ve been completely hamstrung in their ability to do their job. He also has said that he will triple the number of ICE agents to try to help. Conway then did exactly what she whined about Kaine and Clinton supposedly doing by pivoting to talking about how they don t have an immigration plan.Except Hillary Clinton DOES have an immigration plan and you can find it on her website here.Raddatz then steered Conway back to Trump s plan. Back to immigration, he said there will be no amnesty; all immigrants here illegally will be subject to deportation, Raddatz said. So will they be subject to deportation and removal? This is where Conway really began to wither because Republican logic dictates that all undocumented immigrants are criminals, which means all 11 million would have to be deported. But Conway tried to have it both ways. If they re criminals, they re going immediately. And we don t know what that number is. We hear anything from 1 million to 2 million, Conway replied. And then, of course, he has also said, this being the most generous country to immigrants in the world, that if you want to come to America and immigrate here legally Raddatz s bullshit detector went off and she once again tried to pin Conway to the wall by asking her point blank that if these immigrants have not committed a crime in the United States will Trump still deport them. Well, Conway couldn t handle that question either. He has said that you should stand in line and immigrate legally, Conway said before Raddatz cut her off again. So you mean they have to go? Raddatz asked.Conway once again could not handle the question and made a series of gaffes in response. She once again falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton does not have an immigration plan while Trump has a ten-point plan. For the record, Hillary s plan is a nine-point plan and it is posted on her campaign website.Conway also said that Trump plans to rescind all those executive amnesties. So does that mean Trump will rescind any executive order that has ever granted amnesty to immigrants, including those issued by presidents that came before President Obama? Because that would be very worrying if that s the case as Trump s immigration plan could then affect millions and millions more people.Raddatz finally realized that Conway was not going to be forthcoming in her answers and proceeded to slam her for it.Here s the video via YouTube.This is why Martha Raddatz is considered one of the toughest interviewers in the media. She took Conway to the cleaners and made her look like the hypocrite and fool that she is. Donald trump s plan would be costly, not to mention an international incident between Mexico and the United States since you have to wonder how Trump will actually force Mexico to pay for something it has repeatedly refused to pay for.And the fact that Conway is literally lying about Hillary Clinton by claiming that she doesn t have a plan is equally infuriating. If there s one claim Raddatz should have challenged Conway on it s that one. Other than that, Conway crashed and burned because Raddatz is a pro, which should be making Trump very nervous since he will have to face her later this year when she moderates a debate.Featured image via screen capture

1real

Trump says violence by anti-fascists proves him right on Charlottesville

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday stood by his belief that both sides were to blame for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and counterprotesters last month. Trump had drawn criticism for not initially condemning white supremacists who organized the event on Aug. 12, with even some of his fellow Republicans expressing dismay at his opinion. Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One a day after a meeting with South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, an African-American who had expressed concern about Trump’s comments. “We had a great talk yesterday,” he said of his meeting with Scott. “I think especially in the light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what’s going on there. You have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also. And essentially that’s what I said.” Trump said anti-fascist groups known as the “antifa” must share blame for neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan fighting with anti-racism protesters in the streets. One woman was killed when a suspected white nationalist crashed his car into demonstrators. On Thursday, the president also signed a resolution sent to him by Congress that condemned the violence in Charlottesville and opposed “hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms.” “No matter the color of our skin or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God,” Trump said in a statement regarding the resolution. In Berkeley, California, violence erupted on Aug. 27 when a small group of masked antifa and left-wing protestors attacked right-wing demonstrators. “Now, because of what’s happened since then with antifa, you look at really what’s happened since Charlottesville. A lot of people are saying, in fact a lot of people have actually written, ‘Gee, Trump might have a point,’” he said.

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White House will not say if Israel provided info Trump discussed with Lavrov

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House declined to comment on Tuesday on media reports that Israel was the source of sensitive information that President Donald Trump shared with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a White House meeting last week. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he would not comment on the reports. He also declined to say whether the White House would share transcripts of Trump’s meeting with Lavrov with lawmakers who have asked for them.

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Trump Haters Mow Down Signs, “Black Women for Trump” Make Them Famous

A Twitter page known as Black Women for Trump shared pictures of the result of the ingenious trap, and it is simply hilarious. Guys, we got one! pic.twitter.com/2hZUVxyP8K — Black Women 4 Trump (@TallahForTrump) October 28, 2016 The pictures showed the row of downed Trump signs as well as a closeup of the specially designed trap on the first sign in the line. The final picture was of the likely suspects pulled over a short distance away, car jacked up for a tire change. This is probably not the wisest thing an American voter could do to show support for Donald Trump, but it’s hard to argue that the woman who chose to drive over the signs in an effort to destroy them didn’t get exactly what she deserved. Hopefully this will teach a valuable lesson to this woman and other Trump haters out there that other people’s property is best left alone.

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BEST MELTDOWN OF 2016! TUCKER CARLSON BLASTS Senior “Writer” At Newsweek: “Was Trump In A Mental Hospital Or Not?…Answer The Question!” [VIDEO]

When asked why they might have booed, he speculated that it was because Glenn was a Democrat:He just moved on, said "maybe they'll come around." I think context was that Glenn was a democrat. Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 9, 2016Outspoken conservative and FOX News host Tucker Carlson confronted Kurt Eichenwald during his show. He touched on several subjects, but the one that sticks out the most, is the unfounded claim that Eichenwald made about Trump being in a mental hospital in 1999:Here s what the very liberal Washington Post had to say about Eichenwald s claim that Trump was in a mental hospital Kurt Eichenwald is an experienced investigative journalist, with a best-selling book to his credit and years of work at the New York Times, Vanity Fair and now Newsweek.There s no evidence that Trump was ever hospitalized for such a condition, and Eichenwald cited none.The tweet was quickly deleted from Eichenwald s account, though not before it received hundreds of retweets and likes, spreading it far and wide across the Twittersphere.After quite a bit of back and forth with the clearly embarrassed Newsweek Senior writer, Carlson finally let Eichenwald have it: You re entirely entitled to your opinion, my only point is that t you should label yourself as you are which is an advocate. https://youtu.be/wJCuUu_1TNsFor the record, this is the image Eichenwald uses as his profile picture on Twitter:Seriously? Is everything about this clown fake? Even his picture looks fake. It s time to drain the swamp of these arrogant journalists promoting fake news stories for mainstream sources who are attempting to label all conservative news sources as fake.

1real

Ever since the powers to be assassinated JFK American society and foreign policy has been getting more and more barbaric and more and more arrogant and self serving. The next president just might bring this mistaken notion of their world domination to a final winner takes all catastrophe.

1real

3 “MIDDLE EASTERN” Men Arrested For GANG RAPE Of Swedish Woman Broadcasted LIVE On Facebook

Three men in Uppsala have been arrested on suspicion of rape after they raped a young woman and sent it live on Facebook, just as it was warned about would happen when Facebook introduced the feature.The arrest was made during a police action shortly after nine o clock in the morning. They were arrested between nine and nine fifteen. The alert came in at 8:24, says Uppsala police officer, Ivan Aslund, to the Swedish news outlet Fria Tider.On Flashback, the men accused of the rape are identified as Middle Easterners. The rape was conducted at an address in Uppsala, and the men filmed themselves and sent the assault live via Facebook.According to a person who saw the live broadcast, the woman who was raped looked quite intoxicated and appeared completely dead while one of the men molested her. Several people alerted the police when they saw the film.The live broadcast on Facebook was not stopped until the police stormed into the room where the woman and the men were. The men will now be interrogated by the police. Before prosecutors can make a decision, the policemen have to document everything, a complaint, write down observations and conduct interviews with those who have something to say. Once that is done, they will present it to the prosecutor, so it takes time, says Aslund.He is otherwise very secretive about the investigation and would not say anything about the rape that was sent live worldwide on Facebook from the new Sweden.The last transmission shows the police breaking into the apartment and arresting the rapists:

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Canadian PM Justin Trudeau Explains Why He Keeps Saying, “I’m A Feminist”

During a United Nations Summit in New York City today focusing on women, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained why he is going to keep saying he is a feminist. I m going to keep saying loudly and clearly that I am a feminist, until it is met with a shrug, said Trudeau. Why does every time I say I m a feminist, the twitterverse explodes and news medias pick it up. It shouldn t be something that creates a reaction. It simply is saying, I believe in the equality of men and women and I believe that we still have an awful lot of work to do to get there. Trudeau added, It s just really, really obvious that we should be standing up for women s rights and trying to create more equal societies. Like, duh. Trudeau won election in October 2015 after a stunning comeback from third in the polls. He famously appointed an equal number of men and women in his cabinet, and cited his reasoning for doing so, because it s 2015. During the summit, he called on World leaders to follow Canada s lead when appointing their own cabinets. Any world leaders who tell me I d love to, I just can t do that with the current configuration of our parliament or of my party , I say: Well, what are you doing to change that configuration and draw out those extraordinary women who can be leaders that we need? , he told the crowd.His party, the Liberal Party, also recouped a majority in the Canadian Parliament. His election also inspired an increase of voter turnout by 7.4 percent to 68.5 percent. Trudeau won election on a campaign platform of progressive reforms, such as increasing taxes on the wealthy and dramatically improving infrastructure. Trudeau has also given warm welcomes to Syrian refugees arriving in Canada to seek asylum.Just last week, Trudeau met with President Barack Obama to promote ties between Canada and the United States, and to announce joint efforts to combat climate change. Trudeau s predecessor, Stephen Harper, as an aggressive proponent for the oil industry and did not share the same values in fighting climate change Trudeau and Obama do. Featured image courtesy of Flickr

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Latest fire in Chinese capital kills five despite safety blitz

BEIJING (Reuters) - A fire in a southern neighbourhood of Beijing early on Wednesday killed five people, the Chinese government said, just weeks after another deadly blaze in the city prompted a crackdown against migrant workers sparking widespread anger. The fire in a house in Baiqiangzi, a migrant village in the Chinese capital, was caused by two electric bikes, a fireman who gave his family name as Qiu told Reuters at the scene. Eight people were injured and had been taken to hospital, the government said. Police detained the house owner who had rented it out, state news agency Xinhua said. A resident in his 30s, who declined to be identified, said he was in the building when the fire broke out just before 1 a.m. (1700 GMT Tuesday). He said that the room where electric bikes are charged was full of flames. He helped carry people out, some of whom were burnt from head to toe , he said. It was terrifying but I had to help, he told Reuters. Fireman Qiu said the cause was still being investigated. The fire itself was not very big but the plastic material on the outside of the ebikes created lots of poisonous smoke that led to deaths, Qiu said. Beijing s municipal government launched a 40-day special operation targeting fire code and building safety violations last month after a Nov. 18 apartment fire in another southern part of the city killed 19 people, almost all of them migrants. The city-wide fire safety blitz has forced thousands of migrant workers out of their homes and businesses, igniting unusually direct criticism of city government measures seen by some people as unfairly targeting the vulnerable underclass. Beijing s Communist Party chief Cai Qi has visited migrant workers in an apparent effort to address those concerns, telling them the city cannot do without their hard work, the official Beijing Daily said on Wednesday. Our city needs sanitation, cleaning, security, logistics, housekeeping, courier, catering and other ordinary workers, the paper quoted Cai as saying. Whether in city operations or normal daily life, we can t do without them. Companies in all sectors in Beijing rely on migrant workers and they have used their sweat to contribute to the city s development, Cai said. We need to give these workers full respect and show even more care and love for them, work hard to address their hardships and anxieties, to give them a sense of belonging, he said. Xinhua said Cai had visited the site of the latest fire and also been to see the survivors in hospital. The government has come under increasing pressure in the wake of the crackdown on migrant workers, including sporadic protests and an open letter from more than 100 prominent academics, lawyers and intellectuals denouncing the steps. Such open criticism of government is increasingly rare as officials have clamped down on various aspects of civil society under President Xi Jinping. Some non-profit groups that sought to offer assistance said they had been obstructed by police, with their online advertisements blocked by censors.

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WHOA! FEMINIST HACK LAWYER Gloria Allred REFUSES To Say If High School Yearbook Used As Evidence Against Roy Moore Is A Forgery

This story just keeps unraveling Two days ago, conservative Thomas Wictor dropped a bombshell on Twitter, exposing what he suggested was a forged Roy Moore signature on the yearbook that allegedly belongs to Beverly Young Nelson, the most recent sexual misconduct accuser of GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore.CNN published a story about Roy Moore signing Nelson s yearbook. Thomas Wictor dissected the signature and the validity of her story on Twitter:Beverly Young Nelson said Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore wrote a message in her yearbook in December 1977 that said, "To a sweeter more beautiful girl, I could not say, 'Merry Christmas.'"She said he signed it, "Roy Moore, D.A." https://t.co/aluJzQsv15 pic.twitter.com/esjGd1ssd9 CNN (@CNN) November 13, 2017Here are close up versions of the signatures. Note, that when viewed close up, the signature is signed in both black and blue ink.Here is a closer version of the yearbook signature:Here is Wictor s explanation for the different colors of ink:(4) The LIGHT is reflecting off of the ink.The ink that LOOKS blue is actually black. It's DIFFERENT ink than the ORIGINAL ink.Therefore it reflects light differently. Thomas Wictor (@ThomasWictor) November 16, 2017(11) So, to recap:The signature is a forgery, and everything after the name "Roy-Ray" was added later with different ink. pic.twitter.com/1sPv6aABge Thomas Wictor (@ThomasWictor) November 15, 2017Just like the "TH" doomed Dan Rather, "DA" will doom the anti Roy Moore forces. They copied his signature on Nelsons divorce order not realizing "DA" was his assistants initials, not his title. The sheer stupidity! pic.twitter.com/oWJ5fzM6fr TruthHurts (@tru768) November 15, 2017Moore s attorney came out today with a statement regarding the signature in question in the high school yearbook. Here s what he had to say:Roy Moore's Attorney: "[Nelson & Gloria Allred] said that Ms. Nelson after the allegations had never seen or had any contact with Judge Moore In 1999, Ms. Nelson filed a divorce action The judge assigned was Roy S. Moore." pic.twitter.com/Bv5ZV0CMvc Fox News (@FoxNews) November 15, 2017Meanwhile, the leftist, feminist lawyer, Gloria Allred, refused to deny that her client Beverly Nelson s Roy Moore signature in her high school yearbook is NOT a fabrication. CNN s Wolf Blitzer grilled Allred on the matter Wednesday.Big League Politics Well, all I m saying is, we will permit an independent examiner of the writing We will allow all of this to be asked and answered at the hearing, Allred said. But that s not a flat denial, Gloria, Blitzer said. Well, all I m saying is, we re not denying, we re not admitting, we re not addressing, Allred said. We will not be distracted. Blitzer asked why Allred needed a Senate hearing and would not just permit an independent handwriting expert to take a look. Well, uh, all I can say is we want it done in a professional setting to the extent possible, that s the only setting in which people can testify under oath, Allred said.Blitzer asked if Allred s client would take a lie-detector test, but she refused, pushing for a Senate hearing.Go to the 25:30 min. mark in the video:

1real

FRONT-ROW FELON! Americans Are Stunned To See Who Sat In FRONT ROW At Obama’s Farewell Speech [VIDEO]

In mid-October 2016, James O Keefe exposed many of the Democratic operatives working in the underbelly of their party to coordinate and commit violent and illegal activities in order to defeat Trump and use any means necessary to make Hillary Clinton our next President. Click HERE to see the undercover video.One of the key figures in O Keefe s report was convicted felon and husband of Rep. Jan Schakowsky ( D-IL), Robert Creamer who oversaw a check-kiting scheme so elaborate that his employees followed a written manual complete with detailed instructions on when and where to float checks totaling millions of dollars.As it turns out, convicted felon Robert Creamer was a frequent visitor of the White House. Between 11/21/2009 and 6/24/2016, Robert Creamer appears to have visited the White House 342 times, 340 times as Robert Creamer and twice as Bob Creamer . He logged in times and was either a guest of Barack Obama or his lovely wife Michelle. One can only wonder what business Michelle had with this criminal. Hmmm Republicans would have distanced themselves from anyone who even had the appearance of taking part in criminal activity that could be tied to their party, but true to form, the Democrat Party gives them front-row seats. Just look who showed up in the front row at Obama s farewell speech none other that Democratic operative, felon and his wife, Democrat US House member, Jan Schakowsky. These people have no shame and live in a world where the rules the rest of us are all forced to live by simply don t apply to them.Watch:Why is @rbcreamer front row at @BarackObama's Farewell Speech? @rushlimbaugh @PJC_dc @_under_current pic.twitter.com/qp9ndRJMQM PVeritas Action (@PVeritas_Action) January 11, 2017

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Obama’s Secret Gift To The American People Could Save Our Democracy (DETAILS)

In light of the Russian hacking scandal that interfered in our nation s election, it seemed to many that the Obama administration was taking it lying down. It wasn t, at least according to a ground breaking report by the New York Times that says that in his final days, the President worked to create a trail leading directly from Russia to Donald Trump.In the Obama administration s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.Intelligence officials had suspected something fishy as early as last summer, but the evidence was still too weak. In September, though, there was a series of cyber attacks on state voting systems. That s when the administration became more vocal on the matter. That s also when Obama s intelligence departments got very serious.But it wasn t until after the election, and after more intelligence had come in, that the administration began to grasp the scope of the suspected tampering and concluded that one goal of the campaign was to help tip the election in Mr. Trump s favor. In early December, Mr. Obama ordered the intelligence community to conduct a full assessment of the Russian campaign.In the weeks before the assessment was released in January, the intelligence community combed through databases for an array of communications and other information some of which was months old by then and began producing reports that showed there were contacts during the campaign between Trump associates and Russian officials.While we still don t know exactly what the Obama administration knows, we do know that there are more than a handful of Trump officials, including his Attorney General, who have confirmed contacts with Russian oligarchs, spies and government officials. That s unprecedented.Congress is also taking this very seriously. The House intelligence committee is about to investigate. We have reached a written agreement, the minority and the majority in the House intelligence committee, that we will investigate allegations of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said on MSNBC.U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia tried to help Trump win the White House by discrediting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her party through cyber attacks. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, expelled Russian diplomats in retaliation in December.The Trump administration, of course, continues to deny any involvement with the Putin administration, but it s become quite clear that without Russia, we d have a President Hillary Clinton. Russia also denies any connection, but they re also distancing themselves from the now toxic Trump. Once they re done protecting him, he s done.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Timeline: Zika's origin and global spread

The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago: 1947: Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda’s Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey 1948: Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest 1952: First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania 1960s-80s: Zika detected in mosquitoes and monkeys across equatorial Africa 1960s–80s: Zika found in equatorial Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan 2007: Zika spreads from Africa and Asia, first large outbreak on Pacific island of Yap 2012: Researchers identify two distinct lineages of the virus, African and Asian 2013–14: Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Retrospective analysis shows possible link to birth defects and severe neurological complications in babies in French Polynesia March 2, 2015: Brazil reports illness characterized by skin rash in northeastern states July 17: Brazil reports detection of neurological disorders in newborns associated with history of infection Oct. 22: Colombia confirms cases of Zika Oct. 30: Brazil reports increase in microcephaly, abnormally small heads, among newborns Nov. 11: Brazil declares public health emergency November 2015-January 2016: Cases reported in Suriname, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, French Guiana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Ecuador, Barbados, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Curacao, Jamaica Feb. 1: World Health Organization (WHO) declares public health emergency of international concern Feb. 2: First case of Zika transmission in United States; local health officials say likely contracted through sex, not mosquito bite Feb. 5: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says virus being actively transmitted in 30 countries, mostly in the Americas Feb. 8: U.S. President Barack Obama requests $1.9 billion to fight Zika Feb. 18: CDC adds Aruba and Bonaire to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 32 Feb. 23: CDC adds Trinidad and Tobago and Marshall Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 34 Feb. 25: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases number more than 580 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers, with an additional 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly Feb. 27: France detects first sexually transmitted case of Zika March 8: WHO advises pregnant women to avoid areas with Zika outbreak and said sexual transmission of the virus is “relatively common” March 19: CDC adds Cuba to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 38 March 22: CDC adds Dominica to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 39 March 31: The World Health Organization says there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years April 1: CDC adds Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 40 April 4: CDC adds Fiji to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 41 April 13: The CDC concludes that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. CDC adds St. Lucia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 42 April 18: CDC adds Belize to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 43 April 25: Canada confirms first sexually transmitted Zika case April 29: Puerto Rico reports first death related to Zika, according to the CDC. The island territory also confirms 683 Zika cases, including 65 pregnant women, and five suspected cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome from Zika May 4: Panama confirms four microcephaly cases tied to Zika May 6: Spain has first case of Zika-related brain defect in a fetus May 9: CDC adds Papua New Guinea, Saint Barthelemy and Peru to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 46 May 12: CDC adds Grenada to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 47 May 13: Puerto Rico reports first case of Zika-related microcephaly May 20: WHO says an outbreak of Zika virus on the African island chain of Cape Verde is of the same strain as the one blamed for birth abnormalities in Brazil May 26: CDC adds Argentina to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 48 June 9: WHO updates guidelines on prevention of sexual transmission of the Zika virus, including advising women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant June 14: El Salvador confirms first case of microcephaly linked to Zika June 30: CDC adds Anguilla to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 49 July 8: CDC confirms a Utah resident’s death from the previous month is the first Zika-related death in the continental United States July 14: CDC adds Saint Eustatius to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 50 July 15: New York City’s health department reports the first female-to-male transmission of the Zika virus. July 18: CDC reports the caregiver of Utah man who died of Zika tested positive for virus, raising questions about its spread July 19: Florida health officials investigate a case of Zika virus infection that may have been caused by local mosquito bite July 22: New York City health officials reports first baby born with Zika-related birth defect July 25: Spain reports first case in Europe of baby born with Zika-related defect; CDC issues updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner July 26: Honduras detects 8 cases of babies with Zika-related defect; CDC adds Saba to countries and territories with active outbreaks with total at 51 July 27: Paraguay reports first cases of microcephaly linked to Zika July 29: Florida authorities report what is believed to be the first evidence of local Zika transmission in the continental United States Aug. 2: CDC adds Antigua, Barbuda, and Turks and Caicos to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 54 Aug. 3: U.S. researchers said they launched Zika vaccine clinical trial Aug. 11: CDC adds Cayman Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 55 Aug. 12: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declares a public health emergency in Puerto Rico over Zika with 10,690 laboratory-confirmed cases Aug. 13: Brazil reports 1,835 confirmed cases of microcephaly Aug. 16: Haiti reports first case of microcephaly linked to Zika Aug. 17: Guatemala confirms first case of newborn with microcephaly linked to Zika Aug. 19: Florida governor says five cases of Zika are believed to have been contracted in Miami Beach, the second area in Miami-Dade county where the virus is spreading. Aug. 25: CDC adds The Bahamas and the United States to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 57 Aug. 26: FDA recommends that all blood donated in the United States and its territories be tested for Zika virus, starting with 11 states in the first phase; Nicaragua confirms first microcephaly birth linked to Zika Aug. 27-29: Singapore confirms first case of locally transmitted Zika virus, which rise to 56 cases two days later Aug. 30: Confirmed cases in Singapore rise to 82, with some of the latest infections detected beyond the area of initial outbreak. Several countries advise pregnant women or those trying to conceive to avoid traveling to the city-state. Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States issue travel warnings Aug. 31: CDC adds Singapore and the British Virgin Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing tally to 58 (The CDC groups together Antigua and Barbuda in its updated official count) Sept. 3: Malaysia detects first case of locally transmitted Zika Sept. 5: Philippines confirms first case of Zika virus likely to have been transmitted locally Sept. 6: Florida confirms 56 locally transmitted cases, 577 travel-related infections, and 80 infections involving pregnant women Sept. 8: Singapore reports 283 cases of locally transmitted Zika virus Sept. 10: Singapore locally transmitted Zika cases rise to 329 SOURCES: World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters

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Wisconsin to consider $3 billion Foxconn incentive package

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Wisconsin governor ordered the state legislature back into special session on Tuesday to consider an incentive package that would award Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn $3 billion over 15 years in mostly cash incentives and waive several state environmental reviews. Foxconn said last week in a White House ceremony it plans to build a $10 billion LCD flat screen factory in southeast Wisconsin. The company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (2317.TW), hopes to open the 20 million-square-foot plant in 2020 at a 1,000-acre site and will initially employ 3,000 people. Republican Governor Scott Walker and Foxconn said the company ultimately may employ 13,000 people at the site. The draft bill released Monday discloses new details of the expensive incentive package that Wisconsin offered as it competed with six other states to land the project that it says will also generate 22,000 ancillary jobs and 10,000 construction jobs. The Republican-controlled legislature will take up the measure on Tuesday but it is not clear when they will vote. If the incentives are approved, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation would then negotiate a formal contract with Foxconn on the project, said Mark Maley, a spokesman for WEDC. Tim Bartik, an economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Michigan who studies government tax incentives, said the Foxconn package is at least six times the average U.S. award but similar to some deals for auto plants and planemaker Boeing Co (BA.N). Foxconn is a major supplier to Apple Inc (AAPL.O) for its iPhones but the company has not said if the Wisconsin factory would produce any parts for Apple. Under the legislation, Foxconn can receive up to $200 million per year in refundable tax credits, capped at $2.85 billion if meets capital and employment compensation targets. It can also avoid paying $150 million in sales taxes on building materials, equipment and supplies. Although the state measures to attract Foxconn are labeled tax incentives, they largely would be paid in cash since the effective Wisconsin state tax rate is 0.4 percent on manufacturers. In addition to incentives, President Donald Trump suggested the investment decision was due to his election and promised changes in corporate regulatory and tax policy. The incentives include up to $1.5 billion in state income tax credits for job creation and up to $1.35 billion in state income tax credits for capital investment. Foxconn is eligible for additional local incentives. The company is eligible for refundable tax credits equal to 17 percent of wages paid instead of the typical 7 percent and 15 percent of capital costs instead of 10 percent. Wisconsin also agreed in the draft legislation to issue up to $252.4 million in state debt to reconstruct parts of Interstate 94 near the sites that the company is considering sites in Kenosha and Racine counties near the border with Illinois. The draft legislation released by Walker waives a required state environmental impact statement and allows the company to discharge dredged or fill material into some wetlands without state permits. The legislation also would allow Foxconn to connect artificial bodies of water with natural waterways without state permits. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that one reason Wisconsin was appealing is because of its proximity to abundant fresh water from Lake Michigan needed to build panels. The legislation also waives requiring approval for the project by the Public Service Commission, which oversees power and water utilities in Wisconsin.

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Highlights: The Trump presidency on January 30 at 6:25 PM EST/2325 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday: Congressional Democrats and some foreign nations, including key U.S. allies, put pressure on Trump over his temporary ban on entry to America by refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The Pentagon says it is making a list of Iraqis who worked alongside American troops. Democratic U.S. senators try to force a vote on a bill to rescind Trump’s order, but are blocked by a Republican lawmaker. Washington state announces a legal challenge to the ban and former President Barack Obama takes a swipe at his successor. The chief executives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Ford Motor Co join the criticism of Trump’s ban. Tens of thousands of people protest in London and other British cities against Trump’s ban. The United States should revoke “dangerous” new immigration measures, France’s foreign minister says during a visit to Tehran. The U.N. refugee agency voices alarm at Trump’s decision to suspend entry of refugees, saying this week alone 800 people set to make America their new home were barred. Trump says he will announce his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday night as he seeks to quickly put his stamp on the court by restoring its conservative majority, even as Democrats gear up for a Senate confirmation fight. Senate Democrats delayed the Senate Finance Committee’s vote on U.S. Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin on Monday so they could protest against Trump’s order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority nations. The U.S. Senate advances the nomination of former Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson to be Trump’s secretary of state. Trump will amend his recent National Security Council reorganization to add the CIA to the group, the White House says, following criticism of the restructuring, which included the addition of political adviser Steve Bannon. Trump signs an order aimed at dramatically paring back federal regulations, but it will not apply to most of the financial reform rules introduced by the Obama administration. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, condemns Iran after reports it conducted a ballistic missile test and says he will work with other lawmakers and Trump’s administration to hold Iran accountable.[nL1N1FK1VD Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Trump at the White House on Feb. 15, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer announces. Netanyahu says he plans to push Trump to renew sanctions against Iran.

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Abroad in America, Deciphering the 2016 Presidential Race - The New York Times

The last election I covered didn’t work out so well for me. It was May 2013, and I was in Pakistan. As I was returning from a polling station in the southern city of Lahore, military intelligence officials flagged down my car. Hours later I was on a plane out of the country, having been deported. Elections are a fraught business in many parts of the world. In many of those countries, the American way of choosing a president seems ideal, however imperfect. The electoral machine resembles a classic, limousine: large, showy and expensive, yet robust and broadly predictable. This year’s race, at the outset, looked set to follow in that vein as a contest between the scions of two storied political dynasties, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. Then the upstart billionaire and reality TV star Donald J. Trump thrust himself into the fray, shredding the script, dismissing Mr. Bush and upending most notions of what is possible, or acceptable, in an American political contest. I have come from my regular base in Cairo to the United States to help with The New York Times’s coverage of the 2016 campaign. You might wonder what I can add, given that I’m Irish and my American colleagues are already producing a stream of illuminating and incisive stories. I hope to supplement that coverage with reporting that responds to the queries of our international readers, and approaches the election — in all its drama, significance and absurdity — in much the same way as we would events abroad. The series will be called Abroad in America. This feverish political season has transfixed the world outside America, too. The election’s first act — the primary contests, when the two main parties select their ultimate candidates — attracts an unusual degree of international scrutiny. Violence at rallies, incendiary speeches, race baiting, attacks on journalists and judges, proposals to bar Muslims or Mexicans — the primaries signaled a sudden sea change that left watching with fascination, puzzlement and a profound sense of trepidation. For some countries, the changes resonate strongly at home. Mr. Trump’s success chimes with nationalist surges across Europe and the “Brexit” vote. Disillusionment with traditional elites, hostility toward immigrants and anger among the losers from globalization — all resonate elsewhere. Yet it is odd and disturbing to hear terms like fascism and demagogy, most frequently associated with the European fringe or rickety governments, being used in the context of an American campaign. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is haunted by the high levels of hostility even among many voters on the left. And so the election, which starts in earnest in the coming weeks, is shaping up as a close unpopularity contest: In the latest polls, Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton both have 40 percent support. But it is not just about the winner in November. The process has thrown up urgent new questions — about race, guns and the global economy, among others — as well as anguished soul searching about the very process of selecting a president. Where will the politics of resentment and anger ultimately lead? Does the United States suffer, as one writer suggested, from too much democracy? Could this be an “ event” for representative government? My reporting will focus more at ground level. Some of my efforts will be explanatory — unraveling the intricacies and curiosities like the Electoral College, a source of befuddlement to many foreigners (and some Americans). More broadly, though, I hope to turn my focus as a foreign correspondent to deciphering the fears, hopes and motivations that are driving voters of every hue, and will determine the most powerful leader on the planet. My journey will also be driven by you, the readers. I’ll be posting on Twitter and Instagram, and soliciting your questions and concerns. What infuriates, intrigues or mystifies you about the elections? I’ll be starting the journey on Monday at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Please join me on the way.

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Here's why moderate Republicans aren't running for Congress anymore

Hey, you! Any interest in running for the US House or, maybe better, the US Senate? A few seats are up for grabs in 2016. It's a very powerful, prestigious, decently well-paying job. Lots of important decisions. Great on a résumé. What's that you say? Not interested. Not for you? Yeah, I get it. I wouldn't want to run for Congress either. I know, you're probably a reasonable person, a nuanced thinker with a bit of an independent streak. You don't want to get drawn into the maw of that tribal trench warfare down there on the DC swamp. It's a bitter, angry place. And no fun. But hey, somebody has to do the job. And, flippant tone aside, it really matters who does do the job. If reasonable, level-headed people like you don't want to run for Congress, that means only hair-on-fire ideologues will put run the place, and ... oh wait. That does seem to be happening a bit these days. Which takes us to that upcoming 2016 congressional election.  Yet another golden opportunity to bring some fresh talent into Washington, maybe for some folks who are more excited about governing than about trying to make government disappear altogether? If such optimism sounds like the triumph of hope over experience, it probably is. Which raises an important question: Why don't we get many moderates, especially moderate Republicans, running for office these days? I've gathered here two good explanations from some recent political science literature: Say you're a moderate Republican. You might look at the Republican Party in Congress and feel like it's not exactly your people in charge of the place. You'd see that the leaders in Congress tend to be on the extremist side, and you'd make a reasonable guess that you wouldn't get too far in Congress as a moderate. By contrast, if you're a True Conservative, you'd see an opportunity to fit right in. This is the "Party Fit hypothesis," as developed by political scientist Danielle Thomsen in a paper titled "Ideological Moderates Won't Run: How Party Fit Matters for Partisan Polarization in Congress." (She also has a forthcoming book on this.) Thomsen looked at some surveys of state legislators and some data on who actually runs for Congress. Her conclusion based on the data is simple: "The more liberal the Republican state legislator, the less likely she is to run for Congress; the more conservative the Democratic state legislator, the less likely she is to do so." In an email, Thomsen told me that there are indeed moderates in the state legislatures. She estimates that "about 20% of Republican state legislators are as liberal as former Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and nearly 30% of Democratic state legislators are as conservative as former representative John Tanner (D-TN)." It's just that they are much less likely to run for Congress. Like most aspects of polarization, the "party fit" story is asymmetrical — the polarizing impact is much stronger for Republicans. Democrats have maintained more ideological diversity and get more moderates to run. This is not true for Republicans. And like most aspects of polarization, it feeds on itself. As Thomsen also wrote in her email to me, " As moderates gradually lost their place in both parties, polarization has become self-reinforcing.  The hyper-partisanship in Congress has discouraged moderates from running for and remaining in Congress, which has further exacerbated the ideological distance between the parties." Again, say you're a moderate Republican. Chances are your local and state party leaders are not all that interested in encouraging you to run. Most likely, they are ideologues themselves, and they'd like to find people who share their beliefs, especially if they are Republicans. They want True Conservatives. This is a conclusion I draw from a fascinating survey of 6,000 county-level political party leaders, conducted by political scientists David Broockman, Nicholas Carnes, Melody Crowder-Meyer, and Christopher Skovron. They asked what qualities party leaders wanted. Sure, the party leaders said they looked for the usual things — honesty, experience intelligence, dedication, good looks, and, yes, ability to raise money. But they also cared about ideology — particularly the Republicans. Broockman et al. write: And party leaders do play a very important role in candidate recruitment, as Broockman documented in a separate paper: In pretty much every study trying to explain why candidates decided to run for office, recruitment was a major factor. Again, we have a self-reinforcing loop here: The more ideologues run the party, the more they are going to recruit other like-minded candidates to run for office. There is also probably a fundraising aspect to this. Most of the big donors tend to be pretty ideological (again, especially on the right). If they give a lot of money, it's almost always because they feel very strongly that one or the other of the two major parties needs to be in charge. Active passion and strong partisanship tend to go together. For example, in explaining "leapfrog representation" (the phenomenon of extremist candidates jumping over the median voter in a district when a seat changes partisan control), political scientists Joseph Bafumi and Michael C. Herron point that active donors tend to be more extreme than non-donors. They argue that this may offer one explanation why candidates do not converge on the middle — if you can't raise money from (ideological) donors, it's harder to run for office. Sure, you might argue, party leaders may be ideologues themselves, especially on the right. But most of all, they want to stay in power. And to stay in power, they need to win elections.  And to win elections, they need to converge on the median voter who is, by definition, in the middle of the left-right ideological distribution. Ergo, the moderating pressures of electoral competition should overcome these forces of extremism. Fair enough. In close races, party leaders may indeed face a trade-off between ideology and electability. But one problem is there just aren't that many close races. By the latest Cook Political Report 2016 projections, 378 out of 435 House seats are considered safe — that's 87 percent. Add in the 25 "likely" seats, and we're at 403 out of 435, or 93 percent, at low or no risk. So it doesn't matter whether parties pick moderates or ideologues — they're almost certainly going to win as long as they don't pick a convicted felon (or maybe even if they do). In the Senate, 19 or 33 seats up in 2016 are solid for one party or another by the Cook assessment. If we add in the likely seats, we're at 25 or 33, or 75 percent low or no risk. In state legislatures, meanwhile, 43 percent of seats are not even contested. In other words, the proposed moderation of the median voter theory doesn't have very many seats on which to work its supposed magic. But then again, it's not even clear that competitive elections actually bring candidates to the middle. Research by political scientists Anthony Fowler and Andrew B. Hall suggests that partisans who win in close congressional elections vote just as extreme as partisans who win by landslides. Fowler and Hall conclude, "Elected officials do not adapt their roll-call voting to their districts' preferences over time, and ... voters do not systematically respond by replacing incumbents." No wonder, then, that political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have described the median voter theory as a failure in a recent paper criticizing the "Downsian" paradigm (Anthony Downs popularized the median voter theory). As Hacker and Pierson conclude, "Parties not only fail to converge, they diverge asymmetrically." One key reason for this, they argue, is that organized interests within the parties make strong demands, and "party leaders will be attentive to such demands because groups can provide resources they need, offering critical financial and organizational support." Okay, so you're probably not going to run for Congress in 2016. Nor am I. But somebody out there is going to put up with all the endless fundraising calls and the invasions of privacy and the negative ads attacking them and the endless recitation of the same platitudinous speeches over and over again. And, especially on the right, that somebody is probably going to be an ideologue. Because who else wants to run these days? And who else do party leaders want to recruit? The obvious suggestion is that we need to get some different people running for national office — again, especially on the right. More broadly, we might want to think a little more about the pipeline of who's getting involved in politics at all. And yeah, we probably also ought to do something about this problem of only a tiny share of the millennial generation viewing politics as a worthwhile career. But there's plenty of time ahead to work through these problems. So watch this space for some ideas in the months ahead. I'm going to be thinking a bit about this problem. This post is part of Polyarchy, an independent blog produced by the political reform program at New America, a Washington think tank devoted to developing new ideas and new voices. See more Polyarchy posts here.

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Germany's Merkel backs tighter refugee rules amid sex assault protests

As demonstrations erupted in Cologne on Saturday over New Year's Eve sexual assaults and robberies blamed largely on foreigners, Chancellor Angela Merkel called for stricter laws regulating asylum seekers. Merkel, who has been particularly outspoken in welcoming refugees to Germany, told a two-day meeting of the Christian Democrats in Mainz that tighter restrictions would be "in the interest of citizens, but also in the interests of the great majority of the refugees who are here,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. "When crimes are committed, and people place themselves outside the law ... there must be consequences," she told reporters after the meeting, the BBC reported. Party leaders agreed on a proposal to strengthen the ability of police to conduct checks of identity papers, and also to exclude foreigners from being granted asylum who had been convicted of crimes and sentenced to terms even as light as probation. The measures would require approval by parliament. The sharper tone follows reports in Cologne that some 1,000 men — many intoxicated — robbed, sexually assaulted and in some cases raped women during celebrations on New Year's Eve. "Refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, foreigners, friendly or evil, new or long-time residents: It doesn't matter," the newsmagazine Der Spiegel said in an editorial. "It seems as though the time has come for a broad debate over Germany's future — and Merkel's mantra 'We can do it,' is no longer enough to suppress it." Police initially identified the suspects as up to 1,000 men "of Middle Eastern origin,” but later backtracked as public officials cautioned there was little information on whether those involved were migrants. Of the 32 suspects identified by police in Cologne, 22 are asylum seekers, the German Interior Ministry said. One suspect was carrying a document with Arabic-German translations of sexist phrases and threats, which mass-circulation tabloid Bild published on Saturday. As the uproar over the assaults gathered strength, thousands of demonstrators, from the left and right, turned out in Cologne for a day of protests Saturday. The protesters included the anti-Islamic PEGIDA movement and the right-wing extremist Pro Cologne party. At one point, police fired tear gas and used water cannon to break up a PEGIDA rally after protesters threw firecrackers and bottles at officers, Agence France-Presse reported. One group carried signs saying, "No violence against women." Another banner read, "Migrants out." Demonstrators from the political left chanted, "Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here," Buzzfeed reported. Some 1,700 police, many in riot gear, were on hand to control the crowds, the DPA news agency reported.

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Trump administration drafts plan to raise asylum bar, speed deportations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Homeland Security has prepared new guidance for immigration agents aimed at speeding up deportations by denying asylum claims earlier in the process. The new guidelines, contained in a draft memo dated February 17 but not yet sent to field offices, directs agents to only pass applicants who have a good chance of ultimately getting asylum, but does not give specific criteria for establishing credible fear of persecution if sent home. The guidance instructs asylum officers to "elicit all relevant information" in determining whether an applicant has "credible fear" of persecution if returned home, the first obstacle faced by migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border requesting asylum. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2m4aPAs) Three sources familiar with the drafting of the guidance said the goal of the new instructions is to raise the bar on initial screening in order to ease strain on the courts and reduce the number of immigrants allowed to stay in the United States, often for years, while they await a hearing. The administration’s plan is to leave wide discretion to asylum officers by allowing them to determine which applications have a “significant possibility” of being approved by an immigration court, the sources said. The guidance was first reported and posted on the internet by McClatchy news organization. In 2015, just 18 percent of asylum applicants whose cases were ruled on by immigration judges were granted asylum, according to the Justice Department. Applicants from countries with a high rate of political persecution have a higher chance of winning their asylum cases. A tougher approach to asylum seekers would be an element of President Donald Trump’s promise to crack down on immigration and tighten border security, a cornerstone of his election campaign and a top priority of his first month in office. The guidelines are contained in two draft memos signed by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and currently under review by the White House, according to two people familiar with them. The memos also outlined plans for greatly expanding the categories of people that immigration agents target for deportation, and gives them wide discretion in deciding who to deport. Previously, recent arrivals and convicted criminals were the prime targets. The new plan would include migrants who have been charged but not convicted of crimes, and would also apply to illegal immigrants who have been in the country for many years. The memos also call for quickly hiring 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as well as 5,000 more border patrol agents. The DHS declined to comment for this story, referring questions to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, an applicant must generally demonstrate “a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Immigration lawyers say any applicants who appear to meet that criteria in their initial interviews should be allowed to make their cases in court. They oppose encouraging asylum officers to take a stricter stance on questioning claims and rejecting applications. Interviews to assess credible fear are conducted almost immediately after an asylum request is made, often at the border or in detention facilities by immigration agents or asylum officers, and most applicants easily clear that hurdle. Between July and September of 2016, U.S. asylum officers accepted nearly 88 percent of the claims of credible fear, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. Asylum seekers who fail the credible fear test can be quickly deported unless they file an appeal. Currently, those who pass the test are eventually released and allowed to remain in the United States awaiting hearings, which are often scheduled years into the future because of a backlog of more than 500,000 cases in immigration courts. Between October 2015 and April 2016, nearly 50,000 migrants claimed credible fear, 78 percent of whom were from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala or Mexico, according to statistics from USCIS. The number of migrants from those three countries who passed credible fear and went to court to make their case for asylum rose sharply between 2011 and 2015, from 13,970 claims to 34,125, according to data from the Justice Department. Former border patrol chief Mike Fisher credits that trend to advice from immigration lawyers who know “asylum officers are going to err on the side of caution and refer most cases to a judge.” The new guidance on asylum seekers is for border personnel implementing Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order on tightening U.S. border security. Among other measures, the president’s directive calls for expediting eligibility claims of those attempting to stay in the United States and promptly deporting those whose claims are rejected. Some immigration officers familiar with the draft guidance say they are concerned that a rapid increase in deportations of asylum seekers could strain overcrowded detention facilities and create transportation problems. Deportations take time and coordination, even when immigrants are quickly targeted for expulsion. U.S. officials must get approval from a deportee’s home country before repatriation can take place, and transportation can be complicated and expensive. Immigrants from non-contiguous countries are flown home by plane, while Mexicans are often bused across the border. Homeland Security personnel who worked on the guidance say they hope to expand detention space by at least 8,000 beds. The money to pay for that would require congressional sign-off. The extra beds, they say, would further the president’s goal, expressed in his executive order on border security, of ending the practice known as “catch and release” in which migrants, including asylum seekers, are freed pending a court hearing. The new guidance calls for expanding detention, but acknowledges that ending the practice “may not be immediately possible.” A congressional aide familiar with the administration’s plans said DHS is considering expanding its contracts with private prison companies like GEO Group (GEO.N) and CoreCivic (CXW.N), which currently hold most immigrant detainees. Immigrants rights advocates say they fear that raising the bar on the credible fear test could screen out migrants with a rightful claim to asylum, because asylum officers may dismiss cases that could make it through court if the asylum seeker were given legal counsel, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center. Asylum applicants have the right to appeal denials of credible fear claims and may request to see a judge to assert their claim to be in the United States for other reasons, such as family ties. For that reason, raising the bar on credible fear might not deter asylum seekers as much as the Trump administration hopes, said former border patrol head Fisher.

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Hillary Steals The Presidency While Atlas Shrugs

Financial Markets , Gold , Market Manipulation , U.S. Economy Banana Republic , Clinton Foundation , Hillary emails , Podesta emails , the rapture admin Must have been some kind of time/space warp while we slept last night… today Obama says if illegals vote they become a citizen and the NY Post headline is the Filipino maid who printed Hillary’s classified emails then Comey bails on 650,000 damning emails. F#%k me Dave, I feel like I’m on LSD. – email from a reader About 12 years ago I was chatting with the friend who dragged me feet-first into the “dark side” and the world of precious metals in 2001. We were discussing Eastman Kodak’s likely demise a few years before the Company went into the tank. We knew a 2008-type event was going to happen at some point. At the time, we said that eventually we would see events occur in this country that would blow our minds. Mind you, this was a couple years after Enron, 9/11 (which we knew was a Government false-flag operation), Bernie Madoff and the U.S.’ illegal invasion based on admitted (eventually) lies propagated by Colin Powell. I have to say, the way in which Hillary Clinton’s criminal organization has gained complete control over the political and justice system and the media in this country is truly mind-blowing. Hillary is a criminally insane sociopath. That point is unequivocally inarguable. But the true Devil in her organization is John Podesta, who’s persona has been made available to anyone willing to spend time reading just a portion of the “Podesta” emails given to us by Wikileaks. There are 691,200 seconds in 8 days. FBI Director Comey reviewed 650,000 emails in 8 days? An email per second? Americans aren’t stupid! – tweet from Bernard Kerik, ex-NYPD Commissioner If anyone knows about corrupt organizations, it’s an NYPD Commissioner – the NYPD being one of the most internally corrupt law enforcement organizations around. It’s great when ex-insiders blow the whistle on others when the agenda of those others do not fit that of the ex-insider’s “team.” The manner in which Jim Comey has folded is beyond stunning. I’m not sure there’s anyone who cares about this matter who believes that Comey was able to parse through over 650,000 emails in 8 days in order to determine that Hillary did not commit “intent” in her email escapades. Hillary’s email trail made available to the public is a fascinating trail of criminality. I doubt James Patterson, John Grisham and Robert Ludlum could combine resources and make up a crime tale as intriguing as Hillary’s. The evidence piling up against Hillary is breathtaking. According to the recently released Podesta emails, the Clinton Foundation has been used for everything except funding charitable causes, including paying for Chelsea’s wedding and funding Chelsea’s husband’s failed hedge fund. If I were not able to laugh at this insanity, I’d be suicidal… I think most Americans who are being honest with themselves are fully aware of the fact that Hillary Clinton is likely the most corrupt politician in U.S. history. If anything, the election of Hillary Clinton is a symptom that the end is near for the United States. I am convinced that we are at a pivotal moment in American history, and if the American people willingly choose Hillary Clinton it will be an indication that there is zero hope for the future of this nation. The above quote is an excerpt from a must-read essay written by Michael Snyder: I Just Lost All Faith In Our Deeply Corrupt Legal System… I urge everyone to read Snyder’s commentary.

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Kentucky man arrested in assault on Senator Rand Paul released on bail

LOUISVILLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A man has been arrested for assaulting U.S. Senator Rand Paul at his Kentucky home on Friday and causing a “minor injury,” the state police said. Rene Boucher, 59, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was arrested and charged with one count of fourth-degree assault causing minor injury, the Kentucky State Police said in a statement on Saturday. Paul and Boucher were acquaintances, said Jeremy Hodges, a state police spokesman, who declined to say what led to the incident. Paul’s office said in a statement the former Republican presidential candidate “was blindsided and the victim of an assault. The assailant was arrested, and it is now a matter for the police. Senator Paul is fine.” His office did not immediately respond to questions about the extent of any injuries the 54-year-old senator may have suffered or the circumstances of the incident. Hodges said Paul’s injuries were minor and did not require transport to a hospital. Boucher was booked into the Warren County Regional Jail. He was released on Saturday after posting a $7,500 bond, Captain Chip Olney of the facility said by phone. Boucher is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, Olney said. It was unclear if Boucher has an attorney, and he could not be reached for comment late on Saturday. Paul, an ophthalmologist, dropped out of the race for president in February 2016 and successfully ran for re-election as a senator. In September, Paul opposed a partial repeal of healthcare reforms adopted under former Democratic President Barack Obama, angering President Donald Trump, a Republican. Paul last month played golf with Trump and discussed tax reform proposals.

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In a Week, Trump Reshapes Decades of Perceptions About America - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — By some measures, President Trump has altered the perception of American foreign policy more in the past seven days than his predecessors did in the past seven decades. A nation that built its brand around the world as open to the world’s needy and ambitious is now viewed, after Mr. Trump’s immigration executive order, as closing its doors in a way it never did even after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Twenty years of efforts to rebuild a relationship with Mexico — on trade, counterterrorism and drug interdiction — crashed into an avoidable blowup with the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who canceled his visit here. When Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain came for what appeared to be a largely successful visit, Mr. Trump’s first by the leader of a close ally, she spoke of maintaining sanctions on Russia until it met its commitments on Ukraine. Mr. Trump stayed silent. After he spoke the next day to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the official readout provided by the White House made no mention of Ukraine, or of the operation to influence the American election that led President Barack Obama, in his last days in office, to issue new sanctions. Perception is different from reality. It is possible that when viewed from a distance of a few years, Mr. Trump’s pronouncements about “extreme vetting” and his rush to push some of America’s most experienced career diplomats out of their jobs will look like a blitz intended to send a message to the world that he meant what he said when he talked about “America First. ” In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump appeared to try to soften his action, arguing that “this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. ” He promised to “find ways to help all those who are suffering,” words that were missing on Friday when he announced that all refugees from Syria would be barred from entry to the United States, indefinitely. “It’s one week in,” Robert M. Gates, the former secretary of defense and C. I. A. director, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “Every administration I’ve worked for begins with a flurry of executive orders” meant to distinguish itself from it predecessor. But Mr. Gates, who has served eight presidents, of both parties, quickly added that Mr. Trump risks accelerating a sense of an America that is pulling back and putting up walls, leaving a power vacuum around the globe. “That vacuum will not be filled by benign forces,” he said. Two other prominent, establishment Republicans, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, called the lumping together in the immigration order of a major adversary, Iran, with an ally, Iraq, one of many reasons that the moves are “a wound in the fight against terrorism. ” Mr. Trump is hardly the first president to announce shifts in policy that surprised allies and upturned the existing order. President Richard M. Nixon’s decision to abandon the gold standard and to recognize China were shocks to the system. So was President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, though it was telegraphed for more than a year, as was Mr. Obama’s decision to strike a nuclear accord with Iran and to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba. But in the case of Mr. Trump, there is a sense that the rush for change has superseded a study of unintended consequences. The ban on immigration and visitors from seven nations came with minimal, if any, input from the State Department about the regional fallout — as did Mr. Trump’s declaration that he intends to move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The absence of advance thinking about how to deal with green card holders and Iraqi interpreters who were promised entry to the United States in return for their service to American troops forced the White House to amend its interpretations of the order less than 48 hours after Mr. Trump signed it. It was all symptomatic of a new president eager to tweet first and work out details later. “This is policy by thunderbolt,” said Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor who served as the head of the National Intelligence Council and has written extensively on how the United States can gain leverage from its “soft power” — the attractiveness of its culture and democracy. “You don’t want to tear up 70 years of foreign policy until you think hard about what replaces it. ” But inside the halls of the State Department, where Rex W. Tillerson, the pick for secretary of state, has just begun to find his way around, there is definitely the sense among career diplomats that this is Year Zero. Last week, the “landing team” of Trump designees told several of the department’s most senior diplomats — career officials, some with decades of service — to clear out of their offices. Almost all had submitted their resignations, the protocol when administrations changed, but had volunteered to stay on for a month or two until successors were appointed, to ensure that State Department facilities were safe, American citizens were evacuated from perilous places and passports were issued. The Trump team made it clear it had no interest in transitions. (Mr. Tillerson also never met with his predecessor, John Kerry, before the inauguration.) It was not exactly a purge, but the fact remains that some of the government’s most experienced diplomats have moved on — including some of the women in the department. Among them is Anne Patterson, 67, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and a former ambassador to Pakistan and Egypt, two of the biggest tinderboxes Mr. Trump will face. Victoria J. Nuland, 55, one of the department’s top Russia experts and former ambassador to NATO, who dealt with the Ukraine crisis, decided to retire after concluding there was probably no place for her in Mr. Trump’s administration. Such a housecleaning leaves open the question of whether Mr. Tillerson, who has extensive experience abroad as chief executive of Exxon Mobil but none as a diplomat, will have the kind of help he needs in a very different kind of enterprise than negotiating on behalf of the world’s largest oil company. In such an atmosphere, even seemingly routine moves — like the reorganization of the National Security Council — take on a political air. On Sunday, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, and chief ideologue, Stephen K. Bannon, was designated a permanent member of the “principals committee” of the National Security Council, putting a political aide on par with the secretaries of state and defense. Meanwhile, the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appeared to be downgraded, told to attend only when their issues were on the table. “This is stone cold crazy,” Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser until earlier this month, wrote in a Twitter post. “Who needs military advice or intell to make policy on ISIL, Syria, Afghanistan, DPRK?” she said, using acronyms for the Islamic State and North Korea. Mr. Trump’s answer is simple: When you have come to upend the establishment, the establishment must vacate the premises.

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OnPolitics | 's politics blog

Who has Trump appointed to his cabinet so far? Donald Trump added three new men to his list of cabinet picks Friday. Get to know them.

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Elite Nazi-allied Order From Hungary Claims Trump Adviser Sebastian Gorka Is Sworn Member

Lili Bayer and Larry Cohler-Esses HaaretzSebastian Gorka, President Trump s top counter-terrorism adviser, is a formal member of a Hungarian far-right group that is listed by the U.S. State Department as having been under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany during World War II, leaders of the organization have told the Forward.The elite order, known as the Vit zi Rend, was established as a loyalist group by Admiral Miklos Horthy, who ruled Hungary as a staunch nationalist from 1920 to October 1944. A self-confessed anti-Semite, Horthy imposed restrictive Jewish laws prior to World War II and collaborated with Hitler during the conflict. His cooperation with the Nazi regime included the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews into Nazi hands. STRANGE CHARACTER: People are now questioning why Trump hired bizarre Hungarian author as his terrorism expert.Gorka s membership in the organization if these Vit zi Rend leaders are correct, and if Gorka did not disclose this when he entered the United States as an immigrant could have implications for his immigration status. The State Department s Foreign Affairs Manual specifies that members of the Vit zi Rend are presumed to be inadmissible to the country under the Immigration and Nationality Act.Gorka who Vit zi Rend leaders say took a lifelong oath of loyalty to their group did not respond to multiple emails sent to his work and personal accounts, asking whether he is a member of the Vit zi Rend and, if so, whether he disclosed this on his immigration application and on his application to be naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2012. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.Continue this story at HaaretzREAD MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

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Reading the News in Times of Empire

DISPATCHES FROM DANIEL ESPINOSA working to defeat the Big Lie in all its forms In the Manichean universe of US propaganda, the “bad guys” seem to be fond of killing children and bombing hospitals. Having clearly identified the bad guys, the US, its allies and mainstream media ask patiently for a hesitant international community to act on its “Responsibility to Protect”. By now it would seem mainstream media are tired of calling for humanitarian intervention in Eastern Aleppo to stop the Syrian Arab Army and Russian jets, tired of trotting out statistics and quotes from the terrorist/rebel-infested White Helmets (WHs) and the opposition-supporting Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a one-man operation located in a London suburb, while completely ignoring civilian victims of a rebel force said to be composed of 50% al-Nusra (AKA al Qaeda terrorists. (1) Confident of their media cover, the WHs haven’t been smart enough to hide their ties with the notorious al-Nusra and other terrorist factions and are now in danger of being fairly discredited. (2) At the same time, the SOHR, probably designed as a short-term propaganda asset at a time when rebel/terrorist funding was still obscure and the world didn’t know it was actually Al-Nusra calling the shots in the ´moderate´ opposition side, is also losing credibility. But before the media is no longer able to sustain the lie even among their most uninformed victims, the chant of “the international community must act’ grows louder by the minute. But this time it’s not just client states, lapdog allies and some weak third world ‘regime’, subject to easy de-stabilization, otherwise it would be business as usual: subvert, demonize, invade, set up a facade regime and get ready for the next target. This time there’s Russia to reckon with. And Russia has her own independent reasons to be in Syria, ground zero for world terrorism. Gaddafi murdered by Washington-controlled jihadists. A mafia hit pure and simple, ordered by the biggest mafia outfit on earth. UK’s Daily Mirror, a typical media shill for the imperialists, whitewashing the ugliness of what its masters did. In all these sanctimonious exercises favored by the Western media, in reality little but a Ministry of Disinformation for global capitalism, we should notice the rigid script followed by the press, the lack of options when demanding interventions, as well as a complete lack of any kind of explanation of how their proposed intervention is supposed to take place, as if ‘humanitarian intervention’ meant some sort of magical way to end conflicts and save civilians, all of which shows their complete disregard for the recent past. Many journalists—who by dint of sheer ignorance (they too are subject to the brainwash afflicting most Americans, plus the pressures of careerism) are now lining up behind the ‘no-fly zone’ banner, some of them clearly not knowing exactly what it means, especially its sinister and extremely dangerous implications, but they know something better: Power (and their paychecks) demand it (again). As it did in 2003 when the official initial pretext to rally the country for war, Iraq´s Weapons of Mass Destruction narrative, was losing steam, the people of Iraq —according to our brave media—suddenly started to need ‘freedom’ and ‘protection’, to quote the usual doublespeak. Needles to say the very same same Powers which had ruthlessly imposed a brutal regime of sanctions that killed hundreds of thousands of children and women between 1991 and 2003, were now eager to deliver humanitarian aid. (3) T hose children passed unnoticed by our deeply concerned journalists while the tragedy of their slow-motion death was taking place; their pictures not used to call for any kind of humanitarian relief or intervention, as the corporate media attention to the suffering of civilians tends to be very selective, as Ed Herman and David Peterson explain with typical lucidity in The Politics of Genocide: “When we ourselves commit mass-atrocity crimes, the atrocities are Constructive , our victims are unworthy of our attention and indignation, and never suffer ‘genocide’ at our hands –like the Iraqi untermenschen who have died in such grotesque numbers over the past two decades. But when the perpetrator of mass-atrocity crimes is our enemy or a state targeted by us for destabilization and attack, the converse is true. Then the atrocities are Nefarious and their victims worthy of our focus, sympathy, public displays of solidarity, and calls for inquiry and punishment”. Eight years after Iraq’s 2003 invasion, history repeated itself in Libya, where another putative tyrant was ‘about to commit an atrocity against his own people’, as was suggested by European leaders and a deafening mainstream media chorus. Eventually, the Great Hegemon, with headquarters in Washington, also heard the call for action, and joined the crusade. (Actually, the whole ruse had been plotted in close coordination in the true axis of evil of our time, the Washington-London-Paris triad of international gangsterism, with Obama’s regime this time playing the coy, reluctant imperialist furnishing largely logistical and intel support). According to the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which was “unable to visit Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk or anywhere else in Libya due to the collapse of internal security and the rule of law” in 2016, “…out of a total Libyan population of 6.3 million people, 3 million people have been impacted by the armed conflict, and 2.4 million people require protection and some form of humanitarian assistance”. (4) For its part, the Human Rights Watch stated, also in 2016, that “…Forces engaged in the conflict continued with impunity to arbitrarily detain, torture, unlawfully kill, indiscriminately attack, abduct and disappear, and forcefully displace people from their homes. The domestic criminal justice system collapsed in most parts of the country, exacerbating the human rights crisis”. (5) This seems to be the paradoxical result of a recent ‘humanitarian intervention’ from which the mainstream media is not morally prepared to take any valuable lessons. Of course, the paradox is nothing of the sort when you understand the real reasons behind the intervention, regarding the French government, and particularly its ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, as stated by a US State Department intelligence advisor: “A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production; Improve his internal political situation in France”, among other supposedly deeply humanitarian causes. The US State Department, as expected, went along with the farce. B ut what is exactly a no-fly zone? According to US Army General Martin Dempsey in a letter to the US Congress in 2013: “This option uses lethal force to prevent the regime from using its military aircraft to bomb and resupply. It would extend air superiority over Syria by neutralizing the regime’s advanced, defense integrated air defense system. It would also shoot down adversary aircraft and strike airfields, aircraft on the ground, and supporting infrastructure… Risks include the loss of U.S. aircraft, which would require us to insert personnel recovery forces. It may also fail to reduce the violence…” And going back to the House of Commons assessments of 2016, when “…France and UK argued that the international community should simply impose a no-fly zone… former US Ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, pointed out: ´Cameron was pushing for a no-fly zone, but in the US there was great skepticism. A no-fly zone wasn´t effective in Bosnia, it wasn’t effective in Iraq, and probably wasn’t going to be effective in Libya… Gaddafi was attacking people. A no-fly zone wasn’t going to stop him. Instead, to stop him we would need to bomb his forces attacking people.’” Of course, Daalder was describing the ineffectiveness of a NFZ while pushing for stronger measures. The crime of “optional imperialist war” remained the same, regardless of the methods eventually used. Similarities with the Syrian ‘civilian’ uprising of 2011 abound, as UK Former Chief of Defense Staff Lord Richards of Herstmonceux later confirmed, intelligence on the composition of the rebel militias was not ‘as good as one would wish’, and when these rebels with affiliations to Al-Qaeda finally got their hands on the “tyrant”—a man who had on numerous occasions been feted in Italy and France’s capitals, and who had built one of the most advanced social safety nets for his people—they simply do what jackals do, they tortured and murdered him, with the mainstream media, particularly in England and the US, reacting in a fashion that would make hyenas look like sheep: under headlines like “Mad Dog Put Down” most front pages showed gruesome pictures of Gaddafi’s last moments, the word ’murdered’ nowhere to be found. Demonized “tyrants” aren´t murdered, they are executed or, as the New York Post stated: “Killed by a Yankee Fan”, in a humorous reference to a boy wearing a New York Yankees cap among the killers. (6) The New York Times’ Kareem Fahim refers to the “trophies of war”, in an article filled with pictures of Gaddafi’s and one of his sons’ dead bodies surrounded by cheering men, where any other “trophy”, as his golden gun, is only mentioned briefly to give the idea he isn´t referring to the corpses. (7) Andrew Gilligan wrote in the Telegraph: “the one thing Gaddafi retained to the very end was his ability to put on a show…” (8). Ability shared by many journalists when cheering for interventions known for causing worse catastrophes than those that supposedly caused the intervention in the first place. Many rationales are given for the explicit, openly celebratory content. As Chris Elliot, The Guardian’s reader’s editor explains: “ On reflection – and having read the complaints – I feel less convinced about the way we used these photographs, although I still feel strongly that they are an important part of this story and should have been used. The scale of the photo on the newspaper front page of 21 October and prominent picture use on the website took us too close to appearing to revel in the killing rather than reporting it”. (Emphasis added). This reveling over Gaddafi’s corpse reflects the celebration of an establishment victory by its subservient propaganda media, but it also served to focus attention away from the unlawful killing of many others, and the exact details of how the killing took place. As Media Lens observed: “…but there was more than the lonely killing of a “tyrant” that went unreported. Human Rights Watch reported that between six and ten people appeared to have been executed at the scene of the Libyan leader’s capture. Around 95 bodies were found in the immediate vicinity, many of them victims of NATO airstrikes. In fact, it is clear that NATO, with the assistance of Special Forces (although ground troops were strictly forbidden by UN resolution 1973), had maintained a no-drive zone around Sirte: a crucial factor facilitating the murder of Gaddafi. CBS reported 572 bodies ‘and counting’ in Sirte, including 300, ‘many of them with their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head’, collected and buried in a mass grave”. (9) (Emphasis added) There should be little doubt regarding the reasons behind the selective use of pictures of bloodied children by mainstream media (and many NGOs), especially when they endorse calls for ‘humanitarian intervention’ against governments previously targeted for regime change, as it has already been clearly established in the case of Syria long before the 2011 uprising, via many US secret documents revealed by WikiLeaks. Propaganda is particularly transparent in this case: create a sense of guilt and impotence, prepare public opinion to demand what has already been planned elsewhere, in the darker councils of unaccountable power. The scandalous double-standard that selectively shows the suffering of “worthy” children while hiding the pain and death of those victimized for sordid reasons by the “Exceptional Nation” and its equally murderous accomplices dressed in civilized garb, is the great hypocrisy of our time, flowing smoothly from its deeply corrupt DNA. The obvious options such as putting an end to the funding of ‘moderates’ by the US, in reality the open funding of terrorists, is never considered, as important facts contradicting the official imperialist narrative are systematically omitted by the “Free Press.” Notes: Ruptly Tv. LIVE: UN Security Council meets to discuss situation in Syria. ( Online Video clip) Youtube, published on 09/25/16. [Recoverd: 10/13/16 (CHECK min. 28) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx3XbFYqOoo] RT. ‘Intl. community still financing & protecting terrorists’ –Mother Agnes . (Online video clip) Youtube, published 10/25/16 [recovered 10/28/16 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbUTnSsNbfc ] Shah, Anup. Effects on Iraq Sanctions . (Global Issues, 10/02/05) [http://www.globalissues.org/article/105/effects-of-sanctions] House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK’s future policy options. Third Report of Session 2016-17 (UK Parliament, 09/14/16) [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmfaff/119/119.pdf] Quoted in HCFAC (note 4). The Guardian. Gaddafi dead: the front pages – In pictures . (The Guardian, 10/21/11) [https://www.theguardian.com/media/gallery/2011/oct/21/gaddafi-dead-front-pages] Fahim, Kareem. After Making Capture in Pipe, Displaying the Trophies of War . (New York Times, 10/20/11) [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/brutalized-libyan-city-rejoices-with-gruesome-trophies-of-war.html ] Quoted in: Media Lens. Killing Gaddafi . (Media Lens, 10/27/11) [http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2011/653-killing-gaddafi.html] Ibid. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Associate Editor Daniel Espinosa Winder (34) lives in Caraz, a small city in the Andes of Peru. He graduated in Communication Sciences in Lima and started researching mainstream media and more specifically, propaganda. His writings are a often a critique of the role of mass media in our society. Daniel also serves as Editorial Director for TGP’s Spanish Language edition. =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week.

1real

US Advising Soldiers to Be ‘Less Masculine’ as Military Tries to Curb Flood of Sexual Harassment Cases

170619-N-AA175-092..SAN DIEGO (June 19, 2017) Command Master Chief (Ret.) Kathleen Henson, from Midland, Mich.,, center, and USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Sailors cut a cake during the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month observance. Makin Island is homeported in San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Zeak Published at Wikicommons)21st Century Wire says While military forces are fighting one enemy in the theatre of combat, another multi-front culture war is also being fought within their institutions. According to a recent report in Military.com, US military lawyers have begun speaking about how sexual assault cases are flooding the military courts threatening to break the back of the military s legal system, and perhaps radically alter the institutional culture.After the release of the documentary, The Invisible War, the issue of sexual assault in the military has again been thrust into the national spotlight, claiming that 1 in 5 U.S. female veterans have sustained some form of sexual assault.The issue of sexual assault in the US military first rose to national prominence in 1992 with the emergence of the infamous Tailhook Scandal. One likely reason for this new spike in reported cases could be because each military service branch has recently implemented new awareness programs as well as sexual assault prevention campaigns which actively encourage female troops to report anything they might feel constitutes sexual harassment or a constitutes a sexual assault.This also comes at a time where the US military has undergone the gradual process of becoming more gay friendly in order to advance issues of equality and to cater for its growing ranks of LGBT service men and women.Military.com explains how the new liberal progressive agenda may be adversely affecting operations: Military lawyers said the Pentagon leadership has the right intentions, but these prevention campaigns have flooded military court rooms with so many sexual assault cases, it s made it harder to prosecute guilty sexual predators.Prosecutors lack witnesses or strong evidence in the majority of cases, making it hard to yield a conviction, said Michael Waddington, a military defense lawyer and former judge advocate in the Army. He sees too many cases that involve alcohol and depend on hearsay.The military has the resources to take many sexual assault cases to court, said Philip Cave, a military defense lawyer and retired Navy lawyer. Waddington estimated that ninety percent of the sexual assault cases taken to court-martial would be thrown out in a civilian court because of a lack of evidence.As a result, the military are now trying various other different initiatives to try and cope with a problem which to have spun out of control.RT International reports Promoting empathy and cracking down on hypermasculinity may help the Department of Defense to reduce unwanted sexual behavior and improve combat readiness, a new government report on sexual violence in the military says.Unwanted sexual behaviors such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, and domestic violence undermine core values, unit cohesion, combat readiness, and public goodwill, says the report, published this month by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and signed by Brenda Farrell, director of defense capabilities and management.The report pointed out that interconnected, inappropriate behaviors are part of a continuum of harm that creates a climate conducive to sexual harassment, assault and violence. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2017 expanded the definition of sexual harassment in the military beyond sex discrimination, to make it an adverse behavior on the spectrum of behavior that can contribute to an increase in the incidence of sexual assault. Both the Pentagon and the separate service branches have yet to update their policies to reflect this new definition, the GAO found.The report also urged the Pentagon to incorporate the guidelines for preventing and dealing with sexual violence developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The Pentagon is ignoring risk factors identified by the CDC such as alcohol and drug use, hypermasculinity, emotionally unsupportive family environments, general tolerance of sexual violence within the community, and societal norms that support male superiority and sexual entitlement, the report says.NEWPORT, R.I. (Oct. 29, 2010) Gunnery Sgt. Duncan Hurst encourages an officer candidate to properly perform pushups during the first week of the 12-week Officer Candidate School at Naval Station Newport. Hurst is one of 12 Marine Drill Instructors who train the candidates in military bearing, discipline, drill and physical fitness. (U. S. Navy photo by Scott A. Thornbloom/Released). Also ignored by the DoD are protective factors such as emotional health and connectedness, and empathy and concern for how one s actions affect others. CDC s research has also established that survivors of one form of violence are more likely to be victims of other forms of violence, that survivors of violence are at higher risk for behaving violently, and that people who behave violently are more likely to commit other forms of violence, the GAO report notes, apparently seeking to make a distinction between violence in authorized military conflict and personal violence.Noting that the DoD instructed the services in 2014 to develop mechanisms for reporting incidents of sexual harassment anonymously, the GAO said that such mechanisms are not yet part of the department-wide sexual violence policies.Additionally, each service branch uses a different database format to record formal complaints of sexual harassment the Navy uses Excel spreadsheets, for example. While the GAO does not go as far as to recommend a single database, the report does advocate improving and standardizing data collection so that the Department of Defense can further develop its understanding of the connection between unwanted sexual behaviors. Having a single standard across service branches would also be helpful, the GAO report says, noting that the US Marine Corps (USMC) updated its standards of conduct in May. The USMC made the change in response to the Marines United scandal, where current and former members posted nude photos of female recruits in a Facebook group, along with disparaging comments. While the Marines now consider posting nude photos of others without consent to be harassment, other service branches do not as of yet.The GAO report comes at a time of renewed interest in sexual harassment in the US. Accusations of improper behavior have forced a number of Hollywood celebrities, media executives and members of Congress to resign or be removed from public life.In 2015, the Obama administration lifted restrictions on having women in combat roles and set a deadline for allowing openly transgender troops to serve. In July this year, President Donald Trump said he would not allow transgender people to serve in any capacity, citing tremendous medical costs and disruption to the military. The matter is currently being fought over in the courts.So far, only men are required to register for potential draft ( Selective Service ) under US law. Attempts to expand the requirement to women have failed to get enough votes in Congress.See more at RTREAD THE FULL US GOV T G.A.O. REPORT HEREIn addition to new measures meant to mitigate the rise in sexual assault claims, general dictates on gender neutral language are also being rolled out apparently to protect vulnerable minority members of the armed service from being offended or triggered. This institutional trend is not limited to the US, as the institutional march of political correctness and its weaponization of gender identity politics is making its way through Great Britain s armed forces too where phrases such as mankind , chaps and sportsmanship have now been banned.The UK Mail Online says: The guide suggests the word chaps be swapped for the words people , friends , folks or you all . The phrase gentleman s agreement has also be banned. Now, soldiers must use the term unwritten agreement . Instead of sportsmanship members of the force are encouraged to say fairness . The two-page guide was compiled by the Joint Equality Diversity and Inclusion unit which has earned the nickname of Jedi. Many LGBT servicewomen believe the US military is too male-oriented (Image: Pinterest).As pc cleric cluture takes over the military s management through the leveraging of radical progressive power-politics, people should be aware that this tactic actually designed to break down existing institutions and rearrange the internal power structure.It s no surprise then why the Russians are resisting Soros-funded political colonization in their country, which Moscow has correctly identified as subterfuge through the clear exploitation of these culture and gender war battle lines. ImageQuestion: How will the US and UK armed forces be run in 10 years, if this socialized agenda is fully rolled out?READERS PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS BELOWREAD MORE CULTURAL MARXIST NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Cultural Marxism FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

1real

Millions of South Koreans Rise Up Against Shadow Government

Your News Wire South Koreans are rising up in their millions and demanding the overthrow of their government after a series of leaks proved president Park Geun-hye is a puppet controlled by a covert shadow government. In a furor eerily similar to that surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of an email server and charity slush fund, critics are charging that Park has irresponsibly managed classified information and benefited from corrupt practices using non-profits as a front. The South Korean and U.S. comparisons stop there however. Rather than apathetically accepting the situation – like in America – South Koreans have risen up and the media has rounded on their leader. Citizens have taken to the streets en masse and the country’s media have called for the president to step down immediately – or face impeachment. The essence of the scandal is this: It has emerged that Park, famously aloof even to top officials and aides, has been taking instructions from a group known as the “eight fairies” including Choi Soon-sil, a shadowy billionaire with ties to George Soros and Angela Merkel. Choi has existed around the edges of South Korean power circles for decades, but has never held an official position. Posters of the president being controlled by puppet strings are cropping up all over South Korea as country-wide protests continue to rage. Recommended (4 months ago) France: Protestors Rise Up In Their Millions Against Ruling Class The Washington Post reports that “Calls for her resignation — and even impeachment — are resonating from across the political spectrum, and her approval ratings have dropped to a record low of 17 percent, according to two polls released Friday. On Friday, Park directed all of her top advisers to resign en masse, with her spokesman saying a reshuffle would take place, the Yonhap news agency reported. Kim Jae-won, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, told a parliamentary session that Park’s chief of staff had already stepped down. It’s not clear, however, whether it will be enough. “Park Geun-hye’s leadership is on the brink of collapse,” said Yoo Chang-sun, a left-leaning political analyst. Shin Yool, a right-leaning professor at Myongji University, called it the “biggest crisis” since South Korea was founded 70 years ago. “The president has lost her ability to function as leader.” Choi is the daughter of the late Choi Tae-min, who was a kind of shaman-fortune teller described in a 2007 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul as “a charismatic pastor.” Locally, he’s seen as a “Korean Rasputin” who once held sway over Park after her mother was assassinated in 1974. “Rumors are rife that the late pastor had complete control over Park’s body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result,” read the cable, released by WikiLeaks. Park has strongly denied any improper relationship. But South Korean media have uncovered evidence that, they claim, shows that Choi Soon-sil wielded undue influence over the president. JTBC, a television network, said it had found a tablet computer that contained files of speeches the president had yet to give, among other documents. The younger Choi is said to have edited the landmark speech that Park gave in Germany in 2014, laying out her vision for unification with the North. The Hankyoreh newspaper wrote that actual presidential aides “were just mice to Choi’s cat.” She is also rumored to have created a secret group called “the eight fairies” to advise the president behind the scenes. TV Chosun, the channel belonging to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, aired a clip showing Choi overseeing the making of an outfit for Park, “raising doubt whether Park made any decision at all without Choi,” the paper said. South Korean media have been full of Photoshopped graphics to illustrate the relationship, including one showing Park as a puppet and Choi Soon-sil pulling her strings. Meanwhile, investigators are looking into allegations that Choi siphoned off money from two recently established foundations that collected about $70 million from the Federation of Korean Industries, the big business lobby with members including Samsung and Hyundai. Prosecutors raided Choi’s home in Seoul this week looking for evidence. At the same time, there are allegations that the daughter of Choi Soon-sil was given special treatment when she applied for Ewha Womans University, one of South Korea’s top colleges. Local media have reported that her daughter’s grades were not good enough, so the rules were changed to give credit to applicants who had won equestrian awards, as she had. The already-embattled president of Ewha resigned this week. Ironically, this all comes less than a month after Park’s administration instituted a wide-ranging new law aimed at cracking down on corruption and influence peddling. Choi is in Germany with her daughter and is refusing to return to South Korea to answer questions, saying she is having heart problems and cannot fly. But in an interview with the Segye Ilbo, she denied creating the Eight Fairies group, owning the tablet or knowingly receiving classified information. “Because I was not a government official, I had no idea that this was confidential,” she told the paper. Park apologized Tuesday for the scandal, saying she had always acted “with a pure heart.” Then she canceled a planned meeting related to North Korea on Friday so she could consider ways to “resolve the nation’s anxiety and stably run the government,” according to a spokesman. She did, however, attend a ceremony in the southern city of Busan, where university students shouted “Park Geun-hye should step down!” and “Choi Soon-sil must be arrested!” Share:

1real

Warren Drags Trump Sideways In Brutal Commencement Speech — It’s Beautiful (VIDEO)

If there s one Democrat that Donald Trump is scared sh*tless of, it s Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Warren was a massive thorn in Trump s side during his presidential campaign, and she certainly hasn t let up after he got into the White House. And now that Trump has pissed Democrats off by firing FBI Director James Comey, he s probably regretful that one of them is Warren.Warren s feelings about Trump s shady firing of Comey were made known on Friday, when Warren gave a commencement address at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During her speech, she basically wiped the floor with Trump, encouraging the UMass graduates to get involved in political causes and join the resistance. Warren slammed Trump s firing of Comey when she said: I m trying to keep this apolitical but I can t help myself the principle that no one, no one in this country is above the law and we need a Justice Department, not an obstruction of justice department. And she didn t stop there. Warren made sure to criticize all of Trump s helpers equally, even mocking Kellyanne Conway for her alternative facts. Warren joked: Go online and read the facts, not the alternative facts the real facts. I have to say I had never thought we would need a modifier for facts. Warren made sure to trash the spineless Republicans that have helped Trump succeed as well. Zeroing in on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Warren observed that nudging graduates to get involved in policy wouldn t make her Ms. Popularity. Then she quipped: I think as long as Mitch McConnell is running the Senate that s out of reach for me. This was a speech where Warren let loose on the GOP and Trump administration, and we couldn t be more proud. Warren has been a powerful voice in fighting Trump s disgraceful agenda, and we need her to inspire America s youth more than ever. You can watch her speech below: America needs your commitment, Sen. Warren tells UMass graduates at commencement https://t.co/Pur56UvEFh masslivenews (@masslivenews) May 13, 2017Featured image is a screenshot

1real

On Trump travel ban, China says 'reasonable concerns' must be considered

BEIJING (Reuters) - China appeared to offer mild criticism on Monday of U.S. President Donald Trump’s banning of entry of people from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying immigration policy was a sovereign right but “reasonable concerns” must be considered. Trump signed a directive on the banning on Friday. U.S. Democrats and a growing number of Republicans assailed the move and foreign leaders condemned it amid court challenges and tumult at U.S. airports. Trump says his directive is “not about religion” but keeping America safe. Trump has presented the policy as a way to protect the country from the threat of Islamist militants. China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement sent to Reuters, said it had noted the reports of the U.S. administration’s decision. “China believes that adjusting immigration and entry and exit policy is an act within each country’s sovereignty,” the ministry said. “At the same time, relevant moves must also consider the reasonable concerns of relevant countries,” it added in a brief statement. It did not elaborate. China is in the middle of a week-long Lunar New Year holiday and government departments do not return to work until Friday. China has been trying to pay a greater diplomatic role in the Middle East, and has particularly close ties with Iran and Sudan, two of the seven countries on Trump’s list. China is home to a Muslim population of about 20 million people, including ethnic Uighur people in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the government says it is facing its own problem with Islamist militants. Rights groups and exiles says China’s repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, are the root cause of the unrest, which has killed hundreds in the past few years. China denies any repression and says it guarantees freedom of religion.

0fake

Brady Campaign's ad draws ire of U.S. anti-gun violence activists

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said on Friday it has sharply cut back an online ad that had used the names and faces of mass shooters and urged the news media not to identify them after the group drew criticism from other gun control activists. The group, named for former White House spokesman James Brady, who was wounded in 1981 when a gunman tried to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan, rolled out the “Zero Minutes of Fame” campaign earlier this week. Its goal, the group said, was to promote research showing that mass shooters, such as those who carried out the 2012 attacks in Newtown, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado, had studied past gun attacks before carrying out their own. The prominent use of the names and images of Adam Lanza, who shot dead 20 children and six educators at a Newtown elementary school, and James Holmes, who fatally shot 12 people at an Aurora movie theater, in the two-minute online spot angered fellow anti-gun-violence campaigners. The Brady Campaign's ad prompted a petition (chn.ge/1SCfovp) on activist website Change.org calling for the ad to be taken down. Some 93 people had signed that petition as of midday Friday. “It was very hurtful to many gun violence victims and survivors,” said Anita Busch, a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist whose cousin was slain in the Aurora massacre and who said she posted the petition. “For the Brady Campaign to not get it is just shocking, honestly.” The ad marked the launch of a piece of software for Google’s (GOOGL.O) Chrome web browser that promised to remove the names and images of serial killers from news accounts and Google web searches, replacing them with “(name withheld out of respect for the victims).” The Brady Campaign, one of the most prominent U.S. gun control organizations, said on Friday it had cut back the ad’s contents after the complaints. A 14-second version of the ad viewed on Friday featured no names or images of mass shooters. “Our video was meant to educate the broader American public about what we can do to prevent gun violence, not to upset those hardest hit by it,” Dan Gross, the group’s president, said in an e-mailed statement. “We take this matter seriously and hope the steps we have taken to fix this are satisfactory to our victim advocates.” James Brady survived the 1981 attack and went on to become a prominent gun control activist. He died in 2014.

0fake

Why do people dislike Hillary Clinton? The story goes far back

There is – and perhaps there always will be – a dedicated group of people who don’t know Hillary Clinton personally, but nonetheless hate her. Whether they are truly a “vast rightwing conspiracy” (as Clinton called them in 1998) or just many in number and conservative in outlook, there’s no arguing that they exist or that they continue to try to influence public opinion on the Democratic nominee. But even if people consider themselves savvy enough to reject the strangest conspiracy theories (sample claims include that she is a mass-murderer, a closeted lesbian faking her 40-year marriage, a member of the Illuminati and/or an agent of the devil himself), there seems little doubt that an undercurrent of hostility spanning decades has had an impact upon how she is viewed. Clinton’s unfavorability rating may not be as low as Donald Trump’s, but in an election year which has frequently degenerated into name-calling, she has attracted invective from both the left and the right. Polls have frequently cited the public view that she is not trusted, while Trump has rallied his supporters with the “Crooked Hillary” epithet. Her links to Wall Street, her missing emails and her supposed responsibility for the security failures that contributed to the attack on the Benghazi consulate are the ostensible reasons for some deeply personal attacks in 2016. But the roots of hostility towards her go much deeper. Craig Shirley, a Ronald Reagan biographer and historian who spent decades as a conservative political consultant, said that, when Hillary Clinton arrived in Washington DC as first lady, “she came from Little Rock with a reputation already established” as “such a militant feminist, difficult to deal with”. He noted that she faced hostility in Arkansas politics and media when Bill Clinton was first elected governor, because she kept her maiden name.“Here she comes, the feminist from Wellesley and Yale,” Shirley explained of the supposedly prevailing attitude of the time, “down to Little Rock and brings her attitudes with her”. So by the time she arrived on the national stage in 1991, during Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, the then-still-mostly-male press corps already had an idea of who they understood Hillary Clinton to be – a potential liability to her husband’s political career whose feminism and ambition were a bit unseemly. And, as she noted in her first autobiography, she gave them plenty of material with which to support that narrative. First, there was her much-maligned “I’m not sitting here some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette” comment in response to a reporter’s assertion that she and her husband had “some sort of understanding and arrangement” about his infidelity. Then, her out-of-context “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies” comment, which came in response to attacks, which the Clintons denied, by now-California governor Jerry Brown that she had only been a successful lawyer because her husband had steered business to her firm, implying that she should have confined herself to being a ceremonial first lady. And then, of course, came the scandals in which she was involved: Whitewater, a money-losing land deal in which she’d invested for their retirement with two friends who managed the investment illegally; and Travelgate, in which she – contrary to the then-normal practice of leaving the business of the White House to the president’s staff – was said to have ordered the firing of the head of the travel office, who coincidentally was popular with the mostly-male White House press corps whose travel he arranged. The key question raised about Whitewater and Travelgate was not whether Clinton had done anything actually wrong, but whether she had used illegal means to try to keep the media from finding out. The Starr investigation, which eventually resulted in Bill Clinton’s impeachment, found that she had not, but by that time her reputation was established as someone unfriendly to the media who also maybe did not do the right thing. Shirley conceded that “the press pounded on her” first in Arkansas and then in Washington, but did not believe that affected her relationship with the media, or that it was a driving factor in people’s attitudes towards her. “There’s something about her manner, persona, voice, smirk that just grates on a lot of people,” he said. “People don’t like to be talked down to, and she has a terrible habit of talking down to people, with that smirk.” However, Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served in Bill Clinton’s administration, said she did not think that people’s dislike of Hillary Clinton is her own fault. “This business of people ‘not liking’ her is shaped by expectations, by television, by what we think people in authority ought to look like, and not who she actually is,” she said. “She is absolutely as likable, or more likable, than many male politicians,” she said. But while it is rare that people will compare a male politician they do not like to their fathers Kamarck noted that Clinton “reminds people of their mothers, or the schoolteacher they didn’t like.” (References to a “nagging wife” and “bitchy wife” are also common.) “I think there’s some misogyny in that,” said Kamarck, noting that it’s exceedingly common for men who don’t hew to conventional standards of attractiveness to be on television or pursue political careers, while women are more likely to be granted that visibility when they are younger and if they meet traditional beauty standards. “We will overcome this but, right now, the world is accustomed to saying old men are fine, they’re strong, they’re wise,” she added. “Old women, we’re not so sure.”

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Trump Jokes That They Should Just Cancel The Election Now.. Guarantees Win

Take a look: It’s not just her policies that are bad — it’s practically everything she says and does . Advertisement - story continues below You’ve got to hand it to Trump. As we close in on the general election, and as polls continue to show Trump lagging behind Clinton, he till has a sense of humor about everything. Trump’s refusal to give up has carried him this far. He’s proven that he’s in this race to win it regardless of what polls may indicate. He — and the rest of the country — have seen the huge crowds that have come to hear him speak — crowds that dwarf the size of Clinton’s crowds . He also knows that the mainstream media, Democrats and establishment Republicans don’t want him to win, and they will do whatever they can to minimize his popularity in an attempt to discourage voters. But those tactics might not be working. Ohio, a must-win battleground state for Trump, has seen a drop in jobs because of trade deals. Trump has promised that he would bring jobs back to America if he won the election, and jobs are an issue that many citizens are passionate about. Advertisement - story continues below

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KING OBAMA ASKS TAXPAYERS To Increase His Post-Presidency Pay

America s gotta keep 5-Star Mooch, her lovely daughters and of course, her tax-payer funded mommy in the lifestyle they ve become accustomed to President Obama sought to increase the amount of money available for the federal government to spend on former presidents in advance of his White House exit.In his budget requests for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, Obama proposed hikes in the appropriations for expenditures of former presidents, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service published Wednesday.The report, which discusses the pensions and other federal benefits offered to former commanders-in-chief by way of the Former Presidents Act, specifies that Obama s 2017 budget proposes a nearly 18 percent hike in appropriations for expenditures of former presidents. He successfully requested an increase in such appropriations for fiscal year 2016. The President s FY2017 budget request seeks $3,865,000 in appropriations for expenditures for former Presidents, an increase of $588,000 (17.9%) from the FY2016 appropriation level. The increase in requested appropriations for FY2017 anticipates President Barack Obama s transition from incumbent to former President, the report reads. For FY2016, President Obama requested and received appropriations of $3,277,000 for expenditures for former Presidents an increase of $25,000 from FY2015 appropriated levels. The Former Presidents Act, enacted in 1958, provides living former presidents with a pension, office staff and support, funds for travel, Secret Service protection, and mailing privileges. It also provides benefits for presidential spouses. Currently, former presidents are awarded a pension equal to the salary of cabinet secretaries, which totaled $203,700 for the 2015 calendar year and was boosted by $2,000 for the current calendar year.Via: FOX News

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Russia, U.S. stalemate over Syria chemical weapons inquiry

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it was talking to the United States about the U.N. Security Council renewing an international inquiry into chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but Washington countered that Moscow had refused to engage on a U.S.-drafted resolution. The mandate for the joint inquiry by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has found the Syrian government used the banned nerve agent sarin in an April 4 attack, expires on Friday. Russia vetoed an initial U.S. bid to renew the joint investigation on Oct. 24, saying it wanted to wait for the release of the latest investigation s report two days later. It has since proposed its own rival draft resolution. We are talking to the U.S., it s not over yet, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Monday. The inquiry s report found the Syrian government was responsible for the April 4 attack using sarin in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing dozens of people. The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons. Russia has refused to engage on our draft resolution which the vast majority of council members agree is the most viable text in spite of our multiple attempts to consider Russian concerns, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations said on Monday. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain and France to pass. The council unanimously created the inquiry, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), in 2015 and renewed it in 2016. It is important that the JIM is renewed but on an updated mandate because the systemic errors that we saw with the recent report should be corrected and that s the aim of our resolution, Nebenzia said. He added that if the mandate of the inquiry was not renewed, It may send a bad signal, but the way the investigation has been conducted sends an even worse signal. The JIM previously found that Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. The draft text Russia put forward without any negotiation is unhelpful, has no support, and cannot be taken seriously, said the spokesman for the U.S. mission. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States.

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New sanctions aim to restrict Venezuela access to U.S. debt market

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that new sanctions imposed against Venezuela were aimed at hobbling the regime of President Nicolas Maduro by restricting the country’s access to U.S. debt and equity markets. “We urge those within the regime, including those who have been sanctioned, to distance themselves from the violence and the dictatorship,” Mnuchin told reporters at the White House. He said the sanctions were not aimed at “changing leadership” in Venezuela. White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said at the same news conference that United States had no plans to take military action in Venezuela, but that President Donald Trump intended to take advantage of “a broad range of ... integrated options” in the future.

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