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FLASHBACK: EVIDENCE SHOWS “CROOKED” HILLARY Has Been Burying E-mails Since She Was First Lady

If anyone were to tell you 20 years ago that a career criminal, habitual liar and an enabler of husband who is a serial sexual offender was going to be a frontrunner for President of The United States in two decades simply because of her genitalia, would you have believed them?While the State Department s own internal probe found former Secretary Hillary Clinton violated federal recordkeeping laws, it s not the first time she and her top aides shielded her e-mail from public disclosure while serving in a government position.As first lady, Hillary was embroiled in another scheme to bury sensitive White House e-mails, known internally as Project X. In 1999, as investigators looked into Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate and other scandals involving the then-first lady, it was discovered that more than 1 million subpoenaed e-mails were mysteriously lost due to a glitch in a West Wing computer server.The massive hole in White House archives covered a critical two-year period 1996 to 1998 when Republicans and special prosecutor Ken Starr were subpoenaing White House e-mails.Despite separate congressional investigations and a federal lawsuit over Project X, high-level e-mails dealing with several scandals were never turned over. And the full scope of Bill and Hillary Clintons culpability in the parade of scandals was never known.To those well-versed in Clinton shenanigans, this all sounds distressingly familiar. Thanks to another server-related problem, Clinton so far has gotten away with withholding more than 30,000 e-mails from congressional committees investigating the Benghazi terrorism cover-up, Clinton Foundation foreign-influence peddling and other scandals. This Clinton e-mail scandal is nothing new, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told me. There were previous efforts to hide e-mails in the Clinton White House. His Washington watchdog group filed a lawsuit to recover the missing White House e-mails back then, just as it has against the State Department now, though it has had better luck in this case.The parallels don t end there.During the Project X e-mail scandal, career White House staffers and contractors found that someone close to the first lady had basically turned off the White House s automated e-mail-archiving system. They fingered White House special assistant Laura Crabtree Callahan, who was overseeing the computer contractors despite obtaining computer-science degrees from diploma mills.Read more: NYP

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U.S. Presidential Race, North Dakota, Syria: Your Weekend Briefing - The New York Times

Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. 1. North Korea conducted a powerful nuclear test that showcased its increasing mastery of atomic weaponry and confronted the U. S. with new diplomatic and security challenges. Military experts said the increasing expertise, paired with headway in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, could bring the continental U. S. in reach of a nuclear warhead by 2020. Analysts say that North Korea cultivates a sense of unpredictability verging on irrationality, but that, in fact, the government remains coldly calculating, edging up to the brink of war to keep aggressors at bay and its savagely oppressed people cowed. Above, a protest in South Korea. _____ 2. President Obama is back in Washington after a trip to Asia. He visited Laos to recognize the scars of the U. S. secret war there during the Vietnam conflict and, standing alongside the leader of China, formally committed the world’s two largest economies to the Paris climate agreement. Mr. Obama has pushed hard on measures to fight climate change, logging historic achievements abroad but frustrating setbacks at home. Watch our interview with Mr. Obama here. _____ 3. The race to succeed Mr. Obama has just about eight weeks to go, and it’s getting even more intense. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump clashed over national security, as Mr. Trump proposed dropping spending caps on the military and Mrs. Clinton pledged to never send U. S. soldiers back into Iraq or into Syria. Each candidate made statements that drew intense criticism: Mr. Trump’s backing for Vladimir Putin drew reminders of the Russian leader’s harshly oppressive tactics and territorial aggression, and Mrs. Clinton’s characterization of half of Mr. Trump’s supporters as being “in a basket of deplorables” — “the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it” that he has empowered. _____ 4. The U. S. today commemorates the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attack on U. S. soil. The National September 11 Memorial Museum, at ground zero, has portraits of almost all of the nearly 3, 000 people killed that day in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, but seven are still being sought. Can you help? There may be no better way to understand how the passengers of Flight 93 fought their hijackers and brought their plane down in Shanksville, Pa. killing all aboard, than listening to Robert Franz, a interpretive park ranger at the memorial there. _____ 5. Uber will introduce a fleet of about 100 cars in Pittsburgh within days, each with a human monitor in the driver’s seat. This is not just a test of the technology. It’s also a demonstration of “greenlight governing,” i. e. giving tech companies help and lots of freedom. Pittsburgh officials helped Uber lease riverfront land for a testing track and warded off new state regulations. “You can either put up red tape or roll out the red carpet,” the mayor said. “If you want to be a laboratory for technology, you put out the carpet. ” _____ 6. College campuses around the nation are stepping up discussions of microaggressions and triggers as they address racism, diversity, sexual consent and excessive drinking in their fall orientation programs. But the schools can find themselves in a bind. Racist episodes sharply depressed enrollment for at least one university, but alumni upset over the currents in college culture, including efforts to silence those whose opinions differ, are closing their wallets. _____ 7. The Obama administration made an unusual intervention in a protest in North Dakota, temporarily blocking construction of part of the Dakota Access oil pipeline minutes after a federal judge had cleared the project. Thousands of Native Americans and activists have been protesting, warning that a section of the pipeline that is to go under a river has the potential to foul tribal water supplies and ancestral cultural sites. The Justice Department and other agencies called for discussions on giving greater consideration of tribes’ views for “these types of infrastructure projects. ” _____ 8. Public health experts have raised more alarms on Zika, but partisan fighting has kept Congress from adding to funds to combat the virus. Urgently needed measures in Puerto Rico and Florida are at risk, and fears of Zika spreading along the Gulf Coast are growing. Peak mosquito season there will not end until November. And lawmakers are going to the wire again on funding the government. At this point, only stopgap measures will keep the lights on after Sept. 30. President Obama invited congressional leaders to the White House on Monday to discuss that and other priorities. _____ 9. The U. S. and Russia, after 10 months of failed talks, agreed to embark on a new approach to Syria. The deal depends on Russia restraining Syria’s loyalist forces, and on the U. S. persuading opposition groups it supports to separate from the Nusra Front, an affiliate of Al Qaeda. Above, a wounded Syrian boy comforted another. The U. S. has now accepted 10, 000 Syrian refugees. Here’s where they’ve been placed. And here’s a look at what it’s like when young refugees from all over try to fit in at an ordinary American high school. _____ 10. Clothes you can buy now, or at least order, are the big news from the opening of the fall fashion season. New York Fashion Week (followed by Fashion Weeks in London, Milan and Paris) also proved that the clothes are no longer enough — the shows have to provide an experience. Our critic looked at two representative cases: Kanye West’s performance piece and Tom Ford’s evening of dinner theater. It doesn’t matter that only a select few can physically attend, she writes: Their Instagram and Facebook posts invite followers to try to get closer by getting “a product that was in the room. ” _____ 11. Finally, researchers have found fascinating new aspects of the lives of the bonobo, the endangered primate that is one of our closest relatives. Famed for their hypersexuality, bonobos also form strong bonds among females and weak ones among males, in sharp contrast to the closely related chimpanzee. In fact, senior females will lead coalitions of two or more juniors to drive off harassing males. “It’s a matriarchy,” a primatologist said. “Females are running the show. ” Have a great week. _____ Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Evening Briefing, weeknights at 6 p. m. Eastern. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s Evening Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

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Review: ‘Rogue One’ Leaves ‘Star Wars’ Fans Wanting More and Less - The New York Times

The great mystery of “Rogue One” — the big payoff, the thing people like me would be pilloried for divulging, the puzzle you will congratulate yourself for solving — is where it fits in with the rest of the “Star Wars” cycle. There are scattered hints early on, and later appearances by familiar characters that elicit chuckles of recognition from fans. The very last shot tells us exactly where we are, and why we should have cared about everything we just saw. Whether that is enough — whether the fractures in the Rebel Alliance and the power struggles in the imperial ranks quicken our pulses and engage our emotions — is the big question, but it really isn’t a question at all. Millions of people will sit through this thoroughly mediocre movie (directed with basic competence by Gareth Edwards from a surprisingly hackish script by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy) and convince themselves that it’s perfectly delightful. It’s so much easier to obey than to resist. The spoiler warning sent by the Disney empire instructed journalists to “continue to be our partners on this journey,” and defiance is unthinkable, even if “partner” is taken as a synonym for “shill. ” But the injunction not to ruin anyone’s good time by “revealing spoilers and detailed story points” is itself revealing, an indication of the meager and disposable pleasures this movie is meant to provide, and also of the low regard its makers have for the audience. It hasn’t always been this way, of course. The first “Star Wars” trilogy had a fresh, insurgent energy, and learning the names of all those planets and galactic adventurers has seemed, to generations of fans, like a new and special kind of fun. Now, though, it is starting to feel like drudgery, a schoolbook exercise in a course of study that has no useful application and that will never end. “Rogue One,” named for the call sign of an imperial cargo ship appropriated by rebel fighters, is the opposite of that vessel. Masquerading as a heroic tale of rebellion, its true spirit is Empire all the way down. Like the fighters on the planet Scarif, which is surrounded by an atmospheric shield, you are trapped inside this world, subjected to its whims and laws. You can’t escape, because it is the supposed desire to escape that brought you here in the first place. Maybe I’m exaggerating. The cast is wonderful. Felicity Jones is a fine addition to the “Star Wars” tradition of heroines. She plays Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) a scientist whose allegiances are a little ambiguous. Not at all ambiguous is Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic, a marvel of sneering, vainglorious villainy in an impeccable white uniform, complete with a cape that billows behind him when he strides down a starship catwalk. Jyn’s idealistic tendencies are at first checked by a hint of cynicism. She’s suspicious of the rebels and contemptuous of the Empire, and has complicated feelings about Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) the extremist militant who cared for her in her father’s absence. When a mission announces itself — I don’t think I’m supposed to say too much about it, other than that it’s highly perilous and requires a lot of and aerial battling — Jyn gathers up an appealing, motley guerrilla crew. There’s a renegade imperial pilot (Riz Ahmed) a resistance type (Diego Luna) a blind monk (Donnie Yen) and a bearded berserker (Wen Jiang). And naturally, a wisecracking droid, speaking in the dry, sarcastic tones of the indispensable Alan Tudyk. All the pieces are there, in other words, like Lego figures in a box. The problem is that the filmmakers haven’t really bothered to think of anything very interesting to do with them. A couple of on a rainy afternoon would come up with better adventures, and probably also better dialogue. Plots and subplots are handled with clumsy expediency, and themes that might connect this movie with the larger Lucasfilm mythos aren’t allowed to develop. You’re left wanting both more and less. There are too many characters, too much tactical and technical explanation, too much prattle. And at the same time, there isn’t quite enough of the filial dynamic between Galen and Jyn, and not enough weight given to the ethical and strategic problems of rebellion. When might ends justify means? What kind of sacrifice is required in the service of a righteous cause? Popular art — “Star Wars” included — has often proved itself capable of exploring these kinds of questions with clarity, vigor and even a measure of nuance. But “Rogue One” has no such ambitions, no will to persuade the audience of anything other than the continued strength of the brand. It doesn’t so much preach to the choir as propagandize to the captives, telling us that we’re free spirits and partners on the journey. The only force at work here is the force of habit.

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Obama Finally Admits: ‘We Had No Plan After Libya Regime Change’

21st Century Wire says Not quite a mea culpa, but at least it s something. Still, as the leader of the US and with the US as NATO s leading player, President Obama is completely responsible for over 30,000 deaths, as well as a failed state in Libya which has since descended into war-lording chaos and ISIS maniacs now running amok almost guaranteeing a redeployment of western forces in the region. Job done.And then there s the role of Hillary Clinton in this unspeakable crime RTFailing to plan for the aftermath of the US-led military intervention in Libya was President Barack Obama s worst mistake during the eight years in the White House, Obama himself confessed to US media.When asked in a quick Q&A preview for an interview with Fox News Sunday what his worst mistake as a president had been, the US leader answered: Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya. Given Libya s proximity to the European continent, he expected his counterparts to invest more in the follow-up to the military campaign, the US President claimed.'S**t show': Obama blames UK & other European states for post-Gaddafi Libya 'mess' https://t.co/wLirmVGQXQ pic.twitter.com/1yFcdToxji RT (@RT_com) March 11, 2016In March of 2011, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted a resolution on Libya authorizing the international community to take all necessary measures to protect the civilian population. The US-led coalition then proceeded to intensively bomb the Libyan army, eventually toppling the country s leader, Gaddafi, who was killed in October of the same year.The role of Hillary Clinton in the White House s decision to go to war in Libya has recently been exposed, with former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates claiming that the input of the then Secretary of State had played a major role in influencing President Obama s decision Continue this story at RTREAD MORE LIBYA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Libya Files

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Physician Aid in Dying Gains Acceptance in the U.S. - The New York Times

Judith Katherine Dunning had been waiting anxiously for California to adopt legislation that would make it legal for her to end her life. The cancer in her brain was progressing despite several rounds of treatment. At 68, she spent most of her day asleep and needed an aide to help with basic tasks. More centrally, Ms. Dunning — who, poignantly, had worked as an oral historian in Berkeley, Calif. — was losing her ability to speak. Even before the End of Life Option Act became law, in October 2015, she had recorded a video expressing her desire to hasten her death. The video, she hoped, would make her wishes clear, in case there were any doubts later on. “She felt she had completed all the important tasks of her life,” recalled her physician, Dr. Michael Rabow, director of the symptom management service at the University of California, San Francisco. “When she could no longer communicate, life was no longer worth living. ” In recent months, this option has become available to a growing number of Americans. Last June, legislation took effect in California, the most populous state. In November, Colorado voters approved a ballot measure by nearly a majority. The District of Columbia Council has passed a similar law, and the mayor quietly signed it last month. Aid in dying was already legal in Washington, Vermont, Montana and Oregon. So even if the District of Columbia’s law is blocked, as a prominent Republican representative has threatened to do, the country has arrived at a remarkable moment: Close to 20 percent of Americans live in jurisdictions where adults can legally end their lives if they are terminally ill and meet eligibility requirements. The laws, all based on the Death With Dignity Act Oregon adopted in 1997, allow physicians to write prescriptions for lethal drugs when patients qualify. The somewhat complicated procedure involves two oral requests and a written one, extensive discussions, and approval by two physicians. Patients must have the mental capacity to make medical decisions. While that process took shape in Oregon two decades ago, the cultural and political context surrounding it has changed considerably. The states recently considering the issue differ from earlier adopters, and as opposition from some longtime adversaries has softened, new obstacles have arisen. Historically, aid in dying has generated fierce resistance from the Catholic Church, from certain activists, and from others who cite religious or moral objections. Even the terminology — aid in dying? assisted suicide? death with dignity? — creates controversy. But the concept has long drawn broad support in public opinion polls. Polltakers for the General Social Survey, done by NORC at the University of Chicago have asked a representative national sample this question since 1977: “When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient’s life by some painless means if the patient and his family request it?” The proportion of Americans responding affirmatively, always a substantial majority, has bounced between 66 and 69 percent for 15 years. But support was not evenly distributed: Such laws initially were enacted in states with predominantly white populations like Oregon, and to date the vast majority of patients who have used them are white. “I hear people talk all the time about this being a rich white person’s issue,” said Donna Smith, legislative manager for the District of Columbia at the group Compassion and Choices, who is . “Now, we have proof on the ground that that is not true. ” Indeed, aid in dying has expanded to more diverse locales. whites represent a minority of Californians. Colorado is more than 21 percent Latino. In the District of Columbia, nearly half of whose residents are five of six black council members voted in favor of the legislation. State medical societies, once active foes of initiatives, also have begun shifting their positions, citing deep divisions among their members. The California Medical Association, the Colorado Medical Society and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia all took officially neutral stances as legislators and voters debated, depriving opponents of influential allies. So has the state medical society in Maryland, where legislators plan to reintroduce a bill (the third attempt) this month. The American Medical Association, an opponent since 1993, has asked its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs to look at the issue and submit a report in June, though without recommending any policy. But even as the idea gains acceptance, passage of a bill or ballot measure does not always make aid in dying broadly available to those who want it. In addition to the safeguards the law requires, its practice can be balky — at least in the early stages. State provisions allow any individual or institution to decline to provide prescriptions. In California, Catholic health care systems have opted out, predictably, but so have a number of others, including Vitas, the nation’s largest hospice chain. Moreover, California hospitals and hospices can forbid their affiliated physicians to write the necessary prescriptions, even if they are acting privately. Some health systems with hundreds of doctors have done so. (Vermont, Colorado and the District of Columbia allow doctors to make individual decisions.) “The shortage of participating providers has led to a lot of patient and family frustration,” said Dr. Laura Petrillo, palliative care physician at the San Francisco V. A. Medical Center, in an email. “They had the expectation that it would be available and happen seamlessly once the law went into effect, and then find themselves needing to do a lot of legwork” to find doctors willing to prescribe lethal drugs and pharmacies to fill prescriptions, she said. Sometimes, when patients have waited until late in their illnesses, they die before they can become eligible for assisted death. Or they become too physically or mentally incapacitated to take the drugs themselves, as legally required, even if they do qualify. In areas where many providers opt out, very sick patients may have to travel long distances to use the law. And costs can also prove a barrier. Some private insurers pay for the necessary doctors’ visits and drugs. In California, most do, said Matt Whitaker, state director of Compassion and Choices, the leading advocacy group. But Congress has long prohibited the use of federal dollars for aid in dying, so Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs will not cover it. States like California and Oregon have agreed to cover the costs for Medicaid recipients others do not. Cost mattered less years ago, when a lethal dose of barbiturates ran a couple of hundred dollars. But in 2015, as California legislators introduced their bill, Valeant Pharmaceuticals acquired Seconal, the most commonly used drug. The company, known (and condemned) for a similar strategy with other medications, spiked the price, a move Mr. Whitaker called “ethically and morally bankrupt. ” Now, patients whose insurers will not cover aid in dying face paying $3, 000 to $4, 000 for the drug. Valeant has denied the suggestion that it was exploiting the new law. As a result, physicians are turning to alternative — and — combinations of opioids and sedatives for those who cannot afford the standard medication. Despite such obstacles and disappointments, an emboldened Compassion and Choices, with a staff that has tripled since 2008 and an annual budget that has nearly quadrupled to $16. 9 million — is eyeing its next targets. Over several years, its leaders think they can help legalize aid in dying in Maryland, Hawaii and New York. Aid in dying, it should be noted, may be a vehemently debated issue, with campaigns that can involve thousands of participants and millions of dollars — but it ultimately has affected a tiny proportion of people. The number of residents taking advantage of these laws in Oregon and Washington has climbed in the past two years. Still, after nearly 20 years in Oregon and eight in Washington, far fewer than 1 percent of annual deaths involve a lethal prescription. (Of those residents who do receive one, about a third do not use it.) It’s not the way most Americans choose to die, even when they have the legal option. Yet the end of life care most people receive needs substantial improvement. While partisans fight over aid in dying, skeptics like Dr. Rabow note, the complicated and expensive measures that could improve care for the great majority — overhauled medical education, better staffed and operated nursing homes, increased access to hospice and palliative care — go largely unaddressed. Still, Ms. Dunning was Dr. Rabow’s longtime patient. When California’s act took effect, she began the process of requesting lethal medication. Her speech had slurred further, but not yet enough to render her unintelligible. Dr. Rabow did not want to see her die, and he is no fan of the movement. But Ms. Dunning had been clear, consistent and determined. He wrote the prescription. “She was ready to have her life end, and no amount of support or medication or counseling would change the situation,” he said. In September, she invited him to her home, where she planned to swallow the fatal slurry of barbiturates. On the appointed day, Dr. Rabow arrived to find “a house full of people who didn’t want her to end her life, but were there to support her and respect her decision. ” Over the course of the day, people said their goodbyes, then withdrew to leave Ms. Dunning with her closest relatives, her hospice nurse and her doctor. Her son mixed her Seconal solution and she swallowed it, no simple task for someone with advanced cancer. She lost consciousness almost immediately and died several hours later. “I wished she could have had a natural life span,” Dr. Rabow said. “And I would have made a different choice. But I was honored to be there to watch this very dignified woman live her life the way she wanted to. ”

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Flip-flop: Vox warns of serious risk of Election Day violence, and not the good kind either

Flip-flop: Vox warns of serious risk of Election Day violence, and not the good kind either Posted at 9:24 Brett T. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Those playing along at home probably noticed that the flood of groping and sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump, whether true or false, receded awfully quickly once the media and the Clinton campaign decided to clear the decks for a new batch of think pieces about Trump’s allegations that the election was rigged. In case the public missed the hint that, by questioning the integrity of America’s electoral process, Trump was sowing the seeds of Election Day violence, a new wave of think pieces emerged to make the threat that much more explicit. They’re not saying there’s gonna be violence; they’re just strongly implying there’s gonna be violence. If there is unrest and violence after election day, I think we now know why. https://t.co/P6WNdG36f5 CNN … isn’t that the network that “shorthanded” a girl’s call for rioters to burn down the Milwaukee suburbs until it could be reported as a condemnation of violence? Election officials and parties are preparing for possible violence on Election Day and long battle over legitimacy https://t.co/n21U1MfHYO — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) October 17, 2016 Trump's attack on the foundation of democracy makes violence on Election Day more likely. https://t.co/rGADYMG5Op

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'Gates of Hell': Iraqi army says fighting near Tal Afar worse than Mosul

(Story corrects third paragraph to show Mosul fell in July, not June, after nine, not eight, months of urban warfare in August 29th instance.) By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces battling to retake the small town of al- Ayadiya where militants fleeing Tal Afar have entrenched themselves, saying on Tuesday the fighting is multiple times worse than the battle for Mosul s old city. Hundreds of battle-hardened fighters were positioned inside most houses and high buildings inside the town, making it difficult for government forces to make any progress, army officers told Reuters. Iraqi government troops captured the town of Mosul from Islamic State in July, but only after nine months of grinding urban warfare. But one Iraqi officer, Colonel Kareem al-Lami, described breaching the militants first line of defense in al- Ayadiya as like opening the gates of hell . Iraqi forces have in recent days recaptured almost all of the northwestern city of Tal Afar, long a stronghold of Islamic State. They have been waiting to take al- Ayadiya, just 11 km (7 miles) northwest of the city, before declaring complete victory. Tough resistance from the militants in al- Ayadiya has forced the Iraqi forces to increase the number of air strikes, as well as bring in reinforcements from the federal police to boost units from the army, air force, Federal Police, the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and some units from the Shi ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Up to 2,000 battle-hardened militants were believed to be defending Tal Afar against around 50,000 government troops last week. Military intelligence indicated that many militants fled Tal Afar to mount a staunch defense in al- Ayadiya. Many motorcycles carrying the Islamic State insignia were seen abandoned at the side of the road outside al- Ayadiya. Though the exact numbers of militants on the ground in al- Ayadiya was still unclear, al-Lami, the Iraqi Army colonel, estimated they were in their hundreds. Daesh (Islamic State) fighters in their hundreds are taking positions inside almost every single house in the town, he said. Sniper shots, mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-armored projectiles were fired from every single house, he added. We thought the battle for Mosul s Old City was tough, but this one proved to be multiple times worst, al-Lami said. We are facing tough fighters who have nothing to lose and are ready to die. Two army officers told Reuters that no significant advances had yet been made in al- Ayadiya. They said they were waiting for artillery and air strikes to undermine the militants power. The extra Federal Police troops that were called in said late on Tuesday that they had controlled 50 percent of the town, deploying snipers on the high buildings and intensified shelling the militants headquarters with rockets, a federal police spokesman said in a statement. Tal Afar became the next target of the U.S.-backed war on the jihadist group following the recapture of Mosul, where it had declared its caliphate over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

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Letting Go Of Old Patterns Of Reaction

Leave a reply Mary O’Malley – A friend of mine was gifted a vacation on a river barge through France and Germany. She was really excited because she could never afford to do this on her own. Her itinerary included a flight from Seattle to New York and the next day, she and her cousin would fly to Europe together. As they were getting ready to go through the international security checkpoint, the TSA officer would not let my friend through because her passport had expired. At that moment, a feeling of panic came over her when she realized she had grabbed the wrong passport. As the panic began to intensify, she tuned into her body and used her breath to calm herself down and think rationally. Having done awakening work for some time, she realized that reacting to whatever Life is offering only creates suffering. She said, “Mary, I can’t believe it. If this happened years ago, I would have had a temper tantrum and been in tears all day. Instead, I calmly told my cousin to go on without me and I would have a friend in Seattle overnight my passport so I could take a flight the following day.” This is the power of accepting whatever Life brings. She added “I did not react or panic when I realized I would have to pay for a new ticket and stay in New York by myself. It all turned out so differently than what I thought, and it was all okay.” Whenever we are faced with a challenge, whether it is a cut on our finger, a raging boss, or an expired passport, we all react in our own unique ways. One of the core ways we can heal ourselves is by getting to know our own patterns of reaction. Some of the standard modes of reaction are the stoic, the pleaser, the worrier, the rager, the freezer, the rescuer, the victim, the judger and the self-absorbed one. We put these reactive parts of ourselves together into our own particular style. Our patterns of reaction can bring so much heartache into our lives. My primary mode of reaction was to freeze, and like all patterns of reaction, it would tighten me, isolate me and cut me off from the flow of love that is Life. It got stronger as I got older, and it became much more entrenched when I tried to make it stop. Then I learned how to see it and meet it with understanding and mercy. Only then was I able to free-up this frozen energy and learn how to respond to Life rather than always living in reaction. This process of seeing, loving and letting go of your patterns of reaction happens in three phases. First phase: You are caught. You either can’t see your patterns or, if you do, you have little willingness to do anything about them. You also don’t recognize the consequences that come from living out of your repetitive reactions. When you decide you don’t want to live this way anymore, you usually declare war on the pattern, trying to wrestle it to the ground. This only works for a short period of time because you haven’t done the work needed to dissolve the pattern. When the pattern comes back again, you then get caught in self-judgment (I did it again) and despair (I will never get out of this). You begin to move into the second phase when you see that the price you pay for taking care of yourself in your old ways isn’t worth it, and you understand that trying to wrestle it to the ground doesn’t work. Second phase: As you come to realize that living out of your old patterns isn’t how you want to live, and trying to get rid of them seems to only empower them, you begin to become curious about what is going on and feel the possibility of living another way. At the beginning of this phase, when your patterns of reaction are triggered, you will get lost in them most of the time. But slowly, you become more curious and more merciful with yourself. Even when you get completely lost, there comes a time when you can let go of judgment and despair, and simply notice how you are reacting. This may be right in the middle of the pattern, a few minutes afterwards, or a few days afterwards. You become more curious than controlling and more compassionate than judgmental. You finally come to the place where you can actually stand with the discomfort of not following your pattern. This almost feels like detox, and it is good to have the support of other people as you learn how to be with your experience rather than running away from it. The more you can be with yourself, the more it opens your heart. And that is really what you have been longing for all along – the ability to live from your own heart. Third phase: As your ability to see and let go of your old patterns increases, you enter the third phase. This is where your primary relationship with yourself is one of compassion and curiosity. You still may get caught in your patterns, but only for short periods of time, and rather than bringing up judgment or despair, they become an invitation to open back into Life. The more you can meet yourself exactly as you are, the more you discover how to live from your own truth. You can now let go of the idea that a good life is one where everything is under control. Instead, you learn how to ride the ups and downs of your life, trusting yourself, trusting your life. You then become the awakened heart that heals not only yourself but also the world. There isn’t a clear delineation with these three phases. On any particular day, you may touch into all three phases. But the more you can be curious and merciful with yourself, the more you will naturally gravitate toward the third phase – the place of truly becoming yourself. This is the greatest gift you can give to yourself and to Life. SF Source Mary O’Malley

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Kris Kobach: Democrats Already Attacking Election Integrity Commission

Kris Kobach of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, who is also Secretary of State for Kansas, joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Monday’s Breitbart News Daily to discuss voter fraud and border security. [“The commission is going to be about a dozen people, bipartisan, five of them current or former Secretaries of State,” Kobach said. “What it’s going to do is take a nationwide look at the problem of voter fraud. There’s a lot of debate around the subject of voter fraud, and as someone who has been Secretary of State in a state where we introduced photo ID as well as proof of citizenship, and security for ballots — which is oftentimes a source of fraud or a type of fraud that occurs — we’re going to look at it from a nationwide perspective. ” “I’ve amassed a lot of data at the state level in Kansas, but there really hasn’t ever been an effort by a federal entity to measure the statistics and the facts nationwide and see what the numbers look like,” he noted. Kobach recalled that Kansas and other states asked the Obama administration to provide lists of aliens on legal visas to check against voter rolls, so they could weed out ineligible voters. “The federal government has consistently said no, under the Obama administration. Well, this commission will have the authority to maybe look at a couple of states and say, ‘okay, let’s check how many people who are registered voters in those states are also known aliens, according to the federal government,” he said. “That’s going to be exciting, something never done before, and it will give us some sense of what the real numbers are of this problem. ” “The Social Security Administration has what’s called the ‘master death file.’ It sounds like some sort of starship from Star Wars, but the master death file is a list of people who have died. The Social Security Administration wants to track that, and of course keep Social Security Numbers rotating to people who are living. That’s a database that can be used to bump against some of the voter rolls,” he added. “Things like that, where we can just take some hard statistics and gather some numbers — and we’ll also be looking at anecdotal things and prosecutions for voter fraud. It’s a big job,” Kobach said. Marlow anticipated that Kobach would encounter obstructionism from Democrats despite the bipartisan nature of his commission, because as he starkly put it, “We know that the Democrats would like to have lax voter laws and voter rules, because that allows them to cheat. ” Kobach said that after the commission was announced last week, “we did have people like Chuck Schumer coming out immediately and criticize me, and say that the commission is a waste of time. ” “My response is, ‘Senator, what are you afraid of? What are you afraid the commission is going to find, that you would attack the of the commission ad hominem, and that you don’t want the commission to look at the evidence? ’” he said. “Look, if he’s right and voter fraud is virtually in America, then the commission will find virtually nothing, and we will make his case for him,” Kobach argued. “I think it’s kind of curious how some of the leadership of the Democrat Party — and that includes Tom Perez — have criticized the commission, when I would think if they really are interested in the facts, they would say ‘Hey, great the commission will prove to us that voter fraud doesn’t exist.’ So yeah, it’s been interesting. ” Kobach said the Trump administration is “doing well” on immigration and border security so far, in his estimation. “I think the executive orders are what needed to be done. The vetting of people coming from parts of the world where terrorism is rampant, where ISIS or control territory, is very problematic. I give them high marks for that,” he said. “The other thing is, they’ve sent a very clear message to the ICE agents that hey, we’re taking the rope off your hands, we’re untying your hands and letting you do your job,” he continued. “Just by doing that, just by seeing ICE agents more active and out on the field, back doing what they were supposed to do, that has sent a message to the smugglers and to the illegal aliens coming in that there is a new sheriff in town. ” “That’s why you’re seeing the border crossing numbers plummeting,” Kobach stated. “I think that’s great. It does show what those of us who have studied and worked in the immigration field know, and that is that if you make a slight change of policy in Washington, you’ll get an immediate reaction on the border. ” “For example, whenever the crowd starts talking about an amnesty — and under President Obama, they had a president who was welcoming an amnesty — then immediately border crossings surged,” he recalled. “The word gets down south of the border very quickly, and people surge in, because they want to be in the country so that they can claim they were eligible for the amnesty when it happens. Similarly, the opposite is true too. If a more aggressive enforcement begins, word gets across that hey, this is going to be tougher. The price of a coyote smuggling you in is going to double or triple. That affects behavior. ” “Those are some good marks for the administration. I think there is more they could be doing, and hopefully they will be doing it in the near future,” he said. Marlow cited some of the more vicious attacks on Kobach’s character, and asked what it was like to endure such calumny merely because he insists on border security and clean elections. “It’s not good at all,” Kobach replied. “They’ve been dragging my name through the mud for years now. I’ve become calloused to it, and it doesn’t bother me that much. But you know, it bothers my wife, my family. You don’t want your kids to read that. ” “It’s so false,” he continued. “When someone is in a debate, and they don’t have any arguments left, oftentimes on the Left they resort to ad hominem remarks. They just attack you as a person. They call you a racist, they call you a vote suppressor. They just come up with these stupid names. That’s because they don’t have any actual arguments left. I’m not surprised any more by it. It doesn’t bother me, but it’s rather tedious, and I certainly don’t like my family seeing it. ” Kobach anticipated his commission completing its work within a year, and said he would continue to work on ballot integrity and border security in the meantime. “We should see some interesting data, whatever it is, that the commission is able to present to the country. I continue to work in the area of illegal immigration as a litigator, so I’ll be working there. I think you’re going to see a lot of things happening, especially on sanctuary cities,” he said. “California has got this bill that has passed one house, it’s in the other house, to create a sanctuary state, which is just extraordinary. I think you could potentially see litigation on that. You could see litigation on a whole bunch of things,” he anticipated. “I’ll keep fighting to keep our voter rolls clean, and to help this commission find whatever there is to find on the subject nationally. The fight to secure our borders is something that has to be done both within the administration and without. States need to help. States like Texas made a great effort to enlist state and local law enforcement, just like Arizona did a few years ago. I’ll be continuing to push for that,” Kobach promised. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern.

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Police Are Now Warning People To Take A Photo Of Your Hotel Room Right When You Walk Through The Door

November 2015 Ads Police Are Now Warning People To Take A Photo Of Your Hotel Room Right When You Walk Through The Door Oct 29, 2016 Previous post In the United States alone there are more than one million people enslaved today. Many of them were brought into the country by smugglers who specialize not in drugs, but in human trafficking. According to the U.S. State Department, every year between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across the country’s borders, half of them are children and 8 out of 10 are female. They are a fraction of the estimated 21 million people who have been trafficked around the world according the UNICEF, and demand for slavery and cheap labor has been steadily increasing. The numbers are shocking and eye-opening, they reflect the fact that human trafficking has now become the world’s fasted growing crime. In terms of scope and industry size it ranks third internationally, behind only illegal drugs and arms trafficking. The demand for cheap labor and sexual exploitation are the primary driving forces behind human trafficking. Victims are modern day slaves who are being held against their will, abused, abducted, coerced, or threatened into compliance. They face unimaginable horrors and treatment at the hands of their abusers and yet most people can’t even image that this sort of crime is occurring every single day all across America, even in their own neighborhood. Part of what makes human trafficking so hard to detect and investigate is that victims are constantly being moved around. Traffickers rarely stay in one spot, instead they change locations frequently to evade law enforcement and make it super hard for authorities to track them down. That’s also why they use hotel rooms. Not only do hotels afford criminals easy and convenient places to hide, they are perfect because rooms can be paid for in cash. Statistics show that the majority of all trafficking crimes take place in hotel rooms. When traffickers bring their victims to a new hotel room they usually take a picture of them and upload it online as a type of advertisement. That’s where the TraffickCam App comes into play. TraffickCam takes user submitted photos of their hotel rooms and compiles them into an efficient, comparative search database. When traffickers post their photos online, authorities can search them against the database and therefore use it to try and find a match. Everything in the photos that app users submit, from the wallpaper patterns, carpeting, artwork, and the view outside the windows can be used to match and find where traffickers pictures were taken. Here’s how it works: Download the free app to your smartphone and the next time you stay at a hotel snap 4 quick pictures of your room. When you submit them include the name of the hotel you’re staying at and the room number. You can do this when you’re leaving and these images are then added to the database. One day in the future, your picture could help to identify and locate victims and

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HOLLYWOOD HYPOCRITE LEONARD DICAPRIO Jets LA Friends Across The World 6,000 Miles To Hear His Speech On GLOBAL WARMING

Sacrifice is for the peasants When Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio hosts a reception for a string of A-list stars, supermodels and wealthy philanthropists later this month, he will make an impassioned plea for more action to be taken on global warming.But instead of holding the event in Los Angeles, where most of his guests are based, they will fly halfway around the world to the glitzy French resort of St Tropez at enormous cost to the environment.Last night, green campaigners were quick to criticise 41-year-old DiCaprio, who in February used his Best Actor acceptance speech at the Oscars to warn about the dangers posed by climate change.The reception the grand-sounding Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Annual Gala To Fund Climate and Biodiversity Projects will be held on July 20 at the Bertaud Belieu Vineyards on the French Riviera.Celebrities including Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron, Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Robert De Niro, Scarlett Johansson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kevin Spacey are all expected to attend, along with a host of international rock and pop stars, supermodels and tycoons.And while a table seating 12 people at the gala costs up to 125,000, the real price will be paid by the environment.If just one guest among the 500 invitees chooses to fly the 12,000-mile round trip from LA to St Tropez by private jet a notoriously environmentally unfriendly way to travel they will produce 86 tons of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas.Even those who use a scheduled flight will be responsible for releasing seven tons of CO2 leading green campaigners to ask why the event could not have been held in Hollywood or in St Tropez during May s Cannes Film Festival, when many of the guests would have been there anyway.Robert Rapier, an environmental analyst, said: DiCaprio demonstrates why our consumption of fossil fuels continues to grow. It s because everyone loves the combination of cost and convenience they offer. He believes that no sacrifice is necessary; just Government policies that can provide him with a solar-powered yacht or jet, or that give individuals low-cost renewable energy on a broad scale. One guest who attended last year s gala said: It s basically a big party for Leo and his showbusiness friends and models. The models, of course, do not pay for tickets, and neither do the VIP guests they get to have a nice big free party. Via: Daily Mail

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Boiler Room EP #118

Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Daniel Spaulding Soul of the Eastof and FunkSoul & Randy J (21WIRE & ACR contributors), for the hundred and eighteenth episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone! The gang is covering a number of topics this week including: The badge of honor bestowed upon our very own Andy Nowicki who has been added to the Anti-Defamation League s list of hateful conservatives, the sexualization of children being pushed by the disgusting Teen Vogue magazine, how modern pornography is ruining the next generation of young people, the latest failure of the discredited mainstream media to tie Donald Trump Jr. to Russian collusion, Donald Trump s move to stop the CIA s covert program of arming and training terrorists to wage war by proxy in Syria, the strange coincidences and anomalies with the death of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, a curious link revealing a book written in the 1890s about a character named Baron Trump who goes on an adventure to the center of the earth and more.Direct Download Episode #118Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research:

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United States and Cuba complete deals as Trump era set to begin

HAVANA (Reuters) - The Obama administration and Cuba continue to sign cooperation agreements this week, scrambling to complete negotiations on a range of issues with just days to go until Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president, potentially bringing a chill to relations. An agreement to cooperate on air and maritime search and rescue in the Florida Straits was signed on Wednesday in Havana, and another setting territorial limits in contested Gulf of Mexico waters was scheduled for signing on Wednesday or Thursday, according to diplomatic sources. A third agreement on health protocols for dealing with issues such as bird flu was scheduled for signing on Wednesday, but postponed for later this week. It would be the last of 22 accords that have been concluded in the last 18 months. Seeking to reverse more than 50 years of U.S. efforts to force Communist-run Cuba to change by isolating it, Democratic President Barack Obama agreed with Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014 to work to normalize relations. Since then the two countries have restored diplomatic relations and Obama has taken a number of steps to increase travel and trade with Cuba. Trump, a Republican who will be sworn in on Friday, has threatened to end the detente if Cuba does not make further political and other concessions, although he has not specified what these should be. The prospect of a fresh chill has prompted both governments to wrap up negotiations on five agreements since the November election, including one on fighting international crime and another on preventing and containing oil spills. The Obama administration last week ended a 21-year-old special arrangement by which all Cubans arriving in the United States, including without visas, were entitled to stay and seek residency. The policy had long been criticized by the Cuban government. John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council which has followed business ties between the two countries for two decades, noted that while there had been a large array of recent agreements and memorandums of understanding, not all were binding treaties. “The commercial, economic and political bilateral relationship between the United States and Cuba remains tentative, fragile, and immensely subject to the impact of winds from the north and winds from the south,” Kavulich said. The Trump transition team has included five Cuban-Americans who are vocal opponents of detente and who have close ties to Cuban-American lawmakers calling for a return to efforts to isolate Cuba. A number of Trump appointees, including his national security advisor, Michael Flynn, have expressed opposition to the effort to normalize relations. Obama has used executive orders, which can be scrapped by Trump, to circumvent the longstanding U.S. trade embargo on Cuba and ease some restrictions on travel and business. The embargo can be lifted only by the U.S. Congress, which is controlled by Republicans. (This story corrects paragraph 8 to say that not all the deals were binding treaties, rather than none of the deals)

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Fukushima – The Untouchable Eco-Apocalypse No One is Talking About

Waking Times – by Alex Pietrowski The most important ecological crisis of the world has ever seen has been underway since March 11th, 2011, yet there is nary a mention of it in the corporate media, and no political body in the world is championing its resolution. Widespread Denial and Willful Ignorance The effects on nature are already being seen, yet even among the environmentalist factions of media, there is strong denial of the damage already done and of what is to come as the crisis approaches its sixth year. Some 300 tons of radioactive water are dumped into the Pacific Ocean each day , and signs are showing that this catastrophe is gravely affecting sea-life and wildlife in and around the Pacific . The FDA maintains that there is no evidence of contamination by Fukushima borne radionuclides in the American food supply, yet this opinion is contested by some independent researchers. A report by the Fairewinds Energy Education says that cancer is on the rise in areas around the failed power plant, and that millions will die in coming years as a result. “[T]he second report received from Japan proves that the incidence of thyroid cancer is approximately 230 times higher than normal in Fukushima Prefecture… So what’s the bottom line? The cancers already occurring in Japan are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m sorry to say that the worst is yet to come.” [ Source ] As election year in the U.S. approaches its dramatic climax, it has been striking to observe that neither of the major two-party candidates, or third-party candidates for that matter, have mentioned this crisis at all during the entire election run up. It is a non-issue in American politics, and if you’re listening, the silence is deafening. The 40-Year-Plan Thus far, all plans to stop radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean and the Japanese Islands have failed, the most impressive of which is the construction of a $320 million underground wall of frozen dirt to block the seepage of groundwater into surrounding areas. 1oo feet deep and over a mile long, the ‘ land-side impermeable wall ‘ is already failing as rainfall from recent typhoons has caused partial melting of sections of the ‘ice wall.’ Workers examine pipes for the wall of frozen soil at the embattled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Image Credit: http://www.asahi.com/ A previous and ongoing cleanup effort requires the on site storage of contaminated water near the Fukushima Daiichi is merely a band-aid as radioactive water continues to accumulate by the day , with no long term plan for proper disposal. “…the filtered water is still full of tritium , a radioactive version of hydrogen. (When two neutrons are added to the element, it becomes unstable, prone to emitting electrons.) Tritium bonds with oxygen just like normal hydrogen does, to produce radioactive “tritiated water.” It’s impractical—or at least extremely difficult and expensive—to separate tritiated water from normal water.” [ Source ] Storage tanks at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The reality here is that this crisis is untouchable in its scope and unparalleled in its lethality, and TEPCO’s 40-year-plan to decommission the plant will be a failure. Final Thoughts No one of significant import is talking about this crisis or working to elevate it as a national and international priority. The American political scene is focused instead on the selection of the next president being chosen between two candidates who clearly have zero interest in addressing this dire issue. Is this because nothing can be done about it? Is this because the energy industry is controlling the conversation and covering up the truth ? Or is this because the agenda for the U.S. at present is geared to destabilization and a push for expansion of the Orwellian Permanent War , and ecological disasters are supportive of the global depopulation scheme in play? In any case, the Fukushima meltdown is a slow-burning apocalyptic event that desperately needs our attention. For more background, please view the following video summary: Read more articles from Alex Pietrowski . About the Author Alex Pietrowski is an artist and writer concerned with preserving good health and the basic freedom to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and Offgrid Outpost , a provider of storable food and emergency kits . Alex is an avid student of Yoga and life. This article ( Fukushima – The Untouchable Eco-Apocalypse No One is Talking About ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to AlexPietrowski and WakingTimes.com . It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.

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BITTER HILLARY JUST CLAIMED SHE ‘BEAT’ TRUMP: Nigel Evans Has A Message For Her! This is a Must-Watch Video!

Hillary Clinton just made the claim that she beat President Trump in the 2016 election. The bitter and delusional Clinton is a woman who can t let the loss go In a lengthy interview in New York Magazine, Clinton made the claim that she beat both Sanders and Trump in the 2016 election: I beat both of them, she said, evidently referencing her popular vote win over Trump.British politician Nigel Evans has message for anyone, including Hillary, who is in denial. He defends Donald Trump and his supporters in this must-watch video! The fact is, there were 61 million people who voted for Donald Trump, and when we stand up in this country and attack him, we are actually attacking the American people. Bravo! Thank you Mr. Evans!

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Racist Prick Spits On Black Pair, Yells N****** B*tch While Starbucks Customers Silently Watch

Are we a post-racial nation? No, we re not, no matter what conservatives like to say, and what happened at a Seattle Starbucks is just further proof of that. Dr. Bob Hughes, an associate dean at Seattle University, was sitting with a colleague, just catching up, when an openly racist jerk decided it would be fun to be a completely racist jerk as he walked on past.Hughes felt something on his hand, and then the guy called his friend a n***** b*tch before walking out. That s right, f**king n***** b*tch, he called one more time as he walked out the door. The other customers in the Starbucks just kind of sat there, doing their own things in a deafening silence that demonstrates how post-racial we re not.These are two college administrators who were dressed professionally, and just talking inside a Starbucks. KUOW.org published an essay from Dr. Hughes, in which he said: As my colleague noted, as we waited to file a police report, we both know that we can t dress ourselves out of the perception of who were are in the dominant society. She and I were dressed in the kind of professional attire anyone would expect a college administrator to be wearing in the middle of a work day, are still targets for hate.But the young man didn t see educated college administrators sitting at the table. He saw two black people and, in his twisted sense of the rules of life, our socio-economic status, educational accomplishments or our age required no respect or deference. In fact, he seemed only to see a woman of color whom he could brazenly assault in an open space with others watching. He went on to explain that it took him back to his childhood in the 1950s and 60s, where he was a black kid growing up in an all-white community, and where this kind of racist, hateful behavior was normal because of that. Silence from onlookers was normal then, and it appears it s still normal today.One woman offered to be a witness, and the manager of the Starbucks helped them file a police report. In a truly post-racial world, as Hughes said, nobody would stand for this. Nobody would have just sat there quietly. And yet, we hear all the time from conservatives that black people, and everyone else who talks about racism, are the ones who are the problem because race doesn t matter anymore.This wouldn t have happened if race didn t matter anymore.The lack of immediate consequences for the young man who did this mean he will do it more and more, without shame and without remorse. Hughes says: My guess is that next time, this young man will be more violent. Unstopped, antisocial behavior like this escalates. And he lives in a world right now where he felt safe taking these actions. He ll feel even safer doing so if we end up with a President Trump. What Hughes and his colleague endured is disgusting in 2016.Featured image via Seattle University

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SAY “HELLO” TO YOUR NEW NEIGHBORS! Clooney Begged For Open Borders…Now Massive Refugee Camp Is Erected In His Front Yard

Karma it s a beautiful thing A massive makeshift refugee camp has been established in Lake Como, the popular and secluded celebrity hideaway in Italy where Hollywood A-lister George Clooney keeps a home.The migration of hundreds of people from Arab nations, Africa, and Asia was triggered following the Swiss government s decision to close its southern border with Italy.Now, waiting for smugglers to lead them into northern Europe, groups of migrants are camping out in tattered tents around the Lake Como resort.https://twitter.com/ScatterBrainPOD/status/753134667490930688Flimsy dwellings, clothes and trash are scattered around the Northern Italian town s railway station, where dozens of new families and refugees have flocked.https://twitter.com/PatriceArnold25/status/753183423573794825The migrant camp is, oddly enough, just steps away from the front door of immigration activists George and Amal Clooney s multi-million dollar lakeside mansion in Lake Como, according to the Daily Mail.The power couple has spent some time talking about the migrant crisis. The Clooneys met privately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in February and praised and thanked her for her leadership during the crisis.The Clooneys have taken refuge from the Hollywood spotlight in their summer home in Italy for years. Last year, Page Six reported that Clooney was mulling putting his Lake Como villa on the market due to ever-present and intrusive paparazzi.It is unclear if the recent deluge of refugees pouring into town will have an affect on Clooney s decision to sell or not. BreitbartRead more: Daily Mail

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Tested by Russia, NATO Struggles to Stay Credible - The New York Times

BRUSSELS — Six weeks before a critical summit meeting aimed at bolstering NATO’s deterrence against a resurgent Russia, the alliance is facing a long list of challenges. The first is to find a country to lead the last of four military units to be deployed in Poland and the three Baltic nations. But that, analysts say, could be the least of its problems. Security concerns are as high now as they have been since the end of the Cold War. As the immigration crisis has strained relations within the Continent, anxieties have been heightened by Russian military offensives in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and a bombing campaign in Syria that has demonstrated Moscow’s rapidly increasing capabilities. Lately, Russia has talked openly about the utility of tactical nuclear weapons. Despite the growing threats, many European countries still resist strong measures to strengthen NATO. Many remain reluctant to increase military spending, despite past pledges. Some, like Italy, are cutting back. France is reverting to its traditional skepticism toward the alliance, which it sees as an instrument of American policy and an infringement on its sovereignty. And that is not to mention the declarations of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, that NATO is “obsolete,” that the allies are “ripping off” the United States and that he would not really be concerned if the alliance broke up. While that may be campaign bluster, it does reflect a growing unwillingness in the United States to shoulder a disproportionate share of the NATO burden, militarily and financially. The current concern, and a major element of what the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, calls “the biggest reinforcement of collective defense since the end of the Cold War,” is the decision to put four combat battalions of up to 1, 000 soldiers each in those countries bordering Russia. While Britain, Germany and the United States have agreed to lead one battalion each, to be filled out with soldiers from other NATO allies to preserve the idea of multinational forces, leadership of the fourth is not yet in sight as the July summit meeting in Warsaw rapidly approaches. The United States “is not thinking about doing two,” said its ambassador to NATO, Douglas E. Lute. “We’re planning to do one and get our allies to step up” for the other three. But other larger nations like Italy and France have declined. Italy cut military spending after pledging to increase it two years ago in Wales. Its leaders say it is already participating in a newly enlarged alliance force. And France, which has reverted under the current Socialist government to a more mistrusting view of NATO and its American leadership, is stretched thin in its military campaigns in Mali, the Central African Republic and North Africa and Syria, let alone patrolling its own streets against terrorist attack. France is likely to contribute only about 150 soldiers to the new deployments, NATO officials say, after finally agreeing to the idea of forward deployments in Poland after initial opposition. Germany, which six months ago opposed these deployments, agreed in return for efforts at renewed dialogue with Russia. It also agreed to lead one battalion. So the search goes on for a fourth lead nation. Mr. Stoltenberg is confident it will be found by the summit meeting. The deployments are important, because these combat battalions are designed not to be simple tripwires, but to be large enough and sufficiently well equipped to do an invader real damage. Then they can be reinforced more quickly with the enhanced force and — another NATO and American decision — to station another United States armored combat brigade of around 5, 000 soldiers in Europe (for a total of three) and to its heavy equipment like tanks and artillery. Poland is demanding that some of that equipment be on its territory, but for the moment, most of it will go to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which have storage and transport facilities dating from the Cold War. Only now, in fact, is NATO actually surveying the infrastructure — the bridges, roads and railways — of relatively newer member states in Central and Eastern Europe, not having judged it necessary before to plan how to quickly reinforce them in case of a Russian invasion. in Eastern Europe would currently require large sums for capital investment to build special new warehouses and infrastructure, Mr. Lute said. Poland, eager to send messages to Moscow, did succeed in advancing groundbreaking for a ballistic missile defense site to coincide with the operational opening of one in Romania. While Mr. Stoltenberg and Washington insist that such missile defenses are not aimed at Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, Moscow is not convinced. Here, too, France has been skeptical, nervous that the reaction time of missile defense will circumvent the political oversight of the North Atlantic Council, the assembly of member states and their ambassadors that makes NATO decisions by consensus. For the same reason, France has been reluctant to allow the NATO supreme commander, who is always an American general, too much authority to act in a crisis, which others say is needed to respond quickly. But the initial missile defense program, combined with new forward deployments near Russia (to be rotated, to avoid calling them “permanent”) and an enlarged rapid reaction force, supposedly ready to deploy in 48 hours, all are a measure of how much Russia’s recent actions have changed NATO’s calculations. NATO is trying to reassure vulnerable members like the Baltic States, Poland and even southern members, like Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on the Black Sea, that the alliance intends to deliver on its promise of collective defense. Missile defense is part of the response, along with more naval exercises in the Black Sea and more consistent overflights by reconnaissance aircraft. As Mr. Stoltenberg points out, the impact of Russian policy has finally pushed European members of NATO to at least halt the decline in military spending. This year, he said, estimates are that European allies will as a whole increase military spending, something Washington has been demanding, even though most are not yet spending the 2 percent of G. D. P. that is the NATO guideline. Some 16 of the 28 member states have increased military spending in real terms, with only Italy, Bulgaria and Croatia still cutting, although they insist that the cuts are temporary. “I know the mood in Washington and I understand it: the Americans want to see the Europeans doing more, contributing more,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “This has been my main message in European capitals. ” Still, there is another troubling issue for NATO — how to deal with a new Russian military doctrine that considers the utility of tactical nuclear weapons at the beginning of a conflict, as a deterrent against an adversary retaking territory, followed by what planners call “a quick . ” Some member nations believe that Russia already has nuclear weapons in the enclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, where it publicly displayed nuclear warheads in a previous exercise. Russia has been unclear about whether they have been removed. While aware of public horror about using nuclear weapons, Mr. Stoltenberg, Mr. Lute and others emphasize that NATO “remains a nuclear alliance” and that its deterrence is meant to be “seamless,” ranging from responses to cyberattacks through conventional weapons and if necessary, nuclear weapons, too. NATO does not regard its nuclear arsenal as having any use other than political deterrence, Mr. Stoltenberg said. “But as long as nuclear weapons exist in the world,” he said, “we have to remain a nuclear alliance. ”

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LEFTY MEDIA DESPERATELY Tries To Bury Trump But The Brilliant Ken Starr Won’t Buy It [Video]

CNN political hack Alison Camarota wants to nail President Trump but Former Independent Counsel Ken Starr says he sees no obstruction . Starr goes on to say that it s a very hard case to make. Camarota comes back and tries to make the HOPE comment by Trump to be an admission of guilt Starr isn t buying it:She really, really wants this but Starr says she s going to intent . It s very hard to prove and to know someone s intent BINGO! Starr hit the nail on the head with the last comment!Starr also goes through the same thing with George Stephanopolous: Notice how Stephanopoulos tries desperately to get Ken Starr to claim Trump is guilty It s a full-on deep state press with the constant media bashing of President Trump. It s become a surreal experience to just attempt to listen to the blathering liberals on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and other local liberal hack stations. All credibility is lost

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BILL O’REILLY Destroys Liberal Pundit On Trump Coverage [Video]

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North Korea's Kim congratulates China's Xi after congress

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a rare congratulatory message to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday at the end of China s Communist Party Congress, wishing him great success as head of the nation, the North s state media said. The friendly gesture by the North Korean leader, who seldom issues personal messages, comes as China is being urged by the international community to do more to rein in the North s missile and nuclear tests that have raised tensions globally. Xi became China s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong at the all-important week-long congress. It expressed the conviction that the relations between the two parties and the two countries would develop in the interests of the peoples of the two countries, the North s state-run central news agency said in a statement on Thursday, citing the message sent by Kim to Xi. The Chinese people have entered the road of building socialism with the Chinese characteristics in the new era under the guidance of Xi, the message said. The two countries often exchange routine diplomatic correspondence and ceremonial letters to each other on political anniversaries or political promotions, although personal messages to and from the leaders tend to be few. Analysts said it was too early to tell whether or not ties between the two countries were warming up. Congratulatory messages between North Korea and China are an old story and reading too much into the message exchanged would be a one-sided analysis, said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. It s what they usually do and not surprising at all. China is the North s sole major ally, and accounts for more than 90 percent of trade with the isolated country. Beijing has been called upon by several countries, especially the United States, to step up its efforts to curb North Korea s ambitions towards building a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that can reach the United States. It has shown it is irritated with Pyongyang following the isolated state s numerous missile launches and nuclear tests, repeatedly calling for restraint and urging all sides to speak and act carefully. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing on Thursday that China had received congratulatory messages from many countries and parties, including one from North Korea. China and North Korea are close neighbors and have a tradition of friendly contact, he said, without elaborating. China has said it will strictly enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions banning imports of North Korean coal, textiles and seafood, while cutting off oil shipments to the North. North Korea has not engaged in any missile or nuclear provocations since mid-September, although it tends to test fewer missiles late in the year for unexplained reasons. North Korea has been walking a diplomatic tightrope by taking advantage of strategic mistrust between China and Russia, but it has not been easy as Beijing has sternly responded to its nuclear and missile provocations, said Kim Han-kwon, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul. China s party congress is over, but Kim Jong Un s concerns will only continue to deepen. The most significant event at hand is the upcoming summit between Xi and (U.S. President Donald) Trump, said Kim.

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Florida Judge Blames Rape Victim For Attending Music Festival

The Ultra Music Festival in Miami is one of the largest electronic dance music festivals in the World. Over 170,000 people attended this year, and with it came several arrests, but one of the most horrific was the rape of a tourist from Brazil, which was blamed by a Florida judge due to the festival.Transit worker for the Department of Transportation and Public Works in Miami, Carl Lee Wilt, allegedly took the 22-year-old girl into a utility closet after she was prevented from boarding a public transit train for being too intoxicated, according to the police report.A witness harassed police officers in the area for 15 minutes until they decided to knock on the utility door, which Wilt opened five minutes later with his pants undone. Police said Wilt admitted to sexually assaulting the girl, but apparently stopped when she defecated herself.The girl told officers she had no recollection of how she met Wilt or what happened during their encounter.Miami-Dade judge Nushin Sayfie ordered Wilt be held without bond, who faces kidnapping and sexual battery charges, but then proceeded to blame the victim and the Ultra Music Festival for the rape. This is why we shouldn t let our kids go to Ultra right here, Sayfie said, who was appointed by former Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist in 2007. Her argument is straight out of the 1984 Kevin Bacon film, Footloose, in which a small town has banned dancing and rock music. Unlike policing victims behavior, educating people about rape can make lasting progress toward prevention. One study showed that after just one hour of education on sexual assault, men were less likely to believe myths about rape or consider being sexually coercive, wrote Suzannah Weiss in a 2015 article for Bustle. Once we recognize that sexual assault can happen to anyone, we can stop wondering what the victim did to deserve it and start wondering what allowed the perpetrator to go through with it. That s the only way we can gain the control we crave and create the just world we want to believe in. It is deeply disturbing this type of blame-the-victim language is coming from a judge in one of the biggest cities in the country. Carl Lee Wilt would have raped someone given the opportunity to, no matter whether there was a dance festival going on or not. Judge Sayfie should reevaluate her own judgment on these issues before presiding over another similar case. Featured image via Flickr

1real

Swiss stop seizing income from asylum seekers to pay for upkeep

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland will stop seizing income from some would-be asylum seekers to help pay for their upkeep, the government said on Wednesday, scrapping a rule that has drawn scrutiny by human rights groups. The government now imposes a special fee confiscating 10 percent of income earned for up to a decade by foreigners provisionally admitted to the country. This ends as of the start of next year. The change applies to foreigners who have been ordered to leave but cannot be sent back to their native countries because this would violate international law or put them in danger. Many end up staying for years. The cabinet called the change a way to promote employing foreigners already here at a time the country is trying to rein in immigration. A quarter of the Swiss population is foreign. Eliminating this fee reduces the administrative burden on employers. On the other hand it makes it easier for people who have been provisionally admitted to start work, it said. Stefan Frey, spokesman for the Swiss Refugee Council human rights group, said the move was a gratifying first step by the government. We welcome this as an individual measure but the work is far from done in the area of provisional admissions, he said. Switzerland will still require arriving asylum seekers to turn over to the state assets they have worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,014) to help offset costs they trigger, the State Secretariat for Migration said in response to an enquiry. Broadcaster SRF in 2016 revealed the Swiss practice, which in similar form had drawn sharp rebukes for Denmark.

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Dallas, Roger Federer, Hillary Clinton: Your Friday Evening Briefing - The New York Times

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. “The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers. ” That was the Dallas police chief describing a verbal exchange with a sniper who killed these five officers and wounded seven people at a protest against police shootings late Thursday. “We’re hurting, our profession is hurting,” the police chief said. “There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. ” _____ 2. The shooter was identified as an Army veteran, Micah Xavier Johnson, 25. He served as a mason and carpenter in Afghanistan. On Facebook, he “liked” a black power group, the African American Defense League, whose leader often calls for violence against the police. After an hourslong standoff in Dallas, the police killed him using an explosive delivered by robot. _____ 3. President Obama, in Warsaw, interrupted his final NATO summit meeting twice to comment on the violence in the U. S. Before the Dallas attack, he addressed the police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana, calling them “symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system. ” After the five officers were killed, he said there was “no possible justification” for such a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement. ” Here’s what we know about all three episodes, which have deepened the painful national divide over race. _____ 4. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump canceled campaign appearances and expressed concern for black citizens as well as solidarity with the police. Mrs. Clinton stressed pain and loss, while Mr. Trump issued a call for “law and order. ” He also made his first public comments about the police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota, calling them “senseless tragic deaths” that show “how much needs to be done. ” But Texas’ lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, called the Dallas protesters “hypocrites” for expecting police protection from the sniper while objecting to police shootings. _____ 5. The Labor Department delivered some positive economic news. Its monthly report said U. S. employment surged in June, with an increase of 287, 000 jobs and an uptick in wages. “Wow, this one takes my breath away,” an analyst in Chicago said. _____ 6. Roger Federer, above after a fall, lost his first Wimbledon in a rough match that sent the Canadian Milos Raonic to his first Grand Slam final. He’ll face Andy Murray on Sunday for the men’s singles title (9 a. m. Eastern, ESPN). And Serena Williams faces Angelique Kerber, who beat her in January’s Australian Open final, on Saturday in the women’s singles final. (9 a. m. Eastern, ESPN). _____ 7. Britain’s slow march away from the European Union has produced at least one point of clarity: The next prime minister will be a woman. The Conservative Party has narrowed its options to succeed David Cameron down to Theresa May, above right, the home secretary (already called “The Iron Mayden” by tabs) and Andrea Leadsom, an energy minister, above left. But it will be months before the final choice is made. _____ 8. In theaters this weekend: “Captain Fantastic. ” Our reviewer says that Viggo Mortensen’s captivating survivalist is the main reason to see the film, which follows him and his family into the the outside world. But she also says the insistence of the director, Matt Ross, “on taking your intelligence for granted is itself a great turn on. ” And here are our experts’ recommendations for streaming and TV this weekend. _____ 9. Finally, one of the fastest creatures in the ocean is the swordfish. Scientists think they have figured out why: A gland at the base of its sword secretes a grease that coats its head. “This isn’t ordinary fish slime,” the lead author of a new study said. Have a good weekend. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.

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An Unlikely Contender Rises in France as the Antithesis of Trump - The New York Times

PARIS — In the age of Donald J. Trump, “Brexit” and the resurgent French far right, a thin, aging career politician with an ironic smile is being called — by him and his supporters — France’s best defense against raging global populism. A first test for Alain Juppé, 71, comes Sunday as France’s mainstream Republican party holds a primary ahead of next spring’s presidential election. Mr. Juppé is favored to come out on top, for now. His ascendance is all the more improbable because, in a previous post, he was considered one of France’s most unpopular prime ministers ever. And he was once convicted in a Paris City Hall corruption scheme. But the election of Mr. Trump has upended French politics and given new momentum to the leader Marine Le Pen. As a result, mainstream conservatives are far from delighted. The candidacy of the Mr. Juppé is seen by his supporters as a bulwark at a time when the postelection United States is now routinely depicted as one leg of a global tripartite menace, along with China and Russia, bearing down on fragile Western democracies. Mr. Juppé doesn’t shout, wave his arms or make grandiose promises — seen as a plus by his supporters. His professorial bearing stands in contrast to his sometimes bombastic and offending party rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president who has redefined himself as a tough guy for uncertain times. But while other contenders for the presidency are adopting Mr. Trump’s depiction of Muslims as an inherent threat, Mr. Juppé’s soothing message of French unity has, so far, helped him to lead opinion polls. Still, Mr. Juppé’s tenure as prime minister during the 1990s was one of the most divisive in modern French history, marked by proposed cutbacks to generous pensions that brought thousands into the streets in protest. Mr. Juppé’s plan ultimately failed. This time around, he has promised more reforms and has vowed not to back down in the face of inevitable protests. In that regard, the technocratic Mr. Juppé, of all the contenders, may present the biggest challenge to France’s social protections and labor rules. The governing Socialists, saddled with a poor economic record and an unpopular incumbent president, François Hollande, are already being written off. The race is considered the right’s to lose. Just behind Mr. Sarkozy in the polls, nipping at his heels, is another former prime minister, François Fillon. The winner of Sunday’s Republican primary — there will be a runoff on Nov. 27 — is considered likely to face Ms. Le Pen in April’s presidential election. If previous patterns hold, Ms. Le Pen will be defeated, which would make Mr. Juppé the likeliest of all those now running to become the next French president. The announcement on Wednesday by Emmanuel Macron, a popular former economy minister in the Socialist government, that he, too, will enter the presidential race is unlikely to change the right and dynamic, in the eyes of many observers. At 38, Mr. Macron has the image of a youthful reformer, but analysts have noted his thin record, lack of a party base, and absence of heft — he has never held elected office — in a universe of surging populism. Mr. Juppé, on the other hand, has won and lost numerous elections and has served for many years as the mayor of Bordeaux, where he has been credited with transforming the city. But, with high unemployment, an injection of energy from Mr. Trump’s victory into Ms. Le Pen’s campaign — xenophobic nationalism is her core theme — and the same social and economic fractures as in the United States, there are no guarantees. The warning signs from across the Atlantic were evident in a campaign swing through Lower Burgundy on Wednesday, as Mr. Juppé met with disgruntled farmers and rural officials. The French news media has noted that the American election results have colored the former prime minister’s message with concern about the existence of two Frances: one benefiting from globalization, and the other left behind. There are the large, vibrant cities — Paris, Lyon, Mr. Juppé’s Bordeaux — and then there are the shuttered main streets of sleepy provincial capitals and rural towns like those he visited on Wednesday. Wearing the coat and tie he appears never to shed, Mr. Juppé got his shoes muddy at a grain and dairy farm whose owner complained of crushing debt. “People have talked about suffering,” Mr. Juppé told a roomful in the tiny village of St. ’Ordon, “and it is true,” he said, speaking in a knowing, weary tone, careful never to exaggerate. With his eyebrows slightly arched, he listened patiently to the complaints. Rural France feels “abandoned” and “disdained” by Paris, Mr. Juppé said. “But we can’t accept this gulf between the big cities and rural France. ” Promising a “strong state,” he had a warning for his audience deep in the Burgundian countryside at St. : “The world is becoming more and more dangerous. Nationalism is on the rise. ” Similarly, at a rally this week in northern Paris, the perceived menace of rising populism was a common theme in the speeches and comments of Mr. Juppé’s supporters. From Mr. Juppé himself and the other speakers who preceded him, Mr. Trump’s name came up often. Each time, it was met with loud boos from the crowd of around 6, 000. Mr. Juppé — “a man of culture,” one speaker called him — was depicted as the antithesis of Mr. Trump. “After the election of Donald Trump, after Brexit, will populism triumph in our country? No!” shouted Patrick Devedjian, a former minister, who introduced Mr. Juppé at the rally. The crowd — mostly or older, and carefully dressed, like Mr. Juppé — roared approval. “We’ve had it up to here with populist baseness!” Mr. Devedjian said. Another supporter, Lagarde, a prominent centrist politician, told the crowd, “France doesn’t need a in the Élysée!” — referring to the presidential palace in Paris. Valérie Pécresse, president of the Paris region’s council, was equally scathing. “Populism is about not telling the truth,” she said. “Alain,” she added, turning to Mr. Juppé, seated in the front row, “you are the antidote to populism. ” Mr. Juppé, who spoke in pithy bullet points, promised to stand up to enemies and rivals — both internal and external. In a brisk speech that reflected his classical education at France’s top schools, he brought up Mr. Trump in the context of threats to France. “I don’t know what Donald Trump’s foreign policy will be,” he told the crowd. “He has said contradictory things. What I know is, there will be an aggressive commercial policy. So we must be aggressive, too. ” Setting himself up as a defender of European unity — Ms. Le Pen is fiercely opposed to the European Union — Mr. Juppé said: “France can be a world power, in thrall to nobody. But separated, we will be vassals of the big empires all around us: Russia, China and the U. S. ” Afterward, encountered on the boulevard outside the rally, he wondered whether his comments about Mr. Trump had been too “offensive. ” Mr. Juppé has served twice as France’s foreign minister and chooses his words carefully. But then he shrugged his shoulders, saying about Mr. Trump, “We’ll see. ”

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WOW! JILL STEIN’S ‘FIRESIDE CHAT’ Exposes Her Delusion On Recount [Video]

1real

Determined to kill: Can tough gun laws end mass shootings?

The flag at Desert Hot Springs' Condor Gun Shop flew at half-staff on Friday morning. Less than two days had passed since two shooters, armed with four guns, killed 14 people and wounded 21 more at an office holiday party in San Bernardino. The shooting, which the FBI is investigating as an "act of terrorism," forced the nation's attention to the city 40 miles west of Desert Hot Springs. It also prompted a flood of calls to Condor Gun Shop, an unheated cabin across from a swath of open desert at the edge of the city. "Since (Wednesday), my phone has been ringing off the hook," said Torrey Harris, whose family has owned the shop since 1971. "It didn't stop ringing until 11:30 at night." Harris said that, after most mass shootings, longtime gun owners seek to stock up on weapons and ammunition that they think California will try to ban in reaction to the incidents of violence. The state legislature often passes a slew of gun control laws in the months after these tragedies. But Harris said the response she saw after San Bernardino was different. "I would say a good 40% of my calls (Wednesday) were people who have never owned a firearm in their life," Harris said. Gun control activists already say Wednesday's shooting demonstrates the need for background checks for ammunition sales. But even California's gun control laws, among the strictest in the nation, haven't prevented seven mass shootings using legally purchased guns since 2006. Gun rights advocates maintain that laws don't affect criminals and only make it more difficult for people to protect themselves. Harris believes some of those people calling her shop have adopted a similar position. "They looked at (San Bernardino) and said, 'You know what, we have to be able to fight back, and I'm not going to be the person cowering in the corner of a room waiting to be shot,'" she said. Data on mass shootings is sparse, and even the definition of "mass shooting" varies widely. The FBI, for instance, defines the events as incidents where at least four people are killed, while a popular online "shooting tracker" states that a mass shooting occurs when at least four people, including the shooter, are injured by gunshots. By the FBI's definition, as counted by USA TODAY, there have been 22 mass shootings this year; by the Shooting Tracker's analysis, San Bernardino was number 353 and one of two mass shootings that day. Despite this variance, experts don't believe mass shootings are happening more often than they did in past decades. In California and across the country, violent crimes with firearms have declined significantly since the 1980s. At the same time, however, we've become more afraid. "It was Sandy Hook that really got people's attention and started this intense focus on (shootings)," said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist who's written several books on mass murder, referring to the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Since then, he said, "Even though the incidence hasn't increased, fear has." A 2015 Congressional Research Service report on mass public shootings found that 2012 was a particularly brutal year — seven mass public shootings, compared to an average of four per year — and suggested that the horrific year had a lasting impact on public opinion. "Several such mass murders in 2012, seven incidents by most counts, compounded a fear among many people that, 'this could happen to me'," the authors of the report wrote. After the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook, support for controls on gun ownership spiked to 51% of the U.S. population —its highest level in five years, according to the Pew Research Center. Support for laws protecting the right to own guns fell from 49% to 42%. Polls showed a return to pre-Sandy Hook opinion levels about six months later. But in comparison, a shooting that killed six people at a 2011 rally for Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords didn't significantly impact public opinion on gun control, according to a poll conducted in the following days by the Pew Research Center. Neither did a 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people. For some, that fear has resulted in a new desire to bear arms. Pew data suggests that, in 1999, nearly half of gun owners bought them for hunting, compared to 26% for personal protection. By Feb. 2013, those positions had almost reversed: nearly half of gun owners wanted weapons for personal protection, compared to 32% for hunting. Condor Gun Shop owner Harris said, in the last five years, she's begun selling firearms to more women and first-time buyers. During the last 10 years, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group for firearms manufacturers, has also seen a steady increase in first-time and female gun owners. About 25 to 30% of customers are first-time gun buyers, who often purchase a gun for protection. More than 30% of customers are women, NSSF spokesman Mike Bazinet said. Harris said she's started asking first-time gun owners what changed their minds about purchasing a firearm. More and more people tell her that they want to be responsible for their own safety. "Just like buying car insurance, you go out and you buy it and you hope you never have to use it, but you're really thankful if you ever get into an accident. And a lot of people who buy these firearms do the same thing," Harris said. "It really has changed, the whole mindset of a lot of people who are buying guns now." But, according to San Bernardino police, Syed Rizwan Farook — one of the San Bernardino shooters — purchased his two guns legally from a federal licensed firearms dealer. Another person bought two .223-caliber rifles —a DPMS A-15 and Smith & Wesson M&P15 — legally. Only the shooters' modification attempts to the assault weapons, to make one rifle accept 30-round magazines and one rifle fully automatic, made them illegal to possess. So for gun control advocates, mass shootings are sirens, calling for further limits on access to guns. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, for example, the California state legislature passed at least 14 bills tightening restrictions on gun ownership — more gun laws than it had passed in the previous six years combined. Gov. Jerry Brown signed laws banning conversion kits for ammunition magazines, toughening mental health reporting requirements and closing a "loophole" that allowed single-shot handguns to bypass safety requirements. In 2014, a bill cited a shooting in Isla Vista — when a gunman shot and killed three people and fatally stabbed three others near the University of California Santa Barbara campus — as the reason for its necessity. That measure, now a law, allows judges to temporarily keep people from purchasing or possessing guns if family members or law enforcement think they might harm themselves or others. While nearly 40 states have relaxed gun rules in the last two decades, California has enacted more than 50 major gun bills since 1994. The pro-gun control Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, based in San Francisco, gave California's laws an A- in 2014, the highest grade given to any state. Guns & Ammo Magazine, with a pro-gun rights stance, ranked the state fourth-worst in the country for gun ownership. Already, in the wake of the San Bernardino tragedy, gun control advocates are touting a 2016 ballot initiative that Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed in October. The measure proposes background checks for ammunition purchases and bans possession of high capacity magazines. "Ammunition is what makes a firearm into a deadly weapon, and we should have background checks on firearms and ammunition," Law Center staff attorney Ari Freilich said. "These individuals, it looks like they stockpiled 3,000 to 4,000 rounds of ammunition. They did it without having to show ID, without having to pass a background check." Prior to San Bernardino, California had seen seven public shootings since 2006 that claimed four or more lives (not counting those police believe were gang-related), according to USA TODAY's "Behind the Bloodshed" tracker. In four of those shootings, the weapons shooters used were purchased legally and registered to the shooters. In two other incidents, the guns were purchased legally but registered to other people. In only one incident, the 2013 rampage near Santa Monica College, did law enforcement say that the weapons used were illegal in California. "Here (in California), as pretty much everywhere in the country, anybody who isn't disqualified by virtue of them having a felony conviction can get a gun, and can get a bunch of guns, and can get guns that are quite deadly, because guns are deadly," said Eugene Volokh, a professor of constitutional law at UCLA and writer for "The Volokh Conspiracy," a legal blog hosted by The Washington Post. Freilich believes mass shootings with guns that have been purchased legally, like Wednesday's in San Bernardino, emphasize the need for more stringent gun control. "I do think (San Bernardino) highlights to legislators and to the California public that despite all that we've done — California has the toughest gun laws in the nation — more clearly needs to be done," Freilich said. Since the late 1980s, the crime rate has dropped in California and nationally by about 50%, according to the California Attorney General's Office and the FBI. Gun control advocates attribute that drop in California in part to gun control laws. However, some researchers, including Volokh, doubt that conclusion— pointing out that violence has dropped nationwide even though most states have loosened gun control laws and California is widely known to have the strictest laws in the nation. The percentage of homicide victims killed by firearms has remained steady in California since 1990, according to the California Attorney General's Homicide Report. Realistically, the battle to prevent mass tragedies with legislation may be futile, Volokh said. "Let's look at somebody who is a would-be mass shooter. This person has essentially decided to have the defining event of his life, and possibly the concluding event of his life, be mass murder," Volokh said. "This is somebody who is very motivated to commit the crime, and again, we know he is motivated because he's willing to give up his life to do that." Wednesday's shooting was perpetrated by people determined to kill, Volokh said. The shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, have been identified as husband and wife, and investigators found a dozen pipe bombs and more than 4,500 rounds of ammunition in the home they were renting in Redlands. The FBI is investigating the mass shooting as an 'act of terrorism.' While gun control may help reduce violence in general, criminologist James Alan Fox doesn't think legislation will help prevent mass shootings like these. "Gun control can do a lot in terms of impacting the kind of gun crime you see every day. Will it avert mass killings? Not really," Fox said. "They'll find a way to get a gun. If they can't get one legally, which most of them can, they'll borrow one, steal one — but they'll get one." For Torrey Harris of Condor Gun Shop, this tragic conversation is becoming routine. "I've gone through this so many times now, I know how the cycle goes," Harris said. "There are going to be people who are yelling and screaming for more gun laws and people who are going to be yelling and screaming for less, and unfortunately, probably nothing is going to happen, which I think frustrates both sides." On Friday, it was business as usual at Harris' gun shop. A customer walked in the door, hoping to buy a handgun. Harris began the legal steps of selling a gun in California, asking the customer for identification, proof of residency and his Firearm Safety Certificate. Now, he'll have to submit to a background check. In 10 days, he can pick up his gun. The process of purchasing a gun in California •Obtain a Firearm Safety Certificate by passing a knowledge test. The test, made up of 30 true-false and multiple-choice questions, is drawn from a 46-page study guide available online. Copies of the test are available in English and Spanish. •Present the Firearm Safety Certificate, a California ID or driver's license and a utility bill or car registration with your current address to a licensed firearms dealer. •Choose your firearm. According to the California Department of Justice, there are currently 822 handgun models approved for sale in the state. Long guns are subject to individual regulations rather than a pre-approved list. •Get a handling demonstration from the seller, including how to load, unload and lock the gun. The seller and buyer must both sign an affidavit saying the demonstration occurred. •Pay for the gun and keep your receipt. •Return in 10 days to pick up the gun, provided you passed the background check. •At this time, buy a gun lock or show a receipt to show that you bought one in the last 30 days.

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WIKILEAKS EMAIL SHOWS CLINTON FOUNDATION FUNDS Used For Lavish Wedding Of “Spoiled Brat” Chelsea Clinton

An email released by WikiLeaks on Sunday appears to show a former top aide to Bill Clinton arguing that an investigation into Clinton Foundation spending would show that Chelsea Clinton used foundation resources for her own wedding.The email, stolen from Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and published by WikiLeaks, shows a back-and-forth between Podesta and Doug Band, a former aide to Bill Clinton.Band said he heard that Chelsea Clinton was conducting an internal investigation of money within the foundation from cgi [Clinton Global Initiative] to the foundation. He said he was hearing more chatter about how Chelsea was talking about internal issues like that, and said it was not smart. In a later follow-up to Podesta, Band wrote, The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents I hope that you will speak to her and end this, Band added. Once we go down this road Other emails showed Band feuding with Chelsea Clinton. For instance, Clinton had warned that Band was using Bill Clinton s name without his consent to win clients to his firm, and Band replied by saying Chelsea was a spoiled brat kid. Via: WE

1real

JUDGE JEANINE SOUNDS FREE SPEECH ALARM: “They are trying to silence you…It’s time to fight back!” [Video]

Judge Jeanine lets it rip! She s concerned with the silencing of conservative voices in America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=kxa9F0s3aHsBERKELEY, CALIFORNIA MAYOR IS PART OF ANTIFA: Americans were stunned when they were told the police officers were allegedly told to stand down and allow violent Antifa and Democrat rioters to attack students who came to hear schedule speaker and gay conservative Milo Yiannopolous at Berkeley College in February. It turns out that the mayor who was accused of telling the police to stand down may have had a motive for allowing conservatives to be threatened and physically harmed. Here s the description of BAMN from their Facebook page: BAMN Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means NecessaryWait, WHAT!? The mayor of Berkeley is a member of BAMN? Is that why we were arrested the moment we went near their leader Felarca? pic.twitter.com/nIjqPCVtwN Gavin McInnes (@Gavin_McInnes) April 21, 2017Arreguin also appears to be Facebook friends with Yvette Falarco, a BAMN organizer and Berkeley middle school teacher with a long hidstory of instigating violence.#Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin not only member of #BAMN but also friends of #RadicalLiberalTerrorist Yvette Falarco #AntiFA #DefundBerkeley pic.twitter.com/QnFPKCIHzU TX Intense TV (@TxIntenseRadio) April 21, 2017BAMN was named by the FBI in 2005 as thought to be involved in domestic terrorist activities, and have boasted that they were the organizers of Berkeley s shutdown of white neo-fascist Milo Yiannopoulos. BAMN is perhaps best known, however, for a 2016 incident in which they showed up to a rally held by the white-nationalist Traditionalist Workers Party outside the California state capitol building in Sacramento. The militant group was confrontational with the white-nationalists within minutes of arrival, and ten people were stabbed and hospitalized in a bloody fight. Police have verified through videos taken by members of the group, news organizations, and bystanders, that BAMN initiated the violence. Falarco was caught on camera at the event repeatedly punching a man in the stomach and throwing him to the ground.Arreguin, a far-left liberal, made headlines in February for his tweets prior to BAMN organizing a riot to prevent right-wing political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking at the city s University of California campus. Using speech to silence marginalized communities and promote bigotry is unacceptable. Hate speech isn t welcome in our community, Arreguin had tweeted.The mayor also referred to Yiannopoulos as a white supremacist, and was forced to issue an apology. I consider much of what Mr. Yiannopoulos says to be hateful. But I regret and apologize for the white national label, Arreguin tweeted.Hours after his tweet, supporters of President Donald Trump who hoped to listen to Yiannopoulos speak were under a violent attack. People were assaulted with pipes, a generator-powered spotlight was firebombed, and looters destroyed several businesses in the area including a Starbucks.The rioters smashed windows, spray painted violent messages all over the area including Kill Trump and began committing arsons. It was estimated that the rioters caused $100,000 in damage to the MLK Student Union, and $400,000 to $500,000 in damage to the area surrounding the university.It was immediately alleged that the mayor had ordered the police to stand down and allow the violence and destruction.Arreguin denied the accusations, saying that the police strategy was ordered by the department, not him. They did an excellent job in preventing further risk to safety, he added.It was alleged by journalist and author Mike Cernovich, who broke the Susan Rice scandal as well as impending Syria strikes, that the FBI was investigating Arreguin role in the stand down.Civil Rights section of FBI has opened an investigation into mayor @JesseArreguin, for inciting riots and ordering to police to stand down. pic.twitter.com/uy5EbgcvSm Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 2, 2017Last weekend Antifa showed up to shut down the free speech of Trump supporters who were rallying in Berkeley, CA and were surprised by the number of pro-Trump patriots who weren t going to sit back and allow themselves to be beaten.Watch these two stunning interviews, where police officers almost admit to this liberal reporter that they ve been told to stand down:I tell a police officer I've been seeing people get beat up all day and they haven't been around. "Okay, and?" he says. pic.twitter.com/OuGEcvvb8R Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) April 15, 2017This police officer is clearly agitated that he s being asked why he s ignoring the violence:I ask a cop why they've been hanging back as a brawl is happening half a block away in Berkeley. "I'm not at liberty to discuss my tactics." pic.twitter.com/teGEYBV1ho Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) April 15, 2017The last time violence erupted in Berkeley when anti-Trump terrorists attacked members of a pro-Trump rally, Americans were stunned to see police officers standing by and watching the violence unfold without making any attempt to stop it

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Russians steal research on Trump in hack of U.S. Democratic Party

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hackers believed to be working for the Russian government broke into the Democratic National Committee’s computer network, spied on internal communications and accessed research on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the committee and security experts said on Tuesday. Two separate groups entered the DNC’s system, and one read email and chat communications for nearly a year before being detected, according to the committee and CrowdStrike, the cyber firm that helped clean up the breach. Russian spies also targeted the networks of Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as well as the computers of some Republican political action committees, the Washington Post quoted U.S. officials as saying, although details were not available. A Clinton campaign official said there was no evidence the campaign’s information systems had been hacked. A Russian government spokesman denied involvement in the breach. “I completely rule out a possibility that the (Russian) government or the government bodies have been involved in this,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told Reuters in Moscow. The intrusion is emblematic of the sophistication of Russian hackers, who intelligence officials have long viewed as the most talented of U.S. adversaries in cyberspace. The Democratic Party had been aware of efforts to hack Trump material for two months, and U.S. intelligence agencies were involved in efforts to find out who was behind the hacking, a source familiar with Trump opposition research said. The source said Democratic Party operatives believed the hacking was conducted by the Russian government. The research includes material on Trump’s business efforts in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia and Russia, according to information made available to Reuters. Cyber attacks against political candidates and organizations are common worldwide. U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper said last month he was aware of attempted hacks on campaigns and related groups and he expected to see more as the Nov. 8 presidential election nears. U.S. Representative Jim Langevin, a Democrat and co-founder of the congressional cybersecurity caucus, said it was “disconcerting” that independent groups penetrated the DNC and that one was able “to stay embedded for nearly a year.” But the groups are extremely sophisticated, Langevin said, and have previously been implicated on attacks at the White House, the State Department and the German Bundestag, as well as a number of private companies. The DNC contacted CrowdStrike in May and within 24 hours it began investigating unusual activity on the group’s network, said Dmitri Alperovitch, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer. It identified two hacking groups and both were kicked out this weekend, he said. The first, which CrowdStrike named Cozy Bear, entered the DNC’s systems last summer, according to the firm. It primarily monitored email and chat conversations and may be working for Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, Alperovitch said. Russian President Vladimir Putin once ran the FSB. The second group, nicknamed Fancy Bear, is probably working on behalf of Russia’s military, Alperovitch said. It gained entry in late April and “went straight to the oppo research ... on Donald Trump and exfiltrated some of it,” he said. Alperovitch said both groups were among “the best threat actors that we’ve ever encountered” but they did not appear to be working together. He was not sure how the intrusions occurred but suspected the hackers may have leveraged “spearphishing” emails to trick DNC employees into downloading malicious code onto their network. “When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the DNC, said in a statement. “Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network.” Trump’s interest in Russia goes back to the 1980s, with a 1990 Vanity Fair article citing news program appearances in which Trump offered his own services as a negotiator with Russia. Information made available to Reuters indicates Trump tried on at least three occasions - in 2004, 2008 and 2013 - to get involved in business deals in Russia. In 2013, he and an Azerbaijani-Russian oligarch, Aras Agalarov, jointly put on a Miss Universe competition in Moscow, and Trump was photographed with Agalarov’s wife, son and daughter. The last two U.S. presidential cycles in 2008 and 2012 witnessed a barrage of cyber attacks from a range of adversaries targeting President Barack Obama’s campaign and the campaigns of his Republican foes. U.S. intelligence officials have said many previous assaults were linked to Chinese hackers.

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WATCH: Giuliani Demands That Democrats Apologize For Trump’s Racist Birtherism

You know, because in fantasyland Republicans never questioned the citizenship of America s first black president.But that s exactly what they did for years and Donald Trump led the charge by going on or calling into Fox News every chance he could in order to demand President Obama s birth certificate.It was Trump who constantly claimed President Obama was born in Kenya even though Hawaii newspapers from the time announce Obama s birth.Trump and his birther fans were finally utterly humiliated when President Obama released his birth certificate to the public.And now that birtherism is coming back to bite Trump on the ass as he tries to convince black voters that he isn t a racist.Part of the reason why black voters reject Trump is because he questioned the citizenship of President Obama simply because he is black. But Trump wants everyone to pretend he didn t say any nasty things about President Obama and Trump pawn Rudy Giuliani is demanding that Democrats apologize for Trump s birtherism.Giuliani, who has taken to forgetting about 9/11 recently, appeared on CNN with Jake Tapper on Sunday and was grilled because Trump has not apologized for his birtherism. Many African-Americans say they are still troubled by Mr. Trump having suggested over and over, falsely, that the first African-American president was born in Africa and thus ineligible to be president Tapper began.Giuliani immediately blamed Hillary Clinton for starting the birther conspiracy, but Tapper quickly fact-checked Giuliani, which forced him to blame Clinton s campaign instead.Giuliani then attempted to portray Trump as a hero for resolving the conspiracy, claiming that black people have a faulty memory. He literally thinks black people should thank Trump for being a birther.But Tapper was quick to remind Giuliani that it was President Obama who resolved the conspiracy by releasing his birth certificate in 2011 while Trump was still pushing his birtherism four years later in February 2015 when he told CPAC that he thinks the birth certificate is fake. So apparently Trump thinks it hasn t been resolved, thus blowing Giuliani s claim out of the water. Should he just apologize for this if he really wants to reach out to minority voters? Tapper asked.Giuliani replied by demanding that Democrats apologize for calling Trump s birtherism racist and went on to bash President Obama. If everybody apologized for all the things they said in politics, all we would be doing on television shows is apologizing. Maybe all the Democrats should apologize for calling Donald Trump a racist and calling him all kinds of terrible names and it gets a little silly. Food stamps have gone up two and a half times under Barack Obama, he added. He should be ashamed of himself. Jobs should have gone up two and a half times. My only point is that many African-Americans are still mad about Donald Trump having tried to invalidate Barack Obama by claiming he was born in Africa, Tapper responded before giving up and moving on.Here s the video via YouTube:Giuliani seems to be forgetting that the recession that began under George W. Bush and the Republicans in 2008 caused more families to need food stamps in the first place, which is why the number of people on food stamps has gone up. Also, President Obama has set a record for the most consecutive months of jobs created and is actually one of the best job-creating presidents over the last 40 years.Once again, Giuliani gets caught talking out of his ass and he must be truly desperate if he is resorting to demanding an apology from Democrats for Trump s racism.Featured Image: Screenshot

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Migrants Refuse To Leave Train At Refugee Camp In Hungary

Migrants Refuse To Leave Train At Refugee Camp In Hungary Thousands of migrants flooded into a train station in the Hungarian capital Thursday after police lifted a two-day blockade, but some who boarded a train they thought was going to Germany ended up instead at a refugee camp just miles from Budapest. The Associated Press reports that "excited migrants piled into a newly arrived train at the Keleti station in Hungary's capital despite announcements in Hungarian and English that all services from the station to Western Europe had been canceled. A statement on the main departures board said no more trains to Austria or Germany would depart 'due to safety reasons until further notice!' "Many migrants, who couldn't understand either language and were receiving no advice from Hungarian officials, scrambled aboard in a standing-room-only crush and hoped for the best," the AP said. Scuffles broke out when police ordered the passengers off the train at Bicske, according to the BBC. Meanwhile, Hungary's prime minister says his country is doing all it can to manage a growing migrant crisis, even as European officials said they will meet this month in Brussels to discuss an effort to "strengthen the European response" to the situation. Viktor Orban said the influx of refugees into his country is really "a German problem" because that is the intended destination for most of them. Hungarians, along with other Europeans, are "full of fear" he says, because "they see that the European leaders, among them the prime ministers, are not able to control the situation." "If we would create an image ... just come because we are ready to accept everybody, that would be a moral failure, because that is not the case," Orban said after a meeting with European Parliament President Martin Schulz, according to The Washington Post. "The moral human thing is to make clear, please don't come. Why do you have to go from Turkey to Europe? Turkey is a safe country. Stay there. It's risky to come." Meanwhile, Voice of America reports that British, French and German officials have called for urgent action and plan to hold talks on Sept. 14 in Brussels to address the crisis. VOA reports: "The three ministers also called for better processing of migrants in Italy and Greece." As we've reported, the United Nations believes that more than 300,000 migrants have set out for Europe from North Africa and the Middle East on the Mediterranean Sea so far this year, a 40 percent increase on all of last year. As NPR's Middle East editor Larry Kaplow writes: "On any given day now, hundreds of people, perhaps thousands, are drifting in ships or clinging to boats that are little more than inflatable rafts. They go in other ways, too. Jumping fences in Morocco to get to Spanish territory. Cramming into trucks from Turkey. Riding trains across Europe."

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Trump tussle gives unpopular Mexican leader much-needed shot in arm

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s combative style has buffeted Mexico’s president for months, but deeply unpopular Enrique Pena Nieto may end up thanking the new U.S. president for prompting offended Mexicans to rally behind their leader. From billionaire business magnate Carlos Slim to political opponents, there has been a groundswell of support for Pena Nieto, who has cut a lonely figure in months of bruising encounters with Trump. Often referred to by his initials EPN, Pena Nieto is laboring under the worst approval ratings of any Mexican president in decades due to discontent over corruption, gang violence, sluggish growth and a jump in fuel prices. Trump’s threats to scrap the NAFTA trade deal with Mexico and build a border wall have caused anger and left Mexicans feeling fearful for the future. His challenge to Pena Nieto on Thursday - saying he should skip a planned summit between the two leaders if Mexico wasn’t willing to pay for the wall - was the final straw. Pena Nieto replied a couple of hours later that he had canceled his meeting with Trump, one of the president’s biggest ever hits on Twitter, getting more “likes” than when he personally broke news of the capture of notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in January of last year. “Bravo EPN!,” cheered former President Vicente Fox, who had initially condemned Pena Nieto for inviting Trump to Mexico for talks last August, and who has waged a colorful and expletive-ridden campaign against the Republican on Twitter. Pena Nieto and Trump talked for about an hour by phone on Friday, pledging to work out their differences and agreeing not to speak about the wall in public for now. Meanwhile, calls for unity grew in Mexico, led by Slim, a normally media-shy 76-year-old who gave a 90-minute news conference in support of the government on Friday. “This is the most surprising example of national unity I’ve seen in my life,” said Slim, who spent several years in the past decade as the world’s richest man. “We have to back the president of Mexico so he can defend our national interests.” Senior opposition leaders also urged a common front. “It’s time to show unity and our commitment to Mexico,” Alejandra Barrales, head of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said on Twitter. Pena Nieto’s credibility has been battered by a widespread public perception that he has failed to battle corruption and indeed even encouraged it since a conflict-of-interest row embroiled him, his wife and a top minister in late 2014. Some opposition critics fear the government will try to use Trump as a screen to distract from its failings. However, two senior officials told Reuters they hoped Pena Nieto would seize the moment to act quickly and decisively to improve his image. Expressions of dismay at Trump’s behavior towards Mexico have almost become a national pastime, and talk of boycotts against U.S. companies is gathering steam on social media. Slim, when asked about boycotting at his news conference, said it wasn’t a good idea to turn on U.S. companies, which are creating jobs in Mexico. Some foreign companies voiced support for Mexico too. “I feel Mexico is being subjected to terror at the moment,” said Andreas Schindler, co-owner of German fruit wholesaler Don Limon’s parent Pilz Schindler, by phone from Hamburg. “We’re right behind Mexico.”

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Goldman Sachs Endorses Hillary Clinton For President

Goldman Sachs Endorses Hillary Clinton For President For Goldman Sachs, was there really any other choice this cycle? | October 27, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, is greeted by Hillary Clinton at a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative, Sept. 24, 2014 in New York. Published in partnership with Shadowproof . He’s with her. On Sunday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earned the endorsement of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein —an endorsement she had been working toward for years. As was revealed by Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton spent the run up to her presidential campaign giving speeches to Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks, where she praised their talents and explained her positions on financial regulation. On October 24, 2013, Clinton told Goldman Sachs that Dodd-Frank had to be done mostly for “political reasons” because Congress needed to look like it was doing something about the crisis. She said, “There’s nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad. How do you get to the golden key, how do we figure out what works? And the people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry.” Yes, she essentially endorsed Wall Street writing the rules because Wall Street knows its business best and complained to Goldman Sachs that regulations had frightened bankers. “I mean, right now, there are so many places in our country where the banks are not doing what they need to do because they’re scared of regulations, they’re scared of the other shoe dropping, they’re just plain scared, so credit is not flowing the way it needs to to restart economic growth,” Clinton said. “So people are, you know, a little — they’re still uncertain, and they’re uncertain both because they don’t know what might come next in terms of regulations, but they’re also uncertain because of changes in a global economy that we’re only beginning to take hold of.” Music to Wall Street’s ears. For Goldman Sachs, was there really any other choice this cycle? After all, they did pay Hillary Clinton $675,000 for those three speeches, and have generously supported her political career. Despite her private comments to Goldman Sachs, Hillary Clinton has taken a tough public position on Wall Street during the campaign, likely due to Senator Bernie Sanders’ success in the primaries. Of course, Wikileaks also revealed that Clinton told the National Multi-housing Council in a private speech that “you need both a public and a private position.” So the real question is, what do Blankfein and Goldman want in return and what is Clinton’s private position on giving it to them? Be Sociable, Share!

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