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EU In this December 30, 2015 photo, Iraqi Izadi Nadia Murad Basee (C) is welcomed by Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos (R) before their meeting in Athens. (Photo by AP) The European Parliament has awarded two Iraqi women from the Izadi minority group its prestigious human rights prize. On Thursday, Nadia Murad and Lamia Haji Bashar won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for their plight when they, along with other women and girls were abducted, tortured and sexually abused by Daesh terrorists after the militants overran northern Iraq two years ago. The two were awarded the prize as part of efforts to protect the Izadis, who are followers of an ancient religion mostly practiced by more than half a million people in northern Iraq. The community members, especially women, have been subject to torture, sexual abuse and slavery by Daesh. European Parliament chief, Martin Schulz, hailed the two Izadi women for their bravery, saying they had“a painful and tragic story” but “felt compelled to survive to bear witness.” "The courage of these two women, [and] the dignity they represent defies all description,” Schulz told the assembly in Strasbourg. This photo taken on May 5, 2016 shows Lamia Haji Bashar, an 18-year-old Izadi girl who escaped Daesh, in northern Iraq. (Photo by AP) Daesh abducted Murad from her home village of Kocho near Iraq's northern town of Sinjar in August 2014. The slight, softly-spoken young woman, who is now 23, was then brought to the city of Mosul, where she was tortured and raped. Bashar, from the same village, was enslaved and sold two years ago after watching the slaughter of her family and friends by Daesh. The 18-year-old then fell prey to an Iraqi hospital director after 20 months of captivity. She later lost her right eye in a mine explosion which hit one of her friends. The annual Sakharov human rights prize honors individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression. It is named after dissident Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov, who died in 1989. Loading ...

Thu, 27 Oct 2016 14:20 UTC © Andrew Cullen / Reuters Fracking has been banned in Maryland since last year, but next year's proposed regulations jeopardize the moratorium. While the planned regulations are strict, they would allow fracking - a practice which is opposed by the majority of voters. Maryland has a year until its moratorium on fracking expires, but voters are already being asked to consider new rules on the controversial practice. Those rules would introduce heavy regulations but leave room for the possibility to allow fracking. A statewide poll taken by OpinionWorks found that 56 percent of Maryland voters would support a complete, statewide ban on fracking. Fracking is the method of pumping water and various chemicals deep underground in order to extract natural gas. Only six percent of the voters in the Maryland poll believe fracking comes without any risks. The risks of fracking are still being studied and were part of the two-year moratorium issued in 2015. A study by the state's Department of Environment is expected to show the potential impact of fracking, then use those factors to develop industry guidelines. The department has until the end of the month to finalize its proposed regulations. With only 28 percent of polled voters opposing a complete ban on the practice, some Maryland politicians are looking to pass laws that would make the ban on fracking permanent. In September, State Senator Robert Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) told The Washington Post that he would push for a complete ban, saying "there is only one answer, and that is to ban fracking in the state." "If at some point in the future it is absolutely foolproof safe, then we can have another discussion," Zirkin added. "But as of 2016, multiple states have done this, and all of them have seen bad results." Other state lawmakers have kept their efforts local by trying to create small government regulations that would keep fracking out of their counties. Prince George's County banned the practice explicitly last spring, while Montgomery County effectively banned it through a change in its zoning laws. Comment: The oil and gas industry is battling tooth and nail to continue fracking as more communities are taking steps to institute bans - and with good reasons:

Kentucky Republican congressman Hal Rogers, who has spent more than three decades on the House Appropriations Committee, including six years as the chairman, rejected President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget as Congress begins consideration of the president’s rearrangement of priorities. [“While we have a responsibility to reduce our federal deficit, I am disappointed that many of the reductions and eliminations proposed in the President’s skinny budget are draconian, careless and counterproductive,” said Rogers, one of the “cardinals,” the nickname for the lawmakers controlling how federal money is spent. Rogers said he was concerned about cuts to programs in Kentucky. “In particular, the Appalachian Regional Commission has a history of bipartisan support in Congress because of its proven ability to help reduce poverty rates and extend basic necessities to communities across the Appalachian region,” he said. “Today, nearly everyone in the region has access to clean water and sewer, the workforce is diversifying, educational opportunities are improving, and rural technology is finally advancing to 21st Century standards. “We will certainly review this budget proposal, but Congress ultimately has the power of the purse. As the full budget picture emerges in the coming weeks, I am optimistic that we can work with the Administration to responsibly fund the federal government, including those agencies which serve as vital economic lifelines in rural parts of the country that are still working to overcome substantial challenges. “As the full budget picture emerges in the coming weeks, I am optimistic that we can work with the Administration to responsibly fund the federal government, including those agencies which serve as vital economic lifelines in rural parts of the country that are still working to overcome substantial challenges. ” Another top House Republican and the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Mike Conaway, took shots at the president’s cuts to the agriculture programs. “At first blush, I am pleased that the administration is working to restore the strength of our nation’s armed forces to make sure that our men and women in uniform have the equipment that they need to defend our country and our interests around the world,” said Conaway, a Texas Republican who also sits on both the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee. “On the USDA budget, I am concerned that the cuts, while relatively small in the context of the total federal budget, could hamper some vital work of the department,” he said. “I think it is very important to remember that net farm income is down 50 percent from where it stood just four years ago. America’s farmers and ranchers are struggling, and we need to be extremely careful not to exacerbate these conditions. In fact, we need to do all we can to be there to help our farmers and ranchers. The work they do is critical. “I think it is very important to remember that net farm income is down 50 percent from where it stood just four years ago. America’s farmers and ranchers are struggling, and we need to be extremely careful not to exacerbate these conditions. In fact, we need to do all we can to be there to help our farmers and ranchers. ” Another Republican taking on the president’s budget cuts is Sen. Rob Portman ( ). “The Great Lakes are an invaluable resource to Ohio, and The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been a successful partnership that helps protect both our environment and our economy,” Portman said. “The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been a critical tool in our efforts to help protect and restore Lake Erie, and when the Obama administration proposed cuts to the program, I helped lead the effort to restore full funding,” he said. “I have long championed this program, and I’m committed to continuing to do everything I can to protect and preserve Lake Erie, including preserving this critical program and its funding. ” When he announced the president’s budget, Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, explained that his budget request was based on Trump’s own speeches and campaign promises. “Knowing what you know about the President, you could imagine what that budget would look like before you even see it, which is that there will be more money on defense — $54 billion,” Mulvaney said. “There’s more money for enforcing security at the border. There’s more money for enforcing laws on the books just generally. Then, there’s more money for things like private and public school choice,” he said. “Conversely, since the President wanted to do that without adding to the $488 billion deficit in fiscal year 2018, there were reductions elsewhere to offset dollar for dollar, all of those increases,” he said. Taking the opposite tact was Sen. Bob Corker ( .) the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he was willing to accept cuts to the State Department and other projects under his jurisdiction as long as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is comfortable with the loss of budget funds. “Secretary Tillerson has said he willingly accepts this challenge, and I look forward to sitting down with him soon to discuss this proposal and how he believes he can accomplish his work at these budget levels,” he said. “At the end of the day, while the administration proposes a budget, ultimately it is the role of Congress to dispose it and fund government,” he said. I believe we can strike an appropriate balance that recognizes the critical role of diplomacy in keeping our military out of harm’s way and appropriately advancing our nation’s interests while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used in the most efficient and effective manner. “I believe we can strike an appropriate balance that recognizes the critical role of diplomacy in keeping our military out of harm’s way and appropriately advancing our nation’s interests while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used in the most efficient and effective manner. ”

Powerful earthquake hits ROME just two months after tremor killed 300 people. by IWB · October 26, 2016 A strong earthquake has hit Rome, shaking centuries-old buildings in the Italian capital. It is not known if it has caused significant casualties. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.6 on the Richter scale but that was later revised to 5.4. The epicentre was 50 miles south east of Perugia in the central spine of Italy, which has traditionally been prone to quakes. Arcangelo Vicedomini, a software developer in Nettuno, near Rome, tweeted: ‘Earthquake in Italy, 5.6 Richter, epicenter 66 km south of Perugia. In it was feeled well. In Nettuno chandeliers are dancing.’ Today’s tremor came two months after a quake in central Italy killed nearly 300 people. The August 24 quake – which measured 6.2 – destroyed the hilltop village of Amatrice and several other small towns. The US Geological Survey said today’s quake had a depth of only seven miles, which is relatively shallow.

By wmw_admin on April 24, 2006 In the light of more recent developments this older posting is more relevent than ever now Scallywag Magazine article on Lord McAlpine and Derek Laud By wmw_admin on November 15, 2012 We repost this original 1990s article as it marks the beginning of an ongoing saga of depravity in British politics 9/11 and Zion: What Was Israel’s Role? By Nick Kollerstrom on August 31, 2012 When Netanyahu said the very next day, ‘This is very good for Israel”, he wasn’t just blurting out something indiscreet, he was publicly congratulating the various agents who had worked so hard They Live By wmw_admin on August 19, 2012 Considered by some as prophetic, many will find eerie echoes of present day concerns in John Carpenters 24-year-old ‘They Live’. View the cult classic here The Total Solar Eclipse in Scorpio, November 13th, 2012 By wmw_admin on November 16, 2012 Normally we wouldn’t post anything so arcane. But for those who don’t believe in astrology we suggest your read this with a mind open to events currently unfolding in the world

Published on Oct 26, 2016 by Barry Soetoro WATCH HILLARY’S EYEBALL LOSE ITS MIND AND GO COMPLETELY INSANE IN LAKE WORTH, FL (10-26-2016) HILLARY CLINTON HAS PARKINSON’S DISEASE SINCE AT LEAST 2005, WHEN HER PUBLIC RECORD OF FALLING DOWN BEGAN. HILLARY HAS DEMENTIA AND BRAIN DAMAGE. HILLARY’S MENTAL ILLNESS IS OBVIOUS FROM THE LUNATIC BEHAVIOR OF HER EYEBALLS. THIS FOOTAGE IS VERY REAL AND VERY FRIGHTENING. NOT SUITABLE FOR SMALL CHILDREN. ALSO WATCH THESE…..

by Mike Adams , the Health Ranger (NaturalNews) My fellow Americans, we are watching history unfold before us with such sound and fury that we are likely to never witness comparable events again in our lifetime. As of today, I am now convinced that the deep state has turned on Hillary Clinton and will unveil damning evidence in the next few days that will end the Clintons’ reign of terror over America and collapse her bid for the presidency. The mainstream media, of course, will never report this news for the simple reason that they are the propaganda arm of the criminal Clinton cartel. As such, they will lie to the public to the bitter end, even as the Clinton Titanic sinks with all of them on board (in deep, frigid waters, no less, with no more lifeboats to be found). The so-called “deep state” — the powerful insiders who really run the intelligence services and inner layers of untouchable bureaucracy — has decided Hillary Clinton is too damaged to defend any longer . Even if she were to win by stealing the election, she would be so mired in criminal investigations and political illegitimacy that she would rip the nation to shreds while fighting for her own political survival. It has now been decided, I believe, that Hillary Clinton will be taken out of power by releasing criminally damaging emails which have long been held by the NSA and FBI. This will likely happen before the coming weekend. Once that is accomplished, the next goal will be to wait for President Trump to take office, then destroy the U.S. economy through a controlled, global debt collapse so that Trump can be blamed for the near collapse of western economies. (Remember: The deep state isn’t pro-Trump. They’re still all about defending the establishment. But Hillary is one bridge too far for even the statists to stomach…) Instead of allowing Hillary Clinton to take power and destroy America from the top, in other words, deep state power brokers have reverted to “Plan B” which is to let Trump take the White House, then destroy America through the controlled demolition of its currency and economy. This is simpler than it sounds. Bringing down the debt pyramid of a nation carrying nearly $20 trillion in national debt isn’t exactly rocket science. All they have to do is stand back and stop manipulating the markets and stop printing new money for a few months while raising interest rates. Monetary gravity will do the rest… In the mean time, Hillary Clinton and a long list of her co-conspirators are going to find themselves charged with obstruction of justice , lying under oath, destruction of evidence, conspiracy, corruption and other serious charges that will lead to serious prison time for many. The criminal racket of the Clintons is about to implode. The participants will be charged under the RICO Act for “racketeering” activities, for which ample evidence already exists. A new video from Steve Pieczenik describes some of this In this video, intelligence insider Steve Pieczenik lays out how high-level intelligence insiders are now working in concert to “reverse the Clinton coup” that’s attempting to take over America and destroy it from within. Even if you don’t believe Pieczenik — and I fully realize he’s controversial in his own way — this short video is a very important “must watch” explanation to know what people in the intelligence community are doing… “we’ve initiated a counter-coup…” The Clintons are going to go “full murder” in a last ditch, desperate effort to save themselves Beware of what may yet unfold in the coming days. Like a cornered wild animal, the Clintons are extremely dangerous when they realize they have nothing to lose by going “full murder” in an attempt to save themselves. I will not be surprised the least bit if bodies of people in high places start piling up over the next week. Watch for news reports of mysterious car crashes, swimming pool accidents or “natural” deaths involving people like James Comey, who’d better have armed security personnel around him at all times. Look for desperate measures such as the Clintons attempting to blackmail Obama, Comey or anyone who they think might serve as leverage to save their own skins. We might also see desperate false flag attacks unfold in the next few days, although that’s increasingly unlikely since it seems the Clintons are now on their own (they would need the assistance of Obama to pull off another Sandy Hook, you see). A deal has already been struck with Obama Most likely, deep state operatives have already struck a deal with Obama to avoid prosecuting him for his own serious crimes as long as he stays out of the way as Hillary Clinton’s head is served up on a platter. This likely explains why Obama is now publicly saying he trusts Comey (and refuses to go to bat for Hillary). There’s no love lost between Obama and the Clintons (remember 2008?). As all this is going down, the propaganda ministry of the Clinton regime — CNN, NYT, Washington Post, etc. — is going to explode into an all-out “bat-s##t crazy” conspiracy theory phase where they blame the Russians, extraterrestrials, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster for everything that’s imploding around the Clintons. Mainstream media news reports are going to increasingly sound like sociopathic babble from crazy people grasping at whatever outlandish theories they can invoke. Maybe crop circles were created by the Russians as a secret code to Wikileaks and Donald Trump, eh? Meanwhile, conspiratorial operatives like George Stephanopoulos fully realize they are probably going to jail for collusion and sedition , so they have nothing left to lose by desperately trying to put Hillary in the White House via any means at their disposal, including totally faking negative news against Donald Trump (which is, of course, the entire news mission of CNN at this point, a disgraced propaganda network run by anti-American traitors). If the vote is stolen for Hillary Clinton, all hell breaks loose Should the globalist Soros operators manage to steal the vote, bribe the electoral voters or rig the black box voting machines sufficiently to place Hillary Clinton in the White House, all Hell breaks loose across America : • The FBI goes into full indictment mode to push criminal charges for the Clinton criminal regime. • Donald Trump launches a massive legal challenge to the election outcome, dispatching an army of lawyers to level a vast assortment of charges involving coordinated voter fraud, the rigging of voting machines, the attempted bribery of Electoral voters and so on. • The U.S. military revs up its plans for an armed military coup to depose Clinton and restore democracy. This one should be especially entertaining to watch unfold if it gets activated… (and yes, YOU will beg for a short-term military dictatorship as long as they promise to depose Clinton and restore open, fair and free elections). • Armed U.S. citizens prepare for a massive march on Washington to take back their democracy and restore a lawful society where the political elite don’t get away with corruption, fraud and murder. Expect this march to be joined by police officers and federal law enforcement officials of all kinds. • The NSA likely goes into “full dump” mode to unleash every scrap of damning criminal evidence against Hillary Clinton. This will likely be joined by CIA assets who already have the goods on the Clintons and their “Lolita Express” pedo joy rides. • Wikileaks, Anonymous and every former NSA analyst goes into “destroy the Clintons” mode and begins to hack and expose every last shred of email evidence ever possessed by the Clintons and anyone close to them. Anonymous alone has enough technical clout to accomplish this with little or no outside help. (I expect Kim Dotcom to be aiding this entire effort as well, as he rightly holds extreme hatred toward Hillary Clinton… as do we all, come to think of it.) • The establishment Republicans in the U.S. Congress will, as usual, meekly surrender to the democrats, pulls down their britches and bend over to prepare to take it in the rear because that’s what they do best when the going gets tough. Totally useless politicrats like John McCain can’t get their pants around their ankles quickly enough when democrats start accusing them of something. These useless heaps of human baggage will be tossed out of Washington as the revolution unfolds, replaced with individuals who actually honor the U.S. Constitution (like Rep. Louie Gohmert). I root for all groups working to save America and expose the criminal politicians Bring out the marshmallows and weiners, folks: This is going to be the most bizarre campfire front row seat to U.S. history that anyone has witnessed in over 200 years. Try not to trip and “face plant” into the flames as all this unfolds. It might be a smart idea to have some preparedness supplies at the ready, since no one really knows just how nasty this is all going to get. (And thank God Hillary doesn’t have her fingers on the nuclear launch codes, or she’d probably launch them just to change the narrative…) As for me, I’m with anybody who’s trying to save America , restore democracy and throw the establishment criminals in prison. Like almost everybody else, I’ve had enough of the lies, the corruption, the media deceptions and the incessant blood sucking parasites in Washington D.C. who are too arrogant and stupid to realize just how much they’re universally despised. The revolution is ON. Anonymous, Wikileaks, Project Veritas, the FBI and the NSA have all been activated. There’s no stopping them now, and all the details of all the crimes of the Clintons are about to spill onto the stage of history, dirty deeds and all. Be warned, you are probably not psychologically prepared for the truth about what the Clintons really are. You will probably vomit. To learn more, please click here. P lease Donate to The Common Sense Show PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DON’T FORGET TO “LIKE” US This is the absolute best in food storage. Dave Hodges is a satisfied customer.  FOR A SHORT TIME ONLY, TAKE 5% OFF OF YOUR PURCHASE – USE THE COUPON CODE “hodgesnov5”  Don’t wait until it is too late. Click Here   for more information. Click here for more information The sane alternative to Facebook Seen.Life-The Facebook alternative- no censorship, no spying– Sign up here

In his latest New York Times columnist Frank Bruni explains how the media manipulated White House strategist Steve Bannon’s image to drive a wedge between him and President Trump. [From Bruni’s New York Times column titled “Steve Bannon Was Doomed”: If you’re any student of politics, you saw Steve Bannon on the cover of Time magazine in early February — “The Great Manipulator,” it called him — and knew to start the countdown then. Dead strategist walking. He’d crossed the line that a politician’s advisers mustn’t, to a place and prominence where only the most foolish of them tread. Or at best he’d failed to prevent the media from tugging him there. He was fine so long as he was a whisperer. On the campaign trail and on the Potomac, you can whisper all you want. He was damned the moment he was cast as a puppeteer. That means there’s a puppet in the equation, and no politician is going to accept that designation, least of all one who stamps his name in gold on anything that stands still long enough to be stamped. Or whose debate performance included the repartee: “No puppet, no puppet. You’re the puppet. ” … Politics is a tricky business, Washington is a treacherous place and Trumplandia is downright brutal. In all three realms, you have to strike the right balance of and . The media’s no help: We love few archetypes better than that of the brilliant mastermind who’s the real power behind the throne. But the savviest operators find ways to resist that assignment, deflecting as much credit as they claim. Read the rest here.

ROME — As night fell in Italy’s Apennine Mountains on Thursday, prospects dimmed of finding survivors of an avalanche that had swept over a small resort hotel the previous night. At least 30 people were missing, according to the authorities. The avalanche occurred after four earthquakes struck central Italy, which has been hit hard in recent months. Giampiero Parete, a cook at the Rigopiano hotel and one of the two known survivors, had gone out to get something from his car when the avalanche struck. His wife and two young children remained inside and are among the missing. Quintino Marcella, a restaurateur, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had received a frantic call for help from Mr. Parete on Wednesday night. Mr. Parete told him that the hotel had been wiped out: “The hotel isn’t here anymore, it’s not here,” Mr. Marcella told the newspaper. He said that the guests had been waiting for a snow plow to clear the roads. “All the guests had their bags packed and were waiting to leave,” he said. Mr. Marcella said that he called the prefecture in Pescara, and an official told him that they had spoken to the hotel a few hours earlier and that everything was under control. “I insisted,” Mr. Marcella told Corriere della Sera. He said that he called police, the carabinieri, until someone finally said “maybe there’s something there. ” The authorities told the Italian media that they responded as soon as they learned of the disaster. The latest seismic activity, which prompted officials to close schools and the subway system in Rome as a precaution, shifted the nation’s attention back to areas in central Italy that were devastated by last year’s earthquakes, leading to criticism that victims had been left to fend for themselves. Fabrizio Curcio, the chief of the civil protection department, told RAI News that teams had reached the hotel but that they faced an enormous challenge. Rescue workers, including dog units, were moving with caution he said, and some teams reported no signs of survivors. News channels in Italy showed images of the roof collapsed on the Rigopiano, and photographs suggesting that much of the structure had been buried by the avalanche. The last time Fulvio Vagnarelli heard from his brother Marco, who was staying at the hotel with his girlfriend Paola Tomassini, it was via a social media message late on Wednesday afternoon. “He told me that they were about to leave but that they were delayed because of the snow,” Mr. Vagnarelli told the Ansa news agency. Cars were blocking the road, “and they were waiting for it to be cleared. ” The father of a woman who worked at the hotel told Radio24 that the staff had asked to leave after the quake “because it was felt very strongly up there, and so they asked to come down. But there were three meters of snow, how were they supposed to leave?” Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the rescue effort presented officials with “unprecedented” difficulties, describing the area as caught in a vise after intense snowfall “that hadn’t been recorded for decades,” and the strong earthquakes on Wednesday. The epicenters of the four earthquakes were in central Italy, which has been hit by deadly quakes with increasing frequency in recent years. Officials registered more than 100 aftershocks on Thursday. Emergency vehicles tried to assist mountain rescue teams in the region, part of the Gran Sasso National Park, but their efforts were hampered by heavy snow. Francesco Provolo, the prefect of Pescara, the province that includes Farindola, told RAI that rescuers had to travel more than five miles on skis and snowshoes to reach the hotel, as billowing snow continued to fall throughout the night. A spokesman for the civil protection department in Pescara estimated that up to 30 people were in the hotel at the time of the avalanche. The hotel has 43 rooms, but it was not clear how many guests were staying there at the time of the avalanche. Rescue efforts continued at the hotel, which officials said had been swept from its foundations by the avalanche. Walter Milan, a spokesman for a specialized mountain rescue team, told RAI that rescuers were examining the scene of the avalanche section by section “to exclude that people remained trapped underneath. ” In the nearby hamlet of Ortolano, which has been cut off by the snow, 21 people were airlifted by helicopter to the airport in L’Aquila, said a spokesman for the Italian Financial Police, which was involved in the rescue operations. Three quakes in central Italy last year killed nearly 300 people in and around the medieval town of Amatrice on Wednesday, the tower of one of that town’s churches was destroyed by temblors. In 2009, the town of L’Aquila was devastated by an earthquake that killed more than 300 people. The latest earthquakes were a new setback for thousands of commercial, industrial and agricultural enterprises in four central Italian regions that have been struggling to recover from the natural disasters of the summer and fall. Mr. Gentiloni praised the courage of rescue workers trying to reach the hotel, and he said the country’s “heart and mind” were closely following their efforts. “Everyone is doing as much as they can” to reach people, clear roads and bring electricity to areas that have been cut off for days, the prime minister said. “But I ask all operators to increase their commitment. They have shown that they exist, are present, and are working — but I ask them, if possible, to do even more. ” The avalanche had buried cars and nearly everything else in its path. The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said that more than 47, 000 temblors and aftershocks had rattled the region since August, and that there was no sign the situation would change anytime soon. After the earthquake in L’Aquila in 2009, the earth shook for four years, even though it wasn’t always perceptible to people, said Carlo Meletti, the director of the seismic hazard center at the institute. “We expect the sequence will last for many weeks,” he said. “After yesterday’s quakes, it is as though it has picked up in vigor. ” “We have always said that there were strong possibilities of new, stronger earthquakes, and now a new fault has opened,” he continued. “The one thing we don’t know is when they will occur or where, because the area that has been affected by the quakes is so vast. ” Mr. Meletti said in a telephone interview that it was unclear if the avalanche was a direct result of the earthquakes on Wednesday, but that a link was possible “considering that a lot of snow had fallen in a very short time and it was very unstable. ” Echoing a refrain heard after the earthquakes last year, many residents complained on social media that they had been abandoned, even as officials pledged that they were doing everything they could to reach stranded towns and hamlets. “Only the earthquake remembers the earthquake victims,” a banner headline on the front page of the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano read on Thursday.

Email When then-President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the country’s motto “In God We Trust” on July 30, 1956, he stated, “In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.” Last week, the City Council of Chesapeake, Virginia, agreed with Eisenhower , unanimously voting to celebrate the motto’s 60th anniversary by putting up a plaque in the town’s city hall emblazoned with it. Suzy Kelly, the council member who sponsored and promoted the proposal, explained: “As our founders wrote in the Declaration of Independence, our inalienable rights come from our God, not our government. Displaying ‘In God We Trust’ in City Hall, or any government hall where elected officials enact legislation, makes perfect sense.” The phrase appears to have origins in the fourth stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner”: O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation, Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. "In God we trust" also echoes the Bible: Psalm 118:8: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” Psalm 40:3: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in Him.” Proverbs 29.25: “Fear of many will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” On the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the motto, the U.S. Senate reaffirmed it, while five years later the House passed a resolution reaffirming it as well, with just nine members opposed. But some disagree. In March, the board of commissioners in Saluda, North Carolina, voted unanimously not to display “In God We Trust” in its city hall, claiming that it would offend and “ostracize” some with non-Christian or secular beliefs. Attorney and atheist Michael Newdow appears to have made a living bringing lawsuits challenging the motto, along with the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Back in January, for instance, he filed one, claiming that the motto violates the “separation” of church and state and that his belief in nothing is “substantially burdened because he is forced to bear on his person [presumably, the paper currency he carries in his wallet with the offending phrase printed on it] a religious sentiment that causes him to sense his government legitimizing, promoting and reinforcing negative and injurious attitudes not only against Atheists in general, but against him personally.” The outcome of that lawsuit apparently is still pending, but if precedents hold, he will once again be out of luck. In 1970 Stefan Ray Aronow filed the first lawsuit against the motto, Aronow v. United States . The court ruled that Aronow didn’t have standing to sue but decided to address his complaint anyway. Wrote the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency “In God We Trust” have nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise. The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment — “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion” — was successfully defended years earlier by the Supreme Court in 1952 in Zorach v. Clauson . Writing for the majority, Justice William Douglas stated: We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being…. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "So help me God" in our courtroom oaths — these and ... other references to the Almighty ... run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies ... [including] the supplication with which the Court opens each session: "God save the United States and this Honorable Court." Suzy Kelly and other members of the City Council of Chesapeake have been inundated with expressions of support for their decision. "When I speak with people," said Kelly, "they often indicate how they feel our country has turned away from its founding principles. This vote has given hope to many." An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment Thank you for joining the discussion at The New American. We value our readers and encourage their participation, but in order to ensure a positive experience for our readership, we have a few guidelines for commenting on articles. If your post does not follow our policy, it will be deleted. No profanity, racial slurs, direct threats, or threatening language. No product advertisements. Please post comments in English. Please keep your comments on topic with the article. If you wish to comment on another subject, you may search for a relevant article and join or start a discussion there.

09:01 EST, 12 November 2016 | Updated: 18:54 EST, 12 November 2016 A flotilla of Russian warships is now in the eastern Mediterranean off the Syrian coast after being sent to back up a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad. The commander of Russia’s flagship Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, Sergei Artamonov, said via videolink that the ships are now in the ‘designated zone… in the eastern Mediterranean’ and ‘are now jointly carrying out tasks, manoeuvering to the west of the Syrian coast’. The battle group has travelled to Syria from the North Sea through the English Channel in the biggest such naval deployment in recent years as part of Russia’s military intervention in Syria. Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov pictured in international waters off the coast of northern Norway last month Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, pictured in the Englist Channel, is part of the Russian Task Group, which includes the sole the nuclear powered Kirov Class Battlecruiser, Pyotr Velikiy and two Udaloy Class Destroyers, Vice Admiral Kulakov and Severomorsk Russia has been flying a bombing campaign in Syria for the past year in support of President Bashar al-Assad and has deployed a naval contingent to back up its operation. The naval task force has been monitored closely by NATO, whose chief Jens Stoltenberg voiced concern the ships would be used to support the Russian military operation in Syria and ‘increase human and civilian suffering.’ The ship’s commander was speaking to a presenter on Russia-1 television from inside the defence ministry for a news show that will air this evening in Moscow. The Russian warship ‘Mirage’ passes the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul on its way to Syria He confirmed that aircraft are already taking off from the ship’s deck to view the conflict zone. ‘Flights are being carried out from the deck… they are working on coordination with the shore port,’ he said. ‘The flights have been going on practically every day for the last four days,’ he added. HMS Richmond observing aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which is part of a Russian task group, during transit through the North Sea Russia’s Interfax news agency on Friday had cited a Russian military and diplomatic source as saying that Russian MiG and Sukhoi jets have been regularly flying into Syrian airspace from the Kuznetsov to ‘determine combat missions.’ The Russian television channel also spoke to the commander of the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered battle cruiser, which is part of the same flotilla. Asked whether foreign aircraft were flying over the ships, the commander, Vladislav Malakhovsky, said ‘they are afraid to come closer than 50 kilometres away, realising very well how powerful the nuclear cruiser is.’ – Seeks UN assurances on truces – Russia says it has ceased strikes on rebel-held east Aleppo since October 18 and has also held brief unilateral ceasefires on the ground it calls ‘humanitarian pauses.’ It has accused the United States-led coalition of failing to persuade rebels to cooperate to allow civilians to leave, as only a few have done so. The Russian defence ministry on Saturday said that it will introduce further ‘humanitarian pauses’ only on condition that the United Nations humanitarian mission guarantees it is ready and able to organise aid supplies and evacuations. The UN has warned that east Aleppo is now down to its final food supplies and has urged Russia to extend future truces to allow supplies through. Russia said Saturday it is ready to act ‘at any time’ as long as the UN ‘officially confirms its readiness and ability to supply humanitarian aid to Aleppo and evacuate wounded and sick peaceful residents.’ It complained that previous assurances from the UN had turned out to be ‘just words.’ Vehicles carrying humanitarian aid that try to enter the designated humanitarian passages into the city have ‘every time’ faced ‘shooting from the rebel fighters’ and have been unable to drive through because of mined roads, the ministry said. Related

Welcome to the Dangerous Faggot Tour! I’m MILO, the supervillain of the Internet, but you already knew that.[ Congratulations to the people in the front row who got signed and numbered memorabilia tonight. I look forward to them showing up on eBay. By the way the numbers are edition numbers not ratings. Unlike progressives I don’t go around giving grades to abortions or celebrating the murder of innocent life. I’m happy that the final week of my college tour takes place in California. I feel like California is home. Of course I’m British, but I feel Californian inside. Well, I feel Californians inside. Is a thing? The beauty of liberal identity politics is if you can imagine it, it’s real, no matter how ridiculous it is! Internet pornography, transgender pronouns, Amy Schumer’s sexuality. You name it. I don’t blame anyone for being . You have beautiful weather, incredible forests and natural beauty, and plenty of completely insane liberals to laugh at. They say California girls are the best too, but I wouldn’t know anything about that. Because I’m gay, did you know that? If I look a bit jumpy tonight, it’s not the protesters that have me on edge. I’m fresh from an electroshock therapy session. Vice President Mike “if you like the cock, you get a shock” Pence sent me a gift voucher for these new Zap The Fag Away treatments they’re doing at Trump Tower. It’s like tanning — cheaper if you buy a course. I’m still hoping the therapy sessions work. I think they might be, it’s early days. I’m not quite into snatch yet, but I do feel guilty every time I see Idris Elba. Did you know Idris Elba is an anagram. If you rearrange the letters it spells YOU WILL NEVER BE JAMES BOND. Before we get to the fun stuff, I have an important announcement to make. My initiative to help white men further their education is now accepting applications! We’ve given it the brilliant name of the Yiannopoulos Privilege Grant. I put my name in it because progressives are too stupid to remember how to spell it and too lazy to Google, so it reduces the abuse we get in our inboxes by about 90%. As of this second the website is live for you to apply at privilegegrant. com. My goal is to help more men, no matter what their major or political opinions, to reach their educational goals. You can even major in Gender Studies. I don’t care. Our pilot grant program will give 10 students $2, 500 towards their tuition, which will be paid directly to their college or university. The grant is open for U. S. Citizens attending a 2 year community college or 4 year college or university. Now the most important details are the dates. Submissions are open today, January 31st, and close February 14th, Valentine’s Day, which is the day fat people stock up on razor blades. So after you’ve finished crying and wanking and thinking about how alone you are, log on to privilegegrant. com and get yourself some free money. The recipients will be announced on March 31st, and the grants will be paid to the schools immediately upon IRS approval. Please do not treat this like a college class and open the submission on the last day! You’ll be writing a and providing a video clip of up to 90 seconds via one of several private upload options, so you’re better off starting early. Although it took longer than I anticipated to get the Privilege Grant set up properly — your government bureaucracy is even worse than the UK’s — I am happy that we are now well on our way to assisting white men achieve their dreams. I hope everyone eligible in this room and watching our livestream applies! Males make up only 43% of America’s 20. 5 million college students. Since the 1980’s, women have performed better in high schools and earned the majority of BA degrees. There are thousands of scholarships for women and minorities, but very few for white men. Education is essential for young men to be successful in the American economy. Young adults with a bachelor’s degree earn 62% more than one with only a high school diploma. The percentage of jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree has doubled in the past forty years. These facts made it obvious to me that men need education to be successful, and education takes money. We look forward to helping 10 men in the Spring, and many more in the years to come. Cal Poly is my kind of school. So many universities I visit boast about boring alumni like pioneering surgeons and olympic athletes. But Cal Poly has none other than Weird Al Yankovic! And it just gets better. The student population is 53% male! Let’s hear it for the sausage party. In fact, women were banned from Cal Poly from 1930 until 1956. For that brief, blissful Cal Poly was a safe space, like a country club or a Saudi Arabian highway. Now I want you to all be honest with me for a second … whenever there is a feminist protest or genderqueer slut walk or another outbreak of fake rape claims on campus, doesn’t a little piece of you think that letting women back on campus might have been a mistake. For those of you thinking yes … . Don’t worry! You’re not alone! And for women in attendance, I’m kidding, slightly. I know you feel the same horror as we do at these ludicrous feminist antics, with additional embarrassment on behalf of your gender. I do recognize it isn’t your fault that you happen to share a gender, one of the actual two genders, with batshit crazy, and deeply unhappy feminist harpies. There is even more to love about Cal Poly! You have a freedom of speech loving President named Jeffrey Armstrong, who has made the brave decision to take a stand against crybabies, and follow the path of the University of Chicago instead of the University of Missouri. President Armstrong put out a definitive statement about tonight’s event, and hasn’t budged an inch. Let me quote him here: “It is, in fact, the university’s responsibility to support the rights of all people to express their opinions and ideas — regardless of how unpopular they may be — while also encouraging students to think critically and independently. “Protecting freedom of speech is not an option, it is a critical responsibility that the university, and all of us as members of a democratic society, must defend. ” President Armstrong is right, and the left is absolutely furious. They know they will never win in a world with so they fight to censor everything to the right of them. It’s the same thing as when these idiots call everyone on the right a Nazi. They even do it to me, but the Nazis hate my guts! That word used to hold weight, you know. I am here tonight to talk to you about abortion, and why America must stop murdering babies. Abortion isn’t the same sort of demonic practise you’d find at one of Hillary’s spirit cooking sessions, but is no less evil. Before we talk about some of the serious issues about abortion, we must first touch on my own Catholic faith. You should always take what I say about religion with a grain of salt, because the 7 deadly sins are more like my seven daily activities. I try to check them all off at least once a day. All of them except gluttony my trainer keeps that under control. But I am a Catholic and I do believe in God, even as I recognise that the church is for sinners and I’m one of the most enthusiastic sinners. As someone once said, I might be bad, but imagine how much worse I’d be WITHOUT God. It is in the Bible that we should be fruitful and multiply, I don’t think it mentions shouting our abortions anywhere. This is especially critical at a time western civilisation is in crisis in the face of radical Islam. In short, we need to breed. That’s why I’ll finally be caving to public pressure and millions of fan letters and at last auctioning off my sperm for charity. I once wrote a column wishing we had a religious right movement in the United Kingdom, because religious people there don’t speak up the way religious people do here. I’m not going to go on too long about religion because not all of you have the good fortune to be Catholic, or even Christian, but there are a few important points to consider. Abortion is murder. Abortion is wrong. I think everyone knows that, which is why abortion activists are so angry all the time. It’s a bit like when you catch someone out in a lie and they get really mad at you really quickly and you can’t work out why until later. It’s guilt. When I say abortion is wrong, its defenders leap to their feet, demanding to know why I want to jail a girl who has an abortion after a horrific subhuman rapes her. Well, guess what? I don’t want to jail that girl, and I defy you to find any opponent of abortion who does. I will make the distinction for you, because unlike feminists, my audiences are smart enough to enjoy the adventure known as Reasoning With Logic. I make this distinction, by the way, using the tools of the Catholic Church, which has been reasoning gracefully since long before the first feminist had a . Don’t forget that the original feminists, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Susan B. Anthony, denounced abortion. In principle, the Church teaches, the direct, intentional taking of innocent human life is wrong. Because that’s a principle, it’s easy to say that, even in the most heartbreaking case, like that of the we’re considering, it cannot be right to take the innocent life who is growing inside her and has done nothing worthy of the death penalty. But as Western civilization has always understood, hard cases make bad law. And the Church has long been the enemy of utopianism, the most prominent vice of leftists, who demand that each of us be perfect immediately, according to the warped view of perfection you find in gender studies classes and Marxist gripe fests. Here is the relevant distinction, and I’m quoting from the Church’s “Angelic Doctor,” St. Thomas Aquinas: “Human laws do not forbid all vices, from which the virtuous abstain, but only the more grievous vices, from which it is possible for the majority to abstain. ” In other words, it’s not wise to punish with human law everything that may be opposed to the natural law. That means I can say it’s wrong to take innocent life, without having to say that we should outlaw abortions in every single case. In a sane country, we would argue about what cases should be illegal. Should you, for instance, as often happens in lands, allow abortion when parents don’t want a girl baby? Here’s one more fact that will help you understand that Thomas Aquinas and the Church aren’t the puritans that your lying professors claim: St. Thomas and before him St. Augustine both followed this view I’ve described when it came to prostitution. They thought it was wrong to do, but foolish to make illegal. I don’t think they’d approve of so my 20s still require some apologizing for, but it is still an amazingly progressive position, Sorry feminists. Once again dead white man are clearer thinkers than your leading lights! Since I brought up catholicism, I have to mention Islam too. I do this because Islam is always wrong, but I could pacify the liberals in attendance by saying it was mandated by the diversity and inclusion office. We know abortion for sex selection has been common outside of western civilization. For example under China’s one child policy, many girls were aborted so the family could have a son. By 2001 there were 117 boys born for every 100 girls, leading the government to outlaw sex selective abortions in 2010, and even outlaw doctors telling parents what sex their child would be. Of course it still happens, the Chinese have become skillful at ignoring their authoritarian . But another culture also values sons far more than daughters, and that is Islam. I’ve said on numerous occasions that if you are curious what effect mass Islamic immigration to the United States would have, all you need to do is look at Europe. And in this case my home country off England is telling. Statistical analysis of births in England, undertaken in 2014, prove that thousands of girls are being aborted for sex selection purposes. Of course the government and others will waive their hand and try to explain these things away, but a brave Greek stood up to them. You probably think I mean me, but there are OTHER brave Greeks, and this one’s name is Christoforos Anagnostopoulos, a lecturer in statistics at Imperial College London. Damn, I finally have some competition for most ludicrous Greek name. Christoforos dug into the numbers and found certain incontrovertible proof. Gender imbalances may be contributed to by multiple factors, but no set of factors can explain away the imbalances in immigrant communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. To quote him on this subject, “The only readily available explanation that is consistent with a statistically significant gender shift of the sort observed in the census data is abortion. ” I’m curious how the feminists off England will spin this data. Under Islam, many girl babies literally never see the light of day. Feminists hate the truth, science, and logical thinking. feminism is entirely rooted in lies, distortion, and hysteria. Feminist arguments are absolutely no different. The underpinning of legal abortion in the United States is the Supreme Court case Roe V. Wade. Many argue that the entire case is shoddy law, but I am not a lawyer and unlike pundits on both sides of the debate, I won’t argue a supreme court case for your entertainment. I will share some extremely unpleasant facts that professors and liberals just HATE being shared. The Roe in the name of the case was actually a woman named Norma McCorvey. Surprise surprise, she is now an activist. She never had an abortion the child in the Roe V. Wade case was given up for adoption. McCorvey has three daughters of her own now. She has admitted, as part of turning against abortion, that the entire case was a sham. In the case she claimed to have been by thugs, which was a lie to make the case more sympathetic, like my earlier example. In fact McCorvey claims that she had minimal involvement in the case besides signing some papers. She was persuaded to play this part by her feminist lawyers. McCorvey became an advocate after realizing the error of her ways. She bears a heavy heart, as some 50 million babies were legally killed following the passage of Roe V. Wade. How can feminism be without being ? There is nothing more unique about being a woman. But feminism loves abortion, and loves to put down motherhood. Just consider the Women’s March on Washington. Besides a bunch of women leaving garbage and signs littered all over the city, the prevailing moods were promoting Islam for women, and abortion for all. Sue Ellen Browder is yet another abortion activist who later became an activist, witnessed firsthand how the sexual liberation of the late 60’s and early 70’s inserted abortion into the women’s rights movement. She eloquently points out that what the media can’t see is that the national debate over abortion is not a war against women, but rather a war between women. Motherhood and became anathema to liberated women, and abortion became a prime component of women’s rights. One of the main reasons abortion became synonymous with women’s rights is the adoption of abortion — pun intended — into the political platform of the National Organization for Women. But I’d like to share a quote from Betty Friedan, who was the President of NOW at the time. In 2001 she said: “Ideologically, I was never for abortion. Motherhood is a value to me, and even today abortion is not … I believed passionately in 1967, as I do today, that women should have the right of chosen motherhood. For me, the matter of choice has never been primarily the choice of abortion, but that you can choose to be a mother. That is as important as any right written into the Constitution. ” If she said that in a room of feminists, she’d be censored, kicked out, and possibly beaten up. Because feminists aren’t they are . Initiatives like #ShoutYourAbortion are not about choice, they are about glorifying the death of children. I will leave it up to you to browse that topic for disgusting positive reactions to abortions. They may a good weight loss aide if you eat too much and need to throw up. But I can’t get away without sharing one vile one at least. One #ShoutYourAbortion participant gushed that her Vacuum Aspiration made her “happy. ” That name just “tickles” her. You’re “vacuuming” out the “unwanted detritus” threatening your “aspirations. ” It’s like getting blood drawn — she’s had “more painful experiences flossing. ” That is what killing a baby is to these people, just a different version of flossing. This quote is in fact a wonderful example of how these despicable people manipulate language to make abortion seem normal. A vacuum aspiration involves inserting a suction device into the mother’s body to suck out the poor little child. Aspiration refers not to the dreams of the mother, but the removal itself. They do vacuum aspirations when the child is too little to be valuable on the baby bodyparts sales channel. They only want the bigger babies for that — so they kill and remove them in completely different ways hoping to preserve the merchandise. #ShoutYourAbortion and movements like it seek to normalize abortion, but in fact it is very bad for women’s health. You know, the women feminism claims to care about. In 2010 the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry published a study based on a sample of 3, 000 women in the United States. The findings of the effects of abortion are startling. If the cause of this mental anguish were anything besides abortion, women would be marching against it, and Madonna would be threatening to blow the White House up over it. Abortion is clearly so bad for women’s mental health that it falls second only to Islam, and maybe the fact that I’m gay. Imagine if the parents of your favorite people in this world deciding against having them. Abortion is simply wrong. Imagine no Shakespeare, no Wagner, no Lil Wayne, no Mariah, no Daddy … Imagine no Perez Hilton … actually maybe abortion isn’t so bad after all. Joking! Abortion advocates ignore science, Feminists don’t really handle science well. They prefer feelings. So it is no surprise their abortion arguments are proven wrong time after time. Let’s start with the idea that a baby is like a parasite inside the mother, attack her body’s integrity. This is what many abortion advocates believe, that the woman’s body is occupied by this hostile force. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, babies pass beneficial cells to their mothers that can aide in healing throughout the mother’s life. A fantastic book has been written on this subject by Jena Pincott called “Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?: The Surprising Science of Pregnancy”. I am a chocolate lover but despite my best efforts and the best efforts of my boyfriend I remain tragically unblessed. Another argument that we hear all the time is that it is a woman’s body and a woman’s choice. Women, let us dispel this notion quickly. A baby is not your body. A baby even at a quite early fetal stage has her own heartbeat, her own brainwaves, and her own separate DNA. How can you possibly argue a baby is part of you? Babies inside their mother have everything but fingerprints and a social security number. Babies in the womb are the real undocumented Americans we should care about … . Not Mexican gang members and Syrian Jihadists! Progressives like to insinuate that there is something sinister about Big Oil and Big Tobacco. They might even be right! But Planned Parenthood, Big Abortion, is worse. We were all shocked when undercover tapes came out showing they are in the business of selling baby parts to the medical industry. Can you imagine, and I don’t think this is a stretch, the senior leaders of Planned Parenthood sitting in a conference room discussing the best timing for an abortion, to maximize their profits from the dead baby’s body? It’s horrifying, and it’s what feminists want more of. Planned Parenthood can attribute a good portion of their boffo business to their president since 2006, Cecile Richards. Richards is well on her way to personally matching Hitler’s body count. We’ve done the grim maths so you don’t have to. Using a conservative estimate of 300, 000 abortions a year — or 300 kiloscrapes, using the technical metric measure — Cecile Richards has presided over three million abortions, or three megascrapes in her ten years as president of the organisation. This has earned her “half Holocaust” status. Full Holocaust seems eminently reachable given Planned Parenthood’s growing hegemony in the abortion industry. To be clear, this is just since Richards took charge. Planned Parenthood has since 1970 performed 7 million abortions, comfortably surpassing Hitler according to its own annual reports. You have to admire the chutzpah, if you’ll forgive my terminology: Planned Parenthood has amassed a Third death count completely legally and while pocketing half a billion dollars a year to do so. But under Richards the numbers have skyrocketed such that in just the last ten years, at least 3 million young lives were ended. If Cecile stays in her post another decade, she will reach “full Hitler,” by matching the six million deaths of the Holocaust. In fact it’ll probably be sooner than that, given the acceleration in procedures during her reign. The road ahead may be rocky. Besides the undercover videos still being released, some media sources are starting to cover the revolting practices of these sociopathic monsters. Nice normal people, whatever their views on abortion, have no stomach for these unashamed activities. And perhaps President Trump will defund them. If you need to hear more about Margaret Sanger, here’s something she once said. She was inarguably racist. She spoke glowingly about a presentation to a group of KKK women in New Jersey, and they loved her messaging about the black race. Messaging like this, in a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble: “We do not want word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members. ” Notice like most liberals, she considers minorities that disagree with her to be rebellious, or uppity. Black Trump supporters heard these words and much worse during the campaign! Margaret Sanger’s goal was to diminish the black race, and one can argue she was at least partially successful. Stats about abortion by race are not always easy to find, but nonetheless paint a compelling picture about the race reality of abortion. New York City presents itself as a strong case study. In 2012, there were more black children aborted in New York City than born alive. More than 31, 000 compared to just under 25, 000 live births. Blacks accounted for 42% of the abortions in the city, with Hispanic women accounting for another 31%. That’s 73% of all abortions in the city killing black and Hispanic youth. Other national data from the Center for Reform asserts that black women are 3 times more likely to have an abortion than white women. So isn’t it fascinating that intersectional feminists fighting for abortion and so often with Black Lives Matter? To any BLM members tucked away in the audience, I can conclusively say that feminists are one group that do not believe black lives matter at all. Whether you believe in an immortal soul or not, babies are precious. You may not like some of the grim imagery associated with the movement, and you may find the pictures of dead babies carried by protesters to be tremendously distasteful, BUT THAT IS THE POINT. Abortion SHOULD be considered terrible. The left knows it, and that is why they do their best to make people think babies are just lumps of cells that magically become humans upon birth. They prey on vulnerable women who are pregnant, while at the same time brainwashing the youth to praise abortion. I’d like to remind you that many of the great people in history were born as orphans or adopted. People like Julius Caesar, Bach, Steve Jobs, Aristotle, Louis Armstrong, Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Bill Clinton. What if some of these people hadn’t existed? Don’t say anything about Bill Clinton … without him we wouldn’t have had Sick Hillary’s hilarious campaign! I call on everyone in this room and the many thousands of people watching at home to reject the cultural conditioning favoring abortion that we are all exposed to. You have already rejected so much, like the lie of campus rate epidemics and the gender pay gap. I’m asking you to go a little farther … because Western Civilization needs more babies, not fewer. Written from prepared remarks.

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to pursue the most severe penalties for defendants with the most serious and provable crimes. [Sessions instructed federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” in an memorandum sent to more than 5, 000 assistant U. S. attorneys across the country on Thursday. In a speech on Friday, Sessions highlighted the rapidly increasing crime rates in U. S. cities and pointed to drugs as the main cause. “The murder rate has surged 10 percent nationwide. The largest increase in murder since 1968 and we know that drugs and crime go they just do, the facts prove that so,” Sessions said. “Drug trafficking is an inherently dangerous and violent business. If you want to collect a drug debt, you can’t file a lawsuit in court. You collect it with the barrel of a gun. ” The memo sent by Sessions also rescinded the policies of former attorney general Eric Holder Jr. effectively immediately. “We are returning to the enforcement of the laws as passed by Congress, plain and simple,” Sessions said. “If you are a drug trafficker, we will not look the other way, we will not be willfully blind to your misconduct. ” Sessions made clear that the criminals he is referring to are not offenders but rather major players in America’s war on drugs. “These are not drug offenders we, in the federal courts, are focusing on,” Sessions said. “These are drug dealers, and you drug dealers are going to prison. ” Sessions said that under the Trump Administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) would stand behind law enforcement agencies across the U. S. “We will do all that we can to keep you safe and promote public support for honorable officers in your dangerous work,” Sessions said. Sessions encouraged all Americans to find a way to show their gratitude for law enforcement as he pointed out that those working in the field do so to help keep America safe. “Bring a home cooked meal to your local precinct. Go to a national memorial service or simply shake the hand of a police officer and say thank you for your service,” Sessions said. The move by Sessions against drug traffickers comes after he announced on April 28 that the DOJ was going to start targeting the notoriously violent street gang, Breitbart Texas reported. Results can already be seen across the country as federal agencies look to rid America’s streets of crime. Breitbart Texas reported on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security had concluded a nationwide crackdown on gangs which led to the arrests of over 1, 000 confirmed gang members. Ryan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at @RealSaavedra.

‘We the people’ against tyranny: Seven principles for free government By John W. Whitehead John W. Whitehead “As I look at America today, I am not afraid to say that I am afraid.”—Former presidential advisor Bertram Gross As history teaches us, if the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds. Precisely because Americans are easily distracted—because, as study after study shows, they are clueless about their rights—because their elected officials no longer represent them—because Americans have been brainwashed into believing that their only duty as citizens is to vote—because the citizenry has failed to hold government officials accountable to abiding by the Constitution—because young people are no longer being taught the fundamentals of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, resulting in citizens who don’t even know they have rights—and because Americans continue to place their trust in politics to fix what’s wrong with this country—the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a pervasive authoritarianism. This steady slide towards tyranny, meted out by militarized local and federal police and legalistic bureaucrats, has been carried forward by each successive president over the past fifty years regardless of their political affiliation. Big government has grown bigger and the rights of the citizenry have grown smaller. However, there are certain principles—principles that every American should know—which undergird the American system of government and form the basis for the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for. The following seven principles are a good starting point for understanding what free government is really all about. First, the maxim that power corrupts is an absolute truth. Realizing this, those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights held one principle sacrosanct: a distrust of all who hold governmental power. As James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, proclaimed, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” Moreover, in questions of power, Thomas Jefferson warned, “Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” As such, those who drafted our founding documents would see today’s government as an out-of-control, unmanageable beast. The second principle is that governments primarily exist to secure rights, an idea that is central to constitutionalism. In appointing the government as the guardian of the people’s rights, the people give it only certain, enumerated powers, which are laid out in a written constitution. The idea of a written constitution actualizes the two great themes of the Declaration of Independence: consent and protection of equal rights. Thus, the purpose of constitutionalism is to limit governmental power and ensure that the government performs its basic function: to preserve and protect our rights, especially our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the government today has discarded this principle and now sees itself as our master, not our servant. The obvious next step, unless we act soon, is tyranny. The third principle revolves around the belief that no one is above the law, not even those who make the law. This is termed rule of law. Richard Nixon’s statement, “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal,” would have been an anathema to the Framers of the Constitution. If all people possess equal rights, the people who live under the laws must be allowed to participate in making those laws. By that same token, those who make the laws must live under the laws they make. However, today government officials at all levels often act as if they are royalty with salaries and perks that none of the rest of us are afforded. This is an egregious affront to the citizenry. Fourth, separation of powers ensures that no single authority is entrusted with all the powers of government. People are not perfect, whether they are in government or out of it. As history makes clear, those in power tend to abuse it. The government is thus divided into three co-equal branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Placing all three powers in the same branch of government was considered the very definition of tyranny. The fact that the president today has dictatorial powers would have been considered a curse by the Framers. Fifth, a system of checks and balances, essential if a constitutional government is to succeed, strengthens the separation of powers and prevents legislative despotism. Such checks and balances include dividing Congress into two houses, with different constituencies, term lengths, sizes and functions; granting the president a limited veto power over congressional legislation; and appointing an independent judiciary capable of reviewing ordinary legislation in light of the written Constitution, which is referred to as “judicial review.” The Framers feared that Congress could abuse its powers and potentially emerge as the tyrannous branch because it had the power to tax. But they did not anticipate the emergence of presidential powers as they have come to dominate modern government or the inordinate influence of corporate powers on governmental decision-making. Indeed, as recent academic studies now indicate, we are now ruled by a monied oligarchy that serves itself and not “we the people.” Sixth, representation allows the people to have a voice in government by sending elected representatives to do their bidding while avoiding the need of each and every citizen to vote on every issue considered by government. Finally, federalism is yet another constitutional device to limit the power of government by dividing power and, thus, preventing tyranny. These seven vital principles have been largely forgotten in recent years, obscured by the haze of a centralized government, a citizenry that no longer think It will mean “ voting with our feet As journalist Chris Hedges points out, “There were once radicals in America, people who held fast to moral imperatives. , not because it was easy or practical. They were willing to accept the state persecution that comes with open defiance. They had the courage of their convictions. They were not afraid.” Ultimately, as I make clear in my book , it will mean refusing to be divided, one against each other, by politics and instead uniting behind the only distinction that has ever mattered: “we the people” against tyranny. Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His book (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at

Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and J. J. Abrams are teaming up to turn a Syrian refugee story into a feature film. [The filmmakers have secured the rights to Melissa Fleming’s bestseller A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival, according to the Wrap. The book centers on the story of Doaa Al Zamel, a Syrian woman who fled Egypt and set sail for Sweden, only to be shipwrecked and forced to survive for days with nothing but an inflatable water ring secured around her waist. She also saved two children of other refugees who had been traveling with her, as they clung to her throughout the ordeal. The project will be produced by Paramount Pictures and Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. No writer or director has yet been announced. Spielberg and Abrams have worked together before the E. T. director helped produce Abrams’ 2011 thriller Super 8. Spielberg was also reportedly actively involved in getting Abrams to direct 2016’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Both filmmakers are currently at work on other projects Abrams is finishing God Particle — a continuation of his Cloverfield saga of thriller films — for an October release from Paramount, while Spielberg is in on his adaptation of Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel Ready Player One. Spielberg also announced earlier this week that he would direct The Post, a drama about the Washington Post‘s publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep are attached to star. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

Many say it was the 2011 exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi museum in Venice that first ignited art buyers’ interest in a young Romanian artist named Adrian Ghenie, whose heavy paintings are haunted by historical figures like Stalin, Hitler and the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Then, in 2015, Mr. Ghenie drew more attention when he commandeered the Romanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. These days, this artist’s work has sold for as much as $9 million at auction, with a waiting list of private buyers “spread out between four continents,” according to Marc Glimcher, the president of Pace gallery, which represents Mr. Ghenie in New York and is giving him a solo show opening in January. Mr. Glimcher added that “134 people think they’re first in line. ” Amid a decline in the market for young artists whose prices skyrocketed just a year ago, Mr. Ghenie is enjoying nosebleed prices at auction — but not everyone profiting from his success is entirely thrilled. “The market is overreacting,” said Thaddaeus Ropac, whose gallery represents Mr. Ghenie in Paris. “We would be happy if everything were strong but not crazy. ” Last month, Mr. Ghenie’s 2008 painting, “Nickelodeon” — depicting eight blurred figures in heavy overcoats — was the top lot at Christie’s in London after a bidding war pushed it to $9 million. That was more than four times its high estimate and a far cry from what the biggest Ghenies go for privately: about $650, 000. Just a few months before that, at Sotheby’s in London, Mr. Ghenie’s 2014 “Sunflowers in 1937,” which pictures van Gogh’s masterpiece with Nazi overtones, went for $4. 5 million — more than five times its high estimate. Why all the fuss? “He is an extremely talented painter — I don’t think anyone can deny that,” said Ali Subotnick, a curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, which in 2008 acquired two of Mr. Ghenie’s “Pie Fight” studies. “But it’s a little absurd. ” Several factors have contributed to what art experts describe as a perfect storm for the Ghenie market at auction: a demand for painting — as evidenced by the strong sales for artists like Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter and Jenny Saville Mr. Ghenie’s limited output (10 to 15 paintings a year) the scarcity of masterpieces coming up for sale an affordable price point relative to the top of the market and an eager pool of wealthy Asian buyers. “Private buyers missed out on buying these works early on, and they’re playing ” said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s worldwide chairman for postwar and contemporary art. As they have with other artists of limited output — like Peter Doig and Mark Tansey — “buyers can flip” Mr. Ghenie’s works, Mr. Gorvy added, “quickly double or triple their value as soon as they take them out of the gallery. Only a few artists have that. ” At its postwar and contemporary auction on Nov. 15, Christie’s is selling Mr. Ghenie’s 2015 painting “The Bridge” — featuring the spectral figure of a man on a bridge that recalls the Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte’s “Le Pont de l’Europe” and the Expressionist Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” — for an estimated $1. 5 million to $2. 5 million. “‘The Bridge’ has a lot of commercial aspects — a sense of Impressionism, Munch, Bacon, Darwin,” Mr. Gorvy said, adding that it is one of several Ghenies owned by the undisclosed seller. “We said, ‘Sell one, keep five. ’” Mihai Nicodim said he sold “The Bridge” out of his Los Angeles gallery two years ago for about $400, 000. “I don’t like seeing it come up for sale again so quickly,” Mr. Nicodim said. “But when it gets to this level, you can’t blame the collectors. ” In response to several interview requests, Mr. Ghenie — who divides his time between Berlin and Cluj, Romania — said on Monday in an email, “Sorry for the silence, but I’m so immersed in work that I can’t think of anything else right now. ” But he is clearly aware of art market pressures. “The market is so crazy,” he told The New York Times at the 2015 Biennale. “It’s frustrating to see people make so much money so quickly. I feel I’m being speculated. It’s not me. It’s the new art world. ” Born in Baia Mare, Romania, in 1977, Mr. Ghenie graduated from the University of Art and Design in Cluj in 2001. After trying to make it as an artist in Vienna and Sicily, he returned to Cluj and started the Plan B gallery with Mihai Pop in 2005. Having grown up in Nicolae Ceausescu’s repressive Romania, Mr. Ghenie in his work wrestles with chapters of European history. His “Pie Fight” paintings, for example, draw on Hollywood slapstick even as they depict menacing Nazi figures the smeared faces might have begun to deteriorate or simply been covered in layers of cream. “You will see Ceausescu, Stalin, Hitler, Mengele,” said Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, Europe, who said he was the first to put a Ghenie work in an evening sale, in 2013. That piece, “Dr. Mengele 2” (2011) sold in London for $190, 000 after an estimate of $47, 000 to $63, 000. “It’s not easy to sell a portrait of Mengele,” Mr. Branczik said. “In a way, we were testing the water. ” Mr. Ghenie’s galleries — which include Galerie Judin in Berlin and Plan B — contend they are trying to avoid the speculative fervor that has surrounded other young artists, like Lucien Smith and Oscar Murillo, whose rapidly rising values have declined precipitously because of oversupply and high prices. “We’re working on major museum shows,” Mr. Ropac said, “because this is what he needs now, not another auction record. ” Still, the frenzy has had an impact on private sales. Since Mr. Ghenie came to Pace five years ago, his prices have increased about 40 to 50 percent, according to Mr. Glimcher. Dealers say auction houses offer tempting guarantees: undisclosed amounts promised to sellers regardless of a sale’s outcome. At the same time, some skeptics in the art world say the Ghenie craze is largely hype. “Every gallerist will tell you there’s a waiting list,” said one art adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to alienate clients. Galleries, for their part, say they are making sure that Mr. Ghenie attains institutional bona fides. In addition to the Hammer, Mr. Ghenie’s work is so far held by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Tate. “For me, he’s still at a relatively early point in his career, but he’s made some extraordinarily strong, powerful paintings,” said Gary Garrels, the senior curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco museum, which acquired Mr. Ghenie’s painting “The Trial” and a “Pie Fight” study. “I don’t think every painting is successful, but he is an artist for the long haul that I intend to follow. ” Mr. Ghenie has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kuns, in Belgium and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest. “He’s almost like a parallel to Neo Rauch 10 years ago,” Ms. Subotnick, of the Hammer Museum, said, referring to a German artist. “Ghenie has had a similar influence on a school of artists from Bucharest. ” Whether Mr. Ghenie proves to have staying power remains to be seen. “Fashions change quickly — there’s always going to be a backlash,” Mr. Gorvy said. “Then the question is, how long does it take for that artist to get back on top?”

Pre-recorded: World Government Forming Now! One World Government When we read the prophecies of the Bible, it is so easy to think that they pertain to some other people during another time and another place. It is sometimes difficult to believe that these 2,000 year-old prophecies are talking about this time, our world and about us — now! But this is the case. The prophesied one-world government is being formed on earth at this very time. The word globalization means exactly what it says. It is the process of transitioning the entire world into a global government. When we hear about international law, it is referring to the laws of the international government. When we hear about the World Court, it is referring to the court system that has been created to enforce the laws of the world governmental system. The World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization— all of these powerful world institutions are exactly what they say they are. They are all components of the one-world government—the world government prophesied for the end time over 2,000 years ago. Join the Conversation

Q. When I check into a restaurant or add it as a location to a photo on Facebook, can the restaurant’s page see my post? A. Facebook allows you to set an “audience” for a post, which basically means you can decide which groups of people can see what you share on your timeline page. You can choose to make the post Public, where everyone on the web can see it — or you can limit your audience to just the people on your overall friends list, to subsets of people on specific lists among your friends or to yourself. To select the audience for a post, use the menu in the status update box. The menu should be set to whatever audience you used the last time, so if you shared a post only with friends, the menu will stay on Friends until you change it to something else. If you add a location to a post that is set to Friends or a smaller group, the people who manage the restaurant’s page will not see it. If the post is set to Public, the managers of the restaurant’s page can see it. However, if you decide to use the tagged image from the restaurant as a cover photo or profile picture, the restaurant’s page managers could see it. This is because Facebook makes each user’s cover photo and profile photo visible as public information — which means everyone on the site and even people who do not use Facebook can see it. If you do not want the restaurant’s managers to see the photo if you decide to use it as a cover shot or profile image, remove the location tag before you post it.

Last year, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) to allow the family members of those killed in the attacks to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for any part it played in those acts of terrorism. [President Obama vetoed JASTA, but Congress voted to override the veto. Now, less than a year after Congress voted to let the victims and the families of victims of sue Saudi Arabia, the current administration is proposing the arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The arms sale allows the Saudis to immediately get nearly $110 billion in American weapons and an unimaginable $350 billion in arms over 10 years. After the veto override, former U. S. Senator Bob Graham stated, “[F]rom what I know today, there is ample evidence that would not have happened but for the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia. ” He went on to say, “The results of that assistance was (nearly) 3, 000 persons murdered, 90 percent of them Americans. And a new wave of terrorism with Saudi financial and operational support has beset the world. ” The sale includes bombs in the form of Paveway II and III weapons systems, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) guidance that converts unguided bombs into smart munitions. Selling military weapons to questionable allies is not in our national security interest. At some point, the United States must stop and realize that we are fueling an arms race in the Middle East. Even Hillary Clinton questioned the loyalty of Saudi Arabia in an email released by WikiLeaks, saying, “We need … to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region. ” When we choose to intervene and provide or sell weapons to one nation, we only invite other nations to match or grow their own armaments — Iran and Israel will likely devote more of their funds to keeping up. Furthermore, U. S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia, which has come in the form of intelligence, refueling missions, and the sale of major U. S. defense equipment, has not abated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. If anything, it has exacerbated it. In January, the United Nations estimated that the war in Yemen had so far cost at least 10, 000 lives, and horror stories of civilian casualties continue to emerge from the conflict, including a bombing of a funeral in October that wounded hundreds and killed over 100. A coalition airstrike on a hospital in August killed 19 and injured 24, according to Doctors Without Borders. And these are only a couple of the examples one could cite. After the April airstrikes in Syria, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared, “We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. ” Do we have to amend this statement to say, “ … unless they have billions of dollars to invest in the United States”? So what does the U. S. gain from cutting this deal with Saudi Arabia? During my fight last year against a $1. 15 billion sale of Abrams tanks and associated major defense articles to Saudi Arabia, CNN host Wolf Blitzer attempted to answer that question by discussing maintaining full employment at U. S. defense contractors. He expressed concern that arms jobs were at risk of being lost if Congress did not allow the sale to proceed. President Eisenhower warned our nation during his farewell address to be very wary of the military industrial complex and its encroachment on civil society. The moment when the best interests of defense contractors start determining what is in the national security interest of our country, the tail has begun to wag the dog. Saudi Arabia’s relationship with radical elements is an open secret. Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U. S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations, wrote an article about Saudi Arabia’s admitted relationship with Islamic extremists. Regardless of its origins, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been using their ties with Islamic fundamentalists to further their influence throughout the Middle East and abroad through charities, schools, and social organizations. In a New York Times Ed Husain stated, “Al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram, the Shabab and others are all violent Sunni Salafi groupings. For five decades, Saudi Arabia has been the official sponsor of Sunni Salafism across the globe. ” Does this administration expect Congress to look the other way as it attempts to sell U. S. weapons to Saudi Arabia? Since Saudi Arabia’s incursion into Yemen, Iran has started shipping weapons to Houthi rebels, Al Qaeda has increased its territorial presence, and ISIS has several satellite offices in the country. The U. S. and coalition naval blockade of incoming vessels is just one of many examples of heightened tensions and military escalation on the Arabian Peninsula. Our prolonged military campaigns in the Middle East quagmire have not produced any net gains. When President Trump spoke in Saudi Arabia, he proclaimed the United States would not tell other people “how to live” or “what to do. ” That is a welcome change of tone from previous leaders from both sides of the aisle. Realism, however, doesn’t mean we should sell arms to a country that doesn’t share our values or enhance any strategic vital interest of America. In the next few weeks, I, along with a bipartisan group of senators, will force a vote disapproving of this arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Let’s hope the Senate will have the sense to stop this travesty.

The reporters at TheBigLead. com gathered together recently to discuss the question of playing golf with President Donald Trump, and most vowed not to ever play with the commander in chief — not that any of them have ever been asked to do so. [In an April 13 feature, TheBigLead asked, “Given how much golf every President plays, it got us thinking: If you won or were invited to play a round of golf with President Donald Trump, would you play?” Of the eight BigLead sports reporters asked, only three answered with a “yes. ” Those who said yes, Michael Shamburger, Jason Lisk, and, Jason McIntyre, all answered with a quick paragraph. In the case of Shamburger, he gave but a answer in the affirmative. Ah, but those who said “no” had a whole lot to say to explain their petulance. Writer Ty Duffy puffed himself up as a moral warrior for refusing to play golf with Trump. In fact, Duffy said he wouldn’t even deign to shake Trump’s hand on or off the fairways. Next, Kyle Koster was blunt with his answer. “No,” Koster huffed. “I have no interest in spending any time with Donald Trump. ” Writer Ryan Phillips, as apparently someone smarter and more interesting than Trump, said he would not want to golf with POTUS because, “he just seems like someone I’d have absolutely no desire to talk to or be around for hours. ” For his part, Stephen Douglas, who also said “no,” went on to insist, “it’s complicated. ” While admitting it would be quite a thing to tell a child that daddy played golf with a president, Douglas also noted that refusing to play with a president is also quite a story. Ultimately, Douglas deemed the opportunity a “hard pass. ” Finally, unlike the others, Ryan Glasspiegel — who also said he wouldn’t play — didn’t eschew the possibility because he hates Trump, but because he hates golf. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com

This is not shaping up as a good year for silence. Wherever you go, the world blares with updates, alerts and urgency. Now comes a temporary reprieve: a room at the top of the Guggenheim Museum, a work designed by the artist Doug Wheeler and known as “PSAD Synthetic Desert III,” which opened in March. Inside the room is enough material to make it probably the quietest place you’ll ever go, unless you’re an astronaut or a sound engineer. Visitors with timed tickets can enter in groups of five, for 10 or 20 minutes. (The exhibition will be closed through April 12.) But too much hush can be unsettling. As Mr. Wheeler told my colleague Randy Kennedy, “In a supersilent anechoic chamber, the most that most people can endure is about 40 minutes before they start going batty. ” Not to but I live near the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, on a block with a firehouse and a police station, surrounded by construction projects. My children are 6, 4 and 1. Forty minutes? I asked for an hour. Here I should acknowledge that “Synthetic Desert” is not “going batty” quiet. Anechoic chambers are surreal, echoless spaces with noise levels below the threshold of human hearing. Mr. Wheeler estimated that his creation might reach as low as 10 decibels. My (relatively quiet) office cubicle measures about 50 decibels. Walking into “Synthetic Desert” is like entering a vault. There is a series of doors, and the final chamber feels pressurized, the air still and dense. I walked up a ramp into the silence and waited for nothing to happen. Every movement made noise, so I gave up trying to find a comfortable standing position and sat down. I focused on the room, which evokes the light before dawn, with a smear of sky painted across the wall and ceiling. No border is visible between the two, and there is no horizon or distance reference point. Deprived of stimuli, my ears got hungry fast, and quickly recalibrated themselves. I could hear a thin, high roar inside my head. John Cage was once told that this was the sound of the nervous system at work. Staring into the seemingly infinite space for a while had a similar effect on my vision. My eyes discovered, or invented, some entertainment for me: The colors of the room split apart, from purple into blues and pinks. I tried to quiet my breaths, and got to the point where I wasn’t sure if I heard them or felt them, or if there were any difference. The nerve signals of an ache in my foot seemed like actual noise, which gradually amplified into an inaudible scream and made me change positions. The sound of my legs shifting came from a distance. I think this was about 20 minutes in. To preserve Mr. Wheeler’s lighting design, no cellphones or cameras are allowed, and watching a timer was decidedly not the point. A low sound — maybe blood flowing through my vessels, or maybe part of the audio Mr. Wheeler has subtly incorporated into his design — became prominent. I found I could tune my hearing away from it, though, and began to hear other things — “noises” is not the right word. These were so soft I couldn’t be sure they were real: a wind blowing on the far side of a mountain a jet flying high above another continent. Around the mark, the light glowing from beneath the acoustic cones on the floor intruded on my vision, their spiky pattern seeming to climb the wall. The room was unchanged, but my senses were operating independently of my mind. I watched inky patterns scroll across the wall: a hallucination, maybe, or some neural process I usually wouldn’t notice, a corporeal software update. In such a deadened room, a body bursts with life, spilling it out through every sense. I felt enraptured and paralyzed, as if I were a disembodied mind seared in the void, listening to a recording of silence played at top volume. Then a door opened, and a man poked his head in, a worker for the museum who’d come in earlier than expected. I couldn’t focus on him, and thought he might be unreal. He looked uncertain, then closed the door and locked it. Those sounds came to me as if through a tunnel. The room’s intensity, which had built up so slowly, dissipated quickly after that, like an airlock unsealed. In another couple of minutes I stood, and left. Elapsed time: 50 minutes. Out on the street, everything seemed louder, which was no surprise. It’s all hard surfaces and reverberation, concrete and cars. But I could articulate each part of the city’s soundscape. I tracked three simultaneous conversations on the No. 5 train, along with the crinkle of a candy wrapper and the falling pitch of the wheels on the tracks. The broken loudspeaker on a subway platform barked, harsher than before. Everyone, including me, was carrying some device that oozed sound of its own. Walking on the sidewalk, I got a lot of funny looks. My mouth was open, I realized. And I was staring too much.

It’s probably just a piece of cosmic spam, the astrophysical equivalent of butt dialing. But nobody really knows for sure. The attention of the world’s astronomers has been riveted these last few days on a star in the constellation Hercules, wondering if the end of humanity’s cosmic loneliness was finally at hand. It was from that spot in Hercules that a team of Russian radio astronomers recorded a burst of radio waves last year on May 15. But the Russians did not follow the usual protocol of alerting other observatories that could confirm the signal, and as a result nobody else knew about the pulse until a few days ago. That putative signal had the potential to be the fantasied “Hi there,” from another world that practitioners of the field known as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, have been looking for over the last century. Or it could simply be a false alarm from terrestrial interference, a stray military transmission or some rare astrophysical misunderstanding. Astronomers already knew there was at least one planet, about 17 times the mass of Earth, circling that star, which is 94 light years from here and goes by the unheroic designation of HD164595. But there were also problems, the Russians, led by Alexander Panov of Lomonosov Moscow State University, realized. The signal appeared only once in 39 observations, and to produce the observed signal at such a distance would take a transmitter with the power of at least a trillion watts, comparable to the total energy consumption of all humankind. Moreover, the design of the Russian telescope, known as a giant circle of antennas in the Caucasus near Georgia, leaves it susceptible, astronomers say, to radiation from unwanted directions, increasing the chances of interference from military or other terrestrial sources. Word finally got out a few days ago. Claudio Maccone, a member of the team and chairman of the SETI committee of the International Academy of Astronautics, circulated a description of the observations in advance of a SETI meeting to be held on Sept. 27 in Guadalajara, Mexico. While the report did not claim that this was an alien detection, it did say, “Permanent monitoring of this target is needed. ” In an email on Aug. 29, Dr. Maccone said he agreed. “I certainly share the view that it is likely not an intelligent signal,” he said. “Nevertheless it had to be PUBLISHED, rather than being kept secret for over a year, and this is what I did: convince the Russians to publish it. ” After the astronomy writer Paul Gilster reported it on his blog Centauri Dreams, the signal went supernova on the internet. But so far the results have been zilch. Starting on the evening of Aug. 28, astronomers from the SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif. swung into action with the Allen Telescope Array, a set of antennas in Hat Creek, Calif. built specifically to look for alien broadcasts. After two nights of observing, Seth Shostak, spokesman for the institute reported, “We covered the frequencies observed by the Russians and more … No dice. ” Meanwhile astronomers from Breakthrough Listen, a new SETI project funded by the Russian philanthropist and entrepreneur Yuri Milner, used the Green Bank Telescope, in Green Bank, W. Va. the world’s largest steerable radio dish, to check out the star. They found nothing but noise. Indeed, according to Tass, the Russian news agency, the researchers had also concluded that their signal was a result of terrestrial interference. The observatory, the researcher Yulia Sotnikova said, was preparing an official disclaimer of any media claims of extraterrestrial contact. Everybody plans to keep looking, but for now the Hercules signal seems destined to join the other false alarms that have characterized the SETI endeavor, most notably the “wow” signal that appeared on the printout of an Ohio State radio telescope in 1977 but never reappeared. As Dr. Maccone said: “There were similar cases in the past, and probably there will be more in the future. The point is to PUBLISH everything and EXCHANGE DATA worldwide about the stars where they come from. ” Astronomers have been trying to tune in E. T. ever since Frank Drake, now at the University of California, Santa Cruz, aimed an antenna in 1960 at a pair of stars and thought he heard a signal — the first false alarm. But nothing has been able to discourage astronomers from a notion that is as powerful and simple as a poem: Radio signals can bridge the gulfs between stars more cheaply than spacecraft, allowing distant species to communicate by a sort of cosmic ham radio or galactic internet. There are more than 100 billion stars in the Milky Way and some nine billion radio channels on which to listen — a “cosmic haystack” in the vernacular, of which only a minuscule fraction has been sampled to date. There is a lively and rich literature on what channels aliens might use and what kind of signals they might send, and an equally rich literature on why we haven’t seen any evidence of them (outside of the racks in supermarkets). Among the possible answers is that we are under quarantine, or that technological species kill themselves off before they get to the stage of reaching out. Or perhaps that we simply don’t have any idea what we are looking for. We know of only one example of life and intelligence in the universe, Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute once told me. That is of course our own biosphere. “In this field,” she said, “number two is the number. We count one, two, infinity. We’re all looking for number two. ”

Reinventing Democracy in America Starts by Voting, Then Building an Accountability Movement Posted on Nov 2, 2016 ( The Prophet / CC BY-SA 2.0 ) Voting is supposed to be a constitutional right in the United States. But the sad truth is that voting is a privilege . This reality has been made colder since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Steps have been taken to curtail the impact of that decision— Shelby County v. Holder —on the 2016 general election, but voter discrimination still exists. Some Americans have fewer rights than others. Compare minorities, the poor, immigrants, felons, ex-convicts and the elderly with well-off whites, the educated and so-called 1 percenters. Whose voices do you think are heard more? The current system has been designed to maintain the status quo and keep the disenfranchised from changing their status. Discriminatory voting laws compound the problem . According to the Brennan Center for Justice, new voting restrictions are in place in 14 states this year: “The new laws range from strict photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to registration restrictions. Those 14 states are: Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.” Voter suppression is nothing new. In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Caleb Crain provides a history lesson in “ The Case Against Democracy ”: In the United States, élites who feared the ignorance of poor immigrants tried to restrict ballots. In 1855, Connecticut introduced the first literacy test for American voters. Although a New York Democrat protested, in 1868, that “if a man is ignorant, he needs the ballot for his protection all the more,” in the next half century the tests spread to almost all parts of the country. They helped racists in the South circumvent the Fifteenth Amendment and disenfranchise blacks, and even in immigrant-rich New York a 1921 law required new voters to take a test if they couldn’t prove that they had an eighth-grade education. About fifteen per cent flunked. Voter literacy tests weren’t permanently outlawed by Congress until 1975, years after the civil-rights movement had discredited them. The article reviews a new book called “Against Democracy,” by Jason Brennan, a political philosopher at Georgetown University who argues for “epistocracy,” a word (coined by another political philosopher, David Estlund of Brown) that means “government by the knowledgeable.” Brennan believes that uninformed voters do more damage than good, so decision-making should be left to the informed. In other words, voting should not be a duty for all. That’s a radical idea. But in a way, such thinking aligns with how the Founding Fathers viewed the electorate, Crain acknowledges. He cites a warning from James Madison: “There are particular moments in public affairs, when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary will be the interference of some temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order to check the misguided career, and to suspend the blow meditated by the people against themselves, until reason, justice, and truth can regain their authority over the public mind?” Madison wrote those words (under the pseudonym Publius) for Federalist No. 63 —an essay that was part of The Federalist Papers—to explain the concept of the United States Senate. He went on to say: The people can never willfully betray their own interests; but they may possibly be betrayed by the representatives of the people; and the danger will be evidently greater where the whole legislative trust is lodged in the hands of one body of men, than where the concurrence of separate and dissimilar bodies is required in every public act. The difference most relied on, between the American and other republics, consists in the principle of representation; which is the pivot on which the former move, and which is supposed to have been unknown to the latter, or at least to the ancient part of them. ... In the most pure democracies ... many of the executive functions were performed, not by the people themselves, but by officers elected by the people, and representing the people in their executive capacity. ... Besides the conclusive evidence resulting from this assemblage of facts, that the federal Senate will never be able to transform itself, by gradual usurpations, into an independent and aristocratic body, we are warranted in believing, that if such a revolution should ever happen from causes which the foresight of man cannot guard against, the House of Representatives, with the people on their side, will at all times be able to bring back the Constitution to its primitive form and principles. Against the force of the immediate representatives of the people, nothing will be able to maintain even the constitutional authority of the Senate, but such a display of enlightened policy, and attachment to the public good, as will divide with that branch of the legislature the affections and support of the entire body of the people themselves. Here’s another radical idea: Instead of having only a few informed people make decisions for everyone, how about we make everyone informed by providing the same, free educational opportunities for every U.S. citizen? Over the 240 years of the American experiment, the nation has moved away from its early ideals. Democracy has been corrupted, becoming the perverted form of corporatocracy and plutocracy we now have. The only way we can fix the defects in our system is by voting in principled leaders, then insisting they follow through on what they promise. If they do not, we must vote them out and put people in power who do. Start in your own community. It will require some sacrifice. Lee Ellis knows about all about sacrifice . He spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He has written two books on honor, “ Engaging With Honor ” and “ Leading With Honor .” He has not lost faith in the United States and believes voting is a key to restoring honor to America. “When you become indifferent and refuse to stand up for your ideas, you forfeit and must live by the ideas of others,” Ellis told Truthdig in a telephone interview. “You are making a choice to let someone else make your choice for you. And I think that is a terrible way to live. We cannot afford to be indifferent about these key decisions. Evaluate the risk of the candidates. There are no risk-free choices. We’re always taking a risk. Which is the most likely to pursue the principles that you feel are important?” Apathy is no longer an option. It’s not too late for America, but we have to act fast. Now is no time to be timid. Look at the water protectors in Standing Rock in North Dakota. They are putting their lives on the line for us, our planet, the fate of generations. If you are a responsible U.S. citizen who cares about the future of our world, you have a role in our survival. That starts by voting. To be a responsible voter requires being informed. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in political science or be the political equivalent of Ralph Nader . Anyone can know something . Everyone can do something . Research the candidates. Read up on ballot initiatives. Learn about down-ticket races. Check your sources—make sure they are trustworthy. Share what you know (in a respectful way) with friends and family and on social media. Encourage others to do the same.

The Jerusalem Post reports: A delegation of five Palestinian officials is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington, D. C. later this or next month to discuss reviving the peace process, a senior Fatah official said on Sunday. [“We have ongoing contacts with the administration and expect the delegation will go to America after the holiday,” Azzam a Fatah Central Committee member, said in a telephone interview, referring to the Muslim holiday Eid that follows Ramadan, which will most likely fall on June 26 or June 27. According to the senior Fatah official, Trump asked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to Bethlehem on May 23 to dispatch a delegation of five Palestinian officials to the American capital to continue talks about renewing the peace process. Ahmad added that the delegation has not been finalized, but will likely include Palestinian officials, who accompanied Abbas during his visit to the White House on May 3. Read more here.

Originally appeared at Chronicles Magazine In his latest Sputnik Radio International interview Srdja Trifkovic discusses the Czech Republic government’s establishment of an information unit to counter what it says is pro-Russian, anti-Western and anti-NATO propaganda. “We want to get into every smartphone,” said Milan Chovanec, the Czech interior minister. Audio (unedited verbatim transcript) ST: It is strangely reminiscent of the old Soviet times, when any criticism of Soviet policies was termed “anti-Soviet propaganda,” and was ascribed to some mysterious imperialist forces in the West that were out to subvert the Soviet Union and its “Fraternal Community of Socialist Nations.” It is rather funny that—more than a quarter of a century after the end of the Cold War—we see the exact replica of the mindset, and a state-financed reaction, on the side of the so-called liberal-democratic, free-market-oriented, “Western” members of NATO. It is also significant that one of the foremost critics of the Western policies in general, and in Ukraine in particular, is Vaclav Klaus, one of the most respected Czech politicians. My immediate thought is whether they regard Mr. Klaus—the elder statesman of the Czech Republic—as one of the exponents of the Russian propaganda who needs to be monitored and countered. My second thought is that, ultimately, it comes to the quality of information and analysis. If the makers of this new unit, fighting what they regard as Russian disinformation, are up against certain perfectly justified, rational, and well-reasoned criticism of Western policies, and those of NATO in particular, then they have a big problem. In this time and age, of the mainstream media being confronted by the social media, the Internet, they will have a problem, because the unspoken assumption is that the quality of information and analysis they can offer is better than what they regard as the Russian propaganda. As it happens, we have this counter-propaganda all the time, in the pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post, on the BBC, the CNN, and every flickering screen and every printed page all over the Western world. And yet . . . they are not doing a very good job. Ultimately, if we are looking at an informed and rational consumer of information, he or she will be able to make an astute judgment of who is in the right and who is actually a propagandist. Q: Srdja, if they consider this to be so important at this particular moment, why is this unit made up of only twenty people? ST: It could made up of only two people if they are well informed, capable of top-class analysis, and if they have strong arguments which can be used to counter what they regard as Russian disinformation. It boils down to what I mentioned earlier: the quality of information, and the quality of analysis. Q: Is it going to have any influence on anything at all? ST: Ultimately not. Obviously, the same job is being done by much better paid columnists of theWashington Post, the Guardian, Le Monde, the Frankfurter Rundschau—they are all up to the same thing: to discredit arguments against the global empire of the United States and its fellow travelers in Western Europe. If that job is not done much better by people who are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars or euros every year to do it in a systematic and coherent way, I don’t see any way for a bunch of twenty Czech bureaucrats to do it. Q: Let’s get back to the accusations that some Czech politicians have been throwing at Moscow, that they are forming the networks of pro-Russian groups that can be used to destabilize the country. How grounded are these accusations? ST: It reminds one of McCarthyism in the United States in the early 1950’s. If you are a “deviant” in your mindset, if you dare criticize the official line, if you say things that are outside the permitted parameters of rightspeak, then you must be an agent for a foreign power. It is a paranoid mindset, it is deeply antidemocratic, and it smacks of Stalinism. This is, of course, Stalinism in a postmodern-liberal guise, but it is not qualitatively different from the original model.

In a new video, a number of Christians living in Iraq expressed their admiration for U. S. President Donald Trump, and their hope that he will make good on promises to assist them and come down hard on the Islamic State. [Asked “What do you think of Donald Trump?” several members of the clergy as well as lay Christians answered that they sensed a positive change after the Obama years, and felt that they were finally being noticed. Father Immanuel, a Syriac Catholic priest in Mosul, said simply: “I love Trump because he understands this Christian matter in Iraq. ” Archbishop Bashar Warda, the Chaldean Catholic bishop of Erbil, said that he was “really encouraged to see that someone at least is thinking of the Christians and giving, not a priority, but at least attracting attention. ” “For me,” the Archbishop said, “I would say this is probably the first time that an American politician like a president would say, ‘No, there are some people who are dying or are suffering because of their faith and we have to think seriously about that. ’” Though in different words, a common thread running through the responses was the belief that Trump actually cares about persecuted Christians in the Middle East and would do something about it. Yohanna Toways, a Christian refugee from Qaraqosh, said that Christian and Yezidi minorities had actually prayed to God for Donald Trump to win the election. “We have confidence in Trump,” Toways said. “Before he was elected, all the Christians and the Yezidi are praying [for him] to win, all of them, and now that he is the president we have the hope he will be the savior of these minorities by his strong decisions. I think he can help us. ” People also said that Trump offered hope to local Christians, after eight years of a president who did nothing for them. “People here were more than disappointed with Obama, because he did nothing. So the view of Obama was terrible,” said John Neill, a volunteer aid worker for the Archdiocese of Erbil. “I think people here are feeling excited about Trump, that he will do something,” Neill continued. “He stated in his election speech that he would do something about Daesh. That is an indication that he will go further and help the minorities in Iraq to get back their lives. ” “If Trump cannot give them hope, then what hope is there?” he added. Similar sentiments were expressed Father Benedict Kiely, the founder of www. nasarean. org, a Christian aid group that has promoted awareness of Christian persecution in territory, especially through the spread of the Arabic ن symbol used to mark the homes of Christians. “Many people said in our interviews with them that they had hope because he is a strong man,” he said. “God bless him. Let’s be strong and help these people. He promised during the election I remember specifically to be the president for the Christians. ” “So let’s put it into action,” he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome

Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh maintained a House Intelligence Committee hearing that featured testimony from FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Michael Rogers was meant to send a message to President Donald Trump and his administration. Limbaugh argued that although there were some good questions from Republicans members during the hearing, it was meant to be a warning shot at Trump — allow Washington Republicans to run the town or face possible impeachment. Partial transcript as follows (courtesy of RushLimbaugh. com): These hearings today, what happened last week and the week before that, what happened during the transition period … What all of this is can be explained simply by saying, “Look at how terrified they are in the York establishment, of Donald Trump and draining the swamp. ” The Never Trumpers on both sides of the aisle. There are conservative Never Trumpers today celebrating over the fact that Comey made it official that there’s an investigation of Trump and colluding with the Russians. These people know that there isn’t any evidence of this, but that doesn’t matter. What everybody in Washington supports is the smearing, the slander, and the libel of Donald Trump. And these hearings today? The FBI director, James Comey, is trying to save the jobs of a lot of people. He’s trying to save the careers of a whole lot of people — his included — in, I think, an inappropriate way. And the Republicans in this committee? Look folks, I’ve been waiting. I’ve been patiently waiting. I’ve been trying to hold it, keep the powder dry. But the Republicans on this committee … I know it’s early, and they’re gonna go on all day. But so far, outside of Trey Gowdy and a question from Peter King and Devin Nunes the chairman, there just hasn’t been much. For example, “Are you still investigating the Clinton Foundation, Director Comey?” “I can’t say. ” By the way, Comey said he got special permission to reveal this investigation. Who gave him that special permission? He said he went to the Department of Justice. Who’s over there? Who runs that? That it would be Jeff Sessions. The Trump administration itself granted permission for Comey to announce this today. (interruption) Well, no. My point there is that there’s no attempted of anything going on there. The Trump administration could very well have said, Jeff Sessions could have said, “Comey, look, it’s just like you said last summer about Hillary: We don’t detail ongoing investigations. ” But he today was given permission to do just that, and he’s running with it. And the whole point of this today — and, by the way, it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna go through this and give you what the real news of these hearings is today and what the backdrop of all this is. Because there’s a really salient factor that’s driving this from the Democrat side that is never going to be reported or commented on, which I’m going to touch on myself today. But, as I say, the purpose of this is to further the narrative that Trump is illegitimate, that he should not be president, that his election was the result of tampering by the Russians. So the objective is that Trump either stops this reform business he’s got, stops this stuff, and starts letting the Washington Republicans run the town again, or they’re gonna impeach him. That’s the message being sent today: “You either straighten up and fly right or you’re gone. ” “We’re coming for you,” is the message of these hearings today. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

During the Saturday “AM Joy” broadcast on MSNBC, MSNBC contributor Toure said crime is not the biggest issue for black Americans at this time. Instead, Toure suggested the war on drugs, wealth inequality, public schooling and police violence are bigger issues for the black community. “This attack on crime in Chicago — this is not the prime thing that black America needs dealt with” Toure told host Joy Reid. “We need the war on drugs dealt with, we need the wealth inequality dealt with, we need public schooling better, we need policing violence dealt with better. ” Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The diplomatic situation had been looking bright for President Bashar of Syria. With the help of Russia, he had consolidated his power, the rebels were on their heels and the United States had just declared that ousting him was not a priority. So why would Mr. Assad risk it all, outraging the world by attacking civilians with what Turkey now says was the nerve agent sarin, killing scores of people, many of them children? Why would he inflict the deadliest chemical strike since the 2013 attacks outside Damascus? Those attacks came close to bringing American military retaliation then. And in a stunningly swift reversal, Tuesday’s attack drew a response from President Trump: dozens of cruise missiles launched at a Syrian air base. One of the main defenses offered by Mr. Assad’s allies and supporters, in disputing that his forces carried out the strike on Tuesday, is that such an attack would be “a crazy move,” as one Iranian analyst, Mosib Na’imi, told the Russian news site Sputnik. Yet, rather than an inexplicable act, analysts say, it is part of a carefully calculated strategy of escalating attacks against civilians. For years, at least since it began shelling neighborhoods with artillery in 2012, then bombing them from helicopters and later from jets, the Syrian government has adopted a policy of seeking total victory by making life as miserable as possible for anyone living in areas outside its control. Government forces have been herding defeated opponents from across the country into Idlib Province, where the chemical attack occurred. Starved and bombed out of their enclaves, they are bused under lopsided surrender deals to the province, where groups maintain a presence the Syrian military uses as an excuse to bomb without regard for the safety of civilians. Dr. Monzer Khalil, Idlib Province’s health director, said such extreme tactics aimed to demonstrate the government’s impunity and to demoralize its foes. “It makes us feel that we are defeated,” said Dr. Khalil, whose gums bled after he was exposed to scores of chemical victims on Tuesday. “The international community will stay gazing at what’s happening — and observing the explosive barrels falling and rockets bombing the civilians and the hospitals and the civil defense and killing children and medical staff — without doing anything. ” “Militarily, there is no need,” said Bente Scheller, the Middle East director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. “But it spreads the message: You are at our mercy. Don’t ask for international law. You see, it doesn’t protect even a child. ” On Thursday, Syria’s foreign minister challenged accounts by witnesses, experts and world leaders that his government was involved. “I stress to you once again: The Syrian Army has not, did not and will not use this kind of weapons — not just against our own people, but even against the terrorists that attack our civilians with their mortar rounds,” the minister, Walid said in Damascus. But the denial, as well as a Russian assertion that a bomb hit a chemical weapons depot controlled by the rebels, seemed perfunctory, almost without regard to the facts, which Western governments said pointed to a Syrian government hand. Critics of President Barack Obama, including President Trump, say that his decision not to enforce his “red line” on chemical attacks in 2013 convinced the Assad government it could get away with anything, and that it has been escalating its harsh tactics against civilians ever since. Since that “green light,” wrote Jihad Yazigi, an Syrian economist, “Assad knows that a attack against its civilians is a public relations liability but a political asset. ” That was only reinforced, critics say, by recent statements by American officials that it was time to accept the “political reality” of Mr. Assad’s grip on power. By showing it puts no limits on the tactics it uses, Mr. Yazigi wrote, “the regime shows to the world the West’s impotence and weakness. ” Dr. Khalil, 35, fled his job at a hospital in 2011. The Syrian uprising was in its early days, with largely peaceful protests that faced crackdowns from security forces. He said he was threatened with arrest for treating wounded protesters. In 2015, a mix of and other rebels, some supported by the United States and its allies, drove government forces from Idlib, the capital of Idlib Province. Dr. Khalil became the health director. The city then became a bombing target, and the Syrian government accused the Americans of backing the group, then called the Nusra Front. “We are aware that we are in this Qaeda trap,” Dr. Khalil said. “But in Idlib we have 2. 2 million people, and how many Qaeda fighters? You cannot kill the two million for their sake. ” The fall of Idlib led to another turning point: Russia’s entry into the conflict, adding its firepower to the Syrian government’s. Russia said it entered to fight the Islamic State, but directed most of its strikes at places farther west, like Idlib, where rival insurgents more urgently threatened government forces. Chlorine attacks continued — investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations concluded the government had carried out at least three in 2014 and 2015 — with little international reaction. Idlib’s population grew as rebels and civilians moved there from areas recaptured by Assad forces and allies. After Mr. Trump came into office, proclaiming a wish to work with Russia and maybe even Mr. Assad against the Islamic State, expectations grew that the international community would accept relegitimizing Mr. Assad. And last week came the statements from Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, indicating effectively that Washington could accept Mr. Assad remaining in power. On Monday, Western officials were gathering in Brussels to weigh billions of dollars in reconstruction aid to the Assad government, amid opposition fears that they would drop their demand for a political transition first. By Thursday, however, American military officials were discussing a possible military strike on Syria, and Mr. Tillerson was saying there was “no role” for Mr. Assad in Syria’s future. And then Thursday — before dawn on Friday in Syria — Mr. Trump ordered the attack on the Shayrat air base, from which, he said, the chemical attack was launched. Witnesses described how Tuesday’s attack unfolded. That morning, a network of observers was, as usual, tracking the skies to warn residents and rescuers of possible airstrikes. They spotted Syrian aircraft and sent out warnings on . Syrian aircraft were then seen circling above Khan Sheikhoun at 6:47 a. m. and again at 6:51 a. m. One of the observers — based on long experience — believed that the planes might be carrying a chemical payload. “Guys, tell people to wear masks,” he warned. Witnesses put the attack itself at just before 7 a. m. A video of the area at that time shows three towering puffs of smoke and one smaller cloud. Dr. Khalil said he and his wife were drinking coffee at home at 8 a. m. when he got a call and rushed to Idlib’s central hospital. He found 60 patients already packing the wards. His nose began to itch, from the toxic substances, he believes. Back in Khan Sheikhoun, new airstrikes hit a hospital and a civil defense headquarters. Across the province, doctors were noticing symptoms similar to those from sarin. Some of the displaced people who wound up in Idlib in recent years come from the Damascus suburbs that were attacked with sarin in 2013. One, a media activist from near Damascus, Moaz was sickened for two months by the 2013 attacks. Now living in Idlib, he was struck with the same vomiting and respiratory distress he remembered from that day. His voice remained hoarse on the telephone two days later.

When students at the City College of New York, the flagship of the largest urban public university in the country, showed up for classes on Thursday for the first time since an extended holiday break, they returned to a vastly different campus from the one they left last Friday. That was when the college’s president, Lisa S. Coico, abruptly resigned, a day after The New York Times contacted officials with new questions about her administration’s handling of more than $150, 000 of her personal expenses — a subject that is currently being investigated by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. By the time classes resumed after the break for Columbus Day and Yom Kippur, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been spotted on campus, apparently to interview employees students were burning up social media with “Brace Yourself” memes inspired by the “Game of Thrones” TV series and the chancellor of the City University of New York system had convened emergency meetings to assuage the concerns of shellshocked faculty members and alumni. Small wonder, then, that many students and faculty and staff members interviewed on campus said they felt discombobulated by the torrent of troubling news. “There’s a mood of trepidation,” Ruth E. Stark, a distinguished professor of chemistry, said. “On the one hand, the handling of money has to be looked at carefully, and monitored carefully. But at the same time, I think this is a great concern about the multiplying investigations that will be enveloping us. ” Right now, two investigations are underway. The first is being handled by the office of Robert L. Capers, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. As part of that inquiry, additional subpoenas were issued in the last few days that, among other things, zeroed in on a memo related to Ms. Coico’s expenses that some college officials believe was fabricated to mislead prosecutors. CUNY, the college’s parent entity, and its Research Foundation, which manages the university’s research funds, were included in the new round of subpoenas. The second investigation is an internal one for CUNY being conducted by Andrew J. Levander, a former federal prosecutor. Soon, a third could be started: William C. Thompson Jr. a former New York City comptroller who is the new chairman of CUNY’s Board of Trustees, has urged the state inspector general to do a systemwide investigation of “all of the college foundations, alumni associations or other affiliated entities including the CUNY Research Foundation. ” The state provides the funding for CUNY’s senior colleges. Ms. Coico, who has hired a lawyer, has declined to comment. Of more immediate concern at City College, though, is the leadership vacuum. For the next few weeks, the administrator in charge will be Mary E. Driscoll, the college’s new interim provost. The university’s board of trustees is scheduled to meet on Oct. 26 and appoint an interim president. After that, a search will begin for a permanent replacement, with the goal of having someone in place by September. To assure nervous faculty members and others, James B. Milliken, CUNY’s chancellor, visited City College’s Gothic campus early Tuesday morning, when its administrative offices were open, to voice his unwavering support for, and faith in, the college. In an interview, Mr. Milliken said he was encouraged by the shared belief that the college, which has produced 10 Nobel Prize winners and illustrious alumni like the former secretary of state Colin L. Powell and Andrew S. Grove, who was the chief executive and chairman of Intel Corporation, should focus on its future. “Whenever there’s a transition at a leadership level of an institution, particularly one that is fairly abrupt, there is a level of anxiety,” Mr. Milliken said. “That was one reason I wanted to be at City College when they opened the doors, the first day back at the office. We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that they have stable, talented leadership there. ” Many students said they did not have much contact with Ms. Coico, and rarely saw her on campus. Yelina Espinal, a psychology major, said the only time she saw the former president was during freshman orientation she is now a senior. Still, Ms. Espinal was visibly disgusted with the news about Ms. Coico, as were many other students. “All the rumors about the things she’s done — it’s all over Facebook,” she said. “People are already upset about a lot of things on campus with the roofs leaking. Now we learn the extent that the president might be stealing? It’s ridiculous. ” Stephany Baez, 30, who works full time as a waitress while enrolled at the university, said she was offended by accusations that the president was pocketing extra money on top of her generous pay and benefits package, while she herself was struggling to pay for her classes. She also voiced frustration with the facilities, saying that escalators broke down routinely and that bedbugs had recently infested the library. “I’m so upset about this,” she said. “I struggle really hard. To find out that she’s being so greedy and taking advantage of students who are really having a hard time is really disheartening. ”

SOCHI, Russia — A Russian aircraft bound for Syria carrying a famed military band to entertain Russia’s forces there crashed into the Black Sea moments after takeoff on Sunday, and the authorities said all 92 people aboard were believed dead. The cause of the crash is under investigation, although initial Russian news media reports indicated it was a technical failure rather than terrorism. The Russian military has had only minor casualties throughout its deployment in Syria, but the country has experienced a series of setbacks in recent days. On Monday, the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at an art exhibit in Ankara, with the killer yelling, “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” That came not long after forces from the Islamic State recaptured the storied Syrian city of Palmyra, forcing the Russian garrison that had been stationed there since helping to take the city last spring to flee. The military plane, a Tupolev disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from the resort town of Sochi. Russia’s official weather forecast agency said that conditions near the airport were “normal, easy,” the Interfax news agency reported. The airplane was technically fit, the Defense Ministry said. Wreckage of the plane, which was carrying 84 passengers and eight crew members, was found in the sea, most of it about one mile from shore, the Russian Defense Ministry said. No survivors have been found at the crash site, Russian officials said. Passengers on the flight, which originated in Moscow and stopped in Sochi to refuel, included 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the Russian military choir, who were traveling to Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria. The band planned to serenade Russian personnel in Syria on New Year’s Eve. President Vladimir V. Putin deployed Russian armed forces in Syria in September 2015, ostensibly to fight terrorism but primarily to prop up President Bashar the leader of the lone remaining Russian ally in the region, whose forces have been fighting an insurgency for nearly six years. Russian forces have been instrumental in helping the Damascus government regain the initiative, with the final rebels expelled from the besieged city of Aleppo on Thursday. Three journalists from Channel One, Russia’s main television station, were on the plane, as were journalists from the Zvezda and NTV television networks, news reports said. Yelizaveta P. Glinka, a prominent Russian philanthropist and a member of the presidential council on human rights and civil society, was also on the list of people on board. Mr. Putin recently honored Mrs. Glinka with a state award for her human rights and charity work. Valery V. Khalilov, the ensemble’s artistic director, was also on the plane, according to the list of passengers. Mr. Putin expressed his condolences to relatives of the victims, and he declared Monday a national day of mourning. (Christmas is not celebrated as an official holiday in Russia on Dec. 25, because the Russian Orthodox Church observes it on Jan. 7.) “First of all, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of our citizens, who died today, as a result of an aviation catastrophe over the Black Sea this morning,” Mr. Putin said in St. Petersburg, according to remarks published on the Kremlin’s website. He also ordered Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev to establish a state commission, headed by the transportation minister, Maxim Sokolov, to investigate the crash. The Defense Ministry said that 11 bodies had been recovered as search efforts continued, Russian news agencies reported. A memorial was installed inside the Sochi airport, and people brought candles and flowers. Relatives of the victims were whisked away by the authorities to a specially designated zone where they were treated by psychiatrists. Mr. Sokolov told journalists inside the terminal building that the rescue effort would not stop at night. “It is premature to say anything about the causes of this tragedy,” he told reporters. More than 30 vessels were deployed in the recovery operation, Mr. Sokolov said, and the Defense Ministry said that more than 100 divers had been sent to the crash site. Founded in the Soviet era, the Alexandrov Ensemble, which had performed in Syria earlier this year, is the official band of the Russian armed forces. It consists of an orchestra, a choir and a dance ensemble, and is one of the two Russian orchestras allowed to use the title Red Army Choir. The ensemble was founded by Aleksandr V. Aleksandrov, a prominent Soviet composer and the author of the music of the Russian anthem. His grandson Yevgeny told Meduza, a Russian news website, that “the best members of the ensemble died. ” “All the best soloists, the whole choir,” he said. “Everything will collapse now. The best ones are gone. ” Several independent news outlets in Russia reported that the Alexandrov Ensemble had planned to give a concert in Aleppo. In May, the Russian military had flown a symphony orchestra led by one of its conductors, Valery Gergiev, to mark the reclaiming of Palmyra. Until recently, the which was designed in the 1960s, was one of the most widely used civilian aircraft in Russian aviation. The plane that crashed on Sunday was made in 1983, underwent planned maintenance work in the fall, and was operated by an experienced pilot, the Defense Ministry said. Russian airlines have mostly replaced outdated Soviet planes with new ones in recent years and have vastly improved the overall safety record. Many government agencies continue to fly the and other old Soviet aircraft, however. The age and reputation of the as well as the fact that the aircraft had flown out of secure military airfields, meant that most senior officials speaking publicly ruled out the possibility that an attack had caused the crash. But there was speculation by a few aviation experts, echoed by some officials, that terrorism could not be ruled out given the suddenness with which the plane disappeared and the size of the debris field. “For us the worst version is an act of terrorism, because if this is the case, this will mean that we have paid another bill for Aleppo,” Vadim Lukashevich, an aviation expert, told Dozhd, an independent television station. In one of Russia’s most recent air disasters, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for planting a bomb onboard a Russian civilian Airbus that crashed in Egypt in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board in a flight from the Egyptian resort of Sharm to St. Petersburg. Another military plane crashed in eastern Siberia on Monday, seriously injuring 16 of the 39 people on board, and the aviation authorities recently grounded the country’s newest civilian airliner, the Sukhoi Superjet 100, because of concerns about metal fatigue.

MOST Voters Now Think Clinton Broke the Law … TWICE As Many As Think that Trump Did → kimyo what is your interpretation of the following email from podesta re: a 2015 cnbc interview in which sanders stated “When you hustle money like that, you don’t sit in restaurants like this” and “That type of wealth has the potential to isolate you from the reality of the world.” podesta: This isn’t in keeping w the agreement. Since we clearly have some leverage, would be good to flag this for him. I could send a signal via Welch–or did you establish a direct line w him? Donate Recent Posts

With Republicans unable to reach a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare, it appears that the Trump White House is fed up with the many factions in the House GOP conference, thus opening the door for Democrats, reports the Wall Street Journal. [In a story published in the Journal: The White House sent a warning shot to congressional Republicans that it may increase its outreach to Democrats if it can’t get the support of conservatives, a potential shift in legislative strategy that could affect drug prices, the future of a tax overhaul and budgetary priorities. Days after the House GOP health bill collapsed due to a lack of support from Republicans, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus brought up the idea of working with Democrats multiple times, leaving little doubt that the White House intended to send a message to the Republican flank. “This president is not going to be a partisan president,” Mr. Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday. ” He said that while “I think it’s time for our folks to come together, I also think it’s time to potentially get a few moderate Democrats on board as well. ” Read the full article here.

During the Monday version of his Fox Sports Radio show “Outkick the Coverage,” host Clay Travis reacted to the new Nike ad that promotes equality “everywhere,” pointing out how “hypocritical” the company is for paying its Indonesian workers what American factory workers make doing the same job. “Nike is making money hand over fist because they’re only paying their workers three dollars a day to make them in Indonesia,” Travis stated. “If equality is everywhere, doesn’t Nike actually have to treat its employees equally? Doesn’t Nike have to actually bring its brand to American shores and make this sneaker inside of our borders and actually pay people in America to make a shoe they’re asking people to buy?” “Don’t you think it’s a little bit hypocritical for Nike to say that equality is everywhere when it’s paying workers overseas of what they would have to pay for an American to make this?” he added. Travis went on to call what Nike has with its Indonesian employees “Indonesian virtual slave labor. ” “I guess everybody’s equal and there are no boundaries as long as you don’t live in Indonesia,” he concluded. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

In her recent address at the Jackson Hole monetary policy conference, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates by the end of the year. Markets reacted favorably to Yellen’s suggested rate increase. This is surprising, as, except for one small increase last year, the Federal Reserve has not followed through on the numerous suggestions of rate increases that Yellen and other Fed officials have made over the past several years. Much more significant than Yellen’s latest suggestion of a rate increase was her call for the Fed to think outside the box in developing responses to the next financial crisis. One of the outside the box ideas suggested by Yellen is increasing the Fed’s ability to intervene in markets by purchasing assets of private companies. Yellen also mentioned that the Fed could modify its inflation target. Increasing the Federal Reserve’s ability to purchase private assets will negatively impact economic growth and consumers’ well-being. This is because the Fed will use this power to keep failing companies alive, thus preventing the companies’ assets from being used to produce a good or service more highly valued by consumers. Investors may seek out companies whose assets have been purchased by the Federal Reserve, since it is likely that Congress and federal regulators would treat these companies as “too big to fail.” Federal Reserve ownership of private companies could also strengthen the movement to force businesses to base their decisions on political, rather than economic, considerations. Yellen’s suggestion of modifying the Fed’s inflation target means that the Fed would increase the inflation tax just when Americans are trying to cope with a major recession or even a depression. The inflation tax is the most insidious of all taxes because it is both hidden and regressive. The failure of the Federal Reserve’s eight-year spree of money creation via quantitative easing and historically low interest rates to reflate the bubble economy suggests that the fiat currency system may soon be coming to an end. Yellen’s outside the box proposals will only hasten that collapse. The collapse of the fiat system will not only cause a major economic crisis, but also the collapse of the welfare-warfare state. Yet, Congress not only refuses to consider meaningful spending cuts, it will not even pass legislation to audit the Fed. Passing Audit the Fed would allow the American people to know the full truth about the Federal Reserve’s conduct of monetary policy, including the complete details of the Fed’s plans to respond to the next economic crash. An audit will also likely uncover some very interesting details regarding the Federal Reserve’s dealings with foreign central banks. The large number of Americans embracing authoritarianism — whether of the left or right wing variety — is a sign of mass discontent with the current system. There is a great danger that, as the economic situation worsens, there will be an increase in violence and growing restrictions on liberty. However, public discontent also presents a great opportunity for those who understand free-market economics to show our fellow citizens that our problems are not caused by immigrants, imports, or the one percent, but by the Federal Reserve. Politicians will never restore sound money or limited government unless forced to do so by either an economic crisis or a shift in public option. It is up to us who know the truth to make sure the welfare-warfare state and the system of fiat money ends because the people have demanded it, not because a crisis left Congress with no other choice.

From the roof of a building near the Atlantic Terminal transit hub in Brooklyn, the formerly expansive views of Manhattan are now blocked by a rising forest of towers, radiating off Flatbush Avenue. The sign for Junior’s restaurant, once impossible to miss, can be glimpsed only between the new construction. There are 19 residential towers either under construction or recently completed along the section of Flatbush stretching from Barclays Center north to Myrtle Avenue. When all of them are finished, they will have added more than 6, 500 apartments — overwhelmingly rentals — to New York City’s housing stock. Another four buildings on Myrtle Avenue will add almost 1, 000 more units. There are so many new apartments in the neighborhood — roughly of all rental units expected to become available in the city in 2016 and 2017, according to Nancy Packes Data Services, a research firm — that the Brooklyn rental market seems poised to zoom right past boom, to glut. “The market is saturated,” said Sofia Estevez, executive vice president at the developer TF Cornerstone, which will begin offering apartments in a rental building at 33 Bond Street next spring. “I think it’ll take a couple years to stabilize. ” And just as overbuilding along Billionaires’ Row around 57th Street in Manhattan has caused prices to soften in the market, the construction boom in this stretch of Brooklyn has prompted landlords to strike deals to fill their buildings, which dwarf the surrounding brownstones, rowhouses and tenements. At 7 DeKalb, a new tower atop the City Point mall complex, the landlord is offering two months of free rent with a lease, and use of the building’s fitness center and other amenities for a year without charge. That means a place can be had for $3, 428 a month a apartment goes for $5, 057. The Gotham Organization, the developer of 250 Ashland Place, a tower with 586 units, and Two Trees Management, which is building 300 Ashland Place, a tower near the Brooklyn Academy of Music, are offering similar “free rent” periods: one and two months gratis, respectively, with a new lease. With the discount, a at 300 Ashland Place is being offered at $3, 375. Elsewhere, landlords are offering as much as four months free of charge. In at least one older building — meaning it went up in 2011 — the landlord is offering existing residents leases with no increase in rent for the first year in order to keep tenants who may be drawn to newer buildings. “It’s pretty astonishing,” said Gabby Warshawer, director of research at CityRealty, a research firm. “Clearly there’s a lot of supply right now. We’re seeing longer lease terms, which is fairly new. And months of free rent. ” Free rent is hardly what you would expect in Brooklyn, where demand for housing has been rising for a decade, driven by the borough’s reputation as a haven of youth, hipness and entrepreneurialism. But the original hip neighborhood, Williamsburg, is now expensive. And with the pending temporary shutdown of the L subway line in 2019 lengthening the commute into Manhattan, that neighborhood is no longer as appealing. The boom in this corner of Brooklyn, which has one of the biggest transit centers in the city, owes a lot to the city’s 2004 rezoning of the downtown area to encourage the development of office towers and some residential buildings that could compete with Jersey City for back office operations. At first, there was little activity because the city was offering tenants and developers enormous subsidies to rebuild and move to Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the creation of an arts district around the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Barclays arena at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, and the adjoining Atlantic Yards development, now known as Pacific Park, inspired interest in the area. And the city’s population has swelled, to an estimated 8. 6 million people a year ago from 8. 2 million people in 2010, setting off a seemingly unquenchable thirst for housing, especially given job growth in Brooklyn, which outpaces the city over all. Developers and consultants are not predicting that rents will plunge, but they do expect them to stagnate and perhaps ease in the short term. “We’ve had a big in rents,” said David Schwartz of Slate Property Group, which is developing a building at 1 Flatbush Avenue with 160 rental apartments, “but I don’t think we’ll see any significant growth in the next couple of years. ” Jonathan J. Miller, president and chief executive of Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, contends that the problem is not so much “too many units. ” “It’s too many units skewed to the upper end of the market,” above $3, 500 a month in rent, he continued. “The top of the market is soft for both rentals and condos. That’s where the bulk of the new supply is coming. ” Gary Barnett, founder of Extell Development Company, plans to start the third tower at City Point by the end of the year, but he is unsure whether it will be rentals or condominiums. The units, he said, will not be “superluxury. ” The Brodsky Organization, another developer, is finishing the second tower at the City Point complex with 440 apartments. Indeed, in a study of Brooklyn rents, Mr. Miller found that while median rents on apartments had climbed by 50 percent to $2, 481 from 2009 to 2016, those at the borough’s highest end had fallen by about 4 percent, to a median of $4, 783. But nearly of the apartments — a total of 1, 654 units — in the Flatbush corridor are reserved for and tenants under the city’s housing program, which offered developers generous property tax breaks for setting aside 20 percent of a project’s apartments for such tenants. At the Hub, a tower at 333 Schermerhorn Street with 750 apartments, 150 units are subsidized for poor and families, while 76 of the 379 rentals at 300 Ashland Place and 200 of the 250 units at 7 DeKalb Avenue are set aside for tenants. Roughly half of the subsidized apartments are connected to the first four buildings now under construction at the vast Pacific Park project next to Barclays Center and just south of Atlantic Terminal. That complex benefits from an enormous public investment. Some housing advocates, however, say there are still not enough apartments for the tenants being driven out of the area by gentrification. They point out that the developer Forest City Ratner got 80, 000 applications for 181 subsidized apartments at 461 Dean Street in Pacific Park. Others complain that developers are not building the infrastructure required for such a large influx of residents. Developers are taking solace from a coming slowdown in the construction of rental buildings, with the number expected to fall to almost zero in 2018. That is partly because of the demise in January of the program. And now 12 years after the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning, some developers are finally moving forward with plans for several office projects as well. “People really want to be living and working in Brooklyn, and that’s why you’ve seen so many developers flocking to this area,” said Amy Rose, of Rose Associates, which is putting up a building with 369 apartments at 210 Livingston Street with its partner Benenson Capital Partners. Mr. Schwartz, who is building the Slate tower at 1 Flatbush Avenue, said he was not worried about the number of buildings going up. Brooklyn, he said, is still “the coolest place on the planet. ”

11.23.2016 @4:17 PM EST More Establishment ties? ( INTELLIHUB ) — It looks as if Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s new book publisher, Harper Collins, may have been concerned with a plethora of negative book reviews posted by ‘Trump trolls’ on Amazon, resulting in Amazon censoring free speech by removing a score of reviews from the website entirely, reports say. Apparently Kelly’s new memoir titled Settle For More missed the mark so much that “a whopping 76% of all reports were one-star” at one point, before Amazon made adjustments in an effort to aide Kelly, according to Slate.com. Although USA Today and others are touting negative reviews as ‘attacks from pro-Trump trolls,’ Kelly’s negative reviews only stem from Kelly herself, who serves as a played out die-hard Establishment mouthpiece for the corporate elite. She’s been “trying to suck up to Rupert Murdoch for that twenty-million dollar contract,” one lady told Intellihub. ‘She’s courting him [Murdoch],’ the lady said. Currently Kelly’s book has a 2.4 0ut of a 5 star rating on Amazon.com. Gage Skidmore/Flickr

WASHINGTON — A man who approached the White House on Friday brandishing a gun was shot and wounded by a Secret Service agent, the agency’s spokesman said. The man, whose identity was not released, was taken into custody and treated at a nearby hospital. President Obama was away at the time, playing golf at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. He was told about the shooting, a White House official said. The episode began shortly after 3 p. m. Friday, when the man walked toward a security checkpoint on E Street, southwest of the White House. “The Secret Service Uniformed Division officers gave numerous verbal commands for the subject to stop and drop the firearm,” David A. Iacovetti, the deputy assistant director of government and public affairs for the Secret Service, said in a statement. “When the subject failed to comply with the verbal commands, he was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody. ” The agents recovered the gun, Mr. Iacovetti said. The shooting, in a area near the National Mall crowded with tourists and other bystanders, was the latest in a string of security episodes involving the White House. In September 2014, a man who climbed over the fence on the north lawn eluded officers and made it through the front door of the White House before being apprehended. Several days later, the director of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson, was forced to resign. Since then, the Secret Service has significantly expanded training for officers and beefed up security around the fence. In this episode, the Secret Service said, the armed man did not penetrate the White House grounds. “No one within or associated with the White House was injured, and everyone in the White House is safe and accounted for,” an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to comment publicly about the incident. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was secured “within the White House complex” during the shooting, said Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman. Still, the White House and Treasury Department were placed on lockdown while the police investigated, interrupting an unusually sleepy spring afternoon at the White House. Mr. Obama, who is scheduled to leave on Saturday for a weeklong trip to Vietnam and Japan, decided to squeeze in a rare weekday round of golf with three close aides.

The title of South Park: The Fractured but Whole essentially sets the comedic tone for the upcoming RPG which sets its sights on the superhero genre.[ South Park’s latest video game acts as a sequel to the 2014 release South Park: The Stick of Truth which was well received by critics and fans alike due to its surprisingly compelling storyline, humor, and engaging gameplay. The Fractured but Whole aims to outdo The Stick of Truth in every way, ramping up the series signature offensive humor and outlandish storylines. The new storyline of The Fractured but Whole see’s the main characters assuming their superhero identities that many fans will recognize from the TV show. A fight between members of the team known as The Coon and Friends results in the superhero group splitting into two factions in an apparent nod to Marvel’s Civil War, one led by Cartman as The Coon and another led by Kenny’s alter ego Mysterion. The player takes on the role of “The New Kid” and can play as a male or female character. The demo that I played at E3 took place in a strip club. Your character starts as a lowly sidekick, not yet having made the transition to hero. You accompany Captain Diabetes inside the club where you search for a particular stripper with a male tattoo on her chest. Players must traverse the strip club speaking to various strippers and attempting to gain information from club patrons. Eventually, two men offer to take you to the VIP room in the back of the club in exchange for a lapdance. This triggers a lapdance minigame where players must move the controller’s analog sticks in certain directions in order to grind on the lap of the business man. Once this is over, the businessmen become belligerent which leads to a fight scene. This is where we get to see The Fractured but Whole’s combat system in action. Much like The Stick of Truth, the combat is with players moving their team members on a grid system and selecting certain attacks in order to beat their enemies. Shortly after this fight scene players learn the name of the elusive stripper — Classi, naturally — which leads to Captain Diabetes hatching a new plan to find her. Captain Diabetes suggests concocting a drink that will knock out the club DJ who announces each new stripper, allowing Captain Diabetes to use the PA system to call the stripper to the stage. This leads players on a search mission for certain ingredients which are obtained through various mechanics such as firecracker and fart throwing. Once all of the suitably disgusting items are found, the DJ is given the drink and promptly leaves to get sick, allowing Captain Diabetes to use the intercom system to call Classi, who attempts to escape upon seeing the player and is then chased by the player and Captain Diabetes, which ends the demo. Overall The Fractured but Whole is made specifically for South Park fans. If you’re not a fan of fart jokes and crude humor, this game is not for you. Those that enjoyed The Stick of Truth should be thoroughly impressed with The Fractured but Whole when it releases on October 17. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com

Earth To Ammosexuals: NRA Admits No One Is Coming For Your Guns! (VIDEO) By Natalie Dailey For decades, gun-toting, ammosexual Right Wing Nut Jobs have claimed that the government is going to take their guns away. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been preaching this kind of crap “news” for years, and blaming it on Democratic presidents. It turns out that the organization has finally admitted that this is a lie. When asked about it, President Barack Obama said : “I’m about to leave office. There have been more guns sold since I’ve been president than just about any time in U.S. history. There are enough guns for every man, woman and child in this country. And at no point have I ever proposed confiscating guns from responsible gun owners. So it is just not true.” The NRA responded with : “Congress writes the laws, not the president. He could then have listed the many attacks on the right to bear arms — from Operation Fast and Furious to Operation Choke Point to Obama’s attempted ban on common ammunition for AR-15-type rifles to his using a ‘pen and phone’ to push anti-gun executive actions. But Rhude respectfully stayed silent.” Even if Congress and the president were able to pass such a law, the Supreme Court would rule it unconstitutional if challenged since they would be going against the Second Amendment. Not only has the NRA lied about taking away guns, but Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is spreading that BS as well. He said this about it back in May: “Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to abolish it. Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away and she wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to take the bullets away. She wants to take it.” Americans really need to stop listening to these fear-mongering idiots. No one is coming after your guns. We need to keep guns out of the hands of people who abuse them and commit crimes with them. Here is a clip from The Daily Show about Obama’s last batch of gun control executive orders : Featured image via YouTube screenshot . About Natalie Dailey Hi, I'm from Huntsville, AL. I'm a Liberal living in the Bible Belt, which can be quite challenging at times. I'm passionate about many issues including mental health, women's rights, gay rights, and many others. Check out my blog abravealabamaatheist.com. Check out my other blog weneedtotalkaboutmentalhealth.com Connect

Public concern about faulty automobile airbags spread to a second major supplier on Wednesday, after Toyota recalled 1. 43 million Prius and Lexus models equipped with bags made by Autoliv, a big manufacturer. Although no injuries have been reported from the problem, there have been incidents in which the Autoliv bags deployed spontaneously in parked vehicles, sending metal pieces of the inflater into the cars’ cabins. The problem sounded ominously similar to issues with faulty airbags made by another major supplier, Takata, which have been linked to 14 known deaths and more than 100 injuries. Takata’s airbags have been the target of the largest safety recall in automotive history. Fourteen automakers have recalled more than 60 million Takata airbags in the United States, and millions more worldwide. Autoliv, based in Stockholm, provides airbags to most of the major auto companies and is supplying many of the replacement inflaters being fitted in cars affected by the Takata recalls. Autoliv and Takata, together with the American supplier TRW and the Japanese maker Daicel, provide of the global supply of airbag inflaters. “Inflaters are one of the most complex automotive components to manufacture,” said Scott Upham, chief executive of the automotive consulting firm Valient Market Research. Airbag makers need to have extensive experience in chemistry, explosives, as well as quality control, he said. “This is the reason why there are so few inflater suppliers in the industry,” he said. Autoliv’s problem also underscored the challenges of overseeing the work of subcontractors in the making of crucial auto safety equipment. The company on Wednesday said substandard welds on inflaters made by a subcontractor from 2010 to 2012 were responsible for the problems leading to Toyota’s recall on Wednesday. The recall covered two models of Toyota hybrid vehicles, the Prius and the Lexus CT200h, from 2010 to 2012. They were equipped with Autoliv airbags, which are fitted in the car’s side roof rails and meant to protect occupants in crashes. Toyota did not name the airbag supplier when it announced the recall in Tokyo on Wednesday, but Autoliv later identified itself and said it was cooperating with the recall. Autoliv stressed that its airbag defect had caused no known injuries or deaths. And it was quick to distance itself from Takata’s woes, which have involved driver and passenger airbags. “They are extremely different cases,” Thomas Jonsson, a spokesman for Autoliv, said Wednesday. Still, the defect in the Autoliv airbag inflaters share some similarities with the fault in Takata’s, raising concerns about possible wider manufacturing and design issues. In both cases, the airbag inflater can break apart when the bag engages, sending metal parts into the car’s cabin. And in both cases, high temperatures appear to play a role. All seven incidents known to Autoliv had occurred in parked cars in hot weather, Mr. Jonsson said. Echoing language initially used by Takata, Autoliv was still investigating the “root cause” of the defect, he said. At the heart of Takata’s defect is its propellant, the explosive that helps inflate the airbag in a tiny fraction of a second. Takata’s propellant is based on a solid compound called ammonium nitrate, which can break down over time when exposed to moisture or high temperatures. And in its state, the compound can burn violently, causing the inflater to overpressurize and explode. In one recent incident, a Texas teenager was killed when an inflater fragment severed an artery in her neck. Autoliv does not use ammonium nitrate in its airbags, Mr. Jonsson said. Instead, its inflaters use stored compressed gas and a different solid propellant to inflate the airbag. A welding problem in metal tubing made by an Autoliv subcontractor was causing a crack to appear in the inflater, Mr. Jonsson said, and in hot conditions, the gas could overpressurize, causing the inflater to break in two. He said the subcontractor deviated from approved manufacturing processes between 2010 and 2012, resulting in the defect. But that process has since been fixed, he said. Mr. Jonsson disputed Toyota’s description of the defect in its filing with Japanese regulators, which warned that inflater fragments could burst into the car’s cabin. Mr. Jonsson said that in six of the seven incidents, the broken parts of the inflater had stayed put or had simply dropped out in one case, there was “more movement. ” Autoliv supplied the inflater in question to four other automakers. Mr. Jonsson refused to name those automakers, however, saying Autoliv was not aware of any airbag incidents in their cars. Those automakers are not conducting recalls. Autoliv said in a regulatory filing in April that it was investigating six incidents related to its airbags, and possible recall costs of $10 million to $40 million. But the details of its airbag defect had not been known. Toyota on Wednesday issued a second recall in Japan, to fix a possible fault with a mechanism in vehicles’ fuel tanks that releases evaporated fuel.

Of all the dysfunctions that plague the world’s megacities, none may be more pernicious than bad (really, really bad) traffic. Sitting still in Dhaka, where bad design takes on epic proportions. I WAS IN DHAKA, which is to say I was stuck in traffic. The proposition might more accurately be phrased the other way around: I was stuck in traffic, therefore I was in Dhaka. If you spend some time in Bangladesh’s capital, you begin to look anew at the word “traffic,” and to revise your definition. In other cities, there are vehicles and pedestrians on the roads occasionally, the roads get clogged, and progress is impeded. The situation in Dhaka is different. Dhaka’s traffic is traffic in extremis, a state of chaos so pervasive and permanent that it has become the city’s organizing principle. It’s the weather of the city, a storm that never lets up. Dhakaites will tell you that the rest of the world doesn’t understand traffic, that the worst traffic jam in Mumbai or Cairo or Los Angeles is equivalent to a good day for Dhaka’s drivers. Experts agree. In the 2016 Global Liveability Survey, the quality of life report issued annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Dhaka ranked 137th out of 140 cities, edging out only Lagos, Tripoli and Damascus its infrastructure rating was the worst of any city in the survey. Like other megacities of the developing world, Dhaka is both a boomtown and a necropolis, with a thriving market, a growing middle class and a lively cultural and intellectual life that is offset by rampant misery: poverty, pollution, disease, political corruption, extremist violence and terror attacks. But it is traffic that has sealed Dhaka’s reputation among academics and development specialists as the great symbol of urban dysfunction, the world’s most broken city. It has made Dhaka a surreal place, a town that is both frenetic and paralyzed, and has altered the rhythms of daily life for its 17. 5 residents. Not long ago, the Daily Star newspaper published an article titled “5 Things to Do While Stuck in Traffic. ” Suggested activities included “catching up with friends,” reading and journaling. The first chapter of my own Dhaka journal begins in March of last year, on a highway that runs south from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport into the center of town. If you do a web search for this stretch of road, you may come across a Facebook page titled “Highway to Hell, Airport Road. ” Photographs posted online reveal the nature of the hell, aerial shots capturing a scrum of automobiles strewn at odd angles across eight lanes of road. It looks like a Matchbox set that has been scattered by an angry toddler: the morning commute as a cosmic temper tantrum. These images had me prepared for the worst. Yet on my flight to Dhaka I was told that the traffic in the city would be unusually light. For weeks, Bangladesh had been gripped by a hartal, a nationwide general strike and “transportation blockade. ” The hartal, called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was an effort to pressure Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina into holding new elections. The strike had disrupted everyday life in the capital, with street demonstrations and sporadic violence causing Dhaka’s denizens to curb their normal routines. It had accomplished the seemingly impossible, breaking the logjam on Dhaka’s streets. A Bangladeshi on my flight explained the situation. “In Dhaka, you have either horrible traffic or really horrible traffic,” he said. “But with the hartal, there will be almost no traffic. Traffic will be O. K. ” Horrible traffic, really horrible traffic, almost no traffic, O. K. traffic — it takes just a few minutes in Dhaka to realize that these are not scientific terms. When my plane touched down I caught a taxi, which exited the airport into a roundabout before making its way onto the infamous highway. There, unmistakably, was a traffic jam: cars and trucks, as far the eye could see, stacked up in a configuration that bore no clear relationship to the lanes painted on the blacktop. My cab nosed into the convoy. Whereupon a crawl commenced. The traffic rolled south for 20 seconds. The traffic stopped. My cab idled for a couple of minutes at a dead standstill. Then, for mysterious reasons, it crept forward again. Occasionally, the traffic would flow unimpeded for a minute or so, reaching a clip of perhaps 15 miles per hour. But soon we’d lurch to a halt again. It was the kind of routine I’d experienced on American interstates, the “ ” conditions that traffic reporters describe on news radio, shouting something about a jackknifed over thumping helicopter rotors. In this case, though, the problem was not an accident. The problem was Dhaka. It was hot and I was . I dozed off. When I snapped awake, about an hour later, the congestion had thickened and the scenery had turned frantic. We were in the heart of the city now, penned in by surging pedestrians and hundreds of vehicles competing for space on a wide road called Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue. There were passenger cars and puttering rickshaws. There were buses so with passengers that many riders were forced onto the exterior, clinging to open doorways and crouched on rooftop luggage racks. There were cargo tricycles, known locally as “vans,” heading to markets bearing heaping payloads of bamboo, watermelons, metal pipes, eggs, live animals. And, of course, there were the iconic Dhaka passenger vehicles, bicycle rickshaws. Officially, rickshaws are banned on major thoroughfares like Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, but there they were, in vast phalanxes, their bicycle bells pealing above the roar of the traffic jam. Eventually, my taxi reached a roundabout, and we turned left onto another thoroughfare, the Panthapath Tejgaon Link Road. There, the cabdriver executed a and a tricky sequence of maneuvers to win a place in a feeder lane that permitted entrance to the driveway of my hotel. The lane was empty: our final hundred yards of terrain to travel, and our first stretch of open road. The distance from airport to hotel was eight and a half miles. The trip had taken two and a half hours. We wheeled into the hotel’s driveway and the cabby spun around to offer his verdict. “Some traffic,” he said. “Not so bad. ” “BANGLADESH IS NOT so much a nation as a condition of distress,” wrote the journalist William Langewiesche in 2000. It sounds like an overstatement, but to behold the gridlocked streets of Dhaka is to see distress in action, or rather, in inaction. The stalled traffic in the capital city is symptomatic of the nation’s broader woes, in particular population growth, which is moderate by the standards of the developing world, but disastrous given the size of Bangladesh. Fundamentally, traffic is an issue of density: It’s what happens when too many people try to squeeze through too small a space. Bangladesh is the 12th most densely settled nation on earth, but with an estimated 160 million citizens it is by far the most populous, and the poorest, of the countries at the top of the list. To put the matter in different terms: The landmass of Bangladesh is the size of Russia, but its population exceeds Russia’s by more than 25 million. Bangladesh’s density problem is magnified in Dhaka, in part because, practically speaking, Dhaka is Bangladesh. Nearly all of the country’s government, business, health care and educational institutions, and a large percentage of its jobs, are concentrated in Dhaka. Each year, 400, 000 new residents pour into the capital, a mass migration that has made Dhaka the world’s most densely settled megacity, and one of the fastest growing. The town that those millions inhabit almost completely lacks the basic infrastructure and rule of law that make big cities navigable. There are just 60 traffic lights in Dhaka, and they are more or less ornamental few drivers heed them. The main problem with Dhaka’s anarchic streets, though, is that there aren’t enough. The Daily Star has reported that just 7 percent of Dhaka is covered by roads. (In places like Paris and Barcelona, models of urban planning, the number is around 30 percent.) Footpaths are also an issue. There are too few sidewalks in Dhaka, and those that exist are often impassable, occupied by vendors and masses of poor citizens who make their homes in curbside shanties. The usual solution to congestion in cities like Dhaka is to move commuters under the streets rather than over them. But Dhaka has no subway, and no concrete plans to build one. The problem is compounded by the growing appeal of private transport: a vogue for automobiles among Dhaka’s middle classes that is adding tens of thousands of new vehicles to the city’s streets every year. By the government’s own estimate, Dhaka’s traffic jams eat up 3. 2 million working hours each day and drain billions of dollars from the city’s economy annually. Traffic takes another kind of toll on the lives and minds of Dhakaites. “The city is atomized,” says Sarwar Jahan, a professor of urban and regional planning at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. “People cannot socialize because of the traffic problems. You can only occasionally go to a friend’s house or relatives. It simply takes too long. ” It is wrong, in other words, to speak of Dhaka’s traffic as an inconvenience even “crisis” is too mild a term. Adnan Morshed, an associate professor of architecture and planning at the Catholic University of America, has called Dhaka’s congestion “a vast urban pathology” that “continues to kill. ” Bangladesh’s thriving textile industry has given the nation’s economy a jolt, but analysts warn that if the capital cannot solve its traffic and infrastructure problem, such gains will prove fleeting — that progress itself may grind to a standstill. roads are the indelible image of Dhaka’s agony. They may also be its single greatest cause. DHAKA’S TRAFFIC OVERLOAD is a sensory overload. You can smell and taste it: The exhaust fumes tickle your nostrils and coat your mouth, leaving an acrid taste on your tongue. You can — often, you must — reach out and touch the traffic, executing defensive maneuvers to ward off vehicles and fellow pedestrians as you scramble across packed streets. But the traffic hits you most forcefully in your ears. Some historians claim that the city’s name derives from the dhak, a big drum with a clattering sound. True or not, there’s no mistaking the pounding that the city gives to your auditory nerves. Traffic is Dhaka’s deafening music, a dissonant theme song of shouting drivers, rumbling engines and, leading the attack, honking horns: vocals, bass, brass. That din is the sound of aggression. Dhaka’s drivers may be the most brutish and pitiless on earth. They may also be some of the best, if your idea of skillful driving is expansive enough to include the lawlessness and daredevilry that Dhaka demands. One afternoon I hailed an near the National Cricket Stadium and took a long, meandering journey through some of the city’s most heavily trafficked streets. Dhakaites call “CNGs,” because they run on compressed natural gas. They’re the kind of vehicles you find all over urban Asia, essentially small metal boxes, propped atop three wheels and divided into two tiny compartments, one for the driver, and another, slightly larger but still a tight squeeze, for passengers. In Dhaka, they’re painted forest green, nearly all of them are dirty and dinged up, and they make a lot of loud, unpleasant noise snarling through the streets. They’re scruffy, ornery little machines, the piratical cousins of golf carts. My CNG was piloted by an unsmiling man who looked to be in his late 20s. On the road, he was relentless. He vied for every centimeter of roadway in thick traffic and sped as fast as possible when congestion eased. We were in one of the busiest parts of town now, on Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue, a wide street lined with malls and crammed with shoppers. Another mall, of a sort, had sprung up on the road itself. In Dhaka, a traffic jam is an economic opportunity: Vehicles are descended on by vendors hawking bottles of water, peeled cucumbers, books. Crime is an issue, too. Once, CNGs had no doors, but wire doors were added as protection from muggers who prey on riders in stalled traffic. Enterprising thieves have been known to drop in on passengers, clambering on top of CNGs and slicing through their canvas roofing to gain entry. The weapon of choice for some muggers is Tiger Balm, the heat rub, which they smear on victims’ eyes to disable them. My driver’s modus operandi was to keep his CNG in motion no matter what, even in conditions. When he couldn’t push the thing forward vertically, he moved horizontally, crossing lanes of traffic by beating out a nattering pattern on his horn, nosing his way in between vehicles and forcing other drivers to budge in turn, even if the only movement possible was an inch or two. He kept repeating two syllables, barking at fellow commuters in between horn blasts: “ !” he cried. “ ! ! !” Later, I asked a friend who speaks Bengali to translate the word for me. Aste, it turns out, means “slowly, gently. ” There is one form of transportation in Dhaka that might be deemed gentle, at least by the city’s standards. Bicycle rickshaws are the quaintest and most ubiquitous of all the vehicles on Dhaka’s streets. No one is certain about the size of the city’s rickshaw fleet. (Only a fraction of the vehicles are officially licensed.) Most estimates put the number upward of 200, 000 some reckon there are several times that many. Arguing about rickshaws is as big a pastime in Dhaka as riding them. There have been many proposals to ban the machines, but the efforts have always been beaten back. Some contend that rickshaws are the vehicles to roads, and the most environmentally friendly. Others say that they are inefficient, that four rickshaws rolling abreast on a Dhaka street take up the square footage of a bus while transporting just eight passengers. One thing that everyone agrees on is that Dhaka’s rickshaws look great. They have been called “moving museums. ” They’re elaborately appliquéd with tinsel and tassels their frames bear colorful paintings of flowers, portraits, heroic images of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence, pastoral and urban scenes. Scrutinize the cityscapes painted on rickshaws and you will note an irony. Invariably they show a dreamily placid city, with swooping birds and sunsets blazing behind turreted towers. As for the roads depicted in the paintings: They are tidy, tranquil, serenely . FOR THE FORESEEABLE future, those rickshaw paintings are the closest thing to orderly street scenes that you’ll find in Dhaka. When experts are asked about solutions to the city’s woes, they recite a familiar litany. They talk about traffic lights, dedicated rickshaw lanes, arterial roads, light rail. They speak of decentralization, of easing the burden on Dhaka by developing secondary cities like Chittagong and Khulna. The government, for its part, is touting the $1. 14 billion Dhaka Elevated Expressway, whose construction began in August of 2015. But skepticism about such projects runs deep in Dhaka, where progress has so often been stymied by government ineptitude and corruption. In the meantime, the capital’s roadways seethe. It takes just a few days in Dhaka to acclimate, and to develop an affection for the city’s impregnable streets. For a greenhorn, the traffic offers a novel perspective on an alien city. I learned to appreciate the way that 360 degrees of traffic transformed sight lines, collapsing space and perspective, shattering Dhaka’s scenery into Cubist shards: splashes of color a flash of a painted sign on a wall a glimpse of a driver’s beard in his truck’s rearview mirror a pile of corrugated metal siding, surreally floating a dozen feet in the air, the payload of an unseen cargo tricycle. I knew, of course, that it was unseemly for a visitor from one of the world’s richest cities to aestheticize the chaos and dysfunction of one of its poorest. Traffic in Dhaka is not just a nuisance. It is poverty, it’s injustice, it’s suffering. Yet nearly everyone I met in Dhaka spoke of the traffic as a trial by fire, a test of mettle, a horror that is also a perverse source of pride. One woman, a lifelong Dhaka resident, told me she “missed the jams” when she lived abroad: In the big cities of Europe and America, the relative lack of congestion unnerved her. When you make it through a day in Dhaka, when you make it across a snarled intersection, you have triumphed against the odds, and over the gods. The town puts you in a philosophical frame of mind. Dhaka teaches that travel is hell, but it also reminds you of the primitive wonder of travel, the truth that, to complete any journey, no matter how quotidian, is to conquer space, and — depending just how awful the congestion is on the Mirpur Road — to subdue time. When the day came for my return to New York, I’d been in Dhaka long enough to have learned its golden rule of commuting: Leave early. So I arranged for a call and at 4:45 a. m. more than five hours before my flight’s boarding time, I staggered into a waiting taxi. The cabdriver assured me that the traffic at that hour would not be so bad. Lo and behold, he was right. The sun hadn’t yet risen, and the taxi went hurtling through the black streets of central Dhaka. There was no traffic — zilch. We gained the Airport Road, and whizzed faster still. I watched the kilometers tick off on the dashboard speedometer and I rolled down my window. As the taxi revved past 50 miles per hour, we seemed to be flying. Then, a mile or so south of our destination, a formation of cars and trucks and CNGs pressed up against us, the taxi slowed and suddenly we were earthbound again: on a road in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We stopped, we started, we stopped again. The cause of the congestion was unclear, but it was obvious that I’d have no trouble making my flight. So I relaxed: I was going to relish the madness one last time. Eventually, the speedometer nudged a hair above five miles per hour, and as we started to crawl forward again, a thought stole into my mind, proof that Dhaka had done its work on me. You call this traffic? C’mon. This isn’t traffic.

WASHINGTON — Gov. John Kasich of Ohio on Tuesday signed into law a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but vetoed a far more restrictive measure that would have barred abortions after a fetal heartbeat was detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. In reaching the split decision on the two bans, adopted last week by the Ohio legislature, Mr. Kasich said the heartbeat bill was “clearly contrary to the Supreme Court’s current rulings on abortion. ” He called the ban the “best, most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life. ” The ban has no exceptions for rape or incest, and abortion rights advocates consider it extreme. Under existing Ohio law, there will be an exception for life of the mother, Mr. Kasich’s office said. Current Ohio law bars abortion after 20 weeks unless doctors can show that the baby is not viable outside the womb. Many medical experts cite the age of viability as 24 weeks. With the governor’s signature, Ohio becomes the 18th state to adopt a abortion ban, though two of the bans — in Arizona and Idaho — have been struck down as unconstitutional by federal courts. Legal experts say Ohio’s ban is far more likely to survive a constitutional challenge than the heartbeat bill. Barring court action, the law will take effect in 90 days, but a legal challenge appears inevitable. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which said on Tuesday that the measure was “unconstitutional and will harm women and families,” was expected to file a suit to block it. “There’s no way we’re going to take this lying down,” said Gabriel Mann, a spokesman for Naral Ohio, an advocacy group. “It’s too horrific of a restriction for women who are facing medical complications and situations where they need an abortion around that period. ” About 20, 000 abortions are performed in Ohio each year, Mr. Mann said, and fewer than 2 percent occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy. While the state keeps track of the number of abortions, it does not track the reasons for termination. Abortion opponents argue that one abortion is one too many. Mr. Kasich’s actions come as abortion rights advocates and abortion opponents around the country are gearing up for intense battles in the wake of the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House. Mr. Trump’s victory has changed the political winds around abortion politics, emboldening the movement. People on both sides of the debate see abortion rights in greater danger than at any time since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which found a legal right to abortion within the 14th Amendment. Mr. Trump has committed to appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe. Even so, movement leaders in Ohio feared that the heartbeat bill would bring on a court challenge, and could ultimately set back their cause, given the current makeup of the Supreme Court. In June, after the death in February of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court struck down a Texas bill, . But even if Mr. Trump fills Justice Scalia’s seat, the balance of the court will not change it will still tip in favor of Roe, said Michael Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, the organization that pushed for the ban. “The governor got this right,” Mr. Gonidakis said. “At the end of the day, he had to exercise great restraint in what legislation he signed. ”

Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) JoAnna Klein, a science writer, brings us today’s introduction. Earlier this month, the scientific journal Conservation Biology published a study that found that nearly half of the fish sampled at roughly 10 percent of Los Angeles sushi restaurants were not what they were purported to be on menus. In many cases fish were substituted with cheaper, more environmentally sustainable catches. But in some instances, replacement fish were actually endangered or threatened. Halibut and red snapper were found to be the most frequently misidentified. Between 2012 and 2014, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and Loyola Marymount University sent their students to 26 Los Angeles restaurants with various price points and high ratings on Yelp and Zagat. Their mission was simple: Order dishes containing each of nine targeted fish that are common on menus and often mislabeled confirm with the restaurant that the fish was what the menu said it was collect a piece of sushi about the size of a kernel of corn drop it in a labeled jar of ethanol and take it back to the lab for DNA analysis. Knowing rates of mislabeled fish is important, the authors say, because it threatens consumer health. It also threatens a marine ecosystem and the billion dollar fishing industry that depends on it. But studies in the past have been inconsistent in terms of seafood mislabeling rates. “We wanted to see why there is that huge level of variation,” said Demian Willette, a biologist who helped lead the study. So they did the same thing at the same place each year for four years. The students collected more than 350 samples over all. In every restaurant, there was at least one case of mislabeled fish. But the researchers say you can’t blame the restaurant in every case. Like their diners, and even their grocers, the restaurants were most likely victims of fish fraud. For consumers going forward, Mr. Willette suggested asking your waiter directly what you’re ordering. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch also offers resources and a phone app to help . (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • Are we at “peak millennial?” Why cities can’t assume more young people will live there. [The New York Times] • Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency after recent severe flooding. [Los Angeles Times] • California Republicans are demanding audits and hearings over the bullet train project. [San Francisco Chronicle] • President Trump’s abandoning of the Partnership could leave Central Valley farmers hurting. [Fresno Bee] • Charlie Liteky, who received the Medal of Honor then later returned it in protest, died in San Francisco. He was 85. [The New York Times] • Lawyers are pushing an unexpected theory of how the Oakland warehouse fire started. [East Bay Times] • A proposal to ban the display of Vietnam’s flag on city poles has divided San Jose’s Vietnamese community. [The Mercury News] • Investors announced a plan to bring a Major League Soccer team to San Diego. [The Associated Press] • are trying to commercialize A. I. music for everything from jingles to pop hits. [The New York Times] • Beyoncé’s mother resides in a home atop the Hollywood Hills surrounded by black contemporary art. [The New York Times] • Videos: How some Californians had fun during the weekend flooding. [Orange County Register] Under cover of darkness, a woman vandalized a mosque in Davis early Sunday. Caught on surveillance video, she draped bacon on a door handle and broke half a dozen window panes at the Islamic Center of Davis. Pork is forbidden under Islamic dietary laws. A hate crime inquiry was opened by the authorities in Davis, a college town known more for its culture and farmers’ markets. Throughout the day Monday, dropped by the mosque with flowers and messages of support. An online campaign raised nearly $20, 000 for repairs. Lynsie Mason, 23, a nearby resident, walked over with a box of doughnuts and a card. Mosque leaders said hate incidents were rare. Ahmed Ali, a postdoc in civil engineering at U. C. Davis, said he was less rattled by the vandalism than perplexed. “The motivation is unknown. Why?” he said. “I mean if she wants to steal something, that’s fine. She might be in need. ” He paused and then added, “It’s just hate. ” Before he was a photographer, Michael Zagaris was a law school dropout in the 1960s. He started dropping acid and hanging out at the Fillmore music club in San Francisco with a notion that he would write a book. Armed with a tape recorder and a camera, he interviewed the musicians who performed there. It was Eric Clapton who suggested to Mr. Zagaris that he should try to sell his pictures. And that’s the moment he found his calling — photographing rock ’n’ roll. As luck had it, San Francisco was assuming a central place in rock history at the time. Looking back, Mr. Zagaris said in an interview, “I was in Europe for the Renaissance. ” Late last year, he put out a new photography book, “Total Excess,” with images of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, the Clash and others at the height of their fame in the 1970s. He shared a selection below: California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley.

« Previous - Next » 300 US Marines To Be Deployed To Russian Border In Norway It has long been a controversy for the United States often getting involved in affairs that shouldn't necessarily involve them. Many other countries believe that the United State is nothing more warmongers who lust for more power and authority over the many weaker countries throughout the world, hence the history of unwarranted wars that have taken place throughout. Some of these range from the Vietnam War, which was shown to have been a basis that never existed in the Gulf of Tonkin event. Another infamous event includes the idea to invade Iraq, which included the destruction of many innocent people, but did not assist in any way for any other country. It created more hatred however. Troops From US May Open Up Shop In Norway Despite all this, it is now being believed that US troops may be joining their NATO ally in Norway by stationing troops in the country of Norway. It is expected to involve over 300 marines going to Norway. This is troubling as it is the first time foreign troops have come to the country, since the devastating events of World War ll. Could this possibly be a preparation for World War lll, if the United States is coming to a country that is near Russia? It could affect Norway as the Defense Minister has expressed serious concern regarding the Russian military, which has continued to flex its muscles through the takeover of many smaller countries with mere ease. Norway has come under some fire about the decision to involve the United States as some believe this is not a good signal to show to someone that opposes them as it looks like they are welcoming the idea of a war . Some also believe that Norway should try to defend itself by reinforcing its own army rather than involving the United States troops to give them a helping hand. Some also believe that it makes them look rather weak if they are instantly calling upon their strongest ally in the United States to help them as soon as they start to have a fear of a certain situation. What remains unknown is what may develop upon stationing these troops. Is World War lll on the cusp of existence with the strategic and sudden move by Norway? Hopefully not, because this could easily be as devastating as all of the other wars combined, given the advancement of fighting techniques. This article (300 US Marines To Be Deployed To Russian Border In Norway) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv Related Articles

Perhaps you’ve seen the new TV series whose pilot episode begins this way: A man and a woman are having sex, but something soon goes awry, and the whole production wraps up on an ungainly, awkward note. If you’re having trouble naming the show, it’s because there isn’t just one that commences this way. The awkward sex scene has become a staple of the modern television series opener. And while it can seem like merely a (now hackneyed) storytelling device, its prevalence may also reflect recent tectonic shifts in heterosexual politics. First, a rundown of some examples (with a tip of the hat to Benjamin R. Cohen, a professor in engineering at Lafayette College, who alerted me to the trend): In “Love,” we are treated to no fewer than three sex scenes within the first six minutes, the most dramatically significant one being the male protagonist having stiff, monotonous sex with his aloof girlfriend, both of them still wearing tops, as he asks her to move in with him. (She says yes a month later, in their next scene together, she breaks up with him.) In “Togetherness” (canceled by HBO after its second season) the male lead attempts to initiate sex with his wife. When rebuffed, he begins masturbating, hoping she won’t notice. She does, and kicks him out of bed, but not before asking him to take the baby monitor with him. “Master of None” opens with a accident during a stand. The two characters end up doing an online search for the risk of impregnation from fluid (and, in learning about it, he admits that he masturbated before going out that night). The two leads of “Broad City” are having a conversation on their laptops it is later revealed that Ilana has been having sex with a guy during their talk while Abby has been engaged in a “scheduled” masturbation session. Some of this litany has to do with the medium. As an narrative strategy, depicting sex (erotically or not, à deux or solo) invariably succeeds. Comedy, for which all of the shows in question aim, doesn’t play well with dim lighting, sultry music and simultaneous orgasms. Furthermore, TV writers, especially those in mostly premium cable and streaming TV, are undoubtedly eager to push the envelope of frank realism in a less puritanical era. Yet, perhaps, a bigger engine for the proliferation of awkward sex scenes is the change occurring in the contemporary bedroom. Compare the aforementioned shows to how “Sex and the City” began in 1998, with Carrie’s relating the tale of a seemingly storybook romance (replete with “wonderful” sex, filmed in moonlight with silhouetted figures) that, inevitably, crumbles because of yet another noncommittal “toxic bachelor. ” In Carrie’s first sex scene, she is gratified by cunnilingus before turning down a request for fellatio and skedaddling off to work. The mood is not one of unease or embarrassment, but empowerment through role reversal. “I’d done it,” she proudly tells the viewer. “I’d just had sex like a man. ” The show “made big headway” when it came to women “talking about their sex lives in a public forum,” said Sarah Heyward, a on “Girls. ” “If the public is forced to get more O. K. with women talking graphically about their sex lives, inevitably on TV we’ll see women being more aggressive and being the initiator. ” “Sex and the City” not only paved the way for onscreen representation of women with more sexual agency, but also underscored a sea change in how both genders approach love and lust behind closed doors. After the “Broad City” scene ends, the guy in bed (Hannibal Buress) asks: “What are we? Are we just having sex, hooking up, dating? What is this?” “This is … purely physical,” Ilana says. “Why does this always happen to me?” he wonders aloud. Two decades ago, it’s doubtful a male character would have uttered such a lament on television unless it was played for straight laughs. On “Broad City,” though, it reads as a sign of the times: A woman can have sex “like a man,” as per Carrie’s declaration, and a man can express emotions as vulnerably as women have historically done. While this progressive movement toward equality ideally results in more satisfying romantic lives for all parties, television has mined the oftentimes vexed and perplexing renegotiations of status for humorous material. Consider an example from the pilot episode of “Girls” (which doesn’t open the show but takes place a demure 15 minutes in). The elusive and carnally adventurous Adam instructs Hannah to hold a physically uncomfortable sexual position. What follows is a superb comic scene pitting Hannah’s verbally open vulnerability and desire to please — up to a point — in conflict with Adam’s inarticulate desire that is unconcerned with her needs. The end result is a dampening of arousal for both parties. To a degree, theirs is a pairing: the laconic, detached Adam, one of Carrie’s “toxic bachelors,” with the garrulous, needy Hannah. (In subsequent episodes, Hannah plays the role of the initiator more frequently, often to amusing results.) And, obviously, moments just like this took place in real life before the sexual revolution they just couldn’t have been shown on TV. Yet they were likely far less commonplace than now, and the particulars of their arrangement would have been very different (for starters, back then, Adam and Hannah would have more realistically been married, not having exploratory casual sex). Gus, the nerdy male protagonist of “Love,” is closer to Mr. Buress’s character on “Broad City” than he is to Adam, and he struggles with the problems presented by his own inclination to romance. “The show is trying to explore the limits of being sensitive,” said Paul Rust, who plays Gus (and is the of the series with his wife, Lesley Arfin). “Maybe during sex is not the best time to ask if you want to move in together. That might not necessarily be a in bed. It’s pragmatic dirty talk. ” “Love” seems to posit that behind the genial, meek facade of the domesticated millennial guy lurks the atavistic anger and repressed hostility of the male animal. “What am I?” Gus demands of his girlfriend as they fight during their breakup. “Am I too nice? Am I too mean?” She yells back: “You’re not nice! You’re which is worse than being mean. ” Gus’s erratic navigation between the Scylla and Charybdis of domineering and emasculated behavior — the former no longer as socially acceptable as it used to be, the latter still not doing one many favors even on Tinder, let alone at a bar — constitutes much of the show’s subtext (and comedy). “You can do this, Gus,” he tells himself in a bathroom mirror, trying to psych himself up before approaching a girl at a party. “You’re the man. You’re … like a man. You’re close to being a man. ” “I’m sure it’s confusing for men: ‘Be like Don Draper, but also be this nice guy,’” said Daley Haggar, who has written for sitcoms like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Anger Management. ” Jon Hamm’s character on “Mad Men” may have been one of the more attractive leading men on TV to female viewers in recent memory, but Ms. Haggar pointed out that much of his conduct would be considered or inappropriate in the 21st century. “Women fantasize about Don, but they don’t want an actual Don,” she said. “He’s cold and mildly sociopathic and he cheats. What they want is Jon Hamm dressed up in a suit doing a sort of cosplay of a ’50s stoic guy and being dominant. What he does, you’d be arrested for now. ” Moreover, she added, intercourse with a figure like Don probably wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be on the show. “I don’t know that there were great orgasms with Don Draper,” she said. Mr. Rust looked to a different decade, the 1970s, as a bridge between the eras portrayed by “Mad Men” and the current crop of shows, and noted a possible subconscious influence in opening “Love” with an anticlimactic sex scene. His favorite film, 1975’s “Shampoo,” begins with Warren Beatty’s Lothario hairdresser having sex as another woman interrupts with a phone call. Watching it for the first time was a revelation. “There was a relief for me: ‘Oh, man, even Warren Beatty can have awkward sex,’” he recalled. His acting turn may have similar repercussions for today’s young men exploring their own sensitive sides, including those who may appear at first glance not to have any. “I was at an A. T. M. a couple weeks ago, and a dude walked up to me,” Mr. Rust said. “He me and said, ‘Dude, thanks for the vulnerability. ’”